Good Morning. Computer’s working and the internet connection has been re-established! The sun is shining, and the price of corn is approaching record territory.
It never ceases to amaze me just how much of what we think of as the basis for our Christian faith is not rooted in scriptures. Much of what we think is part of the Christian message is rooted in song, fables, ethnic traditions and just plain fiction. Beginning in the 1830’s with the preaching and writing of John Nelson Darby, the notions that the Old Testament should be rejected by Christians, that Jews had lost their share of God’s grace, and that we could interpret the so-called prophecies of the Bible to the point of inventing “the rapture” and even predicting the dates of the end of the world began to take hold in some quarters of the larger Christian community. None of these ideas are consistently scriptural.
It’s possible to take snippets of sentences and paragraphs from all around the Bible and use them – totally out of context – to “prove” almost anything. Indeed, people have done just that to defend slavery, racism, war, murder, abuse within families, polygamy, rape, etc. The list goes on and on. Similarly concepts such as “the rapture” have been invented and then “proven” through the abusive use of lines of scripture that have nothing to do with what they are being used to defend.
The apostle Paul constantly warns the early Christian churches about false prophets. They are still with us today. If you want to understand scripture and integrate the message of God’s covenant with your own faith, then you must be willing to commit time and energy to study of the scriptures and prayer. There are no shortcuts, and anyone who tries to sell a version of the Bible that is presented as Cliff Notes on the Christian faith is a false prophet.
In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus says, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Take note, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness’, do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms’, do not believe it.”
In Christ we have been given one more opportunity to live in the will of God, the joy of God, the presence of God. That life is to be lived out here, now, among the people of God. Jesus ushered us back into God’s loving presence and gave us the model for our lives. We are “saved” by faith through grace, but if we are saved then every moment of our lives will demonstrate the love of God and the love of neighbor that all the scriptures – Hebrew scripture and the New Testament – call for consistently. Jesus didn’t come to remove us from this world. Jesus came to show us the possibilities of life as God had intended for being in this world.
Prayer: Lord hear our prayer. With the Psalmist we pray that You would make us to know your ways, O Lord; teach us Your paths. Lead us in Your truth, and teach us, for You are the God of our salvation; for You we shall wait all day long. You are our help and our deliverer; do not delay, O my God. Amen.
Today’s readings are Psalm 84, Psalm 148, Psalm 25, Psalm 40, Deut. 31:7–13, 24—32:4, Rom. 10:1–13 & Matt. 24:15–31.
Blessings.
Pastor Jim
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