St Ralph
To the readers of this missive, may the blessings of El Shaddai be upon you. Shalom to you my friends and As Salaam-O-Alaikum.
I am daily amazed by the applications of the internet and now that I have begun to write The Message born in me, I have not only admiration but gratitude for the creators of the net in general and, for the team behind Voxtropolis in particular.
I am going to veer away from The Message for a time so that I might be able to give you the reader some insight into my theology so that you might better understand my labor. I have concluded that this task can best be completed by taking you through an abridged analysis of the Book of Hebrews which in my opinion is the single most pertinent book in the entire Bible for a 21st century Christian behind only the red lettering in the New Testament. For those of you non Christians or non biblical followers, the red lettering I refer to are the words of Jesus himself in the New Testament. I will begin with a survey in to the authorship and general background of this inspired book but before I do I would like to brief you a little more on my personal background so that you may know your servant a bit better.
I am Rafa el for God heals. Every name has a meaning including yours. This is mine. I am a worshipper of the Living God and a disciple of Jesus Christ by rebirth. I do not call myself a Christian for the same reason that some of you do not call yourselves such. That name has taken on the trappings of folk religion, the kind of religion that doesn’t debate metaphysical topics anymore for “that stuff has already bin figered (sic) out by them smart people that lead our churches”.
I don’t know when it began or when I finally concluded that, what matters most to me is to be found by God, while I am seeking him. The Truth, is what I long to know, and while on the road of discovery, I found this passage from Jesus’ dealings with the woman at the well, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know: we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship in Spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth.” (John 4:21-24). These passages were pregnant with meaning for me because of the following background I knew that you may not be aware of. The woman He was speaking to was a Samaritan. Samaria is the middle region between Galilee in the north and Judea in the south in
Israel. Through intermarriage with the conquering Assyrians the Samaritans believed in the God of Israel but had changed some of the most important stories in the Jewish Old Testament to fit their belief system. Because of this Jews despised them and avoided them for they did not want to be tainted by them. Jesus even called her on this when he said “You worship what you do not know (implying false/erroneous doctrine) we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews (who would know better about salvation than the savior) BUT the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.”
Have you been turned off by the Christian religion because it seems that every Christian denomination (Evangelicals, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc…)claim Christ but none of them behave like Christ except with their own kind? If they can’t get along with each other then how can we expect them to get along with non Christian religions who also claim to know God? I feel you. It baffled me for the longest too. Then Jesus opened my eyes through the passage above. Listen for I tell you the Truth. The Samaritans are the Mormons (no offense to my Mormon brothers and in fact, you can consider me the Samaritan in your story) or the Witnesses or any of the other Christian sects. They are false and erroneous in their doctrines “BUT the hour is coming, AND NOW IS, when the true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.”
I have been released from my ignorance. Because of these words from Jesus himself, I began to see that it doesn’t matter what your church calls itself because if you personally worship God in Spirit and in truth, then you are my brother/sister in Christ. (Even if you are wrong!J) Doctrines will always lead you to church (a good thing) but Doctrines cannot draw you higher to Christ. He does
A warning to you dear reader. The Pharisees and scribes of your denomination will fight you on this. You will hear them from your pulpits and on your radio filling your mind with biblical passages that insist that you not build bridges with the “cults” for “they have a different Christ, a different Gospel”. Stick to the red lettering and have no one but the spirit of God teaching you what you already know. The agents that control wish to channel the Spirit of God through their spouts only. Blind men.
I am Rafael of the Spirit and the Truth, S and T for short. If after reading this you consider me a brother, then call me by the name that my own family calls me, Ralph.
ST Ralph
