Thu 7/10/2008, 2:36 PM – Yesterday I broke the glass pitcher that was used to make tea. In a second, it shattered into hundreds of pieces. Some small, some large, some so tiny you could barely see them. As I cleaned up the mess, I wanted to get all the pieces so it would not cut anyone later, including myself. Those small slivers seem to cut the least, hurt the most and bleed all over the place.
A few days later my grandson, Julien, said, “Maw-maw, what did you break?” and gave me a lot of missed pieces. They were scattered all over. He could have hurt himself.
Now, days have passed and we are still finding sharp silvers here or there. The glass shattered into rooms throughout our whole house. When my grandson gave me those pieces I started to cry. At that moment God showed me my heart and how He was finding pieces that had been shattered by others in places I could not see.
Broken Hearts Break Hearts
I am currently doing a Bible study with Beth Moore, A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place, and through God’s Word, I am finding pieces I did not know were there. When the Holy Spirit is invited to search my heart, O God, I can tell you His Word does not return void.
Shavar means broken to burst into pieces, wreck crush, smash, to rend tear into pieces like a wild beast [Isaiah 61:1: He sent me to bind up the broken hearted…]
Chavas means to bind on, wrap around bind up like a wound, bandage, cover, envelope, enclose.
Jesus was so kind when He said He had to leave so that He may send a comforter, teacher and counselor. His word never returns void. As the pitcher broke in seconds, I have seen my heart. Ouch! The shattered heart also has the capability to hurts others. That was eye-opening.
As others and myself find hidden pieces, I see God revealing hidden parts of the broken heart, and in His mercy, He is binding and healing me.
AS I READ HIS WORD I KNOW HE REALLY HAS COME TO BIND THE BROKEN HEART AND SET THE CAPTIVE FREE.
Now, as I have had to look at the effects of others stumbling across some of the broken pieces from my broken glass heart, and being cut through a sliver, I have asked God to heal the wounds I may have caused. And I have asked for forgiveness.
GOD IS GOOD AND FAITHFUL ALL THE TIME!
DDR
Hello. My name is DeeDee Russel. I am a believer and love the Lord very much. Delivered from so many things and have realized He who is forgiven much loves much. I desire to help others from the pit to the palace in Jesus’ mighty love.
A story: Once upon a time at a family reunion, a husband and wife were in the kitchen preparing the meal. In this case, dinner was pot roast. The wife cut off both ends of the pot roast before she placed it in the pan. The husband saw this and he said, “Honey, why did you cut off the ends of the pot roast?”
The wife says, “Well, I don’t know. “That’s how my mom taught me.” So they called Mom over and they said, “Mom, why is it you cut off the ends from the pot roast?” Mom said, “Well, that’s how my mom taught me.”
So they call over Grandma. “Grandma, why do you cut off the ends of the pot roast?”
“Well, that’s how my mom taught me.”
Finally, they call over Great-Grandma. “Great-Grandma, why do you cut off the ends of your pot roast?”
Great-Grandma looked at them all for a second and said, “Well, I don’t know why you turkeys are doing it, but my pan was too small.”
The moral of the story: Some of the things we do, we don’t know why we do them, nor do we know the traditions that brought them to us.
It may be this way with Halloween in your home.
But should Christians really be celebrating Halloween?
Well, Halloween—you know, it used to be one of my favorite holidays.
There was Christmas, and then there was Halloween.
Back in my 20’s (my lost years), my roommate and I would completely deck out the house we were renting. As you walked into the house, you’d be hit with strobe lights, and—in order to even get in the house—you had to navigate a maze of black plastic walls. Then the big reveal: all of the light bulbs would be changed to red. There was monster mash music (or rave music.) There’d be lots of drinking. We would decorate the whole house in skulls and demonic imagery, spiders, bats, cobwebs and bloody corpse pieces all over the place. (Not real corpse pieces obviously; the plastic or rubber kind.)
A truly morbid scene.
We would do this every Halloween. There was one Halloween where I even dressed up as Satan himself. I wore myself a suit, put on white contacts, pasted horns to my head and I slicked back my hair. That was my costume that year.
