Sandstory: by Joe Castillo (A Book Review)

SandStory by Joe Castillo  Up until I selected this book for review, I did not know who he was, or what he did. I began to read the story of this man and his talent and am amazed. I had never seen a "Sandstory" though I will encourage you to on YouTube.  As an artist of Metal as well as Watercolor, I could identify with the creativity. I did not get into the book, until well through it, honestly a little envious of his related success. What amazed me was that he related that his intent in these was to tell the story and relate how God had moved with him in doing so. This may be a turn off to some, but his honesty to me is compelling. The saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words" is very true here. You can read a lot of things, but when you see a picture, the story changes. What he has done with the Sandstory has lead him to stand before countries and kings. I found myself inspired by his story and more profoundly by his talent. It was like reading about a modern day Paul and his travels. No miracles, but people moved by what they see. I recommend this book to be put in the inspirational section of your personal libraries as a picker upper when you find yourself in pits of despair. It will lift your heart to see how someone with sand and light, can move audiences. It will encourage the heart of a believer in God and Christ to keep on telling your story.  And, if you haven't taken the time or have not seen a Sandstory, just go to your search engine and type in Sandstory.  You too will be amazed by what you see. Then, read his book. You will come away moved.

Jim

UNITY - Get It Done!

There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,  a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. Prov.6:16-19

Few people read this verse and most when they do do not pick up on the last statement made. The Lord HATES someone who sows discord!   Discord means just that, whatever causes people to be at odds with one another. And I know how we tend to apply this - we tend to apply this to religious division. We blame others that they do not agree with the Bible, therefore they are causing division. I agree, that truth is truth and that if you are not going to abide by that, then you are fighting against God not for Him.  However, the emphasis in proverbs is God HATES anyone (those who call themselves Christians or not), that is the cause of sowing, instigating, breeding, festering, fostering, agitating discord. PERIOD!

We see so much of this today. Turn on the news and there is always someone sowing discord.  Rom.3:10-18 is a good synopsis of our world and even our nation today. "...  as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known is no fear of God before their eyes." 

Before we get self righteous, let's keep in mind that we are included in this description. Now, this doesn't mean we have to get all warm and fuzzy with every false doctrine that comes along, or teaching that doesn't agree with the scripture.  We ARE going to disagree. But, there is no room for labeling, judging, name calling, slander bashing, whispering, backbiting, gossiping or anything else associated with any of those. If we do that, cause that, participate in that, then know you are doing what the Lord HATES!  Think you'll get into heaven?

Jesus showed us that no matter how oppressing, no matter how ugly the situation, we can overcome and we can act as God wants! Remember Gethsemane? Did Jesus curse? Did he accuse, blame, call people names?  Did He tell the Guard they had no right? Did He insight a riot?

Jesus said, "For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." Jn.13:15-17

Get it done!

Jim

UNITY - is not a musical!

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

  Acts 2:44,45

It is easy sitting in a living room with a cup of coffee and a Bible to somewhat romanticize the Biblical world of the First Century.  It is nice to imagine that they were all dancing around like they were in a musical and that everything was rainbows and roses. However, First Century Jerusalem was not like that. The famous events of Pentecost, we must remember, is only 50 days from the events of the crucifixion. The same political and social world is still in play. The believers of the day (that would become known as Christians in just 10 years) were still looked upon with disdain. The Jewish leadership is still in panic and cover up mode (Acts 4:1-3). The Romans still disdained Jews and had no empathy for Christians, especially Jewish Christians. Because of the events of the cross, Jerusalem is a police state. It is an occupied city and people are still people. No one, especially if they know that someone is a believer in Jesus wants to have anything to do with them. They are afraid that the Jewish leadership or Romans will come down on them, so they want them gone. Pentecost is still a feast day in 1st Century Jerusalem, so activities especially around the Temple were high. This did not set well though with the Roman Authority, who thought just 50 days previous that they had quelled a rebellion. The Jewish Authority as evidenced from Mt.28:11-15, is still on their guard not to let anything regarding Jesus come to the surface. Acts 4 backs that fact up.  No one, is willing to openly show any hospitality to those who follow Jesus, much less kindness or open sympathy. 

