An Unforgettable Easter

Holidays, particularly religious ones, carry with them a lot of memories that invoke various emotional responses.

 
Easter reminds me of decorating Easter eggs with my mother using the PAAZ egg dye kit.  I remember seeing my grandparents every Easter at their house.  We enjoyed egg hunts and Easter baskets.  I have very fond church memories from various Easters.  I received my first real Bible from my parents one Easter - a bright yellow "Good News" one, which still sits on my shelf today.  I was baptized by my pastor on Easter Sunday, 1982.  I remember big Easter musicals the weekend of Palm Sunday, singing hymns like Christ the Lord is Risen Today, and always having a new Sunday-best outfit to wear.  I especially liked a green sports coat I was given when I was in about the 5th grade.  Our church had a cross outside each year, and on Easter Sunday we would all bring fresh flowers to fill it up with color.  And I recall every year ABC playing Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments from 7pm-11pm.

My family now has some of our own holiday practices, many of them similar to those of my boyhood.  We have never done the Easter Bunny with our children.  We weren't terribly opposed to it, but church jobs always required one of us to be out of the house early Sunday morning before children awoke, so we made it our habit to give our children Easter baskets from us on the Saturday before Easter.  We chuckled then and still do now thinking about when our then 5-year old came home from church one Easter and said, The children in Sunday School were talking about some bunny coming to their house this morning!  What are they talking about?

Easter offers wonderful opportunities, whatever your practices, to talk with your children about the essence of the Christian message - that God loved a sinful world so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven and we could have a forever-relationship with Him.

Don't underestimate what children can absorb.  One of the church-misnomers of our time is how we send middle and high school students to school where they learn algebra, chemistry, history, and foreign languages, yet we bring them to church and think that all we should do is play games with them thinking that they can't yet absorb the great truths of the Bible.

And don't miss opportunities with your own family members and other people in the community to share biblical truths about the gospel message. 

The church of my youth never did sunrise services, but we did do Easter musicals.  Perhaps my most vivid memory of an Easter season was when I was in the third grade.  Our church did a musical called Hosanna the weekend of Palm Sunday.  I still have the cassette tape from that performance.  My grandparents came to attend with us, and I sat directly next to my grandfather.  I will never forget that when they came to the scene where Jesus was dying on the cross, my grandfather began quietly sobbing.  Tears streamed down his face.  At that moment, in my little nine-year old thinking and feeling, I was deeply struck with the fact that this stuff is real to him.  This matters to him.  His life has been changed by the cross.  He loves and respects God.   I remember that moment like it happened last week.  And I doubt I will ever forget it. 

Don't underestimate how your faith and your love for Jesus, shown in your own unique way, can deeply impact the life of another person - even a child.  Thirty years from now they may be remembering you this Easter.

Make Me a Child Again - Christmas Eve

I'm alone this Christmas Eve beside the tree,
Yet a presence I can feel
Calls for me to honestly and humbly come,
And in His presence kneel;
To forsake the human pride that so controls me;
To come out from where I hide behind my fears;
To lay down the sophistry that prevents simplicity;
And with openhearted, childlike faith,
Draw near . . . perhaps with tears.
 
Make me a child again, a child again;
Hear this Christmas prayer, dear God:
Give me a tender heart, a childlike trust;
Let my spirit be reborn.
I want a faith that knows your Father-heart,
To believe Your words to me.
I want to understand, to take your hand,
To have children's eyes to see.
 
To be a child again, to touch a friend
With the love that You have shown.
To lay aside my fears, forget the years
I have tried life on my own.
I ask, O God above, just now remove
All my hardness, my masks, and sin;
And at this Christmastime, make me a child again.
And at this Christmastime, make me a child again.

- Jack Hayford

"It's a Wonderful Life" and You and Me

 

Powerful, provoking article. I've watched the movie since 1988 and haven't ever pondered all of these insights . . .

