Volume 12

December 2012

E-Herald of the Coming Kingdom

The time has come, and the Kingdom of God is near. Change the way you think and act, and believe the Good News. Mark 1:15 GW

How December 25 Became Christmas The holiday season Who possesses immortality? Assessing predictions and their accuracies Lord, teach us to pray, they said
DEDICATED TO SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS OF GODS COMING KINGDOM TO BE ESTABLISHED WHEN CHRIST RETURNS

Editors Note
Co-Editors: Kent H. Ross Wally Winner
A Mediocre Church Mediocrity? Is that what we need . . . more and better mediocrity? Maybe Leonardo da Vinci didn't have it correct when he said, " It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." That "they rarely sat back and let things happen to them," ought to be the challenge to each Christian and each Church. It seems to me that churches should grow, and seldom should stay below 50 in attendance, and see baptisms each month or so, That doesn't happen for too many churches. Surprisingly the average church in America averages less than 75, and seldom sees a baptism. One church, in a sincere act of faith (and I mean that as I know the church), set as their goal for the year to have one baptism. Now there are probably situations and circumstances where having 50 per Sunday, and regular baptisms is more difficult than in other situations. The first church in which Cheryl and I served was in a village of 42 population. Yes, it is more difficult in some situations than in many others . . . but it is still God's Will that no one perish and that all come to repentance. Our first call is faithfulness to the gospel of the Kingdom as preached by Jesus, but, but we are called to work as the night is coming when mankind can no longer work. Each church needs to ask of God for help in being faithful in spreading the faith, once delivered to us. Your church, yes, your church, can grow. Not through magic tricks, but through the power of God through His Holy Spirit. Jesus, empowered by His Father, said "I will build my church!" Persecuted Ones & Our Missions Recently there was a Sunday in November in which people across the country and perhaps across the world were to especially raise their voices in prayer to the Lord for those who are persecuted for their faith. That is becoming more and more ominous as in the Muslin dominated part of the world there is no toleration and tolerance for a faith other than Muslim. Down through history that has most usually been the case. Even today in "Christianized" nations, such as France, Germany, England, Canada and the United States, there are frequent reports of attempts to impose "Sharia" law within Muslim enclaves in those countries. Not long ago, we were in Detroit, crossing to Canada, and felt we were in a foreign country and felt an unease in certain areas where we had to stop. Over the years, in our trips to England, there has been evidenced a great difference in areas of London where once we walked. Apparently there are parts of France that are virtually Muslin. There must be unimaginable stress on Christians in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and now Turkey. For them we ought daily to pray, not knowing who they are, or even what they may understand about the Bible, for persecuted ones that God knows. Persecution will increase, the battle will grow fierce, but God's people need to be found "Contending for the Faith Once Delivered!" Watch for next month's article on Jude 3,4. Page 2

The Kingdom is Coming "Signs of the times are everywhere. There's a brand new feeling in the air . . . Keep your eyes upon the eastern sky, Lift up your heads, redemption draweth nigh." It's wonderful that the message of the coming Kingdom of God is being spread broadly. Yet more work remains for the world to all have heard of it coming here to be established on this planet, albeit renewed. Signs, as we seek to discern them, point us toward a future not too far removed when this Age ends, the Millennium begins, the Little Season and then God, Himself, will join us and His Son for Eternity. We don't appear to right on the cusp. There are signs that seem to remain, but we do remember things Jesus told us: 1) Another temple seems yet to be built in Jerusalem; 2) An abomination that brings desolation seems to yet have to appear; 3) But Jesus also said that NO one, not the angels, not even Jesus, himself, knows the hour when His Father will send Him back. And so we wait, but we ought not to be idle. People yet need to hear and respond to the Gospel and become part of God's Forever Family. We, as part of His Family, need to tend to our familial responsibilities. Worship Him, feed His family and others as we have opportunity, encourage those we know and love, to join the Family as Adoptees, like we are now. What Does God Expect of Us? I mentioned familial responsibilities and that grates on the nerves of some people today. That is not unfamiliar in that Martin Luther had the similar struggle with the book of James. He dismissed it as an "epistle of straw." That all was because of James' emphasis on the teaching that "faith without works is dead." Luther wanted to so strongly rely in God's grace (Sola Gratia), that he couldn't balance that with James' teaching. God while savings us through grace, even designed us to do certain things. Paul stressed this clearly in Ephesians 2:8-10 - "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faithand this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are Gods handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." "God's Design - Our Discovery." I've always liked that title (thanks, Skip). Discovering our giftedness is fundamental to fulfilling our part and role in God's Plan. Think of that -- being God's handiwork, created when we put on Christ, and created to do those things He designed us to do. That is amazing and awesome.

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Table of Contents
Editorial
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How december 25 became christmas andrew mcgowan

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The holiday season kent ross

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0 LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM 0 little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie; Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light; The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight. 0 holy child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin and enter in, Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; 0 come to us, abide with us Our Lord Emmanuel! Phillips Brooks
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Who possesses immortality? Scott millard

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Assessing predictions and their accuracies from jaco van zyl

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Lord, teach us to pray, they said kent ross

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Bible study notes

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How December 25 Became Christmas

