I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn’t, than live my life as if there isn’t, and die to find out there is!


Wednesday, April 22, 2009

JESUS NOT INVITED TO OBAMA’S GEORGETOWN SPEECH

This is a dual post. I posted it a few days ago on another blog -
Restarting America -
http://www.americanrestart.com/
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Jusus Not Invited to Obama's Georgetown Speech

You know people, I am irritated.

A few days ago President Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University. First, let me say I find it troubling that Georgetown University, a Catholic university, would invite anyone who is pro-abortion and pro-fetal stem research to to speak there. But even more troubling is that once Obama accepted the invitation, his staff requested that a symbol of Jesus be covered up and the university agreed.

The symbol that needed to be hidden was “IHS.” Without going into a lengthy explanation, let me say that it is actually an abbreviation of the name Jesus.

The White House spin is that concealing the monogram was not their intention but that they wanted to provide a suitable background for the flags that typically appear when an American president speaks. Balderdash! Look at where the flags are and where the monogram was.

I wonder if anyone at the White House would have had to guts to ask that a Star of David be removed if Obama were invited to speak at a Synagogue, or request head scarves be removed if speaking at a Mosque? Somehow I don’t think so. But to belittle Jesus, well, that’s OK.

Mr. President and White House staff… that’s NOT OK. Jesus is my King, and God is keeping track.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Galatians 6:7



If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9:26


So it seems it’s OK for the president of the United States to bow before the Muslim ruler of another country, and it’s OK to shake the hand of the leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez a sworn enemy of the United States, but he cannot give a speech at a Catholic university and have the name of Jesus showing.

Be careful Mr. President…


Your comments are welcomed and appreciated. Especially welcome are suggestions of subject matter.

God bless America,

Wayne

Love all – Trust some – Harm none


Link to me at: www.LinkedIn.com/in/wcweeks

Follow me at: http://twitter.com/wcweeks

Be a friend at: www.Facebook.com

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Jesus of the Old Testament

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A while back I wrote an article about how Jesus actually spoke some of the Psalms and David recorded them. That brought about a surprising response from some readers. A number of them told me I was wrong because the Psalms had been written before Jesus was born.

People, please don’t take this wrong, but Jesus has always existed with God, the Father. Jesus was born into human form to complete the work that God sent him to do, but he existed long before that physical human birth. He has existed for all time, as has God. Jesus was born in human form so that He could die on the cross to save all of mankind, and fulfill God’s sovereign plan.

The gospel of John chapter 1 verse 1 reads: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In this verse, the Word refers to Jesus Christ, who is distinct from the Father and yet is God in the fullest sense.

If you now go to the first page of the Bible, Genesis 1 and read the entire chapter, just 31 verses you will have covered the six creation days. Pay special attention the verse 26: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Read that verse again slowly. God used the word "us" and the word "our." Who was he talking to? He was talking to Jesus of course. It could have been no one else.

Also, Jesus said: "Moses wrote of me" (John 5:46). Moses lived about fifteen hundred years before Jesus! How could Moses have any knowledge of Jesus, unless it was divinely revealed to him by God, perhaps by Jesus Himself?

The majority of Christians understand that Jesus, along with the Holy Spirit and the Father make up the triune God, or the trinity. But a lot of Christians don’t realize that Jesus is revealed in the Old Testament. From John 1:1 we know that Jesus is "the Word" or that "the Word" is indeed Jesus. We also know, from John 6:46 that no one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. From Colossians 1:15 we know we know that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

Understanding that, we must ponder the following Old Testament scriptures indicating seeing God:

Genesis 16:7-13 -- Hagar saw God.
Genesis 18-19:1 – Abraham saw God.
Genesis 32:28 -- Jacob saw God.
Exodus 33:11 -- Moses saw God.
Joshua 5:13-6:2 -- Joshua saw God.
Judges 6:11-23 -- Gideon saw God.
Isaiah 6:5 -- Isaiah saw God.
Job 42:5 -- Job saw God.

This list was not intended to be exhaustive so there may be others who saw God.

In view of John 1:1 and John 1:18 & 6:46 -- Who did they see? It was not God the Father, so we are left with no other choice except Jesus, the visual image of the godhead.

So my friends, since Jesus has been with God for all time and working along with Him, it’s pretty safe to conclude that Jesus did indeed speak some of the Psalms.

Learn more at: www.Capstone-Ministries.org

Be blessed,
Wayne

Love all – Trust some – Harm none

Link to me at: www.LinkedIn.com/in/wcweeks
Follow me at: http://twitter.com/wcweeks
Be a friend at: www.Facebook.com
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Friday, April 10, 2009

THE SPIRIT OF HOLY WEEK

It's Saturday. What a week it has been. It is very dark in here, and a bit cool. Not cold, just a bit cool. I think these linen cloths they wrapped my body in keep it from being too cold. You see, it was yesterday I died, but you know that. Are you wondering how I can sense cool or cold? Remember that I have always existed, from before the beginning, and will exist forever. There are no blank spots in my existence, not even when my body was dead and in this tomb. I am the Alpha and the Omega. I have almost completed my work here on earth. I have suffered; I have died; and tomorrow I will rise again. Tomorrow morning when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to anoint my body, they will find it is not here, but I will have someone explain it to them.

I have cried a lot in the past few hours, not because of my circumstances, but because of yours. You see, I have done what was required of me, and I did it to save you. To my sadness, there are many of you who still won't acknowledge me. Even after all I have done for you, because of my love for you. Yesterday, I cried out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" But I know why; it was for you -- because of my love for you. So now I ask you -- why are you forsaking me? I love you -- please come to me.

