The Covenant Perspective

Posted on March 30, 2025 by ehurst

Our Creator is at work. We can understand that work well enough to hold forth expectations that match reality, but we also have work to do gaining that understanding.

I want you to gain a more biblical understanding of how this world operates from a Hebraic perspective. That’s the point of view that God revealed in His Word. With God’s reign over reality, it’s nothing like our bureaucratic government system. He does have a massive staff of beings far above our level, but the protocols are ANE feudal, inherently personal. There is a sense in which His staff already knows what He expects.

This is true even for Satan and the rebelling members elohim council. This is a dispute playing out along established protocols, and God will take whatever corrective action He sees fit when it suits Him. It will make no reference whatsoever to our sense of time and sequence, because He operates in Eternity, not under the time/space continuum. The higher beings will not overstep certain boundaries.

This imagery is as close as we can come to understanding a context in Eternity, in terms of how it affects us here. God reigns, but it’s quite rare for Him to get involved hands-on and personally in most human affairs. According to His own revelation, He doesn’t get personally involved outside of the Covenant. You can say, “God is at work” and that would be accurate, but most western people tend to envision things according to their own cultural biases, which results in false expectations. And based on their false expectations, they are praying for things God simply will not do. The Holy Spirit keeps prodding us to move to a much better place closer to God, but too many believers simply cannot see that place because they cannot conceive of any place they don’t already know.

There is a shocking disconnect between what God is doing and what even the followers of Christ are expecting because very few of them are oriented on the Covenant. It’s necessary to embrace the Covenant and the mindset that comes with it. It’s not that you can simply shift your brain into a Hebraic mode, but that you must become aware of the differences and work at getting a feel for how it’s different from our western orientation.

And if it is so challenging for the Elect guided by the Holy Spirit, how hard must it be for humans without the Spirit who don’t even embrace any covenant?

It is not a question of what are the right policies for human government. Ideology is by definition inflexible and unable to respond when God’s management through His staff have plans outside of the human range of reasoning. Right now, God has His servants pushing things in a certain direction, and only a tiny minority of folks in our US government have a clue to His plans. They don’t walk in the Covenant, don’t understand what Scripture really has to say, and are simply plowing ahead with something that isn’t going to work. That includes the whole gamut of American history, not just where we are today.

It may appear to work because of the standard human frame of reference, with horizons far too close against the ageless pattern of what God has revealed in His Word.

Thus, it’s not a question of whether the Trump administration is “doing the right thing”. Not one particle of their ideology matches what God has revealed, what is plainly visible from His hand for those who seek to understand this world from the Covenant. The Trump regime is pursuing policies that take no account of God’s eternal agenda.

If you get stupid and start measuring everything from simply a competing ideology, you are no better than Trump, and probably far worse. The long-term effects of what Trump is doing are only one tiny increment better than what his predecessors have done. He’s not working with the hand of God. Stop trying to gauge what is a “good” or “bad” policy choice based on ideology. Learn to discern just how far off course is the entire human race as a whole.

See the full scope of human history from a Covenant viewpoint. Given the whole picture, we are headed for some major man-made disasters. Only Covenant people will understand how to stay faithful to divine revelation in the midst of this apocalypse.

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Holy Spirit Required

Posted on March 29, 2025 by ehurst

Most of you remember the incident in Acts 3 where Peter and John were entering the Temple and ran across a lame fellow begging at the Beautiful Gate. They healed the man and he came dancing and shouting into the worship service, probably for the first time in his life. The lame were never permitted in the Temple, but everyone recognized this fellow as the one who used to be lame.

After the Temple service, Peter and John with this new friend went out to the larger courtyard around the Temple called Solomon’s Porch. A crowd gathered quickly and Peter addressed them to answer the question of how this man was healed by the name of Jesus. During this message, Peter referred (v. 18) to the Messianic prophecies: “But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets — that his Christ would suffer — he has fulfilled in this way.”

