365 Reflections

Leviticus 18:1–5 (ESV) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord . The Lord is about to list the sexual laws for Israel in Leviticus 18. How the chapter opens and closes is important. God makes it clear that these rules lead to their life. Breaking these rules will lead to expulsion from the land and God even stipulates that sexual immorality is what defiled both the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, where Israel is going to take possession.  Throughout these laws there is a close tie in to the "land". ...

We haven't had a good relationship. Christians and Government have been growing into mortal enemies of each other lately. Recent Supreme Court decisions and the growing ebb of secularization in our country has led to one of two responses from faithful Christians that we must learn to avoid: The first is hostility . That Christians grow more antagonistic and angry toward their government as they will feel ostracized and demonized by the culture at large. Let's face it, Christianity or Christians have been portrayed as villains of progress in recent decades of American life. So came the moral majority and political action on the part of some... which left even deeper wounds on those far from God or bad memories for those who love Him and seek to love all He has made. The second is withdrawal . To hunker down in our fox holes and holy huddles through non-interaction of all kinds. This too has failed as Christians are called to be lights and salt and do good in front of pagans ...

Genesis 18:23–26 (ESV) Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Do sinners make you angry? Join the club. Sin makes God angry. And sometimes, God wipes out sinners in anger in the scriptures. In fact, apart from repentance of sin and turning to Christ, God in justice will judge righteously every sinner on Earth. Some Christians get excited about that. They frighten me. Because the normal response of God's judgment from God's best men was to weep and ple...

Revelation 17 presents the secular government and false religion mixed together in the end times to form a dysfunctional yet powerful union. John sees the prostitute of Babylon (false religion) seated on a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns (political power). This combination of religion and world domination in the end will lay a heavy burden on those who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Martyrdom will result and a final battle will ensue in which Jesus Christ will conquer. But John notes an interesting detail of this relationship between false religion and secular government. It seems their happy union will end destructively after all: Revelation 17:16–17 (ESV)   And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, 17 for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the w...