The Ace Theological Company’s 95 Thesis

The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Thesis

SIDE NOTE: I usually type these up in the morning on my “ace theo” channel on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG3HOrC2A7Jb5kHDEae9AAg

So… I will be adding to this, from time to time so check back, or FOLLOW ME on this blog, to see updates… although I don’t know if you’ll be updated if I just ADD TO this post. Let me know.

Good morning.
Friday, Dec 10th, 2021

In the spirit of Martin Luther, I thought we might find 95 things to complain about… regarding the church, — that is the modern day “christian” church… regarding those who “attend church” and possible solutions for the “curious”.
Now, I would say “solutions for the saints of God who want the truth” but for now, I’ll say the “curious” as… if you’re not curious about things, you’re never going to question the current status of things and never gonna see that somethin’ ain’t right.
Hang on, I’m thinking.

1. Now, it doesn’t take much to see that something is not right with the world. However, if you take an interest in spiritual things, and the things of God, you’ll also have to conclude that something is not right with that world too. So, where do we begin?
2. How about with “tithes” ??? That should piss the church leaders off plenty. So, yes, you can find something about tithes (giving 10% of your income or wealth to the priests of the Old Testament Jewish world) — something about tithes but only in the Old Testament. It’s not a New Testament thing. And if we want to call ourselves “New Testament believers”… why, you just might have to march down the “scary” road of shucking this tithing thing… and it’s not really “scary” for you, it’s scary for the minister of your church. You see, his income is at stake. And he’s not going to like it when you start unraveling the whole edifice he and his boys have built around this “God” thing and this “church” thing. And if you pick at one little straw, the whole dang thing might fall apart. And guess what, “tithing” is a big deal to the edifice.
   But these guys need more than 10%… So, over the years, they do things like sell pew rents, they sell absolutions, (forgiveness), they come up with teachings about “planting seeds to see it grow” (in other words give them money and your blessings will grow.)
   The wealth of the “church” is huge. They’ve got real estate all over the world. And buildings. And campgrounds. And factories. And investments in things like pharmaceutical companies. And lord knows what.
   But it all starts with an entrance fee, called a “tithe”…. Just to get things rolling.
   And remember the ole “Spanish Inquisition” (part of ‘church history’) when they would kill you if you were a “heretic”? Well, get this… you were only accused of being a heretic if you own enough property. And if they wanted your property. If you were just a poor shoemaker, who did not cause any trouble, then your “heretical” belief never mattered to the overlords.
   So, don’t kid yourself, this examination of why things aren’t right surely must begin at the money aspect of the “things of God” (Notice I put it in quotes).
   So, crack open the New Testament, and trace out the money matters. No tithes. No clear rules about money matters at all, really. Take care of the poor, it says. Work so you’ll have something to share, it says. It does say that there are those who will use the evangel for gain — and we’re talking money. One verse says they turn the matters of God into a “vocation”. (See the Concordant Literal New Testament.)
   Now, since money is such a tight subject, we can see why, most churches and christian movements would highjack Old Testament passages in order to accumulate a big pile of dough.
   When Saul bumped into the Lord on the road to Damascus, the message to him was “I’m gonna show you how much you must suffer for my name sake.” — That is not a good marketing message for the church. They ignore that message. They tend to lean on the idea of, “Join us and your troubles are over.” But, Jesus’ message to Saul, proved to be true… he suffered quite a bit. And so do all the saints who come into the faith. Nobody gets out of here unscathed. Sinners suffer, but so do the saints.
   Over the years, there have been millions of believers who said “to hell with it all” when they saw with their own eyes how greedy those ministers were when it came to money and church property and stabbing brothers and sisters in the back.
   The problem is… when the saints are feed up with this crap, and walk away from “church” they are too wounded to even be bothered with God at all. And it takes a miracle of God to bring them back to the faith, in any real and humble way.
   But it does happen. There are saints who walked away from “church” for a great number of reasons, but found their way back to believing God. This is a wondrous thing. This is a beautiful thing. Sometimes, they find their way back to God in a lonely spot on the back porch. Sometimes they find fellow believers who come together apart from the organized thing. But it happens. And it’s sooooo lovely. It is “of God”. (Romans 11:36)
   I think that lonely spot on the back porch, is an invention of God… it’s like the holiest place on Earth. And to tell you the truth… you don’t want to invite too many folks to join your back porch experience, they might ruin it.
   In the New Testament, starting in Acts 7… when Stephen was murdered… and the saints had to hightail it out of town to avoid being next… THAT IS A TRUE CHURCH LIFE EXPERIENCE. It’s not the permanence of the church building, it’s what God is building IN YOU. Patience, endurance, testedness, etc.
   If the church is on the run, you can’t collect “tithes” nor taxes. And there is something about the church being on the run, that has a spiritual element to it. Stephen gets pounded by rocks, stones, and let’s not forget verbal abuse… and the whole church says “I’m out of here”… And note: the word “ecclesia” by itself suggest a temporary assembly.
   So far, we’ve only made two points… “something ain’t right” and “what about tithes”. … We’ll pick up this later and find 95 things to complain about… right? Complaining, you see, is our favorite pastime. Paul actually warns against complaining and murmuring. But what does he know?
   I once use to have coffee with a bunch of fellows at a coffee shop in Salt Lake City. One of the guys who met with us was named “Blake”… and I swear that guy could complain and complain… about everything… traffic, weather, politics… you name it. Well, the boys at the coffee shop started calling him “Bleak” instead of Blake… he got offended and found another coffee shop to go to.
   I hope in this ongoing chat to offer plenty of hope, joy and direction… as well as complain to my hearts content.
   Grace to you.
   7:53 a.m.
   Ace.
   
