Christmas 2012

I heard about all the pagan origins a few years ago, and was really disturbed by what I was seeing in scripture. I decided that until I could see direction from God through His word, I’d go without any references to Christmas in our home. After all I didn’t want to do as the heathen do. I didn’t want to worship the Lord the same way the heathen worship their false gods. That was really difficult for my family & me as we’d been raised [in God-fearing homes and Christian schools] celebrating Christmas, not with a Santa figure, but we did have a tree, lights, gifts, big meals, and the normal festivities one would expect to see in a Christian home. So we’ve now gone 4 years w/o the décor and my wife and girls have been very understanding of my position – even though they disagreed with it.

The problem I was having was not that we were worshipping God with a tree [that seems pretty nonsensical to me as that had never even been a consideration in all my years of celebrating Christmas], nor were we worshipping the tree itself. The problem was the symbol of the tree itself. My logic went that – if the symbols were originally Christian, then they were ok to use (such as the rainbow); but if the symbols were originally pagan and had been Christianized, that I felt compelled not to have anything to do with. So what it really came down to was the use of the symbols.

Last week I noticed something in scripture that I’d never picked up on before. Paul tells the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 8, that it’s ok to eat meat sacrificed to idols provided it’s not done in front of a weaker brother who feels it’s sinful (paraphrased). But then later on in a letter to two of the seven churches in Revelation 2:12-29, Jesus tells them that He has this against them, that they eat meat sacrificed to idols. This caused problems for me as I couldn’t seem to reconcile these two. I KNOW the word of God doesn’t contradict itself, so if God tells us it’s ok to eat the meat that had been sacrificed to idols, He must not have any problems with the meat itself, but rather the lack of concern/love for a [weaker] brother who found this sinful.

Based on that, the take-away I saw was that God doesn’t want us to use His creation in any way that might damage a brother’s faith. However, He doesn’t have a problem with us enjoying His creation either. After all, we read in Genesis that He was pleased with His creation when He created it. He said it was good.

I think back to a poem that my grandfather used to recite that I just found out is a song called Maker of the Universe. The lyrics read…

The Maker of the universe,
As Man for man was made a curse.
The claims of Law which He had made,
Unto the uttermost He paid.
His holy fingers made the bough,
Which grew the thorns that crowned His brow.
The nails that pierced His hands were mined
In secret places He designed.

He made the forest whence there sprung
The tree on which His body hung.
He died upon a cross of wood,
Yet made the hill on which it stood.
The sky that darkened o'er His head,
By Him above the earth was spread.
The sun that hid from Him it's face
By His decree was poised in space.

The spear which spilled His precious blood
Was tempered in the fires of God.
The grave in which His form was laid
Was hewn in rocks His hands had made.

The throne on which He now appears
Was His for everlasting years.
But a new glory crowns His brow
And every knee to Him shall bow.

I don’t see evidence from the bible that God has a problem with the physical objects of His creation that mankind has chosen to use as symbols to represent other things. From what I see between what Paul told the Corinthian church, and what Jesus told Pergamos and Thyatira, He doesn't have a problem with the physical meat. Likewise, He doesn't have a problem with nails, or spears, or crosses even though they were all instruments used by sinful man to torture Him to death. Likewise, God doesn't have a problem with His evergreen trees, whether they’re outside the house or inside the house. I think He does have a problem when mankind chooses to use any part of His creation in worship of either false gods, or Himself, or in any way that might damage a weaker brother’s faith. 

And it is with this understanding that we dusted off the fake Christmas tree in the garage and our daughters had a great time decorating the house together.

I may not have made my point clearly enough, in fact, I probably didn't, but I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. I'm fully convinced in my own mind based on the guidance of the Holy Spirit through His word that we have freedom in Jesus Christ in regards to anything that He didn't expressly forbid in His word. Christians know that although there are powers and principalities behind idols, the idols themselves aren't anything (not that I'm advocating the use of idols) but wood and stone. Evil symbols are a way for Christians to identify earth dwellers who are enslaved to them. Christians aren't enslaved to Christmas trees, or lights, or gifts. We are voluntarily enslaved through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. He is our number one, on our list of one.

