Thought for the day
piracy bill:
its hard to be excited about a war between Hollywood millionaires and silicon valley billionaires
I would note that in archieves is an essay on people claiming they can't make a living unless they steal
PS
the Lord God who neither slumbers nor sleeps watches all
You can row and let God Steer
You can steer but God won't row
Lesser feasts and fasts is now posted on
www.orthochap.com
in pdf format and ready to use
Civics 101
The founding fathers provide for the legislature to be divided into 2 equal and distinct houses.
Neither can dictate to the other.
The system is working as designed
This escapes the media.
The House has has passed a bill.
The Senate has passed a bill.
The Bill does not become law until both houses agree and the President signs it.
From 1791 to 2008 differences were worked out in a conference committee.
The 2008 class held one conference
The 2010 class has had 3 or 4.
1850 to 1861 the nation could not agree on most matters and eventually there was civil war.
Democracies are fragile so please handle with care.
The Abolition of the church
The abolition of the church in America has created greedy, self indulgent people with no sense of self or morality.
Americans because they lack self identity buy things they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't like.
Some of the external results are crumbling infrastructure, poor health care, poor schools and even the water is becoming unsafe to drink.
Morality can't be imposed on people. Morality is a gift from God. A God we have systemematically eliminated from our lives. Abraham Lincoln once said that the Bible is the source of all morality.
Deuteronomy 28 show the curses that come from disobedience.
The advent message is REPENT!
PT
The curses of Deuteronomy
http://www.1928bcp.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=669
The Oxfordians may have had it all wrong
Faith comes from God
This certainly solves the chicken and the egg problem for Anglicans
Faith Beck Surprises Women’s Shelter With $55,000 After It’s Denied Fed Funds Over Bible Studies
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 12:12pm by Billy Hallowell
After reading the Blaze’s report about Liza’s Place and Hope Home, two women’s shelters in Colorado that have lost federal funding because of mandatory Bible studies, Glenn Beck decided to take action.
While speaking on-air with Marilyn Vyzourek, the founder and executive director of the faith-based shelters, he generously donated $55,000 to replace the lost, government monies.
Prior to Beck’s inspiring announcement, Vyzourek explained the choice she had been given: “They said I needed to cut down on my Bible studies…or they would terminate my funding.”
The Christian portion of the shelter program is essential, she said. ”Only Jesus can heal a human heart. These ladies need these Bible studies more than anything else,” Vyzourek told Beck.
She went on to say that the women at these shelters work diligently to rebuild their lives and described some of the activities that the women partake in. Aside from volunteering 16 hours per week at a thrift store, they do written Bible studies, take parenting and cooking classes and work to create a life for themselves beyond the shelters’ doors.
After hearing about the total sum ($55,000) that the group lost and after learning that yet another staff member was going to be let go, Beck said, ”We’re going to send you a check for $55,000. My wife and I would like to make sure that you don’t lay any more people off and you keep those doors open.”
“Praise God!,” she responded, pledging to put the money to good use.
Following this discussion, Stu Burguiere, Beck’s radio producer, sarcastically asked, ”What government program just mandated that you did that?” Here was Beck’s passionate response:
“You know what did that — capitalism. I have made money. I have worked hard. I have done the things that put me in a situation to where I can make money. And then my wife and I decide what do to with that money.
And if the government doesn’t think that a faith-based charity should get any money, well then it is up to me, an individual who believes in small government, to make up the difference.”
That led the team to play to a comedy bit involving a cattle prod, after Beck asked what’s really behind the funding cut: ”What are they afraid of. You talk about Jesus. What — are you going to have a cattle prod?”
Political correctness does not bring happiness. It brings Maximilien Robespierre
The most popular post
http://www.1928bcp.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=700
I will be on another project for a while so posting will be sparse
The Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity – Rev Dr Louis R. Tarsitano
The Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity
The Armor of God
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh" (2 Cor.
10:3).
When St. Paul admonishes us to put on "the whole armor of God" in
today's Epistle, he is informing us that the glorious armor of Almighty
God himself is now available by grace to every Christian. We read about
that armor in this morning's Old Testament Lesson: "For [God] hath put
on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his
head; and he put on the garments of vengeance [justice] for clothing,
and was clad with zeal as with a cloke" (Is. 59:17).
