Some thoughts at the end of the year

Here it is, the end of 2013 and it's that time of year again....the making of resolutions and the new list of what is "in" and what is "out", so I thought that instead of "re"solutions, I thought I would resurrect some thoughts on these matters and give us some idea of what to think about for 2014....

OK, let's start with the "in" and "out" list....I wrote about this in the blog entry http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2012/01/in-out-or-neither.html
and here is what I wrote then:
But thinking about this, I am reminded of the words of the book of James: "For what is your life? It is a vapor (puff of smoke) that appears for a little while and then vanishes (dissolves into thin air) away." (James 4:14b). So what should the priority of us who are believers should be? If they had asked me about what should be "in" or "out" (and you know they never would), I would have responded...
OUT: Caring about what people think should be "in" or "out" (a shifting list based on shifting values)
IN: Being more like the Lord (a lifestyle based on values that never change)
Because when you get to the bottom line, what will matter and what will last for eternity-following the latest trend and adapting to the world's standards which change with the prevailing currents or following the commandments of God and leaving a legacy of lives made better and of more value? 

Shouldn't this be our mindset in 2014? Caring more about God and what He thinks and trying to be like Him than what is going on with what foxes say, or selfies or whatever, sort of what was said in a blog entry http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2011/12/something-to-think-about-in-2012.html

"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.

Now in dealing with "resolutions", I've said quite a bit in two blog entries:
http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2010/12/resolutions.html
http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2012/12/resolutions-again.html

according to dictionary.com the prefix "re" is defined as:
"a prefix, occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, used with the meaning “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition, or with the meaning “back” or “backward” to indicate withdrawal or backward motion:"...
and then "solution": 

1. the act of solving a problem, question, etc.

3. a particular instance or method of solving; an explanation or answer

 

So if you want to give a answer to what a resolution is, you  can define it as "the act of solving a problem, question, etc....again and again"....The question I have is: How does solving a problem over and over again take care of the problem...the answer; it doesn't! Because if you are having to try to solve a problem over and over again, either one of two things are happening: the "solution" is an incorrect one or you are sabotaging the "solution" from working. Well both are true....in the first case you are relying on your own strength to take care of the problem and if our own effort were able to take care of it, then we wouldn't have the problem in the first place. In the other, God may have given us the answer, but we "sabotage" it by ignoring what God is telling us to do and then thinking we can take care of it.

So have we take care of the problems that we have once and for all? If not, have we decided on a plan of  action? And if we have, have we considered the following:
That is why we as believers should turn to God to be able to make sure that our plans meet with his approval. Psalms 37:4-5 gives us an word of advice from the Lord which is always good for us to remember:

4 Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.

So if you don't want to have a year of failure, let's start by giving our year over to God and let him direct us! 

These are thoughts that we should have and dedicate ourselves to continuing to keep in our mind as we transition to a new year and dedicate it to making it something that is pleasing to Him and that we start making an impact on ourselves and those that we come in contact with.

update on McMath

Some of you may remember a story that I ran a couple of weeks ago-http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-decision-i-glad-my-parents-didnt-have.html

Well here is the latest and it doesn't look good due to activist judges...

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/12/26/judge-allows-hospital-to-take-jahi-mcmath-off-life-support-family-considers-appeal/


However pray that God's will overcomes everything and that His will be done!

Back in the hospital again

Merry Christmas to all and may the blessings of the Lord be on you and your families!

I was given a painful reminder that the testimony of the Lord is an ongoing process. That it is not complete until the time when we go home to be with the Lord.

I don't know exactly know how it happened, but I started experiencing pain on Sunday afternoon and evening, and by late evening (10:30 or so) that it got to be unbearable. So my mom and dad took me to the Texas Med Clinic where it was initially diagnosed that I had had a hernia and was sent to the emergency room to have a cat-scan to confirm it.

So we went and was admitted where there was a time of  waiting (when is there not waiting in the hospital), where I got acquainted with my old friend morphine which made the pain subside and allowed me to at least get some sleep.

