A Yearning for Eden

Yesterday and the day before, by mid-afternoon, a brilliant sun pierced the clouds that had hovered over our heads here in Georgia. Similarly, the sun broke through what might be my clouded thinking. I’d been thinking, and wrote, about renewal, a refreshing wind of the Spirit that blows upon us now and then. I’d not thought there was anything we could actually do to bring upon us this Spiritual Bliss. Yet maybe there is something that will contribute, be pleasing to G-d such that He brings us into His Rest, even if just for a sampling of the Rest we will enjoy with Him eternally.

It also occurred to me that there is a desire within us all to enter into this Rest with our Lord. I don’t suppose it is thought of like that to most people, though. This desire is a yearning that is born out of a tearing away within our souls, within the soul of humankind. It happened way back when. . .

. . .the LORD God sent [Adam] out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:23,24

As a people, we’ve been trying somehow to regain the loss of Eden. When us older folks look back on the 1950s and say that those were simpler times, safer, filled with harmony, we are longing for Eden. Eden is Paradise. It is a place in which we put aside our daily lives of toll and receive for free the fruit of nature for which we don’t have to work. It is Rest for our lives.

This yearning for the Garden manifests itself in many ways. One of them is thrill-seeking adventures. Whether that takes us to the highest mountains or the most distant shores, makes no difference. It is yearning after some peace. It is an itch that we try to scratch through various ways, yet always it returns, unsatisfied.

Eden’s call prompts us to metaphorically clasp our hands to our ears. We drown of at least dull the sound with various addictions: alcohol, drugs, sex, even power and money, and more.

We see the yearning for Eden in the dreams of utopia. A place where people live in harmony with one another, a place of peace. We sse it in what once took place in America, a flight of city folk migrating into rural areas to get away from the hustle of a non-sensical (in my opionion) way of life with its constant demands and its constant hassles.

This yearning affects those of us that don’t acknowledge the Lord Y’shuaJesus just as it affects those who do. But we, as Believers, have been granted a time weekly in which we can participate in G-d’s Rest: The Sabbath.

In their booklet, The Sabbath: Entering God’s Rest, Barry & Steffi Rubin tell of us about the traditional practice of observing the Sabbath. No, not going to church on Sunday, but the real Sabbath, the G-d ordained Sabbath. The day the commemorates the Rest G-d observed after creating the world. It begins a sunset on Friday night and continues until sunset Saturday night.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Genesis 2:1-3

And the LORD said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you.

Exodus 31:12-14

Okay. I can hear your objections. We are Christians. We come under the New Testament. This stuff is Old Testament Law. Y’shuaJesus said He came to fulfill that Law. Am I right? Of course. That’s what you think. Is that really what G-d thinks?

Well?

Throughout Israel, Y’shuaJesus called people to Follow Him. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath to pray and to teach. The Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, went on the Sabbath to the synagogue to pray and to teach. And got thrown out of a few, too. True, the vision of the Sabbath that the Pharisees held was not exactly the vision held by our Lord.

The Sabbath is a day we purpose to set aside. Not only do we put away our daily toll, but we complete our weekly work BEFORE the Sabbath. Begin by setting aside Sabbath to do good. Not Sunday, mind you. Set aside Friday night until Saturday night. Try it!

Do it! See if you can put aside the Sabbot from Friday night until Saturday night, dedicating it to the Lord. See whether or not you are blessed for it. I know you will be.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Springtime for the Heart

4-2010- 064 — Winter in Georgia
by Wil Robinson

Winter is long gone; so too spring. It is now summer. Yet there are heavy clouds that obscure the sun. It doesn’t have to be winter to just feel like it. The sky looms darkly over Georgia like an anvil ready to drop on our heads at any moment. Yesterday, showers with lightning and thunder, then out of the darkness followed bright sun and blue skies. The seasons are confused. Looking outside, the temperatures may be in the 20 C range but it appears like more like 20 F. Are we depressed? Are we sad? Do we just feel like crying? Do we even know why? Perhaps prompted by the weather, what we see though the window, we stare at the state of our nations, our people, and we mourn like Jeremiah mourned.

His people were far from G-d. And to this he wrote:

“For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.”

Lamentations 1:16

Looks Like Winter — A Glooming Perspective
by Wil Robinson

Jeremiah had cause to weep. Things hadn’t gone well for his people. G-d felt very far away. And his people had distanced themselves from Him. And He allowed disaster to strike. And perhaps as we look through our own eyes, we see a world not much different than his. We as a people are distant from our G-d, too. Here in America, there are many that cry out to the nation to repent and turn to G-d before it is too late. It’s another Welsh revival that we seek. Or a revival like the Azuza Street Revival. We want the Spirit of G-d to fall upon us and lead us as a nation back into being a Christian nation. We want the 1950s back, were life seemed some how simple. So we mourn, too, like Jeremiah.

And we see what might be signs of revival, like what started down in Lakeland, Florida. It was suppose to be a move of G-d that had begun in Toronto, Canada. People flocked to the church services looking for a “blessing,” looking for the Spirit of G-d to fall afresh up them–like the praise song goes. People yearn for something from G-d. We want to somehow “feel” His presence.

