Hi all,
We will pick it up with relationships, which if you will recall are the result of free will, which is endowed with intellect and emotion, glued together by enlightenment and revelation. 
 
When a person understands these 6 points THEN a person can have a rich and exciting life with the Lord - a life of communication and fellowship, of understanding and even friendship with Him. The Lord is healthy in His own free will, intellect, emotions, relationships, obligations, and consequences - within this framework one may commune with Him.
 
IF a person is not healthy emotionally, He can reach them, but He will attempt to bring them into health in part so that they may correctly and in a healthy way, know Him. IF a person is not healthy in their exercise of free will, intellect, or enlightenment, their ability to draw close to Him is limited - because He is healthy, because He is balanced. He seeks to bring us up to His higher ways and thoughts, but as Isaiah 55 says, we must first forsake our ways and thoughts. 
 
Look at this in your own life - the healthier you are in how you exercise your free will, in how you think, in how you feel, upon what you feed for revelation and enlightenment - is the degree by which you feel that closeness to Him. 
 
By contrast an amoral person ruins relationships by the misuse of their free will, intellect, emotions and enlightenment. An amoral government has the same characteristics, making rules and laws that destroy peaceful relationships, and pervert relationships, 
 
V)  Obligations are the requirements of self governance and federal governance of a people.
Following my logic, once these first 3 points are embodied within the frame work of (#4) relationships, it follows there are obligations within those relationships in order to have a godly and peaceful set of relationships throughout one's life. These obligations once again fall into three categories: God, man, creation. 
 
Obligations are intellectual in nature, not emotional. We may not feel like keeping the outside of our house nice, but we have an obligation to our neighbors which compels us to do so. Obligations are things which control us because we are indebted to someone or to a circumstance, and binds us to them or it.
 
A godly and moral obligation is then a course of action flowing from God through us that is right and proper towards others we are in relationship with. Because we live in nations, each nation having its own set of rules and regulations, we are obligated to be good citizens, to participate as allowed in our governance, and to steer our lives and that of government towards godly obligations. 
 
An amoral government like an amoral person, will pervert relationships, pervert obligations through arbitrary and unilaterally created rules. An amoral government puts burdensome rules on its citizens, seeking to ever move away from free will and individual self-sufficiency, in order to centralize power to a large federal core. 
 
VI) Consequences are the enforcement of self governance and federal governance of a people. 
Again follow my logic in that obligations that come about through relationships, which come about through the exercise of free will, intellect, emotion, and enlightenment, must have therefore consequences good and bad.
 
If a person is to be godly, moral, and walk with God, there must be consequences good and bad as a result of free will. These consequences are according to God's perfect justice, some of which will be revealed later, some of which is seen in this life. 
 
The good consequences of a person living in points 1-5 are a blessed life, healthy relationships, favor, revelation, and a life that gradually moves closer to God and closer to Christ-like character. Godliness, in a word. 
 
The bad consequences of not being a good steward of points 1-5 are the opposite: Unhealthy thoughts and emotions, unhealthy enlightenment and revelation from unhealthy sources, unhealthy and broken relationships, obligations unmet and obligations others fail to fulfill to them, and eventually physical deterioration, even perhaps to eternal separation from God. 
 
An amoral government will move ever closer to controlling every aspect of its citizens with dire punishments for disobeying the letter of the law. An amoral government perverts obligations and consequences, and in many cases because it is void of wisdom and enlightenment it will call good evil, and evil it will call good. 
 
The reason I've thought through these (what turned out to be) six elements flowing from God to mankind is because of all the warring going on between the liberal and conservatives around the world - protect one's borders or have no borders, ever increasing encroachment of government into the lives of private citizens and business, or a smaller government that allows a people and businesses to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, and Christians are often confused for all the voices out there. I hope I've brought some clarity, for by these you can rightly discern and judge righteously - just keep these 6 elements in mind and you'll be amazed how clear things become.
 
I hope it has been a blessing to you - rather academic I know and I apologize, but I thought it best just to lay it out there point by point. Hope it makes sense to you as it does me. 
 
New subject next week, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
 
 

Hi all,
I'm continuing with the reasons people are so divided, and our individual and governmental responsibilities...
 