It is important for us to understand, then, that St. Paul's commandment
presupposes that the grace of God has lifted every Christian to a new
dignity in Christ that was impossible for the people of the Old
Testament, even as a Chosen People. The members of Christ are now fellow
warriors with God himself in the cause of salvation and truth, and,
thus, St. Paul can say to every single Christian in particular:
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on
the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the
preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of
faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,
which the is word of God: praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given
unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of
the Gospel...(Ephesians 6: 14-19).
It is equally important for us modern Christians to recognize that we
tend to visualize a different kind of armor from what St. Paul had in
mind when he wrote about "God's armor." We hear the word "armor," and we
immediately think of the days of chivalry, of men on horseback, dressed
in metal suits. But chivalry came into the world hundreds of years after
St. Paul's martyrdom, so "knights in shining armor" cannot be the image
he is using to teach us about effective Christian living. In fact,
without being mind readers, we can know exactly what kind of armor St.
Paul meant. The Greek word he uses for "the whole armor" is "panoply," a
technical term for the complete equipment of a particular type of
soldier: the Greek hoplite.
The Greek hoplite wasn't a remote, isolated aristocrat riding on a
horse. He was a foot soldier, a heavy infantryman, and not a knight; but
he was the backbone of the Greek armies in the heyday of Greek
civilization. The hoplite was the military means of Greek self-rule. He
was also the highest human expression of the Greek principle of
self-government.
For, you see, the hoplite was a "citizen-soldier." The purchase,
ownership, and maintenance of his armor and other military equipment
were his personal investment in his own freedom. His willingness to
fight was exactly what made him a citizen in the first place; and in
comparison to the slave soldiers of other nations, inside his heavy
armor he was a "human tank", always advancing, always closing with the
enemy, always trying to bring his sword or spear to bear. He /had/ to
advance, once he took the field, since his armor provided no protection
in the retreat. His back was essentially uncovered, and retreat meant
destruction.
Furthermore, the hoplite didn't fight alone, as he placed his life on
the line to purchase his vote, his precious franchise and citizenship,
even at the price of his blood. He couldn't fight alone, since his armor
required him to fight in mass armies, with his fellow citizen-soldiers
at his side, shoulder to shoulder in a huge formation called "the
phalanx," which meant in Greek that they became together the "finger" of
their nation, since each man was joined as closely to the other as the
joints of a finger. And there were only two orders every hoplite needed
to remember: advance against the enemy and protect the man at your side.
Now the connection between this sort of soldier and the true, practicing
Christian ought to be obvious. God makes us free men and free women by
grace, the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven; and he provides us with
the whole spiritual armor necessary to fight in his cause. Our
persistent, unyielding, united warfare in God's own cause is, above all
else, our perfect freedom' the only true freedom there is. And we must
be ready to fight the world, the flesh, and the devil: to war against
apathy, passivity, and disbelief every day of our lives, in order to
remain free of them. Just as those ancient Greeks fought for their
earthly kingdoms, we must exercise our rights and duties as the
citizens-by-grace of the Kingdom of God, if we intend to keep them.
Anything less will have the same effect on us as withdrawing from the
battle would have had on an army of ancient Greek hoplites. Running from
the field will get us slaughtered. Abandoning the fellow soldier on our
right or on our left will be adjudged an act of treason by our King. We
will lose both our citizenship and our lives. And even if we do survive,
at least for a time, we will be forced to face the tragic, awful truth
that the opposite of the citizen-soldier in God's army is not the
non-combatant or the pacifist, but the slave.
Spiritual warfare means working, praying, and struggling together,
united in the Body of Christ. We are called to be the "phalanx," the
"finger" of divine grace at work in the world, pursuing the utter defeat
of the devil, not just in our own lives, but in our life together as the
Church. We /can't/ stand, each of us on our own. But we /can/ stand
together; and we are called by God to be the final protection of every
faithful Christian. Otherwise, we will be nothing, and our individual
efforts will come to nothing, for God has given us in his own Name the
hoplite's orders: advance against the enemy and protect the man at your
side.
On a larger scale, St. Paul intends us to understand that if there is
going to be a Christian civilization, it must be founded on the
Christian equivalent of the hoplite. God's loving grace, at work in the
lives of his people and actively embraced by them, has the power to
build a civilization that will reveal the empires of the Greeks and
Romans, and of every earthly power, as pitiful, ungainly, unartistic,
illiterate, and most of all transitory, because they were not founded on
a redeeming fellowship with God.
