SOME CONTRADICTIONS AND TRUTHS ABOUT THE LIVES AND HEARTS OF MEN, AND SOME THOUGHTS ON THE WORDS OF GOD

(NOTE: All thoughts in this page are mine, those God blessed me with. But, there are some in here (very, very few) which are changed thoughts and truths from other authors which touched me deeply. I have changed these (very few) to best tell what was going on in my own heart. In the end, what will count is the truth and not the person who wrote it. Truth will remain while all authors will soon be gone from the earth. Till then, "we speak wisdom among those who are perfect; yet, not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, that come to nothing...", 1Cor.2:6.

1. "Two men went up to the temple to pray; one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The publican (…) standing afar off, did not even want to raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his chest, saying: O God, Have mercy on me, a sinner!" Luke 8:10,13. There is a lot of talk about the Pharisee who trusted so much in his religious habits which made him arrogant even before God. But, currently, there are many arrogant people who act like publicans, who have created habits of beating their chests due to teaching in order to excuse their sins and the reason for their staggering living. If the Pharisees lived by appearances and became self-confident because of them, today it is no less true that many gather with the appearance of tax collectors and publicans. They claim that they must keep beating their chest, that they can't stop sinning as if to stop killing, stealing or smoking were things impossible to be achieved. They pray, congregate, read the Bible, preach the Bible, take Holy Communion, get baptized and do everything as required, maintaining the appearance of publicans while still having a heart of stone and an increasingly hardened conscience. They are happy because they don't miss a service, because they spend hours reading the Bible or praying, their lives revolve around church or not, they work hard in the temple or not, doing everything that appears to be evangelical or Christian. "Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name cast out demons? And in your name did we not do many wonders? And then I will say to them openly: I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice iniquity", Matt.7:23. There are certain signs and characteristics that we must consider in what we do or believe. For example, holiness cannot be apparent and mistaken by friendliness and good behavior. True holiness can only be judged by the fruit it produces and not by appearance. It is by the fruit that we will be known before God and not by the hustle and bustle around the church; prayer cannot be judged by beautiful or ugly words, by the time spent in prayer, or the place where one prays or by fasting, but by the answers one obtains; communion with God must be measured by the intervention that God manages to obtain in us and in our daily tasks outside and within the Church and not by what we do, believe or give; all types of tithes and offerings have no value if they are not guaranteed by and for the glory of God; Reading the Bible cannot be measured by the amount of reading and knowledge, but by the transformation and confidence in the heart that it can produce. I could mention many more examples, but here is the idea as a cornerstone so that our minds and hearts can be redirected to certain truths and to certain lies that have transformed God's truth into lies. I hope there is still time to open our spiritual intelligence to the reality that we will all still be judged, and that the Judgment will always begin at the house of God, on our own person and not in those outside (1Ped.4:17). God's judgment begins with the leaders of the church and not with the thief who robbed the church; it begins with who prays and not who is prayed for; It begins with the one who preaches the Word and ends with the one who hears it. It's time to wake up from our sleep and ask why things are no longer as they were in the time of the apostles.

2. The church should be a meeting point with truth and the reality of Christ. No one can separate truth from spiritual reality. If it is not real, the truth loses to become hypocrisy and ceases to be truth even if it is the written truth and even if it is the purest doctrine. We know and recognize the truth by the fruit it produces and reproduces in the form of reality and not so much by what is written. But we all must know that that the truth of God only produces a good effect/fruit by finding a truthful person or someone who desires to be truthful from the heart in all transparency under intense light. This is what it means to walk in the light. If the truth does not find such a heart, it will produce an enemy of the true Gospel, who will be a friend of a false and more "convenient" gospel. That is what it means to become an antichrist. There is another problem, however: a certain type of environment conducive to the survival of the flesh is produced within the Temples of God, a certain way of speaking appropriate for people who wish to congregate and believe without being transformed, and who wish to be believers without ever getting truly new hearts. And this is how gospel actors are created and recreated for ecclesiastical or evangelical roles, which never produce eternal fruit because they try to produce fruit for themselves, wanting God to agree and be cooperative with them in that sense. Who wouldn't want to have an Almighty God at the service of his carnal desires? Unfortunately, this type of Gospel is also distributed to those with true hearts who seek shelter and truth in these temples of lies, subduing them in darkness due to the lack of reality in what they hear and forcefully try to digest. Truth can never gain deep roots in a heart that has not been truly transformed, just as lies and unreality will never gain deep roots in a heart that seeks truth or seeks to be truthful. Unfortunately, in both cases, it has the capacity to produce appearance; and appearance does not save from itself but tries to save itself. If the aim of preaching is not the conquest or reconquest of man's deepest being to God, if it is not the transformation of man's true essence into the full truth of spiritual reality to save him from himself and his sins, whether many or few, truth creates and recreates appearance and, consequently, reality is not produced by true, abundant life. It is very important to address and point all the arrows of true preaching to the heart and essence of each man and not to his appearance. Legalistic preaching does that, just as smooth preaching achieves it too. Appearance does not change people, but the transformation of a person's true essence changes even his appearance. And many seek the change of appearance and not the change of the whole, starting from deep within and not from the outside. We must be aware that, to embrace the true Gospel, is to embrace our death itself. We need to die with Christ to the point of being able to affirm, like Paul, that "I no longer live" and that to be true and not mere rhetoric. May there be churches and preachings where all those who enter know that they will find their own death and not the survival of their sinful species.

3. "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven", Matt.7:21. In this piece of Scripture, there is hidden wisdom over which one can easily stumble. There is more hidden content in it than, at first glance, it may appear. We cannot assume that anyone can do God's will. By assuming it so, we would not be sided up with truth. Only those who are enabled can execute God's will and only through them does it bear fruit because "it is God who works both to will and to do for His good pleasure", Phil.2:13. In the prayer that Jesus taught, we read something that needs to be well understood. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven", Matt.6:10. This is one of those verses that may not have a direct translation into our language. In fact, it means something like this: "Your will be done here on earth in the same way – in the same manner – that it is done in heaven". The issue here is not that it be done, but the way in which it is to be done. That is, by the same means, for the same reasons and making full use of the same power, which has yet to be achieved or received. And this power can only be attained by fulfilling certain conditions and, afterwards, by seeking it wholeheartedly and finding it. However, that search must begin with the extermination of any carnal means upon which any residual hope is still secretly kept. Even if someone tries to execute God's will through carnal means or power, it will never bear fruit because the house is not built by God. It is for this reason that we will be known by the fruit we bear and not by the execution of anything. We cannot believe that the flesh can/should survive, perform or bear fruit within the Temple of God. Only the very deluded can believe such a thing.

4. "When you pray, do not babble vain words (vain repetitions), as the nations. For they think that in their much speaking they shall be heard", Matt.6:7. The issue here is not even about the number of words or repetitions used in prayer, as there are people who use few words and are not heard in prayer too. The secret of prayer is to be heard and is not the form or formula of praying nor the amount of time spent in prayer. To be heard, there are certain conditions that need to be met. However, we cannot say with certainty that those conditions are the same for a new convert as for an adult in Christ. But, there is something common in both cases: having the whole heart involved in the search for something that glorifies God. John Bunyan said the following on his deathbed: "When thou prayest, it is better that thy heart should be without words, than that thy words should be without heart". Any prayer that is not attended by God is a vain prayer and the prayers that are not heard are the main source for vain repetitions. And, to be heard, it is necessary to fulfill certain conditions that change and deepen according to our approach to God and the consequent spiritual growth which come with the practice of truth with fruit by remaining in His presence in a constant way when that presence is for real. And all those who have ever found themselves involved in vain and repetitive prayers need, necessarily, to exterminate, with contempt, all the habits they accumulated with this futile and useless involvement with God, habits such as continuing to ask when God has already answered; or giving up, neglect, become discouraged or stagnate halfway due to previous experiences of unanswered answers. Everything needs to become new, including our mentality and our way of approaching God. We might think it strange when a normal person doesn't react to our speaking. But few take it as something abnormal when God doesn't react to any of our prayers. All our habits accumulated throughout our useless life without Christ here on earth need to be extinguished. And it is about this accumulation of habits that Jesus is intervening here when speaking to those who have become or will become new creatures. There are more habits that are created/accumulated in times without real answers to prayer. All these habits need to be analyzed when found, to be uprooted and exterminated once and for all. Everything must become new indeed. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind", Rom.12:2.

5. "Joseph, her husband to be, being just, not willing to make her a public example, purposed to put her away secretly", Matt.1:19. It appeared that Mary had committed adultery. Joseph did not want to be the person to publicize this alleged adultery because he "was righteous" and did not want to discredit her in public. According to the law of Moses, being just could mean taking Mary to be stoned to death. It seems that Joseph already lived the New Testament. But, even in the New Testament era, some other questions and problems arise around this issue. Let's imagine that a righteous preacher has a wife who wants nothing to do with God because she stumbled somewhere and, consequently, lost her own communion with God along her spiritual path. If the husband 'protects' her by hiding her sins, he becomes conniving and complicit in those sins. This is not and will never be a good testimony to his listeners and followers. Paul refused to take Mark in his journey to visit the churches because of a bad testimony concerning perseverance. For someone to be a blessed preacher, he needs two things among many: he needs to know how to take care of his own household because, according to Paul, "if someone does not know how to manage their own home, will he take care of the church of God?" 1Tim.3:5. Hiding or disguising the sins of a household is not and will never be walking in the light, much less is it governing that home well because sin is destructive and only by putting all in the light is it possible to exterminate sin. The strength of sin resides in being hidden or desguised. Not being guilty of his own wife's sins or deviations, the truth must still prevail, be clear and transparent because of the testimony and the visibility of the blessing of God. There are men of God who take their own wives to the pulpit to explain that they have nothing to do with her sins, in the hope that she will be reconciled with God driven by the shame of such public exposure. If that causes the wife to harden herself even more, being rebellious, the preacher in question is forever cleared of her sins. His good testimony shall prevail along the run and will remain intact. But is this bad? Is it unrighteous to go to such extremes? If what motivates this preacher is, first and foremost, the testimony of the truth and its visibility, and if his secondary motive is to try to save his wife from her sins and from her conduct (something which happens quite often), if his heart is not being driven by any sort of desire for revenge, anger or resentment, if what moves him is love, I believe that this is not a bad gesture. The truth must prevail in someone with a true heart and a Christian home should be an open book for all to read over and over. Adam stood next to his wife, and we can see what the consequences are even today. We will never know what would have happened had Adam sided with God instead of colluding with his wife. We can only speculate about that, but certainly many things would have been quite different to this day. In the case of Mary and Joseph, placing himself on the side of God meant not discrediting Mary because she had not sinned. Even without knowing it, he did what was right to do - he did what God wanted done. But let's understand that his righteousness did not consist in the fact that he did not expose Mary, but that he could do the right thing because he was righteous. Instead of being legalistic he could discern between the will of God and the Law and act accordingly due to righteousness and closeness to God. He did the will of God even without realizing it. That is what righteousness is all about. "My judgment (…) (because) I have the Spirit of God", 1Cor.7:40. However, to protect Mary was the will of God, but leaving her was not. Joseph was corrected concerning leaving Mary – something that might happen to all and any righteous person.

