Habakkuk 1:5 Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. -LORD God
Ephesians 6:2-3: Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.
Mother: μήτηρ, métér. Simply translated “Mother“. She is a biological female. There is no debate or defense of the term in regards to gender or pronoun.
Words have consistent meaning. There is an unstated social contract and understanding we all agree to when we communicate. If words did not have consistent meaning, the end result would be confusion. To fundamentally change the meaning of basic terminology and semantics results in confusion and break down in social order. We are watching this happen in today’s American society and culture. And who is the author of confusion?
It is a “Mother“, a woman, who has the biological anatomy of a womb. The woman is associated with the womb, not the man. There are countless verses that state this fact over and over.
We are made by God. He created each one of us for a purpose. All of us are here for reason and meaning. We arrived because a “Mother” was our vehicle into this world. This is God’s way and order.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
Psalm 139:13 For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
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Jesus, the Creator of the universe, recognizes his Mother, Mary, a woman. Both sexes, woman and men, are recognized in the verse below by Christ.
Matthew 12:49 And extending His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold: My mother and My brothers!
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Locals recognized that Mary, a woman, was Jesus’ mother. And there are brothers or men mentioned in the verse.
Matthew 13:55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
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I understand the verse below will likely severely trigger popular culture. The verse will differentiate a biological woman, a biological man, and invoke the Spirit of God. Plus, marriage between a woman and a man is defined. Notice, it is also the woman, a mother, that carries and ultimately brings the Child to birth and into the world.
Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
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And for those of you who are openly hostile and frankly nasty towards your parents… After all, they took care of you when you were a mere infant, a helpless baby. They sheltered you. They clothed you. They fed you. And they wiped your butt and cleaned you after you defecated all over your bad little self.
You may disagree with your parents and that is fine. It is okay to disagree. Learn to disagree with civility. Drop the angry, destructive attitude. But, take some time to reflect and show some respect.
Whether you believe in God or not does not change the fact He (note the pronoun) is real and He (pronoun) means what He (pronoun) says. He (pronoun) is merciful and gracious towards those who change their attitude and heart. But stay on the path of a dishonorable mindset…
Proverbs 20:20 If one curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in utter darkness.
Leviticus 20:9 For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.
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To all the Mothers, women, we salute you and thank you. Happy Mother’s Day!
Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they be secure who love you!
Dateline Rome, Italy: The Abraham Accords Global Leadership Summit was completed from December 7 – 9, 2022. The conference was introduced on the first day. The focus of the conference was to fight discrimination and build economic peace through strengthened political ties. The second session was called “Combating Hate: Creative Strategies”. The third session was titled “Economic Peace”. To close, 30 countries signed off on the summit with an agreement to a “family values pledge.”
Conjecture on the part of the author. I suspect any future covenant signed with focus in and around the 7 Noahide Laws. Time will tell…
A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center indicated approximately 2 in 5 Americans believe “we are living in the end times“. Evangelicals and Black Protestants were the most likely to believe in the imminent concept.
Eschatology experts also weighed in and explained how this era we are living is not the end of the world.
However, The Official Expert has told us to be ready. Just sayin’…
Revelation 6:6 “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”
Global inflation continues to take its toll. Below is a chart looking at rising prices around the planet.
Riyadh: Chinese President Xi Jinping recently travelled to Saudi Arabia to meet with Mohammed bin Salman.
$30,000,000,000 (30 billion) worth of deals were signed.
The 34 deals struck between Chinese and Saudi firms are in green energy, information technology, cloud services, transport, construction and other sectors.
Multiple other Middle East leaders made the trip to Riyadh to meet with Xi Jinping. These include: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Sudanese de facto head of state Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, Tunisian President Kais Saied, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani, Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, and Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
“China and Arab states will continue to hold high the banner of non-interference in internal affairs, firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty,” Xi Jinping.
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.
In 2021, over 10,000 Canadian citizens were euthanized.
A 2017 Canadian study suggested medically-assisted dying could reduce health care spending in the country by as much as $137 million a year.