When did Peter come to the realization that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and die? So far as we can tell from the Gospels and Acts, Peter didn’t figure it out until after the Resurrection. Remember when Jesus met with them in the Upper Room after His arose? He breathed on them so that their minds could be opened to the Scriptures’ message about the suffering Messiah. Then He proceeded to explain it. And He explained on the road to Emmaus, and repeatedly throughout the next forty days He was with them.

Indeed, He had tried to explain it both before and after the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is in Luke 9:28-36 (Matthew 17 and Mark 9). But back in v. 20-22 He tried to warn them. In Matthew’s version of that incident (Matthew 16:21-28), Peter rebuked Jesus for saying that kind of thing. They went up on the mountain for this vision, and promptly upon coming down, Jesus explained again that He must face betrayal. Later, in Luke 18:31-34, He explains He must go to Jerusalem and face serious trials. Their minds were closed to this message. You can’t just blame the Talmudic influences; nowhere does the Old Testament say bluntly that the Messiah would suffer and die. Rather, it was hidden in bits and pieces, scattered across the prophetic terrain in little clues here and there.

This was intentional, but not to confuse humans. Those who truly sought the Lord’s face could have eventually figured it out. Jesus Himself realized it as part of His own study of the Scriptures. The whole point was to keep Satan and his allies out of the loop. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 that, had the powers of this world (both human and eternal powers) known that was the plan, they would not have carried through the crucifixion:

Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

The Devil and his allies in rebellion had cut themselves off from the Holy Spirit, and were unable to discern the clues in Scripture. The glorious plan was there, but it required divine guidance to see it. Paul goes on to explain that in detail. Remember that the Wilderness Temptations were in part an effort by the Devil to suss out what Jesus was up to, and Jesus didn’t tip His hand.

This is why so many argue against Election, or try to define it to mean something else. Without the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, you cannot embrace that truth. You may struggle even with His Presence. Everything critical to understanding the Unseen Realm depends on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

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Training Ride 01

Posted on March 28, 2025 by ehurst

I’m starting a new series on the blog. My knee is cooperating fairly well so far this year as the riding season starts rather early. I’m hoping to train up to bikepacking rides again. Today’s opening image celebrates the early spring with a shot of henbit covering a large area of the Pecan Grove Park in Midwest City. It’s part of the Barnes Regional Parks system where I train twice each week to keep my knees in shape.

I’ve shown this view of the dam several times. I’m standing near the Eagle Lake Trail which has recently reopened after the construction of a new connection track between two heavily used rail lines on either side of Eagle Lake Park. Over the visual horizon on the left stands the new OKANA Resort; more on that in a moment. The reason the flow of water over the dam is relatively high is because the city is draining a portion of the river upstream for some maintenance work.

The OKANA Resort project is far enough along that I was able to ride on the new bike trail part way behind the hotel. The trail is still blocked while the crews are working on a related project: a pedestrian bridge over the river. In this shot, the crew was doing some final landscaping work to accommodate the ramp up to the bridge. Spectators can stand on the bridge to watch the longer rowing events hosted here. The good new is that I have not been forced to ride along the railroad tracks any more; I can cut across the OKANA property safely as the final bits of construction work wind down. The curse is lifted. OKANA is officially opened now.

When I approach OKANA from the other direction, you can see that the huge memorial mound hides a considerable pile of remaining equipment and supplies from the construction. I still can’t ride through here safely, but I can go around behind it far off to the right of this image. There’s a large grassy field that is open and connects to the paved driveways running through the resort. I’ll keep an eye on this and offer a comparison shot once all this stuff is gone.

Let the training commence!

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Balaam’s Teaching

Posted on March 22, 2025 by ehurst

In John’s Revelation, among the seven churches to which the Spirit of God has him write is Pergamum in chapter 2.

But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so that they would eat the food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

He goes on to compare that with the teaching of Nicolaitans. We can only guess at the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, but we do know a thing or two about Balaam.

