I have been hearing a new insight into this verse in Matthew 25:40; “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”. The expression “these brothers of mine” in this verse is a Greek term that refers to “relatives according to the flesh.” I have always thought “brother” meant any friend, neighbor, relative, etc. But since Jesus is a Jew, it would have meant any Jewish person. John Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, makes this quite clear in his new book, In Defense of Israel (Lake Mary, FL: Frontline Books 2007) Used by permission. I highly recommend this book as it tells how mistreated the Jews have been throughout their history. To the shame of us Christians, most of the perpetration has been done by us in the name of God.
In John Hagee’s book, he summarizes the atrocities done to the Jews since A.D. 70, but here I am summarizing them even further. The atrocities are too gory. The first mistreatment of the Jews began in A.D.70 when Titus marched from Rome, destroyed Jerusalem and killed thousands of Jews. In the fourth century, emperor Constantine “Christianized” the Roman form of religion, a religion full of idolatry and pagan influence. That really did not change anything, it was still a religion of idolatry and pagan influence. Since Rome believed in many gods and the Jews only had one god, Rome thought the Jews were being stubborn but they were in fact keeping the 1st commandment. So Constantine restricted the Jews from associating with the Gentiles and were called murderers of the Lord. This started a whole slew of hatred spewed on the Jews and other atrocities. Then came the Crusades starting in 1096 until 1099 when a crusader, who was the first to reach Jerusalem, began slaughtering the Jews so they took refuge in the synagogue and locked the door. This crusader burned 969 Jews that day in the synagogue, while singing “Christ We Adore Thee” as they marched around the synagogue.
In 1215 so called Christian leaders met and concluded that Jews should still be under the same oppressive oppression that had been going on for centuries. The Jews were also to wear distinctive clothing to distinguish them from the Gentiles. In the 1470s the Spanish Inquisition began to purge the church of heretics, particularly Jews, bringing more persecution. In the 1480s the Inquisition reached levels of torture the Jews would not experience again until Hitler’s sadistic level of madness.
Germany produced two of the most powerful anti-Semitic influences of all time. The first was Martin Luther who triggered the Reformation when he wrote the Ninety-five Theses and nailed it to the cathedral door. Luther made some of the most vicious, Jew-hating statements ever made. When the Jews spurned his Theses, he turned on them with a vulgarity and vengeance that eventually Hitler would use as his importance to launch the Jewish extermination in the Holocaust. Six Million Jews were killed in the 1940s in the name of the Catholic Church under Hitler believing that he was doing the will of God to kill the murderers of God when actuality it was the Romans who did, Luke 18:31-33.
The late Pope John Paul II has done more to reconcile the Roman Catholic Church with its anti-Semitic past, memorialize the Holocaust and recognize the State of Israel than anyone else. The present pope, Pope Benedict XVI, has pledged that he will continue the same policies. John Hagee is also committed to reconciling the Jews and Christians. He started the ministry of Christians United for Israel, not to proselytize the Jews but to help, support and encourage them. John realized that they are Jews and are not to be converted to any Gentile faith. We are the ones who should be converted to the Jewish faith.
Israel is the only nation who has survived throughout centuries of atrocities and yet still retains their nationality. I think it is time that we jump on his band wagon and help support Israel. We will be blessed! Genesis 12:2 “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you”.
A Merry Day to you from the Merry Heart
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
A CHANGED PERSON!
I am a changed person in more than one way. The next day after my husband asked me to marry him he went back to where he lived and was working, 750 miles away. Then he wrote and asked me how I felt about the stance that Red China was taking. Huh! What stance? Who’s Red China? That’s how much I knew about world news back then. Now I can carry on a very intelligent conversation with him and sometimes I even know more than he does about the news, Whee! I began gradually to listen to the news and know about things, I had changed.
But there is another change in my life that is even more important! I really became a Christian!
