Jesus continues contrasting Covenant faith against the Talmudic religious perversions.

The Covenant required being generous to your own people. We would call it "charity" today; not just money, but other stuff and assistance that people need. Those who were unable to work and earn a living would cluster in high traffic areas to beg. They seldom got more than a single copper coin from anyone. But there were other poor people who worked, but could never get ahead. Both groups might, on certain festival days receive a single portion of bread, occasionally a whole meal, and sometimes people were known to give them clothing and blankets. Lawyers and judges from time to time might offer legal assistance days, working without the usual fees. This was all according to the Law of Moses.

Jesus points out that there were far too many who performed such acts of charity only in order to put on a show. Some would have an entourage parading along, and quite literally sounded a trumpet. The pretense was letting the beggars know they are coming, but the real intent was to show off. Jesus said we should try to keep it private. Nobody but God needs to know about it. You can be sure He's keeping track of your obedient heart, and will reward you in ways that witness to the meaning of shalom.

When the hour of Temple prayer came around, it was common for the Scribes and Pharisees to make sure they were caught out in some public place, instead of going to the actual Temple. They would then stop and make a big show of praying. Oh, such holy men! That's what they wanted you to think. Jesus said that, if you are going to plan your prayer times like that and know you can't be in the Temple, then find some private place. The idea is to meet with God, not a bunch of other people.

In both cases, the hypocritical show is the end of their rewards. It might get you the admiration of other fools, but certainly not God's. God can see what's in your heart. He's most impressed when you aren't trying to get anyone's attention but His. And when you have it, He tends to do things that glorify His name. That means His response will be publicly in your favor. You get to share in His glory.

Another thing was the showy eloquent prayers, or poetic repetition. Jesus said that's what pagans do, under the false impression that a dead idol will be more likely to hear if the worshiper makes enough noise for long enough, repeating the same thing over and over. It's all based on human accomplishment. If you want to be disciplined about it, keep it simple.

Quote:O Father who dwells in Heaven, Your reputation is sacred.
Build Your Kingdom in our hearts. May we learn to obey your wishes the way angels do.
Provide for our needs just enough to keep us loyal and dependent.
Forgive our failures in accordance with how forgiving we are of others' failures.
Teach us to avoid unnecessary suffering, and keep us from the Devil's clutches.
You rule over all; Your power and glory are without limits. Amen!

The right wise life restoring decisions with mercy.
That is a brief definition I came up with on my own trying to understand those words as I have read them in the Bible law part  of the OT. 
I would like any of the family here to correct me if I that can be improved.
Also what is your  brief definition of judgement and justice?

The picture is complex. You probably already know how the trend has been to oligopoly -- just a handful of suppliers for everything, colluding together to control the market. During the past few decades, it went critical. On the one hand, it appeared that anyone could order anything from the system and get it rather cheaply and quickly. That was to suck you in. Once everyone became dependent on that system, it was time to spring the trap.

So right now, the supply of some consumer goods is running short. It would take a lot of time and space to explain why, but the point is this: It's manufactured. It's not a real shortage. It's not as if the sources are gone, but the processing and transportation have been squeezed by regulations and so forth. Most of the problems come from the lock-downs and mandates.

Even as I write this, there is a new problem cropping up: Critical workers are dying off or becoming incapacitated. Yes, you know why: the vaccines. You won't get that from any official analysis, so everyone is pretending it's something else. It won't matter what they claim it is. Since so very much of our lives are provided via government services, the real problems will never be recognized officially. Today, the school children in places like Montgomery, AL are at risk of going hungry at school. The districts are warning parents that school food deliveries are failing, and there may be forced "distance learning" for that reason.

I'm praying that, as quickly as possible, everyone starts thinking about switching back to the local supply system. Local growers and producers need to go back to diversifying their products for local markets, instead of trying to mass produce a single cash crop. Yes, there are some things that simply cannot be provided that way. Some consumer products require a huge facility house massive pieces of equipment and bulk processes. Those are the things you should stock up on, as much as possible. You may not need it right away; the system may keep churning in limited ways for a long time. But when it stops, you won't get much warning.

Example: Oklahoma where I live has lots of materials for paper pulp, but a paper mill would be years in getting built. Thus, the Lord has emphasized for me to stock up on paper goods. Some of it I may not use for a year or more, but when I need it, nothing else will do. There's no way I can store enough to actually cover my needs long term, but I can just about keep enough to pass through the initial shock of scarcity when it hits. That way, I'm not in panic mode on every little thing. I can pray and look for alternative sources or alternative ways to meet specific needs.

The way I see it, that shock could hit any day now.

Someone has asked that I explain this again. My real name and my public persona is no longer appropriate for everything God has called me to do. He's commanding me to do some things that require a measure of anonymity. I don't understand all of it, but I do recognize the conviction that I must pull in the various tentacles out there on the Net connected to my public persona and keep it all right here on this forum. This is our virtual tribal meeting place; it's fairly private. Whatever I used to do on the blog will be featured here only. Eventually my old blog will go "poof!" In it's place I propose a repository of documents I've already produced in various formats. It will be linked here on the forum somewhere for your convenience. If it works out, I'd love to see stuff there from others who contribute to the message. I'd like some feedback on that idea.

