Aloha Friday Message – June 19, 2020 – Fear Not and Know Fear

June 19, 2020

2025AFC061920 – Fear Not and Know Fear

Read it online here please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

Jeremiah 20:10a – 10 I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”

Matthew 10:26 – 26 But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when the truth will be revealed: their secret plots will become public information. Living Bible (TLB)[1]

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. I very much do not want this to be a diatribe, but I very much do want to be clear about what those of us who profess the Christian faith must be doing during this turbulent time throughout the world. It would be easy to write a forceful and bitter attack, a rant against what we see and what we know is wrong. As the expressions goes, “Everybody’s doing it.” And of course, as soon as we hear that, we can hear a parent or a preacher or a teacher saying, “Well if ‘everybody’ went and jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?” Instead of getting all livid and shouting, let’s just make some recommendations, share a little Praise, maybe give a few tributes and ovations, and perhaps include a Blessing – or two (or more).

One has to wonder how the whole world came unstitched in just a few weeks. We’ve seen so much bitter division over so many different things. It seems being offended has become the new National Pastime. The notion of being “ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL” has become the basis for bitter recriminations. We have a widespread pestilence with devastating virulence that looks like it will be with us for years to come. History is being rewritten as people attack and destroy art they find offensive. (A quick aside here: Some of the folks who are tearing down statues are the same folks who decried the destruction of historical locations and art by ISIS.) This week sex was redefined as a characteristic unrelated to gender. Within the past year, the “right to life” for an unborn child was completely negated in some states. Laws permitting human persons to collaborate with a physician (sworn to “do no harm”) have been put in place that allow for another form of legalized murder. At the same time, laws that required capital punishment for certain heinous crimes were taken off the books.

Now, as we enter into what promises to be a very violent summer, we have unprecedented protests and riots around the world. The mayhem, criminal conduct, and disregard for life and property are horrific. The people we called heroes a month ago because of their contributions to keeping the nation running – police, fire fighters, truck drivers, healthcare workers, and the military – are now villainous usurpers of our individual rights. Leaders who pray for our Nation and our citizens are mocked as hypocrites while leaders who curse our citizens and government are hailed as models of decency. Let us praise God for those who serve others in humility rather than destroy others in pride!

On top of that, we have the prospects of a very serious and destructive hurricane season along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, a moderate possibility of a serious hurricane in the Central Pacific, the likelihood of at least one – and maybe more – super-typhoons in the Western Pacific, additional storms and flooding across the northern hemisphere, and who knows but what we might get a damaging earthquake somewhere along the line as well. There is no longer a “fire season” as there are humongous fires set off daily someplace in the world, probably in some West Coast states unfortunately. Again, in the past year or so, nearly the whole of Australia was burning and a great swath of the Amazon as well. Many of our rivers, lakes, streams, and oceans are brimming with pollution of some sort.

Despite all of these calamities, there are still wars going on, there are still terrorists acting, there are still crooked politicians (I heard that. Someone said “all of ’em”), and the world economy is tanking without regard to nationality, need, creed, or income. Millions around the world have lost their jobs. Well over eight MILLION (8,000,000) people have been infected with COVID-19 VIRUS, and close to 500,000 have died. We are told there is more of that coming. Social media is “blowing up” with people who are disgusted and impatient with all these catastrophes. What is an earthling to do? I want you to know that – really – it is not what we do at the start that will make a difference; it is what we do not do. We must not be afraid.

All of the things I’ve listed here are the kinds of things that make us afraid. Is that what God asks of us? In our Key Verse from Jeremiah, he speaks of his abuse by his own countrymen because he dares to prophesy against the false prophets who have led the nation astray. There was a false prophet named Pashhur son of Immer, a Priest and “chief officer” of the Temple. He used false accusations, false prophecies, and false evidence to persecute anyone who challenged his power. Jeremiah was sent by God to prophesy against him, to get him and his cronies out of power. To put it into modern lingo, Jeremiah told Pashhur the swamp was going to be drained, and he was going with it when Babylon wiped out Judah and carried Pashhur and his family off to Babylon where they would die by the sword. And so it was. Israel, Judah, the Chosen People were again conquered and subjugated, impoverished, and subjected to a vicious pogrom. Yet, some survived. Some remained faithful even in captivity, even in times of great fear and suffering. As you may recall, Cyrus (← Check it out!) eventually freed them and sent them home. We’d like an outcome like that, yes? So where do we begin?

First, be faithful to the Gospel. In the words of the simple instructions Jesus gave at the beginning of his ministry (and the end of John’s) – “Repent and believe the Gospel.” Prophecies that do not include a call to repentance were instantly recognized as false prophecies. We must start out with Faith that is nurtured and pruned through repentance. That is how we face and overcome the fear that all of the commotion around us can stir up. That is the second thing we must do. We must not fear.

You see, it is fear that the Foe uses to make us abandon our mission to go to all corners of Earth to proclaim the Good News. Satan uses F.E.A.R. to keep us in doubt and desire to keep us dissatisfied. We don’t have to submit to those tactics; in fact, we must not buy that line of baloney from Satan or his minions among our fellow earthlings. Earlier this week I sent you a music link: Be Not Afraid (↔ Music Link). Maybe you could watch it again? We cannot, must not, should not be afraid to make the Gospel known and to live it as completely as we can. We know that Jesus has told us he is always with us, that God is always watching over us, and – as the Apostle Paul said – “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord, who are called according to his purpose.” (See Romans 8:28) Ah, that last little phase there is quite the hook. For what purpose are we called? We are called to be faithful, to testify from the housetops (see Matthew 10:26-33, especially verses 32 and 33), and to reverence God. Here is a little logo I created a few years ago that summarizes that:

This image reminds us there is a “proper fear,” the Fear of the Lord, , and that includes adoration, thanksgiving, and praise – like Standing Ovation Praise. Now, most of us know that when we see that phrase – fear of the Lord – it does not mean we are to be afraid of God. It means to be in awe of God, to reverence him, and to know he is our Creator, our Salvation, and our Enduring Hope. Fear Not, because you Fear God! Someone has written that there are 365 instances in the Bible that tell us not to be afraid. I’d say that is pretty convincing evidence that being afraid in our lives is not what God intended for us. Here’s a good quote from the above selection in the Gospel of Matthew:

When each of us faces our day of judgment, what will it matter if we were afraid? Will we tell Jesus, “I couldn’t live the Gospel; I was too afraid.”? We know our mission will include controversy, confrontation, and contradiction – sometimes to the point of imprisonment or death. Do not be afraid. (← Check it out!) Fear can make us do things that are contradictory to our faith – we might act unethically because “no one will know,” or “everyone is doing it, so it’s OK for me.” We might do this because we are afraid of rejection, bullying, criticism, or persecution. We can honor those who stick to their faith by following their example. Do what we know is right. Avoid doing what we know is wrong. When we commit a wrong, we must repent. We must remember it’s The Ten Commandments, not the Recommendation List. We must remember that prayer is worship and praise, not a To-Do list for God. And we must remember not to be afraid!

There is a hymn I learned in our Youth Group around 1960. It was written Ellis Govan 1897-1983, born in Biggar, Strathdyde, Scotland. He served in World War I, and then worked in Kenya for several years. He later joined Faith Mission, the evangelistic agency his father founded in 1886 in Scotland and Ireland. Ellis wrote the hymn, “I Will Not Be Afraid.” (↔ Music Link) This hymn was born among the persecuted missionaries and believers in China during the war with Japan, 1931-1939. They boldly sang it together daily as they were surrounded by constant danger. Music: “Duntroon,” usually listed as Anonymous. As we listen to this simple tune and read the words, we can think about the love in our hearts and examine that love to see if there is any fear within it. If there is fear, we must “look upward, and travel onward, and not be afraid.” True Love does not evoke fear. We are repeatedly commanded to Love, and repeatedly reminded “Do not be afraid. (e.g., Psalm 56:11) Fear not. (e.g., Luke 12:32)” Love, instead, delivers us from all fear if we will just love one another in the same way that Jesus willing and completely, without pretense or demand, Loves us they same way his Father Loves him.  That is our blessing, the blessing we must share with everyone who Loves God.

God Our Father himself said, Isaiah 41:10 – 10 … do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. We have Jesus’ word as well in John 16:33 – 33 I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world! So, Belovéd, what shall we do? Scripture shows us we need not be afraid, so what outlook should we embrace? Let’s choose Psalm 37:3 – 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security. Fear Not and Know Fear.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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.

