"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105
The Torah journey for Christians
posted Wednesday, July 8, 2009 :: 3:04 PM
I am getting caught up from being gone for a month, and hopefully regular blogging will soon resume. In the mean time, I have been s l o w l y collecting links to blogs by believers in Jesus Christ, Messiah Yeshua, who also are learning about Torah /trying to apply Torah obedience in their daily lives, as I am. Here are a few:
I will add more as I find more ... I hope these few may begin to be a blessing to you. If you are a Christian or believer in Messiah Yeshua, and are on a journey of Torah discovery and application, please let me know about your blog or website so that I may add it.
ME: "Come join my husband and I for Passover dinner at our house on Friday April 10!"
THEM: "I don't get it -- why is it a Passover dinner and not just dinner with family and friends? All those feasts were done away with in the New Covenant."
ME: "Were they? Can you show me where it says that?"
THEM ... ... ... ... "Well, where does it say they are to be kept?"
ME: "Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath." Mat 24:15-20
"Hey, didn't Jesus get the memo that in the New Covenant the Sabbath was no longer to be kept?"
"Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean." Acts 10:10-14
"Hey, didn't Peter get the memo that in the New Covenant the dietary laws were no longer to be kept?"
"When they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, but took leave of them, saying, "I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing." And he sailed from Ephesus." Acts 18:20-21
"Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Cor 5:6-8
"Hey, didn't Paul get the memo that in the New Covenant the feasts were no longer to be kept?"
I can't stop thinking about this article that was published in the Christian Science Monitor, The coming evangelical collapse. It has gotten a lot of media attention. I didn't agree with the author's conclusions. I should clarify my position. I do believe that the author has drawn the correct conclusions for the evangelical church, IF (and this is a big if) the status quo remains as it is. If the state of the church does not change.
But here is where I disagree. I have faith, and hope, that the status quo will change. I believe we are on the verge of another Great Awakening. Whenever a revival of this magnitude happens in the church, the church is wonderfully energized and filled with life. The lost are saved in great numbers. Just such a shot in the arm, in the evangelical church, will completely turn on its head every prediction made in the article.
But I do believe that the coming revival will make a division in the church, which is already beginning. The division will be between those who will receive what God is doing in the earth and those who won't. Those who will, will grow, thrive, and produce much fruit to the glory of God. Those who won't, will continue in their dead course, and the conclusions of the article will apply to them.
How do I know that will happen? Because that is what always happens when the Spirit of God begins to move on the earth. During the Reformation, there were multitudes who received the life that the Spirit of God was breathing into the church. And there were those who would not receive it, refused to change, and clung to the old way of things. Those churches who would not receive God, continued in their dead course. Those churches who would, were made radically alive with new life, and they have produced much fruit.
It is the same thing with the Creation message. It is part of a broader move of God to restore the integrity and authority of His Word in His church and in the earth. There are those churches who have received what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches, and they are growing and thriving. Then there are those who have not received what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches. They will continue on the dead course they are currently on, and the conclusions of the article will apply to them.
God does NOT leave His church Shepherdless and leaderless. He is guiding her into all truth. But the church has to consent, and follow. For those churches who do, life, growth, and fruit will be the result. :)
Points 1-6 in The Coming Evangelical Collapse have been pretty well addressed in my previous post. All of the article's assertions are true - IF God is not the Great Shepherd of His church, and IF the prophesied coming Revival, whose purpose is to breathe life and fire into a dead church, and cause it to stand up on its feet, so that the lost come in in great numbers, does not come to pass. But I don't believe that will happen.
Evangelicalism has been with us since the book of Acts. But the church did sleep through the Middle Ages, while the counterfeit church, with claims to godliness but denying its power, took the ascendancy. But since the Reformation, evangelicalism was reborn and has been increasing. And what do I mean by evangelicalism? I mean, church like the book of Acts. That is normal Christianity. The church where Jesus is Lord, He is worshiped and obeyed, the Spirit radically changes lives by His indwelling, and the Gospel goes forth with power.