So after the scan and some probing, it was found that there may have been a blockage caused by bad eating habits combined with the fact that due to the surgeries of '08 that my intestines may not be the same as they used to be. So what they decided to do was to take a pump and go through my nose to my stomach and drain out stuff that way.

But praise God the process worked and by Tuesday morning, the doctors were saying that I was feeling well enough to be able to have some breakfast and lunch and by late afternoon be released to the care of my family.

There was a couple of reminders that the Lord gave through some of the things that I went through:
1. As I said before, the testimony of the Lord is an ongoing process, that we cannot just rely on the lessons of the past, that we must continue to grow and learn from the Lord what He wants in our lives.

2. His continuing faithfulness...when I am faithless, he is faithful. When I stray from Him, He remains the same. When I am hurting, He comforts me. Thank you Lord for Your reminder of what You told us in Hebrews "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever"!

3. The difference of when one has Jesus in their lives-Unlike my previous experience, this time around I had a roommate and through seeing his reaction to certain things,  I could tell that he was not a believer or if he were that he was not a strong believer. And the thought came back to me, "Do I sound like that to the Lord when things happen to me?"  And I thank the Lord that even through the worst of the annoyance that I had to put up with that there was One that I could turn to with my concerns and needs.

So on this, the day when many celebrate the birth of the Lord, let us be thankful for His coming and His continual presence in our lives!

A decision I glad my parents didn't have to make

I was getting my daily update from Lifenews.com when I saw the following story: http://www.lifenews.com/2013/12/17/hospital-pressuring-family-of-girl-brain-dead-after-tonsillectomy-to-pull-the-plug/

It's the story of this young lady who has been declared brain-dead after undergoing surgery to have her tonsils removed. Now the hospital wants to pull the plug on this poor girl against the wishes of her family. What makes it worse that the hospital's decision is based on CALIFORNIA state law, which seems to have no sympathy for family as indicated by the following quote: “A person who is declared brain dead is legally and physiologically dead.” The family is now having to hire a lawyer who is filing an injunction against the hospital (which is not cheap!). 

Looking at this story makes me glad that the Lord decided to heal me when my appendix burst. I can not imagine what would have happened if my family would have had to make this type of decision.

So at this time, let us pray for this family and ask that God's will be done and that the Lord will be able to carry the family through this time!  

1st night of Hanukkah 2013

Tonight is the 1st night of Hanukkah and I was looking at the blessings that are done on the 1st night of Hanukkah:

•  Barukh atah Adonai Elohenu melech ha-olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvohtav v'tzi-vanu l'hadleek ner shel Chanukah. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the light of Hanukkah (and to let our light shine before others).
•  Barukh atah Adonai Elohenu melech ha-olam, sheheyanu v'keey'manu v'hee-gee-anu lazman hazeh. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has performed miracles for our forefathers in those days at this time.
•  Barukh atah Adonai Elohenu melech ha-olam, she-hasah nisim la­avotainu ba-yamim ha-ham bazman hazeh. Blessed are Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us in life and sustained us and enabled us to reach this season.

 And I was thinking of something from each of the blessings...

1. I looked at the last part of the 1st blessing: (and to let our light shine before others). We were told by the Lord in Matthew 5-"¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven." How many of us have been letting our light shine, not only in the bright times, but also in the dark? And how many of us are living in such a way that people know that we are believers and that we are following the example of the Lord in the way that we live? How many testify to what the Lord has done (and is doing) in their lives, not only at this time of Hanukkah (or Thanksgiving), but whenever we have a chance-are we the 1 Peter 3:15 type of believers-"¹⁵ but treat the Messiah as holy, as Lord in your hearts;^[a] while remaining always ready to give a reasoned answer to anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you — yet with humility and fear,"

2. "Blessed are Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has performed miracles for our forefathers in those days at this time." Think about it...and the same God who performed miracles back then does the same thing for us. I know that I can say that with authority because I am a walking miracle. I know that there are many out there who read this that can say the same thing about their own lives or the lives of someone that they know... It's as we could say "Blessed are Thou, O lord our God, King of the Universe who has performed and is still perfoming miracles, for our forefathers and us in those days at this time!"  
 
