Two Stories for Bedtime Reading

I would like to tell you a couple of stories.  You won’t be wasting your time, they have a point.  Let’s start with the tale of Sammy Simpleton.

Sammy was a serious soul who wanted to save money.  He was 14, and it was summer.  His dad is a real estate salesman.  His dad came home one day with great news—he got Sammy a job.  The job was maintaining lawns of people that sell their houses and move out early.  The lawns get overgrown and unattractive to prospective buyers--unless they get mowed.  So his dad’s boss, Mr. Applegate, is ready to hire Sammy to do the mowing.  His dad already has one lawn lined up. It would pay $30. It was now noon, and he tells Sammy there are prospects coming to see it, and, it turns out, it really needs mowing.  They will arrive, likely 6:00, but they could get here early, at 4:00.  It takes about 2 hours to mow, so Sammy needs to get started right away.  The house was close, so he can wheel the mower over there quickly. 

Sammy was excited and was heading out the door to grab the mower when he sees his friends coming up the front step.  They want to play Monopoly.  (Sammy has some serious friends.)  They need a third player bad and convince him to play a quick game, and he will still have time to mow.  He is easily convinced, and they begin.  Sammy is a good player, and knows how to haggle his way to a monopoly.  But he later sees that it is 1:30, and tries to beg off and get to mowing.  His friends talk him out of that bad idea, since there’s no easy way to cash a rich guy out of the middle of a Monopoly game.  Besides, he’s got his eye on the prize—Boardwalk and Park Place.  So, thinking he’ll still have time to get done before 6:00, he is convinced to continue play.  He gets deep in the game, they bankrupt one guy, and he does manage to obtain those key blue properties, when his dad burst in the door.  He doesn’t look happy, with his arms folded and a hard look on his face.  Sammy sees the clock, and it’s 4:30. 

“Sorry, dad,” he pleads, “I’ll get on it right now.  I’m really sorry.  I’Il rush, and I can finish by 6:00.”

“Don’t rush on my account.  They came at 4:00.  The overgrown lawn failed to impress them, so they were not interested. I lost a sale. “

“I’m real sorry, dad.  I let you down.  I promise it will never happen again.”

“Well, you’re right about that.  It won’t.  When I had to tell Mr. Applegate, he decided to hire his nephew.  That was your one chance, and you blew it.  You know, that was real money.  And you threw it all away on a silly game.”

“Silly game!  Dad, I’ve got two monopolies, even houses on one of them.  I was ready to win.  I’ve got $8,000!”

Well, you’re probably thinking, based on his last comment, “His name fits him--Sammy Simpleton.”  But you might be wondering, what does this story have to do with me?  Well, the problem is, most of us are Sammy Simpletons.  We’ve been given a job to do by Jesus Christ.  But we get all caught up in this life’s “monopoly game,” and we forget what Jesus expects us to be doing.  Look at Matthew 25:14-30:

  “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. ¹⁵ And to one he gave five talents (ed., he gave them money), to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.¹⁶ Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. ¹⁷ And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. ¹⁸ But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. ¹⁹ After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

²⁰ “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ ²¹ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord....

²⁴ “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

²⁶ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. ²⁷ So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. ²⁸ Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

²⁹ ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Jesus is saying, we need to "invest" what we have for the Lord.  If money, in the Lord's work; we need to build eternal treasures. Give our money to the poor, to the families of martyrs (yes, they get killed every day somewhere in the world).  They may be far away, but they are our brothers and sisters. If our talents are our spiritual gifts, then we should use those in church, in every day work and play, for the Lord.  Jesus is so serious about this, is He not?  Has He not made, in these verses, one of the determinants of eternal destiny?  An important note here:  After one is saved--by accepting what Jesus has done on his behalf--by accepting his sin and repenting of it--he must use his gifts, or money for Christ's kingdom.  Christ is Lord and Master of our lives. "Master" sounds bad, but His commands are good for us.  If we don't abide in Him, we could lose the salvation we had gained.  When we became a branch on His Vine, we must grow and nourish ourselves daily on the Vine. Not just on Sundays. If we don't, our outcome is the outer darkness and suffering (John 15:6).  Hell, in other words. The problem is,  we get caught up in the world.  The American dream takes over our mind.  Then it’s easy to push any ideas about working for Christ in the background. The sad result is, we go to church--maybe, and for most, that’s about it.   

For those worried about giving financially to the Lord, I have this thought:  We can still give our families proper necessities, but we don't have to buy big houses, renovate, renovate, buy “toys,” eating and sleeping thinking about your vocation or vacation--that’s all the world. That gets you to hell. We must separate ourselves from the world, from the culture. As opposed to that, think of this:  the real future we need to focus on is after you die.  Giving for Jesus is treasure in heaven--where we'll be for eternity.  After all, this present body is just 80 years.  Eternity is millions of years. Which should you think about?  The present money you earn is Monopoly money, in the long run.  It’s only good for this brief life. It accumulates nothing for you the instant you die. For our eternal needs, remember, we can't take it with us--it has no benefit. Think on that. It was done for nothing. If it was done for your kids--well, they die too, and where do they spend eternity?  Best to buy your child a Bible, train them up about God, so they'll be in heaven with you. That's better than buying them whatever toys they see in ads, and it costs a whole lot less.The house that we spent hours and hours on, and lots of money paying mortgage interest, turns into a little green Monopoly house. Or red if it's big.  But it's still a Monopoly house. The nice car becomes the little race car trinket that you move around the board with. Everything we thought was real money, upon death, turns into Monopoly money.  Fake money.  It’s all gone when we die. 

The only thing that counts is what Jesus said about building up treasures for heaven.  Jesus is talking above about accumulating works for Him, not for worldly pleasures.  The typical person misses this goal 100%. Why don't they care about hitting the goal? Because many will presumptuously assume God will let most people into heaven despite His crystal-clear statement to the contrary in Scripture. Yes, worldliness and bad assumptions will put many surprised people into hell. A part of Jesus' "Sower" parable (Luke 8) goes like this...

7 And some (seed) fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it....14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 

Now you might say, "So what?"  Well, see what Jesus says in John 15 about bringing "no fruit to maturity" (John 15)...