Suffice it to say I was out of touch with the Lord during that season, for sure.
Years later, after starting a family of my own, that was the thing to do. Once the kids got to a certain age, we’d dress them up just as cute as could be and we’d walk them down the street. We would send them to strangers’ front doors to hold out their little buckets or bags and say, “Trick-or-treat,” in their cute little voices. Then they’d run back and they show you what was in the bag and you’d go to the next house.
As a matter of fact, it went on this way in our home for years, even after I came to Christ.
But slowly over time, I began to get convicted on the whole topic of Halloween.
Eventually, I started to boycott Halloween. I just said, “You know what? Spiritual reasons; I’m not going to do this anymore.” But I hadn’t really done the research. I wasn’t strong enough in my opinion to say, “No family, we shouldn’t be doing this.” In those moments, I was being relativistic, saying, “Well, it’s not right for me, but if you really want to do it, and if you want to take the kids…”
You see, I didn’t want to steal Halloween from my wife and I wasn’t rooted enough in truth to point the way back to it. So, I just weakly subscribed to the truth and I let them do Halloween for a couple more years.
After some time, my oldest daughter was reading a John Ramirez book, “Armed and Dangerous.” In that book, he talks briefly about Halloween. Now, if you know who John Ramirez is, you know he is an ex-Satanist who now is on mission for the kingdom; so he knows more than most about how the other side operates.
When my daughter brought his material to me and pointed it out, that’s when we had a family talk. My wife wasn’t there at this one, but I sat the kids down and I said, “Listen, this has been on my heart for a while. You know daddy hasn’t been participating in Halloween. Your sister brought this to me. I want to take your temperature. Are you okay with coming out of Halloween? Because that’s what I would want for this family. It’s not spiritually healthy.” The kids were okay with it. The older two were pretty much grown out of it by then anyways; they were early teens. The younger two were like, “Oh, okay. Well, if everybody else is out, we can be out too.”
But we still had to bring mama along, so we ended up pulling together a presentation for her, slides and all. We practiced that presentation and when we pitched it to her…well, I’ll tell you how she responded at the end of this article.
Let’s get into what does Halloween really look like? Should Christians be celebrating Halloween? Many Christians celebrate holidays without actually knowing their origins. For sure, there are at least a couple major holidays that Christians participate in that had pagan origins (think Christmas and Easter), but Halloween’s a little bit different.
You can’t dive into the origins of Halloween without tripping across the Druids.
Several hundred years before Christ, places like England, Scotland, Ireland and France were populated by a people group called Celts. The high priests of the Celts were called Druids. These lands and people were eventually conquered by the Romans. As a result, much of the Celtic history we have comes from either Roman or Greek writings, however we have some Irish documents as well. Greek and Roman writings about the Druids tend to focus more on the human sacrifice element. The Irish writing tends to leave that part out largely, but talks more about the magic and the sorcery that the Druids were able to command. It gives them credit with being able to command the storms and cast spells over people.
November 1st was the Celtic new year, which made October 31st the very end of the year. The last day of the year was celebrated by these Druids with human sacrifice and a festival given to honor and worship not only their sun god, but their lord of the dead, Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”.) They believed the sinful souls of the deceased were in torment until Samhain was satisfied with the living’s sacrifices. Then and only then, could these restless souls be released from their torment. More on this when we talk about trick-or-treat.
By 47 AD, Rome had fully conquered the Druids in England and outlawed their human sacrifices. Well, that drove many Druids underground. We know too, that there are Druids still today. People claim Druid lineage and they are still having sacrifices. In fact, to this day, Stonehenge—a major site of Druid worship—continues to host Druid ceremonies.
Irish records talk about how these Catholic monks grew in their fascination with these powerful Druids and over a very short amount of time, these Druids became prominent figures within these monasteries. It was Pope Gregory the Great who decided to incorporate the Druid holiday into the church. He made the proclamation: “They are no longer to sacrifice the beasts to the devil, but they may kill them for food to the praise of God and give thanks to the giver of all gifts for His bounty.” It was Pope Gregory III who thought it was a good idea to move this church festival from the October 31st to November 1st, calling it All-Hallows or All Saints Day. Finally, it was Pope Gregory IV who made the church observance universal. The term All-Hallows’ Eve is where we get the term Halloween.
