Overcome Evil with Good

There are still a good bit of prejudices in this world, and as long as men keep and nurture these prejudices then we know that the adversary is still resisting the call of the church.  Christians are commanded to be neighborly and treat all men with charity and kindness.  When Jesus walked the earth, the Jews considered the Samaritans to be unclean and would not fellowship with them.  They would not even so much as drink a glass of water from a Samaritan's cup.

We find in John chapter 4, that Jesus was traveling to Galilee and had to pass through Samaria.  Jesus and his disciples came near a parcel of land that Jacob had ceded to his son Joseph, which had a well there.  The disciples went into town and Jesus waited at the well for them to return with food.  At noon a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water out and Jesus said unto her, "Give me to drink."[John 4:7]  The woman asked Jesus how could he, a Jew, ask her a Samaritan to drink water from her waterpot; she knew that if Jesus drank from her waterpot, that he would be considered unclean, because she being a Samaritan was considered unclean.

We find here that, even though this is water from a well that Jacob dug and left to his son Joseph, the same Jacob that had the promises of God, the same Jacob that dug the well, drank from the well, and left blessings to his seed; Jacob left the well to the Samaritans, so how could this water be considered unclean?  Jesus had already said that there is nothing that enters the body that can make a person unclean [Mark 7:15].  The water wasn't unclean, the waterpot wasn't unclean, but somehow the person handing the water to you, could somehow make it unclean.  Isn't that how racism works; a segment of people are ostracized for some unimportant reason, and are hated and mistreated for something that they can't even control.   People who if you look back far enough on their family tree are related to the people, that hate them.  The woman then reminds Jesus that the Jews have no dealing with the Samaritans.  Have you ever said, "I don't want anything to do with that person?"  This type of attitude goes against the mind of Christ.  So how does Jesus respond to this situation?

Jesus overcomes: [1] the hatred the Samaritan woman has for the Jews, which was based on how she had been treated; [2] the woman's perception of what cleanness is and the incorrect idea that something unclean can make what God has made clean, to be unclean [Acts 10:15].  Jesus bassicly tell her, I am the Holy One of God, neither you nor anything else can make me unclean.  I am here to make you clean.  Jesus tells her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." [John 4:10].  Jesus overcomes her prejudices by giving her the word of God and offering her the gift of salvation.  The woman tells Jesus, that she must have this gift, the living water that Jesus spoke of.

The word is a powerful thing my friends and at the end of the day, its anointing is the only thing that can overcome the things that truly make us unclean like racism;  "And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."  [Mark 7:20-23]

Holy Separation

Brothers, I will use this opportunity to further define my goal here, perhaps this is the right time, perhaps not but this is the chosen time.  Each Christian must reconcile some ideals within himself by his own conscience, but one must not use this liberty as an excuse or shield.  Many times I bring ideas to the table here without taking them as far as I want to take them because I respect each person's liberty in Jesus Christ; I leave it up to you to reconcile the idea with Jesus Christ, but sometimes I go further.  Here we go....

There are many instances in the bible that refer to dead bodies as being unclean and exposure to a dead body makes a person unclean.  (Now here someone is thinking that this was old testament ceremonial cleanness, but keep in mind that Paul talks about not using Jesus Christ for/as a means of breaking the law [Romans 6:15] because Jesus is the fulfillment of the law.  So don't stop reading because you feel that Jesus did away with this law because he did not.  Jesus did away with the penalty for breaking the law, please see the difference...)  There are also times in the bible where God makes a statement like, {this is to be observed forever}so you can't just dismiss what God has stressed forever)

Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church and when they took him down from the cross where did they take him?[Luke 23:52-53]  Now where would we take him if he had died in this day and age?  Well after the coroner examined his body, he would most certainly have been taken to a church sanctuary for a going home service; the local choir would have sang him to heaven and we no doubt would hear from the pastor about some of his good deeds.  Now let me take the time to state here that in life and death Jesus fulfilled all of the laws and rituals commanded/given by God, that's just what he did, you must believe that to be a Christian; this is basic doctrine.  Now, since we are all in agreement up to this point let me pose this question.  Why wasn't Jesus taken to the temple for burial (perhaps presented to God as a sacrifice)?  Well, because it was not God's will, that's why.

[Ezekiel 43:6-12] God tells Ezekiel, that the temple has been defiled because when men died, they were buried too close/near to the temple.  Now the bodies were not even brought into the temple (as we do today), the temple was defiled because bodies were buried to near it (Now sit and think about that for however long it takes for the truth to sink in).  As I spoke of earlier God uses the terms "forever" and "law of the house" in these verses.  In other words, do you call your place of worship, "The House of God"?  If so then obey the law of the house.  Now have we kept the law of the house, that was to be kept forever?  I can't count how many times I've walked through a church cemetery, just to get to the sanctuary (sometimes, cemeteries are too close to the building).  (Now some astute person is thinking that years ago, the church was the only place willing to bury certain people, therefore the cemeteries became overrun and became too close to the church.....Well, you are correct my friend but that only proves my point, the process that led to the condition was started by the enemy to place us in violation!!!)

Now I doubt that churches will ever stop having funerals in the sanctuary, and I'm not advocating moving bodies from their resting places, but when new churches are built, this should be kept in mind and be a part of the planning process.  Now, moving forward we should be in compliance because by our traditions we have setup ourselves to worship in continual uncleanness, rebellion, and lawlessness.  I'm just saying that we could make things easier on Sunday mornings if we kept the law of the house, that's all.  That's it, My job is done, peace!!

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