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Showing posts from March, 2021

Crucified For Us: Good Friday (2021)

  Good Friday is the day that churches commemorate our Lord Jesus suffering and dying for our sins on the cross. To commorate this many in the Romanite Churches do a ritual called “The Stations of the Cross,” in which penitents recall every time our Lord fell, and they themsleves fall on their knee, and pray a Hail Mary and an Our Father. I am all for remembering our Savior’s suffering for of us,  but to manufacture your own suffering in some penitential service not only missed the point of Jesus paying it all with His blood, it is sacrilegious and insults the Spurit of Grace, “How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29). Those who add penance to Christ’s Sacrifice are trampling on His blood that sanctifies all once for all! The actions of the Roman Catholic Church spit on Christ’s

Masterless (2015) Spoiler Review

Most Christian films are sadly corny, cheesy, and to be frank poorly made. Its rare also that a Christian film conveys deep truths of our faith. Masterless is none of these failures, it is a flawless film that combines spiritual warefare, Samurai, and John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.  The word Samurai means “to serve,” which fits nicely with our own namesake from Christ, “But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves,” (Luke 22:26), and,  “Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:8-12)  The Lord tells us to be servants, which in Japan would have translated Samurai.  This is obviously the premise the director went with. He tells the story of Kane, who is a salesman married to a Japanese Wife. Kane was raises by missionary

Widening Our Mercy

We often wish to prenounce judgement, catch someone breaking the law, and tell people off for their injury against us. Ironically, we expect full mercy when we do the same infractions, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” (Romans 2:1). This duplicity is because we inherit the folly of our ancestors. We try to judge good and evil, because Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the knowlrdge of good and evil. And yet God who is the only Good (Mark 10:18) asks us not to judge hastily, “Do not judge and criticize and condemn [others unfairly with an attitude of self-righteous superiority as though assuming the office of a judge], so that you will not be judged [unfairly]. For just as you [hypocritically] judge others [when you are sinful and unrepentant], so will you be judged; and in accordance with your standard of measure [used to pa

The God Who Eats With Us

Eating is a very intimate act. In the Middle East it is even covenant making. I was told by one friend after sharing a meal with him, “because I have eaten with you, I will die for you.” Suffice to say I was both honored and speechless. The Lord God has always dined with his people and made feasts to commemorate his covenants and intimacy between His people and Himself.   The first major feast God partakes with Man is one in which the entire Godhead, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit appear to eat with Abraham and tell him Sarah shall conceive a son:  “And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.  He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves u

The Passover and The Passion

  Passover and Passion Week often fall at the same time of year, on the same week even. The reason for this is Jesus our Lord died and rose during The Passover Feast. To commemorate the two overlapping as they do, I wish to compare Moses and Christ our Lord. To demonstrate what The Passover and The Passion mean for us saints.  Moses ate bread of haste and commeorated they’re being set free from the bondage of literal slavery. Thousands of years later Christ created a new Passover, Passion Week in which he set us free from our bondage to sin and eternal insecurity. Moses was a babe who on the Nile River of Egypf fled the edict of Pharoah that all Hebrew man child should die, Jesus as a babe fled the edict of Herod The Great that every child in Bethelhem be killed and ended up in Egypt. Moses was a foreshadowing of Christ, and his task was to fail, because freedom from worldy bondage avails nothing if you are not free of sin’s power and the fear of death, which only Christ who is the Lor

Holy Week 2021 Primer

  Another holy week is upon is. Churches around the world that are permitted to be open will have visitors who only frequent at this time of year and Christmas, those whom my pastor affectionally called CEOs, Christmas Easter Only. For others it will be another locked down holiday time, where devotions will have to consist of favorite films like “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” and “The Robe.” During this hallowed time we shall reflect on the essentials of our faith, that Jesus Christ Our Lord came and died for our sins on the cross and on the third day (Easter) rose again. It is a time to reconnect and rediscover our First Love (Revelation 2:4-5).  In many ways Easter is an anniversary of our marriage to Christ, as His Bride we seek to pull out the images of our wedding day and rekindle the spark. For some this is hard in the wake of church scandals, pandemic, and an uncertain future. The trials and doledrums of the day to day seem to lull us into a stupor. The only way to break it is

Unpopular Faith

Biblical Christianity is becoming fastly unpopular. Eastern religions are eroding the church through Yoga, cultural teachings, and media. It is unpopular to have traditional values, to use the pronouns his or her, man or woman, and instead afford terms like they or transpecies. The assault on our pure and undivided devotion to Christ is a 24/7 one, with entertainment pounding away at Christian values as out of date, academia enforcing gender neutral pronouns, and a culture devolving into every nature contrary to Scripture. Truly Christ’s own words illustrate we are in the end times, “it shall be the days of Noah (giants and intercourse between angels and humans) and the days of Lot (Sodom and Ghemmorah, homosexuality, and more).” (Luke 17:26-30).  We are on the precipice. There are only two paths forward for the church, compromise or crushed (Revelation 13:7). Those who compromise will allow the doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1) and false christs (Matthew 24:24) into their churches t

What We Can Learn From St. Patrick

Many on March 17th will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Most will give the actual man, Patricas, much thought. But what can we learn from the saint? We certainly will not pray to him, we pray only to the Holy Trinity, The One True God!  We can learn to love our enemy. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28). Patrik was captured by Irish pirates and once he escaped the Lord called to him to go back and preach the gospel to his enemies. Patrick’s superiors saw it as a fool’s errand. The result was Ireland was reached by the Church of the time.   The second thing we can learn from Patrick is to find the road to the gospel in a culture. The Irish were very superstitious about water, particularly lakes, creeks, and etc. When they saw Patrick baptizing people they became curious. In the same way we should find what is the door to the gospel, albeit with

Stay With Jesus

  There is a intense assault on our faith around the world. People are desperate to hold on to Christ as culture, criminals, and crushing powers work to destroy Christian values. In these times we must chose to stay, stay with Jesus and continue to follow Him. The climate ahead may seem beyond endurance, but remember Christ promised these times would come:  “Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:18)  “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Matt