The childfree mentality is evil. In fact, it’s diabolical. It is against life and pro death. It takes no thought for the future, but only the present. It makes you the center, in other words, self-centered. It dishonors the Creator. It is against the prosperity of the nation, and the flourishing of the human race. “Team No Kids” does what Satan bids.
Epiphany, January 6.
There are two traditions for Epiphany: the western and the eastern. The western tradition remembers the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, and the wisemen who brought them to the Christ child from Babylon, showing that he is the king and savior of all nations who came to prophesy of his kingdom and to die for sinners. Gold is a gift fit for a King. Frankincense is an aromatic spice that was added to the oil of anointing to anoint prophets, priests, and kings. Myrrh is a spice to prepare bodies for burial. The gifts reflects who he is as Christ, our prophet, priest, and King.
The eastern tradition on Epiphany remembers the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan river. There was a ritual purification with water that was required of the priesthood that John performed on Jesus, as he identified with sinners. Not that he needed baptism for the remission of sins, but that he came to remit sins and identified with us sinners in his work of redemption by undergoing baptism. Then after John poured water on his head, and he got out of the river, the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven of the Father, saying “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This was his ordination service into the office of the Christ.
Epiphany is a revealing or showing. Both with the gifts of the wisemen, and at his baptism, Jesus of Nazareth was revealed to the world to be the Christ, the savior of all nations.
Worship Christ, our King and Savior. Happy Epiphany!
For Reformation Sunday:
Monday, October 31, 2022 marks the 505th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 theses on the door of the cathedral church in Wittenberg, which is often referred to as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
Click on the following link to listen to audio of a lecture that I gave on another Reformer, Ulrich Zwingli and “The Swiss Reformation” in Denver at Providence Orthodox Presbyterian Church five years ago to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18mfsgXEQGtlJdJk-_eOSCSToBoBwRWx-/view?usp=drivesdk
(Tap the down arrow “download” icon and it should play for you.)
Monday, October 31, 2022 marks the 505th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 theses on the door of the cathedral church in Wittenberg, which is often referred to as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
Click on the following link to listen to audio of a lecture that I gave on “The German Reformation” in Denver at Providence Orthodox Presbyterian Church five years ago to mark the 500th anniversary:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K_y4vfaQD4OaPAsAUjqwQlucvK8QKjGS/view?usp=drivesdk
(Tap the down arrow “download” icon and it should play for you.)
Millennials and older grew up in a moribund Christendom that was on its last leg here in the USA. There’s no going back to that. The foundations must be rebuilt. We’re going to party like it’s 1620.
In the third century Athanasius felt like the entire world was against him for preaching the true doctrine of Christ and he was literally banished from the Roman empire entirely. The heresy of Arianism was en vogue, similar to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Claiming that the Son is the first creation of the Father. Which is not a Savior. But within a generation or two the Arians were banished from the empire. And the preaching of the True doctrine of Christ was being promulgated by men like Gregory Nazianzus, basil the great and Gregory of Nyssa, after the framing of the Nicene creed, with the support of the empire.
Be encouraged. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. We win eventually!
As our reformed forefathers taught us in the midst of terrible persecution against the Church of Christ, when the civil government and the body politic is shaking its fist at God and spitting at the sky, trying to throw off his yoke (Psalm 2), that is the exact time to proclaim the sovereign authority of God and his law over all nations and governments. It’s more important than ever.
The Belgic confession was written in 1559 (by Guido de Brès) when the false church of Rome was fiercely persecuting the reformed churches. It was literally thrown over the city wall as a statement of faith to the Roman Catholic rulers. Note what it says about the civil magistrate:
36 Of Magistrates
We believe that our gracious God, because of the depravity of mankind, has appointed kings, princes and magistrates, willing that the world should be governed by certain laws and policies; to the end that the dissoluteness of men might be restrained and all things carried on among them with good order and decency. For this purpose he has invested the magistracy with the sword, for the punishment of evildoers, and for the protection of them that do well. And their office is, not only to have regard unto, and watch for the welfare of the civil state; but also that they protect the sacred ministry; and thus may remove and prevent all idolatry and false worship; that the kingdom of antichrist may be thus destroyed and the kingdom of Christ promoted. They must therefore countenance the preaching of the Word of the gospel everywhere, that God may be honoured and worshipped by every one, as he commands in his Word. Moreover, it is the bounden duty of every one, of what state, quality, or condition soever he may be, to subject himself to the magistrates; to pay tribute, to show due honour and respect to them, and to obey them in all things which are not repugnant to the Word of God; to supplicate for them in their prayers, that God may rule and guide them in all their ways, and that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Wherefore we detest the Anabaptists and other seditious people, and in general all those who reject the higher powers and magistrates, and would subvert justice, introduce community of goods, and confound that decency and good order, which God has established among men.
The moral law revealed in the 10 Commandments is the same in substance with the natural law. Turretin
This runs counter to the claim that natural law apart from Scripture can be a sufficient basis for morality in any sphere including government etc. because The 10 Commandments are the summary of that law man is supposed to be learning from nature, or the same in substance with it, and so they are the test of whether laws are just or not.
Grateful that God provided to the United States of America such a sober and dutiful man of faith as the father of the country: George Washington.
The more one learns about him, the more one discovers how his character has shaped the ethos of the Union, for good.
For Presidents’ Day.
High Plains Parson 