Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

THYME Magazine: Building the Kingdom IV

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

Passover
Volume IX, Issue XV

Prayer for the Disciples

The thoughts of a Master towards us are what should stay with us as we labor to build His Kingdom. On the night before He suffered and died to conquer sin and death, Jesus spoke these words.May we remember them as we contemplate the great things we have just celebrated and go forth into this world to be His laborers:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another." -- John 15:1-17 KJV

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true G-d, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." -- John 17:1-26 KJV

IMG_8295
Easter Lily. Photo by Bob Kirchman

The forty days that followed saw the disciples move from doubt to sure faith as Jesus indeed showed himself to them, resurrected!

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

IMG_8299
Easter Lily. Photo by Bob Kirchman

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

THYME Magazine: Special Palm Sunday Edition

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

THYME0515
Volume VII, Issue XVI

How to Cure Conflict

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty G-d, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." -- Isaiah 9:6

The world is a dangerous place today. As an American President faces a resolute Vladimir Putin, who is intent on reinvigorating the Soviet Empire, and Israel's Binyamin Netanyahu deals with hostilities on multiple borders, the problem of human conflict is on our minds. Indeed it seems like peace is beyond our grasp. Thousands of years of human history are filled with wars and strife.

This coming Sunday Christians remember the time when the Prince of Peace [1.] (Isaiah 9:6) rode into Jerusalem on a donkey! The people lined the way spreading their cloaks and palm branches, expecting the return of the King in an earthly manifestation of the Heavenly Kingdom. [2.] Jesus, however, had greater plans in mind.

Jesus rode into town as the lambs were being brought into the homes in preparation for Passover, the remembrance of G-d's deliverance from Pharaoh centuries before. [3.] Instead of establishing an earthly kingdom, He would be tried by both religious and civil authorities. Although there was no crime committed on His part, He would be sentenced to die a most horrible death by crucifixion.

He ate the Passover meal with His disciples, one of whom betrayed Him. The Roman ruler Pilate could find no fault in Him, yet the religious leaders stirred up a mob to demand His death. He died on a cross on a hill called Golgotha, flanked by two thieves. Hardly the way to begin a movement to transform the world, but that is what history tells us.

His death conquered sin and death. [4.] "The day Jesus was crucified was the day of the Passover celebration and the day that the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. For the previous 1,200 years, the priest would blow the shophar (ram's horn) at 3:00 p.m. - the moment the lamb was sacrificed, and all the people would pause to contemplate the sacrifice for sins on behalf of the people of Israel. At 3:00, when Jesus was being crucified, He said, "It is finished" - at the moment that the Passover lamb was sacrificed and the shophar was blown from the Temple. The sacrifice of the lamb of God was fulfilled at the hour that the symbolic animal sacrifice usually took place. At the same time, the veil of the Temple (a three-inch thick, several story high cloth that demarked the Holy of Holies) tore from top to bottom - representing a removal of the separation between G-d and man. Fifty days later, on the anniversary of the giving of the law (Pentecost), G-d left the earthly temple to inhabit those who call on the name of Jesus through His Holy Spirit." -- How the Passover Reveals Jesus Christ by Rich Deem [click to read].

But the story does not end there. In Revelation 21 Christians look to a New Heaven and a New Earth where a Heavenly Jerusalem descends to join the Earth. Here is a Kingdom that needs no temple, needs no sun to light it, for G-d Himself is the force that illuminates it! [5.]

"And I saw a new Heaven and a new earth: for the first Heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from G-d out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of G-d is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their G-d." -- Revelation 21:1-3

West_web East_web
Journey to Jesus, a mural depicting the nations coming to Jesus in the New Heaven and New Earth described in Revelation 21. Mural by Kristina Elaine Riley and Bob Kirchman

Journey to Jesus [click to view larger images].

IMG_3253
The Journey is complete when you reach the kind face of Jesus!
"I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity." —John Wesley

Heaven is For Real Movie

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

THYME Magazine Special Christmas Edition II

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

newthyme
Volume VI, Issue XXIXa

"Behold the Man!"

-- John 19:5b

Many years ago I celebrated Thanksgiving with our church family. There I met the first Nepali I have ever had the chance to speak with. His name was Prem Pradhan. This Gurkha warrior had served in Britain's Royal Air Force before returning to his native land. An accident had permanently injured him and he walked with a limp; but walk he did. In a land where foot travel is necessary to reach most of the villages, Prem walked. He had learned something amazing and he felt compelled to travel to the ends of this mountain kingdom to share it!

Walking all day to reach some remote village, Prem would seek out the men and elders of the place and say: "I have heard a NEW THING! I have heard about a man who died and came to life again!" Who would NOT be intrigued? Pradhan would go on to share his fresh vision of the risen Jesus... and many put their faith in Christ through the fresh telling of the old old story. Not everyone was thrilled to hear this 'Good News,' however. Prem had run afoul of the country's anti-conversion laws. He was put into prison, where he languished for seven years.

Nepali prisons are notorious. Prem's enemies sent him there knowing that it was a place to die. Like the amazing man Prem spoke of, he too was basically sentenced to death. But here he was, years later, telling me his story. He didn't die. While he was in prison he had a vision of the risen Lord, and was further strengthened in his resolve to tell the story of redemption. When he left prison he became involved in education and took in a lot of orphans. While proselytizers are discouraged in Nepal, educators are revered. Prem became a leader of his town and never stopped telling the amazing story.

The Babe of Bethlehem became a man. We have heard the Christmas story so many times that we fail to appreciate its audacity! Let us listen again to it with fresh hearing: "I have heard a NEW THING! I have heard about a man who died and came to life again!" Let us follow the grown Jesus to that time of his death. We first meet him on a hillside. An unlikely candidate for leader of a world religion, he attracts multitudes nonetheless. He teaches a simple message that "The Kingdom of G-d is at hand," and then withdraws to a lonely place with his disciples.

