Sacred Spaces: Are They Useful?

I have endeavored to make the point that we don’t need altars, cathedrals, and other sacred architecture to know, serve, and be close to God, “If you confess Jesus Christ as Son of God, God lives in you and you live in God.” (1 John 4:15, NLT). That being said I am not against visiting and praying in chapels, cathedrals, creating prayer corners, prayer closets and etc. We have spaces where we eat, where we sleep, and where we watch TV, what is wrong then with a sacred place? A place that merely acts a somewhere to focus more spiritually without distractions and perhaps some inspirations like a cross and candles. I have not been one to support Iconoclasm, the destruction of images, my chief concern is that no Christian brother or sister become dependent on them, nor dependent on sacred spaces like chapels. I am reminded that in time of the Prophet Daniel, when Cyrus released the Jews to return to Canaan, there were two sects, those who stayed in Persia believing the Lord God is with you everywhere and you don’t need a temple, like Daniel who prayed three times a day in his house and those who felt they had to return to holy land and have a Temple to be close to God. I don’t want anyone becoming the latter, stay like Daniel, believing Christ is with you always and everywhere. But if you like having a corner in your abode or visiting a place that makes you feel more focused to seek the Lord, there is nothing wrong with that, but beware of becoming too dependent least persecution come and cut you off from it.

We don’t need buildings of stone, artwork, crosses, and etc to be near to God, no Christ has achieved that, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.” (Hebrews 10:19). There is no intermediaries, or need for relics or sacred stuff, Christ Alone is our rock, our refuge, and door to the Father (John 14:6). We don’t need sacred trinkets to merit anything or act as talismans, no! We need only The Living Jesus who was slain for us!

The key or “trick William Potter,” (Lawerence of Arabia) is to not allow anything to take your eyes off Christ, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2). If visiting a prayer closet, chapel, cathedral, and etc encourages your relationship with Christ, then great! But beware of being too dependent on it, for Jesus lives in you and you can talk to him anywhere, at anytime, and at any place. Amen.

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Israel’s Conquest of Canaan: The Nephilim and Giants

Christianity Today asserts that the conquest of Canaan can be a “stumbling block” for believers. This probably is because of a foolish idea of comparing it to a modern conquest happening in our world. The truth is that God had Israel conquer Canaan because it was ruled by evil giants, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:33). These are Anakim or Nephilim, the children of angels and human women, “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God (angels) saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These w

Dispensationalism

John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) was a man who did two things, he took 70th week of the Book of Daniel and stretched out to the End Times, and he was the father of Dispensationalism , a belief system that God dispenses different peoples with separate blessings and covenants. According to Darb'ys doctrine of Dispensationalism, God dispenses different covenants. There are total of seven dispensations that divide the history of man: I. Dispensation of Innocence (prior to the Fall, "Do not east of the Fruit of Good and Eve, Eden), II. Dispensation of Conscience ( You must assuage guilt and sin with blood sacrifices.) III. Dispensation of Human Government (Multiply and Subdue the world, example the Tower of Babel Gen 11:1-9, and Genesis 1:28). IV. Dispensation of the Promise (Dwell in Canaan, Jerusalem) V. Dispensation of the Law ("Obey the Law of Moses and the Prophets"). VI. Dispensation of Grace (The Church, Jesus Christ has come and died for our sins an

Jesus’ Name in Aramaic

There has been a trend to render Jesus’ name Hebrew, יֵשׁוּעַ , Yeshua. The problem is neither Christ nor his apostles, nor the Jews in 30-33 A.D. spoke Hebrew, they spoke Aramaic. A ramaic is the oldest language on earth and was the language Jesus spoke. In fact, the oldest Old Testament is the Septuagint a Greco translation around 132 B.C.E. (165 Years Before Christ)that was translated from Aramaic. The Masoretic Text, The Hebrew Old Testament most Bibles use, dates from 7th to 10th Century A.D. (Medieval Times). This translation does not cross reference with the words of Christ in the New Testament which are Aramaic and Koine Greek. If the Aramaic was what Jesus spoke, then by what name would have been called? Jesus’ name in Aramaic is Isho or Eesho, spelled ܝܫܘܥ . That is the name of our Lord in Aramaic! He would have heard his name in this dialect, “Hail Isho or Eesho!” as well as the Greek, Ἰ ησο ῦ ς , Iesous. Aramaic is disappearing, only a few people are endeavo

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