Vacinations

The Vaccination Dilemma

The first vaccination that I remember vividly was the polio vaccination.  If you were born before 1950, you experienced the fear of polio.  If you were a parent during the 1950's, you will remember the fear even more.  Most people who contacted the virus had only minor symptoms. One percent experienced paralysis or death; however, fear paralyzed the nation. The polio epidemic in the U.S. occurred in the 50's and the original vaccine was developed in the 50's.  As a result polio is virtually nonexistent today in the USA.  The last reported case in the U.S. traced back to the wild raw virus was in 1993.  However 154 cases have been reported in USA that were vaccine-associated caused by the live oral poliovirus vaccine.

SO, today we vaccinate against something that we cannot see, a virus; a disease that by 1965 only affected 61 people a year in the USA and that has not been reported in the last 20+ years. 

Vaccination is preventive medicine.  All of us participate in preventive medicine.  If you take cholesterol, you are practicing preventive medicine.  If you believe in eating healthy and exercising, you practice preventative medicine.  Most of the medications we take are preventative, trying to avoid something bad happening. 

If you fall in this group, you believe in preventive medicine, trying to head off health problems.  You want to be healthy.  I want to be healthy.  We all want to be healthy.  We all go to physicians so we can stay healthy and want to live as long as possible.  We all trust our physicians and believe that they want us to be healthy; yet, when it comes to be believing that God wants us to be healthy; many Christians are not so sure.  Many Christians believe that God may want them to be sick; while at the same time paying big bucks to stay healthy.  Some believe that God is trying to teach them something through sickness; or that in some way, their sickness brings glory to God.  Meanwhile, they are paying the medical establishment big bucks or costing their insurance carrier big bucks.

The only example of anything similar to this, is in the Old Testament under the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 15 and Deut. 7 and 28).  This was a conditional covenant that God made with the children of Israel.  There is no such covenant in play in the New Testament.

Am I the only one that sees a problem here?

I am not against vaccines or preventative medicine.  I just want to point out the irony that in contrast, the church today ignores "spiritual vaccination" and denying the role of satan in sickness.   When Jesus sent out the twelve and the seventy, he instructed them to “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils (Matt. 10 and Luke 10).   Was that just a problem in “Jesus’ day”?  Has satan’s role been eliminated?  Do we really believe that there is a satan?  Do we believe that satan is active in our well being and that God has given us authority over him and his actions?  Many Christians believe that only the 12 disciples had the authority to heal, ignoring the seventy.  We are told to make disciples of all nations and to do the work of Jesus; but, believe that we do not have the authority of the Twelve.  

But, Paul in his letter to the Ephesians says differently.  He prayed :

that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

He is the Head. We are His Body,  We are to do His work.  We are to do the same works that He did and greater. But we are told by our pastors and teachers that we don't have His authority, that we have the same Holy Spirit but don't have the power.  That to do so is presumptive of us. Where do they get this?  Scripture not only says we have the same power, we are told we have the responsibility.

Are we more enlightened and know what causes most diseases?  We can handle most of them by just going to the doctor.  I don’t see the church using this authority or using the “armor of God” to stand against him.  I do, however, see the church trying to fight against the “wiles of the devil”, i.e. sickness, using the armor of the flesh.

Christians profess to believe that there is one God; but demons also believe the same and tremble, James 2:19.  I ask do we believe more or differently that the demons.  If we really believe in God and His power, why don’t we use it?

You will hear many Christians request pray for healing after they have exhausted all that modern medicine has to offer.  Many Christians pray for doctors to find the cure for their illness.  Many Christians pray for healing with the escape clause, “Lord, if it be your will”, thinking that they are praying Biblically, yet Jesus never prayed for healing in this manner.  The typical answer is that Jesus knew when it was God’s will to heal and when not; so he did not waste his prayers in those cases.  Jesus prayed in this manner only once, in the garden before His death.  Did he not also Jesus know that it was His Father’s will for Him to die?

Jesus said He was doing His Father’s work.

