What Are You Lookin’ At?

The more I stay off the Internet, especially well known video platforms where there are lots of “channels”, and even the alt news sources, the more functional and alive I feel. No, don’t worry. This isn’t about sticking one’s head in the sand. It’s about a balanced situational awareness.

WE BECOME WHAT WE BEHOLD. So, what will it be, Christian? An anxious hot mess, or a Christ bearing soul, centered in the only One Who can and has saved you, is saving you, and will save you – as He alone completes that good work in you by His Holy spirit?

Not only the news seems like a bad viewing choice, but also the plethora of differing “theologian apologists” slicing up one another on their dogmatic positions. Ah! The Crusades have become launched anew through technology.

Yes, we need the Truth, but one has to wonder if some of these guys get monetized by certain platforms and are allowed to remain in that “woke” environment because they are good dividers and dissenters. And that is the divide and conquer m.o. of the world, is it not? So it serves to weaken those who can be weakened by it. One guy’s log in the eye turns out to be the other guy’s sliver. Is this for the public square and in good taste? What it does is confirm to the world ITS OPINION that the Church is a ship of fools in mutiny toward one another who agree on nothing. So they continue and are not de-platformed, since they serve “the Agenda.”

One wonders if their God (or idol?) is their position or Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we may need to recognize that while we still have the right to speak, it is also worthwhile to know that we also have the right to be silent. A time and a purpose for everything under heaven.

WE BECOME WHAT WE BEHOLD, according to Psalm 115:4-8, and its almost word for word reference, Psalm 135:15-18. Check that out in its context. It’s about idolatry and the making of and worship of images. Yet there seem to be many who worship the image of their opinions in the name of Christ. Which is worse – actual idolaters, or the ones who don’t know they worship themselves and their views?

Not only is there a time for every purpose under heaven, but a place as well. Is the place for it a public electronic venue?

Just sayin’.

If I recall, St, John the Forerunner directs us to BEHOLD the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world…

” Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.” So goes that good old hymn.

WE BECOME WHAT WE BEHOLD. “Behold”: to perceive, notice, discern, discover, to turn the eyes, the mind, the attention to anything. It’s not by a casual glance that we are urged to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).

That will never happen by continuing to fix our gaze upon the “ain’t it awfuls.”

Fixate instead upon the King of kings and Lord of Lords, the one Who has fully atoned for sin, Who is Christus Victor, Who is returning, to Whom is given all authority in Heaven and on Earth. And fear not.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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Fret Not!

Thoughts this morning…

Mt 6:33,34. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and ALL THESE THINGS will be added unto you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough troubles of its own.”

A quotation attributed to both Origen and Clement of Alexandria on this passage: “Ask great things and little things shall be added to you; ask heavenly things and earthly things shall be added to you.”

We need not fixate on the temporal worries, although it is the natural way to see our problems. Instead we might take Jesus more seriously and seek after what He instructs us to have as our priorities – the spiritual above the physical. This takes some practice of redirecting our thoughts heavenward in prayer and communion with our Father and familiarity with His many promises. But the results will prove that this is how we should live.

This is the way Jesus lived and exemplified for us that physical things follow after the pursuit of the spiritual treasures. Thus we cast all our cares upon Him, for He cares for us. Seek nothing more than, “Your will not my will be done.” And leave it all with Him.

If God has seen to the needs of our salvation through the finished work of Jesus Christ His Son our Savior, then surely He can get us through this temporal experience and life.

Recall the words of Mary at the wedding, as she says to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you,” so her words come to us His servants in the 21st Century. Seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness and believing firmly that all else shall be added unto us is a good place to start!

If anxiety is a problem, why not give this a try, and watch what happens. His promises are as good as His Word which never fails. So let’s be diligent to know and study it and to pray accordingly!

Soli Deo Gloria. Amen.

Blaiseintotheblue, out!

On Popular Themes & Memes

Often today it is popular to hear someone claiming this, “I’m spiritual, but not religious.” But what is that – in truth? Most often, the person making the claim means “I don’t want to be ‘governed’ by anything outside myself and what I desire.”

