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“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught”
God spoke these words through the prophet Isaiah about the people of Israel. It states a premise that is still true today. The premise that Christians would rather follow the teachings of human beings than the teachings of God.
Here’s the problem. The Preachers teaching human-things think they are teaching God-things. And the listeners think the human-things are God-things.
Let me suggest a few clues…
If the message isn’t consistent with the over riding message in God’s word of “love”, i.e. love God with your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself then there might be a problem.
If a congregation is diminishing and dying under a certain brand of teaching and leadership then there might be a problem.
Everyone thinks they are following God’s teaching but many and maybe most are not. So be very circumspect and careful about the teachings you are about to swallow… they may not digest very well.
King Hezekiah of Judah was a great King. It was said of him that no King of Judah was like him either before or after because he trusted in the Lord.
Hezekiah tried to unify Judah and Israel by inviting everyone to celebrate the Passover together. But there were a few problems… they couldn’t celebrate during the prescribed (God ordained) time because the people had not gathered and the Priests were not purified.
So Hezekiah sent out couriers to gather the people. Some of the people ridiculed the message and ridiculed the messengers but others gathered and there was a huge crowd of worshippers.
However there was another problem… not only were the Priests to purify themselves but the people were also supposed to come “purified” and were not.
There was so much that was wrong… the wrong month, Unclean Priests and Unclean Participants. In fact the only thing that was right was the hearts of the people.
Hezekiah could have been angry and condemned the Priests and the People but instead he prayed for them because his bigger mission was “unifying the people” and God heard his prayer.
"There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place”
I’ve got a feeling that under King Hezekiah’s rule that a year later at the next Passover everything was right… the right time, purified Priests and Purified people. Sometimes people need time and some things may have to be temporarily sacrificed to fulfill the greater mission but it all starts with pure hearts and great leaders.
One of the more significant things that occurs in the story of Jesus is his baptism, reception of the Holy Spirit and the announcement of his sonship.
Let me suggest that it is significant because it is a forecast of exactly what happens with Christians.
Believers are told to repent, be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Jesus had no need to repent but was baptized and the Holy Spirit came upon him and he started his Spirit driven ministry. We too have a ministry in association with the Holy Spirit.
If this is true, that Jesus’ example is a pattern for all of us, then the question is begged why do so many baptize babies?
- Jesus was not baptized as a baby
- babies have no sins that need to be washed away
- babies don’t begin a ministry being led by the Holy Spirit to do battle with Satan
It also begs the question about why so many diminish baptism (to elevate the importance of belief) by putting baptism off for a more convenient time.
- the Holy Spirit doesn’t come at the point of belief. It comes at the point of baptism when the believer has had all his sins washed away and is a cleansed Temple in which the Holy Spirit can dwell in.
- Why would some choose to delay baptism and delay the reception of the Holy Spirit?
If baptism announces to the spirit world our sonship and the beginning of our ministry why would we be satisfied with belief and the “sinners prayer” as is advocated by some.
- If we are true sons and daughters (and he testifies to that by giving his Holy Spirit) why live in fear?
Rejoice in the relationship and don’t worry that God is just looking for you to make some mistake that if not confessed will send you to eternal damnation.
We are true sons and daughters of the most Holy One. Live like Him and be Him and be a light to the world.
Belief, repentance and baptism are essential elements to become children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
Numbers 12 records that Miriam and Aaron “spoke” against Moses saying that they were equal to him in being Prophet’s.
That’s what it looked like on the surface but the divine record reveals something about their hearts. Moses had married a Cushite woman and they didn’t like her. The ancient land of Cush is today’s Ethiopia. Now if the people of Cush resembled the people of Ethiopia today then they were black people and the rest of the story confirms that.
Miriam and Aaron didn’t like Zipporah, their sister-in-law, because she was black.
Before we get to their punishment the divine record states that Moses was the most humble man in the land. Obviously, Miriam and Aaron were not humble because they tried to equate or elevate themselves above Moses.
Now on to the punishment. God punishes Miriam (the apparent ringleader) by striking her with Leprosy and her skin became “as white as snow”
That God… Miriam disliked black people and thought she was better because she was white so God made her really white… as white as snow. How do you like being white now Miriam?
What can be learned from this?
- Sometimes when people make an accusation they may have an ulterior motive.
- If you dislike someone because of their race you are not being humble (like Moses was humble)
- God rocks with punishment and makes the punishment fit the crime.
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Allen Land's obituary. He and Ulli were close friends of our family.
Allen was born in Houston, the 4th child of Emmett Land Sr and Murlene VanHowten.
He grew up along the Texas Gulf Coast and joined the Army after High School. He signed up for the Army Rangers because they paid more, and experienced political and military conflict around the world. He served in multiple combat operations and survived two helicopter crashes. He was once told by a commanding officer, “Mr. Land, you are a hard man to kill.”
He met Ulli while stationed in Germany in 1977. They were married in 1979, and settled in Houston, in a furnished apartment on Wirt Road, and rode bicycles to work because they couldn’t afford a car. They even rode their bikes to the Galleria as newlyweds to do their Christmas shopping there. As finances got better, they first got a motorcycle, and later a small car.
