Opus 2025-576: Advent Calendar: Day 15, Leave the Light On

There is actually no mention of an inn keeper in the Christmas story.  It does tell us there was no room in the inn so we conclude that there must have been an inkeeper.  Did he offer them the manger because he was kind hearted or because he wanted a little extra money?  So many questions, so few answers.  We can rest assured that we don’t need the answers.

What questions did the inn keeper ask?  Did he ask for ID?  Did you make a copy?  Did he ask to see their marriage certificate?  Did he do much more than take their money and point at the stable?  It is understandable that he didn’t get into the details of their situation.  He assumed they were there for the census.

How many people today are in that doorway?  They see the celebration.  They hear the music.  They decorate and go to parties but they never ask the important questions.  There isn’t much we can do about the clerk in the 7/11 but we can ask ourselves to pay more attention.  Metaphorically have you dismissed the Christ Child as just another event going by?  Have you stopped to think about the implications that the Christ Child brings to your world?

Jesus came.  Let that be a testimony and not just a day on the calendar.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-575: The Push of God

How can God be considered pure, holy, righteous, and still interact with sinful man and a fallen world?  You would think the mirror contact with human beings in their natural state would introduce an element of pollution.  That is certainly the way it is in our experience.  Think of the plants that produce computer chips.  Think of laboratories that are doing research on viral contamination.  The big problem is being touched by that which is deadly poison.

My thinking is that the solution for God is the same one that the scientist have used in some of their laboratories.  I’m not sure what the actual term is, but I think of a concept of a positive pressure atmosphere.  In many labs, they make sure that the air pressure is higher inside the lab than it is outside.  That way any contaminated air will be pushed out and cannot find a way in.  That is if they are worried about contamination from outside.  If the problem was inside, reverse the pressure.

I’m thinking that there may be a divine principal on that line.  What brought me to this was the thought of the radiance of God.You don’t find it in the King James, but the quote came to me from the NASB,

Hebrews 1:3 (KJV) Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Hebrews 1:3 (NASB95) And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Noticed the word radiance in the modern translation.  It doesn’t appear at all in the KJV, it’s always brightness.  Even the NASB uses the turn brightness frequently. When you look at the theological definition in the Greek, it’s hard to get the nuance.  It’s only used once in the New Testament.  The old testament equivalent is a little more frequent .  The idea is that the radiance is pushing out, is beaming out.

The power of God’s holiness and purity is a radiating factor.  When God touches us in the redemption process or even just listening to the prayers of a sinner, He is aware, but He is untouched and unpolluted.  I think this is one reason why it is so important for us not to just receive the Holy Spirit as the disciples did before the crucifixion, but to be filled with the Holy Spirit as they did on Pentecost.

It is important to each of us to allow God to reach out to us with His full power and His full purity.  Let Him live within us in such a way that the evils of the world have a hard time penetrating.  We are not God.  We will never be perfect like He is.  And because of our frailties, we will probably never be able to put up a barrier totally to all negative influence.  At the same time we can live in the presence of the holy God and have His radiating influence inside us.

I think the Spanish phrase, “Vaya con Dios”, means go with God.  It might have originally meant may God go with you.  It may still mean that.  That’s an even better way to translate it.  Let the radiance of God’s holiness make evil flee from you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-574: Advent Calendar: Day 14, The Bit Players

And then we have the sheep.  It’s interesting which animals are not mentioned and which are.  We have all these Christmas cards with the Wisemen riding camels.  On another shelf are the cards showing Mary riding a donkey.  Then we have the Christmas carols talking about the animals in the stable around the manger.  Those are all traditions.  The only animals mentioned are the sheep that are being watched by the shepherds.

There is no indication that the sheep got excited by the angels.  I’m wondering if they ever even looked up.  Were the angels only visible to the shepherds?  It is possible.  Remember on the road to Damascus only Paul saw the bright light.  I would think that if the sheep had seen them, they would have gotten panicked and stampeded, or whatever sheep do.  There is no mention of any such event.

How like us.  There are miracles going on all around us and so often we just keep going about business as usual.  There are times when we should be shouting “glory” and instead all we can say is, “Pass the potatoes.”  There are times when the glories of God are declared from the pulpit or lectern and we should be running the aisles, but instead we are gripping because he’s using the KJV.

Recently, we had a lesson taken from the 23rd Psalm. In looking at the Psalm, I noticed that sheep are never mentioned.  It talks about the Shepherd.  It talks about the writer.  Sheep do not make an appearance, but they are inferred.  It brought to mind another verse that does talk about the sheep,

Psalm 100:3 (KJV) Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

In the stable, there were only three people to start with.  When the wisemen got there, there were just a few of them.  The shepherds probably represented a little bit larger group.  The biggest group, of course where the sheep out in the field.  That’s us folks.  During this time when we should be celebrating the incarnation and God becoming man, we spend much of our time as sheep in the field.

Take a few moments to stop and look up.  You can do it figuratively or literally, but the point is during this time of year grab the opportunity to rejoice in the God of our salvation, and that He was willing to come and make the sacrificeso that we could know eternal life.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-573: Advent Calendar: Day 13, Notification

Have you ever wondered what angels do with their time?  No?  I tend to get off on angels because I am aware of my guardian angels working overtime.  When I think of all the times I have come within a hair’s breath of disaster I grow thankful.  

At Christmas we think of them fulfilling their main assignment, delivering messages.

(Luk 2:10 KJV)  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

You can also find an angel delivering announcements to Zechariah and Mary.  For Joseph it was a dream.  We don’t know for sure how God communicated with the wise men.  Keep in mind that the word “angel” is a title not a name.  It literally means messenger.  In this case there are no individual names.

