A Knight's Blog

   In every age it seems Satan raises up antagonists towards our faith. These men and women listen to the voice of the devil and persecute Christians. A chief example was Herod who killed James, “About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.” (Acts 12:1-3). It was at that time the rest of the apostles decided to leave Jerusalem. Well a successor in the Herodian spirit is in Israel’s 2023 leadership today, his name is Itamar Ben-Gvir, and he is fiercely against Christians:  “Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has been accused of discrimination against Christians and of inciting violence against the Christian community. Ben-Gvir, head of Israel’s far right Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”) party, has been criticized by Christians for his past defense of Bentzi Gopstein, leader of...

  As Christians are allegiance is to a kingdom unseen, The Kingdom of Heaven. We are not suppose to put stock in the kingdoms of this world, for we are sojourners “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul,” (1 Peter 2:11), this is not our home, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 3:20).  Therefore the politics of this world is not our purview, we may vote, but our chief concern is Christ’s Kingdom.  Sadly, Christianity has been infected with politics. It began with Christian Empire, when Emperor Constantine became lord of Church and State, able to appoint bishops and rule citizens with imperial power. The Byzantine model of Church and State fused together survived, it spread in the West via Roman Catholicism, with kings needing the blessings of popes, and in the East it continued with emperors l, tsars, and later rulers. It eve...

  Another scandal has broken out with children being preyed upon at a Christian school. It seems since the Catholic Sexual Abuse cases were exposed that it has almost been none stop scandals, with even the Southern Baptists being guilty and Hill Song’s Leader stepping down over sexual misconduct. The question that lingers in the mind is “why is this happening?!” followed by a distrust of the church as an institution and feeling that all moral authority    that was once held by christian churches and organizations is now no more. How are we to navigate this? How to keep defending something that keeps abusing the sheep? We start by not defending it. These great evils are being exposed because Jesus said they would, “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” (Luke 8:17).  The wolves in sheep’s clothing are being unveiled and their wickedness is to be punished, for they have made in...

  When we think of hell, we tend to envision a place of eternal fire with tormenter demons of ashen black with wings and pokers. While the flames are accurate, there is no evidence in Scripture that there are demonic overlords or tormentors. A priest named Gerald Johnson of Michigian recently claimed he went to hell for hidden unforgiveness and saw demons tormenting people, riding people like “slave-dogs” and doing concerts with secular music. It all sounds like Dante’s Inferno to me, and I am alarmed that his testimony makes it seem that some unforgivness Jesus said was hidden in his heart sent him to hell. That is a lie. We are forgiven of all our sins when we place our faith in Jesus. He promises us eternal life and that He will never let us perish nor slip from His hands, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” (John 3:16), and “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow m...

  When we use words like compassion we think it means to have empathy and show love through a hug or say “you’re in my prayers.” The truth is the word compassion means to “suffer with,” to share in someone’s suffering. This understanding of the world invokes marital vows, “for better or worse,” the worse being that you suffer with your spouse in hard times. It also reminds me of the words of the apostle, “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15). For in weeping we suffer, and when we share tears it is an act of compassion.  Perhaps the strongest image of compassion is Jesus our Lord, and Simon Cyrene. The Romans compelled Simon help Jesus carry His cross because He had become so weak from the flogging, “And when they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, as he was coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.” (Luke 23:26). Simon lived the most literal form of compassion, sharing in Christ’s Pass...

  Christ or Messiah means “The Anointed One.” But what does that really mean? To the Jews it meant a savior and king, as David was anointed by the Prophet Samuel to be King of Israel.    Christ or Messiah for them would be a great monarch who would deliver the people from the tyranny of foreigners and re-establish the supremacy of the Jewish Nation. In terms of savior, they meant one like Judas Maccabeus who saved the Jews from annihilation by Antiochus Epiphanies. The people of Israel did not understand that the Messiah, the return of the king would be God, that the Lord would reverse their decision of the past when the Jews wanted a king like all the nations and rejected God as their king (1 Samuel 8). They failed to see that Jesus is God restoring the kingship back the Almighty because He is the Almighty made flesh!   There is a reason why the apostles emphasize that Jesus is the Christ (King) and Lord (God). For the Jews had failed to understand that the Mes...

  There is popular belief held that we Protestants abridged The Bible, removing books in an aim to protest the Church of Rome. The Roman Catholic Bible contains 73 books, while our Bibles contain only 66 books. It would seem at a glance that books were removed, but they have not.  In truth the Protestant canon of 66 is traditional and has a longer precedence. Both Catholic and Protestant Bibles contain 27 books of the New Testament, which means the difference is in the Old Testament.    The Catholic bibles contain the deuterocanonical (second canon) also known as the apocryphal (doubtful authenticity) books such as Tobit, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Sirach (wisdom), Ecclesiasticus, and more. These apocryphal books are not in the ancient Hebrew canon, and were debated for centuries. In fact, Catholic fathers like Jerome rejected these extra books because they were not in the Old Testament scrolls of the Jews.  So if the deuterocanonical books are disputed and not in the m...

  In Jerusalem, Israel, a Christian Cemetery    near Christ’s Church was vandalized by Orthodox Jews (it could be a violent group posing as Jews to cause enmity between Jews & Christians while concealing their identity). Over thirty gravestones were destroyed, most of which had crosses. This wave of anti-Christian hate acts has been happening to the cemetery before, but not on this scale.  What is happening? Nothing seems to be sacred anymore. They’ve got new abortion pills to terminate unwanted pregnancies, churches    are being vandalized like the one in India, and even now cemeteries are not safe; you aren’t even respected in death. Nothing is sacred, and this was foretold in Scripture,  “For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.” (2 Timothy 3:2).  It is evident there is inherent disrespect of our fa...

  In Nepal, near The Himalayas, the birthplace of Buddah and predominately Hindu country is now turning Christian. In 1960 there was no Christians in Nepal, as of now (2023) there is over 500,000 Christians! The main missionaries are South Korean, and they risk persecution under the Anti-Conversion Law in Nepal. ( Christian missionaries target the birthplace of Buddha in Nepal https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64235873) It is ironic as America is falling away, churches emptying and Buddhism & Hinduism spreading via Yoga in the States while the birthplace of Buddah is now turning to Jesus. As European cathedrals are converted into Yoga studios, and Christians in the US go to Yoga, becoming influenced by Buddhist and Hindu spirituality, the site of Buddha is raising up crosses, building churches, and turning away from the false religions.  Christianity is in decline in Europe and the US bur in the rest of the world it is soaring, estimated to reach 3.1 Billion by 2030. A...

  Tertullian (red), Justin Martyr (black & white)  To be Christian is to live in a paradox. This paradox is we are called to be sojourners in this world, “to be in the world, but not of it.”. Trying to live out being citizens of heaven and yet still be in the world has sprouted movements like Monasticism where men and women chose to live in cloisters in this world and yet appeal to heaven daily in devotions. In contrast, Mega Churches have adopted worldly methods to appeal to modern sensibilities while still claiming to be fixed on heaven. How far we let the Kingdom of God and this world touch depends on the school of thought we adopt. There are two major viewpoints, one was Justin Martyr’s and the other Tertullian. Justin believed we could embrace the world with a kiss, adopt pagan philsophies and ideals, christianizing them for our purposes, he went as far as saying “Plato was a Christian before Christ.” A bizarre notion since to be a Christian is to believe in Jesus Chr...

It is ridiculous that church teachers like Origen and church leaders today teach that you have to go to long catechism classes (like seminary) till you can become a Christian. This is absurd! Cornelius and his Household got saved and baptized in the Spirit while St. Peter was preaching the gospel (Acts 10:34-48).  Jesus Christ our Lord said “For God so loved the world that he sent His One and Only Son and whoever believed in Him (Jesus) shall not perish but have eternal life,” (John 3:16) and “ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40). Nothing there about classes! The Council of Jerusalem which had apostles and the disciples of Jesus all agreed “we are saved by grace of Jesus Christ just as they are.” (Acts 15:11).  Nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus or His Apostles say you must go to confirmation & catechism classes to become a Christian! R...

  Well all those predictions about Jesus returning in 2021-2022 did not happen. And there is a good reason. Our Lord told us, “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows,” (Mark 13:32), “For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night,” (1 Thessalonians 5:2), and “You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” (Matthew 24:44). It is easy to get swept away in Parousia Fever, the expecting Christ to return by a certain date, but the truth is we need to be ready for our Lord’s Return at any moment, not a certain time, day, and year.  This is why its imperative we be Biblically literate, knowing the Scriptures as well as we know our favorite trivia and facts about fictional characters and shows. People get mislead    99.9% of the time because they do not know The Scriptures a...