Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down. ~ Ray Bradbury

Interesting times we live in aren’t they? Do we understand them?

Probably not!

If the activities of our government representatives have anything to say about the true situation, then we have no understanding, right?

What a bunch of gutless indecisive people? Or are they? Maybe what they really want is for the USA to fall off the cliff, and build it’s wings on the way down?

That takes faith…the wrong type don’t you think!

It seems as if nobody knows exactly what to do, and if they do, the next persons fear stops any action!

Debt is a big part of this consideration and many times I have blogged that countries that use their credit cards without considering the payments will get into trouble.

Maybe that’s exactly why people are concerned right now?

Our world has been living it up without counting the costs for a long time now!

Some bright sparks taught people who went to universities that they didn’t have to worry about deficits, probably part of those MBA programs right? Using more than we produce is okay, right?

Don’t even children know better than that?

What does God’s word say?

1 Timothy 6:10 NIRV For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Yeah! Pierced with griefs!

I guess people are starting to see these words of the bible coming into being…

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:13-17 NIRV

There is a simple rule the bible gives, that if everyone in the world followed, then all these fiscal hell holes would be avoided.

It is a very simple rule as well…

Romans 8:6-8 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

This is the way to ensure we do not end up with worry, fear and uncertainty! We simply have to work hard to get to the point that we can keep this verse valid in our lives.

It doesn’t matter if the financial boffins say we are on or off the cliff!

It matters what God says!

Do we for one moment think that those ancient Jews were not taxed to extremes at the times these words were uttered? The Romans chose their tax collectors by a bidding system where the maximum offered by the collector made the person the official in charge of the activity.

Hardly a fair and equitable mechanism one would say?

Yet, the rule of let no debt remain outstanding is central, and it doesn’t apply only to money!

We are about to go into 2013.

How about we consider the New Year resolution to be to let no debt remain outstanding as far as is humanly possible?

 What if we pay our debts back more and more each year until we have overcome our liabilities and have the ability to live on what we have.

What if we cut back on pleasures to get to the point that we owe no-one anything.

How do you think we will be able to endure the fiscal cliff recessions compared to our neighbours who have huge debt loads, if we follow God’s advice?

Maybe if as countries we only thought this way, then there would be no cliff’s and no need for them.

Perhaps if we measured wealth of a country by the amount of debtlessness it has, we would see which are the true powerful countries of this world.

Perhaps if we understood God is right, and it doesn’t matter what anyone says against Him, that we would be blessed and not falling into curses.

Our countries may not get it, but we can!

 

As the archaeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end. ~Michel Foucault

Archeology discoveries are not for everyone, but I find them fascinating!
It is extraordinary the times we live in today!

There are more archeology discoveries per year than in any time in past history (That’s my impression at least!). Maybe not the biggest discoveries but they are filling in our understanding of history.

Yesterday, I referred to my blog on true meaning of the nativity scene which was built of knowledge gained by archeologists and which is literally transforming the knowledge of the meanings behind those words in the bible. (See Bailey, Kenneth, Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes, IPV Academic an imprint of Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois,2007  for more information or for a light review of the nativity scene read Okay, those nativity scenes just bug me! )

A short while back we found the James ossuary (See my blog The James Ossuary inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” is real!)

A few years of investigation and a trial with every expert they could get investigating, showed the ossuary and the words “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” were real! Statistical evaluations showed that at most two families of the time could have had that grouping of names, and some other statisticians indicate it was 1.7 families, giving the probability that it was Jesus own brother’s burial place, a high probability.

More knowledge of the Dead Sea scrolls has widened the understanding of the times and we have just proved by applying special studies of how people wrote in ancient times, that many of the scrolls found in six different locations were written by ONE scribe. This links all the scrolls together. This adds to our knowledge!

Then just a few hours ago, in Motza, a neighbourhood on the western edge of Jerusalem, a pagan temple that is estimate to be 2750 years old[1] was announced.