All of this sounds familiar doesn't it?  Being a Christian is bad - being looked at as sectarian. To openly walk as a Christian or say you're a Christian, especially in public or civic oriented jobs, is to face censorship or the loss of your job. Here's one thing for sure....just as Christians in the first century did not need a bunch of infighting neither do we today. It is hard enough to live in a world that is hostile, without having to worry about whether your brothers or sisters in Christ are going to devour you. So, looking to the example of Christians of the first century let's look at how they worked and acted with and among one another..

1.) Jn.13:14,15  - Jesus' teaching was to love as He loved. To treat others as their servant

- not their Lord - especially one another.  To understand that in God's kingdom, we are NOT to be like the world or act like the world AT ALL!

2.) Acts 2 All things in common Distributing to all that had need.  There is an attitude of desire and generosity,  to work together on everyone's part. A desire to help, be concerned about the welfare of everyone that was among them. Acts 4 One heart and soul  This echoes Jn.13 and Acts 2 and shows how different this was from the world in which they lived. 

It is interesting, that even as today the first schism in God's house came from the all to familiar worldly mind set of ethnicity (Acts 6). And did you notice that when this happens and divisions and hurt occur, the less like Jesus their Lord they looked?  What does this tell you? 

 You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"

Mal 2:17 

Jim

Possible speaker’s podium found in City of David via Ferrell Jenkins

Possible speaker’s podium found in City of David

Posted on August 31, 2015 | 1 Comment

https://ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/possible-speakers-podium-found-in-city-of-david/

The first headline I clicked on this morning when Haaretz arrived was the one reading “Second Temple-era Soapbox Found in City of David?” I located the IAA press release, and then a few hours later my inbox was loaded with links to various coverage of the find.

Several years ago the archaeologists working in the City of David uncovered a staircase and a drainage channel leading from the Temple Mount to the Pool of Siloam.

My group was one of the first to walk through the drainage channel in May, 2010. See my report and photos here.

Here is a photo of the steps leading from the Pool to the Temple Mount.

Steps leading from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The discovery we report today was somewhere along those steps. The press release issued today by the Israel Antiquities Authority says,

This structure, situated alongside the 2,000 year old Second Temple stepped street, which carried pilgrims on their way from the Shiloah (Siloam) Pool to the Temple, which stood atop the Temple Mount. The street, a section of which was excavated in the past, is remarkably well-preserved and is built of enormous stone slabs. The street most likely runs above the 2,000 year old drainage channel, discovered a number of years ago, which carried rain water out of the city. It was constructed sometime in the fourth decade of the first century CE, and was one of the largest construction projects undertaken in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. Dozens of whole pottery vessels, stone vessels and glassware were found at the foot of the pyramid-shaped staircase.

Szanton and Uziel sit on the recently uncovered podium. Photo: IAA

According to archaeologists Nahshon Szanton and Dr. Joe Uziel, who direct[ed] the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The structure exposed is unique. To date such a structure has yet to be found along the street in the numerous excavations that have taken place in Jerusalem and to the best of our knowledge outside of it. For this reason, its exact use remains enigmatic. The structure is built along the street in a place that is clearly visible from afar by passers-by making their way to the Temple. We believe the structure was a kind of monumental podium that attracted the public’s attention when walking on the city’s main street. It would be very interesting to know what was said there 2,000 years ago. Were messages announced here on behalf of the government? Perhaps news or gossip, or admonitions and street preaching – unfortunately we do not know. Bliss and Dickie, two British archaeologists who discovered a small portion of this structure about 100 years ago, mistakenly thought these were steps that led into a house that was destroyed. They would certainly be excited if they could come back today and see it completely revealed.”

Rabbinic sources speak of an “auction block” where slaves could be sold, and of a “Stone of Claims” where one who had found an item might announce it and the owner might claim it. The IAA Press release provides the references here.

Dr. Joe Uziel seated on the top step of the “podium.” Photo: IAA.

The coin below, from the Second Temple period, was found in the destruction layer atop the street.

Coin from period of the Great Revolt against the Romans. Copyright Clara Amit, IAA.

We had already made a possible association of these steps with the blind man who left the Temple precinct to go to the Pool of Siloam at the bidding of Jesus (John 9).

A passage that now comes to my mind is from the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus teaches His disciples how to (and not to) pray.

