Once again, I was given the opportunity to teach my adult Sunday School class at church. It was difficult coming up with a topic on such last minute notice, but fortunately I was able to come up with something. Unfortunately, the impetus for the lesson was the passing of a beloved church member who had been battling cancer for several years. How should a Christian deal with the idea of suffering as a believer? I don't mean suffering due to your beliefs, but as a general rule, how should we view tribulation and hardship in life as a child of God? Is there anything in scripture that gives us hope and guidance for how to look at these things and what encouragement can we take, if anything, when thinking of someone who has passed on after such a difficult battle with cancer? I hope the lesson is beneficial to you all.
It's been a little longer than intended since my last recording but I've had quite a bit going on, not the least of which includes home repairs and, well, being lazy about recording. Being lazy can take a lot of work.
In any case, I've been wanting to do an arrangement of "A Mighty Fortress" for a while now and only recently did I get around to actually transcibing out the music, arranging it, troubleshooting it, listening to it over and over again in my notation software, and then finally recording the vocals. What's fun is that no matter how many times I listened to it, I kept finding one or two notes in the middle of phrases that sort of clashed. I think I have it all worked out now. If not, oh well. I'm not re-doing it again.
Anyway, the lyrics to Martin Luther's classic hymn are a great reminder for Christians about the provision of God for us and the fact that no matter what happens, He will have victory. If you're like me, and like many Christians, I've sung through the song numerous times over the years but never really paid attention to the lyrics. For simplicity, I'm reproducing them here:
A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right Man on our side,
the Man of God's own choosing.
You ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth his name,
from age to age the same;
and he must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo! his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.
That Word above all earthly powers
no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever!
One thing I learned in high-school was that when it comes to poetry, it helps to never read it like a poem. A lot of times we get caught up in the rhyme scheme and when we read it out loud we're more focused on the cadence and flow of the words rather than the words themselves. This is especially unfortunate when dealing with hymns like this. So, I've decided to paraphrase the verses and write them as if they were a written devotional:
"Our God is like a mighty impregnable stronghold that will never be overthrown. Here, despite the overwhelming adversities of life on this mortal coil, He continues to prevail no matter what the enemy brings against it. Be certain, our adversary continues to seek to destroy us. Even though we have God as our fortress, Satan is not to be taken lightly. He is incredibly resilient, crafty, and commands great power among his cadre of fellow fallen angels. His is possessed of a malice and hatred for mankind that no mere mortal on earth could ever rival. If we were to rely on our own strength and seek to withstand him on our own, we would surely fail miserably. Fortunately for us, we have God's chosen Man who stands at our side and so long as we rely on Him, our striving against sin will never be in vain. Just who might this Man be you ask? None other than Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath Himself! From age to age, from the time He defeated Satan at the cross until now, He remains the same and he will win the battle!
This world is filled with evil and devils and it may at times feel as though we are going to be undone. However, we have no reason to fear because God has purposed in His children that His truth will triumph over evil. While we do not take that grim and terrible Prince of Darkness lightly, we also do not tremble because of him. Why should we? His doom is an absolute certainty! All it takes is one simple word from God to lay him low and defeat him for all time!
That in mind, never forget that the living Word, Christ, which rules above all earthly kings and authorities (no thanks to them for surely they continue to resist His kingship) continues to abide. Just as He promised the disciples in the upper room, through Him we have the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit as well. So, with all that God has done for us through Christ and the surety of victory that there will be against Satan, let all of our wealth and family leave us if they may. In fact, let us be willing to lose our lives for God's sake if necessary. Even if they kill us because of the gospel, God's truth will remain regardless because His kingdom is a glorious kingdom without end!"
Now, I could break this apart and cite numerous biblical passages which the lyrics to the song are based on and which would really fill out the ideas of the song even more. Suffice it to say, just as my paraphrase and expanded explanation of the lyrics shows, Christ's kingdom is current and active. There is no reason to look forward to some earthly kingdom at His return because He is ruling over the earth right now and bringing all things into subjection to Himself. It may not be fast enough for our tastes, but He will have the victory and no matter what happens, we can rest secure in God our fortress knowing that He has won the battle for us. We need but trust in Him.
God is our refuge and strength, A very ready help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth shakes And the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah. (Psalms 46:1-3 NASB2020)
As promised, part two is finally here and this time I finished getting through the rest of the original post on Reddit that inspired this series. Last time, we dealt with the setting of the story and the father dying "as a Christian". If you listened to the previous installment, you'll know that description is utterly meaningless without further qualification and then we dealt with the issue of whether or not it would be just for the father to be in Heaven under any circumstances. The answer was, of course, maybe. It depends on what you're defining as Christian. If it's by biblical standards, the only circumstance would be that of true repentance and faith resulting in works which serve as proof of genuine conversion and regeneration.
In this video, we deal with the issue of whether or not it would be fair for the daughter to be in Hell if she lost her faith because of something that happened to her. Well, if unbelief is a sin and if apostasy is evidence that true faith never existed in the individual in the first place, then yes. It would be fair and just. Does it mean she was suddenly innocent of every other sin she ever committed before then?
What about the mother? Is the mother unfairly brainwashed by God to not suddenly think His judgement of sin and actions concerning the father and daughter were unjust? It's heavily implied that God is essentially a capricious and unfair monster in this area. However, what does scripture say about this sort of thing let alone how we will see things when Christ returns in judgement?
