Dec 25 2012

The Christmas Truce

It was December 24, 1914.  It has now been months since Europe was engulfed in the deadliest conflict in modern history to date.

Though the Germans had made a strong offensive into France, the French, Belgian, and British forces were able to halt them.  But they were not able to push the Germans out of France and a stalemate developed as both sides dug into the earth creating a large network of trenches.

As I read historical accounts of this stalemate I was shocked by the misery these soldiers were enduring under the fog of war.  Heavy rain water, mixed with blood and dirt in these trenches was as inescapable as the fear of death itself.

But something amazing happened on Christmas Eve 1914.  Under the deep darkness of war created by human depravity and demonic influence, the message of the Gospel broke through in a brief but memorable miracle of modern warfare.

In a well documented event, across many portions of the front lines fighting ceased as British and German soldiers came out of the trenches in the ‘no man’s land,’ congregated, sang carols and even exchanged food items.  This lasted several days to the dismay of upper levels of command.

The Christmas Truce was evidence that the message of the Gospel is embodied in the message of Christmas.  War, conflict, and hate cannot quench it.  It shines through as a beacon of hope.

Even though the world cannot achieve “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” mentioned by Paul in Philippians 4:7, the world longs for it.  Secular as well as pagan preach it without being able to attain it.  This peace is given to those who belong to God, those who have been renewed by the Holy Spirit, and those who have accepted the message of Christmas as truth:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:14

A glimmer of hope on Christmas Eve, 1914 was brought on by remembering the birth of Jesus, and it stood out as an example how the message of the Gospel can bring peace into the world.  But unfortunately over 70 million were killed in the two World Wars because the hearts of men were darkened by the evil in them due to their unbelief and rejection of this Gospel.

But as Christians we rejoice because God “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6) and the peace we received is not a just a temporary Christmas Truce, but the evidence of our eternal salvation.

Christ was born! Merry Christmas!

historical accounts:

http://www.1914-1918.net/truce.htm

http://www.history.com/topics/christmas-truce-of-1914

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce

Dec 24 2012

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Bethel Romanian Church, Stanton CA –  United Choir (Youth, Girls and Kids Choirs)

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet their songs repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men

And the bells are ringing ( Peace on earth)
Like a choir they’re singing (Peace on earth)
In my heart I hear them ( Peace on earth)
Peace on earth, good will to men

And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men

But the bells are ringing (Peace on earth)
Like a choir singing (Peace on earth)
Does anybody hear them? (Peace on earth)
Peace on earth, good will to men

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor does He sleep (He is The Lord)
(He is The Lord)
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men

Then ringing singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men

And the bells they’re ringing (Peace on earth)
Like a choir they’re singing (Peace on earth)
And with our hearts we’ll hear them (Peace on earth)
Peace on earth, good will to men

Do you hear the bells they’re ringing?
They’re like the angels singing
Open up your heart and hear them
Peace on earth, good will to men
Peace on earth, Peace on earth
Peace on earth, Good will to men

Dec 23 2012

I AM Love

I am not ‘passers by’
I am not a white lie
I am not left to die
I am love, I am love
I am not feeling sad
I am not the new fad
I am not quickly mad
I am love, I am love

You can try to hide
You can try to run
But you’ll never run far enough
This is my flesh, this is my blood
And I am love
You can fly up high
You can dig down deep
You can flee to the west
You can flee to the east
But you can’t escape what I’ve done
Cause I am love

I am not standing by
I am not letting go
I am not leaving you
I am love, I am love
My blood fell like rain
I did not bleed in vain
But from my veins
I am love

Dec 22 2012

Is “Christianity Today” Christian?

I have tried to follow the magazine Christianity Today (CT), but every other time I read an article there it seems like it is written either from a secular standpoint or by someone who might not be a Christian.  Really nice image being portrayed by a so-called Christian magazine…

Case and point, the editors just came out with their 2012 CT Music Awards.  I love Christian music, so I was excited to see check out the top Christian artists of the year.  But the top 12 albums of the year include names like Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Rait, and Bob Dylan.