The article's final point, for proof that EC (evangelical Christianity) is on its way out, is that the money will dry up. The great sums of money that are being poured into missions right now are being used primarily to evangelize closed, poor, and unreached areas of the world, and to provide Scriptures to places that do not have them. But what if all that were to stop today? Does God need our money in order to advance His kingdom? I don't think so. From the seeds that have already been planted, God can entirely change the whole world!
Take Africa, for example. Right now, people come from miles around to bring their dead on pallets and line them up in the shade behind the church building, because when church begins, and the worship of God begins, and He responds to His people by pouring out His presence on them, the dead just leap up and walk away. No one even prays over them anymore, because it is so commonplace. This happens every week in Africa. In places without newspapers and Internet and photographers, so it is not on the 6 o'clock news. But missionaries that our church supports have sent us reports of the amazing things that God is doing, and I am sure that you have heard of them in your congregations, too.
How much money does God need to proclaim His power, His might, and His glory in that way? To be a witness to the whole world? And if He needs money, well, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and He knows how to get resources to the place He wants resources. If the money dries up in America, that limits God in no way whatsoever.
People, we are going to be living in the most exciting times a human being can ever live in - the witness of God going out to the whole world, with boldness and truth, being confirmed by signs and wonders following. And it will increase and increase until the evidence is so undeniable that God exists, that He is great and glorious, and that He loves everyone with a fervent love. The knowledge and the glory of God will cover the earth as waters cover the seas. And then the Lord Jesus Christ will return. That is what I believe will happen. :)
The Internet Monk has written a piece for The Christian Science Monitor about the coming collapse of evangelical Christianity. Now I have my own quibbles with evangelical Christianity. But I find myself disagreeing with the prediction of this collapse in almost every instance. His reasoning is:
1. EC's (evangelical Christianity's) identification with conservatism will make them an increasing target as society turns more and more leftward. EC's know how to articulate social causes, but not the gospel, therefore they will diminish.
2. EC's have not passed a viable and long- lasting Christianity on to their children. The next generation's ignorance of Scripture and theology will diminish them.
3. The three kinds of EC churches (consumer- driven megachurches, dying churches, and fragile new churches) will have difficulty surviving and thriving in the new century.
4. EC has not produced an educational method that can compete with secularism.
5. In order to survive, EC ministries will take on a less and less Christian face. (I am not sure I understand his reasoning of why this is so, but perhaps it has to do with pressure from governmental regulation or secularism, or else just an inability to survive because its EC base is shrinking?)
6. Even in strong EC areas like the Bible Belt, EC's will have less and less success passing on Christianity to the next generation.
7. The money will dry up.
I find myself disagreeing with all of these assertions, and all for the same reason. It doesn't take into account God's plan, provision, or power to bring His church forth triumphant from the world, as He did Israel from Egypt. When the Lamb appears on Mount Zion in Revelation 14, the beginning of which coincided with the Reformation and is still ongoing, His victories increase until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
For many years now, prophecy has come forward from the church that a new Great Awakening is about to come upon God's people. I believe this Great Awakening, this last great end time Revival, will raise the church from her great sleep, will breath life into her bones and strengthen her with power. The signs and wonders, I believe, will follow as in the days of Acts. But God will be moving in this way, all over the world, and not just in Israel or in a few cities of the Roman Empire. God will glorify His name, and the entire world will know that I AM is God, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. Even Richard Dawkins. Holiness will characterize this end time renewal as never before.
Now why am I predicting a much different picture for the Bride of Christ before Yeshua's return?
1. The Torah is history- prophecy, almost all of it concerning the Messiah. By history- prophecy, I mean the historical events recorded in Torah are not only the true history of Israel, but also prophecies about the Messiah and His people Israel (into whom the church has been grafted). So when God delivers His people from Egypt with great plagues and power and might, and leads them triumphantly to the Promised Land, plundering the Egyptians and miraculously providing for their every need, I believe that is a prophecy with a two- fold fulfillment: it is first fulfilled in a spiritual sense, when we are delivered from the kingdom of darkness as a type of Egypt. But it also has a physical fulfillment, I believe, that we will see with the return of Jesus Christ. God will Himself plague our plaguers and He will deliver His church with power to the glory of His name.
