Ed Christian's World

Church of the dead…

Proverbs 21:16 says, “The man who wanders off from the way of understanding will dwell in the congregation of the dead.”

The Hebrew word for ‘congregation’ is the word ‘kahal.’ When translated into Greek, it becomes ‘ecclesia,’ which means ‘church.’ So it could be translated like, “The man who wanders off from the way of understanding will dwell in the church of the dead.” This is relevant to our day as we witness more and more churches and denominations wandering away from the Word of God in order to follow the ways of the world and the dictates of the times. In doing so, many have even embraced what the Bible clearly calls an abomination.

They’ve wandered off, and so it’s no accident that these same denominations have largely become the churches of the dead. It’s true of churches and true of people. All the more, in a day of wandering off and apostasy, you be the one who holds to God’s Word in everything. Be that person of no compromise, and you will never end up dwelling in a church or a life of the dead.
Therefore the wicked will not standin the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. Psalm 1:5,6

Is there an area of your life where you’re not living or following what the Word of God says? Today make up your mind to get that part of your life in the center of His will.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Shameless…

Jesus gives us a picture of a neighbor knocking on the door, asking for a favor in the middle of the night. The word used in the original Greek to describe that neighbor is ‘ana-e-diah.’ It means ‘impudent,’ ‘importune,’ or ‘shameless.’ You may think that we’re supposed to be humble and proper, and that’s true, but there is a time and place for holy impudence and heavenly shamelessness.

The Lord wants His people to be bold about the things of Heaven, to be unashamed with regard to the Gospel, which is to be shameless. The Lord wants us to be impudent about His word— all out for His promises, and bold about it truth.

The Lord wants us to be shameless about His truth, shameless about His love, shameless about our faith, shamelessly bold in prayer, in hope, in the Gospel, and in Messiah. The Lord wants you to take His Word and start boldly knocking on the door concerning it, and to keep knocking until He answers.

There are many things we can be ashamed of, but the Lord is not one of them. So be strong, be real, and be shameless!

Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. Acts 19:8

Determine to be strong, bold, and unashamed for the purposes of God, in truth and love. Be shameless for the Lord!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Are we paying attention..

Most born-again believers aren’t fond of rituals. They look at the older, more traditional denominations and note the lifelessness in most of their traditions, rituals, and rites. Many rituals, though not all, are indeed without life. That’s because you can perform rituals without your heart. But there are many kinds of rituals, not just those of the traditional churches.

When you lose the fire, the zeal, and the first love of your faith, you’ll often find yourself living in the realm of rituals— doing the right things, praying, going to service, worshiping, saying the right words, even abstaining from sin. But doing it no longer from your heart, or passion and love for God. You’re doing it because that’s what you do on Sunday.

Then you’ve entered the realm of rituals. Is that you? If so, then get back to the heart of worship, the heart of praise, the heart of serving, the heart of ministering, the heart of obeying, the heart of repentance, and the heart of loving Him. For God doesn’t want you to waste your life in the realm of rituals, but to come back to the realm of Him.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Revelation 2:4

Get together heart to heart with God. Seek to get to the heart of Him from the heart of you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Triangles and Passover…

One evening as we sat in the desert, Grandfather took a stick and said I want to show you the mystery. On the night of the Passover the Israelites marked their doorposts with the blood of the Lamb. Do you you know how they did it.

I replied no, but the bible says they marked them with blood. He replied that is so, but how they marked the doors reveals something. They marked them in three places, the right beam, the left beam and the top beam. Grandfather then used his stick to draw three dots on the sand. Now lets connect the dots, he said, as He began drawing a line from dot to dot. What does it form, he asked?

A triangle, I replied.

Yes, a triangle pointed upward to heaven. The act was performed by man looking toward God, from earth to heaven, from man to God.

In the first Passover the blood of the lamb appeared on the beams of the doorposts. But over a thousand years later with the Passover of the Messiah the blood appears on the beams of the cross. In how many places did the blood appear?

I thought for a moment before answering and replied three.

Where?

At His right hand, at His left hand and at His feet.

At that he put his stick back in the sand and drew three dots, one on the bottom and two above it. He then again connected the dots. It formed another triangle along side the first. But this one pointed down.

Then Grandfather started speaking. Again, three marks of blood. Again it forms a triangle. But this triangle points downward, just as this Passover sacrifice comes not from man to God, but from God to man. Now what happens when we join the two Passover triangles? Then he drew the two triangles, one overlapping the other. What do you see? he asked.