I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works

Jesus came “that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8c).  That is what Jesus came to do and that is what He did when he healed the sick.  We are now His Body, assigned with the responsibility of carrying on His work.  That is why Jesus said, “I tell you that he who trusts in me—the things which I do he shall do also; and greater things than these he shall do, because I am going to the Father.”

The church today does not practice preventive medicine in the spiritual realm.  It does not practice praying for health because it does not believe in it; yet will buy health insurance and spends billions of dollars on preventive medicine while believing that God sends sickness or wants them sick.  Our churches are filled with people in various stages of dying, knowing that death comes to all, that life after death is better than here; yet still spends billions of dollars trying to avoid the inevitable.  At the same time refusing to pray, believing, that God wants them to be healthy; praying only when the doctors say that they can not do anything more.  Refuse to “anoint with oil” or “lay on hands”, in spite of the fact that we are instructed to do so and that it was done is the New Testament church.

YET, we say we believe the whole Bible.

YOU ONLY BELIEVE AS MUCH OF THE BIBLE AS YOU PRACTICE!!!!

“It makes me boil when I think of the power we profess and the utter impotency of our action. Believers who know one-tenth as much as we do are doing one-hundred times more for God, with His blessing and our criticism. Oh if I could write it, preach it, say it, paint it, anything at all, if only God's power would become known among us.”

― Jim Elliot, killed in 1956, while evangelizing to the Auca Indians in Ecuador

ESCAPE FROM CHURCH, INC

Escape From Church, INC, is the title of a book published in 2001, written by Glenn Wagner.  It is a “call for pastors to return to their biblical calling as shepherds.” It calls “pastor-leaders away from the business CEO executive model and back to the model of a caring shepherd who tends his sheep.”  The premise is that we have CEO's rather than pastors.   I read the book when it was first published and it struck a cord with me then and even more so today as I see what is happening to the church in the USA.

Statistics regarding the church in the USA tell us that:

-1400 pastors leave the ministry monthly

-only 15% of churches in the US are growing

-3500-4000 churches close each year

-only 21% of Americans attend church weekly

-2,765,000 people leave the church each year

Why is this happening?  Why are churches struggling to pay their bills?  Why is it that many churches spend hours teaching “tithing” when it is never mentioned in the New Testament church except in the epistle to the Hebrews, the Jewish Christians?  Jesus mentioned it twice, both in rebuking the Pharisees, that they paid the tithe but omitted the more important matters. Both times he was talking to Jewish brethren, under the old covenant.  Paul had many opportunities to teach tithing to the Gentiles but never did.  Tithing, as a law, was part of the law. It was always given to the priests.  It was separate from offerings that were part of the sacrifices.  It was used for the support of the tribe of Levi, who were the tribe of Israel in charge of the tabernacle and the offering of sacrifices, thousands of animals.  It predated the giving of the law, as a principle; but not as a law.  Abram gave a tithe to Melchizedek, king and priest of Salem, from the spoils of war, voluntarily.   It is this incident that Hebrews mentions, but immediately states that the old priesthood was inadequate and that there was a new and better priesthood, Jesus Christ.  Giving and sharing was definitely part of the New Testament church in Acts 4 and in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, the Philippians and to Philemon, but Paul says “not of necessity”.  It is always mentioned in context of meeting the needs of fellow Christians

Why is that many churches and pastors feel the need to stress tithing when it is clearly not supported in the New Testament church?  (I don’t expect the pastors reading this will agree; but, so be it.)  The church in the New Testament is never associated with a building; but, a group of people.  Today, the church is associated with a building, meeting place, or organization, coincidentally having a tax exempt status.  When someone considers starting a church, one of the first things done is to file the paperwork to become a tax-exempt entity. Am I the only one who sees a problem here?  There is nothing wrong with tax-exempt status; but, why does that often play a major role in where we give?  Some pastors teach that the "tithe belongs to the local church".  What verse does that come from?

