Angels figure very, very prominently in the NT. People don’t really know this, or they overlook angels in the created order. At the other end of the scale, some are so preoccupied with angels they nearly fall into angel worship.
With Christmas coming up, we will be singing about angels. “Angels We Have Heard on High,” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” and “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” come to mind.
Once you start studying angels, you realize how frequently they are mentioned in the New Testament. And as for the nativity story, they figure prominently, making many appearances!
There’s the myriad of angels who appeared to the shepherds on the field at night of Jesus birth. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, then to Zacharias. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. An angel later appeared to Joseph in a dream another time, and warned him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt.
I’ll be taking a look into angels over the next few days:
What do RC Sproul and John MacArthur have to say about angels?
When times are good and nothing bad is happening to us at present, we can take anything, any philosophy or biblical doctrine, and in our leisure time we discuss it and mull over every minute detail. Just check Twitter, or ‘X’. This kind of discussion is OK in the case of biblical doctrine. The Lord gives us time to examine the details. That’s good to go deep.
But when tragedy comes, we don’t have time for close examination and hyper-detailed discussions over tiny threads of doctrine. We can’t pay attention, our emotions are roiling and we’re consumed with the emergency or the tragedy or the issue in our life.
Take the Titanic sinking. If I was in the water and someone threw me a life ring, I would not stop to discuss whether it was made of fiberglass or polyurethane or cotton. I wouldn’t have a discussion in the water with the next survivor over the fact that the ring is round and rather should be square. I would simply grab it and cling to it.
When tragedy comes, I run to the Bible. I don’t study it. I don’t mull over the lexicon and the different word definitions. I don’t read the parallel verses. I don’t study the overview of the writer and his audience and the message’s purpose.
I just read it.
How does just reading the Bible help when tragedy strikes? The Bible is a supernatural book. It is from Heaven. It is not just words on the page. It is a heavenly sent Spirit-breathed and God-inspired book. One definition of the Doctrine of Inspiration states of the Bible: “It is God superintending human authors, so that using their own individual personalities, experiences, thought processes and vocabularies they composed and recorded without error His revelation in the original copies of scripture.“
Thus, the words of God pierce the soul sometimes in ways we cannot articulate, but nonetheless speak truth to us. Here is a beautiful example of that.
Some years ago I was teaching the first and second grades on Wednesday nights. I had a good-sized group of 6 and 7 year olds. Mostly boys. Active boys, lol. It never failed to impress me and the other leader ladies in the room how the children stilled to hear the Bible lesson. Anyway, as we got ready this particular night to start the lesson, one thing the kids had to do was open their Bibles and turn to the page of text from which the curriculum was to be taught. Because their fine motor skills were immature, they had a hard time with this. It took a few minutes to get all 12 kids opened to the right page and their finger on the right verse. Some kids got there faster than others.
I had one second grade boy who had turned to the verse very quickly and was able to read well. It was from Psalm 100:1-5
“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”
This boy re-read the first line by himself, in a quiet voice. I was watching him and listening. “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands…” He stopped. He played with his shoelace and was quiet for a minute. Then he whispered aloud to no one,
“I like that. I don’t know why I like that. But I like it.”
THIS is why reading the Bible on days of national tragedy or personal stress can help us. Mark 10:15 says, “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.“
This boy allowed the Spirit to apply truth and beauty to his heart. He let the Holy inspired words wash over him and rest there, with no ability to articulate why it had blessed him, but he understood it was a blessing and he acknowledged it!
Romans 14:17 says that “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
To me this means not a joy we manufacture or feel on our own, but the joy in Him that the Spirit brings forth to us through His word. I don’t see supernatural things in the world today like the ancient peoples did, of rivers drying up or Red Sea parting or a plague of frogs raining down, but I do see the supernatural. This boy accepting with joy and peace the truth of the Spirit-inspired word to his heart and soul was a visible supernatural event of the Spirit’s work of comfort.
In the trying times, race to the Bible. The Spirit wants to comfort you. Let Him. Read it as if it is the Titanic’s life ring surrounding your body, buoying you up over the cold waters that swamp you. Because, it IS.
I watched this happy video of a puppy waiting for his boy to return home from school. I’d planned to put it on my other blog as a happy little pick-me-up. But it’s almost impossible for me to see anything and not make a spiritual application, lol. So here it is. First, the happy puppy:
Awww!! So cute! Here is the question I ask us all, myself included. Are we a puppy? Do we show obvious and generous and committed love to people? Do we rush to pick up their burdens? Are we excited to see them? To the point of eagerly waiting?
