Beechwood Cross

“Is He Here Yet?”

2012-02-19T20:55:00.000-05:00

The apostle Paul founded the church in Thessalonica during his second missionary journey. He taught the new converts the great doctrines of the faith. That included the idea of the second coming of Christ. Paul believed that Christ would soon return.

Paul didn’t stay long in Thessalonica – only about three weeks – ‘cause he was chased out of town by Jews who were fearful of the Gospel message. He then went to Berea, but he was run out of that town, too. Timothy and Silas stayed in Berea, though. Paul then went to Athens, and from there he ended up in Corinth. That’s where Timothy and Silas met up with him and told him about what was going on in Thessalonica. Timothy said the Thessalonian Christians were troubled by a few things, and they had some questions for Paul.

So Paul wrote ‘em a letter to address their concerns. The result is what we call First Thessalonians, written in AD 52 or 53. Of all the letters by Paul we have in the New Testament, this one’s the oldest. Apparently between the time Paul started the church until his companions could reach him, some of the believers in the Thessalonian church had died. This greatly troubled those who were still living there. Obviously, they were grieving the loss of loved ones, but what really troubled them was the thought that their dearly departed friends were doomed. Since they’re dead, that means they’re gonna miss out on the Second Coming, the Rapture – when Christ would come and gather His Church out of the world.

Basically, in his letter, Paul says, “Don’t worry. Those people are covered.” How can that be? Here’s how Paul explains it:

“We believe that Jesus died and was raised to life. We also believe that when God brings Jesus back again, he will bring with Him all who had faith in Jesus before they died. Our Lord Jesus told us that when He comes, we won’t go up to meet Him ahead of His followers who have already died. With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God’s trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on, we will all be with the Lord forever. Encourage each other with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4: 14-18, CEV).

Note Paul says, “all of us who are still alive.” Paul really did think the Second Coming would happen in his lifetime. He was wrong about that.

Anyhow, Paul wrote his letter, his response, and sent it off with Timothy. That comforted the Thessalonians for a while. But it didn’t last long.

Some false teachers came along – or maybe the church got a false report. Some scholars think the Thessalonian church got a fake letter which claimed to have been written by Paul. The report claimed that Christ had already come and that the Rapture had already happened. If you were still around, you missed the boat and you’re stuck in the time of tribulation. So, previously, they thought that the dead would miss the Rapture – and now they think that everyone from that church (both dead and alive) had missed the Rapture. They were being persecuted, so maybe the report was right – that they somehow got left behind. They just felt like giving up and not doing anything. Or maybe Christ had returned – but He just hadn’t gotten to their town yet. He was on His way. He’ll get to Thessalonica soon. They should just sit and wait for Him. So all this was causing confusion, chaos, and disappointment in that church – and nothing was getting done.

So, Paul had to write a second letter to them. And, to make sure everyone knew this one was real, he includes this at this end of it: “I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write” (2 Thessalonians 3: 17, NIV).

We have a genuine letter from Paul. This is the real thing, not some fake letter with some fake doctrine.

On a long trip, kids at some random point will ask. “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” Well, if the car is still moving – we ain’t there yet! How long will it take? Don’t know! Or how about you’re waiting for a package and looking for the mailman. “Is he here yet?” Or what if you’re waiting for a friend or relative to come to the house and you haven’t seen the person in a long time. “Is he here yet?” Or, “Is she here yet?”

This is sort of what the Thessalonians were asking – “Is He here yet? Is He here yet?” But in their case, they were asking, “Is Jesus here yet?”

And, in this real letter, Paul says the Day of the Lord had not come yet – although it could be close; you never know. Paul has some practical advice for them – and for us. So we turn to the third chapter of Second Thessalonians.

“One more thing, friends: Pray for us. Pray that the Master’s Word will simply take off and race through the country to a ground-swell of response, just as it did among you. And pray that we’ll be rescued from these scoundrels who are trying to do us in. I’m finding that not all ‘believers’ are believers. But the Master never lets us down. He’ll stick by you and protect you from evil. Because of the Master, we have great confidence in you. We know you’re doing everything we told you and will continue doing it. May the Master take you by the hand and lead you along the path of God’s love and Christ’s endurance.” (2 Thessalonians 3: 1-5, the Message).

Paul knows the Thessalonians are going through tough times. He’s growing through tough times. You may be going through tough times right now. What does Paul say? He says, “Pray for us.” That’s something everyone can do. Specifically, Paul asked for a prayer of protection against the “scoundrels.” That is, the people who ran him out of town. Paul also says, “We have great confidence in you.” Paul had confidence that the Lord would guide and provide – and that the Thessalonians would do as he had taught them.

Let move on to verses 6-9:

“Our orders –backed up by the Master, Jesus – are to refuse to have anything to do with those among you who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you. Don’t permit them to freeload on the rest. We showed you how to pull your weight when we were with you, so get on with it. We didn’t sit around on our hands expecting others to take care of us. In fact, we worked our fingers to the bone, up half the night moonlighting so you wouldn’t be burdened with taking care of us. And it wasn’t because we didn’t have a right to your support; we did. We simply wanted to provide an example of diligence, hoping it would prove contagious” (2 Thessalonians 3: 6-9, the Message).

Paul paid for what he ate. He didn’t mooch off people ‘cause he was a missionary. He supported himself by making tents. He didn’t come, preach and pass the plate, and then leave town. As he evangelized and started churches, he didn’t expect to be paid with a stipend or a love offering. However, once churches were established and he came back to visit, then it was OK for him to accept gifts from them. He thanked the Philippians for their generous support of his ministry, and on his third missionary journey, he collected an offering for the church in Jerusalem.

Now to verses 10-13:

“Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived with you? ‘If you don’t work, you don’t eat.’ And now we’re getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of you. This must not be tolerated. We command them to get to work immediately – no excuses, no arguments –and earn their own keep. Friends, don’t slack off in doing your duty” (2 Thessalonians 3: 1-13, the Message).

Here’s what was happening at the Thessalonian church. Since they thought Christ was coming really, really soon, there was no time to do anything else. Some thought they should just sit around and wait for Him to appear. He’d take them away to be with Him, and all their troubles would be over.

It would soon be time to go, and so there was no time to start any projects here, no time to do any work. Why bother? The Day of the Lord is coming! The Rapture is coming! We’ve gotta be ready!

By the way, when do you think the Rapture will occur? On a Sunday morning when all the Christians are in church? We, of course, have no idea. Paul says it’ll come like a thief in the night – unannounced. I suspect it might come at the most inopportune time – like when you’re sitting on the toilet!

Paul tells the Thessalonians to be productive and labor for the Gospel, instead of just loafing around ‘til that day dawns. Paul says, in effect, “Don’t be so freakin’ lazy!”

A believer waiting for the Lord’s return is not just a dreamer – not a Daydream Believer – but should be a worker. Don’t just believe the Word of God – live the Word of God and do the work of God! Work while you wait. You can whistle while you work, but you need to work while you wait.

The study of God’s Word will lead us to labor for the Gospel. If you really believe Christ is coming, you’re gonna be busy working for Him. Don’t press your nose up against the window looking for Jesus or always be looking up in the sky for His appearance. Instead, look around down here on earth and see what needs to be done. Do the work of the Lord!

Patiently wait for Christ, while doing the things you ought. Don’t hang out with the wrong crowd. Don’t be one of those lazy people. Gather with believers for love and support – and do something beneficial together.

J. Vernon McGee provides this example in his “Thru the Bible” commentary:

“A gardener for a large estate in northern Italy was conducting a visitor through the castle and the beautiful, well-groomed grounds. As the visitor had lunch with the gardener and his wife, he commended them for the beautiful way they were keeping the gardens. He asked, ‘By the way, when was the last time the owner was here?’ ‘It was about ten years ago,’ the gardener said. The visitor asked, ‘Then why do you keep up the gardens in such an immaculate, lovely manner?’ The gardener answered, ‘Because I’m expecting him to return.’ [The visitor] persisted, ‘Is he coming next week?’ The gardener replied, ‘I don’t know when he is coming, but I am expecting him today.’ Although he didn’t come that day, he was living in the light of the owner’s imminent return. The gardener wasn’t hanging over the gate, watching down the road to see whether his master was coming. He was in the garden, trimming, cutting, mowing, planting. He was busy. That is what Paul is talking about when he says we should be established in the work of the Lord in view of the fact that he is returning.”

Does that make sense? If you know Christ will return, you’re gonna be doing His work. In the example of the gardener, imagine if he decided the owner wasn’t ever gonna come back, so he decided to just sit around and enjoy the beauty of the castle and the gardens. After a while, the place wouldn’t be so beautiful. It would be rundown and overrun with weeds. And then what if the owner actually did come back, only to discover a dump? That wouldn’t end well for the gardener.

Let’s move on to verses 14-16:

“If anyone refuses to obey our clear command written in this letter, don’t let him get by with it. Point out such a person and refuse to subsidize his freeloading. Maybe then he’ll think twice. But don’t treat him as an enemy. Sit him down and talk about the problem as someone who cares. May the Master of Peace Himself give you the gift of getting along with each other at all times, in all ways. May the Master be truly among you!” (2 Thessalonians 3: 14-16, the Message).

Paul says if there are any lazy people in the church, they need a talking to! Don’t ostracize them. Find out if there’s a problem. Maybe they’re just burned-out and don’t feel like doing any more. Maybe there’s something going on in their personal life that’s preventing them from doing church work. Maybe they don’t see any point to it.

Do any of you feel like that sometimes? There’s just so much work to be done here at the church. There’s always some problem with the building. There aren’t a lot of people to do the work. Maybe you feel like you’ve done your share; someone else ought to do it now.

Paul, in one of his other letters, has some encouragement for us: “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1: 4-6, NIV).

What God starts, God finishes. We should continue to work for Him, because He continues to work for us.

We have been given a task. We are to spread the Good News. “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matthew 9: 37, NKJV). Very few at times.

We have a message the community and the world need to hear: Jesus saves, and Jesus alone.

Buddha is not the Way.
Mohammed is not the Way.
Transcendental meditation is not the Way.
Drug use is not the Way.
Alcohol use is the not Way.
Feng shui is not the Way.

Only Jesus Christ is the Way. Why go down the wrong path when the right way is so obvious?

So, “Is He here yet?” No, not yet. But we’ve got a job to do. We’ve got a Gospel to proclaim. There are souls dying to hear about Christ. Let’s get to work, shall we?

Was Jesus Both God and Man?

2012-02-08T23:38:00.001-05:00

Can somebody be two totally different things at once? That’s what we have to consider when we ponder the earthly life of Jesus Christ.

He walked the earth as a human being, yet He created this earth as part of the Godhead. The Gospel of John tells us this is so:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in Him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ... And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1: 1-4, 14, NRSV).

The hypothesis is that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully human at the same time. This dual nature of Christ poses problems for some people.

Let’s start with His Godly side. The Trinity (by definition) consists of the threefold nature of God: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No one disputes the divinity of God the Father. Some may question the specific nature of the Holy Spirit, but they don’t dispute that it is the Spirit of God. But there are many who don’t accept the divinity of Jesus.

I have to admit that I sometimes use God and Jesus interchangeably, especially when I pray. To me, they’re one and the same. This upsets some people. “You can’t say Jesus is God,” they tell me. Why not? If the Trinity is true, so is that statement. We have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each one is God!

As the old hymn proclaims:

Holy, holy, holy!

Merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons,

Blessed Trinity!

The people who don’t think I should directly refer to Jesus as God insist that the proper reference is to Jesus as “God in human form.” But that’s only partly true. Sure, that was the case during His earthly life, but that’s not true now.

Insistence on that description fundamentally denies the core belief in Christianity: the Resurrection! Jesus rose from the dead and is no longer in bodily form.

Those who deny the divinity of Jesus also deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. To them, Jesus was just a nice, moral guy who happened to be a good teacher. Well, a good teacher can save your mind, but he (or she) can’t save your soul!

That famous Bible verse applies here:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3: 16, NRSV).

Jesus is divine and He’s also the Savior.

Jesus was the Son of God. So, how human could He have been?

He was fully human. But how could He have been when He could perform miracles and could forgive sins? This made the Jewish leaders mighty suspicious (and afraid) of Him, for only God could forgive sins – and only a person backed by God could do those miracles.

Let’s look at His human side. He faced everything we face. He felt everything we feel.

The author of the Book of Hebrews confirms this:

“Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by His death. By embracing death, taking it into Himself, He destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death. It’s obvious, of course, that He didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why He had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when He came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, He would have already experienced it all himself – all the pain, all the testing – and would be able to help where help was needed” (Hebrews 2: 14-18, The Message).

Later on, the author of Hebrews adds this:

“We have a great high priest, who has gone into heaven, and He is Jesus the Son of God. That is why we must hold on to what we have said about Him. Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because He was tempted in every way that we are. But He did not sin! So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help” (Hebrews 4: 14-16, CEV).

Those verses make perfect sense to me. Jesus faced all the trials, tribulations, and temptations of life – and overcame them all, without giving in to sin at any point.

Some people, though, have a hard time with these verses. If Jesus truly was “God in human form,” how could God be tempted? Well, He allowed Himself to encounter temptation, desires, and challenges.

The Gospel of Matthew (chapter 4) says Jesus was tempted by Satan. There were three temptations.

In the first test, Jesus was hungry; He was starving. Would He do anything to get some food? Nope.

In the second temptation, Satan was trying to get Jesus to doubt whether God the Father would actually care for Him. Would Jesus put God’s love and care to the test? Nope.

In the third scheme, the Devil announces a trade: he would give Jesus the kingdoms of this world in exchange for Satan worship. Would Jesus compromise with evil? Nope.

So, that’s how Jesus was tempted. But those really aren’t the kinds of temptations we face. Well, we can understand the hunger one, but the others don’t directly relate to us (spiritually and theologically they do, but not physically).

Did Jesus, during His earthly life, experience all the human desires and drives that we do? Was He ever hungry? Was He ever thirsty? Did He ever get angry? Did He ever get lonely and depressed? Did He ever have sexual desire? Did He ever feel like He really, really had to use the bathroom? It may seem sacrilegious to even ask such questions, but the answer is yes to all of them.

Again, Hebrews 4: 15 says, “He was tempted in every way that we are.”

It is hard to imagine Christ needing a potty break. And the very thought of Jesus even having the “hots” for someone causes a sensation! Such an idea is scandalous and heretical, as the writers of books and movies who advance such a thought have discovered.

People think that Jesus didn’t face such things, that He lived a sheltered life, that He was somehow immune from them.

Why would God send His Son to earth to see what human life was like, but not let Him experience it fully? The idea that Jesus was shielded from things or that He really didn’t have all the human emotions and desires – that is insulting to me. That’s like saying God, the all-powerful Creator of the universe, can’t handle life on this planet. Going with that theory, Jesus couldn’t handle being hungry, thirsty, angry, depressed, lonely, horny, bladder-filled, colon-filled, tired, exasperated, wounded, or excited.

We’re talking about a man who was stripped and whipped, a man who was nailed to a cross and crucified!

Of course, Jesus faced all we face – and more. Jesus was fully human – with all the ranges of emotions and desires. Jesus was also fully God – so that, after experiencing humanity, He could save humanity.

Jesus was real. Jesus is real. Jesus is qualified to be our Lord and Savior. Are you willing to hire Him to do the job?

Dinosaur Deliverance

2012-01-31T21:15:00.005-05:00

Why didn’t God tell Moses about the dinosaurs? There’s no mention of them in the Bible. (Well, maybe there is. Some think the “Behemoth” mentioned in Job 40: 15-24 was a dinosaur or dragon; most scholars think it was either an elephant or hippopotamus. I think the description is too docile to be a dinosaur.)

The people living in Old Testament times could not fathom what roamed the earth before they arrived on it. They had no evidence. The dinosaur bones were all buried, waiting for people to find them hundreds of thousands of years later. Neither could Old Testament people fathom people living on other continents. All they knew was the Middle East and maybe the Mediterranean. The Western Hemisphere was as incomprehensible as dinosaurs would have been. Thus, there’s no mention of the prehistoric in the literature of the ancient world.

So, what about the dinosaurs? Did the dinosaurs get saved?

The easy answer is no, because they all went extinct. They were not saved physically, but what about spiritually? Were their souls saved before they died and turned into oil?

Were there dinosaur documentaries about global cooling – the coming Ice Age?

Were there prehistoric prophets, such as Jeremiahsaurus, Isaiahsaurus, or Amosadon? How about Dino?

Would their fellow creatures heed such a prophetic warning?

Were they doomed because they didn’t repent?

Could there have been a plan for ‘saur salvation? Maybe there was a Mastodon Messiah. How about T-Rex on a cross?

After the prehistoric phase was over, God created humankind in His own image (Genesis 1: 26). That’s not said of the dinosaurs. God also gave humans dominion over the rest of the earthly creation (same verse). The dinosaurs didn’t get that. Humans were given minds and intellect. The dinosaurs didn’t get those, either. All they got were pea-brains (compared to their overall size and weight). Did they have enough sense to know right from wrong? Or were they just brutal beasts? The same could be asked about the other creatures on the earth today – the ones over which we humans are supposed to have stewardship.

God created the world and said it was good (Genesis 1: 31). Then humans came along and caused trouble – so much so that God decided to wipe all of them out, all except Noah and his family.

My theory is that the Great Flood, the one in which Noah was caught, was caused by the far-away glaciers melting – the end of the Ice Age.

Thus, the start of the Ice Age got rid of the dinosaurs and the end of the Ice Age got rid of the bad humans. Do you like that theory?

However, maybe the Ice Age isn’t completely over. We still have glaciers. Some say they’re melting. There won’t be another global flood, however. God promised us that. When did He do that? After the Great Flood, as we read in Genesis:

“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ‘I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you – the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth’” (Genesis 9: 8-16, NIV).

We get the promise of the rainbow. The dinosaurs had no such thing. They never saw a rainbow.

Why were the dinosaurs wiped out? There are probably physical reasons for the extinction – they were just too massive, they were using up the earth’s resources, they polluted the place, they couldn’t adapt to the changing environment, or they couldn’t make enough barbecue sauce.

Did you ever think about a theological reason? Perhaps they didn’t behave and they didn’t seek forgiveness. The resulting judgment came in the form of God’s glaciers. Or maybe God just got tired of them.

Did God offer deliverance to the dinosaurs? We don’t know if He did it for them, but we do know He did it for us. He DID come to earth in human form. Jesus DID give His life so that we could be saved. Since God invested so heavily in humans, don’t you think that as one of them you should take advantage of His salvation offer – before the end of this age?

Joel Says Revive Us Again!

2012-01-23T22:44:00.002-05:00

The prophet Joel was the son of Pethuel (1:1), whoever he was. Anyhow, the word Joel means “the Lord is God.” OK. That’s all we know about the guy. We can speculate about him, though.

Some Biblical commentaries point out that Joel must have lived about the same time as Amos, for both of their works are next to each other in the Bible. That’s like saying that just because the apples and oranges are next to each other in the supermarket, they must have come from the same place. That’s stupid. The apples are probably from New York State and the oranges are probably from Florida. Let’s deal with some real research here.

Joel was apparently a priestly type at the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. He prophesied during post-exilic times (that is, after the Babylonian exile, which ended in 538 BC). This hypothesis is based on such things as:
• No king or monarchy is mentioned (see 1:5-14).
• There’s no mention of those nasty Assyrians and Babylonians.
• The destruction of Judah by the Babylonians had already happened (3:2).
• The Temple had been rebuilt (1:13-16; 2:15-17). That happened in 520-516 BC.
• The elders and priests were the authorities in Jerusalem (1:2,13; 2:17.)
• The walls of Jerusalem had been restored (2:7,9).
• Joel quotes earlier prophets, such as Isaiah.
Scholars suggest Joel was at work between 400 and 350 BC.

Now let’s deal with Joel’s message. It’s a rather short Biblical book and yet one of the most profound. Joel was the revival prophet!

Joel starts out by giving us a graphic description of a terrible locust plague in the land of Judah. The grasshoppers had eaten every green plant, leaving only devastation in their path. Nothing but darned bugs everywhere – swarms of ‘em blocking out the sunlight and eating plants and bark. They left the land stripped and desolate, as if there had been a huge fire. People and flocks were dying because they lacked food and water. Even the winos suffered – for they had no booze to drink; the grapevines had been destroyed (1:5).

Joel believed this was a judgment from God, because of the people’s sin (1:15). Or, if you wanna be preachy, Joel pointed out the theological significance of the natural disaster. His message was simple: Repent – or suffer more at the hands of hostile enemies. Old timers said the plague was the worst thing they had ever seen (1:2). But Joel said, in effect, “If you think this is bad – you ain’t seen nothing yet” (2:1-11)!

Desperate, all the folks were willing to listen to anyone who could explain their plight. Thus, Joel had an attentive audience. For what? A big religious revival! Everyone came – old and young, priest and layperson – even bride and bridegroom on their wedding day (2:16). They all came together at the blast of the ram’s horn. One blast of the trumpet sounded an alarm (2:1), and the second blast summoned the people before the Lord for instruction (2:15).

Joel pointed out restoration was possible with repentance. He assured everyone that God would deliver them physically and spiritually. Plants would blossom and bear fruit once again; the land and crops would be restored (2:21-27). All this would happen if they fasted (1:14) and returned to the Lord (2:12). Genuine repentance is the root of real revival.

Then in the distant future, God would pour out the Holy Spirit, beginning in Jerusalem (2:28-29) so that all who believe would gain salvation (2:32; 3:18). What on earth was Joel predicting? Pentecost! In fact, when a bunch of people spoke in foreign languages and did other weird stuff on the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter explained what was going on by saying the event fulfilled this very prophecy by Joel (see Acts 2:16).

Chapter 3 deals with the blessings God has in store involving all nations – the ultimate Day of the Lord with worldwide significance. Enemies will be overthrown (3:1-15), Jerusalem will be delivered (3:16-17), the land will be blessed (3:18), and Judah/Israel will be restored (3:19-21).

God presides over all of life – natural, political, personal – and the day of divine judgment will come and true justice will prevail. God’s foes should watch out, lest they be crushed. And believers should watch with anticipation for the blessings the new era will bring.

Yes, the world today is in a desolate condition – eagerly awaiting the news of salvation and the influx of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives. Revive us again!

Getting Our Fill of Philip

2012-01-15T17:41:00.005-05:00

The first chapter of John tells how four men became disciples of Jesus. We’ll concentrate on one of them, that being Philip.

Philip is always listed fifth among the apostles (Matthew 10: 3; Mark 3: 18; Luke 6: 14; Acts 1: 13). For some reason that’s important; I don’t know why.

According to the Gospel of John, after John the Baptist did his thing and baptized Jesus, Simon Peter and Andrew tagged along after Jesus and became His followers (leaving John behind).

The next day (according to John 1: 43-51), Jesus wandered through Galilee and came to through Bethsaida, and decided to choose Philip to be His disciple as well. All three of them were from the same town, and all three were fishermen. Some think Philip was also a follower of John the Baptist, but the text doesn’t say that.

Jesus, in typical fashion, says, “Follow me.” Philip does, and immediately goes and gets his friend, a guy named Nathanael Bartholomew.

Phil says, “Hey Nate, I just found the Messiah! It’s Jesus of Nazareth!”

Nate looks at Phil and says, “Nazareth? You’ve gotta be kidding! Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” That’s not a slam on the college and its students. It’s a slam on Jesus’ hometown – or, I should say, where He grew up (because, of course, he was born in Bethlehem). Nazareth was some small, backwards hick town. Nate didn’t think anything great would come from there. The Messiah, the King, is gonna come from a hick town and not some large and great city? Really?

Actually it doesn’t matter where someone is from – whether it’s the Messiah, a teacher, or a preacher – as long as he or she is authorized by God and is qualified for the work.

Anyhow, Nate was skeptical. A lot of people are skeptical about religion. How does Philip answer Nate? Philip says, “Come and see.” No discussion, no trying to reason with him – just an invitation to “go see for yourself.”

Albert Barnes in his commentary on this passage says, “So we should beseech sinners to lay aside their prejudices against religion, and to be Christians, and thus make trial for themselves. If men [and women] can be persuaded to come to Jesus, all their petty and foolish objections against religion will vanish. They will be satisfied from their own experience that it is true, and in this way only will they ever be satisfied.”

So what happened after Nate investigated his friend’s claim? Well, as Nathanael walked toward Jesus, Jesus had something to say. Here’s how The Message describes the encounter:

“When Jesus saw him coming He said, ‘There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.’ Nathanael said, ‘Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.’ Jesus answered, ‘One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.’ Nathanael exclaimed, ‘Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!’ Jesus said, ‘You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again’” (John 1: 47-51, The Message).

So, Nathanael went from doubt to belief to proclamation. And he, too, became a disciple. Jesus had two doubters in His little band of apostles: Nathanael and the more famous one, Thomas.

What just happened in this story? Philip encountered Jesus and then introduced his friend to Jesus. Have you done that? Have you told anybody about Jesus?

Even though Nate was skeptical, he went along with his friend to meet Jesus, to find out more. Are you open to learning more about Jesus?

Jesus knew Nate was a skeptic and a little bit of a joker – but He also knew Nate’s heart. Nathanael was a good, honest, decent man – a man of piety and integrity. And Jesus said it was so.

As the Psalmist says:

“Lord, you have examined me and you know me. You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts. You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions. Even before I speak, you already know what I will say. You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power. Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding” (Psalm 139: 1-6, TEV).

Do you marvel that God knows all about you? Are you amazed, as Nate was, that Jesus would be able to come up to a perfect stranger and know all about his or her character? Jesus would actually do this numerous times in the gospel accounts.

Recall the woman at the well. Jesus was in a different country, in Samaria, and started recalling all these things about the woman’s sordid past. And they were all true. That turned her into a believer as well (at the well).

Anyhow, back to Nathanael. The guy who thought nothing good could come from Nazareth was instantly convinced that something great had indeed come from Nazareth!

Jesus tells Nate, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” Jesus wasn’t exaggerating. Over the course of the next three years spent with Jesus, Nate would see all sorts of miracles – and the biggest miracle of all: Jesus dying and then being resurrected to save the world from its sins. Now that’s big! Far bigger than Jesus recognizing Nate sitting under a fig tree someplace!

So Philip and Nathaniel became disciples. We don’t hear another peep out of Nathanael Bartholomew. Tradition has it that he ended up serving as a missionary to Armenia and India. He died by being flayed or skinned alive, and then being beheaded or crucified; that either happened in Derbent on the Caspian Sea or in India. That’s all we know about him. (He may have hung out with Philip during at least some of their travels; we’ll get back to that.)

