2102AFC010821 – Trinity Time!
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1 John 5:5-9 – 5 Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. 7 There are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. 9 If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to* his Son. *Greek peri → All about, concerning, in every consideration
1 John 4:1-5 – Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. 4 Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. This Sunday we will commemorate the Baptism of the Lord. This is one of those events that is sometimes mistaken for the Presentation of the Lord – the fortieth day after Jesus’ birth when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple and were greeted by Symeon and Anna (See Luke 2:22-38) Jesus was not baptized as an infant, as is a common practice these days; he was baptized as an adult, perhaps around age 30. Last week we celebrated the Epiphany of the Lord, and most scholars believe Jesus was about 2-3 years old then. We get that confused, too, because many Nativity Sets have the “Three Wisemen” and their camels standing by the crèche with the shepherds, the ox and lamb, and the little donkey Mary rode. Didn’t happen. (See also 2002AFC011020 – Do it thusly) What is particularly important about this moment in Jesus’ life is the revelation of the Holy Trinity.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ baptism is presented this way: John 1:32-34 – 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like* a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (*Greek hós as, like as, even as) I feel strongly that it was not a symbol of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus and that the symbol looked like a dove. I believe it was not a dove per se but rather the Holy Spirit moving toward Jesus in the same way a dove moves when landing. Furthermore, John – and probably Jesus and possibly others – saw it. On top of that, they heard God the Father speak! So there we have it – Father speaking from Heaven, Holy Spirit landing and remaining on the Christ of God, and Jesus rejoicing in the Spirit. Sometimes when I mention that, I’ll hear “certain people” who say the Holy Spirit isn’t in the Bible – at least not in the Old Testament. For them I say, “Try these on for size.”
Psalm 51:11 – 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (↔ Music Link) See also Isaiah 63:10-11) And of course we all know about Genesis 1:1-2 when and where the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water. You might want to also want to see Genesis 6:3, Genesis 41:38, Job 33:4, Isaiah 42:1, and Isaiah 48:16. Even when God was creating Adam, it was God’s Spirit of Life that was breathed into Adam’s nostrils. And before Adam could say “Apple Pie,” he betrayed God and the Spirit that enlivened his newly-created existence. That brought sin and death, and with those came the necessity for Salvation. Here’s a good description of why Salvation is required:
Romans 1:28-32 – (See link for full context; seriously, use it) 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. 29 They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.
Does that sound familiar? Now, think of this. The Apostle Paul wrote that right around 2,000 years ago. How much has humanity improved in that time? We have been doubling the scope and depth of knowledge and technology so rapidly that no one can actually keep up with it any longer. We are on information overload. We are also doubling the scope and depth of depravity and we are paying the price for it. Many people, regardless of their position on the evil-to-righteous scale, are certain that “the World as we know it is coming to an end.” Back in 2012 I wrote a post called 1242AFC101912 – A different fear. Here is a short excerpt from that:
Lately I’ve heard a lot of fear expressed about, of all things, politics. Is that a good scare or a bad scare? That’s a hard one to call. I think it depends on why it scares you. If you feel the changes coming, regardless of how the political landscape changes, pose an actual physical threat like imminent death, (which I find hard to imagine), that’s a bad fear. It’s more likely you fear some loss of status which might end “life as you know it,” but will not in fact make you dead. You most likely will suffer, if that is your disposition, and you might even suffer long and hard. Well, that is the thorny part of the covenant we have with God; we get all of his blessings along with some persecutions. See Mark 10:29-30.
Our world is a word of exaggerations, overstatement, hyperbole, embellishment, and all of those are synonyms for lies. And based on what we see in the World around us, you’d think we really enjoy lies! Look at all the exaggerated and deceptive things you can find on the Internet – from pornography to snake-oil medicine – and the same goes for new forms of entertainment, literature, art, dietary choices, in fact every aspect of life as an earthling has been distorted so badly that we seem to have lost our grip on the truth. Somehow we know this, but are still surprised that is it so pervasive and we’re part of it! How can this happen?
In that post I credit the Father of Lies. We are about to enter an era of such pervasive and insidious evil in which, quite literally, every living soul on Earth will suffer. The World will look like a Hieronymous Bosch triptych of The Garden of Earthly Delights – only for real, not a painting. Many “End Times Prophesies” seem to be manifesting, and yet it was just so in the days of the early Church and the “New World Order” folks welcome those changes; however, They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We have something – rather someone – better: Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. The Prince of the Air and his faithful followers (many of whom are in politics) have busted a move on us, and it’s going to be like a three-essay-pop-quiz for a class we’ve been skipping. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. We have THE Holy Spirit, the One and Only Spirit of the Living God, the Lord of Hosts. Do you know what that Name of God means? Many of us are familiar with this prayer: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” Lord of Hosts is listed in the Bible close to 275 times. This is JEHOVAH (YHWH) SABAOTH – the Ultimate Commander of the Heavenly Army of Angels who fight for God’s People. He is the omnipotent sovereign first mentioned in 1 Samuel 1:3. It is part of the Truth Prayer ~~ Almighty Everliving God, Lord of Hosts, We humbly ask you to grant us the Grace to seek Truth, to recognize it when we find it, the courage to embrace it wherever it is found, and the wisdom to exclude all else that is not Truth. In Jesus’ Precious Name. AMEN.
What is happening in this World is indeed scary stuff. What do we have now? We have false messiahs, nation against nation, wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecutions, betrayals, false prophets, other Gospels, sacrilege against Holy places, sudden mass loss of life, signs in the heavens, the powers of the Earth shaken, and the trumpet shall sound. Be not afraid, Little Children. There are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. 9 If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to* his Son. This time in history is Trinity Time! We can get our hearts cleaned in a jiffy if only we repent and turn to the Lord.
As for what’s been happening the past few days: Pretty darn crazy. The children of the Father of Lies are forming up their battle lines. It’s hard to tell who is fighting whom in that mess because none of them appear to be children of God.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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JUST FOR FUN
Now, today is the eighth day of the year 2021, and it is a day the Lord has made, so we should rejoice in it! For the sake of rejoicing, I will share with you an Old Time Fiddle Tune called 8th of January and folks, people used to dance to this tune. I think you’re gonna like it and probably even recognize it because it sounds a little like the dance tune The Battle of New Orleans. That was FUN!
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
