Greetings Friends around the world! If you are new, I hope this blog site will give you a much-needed lift and reason to hope today and every other day. Today’s post is about regeneration, but you can read about many other topics via the monthly index at the right of the page. Once again, I welcome you, and am most happy to share this journey of life with you.
Let me share the topic about regeneration today. I am sure we will all benefit from this vital subject when we understand it better and how it impacts us day-to-day. The word itself may sound like something from the world of science fiction. What does regeneration mean in spiritual terms? In practical terms, it means to renew and recreate, to remodel and rebuild, to reverse and restore, to cleanse and purify, to uplift and magnify. It is the opposite of degeneration and corruption.
The word regeneration reveals God’s work in humanity since the fall of humanity at the heels of Adam’s disobedience in Eden. (Gen.3:1-6, hover computer mouse, or click, on Bible passage to read) Humans were created perfect in God’s divine Love-likeness, until Satan took humanity on the path of degeneration. (Gen.1:26-27; 1 John 4:8; Gen.3:1-6) Since then, God’s work has been one of regeneration. (John 3:16-17) Mankind has only two paths to choose in life…one of degeneration or the other of regeneration! After the fall of Adam, humanity has not been able to replicate that perfect union between the divine life and mortal human life which the Creator established from creation. Hence, we see God’s Love in His work of regeneration. God will not force or coerce any person to follow anyone, He will always give humanity the freedom to choose, as He did with Adam, but He gives us all the information and knowledge to make a wise choice.
Mankind has no clue whatsoever what life was like living in perfect harmony with the divine. So, humans have no precedent or prototype to go back on and attempt to reproduce and replicate what Eden was truly like. Although Adam and Eve were the only humans who experienced that perfect life with the divine before their fall, regrettably they had taken their knowledge and experience with them to their graves. Be that as it may, we have God’s Spirt to teach and help us in this celestial path of regeneration. So, we see how regeneration becomes a vital aspect of God’s work of bringing humanity back to Himself and to Paradise in Eden. (Eden is metaphor for the perfect union of the divine life with human life, not necessarily a geographic location.)
(A word on God’s steadfastness and authenticity: Many today reasonably ask why God could not have stopped Adam from falling into the hands of Satan’s lies, deception, temptation, and sin? (Gen.3:1-6) The reason is because humans were created in God’s image. My readers have read about my oft-quoted passage from the Bible that says “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). So, God’s image is Love, and humanity was created with God’s Love DNA in them. However, Love does not stand alone – Love has an identical twin, so to speak. Love’s twin is… Freedom!
(These are the two divine forces that energizes the divine nature of God. So, Freedom is also God’s divine image embedded in the human genetic makeup. The two forces are opposite sides of the same substance and reality of who God is in His divine nature. You cannot have one without the other. You can’t have Love without Freedom, nor Freedom without Love. They are one and the same spiritual substance of God’s divine nature. Today, humans walk this earth, oblivious to this awesome truth and reality concerning their divine heritage and the onus of living in the Creator’s eternal likeness. (Gen.1:26-27) Many are in need of coming out of the darkness of the enemy’s deception and receive the light of God’s work of reconciling humanity through regeneration and to bring about mankind’s awesome destiny.
(So, God cannot take away Adam’s freedom without impairing His Love-image in him. In truth, you cannot betray freedom without betraying Love as well, for both intuitively exist for each other. To abandon one would be a suicidal act, but God is never dysfunctional nor self-destructive. While God promises to protect His human children from harm and ruin, He cannot undercut Himself by waiving His divine freedom even in the face of human trials. What should Adam have done? Adam must realize that freedom comes with the responsibility to Love. Freedom must always be expressed and lived through Love. Freedom cannot stand alone without Love as its twin and helpmate. Freedom becomes disrobed and naked without Love, and vice versa. The two energies are complementary because they are the identical twins of God’s divine nature.
(God is Life and the Source of true life, and freedom is Love’s identical twin which energizes true life. Human life as a whole can be surmised as a life of making choices. Humans make decisions all the time, and central to its dynamic is human freedom. Whether a choice will bring good or bad consequences depends upon how humans use their freedom. God’s plan for humans is that a person would freely choose to Love Him. But Satan instilled fear (the opposite of Love) in our first parents. Love and fear are two opposing emotions with distinct ways of life. The two energies are always present where humans find themselves in a fork in the road where freedom or bondage is made to come to the fore to play its part. Which path will a person freely choose to follow?
God gave our first parents all the fruits in the Garden to eat, with the exception of one, the tree of the fruit of good and evil. Chief among the fruits they were given the freedom to eat was the fruits of the “Tree of Life,” which symbolically represent the Holy Spirit and the divine Love. (Rom.5:5) God wanted to see our first parents exercise their freedom responsibly in Love. In that moment of wicked deception they chose fear in place of Love. It is a lesson humanity is still learning today. Freedom must be passionately defended with Love.