We know a little more about Philip, so we’ll carry on with him. And what we know about him comes solely from the Gospel of John, not the other gospel writers.

We next encounter Philip in John 6, in the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000:

“When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’” (John 6: 5-7, NIV).

So, Jesus had asked Philip a question. Why did He ask Philip? Well, they were in Bethsaida (according to Luke 9: 10) – and Philip was from Bethsaida. That’s right: Philip was in his hometown and Jesus asked, in a way, “Where’s a good place to get something to eat? Name a restaurant or a store.”

How does Philip answer? “We don’t have enough money to feed all these people! What are you thinking?”

Doh! Wrong answer! Jesus, the Bread of Life, didn’t need money to buy bread. But he didn’t get it out of thin air, either. This wasn’t a manna miracle. There was a boy in the crowd with five loaves and two fish. Jesus used what was given Him to feed 5,000+ people.

What’s the lesson? God will provide. But there’s more to it than that. How does God provide? He works through humans, doesn’t He? Nathanael came to Christ because another human, his friend Philip, shared faith and led him to Christ. Jesus fed the 5,000+ because a boy shared his meal with Christ and Christ, in turn, provided enough for everybody.

That’s the purpose of the Church, which is populated by humans. We are instruments for God. This is clear in our denomination’s slogan. As American Baptists, we are “serving as the hands and feet of Christ.” If you’re coming to church, but you’re not doing anything, you’re not advancing the Kingdom. Christ needs you to serve in His name.

Where next do we encounter Philip? In Jerusalem. Jesus and His disciples had just arrived there. It was what we call Palm Sunday. The city was crowded because people from all over the known world were in town for the Passover. John 12: 20-22 says:

“Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we would like to see Jesus.’ Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus” (John 12: 20-22, NIV).

Why would some Greeks come up to Philip? Because he had a Greek name. And he could probably speak Greek. How is that possible for a Jewish man from Galiliee? Well, his hometown, Bethsaida, was the capital of the province ruled by Philip the Tetrarch, a king who was somehow related to Alexander the Great. So the whole area had some Greek influence. The apostle Philip could have been named after the king. Philip, by the way, means “lover of horses” in Greek. Yeah, that’s a useless bit of trivia.

Anyhow, the Greek-speaking Jews wanted to meet Jesus. So what did Philip do? Did he bring them directly to Jesus, as he had with Nathanael? No. He was either shy or scared, so he went and got Andrew. “Ah, these guys wanna meet Jesus. What should we do?”

Doh! Philip almost blew it again! First, he didn’t think the 5,000+ should be fed, and now he doesn’t think the Greeks should be brought to Jesus. Or at least, he didn’t want to be the one doing it – well, not by himself. So he got Andrew to go with him to tell Jesus.

It’s like when someone comes up to you with a question about Christianity – and you say, “Don’t ask me! Go ask the pastor!” And you almost blow an opportunity to share your faith.

Perhaps Philip didn’t think the Greek guys should be included. It turns out that God wants all people to be included in the Way to salvation, as Paul reminds us in his letter to the Galatians:

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3: 27-29, NIV).

God sees no distinction in the human race. Christ came for all.

We have another encounter with Philip in the Gospel of John, this time in the 14th chapter, during the Last Supper:

“Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together. You know the way to where I am going.’ Thomas said, ‘Lord, we don't even know where you are going! How can we know the way?’ ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life!’ Jesus answered. ‘Without me, no one can go to the Father. If you had known me, you would have known the Father. But from now on, you do know Him, and you have seen Him.’ Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.’ Jesus replied: ‘Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don’t you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father? Don't you believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What I say isn't said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things’” (John 14: 1-10, CEV).

In this passage, we have Doubting Thomas making an appearance. He says to Jesus, “We don’t know where you’re going! We don’t know the way!”

Jesus replies. “I am the Way!” That goes back to the whole, “Come, follow me” thing that Jesus did when He called them as disciples.

Philip jumps in and says, “Lord, show us the Father.” That sounds innocent enough. Philip truly wanted to meet God the Father. But, alas, Philip almost blew it again! Doh!

Jesus answered Philip by saying, “Don’t you know who I am? After spending all this time with me, you still don’t get it. If you see me, you see the Father. We’re one and the same.”

Was Jesus rebuking Philip or just pounding the Truth into him? I think the latter. You can be in the presence of God and not see Him, not recognize Him.

In the first chapter of John, we find out that, “No one has ever seen God – but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known” (John 1: 18, NIV).

So Philip sort of had a point, a lofty goal: He wanted to see God. Jesus tells him, “This is as close as you’re gonna get, at least during this earthly life.”

You, of course, can’t actually see God because, as the Gospel of John also points out, “God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4: 24, NIV).

All of the incidents in the Gospel of John which involve Philip portray him as a shy, naïve, and practical sort of fellow. As a disciple, there were several times when Philip almost blew it. Note I say almost. Not entirely. Jesus was there to make sure things turned out alright.

How’s your relationship with Jesus? Is He there when you need Him to be? When you almost blow things – or even when you really do blow things – is Jesus there to pick up the pieces?

That’s also the role of the church – the body of Christ. If we are truly serving as the hands and feet of Christ, we will be there for each other – and for the community – when a need arises. But we all have to be in church to be a part of the church. Missing hands and feet don’t get anything done.

So, have you, like Philip, found the Messiah?

Have you, like Philip, told someone else about this discovery?

Have you, like Philip and his friend Nathanael, decided to become a follower?

Have you, like Philip, made a commitment to Christ and His Church?

Find Jesus… and follow Jesus. Serve Jesus… and serve the Church.

Anyhow, that’s about all we know about Philip from the Gospel accounts. He’s in the book of Acts, sort of. He was in the Upper Room waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We know this ‘cause he’s included in the list of apostles in Acts 1: 13. What he did after Pentecost isn’t clear.

Many times in the book of Acts, it says the apostles did this and did that. Since Philip was among the twelve, he must have been there, but he’s not mentioned by name.

Oh, but there is a Philip mentioned in Acts. However, it’s not the same one. The Philip in the “Acts of the Apostles” is not Philip the Apostle but Philip the Evangelist. Go figure, right?

So, Philip the Apostle is not to be confused with Philip the Evangelist (sometimes called Philip the Deacon). I’m sure they’re not the same person. Yep. How do I know for sure? Well, because they knew each other. Philip the Apostle laid hands on Philip the Evangelist to commission him. Certainly the Apostle Philip wasn’t touching himself!

In Acts 6, we find out that there were so many new Christians that the twelve apostles couldn’t minister to everyone, and some felt the widows were being neglected. So the apostles suggested that seven people be chosen for this ministry.

“The congregation thought this was a great idea. They went ahead and chose: Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit; Philip; Procorus; Nicanor; Timon;
Parmenas; Nicolas, a convert from Antioch.Then they presented them to the apostles. Praying, the apostles laid on hands and commissioned them for their task” (Acts 6: 5-6, The Message).

Thus, we have two Philips who went out to preach the Gospel. The Evangelist one gets several mentions in Acts, including his role in the conversion of an Ethiopian in Acts 8. Some think that the story refers to the Apostle Philip, but all the apostles were still in Jerusalem at the time (according to Acts 8:14).

Anyhow, after Pentecost, the Apostle Philip preached in Galilee and then went to Greece. Gee, I wonder why he went to Greece. He also preached in Syria and Phrygia (what is now west central Turkey). Some say he traveled to Russia or France or even India!

There aren’t many stories about Philip in later years – but there are a few. Well, we think they’re about him. They could be about that other guy – Philip the Evangelist – but most think they’re about Philip the Apostle, so we’ll accept them.

The stories are mostly from two books: the “Gospel of Philip” and the “Acts of Philip.” Some of the information in them is probably true, while other stuff is made up. The books are attributed to the apostle but nobody actually thinks they’re authentic.

St. Philip the Apostle Orthodox Church in Tampa, Florida, includes a biography of its namesake on its website, basing the info on the two works mentioned above. I’ll quote from that biography:

“After the Ascension of the Lord, the Apostle Philip preached the Word of God in Galilee, accompanying his preaching with miracles. Thus, he restored to life a dead infant in the arms of its mother. From Galilee he went to Greece, and preached among the Jews that had settled there. Some of them reported the preaching of the Apostle to Jerusalem. In response, some scribes arrived in Greece from Jerusalem, with one of the Jewish chief priests at their head, to interrogate the Apostle Philip.

“The Apostle Philip exposed the lie of the chief priest, who said that the disciples of Christ had stolen away and hidden the body of Christ. Philip told instead how the Pharisees had bribed the soldiers on watch, to deliberately spread this rumor. When the Jewish chief priest and his companions began to insult the Lord and lunged at the Apostle Philip, they suddenly were struck blind. By his prayer the Apostle restored everyone’s sight. Seeing this miracle, many believed in Christ. The Apostle Philip provided a bishop for them, by the name of Narcissus (one of the Seventy Apostles).”

“From Greece the Apostle Philip went to Parthia, and then to the city of Azotus, where he healed an eye affliction of the daughter of a local resident named Nikoklides, who had received him into his home, and then baptized his whole family.”

I should mention that supposedly Philip took his sister Mariamne and his best friend (and fellow apostle) Nathanael Bartholomew on his missionary journey. Now back to the biography from the Tampa church:

“From Azotus the Apostle Philip set out to Syrian Hieropolis (there were several cities of this name) where, stirred up by the Pharisees, the Jews burned the house of Heros, who had taken in the Apostle Philip, and they wanted to kill the apostle. The apostle performed several miracles: the healing of the hand of the city official Aristarchus, withered when he attempted to strike the apostle; and restoring a dead child to life. When they saw these marvels, they repented and many accepted holy Baptism. After making Heros the bishop at Hieropolis, the Apostle Philip went on to Syria, Asia Minor, Lydia, Emessa, and everywhere preaching the Gospel and undergoing sufferings. Both he and his sister Mariamne were pelted with stones, locked up in prison, and thrown out of villages.”

Next, Philip and his crew went to Phrygia, traveling to that area’s city of Hieropolis. While there, he found people in a pagan temple worshipping the god Mars (which apparently took the form of a dragon or serpent). Holding a cross in his hand, Philip commanded the dragon to disappear. The reptile slithered out from under the altar, stinking up the place. The dragon stunk to high heaven! The stench was so bad, it knocked many people out. The ones who weren’t knocked unconscious by the dragon’s stinky breath were bitten by snakes. Philip, by divine power, killed the serpent and healed many who had been bitten by those snakes.

What’s the point of the story? Oh, there is no point. Well, actually, there is a point: There is power in the name of Jesus!

The story continues. Philip miraculously healed the wife of the Roman proconsul (governor) of her snake bite. Philip’s healing and his preaching influenced her and she converted to Christianity. That ticked off the woman’s husband, Governor Amphipatos. The governor had Philip, Bartholomew, and Mariamne arrested.

The pagan priests were furious at the whole episode, especially since their dragon god was dead, so they urged the governor to severely punish and then kill the Christian intruders.

Amphipatos sentenced Philip, Bartholomew, and Mariamne to be tortured, and both guys to be crucified and then stoned to death (as if crucifixion wasn’t enough).

Now back to the bio from the Tampa church:

“Suddenly, an earthquake struck, and it knocked down all those present at the place of judgment. Hanging upon the cross by the pagan temple of the serpent, the Apostle Philip prayed for those who had crucified him, asking God to save them from the ravages of the earthquake. Seeing this happen, the people believed in Christ and began to demand that the apostles be taken down from the crosses. The Apostle Bartholomew was still alive when he was taken down, and he baptized all those believing and established a bishop for them.”

Meanwhile, Philip didn’t make it. Philip died right where he was, on the cross. Through his prayers and preaching, he had spared everyone else – well, almost everyone. Amphipatos and the pagan priests died in the ordeal as well.

This happened in Hierapolis in Phrygia and then Mariamne buried her brother’s body there. Where? Some ancient city in what is now Turkey. But Philip the Evangelist also supposed died and was buried in that town. Later, the remains of one of the Philips were moved first to Constantinople and then brought to Rome. Pope John the Third (560-572) got his hands on the body and placed it in a church in Rome, which he called “The Church of the Holy Apostles Philip and James.” In the tenth century, the place was renamed the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles (because other apostles’ remains were added). In any case, the bones are now considered those of Philip the Apostle, whether they really are or not.

When did Philip die? Some say he was martyred in AD 54 and others say in AD 80 (during the reign of the Roman Emperor Titus).

By the way, what happened to Philip’s preaching partners? The Tampa church says, “Mariamne … went with the Apostle Bartholomew to preach in Armenia, where the Apostle Bartholomew was crucified; Mariamne herself then preached until her own death at Lykaonia.”

If you’ve blown it and you need redemption, try… Philip’s Milk of the Master! It’s soothing… and comforting… and it has redemptive powers. It’s a special elixir… it contains Living Water!

“For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” (1 Corinthians 12: 13, NIV).

Try it today… OK? Available everywhere!

Hideous Herodias

2012-01-08T23:30:00.003-05:00

If you want a woman to hate, here’s one for you. Her name was Herodias (say it “huh-ROH-dee-us”). Not every woman is wholesome; this one is loathsome!

She was scheming and scandalous – just downright vile and vicious. But other than that, she was probably a great lady.

She’s found in the synoptic Gospels: Matthew 14: 3-12, Mark 6: 17-29, and Luke 3: 19-20. We’ll get to each of those texts later.

Let’s start off by looking at her name. Herodias is simply the female form of the word Herod. And the Herodian dynasty ruled during the time of Christ and the apostles, who were frequently the targets of persecution and punishment by the wonderful Herods.

Herbert Lockyer, in “All the Women of the Bible” (Zondervan, 1967), writes, “Herod means ‘heroic’ – not very applicable to the Herodian family, the majority of whom, particularly Herodias, were more hellish than heroic.”

The Bible only shows one wicked scene from the life of Herodias. But there were plenty more, as we’ll see by going through her family history.

First we start with Herod the Great (although he wasn’t really so great). He was governor of Galilee when Jesus was born. And this “great guy” had ten wives; his first one was Mariamne – and she was the real power in the palace.

The wives of all the ruling Herods played a huge role in the affairs of state one way or another, mainly because the women in question wanted very much to stay alive, and the only way to ensure that they did was to have an evil finger in the political intrigue that hung over their husband’s affairs.

Mariamne was as intent as her husband on making sure power was kept firmly in the Herodian family hands, even though she knew very well that Herod did not have one single drop of Jewish blood in him. Herod loved Mariamne – supposedly the only wife he ever really loved. This is how he showed his affection: He killed all her relatives because he thought they were eyeing the throne. His sons by Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus, he had “put away” – to keep ‘em from the crown, of course. And later he killed Mariamne. It most certainly was a love/hate relationship!

Many people were out to kill Herod the Great, but somehow he managed to escape most of the plots against his life. He was so wicked and wacked that he was later remembered as the Jewish Nero! Jill Briscoe, in “Women In The Life Of Jesus” (Victor Books, 1986), points out, “Even cruel Caesar, after hearing about the execution of Herod’s sons, remarked, ‘I would rather be Herod’s hog than his son!’”

Herod the Great was so possessed with the notion of power that he panicked when he heard about the birth of a certain baby. Here’s something to refresh your memory:

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew 2:1-3, NIV).

Well, King Herod and Queen Mariamne couldn’t cope with the possibility of competition! So the king commissioned massive infanticide in the hope of wiping out the baby Jesus.

Jesus was too young to know about Mariamne, the first wicked woman in his life. But more were waiting for him – which brings us up to Herodias.

Herodias was the granddaughter of Herod the Great, her father being Aristobulus. When she grew up, Herodias married Herod Philip, who just happened to be another son of Herod the Great. It’s unclear who Philip’s mom was, but if it was Mariamne, that would make Philip and Aristobulus brothers.

Anyhow, Herodias and Philip had a daughter. The New Testament doesn’t name the girl, but Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian (in his “The Antiquities of the Jews”), says her name was Salome. We’ll accept that. They lived in Rome.

One day, Philip’s half-brother, Herod Antipas, came to visit. Antipas was in Rome to be sworn in as tetrarch (governor) of Galilee – and he’s the Herod most frequently mentioned in the New Testament, by the way.

While Antipas stayed as a guest in his half-brother’s home, he got to know Herodias very well – intimately, shall we say. Yes, they both cheated on their spouses. Herodias was power-hungry (remember now, it runs in the family) and she was willing to pay any price for it, with no regard for the principles or people involved. She persuaded Antipas that it would be cool for the two of them to dump their current spouses and go off to govern Galilee.

So, in order to marry Herodias, Antipas divorced his wife, the daughter of the King of Arabia. (Years later, the King of Arabia invaded Antipas’ territory in revenge – and inflicted such a crushing defeat on Antipas that he had to seek the help of Roman troops. Popular opinion at the time regarded the defeat as God’s punishment against Antipas for his execution of somebody a short time before. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We’ll get to that somebody in a moment. Back to the lovebirds.)

Herodias left Rome and her old hubby behind and went off to Tiberias, the capital city of the Roman province of Galilee, where Herod Antipas was now the ruler. And Herodias dragged along her daughter Salome, who was probably a teenager at that point.

Before we go further, we must go through the genealogy again. Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, one of the sons of Mariamne and Herod the Great. That made Herodias the sister of Agrippa the First. Herodias married Herod Philip the First. He was the son of Herod the Great and Mariamne. Thus, Herodias married her own uncle! Before she went any further, Herodias took a moment to have a kid with her uncle – that kid being Salome.

Then Herodias dumped Philip to marry her step-uncle, Herod Antipas. Thus, Antipas married his half-brother’s wife. And, of course, that meant Antipas dumped his first wife, some Arabian princess.

Talk about inbreeding!

And there was only one man who dared speak out against all this madness – his name was John the Baptist.

John fearlessly condemned Antipas for taking Herod Philip’s wife – who was actually Antipas’ own niece! This, of course, was forbidden by Jewish law. No doubt John also slammed Herodias for deserting her first hubby to form this adulterous alliance with her uncle.

All the members of this whole crazy dynasty were obsessed with protecting their power. Herodias wanted to kill John and get him out of the way, but Antipas feared the people might revolt, since John was such a popular guy and was considered a prophet. What did he do with John? The Gospel of Luke tells us:

“But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison” (Luke 3: 19-20, NIV).

Herodias hated John’s guts. As Bible scholar Herbert Lockyer puts it, “She was stung by the arrow from the preacher’s quiver and hated him for exposing her shame.” The queen bee was now stung herself.

Jill Briscoe writes, “John the Baptist was an extremely popular and powerful leader. In Herodias’ eyes, he needed to be removed. Knowing how the people hated the Herodian family, she and her husband could not afford to allow any man to become too popular with the people. Herodias dominated her husband and was bound and determined to do everything in her power to eliminate any[one] who dared threaten their position.”

Meanwhile, Herodias’ hubby Antipas is said to have respected John (out of fear) and even to have protected him – which really galled Herodias! Hey, Antipas might get to listening to that guy preach, might repent, and – who knows – try to get out of the current relationship. Herodias began to make plans; she hatched a grisly scheme.

As this point, we turn to the Gospel writers for what happened next. We start with Matthew’s account:

“Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for John had been saying to him: ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’ Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet. On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, ‘Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.’ The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus” (Matthew 14: 3-12, NIV).

Now Mark’s version:

“For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled ; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.’ And he promised her with an oath, ‘Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ ‘The head of John the Baptist,’ she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: ‘I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’ The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb” (Mark 6:17-29, NIV).

So, Herodias knew sex was her husband’s weakness. And she made sure there was plenty of booze at his birthday party. When Antipas was good and drunk, Herodias got Salome to dance for her “dad.”

Salome probably wore flowing, see-thru clothes, waving them around as she danced near her stepfather. Antipas got sexually excited and looked at her with lustful eyes.

Salome became her mother’s puppet – a dancing puppet, bobbing her breasts up and down. Antipas couldn’t get a grip on himself and he made a foolish promise to give her anything she wanted.

Salome immediately ran to her mommy for advice on what to request. Herodias was ready for her. The (power) hungry hyena had the answer. Herodias wanted some head (that of John the Baptist on a platter).

Herod Antipas had long hesitated about killing John. But Herodias backed him into a corner on his birthday! What a gift, huh?

Antipas didn’t wanna see the preacher on a plate, but what could he do? He had made a promise in front of a whole bunch of people to give Salome whatever she asked.

So the order went out for John the Baptist to get his hair cut – and his throat cut. According to Josephus (in his “The Antiquities of the Jews”), John’s execution took place in the castle at Macherus (somewhere between Jordan and Arabia). John was supposedly buried in Samaria, where his tomb has been honored since the fourth century AD.

Anyhow, the deed was done and Salome was handed the gory dish with the head staring at her. She didn’t want it. She gave it to her mother, who figuratively “feasted” upon it with satisfaction.

So even though Salome and Antipas (and the poor soul with the ax) committed this killing crime, they were simply the tools with which Herodias worked. She planned it, so she was responsible.

The account of John the Baptist’s death reads like a popular legend of the prophet rebuking the king, along the lines of the Old Testament story of Elijah rebuking Ahab (not a sailor, mind you, but the seventh king of Israel) for killing a guy named Naboth and then taking possession of the poor guy’s vineyard. You can find the story in 1 Kings 21. Ahab was a tool of his treacherous wife Jezebel, as Herbert Lockyer tells us:

“Herodias’ Old Testament counterpart was Jezebel. What Herodias was to Herod [Antipas], Jezebel was to Ahab. Both Ahab and Herod were wicked, and in both cases the woman was more wicked. Both Jezebel and Herodias fostered hate that became deadly against a prophet of God. Jezebel hated Elijah and sought to kill him – Herodias hated John the Baptist, the New Testament Elijah, and succeeded in his murder.”

By the way, Jezebel’s life had a happy ending. Thugs pushed her out a palace window and she landed splat on the ground, where she became dog food. Really! Read about it in 2 Kings 9: 30-37.

Anyhow, back to our current story. The fate of John the Baptist illustrates the cost of true and fearless discipleship. John was beheaded for courageously proclaiming the truth of Antipas’ marriage. This, of course, foreshadowed Jesus’ death for proclaiming the truth to a rebellious generation.

Look at the location of John’s death in the Gospel of Mark (chapter 6). It comes immediately after the mission of the disciples who preached repentance, who drove out demons, and who healed the sick – but who warned of doom for those who wouldn’t listen. Mark skillfully portrays the ironic consequences of failing to head God’s word.

Let’s quickly review what Antipas had done. He had defiantly built his capital in Tiberias on an ancient cemetery and thus offended his Jewish subjects. He had married his brother’s wife (his own niece) whose husband was still living. This was against Jewish law (Leviticus 18:16). And he had made a rash promise during a lewd – downright lustful – dinner party.

All of that, you see, would be plain to the original readers of the Gospels, who probably regarded Antipas as a jerk.

Matthew points out the differences between Antipas and John the Baptist. John was brave in daring to speak out. Antipas, meanwhile, was a COWARD!

He wanted to kill John, but he backed down and did nothing ‘cause he feared the people (Matthew 14:5).

Pressured by Herodias’ daughter dancing around, and fearing what the dinner guests would think (Matthew 14:9), Antipas reversed his decision and had John killed.

WIMPY, WIMPY, WIMPY! Like a cheap garbage bag! A garbage bag married to a douchebag!

The Gospel accounts make it clear that John was not an enemy of the state. He was not put to death ‘cause he endangered Roman interests. Rather, he lost his head because of the personal interests of Antipas and Herodias – who couldn’t stand to hear his message of repentance and righteousness.

Compare that with Jesus. Jesus was no seditionist. He made no attempt to overthrow Rome, although his enemies tried to make it seem that way. He simply made the Sanhedrin (the Jewish high priests) uncomfortable. They couldn’t tolerate the message of repentance and righteousness, either.

While the people weren’t sure who Jesus was – Elijah or one of the other prophets – Herod Antipas was sure he knew! Antipas’ guilty conscience led him to ask if Jesus were the resurrected John. In Matthew 14:1-2, Antipas wrongly identified Jesus with John the Baptist (and that’s what leads Matthew to tell of John’s death).

Jesus, meanwhile, had his mind made up about Antipas. In Luke 13:32, Jesus calls the guy a fox! A cunning, crafty creep!

Let’s put all this into the larger historical perspective. Herod the Great tried to murder the infant Jesus. Then his son, Herod Antipas came along later and imprisoned John the Baptist and eventually killed John. Jesus escaped the enemy for the moment. But in time, Jesus, too, would die at the hands of the enemy – the Herod clan and related and associated scuzballs.

When Jesus heard that John had been killed, Jesus did nothing in response. Instead of mounting a vengeful attack on Antipas, Jesus withdrew (Matthew 14:13). He went off to a solitary place.

But the crowds followed Jesus. They wouldn’t leave him alone. They waited. Jesus continued to be moved by compassion. He continued to heal, because he cared. When the crowds around him were hungry and there was no source of food nearby, Jesus distributed five loaves of bread and two fish, and thus managed to feed five-thousand people (Matthew 14:14-20). That’s how he responded to John’s death. He gave people food for thought.

If Herodias had felt threatened by John the Baptist, she obviously might have felt threatened by Jesus, too. After Jesus came before Pontius Pilate (the Roman governor of Judea), Pilate could find nothing that Jesus had done wrong, so he sent Christ off to see Antipas (Luke 23:1-5).

Antipas wanted Jesus to play magician and perform some tricks, but was disappointed he couldn’t even get Jesus to say anything (Luke 23:9). Then Antipas and his fine soldiers made fun of Jesus. Herodias, if she were in the room, probably enjoyed the spectacle. To his credit, Antipas could not find fault with Jesus, and sent him back to Pilate (Luke 23:15). Antipas played the wimp again, but at least this time it was in his favor.

The horrendous Herods were always on Christ’s back. Jill Briscoe notes:

“Even after our Lord’s death and resurrection, the women of the Herodian household haunted His life. His disciple James was killed by Herod [Agrippa]’s sword (Acts 12: 1-2). We don’t know the circumstances. …What we do know is that these scheming women kept their earthly thrones but lost their eternal souls.”

To put it another way, they were all damned.

Now let’s get back to the lives of those delightful people in the palace, Herodias and Antipas. Whatever happened to them?

Herodias’ brother, Herod Agrippa the First, was eventually made king of his little part of the world. Herodias was jealous of her brother, and so she encouraged her hubby Antipas to ask the Roman emperor to give him the title of king, too! Josephus, in “The Wars of the Jews,” makes it clear that she was up to her tricks again:

“[Antipas] was chiefly induced to hope for the royal authority by his wife Herodias, who reproached him for his sloth and told him that it was only because he would not sail to Caesar that he was destitute of that great dignity; for since Caesar had made Agrippa a king, from a private person, much more would he advance him from a tetrarch to that dignity.”

