Palm Sunday: The Arrival of the King of Kings

 

th1YFEHLM0Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage[a] and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.”

So they went their way, and found the[b] colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?”

And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’[c]
10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David
That comes in the name of the Lord![d]
Hosanna in the highest!”

11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. – Mark 11:1-11

What must it have been like, in Jesus’s day, as they waited on and then experienced, His arrival into Jerusalem?

They must have really been puzzled at this carpenter’s son from Nazareth.

The only information that they had on Jesus back then, was word of mouth. There was no internet and was no television there was no communication of any form except for word of mouth.

We all know how information that is shared word of mouth changes from the original message with each person that tells the story.

By the time word came to Jerusalem, they probably thought that Jesus was a conquering Warrior King, who was going to set them free of the tyranny of Rome.

They were right and wrong, all the same time.

Jesus Christ came to set them free, all right, but it was not from Pontius Pilate and the Roman Empire. Christ came to set us all free…from our sin. Sin is a thief, which destroys us from within and everyone around us, keeping us in slavery so that we will not ever be truly free.

What must they have thought when they saw this promised King come riding in on the back of a lowly donkey?

I am sure that there were some in attendance who experienced a major letdown. Their minds probably had difficulty, trying to reconcile their pre-conceived expectations of Jesus, with the reality of the Son of God.

Who was this guy on the donkey that the local kids were laying palm branches down in front of?

It may seem strange, but today’s non-believers seem to still be experiencing that problem with reconciling their preconceived notions of whom Jesus Christ is, with the reality of His unconditional love and acceptance, after repentance.

They don’t seem to understand that…

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. – Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ meets you where you are with an extended hand, not a shield and sword.

…That comes later.

The hard part about Salvation is accepting the fact that, as human beings, we all possess a sinful nature. And, that without His love and indwelling within us, we can do nothing at all.

Christ has done his part. He died for our sins.

Now, if you haven’t accepted him yet as your Personal Savior, it is up to you to do your part and seek forgiveness for your sins.

All those centuries ago, those common people of Jerusalem, at least, most of them, did not have a clue as to whom Jesus actually was, and the fact that they were entertaining the King of Kings, the Son of God.

In Modern American Society, we do not have that excuse.

We have God’s Word, available to us, in many translations, in paperback, hard-cover, in audio and video, and on-line.

There is no excuse, in any Modern Culture, especially here in America, to not be familiar with the Root of Jesse, the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, the Lion of Judah, the Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.

We in this generation, may have the same opportunity to see Christ, as those in Jerusalem did, so long ago.

Although no man knows the hour, Christ is coming again.

And, he’s coming for all those who worship Him in beauty and in truth.

Will YOU recognize him?

As the following song says,

“Praise God! He’s coming for me!”

The King is Coming (Words and Music by Bill Gaither)

The marketplace is empty, no more traffic in the street
All the builder’s tools are silent, no more time to harvest wheat
Busy housewives cease their labor, in the courtroom no debate
Work on earth has been suspended as the King comes through the gate

Happy faces line the hallway, those whose lives have been redeemed
Broken homes He has mended, those from prison He has freed
Little children and the aged hand in hand stand all a-glow
Who were crippled, broken, ruined, clad in garments white as snow

Chorus:
The King is coming, the King is coming
I just heard the trumpet sounding and soon His face I’ll see
The King is coming, the King is coming
Praise God, He’s coming for me

I can hear the chariots rumble, I can see the marching throng
And the flurry of God’s trumpet spells the end of sin and wrong
Regal robes are now unfolded, heaven’s grandstands all in place
Heaven’s choir is now assembled, start to sing “Amazing Grace”

Chorus:
The King is coming, the King is coming
I just heard the trumpet sounding and soon His face I’ll see
The King is coming, the King is coming
Praise God, He’s coming for me

Until He Comes,

KJ

America: The Day Before Resurrection Day 2014…the Darkness Before the Dawn

American FreedomThis morning, as I lay in bed, having spent the night alone, due to my bride going on an overnight trip with a friend and her two nieces, The Lord, as He usually does, had me thinking about Him.These thoughts were about what today, the day between Good Friday and Resurrection Day, must have been like.

Pretend for a moment, that you are an average citizen living at the time of Christ.