3. "Blessed are Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has kept us in life and sustained us and enabled us to reach this season". Just think about it, that we are in His hand...that He sustains us-He gives us enough to get through each day-enough strength, enough provision, enough breath-He doesn't give us more than we need or less than we need, but enough to get through each day, no matter how "hard" the day may be. He also has enabled us-we look at what is going on in the world and the situations that go on in our lives and around us and think about them-would we be able to handle them without the strength of the Lord. You hear how many complain that they don't have this thing or that thing or the new version of whatever thing they have and we should be thinking (to borrow from a phrase that I heard in a Max Lucado book) "Why are they crying over spilled champagne?"  As I have said many times, my favorite song at Passover is Dayenu ("It would have been enough"), it would have been enough if the Lord had just given us salvation, but He has given us so much more! And we should realize that for whatever reason, He seems to have given us more than others! Compare we we have been given to what others in the world (and even close to us here in this city, county, state, nation) have been given and we should be on our knees thanking God even for the "little" that we have been given!

So on this first night of Hanukkah, let us thank the Lord God for the blessings that He has given, not only during the times of the Maccabees or the Pilgrims, but to us as well!

sure way to annoy me for the end of 2013

Want to find a way to annoy me these next few weeks? Use the phrase "Happy Holidays" anytime after December 5th.

Why? OK, let's see usually people say "Happy Holidays" for one of two reasons...one, there are multiple holiday ("holy day") seasons going on. And usually that is true...because usually during December is Hanukkah and that is a holy time celebrating the deliverance of the people of Israel and the re-dedication of the temple.

However, if you have looked at this year's calendar, Hanukkah will be starting on the night before Thanksgiving and end on the night of the 5th of December.

So can anyone tell me what holidays fall between the 5th and 25th of December this year? Are there any? So the question is then, why are we saying "Happy Holidays" this year if there are no holidays between the end of Hanukkah and Christmas?

Maybe it's the second reason; which is to remove any hint of the reason why many celebrate this time of year. Yes, I know that the birth of the Messiah may have been more during the late Autumn, but there are many in the Body of Christ who don't know this or are used to celebrating His birth in December.

Oh by the way, for the idiots at Salon and other places that say there is no war on Christmas...yes there is, when you remove Christmas and replace it with Holiday..and encourage others not to celebrate the birth of the Lord who came, to borrow from the old holiday song: "to save us from satan's power when we had gone astray", which is the reason the season is celebrated....

So if you remove the "reason for the season" what are you left with? What is the world left with? Why celebrate? All you really do when you remove Christ from Christmas is increase the despair, anguish and sorrow that people who have no hope have. You kill the reason for joy, peace and tranquility and replace it with greed, humanism and a state that worships nothingness or its leaders and place them in the place where the Lord should be.

So this year, if you expect to be on my good side (greetings, e-mail, etc...), please use the proper terminology, otherwise expect to see your greeting disappear faster than a turkey at Thanksgiving dinner!

Thanksgiving-Hanukkah connection?

I was on Facebook this afternoon and saw a link for the following article: "The Hanukkah-Thanksgiving Connection-Who knew?" http://www.jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/v20-n02/the-hanukkah-thanksgiving-connection-who-knew

I have to admit that I was intrigued by the article where it talks about the themes of this season: freedom and thankfulness...and how then it went into a description of the One who gave us the real reason for true freedom and thankfulness...Our savior Y'shua ha Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah)!

And it also pointed to a time when in John 10 when the Lord was in Jerusalem during this time and the religious leaders asked once again if He was the Messiah and the Lord answered them plainly:
I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify about me ..." (John 10:25).

