Ohhhhh, am I an unhappy camper! Boys and girls, have you realized yet that we have been HAD by the "powers that be" this year? Take a good look at your calendar - especially April 20th. Note the little notation under the date, that says "PASSOVER"?
Now, go check your Bible and see when Jesus was crucified. Never mind was it a Wednesday or a Friday, what was the HOLIDAY He was crucified on the eve of?
Ummm... ohhhh, hey, it was PASSOVER!! So... what on earth did we just pay homage to, the creation of a new era in commercialism? It certainly wasn't anything to do with Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ -
...but how many churches walked right in and went along with whatever was printed on the calendar anyway? WHERE's the big uproar that should have attended the change - or was everybody too busy buying Easter lilies to realize we were a month early all the way down the line? I don't care if 'they' SAY it's necessary because we are on the Gregorian calendar and the Jews aren't. I don't care if it only happens once every 28 to 30 years or so. That's not the point at issue here. The point at issue is
WE, THE BODY OF CHRIST, HAVE JUST DIVORCED THE LORD JESUS FROM HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE AND COMMITTED ADULTERY WITH THE FALSE 'FERTILITY GODDESS' ASTARTE IN HIS NAME!!!
- and I for one refuse to do it! I will celebrate my Lord's death and resurrection in conjunction with PASSOVER on APRIL 20th, regardless of who else chooses to celebrate it according to dates set by man... and let God be my judge. But remember, dear hearts:
"God is not dead, nor is He mocked; for whatsoever a man reaps, that shall he also sow."
Spiritual adultery is no small matter in the eyes of God - and as Lorraine Ezell has pointed out in an article posted at www.mastersbusiness.org/ChristianPerspectiveofEaster.html, you can't have Jesus and the Easter bunny at the same time. Take your pick - but remember which One died for you!
C'mon, now, people, let's WAKE UP HERE! Talk about "My people are destroyed through lack of knowledge"! No, it's more like, "My people are destroyed through going through the motions without paying attention to what they're doing!" Haven't you noticed that the Spirit wasn't with you in your Easter preparations this year? Haven't you noticed that the still, small Voice of God within you was trying to tell you something was wrong, you needed to look more closely?
Dear ones (and I admit I was falling for it hook line and sinker myself too, until somebody pointed out to me that Passover was April 20th, and I noticed that Good Friday somehow fell on the Feast of Purim this year, which it has never done before in my born-again Christian walk), BEWARE! If we can be led astray so easily on something of this vast importance, on how many other issues are we being spoon-fed misinformation? Do not let down your guard even for a minute.
Evidently some rabbinic scholars are saying this change of dates for the celebration of 'Easter' was made so there would be no ties to our Judaic roots. What's next, cutting Christ away from the cross entirely? - or cutting CHRISTIANS out of the picture entirely? Don't be surprized if it's the latter. Are you ready to die for what you believe in - or do you even know what you believe in any more?
...and if you DO, how come you weren't right up front telling the world about the switcharoo that's being perpetrated on us? - and if I do, why didn't I catch it earlier myself? *Sigh*. Forgive us, Lord, for we have sinned. Mightily.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Doris Howie
LINKS TO THINK UPON:
GUEST EDITORIAL
by Chris Anderson of First Love Ministry
When Your Back is to the Wall
Simple Encouragements for Faith under Fire
March 17, 2008
No matter how proficient we may get at hearing from God, we never reach an end of the testing of our faith in this life. Faith continues through cycles of pruning where at times all may appear "lost" before the Lord shows up in a new way to save us over some serious life-impacting issue. Passing through one such issue recently, the Lord crystallized four simple points to hang my faith on. These points are good for anyone at any level of faith and maturity in the Lord. I pass them on for anyone dealing with a serious faith-testing situation right now.
1. Commit to Trust in the Lord
This first point may seem obvious, but often is hidden in plain sight because of the magnitude of what we may be facing. We must know and remember that the "issue" over which our faith is being tried is never the ultimate issue. The ultimate issue is the Lord Himself and our relationship to Him. Our faith is ultimately not "for something" but "in Him." "Faith" over an issue must begin with "Trust" in a Person.
Serious issues of faith come with powerful natural fears and hopes attached. We must not allow our awareness of the "issue" with its hopes and fears to interpose between us and our awareness of "Him," no matter how big the "something" may be over which we are approaching the Lord. Faith over an issue can only stand when built from a platform of explicit Trust. Therefore preserving Trust in the Lord is the foundational battle that must be won at all costs before faith can succeed regarding an issue. The Lord wants to know that we are more committed to Him than we are to our issue. Faith not built on trust yields an exercise in idolatry and even witchcraft.
2. Cultivate Thanksgiving Amid Testing
This too is a familiar theme. The problem though is we don’t really understand why we should do this. We are always told to "give thanks" in tough times, but without any other reason than that "we should" or "it’s the right thing to do." That’s not good enough. My purpose here is to briefly explain the purpose and power of thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving acts as a seal on the heart to enforce trust (above) and to mitigate the power of the awareness of the faith issue at hand. When faith is tested over an issue, the attached fears and hopes can magnify themselves out of all proportion to reality and destroy our basic platform of Trust on which our faith must stand. Thanksgiving is a psychological protector of Trust and an armament against fear and misplaced human hope. It is a powerful weapon in the battle to preserve Trust.