Children flock to Him. He is often surrounded by them and his disciples want to shoo them away. Jesus rebukes them. The Kingdom of G-d is meant for such as these. I met an Egyptian woman who had visions of this place. She says that in Heaven Jesus is SURROUNDED by children. This Jesus did not seek out the halls of power, but instead sought out the weak and simple people of this world. He was a carpenter. His disciples were fishermen, zealots and a tax collector. He spoke to women (most rabbis would not). He spoke "as one having authority." Indeed, one of the most amazing parts of the story is when Jesus stands before the Roman ruler Pilate, who's reaction to Jesus is worth noting.

The promises of Messiah were well known and many in Judea hoped for the coming of that leader who would free them from the oppression of Rome. There were many who claimed to be Messiah, looking to fire a zealot rebellion, and Rome was especially good at killing people. So when a maligned and fairly ordinary Galilean was brought before Pilate, why should he hesitate? There was the fact that he was not actually inciting any uprising... but something in Jesus caused this tough old Roman to pause. Pilate knew his job, but he also recognized authority and chain of command. This Galilean was not blustering about rebellion, in fact He was holding the details of His true mission close to His heart. Pilate saw more than met the eye about the man from Galilee. There is more searching than sneering in his question: "Are you a king?"

Pilate finds himself drawn into a higher sort of dialogue with this man... even asking Him: "What is Truth?" Already troubled by the man he sees, he is further troubled by his wife's dream of him. Indeed, he wants to "wash his hands" of this matter. The simple execution of a supposed rebel has become something far bigger. Pilate tries to release Jesus but is pressed to release Barrabas, a real insurrectionist, instead. The death and Resurrection of Jesus became the story that eventually captivated the Gurkha from Nepal.

The modern age brought about a dismissal of the unseen. Science and Naturalism pushed for concentration on what can be observed. The spiritual and invisible dimensions of life no longer dominated great thought... except to perhaps be broad brushed as simply unknowable. Had Pilate limited himself to that which was observable he would have quickly executed this ragged Galilean. There would be no need for angst, for though he SPOKE as one with authority, he had no physical evidence of that authority.

C.S. Lewis was a man of the modern age. He dismissed the faith as a young man, embracing the Naturalism of his day. As an enlightened Medieval scholar, he nonetheless dismissed the power of story to convey unseen truths. His friendship with men like J.R. R. Tolkien led him to become: "the most reluctant convert in all of England." Lewis, along with his friend Tolkien, discovered the power of the story to convey unseen truths. Imagination for them became the key to discover and share: "a NEW THING!"

"When the Pupil is Ready, The Master Will Appear"

CS Lewis-1
"Imagination is the organ of understanding." -- C. S. Lewis


“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” -- C. S. Lewis

Thursday, October 24, 2013

THYME Magazine American Renewal Edition I

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

THYME0622
Volume VI, Issue XXII

Threats to America's Foundations
By Donna Lou Shickel - © 2013 Donna Lou Shickel Publishing Co. Distribute freely with permission

Most of us are well aware of the war on Christianity. Our Founder, Jesus Christ, promised us that from the beginning. And that through these attacks we will be given the call to choose God’s way or the world’s. But what we may not be aware of, are the ways we Christians today have compromised and cooperated with the decline and decay of Christian Judeo values in our society by trying to choose both ways. And in the process, are we jeopardizing our own standing before God by consenting to laws that oppose His? Welcome to A Place of Grace, I’m your host, Donna Lou. You may not be aware that socialism, which is without exception in human history the final and necessary step leading into communism, is in fact a pagan religion. The socialist religion was founded primarily on the teachings of the pagan Greek philosopher and writer Plato. His book “The Republic,” written 400 years before the time of Christ teaches a "World Republic" led by a royal prince, a "World Philosopher King". Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Mao were great followers of Plato, Frederick Nietzsche and Charles Darwin and they all shared the same vision of a world prince (whom they all hoped would be themselves) who would solve all human ills and reign over this new utopian world. The foretelling of this prince was also given us by Jesus Christ. This prince is better known as the anti-Christ, the man of Satan. We’re going to talk about the indoctrination of Satan’s religion in our schools today.

Well friends, if you thought that the economy and radical Islam are our only problems, you might be surprised to learn that there are more members in the Communist Party worldwide and in the U.S. than ever before. Most are no longer using the name, “communist,” but rather they now describe themselves as Progressive. If you go to the Communist Party websites, you’ll find that all of the policies they support are now labeled, “progressive.” And if you compare the goals of the Communist Party USA, over 150 chapters in America, not counting their offshoot groups, with the goals of the NEA, the National Education Association, you’ll see that they, whatever they call themselves, have been incredibly successful. These people have an agenda and that is the destruction of our children’s Christian faith and morals to replace with the religion of socialism and immorality. And what is so deceiving about these people is that they claim to work toward fairness and reform, but take what is good to infiltrate it with something evil and call that social justice. And anybody who cries foul is attacked as intolerant, unjust and uncaring. Teaching God’s Commandments has been labeled a hate crime. And teaching early sexual behavior, anti-patriotism, and group consensus rather than individual reasoning have been openly stated goals of Communists who hate Christians for holding civilization back with our outmoded theology.

 Noah Webster, early Father of American Christian Education said, “The Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed.” Of course, our students today won’t find that quote in their textbooks. Because John Dewey, father of modern US education, who completely transformed it said, “There is no God, there is no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the props of traditional religion.” John Dewey, in his 1934 essay, “The Great American Prophet,” claimed capitalism imposed a restriction on freedom, and “socialized industry and finance” would be the vehicle by which people would reach their full potential. And Dewey decided that American schools would condition children for the desired "social order". In the 1930’s he promoted that teachers must stress "mutually helpful living" in order to indoctrinate children in collectivism. Deemphasize facts, knowledge, and real-world skills to create a generation who could become totally dependent on government, thus ushering in the religion of socialism. John Dewey, known communist, changed school curriculum, discipline and class structures. Our “father” of modern American education said, “The kids don't need to understand "economic value. Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society which is coming where everyone is interdependent."