6. "Christ in you, hope of glory", Col.1:27. We have two problematic issues here with people's beliefs and hopes. The first is someone believing, affirming or even assuming that he has Christ within when that is not true. Christ may not be in the person and yet that person may believe that He is. But, we also have the other side of the issue: Christ is found in the person and he thinks that He is not the one working or even flowing within him.

7. "He has delivered us out of the power of darkness...", Col.1:13. We must learn to pay greater attention to the words in the Bible, especially those that do not have a direct translation into our own language. However, we don't need to learn Greek, Aramaic or Hebrew to be able to understand well what certain words or truths mean in their most practical form. We just need to have a real, true, unforced communion and complicity with God in the promised fullness to obtain the necessary revelations about all and any truth, believing in it unconditionally by assuming it in our daily lives to make ready for the next step, making it practical. It is this form of fellowship with God that prevents us from stumbling over the Word. Those who do not have it will certainly stumble on the Word, which will only make sense when made personal through a manifestation of the truth by God to oneself, whether in a service, in a Bible study or in a room of intimacy with God. This word "power" (of darkness) here has no direct translation in our language, but it has a meaning that can surprise us considerably. The power that can be exerted over someone can manifest itself in many ways. There are those forms of power that are exercised over unwilling slaves who obey only out of fear of the consequences; but, there is also that form of power that conquers the person's voluntariness to the point of one feeling fulfilled and happy under this power that disguises itself as pleasure or accomplishments. And this is the meaning of the word "power" in this verse of the Bible. This last form of power makes it impossible for anyone to feel enslaved doing, feeling, carrying out and living under the deceit of what they most desire. Such people feel like they are masters of their destiny without realizing that, in reality, they are drifting and lost being their own slaves due to the subtlety that makes part of the devil's will and way to make them believe lies. This is the worst type of enslaving power that exists, where the person himself desires what dominates and enslaves him. This is precisely what this word "power" means in here. This power or potency remains active only when hidden and disguised or, should I say, kept in darkness, because, if under the light (if that light is deeply desired), all types of deception will become visible and clear, as well as their motives. It is necessary to be in darkness to be able to deceive, that is, to continue to be deception. It is for this reason that we must walk in the light, striving to be transparent and visible under it. By being convicted, being revealed to by God, it is up to each one to decide whether to continue practicing what the flesh desires most or whether decline it to learn to prefer the beauty of true freedom (from ourselves) that exists only within the will of God, exterminating the flesh by crucifying it with Christ eternally. Sin only has strength if it manages to remain as a blinding deception that dominates and convinces. In fact, it even deceives by claiming and convincing that it is an indestructible power. And this is what many preachers propagate in today's pulpits when they talk about the old nature, the flesh or sin. They form a partnership with evil without realizing it by assuring sin and the flesh are indestructible and we need to live with it till we die. There is no power outside of God. It is through Him that we will be freed from deceitfulness, which is what the power of the forces of evil is made of, having God lead us through the truth in a practical way; and a large part of this evil is our own - it is what we desire or, better said, what we learn to desire, excuse, justify and accept being deceived and by deceiving ourselves as well. This power from which Jesus frees us has the capacity to make us deceive ourselves. It has only the strength we give to it. The power of the devil and the flesh are perishable under the light because light makes us see the naked truth about its boasting deceit and it is for this reason that it is through the truth that we are freed. This means that even the power which any sin can exert is a convincing lie - it is a most accepted and desired illusion. This power becomes insignificant and weakened to death under the light of truth, and it can become completely dead if the person manages to abide or be in Christ, in full light, believing solemnly what light reveals step by step, assuming it in daily lives and, also, if someone can truly consider himself truly dead when or if really dead by having abundant life flowing in the promised abundance. "So, consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord", Rom.6:11. It is enough to assume a truth that has become reality - if it has become reality through a life of fullness, and as long as it is achieved in the promised abundance. "Abide in Me, and I in you", John 15:4. Christ is dead to sin and if He really lives in us as we live no more, we are indeed to sin because He is dead to it and lives in us. We shall be as dead to whatever can be enjoyed in this world as a decomposing corpse can be. This is the truth. Believe it. This is what the gospel is all about, this is the good news.

8. "Only be strong and very courageous so that you may be careful to do...", Jos.1:7. There are those who make efforts without obtaining results compatible with the expended effort. This happens because there is a secret that we must master to avoid stumbling over the word. Any effort to fulfil which does not bear fruit is what means to stumble on the Word. The promise to which we pay full attention is a stumbling block when it does not end in fulfilment. It is by the fruit of the word that we know the tree and not by how hard someone tries to fulfil. And what is the main reason for someone to stumble on the Word? The reason is to try to fulfil without having a real, true, simple, dedicated, exclusive, permanent and constant communion with Jesus in the Holy Spirit, thus seizing the power grace that is necessary to perform here on earth the way everything is performed in heaven, that is, here on earth as in heaven. God denies the effort of those who do not know Him experimentally. "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain", Ps.127:1. Trying to comply or fulfil without having this unfeigned and very real fellowship is like wanting to move a car without fuel. The heavy car will only move when pushed, which will result in the car not fulfilling the mission for which it was designed. And there are believers who, instead of being transported, try to transport what should take them through the narrow gate and the narrow path. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments", John 14:15. That is, if the love for (of) God cannot be poured into our hearts for some reason, if there is something that prevents this type of communion with God, that is, that prevents abundant and eternal life from flowing throughout our whole being, we will never we will be able to keep or fulfil the commandments given to us by Jesus as a hereditary duty. But, having (obtaining) this power of grace by taking possession of this eternal and abundant life (1 Tim.6:12), which empowers us to be able to do all things, any effort to fulfil shall surely obtain its respective results. Only then does this commandment make sense: "Try hard (be strong) and be of good courage to be careful to do". It is for this reason that Paul, speaking from a personal experience, stated that he could do all things, being unconditionally in Him. Having obtained this communion with Life, we can and must strive with the certainty that we will not be frustrated and much less disappointed. That is, having this life in the promised abundance, it is up to us to strive wholeheartedly with total confidence to end up in good results. The effort will then bear its respective fruits sooner or later. These fruits rarely take long to be seen. But, even if they linger, they will certainly come. This happens only by being in full communion with God, walking in His real presence - truly real presence - so that He won't deny us. But, if we strive without having true, real and manifest Life through a continued communion with God, that is, if this "communion" is unilateral on our part through an effort outside the context of a real experience with eternal life, if it is pretended, fictional or forced, we will turn ourselves into what the Bible states to be the antichrist. To be the antichrist is to be a Christian in appearance - it is to be a Christian without having Christ. The Gospel and doctrine without Christ are the worst enemies of the truth that we want to be real. Effort without abundant and real life will make of us the hypocrites at the wedding, those who jump over the wall to enter without a wedding garment. Surely, we will be thrown out with the hypocrites. It is important to remember that it is the person who turns himself into an antichrist. "Also, now many have become antichrists", 1 John 2:18. They strive fulfil, yet avoiding the humiliating conditions for the flesh that open the way for real Life to be found. Antichrists are found inside the church. "They went out from us, but they were not of us", 1 John 2:19. Being like Christ, having the appearance of Christianity is what it means to be the antichrist, professing that we know him, but denying him with our everyday works and fruits. The absence of fruit is God denying us. This type of life of those who claim to believers is the biggest impediment for the true Gospel to be real and to result into glory for God. To be antichrist is to become a resemblance of the holiness that exists on earth, that is, to appear as we imagine ourselves to be instead of being ourselves walking in the light fully transparent.

9. "Beloved, trying to write to you (...) about common salvation, I had the necessity (...) to exhort you to contend for the faith that was once given to the saints. Because some have come in (...) wicked men, who turn the grace of God into dissolution and deny God", Jud.1:1,2. Jude, when talking here about "contending for the faith", is not referring to battling against the persecutions of the wicked, the prisons and the resistance of the wicked from the outside. He is talking about believers, those who come in and transform the practical life into a dissolute living in church. He is talking about those on the inside and not those on the outside. Evil is within the church. Evil from the outside does not affect a true believer's communion with the Holy Spirit and his power. The water outside the boat or ship helps it to navigate and float, but having the water inside causes it to sink. And when Jude talks about denying God, he is not talking about professions of faith, but about practical life. The wicked on the inside rarely deny God verbally, unless they are atheists. They deny God with their practical living outside or even inside the church. It is through our practical life that we either deny or glorify God and not through the words we profess. "They confess that they know God, but they deny him with their works", Tit.1:16. There is no profession of faith capable of saving anyone.

