The Ace Theological Company’s 95 Theses. Page 4 —

aceacetheocompany-com February 23, 2022

The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses. #30

30

Hang on… almost ready.
Jan 8th, 2022
Saturday morning. 6:51 a.m.
37º out side… and maybe it will get up to 42º
So, the snow and ice have all melted off, thankfully.

I was hanging out among the wolves yesterday Dear Saint,
And wouldn’t you know it, I got nipped. But not too badly. Small damages.
You see, these “wolves” were of the “freewill” variety. They were beautiful in their own way. But best left alone. Down right vicious, if you approach their nest.
The verse I’m going to use to think aloud with you this morning is I Timothy 4:1:
Now the spirit is saying explicitly, that in subsequent eras some will be withdrawing from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons… The KJV says “doctrine” of demons.
Now if you were to ask yourself, “Hey, what IS a “doctrine” of demons?” — you might come up with an answer… but if you’re anything like me, you just let this verse go right over your head for years, and never asked any questions about it.
But now, after all these years as both a “christian” and now as a serious bible student… I’m prepared to say that the teaching of “freewill” is a doctrine of demons.
But why? Well, let’s go through some of my reasons.
1. Human destiny is determine entirely by THE PURPOSE OF GOD. — And yet, the freewillers will have you believe that human destiny is determined entirely by a fellow’s “freewill” choices. Nothing could be more absurd, if you “believe God”. But if you don’t believe and honor God as God… of course you’re going to fall for the idea that man is his own best friend and determines his destiny, and IF there is a God, He surely created man with a “freewill” — or else “God” is horrible, don’t cha see. If you hang around these halls long enough, you’ll see that we believe and teach that God is God. God is the creator of all and the Father of all, and the

Hang on… coffee refill time…

Ok, where was I…???

Oh, yea… God is the creator of all… and that means all… and God is the Father of all… and that means all.. and God is the savior of all… and that too means all.

  1. So these “freewillers” come along… and insist that “somethings” are not “of God” — when the scriptures tell us plainly that “all IS of God” (Romans 11:36). They insist that … in essence… God is a gambler, rolling the dice and doesn’t know what’s going to happen… all because God foolishly gave man an un-influenceable (sp?) will. You see, according to them, God doesn’t know the outcome, or they say He might know the outcome but does not influence the outcome, so that He can JUDGE THEM harshly… and I say YIKES.
  2. Now, regarding how deadly this teaching is… and why we can boldly call it a “teaching of demons” — it clearly pulls your eyes off of God and understanding His purpose, and makes you focus entirely on yourself. Freewillers are very self-absorbed. They are famous for saying “I submitted my will to God’s will.” — Do you see the subtle hit there? Braggers. What they mean by this phrase is this…
    … they mean by “God’s will” a formula of some kind, a magic formula that will give them powers, blessings, rewards, etc. They did not submit their will to anything. They glorify their ability (will?) to find and do the incantation they fully expect endless blessings from doing it.
    Listen… God gives life and breath and all to all… (Acts 17:25, 28)… therefore, we can say of assurity (sp?) that JUST BY BEING BORN… being here… we are “submitting” to God’s will. Why, of course… for God gives life to all, and breath to all, and all to all. And at the moment, these freewillers are being lead by naughty “demons” to fancy that they control their own destiny and determine it all by their so-called “free” will. (But even this is “of God”).
  3. You see, God gives life and breath and all to all. (Acts 17:25, 28) And what we have before us… in every way and every shade, is the story of God. If we have anything, a car, a scar, a toothbrush, a view of God, it all is “of God”… So, I’m not too worried about these “Freewillers” — for, “God locks up ALL together in stubbornness.” (Romans 11:32)
    They can’t hep it !!! (No “L” in help, so you’ll sound like you’re from the South.)
    But the freewill teaching is an awful mess, when you start peeling back the layers.
    Now, if I wanted to argue “from the scriptures”, I’d have plenty of ammunition to sling at the freewillers. But they don’t seem to care what the Bible says about the matter. They are slippery as hell, when it comes to defending this crap.
    They find any ole excuse NOT to believe the PLAIN STATEMENTS of God’s word… and run as fast as they can to one INFERENCE after another to scream “We do too have a freewill.”
    For example, they infer, that Adam, in the garden, had a “freewill” to do or not do, his dirty deed. And you should see this guys wiggle and squirm, when you ask them point blank: Could Adam have done otherwise, than what he did?
    You see, Adam had “no choice” but to eat of the forbidden fruit. He could not have done otherwise. If he could have done otherwise, God would not have known which outcome to count on, and thus, we’d have to say God was gambling on the outcome.





TONY SAYS: Why is it according to modern-day theology that everyone has a free-will until they are judged and forced to go to hell against their will?





To which I say… LOL and AMEN.





If Adam could have done other than what he did… we have a “God” who is not “God” at all. And this “God” is gambling with His creation’s future and destiny, and the whole program we see and are going through is merely “Plan B”… because “Plan A” really messed up.





  1. Keep in mind that I used to be a “freewiller” boy. I had no idea how awful the teaching was. But I was teaching it and endorsing it. But over the years of looking at the matter, I now conclude that it is better to believe in the Deity of God, than the “freewill” of man.
    Before I got clear on this stuff… I used to stare at Romans 9:16… (It is not of him that willeth.) and stare, and stare, and stare… “What is Paul’s problem?” I would think to myself. Such loose language is not helpful. For, surely Paul cannot mean what this verse 16 implies… surely, right?
    So, last night, when I was in the wolves’ den, (a freewiller’s online live-stream) the host was arguing with me about these matters… defending “freewill” as best he could. (He used the term “human volition” a lot… but it meant the same thing.) And I couldn’t believe it, when, the host said “I have determined to know nothing among you save Christ and Him crucified.” — When you argue that human destiny is determined by something other than the purpose of God, you are NOT “knowing nothing save Christ and Him crucified.”





Human destiny is determined by God’s purpose, not man’s will. How we respond to the cross of God is determined by God’s purpose, not our own random inclinations to the matter. The cross is efficacious. It needs no up vote or down vote from the creature. God was in Christ conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses against them. Their will did not matter… God was in Christ with or without their permission. And what did God accomplish on the cross? He saved the world.
Man’s response to the cross IS GIVEN TO HIM.. by God… for God gives life and breath and all to all (Acts 17:25, 28). Faith is a gift. God does not give faith to all. II Thessolonians 2:3 says say… “NOT FOR ALL IS THE FAITH”… Again, you can stare and stare and stare at the language of Paul… the rascal… but somehow… Paul made into the Bible and our petty vocabulary did not make it in… so, if Paul says “Not for all is the faith”… why can’t we embrace that, embrace what it says, instead of making up a story about how God was gambling on the outcome.
God, the creator of all, and the savior of all, MUST be responsible for all.





  1. Greg, has a good point, to call our attention to Romans 8:20-21… God subjected all creation to vanity AGAINST IT’S WILL. My, oh my.
    Why would God do this… why would God subject creation to vanity, against it’s will??? — It hard to argue against the eonian purpose of God. We’re always so smart… we ought to charge God for our advise. We’d be rich!!!
  2. Teaching the saints of God that God operates by giving man a so-called “free” will… is really nuts. And I think it qualifies as a “doctrine of demons”. If God … hang on… trying to think my way through this thing… Ain’t no way in hell, we can fancy that God is “smart” by giving man a freewill… especially when you consider that MAN IS STUPID AND IGNORANT… Peter in the opening of the book of Acts, told those Jews, “you killed the Lord of hosts, out of IGNORANCE.





Listen… you don’t give an ignorant sonofabitch the power of determining his own eternal destiny, are you nuts? Come on, here, God is God… don’t drag God down to your stupid human level by suggesting He, like you, does not know the outcome of a thing… God is God. And you are not. You don’t have a “free” will.. no one does. Our will’s are bound up by many things. Constraints abound. Influences come at us from all sides. Our will is not “free” of influence, causality or constraints — and thankfully so. God is God. We are not.
Sure we have a “will” but we also have toes, big deal. the Bible mentions our will… but never says it is free of influence. Our toes are not “free” toes, to do what ever they please. Our toes and our will are very much limited in many respects… and not free at all.
Doctrine of demons? You bet. And even this is “of God” when you factor in the big scheme of things. Demons would rather you not worship God as God. “Yeah,” they say, “Let’s focus on you and your will. Let’s make it more about you and less about that God of yours.” — is what they say. And boy we fall in line, don’t we.










Greg has a good one: “If God Wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth , then who would be left with their own free will? Checkmate!”





The reason I “choose” (freely if you will) (lol) to entitle this typing session something about “freewill being the doctrine of demons”… is this… in all my years of being a regular ole church going christian… this verse when right over my head. Meaning… I never once thought long and hard about it. But, the word “doctrines” or “teaching”… is right there, so what, what, what… pray tell, would “demons” teach? What kind of “doctrine” would they be into? And I can’t believe, the answer was staring us all, right in the face….
FREEWILL teaching seems to be the most popular teaching in the christian world. They just LOOOOOVVVE that teaching. And why can’t we challenge it… it’s so beloved, but it largely depends on inference and vague language… not on plain text and sound words from God’s book.
PLAIN TEXT: Romans 8:20-21 God subjects creation to vanityAGAINST IT’S WILL.
PLAIN TEXT: Eph 1:11… God is operating all things.
PLAIN TEXT: Romans 9:16… It is NOT of him that willeth, but of God the merciful.
PLAIN TEXT: Romans 11:32, God locks up all in stubbornness.
PLAIN TEXT: II COR 5:18: All is of God.
PLAIN TEXT: Romans 11:36: All is out of Him, through Him and for Him.
PLAIN TEXT: I Corinthians 1:29? God chooses – the weak and stupid of this world to confound the wise… Note: We don’t choose God, God chooses us.
PLAIN TEXT: Acts 17:25, 28 God gives life and breath and all to all.





Don’t give me this crap about God being so holy and “just” that He’s just got to trash most of creation in hell endlessly. If God did not know the outcome of His creative effort, then God is irresponsible. He’s like the builder in Jesus’ parable, who did not measure out the cost of things, he ran out of money and the building was incomplete and made a laughing stock of the builder. God is responsible for all that He does and instigates.





Hang on… let me peel back just one more layer to this doctrine of demons… When you press someone against the wall with this terrible teaching, they often go to the low mark in the battle to defend this crap. And often, very often… they revert to the ultimate HUMAN emotion and appeal to say.. “But what about someone who rapes a little child?””” “They deserved to be cast into endless hell, and you’re awful to say otherwise.”
Oh, what a low blow. I’m saying that all is of God, and they’re saying “What about the little children???”
Thinking here…
Well… God is the creator of all… and the savior of all… And if God cares about the “little children” as much as you do… I guess He’s going to have to make things right with all the “little children” eventually. So you just hold your horses.
All is of God. The “little children” in Noah’s day, does that count? The “little children” in Nagasaki, or Dresden, does that count? Are you saying you have a sliding scale on the evil we all suffer? And some “evil” is not of God… But dear one… breath… I’m telling you, all is of God. It’s a tough thing to latch onto… but we must for it is true.
You see… death is bad… but death is the end of trouble for a while… and death is THE LAST ENEMY of God, which He promises to abolish at the consummation of the eons. (I Col 15:20-28)
This whole discussion is about FAITH… we don’t have “faith” in ourselves… we have faith in God to perform His good work and finish it.
Faith in freewill is not happening.
Faith in God’s operations is happening.
And God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them. And giving to us the ministry of the conciliation…. And we’re out there shouting: HEY, FORGIVE GOD !!! (See II Corinthians 5:18,19, 20)










8:53 a.m.
Thanks for spending some time with me.
Spread the world… tell everyone you know to forgive God, ‘cause He’s got this eonian purpose (Eph 3:11) and if we don’t know what His purpose is, don’t matter, it’s His purpose nonetheless… Man’s “freewill” is merely an appearance… it’s not really all that much. Most of all (if not all of us) are entirely predictable…. Even women are very, very predictable… they are not a mystery… unless you’re not been ‘round the block a time or two… but the TRUTH is, we don’t have an absolute free will, our wills are very much constrained, influenced, and controlled by many things.





