Dear Lord, Thank you for my life and the call you have on it. Lord, I pray that men would begin to act like men. Our world is actively trying to keep men immature and acting like boys. Our enemy is afraid of mature, godly MEN. Becuase Godly men are dangerous for his kingdom. When […]
via I pray that we may act like men — The Isaiah 53:5 Project
This is a great observation, the amount of phony, posers, pretenders in the world is staggering. They’re the ones who are usually so obsessed about pointing out how messed up everyone else is. They are the ones that a mile wide and an inch thick. They think principles are about who you sleep with, or what the new movie is about, or what they saw on FaceBook or CNN. Then there are the ones who live their lives in integrity, focus on the eternal things, the things that create, sustain, perpetuate, strengthen and not the phoniness of the current age. So please, be authentic, be a genuine man and woman, and frankly, that can only be done in Jesus. I’m not sure if this is what Ms Gilbert intended, but I appreciate at least the theme of her blog.
I thought this was a wonderful way to approach whatever endeavors we are involved in. It’s being yourself which grounds and guides us. The start of the year, significant birthday or any milestone event, arrives and fills us with new possibilities for the future. But along with our enthusiasm can come an unwitting loss of…
via Don’t Worry About Being Original. Just Be Authentic – Elizabeth Gilbert — The Seeds 4 Life
Jesus was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me.” Their sound has gone out into all lands, and their message to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:4 INVITATORY AND PSALTER O God, make speed to save us. O Lord, make haste to help us. Glory to the Father, and […]
via Evening Prayer 12.28.17, The Holy Innocents — The Daily Office
A very large part of the debate between Lutherans and Roman Catholics was and still is, the importance of Scripture versus that of tradition. Luther and others, Martin Chemnitz in this particular case, felt that the Roman Church was much more interested in elevating the importance of tradition and the ruling of the Church, via the Pope and the Cardinals. This was in reality, probably much more of a hot button issue in the debate than the discussion over indulgences. The debate over the unique and sole authority of Scripture certainly being inclusive of the debate over indulgences.
I’m reading Chemnitz’s “Examination of the Council of Trent” (Part 1 Translated by Fred Kramer, published by Concordia Publishing House copyright 1971). This council was called by Pope Paul III, as a reply to the Lutheran Reformation in 1547. The original intent was to try and reconcile some of the issues, I do believe it was a good faith attempt by the church to examine if maybe, just maybe, Luther might have a point in some areas. The result didn’t come close, in fact it hardened the position the Roman church held before the Reformation.
But as Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon left the scene a new voice stepped in to further the cause of the Reformation and Christianity. Martin Chemnitz wrote extensively and persuasively in order for the Lutheran Reformation to continue to advance Christianity. Well could be if it weren’t for Chemnitz, the Lutheran Reformation might have been a brief bright flash in the Church, only to be repressed by the Roman Church or limited to an obscure corner of the church.
Chemnitz argued that none of the early church fathers had favored the canon of Scripture that had been organized by the church in the 4th century. While there was a time that the apostles and early church leaders did not have canon and had to preserve and pass on Scripture orally, they never intended for that to be the practice. They had written down the books of the New Testament and as much as possible intended all Christians to rely on the written, universally agreed on, books of the New Testament.
Chemnitz writes: “…Irenaeus says: ‘The apostles delivered to us in the Scriptures what they had preached.’ And for what purpose? What use did the apostles want the church to make of this their Scripture? Irenaeus answers: ‘That that which they delivered to us in writing might in the future be the foundation and pillar of our faith,’ namely, of that faith which the church received from the apostles and delivered to her children. Therefore we have in the Scriptures which the apostles delivered to us by the will of God the foundation and pillar of the only true and life-giving faith of the primitive church, received from the apostles. It is called the foundation of faith, because faith is learned, known, built up and received from it. It is called a pillar because through it that faith which alone is true and gives life is proved, confirmed, defended against all corruptions, and preserved. A faith, therefore, which is built up, received, proved and confirmed from any other source than from the Scriptures transmitted by the apostles is not the true, life-giving, apostolic faith of the primitive church. This lies most clearly and firmly in the argumentation of Irenaeus. And later he says that those are heretics who do not agree with the apostolic writings, and he describes the marks of the heretics in these words in chapter 2: ‘When they are proved wrong from the Scriptures, they turn and accuse the Scriptures themselves, as if they were not correct and were without authority [wow! where do we see that today? Everywhere including the churches from across the spectrum who don’t like to get too dogmatic. Basically so much of Christianity today that likes to pick and choose and make it up]. “both because they speak now one way, now another, and also because the truth cannot be found from Scripture by those who do not know the tradition; for (so they say) the truth was not given through epistles, but through the living voice” etc [kind of the same whiney make-believe rationalism of today].
