Tag Archives: Christian

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.

The Humiliation of Doubt

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Ghost fear

Ghost fear (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

C. S. Lewis, in his book “The Problem of Pain”, speaks of the difference between a fear of fleshly harm and that of spiritual harm.  If there were a tiger about to attack us we would feel a certain fear.  But if we were told there was a ghost about to harm us we would feel a different fear; that of dread.  The fear of  bodily injury is not the same as spiritual injury.  One is tangible.  The other is “other worldly”.

All Christians must deal with this concept in one vain if they are to be successful in their worship of the Most High God through the sacrifice of Jesus.  We must believe that God is good despite the appearance of harm and evil that surrounds and attacks us.  Isn’t this the very point of contention between faith and worldly thoughts?  The athiest ignores the concepts we promote based on this barrier between good and evil.  It should not be so with those who say they believe.

Some have told me that it is ok to doubt from time to time.  “It’s just a natural response to the unknown.”  Or so they told me.  However, after a few decades of following Jesus, I find this far too simplistic to hold with any serious intent.  I look back at when I doubted and count those weeks, months, or years as utter failure.  We are not encouraged to put up with doubt.  We are commanded to believe.

I don’t blame anyone for my own failures.  But I wonder what it would have been like for me to continue in belief through out my entire experience with Jesus.  I am caused to wonder, though useless trivia now, who and where I might be now if I had continued steadfast in my trust.

We are all of this place of testing.  And we all have a similar story about doubt.  It is the point of this post to encourage a hatred of doubt and a love of trusting faith.  Regardless our present experience, there is coming a place where we will regret not trusting.  We would be wise then to wear a trusting faith more and more.  We dress the body for the sake of the moment.  Shouldn’t we also learn to stop walking around spiritually naked?

Phenomenology Response

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Chart about the Hegel's "Phenomenology of...

Chart about the Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes (actually more often than not) the Lord directs our words with a specific flavor when we converse with others about the nature of Himself and the Gospel.  I wanted to share His reply to an individual who is searching out the meaning of (or in) life.  Perhaps you too will find it interesting and useful:

Chinny:  I had never heard of phenomenology.  But the concept has rattled around in my mind for decades.  I didn’t think the world would have a word for what comes natural.  But, go figure.

Every man can approach an understanding of life from any aspect he chooses.  Who am I to say we are wrong as we search out the truth.  On the other hand, when we find a helpful directive, it is wise to attempt to share what we know.

Please allow me to respond to the concept of understanding the ultimate meaning of and in life.  If we are striving to understand or grasp the absolute truth of any subject, we may toy with lesser values in the beginning.  But there is a place where diluted materials stop providing information.  I have reached that lack of answers years ago.  And was forced to turn to pure materials to develop a pure understanding of what is pure and true.  Scientifically speaking, we get the answers we deserve according to the purity of the experiment.

People, in their best basic format, are full of misunderstandings, differings of opinions, and tossed about by all kinds of misinformation.  It seems a bit crude to me that we should strive to understand the perfection of God truth by linking together a mass of fallible knowledge.  Therefore, I would suggest that we would be better served in our quest by searching out the purest truth available to man.

The truth we seek should not be a peaceful and joyfilled understanding.  We have both established that man’s relationships will be full of turmoil.  So we surmise that any understanding of purity will necessarily be a bit disquieting to a tumultuous creature.  Only after repetition and learning can we hope to endure that truth with any sense of peace.  In other words, we come to understand the value of purity by experience alone (assuming that we have found what is pure and make it our specific target of bending our will.)

This is a very difficult subject, as is proven by the amount of words men have employed to research it.  I believe you and I are on the cutting edge of balance between true discovery (of a personal nature).  Now what remains is the ability to willingly approach the subject minus that sickness of pride that attends every man.  Don’t misunderstand that comment about pride.  It lives quite vibrantly in every one of us, and often goes undetected by our own perception.  It is quite obvious to others, however.  And, in the end, we find that we have not reached the fullness of understanding simply for lack of true humility.

I hope I have added something to the conversation here.

The Place of Truth

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Words have a power all their own

Words have a power all their own (Photo credit: Lynne Hand)

There is a place where truth, joy, obedience, order and Glory abound.  You will not find it here on earth (in this place of testing).  We may receive a visitor from this place, but we cannot locate it here.

We hear stories of those who encountered the reality of this place while they walked around in bags of blood and flesh like us.  But only a “micro-few” have ever been invited to taste that place with all their senses.  What these few men tell will bring goose bumps on the skin of any truthful reader.  And we find the wicked carefully avoiding their stories with adept eyes and ears.

Evil men speak of this place also, regardless their attempt to restrain their lips.  The words leak out in the stories they tell.  Their social structures mimic that of Heaven, regardless the corruption in any level of their structures.  Music, made by man, imitates the Glory of that place, though they surround the tones with sensual pleasure and wicked dreams.  Greedy men prepare items to sell that men have no use for.  And other men contrive messages to convince their fellow travelers to purchase these worthless trinkets.  Yet the message of God is sewn into the very fabric of all life here on earth.

The point I am making may not be plain to all who read this.  So I will spell it out clearly.

God is so completely powerful that even among a people who abhor His ways His message rings out clearly all day long, and even into the darkest of nights.  They attempt to stifle the words by dressing them in various forms of filth.  But words like beautiful, forever, love, embrace, belonging, and so much more, belong to God alone.

