Mar 19 Borderline Living.

Mar 19

Border Line Living

Nu 32:1 …and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle…

The verse for today is from a time just before the Israelites crossed Jordan to fight for their promised land. When they came near the land of Gilead and Bashan a couple tribes of Israel saw the land was good for cattle and they had lots of cattle. I can just imagine a bunch of guys having the equivalent of donuts and coffee, sitting around and discussing the politics of the day. Somehow the idea of staying where they were took hold. So, the men of the tribes of Gad and Reuben approached Moses with the idea that they would be happy to dwell on the border of the Promised Land, east of the Jordan River.

I am sure these men had seen Moses hot under the collar before. He was not known for having an even disposition. That day was no exception. Moses, was angry with them for a bunch of reasons. 

Nu 32:7 And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD hath given them?

Moses told them they would discourage the other tribes from fighting to gain the Promised Land. Why should they go through the hardship of having to fight to conquer the land across Jordan when two tribes were building houses and developing their farms.

Then he reminded them of the problem their fathers had created years ago. Moses had sent 12 spies into the land and ten had come back and discouraged the people. How could they have forgotten that lesson?

Nu 32:8 Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from

Kadeshbarnea to see the land.

He shamed them further when he suggested they just wanted their portion so they could avoid the coming battles.

Nu 32:6 And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?

The men who came to Moses must have discussed how Moses would react.

“Levi, Moses will never agree to that.”

“I know that Ben. So we will tell him we will help everyone fight for their land before we come back home.”
“Sure, sure Levi. So I have to drag all my family and herds all over the place during a war that will last who knows how long?”
“No Ben, we can build cities and places for our families and herds and then go fight with the other tribes. What do you think?”
“OK, let’s give it a shot. But you do the talking. I don’t want Moses screaming in my face”

So they did and Moses agreed with that plan.

Nu 32:16 ¶ And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones:

The following verses give more details. They would go and fight. They would not return to their homes until the land was conquered. They would not expect any inheritance from the lands over Jordan.

In verses 20-22 Moses carefully details all that they have agreed to do. He reviewed the terms of their verbal contract. Then Moses reminds them that if they do not abide by the contract they have agreed to, things will not go well for them.

Nu 32:23 But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.   

So where is the lesson for us today. They saw a great place to raise cattle, asked Moses if they could have it and after some negotiations, he agreed. Well there was a little problem. Herein is our lesson.

Nu 34:12 And the border shall go down to Jordan…

In Numbers 34 we find a lengthy description of the borders of the land that God would give to the nation of Israel. The section that describes the eastern border included the description above. The eastern border would be the Jordan river. But two and a half tribes chose to stay outside that border, across the eastern boundary.

I have searched to find anywhere in the Bible it says that the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh were told to settle outside the eastern border of the Promised Land. I think they chose to settle because the land was pleasant to the eyes. I do not read anywhere it was under the direction of the LORD. I read several places that Moses let them settle there.

It was a great place for cattle, but maybe not so good for God’s chosen. You can read in chapter 32 that they built lots of cities but you do not read they built any alters to the Lord or destroyed the sites for idol worship. But, there were riches, and easy living there. And only 40% of the people were able bodied soldiers and would have to leave to fight for the promised land. The two and a half tribes that settled here preferred living on the border. They had come out (of Egypt) but did not go in. They wanted what they saw instead of what God had promised them.

Our churches suffer from the same mentality today. There are far too many who have accepted Christ and come out of the world, but do not want to settle in the place of promise. They are borderline Christians. They hate the idea of Hell, and will do what it takes to avoid it. But they do not love God enough to trust him and his promises. They count the cost of being what God wants them to be and have decided they do not want to give up what they see, for what they cannot see. They prefer to walk by sight, not by faith. They are not bad people. They are not backsliders. They are Sunday Christians. These are people whose hearts are warm toward Christ. Yes they could be hotter but at least they are not cold hearted. Isn’t that enough? 