(Remember, the devil can never force a person to do his bidding, and neither will God. God’s divine freedom and Love protects the person from the evil one. Satan knows this, so he uses craft, cunning, lies and deception, as he did with Adam and Eve where they surrendered their freedom to him. Yes, only you can give the devil that power by surrendering your freedom to him. But God has called us to surrender our freedoms to His Love, and by doing so, defeat the enemy and fulfill the purpose for human destiny. (Gen.1:26-27))
But because God’s nature and substance is Love, and He created humans in His Love-likeness, it was impossible for God to deny Himself and leave humanity into the hands of the enemy, Satan. God made humans to become Love as He is Love, but Satan the devil was responsible for trying to thwart God’s plans for humanity. (Gen.1:26-27; 3:1-6; 1 John 4:16) Without realizing, in his attempt to impede God’s plans for humanity, he was fulfilling God’s purpose all along. God’s purpose for humanity cannot be thwarted by anyone, much less Satan the devil. God declares, “I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish’” (Isa. 46:10). So, in His unfathomable Love, He freely promised to send the ‘second Adam’ in the Person of His Son, in order to regenerate humanity and announce the good news of what Eden (the harmonious existence of the divine and the mortal) was like.
After the fall, Eve had told God what happened when questioned about their rebellion by eating the forbidden fruit, “The serpent deceived me, that’s why I ate it (forbidden fruit)” (Gen.3:11, 13). God then uttered a prophecy upon Satan concerning the woman, “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen.3:15). This was the primary prophecy about the coming of the ‘second Adam,’ or Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, who would regenerate and reconcile humanity back to God’s Love. Fear has become a way of life for humanity, that must change.
Later, through the prophet Isaiah, God identified the ‘second Adam’ more precisely through His messianic title and name. The prophet wrote, “Behold, the virgin will be with Child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”) (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23). Paul said, “The first Adam, made of earth, came from the earth; the second Adam came from heaven” (1 Cor.15:47, GNT). Paul added, “Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life” (1 Cor.15:22, NIV). So, Immanuel came out from heaven and is God’s Son, Jesus, who lived with Him (the Father) from eternity. He is God, eternally One with the Father and the Spirit. (John 1:1; 2 Cor.13:14)
Jesus was the ‘Immanuel’ who brought and united the divine life with humanity in God’s act of regeneration (“God with us”). Jesus was born through Mary His human mother. (Luk.1:30-35) God’s purpose for Jesus was and continues to be about taking our humanity upon Himself, thus in uniting us with the divine He saved mortal humans from sin and destruction. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb.2:14-15). The Scripture tells us this, “And by calling Jesus, Immanuel, He was responsible for bringing to reality the beautiful truth, “God with us” (Matt.1:23).
The Bible tells us this about the Second Adam, Jesus, “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb.2:14-15). Now, mankind can say we have with us a human being who knew what it was like to live in perfect harmony with the divine as Adam did in Eden before the fall because He was there, and now He is here to take our humanity upon Himself, regenerate us, and return mankind to Paradise (God’s presence).
More than two thousand years ago Jesus was born, fully God and fully human, lived and walked this earth for the purpose of carrying out His Father’s plan of human redemption and regeneration. Even as a child, He informed His human parents, Joseph and Mary, “I must be about My Father’s business” (Luk.2:49). He lived a perfect human life doing good. (Act.10:38) There was a vital difference between the two “Adams” which we should take note. Whereas the first Adam lived in Eden perfectly in the light of God’s presence, prior to his fall; the second Adam (Jesus), being the manifest light of God, had to live and work in an environment darkened by sin in Satan’s world. Jesus came as God’s light in Satan’s dark world. He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus, being the Son of God, is the light of regeneration for all mankind. Then He said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt.5:16).
It must be said that to be a light while being surrounded by light is vastly different when you are the sole flicker of light hemmed in by darkness. But such was the life of Jesus when He walked this earth, and He defeated the darkness of sin, and set the example for humans on how to do the same. But it comes with certain sacrifices, hence, Paul told Timothy, “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim.3:12). Paul told the Romans, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship” (Rom.12:1). Sacrifice is needed when humans live as lights in a darkened world of the sin-condition. Persecution springs from darkness because light is invading the dark world of evil of sin with all forms of corruption. But Jesus encourages us with the words, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He sustains us by being our Substitute and Anchor of life.
So, we see how God’s work of regeneration emerged out of the utopian paradise of Eden that was regrettably followed by Adam’s fall. Here are the three aspects and steps in the work of divine regeneration in the Triune Godhead: Step 1: Grace; Step 2: Weakness; Step 3: Father’s Perfection. The manifestation which spontaneously spring from these 3 progressive steps is the 4th step, Regeneration. The three progression reveal the Triune Love of God being manifested in humans on a daily basis.
My readers will recall from my previous posts that the 3 Steps/Aspects represent the relationship of the Tri-Personal Being of God in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and how each work harmoniously with one another and Lovingly with humans. Since the Spirit indivisibly emanates from the Father and the Son as such becomes the Source of our communion with the Triune God.
The 1st Step always reveals the Love-relationship with the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the triune Godhead. It is God’s ‘inward act of Love’ for mankind where the Spirit is actively working from within human life. The 2nd Step is the human Love-relationship with Jesus. It reveals God’s ‘outward act of Love’ for mankind by surrendering His Son to save humans from the sin-condition through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension to His present High Priestly Office in heaven. And the 3rd Step is the Love-relationship with God the Father, which is the ‘upward act of Love’ where God brings humans to have a one-on-one relationship with Him as our eternal Loving Father. So, each Step harmoniously dovetails into the next, then spontaneously manifests the 4th Step in humans of manifesting and living the ‘Regenerated Life’ upon this earth now and for eternity.