By Andrew McGowan
On December 25, Christians around the world will gather to celebrate Jesus birth. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foodsthese all characterize the feast today, at least in the northern hemisphere. But just how did the Christmas festival originate? How did December 25 come to be associated with Jesus birthday? The Bible offers few clues: Celebrations of Jesus Nativity are not mentioned in the Gospels or Acts; the date is not given, not even the time of year. The biblical reference to shepherds tending their flocks at night when they hear the news of Jesus birth (Luke 2:8) might suggest the spring lambing season; in the cold month of December, on the other hand, sheep might well have been corralled. Yet most scholars would urge caution about extracting such a precise but incidental detail from a narrative whose focus is theological rather than calendrical. The extrabiblical evidence from the first and second century is equally spare: There is no mention of birth celebrations in the writings of early Christian writers such as Irenaeus (c. 130200) or Tertullian (c. 160225). Origen of Alexandria (c. 165264) goes so far as to mock Roman celebrations of birth anniversaries, dismissing them as pagan practicesa strong indication that Jesus birth was not marked with similar festivities at that place and time.1 As far as we can tell, Christmas was not celebrated at all at this point. This stands in sharp contrast to the very early traditions surrounding Jesus last days. Each of the Four Gospels provides detailed information about the time of Jesus death. According to John, Jesus is crucified just as the Passover lambs are being sacrificed. This would have occurred on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, just before the Jewish holiday began at sundown (considered the beginning of the 15th day because in the Hebrew calendar, days begin at sundown). In Matthew, Mark and Luke, however, the Last Supper is held after sundown, on the beginning of the 15th. Jesus is crucified the next morningstill, the 15th.a Easter, a much earlier development than Christmas, was simply the gradual Christian reinterpretation of Passover in terms of Jesus Passion. Its observance could even be implied in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 5:78: Our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival...); it was certainly a distinctively Christian feast by the mid-second century C.E., when the apocryphal text known as the Epistle to the Apostles has Jesus instruct his disciples to make commemoration of [his] death, that is, the Passover. Jesus ministry, miracles, Passion and Resurrection were often of most interest to first- and early-second-century C.E. Christian writers. But over time, Jesus origins would become of increasing concern. We can begin to see this shift already in the New Testament. The earliest writings Paul and Markmake no mention of Jesus birth. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke provide well-known but quite different accounts of the eventalthough neither specifies a date. In the second century C.E., further details of Jesus birth and childhood are related in apocryphal writings such as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Proto-Gospel of James.b These texts provide everything from the names of Jesus grandparents to the details of his educationbut not the date of his birth. Page 5

Finally, in about 200 C.E., a Christian teacher in Egypt makes reference to the date Jesus was born. According to Clement of Alexandria, several different days had been proposed by various Christian groups. Surprising as it may seem, Clement doesnt mention December 25 at all. Clement writes: There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lords birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20 in our calendar]...And treating of His Passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the 16th year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth [March 21]; and others on the 25th of Pharmuthi [April 21] and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi [April 15] the Savior suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].2 Clearly there was great uncertainty, but also a considerable amount of interest, in dating Jesus birth in the late second century. By the fourth century, however, we find references to two dates that were widely recognizedand now also celebratedas Jesus birthday: December 25 in the western Roman Empire and January 6 in the East (especially in Egypt and Asia Minor). The modern Armenian church continues to celebrate Christmas on January 6; for most Christians, however, December 25 would prevail, while January 6 eventually came to be known as the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem. The period between became the holiday season later known as the 12 days of Christmas. The earliest mention of December 25 as Jesus birthday comes from a mid-fourth-century Roman almanac that lists the death dates of various Christian bishops and martyrs. The first date listed, December 25, is marked: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae: Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea.3 In about 400 C.E., Augustine of Hippo mentions a local dissident Christian group, the Donatists, who apparently kept Christmas festivals on December 25, but refused to celebrate the Epiphany on January 6, regarding it as an innovation. Since the Donatist group only emerged during the persecution under Diocletian in 312 C.E. and then remained stubbornly attached to the practices of that moment in time, they seem to represent an older North African Christian tradition. In the East, January 6 was at first not associated with the magi alone, but with the Christmas story as a whole. So, almost 300 years after Jesus was born, we finally find people observing his birth in midwinter. But how had they settled on the dates December 25 and January 6? There are two theories today: one extremely popular, the other less often heard outside scholarly circles (though far more ancient).4 The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated. Despite its popularity today, this theory of Christmass origins has its problems. It is not found in any ancient Christian writings, for one thing. Christian authors of the time do note a connection between the solstice and Jesus birth: The church father Ambrose (c. 339397), for example, described Christ as the true sun, who outshone the fallen gods of the old order. But early Christian Page 6

writers never hint at any recent calendrical engineering; they clearly dont think the date was chosen by the church. Rather they see the coincidence as a providential sign, as natural proof that God had selected Jesus over the false pagan gods. Its not until the 12th century that we find the first suggestion that Jesus birth celebration was deliberately set at the time of pagan feasts. A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday.5 In the 18th and 19th centuries, Bible scholars spurred on by the new study of comparative religions latched on to this idea.6 They claimed that because the early Christians didnt know when Jesus was born, they simply assimilated the pagan solstice festival for their own purposes, claiming it as the time of the Messiahs birth and celebrating it accordingly. More recent studies have shown that many of the holidays modern trappings do reflect pagan customs borrowed much later, as Christianity expanded into northern and western Europe. The Christmas tree, for example, has been linked with late medieval druidic practices. This has only encouraged modern audiences to assume that the date, too, must be pagan. There are problems with this popular theory, however, as many scholars recognize. Most significantly, the first mention of a date for Christmas (c. 200) and the earliest celebrations that we know about (c. 250300) come in a period when Christians were not borrowing heavily from pagan traditions of such an obvious character. Granted, Christian belief and practice were not formed in isolation. Many early elements of Christian worshipincluding eucharistic meals, meals honoring martyrs and much early Christian funerary artwould have been quite comprehensible to pagan observers. Yet, in the first few centuries C.E., the persecuted Christian minority was greatly concerned with distancing itself from the larger, public pagan religious observances, such as sacrifices, games and holidays. This was still true as late as the violent persecutions of the Christians conducted by the Roman emperor Diocletian between 303 and 312 C.E. This would change only after Constantine converted to Christianity. From the mid-fourth century on, we do find Christians deliberately adapting and Christianizing pagan festivals. A famous proponent of this practice was Pope Gregory the Great, who, in a letter written in 601 C.E. to a Christian missionary in Britain, recommended that local pagan temples not be destroyed but be converted into churches, and that pagan festivals be celebrated as feasts of Christian martyrs. At this late point, Christmas may well have acquired some pagan trappings. But we dont have evidence of Christians adopting pagan festivals in the third century, at which point dates for Christmas were established. Thus, it seems unlikely that the date was simply selected to correspond with pagan solar festivals. The December 25 feast seems to have existed before 312before Constantine and his conversion, at least. As we have seen, the Donatist Christians in North Africa seem to have know it from before that time. Furthermore, in the mid- to late fourth century, church leaders in the eastern Empire concerned themselves not with introducing a celebration of Jesus birthday, but with the addition of the December date to their traditional celebration on January 6.7 There is another way to account for the origins of Christmas on December 25: Strange as it may seem, the key to dating Jesus birth may lie in the dating of Jesus death at Passover. This view was first suggested to the modern world by French scholar Louis Duchesne in the early 20th century and fully developed by American Thomas Talley in more recent years.8 But they were certainly not the Page 7