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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

[1] Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Aloha Friday Message – June 12, 2020 – Call it what it is

June 12, 2020

2024AFC061220 – Call it what it is

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

Many Keys to Something

John 6:51 – 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Today we anticipate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. The “old name” for this was Corpus Christi. It was instituted by Pope Urban IV in 1264 as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Pentecost. He decreed it as a feast for the entire Latin Church, by the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo. .Hence, the feast of Corpus Christi was established to create a feast focused solely on the Holy Eucharist. The recommendation for the papal bull came from none other than Saint St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church. Aquinas’ suggesting had its roots in some forty years of dedication to the Eucharist by a certain Juliana of Liège, a 13th-century Norbertine canoness, also known as Juliana de Cornillon, born in 1191 or 1192 in Liège, Belgium, based on a vision she had of Christ in 1208. In the vision, she was inspired to request a special, unique celebration of the Eucharist. Remarkably, she kept the vision – and the request – a secret for about 20 years. [i] This Solemnity (a feast day of the highest rank) has been celebrated on the assigned date ever since it was established. Take note of the subject of that solemnity – The Body and Blood of Christ. It makes a difference which I hope to show you by telling you a little story from my past.

You may have heard this before.

When I was in the seventh grade, we had a wonderful teacher for General Science named Mr. Skylar. He was a teacher who inspired even the most truculent students to learn something. He frequently challenged the class to disprove some point of Science he was teaching, and often the challenge was a bet for a piece of cherry pie from the cafeteria. He was one cool cat, too! He drove a Triumph TR3, the girls thought he was “dreamy,” and the eggheads thought he was super-smart. One of his favorite teaching routines was to give a pop-quiz at the start of class based on the latest assignment. Then he would turn the papers over to his teaching assistants who would grade the papers and return them to Mr. Skylar so he could read off the scores out loud in front of the whole class. We usually had 10 minutes to answer 20-25 questions. You had to work fast!

One week we were studying a dissection of a perch. We all knew there would be a quiz and probably a bet, too. Well, there were both. One boy lost a bet about whether perch were fresh water of salt water fish. There are both kinds of perch. He lost. The quiz was “only” 20 questions, so as soon as I got my paper, I launched right into it – put my name at the top and raced through all 20 questions! I was sure I had at least passed. At the end of the class, the assistants came out and he started reading the names and scores; “Bob, 85; Jan, 90; James, 75; Susan, awwww 60! Then it happened: ” … Who’s CHICK?!?!” I had rushed the writing of my name CHUCK so that it was illegible and I forgot to put my last name Todd. The laughter was … not unusual for me. I was always a skinny, homely nerd.

When I was growing up (I’m almost afraid to tell you this!) everyone I knew called me Chuckie. By the time I got to fourth grade, I “rebelled” against that and told everyone to just call me Chuck. That worked all the way through high school. Then, at Hope College in Holland Michigan, I changed it to Chick – mainly because I was tired of all the “chuck” jokes like “how much wood could a wood chuck chuck,” and chuck wagon, and drill-chuck, and chuck-wrench, and chuck steak, and chuck out, and up-chuck, and chuck-full, and (maybe the worst) chuck-hole. Whew! Well, it didn’t take much longer for “Chick” to get the same treatment – here chick-chick-chick, and Chick Corea (one heckuva great jazz pianist), Chic-lets, chickadee, chick’n’noodle (really!), and chick peas, chick flick, Chick-fil-A, and a weird one – chickerica. ¡Ai! I submitted to these nick names of Chuckie, Chuck, and Chick because my given name, Charles, sounded too formal to me … “Chaahhhhrlz.” Now, my dad was called Charles by many people – including my mom and most of his coworkers in the Air Force and the Denver FHA office – but he never wanted to be called Charlie (and I never picked up that moniker, either!). On Facebook I was unable to get my profile listed as “Chick Todd,” even though nearly everyone I know and everyone who knows me calls be Chick. Nonetheless my name is CHARLES OLIN TODD, III (and there are also COT IV and COT V!)

No matter what you call me, God created me as CHARLES OLIN TODD, III. I am immensely pleased with that because it is the very definition of my history. If you are going to call me who I am, that is what you call me. If you are going to call me who I want to be, you call me Chick Todd. If you are going to call me by who I do not want to be, you call me Chuckie – or one of the scores of other insults male earthlings fling at each other. I want you to understand that because I want you to understand the name of this Solemnity.

It is not the Solemnity of Wonder Bread and Welch’s Grape Juice, nor of Matzah and Manischewitz, nor of Bread and Wine. It is Body and Blood of Christ. Catholics, and a few other non-Catholic denominations, believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. (Please see 1917AFC042619 – THIS is important for some insight into what we believe.) When I hear someone speaking of the elements of the Eucharist as “the bread and wine,” it makes me cringe just as much as hearing the name “Chuckie” directed at me. The offering for the Eucharistic Feast is unleavened bread and unadulterated wine (no preservatives, “natural” fermented grape juices, and fresh, i.e., not soured). The unleavened bread wafers used are wheat (like the shewbread), and are passed to the recipient with the phrase “The Body of Christ;” the response is “Amen.” If Communion is given under both species, the recipient receives communion from the Chalice with the phrase “The Blood of Christ;” again the response is “Amen.” Throughout the Eucharist, and in every Mass prayed at every church in every hour around the world, the practices are the same. But here is something I find remarkable:

     According to several studies over the past 20 or so years, researchers have found that about 40% of confirmed Catholics, including the twenty-three Eastern Christian sui iuris (autonomous) particular churches of the Catholic Church, in full communion with the Pope in Rome – do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ! Honestly, there is really no point in the Eucharist which is “the source and summit of our faith” (Please see CCC 1322-1344) without knowing that one is receiving the True and Real Presence of Christ. Is it that hard to believe? Yes, and that is why we call it a Mystery – a Mystery of Faith. Look again at the words of the Key Verse: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. HE, and HE ALONE gave his life – very literally his “flesh and blood,” for the life of the world. If you have looked at or remember the message linked above about the word THIS – in Greek οὗτος (oútos) {hoo-tohs or oo-tohs}, as well as 1512AFC051515 – Look him up, you will know how seriously we take the Eucharistic Mystery. Here is a resource on that topic:

When Jesus says, “this is my body,” his declaration is that what he is about to share – pieces from the broken loaf of bread – IS HIS body. He is not saying, “this represents my body,” “this is like my body,” “this is a symbol of my body,” or “pretend my body is bread.” He means what he says: “this is my body.” In the next sentence, there is another declaration in the form of a command: “Do this in remembrance of me.” He is telling the Apostles they are to do and say exactly what he has done and said. During the Eucharistic Prayer, the presiding Priest does NOT say, “This is his body,” or “This represents his body.” The Priest, in his ministry as the alter christus, repeats what Jesus told the Apostles to repeat: “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Here again, the meaning, intent, and purpose are perfectly clear. It is the same with the communion Chalice – as in Matthew 26:27-28 – 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Here is the Real Presence of the Body of Christ, here is the Real Presence of the Precious Blood of Christ, and here is the exact expression of what Jesus commanded should be said and done. Wherever we find one of the demonstrative pronouns in these passages, there we will also find the meaning this one, meaning the item actually present here, the one just named and none other than this one; and also this action, meaning the action actually performed here, the one just shown and none other than this one. The first time we come across τοῦτο is in Genesis 2:19 – 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The Hebrew word there is ה֥וּא (hu or hi) {hoo} which is an emphatic form for the pronoun it replaces, in this passage it would be the name Adam gave.

So, Belovéd, yeh cain’t call me Ray (↔ Video Link) , or Raymond, or RJ, … “but you doesn’t hasta call me Johnson!” OR CHUCKIE. And just the same way, you don’t have to call it bread and wine, because it’s not. It is the Sacred Body and the Precious Blood of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. I’m CHARLES O TODD III, and if you call me that I know you know who I am. It is my right and proper name. It is used in right a proper circumstances where formality is right and just. Certainly the Holy Eucharist is a circumstance where the formality of that which is right and just is most certainly proper. I encourage everyone – Catholic and Non-Catholic alike – to remember that, in Faith, we share the Presence of the Lord whenever we meet him the in the Eucharist. He is first, last, foremost, and singularly the living bread that came down from Heaven.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

I should also mention the Key Verse icon for this post. That’s a whole pile of keys of many descriptions. I chose that because they represent the hundreds of Key Verses I have chosen (even before I started calling them Key Verses), and also because of the hundreds of posts I have put up using those Key Verses. Every key in that pile is the key to unlocking something. Every Key Verse in this blog is also a key to unlocking something called Scripture. There are many cross-references in this post, and if you follow them, you’ll be busy for a while-and-a-half. It’s good practice for the process of Scripture Study.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

[i]  See this article on Juliana de Cornillon

Aloha Friday Message – June 5, 2020 – Let’s WIN This Thing!

June 5, 2020

2023AFC060520 – Let’s WIN this thing!

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. For the past few weeks, we have had some difficulty with scheduled posts being publish as the scheduled time. Thanks to the extraordinary helpers who maintain the Moon Beam Network, we believe this problem has been resolved! Thank you Kukui-IT for everything you do!