We all know that we live in a time of social change and instability, and
so our dedication to spiritual warfare in the Name of God must be
stronger than ever. St. Paul charged the Corinthians in just this way,
commanding them to "[Cast] down imaginations [or "arguments" or
"wasteful disputations] and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God,...bringing into captivity every thought to
the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5).
Modern spiritual warfare has been less than successful because too many
who have called themselves "Christians" have made little effort to bring
their every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Others
have actually resisted the efforts of the soldiers at their side to
remind them of their duty. The Word of God, perfectly and exclusively
available in the Bible, is the Constitution of Christianity. It takes
little imagination to foresee the fate of an army made up of soldiers
who take the field debating the constitution of the country they claim
to serve. What is worse, we too often judge our success or failure,
whether as human beings or as the Church, by the standards of the world,
by the private standards we choose for ourselves. But once we take this
position, we are no longer a part of Christ's army. We go over to the
other side, wittingly or not, ignoring St. Paul's warning, "For not he
that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth" (2
Cor. 10:18).
Victory is sweet, but victory is always bought at a price, chiefly at
the price of doing those duties that go against our natural inclinations
in a disciplined way. Victory is never free. Just ask those Christian
soldiers, gathered now around the throne of God. They have won their
victories over sin and self, giving their lives to God that they might
receive them again at his hand, as the perfect, glorious tokens of their
spiritual conquest. These victors, whom we call "saints," did not
achieve a salvation that suited their private needs or wants. They
achieved the only salvation that exists: as surely as they answered
God's call to battle on earth, they stand in victorious fellowship with
God, Christ, and the saints forever.
It is, moreover, the same salvation that we need, if we are to be saved
at all. And so we must put on the whole armor of God at his command, and
under his orders, we must stand by the brethren at our right and our
left until the Lord returns and all our appointed battles are won.
November 12, 2000
The U.S. Constitution about has piece about freedom from religion and it forbids prayer in schools, public places, football games and so on. The object is to prevent religion for doing something or other.
I was having trouble with with Federal government rebuilding The Episcopal National Cathedral after it suffered earth quake damage.
Fortunately I was assured that the place is non religious but rather something else. Americans have always been supportive of something else so it shows the wisdom of the Supreme Court.
PT
Southern Africa Continuing Bishop Says Fresh Conversions to Christ Only Way Forward
Destabilizing troublemakers, proselytizers and Anglicanorum Coetibus never saved one soul
Bishop Gill blasts defensive posture and rearguard mentality of Continuing Anglicans
By David W. Virtue in Brockton, Massachusetts
www.virtueonline.org
November 5, 2011
The head of the Continuing (TAC) Anglican Church in Southern Africa told listeners at a world conference of Anglican Continuers from more than half a dozen jurisdictions that unless they made evangelism their top priority, they would go out of business even as they uphold the traditional faith of the church.
Courtesy Virtueonline
The Rt. Rev. Michael Gill, Bishop of Pretoria and Southern Africa, told his listeners that trouble makers who come in to destabilize parishes, those who proselytize from other churches, and the Pope's offer of Anglicanorum Coetibus were little more than "cunning plans" that "never won a single soul for the Lord Jesus Christ nor did it add one soul to the Kingdom of God."
The bishop shredded the Pope's offer saying, "We are all aware of the furor it has created in Anglican circles and of the people who have been polarized by the various, and usually naïve interpretations given to the document. The blogs have been the most hysterical and creative by far, with some fascinating views on the future liturgies that will be used and just who the Ordinaries will be."
Gill said the offer was little more than an attempt by Rome for Anglican Christians to "swap allegiance" and join the Roman Catholic Church - to "convert" as individuals or groups and become Roman Catholics.
"That the arrangement is entirely on Rome's terms should have hardly been a surprise to anyone who has read any Church History."
Gill said he had a face to face meeting around Anglicanorum Coetibus with Roman Catholic Archbishop George Daniel who is in charge of Anglican/Roman Catholic dialogue in Southern Africa. Gill was told that not only would there be no Ordinariate in Southern Africa, but that the conversion to Roman Catholicism required, would in many cases, go back "as far as Baptism" depending on the original church background of the convert.