There is a number of ancient vessels that were found and  these included “fragments of chalices (bowls on high bases which were used in sacred rituals), decorated ritual pedestals, and a number of pottery figurines.”¹

Motza is mentioned in the bible…

^“ The tribe of Benjamin, according to its clans, had the following towns:

Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, ²² Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, ²³ Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, ²⁴ Kephar Ammoni, Ophni and Geba—twelve towns and their villages.

²⁵ Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, ²⁶ Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, ²⁷ Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ²⁸ Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah and Kiriath—fourteen towns and their villages.

This was the inheritance of Benjamin for its clans.” Joshua 18:26

Isn’t it fantastic that we find information on this tiny place right now!

Why do I get excited as we find more and more?

Because it enables me to understand our bible and how it needs to be understood better and better!

It’s exciting to know that around those times in that vicinity, pagan worship was occurring.

Was this the time of Jotham or Micah, or perhaps Elijah? If so it add’s credence to their writings! Maybe this is part of Ahab’s evil reign? I cannot wait to find out! This is like an additional Christmas present!

We are so fortunate to live in these exciting times of discovery!

Day by day we get revealed more and more of the ancient world. Day by day we understand more and more of the times where God did the great works in men’s lives. Day by day we see people struggled to do what was right in difficult circumstances, just as we struggle today to do what is right in difficult circumstances.

I work with young people and love to join with them in activities and tasks.

One thing I am learning is that the attitude to our world is changing. People want to see things preserved, the environment kept safe, biodiversity protected and ancient discoveries preserved. That excites me further!

What is most amazing is that God has ensured we have these fragments of knowledge preserved through time for us to decode right now. We must be in special times that we are permitted to gain so much knowledge so quickly.

It as if God hid coded knowledge in the earth, and now is revealing the key to deciphering it!

Let’s thank God for the discoveries of this year and look forward to much more being revealed in the coming year.

Have a wonderful day and perhaps take time to read up on some of these exciting finds!

Penny(my wife) and I suggested there may be something else that it was about...

...he offered “presents”, “candy” and I am sure if we had allowed him to continue he would have said “lights”, “holly”, “Christmas jingles”, “fun” and other things that are propounded in the popular culture beliefs.

Personally, it seems to me as I review the Christmas milieu, that from a business perspective, Christmas is all about money and greed.

These thoughts make me think of Jesus overthrowing the money changers in the temple and saying “‘My house will be called a house where people can pray.’ (Isaiah 56:7) But you are making it a ‘den for robbers.’” (Jeremiah 7:11)” Matthew 21:13 NIRV.

How much of  Christmas is about praying… (that’s talking to God)… and not about stuffing ourselves with food, getting more things that cannot follow us into eternity, and ignoring those in need around us?

Christmas is NOT about the things most people have made it out to be! I find it saddening that even the nativity scene everyone propounds is a lie. See my blog Okay, those nativity scenes just bug me!

Then, I know Jesus didn’t actually get born on Christmas day and it’s not really his birthday, but it is the day the world has chosen to celebrate his birthday. It’s great to have a party, but let’s not ignore the person for whom the party has been organized.

In Canada it’s now become fashionable to stop saying “Merry Christmas” and there is pressure to say “Happy holidays”!

 Why do we have the holiday?

Because Christ came to this world…is the obvious and correct answer!

Why should we distort this?

I have Indian, Moslem, Chinese, Jewish, Arab friends as well as friends on many other nationalities. They all wish me “Merry Christmas” because they know I love Jesus. They are still my dear friends! I wish them the best for their festivities when these come around. I don’t demand that I can only wish them “happy holiday!” That would be crazy! They would resent that! No, instead I may wish them a happy Karthikai Deepam (Hindu), or a wonderful Laylat al-Qadr (Moslem), or a happy Dongzhi Festival(Chinese), or happy Hanukkah, depending on their beliefs. I don’t expect them to bend their beliefs to a “happy holiday”, it is so diluted and uninteresting isn’t it?

Then, how come we don’t as a community resent the “happy holidays”? (I resent that phrase!)

