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Tag: Luke

Ghosts of Christmas’ Past
We are of course familiar with the image of ghosts of Christmas’ past thanks to Charles Dickens, ‘A Christmas Carol,’ penned in A.D. 1843. Dickens points toward a morality of generosity during a great 19th century division between a well-off gentry class and the working poor. Even today his theme of the repentance of Scrooge convicts on a larger Common Era world stage where poverty is no less common.
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My ghosts of Christmas Past include more than just Jacob Marley & friends. I remember when Christmas meant more than the sounds of shopping and included both worship and bells.
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Many Christian families had opened paper doors on Advent calendars reading familiar Scripture from Luke, Matthew and Isaiah in anticipation of opening personal gifts to each other on Christmas morning.

So in these links and lyrics below I invite you to hear some of what I hear from long-lost ghosts of Christmas’ past. And if you listen to every brief song while reading the lyrics and Scripture behind such glorious Christmas carols you may discover that same moment of transformation as Scrooge after his visits by three ghosts he had never seen.

The Ghost of Church Bells

Church Bells proclaiming JOY to the world within the sound of their pealing.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Henry W. Longfellow, A.D. 1864 Scripture: Luke 2:13-14; Romans 5:1

Lyrics by Henry W. Longfellow, 1864 alt. and v. 5-7 by Harlan D. Sorrell

Lyrics:

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play;
In music sweet the tones repeat,
“There’s peace on earth, good will to men.”

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’ unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Born the Prince of Peace

And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor does He sleep,
For Christ is here; His Spirit near
Brings peace on earth, good will to men.”

When men repent and turn from sin
The Prince of Peace then enters in,
And grace imparts within their hearts
His peace on earth, good will to men.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Gospel of Luke 2:14 KJV

Christians who grew up during the mid-twentieth century will closely associate Christmas, Christmas carols, community fellowship of families on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day worship with church bells celebrating the birth of the Christ child.

Yet LISTEN?

The CHURCH BELLS have been rendered silent —

stilled from praise of the CHRIST child of CHRISTMAS —

in the SILENT nights and darkness of these last days…

A glorious joyful to the world RINGING of BELLS which once called both faithful and repentant Christians to WORSHIP has long ago rusted into an artificially staged sound of ME with the world AND Jesus.

A Silent Night..

and joyful singing..

now lost in the White noise of Christmas’ past ..

budding in every hand and ear..

of a multitude of the walking dead.

Could it have been your own wanderings with so many lost souls

for whom the bells once tolled..

church bells which today remain ominously SILENT?

Christmas Carols at our neighborhood doors
What was it we once SANG at the doors of our neighbors?

You with ears to hear, LISTEN and you with eyes to see, LOOK at the lyrics!
Joy to the World

Composer: George Frideric Handel – German-British Baroque composer (1685–1759)

Author: Isaac Watts (1719);

Adapter: Lowell Mason

Published A.D. 1839 in The Modern Psalmist, Boston

LOWELL MASON, THE BANKER WHO DISCOVERED ‘JOY TO THE WORLD’

He crusaded for better music, and heaven and nature sang
New England Historical Society

Psalm 98: King James Version
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O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

2 The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.

6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.

7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together

9 Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
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Hark the Herald

Hark! the Herald Angels Sing – READ graphic of all the LYRICS

Peace on earth and mercy mild

God and sinners reconciled”

Christ by highest heaven adored..

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see

Hail the incarnate Deity

Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings..

Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Jesus, the Creator Born to give us a second birth

And in despair I bowed my head

When men repent and turn from sin
The Prince of Peace then enters in,

And grace imparts within their hearts
His peace on earth, good will to men.

Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
Gospel of Luke 2:10b-12 ESV

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Will you invite JESUS to be more than a ghost of your Christmas’ Past?

For Christ was born that you might be born again to the eternal life given only through Him because the Lord has died for our sins.

MERRY CHRISTMAS.
December 23, 2023
Paul a Prophet Sent out by Jesus
Great Prophets and Signs from God
- HOW DO WE KNOW A TRUE PROPHET OF GOD?
- WHAT is the SIGN of a true Prophet?
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”
Gospel of Luke 7:16 ESV

A great prophet among us

Before we look at an extraordinary sign in Troas suggesting that Paul is also a Prophet of Almighty God, let’s look at other true Prophets of the past.

Talking for hours with the prophet Paul

~A.D. 56 – Previously in an upper room at midnight in the port of Troas..

The gospel points to JESUS and not to the Apostle Paul or some other Old Testament prophet.
- WHO does a prophet speak for and what does he say?
- Is it the message and work of ALMIGHTY GOD or that of rebellion against the LORD?
The Lord Jesus Christ
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~ A.D. 28 - the year being less important than the short time of two decades before this present miracle by Paul

Luke 7:
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.. behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother..

And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”

And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

.. for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”
Gospel of Mark 6:14b-15 ESV

Elijah
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About 860 Before Christ - the sign from GOD being more important than the year.
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Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
1 Kings 17: ESV

God speaks to him and also commands the response of one (or more) to whom he is sent. Paul has already experienced this as have Peter and other Apostles sent out with the Gospel by the resurrected Jesus Christ.

14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.
1 Kings 17:14-15 ESV

All are obedient to God for an extended time. They continue to witness a miracle but a greater sign will soon prove the power of God and truth of his prophecy through Elijah.

After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him..

19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed.

.. Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord,

“O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

.. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.”

24 And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
More on Elijah AND other prophets What did they see?
The Apostle Simon Peter
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About A.D. 40
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“Tabitha, arise.”

Another Resurrection in Joppa

Resurrection of a body which has fallen from life into the valley of death is nothing new to the Apostles. To Peter another resurrection would be completely possible IF it is the will of the Lord.

And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.

41 Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.

WHAT FURTHER SIGN DO YOU NEED THAT THE HAND OF THE LORD IS ON A MAN THAN A RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD?

The Apostle Paul

Troas – important 1st C. A.D. Roman port
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Returning now to the mid- A.D. 50's about a dozen years after the resurrection of Tabitha or Dorcas in Joppa by Peter, a couple of dozen years after many witnessed the signs of multiple resurrections by the Lord Jesus AND more than nine centuries since the sign of the Prophet Ezekiel for a widow in Zarephath.
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Acts of the Apostles 20:
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after the 3-story fall of Eutychus from an upper room window to his death
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But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”

11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.

12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.
Acts of the Apostles 20:12 ESV

WHAT THEN?

Paul’s preaching, worship and discussion with the believers in Troas had gone until midnight. (WHAT A LONG EVENING SERVICE!)

But then AFTER the SIGN of the Lord through PAUL raising the dead youth, the faithful returned to WORSHIP (and no doubt thankfulness) until the break of the very day. The Apostle would then continue to sail into the rest of the world with the Gospel of JESUS Christ.

JOY of the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues not only in Troas and back into Macedonia and Greece, but in other ports along the Apostle Paul’s third missionary journey.

12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

13 But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.

Prophets and Signs

A false prophet shows NO SIGNS other than deception and ambition against Almighty God.

Saul of Tarsus had been a great aggressor of Zion without regard for the mercy of God and ears to hear the warning of Israel’s Prophets predicting a servant Messiah who would not ‘break a bruised reed’.

YET the LORD had bruised Paul’s zeal near Damascus and confronted his heart with the Gospel of His Own RESURRECTION!

NO SIGN of a Prophet proves his message true more than a resurrection of a body and restoration of a soul.

THE LORD had provided proof of His Word through Moses and through Elijah who have now appeared to Jesus’ Apostles Peter, James and John. The Word provides a sign to Saul by once more appearing to the apostle then prophesying the most difficult journey ahead as JESUS would send Paul out to the Gentiles as His chosen instrument.

Who is this Saul, Apostle to the Gentiles?

Previously, at the conversion of Saul

“Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
Acts of the Apostles 9:15b-16 ESV – The Lord sends Ananias to open Saul’s eyes.

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To Be Continued.. Lord willing, when we will meet Paul in Assos and sail back to Ephesus…
December 9, 2023
Thanks-taking feasts of C.E. humankind
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A BIG meal of little thanks in a long season of thanklessness.
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Giving Thanks to the LORD

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
1 Chronicles 16: KJV – v.34

16:34 הוֹדוּ לַיהוָה

We know the concept well — yāḏâ Yᵊhōvâ, from the Hebrew. This instance from a Psalm of David given to the priest for worship before the Ark of the Covenant. It is sometimes translated as ‘confess‘ (rather than ‘thank‘) the LORD.

“THANK GOD,” we might proclaim as a call to worship, at the table of sacrifice or in the place of the feast.

We also find Biblical lessons of thanks where God is involved but the ‘thanks‘ points to another or some provision by God.

The New English Translation uses a negative application of thanks referring to original sin.

But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
Genesis 3:17 NET
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What has fallen away from the grace of God on YOUR account?
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‘When He had given thanks..’

Our New Testament images of ‘thanks-giving’ mostly recall meals and feasts.