Dumbing down our children was a prime goal in the Communist party USA, to raise generations for the collective whose only salvation would be big government. Even though a slight increase in student SAT scores is released now and then, they are still LOWER than they were fifty years ago, because this open agenda has been in effect now for sixty years. Only one in ten high school graduates believe there is an absolute right or wrong. Those who hate American Christian Judeo values and founding principals have been writing school curriculums containing hatred and revisionist history, and pushing laws denying parental rights and we regurgitate their lies that say we can do nothing about it. See, we’ve been dumbed-down over the last 60 years too. We’ll watch a liberal news broadcast, where they no longer report news, but rather opinions as facts, and swallow whatever they feed us and regurgitate it at every opportunity. How could this happen in Christian America, you ask? Well again, these plans were begun over a century ago. They’ve been patient and dedicated to their religion for over a hundred years! After last week’s show, a listener wrote to say that our government “tried” abstinence education in the schools “for two years” and it didn’t work. It didn’t work! How many others said the same thing regarding this or other Biblical values? God’s way doesn’t work?! Being brainwashed to even THINK that a certain child would have been better off if they never had lived, let alone say it, has led many a young person to agree and take their own lives. When we know, that according to Jesus, contributing to the harm of ANY little one would leave US, not that child, but US better off if WE had never been born! So let’s look back a century or so. In the 1920’s, John Dewey, along with others from the Communist Party USA and the National Education Association, traveled to the Soviet Union to study how the communists succeeded so well in educating their children as to make them a generation of puppets, and to bring their method back home to America. The Bolsheviks admired Dewey and his work so much they translated his books into Russian. But as part of his goal to transform the US through education, Dewey co-authored and signed the Humanist Manifesto in 1933.

 Humanism is a worldview that focuses on human wisdom and denounces God’s Divine Wisdom and refers to itself as a religious movement to transcend and replace previous religions. See, separation of Church and State (as now interpreted) only applies to Christianity. Dewey said it would be necessary for American teachers to promote the Theory of Evolution to further humanism and remove God from the minds of children. He also implemented plans for children to be re-educated away from the traditional values of the parent, get them into government schools at birth if possible, which remains another goal of the National Education Association. They say this would make kids better citizens for the new world order. Dewey promoted the redistribution of wealth and called for universal socialism, as all progressives today say, for the cause of social justice. Again Dewey wrote, “You can’t make socialists out of individualists. Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society, which is coming, where everyone is interdependent.” And now it’s here. Among his many continuing honors, John Dewey was the first honorary president of the NEA. Think about their goals – federalized standardized testing and groupings of desks for the collective, not individual thought. Teach to the test, bypass individual reasoning and logic, tell them that three times four equals eleven (that fact was at least reported by liberal media last year!) and kids will grow up to believe whatever they are fed. Even I thought it was wonderful when I saw they had little groupings of desks in our sons’ elementary schools, until I found out this was part of the socialist plan to dumb-down our kids. Not by these wonderful teachers, most of whom love our children and commit their lives to providing them with a good education, but by communists and socialists who’ve set out to destroy our Christian Judeo values. See, even communists know that faith comes by hearing. How many parents “make” their kids go to church on Sundays, but throughout the week spend no time in family Bible study or even have a conversation about their faith, but will get behind their children to do their best in sports, make good grades without taking a look at their assignments, never miss their kids games or favorite TV shows, but can’t get to a parent teacher conference once a year?

A few weeks ago I spoke to a frustrated mother who said her nine year old son had been given a low grade on a school project. The mother said he was so upset, because he knew the right answers but the other three students insisted on the wrong answers, so all four were given a “collective” low grade, in a system that has replaced the Ten Commandments with “the pillars of character.” Another local mom I spoke with a few days ago said her fifth grade son had come home from school so upset about his fifth grade sex education and begged her that he not have to take it, and said, “Mom, if I want to know about that stuff, I’ll ask you and Dad. It’s just weird.” Now there’re some involved parents who have set a foundation of godliness and trust for their children. But how many of us church-going parents can say that? Home-schoolers, who continue to be demonized in our culture, are out-testing everyone, and they’re turning out to be very successful taxpayers which will come in handy when the average child in Virginia entering kindergarten today can expect to cost us taxpayers over $136,000 by the end of high school! So why this maniacal effort to prevent parents from having school choice and vouchers to save over a hundred thousand per student? You do the math. Opponents who say vouchers erode public schools by taking away money and teaching jobs (what?) violate the separation of church and state only want our tax dollars to promote their own religion. And they’ve been very successful, with the majority of Christian children denying their faith by the time they leave college and only one in ten high school seniors believing there is such a thing as absolute right or wrong. Let’s look again at some of the 45 Communist Goals updated in 1958 which I shared with you two weeks ago on part one of “God or Government”:

Goal #28 – Eliminate prayer in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of “Separation of Church and State.”

Goal#40 – Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

Goal #17 – Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for Socialism…soften the curriculum. Get control of teacher associations.

Goal #24 – Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them censorship and a violation of free speech and free press.

Goal #25 – Break down cultural standards of morality by pro-moting pornography in books, magazines, motion pictures and TV.

Goal #26 – Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural and healthy.”

Goals # 20, 21 are to – Infiltrate the press. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

Goal #27 – Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible.

