The most wonderful time of the year? Really?

It's easy to get lost in the Christmas rush.


Traffic is de rigeur and the malls are packed.  Everyone's rushing and deep inside the recesses of my mind, I'm singing: "It's the most..horrible time of the year".


Even if people chide me for what appears to be a cynical thought, I have always made it a point to ask people to reconsider why we celebrate Christmas.   Invariably, they point to Jesus as the Reason for the Season. 


Really?


Well researched scholarship has pointed out the following:

• the Lord Jesus was born during a summer in 6 B.C.
• He was laid in a corn crib in cloths as a sign to visiting shepherds, who were told by a heavenly host of angels that Israel's Messiah was born in Bethlehem. 
• And yes - Joseph and Mary, contrary to what's been told traditionally, were accommodated by their relatives in Bethlehem as they were there for the census ordered by Quirinius and the "wise men" visiting him were not kings, but rather, ancient astrologers from the kingdom of ancient Persia, who saw the heavenly bodies align in place to indicate the arrival of an incredibly powerful king (read the article on this link: http://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/index.htm

What I find relevant though, is not the discrepancies in the time of the year that it happened, but the circumstances surrounding the birth and death of Jesus - and how He fulfilled the proclamation of being the "Lamb of God" to the detail.


Bethlehem, apart from being part of prophecy and the hometown of Joseph, was also one of the villages outside Jerusalem where the lambs for the sacrificial offering in the temple were being raised.


The significant thing of that particular summer evening, when the "shepherds were watching over their flocks" was that it was lambing season - the time of the year when the new lambs were being born. The very same lambs that were going to be slaughtered as atonement sacrifices.  The very same time when Jesus was born. Coincidental?


Notice also, the day of His death on the cross.


It was the Friday of the Passover sacrifice.  And He died at approximately the time when the sacrifices of the passover lambs were to take place at the temple.


And in this holiday break, we lose out the significance of this detail: Behold, the Lamb of God, who comes to take away the sin of the world!


God in the form of a man - His very own Son, coming to be born as a man with one purpose: to die a cruel death in our behalf, in order that we may become sons of the Living God.


If anything - that, is the real reason for what we now celebrate as Christmas.

A year or so later: A mind constantly renewed, and a newly sensitized heart

I bless the day that I was challenged online to refute an allegation that what I believed in was corollary to believing in fairies and other superstitions.


Because then, I realized that I had no logical position to counter those points and I knew that what I had was substantive, so I began on my quest to discover the substance of what we believe.


And what I found was rich, factual, even more substantive and bolstered what faith I had then to a much stronger faith that I hold now.


Going against the grain of what I've encountered in most Christian groups, which have labelled what I pursue to be "preferential knowledge" or "head knowledge that doesn't improve your walk with God" (which it actually did!) and "theological hairsplitting" - my studies in Christian apologetics, theology, Greco Roman historiography and philosophical thought have broadened my theological and spiritual horizons and allow me to approach the vastly incomprehensible knowledge of an eternal, Almighty God.


Contrary to what I expected I would turn out to be if I walked this path ( become nitpicking, bookish, argumentative and traditional) my continual learning has led me to become more innovative in my thinking - with much clarity, focus and comprehension, as I revert to the thought that should have remained orthodox, classic and immutable concerning the unchanging God who created the universe, and the reality of the Kingdom that His Son, the historical Jesus of Nazareth, proclaimed of during His three year ministry here on earth.


The Kingdom IS real. It's here. Now. And we must proclaim it as well.  And in order to do so in a comprehensive fashion, we must begin with loving the Lord God with all our hearts, with all our soul, strength and our MINDS. (Matt 22:37)


To be sure, there is much yet to be read, much to be thought of and think about, much more to process in order to understand and finally, to be able to give a rational explanation and defense of the faith that we have come to embrace.


But this enterprise starts with a quest for wanting to know the reality of the God of the Bible, getting to know the Living King and Messiah, and the operating Kingdom that He has said was already open to everyone.


