In This World You Shall Have...

I find the "have it, grab it" Christians to be somewhat off kilter.  Everytime Jesus says that we will have anything we ask for, it is in connection with our work to expand His kingdom.  Nothing in the Book says that we can have anything that will spoil our need for God or our relationship to Him.

Abraham, David, and Solomon had much.  Altho the first two stumbled, they remained faithful.  Solomon had so much that he became depressed – see Ecclesiastes.  Solomon’s many foreign wives turned him away from God.  In the end, did he still believe in the true God?

Jesus said in this world we would have tribulation (John 16:33).  Jesus asked us to forsake the world for Him and Hebrews 12:1 advises us to lay aside everything that hinders us.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says we should not lay up treasures for ourselves on earth, but to forward them to our eternal heavenly dwelling. 

He promised to be with us.  He promised us eternal life with Him.  He promised that, as we abide in Him and work to bear fruit, that we would have everything we needed to accomplish that goal.  He did not offer us Mercedes and large mansions on earth.

Please bear in mind the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  On earth Lazarus had nothing and ended up in heaven. The rich man, whose name we do not know, ended up in hell.  In another parable of the rich man and his barns, Jesus says the rich man came to nothing and all he had went to someone else.

Outside of parables, there was a rich man who asked Jesus how he could be saved.  Jesus said “Your riches are weighing you down.  Give it all away and follow me.” The man walked away sad, because he treasure his "stuff".

How many lottery winners commit suicide?  Money doesn’t fill our inner need.  “The love of money…”, that often misquoted line actually points to the division between having much safely and having much to one's own detriment.  Do you have your stuff or does it have you?

Proverbs 30:8 has an excellent summation:
O God, I beg two favors from you;
    let me have them before I die.
⁸ First, help me never to tell a lie.
    Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!
    Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
⁹ For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
    And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name. (NIV)

Having more than we need may be a trick of the devil to ensnare us and weigh us down.

In every worldly thing, guard your heart.  If you can do that, God will know how much He can trust you with.

God bless us all.

Kathi

Christmas Angels

This morning, our church's children performed their Christmas play.  I think I've seen this one before, but one word especially caught my ear - millions.

Here's the account of the angels visiting the shepherds from Luke:

⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

What is your image of the angels who appeared to say, "Glory to God..."?  Twenty or so?  I think that's about what I had in mind.  I think it may have come from the painting I used to see in various Bible story books.  There are exactly five angels in this picture.

But the Bible says that there was a multitude of angels.  How many in a multitude? 

If I had been any angel in God's presence and Jesus came down from heaven to live in a human body, I would want to be part of the wonder of the moment.  If I were the proud Parent of a new baby Boy, an earth-changing baby Boy, I would use every means at my disposal to make the announcement. 

What if every angel in heaven were present to announce God's Christmas gift to the world? 

And if I were one of the shepherds, that would indeed terrify me.

Just something to think about.

God be with us all, especially as we remember His best gift to us.

Kathi Linz

The Order of Melchizedek

Melchizedek has always made me wonder.  How can someone have no mother and no father and yet still be human?  Here are some of the things I learned.

"Having no mother and no father" may have meant that the man was old to the point where no one knew his heritage.  Jewish tradition suggests that Melchizedek may have been Noah's son Shem.  Shem lived for a long time after the Flood, long enough for Abraham to have arrived in Canaan according to the timeline offered in Genesis.

Melchizedek was his title, not his name.  The title means "King of Righteousness". He is called "a priest of the Most High God".  His name is never mentioned.

Jesus is named a priest after the order of Melchizedek.  According to the Tabernacle/Temple priesthood, any priest had to be from the Levite tribe of the family of Aaron.  Jesus didn't belong to Aaron's family.  He came from the tribe of Judah.  He would have to be a different type of priest.  Melchizedek is the only other  type of priest approved in Scripture.

At the core of what I heard last week is the story about Jesus' baptism.

When an old high priest was about to die, he would name his oldest son to be the next high priest.  This son had to be at least 30 years old.  The son would bathe in the mikvah and dress in the priestly robes.  His head would be anointed with sacred oil.  He would go to his father's bedside (or wherever the ailing old man was) and his father would say, "This is my son.  I am pleased with him."  Then he would go out and fulfill his duties.

