Theological Issues – past and present
The majority of references to these principalities and powers are “hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.” Yet in Colossians, it says these rulers and authorities were created through Christ and are to be reconciled to him. How can they be reconciled if they are evil?
Herod murders babies in Jerusalem, Pharoah orders the murder of all the male Hebrew children in Egypt. When God is about to send deliverers, Satan motivates worldly powers to destroy that generation. We are living in a time such as this when the shedding of innocent blood is considered a good thing, and corrupt rulers and perverted courts oppress the people. How should we respond? Praise God (Anyhow).
Our national motto, E Pluribus Unum, is a Latin phrase meaning: Out of Many (people), ONE (people). What calls us together from many people out of diverse backgrounds, nations, cultures, and yes, even races, is the dedication to a shared ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence: “That all men are created equal with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” There are forces right now trying to destroy our union and divide us into warring tribes with no shared goal or vision for the future; no shared ideals. They want to divide us along racial, economic, social and political lines.
A different take on the end times: the Great Tribulation happened in 70 AD, and the meaning of the Desolating Sacrilege, & Dispensationalism
Pastors indulge sin with false grace that confuses license with love, endorses sin as it was actually helping rather than bringing harm. It is a Spiritual War over the truthfulness of God’s Word.
Reconciliation sometimes requires confrontation. It can be an act of love to confront someone with their behavior, rather than ignore it, excuse it, or become indifferent to them. Confrontation can be an act of love.
Mini-Message: How to respond with Love in times of Social Chaos. The Teaching: The Jewish Concept of Time is non-linear, made up of repeating types and patterns. The Gospels are not written in chronological order, but were written to show how Jesus is the fulfillment of types revealed in the Torah.
I have been the only “white-boy” pastor in an all-African American church. I was born a gentile, but by faith I am also a son of Abraham. I am grandfather to my Hispanic grandchildren. I have a mixed-mutt Anglo-Swede-German-Celtic and who-knows-what-else of a heritage. I have brothers who are Asian and Native Americans. Our church is a beautiful melting pot of multi-ethnic souls. In the world, there are only two races of mankind. However they are not races based on skin color or ethnic origin. The two races of mankind are those who in God and those are not. If you are in Christ, we are of one blood and we share God as our Father. We are blood brothers in Jesus. We are family. We are one. Historically, there has always been hostility between peoples of different tribes, tongues, religions, and colors. In Israel, in the Temple, there was a low wall called a “soreg” beyond which no non-Hebrew could go on pain of death. Within the wall, closer to God’s Holy Presence, only the covenant people could go. This wall created hostility between Jews and non-Jews; it was an exclusion zone that created a second class of citizens. … Read more
John used Genesis to show that the Son of God, made flesh in the Incarnation, was at the beginning of Creation and through him all things were created. Jesus is the Logos: the reason for being and the meaning of life.
We are in a season where we are separated and have to have communion with our families in our homes, which is like the time the Hebrews were hiding in their homes during Passover, as the last plague in Eqypt took the firstborn children of the Egyptians. Our Communion with Jesus should extend to care for our neighbors… those hungry and without.