He's Alive!

Happy Resurrection Day!  Jesus' Resurrection changed everything.  Because He lives, death has been conquered, those who trust in Him will have eternal life, and everything He taught and did has been validated.  I hope you enjoy this classic from Don Francisco.

He is risen indeed!

Jesus is Risen!

We woke up to a blanket of fresh, spring snow! The world is white, fresh, and clean. Easter in Colorado never fails to disappoint!

Today we celebrate that Jesus, the long-awaited Jewish Messiah rose from the dead on a Sunday morning almost 2,000 years ago. The Resurrection changed everything! Eleven disappointed, doubting, scared, heart-broken disciples, greeted by Mary's unbelievable news, were transformed in a short time into fearless, unwavering, bold apostles, sent into the world with the Good News that sinful men can be redeemed and transformed. Jesus' Resurrection validated all that He ever taught and did. It was the final proof that He was the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul, another eyewitness to the Risen Messiah, wrote that if Jesus had not risen, Christians would be the most pitiful people on earth, lying about God, without hope, lost and foolish. (Funny how many think that way anyway!) Christianity would have died before it was born. The disciples would have gone back to fishing, farming and tax collecting, and all would have been forgotten. Instead, 10 of the 11 died martyrs' deaths and the 11th, John was imprisoned for his faith. All died courageously testifying that they had seen Jesus alive after He was crucified.

Flavius Josephus, the Jewish General who tried unsuccessfully to defend Jerusalem from the Romans in AD 70, became a historian and wrote about Jesus and the early Christians. Tacitus, a first century Roman historian also wrote about the beliefs of the early Christians. Neither one was a Christian, and both were critical of the early Christians, but they both verify Jesus' existence and the belief of early Christians that He was the Jewish Messiah, that he performed miracles and that he rose from the dead.*

The Resurrection changes everything. Because of it, Christians know that Jesus is God, that everything He taught is true, that there is salvation in no other name, that Christians who have died will rise again, and that we do not have to fear death, because Jesus conquered both sin and death, and will give eternal life to any who trust in Him for salvation. Let the critics try and say He never existed. Let atheists and agnostics question the reliability of the Scriptures. Let a sinful world reject the Gospel because accepting it would take away the pleasure (and pain) of their sin. I know that my Redeemer lives! It's like a bright, white, fresh, snowy morning in the mountains. Freedom is a wonderful thing. The Resurrection changes everything!

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* While I have little doubt that the Testimonium Flavianum was altered by later Christian editors, the core message from Josephus, believable as a Jew writing on the subject, was that the earliest believers held as fact that Jesus was the Messiah, did miracles, was crucified on a Roman cross and rose from the dead on the third day.

Why I D/Won't Own Apple Products

The Apple Store has again refused an app promoting the Manhattan Declaration, a statement of Christian faith, because it is allegedly 'likely to expose a group to harm.' The supposed harm comes from the "anti-gay, anti-choice" language in the declaration, defending the Biblical positions that homosexuality and abortion are sin. According to the Apple Store, my Christian faith is harmful to others. The folks at the Manhattan Declaration summed it up, saying, "it is difficult to see how this is anything other than a statement of animus by a major American corporation against the beliefs of millions of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox citizens."

So, even though I am looking forward to one day owning a handy little pad/tablet device, there is yet another reason not to purchase an iPad or any other Apple product. Heck, I don't even have iTunes or QuickTime on my computers.

There are some levels of politically correct insanity I can deal with (and have to if I want to buy almost anything these days), but when a company decides that a basic statement of Christian beliefs is "likely to expose a group to harm," I have no use for that company or its products.

Happy New Year!

It's CHRISTmas!

The second best holiday of the year has arrived! In the next days, we celebrate the Incarnation, that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His Glory, the Glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The eternal Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, uncreated deity, fully God, stepped into time, taking on a human nature in addition to His divine nature. The almighty Son became a helpless baby, needing His mother to care for His every need and requiring protection from His step-father. For the first time, He was cold, felt pain, and identified with our weakness. He did not cease to be God, but instead "emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant" (Philippians 2:7), choosing not to exercise His abilities of God, but to live as one of us, depending on the Father and Spirit for strength and wisdom.