Herodias’ ploy didn’t work, though. Agrippa reached Rome first and had charges brought against Antipas, saying the guy governing Galilee had been plotting with the enemies of Rome.

What did the Roman emperor do in response? Caligula striped Antipas of his title (tetrarch) and gave his territory (Galilee) to Agrippa.

So instead of being “king,” Antipas was exiled to Spain. Herodias decided to go with him. That was probably one of the few praiseworthy moves she ever made. Oh, by the way, that was in the year 39. And you know what? In Spain is where those two wicked people died.

Matthew: Tribute to the King

2012-01-03T20:05:00.004-05:00

In ancient kingdoms, subjects had to pay tribute to the king. Basically, they had to pay taxes.

Matthew was a tax collector – a publican – for the Roman emperor. He was a customs house officer in Capernaum. He collected public revenue – Roman tolls levied on stuff that passed through Galilee and Perea along the caravan route from Egypt to Damascus and beyond. Matthew was Jewish, but he worked for the Romans. That was one reason why he wasn’t well-liked. The other was many publicans were known for their graft, making them all the more despised and socially rejected (we don’t know if Matthew was like that; we hope not).

When Jesus came along – maybe He stopped by the tax office one day – Matthew became a follower, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. Sure, that meant Matt gave up a really good income, but he also gave up a despised profession.

Matthew means “Gift of the Lord.” In Mark 2: 14 and Luke 5: 27, he’s called by his other name, Levi. He probably changed his name to Matthew when he became a follower of Jesus and stopped levying taxes (and stopped wearing jeans).

What was the first thing Matthew did when he encountered Jesus? He invited Jesus over for dinner, along with his friends (his fellow tax collectors). Jesus accepted. (The religious leaders known as the Pharisees criticized Jesus for hanging out with publicans and sinners.)

Later, Matthew paid a tribute (actually, wrote a tribute) to Christ, the heavenly King.

Most of the other disciples were fishermen, not writers. Matthew, however, had to be literate to be a publican. Since Matthew’s former job was to receive and record tolls, making notes of receipts, it makes sense that he would have taken notes of what Jesus said and did.

The Gospel of Matthew is the first book in the New Testament, so it must have been written first, right? Well, the Christian leaders who assembled the NT canon (the official collection of sanctioned writings) thought so. But they were wrong. Actually, the Gospel of Mark was written first, and both Matthew and Luke used them as sources.

If Matthew witnessed the events in the life if Jesus, why would he rely on someone else’s account? Well, if you were writing about someone and you knew that stuff had already been written, wouldn’t you have it on hand as you wrote your version? Why waste time rewriting what’s already been written? Why start from scratch when there’s no need to? (There were no copyright laws in the first century.)

Anyhow, when did Matthew write his gospel? Well, Mark probably wrote between AD 50 and 60. The destruction of Jerusalem happened in AD 70; the quotation of Jesus’ remarks on the city’s demise seems to indicate a future event.

So, that gives us a date between 50 and 70. Some think that Matthew wrote before Peter and Paul both died; their deaths occurred in about 67 or 68. Thus, we can say that Matthew wrote in the mid-60s.

One of Matthew’s favorite phrases is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Maybe he had dental problems that gave him pain while he wrote.

The Jews were unsure whether they should “abandon” their faith and switch to this new thing called Christianity.

Matthew wrote to convince them that Jesus was “the fulfillment of the Law and prophets.” Thus, Christianity was the next step, a continuation and completion of what the Hebrew Scriptures taught. Matthew has plenty of Old Testament references, more than any other gospel writer, and that’s why.

The Open Bible says, “A Jewish tax collector named Matthew writes to a Jewish audience to convince them that the King of Jews has come. By quoting repeatedly from the Old Testament, Matthew validates Christ’s claims that He is, in fact, the prophesied Messiah (the Anointed One) of Israel.”

If you look at a list of all the books in the Bible, the Gospel of Matthew is #40. We have 39 books in the Old Testament, then we get Matthew. In the Bible, 40 is a number of testing. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, David was king for 40 years, and Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert for 40 days.

In the 40th book of the Bible, we see another test. Jesus Christ came into the world and was presented as King of the Jews. Would the Jews accept Him? This was a test! Many Jews failed the test, rejecting Him as Messiah and Savior. But, since Matthew’s gospel was written to Greek-speaking Jews, it was like another chance to take the exam.

Matthew depicts Jesus as a type of Moses. Moses delivered his people and introduced God’s Law. Jesus, too, delivered His people – and fulfilled God’s Law.

If we look at the Christmas story, we find, in Matthew’s account, Herod’s decree to slaughter all the baby boys to wipe out Jesus and, in response, the flight into Egypt (by Joseph, Mary, and Jesus) to escape. We can debate whether those events actually happened or not, but they parallel what happened to Moses. Moses was born in Egypt to a Hebrew woman. Pharaoh ordered the killing of all the newborn Hebrew baby boys, but Moses escaped (in a basket found by Pharaoh’s daughter). When grown, Moses led the people out of bondage in Egypt. When grown, Jesus also freed people from bondage – the bondage of sin.

Matthew also knew Christianity wasn’t just for Jews, but also the Gentiles. Going back to the Christmas story for a moment, we read of the wise men “from the east.” They weren’t Jews; they were probably Persians. And, of course, Matthew concludes his gospel with Jesus’ words: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28: 19-20, NIV).

So, Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience, but he had everyone in mind. Once the Jewish readers discovered and embraced Jesus, they’re instructed to share this Messiah with the whole world.

Matthew’s gospel is not organized in strict chronological order, but rather by theme or topic. Here’s a general overview of the book:

1. Jesus birth and early years (chapters 1-2): The “newborn King” is presented to the world as both the Son of Abraham (to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12: 3, NIV, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”) and the Son of David (to show that He was David’s direct descendent and thus heir to the “throne”).

2. The start of Jesus’ ministry (3:1 – 4:16): John the Baptist announced the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3: 15, NIV), to identify with humanity’s need for cleansing and repentance, and to be an example to His followers (who would also be baptized). Then Jesus was tempted to prove He wouldn’t use supernatural powers for His own benefit, He wouldn’t use magic to attract public attention, and He wouldn’t compromise with Satan.

3. Jesus’ ministry in Galilee (4:18 – 14:12): This section includes the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7), in which the King instructs His people how to live properly and righteously in this world. We also read about a number of miracles performed by Jesus to prove that His power comes from God the Father, as well as parables told by Jesus to show what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

4. Jesus ministry outside of Galilee (14:13 – 17:20): In response to increasing opposition, Jesus travels to the other side of the lake (the Sea of Galilee), to Phoenicia, to the Decapolis, and to Caesarea Philippi to spend more time with His disciples, instructing them and preparing them for what was to come.

5. Jesus’ ministry in Galilee again (17:22 – 18:35): In this section, Jesus talks about maintaining one’s relationship with God.

6. Jesus’ ministry in Judea and Perea (chapters 19-20): Jesus teaches about how to come into the presence of the King.

7. Jesus in Jerusalem for the conclusion of His ministry (chapters 21- 27): This part deals with what we called “Holy Week.” Jesus wraps up His teaching ministry and those opposed to Jesus move in to put an end to Him. The climax comes on the cross – the ultimate display of human hatred turned into a demonstration of God’s love for humankind.

8. Jesus’ Resurrection (chapter 28): The King cannot be killed. The King lives! The proof of the resurrection comes from the empty tomb and several appearances of the Risen Lord. Everyone who believes is instructed and empowered to be the King’s messenger, to proclaim this Good News to all.

The Final New Year?

2011-12-27T15:14:00.000-05:00

Are you ready for the New Year? Is this the final one? Will the ball drop for last time? Will the world end in December 2012 before the next New Year comes?

Liam McDaid, Astronomy Coordinator & Professor of Astronomy at Sacramento City College, has a whole webpage devoted to this (2012 - Are We All Going to Die?). On it, he writes:

“Why 2012? Blame the Maya (or those who invoke the Maya). The Maya were an advanced civilization that existed in this hemisphere before the Spanish conquest. Their math and astronomy was very sophisticated for a civilization with only stone-age tech - they had no copper, iron or bronze. Their calendar in particular was very complex with multiple interlocking lengths of time. Another innovation of the Maya is a continuous day count over a long period known as the Long Count. One of the more famous Maya city-states has their Long Count end on December 21, 2012.”

He then goes into all the scientific possibilities of “the end” and how probable they are.

Since the Mayan civilization died out in AD 800-900, I’m surprised that one of their calendars has continued for so long. Think about this: Every single calendar you own has an end-date on it.

“Oh, no, not mine,” you say. “I have a perpetual calendar. It never ends.” Well, good for you. You still have to manipulate it to get it to be accurate.

Anyhow, most calendars end on December 31 of a given year. Does that mean the world ends with it? Of course not.

There have been many doomsday predictions and they’ve all been wrong. How do I know? I don’t have to answer that, do I?

My favorite year of doom was 1844. A preacher by the name of William Miller predicted the world would end on October 22, 1844. People all over the country gathered that evening for special worship services, absolutely convinced that’s when Jesus would appear for His Second Coming. Here in Rochester, Millerites (that’s what his followers were called) gathered at Pinnacle Hill, the highest point in the city, to sing hymns, read Scripture, and wait for the end. They thought it would all be over before the sun came up. For them, the sun would NOT come out tomorrow.

Guess what? The day ended, the new day dawned, and they were still here on the earth. It was known as “the Great Disappointment.” Were Miller and the movement totally discredited? No.

If you predict the end of the world and you’re wrong, what do you do? You start a new religion or two. The Advent Christian Church and the Seventh-day Adventist Church both started as a response to the doomed doomsday.

What does the Bible say about all this? Sure, it predicts the end – “the end of the age” – in Daniel and Revelation. Ever since John wrote the Book of Revelation, people have wondered when it would be fulfilled.

Jesus says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24: 35-37, NIV) and “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come” (Mark 13: 31-33, NIV).

Any prediction of a date is pointless. Remember that God’s time is not the same as our time. The Psalmist says of God:

“A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night” (Psalm 90: 4, NIV).

I will make a bold prediction: There will be another New Year and many more after that. Perhaps, though, we should act like there won’t be another one. Someone has said, “Live as if every day were your last.”

Will this be your “year end clearance”? Will you get rid of the things, bad habits, and bad attitudes you don’t need? Will you get around to doing some things you’ve been putting off? Will this be the year you truly commit your life to Christ – just in case He decides to show up one of these days?

Making Light of God’s Word

2011-12-19T00:24:00.001-05:00

This will be a study of First John. By the title, though, you’d naturally expect some jokes. OK, let’s get ‘em out of the way.

Did you know God took a cigarette break when He was creating the universe? He asked, “Got a light?”

Why did it take seven days for God to create the universe? After He started, He had to keep going and make more because things were a little light.

Now that we’re past the lame jokes, let’s move on. We have First John, Second John, and Third John. Does that make his Gospel “Zero John” – a prequel, like they do with movies? They make a movie and then decide they want to tell the story of the story before the story in the original film.

Anyhow, the Gospel of John and First John both start with the declaration that God is light.

“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1: 5, NIV).

When God created the universe, what was His first action? “Let there be light,” as told in Genesis 1: 1-4.

In John’s Gospel, we learn a little more about this process:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1: 1-5 NIV).

This establishes the divine nature of Christ, as John uses “the Word” to mean Jesus Christ. That’s obvious, right? If it’s not, let’s go a little further in that chapter:

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14, NIV).

I have been accused of making light of God’s Word because of my “humorous investigations” on this blog. The thing is, God already did that Himself.

The Word became flesh. The Word became light. However, the Word did not become a fleshlight. That’s something entirely different and totally inappropriate.

It should be absolutely clear we’re talking about Christ here. So if God the Father is light and God the Son is light, what does that mean for us? It means that if we choose to believe in Jesus, we, too, will be part of that light. We will not become light, but will reflect the light of the Son.

We, however, have to tread carefully, as First John cautions:

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1: 6-7, NKJV).

Note how the light shines and widens the path. We have a relationship with God and we have a relationship with others, fellow believers.

How do we maintain these relationships? How do we continue our walk in the light and not stray from that path?

The apostle John gives us some tips in this letter he wrote.

The first action we need to do is admit our wrongdoing.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1: 9, NIV).

The second action is to obey God.

“But if we claim to know Him and don’t obey Him, we are lying and the truth isn’t in our hearts. We truly love God only when we obey Him as we should, and then we know that we belong to Him” (1 John 2: 4-5, CEV).

How do we know what God’s commandments are? By reading the Bible. The Bible itself actually tells us that it can enlighten our lives, if we dare to read it:

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119: 105, KJV).

And we also read in that same Psalm:

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119: 130, NIV).

Thus, God’s very Word makes light of God’s Word.

The third action we must do is to love one another.

First John clearly states that how we treat others determines the light level, the brightness:

“If we claim to be in the light and hate someone, we are still in the dark. But if we love others, we are in the light, and we don’t cause problems for them. If we hate others, we are living and walking in the dark. We don’t know where we are going, because we can’t see in the dark” (1 John 2: 9-11, CEV).

If God is light and God is love, then we can’t be in His presence if we don’t also exhibit those qualities. Skipping ahead for a moment to the letter’s last chapter, we read:

“My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know Him” (1 John 4: 7, CEV).

To reiterate, we are to love God and love other people. That, as Jesus points, out, summarizes the Ten Commandments. That’s also the core of the Golden Rule.

But there’s something we shouldn’t love, and that brings us to our next step.

The fourth action is to turn away from the things of this world.

“Don’t love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you cannot love the Father. Our foolish pride comes from this world, and so do our selfish desires and our desire to have everything we see. None of this comes from the Father” (1 John 2: 15-16, CEV).

An old hymn reminds us where to focus:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face;

And the things of earth

Will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace.

Why would stuff seem dim? Because Jesus is the light of the world. When we’re outside in the bright sun and then we walk indoors, we momentarily can’t see anything as the room appears dark. That’s how all worldly things appear when we focus on Jesus.

Jesus is the Word in the World. That’s a little word play with one letter – or perhaps I should say Word play. Yet another example of making light of God’s Word.

Rejecting the world also means rejecting those who want to deceive us.

“And a liar is anyone who says that Jesus isn’t truly Christ. Anyone who says this is an enemy of Christ and rejects both the Father and the Son. If we reject the Son, we reject the Father. But if we say that we accept the Son, we have the Father” (1 John 2: 22-23).

Such liars and deceivers want to lead us astray, away from the light and back into the darkness. That’s a scary way to go – a bad path to follow.

The fifth action we are to take is to strive for righteousness.

“Once you’re convinced that He is right and righteous, you’ll recognize that all who practice righteousness are God’s true children” (1 John 2: 29, The Message).

There is no sin in the light, as sins are deeds of darkness. First John goes on to describe the atoning (cleansing) power of Christ:

“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him” (1 John 3: 4-6).

The idea, of course, is that once we give ourselves to Christ, the Holy Spirit will steer us away from wrongdoing. That idea is the ideal (more word play with one letter). The apostle Paul, however, admits that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3: 23, NIV). What do we do when that happens and we do something wrong? Go back to action #1 and confess our sins.

The sixth action is to put our beliefs into practice.

First John advises us:

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3: 18, NIV).

We can’t just say we love God and love our neighbors. We have to actually demonstrate that love. The previous two verses give us an example:

“This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed His life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear” (1 John 3: 16-17, The Message).

If we don’t help others, then we’re not reflecting God’s light. In fact, it reflects badly on both us and God.

The seventh action is to test the spirits.

This doesn’t mean go to a wine-tasting event or to a drinking party. Alcoholic beverages aren’t the spirits we should test. Let’s let God’s Word do the talking:

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world” (1 John 4: 1-3, NIV).

We can’t believe everything we hear. This is just further instruction about not going down the path of darkness.

We must stay focused on the Living Word and not the world. This will keep us in the light and we’ll be winners.

“Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory” (1 John 5: 4, CEV).

What do we win? Salvation.

“God has also said that He gave us eternal life and that this life comes to us from His Son” (1 John 5: 11, CEV).

Staying on the right path and the light path – focusing on Jesus and avoiding temptation – may seem like a hard road to follow. God knows that. That’s why He provides assistance and guidance. That help comes in the form of the Holy Spirit and in the form of prayer.

That brings us to the final step we glean from First John.

The eighth action is to pray.

“We are certain that God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases Him. And if we know that God listens when we pray, we are sure that our prayers have already been answered” (1 John 5: 14-15, CEV).

Pray for guidance. Pray for strength. Pray that Jesus Christ – the Word that became flesh – may be a constant light in your life. He was born with a star over Bethlehem leading wise men to Him. Jesus continues to be a light drawing people to Him.

If we read or hear the Word of God and we accept the Gospel (the Good News), then we, too, can make light of God’s Word and allow it to shine in our lives.

What If Paul Came to Rochester?

2011-12-11T19:10:00.006-05:00

Your first question would be, “Paul who?” The answer is Paul the apostle – or St. Paul if you’re from a tradition that recognizes saints.

He might be impressed we have a street named after him – St. Paul St. I’m amazed the same abbreviation is used to mean two different things in the same name. “Saint Paul Street” could just as easily be “Street Paul Saint.” To avoid confusion, once the road crosses the city of Rochester line and enters Irondequoit, it’s called Saint Paul Boulevard. Anyhow, we have a stretch of pavement named for him, along with some churches and maybe even a school.

If Paul were to walk the streets of Rochester – his namesake or any other – what would he find?

I didn’t just come up with that query. Somebody over a hundred years ago did and I came across that preacher’s sermon recently.

I’m doing research on the history of Parsells Church and that led me to a sermon preached at Memorial Presbyterian Church. What’s the connection? Memorial Presbyterian Church (started in 1869 and incorporated in 1872) merged in 1939 with East Side Presbyterian Church (begun in 1901) to form East Side Memorial Presbyterian Church, which merged in 1975 with Parsells Avenue Baptist Church (started in 1892 and incorporated in 1895) to form Parsells Avenue Community Church. Got it?

So, that brings us to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle of Monday July 20, 1903, which contains the words of Rev. Dr. John Lyon Caughey:

WHAT IF PAUL, IN SPIRIT, SHOULD VISIT ROCHESTER

Rev. J. L. Caughey Asks if He Would Find it a City Full of Idols – Compared With Athens.

At the Memorial Presbyterian Church yesterday morning the pastor, Rev. J. L. Caughey, preached a very interesting sermon on “A City Full of Idols, Is this True of Rochester?” his discourse being founded on Acts xvii 16, 17: “Now while Paul waited for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given over to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.” After detailing Paul’s experience in Athens, Mr. Caughey said:

“While I have been re-reading this story of Paul’s experience in ancient Athens, I have been wondering if there is any resemblance in the spiritual condition of ancient Athens and of modern Rochester. Paul found the city of culture a city full of idols; and what would he find if, in spirit, he should visit the city of Rochester to-day? We have a city of culture, at least up to the average, I suppose, in intelligence and progress. We have a university and a theological seminary, and an up-to-date Board of Education. We have many learned men and a fair appreciation of beauty and art; though the art gallery, which once made the city well known, is gone.

“But Athens teaches us that it is not ignorant people alone who worship idols; and with all our intelligence and love of beauty and art, is there any idolatry? Is there any tendency towards the worship of other things than God?”

The speaker pointed out the idolatry of gold and the idolatry of self-indulgence. Said he: “How many are there to-day worshiping at this shrine? How many are being led away from the worship of God and the hope of heaven, because they have allowed some evil habit or appetite or passion to become supreme in their lives? The idol may be only a cigarette, or it may be a whisky bottle or it may be more sinful indulgence. Do you realize how many of the young men of our city, and young women, too, who are falling down to worship these false gods; these idols of destruction?”

After dwelling at some length on the work of the churches in the matter of stemming the tide of idolatry in the city, Mr. Caughey said:

“It is true that we have opened our church doors and have invited the unsaved multitudes to come in. But they have not come; they have passed by the open door. Ignorance, or prejudice, or indifference, or whatever it may be, has kept them away. And is our duty then fulfilled? Is there no more that we can do? Shall we let them go their way to destruction, to perdition? No. It is time for us as Christians to be aroused to a sense of our duty to take the Gospel to those who will not come to the church. It is time for us to come back to the methods of Christ and the Apostolic Church. It is time for us to forsake formality and custom and precedent, if need be, and get at the serious business of saving souls.

“There are people who seem to think that the only way to save men is by the set and prescribed methods of the past. But, while we wait to get the machinery of the church in running order, multitudes are perishing, and it is high time for us to leave method and machinery and formality behind, and save men by the surest, shortest and nearest means that may be at hand; in any way that they may be reached. This is the conviction that has come to many Christian hearts, and it has resulted in the tent and open-air work, undertaken by the churches of our own and other cities.

“The church is awakening to the obligation of carrying its message to those who will not take the trouble themselves to come within her doors. The church begins to feel a terrible weight of responsibility for the indifferent and unsaved multitudes. It is strange, indeed, that we should have ever lost sight of this duty and responsibility. Our Lord did not wait for men to come to Him that He might preach the Gospel of the kingdom; but He went forth in search of men to whom He could tell the way of life and hope.”

Do the words of Rev. Caughey still hold true today? Is there still more of a focus on “arts and beauty” than on religion? I maintain that society has gotten even more secular since the pastor preached that sermon.

By the way, he said that the art gallery is gone. I don’t know what happened to it, as the Memorial Art Gallery continues to exist. Maybe he was referring to some other art museum.

Arts and entertainment venues (theaters, museums, concert halls, sports stadiums, even shopping malls) certainly draw larger crowds than churches do. Rochester is definitely a city of culture – but is it a city of Christ? Do people spend as much time and money at church as they do at the mall or ball park? Of course not.

Isn’t it amazing that words from 108 years ago ring true today? Here’s something more amazing: words from about 2,000 years ago also still ring true today. Remember, Rev. Caughey was basing his remarks on the observations of Paul in Athens.

As long as we’re comparing and contrasting ancient with modern, let’s use a newer translation of the Bible:

“The longer Paul waited in Athens for Silas and Timothy, the angrier he got – all those idols! The city was a junkyard of idols. He discussed it with the Jews and other like-minded people at their meeting place. And every day he went out on the streets and talked with anyone who happened along. He got to know some of the Epicurean and Stoic intellectuals pretty well through these conversations. Some of them dismissed him with sarcasm: ‘What an airhead!’ But others, listening to him go on about Jesus and the resurrection, were intrigued: ‘That’s a new slant on the gods. Tell us more.’” (Acts 17:16-18, The Message).

Do the people of Rochester dismiss the Gospel or are they intrigued with it? In which category are you?

Obviously, Paul is never going to come to Rochester. But Jesus is coming. Isn’t that what we’re preparing for during this Advent season? No, He’s not going to come in a sleigh. We mark His birth on Christmas and celebrate His coming in to the world – but are we prepared for when He actually does show up? What will He find?

Will Jesus find you worshipping Him as Lord and Savior? Or will He find you worshipping some idol?

A Debt-Free Christmas

2011-12-05T18:33:00.004-05:00

Are you burdened with debt? Is your celebration of Christmas marred by worry of how to deal with the debt associated with it?

I believe the greatest gift that anyone could offer me is to make me debt free or to pay off my biggest debt. That is, to have someone pay the debt I cannot pay for myself. Is that true of you, too?

What if I told you that Jesus specializes in paying off debts? He can make you debt-free before Christmas.

Before you start thinking that Jesus can offer you some scheme to get rich quickly – you should actually consider what your biggest debt is and the impact is it has on your life.

You’re probably thinking mortgage, car loan, or student loan. No, that’s not the biggest debt you owe. Jesus can’t make your bills go away, but He can make your sins go away.

The three most important words ever spoken in the history of humankind are: “It is finished.”

The Gospel of John tells us that while Jesus was on the cross, He spoke: “When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30, NIV).

That’s a text you may hear on Good Friday. Why bring it up during Advent, during the Christmas season? Because Advent reveals the nature and character of God evidenced through Jesus Christ. Jesus’ birth in the manger means nothing if it’s not put in the perspective of His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection.

God’s plan of redemption is completed... it is finished. Jesus specializes in personal salvation.

Either you accept the fact that Jesus paid it all or you try to pay yourself. But who could ever pay for even one sin? How must does a sin cost? How could you ever pay the infinite cost? In the end, your only choice is to trust that Jesus has indeed paid in full for your salvation or you reject what Christ did when He died on the cross. There is no third option.

So let me ask you a personal question. What sin is keeping you from God? Is it anger? Is it lust? Is it a hard heart of unbelief? Is it alcohol abuse? Is it an uncontrollable temper? Is it cheating? Is it stealing? Is it adultery? Is it abortion? Is it pride? Is it greed? Is it homosexuality? Is it racial prejudice? Is it a bitter spirit?

Let me tell you the best news you’ve ever heard.

It doesn’t matter what your sin is. It doesn’t matter how many sins you’ve piled up in your life. It doesn’t matter how guilty you think you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve been doing this week. It doesn’t matter how bad you’ve been. It doesn’t matter how many skeletons rattle around in your closet.

All of your sins have been stamped by God with one word – “Tetelestai” – “Paid in Full.”

Just fill in the blank with whatever sins plague your life. Then write over those sins the word “Tetelestai” because through the blood of Jesus Christ, the price for your sins has been “Paid in Full.”

Since Jesus Christ paid in full, the work of salvation is now complete. It started with Christmas and was completed on Easter. That is what “It is finished” means. The debt was paid, the work was accomplished, and the sacrifice was completed. And since the verb is in the perfect tense, it means that when Jesus died, He died once for all time. The sacrifice was sufficient to pay for the sins of every person who has ever lived – past, present or future.

Since Jesus Christ paid in full, all efforts to add anything to what Christ did on the cross are doomed to failure. Let me put it very simply. If Jesus paid it all, you don’t have to. He doesn’t offer salvation at half-price. And you can’t split the cost with Him or pay for your sins on the installment plan. God is offering you salvation free of charge. That’s what “Tetelestai” means. Jesus paid in full so you wouldn’t have to pay anything.

Since Jesus Christ paid in full, the only thing you can do is accept it or reject it.

During this Advent season, Jesus comes to bless you. He blesses you by forgiving your sins, whatever they may be. He can deal with your sordid past, the family secrets, and the skeletons in the closet, those things you are ashamed of. He forgives you, and He provides you with a way to new life and eternal life. Jesus Christ is the sacrifice for all sin, the substitute for all sinners.

So, you see, Jesus can make you debt-free by Christmas. Isn’t that a wonderful Christmas gift?