Let’s enjoy the Christmas party but not forget that God came to this earth to improve this world for everyone!

He came to bring love in a new way to the unloved! He came to tell us we are important, supremely important to what he wants done on this little planet of ours.

He came to tell us every human being is important and not only to Him, they should be important to us as well. He came to teach us to be lovers supreme, and we have screwed it up into rules and regulations, making a religion of a relationship.

Wow! We suck at true love don’t we?

Yet God knows that as well! He provides us with supernatural help for each day!

Holy Spirit moves with us, moves in us, and motivates us to do something for this world of ours! It is Holy Spirit that makes us cry inside when we see how little the children of this world understand why Christmas exists.

We can make this better!

According to Wikipedia "Christmas" is a compound word originating in the term "Christ's Mass". Jesus’ “communion” celebration. “Communion” is the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level. It is a common participation in a mental or emotional experience.

Do we have a common shared experience with God this Christmas?

The greens and reds, do they remind us of eternal life and the blood of Jesus? They  should!

Do we want to hear Christmas hymns, or is “Deck the halls with holly” good enough for us?

Maybe we need to take the young people aside and explain the truth of the season?

 Maybe we need to point out freedom of speech is being able to speak truth as we see it without being made into social outcasts? Maybe we need to take some time to take food to those needing it without competing with another organization to get there first or do it better? Maybe we need to extend Christmas to each day of the year and help those in need every day as much as we can?

Maybe Christmas is simply a reminder to love our world with the love of God?

Maybe we need to have a year of Christmas days?

Think of that as greed grabs at you on this Boxing Day today!

 They call the news about Jesus the “good news” but paraphrasing the words of my father-in-law, the number of wars and people killed because Jesus came, just isn’t good news!

 

He is right!

 Jesus got killed for what he taught!

 This means it wasn’t a message people wanted to hear right?

So what did he say?

 He taught “love others”…that was okay and nobody got upset with that! Their religion taught it.

 He taught “Down with Sin”…that was also okay and nobody got upset with that! Their religion taught it.

 He taught “The Kingdom of God is coming”…that was also okay and nobody got upset with that since they had known that for a long time! Their religion taught it.

 Then he taught “Shut down religion, get personal with God”, and they killed him for it!

 His love was to be multi-national, multicultural and non-discriminatory, and people hated him because of this.



Today people who love multi-nationally, multi-culturally and in a non-discriminatory manner are often also treated badly.

Not everyone wants to hear this “good news”! 

Jesus washed feet to show service (John 13:1-17), he pointed out God the Father wants only what is good for us and if we ask will help us(Matt 7:9-12),and pointed out the greatest gift of God to this starving world is his love… 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life Romans 5:8  
 
We don’t just talk about love, we experience it, we do it! It's action not passivity!

 All of us know what we think is right and wrong and build up principles for how we do right and avoid wrong.

We all fail our own principles at some point!

Can we honestly say we have not failed to live up to our own standards at some time?

Then we start to experience innate shame which tugs at us and hurts us. Jesus says we need to forgive others, as they forgive us!

 Forgive us our sins,
    just as we also have forgiven those who sin against us. Matthew 6:12

 But it’s so hard to do, isn’t it? This is why being a Christian is a life of courage and strength, but not ours alone. Holy Spirit lives within us to boost us when we get low in spiritual energy!

 Then, Jesus comes to bring peace. He actually wants us to forgive and love everyone!

 He said …

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:43

Unfortunately, too many people have decided he didn’t mean what he said, and instead believe in revenge and  retaliation, or “fighting for God”.

Let’s be honest, God fights better than we can imagine, so where do we think we can do better?

It’s crazy to think God needs our protection!

God wants peace makers not warmongers! War is self centered protectionism, and yes, sometimes people are evil and need to be stopped, but let’s be very, very, very careful of saying we are doing this in the name of God! That is crazy talk!

God no more wants war than we want our loved ones to die! Going to war for religious reasons is dangerous! To everyone! Not because people die, but because it's wrong!