Most of the names there are secular with the blasphemous Springsteen leading the pack.  His famous concert tirades mocking Christians and mocking God are now being rewarded by CT with a top 12 status!  Reformed rapper Lecrae somehow made it at the bottom of the list. 🙂 This is the explanation for their choices:

“Our annual best albums list includes the usual mix of clearly Christian and “secular” music. The loosely defined criteria for making the cut is essentially this: The album should indicate some sort of spiritual search, a quest for life’s meaning. Sometimes the music comes from an orthodox Christian worldview, and sometimes not.”

It is no longer about a quest for the God revealed in the Bible… the Bible that Christians from Christianity Today should believe as God’s inerrant and infallible Word.  It is now about “some sort of spiritual search.”  Is Christianity now reduced to Universalism?

This is just a symptom of the counterfeit Christianity prevalent in CT.

CT’s stance on homosexuality is readily apparent by the large amount of articles with relatively friendly positions toward the gay agenda.  They frequently include topics on gay membership in church and ordination of gays in ministry.

They have previously endorsed a definition of marriage as that being between a man and a woman, but with lukewarm stipulations: “Far more than the protection of the legal definition of marriage, our society needs a fresh understanding of marriage.”  A fresh understanding? Really? I guess what Moses wrote in Genesis and what Paul and Peter write in the New Testament about marriage is too old fashion.

The Bible calls on believers to separate themselves from the world, because as Jesus said even though we are in the world we are “not of the world.”  We cannot follow CT’s example in endorsing positions that require us to have to serve two masters.  Since Dylan is on their top 12 list maybe they should listen to his song “Gotta Serve Somebody.”  Since Paul quotes a pagan poet in Acts 17, I will quote Dylan here to prove this point:

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

The words of apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 6 ring truer then ever in this era when the church is increasingly mixing with the world:

“14…For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God”

I question if Christianity Today is really Christian.

Dec 21 2012

Gabriel: “I Stand in the Presence of God”

The darkest 400 years of Israel’s history have just passed.  God had not spoken to His people during that time, and we do not have any written records of the Holy Spirit descending or filling any one person in Israel.

Luke is the New Testament evangelist that gives us the most detailed account of the miraculous events that broke this 400 year silence.

The appearance of the angel Gabriel during Zechariah’s service in the Temple is the first in a series of supernatural events heralding the birth of Christ.  Zechariah’s shock and disbelief is evidence that he personally has not encountered such an event before, and the same goes for his colleagues, given the long inter-testamental silence.

This was the beginning of the most amazing work that God has ever performed on earth up to that point.

These are the first words from God through Gabriel, words that broke the spiritual darkness surrounding the land: “Do not be afraid…” (Luke 1:13).  And it is a fitting message given the awesome display of the work of the Holy Spirit that is about to begin in Israel.

But for me the most intriguing part of Luke 1 is the way the angel identifies himself and his job…

Imagine having a casual conversation with someone you met for the first time.  Their name and occupation is usually one of the first things we address in an attempt to find some common ground with them.

Zechariah finally gets to that point in the conversation with Gabriel… a point of shock… a point of awe.  Gabriel introduces himself and his occupation: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19).

My dear reader, you and I cannot comprehend what this means.  There is no common ground here between a mortal man who has not yet been glorified, and Gabriel whose job is to literally stand in the presence of God and to serve God as His messenger.

Reading the account of this magnificent event and absorbing the stunning statement “I stand in the presence of God” is revealing and humbling at the same time.  Knowing what we know about God from Scripture, how can someone assert such a claim?   The only explanation is that Gabriel is an angel of indescribable holiness, faithfulness and responsibility.  To be able to serve God face-to-face in His presence is unbearable and unfathomable for the human mind while here on earth.

But the children of God saved through the precious blood of Jesus should get used to this concept rather quickly.  The Bible speaks of our glorification in the presence of God.  Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:10

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

Just like Gabriel, we will spend an eternal lifetime standing in the presence of God.  Only then will we find common ground in conversation with Gabriel and the hosts of heaven.

Dec 20 2012

Will the World End Tomorrow?

Newsflash

NASA just put out a statement reassuring humanity that the world will not end on 12/21/2012.

The Vatican’s top scientists also released a statement saying that the world will not end despite Mayan predictions.