Chemnitz goes on to quote Irenaeus that the apostles had passed on God’s word and did not intend to leave room for tradition and additions to God’s word, that their writings were to be the foundation of the church: “…Irenaeus shows in this statement for what purpose the apostles delivered their doctrine to us in the Scriptures and what use they wanted made of this Scripture in the church, namely, that it should be the foundation and pillar of our faith who have not heard the living voice of the apostles. And he adds that those are heretics who either cast away those Scriptures or turn and accuse them of speaking inconsistently and say that the truth cannot be found in them, unless besides these Scriptures the traditions are added which are treated as having been handed down by the apostles orally.”
Chemnitz put a lot of weight on Irenaeus’ word on Scripture. Irenaeus was a very early defender of the Christian Church, going back to the second century. He was also a leader in opposing the heresies of the period. He took Scripture seriously and did not take lightly any attempts to dilute what was written by the apostles only about 100 years earlier and passed on through the church from all over the Christian world, Asia, Europe, Africa, which generally subscribed to the canon of the New Testament.
This article really hit home with me because what of suicide means to me as a Christian and especially in terms of the fact that the group most affected, is becoming most likely to commit suicide are men in their 50s, like me.
So what’s the difference? Clearly as a Christian, as a pastor, I see suicide as the final act of those who are hopeless, who see nothing else left to live for and so chose to stop.
Why men in their 50’s? Parker-Pope points out factors such as economic, availability of prescription painkillers. That might accelerate the process, but, in my opinion, that’s not the core issue. As a Christian my faith is in the promises of our Lord Jesus Christ, my hope is in Him only, not in the economy, my expectations, what other people think etc. She does go on to point out that “…it hinted…
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Yea, rant alert, I’m not even sure how this is going to come out, but I’ve really felt I have to deal with this. I’m hoping instead of the usual knee jerk reaction of the world that I be given the benefit of the doubt, so try to over come the narrow minded lashback and hear me out. While this discussion was prompted by an “Inc Magazine” article about integrity. The discussion has been rattling around in my head and was prompted by an encounter with at least a couple with whom I have the issue.
(The article at issue is from the “The Art of Strategic Influence” produced by GE Capital, the article is in the Dec 2013/Jan 2014 issue p 8), we good with all the attribution stuff?
“…the factor that often spells the difference between success and failure is ‘strategic influence’. Today, an executive’s strategic influence is…
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This is being written on December 23, when cyber-space is filled with all kinds of Christmas greetings. So if you really don’t want to deal with anything else you may want to avoid this blog. However, you may want a little break from the Christmas stuff, you might find this interesting.
“Equality is a lie concocted by inferior people who arrange themselves in herds to overpower those who are naturally superior to them. The morality of ‘equal rights’ is a herd morality, and because it opposes the cultivation of superior individuals, it leads to the corruption of the human species” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Hmmmm, interesting, this is from the one who is practically the inspiration for the egalitarianism of today. The humanist, “progressive”, secular – “God is Dead”-movement, etc, this is actually what the “progressive” humanist leaders of today truly believe. They look at you and lie about how equal everyone is, they are lying. Their education comes in faux areas like “feminist literature”, they thing they know something because they know who Nietzsche is, but because of their very shallow learning and experience, they really don’t go any deeper into the subject.