How have we permitted this indoctrination of our children? There was an offshoot of the Fabian Society, in accord with Communist goal 42 which states: Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems, founded groups like Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS. There were chapters popping up at nearly every American University. When I was a student at Old Dominion University I was invited by my English professor to attend a meeting of Students for a Democratic Society. This professor had given us as a reading assignment, “The Feminist Mystique,” by the lying Betty Friedan who confessed later she was only doing her job as a member of the Communist party USA in destroying America, and another book by Saul Alinsky, “Rules for Radicals.” Students for a Democratic Society was a radical communist/socialist group begun in the 1960's by the Fabian Society and spread throughout US Colleges, and it became one of the main representations of the New Left, now progressives. I thought it was only what it advertised: “The most powerful collaboration of American college students with America’s most powerful leaders to help the poor and disenfranchised. It also promised that working with these powerful figures in government, education, and the media had gotten thousands of college students high ranking jobs right out of school! Wow, a means to fight for minorities and the have-nots AND get connected with a good job when I graduated? Hey, I was in. And I would have stayed in, but for a few things that made my first meeting my last. Yes, they delivered what they promised. The meeting room was filled with students just like me, and lots of professors, including the English professor who had personally escorted me to the meeting. But there were so many older professional men who looked out of place schmoozing young college students like me. It gave me a really creepy feeling, and in their speeches, these men seemed to be fueled more with hatred of what they claimed was wrong with America than they were with love of the down and out. They promoted lifting up minorities by tearing down the white capitalists; elevating women by degrading men; by capitalizing on every individual failure of members of “the establishment” and, this really got me - to never underestimate the influence one person has to take down the “autocratic” Church with mockery and division. Promote divisions wherever they arose to divide and conquer. No, they didn’t seem to be very nice people. Afterward, my professor insisted I meet the speaker, and I remember asking him about the organization’s name, “Students for a Democratic Society - Worker-Student Alliance.” I thought Students for a Democratic Society was just like Young Democrats, but what was the Worker Student Alliance about and how were they connected. But I didn’t hear what the man said, because while he was talking I saw behind him, on the other side of the room, a man, about 60 or so, in a suit wearing an armband, and I thought I was seeing things, but the emblem was a Nazi swastika. Someone else looked to be arguing with the man about the armband and that’s when I started feeling sick. When I got back to my apartment I called my Dad to tell him about the meeting. He lost it. Dad knew all about this radical group, its goals and its roots in the Fabian Society and Communism. Dad said, “I didn’t sacrifice all those years to give you girls a Christian education and pay college tuition just so you can get involved with communist groups who hate God and America!” My Dad’s name was William A. Foster, and that’s when I learned about William Z. Foster, General Secretary of the American Communist Party in the thirties, forties and fifties, who ran for US president in 1924, ‘38 and ’32. William A. Foster ordered me to the campus library to check out a book by this Stalinist called “Toward Soviet America.” And here’s a quote: "Among the elementary measures the American Soviet government will adopt to further the cultural revolution are...[a] National Department of Education...the studies will be revolutionized, being cleansed of religious, patriotic, and other features of the bourgeois ideology. The students will be taught the basis of Marxian dialectical materialism, internationalism and the general ethics of the new Socialist society."

So that was my first and last meeting of Students for a Democratic Society, which has over a hundred chapters throughout our Country today – including Virginia, filled with unsuspecting young people who are taught that to eradicate injustice you have to destroy whoever enjoys justice. And to do so, you must transfer all individual rights to the government who will see to it that everyone is taken care of in a just manner. Remember, a child’s nature is to trust those in authority, and we’re warned we won’t enter Heaven without this childlike trust in God’s ways, not man’s. But now the vision of federal government control is precisely the plan of “Common Core” – which violates the Constitutional rights of States and local boards to govern education and transfers them to the Federal Government. Our Constitution was framed so that this immense power could not be placed in the hands of one dictator! But these standards, promoted by the NEA without the input of state legislators, local school boards, teachers or residents level all schools to one, low national standard. Federal bureaucrats set the test standards and federally redistribute education funds among school districts. Fortunately, Governor Bob McDonnell pulled us out of Common Core, along with a few other states. But this socialization of education is precisely what the National Education Association lobbies for every election. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2009, the NEA collected over $377 million dollars in 2009, mostly from unsuspecting teachers around the country who believe the NEA has their best interests at heart. These beautiful teachers, who have to pay out of pocket for supplies and special projects, paying dues to the country’s biggest “progressive” union touting itself as a professional employee organization. But they put little of their money toward teacher professional development and most on lobbying for goals from a Communist Manifesto and padding their own salaries. Union statisticians and the Department of Labor list over 450 officers and staff making six figure incomes, with their executive director making $492 thousand a year. Go to the NEA Website and look up Professional Development. where teachers can learn about the importance of unions, how to identify students who can be groomed as activists, how to engage others in politics, assertiveness training which teaches how to move to “an assertive mode of behavior.” Look up the NEA “diversity day” calendar. They’ve added Oct. as a day to celebrate the founding of communism in China by Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. And for many years, they’ve promoted and sold a book by Saul Alinsky as recommended reading for ALL teachers, called “Rules for Radicals.” That was the other reading assignment from my college English professor. By Communist Saul Alinsky in 1971, it sets forth plans of action that I plead with you all to look up. At least look at the opening dedication in this book, where Alinsky wrote: “Acknowledgement to the very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively, that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.” Again, look up Saul Alinsky and see for yourself who in our administration today embraced and even taught his plan to others. This book was the inspiration behind the Cloward-Piven Strategy, or “Crisis Strategy” which seeks the collapse of America by providing financial entitlements beyond its means, making people so dependent on government, that they will turn to the very people they trust the least to rescue them in a time of crisis, and gladly submit to marshal law, giving up their weapons of self-defense, stop standing for whatever it was they were standing for before, like the unborn. Alinsky wrote, "Make the enemy (that’s us!) live up to their (sic) own book of rules," When pressed to honor every word of every law and statute, every Judeo-Christian moral tenet, . . . human agencies (like our churches) inevitably fall short. The system's failure to "live up" to its rule book can then be used to discredit it altogether, and to replace the capitalist "rule book" with a socialist one. So, for example, even if the majority of the country is opposed to paying personally for unlimited abortions, sterilizations of women (not men, just women), giving your hard earned dollars to pay for contraceptives and Planned Parenthood’s pornographic propaganda (which is given out in elementary schools without parental knowledge or consent) and say the majority is opposed to any language in a health law that could even remotely be interpreted to deny your elderly grandparents health care, Alinsky-ites say that when the finances of such Christians are affected, we’ll abandon our own “book of rules”, (like the Bible, the Constitution and Bill of Rights) and those we elected to stand for us. John Adams, America’s second President wrote at the time,  

“While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation [that is, hypocrisy] towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practicing iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

So beloved in Christ, what say you and I join hands for the sake of our children and future generations before it’s too late? And under the sovereignty and power of Christ our King, grab that whale by its tale, before he makes it all the way through, and fling him back to hell where he belongs?