"This was fizzed over by the blogging community. Archbishop Daniel (a former Anglican) is a highly sophisticated man, someone I have known and respected for more than 20 years, and he was as gentle as possible in breaking the news that we (all the Continuing Anglicans in Southern Africa) were an immature lot, and a long way away from the levels of theological education expected for acceptance as Roman clergy.
"Anglicanorum Coetibus or to quote the English press "the Popes Panzers parked on the lawns of Canterbury" (don't you think that is brilliant?) has been a very effective tool to prize some away from their Anglican roots, to entice them to denounce their Ordination and even their Consecration vows and their ministries and to abandon their flocks in order to fill some empty stalls in Roman Catholic Churches."
Gill said that this was not what those with stars in their eyes and their hands already grasping for St Peter's keys had been told.
"All we have done is to shuffle the cards already on the deck. We have moved them around to no good effect. It is a bleak picture."
The bishop of Southern Africa said his jurisdiction covers eight SADEC countries, at least 30 languages and many thousands of miles. He has seen it all. The faith can be costly, he told his audience. Two of his priests were brutally beaten and one was killed in townships where life is cheap, the murder rate is sky high, and one has to be extremely careful all the time.
"In the township of Atteridgeville, the Rev. Mike Maseko was pulled out of his car - in his clerics - and shot five times. One of the bullets has left a long scar across his forehead, where the hijackers coldly shot him in the head. Our Lord spared his life. I told him he must have something special to do..... Just last month another of my Deacons was shot and killed in a Pietermaritzburg township."
Gill blasted the defensive posture of Continuing Anglicans. "By our very definition as Continuing Anglicans, we have determined to defend that which we have received. We have often decided within our own minds that ours is a rearguard action against the "onslaught of liberalism" - a last ditch defense. A "walling in" of what we know and hold dear. 'No-one will take the Book of Common Prayer away from me..' If that is so, my dear friends, then I am afraid that we are all lost....and so is Anglicanism....and so ultimately will be the Christian Faith."
The bishop urged his listeners to cease looking inward, which he said would simply continue a circular downward movement in which Continuers could easily find themselves trapped.
"The Vicar General of Zimbabwe, Fr Wellington Murinda (a true evangelist and a great missionary Priest), tells his men in the field, "don't speak to me; show me the work." Ours has to be movement that is forward and outward - no matter what the personal cost or the danger.
"I expect utter commitment to the work of the Gospel from myself and from the clergy with whom I work. For us, it is a matter of the utmost urgency. There is a real loss of personal value and of spiritual awareness happening in the huge urban sprawls, the "squatter camps", around our cities. Not only that, but Islam is making massive strides into the youth of Africa - the church has to be on the march against such a concerted onslaught, fuelled as it is by millions upon millions of Saudi dollars.
"Souls are being lost - and this while we are the ones responsible for this particular era of the Church.
"I speak of Africa as an arena of spiritual conflict, how presumptuous of me, for what of the UK and Europe - now openly called 'post-Christian' - or for that matter, the USA and Canada where the number of Muslims is growing exponentially. Did you know that in the UK, ten years ago the most popular boy's name was Michael? It is now Mohammed.
"Where then are we to find these warriors, these Christian Soldiers? Amongst the Pentecostals? Amongst the Orthodox? Do we have a sufficiently 'soldier attitude' - or will we continue to play with liturgy or music or continue with our skirmishes for power and position?
"I do believe that as Continuing Anglican Christians we are "fighters by nature" [unfortunately mostly with each other.] and that we have shown that we are prepared to stand up for what we believe, even at great personal cost in many instances. I have to say how much I appreciate the sacrifices made, the difficulties faced - but what is needed amongst us is a far more offensive mentality. The first Disciples faced the same shortages as we are doing, and yet they triumphed - should we not be able to do the same?
"My challenge to you tonight (and I am obliged by the urgency of the historical moment in the life of the global church to issue such a challenge) is, "who will throw themselves headlong into this divine battle with me - which of us will stand and fight, and if needs be die together?
"Who is prepared to be numbered with that mighty host, seen by John the Divine, who the angel said had come through the great tribulation and "whose robes have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb".