2. God is just. And if the whole world believed the lie that Satan had perpetuated, that God is dead and nature is the creator of all that is, then people would have an excuse to not worship or serve the Lord, when they stood before His judgment seat. But God is not unjust. Just as Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord that I should let His peope go?"; God showed him who He was, so that Pharaoh had no doubt. And I believe in like manner, God is not going to let the lie that He is dead and that nature is the creator of all that is, stand. That lie has been enduring body blows for some time now, but those have been for the benefit of the church. I believe that the judgment on that lie will be much more extensive and punishing, and the WORLD will be left with no doubt that He exists and that He is returning soon. Some will still choose to disbelieve it. But they will at least have no excuse. And I believe He will do it by magnifying His name above all else, and that at the name of Jesus, signs and wonders will increase. The sick will be healed, the dead raised, and all will know that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It is already happening, just not here. But it will happen, even here.
3. We are in COVENANT with the covenant- keeping God, and our children are in covenant with the covenant- keeping God. Revival does funny things to dead churches. It breathes life into them, and lifts them on their feet. It brings back prodigals and strengthens that which was weak. If the church has a weakness in making theologically sound disciples, including children, that can change in a nanosecond when God raises up teachers of wisdom and understanding to establish His church on a solid foundation of His word. And I believe He will do it, to the glory of His great name by which the church is called. Not because we deserve it. Not because we can reverse the trend described in the article. But because God is good, and He will see His promises come to pass upon His people for the sake of His great name.
And there's a start, as to why my perception of the future of the church is brighter than shown in this article.
Well, Obama did not self- destruct . What should have sunk any candidate in any normal year, did not even touch The O this year. My husband believes the only reason he won the election was because the conservatives stayed home and refused to vote for McCain. Which would explain Virginia and Ohio going blue.
I have heard several sermons already both before and after the election about submitting to the new president's authority, citing Romans 13 as the source text (let every soul be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God). You know, I really have mixed feelings about this. Not about submitting to authority. I am a firm believer in God- ordained authority.
What I am having a problem with is this notion that free men must submit uncritically to authority which has crossed its God- ordained boundaries. No one holds absolute authority except God. All humans exercise delegated authority. Every type of delegated authority comes with RESPONSIBILITIES and BOUNDARIES. In other words, someone in authority cannot merely do whatever they wish just because they have power. They have power, in order to do a specific list of things designed to bless those who must submit to that authority (those are the responsibilities), and there are boundaries limiting the power which someone with delegated authority can wield.
So before any more pastors get up and preach any more sermons about submitting to the authority of the new president, I think an eight or ten part sermon series on the nature of authority, and the responsibilities and boundaries of each type, would be a good foundation.
Where do we get our definition of what it means to be upright, and what it means to be wicked? If we do not get it from God and His word, then we have an erroneous definition. For example, most people today would excuse a pastor who is living in a homo[s-x]ual relationship with his partner, saying "He is a good man." Last summer I blogged about an Atlanta pastor, who was retained in his position instead of fired, because of that very reason: he was a good pastor, and performed his duties well.
But the Lord says, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." Leviticus 18:22. This conduct, according to the Creator of heaven and earth, is not upright, but wicked. A person who practices such without repentance is a wicked person - not according to man's definition, not according to the world's definition, but according to God's definition.
God's definition of uprightness and wickedness is found in Torah primarily, in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, with commentary throughout the rest of the Scriptures. I was thinking about this when I was reading Psalm 50 recently:
"But to the wicked God says,
What right have you to declare My statutes,
Or take My covenant in your mouth,
Seeing you hate instruction,
And cast My words behind you?" - Psalm 50:16-17
Whoa, what are the wicked doing taking God's covenant in their mouths? That doesn't jive with our definition of "wicked," which is akin to "ax murderer." God's definition of "wicked" is not ours. May God open the eyes of all who might be deceived into thinking that obedience to the precepts of the Lord no longer matters.