Do we patiently wait for the Lord’s Day then joyfully bound into church with expectation of ‘seeing’ the Master? Are we excited for hymn singing and fellowship among the brethren?
Just sayin’
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)
“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42).
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
“For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;” (Romans 1:11)
We hear a lot about the big moves of the Holy Spirit. We see Youtube clips of young millennials falling to the floor, or standing with arms upstretched in front of smoke filled stages, pulsing lights, glitter, laughing and sobbing. Afterward they smile tiredly, saying “The Holy Spirit really moved!” Or, “The Holy Spirit really showed up!”
As an aside, I dislike that phrase, ‘The Holy Spirit showed up.’ It’s crass. It’s akin to attending a funeral and saying to the bereaved, “So your wife croaked, eh?’ The Holy Spirit doesn’t ‘show up.’ He isn’t hailing a taxi running late, throwing a scarf around his neck while jumping out of the cab and huffing into the church. The Spirit doesn’t ‘show up’. The Holy Spirit governs the universe.
To the main point regarding big moves of the Spirit. Successive years of successive generations of younger church-goers have twisted Hebrews 11:1’s statement of what faith is:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Into –
Now faith is the substance of things we’ve come to tangibly possess, the evidence of things seen and experienced.
There are some, and these are generally the most uneducated, who expect to experience remarkable dreams or to behold singular visions. Others we have met with, who suppose that in order to being saved they must feel some very peculiar physical sensation. Now you must not look for this. You must not put physical contortions or sensations as a test before the Lord, and say you will not believe in Him otherwise.
You seek what is quite unnecessary. What do you want a sign for? You want, you say, a token of God’s love. What token of God’s love to you can ever be wanted, now that He has given His only-begotten Son, first to live on earth, and then to die in pains extreme, the just for the unjust, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”! I blush for you, that you should ask any token of God’s love while Jesus Christ is before you…
I must tell you what is more, you are acting the part of an idolater. What does an idolater do? He says, “I cannot believe in an unseen God; I must have a golden calf or an image, that I can see with my eyes and touch with my hand.” You say just the same. You cannot believe God’s naked word, you demand something you can feel, something you can see. Sheer idolatry.
And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign... (Luke 11:29-30)
You might feel an overwhelming sense of joy, or peace, or well-being, or love for Jesus at times. These emotional times can occur when prayer is answered, providence is seen, worship is genuine, or Bible reading has deepened your view of the Savior. Strong emotion is good and appropriate. But to rely on such moments as proof of the Spirit’s presence casts a vain hope upon the shores of the Rock which stands above all. Your sure faith is in Him and His word that reveals Him.
Depending on signs is seeking a golden calf of experience over faith.
If you’re looking for a move of the Spirit, a miracle, sign, or wonder, there are many that we can name which exalt Jesus. Unsaved men are helpless and unable to come to God unless the Spirit draws them. (John 6:44). He saves by grace. Any new believer is a miracle, because they cannot save themselves. Sanctification is a miracle of God, because only by the Spirit can we resist sin and grow in His likeness. Providence is a miracle of God because He sustains the universe by the power of His word every minute, and He ordains every event that happens to all 8 billion people on earth at every second.
Stop looking for glitter dust falling from the ceiling, for personal prophecies, and visible signs when we already have the redemptive, sanctifying, providential work of the Lord occurring all over the world every second.
For all those true believers who love the Lord, the promise is a wonderful promise. … I think it’s time in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to give honor to the Holy Spirit, to worship Him, to love Him, to ascribe to Him the glory that He is due and to stop the nonsense that brings dishonor on His holy name.
The Halloween season is over (and a huge praise the Lord from all teachers!) and now we are looking at the blessed time of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I see the usual debates on when to decorate for Christmas (before Thanksgiving or after?), ham or turkey for the Thanksgiving dinner? Nativity sets should or should not contain Wise Men?
I found a sweet and simple nativity myself, made of popsicle sticks. But the manger scene is just adorable. Joseph even holds a teeny tiny staff! I plan to put it in my classroom.
Hopefully this holiday season is a time we can step back, let twitter wars and Facebook resentments go, embrace those around us with love and enjoy the time of year.
