Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from  any tree of the garden'?" Gen 3:1 (NASB)

It’s intriguing to see such a very important doctrine coming from the Adversary, but there it is. Has God said ________ ? (fill in the blank) Eve did answer correctly, but the story went south from there. Satan directly contradicted God and Eve listened to the fork-tongued liar. Hmm.

Print and electronic Bibles are how we discern “hath God said” today. The inerrancy of the scriptures is pretty high on the list of important doctrines for those of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus. Reading the Bible is how I broke with the errors I was taught as a youth. It is difficult to even challenge the foundations and traditions that are taught to us from birth. It is another, even more difficult thing to accept the correction shown to us through the scriptures and by the Holy Spirit and make those changes. 

The word ‘bible’ is actually from the Greek word for book, biblion.

And he *said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Rev 22:10 (NASB). 

In Revelation 22:10, the word book is biblion, but now we use the modern transliteration of that word to refer to the entire Bible, the Word of God. The Bible is where we turn to find out if what we are being told is true. The Bible is where we go to learn more about God and to get to know Him and His Son.

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however,  continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to  give you the wisdom that leads to  salvation through faith which is in  Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate,  equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:12-17 (NASB)

I just noticed something. I’ve known for some time that Paul is referring here to the Tanakh or the Old Testament, but I just caught that he mentions Timothy had known the sacred writings since childhood. This means that Timothy, a New Testament evangelist, was brought up on the Old Testament and then became an ambassador for Christ. So, to learn about Christ, we need to study the Old Testament as well as the New and, if possible, do it from an early age. This way, when teachers of the doctrines of men try to influence us or our children, we will already know:

Hath God Said?

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Some guy on The O'Reilly Factor just said "I'm a Christian Evangelical Pastor and I support gay marriage". 

Christianity is Weak

Let’s look at the Catholic birth control controversy of five minutes ago. The Roman Catholic Church has outstanding positions on family values. They are absolutely pro-life and pro-marriage. They went to the mat on a small part of the Health Care Reform (HCR) law that forced all employers to provide insurance coverage for contraception. This is because their church’s stance is that contraception is bad. This small issue was enough for the Roman Catholic Church to unleash their entire US clergy to speak forcefully against this one provision of the HCR law. 

Then, the other day Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States and a professed Roman Catholic who was strutting around with an ashen cross on his forehead last Ash Wednesday (a big Roman Catholic holiday) came out in full blown public support of gay marriage. Have the Roman Catholic Bishops rushed to the pulpits to set the record straight on this one? Is Joe Biden still offered communion? I think we all know the answer.

The same thing is happening with “evangelical” Christianity on a host of issues. I do wish I knew what “evangelical” Christianity is, but I just assume it is Protestant. What happened to our country which was founded on strident Protestantism? Only 50 years ago, it would have been unthinkable for any preacher to even be tolerant of divorce and premarital (heterosexual) sex and now we have “evangelical” churches ordaining openly gay men AND women as paid leaders in their organizations! There is even word that a Judaic university in modern-day Israel has accepted their first openly gay student in a program that produces Rabbis. The moral decline is so steep that I think our collective ears are popping from the pressure change.

The country is crying out for powerful and biblical preaching. 38 states have rejected gay marriage, some even amending their constitutions to prohibit gay marriage. So why are the churches taking either the opposite position or remaining silent? I’m genuinely curious here. Oftentimes I’ll ask a rhetorical question or two in my blogs, but I really have no idea how ANY Christian or Jewish church can possibly take an unbiblical stand in light of what the bible teaches on the subjects of biblical morality. If God destroyed two whole cities over sexual immorality, do they think He will not do it again? If God destroyed entire nations over the murder of infants, do they not thin He will do it again? And to lead congregants into these sins seems to me to be lunacy.

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. James 3:1 (NASB)

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You shall not steal. Exodus 20:15 (NASB)

This is a commandment that everyone knows and nobody misrepresents. It’s an easy concept. Well, it used to be. In our modern world with a myriad of financial theories and products, theft can be very hard to identify and can be in the eye of the beholder. 

When I was fresh out of the Navy, my first job was as a Field Technician for a fire alarm company. This job paid a car allowance and we had to have a pickup truck big enough to carry a 6’ ladder. I went to my credit union and was pre-approved for enough of a loan to get a brand new Chevy S10. I was elated. A couple years later, I developed knee issues and needed a bigger truck with an automatic transmission. Back to the credit union and I was approved for an even bigger loan. I purchased a used Silverado and went about life just fine. Until I saw an ad for a new Silverado for six thousand dollars less than what I paid for my used Silverado just a couple months prior. I was dumfounded.

What I learned was that I had owed more on the S10 than it was worth and they worked a “deal” to wrap that up in the purchase of the Silverado. At that point, I owed much more on the Silverado than it was worth. But, I paid it off. And it took a really long time.

In 2008 we had an economic meltdown. It turns out that people were borrowing more on their houses than the houses were worth, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Based on that fact alone, tens of thousands of people defaulted on their houses. Even though they had the means to continue the payments, they just defaulted on the loans and allowed the banks to repossess the houses. This is theft. 

Similar chickens are coming home to roost with the entitlement programs all over the developed world. Governments created retirement and medical programs and promised their citizens that their future needs would be covered. The governments didn’t save the money and banked on future generations being able to shoulder the burden. Woops, that was theft, too. Some countries have even confiscated the private retirement savings of their citizens in order to cover the entitlements they created and didn’t fund. More theft.

In the private sector, workers are being squeezed to their productive limit and left there. Some companies are actively trying to avoid paying their people overtime wages they are legally obligated to pay. More theft. (I am blessed that my employer is ethical, by the way.) 

It seems our society is steeped in theft. We have to comb over each financial transaction trying to limit our exposure to unseen rip-offs. 

But, again, there is hope. More than hope, actually. The LORD will bring righteousness and justice to this planet.

The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior.