[For the past three years, you have seen this charismatic young man speak about the love and mercy of God, and how His Grace and Forgiveness is freely given, IF…

And, there’s the catch…

According to this carpenter’s son from Nazareth, you have to confess your sins, and ask the Great I am, for forgiveness.

Whoa! Wait a minute. Who is this guy? A radical? Ask Yahweh for forgiveness. And, what’s that he said? You will then have a personal relationship with His Father?

How can that be? This is the Great I am. This is the Deity of Vengeance who destroyed those escaped slaves from Egypt for throwing a party, while Moses was up on a mountain, and building and worshiping a Golden Calf.

And, remember what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar? Daniel interpreted a dream for him, explaining that his kingdom would be ruled over by Gentiles until God sent His King. Ol’ Nebby got mad, because he couldn’t rule over the Israelites and over the whole world unless God allowed him to do so. He forgot that, and became very proud. He tried to make the people think that he was very wonderful, and that they should worship him. He didn’t trust God as some of the kings of the Israelites did, but had the very foolish idea that he could be a wise and wonderful king without any help from God.

So, what do you suppose occurred?

Why, the king had another dream, and when he found out what it meant it was really terrible. In this dream God told him that he would lose his mind and would go out in the field and eat grass just like the cattle for seven years. And Nebuchadnezzar actually did this, too. Can you imagine a mighty king, as he thought himself to be, crawling around on the ground eating grass? The Bible tells us that his hair grew long and coarse and looked like bird feathers, and his fingernails became like the claws of animals.

Finally, though, Nebuchadnezzar’s reason returned to him, and when he found out what he had done he was very much ashamed of himself. However, he learned by this experience that he was not as wise and powerful as he had thought. Learning this, he gave praise to God for allowing him to be the ruler.

This is the God that the guy from Nazareth is telling us that we can have a personal relationship with?

Strange indeed.

I have noticed that while he is hanging there the guards and some of the townspeople there are mocking Jesus, telling him that if he is the Son of God, to”jump down off of that cross”. Meanwhile,  some of the centurions are casting lots over his robe.

All except this one centurion, who is just watching Him, as if he is waiting for something to happen…]

The despair being felt by the average citizens of Rome, at the time, is not unlike the situation which we, as average Christian Americans, find ourselves in today.

We, too, are in the darkness before the dawn.

Our American culture is crumbling before our very eyes, as sin, depravity, and personal irresponsibility are being lauded by “the smartest people in the room” as normal, and values to be embraced…a Golden Calf to be worshiped by those who have turned their backs of the Almighty, because He will not give them the worldly gratification they seek…and because they erroneously believe that they are smarter than God, and can interpret and ignore  His Holy Word to mean whatever they want to, in order to assuage their own consciousness, in an attempt to stifle that “Still Small Voice” within them, Who is reminding them of their sin and the consequences of it.

However, there is still HOPE FOR OUR NATION.

On April 2, 1983, United States President Ronald Wilson Reagan spoke the following words, as part of an Easter/Passover Address:

This week as American families draw together in worship, we join with millions upon millions of others around the world also celebrating the traditions of their faiths. During these days, at least, regardless of nationality, religion, or race, we are united by faith in God, and the barriers between us seem less significant.

Observing the rites of Passover and Easter, we’re linked in time to the ancient origins of our values and to the unborn generations who will still celebrate them long after we’re gone. As Paul explained in his Epistle to the Ephesians, “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. So then you were no longer strangers and aliens, but you were fellow citizens of God’s household.”

This is a time of hope and peace, when our spirits are filled and lifted. It’s a time when we give thanks for our blessings-chief among them, freedom, peace, and the promise of eternal life.

This week Jewish families and friends have been celebrating Passover, a tradition rich in symbolism and meaning. Its observance reminds all of us that the struggle for freedom and the battle against oppression waged by Jews since ancient times is one shared by people everywhere. And Christians have been commemorating the last momentous days leading to the crucifixion of Jesus 1,950 years ago. Tomorrow, as morning spreads around the planet, we’ll celebrate the triumph of life over death, the Resurrection of Jesus. Both observances tell of sacrifice and pain but also of hope and triumph.

As we look around us today, we still find human pain and suffering, but we also see it answered with individual courage and spirit, strengthened by faith. For example, the brave Polish people, despite the oppression of a godless tyranny, still cling to their faith and their belief in freedom. Shortly after Palm Sunday Mass this week, Lech Walesa faced a cheering crowd of workers outside a Gdansk church. He held his hand up in a sign of victory and predicted, “The time will come when we will win.”