"But for the powerful prayer of others … and divine intervention, George would never have learned his value. Remember, George did not know his wife and friends were running around town collecting money to save him.

Capra’s genius was not the plot device of George seeing what life without him would have been like for his beloved Mary and the town of Bedford Falls. It was spending the first three-quarters of the film hurling George Bailey toward destruction. Even amid the countless delightful moments, Capra is tightening the screws. Watch the film beginning to end without commercials and feel the tension build.

What makes the movie powerful is not the angel Clarence guiding George around town. It’s the devil whispering in George’s good ear until Clarence’s arrival. The same whisper so many of us hear."

Read the entire article here by Al Perrotta at The Stream.

Why the Virgin Birth Matters

  

“The virgin birth is a necessary foundation to Christmas and the believer’s life,” says renowned pastor and seminary president, Jack Hayford.

Tragically, disbelieving foundational truths has become a normative part of modernity.

Agnostic Oxford professor Sir William Ramsey, one of the greatest archaeologists of all time, decided to scientifically disprove the fourth gospel. He skeptically thought it could not be trusted. Dr. Luke collected his information from a primary source, likely Mary. Luke references thirty-two countries, fifty-four cities, and nine islands.

After several years – and many miles – of diligent labor, Ramsey completely changed his mind, discovering Luke was accurate in every case where the critics disagreed. Ramsey wrote, “Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy, he is possessed of the true historic sense; in short, this author should be placed along with the greatest of historians.” Much to the dismay of contemporary skeptics of his day, Ramsey spent the next twenty years proving and publishing the accuracy of the smallest details of Luke’s accounts.

Another skeptic turned believer was Thomas Oden, noted Methodist theologian. In his memoir, “A Change of Heart” (2015), he shared his pilgrimage from theological liberalism to orthodox affirmation of biblical Christianity. Explaining his early embracing of biblical skepticism, he admitted, “I loved the fantasies and I loved the revolutionary illusions. I loved heresy.” After spending years disbelieving the basics of the Bible, he says the Holy Spirit found him and set him on a completely different trajectory the rest of his life.

Attacks on foundational theological truths “emerged in the aftermath of the Enlightenment, with some theologians attempting to harmonize the anti-supernaturalism of the modern mind with the church's teaching about Christ. The great quest of liberal theology has been to invent a Jesus who is stripped of all supernatural power, deity, and authority” (Albert Mohler, “Can a Christian Deny the Virgin Birth?”).

The fountainhead of this movement was the skeptical, German higher criticism of the 19^th century, with thinkers like Rudolf Bultmann, who argued the New Testament presents a fantasy worldview that we cannot accept as authentic. He pushed a program of thought called “demythologization” to strip Christianity from any hint of the miraculous or supernatural – including the denial of key components like the virgin birth and the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

American Protestant liberalism emerged in the early 1900’s with influencers like Harry Emerson Fosdick courting the same type of deconstructionism. By the mid 1900’s, two movements emerged countering theological liberalism. Fundamentalism, as with Bob Jones, Sr., and evangelicalism, led by figures like Billy Graham, Bill Bright, and Carl Henry saw the dangers and foolishness of rejecting Christianity’s foundations.

The Bible pictures truth as a plumbline. The next time you buy a house, build a storage shed, or drive across a bridge, ask yourself, “Do I care if this structure was built true to plumb (meaning exactly vertical or true)?”

Modern movements, such as the “Jesus Seminar,” however, fully embraced the serpent’s first tactic in the Garden of Eden: “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1). The abandonment of the full trustworthiness and authority of the Scriptures has led to fully embracing moral revolutionaries, the sexual revolution, and the questioning of virtually every standard of behavior.

Among most mainline denominations, Thomas Oden, said, “the world sets the agenda – it’s always trying to catch up with whatever is the latest and seemingly, apparently, the best and most productive form of psychotherapy. I was taught to be attentive to culture without having a sufficient grounding in the classical Christian confession.” 