When Jesus went to the Jordan River to be baptized, He did not do it because He needed His sins to be washed away.  He had no sin. 

Let's compare Jesus' baptism with the account of preparing a new high priest.  When Jesus was 30 years old, He went into the water like the priest going to the mikvah.  When He came out of the water, the Holy Spirit came down on Him like the anointing oil.  Jesus received the Spirit to empower Him for the ministry He was about to begin.  And the Father's voice came from heaven saying, "This is My Son.  I am pleased with Him."

Jesus came up out of the river with God's stamp of approval on His ministry - a priest after the order of Melchizedek, King of Righteousness.  (Gen. 14, Ps. 110:4, Hebrews 5:8-10)

May God bless us all.

Kathi

At War with Israel

Les asked me this morning what Bible verse talked about Israel being alone against the world.  I thought of one I wanted to look up, and, as so often happens on the internet, I ended up in a whole different place.

The verses I found talked about God bringing all the nations to war with Israel in the Valley of Jezreel at the foot of Mount Megiddo, also know as Haar Megiddo or Armageddon.  But that wasn't what most caught my eye.

I found an article about Zephaniah 2:1-7 which reads like this:

"1 Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, 2 before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD's wrath comes upon you. 3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.


4 Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. 5 Woe to you who live by the sea, O Kerethite people; the word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. "I will destroy you, and none will be left." 6 The land by the sea, where the Kerethites dwell, will be a place for shepherds and sheep pens. 7 It will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will find pasture. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The LORD their God will care for them; he will restore their fortunes."

Please note the reference to Gaza which hasn't changed its name in thousands of years.  Does anyone remember the day when the Israelis were kicked out of their houses by the Palestinians who were given Gaza as a homeland?  8,600 Israelis were brought out of Gaza escorted by the Israeli military, often under protest.  "But this is our home!  Where will we go?" they cried as they left everything behind.

Gaza was abandoned by the Israelis.  That was seven years ago in 2005.  God loves the number seven. 

Note the rest of the passage - wrath, destruction, the end of the Philistines/Palestinians.  God says He will do it, and the land will return to Judah.

I watch the news and see an almost inevitable war in the Middle East with Egypt, Syria, and any other Arab nation that wants to pile on, attacking Israel.  It won't be their best move.  God is on Israel's side.  Besides the promise to return the land to Judah mentioned above, you might want to note the last few verses of Amos (chapter 9):

¹³ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
    and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
    and flow from all the hills,
¹⁴     and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.^[f]

“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
    They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
    they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
¹⁵ I will plant Israel in their own land,
    never again to be uprooted
    from the land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

NEVER TO BE UPROOTED AGAIN!  Yes, I'm yelling!  No nation, not all the nations together will be able to take Israel out of their homeland again.  God says so.  Allah will not defeat Elohim, El Shaddai, the Great I AM and His people Israel.

Watch the news.  It's fascinating to match current events against prophecy - to see it all take place as if ancient Bible verses are today's headlines.  I don't believe there's much time left for us to talk to our family, friends, and neighbors about Jesus.

By the way, the verse I was originally looking for is Ezekiel 38:13.  If you are aware of end times prophecy at all, you will know this chapter.  It is about Gog and Magog and their cohorts coming to attack Israel, "a land of unwalled villages".

The part I was thinking about is where the "cubs (or merchants) of Tarshish" shake their fingers at the attack but do nothing to stop it.  Tarshish may very well have been part of ancient Spain.  Where did the merchant ships come from that found and founded America? 

And although our nation has a strong history of supporting Israel, do you think the current administration would lift a finger if Russia and the Islamic nations descended on Israel en masse?  I think they would shake their fingers and their heads, leaving Israel to its fate.

And that, my friends, is when God will step in, when Israel has no one to depend on but its God.

I'm watching the news.  The times we live in are a wonder.  I believe this chapter in time is about to come to an end and a new one begin.  What do you think?

May God bless us all.

