Don't Let "IT", Change You

In the Catholic tradition and always displayed by either statues in their churches or by elegant drawings and depictions within their stained glass windows are what is called the "Stations Of The Cross" These rembrances are designed to cause individuals to consider the sufferings of Jesus to and through his passion on the Cross by which, and only by which, we are saved. 

The Stations Of The Cross are traditionally identified as follows:

(1) Jesus is condemned to death,

(2) he is made to bear his cross,

(3) he falls the first time,

(4) he meets his mother,

(5) Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross,

(6) Veronica wipes Jesus’ face,

(7) he falls the second time,

(8) the women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus,

(9) he falls the third time,

(10) he is stripped of his garments,

(11) he is nailed to the cross,

(12) he dies on the cross,

(13) he is taken down from the cross, and

(14) he is placed in the sepulchre.

As opposed to the 7 last words or sayings of Christ on the Cross, the "Stations of the Cross" point out what was done to Jesus or what he did. The 7 last words point out what Jesus said and what he willed. As recorded within scripture, the 7 last words are:

(1) Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do...

(2) To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. ...

(3) Woman, behold, thy son! ...

(4) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? ...

(5) I thirst. ...

(6) It is finished. ...

(7) Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit

The Victory Of The Cross

Heb. 12: 2 ~ Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Col. 2:15 ~ In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. (NLT)

Jesus's substitutionary atonment and victory on the cross gave us victory and SAVED us from the penalty of sin which is ultimately death or separation from God. He broke chains and bondage, giving us a new path and road to walk on and live. Through and by the Cross it is HE that has gotten us the victory and not we ourselves. 

Ps. 98:1 ~ O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

The Often Overlooked Foundation Of Our Victory 

"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do"

There is an aspect of the victory on the Cross that I would like to address even but briefly. Our victory centers around the first of Christ's last words on the Cross, after the 11th station and prior to his death and reveals that in spite of all the hate Jesus received, all the accusation, misinformation, disinformation, betrayal and all the negative that was placed on HIM, HE did not change from who he was! In other words, we are saved because his attitude towards us never changed even though I believe that was really what the suffering was all about from the enemies perspective. 

Could Jesus attitude towards us have changed without him entering into sin? 

Now, that is a question that is somewhat perplexing and to some degree oximoronic. First as God Jesus could not sin. He was without sin and no guile was found in his mouth. However, could his refusal to administer the grace of forgiveness of God upon man not been a sin? We'll examine that in a radio broadcast attached to this post. 

The fact is that Jesus was loving and kind from the beginning, he was/is full of grace and truth, came to complete the mission of the Father, and did not bow to retaliate the hate and anger that he received. Jesus did not become the unforgiving evil of the environment in which he was immersed. Through EVERY temptation, test and trial, and debate, Christ remained faithful and true untainted by the world in which he lived and ultimately saved.  This is the VICTORY on the Cross that makes all the difference and displays beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus received and will receive all the world's honor, without ever having to bow to it, its lusts or anything therein. 

In other words, no matter what Jesus endured, 

JESUS DID NOT LET "IT" CHANGE HIM. 

It's Our Turn Now

To me, this thought was intimidating. Seemingly, over the last 5 to 10 years, as people and as a nation, we have gone through a seemingly insurmountable amount of "things" in the way of tests, trials and tribulations. Covid by itself has nearly ripped the foundations of the world and allegedly civilized society apart. The church has not ared well and in many cases have acted and responded to pressures similarly to the world. Due to this, many things and people have changed. At least so it appears...

It has been interesting to hear and see how people, some of whom who claimed the ability to be "good without God", have revealed their most evil and selfish nature. We have people that were allegedly committed to values such as humanism, freedom and liberty, now reverting to concepts such as invasion of privacy, segregation and classiscism.

In the medical profession, for example, there are people who were once allegedly committed to saving lives, who now wish evil on others because of their medical decision to not vaccinate with a vaccine that neither reduces the prevalence of the malady for which it was designed to address, nor reduces the malady's spread. Not to mention people have rightly rejected this vaccine because they were tested and developed using aborted fetal cells, which some don't care who died or were killed as long as they can live. 

Can you imagine the insensitivity of people saying "deny them treatment because they didn't vaccinate" or "they should suffer for not vaccinating"? Then what makes it worse, is that we have some so called Christians, who claim to read the bible and hold to its values who feel the same insensitive way and follow the same unenlightened and immoral path of thinking.

Think of this...

What if we only treat and heal people who agree with life decisions of some so called authority? Example, what if we refused to treat those with COPD or emphysema who had a smoking history? The Surgeon General's warning has been on cigarettes for decades. Do we deny treatment to those people who now suffer?