The primary narrative of his actions are in Numbers 22-24. The Hebrew name for his town is ambiguous, but a good guess is a city mentioned in Assyrian records as “Pitru” just a few miles from Carchemish, on one of the tributaries flowing into the Euphrates. The problem is that the name of the town itself can be taken to mean “diviniation”, so maybe Balaam was part of community that did such work. Still, we have nothing else that comes close.

A working map in your mind should be the Jordan River and the Dead Sea for the initial scene in Numbers. Israel had hiked way around Edom and Moab because God insisted He would not give them into the hand of Israel. However, He did not declare protection on Ammon, the nation that arose from Moab’s brother (the sons of Lot).

At this point, the Amorites had more or less seized some of Moab’s ancient lands on the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea. They moved in and occupied ruins and so forth, wedging themselves in between Moab and Ammon. If you recall, the name “Amorite” is rather like calling them “Gypsies” — not so much an ethnic identity, but a type of people who survived as raiders, reselling what they stole, and setting up shrines for ritual prostitution. Somehow, we also find that a portion of the Midianites lived in this area, and may have qualified for the term “Amorite”.

Thus, when Balak of Moab sees Israel down on the floor of the Jordan Valley east of the river, he is almost certainly standing near a shrine on some high peak overlooking the valley. He confers with the local Midianites and suggests they go in together on calling a diviner from up in Pethor. This is no quick journey, but took a couple of weeks minimum.

There is some back and forth and Balaam eventually gets permission from Jehovah to go, but then nearly gets executed by an angel. So, his onager gets to talk to him about the situation and he is fully aware he cannot branch off on his own, seeking his personal benefit.

We know that he fails to curse Israel, but blesses them. Then he prophesies of how other nations were doomed because Israel had come. The text says Balaam went home, but then we learn later he stopped to teach Balak and his friends how to mess with Israel, removing their covering and invoking God’s wrath. The next chapter of Numbers (25) we see the results of Balaam’s suggestions. The Moabites declare a festival and seduce some Israelites to join in pagan offerings and ritual sex.

We have the scene where Phinehas nails one couple to the ground with his spear. The plague would have most likely been some kind of venereal disease, since that would have been common among a people who made so much of ritual prostitution. You can imagine what this was such a threat to Israel, because most of those ancient venereal plagues were harder on men than women.

Jump forward a few chapters to 31 and we see God instruct Moses to mobilize against the Midianites who helped Moab, without attacking Moab. They wiped out that particular bunch of Midianites, which were probably only distant relatives of Moses’ father-in-law. In the process, the Israelites also executed Balaam.

We hear more about this in Psalms 106:28-31. The festival was in the name of Baal of Peor, at a shrine that may have been in disputed territory at the time. This is why the Midianites would have been a major sponsor, since it may been in their hands. Again in Micha 6:5, the prophet recounts how this all happened right before Israel crossed the Jordan, and they really needed all the purity and strength they could muster for the conquest.

Back to the opening reference to John’s Revelation: We get a picture of how a church could have an infestation of people claiming that it’s okay to eat food offered to idols and make use of ritual sex. While the ruins of that ancient city include temples to Zeus and Athena, there was also the one for Dionysus. You can imagine what a major temptation it was to join in the local festivals there.

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Sources of Truth

Posted on March 17, 2025 by ehurst

There’s a booklet length article on Zero Hedge that you will likely find boring: What If the America You Pledge Allegiance to Isn’t the One Running the Show?. It’s loaded with references to legislation and court cases, and some of them are frankly impertinent, if you ask me. I’m still reading through it. It’s the opening paragraphs that grabbed me:

What if the America you pledge allegiance to isn’t the one running the show? This investigation examines how America’s governance system fundamentally transformed since 1871 through a documented pattern of legal, financial, and administrative changes. The evidence reveals a gradual shift from constitutional principles toward corporate-style management structures — not through a single event, but through an accumulation of incremental changes spanning generations that have quietly restructured the relationship between citizens and government.