He was telling them plainly and showing them by His works that He was the Messiah who was sent by God to deliver the world and give it true freedom...in His own words...If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).

So what greater reason is there to be thankful this season?  To borrow from the last paragraph of the the article:
When we sit down to our Thanksgiving meal on the first day of Hanukkah this year, it's a good thing to remember the great deliverance that God gave to those who were under the thumb of tyranny, and also to remember that in many parts of the world, people still suffer under oppressive rule. It's also a good time to rejoice and reflect on the greater deliverance - from death to eternal life - that the Messiah Y'shua offers each one of us. Have a Happy Hanukkah/Thanksgiving!

follow-up to "Being on the other side"

A couple of weeks ago, I was writing about what happened to my mom http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2013/10/being-on-other-side.html and just thought that I would follow-up...

I have to thank God for the doctor who was able to find out the reason that my mother was in the hospital and was able to resolve it....what had happened was called for short-AVM (a arteriovenous malformation). The best way to describe it is that if like on a street, you have one person going one way, another person going the other and they meet in the middle of the street and just stay there...what happened there was that the arteries and veins in her GI (gastrointestinal) tract decided to merge and created a bubble...and that this bubble was leaking, which was causing my mother to have anemia and other complications, which I don't want to discuss publicly...

Anyway, the doctor during a colonoscopy was able to "burst the bubble" and seal everything so that it would be healed and that my mother would be able to leave that same evening....

If this doesn't give you a reason to be thankful to God for what He does...then I don't know what I can say to you...my mom is feeling better and her regular doctor has told her that something like this shouldn't happen again...so ends another chapter in the story of God's healing hand and another chance to give testimony and point others to the Great Physician!

Blogger beware again?

A couple of times I have written about dangers that are out there for bloggers...http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2013/05/follow-up-to-new-dangers-to-bloggers.html 
and http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-danger-to-bloggers.html

Now I find that there is another danger out there, and that is when you write something that someone disagrees with and they go crying to the government for help. In this case I was reading this story "Obama Admin Helped Abortionist Try to Shut Down Pro-Life Blog" http://www.lifenews.com/2013/11/13/obama-admin-helped-abortionist-try-to-shut-down-pro-life-blog/ about this abortionist who went "berserk" simply because the author of the blog wanted to ask questions to verify a story that he was doing. And you actually have to read this story to believe it!

For years we have been told: "Freedom of expression" or "be tolerant" when we try to raise objections to vulgar acts that other people are doing. But it seems that there seems to be a double-standard when someone objects to us, then it's no longer "freedom of expression", but "why are you harassing this person", instead of "Be tolerant", its "We going to go after you and shut you down!" Have we gotten so double-minded that we actually encourage this "selective" tolerance and enforcement to happen in this nation?

I keep thinking back to the thoughts that I wrote with those entries and wonder-will 2014 be "1984"  and how long do we have before the freedom that we have will be taken away and replaced with the system Orwell described?

Low-information believers

This morning I was getting my "Pastor to Pastor" e-mail from Prison Fellowship, and the quote that was used today, used a term that I hadn't heard since the time I was a very young kid (before I came to know Jesus as my Savior) at St. Dominic's Catholic Church:

“We should instruct [those who are teachable but ignorant] by means of a catechism. A catechism is a brief explanation of the foundational teaching of the Christian faith given in the form of questions and answers. This helps both the understanding and the memory. The content of a catechism, therefore, should be the fundamentals of the Christian faith.”-William Perkins (1558-1602)

The reason this caught my interest is that lately on Facebook, I have been using a term that I had heard and liked "Low Information Voter" (LIV for short). What this is is a person who watches more "entertainment" than anything else, just believes what they are told in the media (without bothering to check whether it is true or not), and doesn't keep up on the issues that are facing society today. 

But this morning a thought hit me...what about us as believers? Are we LIBs (Low Information Believers)? 