What a person experiences through the 3 Steps/Aspects is what I have called the Triune Love* or Triune Life.* It is a Love relationship within the Life of the Tri-Personal Being of God. I had coined the above term to refer to a person who lives the three-dimensional life within the Tri-Personal Being of God in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the three-dimensional life, a human is given the privilege to experience God’s Love and freedom which is always in motion in an Inward (Spirit), Outward (Jesus), and Upward (Father) trajectory where all three Persons of the Godhead are in relationship with human life, and with one another.
The three-dimensional life is opposed to living the one-dimensional solitary life of the fallen human being inherited from Satan through Adam’s fall. When a person lives the three-dimensional life, he/she experiences God’s divine Life. And when humans connect with the divine, miracles inevitably takes shape in human life. Yes, humans can experience the miraculous life. The ‘miraculous life,’ simply explained, is the crossroad where the divine life and mortal life intersect.
I have laid out the 4 fundamental Steps in God’s work of regeneration in which humanity is given to experience the divine nature through the miraculous life we have been privileged to have in Christ. We can give another word for this Four-Step process: redemption! At the end of each Step, I will wrap-up with the “Essence of Relationship” which recaps their salient features. Let is begin:
First Step: God’s Grace Through the Holy Spirit. God’s work of regeneration must begin inevitably with His unequaled grace. What does grace mean in relation to regeneration? Paul explained God’s grace in humanity when he was inspired to write, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Cor.3:16). So, God’s grace begins when God turns human life into His very own temple so His Spirit may indwell humanity. The meaning of grace is God unifying Himself with humans through Immanuel (“God with us”), or through Jesus’ mediation where His work of regeneration begins. (Matt.1:23) This is the first step in regenerating humans: divine grace through the inward presence of God through His Holy Spirit (Love) in a person! (Rom.5:5)
Just as Jesus began His ministry through the grace of the Spirit at His baptism in the Jordan River, so humanity follow in His footsteps. (Mar.1:9-11) We read Jesus own words in this regard, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate (Holy Spirit) to help you and be with you forever…He will bring Me glory by telling you whatever He receives from Me” (John 16:14). He repeated what He said earlier, but being more specific, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:16). By saying the Spirit “will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you,” reveals His role of sanctifying humans, illuminating God’s grace upon mankind.
We see the work of God’s grace through the Spirit has a twofold role: first, He does the Father’s work of leading humans to Jesus. (John 3:16; John 16:14-15) Then after a person receives Jesus as Savior He sends the Spirit, only now as a Friend to Personally indwell the saved human being and make them God’s very temple. (2 Cor.6:16) Second, the Spirit now becomes an intimate and Personable Friend who resides in humans manifesting His role of sanctifying the person by magnifying Jesus’ resurrected and glorious life in them. (John 16:14) He becomes the “still assuring voice” who guides humans in the way of Love and freedom. (Isa.30:21; Rom.5:5)
Grace is not an empty word, the very Personal presence of the Spirit in humans and His sanctifying role and work constitutes God’s grace in the most Loving sense. The Spirit will articulate the life of Jesus just as He did with Jesus who fulfilled the Father’s purpose when He walked this earth. The Bible quoted Peter saying, “You know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we apostles are witnesses of all He did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem” (Act.10-38-39). Yes, this is what grace looks like: humans imbued with God’s power through His Spirit who is in the process of sanctifying and renewing the very human temple that God lives in through Christ.
Essence of Relationship: Without God’s grace where the Spirit is articulating the life of Christ, humans cannot experience the life of regeneration. It is unfortunate that most Christians view and apply grace narrowly in relation to human needs and material ambitions. However, we have seen here that the first meaning of grace, and its only meaning is the presence of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of sanctifying humans before God in Christ. God is regenerating humans spiritually to become His children. Grace is not for material or any physical mundane reason we may have or desire, and wants through our human perception. If God sees fit to bless us materially, then He will unequivocally intervene out of His generosity to bless His children.
The Bible promises “God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil.4:19). God told Israel and to His people in every age and time, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you” (Jer.29:11-12).
Second Step: Human Weakness Defeated in Jesus Christ. What does weakness mean in relation to regeneration and the 2nd Step in Jesus? Before answering the connection between weakness and Jesus, let me explain the necessary introduction leading up to it. Jesus is the Door which gives passage for the divine nature to indwell human life and vice versa. Jesus’ messianic name, “Immanuel,” was explained earlier. The divine nature is expressed and manifested in humans through the Holy Spirit. So Jesus, through His mediatory role as Savior of mankind, is the way that morphs human life now cleansed spiritually and made into the divine temple in which God could live and openly display His Love through His Spirit.
Paul told the Galatians, “Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing He promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith” (Gal.3:14). To the Corinthians he said, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?” (1 Cor.6:19). Paul added further, “For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: ‘I will live in them and walk among them’” (2 Cor.6:16). So, we see here that the grace of God expressed through the Holy Spirit is made possible by Jesus’ mediation as the One who rescued humanity from the sin-condition, thus giving passage for the Spirit to enter human life now made right with God, and to continue His sanctifying role.
Yet, no one can come to Jesus on his/her own volition, for it is by the grace of the Spirit who leads humans to receive Christ. So, like Love and freedom, Jesus and the Spirit complement each other impenetrably and brings wholeness to human life. (Rom.5:5; Gal.3:14) Both, Jesus and the Spirit are the indivisible outcome of the Father’s promise to mankind.
