THE VISION: Nobody can read the Bible without forming an image in their minds as to the character of God. Also the super self-righteous who never bother to pick up this Spiritual law book an image is still formed in their minds. Romans 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.Thus, read the Bible or not we will still be judged by it, and if we fail to obtain a Spiritual understanding we died in our sins: and return to the dust. When reading a novel or any book without pictures we automatically form an image of the character or characters in our mind. God knew we would do exactly that when we read His word, to prove to us that we would make a man unto an image of ourselves. Romans 1:23and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Have you ever been called a creep by other two footed beast? Isaiah 44:10Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? The above verse asks a question, and it is man that forms a corrupt image of God in his mind that is profitable for nothing. Our thoughts form a false vision of the true God and this will spiritually destroy us. Proverbs 29:18Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.Men has taken this verse by force as with any of the verses; our vision has been something physical: perhaps building a bigger Church. Job 4:13In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men. When we receive a visions of the night, we are in Spiritual darkness even as: Eliphaz the Temanite saw, one of the Prophet Job’s companion. As we receive these visions of the night; unless God reveals to us it’s a false vision we perish. The Prophet Job had a problem discerning the image or vision of God. Job 23:8  Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 9 on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him.Job knew he could not perceive God, yet we as mortal men think we can: it takes the Holy Ghost to perceive the things of God. Deuteronomy 29:4yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.We as mortal men have no idea as to the hardest of our hearts. 2/4/2022 Michael Rudolph Hodges

michaelhodges71@yahoo.com

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON KINDLE  eBOOKS

GREETING. In this letter we are going to ask the Holy Spirit to show us something about God’s glory. Moses that Old Testament Prophet asked God who was his friend for a favor. Exodus 33:18And he said, I beseech thee shew me thy glory. Shall God make mortal man His friend and show him His glory? Exodus 33: 11 And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. First how can we become God’s friend, and its going to take more than just repeating some prayer after a man.  John 15:14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. What would God command of us to do? Deuteronomy 4:2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it that ye many keep the commandments of the LORD your God I command you. We must not add our vain thoughts on His word when we read it, but wait on the Holy Spirit for the interpretation. Deuteronomy 5:11 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord the Lord will not hold[ OUR NAME] him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Gods commands us keep His word and not our own witness or vain thoughts concerning them. A witness is your thoughts about His word, this has nothing to do with any physical witness at all! Proverbs 12:17He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness will utter lies. We all love to quote scriptures just to make our selves look good to others and when we have not the Spiritual meaning of them: we have taketh His name or words in vain. God’s truth is His revealed word, granted to His friends only, and the heathen in the next verse is not guy on the bar stool. Psalm 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?  Every vain thought men have wrongly imagined  concerning the spiritual meaning of the scriptures are lies or a false witnesses.  John 8:44Ye are or you father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do, He was a murderer from the beginning,and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him, When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:for he is a liar, and the father of it. In the beginning: the first time we picked up a Bible and thought we could spiritually understand it. We were only speaking our own witness or lies. We became a spiritually murderer of His holy word. There is no truth in the carnal mind of mankind: it has no Spiritual understanding in it. Our own earthly wisdom about word God’s produce more lies and you become the father of them, we become a devil and our children will be spiritual evil thoughts: this has nothing to do with physical children.  John 8:22 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust [evil thoughts] of your father ye will do.... We all at first speak our own devilish wisdom when we interpret or judge God's word. James 3:15This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly sensual, devilish. The mission of Shibboleth Ministries is to help us become the friend of GOD.  A true friend shares secrets with a friend: Psalms 25:14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them His covenant.  John 15:15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servants knoweth not what  his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. THE THINGS ARE HIS WORDS!!!!!!!! God will not show, His reveal word or covenant to a vain men or women who put their wicked mouth on it. Psalm 50:16  But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Even our earthly physical true friends will try to correct us when do something foolish. The next verses are talking about letting God’s wound our carnal mind, to slowly obtain the mind of the Lord. The carnal mind has to be destroyed by God's Spirit; we can not come against it in our own person or strength.   Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. The enemy in the above verse is me and you, the old man in us: the carnal mind; spiritually we kiss our own hands: which represents our works, which symbolizes our thoughts. Psalm 9:16  The Lord is known by the judgement which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. We refuse to let God's word judge us, instead we become the judge. James 4:12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? The another in the above verse is God and not the guy down the street. If you tell me you can Spiritually understand the Bible, without God making himself known unto you: I would judge you and even myself a liar. Will an enemy betray his friend will a kiss? Luke 22:48 But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss. Matthew 27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.Now what does silver symbolizes in the above verse? As of today[2/13/2019] the price of silver is going for $15.84 per ounce. Men betrayed God for their our instruction in righteousness, men knowledge symbolizes silver in the next verse. Proverbs 8:10 Receive my instruction and not silver. But the carnal mind of people does not want instruction in righteousness, so they invents their own forms of righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power: from such turn away. We all deny the power of God, by saying there is no revealed word of God or a resurrection of God's word. As you read this, do you mock in your mind and say there's no such thing as the revealed word of God? Acts 17:32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, we will hear thee again of this matter. Now we all thought we knew what word repent meant, but did we repent like Judas did? He repented himself.  Matthew 27:3  Then Judas, which had betrayed Him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief. God has to give repentance, it is nothing we do on our own: we may stop going to the clubs or putting chewing gum under the seats at movies. But we are still sinners and we will all died in our sin if God does not grant us His repentance. 2 Timothy 2:25In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.Judas never came unto the knowledge of the truth and so do millions of so-call Christians.  We are not Christians if God is not making Himself known to us as a friend. What is this physical world definition of righteousness? Their own quality of being morally right or justifiable. Now are we justifiable to God or men? I love to justify myself and tell people what a good guy I am, which in a lie. If God starts to reveal himself to us, only then will we have any good in us. I have met only three real Christians who God manifested His word or glory to them.  If you think I am a good person ask my ex wife; but God would never divorce us: we divorce Him because of the condition of our hard heart. Nothing in the Bible is physical and God uses the spiritual to try and show us the Spiritual hidden in His word.  Matthew 19:7  They say unto him, why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away. Spiritually we all put away God's law so we can be joined to the man of sin or our own self-righteousness. Mark 10:12And if a women shall put away her Husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.  The women in the above verse which represent the modern Church who claims to be the Bride of Christ. We are all yet still Spiritually married to our own wisdom, which represent the devilish wisdom from beneath. We are spiritually commanded to put away our husband symbolizes the old of sin.   John 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; ye are of this world; I am not of this world.  Job 9:20 If I justify myself, mind own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. We are from beneath because we are already in Hell and the world symbolizes what's in our hearts. Being morally right has little to do will being Spiritually right with God: most Church goers if they found a wallet with money in it, would say God's has blessed them keep the money and ditch the identification. Own morals have a lot to do with our manners and God is not impressed with neither of them. God just suffers our manners till we can come into the knowledge of the truth. Acts 13:18  And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. Proverbs 27:6Faithful are the wounds an friend. Again the wound is the correction against the carnal mind and the total destruction of it. Let God smite the old man and his carnal natural mind which scorns GOD'S word. Proverbs 19:25Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding and he will UNDERSTAND KNOWLEDGE. Spiritual knowledge must be the desire we want from God, and most people desire not the knowledge of His ways. Job 21:14 There they[Us] say say unto God, depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What about God's Glory? Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of GOD to conceal a thing. Exodus 33:18And he said, I beseech thee shew me thy glory. Exodus 33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. Exodus 33:21  And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: [ STANDING ON A ROCK?]Exodus 33:22  And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in  a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: Exodus 33:23  And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. For Moses or men and women to see God’s face they must die spiritually: I must die to all my carnal minded believes about God, these are dark images in my mind. For there shall no man see me, and live. 1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as. I also I am known. As I start to see more of God’s reveal word I’m being changed. 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. As God’s Spirit starts to destroy my carnal mind [ This the work of the cross] this grieves my flesh, as the old man dies. He must be spiritually be put to death by the cross. Men did not kill God on the cross, the cross only symbolizes what we think God is, our own mortal thinking is what dies on the cross: OUR IMAGE OF GOD MUST BE CRUCIFY BECAUSE WE HAVE ONLY SEEM HIM AS A MAN! Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. The cross destroys spiritually my fleshly mind and this very painful to us. We cannot be a disciple or God’s friend without going through this suffering first. Luke 14:27And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Man’s vain wisdom as he utters God's Holy word and call it preaching has rendered the Bible ineffective and if he or she continues they will become God’s enemy. Philippians 3:18 [For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. True friendship with God will going to cost your life in this world and the world the Bible speaks of is in your heart. Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart. Michael Rudolph Hodges 11/7/2016  amended 2/13/2019/ amended 11/13/2020/ amended 5/6/2021/ amended 1/3/2022