Now the founding fathers of America realized this was a very pagan holiday so when they came over to North America, they refused this holiday. Halloween wasn’t a big event in the United States until around the 1900’s. In the 1840’s, there was a horrible potato famine and many Catholic Irish came over to escape the famine, bringing Halloween with them.
Let’s talk about a couple customs from Halloween.
Halloween Ritual: Trick-or-Treat
Today, there’s a modern custom we in America recognize well, where you go from door-to-door and say, “Trick or treat!” as an invitation to give a treat or try to play a trick. This custom of going door-to-door and asking strangers for candy and food or treats came from the Druids.
On October 31st, the last night of the year, the Celtic people thought (as they were taught by the Druids) that the lost and condemned souls would wander the earth, waiting for Samhain to pass final judgment over them. These roaming spirits were thought to collect around the houses of the living and so these feasts and banquets would be conducted in order to appease them. Through the threats and conditioning of the Druids, the townspeople believed these spirits were evil spirits that would do them harm unless Samhain put a stop to it or unless Samhain was pleased with their sacrifices.
In the 1970’s and ’80’s, there was a rash of “accidents” where several children were hurt or killed eating Halloween candy. Candy was found with razor blades in it, or needles, or poison. Today, people think these were just stories as it’s been a couple of decades since, but we have the testimonies of ex-Satan worshippers who’ve come forward to say, “Nope, this is actually a real thing. There are curses being spoken over the candy. When there’s a child that dies from some sort of poisoning of the candy, that’s considered to be a sacrifice offered up to Satan.” Satanists across the world, still to this day, conduct sacrifices—and sometimes those sacrifices are human.
Halloween Ritual: Bobbing for Apples
A second tradition that has pagan roots is bobbing for apples. The Romans worshipped a goddess of the harvest, Pomona, and it’s said the bobbing for apples and the handing out of nuts (I don’t think I’ve never received nuts for Halloween) were both games played to acknowledge Pomona’s bounty.
Next, we’re going to talk about some of the popular symbols of Halloween.
Halloween Symbol #1: Skeletons and Ghosts
Now, because the Celt’s belief that the veil between the living and the dead was the thinnest on October 31st, we see a lot of death imagery in Halloween. We see skulls, and skeletons, and ghosts. This is also why we see so much of this imagery in Day of the Dead celebrations. We also see graveyards, and haunted houses, and other things that speak of the other world, the ether and human mortality.
Yet in Leviticus 19:31, the Lord warns us not to be communing with the dead. And frankly, we were never made for death; death happened through the Fall. Until that point, there was no death, no disease, no decay.
So why are we celebrating death again?
Halloween Symbol #2: Bats
Now, there’s nothing wrong with these creatures. They’re innocent little flying rodents. However, their involvement in Halloween comes from the large sacrificial fires the Druids would set. As the insects would be drawn by the light, the bats would be drawn to the light as well. This is why we have bats as part of our current Halloween imagery.
Halloween Symbol #3: Witches and Warlocks
In the Middle Ages, all across Europe, witchcraft was associated with devil worship and evil. During the witch hunts all across Europe and America in America’s early years, thousands of women were killed—most of them probably innocently—by the fear of witchcraft.
We know that there’s two sources of spiritual power in this world: God and Satan; that’s it. So, if you’re Christian and your hanging little witches on your doors, or you’re dressing up as a witch for Halloween, or—let’s mention Harry Potter here: If you and your family are feasting on Harry Potter books and movies, you’re actually feeding on stuff the Bible says is not life-producing. God says, no—it’s absolute rebellion. You have to wonder, why are you feeding on it? It’s unholy. It’s rebellion, and it should die in your home, if you claim Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Halloween Symbol #4: Jack o’ Lanterns
Believe it or not, the original Jack o’ Lantern wasn’t a pumpkin; it was a turnip. According to Irish folklore, some poor soul named Jack made a bad deal with the devil and was cursed to spend the rest of eternity wandering between heaven and hell on earth. He was given a glowing ember to light his way. So Jack carved out a lantern from a turnip and put the ember in that. That’s how he became known as Jack of the Lantern or—for short—Jack o’ Lantern.