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned

The words "fire" and "burned" mean hell.  That's for those who don't abide in Him, and thus bear no fruit.  We should build up fruit for heaven.  We all need a 180 degree change in focus about what's important.  Go for the real $30 for starters, not the Monopoly $8000.  

Our next story is about a sympathetic college professor, Dr. Wise. He’s been teaching a lot of years, and is worn out of giving 'way too many “D’s” and even flunking a bunch of students.  He’s also been given a bad rap on the secret “professor ratings” that students have online.  They note that he is a hard grader, so he gets no sympathy. But Dr. Wise knows that wasn’t really true—it broke his heart to fail them, but the bad grade, given too often, was a true picture of how little effort many of them put into the class.  He often agonized on this, wondering about maybe he could change his grading style, and still have them study harder. 

So, this semester he’s going to do it differently.  For final exams in May, he decides to just go ahead, and give the students all of the questions—and their answers—ahead of time. They’ll still have to remember the answers. But how hard can that be?  So all they needed to do to "ace" the final, which was a big chunk of their grade, was to memorize  those questions and answers given.  This was really radical for him; so when he presents his plan to the students, they seem skeptical.  He tells them, “I’m serious. This is no joke. This is all you need to ace the final.  These are the questions and answers I will ask.  I want everyone in the class to get an ‘A’ this time.  If any of you don’t make an ‘A,’ it’s going to be totally your own fault.”  So on test day, the last day of class, when they take the exam and he collects, he excitedly begins to grade them.  But—much to his shock—the grades are only slightly better than the dismal results of the past!  Only three students aced the exam, and the class held 30.  How can this be?  He had no ideas. 

So in the fall, when new classes start up, he spotted Susan walking along, one of the three aces in the previous class final. “Susan,” he said, “can you clear up a mystery for me?  I know I gave out all the questions and all the answers that would be on the final.  Even though I wouldn’t let them bring those pages into class for the final, I thought they would still memorize my words and all do well.  Yet only you and two others aced.  I’m dumbfounded.  What happened?” “Well,” she said, “after we got the answer pages from you, we went to the student union, and, do you remember Luther Little?  He said, “Do you really think Dr. Wise would really give us the questions and answers in advance?  He had to know that if everyone aced, the university might wonder about him.’  Another student said, ‘Good point.  I think what’s really happening here is, he hasn’t given us the real answers for the final.  I think he wants us to go deeper, to look further than that.  I mean, no professor really gives out all the straight answers like that.’  “So,” Susan said, “Dr. Wise, I heard they would all get together that night and go over the book and figure out the real answers.”  “Did you go?”  he asked her.  She said, “You know, after I left, I thought, ‘Is that what I really think of Dr. Wise, that he would leave us the wrong answers to trick us?’  No, I figured, you’re not really that kind of a teacher.  So I believed you, studied what you gave us, and got an ‘A.’ Nothing could have been easier.”  

Well, you’re probably thinking, that story is as ridiculous as the first story; no student is that stupid.  And I agree with you—it is an absurd story. Unfortunately, it also happens to be true. Not about any Dr. Wise; it's true about God.  I'm talking about eternal life, acing that final, getting a pass to heaven at the Judgment seat.  Jesus, in His Word, has already told us what the questions are going to be on Judgment Day, and what the answers are going to be.  And yet, even most “Christians” don’t believe it--because they all come up with different answers, different theology, and most of their theology is wrong.  Let’s look at Matthew 25:31-46 for proof:

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. ³³ And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ ⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Again, Jesus, who is God, who cannot lie or deceive, has made an abundantly clear distinction between going to heaven and going to hell.  Since these verses follow the verses on talents, above, (where we learned that we should be working for Jesus, not the world), these verses introduce one way—perhaps the chief way—that we should be maintaining our salvation and abiding in Him.  These verses show how we can be working for Him, working for the kingdom of heaven, given the money or talents that He has invested with us, instead of Monopoly money. He is saying that we should be actively helping those brothers and sisters who need help, especially those that are poor. Having compassion on them, not spreading insulting rumors or pushing them out of our thoughts.  When we help them, we’re really helping Him.  Notice His extremely judgmental language for those going to hell:  “Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…”  Do we not cringe, do we not hold our breath for what the Judge of our souls would say about our destination?  Most people, most “Christians,” don’t express the least bit of concern—which means, they are clearly not worried about their ticket to heaven--because they have not studied what these verses are saying. Maybe they are complacent.. To be so unconcerned, they’re really ignoring the Words of the Judge.  In the U.S. we have millions of Bibles with His commands about helping the poor and oppressed, and living a righteous life--and yet few who go out of their way to do anything, or are fearful about the Judge enough that they read His commands seriously.  "Oh, I'm sure He will do for me what I hope."  Most just assume, outrageously,  that no such deeds on their part are necessary. 

But…to get back to Jesus’ comment, it clearly answers the question about getting to heaven, doesn't it?  All we need to do is to follow it. So here's a related question:  Given these instructions, do people have to do something desperately wicked to consign them to hell?  No; going to hell, as you see above, is the destination of those who do not help the people who need us.  Jesus is saying, these people may be hungry, thirsty, dressed in rags, lonely and without a home, sick, even imprisoned, but they are our brothers in creation and need our help.  Note that the verses do not restrict as to race, or as to refugee status.  The most desperate people in the world are the “least of these My brethren”—and we are required to help.  So we must give our time and/or money to the poor, the refugees, the places on earth that have little medical help, to earn favor with our King. Or to people around us who are in desperate need of help, mental or physical. 

I have a simple question for you:  Do you fulfill this requirement to enter heaven?  Giving to your church does not cut it; as I show in another blog.  Let's say you give 10% of your revenue to the church. But that probably means only 1% of your revenue made it for Christ's purposes outlined above. Giving to the church doesn't have the effect as comforting or providing food or clothing for people in desperate need around us.  So do you plan to ignore what the Scripture clearly says about requirements for heaven?  Are you like most of Dr. Wise's students then?  You want to make up your own requirements to get  to heaven--when Jesus has spelled them out here?  If you do, as most people do, you are the absurd students of Dr. Wise. You got the questions and answers ahead of time, as we see above, but you ignored them. So you fail.  Guess what your eternal location is?  Observe the goats above.  