Many churches are so deep in debt that meeting their budget hangs in the air constantly.  Meeting the needs of the body is secondary to paying the bills.  Equipping the saints, preaching the Gospel of Christ and winning souls is superseded by adding numbers.  Dollars spent meeting the needs of the body is small compared to keeping the lights on, A/C or heat running or just keeping the bank satisfied.  While encouraging individuals to avoid getting buried in debt, the “church” is buried under debt. Many decisions in today’s churches are made to ensure their non-profit status rather than on the Word, limiting our ministry.  Pastors are afraid to make political statements or endorse candidates for this same reason

Little time is spent praying for the needs of the Body.  There are many things that we fail to do which were clearly taught by Jesus and practiced in the New Testament church, i.e., laying on of hands, anointing with oil, speaking in tongues, and casting out demons, to mention just a few.  There is not time for it or it is not believed in anymore.  That was "for Bible times" or "for the apostles".  IF that is so, why did the seventy do it in Luke 10 and the deacon Stephen, Acts 6 ?

 When is the last time you heard of a hospital ministry, a prison ministry, a widows’ ministry, a ministry to the people who have lost jobs, or a ministry to those who are terminally ill?

Why are people leaving the church or “church hopping”?  Could it be that the “business" of the “church” has made the “church”  irrelevant ?  Could it be a lack of being fed?  Could it be the legalism?  Could it be the constant cry to build bigger buildings, better sound systems, update the building?  How much of the WORD is taught in the typical 20-30 minute Sunday sermon.  Last Sunday we were out of town and visited a very large church.  Only one verse, Rev. 2:19, was read and it was taken out of context to support increased giving and volunteerism, ignoring the greater works that Jesus talked about in John 14.  Most of the “sermon” dealt with getting on board with the new remodel project.  The “pastor” went so far as comparing those who did not get on board to Judas Iscariot.  Now that’s a guilt trip!

I just read on the news that a “pastor” from Atlanta was suspending his campaign to raise 65 million dollars for a new private jet because of media coverage.   In yesterday’s paper, there was a letter to the editor entitled “Tithing not good enough” decrying the “guilt” trip so prevalent in today’s churches.

We volunteer at our church’s food pantry, where I serve as an interviewer.  The vast majority of the people coming in know Jesus as their Savior; but, the vast majority of these, no longer attend church.  WHY?

We have very few pastor-shepherds, today.  If you look in both the New and Old Testaments, the word for shepherd and pastor, is the same in both the Hebrew and the Greek. The Greek word for shepherd in John 10:11 is translated pastors in Ephesians 4: 11.  In the Old Testament the Lord our Shepherd in Psalm 23 is Jehovah Raah.  This the same word translated in Jeremiah as Pastors when Jeremiah prophecies the doom of the shepherds of God’s people Israel.  Pastors are to be shepherds that tend to flock.

Jesus said He was the Good Shepherd, not the good fisherman; even though he said His disciple would be fishers of men.  Jesus did not say He was the Good High Priest; but He was THE Great High Priest who became the sacrifice for sin, sacrificing Himself on the cross and is now interceding for us.  He did not say He was the good or great King; but He is the KING OF KINGS.  He did not say that He was the good or great prophet speaking the Word of God, revealing God to us; but he is the THE WORD, made flesh, showing us the Father.

When the shepherd neglects the sheep, the sheep wander.  When they are not feed, they go looking for food.  Read Psalm 23 if you want to see what the Good Shepherd does?  Is this the norm in today’s churches or is this the exception?  How much meat of the Word are you being fed, or are you getting finger food and warm milk?  In the middle of the night, when you need someone to pray with, who do you call?  When a loved dies, does the pastor know your name?  If you are sick, who will lay hands on you, anoint you with oil and pray with you?

Half of Jesus Parables were based in agronomy.  The parables of the sower, the prodigal son, the vineyard are just a few examples. Jesus said He is the Vine and we are the branches.  Jesus said the fields were white ready for harvest.  The only way that the seed can grow to bear fruit, it must be watered and feed.  The branches depend on the vine for nourishment.  The sheep need the shepherd.  The farmer can not make the seed do anything. The shepherd can not force the sheep to grow. The vine dresser can not force the branch to grow.  Growth occurs naturally when the sheep are fed.  The branches produce fruit when they are cared for.