Twentieth Sunday after trinity -- Rev. Paul Taylor, LL.M.
The parable of the marriage feast in Matthew is similar to
the parable in Luke 14:16-24. There are enough difference to make
it unneccessary treat the two as identical.
As is true of many of the things that Jesus said about the
kingdom, he starts this story the kingdom of heaven is like unto.
Then he starts to make tell a parable which the people could
readily identify with. He said that there was a certain king
which made a marriage for his son. So he sent his servants to go
to those who were bidden to the wedding. This was a perfectly
normal thing for a king to do and this king was no exception. Go
tell them which are bidden. Tell them that I have prepared a
dinner. This invitation to the banquit is a very familiar picture
that Jesus paints. This is a very special feast that they are
invited to. So the fatted animals are prepared for the dinner.
This is a very special occasion and the king wants it to be
special.
Immediately one realizes that the king is God. This is the
great banquit that God is calling. But the dinner is for his son.
Immediately the concept of heirship is present. To attend the
dinner the guests would have to recognize the king's son as an
heir. The story is told so that the pharises could hear the
story. They could see what he was driving at.
Attendance at the banquit would be a sign of loyalty both to
the king and to his heir. But those who were invited all made
light of it and went there separate ways. By so doing they showed
disloyalty and did the king dishonor. Some showed their utter
disrespect by treating the servants spitefully and then slaying
them. No king can allow this type of thing to go on and this is
why his armies went to crush these rebels. The pharises knew that
they were the target of this story. The great banquit was
offerred to them first for their loyalty to the law. But they
rejected the son of God. Jesus knew that they were planning to
kill him and his followers and so he was reminding them that God
would send his armies to kill them.
Since those who were bidden did not want to come to the
greatr banquit then the banquit would be opened to others. If the
pharises would not receive the good news then the feast would be
open to sinners, publicans and even gentiles. A clear warning to
the pharises. Its also a clear warning to you. God has reserved a
table at his banquit for you. He wants you to attend. He is
making you an offer tht you cannot refuse. Refuse to come to the
table when you are bidden and you're in a heap of trouble. Treat
his servants and messengers shamefully and you are in trouble.
You are in serrious trouble. God will send his armies to destroy
those who do these bad things. God does not think very much of
petty excuses. He says come and you are to come. You are also
warned to treat his messengers with great respect or you will be
a long time dead. The pharises did not heed the message. Will
you?
After God had slain the bad guys he then wanted guests for
his supper. For you see the kingdom is a banquit and you are
commanded to attend. There are no excuses. If the first chosen do
not come others will be invited until all the places at the great
supper have been filled. God will send his messengers to the
highways and byways and he will seek guests. The pharises knew
that he was even talking about gentiles. But Jesus was talking
about bringing to the table everyone. The invitation first goes
to those in the church and if the call is not heeded then to
those who are outside the church. You will note the fact that the
church is the bride of Christ. So the story has strong
evangelical strain to it. The king, who we know to be God,
said bring everyone. Both good and bad are invited. But watch out
there is a catch.
What's the catch? Everybody is hauled to the banquit hall
and sat down at the table. But one man was not properly dressed.
He had no wedding garment. When I first read this passage I was
disturbed by this. His listoners were not. For you see in thoes
days everyone had a wedding garment. To fail to wear it was
extremely rude. Here the rudeness is to the king which is not
very bright.The penalty is severe too. The guest was ejected from
the great hall and cast into outer darkness.
The time is coming when you least expect it when you will be
summoned to the great banquit hall. There is a place for you.
You are required to attend. Will you be like the righteous
pharises and say no I will not go. Will you be like the man who
did not dress properly for dinner? I certainly hope not. An
Anglican should be properly dressed at all times.
Lets look at the garment that is required for the dinner.
It is the garment of light . It is the garment of righteousness.
This is the garment that everyone has or at least in God's eyes
everyone is required to have. Should you fail to have this
garment. Should you fail to be wearing this garment the you will
be cast into outer darkness. Outer darkness is the biblical
shorthand for the place of utter damnation. Wear your garment of
light. Have it with you at all times or you will be dammed to
outer darkness. That is the message of todays gospel. You may be
a pharisee and think you are too good to attend, or you may forget
to wear the garments of light. In either case you damn your soul
to outer darkness and there you will spend the rest of eternity.