SCRIPTURE teaches that there is an appointed date for the Rapture. Acts 17:31 …because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead.
While only God knows the exact date, many prophecy watchers believe it could be the Feast of Trumpets.
Here are 10 reasons why:
1. TRUMPET THEMES
The fundamental theme of the Feast of Trumpets is the sounding of trumpets (Lev. 23:24). In the Bible, trumpet blasts are associated with . . .
• Resurrection (1 Thess. 4:13–18).
• The opening of a door to heaven (Rev. 4:1).
• A gathering of the people (Isa. 27:13).
• The coronation of a king (1 Kings 1:39; Ps. 47:5; 98:6) .
• Approaching danger (Ez. 33:4; Jer. 4:19–21).
• A battle cry (Jer. 4:19–21).
• A time of wrath and judgment (Joel 2; Zeph. 1:14–16).
All of these themes are denotive of the Rapture and arrival of Judgment Day.
Furthermore, the Hebrew word translated “trumpet blasts” in Leviticus 23, teruah, may also refer to a “shout” (Strong’s 8643). The Rapture is when the Lord descends with a “shout” and a trumpet blast (1 Thess. 4:16).
2. JEWISH TRADITION
According to Jewish belief, the Feast of Trumpets is when . . .
• The resurrection of the dead occurs.
• The wedding of Messiah occurs.
• The time of Judgment begins.
These themes are denotive of the Rapture and arrival of Judgment Day.
3. INVISIBLE MOON
The Feast of Trumpets begins on the first day of the biblical month, when the moon is in its ‘New,’ or invisible, phase (Lev. 23:24). The Rapture is when the Church—symbolized by the moon—disappears, or is hidden from sight (Mic. 7:1, 2 NLT; Isa. 26:20).
4. DAY AND HOUR UNKNOWN
The Feast of Trumpets begins at the first sighting of the New-Moon crescent. Since no one knows exactly when the crescent will be sighted, “no one knows the day or hour” that the festival begins (Matt. 24:36).
5. HEAVEN’S GATE OPENED
The Feast of Trumpets, or New Moon, is when the eastern gate of Jerusalem is opened: “The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the … day of the New Moon it is to be opened” (Ezek. 46:1). The Rapture is when, after “six (thousand-year) days,” God’s people enter through the gate into heavenly Jerusalem: “Behold, I am coming quickly …. Blessed are those who … enter through the gates into the [holy] city (Rev. 22:12, 14).
6. SIGN OF THE WOMAN
The Feast of Trumpets coincides with an annual astronomical alignment in which the constellation Virgo is “clothed with the Sun with the Moon under her feet.” This alignment, called the “Sign of the Woman” in Revelation 12, marks the beginning of Israel’s Tribulation period and, some believe, the Rapture that precedes it.
7. PEACE AND SAFETY
The Feast of Trumpets coincides with the annual assembly of the UN, the organization established 77 years ago with the mission of “maintaining international peace and security.” This is significant because Scripture says the Rapture will occur while people are saying “peace and security” (1 Thess. 5:3).
Coincidentally, the UN’s 77th assembly this year ends on September 27—the Feast of Trumpets.
8. WHEAT GATHERING
The Feast of Trumpets occurs around summer’s end, when the wheat harvest is gathered into barns or granaries (Deut. 16:13). The gathering of wheat into a barn is a picture of the gathering of believers into the Father’s house at the Rapture (2 Thess. 2:1; Matt. 3:12).
9. APPLES AND GRAPES
The Feast of Trumpets is traditionally associated with apples and grapes, fruits that are harvested around this time. Some Jews even deny themselves apples and grapes until the Feast of Trumpets, so that they may eat them with increased enjoyment at the festival. This is significant because apples and grapes are the fruits mentioned in Song of Solomon’s rapture-allegory where the Gentile maid is in the presence of her beloved shepherd, a picture of the Church in the presence of the Good Shepherd, Jesus (Song 2:3, 5, 13, 15).
