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Our modern Bibles (New Testament) translate the Koine Greek word “Pneuma” into three different English words… “spirit”, “wind” or “breath” The original writers of the New Testament just used the word “Pneuma”
For instance today we read John 3:5-10,
“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
However the original text would read like this,
“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the pneuma. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the pneuma gives birth to pneuma. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The pneuma blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the pneuma.”
So why would the original writers not differentiate between “spirit”, “wind” and “breath”?
Here’s my answer and it seems obvious… they thought they were all the same thing.
They thought the wind was the breath of God. The thought the new born babe breathing his first breath was God putting spirit and life into the babe.
The archaic mind did not understand meteorology and certainly did not understand human physiology. God communicated to them in language they could understand. It was not his purpose to teach weather patterns and oxygenation of blood.
It is important to the Bible student of today because sometimes translators get it wrong. They do like all humans have their predjudices. It’s also important to understand the Holy Scriptures through the lens of ancient and semi ancient peoples.
When we read spirit, breath or wind we should be thinking pneuma.
By the way the element Oxygen was not discovered until 1774 and the exchange of Oxygen from the lungs into the blood about 1780.
Cats are natural carnivores. They are designed in nature to eat rats, birds, snakes and things like grasshoppers. We had a professor in Veterinary school who said the best diet for a cat would be to put a bunch of rats in the food processor and feed that mix… muscles, bones, intestinal contents, skin and fur.
We see a lot of cats with metabolic conditions… obesity, pancreatitis, diabetes and urinary crystal formation. All of these conditions are cause by feeding un-natural cat foods. Usually dry foods with grain based carbohydrates.
So why would we feed an un-natural diet verses a natural one? Because dry cat foods are cheap and most cats do okay on them. Emphasis on “cheap”
Christians have a lot of spiritual ailments caused by eating a diet of man made and smooth and popular and polarizing doctrines instead of those simple and understandable doctrines shared by God for his people.
I’ve never seen a “barn” cat who suffered from obesity and all the metabolic issues that I see in “house” cats. They have different diets… one is healthy and natural and the other is unhealthy and un-natural. I make my living on unhealthy pets and business is good.
Maybe just maybe if we are having moral and spiritual problems in our lives the problem is what we are “eating”
If you went to a diet center and no one ever lost weight but stayed obese you would look for help in another direction wouldn’t you?
Similarly, if you visit a church and no one has been married very long and the children are out of control or the prayers are shallow and the singing is on life support or the preacher never quotes from the Bible…
Maybe just maybe you should question the spiritual diet that is being offered. It might be an "okay" diet but it could be stunting or even killing you.
I found out a friend of mine had, had a heart attack and was in treatment for it. He didn’t tell me… his wife brought the subject up. I told the wife to be careful to not look or smell too good because her husbands heart might not be able to take it. Lol.
I observed that my friend still smoked. I mentioned that smoking makes the blood hyper-coagulable and he could stroke out. He said… I take an Aspirin every day to prevent that.
I asked him if he had changed his diet any. He said he had a little bit but his wife said he had not. Sheepishly he said the heart medications took care of that for him.
This typifies a common notion that is going around among many. They don’t want to put in the work to be healthy and to have true health they want to rely on medicine and doctors to manage their unhealthy life style.
That’s kind of like the guy who decides to become a Christian and has all his nasty sins washed away but then does nothing to grow. Just relies on “God’s grace” and “prayer” and wears those things like a Badge of Honor. Never truly maturing in Christ. Never trying to develop the image of Christ in their lives and never equipping oneself with the full Christian armor.
To truly have good health, both physical and spiritual, requires some effort.
We might need to put down the spoon and step away from the table and start feeding and nurturing others. Just like Jesus did. Do that and you can live forever.
God designated some animals to be clean and others to be unclean.
A hog for instance would be one example of an “unclean” animal. Sheep would be an example of a “clean” animal.
God’s people could only sacrifice and eat “clean” animals. For God’s people to sacrifice a hog on an altar would be totally unacceptable.
In addition, God wanted a “clean” people so they could only eat “clean” animals. It was part of their “cleanness”. I can tell you with absolute certainty that Jesus our Lord and Savior never ate Pork. To do so would have made him “unclean” and he wasn’t “unclean”… he was perfect.
Maybe clean and unclean animals foreshadow God’s creation under his new covenant. There are “clean” and “unclean” humans.
Those who have been baptized and washed in the blood of Jesus Christ have become “clean” and pure like the “clean” Sheep. Those who are not are “unclean” like the filthy swine. Totally unacceptable to God and unacceptable to live with Him in the Heavenly places.
The good news for us is that although we once were all “unclean” Hogs we didn’t have to stay that way we could choose through God’s grace to become “clean".
Remember… there won’t be any Hogs in Heaven or even Hogs who have had a bath and are outwardly clean. Yopu can bathe a hog and put a ring in its nose but its still a hog. Only the transformed “clean” will be in Heaven.
When Julie and I moved to Corpus Christi in 1982 the congregation had two Elders… Jack Young and Carl Miller. Who they might have had before that if any I am not aware. Later Joe Henderson was made an Elder but then he moved off and then I think Jack moved and the congregation was without Elders.
July 20, 1997 - David Smitherman and Rob Perkins were appointed as Elders.
June 18, 2000 - Gus Cargile and Bill Chambers were added as Elders.
July 3, 2016 - Ricardo Baca added as an Elder.
June 21, 2026 - Shane Torno and Larry White added as Elders.
Our current Elders are Gus Cargile, Ricardo Baca, Rob Perkins, Larry White and Shane Torno.
I was talking to a former member who moved away several years ago and as we were catching up I asked how the church was doing where they attended.
Among other things he said he and his wife are often thanked for what they do in the congregation.
He said he responds to them… “several years ago an Elder kept encouraging me to be more involved and eventually I did”
God has sheep all over the world. They are under one great Shepherd… Jesus Christ. They are one great big flock of sheep who Jesus shepherds through his written word and the power of the Holy Spirit.
The whole flock of sheep the world over assemble every Sunday as small flocks of sheep shepherded by earthly Shepherds in their various communities. They also are shepherded by the written word and by prayer.
The earthly Shepherds only answer to the great heavenly Shepherd Jesus Christ and to no one else.
The sheep in these local flocks only answer to two shepherds… the great Shepherd Jesus Christ and to their local Shepherds.