This analysis prioritizes primary sources, identifies patterns across multiple domains rather than isolated events, and examines timeline correlations — particularly noting how crises often preceded centralization initiatives. By examining primary sources including Congressional records, Treasury documents, Supreme Court decisions, and international agreements, we identify how:

  • Legal language and frameworks evolved from natural rights toward commercial principles
  • Financial sovereignty transferred incrementally from elected representatives to banking interests
  • Administrative systems increasingly mediated the relationship between citizens and government

This echoes what I wrote about Trump not being a politician at all, but a businessman running the US like a corporation. It’s all wholly consistent with the system of US government. It also explains how a technocracy not only could take over the country, but already has. The only real question is who gets to profit from the business.

This article seeks to stir up a renewed commitment to Enlightenment principles of government. A key passage:

In his 1887 essay “The Study of Administration”, Wilson explicitly advocated for a government run by “experts” insulated from public opinion: “The field of administration is a field of business. It is removed from the hurry and strife of politics… Administrative questions are not political questions.” He argued directly that “The many have no business with the selection of technical administrators any more than they have with the selection of scientists.” These writings reveal Wilson’s profound belief in governance by unelected technical experts rather than democratic processes — a vision that laid the groundwork for the modern administrative state.

This philosophy of governance — creating a permanent administrative class operating independently of elected officials — marks a profound departure from the constitutional system established by the Founders. James Madison’s writings in the Federalist Papers explicitly warned against exactly this type of arrangement, where unelected officials would hold unchecked power over citizens. The relationship between Colonel House and Wilson point toward questions about the intentionality behind administrative systems developed during this period. As we’ll see later, this vision would eventually extend beyond domestic agencies to reshape global governance itself.

All true, but largely impertinent to our concerns. Some years ago on this blog I looked at a scholarly paper on the formation of the American bureaucracy. It was the birth of the “weebees”, the bureaucratic response to elected officials: “We be here when you come and we be here when you go.” The elected officials have virtually no real influence on the system. The linked article is simply a clear declaration of what we already know had happened.

What President Wilson lied about was the expertise, which turned out to be virtually non-existent from the start. The hive-mind appeals to the weakest candidates; real leaders and thinkers could not tolerate working in a bureaucracy. This is why our military is so hollow. The majority of the commanders are bureaucrats, not genuine warriors.

Trump has declared an intention of changing this. That part of his message is mere propaganda, a sales pitch. He remains a CEO, not a statesman by any means. The citizens will benefit from a portion of his agenda in the same way any business works better when you cut out the excess overhead. That is, it’s “better” if you think in terms of marketing strategy and consumers instead of governing people.

The biblical principle is to bloat any operation with those under your covering, within your domain. You are supposed to bless as many people as possible inside the operation, spreading the wealth across your household of faith. We should be glad to see the dismantling of systems that exclude the covenant lifestyle, but not so it can be replaced by a heartless and dehumanizing version that simply favors a competing team.

We don’t expect anything really good coming from all of this. It’s simply the routine changes in the background against which we project the gospel message. Under the globalist regime, we faced a broad hindrance of our message, in the sense that every step of the way we encountered friction and vague threats. That evaporated once Trump took office, pretty much connected to clobbering USAid. But we are starting to see in its place a harsh crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism. I’m waiting to see how that develops.

Our community does not support Palestinians, but we also don’t favor Israel. There are no good guys in that conflict; it’s just another mundane human war. If anything is going to bite us, it is our insistence that Modern Israel has zero claim on God’s favor. We remind everyone that Jews rejected the Covenant of Christ and refuse to accept that God ended their covenant on the Cross. They aren’t special at all, just another human nation, peculiar only in their cohesive spite for the rest of the world, and their long noted intent on ruling all of humanity. We don’t hate Jews; we simply don’t trust them because we know they hate us.