II) Man has been endowed by his Creator with intelligence and emotion by which to direct free will. These are qualifiers of governance.
If a person is created with a free will, he must have the means by which to direct that free will, thus man was given intelligence and emotions. Upon being given free will, man must also be given the ability to understand right and wrong, their obligations and consequences, and where they fit in a society of other free-willed creatures. 
 
To say it another way: If man is to have the ability to initiate decisions, he must have the means by which to think and feel through the process of those decisions. 
 
Emotions are the ability to experience the consequences of actions. Intelligence can formulate the strategy involved in decision making, but there must also be an ability of a free-willed beings to appreciate, enjoy, see beauty and feel all that comes about as a result of an intelligent decision. Emotions are what enable man to see art for more than a brush stroke, but to feel the emotion the artist was trying to capture. Emotions allow mankind to insert themselves into another person's situation upon hearing the facts (intellect), experiencing sympathy and empathy (emotions). 
 
Without emotion the free willed person would be void of personality, unable to experience the ups and downs of life. 
A person recognizing free will and therefore the gift of intelligence and emotion, will direct his life towards the intelligent use of free will and the disciplines of emotional health.
 
By contrast an amoral person or government will seek to stir intellect and emotions of people for the purpose of manipulation rather than to encourage its citizens to higher thoughts and higher healthy emotions. 
 
III)  Enlightenment or revelation is the source of one's inner knowing of right and wrong, the revelation of governance of self and also federally.
Enlightenment or revelation is the source of conscience and guilt, the ability to feel remorse and make peace with those we've wronged. 
 
If a person has free will, and is given intellect and emotion with which to direct free will, he must also be given absolutes against which to measure his thoughts and emotions. This is the spark of life, when God by His Spirit ties together free will, intellect, and emotion with wisdom from above on how to live with those gifts. This is enlightenment and revelation. It is the voice of conscience and conviction, the sudden knowledge from outside ourselves yet felt within that we have done wrong. It is also the means by which wisdom is applied - wisdom being now to apply knowledge. 
 
Without enlightenment from God a person has intelligence and emotion running full speed within their free will, but they have no wisdom on how to apply knowledge and thought and emotion. With revelation or enlightenment comes our reaction; either to harden oneself against the revelation, or to soften and repent.
 
A person and a government that is enlightened understands the spirit of the law, whereas an amoral person or government focuses on the law by intellect only - the letter of the law. An amoral person and government shows no remorse, no regret. Understanding free will, intellect and emotion merely by intellect, without understanding the spirit of the law leads to inconsistent and arbitrary court rulings, laws, and enforcement that those with common sense immediately see as wrong.  
 
IV) Relationships are the opportunity for proper governance, of self and federal.
As free will flows to intelligence, emotion, and is bound together by revelation, these together flow into relationships. The relationships in scripture are three: 
First vertically to God, second horizontally to other people, and third to creation including the material things we surround ourselves with. 
 
The qualities of free will, intellect, emotion, and revelation are God-designed to function within relationships. These qualities are honed, refined, grown and nurtured within relationships, flowing first from the family, then outward to extended family, neighbors, co-workers and strangers. It is the job of parents to teach children how to handle their free will, intellect, emotions, and revelation/enlightenment within the framework of family. That is the job of parents. 
 
Relationships are therefore the greatest opportunity for the expression of these traits, and placed within context of being stewards over all things created - from the clothing we choose to protecting water ways and wildlife. 
 
Therefore our relationships are intended by God to make us holy, to help us grow into the image of Christ in character, thoughts, and lifestyle. 
 
And I've run out of room - the conclusion next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
 

Hi all,
All over the world governments are warring between liberal and conservative, free-will based or government based rights, and things have gotten nasty and dirty, at least in the US. As individuals we too war over self-governance. We war within ourselves between no rules, let me do as I want, versus living within rules and regulations and obligations for our lives. The governance, or stewardship of our lives individually and therefore as federal governments do have certain God-given elements to them, whether all people want to acknowledge Him as Creator and Source of these things or not. 
 
It seemed good to me and with much peace that I share key elements of that which God has given to all mankind as it relates to both personal governance over our lives, as well as governments over nations. I will state the 6 points which flow rather easily one to the other, and then go into a few details. 
 
Once you understand these you can very easily find the Lord's will, understand issues others are having, how HE would lead you personally when you don't have clear direction, and where He would lead a government. You'll be able to help others too. So let us start at the beginning, the flow is in order from I through VI (1-6).
 
I) Free will was given by God to man and provides core characteristics of self and federal governance.   
 
II) Man has been endowed by his Creator with intelligence and emotion by which to direct free will. These are the qualifications of self and federal governance.
 
III)  Enlightenment is the seat of inner knowing of right and wrong, and is the source of conscience and guilt. This is the revelation of governance, self and federal.
 
IV) Relationships are the opportunity for proper governance, of self and federal.
 
V)  Obligations are the requirements of self governance and federal governance of a people. 
 
VI) Consequences are the enforcement of self governance and federal governance of a people. 
 
Notice the flow from free will embodied in beings that have both intelligence and emotions by which to direct their free will. These then flow into revelation of how best to be a steward of free will with our intellect and emotions directing relationships. These provide the opportunities for a proper life. From these then flow obligations and consequences...it all flows, and all these things were given us in Christ before times eternal - by us I mean mankind, by our Creator.  Let us begin...
 
I) Free will - Given from Creator to His highest creation, man. That man has a free will is seen by the choices and responsibilities and consequences in the Garden - eat or don't eat, your choice, but there will be consequences either way, good or bad. 
 
Because God has the ability to create He must also have the ability to control that creation. Yet He created free-willed beings blessed and burdened with the responsibility to be stewards of their free will, determining how to live and all that goes with living. God works by invitation in a person's life on the small scale, while retaining control on the large scale over creation and will step in before mankind self-destructs. 
 
A person is directed to exercise their free will, governing their life themselves, forging plans and design, goals and objectives; they are responsible for their lives.
The Lord will lead people towards self-sufficiency by urging them to work for a living - support themselves when possible. The Lord will cause us to stand before Him 1 on 1 to give account for our lives, again illustrating free will and ultimate accountability to our Creator. 
 
By contrast an amoral person will live according to cause and effect, situational ethics, unstable and unable to form godly plans, marked by no accountability.
An amoral person will use their free will not to build their own lives, but to manipulate others to serve them, thus tearing down the lives of others, seeking to take advantage of the free will of others so that they will not have to 'stand on their own two feet'. 
 
Characteristics of government in free will - The means by which free moral agents (people) arrange laws and rules to live peacefully 
That God gave mankind free will among other rights is recognized in the US Declaration of Independence: "We recognize these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness." (Unalienable means un-challengable and unchangeable. No person nor government can give rights nor take them away - God gave them. 
 
A government that recognizes these truths will be directed towards free will by its citizens with limits placed on a moral level which promote godly free will.
 
Such government recognizes the role of government is the protection of God-given rights, not the provider of rights.
 
By contrast, an amoral government will seek to establish itself as the giver of rights, giving rise to governance by cause and effect and situational ethics.
The amoral government believes government is the giver of rights, and can give and take them away at will. However as we will see, God's gift of free will has 5 other elements which cannot be separated from that free will. 
 
And I've run out of room - more next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

HI all - let's pick it up with point #3 of 7 small decisions Peter made that determined his destiny - and they were all normal, mundane, simple decisions.
 
3) Jesus stays in Peter's home, Mark 1:29-39
We are told the house belonged to Peter and Andrew, and that Peter's mother in law was sick, whom Jesus promptly healed, and it was at their front door the whole city came to be healed, have demons cast out, and they stayed until the sun went down. 
 
The next morning the text tells us Jesus rose and went out by Himself into a solitary place, and prayed. Verses 36-39 reveal Peter and others went searching for Jesus, for once he found Jesus, Peter said, "Everyone is looking for you" - clearly thinking the 'miracle and healing service' would pick up where it had left off the night before. That was Peter's plan. That was the plan others had for Jesus. That was what everyone expected. Everyone, that is, but Jesus.
 
