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Critical Issues

Current Theological Issues Confronting the Church

Jesus Our Sabbath, part 2.

Chapel of SS Mary & Katherine - interior looking east

This missive was written in response to a friend who has insisted that Saturday is the only day for worship. Part 1 is here Summary: Come to ME, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Sabbath) Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest (Sabbath)  for your souls. Matthew 11:28–29 Rick as I read through your letter,  I am hesitant to respond in detail as I fear you have missed my main point.  But I will get to that.  Unfortunately, you have unreliable sources for excluding the phrase “he declared all foods clean”   The parentheses are not in the original text, btw, but the attestation for that line goes back to early manuscripts:  https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/was-thus-he-declared-all-foods-clean-inserted-by-man-mark-719/  Your assertion that the situation was unique to Antioch about using the Noahic Covenant for Gentiles is just not true.  It is repeated three times in Acts as a counsel as to how to treat Gentile believers.  That Noahic Covenant declared all foods clean:   “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh … Read more

Jesus is Our Sabbath

Chapel of SS Mary & Katherine - interior looking east

Jesus is our Sabbath, our Day of Rest.  He is the fulfillment of the Law. For he said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17 (ESV)  Therefore it says: “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30–31 (NIV)   Our righteousness and holiness are to be found in Jesus alone; and in his labors that fulfilled the law we can find our rest.  That is why it says of Jesus, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”  Hebrews 4:8–11 (ESV) In other words, if you want a true Sabbath rest, … Read more

The Loss of Reason and Truth in Modern America

unrecognizable woman with blindfold and blooming roses

Where reason has lost its sway, argument has lost its value. You are no longer dealing with ideas and concepts but with emotions and feelings. It is impossible to argue with feelings and emotions, as they have no root in objective reality, but are a response to experiences, good and bad.

Thy Kingdom Come …On Earth!

clouds during sunset

(Audio suffers from an echo…sorry)
The Gates of Hell will not be able to withstand the increase and aggressive advance of the Church, which God is using to establish the Dominion of God on the Earth. Aided by supernatural power, the people of God will be empowered to bring evidence of God’s reality, beauty, and love to the world. The church has been praying for the kingdom of God to COME on the Earth for over 2,000 years. What will that look like?

What is Truth?

cutouts of letters

Understanding Western Culture’s world view, how it forms a stronghold and why it is difficult to talk to others about faith matters, when all the culture’s assumptions are materialistic.

There Are Only 2 Races of Mankind

I have been the only “white-boy” pastor in an all-African American church. I was born a gentile, but by faith I am also a son of Abraham. I am grandfather to my Hispanic grandchildren. I have a mixed-mutt Anglo-Swede-German-Celtic and who-knows-what-else of a heritage. I have brothers who are Asian and Native Americans. Our church is a beautiful melting pot of multi-ethnic souls. In the world, there are only two races of mankind. However they are not races based on skin color or ethnic origin. The two races of mankind are those who in God and those are not. If you are in Christ, we are of one blood and we share God as our Father. We are blood brothers in Jesus. We are family. We are one. Historically, there has always been hostility between peoples of different tribes, tongues, religions, and colors. In Israel, in the Temple, there was a low wall called a “soreg” beyond which no non-Hebrew could go on pain of death. Within the wall, closer to God’s Holy Presence, only the covenant people could go. This wall created hostility between Jews and non-Jews; it was an exclusion zone that created a second class of citizens. … Read more

See What the Networks Are Afraid to Air!

What the Networks are afraid to air:  more examples of Thought Police even by FOX “In an era where we’re trying to give survivors a voice, whether that is through the #MeToo movement or on any number of issues, for some reason we deem survivors of abortion worthy of being ignored into oblivion,” Ms. Gillett said. “That, to me, is both ironic but also just appalling.”

Transgenderism is A Religion

Transgenderism is a belief that is not upheld by science. A person claims to be transgender by identification, which is an mental or emotional attachment to an idea. The person who claims to be a female, but is in fact a male, is denying the scientific fact of biology, genetics and DNA. It is therefore a religious belief, whose enforcement by the state violates the First Amendment’s second clause by establishing a religion.

The Gospel of Suffering

Christ Crucified

There is a Gospel of Prosperity is unbalanced when there is no recognition of the role of suffering in God’s plan for our lives.  Even Jesus, though having never sinned, was made perfect through suffering.  If he was perfected by suffering, can we expect any less for ourselves?

The Search for Utopia… Cleansing History

There is a strange and unrealistic movement in the radical left today to somehow fix the country by cleansing its history of all its imperfect past. This attempt to erase history, rather than to learn from it, is more than idealism. It is thought control. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the powers that be were constantly changing and rewriting history to fit with their present political objectives. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”