He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. “I will gather those who grieve about the appointed feasts—They came from you, O Zion; The reproach of exile is a burden on them. Behold, I am going to deal at that time With all your oppressors, I will save the lame And gather the outcast, And I will turn their shame into praise and renown In all the earth. “At that time I will bring you in, Even at the time when I gather you together; Indeed, I will give you renown and praise Among all the peoples of the earth, When I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” Says the Lord. (Zeph 3:17-20)

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Last Sabbath, as we were getting ready for services, my daughter said to me, “Daddy, there’s a man at the door. And he looks spooky.” So I went to the door and found a 40-something guy in a sport coat and tie with a brief case. He identified himself as being some sort of evangelist. Since he came to the door on Sabbath, I asked if he was a Sabbath-keeper, too. He was confused about my question and turned out to be a Sunday-keeper from a “bible” church. I asked him if he would like to come in and learn about the Sabbath and he informed me that he was “here to teach, not to learn.” When I meet folks of the faith, I assume the best (hence the question about the Sabbath). This guy was working from a perspective that nobody he met could teach him anything. 

At any rate, things went badly. He told me that the Sabbath and the law was done away with. I retorted with,  “the commandments aren’t in effect anymore?” He nods and I continue, “well, is your wife good looking?” He was dumfounded and replied, “I’m not married but why would you ask such a question?” I replied, “well, if the commandments don’t matter any more, then that means adultery is OK, right?” He managed to stammer out, “But.....” And I left him with, “you better get back to that Bible, brother.” And returned to preparing for services. 

This guy was preaching lawlessness door to door. Amazing.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His  coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be  judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 2 Thess 2:7-12 (NASB)

Now, I am not passing judgment on Mr. Evangelist, but it is a sobering thing to contemplate that there are very well intentioned Christians whose self-imposed mission is to go door-to-door preaching lawlessness. Yep, that’s a mystery.

Let’s take a brief look at what Jesus Christ, Yeshua Messiah, said about this behavior:

"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. "For I say to you that unless your  righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matt 5:17-20 (NASB)

Can it get any clearer than that? “Do not think I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets” has somehow become, “I came to abolish the Law and the Prophets.” I hope that Mr. Evangelist does go back and do some more studying before knocking on any more doors. At the least, I pray he approaches his “mission” with a little more humility.

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While researching the Jewish doctrines about the mikvah, I came across this:

Jewish life is marked by the notion of Havdalah -- separation and distinction. On Saturday night, as the Shabbat departs and the new week begins, Jews are reminded of the borders that delineate every aspect of life. Over a cup of sanctified wine, the Jew blesses G-d who "separates between the holy and the mundane, between light and darkness, between Israel and the nations, between the seventh day and six days of labor...."

I appreciate the article and have gained much insight from it with respect to the mikvah. But I was struck by the perspective that being Holy or set-apart is intended for exculsivity. Some believers of Messiah in the Sabbath and Holy Day observing groups have taken to using the words “set-apart” in the place of “holy” in parlance and even in some new Bible translations. This can lead to the ideas of “The One True Church” where groups are inclined to separate themselves from the world entirely and even from other believers who don’t accept all their doctrines. This is applying being “set-apart” in the same context as above.

So, what does it mean to be holy or set-apart? From the NASEC, the words translated “holy” in the Old Testament are:

Hebrew Word: קֹדֶשׁ Transliterated Word: qodesh (871c) Definition: apartness, sacredness:--

Hebrew Word: קָדַשׁ Transliterated Word: qadash (872d) Definition: to be set apart or consecrated:--

And the New Testament has just one:

Greek NASB Number: 40 Greek Word: ἅγιος Transliterated Word: hagios Definition: sacred, holy:--

Since the Old Testament word is kind of generic and the use of “set-apart” is definitely of Old Testament origin, let’s explore the use of the words “holy” in the Old Testament:

'For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.'" Lev 11:45 (NASB)

But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Isaiah 5:16 (NASB) (Both words “holy” are used in this verse to describe God.)

When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Do not come near here;  remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." Ex 3:4-5 (NASB)

Do those verses above make sense if we swap the words “set-apart” for “holy”. Not really. The people can be considered “set-apart” in Lev 11:45, but God can’t. There is only one God, so He can’t be “set-apart” from anything. If we insert “sacred” for “holy” in that verse, then it makes sense. The ground that Moses was standing on was considered “set-apart” in Exodus 3:4-5 and I think this is be best place to look for how to illustrate that inserting “set-apart” doesn’t work. Moses continued to stand on that ground. If the ground was “set-apart” for the sake of being “set-apart”, then Moses would have had to move. What makes sense is that the ground was “sacred” or “sanctified”, because Moses was allowed to continue using the ground, he just had to removed  his sandals, which were tainted from being in contact with common ground.

Being holy in the set-apart sense means that we are set-apart for a purpose! In my reference at the beginning of the article the context (and the context of the entire article) is that the set-apart people are set-apart for the sake of being set-apart. Separation is the goal. Not wanting to be like the rest of the common, corrupt, and damaged world is the entire nexus of existence in that perspective. The bigger the divide between the set-apart people and the rest of the world, the better. And this perspective is not just in Judaism, it permeates the Sabbath and High Day community of believers in Messiah, too! “One-True-Churchism” abounds where congregants are even taught NOT to evangelize! (God forbid)

But what was the goal of the nation of Israel? Why were they “set-apart” to begin with? So that God would have just one nation to bless and the rest could just rot? No, they were set-apart for the purpose of showing the world how to live. They were supposed to be a light to the nations. Now that torch has been passed to us.

But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be  sanctified in truth. "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:13-21 (NASB)

Here we have Jesus explaining all the concepts of being holy, sanctified, and set-apart. We are set-apart because of our faith and our actions. We are primarily set-apart from the world by God for His purposes, but the world also sets us apart because we act differently. Thus we are hated, albeit not as hated as the first century Christians. But the Messiah does not ask for us to be taken out of the world! This is in direct contradiction to the idea of “One-True-Churchism”. Jesus is praying here that we can be holy, set-apart, consecrated, and sanctified for works. Not just for the sake of being set-apart. We are to be a light so that the others God is calling out can see us and come and join us as we worship Yahweh in the name of His Son, Yeshua. We are set-apart for service.

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I don’t get out much. Well, with regards to visiting other congregations, that is! Church of God, Fellowship (COGF) in Lansing, MI recently had a big meet-up for the Last Day of Unleavened Bread and the Sabbath and my family and I got to go! Yay!