However, here’s a quote from TA Sparks from Filled Unto All the Fullness of God – Chapter 3 which hones in on a wise and time tested definition of reliable “spirituality.”

“It is very often difficult to define what is meant by spirituality, or a spiritual people. It is one of those things better experienced than explained. But for the moment it can be put quite simply and quite safely and soundly in this way, that a spiritual people is a people who are governed by the Word and the Holy Spirit to this end: that in everything within and without, Christ is All and in all. That is true spirituality.”

Being “spiritual” means to be guided by God’s Word and His HOLY Spirit, in other words.

Proverbs 15:21. “Folly is joy to one who lacks judgment, but a man of understanding walks a straight path.”

Proverbs 11:14. “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”

There is a “multitude of counselors” in scriptural wisdom: prophets, apostles, Jesus Christ Himself, and more! To reject this is not very spiritual at all. Yet often the claimants to “being spiritual” have never even cracked a Bible or prayed to be shown the Wisdom of the infinite God.

Here’s a thing: the devil, fallen angels, and demons are “spiritual” too. They “believe” in God, but they have the sense to tremble. (See James 2:19.) Worth thinking about that.

It pays to ask, seek, and knock – What is the real purpose of my life?

KISS: Keep It Simple, Saints… It’s not all about me, myself, and I.

Until later, Blaiseintotheblue out!

Some Days Are Like That

Sometimes none of it makes sense. Yet we can ask – in faith – for wisdom, not doubting.

“But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.” James 1:4 AMPC

Meaningful and relevant thought From T Austin-Sparks:

“Things that enter into our history we cannot always fathom, but the explanation which we can give is that, whatever there may be as second causes, the Lord is Sovereign and He thinks it worthwhile sometimes to allow what the world would call the most terrible thing to overtake for the time being, and it would seem that His Name and interests suffer through that thing, but through that thing He brings His people to a place of maturity and they get to know the Lord for themselves.”

(Or, looking at the far view in Latin: Non si male nunc et olim sic erit. Though now we suffer, we shall not suffer always.)

Take heart, unfinished saints in the works, beloved in Christ. “We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:28,29. AMPC

Take heart, and have a blessedly meaningful day…

Be Present

Omnipresent isn’t just a broad loose term meaning that God is present everywhere all at the same time. While that is certainly true, what often gets missed is that He is right here right now. In the present, not just “out there everywhere.”

Be present to Him as He is to you.

Practice the Presence in the present.

Make sense?

Behold the Lamb of God!

“BEHOLDING,” or to behold, means to fix one’s gaze upon someone or something. This post builds on Daily Open Windows Email April 8, 2023. By T. Austin-Sparks from: Men Whose Eyes Have Seen The King – Chapter 4

“We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Mr. Sparks writes,

“The word ‘beholding’ is a strong word; it is not just taking a look, it is ‘fixing our gaze.’ That is what the New Testament means by beholding, behold. We all, fixing our gaze upon Christ, as He mirrors in His own Person the glory of God, the satisfaction of God, the mind of God in perfection. The point is that you and I must contemplate the Lord Jesus in spirit, and be much occupied with Him. We must have our Holy of Holies where we retire with Him. We must have a secret place where we spend time with Him. And not only in certain special seasons, but we must seek, as we move about, ever to keep Him before us. Looking at the Lord Jesus, contemplating Him, we shall be changed into the same image. The Holy Spirit will operate upon our occupation.

You become like that which obsesses you, which occupies you. Is that not true? You see what people are occupied with, and you can see their character changing by their obsessions. They are becoming like the thing which is obsessing them; they are changing; they are becoming different. Something has got a grip on them; they can never think about anything else, talk about anything else; and it is changing their character. Now Paul said, “For me to live is Christ – being occupied with Him.” It is the wrong word to use, but nevertheless it would be a good thing if He became our “obsession,” our continuous occupation. As we steadfastly fix our gaze upon Him, the Spirit changes us into the same image.”