The verses also clearly say that people will be shocked that they are hell-bound; they had figured, in their own mind, they didn’t do anything “bad.”  The problem is:  They invented their own answer for how to enter heaven, instead of God’s answer.  They didn't believe God.  Instead, they deceived themselves that they are good for heaven.

So shouldn’t you take the time to meditate on these verses, to consider Jesus’ answers?  To avoid deceiving yourself?  Perhaps after some honest thought you get a new view of Jesus, of God the Father, as, not only loving, but severe on sin (Romans 11:22).  After all, didn’t He also say, “few” would go on the narrow way to heaven?  (Matthew 7:13,14).  That has to mean, most people will go to hell.  But, "most" couldn’t mean just criminals—so, it means a lot of “good” people will go to hell--people who made up their own rules on how to get to heaven, ways that bypass the poor and needy.  They simply didn’t act on the question from Scripture about helping the helpless.  They made up their own answer.

So, we have the main question on Judgment Day:  Did you feed the hungry?  Did you help the sick, the poor?  And we all know what the answer should be. We were told in advance; the questions and the answers are in the Book.  Are we one of the Luther Littles of the world, who don't believe the prof, whose distrust of their Judge causes them to come up with something more sensible? The Word doesn’t say anything about you getting a “Get Out of Jail” card for your “good intentions.”  Good intentions don’t cut it with God because He will say, “All you had to do was, take time to read it.  You should all have aced the Final Day.  If you failed, it’s your own fault.”

Don’t be a flunking student, on such an important subject.  Read the Word.  God gives us a test at the end of our lives.  This test is more  important than anything in our entire lives.

Acknowledgement:  David Bercot, Lecture at 2015 AIC Conference

The Curse of Complacency in the US

There are three cultural and religious conditions in America that mix together into a toxic formula that will severely reduce our power in the Lord, unless we take deliberate action.  Let’s name them and tell what toxic results the admixture leads us to.  Here are the components: 

1.      High relative income.  America doesn’t have the wealthiest people on the planet, but it has the highest average disposable household income, in 2013—if you are Caucasian.  America’s $60,256 is ‘way ahead of second highest among the measured  nations, Luxembourg, whose median was $52,493. 

2.       Belief in eternal security—“once saved, always saved.” A rapidly-growing phenomenon.

3.       Belief that Christians will be raptured before the seven-year “tribulation.” This is called the pre-trib rapture theory. Its opposite is the post-trib theory, belief that Christians must endure the tribulation before being rescued.  Pre-trib belief is a growing phenomenon. A recent study of 1000 people show that twice as many believe in pre-trib as those who believe in post-trib rapture, 

So, what is the result, in most cases, from mixing these three elements together? You won’t like what I think is the answer:

COMPLACENCY--“a feeling of being satisfied with how things are and not wanting to try to make them better…especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies”

Not a good spiritual position, I think you will agree.  Why do I believe complacency exists?  The main reason is simple statistics.  Jesus said, in Matthew 7:13-14:

 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it

As I said in an earlier blog ("Most Americans are Not Saved"), the word “few,” upon study, means 6 or 7 out of 100.  So if America is average in its Christian ratio, 6 or 7--say 7--Americans out of 100 are going to heaven. Yet the latest surveys reveal that 84% of Americans claim to be Christians.  So if you took 100 people, 84 would say they’re Christian, but only 7 of those, based on what Jesus implied, might actually be going there.  So, if you broke those down to "lowest common denominator," out of every 12 people who say they are saved, only one really is—but what about the other 11?  They are deceived. They think they are Christian and going to heaven, but they are not. They are on the broad way to hell.  Eleven out of 12 claiming to be Christian therefore have complacency--they have “unawareness of actual dangers,” do they not? Since this ‘unawareness” rate is so high (11 out of 12, or almost 92% of those who think they’re heaven bound are really on the way to hell); it seems to  indicate complacency is toxic throughout the culture.   

Unless you want to make the argument that, oh yes, 84% of America is truly saved.  We are ‘way above average in the world. In fact, you’re saying that compared to the meaning of Jesus' word "few,"  supposedly Americans are not "few"--yes, we're 12 times the average.   I would like to give a simple argument that should crush such thoughts:  Christianity turned the Roman Empire upside-down between 30-300 AD.  They went from being a small band of hated “heretics” to being declared the state religion. Huge social improvements were put into place.  (You don't read about these things because your school history class "has to" avoid religion.) Yet what percentage of the population caused that?  The answer, according to best statistics, was shocking: Christians never got higher than 10% of the population! With the power of God, they did it.  So I ask you, what powerful social changes have Christians done lately in America, with allegedly 8 times the ratio as Rome? Few, sadly.  Our argument of being superior to the world, as you see, doesn’t hold water with such powerful influences as the early Christians that were dedicated and truly abiding in Christ..And you must abide and obey Christ to be saved.  (John 15:1-6).

Now you may argue, “Well, they were under persecution—this made them stronger.”  OK, that’s another way of saying “Well, we’re weak now.”  Exactly what I maintain.  Our weakness is due to complacency, my friends.  If we really stood up for Christ in a truly separated-from-the world life, we would also experience huge persecution.  But we're not.  Oh, yes, a few people in America have indeed suffered--but few.  

So I am maintaining that we have complacency.  Now let’s look at the three causes I enumerated above.  Let’s start our proof with:

High Relative Income. If people have any “religion” at all, the most-frequent assumption they make (if they call themselves "Christian") that have high income is this:  “God gave me high income because He loves me.  As Deuteronomy 28 shows, He blesses those who follow Him.  So since I am blessed, He must love me, so I’m heaven bound.”  Well, that’s Old Covenant, or Old Testament. Some of those rules got wiped out in the New Covenant.   Jesus introduced the rules for rich people in the New Covenant.  Let’s look at the new rule: Matthew 19:23-24:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Let’s make sure we understand this:  Jesus was saying, it’s more difficult for a rich person to be saved than a middle or lower income person.  So if the overall saved average in the world is 7%, then America, with a larger number of richer people, would actually see a lower than 7% saved rate.   So people who have a family disposable income of higher than $60,256 (see above), being richer than average, are in particular danger. Rich people have a big problem; they get involved with the world, and love its comforts.  But Jesus says they can't love the world and also love God.  

