Archive for April, 2012

Steps of Ascension towards Jerusalem

Posted: April 14, 2012 in Shared Thoughts
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Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. (Ps 133:1-3)

The above psalm is the fourteenth psalm of fifteen which have been grouped together and are known as the “Songs of Degrees” or “Steps of Ascension.” The assemblage of these fifteen psalms have drawn considerable reasoning from commentators over the centuries, though none have been able to determine just when they were originally so group together, especially because they are not all penned by the same human author. Nonetheless, a prayerful reading and mediation of them will leave a humble seeker pierced to their heart of both their divine inspiration and order.

It is a very common consensus among many commentators that these psalms were sung in their respective order by the male Jewish pilgrims as they progressed along their three annual journeys back to Jerusalem for Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Festival of Weeks) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Therefore, before I delve into the importance of the Songs of Degrees and ultimately Psalm 133, I would first like to succinctly touch on the significance of those High Holy Days and why God required these cyclical pilgrimages back to Jerusalem.

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Elenin was a true sign! The Rapture is at hand! The destruction of America is imminent as war in the Middle East explodes!

Posted: April 12, 2012 in End Times, Prophecy
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It is amazing the how much attention is garnished by those predicting the Rapture and pointing to the all the calamities happening in the world as signs of the end. There is an insatiable appetite out there with people wanting to know what is going on and where. Some people’s whole lives are absolutely consumed with watching and keeping up with global events.

Dictators are falling while Islam is gaining influence and power all across the world, even President Obama welcomed the Muslim Brotherhood into the white house under the guise of peace and establishment of foreign policy while Islamic radicals burn the American and Israeli flags chanting “Death to America, the Great Satan” while promising to drive all Jews into the sea to cause them to cease from being a people.

We have volcanoes becoming active, recent earthquake and solar flares, CME’s and solar storms eroding our atmosphere, putting tension on our planet stressing the tectonic places. There have been unexplained noises in the heavens and under the earth that have been makes news. The weather is erratic, drought in one region – floods in another. Firestorms and freak arctic storms and tornadoes spreading destruction across the Land. Today a freak spring storm actually dumped two to four feet of hail in the Texas Panhandle this afternoon.

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Unity, it is like the precious ointment . . .

Posted: April 11, 2012 in Devotionals, Shared Thoughts
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(Sorry for the posting confusion over this post.) 

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. (Psalm 133:1-3)

I am currently writing a series of articles now about unity which I hope to complete in the next couple of days. The subject is one that has been on my heart for a long time, years . . .  and to be honest, I am greatly sadden by the fact that biblical unity is something I have rarely experienced as a Christian. Certainly not to the degree it is displayed in Psalm above; which is actually the core text for the final article I am writing. Since it is one of the “Songs of Degrees” in Psalms, I will also post on just what that means and why the journey to Jerusalem was required of all male Jews three times a year.

But just think about it, unity as a precious ointment? On the head, bread and garment of the high priest? Certainly you can see the magnificent significance. Yet at best I have only encountered what seem to be brief moments of such unity before it was spoiled either by the rise religious egos or successfully battered spiritually with demonic assaults of false accusations and suspicions. I know there are many who may feel they’ve experience unity, but I would ask simply if it met the test of the verse 2 above, was it truthfully a godly unity (I pray so), or was it just another comfortable carnal/religious compromise saturated with warm humanistic love that was nonetheless failing to wholly embrace the offense of the cross to their flesh?

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A History of Passover vs. Easter

Posted: April 7, 2012 in Shared Thoughts
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 As far as I am aware, the KJV is the only translation which has “Easter” mentioned in Acts 12:4. The Greek word “Pascha” which was translated “Easter” is used a total of 27 times in the New Testament, 26 times being properly translated “Passover.” Why in Acts it wasn’t so translated by the KJV translators in Acts one can only speculate, but reasonable logic would attribute it to residual influence of Catholicism. The following is a simple article I re-posted touching briefly on the history of Passover versus Easter from Bereans Online.

A Return to Orthodoxy

A History of Passover vs. Easter

“He said to them, ‘All too well you reject the commandment of God,  that you may keep your tradition.’” Mark 7:9

In the modern evangelical church, there are three days of special significance– Christmas, Easter, and the weekly Sunday “worship day”. Many Christians do not know how these days came to be of special significance – they simply assume that they have always been – and that celebrating Christmas, Easter, and Sunday “worship” are orthodox1.  Most Christians do not know that these days were not celebrated by the early church and there is no biblical basis for them – but instead they were established later in church history by the Catholic Church. Even the Roman Catholic Church does not claim these days as biblical – but rather that the Church had the authority to establish them2.

There is nothing wrong with keeping traditions in and of themselves. The danger comes when we declare our traditions as “God-given” – or even replace God-given commands with man-made traditions. So as not to be found following the “traditions of men” which oppose God’s Word, we need to reexamine what is indeed orthodox and biblical regarding what is commonly called “Easter”.

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It’s Easter again, what exactly happened at the tomb?

Posted: April 2, 2012 in Shared Thoughts
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Trips to the Tomb

I have posted this before, but since it is Easter this coming Sunday I figured it would be a good repost for those who may have missed it. I hope it blesses you.

For centuries there has been much confusion when people try to reason the different accounts of Jesus’ resurrection as recorded by the apostles. The fact that they all seem to have a different story to tell does not help. Perhaps, a good way to consider their seemingly different reports is to view them like transparent overlays, similar to the one’s we have seen in books showing the skeleton, then the nerves and blood vessels, organs, muscular and finally the skin and hair.

The Gospels, similarly, are each reporting different events which had taken place around a major singular occurrence, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fact is that these different events are recorded in God’s word and are therefore true. Perhaps the answer to the confusion is to consider that there were multiple trips made to the tomb.

The best way to determine the possible order of these trips to the tomb is to consider the different details that have been given about the time of day and light of the sun. Was the sun going down or coming up? These questions are actually quite easy to answer. However, we must remember that the Sabbath, like all the other biblical days, began and ended with sundown, see Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31 and Lev. 23:32.

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