Re 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

 

Mar 18 The Blessing of Ice

Mar 18 

The Blessings of Ice

Ge 1:9 ¶ And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place,….

God created water! What a blessing. What an amazing display of His omnipotence and omniscience. He is the all-powerful and all-knowing God.  And he created water!  WOW! And he designed it so it would become ice! (whistles, applause, roses thrown in the air) What?  You don’t seem all that excited about water and ice!

Please don’t leave now. I will explain why I think it is such a fabulous display of God’s attention to every tiny detail.  Yes, I know it has been a long winter and you are sick of ice and snow. So let me help you look at it from a different perspective. Maybe it will help you forget about whatever is healing since you slipped on a patch of ice!

Please do not let a little science talk turn you off. Water as we know is chemically H2O. What is humorously called Dihydrogen Monoxide. But when God made water he made it so different than anything else that it is amazing stuff.  He took one atom of Oxygen and attached two atoms of Hydrogen to the much larger Oxygen atom.

The oxygen atom has two hydrogen atoms linked to it. When water is liquid these molecules are free to move about as they choose. They can link together and create surface tension on the surface of water.  But there is a weak force between the hydrogen atoms on different molecules of water that makes them want to form into a shape like a honeycomb. They can’t because the temperature gives them energy enough to continually break weak bonds that form between molecules of water. As the temperature falls there is less energy to break these molecules apart and they begin to form into a 6 sided honey comb structure. (the reason snowflakes are 6 sided) At about 38-39 degrees water is at its greatest density. That means a gallon of water at 38 degrees will weigh more than water at any other temperature. Normally when things get colder they continue to get more dense. But not water. When water gets colder than 38 degrees it starts to expand. More and more water molecules are connecting into a honeycomb pattern. That pattern takes up more room than when molecules of water could move more freely. At 32 degrees all the molecules have been connected together and form ice. The ice is less dense than the water so ice expands and floats. If ice did not float then cold water would sink to the bottom of the lakes and oceans and freeze on the bottom of the lake instead on the top. There are dozens of additional things about water and how it forms ice that are interesting but would bore you to tears. You can find what I think are fascinating facts about water and ice on the internet.   

But where is the devotional thought in all this science blabbering. It is that water needed to be designed to perform the way it does.  The evolutionist would tell you otherwise, but their mantra is getting old and tired. They would explain it like this. Well there was a big bang and all the planets just happened to wind up where they did. And after a gazillion billion eons of time two hydrogen atoms banged into an oxygen atom. That was the first water molecule.

People who cling to the unproven theory of evolution usually explain how things happen by providing an eternity of time and an unending supply of random events. It took that long to achieve the one event that placed the two hydrogen atoms at an angle of 104.45 degrees apart and connected to the oxygen atom by a covalent bonding of charges.  Or some such gobbeldee-gook.

If random events over eons of time actually worked then 10 trillion monkeys pounding the keys on typewriters would eventually produce the entire writings of Shakespeare with no spelling errors.  

I have a suggestion that requires faith to believe.

Ge 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

 

I said it takes faith to believe that God created the heavens and the earth. But it is easier to believe that than the contradictory theories that require eternities of time and limitless random events.

I read a good book recently in which the author corrected an old expression. “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it!”.  His clear thinking altered that expression to “God said it, and that settles it!”. There is no need for us to believe what God said to make it valid. 

Perhaps my explanation of water was confusing to you. Just know that God had to design water to have special characteristics to work properly and do the work it was designed to do.

Pr 30:4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? 5 Every word of God is pure:…

 

He who designed water so ice would float is God. He is the all- knowing designer and creator.

Ps 136:5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever. 6 To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Let us forget the foolishness of men and their vain imaginations and focus on how great our God is. The one who spoke and the world was.

Ps 8:3 ¶ When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

There is more evidence of His creation than we can ever write about. His wisdom is past finding out. Let us pause for a moment, reflect on our great God and praise His Holy name. Selah!

