The member’s of my family, almost everyone of the people I have met working through the years, and most of you readers have something in common. Do you know what it is? You are ashamed of the name Jesus Christ. And a fair amount of the above claim to be Christians. You are more than willing to talk about vacationing, gossip, work, Hollywood and just about anything else you can think of. But when Mister Bill or anyone else for that matter so much as breaches the topic of Christ….Silence. The conversation ends and nothing will be said or added. You don’t want to speak of him and in your mind, this is a matter of religious privacy if you will.
You will die in your sins and you will make hell your eternal home, just as if you were an axe murderer or any other hideous thing you can think of. In fact….to say you are his and to go to church and do nothing or say nothing in regards to Christian evangelism, is in actuality worse than never knowing about him at all. You are a disgrace. And now that I am in a happy place with you lets keep moving right along. Shall we? You say I am full of religious malarkey. Well, how about some scripture reading? After all, you love Jesus, don’t you? And since Jesus told us he is the living Word, you won’t mind reading Him a little bit, will you? You remember of course through all your biblical reading, while you spent day and night for 6 years getting your degrees, that the bible said the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.
The Gospel of Saint Matthew chapter 5 verse 13…You are the salt of the earth. But if you being salt have lost your flavor, what then can be salted by you? This salt being you, is therefore good for nothing else, but to be cast out into the streets, and to be walked upon by the feet of men. Well then…that was rather succinct. How about another happy time scripture? An after-dinner mint if you will. Oh, you’re going to like this I am sure. Let’s read together in the book of Matthew chapter 10 starting in verse 32. This will only take a minute. Whoever, therefore, will speak of me before men, he also will I confess before my Father in heaven. But he also who will not speak of me before men, him also I will not speak of before my Father in heaven. Do not think that I have come to send peace on earth, but rather a sword. For a Christian man’s enemies will be those in his own household……It sounds a lot like you, my mouth zippered friends. Does it not?
Verse 38…And he that does not pick up his own cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Well, that was a lot of fun, wasn’t it? And now you can go right back to talking about what you love. Your car, where you’ve traveled, your investments. Oh, wait not that. I forgot you don’t want anyone to know how much money you have. So sorry about that. And do you know what else? You are in more trouble than you can possibly imagine. But that can all be changed. The question is this. Are you willing to change?… To be continued
The book of Philippians chapter 2 verse 12. Therefore my beloved brethren. As you have always been obedient in my presence. And now in my absence as well. Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling. In this passage, the word work actually means to carry something to its inevitable conclusion. In other words to complete the task which you have undertaken. Which in this case is making it to heaven. It is not enough to start. We must finish. And finish I will. What about you?. How many times have you ever passed a house or building project, which was started and never completed? The owners or builders began in good faith, assuming that everything would go according to plan, but something or somethings went wrong. They were unable to overcome the obstacles set against them in and of themselves, and now the weeds and vines are consuming what they started out to do.
My dear readers, this blog as you will read was written quite some time ago, but nevertheless, the message is appropriate at any time…As I sit here on my computer. Texans are dealing with what Harvey’s devastating wrath left in its wake. And in only hours from now, Floridians will be reeling under the brunt of Irma. The fact is that we are all in this together. And to a person, I don’t think many of us would argue with the fact that in tough times the tough get tougher. And that the best of what mankind has to offer to his or her fellow man is brought out. Examine if you will the following two sentences. I don’t know how to underscore so please focus on what’s written after the dots. O.K. so here we go. God is…..nowhere. O.K. and now for the second……..God is now here. This difference is a small space between two letters. But this small and seemingly insignificant marginal space completely changes everything. Does it not?
The philosopher Aristotle once said this. True friendship cannot endure simply by the love of one toward another. But rather by the two loving a third, and that being transcendent. And since I cannot bear to not defend the Catholic church from the constant darts of the Protestants. One of the things that Luther and Calvin wanted to dispose of, or so they thought, was the Catholics usage of Greek philosophy within its ranks, as well as in the educating of the priests. Fools were they and are those who say we have no need of this. Philosophy and psychology are at work every day of our lives.
My brother-in-law just passed yesterday, and I was once again reminded of the frailty of this life. I was also reminded last night, in a poignant way, about the cross of Christ, recalling my first days in a Pentecostal church, and seeing nobody on the cross. As you know, I am a Catholic and I am once again appreciative of why seeing the body on the cross is a good reminder to us all.
There is an individual whom I know. Not a friend but rather someone with who I must interact periodically. This particular person who says they were brought up Catholic, comes to me on occasion, spouting all kinds of rhetoric against the church and its treatment of women. Repeating continually false teachings from T.V. shows which she has watched, about new gospels, Mary Magdalene not being a prostitute, and all kinds of untruths presented by the media and Satan himself. At the root of all of this in her life and the lives of many others, is a failure to read Gods word, to pray often, and to follow and adhere to the teachings of his church. There are no rebels in heaven. The bible says that we being many are one body in Christ. There are not many bodies but rather one.
The title of this blog is an interesting question indeed, and the truth be told, He was one of us. The scripture teaches us that Jesus came into the world not to judge it, but, that the world through Him might be saved. The key word being, “Might”. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father except he comes through me.” He also said, “If there was another way I would have told you.” So Jesus, not willing to fool or ensnare anyone in any way, thereby hindering their ability to understand and comprehend his message to mankind. rather succinctly spelled out what we had to do in order to inherit eternal life and the forgiveness of sins.
For those of you who are old enough to remember, during the somewhat formative days of space exploration by the United States and the Soviet Union. Nasa was perplexed by a most peculiar problem. The problem being an astronauts ability to write in space using a pen, which led to a million dollar investment in time and effort, in order to create a pen which could write no matter what the attitude of the spacecraft was in relation to the pen being held. This pen then became available to the public that was clamoring for any space-related stuff, as if we needed a pen that could write upside down, and they weren’t cheap either.
To be in the world but not of the world is what the scripture says that we should be. Yes, we are inevitably living in and working in the same world as is everyone else, but as Christians, we are called to be different. Which in and of itself then raises the question, are you affecting those around you or are they infecting you? We as Catholics should feel a check in our spirit when entering into certain conversations and situations, and if you don’t, its time for you to check on your spiritual state of affairs and quickly.
which he uses to dupe mankind. This would include at times watching some of the shows where they are encountering so-called spirits of the dead or ghosts.
The Prophetic Pundit 