There are movements afoot that capitalize upon this yearning, too. They seek to build a peaceful kingdom here on Earth. If we just do this or that or have love and tolerance then. . . Then what? If we are honest with ourselves we can look at these movements and see the fallacies within them. On the surface they appear to promote a Christian revival. At the least, they promote a “modern” Gospel with a “modern” Messiah. Hummmmm. A New Age Gospel for a New Age. If we could all just get over the exclusivity of the old notion of one savior, one Christ, they tell us. We need to broaden our minds, our thinking. This is a darkness that engulfs the world today. Perhaps this is the mourning we feel. Naivety passes. We face a world of chaos as spoken of in the Book of Revelation. We are not building a new and peaceful world. We are seeing the first stages of chaos and the coming of G-d’s wrath that will cleanse the world in order for Y’shuaJesus to come and rule as Lord and King over a Kingdom that He will build.

We need to see clearly, despite the darkness that engulfs our tiny world, which is the limitations of our perspective. Y’shuaJesus, the Light of the World, shines brightly upon our hearts as He chooses.

There is for the people of G-d, to the people whom G-d has chosen and written their names in the Book of Life, continual renewal, a refreshing in and by the Holy Spirit of G-d. We don’t go to church to find it. This revival isn’t something for which we can pray. It is something that G-d, our Heavenly Father, drops upon us at His pleasure. This is the Springtime in our relationship with our Lord, when we feel anew His refreshing breath, His Spirit falling upon us. . .

Springtime for the Heart
by Wil Robinson

We are renewed in Praise. We acknowledge acts of kindness, wisdom, and truth previously unseen. We acknowledge that even during those troubling times our Lord has been right beside us, urging us onward. Have we not heard the angels singing “Onward Christian Soldiers. . .” Praise is the acknowledgement of what G-d has done, is doing, and is going to do.

We are renewed in Worship. We find a deep and utter sense of who our Heavenly Father is, and Y’shuaJesus, and The Holy Spirit. We find ourselves and our place in our Lord. We worship for Who He is.

We are renewed in our Gratitude and Thankfulness. We begin to understand, to see through the vale that has distorted our vision. The troubled pieces of our lives seem less disjointed, less terrible, more just stepping stones to get us into a place in which we are engulfed by HIS PRESENCE.

We are renewed in our Purpose and our Mission. We begin to sort out where in Messiah we are at the moment. We begin to recognize where we are going, where He is taking us.

We are renewed in Holy Fear, the Awe of G-d Almighty. Our Father invites us into His house, through His library, and on to His back porch. He shows us His backyard. The Lord Y’shuaJesus comes to sit next to us while we are in our own home. We are speechless. There is nothing we can say. We just experience Him. We are lifted up by the Holy Spirit and carried upward, beyond the Earth and its woes, toward Heaven, toward the Throne of the Living G-d. We begin, so slowly, to understand. We gain some perspective. Revival is the springtime of our Lord that invades our heart and makes us a little more whole.

Springtime for our Hearts.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

You are Not Allowed to Do That!

They were all eyes and ears. They monitored the doings of the people about them. They cast angry looks toward anyone who might dare to commit an infraction, or what they perceived to be wrong. They are self-appointed critics. The speak out at any opportunity, pointing out the sins of those they encounter, those they choose to hate. They are Accusers.

They are the liberals in America pointing fingers at people for doing what is, to the liberal, wrong, which is just about everything a liberal doesn’t like. They are conservatives pointing equally judgmental fingers at anyone whom they don’t approve. Some are worse than others. All have some basis they think gives them the right, the mandate, to be an accuser.

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids–blind, lame, and paralyzed [waiting for the moving of the water;] [for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred the water: whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.] One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.“

John 5:1-10 (emphasis added)

Now here’s the thing: “It is not lawful. . .” What they are saying is, “It’s not me telling you that you that you are not allowed to do that, it is (insert some reference here)!”

Standing upon some ruling, some law, they point there fingers saying, “I don’t judge, but the law says what you are doing is unlawful.” How many times have I heard some Christian say that he doesn’t judge people but the Word of G-d does? Too many. And yet who am I to say that he wasn’t appointed, like Jonah or Elijah, or whomever else, to point out the wrongs he is shown by Almighty G-d Himself?

How do we respond to accusations of wrong doing? To the credit of the newly healed man in the Gospel of John, he didn’t say “@$#%&$ Off!” Rather, he, according to Matthew Henry, wanted to give credit and glory to the One Who healed him, though didn’t know the man’s Name. He said, “He made me whole.” Eventually, the healed man learned the Name of the One who’d healed him, and told the Jews. Matthew Henry points out that while done with a mind to give glory to Y’shuaJesus, was like “throwing pearls before swine.”