first to note a connection between the traditional date of Jesus death and his birth. Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus diedc was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar.9 March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciationthe commemoration of Jesus conception.10 Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.d This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa. The treatise states: Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.11 Based on this, the treatise dates Jesus birth to the winter solstice. Augustine, too, was familiar with this association. In On the Trinity (c. 399419) he writes: For he [Jesus] is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.12 In the East, too, the dates of Jesus conception and death were linked. But instead of working from the 14th of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, the easterners used the 14th of the first spring month (Artemisios) in their local Greek calendarApril 6 to us. April 6 is, of course, exactly nine months before January 6the eastern date for Christmas. In the East too, we have evidence that April was associated with Jesus conception and crucifixion. Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis writes that on April 6, The lamb was shut up in the spotless womb of the holy virgin, he who took away and takes away in perpetual sacrifice the sins of the world.13 Even today, the Armenian Church celebrates the Annunciation in early April (on the 7th, not the 6th) and Christmas on January 6.e Thus, we have Christians in two parts of the world calculating Jesus birth on the basis that his death and conception took place on the same day (March 25 or April 6) and coming up with two close but different results (December 25 and January 6). Connecting Jesus conception and death in this way will certainly seem odd to modern readers, but it reflects ancient and medieval understandings of the whole of salvation being bound up together. One of the most poignant expressions of this belief is found in Christian art. In numerous paintings of the angels Annunciation to Marythe moment of Jesus conceptionthe baby Jesus is shown gliding down from heaven on or with a small cross (see photo of detail from Master Bertrams Annunciation scene); a visual reminder that the conception brings the promise of salvation through Jesus death. The notion that creation and redemption should occur at the same time of year is also reflected in ancient Jewish tradition, recorded in the Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud preserves a dispute between two early-second-century C.E. rabbis who share this view, but disagree on the date: Rabbi Eliezer states: In Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; on Passover Isaac was born...and in Nisan they [our ancestors] will be redeemed in time to come. (The other rabbi, Joshua, dates these same events to the following month, Tishri.)14 Thus, the dates of Page 8

Christmas and Epiphany may well have resulted from Christian theological reflection on such chronologies: Jesus would have been conceived on the same date he died, and born nine months later.15 In the end we are left with a question: How did December 25 become Christmas? We cannot be entirely sure. Elements of the festival that developed from the fourth century until modern times may well derive from pagan traditions. Yet the actual date might really derive more from Judaismfrom Jesus death at Passover, and from the rabbinic notion that great things might be expected, again and again, at the same time of the yearthan from paganism. Then again, in this notion of cycles and the return of Gods redemption, we may perhaps also be touching upon something that the pagan Romans who celebrated Sol Invictus, and many other peoples since, would have understood and claimed for their own too.16
Notes 1. Origen, Homily on Leviticus 8. 2. Clement, Stromateis 1.21.145. In addition, Christians in Clements native Egypt seem to have known a commemoration of Jesus baptismsometimes understood as the moment of his divine choice, and hence as an alternate incarnation storyon the same date (Stromateis 1.21.146). See further on this point Thomas J. Talley, Origins of the Liturgical Year, 2nd ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1991), pp. 118120, drawing on Roland H. Bainton, Basilidian Chronology and New Testament Interpretation, Journal of Biblical Literature 42 (1923), pp. 81134; and now especially Gabriele Winkler, The Appearance of the Light at the Baptism of Jesus and the Origins of the Feast of the Epiphany, in Maxwell Johnson, ed., Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), pp. 291347. 3. The Philocalian Calendar. 4. Scholars of liturgical history in the English-speaking world are particularly skeptical of the solstice connection; see Susan K. Roll, The Origins of Christmas: The State of the Question, in Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), pp. 273290, especially pp. 289290. 5. A gloss on a manuscript of Dionysius Bar Salibi, d. 1171; see Talley, Origins, pp. 101102. 6. Prominent among these was Paul Ernst Jablonski; on the history of scholarship see especially Roll, The Origins of Christmas, pp. 277283. 7. For example, Gregory of Nazianzen, Oratio 38; John Chrysostom, In Diem Natalem. 8. Louis Duchesne, Origines du culte Chrtien, 5th ed. (Paris: Thorin et Fontemoing, 1925), pp. 275279; and Talley, Origins. 9. Tertullian, Adversus Iudaeos 8. 10. There are other relevant texts for this element of argument, including Hippolytus and the (pseudo-Cyprianic) De pascha computus; see Talley, Origins, pp. 86, 9091. 11. De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis domini nostri iesu christi et iohannis baptistae. 12. Augustine, Sermon 202. 13. Epiphanius is quoted in Talley, Origins, p. 98. 14. b. Rosh Hashanah 10b11a. 15. Talley, Origins, pp. 8182. 16. On the two theories as false alternatives, see Roll, Origins of Christmas. a. See Jonathan Klawans, Was Jesus Last Supper a Seder? BR 17:05. b. See the following BR articles: David R. Cartlidge, The Christian Apocrypha: Preserved in Art, BR 13:03; Ronald F. Hock, The Favored One, BR 17:03; and Charles W. Hedrick, The 34 Gospels, BR 18:03. c. For more on dating the year of Jesus birth, see Leonara Neville, Fixing the Millennium,&rd; AO 03:01. d. The ancients were familiar with the 9-month gestation period based on the observance of womens menstrual cycles, pregnancies and miscarriages. e. In the West (and eventually everywhere), the Easter celebration was later shifted from the actual day to the following Sunday. The insistence of the eastern Christians in keeping Easter on the actual 14th day caused a major debate within the church, with the easterners sometimes referred to as the Quartodecimans, or Fourteenthers.

Andrew McGowan

Warden and President of Trinity College at the University of Melbourne, Australia, Andrew McGowans work on early Christianity includes God in Early Christian Thought (Brill, 2009) and Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (Oxford, 1999).