10. "A bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous", Dt.16:19. There are many forms of bribery. We can also say that there are those who seek and accept bribes. And, among these, there are those who allow themselves to be deceived (bribed) with many other things besides money. They allow themselves to be bribed even with words and compliments. When a pastor or leader of a church considers the members of his church as his possession or domain, he will certainly also allow himself to be perverted and deceived by the number of people who are capable of joining his 'domain' and will not take into account their sanctity and exclusive dedication to God. This subtle form of bribery leads such leaders to accept even those who have never been truly converted as part of what they believe to be the Kingdom of God. I've seen a lot of this in my short gospel living. The numbers and attendance filling their church benches are counted and, in addition to deceiving themselves, these so-called pastors (or mercenaries) deceive those who join the churches, convincing them with illusions, lies and with flattering conclusions calling them brothers and sisters. Who will think about the need to be converted being a "Christian", or who believes to be outside the Kingdom believing yo be already saved by believing in an own, convenient way? These pastors not only congratulate themselves with the number of members in church, but they deceive those who could still be converted by making them believe that they are already saved when, in fact, they have are being made children of hell twice as worse. "Woe to you, hypocrites! For you go through sea and land to make a proselyte; and after you have done so, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves", Matt.23:15. All of this occurs through a form of subtle bribery, feigning love and being hypocritical to continue holding onto members who have never tasted abundant life (that is, eternal life) through a true and real conversion.

11. "He did not doubt (...) through unbelief", Rom.4:20. I want to lift a certain burden from the shoulders of some people who are led to doubt certain things, and who are also led to feel guilty by thinking that they doubt God. It is good to pay close attention to these words of Paul: "Doubt through unbelief." I believe it is possible to doubt through faith. Sin does not reside in doubt itself, but in doubting God, especially, when he speaks - if He speaks. It is true that doubt is not being sure of anything yet, but it can lead to certainty if it is worked by faith. I'll try to explain. There are many doctrinal errors, many false preachers and profiteers, many churches that are the door to hell and not heaven. Many of those who live with these wrong practices doubt many of the things they hear and see in these wrong circles, being afraid of losing out due to their "lack of faith". They are inclined to attribute error rather to themselves than to falsehood. They end up accepting the circumstances instead of "examining everything to be enable to hold what is good" (1Thess.5:21). There are also people who accept error out of sentimental affinities, personal interests, family affinities and feelings of guilt, which might amount to pleasing people. I have no doubt about that. But, it is one thing to doubt through unbelief and another to doubt through faith. I know that doubting error is not perfect faith yet, as it is not yet the complete certainty of things. However, we cannot deny that doubting any error is the work of faith.

12. If there is, in fact, a false, feigned or forced faith, there is certainly a carnal way of acting associated with the exercise of that type of faith that dislodges true faith from the heart. "You will not do according to all that we do here today, each one of you whatever seems good in his own eyes, because until now you have not entered into the rest and inheritance that the Lord is giving you", Dt.12:8,9. Practical life, the way of experiencing and exercising true faith is opposite to the way many believe it should be exercised. Therefore, in addition to denying and exterminating false faith, we must also exterminate the way we used to exercise any so-called "faith" that we inherited from a previous carnal life.

13. "You will not do according to all that we do here today, each one of you whatever seems good in his own eyes, because until now you have not entered into the rest and inheritance that the Lord is giving you", Dt.12:8,9. Jesus spoke of the rest He gives and, also, that His yoke is easy if we enter that rest. Paul also said that "it remains for some (believers) to enter into this rest" (Heb:4). This means that many people stay at the narrow door and get so excited about it that keeps them from entering. We find this rest in the fullness of life beyond the narrow door, that is, by taking hold of eternal life (abundant life) that begins here and now. Only those who are clean of heart, clean in motives and exercise spotlessness in their daily lives will enter this rest. If someone manages to obtain this constant and eternal fullness of life here and now without having been properly cleansed in the blood of the Lamb, he shall certainly enter into permanent conflict with the Holy Spirit until he is properly cleansed. "The Spirit is enmity against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit", Rom.8:7. Living within this enmity there will be no rest. But, we need to add two things here: "You shall not do according to everything we do here today, each one whatever seems good in his own eyes, because...". It is not possible to be guided by God outside the abundant life. But only the most honest believers can recognize this, because I see many people speaking in the name of God without having been mandated or sent by Him to do so. When one deceives himself, he can easily claim that it was God who spoke to him. Mistakes also occur whenever a suggestive strange voice is heard. Both suggestion and autosuggestion are pernicious deceptions. But, having entered and been consolidated in the rest that eternal and abundant life gives, we can no longer live the way we used lived before, doing what seemed good or better in our own eyes.

14. What is normal (or should be normal) in the unfolding of our Christian life and its growth, should be a natural adaptation to each stage or phase in the promised abundance - if we even have it to that extent. There is the learning phase that should end in a natural, spontaneous and personal practice where we can no longer depend on learning, but on what we have already become. "I wrote to you because (...) the word of God is in you and you have overcome", 1 John 2:14. We don't learn to know - we learn to become. The problem with today's churches is that they make people believe that they must always remain in the learning phase, thus avoiding the practical part of the Gospel which will unquestionably lead to a natural, spontaneous and effortless maturity in the communion, fellowship and understanding of God right through life, and that with greater, unfeigned humility. Therefore, we must know what are our foundations of the beginnings are so that we might move on to perfection (Heb.6:1-3) This practical part of true Living will make it possible for us to progress/grow beyond what we already are to become even more, better and closer to the Lord. We have many believers who block the narrow gate so that those who want to enter through it cannot enter. But, we also have those so-called teachers and leaders who like to hold people in a learning phase so that they might remain under their control. If they outgrow them, they leave the range of such teachers' domain. Those who do not progress are always under the jurisdiction and power of those who teach. "Shepherd the flock of God that is among you (...) willingly, (...) hand as rulers over those entrusted to you", 1Pet.5:2,3. This would be like a school teacher who wants to maintain his control over his students, preventing them from prospering in order to keep them under his yoke. He doesn't let them move on so as not to lose his hold on them. "Blessed are you who sow by all waters and give freedom to the ox and the ass", Is.32:20.

15. There is an enormous difficulty in understanding the heart of man, as man deceives even himself. "The heart is deceitful above all things - who can understand it?", Jer.17:9. However, we know that everything begins in the heart, both what is good and what is bad. It is precisely there where everything begins to shine and it is there where "a great light" begins to dawn on all those who find themselves in the shadow of death and self-deception. So, everything starts in the heart. We cannot deny that as a fact. It is there where all good work start off. Therefore, we must pay greater attention to the responsibility of having to transform our own hearts through sincerity so that, having been transformed, the practical part may correspond to what we really are, preventing to become theatrical in the practical part of the true Gospel. There are those who, being bad, hide behind good practices; and those who have already been transformed may find themselves entangled in previous guilt or mere guilty feelings and habits. In both cases, they are not what they practice - they are not themselves. Sincerity, combined with the reality of the facts and the correct perception of the truth already installed in the heart, is the greatest asset in obtaining this heart and sanctification. "Behold, thou lovest the truth within," Ps.51:6. This must be done and achieved by the good use and enjoyment of the fullness of the active power of grace applied in a sincere heart, gathering with God so as not to be found scattering. "Create in yourselves a new heart and a new spirit", Ez.18:31. Having said that, we should never underestimate the fact that we are no longer virgins to evil, having already assimilated, in previous times, much of the culture of evil and its way of thinking, especially regarding our own concepts of evil and goodness. "Woe to me! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips", Is.6:5. We can still (and after having already obtained a transformed heart) classify good as evil and bad as good. We must be renewed outside too. Not only did we give ourselves body and soul to our worldly concepts, pleasures, cultures, but we created a mentality capable of reasoning within this sphere using its formula/way of thinking, facing new things through a mind that is still worldly and conditioned by the past, which still compares what is in the world with what is worldliness, believing that is doing a good, useful and correct thing to do when, in fact, it is evil trying to manage goodness. Stopping doing evil or stopping being evil does not mean that our mind or mentality has been transformed. Therefore, it becomes necessary to start practicing, in detail, everything that begins in a truly transformed heart, with all sincerity in a new reality never lived and never experienced before. Everything is really new now. By beginning to practice, the path is opened to understanding the truth and even to understanding one's own heart so that one no longer says, "who can understand it?" It is for that reason that Jesus says that "whoever wants to do the will of God" will know/understand. Many good preachers tend to put forth the sequence of these things in reverse by instructing a heart that has not yet undergone transformation or that does not apply itself to the practical part of the Gospel. Jesus did not command to teach all things, but, "teach them to keep all things", Matt.28:20. And it is by practicing that the process of true understanding begins. Therefore, the mind needs to begin to be renewed in a new way of thinking, practicing and, in parallel, obtaining an exciting, vibrant, courageous new culture and perspective before it can become unstoppable and simple. This is what God says to be "strong and of good courage". "Be strong and of good courage", Jos.1:6. One could almost say, "Be strong and obtain good courage." The "effort" of practical strength comes first. It is by practicing and gathering with God that our minds start being renewed, understanding clearly what we do and why we do it. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind", Rom.12:1,2.

