Days of Atonement

by James MacDonald

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21, nasb). Not everyone believes what I hope you believe (what the Bible actually says) about the reason Jesus Christ had to die. Some believe, for example, that God didn’t require a payment for sinners—that He forgives people simply because He chooses to do so, without resolution of any kind. But if that’s true, what was Jesus doing on the cross? Believing this view doesn’t make God more gracious; it makes Him cruel in the extreme. Others believe that the death of Christ merely served as an example. They say the cross shows us how much God loves us. But this view fails to take into account numerous Bible passages that say Jesus “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4, esv), how “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3), that He “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Here’s the truth: Christ took our place and suffered our punishment for sin. He became our substitute. That’s where the term substitutionary atonement comes from. His death was the legal act whereby He fulfilled the demands of God’s holy law and paid the penalty for sin. He became “sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Even in the Old Testament, Isaiah prophesied, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Be sure you know the word atonement. The death of Jesus Christ atoned for sin, made payment for it. If the gospel were a dartboard, the word atonement would be the bull’s-eye. Throughout this Passion Week, as you read and are reminded of the suffering Jesus underwent, atonement is what you see happening every step of the way. The flogging, the mocking, the blasphemous taunting. The twisting of the crown of thorns, piercing into His scalp. A scratchy robe laid across His open, throbbing wounds. His face, eyes, and mouth, swollen and disfigured. And so much blood—spilled, splattered, shed. This is Jesus Christ, atoning. He would complete it on the cross, but it didn’t begin on the cross. The atonement didn’t somehow start with the nailing. For example, Isaiah 53 describes Christ’s scourge as part of His atonement when it says that “by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5b, nkjv). All of it is the atoning work of Jesus. It is the wrath of God poured out upon His Son to satisfy the inherent demands of holiness. Someone had to pay. A holy God could not casually dismiss sin with a wave of His hand and the presentation of a hall pass. Holiness demanded that sin must be paid for. What you see then, in Christ’s suffering and death, is Love finding a way to pay for sin Himself. The closer your journey leads you to the cross this week, try to avoid detours that would induce you to think of Jesus merely as your example. Don’t be distracted by signs that point to ways following Christ improves your life. Walk as though you’re moving deeper into a funnel, drawing nearer and narrower, until all you see is “Jesus, my Substitute,” taking upon Himself the demands of holiness so that you can be forgiven. PRAY Lord, what kind of worship is appropriate for such total atonement? “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Psalm 116:12–13, esv). I will come to You amazed at what Your Son Jesus has done for me. I will surrender my all to You for as long as I live. I will praise You every day for the gift of grace and the sacrifice of Christ, in the name of Jesus, my Substitute, amen.

Down Syndrome Blessings

Isn't it ironic that we can pass laws to protect sea turtle eggs (They are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 and Florida's Marine Turtle Protection Act (379.2431, Florida Statutes). Florida Statutes (F.A.C.) but laws now being passed to protect our down syndrome babies are being challenged?

Commentary: Babies with Down syndrome have a right to life

Iceland and Denmark are eliminating people with Down syndrome before they can be born.

BY MARC THIESSENTHE WASHINGTON POST


When Karen Gaffney’s mother found out she would be born with Down syndrome, the doctor said Karen probably would not be able to tie her own shoes. Instead, as Karen explained in a moving and eloquent TEDx talk, she has become an accomplished open-water swimmer who has crossed the English Channel in a relay race and completed the swimming leg of the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

Now she fears the result of a new race – the one to “find newer, faster ways” to screen for Down syndrome so that more children with the disability can be killed in the womb.


Her fears are well-founded. CBS News recently reported that Iceland was on the verge of “eliminating” Down syndrome. Unfortunately, there was no great medical breakthrough to report. Iceland, it turns out, is not eliminating Down syndrome; it is eliminating people with Down syndrome. The country’s abortion rate for Down syndrome babies is close to 100 percent – the highest in the world. Denmark is close behind at 98 percent. In the United States, it is 67 percent – and Karen fears the rates here will soon reach European levels.