 

We’ve had a great time this year celebrating the moment that the promised “He” of Genesis 3, loved us enough that He came to tabernacle with us in order to offer Himself as a spotless sacrifice for our sins, that we might be made righteous in Him in the eyes of the Father.

 
Jesus isn’t the reason for the season – He’s the reason for everything!

Thank you Jesus.

Blinding Unbelief

So, currently, during the day while I’m working, I’m listening to a guy teach a Sunday School class to a group of adults on the book of Hebrews. His insight is amazing. We’re somewhere around chapter 9, but I’m not exactly sure, as I said, I’m working while listening. The information sticks, but the details like where we’re reading from sometimes escape me. In any case, God made a connection in my mind in what he told me through this teacher and it’s so great, I wanted to post it so I could always have my thoughts written out, as well as if anyone else ever reads this, maybe they can be edified by it as I was.

The idea is this…

In the Old Testament the nation of Israel chose NOT to believe God when He promised He would give them the ‘Promised’ land. They had seen His power. They had tasted His blessings. They knew He was God. Yet, corporately as a nation as a whole, they chose to believe that they would die if they tried to take the land of Canaan. In fact, they actually complained that they didn’t understand why God would bring them out of slavery in Egypt just to watch them die and their children die in battle against the Canaanites. In essence, they didn’t believe God would keep His word and give them the land of Canaan (which is symbolic of being given salvation). As such, they planned to stone Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, and then return to Egypt (which is symbolic of being in bondage to sin).

Wait a second, Israel was supposed to be a light to the world. ALL nations were to be blessed through Israel. How would ALL nations (the Gentiles, the world, more specifically… me) be blessed if Israel didn’t believe God and was sentenced to not being accepted into Jesus’ salvation?

In my paraphrase, God said, “You’re worried about your kids? Ok, I’ll take care of them. I’ll let them into Canaan (the promised land, my rest, the rest from my works, my Sabbath, my salvation) and they will be cared for, but because you have not believed in Me, you will not enter. Because you have not believed Me, you will wander the wilderness (symbolic of “a lonely place” later on in the gospels) until every one of you dies.”

In other words, the excuse Israel gave was their kids. So, because they were unbelievers, they weren’t saved, and the choice to believe Jesus fell to their children. Their children did believe and were saved.

Parallel this with the nation of Israel not recognizing (believing) that Jesus was their Saviour. They were given EXACT information as to who their Saviour would be, and even an EXACT date that He would make Himself known back in the book of Daniel. Yet when He did, they didn’t believe Him. Beyond that, their response was “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! May his blood be upon us!” They didn’t believe Jesus was the One who created everything. They didn’t believe that Jesus was the One who made the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They didn’t believe Jesus was the I AM from the burning bush. They didn’t believe Jesus was the One who brought them out of their bondage in Egypt. They didn’t believe Jesus was the One that spoke to them from Mount Horeb. They didn’t believe Jesus was the One who wrote the 10 commandments with His own finger in stone. They didn’t believe Jesus would take them into the promised land. They didn’t believe Jesus was God. And why not? When you stop and think it through, it’s really understandable that Jesus is God – as Israel would’ve understood. Think about it. When God made His promise to Abram, did He say, I am God “the Father”? No. When God reiterated His promise to Isaac and later Jacob, did He say, I am God “the Father”? No. When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush did He say, I am God “the Father”? No. There is no mention of God “the Father” in the Old Testament. So when Jesus shows up in the New Testament why should there be any doubt that Jesus is God based on the miracles that everyone saw Him perform and the way in which He identified Himself? Yet, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! May his blood be upon us!” And so it is.

Because they didn’t believe Jesus was God – because they didn’t believe Jesus was their Saviour, “…blindness, IN PART, was given to the Jews…” But wait, how will ALL nations (the Gentiles, the world, more specifically… me) be blessed if the nation of Israel is again blind? Jesus goes on to say, “…until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.”

