December 26, 2007
Fullness of joy
I emailed Ted Pearce to ask what inspired him to write the song Good News (scroll down to the entry "Saving Zion" to read the lyrics and hear audio clips). Pearce responded: "I think I was reading Romans 10 where Paul, speaking of the Jews, asks 'and how shall they know unless someone is sent?' This command to take the Gospel (good news) to Israel reminded me of the verse from Isaiah (chapter 40) and the music just sort of came to me from there."
Pearce's email came to mind as I read 1 John 1:1-4, which reflects the apostle's burden to reach the lost:
That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Yeshua HaMashiach. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
I heard a rabbi, who hosts a talk show on Israel National Radio, scold Christians who express love and support for Israel. He considers them hypocrites for overlooking what he considers anti-Semitic passages in the New Testament, implicating Jews in the death of Yeshua of Nazareth (actually, He was condemned by the corrupt priests and Edomite leaders, not the Jewish people as a whole, who admired Him and considered Him a prophet). The rabbi, a zealous anti-missionary in Israel, sounds angry and agitated when a caller mentions Christianity. He rejects the Good News. I pray one day He will seek fellowship with the Father through the Son so his joy might be full. You never know. Rabbi Shaul (the apostle Paul) was a zealous anti-missionary until he bumped into HaShem – Yeshua Himself – on the road to Damascus.
The prophet Zechariah wrote that spiritual blindness would one day lift from Judah:
And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
After a season of mourning, Judah will declare with great joy, as did Shaul: Yeshua hu ha'Adon (Jesus is Lord).
Addendum – Below are video clips of Pearce ministering with his music:
December 24, 2007
Merry Saturnalia
Not all Christians drink the Christmas Kool-Aid. Arnold Hampton, minister of the United Church of God in Columbia, Md., hasn't celebrated the holiday since 1966. "It's not in the Bible. Jesus never mentioned it," he says in a Washington Post article about Christians who reject Christmas because of its pagan and secular trappings. The Associated Press is reporting that the first Christmas celebration was tied to a pagan shrine in Rome.
Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, meanwhile, exposes the pagan and anti-Semitic roots of Christmas here. He covers topics few pastors with touch: Dec. 25 is not the birthdate of Jesus, and the fourth-century church modeled Christmas after Saturnalia, a Roman holiday that venerated the harvest god Saturn. "Historically, Dec. 25 is a day on which Jews have been shamed, tortured and murdered," Kelemen says. "Many of the Christmas customs, including Christmas trees, mistletoe, Christmas presents and Santa Claus, are just modern incarnations of the most depraved pagan rituals ever practiced on this planet."