He allows men to contort and misuse His words for a time.  But this place of Glory has promised to utterly silence rebellion and hatred for what is good.  Even the carefully crafted wicked ways of man can’t conceal the message of God.

Look around you and listen with truthful ears.  You will hear the story of God everywhere. Whispers of His promise and Holy ways drip from the mouths of man like honey from a bountiful Bee hive. Remember these things: Even pigs end up as bacon.  And the earth renders its gifts to the vilest of hearts.  Yet dust settles back to earth.  Night comes upon all when it is time.  And everything that lives here has a place where it becomes consumed by something greater.

So will it be when He rips this curtain away which surrounds us now.  All we now know will be completely vaporized; it will meet oblivion face to face.  Then, what we have not known will appear.  Then all men will stand on ground they have never known.  That obscure story that men can’t avoid telling will ring out clearly visible; palpable to the senses and utterly unavoidable.  And accounting will begin.

I saw a young man getting a ticket along-side the road.  I looked at him as I passed by on the other side of the road.  He saw my gaze and turned his head, provoked by shame to avoid me.  He was able to avoid me by simply looking somewhere else.  And the burning sense of shame was averted by differing scenery.  This will not be available when we stand on that Holy ground of God’s eternity.  No matter where we look we will encounter His Glory.  Guilt will overwhelm every sense of pride.  And no wicked heart will be able to stand.  To their knees they will fall with a thud.  As one mass they will render Glory to the Lord of Life, Jesus.  And evil lips, which once spoke involuntarily the message of God, will remember how they tried to stifle His words.

Take heed to this message, you who hate the Lord.  When the day appears it will be as if there had been no days before.  As it is now, you live in the moment of “Now”.  So it will be on that moment of stark encounter.

And to all of us, who restrain the Love of God within us, take heed.  What you are restraining will burst forth regardless your will to restrain.  On that day we will give up what we did not use.  Perhaps we will witness it leaving.  And we will be abjectly ashamed that we held back the message here.

This message is to all men, Christians, worldly religious, and the willful sinners.  For no man will escape that moment of confrontation.  It is a place in time that will not be taken out of the way regardless man’s willingness to believe it.  Look on the horizon of your life.  See that glow at the gate of your departure?  See how that light glows in a curiously pure light?  It approaches because time is forcing you to move toward it.  Prepare now!  Clean your life and subject yourself to His Holy message.  Do not embrace folly.  Embrace truth!

Amen!  Many men will die the death of eternal shame.  A handful will live. Those who submit to the Lordship of the Son of God, washing their lives with His Holy commands and leadership, will live.  All others will encounter a horribly deep shame.  Silence will embrace wicked lips.  The backs of the proud will be broken from their stiff ways.  Hands which took what was not theirs will fall limp to the hips.  Heads will bow low for inability to gaze at perfection.  And bodies will quake with fear at the unveiling of Blazing Holiness.

This message has been delivered from the moment of creation, and is faithfully delivered even today.  The Spirit of God will not contend with the pride of man forever.  There is a day of completion.  And it will appear violently on all men.  Even so, Lord Jesus, come.

By His Grace.

 

“Do-Less-Ness” is Not a Gift of the Spirit

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My Work Bag

My Work Bag (Photo credit: pennuja)

One of the hardest lessons for the chronically poor to learn is doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done.  I know there are many who are poor yet are very diligent in what needs to be done.  But it has also been my personal experience (and observation of others) that a certain “do-less-ness” attends the daily routine of many.

Perhaps it’s fear of confrontation that blocks dutiful behavior.  Perhaps it’s just that they focus on matters they deem more important.  Perhaps there are other reasons.  But the bottom line is that when we know what we ought to do and do not do it, we encounter a guilty conscience.  This guilt leads to introverted behavior in many fashions. And, in the end, we own a large portion of “sucky life”.

This is a truth that should be embraced by every Christian.  We expose our faith by our living habits.  And we often drag down the Beautiful Lord Jesus’ reputation by allowing our own to become soiled with neglect.  I can’t imagine what this place would look like if God took on that same “do-less” behavior.

I’m not chiding anyone with this post.  I’m pointing out a truth we should all consider as we serve the Lord.

Two Sets of Legs

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Lamb

Lamb (Photo credit: freefotouk)

Are you a Christian who has sin in your life?  I want to mention something you may not be aware of:

There is a story of how the shepherd breaks the leg of a lamb who continues to wander off from the herd.  The problem is that the sheep will teach others how to disobey his master.  So to keep the flock in line, it is necessary to resort to radical means of insuring obedience.

Now, in the matter of breaking the legs of His people, there are two sets of legs every Christian owns.  One set of legs enables that Christian to chase after things he shouldn’t.  Breaking those legs may mean taking away the means the Christian uses to rebel against his Lord.  In this we are talking arms, legs, eyes, lungs, etc..  It also might mean taking away any other means to sin, money, social contacts, mental ability, etc..

There is another set of legs the Lord has at his disposal to break.  These are the legs we use to enter the Throne Room of the Holy Father.  It is quite possible that these legs will leave a far deeper impact in the Christian.  Only Jesus knows what is necessary, and will work for each of His people.  But I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone speak about His correcting actions in this manner.

Regardless what happens to you (those who are living a life of sin), I urge you to listen with understanding to see if any of this fits your condition.  If you are not caught in sin, don’t apply this to your walk with the Lord.  However, if you’re caught in something you know you shouldn’t be in, it might be wise to consider what He has done already.  And consider that He is quite able to do far more to entice us back into the fold.

By His Grace.