I looks at the definition given for catechism "A brief explanation of the foundational teaching of the Christian faith given in the form of questions and answers". Like I said, I usually have associated this term with the Catholic Church, but what about churches in general? 

When we have people come to the Lord, do they get a time of explanation of the even the basics of the faith? I mean for them to understand about Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Word, what it means to be a believer?  Do we equip them in such a way that they are rooted and ground in the faith in such a way that when something happens to them, that their faith remains strong? Do we equip them to be able to share the faith? Do we equip them to be as Paul put it, "be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.". Do we teach them about things like apologetics (defense of the faith)?  

The late Chuck Colson had a quote that has burned itself into my brain and is something that has stuck with me: "The role of the church is not to make men happy; it is to make them holy". And how do make people holy? The first step is to make sure that they know what they believe in. I know of people who have abandoned the faith; one has become an atheist and the other might as well be. Her quote was basically that everything other than salvation was "up for grabs". My opinion is that had these people been rooted and truly educated about what they believe and what the Word believes, then they would not have drifted from the Word. 

But these are probably two of many that have done so, merely for the reason that they were brought to salvation, but then abandoned there to flounder on their own without any thought to how they were going to survive in a world that has abandoned all pretense and despises anything that has to do with the Lord. Or that they have gone to congregations that don't teach the Word or are given weak "be happy" sermons based on philosophies of the world and not on the bedrock of the Scriptures?  I mean we have "leaders" in the Body of Messiah and are "media darlings", but what do they teach? Is it based on the Word?  Have we abandoned the Berean mindset in the church-Acts 17:11
These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.  

Or are we even teaching our congregations to be Bereans? Do people come to our congregations to be taught or to be entertained, just believe what they are told and don't keep up on what is going on in the world? 

This could go on for a long time, but to sum up, What kind of believers are we? Are we LIBs, being as Paul writes in Ephesians 4, being children: "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting," or have we been taught how to like what he write in 2 Timothy 2:15-"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." ? 

Being on the other side

This is has been a long week for me. On Tuesday, I had to sit by my mothers side while waiting to admit her. We found out that she had to be in the hospital-the initial reason being that she was anemic (one standard for measure blood or the iron in the blood normal is 12 her's was 4) and had to be given blood and to have a scheduled endoscopy the following afternoon. Then we found out that there was an internal tear in her body and would have to undergo a colonoscopy to find out the extent of the tear.

So here I am at home, keeping an eye on her stuff and finances, but part of me is remembering 2008. I remember that almost every day and night my parents were by my side going through what was unknown, first whether I would live or not, then the ups and downs of recovery. I remember that there were many times of fear, of joy, of sorrow, the whole gamut of emotions. And now here I am going through the same thing that they must have gone though and am beginning to learn again some lessons about the faithfulness of God, that no matter what happens that everything is under His control and that everything will turn out the way that He wants it-to His honor and glory.

I know that soon this will be resolved and that we will look back at this. I pray that when we do look back, it will be having learned all the things that the Lord wants me to know and remember.

Blog explosion

I was reading the paper this morning (which is kind of hard to do when it has been raining the last few days and the paper is wet), when I came across the above cartoon...

I have to admit, due to the popularity and the relative easiness of doing a blog, there are many that come out and decided to become bloggers. In my case, it wasn't due to the peer pressure, but I thought it would be a good way to share what had happened to me though my time of appendicitis and how that could help others. Evidently, that has branched off to other areas, but the goal is still the same; sharing so that I could communicate with others.

And for many, it is the same thing, it is their way of communicating to others; whether it's their love for a football team, sharing about how to work with computers, etc...And after seeing some, I have gotten to think of them like I do about people. Some are good and make you think about things. Then there are others that make you laugh and forget about your problems for a while. There are those that inform and discover things you may not have seen before. There are those that are forgetful and don't keep up for whatever reason. And then there are those that should just keep their opinions to themselves and not speak out.

