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The Easter Equation

MATTHEW 28: 1 – 6

JESUS CHRIST is the only person to have His epitaph announced by angels. Weeping women and mournful men came to the tomb in which His lifeless body had been placed. They came to bury their hope. They were there to say farewell to a dream, embalm the past, and to weep and mourn. These defeated and dis-spirited followers of Christ were representative of all of humankind hope.

They were met by angels at the tomb who said:
“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus
who was crucified. He is not here; for He is
risen, as He said.”

It is always a joy to visit that empty tomb in Jerusalem. On the door recently placed at this entrance for security purposes is the inscription, “He is risen.” What an epitaph!

The resurrection is God’s “yes” to the world’s “no.”

The world says “no” you can’t live forever. The resurrection says “yes” you can.

The world says “no” you can’t live an abundant life. The resurrection says “yes” you can.

The world says “no” you can’t live optimistically and victoriously with hope. The resurrection says “yes” you can live with enthusiasm for your future.

The resurrection shouts of the reality that God has the capacity to correct life’s inequities. When your life seems lost in vicious violence and is subject to outbursts of hatred and bigotry, then the assurance offered by the resurrection says there is hope.

HE DIED

A sensual and sadistic Roman soldier lifter the shaft of his sharp steel spear toward the side of the suffering Savior, With a thrust he slit the skin, divided the flesh, pierced the pericardium and entered the heart. Christ was dead. The soldier himself said he was. The official Roman document defining the execution proclaimed He was dead.

These executioners knew how to push life right to the brink, hold it there, and push it over the brink of death in the most brutal manner.

Near Colorado Springs, Colorado, there is a road which winds through William’s Canyon to the Cave of the Winds. The pass through which it goes seems to get more and more narrow as your travel it. One passage is knows as “The Narrows.” As you draw near it, every indication is that you can’t make it through. Just before you reach it, there is a sign which states: “Yes you can – a million others have.”

Just when life gave every indication of having only a hopeless end, Christ arose–revealing it has an endless hope. You can make it because ONE has. Because HE lives we can live also.

The resurrection tells us that God is involved in our world. The resurrection factor is one the world can’t explain or explain away. The resurrection is God’s way of saying to you: “You really do matter to me.”

Easter is God’s AMEN
and
man’s HALLELUJAH!

The people who came to that tomb that morning were so preoccupied with what happened, that is, Christ’s death, that they were about to miss out on what was happening.

Just when they thought all was lost, the angel said: “He is risen.” Just when they thought all possibility of victory was behind them, the angel announced. “He has gone before you into Galilee.” Christ still goes before us to lead and guide.

HE IS RISEN

That fact on history’s horizon influences all others. Every argument against the literal bodily resurrection of Christ is philosophical. Every argument for the resurrection is historical.

Skeptics scoff at the historical reliability of the records of the resurrection, yet, accept less reliable records of secular events. What is known of Hannibal crossing the Alps was written 250 years later. New Testament documents were written within a lifetime of the event. Historians accept the history written by Thucydides (460 BC) and Herodotus (488 BC) which were translated from manuscripts written 1,300 years later from only eight copies. There are over 1,200 ancient New Testament documents. The records of the resurrection are reliable prompting the famous Greek scholar, Bishop Westcott to say, “Taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no single historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.”

Medical doctor Luke writing at a time when the people who were in Jerusalem at the time of the resurrection were still living said to them:

“You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48).

Luke further said of the resurrection, “there are many infallible proofs.” This translates TEKMERION meaning “demonstrable proofs,” that is, much empirical evidence Acts 1:3.

Writing in that same time span the author of Acts (2:32) noted: “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.” Summarily the Apostle Paul wrote of some of these.

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, it you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you believe in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by the apostles, Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”
I Corinthians 15: 1 – 8

James, one of those listed as a witness of His resurrection, was sibling of Jesus who did not believe in Him. That is, until the resurrection. On the even of the resurrection he is numbered among those in the upper room. Thereafter he became the head of the emerging church and died because of His belief in and teaching about the resurrection.

In the first century, a time when they should have known, belief in the resurrection was so broad spread and firmly believed that over 5,000,000 were executed because of their faith.

