Daily Archives: October 9, 2012

Of Blessed Understanding We Join the Athletes of the Beginning.

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Eusebius of Caesarea may have continued the Li...

Eusebius of Caesarea may have continued the Liber Pontificalis into the 4th century. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Lord has blessed my heart by bringing an audio file to me.  He is more gracious than we can possibly know.  If all His people were to combine their testimony regarding the Glory of the Lord Jesus (and that to the Glory of the Father) all the melody of sound would still fall short of His eternal beauty.  So I thank you Lord Jesus for Your precious blessings that filter to us through our time in this place of testing.  May all Your people present great glories to You on the day You are revealed in Glory to all men!  Amen!

The audio file is that of Eusebius’ Church History.  The work spans the time from the beginning of the Church to about the year 350 or so.  Up to the end of his account the Church had weathered a few problems within.  But the account tells us that the Lord’s people were blessed to pretty much remain constant in their worship, brotherhood, and display of righteousness.

I suspect that as I finish this “listening” I will search out another work which deals with the subsequent years.  I fear those works that will follow, however.  For it isn’t long in Church history when we find compromise between Church and State.  The results of which attack the Lord’s people from a particularly tender perspective.

How my soul wants to encourage my brothers and sisters to regain, retain, and revitalize our purity and love for the Lord.  But I am at a loss this evening.  Perhaps the Lord will bless us all by words fitting to the surge of dedication this work of Eusebius has inspired.

Shades of persecution have come and gone.  Yet today seems the most hideous of all.  Silent compromise seeps into the very foundations of our identity as “sons of God”.  For the most part the Church has become useless and loved by the world, especially in America.  Each man and woman goes after their own tasks unscathed by physical or financial malnutrition.

One thought runs through my blood tonite, however.  A rather foreboding thought presses against my skin from the inside out.  Is the Church today ready if the impiant (as they were prone to refer to wicked men) one regains his footing against us as he did in the first 1000 years of the Church?  This question is not for me to either answer or speculate about.  It is, perhaps, for us to prove individually as what will be enters the calendar year of its own time.

One possible answer to that question is this:  Prepare in prayer, Truth, righteousness, purity, holiness, bodily control, and consumption of the Word, lest that day (if it indeed comes upon us) encamp around us from the very fringes of the woods which create our present clearing of “peace”.

Watch with all hope.  Hope with eyes that are not of man.  And stretch out the wings of “The Faith” as far as they will stretch.  Get ready to fly by the strength of the Holy Spirit, regardless the necessity.  Only then can we walk toward what comes with the great peace displayed by the millions who have worked in the heat of the day.

By His Grace.

Yet to See His Face

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Jerusalem

Jerusalem (Photo credit: swallroth)

I miss what I never had.

Nor can I venture to that place.

The road to Emmaus lay broken.

The walls of Jerusalem broken down.

To sit on the grass and reach my hand,

Into the basked to retrieve;

A fish and a loaf in endless supply.

To enter the water at the care of a rough hand.

To rise above it to see the face of John the Baptist.

To hear the footsteps of Romans coming to take me to the lions.

To see the shadow of Peter heal a cripple who dared to believe.

I miss what I never had.

How could this be?

But I am sure what I never had is held in the hand of He who lives forever.

The nail scared hands of love will bear them for eternity.

What I miss I will enter.

I will yet see the face of He who loved me and gave His life for me.

I miss Jesus!

The One I have not yet seen but believe with all my soul.

“I Want to See Jesus”

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First page of the Gospel of Mark, by Sargis Pi...

First page of the Gospel of Mark, by Sargis Pitsak, a Medieval Armenian scribe and miniaturist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gordon rose from prayer.  He had been asking Jesus to appear to him.  He so desired to see the Lord, or perhaps even a manifestation of His presence.  But nothing happened.

Gordon looked through his soul seeking any sin that might be hindering his relationship with Jesus.  He was sure there was nothing.  And the Scripture was remembered:  “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”

With a heavy sigh, Gordon resigned himself to quit asking for an appearance.  With his head down he shuffled to the couch and sat down.  Hanging his head for a moment, and closing his eyes, he simply let his soul rest in the peace of The Faith.

After a few minutes Gordon raised his head slowly and let his eyelids raise at the same speed.  And there, before his eyes, was the Bible on the coffee table.  Then it came to him more fresh than ever before: “All Scripture is God breathed.” “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me?”  “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

It wasn’t a voice he heard.  It was a string of understandings that flashed in his mind.  Now he felt foolish for even asking.  And with a renewed effort, Gordon picked up the Bible and began to “see” his Lord and Savior.

Church History, a Reflection of Today?

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Christian fis symbol

Christian fis symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Blogs are a direct representation of each blogger’s personality, attitude, desires, past deeds, and who is their hero.  This blog is no different.

Listening to Eusibius’ Church History (listening while I drive for hours), I am struck by the quality of men, women and children of the early Church.  They did not have central heating, electricity, cars, planes and trains.  Yet the character of men was little different from today.

Perhaps the only difference that can be perceived is social law.  I live in America.  So the social law I perceive is a burning ember of hatred for God’s things.  There are other countries where hatred for God’s things is a raging bonfire.  Since America is on the decline from relaxation of its own laws (or a proliferation of nullifying laws and regulations), I can’t believe that it is far in the future when the physical violence we see against Christians disembarks onto our shores.

With this in mind I have been considering what I know about America’s dedication to the Holiness of God.  There are striking differences between now and the age of the early Christian Church.  There are many differences.  But one difference stands out quite starkly.

The Christian Church today (this includes Catholics) is rather inclusive.  All you have to do to be counted as a Christian within their walls is speak a few words and show up on time and often.  With that you are “automatically” considered one of them.  The early Church would have considered this level of commitment to Christianity as youthful, elementary, basic and catechismic (as if the person in question is just beginning to learn the basics of the Christian faith).

This was not the case in the early Church.  Each one was required to give all they had to the service of the Lord Jesus.  They were required to repent (stop doing) from sinful ways.  They were required to pray earnestly and often.  They were required to learn the Scriptures as if their life depended on it.  And I am struck with a certain awe when I listen to the members of the early Church beg for salvation from the Lord.  They did not consider salvation to be an automatic warm fuzzy.

The Church today opens its doors to all.  And it certainly should.  But it requires very little from those who begin to profess faith in Christ Jesus.  While there is teaching regarding the Gospel there is little display of The Faith even among the more senior members.

I’m not trying to tear at the fabric of the Church today.  I’m simply pointing out a drastic difference between what we were in the first 300 years, and what we have become today.  And I will take note that there is exceedingly little persecution pressing on the members of the Church in America today.   It is possible that this can change in the blink of an eye.  Especially with the current trends of compromise between the leaders of our country and the islamics.

We will see what happens.  But I urge my brothers and sisters to dig into the history of the Church and take a look at who we were from the beginning.  What we are not is like a man who never ventures into the sunshine; pale, listless, over weight, and sullen.  Please give this serious consideration.  The time to prepare for service is not at the moment of calling.  Practise brings the servant to his toes when called.

By His Grace.