The Ostentatious "Christian"

By C.L. Bruton

This is a book about hunger, fasting, miracles, & the significance of numbers presented in miracle narratives of food.  This book identifies the issue of fatal certainty exhibited by more than all others the western evangelical.  Gluttony may well be the most overlooked sin in Christiandom to date.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: C.L. Bruton
• Release date: Jul 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393427018

Book preview

Feed the Hungry

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While this may on the surface appear to be a dialogue to scrutinize even gain traction at a micro level over the meaning of the sin of gluttony, it is not.  It is virtually impossible to examine relationship with YHWH without colliding with ourselves the alternative answer to the question Will you serve Me?  Gluttony is something we are all cognizant of regardless the magnitude of our self-awareness, it is but a delineation a staging area for something greater.  Gluttony lives in that space where we choose to engage in self-service of our vanity, that place where we are unable to step out of our own way left only to stare at the back of our own head engaging in the short game where we trade the gratification of the moment over the long game that authors something lasting, something meaningful.  Are you just here for the food and entertainment?

There is some irony that is not completely lost in the concert of those in attendance of the bread multiplication miracles a paradox that revolves around the perspective even the allegory of bread.

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4 But answering, He said, It has been written Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of YAHWEH†.  Matthew 4:4HRB

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15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.  16 But YHSWH said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.  17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.  18 He said, Bring them hither to me.  19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to [his] disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.  20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.  21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.  Matthew 14:15-21KJV

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12 And when they were filled, He said to His disciples, Gather up the fragments left over, that not anything be lost.  13 Then they gathered and filled twelve hand-baskets† with fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over to those who had eaten.  John 6:12-13HRB

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The feeding of the 5000 & 4000 are bread multiplication miracles where bread, the bread of life represents the Gospel message of reconciliation, that which brings life, even YHSWH Himself.  Its message, while primal in nature is both a literal and figurative of sustenance, of nourishment.  These multiplication miracles must be observed within the confines, the structure of reconciliation if they are to be understood at their core.   For example the phrase that follows YHSWH’s instruction to gather the leftovers, that not anything be lost.  While an argument could be made toward stewardship while it would be defensible, is this what YHSWH was really saying?  Again, what was the purpose of the miracle of feeding the 5000?  Wasn’t it Divine design toward redemption of His formed?  I have searched more than a dozen commentaries none of whom attempt to make any contribution on this matter.  This is not surprising and should not hinder us from pressing on as we will see YHWH wrote His Law on our hearts forever discharging us of our need for the priest, pastor, or clergy all of whom have been relieved of duty by His Holy Spirit.

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10 Because this is the covenant which I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says YAHWEH, I will put My Torah into their mind, and I will inscribe it on their hearts†, and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people."  11 And they shall no more teach each one their neighbor, and each one his brother, saying, Know YAHWEH; because all shall know Me, from the least of them to their great ones.  Hebrews 8:10-11HRB

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Not anything/nothing - G5100 - τίς

Tis - tis

An enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object: - a (kind of), any (man, thing, thing at all), certain (thing), divers, he (every) man, one (X thing), ought, + partly, some (man, -body, -thing, -what), (+ that no-) thing, what (-soever), X wherewith, whom [-soever], whose ([-soever]).

Not - G3361 - μή

mē - may

A primary particle of qualified negation (whereas G3756 expresses an absolute denial); (adverbially) not, (conjugationally) lest; also (as interrogitive implying a negative answer [whereas G3756 expects an affirmative one]); whether: - any, but, (that), X forbear, + God forbid, + lack, lest, neither, never, no (X wise in), none, nor, [can-] not, nothing, that not, un [-taken], without. Often used in compounds in substantially the same relations. See also G3362, G3363, G3364, G3372, G3373, G3375, G3378.

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Lost - G622 - ἀπόλλυμι

Apollumi - ap-ol'-loo-mee

From G575 and the base of G3639; to destroy fully (reflexively to perish, or lose), literally or figuratively: - destroy, die, lose, mar, perish.

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When we comply with the framework or the structure of the ministry of YHSWH, reconciliation, this phrase could be better understood to say, gather the fragments left over, that no person should perish.  What was it about the gathering of the fragments of bread that could prevent any person from perishing or from having everlasting life?  Possibly, it was the culmination of the multiplication miracle an eyewitness account that could not have been anything more than an alleged miracle without the existence of the fragments, physical evidence which when coupled with eyewitness testimony makes the strongest evidence.  The fragments, the leftovers were evidence that would prove, that would testify to the reality that it was a miracle.  Why?  They would gather up more after 1,000’s had eaten than they had to begin with and upon seeing this surplus that came out of little they would not be able to deny the sign YHSWH had performed it before them.  The second evidence that the leftovers provide is judgment of those who would partake and those who would reject.  This is a nuance solely for the sake of Jews as they would yet again fail to apprehend the spiritual significance of both the Who and the why of YHSWH.  YHSWH would call them out when they questioned how He got there, a miracle, whereupon He had walked upon the sea only to cross without a boat having left after the disciples had disembarked.  YHSWH would accuse them of only attending for the sake of their bellies as they had long since chosen themselves and would continue to do so.   

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26 Yahshua answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, You seek Me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were satisfied.  John 6:26HRB

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.. we are all born narcissists and that learning to grow out of our narcissism is at the heart of the spiritual journey  ~M. Scott Peck

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17 every act of good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Heavenly lights, with whom is no change or shifting shadow.  James 1:17HRB

Nested Miracles

Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe.  ~Galileo Galilei

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There are numerous layers to these miracle narratives:  bread, types of baskets, numbers: 7, 5, 2, 3, 4, & 12, the path on which TRUTH is propagated, and the full baskets of leftovers. 

#12 is symbolic of perfection of government [apostles, tribes, gates, pearls, angels, zodiac] 12=3X4 where the #3 is perfection of Divinity and the #4 earthly organic creation. 

YHSWH was 12 years old when he first appeared in public [Luke 2:42] where he uttered his first recorded words.

53 Or do you think that I am not able now to call on My Father, and He will place beside Me more than twelve legions of cherubs?  Matthew 26:53HRB

#3 is symbolic of Divine Perfection wherein the earth would rise up out of the water a foreshadowing of the resurrection.  YHSWH would die in the 3rd hour where darkness would shroud the earth 3 hours then He would rise again 3 days later.  Time has 3 divisions: present, past, and future.  We as the formed have but 3 ways to express ourselves: thoughts, words, and deeds.  The number 3 is the first of four perfect numbers.

#5 [4+1] is symbolic of Grace represented in the 5 great mysteries

Father

Son

Spirit

Creation

Redemption

Favor

To the miserable = mercy

To the poor = pity

To the suffering = compassion

To the obstinate = patience

To the unworthy = Grace

#4 is the number of the world or creation + 1 Divine strength

#7 is symbolic of spiritual perfection; 7 loaves & a few fish

7 full baskets of fish [meat] left over

#2 is symbolic of difference/division [good/evil, 2nd day firmament, Heavens & earth (void), Cain & Abel]

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It is thought but not necessarily agreed that the 5000 were primarily Jewish while the 4000 were Gentiles.  This identification is based in part on the type of baskets they were carrying.  The 5000 were given grace [#5] only after one day while their baskets only held the sustenance of a meal.  They ate from 5 loaves and 2 fish with 12 full baskets of bread fragments remaining.  The 4000 were fed from 7 loaves and some fishes and their baskets were much larger in size, large enough to hold a man, making it ceremonially unclean to a Jew to have partaken from