Ps 8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent

is thy name in all the earth!

Mar 17 No God

Mar 17

No God

Ps 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

Translating one language into another is never an exact science. There are words that mean something in one language that are not easily translated into another language. Just think of some of the slang expressions we use in the United States and imagine how people would scratch their heads if it was translated word for word. “Same to ya buddy!” might be translated as “friend, may you have the same thing.”  The same is true in other languages. A man I knew from central Mexico would tell me “The refrigerator needs painting” but when he said it in Mexican people would understand that it meant he was running low on food.

     When we read the King James Bible there are words that are italicized. They represent words not in the original language but have been added to help people who read English to understand the translation more fully. But I sometimes like to read verses without the italicized words. For instance, in our verse for today the words “there is” are in italics. If we omit them when we read, it changes the meaning, but I don’t think it does any harm to the sense of the verse.

“The fool has said in his heart, No God” 

     A person who does not believe in God is called an atheist. By the way, did you know there is a dial a prayer number for atheists? When you call it no one answers!

     *An atheist does not spend any time during his working hours thinking about God. He does not spend any leisure time thinking about God either. He spends money, buys things, takes vacations, goes to work and returns home with no thought of God. He lives his life as though God did not exist. He does not pray, only goes to church for a wedding or funeral, and gives no money to missions. He may be moral, may help the poor, might be active in his community, and is an otherwise fine person. But God is not in his thoughts, his daily life, or evident in anything he does or says. 

    But our verse does not call this man an atheist. It says if a man says in his heart there is no God, he is a fool. But how can that be since some highly educated people deny the existence of a creator or a higher power that interacts with humans.

    Ro 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Step outside on a starry night and gaze at the stars. Look at a rainbow. Consider how a worm becomes a beautiful butterfly. My English lit teacher in high school had the right idea. When it came time to study the writings of Darwin and his “Origin of Species”, she simply said to read it, and then go outside, take a handful of dirt and turn it into a tulip, a pink one.

Ro 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise,

they became fools,

People who have chosen to reject any notion of God may think they have superior knowledge, but God says their heart is darkened and they have become fools. They were not born as fools, but by choosing to not accept God and create vain imaginations (junk science) they became fools. It was a process.

Ro 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

There isn’t much hope for those who are willfully ignorant, apart from God doing a miracle in their hearts. They have become theoretical atheists. Their theories do not include any higher power or intelligent design. Since you cannot put God in a test tube or a mathematical equation, He does not exist.

But some atheists actually admit there is a God! They are practical atheists. Yes I know that sounds contradictory to say an atheist believes in God. But there are scores of people, some even calling themselves Christians, who are practicing atheists. In their head they acknowledge His existence, but not in their heart. Huh?

Let me explain. People who would say there is a God live their lives as if there was no God. They do not spend any time during their working hours thinking about God. They do not spend any leisure time thinking about God either. Etc etc (see * paragraph above)

They may even attend church but, beyond that hour, live as if there was no God. They do not talk to God or read His word; they are too busy with directing their own affairs.  In short they have become practical atheists. It is their practice to do everything with no thought of God and to take all the credit for what they have and who they are. They have become blind to the hand of God working in their lives. But on Sunday for an hour, and perhaps at a funeral they recognize God’s existence. The admonitions of Scripture to do or not do a thing are never given consideration.

1Th 5:16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 19 Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not prophesyings. 21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

So our meditation for today is to ask how often we are guilty of being practical atheists. Do we meet God once a week and then live without Him the rest of the time? Do we meet God in the morning and then forget him the rest of the day? And no I am not suggesting we live like brown robed monks walking with our heads bowed in prayer all day. I am just asking if there are times you tell God “see you later”, or do you take Him with you throughout the day.