Some points come to mind while reading the Word this morning, and reflecting upon it. One I led with, that too many people are self-appointed judges, regardless whether or not they are liberals or conservatives, or Chistians. Worse, I’m right there along with them. I have a very bad habit of pointing out the driving faults of most every one on the road, especially when my kids are in the truck with me. My excuse is that I want them to notice the wrongs so that they’ll know to do right. And I certainly get there attention when my hand goes to the horn, and it blasts away at some unwary offender. Yet, I’m just acting in the self-appointed role of accuser. Just like too many other people in this angry, volatile, ready-to-explode country, world.

But there is a more important point, easily overlooked when I get off on to a tangent. This newly healed man said, “He that made me whole. . .” told me what to do.

Thank You, Y’shuaJesus, for making us all whole in You. May we be bold and stand firm in You when accused of wrongs. For this newly healed man obeyed the One who made him whole. He stood, picked up his bed, and carried it away. In essence, his reply to those who accused him was, “I do not do it in contempt of the law and the sabbath, but I am obeying a greater law than the one you cite, for the One who healed me is greater than those laws.” (paraphrased from Matthew Henry’s Commentary) This man obeyed G-d.

Y’shua was accused of breaking the law, too. Many times. On several occasions he referred to scripture to support his action. He pointed out David’s eating of the showbread, of the priests’ slaying the sacrifices, and of the people’s watering their cattle on the sabbath day. Eventually, when accused of healing this man on the sabbath, Y’shuaJesus goes higher and alleges the example of His Father and His divine authority.

Another point: Y’shuaJesus was a radical. Why not just come back another day. That man had been there 38 years, so another day wouldn’t hurt. Then Y’shuaJesus wouldn’t have caused this man to “break the law” and carry his mat. Y’shuaJesus wouldn’t have broken the law, either. Well, why did Y’shuaJesus heal the man on the sabbath?

The other day I heard someone on the radio speak of the gentleness and kindness of Jesus. This authority on Jesus said Jesus wasn’t a zealot. I sorta figured he meant that Jesus just walked around Israel doing nice things for people, patting the heads of children, talking to outcasts, eating with sinners. Okay, so sure, Y’shuaJesus did those things. But that just isn’t ALL of the things Y’shuaJesus did. And to imply that it was, is to undermine the Word of G-d. It borders on deception. It also marks a man as not truly knowing Y’shuaJesus.

Maybe the Lord was just plain tired of the self-righteousness of a stubborn people who prized the “Law” over the people for whom the Law was given. Perhaps Y’shuaJesus wanted to stir up some trouble to make a point. I’m sure it got the attention of more than one person when He went into the Temple, in an act of fury, and drove out sellers and money changers. This gentle Jesus was also the One Who called Pharisees white-washed, empty tombs, vipers. Hum. Not so very gentle. Y’shuaJesus was a very dangerous man, one that the religious establishment knew would cause them distress, one that would undermine the all they’d done to get along with the Roman rulers. Y’shuaJesus was a rebel.

Y’shuaJesus didn’t come down from His throne to bring a temporary, carnal peace. He came to die violently for a true Peace that is eternal, offered to all. Well, to all as long as they believe that Y’shuaJesus is Lord and Savior. He said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. . .” Hummmmmmm. That’s “hate” speech, isn’t it? I mean, He excluded a lot of people who follow the universalist religious views. And humanist who believe humanity is god, as well as New Agers. Well, let’s not go there, shall we.

The One Who healed me made me whole. Thank G-d. Blessed is the Name of the Lord Y’shuaJesus.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon you and yours today and tomorrow, as we long for His coming. . .

Conversion of Samaritans

Returning to the New Covenant, I am reading the Book of John. Yesterday, I cam to the portion of chapter four concerning the conversion of Samaritans. I am struck especially by the final paragraph, provided as a summary of the events.

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

John 4:39-42

First. Who are Samaritans? According to BibleStudy.org, “Generally, a Samaritan would be an inhabitant of either the city or region of ancient Samaria. They occupied the land formerly belonging to the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. The city was purchased by Omri, the sixth king of Israel (885 – 874 B.C.) and named Samaria after the name of its owner, Shemer. Over a period of time the entire northern kingdom of Israel was also called Samaria (1Kings 13:32, Jeremiah 31:5).”

It is a Samaritan that Y’shuaJesus gives credit to for helping a mugged traveler in the story of the “Good Samaritan.” It is also the Samaritans that were opposed to, and wanted to sabatoge, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and of the temple in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, who returned to Jerusalem from the Captivity around 539 B.C.

So there’s certainly some history between the Samaritans and Israelis. Enemies, of sorts.

Second. The woman spoken of first met Y’shuaJesus while at the town well. She was amazed that a Jew would even speak to her, let alone ask for a drink, which meant drinking out of her pail. That would have been considered “unclean” to the Jews. In the dialogue that took place between Y’shuaJesus and the woman, the woman’s faults were revealed to her by Y’shuaJesus. Instead of running away, hiding, hating the bearer of this information, she saw something entirely satisfying. She could unburden herself the this man. And, no doubt, she didn’t feel the wrath of disapproval, but of a loving Spirit to which she could cleave, to which she could find some healing and rebirth.

