THE NATIONAL CATHEDRAL VS THE BIBLE

EZEKIEL PROPHESIES TO.....AMERICA?

And the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 

Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 

Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain.

And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 22:23-31 ESV)

Of course, this is Old Testament, but to those "enlightened" ones, in their age of "reason", this means nothing? This past week, the official symbol of Faith in America - the National Cathedral - boldly and unapologetically announced they will be conducting same-sex "marriages" inside of the church....and then went on to use the Name of Jesus and God....just as God said of the worthless priests of Judah (Jerusalem etc) in the passage above from Ezekiel! The liberal apostates of the US Episcopal Church (which is out of fellowship from the wider body of the Biblically sound Anglican Church) have been likewise travelling down a road of rebellion against God and the Bible, for decades now.

It is not up to me, however to condemn them...or anyone else for that matter. The Word of God has taken care of that, as we see above and the entire portion of Ezekiel from Chapter 18 onward. By the way, just in case so-called Christians dispute the Old Testament, here in context, is what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians why we must heed the Full --- the FULL---Counsel of God, from beginning to end:

"Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:6-12 ESV)

On August 23, 2011, just days before there was supposed to be an Inter-Faith "Service" at the National Cathedral (for the 10th Anniversary of 9/11/2001), in Washington DC, a rare and unusual earthquake hit the city and its surroundings. The earthquake registered 5.8 on the Richter Scale and did some serious damage to the Cathedral's structure. The damage was so bad, they needed $20 million to repair everything from the foundation to the spikes at the top. Here they are, less than two years later, shaking their fists at the God of the Bible again. They may wish to reconsider, repent and read His Word again!

THREE UNLIKELY MEN

#2 CLAUDIUS LONGINUS - the first Christian!

This is NOT a Gladiator movie title! This name may not sound familiar to most these days. But in the decades after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, Longinus' name became known in Christian circles as the Roman Centurion who became the first Christian. The incredible thing is that it happened right at the foot of the Cross, just seconds after the Lord said "IT IS FINISHED, FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT"!

His name is not mentioned in the Bible, but discovered later in apocryphal literature which never made into the Canon of Scripture or the Bible! He is called the Centurion in Luke 23:47 "Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”

Combine this account with the fuller description here from Matthew and we get a very scary, yet vivid preview of Future Events! Here is that passage: "And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:51-54 ESV)

Just briefly, we need to know who this Centurion actually was! He was the pagan Roman captain of 100 soldiers. Centurions were close to being the elite or the Marines of Caesar's army. Apart from Pilate, the Roman prefect of Jerusalem, Centurion had the most power. He was watching while Jesus rode into town on a donkey on Palm Sunday and saw the crowds hail Him as King.

He was there when the Temple Guard brought the arrested Jesus in after the Agonizing Prayers of Gethsemane, late on Thursday night. He and his men escorted Jesus to and from the perverted and corrupt Herod after Pilot declared Jesus to be innocent, several times. On the Day of the Passover or Good Friday, Centurion was there when he and his men mocked, kicked, spit on, blasphemed and criminally brutalized the Son of God.

They whipped Him so badly with the cat-o-nine tails with nails and bone chips at the end of the leather straps, that Isaiah 52 said He was barely recognizable as a man. Centurion was one of those persecutors. He and his men dragged Jesus through the Streets of the Old City up to Golgotha (The Place of The Skull), where he then oversaw his soldiers nail Jesus to the Cross.

All through this, Longinus saw a man who never said a harsh word or complained. In fact, He saw the Gentle Savior forgive his brutal Roman goons who were nailing Him to the Cross. Longinus saw a thief on the Cross repent, get saved and was told by Jesus that "today he will be with Me in Paradise". However, the clincher was what happened after Jesus actually died on the Cross.

Centurion saw the sky suddenly go black for hours. He saw earthquakes splitting rocks, just as will happen when Jesus returns. The Wrath of God was rained down on the Temple back in the City where not just the Veil was torn from top to bottom, but a now defunct religion was being buried - the one of the Law. Tombs were open and dead people were seen walking through the streets!

Fear and Trembling was the order of the moment. The reaction of the religious leaders who killed Christ and the prophets were to rally around their religious lifestyle, until Rome finally destroyed their Temple in AD 70, for good. But for Centurion, it was the Beginning! Combining both Luke's and Matthew's Gospel, let's note:

Because he (Centurion) was with Jesus, after seeing the Fury of God on those who killed His Son, he said "Certainly, this man was innocent" (Luke).