Now, of course, you may dispute all this.  You may say:

1.        Yes, we have higher income.  But I think we’re saved anyhow.  We accepted Christ.  My possible responses to that argument: 

a.       Praise the Lord if that’s really true; as Our Lord said in Matthew 19:26:  “With God all things are possible.”  But there’s a few questions I’d like to ask:

b.      How much time do you spend praying over the death and suffering of your poor brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world?  Things are unbelievably bad for them in China, Syria, Somalia, and North Korea, just to name a few.  How much of your income do you donate to their relief and missionary endeavors annually?  Do you reject the purchase of unneeded material things so that you can give more to the Lord’s work?  And I do not mean your local church here.  The suffering is so much greater elsewhere in the world. If none of these things have entered your mind, are you really saved?

c.       Have you ever meditated on just exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-20:

 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

As I point out in another blog (A Radical Truth:  Part I), Jesus is commanding us (per the phrase “DO NOT”) not to save money beyond imminent use of funds.  This strongly suggests giving away all income that we don’t really really need.  This is in actuality advocating redistribution of wealth—on a voluntary basis, of course. Done by Christians.  Think about this:  What do men go to war for?  Really, isn’t it because other people have more than they?  Such radical redistribution as Jesus suggests, such giving, reduces their greedy homicidal impulse—and an open hand to give can save many of these people for the Lord.  And seriously reduce war and killing.  Giving sacrificially is the greatest witness for Christ of all!

d.       Yes, you accepted Christ.  But have you given gifts to the Lord, as Galatians 5:22-23 says?  Are you spending time reading Scripture to learn how to copy Jesus, how to obey His every commandment—and thus abiding in Him?  As John 15:6 says:

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 

I have a blog on how to maintain salvation ("Getting to Heaven")—Scripture says we must endure to the end to be saved.  It would be a mistake to lean too much on that past salvation experience, if not followed with appropriate deeds.  Getting saved, then not radically changing your life, says you are not abiding in Christ--and you could be headed for being thrown in the fire.
Too many wealthy people give 10% to church--who then, because of the burdens of salary and building upkeep, are only able to give 10% of their revenues to poor people in great need.  So even of the wealthy, only 1% of their revenue makes it to the people who need it.  Why not give straight to parachurch or independent agencies?  If your church building is not able to stand, that's OK.  You could meet in groups of 10 or 20 in people's homes every Sunday.  It's a radical idea, but that's how the early church started, and that's the only way the people who need it are getting it.  It increases accountability of individual members, not a bad idea (but only if the leader of each housegroup is truly dedicated to the Lord.) 

2.     Now, of course, you may simply argue “I’m not rich.  We make $75,000 a year, and can barely get by.  So this isn’t relevant to me.”  I would say, your $75,000 puts you above average in the U.S., to begin with.  But thinking on a worldwide scale, in the long march of past history, as Jesus is addressing, you are one of the wealthiest people who ever lived.  There is a special responsibility, a special burden, to go with this wealth—and you must fight hard against deceit and complacency, which will come your way, which would tear you away from your mission for the Lord.  Consider Matthew 13:22, where the Sower of the world has many failures and only a few successes; here is one of his failures:

²² Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

What kind of “deceitfulness” did the Lord mean?  How about “I am rich because God loves me.”  We’ve already covered the falseness of that deceit. Yet rich people continue to complacently  believe it. We should say, “God, through no particular reason on my part, allowed me to be rich—what does God want me to do with this special gift for Him?”

Let’s move on to the second cause of the cultural disaster known as Complacency:  Belief in eternal security.  Supposedly, all you have to do is say, “I was saved at a youth camp in the summer of 2002.  And I've lived a pretty clean life since.  So I’m saved forever.  No need to worry about hell.” So what do a lot of these people do?  These “2002 savers,” say, get married, and if they feel good about it, they stay married; if they don’t like it, they get divorced.  And remarried.  Well, that's totally un-Scriptural.  See Matthew 5:32.  If Christians are acting just like the world in an important area as this, are they Christian?  Another aspect:  Much of their conversation, even with Christians, is functional—when they want a car, they talk up cars with everybody.  And so on through houses, boats, jobs, how to get the “best” girl (her religious behavior ranks low on importance for most--in fact, if she seems a "fanatic," it excludes her).  God does not enter the discussion.  Retired people, I can tell you, we have endless conversations about restaurants, how to save a dollar buying something, golf game, etc.  Or, for the younger, they may live in fornication (sometimes even if they have young children), then they “get saved,” but if they break up, and later get into financial straits or loneliness, they live with someone again.  Later they might get married.  These people pray—or appeal to God--only when they get desperate.  They never read their Bibles, except in an occasional short streak. They might get to church every other week, until they can afford a boat, or get a job working Sundays. Then they disappear:  you better hope they might attend a Saturday night sermon.  They are never torn about the possibility of hell for themselves, their family, or their friends. 

The point I am trying to make?  God’s plan for what to do for Him, in obedience, as a "new creation" are not a goal by the majority of those who believe in eternal security when they "got saved."  Jesus’ commandments about forgiving, about adultery and divorce, etc are decided upon without reference to God.  These un-Christian behaviors should be warnings but they are never considered as serious enough to be seeing yourself on the pathway to hell if you disobey.  So, abiding in Christ?  Not happening.  But a doubt about their salvation?  Not a wisp of worry in their mind.  It happened in 2002, don’t you know.  It was a great event.  So I’m Rock Solid about Eternal Security.  (Definition:  I’m as complacent as I can be).  Pastor told me so.  Well, God bless that pastor.  He will have to give an account for his deception.  Scripture is full of verses that clearly indicate that security is conditional on holiness.  I have a three-part blog on this one:  Escaping Hell (Part 1), and Do Peter, James and John…(Part 2) and Do Paul…(Part 3).  I know that you Eternal Security folks are ingrained in your beliefs, but consider again that 11 out of 12 of those who think they are saved are not!  What are the odds that you’re one of the 11…or can you assume that you’re for sure the 1 in 12?  This is heaven vs hell we’re talking about, it’s worth a few hours of open-mindedness and reading all of New Testament Scripture, especially every word from Jesus, and praying for His guidance. 