The Bible reveals the Father’s role in saving humanity from utter weakness through the curse of the sin-condition inherited from Adam. John wrote, “For this is how God Loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NLT). Salvation is precipitated by and will culminate with the participation of the 3 Persons of the Tri-Personal Being of God. (Matt.28:18-20) Hence, after Jesus’ arrival through His human birth in Bethlehem, the Holy Spirit was also given and entered human existence when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. (Matt.3:16-17) The first Adam separated humanity from the Spirit, while thesecond Adam (Jesus) reunited the Spirit with humanity.
Listen, after the fall of Adam and Eve, the Bible says, “So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and He sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the LORD God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And He placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen.3:23-24, NLT). With the path to the Tree of Life (Holy Spirit) closed to humanity, weakness became essentially intrinsic to our fallen nature in Adam.
The Tree of Life was symbolic of the Spirit of divine power over all weakness based upon sin. Eating of the life-giving fruits of the tree was symbolic of participating in the Spirit’s power. And so before the fall, our first parents lived in Eden without weakness but with the constant supply of God’s Love and power through the Spirit (Tree of Life). (Rom.5:5; 1 Cor.13:1-12) Genesis records how the Spirit was initially divorced from humanity through Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden. (Gen.3:23-24) Because of this, the Spirit’s appearance and presence at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan was such a vital and necessary message from God our Father. (Matt.3:16-17)
Jesus is the ‘second Adam’ who came to undo the separation done at the hands of Satan through the ‘first Adam’ and reconcile and unite humanity back with God through the Second Adam, Jesus. (Gen.3:1-6; John 3:16) Paul said, “The first Adam, made of earth, came from the earth; the second Adam came from heaven” (1 Cor.15:47, GNT). In other words, the first Adam was mortal, but the second Adam (Jesus) indivisibly united with the Spirit emanate from Father in heaven, the divine Triune Godhead.
John, when speaking of Jesus, said this as introduction to his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5). So, we see Jesus’ origin from the Triune Godhead. He came for the purpose of reconciling fallen humanity to God in communion with the Spirit.
Having said the above, what does this 2nd step of weakness have in common with regeneration? Only that regeneration is the tool to defeat human weakness. What is Jesus’ role in it? Jesus, who declared Himself as the “door” whereby the Spirit’s life of power and regeneration is realized in mankind. More so He is the manifestation of how a human being is saved from weakness and made to receive power and defeat all human weakness spawned through the sin-condition arising out of Adam’s fall at the hands of the devil. By defeating the devil in Jesus’ own temptations, and dying upon His cross, Jesus has once for all eternity defeated all human weakness and sin as the ultimate human Savior. (Matt.4:1-12; John 3:36) (For further reading, you can read my post about Jesus’ temptations at: http://bulamanriver.net/11339).
To be weak spiritually means humans are made powerless by sin absolutely powerless over sin. The sin-condition is the underlying cause of all human suffering, sorrow and pain, failure and broken dreams, despair and unhappiness. God sent Jesus to supply all the power required to defeat the sin-condition in which the devil has held humanity incarcerated since the ‘first Adam’s fall. Jesus has broken the power of sin once for all time through the mediation of His perfect life and death on His cross. He was resurrected and is humanity’s everlasting Savior in His eternal High Priestly Office today. Remember, Jesus did not remain a dead Savior upon His cross, He was resurrected and ascended to His High Priestly role in heaven today. Paul said, “And if Christ wasn’t raised to life, our message is worthless, and so is your faith” (1 Cor.15:14, CEV).
Essence of Relationship: So, the role of the Spirit is to transport humans to Jesus as Savior and more exponentially to His mediatory office of High Priest in heaven, where humanity is sanctified and received by the Father. God the Father in turn imputes the Son’s victorious life upon humanity through the Spirit’s power, thus, defeating all human weakness which arise from Satan’s sin-condition.
Here is the prinicple of imputation which exists within the Tri-Personal Being of God that we must not forget: “The act of One is the act of Three; and the act of Three is the act of One.” Author Jon T. Murphree explains this beautiful truth in an incisive manner when he wrote, “From eternity past, Love has characterized the Triune God. Each Person of the Trinity identifies with the others. Each One transposes Himself into the others without confusing His own personality with the others. Through Love, diversity and unity are so inextricably interwoven that the Father, Son, and Spirit do not exist as persons alongside each other as much as they exist in and through each other” (Book: “The Trinity and Human Personality”).
This principle of imputation is at the heart of the Trinitarian life of God, where humans become privileged recipients by living the “Triune Love/Life.”* (Rom.4:6, 11, 22, KJV; Rom.3:22-24; 1 Cor.1:30; 6:11; 2 Cor.5:21) This work of imputing and ascribing Jesus’ glorified life upon humans is the ongoing sanctifying work of the Spirit who lives daily in the human temple. Jesus is continuously doing His mediatory work and propels humans to enter the ‘Father’s Perfection’ we now see in the Third Ascent…
Third Step, The Father’s Perfection in God the Father. What is the “Father’s Perfection?” The “Father’s Perfection” is a statement of ongoing redemption which is happening in human life bringing the reality of the human saved condition in Christ through the Spirit’s power. God is utterly and absolutely holy in His divine Being. It tells us that after undergoing the preceding two steps in the Son and the Spirit, a perfect holy union can now be accomplished and established between the divine and the mortal with the Father in the Triune Godhead.