The Bible is many things to many people, but primarily it is a spiritual language as to how God thinks: which are His thoughts, and He does not think like a man. Isaiah 55:8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. Man has taken the Bible and made God into a genie in the bottle and demanded that God make their physical lives better. God thoughts or ways are higher than our thoughts thus he commands us to think on  the highest Spiritual level. Psalm 50:21These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. It took me twenty-five years of playing Church for God to reprove me and then started to order His word as He sees them: this is a spiritual process and causes mental suffering because the so-called Christian will not take correction. The first thing we must know is that we cannot spiritually understand the Bible unless the Holy Ghost reveals the spiritual meaning. To be reproved by God I had to meet a man who had taken reprove or correction to his thinking as it relates to mortal man: Jesus is not a mortal man, yet we all form an image of a mortal man when reading the Bible. Jesus in the next verse states the spiritual reasons why he came and the quick answer we would give is to save us. Matthew 18:11For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. In physical things when we are quick to give an answer without doing any research on the matter, we are mentally lazy. What was lost in the above verse? His words which men have sought to destroy the first time they picked up a Bible or heard a scripture. Sheep in the Bible symbolizes God’s word and his people who can spiritually hear the good shepherd voice. John 10:27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Until we learn to discern our voice we hear in our heads from God’s voice: we are lost and have no eternal life. The thoughts we all first hear when reading the Bible are our own and temporary unless God makes his words known unto us. Matthew 10:6but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The lost sheep are the ones we have all lost and their dwelling is in the wilderness of our minds. The first real work we will do as Christian is to gather or evangelize those thoughts that exalted men wisdom and mentally case them out. 2 Corinthians 10:5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 8/23/2022

''IF YOU PLAN ON SERVING GOD, IT HAS TO BE REVEAL TO YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT GOD''. Michael Rudolph Hodges    11/13/2020