Baptized for the Dead

At first glance corporate justification and transubstantiation do not have a lot in common. But as we look deeper into the arguments that propel these ideologies certain similarities appear in the methodologies used to support these concepts. Transubstantiation as held by the Roman Catholic church states that at the Eucharist, which is the regular taking of the emblems of bread and wine, these emblems become the real body and blood of Jesus Christ. Proponents of this view believe that mystically Christ is sacrificed again and transformed into the local bread and wine. As a result of this denominations, that believe this, typically do not allow ordinary parishioners to serve themselves, but rather a priest or member of the clergy must officiate. Proponents of transubstantiation arrive at their conclusion based upon the words of Christ in Matthew 26 and elsewhere in the gospels: And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take,...

Recently I have realized that I am so tremendously blessed. Certainly part of this blessing has been the material provision of the Lord, but I find that I am greatly rich in other ways as well. The bible says: Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. Psalm 127:3-5 We are expecting another arrow in our quiver this October and this time we're getting more rose than thorn. God is great! As David so poetically wrote "My cup runneth over!" While there are times when the well is low the spring of the Lord never runs dry. May God add blessings to your life and may you praise Him for His wonderful provisions!

Halloween is over and little children have generally stopped dressing up like supeheroes, princesses and ghosts. But despite the untimeliness we still need to put on masks. Not masks worn to frighten, but masks to cover our sins. At our core we are sinful people. We were conceived in iniquity into a world filled with iniquity and we need to put on a mask. Recently I was watching Conan O'brien's self-titled show "Conan" the day after it aired (I don't stay up that late anymore) and in a segment of the show Conan pulled out masks for himself and his sidekick Andy Richter. The masks were suppose to resemble Conan himself, but because the company that produced the masks did not have the right to produce masks named after Conan they were instead called "The Ex-talk Show Host" masks. Conan feigned anger that they could be so cruel to name the masks that way given his recent and public exit from being the host of the Tonight Show. But the truth is that is exact...

The terms sacred and secular are often used to describe two distinct areas of life. We may equate sacred as referring to things that are not for everyday use but are set aside for religious purposes. Secular than would mean the opposite and refer to anything that is used in the everyday course of life. Is this dichotomy helpful or even natural? Should this type of thinking be embraced or ignored? In the ancient biblical world God Himself declared that there are somethings that are Holy or set apart from other things. In Exodus 16:23 God said: ‘Tomorrow (the seventh day of the week) is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD." In Exodus 20:8-11 God explained that while the Israelites had six days to work the seventh day was a day of rest where no work of any kind would be done. Later in Exodus 31:13 God would say "Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. ...

Pressure produces heat. When a material like air or water is condensed as the result of pressure heat is created because the space between particles is reduced causing more collisions between the particles and the subsequent release of energy from the collisions. This may sound like a science textbook but the reality is that we as human beings find ourselves under pressure quite often. There are external forces in our lives that seem to weigh down on us and create heat that tends to destabilize the integrity of the support systems in our lives. The question is are we merely subject to external forces or can we repel these forces to keep them from reshaping our lives? The bible tells us that there are many times that our " soul melts from heaviness." Psalm 119:28a We are after all physical beings with limitations. And yet are we really limited by our natural state of being? It often feels that way, but the bible tells us that there is a way to buttress ourselves under the impe...

We all come to Jesus at first because we want to be saved. After all after a while most of us like the prodigal son realize that the grass wasn't greener on the other side and that God's way really is the best way. The funny thing of course is that as much as God loves you and me He has a lot of other people that He cares about as well. This puts God in an awkward position. You see in order to be able save the universe from imploding, and by that I mean every selfish person sucking the life out of everything else, He has to restore His job approval rating. He says that people really shouldn't be sucking the life out of things for themselves, but giving life to others, but there is some doubt as to whether or not that's the best way to do things. After all if we give to others whose going to give to us. God says not to worry about that. He says that in His way everything we need will be taken care of by Him and others. The problem is the devil argues that's just not ...

When I was in school I was told that if I worked hard and gave the right answers than I would get good grades and then people would pat me on the head and tell that me that I was bright. Okay nobody ever said that last part would come true. I guess that's just what I hoped would come true. Regardless each one of us believes that if we do something we should get something whether it's prestige, payment, power or all of the above. An there is truth and justice to this way of thinking. It's the way we're wired. The problem is however that we don't want to be paid for all the things we do, just some of them and this type of thinking is illogical. It's like telling your boss that you only want to be paid for half of the report you wrote on changing conditions in the marketplace. It's like telling the contractor that you only want to be paid for half of the dry wall that you put up. Sure your employers want to do it, but if there fair people they'll know that ...