Dr. Mohler warns, “Christians must face the fact that a denial of the virgin birth is a denial of Jesus as the Christ. The Savior who died for our sins was none other than the baby who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin. The virgin birth does not stand alone as a biblical doctrine, it is an irreducible part of the biblical revelation about the person and work of Jesus Christ. With it, the Gospel stands or falls.

The authority of the Bible is almost completely gone where liberal theology holds its sway. The authority of the Bible is replaced with the secular worldview of the modern age and the postmodern denial of truth itself. The true church stands without apology upon the authority of the Bible and declares that Jesus was indeed ‘born of a virgin.’ Though the denial of this doctrine is now tragically common, the historical truth of Christ's birth remains inviolate.”

This Christmas, I’m thankful for Jesus Christ, the embodiment of Truth, and the Bible, the written revelation of Truth. He is the incarnate and now glorified Word of God, and it is the written and preserved Word of God.

It was necessary for Him to come through a virgin so the bondage of sin
would not be passed to Him. He became the sinless sacrifice – for my sins and yours. He met God’s demands perfectly. 

Pastor Jack recaps, “obedience to God’s Word allows one to be available for the fulfillment of God’s life-giving promises and that through the power of the cross, one can be released from the power of sin and be made righteous and pure before the Lord.”

Images provided with permission by Pexels.

Simple Ways to Remember Christ this Season

Everybody is rushing this time of year.  Last Friday, we had an outpatient surgery, a basketball game, a piano recital, and a choir rehearsal all in one day.  Whew! 

We all need simple ways to help us reflect on Jesus during the December days.  As we go about the weeks before Christmas, let's take time to worship Christ in our spirits - and take opportunities to share Him with others.

Some simple things that help me experience Jesus in the midst of a busy December . . .

1.  Make sure and start every day with the Lord - with some prayer and Bible meditation.  I often remember Johnny Hunt's words, "If you give your time to the Redeemer, He will redeem your time."
 

2.  I love Christmas music, as does my family.  However, in the midst of the "fun" holiday music, I keep a CD or two in my car or computer of Christmas music that says a lot about the Lord.  For my personal tastes and wiring, no Christmas music helps me worship Jesus any more than the classical kind.  I keep CD's handy of The Robert Shaw Chorale and the St. Olaf Choir.  They bless me greatly  as they sing classic Christmas carols about the Lord - His redemption, incarnation, birth, holiness, etc.  My tastes may not be yours - but find something that helps your spirit worship Jesus - even in the midst of holiday rush.  Today I was listening to BEAUTIFUL STAR by The Centurymen.

3.  I keep some easy reading handy - on my desk, in my bathroom, in my backpack, in our den.  By easy reading I mean Christian writing that is not too elaborate.  I have a few simple books by Max Lucado, Jack Hayford, and others that contain simple meditations that can be read in 2-5 minutes.  I read one this morning over breakfast on Jesus being the Bread of Life, and my mind and spirit have meditated on it all morning as I have been doing other things.  One of my favorites is Come . . . and Behold Him! by Pastor Jack Hayford.

4.  It always helps me in December, after everyone has gone to bed, to sit down by the lit tree for just a few minutes and "be still and know that [He] is God."  A few quiet moments to reflect, give Him thanks, and perhaps read a few Scriptures.

Perhaps these simple things may help you, in the midst of the holiday rush, to connect with Christ.  It is as we connect with Him that we have something to share with others.

The Conversion of Ebenezer Scrooge

 

After Christmas last year, I decided that during December this year I would read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to my family.  Somehow at my age I’ve never actually read the story, though I've enjoyed numerous television and movie takes at the classic Christmas tale.  My favorite is still the 1980s George C. Scott Ebenezer Scrooge.