Prepare for Stump Removal

2011-11-28T19:43:00.006-05:00

The baby Jesus comes fully equipped. He was anointed by the Spirit of God. That’s the only baby born that way. All other babies are born weak and frail. But the baby Jesus was born with wisdom and righteousness resting on Him in abundance. We know this from the prophet Isaiah:

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord – and he will delight in the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11: 1-3a, NIV).

Jesus is not just a shoot from the root of David. He’s different. He comes as both root and shoot. What do I mean by that? He will be a whole new David – even a better king than David, a new and eternal King. In fact, He would be a divine restart, because so many Davidic kings fell short.

This new King will not mess up at all. This new King will surpass them all, and so will His kingdom surpass theirs.

Why? Because the spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him.

Why? Because the spirit of wisdom and understanding will be His.

Why? Because the spirit of counsel will be upon Him.

The Messiah’s rule and reign will be just and faithful, says Isaiah:

“He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist” (Isaiah 11: 3b-5, NIV).

God’s wisdom is not the wisdom of the world. God’s wisdom cannot be bought. In fact, God’s wisdom cannot be studied for or earned. There are many highly intelligent people who have exhaustive knowledge of the world’s wisdom, but they lack the wisdom of God. They lack God’s Word.

God’s wisdom is the foundation of our lives and the basis on which our spiritual houses are built.

Jesus, the Word of God, is our sustenance. Jesus, the Word of God, is our nourishment. Jesus, the Word of God, is our food. And Jesus, the Word of God, is our life’s bread.

Isaiah says that Jesus is the one who comes with a spirit of counsel. The Bible isolates the spirit of counsel to emphasize the Holy Spirit. Isaiah calls Jesus the Wonderful Counselor:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6, NIV).

The counselor empowered by the Holy Spirit has insight and the capacity to offer excellent guidance and advice.

I think the world needs an excellent counselor.

I think our president needs an excellent counselor.

I think the members of the House of Representatives need an excellent counselor.

I think our senators need an excellent counselor.

I think our community needs an excellent counselor.

I think our families need an excellent counselor.

A lot of young men in prison today would not be there if they had an excellent counselor.

Those who have heartaches that the world gives would not have those if they had an excellent counselor. A lot of the pain and misery that we experience we would not have had if we had an excellent counselor.

Jesus is the excellent counselor.

Jesus comes equipped to make peace. Jesus will usher in a peaceful kingdom. Isaiah describes it:

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11: 6-9, NIV).

Enmity will end. No more hurting and harming, no more violence and death. Man and beast will dwell together in harmony. That’s what Jesus comes to offer. In fact, creation itself will be brought back to order. In Genesis chapter 1, God made the world and said it was very good. Jesus will bring back the created order in the fullness of time, and life will be the way it was meant to be.

Advent is the time to prepare for the coming of Christ. When you understand Advent, then you’ll accept the message that hope pushes out all contrary emotions. Advent says there is no room for discouragement, there’s no room for depression, there’s no room for fear, there’s no room for anxiety, there’s no room for bleakness. Advent says there is hope. Advent says the blessings of God will come abounding and overflowing. Advent says that from a dead stump, there will be new life coming.

Everybody has a dead stump in their lives. You have to acknowledge your dead stump. It makes you sad sometimes. It makes you depressed sometimes. It makes you discouraged sometimes.

Advent says that God can remove the stump. God can turn the stump into a sprout. Yesterday you may have had a stump, today it could be a tree, and tomorrow it may bear fruit. God can turn things around in your life.

Right now you need God’s grace for the blessings that will come and the victories that will come.

Jesus is not about the stumps. He’s not about the dead. He came so that you may have life and have it in all of its abundance. You may be down for a moment, but God can lift you up, raise you up.

God asked Ezekiel if the bones in the valley could live again. Ezekiel said, “Lord, you know.” If God can raise bones that were dead for years, worn-out bones with no sinews, and God can raise a dead stump and out of it comes a shoot with fruit, God can raise you up, too. You can be a new creation in Christ.

“In that day, the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious” (Isaiah 11: 10, NIV).

Rush to the Christmas Rush

2011-11-21T00:37:00.001-05:00

Some national retailers have decided to start Black Friday on Thanksgiving night.

They claim that people are clamoring for a head-start. Who are these people? Are there any?

At some stores, employees actually circulated petitions to get management to reconsider. The employees wanted the stores closed on Thanksgiving so they could spend time with their families. But the holiday shopping on the holiday couldn’t be stopped.

Do you think the stores’ owners and bosses will work on Thanksgiving? Of course not.

I understand the important role that Christmas shopping plays in our economy. It’s an interesting dynamic combining two of the three Cs that I contend make this country great (see What Makes America Great), namely Christianity and capitalism. However, will starting Black Friday a few hours earlier really make that much difference?

Actually, it seems this year’s Black Friday is turning into Black Month (not to be confused with Black History Month). Some stores have been offering day-after-Thanksgiving specials before Thanksgiving. Most notably, we’re getting appliance deals early. Who, though, gives a refrigerator as a Christmas gift? Don’t you buy a fridge only when you need one? Do some people hoard refrigerators like they do canned goods and Snickers bars?

I’m surprised nobody has placed appliances in the nativity scene – like a refrigerator in case Mary craved one last chilled pickle before she gave birth to Jesus – or a washer and dryer so the swaddling clothes could be clean with the fresh scent of Mountain Angel Mist.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are supposed to be religious holidays. On the former, we’re to thank God for His blessings, and on the latter, we’re to thank God for His plan of salvation. We shouldn’t just give lip service, but we should truly be thankful for what God has done and continues to do.

Henry Smith in his song “Give Thanks” tells us:

Give thanks

With a grateful heart,

Give thanks to the Holy One,

Give thanks because He’s given

Jesus Christ His Son.

Reach for riches or reach for God. It’s your choice. As Jesus put it, “You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6: 24 and Luke 16: 13, CEV).

You can get caught up in the holiday rush if you want. Apparently, the rush to shop on Black Friday is an adrenaline rush unto itself. How satisfying is it?

The peace that comes from knowing Jesus is a lot more satisfying. “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4: 7, NKJV).

Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11: 28, NIV). Jesus does NOT say, “Come to me and I will make you rush.”

There’s a little incident in the Bible that illustrates this. It’s found in Luke 10: 38-42. Jesus was invited over to the home of Mary and Martha (the sisters of Lazarus) for a meal. Martha was busy making dinner, but Mary wasn’t helping. Mary was just sitting around listening to Jesus. That ticked Martha off!

“Martha was worried about all that had to be done. Finally, she went to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, doesn't it bother you that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me!’ The Lord answered, ‘Martha, Martha! You are worried and upset about so many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best, and it will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10: 40-41, CEV).

Jesus said you don’t have to rush around to please Him. It’s better if you rest in the Lord. That will please Him.

Reconsider the Christmas rush. After all, the Wise Men didn’t come to see Jesus “the newborn King” immediately. They didn’t rush to arrive before Christ was born. They didn’t show up at the stable on the day Mary gave birth. But they did arrive and it wasn’t too late.

Jesus waited for them to come to Him. Jesus is also waiting for you to come to Him.

Consider this your invitation to God’s banquet – whether it be a Thanksgiving table or a Communion table. God has prepared a feast for you. He’s serving the “Bread of Life” and “Living Water.”

Rush or rest? Seek sales or seek Jesus.

What Did Jesus Write in the Dirt?

2011-11-13T17:25:00.000-05:00

The Gospel of John recounts a story in which some Jewish leaders came to Jesus one day and during the exchange, Jesus wrote something on the ground. It goes like this:

At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing Him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8: 2-11, NIV).

People have been wondering for ages what on earth Jesus wrote (and I do mean on earth). Well, wonder no more because we’re gonna figure it out right now!

I’m not putting words in Jesus’ mouth; I’m putting words in Jesus’ finger!

So, what did Jesus write in the dirt?

Was it a symbol? Jesus could have drawn a fish that would eventually symbolize Christianity. Recall that the early Christians supposedly used it as ID: one person would make part of the fish in the dirt and the other person would complete it. Maybe Jesus was working on that logo design when the Pharisees came along. That actually sounds a little fishy, so we move on.

Was it a slogan? If it wasn’t a symbol, then maybe it was a slogan. Perhaps He wrote, “WWJD?” The purpose of the phrase “What would Jesus do?” is to get people to think and react to situations as Christ would have. So WWJD would be perfect for this story. Well, actually, the Pharisees DID go directly to Jesus to find out what He would do. (This is my favorite possibility, even though it’s wrong. I should get a lanyard for coming up with this one!)

Was it a circle? Did He draw a circle of protection around the woman?

Was it a line? Some people think that Jesus drew a line in the sand. The saying refers to “a temporary boundary marker which is not to be crossed and which if erased can be redrawn.” Was Jesus telling the Pharisees that they had crossed the line by snatching the woman? (A little word-play there; ponder it for a while.) Was He warning them not to cross the line in pressing this issue? By the way, the Bible doesn’t use the word “sand” but rather “ground” or “dirt.” He wasn’t at the beach, so He probably wasn’t drawing anything in the sand.

By the way, what was the woman wearing? In what state of undress was she? If she were “caught in the act,” then certainly the Pharisees wouldn’t have allowed her to fix her garments before bringing her to Jesus. That would ruin the whole set-up.

Was it election advice? Perhaps Jesus was being constructive when he wrote in the dirt. Maybe He wrote “pave me.” The Romans were known for building roads, so perhaps Jesus was offering a tip for economic development. Get some funding from Rome to pave the streets and create jobs instead of focusing on scandals. Maybe the Pharisees were running for re-election to stay in office. They figured a sex scandal would take the attention off the real issues. Does this sound familiar? Does this sound totally bogus?

Was it janitorial advice? Some translations say this happened in the “temple courts” or the “temple courtyard.” That indicates that it was outside. But most translations simply say “temple.” If indeed this took place in the temple itself, then “ground” would actually mean “floor.” Thus, Jesus would have written in the dust and dirt on the floor. Perhaps He wrote “wash me,” just as some people do on dirty windows and cars, or maybe He wrote “mop me.” However, the translations which say “courts” or “courtyard’ are more accurate; Jesus was writing on the actual ground. So Jesus wasn’t commenting on how dirty the temple was (at least not physically).

Was it doodles? Was Jesus just doodling because He really wasn’t interested in the Pharisees’ cause? Some translations include an extra phrase in verse 6: “…Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not” (John 8: 6, KJV). The King James translators added that to the text. This implies He was ignoring them, or at least trying to stall the confrontation.

John McArthur points out in his Study Bible, “This seems to have been a delaying device, giving them time to think.” Well, Jesus tried stalling, but they didn’t stop pestering Him and finally He spoke to them.

Was it a theory? Maybe Jesus wrote out a highly scientific theory, like E=MC² or something like that. If the Gospel writers had just written it down, humans would have known about energy’s components thousands of years before Albert Einstein came along!

Was it an ad? Maybe Jesus wanted to get rid of the Pharisees and send them off some place. Could it be He knew of a sale at the local quarry? Maybe He wrote, “Deep discounts on stoning stones at Peter’s Rock Farm.” They could get new pet rocks or shiny new stones to throw at people. Maybe a rock would fall on them as they shopped. Or maybe the local shoe store needed some business. Perhaps He could have written, “50% off all sandals.” That’s so they could throw shoes, too.

Was it nothing? Some commentators think Jesus wrote absolutely nothing because, they contend, the event never happened and it wasn’t a part of John’s original Gospel. One person wrote, “That passage is spurious. It was made up and added to the Bible in later manuscripts and is not found in any of the most ancient ones.” How would a professor say the same thing? Here’s how: “The evidence for the non-Johannine origin of the pericope of the adulteress is overwhelming. It is absent from... early and diverse manuscripts. ...In the East, the passage is absent from the oldest form of the Syriac version, as well as from the Sahidic and the sub-Achminic [Coptic] versions and the older Bohairic manuscripts. ...In the West the passage is absent from the Gothic version and from several Old Latin manuscripts” (Bruce M. Metzger in “A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament”).

The “pericope of the adulteress”? How about we just say “story.” So, get out your razorblade or box cutter and slice that story right out of your Bible. Just don’t do it at the airport. Before you do that, though, consider this: There might be something good printed on the back (flip the page to see).

Should we actually just forget the whole thing? The people who wrote the Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary don’t think so: “Though not an original part of this Gospel, it need not be taken as an unauthentic tradition about Jesus. It conforms to all we know of Him as one who came to seek and to save the lost, not to condemn men but to offer them God’s forgiveness and acceptance. …The story certainly does not mean that Jesus either condoned sin or did not acknowledge the justice of the law. His clemency and compassion indicate His concern for the motives of the woman’s accusers, with regard to both her and to Himself.”

Was it a list of sins? Many people theorize that Jesus was writing down various sins of the Pharisees. He, of course, knew what all of their sins were, and so it would have been easy for Him to just rattle them off. That certainly fits with Jesus’ words in this story. If you’re without sin, you can throw the stone – but here’s a laundry list of your misdeeds in case you’ve forgotten. This is certainly a possibility, but I’ve always been leery of this speculation because the naughty list would have been so long that Jesus would run out of ground!

Was it a list of laws? Instead of listing bad behaviors, maybe Jesus listed the laws that apply to their sins. He wouldn’t have to write sentences, just references to the legal code, like citing verses from Exodus 20 or Leviticus 19. This way, the laws they had broken would be before their eyes.

Was it the anti-mob law? One person speculates that “Jesus was quoting the Oral Torah to them which contains the details of the how the punishment of stoning cannot be done by a mob and must be done in a proper Jewish court.” The Pharisees should let “those without sin” or “the sinless men” take care of this. This commentator suggests that “the sinless men” were the upright members of their society who were appointed by the Jewish court to carry out the punishments as dictated by the court. The commentator goes on to say, “Like a lawyer giving advice on the street, Jesus was probably writing the verse and chapter of the law that they were breaking by becoming a vigilante mob.” According to this theory, the guys left because they realized this wasn’t a court proceeding. This legalistic interpretation takes the impact out of the story.

Was it a manly question? Because this whole incident involves adultery, many people wonder why the Pharisees only brought the woman. Where was the man involved? Why didn’t they drag him to Jesus, too? Why did they single out the woman? If there was an adulteress, there also had to be an adulterer.

I contend they did bring the man. It was one of them.

This is what I think Jesus wrote: “Which of you is the adulterer?” For those of you who think Jesus always used proper King’s English, perhaps it was written this way: “Which are thou who went in unto her?”

Was it their names? Then, later Jesus wrote something more in the dirt. He probably answered His own question. Maybe He wrote just one guy’s name. Maybe He wrote several of their names.

The names, written in the dirt, would thus blow away – meaning they would get no honor or celebrity status for uncovering dirt on this woman (or just uncovering this woman, as the case may be). They shall be consigned to oblivion, as Jeremiah tells us:

“Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water” (Jeremiah 17: 13, NIV).

In contrast, the people of God shall be named in the Book of Life, as John attests:

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. …Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20: 12, 15, NIV).

Anyhow, instead of the Pharisees entrapping Jesus, He turned the trap around and put them to shame. They wanted to accuse Jesus, but they ended up accusing themselves.

This was further proof that Jesus had it right when He said: “A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 16: 4, NIV). He really did mean adulterous!

Well, there you have it. And that’s all He wrote, folks. Oh, but wait. He then added a little post script: “WWJD?” Or perhaps that’s what we should write when we are about to entrap ourselves and/or others in sin.

Save the Building to Save Souls

2011-11-06T21:44:00.000-05:00

Parsells Church is an historic building (built in 1909 and expanded in 1925) – with an acoustically excellent sanctuary, rare pipe organ, large “Christ the Good Shepherd” mural, stained glass windows, and original oak woodwork.

The church is listed in the State and National Registers of Historic Places and is one of only two properties in the Beechwood neighborhood to have achieved the official landmark designation.

Parsells Church is also a useful building – with worship, Sunday School, fellowship meals, Bible study, various meetings, and an after-school homework program for children.

As great as the building is, there are a few problems.

The roof is leaking, and water has damaged the walls in several spots. The most extensive damage has occurred at the side entrance and we’re concerned that water may find its way to the electrical wiring.

This also means some parts of the building are now off-limits. The nursery and the stairwell leading to the computer lab have falling plaster. The basement fellowship hall and part of the sanctuary balcony have puddles of water when it rains.

Parsells Church has launched a “Save the Building to Save Souls” campaign to raise the funds necessary to repair the church roof and do other necessary improvements.

Our heating system is antiquated and our sanctuary can be rather cold in the winter. Several of the radiators are actually missing from the nave, which doesn’t help any. We’ve added an extra furnace to heat the room, but it’s still not enough. The cold isn’t good for the children or the elderly or anyone with arthritis.

We have nine bathrooms, but only 1 and ½ actually work. That makes it difficult when a lot of people are using the building but can’t use the facilities! We’d like to restore the place to its 20th century grandeur, but we would also like 21st century bathrooms.

The church is located in the Beechwood neighborhood, which is part of the “Crescent of Poverty” in Rochester. Beechwood has a poverty rate of 32%, and over 94% of children and youth in area schools receive free or reduced-price lunches. Many of the residents are affected by violence and crime. The people need nutritious meals and a safe haven. They also need Jesus.

There is a great demand for our church to provide for the physical and spiritual nourishment of the residents.

We are trying to meet these needs, but the church itself is struggling financially.

We desperately need money to repair the roof and the walls – and money to pay heating bills.

Please help save the building so we can lead more people to Christ and thus save souls.

The immediate goal is $50,000 to fix the roof. Our campaign goal is $5 million to fully restore the building, create a parking lot, and fund our ministries.

Send contributions directly to the church or donate online by clicking the “donate” button found in the right-hand column of this blog.

Where’s Your Treasure, Mate?

2011-10-31T18:56:00.000-04:00

Pirates have always been scoundrels. They thrived by stealing stuff off mercantile ships and sometimes taking passengers and crew hostage.

They’re bad people. And I got to be bad for a day. I dressed up as a pirate for Halloween and went to work.

Does the Bible mention anything about pirates? In most translations, no. But if you read The Message, there are two passages which refer to pirates.

Were there pirates in Biblical times? Of course. As long as there have been ships, there have been pirates to attack those ships. Sad but true.

Even in the times of the prophet Isaiah, people feared pirates, but pirate protection came from God:

Just take a look at Zion, will you?

Centering our worship in festival feasts!

Feast your eyes on Jerusalem,

a quiet and permanent place to live.

No more pulling up stakes and moving on,

no more patched-together lean-tos.

Instead, God! God majestic, God Himself the place

in a country of broad rivers and streams,

But rivers blocked to invading ships,

off-limits to predatory pirates.

For God makes all the decisions here. God is our king.

God runs this place and He’ll keep us safe.

(Isaiah 33: 20-22, The Message)

All pirates do is steal and pillage, but typically from strangers and commercial enterprises. They apparently have their limits. They generally don’t steal from family.

“Anyone who robs father and mother and says, ‘So, what’s wrong with that?’ is worse than a pirate” (Proverbs 28: 24, The Message).

That’s pretty low. Recall that the Ten Commandments forbid stealing and also tell us to honor our father and mother. So if you steal from your parents, you’ve broken two commandments with one sword.

We often picture pirates stooped over a treasure chest, sword in hand, prying it open and marveling at the gold contained inside. That’s not the kind of treasure chest you should have.

You shouldn’t steal – and you shouldn’t hoard stuff that could be stolen. Instead, Jesus teaches us to stockpile treasures in heaven:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6: 19-21, NIV).

You should collect spiritual blessings, which are worth more than gold, and then redeem them some day in heaven, just as the Savior has redeemed you.

Well, me mate, I’ve gotta go. I’ve got some DVDs to pirate. Just kidding.

What Do You Do At a Holy Ghost Party?

2011-10-24T00:00:00.001-04:00

What kind of ghost do you find in a church? A Holy Ghost!

Yeah, I know that’s the kind of joke a kid would tell. But we’re all children of God so it works.

At Halloween, a lot of people like to share ghost stories and attend costume parties. So we’re gonna share a story about the Holy Ghost – and we’re gonna party!

Actually, Holy Ghost is an old term for the third figure of the Trinity. Since people started associating the word “ghost” with specter or poltergeist, at some point the Christian Church decided to change the name from “Holy Ghost” to “Holy Spirit.” Little did those Christian leaders realize that the word spirit would also end up referring to a disembodied dead person who haunts a location.

In the spirit of Halloween, we’ll use the term Holy Ghost frequently. Before we go any further, let’s see how the Holy Spirit is symbolized in Scripture.

“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3: 16-17, ESV).

So, we have a dove. Next:

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2: 1-4, KJV).

From the Pentecost account, we have wind and flames (tongues of fire).

This brings us to our topic: What do you do at a Holy Ghost party?

Wear red and white. Those are the colors that represent the Holy Ghost because of the dove and the flames. The wind is colorless, so it’s not part of the dress code.

Pray and shout. Invoke the Spirit of God and have a rousing conversation with Him. Make sure He comes to the party.

Dance. Dance in a frenzy and shake the devil off. That’s what Cory Asbury tells us to do in his song “Holy Ghost Party.”

The Lord has healed our bodies;

Time for Holy Ghost party:

Dance, dance, dance.

If you know the Lord’s been good to you,

Come on and dance, dance, dance, dance, dance.

Ain’t no party like a Holy Ghost party

‘Cause a Holy Ghost party don’t stop.

Jump up and down. I’m not sure why, but it’s just necessary. I think it’s part of the dance routine. Show that the Spirit has overtaken you.

Eat stuff. Often, Christians will have a birthday cake to celebrate Pentecost, which is the birthday of the Christian Church. Sometimes they’ll make cupcakes. We, too, shall have cupcakes at our Holy Ghost party. You can have dove cupcakes.

Or you can have flaming cupcakes.

If you’re really into the Spirit, you can have some Holy Ghost cookies.

Well, they actually look like Nutter Butter to me, but whoever made ‘em thought they were just divine!

Throw around streamers. We are all connected via the Holy Ghost and if everybody at the party tosses the streamers around, the whole place will be covered and connected with them. You can use red ones or you can go wild and toss both red ones and white ones.

Perform laying on of hands. When you lay hands on someone, you are invoking the Spirit of God to provide healing. When Saul was persecuting Christians, the Lord blinded him and sent a guy by the name of Ananias to lay hands on him:

“And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost’” (Acts 9: 17, KJV).

Wear flames on your head. It’s always cool to wear a headband, especially one that will make you look hot! Here are some kids at some church someplace on Pentecost with their foreheads aflame.

If you prefer, you can tie a lighter around your head or tape matches to your forehead.

Speak in tongues. One of the gifts of the Ghost is the ability to speak in tongues, as happened at the Pentecost event. Many people feel that this activity occurs when they’re fully caught up in the Spirit, so it certainly wouldn’t be a Holy Ghost party without it!

Release doves. Since a dove appeared at the baptism of Jesus and came to rest on Him, we should let some doves loose and see if they land on anybody!

Put dove dung on the tongue. That’s what you get when you combine the dove symbol and the tongue of flames symbol. Besides, it rhymes. Sorry, we don’t have pictures of that.

Perform exorcisms. There are several scary movies that feature exorcisms (including the Exorcist, of course). The idea is to get rid of the evil that inhabits a person.

Why not include an exorcism at your Holy Ghost party? You have to have swine on hand to accept the unclean spirits, as the Gospel of Mark tells us:

“So all the demons begged Him, saying, ‘Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.’ And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.” (Mark 5: 12-13, NKJV).

Don’t eat the pigs, though. They’re possessed. So a pig roast is off the table (and off the grill).

Serve flaming fountain drinks. Make sure you have plenty of carbonation in your pop so it fizzes up over the glass. You can say the Spirit is overflowing.

Burn incense. Walk around swinging one of those incense containers, spewing out scent and smoke. That’s what priests do, so that’s what you should do, too. It adds to the atmosphere of the party. Byron Cage in his song, “The Presence of the Lord Is Here,” reminds us:

The spirit of the Lord is here,

I feel it in the atmosphere,

The spirit of the Lord is here,

The spirit of the Lord is here.

Can you feel it? Can you smell it?

Hang up wind chimes. Make melody for the Lord to hear by using the wind of God.

Decorate with balloons. Select red and white balloons, of course. During the party, deflate some of them and release the wind – just as the wind was released on Pentecost.

Baptize everyone in sight. Make the party a conversion experience! As long as the Holy Ghost is gonna be there, you might as well put Him to work!

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28: 19, KJV).

Instead of dunking for apples, you’ll be dunking for deliverance!

Have a sing-along. Read random lyric lines out of the hymnal. Break out into a spontaneous praise song as the Spirit leads.

Turn on the fans. Have several fans in the room and turn them all on at high power. Feel the power of the Holy Ghost blowing through the place.

Fly kites. This is another way to sense the Spirit blowing and flowing.

Light candles. If you want to be traditional, light red and white candles. If you’re really feeling the Holy Ghost, go crazy and light yellow and orange ones as well.

Perhaps you shouldn’t have the lit candles near the fans, though. You want to blow the roof off the building, not burn down the building.

Exchange the flame. Have a torch relay and pass the flame from one person to another to symbolize sharing your faith. Have a bon fire and feel the warmth of the Holy Ghost. (Unlike a regular ghost, which is cold, the Holy Ghost will make you feel all warm inside.) Use a flamethrower, but don’t play catch.

Have a drink. Drink in the Spirit, but don’t drink in the spirits.

There’s another song called “Holy Ghost Party,” and this one’s by Marty Grace. In it, he emphasizes the new life, the righteous life, you get when you let the Holy Ghost live in you:

Now, being saved is not a bore.

You don’t have to smoke, drink, or curse no more.

You could still get loose at a party,

But a Holy Ghost jam with the rest of Christ body –

‘Cause our church be groovin’

When the music starts playin’

And the Holy Ghost movin’.

He gets you up out yo’ seat.

And when you party with Him it’s sweet,

And you can even have a jammin’ beat.

Don’t be a bench warmer; get up on your feet.

Now you can come to church and have a good time.

Get drunk off the Spirit but don’t drink wine,

‘Cause if you really wanna party, you gotta know Christ

And celebrate the fact that He gave His life,

And He’ll take away all your pain and your frown,

And when you come to church you can really get down.

Ain’t no party like a Holy Ghost party

‘Cause a Holy Ghost party don’t stop.

The apostle Paul reminds us to keep the party of praise going:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4: 4, NIV).

Paul also tells us to live in a manner worthy of the Holy Ghost guest we’ve invited to the party:

“You surely know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God. You are no longer your own. God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God” (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20, CEV).