10. WEDDING REMINDER
The Feast of Trumpets is called a “memorial” blowing of trumpets (Lev. 23:24). While Leviticus does not specify what the trumpet blasts memorialize, the context suggests it is the trumpet blast at Sinai when God gave Israel the Law as a ‘wedding contract’ on the Day of Pentecost (Ex. 19).
Thus, the Feast of Trumpets is a day to remember Israel’s wedding and, by association, the Church’s betrothal that occurred on the same day, centuries later (Acts 2).
Since the Feast of Trumpets is a day to remember past weddings and betrothals, it is a fitting time for the ultimate wedding, the Rapture.
With the above 10 reasons in view, the Feast of Trumpets is a plausible time for the Rapture.
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But there is more. Five major factors make this year’s Trumpets festival particularly auspicious:
1. STAGE SETTING
The current year, 2022, has seen an escalation of end-times “birth pains” like no other: wars and threats of war, new and resurgent viruses, extreme weather, earthquakes, famine and shortages (Matt. 24:6, 7). Yet, for most people, life carries on more or less as normal.
That a façade of normalcy exists, even as the world teeters on the brink, is significant as this is how Jesus said it would be at His return:
“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:26–30).
2. SABBATICAL SIGNS
The God of the Bible is known for giving a seven-day or seven-year warning before bringing judgment (Gen. 7:1–4; Josh. 6:1–5; Gen. 41). Moreover, the Lord orchestrates prophetic events according to His seven-year Sabbatical cycle (Dan. 9:24–27).
With these two facts in mind, it appears God has been issuing ‘trumpet’ warnings for the last three Sabbatical cycles:
In 2001, we saw the 9/11 attacks, followed by a record stock market crash on the Feast of Trumpets.
In 2008, we saw the Global Financial Crisis and another record market crash—a 777-point drop when Congress failed to pass a $700 billion bailout plan—on the Feast of Trumpets.
In 2015, we saw no financial crash but, instead, an extraordinary display of “signs in the sun, moon, and stars”—the signs that portend the Day of the Lord (Luke 21:25; Joel 2:31). Significantly, the final sign, a blood moon eclipse visible above Jerusalem, occurred on September 28, exactly seven years prior to the Feast of Trumpets in 2022.
3. WEDDING SIGN
On June 24 this year, all seven planets in the Solar System lined up in their correct order on the same side of the Sun, to form an ultra-rare “planetary procession.”
Seven days later, the Sun and Moon, which symbolize the Bridegroom and Bride in Scripture, came together in the constellation Gemini, the sign depicting the marriage union between a man and woman.
Notably, this ‘celestial wedding’ occurred on the biblical date Tammuz 1, exactly three months prior to the Feast of Trumpets on Tishrei 1. This is significant because a rabbinic law called Havchana requires a three-month waiting period before a Gentile bride can marry a Jew. (The purpose of the law is to ensure that the bride is not already pregnant before marrying, thereby avoiding any confusion concerning the lineage of the child.)
With the traditional three-month waiting period in view, it is possible that the wedding sign on Tammuz 1 was pointing to the ultimate Gentile–Jewish wedding, the wedding of the Church to Messiah, three months later at the Feast of Trumpets.
4. JUPITER NEAR APPROACH
On the Feast of Trumpets this year, Jupiter will make its closest approach to Earth in 70 years. This is noteworthy for a few reasons.
First, Jupiter, the planet with the red spot on its side, is a symbol of Messiah, wounded for our transgressions (Isa. 53).
Second, because it is the largest planet, Jupiter is called the King Planet. This is significant as Jewish tradition holds that the biblical month of Elul, which ends at the Feast of Trumpets, is when the “King is in the field,” i.e., nearest his subjects. It is thus striking that the King Planet is at its nearest point to Earth in 70 years as Elul ends and the Feast of Trumpets begins.
Third, in Scripture, the number 70 denotes a generation-timespan, a period of judgment, and/or liberation for God’s people (Ps. 90:10; Jer. 29:10).