Grace to you.
Happy Saturday.
Ace.





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses. #31





31





Jan 10th, 2022
6:02 a.m.
Grace to you.





25º out, a high of 40º expected.
Monday.





I have two quotes for you to day. Both good and worth pondering…





FIRST: “Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition, which you have delivered: and many such like things do you” (Mark 7:13).





It is still difficult to gain release from the process of reading the Scriptures with a predetermined background of inherited Greek philosophy, medieval dogma, and youthful indoctrination.










G.T. Stevenson Time and Eternity (page 10)





SECOND: This is from Brother Larry, who wrote this note to The Freewill Chick… OMG, it’s good.
Enjoy —
Honestly you do seem like a nice lady. But you also seem to be drenched in your own righteousness and “willpower“. You seem to have a “zeal for God,” but, it STINKS. The odor is utterly repugnant and grotesque. It reminds me of the dung or the poop or the refuse that Paul cast off in Philippians 3.










Below, is one of your statements. It is filled with contradiction. I should not even have to comment on it because the contradictions are so evident. But, let’s talk about what you stated.





**”WE” are those of the world that did not have PLEASURE in unrighteousness and were searching for the way OUT.…God called us out by the gospel and we came running to HIm and He set us free! He calls me His child which I do not deserve and that’s what drives me to serve Him! I love Him! **










On the one hand you say such a thing as, “I do not deserve“. But on the other hand you say such a thing as, “…I/We did not have pleasure in unrighteousness and was/were searching”.





HELLO??





Do you see it?





No matter how you try and spin it and cover it up, you are actually saying that you “deserve“ God’s favor because you were not like all those billions and billions of sinners that “took pleasure in unrighteousness and that did not seek after God”.





How can you not see this obvious contradiction?





The contradiction is so glaring. It STINKS.










Romans chapter 3 says that there is none that seeks after God. But yet, you lift yourself above billions and billions of sinners and say that you “seek after God“. Helllloooo? How can you possibly evade this? Those billions of sinners “took pleasure in unrighteousness“. But somehow by your own power you decided not to “take pleasure in unrighteousness“. Whew. The STENCH is honestly hard to take. It STINKS….so bad.





Honestly, I simply cannot give myself credit for doing what billions and billions of sinners failed to do. I would be drenched in self righteousness. But this is what you are doing because you misunderstand the gift of faith and the eons.





Your huge stumbling block is that you mix up imperative statements and indicative statements. When God talks about people taking pleasure in unrighteousness, or sinning, or transgressing his law Etc, the state of things is simply being shown to us. God is not telling us that we have the ability to rectify the situation. God is showing us what we are. But you take the imperative statements and you latch onto them and think that you can fulfill the requirement. See Paul in Romans 7 where he says, “the law deceived me”.





By the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom 3 & 7). None seek after God. All are UNDER SIN AND DEATH. But you take these statements as a challenge. You claim to overcome these ironclad statements about all of humanity and you lift yourself above billions and billions of sinners. At the end of the day you are claiming that, “Yes billions and billions of people do not seek after God. But I, I, I seek after God!” Again, it STINKS. Pure self righteousness.





Your biggest stumbling block is that you think that the death of Christ and his resurrection is an “offer“. It’s not an offer. It is a glorious declaration of good news about what God and Christ accomplished for all of humanity whether they believe it or not. You completely pervert and misunderstand the purpose of believing during this wicked eon. Eventually every human being will be brought into the knowledge of the truth. Otherwise, you make God out to be a monstrous nasty Creator who is going to “punish in hell forever“ almost everybody.





Your message IS BAD. I’m just being honest. You don’t have good news. You have really really bad news. Your message is essentially that the vast majority of humanity will be “punished forever“, but that you will not be “punished forever”. That is SICK. It’s actually demonic.





I’ve been where you are at presently. I could not take it anymore. It’s not good news. It’s horrible news. So I came out of it. And it’s only because God opened up my understanding and enlightened me and gave me faith. Otherwise I would do what all the other billions and billions of sinners do. But yet, you give yourself credit for supposedly “seeking after God“ even though Romans 3 says that none of us seek after God.





My best advice to you is that you should devour as much material at the Concordant Publishing Concern website as you can.





Exit, stage right.
6:13 a.m.
Grace to you.
Amen.
Ace.






The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #32
32





Wed, trash day in my neighborhood.
Gotta remember to get it out.
28º out there, high of 41º expected.
Jan 12th, 2022.





I’ve been thinking about this strange phrase that Stephen used, just before they offed him.





So… here is the passage (out of Acts):
8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, did great miracles and signs among the people.9 Now there rise certain of those of the synagogue termed Freedmen (?), and of the Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and the province of Asia, discussing with Stephen.10 And they were not strong enough to withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.11 Then they suborned men, saying that, “We have heard him speaking declarations, blaspheming Moses and God.”12 They stir up the people as well as the elders and the scribes, and standing by, they grip him, and led him into the Sanhedrin.13 Besides, they put false witnesses on the stand, who say, “This man does not cease speaking, making declarations against this holy place and the law,14 for we have heard him saying that this Jesus the Nazarene will be demolishing this place and will be changing the customs which Moses gives over to us. “15 And looking intently at him, all those seated in the Sanhedrin perceived his face as if it were the face of a messenger.
Chapter 7





1 Now the chief priest said, “Are these thing so?”





2 Now he averred, “Men, brethren, and fathers, hear! The God of glory was seen by our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, ere he dwelt in Charan,





3 and said to him, ‘Come out of your land and from your relationship and come hither into the land which I would be showing to you.’





4 Then, coming out of the land of the Chaldeans, he dwells in Charan, and thence, after the death of his father, He exiles him into this land in which you are now dwelling.
The “strange” phrase that caught me off guard was this: THE GOD OF GLORY.
Now, over the years, I’ve heard people talk about “the glory of God” — enough to think I know what that phrase means… but THE GOD OF GLORY… I’ve never heard anyone use that line before. And I’m sure I’ve read the book of Acts at least 5 times in my life… and still… it did not poke me like it did just the other day.
The glory of God —
The God of glory —
Two different phrases… going in two different directions.
Help me out… this idea is new to me, so I’m not strong on this argument but I’ll make it none the less…










I think we all love the phrase “the glory of God”… and use that phrase so much… (as oppose to the other phrase) because, hidden somewhere inside the phrase (The glory of God) is possibility that we can help out… you know… we can “give” glory to God. And that would boost our ego… the freewillers would LOVE this phrase (the glory of God) much more than the other phrase.
We all love to help out, ya know.





But when we get to Stephen’s phrase THE GOD OF GLORY… then we’re like those religious folks in Acts 7 and 8, we’re ready to kill the dude by chapter 9 and sic Saul on the rest of his band.
There’s something awesome hidden inside the phrase THE GOD OF GLORY. — First of all, “the God of glory” phrase does not hint that God needs anything from us. Thus the freewiller’s would be pissed. And doesn’t it seem to you, that those who killed Stephen were of the “freewiller” mentality. They were BLAMING and BLAMING and BLAMING some more.
Hang on… let me get some of those BLAMING QUOTES from the passage above:





  1. …of the synagogue termed Freedmen they were “of the synagogue”… ha… and they were called “freedmen”… but they were not about to let Stephen be a “freedman”.
    2….. they were not strong enough to argue with Stephen. Sounds typical of today, doesn’t it?
    3…. they suborned men.. that means they got others to lie. So, they are religious, they call themselves by fancy names, and they are not good at arguing their position and get others to lie in the trial — Yikes…I’m shocked, shocked, I say.
    4…. They said: “We have heard him speaking declarations, blaspheming Moses and God”. They heard no such thing. They were liars. So, it seems if you come up with a different slant on the message of God… they’ll say you are “blaspheming”. Man, they are rough… mean… like street fighters.
  2. Then… they grip him.. Their anger got so hot, it went beyond mere words, now they are ready to string him up. Karen’s do that. And these guys are the religious Karens’ of their day.
  3. And then, of course they resort to false witnesses.
  4. And of course the chief priest plays along with the game… and says “Are these thing so?” He knew it was not so. He knew the religious folks were lying. He’s saying “Duh, I just woke, up, are these things so?”
  5. So, Stephen, opened his mouth and said: “Men, brethren, and fathers, hear! The God of glory was seen by our father Abraham,”… — and all hell broke loose.
    You see, in a story that begins with “the God of Glory” there’s not much room for human bragging. It’s a story that begins and ends with God. And that’s enough to piss any freewiller off. Because they want the story to be about them. And if you start your story with “the glory of God” — then perhaps — you can sneak yourself into the script, and get some of the credit, don’t cha see.
    But when the story starts with God, and ends with God, and is all about God, then we little creatures tend to stomp our foot, and we demand to see the author and director of this show, in fact, we’ll teach that Stephen a lesson he’ll never forget. We’ll lie about him, falsely accuse him, “grip him” and drag him in front to the chief priest.
    “The God of glory”…. Has purpose.
    “The glory of God” … is hmmmmm…. is the story AFTER the fact… just thinking.
    The “God of glory” is the story and the story teller.
    Stephen did not begin to tell them of the glory of God, he told them of the God of glory. — Powerful dynamic difference. You might miss it… I did for some 50 years. And I’m still not sure I get the full import of this phrase. So I’m asking YOU… leave any comments or thoughts about the phrase THE GOD OF GLORY.
    Let’s see if we can make better heads and/or tails of this matter.
    Now, I have gone over to other christian channels and asked them questions before, similar to this (the meaning of the God of glory) and those christians have blown me off, telling me, my question has no importance, and there is no difference between one word or phrase and another.





For example, I was on about “What’s the difference between ‘Jesus Christ’ and ‘Christ Jesus’???” And those know-it-all christians attacked me and said there was no difference and I’m picking at straws, so words to that effect.
But I tell you, brothers, sisters… words mean things. And we cannot have clear thoughts unless we have a clarified vocabulary. And if God’s “word” means something, we oughta know what God is on about.
So, what is the difference between these two phrases:
The glory of God.
The God of Glory.
????
Stephen knew something. And I bet we can say that the pharisees, who killed Stephen had a hint as to what it mean as well, and that’s why they killed him.
I’m making the argument that THE GOD OF GLORY is not a phrase that gives leeway to the freewiller’s ideas.
Ok, got to get the morning on the way…
Grace to you.
7:46 a.m.
Thanks for looking over my shoulder when I pound this out.
Once again… Leave your comments.
Ace.





Broleosis In Christ










This is what I perceive on this subject. When Stephen started with the title or name “The God of Glory”, it pissed off the religious men because he was titling Christ with that phrase. He also said that The God of Glory APPEARED to our father Abraham. In the Greek it means “to be seen by”. Here’s why I think this, I could be wrong, and please correct me if I am but here’s my reasoning. Jesus said himself, “no one has seen the Father except the son.” And he also said,” before Abraham was, I am.”
And Hebrews 1:8 say’s “Yet to the Son: “Thy throne, O God, is for the eon of the eon, And a scepter of rectitude is the scepter of Thy kingdom.” Giving the Son the title of God. And I believe it’s consistent to say that Stephen also was giving Christ Jesus this title.
Also, the difference of Jesus Christ vs Christ Jesus is this,





I think…
Jesus Christ = pre resurrection
Christ Jesus = post resurrection





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #33
33





Remember, if there’s water
on the living room carpet,
It’s there for a reason.
“Random” ain’t happening in the
“Kingdom” of God…. Or the whole
Dang universe, for that matter.
No random. Just purpose.