16. "But to those outside, all these things are given in parables so that they may see clearly but not perceive, and they may hear clearly but not understand, otherwise they might turn around and be forgiven", Mk.4:11,12. There are many profiteering doctrines that use certain misinterpreted parts of Scripture to substantiate themselves. These statements by Jesus here are one of those cases. He says: "...lest their sins be forgiven". At first glance, it seems strange, but if we look closely, we will see a certain play of words here that I don't know if it is due to the translations or not. If this verse states that God does not want certain people to be converted and saved, then, Scriptures contradict themselves, as we clearly read that it is God's will for everyone to be saved. But, we can believe that this passage says that God does not want certain people to be forgiven because they might not be truly converted from the heart (and that unto the Lord and not some other sort of conversion); or because they do not want to be that converted. I believe this is very close to the correct interpretation. It might have been for this same reason that God placed "a fiery sword that went around, to guard the way to the tree of life (so that they would not live forever, sinning)", Gen.3.24,22. It is genuine conversion that leads to forgiveness. That sort of conversion is not a mere change of conduct, but, a deep change from within which spreads out to the whole. Therefore, believing that God prevents some from being saved is clearly an error of interpretation and can't serve as substance to the doctrines which state that, and which, also, has nothing to do with the true doctrine of predestination, but only in the way that many believe it to be. Even the doctrine of predestination contains the intrinsic truth within it that God wants everyone to be saved and it is for that solemn purpose that God starts off with predestination or the salvation of many would never be possible. When the interpretation of this doctrine rules out the truth that everything boils around His will that everyone should or could be saved without exception, it is a misinterpretation by people who think they know a lot, but, in fact, know nothing. Everything written has as its sole aim and objective the salvation of all. But, returning to the verse above, I believe that the correct interpretation is different from what, at first glance, we may be led to believe. If we see what Paul says in 2Cor.3:16, we can believe that understanding comes with genuine conversion. Paul says, "when they turn to the Lord, then the veil will be taken away". And that cannot be something which concerns only the Jews, but a fact for everyone. We can also and categorically state that the forgiveness of sins is granted by the person's conversion and that a thorough confession of each sin leads or induces to that sort of thorough conversion; and that it causes this conversion to be genuine and, also, unto the Lord. We are not forgiven because we confess, but because we are converted. Confessing without being converted unto the Lord amounts to nothing. The detailed confession of each sin must lead to that sort of conversion. So, let's look again at the verse above: "lest their sins be forgiven". This statement can be seen as the fact that people do not want to be truly converted (unto the Lord) so that their sins may be forgiven safely, assuring or reassuring God's reigning Kingdom in them. If there were forgiveness without conversion, they would certainly want to be forgiven. They just don't want to be converted. Even the devil would want to be forgiven without being converted. Let's imagine a murderer being forgiven without having become a distributor or giver of life (as happened with Paul)! Such a murderer might stop killing only, and yet, never start to distribute true life all around. That is not conversion. Or a thief being forgiven without starting to work to give to those in need, doing the opposite of what he had done before! Or a liar who does not speak the truth by being truthful and by experiencing the truth he speaks about! Many can speak the truth without having become truthful. If these people began to understand the Word without being converted (unto the Lord) and without being filled with God, they would be able to create an appearance of Christianity, of holiness, of truth and of purity that would not correspond to what they really are in their hearts, deceiving even themselves. And we all know that people learn from others what they are and not merely what they do. Therefore, saying that this piece of Scripture means that some should not be genuinely saved and converted is going too far with some bad misinterpretations. In fact, they do not genuinely want to be converted so that they may be truly forgiven.

17. Do not quench (extinguish) the Spirit", 1Tes.5:19. When God manifested himself in our lives, the way he manifested himself - as long as this revelation was real and not just self-assumed belief - may serve as the reference to compare what God began to do with what he currently does or is unable to do. That's a good way to know whether we have grieved the Holy Spirit or not. It is good to compare the state of today's churches with their beginnings in the time of the apostles to get an idea of how much the Spirit of God has been grieved. We can also check whether, instead of being grieved and sad, how much he is happy about us if we have been growing in grace steadfastly. To have joy about us it is necessary for Him to see a clear progress in the quality of the fruit that His presence is capable of producing in us. "Let us know and continue to know the Lord", Hos.6:3. If knowing the Lord in a real way is like the dawn of beautiful day that increases in quality and light, we can assume that, instead of saddening the Spirit of God, we can make Him happy instead.

18. Be strong and of good courage", Jos.1:6. Many times and during prolonged trials, a person stops doing the normal things of all daily duties, losing spirit little by little and anyone notices that the spirit is no longer what it used to be. Even though the power of grace is only at a distance of a sincere prayer, it is no longer possible to execute it if it depends on the spirit that begins to fade as time goes on. We see that Abraham and Isaac also became "full of days" although it was for other reasons (and not the reasons I will mention here) but due to their old age (Gen.25:8; 35:29). The tiredness of waiting for a long time, of having to wait spiritually for those who are behind or neglectful, the promise that takes a long time to be fulfilled and the normal toil of each day or its monotony are capable of giving rise to a certain way of thinking and evaluating which leads to the extinction of "good courage". This encouragement is only good because it comes from God and is due to his unfailing presence. It only exists as a fruit due to the communion of his presence. That's why it's "good". But, we need to see another factor in this regard. A person does not stop performing due to a lack of good spirit, but it is precisely the opposite: it saddens the "good spirit" because he stops doing faithfully. That's why we read "be strong and of good courage" - in that order. In chronological order (which is the spiritual order) effort comes before encouragement. We cannot want to change this order, because the order of the flesh is to have courage before being able to perform. The flesh is always contrary and inverse to the Spirit. The flesh seeks courage to strive and the spirit strives and obtains good courage as the fruit of the Spirit. By becoming negligent, a person loses the spirit that is good because he separates himself from God through the sin of carelessness, therefore, it saddens the Spirit that is even capable of reviving a dead person or picking up a stone and making it a son of Abraham. "Good courage/good cheer" is the fruit of a real, sincere and true relationship with God. But, being negligent in any spiritual duty, a person will lose this good spirit due to the separation from God caused by the sin of negligence. The fruit of "good courage" will cease to exist through the breaking of this real communion with God. Therefore, it is not good cheer that will make us strive, but it is by striving that we will obtain this "good cheer". "Awake, awake, put on your strength", Is.52:1 . This enthusiasm is not and will never be just any type of enthusiasm: it is the fruit achieved through a sincere, unfeigned, unforced and real relationship with God. This is only possible to experience by those who are truly and undeniably filled with the Holy Spirit. No one else can experience that any other way. It is not a carnal motivation, operated by man in man, whether that man is himself or someone else who tries to encourage instead of encouraging to strive where he has been negligent. When Paul stated that "we are always of good cheer" it was because he never stopped being faithful in carrying out every detail of God's will. It is for this reason that he was always in "good spirits". For this to become possible, he would have to seek the power of grace thoroughly and faithfully for every task in every moment of every day. "Give us this day our daily bread." Any negligent person will go from bad to worse and even those around him will get worse day after day. And the danger of not making an effort while you can - while it's daylight - is that you'll reach the point where you can no longer make an effort. "Walk while you have light, lest darkness overtake you", John 12:35 . The only thing that can cause a heart to fail is sin. Only sin can be responsible for the failure of a once revived heart. Even if people can excuse themselves with many things, only sin can cause a heart to drift apart and to be caught up in discouragement, which, in turn, tries to blackmail God into pitying those who are refusing to bring sin to the light. "My sins have taken hold on me (...) and my heart fails me", Ps.40:12 .

19. "...The Holy Spirit that God gave to those who obey Him", At.5:32. Little is said about obedience and its importance as a precondition for the experience of Eternal Life, that is, of abundant life; and the little that is said explains almost nothing about what true obedience is and what it consists of. If we take into account that God strives for an active, voluntary heart, we cannot look at obedience as humans see it, that is, as if the obedience that God speaks of is a subjugation of someone who is forced to obey under penalty of loss or punishment. The disobedient is outside the Kingdom of God, but not just because he disobeys and rather because he has a nature contrary to the Kingdom. If a person "obeys" through force, it does not mean that his nature has been transformed, but that he has been subjugated due to a lack of options. His nature remains the same as always if subjugated or forced. Therefore, he is also outside the Kingdom even if he obeys, since it is not possible to reign him if he has a contrary nature. When I obey reluctantly, disappointedly or in a costly way, I cannot consider myself a person with an obedient nature, just as Balaam's donkey could not consider itself a person for having spoken once. And it is this type of "obedience" that is considered normal among the vast majority of believers and with which humans are content. This means that they live a deception which they consider to be a virtue instead of seeing it as a falsification of obedience. "Their deceit is falsehood", Ps.119:118. "But to Israel He says, 'All day long I have stretched forth My hands to a disobeying and gainsaying people'", Rom.10:21. All obedience to God must be one of nature, of connivance of a heart that follows the commandment by nature, eagerly and by love. In the new creature, obedience is not and will never be a contradiction, but it is the light that was eagerly sought, it is the purest and most sincere desire and delight of an entire being to the point of being fully involved in executing God's will with all intelligence and with all diligence as soon as he finds the means to do so. (No one can execute God's will without finding these means of grace so that they can do it here on earth in the same way as it is done in heaven). "I will lift up my hands to Your Commandments which I have loved"; "Your Precepts have been my songs"; "I have bowed down my heart to do Your Precepts, always to the end.", Ps.119:48;54;112. When someone inclines his heart to be able to keep the statutes, it means doing much more and much more deeply than just inclining their daily steps. This means that all the heart, all the delight and joy act as an integral part of obedience. But a question soon arises: why, then, do the Scriptures tell us to deny ourselves if we want to become His disciples? We must know how to distinguish when the new nature is thwarted, tempted or even prevented by the devil, tiredness, delay in implementing certain promises that affect us, among many other things. It is under these circumstances that we must deny ourselves. It's very different when it's the old nature trying to comply reluctantly to try to be a believer in appearance with its natural difficulties and impossibilities. These are the ones who create doctrines that excuse sinners and state that it is impossible to be holy.

20. "Give to the Lord (...) strength/power", Ps.96:7; 68:34. There are words in Scripture that are sometimes difficult to understand or even to put into a proper perspective. How can anyone give strength to God? How can someone give Him power? It's actually simple to understand. We give strength to God by submitting ourselves to Him so that God builds the house; by cleaning our life; by abiding in Him and He in us. All of this combined gives visible strength to God, that is, his strength becomes visible, practical and demonstrative. The next time you say that God is your strength, make sure it is true in practice, because you may be talking about an emotional strength that you can create yourself, which allows you to persist or even pursue your usual little, insignificant life. And this may be happening when God may be operating the opposite, giving you reasons to deny your own life, your form of power and strength. There are numerous parts in the Scriptures where it is stated that God resists someone while that person, in his ignorance and stubbornness, seeks strength where there is none. What if it is God who is resisting you and you think it is the devil? If you are not really submitted to God with your whole life fully cleansed and spotless, I very much doubt that God will be your strength. Perhaps it is the idea of God that gives you some sort of emotional encouragement. However, allow me to tell you that whoever drinks that sort of water will necessarily have to drink from it again and again.