2 Corinthians 13:11b – Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

¡Que la bendición esté siempre con ustedes y que Dios los bendiga, Amados! (May blessing always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd!) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

I am going to share with you some thoughts about what we’ve been through this year and especially about what is happening NOW. The Spirit of Evil, the Destroyer, the Ha-Satan – “Accuser” – is running the show. As a Nation, we are divided about whom or what is responsible. Is it race? Is it politics? Is it history? Is it really my fault? How could it possibly be your fault? Surely it must be OUR fault? Maybe you remember seeing this:

It seems to me that the way things are going, it really doesn’t matter where the fault originates because too few people genuinely care about justice for everyone. Justice for ME, that’s OK, but justice for YOU – fugetaboutit.  It seems we do care a great deal about BLAME though. Why is that? I believe – and you may disagree – that it is because we are too tolerant of Injustice. If there is no viable, objective, indelible Truth, then how can there be anything even remotely resembling real Justice? And if there is no Justice, there surely can be no Mercy! Without Justice and Mercy, all we have is injustice and malice. Belovéd, that is what I see happening around the whole World this very day – injustice and malice perpetrated by earthlings who are controlled by demons. Demons!? Who believes in that stuff – other than Hollywood?

Belovéd, these are difficult times, perilous times, perplexing times. We know we are at war in multiple places and multiple levels. We see warfare waged on six of the seven continents. In some of these locations, evil clearly has the upper hand while in others the battles go better for one side or the other without any conclusive ending. And then there is the war behind these wars, the war of the Spirits. In Ephesians 6:12, Paul writes, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Think of it, Beloved. Paul wrote those words roughly 1900 or so years ago! Who is in that battle now, and who has the upper hand? Let’s look at Scripture, and see if we can find some answers.

MBN members may recall a previous message describing the War we are in. I capitalize that word War to call attention to the fact that this War is different from what we usually think of as war. Recently we also published a four-part series on The Full Armor of God on Catholic365.com. This is a spiritual battle which continues to grow and no earthling anywhere is unaffected by this monstrous conflict between good and evil. Lucifer is grinning ear-to-ear, wringing his hands in gleeful anticipation, and taking full advantage of much of humanity’s denial of his existence. The Father of Lies, who himself is an angel of light (Lucifer), appears all round the world stirring up strife, anguish, terror, and war (small w). What are we to do about this Spiritual War? And how can we help stave off the spirits which ceaselessly assault us in every place? Does that sound like an exaggeration, like something from one of those demonically-based horror flicks? That is because we are being conditioned to accept Evil as truth. Let me ask you a couple of questions.

Do you believe in God? If you do, then you must also believe in Satan, our mutual enemy, because God is not a liar, so he would not warn us against him if he was not real. Do you believe in Angels? Then you must believe in demons, because Satan took with him many of the Holy Angels who joined him in his rebellion against God. Do you believe the souls of our Faithful and Obedient departed are with God? Then you must believe that the souls of the faithless and rebellious departed are with Satan. Do you believe the idea that Satan is not the personification of Evil, and that he is actually helping God? Are you among those who believe God is the source of all things, including what earthlings regard as good or evil? That obviates the existence of immutable Truth.

Think of all the people you know – not just the ones you hang out with – all the people in the news, all the people in the nations where war is happening right now, and all the people whose “spiritual ideologies” exclude any aspect of the reality of the Holy Trinity. Think also about all the people who could possibly be being paid to inflict anarchy on their communities. As citizens of the Republic of the United States of America, none of us should be working for the overthrow of the government. We are being conditioned not only to accept evil, but also to believe that our national goal should NOT be: ONE NATION, UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. Is there liberty and justice for all? No, there is not. Is fomenting hatred, division, mayhem, destruction, and brutality the pathway to Justice? Of course it is not! We are seeing around the world the result of a small percentage of the humanity on this planet determining to inflict the maximum amount of pain and suffering on the rest of humanity. Why are they doing that? They are doing that because we have allowed evil to displace Love. Whoever does not know Love does not know God, and whoever does not know God cannot know, or act in, Love.

Now [1] think of all the people who claim to know God, to serve Christ, but whose words and actions contradict everything they claim. Next, [2] think of all the people whose words match their lives, who can say with absolute certainty “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Lastly, [3] think of all the people who detest God and his People. Run a quick tally in your head. Which of these three groups is the smallest? Which of these three groups are most likely to become God’s allies when the battles intensify? Finally, if you know in your heart how to distinguish one group from the other, then you know how to “test the spirits.” In the end, we will all have to answer these questions, so it is best to answer them today and every day as we test the spirits we encounter. Paul refers to one of those spirits as the Spirit of the antichrist.

When we hear that word, we think of opposition – anti meaning against; but the Greek word/prefix ἀντί – anti – not only means “opposite of” but also “in place of.” The spirit of the antichrist is not only among us, it is often within us whenever we place anything or anyone above The Holy Trinity. Think of the vices that control portions of our lives – little idols we serve – like booze, nicotine, sex, violence, ego, hatred, indifference, envy, selfishness, greed, lust, gluttony … got the picture? When Christ is replaced by even just one these things, these spirits, we welcome the antichrist into our lives. Now this is not the fabulous charismatic world leader who will “solve” all the world’s problems, perform wondrous acts of great power, and set himself up as a god. No, this is the “evil that men do [which] lives after them.” It is our failure. But it is not our defeat! As we see, you who belong to God have already defeated this spirit, because the one who lives in you is far stronger than the anti-Christ in the world. (See 1 John 4:1-6 please do follow that link!) That is, if indeed He lives within you. (Again – please follow this → link to Romans 8:5-9)

The War is fought on multiple fronts. There is war in our flesh and against our flesh. There is war in our families and against the very foundation of families, holy matrimony. There is war in our minds as we quell the warning signals in our heart, our minds and our spirits and – in the name of tolerance and “good will” – we accept what we know is wrong, and reject what we know is right. Antichrist! Remember: It has been said that for evil men to accomplish their purpose it is only necessary that good men should do nothing. (Rev. Charles F. Aked) And why do good men so often do nothing? We must ask ourselves, not others, for it is us, and only us, who can be held accountable for the good that we do as well as the good we do not do. “He who is in you” has conquered the World and all its evil; when we oppose or replace Him, we tip the scale of victory away toward the ever-advancing tide of evil that swells across the planet.

Test the spirits! 20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; 21 keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.(See Jude 1:20-21) Forewarned is forearmed, and we are forewarned daily. Why do we fail to heed that warning? I said previously, “In the end, we will all have to answer these questions, so it is best to answer them today and every day as we test the spirits we encounter.” Here is a passage from Ephesians 6 (J. B. Phillips New Testament) that describes our responsibility, accountability, and God’s dependability:

Ephesians 6:13

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS) ®

Be forewarned and forearmed in your spiritual conflict

10-18 In conclusion be strong—not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource. Put on God’s complete armour so that you can successfully resist all the devil’s methods of attack. For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organisations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil. Therefore you must wear the whole armour of God that you may be able to resist evil in its day of power, and that even when you have fought to a standstill you may still stand your ground. Take your stand then with truth as your belt, righteousness your breastplate, the Gospel of peace firmly on your feet, salvation as your helmet and in your hand the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Above all be sure you take faith as your shield, for it can quench every burning missile the enemy hurls at you. Pray at all times with every kind of spiritual prayer, keeping alert and persistent as you pray for all Christ’s men and women.

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

  1. B. Phillips, “The New Testament in Modern English”, 1962 edition by HarperCollins

Ephesians 6:13 in all English translations

Finally, Belovéd, reflect on the power in the Scripture selections that follow. We have Victory in Jesus! (↔ Music Link)

1 John 4:2-4 – 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.

Now, please use these links to give you more Power in this War!

Colossians 2:13-15

Luke 10:17-20

Romans 16:17-20

1 John 5:3-4 – 3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4 for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Our Faith is in the Lord – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – who made Heaven and Earth. Our Faith is the assurance of our Victory regardless of what the Accuser says or does to us through his subordinates.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – May 29, 2020 – Among the Gifted

May 29, 2020

2022AFC052920 – Among the Gifted

it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

    1 Corinthians 12:7-11 – 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

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. It’s finally here! Pentecost is coming! What will we see? What manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit will we find in our lives? Will you, will I, will we recognize it? More importantly, will we know what to do with it? We know these manifestations go by a couple of familiar names in Scripture: the Gifts of the Spirit and the Fruit of the Spirit. There is some information on that at 1603AFC011516 – Gift Wrapped. Just for a refresher, though, let’s look at what’s included in those two titles.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit Fruit of the Holy Spirit
The Word of Knowledge Love
The Word of Wisdom Joy
The Gift of Prophecy Peace
The Gift of Faith Patience
The Gifts of Healings Kindness
The Working of Miracles Generosity
The Discerning of Spirits Faithfulness
Different Kinds of Tongues Gentleness
The Interpretation of Tongues Self control

In the Key Verse passage for today, the opening verse – verse 7 – is one that I see as the bow on the gift wrapping for these gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Let’s see it again:

    1 Corinthians 12:7 – 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. We’re going to pick that apart a bit and see what comes of it.

