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"Come To The Table."

   The way our Faith is presented is very academic. We spout doctrines from pulpits, and etch verses on car bumperstickers. But the truth is the sharing should be around a table, a feast with Saints. The customn of coming together to eat as the Church goes back to early church, "A ll the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer." (Acts 2:42). The New Covenant was even revealed at Supper, The Last Supper, and for ages the Jews waiting for the Messiah observed feasts, one of them Passover. Martin Luther use to teach this way, at table with his family, and called it Table Talk. It is effective to share Christ while sharing bread, for He is the Bread of Life! The setting of eating with people is intimate, and in the Middle East covenants are still made when people eat with one another. In fact, one of great ways to make a practicing sinner know they were out of fellowship was ...
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Is Jesus' Sacrifice Enough?

   I feel driven made sometimes by Scripture. That in most parts it claims we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Alone (John 3:16, John 6:40, Romans 10:9-10, Philippians 3:9, Acts 15:5-11, Ephesians 2:8-9) and that Jesus' Sacrifice was for all time (Hebrews Chapter Nine) and that we have His righteousness now (2 Corinthians 5:21). And yet there are passages that claim that practicing sin as a Christian is grounds for being lost (1 John 3:4-18, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Revelation 21:8). This is why the Church is divided by the Gracers (those who trust in Grace of God) and Penitentialists (who believe they have to do holy living to stay saved). It is a major road of demarcation in soteriology and theology. You either believe Jesus did it all or you gotta stay holy too. I cling to these Scriptures, "I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing," (Galatians 2:21), " My sheep listen to my voice; I know t...
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Incense: Should You Use It?

   Growing in popularity is the use of incense. Incense is wood sticks that when you light them release a smoke from the properties of wood and minerals from which they come, some examples are Frankincense, Myrrh, Sage, Amber, Sandalwood, and etc. Incense can be used to help freshen your home, and even can be tool to do with smoke smells coming from neighbors. However, in a religious context there is some concerns. Most of the types of incense have very specific religious connections to false and pagan religions, Palo Santo (Holy Wood) is a South American one that is used to ward off evil spirits, and bring good energy, which is not appropriate for us Christians, we caste out demons in name of Jesus, not by incense, and incorporating a pagan wood is a slippery slope into witchcraft. Sage in particular is used by New Age people to cleanse homes, and so burning it has pitfalls, because the fallen angels and demons are legalists, they will want to claim they have a right to be th...
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The Dream That Is Rome: The Trend of Wanting Rome To Return

   There is a comfort in the past. Unlike The Future which is unpredicatable and had to prognosticate, the Past has already happened, and so we as humans can look back and become enamored with it. A trend right now is that men are getting excited about the Roman Empire, they want it to return. This is nothing new, many times mankind has seen the Roma as some sort of ideal empire and "dream that was Rome," (Gladiator, 2000) that if achieved will bring about some sort of Eden or Paradiso on Earth. The problem is that this is romanticism (I know pun intended), The Roman Empire was not all aqueducts, roads, beautiful cities, philosophers, and order, it crucified people, tortured people, enslaved people, salted fields of enemies so that the crops would not grow, and had such debauchery that to mention it would not only make you blush, it would make ill to read about the fetishes emperors had. The point is that history tends to either get romanticized, and seen a paragon of what sh...
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The Consequences of The Prosperity Gospel: A Dire Warning

   There is a proverb that reads, "golden priests once served with wooden chalices, now wooden priests serve with gold chalices." (Protestants: The Faith That Made The Modern World, Chapter One, Alec Ryrie). It seems to me that we have reverted back to the former, with the Communion served in plastic cups while the priests or pastors clade in suites and wearing golden watches. The consequences of the Prosperity Gospel and Seeker Friendly Movement on churches are so far and wide that I am rather inclined to say the church is almost dead (James 2:17). The first disciples were not predominately comprised of men of prosperity, they were fishermen like Peter (Simon, Cephas), Andrew, John, James, we would use the word blue collar. Yes there was Matthew The Tax Collector, who would fit the Prosperity model, but he left that post to follow Jesus and the result was that he joined Jesus in poverty, "foxes have dens, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head...
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Hallowed Prayer App

   I am seeing a lot of ads for The Hallowed App that is a prayer and mediation app on iOS and Android. Mark Wahlberg is pushing it in recent adds, with now Chris Pratt in the ads. Originally Jonathan Roumie who plays Jesus in The Chosen was endorsing it. This is is all very deceptive. I knew that Roumie being a Knights of Columbus forever member of the Catholic Church would at some point pivot people getting saved and enamored with his portrayal in The Chosen to come to toxic doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, and Hallowed is that pivot. For the Hallowed App is intrinsically Catholic, it even sports, "What is Hallow's Religious Affiliation? All of Hallow's content is rooted in sound Catholic teaching. We work closely with leaders of the Catholic Church to ensure that everything is 100% in line with Church doctrine." (Hallowed Support Center, https://help.hallow.com/en/articles/2880445-who-creates-the-content-for-hallow). This means the app is not a tool for deno...
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The Problem of Radical Christianity

   I must make a confession. I fell into the Radical Christianity Camp for a long while, even made a lot of posts on it. While my zeal I think was not evil, I am not seeing the pitfalls. The slogans of "All You Need Is Jesus," and "Prioritize Your Relationship With God," are good. It is important to make your relationship with The Lord a priority, but not at the expense of your relationships with people. Many ministers fall into this trap neglecting their families and becoming ministry addicts because God is the priority right?! We who neglect relationships in the name of religion actually are making war on the Trinity itself. God himself is Three, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. They are One God, and yet Three Persons, we see the relationship of our Lord Jesus with The Father in the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit, which is a model of our own balance in relationships, that we should tend to our relationship with God and People! Do not forget Jesus said, ...
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