It’s possible that the political tension between pro-Palestine sentiments versus Zionism will keep them too busy to notice us. We will take advantage of this opening to press the Covenant message. We envision preparation for greater tribulation, making people stronger in faith through our message so they won’t need us. We aren’t creating a dependent audience, but building a divine empire of faith people who are themselves sources of truth.

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NT Doctrine — Conclusion

Posted on March 15, 2025 by ehurst

I’m not going to say that John’s Revelation doesn’t contain any doctrine, but that doctrine is not the purpose for writing it. It is prophecy in symbols, all reaching back to echo the symbols of the Old Testament. Its content does not fall under the purpose of this study.

Our purpose in this study was to show fairly concrete statements in Scripture that point out the continuity between the Old and New Testaments. Not so much in the particulars, but there is a clear continuity in assumptions and expectations of how God works and what He requires of us. The Scripture flatly states the Gentile believers are not bound under any particulars of the Law of Moses, but then references fundamental concepts of morality behind that law.

I have made my case. You can decide whether any of it matters.

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They Don’t Actually Do It

Posted on March 13, 2025 by ehurst

In Scripture, the vast majority of the time, the term “sinner” refers primarily to someone outside the Covenant. To be more specific, it can also refer to someone in the covenant family who has stepped outside the boundaries and have lost their covering. The concept of “sinner” is someone who doesn’t cooperate with God’s agenda for humanity, and thus belongs under Satan’s authority. This concept needs to stick deep in your soul.

America is not a covenant nation. It is an anti-covenant empire. To be “American” by definition excludes following Christ. It means clinging to a value system that excludes what Scripture demands, and includes a lot of things that make Satan smile.

If you get offended when trannies prance in public and spew blasphemy, then you really don’t understand. I’m not saying there is no reason to find it objectionable, but that America has no grounds for objecting to it. Making that filth illegal is un-American. Without the Covenant, it’s just a matter of personal fashion preference, clearly something fundamental to the American justice system.

By the same token, to genuinely embrace Christ’s teaching is illegal in the US.

Only under the Covenant can you take appropriate action against perversion. If you are part of a covenant community, you have standing to do what God requires: executing sexual perverts. Not those with temptations — we all have those. Rather, those who act on their perverted desires. Yes, I realize it is complicated by the reality of secular government and laws; I’m not suggesting you go out and start slaughtering perverts. If you did that, you’d never get done. You can’t buy that much ammunition. What I’m suggesting is that you understand where God draws the boundaries.

You should have total aplomb in the face of perverts on parade. Turn away, sure, but don’t react in any way that encourages them and gives them what they want. They want to offend; they want an shocked and angry reaction. They want the confrontation. It’s part of their perversion and hatred. Don’t give them the satisfaction of knowing they have succeeded. They are simply a part of the American landscape, something that is inherently perverted in the first place. What’s the difference between adultery, fornication and sodomy? It’s all sin; the majority of Americans do one or the other. It’s all perversion. You should not be surprised at anything perverts do. You cannot save America from the perverts. There are no boundaries except in the minds of the sheeple.

Don’t offer any visible reaction when sinners commit sin. We are hardly surprised when people get creative in seeking new ways to transgress imaginary barriers. Don’t be a part of the sheeple audience to whom they play. Don’t comment as if it is worth notice. God’s standards are not in the particulars, but in whether or not you submit to Him as Lord, something no American would ever do. They might claim it, but they don’t actually do it.

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Roles Rolled Away

Posted on March 11, 2025 by ehurst

God revealed Himself in the Bible. If you reject the testimony of Scripture, you reject God.

In the Bible, we learn that a covenant society is peaceful and stable. Everyone has a place, a mission in life, and they have no cause for doubting that mission. If you aren’t comfortable with the roles God has assigned, you can always appeal to Him. There are clear boundaries and priorities. If you don’t like His answer, you can leave in peace.