So we have the angel and later the heavenly host delivering celestial e-mails to the shephereds.  We think of the Holy Spirit speaking to us or breathing life in the scripture.  It is possible that the angels might also have something to say to us this season.  Perhaps they will join the choir and make a Christmas program extra powerul.

Keep listening.  You don’t want to miss the celebration.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-572: Be on the Alert

One of the issues that I think we need to be constantly reminded of, and reminding our self of, is what I’ve heard called Psyops.  This is sometimes called fifth generation warfare.  It’s the psychological manipulation of the population in order to bring them around to the idea that the elites want.  One of the major goals of the elite is to divide people with traditional values and destroy their culture without firing a shot.  People on the right, have certain things in common as a whole.  There are obviously things that they disagree on, however much of the disagreement is not really between them, but it’s the way it is caricatured by the media and the Talking Heads on YouTube.

I’ve seen this as they vilify Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens and now David Wood.  I’ve seen it as they continually try to act like Trump is losing his mind and people that you know have been consistent and solid are becoming flaky.  When we keep seeing it, we start believing it and often we hear it from sources that we thought were reliable, but are turning out to be not so much.

I was watching a discussion between two groups of people that I thought as generally reliable.  I still think they’re generally reliable.  I know there are things I disagree with them on, but their sense of integrity and their attempt to find truth is solid.  That’s true at least for me.  They were discussing the way in which the people on the right are being divided and being turned against each other.  That’s what I’m talking about.  There are so many attempts to make us form a circular firing squad and go after each other.

On the other hand, I saw a podcast by Victor Davis Hansen and he pointed out that the left is actually starting to freak out because there is so much truth coming through on different sources on the Internet that they can’t act as gatekeepers anymore.  He felt very optimistic about the possibility of success of turning the country around.

Which to believe?  Both.  But above all stay on the alert, realize that the people who control the social media platforms are not necessarily on your side.  Be aware of the AI influence.  Be aware of the propaganda that is proliferating everywhere.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-571: Advent Calendar: Day 12, Time to Move?

Let me spiritualize the experience of the shepherds. Spiritualizing is where you take passage of scripture and look for things which are probably not really intended, but provide some insights into life. Consider,

Luke 2:8 (KJV) And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

I want to focus on the word “abiding that is used in the KJV. When I read this, or at least stop to think about it, my mind went to the statements of Jesus about abiding in him and the promise that he would abide with us if we did. The word and it’s essence simply means to live inside or to locate at a place. It has the connotation of focusing on that place and making that place central to who you are.

The shepherds or where they were supposed to be, watching the sheep. You can only do that out in the fields. I guess in modern times you might set up some cameras and watch it on a monitor, but the idea is you need to be there to help them when they run into problems. You need to guard them. That requires abiding in the fields. That is well and good.

But what happens when the symbolic angels appear and tell you it’s time to move on, at least temporarily. What happens when God speaks to us in the spot where we are serving or comfortable and says, it’s time to get out of your comfort zone? The shepherds could’ve stayed where they were in discussed the awesome display that God had given them. They could’ve just ignored it I guess. In order to make that impossible God sent a whole host of Angels. God made all of them, see it. God made it almost impossible to ignore.

So they went.

be alert to see if God is calling you to get up and move. As I said before that could be a permanent change or just a temporary move. It could be just an adjustment. The thing is, we are to be obedient to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Merry Christmas and joyful obedience.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-570: No Know

Much of my thinking deals with the sifting of what I know and what I just think I know.  In listening to recent presentations at church I was impressed with the assurance that the speaker had that he spoke truth.  Verses were quoted, authorities recited, strong announcements made.  My problem is that I have read enough in my Bible to know if there were significant scriptures being left out, other interpretations that were not only possible, but were more likely, in conflict with his conclusions.

Most of us at sometime in our life want to know if something is true or not.  I will accept the fact that often when we just drift along in the comfort zone and as long as we are feeling no pain, then life is good.  There are other times when is really important to know the truth.  When it comes to what the Bible teaches, I think it’s important to know the truth rather than just live in tradition and habit.  It is very hard to separate Biblical truth from theological traditions.  I considered it a constant challenge in my life.

Knowledge comes in different categories.  I don’t think we stopped to think about it but we should.

One category of knowledge is that which we will never be able to understand or never know, at least not in this life.  When you run into someone who thinks they can tell you what it means, you need to be careful.  Some of that knowledge is of an infinite nature and and finite minds cannot grasp it.  I think of the nature of the Trinity here.  It exists.  We see all the scriptures that make it a logical conclusion.  Understanding it is another matter.  Another area would be something like the book of Revelation with all of it’s figurative language.  Everybody has a theory.  Everyone has a system.  They’re all quite elaborate and often times very entertaining.  But the truth is the person giving you their system doesn’t know any more than you do, in reality they just won’t admit it.  So we have some knowledge that it’s just beyond us.

Then we have knowledge that just isn’t so.  I would put the theological conclusions of people I disagree within this category.  When I meet with a friend and he tells me that Jesus only came to minister to the Jews, I’m afraid I put on my skeptic hat.  When I listen in church and your conclusions about Abraham totally overlook clear statements in other books, I find myself realizing that these people know what isn’t so.  When people use the phrase “faith alone” and the only place you’ll find the phrase “faith alone” is in James where it says that we’re not saved by faith alone.

This is the area that is the most difficult to live with.  People around us are convinced they know the truth.  Since they know the truth, they don’t need to think anymore.  They don’t need to be aware of their own inconsistencies because it fits well together in their plan.  When you read another passage, it makes their conclusions impossible, they don’t want to hear about it.  They tend to get very hostile and hot.  It may be necessary often just to keep what you see clearly to yourself because they’re not going to listen anyway.  In this category, I would think of people who claim that we cannot be righteous because of Romans 3:10.  The big problem with that is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of references in the Bible to people living righteous lives, being upright, even being perfect.