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

THYME0516
Volume V, Issue XV

The Meaning of the Miraculous

For many Centuries man has acknowledged  the miraculous. This week the Jewish community celebrates their deliverance from Egypt and the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land. A dialogue set in a meals has all generations together consider the preservation of their people that could only be seen as a work of G-d. Previous generations always saw G-d, or some miraculous force as Creator. The Patriarchs saw Him as Provider and Deliverer! The relatively recent concept of Evolution (Charles Darwin in the Nineteenth Century) has created a philosophy of Naturalism that either outright rejects or quietly diminishes the Theistic explanation.

I once attended an Easter service at a large church in Richmond. The minister asserted that the Resurrection was not important! I don't remember anything else he said. I was astonished because Christ's Resurrection would seem to be a cornerstone of Christianity. Many voices today denounce Faith. They may not directly denounce it, but in the academy it is the subject of "open discourse" such as that experienced by Ryan Rotella at FAU [click to read]. Rotella was asked to leave a class. His "offense" was refusing to participate in an excercise where students were required to "stamp on Jesus." Dennis Prager [click to read] has more details. Though the school ultimately apologized to Rotella, it justified its so-called "open discourse" in doing so.

Running from the Resurrection

In fact, among many in academia today you are likely to hear some variation of the following: "There are other reasons why I consider Christianity to be an ill-chosen creed, such as the morals actually taught in the Bible, many of which are abhorrent to a compassionate and just man, or other details of its theology which run counter to observable facts." writes atheist Richard Carrier in introduction to his argument against Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

Here in his introduction, Carrier gives what I believe is his real reason for being uncomfortable with a physical resurrection. A G-d who can so control the laws of nature can ask 'unreasonable' things of us as well. A 'Compassionate and Just Man,' in Carrier's world can support abortion on demand because it is not 'abhorrent' to his viewpoint that abortion is a kind response to the needs of women with unplanned pregnancies. The beating heart of the unborn child need not be seen here as an 'observable fact.' Likewise, the 'restrictive' definition of marriage as a relationship defined by Scripture in specific terms may be viewed as archaic and discriminatory.If G-d didn't design it, He cannot write the specifications.

The elimination of Christianity as an authoritative source allows us to personalize moral decisions. In a culture that elevates self-actualization, this is virtue. It spares us the heavy lifting required to weigh moral absolutes with human frailty.

Jesus, meeting a Samaritan woman at a well, is a prime example of what I mean by this heavy lifting. Balancing compassion for the woman with his observation that she has not been a faithful wife, Jesus creates a constructive dialogue. He does not condemn her, nor does He overlook the complexity she has created in her relationships. He speaks truth and ultimately the dialogue that results sets her free. Here Absolute Love and Absolute Truth are in no way mutually exclusive. In the end her search for 'Living Water' trumps her desire to live as she pleases. [2.]

A G-d who can part the Red Sea, Create worlds and has power over death is pretty much to be respected. A G-d who changes human lives in intimate communion with his Creation is amazing.

Before Jesus appeared, the concept of Resurrection is found in Scripture. Sometimes it is very clear and other times it is a logical assumption consistent with the text.

Resurrection Foretold

"And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." -- Isaiah 53:9-12

The famous Messianic text above talks of triumph after death. Other texts that may be seen as prophetic of Resurrection are: Genesis 3:15, Psalm 2:7, Psalm 16:9-11, Psalm 22:14-25, Psalm 30:29, Psalm 40:13, Psalm 110:1, Psalm 118:21-24, Hosea 5:15-6:3, Zechariah 12:10.

Resurrection Documented and Verified

"I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better, fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died, and rose again from the dead." says Dr. Thomas Arnold, formerly Professor of History at Rugby and Oxford Universities. Simon Greenleaf, one of the most skilled legal minds ever produced in this nation, top authority on the question of what constitutes sound evidence, developer of the Harvard Law School, after a thorough evaluation of the four Gospel accounts from the point of view of their validity as objective testimonial evidence, concluded:

"It was therefore impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they had narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact." [3.] Dr. Henry M. Morris PhD writes more on The Importance of the Resurrection [click to read]. His point is that the foundational truth of the Christian faith has plenty of evidence to support it.

A G-d who can part the Red Sea, Create worlds and has power over death is pretty much to be respected. A G-d who changes human lives in intimate communion with his Creation is amazing.

Butterfly_icon
A Caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Nature itself suggests the possibility of miraculous transformation and new life! Rice Paper Butterfly, or Paper Kite Butterfly, Idea leuconoe.
Illustration © 2013, by Kristina Elaine Riley for HOPE Publications, Pvt. ltd.

Jesus

Thursday, March 21, 2013

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

THYME0515
Volume V, Issue XIV

How to Cure Conflict

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty G-d, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." -- Isaiah 9:6

The 'other' weekly news magazine this week features: How to Cure Cancer [click to read]. Indeed researchers are making strides to conquer this terrible disease and every advance is another piece of good news. As an American President travels to Israel to meet with Binyamin Netanyahu, the problem of human conflict is on our minds. Indeed it seems like peace is beyond our grasp. Thousands of years of human history are filled with wars and strife.