He was filled with awe (Matthew).

He praised God (Luke).

What does this mean for us? The most important thing is to note the progression of this powerful man - Centurion.

He observed.

He sinned horribly against God by brutalizing Him.

He observed the Suffering Savior.

He saw what repentance was (The Thief).

He saw the Wrath of God.

He reacted in awe at a man who never said a bad word about His killers.

HE PRAISED GOD! (Luke)....THIS ROMAN PAGAN, NOW SAVED AND COVERED BY THE BLOOD AND WATER WHICH FLEW OUT OF JESUS WHEN ONE OF HIS MEN SPEARED JESUS' RIBS, PRAISED GOD!

The Bible uses the same word for the Centurion praising God as we do for the DOXOLOGY (Praise God from Whom all blessings flow)! Longinus basically fulfilled what we know the chief end of man to be - "To Glorify Him and enjoy Him forever"! This gentile was the first Sinner saved and washed by the Blood and the first Christian in recorded history, at the death of our Savior. We would do well to live in awe and fear of the Lord, as he came to do! 

Amen.

(Image courtesy Bing)

THINK ON THESE THINGS - SUNDAY

UNCERTAIN CERTAINTY

RELYING ON GOD IN ANXIOUS TIMES

"Certainty is the mother of quiet and repose, and uncertainty the cause of variance and contentions”. This is a quote from the 16^th century English businessman Edward Coke.

Let’s look at some definitions:
Certain: free from doubt; destined to happen; absolutely positive; inevitable.

Uncertain: unknown; not confident of; doubtful; indefinite

Variance: a state of difference or disagreement

Contentions: strife; struggling; disharmony; disagreements; disputes

DICHOTOMY

There is a dichotomy between the two views. We have certainty versus the banging cymbals of uncertainty, variance and contentions….and this describes our world today!

We look around and see monster mile-wide long tornadoes completely wiping out entire city blocks of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

We see 5.2 Earthquakes in Oklahoma, with the New Madrid and San Andreas Faults (Midwest and California respectively) ready to go at any time. These faults could cause more loss to people and property than any earthquake around the world so far!

We see untold heavy rains threaten livestock and lives in Cape Girardeau, Missouri as families and friends are scared for their farms.

We see floods gushing through previously untouchable homes and towns, leaving debris in its wake…and more.

Many, including some pretty level-headed people who are somewhat grounded in Biblical truth, scratch their heads and wonder about the Creator allowing this to happen. Even the toughest believers in God gulp and gasp at that terrible wind blowing apart parts of Southern Alabama at NASCAR speed!

We can go on and on with the examples here, but the only way any of these tragedies make any sense is to comprehend some of the Ways of God and why Creation is in an uproar.

Uncertain times demand a comforting word from the Promises of the Creator – the God of the Universe!

YOUR WAYS

When we have a national or large scale tragedy – for instance the Japanese Tsunami or the Alabama Tornados – the rationale mind goes into logic, trying to figure out the incomprehensible.

 Here is what God has to say about that in Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.  So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

The corrupt puny mind of mortal man manages to manufacture multiple methods to attain to a level of understanding which no one this side of Paradise could EVER comprehend! Sure they can come up with ridiculous things like Evolution and cloning sheep, but they will never be able to fathom the mind of God.

Common sense does not always make sense to an uncommon God. Our minds tell us “by all calculations, thus and such should be so!”  The western concept of the perfectly planned life goes like this:

-         Go to K-12 school; play sports; be in band; get good grades; go to Prom; graduate.

-         Get into a good college; get a student loan; get a part-time retail job; begin classes.

-         Party in college; send home for money; scope out future spouses; cram for finals; use lots of caffeine; get report card; get summer job and go home in u-Haul.

-         Repeat previous line for four years; graduate with a Bachelor or a four year/two year Associates Degree!!

-         Get recruited by a growing or established company or have no trouble finding a job; alongside, as some grieving, move back home 

-         Begin working 8-5 job; drink Starbucks daily; live in cubicle world; join Fitness Club; buy used program car; fall in love.

-         Get married; fall in debt; have 2.5 kids (who is this “.5” kid anyway?) and WE’RE OFF!!!!

Sometime in the past few years, this paradigm was turned on its head. The certainty of the affluent western lifestyle was turned on its overburdened head when the House of Cards collapsed. 

With the encouragement of certain citizens, politicians created the bondage of a Free Lunch, the bill came due, and all this dancing with the devil left hell to pay!

