Christian B.S.

I've gotten some feedback on using the term "B.S." regards the Church' teaching about Christmas.  Some folks evidently consider that well-known expression "street language," and inappropriate for talking about scripture.

Understanding that objection, "B.S." still seems a good characterization of "religious garbage"...especially that taught by the Church.

That's what Paul called the fleshly "righteousness which is in the Law" that he had been raised in and trained in; Philippians 3:4-8.  In the NASB's verse 8, he dismisses it all as "rubbish" in comparison to "knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."

Paul uses the word "skubalon"...literally, what is "thrown" (balon) to dogs (kyon).  Vines' says the word refers to "...any refuse, as the excrement of animals, offscouring, rubbish, dregs...[anything] worthless and detestable."

Vines' citations from secular Greek writings suggest that "dung" was the common meaning of skubalon in Paul's time: and so the King James version translates it in Philippians 3:8.

What of our time ?  Is the fleshly "religious" teaching in our churches as "worthless and detestable" as animal dung, unworthy the good news of Christ's reign ?  Can such rubbish rightly be called "B.S." ?

So it is.

Let Earth Receive Her King

Even pastors have a hard time talking about Christmas without the sentimental, or cultural, or political B.S. attached to the holiday.

Most pastors decry the commercialized B.S. of Christmas: but of course, the holiday is the year's biggest "sales-pitch" for churches, same as for Walmart.

Why wouldn't it be ?  The Church invented Christmas, and holds the patent.

So this is best sermon I've ever heard on Christmas: that Christ's birth is God's intervention in human history to save mankind from merciless death by self-rule.  That our HOPE is not in our "kings of men," neither Saul, nor Caesar Augustus, nor Herod, nor Trump.

That God enacts in Jesus' human flesh His promise to every human being, that His unlimited love governs heaven and earth, now and forever, in "righteousness, and peace, and joy."

Sermon starts at the 31:24 mark:

Oh Holy Night

Unrepentant Christians

Despite his toxic egomania, the Spiritual implications of the man who is our current president are greater than himself.

Greatest of all for Christians, who are ADAMANTLY commanded to “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves !” (II Corinthians 13:5, my emphasis).  And when we find the devil has insinuated his lies into our hearts...AGAIN !...God is merciful to forgive all of us who repent.

Perhaps the 80% of “Evangelicals” who thrice chose to follow a liar and murderer (a son of the devil, as Jesus says in John 8:44) yet have the opportunity to repent that God gave Peter after he'd thrice denied being Jesus' follower (Matthew 26:75, Luke 22:61-62).

But repentance requires self-examination: and the honesty, to God and to oneself, to admit we’ve done wrong.

Do today’s “Evangelicals” have that honesty ?

If not, how will they repent ?

If not, how will they be forgiven ?

Gaza

 

Before the Battle of Mons Graupius in northern Scotland in 83 A.D., the Roman historian Tacitus attributed to the Caledonian chief Calgacus a speech in which he famously said Roman armies "make a desert and call it peace."

This photo of Gaza was taken almost a year ago, months before Israel's destructive "final push" to wipe out Hamas: which Israel's leaders say is the only way to secure "peace."

Not quite desert yet...but getting there.

But Gaza makes me remember most of all Jesus' words about Jerusalem as He went to death at the hands of its leaders, Roman and Jewish:

"If you had known...the things which make for peace !  But now they have been hidden from your eyes" (Luke 19:42).

Photos of Gaza also remind me of Jesus' words about the works of satan, that "...the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." (John 10:10).

Does Israel's campaign in Gaza mirror Calgacus' words about the actions of Rome's armies ?  Of Jesus' words about satan's actions ?

How is it we hear Christians justifying Israel's campaign in Gaza ?

End-Times Revival ?

I always heard in my Baptist upbringing that there will be a "great revival" in the last days.  But the scriptures saying so are mostly prophecies that the Jews will at that time come to faith in Christ.

For the wider Church, it may be self-delusion to look for a "Great End-Times Revival."  There are many scriptures that say otherwise.

In Jesus' prophecy to the disciples of the "end of the age," He says that "...many will fall away and will betray one another and will hate one another" (Matthew 24:10, my emphasis).  And it's worth noting that in Jesus' context, much of the persecution visited on those who cleave to Him in the last days will come from "Christians" who have "fallen away."

