Monday, May 29, 2006

Mercy Spilling Over

This morning's sunrise looked as though the sun were coming up over the ocean from the view of my bathroom window. There was a bank of fog over the trees and it looked glorious. I woke up my wife to check it out, but it was quickly changing. While still beautiful it had started to lose that ocean look.

As we were praying, shortly after that, I had that picture in my mind. Then I it was like my sight zoomed in on one section of the fog bank. What I saw looked like a huge water fall just starting to spill over the edge for the first time. It was a vivid picture in my mind.

Thanks be to the One God Most High.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Booze n Bottles

Romans 8:28 holds much comfort.

This afternoon my wife and I saw a man collecting bottles in a shopping cart. Most were alcohol bottles. My first instinct was to feel sadness. Swiftly it came to me, whether by the Spirit or by the gift of reasoning I do not know, that God takes the curse and plague on men that drinking is and turns it into provision for those who are poor.

If you live in a city or a larger town you've surely seen the poor collecting bottles and cans and turning them in for cash to eat with.

Glory! Glory to God the Most High Who takes what the devil would hurt us with and uses it to bless those whom He will! GLORY!

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Thoughts on the Festivals

A few months ago a woman stopped me after hearing me witnessing. She wanted to express her frustration with the Church for it's (as a whole) not celebrating the Festivals. Her point was these Festivals pointed to the Messiah and now "are" to be used to confirm that Jesus is Messiah, the Christ.

Her point struck home within me. I was taken aback and began to question this possible failing in the expression of my faith. I ended up going to a Messianic Seder and I have to encourage everyone to take at least one of these in. If you are unfamiliar with them, you will be astounded. It has deeply strengthened my faith.

One of many valuable, interesting, challenging, and exciting things I learned there was that Jesus didn't drink the Cup of Elijah at the last supper (Passover feast). You can check all four of the Gospels and the rest of the NT and not find a single reference to Him drinking of the 4th cup. The 4th is the Cup of Promise - "I will make you My people." and is called the Cup of Elijah. Because Elijah was to come to prepare the way for Messiah.

Now a short side track to clear up a bit of confusion. Jesus did drink of the 2nd cup which is the cup of Judgement. After doing so He told those present that He would not drink the wine of that fruit again until His return. A couple of verses down you will then read about Jesus drinking the 3rd cup of wine! This is of course the cup of Redemption. When Jesus said He wouldn't drink of that cup (wine of that fruit) again He meant He would not carry out Judgement until His glorious return. (So all you people preaching that hurricanes and diseases are the judgement of God on a person, group or place stop now, these are products of Curse put on Creation because of Adam's sin. The target of that Curse is all of creation, any individual or group.)

OK So back on topic here. Now where in scripture do we see the Cup of Elijah was ever drank by Christ Jesus. Why? Because, since Christ was in the World then Elijah must have already come. He did come, John The Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah.

So what doest his have to do with the Festivals? Christ didn't drink the cup that pointed to (and celebrated the hope of) Elijah's coming because he had already come. We don't have to celebrate the festivals which point to and celebrate the hope of Christ's first coming because He has already been here.

To celebrate our hope of His coming is akin to denying He has already come. A farmer doesn't pray and hope for rain during or after the down pour. He may remember his hope, and celebrate that it was fulfilled, but he no longer has need to hope for it to happen. It already has. Our proof is the work of the Spirit, our Faith, transformed lives, the recorded history of His dwelling with us in the Word, and answered prayer - which wouldn't be possible if not for the the finished work of Christ at the Cross.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Today They Two Become One

Today our good friends Phil and Margie will be married, dae valente (God willing). The sun is shining and we're excited! It seems like we've been praying about this day for ages! And look HERE IT IS!!!

Thanks be to God Himself!

Also today my wife will be picking up her race kit for the Bluenose 10K. I'm not running this year. And wouldn't ya know it the weather is supposed to be good for the first time in this races' long history (this is the third year hehe).

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Above and Among

While we're on the topic of women I want to mention a thought about Mary the virgin mother of Jesus. And yes she was a virgin, but I'll leave that for another day's topic.

Many people in the world nearly or even actually do worship Mary calling her things like "The Mother of God", "Co-Intercessor with Christ".... and so on. Some of this folly comes from the statement made by the Holy Spirit made through Elisabeth (the previously barren woman who the Lord God chose to mother John The Baptist) to Mary. Luke 1 :41-42

"And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit: And she spoke out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb."

Now Elisabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist at the time and John was filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit even while he was still in her womb.

OK so Mary is "blessed among women". Yes she surely was!! Does this make her worthy of worship? Not at all.

So, lets just put a nail in this topic, at least as far as Luke 1:41-42 goes. Check out Judges 5:24

"Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent."

Jael is the woman who put a tent peg through the escaping Sisera's head. She simply did what was required of her for God's people. For this the Angle of the Lord calls her "Blessed above women".

So Mary is blessed among women, and Jael is blessed above women. Yet, I've never heard of a group of people worshiping Jael.

Mary was truly blessed to carry Jesus the Son of God, but she is not the "mother of God". The triune God, including The Father, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit existed before the foundations of the world were laid. Mary was not created until just slightly more than 2000 years ago. She is not the Mother of God, but the earthen vessel who was blessed to carry Him into this world.

Let it be understood she was an obedient believer and must have been an amazing woman. Joseph must have been an incredible man as well. But I'll not be praying to either of them. My prayers go to the Father in the name of His precious son Christ Jesus.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Dangerous Prayer Meetings?