   The Ace Theological Company’s
   95 Thesis

Is it Saturday?
December 11th. 7:19 a.m
There’s still snow on the ground from yesterday’s storm.
23º out right now… a high expected of 38º.

Now, we’re trying to map out 95 things we can complain about regarding the church, christians, the current situation and our understanding of it all. We all love to complain, so this should be easy. But let’s hope this exercise brings us closer to God and the truth.
We did 2 points yesterday. Let’s try for at least two more.

3. Hang on… thinking… one of the big problems in our “christian” world today is that most of the folks involved in “religion” are not serious bible students. They mostly “go to church” on a Sunday, and listen to the preacher prattle on. But they don’t crack open this book that has some 800,000 words to see what it actually says. However, this wouldn’t be a problem, IF the preacher we going on about something reasonable… and revealing God, God’s truth or God’s purpose. But they’re not. Most preachers preach a message that is easily marketable. What are you likely to “buy”… that’s what he’s selling. “Feel-good” messages sell. So, let’s turn the Bible into a “feel-good” message source. Right? Even the so-called “hell fire” preachers have a twist on the hell-fire message to get YOU personally out of the damnation and into the country-club called “heaven”.
   If you’re going to be a serious bible student, it seems to me, you’d want to know not only what it says but also a lot of it’s history… how it came to be, who the authors were, in what circumstance they lived, and other details that might give color to the message of the Bible.
   Most the Bible was written by Jews, for Jews, about the Jews, and concerning the Jews. Which leads us to our favorite section of the Bible that was written by a Jew (Paul) but was written for the gentile boys and girls, about the gentile boys and girls and concerning the gentile boys and girls.
   And if we can get you to see even a sliver of distinction between one side of the Bible and the other side — the circumcision writings vs the uncircumcision writings… we might be on the road to a happier message.
   You see, if you take the Bible and pour all of it into a pot of soup… and try to make a “unified theory” message of it all… what a mess it becomes. Doing that you WON’T have to real model on which to understand much of anything.
   Words have meanings. Words have color. And as A.E. Knoch once said “You cannot have clear thoughts, without a clarified vocabulary.”
   Imagine trying to warn someone about a “fire”… but you don’t have a clarified vocabulary — let’s see.. you have “fire”, “light”, “heat”, “warmth” “glow”, “hot” maybe “see”… all kinds of words that are related to this fire thing… and how will your warning be heeded if you don’t get your vocabulary right.
   I think I get it now, that some Concordant brothers, bible teachers, have pointed out that God confused the languages at the Tower of Babel. — So, God doesn’t mind stringing us along for a while in darkness and confusion. These Concordant Bible Teachers, have actually said that the KJV (King James Version) is “of God” in the sense that God doesn’t mind if we are all confused and messed up at the moment, in this “wicked eon” and “current era” (see Paul’s letters).
   And that would make sense that God confused the tongues at Babel. And God does not want everyone to see the plan at the moment… Even our buddy Paul said in II Thessolians (sp?) chapter 2, verse 3… “NOT FOR ALL IS THE FAITH”.
   If you know that the faith is not for all… that God’s purpose stands… then perhaps you can relax and not care so much about opposers and nay-sayers. I personally think it helps.
   So, we come along and brag that GOD IS THE CREATOR OF ALL… and that this message actually means something… and should give us joy, comfort and peace… Well… the opposers say… “Not so, Ace, God did not create ‘evil’!!!”
   Or, they say “God did not create Satan”… they suggest Satan more or less created himself. (Go ahead, smile, it’s ridiculous, but it’s what they say or infer.)
   So, if we care about God, we should, it seems to me, care about His word.
   His word could be and often is, considered the collection of the 66 books of the Bible. His word, is sometimes said to be His Son as well. “God speaks to us in a Son” says Hebrews 1:1-2. And I suppose we could argue that God speaks to us in spirit as well. Pick your poison. (1) the Bible, (2) His Son (3) or speaking to us in spirit… either way, how smart of God to speak to us at all.
   Not that we’re all good listeners. Most “christians” are not bible students. Most don’t adore His Son nor his accomplishments on the cross… and most folks ignore the nudging of the spirit… so… we’re all LOCKED UP IN STUBBORNESS as Romans 11:32 says.