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The Holiday Season

By Kent Ross
Introduction: As we enter this season of the year, we are having a harder and harder time calling it Christmas. Right now we have lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union that disallow Christians from putting up a manger scene. The governor of the great state of Rhode Island insists that there cannot be a Christmas tree in the statehouse but must label it a holiday tree. Resuming it would be offensive to someone, somewhere, somehow to refer to this tree by the name to which it's been referred for the last several centuries. And yet the stories are filled with merchandise that Christmas shoppers are purchasing to celebrate this occasion. We spend millions and millions of dollars to wrap countless gifts for those around us. Somehow we've the missed what was originally to be the center and reason for a celebration. It is likely that Jesus was not born around December 25, in fact, it is unlikely he was born in December or even during what we call the winter. Nevertheless the we have reasons for tempering our celebration of the season and certainly how we celebrate the season, there are few that let this season pass by with no acknowledgment. Some to make their point, go to Florida or some Caribbean isle and spend their holidays there pretending that they are not acknowledging that Christmas has validity as a Christian day.

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As a pastor, this season was always a joyful time and a time when people's thoughts turned to kinder and there was a sense of brotherhood among the family of God. Christmas program in our churches reminded all of us of this story of God's Only Begotten Son. With all the commercialization of Christmas, it behooves us to be sure that we do our best to keep Christ central in our thoughts. We do this when we have children act out this story, when we have cantatas and oratorios in our churches, and when we recognize the story in our family celebrations. Bible Learning: The story begins with God determining that this was the time in history when His Son would be born. It was in the fullness of time, or the proper, precise time, when God determined it. The Roman Empire was participant though unaware, the authorities were involved though unplanned, the heavens themselves were participants by God's direction as Mary and Joseph, playing their roles, began the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Ostensibly they went to Bethlehem for the census, or taxation, because Joseph was of the tribe associated with David. As our study of Jesus' earthly lineage indicates Mary's association may also be traced through David. While all of these occasions seemed merely fortuitous, it Was the Way, God had planned it from the very beginning. In Micah 5:2-the prophet wrote," but now, Bethlehem E*TRADE to, those I'll be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of the shower he come forth unto me that is to be ruler of Israel: whose goings forth have been a bold, from everlasting." I've always been struck by the extreme simplicity that Luke uses to tell us of the birth of one who was born to be King. Not just a King, but the King of Kings. Born in a stable, in a manger filled with straw, witnessed by perhaps just his earthly parents,

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Jesus came into our world and began the most wonderful story that has ever been told. Of the birth itself recorded in such simplicity, God did not allow the momentous event to pass with no recognition. In the countryside with a shepherds watching their sheep suddenly there was an angelic chorus singing the praises of God and recognizing the birth for what it was. To them was born, in the city of David, a Savior, who was Christ the Lord, the One who had been promised for centuries, and for whom the Jews had been watching and yet for whom they were unprepared. Probably near the same time the Magi began their trek from these following the star that would lead them to the Christ, who they were seeking to worship. Herod was dumbfounded when they came to him seeking this one who was to be born. Herod's wise man, his own religionists, new from the Scriptures, the Old Testament, that He would be born in Bethlehem. His insidious query to the Magi was an encouragement to come back and tell him where they had found the child. But God's Plan was for as "wise men" to go back and different way. Joseph, Mary and Jesus fled ahead of Herod's fearful retribution of the killing of those infants in the environs of Bethlehem around two Years and under, and the voice of grief was raised in the land. Bible Application: As we approach this season this story brings joy to our hearts as we rejoice in the birth of He who would be our Savior. It is appropriate that Christians that have placed their faith in this One should rejoice over the gift of God that gives hope in what might be considered a hopeless age. But as we consider the God sent angels to announce that birth and to bring Glory to God, we also should bring glory to Him in our own ways.

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But we also know that Evil abounds today as it did back then. Herod, and others, would continue to seek and destroy Him and eventually they would succeed. Of course their victory was short-lived as God had plans for yet the future. While we rejoice in the Season, our hearts ache with the knowledge that Evil now seeks to destroy those who would still follow Him. This is the season for rejoicing in the manger of Bethlehem. But coming is the season of weeping at Golgotha. And yet still ahead is the time of rejoicing when Jesus returns to this Earth to establish God's Eternal Kingdom. Life Response: In this season it is imperative for the Christian voice cannot be silent. It certainly cannot be silent in our homes and even our communities. In every home there ought to be evidence of our faith and of the birth of Jesus. It may be in the form of a creche, or in some other representation of the gift of God. At this season the story in Luke two to be heard. Fathers, mothers, grandparents or even children often have opportunity share the story the midst of family. There ought to be the singing of Christmas Carols, not ditties about Santa Claus, or Rudolph, or even the Grinch. Our children and our families, immediate and extended, should be encouraged to sing the songs of Bethlehem and the Babe. In our communities our churches need to have enhanced programming that recognizes the spiritual aspects of this season. A Christmas eve service or even a creche in front of a church gives witness to the real meaning of the season. It is a wonderful time of the year. Unfortunately too often it has been lost in the over commercialization of the season. Wal-mart and Target are not the saving places. The saving place is still with this babe, at the Cross, and anticipating His Return.

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Who Possesses Immortality?

By Scott Millard
How do you know, that WHAT....you believe about God....is true? Is there A STANDARD you use, (beyond your own subjectivity) to judge whether or not.....the things you believe in......are in reality....true? I think most Christians would agree that.....the Bible is the standard by which we determine....the truthfulness of our beliefs. After all, how else do any of us know about Christ? ULTIMATELY, every Church & every Christian HAS TO GO BACK to the Bible, and particularly to the New Testament.....to form their beliefs about the Christian Faith. Because it is there that the story of Jesus......finds its basis. We all know that every church CLAIMS......they base their beliefs on the Bible. But WE ALL make assumptions. Our selves included! Our views about God and faith have been shaped since the time we were little kids. We tend to READ our Bibles...the way our parents and Sunday school teachers READ their Bibles. I look at a verse and interpret it one way.....and you might look at the same verse.....and interpret it ---another way. So whos to say....one person is right & the other is wrong? I think, if we are ever going to get close to understanding the truth .......THE FIRST STEP........is for each of us to acknowledge: That probably......we dont have it......all figured out. We have to be aware.....that we have our natural preferences & bias in how we understand certain beliefs. And we have to accept the possibility....THAT WHAT we have always been taught......may not be correct. If we can at least start there, then THERES A CHANCE that we will be --honest searchers for the truth. Each of us, though, have to decide, whether or not we even care.....that WHAT WE BELIEVE, is true to Gods Word. Now let me say, I dont think its essential for salvation --that we believe everything.....EXACTLY as it is revealed in Scripture. In fact, thats probably not even possible. In fact, I dont know of any 2 people in the Church of God who believe 100% the same way. But, I firmly believe that we should be committed......to at least attempt......to align our beliefs......with what God has to say in His Word. Can we agree.....that this is.....an important goal? Over the years, I have adjusted my beliefs. In fact, I view my Christian faith a whole lot differently today....than when I was 20. One belief that many Christians hold....is the belief that when we die.....we IMMEDIATELY go to heaven OR hell. Is this belief found in the Bible OR do the Scriptures teach something different? Now, I want to say right off, Im NOT CONVINCED we have to get this belief 100% correct, in order to be saved. But......I do believe, we should at least be committed......to try to understand & believe what Gods Word tells us......about when Christians receive their salvation. Its the question of todays sermon, WHO POSSESSES IMMORTALITY? To be immortal......is a fancy way of saying...you cannot die. The dictionary defines immortal as: Being exempt from death, being imperishable....having unending existence. Page 14