Dickens’ written tale is, perhaps surprisingly, a blatantly Christian story.  It is a story of a conversion to a Christian worldview (though not as blatant as a modern evangelical gospel tract).  Of course, our Hollywood and Disney takes on the conversion of Ebenezer leave out the Christian details, but it is obvious nonetheless in the book!  Hear Jacob Marley’s lamentation of having a selfish heart when he lived as a human . . .

Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode?

The story challenges us all, will we live self-absorbed lives or will we live our lives loving and serving others?

Ebenezer was a man very rich according to the world’s standards of money, business, and commerce.  A self-absorbed man.  A man with a shriveled, cold heart.  A miserable, pitiful wretch of a man.  A man who did not seem to enjoy the world, its people, and its pleasures around him.  But also a man who changed in the latter years of his life and became a totally different person.

Ebenezer Scrooge experienced the transformation of a lifetime, becoming a beacon of goodwill and cheer after his visits from the spirits of Christmas past, present, and future.  Most everyone has heard of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  We enjoy at least one of the television renditions yearly.

Many people do not realize, though, that Dicken’s original story is one of Christian conversion.  A miserly, self-ruled man who submits himself to the Christ of Christmas.  Replete with biblical-Christian language and references (which are ignored in our modern and secular retellings of the story), Ebenezer comes to know His Creator in a real way, and the One born in a manger changes his life.  Scrooge spends the rest of his life making amends to those he has wronged, spreading goodwill and compassion, and keeping Christmas every day in his heart.

Charles Dickens wrote from a Christian worldview, much like the fiction of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.  Author Stephen Skelton writes, “Today, too many of us view A Christmas Carol as a secular seasonal story, in the same category as the stories of Rudolph or Frosty. But that’s not where it belongs at all. In the first place, with Charles Dickens, you’re dealing with a self-proclaimed Christian author.  And in the second place, he has infused his story with Christian meaning.  After all, this is the writer who said, ‘I have always striven in my writings to express the veneration for the life and lessons of our Savior…’ ’”

The biblical name Ebenezer means “thus far the Lord has helped us.” Samuel used the name to commemorate a victory God gave His people. The prophet set up a stone – an Ebenezer stone – to remind them of God’s faithfulness. A modern rendering of the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing includes the line, “Here I raise mine Ebenezer, here by thy great help I’ve come.”

The last use of the name Ebenezer in A Christmas Carol occurs when Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Future stand at the neglected stone in a dark graveyard. The gloomy specter points a finger to the lonely marker bearing the name Ebenezer Scrooge. Likely the use of the name Ebenezer was quite intentional by Dickens. Our lives, unredeemed, can be wasted, as was Jacob Marley and Scrooge’s up to that point. If so, they serve as warnings to humanity. But a monument can also be erected through our repentance, belief, love, and service to others that show the power of a transformed life.

Ebenezer, though late in life, allowed God to forgive him, change him, and use him.  A man who became a source of goodwill, selflessness, and generosity to many others.  And his eternity secured by the Babe of Bethlehem, enjoying His Presence, goodness, and blessings.

Pictures courtesy of Pixaby

"Ring Those Bells" - Christmas album by Rhett and Tracey Wilson

 

Rhett and Tracey Wilson just released a new Christmas album called “Ring Those Bells.” Recorded at the Daywind Studios in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the album features old Christmas favorites such as White Christmas, O Holy Night, and Sweet, Little Jesus Boy as well as some new ones, like Circle of Love and Joseph. 

This is the third album recorded by the Wilsons. In 2007, they released “Lead Me On,” a collection of popular Christian music hits, and “Offered Praises,” a compilation of all-original songs written by Rhett, in 2008. All three albums are available for purchase in person or at their site: www.rhettwilson.org. 

Rhett, a freelance writer and editor, works as Senior Writer for the Billy Leighton Ford Ministries in Charlotte, North Carolina, and as a transitional pastor at Spring Hill Baptist Church in Lancaster, South Carolina. Tracey serves as the Director of Music Ministries at Covenant Baptist Church in Lancaster. The Wilsons will perform a Christmas Concert at Spring Hill Baptist Church on Sunday evening, December 11, at 6:00pm.

