The Continuing Reformation
The word ‘Reformation’ has a negative connotation in many Christian circles. To some it brings to mind thoughts of hyper-calvanism, elitism, dry intellect-only study of scripture, the denial of certain spiritual gifts, etc…
And while I am not claiming to subscribe entirely to Reformed Theology or vice-versa I think there are some lessons and practices of it that every Christian should consider. Ponder its definition:
“Reformed: ri-farmed’, a, to be corrected; Restored to a good or proper state; having turned from unlawful ways to obey the law; as a reformed criminal; to restore from a bad state, to a previous good state; a rearrangement which brings about a better order of things; (cap) restoring biblical precepts…”
The heart of the Reformation movement began in the 1500’s when several men began to question the man-made traditions of the prevailing Catholic church. The church persecuted men who sought the translation of the bible into the common language fearing contradictions in church doctrine would be found as a result. It was the beginning of the process of departing from false belief and traditions and conforming doctrine, practice and understanding of God to the Biblical teachings and principles of scripture.
If this was and is the reformation… Did it end? Should it have ended? Do we still practice un-biblical traditions in the modern church today?
Should we maintain the heart of the reformation and continually check ourselves and our beliefs and practices against what scripture says? What does 2 Tim 3:16-17 say about it? Why would Paul say that if he didn’t expect (from the scriptures) re-proof, correction and profit for doctrine?
Quoted from the CNN article, “…he believes with the transfusion he would be unclean and unworthy.”
This is a very clear statement that proves this young boy was trying to attain his salvation through works. His fear was that the blood transfusion would make him unworthy and unclean. Doesn’t the bible teach that we are already unworthy and unclean? Apparently JW’s deny not only the deity of Christ but His work on the cross as well. (Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9)
Besides this brings to mind a familiar passage…
“What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)
If this young man would have received a blood transfusion JW doctrine states that his family and the watchtower cult should excommunicate and condemn him. What does Jesus have to say? “But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matthew 12:7)
Thanksgiving: Pilgrims and Indians?
Apart from popular belief the tradition of Thanksgiving did NOT start with the Pilgrims and the Indians, though the Pilgrims and Indians did share a thanksgiving meal in 1621 it was not called “Thanksgiving” nor was it repeated year after year.
It wasn’t until 1863 after Abraham Lincoln gave his life to Christ that he set apart the day for giving thanks to none other but The Most High God! For you history buffs the proclamation is as follows. I’ve bolded some of the interesting points with the assumption that very few will take the time to read it. And so as you folks go around the table and spend time meditating on the things that you are thankful for remember Who it is that we should truly be thankful to- most importantly the provision made possible through His Son.
by the President of the United States of America
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
[Signed]
A. Lincoln
If you thought Islamic terrorism was a modern trend and the result of America’s poking, think again!
America’s first war against Islamic terrorists began in the days of George Washington and spanned a whopping thirty-two years. That war, called the Barbary Powers War, lasted thirty-two years, involved six years of active overseas warfare against Muslim terrorists, and spanned four U. S. presidencies: those of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. (http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=374)
The Barbary Powers (called Barbary pirates by most Americans) attacked American civilian and commercial merchant ships (but not military ships) wherever they found them.
In 1784, Congress authorized American diplomats John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson to negotiate with the Muslim terrorists. Negotiations proceeded, and in 1786, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson candidly asked the Ambassador from Tripoli the motivation behind their unprovoked attacks against Americans. What was the response?
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The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of their Prophet [Mohammed] “that it was written in their Koran that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners; that is was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners; and that every Musselman [Muslim] who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.” (Thomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Julian P. Boyd, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954), Vol. 9, p. 358, Report of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams to John Jay, March 28, 1786.)
My friends: the Jews
Several years ago while a student in college I was handing out flyers for the Christian club on campus during an event and ran into a group of Hasidic Jews. Under normal circumstances they wouldn’t have paid any attention to a Christian, but I had something that was apparently very valuable to them. My mother is a 100% full blooded Jew, which in their book makes me a Jew as well.
Before I knew it I was surrounded by Jewish students, some in black suits, some dressed like secular students, they just as curious as I. At the center of this crowd was myself and a Rabbi who began conversing with me and questioning my faith in Jesus.
To this day that experience has given me so much more insight into the Jewish people and a real life glimpse of, in some part, the life of Jesus and his conversations with the Pharisees.