(This email is from the Austin-Sparks.Net Daily Open Windows message list. Daily Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message. We encourage you to print, share, and forward by clicking on the link below this message with others. In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks’ wishes that what was freely received should be freely given and not sold for profit, and that his messages be reproduced word for word, we ask if you choose to share these messages with others, to please respect his wishes and offer them freely – free of any changes, free of any charge except necessary distribution costs and with this statement included.

https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/000935.html)

Afterthought from yours truly:

Contrast that with what people become when they make, behold, and adore IMAGES, IDOLS – according to Psalm 115:4-8. “…Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.” And likewise Psalm 135:15-18 where it repeats the same truth. Dumb, blind, deaf, speechless, insensitive, dead… There are images to behold inside churches, and there are images with which we occupy ourselves outside the churches in the world. One has to wonder if this is why so many cannot see Jesus, because they are blinded in having become like their idols and images – wood, stone, and metal – within themselves and toward God and others.

To behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world ought to be where our gaze is fixed, and to see ourself IN HIM according to Ephesians 2:4-10. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

As we “see, “this and carefully ponder it, so may it be – that our old selves are dead, and we have been made alive in Christ as new creatures, for whom the old has passed away, and all things have been made new.

Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.

(PS: Humanity 2 point 0 – and far beyond – already took place on that hill far away, where stood the old rugged cross, IN Christ Jesus! Let’s get this straight, behold, and become.)

Have a blessed Resurrection celebration!

Blaiseintotheblue, out!

Heart Breaker and Heart Re-maker

Psalm 119:32. NKJV. “I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.” (Enlarge. Strong’s H7337. “tarhib”. To be or grow wide or large.”)

As the “heart” – spiritual core and center of will and being, not the physical organ – is cleansed, healed, and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, its capacity to love God and express that through obedience to Him will increase. The Psalmist is affirming that this is so. (Beyond that as well comes the sensitivity to the specific nuances of the Voice / guidance of the Good Shepherd, Who is leading us on the Path of salvation.) 

This “heart work” by the Holy Spirit is not optional.

All of life takes on different perspectives, priorities, and ways of processing daily life issues when His work is in progress.

One – largely through prayerful meditation on and study of God’s Word – brings every situation and every thought to its light, abiding in what he or she is being shown. 

Sin, which once was so attractive and inviting, no longer tugs at the heart. Or at least its power is ever decreasing. One is no longer struggling against it, but instead drawing close to God in prayer, and surrendering all to His Holy Spirit’s power as He gives real victory over what was once overpowering. There is an entire committal of body and being into His care and keeping. Anything which is not of Him evaporates in the fire of His love, as it simply cannot remain in His Presence.

It therefore is a troubling thing to hear anyone say, “I’m a Christian, but I still love to sin.” This may be said in all honesty, but that admission indicates a serious problem.

This is why it is important to continue to ask, seek, and knock for the Holy Spirit, as each day’s challenges must be met by the flow of Living Water which washes over it.

Where He has made the heart His throne, His love is so compelling that it is offered freely by the recipient to His continued work needed in it.

The world, because it is obviously so contrary to God’s purposes within His own sons and daughters, is not so charming and attractive any longer. What is, however, troubling is the attitudes of “churchy” folk who do not perceive that their thinking, demeanor, speech, lifestyles, priorities, and behaviors are no different than what is offered by the world. The fruit of the Spirit is not increasing because there is no abiding in the Lord!

Sometimes we seek fellowship of likeminded who are experiencing this transformation of the heart, even going outside organized Christendom with its lack of spiritual fruition. We may find “sincerity” among interfaith or new age practitioners, yet the basis of that is sincerely wrong, since it appeals to the heart which has no cognition of the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Many in those circles are even naturally hostile to Him. So this does not work either. 

What comes across in so much of organized religion (or disorganized religion!) is mostly summed up in a sort of mantra which is basically, “I’m a sinner, but I’m forgiven.” It seems to go no further than that, a spiritual security blanket of sorts. One that is very ineffectual as it provides a false sense of security!