Now we move to the third of the triad causing our country’s massive complacency:  The pre-trib rapture believers.  (By the way, I used to be in all three of these camps before.  But I’ve always been a reader, and He led me to some good reading material.)  I only have space to give you one difficulty with the pre-tribbers:  Their theology has Christians being raptured, without any pre-indicators, before the end-times tribulation.  The horrible things of those last tribulation days—wars, famines, earthquakes, massive persecution and martyrdom—will happen on earth while they’re enjoying heaven.  The Holy Spirit that indwells true believers, a Comfort to His beloved and thus a witness of His grace to non-believers, will supposedly be gone when they are raptured.  Thus, a “Christian” who believes this will be effectively saying, to his unsaved relatives and friends:  “You should be saved as I am.  We can leave this scene and leave non-believers to suffer the greatest misfortune of their lives without us.  When they need us the most, Jesus takes us out of here.”  You know what the thinking non-believer will imagine when hearing this raw explanation of their mindset?  “Oh, sure; you want me to believe in a theology of abandoning people I care for, of complete selfishness.  Is that what Christianity is?  You can keep it, my un-friend.”  Another fact is, the pre-trib theory is not a historical Christian belief; the idea was created as late as 1830.  It’s the opposite of the “post-trib” theology that was believed by almost all "futurist" Christians for 1800 years before that.  The predominant historical belief was, Christians will have to hang around through the end times and suffer, and giving their life for Him.  So this newer pre-trib idea says, in effect:  For the first 1800 years, when the greatest minds that Christians had, from men close to Him, men who changed Rome, they all believed mistakenly, because they believed Jesus had two Advents--Jesus at birth and Jesus at resurrection and judgment.  The “truth” is, they say, Jesus is having 3 Advents—the two above, and the middle one a secret rapture of Christians living then. Of course, there isn’t a single solid Scripture to prove it, but if you twist some Scripture like a pretzel, and compartmentalize and contextualize others, you’ve got this great theology that people love to hear about, so it must be true! All those 1800 years, those guys were all wrong.  We have it right now—the subname for our theology is:  Good Luck, the rest of you: We’re Outta Here!  

If that isn’t a complacent theology, I don’t know what is. 

So there you have it.  Three corrupting effects.  Lots of complacency.  Oh, you still don’t believe we’re in a complacent period?  I have a “closing argument” thought for you:  Have you heard about the stat that “Christians” divorce at the same rate as non-Christians?

Here’s a shocking statement from Christianity Today, 2/14/14: 

     Andrew Walker interviews Dr. Bradford Wilcox, Director of the National Marriage Project, and asks him the question, "Are religious conservatives really divorcing more than religious liberals, or more than people who have no religious affiliation at all?" Dr. Wilcox answers,

Up to a point, yes. The article finds that conservative Protestants, and counties with higher shares of conservative Protestants, are indeed more likely to divorce—compared to Americans in other mainstream traditions, from mainline Protestantism to Mormonism to Catholicism.

Thus, conservative (i.e., evangelical) “Christians” have a higher divorce rate than “mainline” (i.e., liberal) Christians. That’s a shocker by itself, saying that the supposedly more committed Christians divorce at a higher rate. The article goes on to say,

…A new article by sociologist Charles Stokes in www.family-studies.org suggests that the problem here is mainly with nominal conservative Protestants—those who attend (church) rarely or never. It's these nominal conservative Protestants who are much more likely to divorce.

That word “nominal” (“in name only,” not by actual behavior) seems to back my claim that most of those who claim to be saved aren’t.  By the way--aside from my personal experience, here’s the reason I keep harping on the subject of divorce.  What did Jesus command?  In Matthew 5:32:

whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

You would have to conclude that there’s a lot of adultery going on in America among “Christians,” is there not?  Now, what does Galatians 5:19-21 say?

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Think about this:  God hates divorce so much that He places it in the same camp as the idolaters, the sorcerers, the murderers—all these terrible people, including divorcers who remarry (if unrepentant) are going to hell!  Were Jesus and Paul blunt about hating divorce?  Yes.  But do we get it?  No; we have people all over the place who choose temporary residence in a new marriage, hoping for a little more bliss in this life—and they are trading it for an eternity in hell!  Bad trade, folks!  Do our pastors get it?  No.  For the most part, they insist God will forgive you, without demanding that you see what danger you’re in, or even asking you for repentance.  No church discipline, no loss of Communion under more liberal popes.

All this sounds like “unawareness of actual dangers,” does it not? Well, that’s the definition of complacency.  I’ll say the statistic one more time:  11 out of 12 people who think they’re going to heaven are actually going to hell. Are you sure you’re not one of the 11?  Take some time to study the Scriptures, ask God to open your eyes, read my blogs on these dangerous beliefs.  May God bless you.  

Jesus Taunts Satan

After I listened to Dr. Heiser’s Youtube series “The Unseen Realm,” I bought the book.  There is another gem he shared with me that I’d like to share with you.   It's in the difficult text of Matthew 16:13-18:

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

So who, or what, is the “rock” upon which Jesus will build His church?  Catholics say Jesus was saying Peter is the rock.  So, they say, he was the first pope.  But Protestants say, no, Jesus was doing a word-play.  Peter comes from the Greek “petros,” which means “stone.” But the word “rock” means, according to Vine’s, a “mass of rock,” a “sure foundation,” as opposed to a detached stone which could be “easily moved.” Therefore, they say, Jesus was saying He is the rock he was referring to; He is the foundation of the church (I Corinthians 3:11), immovable in His doctrines and foreknowledge.

Dr. Heiser admits to the accuracy of this word-play, but adds that Jesus has another word play for “who is the rock,” which conveys a cosmic scope.

To explain his idea, we must start with the fact that Jesus was leading His disciples into Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:13 above), which happens to be at the foothills of Mt. Hermon—a very significant mountain because of its moral darkness.  This mountain was the place where Satan and his fallen angels plotted to destroy the lineage of Jesus by sexual relations with earth women (Book of Enoch, Chapters 6 and 7).  (I’ve discussed the validity of the Book of Enoch, how it’s quoted in Scripture, in recent blogs).  So the mountain has one dark feature right there. 