Kathi

The Name of America

Scandal piles on top of scandal.  No one knew anything about what was going on" until the day after the election".  We're still supposed to blame Bush for everything going wrong in this country even though he has not been in office and hasn't even said anything in the last four years.  Not a peep.

After watching CNN (Constantly Negative News/Clinton News Network...)  during my lunch date with Les (not exactly the greatest thing for healthy digestion), I have a new name for our country - Ichabod. 

Ichabod - the glory has departed.

We kicked God out of our public places during the 1960's.  We legally adopted evolution and secular humanism before that.  God is a gentleman.  He doesn't hang around places where He isn't wanted.  The only reason, I believe, that our country hasn't been completely sold to our enemies (and it's well on its way) is because there is still a remnant that holds on to the truth - that is, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Don't be deceived.  Our Glory has departed and judgement will come.  The only variable that I can't state with certainty is whether this is the time when we Christians will be taken out first or if there is more to come before the final curtain falls on this "play".

Ichabod.  Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

God bless us all,

Kathi

Choir - Long Ago

I was just watching a DVD of the Three Priests and enjoying it very much.  I seldom hear a good choir arrangement anymore what with modern Christian music used in every worship service.  Sometimes I miss it.

I grew up in Zion Lutheran Church.  I was in choir from the third grade up to middle adulthood.  My voice was inherited from my father's side.  He was a bass and Grandma sang alto.  Our Easter parties used to include Handel's Hallelujah chorus sung with all the parts while Uncle Larry carved the turkey - spontaneous and wonderful.

I always enjoyed singing in choir.  Sometimes we had excellent, heartfelt pieces and, now and then, a good rousing song that made your spirit fly.  I always loved the song "This Joyful Eastertide".  One choir always did it every Easter.  Most often it was the junior choir, but sometimes the adults sang it.

But the song I remember most was a wonderful song called "The Song of Zechariah".  The lyrics included the phrase "Rejoice, daughter of Zion, for your King comes to you, meek and riding on a donkey".  It was happy and uplifting.  It had a really strong beat going  - and I was a daughter of Zion.  What more could you ask for in a song?

On the Sunday that we sang it, I was pouring myself into the music and just enjoying the moment.  Right after the benediction, however, one of the men in the bass section leaned forward and said to me, "I hope we never do that song again.  You were almost dancing." 

Well, poke a pin in my balloon and burst it.

I'm older and wiser now.  I've read the Bible several times and this is what I've learned.  King David danced before the Lord and God called him a man after God's own heart.  I since have belonged to a number of churches and they allow dancing if that's the way the worship goes.  Now I try to make sure there's no doubt whether I'm dancing or not.  And on a Sunday when I don't let my feet get happy, someone is sure to ask me if I'm feeling okay.  That's the way it should be.

Once I heard someone say that if Christians worshipped properly, they wouldn't need gym memberships. 

Please check out this song for a little added inspiration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFcVeQlDDdw&feature=related

God bless us all,

Kathi

Learning from a Student

Some time back, I had a girl named Chanta in my class.  Since we both changed grades, I had her in my class for several years. 

Chanta was somewhat dyslexic.  This affected her spelling and math skills more than anything else.  You could just tell that she was very smart when she spoke, but her written skills suffered - and so did she.  She would study hard.  Given her spelling tests out loud, she could spell with no trouble at all.  Doing it on paper, all of the letter would be present, but not in the right order.  I hated to mark them wrong as I knew the effort Chanta put into getting them right.  It was simply beyond her.

One time during her second grade year, Chanta was having trouble with her adding and subtracting.  Often her subtraction problems would have answers larger than either of the numbers being subtracted. 

I sat down with her and said, "Let's say you have eight M&M's, and you give three of them to your brother..."

"Oh, I would never do that!"

"Well, let's say that you did.  Would you have more afterwards than you did to start with?"

Her answer: "Yes, I would.  God would give me more."

How do you argue with that?  My exact thought was, "Her checkbook will never be balanced, but she'll never run out of money."

I used to frequently wear a small locket that was a gift from my mother.  This same girl still in the second grade noticed that I liked to wear it and once asked me whose picture was inside.  I opened it and showed her that there were no pictures in my locket.