On All-Hallows’ Eve, folks in Ireland and Scotland—in order to ward off evil spirits and Stingy Jack—would carve evil or dark snarling faces into their turnips, light little candles in them and place them outside in order to scare away any evil spirits that were threatening them. Well, when there was this European exodus over to the United States, these folks came and they discovered that pumpkins make even better Jack o’ Lanterns.
It’s the Jack o’ Lantern or the pumpkin that gives us the orange color that we have around Halloween. We have the orange of the pumpkin and then we have black to represent the darkness or evil [or whatever gloom you want to insert in here.]
Halloween Symbol #5: Spiders
Spiders have this seemingly-supernatural ability to create beautiful webs, and that’s earned them a place in folklore all around the planet. That, plus their need to feed on other things–it kind of repulses us, right? There’s a dissociation we experience when it comes to spiders due, frankly, to the way in which they kill their prey.
Often, if things have been left abandoned for a long time, they’re overrun with spiderwebs and cobwebs, whereby they become a symbol of decay, aging, and things that have been long left neglected.
Halloween Symbol #6: Black Cats
The connection between black cats and evil and witchcraft goes way back. In medieval Europe, there was a common fear that the devil could turn himself into a black cat. In fact, during the witch hunt era, oftentimes black cats were found with the witches. Since these cats are well concealed in darkness, they were often considered to be familiars to the witches—demon aids that helped with the witches’ spells.
Of course, we know that the color black is commonly associated with mystery, or death, or evil. These saintly creatures were often maligned with the bad reputation of being evil.
Common Argument: If we Christianize Halloween, that makes it okay, right?
There may be some folks who are disagreeing with this whole lesson on Halloween. They’re saying, “You know Matthew, it’s okay: We let our little Timmy or Janie dress up as Noah or Mary. That makes Halloween okay, right?”
Well, no.
Even if you’re dressing your little children up as angels, you’re still participating in this holiday. As I’ve pointed out, the roots of this holiday are not good. You have to determine whether or not you’re willing to do what’s right before God’s eyes, or what’s right before the world’s eyes.
Near the end of our time with Halloween, my family–in one of its last throes–went to a local church to see what trunk or treat was all about. Well, first off it wasn’t in the parking lot. It was in the basement of the church (United Methodist, I believe.) This church had no discernment at all. For this event, they invited in local community vendors. These vendors had booths and decorated them with little Styrofoam gravestones and black tinsel and orange paper pumpkins–the works. Then the vendors themselves dressed in costume, mostly sorcerers and witches. They handed out their business cards with the candy. So the kids went back and forth between vendors who were using the event as a marketing opportunity.
There were witches, and ghouls, and monsters, and people dressed up as zombies, all through the basement of this church.
Unholy.
Participation is Approval
If you’re dressing up, if you’re handing out candy, if you’re participating in the Halloween school play, if you’re doing the trunk or treats—you’re participating in the holiday. You can’t stand on the side of a parade and not be considered part of the parade; you are part of the event.
Remember that reference I made to John Ramirez earlier in this talk? Well, in his book, he talks about how the late church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey was quoted saying, “I love the fact that Christian parents allow their children to worship the devil one night a year.”
Satanists and witches consider Halloween a high holy day. It is a day dedicated to death, evil, changed identities and darkness. Animal and human sacrifices, sexual abuse, beatings, etc. that are founded on worshiping gods/goddesses (fallen angels and demons) increase during this holiday. There are more than a few testimonies by ex-witches confirming that Halloween candy, trick-or-treaters, churches and neighborhoods can have curses leveled at them.
This is a reality; a spiritual reality.