So, in other words, me operating as myself on the Net will be restricted to his forum and our community. I will continue having an outreach under an assumed name. Most of you already know about that from previous tentative efforts. That work will link back here to some degree, but the alter-ego itself will not show up here. Instead, people who are curious to see what it looks like can ask me privately and I'll give you a link -- Radix Fidem family only. The whole point is to erect some kind of firewall between the two personas. Not to hide from governments and hackers; that's not possible. It's not a question of hiding at all. Rather, the whole point is putting the focus on the message.

To some degree, this is a good time to consider doing that yourselves, depending on how you use the Internet. Let your identity be a matter of who you are in the Kingdom.

Radix Fidem is not a confession in the ecclesiastical sense. It's an orientation. Nonetheless, our orientation is toward a common confession of faith. In other words, using the label "confessional church" or "confessing church" carries historical connotations that don't exactly fit what we do.

So here's the deal: We do not organize for any kind of political action, nor even verbal agitation. We do seek a common confession, a clear statement about the situation. But instead of official statements, we try to help everyone come up with their own expressions of faith. The point is that we find some way to all say pretty much the same thing as far as the rest of the world is concerned. We have enough in common that they know what to expect, and can pick us out in a crowd, as it were.

And publishing that confession is a major element in what we do. Living that confession in community with each other is a part of that major element. Our plan of action is working together. There is no particular plan of action regarding the world at large, aside from asserting our faith in words and actions. Right now, the context calls for us to emphasize pulling back, of becoming more separated from the surrounding society. However, it's important to remember that this could change in some future society, shifting back the other way toward infiltration of the ambient society.

I suppose you could say that we are "a type of confessing church" in that sense. There's no way to avoid the connotation that we resist the government approved brands of church, and that part is accurate enough. Then again, we have our own unique problems with government right now, and it really doesn't resemble the situation in Germany leading up to WW2, which is where the term "confessing church" comes from.

I don't know if there's a nifty label for what we do, in that sense.

My blog (radixfidem.blog) has started to receive trolling comments. Once that gets going, it's almost impossible to stop. For now, it appears to be one person, and I've reported them to their ISP. The ISP may not care. We'll see.

Other measures I might take would mean turning off comments on the blog. If the troll happens to be resourceful, this could get really nasty quickly. I'm not willing to shut down the blog just for one fool, but the truth is, a really angry fool can ruin everything you do on the Net, because it's just too easy for them to find you. And I've done precious little to hide myself.

I suppose I could revert to anonymous blogging and simply notify you folks individually by email where to find me. I would move the Bible lessons here, probably, but the message I have in general is increasingly for a wider audience. If this escalates, I'll have to come up with something different, though.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

I just had one of those days where a bunch of "things" would push on my Worry Button.  And just as I was about to fall into that place, my Gracious and Loving Father tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I am here, My child.  Don't worry.  I got this"  Just like He did the day after my husband died.

Praise You, oh Wonderful Father!  I know I am unworthy for such Graciousness and Love!  Thank you, My Father in Heaven for always reminding me of Your Heavenly Presence in my humble place in spite of my willingness to fall.

I've often warned that God did not grant me a vision of what comes after Western Civilization goes away. I have some vague ideas, but they are mere extrapolations, not any kind of divine insight. But recently my limited ability to extrapolate seems to indicate that whatever comes next will be dominated by China. That's in part because I've spent some time setting aside the Western propaganda about China, and have read more analysis by people who have been there, or are there now, immersed in the situation. It's not what you might expect. It most certainly won't be as bad as everyone claims, and likely quite an improvement in many ways over what we have here right now.

Even better, our brand of gossamer organization and highly individualized Christian Mysticism would likely survive quite well under Chinese domination.

I mentioned this in a blog post, but it's worth reiteration here as a separate teaching: The Lord honors virtual or figurative measures of holiness.

The primary requirement of shalom (peace with God) is the Covenant of Christ. This Covenant does have a law component, but it's your convictions. We shape our understanding of our convictions by studying previous Law Covenants in the Bible. It rests on our convictions to recognize where the boundaries are in any given context. We aren't required to obey the stipulations of the Law so much as the moral imperatives behind those stipulations. Sometimes the best answer is the Old Testament stipulations, but not always. Then again, the Old Testament Law was flexible in the first place. But in general, we seek to please the Lord as a Person, from the heart, not simply a collection of principles in our heads.

Thus, few of us have a genuine covenant body to which we belong in the real world. This puts us in a tough spot. On the one hand, we know that the Covenant assumes boundaries drawn in face-to-face real-world encounters with others. We are supposed to form a covenant household of people with whom we spend as much of our daily lives as possible. Holiness is defined in part as communion in the flesh with other holy people. But that may not be possible just yet.

By faith we believe the Lord will change that in the future. It's how His Kingdom works. But in the meantime, how do we begin the task of claiming our divine heritage? We use what is available. We commune with each other online. Thus, it's not a real church, but it can function somewhat like a parish community. We long for the real thing, but God says He'll honor the virtual communion.

Granted, this does limit how much divine covering we have against the evil in our world. The distinction between us and the world is rooted in our hearts. That was true when Jesus first discussed what holiness meant. It works across the board. But we have to recognize that in the nitty-gritty of daily life, it weakens our hedge against Satan's authority. A genuine enclave of covenant people is a lot better protection than a virtual one. Still, God honors our desire to do it His way, and will help us along through our prayers for each other until somewhere down the road we start to draw others into a very literal fellowship.