Our Lighted Path

I will not hop a plane to far away. And, my, has God helped me grow to know He didn't mean for me to marry but to testify for good. I just wish problems would soon end, that ungodly pressure would go away, and that, like most of us probably feel right now, every day could be a peaceful drive to and from home to home, to and from sanctuary.

  We never talk about this as Christians, but many churches hold to the Catholic confession that Jesus descended into hell before God raised Him bodily from death. There is no singular  scripture that tells us so, but we know, from Jesus' grief over Lazarus' death, that experiencing death without Jesus was was difficult to bear. We also know that death before Jesus made the way to  Heaven (before He ascended to Heaven), was grievous in more than one way. In some cases, the grave itself was a horror,  with souls like the demon-possessed  man dwelling there, among remains buried in deep caves. Having established all of the above, let's talk about something we never discuss; and that's what Jesus meant by "paradise." Although we know the spirit of a soul who is committed to Jesus today is present in Heaven as soon as the spirit leaves its bodily home, that wasn't so when Jesus himself died in body. Jesus agonized even before He was crucified, knowing not only...

  In the Easter season*, I remember all the more how Jesus compares His body, or His words, to unleaven slabs of bread, the kind of bread we don't see anymore, really anywhere. Modern flatbreads are made with bleached flour, instead of with whole wheat or other brown-colored edible grass seeds. Modern flatbreads also are made a lot smaller than in the ancient Middle East. Modern flatbreads don't really remind us of how Isarael's painful history, and of how God's own words (different from Solomon's words as part of Israel's teaching itself and learning lessons the hard way), began to be written: on leather, on skins of cattle that had been killed. Remembering and still suffering the near constant turmoil of all of the Christmas season, makes it difficult to cherish and look forward to the lament and great joy of Easter this year. For me, it's hard to believe the Lenten passage to Easter is beginning. Monday, I ate the last of chicken I had in store, keeping i...

I didn't think I would regain strength of faith after true hell this Christmas season. But this Sunday morning, following Christmas day, I've gotten up again to hear faith. And while I feel unwell, I'm not destroyed. I feel set back, but not lost; unsure, but somewhat prepared for tomorrow. I can do all things within God's will. With God , all things He intends, are possible. This morning, partly before dawn, I was able to listen to three messages. Each message was not perfect, but breathed a kind of revival into my heart. The same goes for New Years Eve morning. In each message, I've also heard bits of what MEN err in feeling, right in the midst of God speaking! So while this day has yielded revival, I want to correct, in gentleness, two errors - while others care enough to correct me. The following are two of three revival messages, joy in the morning sermons I'm thanking the God of Heaven for holding in store as medicine; but also simple corrections, from my ...

  For anyone Jesus saves, newness in Spirit is born from within. (2 Corinthians 5:17, paraphrase) Elders used to say, "God sits high and looks low." It's true, His insight is in every place, light and dark, all over this world (Proverbs 15:3; Psalm 139:8). So it shouldn't be surprising to have found this cry of heart from a pastor in modern Bethlehem, which he may wrongly feel is an oppressive ghetto today instead of seeing the little town as the modern tourist site it is. Also different from how the pastor feels, we don't have anyway if knowing what ancient people group was most closely related to Mary as the Savior's birth mother. We only know that in believing Jesus, we each are saved. *** Although I feel differently than this author and his illustrator when it comes to cattle and even mice (Mice could perhaps have been warded off with strong herbs in ancient times!); although I'm weary of us today trying to paint Jesus' birth as dirty and even dis...

    I can agree with one thing I've seen this morning: that God's "sovereign will" takes into account men's mistakes and uses both those evils and any good for our good in Jesus. I believe a lot in our walk of faith is learning from mankind's mistakes. God allows some people to do the evil they want to do - and to believe the lies they want to believe. But through even the gravest of problems, some of us want to learn and overcome. And in learning, it's not about, "Well, God willed that this happen and so it is." No, instead, it's God allowed this evil that His children may stand corrected. God disciplines (diciples) who He loves, while allowing others to deal destructively in matters of eternal life and death. Often, He allows who He loves, who He foreknew as destined to live in Him, to make godless mistakes - but not to reach a point of no return.