Chanta looked up at me with an amazing depth of wisdom in her young eyes and said, "Miss Eickstadt, it's not good to have an empty heart."

She went and sat down and got busy at her desk.  I didn't notice what she was working on until a few minutes later when she came back to me and offered me a tiny, tiny heart cut out of notebook paper.  It was angular and inperfect with the word "Jesus" written on it in uneven second grade handwriting.  She meant for me to put the heart inside my locket.  I did.

A couple of years later, I showed her that I still had the heart in my locket.  Chanta seemed embarrassed to see the roughness of her work.  She offered to make me a new one that would look better. 

I turned down her offer.  I told her, "There's no way you can top this one.  I'm never going to get rid of it."

To this day, that small gift of love is still in my locket.  She was right - it's not good to have an empty heart.

May God bless us,

Kathi

Sahavas

Yesterday morning right before I woke up, I had a dream that someone was showing me a piece of parchment-like paper with one word written on it in bold letters.  It was a word I had never seen or heard before: SAHAVA.

I told Les about it and he beat me to the computer to look up the word.

With an S at the end, here is what the word means:

"Sahavas (Vedanta - singular & plural, also sahawas; sahavasa) literally means dwelling together, close companionship, or in the company of. It may also refer to a spiritual retreat or a gathering held by a master so that his devotees may enjoy his company, i.e., his physical presence, or a gathering in his honor where his followers meet to remember him."

Assuming this was a message from the Lord, I can't wait to be in His physical presence so I can enjoy His company.

God bless us all.

Kathi

Feast of Trumpets 2012

We're nearly at the Feast of Trumpets for this year. September 17-26 - the Days of Awe.

The Jewish people clean their slates at this time by forgiving people who have hurt them and asking forgiveness from people they have hurt.  They go to God and ask Him to make them clean.

They wish each other, "May a good year be written for you in the Book of Life."

Those are good traditions.  And so I wish for anyone who reads this, "May a good year be inscribed for you in the Book of Life."

May God bless us all,

Kathi

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

I've heard a number of Christians say that when they get to heaven, they are going to have a talk with Adam and Eve about eating from the forbidden tree. I may talk with them about all the weeds I've had to pull out of my garden, but I won't say one word to them about the tree.

If I had been the first woman, God would have known to fill the tree of knowledge of good and evil with bough-loads of fresh, warm, soft-in-the-middle, almost-still-dough, chocolate chip cookies.  I would have followed my nose to the spot, and I wouldn't have needed a snake to talk me into eating them.  I understand food temptations all too well.

Don't worry, many-greats grandma and grandpa.  I don't blame you.  I understand.

May God bless us all.

Kathi

I Can't Top This Story

I borrowed this from Wycliff Bible Translators.  See the link it the end of the story.

Two women cross the road in the town of Maroua, Cameroon. Nearby, a Wycliffe translation advisor working with the Hdi language noticed that all verbs end in either i, a or u, which changes the meaning, but the word for love, ‘dv-’, didn’t have a version ending in ‘u’. He asked the Hdi translation team about it. “Could you ‘dvu’ your wife?”

Everyone laughed. “Of course not! If you said that, you would have to love your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water, never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would be compelled to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say ‘dvu’ about anything. It just doesn’t exist.”

He (the translator) sat quietly for a while and then asked, “Could God ‘dvu’ people?”

There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally they responded. “Do you know what this would mean?! This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love.”
The New Testament in Hdi is now ready to be printed and 29,000 speakers will soon be able to feel the impact of passages like Eph 5:25: “Husbands, ‘dvu’ your wives, just as Christ ‘dvu’-d the church…” Please pray for the Hdi as they receive God’s word for the first time. Read the full story at http://www.wycliffe.net/stories/tabid/67/Default.aspx?id=2922&pg=1&topic-id=24

Thank God for His continuing love,

Kathi

December 21, 2012

With all the hype about the world coming to an end - or the world/humanity changing in some quantum way - I have a thought or two on the subject.

Please remember that the Mayans worshipped a snake, Quetzalcoatl or Kukulkan.  While I respect their expertise in astronomy and time-keeping, (and make no mistake, they were masters at both), I distrust their source of information for any prophecies they left for us to find.