Then there’s the fact that the meaning of Hermon, in Scripture, is Anathema, which means “devoted to destruction.”  Uttering Anathema on someone is the direst of curses one can pronounce.  Paul uses the word in Galatians 1:8:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Messing with Scripture’s gospel brings down curses from God, and separation from Him forever.  With meaningful repentance, God could forgive. 

Having this evil name is the second darkness around Mt. Hermon. 

Finally, to get to my third point of darkness about Mt. Hermon, you need some additional backup.  To review a previous blog: Genesis 6:1-4 really says that in Noah’s day, fallen angels came to earth, took on the form of men, and married and had sex with earth women.  The children of this sexual match of immortal angels and mortal women were aberrant.  They became renowned giants, and they were called Nephilim (the word is in the ESV or NIV translation).  The Nephilim, partially from demonic fallen angels, were wicked.  And being a mix of mortal and immortal, they were not human, so it’s then possible that they were unsaveable. They were also linked to the rapid immorality that brought on the Flood (Genesis 6:5), and the evil technology that they taught men—how better they can destroy themselves and their culture. 

To continue, we fast forward to the days of Moses and Joshua his general. Their purpose is to wipe out all the evil giants that have cropped up again in Canaan, God’s choice location for Israel.  Toward the end of this mission, Joshua defeated the giants of Bashan.  Their king, Og, had a bed that was between 14 and 16 feet long. Deuteronomy 3:11 and Joshua 13:12 records these facts:

…Og the king of Bashan was left…Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length…

…all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei… these Moses had struck and driven out.

The point of mentioning “king Og in Bashan” is this: Mt. Hermon is smack in the middle of the Bashan area.  Thus, Mt. Hermon and Bashan, in addition to being a meeting place for Satan’s minions, despite having a name that is accursed, and having had demonic giants, also still has a lot of wicked people. As Joshua 13:12 above notes, Ashtaroth was the capital city of Bashan.  Ashtaroth has a bad reputation as well; the people worshipped the goddess Ashtoreth (in other nations, she was called Aphrodite, or Ishtar—both fertility goddesses—we get Easter from Ishtar).  These goddesses were also known as the “queen of heaven” (Catholics take note), and the people of Bashan and Mt. Hermon persuaded the Israelites into worshipping this goddess as well. There were sexual rituals that took place.  The worship involved the “high places,” which were also constructed in Israel.  They were mentioned many times in the Old Testament.  God wanted them destroyed—they practiced sacred prostitution. This was heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual perversion. I mean, how bad is this?  See if you can imagine such perversity as prostitution part of your religion. All this is to say:  This was the third evil of this mountain area. 

In summary, for all three of the reasons listed above, Mt. Hermon was Ground Zero of the gates of hell on earth--and yet this is where Jesus was leading His disciples. 

Now, to finish the backdrop to the cosmic scope of what Jesus was doing on Mt. Hermon, I need to explain the “gates of Hell” quote. Hopefully you remember Matthew 16:18 above:

…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

We’re ready for the final two gems I got from Dr. Heiser. First, the idea that people have today, whether Catholic or Protestant, about interpreting this is, Satan would be attacking the church, but “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church” (“it” is the church, they say).  But this made no sense to Dr. Heiser, who couldn’t visualize gates attacking the Christian church. Gates are defensive, not offensive. Their purpose is to hold the attackers back. There is a simple explanation for this conundrum, and that is:  a proper translation.  From the Pure Word, the most accurate translation of koine Greek around, Matthew 16:18b: 

…upon this huge Rock I will build My Assembly (ed. note: the church), and the gateways of hell shall definitely not triumph against Me.  

This translation definitely implies that Jesus, in this quote, while He is standing on Ground Zero of hell on earth, is prophetically saying He will be attacking the gateways of hell, and the gateways will not be able to hold Him back (praise God!).  Christ, with the help of His church, will blow through those gateways in complete and utter triumph! Hell will not triumph against His attack!

How does this happen? Because, though Satan would assume he triumphed by killing Jesus, in reality, Jesus won the battle.  First, by dying, He accomplishes great things:  He thus pays for our sins.  Not only that, He was resurrected from the dead; thus He defeated death. We believers will, with the help of the Holy Spirit, attack Satan ourselves by living godly lives, sacrificing life’s pleasures for Him, and by bold witness.  By following God’s desires, our lives will be a total triumph of good against evil.  We will someday also be resurrected and join Him in heaven, and there will be no more death.    

This gem I got from Dr. Heiser, that further explains his “cosmic meaning” of the “who is the rock” conundrum.  Dr. Heiser has climbed Mt. Hermon himself and discovered a huge rock jutting up from the earth at the peak, so that is the best vantage point that Jesus made His speech.  That jutting-up rock was the rock Jesus was pointing out.  Jesus was saying, “from where you are standing, even at this rock and the gates of hell, we shall attack Satan and shall have victory.” That was the double entendre of the word-play. “You are Peter (stone).  I will build my church even on the gates of hell, represented by this rock.”

So the big picture is this:  Jesus is near the final week of His life. He has reasoned with the evil Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes; He has admonished and warned them that their lack of belief will send them to hell (John 8).  But they still plan to kill Him. He knows that when He enters Jerusalem for Passover, they will make their move to kill.  (What’s ironic is, they were playing into God’s hands—He wanted them to do it on Passover, to prove who the real Lamb of Sacrifice is).  But now it’s gloves off. Jesus wants to taunt Satan into making his final move to kill Him. Jesus is deliberately standing on Mt.Hermon, ground zero for hell, and giving Satan the middle finger, as it were.  He is telling Satan—come on!  Bring it on!  Go ahead!  Prove you are powerful enough to kill me!  (Ironic, as I say, since that’s what God wanted to happen to save His faithful people.  Satan did not know about God’s plan of redemption and resurrection).  Jesus knew how to pick a spot for throwing down the gauntlet.

Jesus picked another spot and did it again, on the Mt. of Olives. That’s the place where in the Old Testament, the Israelites worshipped the idol Molech, which included the ritual of child sacrifice.  It’s hard to believe, but Molech idol-worship started with Solomon in I Kings 11:7:

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem…

The mountain east of Jerusalem has been definitely identified as the Mt. of Olives.  As is too typical, what starts out as a favor Solomon does for his foreign wives to give incense to their gods turned out, particularly in the days of King Manasseh later, to devolve into something abhorrent, namely the murder of innocent children.  Manasseh sacrificed his own children to the god Molech, and encouraged his people to do the same (the crux of the sad story is contained in II Kings 21:9-14). As a result of this horrible slaying of the innocents, God promised to wipe Judah off the map like you would take a dish towel and wipe it clean. And He did. Judah was in fact conquered and put into captivity by the Babylonians because of their most grisly of idol-worship that ever was.  (How do you think God feels about our abortions?)