So who......by their very nature, possesses immortality?

Who is immortal.....right now?

You see, the reason why some Christians believe you go to heaven or hell immediately upon death.....is because of their belief that humans have an immortal soul. That something inside of us....IS IMMORTAL....exempt from death. If that is true, then this immortal spirit HAS TO EXIST SOMEWHERE.....after the body dies. Is this what the Bible teaches? I dont believe it is. If this is what you believe, dont turn me off.....just yet. Hear me out. I know this is.....an emotional belief.....because its not just some sterile theological concept. It impacts..... where we understand......our DEAD LOVED ONES.....presently reside. Are they dead in their graves....or are they enjoying the blessings of heaven? Now, we have to acknowledge another....more UNPLEASANT POSSIBILITY.....and that is.....if we, do indeed, possess an immortal soul and such a person is not a believer....THEN THEY ARE IN HELL, right now ........SUFFERING IN AGONY. In Matthew 7:13 &14, Jesus plainly states.....that statistically speaking, more people will be lost, than saved: Listen to His words: Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, AND MANY enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road....that leads to life, and only A FEW find it. What is Jesus saying? Is He not saying.....that more people will be lost.....then will be saved? Is He not saying, that it takes active searching, to find the way to God....and few actually find it? And is He not saying, that MANY MORE will seek their own way, then....Gods way? So then, if we possess an immortal soul, then Jesus is telling us that more people will burn in agony in hell for eternity, then will enjoy the wonders of Gods Kingdom. I know this sounds harsh & brutal.....but thats the only conclusion {you can draw from his words}.....IF IN FACT, people have immortal souls & more people will be lost.....than saved. We all like to think that {ourselves & our loved ones}....are included in..... THE FEW who are saved & its hard for us to even imagine being included in the group.......of THE MANY who are lost. Yet.....Jesus himself says.....more people are on the road to destruction, then there are on the road to eternal life. So if, I dont believe the Bible teaches, when you die, you go immediately to heaven or hell......then what do I believe? Well First, I believe.....humans are mortal. I believe we can die....that our entire being can die. Not just our bodies. Second, I believe that through Jesus Christ, a way has been provided to receive immortality. Third, I believe that immortality is given to believers on the Day of Resurrection, when Christ returns. Fourth, I believe that in the time between our deaths......& the day of our resurrection, that we will have absolutely no awareness of......the passage of time. And Fifth, I believe that the wicked do not live forever in agony, but on the Day of Judgment......are destroyed instantaneously & completely in the Lake of Fire. So lets first answer.....the question of my sermon title.....Who possesses immortality? Lets go to Gods Word for the answer. Page 15

Turn to 1 Timothy 6:13-16 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own timeGod, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 WHO ALONE IS IMMORTAL and who lives in inapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. The answer to the question of.....Who Possesses Immortality.....is found in verse 16. Talking about God....it says, who alone is immortal. God alone....cannot die. He alone is the only one who possesses eternal life....who is exempt from dying. No One else. This verse does not make a distinction between body and soul....it just says, God alone is immortal. Humans are not immortal. I know this is an interpretation....but I believe........this perspective, takes words....for what they mean. This verse does not say: God possesses immortality AND.....He has created people with something which is ALSO IMMORTAL.....such as an immortal soul. It simply states, God alone is immortal. Did you know, that NO WHERE in the entire Bible does it talk about humans....having an immortal soul. Even though this is a popular belief in Churches today, that combination of words NOR that concept......is found ----in the pages of this book. Then what do I believe the Bible says about man and (the soul) and immortality? First of all, in the Bible, the Hebrew word most often translated into our English word.... "soul".....is nephesh. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance......defines the word soul.....as "a breathing creature." When used in the Bible, nephesh does not mean a spirit entity or the spirit within a person. Rather, it usually means a physical, living, breathing creature. Genesis 2:7 says, And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul or as the NIV puts it....a living being. The soul....was not seen as something.....separate from the body.....but the soul was A COMBINATION of the dust of the ground (the physical elements that comprise man) AND the breath of God (some life force) that comes from Him. Those two COMBINE to create the soul. Lets also look at Ezekiel 18:4. God is the one speaking & says, For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the childboth alike belong to me. The ONE who sins is the ONE who will die. The nephesh, the soul.....is here translated, Everyone and The One. The King James Version translates the verse this way: Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: THE SOUL THAT SINNETH, IT SHALL DIE. Ezekiel 18:20 says the same thing, The soul that sins, it shall die. Page 16