Yet, sin still stalks the world and sad and weird news still happens. There’s cuteness and joy too. To that end, here are a few items for your perusal-
Mayor F.L. ‘Bubba’ Copeland, who was also pastor of First Baptist Church, was outed as a transgender women who had posted photos of himself in racy underwear, his wife’s clothing, authored transgender erotica as well as posting trans porn, killed himself two days after he was outed. “What I do in private life has nothing to do with what I do in my holy life” he had said. No. This is an error. There is no separation between the private and public man. Try to, and it’s spiritual shipwreck! Sadly, he killed himself 😦 he leaves a wife and three children.
We truly don’t know the secret sins some people hide. Yet, the Bible says,
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death. (James 1:14-15).
God’s will is inscrutable sometimes. We know His revealed will for all humans, as we read His word. He has revealed Himself there. He has revealed himself in general to all humans through His creation. But His personal will for each of his children, we do not know from day to day how He will sovereignly care for us. Just that He will and He does, even through the most traumatic of events. If a tragedy occurs in our life we often ask, “Why, WHY, Lord?” and we cannot see the ‘good’ in it. But all that God does is good.
This is an anecdote from the early adult life of Elisabeth Elliot, who was not married to Jim Elliot at the time, but was working on mission in Ecuador before she was even engaged to him.
On a Friday evening on September 22, 2023, thousands of conference-goers were settling into their seats at the G3 Conference, ready and eager to view the premiere of The Essential Church documentary. G3 stands for ‘Gospel-Grace-Glory’ and the conference was founded by Atlanta-area pastor Josh Buice of Pray’s Mill Baptist Church.
Suddenly a person came on stage to announce there had been a bomb threat, and everyone must evacuate the cavernous building, the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC). Similar warnings were being issued in the adjacent vendor area. It’s a massive venue and it took a few moments for people to process the information and then act by moving toward exit doors.
Then dozens and hundreds of Law Enforcement and other first responders continuously checked and cleared the massive building for the few hours. Meanwhile, many of the attendees who were lodging at the next door hotel, congregated in the lobby.
A threat caller wants to disrupt normal activities by creating anxiety and panic. Well, the threat did disrupt activities, but it did not create fear or panic. The attendees simply streamed out of the GICC, went their separate ways, and prayed. Those who were lodging in the next-door hotel gathered in the Library and…sang.
They sang Great is Thy Faithfulness and the sound reverberated in the marble lobby and into the hearts and memories of many who were there. It moved those who viewed the recording later, too. Great IS thy faithfulness, Lord!
The conference continued the next morning with only 1 minor adjustment to the schedule and concluded later that day as scheduled without incident.
The perp was arrested that very evening in the parking lot of the Conference Center, according to reports, Timothy Mixon, a 33-year old, was arrested and removed from the scene.
“Bomb threats create significant operational and psychological impacts.” FMI source
So what happened AFTER? I’ve been tracking the court case. The case in Clayton County Magistrate Court was filed the next morning, with a ‘Warrantless Arrest Affidavit Against MIXON, TIMOTHY MATTHEW.’ The charge was “False Public Alarm.”
A judge was assigned and Mixon’s first appearance was 09/24/2023 via ZOOM. Mixon’s bond was set $5000.00 with special conditions, and an application for indigent counsel was filed.
The next month, on October 24, there was a preliminary hearing via ZOOM. The next day a waiver of hearing was filed, with a case disposal.
The disposition of the case as of October 25, 2023 was that the case was “Bound Over to St. CT., Waver – Cnt 1 Warrantless.”
I’m not a lawyer but I believe this translates to being bound over from Magistrate Court to State Court.
According to Michael M. Hawkins, a Criminal Defense Attorney in Atlanta, GA, speaking not about this case but answering a question as to what “bound over” means,
“Bound over simply means the case is being sent forward in the court system to be prosecuted. A bind over can be from a municipal court to a state court, or from a magistrate court to a state court where there is a probable cause hearing. It is a normal step a case takes in the criminal justice system. The next step will be arraignment, where [defendant] will be advised of the charges pending against her, and will be given the opportunity to enter a plea of guilty (where [defendant] will go to sentencing), or not guilty (where [defendant] will be scheduled for trial).“
The case does not appear yet on the State Court website, so no further information is available at this point. I will update when it is filed and the public can view it. Meanwhile, no motivation for Mixon’s act has been publicly presented as far as I can detect, but certainly the man needs prayer.
This weekend has been a sober one, not sad exactly, but I’ve had a troubled spirit and been in deep ponderings about children.
