January 28,
2012 Humanism in its various forms is a Christian religion even though Jesus is no more or not much more to humanists than He is to Muslims … America’s union of Church and State has freedom holding the Bible in one hand and a sword in the other—and no Anabaptist of any flavor can support such a comingling of the sacred and the profane. Prayers should not be said for sins unto death, or for sinners or nation-states that practice idolatry. Prayers should not be said for spiritual Babylon, or for the spiritual king of Babylon. Both should be rebuked in prayer. If there are sins that do not lead to death that need forgiven, and sins that lead to death for which no prayers should be said, then the Lord refusing to hear the pleadings of idolatrous Israel in the days of its kings stands as a shadow of how a Christian should pray.
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January 21,
2012 In Peter’s first epistle, he feeds newly born of spirit disciples, then addresses how overseers are to tend these lambs. In his second epistle, Peter feeds those disciples who have a faith comparable to the apostles. John relates the narrative structure of his vision by saying that he is our brother and partner in the Affliction and Kingdom and Endurance in Jesus (Rev 1:9), the structure of chapters six through twenty-two. So it should come as no surprise that John would also lay out the structure of Jesus’ ministry in selected narrative accounts that function together as a single metaphor describing the beginning and the end. But more about this in another Reading.
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January 14,
2012 For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. In that day, declares the LORD, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted; and the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore. (Micah 4:1–7 emphasis and double emphasis added) What happens to those peoples who walk in the name of a god other than the God of Jacob, the God of the Living (from Matt 22:32)? What happens to the hills that represent ruling hierarchies other than that of the God of the living? What happens to lesser mountains that also represent ruling hierarchies? There is a reality that must be addressed when it comes to the Millennium, the Thousand Years long reign of Christ Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords between when the single kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man (Dan 7:9–14; Rev 11:15–18) and when the Adversary is loosed from his chains and again permitted to go forth to deceive the people of this world … the Adversary would be able to deceive no one when loosed from his chains if all peoples were of the mountain of the house of the Lord.
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January 7,
2012 For you shall worship no other god, for [YHWH], whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God [El].
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