Yeah, we’re totally done celebrating Halloween. When we made our pitch to my wife? She was nonchalant about the whole thing. She was like, “Why’d you go through all this work? We can be done.”
That’s how that turned out. We’ve been avoiding this holiday ever since.
Alternatives to Halloween
So, we’re done with Halloween. What do you do if you’re not going to participate in Halloween? As a family, we have two plans for any given Halloween:
We turn off all the upstairs lights, get some movies and popcorn and go down into our basement, or
We go to another family’s house—another family who isn’t celebrating Halloween either—and we hang out with them.
We’re Done with Halloween
Okay, in closing, yes, there are other holidays that have pagan origins, but Halloween has nothing redeeming about it; Halloween started evil and it is still evil today.
What you have to decide is what are you going to feed on? What are you going to feed your family on? Are you going to feed them on unrighteousness, unholiness? Or you’re going to feed them righteousness and holiness? Are you going to feed them life or are you going to feed them death? Are you going to feed them on violence or are you going to feed them on peace? In all that we do, we are to give glory to God. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may know God’s good and perfect will.”
Okay, that’s it for this lesson. I hope you found this informational and helpful. I hope there’s conviction for sure. I hope that you join my family outside the boundaries of Halloween in a complete rejection and ban of this wicked holiday.
As I get older and older, the passage of time becomes more obvious and my awareness of time more relevant. To the young person, time is something that is in much abundance and to guard or protect it is not so important. Solomon spent a great deal of Ecclesiastes considering the dynamics of time and its effect on his pursuit of a meaningful life. Gleaning Biblical principles helps the believer to become a good manager of the time afforded him by God which makes life on earth purposeful.
No regrets
A few years ago a nurse working in palliative care found herself having profound conversations with her patients. The result was a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. From what the dying wished they had done differently, the living could learn precious lessons about the changes they should make in their own lives — before it’s too late. They express the need to value time more wisely.
Here are the five regrets.
“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself.”
“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”
“I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”
“I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”
“I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
Moses addresses time in relation to man’s days (lifetime) in Psalm 90:10-12, “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of Your anger and Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us (make us to know) to number our days (appreciate the passage of time), that we may present to You a heart of wisdom (carry wisdom into the heart).” To number our days is to recognize the passage of time in order to make each day matter the most. If each day is a gift from God, then it has great value and God wishes us to treat it that way. This is wisdom of the heart.
Seasons of life
In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon introduces a discussion of time when he says, “There is an appointed [opportune] time for everything [actions & events]. And there is a time [as a duration] for every event [activity – what one desires] under heaven”. The essence of this verse is that God has given time as a gift to be managed in order to discern its greatest meaning and find His will in the midst of its details. It also brings up the idea of seasons of life when conditions or events govern different periods of life: “A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance”. The summary of the passage is found in verse 11, where God has made everything beautiful or appropriate in its time. The highest quality of life is found when man seeks God’s purpose for each day.
Solomon also discusses time in Ecclesiastes 7:8, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning; patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.” It seems patience really is a virtue; learning how to wait gives fullness of life! And then there is Ecclesiastes 8:5-6, “He who keeps a royal command experiences no trouble [harm], for a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure. For there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a man’s trouble [misery] is heavy upon him”. The king’s command (ie. government regulation) is worth heeding, resulting in temporal benefits (no harm). Everything has a time and procedure or method and the circumstances surrounding the event do not govern it. In Ecclesiastes 7:14, God has made both the day of prosperity and adversity “so that man will not discover anything that will be after him”. Walking by faith usually means not knowing where I’m going. Current circumstances of life are not an indication of the future.
The effects of aging
It used to be that the elders in our society were generally recognized with respect and treated with dignity for their wisdom and experience. I believe that for the most part, our society no longer acknowledges our elderly as ones to be honored, but more like ones to be tolerated. Solomon addresses this subject in Ecclesiastes 12:5: “Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road [elderly fears]; the almond tree blossoms [white hair], the grasshopper drags himself along [physical disabilities], and the caperberry is ineffective [diminished appetites]. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street”. The progression of aging, the effect of time in man, creates all kinds of infirmities, both physical and psychological. In a society that values the aging ones, these conditions are to be accepted and not discarded as those with little value. In fact, God speaks about the elderly in this way in Psalm 92:13-14, “They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green”. In God’s eyes, man can be fruitful right up until the end; life has great value in its totality.