My goal is to go with the third type of knowledge.  I seriously believe that if we read carefully and think things through on our own, we can come to truth.  This does not mean we don’t discuss it with others.  It doesn’t mean we don’t listen to others.  Others might have insight that we haven’t thought about.  The thing is we can recognize truth when we see it because it is consistent with what we’ve been reading.  When we come across things that seem to conflict, I think it’s possible that we will be able to work out the conflicting aspects by digging a little bit deeper and asking ourselves what it really means.  For instance, one of the things I come across all the time are statements that talk about forever and ever.  Most people assume, logically, that this literally means forever.  The problem with that is that often you will find it used in a place where you know it can’t mean forever.  It becomes clear that the phrase is used figuratively rather than literally. J ust knowing that, recognizing it, admitting it, can take away a lot of conflicts.

So seek truth.  Sift.  Compare.  Meditate.  Listen.  And as the old Bible verse says, “Seek, and you shall find.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-669: To be, or not…

I have heard God described as the great I Am.  This, of course, goes back originally to the conversation that God had with Moses,

(Exo 3:14 KJV)  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

This was a great declaration by God differentiating Him from all the other gods. It was Him stating that He existed.

Then we have the I Am statements of Jesus.  These occur in the gospels where He is asked a question and in the translations that we see it usually comes across as, “I am he”.  The first of these in John is,

(Joh 8:24 KJV)  I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

If you have the right translation, you’ll notice that the “he” is not in the Greek text.  He simply repeating the statement from Exodus, “I am”.

So one of the great truths that I have embraced and I hope you have too is that God exists and that He is alive.  The question comes what does it mean to be alive?

That gets me looking around my yard and trying to come up with a definition.  The sidewalk is not alive.  The oak tree is.  What are some differences?  One can grow, one can’t.  One can die, one can’t.  One can change on its own, the other can only change from outside influence.  I originally started looking at this comparing, say, your dog with a rock.  One of the differences I came up with is the dog can move, and the rock can’t, but neither can the oak tree and it’s alive.  I thought of the fact that living things could reproduce and rocks can’t, but our definition of God would say that He does not reproduce.

It gets complicated.  It gets extra complicated as science advances and we come across things like the virus, and I think there are other forms of things in existence, which don’t fit the characteristics of life as we know it.

So when we say that God is alive, it’s hard to define.  I think one of the things that that means is that God is self-aware.  There’s also a term in theology, which I can never remember, which means that His existence is not dependent on anything outside of Himself.  I looked it up, aseity.  In other words He’s not created or supported by other forces.  I also think that it means that, although He does not change in character or basic essence, He is capable of the changes that involve thought and interaction with other lifeforms.  Thus we have God changing His mind based on what people do, but that does not change who He is or what His truth is.

This is an open ended thought process.  I expect to continue questioning myself on this for quite a while.  I expect God to reveal new thoughts to me and take me down rabbit trails that I didn’t know existed.  I’m looking forward to the journey.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-668: Advent Calendar: Day11, Walk It Off

One of the recurring pictures that appears at Christmas is Joseph leading a donkey with Mary riding on it.  That is one of the traditions of Christmas that has no foundation in scripture.  It it possible?  Yes.  Is it certain?  No.  The odds are that Mary had to walk to Bethlehem.  If she started from Nazarath that was about a 75 mile walk.  That would be a major hike for most of us today.  Back then, not so much.  People were used to walking everywhere but keep in mind that “everywhere” for most people was within a few miles of home.

We have a lot of traditions at Christmas.  For the most part they are harmless diversions as long as we don’t get consumed with them.  A donkey for Mary doesn’t have any theological significance.  Many of our traditions are supplements that make the celebration part of the holiday more special.  

Make sure that you take the time to concentrate on the miracle of the incarnation.  That is an essential.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-667: Roadkill Is Up

I noticed this morning that in the middle of town on a four lane divided roadway there was a dead deer laying on the center divider.  It seems like there’s been a lot of roadkill lately.  I’m not sure why it would seem that way at this point.  Maybe the cold weather dulls their senses.  It could be rutting season.  It could be they heard they are giving out free donuts somewhere.  I don’t know.  All I know is I’m seeing more of these animals that didn’t make it across the road.

What’s really interesting to those of us who are in Texas, and I would imagine it’s that way and other parts of the world, is that many times the roadkill is right in the middle of town.  If you live in a metropolitan area in Southern California or in downtown New York or something like that, you probably would have no idea what I’m talking about, but in our town there are places where you can drive through and you have to constantly be on the lookout because these deer are just wandering around.  They know they can’t be hunted.  They know their lives are sacred.  And so they’re very bold.  What they don’t understand is that the car could kill them too.

So why so much roadkill?  It is one of those great unanswered questions of life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-666: A Winter Question

Why did God make snow white?

No, I don’t mean the fairytale princess or the caricature created by Disney.  My question has to do with the color of snow.

Was God making a racist statement?

In case you’re new to people who write with an IQ of higher than 40 that was a rhetorical question.  Since God created all races, it’s kind of hard to believe that He would be racist.  Since Jesus most likely was Semitic and had a certain look about him, it’s doubtful that Norwegians are any higher on the racial hierarchy than people of the Middle East.  While it’s true that we don’t know for sure what the coloring was of people in those days we can look at modern distribution of population and be pretty sure that Jesus did not have blonde hair and blue eyes.

But back to our question…  Why is snow white?