You can purchase a bundle of all three albums here.

Impacting Our Children through the Holidays

 

The holidays provide ample opportunities to impact our families spiritually. Here's my article, 7 Ways for Dads to Teach Spiritual Lessons During the Holidays, at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

Impacting Our Children During the Holidays

Click here to see my article, 7 Ways for Dads to Teach Spiritual Lessons During the Holidays in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Christmas Moments - Inspiring and Encouraging Stories

Looking for a good, easy Christmas read for you or someone you love?  I've enjoyed contributing to three Christmas books in the Moments series by Grace Publishing.

Christmas!  For many people the holiday season is steeped in traditions such as decorating, family gatherings, food, Christmas programs, parties, and carols.  

The books Christmas Moments,  More Christmas Moments, and Merry Christmas Moments are great coffee-table books filled with encouraging and inspiring stories of the Christmas season.  Authors share personal stories about the joy, excitement, change, sorrow, loss, and beauty of Christmases.

In Christmas Moments, I share a story of God's provision for me one Christmas.

In More Christmas Moments, I share about one of the favorite gifts I ever gave my wife the year we agreed to not spend any money on presents.

In Merry Christmas Moments, I share 5 ways that parents can impact their children spiritually during December.


All proceeds from the books support Samaritan's Purse ministry.  Books are available from Grace Publishing, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

This Independence Day, Celebrate America’s History of Self-Governance

 

"Americans were historically unique — dare I say exceptional — in their approach to governance. And this was largely dictated by culture more than anything. 

It’s important to remember this history, even 245 years after the Founders declared independence. Today, many Americans are pessimistic about the future of their country — and for good reason. But looking at the overall arc of American history, it’s difficult not to be an optimist. The Founders endured revolution, Lincoln endured civil war, and they all remained ever optimistic about this country as humanity’s last best hope. 

As John Adams predicted, American independence would be “the most memorable epoch” in the country’s history, celebrated for generations as a day of 'deliverance.' This Fourth of July, Americans should continue to prove him right." 

Read the entire article by Newt Gingrich here.

Why We Celebrate the Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is the most important political holiday in the world. In fact, it should be a universal holiday.

Independence Day commemorates not just an American revolution but a revolution in the relationship between people and their government.

Most of human history has been a story of the powerful controlling, dominating, and exploiting the weak.

Read the entire article here by Newt Gingrich.


Pictures used by permission from Pixabay.

Make Some Easter Memories

Read my article, Easter Memories, here, first published in 2014. The article is also published this week in the Lancaster News.

Why the Virgin Birth of Christ Matters

 

“The virgin birth is a necessary foundation to Christmas and the believer’s life,” says renowned pastor and seminary president, Jack Hayford.

Tragically, disbelieving foundational truths has become a normative part of modernity.

Agnostic Oxford professor Sir William Ramsey, one of the greatest archaeologists of all time, decided to scientifically disprove the fourth gospel. He skeptically thought it could not be trusted. Dr. Luke collected his information from a primary source, likely Mary. Luke references thirty-two countries, fifty-four cities, and nine islands.

After several years – and many miles – of diligent labor, Ramsey completely changed his mind, discovering Luke was accurate in every case where the critics disagreed. Ramsey wrote, “Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy, he is possessed of the true historic sense; in short, this author should be placed along with the greatest of historians.” Much to the dismay of contemporary skeptics of his day, Ramsey spent the next twenty years proving and publishing the accuracy of the smallest details of Luke’s accounts.