May God have mercy upon each and everyone of you.
Andy Rooney RIP
1919 2011
Lessons and Carols are now available for download
The Order for Lessons and Carols is now available in pdf format.
www.orthochap.com
It is available for free download for private viewing and may be taken to a print shop such as Kinkos and made into a booklet for a parish.
All Saints Day The Rev. Dr. Louis Tarsitano
"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes.... These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:9, 14).
There has been an All Saints’ Day from at least the beginning of the 3rd century, and probably before that, from almost the beginning of the Church. The Western Church settled on the present date, November 1st, in the 9th century, adopting the practice of the Irish branch of what we call today "the Anglican Communion."
There is much modern confusion about the meaning of the word "saint." This confusion is due, in part, to movies about the Roman Catholic "canonization of saints," as well as to a resurgence of interest in books about "the lives of the saints" or painted pictures of the saints such as icons. But in reality, a saint is simply a human being, living or dead, that God has chosen for eternal life, and upon whom God has lavished his grace.
Thus All Saints’ Day was begun as a feast, not to honor human beings, but to honor God for his work of salvation and sanctification. Forgetting this history, some Churches, during the Middle Ages, even in Ireland, added an "All Souls’ Day" (called more ominously "The Day of the Dead" in Latin countries) to the Church Calendar. This is, of course, a charming custom, and it can hardly be wrong for the Church to find more occasions to gather for prayer, but it is, in the end, more than a little redundant. The Holy Scriptures, the Fathers, and the Ancient Church recognize only two classes of human beings under God’s universal rule: the saints called by God to life and the damned.
We should find comfort in the continuous keeping of a holy day this old, as we consider our God-given hope and our call to saintliness in Christ. We should remember with joy and thanksgiving the generations before us that answered Christ’s call and received the grace to become his saints. When we are afraid, we can ponder the fact that there is no trial or tribulation that we can face in our own lives that some Christian efore us has not conquered gloriously.
As we praise God for the victory that he has given to the saints now gathered around his throne in heaven, we can imagine some future All Saints’ Day, if our Lord does not return to end the business of this world during our lifetime on earth, when our descendants will praise God in heaven for the lives we are living now, and for the victory that Christ began to give us openly on the day of our Baptism, and continues in us today, if we are faithful.
Humility about ourselves is a great virtue, but humility about God is a great sin. We may be as humble and modest about ourselves as we like. In fact, there is probably something dreadfully wrong with us if we can’t find a great deal in our lives to be humble and modest about. As Christians, however, God is the great, beating heart of our lives. God is our life itself. It is from God that our lives have come, and it is to God that our lives are going.
Christians ought to boast about God: to boast about God’s greatness and mercy; to boast about what God is doing in our lives as he restores them according to his purposes. This kind of boasting is not only permitted by our religion, it is actually required. This kind of boasting is a witness to the Truth: to the truth of God in the Church; to the truth of God in the Scriptures; to the truth of God in the lives of the saints in heaven and in the lives of the saints on earth. We are the witnesses in this world that these "truths" are really only one Truth, just as God is one God, and he is God alone. And lest anyone should get the notion that Christians are swell-headed for claiming to be witnesses to God’s Truth, it is worth observing that the word for "witness" in the original Greek of the New Testament is "martyr."
It is frankly impossible to talk about God and his saints without also talking about blood—not simply because so many that we revere as saints have witnessed unto blood to the Truth of Jesus Christ, at the cost of their lives, but because holiness and blessedness are themselves matters of blood.
The word saint is the English form of the Latin word for "holy," which comes from the same Latin word as sacrifice. These words translate the Greek word for "holy," used before Christians spoke either Latin or English; and it is, itself, only a translation of the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament. What all these words have in common is that whoever or whatever is "holy" is set apart for the exclusive use of God, is consecrated to him, is God’s possession, and is meant to be as separate from the fallen and profane world around us as God is.
While it is the action of God the Holy Ghost that makes a person or thing holy, the outward and visible sign of this spiritual reality is blood. Sacrifice means "to make holy"; and the word blessed, used so many times in this morning’s Gospel of the Beatitudes, comes from the English word blood, as a form of the English word bloodshed, and means literally "to consecrate with blood." This is no arcane theory of scholars. The Old Testament tells us that the blood is the life (Deut. 12:23), and that it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul (Lev. 17:11). In the New Testament, the Epistle to the Hebrews combines these facts to remind us: "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). Blood, literally "washing with blood," is the outward sign of holiness.