And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.
Mark 8:6 KJV

Some will recognize the Greek root from which we derive this:

εὐχαριστέω – eucharisteō

from G2170; to be grateful, i.e. (actively) to express gratitude (towards); specially, to say grace at a meal:

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:

.. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Gospel of Luke 17:19-20 KJV
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Don't miss that feasts of the Lord God (by various names and in every season) ought to glorify God as WE give thanks for His provision, salvation and mercy.
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Recent Thanksgivings of the Common Era

Any who have READ my Thanks-giving posts of previous years may observe that occasionally I am haunted by ghosts of holidays past. Indeed most recently I have chosen to neglect Thanksgiving more than Christmas.

COVID – The Sĭn’ch WHO Stole Thanksgiving

November 26, 2020 of the Common Era

Thanksgiving: We’re a little late and Christmas a little early

November 17, 2017 of the Common Era

Dr. Seuss
Scrooge, Santa & the Grinch in days of sadness

“Watch for the coming ‘blitzchris’ of ads and marketing this week leading with holiday headlines of Thanksgiving and Christmas. From television to social media, mega-marketing messages will be unavoidable and ruthlessly relentless.

Thanks-taking

What is YOUR take away from the Thanksgiving and Christmas ‘holidays‘ of the Common Era?

It all started when the ‘back to school’ specials came off the shelf.

BLACK FRIDAY and beyond…

Guess who I found on my own site when I searched for Santa?

Thanks-giving in the days of our Lord by the ghosts of our Christmases past were long-ago lured into hurried holidays of Thanks-TAKING easily consumed in a ‘joy OF the world.’

Taking it all in with OUR own spin
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In order not to offend the inner-human insensitivities of the pagan purveyors of nature-ruled consumers seated at our 'Thanksgiving' table, 
perhaps tolerance of our fleshly excesses must rule over traditional manners of this Thanks-taking family feast. 

(Just for a day, of course, NO thanks-giving to God AND especially NO glory to JESUS Christ, even by acknowledgement of God's only Son in OUR prayer of 'thanks.' 
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Thanks-taking in 2023 of the Common Era

Christ Jesus (of the former years of our Lord) after all, has no place at the table of sinners here briefly today to give thanks for all of our taking. AND

Every American at the table this Thanksgiving must seek freedom FROM religion (rather than becoming a Pilgrim fleeing persecution for the faith of our forefathers).

Please note intended ironic contrast of Thanksgivings ‘in the years of our Lord’ AND in the ‘Common Era’ of these recent years.

WE are no Dickens or Spurgeon of the A.D. 19th century observing the hopeless tide of poor children begging blessing just beyond the churches of London.

WE are no A.D. 18th c. Washington (an Anglican), Adams (a Congregationalist), Witherspoon (a Presbyterian signer of the Declaration of Independence) or Jonathon Edwards, President of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) who famously preached “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.”
Source above: The Founding Fathers, Deism, and Christianity

SINNERS IN THE HANDS
OF AN ANGRY GOD
“Their foot shall slide in due time” (Deut. xxxii. 35)
AND certainly WE no longer reside in the New World of our forefathers but thank each other for our forefathers of REASON and idolic mother NATURE for the feast of this day.

Shall WE thank God for our Thanksgiving?
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Common Era culture including many 'christians' have eliminated our previous acknowledgement of the Lord Jesus Christ as the center-line of our world's history. 

Before Christ NOW becomes B.C.E. (meaning INSTEAD of Christ). 

Before Thanksgiving became 'Thanks-taking' Before Christmas 
(Make that: Before the holiday crowds).

Yet B.C.E. perhaps most appropriately refers to the centuries of these last days when Christians could thank God at Thanksgiving, that is:
+ IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD = centuries A.D. 1- A.D. 20.
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A previous Thanksgiving

Was it A.D. 2014 or 2014 C.E.?
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You decide from the link above or brief excerpts below.
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- Who does the heathen, the unbeliever, thank?
  - Do you thank yourself for what you have given yourself this past year… for your successes in this brief moment of your mortal time in human flesh? … Why would you have gratitude to any, if you have not gratitude to God?
- 2 Samuel 22
  - Is there any question who David is thanking for his life – for his deliverance from Saul? David thanks God. David praises the Lord for saving him. David takes refuge in God. Do you?
“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
from the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostle John 11:17 NKJV

Today, on this Thanks-giving of the Common Era, I praise our Lord God; the Father, Son and Holy Sprit Who IS, and Was and Will BE worthy of our continual THANKS and praise.

And I thank YOU, dear reader and student of Scripture, for sharing your thanks with others of this Common Era in these Thanks-taking last days of 2023.

Roger

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November 22, 2023