What it amounts to is just a nod to the idea of objective justification, without living in the reality of what it means – that our sanctification (to be made holy, mature, complete…) must flow out from it. It’s like having one’s death sentence commuted but choosing to not walk away from death row, even though the cell is unlocked and the door is open. 

“Belief” without walking away from captivity to the devil, self, and sin is to remain a captive. That is not saving faith. 

One must run to the Savior and surrender to His mercy with gratitude and then surrender to the work He would do within our heart by His Holy Spirit. This is the only way we will be made new and also walk in newness of life.

The Holy Spirit is being poured forth upon all humanity, upon each of us – ever since that first Pentecost after Jesus ascended into heaven. We must continue to ask, seek, and knock for Him. He is here now to shatter hearts of stone and to give us new hearts, so that we will run the course of His commandments. He would enlarge our heart’s capacity to do so. 

This cleansing and renewing is a life long process. Surrendering to His will to work in us is what brings real and effective salvation in practical terms.

Since Jesus has purchased and won us from the authority of sin and its wages eternal death, the Serpent, and self, we belong to Him. We are His “slaves,” not belonging any longer to the domains of darkness, sin, and death. Yet, He “enslaves” us to make us new, to recreate us in His own likeness. He seeks to love us and save us for eternal life. We receive; we don’t “earn” it!

Yet, even just “knowing” this in one’s head is not going to make any difference without the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, Who will change our stony hearts into hearts of flesh which are fit to enthrone the King of kings and Lord of lords.

We are created, redeemed, and set apart to be “slaves” – not of lawlessness, but of righteousness, which is our true freedom. We need the Holy Spirit working within us, which is the only power that can “enlarge” the heart which receives Him.

Romans 6:22. NKJV. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

Additional related Scriptures which the reader may explore. Not in any particular order. Please forgive any typos. Be blessed.

Ezekiel 36:26-28. Psalm 51:10. Ezekiel 11:19,20. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Deuteronomy 30:6. Jeremiah 32:39. John3:3-5. 2 Corinthians 3:3. Ephesians 2:10. Revelation 21:5. 2 Corinthians 3:18. Galatians 6:15. Zechariah 7:12. Matthew 13:15. Matthew 13:20,21. Mark 4:16,17. Titus 3:3-6. Hebrews 13:21. 1 Corinthians 3:16. Proverbs 1:23. Titus 2:11-14. Jeremiah 31:33. Isaiah 44:3,4.Ezekiel 37:14. Galatians 5:22,23. 1 John 3:24. Joel 2:28,29. 2 John 1:6. Galatians 5:16. Romans 8:14-16. Zechariah 12:10. Ephesians 1:13,14. Romans 8:9. Luke 11:13. 1 peter 1:2. Colossians 2:6. Philippians 2:12,13. 1 John1:6,7.

Celestial Nomad, out.

Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.

 

Music for Worship or for the World?

Take note. Know the score.

If you have concerns about the music served in your church, please view the following videos before reading the thoughts below them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0uFSYHVSRk  entitled Why Your Church Shouldn’t Play Bethel and Hillsong Music | Justin Peters, Todd Friel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYAtKSua59M Bethel Redding & Modern Apostles: A Biblical Analysis

These videos and many others like them beg the question, when did the churches develop an aversion to using hymnals provided by just about every Christian denomination, in favor of screens and what’s trendy and transient? Must it be something new every week? And why?

I’ve been involved in church music as long as I can remember, in a lot of different settings. Even some non Christian spiritual “paths”, when I was out wandering in the world for awhile.

The hymns I knew as a child are the same ones that the Holy Spirit still brings to mind now decades later, having come back home to Christian moorings, when the message of a particular one is needed for some challenge in my life. They provide comfort and insight, and are the best means of communicating reliable theology. (Or bad theology.) 

What I see happening now in the churches with regard to “worship” music is like culture shock. What is going on, for heaven’s sake? Literally for heaven’s sake.