While growing up, I’ve often wondered how the nation of Israel could be so stupid. How could they see God’s power, see Him, hear His voice, and still disbelieve Him; at times so blatantly as to make a golden calf and call it God. Why wouldn’t they call out to Him if they had doubts? How could they so easily forget the 10 plagues God used to spiritually dethrone all of Egypt’s false gods and bust them out? Now I think I know why. God had the nation do this so it would be recorded and He could show Christians like me the similarities between the nation of Israel who didn’t believe Jesus would keep His word by taking them into Canaan (saving them), and someone today not believing Jesus would keep His word by taking them into Eternal Life (saving them).

So the Jews are again blindly wandering in a lonely place of unbelief while others are being brought by into salvation by Jesus. And as soon as Jesus has every Gentile in that He has always known will choose to believe Him, He will take the blindfold off of Israel and they will recognize Him as their Saviour by the nail prints in His hands.

God is so good. God is so good. God is so good. He’s so good to me!

Himself THE Lamb

Note to Self:
In Genesis 22:8, Abraham says, "God will provide for Himself THE lamb..."

I like this. This verse subtly stresses that He/God/Jesus is THE Lamb that He Himself is providing that will eventually be sacrificed.

THE lamb, that God Himself provided, for Himself, was sacrificed in that same exact location 1000s of years later, in my place, as payment for my sins against Him, that He has always known I couldn’t pay. God Himself, gave up the glory of Heaven, packaged Himself in the physical confines of a human body and then came down to where I live and was born. He was born in order to be the perfect man, in order to fulfill the contract that He had made with mankind through Israel that could NEVER save me from the just punishment I so deserve as a law-breaker. He did all this so that He could legally write up a new contract that would save me. He loves me that much.

I like this a lot!

The Difference Between Islam and Christianity

Jesus healed the sick.
Muhammed healed no one.

Jesus could make the blind see.
Muhammed could only make the seeing, blind.

Jesus made the crippled walk.
Muhammed could make the walking, crippled.

Jesus could take a dead man and make him alive.
Muhammed could take a live man and make him dead.

Jesus multiplied food to feed thousands.
Muhammed could divide the loot among his followers.

Jesus could walk on water.
Muhammed could ride a camel.

If you visit Medina, you can see the tomb where Muhammed is buried.
But if you visit Jerusalem you’ll find an empty tomb. The Lord Jesus Christ has risen.

He is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Life. NO ONE comes to the Father, except through Him.

-Courtesy of Dr. Peter Hammond via Todd Friel of Wretched TV (09/10/10 Episode).

Walking with Dinosaurs at the Staples Center

So a group of us, through Creation Science Evangelism, been going down to the Staples Center in Los Angeles to hand out tracts that give the biblical perspective on dinosaurs to people exiting the 'Walking with Dinosaurs' show. This show is done by the BBC and is on a world-wide tour presenting ONLY the evolution religion's point of view. I've learned a lot about taking a public stand for Christ. It's been amazing to connect with other Christians in order to represent our King to this fallen world.

Saturday morning I went out for the last showing I'd committed to, and my eight year old daughter went with me. It was great! We handed out tracts offering the exiting crowd the biblical perspective on dinosaurs. We were also able to hand out some $1M bills and explain to them that the reverse side of the bill explains how Jesus took the punishment we deserve for our crimes (sins) against God so that we could be pardoned. Some people stood behind us and laughed at us, some were disgusted and cursed at us, some said the bibilical perspective was trash. Most people we talked to said, "No thank you" courteously. But some people took the tracts. Of those, many thanked us. Some were reading the tracts while they walked to their cars. Some even came back and asked my daughter for another one to give away to other people. My daughter was REALLY surprised that people came back to ask her for another one.

As we were saying goodbye to the L.A. Coordinator, Garth; he knelt down to my daughter's level, hugged her, and with watering eyes, he said, "Just think, someday when we get to Heaven, someone might come up to you, hug you, and thank you for giving them a bible tract, because they were led to salvation through Jesus because you gave them a tract." God put us in the company of some of His most outstanding servants in this event. I look forward to someday working with them to expand God's kingdom again someday.