I love the Victory Bible Reading Plan from Omega Publications. You read through the Bible in one year, you read a Psalm or chapter of Proverbs each day, you read all four Gospels twice per year, and you get to read the Old Testament in chronological sequence.
Now, I have discovered something else about this plan that I love. I don't know how this could have been devised by the authors, or perhaps it is just an example of the awesomeness of God and His word. But all the readings for each day seem to be linked by theme!
For example, the first day's reading in the guide is Genesis 1-2, Psalm 1, and Matthew 1. In Genesis 1-2, we have the introduction of the TWO TREES, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In Psalm 1, we have the introduction of the TWO WAYS, the way of the wicked - which you might say corresponds to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - and the way of God or the way of the righteous - which you might say corresponds to the tree of life.
Then in Matthew 1, the angel announces the birth of Jesus, who is coming in order to save His people from their sins - in other words, from their choosing of the way of the wicked, from their choosing of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil! There has not been a single day where the correlation between the chapters hasn't been amazing and jaw- dropping!
I am in a Bible study that meets every week, with my sister, my two grown daughters, and some friends from church. We don't do a prepared Bible study together; we basically ask the Lord to teach us what He wants us to learn. He always leads us in the way that we need to go. We have all been Christians for some time, so the direction the Lord took our study this week surprised us.
It was the study of daily time spent in the Word of God and seeking the face of the Lord, how that practice, expression of love, and discipline acts as guardrails in our lives to keep us in the way of the Lord. Of course, we all know how important this is. The first time of the day devoted to the Lord is our daily service of worship expressed by obedience to the command to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and might, and to meditate on His word day and night. But it is so easy to let the busy-ness of our lives to take over and erode into that time. This week the Lord said to us, Guard that time as your most precious treasure. This week, the Lord said to us, I love you, and I miss you. Come meet with Me again.
An article in today's paper caught my eye: Neopaganism growing quickly, about the resurgence and growth of such pagan nature religions as druidism and witchcraft. The newspaper article claims paganism is the fastest growing religion in America, Canada, and Europe today, with the numbers of adherents doubling every 18 months.
The comments, though, on this article is what is really interesting. The pagans themselves discuss why the traditional American religion of Christianity is on the decline (many of the pagans identify themselves as former Christians or raised in the Christian church), some giving reasons that the "patriarchy" of Yahweh is less free than the "matriarchy" of their goddess ... the ancient Canaanites agreed with them. Some say that paganism is a more ancient religion than Christianity, as Christianity is based on sun worship. We have discussed the connection in detail here.
I have been hearing about a healing revival going on in Florida. I don't know anything about this particular church, but I do believe God heals people miraculously today. This is because we have experienced His healing on numerous occasions throughout our lives. For example, I was born 3 months prematurely nearly 50 years ago, when preemie survival rates, especially at that gestational age, were very low. I weighed 2 lbs 13 ounces, and the doctor told my parents not to even give me a name, because I was going to die. But the hospital where I was born had just received an experimental new invention for testing the week before: an incubator. I think I was the first baby in that incubator at that hospital. My parents prayed over me, asked the Lord to heal me, and named me "Christine" in defiance of the doctor's advice. And I lived, and thrived.
When I was in college the Lord healed me of debilitating scoliosis in my back. A friend prayed over me, and I felt my spine going "clink" "clink" "clink" in place, all the way down my back from the top of my spine to the bottom. And I have been pain and scoliosis- free since that day.
When my son was 8 months old, he experienced a fall of about 10 feet and landed on his head. His skull was fractured, swollen about twice its normal size. If he survived (which was in doubt), he would be brain damaged the rest of his life. So my husband and I prayed over him and asked the Lord to heal all his injuries and restore his brain the way it was supposed to me. I sure didn't feel full of faith at the time; I have rarely been so scared. But after about 5 hours after the prayer, the swelling in his head was gone, he was active and playing, and a second set of x-rays showed no skull fracture, or any damage at all, whatsoever.
