# Color and the Bride of Christ ## Background - I have a note like this one somewhere, but can't find it. I'll be glad when I get all of them in a searchable database. - I need to establish some background in one of the topics I feel strongly that God wants me to emphasize as we prepare people for Jesus' return. ## Notes ### Influencers - As of 2024.03.28 at 2234 UTC, the world population was 8.038 billion. There are lots of counters available on the interwebs. I got this number from: https://www.census.gov/popclock/ - Of those 8-billion living plus those who already died how many surrendered to Jesus and made Him King? Only God knows. - The purpose of this note wasn't to discuss world population or discuss various theological positions on whose name is written in the Book of Life. Rather, I want to address those who identify as Christians. - People have probably always idolized the influencers in their generation. I won't attempt to "prove" that things are worse now than ever before because it isn't germane to this note. - I understand that non-Christians need something in which to believe. However, what I find sad is that Christians do exactly the same thing. In some cases, the idols are exactly the same for both non-Christians as well as Christians; sports figures, music performers, Hollywood pretenders, TikTok "stars", etc. - In other cases Christians idolize other so-called Christians. These include powerful leaders such as "apostles, bishops, etc". They also include "worship leaders" and authors. There seems to be an explosion of "Christian" books. I lost count a long time ago on how many times some "christian" posted on social media that they just finished the best book on "..." and all of us need to read it NOW! To the best of my memory, I don't recall ever seeing a post such as "I just finished going through the entire Bible for the xth time. It is life changing! A must read!" - In addition to the sin of idolatry, one of the consequences of following an influencer is the worldly desire to "be like them." In many cases, it would "seem" like a good thing. For example: - I want to be like that "apostle" working in a difficult area and experiencing explosive church planting growth - I want to be like this incredible "shepherd" who loves in such a way that he can chasten a disciple and the disciple only notices the love - I want to like the amazing evangelist who many say tongue-in-cheek, "he could lead a rock to Christ!" - In **Matthew 7.15**, Jesus said - "Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." - Quite possibly, Jesus was referring to the influencers, especially the "christian" ones when He called out false prophets. There is a chance, He was also referring to the pretenders who have been influenced to believe and act in a way that is inconsistent with the way God designed them. - I've heard is said (okay, I have said it) that with a hammer, pliers and duct-tape (or some minor variation of the items) I can create a "fix" for almost any problem. - I think that because we are SO influenced by our idols, we are completely blind to how we have been changed. As I was typing that sentence, **Romans 12.2** came to mind. So, I better put it here and sort it out later. - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. #### tl;dr -- Influencers - God made each of us with a unique gift set and mission and ultimately BE the Bride of Christ! - We are so conformed to this world, that we don't even see the mismatch - Each of us needs to: - repent - reject worldly conformity - seek His kingdom - seek to be the man or woman God designed ### Color - I want to transition to the next subject. In the last section, I'll tie the two together. - I do lots of computer stuff which includes some coding and web-page development. As a result I have had to work with colors on the computer screen. - There are several ways to describe the color to use on a web-page. These include: Hex, RGB, HSL and CMYK. I won't attempt to describe three of them but will discuss the Hex method. BTW, the interwebs are replete with info on these color schemes. - The Hex method uses 6-hex characters proceeded by a '#'. It is my understanding that essentially there are three groups of two characters. - The first set describe red - Second: green - Third: blue - The highest hex value is an "f" and the lowest is a "0". So, for example to get maximum red, the hex color would be "#ff0000". This scheme yields 16.8 million colors. - A while back, I did an experiment to see how much the hex color had to change for me to discern the difference. The experiment was rough and probably subjective. However, it was good enough for my message. - Test Methodology: - I created two web pages with with pure white ('#ffffff') - For one of the web pages, I decremented one of the color numbers - I compared the perceived color between the two pages - Observations: - It took about 16 decrements for me to notice a difference - Analysis - I am sure there are "artists" who could have noticed it with less hex change - As a non-artist, I was able to discern a 1/millionth (16 / 16,777,216) change in hex color #### tl;dr -- Color - As a non-artist, I can detect a one in one million change in color ### So What - What do these seemingly unrelated topics have to do with each other?? - As the Son of God, I imagine it isn't easy to find a bride who is complete enough (See my recent "*Thoughts on Perfect*") - So, I think God made all of us for the purpose of creating a bride for His Son. A crude example of what I am talking about are those works of art that are made up of 1000's of tiny photos. I would venture a guess that more than a few people would notice one of the tiny photos out of place. - I think it takes all of us being who God made to form a complete Bride of Christ. - So, if I can detect a one in one million change in color, it is reasonable to assume that King Jesus would be much more discerning. - Now back to the math. For the next few paragraphs, we will use my less than perfect color discrimination numbers. - As a reminder: - The purpose of this note wasn't to discuss world population or discuss various theological positions on whose name is written in the Book of Life. - If just one in a million people are not being all that God designed them to be, and if my spiritual senses are as good as my color, I should be able to detect an issue in the Body of Christ - To make the math a little easier, let's assume there will be 1.678 billion names written in the book of life, then if just 1600 people who ever lived chose to "be" someone else, then even I could tell Jesus' Bride was sullied. - Another example - It's impossible to know how many people died in the great flood and very difficult to get a good number on how many have lived and died since. For the purposes of this note, let's assume the grand total to-date is 20 billion. - So we can nail down the edge case albeit an extreme example, let's assume that all 20 billion have their names in the Book of Life. - Using my color discernment ability and some math - If just 19073 people who ever lived out of the 20 billion in this example failed to be who God designed, even I would be able to detect a smudge on the Bride. - I suspect that far more than 19K people are living a lie! - I will confess that at 68+, it has only been the last few years that I have embrace God's design for my life. I have never felt freer!! - How about you??? #### tl;dr -- So What? - If just 19073 people who ever lived out of the 20 billion in this example failed to be who God designed, even I would be able to detect a smudge on the Bride. - I spent most of my life living a lie trying to be someone else other than the man God designed. - I now feel freer than ever before! - How about you?? --- #### Outbound Links - Scripture - [[Matthew_07]] - [[Romans_12]] - Topics - [[Apostle]] - - [[Believe]] - [[Book_of_Life]] - [[Bride_of_Christ]] - [[Christ]] - [[Christian]] - [[Clothing_Textile_People]] - [[Color]] - [[Confess]] - [[Evangelist]] - [[Freedom]] - [[Great_Flood]] - [[Gift]] - [[God]] - [[Good]] - [[Idol]] - [[Influence]] - [[Jesus]] - [[Jesus_Return]] - [[King]] - [[Kingdom]] - [[Life]] - [[Man]] - [[People_in_General]] - [[Perfect]] - [[Prophet]] - [[Renew_Mind]] - [[Repent]] - [[Scripture]] - [[Seek]] - [[Shepherd]] - [[Spiritual]] - [[Test]] - [[Transform]] - - [[Will]] - [[Woman]] - [[World]] - [[Worship]] - Words - Other - [[1710727064_Thoughts_on_Perfect|Thoughts on Perfect]]