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (Matthew 6:5 ESV)

HT: Joseph I Lauer for the additional links.

UNITY - What God DOES NOT WANT!

These things I command you, so that you will love one another. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you

Jn.15:17-19

So...our topic is UNITY!  Do you really want to know what it is?  Turn on your TV and you

will see all the time, what it is NOT! The world loves to show you how unified it is doesn't it? War? Crime? Violence? Lying, cheating, stealing, murder, we could go on and on. But what you see on the outside is only the tip of a much larger iceberg beneath the horizon.  This was Jesus' point in the sermon on the mount (Mt.5-7) to the people of His day and ours. You think that Murder is the problem? No...there's plenty underneath the surface that has lead to it, that if it is not dealt with - has not changed you in the slightest. Here are some things to think about from this point of view:

1. There are two things to remember as concerns God's will regarding this and Jesus stated them in one phrase. "And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Mt.22:37-39)." 
2. 2.) Where it concerns how I feel about myself, or my arrogance that I feel that because I have not done what the world has done or what this person over here did, bear in mind that before God and outside of Christ, "All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." Rom 3:12
3. 3.) Be careful that self righteousness doesn't overtake you. It is easy to say that I'm a good person, I haven't done like other people, etc. Remember, you at one time before Jesus, WERE them! (Eph.2:1-3)

What God DOES NOT WANT!

The biggest thing to remember here, is that Jesus said that those who would be part of Him, would NOT be like, act like, or take on the looks of the world at all!  Remember John's teaching, "For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 Jn.2:16,17). "I'm not a murderer!" you say. God says back, have you hated someone without cause? Have you spoken about someone to the damage or their character behind their back? You say, "I'm not a liar!" God would say, "Have you always spoken the truth?" Have you fudged on something to make your side look better than someone else's but you know it is not? Understand, God doesn't want any part of the world in you, and if you are serious about being godly, you will work to not only eradicate the behaviors on the surface from your life, the hidden ones will need work too.

It is hard work, don't fool yourself. But is eternity with God worth it? You tell me! You want to be like the world? Go right ahead. Just remember that life after this one, has a world in which the things of this world have no part. 

Jim

UNITY - What Jesus SAID!!

" A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." 

Jn.13:35,36

This is what Jesus said.  To add anything to this, or to take anything away from it is wrong. Period.  It is the hallmark of what it means to be HIS follower. Love One Another!  The word LOVE here is agape....best defined as "love as God loves." So, this begs a question for Christians in their behaviors toward one another, are we loving each other as God loves us? Does our words, behavior, actions, show that love? If not, we are missing the mark! Wait...isn't that called sin? Missing the mark? 

Now, let's get a little definitive. Love one another as Jesus states this here is the same as  "Love the brotherhood" (1 Pt.2:17, see also 1 Pt.3:8; 1 Jn.3:16). Admittedly, the first question is what define's a "brother." Answer? ANYONE who "believes and is baptized shall be saved (Mk.16:15,16)." is my brother, regardless of whether we see everything eye to eye. A brother or sister may be erring, but that does not make them NOT a brother or sister and does not cancel out anything with regard to the way that I am to act toward or treat them.  I may not agree with them, I may not even be able to worship with them, but they are still my brother or sister. The name over the door does not matter with regard to that. Family is family, even if or when estranged. 

If I understand Jesus correctly in the parable of the Good Samaritan, I am to consider everyone as a brother. So, that defines my actions, words and demeanor towards all people. Yet, there seems to be more emphasis to those who have put on Christ in baptism. Yet, the question comes up, "the bible says to withdraw yourself from brethren who sin." Many have not studied what this means and take the traditional religious "Amish" view of this to "cut off, shut out, shun" people. Yes, the Bible teaches to "mark" brethren for teaching a false doctrine, behaving seditiously, and to withdraw from brethren under certain situations.  What people fail to apply here is that this in no way is an authorization for ME to behave "badly" and use Biblical Authority as an excuse to do so. So the question to ask with Jn.13 as our model, is "Would God behave, act, say the way that I am getting ready to, toward this person?" If the answer is no....then you better NOT! 

