The Ancient of Days

We have an election here in the United States tomorrow. We will be electing "the leader of the free world," or so they say. Honestly, we haven't been doing a lot of "leading" lately.

We sang a song in church yesterday that I thought was perfect for our pre-election blues. Here's the first verse:

Though the nations rage, kingdoms rise and fall

There is still one King reigning over all

So I will not fear for this truth remains:

That my God is, the Ancient of Days

"Though the nations rage." Aren't we living that right now? And kingdoms definitely rise and fall. It has been sad to see our country failing these last few years.

But there is one thing we need to remember. God rules over ALL. Whoever wins tomorrow. God is still king.

If things don't go the way we'd like in our election tomorrow, we need to remember that they are going God's way. And we need to be fine with that.

"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." - Romans 13:1

The Ancient of Days is God, The Father. Let us respect and honor His judgements and decrees. No matter who wins.

Ancient of Days - CityAlight

The Rebel In Me

What is it with us humans? Half of us want to do whatever the government tells us to do while the other half want to do just the opposite. How to tell what is right and what is wrong?

One thing that always gripes my cookies is when someone tells me what I can and cannot do.  We live in America - the land of the free for goodness sakes! We are free to make our own choices and, as long as they don't infringe on anyone else's rights, we should be free to make them.

This whole stay at home thing for example. Our governor here in Wisconsin has now decided that we all need to stay "safer at home" until the end of May. That's ridiculous. I understand where he's coming from. He wants to "keep everyone safe." But what about our sanity?

The biggest topic of discussion I have heard talked about during the past several years has been mental health. Heard anyone talking about that lately? No. The news is all corona virus - 24/7. What happened to mental health? Locking someone up in their homes for two months with no income and zero social interaction is mentally depleting.

I'll go out on a limb at predict that there will be an a huge spike in domestic abuse, suicide, depression, alcoholism, and any other "ism" you can think of during this month and next. Why? Because were all cooped up in our homes. We're slowly going crazy! So much for mental health.

Do you remember this Bible verse?

"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" - Mark 12:17

Jesus spoke those words. We, as followers of Christ, are to obey our government's laws EXCEPT when they conflict with God's laws. For example, abortion. It is a lawful thing to do in our country. We are to obey that law. Yet God says "do not murder." It's one of the ten commandments. So what do we do? God wins out. Therefore I personally will oppose abortion so should any Christian. Those who perform abortions will answer to God one day. So will those who support it.

What about the stay at home executive order? I think that we should obey the governor's wishes as much as possible. I also feel that "his wishes" are very close to violating our constitution and Bill of Rights. The Constitution say "we have been endowed by certain unalienable rights." By whom? OUR CREATOR! I therefore have decided to stay inside . . . except when I feel the need to go out and exercise my rights. Freedom of assembly. Freedom of worship.

We should be smart but we should also be wary. There are too many politicians lurking around with agendas of their own. Many are not interested in what God thinks, only in what THEY think. And that's where the rebel in me says, "Enough!"

Be smart! Think! But do what is right in God's eyes. We are His. He is our King. Read that verse again. "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." We belong to God!

Look, I will stay inside. But if there is a church service somewhere, where everyone is worshiping within the social distancing guidelines set up by Caesar, I am going! No matter what Caesar says.

Come, Now Is The Time To Worship - Phillips, Craig and Dean

War

I was at work when I first heard the news. Someone said the television was on in the conference room so I went to have a look. Oh my goodness.

The second plane hadn't hit yet. Everyone was thinking it was just a terrible accident that we were witnessing. Then the second plane came into view and it hit the second tower.

Okay, what is going on? It slowly began to sink in that this was intentional. And after that, all of our lives changed. We never looked at ANYTHING the same after the events of that day.

I was not a Christian back then. That would happen five years down the road. But 9/11 was the beginning of the realization that we were living in a world that was at war. A spiritual war. And we had just been attacked.

It doesn't matter where we were. It doesn't matter who the people were who attacked us. What matters is we ARE at war. Whether we want this war or not is irrelevant. We have it. The question is, how will we respond?

First, we must respond with prayer. Praying for the innocent victims of that horrible day, pray for the fire responders who, even today, are losing their lives from the carcinogens they inhaled that day. But pray also for our enemies. Jesus commanded us to do that in Matthew 5:44b. But most of all realize that we are now at war against an unseen enemy. We must stand tall in God's army. We will prevail. But only if we follow the orders handed down by our King. That we must stand and that we must love one another.

"10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." - Ephesians 6:10-17

As I type this I hear thunder in the distance. That tells me a storm is coming. The events of 9/11 were the thunder of a coming storm in this country. How will we prepare?

Budweiser 9/11 Ad

Palms

There were thousands of Palm Sunday messages offered at churches around the globe yesterday. Each one probably spoke about Jesus and His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Our church's pastor even spoke about the significance of the palm tree in Greek culture and the "victory" they proclaimed. This morning, I thought of one more "Palm Sunday" connection that most likely didn't get made.

If you Google the words "Jesus" and "Palm" in a search for images you will see picture after picture of Jesus, most likely riding on a donkey, surrounded by lots of people waving palm branches. The search results are expected.

Now add one word to that search. Search Google for images using the words "Jesus" and "Palm" only add the word "Nails." You will get an entirely different result. That's because there are two meanings to the word palm. Yes, a palm is a tree. But it is also the inside of a human hand. It is where Jesus was nailed to the cross.

Our pastor told us on Palm Sunday that palm branches were used to sweep the temple after the Maccabean revolt which ended in 160 BC. I just thought it was interesting that palms were used to clean a dirty temple and Jesus' palms were used to clean OUR dirty temple - our souls.

This Friday we will celebrate Good Friday. It could easily have been called Palm Friday in my opinion. Either way, it is a time to reflect on the cleaning of our hearts by recalling what Jesus did for us on that cross.

"26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
    From the house of the Lord we bless you.
27 The Lord is God,
    and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
    up to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
    you are my God, and I will exalt you." - Psalms 118:26-28