Well, let’s look at the physics of the matter.  White is a reflection of all the colors of the spectrum.  Black is an absorption of all the colors of the spectrum.  So when you look at the color white, you are actually looking at all races mixed together.  Or you could say all race is rejected depending on how you want to look at it.

Why did God design the universe so snow needed to be reflective?  I’m guessing it has to do with the absorption of energy and the generation of heat.  Winter is a time of cooling.  It’s a time of the Earth renewing itself.  In order to do that there are certain temperatures that seem to be better.  If snow were black, it would absorb all the heat of the sun and melt very quickly.  Black cars are hotter in the summer than white cars.  I don’t know what that would do to runoff or to the temperature of the Earth around us.  Instead of being reflected in light, the sun‘s energy would be absorbed and warm the Earth.  Talk about climate change!

I don’t know if there are emotional contents to the color of snow.  Do all people tend to be more optimistic and up in a light atmosphere?  I believe I’ve heard that some cultures wear white to funerals as an expression of morning.  It’s possible that different colors affect different people or peoples in ways that others might not understand.  The fact that snow is winter and winter is depressing to many people might say to me that the reflection of white light is encouraging rather than depressing.

If that’s racist, then deal with it.  Just as snow is omnipresent once you get away from the tropics, so racism is a part of every culture if you define it correctly, or incorrectly as the case may be.

So go ahead and dream of a white Christmas.  Like all dreams it has elements of reality, but people forget what it’s really like driving through the slush, shoveling the sidewalks, coming in covered with cold, wet, white stuff, and all the other mysterious non-joys of winter time.  In case you have never lived in snow country let me advise you not to go out to pick up the newspaper in your stocking feet.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-665: Advent Calendar: Day 10, Second Fiddle

For some reason, Mary seems to be the focus of attention when it comes to the birth of Jesus.  One of the reasons might be that she was His mother.  Another might be the miracle of the Virgin birth.  But there was someone else there, someone else involved.  That was Joseph.

It might do for most of us to identify more with Joseph than any other character involved in the Christmas story.  He has a kind of a bit part, but he is vital.  His character and his willingness to listen to God made him essential and allowing Mary to have the baby Jesus.

Matthew 1:20 (KJV) But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Of course God chose him just as He chose Mary.  I wonder if in reality He didn’t prepare him for this.  When you go through the genealogies, you find that both Joseph and Mary trace their ancestry back to David.  There had to be some preparation in order to have these two come together at the right time.  God had to be sure that both Mary and Joseph would have the right character to be faithful to their calling.

I personally think it would be more fun to be one of the angels broadcasting the news from the skies.  I might like the prestige of being one of the wise men.  I don’t think I’d want to be a shepherd.  What God needs is more Joseph’s.  He needs more of us willingto serve faithfully, to step up when needed, and rest in the shadows when someone else is the main character.

May you find your place of service this year.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-564: Advent Calendar: Day 9, Stir Well

As Mary moves toward the time when Jesus is going to be born and Elizabeth is looking at the arrival of John, the two women get together.  As they are approaching each other, something happens that is rather unusual in one sense and normal in another.

Luke 1:41 (NASB95) When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

The middle phrase of this verse doesn’t portray anything unusual.  Babies kick, squirm, punch and other assorted movements while they’re still in the womb.  I can remember before mine were born, putting in my hands on the distended belly of my wife and feeling the movement, and if I was really lucky, even getting my hand knocked away.  There’s nothing unusual in that.

What was unusual was that this led to Elizabeth being aware that she was being filled with the Holy Spirit.  She must have shared this with Mary and when Luke was interviewing Mary later on, she must have related it to him.  This is unusual.  Pregnancy doesn’t usually end up in this kind of thing.

By coincidence this morning I was reading in Psalms and came across this verse,

Psalm 39:3 (NASB95) My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:

We need to be aware that God is quite capable of stirring up our inner emotions and our thoughts.  He’s capable of focusing us or refocusing.  One of the reasons that we remember special days is that so we can gather our thoughts, contemplate, and perhaps decide to do things a little bit different in the future.

Mary and Elizabeth were stirred as they got together.  During this holiday season use the times when we gather with friends and family to allow God to make something jump within us, perhaps you can have a renewal of the Holy Spirit in your life this time of year.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-563: A Song of Desperation

I’m sitting in my room with the lights out, gazing out into the pre-dawn greatest.  I have read in  Psalms.  I have read in Proverbs.  I’ve spent time contemplating things of God; now I am just enjoying quiet Christmas music in the background as I look out the window.  I noticed that a song has come on my stereo, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas…”  It’s a song I really enjoy because I know what Christmas is about.

What if you don’t know what Christmas is all about?  What kind of song does this become?  It becomes a song of wishful thinking, daydreaming about the good old days, and the vain hope that tomorrow will be better.  As I found myself listening to the words instead of just the Christmas emotion that they generate, I noticed that there was nothing in the song about a baby being born in a manger.  There was nothing about God becoming man.  There was nothing about the hope that is in us.  The closest I could come was that line which says “If the fates allow.”  That’s not much to hope on.

Since I know about the incarnation and how the virgin birth was the beginning of the path to the cross and that that led to the resurrection, I can find great joy in this song.  It’s not because of this song itself.  The song is really just the song of desperation when you think about it, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t rejoice in the creativity of the writer because we know why we can have a merry little Christmas.

I hope for you that the cross means as much to you as the manger and that the empty tune is less significant than the creche.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025: 562: Monday Pulpit: Eggs in Your Nose

The pastor, who usually teaches the adult Sunday school class, was out of town and we had a substitute.  Because the original substitute had backed out at the last minute, the man giving the lesson had not had as much time as he would’ve liked to prepare what he had to say.  He did what many of us do when we’re in that situation, you go to something familiar.  His choice was the 23rd Psalm.