How many of you can say you've gone to a prayer meeting and left with a fat lip? Well I can. Nah Nah Na Nah Naaaaaah! Well I guess it's not really something you'd want now is it?

Tonight I was moving some chairs and smacked myself pretty good in the face... Yup it hurt purdy bad there for a few moments. Thankfully, I was wise enough to keep my hurting lips shut and my tongue steady.

:)

Women in teaching rolls, have we been wrong?

How many times have we heard quoted 1 Timothy 2:12 "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence"?

The confusion with this verse (and the passage it is taken from) is that it seems to disagree with a lot of other passages, and lacks other scripture to support it. Scripture must be interpreted using Scripture. IE one section of scripture enlightens another section of Scripture.

Quickly I'll take a look at some sections of scripture which do show women teaching men, and having authority over them. What's more, it's plain to see these were blessed of God.

First lets look at Priscilla, who with her husband instructed Apollos. Check out Acts 18:24-30, and take particular notice of how Apollos was strengthened and his ministry became more effective through being taught by Priscilla and her husband.

Next check out Deborah the prophetess found in Judges chapter 4. Specifically verse 4 “And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.” If you read the whole chapter you’ll see that Deborah honored God.

These are just two quick examples of God using women to teach and have authority over men.

So you ask, how does that fit with 1 Timothy 2:12? Well that’s a great question. To answer it we’ll have to take a look at the Greek words that have been translated “Man” and “Woman” in that verse.

The word translated to Woman in all translations I’ve read is the Greek word gunē (pronounced Goo-nay’ ) which is Strong’s number G1135 and means “a woman; specifically a wife: - wife, woman.”

The word translated to Man is the Greek word anēr (pronounced an’-ayr) which is Strong’s number G435 and means “a man (properly as an individual male): - fellow, husband, man, sir.”

So lets have a shot at 1 Tim 2:12 this way. “But I suffer not a wife to teach, nor usurp authority over the husband, but to be in silence.”

Now this seems to fit with the rest of scripture well. Particularly Eph 5:23 (men who get excited about that verse need to spend more time reading Eph 5:33 and the multitude of scripture supporting and expanding on it.) In this case the woman is being warned about how not to treat her husband in church.

I would not be willing to stake my life on the validity of this argument, but it does seem to resolve confusion issues with this verse. I also have to give credit where credit is due. This argument was developed primarily from the work of Gregory Koukl at In Plain Site.org. in his article "Should Women Teach In Church" as you will clearly see when you read it. Also Glenn Miller's intensive work at Christian-ThinkTank.com has opened my eyes to things I had previously missed. I almost included information about Junia in this post but I'm not completely sold on her apostleship yet.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Study, Tools and My Changing Attitudes

So, I'm making the change from the Amplified (AMP) translation of the Bible to the KJV, specifically the previously mentioned Evidence Bible. The AMP is great in that it spells out concepts and meanings for a modern English reader who might have a hard time picking up from the KJV. However, like all things man-made it's got some "issues" [errors]. The KJV is the most accurate English text of the Bible available. This can be confirmed by study on your own. Reading it ought reveal this to you, however you can study the topic as well. Many people will be offended by the above statement. If you let me know about your offense, as my Pastor would say "I'll pray for you".

Simply reading what KJV says, and then comparing it to NIV, NKJV, AMP, The Message... and so on will show you there are grave differences between the translations. Seeing as KJV was the only English version available for 400 years, and God promised to preserve His Word it seems that KJV must be authentic.

OK so that's why I've made the switch to KJV. And to soften your hearts I will re-state that the Evidence Bible KJV is much easier to read having the Thees and Thous removed. The rest of the language is the same however.

Now how am I able to go from modern translations back to KJV and still maintain my study? Well with some serious help from the Holy Spirit for sure. Without Him there can be no revelation and learning anyway.

That being said a GREAT tool I've been using is E-Sword which is a fantastic and FREE Bible software suite. You can download, legally and free, bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, Strong's Concordance and Lexicon, maps, graphics, study guides.... on and on. I now study with E-Sword open to the KJV+ bible, which is KJV with Strong's Numbers. Then I click on or hover over a word I don't understand and Strong's gives me the Hebrew or Greek word it was translated from and the meaning of that Hebrew or Greek word - not the meaning of the English word. This has deepened my study wonderfully!

I'm going to be touching on Junia and my thoughts on women's roles in the Church. I'm surprised to learn myself that many of us have been terribly wrong on this issue. I must confirm my new understanding with more study before I post it here. However I encourage you all to study these things as well.

*please note, I have not indicated here that any translation is "evil." However, I do have serious problems with those who would add/take away from God's Word. I have personally been able to learn from several translations myself, including KJV, NIV, NKJV, and the AMP. I don't have the required knowledge to compare the various translations here. However, after having studied several myself, I have seen disagreement between them. This does not jive well with the "be of one mind" statements that Paul gives us. The Word is without error (John 10:35, Mat 5:18). If there is disagreement between the texts of different versions then we have added in error and should be ashamed and are justified in being terrified of the coming Wrath!

All this being said, I will likely from time to time still link to AMP verses if I feel it clarifies the point for those who might not understand. Though I hope to link more to the Hebrew or Greek, but that's a hope right now.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

The Walk, As It Stands

Be still, and know that I am God says Psalm 46

Wherefore (therefore) take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. says Ephesians 6:13

The last two weeks have been a struggle. I've got to learn to be still and know that He is God.

With that being said, I'm heading out for a run.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Combating the False Promises of Pornography

Combating the False Promises of Pornography is a good article found at Crosswalk today.


Sorry for the lack of posts. We've been working on our house and trying to get caught up on sleep.