Jan 13th, 2022
27º out there, but it feels like we’re almost done with winter.
Suppose to get up to 46º later today.
7:17 a.m.





Good morning dear one,





I woke up thinking about “prayer”.
It’s a weird topic, if you think about it.
Most of us pray to get our way.
Without any idea that there is a God out there, who is running the universe exactly the way HE wants to run it. Including giving you a good dose of your own medicine. (So to speak.)





Well, here lately I’ve tried this prayer on for size:
“Good morning Father, I love what you’ve done with the place.”
And it seems to fit. I mean if “All is of God” as Paul says over and over again. (Romans 11:32, II COR 5:18, Acts 17:25,28) And if “God is operating all things after the counsel of His will.” (Eph 1:11)
And if we can ask that wise and wonderful question: “Who has withstood His intention?” (Romans 9:19) — then, acknowledging Him in all things would be appropriate.
“Good morning, Father, I love what you’ve done with the place.”
Now, from my own experience, that prayer is rather easy, when things are going well in your life, but can you (and I) pray that prayer when the walls are falling down around us?
And let’s say this person or that person is aggravating the hell out of you… Let’s say it’s your spouse, or your teenage kid, or that damn annoying harpy neighbor… can you… are you ready… can you pray the prayer…. “THANK YOU FATHER, I LOVE WHAT YOU DONE WITH ‘JANE’, ‘GEORGE’, ‘TOM’, or whatever their name it. ???
Let’s say the harpy neighbor just called the cops on you because your lawn sprinklers got her all wet. Can you pray that prayer? Let’s try…
“Thank you Father for this harpy, I love what you’ve done with her.”
Oh my God… that sounds like a prayer from a mad man. To be thankful for all things (Paul does suggest that, but Paul is nuts ya know.)
Just so you don’t think I’m way out in left field, regarding such an outrageous prayer… “Thank God for Harpies” kind of prayer… Don’t we have an example from the Inaugurator of Life?—(Ref: Acts 3:15) Didn’t He, on the cross, say “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”???
Isn’t that kind of like praying for harpies who annoy the hell out of you? “Father, I love what you’ve done with that harpy.”
And what about Stephen, when those a**holes were pelting him with rocks, large enough to break bones… didn’t he pray a prayer that was like that???
Yeah… his last words were:
“Lord, Thou shouldst not stand against them this sin!”
Which, as you can imagine, is very much like saying “Father I approve.” “Father, I trust you.” “Father my whole being is in your hands.”
So… do we have to stay stuck on the old selfish prayers of “Daddy, I want my way, and I want it now.” ????
I’m suggesting that’s it’s possible to “grow in faith” and “grow in knowledge”… and… “grow in grace”…
On the whole, I think I’m scribbling out this message for myself, really. I need it more that you guys do. I confess, I have trouble praying kinds thoughts and words about harpies who get under my skin. But… with a little luck… the next time they do… I’m gonna say…
“Thank you Father for this Harpy, I love what you’ve done with her.” — And it’s not a prayer for her to change… it’s a prayer to bring me closer to the Father and acknowledge the Father’s purpose and plan in it all. After all…
Harpies are of God. (Romans 11:36)
Grace to you.
7:48 a.m.
Let’s go chop some wood today. Exercise, ya know.










P.S. … This one might be worth sharing. Like, subscribe. And leave me a comment or two, telling me how crazy I am.
Onward.





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #34
34






Pardon me, but I’m suppose to come up with 95 things to complain about concerning the modern day “church”.
Martin Luther did it… but I’m actually running out of things to complain about. You see, unlike Luther, I believe that “all is of God.” — I don’t think Luther saw things that way.
Anyway… so, most of us come through the “church” and we exit out the back door, and hardly look back. So, to a great degree, we can see that the “false” church, the “Babylon” of our day… the satanic organization with buildings, rules, stain glass windows and a 501c3 tax plan… is really being used by God to bring us along for this and that.
Now, if you are “in” a church… Lutheran, Catholic, Pentacostal, Baptists, Presbyterian, — you name it… if you’re in one… I recommend YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT regarding questions you have that might be leading you to a deeper life, or a view “closer” to God.
You see, if you open your mouth… they are going to think you’ve got everything all figured out… and they’re going to think you have an “agenda”… and that you’re going to ruin their gig.
And if you, with your queries, raise too many questions, someone might “follow” you out the door, and there goes their income stream.
So, how do you go about “seeing” God?
How do you go about “believing” God?
If you stay in the “church” — without asking questions, you’re likely not to see God in all things. But if you ask questions… YOU’LL GET KICKED OUT, for sure.
Don’t raise your hand, to ask questions.
Don’t write letters to the pastor.
Don’t ask the Sunday school teacher much of “nuthin’”
Don’t act like you care much at all.
Like Abraham… when he “believed God”… this is kind of a lonely journey. Most “churches” don’t believe God. They believe traditions of men. They believe in their own belief. They… if they do use the scriptures… they just use it like those kidnappers… in the movies… they cut out this word or that word and glue the whole thing together to send a ransom note.
They are not totally in love with “the word of God”. They use it only as far as it confirms their own traditional notions.
Most of those folks in “church” are nice enough. They’re fun to have pot luck suppers with. But the whole lot of them, have almost nothing to do with any level of curiosity. Curiosity regarding anything. Must less what God actually reveals in the scriptures.
OK… here are the 4 things they love and teach… then, I’ll try to list 4 things we can glean from God’s word that might send out “over the top”… in our epic journey to “know” and “love” God.










  1. They seem to “love” the “trinity” stuff. — The problem with “trinity” is that so much of the concept relies on man-made lingo. Lingo you cannot find in the “bible”. For example: “God the Son”. — Now, we can find dozens of passages that mention “the Son of God”… but not one passage mentioning “God the Son.” — and this is important. Why? Because, has (we believe) revealed plenty in these ancient writings. But to use all this man-made lingo… you’re liable to head off in any direction.
    Screw “trinity”… how about one of the MANY Bible passages that say “God is one”… not “God is three in one”…????
    What does it mean that “God is one”??? I’m telling you, that you’ll never know as long as you’re clouding your mind with trinity lingo. It takes a while to UN-learn all that needs to be UN-learn.
    Keep this idea quiet… that “God is one.” — It seems you can collect more money in the offering plate, if you keep the “sheep” confused about these matters.
  2. Oh yeah, don’t forget these guys love “eternal conscious punishment. And…
  3. They love the concept of “immortal soul”…next…
  4. They, of course, love that TITHING business.
  5. I almost forgot, they love chattering about “freewill” stuff as well. Now, that we got that out of the way… let’s outline some “truth” that we can find in the scriptures … and remember… don’t tell no body… if you do they will kick you out of church.
  6. “GRACE” will get you kicked out.
  7. “The savior of all” will get you kicked out.
  8. The “deity” of God will get you kicked out. (Meaning, ‘ain’t no “freewill” in the world. There is man’s will, but it ain’t much of a “free” will. — Only God’s will is “free” of outside causal factors.
  9. Studying the TIME words will get you kicked out of church.
  10. Wait a minute… Studying PAUL will also get you kicked out. They love everything but Paul.
  11. Now get this… they don’t love history much, either. If you know or study the history of the church, the history of thought, the history of movements, the history of religions, what ever… you’re not going to win friends among the dark overlords of the “christian church”.
  12. I don’t think our goal should be to ROCK THE WORLD with the revelation of God… but instead to live a “mild and quiet life, with devotion” as Paul says in I Timothy.
  13. … hang on… I’m a-thinking…
  14. The “bible” has some 800,000 words. And man, oh man, if you limit yourself to what it actually says… or how it says it… you will get snubbed and kicked out of church.
    For example: The Scriptures say “The dead know nothing”. And if you actually believe it… YIKES.
    For example: The Scriptures say “The SOUL that sinneth it SHALL die.” And if you believe it, YIKES.
    For example: The Scriptures say, “Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. — I’m telling you, if you believe it… YIKES. God bless Martin Luther. Before I continue, I’ve got to hop over to the internet to see for myself, what that boy was complaining about… and see if I can further model his efforts.
    Thanks for joining me this morning.
    Grace to you.
    8:00 a.m.
    Friday, Jan 14th, 2022. P.S. Greg says “Where sin is increasing, Grace superexceeds.
    Romans 5:20 (?)





Bye for now.





The Ace Theological Company’s





95 Theses – #35
35
INFINITE GRACE vs CONDITIONAL GRACE.





5:30 A.M.
Jan 15th, 2022
Outdoor temp: 27º
High today, expected: 40º





Good morning Saint of God.










Do you think we can argue that “God would have us do…” and then, fill in the blank. I’m hesitant to use should language because of all the folks who would “should” you to death.
They tell you what you SHOULD and SHOULD NOT do… and I can hear them saying “God would have us do so and so.”
But for my purposes today… this morning… I want to ask if we “should” argue for INFINITE GRACE or CONDITIONAL GRACE.
The reason I bring this up, is that, like a fool I went over the a freewiller’s channel yesterday, thinking we could discuss God’s infinite wisdom, infinite love and infinite grace. But nooooooooo.
The freewiller devolved the conversation into all that a fellow must do to experience the “infinite” love of God. — I was speechless. Why? Because I could see… that if you MUST meet any conditions, then God’s love and grace is not “infinite”.
And the very thought is repulsive.
If God is God, and is the Creator of all, and gives life and breath to all, and THEN requires some strange conditions, that He himself does not supply… in order to receive His love, attention and affection… then God is not God.
The freewiller was arguing for CONDITIONAL GRACE, which is not grace at all. Conditional grace is a notion from the mind of a child who is creating children’s horror stories.
The freewiller’s God is a boogie man, who will eternally reward all the good children and eternally punish all the bad children.
And thus… a freewiller can never conceive of a God who controls all things in the universe, and has a good and happy purpose designed into it all. A God who is at this moment telling a story… but one with the most amazing outcome: Infinite grace.
Now, I admit, that the “Conditional Grace” story seems to be a bit more fast paced… And the “Infinite Grace” story, is more drawn out… but minors (children) need to get to a point faster than the mature.
Conditional grace is a horrible story. It lowers God to the level of men. And raises men to the level of God.
Stick with an Infinite Grace outcome.
It keeps God as God and man as man.
Grace to you.
5:50 a.m.
End.
Ace.





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #36
36
Rightly Dividing The Word of Truth
Vs.
Corrupt City Theology.





Wednesday, Jan 19th, 2022
7:31 a.m.
28º out there… high of 39º
Snow forecast on Friday.





Dear One,





Brother Larry busted my chops yesterday about the show entitled “THE MOST AMAZING SERMON EVER RECORDED” (least wise, I think that was the title.)





Anyway… I was prattling on about Paul’s sermon in Acts 17, when he was in Athens on Mars Hill.





Here’s what Brother Larry said:
“Bro, I think Paul was still fulfilling his Israel ministry in this section. He’s calling people to repent and the fact that the “Lord” Jesus will judge the world. That’s the theme of Acts. And Acts 17 in this “greatest sermon ever” Paul never mentions Christ crucified or justification or God’s righteousness or grace. Hello?”





My reply:
“The title is click bait, to get others thinking a different thought.
I agree with you. But those points were not my “point” — my point was to contrast familiar sermons and teachings with Paul’s boldness in saying “HE GIVES LIFE AND BREATH AND ALL TO ALL.”
I sure do think this “sermon” is more transcendent than anything I’ve ever read in all the other sermons of christianity.
Thanks for keeping me on my toes.
I might bring your points to bear on the passage in a future rabbling.
Grace to you.”