Not only this, but thanksgiving generates the spiritual objectivity that establishes peace in our souls and creates the "internal climate" necessary for real faith to flourish. Faith must get past fear before it can become fruitful. Thanksgiving helps make this possible. It is not just a dutiful exercise to "anesthetize" us to the difficulty of the issue at hand.
3. Commit to LISTENING before ACTING
The natural fear attached to serious faith issues impels us to take actions in reaction to the fear itself, before we have actually proven our peace in God and ascertained His mind in a matter. When serious matters arise, fear always forces an urgency on us designed to provoke us to premature actions. The problem here is that faith only "comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." We cannot act in Faith over an issue if there is no word from God to hear, believe and respond to. This means we must reject the urgent impulse to act in the face of an issue, committing rather to WAIT until we’ve heard something from God in the stillness of the Spirit that gives clear-minded direction for action, if any.
Fear is very demanding, barking threat-laced commands at us: "You MUST see a doctor, NOW, or she’ll die...You MUST apply for that government benefit, NOW, or you’ll be on the street tomorrow... You MUST go do so-and-so, NOW, or the authorities will come...!" To make it worse, these commands often come through the voices of well-meaning relatives and even church people who do not really understand faith. Nevertheless, such voices must be resisted (as courteously as possible). We must "tune out" internal and external reasoned demands, gaining precious time to hear from God before we commit to any action. Again, without hearing a word from the Spirit, we have no basis to act in faith.
None of this is to legislate what the Spirit can and can’t say. Some faith "cults" try to mandate certain courses of action as always being “of faith” or “of unbelief” (Ex: "If you have true faith you will never go to a doctor.") Nonsense. Once all is quiet, the Spirit may indeed give a word that actually aligns with what at first may come as unbelieving counsel. Don’t get fooled by this. The issue is not "What is a ‘faith course’ of action here?" but "Have you heard from the Lord in quietness? What does HE say to do, or not do?" Whatever we hear, that’s what we must do. That is what is of faith. Anything else is unbelief (even if it has the appearance of "faith".)
"But what if no word comes before an action must be taken?" Sometimes, intense circumstances devolve on us forcing us into involuntarily points of decision and action before we have gained adequate space to hear from the Lord about an issue. If this happens, it is because the Lord believes we already have the capacity of faith necessary (i.e., His Word is already sufficiently in us) to exercise decisions on His behalf in a matter. It means He trusts us, and His purpose for the forced circumstance is to prove His trust in us, not our trust in Him. This means, once decisions or actions under forced duress are taken like this, they are accounted to us as faith and there is to be NO regret for them.
4. Commit to "Live Free or Die"
This phrase borrowed from the state motto of New Hampshire yields an important point of faith. Faith is about freedom; fear is about slavery. In the end, it is better to die if necessary for the cause of true freedom through faith in Christ than to succumb to the security-slavery of human systems and ways in order to save our own skin in this world. You must be persuaded of this. This means, if the faith word from the Lord ultimately convicts you to go contrary to what is humanly self-protective ("Do not see a doctor. I am Your Physician"..."Do not go to the bank. I am Your Provider") you must be prepared to "die" for your faith, no matter what manifests or doesn’t manifest in response to your faith.
In the end of every faith encounter, you must be prepared for the Lord to come through or not come through for you as He sees fit to meet you, regardless of the Word He gave you to believe on, how you understand it and what you are expecting from it. Why? Because in faith, the bottom line is not the expected result from the word of faith,” but trust in Him. Trust is not only where faith starts, but also where it ends.
When living by faith, we must always have a bottom line of trust beyond our own expectations. That line is found in the words of Esther, “And if I perish, I perish.” It is found in the words of Daniel’s friends, “Our God is able to deliver us, O king; but if not, we will not serve your gods.”
**********
In the course of perfecting sonship in the image of Christ, the testing of our faith is designed to advance our freedom in Christ outside the systems of this world in preparation for rulership with Him in His kingdom. We must so desire and cherish this freedom that we are willing to die for it should God “fail” us than to give in any more to the ways of this world with its promises of healing, provision, security and deliverance.
Be persuaded then of the ultimate prize before us in the exercise of our faith over life-impacting issues. Realize that the serious testing of faith is about more than immediate issue. It’s about your kingdom destiny to come.
In that light, let these pointers help anchor you no matter what you may be facing today. Don’t give up. Don’t let go--of Him. And you will make it.
Chris Anderson
First Love Ministry
www.firstloveministry.com
ONE LAST THOUGHT:
Be blessed, dear hearts. Enjoy the Feast of Purim!
Richest blessings, one and all!
(Mrs.) Doris E. Howie <><
Editor, OHzone E-CLIPS
Webmaster, OHzone