I like the version used by Dallas Willard, in his book "The Divine Conspiracy" where he used an appropriate paraphrase of the first message that Jesus proclaimed: Rethink your life in light of the fact that the Kindom of the heavens is now open for all" - Matthew 4: 17.


Not a bad take off point for innovative thinking!


But sadly, the majority of the Christian world today has stopped being introspective, and have become content with emotions and feeling, relying on nothing more than parroted phrases to carry on with their spiritual journeys, and often to the point where their definitions of faith must have nothing to do with reason altogether!


No wonder why there are many among the younger generation in culturally Christian families that depart from the faith when they leave home.  


Because they don't get the answers they need from the people that they look up to for authority, they find the wrong ones elsewhere and worse, their parent's cannot provide the better ones because they don't know them in the first place!


When people began to notice that I was beginning to take my studies in Christian apologetics more seriously than they had anticipated, they were asking me who I was going to be debating with.


I replied then, as I do now, that it is not or ever will be, my intent to be a better debater.


After all, no one ever reasoned himself into the Kingdom of God.  It still has quite a bit to do with believing.


But better explanations to displace an incorrect worldview provides a better platform for belief.


And it also starts with a sincere wish to discover what is true.  And not find more reasons to refute what can be believed in as true knowledge.


There is a hidden life in this invisible Kingdom, and the way it operates is nothing like how we do so in this two dimensional world that we can perceive with our senses. But it is more real than the world that we regard every waking moment of the day.  And we can find out for ourselves how it works, and more importantly, how we figure into this invisible Kingdom as we come to know and behold our presently invisible King.

Reporting from the Fringe

"Fringe theory", in a very broad sense describes ideas that depart significantly from the prevailing or mainstream view in its particular field of study, as characterized mainly by media reporters, ascribing this to extremists, radical groups as well as other people including evangelical Christians, who ascribe to an eschatological worldview.

It's become common to apply this label to people, whom - in their view - can be characterized by beliefs that do not fit within the acceptable notions of science, which they insist is the orthodox view.

And therefore, Evangelical Christians, as a rule, are "ignorant", "superstitious", "biased", "intolerant" and "bigoted". Naturally. They don't accept the view of gay marriage, stem cell research, abortion and as far as they are concerned, Christianity is the exclusive way to salvation.

While on the surface, the majority of mainstream Christianity is at a loss on how to refute these labels that are unjustly foisted on them, they do have valid reasons for maintaining their position. And the sad truth is, the majority of followers of Jesus Christ do not know how to explain why their worldview is valid, except to point at Bible verses that even they have a difficulty explaining.

The reality is that a large portion of current mainstream Christianity is ten miles wide and less than an inch deep. And largely because of a prevailing notion that anything requiring deeper study of the Scriptures and theology is merely "head knowledge" and supposedly does nothing to make the believer a better person.

This disguised laziness has resulted in an effective "dumbing down" of the majority of the present body of believers who now are marginalized in society, and more so because they themselves don't know why this is so.

And they ascribe this to persecution.

Well, yes - persecution is consonant to the life of the believer. It was that way in the first century, and there's no reason why it has to be different in this day and age. There is a supernatural conflict that we do not see that's going on and we in the two dimensional world that we exist in are caught in the crossfire. But the good thing is, we know that the war has been won already. And we're on the winning side.

But many of those who had been persecuted previously in that early church period were able to make for a sound defense of what they believed in, and acquit themselves before their accusers because of their refutation. They were executed, nonetheless, but in the study of this history, we see that they were innocent of the charges hurled against them.

There are reasons beyond Matthew 5:11-12 for persecution. And largely it's because of a belief in a supernatural God who created the universe, and through the conquering of death by His Son's execution and resurrection, the supernatural battle over evil has been won.

While that statement may seem plausible for most, when going into detail, it then harbors on the “fringe” - and these include the miraculous, the predicted ending and other views that have mainstream humanity raising eyebrows to the possibility of those events occurring.