21. "Who gave you this authority?" Matt.21:23. Much is said about authority in general terms, emphasizing just one of the sides: the person who exercises authority as if everything depended on him. Regarding those who exercise godly authority, it is a gift mixed with an example of life. No one can separate example from the authority he can exercise. Whoever gives, can ask; whoever does can ask to be done. Even Jesus would exercise little spiritual authority if he were not a keeper of all the Law and if he were not holy. But, there is another side of the issue of authority that we never talk about: those upon whom that authority is exercised. What is the role? The Pharisees put the question to Jesus well and it is not at all innocent. "Who gave you this authority?" Authority is given, allowed and accepted. But the question soon arises: is it given by whom? Authority is given, granted, permitted and obeyed by those over whom it is exercised. The one who gives authority to someone is that one over whom that authority is exercised by submitting himself to it. I am the one who submits to God's authority, worldly authorities or any other type of authority. I give authority over my life (or parts of it) by submitting myself to it. However, it is good, in the eyes of God, for a person to be submissive by nature with the exercise of intelligence. We could be submissive to God by fearing His immense power, by receiving His immense goodness, or for any other reason once having caught a glimpse of any aspect of God's infinite greatness. But the question would soon arise: what would such a person be like without thinking that greatness? Would he still be submissive, humble and simple at heart? What God desires and works in us is a new and voluntary nature from the depths of our hearts. Being submissive or humble and simple under some power (and not by nature) is, most likely, being so only in appearance out of fear or necessity.

22. "Do not be anxious about how or what you will answer, nor what you will say. For at the same time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say", Luc.12:11,12. Not being anxious or worried avoids many sins or mistakes in moments when one cannot afford to make a mistake. Submitting to enslaving pressure has never been good in tight moments. It can cause precipitation, haste, lack of confidence and little interest or desire to expect something from God, that is, to wait on God. When Jesus talks about responding, however, it does not mean that it is always a spoken response. Sometimes it is, but not always. Jesus kept silent before Pilate and wrote on the ground when they wanted to stone the adulterous woman. Still, these attitudes worked as responses similar to the others he gave whenever he spoke.

23. It is undeniably true that the Word of God (Scripture) is "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness", 2Tim.3:16. (But let's keep in mind that we can be reading the Scriptures without having God teaching us). At first glance and by carnal intuition, we might argue that this warning or recommendation targets those who teach and not those who are able to learn from God. As a rule, people learn to teach others and it is believed that the Scriptures speak a lot in this tone for those who teach, that is, for teachers, educators and pastors. However, we must understand that, in truth, the Word is addressed to those who read it and to those who have discovered the secret of teaching themselves. The Scriptures speak to people so that they learn and never so that they learn to teach. Even though teaching is a gift that comes from God, we must understand that we can only try to explain the path of what, for us, is already a normalized daily life. Teaching others is not the same as being taught. Knowing how to transmit what has already become our own practical life, what we have already learned in its most practical form and has already taken roots in us, speaking from our own experience, is the only thing that is required of a preacher or evangelist. "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified", 1Cor.9:27. "That which ye have received, and heard, and seen in me, do that," Phil.4:9. This is exactly what Paul wanted to convey to Timothy, "so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work", 2Tim.3:17. In this case, he (Timothy) was that man of God. "The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops", 2Tim.2:6. Therefore, the Word is addressed to those who read it attentively (and circumspectively under the light of God) so that they can be corrected, rebutted, rebuked, challenged, comforted and instructed in the ways of the righteous, that is, in the ways of justice/righteousness. It is a huge mistake for a pastor, preacher or evangelist to believe that he has to prepare a sermon for others when, in fact, he has to be able to extract, reiterate and explain what he has already learned through the practice of truth and share how to get there, explaining the path to Life that begins necessarily and unquestionably only with that practice of truth. "He who practices the truth...". However, you should be able to talk about what, in your practical life, has already become usual and natural to avoid talking about new/recent experiences, giving the impression that it is something temporary instead of demonstrating that Life and Its practical outcome are here to stay, eternally. "The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops" when the crops can be harvested and not before that. "Abide..." We must speak only of what already abides in us when it is not a mere revelation anymore, that is, of what is already capable of remaining true in our daily living. If this is not the case, we will be condemned along with liars. We will be of the of the lying kind and we will be judged with and like them.

24. We can and must be sincere to the point of leaving nothing unclarified between brothers and sisters. Some choose to remain silent because they do not want to give up on their positions or even question them. They might also think of pleasing someone who doesn't agree with them. They might remain silent so as not to have to review their positions too. This is not agreeing. It is not and never will be to be in agreement. Therefore, they cannot walk together, be of one voice, pray together without being frigid, feigned and forced, Amos 3:3. But, there are people who are nobler, more honest and more sincere in relation to the truth and concerning the Scriptures. These listen to each other, analyze the Scriptures attentively and, denying themselves, let the Scriptures have the last word. "...More noble (...) examining the Scriptures daily whether these things were so", Act.17:11. He who does not deny himself in order to give the last word to the Scriptures still does not know what the Gospel is all about and, if so, he will not know what it is to live or experience the Gospel.

25. The forgiveness that God graciously bestows on any sinner who has been fully and undeniably converted cannot be placed on the same footing or with the same meaning that humans attach to the word "forgiveness". Let's try to understand it step by step. If we carefully read and correctly understand the chapters of Romans (Chap.6 to 8), we may understand better how, when and why God's forgiveness is granted. By what we read, the sinner dies. Guilt and the ability to transgress die with the guilty transgressor. Forgiveness is granted not only on the ground of Christ having died for us, but because His death enables the sinner to die too, crucified with Him. If forgiveness were granted on the basis of Christ's death alone, everyone would be forgiven. Forgiveness is granted because the kind of death of Christ achieves that the sinner can also die crucified with Him, that is, experiencing an alike death to the world and the world to him. According to what Paul transmits to us, we understand that through the (true) Baptism with the Holy Spirit, the kind of death that Jesus experiences for the world, will be the inheritance of all those who experience His life in the promised fullness, that is, in His resurrection power within. "If we were planted together with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be so also in the likeness of his resurrection", Rom.6:5. In fact, Jesus did not die in the true sense of the word, because if that were the case, he would not have said "today you will be with Me in paradise". No dead person could be in paradise, much less be alive there. As far as Jesus' death is concerned, He died to sin and to the world and the world to Him. "As to the fact that He died, He died to sin once", Rom.6:10. That is a specific kind of death. His death was just a certain kind of death. And it will be in the likeness of this death that we are partakers and of which we can enjoy for as long as we remain in the fullness of Christ. That kind of death is a specific kind of death - it is a death to sin, to the world, and to all that is offered here. And it is into this kind of death that we, too, are planted if we experience the fullness of His life. Hence the importance of what Paul says to believers: "Be filled with the Spirit", Eph.5:18. For this reason, Paul uses the words "the likeness of his death", that is, the kind of death Christ experienced when he was crucified. Christ did not die in the true sense of the word. He died to sin. If the fullness of Christ can abound in anyone, the kind of death and the kind of life that Christ currently experiences will be planted, implanted, and consolidated in that person as well. "It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me", Gal.2:20. If that happens for real, you will experience the same kind of death that Christ experiences, and the same kind of resurrected life to which is alive to God. That is, the sinner will be as dead to sin and the world as a corpse is to everything around him on this present earth - or, shall I say, he may be as dead as Christ is if he can keep himself by the power of grace and never by any other means or other kind of power. If that happens beyond any doubt, the person who is born again is and will always be someone else and will never again be the person who died if he remains in Christ and Christ in him. If the sinner died, there will be no one to blame for the dead one's transgressions. When we talk about true conversion - when it's real - that's what we're talking about. Peter was converted at Pentecost. "(Peter), when thou are converted…" Lk.22:32. If the person is not transformed to that point, he needs to insist on prayer and not give rest to his knees and eyes until he is filled with God in the promised fullness, seeing if there is not something that needs being fixed, some attitude to transform or sin to confess, some residual attempt to keep the flesh working on salvation, which may be preventing the flow or approach of this Eternal Life within. Though it takes eight days to reach Pentecost, you must seek it insistently, Lk.11:13. The new person is born innocent because he is a new person and all things have passed away, that is, everything has truly and undeniably become new. The old man died literally. It is up to you to reach the promise of this (eternal) Life within that begins here and now, still here on earth. "… The Life that I now live…" Gal.2:20; "… The present Life…" 1Tim.4:8.

26. "A new commandment to you (...) He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now", 1 John 2:8,9. This word "hate" used here is not an occasional annoyance on a bad day, an occasional thing for whatever reason, a momentary uneasiness between people, an annoyance or argument without roots in the heart. It is an ongoing aversion, an impure grudge against someone, a grudge or annoyance against someone for the person that someone is or is imagined to be. I wanted to try to explain: there are misunderstandings because of disagreements of arguments, different ideas, cultures and even different doctrines. These disagreements easily pass away to the point where no one even remembers them the next day. These are punctual things that can happen and the honest in heart end up understanding each other by listening to each other and seeking the full truth in the Scriptures, giving the Scriptures the primacy of the last word in total transparency and honesty. This is not to "hate" the brother and it is, rather, a search for understanding between equals. But, it is very different when someone does not like another and contradicts only because of the person that he is, that is, being on the defensive or on the attack, contradicting as soon as he is faced with the person who is the object of his distrust, resentment, disagreement or due to its appearance or something that is associated with a certain person, either because of something that is only imagined without verifying the truth about him, or something true that has never been spoken out between them. When a wife and husband disagree over a toothbrush, we can be sure that the problem is not the toothbrush, but is substantiated by something more serious. I know a husband who says his wife is always in opposition. If he says right, she has to say left; if he says left, she says right. I believe the word "hate" in this verse falls into that category of meaning.