SIDE NOTE: Someone on the side chat says “so where did evil originate from?”

ANSWER: God created evil — see ISA 45:7.
ANSWER: All is out of God — see Romans 11:36
ANSWER: All is out of God — see II COR 5:18-19
etc.

Let’s see if I can get back to my thought… God speaks to us… in the Bible, in His Son, and in Spirit… but God doesn’t mind fogging up our brains and plugging up our ears so we just can’t hear him until it suits His purpose.
Roman 8-9 is all about God choosing… and us NOT choosing. Chapter 9, verse 18 (I think) says “it is not of him that willeth” … wow… we might be able to argue that everything is PERFECT, RIGHT NOW, JUST AS IT IS… so our effort to dig up 95 reasons to complain are silly in the big scope of things. But, we’re having fun so let’s press on.

4. The failure of “christianity” to properly address bible contradictions.
   There are so many folks who “would be” christians if only you could explain all those verses that seem to contradict other bible verses. And boy are there plenty of them.
   The vast majority of preachers, just ignore it all, and hope you’ll not see any, and thus they don’t dig very deep into the Bible for meaning at all. The just use it as an idea starter to preach some self-help message, or feel-good message… as if the dang book was written by Tony Robbins or Napoleon Hill.
   But, I’ve discovered that a lot of bible contractions DISAPPEAR when you separate Paul’s letters from the rest of the Bible and look at His letters as a unit, not to be mixed up with the rest of it all.
   You see, the destiny of Israel and the destiny of the Gentile boys and girls are not quite the same. Ultimate destiny, sure. But the trains take different tracks along the way… the Jews are to rule the Earth with Christ, during the “day of the Lord”… but the Gentile believers (who come in during this dispensation of grace) will not be on Earth, we will be with Christ in the celestial realms — helping to redeem the celestial beings.

8:10 a.m.
Let’s pick this up tomorrow.
Grace to you.
Ace.

The Ace Theological Company’s
95 Thesis
Sunday, 7:06. A.M.
Oh good, it’s 37º outside… so the pipes can unthaw.
KSL says it will get up to 44º today.

OK, where were we??

We’re sorting out our gripes with regular christianity… And DB offer to help in his own special way. He said something like “Have ya noticed that there are some 30,000 christian denominations??” And he further said something like, “That proves that christians can’t agree on anything.”

So, let’s use DB’s comment as our jumping IN point:

5. 30,000 denominations PROVE that God’s operations are still going strong. What do I mean? Well, let’s go back to the Tower of Babel. Let’s say there were 30,000 workers at the Tower of Babel and they were working hot and heavy and strong… Along comes God Himself, to see what’s going on and he says “Hmmmmm.” And He gives them 30,000 different tongues (languages) so that they can’t agree on anything. Get it?
   It seems to me, that all the stories of the Bible, all the different ways God deals with mankind, all the angles He sets up for us, or allows up to imagine we’re setting up for ourselves… they all end in failure. Miserable failure.
   How is the Tower of Babel story any different than the 1,000 year reign of Christ? — They both look good at the beginning, but they both end in failure.
   So, DB comes along and points out that we have before us, some 30,000 christian denominations, and that proves none of it is worth heeding. Well… disagreements are common in any sector of society. Medicine, politics, so-called “science”. Thank God for 30,000 denominations. They’re fun.
   If it’s such a problem, should DB wish to go back before Martin Luther got all the protestant stuff going?
   With all the denominations, shouting “You suck” and “No, you suck.” — it creates a fine medium for the curious to say “Hey, what the hell is going on?” And to crack open the Bible itself to see is there are any answers that may have been missed.
   When I was about 17 years old (1970?), my grandparents moved to Clinton, N.C. I went to visit. The house right next door was more or less abandoned. Empty. Not locked up. Just empty. Perfect for a kid to want to “explore”. Well, I was looking around in that old house and found a little booklet — an argument between some preacher who apparently got kicked out of the 7th Day Adventist Church… over an argument concerning GRACE. And this preacher was giving a really good breakdown about how he was right, and the 7th Day guys were wrong about GRACE.
   Apparently he was for it, and they were again’ it.
   I’ve never been in a 7th Day church in my life. But I was THRILLED to find and read this little book. You see, just 3 years earlier I had “become a christian”… by going up to the front of the Pentacostal Holiness Church and saying some prayer, and thus the journey began.
   But when I read this printed argument between the “booted out” pastor and the remaining organized church called “7th Day”.. I was pleased as pie… “Whoa” I said to myself, “there CAN be disagreements?” I didn’t even know I was hungry for the truth… and this little book in an abandoned house, lit my fire.
   Now all these years later. I too am arguing for GRACE.
   Screw those James Gangers.
   So, it seems to me that 30,000 denominations is just peachy. If God did not confuse the languages we’d really have a mess on our hands.
   Paul, in his messages to the ecclesias, wants us to come to the unity of the faith. But no one is saying that all these organized churches, clones and knock-offs of the old catholic institution is the true ecclesia of God. They’re just another sky-rise, that’s not going to amount to much. An embarrassment in the long run.
   
   6. Ok, I was just mentioning some old dude who was arguing with the 7th Day church about GRACE, he was for it and they were against it. — Well, how ‘bout we go down this road… if you want to know who is in the ecclesia of God, how about seeing if they are GRACIOUS???
      You see, the proud and cocky, will not be so gracious. They will be conceited. And vain. If you really have the skinny on God and His purpose and candor, — it’s seems to me, you’ll be more gracious that all of ‘em.
      I live among the Mormons. And when they are young, like young married couples, with kids, up and coming… they tend to be quite self-righteous. Not gracious with outsiders and “sinners”. But as the years progress… I’ve seen their adult kids or teenage kids… get pregnant, get in trouble with the law, end up in jail… and lo and behold, these self-righteous Mormons are humbled and have a milder tongue.
      Hang on… I’ve got to get the coffee started.
      7:48 a.m.
      
   7. In all my complaining about churchianity, I don’t want to stray too far away from the idea that WE WANT TO SEE GOD.
      Remember those boys who came up to Phillip and said to him, “We would see Jesus.” — KJV. Well, that’s how I feel about the churches.. and you can see plenty of manly things, and worldly things and demonic things in the modern day churches, all said to be “of god”… but you know, something ain’t right.
      Back in the 1970’s I was so tickled to be a part of the “Rock Church” in Virginia Beach, VA. It was one of the first “mega-churches” to show up, right out of the “Jesus Movement” of the 60’s and 70’s.
      Dick Gourly was one of the Bible teachers every Sunday, at the Rock Church. A lovely man. He opened up his own to wayward teens struggling to find their way. He and his family were a real “rock” to many of us at that time.
      Well, Dick showed up one Sunday morning to teach his class at the Rock Church, and there was ANOTHER teacher… standing there… teaching his class…. And Brother Gourly was shocked, and puzzled. No one told him. He was just replaced without word. Turns out the new Sunday school teacher was a building contractor, and the Rock Church was trying to curry favor with him to get a good price on expanding the building of the Rock Church.
      Dick Gourly was wounded. I was too, just seeing the back-stabbing games organized churches can and do play… it ain’t right.
      So, we’re on a journey to “SEE GOD” … and we’re looking all around to see God in humanity… to see God in organized religion… to see God in nature… to see God in our loneliness… to see God in our suffering… to see God in the scriptures…
      You can… you can see God… and you can see ugly too. Do you want to look long and hard at ugly, or do you want to caste your gaze at the creator of all?
      I think God has this grand plan for us all so that we get a good glimpse of the ugly, so that, later on, He can show beauty. The first Adam, was ugly. The Last Adam, was lovely. The first man, was ugly, the Second Man, was lovely. The first tree in the garden, was ugly, the second tree, upon which the Son of God was hanged, was lovely.
      Hopefully, we don’t spend all our lives focusing on the rotten of this world… may God, our Father, give us the eyes to see His plan, His purpose, His secret. We’ll pick this up again, next time.
      Thank you for spending some time with me.
      We’ll do an open hang out, here about noon my time (Mountain) that would be 2 p.m. EST.
      Grace to you.
      Ace.
      8:12 a.m.
      