I see the Star of David, it forms the sign of Israel. I exclaimed.

A Star of David, formed by the hand of God across the span of ages… the sign of Israel’s redemption joined to the sign of man’s redemption…and together forming the sign of God’s ancient nation. A sign that the mystery of Israel is the Lamb, that the Lamb has come and all who take refuge in His blood will be set free. The blood of the Lamb breaks every chain and bondage. Walk today in the power of the Lamb and break free.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Piper..

There’s the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, who by playing his pipe drew out the children of Hamlin, who were never to be seen again. Beware of pipers.

Modern culture is filled with pipers. Pipers of music, pipers of entertainment, of technology, political correctness, sensuality, greed, of the majority, new moralities, of ungodliness. Did you ever find yourself moving or tapping your toes to the beat of a melody without even realizing it? If you don’t watch it, you can end up going along with pipers of this world without even realizing it.

Beware of going along with something just because it moves you or because everyone else is doing it. Jesus compared His generation to that of people playing a pipe or flute and expecting Him to dance to their tune. He didn’t. And you are His disciple. You’ve got the power to resist the pipers of this age, their temptations, their intimidation, and their melodies. Don’t dance to the world’s tune, but go against the flow and move to the rhythm of the new song that God has placed in your heart.

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. Luke 17:26

Don’t dance to the tune of the world, the flesh, or the devil. Get into God’s presence and dance to the song of the Spirit.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Why…

I am oftened asked why I write what I write and where my ideas come from. Most of my writings reflect the life I have lived and how I grew up. Lessons from my Grandfather along with life lessons make up a lot of my essays. As for the ideas, most come to me in the middle of the night in dreams or thoughts. These are messages from God asking me to write about a particular subject. He also won’t let me publish them until I have it just as He wants it.

All my posts are written to be conversation starters with the hope that you, the reader, will ask questions or offer your feelings on the subject. I use these thoughts, comments and feelings to write new posts.

With that in mind, three posts have gotten a lot of comments and feelings. The Cup, How Do We Measure Love and A Talk With The Father. Interesting though is they all share a common thread – Why.

Why didn’t God remove evil from the world when He sent Jesus here? How can a loving God allow people to starve to death? Why, if there is only one God, does He allow a religion to exist that wants to murder Christians? Why should we measure love and how does it really measure us?

All are valid questions with really the same answer – Faith. The real question is do we really have Faith? You don’t overcome darkness by focusing on the darkness. You overcome the darkness by focusing on the light, and you don’t overcome sin by focusing on sin. You overcome sin by dwelling not on sin but on God. You overcome emptiness by dwelling on His presence. You solve your problem, not by dwelling on the problem, but by dwelling on the answer, by being filled up with the answer. You overcome sorrow by the presence of joy and hate by the presence of love and evil by the presence of good.

As Christians we firmly believe the Bible is the word of God. We also believe firmly in John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We also believe, through the bible, that God created all men in His image.

So with so many religions in the world how can there only be one God and how can He allow one religion decide to murder another? For that matter why does He allow murder at all? The answer is freewill. So why did He give us freewill?

Without freewill there would be no love because we wouldn’t have anything to compare it with. Love overcomes hate as light overcomes dark. It’s the contrast that makes it real. It’s our Faith in God that shines the reality of this.

As to the question of measuring love and how it measures us let us consider His commandment in Matthew 22: 34-40 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

This is our measure of love and to how love measures us.

Matthew 25 says it best: The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

I will close with this thought: You can’t know, with Faith you can only believe—or not.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Almah…

Isaiah 7 contains the famous prophecy which states that a virgin will conceive and bear a child. The Hebrew word used for ‘virgin’ is ‘almah.’ The first time the word ‘almah’ appears is in Exodus where a young almah, or maiden named Miriam oversees the bringing of the redeemer Moses as a baby down the Nile to Pharaoh’s court.

Over a thousand years later, a baby would be born and named after that almah; the sister of Moses. We know her as ‘Mary’ though she was always called ‘Miriam’. She would be the true almah – the virgin maiden chosen by God to bring the redeemer as a baby—Jesus— into the world.

The word ‘almah’ means ‘one who is hidden,’ as in hidden from the world, separate and pure and untouched. In the same way, those who choose to become pure, untouched, separate from sin, cleansed, and holy – these will be the ones who will bear God’s presence and blessings into the world. Be that person. Become a spiritual ‘almah’ today. Separate yourself from sin and miracles will be born. For Jesus only comes through an “almah.”