 

I Timothy 4 also tells us that "...the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith..."  And II Thessalonians 2:3 likewise says that Jesus will not return "...until the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed" (both my emphasis).

 

Contrary the standard "Evangelical" model of the Church, it seems scripture repeatedly affirms that in the last days many will "fall away" from the faith; and that the numbers of those who follow Christ will dwindle, not increase.

 

It's in that prophetic context we must understand Jesus' rejecting the "workers of lawlessness" (undoubtedly followers of "the man of lawlessness") who plead the great works they've done in Jesus' name (Matthew 7:21-23).

(These may also be some of the "fallen away" persecuting His followers who do not.  Apostates hate, more than anyone else, those whose faithfulfulness spotlights their own heresy.)

 

It's also in terms of this "falling away" He prophesies that we must understand Jesus' sobering question, if at His return He will "...find faith on the earth ?" (Luke 18:8).

The Spirit's explicit warning in I Timothy 4 is that those who "fall away" do so by "...paying heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience..." (vv.1,2; my emphasis).  As Jesus' return approaches, then, it is imperative...a literal matter of life and death...that we be hyper-vigilant to test our every thought and belief by the One Who IS "The Truth."

 

In our country today, many self-identified "Evangelicals" are followers of politicians whose every word is lies, and hatred, and lawlessness.  This is certainly what scripture would call "falling away:" but God Alone knows if it is the final "falling away" that Jesus prophesied.

 

In any case, we should pray for those who've fallen victim to "the father of lies," knowing that in every time and circumstance, "...God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).

 

May it be so of today's many fallen away !  Amen !! 

 

 

Jesus' Prophecy for Today

It's not God's solution for sin to "vote in" righteousness: and when men believe so, they vote in their own idea of what is "righteousness."

When men believe so, satan's children deceive Christian voters with political "issues" that pretend to God's righteousness.

Politics is not God's way of enacting righteousness.  But politics is a Spiritual battlefield, and on it Christians show what spirit they desire to follow.

So I'm remindng friends of Matthew 24:5, where Jesus warns His people that in the last days "...many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many."

We see His prophecy fulfilled in this time, so we know these are the last days.

    (at 0.48  in this news-video, note the significant glance and gesture toward heaven:)

    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-49429661

and

     https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-tweets-claim-israelis-love-him-like-he-is-the-second-coming-of-god/

I'm reminding friends that scripture promises blessing to "...he who does not condemn himself in what he approves."  May all who "approve" false Christs repent, and turn back from destruction.

AMEN !!

"If It's Just a Symbol..."

Looking at something else, I happened on a Youtube of Jonathan Roumie, the actor who portrays Jesus in "The Chosen," addressing the Catholic National Eucharistic Conference.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7iZEOxAWoE

 

I bookmarked the video to watch later, but what struck me was that he was wearing a tee-shirt

with a quote from Flannery O'Connor about the Eucharist: "If it's just a symbol, then to hell with it."

 

Googling to find out more about her quote, I ran across an article in the National Catholic Register which suggested the same might be said of baptism.

 

     https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/flannery-o-connor-s-to-hell-with-it-applies-to-baptism-too

 

But I was totally gobsmacked to read there that (my emphasis)

 

     "We have an obligation to baptize because Jesus told us to.

      And we have an obligation in obedience and love to baptize

      correctly.  Given that the non-Catholic media does not

      believe in sin or in the divine authority of Jesus, it is

      no wonder they are befuddled."

 

Not to charge Catholics with brain-dead insularity.  The Register seems to be some kind of hyper-"Conservative Catholic" publication; and not to be confused at all with the National Catholic Reporter out of Kansas City, which is respected (even among the Church' hierarchy, of which it's independent) for honest, penetrating, coverage of Catholic news and issues.

 

In contrast, the Register's writer seems to think no one can be considered honest except those who believe exactly as he does.  Jesus IS "The Truth," he evidently reasons, so obviously no unbeliever (including, in his view, "non-Catholic media") can possibly tell the truth.

 

That self-blinding attitude is hardly unique to Catholics.  It's the same prideful solipsism that underlies "Evangelicals' " contempt for "the liberal media," science, historians, etc., etc.  And at root it is, itself, unbelief; denial that "The Truth," Jesus, in actuality rules anywhere except in our self-chosen little group.