True Repentance

For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land…

Undermined

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12 NASB Two-edged sword – I grew up on one of the foothills of the Cascades in Washington State.  In…

Chasing the Rainbow

You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not fear!”  Lamentations 3:57 NASB Near – Lamentations is not high on our list of “good reads.”  It’s basically a funeral dirge coupled with tragic poetry about God’s absence.  It’s depressing.  We would rather read Psalms.  Furthermore, since sin is the cause of all this…

The Man from Phrygia

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,  Revelation 1:10  NASB In the Spirit – In 156 C. E., Montanus appeared in the village of Phrygia.  He caused a ripple in the Church that became a tsunami centuries later.  In fact, you might owe your understanding…

Dionysus and Communion

As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.  John 6:66  NASB As a result of this – Have you ever wondered why many followers of Yeshua left after he spoke at the synagogue in Capernaum?  You remember what he said, right?  Things like this: “Truly, truly, I say…

My Personal God

“O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger.”  Psalm 38:1  NASB O LORD – The Hebrew text does not use the word “Lord,” but rather the personal name of God, a name that is never spoken among the Jews.  Worshippers were careful to substitute the word “Lord”…

The Introduction Matters

A Psalm of David, for a memorial.  “O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger.”  Psalm 38:1  NASB For a memorial – Have you ever prayed like this?  Have you reached the point, long after the Lord has redeemed you, long after you recognize your sinful condition…

God in the ER

“Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them. . . And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.”  Hosea 1:6, 9  NASB I am not your God – Hosea is a tragic book.  It is…

The Real Question (2)

“Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” Jonah 3:9  NIV His fierce anger – “A better god has been discovered who never takes offense, is never angry, never inflicts punishment.”[1]  If Tertullian is right, then the king of Nineveh is grossly mistaken.  Too bad he made…

The Real Question (1)

“Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” Jonah 3:9  NIV Who knows? – The king of Nineveh asked one of humanity’s most important questions.  Does God change His mind?  When the king of Nineveh asked this question, it was possible to imagine an empirical answer.  Yes,…