You are not free to demand fundamental changes. You may well have a mission to persuade folks to think a little differently about some things on some levels, but you are not permitted to attack the underlying revelation of God. He is the final Judge of all things.

Some of the things God has made clear are the roles assigned for males and females. If you leave the boundaries God has established, people lose track of who they are and how to live. Western society hasn’t simply lost track, but has rebelled. Western Civilization represents a truculent rejection of divine revelation, the Covenant in particular. Not just a rejection of the one covenant, but a rejection of the very concept of covenant.

Early in American history, we still had some vestige of traditional ideas about the roles of men and women. They weren’t good, but they did work well enough. Women always had a mission in the family, and men could eventually find a mission on their own. We’ve lost that. Women have hatefully trashed their roles, and have seized control of society and law to a large degree. Women at least believe they have a mission, so they can orient their existence, even if they are woefully misguided. They have stolen away the last little bit of frame of reference that men could use to discern their place in the world.

Men today have no sense of purpose. They are hard wired against almost everything women demand. This country is lost. A precious few men here and there gain some sense of purpose, but society as a whole has denied the root nature of manhood, so for a man to be seized by a sense of mission is an act of open rebellion.

To walk in Christ’s Covenant means declaring war on the American society, and to a great degree, against American government. You need not lift a finger to threaten the system; simply refusing to surrender makes you dangerous. The Covenant binds us to pray for His wrath to fall on sin.

Lord, start with me. Cleanse my sin first.

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NT Doctrine — Jude

Posted on March 8, 2025 by ehurst

John’s second and third letters are brief summaries of what he wrote in his first epistle, addressed to a couple of people noted for helping itinerant preachers take the gospel to new mission fields.

Chronology: Paul was executed in roughly 65-66 AD. Peter wrote his letters from Rome and was also executed a short time later. In 70 AD, a Jewish revolt in Jerusalem brought a swift Roman response that destroyed Herod’s Temple. Christians who fled that event largely gathered in and around Ephesus, turning it into the new hub of Christian religion. The other members of the original Twelve Disciples traveled far away or were executed, leaving John as the elder there in Ephesus. His letters were written around 85 AD. Jude wrote his letter some while before John’s to an unknown audience that was almost certainly dominated by Hebrew Christians. He identifies himself as James’ younger brother, which made him half-brother to the Christ he proclaimed as Lord.

We thus get a picture of how the heresies John faced developed during the early explosion of Christianity in Ephesus and the surrounding region. Jude’s focus is on the early Gnostics. Jude had rather written something else, but this cult was a serious threat to following Christ. He says they had infiltrated the community to which he writes.

They had twisted the gospel of grace into an excuse for libertine self-indulgence and denial of Christ. Jude’s first comment is that these men were predestined to damnation from the start, never part of the Elect. They will meet their doom, but Jude wants to give context as to why the churches must endure their presence for a time.

First example: We notice that Jude uses terminology that makes a lot of later western church folks a little uncomfortable because he cites Hebrew mystical imagery that was common during the Second Temple period and plugs in his Lord as the Messiah to which that theology pointed. Many English translations leave out the reference to Christ being present during the Exodus. It was not Jesus the man, but rather an earlier manifestation of God’s Word that appeared in the Exodus, leading the nation out of bondage. And this same Word of God was the standard of judgment that called for the destruction of those who rebelled against God’s order of things for leadership in the wilderness.

Second example: Jehovah’s elohim staff also rebelled and invaded the mortal realm, getting personally involved in mortal human existence. They were forced to remain in this realm in the Abyss as part of their punishment, until the Day of Judgment.

Third example: The men of Sodom and Gomorrah (along with three smaller cities nearby) transgressed the limits God had set for them and went all out, trying to engage in degrading ritual sex with angels. Their punishment was fire raining from the sky, turning the whole area into a smoking grave.

