O you who love the Lord, hate evil! – Psalm 97:10 ~ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. – Proverbs 14:12
In the light of over 500 verses from Holy Scripture…This is in my links page. Click on image to read.
The Truth About
Christmas and Easter
Some people have such fond memories of Christmas and even
Easter. They view these times as days of enjoyment with family
and friends. Other people view them as a burden instead of a
blessing. There seems to be some controversy about these days.
The interesting thing about both of these celebrations is that they
are not found in the Bible. Should Christians celebrate these days,
or does it matter? In this booklet, you will discover the history of
these days and the symbols found in them. We will also discuss
how we should live with this important knowledge.
(P)eople throw this cheap term with a flexible definition around to slur those who believe there is only one way to worship God. By that definition, we are cheerfully legalists! We know that God accepted Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain’s. We know Jesus said that worship must be in spirit and truth to be acceptable (John 4:23-24). Since truth does not allow for a variety of ideas, Jesus taught there was only one way to worship God. And Paul must have been the greatest legalist of all time, for he cursed any angel or man who preached anything differently than he preached (Gal 1:6-9). Yes, we are legalists in this sense.
We do not believe a sincere heart covers for disobeying the word of God. David had a sincere heart moving the Ark of the Covenant, but God killed a man for it not being moved the right way. Moses had 40 years of faithful service as Israel’s leader, but God kept him from the land of Canaan for striking a rock for water instead of speaking to it. We see these examples in Scripture, and we choose to esteem every precept of God and hate every false way (Ps 119:128). Why not come be such legalists with us?
Read more here.
Don was an elder in his evangelical-type church. He saw much looseness about holiness in his congregation. He loved God and experienced His grace. His conscience called him to a more careful obedience to God and to His Word. Don visited a congregation that practiced some of the New Testament teachings that were missing in his church. This church took a scriptural, careful position on remarriage after divorce, the wearing of jewelry, washing one another’s feet and the wearing of the headship veiling by their sisters.
Don saw the obedience to scriptural teaching, so he raised these issues with his pastor and asked why they are not obeying these scriptures. The pastor’s response was, “That’s legalism! Where is the grace of God in that?”
Incidents like this could be told hundreds of times over. But is it legalism?
Scriptural commands are wiped out under the label of legalism or pharisaism. “It’s pretending to be holy without really being holy”
Expressions and words develop certain meanings at given times in history. “The religious right” is an expression used today in a derogatory manner against certain people. During the reformation period, derogatory terms were hurled at our Anabaptist forefathers. Luther called the Anabaptists ketzer which means “the perfect ones” or “you little perfect ones.” This was said in a belittling way, making light of their obedience to scripture. The term legalism is used in a similar way today. When a believer follows the Word of God, often those who do not measure up, or are lacking, come up with some belittling expression like, “Oh, she’s legalistic” or “He’s pharisaic.” Is obedience to scripture legalism?
Finish reading here.
If you’ve ever grown squash plants, you may know vividly what happens when squash bugs bore into the root and kill it. Squash plants are only as good as their roots, and that’s why it is important for farmers to know what rots the roots and what nourishes the roots of plants. Or eventually the squash bugs will be around to help finish off the rotten root, because “it’s what they do”.
Is it possible that what is rotting America’s roots today is a new version of Christianity? A version according to us rather than GOD?
I recently heard a rant on social media. This person claimed to be a “Christian” and spent time explaining (in their words): “what Christianity “means to me“.
This individual on social media defined Christianity as being about:
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Should Christians Observe it? ~ Dr. Scott Johnson
Most pastors, teachers and Christians, believe that time has diminished the pagan meanings of X Mass. Has it really?
“The ‘Connection’ Has Been Broken” — There are those who clearly recognize the pagan nature of the various Christmas worship forms and practices. Nevertheless, many of these Christians claim that because of the long passage of time from their pagan inception to the present (6,000 years?), the “connection” to paganism has been sufficiently diminished to allow the adoption of these forms and practices into our Christian worship and celebration. While it may be true that most symbols have lost their original demonic meaning and significance in a modern society, it is strangely bizarre and ironic that Christendom seeks to commemorate Christ’s birth with the faded symbols of Satan. And even though some of God’s people may be naive and ignorant about the source of these
things, surely God is not. Can such things please Him? And think about this — if it were possible to “disconnect” current practices from their pagan/occultic roots, why does Scripture not provide us any guidelines as to:
(a) how much time is necessary for the “neutralization”/disassociation process to occur; and
(b) which of the hundreds of ancient pagan rites would then be acceptable for adaptation into Christian worship (since some are obviously much more pagan/occultic than others)?
The X Mass Blog 