HE AROSE — they believed it enough to die for Him. That fact has added two new equations to the hopeless. Consider these three possible equations of life.

I. L + D + D = D

Life (physical life) plus spiritual death (the rejection of Jesus as Savior), plus physical death, equals spiritual death.

Physical life without the hope of eternal life makes for a hopeless life. German’s Count Otto Bismarck once said, “Without the hope of eternal life, this life is not worth the effort of getting dressed in the morning.”

II. L + L + D = L

Life (physical life), plus life (spiritual life), equals life eternal.

“…we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10). “His life” is a reference to His resurrected life. Because He lives we shall live forever also.

“TIME”, “We have a great fear of dying and yet we are unable to face the reality of death.”

This we must deal with for Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed unto man once to die.”

With Christ as Savior we can face death because He said, “Because I live you shall live also” (John 14:19).

Because of His resurrection there is a third potential equation:

III. L + L + L = L

Life (physical life) plus life (spiritual life), plus life (raptured or resurrected life), equals
life eternal.

The resurrection of Christ validates His claims to come again: I Thess. 1:10, “…wait for His Son from heaven, who He has raised from the dead, even Jesus Christ who delivered us from the wrath to come.”

Because He arose those of us who die before His next coming shall also be resurrected at His coming: “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies” (Romans 8:11).

That is the ultimate Easter equation.

A summary of the Easter equation.
A. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture…”
B. “…He was buried…”
C. “…He arose again the third day according to the Scripture.
D. “…He was seen…”

Don’t you “see” what this means?
Two men came to the empty tomb that morning. One or the other of them represents you.
John, “the beloved.”
Peter, “the betrayer.”
Both went away believers. Regardless of which one typified you it is also possible for you to go away a believer following the Christ who goes before you.

HE IS ALIVE.

The Harbinger

“The first one to plead his case seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him.” Proverbs 18:17

Until a case is subjected to cross examination its truth can’t be assured. Without examination through the len of other scripture The “Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn stands as its own witness.

The author states his book is fiction and it is. It is difficult to mix fiction and prophecy. It is misleading when fiction becomes accepted as prophecy. Regardless of the intent of the author his work is heralded by many readers as prophetic.

The intent of the author appears to be to call America to repentance and that is admirable. Philosophies and practices in present day America do in many respects resemble conditions in 8th century Israel. Observing their consequence in ancient Israel should be a harbinger to America. However, the glove is stretched beyond reason to make fiction and prophecy fit like a hand-in- glove.

The book is punctuated with theological, exegetical, and hermeneutical flaws.

Hermeneutics is the study of understanding a statement in its original context. There is nothing in Isaiah 9:10 that suggests it is related to any time and place other than the Northen Kingdom of Israel in the 8th century B. C.

Isaiah 9 is a prophetic passage regarding that period. The first seven verses are essential to understand the rest of the chapter in context, yet they are completely overlooked. Therein the destruction of Israel is foretold, but her restoration is assured. The fact the author completely omits modern Israel from the novel implies God’s judgment on her was terminal. Current affairs dispute this.

April 4, 2012 Cahn, the author, stated he does not believe Isaiah 9:10 is about, to, or for America. He says the similarity between Isaiah 9:10 only demonstrates the pattern of God’s judgment. Yet, in many instances he does connect the two. On a number of occasions in the book readers are given the impression there is more than a parallel, there is a connection. The book makes this statement: “Hidden in ancient biblical prophecy from Isaiah the mysteries revealed in The Harbinger are so precise that they foretold recent American events down to the exact days… It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller with one exception …. IT’S REAL.”

These claims are contradictory. How could Isaiah 9:10 not be “about, to or for America” and having precisely “foretold recent American events?”

A significant assumption in the book is that God has a covenant with America. God was obviously at work in the founding of America, but a covenant no. He had a covenant with one country of His choice, Israel. There is no biblical evidence God would have another covenant with any country. His present day covenant is with individual believers made possible by the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus.