Redeeming the time
The Apostle Paul expresses the same principle that time is something that should be managed wisely. In Ephesians 5:15-16, he says, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil”. To redeem the time has the idea not only of to purchase, but also to set free. When the believer recognizes the need to value his time and acts on that need, he is set free from the evil influences of the world. Jesus addresses this principle at the end of His Sermon on the Mount when He said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it”. The narrow gate is the pathway governed by the Holy Spirit and the perfect will of God. The choices we make to live while being led by God determine the quality of the time we have been given.
Robert Frost, the famous American poet wrote a notable poem dealing with the choices we make in the directions of our lives when he wrote “The Road Not Taken”. Although not a Christian according to his writings, this poem communicates a Biblical principle:
The believer’s walk with God is not defined by the exact steps of other believers gone before us. Rather, it is finding the unique pathway prepared before us by God, so it is a road less traveled. Although we recognize the Biblical foundations of our lives as provided by the apostles and prophets and learn to follow God by watching others, it is up to us, as led by the Holy Spirit, to find the particular steps He has prepared beforehand in which we are intended to walk. To identify that path is not so simple and usually requires much experience, but in the end, those choices will make all the difference.
The Great I Am
Just like Jesus was crucified between two thieves, the present is also being stolen from the believer by the past and the future. Too many are driven either by the failures of the past or the unknowns of the future and this robs them of the joy in the relationship God has intended. You see, He told Moses in Exodus 3 that His name is “I Am that I Am” and that means He is the God of the present moment and therefore every moment. Jesus acknowledged that His name is also “I Am” when he told the Jewish leadership that, “before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8:58). Ultimately, God meets each of us in the present moment; learning to “cease striving and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) is our place of rest. Jesus taught His disciples to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” and “do not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:33-34), meaning His presence is in the present moment.
The Jewish authorities got wind of this and they seem to understand the teaching well enough…
One subject-matter expert Reuters dug up put it this way…
Yes, and since the Jewish Messiah has come already, the Jewish observance of the Torah should be devalued—by the Jewish people themselves.
Likely the Pope was teaching out of Galatians 3, where Paul—a devout Jewish Pharisee in his own right—very clearly teaches that the purpose of the Law was to bring conviction of sin.
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
After a couple weeks, the Vatican responded! And—by the headline—it looked promising!
The article summarizes the offending event for anyone joining the fray midstream and quickly gets to the Vatican’s response:
What?! How could the truth of the Jewish Messiah not have any bearing on today’s Jews? And then, there is this momentary glimmer of hope when the Vatican affirms, “the abiding Christian conviction is that Jesus Christ is the new way of salvation.” Yes! Right! But then the Vatican goes limp again, affirming that somehow the Torah remains a “’way of salvation for the Jews’”. This lie does violence to our Jewish brothers and sisters still under the Law.
But the Vatican Jewish public relations office takes it a step further…
Here the Vatican tries to distance themselves from the controversy by distancing themselves from teachings of Paul and indeed, from the entire canon of the New Testament. This is ecumenical relativism at its finest! This is saying well, “This belief is right for us, but your belief is right for you; Jesus is truth for us, but the Law can be truth for you.” This is spineless. This is wrong. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life for all humanity. No man comes to the Father but through Him. There is no other way.
Even more, this phrase “within the historical context of a given era” is a weak attempt by the Vatican to try and further insulate itself from offending Jewish sensibilities by pointing at the passage of time as one of the factors they consider relevant. If the truth of the Gospel decayed over time, we could have written off the entire Bible by now; after all, it’s been 2,000 years!
More from Galatians 3:
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture [as in, the Torah, the Law] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
So you see, family, there is no life under the Law; Pope Francis was right. Romans 7:6 says, “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” The Law was a shadow; it taught the conviction of sin and pointed to the future reality of grace under the Jewish Messiah. We know from the 70-week prophecy in the book of Daniel that the Messiah had to come before the destruction of the second temple. Modern-day Jews who continue to cling to the Law simply remain in its shadow, just as they did 2,000 years ago. This is not a “teaching of contempt” but a “call to the light”.
The Vatican missed a worldwide opportunity to point out the truth of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, to our Jewish brothers and sisters. As followers of Christ, let us never shrink back from sharing the truth of the Gospel, but let us always do it with compassion and love.
In Malachi 1, the Lord declares “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated…” Wait, what? How can God hate Esau if God is love? And why would He love Jacob? Wasn’t Jacob deeply flawed?
The answer is two-fold.
First, on a personal level, God—being outside of time—knows the life decisions each one of us will make of our own free will. He saw the lives of Jacob and Esau before the foundation of the world and knew the directions they would choose. He knew Jacob’s heart would be His, just as He knew Esau would remain a carnal man.
Our choices are completely of our own free will. Otherwise, we would be predestined robots, manipulated into error or salvation by God as He controls our lives and outcomes. Yes, there are times when God intervenes, but we have the tendency of sticking God with everything that happens to us. We seem to forget we 1) live in a fallen world, 2) we have a spiritual enemy who hates us and seeks to steal, kill and destroy, 3) we make bad choices and 4) we can be affected by others’ bad choices.
So, God didn’t force Jacob into spiritual communion with Him, no more than He forced Esau to remain base. God knew in advance the courses they would take, so maybe His affections were based upon that foreknowledge?
During their reunion, Esau tries to reject Jacob’s bribes by saying, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.” (Genesis 33:9, 36:1-43) It appears God had prospered Esau personally!
Well, maybe the problem is with how we understand the word “hate”. We find another confusing use of “hate” in Luke 14:26 where Jesus says if we don’t hate our mother, brother, father, sister, spouse, children—even our own lives—we can’t be His disciples. If we don’t understand the meaning of “hate” in this instance means “love less”, we can come up with all sorts of error. Yes, God is love and yes, He so loved the world He sent His only Son while we were yet sinners.
Did God hate Esau personally? I don’t think so. This brings us to the second part of the answer.
If we carefully read Malachi 1 and Romans 9, we see these references are national in nature. Sprinkled across the Old Testament, we see Jacob and Esau’s descendants striving against each other. In the generations following their tenuous reunion, we find Esau’s bloodline (Edom) under Israelite rule (Israel, of course, being Jacob’s bloodline.) This inverted relationship where the older serves the younger was prophesied in Genesis 27:29. Edom grew rebellious and bitter, even helping Israel’s enemies at times. For instance, when the Edomites assisted in the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC (Psalms 137:7; Obadiah 1:11-14). Due to their wickedness and rebellion, God eventually curses Edom (Isaiah 34:5-8; Jeremiah 49:7-22; Obadiah 1:1-14).
This brings us full circle now back to Malachi 1, where God speaks directly to the effects of this curse against Edom: “…and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals. Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever. You will see this with your own eyes, and you yourselves will say, ‘The LORD is great—even beyond the borders of Israel.'”
So, you see, God’s approval or disapproval goes way beyond a single generation. God sees the fruit of our lives, generations from now. Though they too fell under God’s judgment due to their own wickedness, within Israel there was always a remnant who was loyal and faithful to God. Edom turned against their “brother” Israel and brought God’s curse upon themselves. When God made His covenant with Abraham, one of the terms He declared was, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” (Genesis 12:3)
And so, God has loved Jacob, but Esau He has hated.
“No one is perfect” – we all know and accept that. We have personal flaws that make us insecure.
Take, for example, heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or asexuality. With any of these, we misplace attraction toward the same or opposite sex. As such, we go through a gender crisis.
What does the Bible say about this?
According to 1 Timothy 1:10 (ESV), “homosexuality” is “contrary to sound doctrine.” With this, we find ourselves guilty before God.