Divine holiness is often misunderstood. There is the erroneous perception that holiness means to be totally disconnected from the mundane reality of life. We have the imagery of a monk sitting on the mountaintop meditating, or other hermitic and self-mortification lifestyles. Nothing could be further from the truth. Holiness means to be passionately connected and identified with our reborn Immanuel Humanity in Christ, while having the capacity to express the reborn self through a life of regeneration in the real world of human relationships. The Father’s Perfection mean to live in the aura of God’s Tri-Personal Love and Presence. (1 John 4:8) What does this union do? Paul informs us, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom.8:16). (To read more about the Immanuel Humanity of Jesus go to: http://bulamanriver.net/9718 ).
Holistically speaking, this family union with our heavenly Father evolves into the ‘miraculous regenerated human life’ of the Immanuel Human. The outcome of humans being wholly immersed in the Triune Love* of God by way of the 3-Steps is the life of regeneration in perfect Loving union with the Tri-Personal Being of God. God’s Loving work of redeeming humans as His children is a life-long process of Love whereby His ever present grace through the power of His Spirit is being manifested in Jesus’ glorious Immanuel humanity in heaven. Jesus’ mediatory role as High Priest today is what undergirds God’s redemptive Love in humanity. Our heavenly Father, as the sovereign Authority in the Godhead, is the Author of human regeneration and redemption. (Luk.2:48-49, KJV; John 4:34; 5:36)
Today, Most People Associate Paradise with a beautiful beach in the South Pacific, and other exotic tropical locations. Every uplifting experience to the human senses is intended to give the human mind a foretaste of God’s perfection in His Loving Presence – True Paradise!
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed the Father’s Perfection this way. He quotes God as saying, “Come now, let’s settle this, Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Though they are crimson, I will make them white as wool” (Isa.1:18). The Psalmist proclaimed, “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness” (Psa.4:1a). He is our Father who proclaims our innocence by declaring us righteous and perfect before Him each and every day. The Father’s mercy is new every day through the mediatory work of His Son and His Spirit. The Psalmist said, “Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity” (Psa.32:2). Humanity is actively living Christ’s glorified humanity because the Father imputes Jesus’ mediation for our spiritual wholeness every day and every night. It means all our human inadequacies in whatever shape and form is eternally mediated for and by our Elder Brother Jesus in heaven. It is a mediation Jesus performs eternally as High Priest on behalf of humanity.
That is the essence of this 3rd Step with the Father’s perfection. If it were not for man’s unconditional liberated state of existence through a person’s ongoing renewal through Christ and the Spirit, mankind’s state of perfection with the Father would not be possible. This redemptive work of the Father began with the gift of Loving grace in the Holy Spirit, mediated in turn by Jesus as Savior and High Priest, whereby humans can be brought into perfect union with the Father, and ends with the renewal and the redemption of humanity.
Essence of Relationship: The essence of the Father’s Perfection is He imputes and ascribes His Son’s glorious divine/human life (Immanuel Humanity) upon humanity by His grace through His Spirit so we may remain in His holy Presence and Love forever. As Murphree says, “It is a oneness of harmonious relationship.” Paul makes clear to us what this principle of imputation does, “Yet he (Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the Promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (regeneration)” (Rom.4:20-25, italics mine).
So, we see how faith in God’s power of imputation of Jesus’ glorious life upon humanity plays a major role in the work of regeneration through the Spirit’s power under the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was founded upon the law (legalism), while the New Covenant is founded upon faith (Father’s Love/Jesus/Spirit). Jesus said this of this imputation principle, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, my emphasis). Humans can never overcome the world were it not for the Father imputing Jesus’ victorious life upon humanity through the Spirit’s power.
Think about this for a moment, if we believe and trust the Father has imputed Jesus’ sacrifice upon humanity for our forgiveness, then it’s logical to say that He also imputes His victorious life for our ultimate salvation. Much like Love and freedom, you cannot have one without the other. At no point in this life of human regeneration is a person left to himself/herself to work out his/her own salvation. It is completely the work of the Tri-Personal Being of God in the Father, Son, and Spirit. We must believe it utterly, our salvation depends upon it. Paul said, “We have been justified through faith” (Rom.5:1). (You can read more about the “Faith of Jesus” at: http://bulamanriver.net/2811).
While Jesus our High Priest eternally mediates for all our imperfect human responses so humans may remain Immanuel Humans through His glorified life, mankind is thus perfectly redeemed before the Father. Hence, we get the title of the 3rd step, “Father’s Perfection.” This is what humans must believe and have faith in as Abraham believed God’s promise for him, and it was “credited to him as righteousness” (Rom.4:20-25). This is God’s only way for salvation for mankind under the New Covenant. There is nothing that can thwart God’s powerful Love of bringing humanity to His fellowship, His eternal family and Kingdom. He says, “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand… This is the plan devised for the whole earth, and this is the Hand stretched out over all the nations. The LORD of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?” (Isa.14:24, 26-27, BSP). How does humanity respond? “We confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?” (Heb.13:6, ASAB). God has given this sure promise through His Son, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU” (Heb.13:5). Believe it!
Fourth Step, Manifestation in Humanity – The Regenerating Life. Through the ‘Father’s Perfection’ humans are made to experience God’s regenerative action on a personal level in this manifestation phase? We experience regeneration through the expression of His Tri-Personal Being by way of the three steps we have covered. John declares, “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). The ‘Father’s Perfection’ speaks of the Father’s Love for humanity. We are not speaking of love that’s defined by our human narrative of it. No, this is God’s very substance and nature of which He is composed in His divine Being. Jesus said we will recognize true Love by its fruits. The word ‘fruits’ simply means a person’s ‘actions.’ A person’s actions can be either inspired by divine Love or human fear.