"Let us go into the next towns so I can preach there, for that is why I came (from the Father)." v38 This was Peter's first big crucifixion of his plans for Jesus. He had plans for the day and he had the added pressure from his neighbors. But Jesus said no, He would go to other towns - where there wasn't a home for them to stay in, where no one was expecting them, where no advance team had gone. 
 
Everyone of us has had those moments when we thought sure God was leading one way, and then faced a sudden change that caught us by surprise. Peter and the others adjusted their plans, this tiny decision to say 'Okay Jesus, we've made all these plans but I can tell the others to stop, and I'll say goodbye', or words to that effect.
 
There was no announcement; 'This is a test Peter where we see if you kill your plans on what you want Jesus to do for you, or if you follow Him nothing doubting.' Such a small decision to adapt to the Lord's change of direction - yet Peter made the right decision though he didn't see it for what it was. 
 
4-5) In John 6:22-69 Jesus had just fed 5,000 men plus women and children
And in the early morning hours He simply walked across the lake to get directly to the other side. Many of the people who had been miraculously fed had walked around the lake and then asked Jesus how He got there. He deflected their question, not about to tell them He walked across the water, and upon stating the fact they followed Him not because they were believers, but because they got their bellies filled, He decided to weed out the ones who 'believed' with ulterior motives. 
 
He did this by teaching hard to understand parables like 'You must eat my flesh' and 'drink my blood'. Those statements caused even many of his disciples to leave. He asked the 12 if they too would go. Peter cut through to the core truth - essentially saying, I don't know what you're talking  about, but you have the words of eternal life and are the Messiah - so to whom else would we go? 
 
We also face that decision point where Jesus asks something of us we don't understand and can't explain. It may not be a parable about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, but it will be a hard to understand spiritual truth relevant to our lives. What was your first point of a similar decision to follow Jesus even though you didn't understand everything? What was that first point of confusion about what He was saying or the way He was leading? Many back away from the Lord at that point, confused, hurt, saying it is too difficult to be a Christian, or to do what He asked. 
 
6) Peter is used by the devil because details of Jesus' plan are revealed - He must die - and Peter says 'No way!' Matthew 16:16-28 (21-28)
At this point in his life, Peter didn't love the Lord with no strings attached, He saw the Lord through the eye glasses of what HE thought Messiah should be to him. 
 
We all face that next step - we survive and make the right decision at the first point of confusing teaching, or the Lord asks something of us we don't understand at that moment, or life has thrown us a curve, yet we decide to stay in His will and follow Him. Up to the point of Jesus' arrest, after 3 1/2 years of following Jesus, Peter STILL had no clue Jesus had to die. Jesus told him he loved the plans of man rather than the plans of God. That's what it gets down to - your plans for your life of his?
 
7) In Luke 22:60-62 Peter has just denied the Lord for the 3rd time as prophesied, and it says 'And the Lord turned, and looked at Peter.' 
This is the point in each believer's life, each disciple, where the ugliness of our heart is revealed to us. At this point we have a choice. Peter went away and wept bitterly, his ideas of what Jesus would do as Messiah were dashed on the rocks to the point he denied 3x even knowing Jesus. He was confused, angry, hating himself and his cowardice after making several bold statements in the weeks and months before. He saw the worst part of his heart, and He knew Jesus saw his heart too.
 
In times like that people go one way or the other when they consider the total deconstruction of how they thought their life would turn out and the decisions they made that put them in their current situation. But Peter and the others hung around for one last promise - something about being raised from the dead. What's that mean? 
 
That's exactly what He asks each of us to do - He allows us to experience different decision points which crucify and kill part of us, but these must happen to experience a resurrection that if far, far better. 
 
We've seen a series of small decisions Peter made that were key to keeping him in the Lord's perfect will in his life. The Lord's revelations to us about His will come with subtlety, simplicity, and gently. It is like a railroad track the runs parallel for a long and straight way. Then one track starts bending away ever so slightly, until it reaches a point the train cannot run on it any more for fear of derailment. That is how it is with the Lord. We are on one track and He on the other, but when we start to bend away it takes a very close and honest look at our hearts to discern we have actually widened the gap between where we are going and where He is going. At some point we may stop and wonder how it happened, and as we've not come to know, it happened one small decision at a time. 
 
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]