All of this is covered more in depth in the video but suffice it to say, no, it is not unjust or unfair for the daughter to be condemned, and the mother, if my understanding of scripture is correct, would not see God as being a callous monster unjustly condemning innocent people to torment.
I've finally quit being lazy and decided to start my response to the two-sentence horror story on Reddit that began my series on basic Christian doctrines a couple of months ago. Though I had intended to get through all of the initial post in this video, I made it through roughly two-thirds of the first sentence. So, really about par for the course for me.
As for what I was able to get through in this installment, I briefly covered the setting of the story (standing at the pearly gates and talking to a scribe) and then getting into the application of the doctrine of salvation and what it actually means to be a Christian. I don't think the author had any understanding of what Christianity actually is and sees it as nothing more than the equivalent of party affiliation. If you claim to be a Christian, that's all that matters apparently. Well, not so much according to the Bible.
That said, there is another angle that I decided to tackle and that is the idea that if anyone is ever evil in life, they are permanently excluded from salvation and Heaven no matter what. Again, this isn't really accurate biblically either. The criminal on the cross and the testimony of the apostle Paul stand in stark contrast to such a claim. So I took some time to examine that as well.
There's a lot of scripture to cover in this video and I've put all the text on the screen as usual. I hope it's encouraging to you, especially if you're new to the faith and don't know how to start responding to these sorts of things. If you're not and you somehow come across this, I hope it gives you a better understanding of the gospel and I pray that God uses it to reveal the truth to you.
Thanks for coming, enjoy the video, and God bless.
The FFXVI Demo slaps hard, as the kiddies say...I think.
Everything from the graphics to voice over, combat, etc., have really gotten me hyped for something I was only mildly enthusistic about a couple months ago. While I could just write out the review here in more depth, it's not the same as seeing the actual gameplay so give it a watch. I demand it!
Though it took me a little longer than originally desired due to life getting in the way of gaming (the nerve of it), I have finally finished the Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster. It would have been done sooner had I not screwed up at the end and had to replay the last third of the game at least three times due to messing up completion criteria. That's more of a me problem though than anything else.
There really isn't much that was changed in this version though I'm not sure which difficulty this follows whether it was the original Super Famicom release, the difficulty of the 3DS version, or some mixture of the various ports, and there have been a lot of ports over the years.
The game still retains its charm after all these years and it's been making me want to finally get caught up on the FFXIV main scenario since I don't think I've really played since patch 6.1. I've got time though.
Anyway, FFIV is what introduced us to the Active Time Battle (ATB) system which was the first in many alterations to the battle system that would lead to things like the battle systems of FFXIII, FFXV, and now the upcoming FFXVI with its emphasis on straight-up action.
This game also solidified the trope of "killing" characters only for it to be revealed that they weren't really killed off as we suspected. While I understand it can be frustrating to newcomers to the series and especially those who aren't familiar with the anime-esque tropes the series has been indulging in quite some time, the fact remains that Final Fantasy IV has been going down this road for decades.
Getting overpowered in this game doesn't take that much effort compared to previous entries and there have been some patches to up the drop rates for things like secret summons and pink tails, making farming these much easier.
Overall, it's a good opportunity to see Cecil and the gang again, or for some of you, the very first time.
Today was a bit of a rough day for the family. Today we said goodbye to a beloved pet that had been with us for just barely shy of fourteen years. That's one year less than my wife and I have been together. It's also the second pet that our son has had to say goodbye too, though I'm certain this is the one that hits him the hardest. My wife informed me that he had gone, sat where Duke's kennel used to be, and just sort of cried.
Not to be a downer, but it brings up the idea of eternity and whether or not we will see our pets on the other side of the veil. As much as I wish I had a clear answer, the Bible tells us precious little about what eternity and heaven will be like. Even when people cite the "pearly gates" and "street of gold" they are actually citing a description of the New Jerusalem. This is particularly a problem since the book of Revelation is so heavily filled with symbolism and the description of this city is that of a bride adorned for her husband which is a direct reference to the church which is called the Bride of Christ. So it is very likely that the New Jerusalem is meant as a symbol for the idealized church, free from all corruption and sin upon Christ's return. In other words, the very things people cite probably aren't literal. So where does that leave us? Well, as far as people's descriptions of Heaven are concerned, not much at all.
We do know that we will be freed at last from the power and presence of sin and that we will be finally holy as God is holy. We know we will have perfect fellowship with God and the rest of the body of Christ, but beyond that, there is very little said. We have far more said about Hell than Heaven. Then of course there is the New Heavens and the New Earth. We have zero description of what that will be like though I would guess it means that Earth will be created again to be like what it was intended to be all along before the fall and entrance of sin into creation. I would also have to assume God will have animals again there as well. Whether or not He recreates our beloved pets for us at all or not is total speculation, though when the time comes, I doubt we'll be all that concerned with it. Who knows?
Perhaps we aren't told because our focus is to be primarily on how we advance the Kingdom of God here on Earth, not simply hoping Christ eventually brings it to us when He returns. It is our job to carry out His will here while He reigns from Heaven at this present moment.
Though there isn't any concrete evidence, so far as I can find, that proves the quote came from Martin Luther, there is a statement that comes to mind that is attributed to him. Allegedly speaking to his dog at some point, Luther told his furry companion, “Be thou comforted,little dog;thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail.” There's nothing scriptural to back that up, but I'd like to think that it's true in spirit. However, let's not be dogmatic about it. After all, not all dogs go to Heaven, isn't that right Cujo?