So Jesus picked the very same spot to pronounce judgment on Israel again. Why?  Because this time they would be killing another innocent--Him, the God-man. The worst of all possible crimes—trying to kill God.  The Jews were doing their usual thing, sacrificing innocent lambs on Passover, judging people when they would break a Scriptural law, and judging them again if they went against the pile of rules and traditions they added to Scripture (they had piles of rules on how far you could travel on Sabbath, and exceptions thereto).  They felt confident that they had righteously obeyed the Law (the Torah).  But they were still wicked in heart; they had killed many prophets in the past (who pronounced judgment on them), and now they were going to be in a blood-lust, screaming to Pilate to send Jesus to the Cross. So before Jesus gave His life, He announced, on the mountain that had seen so much innocent little children’s blood—and judgment--in the past, that within a generation, judgment will come again and blood will be shed.  The blood of the people will run again—because they were going to kill The Innocent Lamb of God.  In Matthew 24:34, on the Mt. of Olives, Jesus makes this important promise:

 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

If the hermeneutic rule is, take it literally if at all possible, here is the place to take it literally.  Despite our dogged belief that Matthew 24 is future, only the fact that He is prophesying to that present group of Jews can be certain:  A generation in that time was 40 years.  Let’s say Jesus was crucified and rose again somewhere in A.D. 30 or 33.  As it so happens, in 40 years or under, the Roman general Titus came in, in exactly 70 AD, and burned everything down, including the Temple, killed a million or more Jews—and fulfilled this prophecy. The Jews paid the price for their murder. 

So what I’m saying here is, Jesus knew how to pick His spot when it came to make an announcement. And His spot is based on history. Note how much we learned in this paper in the New Testament by studying the past, in the Old Testament.  We need to read more of the Bible, and the Old Testament in particular.  I’ve got a question for you:  Would you be able to tell the story of Jesus, using only the Old Testament? If you ever talk with a Jew, that might be the only way you would get his (or her) attention.

You know, you never stop learning enough from the Scripture.  There are always deeper treasures to find.  I don’t think we could ever, in this post-Christian age, get people to submit to Christ by “the Romans Road” anymore.  People are different these days; the majority don’t know anything about Scripture anymore.  You have to start where their weakness is; many of them can’t think of a good reason for living these days.  The whole Bible presents the entire love and judgment of God.  Good vs. Evil.  Since seminarians aren’t respecting the inspiration of Scripture enough, especially regarding the Old Testament, pastors are graduating from seminary not knowing the Gospel as it has to often be presented today—cover to cover, the spiritual battle of good vs. evil. How God has triumphed over evil in so many places, and how we must avoid evil to follow God.  And there is frequently a supernatural element attached in His plans—but that gets dismissed in this demythologizing day, so our future pastors only get part of the picture. Ask God for guidance when you read His Word. Respect its infallibly for every word said, and be hungry for righteousness.  How to get to heaven is seldom taught properly these days, I mean it.  His Word will lead you to the way to salvation and to happiness.     

Exact Month of Jesus' Birth Predicted by Stars and Scripture--and What Happened on Dec 25

People tend to scoff at this Biblical record of the star of Bethlehem, saying

“this star is doing things a star cannot do.” They’re  questioning Matthew 2:9:

When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

“How does a star “stand over,”or stop, people say. So they assume this story is a fable. Well, science has a surprising answer to that question. Of course,if we can "prove" it, they would ask “Why do you think you can introduce some new facts now, when we haven’t heard anything convincing in all of history?” Science has a reason for that too.

A little background: The author of the CD I'm summarizing is Professor Larson--a lawyer, not a reputed scientist. But he has been a lifelong fan of astronomy—movements of stars and planets and constellations. (Not the same as astrology, which is often abused as predictive, telling you how to run your life). Scripture praises astronomy: it insists the stars tell us things from God. But Scripture condemns astrology. Note Job 9:9:

He (God) made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south.

And note Psalm 19:1-2:

The heavens declare the glory of God…2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.

Thus, the stars communicate. God wants us to study the heavens to see what He might announce or tell us. Prof. Larson found Biblical proof that will surprise you (see also his website, bethlehemstar.net)  Now you’ll surely ask, “Why isn’t he supported by reputable scientists?” Well, why do most of our scientific minds believe in evolution instead of creationism? And what happens to scientists who believe in creationism?  The fact is: To the world, their basic “truths” are anti-God. Hey, If those who have the media, those in power, are rational, why did they kill Jesus?

Final background: Johannes Kepler in 1619 discovered the math behind the movements of the solar system. With hundreds of hours of effort, he could map how the sky appeared on any date, past or future, since all movements of everything in the sky are predictable. But the effort required was ponderous for math and science geniuses of his generation. Now we have the advent of computers; so these movements have been incorporated into software programs. How the sky will appear from any location on the planet for any given date can now be found in seconds—in fact, the computer can even animate their movements through a period of time. So we are only now able to answer the big question: “Which of them is the star of Bethlehem—if any?” There are, it is estimated, 100 billion galaxies, and 100 billion stars in each—how can you find the Bethlehem star in such a crowd?

Here is the relevant Bible passage, Matthew 2:1-9, from which we will draw necessary characteristics for the Bethlehem star:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” 9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

From these verses, the Star of Bethlehem has to fulfill 9 qualifications:
a. The star has to indicate birth (2:2)
b. It has to indicate Kingship ( 2:2)
c. Has to point to Jewish Scripture (2:1)
d. Rising in east (2:2)
e. Appears at an exact time
f. Herod didn’t know when it appeared ( 2:3)
g. Endured over a considerable period of time (2:2, 9)
h. Went ahead of magi as they traveled south to Bethlehem ( 2:9)
i. The star has to Stop! Over Bethlehem ( 2:9).  This is the strange one.