Please do not misunderstand. This and this commandment is not a carte blanche to just lovingly accept anything that claims a sense of being godly. Sin is sin and I am not to support it or condone its behavior. But be careful in taking a stance against sin, that the Devil does not cause you to sin. When do we have the tendency to sin the most?  With family or in situations where I let my guard down. Where family dynamics introduces different thoughts, behaviors, and words. What is interesting to me, is while the Prodigal Elder Brother wanted to "write off" the younger brother, the Father reminded him, that the Prodigal son was still a son, and thus still the Elder brother's brother.

Complicated isn't it?  The next several articles will follow this theme and we will discover more about the idea of what God means by UNITY!

Jim

Wormwood and Gall - Wanna Drink?

The other night at Bible Study, we were studying the events of the crucifixion of Jesus, and noted, "they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. (Mt.27:24)."  We normally pass over this, it is interesting that Jesus did not drink it, which begs the question why? This is debated, about whether it was just Roman mockery of the dying or whether it was actually a mercy that they offered the dying. So, from those three aspects, it is worth studying.

First, let's look at the materials "wine mixed with gall."  The correct Greek word for wine is "oinos" and is found in various places throughout the Bible. Here though, it is not this word. The word is "oxos" a derivative of Oinos, indicating that it is "bad wine." The question is how do you translate that?  Many have translated this as vinegar, but we should not think of this as the distilled vinegar of today. What is termed "sour wine" here, was reported to have been a general drink of the common people and Roman soldiers of the day, with the best wines going to the rich and opulent.

This was mixed with the next substance "gall." While the other gospels use this term, Mark uses "myrrh."  Gall, is from the Greek Term "chole" pronounced  khol-ay'. It was commonly called "bitters" because it was bitter tasting. Gall was a substance that was made for medicinal purposes of the day, to be a stupefying agent. Rightfully so, because it was an opiate, It was made from the nocturnal emission of the Poppy where after being scored, in the morning would be collected. This substance was mixed into "wine" to enhance its effects. It was used as a cure-all, sleep aid, and to relieve pain and suffering of various sorts and levels. The more bitter, the stronger the dose. It was equal to the 18th Century Laudanum and Morphine.  Whether it was the mixture I doubt, but they offer Jesus a second time (Mt.27:48; Mk.15:36; Jn.19:29) the sour wine, just before He "gave up His spirit."

Was this a mockery or a mercy?  Whether it was something done out of routine performance or a merciful act towards the criminal during his last breathing moments; the concoction seemed to have had the intent of making the execution of crucifixion somehow bearable for the person undergoing it. Anyone drinking it in this situation, would know why they were being offered it. 

This brings us to the next question, why did Jesus refuse to drink it? We aren't told, so the best that we can do is speculate. However, I do believe the scripture "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.(Heb.4:15)" is relevant here. He bore it all, so that there would be no point where we could say that God does not understand our pains, impulses and anguishes. For us, many of us in our striving against sin, have not had to do so to the point of shedding our blood for it. Jesus did, and He was without sin as even attested of Him by the Romans who were there.

What is the take away from this?  

Wow - a lot!  

Here are a couple:

• The next time you are tempted to do drugs or substance abuse to drown out your pains, sorrows or to escape from reality - realize that the effect is only temporary. The pain will return, as will the reality. Only God can help you deal with the reality. All else is temporary at best.
• Sometimes, the only option for things is to go through them.  Yes, it will hurt physically, mentally and in other ways. But Jesus going through this, to rise again 3  days later shows us that what we think is the end, the worst, etc. is not. With God, all things are possible and He will get us through anything if we give ourselves to Him and trust Him. What you're going through? It is not to be feared, if it doesn't kill you, you will come out on the other side a stronger person. Fear rather, the losing of your soul, for that is final. (Mt.10:28)
• In understanding the pains of others, understand that platitudes are just that. They offer nothing to help the person other than appearing to be a mercy. When people don't want our platitudes, don't be insulted. If platitudes are an excuse for you to avoid helping someone deal with something, then don't. Help if you can, but don't just come up with some saying just to try to appear witty, caring or whatever. It will appear empty, just like the Romans offering Jesus this drink. Be there for the person, walk with them if you can. That will mean more than platitudes.

So, consider this subject. There is a LOT more here than I have covered. I hope that this has helped you to see just a few.

Jim