Matthew Henry wrote that “One would have thought His telling the woman of her secret sins would have made them (the Samaritan town’s folk) afraid of coming to Him lest He should tell them also of their faults, but they will venture that rather than not be acquainted with One who they had reason to think was a prophet.”

“Many would have flocked to one that would tell them their fortune, but these flocked to One that would tell them their faults,” wrote Mr. Henry.

Third. The most import part of this story told by the author of the Book of John, it seems to me, is in this that the town’s folk told the woman: “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

We can talk until we are blue in the face, out of breath, crying out our testimony of Y’shuaJesus as Lord and Savior, but until the crowd of unbelievers is willing to hear the Master speak, there is no new faith. Conversely, if we hear a testimony about Y’shuaJesus, the person giving that word must have been with Y’shuaJesus, must have heard Him speak, must have been in His presence, or that word is empty.

Y’all have a wonderful week. Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Early this morning. . .

. . . I some how found myself in a lumber yard standing with my father. Together we looked at the back end of a lowboy trailer much like the one I once used in the military to haul armored vehicles and howitzers. We discussed how to add a piece of wood to protect the back where the tracks of the vehicles had chewed up the wood. We decided upon a piece of hardwood, attached so that it could protect the other wood, take the abuse, and be easily replaced.

Then a fork driver came over to put a load of lumber on the trailer, which morphed into a flatbed. My mother appeared and told the lift driver to put the load toward the back. He questioned her about this decision, and I supported it, pointing out that the weight center of the trailer was different than the physical center.

I recall having some sort of music player, and telling my mother it could store lots of music, even the Welsh music that was now unplayable, as it was vinyl records and we had no record player.

The trailer was nearly loaded now, and my father asked if the strip of wood was ready yet. I started toward a building and looked back to say that I’d be back, I only needed to get a sweatshirt and use the bathroom. I headed toward a large, steel building, not unlike the one in which I worked for many years at Camp Roberts.

As I approached my own bathroom, in my own bedroom, the steel workshop faded away and I awoke.

That’s the second dream in two days in which Camp Roberts appeared. In the other dream, the night before last, I had returned to Camp Roberts, and was once again wearing olive drab, and heading to an old warehouse where the supply office would issue me steel-toed boots.

If I literally returned to Camp Roberts, to the East Garrison where once I spent ten years, that steel building and the other wooden buildings would be long gone. Even as I was leaving that place, before I entered the Forest Service, a new, large maintenance facility had been christened and moving begun.

I remember my fist day in that steel maintenance building, which was fairly new at the time. I met Sargent First Class Edwin Spickert. People were pretty much on first name basis then, and I was introduced as Terry. Ed said, “I knew a Terry once, and you sure don’t look like her!” I became “Robi,” then and there. I stayed Robi until I hung up, or layed out in the trash dump, my uniform with its bittersweet memories.

Ed worked with the designers and engineers planning the new maintenance building many years later. He made Warrant Officer, too, as did several of the other “old timers” at the shop. When I started there there were a handful of “new guys” like me, and a hand full of these older guys who’d been around what seemed like forever. When I left after ten years, most of the old timers were still there, most of those formerly new guys, too. But there had come a hoard of others, as the shop grew and grew, busting out its seams.

I learned a lot while at Camp Roberts. I worked hard. It wasn’t easy. I made mistakes. When I left, I left. I never went back. At least, not until my dream the other night, and the one early this morning. I made a lot of mistakes while I at Camp Roberts. I’ve made a lot of mistakes everywhere I’ve ever been. Hind sight, it is often pointed out, is 20/20.

Today, opening the online Bible to which I often refer to, I found before me:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

There are a number of people that it would me nice to say something like, “Hey, I really learned a lot from you.” There are a lot of people that I could also say, “Hey, I’m sorry.” I still have nagging regrets of things done and things left undone. I appreciate that regardless of my life, imperfect in my eyes as it is in others’, is seen as perfect in my Savior, Y’shuaJesus. And I am thankful that there is now no condemnation for all of us who are in Messiah Y’shuaJesus. Thank You, Y’shua!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Dollywood and Mountain Peace

The West Fork of the Little Pigeon River in Pi... — The West Fork of the Little Pigeon River in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last week, all week, we spent in Pigeon Forge and Gaitlinburg, Tennessee. Six of us went there, my wife, our two kids, and two of their friends. We rented a cabin, rather than stay in a hotel. We cooked breakfast, but ate out in the evenings. Lots of choices of places to eat, too. Two days we spent at Dollywood Park, on rides and taking in some shows. While walking around, lots of country and folk bands played. The weather was warm, but not overly humid, and it didn’t rain, like it did the last time we visited. We took time to explore tourist shops in Gaitlinburg.

The thing about the entire area is that people, while mostly tourists coming for the entertainment as well as visits to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, were a model of behavior. Lots of people. Lots of respect for each other, too. It wasn’t too crowded, in comparison with Memorial Day weekend, but there were still a lot of people. This respect, for lack of a better word, was especially noticeable while driving: people maintained a safe driving distance, didn’t drive too much over the speed limit, and made way for others to enter their lanes of travel when needed.