With the above in view, Jupiter’s near approach on Feast of Trumpets signifies . . .
The number one reason Feast of Trumpets 2022 is particularly auspicious is a convergence of prophetic timelines. For details on this convergence, please see the article, video, or chart linked below.
The most important timeline pointing to 2022 relates to the Year of Jubilee. While numerous attempts have been made to pinpoint the Jubilee based on historical events or patterns, I believe that Daniel’s Weeks Prophecy provides the simple formula needed to calculate the year of redemption:
“From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the prince comes, there will be seven weeks” (Dan. 9:25).
Daniel says Messiah will appear “seven weeks,” or one jubilee period, after a restoration of Jerusalem.
The only modern restoration of Jerusalem occurred in June 1967, when the Jews took possession of the Holy City for the first time in nearly 2,000 years.
Counting seven weeks from the start of the first Sabbatical week following the restoration of Jerusalem, which is 1973, the Jubilee begins in 2022.
It is awe-inspiring to consider that 2,000 years ago, Jesus stood up at the synagogue to declare His role as Messiah and fulfiller of the Jubilee:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18, 19).
Today, if our reading of Daniel’s prophecy and the Sabbatical cycle are correct, “the Year of the Lord’s favor” is upon us.
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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Scripture teaches that there is an appointed date for the Rapture (Acts 17:31). We are told to watch for this day, and that we will see it approaching (Mark 13:37; Heb. 10:25).
The themes of the Feast of Trumpets are denotive of the Rapture. Furthermore, a convergence of signs and timelines suggests that 2022 may be a climactic year.
Will the trumpet blast that changes the world be heard at the impending Feast of Trumpets? Only God knows. But the prospect is utterly thrilling.
Torah Calendar, which bases festival timing on the projected sighting of the New-Moon crescent, has the Feast of Trumpets beginning the evening of September 27: https://torahcalendar.com/Calendar.asp?YM=Y2022M6
2. In the Bible, the Sun symbolizes Jesus the Bridegroom (Ps. 19:5; 84:11). The Moon, the Sun’s heavenly counterpart, represents the Bride, or Church. The Moon is emblematic of the Church as it has no light of its own, relying entirely upon the Sun for its light (Ps. 19:4, 5; 84:11). Likewise, man has no light of his own. We were created in the image of God to reflect His brilliance and glory (Gen. 1:27). When we turn to face the majesty of God, when we surrender to Him and seek Him with all our hearts, we reflect His glory, just like the Moon reflects the glory of the Sun (Matt. 5:14)
3. The UN was established 11 Sabbatical cycles ago on October 24, 1945, corresponding to the Jewish calendar date of the biblical Flood: Cheshvan 17.
4. More on why the Feast of Trumpets in late summer or early fall could be the time of the Rapture:
5. An indication that the Feast of Trumpets is a remembrance of the giving of the Law (Sinai) is the fact that Ezra read the Law to the Israelites, newly returned from exile in Babylon, on the Feast of Trumpets in Nehemiah chapter 8.
6. More on how the Feast of Trumpets relates to Pentecost:
*Jupiter, the planet with the red spot on its side, has 53 named moons. Coincidentally, Isaiah chapter 53 talks about the sin-bearing Messiah who was wounded for our transgressions.
*It was a Jupiter–Venus conjunction that produced the Bethlehem-Star sign at Jesus’ birth. Significantly the Bethlehem Star conjunction recently reoccurred on June 30, 2015, exactly seven years before the ‘wedding sign’ on June 30 (Tammuz 1), 2022.
11. Jubilee calculation:
The jubilee count begins at 1973 because Daniel says to count “weeks,” which are fixed periods on God’s calendar. Since the modern restoration of Jerusalem occurred in June 1967, after a portion of the current Sabbatical week had already passed, a count of seven full weeks could not begin until the start of the next Sabbatical week, which is 1973.
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Jubilee Q and A: Is the Year of Redemption Upon Us?