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Isaiah 9:6

Become a spiritual ‘almah’ today. Separate yourself from whatever you need to separate from and join yourself all the more to God.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Mordecai…

The Feast of Purim and the Book of Esther revolve around the plot of Haman to destroy the Jewish people, all because Mordecai would not bow to Haman. Esther 3:2 says, “…but Mordecai bowed not nor paid homage.” The Hebrew words for bowed and homage mean to sink, fall, kneel, be subdued, revere, be depressed, bow, and to worship.

God’s people are commanded to bow down in worship and reverence before the LORD God and Him only. It’s imperative to learn how to bow- and how to not bow. Daniel bowed three times a day in worship of the God of Israel but refused to bow to the gods of Babylon. Jesus refused to bow before the enemy.

That same enemy wants you to bow in submission before him; to bow in surrender before temptation, sin, and bondage. He wants you to bow in obedience and awe before the ways of the world. Learn to bow down to the Lord, but never to the enemy, never to temptation, false gods, the world, its culture, and ways. Do not bow to that sin! For those who bow not are those who will stand.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” Luke 4:8

Take a step to take back any area of your life that you have surrendered to the enemy and surrender it to Jesus.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Hammer and The Sword…

In the days of Nehemiah, the enemies of Israel sought to stop the building of Jerusalem. But the builders responded by carrying their building materials in one hand and holding a weapon in the other. They weren’t going to stop building because of their enemies or because of the conflict or the opposition formed against them.

They just took up a weapon in one hand and kept building with the other. This is crucial. If you serve the Lord, if you’re doing His will, you will have problems, obstacles, oppositions, setbacks, and things meant to discourage you.

But here’s the key— no matter what’s against you, no matter the setback or problem or conflict, no matter the discouragement, don’t get wrapped up in the problem or that which is against you. You just keep building and keep moving forward. The attacks are negative, but the work is positive. Those who always tear down will never build anything. But you are called for better things. Pick up your sword, take up your hammer, keep going, build His kingdom, and fulfill your calling.
Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations. Isaiah 62:10

Pick up your sword and your hammer and get on with building up the kingdom and fulfilling your calling.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Life On The Reservation….

Over the years I’ve received several comments and questions on my posts about growing up on the reservation. Although most of them were general in nature, some of them showed me just how ignorant our Country is about how one lives on an Indian Reservation. I’ve tried in my posts to illustrate how life was, yet I get the feeling that most really don’t understand how basic life is.

I was once asked how does an Indian find salvation? The other day I was visiting a friend’s house and was introduced as a friend who grew up on an Indian Reservation, but he didn’t know what kind of heathen religion I was raised on because my Grandfather was a spiritual leader. I was not offended, but it did show just how people see the Indian life. Most see Indians as uneducated heathens with no real goals in life. So I decided to write about life as I grew up.

Let’s start by saying what you saw in the cowboy movies growing up is not representative of how the Indian lives. The Trail of Tears actually did happen and the Government did move tribes across the country and place them on reservations. Most reservations were placed on the most inhabital lands where no one else wanted to live. However, the Indian is accustomed to a hard life and has learned to make the best of every situation. They irrigated the lands to grow crops, took the best of what they had and made do. When I said I lived a simple life I grew up in a simple land where life was what you made of it.

As for religion, all the reservations have Jesuit churches on them, as the Catholic church was the only one brave enough to venture in. But as time went by more and more of the tribe visited other churches. In the 1940s and 50s, when I was on the reservation we had Christian and Catholic churches we could attend. Grandfather, our spiritual leader, was a born again Christian. He taught me from the bible everyday. Spiritual life is the center of life on the reservation.

However, there is more to life than religion. Grandfather used the bible to teach me nature, animal life, and the different seasons. We lived a simple life, learning the ways of nature and the animals. This taught us how to survive the harse nature of life on the reservation. I learned how to grow plants where some would never expect a plant to survive. I learned the importance of God in my life, for it is He who sustains us.

I once wrote to live a simple life is simply to live. I think that simple statement went over the heads of most of my readers. Life is as hard or simple as one chooses to make it. A life of love and joy is much simpler than one of hate and contempt. Positive is always easier than negative to live with and living in the light is so much easier than searching in the darkness. God is love and its His love that enables us to love others. It’s that simple and that’s the life I live with God at the center.

Life on the reservation is a simple life because we don’t take anything for granted and cherish every blessing God gives us. I wonder how many of you can truly say you do.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed