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Tag: Christian

Seamus Heaney

I have had on my desktop for a month an obituary (or sorts) where I wanted to honor a great poet who lived above the division and violence of politics and religion in Ireland. (I had originally thought, “Northern Ireland,” but that is not how he thought of it anymore than identifying English as Britain.)

As is the case for our rebellious America, English is a language (even more than a culture or land) and Seamus Heaney was a master of the English language.

A thoughtful look back at the life of this poet, writer and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature will reveal a man of faith who remains us to be faithful to God and country (in that order) in spite of what others think.

I have always thought that evil leaders are evil leaders and thugs are thugs.

Men of God must live above the fray.

It matters not whether they divide Ireland or America.

It matters not if evil men would separate north from south or the church east from west.

Seamus Heaney remained above it all as example for Republican and Democrat, Conservative and Liberal, Catholic and Protestant.

I expect to meet men like this in reunion with both faithful Catholics & dear Protestants in Heaven (as others may meet with claimers from all churches and denominations in Hell.)

God, Jesus Christ, and relationship with the Holy Spirit ought to rule every man and guide every country; certainly churches. Let us also remain about the fray, answerable to a faithful and forgiving God who sent Christ to the Cross for all who believe.

Here is my tribute (not to N. Ireland, not to Britain, not to Catholic, not to Protestant, but to the man and the poet)

To Seamus Heaney:

a man, a poet, an author

Irish not north or south

English not bound by borders

English by his craft of language

Christian unrestrained by division

Christian by example of Christ

Now as news come in

of each neighbourly murder

we pine for ceremony,

customary rhythms:

the temperate footsteps

of a cortege, winding past

each blinded home.

Source: BBC

Additional article below & link to reviews of the many Seamus Heaney books.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23895582

http://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=Seamus+Heaney

September 26, 2013
“Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom
Disclaimer: Before you move on, this message is NOT about the US (only). It is about the Christian CHURCH: Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox throughout the world of these last days of the 21st century. It is about governments “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” It is about Nations once “under God.”

Specifically, this is a warning to the Nations and to the Churches from history. The Prophesy still rings true from the Book of Hosea.

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God spoke to a man. God’s message was to take a fallen woman as his wife.

If God has spoken something so unlikely, He will use His spoken Command as warning, prophesy, and an opportunity for repentance. God will accomplish His purpose of saving the souls of His beloved.

The earlier scene (the Nations would do well not to repeat) takes place in the eighth century Before Christ. Hosea’s ministry paralleled in part the ministries of the Prophets: Amos, Jonah, Isaiah and Micah.

Introduction to Hosea: Historical Context

* Hosea was God’s man for a difficult era spiritually. “Prosperity had brought an unprecedented degree of cultural corruption. The much-sought-after political power had opened Israel to foreign cultural influence…

* https://bible.org/seriespage/introduction-hosea-historical-context

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Hosea

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Hosea’s Wife and Children

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea,

“Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”

The Lord’s prophesy though Hosea continues:
- 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
- 10b And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished

2:1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”
2 “Plead with your mother, plead—
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest I strip her naked
and make her as in the day she was born…
- 10 Now I will uncover her lewdness
  in the sight of her lovers,
  and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
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The Nations are adulterers, forsaking the Lord their God, our Creator.

The Nations who have claimed:
- God as Father,
- Jesus Christ as Redeemer,
- and the Holy Spirit as Counselor.
These many nations have rejected God and Christ as LORD.
These many nations will be rejected and shamed for our whoredom.

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Yet the Lord speaks hope to the one who will return:
- 14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
  and bring her into the wilderness,
  and speak tenderly to her.
- 16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband’…
- And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever.
I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

Hosea 3

English Standard Version (ESV)

Hosea Redeems His Wife

3 And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”

2 So I bought her …

3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days.

You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”

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IF God IS, IF Christ Jesus IS; should the Nations NOT play the whore or belong to other gods and false prophets?

Is sin to be tolerated, without repentance and return to purity?

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. – Leviticus 20:7 KJV

Deary beloved wife of the Lord,

Will you return to the Lord? Will you accept His love?

Or will you continue in your whoredom?

We long for your repentance and return to faithfulness. [To be continued…]

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September 26, 2013
What’s the DIFFERENCE between Christians & non-Christians?
So as not to reinvent the wheel or simply understate what others have taught previously, I share with you the Christian witness of a wonderful background history of context, culture, and some geography of Paul’s Letters to the Thessalonians as HOMEWORK for a Bible Study I will be teaching, God willing, next Sunday, 9:15 a.m. at Bender’s Mennonite Church. Please pray also for me.

The following is for benefit of ALL believers. Please SHARE YOUR COMMENTS.

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What’s the DIFFERENCE between Christians & non-Christians?

This is essentially the question by residents of every city and every town to first century Christians as they preached the Gospel.

“What makes YOU different from US?

How do you answer this question in your town for your 21^st century non-Christian neighbors and unsaved relatives?

Do you get it right? Do you TELL them how DIFFERENT you are from them? Do you suppose that this DIFFERENCE sounds like “Good News” to unbelievers?

Many Letters of the New Testament make much mention of ‘Jews and Gentiles,’ from the language and cultures of the first century. What we fail to realize of this distinction is an important one of Holiness that requires separation to God from the evil and sin of the world.
- The Jew was separated to the Holiness of God.
- The Gentile was not yet adopted for separation to the Holiness of God. Gentile is a term meaning Nations or Ethic Peoples other than Jews.
- The Gospel, consistent throughout ALL Letters to the first century church, is Good News:
“The Perfect Sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the Cross is for ALL Peoples – Jew and Gentile.

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So in a nutshell, what was the first century Christian answer? Essentially:

There is NO difference between me (a follower of Christ Jesus) and you (an unbeliever).

You may read of it in great detail in Paul’s Letter to the Romans; or you may read succinct summary in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians; OR you may study your Old Testament and the History of the first century Church as detailed by Luke in The Acts of the Apostles.

With some homework and study of the background leading up to the Letters to the Churches, God will reveal much more than the former and current relevance of all Scripture, including the Good News of these New Testament Letters.

The familiar New Testament story of witness is that a Jew from Judea, with Jerusalem as home of their God, travels to a town.

Take for example, Thessaloniki, Macedonia on the Aegean Sea, with local gentiles (Greeks) of their own traditions and culture. Thessalonians (as they are called) are ruled by the same empire (country) Rome, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, on the Italia peninsula across the Adriatic Sea from Macedonia, with power over all the lands of the Mediterranean.

(The embedded PowerPoint Slideshow by Cooper Church of Christ in Cooper, Texas, US is our homework.)

Thessalonica of Macedonia

For 21st century readers of Thessalonians: Consider the hostile environment of the Roman Empire as compared to our current environment in all the world, hostile to Jesus Christ.
- Jews who had dispersed into the Nations (Gentiles) tended to act as if they were morally better than their native hosts.
- ALL Gentiles had in common a civil authority and local culture inclined toward godlessness, unless some rule of god could help maintain the political power of local, state, national, and international rule.
(Of course, 21^st century governments are so much different in their attitudes toward religion and God. Right?)

These first century Christians acted different from other “religious” people.

HOW ARE CHRISTIANS DIFFERENT?

WHY would a non-believer WANT to accept our GOOD NEWS?

Learn a lesson from the first century evangelists.

We are ALL the same WITHOUT Christ. Yet ALL believers of every NATION are equal in CHRIST OUR LORD.
September 25, 2013