27. "Yet, if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ", 1 John 2:1. There is not and never will be forgiveness without conversion. "He who confesses and forsakes his transgressions will obtain mercy", Prov.28:13. For that reason and knowing that the Scripture cannot contradict itself, this verse leads us to question what is believed in supposedly evangelical circles in this regard. In this context, the meaning of the word "advocate" here extends far beyond what it might appear at a first understanding. This advocate with the Father gives the guarantee not to allow (even if only in the slightest residual form) that any intention, capacity or idea of re-committing the same sins remains. He has and maintains the ability to convert those who still sin and who only sin because they are sinners by nature. (I don't know how to qualify those who sin having already been truly transformed from the depths of their hearts. Could it be that these are the ones who sin unto death? 1 John 5:16,17. I'm not sure of that). It is in this sense of having the ability to lead to conversion and to convert those who were able to reach Him that Jesus becomes a true Advocate before the Father. He has the ability to forgive sins because he transforms a murderer into a giver of life; a thief into a neighbor's helper; a liar into the truest person; for we know that with Him nothing is impossible. "He will save His people from their sins (from their ability to sin)," Matt.1:21. He makes them truly free of their sins. But, for Jesus to become that advocate who exterminates the capacity or will to sin, it is necessary to know him intimately. No one can trust an advocate he doesn't know and if it is from the heart that the sins of man arise, one must know Jesus very intimately and in a real way and not just know Him. "He who says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him", 1John 2:4. If "the truth is not in him", it means that his faith is feigned, doubtful, shipwrecked, or strained. Therefore, in order for Him to become that advocate, we must be living in total harmony with Him from deep within, truly and unmistakably experiencing Him from the depths of our being, because that is where evil begins - that is where it has its origin, its grounded roots and it is from there that evil/sinfulness need to be exterminated. It is from there that Jesus must operate. We cannot heal the wound of God's people superficially, pruning only the appearance.

28. "Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray all the time and never give up", Lk.18:1. Here we have a hidden secret: Without apprehending this secret, many end up stumbling and having a big fall. It really is a huge fall into the error of interpretation and darkness of the doctrines, which drive you to pray, but not to reach concrete answers from God. It is commonly taught and assumed that it is enough to pray, enough to seek. The secret here is not and never was to go to pray, but to pursue a concrete answer. Those who are in a phase where their communion with God still leaves much to be desired, might get a concrete no - which is a good sign, because if God says no, he has answered. If God didn't answer, if He doesn't say anything, it would be much worse. And it is in this "worst" state that most believers find themselves - even if they don't wish to realize it. What we pursue relentlessly is the answer to each of our prayers. But, for lack of answers, Christianity began to settle down and be content with praying and praying, fasting and fasting without getting any sign of a concrete answer. Those with a true heart insistently pursue this answer, no matter how long it lasts and at what cost - whether that cost is personal, moral, sentimental or any other. What is the secret and how should we act in the face of this discovery? God's promise is to elevate us to a level of holiness that will bring us into such closeness to Him that He can even answer prayers while we are still speaking and, in some cases, even before we utter a word whether the prayer is already formulated in the heart or not. "And it shall come to pass, before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hear them", Is.65:24. But, while we do not reach that status of purity of heart that makes us be and remain very close to God in a continuous and uninterrupted way, we have the option of praying until we get a concrete answer. What is the reason or reasons that can lead us to a situation where we can even reach exhaustion until we reach the answer? We must remember that the target is the answer. Without having reached a sure answer, we cannot give up. Being the answer the objective of any prayer and knowing that the normal thing would be to obtain an immediate answer, we must know that there is something that is preventing any prayer from being answered. Through this insistence of a genuine heart, God will be able to reveal what is hindering the prayer to be answered, giving man the opportunity to fix it. In fact, it doesn't take much for prayers to be hindered. "Husbands, live together with your wives with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as the weaker vessel (...) lest your prayers be hindered", 1 Pet.3:7. The same could be said of women who do not accept submission to their husbands as becoming and as something that is part of their own upbringing; or who do not submit to God by diligently inquiring about the education of their children, as pillars of the very home they are. A woman who is not submissive to her husband cannot be submissive to God - even if she tries to be by appearance. Everything starts at the bases. If she is not submissive to the husband she sees daily, how can she be submissive to God whom she does not see?

29. "How can you believe, receiving honour from one another and not seeking the honour that comes from God alone?" John 5:44. When Jesus speaks here of seeking honour from one another, it has a very wide meaning, that is, it encompasses many things. Seeking honour or approval means, on many occasions, pleasing people in order to be pleased; keeping up appearances seeking praise or avoiding criticism; being nice, not because you are nice by nature, but to avoid being frowned upon, discriminated against or something along those lines. There are as many obvious ways to seek honour as there are many camouflaged and disguised ones. To these people with such natural crimes, Jesus asks how is that they can think they are able to believe. This question goes far beyond what it might seem at first glance. In fact, what He means is this: "Why do you think you will be able to believe by seeking honour from one another?" I will try to explain what is meant spiritually by God's revelation to the heart. The faith that saves (believing that saves) is the fruit of a real communion with God, filled with reality. It is a child of the relationship between God and the heart. If there is any kind of belief when this communion between God and the person is unreal, compromised or non-existent, we shall be talking about a shipwrecked faith or baseless belief. Such a belief is like a house built on the sand of the sea where the waves crash regularly. There is no true faith that is not the fruit of a profound, genuine relationship between God and man. Therefore, anyone who seeks honour in the eyes of man, admiration and consideration from people, is effectively separated from God. You can't believe if so, you can't believe because you don't have a real relationship with God. There are those who can truly believe because they have removed the wall of separation that existed between them and God, confessing and forsaking every sin by name and restoring what does not belong to them, making restitution, even if it is the honour that they have wrongfully appropriated from someone. Indeed, there are those who can believe and those who cannot. "And Jesus said, If you can believe..." Mark 9:23. We have to remove, confess and destroy everything that separates us from God so we don't have to live with a shipwrecked faith. "...Holding a good conscience, rejecting which some have made shipwreck of the faith", 1Tim.1:19. These shipwrecked people continue preaching, evangelizing, attending services and prayer meetings assiduously as if everything is still normal. And so, new mentalities, untruths and unrealities are created about the things of God and the truth so that people may continue to attend churches without fear of what may happen unexpectedly, as happens when a thief arrives during the dark of night. For example, people begin to believe that it is important to pray and not that it is important to be heard by God and get answers to prayer. As long as they pray and fast, all is well; they begin to believe that what matters is going to church and being a faithful attendee of services instead of obtaining grace to be able to fulfil, confirm and keep the word. Indeed, it would be like a fisherman who is content with his fishing rod when he doesn't even go fishing; or like someone who buys an extension cord, plugs his electrical appliances into it, but the other end remains unplugged; or a home with perfect electrical wiring but not connected to the electrical grid. And this is how religious people are created instead of living beings, who know a lot about what they don't have and believe they have, who remain disconnected because something still separates them from God.

30. "Beware, of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy", Lk.12:1. Here, Jesus does not say that the danger are the Pharisees, but hypocrisy. But today, everything is very modern and nobody considers himself hypocritical, forced or faked because there are no Pharisees anymore. There is a difference between being hard-working and being self-enforced, that is, between being hard-working with what you already have within; and forcing yourself with what you don't have and never got from God, thus creating appearance by carnal effort. I see many people (and with some frequency) pulling from emotions creating religious habits without realizing that what is not from our person as in our daily life is hypocrisy; I see that pleasing people is considered love and not hypocrisy; they do not live the Gospel in the street, having no real life, but try hard to squeeze it out in church services through beautiful hymns, liturgy and biblical readings; I see those who want to show off by speaking to others in services, as if it were some real testimony, believing that one enters through the narrow door knowing how to teach others, "desiring to be doctors of the law and not understanding what they say or what they say", 1Tim.1:7. Many more things could be mentioned here about "those who are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth", 2Tim.3:7, who are full of commandments, doctrines, beliefs, delusions and not of real eternal life within. But, I'll stop here. The leaven of the Pharisees is modernized and became the leaven of Evangelicals. It has become doctrine and study instead of real life that can be explained, confirmed, rooted in the mind and improved by studying the Scriptures. It is one thing to explain to myself what I have achieved in God by confirming it through the Scriptures by diligently studying and fulfilling (keeping) them; it is another thing to study the Scriptures (often without understanding them the way it should be understood) and strive to match what I understand. That's the difference between having life and being hypocritical. "The end of the commandment is . . . unfeigned faith", 1 Tim.1:5. However, hypocrisy does not exist only in those who do not experience eternal life within themselves in a real way and who try to imitate or practice it through the effort of what they think they understand. Hypocrisy also exists in another way and in the opposite direction in those who have truly found a full life: they may have the important part already in their hearts, but still live according to previous appearances in their daily lives. That is, they live according to previous habits having already achieved true life; they live in conformity with circumstances or conformed to the rules of the world, thinking that pleasing people and being pleased is love. Let's imagine a prophet who has everything in his heart to express God's words at the right time and the right way, but concludes something like this: "Woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips", Is.6:5. This prophet had already expressed the Words of God correctly before (we have proof of that this in previous chapters), he had everything in his heart, however, he still lived and spoke according to the people around him. And it's not just cultural habits that make us hypocrites. The shame of talking about God having Him alive in the heart; the covering up of the true heart for wrong motives; having the Gospel alive in the heart being ashamed of it in front of people or being afraid of the consequences. All this can turn us into hypocrites. Those who have attained life can be just as hypocritical as those who have not attained this life because they do not live it out in all sincerity. Knowledge in those who have not attained life is a burden. Those who strive for what they don't have will strive for what they imagine and that is another form of idolatry. But for all those who have achieved true life by believing, that same knowledge coming from God must be or can become a real relief from emotional burdens, especially if those emotional burdens are religious ones.

