Archive for December, 2016
WAR ON CHRISTMAS, CROSSES…DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
Sunday, December 18th, 2016
Each year around Christmas time, we Christians witness an insidious assault on the Baby Jesus, the Nativity Scene and increasing volume on the War against the Cross. It is absolutely incredibly that so-called “educated and enlightened” people, liberals and academics would work themselves up to hypertension and worse over two pieces of wood, planted on top of a mountain outside Jerusalem in 33 AD.
That is, until we realize what these pieces of wood and the nine inch nails which held them together, signify. It was on this tree, in the shape of a Cross, that God Himself literally gave the mortal side of His Life, for all humanity to be reconciled unto Him – the Eternal. God. This is absolutely something which those who are lost forever cannot comprehend.
In case they are wondering, this is against Whom the godless are fighting against, choosing NOT to know it: “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross….(Philippians 2:5-8).
In the Book of Acts, when the Pharisees were debating increasing persecution of Christians, one of their own leaders warned them here: “So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”…Acts 5:38-39. Of course, these people did not listen to Gamaliel, their great rabbi. They WERE fighting against God Himself, in the Form of the Resurrected Jesus Christ and His budding church movement! Today, almost 2000 years later, nothing has really changed. It is not the simple act of removing a Cross from a Christmas tree in Indiana. It is not attempting to remove Crosses from veterans’ cemeteries or on top of a hill in California. It is not banning Christmas songs in public schools or taking Charlie Brown posters off middle school doors in Texas. It is not casting away Nativity scenes from the public arena and disappointing entire large groups of citizenry.
FAITH LESSONS FROM THE BETHLEHEM SHEPHERDS
Sunday, December 18th, 2016
15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.…Luke 2:15-20.The Bethlehem Shepherds are an amazing case study for anyone who believes not just in God’s justice, but His favor towards those who are not welcome what the world deems “proper circles”. They were more than outcasts in people terms even though the sheep they tended over were so crucial to Old Testament worship in the Jerusalem temple. In the case of the Bethlehem Shepherds, their flocks were six to eight miles south of Jerusalem, and as far as they could be from the religious people who ran the temple and the crooked side businesses. Yet they were close enough when they needed 1000’s of sheep to sacrifice, according to the Law of Moses. In addition, like most Judean shepherds, they were considered worse than used car salesmen and a lot of them may have been….but not all. The greatest men of the Bible were shepherds – King David, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham and others. No one in their right mind would dare call these men dishonest and corrupt. Yet religious and other authorities looked down their noses at ALL shepherds.