We had a good time of discussion and I will be pondering this passage of scripture this week.  What’s amazing is the weird things that stick in your mind when you should be thinking on a higher level.  He was going over the care of sheep, and when he got to the point where it says “he anointeth my head with oil”, he pointed out that one of the problems sheep have is the bugs and flies and stuff that get into their nose and eyes.  I hadn’t thought about that.  When I thought of the anointing, I thought of kings and prophets, not sheep.

In the course of the discussion, he mentioned how the flies would lay eggs in the nose of the sheep.  I’m not sure if he came up with it or if I thought of it as he was talking, but I got this horrible picture of Satan laying eggs in my nose.  I’m not sure how to apply that but it certainly sounds like something I don’t want to happen in my life.

How do we keep Satan from laying eggs in our nose?  By the constant anointing of the Holy Spirit of God.  By constantly being in His presence.  By constantly allowing Him to reach out and touch us.  That happens in worship, and worship happens in so much of our lives and we don’t think of it as that, but it is.

So as you contemplate Christmas, think about how God has reached out to us not only as the race of mankind, but as individuals.  Let His presence be a constant barrier against the eggs of Satan.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-561: Advent Calendar: Day 8, Well Stricken

Put yourself in Elizabeth’s shoes.  She is well beyond the age of child bearing.  She has been denied the joy, and the pain.  An angel appears to her husband and says now is the time.  I like his response.

(Luk 1:18 KJV)  And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.

How many years does it take to become “well stricken”?  We are not told because we don’t need to know.  Accept the fact that it was a miracle.  Elizabeth was at the age where women should not have babies.  Remember that Sarah was the same way.  

Do you feel that you are “well striken”?  Do you feel like you are beyond the age of being useful, at least in your eyes or the eyes of those around you?  Keep in mind that God may not be looking at you with the same eyes.  I am at an age where I don’t do any long range planning.  The caution I keep reminding myself of is that I still need to be flexible enough for the Lord to use me in his plans.  He runs on a different time line that I do.

Rejoice and have a merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-560: Make It Fit

Sometime in the last couple months, I wrote about the necessity of getting the entire creation account into a limited document, constrained by writing materials and vocabulary.  Today, my thoughts were going to God communicating with us and of course I was grateful that we have a Bible now that tells us literally everything we need to know for salvation and for living our lives in a complex world.  It wasn’t always that way.

I got to thinking about how even in the days of Noah there was probably very little writing. I think the scholars have concluded that by the time of Abraham written communication was going on, but the number of people who could read would’ve been very small.  Then you think about the lack of words to describe things.

Take Genesis 1:1,

(Gen 1:1 KJV)  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Just look at the concepts that had to be conveyed there.  The verse says “in the beginning”.  I doubt if they had words for infinity, singularity, atomic mass, speed of light and so many other technical terms that I might recognize, but I can’t come up with on my own.  They had a word “beginning”.  They knew what it meant.  The fact that it meant a lot more than may have occurred to them is just part of the miracle of God communicating what needs to be known.

As you continue down, it says that God “created”.  That was a very specific word.  At least it is to us now.  The whole concept of creation by fiat is simple to understand if you don’t know the big words.  The concept is there, grab it and go.  The only two areas mentioned are the heavens and the Earth.  I think that pretty much covers it all for them.  They didn’t know about nebulas or dark matter or black holes.  They didn’t need to know.

And then you get to the Earth being “void” in the next verse.  These are concepts that even people with a limit vocabulary could grasp.  As their knowledge increased and the vocabulary deepen they were probably able to add things, but they didn’t really need to.

Which brings me, I guess, to the point that finally occurred to me.  As God went through the process of editing, assuming He had to proofread, He probably found things He could throw out because they weren’t necessary.  Since God is God, He probably got it first shot.  Things are left out because there is not a need to know.  When I was in the army one of the topics they dealt with was security.  There are two basic factors:  First is the level of security clearance and second is the need to know.  You may have the clearance, but no need to know it and so it is withheld from you.

I have recently commented on wanting to know more about the conversations between Moses and God.  We have been given what we need to know . We’re quite free to speculate and reason and look for theological principles, but what we have is what we need to know.  We don’t know where Adam and Eve’s children got their wives.  We don’t know how many wisemen there were.  We don’t know what happened to the unicorns.

We know what we need to know.  There might even be a few extra facts in there.  I know there’s a lot of stuff that’s thrown in just to confuse the issue like why the Lamb had all those eyes, but we know what we need.

Wasn’t it frustrating when our parents told us we weren’t old enough to know that yet?

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Opus 2025-559: Advent Calendar: Day 7, Bad New/Good News

What do we know about Mary?  When it comes down to it, not much.  From Luke’s Gospel we know that she was a virgin and engaged to be married.  We know she was a descendant of David and lived in Nazareth.  That is about it.

Then we come to the speculation.  Was she young?  It would make sense but it does not say so.  I have a book on my shelf that I am slowly working through called The Lost Books of the Bible.   The title would go well as YouTube Clickbait.  They are not lost and they are not part of the Bible.  They were well known and rejected for good reasons.  One of them deals with Mary’s life before she appears in the gospels.  It is probably where the Catholics get some of their ideas about the perpetual virginity of Mary.

Mary deserves our respect.  She is an excellent example of being willing to be obedient.  She does not deserve our veneration.

Speculate all you want.  Let your imagination blossom.  Don’t lose contact with reality.

Merry Christmas.

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Opus 2025-558: Uncharted Revelation: Church Angels

As I have previously written Revelation is not my favorite book . Also, as I have previously written, it is in the Bible, which means it has something to say to us if we can just find it.  I’m not overly impressed with the idea of beasts with six wings and eyes all around.  I’m sure that has some profound meaning but I also believe that there’s no way we can know what it is.