The experience left me relaxed. And one the way back we stopped at a trail head that crossed a river. We didn’t walk far, but played on large boulders that sat like islands clustered together in the river. We also stopped for some photo opportunities at Newfound Gap, that is a ridge along which the Tennessee and North Carolina boundary runs.

Yes, the time there left us relaxed, feeling good.

That changed as soon as we entered the Atlanta metro area. The rush of traffic pressed against us. The tension stripped the beneficial peace we’d found in the Smokey Mountains. We were home. Which of course makes me thing about why exactly do we remain in such a place such as this, in which we live. We ended up farther from my wife’s office than she’d originally thought possible, when she accepted a transfer to Atlanta. I’d hoped, of course, to live even farther away. But at the time we moved here, we were on the rural edge, just beyond the metro growth ring around Atlanta. That ring expanded over the last few years to encompass our home.

What we’ve done to cope is build a garden between our home and the creek that runs behind us. We’ve mixed hundreds of yards of top soil into the red clay, making it possible to grow a wide variety of edible and medicinal plants and flowers and roses and trees. We’ve expanded and expanded the garden to make a small enclave that promotes some feeling of serenity despite the occasional noise from the office buildings across the creek–office buildings that have morphed into small, light industry with associated noises even at the early hours of the morning.

It’s easier to find peace beside a river, in the mountains. But peace isn’t external. Peace is internal. And, yes, true and lasting peace comes from knowing the Lord Y’shauJesus as Lord and Savior. Yet, in this world, we must find some worldly peace, too. Our bodies need it. And if I can find some measure of peace amid the rancor stressed out people rushing to make a living, then that is a good thing. Shalom!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine . . .

The Gospel in the World

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:14,15

Matthew Henry wrote:
“Jesus Christ came to save us by healing us, as the children of Israel, stung with fiery serpents, were cured and lived by looking up to the brazen serpent, Num_21:6-9. In this observe the deadly and destructive nature of sin. Ask awakened consciences, ask damned sinners, they will tell you, that how charming soever the allurements of sin may be, at the last it bites like a serpent. See the powerful remedy against this fatal malady. Christ is plainly set forth to us in the gospel. He whom we offended is our Peace, and the way of applying for a cure is by believing. If any so far slight either their disease by sin, or the method of cure by Christ, as not to receive Christ upon his own terms, their ruin is upon their own heads. He has said, Look and be saved, look and live; lift up the eyes of your faith to Christ crucified. And until we have grace to do this, we shall not be cured, but still are wounded with the stings of Satan, and in a dying state. Jesus Christ came to save us by pardoning us, that we might not die by the sentence of the law. Here is gospel, good news indeed. Here is God’s love in giving his Son for the world. God so loved the world; so really, so richly. Behold and wonder, that the great God should love such a worthless world! Here, also, is the great gospel duty, to believe in Jesus Christ. God having given him to be our Prophet, Priest, and King, we must give up ourselves to be ruled, and taught, and saved by him. And here is the great gospel benefit, that whoever believes in Christ, shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and so saving it. It could not be saved, but through him; there is no salvation in any other. From all this is shown the happiness of true believers; he that believeth in Christ is not condemned. Though he has been a great sinner, yet he is not dealt with according to what his sins deserve.” (emphasis added)

It’s through Y’shuaJesus that death has no sting. Dead. Alive in Messiah. Eternally. In the meantime? We wait. We watch. While I’d like to say: “Mr. Henry, you said the world is worthless, but I disagree, G-d created a beautiful world and said it is good,” I can’t say that. The world even in its beauty is corrupt. The world wasn’t always that way. G-d spoke and the world came into being. Perfect. Then we rebelled. Now we live in a corrupt world. We did it. We are responsible. Sadly, as much as some Christians want to reclaim the world for Messiah, making it perfect and inviting Him to return, it’s just not happening. The world as we know it is ending; it’s becoming more corrupt, quickly.

It’s interesting that while the Word of G-d is the Word of Salvation to us, it is also the Word that condemns us in this sorry world. “Whoever believes in Christ in not condemned,” is what Mr. Henry wrote. We are not condemned in the Eyes of G-d, but now we are condemned in the eyes of a corrupt world that won’t allow there to be only one way to eternal life. The world is inclusive, but we are exclusive. The world says there is no sin. All people are good, and worthy of a wonderful life hereafter. The Bible says we who believe in Y’shuaJesus are the only ones to be received into the eternal life with G-d. We are so intolerant. Hum. . .

For the moment, living in the United States of America is pretty easy for a Believer in Y’shuaJesus. There is some persecution for beliefs. There are some minor penalties for being a voice for conservative values, morals. But here we are not thrown in the squalor of a prison for sedition, for endangering the national security, such as are Christians in Iran, and many, many other countries. The Gospel isn’t illegal. . . yet! One day, perhaps sooner that later. . .