31. There are many things that keep people busy, many of which appear to be noble, but leave much to be desired by not being finished. Even Jesus came to a point where He said, "It is finished"! Some go to church and don't listen - they don't end their task; others hear and do not keep the word. "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it", Lk.11:28. Some read, but do not hear; others can hear and do not keep whatever they are taught and told. There are those who can't hear through their hearts and try to fulfil what they didn't find in the form of real life; there are those who study, but are not faithful doers. They are so busy with knowledge, get so engaged with studying the Bible that they don't find time to think of practicing what exists in their hearts - if it exists at all - and can be confirmed by the word they learn. And all this is due to the human and rooted way of wanting to fulfil all in a fleshly way, putting the flesh to serve in the temple of God. Today there are entire libraries of Biblical wisdom like never before in the history of the world. However, I believe that there has never been a time in history where there were so many pagans within the churches. There is a lot of study and little living practice that can be identified as true life coming from the heart and from the very essence of the person where we can say that the person has become the word itself. From it being so, practices began to appear through the unlimited knowledge to which we have access today, which became religious practices and are not a practical demonstration of the person's changed being but of forced knowledge, that is, they do not originate in the inner man because nowadays Christians are not filled with true life, but with some knowledge only. These religious practices are privileged above the living experience of eternal life itself within those who have it - if they have it at all. These days I have seen people whom I knew personally being baptized who were never converted, who did not abandon the addiction to cigarettes and drink and, in order to fulfil the doctrine of baptizing only adults, they have been baptized, making them jump over the wall into the sheepfold. If it's a criminal action not to keep the word when you have the ability to hear it, let's imagine how huge a crime it is to have wide and diversified study of the Scriptures without even being able to hear with the inner heart. And it is these people who are baptized today and are added to the church as brothers, who, because of baptism, may sit at the table of Holy Communion with crimes that have never been dealt with, confessed and/or abandoned. "Because of this, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep", 1Cor.11:30.

32. "Peace (...) not as the world gives", John 14:27. The issue here is whether Jesus is talking about some kind of peace that the world can give or if he is talking about the way the world tries to give or achieve it (in vain). If we choose to understand this verse by the way the world tries to obtain peace, that is, by the way the world gives, it is, "as the world", we can believe that in the world there is no peace, and only that the world tries to give or achieve it in a certain way. Jesus speaks here of "as the world gives" and does not say that the world can give it. And I believe that this is the truth that Jesus wants convey to us because "in the world you will have tribulation". And what manner or formula of the world is this? The world tries to obtain its peace by meeting each one's lusts according to what the flesh most desires. Indulging his desires, the carnal man delights in his pleasure (temporarily) and deceives himself into assuming it to be 'peace'. Indulgence is what the peace of the world is all about. These delights are always temporary and the heart (or the flesh) is never able to feel fully satisfied or fulfilled, especially in the next day. The next day of worldliness is a day of hangover and not of satisfaction. If someone feels fulfilled or happy killing, he will need to kill again because the delight he had does not live on to the next day. This makes man go from bad to worse. The same can be said about drinking, overeating, lusting, greed or anything else the world gives - if God allows it to happen, of course. Anyone who drinks from those waters will definitely be thirsty again. Those who seek peace the way the world dictates, will certainly return again and again to seek that empty peace, which runs out quickly because it is not eternal, it is not constant, cannot endure and cannot last.

33. "In the world world you shall have tribulation", John 16:33. Let's figure out what sort of afflictions can occur to us. There are external and internal afflictions. All those who live piously manifesting Jesus in a real way will suffer persecution. The world will never be indifferent to anyone who manifests Jesus in his life in a real way. However, they will laugh at those hypocrites who pretend to be Christians because the world distinguishes them from afar even if most Christians don't. We can believe that these afflictions/tribulations are external to us and do not reach our inner being if Jesus truly reigns over us in full. However, the Scriptures also speak clearly of the "delights, which war in your members", James.4:1. "You desire, and do not have. You murder, and are jealous, and cannot obtain. You fight and war (...) You ask and do not receive", James 4:2,3. Asking and not receiving brings conflict in those who refuse to be hypocritical about God and His realities. What does it mean? It means that every believer who is able to believe (mistakenly) that God is willing to satisfy the delights instead of saving people from those delights will have conflicts and wars in his own heart which are carried over into the outer everyday life, creating, also, hypocrites who live a double life, that is, a real conflicted life alongside with an apparently convenient hypocrisy that serves only to cover up these conflicts, sins and desires. And we know that he who covers his transgressions, desires or sins will never prosper spiritually (Prov.28:13). Therefore, if there are still residues/leftovers of the world in the hearts, if I cannot say truthfully that "I am dead to the world and the world to me", there will be afflictions/troubles in the heart and constant war between God and the flesh where the heart is the arena of these conflicts until the day that God says something similar to what He had said in the days of Noah: "My Spirit will not always strive with man, because he also is flesh", Gen.6:3. It behooves us, then, not to be also flesh whenever we have the Spirit of God or the Gospel trying to take possession of our whole being. If the world is still in us - even if only residually - we will have woes and troubles in our hearts. Wherever the world still exists, there will be afflictions and if it exists in the heart, it will be there where all kinds of afflictions shall be found. Where there is world, there are afflictions and conflicts too, surely.

34. There are many reasons why prayers cannot be answered. But let's say the person doesn't have any unconfessed sin; he has nothing to give back to anyone; does not treat the husband or wife disrespectfully due to getting used to living as a couple; does not neglect his duties; does not neglect his children, educating them strictly in the ways of God; etc. Even so, having nothing separating this person from God (Is.59:1,2) it becomes clear that certain prayers within the will of God (prayers that should reach answers) are never answered as promised. I see mothers praying for their children in their tribulations without being heard, and yet being satisfied with the fact that they have prayed; parents in dire straits and afflictions praying without getting concrete answers and others praying for them being satisfied just by having someone comforting them by letting them know they are being prayed for; "Brother, we are praying" vulgarizes this important issue by the satisfaction of having someone praying for them especially when no one is able to be assured that he was heard by God. Then, we may ask: "Do mothers pray because they are worried about their children or because they believe that God will grant an outcome? Is it the concern that moves them or faith?

35. "Martha! Martha! You worry and fuss about a lot of things. But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part", Lk.10:41,42. There are many ways to abstain from what is truly important and which, according to Jesus, "little is needed" (in other translations). It means that what really matters is little, easy, simple, but extremely important. There are people who abstain or distract themselves by serving food, material goods or other things and are never busy with what truly matters. However, it is necessary to bear in mind that there are many other ways of being busybodies that are not mentioned here, thus neglecting the part that really matters. The person can be or keep himself busy with anger that consumes the heart; with fears and apprehensions; with problems that hold of the mind that needs to be unoccupied for God's sake; with religious doctrines and discussions that are not centered on fixing one's own heart putting everything and anything in the light and transparency.

36. "Other (seeds) fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes grew with them and choked them...", Lk.8:7. It is extremely difficult to sow good seed without some falling on good soil where thorns and other weeds also grow spontaneously. The secret lies in not letting the thorns grow with the good plant that comes from the good seed, feeding those thorns as much as the good sprouts. Today, thorns are fed a lot, putting ahead what God might add to those who seek or find righteousness, things such as: God heals, God gives, God blesses everything except the spiritual life. It is good to remember often the prayer of Jabez: "Preserve me from evil". The person, even growing spiritually, cannot allow the thorns to be fed and nourished, because, if thorns and thistles grow in bad soil, imagine how they shall grow in good soil!

37. "The Gospel is preached to the poor", Lk.7:22. Today there is no insistence on preaching the Gospel to the poor. Material prosperity is preached to them instead if they give from the little they have.

38. "Whoever comes to Me and hears My Words...", Lk.6:47. The ability to hear such words is much more than hearing audibly. It's a deep listening, it's listening to words that speak according to the heart, it's hearing what one yearns for - hearing in the deepest part of our being. If you don't hear like that, you haven't heard anything yet. You haven't changed your heart at all. "Take heed therefore how ye hear", Lk.8:18. It is from this way of hearing that faith arises - not as it is proclaimed out there.

39. "But, I say to you who hear: Love your enemies (...) bless those who curse you (...) And to him who strikes you on the one cheek, also offer the other (...) Give to everyone who asks of you...", Lk.6:27-35. It is good to correctly contextualize every word that comes from Jesus. Jesus was specifically addressing those who hear: "To you who hear...". I would have a lot to say about this, but I don't know if I have the words to do so. Firstly, I am sure that this kind of commandments cannot be addressed to those who do not hear with a practicing heart. Words addressed at the right time to a practicing heart which is already surrendered to the Lord is what it means to hear. Explaining, directing, or confronting those who don't hear with their hearts is creating problems and stumbling blocks for the true Gospel and for the addressed one in many ways. Hypocrites are created in churches, opponents are created who never understand and will always disagree aggressively - although it is not always possible to prevent the good seed from falling out of the good soil. When a seed falls on good soil and bears fruit, it serves as testimony and admiration to those who oppose it, things that awaken and sharpen their curiosity. Only this kind of practical living and evident/visible testimony capable of hearing has the ability to awaken any opposer in any part of the world.

40. "Whoever comes to Me and hears My Words, and does them (...) is like a man who built a house and dug deep and laid the foundation on a rock (...) and could not be shaken...", Lk.6:47. Nowadays there is enormous emphasis on studying the word and even memorizing it as if that would create practitioners, dealing with people as if they were parrots. In the first place, reading the word without hearing with the deepest heart, that is, without that word being addressed to the deepest and most relevant yearnings of the soul, is reading in vain. It's a pure waste of time. The type of hearers whose being is fully involved in hearing carefully are those who can and must observe (fulfil, keep) the word addressed to them. If this statement is true, we must and can understand that a thirsty hearer is not yet a doer of the word. If you hear in this way, you have the way open to the grace that will fully enable you to be a doer, coming (growing) to a point where you live as if you have never lived any other way before. But, we must bear in mind that there is a long way to go between hearing with the heart and keeping the word in such a way that the person ends up becoming the word itself in a visibly, spontaneous, practical way. A hearer is not a doer yet.