Of course, not just any blood will do. The shedding of our own blood, for example, cannot make us holy, since inside of us or outside of us it is still the same blood, or life, that God must redeem. We learn about sacrifice in the Old Testament. And we learn that only the Blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, the Blood of the Lamb of God who is holy in and of himself, is able to wash us once and for all, and to make us holy in him. The New Testament is the record of the shedding of Jesus Christ’s Blood on our behalf, and our instruction in how to be washed by Christ in his Blood.
"Holy" isn’t something we become through our own good works, or through anything else we can do for ourselves. Holiness is a gift from God. We are made holy by Christ, as he pours out his own Blood to cover our sinfulness and weakness. In the vision of heaven from the Revelation of St. John with which we began, there is one thing only that unites the saved multitudes of all nations, kindreds, and peoples, and tongues before the throne of God. All in that multitude have been washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ; all have been made holy by the grace of God; all are saints in Jesus Christ.
A saint, then, is only this: a human being who belongs to God, who has been set apart from the world by the Blood of Jesus Christ, shed on a cross and received in the Holy Communion. Nobody else is a saint, and there is no other qualification. We are holy because of God’s action in our lives, or we are not. Every member of the Church in heaven is a saint; and every member of the Church on earth whose broken heart is faithful to Jesus Christ, who puts his trust in Jesus Christ and in nothing else, not even in himself, is just as much a saint right now.
This is the only definition of the word saint that the Bible allows, in whatever language we read it. It is the definition we must embrace, if we are going to live our lives as the saints of God. And there is no other life that lasts forever, or that gives us a holy day of our own every year on All Saints’ Day.
November 1st, 1998
Halloween - Rev. Paul Taylor, LL.M.
The night before All Saints day is the Hallowed Eve.
Modern man has somehow gone in another direction and glorifies the darkness instead of remembering the souls of the faithful
In the days before Halloween evil will be glorified. Witches and devils will be glorified. This is simply wrong
The church with is the blessed company of faithful people is not to be afraid of darkness but is meant to overcome darkness with the light.
Jesus spoils Halloween. The demonic never prevails against Jesus
Matthew 8:28-32
Shows Jesus confronting demons and the demons were afraid. He cast them into swine and the swine went off a cliff into a water and drowned. Demons can't stand up to Jesus. They can't stand up to light.
The same is true in Luke 4:33-37. A man possessed by a demon was in a synagogue and Jesus casts him out.
In both cases the demons were afraid of Jesus and in both cases he cast them out.
The evening before before All Saints day is supposed to be an evening to remember the faithful departed. We are to remember the saints of God.
Reviling in the demonic is not a proper Christian exercise. Saying its all good clean fun is blasphemy. I realize it keeps cash registers humming in a consumer driven economy. However, consumerism is just as much a sin as is celebrating the devil's disciples.
These biblical example show the power of the Lord.
Demons tremble
The devil always loses
Light overcome the darkness,The light is from God. The darkness is of the devil (Jn 1: 1-14)
As Christians we are to be lights to the world
We are called to overcome evil with good.
Reviling in the darkness is not the way to go
AMEN
PT
Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity; Matthew 9:1-8 (2nd sermon) Martin Luther
A Sermon by Martin Luther; taken from his Church Postil. Luther
delivered this sermon on October 3, 1529 at the Marburg Colloquy, where
he and the Wittenberg party had gathered with the South Germans and the
Swiss to overcome their disagreement over the real presence of Christ's
body and blood in the Lord's Supper. It was published in 1530.
[The following sermon is taken from volume V:212-225 of The Sermons of
Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI, 1983).
It was originally published in 1905 in English by Lutherans in All Lands
(Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther,
vol. 14. The pagination from the Baker edition has been maintained for
referencing. This e-text was scanned and edited by Richard P. Bucher, it
is in the public domain and it may be copied and distributed without
restriction.]
1. The theme of this Gospel is the great and important article of faith,
called "the forgiveness of sins", which, when rightly understood, makes
an honest Christian, and gives eternal life. Therefore it is necessary
in the Christian Church to teach this article diligently and
unceasingly, so that we may learn to understand it clearly and
distinctly. For this is the one great and difficult art of a Christian,
where he will have enough to learn as long as he lives, so that he need
not look for anything new, higher or better.
