Episode 002–Perceptions Are Everything

Matthew 24:9: Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hatred of all nations for my name’s sake. If we really take on the challenge that Yeshua handed us near the end of His earthly ministry virtually every facet of our lives will defy any and every cultural and societal norm out there. We stand out like proverbial sore thumbs. When you get a chance dust off your Bibles and read Matthew 24…I mean really read it without any denominational glasses and under the brilliant light of the Holy Spirit. You will realize that the work of the gospel and the resulting lifestyle that it requires is not for the faint of heart. It is certainly not the message being delivered by mainstream christianity today.

Matthew 7:13 &14: Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many thre be wshich go in thereat: Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. Western churchianity in all its compromising music; hip-hop spirit, coffee shop decor Dockers wearing, laid back mentality and branding of the Faith can never measure up to the single true Faith that Yeshua said only a few will find and only a handful will be able to navigate that narrow rough path ). Fundamental churchianity has made it especially easy for anyone to find a great gate and a highway for a path…but that gate and highway I fear leads only to destruction.

So why “It’s Not As You Perceive?”

Perceptions are extremely powerful biological processes that we employ each day of our lives: most of the time we have absolutely no idea of the workings of this process in our minute-to-minute existence.

Perceptions are the processes by which we are able understand our environment. Everything that we take in through our senses are processed, organized, and ultimately interpreted in such a way that our very actions are influenced.

One’s perceptions about a thing or issue can have negative value. Unlike the few examples I listed above, there are many instances where one’s perceptions on a thing or issue will cause inaction or even a persistently wrong action or stance. I guess you could liken this to prejudice or bias or in the parlance of my upbringing: ignorance.

Perceptions can be powerful processes that operate within us in many areas of our lives. Yet other perceptions or even misperceptions can be equally as powerful as positive perceptions that cause us to act improperly or for that matter not to act–and that my friends ultimately causes us damage in the end.

There is a subtle yet consistent principle that runs throughout the entirety of the Bible. This principle has to do with man’s perceptions and in many cases”misperceptions” of the Almighty. (You can find a list of these various passages in the show notes.)

• Perceptions or misperceptions about the Almighty’s expectations of us as His creation and ultimately as His children
• Perceptions or misperceptions about the Almighty’s plans for mankind
• Perceptions or misperceptions about our relationship with the Father
• Perceptions or misperceptions about the Almighty’s laws, the Bible, and what it teaches

In the Bible, perceptions equate to understandings  Often tied to people’s misperceptions or misunderstandings if you will is “a rebellious” heart (cf. Ezek. 12:2) and a hesitance or slowness to believe (Lk. 24:25). Consequently, many of the misperceptions, in order for them to be corrected, requires the Holy Spirit’s work to open our understanding (cf. Lk. 24:45 and II Cor. 4:4,6).

A central passage of the Bible that puts this concept into perspective is found in Matthew 13. In this chapter we find Yeshua teaching a gathered multitude on a sea shore from a boat. Yeshua taught them in parables and it is here where we get the famous parable of the sower and the seeds falling on to the various soils and conditions the seeds fell. At the conclusion of this parable, beginning in verse 10, Yeshua’s disciples came to him and asked him why he taught in parables. Yeshua’s answer was thus:

Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, (reference: Isa. 6:9) which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Matthew tells of a person who came to the Master inquiring what he needed to do to inherit eternal life (Matt. 19). Ultimately the Master directed him, after verifying that he was obedient to the commandments of the Father, to sell all his possessions and follow Him. We all know the end of the story…that individual could not sell his possessions for his possessions completely defined who he was.

There is no place in the Bible where Yeshua promised material wealth through the giving of money to His earthly ministry or the Apostolic ministries that followed the resurrection. What Yeshua did promise was that we would be blessed by the Father when men hate and despise us and call us evil for the sake and work of the gospel (Lk. 6:22). And throughout the rest of the New Testament story we see nowhere that individuals who signed on to the renewed covenant through the shed blood of Yeshua, discipleship, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit sought material wealth and personal gain with the exception of Simon Magus (Acts 8:18). And if the Bible does not encourage it or sanction it, who gives anyone the right to add to the simple plan of the Father; and that plan is the Gospel of the Coming Kingdom of God and the seeking after of righteousness (Matt. 6:33). Where does anyone get the foggiest perception that Christianity is about making big money, creating corporations, achieving personal fame, or even preaching a message that makes people feel good about themselves. None of this is remotely about the Gospel message my friends. It is a message that is signed, sealed and delivered by the one who sought to destroy any chance that mankind would have in achieving his and her fullest potential—being the eternal sons and daughters of the Most High.

Yeshua taught against the many thousands of self-proclaimed teachers of the truth: Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in the thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And they will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 21-23)