Love and fear, both stand opposed to each other, just as Satan is God’s adversary. After Satan tempted Eve, he instilled fear in her and she saw the tree of good and evil in a complete different complexion – through the eyes of fear of the enemy. Remember, the fruits of the tree of good and evil was not bad of itself. Through it God taught our first parents what is good and evil. It was their disobedience that was disastrous, not the tree. God had forbade them from eating its fruits for a period of time. We all forbade our children from doing certain things from time to time for legitimate reasons. Somehow Eve had broken loose from and forsook God’s Love, and hearkened to the devil’s fear. Adam followed suit. Humans still do the same today, albeit subconsciously. And God’s Love changed all that through the Immanuel Human of Jesus in us. That is how regeneration starts. God wants His Love to control the human subconscious so that a person’s thoughts and actions are filtered through and influenced by His Love which leads to regeneration, not the enemy’s fear which leads to rebellion.
There is a love that is entirely human and bears no semblance to, nor correlation with, God’s divine Love. The Bible speaks of this flawed human love in this way, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov.14:12; 16:25). In other words, it appears genuine to the human eyes, but it is not God’s flawless Love. His Love springs from His Spirit, Paul said, “God’s Love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom.5:5). The Bible gives a more dire picture of this flawed love by identifying its origin, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jer.17:9).
This “human heart that’s most deceitful of all things” was inherited from Satan’s heart of fear and rebellion through Adam’s fall. (Gen.3:1-6; Rom.5:12) Jesus told the people of His day, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you” (Mar.7:20-23).
No matter how much effort for good a human may devote himself/herself in life to accomplish, all their effort comes to naught because the underlying sin-controlled human heart with its evil bent is always present to sabotage every good intention. And this happens spontaneously because humanity is cloaked in the enemy’s sin/fear-condition.
There is no other way to overpower this evil propensity, except one offered by Jesus: a rebirth! Yes, what is needed is a totally reborn human – a person who is cloaked in Christ’s glorified Immanuel Humanity. “You must be born again,” Jesus tells humanity. (John 3:3-7) Paul speaks of this rebirth, saying, “And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes” (Gal.3:27, NLT). The truth about human rebirth and the principle of imputing Jesus’ glorified life (Immanuel Human) in humans are one and the same.
There are only two humans God had a direct hand in creating through whom human posterity and destiny is framed within the Creator’s divine plan. There is the ‘first Adam’ from whom all humanity have descended. We saw how the ‘first Adam’ fell to sin at the hands of Satan’s temptations in the Garden of Eden. (Gen.3:1-6) And there is the ‘second Adam’ who was conceived by God’s Spirit and was born through Mary His mother. (Matt.1:20) The angel told Mary, “You are to call Him Jesus” (Luk.1:31). So, the ‘second Adam’ is Jesus Christ. The ‘second Adam,’ Jesus, unlike the ‘first Adam,’ had defeated all Satan’s temptations and brought victory to mankind. (Matt.4:1-11) Through the prophet Isaiah, Jesus was foretold to appear and given a prophetic messianic identity, “Immanuel,” (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23). (You can read about how Jesus defeated Satan in the temptations at: http://bulamanriver.net/11339 ).
Now, for the purpose of distinguishing between the only two humans God created, we shall call the ‘first Adam’ the Adamic Human, and the ‘second Adam,’ the Immanuel Human, after Jesus messianic title. Paul said about the two humans, “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45). He added, “Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life” (1 Cor.15:22). God sent Jesus, the Immanuel Human, to save mankind from the fallen, sinful, Adamic Human who was fathered by the devil. (Luk.1:31) The Immanuel Human is the “God with us” human, where God is our Father, Jesus is our elder Brother, and the Spirit is our Friend and Comforter. (Matt.6:9; Heb.2:11; John 16:7) Whereas, the Adamic Human is the “God without us” human.
All humanity was born into the fallen Adamic Humanity of the ‘first Adam.’ But God calls all humans to come out of our weak and fallen Adamic Humanity, and be given the new birth into the risen and powerful Immanuel Humanity in Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit. (Act.17:30; Luk.24:47; Matt.28:19; 2 Cor.6:17)
This is how Jesus introduced the rebirth into Jesus’ Immanuel Humanity to His followers. The night before His death, Jesus shared what is commonly called the Last Supper with His twelve disciples. More than just a mere supper, Jesus was about to make an astounding revelation and inaugurate a powerful ritual concerning the new birth. He introduced the powerful ritual with its dual emblem about this all-important truth about human rebirth. The ritual, commonly called the Communion today, embodies the two emblems of bread and wine. His followers were to keep this ritual until His return. He said, “I tell all of you I will never again drink the product of the vine until that day when I drink it with you once again in My Father’s Kingdom” (Matt.26:29, ISV). Jesus revealed the two emblems and the connection to the new birth in the Passover meal with His disciples.
The Bible records the account in this fashion, “Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.” Then, “And He took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and His people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many” (Matt.26:26-28). The wine represent Jesus’ blood that was shed upon Calvary for human forgiveness, and reveals the life of a person. The Bible states, “For the life of the body is in its blood” (Lev.17:11). The bread was symbolic of Jesus’ body that was wounded for us. (Isa.53:5) So, we have Jesus’ body (bread), and His lifeblood (wine) which gives true life to the believer. Each time we partake of the bread and wine we are in Communion with and living in Jesus’ glorified Immanuel Humanity.