What if we refused to treat homosexuals who have acquired HIV and AIDS because we believe that homosexual sexual activity is the cause of such illness? After all male homosexuals die of AIDS or ARC more every year than any other demographic. What if we simply say, "don't treat them they knew the risk"?

In both those cases and more, we would be considered barbarians. We would be considered the least sophisticated and least caring people on Earth in the modern era. Modern ignormamous, hellish and immoral scumbags...However, that is exactly what IT, today's stress, has made many become.

Adversity, A Revealer Of Truth

In my opinion, adversity does something that nothing else can do. It revelas character and substance of a thing, situation and or person! Adversity also reveals relationships, allegiances and alliances, both positive and negative, which is essential when it comes to personal and even corporate growth.

In these times and during this adversity, many people have revealed exactly who they are when the right, or should I say "wrong" circumstance arises. This has been a revelation that modern man is no more sophisticated nor morally pure and centered than those whom we call the barbarians of history.

Adversity displays just how greedy a person can be when money runs out or runs thin. Adversity in your health allows some to prove how faithful, loving and kind they are when your health or personal standing diminishes. Like Job, you do not know the mind of your friends until there is adversity and winds of change.

With all of that said, the greatest victory we can experience, is the victory of not allowing our adversities, or the attitudes we face during adversity, shape and mold us into what IT wants us to be or become. 

See, it is the greatest victory for Jesus to have been beaten, accused, lied upon to his face and hung on a tree in cricifixtion, which was the ultimate public embarassment and rebuke, to still ask God to FORGIVE the very ones that had caused his pain and grief, even while they were in the very act of doing so. 

I'll be the FIRST to say, like the song, IT WASN'T (or it ain't) ME! I have no ability to do that. Only Christ could provide that victory for me and on my behlaf, because my strength, with all that I know fails in the ultimate degree and manner. To be so kind and pure to a person or a group of people who are determined to push their evil, their will, their hatred and do it with approval of their peers and all authority??? It is beyond me what the constraining factor is, BUT GOD HIMSELF!

CHANGE

But what about you? Have you allowed your pain to change you? 

Part of the societal issues we face today, stems from people, who have historically suffered pain, but have left the God that was able to heal and manage pain and by their own drifting have now seemingly opened new wounds and fresh sores causing a deep scaring effecting a new generation even if by proxy in an emotional manner. 

Just be truthful, some of those acting displaying the most violent behavior and the most dissonance, have never been under the whip. They have never been not free. We have White surbaban kids marching and violently protesting, some about issues that they know nothing of. The claim of solidarity falls by the way side because many of them displaying the most violent behavior have never been in union with those who they claim to be in solidarity with during peaceful times. In many cases it is similar to a glorified science project to see how far one can go in the name of a certain cause or perceived societal struggle. 

One thing is for sure however, all these violent and pain centered activists have been in or are in bondage in their hearts regardless of their mental prowess or physical or material ability.

Where Is Our Spiritual Foundation?

Ps. 11:3 asks, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? We have a generation who has left God and the church, the foundation of our place within this society and the world, and gone to men through psychology and or self help ventures and aspirations and fallen way short of healing. Further, the isolation and realization of the limitations of man have driven a fierce anger and animus that has shown up in things such as Critical Race Theory (CRT), violent protests, destruction of property, murder and killing, thefts, lawlessness and other ill temperate acts, actions and ways. Killing and murder in most major cities are at all times highs, and lawlessness, both towards individuals and citizens, are at ever increasing proportions. 

All of these things and even more personal issues such as divorce and remarriage, school and kids related issues, financial pressures, material struggles and even issues within the church, are adversities that are ripe breeding grounds for change or revealing of attitude, heart and minds and how we approach those issues, and the results of those issues make all the difference in our hearts and minds. 

Conclusion  

I therefore contend that among all the VICTORY that we gained on the cross due to Jesus sacrifice, the VICTORY of forgiveness, even in our ignorance, is the highest victory obtainable. As I see it, that forgivness is the highest declaration of God towards a wicked and evil human condition. That is the light that the dark could not, did not, and can not put out!

Ooh my God! Without that...that love and kindness...that enduring faithfulness...that ability to truely look beyond ALL of our faults and see our needs, we have NOTHING!   

You may have to read this post a couple of times to really digest what I am attempting, in my feeble and inadequate manner, to communicate to you, but at the end of the day, and no matter what you are facing, and no matter the unfeeling and unloving(ness) of the world and even those within the church towards you...DON'T let IT...don't let THEM change YOU!