I had always doubted whether I was a Christian until one day when I and my two grade school children had gone and spent some time with my sister and her two children close in age to my children. I was in a big hurry to get home, an hour away, before dark and so became rude to my sister and my son. On the way home I was feeling very sorry that I had been mean to my sister and little boy and the Lord just spoke into my heart very clearly, “That is why I died on the cross for you”. I knew then and there that I was definitely saved. But I didn’t know how much it had changed me until I heard my daughter talking to a friend of hers one day sometime after that. She said that she had been scared of me up to a certain point and then she couldn’t explain why she wasn’t. I thought about that for a few days and then realized that I had changed and didn’t even know it.
A dear friend said recently that she used to cuss and smoke and was mean but when she accepted the Lord, she thought that people had become so much nicer! She didn’t know that it was she that had changed! When you accept the Lord as your Savior, you truly are a changed person!
A merry day to you from The Merry Heart
But there is another change in my life that is even more important! I really became a Christian!
I had always doubted whether I was a Christian until one day when I and my two grade school children had gone and spent some time with my sister and her two children close in age to my children. I was in a big hurry to get home, an hour away, before dark and so became rude to my sister and my son. On the way home I was feeling very sorry that I had been mean to my sister and little boy and the Lord just spoke into my heart very clearly, “That is why I died on the cross for you”. I knew then and there that I was definitely saved. But I didn’t know how much it had changed me until I heard my daughter talking to a friend of hers one day sometime after that. She said that she had been scared of me up to a certain point and then she couldn’t explain why she wasn’t. I thought about that for a few days and then realized that I had changed and didn’t even know it.
A dear friend said recently that she used to cuss and smoke and was mean but when she accepted the Lord, she thought that people had become so much nicer! She didn’t know that it was she that had changed! When you accept the Lord as your Savior, you truly are a changed person!
A merry day to you from The Merry Heart
Saturday, November 24, 2007
THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE
Many years ago I gave a New Scofield Reference Bible to my hubby before he came back to the Lord and the church. He had been back slid since he left home and went to college. The Lord had given me a promise right after our son was born that hubby would come back to the Lord; it took 15 years. That book was a big influence in his decision to come back. Since he is an electrical engineer, I knew he would enjoy this bible with many references.
While growing up his mother took him to church and left him so he grew up with many misconceptions about the church and he didn’t learn anything about the bible. The church that I grew up in had a Sunday School where I learned a lot even though at that time I really wasn’t interested, I was more interested in my social life. In reading the bible my hubby learned the “truth”
In the same way many Catholics who have come to our church, who after reading the bible, realized that they were lied to all their lives by the Catholic Church.
John 8:31-32: “Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed in him, ‘If ye continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed: and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.’” I challenge those of you who have never read the bible to do so, it could be a life changing experience.
A merry day to you from The Merry Heart
While growing up his mother took him to church and left him so he grew up with many misconceptions about the church and he didn’t learn anything about the bible. The church that I grew up in had a Sunday School where I learned a lot even though at that time I really wasn’t interested, I was more interested in my social life. In reading the bible my hubby learned the “truth”
In the same way many Catholics who have come to our church, who after reading the bible, realized that they were lied to all their lives by the Catholic Church.
John 8:31-32: “Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed in him, ‘If ye continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed: and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.’” I challenge those of you who have never read the bible to do so, it could be a life changing experience.
A merry day to you from The Merry Heart
Friday, November 23, 2007
MY AGE OLD OR OLD AGE MINISTRY
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I sure did! I had a Thanksgiving lunch with my mother-in-law at her nursing home. I knew that I had a ministry with the “residents” but only just recently realized how enjoyable it has become. The “ladies” is how I would like to refer to them, not residents or patients, how I used to refer to them. All these ladies are in their 90s and one in her early 100s. When you take the time to listen to them and interact with them you find out they are still the people they used to be, they just cannot express themselves any more. Most of them still have a sense of humor or express themselves in such a way as to be humourous without them know it. It is amazing how gracious and thankful these ladies are whenever you do any little thing for them. Most of these ladies never have anyone visit them on a daily basis like my mother-in-law has so I always try and talk with them for a little while. One lady when she sees me, motions for me to come to her and would like to have a conversation so she says. But sadly it is hard to do that when you are in a nursing home with nothing to stimulate your mind. Everyone has something wrong, loss of hearing, unable to speak much, can’t speak loud enough, etc., so it makes it hard for them to communicate unless you want to talk about the same thing all the time. Maybe that is why I enjoy it so much, don’t have to be an expert in conversing!