Having said that, in stark contrast and in the Christmas spirit, we remember Luke 2: 10, the angel is speaking to the humble shepherds, out in the fields alone, not equal to anyone, the lowest on the rungs of the social scale: “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good new of great joy that will be for all the people.” In terms of human history, this is the first time that this idea was ever uttered. That something was for “all the people”, no less that God was for all the people. While there was a slip – back in human history making Jesus more for some people and less for others. None the less, for those who teach and preach Jesus, we know that in God the Father’s eyes, we are completely equal, equally sunk in our sins, in our lives, our accomplishments. The secular, the humanist, believes that there are those who are our superiors, and we need to heed them. Christians may not be the best at it, but we know that now and in the future judgment, we will all be equal in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know that God pursues them with a relentless and ultimate love said … AMEN!!!
God is totally in love you, He wants the absolute best for you. God does love you! Not in any trite way, I love pizza, I love the Red Sox. No!!! I might give up on the Red Sox, God is never, going to give up on you. As long as you’re alive, as Ezekiel describes, “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock.” Each individual sheep was very valuable to its owner. Having a very valuable piece of property; that could produce more sheep, produce wool to sell season in and season out, produce food for your family, each sheep was very valuable in and of itself. No shepherd was simply going to write off losing a sheep. As valuable, as important as that sheep was to the shepherd, how much more valuable are we to God? Look around you, look at all He’s done.
There are often discussions about how arrogant Christians are, ya in a lot of ways. You should hear the incredible arrogance of those who say such things. I would submit that we are the only beings in the universe. I would get push back as to how arrogant that is. I can do the mathematical calculations to justify my case, for those who are so sure that they have a scientific argument. They don’t, most people who actually understand the facts would agree with me, most people who like to think that they are “so scientific”, really don’t even begin to understand the science. I’m not married to this concept. It’s certainly God’s domain, if He wishes to populate more planets in the universe. It is a massively huge universe. If God wanted to He surely could and that would not impact what we have in Jesus on this planet at this time. Our all powerful, all knowing God can do what He wants. If He chooses to create a massive universe all for the benefit of His people here, He certainly could, regardless of what the pretentious, secular person wants to believe. A universe we could look up at anytime. A universe so massive and so incredibly complicated, we can’t even begin to truly conceptualize it, yet, God promises us “I myself will search for my sheep and I will seek them out.” In all that huge space, trillions of cubic miles, God will search us out and find us in all that immensity.
Dr Luther writes: “Noah and his family needed comfort. They were terrified by God’s anger, which had just destroyed the world. Because their faith was shaken, God wanted to show himself in a way that would make them expect nothing else but His good will and mercy.” That is how God is with us, Luther goes on to write: “…He was present at their sacrifice , talked to them, that He was displeased at having to destroy the human race and would never do it again.”[1] God was comforting His people in the face of all the tragedy of the world as He does for us who are in Jesus. God comforts us through His ministers, the family He’s given you, all that He has blessed you with.
We get into a lot of eschatology. God prompts Amos to write: “and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.’ 13 Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. …” 14 The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. 15 A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, … and thick darkness,” This is God trying to scare people straight. This is so necessary, especially in a world like today that is so filled with complacency, that it’s all about me, that what I expect is what’s important. Clearly, God is doing everything He can to make sure that is not how it will be and for all of those complacent people who are so careless in everything in their lives, except of course making the money they need to feed their continual need for worldly pleasure. God is not going to let it slide. There are concepts in the world that explain the different duties we owe to each other. In a hyper-individual world like today, where people truly believe they really don’t owe anyone anything, but of course everyone owes me. It can be readily understood that God is here for each, individual’s benefit, but not that anyone owes God any duty. Yes, God does have a duty towards us! He fulfills that duty constantly, He certainly did when He was pulling down Israel’s complacent world, using King Cyrus, the Persians and Babylonians to do it. That was one of Israel’s apocalyptic events. The Greeks, then the Romans and then essentially, everyone was thrown out of Canaan, Palestine, the Holy Land. It’s been restored, but to a secularized Jewish people.