Be quiet. At some point in the party, everyone has to stop what they’re doing, freeze in their tracks, and be silent. Why? To listen to the still small voice of God (I Kings 19:12).

You need to listen to the Holy Ghost for discernment and guidance, as Jesus clearly tells us:

“Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will help you and always be with you. The Spirit will show you what is true. The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit, because they don’t see or know him. But you know the Spirit, who is with you and will keep on living in you” (John 14: 16-17, CEV).

Enjoy the party. So now you have some ideas for keeping the Spirit alive in your life and in your church. Praise the Lord at your Holy Ghost party!

Tearing Down the Houses

2011-10-16T19:16:00.000-04:00

The city of Rochester is proposing to raze several houses in the Beechwood neighborhood.

As 13 WHAM TV reports, “Nineteen properties on East Main Street, as well as an entire block on Hayward and Garson avenues would be torn down. Other properties on Hayward and Chamberlain would be demolished as part of RGRTA’s expansion. The areas identified for greening have high rates of vacancies and absentee landlords.”

The news report further states, “The city came up with ‘Project Green’ in 2009, a plan to strategically level blighted blocks and install parks, gardens, urban farms, or forests. Residents would have to be relocated. The East Main Street RFP [Request for Proposals] is the first signal that the city could be moving forward with Project Green.”

That sounds like a good idea to me. There are still too many vacant houses in the area. I’d rather have a vacant lot than a vacant house. A boarded up house invites theft (of house parts), vandalism, graffiti, drug dealing, and arson. It also lowers property values for the adjacent houses and just makes the neighborhood look bad.

In the past few years, several houses on Parsells Avenue have been torn down and replaced with lawns or little “parks.” So I think it’s good that the trend will continue in the Beechwood area.

I see a vacant lot here and a vacant lot there and wish that I could group them together – and move them closer to Parsells Church. No, I don’t want a park next to the building. I want a parking lot.

Today when a church is built, parking is part of the plan. That wasn’t the case a century ago. Back in 1909 when the church was built, and then in 1925 when it was expanded, there was no need for a parking lot – but there sure is need for it now.

That’s one thing that’s holding back church growth. There’s a little area on the Denver Street side where people can park; otherwise, people have to settle for on-street parking.

The main part of the sanctuary holds 380 people; the balcony and choir loft bring the total capacity closer to 500, so if we were to have a lot it would have to be a good-sized one. The sanctuary isn’t full each Sunday – yet. That’s the goal, though. The pastor would like to see all the pews (or “benches” as he calls them) occupied.

The Church Board has decided not to pour any more money into fixing the former parsonage adjacent to the church. It’s worth more to us torn down than fixed up. That old parsonage is one of five houses on Parsells Avenue between the church and a vacant lot. I would love to see those five buildings disappear and have all six lots become a parking area. The drawback to this is that there’s no door on the east side of the building and people would have to walk to the front entrance.

One alternative is to look at the houses across the street from the church on Denver. Those buildings are in worse shape than the ones on Parsells that I just mentioned. So the Denver Street houses could more easily be “targets” of demolition. Plus, the lot would be close to our side entrance.

Another alternative would be to tear down the parsonage along with the houses in back of the church (Denver and Grand) so a lot would “wrap” around the building.

No matter the details, we definitely need someplace for the cars to park.

A parking lot is a crazy idea, isn’t it? Right now, the church barely has money to cover regular expenses and we’re also trying to come up with the funds to repair the roof and other parts of this historic building (including the walls, the heating system, and the nine bathrooms).

The renovations themselves are a major undertaking – and I’m dreaming of a parking lot! Imagine the cost – to buy the properties, raze the properties, pay all sorts of legal and governmental fees, install proper lighting, and then pave and stripe the lot.

Could this somehow be part of the city’s “Project Green” plan to “right-size” the housing stock? I know asphalt isn’t “green,” but a well-designed and well-maintained parking lot can be just as beautiful as a park.

Is there a private developer who would like to help renovate historic Parsells Church and create a parking lot? The building has a lot to offer: a pipe organ still in its original condition, wonderful acoustics for concerts and recording artists, room for the expansion and creation of ministries. Right now, our focus is more on maintenance than ministries and missions – but we’d like to reverse that. If we had these repair and parking issues out of the way, imagine how better we could serve the community!

Any ideas on how to proceed? The pastor and I would really like to find a benefactor or two who would underwrite the cost of renovations and a possible parking lot so the church can continue to be a vital part of the Beechwood neighborhood.

We know it’s a bad economy and we also know that Beechwood is one of the poorest areas of the city. There is a great need for our church to provide for the physical and spiritual nourishment of the residents. We need help so we can help others.

Our purpose as a church is to save souls and save the building – so we can save even more souls.

Will God Save the Space Aliens?

2011-10-09T08:57:00.000-04:00

Are there intelligent life forms elsewhere in the universe? Does God love them as much as He loves us?

Beliefnet goes even further, asking, “What is the Christian missionary responsibility if life is discovered on other planets? Does the Great Commission call followers of Jesus to evangelize Alpha Centauri? After all, John 3:16 says that God ‘so loved the world…’ – not the worlds. Or moons.”

These are out-of-this-world crazy questions. Why are they being posed? Because a philosophy professor from Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany named Christian Weidemann gave a speech at the “100-Year Starship Symposium” in Orlando, Florida.

The professor's lecture was entitled, “Did Jesus Die for Klingons, Too?”

“According to Christianity, an historic event some 2,000 years ago was supposed to save the whole of creation,” Weidemann pointed out.

However, how would that work if all of creation includes 125 billion galaxies with hundreds of billions of stars in each, as astronomers think, and what if some of those stars have planets with advanced civilizations, too?

Does Jesus’ atoning death on the cross on planet Earth save souls in outer space?

MSNBC reports, “The discovery of intelligent aliens would be mind-blowing in many respects, but it could present a special dilemma for the world’s religions. … Christians, in particular, might take the news hardest, because the Christian belief system does not easily allow for other intelligent beings in the universe, Christian thinkers said at the 100 Year Starship Symposium.”

Really? We can’t accept “other intelligent beings”? God created the universe. I’m pretty sure God is an intelligent being. God’s not an idiot. Some people refer to creation as “intelligent design.” That implies a smart Creator – and He doesn’t live here on Earth.

Christians refer to angels and demons. Those are other-worldly, and most likely intelligent. They can’t all be stupid spirits. We speak of heaven. Is that filled with dummies?

It’s arrogant to think that we’re the only “intelligent beings” God created. We’re not the only ones, and we don’t have exclusivity on brains. (Heaven help us if that were the case, as some humans are really stupid!)

Many theorize that the discovery of life forms on other planets would destroy Christianity because Christianity is based on the idea that God came down to Earth in human form to save humanity.

If there are advanced life forms in other parts of the universe, why would God decide to save just Earthlings and not the rest of His intelligent creatures?

In his talk, Weidemann presented three possibilities:

1) God likes us best. He decided to save us and abandon all the other life forms. “If so,” Weidemann conjectured, “our position among intelligent beings in the universe would be very exceptional.”

2) Only humans need to be saved. Perhaps humans are the only “sinners” in all of God’s universal creation, and thus are the only ones requiring a Savior. Humans are flawed; the aliens are perfect.

3) God decided to save all, with an incarnation of Himself sent to each planet.

“If there are extra-terrestrial intelligent beings at all, it is safe to assume that most of them are sinners, too,” Weidemann theorized. “If so, did Jesus save them, too?”

The Christian Post reports on the professor’s possible solution: “In order for that to be possible, however, he says multiple incarnations of God would have to exist at the same time. Assuming each incarnation took about 30 years, and based on how long civilizations are expected to survive, he estimates that there would have to be approximately 250 incarnations of God present in the universe at any given time to cover the sins of each civilization.”

That same article also says, “Another professor from Ruhr-University Bochum, Michael Waltemathe, acknowledged that this theory would be much more difficult to reconcile with Christianity than it would with other world religions, many of which either believe in multiple gods or don't assert that God's incarnation came specifically to Earth to save His creation.”

“It seems to be only a problem of Christianity,” Waltemathe said.

MSNBC paraphrases Waltemathe: “In Islam, for example, Muhammad was a prophet, or messenger of God, not God incarnate, so additional prophets could have simultaneously visited other planets to save extraterrestrial species, he said. And Hindus already believe in multiple deities, so accommodating more to guard over alien civilizations may not be difficult.”

Actually, I don’t have a problem with multiple incarnations. Maybe Jesus showed up on those other planets, or maybe He didn’t have to.

So let’s answer Professor Weidemann’s question. Did Jesus die for Klingons, too? Sure, why not? Perhaps Jesus’ death and resurrection on this planet was enough to save everyone on every planet.

Central to the Christian faith is the fact that Jesus Christ was born. As the Gospel of John tells us, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14, NIV).

This is why we celebrate Christmas. And at least one space alien does, too.

If Marvin the Martian observes the birth of Christ, what’s to prevent other extra terrestrials from doing so as well?

Let’s review our choices. God saves humans and screws the aliens, or God saves humans and doesn’t need to save the aliens, or God saves both humans and aliens by sending Jesus all over the universe.

There could also be a fourth possibility. Maybe God came up with a different way to deal with the aliens. God coming in the flesh on Earth is the one way He chose to save humans. Maybe that wouldn’t work in other worlds.

Perhaps the alien salvation plan is something else entirely. Like what? How should I know? We can’t even conclusively prove that there are alien life forms, and you want me to divulge the spaceman’s salvation method?

By the way, what are the chances of crucifixion existing in other worlds?

The ultimate goal of salvation, of course, is eternal life. When E.T. phoned home, was he trying to reach heaven?

Will all the life forms go to the same heaven? Will we even be able to distinguish the various life forms? If all become spirit, then it won’t matter what the bodies looked like.

If humans were created in God’s image, maybe the aliens were, too. Perhaps they look a lot like us. Perhaps they need salvation, too – by whatever means God chose to manifest it.

Choose Jail or Choose Jesus

2011-10-02T19:37:00.000-04:00

Let’s say you’ve committed some sort of non-violent offense and you end up in court. The judge offers you a choice:

“You’re either going to jail – or you’re going to church!”

Where on earth would you be given that option? Well, the answer is Bay Minette, Alabama. Or at least that was the plan. It’s currently on hold while lawyers figure out the constitutionality of it.

The program is called “Operation Restore Our Community” or “Operation ROC.” The name sounds like something dreamed up here in Rochester, as some people think the place should be known as ROC CITY. That name won’t catch on, but that’s a different discussion.

The Christian Post describes how the ROC program in that Alabama town would work:

“How the program works is simple: offenders found guilty of misdemeanors will either pay their debt to society by paying fines and going to jail, or going to church every Sunday for a year. If offenders choose church, they will have to check in with pastors and police weekly. At the end of the year, their case is dismissed.”

Who came up with this idea? Believe it or not, local pastors.

Bay Minette Police Chief Mike Rowland told the Alabama Press-Register, “Operation ROC resulted from meetings with church leaders. It was agreed by all the pastors that at the core of the crime problem was the erosion of family values and morals. We have children raising children and parents not instilling values in young people.”

So far, 56 churches in Bay Minette are on board. Pastor Robert Gates stated to WRKG-TV, “You show me somebody who falls in love with Jesus, and I’ll show you a person who won’t be a problem to society.”

That’s true. I’ve expressed the same sentiment (in different words, of course).

It was the topic of the very first entry on this blog (Don’t Dis Me, Bro). By the way, I have since learned that most people spell the word “d-i-s-s.” Hey, don’t dis me for using the alternative spelling!

Anyhow, is Operation ROC a good way to lead people to Jesus?

Several groups see the program as violating separation of church and state. The ACLU wrote a letter to the Bay Minette Police Department asking for an immediate end to the program, saying: “The abuse of the State's police power to mandate and enforce church attendance flagrantly violates the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as well as section 3 of the Alabama Constitution, which provides that ‘no one shall be compelled by law to attend any place of worship.’”

Police Chief Rowland doesn’t think ROC violates any of those laws. He points out that it’s only one option of many a judge has when sentencing an offender. That would be in the mix with community service options, like raking leaves, picking up trash, or washing police cars.

“Nobody is forcing anybody to go to church,” Rowland said, stressing that the judge would offer the option only if he or she believes the offender will benefit from it, and then the person has to accept or reject it.

Rowland considers church to be a legitimate alternative to jail.

Robert Boston, the senior policy adviser at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, disagrees, telling the Christian Post, “That’s no choice at all. The equivalency is so out of whack, it’s ridiculous.”

He sees the program as a way of “funneling people into churches,” adding, “It's not the job of the government to place people in places of worship.”

In a different Christian Post article, we read:

“…one of the major concerns Boston cites is the possibility that offenders with other belief systems would not have the same choice, resulting in one having Christianity forcibly imposed on them.

“’Not true,’ Rowland responded. ‘Any established, faith-based organization is eligible for the program.’ This would include Judaism, Islam, and other religions with a recognized house of worship in the vicinity.

“However, atheists and agnostics would be out of luck.

“’We would not have an option for them,’ Rowland responded. “It’s a faith-based program. So it has to be a faith-based organization.’”

So, should judges be allowed to sentence someone to church?

Only in the South would people come up with something like this. It’s definitely a Bible Belt idea. It wouldn’t even occur to anyone in the Rust Belt.

Sentencing people to church sends the wrong message. You don’t want to be in jail; you don’t want to be in church. Church, thus, is punishment and you only have to go there if you’re bad. Is that what we want people to think?

There is a place for jail ministry, but we shouldn’t make church the jail!

Judgment Day comes and you’re thinking you’re either gonna go to heaven or hell. No, you’re gonna go to church – which is a combination of both!

Little kids used to be dragged to church by their parents. Do they still attend church now? Hardly. Only a small percentage continued church attendance into adulthood.

How about this: Do you think there will be repeat offenders so they can be sentenced to more time in church?

Let’s assume this program gets off the ground and somebody is actually sent to church. Will the congregation know that the “evildoer” is in their midst?

What happens during the meet and greet part of the worship service?

“Hi. I’m here for the first time,” the person says (we’ll pretend it’s a guy to make pronoun agreement work). “The judge ordered me to come to your church.”

“Praise Jesus!” the crowd responds. Several people approach him and start hugging him. The offender feels like he’s restrained and locked up in a bear hug!

He’s a tough guy! He’s a thug! Why are all these people hugging him? And not just women, but men, too!

“Everything’s gonna be all right, my brother,” somebody tells him. “Just as soon as you repent! Cast off your evil ways! Satan be gone! Oh, but stick around after worship for some Danishes and some bean casserole.”

“And Jell-O!” someone else adds.

By the way, some churches call the greeting time the “passing of the peace.” When I first encountered that, I thought they were distributing tobacco products. I didn’t see any peace pipe, though. Actually, I was relieved. Some congregations that pass the peace also wave the incense. Imagine adding pipe smoke to that!

Anyhow, this is how the conversation goes during one of those things:

“Peace be unto you.”
“And also with you.”

“Peace be unto you.”
“And also with you.”

Each time I get caught in one of these, I respond with a perky “Hello!” (Well, as perky as a guy can sound.) It drives the people crazy! Apparently, you’re not supposed to deviate from the script. Saying “Welcome!” isn’t welcome there, either.

Even though I think the ROC program is a silly idea, I could see how attending some churches could be like being in prison – the service is so boring! I think only certain churches should qualify:

• Where the hymns are no newer than 1840.
• Where the preacher drones on in a monotone.
• Where anyone can join the choir, whether the person can sing or not.
• Where the pianist is approaching the century mark and the tempo is slower than a funeral dirge.
• Where mice are chewing at stuff, just like in that little German town where “Silent Night” was written. Recall that mice had destroyed the organ. So, instead of the church trapping mice, it would trap lawbreakers.

Here’s another point to ponder. The choice the offender has involves doing jail time and paying fines – or going to church. If it’s jail + fine, shouldn’t the alternative be church + tithe? Will the offender be forced to put money in the offering plate? Would that be considered a “fine”?

The apostle Paul tells us, “Freedom is what we have – Christ has set us free!” (Galatians 5: 1, TEV). How can that be if it’s forced? It would be a life sentence! Sentenced to a new life in Christ!

Ripping the Bible Apart

2011-09-25T09:20:00.000-04:00

A bunch of atheists in Huntington Beach (Orange County), California, had a rippin’ good time recently.

The group Backyard Skeptics ripped certain pages out of the Bible on September 17 at the Huntington Beach Pier. That’s right: Some wackos ripped the Bible and so I shall rip on them.

Well, OK, Bruce Gleason, the leader of the group, only tore a few pages from an actual Bible to make a good show for the TV and newspaper cameras present. The rest of the time, he tore up sheets of paper printed with Bible verses.

Many critics of the critics are focusing on what the atheists did: they ripped Bible pages. People are appalled and are calling it desecration.

“They ripped up a sacred book! They desecrated the Bible!”

Actually, I don’t care that they tore up a Bible. Instead of getting all whipped up over whether the atheists destroyed something sacred or not, we should examine their message.

Gleason says the purpose of the demonstration was to show “that no one can live by certain laws of the Bible, and that many verses... are immoral.”

Here are some more quotes by Gleason from various news outlets:

“It’s really a public education program… we’re not trying to desecrate the Bible, we’re just trying to let others know that there are certain portions of the Bible that they would probably agree with that they don’t live by.”

“We’re not trying to offend people, though I will acknowledge that people will be upset simply because we’re taking passages out of the Bible.”

“We’re not there to burn the Bible or desecrate. But there are plenty verses in the Bible that if you did any of those things today, you’d be thrown in jail immediately.”

What Bible verses is he talking about? Well, let’s take a look.

One of them is a fairly long passage in Deuteronomy. Instead of quoting it, I’ll share this summary from beliefnet.com:

“Group members said they would rip out verses in the Bible such as Deuteronomy 22: 13-30, which tells those living under the pre-Christian Mosaic law that if a man finds his wife not to be a virgin, the community can stone her; or a later verse in the same chapter the Backyard Skeptics say can be interpreted to say that virgins who are raped will be forced to marry their rapist.”

Yeah, that deuteronomic stuff is outdated and doesn’t apply anymore. But why discredit an entire Book and an entire religion (actually, two religions) just because a few parts are outdated? This is what the Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary (Abingdon Press, 1971) says about that section of Deuteronomy:

“On close examination, it is clear that the fabric of sexual values and practices in ancient Israel was fundamentally intended as a cloak for the institution of the patriarchal family.”

That doesn’t make it right, but it does explain why the laws were so slanted.

The Orange County Register spoke with Evangelist Ray Comfort about the Backyard Skeptics. The newspaper reports:

“Ray Comfort, who often open-air preaches in Huntington Beach and has an evangelical ministry television show with actor Kirk Cameron, said he and Gleason are ‘friendly enemies’ who often discuss religion. ‘I would seriously like to supply them with a Koran and maybe something Hindu,’ he said. ‘If he wants to make a statement about God, he should spread it around a little and not pick on Christians.’”

Comfort, in a Christian Post interview, also said, “I think we need to take the log out of our own eye before we look at a culture 3,000 years ago, and take portions of their civil law and try to apply them to America somehow, and blame Christians for Jewish Scriptures.”

Comfort went on to say, “Atheists are a very, very tiny minority, but very loud. They're like Chihuahuas. They're yappy little creatures because they've got an inferiority complex.”

The Backyard Skeptics also ripped up some New Testament verses. They used the New American Standard Bible, so that’s what we’ll use:

“If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5: 29, NASB).

That’s just one sentence. That’s all the atheists used. We, however, should actually look at the whole paragraph:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘you shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matthew 5: 27-30, NASB).

Both the atheists and the fundamentalists are on the same page. (Yeah, there’s a pun there). Both groups take the Bible literally. As I always say, the Bible is literary, not literal. Honestly, what lusty person is gonna gouge his or her eye out? Here’s what the Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary says concerning Matthew 5: 27-30:

“Merely to stop short of the overt act of adultery is not to obey the intention of God which lies behind the law. To desire another man’s wife is as much a violation of God’s purpose for a man as is the act of adultery itself. What is demanded is complete self-control of the members of the body, so that obedience may be complete.”

Let’s move on to another passage targeted for ripping:

“The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says” (1 Corinthians 14: 34, NASB).

The apostle Paul was writing to correct a specific problem in the church at Corinth. Several women in that church were speaking in tongues without interpreters, speaking out of turn, and just being disruptive during the worship services. These are the women Paul tells to shut up. By the way, earlier in the same letter, Paul acknowledges women as worship participants (1 Corinthians 11: 5-13), allowing them to pray and proclaim the Gospel (as long as they wear a hat, but we won’t go into that).

OK, let’s move on to the next passage in question:

“Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness” (1 Timothy 2: 9-10, NASB).

Why would Paul admonish women not to wear those things? Because that’s how prostitutes dressed back then. If you’re a religious and righteous woman, you shouldn’t be decked out like a whore. The group 3OH!3 in the song “Don’t Trust Me” tells us:

Don’t trust a ho,

Never trust a ho,

Won’t trust a ho,

Won’t trust me.

Shush girl, shut your lips;

Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.

That’s right: “Don’t trust a ho.” You gotta remember that when you dress for church!

(Some radio stations edit out that one word, so all you hears is, “Don’t trust a, never trust a, won’t trust a.” So you don’t know what you’re not supposed to trust! How is that helpful?)

I don’t think the blind and deaf author went around dancing, but the advice about being quiet fits nicely with what Paul has to say, doesn’t it? Maybe the songwriter is telling us to let actions speak rather than words. By the way, Helen Keller was a Christian. When Phillips Brooks introduced her to Christianity and Jesus, Keller responded, “I always knew He was there, but I didn’t know His name!”

Anyhow, that’s just one passage from 1 Timothy. I don’t know if the Backyard Skeptics included the next paragraph in their list or not, as it wasn’t in the media reports, but since it follows what they did highlight, let’s look at it:

“A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet” (1 Timothy 2: 11-12, NASB).

It turns out that Paul was addressing a specific problem in Timothy’s church in Ephesus. There was a lot of false teaching going on, and some of the women there were spreading the nonsense. Paul tells ‘em to shut up (just as he did to the women in Corinth).

And here’s yet another passage that makes the atheists ill:

“Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him” (James 5: 14-15, NASB).

What’s wrong with those verses from James? This is what Gleason told the Orange County Register:

“We want to make this a better world for secular and humanistic values. We don’t believe prayer works. We don’t believe religion adds anything except a sense of false hope.”

Thus, he claims that science and medicine can make you well. That’s true, to a degree.

Actually, only God can heal. Doctors can treat a wound, injury, or disease, but they can’t heal it or make it go away. Only God does that. Oh, but healing is a natural process. Who created that process and made it work? God. If humans could heal themselves, it would be done instantly. Say you get a scratch or a bruise and you spray some antiseptic on it. It’s still there, right? It doesn’t go away right away. If we had the power to heal, it would be gone immediately.

Should we throw out the Bible passages we don’t like?

These verses were selected by a bunch of atheists. Atheists are people who don’t believe in God, right? Obviously, though, they read the Bible – or at least their leader does, along with some guy named Evan. How can they read the Bible and still think God doesn’t exist?

Sure, they picked out some oddball verses that don’t seem to have any relevance – but how does that further their position (that, for them, God doesn’t have any relevance)? What about all the verses that demonstrate God’s power, God’s mercy, and God’s love for us? I would think that those verses would be the ones the atheists would be ripping out of their Bibles. Shouldn’t they be destroying copies of Genesis 1-2 and John 3:16?

Gleason and his group want to edit the Bible just like Thomas Jefferson did. Yes, after Jefferson served two terms as president, he had time to use a razorblade to cut and paste and create his own version of the Holy Book. His rendition is commonly called the Jefferson Bible, but the real title is, “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.” The 86-page book contains selected verses from the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in chronological order and focuses only on Jesus’ life and philosophies. Missing are all of Jesus miracles, references to the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, and Jesus' Resurrection.

Gleason proudly looks to Jefferson for guidance: “Out of 1,100 pages he only kept 86 of them. This is one of our Founding Fathers.”

So, if Jefferson could do it, so can he. However, Jefferson’s version didn’t catch on. A Bible without miracles and Christ’s Resurrection is boring and pointless.

Actually, if the atheists want to edit the Bible, they shouldn’t just remove the passages they consider illegal and immoral. They shouldn’t stop there! They should keep going! They should take out all the references to God. Now that would be an abridged edition! There wouldn’t be much left.

I really think the Backyard Skeptics should do that. I’d be curious to see just how little they’d have in their Godless Bible!

I wonder if they’re Trinitarian atheists. Would they remove every reference to God the Father, God the Son, AND God the Holy Spirit?

Exodus: The Exit Strategy

2011-09-18T21:13:00.010-04:00

If you were going to end slavery, how would you do it? The United States ended it with a war (the Civil War). But in Biblical times, God had His own idea how to end it.

That brings us to the book of Exodus. “Exodus” is a Latin word derived from Greek “Exodos,” and means exit, departure, or going out. It refers to the most important event in Israel’s history: the departure of the Hebrew people from Egypt, where they had been slaves. That’s right: it’s the exit strategy!

It’s a continuation of a narrative that began in Genesis and continues in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These first five books of the Bible are together known as the Pentateuch (meaning “five scrolls”).

The Authorship of Exodus

Several statements in Exodus indicate that Moses wrote certain sections of the book (see 17: 14; 24: 4; 34: 27-28). In addition, Joshua 8: 31 refers to the command of Exodus 20: 25 as having been “written in the Book of the Law of Moses.” The New Testament (such as Mark 7: 10; 12: 26 and Luke 2: 22-23) also claims Mosaic authorship for various passages in Exodus. Moses may have written Exodus, but he wasn’t the only one. Others added and edited along the way.

The Time of the Exodus

According to 1 Kings 6: 1, the exodus took place 480 years before “the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel.” Since that year was c. 966 BC, it has been traditionally held that the exodus occurred c. 1446 BC. Moses probably kept an account of God's work, and the earliest form of this book could have been written during the 40-year journey in the wilderness (1445-1405 BC), when he would have had lots of spare time to write. The “300 years” of Judges 11:26 fits within this time span.

Although Egyptian chronology relating to the 18th dynasty remains somewhat uncertain, recent research tends to support the traditional view that two of that dynasty's pharaohs, Thutmose III and his son Amunhotep II, were the pharaohs of the oppression and the exodus respectively.

On the other hand, the appearance of the name Rameses in 1: 11 has led many to conclude that the 19th dynasty pharaoh Seti I and his son Rameses II were the pharaohs of the oppression and the exodus. Archaeological evidence of the destruction of numerous Canaanite cities in the 13th century BC has been interpreted as proof that Joshua’s troops invaded the Promised Land in that century. This would place the exodus in c. 1290 BC. We really don’t know who attacked the cities, though, and that makes the archaeological evidence shaky.