Nostradamus came up with his predictions by scrying, that is, staring into a bowl of water or crystal ball.  God says we should not tolerate anyone who uses divination or witchcraft, one who interprets omens, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, a medium, a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.  Deut. 18:10-12

Nostradamus's poems are approximately as general as an astrological forecast which can be read by individuals to mean whatever they think it ought to mean.  A few lines seem to be close to something that actually happened.  God says, "When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken.  The prophet has spoken presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him." Deut. 18:22

As for December 21, 2012, here's what the Bible says: Be on the alert for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.  For this reason you must also be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will." Matt. 24:42, 44  (Bold letters are mine.)  Since so many people think something big, possibly Jesus' return will be on that day, you can be pretty sure He will not choose that particular day.

My preference is during the Feast of Trumpets.  Odds are that He won't pick those days either.  Sigh

If you are curious for expanded information on this topic, I highly recommend Mark Hitchcock's book 2012: The Bible and the End of the World.  Good book.

God bless us with His peace in these times.

Kathi

Inspired by Greatness

This morning I found this Scripture being quoted by one of my friends on facebook:

"Let them praise the name of the Lord for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. He has raised up for His people a horn, the praise of all His saints." Psalm 148:13-14

It reminded me of one other verse that always leaves me breathless when I consider it.  Isaiah 40:12a says: "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?" 

If you stretch out the fingers of your hand as far as they will go and measure from the end of your thumb to the end of your little finger, that is the span or breadth of your hand. 

God holds the universe in the span of His hand.  Just think about THAT for a minute and see if your perspective on God doesn't change for the larger.

Psalm 8 goes on to add:

3When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

4what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

How God could even find us in such a vast expanse is incredible!  That He would be willing to come down to be with us is even more amazing. 

We see this skit in church every so often.  I'm going to add the link to it so you can enjoy it too. 

http://www.sermonspice.com/product/38133/the-birdcage

God bless us all,

Kathi

Jesus' First and Second Coming

Over the last number of Sunday school classes, I have been tracing Jesus' family from Adam and Eve through Abraham and David's family.  We've finally arrived at Jesus' first coming.

Yesterday, I went through the prophecies in the Old Testament that are so familiar even to people who only show up for church on Christmas.

Jesus would:

crush the serpent's head  Gen 3:15
be a blessing to the whole world    Gen 18:18
be born of a virgin  Is 7:14
be born in Bethlehem   Micah 5:2
go to Egypt for a time  Hosea 11:1
be raised in the Galilee  Is 9:1-2
be betrayed by a friend Ps 41:9
be sold for thirty pieces of silver Zec 11:12
      which would be returned and used to purchase the potter's field   Zec 11:13
suffer for us   Ps 22   Is 53
die for us      Ps 22    Is 53
die among evil people   Is 53:12
be buried in a rich man's tomb    Is 53:9
be raised from the dead.       Ps 16:10

I've heard it used as an argument that Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies about the Messiah on purpose so that He would look like a messiah to anyone who was paying attention.

Please note how many of these prophecies would have been completely beyond His control if he were an ordinary human.  No one picks their parents.  No one chooses their place of birth or where they live before they reach a viable age to live on their own.  No one willingly arranges to be crucified.  While we can pick a cemetery plot today, and it was even done back in Jesus' day what with family tombs and all, Jesus was nowhere near His family's usual place of interment if they had one.  He did not have a say in where He was buried.  No ordinary human decides to raise from the dead three days after they are put in a tomb.

There is a vivid description of crucifixion in Psalm 22 which was written hundreds of years before that particular form of torture was invented.  The same psalm says that Jesus' clothes would be divided by gambling. 

Therefore, since Jesus fulfilled every prophecy about His first coming, He will certainly fulfill every one of the prophecies about His second coming. 

The last few lines in the Bible say:

"I am coming soon."

To which the heartfelt response is:

"Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."

God bless us all,

Kathi

Dragons

Where does the idea or the prototype of a dragon come from?  Almost every culture has a dragon or flying serpent in its mythology.  I can think of two ways it could have come about.

