A Woman in Purple and Scarlet...

Read this and then Google "a woman in purple and scarlet".  Probably just a coinky =;-0).  But pretty interesting.  If you understand Christian doctrine, you understand that this woman is more than just mealy mouthed.

Coming soon to your neighborhood, a world empire of false religion.  Preview now showing in Venezuela, of all places...

They are condemned by their own words.  False words.  Satan quoting scripture.

Read this. Then Google Woman in Purple and Scarlet

Rev 17:4, "The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries."

Pagan Clock at Home Depot

Kind of a lighter version of "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we all die". Hey. Just satan, whoops I mean sayin' "

Satan loves love and good works as long as Jesus is excluded.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Two Things Most People Don't Believe, But They Should:

1.  I can die at any moment.  Life is much more fragile than I perceive it to be.

2.  Jesus Christ is who says he was and therefore the only way to eternal life in Heaven.  Believing that Jesus was just a "wonderfully wise man" and/or "there are many other ways to heaven (buddhism, hinduism, being a nice person, etc.)" will NOT grant me eternal salvation and the only alternative to eternal salvation in heaven is eternal damnation in hell.  

That is really all the Bible is about, folks.  Please don't waste your time or mine positing any other path in life OR death.

Finally, believe it or not, this IS a loving statement.  No?  Well, I could have left it unsaid.  Don't you.  If you believe.  If you don't believe, do.  For you own sake.

Are We Fools to Be Christians? St. Paul Said So....

Pastor Lassman's Easter (Resurrection) sermon held forth on what of my favorite scriptural passages (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Please listen to or read Pastor's sermon

My comments on the text...

In his first letter to the  Greek church at Corinth, Greece, St. Paul invoked a theme that seems particularly timely in our increasingly "Greek" culture in contemporary America.  Greek culture has resonated through the ages and, along with Christianity, presents a parallel but opposing influence on western civilization.  The Greek way of thought emphasizes multiple Gods, created by humans, who are accessed by human earthly achievement in the arts, intellect and sensual pursuits.  "Achieve great things on earth, eat, drink and be merry", pretty much sums up the Hellenistic way of looking at life.  It is one of many pagan religions that have flourished in the absence of God's Word.

Don't your agnostic, atheist friends of which we seem to have more and more these days seem think to themselves or even say out loud, "how foolish you Christians are to waste a lifetime of Sundays going to church!"

Paul must have heard similar admonitions from these Greeks in 30ish AD Greece and he responded in sarcastic agreement, "If only in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are [indeed] of all people most to be pitied".

Boil down the Gospel to it's essence (John 3:16) and Christianity addresses only one big issue in life.  You can be an outwardly good person without Christ.  You can get along fine in this life without Christ.  In fact it is probably much easier to be popular among most people you are likely to encounter in contemporary US coastal urban life.  Be an outspoken Christian?  Naaah.  Go along to get along.  Easy peasy.

So why suffer the consequences of being a Christian?  Because "in fact Christ has been raised from the dead", continues St. Paul.  If Christ was not resurrected from the dead then we will not also be raised as he promised.  To study Christ as a philosopher or a "wise man" is utter folly.  As C.S. Lewis points out in Mere Christianity, Christ was either who he said he was or he was raving lunatic.

But Christ was raised from the dead.  The dual ruling classes (Romans and Jewish Hierarchs) had every motive and all means to produce the dead body of Our Lord and Savior after His Resurrection, but could not.  Many people saw Jesus in his resurrected and Holy state in many different places and testified as such.  Paul himself was confronted by Christ Himself on the road to Damascus decades after Christ's resurrection.

And it was the Resurrected Christ who intoned the Apostles (and us) to "go and make disciples of all nations, teaching. preaching and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:16-20).  We can't very well do that in silence.  Christ is no less clear, forthright and violently demanding of us as Christians on any other topic than our duty to spread His word.  (Luke 19:11-27)

Such is our faith.  Such is our eternal salvation.  We believe in Christ because He has destroyed the elephant in the room for us all... Death!!  We are "grateful alive" forever in Him!!

Yes, "the message of the cross is folly to those who perish" (1Cor 1:18). Paul said that too in this same letter to the Greek church at Corinth so long ago.  It's hard to be a Christian.  Hard.  But is it not more foolish to perish?  Amen.

"Lost Boys" from Sudan or Are We the Lost Ones?...

In truth these are missionaries of Christ witness to an increasingly arrogant and faithless American culture.  Just sayin'...

http://vimeo.com/26288723

 

Farewell to Alleluia/Song of Gladness (and Mourning)...

It sounds like a contradiction, does it not?  That there would be song that is both a one of mourning and gladness.  But the Christian understands ...

Each year on the last Sunday before Lent (and this seems to have come quite quickly, already!), we sing "Farewell to Alleluia" at the close of the service.  This hymn marks the prelude to the five weeks of Lent before Easter week when meditate on our sinful state for which Christ died... five weeks or forty days of solemnity before we can celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord, our resurrection in Him and thus return to celebratory alleluias.

As the moving lyrics of this hymn intone...

Alleluia cannot always be sung while here below;

Alleluia our transgressions;

Make us for awhile forego;

For the solemn time is coming;

When our tears for sin must flow;

In other words, in order understand and acknowledge that depth of sacrifice given TO us and FOR us by God in the death of his beloved and perfect Son we must feel, in our admittedly small and human way, a portion of mourning.  

But the hymn also intones the joy that ultimately will be ours through salvation to eternal joy made possible only by this  Holy sacrifice in the death of Our Lord on the cross.

I pray that you were able to attend a divine service this day and felt the depth of this uniquely bittersweet blessing, as expressed in the hymn, Alleluia, Song of Gladness.

I also pray that you will attend services, pray and meditate throughout the Lenten season on yours and all of our human shortcomings and do so with the sure knowledge of and in the Name of Our Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Yours in Christ,

-=COL

P.S. It is interesting to note that retiring the alleluia, while not a uniquely Lutheran liturgical feature, is practiced by orthodox Lutheran congregations as well "in Traditional Catholic and Anglican" congregations.
Here is an audio of the 10th century chant in Latin with text in English.

Other material ...

https://historictrinity.org/alleluia.html  (Amazing LCMS Church in downtown Detroit)

http://www.historiclectionary.com/2009/02/farewell-to-alleluia/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WRztdx3pgo

The Holy Spirit at Work Again at the Blessing of Jesus at the Temple...

In today's sermon delivered on December 30 by Pastor Mankin, we are present at the blessing of Jesus outside the Temple.  Simeon, an old, righteous, devout man who has been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not pass from this life until he had seen the Messiah, "the consolation of Israel" in the flesh.

The text for today's sermon is Luke 2:22-40

This scripture provides many reflections about the nature of Christ, not the least of which is yet another prophecy, this time by Simeon, that this Christ, delivered to us at this time, is THE Christ, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, the Savior, as opposed to some other Messiah that is still yet to come alluded to by modern day Judaism.

The thrust of Pastor Mankin's sermon this day, entitled "Nothing More to See Here" follows this theme and focuses on the event's essential theme of completion.  Simeon's famous utterance (also included in our weekly worship liturgy),  "Lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples; a light for the revelation to the Gentiles, and for the glory to your people, Israel."

For now that the consolation of Israel has been seen, as promised to Simeon by the Holy Spirit, he may depart in peace, peace with God from this mortal existence unto everlasting peace in eternity with God.

Again, the inspiration for Simeon's prophecy, as all divine inspiration given to us in Grace, pointing us to saving faith in Jesus Christ comes to us from the Holy Spirit.  As stated in the reading, "...and the Holy Spirit was upon him (Simeon).  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ."  Luke seems determined that we understand the role of the Holy Spirit in inspiring faith in us all.  Luke seems to be admonishing the importance of a Trinitarian understanding of the Holy  Spirit.

Christ is brought to the temple, in faith already, because of the faith of his parents.  For God had carefully chosen Mary and Joseph as faithful servants, steeped in the Holy Spirit.   "What if", Pastor Mankin intones, "God had chosen just any parents"...parents of a pedestrian spiritual persuasion, as common in Jerusalem of Christ's day as in America now, believing, "Oh, we will just let little Jesus be exposed to a nice variety of spiritual persuasions and he can choose for himself which suits him best."   Our active faith is more often primarily a function of parental rather than societal context.

Finally, Simeon's famous words of celebration in a life complete in faith and a peaceful departure from the turmoil and violence of life on earth is a lesson in faith for all of us.  A life lived in faith IS a complete life, whether or not we achieve the less important material or status goals laid before us or chosen by us in life.  Our mission in Christ has been fulfilled if we have acted in faith... not necessarily a perfect faith, but a faith repentance in love of Christ as inspired in us by the Holy Spirit.

Hallelujah!!  Rejoice that your faith will deliver you to a death in peace with God!!

Of course there is even more divine inspiration in Pastor Mankin's sermon.  Please read and listen if the Spirit so moves you.