Today, Jesus’ followers are still partaking of the two emblems when they participate in the ‘Communion.’ Paul said, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor.11:26). To “proclaim the Lord’s death” means that we undergo His death and resurrection, or, rebirth in Jesus’ glorified life. For Paul adds, “My old self (Adamic Human) has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Immanuel Human). So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who Loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20, italics mine). So, Jesus’ followers continue to take the two emblems to remind humanity of the death old life and rebirth to the new life we are given in Christ.
The ritual of the Passover or Communion is a picture representing the newborn human whose destiny is God’s eternal Kingdom. At the human resurrection to come, the reality of this new birth will be fully realized when immortal life is conferred upon humanity. (Rom.8:29; 1 Cor.15:50-58) In fact, the Communion is foreshadowing that reality of human immortality which is the ultimate human destiny. Paul said, “For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable and this mortal [part of us that is capable of dying] must put on immortality [which is freedom from death]. (1 Cor.15:53, AMP). So, here Paul explains clearly what the new birth today (in human form) will ultimately lead to – immortality like Christ’s own resurrection to immortality. (Rom.8:29) Concerning the Kingdom of God, the Bible states, “The kingdom, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the holy ones of the Most High. His Kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom, (Dan.7:27, HCSB).
What exactly is this new human body and what does it look like. Jesus corrected the misconception of His day, even those of the most learned who inquired, “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus answered, “So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life” (John 3:4, 6). So, Jesus was speaking about spiritual life, not mortal life. He said further, “Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life” (John 6:63, God’s Word T.) So, the two emblems of the Communion or Passover picture the spiritual life which now controls the mortal life of humans – the Immanuel Humanity.
So, based upon the two passages above, we are clear about two things, the new human is powered by the Holy Spirit, and fed by Jesus’ words. Now, to get more precise about the new human rebirth we ask, which part of the human body was created with a spiritual transmitter which broadcasts spiritual signals and communication with the divine realm? Yes, it is simply the human mind! God created the human mind to be the means by which the divine relates and communicates with the mortal realm. No other species upon this earth possess a mind like humans that gives humans that interactive ability with the divine realm.
Paul tells us the human body was created to be a temple in which God resides through His Spirit. Paul said, “For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (2 Cor.6:16; also Lev.26:12; Ezek.37:27). Jesus said His Words are spiritual which feeds the Spirit who dwells in humans, who in turn manifest Jesus’ words in human life. That is how a person lives his/her reborn humanity day-by-day which brings about regeneration. Jesus said that the role of the Spirit is “He (Spirit) will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you” (John 16:14).
The human mind is now occupied by God’s Spirit where the Jesus’ Words is received with the Spirit empowering the person to live by them. So, we see how Jesus’ Words is spiritual food which feeds the real newborn person who is spiritual through the indwelling Spirit of God. The human body is manipulated by its deeds through the decisions made in the human mind. The mind is manipulated either by the rebellious spirit inherited from Satan through Adam, or by the Holy Spirit inherited through Jesus Christ. (John 8:44; Act.2:38)
There are only two humans God had a direct hand in creating through whom human posterity and destiny is framed within the Creator’s divine plan. There is the ‘first Adam’ from whom all humanity have descended. We saw how the ‘first Adam’ fell to sin at the hands of Satan’s temptations in the Garden of Eden. (Gen.3:1-6) And there is the ‘second Adam’ who was conceived by God’s Spirit and was born through Mary His mother. (Matt.1:20) The angel told Mary, “You are to call Him Jesus” (Luk.1:31). So, the ‘second Adam’ is Jesus Christ. The ‘second Adam,’ Jesus, unlike the ‘first Adam,’ had defeated all Satan’s temptations and brought victory to mankind. (Matt.4:1-11) Through the prophet Isaiah, Jesus was foretold to appear and given a prophetic messianic identity, “Immanuel,” (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23).
Now, for the purpose of distinguishing between the only two humans God created, we shall call the ‘first Adam’ the Adamic Human, and the ‘second Adam,’ the Immanuel Human, after Jesus messianic title. Paul said about the two humans, “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45). He added, “Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life” (1 Cor.15:22). God sent Jesus, the Immanuel Human, to save mankind from the fallen, sinful, Adamic Human who was fathered by the devil. (Luk.1:31) The Immanuel Human is the “God with us” human, where God is our Father, Jesus is our elder Brother, and the Spirit is our Friend and Comforter. (Matt.6:9; Heb.2:11; John 16:7) Whereas, the Adamic Human is the “God without us” human.
My prayer is that we will all come to fully appreciate the greatness of such a moment as this in a person’s life, and realize the wonderful future of being reborn into the divine trinitarian family of God. (You can read more about this vital topic of the two humans created by God and their importance to human destiny, by reading my post, entitled, “The New Humanity of Jesus” at – http://bulamanriver.net/9718)
Here is the crux of the matter of regeneration. Jesus said, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). The Kingdom of God comprise of humanity who have been made citizens of that Kingdom who have undergone regeneration through the rebirth by the Spirit’s power and reborn as Immanuel Humans. Jesus Himself, who was fully God and fully human, had to undergo the rebirth when He was baptized in the waters of the Jordan River water by John the Baptist. Upon rising from the Jordan, heaven opened up and the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove descended upon Jesus and empowered His humanity. He was setting the example for all humans to undergo a baptism in water to indicate the death and burial of the rebellious and fallen Adamic Human, and upon rising from the watery grave be given new birth in the Holy Spirit, thus becoming the newborn Immanuel Humans. The truth about our human rebirth, the principle of imputing and the incarnation of Jesus’ glorious Immanuel Human in mankind is the only solution to all of humanity’s ills instigated by the devil through rebellion in the sin-condition.