This coming Sunday Christians remember the time when the Prince of Peace [1.] (Isaiah 9:6) rode into Jerusalem on a donkey! The people lined the way spreading their cloaks and palm branches, expecting the return of the King in an earthly manifestation of the Heavenly Kingdom. [2.] Jesus, however, had greater plans in mind.

Jesus rode into town as the lambs were being brought into the homes in preparation for Passover, the remembrance of G-d's deliverance from Pharaoh centuries before. [3.] Instead of establishing an earthly kingdom, He would be tried by both religious and civil authorities. Although there was no crime committed on His part, He would be sentenced to die a most horrible death by crucifixion.

He ate the Passover meal with His disciples, one of whom betrayed Him. The Roman ruler Pilate could find no fault in Him, yet the religious leaders stirred up a mob to demand His death. He died on a cross on a hill called Golgotha, flanked by two thieves. Hardly the way to begin a movement to transform the world, but that is what history tells us.

His death conquered sin and death. [4.] "The day Jesus was crucified was the day of the Passover celebration and the day that the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. For the previous 1,200 years, the priest would blow the shophar (ram's horn) at 3:00 p.m. - the moment the lamb was sacrificed, and all the people would pause to contemplate the sacrifice for sins on behalf of the people of Israel. At 3:00, when Jesus was being crucified, He said, "It is finished" - at the moment that the Passover lamb was sacrificed and the shophar was blown from the Temple. The sacrifice of the lamb of God was fulfilled at the hour that the symbolic animal sacrifice usually took place. At the same time, the veil of the Temple (a three-inch thick, several story high cloth that demarked the Holy of Holies) tore from top to bottom - representing a removal of the separation between G-d and man. Fifty days later, on the anniversary of the giving of the law (Pentecost), G-d left the earthly temple to inhabit those who call on the name of Jesus through His Holy Spirit." -- How the Passover Reveals Jesus Christ by Rich Deem [click to read].

But the story does not end there. In Revelation 21 Christians look to a New Heaven and a New Earth where a Heavenly Jerusalem descends to join the Earth. Here is a Kingdom that needs no temple, needs no sun to light it, for G-d Himself is the force that illuminates it! [5.]

"And I saw a new Heaven and a new earth: for the first Heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from G-d out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of G-d is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their G-d." -- Revelation 21:1-3

West_web East_web
Journey to Jesus, a mural depicting the nations coming to Jesus in the New Heaven and New Earth described in Revelation 21. Mural by Kristina Elaine Riley and Bob Kirchman

Journey to Jesus [click to view larger images].

IMG_3253
The Journey is complete when you reach the kind face of Jesus!
"I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity." —John Wesley

Thursday, February 28, 2013

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

THYME0511
Volume V, Issue XI

C. S. Lewis' Trilemma, Why it Matters

The 'other' weekly news magazine this week features Oscar Pistorius [click to read]. The cover reads: "Man, Superman, Gunman." Indeed, when those we see as the greatest, and most exemplary among us, fall; questions must be raised. We are right to examine the lives of those we would hold up as role models.

But when we look at our fellow men in such positions, it is well to remember that Romans 3:23 tells us: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." This does not excuse our shortfallings, rather it offers an honest assessment of the human condition. Honest examination, while it may lead to disillusionment, is necessary if we are to offer solid example.

Pistorious has a great story of triumph over circumstances, but is guilty of either a great crime or (as he claims) a great error. If he is a role model for discipline in overcoming adversity, his lack of discipline, or lack of clear judgement, must also be presented as evidence.

When Jesus proclaims Himself the fulfillment of Scripture, He too invites our examination. C. S. Lewis puts it in these words:

C. S. Lewis' Trilemma: Who is this Man?

"Then comes the real shock. Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was G-d. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of G-d, or one with G-d: there would he nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of G-d. G-d, in their language, meant the Being outside the world, who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that. you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.

One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is G-d, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toes and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history. Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is ‘humble and meek’ and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be G-d.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of G-d: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and G-d. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

-- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952; Harper Collins: 2001) 51-52.

C. S. Lewis was a skeptic and an Oxford scholar. His honest scholarship led him to conclude that Christ is indeed who He says He is. Josh McDowell, a journalist, also set out to disprove the Gospel message. Instead, he ended up writing a book called Evidence that Demands a Verdict. In it he lays out a compelling case for Jesus the Christ.

Interestingly enough, I have read an Atheist's thoughts to the effect that Jesus can still be a great moral teacher even if we find delusion or outright prevarication in his message (of course, wanting to claim that He is ONLY a great moral teacher and nothing more). I do not think that is possible. We demand a standard of integrity that is higher for even those who are men like we are that we would hold up as models for our lives. The sad story of Oscar Pristorius proves it.

bible

Thursday, December 13, 2012

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

THYME0452
Volume IV, Issue LII

The Future, the Babe of Bethlehem

The 'other' weekly news magazine this week asks "Want to Know My Future" [click to read] as it looks at our ability to gain new understanding from DNA testing. The poor little baby on the cover is surrounded by potentially predictable diseases and captioned: "New genetic tests can point to risks, but not always a cure." Sadly, what happens when a central bureaucracy, strapped for healthcare dollars, decides that some individuals are simply too expensive to care for? The potential of early treatment and prevention is overshadowed by the dark specter of arbitrary withholding of treatment... or worse.

DNA is not the ultimate factor in determining a person's success in life, however. We all know of people who have overcome health challenges to become great; and well blessed persons who squandered their advantage. Dare we explore the potential that exists in the unseen realms of human existence...

His parents were poor, coming to the Temple with two turtledoves (the poor person's alternative to a lamb), to redeem the child as required by the Law. Certainly the simple carpenter and his young wife did not command unusual attention. They were simple people meeting a religious obligation from their simple means.