If Isaiah 9 is the biblical pattern for judgment why isn’t the pattern found at other times in other scripture in God’s judgment of Israel? There is a simple pattern for judgment found throughout the Bible. It is: God warns, God waits, and if there is no repentant response God expressed His wrath. That pattern is a constant and applies to America as it has to other cultures in the past.

The Harbinger is a novel —- an intriguing novel. It has a message that should be a wake-up call for America, but it is not prophetic. Not all books that contain scripture are scriptural. This one isn’t.

Four Blood Moons

Pastor John Hagge in his book entitled Four Blood Moons: Something is About to Change has garnered a significant following of his “end time” thesis based on the moon.

A “Blood Moon” occurs when there is a total lunar eclipse. It bears the name “blood” because the rays of the sun passing through the earth’s atmosphere give the moon a reddish color. A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth is directly between the sun and the moon. When there are four such moons separated by six months it is called a Tetrad.

The next four lunar eclipses will occur on two significant Jewish festivals: Passover April 15, 2014 and April 4, 2015 and Feast of the Tabernacles (Skkot) October 8, 2014 and September 28, 2015. Though rare there have been eight that occurred on these feast days since 162 AD. The most recent Blood Moon Tetrad occurred in 2003 – 2004. Seven more are scheduled before 2100.

Some of NASA’s records and the calculations by Hagge do not seem to correspond.

The frequency of Tetrads vary over time. Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli has observed that there was a 300 year period when Tetrads were numerous followed by another 300 year period when there were none.

Hagge’s thesis is made all the more intriguing in that some dramatic historical events have occurred in Israel around the time of blood moons. He stated, “Every time this has happened in the last 500 years, it has coincided with tragedy for the Jewish people followed by triumph.” He continued, “Once again, for Israel the timing of this Tetrad is remarkable.”

Hagge asserts the 1493 Tetrad ushered in the Spanish Inquisition involving the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Wrong, these blood moon occurred a year after the Inquisition.

The second in 1948 saw the return of the Jews to the Bible Land and the establishment of the nation of Israel. This was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. However, these moons happened a year after statehood. Again Hagge is wrong.

The third in 1967 coincided with the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War.

As a firm believer in Bible prophecy there is one statement in scripture that stands out to me. Related to the Second Coming of Christ and the end of time scripture says no man know “the day nor the hour.” Hagge says he is not setting dates, but that God and NASA set these dates.

I have lived long enough to have know there are reasons to doubt date setters. A couple of examples are the booklet published in 1987 entitled Eighty-eight Reasons Jesus will come in 1988. When He didn’t the author issued a corrected edition entitled, Eighty-nine Reasons Jesus Will Come in 1989.

Will any person who was alive in 1999 ever forget the approach of midnight January 1, 2000 and the Y2K end of the ages?

The Mayans missed with the Mayan Calendar focusing on 2012 as the end of time.

The marvel is millions of people bought into each of these theories.

To be fair with Hagge he does not say these Four Blood Moons will be the end of time, but in speaking of them he reads scripture over and over related to the Second Coming.

Scripture gives sound advice regarding end times: “…be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him.” Be ready and enjoy life.

Where am I?

I am at 71° 10′ 21″ N deep in the Arctic Circle among the Sami people. Here in the Land of the Mid-night Sun I have just sailed by the North Cape, (Nordkapp), the northern most point in Europe. The North Cape is a captivating large stone mountain that rises 1,000 feet above the North Sea.

At this season of the year the earth is tilted on its axis providing the Summer Solstice. Sunset: 12:00 PM and sunrise: 12:00 AM allowing twenty-four hour days with no nights. The people who live here maintain their same schedules all year long without considering if there are 24 hours of daylight or dark.

Nearby is Hammingsvag, Norway, the northern most city in Europe. Here only the Svalbard Islands are between you and the North Pole. As a chaplain for Holland America Cruise Lines I sailed here on the Ryadam. The journey involved 4,000 miles of sailing from Dover, England along the coast of Norway through open seas and beautiful narrow fjords. Along the way of this fourteen day journey were intermittent stops at lovely Norwegian cities and small ports tucked away at the end of narrow fjords.

