Christmas Blessings

May All Have A Blessed
                      Christmas Season

Being Always Blessed
                  In Jesus Holy Name

And Filled With
                         The Holy Spirit

Brian and Andrew

Alyssa

, And these are three of my children ...
 Finding blessing in the snow,

For our sins were as scarlet,
Christ Jesus has washed them white as snow ...


And we are thankful
to live in these mountains, these pictures are our home ...

Baseball: A limited field of play

I am not one who particularly identifies with baseball.
So I slightly disagree with the opinion that there is only one offensive player
on the field of play. There seems to be two offensive players; the batter
( obviously )
and the pitcher. Both trying to out score the other.
The pitcher by outs and the batter by runs.
Three outs and the pitcher wins,
a base hit or better, a home run, the batter wins.
And of course, there are the rest of the players on the field of play.
They would be totally defensive in nature.

Why would I be concerned about baseball,
you may ask.

Consider yourself at bat.
The Devil, Satan himself is hurling pitches at you.
He seeks to strike you out.
Take you out of the field of play.
Then it occurs to you, all those defensive players,
those demons and darkness have a limited space to work within.
They know there is a limited time and space for them.
That is why they would say to Jesus,
"Why are you here to torment us before our time ..."

And you realize,
You have it in you to knock the ball 'out of the park',
"For greater is He who is in me,
then he who is in the world."
You can go beyond the devil and his kind,
You can go beyond their limits.
You can speak in the Eternals,
by The Son of The Living God,
by the Blood of the Lamb.

And you have caught them in their limitations.
For they know, they have but a short time.
And by His Name , Jesus , Holy Jesus.
They MUST bow.
And the ball soars out of the park...

Is it Time for a 'Second Reformation' ?

 

 In 1517 Martin Luther wrote the 'Ninety-Five Theses',

It seems to fit Today ...

 

# 1         When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
# 24       It must therefore be the case that the major part of the people are deceived by that indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of relief from penalty.

# 27      There is no divine authority for preaching that the soul flies out of the purgatory immediately the money clinks in the bottom of the chest.

 # 31      One who bona fide buys indulgence is a rare as a bona fide penitent man, i.e. very rare indeed.
#  32      All those who believe themselves certain of their own salvation by means of letters of indulgence, will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.
 # 33     We should be most carefully on our guard against those who say that the papal indulgences are an inestimable divine gift, and that a man is reconciled to God by them.
 # 34      For the grace conveyed by these indulgences relates simply to the penalties of the sacramental "satisfactions" decreed merely by man.
 # 35      It is not in accordance with Christian doctrines to preach and teach that those who buy off souls, or purchase confessional licenses, have no need to REPENT of their own sins.

# 37      Any true Christian whatsoever, living or dead, participates in all the benefits of Christ and the Church; and this participation is granted to him by God  ( alone )
             without letters of indulgence.
# 44      Because, by works of love, love grows and a man becomes a better man; whereas, by indulgences, he does not become a better man, but only escapes certain penalties.
# 45      Christians should be taught that he who sees a needy person, but passes him by although he gives money for indulgences, gains no benefit from the pope's pardon,
              but only incurs the wrath of God.  
# 50       Christians should be taught that, if the pope knew the exactions of the indulgence-preachers, he would rather the church of St. Peter were reduced to ashes
             than be built with the skin, flesh, and bones of the sheep.    
# 62      The true treasure of the church is the Holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God.
# 67      The indulgences, which the merchants extol as the greatest of favours, are seen to be, in fact, a favourite means for "money-getting".
# 68      Nevertheless, they are not to be compared with the grace of God and the compassion shown in the Cross.

Away, then, with those prophets who say to Christ's people, "Peace, peace," where in there is no peace.
Hail, hail to all those prophets who say to Christ's people, "The cross, the cross," where there is no cross.
Christians should be exhorted to be zealous to follow Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hells.
And let them thus be more confident of entering heaven through many tribulations rather than through a false assurance of peace.
# 92 - # 95

Martin Luther


Contrition or contriteness (from the Latin contritus 'ground to pieces', i.e. crushed
by guilt) is sincere and complete remorse for sins one has committed.

In the 1517  ' Ninety-Five Theses '  Martin Luther did NOT deny :
the pope, purgatory, confession to priest or even indulgences ( payment for remission of sins ) ,
He did NOT preach on Grace, but briefly mentions Grace.
Martin Luther's main point was and is to have a 'Truth by the Gospel Repentance',
His concern through this body of work is for the Church to understand Repentance,
from line 1 to line 95 , Repentance .
Repentance is  ' The Message ' .
Repentance has always been the Message.
And Repentance will always be the Message.


When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
And with that,  Love comes from Repentance,
And works come out of Love.

We are on the edge of 500 years since this was written and ...



Reference : Blue Letter Bible ( on-line Bible )

( If you care to read all of the '95 Theses )

His Winds are Holy

I shall gain flight,
rise as the red tailed hawk
on the warm winds,
of His Holiness, rise

My past shall fall,
as the dead leaf of autumn

I shall walk the mountain,
above mine enemy
He, the Holy One of Israel
sends a covering, snow

even my feet are kept clean,
for His Angels go before me