IMPORTANT MESSAGE: No one knows the day or hour of Jesus’ return (Matt. 24:36). However, a convergence of biblical signs and timelines suggests it is near. To escape the judgment reserved for a God-rejecting world, one must be in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. If you have not yet done so, call on His name and believe that He is the Son of God who died for your sins and was raised from the dead (Romans 10:13).
The context of this series of posts is the course of the Jewish people for the initial 49 years of the 483 year period communicated from the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel. The city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt post exile. These events are covered in Nehemiah 8-13. Israel is getting back to God’s ways.
Nehemiah 10:1a On the seals are the names of Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah…
It is from this verse we learn of Nehemiah’s position and title. We have the term “governor” in English. The original Hebrew text has the word tirshatha which is a Persian word for “governor”. This term is used five times in the Bible and only by Nehemiah and Ezra.
Nehemiah 10:1-27 is a list of people who were willing to seal their name as a commitment to keep God’s laws and commandments. Others willing to commit to God’s law included a pretty comprehensive list. These folks were required to swear allegiance to God with their obedience (Nehemiah 10:29).
Nehemiah 10:28 The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding…
The first item on the agenda with Nehemiah is marriage. The first item on God’s agenda in the garden was marriage.
Nehemiah 10:30 We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
This is a reminder from the Mosaic Law. The law is mentioned in Exodus and Deuteronomy.
Exodus 34:16 …and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods. See also Deuteronomy 7:3-4.
The issue is ultimately worshipping the God of Israel. If a man marries a pagan worshipping woman, he will follow her spiritually. He will turn his back from God and go another way. The result will be a violation of the First Commandment.
Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
Solomon for all of his wisdom did not follow this command. He intermarried many times over and the result was pagan shrines, temples, and idols being built all over Israel. His heart was with pleasing his wives instead of worshipping and focusing on God.
Granted, we are not under the Mosaic Law today in Jesus Christ. For Christians, the issue is not marrying within our tribe or country. We are called to seek the like-minded in Christ in marriage.
2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Christians should present themselves differently. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we are free from the bondage of sin. He fulfilled the law for us. Jesus imputed righteousness to believers. An unbeliever remains stained with the guilt of sin.
Jesus calls believers to be salt and light for the world. 1 John 1-2 proclaims believers should walk in the light of Christ and keep His commandments. How can an unbeliever illuminate if they are not in the source of light?
In all cases whether it is the Old Testament or the New Testament, this is ultimately about having one’s heart set towards God. Place God first in your lives. Stay focused on God. He knows and wants what is best for us.
It takes both a negative and positive battery cable to jump start an engine with a dead battery. Most Christians only have the negative side hooked up, Christ in them—the hope of glory. Christ in them is the dying of Christ that puts to death the old nature. Yet even that doesn’t work until the positive side is hooked up that brings to life the new nature. The negative side is Christ in us. He is our hope of glory. The positive side is us in Christ. He is our Lord of glory. The glory of the Father raised Jesus from the dead. The same glory raised us too.
We eat that same bread of life when we take communion. Jesus is our peace offering and He is both kinds of bread. He’s the unleavened bread that puts to death the old nature and He’s the leavened bread that brings to life the new nature. But we can’t stop at the resurrection. We must have the image and revelation that we are seated in Christ and in the Father now.
Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman takes and works into 3 measures of flour until it forms into dough. What happens to dough when it has good active yeast in it? It rises! It multiplies! It makes a few fish and a few loaves of bread feed 5,000+ people on a hillside. It turns water to wine. The yeast of the Father’s glory raised the Bread of Life.
We are His disciples, following Him, being transformed into the image of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. From glory level to glory level we are transfigured into glory until we are wearing the full wedding garment of Christ which is life and immortality that came to light through the Gospel. We wear always eternal life, Zoe life, and the “never die”, the “cannot be corrupted”, the “deathless”.
