White Nationalists won’t like Heaven

If it’s the white nationalist belief that the races should live apart, then they would not like heaven.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.  –Revelation 7:9 ESV bold added

Earlier John also writes,

⁹ And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
¹⁰ and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.” –Revelation 5:9-10 ESV bold added

Simply put, one cannot claim to be a Christ follower and a racist at the same time.  White nationalism is anti-Christ. White nationalism, according to those passages above from the Apostle John, is also anti-heaven.

Therefore, white nationalism is a competing vision that is straight from the Devil’s hell.

Let’s call a spade a spade.

Remind the racist of this gospel truth: Jesus of Nazareth–a Jew–was slaughtered to ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

And this Jesus is a bridge builder who breaks down walls so that he might create in himself one new humanity, one new community, of all people groups on earth (Ephesians 2:13-18).

Therefore, white supremacy must be CONDEMNED, beginning with that hateful rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Love Conquers Hate: Against White Nationalists

On Saturday, August 12, 2017, the world witnessed hate on display in the town of Charlottesville, Virginia.

White nationalists are full of hate toward others.

We need to fight this hate with the love of Christ.

It’s my prayer that Christians here in America will pray hard against this display of hate.

White nationalism stands against Christ and all he has accomplished for the salvation of humanity.

Let’s pray for the salvation of these White nationalists.

Let’s pray for racial healing and harmony in this nation, beginning with Charlottesville.

They too need Jesus and life–transforming power of the gospel to overcome their racist and hateful hearts.

Nothing else will do.

And all Americans–yes, Whites, Blacks, Hispanic, Asian, etc.–need to meet this sinister evil of white nationalism with the powerful, transforming love of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Lasting change can only be accomplished through the love of Christ.

On My Desk: On Being Presbyterian by Sean Michael Lucas

Since I’m something of a latecomer to the Presbyterian faith (though I’ve been engaging Presbyterians for years now), I decided to educate myself on what it means to be Presbyterian.

I found in Presbyterian pastor and historian Sean Michael Lucas’s On Being Presbyterian: Our Beliefs, Practices, and Stories exactly what I needed.

As mentioned above, before my conversion to Presbyterianism, I’ve been engaging Presbyterians over the years.  So it’s no surprise that I’m discovering On Being Presbyterian nothing more than filling in the blanks.

Revisiting our Observance of the Lord’s Supper

Yet another post on our observance of the Lord’s Supper.  Why? It’s a means of grace that God’s people should be benefiting from each time it is celebrated (whatever we choose to call it – Eucharist, Holy Communion, etc).

Question: when you eat that bread and drink that cup, are you by faith truly sharing in the body and blood of Christ, spiritually, though not physically?  To clarify, are you being nourished by Christ and all his benefits?

Or has the Lord’s Table lost its meaning for you?  This really doesn’t have to be the case.  Consider how the Apostle Paul wrote two chapters to correct abuses surrounding the Lord’s Table.

It’s simply too important!

It’s meant as a re-presentation of the story of redemption, and how whenever we eat the bread and drink the cup, we’ve come to share in that story.

Further, whenever we come to the Lord’s Table, we should be sharing in the body and blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16).  We should be feasting and feeding on the spiritual presence of Christ by faith (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:3-4).  It’s intended as nourishment for the journey of God’s people (2 Corinthians 10:4; 1 Corinthians 11:26).

So I’m simply encouraging you as a fellow pilgrim, to revisit this sacred meal–as a means of grace, where we commune with our risen and glorified Savior.

If your church has devalued this sacred meal as something we do after the main event, then you need to engage your pastor on the matter.

Reflection for Palm Sunday 2017

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna! ”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;

see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey’s colt.”

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. –John 12:12-16 NIV

No, Jesus doesn’t ride into Jerusalem on a warhorse, ready to crush his enemies.  Rather, John says he rides in on a young donkey.  Get this: a donkey was an unclean animal, which had to be redeemed (Exodus 13:13). Yet it’s the King-soon-to-die transportation of choice.

We have so much to learn about the heart of Jesus.  Matthew says Jesus is gentle and humble in heart (11:29).

For Jesus, it sure wasn’t about pomp and glory–the things fallen mankind value so much and would do just about anything to achieve.

No, for Jesus, it was conquering the world through love–an unadulterated kind.

May Palm Sunday and the rest of Holy Week remind us all of the power of the gentle and humble love of Jesus, to change lives.

And may we seek to imitate the words and deeds of our Savior King.