I’d first like to thank the guys from Church of God, Kansas City that have stepped up to share some of the duties that have kept me busy. Russell, Kyle, Brian, and Ed have all come together to help in the production of the services and publishing the sermon to the web. Ed used to do this work by himself for many, many years and it is such a blessing now to have a team for this work! Thanks guys! It was really cool to be able to watch our services on my iPhone live while on the road back from Michigan, too!  

COGF is a very inspirational group. I observed the Feast of Tabernacles with them last year in Iowa and came away incredibly uplifted. I was quite excited for the chance to see them on their home turf. To list out all the good works of service and accommodation they provided for this special fellowship would take many pages. In summary, they had their hall open Thursday night for meet and greet (we arrived too late for this), then they had their hall open with studies, services, several meals, and a full band for about 24 hours over a 48 hour period. Their young adults and teens aren’t just “involved” in the ministry, they are crucial components of an incredibly functional all-volunteer team. To say these folks are letting their light shine is an understatement. They are an example to all of us in the Sabbath and Holy Day movement.

A stumbling block I had when coming to the knowledge of the Moedim was: Why so much emphasis placed on the fall high days over the spring? Apparently I’m not the only one who has noticed this! This recent celebration at COGF is an effort to rectify this. A gent named Hal gave a presentation on this, encouraging us to have special gatherings for all the Moedim. While it’s not feasible to have “blow-out” celebrations like FOT more than once a year, I agree with Hal’s thesis and will commit to helping make the other Moedim more special. Having additional teaching in our fellowships on the High Days and having pot-luck meals at our meeting places shouldn’t be too much of a burden. Perhaps regional congregations could take turns meeting together for each of the High Days to share the added responsibility? Like I said before, though, I don’t get out much so perhaps these things are already happening?

Again I would like to thank the great servants of Church of God Fellowship for hosting such an uplifting event. They are an inspiration to me and I look forward to meeting with them again!

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I’m going to take a liberty here with the site and address something I see in modern western society that is quite troubling and contrary to Christian values. This is in direct response to the comments made by some lady named Rosen that Ann Romney has never had a “real job”. This is because Ann Romney stayed home and raised five boys. Having a stable traditional family unit is the Biblical path. Mrs. Romney is a woman to be admired, especially raising all boys and those boys all appear to be well adjusted and productive members of society. Here’s a link to the story if you haven’t heard:

http://www.christianpost.com/news/ann-romney-and-hilary-rosen-spar-over-womens-work-73105/

Let’s take the social liberal stances point by point:

Women are not supposed to get married, they are supposed to have careers (as if these two concepts are somehow opposed to each other).

Women are definitely not supposed to have children (pro-contraception).

If a woman happens to get pregnant, she is not supposed to bring the birth to term (pro-abortion).

If the first three steps fail and a woman happens to actually give birth to a child, she is absolutely not supposed stay home and raise that child into a productive, traditional citizen. She must go to work and hire someone else to instill society’s contemporary values into said child/children.

If a woman actually does marry, has children, stays home instilling traditional Biblical values into those children, and those children then become productive citizens, then apparently she is the enemy. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, indeed.

It’s not a “War on Women”. It appears to be a “War on Population”.

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Do you have plans for the future? Do you know where you’ll be in 5 or 10 years? 

When questions like those come up, most everybody instantly thinks about their careers. If not careers, then they think about their children or whether they will have them by that time (in the case of traditional moms, this IS their career!). 

For those of us in corporate America and those who are business owners, our careers consume the lion’s share of our lives. We have to constantly strive to do our best, set short and long term goals, compete both externally and internally, and focus much effort staying employed and being upwardly mobile. This can really take a tool on one’s life, both physically and spiritually. The modern business culture is geared to squeeze every drop of productivity out of a person, so our home lives spend a long time being on hold. I am blessed that my career provides enough that my wife can devote all of her time to managing our children and our household. I truly feel bad for those who have to have dual incomes, especially if they have children. 

Fulfilling career goals is a great feeling. Moving up a notch at work, getting a sizable raise, or gaining new knowledge through continuing education are all feathers in the cap. However, what does the Bible say about our efforts in the world?

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity." What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; and hastening to its place it rises there again. Eccl 1:1-5 (NASB)

Even more succinctly:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 2 Peter 3:10 (NASB)

Indeed, our works are folly. The things we do “for a living” seldom have much to do with our eternal lives. I look at my career as a necessity and approach it with Christian morals and a strong work ethic, but it really is a means to an end. My career allows me time off for the High Days and it very seldom interferes with the Sabbath. It allows my wife and I to raise our children outside of the Babylonian system of this world’s education system. It allows me time to spend studying the WORD and writing. It is a blessing. So what does Peter go on to say about the works of men?

Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:11-13 (NASB)

Yes, we should conduct ourselves like Christ is coming back any moment, performing our jobs to the best of our ability understanding that all of our works will be brought under judgment. Do you know where you’ll be in 5 or 10 years? How’s about: Do you how you will spend eternity?

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Two deer seasons ago I got my first deer. It was a long road to finally becoming a “hunter” instead of a “guy in the woods with a rifle”.

It all started with a trip to Cabelas and the purchase of a beautiful stainless steel, lever action, Marlin rifle that I had absolutely no use for. At that point in time, I was shopping for a totally different rifle for a totally different purpose and I fell head over heals for a gun I did not need. 

I learned how to shoot my new 30-30 and I liked shooting it. At some point, I think a friend invited me to go hunting. I figured, since I had a deer rifle, I probably should learn how to do hunt deer. I attended a hunter safety course, bought a scope for my rifle and a whole lot of other stuff for going afield. I spend a huge amount of money and time sighting in my scope and becoming a very good shot with my deer rifle. Well, at that point it was actually “a rifle I intended to shoot deer with”.

My first try to go hunting, both my mentor and I were too sick to go. The next year, we hunted on my property which is heavily wooded. I staked out a place halfway down a hill and sat there listening to the deer walk right behind me for hours. And I mean right behind me. Finally, out of frustration, I slowly stood up and saw a doe hiding behind a cluster of trees so close to me that I could have hit her with a rock, providing the trees were not in the way. I waited for her to present herself, pulled the trigger, and she jumped straight up in the air and landed on all fours - unscathed. My ears still ringing and the deer still sitting still, I racked the action and pulled the trigger again. Click. I hadn’t pulled the lever far enough to eject the spent shell and fired on the empty. Then the doe ran away and took my pride with her.

The next year I had another mentor. A church brother named George who is a very wise man let me come hunting with him. George and his sons “do it right” with wonderful deer stands placed strategically over a large plat of land. Two mornings and two nights I sat in a deer stand looking out over the only farm land in the state of Missouri that deer do not care for. Nothing was coming, nothing was going. At sunset on the second night, I decided to shoot at a tree that was pretty far away just to see if I could hit it. I also wanted to see if the sound would scare up anything in the woods. So I took aim and fired. Boy was that loud. My ears rang for a very long time. George almost immediately called on the cell to see if I had shot a deer. I had to tell him no, that I just shot just to break the monotony before I climbed down for the night. (Incidentally, I hit what I was shooting at almost exactly.)

The next morning was my last chance. In fact, it was going to be my last outing if I had no success. There was just no way I could justify spending any more time or money hunting without bearing any fruit. On a chilly, pre-dawn morning in central Missouri, I climbed back up into that incredibly nice deer stand and began to scan the tree line and open field that lay before me. Using my binoculars, I did finally see a deer dart from one tree line out into the open and into another about 600 yards out - much too far for an ethical shot. Hours pass and nothing, until, right near 8:00 AM, I look down the tree line my deer stand is nestled against and, as my eyes came to the intersection where the tree line breaks right, I see a doe. She is in range but not presenting herself as we were taught in hunter class. Being this is going to be my last shot, possibly ever, I decide to go for it and risk ruining some of the meat. 

I laid my rifle on the railing of the deer stand, and placed the cross hairs high on the doe’s chest. I gently squeeze the trigger and see the doe fall right where she stood. I actually remember watching the doe fall through the scope, which is remarkable since the rifle recoils and all. She had died instantly, which is the most humane outcome possible. 

Another remarkable thing was that I never heard the shot. My ears weren’t ringing, my heart wasn’t pumping, and I never heard the shot.

I climbed down the stand and paced out the distance to the doe. 95 paces and my shot hit exactly where I had put the cross hairs and the bullet did what it was designed to do. Success. I am now a hunter.

So how does this correlate with first century Christianity? 

But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Matt 10:19-20 (NASB)

All of my training in marksmanship and learning about hunting came together perfectly when God wanted it to happen. It took years of trying and practice before it was finally time for me to have success. The same applies to our studies in the WORD. We may think that we are not ready to testify, but we’ll be ready when God wants us to be ready. All of our studying and prayer are preparing us. And when it is time, the Spirit will work through us in order for God’s will to be done. 

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Christ our Passover was sacrificed on Passover, Abib 14, at twilight. This is a pretty heavy thing to contemplate, which is probably why I’m blogging on it again.

The ordinance of the Passover was actually before the law was given on Mt. Sinai. The blood of the lambs were used to mark the houses of the believers. Take a look:

Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Ex 12:5-6 (NASB)

The entire nation of Israel, while still in Egypt as slaves and without the law to provide them guidance, had a specific task to do all at once. They had to take an unblemished lamb days in advance and all slay it at once on the 14th on Abib at twilight. Well, the word twighlight there literally means “between evenings”, so it is possible they slayed the lambs at slightly different times so they could be bled and cooked, ready for the necessary meal at sunset. This is interesting because everyone had to do the same thing at the same time. They could not do it a day early. They could not celebrate Passover on the 13th, for instance, and still be saved. And they certainly couldn’t do it late! They were still all completely in sin, especially having been immersed in a pagan culture for over 400 years. Anybody who decided to do it a little different died. That’s amazing and scary all at once.

Over time, they fell away from the pure practice of keeping the Passover as outlined above. At some point, they began to have all the lambs slain at the temple instead of in homes. I have read that the Jews stopped slaying lambs altogether once the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. 

But keep in mind that they were supposed to slay their own lambs at their own houses while reading this next verse. 

Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified." Acts 2:36 (NASB)

The whole house if Israel was supposed to slay their own lamb at precisely the same time on exactly the same day. That equates to everyone being equally guilty and in need of the forgiveness. It's also a parrallel that the entire nation present either cried out "crucify Him" or remained silent. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, indeed.

After Peter preached that first sermon, and ended with such strong language, imagine the anguish those who heard it must have felt. As the days went on and their knowledge increased, it must have been excruciating to learn that they slew the actual Lamb of God. But the next verses show much hope:

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!" So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

Acts 2:37-41 (NASB)

What an amazing thing it is that our God will forgive any sin, up to and including the murder of His own Son.

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It is quite a strange place we find ourselves in in 21st century Christianity. The entire globe is populated with one of two types of Christianity, apostolic or Protestant, and while both systems almost completely reject the laws of Yahweh in the Torah, they both retain one specific Old Testament law: Tithing.

There is no requirement to tithe in the New Testament congregation because there is no  manly priesthood in the New Testament congregation. We are under a new High Priest who owns everything we possess and lacks nothing. The book of Hebrews references being under a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Perhaps this could be used to justify tithing, so let’s take a look at the scriptures about Melchizedek.

Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a  priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." He gave him a tenth of all. Gen 14:17-20 (NASB)

It looks to me that what happened here is a free-will offering, not a tithe. We only have record of Abraham giving this priest a tenth one time and this priest was actually a king, which is a bit different from the priesthood we will examine below.

"To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. The sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bear sin and die. Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them,' They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.'" Num 18:21-24 (NASB)

The tithe was a specific payment for a specific tribe that had a specific job (or jobs if you prefer). You’ll note that the word tithe does not appear in the interaction between Abraham and Melchizedek. The tithe under the Torah was to provide for the tribe that was tasked with service to Yahweh. Levites were not permitted to own land or have an inheritance. Their entire subsistence was dependent upon the faithfulness of the other tribes bringing in a tenth of their increase.

This is not the situation with the New Testament congregation at all. We have no tribes and our clergy can surely own property. In some astonishing cases, pastors in the USA have enriched themselves to a decadent level while preaching that the flock must “tithe”. The Catholic church does keep their priests poor, but that church has amassed more riches than they could ever need - and the collection plates still get passed. Some Protestant churches have to send all of the money they collect in “tithes” to conferences, with only what the congregation needs (as deemed by said distant conference that the congregation cannot control) being sent back to the congregation. Money management in modern Christianity is not scriptural at all.

Managing the finances in the NT congregations from a scriptural point of view is a difficult thing to discern. In the beginning, the congregation was to sell EVERYTHING they had and give it to the Apostles. That’s not a tenth, that’s all of it. But they appear to have only done that once. Paul writes that it is OK to charge for the gospel and that it is OK to preach for free. Typical Paul, take both sides and leave us confused. But he plainly said everyone has to work if they want to eat.

Paul did take up collections from areas that had plenty to help out areas that didn’t. This is an area that can be used to show weekly “tithing” in the NT churches, but it is misinterpreted.  

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem; (1 Cor 16:1-3).

Wow, this sure looks like a collection plate was passed around at church to collect tithes on Sundays in the first century church, huh? Not quite. It says that they were to save something at their homes on the first day of the week. They weren’t at church. And this money was to be taken to Jerusalem as a gift, not a tithe. I wonder who in Jerusalem was to get this money? My NASB cross references Acts 24:17 here. Let’s take a look.

"Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings; in which they found me occupied in the temple, having been purified, without any crowd or uproar. (Acts 24:17-18). 

So, what was Paul collecting? Alms - which is a free-will offering, not a tithe. And to whom did he give the collection to? The Levites. Paul brought free-will offerings from the converted regions of the known world to the temple of God and paid tribute to the Priests. That deserves quite a bit of meditation. It is quite odd for Paul to be bringing money from Gentile converts to give to the Levites, isn’t it? This is pretty strange behavior for someone who was supposed to have taught the Law was nailed to the cross.

So, how do we fund the Church of God under the New Testament? I am quite confident that Pastor’s using “tithing” as a means to bring in more than a local congregation needs is not good nor scriptural. But the Church of God does need money to exist. The congregation I attend has relatively minuscule financial needs since we are all volunteer. I personally think what you contribute to your congregation or charity is entirely between you and God. I like to trust the Spirit rather than men. If you can help to fund your congregation, then do it! If you can’t but you can volunteer for stuff (anything from opening the hall to passing the mic to bringing snacks), then get in the game! If you can do it all, then praise be to Yahweh! If your congregation wants to have a professional minister and a building, then you should probably contribute financially as often as you can. But I just don’t see the need nor the scriptures to justify blindly contributing 10% of your increase to non-Levitical priests. 

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Do you believe in a Judgment Day? Do you believe in a day when everyone must give account for themselves before Jesus?

I do.

Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. John 5:28-29 (NASB)

Jesus speaks here of two resurrections, one of life and one of judgment. The KJV actually calls the resurrection of judgment the resurrection of damnation, but when examining the Greek (using the concordance), we can see the word they translate as damnation is the same as the word they translate judgment just a few verses up the page. At any rate, it is a resurrection that one does not wish to attend. This would be the same resurrection that (presumably) Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and a host of other really bad people are going to be in. And the outcome looks really bad.

There are quite a few Christians who believe that just accepting Jesus and being baptized guarantees eternal life. These folks believe that salvation is secure and there is nothing one can do to lose it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look that easy.

Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ' Lord, open up to us!' then He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know where you are from.' Then you will  begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets'; and He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.' In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. Luke 13:24-28 (NASB)

Can you imagine this? It looks from these scriptures that at the future judgment there will be a whole lot of people who thought they were saved but weren’t. Matthew 7:21-23 shows Jesus actually condemning people who worked miracles in His name. That is an incredibly sobering thought.

This blog goes along with the last one about motivating factors. I try to write uplifting or at least palatable pieces, but there is another side of the Faith that needs to be addressed. We need to both love God and fear Him at the same time. Eternity is a really long time to be dead. As we approach the Passover, the remembrance of what the Messiah did for us, let us take great care that we do so in a sober manner. Because, as Paul wrote, this is a serious thing we do. Very serious.

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number  sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 1 Cor 11:27-32 (NASB) 

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The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Eccl 12:13-14 (NASB)

"You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments. 

Deut 11:1 (NASB)

I purposely took both of those verses from the Old Testament to illustrate that loving God and keeping His commandments is not just a New Testament thing. I found it interesting that a search of the entire bible for “love, God, commandments” turned up nine occurrences and a search for “fear, God, commandments” turned up four occurrences. Loving God and keeping the commandments, using a basic search, shows up more than twice as much as fearing God and keeping the commandments, but keeping those commandments is always the constant!

If we look in the New Testament, Jesus specifically says that loving God equates to keeping the commandments. In fact, He said the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and soul. This, of course, was Jesus quoting Moses (who was quoting Jesus, who’s on first and all). The references are Deuteronomy 6:4 for Moses and Matthew 22:37 for Jesus. John also wrote that we are to love God and keep His commandments. This theme runs pretty constant through the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus. 

The other theme that runs constant is that of the relationship between God being Our Father and we being children. For those of us with children, we know that when they misbehave we often have to use fear to motivate them to obey. Nobody likes this, whether disciplinarian or the disciplined. But in our walk, we are to come to know Him like the little children, and oftentimes it takes discipline from our Creator to clue us in on what He wants for us, especially in the early stages. As we grow, though, we start to understand the scriptures and God’s will. We learn that the things He has told us to do and not to do are all the best for us. Then we obey out of love. 

My son is starting to move from fearing me and obeying into loving me and obeying. I have to say I like it. He wants so much for me to be proud of him in certain areas. Him seeking my approval is such a wonderful show of love that I just soak it in, beaming inside. Since he is young, he slips back from time to time needing to be disciplined, and that hurts me more and more each time. However, he needs to obey and continue learning so that he can become a man, a citizen, and a Christian.

The experience of raising my three children, not just my son, is also showing me more what it means to love God and keep His commandments. I pray it continues so that my motivation can increase. But whatever our motivation might be, lets all remember to keep those commandments and to love God!

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There are only three places a doctrine can come from: God, man, or Satan. It’s really easy to forget the last one.

Then the devil *took Him into  the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and *said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'"Matt 4:5-6 (NASB)

The scriptures are the key to our salvation in this age. It is no wonder that Satan himself would be an expert on the things contained within the Bible. “Know thy enemy” is a very profound concept and unfortunately works both ways. It should give one pause to see Satan above citing scripture so precisely. It shows much hubris that he actually thought he could deceive the Messiah by twisting scripture. We who are much lower than Yeshua will be attacked by Satan in the same way and will need to trust the Spirit to guide us into all truth.

There’s another reason Satan would know the Bible; he has watched it all unfold. Satan, a created being, has lived since at least the Garden of Eden, with some speculating he and the angels are much older than that. It is likely that Satan knew about the path for mankind’s salvation long before it was written down and passed to us through the Bible. This would explain why Sunday, Christmas, Easter, cross worship, and other false doctrines were started well before Jesus’ earthly ministry and the message going out to the nations. Since those false teachings were well underway under different names when Paul started his missionary journey, it was very easy for them to become blended into the faith once delivered. The Adversary is the most evil and cunning foe ever, and he is apparently very patient.

Since Satan, the author of lies, is working to confuse us and lead us astray, let us take great care in our walk. Recorded history and current events may look like they fulfill prophecies, but history and the media are not inspired sources. Surely many great events of earth’s history were planned by Yahweh in order to bring us to that marvelous day of Yeshua’s return, but we also need to remember that Satan has an active hand in the goings on of the planet as well. One example is how Jesus said He did not come to bring peace but a sword and that families would split over Him. This is true, but just because your family is splitting over religious disputes, that doesn’t prove one side right or wrong. In fact, both sides could be wrong if the family is splitting over two false religions!

Another caution is how desperate Satan will be in the last days. Helplessness leads to despair and, as Satan realizes how futile his efforts have been for the last 6000 years, he will become increasingly brazen. Do you know how helpless you feel right before something bad happens that you can’t prevent? This is how it will be with the Adversary as God’s plan unfolds before his eyes and there is nothing he can do about it. (Of course what is bad for Satan is good for everyone else!) In that state, a raging, helpless Satan is likely to do anything to take as many down with him as possible. So we need to take care and follow the words of the Savior:

Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or 'There He is,' do not believe him. For false Christs and  false prophets will arise and will  show great  signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the  elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go out, or, 'Behold, He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Matt 24:23-28 (NASB)

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Boy, oh boy, when I learned the truth about the 7th day was I fired up! I was so fired up that I started telling everyone about the truth about the Sabbath! I must say that I was very well received by family and friends alike. (Those of you who have come to the truth about the Sabbath ought to be laughing at that last line heartily!)

The Sabbath was not the end of the road. My research, which at the beginning was to prove Sunday worship true, not false, always turned up more stuff that looked tangential at the time. I’m sure everyone reading this who has made the same trek understands that studying out one doctrine in depth always increases our overall knowledge of the WORD of Yahweh. But even with this knowledge, it’s possible to fall into a metaphorical place where we might think that because we have the Sabbath and perhaps the High Days that we can relax. However, Isaiah writes that this is not the case at all:

"When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? "Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot  endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. "I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. "So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are  covered with blood. Isaiah 1:12-15 (NASB)

Yahweh speaks here through the prophet Isaiah that simply observing the days is hardly enough. You see, Israel was observing the proper days of worship but they were also observing pagan days and partaking in pagan practices at the same time! Reading down to verse 21 shows Yahweh calling Jerusalem the harlot! He called Jerusalem, the holy city, a harlot. What a slam! In this case, it could even be a double entendre because it appears they were sinning both in the literal application of the word “harlot” and in the spiritual sense (syncretism). Israelites, the people of God, were willfully sinning while feeling quite righteous in the observance of days.

Chapter 1 of Isaiah gives us the remedy to the situation. Verses 16-20 show that repentance is the key. Stop dealing treacherously with people, learn to do good, help the poor, orphaned, widowed, and oppressed, and get the pagan stuff out of our lives. Christianity today is a mixed bag on these things. Most Christian churches do much good with respect to charity and mercy on the less fortunate, but they keep all the wrong days. I was even a member of a church that stridently keeps Sabbath but also observes Christmas. I found through my studies that the two don’t go together. One cannot serve two masters. The path laid out in Isaiah 1 is not á la carte. We have to accept the entire package deal to be charitable and merciful, but also to be strident to purge the spiritual harlotry from our lives while conforming to the standards laid out in Torah.

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Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, "Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations." 1 Sam 8:4-5 (NASB)

Do you know what we call elders today who want to shirk their leadership responsibilities while retaining their leadership titles? Politicians. (Look at that, I started the blog with a digression. Note to self: focus) 

The elders in Samuel’s day should have trusted Yahweh and either taken leadership or simply trusted that God would provide. Instead, they found it much easier to ask for someone else to make their decisions for them. It’s interesting to see how Israel, history, and even in modern times, mankind is always looking for someone to take the lead and show us the way. How many times have we heard Ronald Reagan’s name invoked lately? It seems like we are hardwired with a desire to be led, whether to victory or to defeat. When it is victory, it’s always a “team” win and when it is a loss, well then it was “his” fault!

When we tell people about our faith, don’t they often ask who the Pastor is or what the denomination is? This is because folks are conditioned, based on history and experience, to have to tie a believer to some enigmatic teacher or organized denomination. We simply have to have had our doctrines spoon-fed to us by an established organization or else we just don’t fit into the box. Taking responsibility for one’s own salvation and studying independently is, sadly, a foreign concept. But this is how it was during the early days of Christianity. The Spirit called people individually and those believers studied to show themselves approved. Philip explained Yeshua to the Ethiopian using scripture only, not some man-granted authority. 