First, the Apostle Paul says “to each.” Just who is included in that word “each?” in verses 2-3 of this chapter, he says “2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” This is addressed to Christians who have converted from their pagan beliefs in idols and professed their faith in Christ, were baptized, and confirmed in the Holy Spirit. These manifestations of the Spirit the Apostle Paul will soon to describe are established in members of the Church, The Body of Christ, the Bride of the Redeemer. By saying “each,” he describes the phenomenon as occurring to two or more individually, rather than “severally.” As a group of believers, they are all gifted by the Holy Spirit, but as individuals, they are each gifted with something of what is needed for the benefit of all.

Next we see “the manifestation” as the process for the actions of the Holy Spirit. A manifestation is a “showing forth.” One might immediately think of the Epiphany of Jesus, his “showing forth,” and that is a good reference. An epiphany is a manifestation of divinity; a manifestation – when not of a divinity – is a public revelation of human characteristics. But wait! Aren’t we talking about the Holy Spirit? How is that not divinity? It is not the divinity of the Holy Spirit that is made manifest. It is the manifestation of gifts and fruit from the Holy Spirit. This is a public showing-forth of what God, through the Holy Spirit, gives to Christians in the Church for the benefit of the Church. We can see these gifts when they are used in that context.

Next we read “of the Spirit.” Well, there’s nothing hidden or obscure about that! These are not manifestations of our actions. They are manifestations of the Spirit’s actions. This is one of those super-easy traps the Foe often uses to mess with our hearts and minds, and to wage war on the Church. “I’m such a Good Little Christian, because I can ….” It is not our “go-power” that establishes these gifts in our lives. They are gifts so they are not something from ourselves which we give to ourselves. It reminds me of that story about Granny who was knitting socks for her grandson Tom for his return to college in the fall. Tom’s sister, Anne, saw her knitting and asked what she was working on. “Oh, I’m knitting some warm socks for Tommy for when he goes back to school.” “But Granny, why are you knitting three socks?” “Oh! Tommy sent me a postcard in August at the end of his road-trip and told me he’d grown another foot over the summer.” Belovéd we can no more generate the gifts God sends to us for the Church than we can generate an additional appendage! It was the Spirit of God who moved across the waters in Genesis, and it is the Spirit of God who moves across us when we receive the Holy Spirit.

Finally we end, as the Apostle Paul did, with “for the common good.” That’s the clincher, as far as I’m concerned, because it says what we must do with those gifts. We must use them! Whenever we use those gifts, we not only give service to God and to the Church, but also give others around us a view of what the Holy Spirit does. In the Church, and in the world, our actions make the Holy Spirit manifest to others. We have gifts. We use those gifts (they are called “charisms” in the Church). Through our charismatic actions the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit is made known. In this way the Holy Spirit reveals himself to everyone both inside of and outside of the Church. And what is the coolest aspect of these gifts? The more we use them, the more we have of them!

We sometimes jokingly refer to things as “the gift that keeps on giving,” but that is exactly what happens with the Gifts and Fruit of the Holy Spirit. They continue to grow, to blossom like beautiful blossoms that yield rich and varied fruits for the nourishment and edification of EVERYONE. NO, it should be clear that this is most definitely NOT something we can do for ourselves by ourselves. What is (are) your gift(s)? If you can’t see them, how do you know they are there? You know by looking at the things you can do best. I’ve covered that earlier. Seriously, I ask you to look at Aloha Friday Message – July 20, 2012 – Whose gift is that? 1229AFC072012. I’m going to borrow a few words from that post. First, though, some supporting Scripture about these spectacular – yet common – gifts.

1 Corinthians 14:26 – 26 What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

Ephesians 4:11-13 – 11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Romans 12:6-8 – 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

1 Corinthians 12:28 – 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.

“None of those gifts or fruits sound like the kinds of things I can do.” If that is what you are thinking, then you may not have found a way to perceive and be aware of your gifts. When you think of the things you might be able to share with your faith community, begin by thinking about the things you are good at, the things for which you have developed a passion over the years. For example, I love scripture study, I’m comfortable in front of groups, I have the “gift of gab” like all my siblings, and all of these things come together in being a Lector – a person who reads passages of Scripture during the liturgy. Many churches of all descriptions have what I’d call on-going education for adults (a.k.a. “Sunday School”). In some cases though, it is increasingly difficult to get adults involved in these faith-based learning opportunities. The opportunity to grow in Faith is a very special gift because it is a gift that allows you to grow in service. When you look at your skill-set, what kinds of things do you enjoy most which might have a meaningful connection to your faith community?

When you offer to present your gifts for the betterment of the community, God blesses that offering by choosing for you something that you can do well and which you love to do. He stirs up in you the desire to serve his church effectively, and he brings glory to his church and to his provident care through the esteem given for the effective works accomplished.  Let’s look at just one of the Gifts of the Spirit for a moment to see how that might translate into an opportunity for stewardship. Let’s look at the first one in the list above – the Word of Knowledge. How is that expressed in your community?

Some of the activities that fit into this gift category are teaching, preaching, technology and science, leading and/or participating in educational conferences or retreats, writing, home-schooling, religious education, and working on the pastoral council. That is one Gift having many (and many more) applications.

Let’s look at one other gift – Intercessory Prayer. Paul was constantly interceding for the fledgling churches he and the other apostles had founded. This could be usefully expressed in your community through group intercessions (prayer meetings), healing-prayer team, prayer walking/driving, as a parent praying for children (yours and/or others), as part of a prayer chain or circle (like the MBN!), as a sponsor for baptism or confirmation or marriage or ordination, and as a community activist prayerfully leading your neighborhood to a better life.

It is important to understand that God does not limit us to seven Fruits and nine Gifts of the Spirit. There are dozens if not hundreds of Gifts, and the fruits we nurture through the use of our gifts also number much higher than nine.

Belovéd, as you can see, we are indeed among the Gifted, one of the Many and Great (↔ Music Link) whom God has chosen to receive Blessings and Graces in abundance. There are only requirements that come with these gifts:

  1. Honor the Giver by accepting the Gift
  2. Honor the Gift by sharing it with others.

Do just those two things, and you will enjoy a very Lovely Present from your Creator!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

Aloha Friday Message – May 22, 2021 – What is doubt?

May 22, 2020

2021AFC052220 – What is doubt?

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

Matthew 28:17 – 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

Mark 16:6-16 – 9 Now after he [Jesus] rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. 12 After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. 14 Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. 16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, Belovéd. This coming Sunday, May 24, 2020, a great many Christians will be celebrating The Ascension of the Lord. This is one of my favorite celebrations of the life of Christ. I’ve written about it here several times, notably in Aloha Friday Message – May 15, 2015 – Look Him Up! One of the readings in that event we commemorate next Sunday comes from Acts 1:1-11. Verses 10-11 read – 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” I make it a point to mention that the word “this” in that last sentence is supremely important. The Greek word used in this passage is very specific and means this one, the one visibly present here, the one just named and none other than this one. There’s not another one, there’s no way it could be someone else. It will be precisely, exactly, permanently that same guy you just saw take off into the clouds. It is HE who will return to you. (See 1917AFC042619 – THIS is important) This one verse in the whole New Testament confirms to me every word Jesus said to the Apostles, his Disciples, and every Christian that has ever lived. Exactly that one-and-only Jesus is coming back to get us in the same way he departed Earth! I tell you, if you can believe what those “two men in white robes said,” you have Hope and Peace and Joy and Love and  the Promise that he lives – not just in our hearts – but for sure and certain in his Father’s House of many dwellings. And honestly, folks, I don’t see how anyone cannot believe that if they’ve gotten anything from God’s Story of Salvation the B.I.B.L.E. Now, take a look at the first Key Verse for today. Those last three words astonish and appall me. It says, “but some doubted.”

Wha-a-a-a-a-a-t?!?!? When we see images of the ascension, we mostly see just the remaining 11 Apostles standing there looking into the sky as Jesus is taken up (or flies up on his own power) into the clouds and out of sight. In my mind’s-eye, however, I see Jesus’ mother Mary there with them, and the other Marys that had accompanied him along with Joanna and Susanna, Clopas, Joseph of Arimathea, and perhaps even some of the other converts – including a few from the Jewish priesthood – who loved him. He was seen by upwards of 500 persons, whether all at the same time or at various times during the forty days after the resurrection – we do not know, and so, perhaps it was more than just the eleven. Now why do I think that? That comes to mind because of those three startling words but some doubted.

You know I like to look into the original words, so once again we will dip a toe into those waters. The word Luke uses here is distazo which literally means twenty-thousand. Say what? It’s one of those idiomatic expressions that means “going two ways, shifting between positions; choosing “a double-stance” and hence vacillate (waver); (figuratively) uncertain at a crossroad because refusing to choose one way over the other – “wanting to have our cake and eat it too”; to halt between two opinions (views, beliefs).” It’s the same thing as not believing what you see!! You’ll remember the Apostle Thomas took that approach – “I’ll believe it when I see it.” A similar aphorism is “Seeing is believing.” Whether the gathering there as Jesus departed Earth was just the Eleven, or a small crowd of witnesses, all of them had seen Jesus’ many miracles, heard Jesus’ many admonitions and promises, and spent many months walking with him from Tyre and Sidon to Jerusalem and Bethphage. How could they do all of that and still have any doubts about anything Jesus did or said? We find a clue in Jesus’ own words to the Disciples and Apostles; it’s another biblical quote that has become a popular aphorism: “O YE OF LITTLE FAITH.”