Darling sins
Admit it or not, each one of us has guilty pleasures or what we call “secret sins.” It may be in the form of greed, lust, addiction, envy, or jealousy.
Too much love for food is an example. Unfortunately, it is against the biblical principle of temperance: “But I discipline my body and keep it under control” (1 Corinthians 9:27, ESV).
Also, lust is a mortal sin. It results in sexual urges that may lead to adultery and covetousness. These acts are a transgression of God’s law in Exodus 20.
Eventually, according to Romans 8:6 (ESV), when flesh governs the mind, it leads a person to death. However, when the Spirit dwells in him, there is life and peace.
Broken relationships
We, humans, are social beings. Because of this, relationships such as family and friends serve as our core. When any of these ties break, we end up in major trouble.
For instance, in a romantic breakup, the one at fault usually takes the guilt. But even the victim feels shameful knowing that he just failed a relationship.
Meanwhile, Colossians 3:18-25 (ESV) has counsel for family members. That is, they should love and obey each other.
Why?
“For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done.” And “there is no partiality.”
Seriously?
For someone coming from a broken family, that passage sounds like a dreadful consequence or punishment. Hence, he feels like he owes his life to God.
How Do They Affect Us?
We feel unworthy of forgiveness.
Because of guilt and shame for our sins, we feel unworthy of divine forgiveness. We think that there is no more hope. Worse, we believe that God is already done with us.
As a result, we doubt ourselves and our potential to change. Also, our self-esteem decreases. It makes it difficult for us to relate with other people.
Isolation serves as our escape.
Spiritual guilt and shame make us think that God won’t accept us anymore. Also, we feel like the world is against us. It’s as if no one cares about us.
As such, we detach ourselves from things and people. By doing so, we get a sense of escape from the problem.
Depression and anxiety haunt us.
When we spend time alone, depression and anxiety are difficult to resist. It’s because, during this state, everything in our minds is negative.
Even the happiest memories can’t make us feel better. The burden is so heavy that the mental state is at a bottomless pit.
With this, we develop a fear of the future and life at large. Even more, we get anxious about heaven or hell.
We suffer from a mental disorder.
Depression and anxiety result in a mood swing. That is, we go through sudden changes of emotion.
Also, we are likely to develop trauma. The pain and memory of the past bother us because we can’t easily erase them. As a result, it’s not easy to accept the current situation.
Worse, it affects our personality and behavior. For instance, we become paranoid about the things and people around us.
He tends to punish himself.
According to Ezekiel 18:20 (ESV), “the soul who sins shall die.”
Isn’t it frightening?
With this, guilty as we are, we think that life is not worth living anymore. After all, we will die. So why not end life once and for all?
How Can We Escape From Them?
Acknowledge sin.
Acceptance is the first step towards change. That is, we must acknowledge that we have done wrong to God or a person.
By doing so, we let go of our past and start anew.
Come to God and confess everything.
“Come to me, all who labor and are [heavily] laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, ESV). What a comforting assurance from God, isn’t it?
So, let’s take the opportunity to confess it all upon Him.
“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13, ESV).
More than a friend, God is always willing to listen. He is ready to forgive a repentant sinner.
Ask for the Holy Spirit.
After confessing our sin, let’s ask for the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38 (ESV) states, “Repent…for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit convicts us whenever we encounter temptation. As such, we can overcome sin.
Turn away from sin.
In our human efforts, we can never win over sin. Only through the power of God can we stand victorious.
For this, Romans 12:2 (ESV) reminds us not to conform to the ways of this world. Instead, let God transform and renew our minds.
Abide in Christ.
Spiritual change is not only for a day or two. Instead, it is a lifestyle of developing a mature relationship with Him.
With this, John 15:4 (ESV) tells us, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.”
So, let us remain connected with God.
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Heroes 2 is a Bible trivia game released by the Hope Channel. It is a sequel to the game, Heroes, which was released in 2013. The latest game version is on its new 3D animation, comes with unique features, and has more challenging Bible questions in four languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French. The game is available on both iOS and Android.
