Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Luke 3:7

With a message like Luke 3:7 [“kept saying” is a better translation than “said”] it is a wonder of divine design that no hardline disciple of Moses lifted a stone or raised an allegation against John. Noone could touch John until the appointed time. John was, however, not a one-tune singer. He had several targeted themes in his repertoire.

1. The baptism related to sin remission
2. All flesh shall see God’s salvation
3. Descent from Abraham was irrelevant
4. Sharing with the havenots
5. Public officials must be honest
6. Military discipline demands no violence, no false accusations, and contentment with one’s wages

Immigrant crowd dilemma

Every time, the people of Israel take a stand for decency the State rubs its hands in western dung and plays the whore for applause. Banning people who are different is an Israeli-American pastime. John would definitely recognize them and ask them to be quite since a felled tree without roots will not rise.

It is thought that godly people have no time for humour or recreation while some people think that time is running out and that everyone needs to shift into a kind of super-proselytization mode.  Good fun is part of God’s design and to deny it amounts to dangerous extremism. Hearing God laugh at the people putting distance between themselves and God’s king should wake us up to divine humour.

Fig leaves wardrobe

The attempt to cover the their nakedness with fig leaves has to rank as one of the all time pathetic fixit ventures. In their ignorance of both good and evil God must have at least smiled.  He had the answer to their problem!

Glory vistas

Moses had seen a burning bush, the Passover, the Red Sea Crossing and the fiery pillar and the cloud.  As he was receiving the covenant he determined to see more of God’s person.   “Show me your glory” he requested, only to be told “You’d die in the process”. There was nothing to see: God is invisible and lives in unapproachable light. God decided to humour him. “Catch a glimpse of my backside!”

Baal’s bowel movement

When Elijah cornered the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel he poked fun at their attempts to get an answer from Baal. “Perhaps he’s in the toilet!”, Elijah said.

Communion miracle

The communion is a memory exercise. There is no death-defying, physical healing in the elements, and remembering Christ’s sacrifice delivers nothing beside the building up of faith and the demonstration of our confidence in Christ’s return. It is evident that all some people know about God is that he gives gifts to his loved ones. God must have a wry smile as Catholics and charismatics pervert the communion.

Poor Mitch McConnell and his colleagues are no revolutionaries. The scorpion eggs they laid during the Obama administration are hatching. The lawyers angling for a constitutional crisis – which is the only route for oligarchs and plutocrats to have their way, and look like they are responsible.  Americans should listen to one another.  If atheists are tuning out the Christians, and Jews are tuning out the Palestinians the only debate left is malicious speech and weapons of mass destruction.  Christian radio and ignorant demagogues have a hold, all out in the open, on greatness in the form of rape, papist attitudes, white privilege, and an oppressive health and wellness maze.

They have devolved from barking up the wrong tree to dumb dogs that do not bark. They will change all to Caucasian whenever it suits their bigoted plots.  They will hold the population hostage with the threat of instant death by lost – not mentally sick – individuals.  They are self-envenomated into paralysis.  Flip a coin: will they [a] confess or [b] shut up and lose the next?

David wrote Psalm 12 with intention to cry for help. “Save me , O Lord” he started and immediately pivots to complain about the neighbours.

To the director: With the sheminith. A song of David. Save me, LORD!

Psalm 12:1-4

• We can no longer trust anyone!
• All the good, loyal people are gone.
• People lie to their neighbors.
• They say whatever they think people want to hear.

The contribution of his neighbours to the help he expected from God is not clear. The recommended solution does not serve grace and mercy. The LORD should cut off their lying lips and cut out their bragging tongues? Really?

• Those people think they can win any argument.
• They say, “We are so good with words, no one will be our master.”

“Good with words” and “good with works” are familiar mantras. God is not buying it. We will find him unimpressed with our words and our works.

And, beyond controversy, great is the mystery of our religion– that Christ appeared in human form, and His claims justified by the Spirit, was seen by angels and proclaimed among Gentile nations, was believed on in the world, and received up again into glory.

1 Timothy 3:16

This passage is believed to be one version of the kinds of affirmations early Christians would have sung or recited. It presents the non-debatables of the common faith.

High Chant

The hymn is acutely Christ-centred.  It contains not even a hint of the Jewish priorities.  Its thrust is crystal clear.

• The incarnation
• The attestation through the Holy Spirit
• The unprecedented angelic observation
• The proclamation to the nations
• The successful gospel advance
• The return to glory

The Christ event does not include a creation theme, even though atonement is labelled as a new creation. There is no attention to the patriarchal or Levitical traditions.  There is no affirmation of previous covenants.  We must not say amen to the myriad lists of requirements, to the demands that we emulate Israelite conventions, or that the good works of the saints constitute compliance with the law or prophets.  No calculations, revisions, or extensive prophetic scenarios make the cut: just Christ, no rocket science.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Matthew 6:34

Thanks for telling me that my concern – thoughts –  about food and drink and clothing and tomorrow might be just a lot of hot air piped into a hot room on a summer’s day, We should be aware that the saying wraps up a teaching that flows through the latter part of Matthew 6,

1. Stop worrying. (vs. 25)
2. No one has thought – worry- control over life’s processes (vs. 27
3. Why worry? Learn from the lily and from Solomon instead (vs. 28)
4. So don’t even start  worrying (vs. 31)
5. So don’t even start worrying (vs, 34)

If you think this is mere advice that you can take or leave you are in dire straits, not seeing yourself as exceedingly well positioned with no need to worry. If you want to claim sinlesssness or that your experience is free from evil come here often. You will find you are in great fellowship with both the gentile and the disciple. This is quality of life encouragement not another potential sin or death trap.

This great development is shoved aside with regularity because people prefer to claim status rather than dependence. The human race will remain locked out of paradise as long as their attention is riveted on creation.

Creation and Incarnation

Creation happened once and the created world became a case for the doctor.  Salvation happened once and the saved abide in Him. Atonement is a smashing success.

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

1 Timothy 3:16

Believing that God created the world never saved a soul. If Christ is first and foremost one’s commander then one is heading for a chilling wake up.

What Christ says matters most

We can call Christ “lord” and “king” and not have a relationship with what He has done or with what He has said. You do not want the shock of your life to be “Get outta here. I do not know you”.

Many people have forgotten what “I love you” means when it comes from God. Preferring to copy or imitate human achievement, they turn off the love and dabble in prophecy, demonic warfare, and wonderful works. The most dreadful wake up is for these people.