EPrata photo
Sometimes I get that way, maybe it’s the gift of discernment and the Spirit stirring my heart, or maybe it’s just normal observation of the things happening in the world, or maybe both. But it has been a furrowed brow weekend.
As you may know, I work with children. I teach children reading in small groups in levels from kindergarten to third grade, or age 5 to about 9. Because of my job, I’m aware and observant of anything that relates to children in the wider world.
On Friday, I wrote on Twitter,
“IMO you can detect how stable or unstable a society is by how they treat their children. In the US, our society is collapsing.“
My feeling of spiritual concern, my propelling drive to protect and love these children has increased of late. But I feel like the man on the starfish beach, seeing all the thousands of starfish washed up with no way to get to their safe haven of the ocean. The man came across a boy putting the starfish back into the water, one by one. The man scoffed, saying, “What are you doing? You can’t save them all! What you’re doing can’t possibly make a difference!” The boy looked at the starfish in his hand and calmly replied, “Yes, but I can make a difference to this one.”
I just have to keep remembering to be the boy, and make a difference to the ones in my sphere. Who I am able to help, I need to help.
Then in God’s providence, I came across John MacArthur’s latest sermon on Youtube. It was from October 29, 2023 and titled “Grace for the Children.“
MacArthur began the sermon by telling his congregation that the little booklet they received had a note in it about his new upcoming book, which is at the printer’s now and will be available in January: “The War on Children.” It is an apt title and crystallized things for me. Yes, it IS a war on children. I need to be a good soldier and remember that children are both targets in this war and collateral damage. They are helpless, vulnerable, and at-risk every moment. Most children.
“Just Say No” isn’t a motto for being against drugs anymore, it’s a motto for children against their parents’ authority. EPrata
Not like the old days when children were protected and cherished. Even in today’s good families, there is high risk. Just last week Robert Card of Lewiston Maine entered a bowling alley on a Family League night and shot people, one of whom was a 14 year old. The younger children who were present and survived still must deal with the trauma of being involved in such a horrific event.
Next, MacArthur said that he wants the church to renew their commitment to children.
“It was the process of going through that book and taking stock of what is happening to the children of our culture that I felt that we as a church needed to affirm our commitment to children. That is a stewardship, obviously, that God has given to us and we need to take it seriously. … What is happening to the children is horrific and it is disastrous temporally and eternally.” ~John MacArthur
EPrata photo
This was good for me to hear. I need to re-affirm my commitment to children.
Then MacArthur launched into the main body of the sermon. He doesn’t whitewash the truth. It is the truth and it needs to be said, whether it’s “good” or “bad”. There are no primrose paths for us to tread in this day and age. Evidenced by how this society is treating its children, it is obvious God has moved in judgment of us. What is the next generation going to be like, we wonder? MacArthur answered,
“Biblically? It’s going to be worse. Because the Bible says evil men grow worse and worse. It doesn’t get better, it gets worse. And that means the people who will make this culture worse are the children of this generation.”
Not the news I wanted to hear, but it’s news that is true and informs my conscience and my behavior. I had also earlier noted on Twitter that it has been getting harder and harder to impress upon children to be responsible for their behavioral choices, to own up to them.
I see a lot of bucking authority and ignoring authority in society today. As I’m out and about I see children ignore or refuse their parents’ directions. “Just Say No” isn’t a motto for being against drugs anymore, it’s a motto for children against their parents’ authority.
I watch Youtube videos of people getting arrested for drunk driving or shoplifting. The younger ones, in their late teens or early 20s who are caught, absolutely refuse the Law Enforcement Officer’s orders. They completely ignore or reject his authority. It’s startling to see this, having grown up in the 1960s where the cultural revolution was happening but people still by and large protested peacefully, or law and order was maintained because of a more widespread acceptance of parental and law enforcement authority.
EPrata photo
Then MacArthur spent time in Matthew 11 and exposited the meaning of several verses and parables involving children. He spent about half an hour in different verses. I couldn’t wrap my head around his point. I began wondering, since he is 84 1/2 years old after all, is he losing it? The sermon isn’t coalescing. Is there a point?
And YES of course, toward the end, there was a point that wraps the sermon up into a bow. He isn’t losing it. He came to a crescendo that pierced me. I have exactly seen what he started to talk about as he came to a close.
He said that when children are in their tender years, 5,6,7 they are very receptive to the things of God. They are eager and take them as normal and true. But after a certain point, which some call the Age of Accountability, they close down. They become hostile to the things of God. He said you will know when the child reaches that age,
“because accepting the Gospel is difficult. Submitting to the Law of God, a struggle to confront their sin, turn from their sin and submit their lives to Christ.”
