A Knight's Blog

  Christmas is almost here. The major retailers are making their final push on sales and many are getting ready to celebrate holiday traditions. In the middle of the festive ‘madness’ I think it behooves us as followers and friends of Christ to pause, and contemplate all that He has done.  The Birth of Jesus was a watershed moment in history, and not because He is the Living Water. Before God became human flesh, we were trapped in our brokenness. The Law could not help, it only made are wounds worsen by pointing out how messed up our lives are; how large the gap was between our sinfulness and God’s righteousness. Thank God for His Son, who filled that gap, exchanging our sin for his righteousness, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21), “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe,” (Romans 3:22), and “And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own tha

  The Templars were once the Navy Seals of the Medieval World. They were a bizarre merger of monks and knights who devoted themselves to prayer and protecting pilgrims. Many Protestants feel inspired by them, tattooing their red cross on their body or wearing a Templar cross pendant. The problem is the Templars believed a false gospel. The red cross they wore stands for martyrdom, and their belief that if they die in combat for Christ they will inherit heaven. Jesus said believing in Him is enough, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Martyrdom is not a requirement for salvation but insults the spirit 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). Jesus Christ died once

  When a person believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior, the first book in the Bible every scholar and layperson recommends the new believer read is The Gospel of John. The Apostle John was the closest disciple to Jesus, even knowing Judas was the traitor before everyone else knew in Gethsemane, “So that disciple (John), leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?”    Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into Judas. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”” (John 13:25-27). John was also the only male disciple and one of the Twelve at the Crucifixion (John 19:25-27). The Gospel of John is the most important Gospel because it show us Jesus as He truly is, The Loving Son of God come to save us, and God Incarnate.  What is more telling is that a man who had no access to any of

  Our Lord and God Jesus was born. We celebrate this with Christmas, but the holiday is tied to Passion Week (Easter), for Christ came into world to die for it. This was the reason, to make us right before God, to cleanse us of all sin, and heal us spiritually. We all are aware of our shortcomings, even secular historians like Diamand McCulloch agree that one of greatest proofs of Christianity is Original Sin, because it experienced by humans and known to be real. Indeed, the blot of sin is seen by all, even pagans, but thanks be to God he sent His Son to pay for our sins and give us His righteousness, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  The glory of Christmas is God had to be born in human flesh so that he could grow up and have his flesh torn to cleanse ours! This is the message of Christmas, God came into world “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in or

  The Moravian Brethren have an interesting custom at Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany in which they take a orange, place a taper candle in it, wrap a red ribbon around the orange, and four tooth picks with sweets to help it stand. The candle represents Christ, The Light of the World, the orange represents the world, the four toothpicks represent the four gospels, and the ribbon symbolizes Jesus blood, reminding us that his love flows for the whole world. This custom is called The Christingle. Christingle derives from germanic word Christkindl, which means “Little Christ Child.”  During the holidays the Moravians say holding the Christingle a lovely prayer, “We give thanks together for Jesus, the Light of the World. Glory to Christ, Son of Mary, born as a child, you are one with us: Glory to God in the highest. Glory to Christ, Son of David; born to rule, you reign in our hearts: Glory to God in the highest.”   Another lovely Christingle prayer:  “The orange represents the world. We pra

  The Season is upon us! To commemorate and get us in the Spirit I have assembled some quotes that remind us of True Reason for the Season and others that recall our favorite memories at Christmastime. The first come from the inventor and founding Father who said, “How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, His precepts!” (Benjamin Franklin). There is a title for members in Churches  known as CEO: Christmas and Easter Only. Franklin’s words seem harsh, like blizzard to start with, however, it is worth pondering, why churches and family members in Christ are eager to celebrate Christ’s b-day, but few do what he says? I will say in rebuttal to Franklin, Christmas brings out the love in people and Jesus focal teaching was that we love one another, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35), and since Xmas makes that ea

  We are promised by Jesus Christ our Lord that we cannot be lost. He tells us, “However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them (drive them away). And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:37, 39). Here our God and Savior makes the promise He will never reject us or lose us! That we are forever sealed by The Father, Christ, and The Holy Spirit!  Jesus confirms this same statement again in a later passage, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29). Here he promises a third condition, that nothing can snatch you away from Him. So it begins with Christ will never reject you, He can never lose you,

  Sometimes secular songs nail Biblical truths better than Christian ones. One in particular is a song by Queen, created for The Highlander film, called “Princes of the Universe.” I thought I would take some lines and show how they are Scriptural.  Note: anything in 🎼 is lyrics by Queen.  🎼Here we are, born to be kings We're the princes of the universe🎼 We are Kings, “Jesus, the Christ,  who is  the faithful witness  and  the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him  be  glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5-6 Jubilee Bible)  🎼 Here we belong, fighting to survive In a world with the darkest powers 🎼 We are in a war with the darkest powers, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, again

  In this terrible global pandemic many are going to pieces. More now than ever we need Jesus to be our Prince of Peace, as we find all around us going to pieces. The world is facing so many crises, that Christmas may even feel less of a constant that sooths and more of a constant reminder nothing is like it was before the pandemic. Perhaps the Jing Bells make you want to deck your halls with your fist, rather than dance around the tree. All of us are facing The Covid Wall, where our lives feel at a standstill, and just as all seems to reach a point of normalcy, of calm, a new storm of a new strain is upon us.  I remarked that the new variant of Covid is called Omnicron, Omni as in omnipotent (all powerful) and cron which is old lady in folklore who uses magical powers to aid or obstruct people, i.e. a witch. So even the name of this new strain invokes despair, that we are at the mercy of an all powerful witch who has obstructed once more, a normal Christmas.  The way to battle this wi

  This year has felt very bleak for Christmas. Just as we thought some normalcy was at last attainable, the Omnicron variant of Covid busted our Christmas hopes. Many may even be crying out, “Why God?! Why can’t we have a normal Xmas?!” This certainly is a trying time, and even I find myself finding more comfort in The Waitresses song “Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Christmas alone this year!” Little did we know this popular song was prophetic of Covid times when people may indeed be forced to spend the Season alone.  The desire to give up on Christmas is strong. What does it mean if you can’t celebrate with family? What does it mean if all we have to look forward to for the holiday and the new year is more of the same restrictions and apocalyptic feeling of Covid forever? What’s to celebrate?  To answer that I call upon a immensely talented Christian Band named Kutless who wrote a song called, “This is Christmas.” No its not a redux of the famous John Lennon and Yo