Another skeptic turned believer was Thomas Oden, noted Methodist theologian. In his memoir, “A Change of Heart” (2015), he shared his pilgrimage from theological liberalism to orthodox affirmation of biblical Christianity. Explaining his early embracing of biblical skepticism, he admitted, “I loved the fantasies and I loved the revolutionary illusions. I loved heresy.” After spending years disbelieving the basics of the Bible, he says the Holy Spirit found him and set him on a completely different trajectory the rest of his life.

Attacks on foundational theological truths “emerged in the aftermath of the Enlightenment, with some theologians attempting to harmonize the anti-supernaturalism of the modern mind with the church's teaching about Christ. The great quest of liberal theology has been to invent a Jesus who is stripped of all supernatural power, deity, and authority” (Albert Mohler, “Can a Christian Deny the Virgin Birth?”).

The fountainhead of this movement was the skeptical, German higher criticism of the 19^th century, with thinkers like Rudolf Bultmann, who argued the New Testament presents a fantasy worldview that we cannot accept as authentic. He pushed a program of thought called “demythologization” to strip Christianity from any hint of the miraculous or supernatural – including the denial of key components like the virgin birth and the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

American Protestant liberalism emerged in the early 1900’s with influencers like Harry Emerson Fosdick courting the same type of deconstructionism. By the mid 1900’s, two movements emerged countering theological liberalism. Fundamentalism, as with Bob Jones, Sr., and evangelicalism, led by figures like Billy Graham, Bill Bright, and Carl Henry saw the dangers and foolishness of rejecting Christianity’s foundations.

The Bible pictures truth as a plumbline. The next time you buy a house, build a storage shed, or drive across a bridge, ask yourself, “Do I care if this structure was built true to plumb (meaning exactly vertical or true)?”

Modern movements, such as the “Jesus Seminar,” however, fully embraced the serpent’s first tactic in the Garden of Eden: “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1). The abandonment of the full trustworthiness and authority of the Scriptures has led to fully embracing moral revolutionaries, the sexual revolution, and the questioning of virtually every standard of behavior.

Among most mainline denominations, Thomas Oden, said, “the world sets the agenda – it’s always trying to catch up with whatever is the latest and seemingly, apparently, the best and most productive form of psychotherapy. I was taught to be attentive to culture without having a sufficient grounding in the classical Christian confession.” 

Dr. Mohler warns, “Christians must face the fact that a denial of the virgin birth is a denial of Jesus as the Christ. The Savior who died for our sins was none other than the baby who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin. The virgin birth does not stand alone as a biblical doctrine, it is an irreducible part of the biblical revelation about the person and work of Jesus Christ. With it, the Gospel stands or falls.

The authority of the Bible is almost completely gone where liberal theology holds its sway. The authority of the Bible is replaced with the secular worldview of the modern age and the postmodern denial of truth itself. The true church stands without apology upon the authority of the Bible and declares that Jesus was indeed ‘born of a virgin.’ Though the denial of this doctrine is now tragically common, the historical truth of Christ's birth remains inviolate.”

This Christmas, I’m thankful for Jesus Christ, the embodiment of Truth, and the Bible, the written revelation of Truth. He is the incarnate and now glorified Word of God, and it is the written and preserved Word of God.

It was necessary for Him to come through a virgin so the bondage of sin
would not be passed to Him. He became the sinless sacrifice – for my sins and yours. He met God’s demands perfectly. 

Pastor Jack recaps, “obedience to God’s Word allows one to be available for the fulfillment of God’s life-giving promises and that through the power of the cross, one can be released from the power of sin and be made righteous and pure before the Lord.”

Images provided with permission by Pexels.

"Ring Those Bells" - Christmas album by Rhett and Tracey Wilson

Rhett and Tracey Wilson just released a new Christmas album called “Ring Those Bells.” Recorded at the Daywind Studios in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the album features old Christmas favorites such as White Christmas, O Holy Night, and Sweet, Little Jesus Boy as well as some new ones, like Circle of Love and Joseph. 