This is the closest thing we find in the Bible....where it talks about a soul....and the only thing is says about.....the soul....is --it can die. It doesnt say anything about the soul being immortal......living on after death. Does the Bible EVER refer to people ---in any way being immortal? I believe the answer IS NO. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:50-54. Heres what the Bible says concerning....WHEN people gain immortality: I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep (die), but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal.....with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, THEN the saying that is written --will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory. WHAT......DO THESE VERSES TELL US? First, they tell us --that man is mortal & we have to clothe ourselves with immortality & imperishability. We ARENT PRESENTLY immortal. It is something we have to put on, ---and clothe ourselves with. Second, we do not put on this immortality......at the moment of death. We put it on....when?.......AT THE LAST TRUMPET. The last trumpet....is used through-out Scripture in speaking about THE 2ND COMING of Jesus Christ. So we gain immortality....when Christ returns. Lets look at another scripture which talks about this. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 4. Beginning with verse 13, 13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lords word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will CERTAINLY NOT PRECEDE THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and THE DEAD in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left....will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. First of all, lets think about....what the Apostle Paul DOES NOT SAY! The subject of this passage....is: Paul is trying to calm the fears of Christians who are concerned about the fate of believers who have already died. Apparently, some people were claiming there is no such thing as a resurrection. Paul DOES NOT say, Look, I dont want you to be uninformed about what happens to dead believers. They may be PHYSICALLY dead, but dont worry, because RIGHT NOW, THEIR SPIRITS ARE LIVING IN HEAVEN WITH JESUS. Page 17

That he doesnt say something ALONG THESE LINES....to calm their fears......is revealing. Often times, today, when a believer dies, Whats the first thing people say to try to comfort people who are grieving? Do they not say something like: Well, theyre in a better place. Right? Why is it, in the Scriptures, WE NEVER hear those kinds of words, when it speaks about.....what happens at death? Christians today talk that way, but the Bible NEVER DOES. For example, when Lazarus died, Why did Jesus not try to comfort Mary & Martha, by telling them that their brother Lazarus was in heaven? Further, would it not be A SELFISH ACT on the part of Jesus.....to snatch Lazarus from the bliss of heaven......to bring him back into the pains of this life....just to ease his own pain and that of his 2 sisters? He raised Lazarus from the dead....brought him back to life, because as Paul states....DEATH IS AN ENEMY. It is not a friend that releases us in to the next life. Death robs us of life. In response to Jesus statement that Lazarus will rise again, WHY did Martha say, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day? The mindset of believers in the early church, was that eternal life was something that was given....at the last trumpet....at the end of time. That.....NOT ONCE in all of Scripture....does it say that, dead believers are in heaven, enjoying the benefits of heaven.......has to call into question....whether or not the first Christians.......HELD such a belief. That over and over again....they point to a future day of hope at the resurrection & the return of Christ....speaks volumes. Lets also remember that in Acts 2:34, we are told that David, the man after Gods own heart, has not yet ascended into heaven. If a man described as SOMEONE SPECIAL TO GOD....has not ascended into heaven....then who can??? In John 3:13 we are told, No one has ever gone into heaven EXCEPT the one who came from heaven.....speaking of Jesus. Now, WHAT DO THESE SCRIPTURES MEAN.....if we hold to the belief.....that believers, at the moment of their deaths.... ascend or go to heaven? If, no one HAD YET ASCENDED into heaven.....then where all the believers, who had already died? What do the Scriptures say? Here in 1 Thessalonians 4 & in 1 Corinthians 15, (from where we read earlier), they say: Look, I dont want you to be misinformed. When Jesus returns at the last trumpet....THOSE WHO ARE DEAD....WILL BE RAISED TO ETERNAL LIFE. The mortal (at that time) will put on immortality. Dont worry. God has them in His hands. I promise you, when Jesus returns, they will be raised....they will be given eternal life. If we go to heaven immediately upon death, why would Paul not (say that) here? I mean......wouldnt bring them comfort & it would it not teach them.....about the believers hope? If he had said Look, dont worry about your DEAD LOVED ONES.... they are in heaven right now......wouldnt that have been THE SORT OF WORD....that would have brought them the most comfort? Page 18

The biggest struggle people have with NOT BELIEVING we go to heaven immediately at death.....is that it robs them of a certain comfort in knowing that they & their loved ones find peace & joy upon death. Personally, I dont fully see it that way. When someone we love, dies....we all hope and believe that they are saved. That the God of love.......forgives them and accepts them. And yes....it would be great, if upon death we immediately went into Gods presence. I wish that people I have loved who are now dead were in heaven at this moment. But what if.....a person is not saved? What if our loved ones are not saved? Remember, out of all the great masses of people...ONLY A FEW will be saved. If they are not saved.....the alternative....is far too horrible to imagine. Do we really believe that the loving God we see expressed in Jesus.....could consign sinners.....to millions upon billions upon trillions of years....of suffering in agony.....in the fires of hell? Does that really fit an image of a compassionate Father? Heres what I believe. Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but THE DEAD know nothing. When you & your loved ones die.....you & they....KNOW absolutely nothing. You have no awareness of the passage of time. Let me ask you something, Do you remember anything before you were born? Of course you dont. You didnt exist. In all that time....there was: The Creation and Adam & Eve, The Pharaohs built the pyramids, David fought Goliath, Hannibal crossed the Alps, Columbus discovered America & Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.....but were you unaware of any of it? Of course not....and that is precisely the same kind of awareness that we have......AFTER DEATH. The dead know not anything...zip, zero, nada. I believe, that the Scriptures teach that the split second you die, life ends, you lose consciousness, you cease to exist. And a split second later......(whether it be a minute or 10,000 years).....FOR YOU....its like the blink of an eye.....you rise to new life.....at the return of Christ & the resurrection! Now.....hear this. Whether you believe that you die and go to heaven immediately upon death, OR you believe that when you die.... youre dead in your grave......(unknowingly awaiting the resurrection), the experience is the same for both. In the blink of an eye, you are in the presence of the Lord. But......theres a huge difference for the fate of the unbeliever. With the belief in an immortal soul, there is the issue of God punishing for eternity, nonbelievers with eternal torment. I do not see a loving God torturing people for eternity. We reserve that kind of brutality....for the Hitlers of the world. Only the righteous, those who accept Christs forgiveness......are ever promised eternal life. Unbelievers are not promised life eternal....in hell or anywhere else. Their judgment is an eternal one. They are condemned for eternity, but they do not live for eternity. In Christian circles today, the belief about what happens when we die.....is the hottest topic out there. Im sure this sermon may create some questions in some of your minds. Please, if it does......come and talk with me. Bring your questions and bring your objections. I would love to talk. Page 19

Assessing Predictions and Their Accuracies

From Jaco van Zyl Marvin Shilmer The president and co-founder of Family Radio, Harold Camping, predicted earthwide annihilation for year 2011. It did not happen.[1]

Watchtower labeled this false prediction by Camping as a hollow prophecy. The president and founder of Watchtower, Charles Russell, predicted Armageddon would be over in year 1914. It did not happen.[2]

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If Harold Camping's false prediction is a hollow prophecy then why is Watchtower less candid about Charles Russells false prediction? Why does Watchtower fail to label its own false prediction as a hollow prophecy? Here is another prediction[3]:

What happened to that prediction from 1969?It did not happen. A candid introduction of the Watchtower organization to the Family Radio organization reads and looks like this: Pot, meet Kettle

Marvin Shilmer ______________ References 1. The Watchtower, February 1, 2012, p. 25. 2. The Time is at Hand, published by Watchtower, 1902, p. 101. 3. Awake, May 1, 1969, p. 15.