From then on I could not escape being berated by random Jews who would constantly catch me in the cafeteria eating a cheese burger. I could not escape being invited to feasts and synagogues, and I couldn’t avoid debating scripture in the student lounge, library, class or wherever I would go. I attended a Saabath celebration where I was questioned for not ceremonially washing my hands prior to eating and angered a well-known Rabbi by pointing out a contradiction in his book. I at one point was even offered a fully paid 7-day trip to Israel including flight, hotel and food at no cost to myself (which I ended up turning down).
I am by no means complaining. In fact I enjoyed it. Through all these things I was forced to dig deeper into the scriptures. I was forced to understand the Jews modern view of Messiah. I read about, in their own writings, the Jewish view of Messiah prior to Jesus’ coming and witnessed their changed view after His coming. I learned about the Talmud and Jewish Oral Tradition and experienced first hand its exaltation over scripture, the very thing Jesus spoke about.
Recently, in fact yesterday, I met up again with one of them for the first time in several years… and I was reminded again of all these things and how many interesting things I have to share. So be looking forward to some insider facts, pictures and nuggets about the Jewish faith and how it’s still like the faith of the Pharisees and the Jews who had gone astray many times in the days of the prophets. Look forward to snippets from Jewish Oral Tradition that proves Jesus WAS and IS the Messiah and how their views have changed as a result.
Joseph puts me to shame
Twice his work ethic was so incredible that his master puts everything into his hand without need to oversee his work:
Gen 39:6 “Thus he (Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh) left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.”
Gen 39:23 “The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.”
Can you say that about your secular place of employment? Your ministry before the Lord? Your service at church?
I’m not quite sure I could. Lord make me a faithful servant!
Abraham prays for Abimelech
“Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live.” (Gen 20:7)
Often I am amazed and perplexed by the awesome power God has attributed and given to prayer.
Abraham lied to Abimelech about Sarah his wife, “She’s my sister” he said. So Abimelech takes Sarah for himself.
God intervenes and in a dream threatens to take Abimelech’s life if Sarah is not restored to her rightful husband. The text isn’t clear if he was smitten with some sort of disease, but it wouldn’t surprise me considering the treatment given to an offender of the past (Gen 12:17).
God told Abimilech that he would be healed, but only after Sarah is returned and Abraham, the prophet, had prayed for him.
Here’s my question: Why didn’t God just set the condition for the return of Sarah? Why did He add that Abraham be the agent in prayer?
I think it speaks significantly about God’s desire for us to pray and the power He gives to it. It was only two chapters ago (Gen 18) that we find Abraham once again playing the part as intercessor.
This text reminds me of two things:
- Prayer isn’t for changing the mind of God (God was the one who orchestrated the request).
- God somehow gives weight to prayer for the accomplishment of His will.
Lord make me a prayer warrior.
and the food we eat?
As long as I’ve been a believer I have prayed before I scarfed down a plate of food on the table. But when was the last time I was truly thankful and recognized it as the hand of the Lord? (Matthew 15:36; James 1:17)
Sure- I work; and I cooked it. But who gave me the talents, the health, the ability? Who placed me at this job?
This food wasn’t my doing. Oh that I would never forget it!
Book of Genesis encoded in Chinese language
The book of Genesis speaks of a world-wide flood (Gen 6:13-22) that destroyed all the inhabitants of the earth except for a man named Noah and his family. The earth was then re-populated by those sole survivors (Gen 9:1). Noah was the father of all nations and if this is true- it would only make sense for other cultures to contain an account of the historic flood, the events prior, and any later events the culture shared with the Semite ancestors who wrote the book of Genesis.
Interesting enough there are dozen of cultures that have a flood account in their oral tradition. There is also an ancient culture that has the events of the book of Genesis encoded into its language, the Chinese.
Ancient Chinese writing consisted of a series of word pictures or pictographs which combined separate features to express a idea or concept. Look at how these Chinese symbols use biblical references:
God made man out of the dust and breathed life into the two persons who lived in the enclosed- Garden.
The biblical boat/ark consisted of a vessel of eight people.
There are many more. These links may be of use in researching it for yourself:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/Docs/388.asp
http://www.drdino.com/articles.php?spec=54
http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/global10.asp
John Piper on Suffering and Sovereignty
So many ask, why did God allow something so horrible?
Why did the bridge collapse?