The Incarnation is a magnificent demonstration of the love, power, and wisdom of God. It was the necessary prerequisite for our salvation at the cross. It enabled Him to fulfill the promise to David that one of his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel forever and to be the Servant promised in Isaiah. It prepared the Lord Jesus Christ to be our High Priest, ever interceding for us to the Father and bridging the gap between us and Him.

In the midst of the gifts, the time with family and the wonderful food, take time to reflect on the Miracle of CHRISTmas, the Incarnation. Share it with your children and rejoice with the world that God has come near, Immanuel, God With Us.

Gospel Illusions #4 - Invisible Sponge Ball

Do you have to see to believe? Here I use an invisible sponge ball to show that you don't have to see something to believe it's there!

If you enjoyed this illusion, please share it with some friends!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Wehadababyitsaboy!

It is no secret that the Atlantic Monthly is no friend to Christians. In the December issue, Hanna Rosin opines in "Did Christianity Cause the Crash?" that prosperity-"gospel" Christians were one of the causes of our current economic crisis. She gives a number of anecdotal stories as evidence, and even points to the coincidence that the prosperity-"gospel" is popular among African-Americans and Latinos, and those groups were hit especially hard by the mortgage crisis.

Never mind the fact that Democrat supported legislation forced banks to give loans to low-income families who otherwise would be a horrible credit risk. Never mind that predatory lenders were allowed to create exotic loan programs (like interest-only for n years) that allowed ignorant and greedy consumers to purchase more house than they could really afford. Never mind that greedy investors tried to take advantage of those loans to try to buy and flip houses they couldn't really afford, and then got caught with their pants down when the over-inflated market started to collapse.

But then again, I suppose some of those people were probably prosperity-gospel types, so Christ really is to blame for our greed, corruption and over-regulation...

On the other hand, I have to agree with Ms. Rosin's assessment that there is something horribly wrong with the prosperity-"gospel." From the outside looking in, she sees wealthy con-man televangelists encouraging people to engage in a self-help style risk taking based on "faith" which is in reality little more than gambling. She correctly points out that quacks like Joel Osteen sound just like New Age thought:

The advice is exactly like the message of The Secret, or any number of American self-help blockbusters that edge toward magical thinking, except that the religious context adds another dimension.

The prosperity-"gospel" is American Christianity's syncretism. Just like Mexican Catholicism has been merged with Aztec and Mayan pagan religious thought, branches of Evangelical Christianity have been mixed (to varying degrees) with the dark side of Capitalism, namely greed and materialism. It incorporates New Age thinking, that we have God's creative power and can create new realities with our words. To put it bluntly, it is heresy. While salvation comes from Christ, for the prosperity preacher, salvation is more about filling your wallet and living in a nice house than about forgiveness of sins, a new life in Christ, and storing up treasures in heaven. Our treasures on earth are subject to moth and rust, shifting markets and government interference. It's all going to burn one day, and only what's stored in heaven will last!

At the end of her article, Ms. Rosin points people to "the kind of hope that President Obama talks about, and that Clinton did before him—steady, uplifting, assured." She has merely replaced one false gospel for another. Obama's hope is for a godless socialism where the wealthy are taxed to death and the money given to the poor so they will continue to vote for the Democrats.

Real hope is found in Jesus Christ, the real Jesus found in the Bible, not the Rolex-wearing Jesus of the prosperity preachers and not the Marxist Jesus of the social-"gospel" types. Following Christ means trusting Him when the world around us is going crazy, loving the poor by giving them a hand-up, standing for truth and righteousness, and waiting for the day when we take the treasures we have stored up in heaven and laying them at His feet in worship, acknowledging that He is the source of all we have and all we will be.

Gospel Illusions #2: Transformation

God radically changes someone when they become a Christian. Here are two classic illusions, Scotch and Soda and Penny to Dime, both used to demonstrate the transformation described in 1 Cor 5:17. This is a nice followup to the Color Changing Discs. Kids want to be involved with the illusions, so close-up illusions work well. Listen to my son at the end of the video: they always want to try it themselves! I teach kids the pinch drop coin vanish when they want to learn a trick.

Gospel Illusions: Color Changing Chips

As I explained in a post last year, I have been doing Gospel Illusions for the kids in AWANA every week. I've been thinking about posting a few on YouTube and seeing if there is any interest. Here is my first video, sharing the Gospel with Royal Magic's Color Changing Brass Chips:



Please provide some feedback so I can improve these. I'll post new videos here as they become available.

Give back the Helmet

We picked up a game for the kids at a garage sale. It's a Christian themed game called "Armor of God." Overall, it's a pretty good game. You go around the board trying to collect the 6 pieces of spiritual armor described in Ephesians 6. There are "battle" cards that either give or take away pieces of armor depending on the situation. For example, "you got in trouble at school, but then confessed to your parents. You get the Breastplate of Righteousness." or, "you didn't read your Bible, give back the Sword of the Spirit." It's a kid's game, on the kids' level, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

However, my daughter drew a card and got stuck trying to read a big word, so I took it to read it for her. It read:

You are embarrassed to
let your friends know
that you go to church
on Sundays.

Give back the
Helmet of Salvation.

I just smiled, gave the card to my wife and said, "let's pick another card." My daughter ended up with the sandals or something like that, and we kept playing. I kept the card when we cleaned up and put the game away.

So what's wrong? Can you really lose your salvation by being afraid to tell your friends you go to church? The card is based on a faulty interpretation of Matthew 10:32-33:

32 "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."

At first glance, some would jump to the conclusion that for Jesus to deny someone before the Father means that they will lose their salvation, but the passage is saying something quite different. The real question is, what does it mean to have Jesus confess or deny us before the Father?

2 Timothy 2:11-13 says:

11 It is a trustworthy statement:
For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

Here enduring is contrasted with denying. If we endure, we receive the reward of reigning with Him. If we deny Him, He denies us - denying us the reward of reigning with Him. This is just what Luke 9:26 says: "For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." It's not about losing salvation, it's about being ashamed before the Father on the day of judgment. Look back at 2 Timothy 2:13. If we are faithless, if we blow it, if we are ashamed and afraid to tell people about Him, He remains faithful to us because of His character. He gives us grace when we blow it because He is gracious, loving and forgiving.

My favorite passage about our security in Christ is Ephesians 1:13-14, which says,

"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory."

We are saved by grace through faith, and the moment we believe we receive the Holy Spirit, who seals us and is the pledge - the down payment - on our salvation. God does not break His promises, and His purpose in this promise is His own glory. You can't give back the Helmet of Salvation any more than you could turn a butterfly back into a caterpillar. At the moment of faith, a fundamental change happens inside you, and "you are a new creature; old things have passed away. Behold! New things have come!" (2 Cor 5:17)

I don't think that card will make it back to the game.

Note: Here is a slightly longer article on the topic of eternal security.

Real Hope and Real Change

Today we celebrated the life of one of my wife's Cubbies, a little girl of 5 who died last Saturday of an asthma attack. She was a beautiful, spirited little girl, always eager to help and a strong little leader. She struggled with over 30 food allergies, but was always a bright spot in everyone's day.

During the funeral there was a lot of discussion of how happy she is now in Heaven. (She trusted Christ for salvation recently and then followed Him in Baptism only three weeks ago, on the same night my daughter was baptized.) It got me thinking about the Hope we have in Christ- and not just the hope of Heaven, because there is more!

You see, Heaven is a wonderful place, where God wipes every tear from our eyes and where we are finally free from sin, pain and sickness. We get to worship our Creator alongside the angels, and get to see our loved ones who have gone before us. We find incredible bliss and joy in the presence of the Trinity, and can finally know Jesus even as He knows us (1 Cor 13:12)! In Scripture God gives us these tantalizing glimpses of heaven, but then reveals that there is much, much more!

As wonderful as Heaven is, it is only temporary. Contrary to popular, unbiblical Christian mythology, believers will not spend eternity in Heaven, sitting on a cloud strumming a harp. (And we do not become angels, either!) God created us as both physical and spiritual beings,* and to be disembodied, floating around in Heaven, as wonderful as it is, is not how God created us or intended us to be! It's not natural! My friends, we were made for Resurrection!