However, I did notice some things.  I’m going to try and lay a few of them out.  To some of the things you may say, “Aha.”  Other things you may want to brand me as a heretic.  It’s your choice.

My first thought emerged in looking at the first three chapters of Revelation.  I think this section is totally separated from the rest and is worth study on its own.  I think there are many things we can learn from it.  One of the things that I found interesting is something I’ve seen before but never thought about.

Did you notice that there are seven angels, seven lamp stands, and seven churches?  Of course you did.  My question is, “Does this mean that every church has an angel assigned to it?”  I don’t mean just in Revelation.  I mean every church, everywhere.   I don’t want to make too much out of this because it’s easy to take something and blow it out of proportion.  At the same time it’s true here that each church has one and notice John speaking was to the angel of the church and not the church itself.

(Rev 2:1 KJV)  Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

This happens each time.

I like the idea.  Of course I like the idea of guardian angels also.  There’s at least one verse that would give me a reason to think that God has assigned angels to guard us.  Here I think that perhaps there’s an indication that He also assigned Angels to each church.  That means that your local church regardless of how big or small would have an angel assigned to you.

I’m not sure what the Angel would do for us.  Perhaps he would be a guardian angel.  He might be working somehow with the Holy Spirit to create a spirit worship in the service.  He might quiet babies down a little bit, or he might stir them up, depending on our needs and his mood.  Don’t count on him to mow the grass, fill the communion cups, or make the pastor notice that he already spoke 10 minutes past his slot.

I like to thank my guardian Angel on a regular basis.  I might start doing the same thing for my church Angel.

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Opus 2025-557: Advent Calendar: Day 6, Gabriel

Most people know that an angel appeared to Mary and announced she would have a baby.  Many of those people know that his name was Gabriel.  A few less know that he appeared to Zacharias to announce the birth of John.  People into prophecy might know that he also appeared to Daniel.  That sums up his appearances.

His name means “man of God” or “warrior of God”.  His title, “angel” means messenger.  

One bit of good news that might occur to you when you read this part of the Christmas story is that God communicates with His people.  You may not get an angel but you have immediate access to the word and can always seek the leading of the Spirit.  Often when we don’t know what God wants us to do it is because we are too busy on Facebook to pay attention to what He has to say.

Have you noticed how often the first words out of an angels mouth are, “Do not be afraid”?  Be glad that you don’t need to come face to face with a being that can stand in the presence of Almighty God.

Merry Christmas.

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Opus 2025-556: Click Bait: Amazing Isn’t

The Clickbait promised to show me all the amazing things that the Notes app on my iPhone would do for me.  Needless to say, I did not bother clicking on it.  There are a lot of things I don’t need my Notes app to do.  I’m already using the one on my iPad and iPhone and in a general sense it works just fine .

Hover over conversations I’ve had and hear what so many people keep saying about upgrades to their software.  One of the universal complaints that I keep hearing is that they don’t want updates.  Every time a new operating system comes out, a new word processor or who knows what else those of us who have a bit of experience and maturity, keep wondering who they’re trying to fool.  Every time I buy a new laptop, I buy the current version of Word Perfect.  I keep wishing I could go back to the old version I used several laptops again ago.  The so-called improvements actually make things worse.  In addition to just moving things around in order to feel needed, they take away the things that I use the most and add things to take three times as much time to implement.

I find myself looking for the old discontinued items when I shop.  If I need a new Bible I look for the old 1977 edition of the NASB.  I could understand why the 1611 KJV needed to be upgraded but the language has not changed that much since 1977.  I drive an old car and hope I never need to buy a new one because I don’t want a computer telling me how to drive.  I use GPS but I always check the route it has laid out to see if it is really where I want to go.  I even prefer Old Fashioned Oatmeal.

I accept the fact that there are young people out there who have time on their hands and still think that socialism is going to work.  These are the ones who probably think that the latest app or upgrade is going to revolutionize their life.  I disagree.  It will take up more time.  They will have less leisure.  Along with that they will do less thinking, reading and contemplating what’s actually going on around them.  They will be more susceptible to being controlled.

So no, I don’t need to know all the glorious things that my Notes app can do.  It does what it was designed to do and does it well.  That’s all I need . But then I’m just a dinosaur living in the world of mammals.

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Opus 2025-555: Advent Calendar: Day 5, More Prophecy

One of the most troubling details of the birth of Jesus is the claim that Mary was a virgin. I think of one popular Bible commentator, William Barkley, who has so many great insights to share, and yet rejects the virgin birth.

One of the reasons why we need to accept and believe in this truth is that it was prophesied by Isaiah.

Isaiah 7:14 (KJV) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Left by itself this verse might be overlooked, and Bible commentators will say that it had an application in the day in which it was pronounced. However, when you look at the gospels, you find that it is reinforced and reinterpreted to make it clear that God had this planned from the beginning.

Sometimes God works through the world of physics. Sometimes he works through the world of miracles. We have to be able to accept both and have the discernment to see, which is which. One of the litmus tests that I am able to use to determine whether someone is a biblical Christian is the virgin birth. it is a clear statement in both the old and New Testament. To my knowledge, there is no disagreement in the other church about it. The only disagreement is between the Catholic view, saying that she remained virgin and the protestants saying that she had other children.

Embrace the miracle. It’s part of the mystery of Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

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Opus 2025-554: Paul’s Timing

I’m thinking that Paul’s trip to Rome was well planned as far as the timing goes.  Paul was one of those type A personalities that seemed to really be able to change the world around them.  Those of us who are not type A don’t understand what it’s like to be locked into that kind of motivation and self assurance.