So, I agree, Brother Larry is right. Paul did preach both gospels. He did preach the circumcision gospel for a while. But he transitioned over to the gospel of the uncircumcision entirely after acts 28:28.
And when you’re trying to make sense of the messages of the Bible, I’ve found it extremely helpful to keep it in mind that most of the Bible is for Israel… the promises, the covenants, the fathers, etc. — One reason it’s so very helpful to keep that in mind, is that so many folks try to make a big deal out of all the PROMISES…. You know, “prophecies”. They try oh so hard to appropriate all them there prophecies… like the Kingdom, etc… and it only makes a mess of things.
Whereas, when you get to the gospel of our salvation, (revealed by uncle Paul) we see stuff that transcends all them Jewish prophecies into something amazing and wonderful…. And mind blowing.
And, when I said, yesterday that Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill, was “THE GREATEST SERMON EVER RECORDED”… You can see hints of the transcendence of the evangel of our salvation in it.
I sometimes don’t bring up this idea of “rightly dividing” the two evangels… as it’s hard enough to get someone to think a new thought as it is… so… getting them to consider that there’s a difference between the evangel of the circumcision and the evangel of the uncircumcision… whoa… that’s just too much work. Let’s see if we can get them to agree that “God gives life and breath and all to all”… If so, we’re almost there.
But Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill… seems to me… is a nice cross over point in Paul’s dual ministries. Yes, in Acts 17 he was still motivated to herald the messiah to the Jews… I mean, heck, they hadn’t rejected Jesus as the messiah very much that day… So, why not give them gentile boys a taste of good things to come.
No one, throughout christianity ever get’s ‘round to “rightly dividing. They’re always mixing up the two gospels and making a big mess of everything…. And creating arguments and divisions galore.
You see, by mixing them up, you have arguments over genealogies, days, who’s included in the special rewards, and who’s not.
But, when you separate them… and see the grace of God… and how God is dealing with the nations… my oh my. All them disagreements melt away.
So, when I gave an explanation to Brother Larry, he said:
“Copy that brother I hear what you are saying. Thanks for clarifying.
“It’s interesting that for a while Paul preached repentance and the Luke 24:47 commission before Israel was shut out. But Christians take these places of Paul and pervert them and bring people into bondage and they mix the evangels.”










Now, I’m telling you… having spent some 60 years in the Bible… when I stopped mixing the two evangels… and began “DIVIDING” them… so much cleared up in my mind.
“Rightly Divide”… GET IT?
Some things are true under both evangels. But some things are false if applied to both evangels.
We’re looking at “law” “works” — Justification by faith, allotments in the upcoming eons, you know… minor stuff like that.
The major stuff… like the fact that All is Of God (Romans 11:36)… that’s like all over man.





8:01 a.m.
I got to get going… we’ll touch base later.
Grace to you.
Amen.
Ace.





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #37
37






GOOD MORNING.
I have a note for those who dismiss and marginalize GRACE.
I’m not going to go on and on about it… it should be quite cutting…. And just a few words should do it.
By the way, it’s 9:04 a.m.
25º outside… with a high of 40º expected.





Listen… there are plenty of religious folks out there who spend lots of time scouring the Bible… looking for key passages and insights… hoping to find “the way”… so they can guarantee their own salvation.
And, when they meet a brother or sister who has a “hint” about grace… the fight begins. The vast majority of the religious kind of hate GRACE…. They argue that all that “grace” talk leads to lascivious and licentious living. Oh my.
So, this morning, I’m writing to tell you — What God Is Going To Brag On … in the oncoming eons. God is going to brag on his own GRACE and GRACIOUS behavior towards sinful humanity.
And if God is going to BRAG on it… it must be something special in His mix of various ways of dealing with us rascals.
So… let’s get right to the point…. And if you have something that proves me wrong on this idea, leave your comments below.
Ready… ??? Here it is:
Ephesians 2: 7 that, in the oncoming eons, He should be displaying the transcendent riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
 So… in the future… God is going to BRAG on His GRACE. And it’s the thing He will DISPLAY… for eons.
Leave a comment if you think I’m all washed up.
Grace to you.
Ace.
9:15. A.M.





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #38
38






Friday morning, 8:11 a.m.
Jan 21st. 2022
There’s some frost on the ground.
31º out there…. A high of 39º later today, maybe.





 Dear Saint, 





There is battle going on out there… in both “the world” and the “church”… and when I use the term “church”…. I’m not referring to the church which is His body. — I’m just referring to that old hag organization that got it’s start with Constantine way back… you know about 300 a.d.
As I see it, the battle is this: Either all is of God or all is not of God. — The world at large (including ‘the church’) does not believe that all is of God. You see, the world at large does not love God, nor honor God. So, they’re rather not give God any glory, honor or respect. So… the world at large blathers on about how great they themselves are and all there contributions to everything. “The church” follows right along with them.
They all just prattle on about themselves… self-worship… self-love… self-aggrandizement… Once your eyes open a bit to this truth… you begin to see it all over and everywhere.
Now, we can see part of this battle, with our opposers who belittle Paul and his message of grace.
You see, our opposers want to focus your attention on all that you must do to appease this angry God.
Hold on there, just a minute…. Let’s think this thing through… if, if, oh my, if… If God “requires” anything (faith, obedience, humility, repentance, submission, — whatever) — if God requires anything… then GOD must supply the thing He requires. Get it? There is only one God… therefore, if those “works” guys out there, all worried about how you behave… if they are right.. and God does “need” something from His creatures… well… they are “HIS” creatures, so He must also supply them with all they need that He requires of them.
Am I being too redundant here?










(SIDE NOTE: St. Tommy says to Sterling, “Don’t worship me.” And Sterling says “Don’t you worry ‘bout it”.)





So, we’ve got some opposers who marginalize Paul and his message. To the point of calling Paul a conman. Well… if that be true, that he’s a conman… here is the “con”…. Paul leads the pack in telling us that “all is out of Him and through Him and for Him.”
Paul is the one dude from the Bible who makes no bones about it… he shows that everything is FROM God. Faith is FROM God. Obedience is from God. Humility is FROM God.
In one passage, Paul says “For it is God who is working in you to will and do every good work.” — Wow, can you believe it?
One aspect of the big battle before us… is that our opposers what to look at and focus on the negative. They want to exaggerate the negative. And that means they must minimize the good revealed in any part of the Bible or our message.
So, it’s not just God’s corrective actions with humanity, not with them it’s got to be ENDLESS CONSCIOUS PUNISHMENT? To be sure, an exaggeration of the bad and a marginalizing of the good.
Our opposers love the parts of the Bible what harp on works and law.
So, let’s say we stumble into a remote tribe of Indians way back in the jungles of Brazil… Which message should we promote to them…





  1. The message that you must read and understand the law and the works you must do to make the unhappy God happy.
  2. Or, the message that God gives life and breath and all to all. And will one day be all in all. Now, I’m sure if there is a fellow in that tribe who fancies he’s part of the “priestcraft”… who is making a living from the tribe by promoting mystical witchcraft… that fellow, will be more inclined to embrace that works and law stuff… so that he can again put himself and his income at the head of the tribe.
    But, I’m thinking any normal fellow, who hears that all is of God, and all is out of God, and that one day, God will be all, in all…. That fellow will be rather thrilled with our (Paul’s) message.
    There are plenty of yahoo’s in our world who love the “priestcraft”… and want not only to drag you into the order of the priestcraft… but for sure take a leading spot in it ahead of you.
    They are smarter than you.
    They are holier than you.
    They are more self-righteous than you (just ask them).





I better get going.
Thanks so much for letting me prattle a bit about these things.
Feel free to leave any little comment preaching the “good news” as you see it all.
I don’t know what “good news” our opposers would present. At best, they seem to say that the “good news” is that now your salvation is “possible” … but it’s not actual.
Come closer… I’m going to reveal something way cool… Ready…??? Salvation is not “possible”… it’s actual. It’s complete. The proof: God raised Him from the dead.





Grace to you.
Ace.
8:48 a.m.
We’ll talk later.





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #39





Saturday Morning, 8:43 a.m.
Jan 22nd, 2022…
23º out there… kinda cold.
High of 38º expected.
Good morning, Cade, and anyone else who stumbles in here at this hour… holy moly.










Call it a weakness, but I’m Hotwired to struggle to “be spiritual” — it’s a thing I got from my old Watchman Nee days. Ole Watchman, the chinaman was spiritual or so we thought. And of course we wanted to be just like him. Right?
But now that I have discovered over the years that the battle is REALLY between the grace evangel and the James Gang… I believe I can see that the James Gangers want to be “spiritual” and the wild boys are just happy to be “joint partakers” in God’s eonian purpose.
So I have to slap myself from time to time, to remind myself that it’s not terribly important to be “spiritual” … Instead, just be a recipient of grace… an enjoyer of our allotment.
You see, all this is of God. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is out of place… not really.
If anything appears out of place… well… like Colombo you just keep asking “one more question” … and you find out that God put that out of place thing there. For a purpose. For a reason.





So… name your “spiritual” guy… Nee, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers, Augustine, — How about Scofield? Or Darby?
Name one who’s thrilled about Romans 11:32-36….
AND NOW FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE….





32 For God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all.





33 O, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!





34 For, who knew the mind of the Lord? or, who became His adviser?





35 or, who gives to Him first, and it will be repaid him?





36 seeing that out of Him and through Him and for Him is all: to Him be the glory for the eons! Amen!
None of those spiritual guys charge into the battle — guns ablazing… saying that “God locks up all in stubbornness”.
They are afraid of verse 32. And the four verses that follow.
Thousands of saintly preachers… and millions of hours being the pulpit… and millions of hours of TV screen time… and not one of those yahoos… say anything about that all are stubborn nor anything about how they all got to be stubborn.
Chickens.
How about WHY God made all stubborn? It’s so that He can display mercy on them all… Listen, I’m thinking that IF God did not make them all stubborn, some of them might come on in to a salvation thing, — you know of their own “freewill”… and if that were the case, God wouldn’t need to show them “mercy” because they don’t need mercy if they slip into salvation all on their own.
Just thinking’.
So, this “mercy” thing is God’s deal. God’s operation. God’s way of saying HELLO.
So we get just one inch beyond Verse 32 and find ourselves knee deep in verse 33… and oh my God… we’re now in over our heads… O, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! —
Now if we want to pretend to be spiritual… and all holy in our thinking and our self-pride that we’ve arrived and such… check it out… “O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God”….
How is it that all those religious folks who claim to have “knowledge” of God… can’t see this verse… the verse that brags on what was just said… that God locks up all in stubbornness… Damn…. It seems obvious to me, that “knowledge” and “stubbornness” are right there, jammed up, almost in the same sentence… so let’s have a good long look, don’t cha think?
Not only do they prance around arguing that man has a lovely “freewill” that God can’t violate… but they say that THAT is true knowledge. It ain’t. It’s a lie. It’s a deception.
I’m going to give it to you from God’s mouth…. ready…
32 For God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all.33 O, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
Let’s talk about riches. Let’s talk about wisdom. Let’s talk about the knowledge of God. It all has to do with God locking up all together in stubbornness.
It’s a knowledge that goes right over our heads… most of the time.
And then there’s this:
How inscrutable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!34 For, who knew the mind of the Lord? or, who became His adviser?
The freewillers are just like little dogs barking and barking at nothing. How silly to suggest that “God gave man a freewill that not even God can violate”. — So very silly.
That story only makes sense if your mind is pretty cloudy.
God gives us life and breath and all. He gives us desire, and consciousness, some degree of understanding.
But He also gives us blindness and ignorance, a calloused heart regarding many things.
We want to see beyond the temporary… and we want to see God’s eonian purpose.
Otherwise, we try to become His adviser.
Listen, if we all had a freewill… we could put God into our debt. Check out the next verse:
35 or, who gives to Him first, and it will be repaid him?
If the “freewill” story were true… God would have to jump though our hoops. And that’s laughable.
Finally, we get to the most amazing verse in the Bible:
36 seeing that out of Him and through Him and for Him is all: to Him be the glory for the eons! Amen!
The freewiller cannot let his eyes rest on this verse for too long… it might burn a hole in his soul.
They have it that “Not all is out of Him, somethings are out of man’s will” — and — “Not all is through Him, somethings are through man’s wonderful freewill”. — and — “not all is for Him, for something are for man’s freewill… cause everyone knows the human freewill creates so much good, that we must reward the human freewill with lots of goodies, don’t cha know.”
So… let’s wind up our thoughts here by letting the Bible speak for itself… and screw all them freewillers… ready:
ROMANS 11:
32 For God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all.33 O, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!34 For, who knew the mind of the Lord? or, who became His adviser?35 or, who gives to Him first, and it will be repaid him?36 seeing that out of Him and through Him and for Him is all: to Him be the glory for the eons! Amen!