Ps 16:8 ¶ I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Mar 16 Almost Is Not Enough

Mar 16

Almost Is Not Enough

Ac 26:28 Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

The Wiley coyote cartoons were so funny because the coyote came so close to catching the road runner. Then an Acme safe would fall on him. Or he would run off a cliff and almost get back. The funny part was all the ways coyote almost caught the roadrunner, but never succeeded. That is the problem with almost. It never succeeds.

     In our thought for today we are looking at King Agrippa and Paul. The events leading up to this verse in Acts 26:28 are pretty straight forward, but the role of the people involved can be confusing. So let’s start with Paul creating a riot in Jerusalem. (Acts 21-22) After several riots, over forty Jews made a pact to kill Paul. (23:12-14) Claudius Lysias, the Roman Chief Captain, knew Paul was a Roman citizen and had to be rescued from a riot. When he heard of plans to kill Paul he decided to move him to Caesarea in the middle of the night. Claudius ordered 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen to guard Paul on the trip. (acts 23:23)

    Paul arrived in Caesarea and was turned over to Felix, who was the Roman governor of the territory. Paul was able to present his case to Felix and declare the Gospel of Christ and the judgment to come. Felix was moved to trembling, but decided he would put off any decision about Paul. (He was waiting for a bribe!) Paul spent two years under house arrest in Caesarea. (24:27)

     Rome finely was wearied with the corrupt Felix and replaced him with Festus, the new Roman Governor of that region. When Festus arrived at his new job he toured the area, and stopped in Jerusalem for several days. The high priest and prominent Jews in Jerusalem gave Festus an ear full about the problems that Paul was creating. They wanted Festus to bring him to Jerusalem, but Festus knew they were plotting to kill Paul and told them no.

    So the Jews from Jerusalem went to see Festus in Caesarea to make their case against Paul. Festus decided Paul had done nothing to violate Roman law so he asked Paul if he would go back to Jerusalem with the Jews. Paul knew that was a death sentence so he appealed to Caesar to prevent going to Jerusalem.

    While Paul was waiting to be transported to Rome King Agrippa, the Jewish King and his sister Bernice came to town. They wanted to meet with the Roman governor, Festus. The subject of Paul came up in conversation and King Agrippa said he wanted to meet Paul.

     That is how Paul, under house arrest, wound up talking to the Jewish King Agrippa. Oh, Agrippa was his first name. His last name was Herod II, grandson of Herod the great.

     Since Agrippa was a Jew he was well versed in the Jewish law and prophecies. First Paul told of his own testimony. He persecuted the Christians, but then had the miracle that converted him. Then Paul explained how he understood the prophecies were about Christ, who was the Messiah they had been waiting for. Agrippa was very familiar with the prophecies. Finally Paul put the question to him.

Ac 26:27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?

 I know that thou believest.

As the figurehead King of the Jews, Agrippa could not say he did not believe the prophets. But if he said he did believe the prophets he would have to agree with Paul, that the messiah had come, and the Messiah was Jesus Christ. So Agrippa avoided the question.

Ac 26:28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou

persuadest me to be a Christian.

When Paul had given his testimony to Felix, the former governor, it produced trembling. When Paul told Festus that Christ was the Messiah, Festus said Paul was mad. When Paul explained to King Agrippa the Messiah had come, Agrippa was almost converted.

    All this happened only about 20+ years after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Who better to explain Christ’s redeeming love replacing the Jewish traditions than Paul. Yet 2 governors and a king were not convinced.

    You can excuse the Roman governors. They had been raised in idolatry. Their culture worshipped Diana, Zeus, etc, even to the teaching that Caesar was divine. They were stationed in a foreign country filled with contradictory religious practices, and Sadducees arguing with Pharisees. They were just there to collect taxes and pay the Roman soldiers. They did not have any interest in the foolishness of these Jewish troublemakers.  

      But then you come to Agrippa. He was almost persuaded. What stopped him? He understood Paul’s message. He knew the prophecies that Paul spoke of.  He certainly had heard of Jesus and the miracles he had performed.

