HOW TO NEVER FALL...

[peterd]

These words are part of a message that was written by a man who had previously fallen... badly fallen from his promise to a precious friend, his teacher and trainer. Peter the warrior spirited disciple... pulled his sword that he was directed to carry... made every effort to split the head of an adversary in front of him... missed the head but cut off the ear trying to protect his Master and friend... then he ran, hid and lied when he was recognized. Fifty days separated his fall, restoration and frustration from his empowerment and most powerful usefulness.

He got up after he had fallen... followed the instructions given to him by his Master before and after his fall and went on from there ever mindful of his present... the only true gift that we really have... the always present "NOW!"... and he learned how to make life work for him by being empowered by the instructions and the promises... and learned how to accomplish goals. The Apostle Peter became a power to be reckoned with and before he departed this life was influenced to apply pen to paper and leave a beautiful, powerful, simple set of instructions for us to follow if we desire the a successful kind of life that became his. This message is one of those that was sent to a man to leave for others to follow. Peter became a stenographer for the Spirit of God as he penned those words. The full instructions are recorded in 2 Peter 1: 1-10 in the New Testament.. and the instructions will work for you as they did for him... if you follow them.

[twilly]

Well written, peterd!

I'm impressed with St. Peter's apologetic writing in answer to the pagan magician, Simon Magus. It's a very empowering piece and it takes me into his world, helps me to know who he was. Of all the writings of the Apostles, St. Peter's is most soothing to me. Whenever I "read" him, I feel as if he is with me in person, guiding and instructing me.

Catholics hold St. Peter as the first pope. As a result, non-mainline Protestants scream that St. Peter "fell", as you post here, and therefore, he should never have been an Apostle; that Christ should have gotten rid of him, and other such nonsense, perhaps to justify their own lack of leadership. But, of course, Christ spoke with St. Peter after His Resurrection and so, how could it be that Christ "should never have...." blah, blah, when Christ did just the opposite. Some so-called "Christians" don't follow Christ, at all.

Some less self-justifying Protestants attempt to state that St. Peter was "re-instated" as an Apostle because Christ made him state three times that he loved Christ...to "make up for" his three denials...LOL...but, when that happened, Christ was instilling in St. Peter his jurisdiction..."Feed my sheep...Feed my sheep....Feed my lambs". This is the widest jurisdiction given to anyone directly from Christ.

We all "fall" from time to time. We are all weak and must struggle back to where we need to be. This is part of our growth in our imitation of Christ. Christ makes us perfect and, therefore, we have no need to perform perfectly....we can't perform perfectly, anyway....our behavior is imperfect...and because of this, there is Christ; this is why there IS Christ.

Some of the Apostles "speak" to us of the weakness of our human behavior and we can relate to them. St. Peter and denial, St. Thomas and doubt, St. Paul and "thorns" in our "sides". Yet, at the same time, they also "speak" to us of the strengths they demonstrated. They never gave up, they never gave in.

The Apostle St. John lived the longest [d. A.D. 100] and he was not martyred. He was aged when he had no where to live, no shelter...but, that of a [former] friend who constantly riled him about Christ, who had the habit of arguing, and who often drove St. John to the brink of loosing his patience. St. John lived out on the street in his old age, in the elements, in all kinds of weather, rather than chance loosing his patience.

The Apostles were real and what they went through, we go through. Christ knew how to pick them....and He still does.