Federal and local governments have also reassured citizens that the doomsday scenario that is supposed to unfold tomorrow is myth.

We can all breathe easy now 🙂 🙂

But breathing easy is not what many people across the globe are doing.

There are an entire host of websites catering to  superstition, fanatic, credulous, -and whatever else you want to call them- people out there drumming up tomorrow’s winter solstice as the end of the world.  A variety of faith(less)ful groups from Tibetan monks, to pagans, to worshipers of the ancient Latin American gods and religions are taking tomorrow’s so-called planetary alignment as a sign of disaster.

The only problem is that the planets will not align on 12/21/12 as debunked by EarthSky.  As for the alignment of the Earth, Sun and the Center of the Milky Way galaxy… let’s be serious.  The earth is less than a speck of dust compared to the enormity of our galaxy,  how are we even going to try to “align” it?

Doomsday preppers have been going wild, and many of the these poor folks have been taken advantage of by savvy business predators who are looking to make money off the back of the superstitions and the unsecure.

Let’s ground ourselves in the Word of God for our security.  Let’s focus on what He tells us about the end of the world because everything will pass away, but His words will remain…

Matthew 24

3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,  but the Father only.

44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

And 2 Thessalonians 2:

“1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”

Tomorrow will be a normal day.  The world cannot end to tomorrow because such an event will negate the Word of God when He says that no one knows the “day and hour.”  Tomorrow will be a day when we will worship God and wait for His time to come to fruition.

Dec 19 2012

Planned Parenthood and the Virgin Mary

Some may still remember the despicable Christmas Planned Parenthood (PP) campaign from the recent past, a campaign from the depths of hell.

They had the audacity to take the Gospel message and change it to promote a carnage worse than the Newtown massacre.  “Peace on earth,” the message from God, became “choice on earth” a message from Satan.  Can anyone remember what happened last time Satan altered the words of God?  Hint: the setting was the garden of Eden, and man listened to Satan’s lies as opposed to the truth that came directly from God.

Rightfully so, catholics, evangelicals and godly people across the country united in a huge backlash against PP, but this has not dented PP’s onslaught against unborn babies.

The murderous spirits of Herod the Great and Pharaoh, and their blood thirst for infanticide is alive and well today embodied in the actions of PP.

I recently came across the t-shirt slogan “the virgin Mary was an unwed teenage mother,” and sadly young women just like Mary are the prime target of the abortion platform.  They shamelessly invoke Mary in their agenda as described by LifeSiteNews in the article here.   At a pro-life conference in Canada, abortion rights activists stormed the conference hall chanting the blasphemous French song “Oh, If Mary had known about abortion, we wouldn’t have to deal with all this nonsense.”

If PP existed in Mary’s day I am convinced they would have been a tool used by Satan to try to kill Jesus before He would have been born.  In his rage against the King of Kings, Satan used Herod the Great’s infanticide to no avail because God’s providential plan of redemption for humanity would not be derailed.  PP and all the Satanic forces behind them could not have aborted Jesus no matter how hard they would have tried.

Another instrument of Satan, Joseph Stalin is reported to have said, “A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.”  Similarly our society as grown accustomed to missing the microscopic and the big picture on this issue.  Abortion is not viewed as taking a life, it is viewed as a statistic.  But abortion in America is not just statistics, its 55 million tragedies – many at the hand of PP.

Millions of women in America and across the globe and are targeted every year with Satan’s abortion agenda.  In Romania one in three pregnancies is aborted!  And Romania is a country where 98%+ declare themselves “Christian!”

Yes, the Newtown massacre was the biggest tragedy since 9/11, but the tragedy that goes on in PP every day far outweighs 9/11 and all other American mass shootings combined!

God created man in His image, and every one of those tiny little babies whose bodies are destroyed by the instruments of death is a tiny reflection of God.  Christians need to realize the underlying spiritual war against God that goes on as PP unravel their platform.

At the first Christmas Satan did not prevail against Jesus, and neither will Planned Parenthood prevail in the end.

Let’s  pray for the young women who are targeted by Planned Parenthood, that they will come to realize that all the answers can be found at the cross of Jesus.  Let’s also keep in prayer the women who have had an abortion.  They need to understand that such a grave sin can be forgiven by the One who had NO sin but was made sin for us.

