The Wise Scribe

 This Sunday's reading is from Mark 12:28-34,

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbour as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question.

 In the previous chapter of Mark's Gospel, Jesus handled the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees who were sent to trap him, and here he is faced with  a member of the "scribes" class which Jesus describes in verses 38 - 40 as bad folks,

As he taught, he said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’

The wise scribe agrees with Jesus and takes the next step by concluding correctly that loving one's neighbor as oneself is more important than all the burnt sacrifices still going on at the Temple in those days. 

When seen in light of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, a true act of love for you and me, there should no longer be any need for burnt offerings, but even the wise scribe could not see that coming.

"Men — 'or all genders' — can have abortions"

This article from American Thinker illustrates the warped the minds of some transgendered persons.  

Women's Health magazine recently posted a piece by Nick Lloyd (as told to Kristin Canning, the magazine's features director), a non-binary transgender person who believes that abortion clinics should use gender-neutral language in all their communication.  Lloyd, who had an abortion, was upset that the experience was too "gendered."

           Lloyd averred,  

"Trans and non-binary people get pregnant and have abortions — and that doesn't invalidate their gender.  And they're deserving of care that affirms their gender."  (It should be noted that abortion does, however, invalidate their babies, who might be deserving of care that affirms their...existence.)

Lloyd noted:

I didn't feel ashamed about having an abortion. It was an easy decision for me. But, as a non-binary, transgender person, my abortion experience led to a lot of gender dysphoria. Every clinic had the word women's in the name, all the pamphlets used gendered language and featured images of gender-conforming people, and clinicians were kind but didn't understand trans and non-binary experiences. It felt dehumanizing. I had to emotionally disconnect from the experience entirely because of how gendered it was.

Well, it was certainly, literally, dehumanizing for the baby.  It is preposterously, monstrously self-centered for anyone to say she he they had to disconnect from their abortion experience because it was too gendered, but not because they were extinguishing the life inside them.

Lloyd added, 

"There is so much clinics can do to become more inclusive of all genders.  They could also take a look at the clinic decor and make sure that feels inclusive as well." 

         (But not inclusive of the baby, I'm guessing.)

It is simply insane to say men — or "all genders" — can have abortions.

It is even more insane to believe you are a man when you are pregnant.

The world is upside down, inside out, full of crazies, and full of people who believe their insane ideas.

 

Let Me See Again

This Sunday we hear the story of Jesus restoring the eyesight of Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52,

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

When the healed are named, it lends more credibility to the story because people contemporary with the story can affirm the facts.

 

Islam Kills

 This past week we heard of two incidents of Islamic terror in Europe that were barely mentioned in the American media and the underlying problem with Islam and its sanctioned murder was not mentioned at all. Israel National News gives more details than the U.S. media dared, 

The killings of five people in Norway by a man armed with a bow and arrows "appears to be an act of terrorism", the country's security agency said on Thursday, according to a report in Sky News.

Four women and one man were killed during the rampage in the town of Kongsberg. Three people were injured, among them a police officer.

Earlier on Thursday, police chief Ole Bredrup Sæverud said that the terrorist had converted to Islam and was previously known to the police.

Meanwhile, in the U.K., a member of Parliament is slain by another Muslim that the authorities knew was a threat, 

The man suspected of killing Sir David Amess attended an official course aimed at 'de-radicalising' him, according to reports.

Suspected lone-wolf terrorist Ali Harbi Ali is thought to have become radicalised online recently.

The 25-year-old is said to have previously been referred to an anti-extremism programme called Prevent, which aims to stop people from going on to become terrorists.

Detectives are probing whether he may have been inspired by al-Shabaab, an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Somalia and Kenya.

Which goes to show you that you can't fix these people. The only cure is for Jesus to pull them out of their Islam induced Hell. 

These are just two examples of "The Religion of Peace" at work, sanctioning murder of "infidels".

Jihad Watch, which Wikipedia lists as "a far-right anti-Muslim conspiracy blog" has an up to date list of Islamic terror actions, most of which you would never hear about if you confined your news sources to the main stream media.

I have studied the Quran, and Muslims who follow its words, which supposedly were delivered to Mohammed by an angel, are obligated to kill you, me, and anyone in the media who says a negative word.

That "angel" who spoke to Mohammed had to be Satan himself.

Islam kills, Jesus saves.

 

 

  

Seats of Honor

 This Sunday's reading contains a valuable lesson on the sin of wanting to be honored which is a cousin of the sin of pride. From Mark 10:35-45, 

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ They replied, ‘We are able.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’

When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’

In order to better understand James and John's motives when they say, "in your glory", one needs to go back and read the two verses immediately preceding today's reading in which Jesus predicts his death and resurrection,

“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles,  who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

While sitting anywhere in heaven where Jesus is in his glory is something he promises us, this promise is not to be a source of pride, one of the deadly sins. 

 

Will Rainbow painted pedestrian crossings kill the blind?

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a church in Canada that blessed a rainbow painted pedestrian crossing to support the LGBTQRS+ agenda. This type of crossing painting is going on around the world, and watchdogs for the disabled are raising the alarm.

From "Spiked-online", 

"...the disability-advocacy group, Access Association, wrote to UK transport secretary Grant Shapps to highlight the dangers posed ‘to disabled people, older people and children’ by painting rainbows across roads.

The Access Association explained that the replacement of black-and-white pedestrian crossings ‘may lead to people’s loss of independent travel and increased social isolation’. It cited the example of visually impaired people, saying: ‘We are concerned about the impact of colourful crossings on assistance dogs. The inconsistency of design will make training very difficult.’"

So it turns out that the blessed rainbow pedestrian crossing might actually kill people physically and not just spiritually.

Imagine the outcry from the revisionist priests and LGBTs when road crews paint over those rainbows.

 

"For God all things are possible"

In this Sunday's reading from Mark 10:17-31, we hear the message that Jesus would have us give up everything to inherit eternal life. 

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’

Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’

Of course, giving up everything is an almost impossible task, so what chance have we to inherit eternal life? 

For God all things are possible through faith in Jesus as Lord, even fitting this camel through the eye of the needle. 

Thanks be to God!

 

Don't Bless These People With One Single Dime

Last week I told you that I was a skeptic whenever I hear the word "bless" used by people. Shortly thereafter I received a request for money from the Episcopal organization. This year's annual appeal was simply titled "Bless", and the cover photo was of what appears to be a masked, ethnically diverse worship team. 

Not the picture of the typical lily white, grey haired congregation and rector that truly represent Episcopalians.

Note that the cross behind the altar is covered by the word "Bless". I wouldn't have done that.

I vainly searched the letter for any mention of Jesus and found none. 

Instead we get this, 

I pray that these people start striving to teach, preach, and share the full Gospel of Jesus and also start advocating for the dignity of those still in their mother's wombs. God surely doesn't bless some of the things they advocate for now.

Until then, they won't get a dime from me.

“God made them male and female.”

Not my words, but Jesus' found in this Sunday's reading from Mark 10:2-16. 

Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you.  But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Before the fall,  

But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.”

But we live east or west of Eden and so we have all manner of names for males and females these days and all kinds of ways they might hook up in trying to become "one flesh". These alternatives to God's original plan are the works of humankind, and you know how that usually works out.

Woe to the Church that messes with God's plan.