41. "But, he person who hears but doesn't do...", Lk.6:49. Many believe and assume that practicing (the Gospel) is praying, reading the word, not missing meetings, going to church and becoming religious. Nothing is further from the truth. "You ought to do these, and not to leave the other undone", Lk.11:42. Practicing what we are capable of hearing with a thirsty heart is transforming our experience at work, at home, in traffic, at school, cleaning the house, tidying up the room, dealing with other people of any age. But, we can never forget that we have the non-negotiable duty to transform our own hearts first hand so that our practices are a visible, transparent manifestation of our heart in its entirety and without any hint of effort (pretense). "Create in yourselves a new heart and a new spirit", Ez.18:31. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" will have to be a spontaneous, natural, instinctive way of life. If not, it is a feigned and forced way of dealing with an appearance of life and that is not life.

42. "(The seed) on the good soil are the people who also hear the word but hold on to it with good and honest hearts and produce a crop through endurance (perseverance, patience)", Lk.8:15. A piece of Scripture filled with much. 1. Hearing the word: hearing is something that goes far beyond the audible, because it is grasping something of interest to the heart and that moves or revolves it; 2. To hold on to an honest and good heart: a) it is not to keep only in memory and mind; b) we cannot sow seeds in any other type of heart (not even in ours), because the good seed has the capacity to transform and when the heart is not "honest and good" about the word, when the word does not find a heart of equal status, when the truth does not find a truthful person, when one is not extremely sincere even with oneself, this word has a limited capacity to transform the countenance and appearance of people, who become believers in appearance, hypocrites without bridal garments. They become "spots in your feasts of (love to God), while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves", Jud.1:12. Preserving the good word to be able to make it bear fruit afterwards is to think much about it, meditating on it to the point of transforming our mind and our being. 3. But this can never be considered as bearing fruit yet, because bearing fruit is something else and goes far beyond having the ability and discipline to keep that word with will and dedication. Bearing fruit will be possible with continued perseverance, making less and less mistakes and being more and more right until it is not possible to make mistakes anymore due to the new culture and the stature of the new man into which we have be turned. But, if still missing the marks and making mistakes, we must yet keep the good word in a good heart that is not discouraged by anything in this world, persevering in trust, in faith, knowing that we will achieve everything by depending on God exclusively and if we do not make use of alternative means called to the service by impatience, means that can lead us to want to build the house without having God building it with us. 4. This means that no one should give up at the first mishap, at the insistence of temptation and at difficulties, because everything can soon become easy and natural if we don't neglect God's help in saving us from every sin. If making mistakes still, we must maintain the ability to still keep the word in the heart knowing that soon everything changes by being/remaining in God. What are the main enemies of perseverance? Distractions of many kinds; lack of attention, which is negligence; absence of "good courage" (Jos.1:6); previous failures that, by the face of them, seem to be repeating themselves; the temptation to want to achieve by one's own means what was promised; discouragement and lack of motivation. "Simon answered and said to him, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; but as you command, I will let down the net", Lk.5:5. Here, Peter did not only respond to Jesus, but to his own mood and contradictory thoughts. And what is fruit? Many believe that to be fruitful is to change the world, convert the lost thousands and save souls. But the real fruit that needs to be achieved has to do with the new person we've become, the attitudes of the heart and everything that is personal and inherent in the inner man. This is where we must bear fruit by persevering. The rest comes by addition. "Create in yourselves a new heart and a new spirit", Ez.18:31. It is in this creation of a new heart through light and transparency that we must maintain continued and burning perseverance. Anyone can change in appearance. But, changing the heart and the consequent practical attitudes is achieved only by persevering in being rigorously transparent under the light of God which leaves nothing invisible or hidden.

43. Many sincere and dedicated people try to teach many things to later come to the conclusion that nothing of what they taught bore fruit. This I have confirmed in many places and in many people in church, in homes, in schools and in every place where teaching is practised. The word comes back empty. It wasn't so with Jesus. "Ask those who heard me what I have said to them. Behold, they know what I said", John 18:21. Time and again, those who are taught end up doing the opposite of what they were taught. On other occasions, hypocrites are created who learn a life hypocritically and in a cultural way where the heart is absent from what they do and teach or, then, it is subjugated/subdued to a religious emphasis, while the true Christian life is a practical and spontaneous virtuosity. In fact, when we teach a life, no fruit is achieved through theory, doctrine or pragmatic religiosity. Life is learned through the practice of what fills the heart. Doctrine is for the use of those who teach, not those who need to learn. It is by practicing that you teach. It is the spontaneous life of the one who teaches that creates and recreates those who learn. But if anyone practices what does not come from the heart, he will create fictitious environments of practical deception and never heavenly fruit. People from the outside learn what has heart, what comes out spontaneously and has deep roots in the inner man, whether for better or for worse.

44. "Be filled with the Spirit", Eph.5:18. Despite what is believed in more traditional evangelical circles today, we cannot ignore that being filled with the Spirit is a command, it is a condition for the real and practical Christian life, it is an essential and undeniable need that no one can do without if one wants to belong to God and appear before Him spotless. Those who want to patch their old garment with a new cloth, avoiding the reality of the promise of a new and complete garment to wear in all occasions - which they must put on completely - should pay better attention to the Scriptures. On the other hand, there is the euphoria of error in Pentecostal circles that has nothing to do with true baptism with the Holy Spirit. In many of these circles, it might even be another spirit and not the Holy One. I am fully aware and certain that these Pentecostal practices are a form of enmity against the true Spirit of God, being nothing more than a cheap imitation of what exists in heaven and on earth. These two poles I mentioned mutually reject each other because they are both far from the truth and reality of a truly God-filled life. However, we cannot ignore or even reject what is right just because there are many wrong, deficient and harmful practices in the many supposedly evangelical movements. No one rejects money just because many use it to wage war; no one rejects bread because there are so many obese people. There is a need to pay more attention to the true Gospel that is promoted, enabled and confirmed only in/by a Spirit-filled life - provided that this experience is real and not just believed or assumed through pretence, lying, feigned, theatrical, deceitful fiction because someone never experienced the reality of the undeniable promise of God. It should be noted, however, that this command to be filled with the Spirit is not as straightforward as it seems to be. No one commands the Spirit of God to get something that needs to be asked for and desired with the whole heart. No one fills his soul by decision and command. It is not by commanding, forcing or even dictating that we can be filled with the Spirit of God. In order to be filled with Him, we must pay the greatest attention to the conditions and (pre)requisites that allow us to enter deeply into the Holy of Holies, that is, into the Sanctuary of God. Only by diligently fulfilling the conditions, working our hearts and consolidating everything we are and do with truth and reality (including the new way of praying) can we understand what it is to be truly filled with the Spirit all the time and right through practical life. "Ask and you shall receive". Never dare to have truth and reality apart. They belong together.

45. "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (...) bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves..." Lk.3:7,8 . I believe tha what John meant was something like this: "Who taught you this way? Whoever it was, taught you wrong making you believe that you could escape being baptized but not truly converted". There are many other ways to try to escape or evade the reality of the wrath to come though, all of them in vain. In the case of the Pharisees, one of the ways of "evading" (temporarily) the accusations of wrath within would be to convince themselves through certain stubborn assertions that could not be substantiated by practical truth, but only by their own twisted minds and the conveniences of others and their stained or even seared consciences. They convinced themselves that they were children of Abraham, that they were circumcised, that they were chosen, that they were descendants of David or anything else that would serve to prevent genuine repentance by evading the reality of wrath from within temporarily or for as long as they could. Today, the same thing happens when people say: I am a believer because I go to church; I am baptized; I am chosen; they have never been truly saved, and yet they claim that they will not lose their salvation. I could mention more things, statements and suchlike doctrines. But it would be, probably, an endless list of ways and formulas to try to escape the coming wrath - in vain. Nor will I speak of those who claim they performed miracles, cast out demons and prophesied in the name of God and other kind of chaff that will be burned as soon as God clears the threshing floor (Mat.7:21-23). All these forms and doctrines will be straw for the fire that will never burn out. However, it is good to know that it will not be this chaff that will feed the fire that was initially created for the devil and his angels and that, now, will also swallow men and women. It is creation that will feed it forever. All formulas and doctrines that try to excuse, appease or lessen the guilt of any sin are chaff that will be burned. If the faith of many is to try to circumvent or fool the truth and the reality of facts, they are feeding their hearts with straw. Those who practice lawlessness need to be saved from themselves, from their sin, eliminating the stubbornness of their sins by the power of grace. They should, rather, avoid sin at all costs instead of evading or nullifying conviction of sin and wrath to come.

46. "All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes (is) manifest is light",Eph.5:13. This verse speaks only of the tip of the iceberg of truth that is concealed beneath it. It speaks only of the visible part, of the outcome and result of certain conditions which have been met faithfully. Let's look at it it by parts. We know what light is. The light of God reveals, manifests things as they are and not as we would like them to be. But, for the moment, it reveals oneself about/to oneself. Paul speaks here of those things which are done in secret and which are reprehensible. If they were not reproved by conscience and by the light of God, they would not be practiced in secret. There are people who approve of what they themselves do in secret and, almost always, their approval is also hidden. They hide what they do and hide their approval. And they end up hiding their disapproval when they change so as not to appear that they have not been practicing what they have come to disapprove. When we come to the light, we must know how to do the opposite: reveal (manifest) what we do or have done and openly reproach it with all sincerity and honesty. This is not the same as openly reproving the works of others to hide the fact that we ourselves practice what we see in others. However, only by walking in the light of God with peace of mind and being totally transparent can we claim to be walking with God. To be transparent is an offense to the world and if you are still worldly you will never be truly transparent. This means that one does not walk in the light because he is not capable of doing so due to what he practices and/or approves. As soon as he succeeds in reproving what is hidden by the nature of the flesh, he obtains that light of God in the form of eternal and constant life, which manifests everything so that what still remains to be seen may be revealed in proper times ahead. A step taken leads to the next step. All other things ahead shall be revealed if someone can heartily and sincerely reprove openly what he has kept hidden and out of sight. You will never get more light for all the other things that follow if you cannot heartily and publicly reprove what is/was reprehensible in you. In order for the light to fall on