This great AMERICAN PRESIDENT also once said,

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.

Fellow Christian Americans….my message to you on this day before Resurrection Day 2014 is

DO NOT GIVE UP ON GOD. DON’T NOT GIVE UP ON THE FOUNDING FATHERS’ HOPE, WHICH BECAME AMERICA.

As the old country Preacher’s wife always told him,

Hold on to your fork, Hon. Dessert is on it’s way.

The final chapter of the amazing story of our Blessed Land has not been written  yet. It is up to each and every one of us to write it, strengthened by the Grace of God.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

Holder Announces “Equal Rights” for Gay Convict “Couples” After His Boss Invokes God at the National Prayer Breakfast.

American Freedom9 …Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. – 1 Corinthians 6:9 (ESV)

FoxNews.com reports that

Attorney General Eric Holder announced Saturday that the Justice Department will now follow a landmark Supreme Court ruling on same-sex spouses, which means they will no longer be compelled to testify against each other in civil and criminal cases.

The policy changes mean same-sex spouses also should be eligible to file jointly for bankruptcy and have the same rights and privileges in federal prison as inmates in heterosexual marriages.

Prosecutors have used various legal challenges against the spousal privilege. But Holder made clear the federal government will no longer make such challenges, even in states where same-sex marriages are not recognized.

The changes will officially be made through a policy memorandum to be issued Monday.

“This means that, in every courthouse, in every proceeding, and in every place where a member of the Department of Justice stands on behalf of the United States — they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, protections and rights as opposite-sex marriages under federal law,” Holder said at the Human Rights Campaign’s Greater New York Gala.

Among the agencies under the Justice Department that will be impacted by the changes are the FBI, the Bureau of Prisons and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Holder also said same-sex couples will now qualify for several Justice Department benefits programs, including the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and benefits to surviving spouses of public safety officers who suffer catastrophic or fatal injuries in the line of duty.

“This landmark announcement will change the lives of countless committed gay and lesbian couples for the better,” said campaign President Chad Griffin.

Holder compared this generation’s efforts to achieve same-sex marriage rights to those in the 1960s for achieving civil rights and said the stakes “could not be higher.”

“The Justice Department’s role in confronting discrimination must be as aggressive today as it was in Robert Kennedy’s time,” Holder said of the attorney general who played a leadership role in advancing civil rights.

The changes are the most recent application of a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a provision in the Defense of Marriage Act defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The decision applies to legally married same-sex couples seeking federal benefits.

Additionally, AG Holder said,

Just as our forebears came together to overcome tremendous adversity — and to forge the more just and more equal societies in which we now live — so, too, must the current generation rise to the causes that have become the struggles of our day; the defining civil rights challenges of our time. I believe one of these struggles is the fight for equality for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender — or LGBT — citizens.

Equating the desire to “normalize” a deviant sexual preference to the Civil Rights Struggle, during which black and white Americans lost their lives, had hoses turned on them, and dogs turned loose on them, dishonors the memory of Dr, Martin Luther King and all of the Civil Rights Pioneers, who labored so hard for equality during that time.

On February 6th, President Barack Hussein Obama spoke the following words to the National Prayer Breakfast:

So each time we gather, it’s a chance to set aside the rush of our daily lives; to pause with humility before an Almighty God; to seek His grace; and, mindful of our own imperfections, to remember the admonition from the Book of Romans, which is especially fitting for those of us in Washington: “Do not claim to be wiser than you are.”

So here we put aside labels of party and ideology, and recall what we are first: all children of a loving God; brothers and sisters called to make His work our own. But in this work, as Lincoln said, our concern should not be whether God is on our side, but whether we are on God’s side.

And here we give thanks for His guidance in our own individual faith journeys. In my life, He directed my path to Chicago and my work with churches who were intent on breaking the cycle of poverty in hard-hit communities there. And I’m grateful not only because I was broke and the church fed me, but because it led to everything else. It led me to embrace Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. It led me to Michelle — the love of my life — and it blessed us with two extraordinary daughters. It led me to public service. And the longer I serve, especially in moments of trial or doubt, the more thankful I am of God’s guiding hand.