First mention of the Sami people was in AD 98 by the Roman senator, orator, and historian Tactius. The Sami are indigenous to Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and part of Russia. Years ago as immigrants began to move into their region in order to change them the interlopers found the Sami lifestyle so appealing they adapted to it. For years they have been know as “the reindeer people” because of being reindeer herdsmen. By invitation they introduced reindeer ranching to Alaska. They have their own language and parliament that presides over them in the parts of the four nations they inhabit. On a broad scale the Sami have embraced Christianity.

Because of the northern location of Samiland, also known as Lappland, at certain seasons they enjoy the beautiful spectacle of the northern lights known as the aurora borealis. It is nature’s best light show.

The region is also known for having what is called fata morgana. As used by the people of the region the term describes a strange phenomena caused by the pure cool rarified air of the region. It results in objects appearing to be much closer than they are. It gives a two dimensional view with no depth, thus a flat appearance distorting distances. It is a mirage effect.

Norway was for years considered one of Europe’s poorest countries. In the early 1960s oil exploration was begun which resulted in the first strike in 1996. Production began in 1998, transforming the country into one of the most prosperous in Europe. We sailed through vast areas of the North Sea that was dotted with oil rigs. Vast oil and gas refineries are located along the countries long seacoast. They are using the latest technology to insure safety and avoid disasters such as the Alexander Kielland disaster in 1980, that killed 123 people.

Large artistic roadways cross the country. Numerous tunnels along the way can be seen that make villages formerly inaccessible by land open to the interior. Many of these are more than a mile long.

Norway can serve as an example to America as to what indigenous oil and gas can do for a nation’s economy without a threat to the environment and people.

What Does The Mormon Church (Church Of Latter Day Saints) Church Teach?

This column is in response to requests for insights into the difference between Mormonism and traditional Christianity.

I have dear friends who are Mormons. They, like most Mormons, are gracious socially, exceptional family people, and in general good citizens. As such they personally are objects of my regard.

The Church of Latter Day Saints is better known as Mormonism. I would not deliberately misrepresent any person’s faith so I hope Mormons find the following to be a fair representation of their faith based on the teachings of their church. Each of these points comes from a document accepted by the Church of Latter Day Saints (hereafter noted as “the Church”) and is documented accordingly.

Space limits the ability to reveal the numerous ways the teachings of the Church differ from the Bible. Therefore, only a few will be considered. Members of the Church say they believe Jesus Christ is the Firstborn of God the Father. By that what do they mean?

They believe “We are sons and daughters of God, and we lived in a premortal existence as His spirit children” (Doctrine and Covenants and Church History, [hereafter noted as “D&C”], p. 106).

“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!!! . . . We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil, so that you may see,” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345).

God used to be a man on another planet, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 321; Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 613-614; Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 345; Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 333).

God the Father had a Father, (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 476; Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, p. 19; Milton Hunter, First Council of the Seventy, Gospel through the Ages, p. 104-105).

There is a mother god, (Articles of Faith, by James Talmage, p. 443). God is married to his goddess wife and has spirit children, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 516).

The first spirit to be born in heaven was Jesus, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 129). Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers and we were all born as siblings in heaven to them both, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 163; Gospel Through the Ages, p. 15). “Therefore we know that both the Father and the Son are in form and stature perfect men; each of them possesses a tangible body . . . of flesh and bones,” (Articles of Faith, by James Talmage, p. 38).

The Devil was born as a spirit after Jesus “in the morning of pre-existence,” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 192). Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers and we were all born as siblings in heaven to them both, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 163).

A plan of salvation was needed for the people of earth so Jesus offered a plan to the Father and Satan offered a plan to the Father. Jesus’ plan was accepted. In effect the Devil wanted to be the Savior of all Mankind and to “deny men their agency in order to dethrone God,” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 193; Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p. 8).

“The fact that there is no reference to a mother in heaven either in the Bible, Book of Mormon or Doctrine and Covenants, is not sufficient proof that no such thing as a mother did not exist there” (Answers to Gospel Questions, Joseph Smith, Jr., p. 143).

Jesus was the “Firstborn” of the Sovereign’s offsprings. Lucifer, his brother, was the second born in the morning of pre-existence, and the rest of human beings followed in this premortal existence. “We are all the spiritual children of heavenly parents.” (Eternal Marriage Student Manual, p. 259).