When this same son was about 5, we were up camping in the mountains, and he accidentally stumbled into a mountain bee hive in an old rotten log. He had hundreds of bee stings all over his body. I had a little baking soda to make pancakes the next morning, but not nearly enough to treat every bee sting. And we were hours away from the closest hospital. So we prayed over him, and all the bee stings were gone in about 5 minutes, and he was fine.
When my oldest daughter was pregnant with her daughter, she was diagnosed with gallstones, and they wanted to remove her gall bladder when she was in the hospital to deliver her baby. She didn't want to live the rest of her life without a gall bladder, however, believing God gave it to us for some good reason, so we prayed over her, and her gall stones dissolved. She still has her gall bladder, btw.
So why would God do all that for us if He doesn't heal people miraculously anymore?
So we Christians (who were Gentiles, some of whom were originally Ephraimites) have received a heritage of holidays and traditions which originated in Babylon, and now that we are at the end of this age of history, the Lord is saying to us, "Come out of Babylon, My people!" He is opening our eyes to the fact that we not only are His people, but we were His people Israel, which we had forgotten. The holidays and traditions which the Lord originally gave us were Israelite: the biblical feast days, the patriarchs, the covenants, the promises, and the Commandments, all belong to us. They have been mistakenly called "Jewish" holidays; but the Jews are 2/12 of Israel; the holidays and covenants were given to all of Israel, all the twelve tribes.
We saw that those who belong to the Lord are marked on the hand with His name, because they celebrate the holidays He commanded them to celebrate (outlined in Lev 23), and because they keep the Commandments and practices He commanded them to keep. They are marked on their forehead with His name, because they remember why they celebrate and do what they do; they meditate on the Word of the Lord (all of His Word, including the Torah) all their days.
We learned that those who belong to the beast, the kingdoms of this world (of which Babylon is the head of gold), are marked on the hand with his name, ROMAN, because they celebrate the Roman holidays he instituted which commemorate his rebellion against God. We learned one of these is December 25, the birthday of the sun god, who is Nimrod deified - the instigator of the rebellion at Babel. We learned one of these is Easter (Saxon for Ishtar) at the spring equinox, the fertility festival of Ishtar, Nimrod's wife deified. Thus the bunnies and eggs. Interestingly enough, it is the Roman authority in the form of Constantine and the Roman church who commanded Christians to leave off celebrating Passover and the Lord's feast days, and which fixed the day to celebrate the Resurrection in coincidence with Ishtar's day. We learned that those who belong to the beast are marked on the forehead with his name because they are indoctrinated with Roman - ultimately Babylonian - traditions, thoughts, and practices.
God acknowledges that His people are dwelling in Babylon. In fact, it was likely His plan that they do so. Look at it this way: Satan corrupted people from following God's way by introducing paganism; it worked like yeast in dough, which spread until the whole lump was leavened with rebellion. In an elegant counter strike, God introduced His people with the seed of His Word in them among the pagans; they worked like yeast in dough; they spread until the whole lump was leavened with the knowledge of God. But now, God is calling us out of Babylon, like He called Lot out of Sodom, because judgment is soon to commence on the beast, and He does not want His children to partake of her plagues.
Phariseeism, to me, is the tendency among us, to look down our noses on others who are doing their best to walk with Jesus, and judge them negatively because they do not do everything that we are doing. It is the tendency and temptation to tell others where they fall short, what they are doing wrong, and to tell them what they should be doing instead. I consider Phariseeism itself a falling short of God's perfect ways.
All of us have maybe experienced being on both ends of the Pharisee spectrum: the giving end, or receiving end. I know I have. The giving end is where we act as a Pharisee for someone else; we are maybe a little offended that someone else is not where we are in our knowledge or practice, and we take it upon ourselves to be judge and jury for them.