Dec 18 2012

Newtown: Where Was God?

In the aftermath of the Newtown shootings, former governor and pastor Mike Huckabee presented the fact that for 50 years our government has systematically removed God from the classroom, and when a tragedy of this proportion precipitates in our schools our first reaction is to ask “where was God?”

He received a strong negative backlash from the liberal and atheistic media and blogosphere for that comment.  In this 3 minute video he eloquently defends his comments and makes the case that a culture without God is now reaping the consequences of its actions

Dec 18 2012

Frank Pastore Fulfilled his Earthly Mission

Former baseball star, Christian apologist and radio host Frank Pastore has gone to be with the Lord yesterday afternoon at the age of 55.

I had the opportunity to see him give his testimony back in the 90’s at a Romanian Mission One youth conference in Southern California.  He was an atheist or agnostic at best who was set in his ways before someone on his baseball team convinced him to read the CS Lewis classic Mere Christianity.

God used the arguments that Lewis made in that book to open Frank’s eyes to see that God really exists, and that was the beginning of a fundamental change in his life, a change that we call the new birth.  He went on to obtain advanced theology degrees and became a well articulated, well spoken defender of the Christian faith.

I learned my first basic concepts of Christian apologetics from Frank while listening to his radio show.  I remember being amazed how well he defended Christianity from the cosmological argument all the way to the moral argument and to Jesus,  in order to point toward the existence of God.

I listened to his radio show on many occasions… His last show was on November 19th, 2012, three hours before he suffered a motorcycle crash on the freeway.  In that show he talked about life and death, how this world and this body is not his home, and how his body could die in a motorcycle accident but his soul will live on.  This turned out to be prophetic given the way he died.

Frank Pastore is now with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Click on the link below to listed to a one minute excerpt from his last show.

Dec 17 2012

Is Human Free Will Really Free?

Which pill will you swallow?

Which doctrine will you embrace?

The one which teaches that God is sovereign in all details including the deepest crevices of the human soul?  Or the teaching that human free will is ultimately responsible for our decision to follow Christ?

I would argue using the Bible that for believers, their freedom and free will is hidden in God’s sovereignty.  Paul tells Christians in Colossians 3:3: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”  Discussing the “when” this happens is a matter of technicality… we know that from God’s perspective the past, present and future matter not.  From His point of view, which ultimately is the only point of view of importance, our choices, our decisions, and final outcomes are hidden with Christ in Him.

When it comes to free will, I believe that absolute human free will is not found on the pages of the Bible.  But interestingly, human responsibility is found on every page of the Bible.  If absolute free will were found in the Bible, then we would also find our ability to NOT sin.  If a man or woman had absolute freedom of choice, they should be able to choose to NOT sin!  But sadly this is not the case.

There is a multitude of biblical texts showing that while unregenerated by the Holy Spirit, we are enslaved to sin, captured and bound by our sinful nature, and the only freedom we have IS to sin.  Any attempt to rid ourselves of sin is unsustainable.  That is biblical truth.  Then how can anyone say that they have absolute free will?

I personally know people who live in sin and cannot stop sinning even though they know the depravity of their actions.  They know the truth to a large degree.  Paul tells us in Romans 1 that such people know the truth but they are suppressing it.   No matter how much these people want to give up sin in theoretical terms, they are unable to do it.  They do not have the absolute freedom to do it because they are not free.  They are chained.  Their will is not free at all.

What the children of God have is not an absolute free will but a will that is subordinate to God.  Paul teaches this in Philippians 2:13 “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”  And the previous verse implicates the human responsibility: “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…”

Our free will is subordinate to God’s sovereignty while maintaining personal human responsibility.

So, the next time you think that your own freedom of choice lifted you out of sin and unto salvation, meditate on our incontestable inability to break the chain of sin on our own.

This is the mystery of all ages, the way God the Father draws his children unto Him through the work of God the Holy Spirit, all made possible by the death and resurrection of God the Son.  And to see that He found it appropriate to reveal to us this great mystery of salvation makes us stand in awe.

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