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"Lord Teach Us to Pray, They Said"

By Kent Ross Introduction: The scope of "prayer" has had books and books written about it. But a simple refresher on the subject, used as a personal devotional, might prove helpful. Each question has a suggested answer from the Bible itself. Copy these pages and do some "homework," perhaps with your children or grandchildren 1. Facts About Prayer Question: How willing is God to hear our prayers? Answer: Matthew 7:11 ___________________________________ Question: Why are we admonished to pray? Answer: Isaiah 55:6 _____________________________________ Question: In whose name are we to pray? Answer:? John 14:13 ____________________________________ Question: How often are we to pray? Answer: Ephesians 6:18 _________________________________ & First Thessalonians 5:17 ___________________________ Question: How often did the Psalmist and Daniel pray? Answer: Isaiah 55:17 ____________________________________ Two: What Hinders Our Prayers? Question: What is necessary to have our prayers answered? Answer: James 1:6 ______________________________________ Question: What did Jesus say regarding the importance of faith when we pray? Answer: Mark 11:24 _____________________________________ & Matthew 21:22 ___________________________________ Question: Under what conditions does God not hear our prayers? Answer: Psalm: 66:18 ___________________________________ & Isaiah 59:2 ______________________________________
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Question: What does God say about the prior of those who refuse to follow His Law, or His Word? Answer: Proverbs 28:9 __________________________________ Question: How does God contrast the prior of the wicked with the prayer of the upright? Answer Proverbs 15:8 & 29 _____________________________ & ________________________________________________ Question: If we hope to overcome, what must we do? Answer: Matthew 26:41 ________________________________ Question: When God does not see fit to answer our prayers as we desire them to be answered, what should our attitude be then? Answer: Psalm 37:7 ____________________________________ & Psalm 27: 14 ____________________________________ 3. For What Are We to Pray? Question: For whom are we to pray? Answers: 1. James 5:16 __________________________________________ 2. Matthew 6:11 _________________________________________ 3. Psalm 32:5, 6 _________________________________________ 4 James 1:5 ____________________________________________ 5. James 5:14, 15 ________________________________________ 6. Matthew 6:13 _________________________________________ & First Corinthians 10:13 ____________________________ 7. Matthew 5:44 _________________________________________ 8. Psalm 122:6 __________________________________________ Question: What are we especially admonished to pray for at this time? Answer: Luke 21:36 _____________________________________ Question: To be ready for Christ's Return, what other admonition of His most we follow? Answer: Mark 13:32-37 __________________________________ __________________________________________________

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BIBLE STUDY NOTES

Russ Rankin Isaiah 9:6 contextually translated based on Isaiah 9:7, 10:21and 11:1-2... "wonderful counselor of the Mighty God who is the everlasting Father, prince of peace." So also Hebrews 1:10-11 is a statement honoring Jesus' God, YHVH, "even your God..." (1:9). "And You, YHVH..." follows the Hebrew storytelling style connecting the next thought to the God of Jesus, the "mighty one" and "king" of Psalm 45. No need to assume the writer of Hebrews reinterpreted and applied the name of YHVH to the son of YHVH. Anthony F. Buzzard Commentators inadvertently tell us that "God is one Person." The Trinity defines God as three Persons. Thus in the Word Biblical Comm. on Heb 11:12 "From this one person [EIS[ (Abraham)" there were born descendants as numerous as the stars. In the article on the Trinity in the Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, a comment on Jn 10:30 notes that in "I and the Father are one ," the Greek is EN (neuter) not EIS, one Person." Eis is the masculine form of "one" and means "ONE PERSON." Abraham is said to be "eis," ONE PERSON in Ezek. 33:24. God is said to be EIS= One Person in Gal. 3:20. The Greek EN [one, neuter] in Jn 10:30 is very remarkable It is distinguished from person which would be eis (Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, Vol. 2, p. 761, 'I and my Father are one; en in the neuter, one substance; not eis in the masculine, one person. Paul spoke in Romans 5:19 of the parallel between Adam and Jesus: For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one [Jesus] the many will be made righteous. Jesus is one person [eis]. God is also one Person [eis]. God is a single Person not three Persons. The Trinity is a later post-biblical "expansion" and "modification" of the creed of Jesus. But can we risk changing the biblical defintino of God from One to Three? "Abraham was only one person" [Eis] CSB

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"God is only one Person" Amplified Version, Gal. 3:20 GWN Gal. 3:20: "A mediator is not used when there is only one person involved, and God has acted on his own." Scripture thus explicitly says that God is ONE Person. These are easy unitarian statements. Plus thousands of singular personal pronouns for the One God. I, ME, HE, etc. Dennis Baldwin

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.Rev 19:7-9 (KJV) It is an honor and a blessing to be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Such an honor that we should make sure we do "get ready". One would not think of showing up for the marriage without clothes on but to be properly attired. The bride does not get ready as she goes down the isle to meet the groom. We have some "gettin ready" to do in our life. The fine linen is the righteousness of saints which comes by our faith in Jesus and our actions regarding that faith. The marriage is on a date certain, which God only knows. The call, "the bridegroom cometh, let us go out to meet him" has not yet been made (but in one sense it has. In error many dates have been set. But in the process lives have to some degree been changed) but will be made at the proper time. Paul's comments regarding "Christ and the Church" suggested: For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.Eph 5:31-32 (KJV) Fascinating to look to the future of the church. The "church" has taken a lot of heat today. People have said that they don't care for the "church" but love Jesus. He said "I will build my church". The problem it seems to me is that the "church" has been stretched to be all inclusive to include everything that looks religious.