2. But that we may rightly understand this, we must thoroughly know how
to distinguish two powers or kinds of piety. One here upon earth, which
God has also ordained and has included under the second table of the ten
commandments. This is called the righteousness of the world or of man,
and serves to the end that we may live together on earth and enjoy the
gifts God has given us. For it is his wish that his present life be kept
under proper restraint and passed in peace, quietude and harmony, each
one attending to his own affairs and not interfering with the business,
property or person of another. For this reason God has also added a
special blessing, Lev. 18, 5, "Which if a man do, he shall live in
them", that is, whosoever upon earth is honest in the sight of all men
shall enjoy life; it shall be well with him, and he shall live long.
3. But if on the other hand man is unwilling to do this, he has ordained
that the sword, the gallows, the rack, fire, water, and the like be
used, with which to restrain and check those who will not be pious.
Where such punishment is not administered and the whole country becomes
so utterly bad and perverted, that the officers of the law can no longer
restrain, God sends pestilence, famine, war, or other terrible plagues,
in order to subvert the land, and destroy the wicked, as has happened to
the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, and others. From this we may learn his
will, namely, that such piety be exercised and maintained; and know that
he will provide what is necessary; but if such piety is not practiced he
will in turn take away and destroy everything.
4. This is in short the sense and the whole substance of this piety on
earth. But it is further necessary to urge it and to admonish people
that every man diligently, zealously and voluntarily exercise himself in
it, and that he be not driven to it by force and punishment. This
admonition consists in setting forth God's commandments and in applying
them to every station of life on earth, as God has ordered and highly
honored; we should find pleasure in them and heartily do what is
required in the different spheres of life. When God says, "Honor thy
father and thy mother," every child, man-servant, maid-servant, citizen,
and the like, should receive the Word with joy, have no greater treasure
on earth, and not imagine if he do this he is already halfway or
altogether in paradise. And this should be solely done, that every heart
may be assured without a doubt and say: Now I know, that such work,
life, or position is right and proper and is assuredly well pleasing to
God; for I have his Word and command as a sure witness, which never
deceives nor fails me.
5. For do not let this be the least grace upon earth, when you have come
to this decision in your heart and your conscience rests upon it. We owe
this assurance to the blessed Gospel alone, in which we should delight
and which we must reverence, even if we receive no other benefit or use
from it than this, that it quiets our conscience and positively teaches
us how to live and in what relation we stand to God.
In what error and blindness we were aforetime, when not even a spark of
such teaching enlightened us and we allowed ourselves to be led in the
name of the devil by the whims of every lying preacher; we tried all
kinds of works, ran hither and thither, expended and wasted our
energies, money and property; here we established masses and altars,
there cloisters and brotherhoods, and every one was groping for the way
in which he might serve God; yet no one found it, but all remained in
darkness. For there was no God who might say: This is pleasing to me,
this I have commanded, etc. Yes, our blind guides did nothing less than
lose sight of God's word, separated it from good works, and instead of
these set up other works everywhere; in addition to this they discarded
and despised the positions in life, which God had appointed, as though
he knew no better, nor even as well as we, how to manage his affairs.
6. Therefore we must constantly take heed to inculcate this Word of God,
which does not burden us with any special, great and difficult works,
but refers us to the condition in which we live, that we look for
nothing else, but with a cheerful heart remain satisfied in it, and be
assured that by such work more is accomplished than if one had
established all the cloisters and kept all the orders, although it be
the most insignificant domestic work. For hitherto we- have been
woefully deceived by the fine lustre and pomp of works, hoods, bald
pates, coarse apparel, by fasts, wakes, pious looks, playing the
devotee, and going barefoot.
Our foolishness consists in laying too much stress upon the show of
works and when these do not glitter as something extraordinary we regard
them as of no value; and poor fools that we are, we do not see that God
has attached and bound this precious treasure, namely his Word, to such
common works as filial obedience, external, domestic, or civil affairs,
so as to include them in his order and command, which he wishes us to
accept, the same as though he himself had appeared from heaven. What
would you do if Christ himself with all the angels were visibly to