Oh yes, what a week it has been. It was just last Sunday that I arrived in Jerusalem. I entered the town on a donkey amidst shouts of "Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" from an enthusiastic welcoming crowd. It was only a short time later the same crowd was yelling "Crucify him!" , but that did not stop me from loving them. They did not know what they were doing.

On Monday, there was a little incident at the temple. When I got there, merchants were buying and selling doves and other things, and money changers were profiting from very active trade. They had turned my house into a den of robbers! How dare they! My house is to be a house of prayer. So, I turned over their tables and drove them from the temple. What else could I do? They had created an environment of stealing instead of healing. It could not be tolerated.

Tuesday was a little better. I was able to spend some time teaching at the temple. But even while doing so, my authority was questioned. Later in the day I went to the home of Simon the Leper. A woman there named Mary poured some nice perfume on my head, and then poured the nard on my feet and wiped my feet with her hair. She really didn't know it but she was preparing my body for burial.

Wednesday is the day that the plot against me began to take shape. Judas went to the chief priests and asked them what they would give him if he would hand me over to them. They gave him thirty silver coins.

Thursday I enjoyed Passover in a large upper room with my disciples. I let Judas know that I knew he would betray me. He denied it, but we know the truth, don't we? During the meal I taught the disciples about the new covenant and how to stay in communion with me with bread and wine. The bread is my body, and the wine is my blood -- poured out for you. Later in the day we went to Gethsemane because I wanted to pray. I was very distressed and troubled. My soul was overwhelmed with sorrow. I fell to the ground in prayer and asked the Father to take this cup from me if it was possible, but I knew it wasn't possible, and I wept. Sweat that was like blood dripped from my body. I was in torment, but I understood my mission; a mission of love. A mission of salvation.

Friday was the worst! First I was arrested, then a trial that was nothing more than a mock trial. After it ended, I was flogged and handed over to be crucified. What do you know about flogging? Do you know that it is done with a leather whip with multiple ends, and that there are sharp pieces of bone and metal in each end? Do you know that it leaves the back raw and bleeding, and sometimes exposes bones and organs? Do you know that sometimes it actually causes death? Did you know that? I endured that for you -- because I love you. And do you want to know something else? I would do it again -- for you.

After they were done flogging me, they made me carry the cross they were to crucify me on, up the hill to Golgotha. People spit on me and mocked me. They hung me on that cross, between two robbers. They pierced my side with a spear. I died on that cross. I won't tell you how horrible death on a Roman cross is, but you ought to know they came up with this method of execution because it is the most painful death imaginable. My mother was a witness. It is finished. In just a few hours I will leave this tomb, and my mission here will be finished, but I will be with you always -- until the end.

My beloved, I tell you the truth -- I did it for you. You and your salvation. Yet, I weep because some among you won't acknowledge me. Some among you won't listen to what I say when I say "Knock and the door will be opened." I love you so much that I want you to spend eternity with me in paradise. Won't you accept my invitation? Won't you let me live in you? Won't you experience the joy of real life?

CHRIST IS RISEN!
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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

THE CURSES OF JESUS

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Since becoming a Christian in 1991, I have spent a lot of time in the Bible. I have read it several times and one time even front to back. I have spent many hours in Bible study with others. But I just learned something that blew me away! I must admit that in all of the Bible reading I have done, I have never been very fond of the Psalms. They seemed repetitious to me, with David asking God to crush his enemies. As you know, David wrote most of the Psalms.

So, what is it I just learned? I learned that while David was the instrument to get the Psalms down on paper, what he was recording was not his own thoughts. David was recording prayers of our Lord, Jesus. Armed with that revelation, the Psalms took on a new meaning for me and became very interesting.

In many of the Psalms the psalmist seems to desire destruction, shame, judgment, fear, defeat, scattering, persecution, confusion and even death of his enemies. The Psalms containing such reflected desires are known as "imprecatory" or curse Psalms. The curse itself is called an imprecation.

So, now understanding that these imprecations are prayers of Jesus, then we now understand that these are curses from Jesus. It is Jesus calling down curses, from God, on His enemies. It is interesting to note that only Jesus can do that. We cannot, and David could not. Jesus teaches us to love our enemies and that we cannot seek revenge on out enemies as vengeance belongs only to God.

How then do we reconcile Jesus’ teaching of love your enemies with His curse prayers? That is not as difficult as you might think. The Lord Jesus Christ is praying these prayers of vengeance. They had to be of Christ for them to make any sense at all. These prayers signal an alarm to all that continue to be an enemy of Jesus. And, His prayers will be answered! God’s wrath will be revealed upon all that oppose Christ. Anyone who refuses to acknowledge the work Jesus did on the cross and rejects Him will bear the dreadful curses of God.

We must accept Jesus fully if we are to truly know who he is. There is perfect harmony in the Person of Christ. We must know Him as the loving and merciful Savior who forgives sin. We must also know him as the one who is coming in judgment of all who disobey His gospel.

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 says "God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power on the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed."

If you are still have some trouble accepting the imprecations as being from Jesus, the epitome of love and forgiveness, then consider the imprecations of Jesus contained in the New Testament. A good place to start is with Matthew chapter 23; Known as Seven Woes. Verses 13, 15, 16, 23, 24, 27 and 29 all condemn and call forth the judgment of God to fall on them. Clearly these are curses very similar to the imprecations of the Psalms. Then in verse 33, Jesus says "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?" This is quite a strong curse. You can see another in Matthew 26:23-24. I think I have made my point, but you can find other curses in the New Testament.

To say Jesus is love is indeed a correct statement, but He is clearly much, much more than just love.


Be blessed,
Wayne

Love all – Trust some – Harm none

Link to me at: www.LinkedIn.com/in/wcweeks
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