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul lays out an argument for the Resurrection of Christ and then begins to give us glimpses of our future. He says (v. 20) that Christ is the "first fruits" of the Resurrection, and that our glorified resurrection bodies will be infinitely different from our current bodies. With the imagery of a grain of wheat falling to the earth, dying, then coming back as a beautiful plant, he describes how our bodies will change to become imperishable, immortal, glorious, powerful and spiritual. When does this happen?** When Christ returns:

Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen,

“Death has been swallowed up in victory."
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?" (1 Cor 15:51-55)

Now that my friends is Real Hope and Real Change! We will spend eternity in an amazing New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21-22)! We will have immortal Resurrection bodies like Christ's. Most importantly, we will see Him face to face and know Him and His love perfectly! That dear little girl is rejoicing with Christ in Heaven right now, but she has so much more to look forward to. And so do we!

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* For the budding theologians out there: I hold a dichotomous/bipartite view of anthropology. We are ontologically one person with one nature having both physical and spiritual aspects. For my trichotomous friends, a word study of soul and spirit will show that the two terms are used interchangeably for the non-material aspect of man and are not distinct. (While you're at it, compare those terms with heart, conscience, mind, and will). Hebrews 4:12, 1 Thes. 5:23 and 1 Cor 2:14ff. need to be understood in light of the rest of Scripture. In perspective, however, the dichotomous / trichotomous discussion is an interesting in-house debate, but definitely not anything worth dividing over!

** 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 makes it almost sound like we receive our Resurrection bodies when we get to heaven, but 1) we need to understand it in light of all of Scripture, including the explicit timing provided in 1 Cor 15:52, 1 Thes 4:16; Rev 20:5, etc and 2) that the main idea in this passage is that we are struggling and have to live our lives in a way that pleases God, in light of the hope He gives us of a better future with Him!. Now another interesting topic is "How many Resurrections are there?"

Quickly, Go Tell!

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you."

And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.

Matthew 28:1-8 (NASB)



The greatest truth of Christianity is the literal, bodily Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel, as defined in 1 Corinthians 15, is that Jesus died on the cross according to the Scriptures, that He was buried and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. Death and sin have been defeated. We can have new life in Christ and live and reign forever with Him because of the Resurrection. That's Good News worth telling!

Happy Easter!

Gospel Illusions

As I mentioned in my previous post, one of my favorite places to do illusions is at church for the kids in our AWANA program. Over this last year, I've used a number of tricks to illustrate a number of Biblical principles. I thought that a blog post would be a good way to capture those and possibly encourage someone else to use some of these old standards in their church. These are some of my favorites:

Cups and Balls - The balls penetrating the stacked cups is used to represent Scripture memorization. As we memorize verses, they eventually move from our head into our hearts where they change us (Rom 12:2). Balls jumping from cup to cup show how, once verses are memorized, God can bring them to mind when they're most needed. The final loads show us that God can take the little verses that we memorize and use them to do amazing things.

Scotch and Soda - The copper coin represents our sinful selves before we knew Christ. Jesus, represented by the silver coin is holy. When we trust Him for salvation, He covers us and changes us. The quarter that replaces the copper coin shows that we are now forgiven and declared righteous. That the quarter is smaller than the copper coin (it appears to have shrunk) shows that we should be humble and not be as prideful as we were before we came to Christ. Ephesians 2:8-10.

Chinese Linking Rings - I use the rings linking together to show how my grandmother told me the Gospel, then I tell the kids, and then they are supposed to tell others, making a chain of faith. "The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" 2 Tim 2:2.

Color Changing Brass Chips - This little gem from Royal Magic is a great buy. After doing the black and white jumping from hand to hand bit, I step right into a Wordless Book presentation. Black represents our sinful nature. White represents God's holiness. Jesus came down as God incarnate and (with the black covering the white, the white turns red) died on the Cross for our sins. When we trust Christ, (with the red covering the black, the black turns green) His blood covers our sins and we receive eternal life. Turning the green over reveals yellow/gold, demonstrating that we will spend eternity in heaven with the King. Turning over the red shows blue, representing the Holy Spirit who, like water, helps to keep us clean from sin. (Rom 6:23).