Our model ought to be the same as that Ethiopian. We should test everything, holding fast to the true. We see in a mirror now, dimly, and following men leads to following false prophets who steal our money and worse, our souls. Take a look at how Abraham answered the call as a contrast to those elders above: 

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, " Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 

Gen 22:1 (NASB)

I’ve often wondered is there should be a comma in there. Could it be “Here, I am” instead of “Here I am”? Either way, though, our example illustrated by Abraham is what it is. Have faith and be prepared when called to answer. Because the leaders of the denominations and large churches won’t be able to save you on that great and terrible Day of the LORD.

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I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying “he missed the forest because of the trees”. This means that a person missed the “big picture” of the forest because he was staring at the detail of a trees. This type of myopia is also prevalent in Christian thought. 

Take a look at the Christian churches in the phone book to see all the names. How many of them are named after specific doctrines? The Baptists are named after immersion since sprinkling does not count for baptism. Presbyterians are named after a type of governance. Some groups even have two or three adjectives in their names. Lutherans are actually named after a man (God forbid, Paul specifically writes against this at 1Cor 1:12-14.) 

Most of these churches were started because someone started focusing too much on one specific doctrine. It’s understandable since oftentimes the doctrine in question was overlooked for a very long time. Unless, of course, if the denomination focuses on bad doctrines or even following men instead of Yahweh, then it is very bad. Generally speaking, though, an entire denomination focusing on one or two doctrines is counterproductive to learning the depth and breadth of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every  form of evil. 1 Thess 5:21-22 (NASB)

See? The goal is to examine everything carefully, not just to focus on a doctrine or two. Look further at what Paul says to Timothy:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17 (NASB)

We’re supposed to study all the scripture and test all the doctrines, not just one or two. The Church of God is a package deal. This is how Yahweh looks at us, as a balanced package. Yeshua told us that the commandments were summed up into two, to love God with all our hearts and souls and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is a big picture approach. His earthly ministry surely was a big picture ministry showing us compassion, patience, and love.

This is certainly not meant to belittle or discount studying the details of the WORD. That is part of the “everything”! But the Church of God and the Messianic congregations tend to study ourselves stupid at times. Our groups have discovered a very linear path and returned to much lost truth, but we have also have a tendency to start throwing doctrinal stakes into the ground that create divisions where none exist. Or worse, we get onto tangents that become the nexus of our faith and detract from focusing of the grace and love of Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross (or torture stake, see what I mean?).

Brothers and sisters, doctrine is really important. Studying is really important. But when it becomes an avenue to divide those of us who do share so much in common, please have patience with each other. The denominations listed above provide enough division between us and mainstream Christianity to last a lifetime! If the doctrine one is so strident about is true, and independent study showed it to one person, won’t that same study show it to all? If Messiah has shown us such grace and patience, shouldn’t we afford each other the same?

A  new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 13:34-35 (NASB)

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I had this paper up at my old site and remembered it today. I did get an "A" on this! 

Phyletic gradualism and punctuated equilibrium are polysyllabic terms that have been used to describe the extremes within those who hold to the theory of evolution. Phyletic gradualism means that changes occur over time, they are incremental, and evolutionary changes happen over a constant, cumulative period of change (Hazen & Trefil, 2010). Punctuated equilibrium is an idea that changes occur in short bursts between static periods. It is important to remember that the time frames referenced when speaking of the idea that life has evolved over millions of years are really long. In this vein, punctuated equilibrium’s “short” periods of time are actually long periods of time referenced against much, much longer periods of time.

The scientific method hinges on hypotheses being observable and testable. Evolution, being based on the assumption of a very old planet, makes observation quite difficult. As the textbook indicates, the fossil record is hindered by circumstances limiting the ability for fossils to be formed in a given time and/or geography (Hazen & Trefil, 2010). Punctuated equilibrium states that the fossil record will show leaps in evolution vice a constant state of change (The Pace, 2006). Since that theory holds that change happens between periods of a lack of change, the evidence throughout a multi-million year evolutionary chain would appear like a dashed line instead of a smooth transition.

In the models of punctuated equilibrium, it is surmised that evolution only occurs at the edge of a species, i.e., at the fringes. In order to deal with the problem of interbreeding, the theory expounds that the majority of the species does not change, but only a group that becomes isolated encounters the evolutionary changes (Evolution Library, 2001). These changes only become evident when they have been sustained in the isolated group long enough that the isolated group becomes something else and then can survive alongside or independent of the original group. 

We can observe intra-species evolution taking place in very short amounts of time and in real-time. Biological beings change very rapidly due to external forces. For instance, look at the Korean peninsula today. On the northern side of the thirty-eighth parallel we have a malnourished population that is significantly smaller than their kin on the southern side of the border. Sunyoung Pak, an anthropologist, performed a study of 2300 refugees from North Korea and discovered that their fourteen-year-old males averaged over six inches shorter than their kin from the south and the fourteen-year-old girls were nearly 3 inches shorter. Assuming that the political situation in the Koreas stays the same for another fifty years, that disparity would presumably be much the same for the entire populations of the two countries. Then, imagine a cataclysmic event causes a mass extinction of the human race on the Korean peninsula and a couple thousand years passes before anyone can excavate this area. What will archaeologists and paleontologists discover? They would discover two notably different skeletal remains of the same species separated by a definitive dividing line. This change only took one hundred years, yet because of the socio-economic status of the two Koreas, it would appear that the skeletal remains were from dramatically different time periods. If the culture a couple thousand years from now is similar to ours today, this “find” would be used to illustrate proof of the punctuated equilibrium theory of evolution.

It is interesting to study how changes are supposed to take a long time and a short time at the same time within the sphere of evolutionary thought. This is similar to the debate today with respect to climate change. The proponents of climate change have massaged their arguments over time as new evidence has been uncovered but at no time does the evidence ever lead them to reconsider the entire thesis. Essentially, no matter what is happening with our climate and weather patterns, it backs up the idea of global, man-made, climate change. Our textbook says that during earth’s evolution, both dramatic change and gradual change have happened, likely simultaneously (Hazen & Trefil, 2010). This is quite disturbing because it appears that no matter what empirical evidence is discovered, it will be used to show that grand, cross-species evolution is true. This is called “group think” and is very much present in cult religions. This is quite contrary to the scientific method where testing everything, being curious, and following the evidence to wherever it leads is the paramount goal. If every piece of evidence uncovered must be manipulated to fit within a pre-established paradigm, then science is not the goal. 

