Paul and Silas went to jail. The charge? They hindered the monetary gain of men who exploited a soothsaying woman. Soothsaying? Yes, a person supposed to be inspired who foretells the future, but actually casts spells. This one had a spirit, and Paul cast it out. She had followed Paul and Silas proclaiming, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are proclaiming to you a way of salvation.” The Story comes from Acts chapter 16. So, Paul and Silas were seized and dragged before Magistrates, charged with violating customs and proclaiming unlawful practices. “But the whole charge was pure hypocrisy; for as these men would have let the missionaries preach what religion they pleased if they had not dried up the source of their gains, so they conceal the real cause of their rage under color of a zeal for religion, and law, and good order.”…
Healing at the Cross Posts
From an disturbing article on the meaning of life; New York Times: “when the Hubble space telescoped (sic) pointed to a black spot in the sky about the size of an eraser head for a week it found 30,000 galaxy(sic) over 13 billion years old with many trillions of stars and many many more trillions of inferred planets. (So) how significant are you? … You are not a unique snowflake, you are not specials (sic), you are just another piece of decaying matters (sic), on the compost pile of this world. Nothing of who you are and what you will do in the short time you are here will matter. Everything short of that realization is vanity. So celebrate life in every moment, admire its wonders, (and) love without reservation.” What? Really? The conclusion does not match the premise! Tim Keller addresses the discrepancy “…given the secular view of the…
“In short, no one can purge him or herself from all faith assumptions, and assume an objective, belief-free, pure openness to objective evidence. Hume There is no “View from nowhere.” “…all reasoning is based on prior faith commitments to which one did not reason.” Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Merleau-Ponty. “…reason depends on the faith that our cognitive senses — our eyes and ears, our minds and memories, are not tricking us.” “…the declaration that science is the only arbiter of truth is not itself a scientific finding, it is a belief.” Evans All quotes taken from “Making Sense of God” by Timothy Keller So? Though a tough truth to swallow, reasoning requires faith. Let’s explore this farther. The Bible attributes to man a bearing-witness conscience. Romans 2:15 etc. A faculty for discerning, it accuses or excuses. All men have this faculty of passing judgment on their actions. It acts according to the…
Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Proverbs 11:2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. There are no heroes amongst the redeemed. These are just the redeemed, a passive position, implying that some other did the heroic work. Yes Christ, hero, Christ Savior, Christ Redeemer. Heros — “(in mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semidivine origin, in particular one whose exploits were the subject of ancient Greek myths — A person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities — The chief male character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.” Far from heroes, nevertheless, we have been placed in Christ, our hero. Yes, baptized into…
“The unjust conceives iniquity in his heart, there is no fear of God before his eyes. He is unwilling to see his sins forgiven, or to hate them. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit, he is unwilling to do good. He devises mischief upon his bed, he walks in a way that is not good, that he may do evil.” Psalm 36:1-4 Lamsa translation . Have you met him? How did it happen to him? Easy, he simply followed the way of a human being. I saw this expression on a person’s sweatshirt: “Be better Human Beings.” Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… Forgive me for laughing. This person has likely adjusted their soul to our Psalm 36 man: alarm free-living “Consciousness of sin” free-living. “Hatred for sin” free-living. God free-living. Mischief > evil. These do not understand the concept of “weight.” First,…
“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. …have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” I Peter 4:7-12 Revelation 18:23 teaches, “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee (Babylon); and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee:…
Has life become a mess? Are you hanging out your dirty laundry to dry? Has the world stopped cooperating? Step into God’s peace. Start living in His providence, enjoy His benevolent care, bask in His love, rely on His mercy. Surround yourself with loving family and friends; trust The Lord with all your heart, don’t lean on your own understanding. Climb into Jesus boat and let Him take you through the storm Abide in His love, rest in the shadow of His wings. Turn away your eyes from beholding vanity. Be quickened by His Spirit. Love ya
Abraham’s story with Isaac has always miffed me. Why did God ask the elderly Abe to sacrifice his son? — the son of promise. Is there a mystery to be unveiled or a metaphor to be explained? It doesn’t seem possible that Abraham would comply to this “outrageous” demand of God, not to mention how different God, now, must have appeared to Abe. Was it a test? Yes it was. Was there a lesson to be learned? Yes there was. In a previous episode leading up to chapter 21, Abraham had received a promise from God of a ” son of his old age.” Tired of waiting, Abe tried to produce the promised child through a handmaid of his wife. Dishonoring God in unbelief, the promised couple, Abe and Sarah, made a mess of things. Ishmael, “God will hear,” represented the anti-promised child. Born in the interim of waiting for…
Some precious friends struggle with failure. Paul, God’s apostle to the Gentiles, learned it — His secret? Contentment. Together with godlikeness, Paul found a sufficiency in God’s grace. He had solved the mystery — to be humbled or to be exalted; to be hungry or to be well fattened. No matter the accompanying, conditioning, determining event, Paul discovered an alternate solar system, with new definitions for success or failure. Frankly, in this configuration, both abasing and abounding are absorbed into the all-defining substance — grace! See Philippians 4:11-12, 1Timothy 6:6, 2 Corinthians 9:8. How could Paul do that? He could manage it because he was filled with God’s Word of grace. In that indoctrination of the Eternal dimension, Paul learned to see harrowing happenings, planned shindigs, random competitions or happiness-determining encounters — all God-initiated, all God-allowed. Why? Because they comprise the tools of God’s forming work as Potter with Clay.…
Jeremiah, prophet of God in an evil time, brought a message from God to the Nation — it fell on deaf ears. Jeremiah 7:23 “But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God.” Jeremiah 11:7 “Obey my voice.” Jeremiah 12:17 “But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 18:10 “If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.” Jeremiah 26:13 “Therefore now amend your…