Here again, we are wise to explore the content and context of that phrase. The word used in Greek is oligopistos – a fascinating word that is a contraction of olígos, which means a small quantity or a small number, and pístis which means faith. Oligopistos, then, is a state or action that occurs infrequently – Jesus is telling them to use and grow the faith they have, but they doubt – they are not just double-minded, they are 20,000-minded! The term describes someone whose “hearing” – understanding – is all stuffed up. Think of the three-year old with fingers in the ears going LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA! The Disciples cannot hear his voice, hear his message, hear his commands, hear his Love. They are insufficiently interested in HIM and therefore cannot increase their faith; in fact, they barely have faith. This word, oligopistos, is found only in the New Testament; it is not found in any known secular work! That alone should tell us that what Jesus is saying to “we of little faith” is extraordinarily important. If we are not interested enough in nurturing an intimate relationship with Jesus the Christ, if we do not hear or see how he teaches us and cares for us, if we fail to understand that being Christian means following Jesus by imitating his life and emulating his teaching, then we truly, surely are “O we of little faith.” We do not trust him. I say again, WE DO NOT TRUST HIM. Take a look at the instances in the Gospels where oligopistos occurs:

Matthew 6:30 – 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Matthew 8:26 – 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm.

Matthew 14:31 – 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Again, distazo for “doubt”)

Matthew 16:8 – 8 And becoming aware of it, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread? (I urge you to read Matthew 16:5-12 to see this in context.)

Luke 12:28 – 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!

Every time Jesus uses this phrase – O you of little faith – it comes after he has spoken what God has given him to say, and they “fail to hear his voice.” What he says, what he does, who he is seems to them to be too fantastical. Their inadequate response in action says, “I don’t believe you.” Even after the Resurrection – after everything they had been through with Jesus, they could not, did not, would not believe, as we saw above:

Mark 16:11 – 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
Mark 16:13 – 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
Mark 16:14 – 14 Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. Later as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
Eventually, after scolding them, eating with them, talking and walking with them, their faith began to strengthen a tiny bit.
Acts 1:3 – 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 15:6 – 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. (Once again I urge you to read this very important passage in context at 1 Corinthians 15:3-11)

Having seen how difficult it was for Jesus’ contemporaries to believe him, what are we to do to improve our own small faith? Jesus’ own words can be our guide.

  • Hear my voice
  • Obey my commands
  • Have faith
  • Believe I am able to do this
  • Believe as children do
  • Trust me, believe in me
  • Trust my works
  • Love me and Love one another as I have Loved you
  • Most convincing of all – Do not doubt:
    • Matthew 21:19-22 – 19 And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. 20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”

Belovéd, without a doubt we should, can, and will live in Faith. What is doubt? It is being overly-analytical – “20,000-minded” – about the reality of Jesus life, all of it. How is doubt thrown out? Through Faith, and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.  (See Romans 10:14-17) And how do we hear the Word of God? Love Jesus, keep his commandments, and rely on the Spirit of Truth: John 14:15-17 – 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

We will have Faith, and not doubt, if we have The Truth, the Life, and the Way within us. I don’t doubt that one teeny little bit! Jesus, I believe in YOU (↔ Music Link)

THIS SAME Jesus IS, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE ONE I AM WAITING FOR BECAUSE I BELIEVE HIM. That is why our attitude of gratitude is absolutely essential. It makes it possible to hear his voice and find ever-greater faith.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – May 15, 2020 – Stick with it

May 15, 2020

2020AFC041520 – Stick with it.

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

John 14:21, 23 – 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

Proverbs 4:3-4 – 3 When I was a son with my father, tender, and my mother’s favorite, 4 he taught me, and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

Aloha pumehana, a me ke akua ho’omaika‘i ‘oe, ʻŌmea! Warmest Aloha, and may God bless you, Belovéd! Today is an Providential Day of serendipitous synchronicity. This is the Seven-Hundred-Fiftieth post on the Moon Beam Network. It is the twentieth post in the twentieth year of the twenty-first century – 2020 WHICH IS ALSO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST’S INDEX NUMBER and comes on the Ides of May. According to the Urban Dictionary, the Ides of May is “[t]he middle of May; approximately May 15th. This is the general date at which all [sic] high-school seniors have gotten where they want to be and thus, stop caring about high school. This coincides with the point in the grading term in which they can still pass their classes without doing any work from there on out.” Another way to put that is that it is the onset of “Senioritis.” I’ve never quite gotten over that, I guess, as I am still a Senior, and still coasting. Well, not really, but it seems that way sometimes. I don’t waste much energy on worrying or feeling deprived during this episode of World History. “We’re all in this together” seems to me to have been perfectly obvious since about November 20, 1946. I am not lonely, or disconsolate, or in any greater distress than usual. In fact, when people ask, “How are?” I’m pleased to answer, “I’m happy.” Oh, it’s true that I get irritated by kids on motocross bikes, and old men who run a weed-whacker 6 hours a day five days a week right outside our house. I do scoff at movie stars, costly athletes, purported comedians, and other celebrities who think they are medical experts or have the authority to speak disparagingly about our country; or politicians who can’t seem to keep their lies straight; or persons in authority who abuse that authority against the innocent. I am, nevertheless, not weighed down with personal responsibility – or guilt – for the vagaries of angry people. I choose to be happy.

I am happy because I know what JOY is simply because it is deep in my heart (↔ Music Link) and I am so happy (↔ Music Link) so much so that even when I am grouchier than Oscar (↔ Music Link), down deep I am truly, truly happy – and isn’t that what Jesus wanted, for your joy, my joy, our JOY to be FULL? There is after all a New Testament Commandment to love one another and abide in Christ’s love which carries with it the promise of complete joy: John 15:9-11 – 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

We are together with Jesus in God the Father because Jesus is together with us and with our Father. In this way we are able to Love God in Christ Jesus, and if we love him – that is what he tells us plainly – IF we love him (when we love him), we will keep his commandments. This brings to mind something we are hearing ad nauseum. There are a couple of ways we hear it:

We’ll all get through this together.

Together we’ll all get through this.

Well, here’s what I’d like to hear for a change:

We’ll all get together through this.

When we are reminded every few minutes – literally – that we should be feeling sad and lonely and have no place to go, that is a huge assault on the human spirit! We do have a place to go! We are never alone. Yes, I know that lonely and alone are two different things; I know we can be surrounded by others and still feel lonely. We may long for that human touch but feel we don’t deserve it or can’t bear it. In this pandemic, it is – in a very pervasive way – denied to us. There are times in our lives when we do not want to be touched; these are also times of pain for us. It may be emotional, physical, or spiritual pain that causes us to shrink away from the touch of others even if it is the touch of someone who loves us. We sometimes even shrink away from God’s touch. We may feel that God cannot possibly care about how badly we feel. “If God is really so loving and kind, why has he done this to me?” Intellectually, we can dismiss that rhetorical question by admitting that God does not cause evil; he does permit evil because it is part of his Divine Plan. Knowing that any of us could sometimes feel like God has deserted us, God made himself touchable. He gave us the Man, Christ Jesus, who was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and human in all ways except sin. He is resurrected and still very touchable. There’s song that I recall from the seventies that expresses this so sweetly. Written by Charles F. Brown in 1971, it became immensely popular in all kinds of Christian churches – including Catholic churches. (Yes, just to reiterate, Catholics are Christians!). It is called Reach Out and Touch the Lord as He Walks By. It’s a great way to be closer to God – reach out and touch him like an old friend. Jesus said, “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (See John 15:15). And he has told us what the Father expects of us. I mentioned New Testament Commands earlier. Let’s look at Jesus’ commands – the ones he told us we will follow when we love him.

50+ commands of Jesus – Repent; believe; follow me; seek the Kingdom first; do not be afraid; do not worry; do unto others a you would have them do unto you; do not judge; love God; love your neighbor; do more than is expected of you; beware of false prophets; take care of orphans and widows – the poor and marginalized; honor your parents; keep your word; be generous; do not swear; let your yes be yes and your no be no; choose the narrow way; forgive your enemies; bless them that curse you; and a whole bunch more! Had enough? How can we ever do all of these things? Do you realize that, by some accounts, there are over 1,000 New Testament commands? (← Check it out!) At least 50 of these are straight out of the Gospels, compiled by various authors, here, also here, and here. While the approach in these sites is not completely in keeping with Catholic Tradition, one can – nonetheless – get a good notion of the absolute fact that Jesus had quite a lot to say about what it takes to serve the Lord, his Father, and if you read the passages listed in context you will see that for the Jews in Jesus’ day, much of what he said was radically different from what they believed. If we are being true to Christian teaching – true to the Gospel – then shouldn’t we also be radically different from the World?

I know some of our readers find it a bit irksome when I take off into the languages of the Bible to show you how God has preserved what HE wants us to know and understand. I’ll try to go lightly through this, but it is edifying to understand the importance of the word KEEP when God speaks it to us. Here are some passages to consider:

John 14:21, 23 – 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

Proverbs 4:3-4 – 3 When I was a son with my father, tender, and my mother’s favorite, 4 he taught me, and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

In the Old Testament, the word for keep is often shamar {shaw-mar’} I, keep, guard, observe, give heed. The Greek equivalent of this in the Old Testament is epereidō  to fix, prop firmly, lean or bear upon. In the New Testament a word frequently used is téreó tay-reh’-o  maintain, preserve, spiritually guard, observe, to attend to carefully, to keep intact without variation. Jesus gave us a set of directions to follow. It is the ultimate recipe for success. Like any recipe, it requires that we include all the ingredients. How can we do that if we do not know what they are? “I don’t know what God expects of me.” We can answer that question with one simple sentence which comes from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ:

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ And ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Here are some examples of what else we can do

Psalm 119:11 – 11 I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.

Deuteronomy 6:6 – 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.

Psalm 119:165 – 165 Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.

Proverbs 8:13-17 – 13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. 14 I have good advice and sound wisdom; I have insight, I have strength. 15 By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; 16 by me rulers rule, and nobles, all who govern rightly. 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

That’s God’s recipe, His Story is history! And that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. Won’t y’all come and get stuck with me while Jesus reveals himself to us? That way we can be happy and filled with JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY DOWN IN OUR HEARTS and truly

We’ll all get together through this.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – May 8, 2020 – Your Place or Mine?

May 8, 2020

2019AFC050820 – Your Place or Mine?

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

     Exodus 19:5-6 – 5 Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.

1 Peter 2:4-5 – 4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:9 – 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

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. Let’s begin with a little story that circulates around the Internet from time to time. I think I’ll ask forgiveness for this one before you read it! Here we go:

In a particular small country, there was a king. He was much beloved of the people, and so they built for him a castle. But they were poor people and could only afford to build it out of grass. So they worked for weeks, and finally completed a lovely woven-grass castle for him. And the king was pleased.

Another country, significantly richer than the first, presented a peace offering of an ornate throne. The king accepted this gift graciously and was most pleased. The only trouble was, the throne was very uncomfortable. So the king got himself a more comfortable chair and stowed the massive throne in the attic. Naturally, it fell through the attic floor and killed him.

The moral of this story: People who live in grass houses shouldn’t stow thrones.

Building a house is an essential part of being an earthling. We require a few very basic needs for survival – shelter, air, food and water, sleep, and safety in community. If we are deprived of any of these basic needs, our chances of survival are small to nil. Our ancestors in prehistoric times sought shelter in caves. Even there, in those primitive shelters, there were additions made that personalized the space used by an individual or group; rows of stones to mark off territory, hides or cuttings of brush for privacy, specific locations for excretory functions, and even decorations. We need a place that will be home – a place where we know safety and comfort.

Our homes are built of materials we have at hand and those materials are adapted to our use. For the king in the story above, grasses were the norm. For the cave-dwellers, eventually they built higher walls, deeper pits, safer rooms, and places for worship. Worship is part of a life lived in community. Individually we recognize that Life “has a life of its own;” there are things beyond our control. Together as community, we share our recognitions and find ways to interact with what we do not understand so it becomes less frightening. There is a place in our lives – and in our hearts – for Mystery, and we learned early on to make accommodation for that Mystery in our residential places.

Building houses of stone is one of the most permanent, and most demanding, forms of home-building. Done well, it lasts for centuries, even eons. Done poorly, the dwelling can end a life instead of protecting it. The permanence of stone depends on the kind of stone used and how well it is cut and dressed to fit together. We might look at Inca stone masonry (← Check it out!) as an example of incredible skill in working with stone. Today, however, we are going to reflect on a kind of stone that is at once rare but plentiful – Living Stone. You doubtless remember this familiar passage from the Psalms: Psalm 118:22 – 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  Jesus quoted this in Matthew 21:42, Peter quotes it again in Acts 4:11, and we’ve already looked at 1 Peter 2:4-5. What does this mean? It means we are “a chip off the old block.” The Building Block (↔ Music Link)

We see that Jesus is the Living Stone rejected by the builders. In Ephesians 2:17-20, Paul concludes we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. As Peter told us, he makes a connection between Christ, “the stone which the builders rejected,” and believers who have become “living stones,” that is to say like Christ in that they are to be Holy, submissive to God, and to build a holy dwelling which will be a Holy Nation serving God. The word for “living” used here is zaonta {dzah’-on-tah} from zao {dzah’-o}. Zao is the verb “to live,” and zaonta is “living.” But it carries a much deeper connotation that being “merely alive.” One example is in the term “living water.”

This is water that has “vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul.” It is living that is fresh, strong, efficient, active, powerful, and efficacious. We come to Christ as Living Stones animated with the same capacity for holiness found in the Apostles because that holiness comes from, in, and through Christ. What a mighty image that brings to mind! We are stone-upon-Stone. Stones thrown up are weapons for destruction. Stones laid down are tools for construction. We are stone like the Corner Stone – cut from the same quarry and shaped by the Master Builder. The Holy Temple we are part of is the House of the Living God built with Living Stone that has Life Everlasting. It’s a great place to stow thrones, because every occupant is Priest, Prophet, and King. These are the characteristics El Shaddai-Olam assigned to his Chosen People – they are HIS FAMILY – the House of God. As adopted members of HIS FAMILY, we, too, are Priest, Prophet, and King.

Jesus is certainly a Priest in that he served God above all others and has Perfect Access to God in his own right. (See Psalm 110:4 and Hebrews 7:17)He made the ultimate offering to God for our sin – himself. He is a Prophet because everything he told us was from his Father. (See John 5:19 and John 12:48-49). Jesus is the King of kings; as God, he alone has the ultimate authority to rule the universe he created. He is leader, prime mover, law-giver, and judge.

As believers in the Christ of God, we have a Priestly access to God our Creator through the One Mediator (See 1 Timothy 2:5-6). We, too, can offer ourselves as “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” (See Romans 12:1) We are called apart, sanctified by the Blood of the Lamb, to serve God in our service and example to others. (See Matthew 5:16) We are participants in that priestly kingdom and a holy nation.

As Prophets, we are graced with the opportunity to speak The Word of the Lord in our hearts and minds as well as in the hearts and minds of others – our families, communities, churches, and workplaces – through example and testimony. In Numbers 11:29, Moses scolds the Israelites, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” Later the prophet Joel speaks in God’s way and says, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.” (See Joel 2:28-29) We are the recipients of that Spirit of the Living God. In the Spirit of Prophecy, we teach our children and each other as witnesses to “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (See John 14:6) The Old Testament word for prophet is nabiy’ {nah-bee’}. There are some disagreements among scholars about the origin of that word, but one that is well-accepted is that this noun comes from the verb noba` meaning to “bubble up,” “boil over” as in “to pour forth an abundance of words,” such as those who speak within divine inspiration. It is by and through the power and inspiration of God that a prophet speaks, and a prophet can’t help but speak when and what God commands any more than a boiling pot can stop bubbling. And that is the key. Those who have Divine Inspiration are True Prophets. The converse is that those whose “inspiration” is self-generated are the False Prophets. By and through Christ, we can teach what God inspires in us, and are truly Prophets. (See more here) But are we also Kings?

Are we given the responsibilities of leadership, judgment, rule-makers, and progenitors in our families and communities? Consider these passages:

Ephesians 2:4-7 , Acts 6:1-6, 2 Chronicles 19:6, Matthew 4:17, and especially these – Revelation 1:4-6 – 4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:15-16 – 15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. We are anointed – consecrated, sanctified, set aside – to serve God by serving others. How can we fulfill these three roles? What is it in us that makes these roles even remotely possible? The answer is indeed “set in stone.” Our Rock and our Refuge, our Shelter, Shade, Stronghold, Saviour, and Salvation – all these are aspects of The Living God of Mercy. And he has a place for us – a Dwelling not built by human hands, but prepared for us before the foundation of time.