The Bible says that Noah took two of every kind of animal with him on the ark (and seven each of clean animals).  Since he took two of EVERY kind, that would include dinosaurs - albeit they would have had to be young ones to fit on the ark. (Gen. 7:2-3)

All kinds of land animals were created on the sixth day.  Dinosaurs, many of them, were land animals.  Before the Flood, people only ate vegetation as far as we know. In Genesis 1:29-30, God tells Adam and Eve they may eat every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seeds in it. (By the way, all of the animals were also created to eat plants.  See v. 30)

It is possible that as people discovered more and more ways to disobey God, that they began eating animals and that the dinosaurs were hunted to extinction before the Flood.  I cannot prove that one way or another.  But assuming some were alive when Noah constructed the ark, then there were dinosaurs aboard it when the rains began to fall.

After the Flood, the earth was substantially different.  There were annual seasons instead of a uniformly warm planet.  (See studies done in the Antarctic that prove it was once warm and lush. http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/08/03/from-leafy-to-lifeless-tropical-rainforest-once-covered-antarctica/ )
Certainly that would have affected the lifespan and size of the great lizards, but they might have continued to exist for some centuries past the Flood.  Stories like St. George and the Dragon lend some credence to this idea. Also explorers to the Dakotas claim to have seen flying lizards.  The Native Americans there called it a thunderbird.

Another possible origin for dragons would also begin in the Garden of Eden.  The talking snake that discussed eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was not shaped like our modern snakes.  When God cursed the snake, He said it would crawl on its belly and eat dust all of its life.  That wouldn't have been much of a curse unless the snake hadn't crawled before the curse was given.  So I pose the question, what was the snake's mode of getting around before he landed on his belly?  Legs almost certainly.  Even today, pythons and boas have vestigial legs.  That would make the curse even worse, to still have a reminder of what once was.  (Gen. 3:14)

So snakes had legs in the beginning.  What if that wasn't all?  What if they also had wings and could fly? 

No one doubts flying lizards (see the aforementioned pterodactyls and pterodons).  There is a species of snake in South America that leaps from tree branches, flattens out its body, and glides on the air for some distance.  http://www.flyingsnake.org/    South American mythology has an important god named Queztalcoatl or Plumed Serpent.  The idea of flying snakes had to begin somewhere - and some snakes seem to remember that they were once allowed to fly.

Take your pick of the choices, but I have to lean in favor of the snake in the Garden of Eden.  All the other references to dragons in the Bible link the name Dragon to Satan. (Rev. 12:13-17 and, just in case that doesn't do it for you, see Rev. 20:2)

Go with God.

Kathi

Here's the Original Quote

Chick-Fil-A CEO Cathy was interviewed by the Baptist Press for their Christian magazine.  Here's what he said: Cathy told The Baptist Press that, “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy said. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.” Supporters of gay marriage criticized Cathy for his comments saying they were “bigoted and hateful.” I somehow don't see the bigoted hatefulness in that statement.  I am not wrong to believe that I should stay married to the man I vowed "forsaking all others" and "until death do us part".  If someone wants to do something else, why are they allowed to say I am wrong and I can't say that they are?  There certainly is a lot of hate on one side of this argument  - and it isn't on my side. I think this may go to a deeper level than "tolerance".  This may fall under the category of conviction.  People who know they have something to hide or believe they have done something shameful tend to get defensive and aggressive when someone shows them a better or more honest way.  Morality cannot be legislated no matter how hard our government tries.  I've also noticed that some organizations demand that their employees do service work outside work hours or may allow them to do it on company time.  Angela's school did this in New Hampshire.  All well and good - except for the heart.  Charity begins in the heart.  So does morality.  Only Jesus can change a heart so these things flow outward instead of being forced upon one. And that is the state of the nation today.

Attention, Please

If God were trying to get our attention, what would He use to do it?

In the Old Testament, He used drought, famine, and enemy attacks to get the Israelites to come back to their true God.  Israel was famous for abandoning their Glory for gods that demanded even as much as the life of their babies.  And God had to repeatedly use extreme measures to get their attention.