“Save our lives!” she pleads.

Sadly, there will always be those who see people with Down syndrome as nothing more than a burden on society. Princeton University professor Robert George recently tweeted out a shocking video in which a bureaucrat from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health shows a man with Down syndrome on a blackboard how “expensive” he is for society compared to “normal” people. “Do the Dutch, who suffered under – and in many cases heroically resisted – Hitler’s domination, forget that the ‘final solution’ began with the dehumanization and eugenic killing of the handicapped?” George asked.

Today, more and more people with Down syndrome are speaking out and demanding recognition of their humanity. Recently, Frank Stephens appeared before the House Appropriations Committee, where he told members of Congress “I am a man with Down syndrome and my life is worth living.” Noting the abortion rates for Down syndrome babies in Europe, he declared “I completely understand that the people pushing this particular ‘final solution’ are saying that people like me should not exist,” but pleaded, “Let’s be America, not Iceland or Denmark. … Let’s pursue inclusion, not termination.”

The message of inclusion is slowly getting through. Last month, baby food maker Gerber named Lucas Warren – a boy with Down syndrome – its 2018 “Gerber Spokesbaby,” selecting him out of 140,000 entries for his “glowing and giggly smile.” Good for Gerber. His smile glowing should be no surprise. Rather than leading lives of suffering, a 2011 study by Harvard researchers found that people with Down syndrome have unusually high rates of happiness. An amazing 99 percent said they are happy with their lives, 97 percent like who they are, and 96 percent like how they look. “Overall, the overwhelming majority of people with Down syndrome surveyed indicate they live happy and fulfilling lives,” the researchers found.

Far from being a burden, a study from Boston Children’s Hospital found that children with Down syndrome bring enormous joy to their loved ones. Ninety-four percent of siblings expressed feelings of pride about their brother or sister with Down syndrome, and 88 percent said that they were better people because of them. Only 4 percent would trade their sibling in for another, and only 4 percent of parents regretted having their Down syndrome child. It turns out that “the experience of Down syndrome is a positive one for most parents, siblings and people with Down syndrome themselves.”

Lawmakers are taking notice. As The Washington Post reports this week, more states are passing laws prohibiting doctors from performing abortions because of a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis. Indiana, North Dakota, Louisiana and Ohio have passed such laws, with Ohio’s “Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act” scheduled to take effect later this month. Utah is currently debating a similar law. The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, says it is “Utah’s message to the world is that we will not tolerate discrimination.” Naturally, pro-abortion absolutists are suing to block these laws (successfully, in the case of Indiana).

It is simply intolerable that so many joyous lives are being snuffed out. “All lives are a gift from God,” Gaffney says. “To me, that means that all lives matter, even if you will be born with an extra chromosome.”

— The Washington Post

by James MacDonald

Holy, Holy, Holy


And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3, ESV)!

On God’s Top Ten list, the very first rule, the commandment that earns the #1 spot, states who He is. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2–3).

The Church has lost this high and exalted view of God. We’ve grown so cozy with God that we forget who He really is. We have embraced the comfort of His nearness and ignored His holiness. We have emphasized the security of His love at the expense of His transcendence. God is not “the man upstairs.” He’s not a mild, old codger with a white beard. God dwells in unapproachable light. The Bible teaches that no one can see God and live. He is high and lifted up. He is ineffable glory.

We need a right view of God. One of the clearest pictures in all of Scripture is found in Isaiah 6. God gave Isaiah a glimpse, just a glimpse, of who He is, and the prophet fell flat on his face. That singular experience marked Isaiah’s whole life, and his vision is one we desperately need today.

Do you want to know what God is really like? God is infinite holiness—immeasurable, unalterable, unfathomable holiness. Isaiah wrote, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1). Seated. Not pacing back and forth. Not wringing His hands. Not struggling or searching. He was seated, settled, secure, certain. Why? Because He is in absolute control.