Evidence for our planet being old is established through the fossil record. There are many species of animal that existed that no longer exist, and those different animals appear to have lived in widely varying eras. It is difficult to accept that life evolved from one species that was created accidentally and that humans, while being a very young species, are the only species to have evolved into intelligent, sentient beings. Evidence of evolution can be seen in the Fantastic Caverns of Springfield, MO. There are quite a number of caves under the ground in the state of Missouri; hence it is called the “cave state”. In the Fantastic Caverns, a fish was discovered that was identical to the fish that exist above ground but it has no eyes. Since the fish that fell into the caves lived their entire lives in darkness, they stopped growing eyes. This is evidence of intra-species, short-term evolution.

The idea that our planet was created accidentally and accidentally began spinning on the exact axis to accidentally create the perfect atmosphere for life to accidentally evolve into what we have today appears to be a statistical impossibility. However, the evidence shows what it shows. There is more evidence in the stars that our planet is very old. The distance between the planets in our solar system is vast and the scope and depth of space is incomprehensible. Our moon shows scars from being bombarded with, presumably, space debris. This debris is nowhere to be found near our planet. The time it takes for objects to travel far enough away that we cannot see them appears to be quite long. This, to the author, is evidence of age.

References

Evolution Library: Punctuated Equilibrium. (2001). In PBS. Retrieved February 28, 2011, from 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/5/l_035_01.html

Hazen, R. M, & Trefil, J., (2010). The Sciences an Integrated Approach (pp. 531-556). Danvers, 

MA: John Wiley & Sons

McKie, R., & Saini, A. (2004, December 5). North Korea is failing to meet growth target. In The

Guardian. Retrieved February 27, 2011, from 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/dec/05/northkorea

The Pace of Evolution. (2006). In Evolution 101: The Big Issues. Retrieved February 28, 2011,

from http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/VIIAPaceevolution.shtml

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I sat down for a meal at a recent church meet-up and noticed the guy next to me had a relatively new tattoo on his forearm. The guy seemed to be about 30 and I think he has been in and around the Churches of God for most of his life. When I asked “what is that?” he responded by telling me the meaning of the shapes and what the tattoo meant to him. He is obviously proud of his body art.

I was a bit perplexed. I had (and have) no ill feeling at all toward the brother with the new tattoo but the first thought in my head was, “who’s running this guy’s home congregation?” 

I’m no stranger to tattoos and it is only by the grace of God that I escaped the Navy and my youth without one. I could never find some image that I wanted to wear for the rest of my life. I even had an artistically talented friend of mine draw what I envisioned having tattooed on me. I ended up laminating it and saving it until I ever felt like having it put on me permanently. That never happened.

Just in case anyone is wondering, Torah does indeed prohibit tattoos and that can be found at Leviticus 19:28. Earrings and, strangely, nose rings aren’t prohibited by scripture.

Brethren, it sure is easy to fall into the habit of only teaching our most powerful doctrines. The Sabbath, the Ten Commandments, the Moedim, and the pagan roots of the false doctrines are common threads we like to preach. We must not forget to speak, teach and write on the common beliefs we share with traditional Christianity. Standards of personal conduct, ethics, dressing modestly, and other fundamentals need to be addressed periodically. I know it is easy to assume everyone already knows these things but please invest the time, even if the congregation is a seasoned one. James 3:1 shows that we teachers have a great burden of judgment, so when the congregation is resurrected, let’s have them resurrected as knowledgeable and prepared for that day as possible.

As a side note, when I started to write this blog I was certain that earrings and nose rings were also prohibited by Torah. They actually aren’t and if one reads Ezekiel 16, one can see Yahweh analogizing Jerusalem as a bride and placing earrings and nose rings on her to make her beautiful. That said, I still prefer my wife and my daughters to stay the way Yahweh made them. If He wishes to place rings in their ears, though, His will be done.

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George Burns made a couple of very funny movies where he played both God and the devil back in the lat 1970s. I recall one scene where both characters were playing poker with each other. When I think about a pure free-will view of Christianity, I tend to gravitate back to that fictional image of God and the devil playing poker. Does anyone really think they can bluff God? (By the way, I tried to find the clip of the movie but could only find a passing glimpse. Apparently some movies were made prior to YouTube. Who knew?)

The refrain of the song “Blessed be the Name” includes the words “You give and take away”. I wonder if we really take that refrain to heart. God really does give and take away, even to people who aren’t believers. Sometimes we hear that God raises up nations, but in order to do that He has to work with individuals, too. Even the unbelievers’ wealth and power were not accumulated without God’s notice and likely intervention. He surely has a purpose for all the resources He has given to mankind. 

If we look at Genesis and Exodus, God’s use of both believers and non-believers kind of jumps off of the pages. Jacob had twelve kids and eleven of them had a big problem with the youngest one, Joseph. They treated Joseph really, really bad by selling him into slavery after contemplating murdering him. This treachery ends up with Joseph becoming the de facto leader of Egypt so Yahweh can preserve the tribes. This is a great example of Yahweh working with individuals, even unbelieving Pharaoh, the jailers, Pharaoh’s wife, and a host of other people so that the nation of Israel could grow in number off of the radar of the Canaanites!

Referencing John 4:7-39, the Samaritan woman at the well during Yeshua’s earthly ministry is another outstanding example of the amazing power of God with respect to omniscience. Through a whole lot of happenings in the Old Testament, there was a people occupying Samaria who knew some of the ways of the LORD but were conflicted. Yeshua spoke of the fields being ripe and when He met that woman at the well it was no accident. A sinful Gentile woman who knew of the coming Messiah was used to make many believers and prepare that entire region for the spreading of the Gospel and the adoption that was to occur just a short time after that meeting.

The intersection of free-will and predestination is a very intriguing subject to contemplate. Think about your own lives now and see where you can identify the Hand of God guiding things in your past and your decisions. I can sure see this in my life. the idea of having a religious website and speaking in a Sabbath observing congregation would have been unthinkable to me 15 years ago, but here I am! Working in mysterious ways appears to be the LORD’s signature way of operating. Perhaps He will explain it all to us at the resurrection!

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