As He says, "Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols!" Jer. 2:11

America began as a Christian country.  There have been a number of revivals along the way which kept God in the forefront of our nation's thoughts and policies.  In the 1960's, America kicked God out of school and allowed our unborn babies to be offered up to the god of convenience. 

Since then, I have seen in my lifetime the weather become more extreme, progressively become more severe.  There are earthquakes in unusual places with bigger earthquakes in places that often have them.  Now drought - and accompanying food shortages - are coupled with a crushed economy.  We are at the mercy of foreign nations (See Ezekiel 7:21 and Hosea 8:7) for energy.  I've heard that most of Nevada is owned by people from other countries.  That is not considered to be a blessing according to God's Word.

"They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up."  Hosea 8:7  Here is both drought and foreign occupation.  Even if foreigners were not to literally take over the country, we are so in debt to other governments that everything we produce is owed to someone else.

We've been attacked at our embassies outside of the country and internally as well. 

I see the nation's economy being manipulated in such a way that our finances will utterly fail and the only way to redeem it will be to come up with a new currency and probably to join a one-world government.  Our country's economic situation is no accident. 

I can only see two ways of looking at this.  Either God is trying to get our attention and call us back to Himself, or we are on the edge of the end-times. 

Show me, if you can, where I'm wrong.

God go with you,

Kathi

Joseph and Judah

One time I was teaching the story of Joseph reconciling with his brothers and I choked up because I finally got a picture of exactly what had happened.

When the brothers sold Joseph into slavery, Reuben wanted to save him and send him home.  The other brothers got rid of Joseph before Reuben returned from his errand and the deed became irreversible.

For twenty years, the brothers watched as their father Jacob went into mourning and never came out of it.  Thereby hangs the tale. 

The family, as twisted as it was before Joseph disappeared, became worse.  Benjamin was never allowed out of Daddy's sight.  This restriction made Benjamin both rebellious and spoiled.  (See Judges 19 - 21 to see how this passed down through the generations.)  He hadn't been at fault for Joseph's leaving, but he bore the worst of the consequences.  I'm making a guess here, but I'm betting the brothers felt bad about taking away Benjamin's full brother, and they gave him extra presents and paid more attention to him than they would have under other circunstances.

The older brothers carried around the guilt of their deed and the lies that followed for nearly TWENTY YEARS.  They watched their father shrink into himself as if the spirit had been sucked out of him completely and saw him hang onto Benjamin the way babies hang onto their "blankie".  Nothing they did changed it.  No entertainment, no storytelling around the campfire, no gift they could give, nothing helped.  Imagine the shared silent glances between the brothers when they caught Dad quietly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand as some memory went through his mind about Joseph and his mother, both gone.

After the first trip to Egypt, the brothers knew they would have to pry Benjamin out from under Daddy's arm.  Reuben first told Jacob, "If I don't bring him back to you alive and in one piece, you can kill my two boys." 

Finally Judah guaranteed Benjamin's life by saying he would be personally responsible for Benjamin's safety.  He, Judah, would forever bear the blame before his father if anything happened to the youngest brother.  Benjamin at this point was no baby.  He had to have been at least 30 since Joseph was about 37 by now.  But Dad wouldn't acknowledge his maturity.

So finally, all the brothers make the trip to Egypt.  Joseph treats them like honored guests with a big feast, loads them up with plenty of grain, and sends them on their way only to have them stopped under a charge of theft.  The item in question is in Benjamin's sack of grain and it looks for all the world like Jacob is about to lose Rachel's only other child forever.

All of the brothers go back to face the Pharoah's right-hand man and plead for their youngest brother. 

This is the part that finally dawned on me.  Judah has watched his father deteriorate for all of these years and it has caused him damage.  The guilt and the lies have eaten at his heart for two decades and he can't take it anymore.  Judah says this, "Please take me prisoner and send this one home to his father.  I guaranteed his safety."  Then I can see tears in Judah's eyes and his voice breaks, "Please don't make me watch what would happen to my father if Benjamin doesn't come home."  (Gen. 44:34)

In the beginning, the brothers thought they were getting rid of their thorn in the flesh when they sent Joseph away.  But see where they ended up.  Their scheme broke their father, broke their family, broke them. 