“The child to be born to Mary was begotten by Elohim (God).”

This is called “celestial Sireship.” (The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, p. 23)

The Church teaches there is an after life when righteous spirits carry the message of salvation to wicked spirits in hell and co-mingle. At this point those wicked spirits can repent and be freed. (Preparation for Exaltation, p. 36).

The Church teaches the Father in heaven was once a man as we are now, capable of physical death. He progressed through stages to reach the stage of “exaltation of godhood.” Humans have the power to reach godhood. When we become gods we will have jurisdiction over worlds that will be peopled by our offsprings. (Achieving a Celestial Marriage, p. 132).

The Church holds that “Jesus Christ was married at Cana of Galilee, that Mary, Martha, and others were his wives, and that he begat children” (Orson Hyde (apostle) The Judgments of God on the United States, (March 15, 1855) in Journal of Discourses, p. 210).

The following are two of the primary reasons some consider The Church of Latter Day Saints, Mormonism, a cult.

Joseph Smith, Jr. taught The Book of Mormon is more reliable than the Bible, (History of the Church, p. 4:461). It advocates that if it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation. There is no salvation outside the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Mormon Doctrine, p.670).

By way of contrast the Bible teaches Jesus is called “God’s only begotten Son.” The word “begotten” is a compound of two Greek words used in Scripture. One word is mono, meaning “one.” The other is genes, meaning “kind, type, or species.” Combined they are used to speak of God’s only one of a kind son. The Greek word “monogenees” is used to mean the only one of the same nature as. In Scripture Jesus is not spoken of as a Son of God, but the Son of God.

Two different Greek words are translated “son” in Scripture.

Teknon stresses the fact of human birth. It is used of homo sapiens.

Huios emphasizes dignity and character relationship. It is used of Jesus.

The word “son” does not mean prodigy. A good dictionary defines “son” as one associated with or identified with. James and John were the sons of thunder. Barnabas was the son of encouragement.

John 3: 16 refers to Jesus as “the only begotten Son of God.” The Greek text literally means He was “God’s only one of a kind Son.” Jesus, as a member of the Trinity, was God the Son along with God the Holy Spirit and God the Father.

“Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory” I Timothy 3:16

Question: When was God manifested in the flesh and fulfilled all these traits?” In the person of Jesus.

“In Him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily.” Colossians 2: 9

In Acts 20: 28 reference is made to “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” When did God shed blood? On the cross. Who was that on the cross? It was Jesus Christ — God.

Philippians 2: 5 – 7: “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men….”

The first use of “form” translates the Greek word MORPHE meaning nature of character. His nature, His very essence, was God.

The second use of “form” translates the Greek word SCHEMA, meaning outward form or appearance. His outward appearance was that of a man. Thus, He was “God with us.” The angel said, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated God with us.” Matthew 1: 23

Our Mormon friends can try to explain away every one of these truths, BUT they remain truth. Jesus is God the Son, Immanuel, God with us. He is not “a” God He is “the” God.

At some point the complex issue of the Trinity comes into play. Are there three Gods? NO! “The Lord thy God is one God.” They are three in one. H2O as a liquid is water, as a gas it is a vapor, as a solid it is ice; three in one.

A three leafed clover has three leaves, but is one clover. The Trinity is one God.

Mormonism teaches persons can be baptized for the dead. This is required for the persons ultimate salvation. If it is man’s part in salvation that means that what Jesus did on the cross is incomplete and has to be completed by man, and is completed by baptism. Again I say that indicates what Jesus did on the cross was incomplete. The Bible teaches contrary to that. Salvation is by the blood of Jesus not the water of man.

Bottom line: they believe Jesus is the son of God, but they do not believe Jesus is God the Son. They believe Jesus was “a” son of God just as they conceive all human beings to be.

Christians revere Jesus as the nexus of God. The angel messenger in speaking to Joseph called Jesus Immanuel, meaning God with us. Incarnation is a word describing the process. The root “incarnate” means embodied in flesh.

As such Christians believe Jesus was God manifest as a corporeal, touchable, human being: the man/God-God/man, Immanuel, God with us.