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Showing posts from February, 2022

All Going Down to See The Lord Jesus by Queen

  Queen is a band that has remained famous. Most of us have heard their greatest hits like “We Will Rock You,” “We Are The Champions,” “Another One Bites The Dust,” and “Who Wants to live Forever?” What many may not know is that Freddy Mercury wrote and sang a song about Jesus on their first album in 1973.  Here is the Video: Here is the Lyrics:  “And then I saw Him in the crowd A lot of people had gathered round Him The beggars shouted the lepers called Him The old man said nothing He just stared about him All going down to see the Lord Jesus All going down to see the Lord Jesus All going down Then came a man before His feet he fell Unclean said the leper and rang his bell Felt the palm of a hand touch his head Go now go now you’re a new man instead All going down to see the Lord Jesus All going down to see the Lord Jesus All going down It all began with the three wise men Followed a star took them to Bethlehem And made it heard throughout the land Born was a leader of m...

Lent: Invention of 325 A.D.

  Ash Wednesday begins March 3rd, and is start of Lent when believers fast and give up things such as meat, caffeine, and etc. This period of denying yourself lasts till Easter Sunday. The tradition can be found nowhere in Scripture, and worse it makes the highest holiday in our faith grim. Rather than a celebration that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, its somber penitential mini via Delarosa where Christians try to taste some suffering, which is bizarre! Jesus suffered so we don’t have to!    And I am sure He is not thrilled that how we commemorate His loving work with self denial that makes us irritable. Would you want people to celebrate your great achievement with dirges and giving up stuff they enjoy? Lent is believed to have started as a tradition in 325 A.D. after The First Council of Nicea. That is long after all the apostles had died and Jesus had ascended. In fact, that was when Emperor Constantine perverted the church with paganisms and a reviv...

I Didn’t Say That! The Importance of Good Translations

  Many church congregations take the words of the gospels and epistles and try to apply them without study. They take words and make them laws. The problem is that words change. For instance Begotten use to be a word that meant to “be sent from” or “come forth from,” as in “God so loved the world He sent his Only Son..” (John 3:16). Now Begotten means to beget or birth, to create. For this reason many new Bibles omit begotten now, due to its change in meaning, because The Father never created The Son, they are Co-Eternal, Co-Equal, and Co-Substantial; Christ Jesus has always existed with The Father and Holy Spirit; One God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity.  We have to study the Scriptures, to delve into them and find out what the words of the apostles and Jesus meant then, so as to accurately gauge how to apply them now. A good example is the infamous Hebrews 6:4-6 passage about falling away from the faith and how there is no forgiveness left for one who wants to return. In t...

Roman Dominion: The Oppression of Empire

  The Roman Empire was one of the most oppressive regimes. They salted fields so that nothing would grow, they crucified people and placed them at the market places so that when you got your groceries you saw friends or strangers filleted, rotting, and nailed to wooden poles and cross beams.    The Romans crushed any sign of revolt and inspiration that could drive a kingdom to become independent. When the Jews tried to emancipate and annex Jerusalem, The Romans arrived with Titus, blockaded the city in a circle so no goods could enter. Josephus records women roasted and ate their babies in the city walls of Jerusalem. Eventually Titus decided to sack Jerusalem, he began burning it and even The Temple was destroyed, the gold melted and poured into the cups of Centurions. Rome was totalitarian, they had a Senate, and once upon a time they were a Republic, but that was long gone with advent of the Cesars who became dictators and tyrants who helped forge Rome from Republic to...

Was Jesus A Nazerite?

  Most traditional paintings and art pieces of Jesus have him sporting long hair and a beard. It is even become accepted as almost doctrine. But did Christ have a beard? Some scholars are trying to say He did not and that He even had short hair.    They cite that long hair was considered effeminate and forbidden by the Law of Moses.    However, we know Samson who took the Nazarite Vow would not cut his long hair, in which was the strength God gave him. We know our Lord is called Jesus of Nazareth (The Nazarene), because that was His hometown and people were often to be identified by where they were from. However, we do not have evidence that Jesus took the Nazarite Vow which entails:  “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,    “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord,   he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall dr...

Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God?

  Jonathan Edward became famous for his hellfire and brimstone sermon called “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God.” It is said during the sermon people fainted in terror of the descriptions of hell and how near they were to the lake of fire, “you are on a spider web hanging over the lapping flames of hell!” (Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God, Jonathan Edwards, Paraphrased).  The question however, is does this sermon malign God? For Scripture tells us, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Psalm 103:8). Our Lord is slow to anger, and there is another passage that declares a time when the Lord will never be angry with us, “This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace ...

Persecution in India

  Photo from CBN News It has been no secret that its dangerous to be a Christian in India.    The Indian Government like China’s has become antagonistic towards Christians. This wave of persecution has escalated as a 20 foot tall statue of Jesus in a Christian village of Southwestern India is to be demolished. The Statue stood at Gokunte village's St Francis Xavier's Church in the Karnataka state. It was erected in 2004, and now because of so called offense to Hindus, it is being bulldozed down. What is puzzling is how something on Church property is being demolished and why the pariah hasn’t endeavored to relocate it inside. That being said this is simply another incident in a long chain of anti-Christian actions by India’s pro-Hindu govt.  Our Lord Jesus Christ foretold that days would come when we Christians would be persecuted because of our association with Him, “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved,” ...