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #40





Thur, Jan 27th, 2022
22º out there, a high of 36º maybe.





On Martin’s Sunday show, some yahoo left some flaming comments about how God is gonna burn all you suckers in hell forever…. If you don’t turn and be like me, (like the Pharisee who prayed, “I thank thee I’m not like those poor slobs”…)
So, since he commented, I joined in a bit and lobed a verse or two…
But this morning notes is dedicated to that guy and all the Bible flame throwers like him.
They’ve got this inference regarding Matthew 25:46… you know, “eternal life” for them sheep, and “eternal punishment” for them goats…. Well, inference be damned… I say we want to know who God is. Now what he’s going to do in-between now and the consummation.
So, let’s go back to the basics… I Timothy, 4:10.
When you survey all them hell fire verses… nowhere does any of them say this — “Hey, this is a faithful saying, one can you can count on, and one you should teach everywhere and all the time.”
But I Timothy 4:10 does say that.
Verse 9 says “Faithful is the saying”… then it goes on to say “Worthy of all welcome”….. What a setup to to saying, huh?
Then…. It mosies (sp?) on down to the idea of “WE RELY ON THE LIVING GOD, WHO IS…. THE SAVIOR OF ALL… MANKIND…. ESPECIALLY… BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY… OF BELIEVERS….
Then, the writer… says something totally weird… he says “TEACH THIS” … (These things command and teach).
So… he opens up the chat by saying, “this is a faithful saying” and he closes up the chat by saying “tell everyone you know.”
So, who is God?
Is He the tormentor of goats?
Is He the eternal tormentor of goats?
What’s He got against goats?
Goats do a fine job of clearing away thick underbrush.
Why oh, why, can’t we glory in the idea that GOD IS THE SAVIOR OF ALL. ??????
This yahoo, over on Martin’s channel… comes out of nowhere slinging both barrels… blasting away… condemning one and all to the eternal flames of hell… and from all appearances he feels totally good about himself and his God.
Who is God?
God is the savior of all.
Shall we borrow from the freewillers? (Ya know, they say “God is a perfect gentleman and would never force His will on you, if you don’t want to go to heaven, He’ll toss you in hell forever.” — Kinda stupid, I know, but let’s say …
“God is a perfect gentleman, and would never burn a fella in hell eternally who’s ignorant and lacking in understanding.”
I got get behind that, right?
“Perfect gentleman”, my ass.
God is God.
God is the savior of all.
It’s a faithful saying.
It’s worthy of all welcome.
And we outta teach this to all men everywhere.
Who is God?
If this so-called “deity” has to resort to scorched earth methods… to prove some kind of point… do we really want to get to know him?
What is the difference between that kind of “God” and your average, vindictive ‘Karen” out there?
When a “Karen” comes along, and is vindictive when she does not get her way… don’t you want to get away from her?
And to portray the God of heaven and Earth… that way too??? No one in their right mind would want to adore such a fellow.
God is the savior of all. Especially, but not exclusively of believers.
Teach this. — “These things command and teach”.
I Timothy 4:9 — Pay attention, this is a faithful saying.
I Timothy 4:10 — God is the savior.
I Timothy 4:11 — Teach this to anyone who will stop and listen.










Wow… I say you can ignore and toss out the rest of the Bible… if you just have this verse, you can carry on and wonderful, mild and quiet life… with devotion…
God is…
God is the savior…
God is the savior of all….
What more do you need to bow your head each morning and confess… “Father, I love what you’ve done with the place, can’t wait to see the consummation of all things. If it ain’t much trouble, feel free to use me for your purpose. But thanks for including me ‘in Christ’….” Amen.





Gotta get going.
It’s 7 a.m.
Thanks for letting me think aloud with you, this morning.
Grace to you.
Amen.
Ace.





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #41
41
Did Adam Save God in The Garden of Eden?





Wed Feb, 2nd, 2022
6:20 a.m.
The sound you hear is rain. It’s from YT.
Had to turn it down, it was annoying me.
But outside… it’s something like 21º out there.
And we got some 4 inches of snow last night.
So, I’ll have to shovel the walkways this morning.
And clean off the car.
But I’ve got some coffee right now, and some thoughts about the garden of Eden.
So, let’s get started.





Good morning dear ones. (Daniel, is the first up.)





Ok, yesterday, DB came into the show with both guns ablazing. Boy was he mad. He reminded me of a Baptist minister I once knew…
Anyway… DB was hammering away at the thought: WHAT EXACTLY IS SIN???? And he wouldn’t shut up until someone answered his question — nice and proper like.
Well… after he left the talking-heads section of the show, and I got the other talking heads to pipe down, I gave an answer as to what is “sin”… from my understanding of these things.
Here it is…
There was a tribe of people mentioned in the O.T. There were 700 men in this tribe… and they were all left-handed. Now, maybe you can make something of “700” … maybe you can make something of the idea that they were all “left-handed”… but the really cool thing about this tribe is that the Bible says they were pretty handy slinging stones. And they could “hit the target within a hair’s breath and not sin.”
Now, all the popular bibles, like the King James, says they could “hit the target within a hair’s breath and not miss.” But MISS and SIN are the same word there in the Hebrew text.
So, let’s explore some thoughts regarding the plan and purpose of God… and let’s start in the Garden of Eden.
Most of the yak yak in Christian circles about the Garden centers around whether Adam sinned… and how he sinned… and how all this mess got started.
But if SIN is MISSING the target… we gotta “lotta splainin’ to do, Lucy.
Did God sin in the Garden?
Oh sure, it’s easy to say that Adam sinned.
But did God INTEND for everything to go right?
Did God MEAN for Adam to NOT eat of that forbidden fruit?
If so, I think we can argue that God missed the targeted goal.
And if God “missed” the targeted goal, then God sinned in the Garden story.
But the bigger question is not did God sin in the Garden… but did Adam save God?
Shhhhh…. Don’t tell no one… but I don’t think God’s intention was thwarted in the Garden. God got exactly what He wanted. Adam could not have done other than the exact thing he did.
And, in a sense, Adam saved God there. Let me explain.
The word “saved” is just a common noun, you see.
And we all can be “saved” from many things. Salvation is not just one thing, one topic, one concept… no… you can can be saved from boredom.
And we surely can say that Adam saved God from boredom.
And Adam saved God from loneliness.
And Adam saved God from a Twightlight Zone story that makes no sense. You see, if Adam had “Obeid” in the Garden… what a night mare that would have been. If Adam had not eaten of the forbidden fruit… OMG… we’d all, to this very day, be very, very ignorant of the fact that GOD IS GOOD. For, we’d know neither GOOD nor EVIL.
You can’t know one without the other.
So… So… Adam saved God from a terrible fix that day.
There are so many stories, types, lessons and figures, we can see in the Garden Story. Christianity hardly explores them all.
And I’m certainly not qualified to dig very deep… my brain is too small… But I see in the Garden… not only the story of Adam, Eve, and the snake… The Garden is the story of God.
It is God’s story. None of it happens apart from God. It reveals so much about God— if you can glimpse it.
It would have been a sin on God’s part to equip Adam with everything he needed to NOT eat of that silly tree.
Still… on the surface… we might be able to say that “God made a mistake in the Garden” — if God really expected Adam not to fall for the trap. But Adam did fall for the trap… and now what’s this God to do with the mess before His eyes????
So… I contend that in a sense, Adam saved God there in the Garden. When I survey the meaning of Romans 5:18-19… I see that all of life will be justified… and I have no trouble saying God himself will be justified in that day… so, it’s no twouble… to suggest that by all appearances, God made a mistake by setting up this thing in the Garden… and that it reflects badly on Him. But, but, but…. In the Garden, we only see an opening chapter of the story… we don’t see the director’s script… we don’t see the plan and purpose of God… not there…. However, with some maturity and wisdom, we can see types and shadows there.
We can see that the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil… IS A TYPE and SHADOW of the cross of Christ.
In the cross… is the true story of GOOD and EVIL.
Did Adam disobey God’s command? Yeah, but that’s not the whole dang story !!!!!
Did Adam thwart God’s INTENTION ????? — Remember Romans 9:19????… it says … “You will be protesting to me, then, “Why, then, is He still blaming? for who has withstood His intention?”” God’s intention was for Adam to do EXACTLY WHAT HE DID. Wow… amazing….. the thought that the story is playing out exactly as God wanted and intended… who woulda thunk it?
And we have another (shall we call it an annexation) to the story… It’s Romans 8:20-21…. Check it out…
For to vanity was the creation subjected, not voluntarily, but because of Him Who subjects it, in expectation21 that the creation itself, also, shall be freed from the slavery of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
So… Adam, DID NOT withstand God’s intention… and God subjected creation (including Adam) to vanity… PLEASE NOTE: NOT VOLUNTARILY… wow.
Adam saved God’s intention.
Adam saved God’s reputation …
Adam gave God something to FEEL over…
There’s a lot of LOVE going on in the story of Eden… the fall, is very important, very crucial to the whole story of creation, vanity, slavery, corruption, glorious freedom and the dawn of the realization that creation will become THE CHILDREN OF GOD. See Romans 8:20-21…it’s Adam’s story… and yours as well as mine.
Listen… God did not “sin” in the Garden… but on the surface it may appear that way. It was no mistake on God’s part to trap Adam with a nice looking fruit, a good looking woman, and talking snake, and the promise of a new kind of knowledge… OMG… who could resist all that.
Adam saved God by sinning.
Keep in mind, that “sinning” is just missing the mark… there is no moral connotation to “missing the mark”… baseball pitchers miss the mark all the time. Sometimes on purpose.
So, I am making the argument that some “sin” has moral connotations, but some “sins” (like those left-handed stone slingers) are not very serious at all. Just try again.
But in the case of Adam’s action… it had long-range connotations… we’re all sucked into this mess because of him (and Him) (see Romans 5:12)
BTW… Romans 5:12 says because of Adam, death was passed through into (onto) all mankind… not “sin”… we got DEATH (mortality) from Adam… And it’s mortality that causes us to MISS THE MARK.
Now… back to Adam… in the Garden…
Hang on… let me refill my coffee…
7:16 a.m
7:17 a.m. back to work….
Regarding Adam…
Adam gave God meaning and purpose.
Adam gave God a means to display… so much…. Like love, power, purpose… In a sense, the story begins there… But in regular ole christian circles… we’re kinda taught that so much ended there. We’re kinda told that all the good things ended in Eden… and we’re all trying to “get back to Eden”… but I don’t think that’s right. I think that type of thinking is “missing the mark.”
— the snow plow just went by —
Again… there was a lot of love displayed in the Garden… a lot of wisdom… And it’s a shame we (christians) just focus on Adam’s “sin”… it’s a shame we can’t see God’s intention there.
It takes a while… I guess… to grow in grace and knowledge.
God created Adam… to love him.
And it takes a lot of love to “trick” someone, to go down the wrong road for their own good, and ultimate blessing(s)…. Oh my… a lot of love and wisdom.
Adam saved God in the Garden… Because God needed Adam. God loved Adam… God was doing the very best for Adam… And to suggest, as regular ole christians do… that “God is holy and perfect and was really, really pissed at Adam’s actions” … is a pretty weak story.
God loved Adam…. And out of love, began the story.
And out of love, we were all “in” Adam… and that love transfers to us. (“For even as IN Adam, all die, So IN Christ shall all be made alive.” — I COR 15:22-28_
God needed Adam to “sin”.
If Adam, had not “sinned”… then God would have “sinned”.
If Adam had not lead us all down the primrose path of death and destruction … we’d really be in trouble… sheesh.
So, we’re all marching down the path of “sin and death” and along comes the real intention… of God… to reveal his son… and His son’s work on the cross.
Now we’re talking a DISPLAY … a display of power… the resurrection… a display of LOVE… a display of wisdom… a display of true insight… And a dang good long range plan and purpose.
The word DISPLAY is a really cool word in Paul’s letters… note two instances… Pharaoh is tricked into withstanding God’s instruction… FOR A DISPLAY of God’s power. (See Romans 9)
And the ecclesia, which is His Body, will DISPLAY the riches of His Grace in the oncoming eons. (See Ephesians 1-3).










God bless Adam. One day, Adam will get an applause from God. See I COR 4:5…





“So that, be not judging anything before the season, till the Lord should be coming, Who will also illuminate the hidden things of darkness and manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then applause will be coming to each one from God.” God bless Adam, God owes him at least an apology… for the trap. And one day, God will be justified in all He does and did. And even right now… we have the exhortation to “forgive God”… see II COR 5:18-20 where it says “be conciliated to God” which is kind of like saying “Give God a break, forgive Him”.
This whole story… is the story of God. It’s a silly shame to see only Adam, Eve and Snakey Poo, in the Garden… God was there too, don’t cha know… and just like the Prodigal Son’s parable is really a story about the Father of those two boys, the story of the Garden is more God’s story than Adam’s.
Ok, Wait…. One more thought:
If I’m saying that Adam “saved” God in the Garden… and I’m saying in a sense “we’re all Adam”… can I say that “we are saving God”???? “You are saving God”???
This is a big story, we’re glimpsing.
This is God’s lovely and loving story.
I’m glad to be along for the ride.
Grace to you.
Exit: for now… stage right:
7:48 a.m.
Wed, Feb 2… just looking at the snow… making my strategy… which includes more coffee before shoveling.
St. Tommy… Francis… Lawrence… Daniel.. thanks for joining me.





The Ace Theologoical Company’s Most Precious Musings and Rantings, Worth Pondering Every Wednesday. But today is Friday, so good luck.
Also called “The 95 Theses”
Today’s Theme: Freewillers are preaching self-aggrandizement.
Aren’t they silly?
#42





Friday, 6:46 a.m.
Feb 4, almost planting time.






  1. KSL says it’s 18º out there, with a high expected of 33º





Good morning dear one,





I hope you’re not inclined to be a Freewiller, as I don’t have much good to say about them, again today.
You see, the teaching of Freewill drags God down to the level of man, and it exalts man to the level of God. Now, that may not be a bad thing on the whole, depending on how you define your terms and how to paint the timeline of events… and the outcome of God’s creative effort, etc.
But for the most part, Freewillers are really making a mess of things with their ungodly teaching.
I have asked around… and there “ain’t” no Freewiller who believes in a universal reconciliation. It just doesn’t happen. Even if a FREEWILL fellow comes close to believing in the salvation of all, he always stops short… saying something like… “Well, I know Satan is not going to be saved, thank God!” — Or they stop short by saying, “Well, if some sinner holds out… and out of his stubbornness refuses the love of God, then that one will surely not be forced into heaven, don’t cha know.”
Wait… a moment ago, I said something about “depends”… let me acknowledge that one day God will be all in all (I COR 15:28) So, we might be able to say that man will be on God’s level and God on man’s level… but such language sound icky to me,… so let’s stick to saying at that time God will be all in all.
Now… back to beating up Freewillers — a favorite pastime for truth seekers.
Self Aggrandizement… such a nasty, awful thing to do.
Hey, Freewiller… when you do that (puff yourself up) we all see you… and we all kind of recognize what you’re doing, we might not say anything, but you turn kinda stinky right in front of our eyes.
So the Freewiller comes along and paints a picture of all that YOU MUST DO… and never gives you a picture of all that God has done and will do. It’s all about what YOU must do, and of course, tucked inside their message is the fact that THEY have already done what YOU MUST do.
I suppose this morning session could devolve into a battle of Bible verses… and I’ve got plenty to “prove” that they’re “ain’t” no Freewill taught in the Bible. And of course the Freewillers have plenty of Bible verse that “prove” that man has a freewill and if man does not use his freewill in the right kind of way, there will be “hell” to pay… literally. The poor sap will spend “eternity” in endless conscious punishment. Yikes.
Why, just yesterday, I was thinking that Romans 1:25, the verse which says… those guys “offer divine service to the creature and not the creator” — I was thinking that is the major verse which should clue us in to the nasty core of freewill teaching.
But, today, I’m thinking the whole mess is worse than what we might get out of Romans 1:25.
By the way… here is v.25 from the Concordant Literal New Testament:
25 those who alter the truth of God into the lie, and are venerated, and offer divine service to the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed for the eons! Amen!
So, the Freewiller comes along and “offers service” to the creature… by exalting him/her into a position of being able and willing to determine his/her own destiny… an eternal destiny… and God just has to stand by and let man have his way.
Oh bother.
Self Aggrandizement
Self Aggrandizement
Self Aggrandizement
Say that 3 times real fast.
Hey, sweetie, come a little closer, I have something very important to tell you — You’re not all that.
You see, sweetie, God is running the show. And God wouldn’t dare trust you with your eternal destiny. You’re too precious for Him to risk all that.
Instead of having a battle of Bible verses… how about we go down this road… let’s look for man’s freewill in some random messages from the Bible… keep in mind… I’m just thinking… off the cuff.
1. “In the beginning God” (Genisus 1:1) Do you see any human freewill in the first 4 words of the Bible? I don’t. Oh, yeah, the Concordant translation says “In a beginning God”— so… do you see any human “freewill” before the or “a” beginning… ???? So far, you (freewillers) are not that important — so far.
2. Hang on… Daniel brought up this “Satan” business, as if Satan has a “freewill”… so let me say that… Satan ain’t all that. He’s just a creature… he’s not the Creator. He does not have a “free” will… his will is constrained and bound by many, many, many influences… the biggest being — his will is “bound” to do what God made him to do.
Didn’t Jesus say “He was a liar and a murderer from the beginning” ??? If that is so, then, the mythology around Satan being a “good guy” from the beginning and using his so-called “free” will… does not cut it. From the very beginning, he was a liar and a murderer.— says Jesus. No freewill. Only God’s will is not bound by circumstances and events and anything else you can think of.
God’s will is free of outside influence.
Ours is not. Satan’s is not.
3. I think we can argue… (not the freewillers) that the Bible is the story of God.
God did… thus and so. God is doing… this and that. God operates this and that… God gathers. God judges. God rescues. God was in Christ. God completes. God removes. God grants. God gives. It’s all the story of God.
4. Up next in our understanding is this: the Bible is the story of God and His Son. — We, humans, are way down the list in the importance of this grand story before our eyes. He is the firstborn of creation. He is the beloved. He is the Son of His love. He is the alpha and omega. He is God’s creative original. He is firstborn from among the dead. All has it’s cohesion in Him (Christ).
5. The Freewiller’s teaching sure does it’s best to focus the entire message on man and man’s actions and behavior and will. They don’t see God. They don’t love God. They do their absolute best to paint God into a blasphemous corner… of someone who scraps 90% of His creation into a burning hell, as it was all worthless and a big mistake.
Self Aggrandizement
Self Aggrandizement
Self Aggrandizement
Tell me, if you can, dear Freewiller, how your teaching of human freewill, leads to humility and honor to God?
Yesterday, I posted a note that said that the human will is totally subject to hormones. Without the right hormone balance, you can’t think right, act right, indecisive, you might even be murderous, cantankerous, etc.
Point: Who is responsible for giving us the right hormone balance??? God is. The freewiller’s game is to condemn all but themselves… Self Aggrandizement… somehow… they made the RIGHT decision… somehow… THEY HUMBLED themselves… and chose “to follow Jesus” …. And every one else must pay an eternal price for not falling in line like they did… Self Aggrandizement
GOOD NEWS: One day, God’s gonna bring us all home, even the Freewillers. Their message will not last. Their message will be toasted at the barbecue of God. God will give us all, new hearts, new understanding, a new appreciation for what Christ accomplished on the cross. Every knee will bow. And not “too late”… every tongue will confess… and not “too late”… and it will be to the glory of God, the Father (See Philippians 2:5-11) And all those who use to—way in the past — use to, offer divine service to the creature and not the Creator (Romans 1:25) — They’ll all be changed, and my won’t the tears of joy flow then?
Keep in mind, to some degree, I admire Freewillers. I was one ya know. Some of them are mean. Heartless. Bastards. But most of them are well-meaning and almost harmless. They just haven’t thought things through very thoroughly. Their teaching is harmful. But so are all false teachings. But the Freewill teaching seems to be the most popular of all… it’s hardly ever challenged… and when you do challenge it in christian circles, they snap at you. They can be mean. James Gang, like.
7:58 a.m.
Coffee refill time.
I’ll post the link if you want to come in, while I’m getting coffee I’ll get my headset… keep in mind, I’ll have to whisper, so you do most of the talking.
Pause…





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #43
The Zoolander Episode
Ok, Supposedly it’s Saturday.
Feb 5th, 2022.
It feels a little warmer outside…hold on…
It’s 21º out there… with a high of 39º





Dear One,
I don’t know of you saw the movie “ZOOLANDER” but I did. One time.
I personally did not have any belly laughs. But I remember my adult daughter did. Lots of them.
The movie was about some male models, who were full of themselves. Now that I think about it, it was the perfect movie with the perfect metaphors about many things. To the point where we could say “You can see the gospel in Zoolander.”
Hang on… let me think aloud about this…
You can see many elements of “the gospel” in many movies… like Star Wars, or The Matrix, — where the plot line has a “savior” who shows up, and is almost always a reluctant hero. Luke Skywalker… Neo… etc.
But to see “the gospel” in Zoolander… ???
Let me explain…
Zoolander was about a guy who was full of himself. He was harmless enough. But he was completely stupid about his self-love. He was always looking in a mirror.
Now, I’ve seen Twighlight Zone shows about just such a guy, but in the Twighlight Zone, the self-absorbed asshole was always down-right evil.
But Zoolander was almost innocent and charming. The movie was built to be a comedy without a laugh-track, so you had to get it, to chuckle.
So that’s the “gospel” of it all.
The vast majority of humanity are not down-right evil… but we are all sure self-absorbed. We all just love that damn mirror. And we love ourselves. To the point where it almost drives us insane.
The other day, we went over what exactly SIN is… and I said we can see SIN and understand SIN… by considering those 700 left-handed dudes in the Old Testament, who could “hit the target within a hair-breath and not SIN.”
They missed the target.
They missed the point.
Zoolander misses the point.
I think most of us miss (sin) the point, like Zoolander.
We’re so self-absorbed that we look down our noses with not a drop of sympathy or empathy for others.
Ya know… God set this whole thing up to make sure we sin.
One of Zoolander’s biggest faults, (sins?) is his belief that his “good looks” would go on forever. Never mind that he wasn’t really all that good looking. Never mind that — oh forget it… I hope you guys can see this whole point even before I type these words out…
God set this whole thing up so that we all won’t remain Zoolander for too long.
I go back to Romans 5:12… where God makes sure that death and dying and just getting old and tired and out of breath and ugly and grumpy… are “passed through” to all mankind. All that stuff is “mortality”… Mortality is passed through into all mankind.
There are so many Zoolanders in our lives. And truth be known, we’re all Zoolanders at one time or another.
So, when God makes sure we all get “mortality” (Rom 5:12) God makes sure we all sin. And when we “sin” enough… our eyes finally get opened to the point where we can say “Oh my, what was I thinking?”
Zoolander is the ultimate sinner. He never gets it.
We (movie watchers) never fall in love with him (his character). We can’t. He’s too in love with himself for us to fit in there.
He is weak and flawed but can’t see any of his own weaknesses… and flaws and his own stupidity. But he’s mostly harmless. He is us.
God’s job is to bring us all down to the final breath… to where we can see… we weren’t all that after all.
“Death reigns” — is one phrase that comes to mind.
Paul told one batch of brethren, “death reigns in us, yet life in you.”
In our younger days, we take our beauty and health totally for granted. And we might as well toss in our “wisdom” and way of thinking with that beauty and health… they are all connected. We take it all for granted. And we all act like Zoolander.
We have a lot to learn. And unlearn.
The humorous part of that movie, and the dark part, is that Zoolander never learns, never matures about things, and as I recall… dies at the end… still totally in love with himself. (It’s been some 20 years since it came out… let me check… ) Yeah, it came out in 2001.
It is really a dark movie, of the Twighlight Zone type but hopefully we can see and laugh at ourselves in that movie… Just thinking.
There is no redemption for Zoolander in the movie. He dies never getting one day smarter, or one day older, or one day wiser, — Just a dimwitted, self-absorbed dufus (sp?).
I’m trying, (in my mind) to make the leap here… into faith, or something more blessed and hopeful… but Zoolander’s got me stuck.
To me, the movie proves we cannot save ourself. We cannot even see that we need saving. Watching the movie, we can all say that Zoolander needs saving from himself… but he can’t see it.
And I’m torn between suggesting that we are all Zoolander… or at least we know plenty of Zoolanders in our lives. And they drive us crazy, thus making us no better than Zoolander himself.
So, if it’s true that All is out of Him, through Him and for Him… ROMANS 11:36… can we see that all the Zoolanders are within God’s precious care and within His eonian purpose?
All those beautiful people out there… who grow old and lose their beauty… does THAT make them beautiful — with they lose their beauty?
Zoolanders cannot save themselves.
God is the savior of all. (I Tim 4:10)
Beauty fades.
Wisdom sometimes grows.
Sometimes wisdom (the mind?) fades.
We cannot save ourselves.
We are all dependent on God, for life, and breath and beauty and wisdom, and all. (ACTS 17:25,28)










Hang on… coffee refill time.
8:17 a.m.





8:22 a.m.
Humility includes humiliation.
Some suggest that humility is a desirable trait… I do… but it’s its own weird thing. Just because someone gets humiliated… does that make them humble? Can they be humiliated and not even realize they’ve been humiliated?
Think of all the beautiful movie stars who were never really that smart. But for a while, they had the the spotlight. Their beauty fades, the spotlight passes them over, and do they ever get any smarter or wiser…???
I think I’m trying to show that SIN and Zoolanderism are unseparable.
God makes sure we sin by making sure we’re born mortal… ahhhhhh we may be cute… and even lovely or beautiful when we’re young (and dumb) but this dying process makes us do stupid things (sin).
Again — Romans 5:12 teaches that mortality was passed through into all mankind… and it teaches that mortality make us do stupid things.
God bless Derek Zoolander. He is us.
Exit, stage right.
Let me know in the side chat if anyone wants to come in… I’ll get the headset and whisper… if you do.
I’ll also turn down that damn rainfall noise.
So’s I can hear ya.
Grace to you. Bye for now.
We might do a show later today.
Ace.





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #44
The “Who The Heck Are We’” Episode.





6:38 a.m.
Monday, Feb 7th. 2022
Is it really February already?





Good morning, dear saint,
This morning’s verse is a weird one from Acts.
Keep in mind… in my christian days, I heard over 4,000 sermons. And the things I bring up (often) on this channel are “sermons” I never heard… and this is one.
So… here it is….
Acts 27: 23 For there stood beside me this night
a messenger of God, Whose I am,
to Whom I am offering divine service also,
Now, here’s the weird part… Paul says in essence…
“I am God’s.”
Now… who talks like that?
I have yakked with lots of “believers” and regular christians… and they always say “I believe in God”… But they never say “I am God’s”… wow… what a difference.
So I woke up this morning… thinking… the whole world is thinking “who am I?” And the best they can come up with is… “I am my stuff.”
For example… over the years, I’ve gone over to so and so’s house — just meeting him for the first time… and I might say in so many words, “Tell me about yourself?” (In essence “who are you?”) and he will show me the boat in his driveway…. Go on, laugh…
So, he is his boat????
Listen… I was eat up with the same kind of confusion and bullshit thinking… because when someone would come over to my house, and ask (in essence) “who are you?” I would show them my library of books. Silly me.










So, our question today is Who are We?
And it’s really a child’s question.
Years ago, when my wife wanted a divorce, one of her excuses was “I just want to find out who I am.” — words to that effect. Yeah right… she just wanted to chase the mailman.
So… Who are we? — It’s a pretty serious question. But I’m suggesting we actually make progress when we move to the next question: WHO IS GOD?
And then to the question: WHO IS CHRIST?
So Paul says to is audience in Acts 27— I am God’s.
Can we get there?
Can we get to the place, where we say to those who ask “Who are you?” — I am God’s.
I’m closer to being able to say that with confidence that I was some time ago… and I must confess, it’s kinda satisfying… to say and know that I am God’s.
My ex-wife wanted to say “I am the mailman’s” — lol.
Listen, in our epic journey through this thing we call “life”… it’s easy enough to see that when we are 4 years old, we want to know WHO WE ARE…. but as maturity whallops us… let’s hope it comes with the question, “Who is God?”
Who are we?
Who is God?
Who is Christ?
Dare I say that the three questions are wrapped up together… perhaps they are the same question?
I will say… however, that when we see that we all belong to God… “We are God’s”… there’s a lot of peace of mind, that burst forth…
Look at this again…





Acts 27: 23 For there stood beside me this night
a messenger of God, Whose I am,
to Whom I am offering divine service also,
Paul says… a messenger shows up… a messenger of God, whose I am… oh my.
Name one preacher who talks this way.
Name one bible teacher who says “I am God’s.”
The danger of heading down this way of thinking is this: If you are God’s… you don’t have a freewill. And you know those guys LOVE freewill. If you are God’s, everything that happens to you, is within God’s purview. If you are God’s, no one can touch you.
Back in the old South… before the (un)civil war, often a slave would be sent to the store, or to do some errand… and someone in town might ask him, “Who are you?” And the slave would say “I’m Bob Smith’s people.” (If, “Bob Smith” was the owner of the slave.)
We belong to God. We are God’s people.
And don’t leave anyone out of this thought.
God owns us all. Slave or free.
The kind and the cantankerous.
God owns us all.
Now, some “spiritual” leaders out there, try to tell you that “God loves you.” …. But what if “God owns you.”???? It’s a different message… if God owns you, he can do with you as He wills… right? If God owns you, His purpose for you can be … hmmmmmm…. Perhaps something unpleasant (so it would seem)… but HE OWNS YOU DAMN IT… shut up. He owns you. Get it?
The questions:
Who are we?
Who is God?
Who is Christ?
So we plow through to bible to find some answers… since we ask the preacher, and he’s less than helpful. And the Bible is a confusing mess… 800,000 words… where do we look? How do we ‘interpret’ the whole thing?
Does the Bible’s message reveal that these questions are separate from each other? Nah, I suspect they are one and the same question….
Paul says “God was in Christ” (See II COR 5:18-20)
Paul says “Your life is hid together with Christ in God” (See Colossians, somewhere).
I need not go further… this thing is BIG… bigger than anything we’ve stumbled on before. To dare suggest that YOUR LIFE IS HID… wow. YOUR LIFE IS HID TOGETHER WITH CHRIST… oh my…. YOUR LIFE IS HID TOGETHER WITH CHRIST IN GOD… my mind, my mind… it was just blown… where is it….?????????
2 Be disposed to that which is above, not to that on
the earth, 3 for you died, and your life is hid together with
Christ in God. 4 Whenever Christ, our Life, should be manifested,
then you also shall be manifested together with
Him in glory.
Who are we?
Who is God?
Who is Christ?
The wicked belong to Him. !!!!
The righteous belong to Him !!!!!
The “saved” belong to Him !!!!!
The kind belong to Him !!!!!
The smart belong to Him !!!!
The ignorant belong to Him !!!
WE ALL really, belong to Him.
Never forget… Paul’s throw away comment to those guys on the ship…
… “a messenger of God, Whose I am, “
So, let’s keep going… WHO IS GOD?
Oh my. What a doozy of a question.
One verse says “God is the savior of all.” (I TIM 4:10) … Another says “God is love.” And another say “God is spirit.” — We’ve got lots of room to explore here… who is God, indeed.
I’m thinking… that IF we can see that we are God’s, (no matter who we are) then the question of “Who is God?” becomes a different question… one easier to answer or more intimate.
Let me explain…
Let’s say you don’t belong to God… you’re not His… and you ask “Who is God?”… no matter what, you’re going to be suspicious of the answer.
But if you are God’s… the answer to WHO IS GOD?… becomes a different little engagement altogether.
Paul says “I am God’s.”
And the slave in the South, says “I’m Bob Smith’s people.”
I thinking that “love”… in this case become more solid… less shaky… less emotional and more of a foundation — knowing that WE ARE HIS.
So, the slave in the South says “I’m Bob Smith’s people.” — who the hell cares whether Bob Smith loves this slave or not… you better not touch him or Bob Smith is gonna kick your ass. He’s Bob’s people.
We are God’s. No one touches us.
We ALL belong to Him… no one touches us. Not without His permission and will and purpose.
All belong to him. Even our opposers.
Jesus was being stared down by the religious and the Roman government… Whipped, crown of thorns, bloody back, And surely Christ belonged to God… no one touches Him (Christ) without answering to God… get it… We all belong to Him. We are God’s property. We are God’s creation. We are God’s by design… and forethought. We did not gen up ourselves.










Christ was God’s. Pilate was God’s. All those Jews cheering on the crucifixion were, actually God’s children’s and “his people”. Nothing gets done or played out apart from the owner of all.
Who are we?
Who is God?
Who is Christ?





I ask these three question in this order, because generally speaking, we silly ones start out our life trying to figure out who we are… then, it seems to me, we move along to trying to figure out who God is.
Dare I suggest, when we get to figuring out who Christ is… we’re almost ready to get our answers… ???
Don’t cha know.
But “God was in Christ.”
And if that were/was/is true… maybe we can see that God is in us. Holy smokes.
“I’m Bob Smith’s people.” — That is a warning to anyone asking in a threatening way. “I’m Bob Smith’s people… stand aside… I serve him… and I have purpose… and unless you want to answer to Bob, get out of my way.”
Paul says “I am God’s.”
Now, I would wish, that everyone could come along and see this big idea… and say with me, “I am God’s”… but I already know that “we is all Bob Smith’s people.” — what a thought.
We all belong to God… in so many ways… we’re like “double owned”… we’re own by the fact that God made us… and we’re own by the fact that Christ purchased us again — on the cross… just in case you didn’t get the message the first time… DOUBLE PAYMENT… You are God’s… He owns you. Ain’t that just a lovely thought?
You may think you own yourself…. But boy, do you have a thing or two to learn.
You are His.
And I’m so thrilled about it.
I am His. And thrilled about it too.