If this happened way before Rameses was born, how come the place where the Hebrews slaved away was called “Rameses” (1: 11)? Well, let's look at local history. Despatch, NY, was founded in 1897 and renamed East Rochester in 1906. We might say, “Despatch, now called East Rochester.” But instead of giving both names as we might do, the editors who put the Bible together simply updated as they went along, substituting the new name for the old. If we did that, we'd end up with East Rochester looking like it was around in the 1800s (when it really wasn’t). So, the name Rameses could very well be the result of an editorial updating by someone who lived centuries after Moses – a procedure that accounts for the same word being used in Genesis 47: 11.

In short, the traditional date of 1446 BC for the exodus still stands. Thus, the book of Exodus covers the period from the arrival of Jacob in Egypt (c. 1875 BC) to the making of the tabernacle 431 years later in the wilderness (c. 1445 BC).

The Plot of Exodus

I divide the book of Exodus into three parts: Plight (chapters 1-11), which describes how life in Egypt sucked for the Hebrew people; Flight (chapters 12-18), which tells how they fled Egypt; and Rite (chapters 19-40), which establishes the Law and religious rituals.

Plight (chapters 1 – 11)

Slavery (chapter 1)

Remember how Genesis ends? There was a famine in Canaan and so all of these Hebrews left the place and headed for Egypt – seeking food and a better life. They were treated well in Egypt because a guy named Joseph was an official in the Egyptian government. (Old Joe there was an Israelite himself, having been sold into slavery in Egypt and then rising to power and influence – it’s a long story.)

Well, things were going along great. The Hebrew people enjoyed freedom and special treatment in Egypt. But then Joseph died. Following that, a new dynasty came to the throne in Egypt, and the new Pharaoh was suspicious of the Hebrews in his country. Only 70 people had originally migrated to Egypt, but now (between 350 and 400 years later), there were between 2 and 3 million of them swarming around.

The number of Hebrews in Egypt had increased so alarmingly that the Egyptians began to regard them as a very serious threat. So Pharaoh decided to get rid of them. His first idea was to enslave them. One commentator says, “The walls of Rameses were mortared with the blood and sweat of the Israelites.” I would add tears to that. Cruel overseers – “taskmasters” – urged them on with whips. A funny thing happened, though. The Pharaoh’s plan backfired:

“But even though the Israelites were mistreated, their families grew larger, and they took over more land. Because of this, the Egyptians hated them worse than before” (Exodus 1: 12, CEV).

So, the Pharaoh hatched another plan. He decreed that all male Hebrew children would be killed by midwives. Those women, though, didn’t kill any of the babies. When the Pharaoh asked them why, they had a great excuse:

“They answered, ‘Hebrew women have their babies much quicker than Egyptian women. By the time we arrive, their babies are already born’" (Exodus 1: 19, CEV).

Since that plan didn’t work either, the Pharaoh had another idea: drown all the newborn Hebrew males in the Nile River.

The Birth and Early Life of Moses (chapters 2-4)

One of the Hebrew women had a baby. It was a boy. You know what that meant: the kid was doomed. Or maybe not. The mother made a basket from bulrushes and set the thing adrift in the river.

Moses’ mom clearly did the right thing, because soon afterward the kid ended up in the hands of Pharaoh’s daughter, who decided to adopt him on the spot. So, instead of being drowned and killed by the Nile River, the boy was actually saved by it.

Pharaoh’s daughter gave him the name Moses, because, as the Bible has her explain, “I drew him out of the water” (Exodus 2: 10, NIV). Mose means “to draw forth” in Hebrew, as if an Egyptian princess would speak fluent Hebrew. But Mose was also a common Egyptian male name. The syllables “mo-se” can also be found in many other Egyptian names, especially those of the pharaohs Thutmose, Ahmose, and even Ram(o)ses. OK, that last one is a stretch, but you get the idea.

The next we hear of Moses, he has grown to manhood. He was still a member of the Egyptian royal family, but he had become curious about the plight of his fellow Israelites. While visiting one of Pharaoh's grandiose construction sites, he saw an Egyptian slave driver beating a Hebrew laborer. He killed the Egyptian and thus was forced to flee from Egypt to the land of Midian (south of modern Jordan). He married a Midianite woman named Zipporah, and her family introduced Moses to Hebrew religion. (Note how Moses was forced to go learn about his roots.)

The Confrontation with Pharaoh (chapters 5-11)

After he spent time in exile, Moses returned to Egypt with explicit instructions from the Lord: “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3: 10, NIV). This came right after Moses had seen a burning bush thing that didn’t get consumed by the flames.

The Lord also arranged that Moses’ younger brother, Aaron, would assist him in his appeal to the Pharaoh, because Aaron had the gift of eloquence, and Moses was, by his own admission, “slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4: 10 NKJV). Perhaps that means Moses stuttered. In any case, he talked funny.

It would have been fairly simple to meet with Pharaoh. The living god of Egypt was expected to be accessible to even the least of his subjects; he didn’t have secretaries and public relations people in the way.

The Book of Exodus gives a detailed account of the brothers’ remarkable meeting with Pharaoh: “So Moses and Aaron went to the king and did as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw his walking stick down in front of the king and his officers, and it turned into a snake. Then the king called for his wise men and magicians, and by their magic they did the same thing. They threw down their walking sticks, and the sticks turned into snakes. But Aaron's stick swallowed theirs” (Exodus 7: 10-12, TEV).

You might think Aaron was just trying to dazzle Pharaoh and his groupies with flashy magic tricks, but there’s more to it than that. The snake was one of many creatures that the Egyptians held sacred; they believed that certain species were endowed with supernatural powers and with wisdom that was denied to mortals. When Aaron’s snake ate the others, it meant the power of the Hebrew God was stronger than the Egyptian gods. Nevertheless, Pharaoh was unconvinced.

God, anticipating this of course, was prepared to unleash ten plagues on the Egyptians in order to get Pharaoh to cooperate. Each plague was a natural catastrophe, each one worse than the previous one. Over a period of about nine months, the Egyptians had to deal with bloody water, frogs, lice, swarms of flies, a fatal livestock disease, boils and sores, hailstorms, locusts, and darkness. Note that’s only nine plagues. We’re coming to the tenth.

Flight (chapters 12 – 18)

The Passover and the Wilderness Walk (chapters 12-14)

The final plague: The Egyptian first-born, both of the people and their animals, would be destroyed by God’s Angel of Death. The Israelites were protected from all of these plagues, mind you. They avoided this last outbreak when they marked their houses, at God’s command, by putting the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. The Angel of Death “passed over” the Hebrew houses. After death blew over and a lot of Egyptians ended up dead, Pharaoh finally gave in and told Moses to take his band of Israelites and get the heck out of the country.

This is the origin of the Jewish festival of Passover. This is also the source of the Christian image of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb and, indirectly, of the Last Supper, which was simply the last Passover meal that Jesus shared with His disciples before His crucifixion.

So, the Hebrew folks were now free. Exodus 12: 37 says about 600,000 men journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. Since we’re told this number doesn’t include women and children, we could easily assume that there were over a million people altogether. Now that’s a lotta people.

But word choice is important here. The Hebrew word translated “thousand” also has the secondary meaning of “clan” or “extended family.” Maybe that’s what the authors of Exodus had in mind – that 600 families followed Moses out of Egypt. As one scholar notes, this “might explain why the Egyptian historians didn’t bother to waste time recording the disappearance from their midst of a few hundred miserable nomads.” Remember, though, that Pharaoh was alarmed at the huge number of Hebrews in his country. When the Exodus happened, all of them would have tried to get out. So it’s a safe bet to stick with the Biblical account of it being a large-scale operation.

The scaled-down scholar writes, “A band of refugees in a hostile country does not take to the road all at once, like a triumphant army on the march. Instead, single families and small groups share the same road for a while, then go their separate ways. This is probably how we should imagine the Exodus – individual clans, perhaps entire tribes, setting out, though not all at once, toward the east. We can understand how the children of Israel might well have spent forty years in the wilderness (assuming that figure is accurate): the difficulty of the terrain and the scarcity of food along the way would have made any kind of continuous mass migration just about impossible.”

Choose to think that if you want, or choose to believe it was big.

The Red Sea and Miracle Manna (chapters 15-18)

The Egyptian troops chased the Hebrews all the way to the Red Sea. It looked like the Hebrews were trapped with nowhere to go! Not so! By a miracle, the Red Sea parted so the Hebrews could cross. The water then immediately came back, the waves crashing down on the Egyptians and drowning them.

Some scholars suggest that a strong east wind caused the shallow sea to back up. Let’s see what the scaled-down scholar thinks:

“When we think of the Exodus as a smaller-scale operation, even the Biblical account of the parting of the Red Sea and the annihilation of Pharaoh’s armies begins to seem much more plausible. Instead of all Pharaoh’s chariots and spear carriers following in pursuit of the tribes of Israel, we might imagine that one of those scattered refugee bands was harried by a squadron of three or four chariots from an isolated frontier post – more of a routine border incident. The sum of these small evasions, especially after many retellings around a desert campfire, might easily add up to a miraculous great escape.”

How about just accepting the parting of the Red Sea as a legendary miracle?

Anyhow, after they got rid of the chasing Egyptians, they got hungry. God supplied the hungry Hebrews with manna. They considered it bread from heaven, and this is how they described it:

“It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16: 31, NIV).

“The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil” (Numbers 11: 7-8, NIV).

What was the stuff? It fell at night as white flakes or grains, but it wasn’t snow. Some researchers think it was the sap of some tree. Sap is how we get maple syrup; would you consider that bread? You might put it on (toasted) bread, but it’s certainly not bread itself. Some say it was from lichens (fungus plants) that scale off and are blown by the wind and fall in the form of rain. Others say it was the crystallized honeydew from some scaly insects. Still others say it could have been mushrooms.

By the way, what does “manna” mean in Hebrew? It means, “What is it?” So the ancient people couldn’t figure out what it was, and neither can we.

Rite (chapters 19 – 40)

The Law and the Covenant (chapters 19-24)

When the Hebrews reached a certain place, Moses became a mountain climber. He went all the way to the top, where he encountered God. This mountain goes by several different names in the Bible – Mount Sinai, Mount Horeb, or simply “the mountain of God” – and we are still not certain of its precise location.

“Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently” (Exodus 19: 18, NIV).

Yep, the mountain was smoking and quaking; what we’d call a volcanic eruption. Mt. Sinai isn’t known to be a volcano, but it sure does sound like one here. This demonstrates God’s power and that He is in control of the elements and the universe.

Anyhow, Moses got his hands on Ten Commandments that the Lord had written on tablets of stone.

Some of the stuff on these tablets was similar to statutes that were already in place in some parts of the Middle East in ancient times, but the Ten Commandments contained two brand new concepts:
1) “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20: 2-3, NIV). The idea of a transcendent, immaterial God was totally new.
2) “...love your neighbors as you love yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, TEV). That phrase isn’t actually in the Ten Commandments, but it sums up the second half of them.

These two ideas – of loving God and loving your neighbor – are crucial in Judeo-Christian theology and morality – and come in a powerful one-two punch.

The Ark of the Covenant (chapter 25)

Most people when they hear the word “ark” think of Noah’s ark, which was a boat. However, there was another ark in the Bible and it was a box. Don’t get the boat and the box confused!

The Ark of the Covenant would have been almost four feet long and about two feet tall; about the size of an old-fashioned steamer trunk. Guess what? The Hebrew word translated as “ark” means “trunk.” So, think of it as being like a cedar chest in which they stored stuff. What stuff? I Kings 8: 9 and Hebrews 9: 4 tell us that it contained the tablets of the Law, a little pot of manna, and Aaron’s staff (the one that used to be a snake).

The ark had rings and staves so that it could be carried wherever the Israelites wandered.

Other nomadic peoples carried similar portable sanctuaries on their migrations. Those pagans, though, carried around an empty chair and they pretended their little invisible god would sit on the thing and be carried around.

One commentator says, “The Ark of the Covenant and the relics concealed inside it were the physical symbols of Yahweh’s promise to dwell among the Israelites forever.”

The ark disappeared when Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem was ransacked about the time of the Babylonian exile. (That hasn’t stopped people from searching for it down through the ages, just as they have searched for the other ark, the boat one. They haven’t found either one.)

The Tabernacle and the Priesthood (chapters 26-40)

This final section of the book goes on and on in detail about how the tabernacle should be constructed and what it would contain. It was basically a fancy tent where the people could gather and worship God. It was an elegant place. It had beautiful linen curtains and decorations made out of silver, bronze, and gold. There were altars, basins, incense, lamp stands – all sorts of stuff.

Even with all the decor, the thing was still a tent. It could be moved if necessary. The Israelites had to make do with this thing until the Temple was built under the leadership of King Solomon.

“Although costly in time, effort, and monetary value, the tabernacle, in meaning and function, reminds the people to glorify and praise God,” points out one commentary. “By means of the tabernacle, the omnipotent, unchanging and transcendent God of the universe came to ‘dwell’ or ‘tabernacle’ with the chosen people, thereby revealing how near Yahweh was. God is not only mighty in Israel’s behalf; He is also present in her midst.”

While Moses was on the mountain, the people demanded some sort of god for protection (as they thought maybe Moses had died or disappeared or something). Aaron helped them make a golden calf.

At long last, Moses came down from the mountaintop and was so upset that he smashed the Ten Commandment tablets. God later gave him a second set.

Even though Aaron got in trouble for the golden calf, he still got a good gig with God. Aaron and his sons (all from the tribe of Levi) were consecrated to the priesthood.

And if it seems like you’re reading the same stuff over and over again in this part of Exodus, you’re right. The info in chapters 25-31 is repeated in chapters 35-40 with slight variations. That’s because it’s from another source.

The Relevance of Exodus

Why should we care about the plight, flight, and rite of some ancient people?

Well, you have to admit that some of the stories are cool and dramatic.

More than that, the book of Exodus helps us understand a little of how God works and hints at how eventually Jesus Christ would come and be our Redeemer.

Moses reminds us of Christ. The Open Bible says, “Both Moses and Jesus Christ are prophets, priests, and kings (although Moses was never made king, he functioned as the ruler of Israel); both are kinsman-redeemers; both are endangered in infancy; both voluntarily renounce power and wealth; both are deliverers, lawgivers, and mediators.”

Aaron reminds us of Christ. Aaron was named the High Priest for the ancient Israelites. Jesus Christ is our High Priest. This is confirmed by the book of Hebrews:

“…Jesus the Son of God is our great High Priest who has gone to heaven itself to help us; therefore let us never stop trusting him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses since he had the same temptations we do, though he never once gave way to them and sinned. So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need” (Hebrews 4: 14-16, TLB).

“He came as High Priest of this better system that we now have. He went into that greater, perfect tabernacle in heaven, not made by men nor part of this world, and once for all took blood into that inner room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat; but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, He took His own blood, and with it He, by Himself, made sure of our eternal salvation” (Hebrews 9: 11-12, TLB).

The Passover reminds us of Christ. The apostle Paul makes this clear in one of his letters:

“…The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast. So let’s live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread – simple, genuine, unpretentious” (1 Corinthians 5: 7-8, The Message).

The Exodus reminds us Christ. The Open Bible says, “Paul relates baptism to the exodus event because baptism symbolizes death to the old and identification with the new.”

Paul recalls the crossing of the Red Sea and God’s provision for the people:

“Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God’s fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much – most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased. The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did” (1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, The Message).

As one commentator on Exodus puts it, “This account of redemption from bondage leading to consecration in covenant, all through the ministry of a chosen mediator, discloses God's purpose in history: salvation through the Law and then ultimately through Jesus Christ the supreme Mediator.”

And J. Lawrence Eason in The New Bible Survey (Zondervan, 1963) writes:

“Just as God brought the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, so by redemption we understand that the Redeemer delivers mankind out of the bondage of sin. Moreover, He also brings them into a special relationship with Himself, making them His people and His own purchased possession. The Exodus, therefore, beginning with the great deliverance of God’s people from Egypt and culminating in the Passover, foreshadows the still greater redemption achieved by the Savior on Calvary.”

How 9/11 Changed the USA

2011-09-11T08:43:00.000-04:00

A decade has passed since the United States was attacked on 9/11. The event had such an impact on us that we don’t even say the year. We just say 9/11, even though that date comes up on the calendar every year.

How have those attacks changed the country?

The attacks launched us into a war. The War on Terror is the country’s longest-running war, and there’s no end in sight.

The attacks changed the way we board airplanes. Since the terrorists hijacked planes, there are now a whole bunch of regulations developed with the idea of keeping us safe. Passengers have to take off shoes and belts, be patted down, and/or go through body scanners. People can’t bring anything on board that might be considered a weapon – and that includes nail clippers and some bottles of liquid. (See my Airport Security vs. Scrutiny entry).

The attacks began a debate about profiling. In an effort to avoid looking racist or religiously bigoted, airport and government security personnel embarked on a bizarre plan. They flagged the most unlikely people for extra screening: elderly women and children. The terrorists were (and continue to be) Muslim men of a certain age group. But let’s not target them, even though they target us.

The attacks created a hole in New York City. The attacks destroyed the World Trade Center towers and a decade later, there’s still a sense of emptiness, caused by the loss of friends and loved ones, and caused by the failure to rebuild the towers. Crews are building giant square fountains (waterfalls) on the site that go below the land surface and not above it – what’s being called “the presence of absence.” And at least one new building is slowly going up. However, to add insult to injury, a group of Muslims proposed building a mosque near Ground Zero. (See my What’s the Message? entry.)

The attacks caused government to get bigger. After the attacks, the federal government created a whole new agency: the Department of Homeland Security. We have more bureaucracy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re any safer.

The attacks caused flight schools to change the rules. The hijackers attended schools to learn how to fly planes, but apparently didn’t care about learning how to land them. Now flight schools are on alert for student pilots who only want to know certain procedures.

The attacks changed airplane appreciation. Prior to 9/11, no one ever thought that planes would be deliberately flown into buildings. Now people who work in tall office buildings (including those in Rochester) are nervous each time they see a low-flying plane. This is especially true when the air show comes to town and the pilots are doing their practice maneuvers over downtown.

The attacks made us suspicious of packages. Any time someone leaves something behind – a box, a briefcase, a jockstrap – people freak out. They now always assume it’s an explosive and the bomb squad is called to investigate. Society has changed from thinking the object was left behind because of forgetfulness to thinking it was deliberately placed to blow up innocent people. Sometimes this concern is justified; other times it’s just paranoia. Prior to 9/11, people didn’t see bombs in every lunchbox.

The attacks changed warfare techniques. In all previous wars, we fought nation-states (or just plain states, during the Civil war). Now we are no longer at war with various countries (even though the war has taken us to various countries). Our enemies are terrorist groups and that makes the war effort difficult and it’s hard to determine who is an enemy combatant and who isn’t.

The attacks increased patriotism. Ironically, instead of causing Americans to be pessimistic and cowardly, the attackers woke America up. Patriotism had waned in the wake of the Vietnam War, but 9/11 reversed that trend. People have more pride in the country and feel an overwhelming sense of duty to protect it and the freedoms it offers. Many people volunteered to serve in the armed services as a response to 9/11, and a lot of people have put up American flags at their homes and businesses.

The attacks changed fashion trends. Because of the increased military effort, brush cuts (and even being bald) became popular once again, and not just among the guys but among the gals, too. Wearing camouflage apparel also became trendy, along with wearing dog tags of various designs. Draping a canteen over the shoulder hasn’t caught on, though.

The attacks increased the demand for bullets. People feel threatened (which is actually the definition of terrorism, striking fear and terror in people) and so citizens are buying guns and bullets to protect themselves and their families.

The attacks temporarily spiked interest in religion. There was an initial increase in church attendance in the few weeks following 9/11 as people sought answers and divine providence concerning what had happened. That interest, though, has waned. The world is no less dangerous; in fact, it’s probably more dangerous now. However, you wouldn’t know it by the number of people going to church. That’s the way it’s always been. In the Old Testament, people would obey God for a while, they’d stray, God would raise up a judge or a prophet to bring them back. That would work for a while, and then the cycle would repeat. God always has to get our attention. Why can’t we just focus on Him? That would curtail some of the evil in the world.

The attacks broke down interfaith dialogues. Several decades ago, the ecumenical movement started, and that was designed to break down the barriers which prevented Catholics and Protestants from being cooperative entities in the Body of Christ. Ecumenism yielded much fruit and helped to bring the Christian denominations closer together. Then some people decided to go beyond interdenominational efforts and attempt interfaith efforts.

Most Christian groups have had good relations with the Jewish community and with Israel because of the common heritage and the shared Hebrew Scriptures.

Relations with Muslim groups have always been on the fringe, as the beliefs are so vastly different. Any progress that had been made previous to 9/11 was shattered after that date. It’s easy to understand why. The 9/11 hijackers attacked the World Trade Center (an iconic symbol of the American economy) and attacked the Pentagon (a symbol of American military might). The plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was headed for either the White House or the Capitol (symbols of the American form of government). And, since they were Muslim extremists, they also attacked Christianity, the predominant religion in America.

The attacks made us fight a religious war. We don’t treat it like one, but our enemies certainly do. The Islamic extremists consider us to be “infidels” and their goal is to destroy us. They attack and kill in the name of religion, in the name of Allah. That’s why I say it’s a spiritual battle and we ought to recognize it.

How to Have Mountain Moving Faith

2011-09-04T19:28:00.001-04:00

Jesus was speaking to His disciples and mentioned faith that could move mountains. What on earth was He talking about?

Just before members of a family are shown their new house on the TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” everybody shouts, “Move that bus! Move that bus!”

Have you ever encountered a huge obstacle in your life or in the life of your church and felt like shouting, “Move that mountain! Move that mountain!”? I know I have. So, we’re going to figure out how to have mountain-moving faith. I can’t boast that I have it now, but I’m striving for it.

Let’s start with the Bible stories, for there are two of them. First, let’s look at the Gospel of Matthew:

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before Him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17: 14-21, NIV).

That was one occasion. Here’s the next one:

Early in the morning, as Jesus was on His way back to the city, He was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then He said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21: 18-22, NIV).

And now we move on to Mark, who also presents the figgy story (no pudding, as there were no figs).

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And His disciples heard Him say it. (Mark 11: 12-14, NIV).

Then later in the chapter we read:

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins” (Mark 11: 20-25, NIV).

So, based on what we’ve read, can we figure out a methodology? Here are some ways to obtain mountain-moving faith:

Put on the right gear. If you want to move a mountain, you can’t stand around naked. You need some protection. After all, it’s big and hard with a pointy tip.

I saw a poster that said, “Mountain moving faith always carries a pick and shovel.” Creative, huh? Well, guess what? Those aren’t gonna help you. How far are you gonna get with a single pick-ax and a single shovel? Actually “Mountain Mover” is a brand of snow shovel. Maybe you can move a mound of snow with it, but it won’t even make the slightest dent to a mountain.

So, what equipment do you need? You must put on the whole armor of God. I call it God’s gear. Here’s what you get, according to the apostle Paul:

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. … Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6: 11, 14-18, NKJV).

That gear includes faith, and in a different letter, Paul describes the power of faith:

“It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself” (2 Corinthians 4:13-14, NIV).

Tom Brown of Tom Brown Ministries points out, “True faith has two components: believing and speaking. … There are times to pray about problems and times to speak to the problems. … There are times when God wants us to take authority over situations rather than call on Him to do something about them. … Jesus clearly told us that we must speak to the obstacle, and that if we have faith, the obstacle will obey us.”

Meet the obstacle head-on. One commentator suggests that since the mountain in the Matthew 17 passage refers to the demon afflicting the man’s son, then the mountain must always refer to demons. Thus, this commentator implies, the only mountain-moving is exorcism. Honestly, in those creepy movies the priest is chanting and waving a crucifix and spraying holy water to move a mountain? Is the devil possession in the form of a tumor that has to be shrunk? You have to meet it head-on because it has taken over the mind.

So, if that commentator’s idea is correct, how does that apply to the fig tree? Was that tree also possessed by the devil? Is that why it didn’t bear fruit? I thought the Evil One tempted people with fruit – or was that just with Adam and Eve?

Most sane people think the mountain to which Jesus refers could be any huge obstacle or seemingly impossible task.

When running an obstacle course, a runner jumps over one hurdle and then has to jump over the next one.

The mountain may move, but may not necessarily disappear.

Being a mountain mover isn’t for the timid. It requires confrontation. It means speaking boldly and doing what God has asked of you.

UK Apologetics points out: “…in Matthew 17, the disciples had complained that they seemed to lack the power to drive out demons. Jesus rebuked them because the power to drive out demons had already been granted to them (Matthew 10: 1) and they should have held to this in faith, and not doubted. This is the key because that power belongs to God alone but when He grants a little of it to us, He expects faithful persistence! In other words, if the power to drive out demons had not been granted, Jesus would not have criticized the disciples.”

God will give you the ability to complete the task He wants done, even if it seems impossible.

Pray with confidence, but let God call the shots. Be clear what you want to happen. That’s where prayer comes into play. Allow God to speak to you. One commentator points out, “Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer move God.” Expect a dynamic response to you prayers, but one based on God’s wisdom and God will.

Discern God’s will. We must have faith (have trust) that God will move the mountain. The key is that it must be God’s will or it won’t be done.

As Paul says, “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Philippians 1: 9-10, NIV).

UK Apologetics stresses there should be a really good reason for the request: “…if one had total and utter faith – the sort of faith which Christ had when He walked upon this earth – then such an individual (if it were needful for some definite and God-sanctioned reason) could request the moving of a mountain – and God would do it!”

Let God decide if He will intervene. Pray and put the matter in God’s hands.

Ichthys.com says, “Moving a mountain is impossible – for anyone but God, but nothing is impossible for God. He is the true focus of these verses, not the miraculous event contemplated, or even the person who prays for it with such great faith. Should this actually come to pass, it would not be the miracle itself that should attract our attention, nor should the person who makes this petition be held in excessive awe, but rather God who brings such glorious things about for His own sovereign purposes. Moving a mountain is impossible, and that is the point of Jesus’ comparison. We need to understand that if we need a mountain to be moved, then God is not only capable of doing this with no effort, but He will do whatever is necessary and good and right in the fulfillment of His will and plan for our lives. He can and will do whatever is needful – we only have to believe it. We all have mountains, obstacles in our paths that are so large and so daunting that surmounting them is an obvious impossibility. But if we remember our Lord’s words here, we know that He has us by the hand, that we won’t sink in the rising waters as long as we continue to trust Him.”

Don Moen has written a song that speaks to this:

God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way.

