Will you be living in Fear or Living in Hope?

Some people send me Fwd. Emails mostly of American origin. I usually delete these before reading them.  I have always regretted opening them, not for their often extreme political views but for their scaremongering attitudes to anything not sanitised as middle class religious right.

Why do we do Christmas again?

I have been considering the reason for Christmas again. It seems I do it every year. Of course I discover something new and wonderful every time. This year has been kind to me and I am feeling grateful for what Jesus accomplished for us. You may wonder what this has to do with the birth of Jesus.

The Smells of Christmas

I often go online to look at stuff at a huge site run by Orthodox Jews in New York. It seems that every second time I pull up their site they have a large notice saying they are closed for business today due to this or that Jewish feast day or holiday. Do those guys ever work? I’m jealous maybe. They seem to be having too much fun.

How far from the truth have we gone?

The Church in NZ is in a state of famine unprecedented in our time but maybe not unusual in history. People are starving for the love and reality only Jesus can provide though they are surrounded by Christian stuff everywhere.

By our “Christian” traditions we have walled in the truth. We have stylised our beliefs to accommodate and be relevant to our society and culture. We have made it so hard to see Jesus by interposing a distorted image. We have offered Jesus in various flavours and the menu is confusing. Unless we move these obstacles from the believers first, we will seem as though we do not know who we are talking about. Indeed it is hard to talk about Jesus when we are seen as presenting a narrow view from our own religious experience.

Are You Sitting on the Fence?

Lately I have been reading a history of China’s so-called “Great Wall,” which incidentally is not visible to the human eye from the moon; as claimed in a popular urban myth in the 1960’s.

The Great Wall really is a collection of walls built from time to time when all else failed in dealing with barbarians or wanting to display arrogance or domination over various regions. There was no singular noble purpose but rather a variety of motivations and mostly a means of brutal subjugation and military pride. 

Man's history has failed to demonstrate anything from a pure motivation apart from Jesus Christ.

Who is Interpreting Your Faith?

I have upgraded my computer so of course my 15 year old Bible software won’t work anymore. “No problem” I thought and went online to find some new, more versatile and comprehensive software. I was wrong.

Oh yes there were a variety of sites offering fantastic packages with literally thousands of books in them. Prices ranged from $200 to $6000! I could not actually find out what was in these packages and began to get the impression that there was not much Bible, just a big bunch of commentaries and other books that claimed to expound the Bible more clearly. 

Dealing with the Dark Kingdom

I John 3:8b “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.”

It seems plain in scripture that the Lord intends to utilize us in His ultimate defeat of Satan and his false Kingdom. Victory has been progressive since Jesus wilderness refuting of Satan’s devious plans. We are in a fight whether we like it or not. Read Ephesians 3:10 and Romans 16:20

Jesus has delegated his authority to us both corporately and individually: Acts 26:18: “To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”

Now as they say in Texas, “let’s look at the hardware..” that is, the equipment we use to both defend against or attack the Kingdom of Darkness.

Digging for God’s Provision

A positive expectation of good is an attitude that makes faith work. I am not talking about simply being optimistic or a “glass is half full” style of person but rather one who has learned that God is more ready to bless than condemn.