Double Card Turnover - In this trick, a child takes one half of the deck and then does what you do. You each select a card, look at it, hand it to the other person, and they put it in their half of the deck. The illusionist puts both halves of the deck together, and fans them out on the table. To everyone's surprise, the two cards are face up. I always make sure that my card is the King of Hearts, so I can tell the child that as a Christian they'll often have to against the flow, but as long as they follow the King of Hearts, they will be doing the right thing.

Okito Coin Box - The coins seem to escape a little brass box and pass through the box and my hand into theirs. In the same way, God has provided a way for us to escape and be free from sin, "knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin" Romans 6:6-7.

Coin Matrix - Four cards, four quarters. One card is placed over each coin, and then as the cards are lifted, the coins gather, one at a time, under one card. This is a neat parable about fellowship. Christians want to come together and spend time with each other. Hebrews 10:24-25.

There are others. I've had some flops and busts, too. Last week we had Western Day, and I brought my possibles bag as part of my cowboy getup. I started telling them about how the possibles bag held everything a cowboy needed for shooting, starting a fire, etc. My intention was to ask them what things a Christian should have in his or her possibles bag. In the process of them asking about what I had in my bag, I forgot where I was going and launched right into a poorly chosen trick with a totally unrelated message. I don't know what I was thinking, but just have to trust that the Holy Spirit keeps working even when we become "fools for Christ's sake."

Galatians Published in Christianity Today...

When I read this post in The Sacred Sandwich, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The satirical premise is that Paul's Epistle to the Galatians was published in Christianity Today, and these are the letters to the editors the following month.

Why has the church fallen in to such a Christian pragmatism? People think that it must be true because it works - never mind how much they have to abuse Scripture to "support" their pet practices. Whatever happened to the idea that experience must be tested in light of God's Word, and then rejected if it is found to be unbiblical?

Why can't we criticize unbiblical attitudes and behaviors without being called unloving? In Ephesians, Paul tells us to "speak the truth in love." It's like two wings on an airplane - you can't be truly loving without the truth, and to tell the truth without a humble, loving attitude is unChristian. When did the Truth of God's Word become so unfashionable in the Church?

So, do I laugh or do I cry?

Happy 90th Birthday!

One of my all time heroes, Billy Graham, evangelist and Christian leader, turned 90 today. I know he'll probably never read my blog, but I want to wish him a big Happy Birthday anyway. He is a man whose faith, integrity, and steadfastness of purpose have inspired me since I was a teenager. I remember watching one of his crusades when I was in high school, and thinking - he believes what I do, but I want more of what he's got!

Presidents and world leaders have sought his counsel, but he has remained humble. While huckster televangelists soaked people for millions, he lived on a modest income. While the world wrestled with agnosticism and postmodernism, he remained devoted to the truth of God's word.



May God raise up more men and women like him!

An American Tragedy

While many celebrate tonight in Chicago's Hyde Park and around the country, some of us mourn. We mourn the coming loss of liberty. We mourn the coming loss of morality. We mourn the coming loss of prosperity.

Bitterly clinging to my guns and religion for four more years, until change for the better.

Happy Patriot's Day!

April 19th, 1775, Old North Bridge, Concord, Massachusetts. The shot heard around the world began this nation's fight for independence. This day is a powerful reminder of many important beliefs I have. The first, and most important to me, is "No king but King Jesus!"

John Ashcroft was roundly criticized for his "No King but Jesus" speech at Bob Jones University, but he was only reminding us of our colonial and Revolutionary War heritage. In a 1774 report to King George, the Governor of Boston noted: "If you ask an American, who is his master? He will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ." The pre-war Colonial Committees of Correspondence soon made this the American motto: "No King but King Jesus." And this sentiment was carried over into the 1783 peace treaty with Great Britain ending that war, which begins "In the name of the most Holy and Undivided Trinity... ." (Catholic Education Resource Center)

(Is the United States a Christian nation? - No. Just read the news and anyone can see that it is not. Was it founded by mostly Christians based on Christian principles? - Yes!)