And standing above the seated God are the seraphim who serve Him. Picture two lines of angels, one on either side of the King, calling back and forth in an unceasing, antiphonal chorus. Think of all the words they could say about God. They could call out, “Merciful, merciful, merciful God!” or “Loving, loving, loving God!” But the words God chose to be spoken about Him, in His presence, for all time, are of His holiness. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” Through countless eons of time and even at this exact moment, the angels are calling out God’s holiness.

When the Hebrew people want to emphasize a word, they repeat it. If someone fell into a pit, that would be one thing, but if it were a deep pit, they would call it a “pit pit.” Nowhere else in all of Scripture is an attribute repeated three times. Only this and only of God: He is “holy, holy, holy.”

And the smoke rose quickly to veil Isaiah’s vision lest he be consumed in an instant by the moral worthiness, by the utter terror, by the majestic purity and power, by the unsearchable, unspeakable, infinite holiness of the triune God.

For when we grasp who God is, as the first commandment tells us to do, we see something else clearly too: our sinfulness. God’s infinite holiness casts our dirty sinfulness into stark relief. You cannot gaze upon the holiness of God without being overcome. Isaiah was broken by this. “Woe is me!” he cried. “For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (6:5)! The phrase means literally, “I’m dead. Done for. Silenced. Bankrupt. Ruined.” Before the holiness of Almighty God, we realize how unclean we are.

How tragic if the story ended there. But once Isaiah saw God for who He really is, the poor prophet was primed for mercy. “Then,” begins verse 6, a little transition word full of hope. Then one of the seraphim flew to Isaiah, lifted a burning coal to his lips, and purged him of sin. We are only prepared to receive and comprehend the grace of God when we have understood His infinite holiness and our filthy sinfulness. Any presentation of the gospel that leaves that out is incomplete. It’s the holiness of God that casts us upon His mercy. Only when we have a right view of the holy God do we begin to see clearly.


JOURNAL
Examine your own theology (your thoughts about God). In what ways do you treat God too casually? How does Isaiah’s vision change your view of God?
In your own words, what’s the connection between seeing God’s holiness and being primed to receive His mercy? 

PRAY
Almighty God, You are holy, holy, holy. Forgive me for my casual attitude toward You. Forgive me for reveling in Your abundant grace and ignoring Your holiness. Help me, Lord, to see You rightly. You are the Lord, and You have no rivals. Just as You reign on the throne of heaven, would You also reign in my heart and life? And as I glimpse Your holiness, I see my own spiritual bankruptcy. Please purge my sin, through the mercy You offer through Your Son, Jesus, in whose name I pray, amen.

Isaiah 40:31

Florida Tragedy

This was written by Ben Watson who plays for the Baltimore Ravens.  Another voice of light in the darkness – praise God for this man who isn't afraid to speak the truth..........

‪The horrific attack this week that took the lives of seventeen Americans is sickening. Across this land these images grip our hearts as we burn the midnight oil asking “Why” and searching for the correct action to combat such evil.


‪Over this week while we have been driven to our knees as countless voices invoke prayer, I am haunted by the fact that this very exercise is forbidden in this school and thousands of others across our nation. I ask myself, “If He is God in crisis is He not also God in peace?! If he is worthy of our desperate cries in distress is he not worthy for us to seek Him and submit our lives to Him daily?”


‪God is not a cosmic vending machine to be used at our disposal only when the problem or pain is greater than our ability to control it. And while because of His love and mercy He is compelled to hear our pleas and meet us in these times, by forcing him out of the public arena it is only us who will collectively suffer.