I'm so thankful that I was offered this opportunity to take a stand for Christ in a way that is more bold than I have thus far, and I can't wait to see what He leads me to do for His glory next. I'm thankful that my daughter got to see first-hand what it means to take the name of our Saviour, both the rewarding and the difficult, and I can't wait to see how He grows her in Him in the future.

Thank you Lord for the opportunity to serve you. Thank you for taking the punishment I deserve so I could go free and live forever with you. Until I can thank you face to face, please send me more opportunities to step out in boldness for your name's sake, so that you might save some from Hell.

For They Have Consulted Together with One Consent

So I've been listening to different scholars speaking on prophecy and one man in particular has stood out to me. His name is Walid Shoebat. I originally heard him speak on a podcast called Salvation Revelation by Frank Lordi that I subscribed to via iTunes.

Mr. Shoebat was a former PLO terrorist who became a Christian while trying to convert his Christian wife to Islam. He has now become an advocate for Israel. Walid was born in Bethlehem and as a result of being raised Muslim, he has a different view of the bible than those of us Christians that were raised here in the West.

It was Mr. Shoebat that pointed out to me that all of the nations that are listed by name in the bible as being judged by Christ upon His 2nd coming just happen to be Muslim nations.

-Isaiah: Egypt, Lebanon, and Edom
-Habakuk: Midian
-Psalms: Ishmaelites, Syria, & Iraq, Moab, Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, Amelek, Philistia, Tyre, & Assur
-Ezekiel: Turkey

I find this VERY interesting.

A Child Was Born, But The Son Was Given

Who was Jesus Christ?
People often wonder why the Bible presents the life of Christ four separate times in the gospel books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John). If you ask this same question I want to challenge you to re-read them with the following in mind:
1. Matthew was a Jewish tax collector for the Romans prior to becoming a follower of Christ. Tax collectors weren't liked by the Jews, because they would over-tax the people and keep the extra money in order to become wealthy and live like Kings. God inspired the author to write the book of Matthew in such a way as to portray Jesus as a King.
2. John Mark served with his cousin Barnabas & the Apostle Paul for the first part of Paul's missionary journey. God inspired John Mark (probably through Paul) to write the book of Mark in such a way as to portray Jesus as a servant. Personally, I think John Mark saw Jesus as a servant because John Mark would have been striving to see those attributes that he had in common with Jesus.
3. Luke was a physician. God inspired Luke to see Jesus as a man. From His birth, through His life, to His death Dr. Luke was given the ability to give a completely new perspective on the life of Jesus, based on his profession.
4. John was self-titled "the disciple that Jesus loved". John was inspired to see Jesus as God.

Who is Jesus Christ?
The prophet Isaiah said, "unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given..." Look at that closely. The child wasn't given, nor was the son born. The Son of God wasn't a created being that needed to be born to exist. A child needs to be born to exist. Isaiah was saying that the Messiah would be fully God and at the same time, fully man.
Who is He? He is the King of the Jews, He is the King of Israel, He is the King of righteousness, He is the King of the ages, He is the King of Heaven, He is the King of glory, He is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. He is the single most powerful being that has ever existed, or will ever exist. He is my King, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Rock, my Shelter, my Father, and my Friend.

Why do I care?
Because Jesus took the punishment I rightly deserve, which satisfied His Father who is just, and then beat it by overcoming it, the bible says I am now joint heirs with Jesus. His righteousness is accounted to me & therefore my sins are not counted against me. On judgement day, there won't be any charges brought up against me. It will be just as if I'd never sinned because when God looks at me, He will see His Son in me. He will see that His Son has already paid in full the consequence for my sin back at Calvary. He will see His Son's redeeming blood on the lentils and doorposts of my heart, soul, mind, & strength and His judgement will pass over me. Therefore, I don't need to fear death. I don't need to worry about my earthly reputation or what other people think about me. I don't need to worry about trying to become successful. My reward is that one day, I will get to meet Jesus Christ face to face and I'll have all of eternity to fall at His feet and thank Him for what He did for me. There is NOTHING that this world has to offer that makes me more successful than that.