 

Today’s churches are seeker friendly, purpose driven, revival oriented, cell based led by CEO’s with pastry shops and pretentious cafes where one can sip lattes and cappuccinos while watching a 20-30 minute sermon on a large screen TV.  The WORD is relegated to a few verses and the majority of the time is filled with man’s fables falling on itchy ears.  Today’s gospel does not resemble the gospel of Christ.  Prayer is AT MAXIMUM 60 seconds.  The sick, the needy, the widows and orphans are not attended to in most churches today.  The poor are fed by the government programs and the sick are on Medicaid.

There are 3 epistles that are considered “pastoral epistles”, 1 - 2 Timothy and Titus.  Timothy was the pastor at the church at Ephesus. Titus was the pastor of the church on the island of Crete.  In these epistles, Paul instructs these pastors emphasizing sound doctrine and continuing in “the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them”.  He warned them that the time would come when men would not “endure sound doctrine”; have itchy ears.  When Jesus and the apostles preached, they preached the Word, including the prophets; and let the chips fall.  If they did not receive it, the disciples were told to shake the dust from their feet.  They did not beg or change the message.

Paul, in Ephesians, tells us that God appointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers “for the equipping the saints for the work of the body, the church, so we should no longer be children.

Is it any wonder that the church in America is in trouble!  Does the ministry of today’s church ressemble the New Testament church in any way?  I don’t think so!  Each year there is a new program, a new slogan, a new ministry, a new journey, a new venue, or a new church mission statement.  How about doing what the apostles did?

SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED TO YOU.  Matt. 6: 33

TEST Who Loves You More

Your Dog or Your Spouse?

Warning, do not perform this test when the weather is cold. 

There is a simple test to determine this.

-Walk with your spouse and your dog to your car. 

-Open the trunk.

-Insert dog and spouse into trunk.

-Close trunk.

-Come back one hour later.

-Open trunk.

 Who will jump into your arms and kiss your face?

The reason for the warning is that the cold will be uncomfortable for your spouse and dog; but, even more, are you ready to spend the rest of your short remaining life out in the cold?

The above test is an invalid test because the relationship between you and your spouse versus you and your dog, are totally different relationships.  The basis for the relationship is different.  The expected outcomes are different. 

Now that I have your attention, I want to talk about the relationship of your heavenly Father for His people and the everlasting love of with His people. In the Old Testament, the Jewish people were His people.  In the New Testament and today, all who have received His Son, as their Savior are His People. 

In the Old Testament, God’s relationship was based on an agreement, a covenant, made with Moses and the children of Israel.  This was a conditional covenant requiring their keeping of God’s law in return for physical blessing.

So keep the orders and the laws and the decisions, which I give you today and do them.  And it will be, that if you give attention to these decisions and keep and do them, then the Lord will keep his agreement with you and his mercy, as he said in his oath to your fathers.   And he will give you his love, blessing you and increasing you: he will send his blessing on the offspring of your body and the fruit of your land, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which by his oath to your fathers he undertook to give you.  You will have greater blessings than any other people: no male or female among you or among your cattle will be without offspring.  And the Lord will take away from you all disease, and will not put on you any of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you have seen, but will put them on your haters.  And you are to send destruction on all the peoples which the Lord your God gives into your hands; have no pity on them, and do not give worship to their gods; for that will be a cause of sin to you.  If you say in your hearts, these nations are greater in number than we are: how are we to take their land from them?  Have no fear of them, but keep well in mind what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt;  the great punishments which your eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders and the strong hand and the stretched-out arm, by which the Lord your God took you out: so will the Lord your God do to all the peoples who are the cause of your fears.  Deut. 7: 11-

19

Today, our relationship with our Heavenly Father is based on His Covenant of Grace, a new and better covenant.  We can participate in the blessings promised in the Old Covenant:

Christ has made us free from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: because it is said in the Writings, A curse on everyone who is put to death by hanging on a tree:

 So that on the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; in order that we through faith might have the Spirit which God had undertaken to give