NEW PARADIGM

Beginning in 2008, the economy took such a huge nosedive that it looked like this Path to Success, developed after World War II by the American Dream, began to look like a bad dream. Once safe and secure occupations and sacred cows were considered no longer safe or sacred.

Oh, and by the way, have you ever wondered about this term “Sacred Cow”? The last time someone took ton of gold and fashioned a Golden Calf out of the fire for pagan revelry aka “worship”, God got so angry at Aaron the High Priest and the Israelites that He killed a whole bunch of them….but I digress.

Not only were entire portfolios of retirement and other wealth down the drain, in a corrupt orgy of mammon worship from Wall Street to Washington, DC,  but middle aged professionals lost their jobs with nowhere to turn. The once exciting prospective jobs out there for college graduates completely disappeared.

Then a phenomenon which began about a decade ago, really ramped up. Twenty something’s who lived with all their modern conveniences in their own apartments began to move back in with their parents. Grandparents then began to raise their second batch of children – their grandchildren; while their kids either looked for any kind of work or could not cope with the demands and failures of the results of their lack of …you fill in the blanks.

This was the start of the New Paradigm. It does not mean everyone is a failure just that the opportunities have narrowed and are now almost non-existent, unless you are a self-starter. The modern technological world offers endless possibilities for those who are innovative and have a passion for adventure.

This new generation of both high school and college graduates are unable to find their footing in life. Raised on Electronics, fast cars, fast food and day care, what little they were taught in Sunday school 15 or more years earlier, was lost in the secular humanist world of University and intellectualism!

They have no moral grounding, having been told a pack of lies from “if it feels good, do it” to “it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you sincerely believe it”!

They have no character core, having be sold a bag of goods about alternate lifestyles, premarital sex and may have even witness shortcomings in their parents’ ethics in how THEY conduct their own lives.

They have no Foundation of Faith, because as we now know (because of Ken Ham’s and Britt Beamer’s earth shattering book “ALREADY GONE”), we lost the next generation in our Evangelical churches of America starting in Sunday school…in our BEST Bible-teaching churches!

All college did was speed up their falling away from the Faith to the point where over 57% of EVANGELICALS – that’s people who believe like you and I! They now say there is another way to heaven than Jesus!

ARE  YOU SURE?!

THIS is what we’re operating with – a new generation in their early 20’s – purposely neglect the preaching, teaching and reaching of the Word of God. …and who could care less about it!

Here is what the great Oswald Chambers said, over 100 years ago…and this addresses part of our concern tremendously! Chambers said “Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life: gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness, it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. Immediately we abandon to God, and do the duty that lies nearest, He packs our life with surprises all the time”. 

What Oswald is saying is, as we look at the failure to achieve certain material milestones by age 25 or 35 etc, it is not necessarily a bad thing….because that kind of thinking is indicative of the movement which rendered Western Europe almost “godless” with their Age of Reason.  This is the stinking thinking which attempts to analyze the Faith with human rationale, rather than live in the hope and expectation of a sure and secure better tomorrow, through the Christian Life.

Following also on his line of thinking, it behooves us to be live in Joyful Uncertainty!! Yes, this is correct!  We must be like little children to see the Kingdom of God and even if we are several decades in the Faith, learning and living for Jesus…and being sure about it, we can look at situations such as Alabama, or Illinois etc with a nervous expectancy of “I wonder how God is going to move here to rescue His People”!!

Jesus Himself gave us this certain promise from John 14:1 “

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me”.

NOTE THIS: Jesus did not say “believe only this 45% over there and the other 55% over there. He did not say “believe only this certain thing about Me but not this one…or that one…but believe THIS one!!”

DON’T BE ANXIOUS

You know, sometime within the next 50 years or more, EVERY ONE of us will be standing in front of the REAL Lord Jesus for Judgment and rewards if we are saved, and the final Judgment leading to hell, if we aren’t!

These brief unsure and uncertain days and years on planet earth determine our eternal destination. How we live NOW has eternal impact, no matter what it is.

Jesus looked at a generation then who did not have to use anti-depressant drugs and other medication to remain focused but who worried constantly about things they had no control over!

Here are parts of His “Anxious” statements from Matthew 6:

-         do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.(vs. 25)

-         which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (vs. 27)

-         And why are you anxious about clothing? (vs. 28)

He then lights into them and tells them “Oh you of little faith” and then “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear. For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you… (Verses 31-33).

The USA is the LAND of Anxiety, my friends and it shows in the National medication prescription drug list! Not only are panic attacks and anxiety problems increasing, including about so-called Christians, but the prescription drug usage is phenomenal! 