But Simeon, who is simply identified as a righteous man, not necessarily a priest or religious leader, comes forth with an amazing statement. This "righteous and devout" man was "looking for the consolation of Israel." The time was not a time of great spiritual revelations, in fact, there had been 400 years without a major written prophecy. Simeon had the assurance, however, that he would see the Messiah before he died.

Beginning in Genesis 12, G-d promises that: "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Yet, the promise of Isaiah 42:6: "I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the gentiles" does not find fulfillment until Simeon recites the promise over the Babe of Bethlehem.

Indeed, the promise of Christ is radical transformation: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." -- 2 Corinthians 5:17. Such a bold statement asserts that in Christ a person can be way more than his genetic code suggests.

A New King... A New Kingdom

Cerainly the promise is seen on a personal level, but there is more as Scripture asserts that Christ shall redeem and rule the World. Modern men may scoff, but in the previous issue of THYME, we see Pilate take this matter very seriously. Herod, the ruler at the time of Jesus' birth, reacted in the following manner:

“And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.” -- Matthew 2:4-6

The Gospel of Matthew goes on to record that Herod took this prophecy seriously. He was willing to inflict genocide on Judea rather than see a threat to his throne. Isaiah 60 talks of this new Kingdom, as does Hebrews 11, where it speaks of the hope the Saints of old had for G-d's rule!

The great hymn Joy to the World [click to read] speaks of the hope of this Kingdom! The link to the Jesus Film Project below will provide even more of the story of the amazing life we celebrate this time of year.

adventjoy2
Graphic by Kristina Elaine Riley.

Jesus

Thursday, December 6, 2012

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

THYME0451
Volume IV, Issue LI

What is Truth? Can This Man Really Save the World?

The 'other' weekly news magazine  features 'The Enforcer' [click to read], asking: "Can NFL Commissioner, Rodger Goodell Save Football?" We at THYME are concerned with somewhat larger issues as we face the 'fiscal cliff,' record deficits and the descent of the much heralded 'Arab Spring' into bitter Winter. What IS humanity's hope? Does G-d care? Are we really to look to ourselves alone for the answers to the problems that vex us?

The message of Christmas is told in Matthew 1:23: "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, G-d with us." It builds on a promise given to Abraham in Genesis 26: "And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."

The painting 'Behold the Man' by Antonio Ciseri depicts the Child of Bethlehem, now a man, before Pilate, the Roman Ruler. John's Gospel states: "Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all." Pilate also asked if Jesus was a King? Indeed, Pilate's demeanor towards this itinerant rabbi and his subsequent attempt to set him free tell us that this hard politician saw something saw something significant in the simple man before him.

In an earlier story, we looked at the song: Joy to the World [click to read]. We discovered that the song  actually was written about the triumphant return of Christ to rule the world, the hope of Christians for Centuries! Indeed, there is much to consider about Jesus. Hebrews 11:6 says: "...he that cometh to G-d must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." What does that entail? How might this journey begin?

The life of Christ has been examined by many since Pilate. Some have dismissed him but men like C. S. Lewis and Josh McDowell, who actually set out to disprove His claims, came to Faith in Him. C. S. Lewis wrote Mere Christianity to explain much of what he learned. McDowell penned Evidence that Demands a Verdict.

This year, at the Holiday Season, I invite you to reflect on the 'Conundrum of Christmas.' Who is the babe in that manger, and what is the significance of His life? Click on the link below to watch The Jesus Film, a very well researched overview of the life of Christ.

 Jesus

Friday, November 30, 2012

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

THYME0450
Volume IV, Issue L

The Most Important Man in the Middle East

This week Egypt's Mohamed Morsi Isa El-Ayyat is named the Most Important Man [click to read] by the 'other' weekly news magazine.While we agree, he's important, we still think Binyamin Netanyahu, Bashar Hafez al-Assad and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are at least equally important. The region's unrest has indeed spanned centuries. Resolving the intertwined conflicts and conflicting interests in the area will require the participation of all her leaders.

THYME looks at the history of the region and concludes that, for people of Faith at least, there is the distinct possibility of someone more important. As Christians prepare to celebrate Advent, their hearts contemplate the life of a simple man who walked this land... simple, and yet bringing to mankind a conundrum of epic proportions. Was he but a simple rabbi with a profound message, or something more?

We sing 'Joy to the World' [click to read] at Christmas time, often missing the implications of a hymn that is actually about the Second Coming of Christ, an event seen in prophecy where G-d's Messiah will establish His Kingdom forever.

"Joy to the World , the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King;

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." -- Isaiah 9:6-7

"No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found."

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations." -- Isaiah 61:1-4

Messiah or Madman? The Problem of Prophecy

When Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1-2, and said: "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing," He caused quite a stir among his contemporaries. When he claimed the role of G-d's Messiah, he was no longer a simple teacher. Was he a fraud, a deluded man or worse?... or was He indeed who he claimed to be?

"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." -- Isaiah 53:1-5

Indeed,  prophecy anticipates this rejection, His death and resurrection and defines it as part of His mission.

"Jesus said, ‘The Father and I are one.” Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came--and the Scripture cannot be broken-- what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp." --  John 10:30-39

C. S. Lewis' Trilemma: Who is this Man?

"Then comes the real shock. Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was G-d. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of G-d, or one with G-d: there would he nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of G-d. G-d, in their language, meant the Being outside the world, who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that. you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.

One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is G-d, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toes and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history. Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is ‘humble and meek’ and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be G-d.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of G-d: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and G-d. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

-- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952; Harper Collins: 2001) 51-52.

C. S. Lewis was a skeptic and an Oxford scholar. His honest scholarship led him to conclude that Christ is indeed who He says He is. Josh McDowell, a journalist, also set out to disprove the Gospel message. Instead, he ended up writing a book called Evidence that Demands a Verdict. In it he lays out a compelling case for Jesus the Christ.

Here is a challenge as we enter the Christmas season; we should familiarize ourselves with the message of Messiah and prove it for ourselves. Our culture conspires to distract us from such simple contemplation, but the rewards are great for those willing to make the effort.

thymebanner

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

New Life

Spring is an Affirmation

Spring!
Spring flowers are out.