What will it be like when Christianity as we know it today is forbidden? Will a “free” country with a Constitution that protects all religions actual forbid one particular religion? How can that be? There are various ways some think as persecution of Christianity taking place today in the United States. For instance, there are some home churches that have been harassed by local governments. Usually there is some statute called upon limiting the number of people allowed to park in a particular neighborhood, or on a small-sized piece of land. But those statutes apply equally to all, not just the home church. It has the appearance of persecution, but isn’t. . . yet.

At some point we’ll know real persecution. At some point we’ll not be able to buy, sell, or trade. Perhaps we’ll have to make a choice then. Will we choose life in Messiah or a false life in a post-Christian world? Big choice: Does that worry us? Are we afraid that at some time in the future we will have to choose a physical existence at the expense of our eternal, spiritual existence? Are we scared we will let the Lord down by denying Him. Peter denied the Lord. Shall we say we are better than he, and we could never do such a thing?

Well, here’s the Gospel. We’ve already chosen. We’ve been chosen. Our names are already written in the Book of Life, so when asked to relinquish our claim as Believers in the True Gospel of the Lord and Savior Y’shuaJesus, asked to accept the views of those in political authority, we won’t have to worry about a choice for we won’t be able to condemn our selves. We will have to stand up for Y’shuaJesus in us. The powers of darkness have already condemned us, which is a good thing. We are on G-d’s side; G-d is on our side. We are the Gospel in this world. A living Gospel; Y’shuaJesus lives in us. We are the light. We are saved. The world is ending, passing away into oblivion, into hell. We are enroute to a glorious Heaven, where we shall see, face to face, the Living Lord Y’shuaJesus, and dine with Him at the Feast. Thank You, Lord! Hallelujah! Bless the Name of the Lord.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Anoint & Appoint

Several weeks ago, while reading 1 Samual, I began to thing about anoint and how it differs from appoint.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

1Samuel 16:13

Anoint is defined as:
a•noint (əˈnɔɪnt)
1. to apply an ointment or oily liquid to by rubbing or sprinkling.
2. to smear with any liquid.
3. to consecrate or make sacred in a ceremony that includes the token applying of oil.
4. to choose formally: anointed a successor.

And appoint is defined as:
appoint [əˈpɔɪnt]
1. to assign officially, as for a position, responsibility, etc. he was appointed manager
2. to establish by agreement or decree; fix a time was appointed for the duel
3. to prescribe or ordain laws appointed by tribunal
4. (Law) Property law to nominate (a person), under a power granted in a deed or will, to take an interest in property
5. to equip with necessary or usual features; furnish a well-appointed hotel

The Lord had Samuel anoint David, at an early age, as king over all Israel. It wasn’t until much later in his life that David took over the position of king, after King Saul’s death. The Lord then used Israel to appoint David king.

From this idea of anointing and appointing, I thought about baby baptism and dedication. Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions call for infant baptism, while most protestant, evangelical, and pentecostal churches tend toward infant dedication. I actually don’t see a lot of difference in the two practices. In both, an infant is anointed by somebody who is suppose to be standing in for the Lord G-d, Father, Creator. Being anointed to become. . . An infant isn’t a Christian until he or she is able to choose and is then appointed by G-d to that holy office.

From here my thoughts go toward the anointing that is done in various healing ceremonies in our churches. In the Roman Catholic and Anglican tradition, an anointing for healing is much more formal that in other churches. While the prayers differ, the intent, the desire, is that the Lord appoint healing to the recipient. So I think: it took years for G-d to put a crown on Kind David’s head after He caused the anointing. Perhaps it’s no wonder we see so few instantaneous healing in our churches.

And I think perhaps that we all have some anointing that occurs in our lives, perhaps a calling to a particular ministry at a particular time. And we don’t exactly hop right into that calling, but we begin to prepare for it. Perhaps. But maybe we don’t. Maybe because the appointing is delayed, we doubt. And when we doubt we think, “Nothing is happening. I thought I was suppose to (fill in the blank).”

And further, I think of David who wanted to be anointed and appointed to build a temple for the Most Holy Lord G-d. He was denied. That didn’t stop David from preparing for the temple. He gathered all the stuff and probably dreamed of how it would look, though the privilege of seeing to the construction, and seeing dedicating the temple went to his son, Solomon.

From this I take some lessons:
G-d anoints and allows the appointing to follow in His time, not necessarily ours. An anointing may be the Lord’s Spirit enabling us to have the potential, the aptitude, to do a certain thing. We don’t know how to do it at that moment, but we have the means available now to learn.

When we feel called, perhaps this is the anointing, and we need to walk in that anointing until we are appointed officially to the position in which we feel called. And that may take time. Also, we may feel called but not see anything happen. Don’t let it stop us from preparing, for perhaps we hand it off to someone else. Oh, sure, that is going to be a bit of a humbling experience. But perhaps that’s exactly what we need.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Count your Blessings?

In early May, a friend emailed the following to me:

“I was reading something today that Patrick Henry Reardon said:

“Suppose for a moment, that God began taking from us the many things for which we have failed to give thanks. Which of our limbs and faculties would be left? Would I still have my hands and my mind? And what about my loved ones? If God were to take from me all those persons and things for which I have not given thanks, who or what would be left of me?”