     There are a number of reasons Agrippa and others are almost Christians. The “little thing” that keeps them unpersuaded maybe one of many things;

a.    The love of some sin and an unwilling spirit to part with it.

b.    His grandfather (Herod the Great) had tried to kill Christ as an infant. Would accepting Christ be a rebuke to the family.

c.     Temptations of the world. The lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

d.    Fear of losing some position, or office or place of public esteem.

Whatever the reason for his decision, we do not read of Agrippa Herod II ever accepting Christ.

          The lesson and our mediation from all this is we should not be discouraged when we speak a word for Christ. Paul was an Apostle and he did not convert either governor or king. We may arouse someone’s interest and yet they are not saved. Do not count that a failure on your part. We need to have the heart attitude of obedience and keep on keeping on.  It is God that gives the increase.  

Ga 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing:

for in due season we shall reap,

if we faint not.  

Mar 14 The Shining Light

Mar 14

The Shining Light

Mt 5:16 Let your light so shine before men…

If you are regular reader of this blog you may wonder how I select the portions of scripture for each day. Sometimes it is from my reading and study, but most often I wake up around 5 AM and while I try to go back to sleep a verse pops into my head, related verses come together and before my feet hit the floor the topic and outline are already developed. Then I fill in the spaces with my blatherings and hope I don’t confuse people. I can’t take credit for the good but must accept blame for the bad. I believe the Holy Spirit speaks, or in my case, shouts to get my attention, and brings to mind what I should write about. Such is the case this morning. I had not planned to write this blog until later today but felt compelled to lay aside what I had planned to do. Maybe you don’t care where my ideas come from, in which case please skip reading the above paragraph!

The portion for us to meditate on this morning is part of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In verse 13 we read “ye are the salt of the earth….” In verse 14 “Ye are the light of the world…”. The next few verses relate to Christians being the light of the world.

    Mt 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Verse 15 states the obvious. Why light a lamp or candle and then hide the light it creates. That thought leads into verse 16. Why hide the light that God has given us through Christ?

Mt 5:16 Let your light so shine before men,

that they may see your good works,

and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  

There is a lot of truth in the chorus This little Light of Mine. There is even more in this verse. The very first thing we see is that when we accept Christ our understanding is opened to the things of God. We have moved from darkness to light.

Eph 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:  

We no longer need to stumble in the world of sin’s darkness, but now we can walk in the light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ. We have been changed from a source of darkness to a source of light

Mt 5:14 Ye are the light of the world.

The illustration is about people putting a light under something so no one can see the light. Does the world see our light? Do they know we no longer walk the paths of sin? Or do we exist in a world of darkness and hide the light so no one knows we are the light of the world? In plain words, do our friends, relatives and people we meet know we are born again, saved, Christians? Or is there a reason we keep our light hidden?

Gentle reader, please do not think I am trying to “send us all to the woodshed for a good whuppin”, rather I am just trying to focus our thoughts on what Christ said.

Not only should our light shine before men, but Christ tells us how it should shine.

Mt 5:16 Let your light so shine before men,

that they may see your good works, …  

The Pharisees were really good at this. When they prayed they did not do it in their closet. In Matt 6:6 Christ says when you pray you should do it in a closet. And you should shut the door. Now you can do that if you do not understand he was saying our prayers should be private. That does not exclude public prayer. In Matt 6:5 he cautions against people he calls hypocrites. They prayed in public, out on the street in front of the temple, so people would see their good works and glorify them. In fact they were not content for people on one street to see them, so they went to a corner to pray so people on two streets would see them.

We are not to do our good works for the praise of men. When you do that your reward is only the praise of men. You have not impressed God. Instead He stamps it “Hypocrite prayer”  or “hypocrite works”

When men see our light shine and then see our good works to prove we are the real thing, the result should be they do not praise you, but praise God. Glorify means to praise God. That is to give to God the praise for what one has seen.   

Mt 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

There is a lot in that verse. Unfortunately many today are very successful at the first two parts. They are good at letting their light shine before men. They also do lots of good works that men see. But they fail on the third step when they want the glory from men that should be given to God.