It’s 8 a.m. Got to get going.
So glad you joined me, for this rambling, musings, about the things of God. We are His, don’t cha know.
Grace to you.
Oh, note this: If you’re dealing with someone, and you now know that that fellow is God’s, wouldn’t you deal with him, more respectfully, more gingerly???
You don’t mess with Bob Smith’s people.
And you don’t mess with God’s people.
And all creation is His. My oh my.
Thanks for letting me think aloud… leave your comments below.
And I’m out of here with Paul’s quote one more time…
Acts 27: 23 For there stood beside me this night
a messenger of God, Whose I am,
to Whom I am offering divine service also,





The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Theses – #45
The “God, the Father’” Episode.





5:51 a.m.
Tuesday, Feb 8th, 2022
KSL says it’s 27º out there, that’s kinda warm.
… says it will get up to 45º later today.





Good Morning Dear One,





I’m kind of foggy as to where to go with my thoughts this morning. Yesterday, I prattled on about “who are we, who is God, and who is Christ?” — I’m kind of stuck on that theme… this morning…. And I wanted to think aloud with you about God “the Father” Let’s see where this goes…..





  1. There is an intimacy in this “Father” thing…
    1. Yeah, we address God as “God” — As in saying “Dear God”… is that right to do? Presumptuous on our part? Maybe. But when we address the deity as “Dear Father” … holy smoke… we’re entering a different world altogether… we’re entering “FAMILY” lingo. Talk about “presumptuous” … “Father” indeed. (Remember that Gentile woman who approached Jesus, and Jesus said “It’s not right to give bread to the dogs.” She was speaking to Jesus using Jewish terms… not as a Gentile… but in very intimate terms, as if she was a Jew… and thus Jesus curtly called her a “dog”. — Well… I get that feeling, when trying to sort out whether we should call God “Father”.)
    2. God is called “the Father” of Jesus. Family. But, I’m thinking that there was a “time” when the two (Jesus and God) were NOT known as “Father” and “Son”. We see “Jesus” in the Old Testament… like when that extra fellow showed up in the fire with Shadrack, Meshak, and Abednego — that extra fellow was called (I think, it’s been a long time since I looked at that passage) “the son of mankind” … Can we say that that was Jesus. — So, calling God “the Father”, didn’t show up until the New Testament, I think. And in John 1… it takes 14 verses before it gets around to calling God “Father”… I’m thinking this “Father” thing is rather new in God’s eonian purpose (Eph 3:11).
    3. In Ephesians 1:3 (I think) it says “Blessed be THE GOD and FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, can we say from this type of grammar that God has a dual role even to Christ? He is both GOD to Christ and He is FATHER to Christ? Christ has a God, and Christ has a Father. I get it, this is not “trinitarian” lingo… screw that… I want to grow in grace and faith.
    4. God is the Father of Jesus Christ. As I know the story, they certainly deserve each other. They went through hell together. That thing on the cross was some’em. — He (Christ) yelled out “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani which is roughly translated, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me.” — That’s rough. No doubt about it.
    5. So, before the cross… Jesus was referencing God as “Father”… But on the cross, He does both — He references God as “God” and as “Father”… oh my… He did, at the very end say “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” … very intimate. It’s not a prayer “to God”…. It’s a request to “the Father.” — wow…
    6. And since… He as the SON of the Father… requests God to “Forgive” us yahoos for our part in putting Him on the cross… I suspect the deal is done.
    7. On the whole, I’m thinking we take this “Father” business for granted. We don’t realize it’s FAMILY… it’s INTIMATE… it’s “not for everyone” — and I put that in quotes because “not for all is the faith”… says II THESSOLONIANS (sp?) 3:2… not for all is the faith… yet. Give God’s eonian purpose time to play out.
    8. We have a bunch of folks who don’t give a fig about these matters. He is their “Father” too, they just don’t know it yet.
    9. “Father” is intimate… family… and if God is creating and using some folks as “bait”… as “vessels of dishonor”… (Romans 9) — well… it’s a very special previledge (sp?) to be used by God as mean, tough guys… God raised up Pharaoh for a display… Pharaoh DID NOT know God as “Father”… but he sure got to know God as God. At that time, God was setting up things to DISPLAY HIS POWER (in Pharaoh and the ‘gyptians.) — Imagine, in the future… in that great day, when death is abolished, and every knee bows… and every tongue (even Pharaoh’s) acclaims… Jesus as Lord… imagine, Pharaoh then calling God “Father”… humbling thought, huh?
    10. Which is better:
      “Good morning God.” … or
      “Good morning Father.”
      …as a morning prayer? My own habit is “good morning Father.” I don’t know if I really qualify to use those words… but screw it… I’m doing it.
    11. I know Paul uses the term ‘FATHER’ plenty… but do Peter, James, John, and Jude? — I don’t read those letters much. And, is the term “Father” found much in the book of Revelation?
    12. Is the phrase “the Father of all” found in the Bible? — I use the term often… but I don’t know if it’s legit… I’m reckless I suppose. It makes sense that He is the “Creator” of all, so I don’t know if there’s any harm in calling Him “the Father” of all… I do remember, in Acts 17, Paul says He makes out of one, every nation on Earth.
    13. God bless Pharaoh.
    14. So, like that Gentile woman who was pestering Jesus… how dare we call God “Father”… And since this whole typing show is about assigning human emotions and human thingy’s to God… let’s push it… I can see God, stopping, biting His cheek, thinking, ready to turn His head toward us, when we address Him as “Father”… He stops because He knows He really IS the “Father”… so… He cannot deny Himself. He may take on different “identities” and roles during His creative efforts — Creator, Punisher, Judge, Conciliator, etc…. But we hardly address God as “Judge”… we have this natural thing… of calling Him “Father”… and I suspect it gets to Him. He melts. He turns. He’s charmed and can’t hep (no “L”) it.
    15. God (The Father) has so much work to do. I wish we could help… but like getting help from a 5 year-old to replace the hot-water heater… us helping God I can imagine is more bother to Him, than us just plain old “trusting”. (Remember our favorite passage: “We trust in the living God, who is the savior of all” I TIM 4:10).
    16. Ok, can we say that we’d learn a bit by doing a concordant study on the word FATHER… and especially when Jesus (the Son) uses the term FATHER… what would we learn????
    17. Back to the cross… when Jesus was concerning with Himself and His pain of rejection… He address God as God… but when Jesus was addressing God regarding all of us… He says “Father” forgiven them. Is there something there? — Can we say “the Father” did not abandon Him, but “God” did? Can we say that “God” is tougher, meaner than “the Father”?
    18. Ok… God does not change… but God brings us along to where we see Him as more than just “God”… He brings us along to where we can see Him as “Father”….. intimate… family…
    19. Jesus, when He was teaching prayer… says to pray: “Our Father, who art in heaven” — “give us”… I don’t know where to go with this prayer… I’ve been out of the circumcision writings so long… it’s kind of foggy to me these days. Paul’s example of prayer is larger FOR OTHERS… Jesus’ example seems to be self-ward. “Give us our daily bread”… Paul’s prayer example is “I pray God give YOU a spirit of wisdom, etc.” — But Jesus did start out this prayer business with FATHER… Intimate. Family.
    20. Listen, there’s no harm in addressing the great God of Heaven and Earth as “Father”… might not change God, but it will likely change YOU.
    21. We’re doing some reckless thinking here… who knows if we’re on to something… we’re groping to find him (ACTS 17) — doing the best we can.
    22. God, the Father of all. — what a helluva thought. The Father of Adam. The Father of Pharaoh. The Father of Jesus. The Father of (name your bad guy). Imagine standing before your Father, who is also the Judge, and the Bailbondsman, and the — ok, let’s say it — He is all… Oh my God… and in that great day, He will be all… in all.
    7:21 a.m.
    Coffee refill time.
    7:29 a.m.
    Onward.
    1. I’m sure I’m missing something concerting this “Father” thing. After all, I’m only an “Ace” theologian. And if you know anything about “ace” plumbing, “ace” hardware, “ace” pilots… they’re all just hacks… who make progress largely by accident and not getting caught. But of roughnecks.
    2. Greg has a good thought…”Without Paul’s evangel bringing us into God’s family, we as members of the nations could not call Him Father. We could only call Him the God of Israel.”
    3. Wow… God does have His rules. His plans. His purpose. And if we’re going to rely on “revelation”… from the Bible… then we “must” admit… He is the God of Israel. And we’d have no right to impose on Him. And no right to address him as FATHER… Which means — yes, God has a lot of work to do… but my oh my, He’s already accomplished so very much. He’s moved heaven and hell to raise His Boy from the dead… and in that work alone, we on the outskirts of Israel, can move in and call God “Father”… holy smokes.
      27… So, if I can boss you guys around… I’m a-here telling you, encouraging you, preaching at you, start calling God “Father”… Let’s see if He can handle it. And let’s say the regular “christians” are right and there’s an “eternal hell” waiting for us who don’t hop to the christian dance… well… I’m suggesting that if this “God” sends you to “eternal hell”… then use the term “FATHER” when addressing God from hell. Let’s see how He handles that… ha. Love Him from Hell.
    4. OMG, Sterling has a beautiful thought: If God is “FATHER”… we have the charming and glorious freedom to call each other “Brothers” and “Sisters”… and it “be” meaningful.
      29… Again, I’m sure I’m missing some aspects of this “Father” thing… so if you think of something, leave your comments and thoughts. It’s a topic bigger than me (and dare I say, you) — so we’re in this reckless adventure together. Got to wind it up for now.
      Grace to you darlings, one and all.
      Ace.
      7:49 a.m.
      It’s still 27º out there.





“Christians” VS The Body of Christ.
“Disciples” VS The Body of Christ.





Listen to Jason’s talk over here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNXxpYIKjsc





He says we’re the body of Christ, we’re not “Christians”… and he makes a good point. Really good.





Grace to you.
Ace.





Post Script: Years ago this “movement” came through the USA and infected the left overs of the old “Jesus Movement”… it was called The Discipleship Movement”… it was awful. Full of LAW and WORKS.. and no GRACE. So, Jason’s message that the “disciples” were Jews. And the Body of Christ is something entirely different. Leave a comment on Jason’s message.





2 PETER, 3…
9 The Lord is not tardy as to the promise, as some are deeming tardiness, but is patient because of you, not intending any to perish, but all to make room for repentance.
10 Now the day of the Lord will be arriving as a thief, in which the heavens shall be passing by with a booming noise, yet the elements shall be dissolved by combustion, and the earth and the works in it shall be found.
11 At these all, then, dissolving, to what manner of men must you belong in holy behavior and devoutness,
12 hoping for and hurrying the presence of God’s day, because of which the heavens, being on fire, will be dissolved, and the elements decompose by combustion!
13 Yet we, according to His promises, are hoping for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness is dwelling.
14 Wherefore, beloved, hoping for these things, endeavor to be found by Him in peace, unspotted and flawless.
15 And be deeming the patience of our Lord salvation, according as our beloved brother Paul also writes to you, according to the wisdom given to him,
16 as also in all the epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which are some things hard to apprehend, which the unlearned and unstable are twisting, as the rest of the scriptures also, to their own destruction.
17 You, then, beloved, knowing this before, be on your guard lest, being led away with the deception of the dissolute, you should be falling from your own steadfastness.
18 Yet be growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now, as well as for the day of the eon. Amen!


Join my newsletter and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Get notified about live streams and get my weekly written essays on Paul's letters. -Ace


















			

			


	




	


					

									

						
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