My mother-in-law has her second roommate, the first, oh! I forget her name! Anyway I got to see her on her death bed and thought it was beautiful! She was going home! Something I long for with all my heart, to be out of this sinful crazy world! Her present roommate is very delightful but very forgetful. First time I met her, I introduced myself and said that my mother-in-law was her roommate. She said she was glad to hear that because no one ever told her anything. Today at the table we were discussing the Thanksgiving day meal, pretty soon another delightful lady joins us at the table and I tell her it is Thanksgiving as they never know what day it is. And Mother’s roommate said, “Oh, I didn’t know it was Thanksgiving”!
I call my mother-in-law, “mother”, always have, as she has always been special to me. I knew that she was to be a ministry to me after her husband passed away about 4 years ago and she has been in this home for about 3 years now. I makes me feel good whenever my husband visits her and says that she asks what I am doing. Just recently our son, his wife and their little daughter went to visit her and she asked what I was doing! I wouldn’t think that she would even think about me when she hasn’t seen her grandson and great-granddaughter in a long time.
All these ladies have their special idiosyncracies, one is always humming, sits straight up on the couch and watches t.v. all day, no problem to anyone. One wants to escape from the place because she feels neglected by the staff so I try to comfort her and talk to her. One asked me for the phone number of the police department when she first came as “she was stranded”, but she has adjusted to living there as she realizes she needs the help she gets there. The 100 year old still gets around with her walker but can hardly hear. She and Mother sit next to each other at the table and even though they cannot communicate, they are the best of friends!
It makes me feel really good when I go in there and I can give comfort to these ladies and help break the monotony of the day. It lifts my spirit when they are being funny and don’t realize it as I realize that someday I will be in that same situation unless the Lord comes back first.
A merry day to you from the merry heart.
My mother-in-law has her second roommate, the first, oh! I forget her name! Anyway I got to see her on her death bed and thought it was beautiful! She was going home! Something I long for with all my heart, to be out of this sinful crazy world! Her present roommate is very delightful but very forgetful. First time I met her, I introduced myself and said that my mother-in-law was her roommate. She said she was glad to hear that because no one ever told her anything. Today at the table we were discussing the Thanksgiving day meal, pretty soon another delightful lady joins us at the table and I tell her it is Thanksgiving as they never know what day it is. And Mother’s roommate said, “Oh, I didn’t know it was Thanksgiving”!
I call my mother-in-law, “mother”, always have, as she has always been special to me. I knew that she was to be a ministry to me after her husband passed away about 4 years ago and she has been in this home for about 3 years now. I makes me feel good whenever my husband visits her and says that she asks what I am doing. Just recently our son, his wife and their little daughter went to visit her and she asked what I was doing! I wouldn’t think that she would even think about me when she hasn’t seen her grandson and great-granddaughter in a long time.
All these ladies have their special idiosyncracies, one is always humming, sits straight up on the couch and watches t.v. all day, no problem to anyone. One wants to escape from the place because she feels neglected by the staff so I try to comfort her and talk to her. One asked me for the phone number of the police department when she first came as “she was stranded”, but she has adjusted to living there as she realizes she needs the help she gets there. The 100 year old still gets around with her walker but can hardly hear. She and Mother sit next to each other at the table and even though they cannot communicate, they are the best of friends!
It makes me feel really good when I go in there and I can give comfort to these ladies and help break the monotony of the day. It lifts my spirit when they are being funny and don’t realize it as I realize that someday I will be in that same situation unless the Lord comes back first.
A merry day to you from the merry heart.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Joys of Growing Older
Oh, the joys of growing older. Your desires, wants, and needs are dictated for you by the time clock of your body. We have to do this, do that, don’t do that, eat this, don’t eat that, yet “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day”, 2 Corinthians 4:16. That is why I don’t feel a day over 21 while going to be 70 next March. Or at least most of the time I feel 21! Sometimes your doctor becomes your best friend when he keeps telling you that something is wrong with you and he wants to give you a pill. So far I am only taking one prescription medicine. A few times my doctor has wanted to give me a pill but I refused as I wanted God to help me on this issue and He is.
My husband and are both diabetics so after much trial and error, we pretty much have reduced our diet down to just vegetables, meats and a few fruit. We can’t enjoy all those “soul comfort foods” that we used to indulge in where we packed on the pounds! But we find that we don’t really miss those “soul comfort foods” as we feel so much better, “our inward being”. We must exercise, which our body, “outwardly part”, doth protest. But we find that we feel so much better. We must keep a good mental attitude, “inward being”, or we will languish but we find that we feel so much better. Proverbs 17:22, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed Spirit dries up the bones”.
Another thing that we must do is to exercise the brain, “inward being”, or we will develop dementia or alzheimers disease or much worse like you put many sheets of Kleenex through the wash! I never used to do that but lately I have begun to notice a few bits of them once in a while and I always blamed my husband but then I usually blame my husband when things go wrong, I couldn’t have done that! And he is so convenient to blame! One of his jobs around the house is to wash the clothes and put them away. Sometimes I do my own clothes when I have certain things that I wish to do myself which I did the other day. Lo and behold, my wash was awash with bits and pieces of Kleenex and even whole pieces of clean Kleenex! I couldn’t believe that I had progressed to the point where I washed many sheets of Kleenex clean! I know that I checked all the pockets! As I took out articles of clothing, I kept finding pieces or whole Kleenex! There was no way that I could pin this on my husband since obviously I had done my own clothes. So obviously I must have done it, so humbly I acknowledge that it was my fault and not my husband’s and obviously I must exercise my brain more. I know that I checked all the pockets!
A merry day to you from the merry heart!
My husband and are both diabetics so after much trial and error, we pretty much have reduced our diet down to just vegetables, meats and a few fruit. We can’t enjoy all those “soul comfort foods” that we used to indulge in where we packed on the pounds! But we find that we don’t really miss those “soul comfort foods” as we feel so much better, “our inward being”. We must exercise, which our body, “outwardly part”, doth protest. But we find that we feel so much better. We must keep a good mental attitude, “inward being”, or we will languish but we find that we feel so much better. Proverbs 17:22, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed Spirit dries up the bones”.
Another thing that we must do is to exercise the brain, “inward being”, or we will develop dementia or alzheimers disease or much worse like you put many sheets of Kleenex through the wash! I never used to do that but lately I have begun to notice a few bits of them once in a while and I always blamed my husband but then I usually blame my husband when things go wrong, I couldn’t have done that! And he is so convenient to blame! One of his jobs around the house is to wash the clothes and put them away. Sometimes I do my own clothes when I have certain things that I wish to do myself which I did the other day. Lo and behold, my wash was awash with bits and pieces of Kleenex and even whole pieces of clean Kleenex! I couldn’t believe that I had progressed to the point where I washed many sheets of Kleenex clean! I know that I checked all the pockets! As I took out articles of clothing, I kept finding pieces or whole Kleenex! There was no way that I could pin this on my husband since obviously I had done my own clothes. So obviously I must have done it, so humbly I acknowledge that it was my fault and not my husband’s and obviously I must exercise my brain more. I know that I checked all the pockets!
A merry day to you from the merry heart!
Sacrifices to God
The other day I made a sacrifice to the Lord. No, I didn’t burn an animal on the altar. I gave up something for the sake of something of greater value, a definition found in my husband’s old college dictionary from the 1950's. Sounds like Lent, but since I’m not Catholic, it was not Lent. I just learned from this same dictionary that Lent is the 40 day period from Ash Wednesday to Easter, observed in some churches by fasting and penitence to commemorate Jesus’ fasting in the Wilderness. I didn’t know it was to commemorate Jesus’ fast, learn something everyday. It could be a worthy cause if done for the right purpose.
Some time back a friend had invited me to her small prayer group at her house but I declined since it started at 8:00 in the morning. I do not make appointments ever before 9:00 since I have insomnia and if I do not get enough sleep, I take a nap after breakfast and usually get up around 8:30. However, recently, I felt compelled to go but knew that I would have to sacrifice my sleep.
But I really do need that nap to get through the day so I asked God to give me enough sleep so as to be able to go to this prayer group. And the Lord did just that!
For those of you who do not know as well as me, Ash Wednesday according to this same dictionary is “the first day of Lent and 7th Wednesday before Easter; so called from the practice of putting ashes on the forehead as a sign of penitence”. I use this old dictionary as the definitions are closer to the original meanings intended by Webster who founded the first dictionary in the English language.
A merry day to you from the Merry Heart
Some time back a friend had invited me to her small prayer group at her house but I declined since it started at 8:00 in the morning. I do not make appointments ever before 9:00 since I have insomnia and if I do not get enough sleep, I take a nap after breakfast and usually get up around 8:30. However, recently, I felt compelled to go but knew that I would have to sacrifice my sleep.
But I really do need that nap to get through the day so I asked God to give me enough sleep so as to be able to go to this prayer group. And the Lord did just that!
For those of you who do not know as well as me, Ash Wednesday according to this same dictionary is “the first day of Lent and 7th Wednesday before Easter; so called from the practice of putting ashes on the forehead as a sign of penitence”. I use this old dictionary as the definitions are closer to the original meanings intended by Webster who founded the first dictionary in the English language.
A merry day to you from the Merry Heart
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Beginning Thoughts
This is my very first time to be on the Blog with the help of my very efficient computer guru husband of 41 years. Good thing as I don’t have to try and find out what I did wrong and correct it which I never could do as I am a novice computer person. I have two children, married, who live in different parts of the country so we don’t see them very often. I am happy to be the grandmother of three most precious and very smart, of course, young grandchildren and expecting a fourth in the near future. I didn’t expect when we got married that we would survive to our 40th year or that I would be celebrating my 70th birthday next March which I am going to celebrate with a big bash!
As for my Christian influence I grew up in the Baptist Church but changed over to Assemblies of God Church when our daughter went to school in the fourth grade as well as our son in the fourth grade also. My experiences in the Baptist Church are quite different from my experiences in the Assemblies of God Church which I shall relate sometime in the near future. I learned a lot in the Baptist Sunday School but they seem to have no power so I will be explaining why I think that is so.
Some time back I felt like the Lord was impressing upon me to do some blogging as my ministry now as my son and his wife also do blogging. My son does it as a witness and she blogs about the family. But I knew that He would impress me to blog when something earth shaking came along and now that something has occurred so I am very excited to be doing this for my Lord.
I would be very happy for you to go on a journey with me to explore my Christianity. These will be my own observations of what I have gleaned from being a Christian for many years, not necessarily all good years of living out my Christian faith or correctly interpreting the Bible. But as a little child learns to walk one step at a time, so does becoming a mature Christian involve one step at a time. As we conquer a problem or concept, that leads us to go to the next step of learning. So you can see that you are always learning and conquering and I am still in the process of maturing. BPWMTLINFWMY (be patient with me, the Lord is not finished with me yet)
A Merry Heart
As for my Christian influence I grew up in the Baptist Church but changed over to Assemblies of God Church when our daughter went to school in the fourth grade as well as our son in the fourth grade also. My experiences in the Baptist Church are quite different from my experiences in the Assemblies of God Church which I shall relate sometime in the near future. I learned a lot in the Baptist Sunday School but they seem to have no power so I will be explaining why I think that is so.
Some time back I felt like the Lord was impressing upon me to do some blogging as my ministry now as my son and his wife also do blogging. My son does it as a witness and she blogs about the family. But I knew that He would impress me to blog when something earth shaking came along and now that something has occurred so I am very excited to be doing this for my Lord.
I would be very happy for you to go on a journey with me to explore my Christianity. These will be my own observations of what I have gleaned from being a Christian for many years, not necessarily all good years of living out my Christian faith or correctly interpreting the Bible. But as a little child learns to walk one step at a time, so does becoming a mature Christian involve one step at a time. As we conquer a problem or concept, that leads us to go to the next step of learning. So you can see that you are always learning and conquering and I am still in the process of maturing. BPWMTLINFWMY (be patient with me, the Lord is not finished with me yet)
A Merry Heart
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