If you bend your character in response to their brokenness, evil and inadequacy, they win...However, the bible declares that WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS, THROUGH CHRIST THAT LOVED US! (Rom. 8:37)

DON'T LET IT, your circumstance, the false accusation, the layoff, the broken family or any disadvantage, change you!!!

Remember, you have someone praying for you and most importantly, Jesus prayed for ALL of us that our strength and faith wouldn't fail. Why should WE change our character when WE have the VICTORY?

Blessed! 

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The Probability Problem Of Suffering Addressed

Some contend that because suffering exists, God doesn't exist. Then some say that even if one could say that God and suffering can exist, that it is more unlikely that God exists because there would be no good reason for suffering and evil to exist if God exists.

Yes, arguments along these lines make some great and fanciful leaps into a chasm of knowledge and understanding that baffles me, but the assumption yet exist that man is the center of the universe and that all things revolve around what he knows, as opposed to what God knows.

Here is a recent video produced by Reasonable Faith that addresses this alleged conundrum of the Christian faith:

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Does God Create Tragedy?

In our post, "Haiti-Did God Do This?" I gladly set forth the notion that God was not the author of the Haitian devastation through earthquake and that God did not rise to kill or destroy the thousands that lost their lives during this tragic event.

As stated in that post, atheists like Christopher Hitchens, suggest that God, if he exists, is responsible for such destruction in either one or two ways:

1- Either he causes the destruction to make people pray to him. Which is somewhat of a traditional Christian  sentiment also.

Or

2- That He (God) causes the destruction according to his will.

Throughout this God is  unresponsive to the people's cry for help therefore, allowing the people to suffer in pain needlessly.  An example of needless pain according to the critic would be a person who dies after laying under the rubble for 5 to 7 days. Why couldn't God have simply put them out of their misery earlier or better yet, protected them from the tragedy to begin with?

There are many worthy and notable questions that arise from these sentiments and  declarations that are certainly worth our attention. Although not popular with some, I believe the church community can be better benefited talking about these subjects and trying to understand just what happened to Haiti and even other countries that experience tragic natural disaster. I would encourage churches and pastors to begin teaching about the character and nature of God to their youth so that they won't be caught off guard like so many are within Christian circles when they are pressed on issues like this. With that said, let us ask and answer the tough questions...y'u-know the ones that critics think we can't answer:

Is All Of This God's Judgement?

While Pat Robertson certainly thinks so, I'm surprised that a great deal of Christians do also. I know "we'll all understand it better by and by" but I hold that God has clearly revealed certain aspects of his nature towards man and while that nature does include judgement, it also includes, justice, parity, and righteousness. In other words God is not unjust in any of his ways, acts or dealings towards mankind.

While tragic events are certainly a sign of the coming judgement in the sense that it reminds us of our mortality, it is a stretch to say that things like this are the judgement of God himself. It is distinguishing that difference that will be discussed in this post.

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Haiti ~ Did God Do This?

Over the holidays I decided to tackle some of the more difficult assertions that the New and Reformed atheists are setting forth these days. You know those assertions that seem to make sense on the surface but fall apart upon examination? In this post, which will also be followed by an upcoming radio podcast, I plan to do just that.

My heart goes out to all of the many thousand men, women and children who are suffering through the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake. I have been in prayer most of the day as I have read the reports and God quickened my spirit to speak to those of us who also now travail for these our fellow human beings. Please let's continue to pray for them now.

The Tragedy

In what can only be described as one of the worst tragedies imaginable, we observe Haitian devastation that has shaken many of us to our core:

In what is one of the most devastating natural events in recent history, it is estimated that an earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7.0 hit Haiti along the fault line, known as the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone. The quake shook Haiti claiming what preliminary estimates say could be hundreds of thousands dead.

Its currently reported that Haiti consists of approximately 9 million people 80% of whom are Catholic, and that 1/3 of its population is said to be directly and severely affected by this devastation. There is an outcry from all sectors of society. The wealthy and the poor have suffered extremely in this devastation. The Prime Minister's palace, which once stood proudly in regal and grand fashion, has been destroyed and cast aside similar to a rickety shacks and inadequately built homes that housed over 60% of this population.

The devastation has also effected those that are in Haiti to help others in large numbers. A group of approximately 800 physicians and medical service personnel, named Doctor's Without Boarders, whose top mission is to provide humanitarian medical services to the destitute, has itself been stricken, leaving most of its staff unaccounted for and and all of it's locations nonfunctional.

Neither religious nor secular humanitarian leaders have been spared the effects of this devastation by any means. The Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, 63 was found dead in his office and UN Leaders such as Heidi Annabe along with at least 100 other UN employees and officials are missing and feared to be dead also.

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