      The Ace Theological Company’s
      95 Thesis
      
      
      Monday Morning.
      7:01 a.m.
      Snow’s still on the ground.
      Road and sidewalks are clear.
      43º out, slight chance of rain.

Good morning dear ones,
I have a big thought for you this morning. It’s not a thought I can be proud of … nor can you… but it’s big… here it is…

8. I’m quite sure, I don’t have the right view or understanding of God and His Son. Here I am chasing 70 years on this Earth, and my view and understanding of God and His Son has change dramatically a dozen times. — The first few times my understanding of God and spiritual matters changed, I was not a happy camper. The change did not occur without a fight from me. I WAS right, don’t cha see… And I saw that I was right until I saw that I was gravely mistaken. So, I’m finally comfortable with this view… that I’m probably wrong about things still. And because “I’m wrong” — use to be wrong and still am wrong… ‘bout something… I can point my crooked finger at what we see as “the church” (you know that big monstrosity that dominates the airwaves and infects our minds with clap…). The “church”… the thing with a tax-exempt status, and a military organized structure, and bosses and peons, and a harpy behind the pulpit. Yeah, it’s a male, but a harpy nonetheless.
   This idea was impressed upon me the other day when we (on this show) read the introductions of A. E. Knoch to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in Knoch’s commentary of the New Testament. — Oh my god… Knoch was totally in love with Jesus, the Son of God. And you could see it in the words of his commentary. You don’t have to read the whole commentary, just read his intro to each of those four “gospels”. He says things like “In this book we see Jesus as royalty, in this book we see Jesus as the servant, in this book we see Jesus as the healer, in this book we see Jesus as the logos of God”… words to that effect. — Having been a “christian” since 1967 and having read many books on the Bible, I confess that I was shocked and awed at Knoch’s words “we see Jesus”… the devotion came through… most of christianity does not have such a love of Jesus, God or His word. Christianity loves christianity.
9. They (christianity) argue from a self-love prospective… They don’t see God and His Son foremost in the story… no… it’s all about YOU and WHAT YOU MUST DO. The Baptists, argue that YOU must be baptized. The Pentacostals argue that YOU must speak in tongues. The rest of them, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on what they want YOU to immediately DO… it’s you get it, that, according to them, it’s really all about YOU. And what you DO.
   So, in my confession that I don’t have the right view of things… or that it’s not quite right… I feel a great peace about the matter. You see, God is the creator of all. And God is the author and finisher of my faith. Yours too. It’s God’s responsibility to bring us all along. I feel sorry for God…it’s a big job. I wouldn’t want it.
   So, we have “the Rock Church”, the “Grace Church”, the “Freewill Baptist Church”, the Mormons, the “independent Church”, the “Church of God”, the “Church of Christ”… and the list goes on. You can tell from the NAME they choose they’ve got a “thing”… and what is that “thing”???? Why, it’s in the name, can’t cha see?
   Now since we pretend to be bible students, is it allowed to ask… did the 1st century believers pick out names like this? They were “called” “christians” by the towns’ folk, but they did not call themselves anything. And it just seems weird that all these “church” groups pick out a name that suits them. But it ain’t right, I tell you. It just smacks of — hijacking the faith.
   Hijacking it and packaging it so you can sell something.
   Paul warns about this kind of thing… he speaks of “the systematization of the deception” (CLNT)— So, it’s not just the deception… it the ability of man? Satan? The dark side? To make a SYSTEM of it all.
   So… if we walk away from the “system” of the deception, where do we go? — It’s scary. The walk might get a little lonely. But what is truth? Is it worth the loneliness?
   I say YES… Truth is a great companion. And what is truth? Why, we just might answer “God is love”. Are you smiling yet? It is a fine place to start your epic journey… GOD IS LOVE… sure does answer a lot of questions… questions of harmony, pain, joy, confusion, and so forth. God is love, is a fine, fine, place to start. And maybe end as well.
10. Another problem we all can find with the organized church is that they make it easy to pick on them. Since they build an edifice, you can find them, tax them, knock on their door, beg money from them, look to them for help, and even lock their members inside the church and light it on fire… Governments have done that ya know. The brits did that to the colonies. The yankees did that to the Southerners. The feds did that at Waco. So, is the systematization of the deception worth it? You tell me.
    I see much more advantage in pursuing God on your back porch than in joining a church. After all, we want to see God. And on your back porch, the view is clearer… in church, the chaos and confusion reigns.

OK… I gotta go.
We’ll pick this up later.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I’m trying… to see God… with you.
Grace and peace to you.
Ace.
7:46 a.m.

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