The Bible says the Father created us for glory and honor. Psalm 91 and all through the old and new testaments are images of this wedding garment of Christ which is the activated state of the Father’s glory that we are to “live in”. From the beginning God created us for glory, to be in the image of his glory. The wedding garment of Christ, Joseph’s coat of many colors, the robe of righteousness, the armor of light, the garment of praise, and many more images are all the same thing! It’s the activated state of the Father’s glory that He has always wanted us to live in permanently! These are his real sons!
The evidence that we have on the wedding garment of Christ is perfect peace, perfect love, joy unspeakable existing in our lives; it is especially evident in storms. His glory is that “in Christ” position that all true disciples have. A believer is to wedding as a disciple is to marriage. We don’t get to date Christ off and on when He’s convenient.
Being a disciple is living in the activated state of the Father’s glory “in Christ” all the time, following Him, receiving revelation, being transformed into His image of glory, and releasing God’s glory in the earth realm where He transforms every dark condition into light. The Father takes over every realm on earth. His glory fills the earth through us! Sickness, disease, corona virus, deformities, sin, corruptness, are all meant for His glory and it all disappears as we release His glory! It’s replaced by health, life forevermore, immortality, obedience, perfect peace, perfect love, tremendous joy, etc.
There are many ways we can release His glory. Speaking the words we hear the Holy Spirit speak. Doing the works we see the Holy Spirit do. Declaring the revealed (Rhema) Word. Praise. Worshiping the Father in Spirit and in truth. Taking communion. Praying in the Spirit are some of the ways. All of these things also increase more of His power and authority in our lives. They increase and expand the realm on earth that the Father has given us to operate in. It’s our sandbox. He widens the tent pegs of our realms where we are kings and priests in His temple. Each widening is a promotion in glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Revelation 3:20 “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have to start realizing who we are. ❤️
We are a community that shares a living, daring confidence in God’s grace. This faith comes through the good news of Jesus Christ and gives us the freedom and the courage to wonder, discover and boldly participate in what God is up to in the world. We welcome you to participate in this community of faith –regardless of your age, race, gender, life experience, complexities and questions. You have a unique story that can only add to the richness of the larger story that makes up Castle Church. There is a place for you here!
The point of this post is not to bash and shame this local church. It is not all bad. It is not all right by Christ either.
I am not opposed to drinking. I have been known to drink an adult beverage or two. Can a person come to know the saving power of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ over an alcoholic beverage? Sure they can.
John 2:6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
For all the teetotalers out there, Jesus is throwing one hell of a party. Jesus subjected a wedding party to 120-180 gallons of wine. And He kept the good stuff (120-180 gallons) for the end of the party after the people have drunk freely. See John 2 for the complete story.
Colossians 3:9-11 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The church claims to be a “Reconciling in Christ” congregation. By their definition… Castle Church openly and unambiguously affirms persons and couples of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.
It is one thing to welcome people from all social, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender identification, and diverse backgrounds. It is another to condone sinful behavior. The culture has it wrong when they equate sexual behavior (regardless of the age, orientation, and context) apart from Biblical marriage as “love”.
Matthew 19:4-5 He (Jesus) answered, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?…
God loves the sinner; but He does not condone or love the sinful behavior. Do not kid yourself. We are called to change our behavior as a new creation in Jesus Christ. He died and paid the fine for all deviant sin. Yes, any sin is deviant regardless of how small we humans view it. His resurrection demonstrates He has power over sin and death. Christ’s efforts for sin are not to be twisted or mocked.
Would it be a good idea to bring a non believer or a brother or sister in Christ who struggles with alcohol or chemical addiction to this local body? One can study the Bible over a beer. Will anyone be accountable to another if somebody is drinking too much? They have “connect groups”. They have a great selection of draughts. How much is too much? And who decides? Look forward to deep theological discussions over a beer(s).
Is this group building up the body of Christ? One can participate in yoga and share a beer later. They have volunteer groups participating in the community. Wear trendy “swag” while representing the church. A calendar of events is on display for all to join.
