Marching Forth!

During my youth there was a rise of overt satanism.  Occult symbols and practices were expressed in children's cartoons and there were reports of cats being used as sacrifices.  Satanic imagery was employed in artwork and lyrics of rock musicians which shocked the conservative public.  A personal example is when my family arrived early to church on a Sunday morning to find large pentagrams etched onto the doors of the building and also discovered "666" carved by vandals on the communion table.  Though the sensational reports of satanic activity these days is rare, Satan continues to lie, steal, and destroy. I was reminded of this reality when I read a passage of scripture toward the end of King David's life in  1 Kings 1:5 :  " Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, "I will be king"; and he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him ."  Like Absalom his brother before him, Adonijah the son ...

" You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44   But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45   that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust ." Matthew 5:43-45 People across Sydney and much of Australia awakened this morning praising God for the rain that has come to our dry land.  This soaking rain has been predicted to remain for at least a week and will provide much needed relief from bushfires, smoke, and high heat coupled with drought conditions.  For months now I have been praying for rain and it is a blessing to see God answer the requests of many toward this refreshing end. Jesus taught His followers to love their enemies, doing good to those who hate them, and pray for those who spit...

Using scripture to interpret scripture is a most valuable practice and provides great insight into God's truth.  Because the Bible is the infallible Word of God apparent contradictions can aid us understanding it is not always "either or" but sometimes "both." An example is seen in  2 Samuel 24:1-2 :  " Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, "Go, number Israel and Judah." 2  So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, "Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people ."  As a loving father disciplines a child he loves, God at times disciplined His people for their sin through a variety of means:  being troubled or defeated by enemies, stirring up adversaries from within, famine, pestilence, lack of rain, and on.  We are not told precisely why God's anger was aroused ...

In a world of uncertainty there is security in absolutes.  We like the clear-cut difference between "yes" and "no" or our choices being limited between "A or B."  In Christian circles this desire can filter into doctrine to allow us to make judgments between right or wrong and to determine the "saved" from "unsaved."  Though the truth of God is objective and unchanging our perception of it is in degrees because our limited understanding.  Applying the revelation of God and His Word is more nuanced than a choice between two options.  There are 32 compass points but not one of those readings take vertical elevation into account! Yesterday I read Romans 1 in the morning and was impacted by something I never noticed before.  It is very easy as a believer in Christ to read this passage (and others like it) with a sort of spiritual superiority akin to the way Jews viewed Gentiles before Jesus established the church and made us one in Him....