First Sunday in Advent: Hope

First Sunday in Advent: Hope

In hope we look forward to the soon and future coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to draw us home with him, and bring full justice to the world, as the saints of old looked forward to the coming of the Messiah before his birth.

Isaiah 40:1-5 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned:
for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low:
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain:
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together:
for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Hymn, “O Come, O Come Immanuel” (8th century)

Sing this hymn, as it was first written and intended, paying attention to the words: an expectation of the second coming of Christ to judge the world. He is coming onto his chosen Israel, his holy church made up of every nation. In Advent we pause to reflect on his coming, in anticipation and preparing our hearts for it. Even so Lord Jesus, come.

1 O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.
2 O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who ordered all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show
and teach us in its ways to go. Refrain
3 O come, O come, great Lord of might,
who to your tribes on Sinai’s height
in ancient times did give the law
in cloud and majesty and awe. Refrain
4 O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,
unto your own and rescue them!
From depths of hell your people save,
and give them victory o’er the grave. Refrain
5 O come, O Key of David, come
and open wide our heavenly home.
Make safe for us the heavenward road
and bar the way to death’s abode. Refrain
6 O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
and bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
and turn our darkness into light. Refrain
7 O come, O King of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
and be yourself our King of Peace. Refrain

Oh The Irony! Top Universities accused of being Anti-Semitic AND Islamophobic!

Oh the irony!

(Of course, antisemitic means anti-Jewish in common parlance although Arabs are Semites. But that aside,) Muslims must hate Jews religiously. It’s in their book. Mohammed was mocked by Jews in Mecca and so the later Quranic writings reflect his spite for Jews.

Jews believe they are God’s chosen people, and everyone else, including Muslims are under God’s curse and judgment. It’s in their book! (Although they have not kept God’s covenant, but instead are under his curse for rejecting the Messiah.)

This is a case where there are two contradictory religious positions, and you have to pick one, (or neither.) But you can’t pick both! So there are contradictory laws because Islam means not tolerating Jews and modern Judaism means not tolerating any non-Jews if they get in your way. 

So how are major universities running afoul of both at the same time? Well, they have different people: students and faculty taking different positions on issues. The irony is just hilarious. It’s lost on people who don’t actually understand Islam or Judaism. 

The doctrine of religious tolerance forces impossible contradictions.

COVID Lockdowns Failed

“It is not unreasonable to conclude from the available data that the lockdowns led to more overall deaths in the U.S. than a policy that resembled Sweden’s [not locking down] would have.”

Personally I’d like to see data on the impact of lockdowns on churches and in person church attendance.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/covid-lockdowns-big-fail-joe-nocera-bethany-mclean-book-excerpt.html

The German Reformation

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, …

The German Reformation

Reposted for Reformation Sunday

A New Speaker for the House asks the Republican conference to bow in prayer

The House of Representatives has elected a new speaker. After struggling to elect a new speaker for the last few weeks, the Republican conference settled on Mike Johnson from Louisiana. He asked the entire conference to bow in prayer following the vote. Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee lead in prayer thusly (by his account,) “Lord, please, do not let us lose our country. In Jesus name, Amen.”

(Burchett on the right of the photo after agreeing to lead in prayer if he could do it “‘Baptist style’ from the back”.)

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

What are we to do when they make void the law of God?; living in a decadent culture that not only sins against God, but sins in order to make void His law and set up its sins in place of it. The number one sign of a nation being under the judgment of God in Scripture is that he curses it with wicked and corrupt leaders. Which is precisely what we are experiencing in the USA today at the highest levels. We are nationally under the judgment of God.

This morning I went to church, where I heard a sermon on Psalm 119:121-128 (ayin).

The prescription of the psalmist applies to Christians in the USA today. We find ourselves un precisely that situation. It is to 1. Call upon God in prayer to act. v. 126 “It is time for thee, LORD, to work:
for they have made void thy law”, and 2. Pray for national repentance, reformation, and revival. Daniel 9 gives a model prayer. Won’t you pray it with me?

Psalm 119:121ff I have done judgment and justice:
leave me not to mine oppressors.
Be surety for thy servant for good:
let not the proud oppress me.
Mine eyes fail for thy salvation,
and for the word of thy righteousness.
Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy,
and teach me thy statutes.
I am thy servant; give me understanding,
that I may know thy testimonies.
It is time for thee, LORD, to work:
for they have made void thy law.
Therefore I love thy commandments
above gold; yea, above fine gold.
Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right;
and I hate every false way.

Let us pray for national repentance, revival, and reformation, with Daniel:

Daniel 9:4-19

And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

A Deceiver Meets His End

On this day, in the year 1622, a 44 year old capuchin friar known as Fidelis of Sigmaringen was trying to convert the inhabitants of Seewis im Prättigau, (in eastern Switzerland,) to Romish superstition. This was a Reformed City, and they had mustered in order to defend their community against the military onslaughts of the pope and his minions. A platoon arrested him outside a church, where he was fomenting popish errors, and executed him for the crime of heresy. Well done. Glory be to God!

Team No Kids

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.

Happy Epiphany!

Galette des Rois

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!

Devotions for All Saints Day