Sunday School Window
Sunday School window at Staunton Alliance Church.

Sanctuary Window
Sanctuary window at Staunton Alliance Church.

Passover and Easter are almost here! This is a time to think of G-d's deliverance and redemption. Sunday we celebrated Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Yesterday I read of how he drove the money changers out of the temple court.

The place was the Court of the Gentiles to be specific. Jesus says that the temple was to be a "house of prayer" but they had made it "a den of thieves." The whole of the verse he references is "house of prayer for all nations." Abraham was told that through his seed all nations would be blessed. How could the nations come in if their courtyard was taken over by the money changers?

"Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." - Isaiah 56:7

Mission Flags
Flags of many nations.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

His Name is Wonderful

Taking Jesus to the Nations

Pastor Warren prayed in the name of the one who had made the difference in his life;
Jesus, יֵוֹשֻׁשׁוּעַ (Yeshuah) (Hebrew) عيسى‎ (Isa) (Arabic), Jesus (Spanish Pronunciation).

There is an old hymn that says: "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise" Thanks to Pastor Warren for teaching us several more.

Pear 2
Spring Trees.


Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Day to Pray

Pastor Rick Warren's Inaugural Prayer

He dared to pray "in Jesus' Name" and voiced the sentiments of many of us. Pastor Rick Warren's Inaugural Prayer [click to listen] was a plea for G-d's guidance to us as a nation and particularly for our newly elected leaders. No doubt Barack Obama has studied Abraham Lincoln and how he sought divine wisdom during some of our country's most difficult years.

After the swearing in ceremony, the President dined with members of congress in statuary hall. Two senior senators experienced medical emergencies and many came to their aid, comforted them and prayed for them. Many of us watching at home are praying as well.

Our nation faces many challenges in the days ahead. May we always hold her and her leaders in prayer!

Here is Dr. Albert Mohler's Prayer for President Obama [click to read]

"Christians are, first of all, citizens of a heavenly kingdom. The followers of Christ know no allegiance of ultimate rank to any government or earthly authority. Yet, the Bible clearly teaches that God has given us the gifts of law, government, and ruling authorities for our good. We are instructed to pray for "rulers and all who have authority" and to be faithful in praying "so that we can have quiet and peaceful lives full of worship and respect for God" [1 Timothy 2:2]."

Praying for our leaders is a serious charge. But I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention the 'other' controversial prayers of this inauguration:

Bishop Robinson Prayed to His 'Higher Power' at a pre-inauguration ralley according to Dr. Albert Mohler. Whereas Rick Warren was very specific in who he prayed to, Bishop Robinson sought to avoid saying a "Christian" prayer and instead addressed "The God of our many understandings," a reference he learned from twelve step programs.

"The crisis in the Church of England is that too many of its bishops, and some would say of its archbishops, don't quite realize that they are atheists, but have begun to suspect it." -- Clive James

Rev. Joseph Lowery Offered this Benediction: "black will not be asked to get in back, brown can stick around, yellow will be mellow, red man can get ahead, man, and white will embrace what is right..." It sounded like a sixties style civil rights ralley. He's a great man who marched with Dr. King, but here we are in the Twenty-first Century when an African-American is Commander-in-chief [with the votes of many white people]. I don't think Reverend Lowery was trying to offend -- just offering a little historical perspective from the sixties.

Wintley Phipps
My Hope is in 'Amazing Grace.'
Wintley Phipps is an amazing vocal talent.

The Next Day at the National Prayer Service: Wintley Phipps Sang 'Amazing Grace.' [click to listen] It was a stirring benediction all its own. Phipps begins by humming the melody that invokes the song of slaves John Newton was likely to have been inspired by. The "many dangers, toils and snares" of opression, the work of William Wilberforce, countless unnamed abolitionists and many more have brought us to a point in history where a man of African ancestory may become a world leader.

Here is More Background on 'Amazing Grace' as explained by Wintley Phipps. I love the song. It begins in the lowest history of mankind and carries us to the world of glory foretold in Revelation 21! Wintley Phipps' rendition sends chills down my spine and brings tears to my eyes. It is a powerful performance of a timeless masterpiece by a master artist!

Presidential Limousines

presidentscadillac
I want to know the mpg of this car.
It looks like a caddie, but the specs
sound more like those of a Bradley
armored vehicle.

Here is a Very Interesting Look at Past Presidential Limousines

The Poem

Here's a Piece on Elizabeth Alexander's Poem from City Journal's Stefan Kanfer.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

'Reason' for the Season

The Christmas Story is Worth Serious Investigation

sunlight

The original list below came from an article by Chuck Norris and I've added a few more of my own. What's noteable is that some of these apologists for the Christian faith began as skeptics seeking to discredit it. Their honest investigation led them to the conclusion they had never sought to reach -- that the birth of Christ is solidly rooted in History and that Christianity itself has had a profound effect on the lives of men and women through the ages.

History has a remarkable way of connecting its own dots, so to speak. Remember the Wise Men? They came from the East. Wasn't the prophet Daniel carried off to Persia during the captivity? Didn't he become one of the wise men of Darius? Daniel predicted the return to Jerusalem and also pointed to the coming Messiah. It is quite likely that the wise men [or Magi, if you prefer] were familiar with Daniel's prophecies. I don't think I'd undertake such a long journey as these men did on a whim.

So here is Chuck's list [with some additions]. If you are brave enough to underrtake this journey, you may find that real Treasure awaits you:

N.T. Wright's "Who Was Jesus?"

F.F. Bruce's "The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?"

Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ"

Lee Strobel's Website: http://www.leestrobel.com/

Ravi Zacharias' "Jesus Among Other Gods."

Josh McDowell's "Evidence that Demands a Verdict"

C. S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity."

"And, of course, the Bible."