I have seen kids age 5 or 6 burble about Jesus. The excitedly relate what they know and have interpreted. They speak of heaven and the cross. They say things like, “Jesus died on the cross for our sins and then came alive again and then he killed all the dinosaurs.” LOL. But they speak admiringly or positively about Jesus, especially during Thanksgiving time in November when you ask them what they are grateful for.
After about age 10, 11, 12…they don’t.
The point of his sermon is to be aware of this and during the years they are compliant and accepting, “Teach, teach, teach.”
“Because all that you teach them, all that input into their little minds will be available to them when they come to the point when the struggle begins. You want them filled up with the knowledge of scripture. You want them singing songs you heard today…because that truth in their heart is what mitigates against their fallen nature.”
In Literacy Education, we do something called “frontloading.”
Frontloading means punctuating the key learning points before an activity or experience takes place, rather than or in combination with, debriefing it afterwards.” (Source)
Frontload your children with hymns, scripture, God’s holy love, and be persistent in it. For me, working in a secular school, I can’t pointedly teach them about Jesus, but I can behave that way. I can live it. I can love, love, love in His name, and remember they are not the enemy. They are the enemy’s targets. I can counter the devil’s push with patience, love, and kindness acted out and expressed.
Here is the sermon. Please consider listening. My discernment radar is telling me things are getting very, very serious out there. I was not off track when I pondered these things on Friday and by Saturday night the Lord graciously led me to this sermon, where it is also obvious that JMac’s discernment radar is also going off.
When JMac’s book “The War on Children” is published in January, I want to buy it immediately.
I am a literacy educator in a lower elementary school. I am also a writer. I am an editor. And I have been a voracious reader since I read “Dick and Jane“.
I love words, everything about words. Words have great impact. Nothing will convince me otherwise.
I read an interesting list of points an author made about John Bunyan’s conversion. John Bunyan was the writer of Pilgrim’s Progress, a book many say is the most important book in English ever written, apart from the Bible. It is without doubt a literary masterpiece. It has stood the test of time since its publication in 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature in history. And the man who wrote it was raised as an atheist.
“John Bunyan had no family influences encouraging him to become a Christian. … In June 1644 when he was 16 his mother passed away and four weeks later his sister died. Eight weeks after his mother’s death his father remarried and in 8 months his wife gave birth to a boy whom his Royalist father named ‘Charles’. Four months earlier John had left home and had joined the Parliamentary Army fighting against King Charles. There was little affection between son and father. How then did John Bunyan become a Christian? There were ten factors which all played their part, great and small:”
One of these factors caught my attention-
Bunyan was stirred by the godly conversation of Christians. He would work in Bedford and eat his bread with some Christian women who tailored their conversation for his ears. They talked of their own sin, the new birth, and the love of Christ. Bunyan listened intently and later wrote, ‘They spoke as if joy was making them speak. They were to me as if they had found a new world,’ and he often sought them out and sat with them.
‘they tailored their conversation for his ears.’ How important it is, to speak of Jesus in truth for known hearers and unknown hearers! The women must have seen the Spirit working in Bunyan, and they made a choice to and selflessly not speak of the carnal or mundane or the personal, but of the joy of His grace!
They were living this:
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:6)
Gill’s Exposition says of the Colossians verse,
“let grace be the subject matter of your speech and conversation. When saints meet together they should converse with each other about the work of grace upon their souls, how it was begun, and how it has been carried on, and in what case it now is; they should talk of the great things and wonders of grace, which God has done for them, which would be both comfortable and edifying to them, and make for the glory of the grace of God”
Parents carry a pulpit with them. And from it, thousands of times a day, we preach a sermon to our kids. Whether the sermon is a good one or a bad one, we can be sure of this one thing.
Whether we are preachers exhorting in church, parents teaching our children, or two simple Puritan Christian ladies serving lunch to an obviously tortured soul in John Bunyan, we have the privilege and the responsibility to speak ‘as if joy was making us speak.’
What glory it brings the Lord when we intentionally speak of the riches of His grace. Hearers known and unknown to us, Christian and perishing, listen to us and our Spirit-carried words,
For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. (2 Corinthians 2:16)
For John Bunyan, the ladies’ words were the aroma of life to life (‘he often sought them out and sat with them‘). Therefore season your conversation with love, joy, and salt, and watch with admiration and joy where He carries your words. For we all have a pulpit.