I think that the biblical gift of apostle would be better translated missionary, and by missionary I don’t mean someone who goes to an established field and teaches theology.  I’m talking about someone who goes into a pagan environment and carves out a church.  It requires a kind of drive that most of us don’t have.  A lot of missionaries should have stayed home and run VBS.  I think of a dynasty in my denomination that went to Africa and served for two generations and made no converts.  I salute their commitment but not their wisdom.  I heard stories of two different “missionaries” who went to Japan and came home after one tour because they could not penetrate the culture.  That showed a proper sense of humility.

In modern times I think of someone like Mark Driscoll when he was at Mars Hill.  Years ago I used to listen to his podcasts as I would go walking.  He claimed it was the most unchurched area in the United States and I can believe that.  In that atmosphere God allowed him to build a large church on multiple campuses.  I have my theories about what brought him down.  It may have just simply been God’s time for him to move on.  He was definitely a type A personality like the apostle Paul.

I read the journals of John Wesley.  Wesley was one of the great men of God.  He was used by God to bring about revival in England, which preserved the culture and kept the country from dissolving into revolution and chaos.  At the same time I don’t think I would have enjoyed spending an afternoon with him.  He was intense to the point of being obnoxious.  If he felt something was right, nothing would keep him from moving forward.  God has a special place in his heart for people like this.

Down through history I think there have been many people like this.  Be thankful for them.  At least be thankful for the ones who were willing to be submissive to God’s guidance so they could advance righteousness in the world.  This type of personality, misusing the gift, probably also came out in the evil of tyrant and warlords.

I think Paul had to constantly fight this in his life.  He was on a crusade to destroy the church.  He was steeped in biblical knowledge, or at least in the rabbis’ interpretation of it.  He had a heart for God.  At the same time, he was so sure of himself that he didn’t spend as much time listening as he should have.  That’s why God had to deal with him severely on the road to Damascus.  That’s why Jesus had to appear to him personally and teach him personally.  Paul was not the kind of person who would listen to others, but he had the gifts that God wanted for the task ahead.

Paul went into pagan areas and was used of God to found churches.  I think the longest period he stayed was Ephesus for three years.  Other than that he would come in, preach and teach for a while, appoint elders and pastors, and move on.  He had been called by God to go to the Gentiles.  If you read your New Testament, you’ll find that in spite of the fact that he kept broadcasting that call he always started with the Jews.  He would go to a town, visit the local synagogue, be accepted as a rabbi, and start teaching.  After a while, he would make some converts and the rest would throw them out.

He would move on.

What brought me to this at the beginning was observations I made from reading the opening chapter of the book of Romans.  You’ll notice that he is anxious to come to Rome.  His reasons? Basically it comes down to the fact that he feels like they’re not as spiritual as they should be and he wanted to raise them to a higher level.  He completely ignores the fact that the church was established without his input, and as far as we know, was doing quite well without his assistance.  In spite of that he felt like he had a need to get in the middle of it.  Thankfully, God used this to provide us with the book of Romans.  But you noticed that somewhere in his involvement with Rome, he was arrested and eventually executed.

We also find I think three places where he starts talking about “my gospel”.  I don’t think he was aware of what he was saying there.  It was not “his” gospel.  It was the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I think he would have admitted that.  At the same time being such a forceful personality, he personified everything.

We have to go on tradition and legend at this point.  We don’t know that Paul was actually executed in Rome.  If he was, he was still in the prime of life.  He still had many years left if God wanted to preserve him and his ministry.  Instead, God brought it to an end.  We often wonder why people die when they do.  In reality, the only God knows, but I think He has a good reason for His timing.  Paul performed an invaluable service to the church and the kingdom.  It was time for him to step aside, but people with his personality don’t have a tendency to do so.  So God promoted him.

Now it’s your turn to do your part.

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Opus 2025-553: Advent Calendar: Day 4, Micah

When the Wise Men appeared before Herod the Bible scholars were called for.  The question of the day was, “Where is the expected king to be born?”  As you and I would expect, there was an answer, and it was found in the Bible.

(Mic 5:2 KJV)  But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

The key to this prophecy is in that last phrase which points out this is not just a regular ruler but an eternal one.  I am guessing that was more than Micah was asking for.

As you go through this Advent season you will have situations.  You will have questions.  You will need to make decisions.  Make sure one of the sources you check is your Bible.  You may find that something you have read many times suddenly comes to life under the current need.

Merry Christmas.

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Opus 2025-552: More Jellybean Philosophy

I sometimes wonder why people can’t see the inconsistency in their thinking and the application of their thinking.  My focus is on theology, but it would apply to just about any discipline.

Last Sunday in our Sunday school hour we were looking at Romans chapter 4.  The apostle Paul is discussing the relationship of faith and the law.  I had to sit on myself because the nuances that I would have wanted to go into could not be explained in that format.  The simplistic statement that all you need is faith was repeated again and again.  At its heart, that is a correct statement.  Faith, belief stating that you were on board with Jesus, is an essential element of salvation.  You can’t argue with that.  The problem is that everybody ignores the rest of what the Bible says.

But that’s not the inconsistency I’m talking about.  That’s just having a focal point of a lesson and emphasizing what is important.  Where it came home was an hour later in the sermon, by the same leader, in the same building, too many of the same people, the theme was making the right decisions in daily life.  Again, decisions are important. But when 2/3 of the sermon focuses on fornication and alcohol abuse I start to wonder, what happened to the faith being the only thing needed?

I am aware of these two requirements presented in the Bible.  We must have faith in order to be saved.  The problem with that statement is the Bible also makes it clear that we are to walk in righteousness.  It is not optional.  The way they were presented on Sunday made them mutually exclusive.  Anyone paying attention would’ve asked themselves, “What?”  They can be explained.  They can be brought together.  The problem is that requires a little deeper study and a broader application of scripture.