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and yours is the heritage by the right of God's undertaking given to Abraham.  Gal. 3: 13,14 and 29

PLUS

We have the promises of the New Covenant:

-God forgives all our sins - Matt. 26:28

-God remembers our sins no more - Hebrews 8:12

-God promises never to be angry with us - Is. 54:7-10

-God qualifies us – Col. 1:12

- Jesus takes hold of us and never lets go –Rom. 8:39

-God credits us with the perfect righteousness of Jesus –

 2 Cor 5:21

-God gives us His Holy Spirit to teach us – Jn. 15:2

 to empower us – Act 1:8

to remind us of our imputed righteousness –Jn 16:10

-We are His royal priests – 1 Peter 2:9

-God is for us - Rom. 8:31

-God justifies us -Rom. 8:1

-Jesus defends us – 1 John 2:1

-God’s grace enables us to overcome sin – Tit. 2:12

-God supplies all our needs – Phil. 4:9

-God is with us – Ez 37:27

-We can approach God with confidence and freedom –

Eph 3:12

-God empowers us to overcome the enemy – 1 John 5:4

-We have God’s delegated authority over demons and diseases – Mk 16:17

-We have His divine protection – Lk 10:19

-We are destined to “reign in life” –Rom. 5:17

-God gives us rest – Heb. 4:10-11

-We are seated in heavenly places – Eph. 2:6

-God gives us eternal life –Rom. 6:23

Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,  and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil [one].  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Which Side Is Up?

Sometimes things get hectic.  Maybe it would be more accurate to say that hectic is the norm with a few moments of calm interspersed in the hectic.  We look at the world around us and think, “Can it get any worse?”  The world we grew up in gone.  Everything is upside down.

Gay marriage is not only acceptable but promoted and encouraged in our schools.  Prior to and through most of the 20^th century, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder.  It was not until 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association declassified it as a mental disorder.  Male homosexualty is still illegal in 78 countries across the world.  Most of the these countries are Muslim.  BUT it is legal in every country in Europe and North America.  The so called Christian countries encourage homosexuality and Muslim countries outlaw it.

Our Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.

But today It is illegal to teach creation in the public schools of this country.  Evolution is taught as scientific fact rather than just a theory.  If you repeat something long enough, people will accept is as truth. 

SO, what is the answer my friends?

Will the next election turn things around?  Will things get better?  Nope! It’s going to get worse.  Read the back of The Book. 

Although this may be disconcerting to us, none of this catches God off guard!  We may not have seen these things coming, He did!  We may not have been prepared, but He was!  We may be frustrated, but He is not!  We may be discouraged, but He is not!  We may be worried, but He is not!

The apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit discribes the continuity and repetitiveness man’s depraved downward spiral in Romans 1:

¹⁹But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is!  By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. ²¹What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. ²²They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. ²³They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

²⁴So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. ²⁵And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

 (Evolution =”worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator”, KJV)

²⁶Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either—women didn’t know how to be women, men didn’t know how to be men.

²⁷Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches. ²⁸Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose.

²⁹And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, ³⁰fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. ³¹Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. ³²And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!  THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language

Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, prophesized 800 years before, speaking to God’s chosen people the same message:

Doom to you who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness in place of light and light in place of darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Doom to you who think you’re so smart, who hold such a high opinion of yourselves!  Is 5:20-21

Abraham goes back almost 4000 years to conflict between Isaac and Ishmael. Ironically the first mention homosexuality also goes back to the days of Abraham when his nephew Lot settled in Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah.   However, the answer to all these problems was promised about 2000 years earlier right after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. (Gen. 3: 15).  Interesting also, but not when you see things from God’s perspective,  Adam and Eve looked to the created things (the created fruit and the created angel who fell) , lusting after the created things rather than the creator.  BUT none of this caught God by surprise.  He had provided the solution before they even sinned.  (Revelation 13:8b –the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world)

The answer was, is, and always will be JESUS CHRIST, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  He is the UPSIDE of all of yesterdays’, today’s, and tomorrows’ problems, and any problems that ever will be.