Salvogesis

We know what is God’s holy mountain? It’s  Mount   Zion . It is the mountain where Solomon’s, Zerubabbel’s, and Herod’s temple’s were built. It is the mountain where the Dome on the Rock currently stands. It is the mountain where God spared the life of Isaac, as he was about to be offered up to the Lord as a sacrifice.  Zion , for many years, was where some people even thought that God himself lived. God says when the His kingdom is fully realized on earth here no one will hurt or destroy on His holy mountain. As God’s seat of power, when Jesus ultimately claims his throne, no one in authority will ever hurt anyone again. No more will politicians or their handlers exploit the rest. No more will governments wage war or the powerful take advantage of the poor. We are in a season of Advent now. Advent is about waiting. We remember waiting for the birth of our saviour millennia ago as we eagerly await his return now. And when He returns what a day that of rejoicing that ...

As with our youngest daughter’s birth -she was two weeks or more late - when the due date came and went we could have taken everything out of the baby bag we had prepared for that day and put it away. If we did, it wouldn’t stop the baby from coming. We just wouldn’t be prepared for her arrival and even if I was looking for everything that we had unpacked and I couldn't find what I need in time, the baby would still come at the pre-appointed time, I just may have missed out on the blessings of that moment. Baby was coming soon whether we were ready or not. Advent is about being prepared and waiting. Jesus is coming back. In our life; are we ready for him? Are our spiritual bags still packed? Or have we in the weeks, months and years since we gave our lives to Christ, have we been slowly unpacking our heavenly baby bags? Do we still have our Bibles that we read daily in there or did we put them back on the shelves because Jesus hasn’t come just yet? He’s still coming. How about...

What is an angel? This is a good question that does come up in the scriptures; one such time is when Gabriel visits Mary to announce that she is going to have a son. The Greek for ‘angel’ (ággelos) simply means ‘messenger’:  ággelos  is used 176 times in the New Testament and only the context determines whether it is a human or celestial messenger. We know from elsewhere in the scriptures that there are times when people –like Gideon (Judges 6); Manoah and his wife, Samson’s mother (Judges 13); possibly like Jacob at Jabbok (Gen. 32), and even Abraham (Gen. 13) did not realize they were entertaining heavenly messengers. They didn’t know they were dealing with angels. It is possible that Mary did not recognise Gabriel as a heavenly messenger when he first arrived. After all she was greatly troubled when he appeared (Lk 1:29). Mind you she could have been troubled because she  did  recognise Gabriel as an angel. In our day and age we often think of angels as nice ...

Look out Santa! When St. Andrew's Saltire is hung next to a fireplace, it prevents beings from flying down chimneys. Did you know that? Today is St. Andrew's Day. Do you know who Saint Andrew is? Andrew was one of Jesus' closest disciples. He was crucified in Patras, Achaea, on an X-shaped cross. This is represented on the Saltire (the white x) on Scotland’s national flag. He was buried originally in Constantinople; his skull was later exhumed and returned to Patras in the ninth century by Emperor Basil I. The rest of his body was taken to Amalfi in Italy  by Cardinal Peter of Capua after Constantinople was sacked in 1208. The saint’s bones either first arrived in Scotland when an angel told the Greek monk Regulus to bring the relics to “the end of the earth” in 345 or they reached Britain with an Augustine Mission in 597. One of Andrew's shoulder blades was gifted to Scotland by the Archbishop of Amalfi in 1879 and Pope Paul VI presented further remains to the...

Some people have asked if it matters that traditional Christian Christmas celebrations are disappearing from school and other public venues. What does it matter? Traditions change: Isn’t Christmas just a tradition? No. Christmas is a special time when we remember the coming of Jesus, even as we now are looking forward to his return in the near future. Jesus lived 2000 years ago, and the many documents collected in the Bible and other sources tell us about him. He came to live in Galilee when it was under the control of the Romans. His birth is linked to the time of Caesar Augustus. His life and his death are referred to in a number of ancient manuscripts. His whole life and ministry can be seen in the context of Jewish religious life and history. Although his universal message and ministry broke through the boundaries of Judaism, he did belong to the Jewish/Roman world of the first century. Jesus was an historical person but not merely an historical person because in him, God has ...

If I am going to heaven why do I need to read my Bible? If Christ has saved me why do I need to read my Bible? It is confusing. I can't read that well. It takes time. Abraham and Isaac didn't need to read the Bible to go to heaven; why do I need to read my Bible? My oldest two daughters are taking exams this week. They are their final examinations for grade 10 and 11 respectively. I was speaking with one of them today. She told me that she has 88% going into the exam. The exam is only worth 50% of her mark; so even if she doesn't get a single question right on the exam she will still pass the course. She is still studying for the exam. She wants to know as much of the subject matter as she can. She wants to be able to achieve as well as she possibly can. She wants to know more and she wants to perform well. She wants to do this for herself, her friends, family, and teachers. And the knowledge in the course will be very useful, it will make next year at school easier as ...

Tomorrow we begin hamper registration at the corps. Hamper registration and hamper distribution are always an interesting time in any Salvation Army. We just came from Toronto where Christmas was quite a bit different than it is here. But the other day as I was readying application forms, appointment cards and Angels for the Angel Tree I was reminded of one hamper distribution day we had in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Our building there is a former elementary school - like it was here for a bit. It is big and at Christmas time it is full of people; so it’s Hamper Day 2010 and everything is going well – we have so many volunteers helping from the community, it is great. In the morning I receive a phone call: someone is asking if he can register for a hamper that day. I explain to him that not only do we not register people for hampers on hamper pick-up day but that the deadline for registering was three weeks ago. He is way too late. He is persistent though. He is bound and det...