Musings with PWC

I grew up hearing various interpretations of “anti-Christ.”  These definitions ranged from a special person, a specific denomination or church—someone or some organization that would rise up and deceive the religious world—after the true church had vanished.  While there may or may not be some credence in some or all of that, John in his epistles is the only biblical writer who actually uses the term anti-Christ. John’s definition. ἀντίχριστος,—Literally means, an opponent of the true Christ—John uses it: 1John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2John 7 This is the spirit of Anti-Christ. 1.  People who say that Jesus was not truly human—that is, Jesus didn’t have a human body.  His body was an illusion.  (This is the ancient heresy of Docetism) 2.  People who say and preach that Jesus was not truly divine. (This is the ancient heresy of Arianism) The other day I heard a radio talk show host state the following.  “I believe in Jesus—but I don’t...

How have we missed this in such a large way? This whole thing about leadership and serving.  At the passover meal—the last one which Jesus ever participated in—Jesus just explained that one of the twelve would betray him.  The response of the disciples was two fold. First, they tried pointing fingers.  They wanted to know who the dirty cop was. Second, they deteriorated into an argument about who is the greatest. What the second argument had to do with the first I’m not sure.  But here is Jesus’ response: “But among you, those who are the greatest should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Normally the master sits at the table and is served by his servants. But not here! For I am your servant.” (Luke 22:26, 27 NLT) Jesus sets the great example for the disciples and for us.  Leaders, masters, those in charge serve the servants at meal time.   Two examples come to mind.  Two ‘famous’ evangelis...

The book of Hebrews is a written thesis with this theme:  the superiority of Christ over Levitical Old Covenant priest/system  Hebrews 7:7 “7 And without question, the person who has the power to bless is always greater than the person who is blessed.” (NLT) This is how I read this: 1.  I need to look for someone better, older, wiser, more powerful—to bless me. 2.  I need to be prepared to bless those under me—releasing blessing into them. It is a family illustration:   the grandfather-father-son scenario— or a grandmother-mother-daughter scenario. Everyone of us is one of the above —at the least—or perhaps two. This requires us to think in terms of being a family and not a lone eagle. We need to purposefully and intentionally develop two kinds of relationships. One is primarily (though not exclusively) a receiving relationship.  The other is primarily (though not exclusively) a giving relationship. We should...

I’d be the first to say—I don’t like pain.  My mother prided herself in saying she had a high pain tolerance—not me!  If I’m in pain, I need CTV news contacted—to get Canada praying for my hang-nail.  Pain to me, is not helpful—it serves no particular purpose—even if I am told differently. Imagine my distaste and unbelief at this statement: Hebrews 2:10 “10 And it was only right that God--who made everything and for whom everything was made--should bring his many children into glory. Through the suffering of Jesus, God made him a perfect leader, one fit to bring them into their salvation.” (NLT) Hebrews 2:10 “10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (NKJV) Yikes! Note the correlation between pain and leadership.  Jesus was made “perfect through suffering.”  More specifically he was made the...

 If hell is—as I noted on a previous blog—-the absence of God and anything related to God—what is heaven? Well heaven is a manifestation of all, or every thing, that is God or God-like. There is a term that theologians use called ‘common grace.’  Simply put, common grace is the grace released by God to everyone, all the time.  ‘Special grace’ is the grace that is revealed through God in His incarnate act of birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.  So, back to ‘common grace.’   This is the God-ness (goodness) that is revealed in all creation, all acts and actions of humanity.  Baxter Kruger in his book The Great Dance explains it in the following illustration. Kruger was watching a documentary about the rescue of a stranded whale.  He noted the passion and earnestness of the people involved—“the depth of their burden and commitment, their determination.”  As he watched and listened, he saw God.  Who cares the most about cr...