This is what I think Jesus meant when He said, "Judge not, lest you be judged." He is warning us about judging the state of another person's heart, where they are in their walk with God. Look at it this way: someone who is a new Christian, who does not yet know all the definition of sin, continues in a practice that they have always done, not knowing any better. A "Pharisee" comes along and condemns them, because he knows that particular practice is something God considers "sin." (Let's use gossiping as an example.) Is that new Christian to be condemned, however? God is working with them on first things first, and has perhaps not opened their eyes yet to the fact that gossiping is a sin. If a person is doing something innocently, does God condemn them? However God will answer that question, what is clear is that it is way above our pay grade to be deciding those things. But our responsibility toward our brother, is not to be a Pharisee toward him, but to restore him in a spirit of gentleness. We need to teach him from the Scripture, speaking the truth in love, and simply give him the information he has lacked. No outrage, nor any detrimental emotion at all, need accompany our speech, and if it does, then we are not one who is "spiritual," and we have no business instructing others.
Now a lot of people throw around the "Judge not" verse to escape censure, to continue in a sin they know perfectly well is wrong. Well, now they are in God's hands, and out of ours. If we have been a witness, and have shown forth what the Word of God says, then all that is left for us is to interceed for them on their behalf. It is NOT our responsibility to "make them mind," unless we are in some position of God- ordained authority over them. The concept of exactly where our responsibility begins, and where it ends, is truly hard for some people who have a tendency to Phariseeism to grasp.
The receiving end of Phariseeism, is someone else being a Pharisee in our lives, and condemning us as sinners, when we are in fact innocent. Maybe someone has a theological disagreement with someone else on which day to observe a Sabbath day of rest. One person thinks it is Saturday, the other thinks it is Sunday. They both have their reasons, convictions, for believing so. The one who is convinced it is Saturday rests on Saturday; the one who is convinced it is Sunday rests on Sunday. But they are both resting, according to the commandment. Now if the Saturday rester condemns the Sunday rester as a sinner, then I believe he is being a Pharisee toward the other. God probably does have a definite opinion on who is right. But it is the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin and righteousness, and dear brothers and sisters, we are not the Holy Spirit! We need to leave some things up to the Lord; and for whatever reason, the Holy Spirit has not convicted whoever is wrong in the dispute of the truth. That is up to Him!
Jesus censured the Pharisees for paying such close attention to whether they tithed dill and cumin, that they forgot to show mercy towards others and act justly. Jesus corrected the Pharisees all the time of their imbalance that they had brought to obeying God, to Torah observance. God never intended that keeping His Torah would be a burden; Jesus even said that His yoke was easy and His "burden" was light. It is Phariseeism that makes obeying God a burden; accepting a flawed human as our conscience instead of learning to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit which is within us. The Pharisees were horrified with Jesus' Sabbath behavior at times, and each time He had to show them where they were wrong. Yes, Pharisees can be wrong, LOL. Remember that the next time you horrify one of them by your conviction.
Is Patrick a Roman Catholic Saint? While the Roman Church claims him, and today is his day according to their calendar, there is ample evidence that he was in no way connected to the Roman Catholic Church, and instead established what became known as the Celtic Christian Church in Ireland long before Rome took notice of it. By Rome's own record, the first Roman missionary to what is today known as the "United Kingdom" was Augustine, a Benedictine, sent by Gregory the Great in 596, while Patrick arrived in Ireland in about 432. In any case, the Christian church was already flourishing there by Augustine's time, not only in Ireland, but missionaries had been sent from it to Scotland and elsewhere in Europe to evangelize the pagan Germans which had overrun the former Roman Empire.
Augustine's job, concerning the Christian church he found already established there, was to subject it to the authority of the Pope:
"'Acknowledge the authority of the Bishop of Rome.' These are the first words of the Papacy to the ancient Christians of Britain. They meekly replied: 'The only submission we can render him is that which we owe to every Christian.'"
