THE KICKOFF! SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

This time of year, Easter, we get mail from various local churches about joining them for their Easter service. I've noticed a common thread in each invitation. One church sent out an invitation to "Come 'Chick' Us Out." Another encouraged my attendance for an Easter egg hunt. Then there was one church that wanted me to attend so I could "experience" something. There was going to be an "experience" for the youth and an "experience" for the adults but exactly what that was to be was left unspecified. 

One suspects that whatever the experiences were to be, they were part of something wider, a common denominator--"Come to our church because it's fun!" 

No matter the occasion, a current theme is that when you attend, you'll have fun. This is evident in the recent spate of churches on what's become a national holiday--Super Bowl Sunday. The Super Bowl Sunday "services" by many a megachurch are advertised as over- the-top -fun. A prime example was the now infamous service which opened with a man and a woman facing each other while a referee in full garb presided over a coin toss on the platform to see who would receive and who would kick off. 

And what was the kicking team to use for a football?  A Bible. Yes. One member of the team puts a Bible or a facsimile of a Bible (it makes no difference) upright on the platform -- he kneels as he hold the Bible upright, in place and the kicker approaches it and kicks the Scriptures as hard and as far as she (the pastor) could, to the delight of the fun-loving crowd.

Now this wasn't some devilish place masquerading as a church. It was what people today would call and refer to a a church, the big one on the street with thousands of attendees every Sunday..

It gets worse. As the music plays, a man dressed as a referee swings back and forth riding on a wrecking ball before the cheering crowd. (What that had to do with anything connected to football, your guess is as good as mine.) 

The time the staff must have spent on the pyrotechnics, orchestration, equipment, rehearsals, and money on all of this would be beyond our imaginations. "Money" meaning people's offerings to support such a monstrosity as that church put on.

You can see this descent into madness or, better yet, into blasphemy by going to https://www.youtube.com/shorts/l3nAzUh_3wI. 

Keep a discerning eye out for the invitations you receive this Easter or any other time from various churches and note what's missing more often than not--are they inviting you to attend a service featuring expositional teaching of the Word of God? Does the invitation say anything about preaching? A good guess would be, "No."

IS THERE BIBLICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR THE FEEDING, HOUSING, ETC. OF ILLEGAL ALIENS?

 The recent inundation of illegal aliens (euphemistically called "newcomers") has riven, rocked, and.raged the nation. There are those however, who say there's a text in the Bible that commands the housing, clothing, feeding, and seeing to the needs of the newcomers, after all, they say, that's what Christ wants us to do.

In a recent television panel discussion on the matter, a pious pundit pointed to the words of Jesus when He said, "Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; ³⁶ naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ³⁸ And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

As an aside, it's always amazing how people will often quote those verses as absolute truth, yet, the same pious pundit will furiously disagree with Jesus' words in John 14:6 as authoritative. Nor during a TV panel discussion will John 3:16 ever cross their lips.

But I digress. What they are doing is defining "one of the least of these brothers of Mine" as anyone who is hungry, distressed, needy. Hence, the illegal alien fits their definition of "the least of these, brothers of Mine." 

Going farther, a prominent Christian pastor, author, activist, and speaker believes that one’s eternal destiny hinges on performing works of love and mercy toward others. In addition, the Roman Catholic Church, which influences a billion Catholics, sees Matt 25:31–46 in this same way

But hold on. We can state that the cardinal rule of interpretation in one word: context, context, context. The context of Matthew 25:24-40 answers the questions of to whom does Christ refer as being "brothers of Mine" and what is the context of verses 34-40 ?

CONTEXT: THE TIME 

Matthew 25:31-46 describes a future judgment beginning with: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.” So Jesus is talking about His 2nd Coming and a judgment at that time to ascertain who will inherit in His Kingdom.

CONTEXT: WHO IS CHRIST JUDGING? 

That's easy: “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.” The word for nations can also be translated Gentiles and is used that way in hundreds of biblical texts. These would be gentiles who survive the Great Tribulation since Jesus 2nd Advent occurs at the end of the Great Tribulation. 

Following this gathering before the King, Gentiles are separated into two groups for judgment. The first assemblage (the sheep) is gathered to the right of Jesus, the place of honor. To members of this group He proclaims: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

CONTEXT: WHO ARE THE LEAST OF THESE MY BRETHREN?

This question brings us the the crux of the matter. Are "the least of these my brethren" anyone who is  hungry, distressed, and needy?" Both groups to be judged at this assessment are Gentiles divided into the sheep and the goats. In fact, since these two groups—the sheep and the goats—represent all of the Gentile Tribulation survivors, so the demonstrative pronoun “these” must consist of Jews. Since Jesus refers to them as His brethren, it would make sense that they are His brethren in a physical sense.

CONTEXT: THE HELP THE JEWS WILL NEED

During the last half of the Tribulation, Satan will empower the antichrist to “make war” against Jewish believers in Christ and to overcome them. He will issue the command for his army to hunt them down to arrest or kill them.

In order for Jewish followers of Christ to survive, they will need to flee immediately upon the occurrence of the abomination of desolation; they will not be afforded the time to grab anything to take with them—no possessions, money, extra clothing, etc.; nor will they be able to buy or sell anything since they will not receive the mark of the beast.

As a result, these Jewish believers in Christ will need others to meet their basic needs throughout the Great Tribulation. These necessities are addressed in Matt 25:35–36 in which Jesus declares His brethren will be hungry, thirsty, strangers, and in need of clothing. In addition, some will require medical attention, while others, captured by troops sent out by Satan’s world ruler, will need people to attend to their necessities in prison. They will be in desperate need of help.

Therefore, Christ's words have no application to those millions breaking into our country illegally and no believer or unbeliever is under any obligation to give aid or comfort to criminals. The answer to the title of this blog is, NO!"

 

 

 

 

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