The leading Anxiety drugs are Cymbalta, Zoloft and Prozac. It is a multi-billion dollar Bermuda Triangle of downward spiraling away from the Anointing of the best of the Spirit-filled life!

The sad reality is more and more of us on this great continent are unable to cope with the simplest of instructions from the Creator of the Universe – Jesus – and need toxic chemical pills to make it through each day!  Everything Jesus warned against above is in the material realm.  All He is saying is “guys, put this thing in perspective….quit thinking about where and what fancy meal you will eat next, or the shopping at JC Penney’s to be done….or…name it…just put this aside for a minute and see the Bigger Picture!!”

The Bigger Picture is a life of uncertainty based on Faith, knowing that our home is not on this dying planet, but we have an automatic citizenship in Heaven with Abba Father as our Guide, Teacher, Comforter and Friend! Amen!

IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS

So what should we glean from all of this, as we see the world tearing away from reality and (what we consider) order, DAILY?!  When the guy at work next to you, whether it’s at the construction site or the office…or even sitting in the pew next you…when that guy in his genuine confusion, looks at the chaos, the monster tornados, the devastation and loss of life…JUST HOW IS A MAN OR WOMAN OF GOD SUPPOSED TO RESPOND TO THAT?

How can we comfort others in times of uncertainty when God just does not ‘make sense’, in the earthly sense? Well, we HAVE and MUST dig deep within ourselves and access that fountain of Faith He built in there, when He gave us His Holy Spirit and just worship!

YES! I said WORSHIP! I am not telling you anything I haven’t done myself! I can’t begin to tell you the many crises, personal and otherwise, where I just had to give it up,  make myself a living sacrifice, die to myself, fall down and just say “Lord, I don’t get this…please take this from me!!”

And He does! If we would just stay up, look up, pray up and praise up…He will lift us up! Why? Because He is a God Whose Ways we can never understand, but He is certain about His Promises to never leave or forsake you, in a dry and thirsty land!

Worship! That’s how! King David, a man after God’s Own Heart showed us how…here…in part…from 2 Samuel 22: 19-34. I am putting all the verses here, from the Amplified Bible, so we can follow the process of Worship, which David walks us through as He Himself was led out of certain death by his enemies (when King Saul was hunting him and trying to kill him) to a place of certain peace and rest.

 All the noteworthy passages are emphasized.  Comments are in BLUE after the verse.  Glory to His Name! 

2 Samuel 22: 19-24 AMP

¹⁹They came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay.
²⁰He brought me forth into a large place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.
    ²¹The Lord rewarded me according to my uprightness with Him; He compensated and benefited me according to the cleanness of my hands. (Perseverance rewarded!)
    ²²For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. (Don’t join in with the world today, but stay the Course of Christ).
    ²³For all His ordinances were before me; and from His statutes I did not turn aside. (Staying within the boundaries of the Word keeps us from sin!)
    ²⁴I was also blameless before Him and kept myself from guilt and iniquity.
    ²⁵Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His [holy] sight.
    ²⁶Toward the loving and loyal You will show Yourself loving and loyal, and with the upright and blameless You will show Yourself upright and blameless. (The Eyes of the Lord runneth to and fro, across the WHOLE earth  ...to find those who are LOYAL to HIM…and ALL HIS PROMISES ARE YES and AMEN!!!! IT IS TRUE! TRY HIM!! TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD!!!!)
    ²⁷To the pure You will show Yourself pure, and to the willful You will show Yourself willful.
    ²⁸And the afflicted people You will deliver, but Your eyes are upon the haughty, whom You will bring down.
    ²⁹For You, O Lord, are my Lamp; the Lord lightens my darkness. (When it seems darkest today, when calamity strikes, when wars abound and economies fall….HE LIGHTS UP THE WAY FOR US…through WORSHIP!)
    ³⁰For by You I run through a troop; by my God I leap over a wall. (I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me…even make it through the coming Tribulation!)
    ³¹As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried. He is a Shield to all those who trust and take refuge in Him. (A PROMISE KEPT!)
    ³²For who is God but the Lord? And who is a Rock except our God? (ANOTHER PROMISE KEPT!)
    ³³God is my strong Fortress; He guides the blameless in His way and sets him free. (YET ANOTHER PROMISE KEPT!)
    ³⁴He makes my feet like the hinds' [firm and able]; He sets me secure and confident upon the heights. (YES AND AMEN!)

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Amplified Bible (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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