When the religious pop song selections are new every week, there are no such moorings in any real theological underpinnings. This robs the young – both in terms of chronological age, as well as “baby” Christians – of a precious gift God desires to provide through His musicians. While it doesn’t need to be the same old repetition over and over every week in the worship setting, familiarity with hymns makes a lot of sense when it comes to meaningful worship, where we realize that it’s not about the musicians but about the One being worshipped.

Solid hymnody is that which is based on sound theology, not trendiness and what’s popular on the top 10 charts. Since when did Christian music become just another genre in competition with the music of the world, which is under the power of the evil one?

Worship and praise supposedly convey what a church believes. If that is so, with so much nebulosity (currently in the Evangelical ranks in particular) and always aiming for what’s new every week, how would a visiting stranger know what a church actually believes? 

And since often none of the ancient creeds are confessed, this vital testimony also has been thrown under the bus, in song and words. Songs matter. Words matter. Truth matters! I find myself inwardly repeating the question in Psalm 11:3, “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” But, I digress. 

On my piano at the moment are 7 hymnals, each representing a different Protestant Church. I collect them. I love hymnals and here’s why. Looking at these tomes of well constructed, beautiful, and for the most part theologically sound hymns, one wonders how such a treasure could be abandoned for flighty little simplistic “Jesus is my boyfriend” choruses? 

Most hymns found in hymnals are based on Scripture texts. The hymn writers were also theologically astute. Many hymns have stood the test of time, coming from as far back as the 4th century, but updated and verses added over decades and centuries. Translators worked hard to skillfully bring forth their most current renditions.

With hymnals “forbidden” and pop chart lyrics flashed on screens, personally I feel robbed of a practice I’ve had – that of checking the hymn list in the church bulletin, along with the Scriptures for the day, and using them as thoughts on which to meditate to get ready for what the worship content is going to be. I’m not a participant anymore, but someone being led blindly along with this modality.

Yet, in some of the newer hymnals, there is also a weakening – a capitulation to culture, such as gender neutral verbiage, or a watered down gospel that has been changed from the original lyrics. Something else for stumbling, when an old hymn known by heart, has the words changed, but you’re not reading from the screen.

In the denomination where I grew up, known for its musical excellence since the Reformation, the person in charge of the worship hymns and special music had to not only get the pastor’s approval every week for service music, but the theme was consistent with what was being preached. It took some work and planning and rehearsing. Wow! Was the Holy Spirit not working in that context which required planning instead of tossing together this and that “in the spirit.” (But by what spirit? We may well and legitimately ask.)

The poetic nature of well constructed hymnody has been all too often forsaken for trance like modes and rhythms and repetitious lines which are, it would seem, a (pagan-ized) setup that hypnotizes worshipers to receive whatever message the preacher might want to instill in them. It seems more manipulative than participatory. An insult to those who would worship with their intelligence plugged in.

Since when do we think that only what’s “spontaneous” and mindless and feeling centered is now the Holy Spirit’s m.o.? This borders on tragic! As if carefully planned worship could just never be “inspired!” Where does this off the cuff ideation come from?

Many forms of the Christian Contemporary genre have been called “gateway drugs” designed to lure into some pretty heavy spiritual deception and heresy. It could even be seen as a Trojan horse; what’s inside it – spiritually – is not visible but makes its presence known once inside the church. Oh, that subtle Serpent of old! Still around working his woo woo. 

This trend needs to be seen for what it is, and much discernment applied when choosing worship music. May God’s people desire to ask, seek, and knock for the Holy Spirit and not be afraid to ask questions about the source of these musical selections, as we increase our understanding of the true Gospel and the best ways to express it. Especially in this late hour of deception and apostasy.

The worship wars are well worth fighting, for anyone who cares about truth and how music can spread it or obfuscate it. Eternity is at stake. For this commenter that is a hill worth dying on.

Do we have to say, “Follow the money” on this one too?

Remember, any time one’s church pays money to access the rights to Hillsong, Bethel, or Amy Grant songs (and more) – as if worship is some sort of money making performance – one’s church is supporting those who represent false teachings and unscriptural political correctness.