This is the third album recorded by the Wilsons. In 2007, they released “Lead Me On,” a collection of popular Christian music hits, and “Offered Praises,” a compilation of all-original songs written by Rhett, in 2008. All three albums are available for purchase in person or at their site: www.rhettwilson.org. 

Rhett works as Senior Writer for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, and as a transitional pastor at Spring Hill Baptist Church in Lancaster, South Carolina. Tracey serves as the Director of Music Ministries at Covenant Baptist Church in Lancaster. The Wilsons will perform a Christmas Concert at Covenant Baptist Church on Sunday evening, December 19, at 6:00pm.

You can purchase a bundle of all three albums here.

It’s a Wonderful Life at 75: A Christmas Lesson Left on the Cutting Room Floor

 

Powerful, provoking article. I've watched the movie since 1988 and haven't ever pondered all of these insights . . .

"But for the powerful prayer of others … and divine intervention, George would never have learned his value. Remember, George did not know his wife and friends were running around town collecting money to save him.

Capra’s genius was not the plot device of George seeing what life without him would have been like for his beloved Mary and the town of Bedford Falls. It was spending the first three-quarters of the film hurling George Bailey toward destruction. Even amid the countless delightful moments, Capra is tightening the screws. Watch the film beginning to end without commercials and feel the tension build.

What makes the movie powerful is not the angel Clarence guiding George around town. It’s the devil whispering in George’s good ear until Clarence’s arrival. The same whisper so many of us hear."

Read the entire article here by Al Perrotta at The Stream.

Immanuel: The God Who is With Us

 

"So the message of Christmas is that we can know God—not just about God, but know God through our Lord Jesus, Immanuel. Salvation is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who is the way to the Father. On the cross, Immanuel—God with us—becomes our Savior and our sin-bearer. 

We live in a chaotic world that often seems out of control. The world of COVID-19 has resulted in divisions between those vaccinated and those not vaccinated. It has resulted in isolation, social distancing, lockdowns, furloughs and great personal anxiety and distress. But understanding this great truth of Immanuel will give you stability, security, hope and confidence for the future: God is with you. God is always with His people. Friends may forsake you; loved ones may die; disasters may come; wars may approach; the economy may go into a depression, but God is with you—for all of life, through the valley of the shadow of death, and for all eternity. Don’t be shaken by your difficult circumstances. Look to Immanuel: God with us.

This Christmas, invite Immanuel to perform a miracle in your life. Receive Him as your Savior. Trust Him with all your heart."

Read the entire article here by John Munro.

Picture used by permission from Pixabay.

Truth Came to Us At Christmas

Over 150 law enforcement officers and their spouses recently attended one of these retreats at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, North Carolina. In addition to Bible teachers and Christian leaders in law enforcement, chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team were there to minister to the unique emotional and spiritual needs of these couples who serve our communities.

At law enforcement appreciation events led by the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, officers and their spouses step away from the everyday stresses of their fast-paced lives.

“My husband began to talk on the retreat about the shooting that nearly killed him. It is the beginning of his healing,” said one wife of an officer.

Two other guests, Keith and Angela, first attended a retreat two years ago. At that time, their marriage was falling apart, and the stresses from Keith’s job drove him away from the Lord—and kept him emotionally distant from his wife and children.

“I was angry, frustrated, and resentful,” he said. At the first session that week, Keith felt instant freedom hearing the Word of God and listening to worship music: “Every session, I could feel His presence stronger and stronger. I just couldn’t get enough.” Later during the retreat, Keith responded to the Gospel invitation, sobbing on his knees as he came to the Lord in repentance and faith.

Two years later, at this fall’s retreat, Keith shared, “He’s been completely faithful in healing the damage I caused my wife and my children. I can truly say I am a new person because of God. To know that I’ve been given a second chance—not just in my walk with Him but in my marriage—is priceless.”

Read the entire article by Franklin Graham here.