What is the definition of the Kingdom of God? The Bible informs us that, “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). So, His Kingdom is the Kingdom of Love. God and Love is interchangeable and means the same. Love is both the nounized and verbalized form of God. In its active, verbalized, and energized form Love is articulated in the fruits of Love. Paul gives us an inventory of these fruits in his letter to the Corinthians. Here is a cursory list, patience, kindness, compassion, honor, humility, tolerance, hope, faith, goodness, joy, gentleness, self-control, generosity, gratitude, friendship, hospitality, etc. (1 Cor.13; also Gal.5:22-23) I encourage you to visit my post titled, “Our Human Response In The Triune Life – LOVE!” at http://bulamanriver.net/9199). Therefore, the citizens of God’s Kingdom are regenerated in and by God’s Love-fruits. Love is the regenerating energy of God’s Kingdom.
These Love-fruits speaks volumes and gives us a peek into the different tones of God’s nature and emotions of Love. They tell us how God in His Tri-Personal Being in the Father, Son, and Spirit, have lived in One unified shared Love-experience from eternity as God, and desires to share His “Triune Love” with humanity. The Love-fruits reveal the holy emotions of the Tri-Personal God. These are not human emotions, they reveal the divine passion and desire of how God lives in an intuitive and spontaneous fashion in their Love-Being as One God. When the Spirit empowers these fruits in humans, they reflect the divine Love, for the Spirit is the deposit of God’s Love in humans. (Rom.5:5)
Hence, the new birth in the Spirit is vital to living this way of life. Humans may try to emulate these fruits, but only the Spirit can inspire the authentic divine Love in humans. The imitation of these fruits by the fallen human will always be found wanting and hollow. We know this to be true because Jesus said, “Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions” (Matt.7:16-20). In God’s Kingdom of Love there will be no diseased trees with bad fruits.
Essence of Relationship: The manifestation of regeneration in humans means the application of the divine Love is a two-way street between the Tri-Personal God and humanity. This application we have seen depicted in the three steps. Having understood how Love is made to enter human life through rebirth in the Spirit, the life of regeneration will always be a life of battle against the evil spirit which gives fallen Adamic Humans a life of rebellion! Yes, because there will be this constant battle between Love and rebellion, Jesus tells us, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me” (Luk.9:23). (To read more about God’s Love go to: http://bulamanriver.net/16467)
Jesus knows all too well the environment humans will live and face each and every day, because He has already lived it by encountering and defeating the devil. Jesus was the personification of the divine Love as God’s only Son who brought the Immanuel Humanity. (John 1:1-2) Jesus took our humanity upon Himself and became the only human who lived a life in perfect Love. Being Jesus’ disciple means to become Love as God is Love. In this passage, Jesus gives us two fundamental hallmarks about Love – self-denial and taking up our cross daily. Self-denial or self-discipline is the primary motivating force in the application of Love. And the Father imputes His Son’s glorified life upon humanity to make the regenerated life possible. Yes, this battle between Love and rebellion is the reason why Jesus’ life of self-denial in humanity becomes the indispensable part of living in the Spirit’s power of Love. (Rom.5:5)
Friends, thank you for investing your precious time with me in the sharing of God’s good news with you today. I hope that in your heart of heart you will receive Jesus as your personal Savior, receive God’s Spirit, and be part of a gloriously amazing future for humanity. You can privately and quietly pray this prayer in your heart: “Father, forgive me of all my sins for I receive Your Son, Jesus, as my personal Savior. In Your incalculable grace, grant my promised rebirth through Your Holy Spirit. May Your Love guide and protect me and my loved ones always. I praise and thank You. Amen” Welcome to the Life of Love in God’s eternal Triune Being and Family. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.
Blessing: Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love,* be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the Triune Love. Be strong in the Lord’s joy.
Kiang P. Lee (Your Servant In Christ)
* Triune Life or Triune Love: The “Triune Life” is a way of life. Its foundational tenet is based upon the Love of God, because it is the nature of God. (1 John 4:8; Rom.5:5) I had coined the term “Triune Love” and “Triune Life,” to refer to a person who lives the three-dimensional life within the Tri-Personal Godhead of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the three-dimensional life, the human experience of God’s Love is always moving in an inward, outward, and upward motion where all the three Persons of the Godhead are in relationship with humans. (2 Cor.13:14; 1 Pet.1:1-2) The three-dimensional life is opposed to living the one-dimensional solitary life in in humanity’s fallen self that was inherited from Satan through Adam’s rebellion.
Love is both a noun and a verb. We are called to Love because we were created in God’s Love-likeness. (Gen.1:26-27) It means as children of God we live the three-dimensional life within the Tri-Personal Being of God in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as they live and walk in their inward, outward, and upward functions in humans. (2 Cor.13:14; 1 Pet.1:1-2) Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living (Loving),” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune Godhead. (John 1:1-2) He took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Love (Life)” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. (Rom.5:5) The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036. Also at: http://bulamanriver.net/9092
**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, you may obtain a copy of my book, “Bula” Man-River, from Amazon.com; xulonpress.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online book stores. All proceeds will go towards furthering the work of Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.
“Bula” Man-River Book Cover
Mission Statement: Read the Triune Life Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664
All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.
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