- Merle D' Aubigne, History of the Reformation, Book XVII, chap. 2.
"'But as for further obedience, we know of none that he, whom you term the Pope, or Bishop of Bishops, can claim or demand."
- G. H. Whalley, Esq., M. P., Early British History, p.17, London: 1860; see also Variation of Popery, Rev. Samuel Edger, D. D., pp. 180-183. New York: 1849.
Read the above fascinating essay for a discussion of the differences of the Christian church founded by Patrick with the Roman church; but two interesting differences that I have to bring out, are:
1) Patrick and the early Celtic Christians were Sabbath keepers!
"The monks sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great soon came to see that the Celtic Church differed from theirs in many aspects … Augustine himself held several conferences with the Christian Celts in order to accomplish the difficult task of their subjugation to Roman authority. The Celts permitted their priests to marry, the Romans forbade it. The Celts used a different mode of baptism from that of the Romans. The Celts held their own councils and enacted their own laws, independent of Rome. The Celts used a Latin Bible unlike the Vulgate, and kept Saturday as a day of rest.”
A. C. Flick, The Rise of the Medieval Church, p. 236-327.
"It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week."
James C. Moffatt, D. D., The Church in Scotland, p. 140, Philadelphia: 1882.
"In this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours."
W. T. Skene, Life of St. Columba, p. 96, 1874.
2) Patrick and the early Celtic Church kept Crucifixion Day on Passover!
The Celtic church also kept to the tradition learned from Patrick, which was ultimately from the Apostle John and the Asia Minor churches, that the crucifixion of Jesus was always commemorated on the 14th, or full moon, of the 1st biblical month of the Jews, which is Passover. In fact, this difference, which resulted in a different date for celebrating the Resurrection, was the cause of much dissension between the Celtic and Roman churches, and when you read in history books about disputes over the date of Easter, this is what it is referring to.
Today we might think, "What a silly thing to have a dispute over!" But when it is understood that the question really was, in the minds of these Christians, whether they would keep the gospel as handed to them by the apostles, or submit to a man- made authority proclaiming a different gospel, then we can understand why the question was so dear to them.
Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman died yesterday (24 Feb 2008) after years of ill health. He was 60.
News of Norman's death was announced at his official Web site by his brother, Charles, who said that Norman's "heart finally slowed to a stop." Norman had been semi-invalided following a severe heart attack in 1992.
Dubbed by the media as "the father of Christian rock," Norman recorded three albums for Capitol Records in the 1960s, including the seminal Upon This Rock. He later signed with MGM Records for Only Visiting This Planet and So Long Ago the Garden.
He founded his own label, Solid Rock Records, in 1975 and went on to release more than 50 other recordings, though his output was affected for more than a decade by partial brain damage suffered in a 1978 airplane accident.
Norman was also instrumental in nurturing the early careers of musicians Steve Camp, Keith Green, Mark Heard and Randy Stonehill. Norman was inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2001 for his music that was recognized as "an unlikely mix of love songs, the Gospel message, and wry commentary on American culture" that "exemplified the goals, ideals and standards of everything the original architects of contemporary Christian music intended for it to be."
In a personal message dictated to his brother for his Web site shortly before he died, Norman said that he felt like "a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up... I am ready to fly home."
He thanked people for their prayers and support, ending with, "Goodbye, farewell, we'll meet again/Somewhere beyond the sky/I Pray that you will stay with God/Goodbye, my friends, goodbye."
My husband and I loved Larry's music. We will miss him.
All year long this year Oprah, on her radio show Oprah and Friends, is teaching the 365 lessons in A Course in Miracles, one lesson per day. I first heard about A Course in Miracles as a young wife. I once worked as a receptionist in a psychiatry practice, where the head doctor's "bible" of healing with his patients was A Course in Miracles. Ironically enough, while I was there, none of his patients ever got better and left the practice.
Now I did not know then what the Course taught, only that it was new age.