“You know…this made me cry and start to thank Him like I never seemed to do before, because I never thought about it as this. We all can think…oh I count my blessings…but do I really?”

I thought about what my friend sent me, and I finally got around this morning to writing her back. I wrote: Hope all is well with you and your husband. I’ve been slacking off lately, and writing only one post a week and letting other things go. I can’t use the excuse that I haven’t the time, as I do. What I have been doing is reading more than I’ve done. I’d love to say it’s been all super spiritual studies, but it hasn’t. There’s a used book store not too far from us and I’ve got several hundred dollars in credit there from having dropped off many of my wife’s professional books a few years ago. From time to time I’d go in there and get a novel or two. A few months ago I went through the shelves and picked titles in the science fiction and mystery/thriller sections, as well as some in the non-fiction section, that sounded interesting. So now I’ve gotten into reading a novel or two a week. I do read slow.

My day’s are still somewhat filled with various projects, in addition to dropping and picking up the two high schoolers. We added about ten yards more of top soil, extending various garden beds this year. We’re adding a small-250 gallon-pond also. The spring rains and cool weather have allowed things to really grow well this year. We hope the summer will be wet and mild, too.

Thanks for all the emails you’ve sent. I read them all with care. This particular one, “Counting our Blessings?” was one that spurred me on to do a lot of thinking. What I had to consider, ponder, is that there are-I confess-lots of things I’m not thankful for at all and would just rather them go away. Yet they don’t. So in those, too, I’m learning, there are reasons for such things to be. I think some times I may be like a child being told to eat his vegetables, and thinking, “I suppose you want me to thank you, Mom, for those?

I did take the opportunity to sail last week on Cassandra, my Cape Dory 25 sailboat that I keep on Lake Lanier. The weather finally warmed up and the winds calmed down to around 10-12 mph with gust only to around 20 or so. I haven’t even cleaned the poor boat up from its winter nap. But for two-and-a-half hours I sailed around the lake just having a grand old time. Only one thing unpleasant occurred: While pulling the starter rope on the small motor I use to go in and out of the marina, I managed to knock my hat off into the water. By the time I got the motor started, the sails furled, and turned around, my favorite hat sank into lake. Oh, well, it was still worth it.

I think the lesson of that day fits right into counting blessings: In then end, even the unpleasant events all fit into the whole is such a way as we’ll eventually conclude that because of Y’shuaJesus, it all has been worth it!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon you all.

“Die Religion … ist das Opium des Volkes”

Some weeks ago something was said that reminded me of a time, long ago, when someone pointed out to me that my religion was simply an opiate that dulled and blinded me to reality. This came from a person with whom I’d been very close. She told me she wanted to live her life fully, somewhat echoing H.D. Thoreau’s thoughts on life from his book, “Walden’s Pond.” I was, if I understood her correctly, living a life that was based on the illusion of better life after death, one that believed the illusions fed to me today, keeping me in a sort of bondage, addicted to a false hope that allowed me to endure without complaint the hardships of today, and to submit joyfully to them all.

So I began a little research. I learned the full quote from Karl Marx (published in 1843) is: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

Then I looked at one of Karl Marx’s other publications, “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” published in 1848. According to Wikipedia, “it has since been recognized as one of the world’s most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the Communist League, it laid out the League’s purposes and program. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and present) and the problems of capitalism, rather than a prediction of communism’s potential future forms.

“The book contains Marx and Engels’ theories about the nature of society and politics, that in their own words, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” It also briefly features their ideas for how the capitalist society of the time would eventually be replaced by socialism, and then eventually communism.”

Class struggle. For Marx, religion permitted the poor to remain poor through their religion suppressing any objection of those that controlled them. For Marx, those that exploited the poor used a little bit of charity once and a while to make them feel okay about their exploitation of the poor. And all the while “religion” allowed this to happen.

Now look at a source for Marx’s idea of opium of the masses: According to Wikipedia, The phrase “This opium you feed your people” appeared in 1797 in Marquis de Sade’s text L’Histoire de Juliette. Marquis de Sade. What a character. He was a total mess. He believed in unbridled freedom: the freedom to whatever one pleases regardless of who is hurt or murdered. What Sade is saying in his book is that the State uses religion to appease the people, to keep them in line and controlled. People are controlled when they look to their religion, their government, any world enterprise or institution, as their savior. And their religion supports this view, exploited, which is fully exploited by the state.

Furthermore, Sade said that that the appeased people become fully dependent upon their controllers, and fall into a mortal weakness. If their nation is threatened, they are easily overcome. It makes no difference to them who is controlling them, for they are poor, blind, and too weak to now object.

And it’s true, we see admonishment after admonishment by the Apostles in their writings that we are to live at peace with the government, live in harmony with each other, as best we can. And if that’s as far as we understand our religion, then we will submit to all forms of enslavement, joyfully going onward, blindly.