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)
Catholic believers pray to Mary. They think that since Jesus can’t resist His mother, that if they pray to Mary, whop passes it to her son, their prayers get more oomph. In addition, they have been told that Mary’s conception was immaculate, and therefore she is without sin, and is co-redeemer with Jesus. It’s why they pray to her.
But praying to a saved sinner in heaven (which is what Mary is, a sinner just like the rest of us, and certainly not “Queen of Heaven”), isn’t something that only Catholics do. Protestants pray to departed relatives in heaven, too. It’s becoming more common to hear of non-Catholics praying to the dead in heaven.
We pray FOR others on earth, we do not pray TO others in heaven.
We’ve sadly seen the intrusion of Catholic practices into Protestantism. We saw Contemplative prayer sweep the denominations, Lectio Divina, labyrinth walking, books on prayers in ordinary time, and more. Now we see the beginning of praying to the departed friends or relatives in heaven, just like the Catholics pray to Mary.
Is this biblical? Let’s take a look.
In Hebrews 12:1, we read,
Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us,
If reading the verse at first pass, it looks like there is a balcony in heaven upon which sit the departed saints, viewing our movements and involved with us, at least emotionally and/or spiritually.
That is not what the verse means. The witnesses are the believers who lived before us and whose lives are recorded in the Bible for us to take example or encouragement from.
But folks who interpret the Hebrews verse the incorrect way, think that because the balcony is stuffed with watchers from above, and that since they are involved with us anyway, we can send up a prayer for them to pray for us to Jesus. Some people pray to the departed for them to give us aid or comfort, or whatever the person on earth is praying to them for. And, that they will hear those prayers and be able to do something about the need.
This activity is very close to the pagan practices of Ancestor Worship. Ancestor Worship is prevalent in Chinese religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Eastern Orthodox, and is practiced widely in varioius places in India, Africa, and Asia.
Nations Online defines Ancestor Worship as: “1. a religious practice based on the belief that deceased family members have a continued existence, 2. that the spirits of deceased ancestors will look after the family, 3. take an interest in the affairs of the world, 4. and possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living.“
Well, #1 is correct. The rest are false notions. Why?
The scripture says, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5).
ONE mediator, not parents or aunts or friends who have passed into glory. There is only one mediator.
Mediator means: “one who intervenes between two persons who are at variance, with a view to reconcile them.” (Easton’s Bible Dictionary).
Humans and God are at variance, meaning, we are at enmity against Him and we need reconciling due to our natural hatred of God, holy living, and worshiping rightly. God established the Gospel in order to mediate Jesus and humans and reconcile us to Him.
Romans 8:34 says “Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”
The verse doesn’t include others to whom we may appeal for prayer. The Bible is clear we may only pray to God. Hebrews 4:16 tells us we may approach His throne with boldness. When He has made a way to approach him confidently, through His Son’s blood, WHY would anyone want to swerve from the direct path He has given us, to go away from God on His throne and approach a human for intercession?
Approach His throne boldly, and ONLY His throne
It makes no sense. It is true we who are believers are all called ‘saints’, and it’s true we are in a royal ‘priesthood’, but we mustn’t allow those biblical terms to become unbiblical by adding more to the office than is warranted. Only Jesus is the true intercessor, operating in His priestly function.
Why dilute Jesus’ priestly role by adding to the list of people in heaven who ALSO can intercede? Is the person praying to people other than Jesus, in that case, on earth believing in or proclaiming “a different Gospel’?
Only Jesus does that can hear our prayers and act on them. Praying to anyone else than the Persons of the Trinity is inappropriate and wrong. The practice smacks of at best, a misunderstanding of Hebrews ‘cloud of witnesses,’ and at worst, a pagan practice the heathen perform.
Jesus is sufficient. He is our Priest and mediator.
In July 1861, Union Officer Sullivan Ballou wrote a letter to his wife, Sarah. He was facing the First Battle of Bull Run, and he knew he might never return. Below, please listen to the letter read on the PBS program “The Civil War.”
It is from a man who was a loving husband and father. It is from a courageous soldier committed to the cause of our representative government. It is from a man who thanked his God for his blessings. It is from an articulate, sensitive man. It is from a man looking death in the eye and doing his duty anyway. It is from a man unflinchingly committed to duty, honor, virtue, love, country, and God.
the-end-time.org 