There will be a final apocalypse, God will refer back to all He said in Amos: “18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, 19… 20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? 21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.“
Many in the world hear that last part and think God means justice in their limited concept of what that means. No, it means God’s justice will pour down on those who have rejected Him. He will exercise His justice on them and they will be completely crushed and immersed in God’s wrath as if they had flowed over Niagara Falls to be crushed between the waters and the bottom of the falls. His justice demands that those who reject Him be destroyed. His justice is that those who have oppressed and persecuted His church will be lost in darkness and aimless wandering, completely alone, with nothing. All they had been so obsessed with in this world. Who were so consumed by what they had and what they could do and completely complacent towards God, will find out how irrelevant and worthless their skills and possessions were and what it will be like to be completely alone, with nothing for eternity. Dr Luther writes: “For if we are Christians and stay close to him, we know that he speaks to us… He wants to comfort us with his words. Everything He says or does is nothing but friendly and comforting words and actions.” [2] God does love us, completely sold out to us, has done all He could do through Jesus Christ to save us. We have duties toward each other, we have duties toward God and yes He has duties to us. Part God’s duty is to protect us from ourselves. Just as we go to lengths to protect those who don’t know better in certain instances, doctors warn us of serious symptoms, people in a lot of areas of our life who teach us what we need to know to function and further our lives. Pastors who God uses to keep up the drumbeat that there will be an end, that we need to trust in Christ. He who died for us to pay the penalty for the sins of the world, who endured so much so that we have the promise of an eternal life of bliss and comfort and fulfillment. Where those who chose otherwise will live an eternity of utter, ultimate misery. Not my words, Yahweh’s words to Ezekiel, Amos. Jesus’ words recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. A person can treat these words carelessly and without thought. But certainly God has fulfilled His duty to us by warning us. People today don’t seem to understand the concept that there is, has been and always will be one sheriff in town. That Sheriff is our all, completely powerful God. He created everything. He created us and so because of that He does have a burning heart, a red-hot desire to bring us into the eternal world.
Despite what we like to think, it’s only on His terms. It doesn’t matter in the least to God who/what you are: “34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:” God created us the way that we started out as being. Yeah, we mess it up right out of the chute with our sin, for those who claim they’re not responsible for “how God made them”. They’re deluding themselves, God did not make us to be sinners, we chose our sins and followed through on them. But in that sense our sins do make us equal and is entirely dependent on God and that we are led by Him and not our sin, which is the practice of the world. “I’m not responsible, this is how I was made…” No! Like the lost sheep of Ezekiel 34: 11, all the lost sheep that Jesus describes and promises to save, God does exercise His duty to relentlessly pursue us: Francis Thompson wrote a poem dated 1890, named “The Hound of Heaven” Thompson describes what he did to avoid Him: “I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter.”
That is a metaphor for all of us, we flee God imposing His will on us, even though Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:30, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Despite that we, like Thompson, flee because we are going to impose our own abuse, lies, and onerous burdens on ourselves and condemn ourselves, even though God in His duty to us, pursues us relentlessly to save us from ourselves. Certainly on this Thanksgiving Day weekend, this is our ultimate thankfulness that God warns us, He pursues us, He reaches into our hearts and minds through His Holy Spirit to do everything possible to reach us. His Son died to make the Father’s promise very real that He wants to save us, on His terms, to give us an eternal life in the resurrection. Jesus died for us, stretched out on that Cross, brutally beaten, separated from His Father taking our sin on His shoulders. The Hound of Heaven like a sheep dog pursues its sheep, infinitely more passionately so that He does everything He can to save us, despite ourselves. God is completely in love and sold out to you and will go to great lengths to save you. Never forget that He loves you with an everlasting love through Jesus our Lord.
The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom He has risen! He has risen indeed! Hallelujah!
[1][1] Through Faith Alone Devotional Readings from Martin Luther June 1
[2] Ibid January 13
Pastor Jim Driskell 