He works in ways we cannot see;

He will make a way for me.

He will be my guide,

Hold me closely to His side,

With love and strength

For each new day,

He will make a way,

He will make a way.

If God wants something done, it will get done, one way or another. If so deemed, you can be a part of that process.

Chance it, don’t check it. Step out in faith. Take a leap of faith. You’ve probably heard those expressions before. Have you ever done it?

Jesus cursed the tree and went on His way. He didn’t make sure it died. He knew it would.

Tom Brown says, “All too often we are extremely quick to look and see if the situation has changed. If it hasn't, then we get discouraged and begin to doubt. Consequently we don't receive what we were [asking] God for.”

Paul reminds us, “For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5: 7, NIV).

When some people are given a task, their response it, “Consider it done.” We can be confident the job will get done. If we place that sort of trust in a person, shouldn’t we place even more trust in God?

The apostle James gives us this advice:

“But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. If you are that kind of person, you can’t make up your mind, and you surely can’t be trusted. So don’t expect the Lord to give you anything at all” (James 1: 6-8, CEV).

Proclaim it and consider it done. That’s a tall order for something that seems impossible, something that’s fraught with obstacles and problems.

Remember, though, that we’re talking about God here. He can do it. He has the power, as Paul reminds us:

“The Scriptures say that Abraham would become the ancestor of many nations. This promise was made to Abraham because he had faith in God, who raises the dead to life and creates new things” (Romans 4: 17, CEV).

Be in one accord. Does this mean that everyone drives a Honda?

When several people are working on the same project, they must collaborate with each other. They must all “be on the same page” in order for the process and the project to move forward.

So we must all get on board in one accord. Everyone in a church or faith group must see the necessity to “move the mountain” – overcome the obstacle or tackle the monumental task.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29: 18, KJV). Or, as another translation says, “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction” (Proverbs 29: 18, NIV).

There has to be a vision of what the outcome will look like once the hurdle is out of the way. That vision will be the driving force in reaching the goal.

Be in tune with the Spirit. We must listen to the Spirit of God. We must pray in the Spirit, as Jude tells us:

“But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!” (Jude 20-21, The Message).

That Spirit will tell us which mountain should be moved. We don’t have to guess and be moved (motivated) by the wrong thing. Paul assures us that the Spirit will guide:

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8: 26-27, NIV).

There’s actually a mountain-moving passage in the Old Testament:

“So the angel explained that it was the following message of the Lord to Zerubbabel: I am the Lord All-Powerful. So don’t depend on your own power or strength, but on my Spirit. Zerubbabel, that mountain in front of you will be leveled to the ground. Then you will bring out the temple’s most important stone and shout, ‘God has been very kind’ (Zechariah 4: 6-7, CEV).

The Spirit must be involved in the process. You’re not strong enough, or even capable, of doing such a monumental task on your own. The Spirit will lead you and help you.

Have patience. Here’s another factor: It will be done in God’s time. As the praise song “In His Time” by Diane Ball reminds us:

In His time, in His time;

He makes all things beautiful

In His time.

Lord, please show me ev’ry day,

As You’re teaching me Your way,

That You do just what You say

In Your time.

And His time is different than our time. To God, one day is like a thousand years.

Mountains move slowly. The earth shifts over long stretches of time. So mountain moving takes persistence and endurance.

As the Relijournal says, “Circumstances will tell you that whatever God promised will not happen. People, including close friends and family, will tell you you’re making a mistake not moving in some easier or more obvious direction. Only in the time of waiting can doubt arise. No one who acts on doubt can expect to receive anything from the Lord, because doubt kills the necessary faith. …it is in the time of waiting that people gain the strength and perspective they will need in order to thrive once they possess the answer to their prayers.”

Basically, don’t give up, even when everyone else thinks you should. If it is truly God’s will, it will eventually happen.

Be loving. God is love and we are to love others. The mountain-moving request must further this goal, as Paul tells us:

“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2, NIV).

This may sound a bit strange given the subjects Jesus was addressing when He talked about moving the mountain. After all, He cursed a fig tree and it died. What’s so loving about that? He also rebuked the demon. What’s so loving about that?

Actually, we see Christ’s love for people in those two actions. When He got rid of the unproductive tree, it meant that others who came along and needed to be fed by its fruit wouldn’t be disappointed there was none. When He drove out the demon, He saved the boy from a life of misery.

Paul’s component of love is often left out when people discuss mountain-moving faith. But if it’s not there, we’ve got nothing, as Paul eloquently points out.

This means we can’t make a self-centered request. We must desire to remove an obstacle that’s either a stumbling block to other people’s faith or a roadblock to spreading the Gospel.

Survey the mountain. Do you see what’s on the horizon? Is there a mountain-moving experience coming? Let’s summarize what has to be done to make that happen:

Put on the right gear.

Meet the obstacle head-on.

Pray with confidence, but let God call the shots.

Chance it, don’t check it.

Be in one accord.

Be in tune with the Spirit.

Have patience.

Be loving.

So, are you ready to get moving?

Something Beautiful, Something Good

2011-08-28T20:06:00.006-04:00

The story of the woman at the well (John 4: 1-30) is one that tells of a woman struggling, hurting, who had an encounter with Jesus that changed her life into something beautiful, something good. This woman’s experience, like some of our lives, is captured in a song written by Gloria and Bill Gaither that has the following chorus:

Something beautiful, something good;

All my confusion He understood;

Al I have to offer Him was brokenness and strife,

But He made something beautiful of my life.

Jesus is passing through Samaria. Jews and Samaritans hate each other. There are centuries of animosity and injury between these two. Particularly, from a Jewish point of view, Samaritans were unclean half-breeds, living a corrupted faith. Jews and Samaritans don’t mix. However, it seems, Jesus didn’t get this memo. He stops to rest at a well in Samaria.

Like a small town post office, in Jesus’ day, the village well was a popular place where people gathered to share the news of the day. For women, in particular, it was the center of their social life. Understand that this was one of the women’s responsibilities: to daily gather water. But far from being simply burdensome, this was something most women actually looked forward to as, in the isolated patriarchal society in which they existed, this was their one chance to get out and have fellowship.

Ordinarily the women would gather water from the local well early in the morning before the heat of the day or they would wait until after the sun set. Thus we are given a major clue that something is wrong in this one woman’s life when we note that she comes to the well at the hottest time of the day, a time when, odds are, no one else would be around. Apparently, this woman felt she would be better off if she drew her water after all the others were gone.

Much to her surprise, however, she is not alone. A man is here. And as if this isn’t surprising enough, He’s a Jew. And, even more surprising, He speaks to her! Jesus initiates contact. He looks at the woman and says, “Give me a drink.”

This is a reminder to us that He can enter our lives in ways we don’t expect. To this woman, Jesus says, “Give me a drink.” A seemingly very simple, straight forward request. But the woman immediately acknowledges the significance of this.

She replies, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (John 4: 9, NKJV). Her question encapsulates all the issues embodied in Jesus’ request. In Jesus’ day, men were not permitted to speak to women in public – not even to their wives. Jews and Samaritans were to have no contact. Make no mistake: This is a dangerous moment and the woman recognizes it.

The woman is at risk in talking to Jesus; but so is Jesus: His reputation, His respect, His standing in the community, His authority, His holiness – everything! But Jesus says, “Give me a drink” – a simple request with profound repercussions. He’s ultimately saying, “To me, you are worth the risk!”

In effect, Jesus begins by validating this woman. In a world that has her written off as less that nothing, Jesus acknowledges her existence. Even more, He’s willing to risk getting in trouble for her – she’s that important to Him! The woman struggles with this at first because this breaks so many of the rules by which she has understood everything to work, by which she has understood herself!

But that’s exactly the first point here: Jesus wants this woman to think in a new way.

Most especially, He wants her to think about herself, to see herself in a new way. The motif of Jesus runs throughout the whole scene! The longest recorded conversation Jesus had with any person is with this Samaritan woman. The first recorded time Jesus ever announced that He is the Messiah is to this woman!

This is the first idea that Jesus wants all of us to overhear: To know that WE ARE VALUABLE TO GOD – that, to God, we are worth the risk. Because we are valuable to Him, He is here, present in our lives, at work, active in our pain and struggle. Perhaps coming to us in simple moments; in unexpected comments amidst the most ordinary events of our days – seeking to lift us up and keep us going, to let us know He’s there and that He loves us.

In reply to the woman’s question, Jesus takes this image of a request for water and starts to turn it around. He says “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (John 4: 10, NIV).

As so often happens with Jesus’ words, there are levels of meaning: the literal and the spiritual; and thus levels of misunderstanding. Jesus is talking about new life and eternal life; but the woman thinks He must be talking about some spring of fresh water. You can almost see her struggle (once again) to get outside of the way she understands things, the world she knows and how it works.

She asks, “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” (John 4: 11-12, NIV).

This is what she’s actually saying: “This is how it is! This is where you get water! This is where we have always gotten water!”

Exactly the point Jesus wishes to address next! Jesus replies “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4: 13-14, NIV).

Notice the next big idea Jesus is placing before this woman. In effect, He’s saying that there is a whole different possibility. The woman, of course, immediately grabs for this. I mean, she may still be thinking in earthly terms not the spiritual terms Jesus is referring to, but still, this sounds great! Not only would she never have to go through all the trouble of drawing water, but she also would never have to face the potential shame and embarrassment which is guiding her life right now – forcing her to have to draw water at this odd time.

She says, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water” (John 4: 15, NIV).

She reaches out for this hope, for this new life – precisely what Jesus wanted her to do, because it now frees Him to press deeper, which He does. He says, “Go and get your husband.” A not unexpected request in that culture. If you’re going to do anything important, the man has to be there, right?! The woman replies, “I have no husband.” An answer that we quickly see contains an element of truth but not the whole truth. There’s something she’s holding back.

Jesus responds: “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true” (John 4: 17-18, NIV).

Jesus now reveals the source of the woman’s pain.

Now, we don’t know why this woman has been married so many times. Is it due to a series of deaths? Is it due to a series of divorces? Is she simply in the entertainment industry? We don’t know. What we do know is that, at best, she has experienced a tremendous amount of loss; at worst, she has experienced a tremendous amount of rejection. Now she is living a lifestyle that is the scorn of her community. She is hurt, injured, passed around, abused, unloved.

This is the source of her pain, her brokenness – it’s shaping and making her life what it is. Thus we see why her initial answer was somewhat evasive. This is not what she wants to talk about. Jesus has hit a nerve. The woman is uncomfortable, so she tries to change the subject:

“I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4: 19-20, NIV).

In other words: “I can see by this amazing inner knowledge You have that You must be holy man – a religious man. Well, let’s talk religion!”

It has been noted that, quite often, religion becomes a substitute for a living relationship with God. We fill our lives with talking about religious concepts – about God – to avoid talking to God about our true selves. Such it is here: Jesus has hit a nerve. He has gone somewhere this woman would rather not go. She tries to stop it. But it’s too late; the secret’s out. She had to go there whether she liked it or not.

Here is the second key message Jesus wants us to overhear: TO GET TO THE NEW LIFE, WE HAVE TO BE WILLING TO GO TO THOSE PLACES WE DON’T WANT TO GO! We have to be willing to confront all those things we so often work like mad to avoid: the pain, the injury, the failure, the anger, the shame, the remorse, the emptiness – we have to be willing to go there and confront those things!

Jesus can lift us to new life; but that requires going where we don’t want to go. All of which brings us to the conclusion of the scene.

The woman changes the subject and asks where the true place of worship is. Jesus doesn’t fight it. He picks up on her discussion of places of worship – where is the “RIGHT” one?

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4: 21-24, NIV).

Basically, Jesus says the time is coming when where you worship isn’t going to be the issue. It’s not going to be about this special place or that. For worship will not be about a location. God will be so alive in you that you will be living worship.

Hearing of this coming great age when God will be this present and alive in our hearts, the woman says to Him, “I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us” (John 4: 25, NIV).

To which Jesus gives his punch line to the whole thing: “I, the one speaking to you – I am He (John 4: 26, NIV).

In other words: The future... is now! Right now, today, this very instant, your life can be new! You can be this temple of the living God, filled to overflowing with the presence and power of God!

This is exactly what we then see take place in this woman’s life. How? Well, she runs off to tell others what she has experienced (John 4:28-30). This Samaritan woman becomes the first Christian missionary! At the close of the chapter we’re told of many coming to salvation in Christ through her! This woman, who began the story hiding out, an object of scorn, a nobody... ends the story a person of glory and honor, a person others are deeply thankful for, a person alive with the power and joy of God!

And this the third message that I believe Jesus wants us to overhear: JESUS CAN TAKE WHATEVER WE’VE GOT AND MAKE SOMETHING GREAT OUT OF IT.

I love the way this story ends – the details of what this woman makes of her experience of Jesus: First, we’re told she leaves her water jar and goes back to the city (John 4: 28). This can’t wait, she’s in a rush.

The woman then invites others to “come and see.” She knows that each person needs to have their own personal experience of Jesus. So she then tells them what he has done for her: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did” (John 4: 29, NIV). This is what true witness is. It’s not spouting religious words, it’s not having all the answers; it’s just sharing the simple things God has done for you.

All of which leads her to ask, “Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4: 29, NIV). Her faith is still struggling. It’s a baby faith, just getting going; but she’s taking whatever she’s got and running with it!

And that’s the final point, simply put: TAKE WHATEVER YOU’VE GOT OF JESUS AND RUN WITH IT! Make it the center of your life! Even if it’s just a tiny little unsure thing. As Jesus said at the outset: You’ll go from having to continually draw water, to being a fountain bubbling up! If you want the fountain to flow, let it flow! You’ve got to let it bubble over!

Jesus can take whatever you have – whatever your life have come to – and make something great out of it, if you will just bring your life to Him. What a miracle we have read about! A broken, hurting life has been transformed to a life of overflowing joy and power – all through a few words spoken at a well.

In those moments of quiet desperation, listen to what Jesus has to say.

Hear that you are valuable to God – and thus God is nearby reaching out to you in your pain.

Hear that Jesus can lift you to new life but it requires going to the places you’ve been avoiding.

And hear that God takes whatever you’ve got and makes something beautiful, something good out of it – if you will only bring your life to Him!

Knowing the Enemy and How to Defeat Him

2011-08-21T20:02:00.009-04:00

Some say the devil is just a figment in the imagination of religious fanatics, that the devil is just a way of personifying evil. They don’t think Satan really exists.

Well, does Satan exist? The Bible clearly says he does.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6: 12, NIV).

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5: 8, NIV).

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat” (Luke 22: 31, NIV).

These are the clear evidences that there is an enemy and he is the great destroyer. There are many ways that he comes into our lives to destroy what God has done and to discourage us. However, we have been given the strategy through God’s glorious Word on how we can defeat Satan. That which was concealed has been revealed for such a time as this.

Satan will attempt to defeat us by deceiving our mind and then he will try to destroy the body. He deceives as the lion devours.

When we believe his lies, we start thinking we’re worthless, we’re not good enough, and we’re nothing. We even start doubting that there is a true living God. We manage to destroy ourselves.

Many of us are familiar with the story of Job. God allowed Satan to put Job to the test:

“The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life’” (Job 2: 6, NIV).

The devil destroyed Job’s children, his flocks and herds, and his wealth. His friends were not supportive. Even his wife told Job to curse God and die (Job 2: 9). Satan did a thorough job in attacking Job.

According to the Gospel record, Satan along with his helpers attacked and destroyed the bodies of many people. He caused one man to be mute and Jesus healed the guy:

“While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel’” (Matthew 9: 32-33, NIV).

The devil caused a woman to be bent over and disabled:

“And a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then He put His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God” (Luke 13: 11-13, NIV).

Satan even had a child that would thrash himself down in the water or fire and foam at the mouth:

“When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before Him. ‘Lord, have mercy on my son,’ he said. ‘He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.’ ‘You unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.’ Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment” (Matthew 17: 14-18, NIV).

There’s no mistaking it: Satan wants to destroy our bodies.

You may ask yourself why. Why attack the body? I may be able to answer that through the Scriptures. I want you to know that to everything in life there is an answer in Scripture.

Satan does this because our bodies are for God, a temple holy and acceptable unto the Lord, as the apostle Paul tells us:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20, NIV).

God wants to use our body as a vehicle for revealing Him to the world. If we’re sick in our bodies, how can we go out and witness and be used of God? Everything God intended for good, Satan has targeted.

Satan also wants to destroy our minds. The mind is the truest image of God, where God communicates and reveals His will for our lives. God renews our lives through the renewing of our minds and He does that through His Word, the Word of God.

“Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth” (John 17: 17, NIV).

If Satan can get us to believe in a lie, then he begins to work in our lives and lead us to sin. That is why he attacks the mind. We must protect our minds from the wicked one.

Dorothy Norwood sings a song called “Shake the Devil Off” that really gets to the heart of the matter:

Shake, shake, shake,

Shake the devil off.

Shake, shake, shake,

Shake the devil off.

Shake, shake, shake,

Shake the devil off.

In the name of Jesus,

Shake the devil off.

Don’t let him ride,

He might want to drive.

Don’t let him get you down,

Put you on the ground;

He's out there seeking

Whom he may devour,

But you've got to rebuke him,

Shake him a-loose somehow!

Here are some sure ways to protect yourself from the devil’s evil schemes:

Avoid temptation. One of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer is “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Don’t put yourself in a bad situation. You won’t end up in a bar fight if you don’t go to the bar. You’re less likely to be shot or be arrested if you’re not loitering on the street corner late at night. You won’t pig out on chocolate cheesecake if you don’t buy it.

Fellowship with believers. Instead of hanging around with the wrong crowd, you should hang with the right crowd. That means that if you want to lead a righteous life, you should be with others who are trying to do the same thing. Jesus knew you’d need help along your Christian journey, and He put something in place to help you. It’s called the Church. Fellow believers encourage one another and lift one another up if one starts to stumble.

Study the Bible. Know what the Lord expects of you, and know what you can expect of Him.

Here are some key verses which encourage us to memorize God’s Word:

“I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119: 11, NIV).

“The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip” (Psalm 37: 31, NIV).

“I desire to do your will, my God; Your law is within my heart” (Psalm 40: 8, NIV).

We must meditate on God’s Word. This means taking in the Word: studying, digesting and applying it to our everyday lives.

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1: 8, NIV).

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night” (Psalm 1: 1-2, NIV).

Early in the morning and late at night, meditate on God’s Word. If you’re able to utter the Word of God, you can and will defeat Satan for a time. Remember that he will always come to test, so you have to be ready.

Have pure thoughts. This is one I find that I use often in my life. Paul writes:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (Philippians 4:8, NIV).

One of my personal favorites: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You” (Isaiah 26: 3, NIV).

Let the Spirit lead. It’s not enough just to read the Bible; you have to apply it. Remember the devil knows the Bible, too. When Jesus was tested after His 40 days of fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4: 1-11), the devil tempted Him with out-of-context Scripture passages. Jesus, though, quoted Scripture right back at the devil. You must resist the devil’s deceit as our Lord did. Mere wisdom of man can’t counter-attack the wisdom of Satan. He is cunning. So how do you defeat Satan’s tricks? That’s where the Holy Spirit comes into play. The Holy Spirit will bring God’s Word to your remembrance. God promises us that, but it has to be there in your head.

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you” (John 16: 13-15, NIV).

The Spirit won’t get you into trouble. After all, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5: 22-23, NIV).

Invoke the name of Jesus. Reformation leader Martin Luther wrote a hymn called, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” In it, he points out the battle between God and Satan:

And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God hath willed

His truth to triumph through us.

The Prince of Darkness grim,

We tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo, his doom is sure;

One little word shall fell him.

Guess what that word is. Yes, it’s the name of Jesus! There is power in the name of Jesus, and it’s your most important weapon in fighting off the devil! Jesus Christ always puts the devil in his place – and eventually, Christ will REALLY put Satan in his place: an infernal lake of fire, as John tells us:

“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20: 10, NKJV).

Win the fight! In the praise song “Blessed,” we sing about our mission to win the world for Christ and defeat the enemy:

We cast down every stronghold;
Sickness and poverty must cease
For the devil is defeated.
We are blessed.

So, these are the truths that must be used to battle the devil. With God’s help, you’ll be able to shake the devil off and shut the devil down!

Why Does a Fish Symbolize Christianity?

2011-08-14T21:49:00.009-04:00

The major Christian symbol, of course, is the cross. The fish is also a common Christian symbol. Have you ever wondered why? Let’s explore some of the possibilities.

How come a fish is used to represent Christianity?

Because it started with fishermen? The first four men Jesus called to be His disciples were originally fishermen. This is how it happened:

“Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.’ They didn't ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed. A short distance down the beach they came upon another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. These two were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets. Jesus made the same offer to them, and they were just as quick to follow, abandoning boat and father” (Matthew 4: 18-22, The Message).

They hung out with Jesus for three years, and after Jesus was crucified, they planned on going back to the fishing industry (John 21: 1-3). Instead, they all started the Church. They needed a logo, so they chose something familiar to them. Yep, that would be the fish.

Because the disciples liked to play cards? While Jesus did His teaching, the disciples could have occupied the time by sitting around and playing card games. “Go Fish” has been a popular game for ages. Do you think it goes back to Biblical times?

Because it was a new religion? When something new comes along, you say there’s a new fish in the pond. That could mean a new inmate at the prison or a freshman in high school or college. Well, Christians were the new guys in the arena (and some of them actually ended up in the arena, fending off the lions). Since they were the new fish, perhaps they decided that should be their logo.

Because it honors the lunch boy? One time after listening to Jesus teach, the crowd was getting hungry, but somebody forget to call the catering service in advance. One boy, though, was smart enough to bring his own lunch with him. The disciples found this boy, and they borrowed his lunch basket.

The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand is found in all four Gospels (Matthew 14: 15-21, Mark 6: 30-44, Luke 9: 12-17, and John 6: 4-13). We’ll look at John’s version because he mentions the boy:

“Another one of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people.’ ‘Make the people sit down,’ Jesus told them. (There was a lot of grass there.) So all the people sat down; there were about five thousand men. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted. When they were all full, He said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces left over; let us not waste a bit.’ So they gathered them all and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten” (John 6: 8-13, TEV).

Since it was the boy’s lunch which allowed Jesus to save the day, perhaps the early Church decided to use the fish as a symbol to remind everyone of the importance of feeding on the Word of God.

Because meatless Fridays were in the future? When the Church was formed, there were no restrictions on what could be eaten when. Even the Jewish Kosher laws were lifted and went away for the Christians. Somewhere along the line, the Roman Catholic Church began the tradition of abstaining from meat on Friday. Parishioners were told that on Fridays during Lent, they could only eat fish. Being forward-thinking and prophetic, the early Church leaders wanted to get church members to think about fish on Friday, which they did through this symbol. Do you think they really had the foresight to think that far ahead?

Because it was sealed with a kiss? Sometimes you see someone give a melodramatic kiss, done the same way a fish breathes. So maybe the early Christians had a fish kiss in mind. No, wait. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. As the Gospel of Mark portrays it:

“Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest Him and lead Him away under guard.’ Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. The men seized Jesus and arrested Him.” (Mark 14: 44-46, NIV).

That kiss would be a bad memory for the disciples. Let’s forget that idea.

Because it was a drinking thing? A heavy drinker, an alcoholic, is said to drink like a fish. Maybe that’s what the early Christians were thinking? Actually, it’s just the opposite. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples began speaking in tongues. People in the crowd thought they were drunk (Acts 2: 13). That’s when Peter stood up and said, “These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!” (Acts 2: 15, NIV), and then he launched into a sermon.

The apostle Paul on more than one occasion had to urge fellow Christians not to get wasted. Here are some of his admonitions:

“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy” (Romans 13: 13, NIV).

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5: 18, NIV).

So, booze certainly was not a factor in the choice of a fish.

Because it teaches money management? Christians are to live in the world but not be of the world. That means we are to live as responsible citizens, even as we focus on God and spiritual things. Jesus reminds us of this in a curious conversation He had with Peter:

“When they arrived at Capernaum, the tax men came to Peter and asked, ‘Does your teacher pay taxes?’ Peter said, ‘Of course.’ But as soon as they were in the house, Jesus confronted him. ‘Simon, what do you think? When a king levies taxes, who pays – his children or his subjects?’ He answered, ‘His subjects.’ Jesus said, ‘Then the children get off free, right? But so we don’t upset them needlessly, go down to the lake, cast a hook, and pull in the first fish that bites. Open its mouth and you’ll find a coin. Take it and give it to the tax men. It will be enough for both of us’” (Matthew 17: 24-27, The Message).

Basically, Jesus says we should have jobs and pay our bills. Peter was a fisherman by trade and so Jesus asked him to work (fish) and earn enough to pay the tax. Alternatively, the story could also mean that we should sell a possession to pay the bill (the fish had money in it; it had value).

This is in line with what Jesus said on another occasion:

“So Jesus said, ‘Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God’” (Luke 20: 25, TEV).

This “render therefore unto Caesar” quote is also found in Matthew 22: 21 and Mark 12: 17.

So the fish reminds us of our responsibility to both God and man.

Because the disciples saw stars? When Jesus was born, Wise Men from the East saw a star in the sky and followed it to where Christ was born.

Was there another star or constellation of stars when the Church was born? The Church came into being on Pentecost, which was 50 days after Easter. What’s the astrological sign for that time period? Could it be a fish?

Well, a person born between February 19 and March 20 would be under the sign of Pisces, the Fish. Sadly, Pentecost doesn’t fall between those dates. The earliest possible date is May 10 and the latest is June 13. That would place Pentecost either under the sign of Taurus, the Bull (April 21 – May 20) or Gemini, the Twins (May 21 – June 20).

So, no, the Church is not symbolized by an astrological sign. In fact, astrology and horoscopes are contrary to Christian belief.

Because Jesus was like Jonah? The prophet Jonah sort of had his own little death and resurrection experience when he was tossed overboard and swallowed by a big fish.

Wikipedia suggests this is a reason for the symbol: “Still another explanation could be the reference to the Sign of Jonah. Just like [Jonah] was in the belly of a big fish, so Christ was crucified, entombed for three days, and then rose from the dead.”

When Jonah finally arrived in Nineveh, he preached to the people, they repented of their sins and the city was saved. That’s a lot like the Christian message. Believe in Jesus, repent of your sins, and be saved.

Because it refers to eternity’s dragnet? Jesus told the parable of the Dragnet or the Net of Fish, in which He discusses God’s decision about who will go to heaven or to hell:

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13: 47-50, NIV).

Thus, the process is like fishermen sorting their catch. Are you a good fish or a bad fish?