These Gnostics also transgressed the boundaries in the same way as the cultists of Sodom and Gomorrah did, rejecting the created order of authority, even to the point of cursing the elohim. Even the archangel Michael knew better than that, but spoke only in echoes of what God had already said. The Gnostics don’t even have a clue what they are talking about, but arrogantly transgress the boundaries. They rejected the place God made for them and wasted the gift of human faculties, living by brute animal instincts with no moral restraints. That kind of lifestyle carried its own doom sooner or later.

They had joined in the sins of Cain, and of Balaam, and the rebellion of Korah. It’s quite a challenge to describe the depth of depravity to which they had sunk, sneaking in to the church love feasts to selfishly gorge themselves. They boasted of powers and wisdom, but were like clouds without rain, trees without fruit, stinking foamy wild waves of the sea, and stars that moved out of constellations. God was saving up special wrath for them.

Jude refers to the oral lore about Enoch, who prophesied before the days of Noah that wrath was coming for all the people who embraced the lies of the rebellious elohim. These pre-Flood idiots even dared to insult God directly, complaining about how He would not let them sate their foul lusts. It’s the same sin the Gnostics were engaged in during Jude’s days. We would call them psychopaths.

Jesus had warned such people would appear after His Ascension, seeking to mislead the Elect and destroy the unity in churches. Jude recommends that his audience do the work of Christ, having mercy on those who struggled with their faith, teaching them to distrust the flesh and keep it under the discipline of the Spirit. This is how we carry out the Law of Christ.

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The Two Rituals

Posted on March 5, 2025 by ehurst

A couple more questions regarding religious practice for Kiln of the Soul.

We aren’t interested in sacraments. That concept arose long after the New Testament times. We do have two prominent ritual practices: communion and baptism.

Communion need not be confined to the elements consumed in the New Testament version of the Seder. Wheat bread and grape wine reflect what was commonly available in the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East. Digging back into the Old Testament references, I sense that any type of grain locally available is fine, as long as it is baked without biological leavening. A chemical leavening agent is okay.

While fermenting the bread is forbidden, it is also not required for the drink. It can be any cultivated fruit crop, fermented or not. And since our American food production industry is so deceptive, I would not push for literally local sourced food for communion, only the type of stuff you know is cultivated in your area.

Here in the American Heartland, I could use the juice of apple, peach, pear, blackberry, strawberry, and a few others because they are all cultivated in Central Oklahoma where I live. I think we should prefer one fruit type, though, and not blended fruit drinks. And for bread, we could use wheat, barley, corn (maize), oats, rye, and a few others, but again, not mixing more than one type — and baked, not boiled or fried.

Use your imagination: cornbread (no wheat flour) and peach juice, or rye crackers and watermelon wine, etc.

Baptism is taken from the Hebrew mikveh. The original was a ritual bathing to signify a purity of allegiance to Jehovah. I reject the common liturgical notion that it symbolizes the Holy Spirit falling upon you. It’s a bath; whether by immersion or pouring, you get soaking wet all over the body. A sprinkling would not be enough under Moses, and it won’t do today.

While it might have been rather frequent in the Old Testament, it became a one-time event in the New Testament upon one’s initial submission to Christ as Lord. We are not a denomination; we don’t require that you pass through it again. On the other hand, if you sense in your own convictions that your previous ritual experience wasn’t fully valid, I’ll be glad to walk you through it again.

It is not at all necessary that you perform the ritual in the hands of clergy or anyone else. That wasn’t required in the Old Testament. There may be a lot of reasons one might want that attendance, but in all the cases I see in Scripture, it had more to do with the baptized person giving a testimony in favor of the teaching of the person calling to baptism. Having someone officiate isn’t of the essence of the ritual itself; having someone witness is.

You can make a ritual of many passages of life. Ordination is really simple, with praying and laying on hands. When I do weddings, I just consult with the bride and groom, but no ritual is required, only some kind of public witness that the two are married. Likewise, there is nothing special required for funerals. Hebrews had a cultural revulsion for cremation, but I don’t.

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