John 14:1-3 – 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. My place is His place, the place prepared for me. This World Is NOT my Home! (↔ Music Link) I am, you are, WE will always be Living Stones in the House of God, built upon the Corner Stone and laid on the foundation of Eternity. Is it your place, is it my place, is it our place? Yes, all of those, because it is His place – Home. I was born a long way from Home, but I’m on my way back, and I expect to meet Jesus on the way. I thank God that you are walking there with me, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people. Blesséd be God Forever.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – May 1, 2020 – Check Your Notes

May 1, 2020

2018AFC050120 – Check Your Notes

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

    1 Peter 2:24-25 – 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Do you see anything in today’s Key Verse that looks or sounds familiar? Is there a phrase that catches your attention and tickles at your memory? If you read this or heard this Sunday morning (the Fourth Sunday of Easter is this Sunday, and it’s usually referred to as GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY), would you know why it sounds familiar? And most importantly, when (not if) you take up your Bible and find this passage, will you look at the notes and cross references there? If you use the link up there next to the key, will you take a moment longer to read the notes? No? OK, then I’ll share the notes with you so that you can see what a tremendously rich passage of Scripture this is.

Let’s start by defining “notes” and “cross-references.” In the image below, you can see this passage in my Bible – it’s the Little Rock NABRE Study Bible – right about where that arrow is pointing. It’s a little blurry, but you can sort of make it out. Below that is an excerpt from the photo. In the first image, you can see some notations in tan-colored boxes in each of the margins. These are cross-references. If you look at the text, you’ll see tiny little Italic letters following some of the words – for example at the top left page, where it says Christian Examples, in the second line of verse 11 (11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.), there is a superscript  j after the word “soul.” In the cross-reference column to the left it shows j, and then Gal 5:24. That refers you to Galatians 5:24 which reads 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Cross-references give us connections to passages that deal with the same subject matter.

In the following excerpt from the photo above, we see the Notes. Notes provide explanations of the text and often include additional cross references.  For example in the magnifying lens you can see “2:22-25 After the quotation of Isaiah 53:9b … ” This comment – Note – explains the context and meaning of verse 22 by showing how it quotes the context and meaning of the second half of Isaiah 53:9 (please follow the link to Isaiah 53:9 and concentrate on the second half of the verse). OK. That should do it. I’m sure many of you have used these in your Bibles before, but I am encouraging (actually exhorting you) to do that more often.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s start dissecting our Key Verse entry: “He himself bore our sins” – we have cross-references (I’ve reformatted the poetic-style layout so these take up less space. PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINKS TO SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL THEY ARE!)

Isaiah 53:4 – 4 Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. This passage also connects with Hebrews 9:28 – 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

The common theme in these verses is the suffering experienced in the person of Christ, the Suffering Servant. (See 1542AFC101615 – The LORD was pleased – my own cross-reference)

Let’s move on to the next phrase – “in his body on the cross,” . The cross-reference here is for Acts 5:30 – 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead — whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. (If you’ll follow the links I give you in these cross-references, you’ll see they also contain notes and cross-references) Next we read so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness. The Apostle Paul addressed this in Romans 6:20 – 20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. The last phrase in verse 24 would be called 1 Peter 2:24c – by his wounds you have been healed. This is again a reference to the “Song of the Suffering Servant” in Isaiah 53, specifically Isaiah 53:5 – 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,  crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. You may remember this from Handel’s Messiah – Part 25. (↔ Music Link) In fact, Parts 23-26 are taken directly from Isaiah 53:3-6. There is a popular “modern” translation of the Bible that is heavily cross-referenced and annotated. It is called the New International Version (NIV). [1] I’m going to supply you with one (1) link from that version so that you can see how interconnected our Bible truly is. Take a look at the notes and cross-reference list regarding and by his bruises we are healed : Use this link. (NIV) I hope by now you are seeing that using the notes and cross-reference lists truly expands our exposure to the Bible and all the wonderful continuity we find there!

Continuing on to 1 Peter 2:25, we have a direct quote – For you were going astray like sheep – from Isaiah 53:6 a favorite memory verse from years gone by – 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. This is followed by but now you have returned to the shepherd which is another direct reference, this time from Jesus’ words in John 10:11 – 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Finally, we end this Key Verse passage with and [the] guardian of your souls. This word guardian in modern English connotes someone who looks after another in a legal manner – “his legal guardian.” There’s a bit of a surprise here when we look at the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV) and the Greek word actually used for “guardian:” 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. The word is Ἐπίσκοπον (Episkopon) { ep-is’-kop-ohn} – an overseer, someone put in charge to watch the work of others; a person with the responsibilities of a caregiver. If your Church has an Order of Bishops, this may help you better understand what they do and why they do it. There is another cross-reference that goes with this, and it is Job 10:12 – You gave life and gracious love to me; your providential care has preserved my spirit. (International Standard Version) Providential care is watchful care by divine foresight. It is always available at the most opportune time.

Now, all of this comes from two short verses that are part of a lovely letter attributed to the Apostle Peter, and every note and cross-reference has associated with it even more notes and cross-references. When we utilize these, we get a deeper understanding of Scripture, and the better we understand Scripture, the more able we are to hear and understand what God – Our El Shaddai Olam – wants us to know about him and about ourselves. In my Christian life every passage in the Bible – even the boring ones that are lists of lists – all come down to ONE passage that nearly everyone knows – at least by title: John 3:16. WHENEVER I quote that, I know that it is TRUE (← Check it out!) and I also know there is more about it if you read it IN CONTEXT (which is another reason I give you so many links to look at in every post). So I’m going to give you a link and a challenge to go with it. If you will follow this link to John 3:16-20, and then look for cross-references there, I challenge you to FOLLOW at least TWO (2) of them. Better still, if you will go get your own Bible and find that passage, use the notes and cross-references in your own Bible to explore the Word.

Earlier I mentioned that this Sunday is called Good Shepherd Sunday. For more information about that see 1419AFC050914 – Good Shepherd Sunday, 1013AFC032610 – The Lost Sheep. Paraphrasing our Key Verse – now we have returned to the shepherd and guardian of our souls. He is in The Word and now, I pray, The Word is in your heart.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

[1] THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Aloha Friday Message – April 24, 2020 – Calling for Change

April 24, 2020

2017AFC042420 – Calling for Change

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

     Psalm 16:7 – 7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.

    Acts 2:16-17 – 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’

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. Are you in the mood to experience a little more Grace and Peace? Have you a place in your heart or in your mind that you hope can be filled with an assertion of calm in the midst of calamity? Are you sick of hearing about COVID-19 VIRUS 24/7, and hoping that we can “get back to normal” sooner rather than later? ME TOO! But, as we all know, what was “normal” before will never be that way again. We’ve changed. Life has changed. We have changed. The World has changed (but not quite enough, yet). It seems EVERYTHING has changed – except God, of course. Malachi 3:6-7 – 6 For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, “How shall we return?”

Indeed! How shall we return? When will we return? What shall we return? Now that we know a different life, a life that includes being aware of how much we depend on each other and how much we can affect the World and the Earth by working together in sacrifice rather than greed, will we really want to “get back to normal,” the kind of normal that offends God and wounds the Earth? Honestly now, is it wise to forget all that we’ve learned in these past five months? I cannot say for sure, but I strongly suspect, that all of us hear the Voice of the Lord in our hearts and minds during the night. We awake each morning and the nightmare is still there – all the Major Syndicated Mass Media are abuzz with it. We’re walking around like a generation of bandits, all wearing masks and even gloves, washing like our moms told us when we were kids (but ignored then and resent now), and we can’t/don’t hug or kiss or cuddle or sit next to each other because we are afraid. We wake up afraid, we go to sleep afraid, we deny we are afraid (“I’m just being cautious for the sake of everyone else …”), and – if we are honest – we are listening to that voice that is trying to scream (but cannot, like when we have a bad dream), “I want out of here!” What if I told you there is a way out, and it’s easier than any of us believe?

Let’s go back and look at what the Apostle Peter was saying, and then look at the passage from Joel he quoted: Acts 2:16-17 – 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’ Here is the passage in Joel he quoted: Joel 2:28-32 – 28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. 30 I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. How does this news help our current situation? To understand that we need to understand what Joel was describing.

Israel had “hit a rough spot” with a scanty spring rainfall followed by an invasion of locusts that left the land decimated. The citizens adopted an “ah, well” attitude thinking they could work their way out of it on their own – somehow. Joel was warning them this was not “nature at work;” this was the work of God and they needed to wake up and acknowledge him. God allowed these events, but also promised restitution in abundance as recompense for their return to obedience. As part of that recompense, God assures them that not only will their fortunes be restored and increased, but also that he would pour out his Spirit on all flesh – every living soul – so that all who returned to him would prophesy, dream dreams, and be blessed with visions. Male and female, young and old, masters and servants – all would declare his Glory and Goodness through the power of the Spirit. Isn’t that what our hearts are telling us, even as we sleep? God is good all the time because God is God all the time. And isn’t it clear (it certainly should be by now) that God has “poured out his Spirit on all the Earth?” That is certainly what Peter was talking about in our quote from Acts today.

What God told us through Joel is that a lot of terrible things can happen, but after they have happened, Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. What does it mean to “call upon the name of the Lord?”