So here is what Larson concluded:  It couldn’t be a meteor, which doesn’t rise in the east, and it isn’t long-lasting. It couldn’t be a comet because comet omens are perceived as foretelling doom. But Jesus’ birth is good news. Also, there were no comets in 3-2 BC (those were the conception/ birthdate, see below). It couldn’t be a nova—a spectacular exploding star--Herod wouldn’t ask “when,” because his scientific advisors (also astronomers, though I suspect not as smart as the magi) would’ve told him—along with their “interpretation.” Also, there were no novas for 3-2BC,the estimated time of Jesus' birth.

Based on what we just excluded, and from (f) above, the “right star” wasn’t spectacular—but it must have been moderately bright. It so happens, a conjunction of planets, or planet/star, would fulfill that. Larson decided, why not look at Jupiter, the King Planet (as it is so-called—and, it is the largest in the planet system). If Jupiter is involved, it would help us meet requirement (b) above as well. As it so happens, Jupiter, the King planet, was conjoined to Regulus (the King Star, how “coincidental”) in September of 3 BC. Since a magus had likely seen this 2-3 times before (this conjunction happens every 12 years), that by itself is not a big enough deal to get the Magi excited enough to pack up their camels and travel to see what's happening. Nor is it a big enough deal for Herod to hear from his scientific advisors.  But later, as we shall see, that is the date of the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit into Mary.

A scientific note here: planets sometimes reverse (“retrograde”) motion (like passing a car slowly on the freeway, it seems to move backward, so when earth swings past a planet, that planet seems to move backward). It so happens, Jupiter is in retrograde in 3-2BC in a very peculiar path—it passes Regulus, then reverses course, passes again, then reverses course, passes a 3rd time! This would have been exciting by itself, but additionally, if you draw this movement, it forms a halo above Regulus. Thus we have a triple-proof coronation of a king! (King planet, king star, and halo). Item “b” above is definitely solved, and we have a base "star" for further study.

Now, what about Jewishness--(c) above? A little Scriptural background will get us toward the answer: Gen 49:9 says, in summary, (1) out of tribe of Judah would come a King of all kings. (2) Judah is compared to a lion. Well, why not look and see if anything is happening in the constellation Leo the Lion? (By the way, good astronomers in those days knew many faiths' Scriptures.)  

Now let's talk about Jesus' birth.  Is it also confirmed by the stars?  Begin with Revelation 12:1-5, a prophecy of Jesus' birth.  A “great sign appeared in heaven;” a woman “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,” who was pregnant and due to bear a child “to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” She is threatened by a dragon wanting to kill her child. This has long been interpreted to be about Jesus and the Virgin Mary—and opposed by a dragon--Satan working through Herod. Compare these verses with how the stars told us all about it:  It So Happens that as Jupiter begins to crown Regulus, an interesting event happens in the constellation Leo—and behind Leo is—guess what—the constellation Virgo (Virgin). Virgo is rising, clothed in the sun. The moon at the time (within September, 3 BC, see below) is new, so it was under her (Virgo’s) feet! Note the Scriptures above.  An amazing prophecy come true in many "coincidental" points! You must see the DVD to appreciate this amazing point!

As it turns out, the stars tie together the Conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit and the Birth. How do we know? Because 9 months after the event in the last paragraph, Jupiter is finished crowning Regulus; and has moved to conjoin with Venus, making the brightest conjunction in the world (planetariums love to show this conjunction). This was the only time in those magi’s lifetime for this conjunction. If the magi were thinking about all the activity just noted from September, this bright combo practically screamed out, “Mount Up!”

The bright planet conjunction happened in June, 2 BC.  Thus, Jesus was born in June, 2 BC.Yes, it "should" have been 0 BC/AD. Medieval dating experts were good, but not that good.

And the magi began planning a trip.

The next several months after June 2 BC are speculative, as opposed to the Keplerian rock-hard scientific facts above. Let’s assume the magi were, within a few months, starting their trip. We’re assuming the magi, from the East, were located at Babylon, a home base for the best astronomers of those days. After a couple more months, they would arrive at Jerusalem asking “where?” They tell Herod the details about September, 3 BC and June, 2 BC, then get sent south to Bethlehem—only 5 miles away, please note that.

It So Happens that in December of 2 BC (thus allowing 6 months from Christ’s birth to their arrival at Jerusalem), Jupiter is in the sky south of them from Jerusalem-- thus it continues leading them toward Bethlehem.

This means 8 of 9 requirements above are fulfilled:
a.The first conjunction signified birth by its association with Virgo “birthing” the new moon at her feet (in the tradition of the day, a woman typically gave birth downward).
b.The Planet of King’s halo-coronation of the Star of Kings signified kingship.
c.The triple conjunction began with the Jewish New Year and took place within Leo the Lion, showing a connection with the Jewish tribe of Judah (and prophecies of the Jewish Messiah).
d.Jupiter rises in the east.
e.The conjunctions appeared at precise, identifiable times.
f.Herod was unaware of these things; they were astronomical events which had significance only when explained by experts.
g.The planet/star events took place over a span of time sufficient for the Magi to see them both from the East and upon their arrival in Jerusalem.
h.Jupiter was ahead of the Magi as they traveled south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem

But Jupiter somehow stopped, since it stayed over Bethlehem for the time they traveled there. (This is what brings the scoffers out). There is a simple explanation for the scoffers.  As it so happens, when a planet (or star) goes to the end of an arc and begins to retrograde, it has to “stop” briefly. (Picture an elliptical arc, say the outline of the end of an egg, say the egg is standing up—as you draw the edge of the egg in your mind, from the left, the arc, or egg outline, is moving down. At the right, it moves upward. But for a brief period, at the bottom, it isn’t moving up or moving down—so it seems to stop). It So Happens that Jupiter was “at the bottom”—just before retrograde, it “stopped”—and that day was December 25, BC 2! That must’ve been the date of their arrival to the toddler Jesus, in the house. That’s a Significant date—not for the birth (by which we mistakenly celebrate it), but for the celebration of worship and presenting gifts to Our Lord.

Thank You, God, that your planets, stars, and constellations speak of Your great Immanuel! With perfect prediction. Jews knew the night sky well (they had no light pollution, no real air pollution, they slept on their roofs a lot—knew the constellations).