I have learned it is a false gospel taught by a false Christ. The Course as written is dictation, or automatic handwriting, of a Columbia University professor who received it from a spirit identifying itself as "Jesus." It claims to be a "correction" of Christianity, to return the teaching of Jesus as He originally intended it to be. A former Course devotee turned Christian has written a book on its doctrinal conflicts with historic Christianity and its occult origins.
In the Saudi visit to the Vatican article, the Saudi king met with the pope for the first time ever in history. The Vatican wants freedom of worship, freedom to hold masses, and security of Catholics within the Kingdom, since private Christian worship is often punished there, even though it is supposed to be legal.
In the Cardinals article, there are two topics of interest. The first is that a Vatican- Orthodox theological commission, which has been working to heal the 1000- year rift between the Eastern and Western Church, has just approved a document wherein both parties agree that the pope has primacy over all bishops. This means that the Orthodox theologians agreed that the pope has primacy over Orthodox bishops as well as Roman ones - another historic first.
The second topic is the Vatican's response to the rapid growth of evangelical Protestantism in formerly Catholic majority countries, such as South America, where record numbers of Catholics are leaving Catholicism. Brazil, for example, used to be a 90% majority Catholic country, and is today only 67% majority - the decline reflects the numbers who have left the Roman church for an evangelical or Pentecostal (read: Protestant) church.
In the Willow Creek article, it is mentioned that in a recent survey among church members, 60% of the church's most mature members were dissatisfied with the lack of Biblical teaching at the church and were considering leaving the church because of it.
In the Lesbian and Gay Study Bible articles, the issue is acceptance of homo[s-x]uality within the Church. The fact is, there is a huge battle going on about this particular issue; it is the next defining issue for the Church - much as creation / evolution was in the 90s - which tests whether churches and church members love God enough to adhere to His word (for throughout the Scriptures, Old and New Testament, God describes the test of an individual's love for Him as obedience to His word).
The connecting thread among these articles is a new line of demarcation being drawn within the Church. It is no longer a Catholic - Protestant line, a Catholic - Orthodox line, or even a Christian - other line, as it has been in the past. We are seeing a realigning of churches, both Protestant and Catholic, with the world. The Protestants are aligning with the world on issues of morality and [s-x]uality, and are beginning to abandon their defining creed, sola scriptura. The Vatican views other Christian denominations which are not Catholic as a "threat." At the same time it is drawing the Orthodox under its umbrella, and we see the beginning of a possible alliance with Islam.
And we also see believers of every denomination leaving their compromising churches to worship God in Spirit and in truth where they can find Him. The day is coming when it will not be the Church on the one side of the divide and the world on the other. The Church is embracing the world. When the Church embraces the world, they become the Counterfeit Church - an organization that has the appearance (to the world) of Jesus but which speaks the word of the devil.
On the other side of the divide, are those who will adhere to the unchanging Word of God at all costs. Who not only say they believe God's Word by mental assent, but who prove they believe it by living their lives by its instruction. On one side of the divide are the hearers of the Word, and on the other side are the doers of the Word. Don't be surprised if a vast quantity of Jews end up on the doer side of the divide, either. The Lord is calling all who are His, and a revolution is occurring in Israel, as growing numbers of Jews are discovering that Yeshua - Jesus - is really their Messiah. That snowball has started down the hill.
Visit with Christine Miller awhile and let's share our thoughts on homeschooling, education, and life.
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"The Story of the Romans provides an introductory context for the culture and ideas so foundational to the development of Western thought.�
Anne Weiland :: The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
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"For new and veteran homeschool families alike, this extensive new release from the editors of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine serves as a homeschool convention in a book. It details today's most viable education models, helping parents formulate an educational game plan and choose teaching methodologies. There are more than twenty contributors." Including Christine Miller, who wrote a chapter on Classical Education.
christine's reading
I am researching the holy days which were instituted by God as a celebration of the Messiah, instead of celebrating the holy days which were instituted by man to honor nature in place of nature's God.
:: Israel's Feast - Wooten
:: Annals - Ussher