Worship is not performance.

The direction some other very well known “Christian” pop entertainers are going – in selling their souls to the serpent in the name of the Lord, in order to compete in the world and stay on top of the pop charts, taking on political correctness, and forsaking God’s truth – we do well not to use their music either. The entertainment industry they serve is not known in particular for its integrity.

It is time to pray for and to practice discernment and stop letting the evil one into the churches via his favorite Trojan horse – music of the world, with its pagan rhythms and trance like repetition with appeal to the flesh. Didn’t the Church used to teach the necessity of mortifying, not glorifying, the flesh?

If we’re wondering where all the corruption in the churches comes from, much of the fault of that can be laid at the feet of opting for the route of what’s popular and acceptable in the world, which we’re not to love, and from which we are called to remain unspotted, per James 1:27. This has been a creeping problem for several decades now.

If this is continued, there’s nothing for it but to take one’s God given talents in some other direction than churches which have adopted the idea that in order to keep people interested in Christianity, then it must offer a lot of worldly amenities and attractions, especially where music is concerned.

Last time I checked my Bible, I noticed that God was calling us, according to Hebrews 12:14, to pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. And that “whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” Colossians 3:23. Why would music offered Him in worship be in any different category? He is the “audience” of One.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Why?

The question comes up often, why would God allow His children to go through tribulation? This theme is treated throughout the Scripture and well patterned in the Old Testament. The lives of the martyrs throughout the centuries reflect it as well.

It goes something like this. “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.’ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it..” Hebrews 12:3-11.

It’s surprising how this understanding has gotten lost. Yet not really, considering how a “soft” gospel, which seems to have arrived about the same time as the Hal Lindsay, CI Scoffield, and JN Darby heresy came into full view, essentially taking over much opinion by the 1970s.

I can recall being taught the understanding of the purpose of tribulation, small or large, growing up in a parochial school where there were good foundations. It always made sense. God’s ways are not our ways. If there is going to be any “great tribulation” that is on the way, or may be already unfolding, this is how God refines and forms and transforms us into heirs and joint heirs in Christ Jesus. This is how the Church from of old understood things.

We have to remember, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28,29.

It’s not a “pop Christianity” notion that, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.” Psalm 111:10

God is God. Not your buddy or your boyfriend or your best life now coach. He readies us for eternity. His love is expressed in both justice and mercy. He creates and re-creates us anew. A former pastor used to put it this way, “He afflicts the comfortable, and comforts the afflicted.”

Worth pondering.

Saint Patrick or Syncretism?

Since ’tis the Day… here’s the prayer. See bold print below.

It is puzzling why the images of impish trickster demons (Leprechauns) are used for celebrating an amazing saint of the ancient past, when this prayer would be a far nobler tribute, and it is all but unknown in its full version. “… Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul; Christ to shield me today…”

Can’t have it both ways. Or maybe that shows the syncretism and superstition people allow themselves in “being spiritual.” Or is this something once more hijacked by the world?

It all begs the question, What fellowship has light with darkness???

St Patrick’s Breastplate:

I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.

I arise today Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism, Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial, Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension, Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today Through the strength of the love of cherubim, In the obedience of angels, In the service of archangels, In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward, In the prayers of patriarchs, In the predictions of prophets, In the preaching of apostles, In the faith of confessors, In the innocence of holy virgins, In the deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through The strength of heaven, The light of the sun, The radiance of the moon, The splendor of fire, The speed of lightning, The swiftness of wind, The depth of the sea, The stability of the earth, The firmness of rock.

I arise today, through God’s strength to pilot me, God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s host to save me From snares of devils, From temptation of vices, From everyone who shall wish me ill, afar and near.

I summon today All these powers between me and those evils, Against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and soul, Against incantations of false prophets, Against black laws of pagandom, Against false laws of heretics, Against craft of idolatry, Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards, Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul; Christ to shield me today Against poison, against burning, Against drowning, against wounding, So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every one who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the Threeness. Through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation. Amen.