Something to think about in 2012

In 3 hours and nine minutes (at least when I started this post) it will be the 2012.....and just a few seconds ago, I was looking at an older blog entry that had one of my favorite quotes from Chuck Colson:

"The role of the church is not to make men and women happy, it is to make them holy"

As we know, the church is not a building, but you and I who make up the church, individual beings living together in this world. So let me re enter the quote and make a substitution:

"The role of you and I is not to make men and women happy, it is to make them holy"

So the question then becomes, how can we make men and women holy, if we ourselves are not holy? So how do we become holy? I think the answer comes from Luke 9:23 "Then he said to them all 'If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny (to say no to something) himself , and take up his cross daily (emphasis mine), and follow Me." But let me quote the last half of that verse in The Amplified Bible: "conforming wholly to my example in living and if need be in dying also". In other words to follow the example the Lord gave in His life here on earth.

So if we are to take on the task of ministering to others in 2012, we need to first remember to take on the identity that we have been given: "Christ"ians. As it has been said: "Be ye holy, as I am holy"and to be holy we need to follow the example that Jesus gave and when we do that it becomes easier to make those that we come in contact with holy, because we will have given them the example of what it means to be a follow of Christ?

Will you make that your goal in 2012?

Hanukkah: Is It Really a Minor Festival?

In a few days, Hanukkah or the "Fesitval of Lights" will be celebrated....as a believer who goes to a Messianic Jewish Congregation, the holiday has a more significant meaning than it might to most....the reason I say that is because if it were not for Hanukkah and the Lord saving the Jewish people through the Maccabees, then we would not have Christmas, Resurrection Sunday, et. al....As believers, we should have more of an appreciation for days such as this....especially if it was one that was observed by Jesus....

I included a article orginially written in 1984, but still holds a great amount of significance reminding us of what the holiday is.....Hanukkah: Is It Really a Minor Festival? - http://www.jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/3_5/hanukkah/

Bashing Religion Just in Time for Christmas

Instead of sharing my own words, I thought I would share the following; it was originally published last year, but I think that it bears repeating:

Bashing Religion Just in Time for Christmas

By Marcia Segelstein|Published Date: December 07, 2011 A former producer for CBS News, Marcia is an Anglican, a mom, and a reluctant rebel against the mainstream media, the Episcopal Church (and others who make up the rules instead of obeying them), and the decaying culture her children witness every day. Aggressive atheism is rearing its anti-religious head again this pre-Christmas season. And this time it's more combative and belligerent than ever. This year we'll see the gospel of unbelief spread far and wide on billboards, in newspapers and magazines, and even on television. The most expensive campaign is being launched by the American Humanist Association. Last year, the AHA was responsible for ads exhorting people to "Be Good For Goodness' Sake." This year, its advertising is much more pointed, and unapologetically negative. By its own description, the "Consider Humanism" campaign is intended to hit harder. "This year, we're going further in our attempt to challenge the intolerant view that atheist and agnostic humanists can't be good without Bible-derived morality. We're taking a hard look at what is included in religious texts,” according to the website devoted to the ad campaign. Scheduled to run in major newspapers such as USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the AHA's ads will be made up of two parts. One will be a quote from the Bible or the Quran and will be marked with the words, "What some believe." The other part, identified as "What humanists think," will contain a quote from what the AHA calls "humanist documents." For example, one ad will juxtapose this Bible verse from Hosea 13:16 with a quote from Albert Einstein: "The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open." Einstein's quote reads as follows: "I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty." In another ad, Katharine Hepburn is quoted from a Ladies Home Journal article: "I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for each other." The juxtaposed Bible passage quotes Jesus from the book of Luke: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters -- yes, even his own life -- he cannot be my disciple." One ad on homosexuality will contrast the AHA's position affirming "sexual equality" and the legalization of same-sex "marriage" with the verse from Leviticus that calls the act of a man lying with another man "detestable." American Atheists have come up with a billboard ad to run in the New York City area featuring a Nativity scene which reads, "You Know it's a Myth. This Season Celebrate Reason." According to The New York Times, "The idea of the campaign is to reach people who might go to church but are just going through the motions." David Silverman, the president of American Atheists, is quoted as saying, "We're going after that market share." The Freedom From Religious Foundation, based in Madison, Wisconsin, has come up with what it calls the "Out of the Closet Campaign." In a dozen or so cities, billboards will feature regular folks proudly declaring their unbelief. One will feature a young woman named "Katie" holding a plate of cookies, wearing a "Godless Goddess" T-shirt, with the quote: "I like baking, biking & sleeping in on Sundays." Bus ads by the United Coalition of Reason read "Don't Believe in God? Join the Club." By all accounts this year's campaigns by atheists are, as David Gibson wrote for PoliticsDaily.com, "more explicit in their aims of converting believers and rallying nonbelievers." I guess I just don't understand. Christians (along with Jews and Muslims) gather in groups to worship. Atheists don't gather not to worship, so why seek out members? What's there to be a member of? And why should atheists care about stopping worshippers who are just "going through the motions"? Do they think they might get their hands on money once pledged to churches? Trying to tear down the belief system of the world's foremost religion -- Christianity -- is what seems intolerant to me. Placing prominent ads declaring the birth of Christ to be a myth seems downright hostile. To my mind, these campaigns feel defensive, as though atheists are weighted down with chips on their shoulders, or feel left out of some club. Christians I know don't go around declaring that only fellow Christians can be good. And if they do, they're wrong. Maybe Christians should launch a kinder, gentler campaign in response. They could quote Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, from his book The Reason for God on the subject of common grace: "[E]very act of goodness, wisdom, justice, and beauty is empowered by God....He casts them across all humanity, regardless of religious conviction, race, gender or any other attribute to enrich, brighten and preserve the world." God bless us, every one.

Another Christmas rant.....

That's right folks....a rant....just thinking about the post: "What kind of tree?"
 http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-kind-of-tree.html
and the decision another state did to name the Christmas tree a "holiday tree"....and it got me to thinking of what would happen to some of the songs that we sing around this time if the PC group had their way....maybe it would go something like this:

• "O holiday tree, O holiday tree..."
• "Go Tell it on the mountain, but make sure that you have permission from green groups"
• "Have a holly, jolly, holiday season"
• "I'll be home for the holiday season, you can count on me"
•  "I'm dreaming of a multicultural holiday season"
•  "Do they know it's the holiday season at all"
• "Grandma got run over by a reindeer and is suing Santa for having his reindeer unattended"
• "Simply having a wonderful holiday season time"
• "Oh you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm tell you why...because the representation of Nicholas has hired the CIA to watch over you and he's coming to your town...."

see how silly it all is....But all of this is because they want to take the real meaning for the season out...and that is the birth of Jesus....by simply calling it a "holiday" in which there is no specificity and everyone can celebrate it, you water down the impact of the birth of the Messiah and what He came here to do...to borrow correctly from another song..."to save us all from satan's power when we had gone astray"...If there is no real reason for the season, then why celebrate it?

So either we celebrate "Christ"mas with Jesus as the focal point of the season that brings hope, or celebrate "warm fuzzimass" where there is no focus except for emotionalism (and trying to outfight everyone for that present that may not be necessary) that brings nothing....Don't know you, but I would rather have real hope than any present that people can buy....