Jojo Agot

A Dagger to the Sky

“Julian the Apostate endeavored to destroy Christianity. He wrote a whole book against it, but in the book, instead of destroying Christianity, he affirms that Jesus was born in the reign of Augustus at the time of the taxing made in Judea by Cyrenius.

He also confirms the fact that the Christian religion began its rise in the times of the emperors Tiberius and Claudius. He affirms the authenticity of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the authentic sources of the Christian religion.

This same Julian went to Jerusalem to disprove the Bible, but he failed. When, unknowingly, he destroyed the wall of Babylon, he confirmed the Biblical prophecy.

When he finally came to his death, pointing his dagger up to the sky at Jesus, he gathered his blood after being wounded on the battlefield, threw it into the air, and said, “Thou hast conquered, O Galilean.”

Julian left behind no trace of the paganism he endeavored to rebuild. All of his efforts evaporated before the power of the Galilean.”

Source: D. James Kennedy, Why I Believe (Thomas Nelson; Revised edition, 1979) p106.

Self Repair

A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that can, to some extent, repair itself. In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble- because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out.

That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or- if they think there is not- at least they hope to deserve approval from good men.

But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as a roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.

Source: Clive Staples Lewis, Mere Christianity (Simon & Schuster, 1980) p64.

We Have Shrunk

In a consumerist world where advertising reigns and ethical and spiritual ideas must kneel in the presence of the almighty market, we have become “insubstantial” people with “thin” selves. In other words, we are not deeply rooted in any sense.

Oftentimes, we don’t think profoundly; we don’t connect meaningfully; we don’t focus extendedly. We can all too easily flit through life, trying new experiences, inventing new selves through online media. We watch endless amounts of television, keep a constant vigil over our email accounts, and update 800 of our closest friends when we make a piece of toast, but we often cannot be bothered to read, or think, or delve into the lives of unbelievers who are everywhere around us.

We have focused on ourselves, pumping ourselves up through self-esteem exercises, redefining our sins as “tendencies” that require therapy of one kind or another, and discarding traditional marks of maturity to gratify desires we refuse to tame. In the process, we have not grown. We have shrunk.

Source: Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney, Jonathan Edwards on True Christianity (Moody Publishers, 2010) p41.

Guard Your Heart

Guard your heart…

“Let it be closely garrisoned. Let the sentinel never be sleeping at its post . . . if the citadel is be taken, the whole town must surrender. If the heart be seized, the whole man—the affections, desires, motives, pursuits—all will be yielded up.

The heart is the vital part of the body. A wound here is instant death. Thus—spiritually as well as naturally—out of the heart are the issues of life. It is the great vital spring of the soul, the fountain of actions, the center and the seat of principle, both of sin and holiness (Matthew 12:34–35).

The natural heart is a fountain of poison (Matthew 15:19). The purified heart is a well of living water (John 4:14). As is the fountain, so must be the streams. As is the heart, so must be the mouth, the eyes, the feet.

Therefore, above all keeping, keep thine heart. Guard the fountain, lest the waters be poisoned. . . . Many have been the bitter moments from the neglect of this guard. All keeping is vain, if the heart not be kept.

Did you catch that? All Bible study, all mission trips, all marriage vows, and all worship is in vain if the heart is not kept.”

Source: Steve Farrar, How To Ruin Your Life by 40 (Moody Publishers, 2006) p128.

Why the Long Lists Of Names in the Bible?

One of the things that stump first time Bible readers is the long list of names, genealogies, places and temple articles found in some parts of the Bible. Some people think they’re useless information. Who cares about names of people who are long dead? What difference does it make if we knew who begat whom?

D. James Kennedy, in his book “Why I Believe,” gave this insightful explanation:

[The] plethora of details were [like] watermarks in paper which bear indelible evidence of the time and plan of manufacture. As a detective can ascertain from a watermark many things about the paper- its source, for instance- the science of archaeology has uncovered from these details a vast wealth of information about the Scripture.

In a courtroom, lawyers frequently ask witnesses many detailed questions that do not seem to bear directly on the issue at hand. They are attempting to establish in all sorts of corroborative ways whether the witness is telling the truth or is lying.

According to one historian, it is impossible to establish a lie in the midst of a well-known history. As the details are brought out and confirmed or denied, so the truth of the story also is confirmed or denied. One scholar states: “To my mind, absolute truth and local details (a thing which cannot possibly be invented when it is spread over a history covering many centuries) give proof almost absolute as to the truth of the thing related. Such proof we have for every part of the Bible.”

Source: D. James Kennedy, Why I Believe (Thomas Nelson; Revised edition, 1979)

Sunday Scribbles

A few random thoughts before I go to bed tonight:

Pastor Gilbert preached from John 9 today. It’s about Jesus healing a blind man by dabbling mud made of spit and soil on the blind guy’s eyes. Yuck. Disgusting. I couldn’t even get anywhere near someone who sneezed, let alone allow anyone to put mud on my eyes. But maybe that’s one of the reasons why we don’t receive much from God. We are too icky about a lot of things that much of what God would have done are hindered.

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There are two things that could hinder God from performing a miracle in your life. First is when you think that knowing everything about God is a requisite to receiving miracles. It’s not. Second is when you simply know too much. The Pharisees thought they already figured God out. They didn’t have room for God to do something new. That’s why they were scandalized when Jesus did something good on a Sabbath.

Continue reading Sunday Scribbles