And what's sad is that most of Christianity has succumbed to this worldview, effectively reducing Christianity into a code of ethical conduct and teaching for the life we live now - completely forgetting that the life we were meant for lies beyond the parameter of time as we know it.

Consider for instance, this very real report from what mainstream media would now describe as "fringe".

On September 15, 2010, the 85 year old father of a very dear friend succumbed to a deteriorating condition brought about by the ravages of time and old age, and was pronounced clinically dead at six in the evening of that day, by their family physician who had been monitoring his condition for over a month.

At 9 in the evening of that very night, the group of family and friends gathered around him were startled to hear him call out to ask for a cup of coffee.

He had come back to life.

While this occurrence may appear very much within the realm of possibility, there are other facts to consider in this particular case of revivification.

First of all, his medical history documented a case of paralysis from the midsection downdue to his spine, causing a numbness in his body which compelled him to be bedridden before his death. Next, his left lung had collapsed, and was incapable of ingesting food. He was urinating through a cathether and blood was constantly present in the urine discharges and he was always being sedated due to the pain of failing internal organs.

His lungs have since started functioning normally, and the cathether has been removed due to normally functioning kidneys and he is now capable of eating food, including ice cream without it spilling out of his mouth. Sensitivity and pain are now back in the previously numb and paralyzed areas. And the family doctor can attest to this while being bewildered at the same time.

However, what makes it even more significant is that he knew that he had died and had been away from his body for what he felt was three days.

Dr. Gary Habermas, the foremost authority on the Resurrection at Liberty University, has documented records on incidents such as these that he files under "Near Death Experiences" and the circumstances are similar to a number of accounts that he had recorded in that study.

When his attention was called to the fact that he was absent from his body for only three hours, he insisted that he was away for three days. Because he “had a conference” with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Please keep in mind that I am repeating a report from two former Army officers, that had seen combat: engaging in running gunbattles, survived them and were bemedalled because of their encounters and successful missions. They had brushes with death staring them in their faces and they were no strangers to hard nosed realities. These gentlemen have no reason to embellish anything of this sort. More so now, as they are both believers in Jesus and had been praying for this man before his succumbing to death and returning from there.

They also report that my friend's father returned because of one major message that he had to relay to the whole world - that the “people of the world must repent, because the second coming of the Lord Jesus is very, very near.” (his actual words, written on a sheet of paper)

This is also significant because the revivified patient was not a committed believer when he passed on to the afterlife. Things were very different with him after he came back.

Now that, as far as media is concerned, is fringe. No matter that that has been the theme of the New Testament since the last chapter of Matthew, and this recent report merely serves as one of those reports (as a near death experience) that could validate it. But then again, it's not science as they know it.

Of course, it's his word against that of mainstream media. And we know whose words should be believed. (The tongue is on the other cheek.)

But what if it's true? Read up on Pascal's Wager.

-----------

30 September 2010

As of this writing, I am updated of the account by text message: "My father was subjected to a series of medical tests these past few days. The doctor declared him completely cured as of yesterday. All of the disease/sicknesses are gone. I pray that they are not mistaken this time. All he needs now is therapy for his legs. He will soon start with rice porridge for his food. Praise God."

That very day, I called him and he informed me that for the first time in almost two months, he was able to be brought to the bathroom to defecate.

Complete medical history will be brought in soon and I will be posting these for examination.

Scriptural studies online: my virtual discussion group

After spending several months trying to get an apologetics discussion group jumpstarted, I've quit trying hard to get it done.

It's not the easiest thing to do to get a few people interested in what seems to be a difficult conversational approach towards building one's faith. It truly is a challenge to get people to think, and to think Christianly or biblically is a completely different ballgame altogether.

These days, I've resorted to sharing and comparing faithviews with two very good friends - they've spent more time than I have in ministry and kinda have a pretty good idea of what we're "talking" about online. I come in as a dwarf among giants - something like Luke Skywalker discussing the skills of a Jedi with Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda.

Discussing these matters face to face would be quite desirable but it would be quite an ordeal to meet halfway between Cebu City in the Philippines and Midwest USA to do that regularly.

So, sharing these views online by email is a suitable and quite a viable option. And it also gives us a chance to organize our thoughts after pondering the subject and then putting them down online.

In a recent exchange, Jim Crews - a Bible scholar (Yoda), John Ricards (Obi Wan) - an American Missionary to the tribes in Mindanao with a thick Visayan accent, and myself were discussing two particular verses in the New Testament, involving the explanation for the thief on the cross who sought Jesus' favor and was granted Grace, and another involving appearances of the righteous dead in Jerusalem after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We had a very good discourse online, finding suitable answers for the questions from two different perspectives - Jim's, through an understanding involving enlightenment from the Holy Spirit, and mine - through an intellectual probing of the circumstances surrounding the Gospel account and finding a suitable explanation.

The bottom line is that we both arrived at the same destination, though we used quite different paths. They were both valid approaches, and we still arrived at similar conclusions.

It is these kinds of conversations that help bring about a good understanding amongst us who attempt to see though the glasses, though darkly. Because when we open the eyes of our hearts wider, we may be able to see better and understand more. Not all of it, by any means. But much better than we had previously understood it.

I appreciate the admonition by Dr. Clay Jones of Biola University that we, as Christians need to listen to each other. In his words: "Christians, whether leaders or not, need to listen to each other." And included that in his blog post, which I follow - his link is here: http://www.clayjones.net/

In light of this, I find that I have found my discussion group that I've been searching for, and in the comfort of my own home - though miles apart, it's almost like we're finding God together over our favorite hot beverage, without having to go halfway around the world to do this.

Perhaps, one day we would be able to come together with likeminded believers that seek God's truths in real time, through technologies that will allow this. But for now, this suffices - and thankfully, it suffices very well.

Substitutionary Execution: Death by proxy

At this time of the year in Cebu, most people are making preparations for a long weekend out of town, catching some sun and doing anything else except being industrious. And you can't blame them. Five days of closed offices, banks and government offices don't leave you much to do except read or get out of town.

It's also at this time of the year when teachings in church services tend to become more reflective than usual, focusing on the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus and what it means to all of us. In some extreme cases, this time of the year is the time when they literally share in the agonies of our Crucified Lord by their partaking of His pain - some by depriving themselves of their usual diet, to those who inflict pain on themselves by literally whipping themselves bloody.

I am not sure if those that made it a self imposed pact to have themselves literally crucified on an actual cross will do so again this year, but it's become a tourist attraction to those that travel here to watch these people subject themselves to that self inflicted agony and take digital pictures of the event to show to their friends back home.

The best is reserved for what everyone knows as Easter Sunday, when the glory of the Resurrection is discussed at length as well.

My good friend and Pastor, Les Tilka of Quest Community Fellowship, started it early when he began to expose some of the facts surrounding the crucifixion last Sunday, getting people to rethink their preconceived notions surrounding that execution on Golgotha.

For a non academic, the teaching was quite a shocker, as Les detailed the difficulty that our Lord Jesus went through from the time he was arrested following the Passover Seder that he shared with the twelve. The continuous events, following the arrest at night, going into what transpired the next day - trials by three different courts and judges and subsequent lashing by Roman guards as well as other painful tortures, and finally carrying the heavy crosspiece to the place of execution and being nailed to the stake - caused some in the congregation to squirm at the thought of what had actually happened on that fateful day in history.

Les went on to describe how painful the death must have been, as the crucified persons would have to raise themselves in order to breathe and in the case of the severely whipped Jesus, He had to rub his severely wounded skin against the rough wood, causing more pain to Himself for at least six hours before He finally succumbed.

To an apologist in training, to be sure, there were more gory details available for study that were not mentioned in that teaching that Sunday. But it was enough to jolt the people into rethinking their concepts about the crucifixion.

What got me that morning was the realization that the Lord God actually took on the accusation and condemnation for our crime - in a literal sense - when the Lord Jesus answered appropriately and truthfully to the question: "Are you the King of the Jews?"

When He replied: "Yes, you say that I am" (Mark 15:2), the footnote of the Apologetics Study Bible that I continually refer to reveals much more: the context by which He answered meant that He said: "Yes, but not in the way that you think".

While innocently telling the truth of His claim to the throne, He Himself acknowledged the crime of rebellion against the state (Rome) by doing so. And in so doing, dying by execution for a crime that humanity had committed against His Father - rebellion by disobedience in Eden. An execution that He went to, voluntarily, in behalf of the humanity that His Father redeemed through Him.

And in the most horrible way imaginable.

To be sure, there were many Roman executions by crucifixion at that time, starting from the time of Alexander the Great down to the Third Century. Yet this crucifixion stands out as the most significant one to this day. A substitutionary death of one man, executed in the place of billions of men and women throughout time. God going where He had never gone previously - down the road of Death, so that we would all live.

Small wonder why there is a consistent, militant effort to discredit, or throw doubt on this One significant Life, the Substitutionary Death, and more importantly, the seeming incredibility of the Resurrection which He Himself had proclaimed would happen - and did, following a hasty entombment by Joseph of Arimathea- after dying on the cross, because it was against Judaic law to bury anyone during the Sabbath, which followed the day of the execution.

Les has reserved the best news for Sunday. May there be more who will understand it better - and decide to live because of it.

Innovation in the Kingdom

I was invited to engage with some friends on the matter of providing a Strategy and Innovation service to corporate groups that seem to get stuck in a rut, and cannot get their people to think beyond the confines of their walls - or so they think.

After a while, I realized that it was going to be a difficult thing to do in the hometown where I work and live, where people are generally hesitant to tread new waters or explore newer territory (that despite their claim of being a trailblazer city - though I must admit, their claim can withstand the challenge).

My own retreat from that endeavor and subsequent immersion into the apologetic realm reoriented my thinking efforts and I have no regrets. The enterprise of understanding what we believe is far more enriching, rewarding and has brought me to a surer footing on matters of theology.

However, with all the reading and observation of the studies involving the various aspects of Theistic apologetics, I've come to see a different aspect of it, in light of innovation and strategy.

There is much being said about the new church movements being spearheaded by Erwin McManus, and to a degree, Rick Warren and the other megachurches - which have rankled many a traditional church organization because of they way that they conduct their congregational activities. Though I must say that they have succeeded in part by attracting many people who would have otherwise not considered attending church services, I honestly think that they've merely managed to repackage the entire enterprise and just made it more appealing.

A close examination of the way that Jesus of Nazareth approached the traditional mindsets of congregations of His time would have my innovating friends pointing to Him as a true innovator in that respect.

However, on examining the approach even further, far from innovating, He just made it a lot simpler for the Israelis to come to the God that they regarded as far and fearful. And better yet, He also made it possible for ordinary people who believed in Him to do exactly as He did, and He made sure that His followers knew it.

The book of Acts and church historical accounts up to the 4th century attest to it being true. Augustine's "City of God" point to at least 75 particular incidents, with one he witnessed with his own eyes.

However, somewhere along the way, we all lost it.

In my readings of the Kingdom Triangle of JP Moreland, the possibility for a revivification of that approach towards expanding the Kingdom is made even more real. Dr. Moreland, through his book and his lectures which can be downloaded and listened to from his site (http://www.kingdomtriangle.com) points to the three essential factors that caused the outbreak of believing followers in the first century following the resurrection and ascension of the risen Jesus: a life of the Christian mind and of thinking biblically, spiritual formation and it's disciplines, and the exercising of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit by believers manifesting the power of the Kingdom.

I come across a great many believer friends that point an accusing finger of possessing "head knowledge" that can't be as relevant as the practical wisdom of Christian conduct - which I feel could use a bit of empowerment, if they'd let the Holy Spirit take part. The case of Peter/Cephas, the supposed simpleminded fisherman, always arises, and somehow when the matter of his mental development between the time of his first hand education at the feet of the Master to his writing of 1st and 2nd Peter arises, they fail to realize that a good thirty years of spreading the good news of the Kingdom had passed - and in that time, his reasoning skills and ability with doctrinal discourses had developed considerably.

But sadly, to propound on this and be an active proponent of this thought to the majority of traditional church leadership would almost certainly result in controversy. First of all, to mindsets that have succumbed to a near naturalist worldview, this will appear as "weird" and it won't surprise me if the more influential among the conservatives would label this as heretical and cause yet another division in an already very divided body. I can imagine our Lord already rolling His eyes because of it.

Yet, I can't help but observe that this is exactly the kind of reaction that He had experienced in His ministry. His message was too controversial among those that had already established a status quo, that could not AND must NOT be challenged or revised. They were comfortable with it, so why fix what ain't broke?

In that light, the Innovation proponents possess the advantage in explaining why the box must be broken first before they can be free to think out of their boxes. But to do that, they must first study the way that the King first broke down the message of the Kingdom to those He proclaimed it to, and how He demonstrated it to them while incarnate and after He conquered death. The Kingdom Triangle does this very well.

You put those innovators within the worldview of the Kingdom Triangle and spread THAT message of the Kingdom - I have no doubt that the spirit of the Acts church will live again. And yes, there will be persecution - from both the traditional church groups and the forces of darkness. But that's part of the package.

My salute to Mosab Hassan Yousef: Son of Hamas, and a child of the Most High God

“Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10:32

For some people, to acknowledge followership of the Kingship of Jesus of Nazareth as Savior in a social setting can be an awkward moment. However, if pressed, and on recall of this passage, they eventually do so.

In an environment like a "democracy" where people move about with a liberty to express their thoughts freely, this is not unusual.

However, in this day and age, in the liberal democracy that is the United States of America, where all forms of ideologies are allowed - including the dangerous ones - it can be very dangerous. Most specially if you converted from Islam. And more so if you converted, coming from a radical Jihadist movement of Islam.

The danger that Mosab Hassan Yousef has placed himself in, by the writing and publication of his testimony and of his collaboration with Shin Bet, to save Palestinian lives including those of potential suicide bombers, is hardly the most sensible thing to do.

However, in doing so, Mosab makes the loudest statement among his people, the Islamic world, and the Arab world who are probably livid with his revelations. The most painful consequence occurred just hours before his book "Son of Hamas" was released publicly - his father, a founder of the Hamas movement, denounced and disowned him publicly.

Starting with a riveting interview on CNN's Amanpour, Mosab has gained the attention and admiration of many a believer in Jesus Christ. More so, when his turnaround from an active member of Hamas to a genuine follower of Jesus, and assisting the avowed enemy of his people, the Palestinians, by foiling at least 1,000 plots to assasinate, sow terror and murder is probably causing much fury among them, and there may be quite a number of them already plotting to assassinate him as well.

Mosab makes it clear that he does it to make a statement among his people, who he is not against, but rather, what they believe in.

In the study of apologetics, the discussion of the veracity of the claims of the Qur'an can very well be dealt with using facts. However, in a case like this, facts will not be sufficient. Emotions run high, and the threats to Mosab are quite real.

It is true, that the exponentially growing number of followers of Jesus among the Arabs and former muslims who converted to Isa (Jesus) face the most danger in their home environments. This is still by far, the largest unreported story in the world today. There are many reports online that are available to attest to this.

However, the act of this one brave man has done more to gain the attention of the secular media than the reports of the appearance of Isa among villages of muslims in various parts of the muslim world in dreams or actual apparitions. To the point where most media are now focusing on the danger that Mosab has exposed himself to.

Despite this, Mosab remains steadfast in his decision. And to him, spiritual death is more a matter to be concerned with than a physical death.

Truly, should he survive despite the dangers he faces now, what matters more will be that he will be acknowledged before the Almighty Father in Heaven by the Son, and because Mosab acknowledged Him publicly. And in a really big way.