For the class struggle Marx desires is to envelope the world, for evil capitalism to be defeated, for socialism and communism to succeed and dominate. The way it played out in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution was a suppression of religion.

But it seems that suppressing religion is not enough; it must be replaced. Hence, in the case of USSR, the communist party becomes the religion, for it, itself, is the savior of the people from the clashes of class. Class is done away with, stamped out, molded by the Party into exactly what Marx accused religion of doing: first making the people into soulless serfs, announcing that they are the property of the State, and that the State will provide their “soul.”

While Communism and Nazi Fascism are different, opposed, the aim of each is similar, to control the people through replacing G-d with a hero-worshiped man. Take Austria in 1938. The country was in terrible economic shape. Stories of Germany rising out of economic depression at the false=messianic hand of Adolph Hitler led Austrians to vote to become one nation with Germany, to accept Adolph Hitler. Adolph Hitler was to the Germany people a savior, and now he would be the savior of Austria. There were few outcries from the religious institutions of Germany. Hitler took over. We know how that worked out.

In Germany, the religious institutions supported the Germany government, with some exceptions. One pastor didn’t go along with the Hitler. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He paid with his live.

Dr. David Livingston, a Biblical archeologist and scholar, writes that:

“There are some basic principles for “using” religion in controlling others. If we know and understand them, we may not so easily be caught in a trap ourselves.

“To begin with, everyone yields final authority to someone, some person. There are five possibilities among which everyone chooses who will control his life.

“First, we may choose ourselves. This kind of person may say, “I am the captain of my own fate, and hang everybody else. I will do my own thing.” Such a one tends to be proud, defiant and sometimes lawless because he has set himself up as his own final authority. This was the position of the kings and emperors of the ancient near east, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

“A second possibility is to yield to someone else’s final authority. This can be imposed on people by force. But however it happens, people become somebody else’s slave.

“The third possibility is to yield to God. This may sound like a good way, but there can be trouble with this position. The problem is that if the god to which a person yields is a figment of his own imagination, he is in the first category mentioned above. He is worshipping himself. People may think they are worshipping God, while they are only worshipping an idea of God they themselves imagined. Or, they say “visualize God to be as He is represented in some great painting.” But, that is not God at all. Some may say that actually all ideas of god are nothing but the creation of man to meet a deep-felt “god-need.” Those believing this need to go on to consider the next two possibilities.

“The fourth possibility is to yield final authority to someone else’s idea of God. This is where real trouble arises. If we yield to someone else’s concept of god, we become his servant. This makes one a slave of the most complete kind. Because anybody who controls someone else’s religious thoughts really controls his whole person. Israel was warned in Exodus 23:33, “. . . if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.” And by the time of the Judges, Israel had already discovered that serving someone else’s idea of god ultimately leads to servitude (Judges 2: 12,14). Jeremiah later pled with Israel not to serve the gods of the nations, “And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? Then shalt thou answer them, like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.” (Jeremiah 5:19, see also: Amos 5:25-27).

“When we serve a god that someone else has “dreamed up,” we become their slave. That is what the rulers of Russia, Japan, China, and other nations have done to their subjects. Rulers in the Ancient Near East did exactly the same.

“By now the reader will have begun to discover the most basic method used in gaining control over others. It is simply this:

“Whoever controls a person’s religion, controls his will; whoever controls his will, controls his thought-life; and whoever controls his thoughts, controls that one’s actions. Possession of another person as totally as this, makes him a complete slave, even though the person may actually seem free and have a high living standard.

“If there is one word which describes the method used to control others, it is “deceit.” Those who employ deceit are following the Father of Lies who has gone out to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9; 20:3,8,10). The fact that he can deceive everyone indicates that he has a number of agents using his methods. It also indicates that great masses of men — hundreds of millions of them — have been living in spiritual slavery.
How to be really free

“Thank God there is a fifth possibility. That is, we can allow our lives to be controlled by the True God Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. Jesus said,

If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

(John 8:32)

“To be sure we have yielded our wills to Jesus Christ Himself, we should read for ourselves about Him in the Bible, the Word of God. No other description of Jesus is completely trustworthy. And having decided to follow Him, we want to be certain we are not just following someone else’s understanding of Him! Of course, we should listen to and read of the exposition of God’s Word by other men of God. A very important aspect of our obeying Christ is to be in fellowship with those of like mind. But, even so, we want to get God’s will for ourselves as directly as possible from His revealed Word.

“The True and Living God HAS revealed Himself. He is not hiding from us. He reveals Himself in His Word very plainly. Then, in the written Word we discover that in this last period of time in history, He has come into the world in the Person of His Son.

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds; Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

“Will you ask yourself, “To whom have I yielded to have the final authority in my life?”

“”Religion” IS an “opiate”… but CHRIST IS LIFE!
And He said, “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.”

“The antidote to spiritual slavery is to surrender our wills to Jesus Christ, then let our minds be washed with the pure water of the Word of Truth as we determine to obey Him. Meditating on God’s Word day and night will make one prosper and set him free (even though he might be a slave in Caesar’s court: Psalms 1: 2,3).”

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .