#1. Easter Message
You will notice that we did not place an Easter message up on our board this week. It is not that we do not honor Christ, his sacrifice or resurrection, we do. One reason why is that everyone is doing it. Of course, we may be exaggerating here as we have not checked every single post, blog and news story on the internet. But we also know that churches have Easter services and some people in this country go to extremes to show their faith and spirituality.
Sadly that last group and most people ignore what Jesus taught about being spiritual. He said if you love me keep my commandments. He did not say t do a lot of the practices you read about in the news. Another reason we have not placed an Easter message here is that we have come to the belief that a festival is not what Jesus had in mind when he said- do this in remembrance of me.
Jesus’ death and resurrection celebration was not meant to be something that annoyed the neighbors or allowed false teaching to enter the church. He instituted communion, not a festival and communion is a private affair for believers to renew their faith, gain hope and spiritual strength. It is not a very public celebration violating the rights of those who do not believe.
While it is nice to have a great turkey or ham dinner with family or friends, we need to remember that God’s way is not our way.
#2. Tattoos
It seems that just about anyone will find an excuse to violate scripture in some way. The first article has Meyers thinking of getting one just to make people like us angry. That is doing something for the wrong reason. The second article shows how people will use personal preference and desire to ignore what God has commanded.
We do not see the ban on tattoos lifted in the NT. We do have the command to keep our bodies, the temple of God pure. This command would continue the ban.1 Corinthians 6:18-20 is very clear and would include tattoos.
Of course, we dont see the value of getting a tattoo or why people think they are so great. Tattoos just sit there making your skin look ugly.
#3. Sanctuary
Tammy Bruce: Poor California — Democrats are turning the state into a major nightmare
It seems that the politicians of California and some of the major liberal thinkers have lost sight of what the term sanctuary means. The original definition of the term meant a place of refuge or safety– It was a place to escape injustice until true justice could be applied to the problem involved. See Josh. 20 as one reference. Now it seems that the politicians of California and their supporters want the term to mean a place to go to violate the law or to continue to violate the law. This is not right.
No justice is being done here with the modern use of the sanctuary city. What is being done is one group of people using the term to push their personal preference over the law of the land and that is not right.Christians need to be discerning in this issue. The verse that tells us to obey our government does not mean we violate the law and ignore God’s rules in these issues. If the government, the politicians and their supporters are sinning and violating the law then it is up to the Christian to point the way to the truth. Not jump on the bandwagon and support sin.
But this issue is far deeper than we have space to deal with here. There is nothing wrong with protecting people who need real justice, not a subjective human interpretation of the term. But there is something wrong when believers stand up and support sin. The illegal immigrant must see the error of their ways not be told they have a right to invade another country by bypassing that country’s laws and legal system.
By the way, sanctuary cities are a OT teaching. You cannot cherry pick one OT instruction because you like it and ignore another because it goes against your personal desires.
#4. School Shooting Protesters
More advertisers drop Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show over David Hogg tweet
Being a bully to try to stop supposed bullying is not a smart move. We are not talking about Ms. Ingraham here. We did not find her tweet as claimed by those it targeted. It may not have been the smartest thing to do but it was not bullying. What could be considered bullying and some other terrible acts is the following quote:
When you come against any one of us, whether it be me or anybody else, you’re coming against all of us,” he said on CNN’s New Day on Friday. “They cannot push us around, especially when all we’re trying to do here is save lives.”
We see no life saving in their protesting effort. They target guns only and as some people have pointed out in the various comment sections, these people are ignoring so many issues about the safety of lives. They do not address those teens who text and drive and have injured or killed others; they do not address the knife attacks that have injured or killed many others and on it goes. They are not trying to save lives but use the school shootings for their own personal purposes.
When you have hypocrisy as the foundation of your movement, then you have nothing to say to anyone. We say this because we do see bullying on the part of Hogg and his fellow protestors. Their denial of free speech to those who disagree with them is just one key element that undermines their protest. It also demonstrates their willingness to bully those who dare to stand up against their movement and speak against them. Neither of those last acts are against the law.
The Christian should not be traumatized by school shootings nor should they be ignoring God’s word to look like they are ‘doing something’ to stop the problem. School shootings are sin, they are murder and there are laws already in place to handle these events. We should be the light unto the dark world and make sure that true justice, fairness and mercy are kept throughout the investigation and legal proceedings.
We should also be working to make sure subjective emotion does not usurp or pervert justice and so on. We should also make sure that people like Hogg and his fellow protesters do not violate or remove the rights of those who oppose them. Fairness, justice, freedoms and mercy is a two-way street.
#5. Persecution
Muslim Relatives Douse Christian Convert in Hot Oil After Giving Life to Christ in Uganda
Why are we reading about so many believers being persecuted? Why are there so many instances where believers are being attacked by those who do not believe in God and Jesus?
These two questions may be on the minds of many believers and there is a simple answer to them. Evil is working to remove the light from the world so it can continue to destroy God’s human creation. Remove the light, no one hears the good news or learns about Jesus.
What can be done about this? First, believers should not be afraid. The Bible tells us that love casts out fear. So if we love God we should not be afraid when persecution or death comes. Persecution is nothing to be afraid of and it does not violate our right to practice our Christian beliefs.
Second, we need to pray. Not only to bind evil in these matters but to bring help to those we cannot reach.We also need to pray to see what God wants us to do to properly respond to the problem. Returning good for evil is one step that needs to be taken. Getting wisdom to handle the issue is another
Third, we need to take the right action and get serious about our faith. We need to put down the Christian games, the Christian subjectivity, the Christian interpretation and stop working against God.
Fourth, we need to get prepared for what comes our way and learn how to handle it correctly. No whining, no crying, no whatever. We are soldiers for Christ and we need to grow up and act like it. Even in terrible situations.
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These topics are but a few of the events that are in the news today. They remind of us of what Paul said in 2 Tim. 3:13-
But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
We can only counteract this process by doing what God wants correctly. Remember it is not humans who are our enemies.
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