Now, here, as Americans, we affirm the freedoms endowed by our Creator, among them freedom of religion. And, yes, this freedom safeguards religion, allowing us to flourish as one of the most religious countries on Earth, but it works the other way, too — because religion strengthens America.

Indeed, Mr. President. Only America was founded as a Christian Nation, by Godly men. As John Adams, one of those Founding Fathers and our Second President, said,

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

I have noticed that “Liberals’, as a by-product of their own hubris and, like all mankind, their sinful nature, tend to change the meaning of, or ignore the scripture to fit within the moral parameters of the immoral, Godless Culture which they themselves are so proud to have created. 

It is all a part of the Obama Administration’s overall strategy. Back on January 27th, I wrote

Obama and his one-minded collective are desperately trying to desensitize Americans regarding the Hot Button Issue of “gay marriage”. Even though, those who practice the sexually deviant behavior of homosexuality only compose around 3% of our population, those advocating defiling of the sacrament of marriage would like us to all believe that they number many,many more. And, those who rig polls for a living would like us to believe that the majority of Americans believe it is okay for homosexuals to imitate the union of a heterosexual couple.

If that were the case, 31 states would not still ban “Gay Marriage”. And, “Activist Judges” would not have had to overturn the will of the people in Utah and California.

In their desperation, Liberals have even tried to rewrite God’s Word regarding Homosexuality, labeling anyone who does not agree with them, into a “Hater”.

Remember the hoopla before Christmas concerning Duck Commander Phil Robertson’s paraphrasing of the 1st Corinthians passage concerning Homosexuality?

After combative CNN commentator Ben Ferguson called out Piers Morgan attacked the topic on one of his shows. His guests were Conservative Talk show Host Ben Ferguson, Liberal Bloviator Dr. Mark Lamont HJill, and Biblical Scholar Dr. Michael Brown.

To say that things did not go well for England’s worst export, is an understatement.

Here’s a slightly redacted transcript:

Morgan: Let me ask you this, sir. As a Christian man, can you point to a single public utterance by Jesus Christ—the Christ in Christianity—about gay people or about a gay lifestyle? Can you name one single thing, derogatory or otherwise?

Ferguson: Go to Sodom and Gomorra for goodness sakes!

Brown: I’ll name three for your Piers. Number one, in Matthew 5, Jesus said he didn’t come to abolish the Torah but to fulfill. He takes the sexual morals of the Torah to a higher level. Number two, in Matthew 15, he says all sexual acts committed outside of marriage defile a human being. And in Matthew 19 he says marriage as God intended it is the union of one man and one woman for life.

Look, Jesus did not address wife-beating or heroin-shooting, but we don’t use that argument for silence. But in point of fact, he as a first century Jew, of course he reinforced these things. And Piers, I’d encourage you to restudy what scripture says. We should love our neighbors as our self, but that doesn’t mean we approve everything of our neighbor.

At this point, Hill interjected, arguing that there are “several problems with that interpretation.”

Hill: One, the New Testament absolutely does offer the words and the voice of Jesus, and he very explicitly does not talk about being gay. And even the scripture you cited about marriage is very different than talking about being gay…

Brown reminded Hill of Christ’s assertion that “marriage is one man and one woman,” but Hill moved on to attempt to address Brown’s statement about Christ’s reinforcement of Old Testament law.

Hill: If you’re saying he’s confirming the Old Testament, well, the Old Testament is far from clear around gay marriage or around gay acts.

Brown: Are you sure about that?

Hill: …The book of Leviticus, according to most biblical scholars, is not about being gay. If you’re talking about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah for example. It’s really about being inhospitable to neighbors, it’s about prostitution, it’s about many other things…

Brown: Hebrew scholarship is my background, I have a PhD in Semitic languages… Leviticus 18 is quite explicit: For a man to lie with a man is contrary to what God intended. The rectum is part of the disposal system. It’s not meant for sexuality. God designed a man to be with a woman. That’s pretty obvious, not hateful to say it. That’s obvious. And, really, the Hebrew scriptures are clear on this, sir.

I wish nobody unhappiness. And, I will continue to hate the sin and love the sinner.

However, history has shown us what happens to a nation or an empire, when it devolves into licentiousness. 

And, even now, my fellow Americans, the Barbarians are at the gate.

Until He Comes,

KJ