The second belief enshrined in that first gunshot is that free men have the God-given right to own and carry arms for self-defense and the preservation of liberty. The minutemen were massing arms (including cannons), ammunition and supplies for war, and the British were on their way to confiscate them. Before you can subjugate a populace, you have to disarm them. Adolph Hitler understood it. Josef Stalin understood it. King George understood it, and learned the hard way what happens when tyrants encounter free men with liberty in their hearts and guns in their hands.

The third idea I find in the hearts of the patriots is that of liberty - the desire to live a life of freedom. This is not libertine freedom - the freedom to do whatever we want, regardless of what happens to others. Government is given by God to "bear the sword" (Rom 13:4) and punish evildoers, but not to be a source of fear for the law-abiding citizen. Our freedom is the freedom to do what is right, loving God and loving each other without fear of a tyrant telling us what we will do, what we will believe, or what we will think.

Happy Patriot's Day! Wouldn't it be great if it was a national holiday?

No king but King Jesus!

My New Job!

I'm thrilled to report that after three months of honey-do's and belt-tightening, I'm starting a new job on Monday. I will be working for Project Performance Corporation, a McLean, VA consulting company. I will be doing security consulting for Compassion International, a Christian ministry dedicated to bringing children around the world out of poverty in the name of Christ. I am very excited about both PPC as a company and getting to work supporting a wonderful Christian ministry here in Colorado Springs.

Laura has supported children through Compassion for years, even before we were married. She sponsored a little girl in Africa, then after we were married we sponsored a girl in Guatemala, and now a girl in Honduras. It has been a very worthwhile investment, seeing these girls grow up, being educated, given health care, food, and most importantly, being introduced to a relationship with Christ. If you've never considered sponsoring a child, please think about it today!

The Odegard Advent Wreath

Every year now we have an Advent Wreath at our house. We are using the candles to teach our kids the meaning of Christmas. We start on December 20th, and light one candle at supper each night, ending on Christmas Eve. It really creates a sense of anticipation as the Holy-Day draws near. As the kids get older, we'll take them deeper into the symbolism, but for now it's pretty simple. The Blue (or purple) symbolizes Christ's royalty.

1. The first candle (bottom center) is the Candle of Anna & Simeon, who were waiting for the promised Messiah, just like we are waiting for Christmas to come. It is the candle of Prophecy and Hope. (Isaiah 9:2-9; Romans 15:12-13; Micah 7:7)
   
2. The second candle (bottom left) is the Candle of Joseph and Mary, Jesus' mommy and step-daddy. The candle holder is shaped like the star of David to remind us of Christ's royal lineage. This is also the candle of Peace. (Micah 5:1-2, 4-5; Isaiah 7:14)
   
3. The third candle is the Candle of the Angels and Shepherds. It is Rose colored because of the joyous message, and is called the candle of Joy. (Luke 2:7-15)
   
4. The fourth candle is the Candle of the Wise Men, who came to worship the newborn Christ. It is the candle of Worship and Love. (John 3:16; 1 John 4:19)
   
5. The center, white candle is the Candle of Christ, the Candle of Faith. He is the answer prayers for Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. It is the candle for Jesus' Birthday! (John 1:29; 3:1-8; 8:12; Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 5:15)

May you and yours have a wonderful Christmas Season!. Merry CHRISTmas from the Odegard's!

The Latest on Hagee

John Hagee seems to be backpedaling on statements he made earlier in his book In Defense of Israel, which I commented on earlier. In an open letter, Hagee says that there was confusion over his use of the term, "Messiah," in which he apparently distinguishes between the "suffering Messiah" of the First Advent and the "reigning Messiah" of the Second Advent. He wrote that he is releasing a new version of the book with Chapter 10 expanded and revised to make his position more clear.

I am going to have to wait and see what changes he makes - how far he backpedals - before commenting further. In his letter, he says:

"I was surprised to learn that some people were interpreting my words as a rejection of this most fundamental Christian belief that Jesus came to earth as the Messiah promised in the Hebrew Scriptures. I have been preaching the gospel for half a century."

If you read what he wrote, and listen to what he said on his TV ad, it's extremely hard to come to any other conclusion. He has already said that Jews do not need to trust Christ for salvation, and he keeps some pretty radical company in the heretical word-faith movement, so he didn't exactly have my trust to begin with. In fact, a claim that Jesus did not come to be the Jewish Messiah seems to follow logically for someone who has taken great pains not to offend Jews or the nation of Israel, and who said that Jews can find salvation apart from becoming a Christ-follower.