When we call on the Name of the Lord, it is not merely shouting his name. It becomes reality in consideration of our knowledge of God’s Being, it requires that we acknowledge  him, and that we act on our desire to be near to him, to rely on him always and all ways. This requires genuine sincerity in our confidence in God by demonstrating a diligent obedience to him. It is “all” that he requires of us – that is to say he requires all there is of each soul who calls him God and Father. On such as these, God pours out his Spirit, and “renews the face of the earth.” (See Psalm 104:30) Listen to this (↔ Music Link) “But wait,” someone says. “What about “not everyone who calls out to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”? What about it? We are missing something there; the rest of the verse says, “but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” How are we to know his will? By knowing his Word, we learn his will – as well as his Mercy, and Justice, and Peace, and Love, and Joy, and every Good Thing that comes from Heaven above. His Word is written upon our hearts and treasured in our minds if we accept the Grace which comes by listening to what he tells us. He is telling us to change; we must change our minds, our hearts, our ways so that all of that is his.  There is a mountain of Good Things that comes to us when we return to the Lord. It’s good to remember, though, that there’s a deep pit to fall into if we forget we do not change our “ah, well” hearts on our own. John 3:36 – 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath. You know, I know, we know it’s time to change and to meet God where he is.

A statement mistakenly attributed to C. S. Lewis said, “Meeting God changes us, not the other way around.” As for us, we can meet him day or night, here or there, now or then. Sometimes we even meet him on the road – even if it’s not the Road to Emmaus, or at work, or in the grocery store. He can be hitch-hiking, asking for spare change, speaking wisdom in the guise of a child, or delivering a sermon at church. We meet him in Scripture, and we meet him in Prayer. That’s pretty much the whole idea behind these Aloha Friday Messages; you have links to the Scriptures so you can encounter him there. You have whatever it is the Holy Spirit has stirred up in me and then – added to that – you have whatever the Holy Spirit stirs up in you when you read this message. Pray for change, Belovéd. We are called to Change Our Hearts (↔ Music Link) in This Time. We have been called. It’s time to return the call. We have a Dream to dream.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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.

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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

Aloha Friday Message – April 17, 2020 – Fear and Peace

April 17, 2020

Blesséd be God forever!~!

2016AFC041720 – Fear and Peace

Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.

Hope Peace Joy Love

John 20:26-29 – 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

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. Are you afraid? Do you think maybe COVID-19 VIRUS is “after you?” Do you believe? Do you doubt? Do you know? WE ARE AT WAR!

We need to put on the Full Armor of God! You can find this passage by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-18. God willing, there will be a four-part series on that at Catholic 365 – perhaps sometime in May. Meanwhile, we have hundreds of people on TV, on YouTube, in pulpits, on radio, on Facebook & Instagram & Twitter & TikTok & Pinterest & Snapchat, and even in our own homes telling us “We can get through this together” or “Together we can do this.” But ʻŌmea, it’s not just you and me, is it? God has to be part of that team, or nothing will come of our efforts. We have to do our part.

To illustrate what I mean, I want to take a fast trip back to the end of Israel’s 40 years of wandering. You’ll find this account in Exodus 17:8-13. Moses has sent Joshua to repel the invasion of the Amalakites (their leader was Amalek). When Moses held up the Staff of Power God had given him, the battle went in Israel’s favor; when he got tired and he lowered his arms, the battle went to Amalek’s favor. That day Moses showed the virtue of Perseverance (← Check it out!); he had some help. His brother, Aaron, and his trusted assistant, Hur, found a rock for him to sit on (gave him rest) and supported his arms (shared their strength). At the end of the day, Amalek was utterly destroyed. They got through that together. We need to do the same thing: Persevere, give rest to the weary, and share our strength with the heroic. At the end of the day, at the end of the present struggle, the enemy – which is unseen, pervasive, and incredibly dangerous – can be utterly defeated. We have that hope because we know, and love, the Lord. I remember what the Apostle Peter said, in 1 Peter 1:8-9 – 8 Although you have not see him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Shortly after his resurrection, the evening of the first day of the week, Jesus went to the Cenacle – the upper room – and met with his Apostles (although Thomas was not present) . The first thing he did was pronounce Peace upon them. Next he showed them his wounds. As they rejoiced in their realization that it was indeed Jesus and that he was truly ALIVE, he commissioned them to spread the Gospel and breathed the Holy Spirit on them so that they could forgive or retain the sins of others. Today’s Key Verse happens a week later, again on the first day of the week, and this time Thomas also got to see Jesus. His proclamation became part of our Liturgy: “My Lord and my God.” We cannot see Jesus today, he’s not on TV or any of the social media we mentioned, but we know he is here; and we know he will help us get through this together.

There is a popular meme that helps explain this. Do you remember the episode in the Gospel when Jesus was casually strolling across the Sea of Galilee during a storm? He met the Disciples about halfway across, maybe four miles out over the water, and scared them worse than the storm; they thought he was a ghost! Matthew 14:25-27 – 25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” ἐγώ εἰμί → egō eimi → I AM = it is I. Here is another account of this extraordinary moment: John 6:16-21 – 16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, “It is I [ἐγώ εἰμί → egō eimi → I AM] do not be afraid.” 21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going. Our enemy cannot swim either.

Even in these rough waters with COVID-19 VIRUS dominating every waking moment (and perhaps for some of us even more than that), we know that the Lord is with us, and we know we can turn to him. We must be willing to persevere. We must be prudent. We must be courageous and trample down fear. In short, we must handle this as a matter of Faith – with Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. Do we need to put our finger in the nail-prints and touch the wound in his side? Or do we say with Isaiah that we know God has it covered? Isaiah 12:2 – 2 Surely God is my salvation;  I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.

Jesus stands among us and says, “It is I.” Should we, can we, will we hear and believe? “Peace be with you” is not the same as “be not afraid.” We are afraid when we let loose of Peace and embrace fear; fear displaces Peace. When Jesus tells us not to be afraid – and “fear not” in some form or other is in the Bible hundreds of times! – we can be open to Peace. Peace is a gift of Grace, and like all Good Gifts, it comes from God; like all Good Gifts, we can accept it or refuse it. I choose to accept it. There are some in the World who cannot accept this gift from God because they cannot accept God! “What’s God got to do with it? How can he do this to us, to me! What kind of God does something this terrible to the whole World?” The answer is simple: The God of Mercy. (See The Mercy Series) The God who gives us HIS mercy, HIS Peace, so that we can and will Persevere.

“Persevere” is one of those interesting words that we hear often, usually in the context of difficulties impeding our efforts. We have other ways to say the same thing – Stay the course, keep on track, persist always, keep going, never give in, don’t take no for an answer, stand your ground, go the distance, leave no stone unturned, eyes on the prize, stick to your guns, and these days the ever-popular “hang in there.” All of these carry with them the implication that we will continue to pursue a goal or path under arduous circumstances regardless of any opposition, danger, difficulty, or doubt. For those who deem themselves “self-reliant,” this is a formidable challenge. For those who know the power of Scripture and prayer – especially prayer in and through Scripture – this is almost second-nature because we remember that God speaks to us through his word and listens to us through our prayers. We have learned to use what we know.

Those who refuse God’s Good Gifts set up idols in place of him, and of course, those are of no help whatsoever: Jeremiah 10:5 – 5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good. OUR help is in the name of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth – and all us pesky little Earthlings, too! And to we who are the weak and faithless, he says Isaiah 41:13 – 13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Do not fear, I will help you. That’s not very popular among those more Worldly Earthlings who favor the murder of innocents, and proliferation of poverty, and the abuse of privilege. They trust in going along with others who choose to oppose God and his servants – they chose to do what is unjust because it suits their warped self-esteem. There is a word in the Word for them, too: Exodus 23:2 – 2 You shall not follow a majority in wrongdoing; when you bear witness in a lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so as to pervert justice; God still offers them the Grace, the Good Gift, of Mercy – and they spurn it.

But what of those who do not spurn God’s Good Gifts? We have a remarkable mass of promises in the Word that assure us we can count on God’s Mercy and enjoy the fruits of his loving kindness. Here’s one: Proverbs 10:16 – 16 The wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin. Contemporary English Version (CEV) – 16 If you live right, the reward is a good life; if you are evil, all you have is sin. “If you are evil, all you have is sin.” Righteousness leads to life. Sin leads to death. Are all the people who are dying from this COVID-19 VIRUS sinners? Yes, because every Earthling is a sinner. Are they dying because they are sinners and God is punishing us? NO! God is giving us a “Reset.” We’re getting a “Do-Over.” Instead of overdoing, we need to back up, check the horizon for our goal, and lay in a course for Freedom in Eternity. Then, as we persevere, everything else we do will be blessed: Proverbs 3:24-25 – 24 If you sit down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. 25 Do not be afraid of sudden panic, or of the storm that strikes the wicked. We will get through this if we rest in the arms of our saving God – Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. (↔ Music Link) We are at war, but we know Peace, so it’s not War and Peace or even Fear and Peace; it is God’s Peace beyond all understanding. (See Philippians 4:7) We will not only persevere  – we will prevail!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever

— at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

 

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