"Please don't make me watch what would happen to my father..."  He couldn't live with the consequences anymore.  

Even though God turned the whole situation around, gave them food in a time of famine, saved the life of the whole nation, promoted Joseph for his faithfulness, and restored joy to Jacob in the end, there was still a huge price to pay for what they did.  I'm betting they frequently thought,"Those two silver pieces we each got didn't begin to make up for the results."

God go with you.

Kathi

Disreputable

Our guest pastor today was from a church called "The Alley".  His ministry is to drug addict, alcoholics, street children, and ex-felons.  He tends to stop into bars and play a few licks with the band because, as he says, he goes to his congregation rather than waiting for them to come to him.

John the Baptist, as the son of a priest, was supposed to wash frequently, wear clean white linen, and show up in the temple to offer sacrifices in the prescribed way.  He did none of those things.  John wore camel's hair and leather.  He ate locusts and wild honey.  He preached to Romans and the backwash of the people until the scribes and Pharisees came down to see what he was up to.  And then he told them what he thought of their "establishment" ways.  He baptized people in a big muddy river.  He did not do "what he was supposed to do".

Jesus was the same.  If he was supposed to be the Messiah by "churchy" standards, He certainly didn't live up to their their expectations.  His first miracle was turning water into wine to keep the party going.  He hung out with tax collectors, thieves, prostitutes, adulterers, and other disreputable folks.  He was three days late for His best friend's funeral.  He took for disciples the unlearned (by the religious people's standards), a liar and at least one thief.  James and John, the sons of thunder, today would have been part of a motorcycle gang.  It seems as if Peter and Andrew had some kind of running feud going - "How often do I have to forgive my brother?  Up to seven times?"  What a bunch to have to deal with on a day-to-day basis!

Yet Jesus loved them all, struggled to show them how to love, how to forgive, how to be forgiven.  He never tired of giving them God's best.  He told them stories that they could relate to in simple terms.  He could have commanded the king's palace, yet He slept on the ground, bathed in streams, wore homespun, and smelled like the ordinary people who gathered around Him.

It doesn't hurt us church folk to remember how our Teacher loved the unlovable and reached out for them to snatch as many of them from the enemy as He could.  God looks at the heart.  We shouldn't decide how to treat people by what their outsides look like.

God help us all to be more like Jesus.

The Second (or Third) Commandment

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."  (Exodus 20:7)

For fifty and some years, I never heard this commandment refer to anything other than cursing and swearing.  Maybe that is part of it, but I believe there is a great deal more to this statement.

If we take on God's name and call ourselves Christian, we'd better not take the name lightly.  We have to act the way God would if He were visible in our neighborhoods.

Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."  (Matt. 7:21)  The people who hear this will be surprised.

For instance,  two neighborhood young people go into a grocery store.  One of them goes to church and Sunday school every week and calls himself a Christian.  The other doesn't.  The church-goer takes a pack of gum, stuffs it in his pocket, and walks out without paying for it.  What does his neighbor think of God and His people now? 

A young man and young woman go to Bible college, both professing to be committed Christians on a life mission to serve the Lord.  The young man seduces the young woman.  She finds she's pregnant.  He abandons her.  She gets an abortion and turns her back on God, never to trust Him or anyone else ever again.  What reward should the young man get?

Several "pious" women in a church spread rumors and gossip about everyone in town including other church members.  Three women, whose reputation has been shredded by this clique, leave the church never to darken its doors again. 

Telling lies, cheating on a tax return, speeding down the highway with a Christian sticker on the back bumper, making unkind gestures at a stop light with that same bumper sticker, taking books out of the library that could NEVER be shared with Jesus...  all of these actions are compared against the Name we claim to carry.

Count the cost.  If you cannot be what you claim to be, then either quit claiming it or change.  A real relationship with the Lord sets your mind on whatever is pure and true and noble, everything that is excellent and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8).  Be careful not to take the family Name in vain.  We are what unbelievers see of God.  We need to make Him beautiful and wonderful in front of the world.