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It would be better to differentiate between the two. The "church"/"bride" that Paul/John wrote about is his bride/church and needs to be thought of with respect and to desire to be a part of. I realize to some extent what people are saying but one must not throw out the baby with the bath water. I have been a part of "the church" since I was 11 years old. At 67 I can still say "I love the church of which I am a part." I really like Paul's treatment of this idea as he laid down some principals which we would do well to apply. Please forgive me for using the Message Translation. It does seem to clarify somewhat the thoughts: The next question is, "Are they down for the count? Are they out of this for good?" And the answer is a clear-cut no. Ironically when they walked out, they left the door open and the outsiders walked in. But the next thing you know, the Jews were starting to wonder if perhaps they had walked out on a good thing. 12 Now, if their leaving triggered this worldwide coming of non-Jewish outsiders to God's kingdom, just imagine the effect of their coming back! What a homecoming!13 But I don't want to go on about them. It's you, the outsiders, that I'm concerned with now. Because my personal assignment is focused on the so-called outsiders, I make as much of this as I can 14 when I'm among my Israelite kin, the so-called insiders, hoping they'll realize what they're missing and want to get in on what God is doing. 15 If their falling out initiated this worldwide coming together, their recovery is going to set off something even better: mass homecoming! If the first thing the Jews did, even though it was wrong for them, turned out for your good, just think what's going to happen when they get it right!16 Behind and underneath all this there is a holy, God-planted, God-tended root. If the primary root of the tree is holy, there's bound to be some holy fruit. 17 Some of the tree's branches were pruned and you wild olive shoots were grafted in. Yet the fact that you are now fed by that rich and holy root 18 gives you no cause to crow over the pruned branches. Remember, you aren't feeding the root; the root is feeding you.19 It's certainly possible to say, "Other branches were pruned so that I could be grafted in!" 20 Well and good. But they were pruned because they were deadwood, no longer connected by belief and commitment to the root. The only reason you're on the tree is because your graft "took" when you believed, and because you're connected to that belief-nurturing root. So don't get cocky and strut your branch. Be humbly mindful of the root that keeps you lithe and green.21 If God didn't think twice about taking pruning shears to the natural branches, why would he hesitate over you? He

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wouldn't give it a second thought. 22 Make sure you stay alert to these qualities of gentle kindness and ruthless severity that exist side by side in Godruthless with the deadwood, gentle with the grafted shoot. But don't presume on this gentleness. The moment you become deadwood, you're out of there.23 And don't get to feeling superior to those pruned branches down on the ground. If they don't persist in remaining deadwood, they could very well get grafted back in. God can do that. He can perform miracle grafts. 24 Why, if he could graft youbranches cut from a tree out in the wildinto an orchard tree, he certainly isn't going to have any trouble grafting branches back into the tree they grew from in the first place. Just be glad you're in the tree, and hope for the best for the others.Romans 11:11-24 (MSG) As I let my thinking apply this less to Israel and more to the church, it becomes increasingly clear how I should feel about the church. I think we need to clarify what we mean by "the church" (thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God) and then to look for and speak well of Christ's bride "the church". In the KJV, Paul said "I magnify mine office" ver 13. Let's let our light shine and let's Let the city set on a hill shine even brighter because there are a lot of lights shining together putting forth a brilliant light to the world. Let's don't throw water on the few candles that are left. (Who was it said, "It's better to light one candle than to curse the dark") Put the light on a candlestick. Jesus in Revelation walks among the 7 golden candlesticks. Let us encourage our small portion of "the church" to allow Jesus to walk in our midst.
Anthony F. Buzzard 10:07am Nov 21 The most obvious impossibility of the Trinity is the doctrine of eternal generation of the Son. This says that the Son was "eternally begotten," but this is really a nonsense proposition as many admit: One leading scholar is frank enough to say that the expression "eternal generation" has no meaning, no content! Eternal Generation. The idea of eternal generation is an inevitable, corollary of the eternal Sonship and figures prominently in the statements of the Nicene fathers and their successors. But it is far from clear what content, if any, we can impart to the concept. It is revealed, but it is revealed as a mystery, and the writings of the fathers abound in protestations of inevitable ignorance on the matter. Athanasius, for example, writes: "Nor again is it right to seek how God begets and what is the manner of His begetting. For a man must be beside himself to venture on such points; since it is thing inevitable and proper to God's nature, and known to Him alone and

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the Son, this he [a man] demands to be explained in words It is better in perplexity to be silent and believe, than to disbelieve on account of perplexity" Closely related to this was a second negative: to beget does not mean to originate. In human generation, of course, it does, but in divine generation it does not God's nature and existence are above time, and He may not engender in time. In the words of Gregory of Nazianzen, "the Son is unoriginatedly begotten. (The Person of Christ Dr. Donald MacLeod pp. 130-133).
Anthony F. Buzzard 4:53pm Nov 23

The True Israel of God: 1) the Church is the international "Israel of God" Gal 6:16, Phil 3:3, whole book of Gal. 2) There are natural, national Jews in various places, esp in Israel (Israelites, part of the total 12 tribes). 3) Israel as a nation has not accepted their Messiah. No salvation apart from the Messiah who has come and is coming again. 4) Paul and the NT looks forward to a national, collective conversion to Messiah of presently blind Israel/Jews. 5) Jesus preached to Israelites/ Jews in the land. Occasionally a gentile persuaded him to act for her too! 6) Paul called the national, natural unconverted Israel "the Israel of the flesh" (I Cor 10) implying of course a true Israel of the spirit by contrast. 7) The international true church is the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:29). They have become the commonwealth of Israel. All this is well covered in standard commentary.

Bryan Sherwood 9:52pm Nov 26 "When Christianity came to be interpreted by the straightforward, dull, unspiritual legal mind of Rome, the Gospel went into a fearful eclipse. When the Greek thought of Christ gave way to the Latin, a night came upon the Christian world that has extended to the present day. Then were born all those half-views, distorted views, and false views of Christian doctrine and Christian life that have perverted the Gospel, puzzled the human intellect and grieved the human heart through all the long centuries from that day to this" -Rev. S. Crane,

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