‪In times like this, we loudly reiterate the charge to each citizen to RESPECT LIFE yet we sanction the disintegration of our families bonds, the murder of our unborn children and the excessive incarceration of our young men. Even now, the climate in this country is tense and toxic, with accusations and conspiracy reaching the highest levels of our government. Insults without contrition are spewed, creating ripples of animosity vengeance and strife among the populace. Instead of staunch fundamental yet respectful disagreement with the other side, we hate the other side and have no qualms about expressing it in the most descriptive and vile ways in written and spoken word. We are too proud to apologize and too angry too forgive. We lie and omit truth, cleverly selecting words and phrases to fit our narratives and support our agendas. We encourage a lifestyle of relativism, free expression, and a capricious standard of morality that is based on whims rather than wisdom. We condone and sometimes celebrate violence and abuse in various forms.


‪While justice demands this young man in Parkland Florida be held accountable for the heinous plan he carried out by his own volition, we must have the courage to take an honest assessment of our culture in its totality and how it relates to this tragedy and others like it.


‪I pray. For comfort strength healing justice and peace in what has proven to be an increasingly recurring saga. These acts of violence indict the criminal as well as the society he emerged from. While we must address the individual incident, the perpetrator and the circumstances we must have the willingness to unveil the myriad
‪contributing factors to the crisis we are in. Fire arms legislation, security, parenting, family, rights, relativism, morality, media, conflict, violence and the wicked human heart all play a role and all must be boldly addressed.


‪I mourn. For the Parkland community and all those directly impacted by these actions of evil. In truth we are all affected by these events because while one community suffers another is still healing and another waits in fear of what tomorrow could possibly bring. No family should have to face such an unconscionable reality.

A Nation of Moral Geldings

By Everett Piper - - Sunday, November 19, 2017

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Question: If the woman in the photo of Al Franken (where he’s groping her while she sleeps) would have given “consent,” then would this be right and good? If morality is really nothing more than mutual “consent” and Sen. Franken could prove that she said this was okay to do while she lay sleeping, he would have nothing — absolutely nothing — to be “ashamed” of. Right?

Today’s culture of “consent” places all responsibility for moral judgment on women and completely exonerates men to live as cads (as long as they can find women to say they don’t care). “Consent” assumes that men are no longer capable of governing themselves by an immutable standard of what is right and what is wrong.

Morality is no longer fixed but always in flux. Right behavior is not a constant but rather simply a mater of approval. If the woman consents to being groped then it’s right. If she doesn’t then it’s wrong. If she wants to have sex then a man can have at it with fury. All a man needs to do is find a woman — any woman — who will “consent” to his libidinous appetites and what was wrong five minutes ago, now becomes right.

This is a world of no self-evident truths — a world of the created rather than the Creator. It is a world where the exact same actions of Al Franken, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton are deemed moral, if consented to by their prey, but yet abhorrent if not.

Personal culpability for doing the “right thing” regardless of what someone else believes and/or consents to, is never considered. Men are not expected to demonstrate character but rather to just go about the business finding a willing accomplice. Just get her to “consent” and rut about at will. No worries. No guilt. No responsibility. Mutual agreement is the final measure of what is right and what is wrong.

“Being good” is no longer an objective reality but rather a subjective construct that is totally dependent on what someone else says you can or can’t do. Groping a woman is okay if she says it is okay but wrong if she says it’s not.

Staring voyeuristically at her in magazines or on websites is considered harmless recreation but doing the exact same thing through a window blind is deviant and criminal. Celebrating women as objects of recreation on the cover of Sports Illustrated is good, but actually treating them like objects of recreation is bad. Good has become evil and evil has become good.

We have created a nation of moral geldings rather than a nation of gentlemen. No conscience. No internal restraining force. Constantly looking for the next conquest under the cover of “consent,” today’s man seeks only to satiate his libido. After all, there is no reason not to other than the woman who says “no” and it never occurs to him that he might have the human responsibility to not ask her to say “yes” in the first place.

“In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful” — C.S. Lewis


• Everett Piper is president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University.

the gift

I love Lindsey Stirling - the gifts God has given her and her obedience to use these gifts and talents for His Kingdom. Enjoy this beautiful piece and be sure to watch her message to you at the end. It's priceless.

Merry Christmas!