They had no TV and started reading and discussing the Bible together. With their first child on the way, they looked for a church that reflected the teachings of the New Testament.
Allen loved to read and was interested in Philosophy, Religion, History, Politics, Sci-Fi, Romance, and Fiction. He remembered everything he read and heard, including names, places, phrases and dates. He loved music, art and movies.
God’s word was Allen’s passion. He never ceased to study to learn more about the character of God.
Very early in his Christian life, he came across the teachings of Francis A. Schaeffer. They became defining in his understanding of Christianity and the world around us.
Just last year, he found several Bible commentaries he had always wanted at a fraction of their original price. He was so thrilled and bought them and read them. But the two small commentary books by E. M. Zerr remained his favorite.
Allen said, “The Bible is not complicated, and God is not like us. We must take him at His word and do what he tells us to do. He is merciful and wants us to be saved, and he has done it all for us. We only need to “get in the water” (Acts 2:38), and for some reason, people dance around that and try to explain it away.”
“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? …” (Job 40:2)
I said, it is like the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-19, and he asked me to read it.
We had this conversation Friday morning before he just started sleeping all the time, and as the end was drawing near.
I told him, we are standing at the river Jordan, and God will part the waters for you, and you will go on into the Promised Land (Joshua 3). We will not need a boat or a boatsman, God has done it all for us when he sent his son to die for our sins and offered us forgiveness and salvation. We have accepted his gift and put our faith in God and His word.
“The duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
Allens favorite book in the Bible was Ephesians.
Allen leaves behind his wife Ulli; children Stephanie, Cedric, Katina and husband Mario with grandchildren Ebba, Leo, and Emmy; sister Georgia Kay and brother Emmett Land Jr; nieces Mary, Melissa, Jessica, and Kate; nephews Kenneth and Rodney.
He was preceded in death by his parents, oldest sister Lillie; youngest brother Ricky; and nephews John and Jack.
They say that Socrates liked to educate his students by asking questions that required his students to think rather than spoon feed his students answers to be memorized.
It’s easy to see the logic in that because as teachers we are developing brains not robots.
As students of the Bible we are in essence teaching ourselves as we read and study. So, like Socrates, we should ask ourselves questions about what we read and not rely primarily on others to supply answers.
Some of the questions I asked myself as I was studying the Book of Esther was how much was God’s hand in these events and why was it important for Esther to become queen.
My guess is that God’s hand was in the whole thing… the raising up of King Ahasuerus, Queen Vashti’s deposition, the rise of Haman and of course the role of Esther and Mordecai. 100% of it.
If true that leads to the second socratic question… why did God do it?
The queenship of Esther was after the first return of the jewish exiles and before the second and third returns of the exiles.
One possibility of why God stepped in was to not only prevent the extermination of the Jews but also to pave the way for them to go back to Judea.
Another possibility was to facilitate the spread of the Good News of Salvation by the Apostles. The Apostles were able to spread the Gospel because of a healthy educated Jewish population in the succeeding Roman Empire with Synagogues ready for the Apostles preaching.
Ask yourselves plenty of questions and ask your students plenty of questions or you and they might end up like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz lamenting that you don’t have a brain.
The story of Esther has been framed as a “beauty” contest. It was nothing of the sort it was a “Queen” contest.
In beauty contests everyone gets to go home. With Esther and the other girls, no one was going home. You either won the prize of being queen or you were a concubine of the King. Both honorary positions but obviously the queenship was the best.
When I was applying for Veterinary school there were about 1000 applicants for 130 places. The selection criteria was based on academics, experience with animals and an interview. I applied three times before I got in. I guess I wasn’t the prettiest the first two times. That was better odds (1 in 8) than with Esther (1 in 127).
By the way… Esther was not only a willing participant but actively tried to win the queenship… she didn’t just want to be a concubine.
Every girl had one night with the king to try to impress him and win the queenship. Keep in mind that King Ahasuerus was no sexual novice and had probably experienced every kind of sex that a woman could offer.
Esther had an advantage that the other girls did not have. She had Hegai the overseer on her side. The scriptures state that Esther “found favor” with Hegai and he counseled her.
Imagine if you were Hegai and you had the ability to do a post-interview with all these young ladies. Also if you could talk to King Ahasuerus afterwards… what did you like about this girl? What did you dis-like? Anyway, Hegai was an expert on the tastes of King Ahasuerus relating to what he liked in women and he was careful to use that knowledge to instruct Esther. Like maybe Ahasuerus’ favorite perfume.
Of course all these young women were virgins and therefore sexually naive. So it must have been something other than sex that impressed Ahasuerus with Esther. Perhaps her spirituality, her innocence, her brain… maybe as a child of God his inability to intimidate her. Maybe even Ahasuerus knew that beauty and sex were not the most important qualities to be Queen of the Persian Empire.
I guess we’ll never know but what we do know is that Esther won and became queen of the Persian Empire.
Let’s not frame the story as a “beauty” contest and spiritually confuse and handicap our young Bible students. Esther was in a contest to become Queen of Persia and protect God’s people the Jews.
