Synagogue

2 Thessalonians 2:1  But with respect to the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to meet Him, we entreat you, brethren,

 Literal:  “With respect to the Presence of our Lord Jesus and our being synagogued upon Him, we ask you…”

The word synagogue or assembly is commonly known as a site where a Jewish congregation assembles itself unto God.  It comes from two Greek words “sun” & “agoge”, which is demarcated “as being brought together in order to be led”.

“Our being gathered to meet Him” is a trilogy of Greek words’ literally meaning, “synagogued UPON the Lord Jesus.”   

Humanity has always been summoned to synagogue or assemble itself together around its Creator in order to be led by Him.  This is what I call “Normal Theology or Religion or Christianity”. In fact, this is normal living.  It must be the status quo procedures of any and every nation under earth to synagogue around God in order to be led by Him.

The so called “separation of church and state” is a fraud of the devil and rebellion by wounded hearts which repel the presence of God. It is diametrically opposed to the practice of synagogue. It does not hurt God nearly as much as it hurts us. We lose the privilege and the benefits of being led by an all ever loving and wise God.

When I get criticized or called narrow minded, or a Jesus fanatic because I continually want to assemble myself around the glorious presence of my Creator in orders to be led by Him, this is the normal status quo of the human being. It is the default mode of a person.  Dysfunctionality, or abnormality is to not desire to be led by God.  We were never meant to be in this position. It is a lie and a gimmick of sin and of the devil, of the most destructive fashion.  The leading of ourselves ends in our eventual death and destruction. This is why society and civilization has strayed so far into darkness and debauchery.  

 The good news of the gospel is that God has brought us another chance to be forgiven by Him and to once again synagogue, or assemble ourselves around Him in order to be led by Him, in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Edelweiss

This famous song in the film musical, “The Sound of Music” is spiritually relevant to me. The Von Trapp family sings it as its preparing to flee from Austria after a hostile takeover by Adolf Hitler, in this movie classic. My family sang its own version of Edelweiss in 1960 when it fled Cuba from the hands of Fidel Castro. This “would be savior” duped many people when he came down from hiding in Cuba’s Sierra Maestra mountains with Bible and rosary in hand vehemently exclaiming, “weapons for what reason?”. Venezuela is now singing its own version of Edelweiss under the hands of Hugo Chavez. I wonder if Brazil will have a samba version of Edelweiss this year?

Cuba and Venezuela where financially prosperous nations before the takeover of these communists dictators, which left these countries in shambles. What happened? In part it is the fault of the church that remained spiritually blind, worldly, and lethargic, not seeing the incoming evil and failed to fast and pray. In another part, the frivolity, ignorance, shallowness of society allowed it.

In all of these things the church must always see with the eyes of the Spirit. Ultimately, what must be discerned is what the devil is doing behind the scenes. Objectively it’s a fight between the kingdom of God and that of evil. Conclusively, the devil wants to blind people from the benefits of God’s eternal kingdom and send people to hell. The opium of the devil and of these dictators is the ignorance and the passivity of societies in which they can operate and grab control

The devil is busily attempting to set up America for its own version of Edelweiss. He is using entertainment technology to create a society which is obsessed with self-entertainment. Everywhere people are busily looking down at their phones, their I Pad, Pods, and Touches, but never looking up to heaven and the Almighty God who dwells in it. We have become a society of non thinkers; frivolous, arrogant, naïve, gullible, shallow, and ignorant .The devil is nothing like this. Just the opposite, he is conspiratorial, serious, always scheming, ever planning.  When we fled from Cuba in the 1960’s my father told me; you will see Communism come into the American media, schools and politics. Castro’s takeover of Cuba occurred seamlessly and in  a few years. It is obvious that Communists had been in Cuba many years before planning for Castro.

In the USA, I see the inceptions of dangerous trends as those that occurred in my motherland. We need to have our eyes opened as the church of Jesus Christ. I do not want to have to sing one day the American version of Edelweiss.