Somehow, I think we have the same problem in the areas of science, the pseudosciences such as psychology and sociology, economics, you name it.  People have their themes.  They have their thought at the moment.

And here’s where I get to my title.  I think most people’s thinking is like a bag of jellybeans.  Every jellybean has its own distinct flavor.  Every jellybean is separate from the others.  There might be a little bit of a coating wiped off on another, but they are still unique.  You might put several in your mouth and chew them up at the same time and get a totally different flavor.  All that time the jellybeans are kept separate within themselves.

We should have more of an approach of a nice beef stew or a clam chowder.  Perhaps a whole grain bread would work.  We need to get to where we take all of the ingredients in our intellectual pursuits as well as in our cuisine and realize that they work together for the finished product.

It’s not cynicism. It’s needed skepticism. It’s not naivety, but wisdom.

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Opus 2025-551: Advent Calendar: Day 3. Abraham

We can follow the idea of the seed down through the ages, but Paul summarizes it when we get to the book of Galatians.

Galatians 3:16 (KJV) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Jesus was the promise that was given to Eve.  Each generation would assign one person to carry the promise.  If you look at the genealogies of Matthew and Luke, you see a list of how this was passed down until it came to Jesus.

Christmas was the fulfillment of a millennium old promise given by God in the garden of Eden.  It wasn’t a later addition.  It wasn’t an adaptation.  It wasn’t an afterthought.  When sin entered the world God provided the promise for a cure.  Christmas is that promise.  Jesus is that cure.

Rejoice and merry Christmas

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Opus 2025-550: Advent Calendar: Day 2, Replanting the Seed

Yesterday we saw that God had established the promise of the seed.  You could take this to mean a general sense of being a descendant about him and Eve.  As we continue reading, we find that this term is meant to be selective.  Jump forward a little bit and you’ll find that after Cain killed Abel, God again communicates something to Adam and Eve.

A new child was born and notice what the Bible tells us about that child,

Genesis 4:25 (KJV) And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

Cain was still alive.  In the literal sense the seed of Eve was still being passed on, but noticed that God specifically bypasses him and goes to Seth.  We will see this pattern down through the years.  It’s not that every descendant of Eve is considered in the path of the seed.  That would mean the entire world is the Messiah and we know it was only Jesus.

Keep in mind that God plans ahead and, even though some people deny the possibility, He can adjust His plans to meet the ways in which human beings respond to His overtures.

Merry Christmas. Be grateful that Seth stepped up to the plate.

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Opus 2025-549: BIG TRUTH, little truth

I’m sitting here thinking about how serious, honest people of good faith can differ on their understandings of things.  My reference of course is theological, but I see this in politics in economics and just about every area.  How do we know what is true as opposed to what we want to be true?  I know I’m quite capable of seeing how other people do not grasp the big picture.  What comes back to haunt me is the question of whether I actually see the big picture.

Is truth simple or complex?  That’s another one of those questions which you answer, “Yes”.  It’s almost pointless to try and break down the question itself without specific examples.  So let me give you an example.

If I would walk out beside the road and pick up an object from the ground and show it to you and ask you, “Is this a rock” you would be able to answer me in most cases yes or no.  If what I picked up was a leaf you would say obviously that’s a leaf not a rock.  It was a piece of well worn concrete you might not be sure.  But ultimately, it would be easy to determine if this was a rock or not.

Is that truth?  Is that simple?  Is there more to it?

And then I might ask you OK, what kind of rock is this?  If you’re not into geology, you might have no idea.  I know that there’s limestone and granite.  I know that there are geodes that have beautiful colors inside when you break them open.  I know there is volcanic rock.  I know just enough to be dangerous.  I know just enough to know that there are deeper truths to the question of what is a rock?

One of these will be TRUTH, and the other will be truth.  Life is like that.  There always seem to be deeper levels.  When we have disagreements, we have to decide how deep a level we’re going to go to.  In the discussion of rocks, we have to come to a basic understanding of what the generic term rock means.  After that, we can start breaking it down and look for deeper meanings.  We can get down to the chemical composition, what elements are in that rock.  We can ask ourselves does it contain gold?  But we have to agree on what the basics are before we can go deeper.

It always amazes me how I can talk to people who will look at Donald Trump, agree with everything he’s done, think that he has been a positive force on America, recognize that the world has responded positively towards what he’s done, and refused to vote for him no matter what because “Orange Man bad”.  And yes, these people exist.  You have massive numbers of young people who are excited about socialism and communism.  The evidence of what these systems produce is clearly demonstrated by history.  They don’t care.  They are literally saying, don’t confuse me with the facts.

I guess we just have to keep stating the truth loudly and strongly.  We need to keep checking our facts to make sure that they aren’t talking us into delusions.  We have to build relationships with people by being patient and kind and courteous.  We have to hope that somehow the latent intelligence that’s buried deep under the layers of indoctrination can breakthrough.

Keep talking. Keep listening. Keep praying.

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Opus 2025-548: Advent Calendar: Day 1, The Protoevangelium

The coming of the Messiah was not a last minute project.  In fact it begins right inside the garden of Eden as Adam and Eve are about to receive their eviction notice.  This verse has a fancy name which you saw in the title.  Break it down.  The proto is the first design as in prototype.  The second part is our word for evangelism which means “good news”.  This is a prophecy about the relationship between the serpent and the seed of Mary, Jesus.

(Gen 3:15 KJV)  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

God plans ahead.  If he were living in Texas today He would already have His shopping done.  The message was that Jesus was coming.  For us it is that He is already here.  Merry Christmas.

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