I'll remain skeptical, but I'll wait and see what Hagee has to say before commenting further.

John Hagee has left the building...

I have always held a very skeptical view of John Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. I disagreed with his assessment that Jesus was wealthy, and his belief in a prosperity gospel. I was deeply disturbed by his association with the word-faith movement. I was very troubled by his view that Jews did not need to trust in Jesus as their Messiah for salvation. (“San Antonio fundamentalist battles anti-Semitism,” Houston Chronicle, April 30, 1988, sec. 6, pg. 1), but I always held my tongue because I have some very dear friends who attend his church. I have always tried not to let denominational differences get in the way of loving Christian relationships, but have tried to gently suggest that there were some other, better, very excellent churches along that same stretch of loop 1604 in North San Antonio (Harvest Fellowship, Community Bible Church, Park Hills Baptist to name a few). But now, in his new book, In Defense of Israel, Hagee has crossed a significant line:

“It has been my privilege to join Congregation Rodfei Sholom in San Antonio for the celebration of Passover with Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg. Four cups of wine are served at the Passover with a meal that symbolized the tears and suffering of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt.

• The first cup is the cup of Remembrance.
• he second cup is the cup of Redemption.
• The third cup is the cup of Salvation.
• The fourth cup is the cup of Messiah.

When Jesus and his disciples came to the final cup during their last celebration of the Passover, Jesus refused to drink the Messiah’s cup. He told his disciples, “Take this [Messiah’s cup] and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:17-18).

In refusing to drink the cup, Jesus rejected to the last detail the role of Messiah in word or deed. The Jews did not reject Jesus as Messiah; it was Jesus who rejected the Jewish desire for him to be their Messiah.” (John Hagee, In Defense of Israel, pp. 144, 145).

In a television advertisement, Hagee says that his book will "shake Christian theology," claming:

• The Jewish people did not reject Jesus as Messiah
• Jesus did not come to earth to be the Messiah
• Jesus refused (by word and deed) to be the Messiah
  

The Apostle John (a Jewish believer) wrote, "who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son." (1 John 2:22) Christos - Christ - is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew meschiach - messiah. According to this passage, Hagee, in denying that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, is in line with the spirit of antichrist. The Apostle's next statement is "whoever denies the Son does not have the Father" (v. 23). I will not go so far as to say that Hagee is not a Christian - that is for God to decide - but I will state emphatically, for the record, that what he is teaching is outright, blatant heresy.

Some have tried to defend Hagee by saying that there is a distinction between a political and a religious Messiah. (pjmiller - see post 12, then the responding posts) However, the Scriptures make no such distinction. The only distinction is that between Jesus' roles in the First and Second Comings - first as the Lamb, then (yet to come) as the Lion. Jesus rejected the Jews political overtures at the time because the time had not yet come for Him to take political power. I don't care if you're Dispensational, Covenant or what - historical Christianity has always agreed on this point. Look at how Jesus responded to Peter's (another Jewish believer) confession, "you are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the Living God!" (Matthew 16:16). Jesus exclaimed that Peter was blessed and that this revelation had come from the Father Himself. He then warned them not to tell anyone, particularly in light of His coming Crucifixion.

The beloved disciple wrote at the end of his gospel, "therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:30-31 - see also 1 John 5:1). Salvation hinges on trusting in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, as God Incarnate, as the only one able to save us from our sinful human nature. How can anyone claim to preach the Gospel when they deny one of the basic tenets of the faith?

See also:

• Biblewheel, "Review of In Defense of Israel by John Hagee"
• Richard Fisher, "The Other Gospel of John Hagee" Personal Freedom Outreach,
• Link to YouTube video - From Hagee's own mouth.

Update:

I saw someone quoting from John 4:25-26 in response to this:

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Update: 13 Nov 07

Nancy Almodovar of Silent Cry Ministries has done an excellent job exposing Hagee's selective quoting of the Scriptures he uses to defend his ideas in "Defending the Faith with Elegance."