Because it was a code? The early Christians faced persecution and at times they had to meet in secret. Some scholars say the fish served as an ID (like the secret handshake in some clubs).

The Christian History section of Christianity Today points out how it was used:

“Greeks, Romans, and many other pagans used the fish symbol before Christians. Hence the fish, unlike, say, the cross, attracted little suspicion, making it a perfect secret symbol for persecuted believers. When threatened by Romans in the first centuries after Christ, Christians used the fish [to] mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes. According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, both believers knew they were in good company. Current bumper-sticker and business-card uses of the fish hearken back to this practice.”

Some say the fish symbol was used to point to the place where early Christians were meeting. The direction of the fish head led people to the church.

Ichthys.com, however, says the idea that the fish was a secret symbol is totally bogus:

“Of one thing we may be fairly sure: early Christians – as we do or should do – sought to share their faith in Jesus Christ. They did not try to hide the Gospel ‘under a bushel.’ The idea that Christianity was a ‘secret society’ and that members communicated by secret signs with the fish being one such has no basis in historical fact. Indeed, all we know about martyrdom in the early Church suggests exactly the opposite: believers of that day were willing to give their lives for the truth in which they had placed their faith. They were not ashamed of being Christians and they did not feel any compunction to hide the fact.”

Because it’s a mission reminder? You can’t have a church function without food, and perhaps the fish reminds us of our responsibility to feed the hungry and clothe the poor, as Jesus tells us in one of His parables:

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25: 37-40, NIV).

Were the early Christians hungry when they selected the fish symbol, and did that in turn remind them of the need to feed others?

Because the Church has news to announce? Christians are to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel. You read the news in the newspaper, which is sometimes called a fish wrapper. Could there be a connection between the Good News and fish?

Because people are the catch? Jesus wants Christians to bring others into the Kingdom. This was implied when Jesus recruited His disciples:

“Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’” (Matthew 4: 19, NKJV).

Or, as another translation says, “’Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people’ (Matthew 4: 19, NIV).

The last thing Jesus did on earth was to give His disciples the Great Commission:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28: 19-20, NIV).

Because it represents church growth? When some of the disciples were fishing and not catching anything, Jesus decided to help them out:

“When Jesus had finished speaking, He told Simon, ‘Row the boat out into the deep water and let your nets down to catch some fish.’ ‘Master,’ Simon answered, ‘we have worked hard all night long and have not caught a thing. But if you tell me to, I will let the nets down.’ They did it and caught so many fish that their nets began ripping apart. Then they signaled for their partners in the other boat to come and help them. The men came, and together they filled the two boats so full that they both began to sink” (Luke 5: 4-7, CEV).

That happened when Jesus was assembling His little band of followers. After the Resurrection, the disciples were again out fishing, but caught nothing. Then Jesus comes along:

“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No,’ they answered. He said, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ (John 21: 4-7, NIV).

They all went back to shore and had a fish breakfast together. After the meal, Jesus advised Peter to “feed my sheep” (John 21: 15-17). That was the hint to start the Church.

After Pentecost, the disciples wanted the Church to grow so large that it could not be contained. They were reminded of the time when Jesus made their nets overflow with fish. We still want this for the Church today. Wouldn’t it be nice if sanctuaries were overflowing with people? In order for this to happen, we must heed the Master’s command: Go out to the deep water, for that’s where the catch will be large.

Because Christ’s name is fishy? The ancient Greek word for “fish” is ΙΧΘΥΣ (Ichthys). Early Christians came up with an acronym using those letters: Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ (Iēsous Christos, Theou Yios, Sōtēr), which translates into English as “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” Thus, the word ΙΧΘΥΣ or fish was used to mean Christ.

The Catholic Encyclopedia suggests, “It is not improbable that this Christian formula originated in Alexandria, and was intended as a protest against the pagan apotheosis of the emperors; on a coin from Alexandria of the reign of Domitian (AD 81-96) this emperor is styled Theou Yios (Son of God).”

In other words, to show that Christ is the true Son of God, in contrast to the Roman emperor’s claim, the early Christians came up with the fishy phrase (and the logo to go with it).

Because it represents baptism? Fish swim around in the water, and new Christian take a dunk in the water. That’s right. It’s called baptism. Just as fish are immersed in water, so too are converts.

Second-century theologian Tertullian in his treatise “On Baptism” pointed out the connection: “We, little fishes, after the example of our ΙΧΘΥΣ Jesus Christ, are born in water.”

Because it means solidarity? There are many types of fish in the sea, and there are many types of people in the world. But, as Christians, we all come together as one body, the Body of Christ. The body of a fish could symbolize that oneness in Christ.

As the apostle Paul puts it: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3: 28, NIV).

Because of its richness? As you can tell, there could have been many factors that led to a fish being used as a Christian symbol, some more plausible than others. Just as fish is healthy for you to eat (because it is rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, vitamins and minerals), the fish symbol is rich in tradition and spiritual lessons. It is a simple design with a complex meaning. To God be the glory!

What Was Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh?

2011-08-07T21:07:00.003-04:00

In 2 Corinthians 12: 7, the apostle Paul refers to a “thorn in the flesh.” To put this in context, let’s look at the entire passage in The Living Bible. Paul writes:

This boasting is all so foolish, but let me go on. Let me tell about the visions I’ve had, and revelations from the Lord.

Fourteen years ago I was taken up to heaven for a visit. Don’t ask me whether my body was there or just my spirit, for I don’t know; only God can answer that. But anyway, there I was in paradise, and heard things so astounding that they are beyond a man’s power to describe or put in words (and anyway I am not allowed to tell them to others).

That experience is something worth bragging about, but I am not going to do it. I am going to boast only about how weak I am and how great God is to use such weakness for His glory. I have plenty to boast about and would be no fool in doing it, but I don’t want anyone to think more highly of me than he should from what he can actually see in my life and my message.

I will say this: because these experiences I had were so tremendous, God was afraid I might be puffed up by them; so I was given a physical condition which has been a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to hurt and bother me, and prick my pride.

Three different times I begged God to make me well again. Each time He said, “No. But I am with you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people.” Now I am glad to boast about how weak I am; I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ’s power, instead of showing off my own power and abilities. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite happy about “the thorn,” and about insults and hardships, persecutions and difficulties; for when I am weak, then I am strong – the less I have, the more I depend on Him (2 Corinthians 12: 1-10, TLB).

So, what was Paul’s “thorn in the flesh?” People have been wondering about this for a long time, coming up with all sorts of speculation and wild guesses. We, however, have to be reasonable and rational about this.

First of all, what did he look like? Well, some guy in the second century AD with the bulky name of Onesiphoros wrote this description in the apocryphal Acts of Paul: “A man rather small in size, bald-headed, bowlegged, with meeting eyebrows, a large, red and somewhat hooked nose. Strongly-built, he was full of grace, for at times he looked like a man, at times like an angel.” Paul certainly wasn’t gonna win the beauty pageant, and he wasn’t the health club type, either. That, though, doesn’t help us much in our search for the thorn, but it does confirm he was rather weak-looking.

The word for “thorn” in classical Greek is skolops, and means a “stake.” (This is a painstaking revelation.)

Some scholars think Paul was referring to some sort of trouble he was facing, such as “a reference to the unremitting opposition he encountered” or “a particular source of personal temptation to evil.” What on earth are they talking about when they say “temptation”? Sexual desire? I don’t think that’s a thorn in the flesh. That’s a prick in the flesh, not a thorn! And besides, Paul says his problem was in the “flesh,” not in the mind. He obviously means something physical or bodily – so let’s toss out these theoretical possibilities.

Perhaps we can figure it out by looking at the context. Paul reveals that he has had several heavenly visions or meetings with Christ over the previous “14 years,” dating back to AD 41-42, which was 6 or 7 years after his conversion.

Paul starts talking about one such experience, and then says, “I shouldn’t even be telling you this.”

Most of us would have blabbered all about heaven, but God was able to shut Paul up. How? By this thorn thing, which kept him humble. His ego could have easily swelled, but the thorn kept him in check. The thorn or stake came from God, Paul implies, but the devil delivered it.

Naturally, Paul felt he’d be able to do a better job for Christ if he didn’t have this problem. So Paul asked the Lord three times to remove it, and the Lord refused. The Lord heard Paul’s prayer, and simply said “no.” Jesus told Paul, “My grace is all you need” (2 Corinthians 12: 9, TEV). The Lord would not remove the thorn, but gave Paul the grace to bear it. Paul gets Christ’s power, not freedom from the pain.

Paul says true Christians have lives marred “in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties” (2 Corinthians 12: 10, NIV). In that way, we’re following in the footsteps of Jesus. As Bible commentator Matthew Henry put it, “The thorns Christ wore for us, and with which He was crowned, sanctify and make easy all of the ‘thorns’ that we may at any time be afflicted with.”

Anyhow, the description of Paul’s problem as a thorn in the flesh suggests that it was painful, frustrating, and humiliating. Let’s go through some of the various possibilities suggested by people over the years:

Was it a wife? An old Scotch commentator suggested that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was his wife. (Chuckle, chuckle.) The New Testament, though, makes no mention that Paul was married. Nice attempt, but wrong. Let’s try again.

Was it a speech defect? Some researchers suggest that Pail might have had a speech impediment. Really? What’s so painful about that? Bonk.

Was it epilepsy? The Message translation refers to the thorn as “a handicap.” Some scholars theorize that perhaps Paul had epilepsy. Luke, a physician, probably would have alluded to it (if that were the case) when he wrote about Paul in Acts. Paul was a tentmaker, and as far as I know he was not disabled. Bonk.

Was it malaria? Scholars claim Paul could have contracted malaria in Perga, and this
was why Paul went to the “healthier” climate of Galatia. Malaria? That’s contagious! Imagine if Paul went around spreading the Gospel – and spreading disease! “Here, I give you a Savior – and a sickness! Now save yourself!” Bonk.

Was it dysentery? According to the American Heritage Dictionary, dysentery is “an inflammatory disorder of the lower intestinal tract, usually caused by a bacterial, parasitic, or protozoan infection and resulting in pain, fever, and severe diarrhea, often accompanied by the passage of blood and mucus.” In Paul’s letter to the Galatians (Galatians 4: 13-15), he says he was sick when he had first preached there. Depending on the translation, Paul recalls that the illness was “revolting to you” or “a great trial to you” (verse 14). Well, dysentery certainly is painful and revolting. That would be a good guess. It sounds gross enough. If indeed this is what Paul had, it was probably a one-time illness. The thorn, however, was recurring. So we’ll move on.

Was it an eye problem? Some suggest Paul had a painful eye disease, such as ophthalmia (inflammation of the eyeballs). In his letter to the Galatians, Paul continues by saying, “I am sure that if it had been possible, you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me” (Galatians 4: 15, CEV). It sounds as if Paul is explicitly saying that it was his eyes which bothered him. Whoa! Not so fast! “To pluck out one’s eyes” was a common metaphor back then for giving up one’s most precious possession in an effort to help out another person (according to the Interpreter’s Bible).

Later in his letter, Paul points out: “See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!” (Galatians 6: 11, NIV). If he couldn’t see well, perhaps that’s why he ordinarily dictated his letters; but now, urged by the spiritual danger of his dear friends and having no secretary around, he wrote the letter himself. But if the thorn was supposed to deflate his ego, poor eyesight just doesn’t cut it. Besides, remember when Paul was converted to Christianity on his way to Damascus? Acts 9: 1-18 says he was blinded for three days. Then a Christian named Ananias came along and restored Paul’s sight (with the help of the Holy Spirit, we should be quick to point out). He was blind, then he could see (both physically and spiritually). How could poor vision be a thorn if that problem was solved? Bonk.

Was it physical pain? Some modern translations (such as the New English Bible) refer to the thorn as “a sharp physical pain.” They just don’t say where. I suggest it was “down there.” Instead of swollen pride, Paul had swollen tissues. Paul had hemorrhoids!

Let’s go back and reread part of the passage from The Living Bible, this time substituting phrases which embody what we have discovered:

I will say this: because these experiences I had were so tremendous, God was afraid I might be puffed up by them; so I was given a physical condition which has been a pain in my butt, a messenger from Satan to hurt and bother me, and prick my pride.

Three different times I begged God to make me well again. Each time He said, “No. But I am with you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people.” Now I am glad to boast about how weak I am; I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ’s power, instead of showing off my own power and abilities. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite happy about my hemorrhoids, and about insults and hardships, persecutions and difficulties; for when I am weak, then I am strong – the less I have, the more I depend on Him.

Well, it fits, doesn’t it? I say Paul truly had hemorrhoids. So now you know why Paul didn’t wanna talk about his problem. Next time you go to your local pharmacy, ask for the cream that treats the thorn in the flesh!

No Expiration Date

2011-07-31T19:47:00.000-04:00

I recently came across a 35¢ cereal coupon. Nothing too unusual about that, right? Well, most coupons are for a dollar off – when you buy in some given quantity. But this coupon was for 35¢ off one box of Product 19. It said “no expiration date” and was issued in 1986. I wondered if Kellogg’s even made that kind of cereal anymore. I looked around; one supermarket chain didn’t have it, but the other one did.

So I decided to use my 25-year-old coupon, which was now worth 70¢ (as the store would double coupons under a dollar). The cashier was momentarily befuddled when she couldn’t scan the coupon (it was issued before barcodes), but soon I had my discount and I had my cereal.

I couldn’t wait to get home and try some; I hadn’t had that kind of cereal since I was a kid. (Yeah, my parents fed me healthy cereals when I was growing up: Product 19, Special K, Kix – and even what I call Gravel Nuts and Shredded Hay. Now, as an adult, my favorite cereal is Reese’s Puffs.)

Anyhow, I sat down and ate a bowl of Product 19. It didn’t taste exactly like I remember it. I recall the flakes having a little bit of a shiny coat to them, which gave them a little flavor. I don’t know if that was sugar or some chemical. Today’s flakes are rather bland. Did they change the formula? Or am I just used to my Reese’s Puffs and nothing compares?

On another shopping trip recently, I had to get more fabric softener. When I got to the store, I noticed the packaging had changed – and so had the scent. The bottle still said “Mountain Rain,” but the stuff inside smelled like wet paint. Do you honestly think I want my clothes to smell like paint? That may be the scent of acid rain, but not mountain rain. I didn’t buy it. The store had another scent, linen something or other – which really didn’t smell like linen, but it was better than paint so I bought that one.

How come any time I like a product, the manufacturer either changes it or discontinues it? Does this happen to you?

Also note that stores often say “limited quantities” or “limited time offer.” Of course quantities and time periods are limited. That’s true for everything. Do you think manmade stuff will last forever? Do you think there’s an infinite supply? Actually, I was quite amazed that I was able to find that cereal 25 years later.

We are constantly reminded that we live in a world of change. Sometimes change is good (especially if the old stuff isn’t working anymore).

Sometimes, though, it just creates more work. It seems I always have to convert things.

Over time, music from a record gets put on a cassette, gets put on a CD, gets put on a computer, gets put on some sort of portable device (flash drive, MP3 player, IPod, etc.). We always have to go to the next thing. Cars went from having 8-track players to cassette players to CD players. Soon, cars won’t play CDs, either.

At work, I still have audio on reels. I don’t know when I’ll have a chance to convert the sound to digital. When Clear Channel Rochester moved out of Midtown, we supposedly brought a couple of reel-to-reel machines with us to our new studios in HSBC Plaza. I think they’re in some storage area someplace. Hopefully they still work. In the meantime, I have historical sound and news archives from WHAM that can’t be heard.

The same holds true for pictures. Since the mid-1800s, it didn’t matter what photographic equipment was used, there was always a hard-copy print left behind to view. The picture might fade, but we could still look at it.

That’s not the case today. Most of our pictures are either on our computer or on our phone. We’re not printing pictures. Computer technology changes rapidly. Hardware changes, software changes, file formats change. Will we lose photos and family history when we don’t keep up with technology and don’t transfer stuff from one format to another? Ever find an old floppy disk and want to get the data off it? Most computers don’t have floppy drives any more, and even if you find one, the data might be saved in some now-obscure format. That’s happened to me and I wasn’t able to recover everything.

I like consistency. Know where I get that? I get it from God. He doesn’t change, as the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” reminds us:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

As you read those lyrics, do you sense a contradiction? God doesn’t change, but each morning He provides “new mercies,” which are changes. And, through Jesus Christ, He says we must be “born anew” and become a “new creation in Christ.” Those are changes, aren’t they? Yes, but those are the good changes that draw us closer to Him.

Those are individual changes. Humanity itself hasn’t changed. Oh, but yes it has, you say. Homo sapiens evolved from apes. No, actually there’s no such thing as evolution. Humans haven’t gotten any smarter.

Human beings have actually stayed the same for millennia. When you read the Bible, you find that people have looked the same (with all the same parts) and acted the same for thousands upon thousands of years.

Here’s something else that hasn’t changed. God’s Word has been preserved down through the ages. From stone tablets in the time of Moses to scrolls to printed books to electronic versions, the Bible remains. It’s been burned and banned, but never eradicated and never lost in translation.

The apostle Peter reminds us of this when he quotes Isaiah 40:6-8:

“For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the Word that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1: 24-25, NIV).

Everything is for a limited time. Even your life is for a limited time. Your life has an expiration date. At some point, you will expire.

However, there’s no expiration date on redemption. God gives people chance after chance. Even during the tribulation, there will still be a chance to repent and be saved.

Why wait that long? Take God up on His offer of salvation through Jesus Christ now. An old hymn tells us:

There’s room at the cross for you.
There’s room at the cross for you.
Though millions have come, there’s still room for one.
Yes there’s room at the cross for you.

You don’t need a coupon for this offer. There’s no fine print. There’s no expiration date. All you need to do is believe in Jesus and accept Him as your Lord and Savior. He does the rest. And He doesn’t change.

What are the Keys to the Kingdom?

2011-07-24T21:32:00.004-04:00

In a previous entry (Why Did Jesus Change Simon’s Name to Peter?), we tried to figure out how Peter got his name. That, though, isn’t the only intriguing thing about the Scripture passage in question. Let’s go back to it. Right after Simon correctly identifies Jesus as the Christ, Jesus makes this pronouncement:

“Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’” (Matthew 16: 17-19, NIV).

So if Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom, we should know what they are, right? The Bible doesn’t say, and most commentators really don’t say, either.

Well, have no fear. It’s my turn. I have your keys right here! I could be serious or I could be making stuff up. That’s for you to figure out.

Ready? Let’s try out those keys and see which ones fit.

Let’s unlock the mystery: What are the possible Keys to the Kingdom?

A net? Peter and the other disciples were given the responsibility of bringing people into the Kingdom. “Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men’” (Matthew 4: 19, NKJV).

If you catch fish with a net, do you also catch people with a net? Maybe a spiritual net? Is that a key tool that Peter was given to use?

A guest list? Some interpret the Matthew verse to mean that Peter gets to determine who gets into heaven. He stands there at the Pearly Gates judging who gets admitted based on their conduct on earth. This would be like how Santa Claus determines who gets toys – by checking to see who’s on the “naughty” list and who’s on the “nice” list. Saint Peter is Santa at heaven’s door? Then what job does Saint Nicholas have? Nick got screwed by Peter. (Think about that for a moment.) Instead of checking the list (twice) in heaven where it’s warm, Nick’s stuck checking the list at the North Pole where it’s cold. I guess saints do have their place.

Actually, neither Peter nor Nicholas writes the list. No human being or church has the authority to add or remove names from the Book of Life. That’s Jesus’ job. Only Christ can grant (or deny) salvation. Peter tells us this in the book of Acts:

“Only Jesus has the power to save! His name is the only one in all the world that can save anyone” (Acts 4: 12, CEV).

People, though, do have the authority and responsibility to determine who can join an individual church on earth.

A sackcloth? I’m not exactly sure what sackcloth is, but people used to dress in that to express their guilt and shame for whatever they did wrong. It was a way of repenting. I’m told it looked great on the fashion runway, especially when worn with ashes.

This is the proper fashion statement:

“So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9: 3, NIV).

“You people of Chorazin are in for trouble! You people of Bethsaida are in for trouble too! If the miracles that took place in your towns had happened in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have turned to God long ago. They would have dressed in sackcloth and put ashes on their heads” (Matthew 11: 21, CEV). The CEV note on that verse says that the combination of sackcloth and ashes “was one way that people showed how sorry they were for their sins.”

It was also great funeral garb, as we learn from the psalmist who went through a period of mourning:

“You have turned my sorrow into joyful dancing. No longer am I sad and wearing sackcloth” (Psalm 30: 11, CEV). And the CEV verse note tells us that sackcloth is “a rough, dark-colored cloth made from goat or camel hair and used to make grain sacks. It was worn in times of trouble or sorrow.”

Sackcloth isn’t so popular anymore. Go to the clothing store and see how many choices you have in the sackcloth department. As for ashes, they seem to only be in fashion once a year on (you guessed it) Ash Wednesday.

In any case, repentance could be a key, as alluded to in the Book of Acts:

“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2: 38, NIV).

A flute? Didn’t Peter play the flute and get all the rats to follow him? Oh, wait. That was Peter Piper or maybe the Pied Piper. There was some guy who pickled peppers and probably fed them to the rats. Perhaps that was a different Peter. The apostle Peter must have praised God in some way; maybe like this:

Praise the Lord.

Praise God in His sanctuary;

praise Him in His mighty heavens.

Praise Him for His acts of power;

praise Him for His surpassing greatness.

Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise Him with the harp and lyre,

praise Him with timbrel and dancing,

praise Him with the strings and pipe,

praise Him with the clash of cymbals,

praise Him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

(Psalm 150, NIV)

See, there’s a pipe mentioned in the psalm. That could be a flute. Where I am going with this? Well, you should have a song in your heart. You should be “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5: 19, NKJV). So a Christian song is another possible key – or maybe it just translates to keys on the piano or organ.

A truth serum? One person writing on the Internet put forth this piece of brilliance:

“The keys of the kingdom of heaven are: sincerity, more sincerity, and more sincerity. All people have these keys. People use them – advance in spirit status – by decisions, by more decisions, and by more decisions. The highest moral choice is the choice of the highest possible value, and always, this is to choose to do the will of God.”

Honestly, I have no idea what that means. It sounds like it could be some sort of truth serum you use to make the right choice.

A flame? Peter was given authority in the name of Jesus and power in the Holy Spirit to begin the Christian Church.

Tongues as of fire appeared on the disciples at Pentecost, the day Church was born. Who preached the sermon that day? Peter, of course (as described in Acts 2). The disciples were timid before that event, but became bold on Pentecost. They, and consequently Christian leaders down through the ages, got the power and authority necessary to recruit and admit members into the Church, the Body of Christ.

The Holy Spirit fires people up. A key is used to turn on the ignition, and the Holy Spirit can ignite your life.

A fruit basket? Everybody likes getting a fruit basket as a gift. Well, everyone but me. I don’t like fruit. (I’ll take the cookie basket.) In any case, a bunch of fruit would be a nice present, especially if it’s special fruit. Paul thought it was. He tells us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5: 22-23, NIV).

You’d think that those “fruit of the Spirit” would be good tools in advancing the Kingdom and reversing the “original sin.” This is good fruit, not the bad fruit that got Adam and Eve in trouble. Reverse the curse. Trade in the key that got humans kicked out of paradise and accept the keys that get you into the Kingdom of Heaven.

A sacrament? Some say the sacraments are keys. How many sacraments are there in the Catholic Church? Seven? Well, seven is a number of completion (God made the world in seven days; there are seven days in a week). Perhaps Catholics think those seven things completely unlock the Kingdom. Baptists don’t have sacraments. We’ve got a couple of ordinances, though. Those two things are baptism and Communion. Maybe baptism is a key, as it’s part of the Great Commission:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28: 19-20, NIV).

That’s at the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, in which Jesus is telling us how to advance the Kingdom.

A cross? The cross is a central symbol in Christianity.

Jesus said, “Come, take up the cross, and follow Me” (Mark 10: 21, NKJV). Peter literally followed in Christ’s footsteps, also ending up being crucified (according to tradition). So, for Peter the cross really was the route to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The cross symbolizes the Gospel message. Many Bible commentators maintain that one of the keys to the Kingdom is the preaching of the Gospel. Christ is the door, as He tells us in the Gospel of John:

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10: 9, NKJV).

And, later on, Jesus makes it even clearer:

“Jesus said to Him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14: 6, NKJV).

The Gospel message unlocks that door and lets you into the Kingdom. Your relationship with Jesus Christ is the key to access to the Father. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be such:

“I will place on His shoulder the key to the house of David; what He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open” (Isaiah 22: 22, NIV).

That’s echoed in Revelation:

“These are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open” (Revelation 3: 7, NIV).

Recall that Jesus gives Peter the keys right after Peter acknowledges Jesus as the Christ.

Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in his Word for Today Bible says, “The Gospel is the key to the kingdom. The declaration of who Jesus is and what He did is what opens the door to heaven, allowing others to make that same declaration that will set them free. Also we introduce people to Jesus and they trust in Him, they are bound to Him on earth and will be bound to Him in heaven. As they are loosed from their sins here on earth, so also will they be loosed forever in heaven, freed from the bondage of sin. It is interesting that Peter was the first one of the disciples to preach the Gospel and that he was also the first one to introduce the Gentiles to the Gospel. But in doing so he exercised the same privilege that is ours as we take the confession of who Jesus is and share it with the lost and dying world.”

A ruler? Many commentators also maintain that along with the proclamation of the Gospel, the other key is church discipline. I’m told nuns used to smack students’ knuckles with a ruler to punish classroom offenses. A ruler, then, was used to enforce the rules.

Jesus tells us how church discipline is supposed to be done:

“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18: 15-18, NIV).

Note that this passage uses the same “bind” and “loose” language as we find in Matthew 16. So that connection indicates this is a key.

Carl Gobelman, on his New Creation Person blog, explains how the keys that I’m calling cross and ruler work:

“Both of these keys – the preaching of the Gospel and church discipline – function in opening and closing the doors to the Kingdom of Heaven. Through the preaching the gospel, those who respond in faith and repentance are allowed access to the Kingdom of Heaven; yet those who continue to harden their hearts and reject the gospel of God’s saving grace are shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven. Similarly, through church discipline, the person who is caught in sin and remains unrepentant is barred access to the means of grace (Word and sacrament) and fellowship with the community of believers. However, if the sinner repents, he or she can be allowed back into church and given access to all the means wherein.”

A keychain? Jesus presented Peter with the keys to the Kingdom, and not just one key. So perhaps several of the suggested keys are on that keychain. In any case, the keys all point to Christ and all can be used to lead others to the Kingdom. Peter didn’t lose the keys (as we sometimes do); he passed them on to the Church – so we can use them, too.