Don't know where I fall in (hopefully it's in the first three), but until there's a better way to communicate my thoughts without becoming a "follower" http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2013/05/follower-or-imitator.html, I think I'll stay a blogger for the time being...

Something to think about

This month is Breast cancer awareness month, and everyone will be whole hog on going with the pink ribbons and everything....but if you ask me to contribute this month, my answer will be "no"....

It's not that I'm for breast cancer or anything...but here are a couple of thoughts that I have....

The wearing of pink...a nice thing...but then I remember that just a couple of months down here in Texas when they were having the debate on SB2, that pink was hijacked by pro-abortion state Senator Wendy Davis...she stood and filibustered for 11 hours against this bill while wearing pink sneakers to make her feel more comfortable....but it also reminded me of the vastly unreported (by the mass media) link between abortion and breast cancer. There has been study after study that have shown the ABC (Abortion Breast Cancer) link, yet these studies have been pooh-poohed by the media, So now, pink has more a connotation of pro-abortion support, rather than fighting breast cancer.

Then there is the matter of where the money is going to...the Susan G. Komen foundation...now the Komen foundation's stated goal is to eliminate breast cancer and that is a fine and dandy goal. HOWEVER....

1. Some of the funds that go to to SGKF are then used to fund Planned Parenthood (which despite the name has become nothing more than wanting nothing to do with parenthood, but rather supporting abortion on such  a mass scale that it would make the dictators of the 20th century proud)...so my question is-aren't you being a little hypocritical in saying you want to prevent one type of death, while promoting another?

2. If you were to ask the average person who gives to SGKF (and probably even SGKF people), whether they were against bullying, they would probably say "Yes". However last June, SKGF did precisely that in alliance with PP.... In February of 2012, SGKF decided that it wanted to be "neutral" in the abortion debate, so they decided to cut ties with Planned Parenthood, but then Planned Parenthood came back with such a backlash that three days after making the announcement, SKGF backtracked and restored their funding of PP and then SKGF turned on the Vice-President  who had made the recommendation and forced her to resign her position within the foundation.

So if you are giving this month in the fight against breast cancer make sure that the gift that you give ONLY supports the fight against breast cancer, not anything else...and don't buy into the hype, give because you want to give, not because everyone is shouting at you that this is the right thing to do....

selfie pride vs selfie humility

A very interesting contrast to my morning...I was reading the paper and reading of what are called "selfies". What a "selfie" is is when a person uses their cell phone to take a picture of themselves and share it with everyone...as a matter of fact, if you look at the picture that accompanies this blog, the picture of me is a not-so-good attempt at a "selfie"...However, almost most of the "selfies" that are taken by people to say "Look at me", the focus being on themselves and how good they look.

But I want to contrast that to what today is (actually starting at sundown last night). It is Yom Kippur, which on the Jewish calendar is the holiest day of the year. It is the end of the "Days of Awe" that started at Rosh HaShanah, a time where the focus is on introspection and seeing where a person's life stands to see whether or not one is written in the book of life. And for many, it is a time usually for repentance and seeking forgiveness. During the Yom Kippur service, the Al Chet ("For the sin") is recited, which covers at least (by my count) 40 different areas of sin and in some synagogues is recited up to nine times!

It's a reminder of the contrast of the "look at me, how I good and beautiful I am" viewpoint of the world (which has made "selfies" a trend in which millions participate) and the viewpoint that is found in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?"

The Word always should remind us, that our true "selfies" are not that beautiful or good. As a matter of fact, the Word reminds us of how ugly we really are because of the sin that we have in our lives. It reminds us that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and for the need of a Savior. Fortunately on this day, in the Messianic version of the Al Chet, we not only confess our sin, but are also reminded of the gift that God has given to us through His Son to remove that ugliness and restore ourselves to the image of God, the best image to have!
"FOR ALL THESE, GOD OF REDEMPTION, FORGIVE US, AND GRANT US REDEMPTION THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF OUR MESSIAH."