Remember Correctly - Celebrate America

         

Oh, wonderful July! Fireworks, barbecues, and community parties welcome this hot summer month. How wonderful to be an American and live in the land of the free.

My wife and I try to instill in our children a taste of the incredible heritage we have as citizens of the United States of America. That heritage is one to be embraced and valued. A careful look at our Founding Fathers and their documents reveal an overwhelming bias toward biblical Christianity.

Fifty-five delegates attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which produced the Constitution of the United States. The religious sympathies of this core group of men shaped the foundations of our republic: 28 Episcopalians, eight Presbyterians, seven Congregationalists, two Lutherans, two Dutch Reformed, two Methodists, two Roman Catholics, one unknown, and only three deists. So, 93 percent of the attendees were self-proclaimed Christians.

The American Patriot’s Bible shares, “While much has been written in recent years to try to dismiss the fact that America was founded upon the biblical principles of Judeo-Christianity, all the revisionism in the world cannot change the facts. Anyone who examines the original writings, personal correspondence, biographies, and public statements of the individuals who were instrumental in the founding of America will find an abundance of quotations showing the profound extent to which their thinking and lives were influenced by a Christian worldview.”

HIGH VIEW OF GOD

America’s Founders shared a high view of the Lord.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall wrote, “With us, Christianity and religion are identified. It would be strange, indeed, if with such a people our institutions did not presuppose Christianity and did not often refer to it and
exhibit relations with it.” 

And U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story wrote, “One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying at its foundations.”

STRONG BELIEF IN THE BIBLE

The New England Primer, America’s first textbook, taught the ABCs to children by memorizing basic biblical truths and lessons about life: A. In Adam’s fall, we sinned all. B. Heaven to find, the Bible mind. C. Christ crucified for sinners died. The Founding Fathers stressed the relationship between a sound education based upon biblical absolutes and the future of the nation.

Noah Webster wrote, “The moral principles and precepts found in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws.” In 1791, Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration and Constitution, Surgeon General of the Continental Army, and leading educator, argued why the Bible should never be removed from public education: “In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them.” In his Essays, Literary, Moral & Philosophical, he wrote, “The Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life… [T]he Bible… should be read in our schools in preference to all other books because it contains the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public happiness.”

JUDEO-CHRISTIAN ETHICS

Until the Warren Court of the 1950’s-1960’s, which worked to secularize America, even the Supreme Court understood that the historical record – as opposed to the modern progressive bias - overwhelmingly affirms that the United States “is a Christian nation” (1892 SCOTUS  - Justice David Brewer in Holy Trinity vs. United States). He wrote, “Because of a general recognition of this truth, the question has seldom been presented to the courts….”

The Founding Fathers’ documents shaped the genesis of this nation, springing from a common understanding, or what we today call “worldview,” of how the Creator designed life to work. This approach to life is known as the Seven Principles of the Judeo- Christian Ethic, rooted in values from the Old and New Testaments.

1. The dignity of human life. God made every person in His image, and thus every human has certain “unalienable rights.”

2. The traditional monogamous marriage. The biblical family unit is the basic building block of our society.

3. A national work ethic. Working hard represents dignity, and our free enterprise system encourages it.

4. The right to a God-centered education. Our forefathers intended an education system that taught the Bible, Creationism, and moral obligation.

5. The Abrahamic Covenant. Covenantal theology understands that obedience to God yields blessing for a nation or individual.

6. Common decency. America is great when her people follow the Golden Rule, treating others as they want to be treated.

7. Divinely ordained establishments. God established the home, civil government, and the church.

The founders of America understood the constitutions, laws, and agreements of federal and state governments depended on the acceptance of these basic ethics.

The Left doggedly tries to rewrite our history, demonize patriotism, and teach people to remember wrongly.

As Christian parents, may we instead instill in our children a love and respect for our nation. And may we proudly proclaim, “In God we trust!”

 

 

Pictures used by permission from Pixabay.

Patriotic Service this Sunday