This verse is not a test. A score of 66% (2 correct out of 3) is not given. It is a pass fail test. The Pharisees failed this test although they got the first two parts right. They desired the praise of men for their show of great holiness. They prayed on street corners! God called them hypocrites.

Here is a very difficult standard to meet. The flesh craves recognition for good works, and our pride wants to hide our light from men who might think we are some kind of weird religious nut. To put this verse into practice requires us to think more like Christ.  Let this mind be in you...(Phlp 2:5)

An encouraging reminder for us is God wants obedience, willingness, and sincerity. He does not require success.    

Ga 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Mar 15 St Patrick

Mar 15

                 Orange on Saint Patrick’s Day??

Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a

glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle

Run for your lives, the Chicago River has turned bright green! Oh, never mind it isn’t some indication of a coming apocalypse. They dye it green every year for St Patrick ’s Day. Savannah, Georgia does the same as do other cities. It is all part of the fun of St Patrick’s Day. Bars serve green beer, people wear green, advertisers use green in commercials, and everyone is supposedly Irish for that one day. In the United States few people know or care that Saint Patrick’s Day is a Catholic Holiday. (Holy Day)

      So did St Patrick ever wear orange? Nay laddie, twould be an outrage! So why is green associated with the celebration of the day St Patrick died? The green of Catholic Ireland has been associated with the Roman Catholic Church and its members for hundreds of years. For much of that time Protestant England has tried to conquer Ireland, and only managed to gain control of Northern Ireland, a small part of the country.  Today Ireland is split into two countries. The Republic of Ireland (Catholic) and Northern Ireland (Protestant).

    One of the English Kings that invaded Ireland centuries ago was William of Orange. Thus those who opposed the Catholic Irish were named Orangemen. Those who supported the Catholic Republic of Ireland were Greenmen.  On St Patrick’s Day in Ireland Catholics wear green and Protestants wear orange. That custom has not been followed in the United States.

    At one time I had a nice bright orange long sleeved shirt that I would always wear on St. Patrick’s Day. When people asked me where my green was I would explain I was not a Catholic, but a Protestant. It gave me a great opportunity to discuss church and faith and serve as a point of witnessing.

     My orange shirt is long gone, but I still do not wear green on St Patrick’s Day. It still gives me a chance to respond to people who ask “Where is your green?”  by pointing out that I am not a Roman Catholic.

     Now what is the point in all this talk of green and orange? Simply this, that I am not a Roman Catholic and do not wish to wear green. It is a great blessing to live in a country where we have religious freedom. They have the freedom to believe what they want and I have the freedom to believe something else.

For instance I do not believe that another man has the ability to forgive my sins because the Bible says;

1Jo 1:7 …the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

    

I don’t pray to Mary or one of the saints because the Bible says;.

1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator

between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

    Further I do not need any church to interpret the Bible for me, I believe the Bible alone has the message of salvation, and I do not believe any traditions of any church are worthwhile enough to rise to the same level as the authority of the scriptures.

Joh 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

    There are many other things that the Bible teaches that I accept and believe. My beliefs are typical of Protestant beliefs.  Thus I am an Orangeman. I do not agree with some political groups that call themselves Orangemen but resort to violence and hatred.   I do align myself with the Protestant foundations of the Orangemen. Their beliefs are centered on Christ and the Bible as opposed to any specific church.

    Now if you ever see me wearing something Orange on St Patrick’s Day you will not need to ask me “Where is your Green” and hear me respond “I am not a Roman Catholic”

    Hopefully the spiritual truths of the Bible have not been lost in this Orange and Green discussion. Our starting verse should remind us that the church, that body of born again believers, will make up what is known as the Bride of Christ. We can all appreciate how fussy brides are when preparing for a marriage. May we all adopt the same attitude so the Bride of Christ, His true church, may be presented “not having spot, or wrinkle.”