Open for Worship in the House of God - Purity 772
Purity 7/1/2022
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a green mountain under a clear blue sky
with an almost angelic cirrus cloud formation comes to us from a friend who recently
visited the Lake Placid area in New York State. For those curious about the
location of this scene, our friend was kind enough to caption the photo and
with their information and a google search I can tell you that this is Baker
Mountain, which is a 2,454-foot-tall mountain in Essex County, which is east of
Saranac Lake. We are presuming that our
friend was somewhere on the shores of Lake Placid but a google map search of
Baker Mountain could cause you to doubt because there is more than one body of
water near Baker Mountain including: McKenzie Pond, Moose Pond, and Moody Pond.
So where they were exactly is still unknown but if your really adventurous, I
have given you more than enough clues if you want to follow in their footsteps
to experience this view for yourself.
Well, It’s Friday and I am thanking God for the day, for
safely bringing me to my travel destination in Bethel Maine, and for providing
me with an unprecedented opportunity to worship and praise Him.
I am staying at
Sudbury Inn in Bethel Maine for the next three days, leaving on Sunday – no Bible
Study with the Cincotti’s this week as we are “on the Road. For those
envisioning a trip to the Maine Seacoast and guys with strange Maine accents
pulling in lobster traps let me gently burst your bubble. Bethel is in an area of the state that I will
call “Barely Maine”. I call it that
because as Bethel is only a short drive from the New Hampshire border and I
suppose because we are near the “Unorganized Territory of South Oxford and
minutes away from Mahoosuc Mountain Range you could also think of this area as
Bearly Maine, as in I hope I don’t get mauled by a Grizzly because that would
totally “Mahoosuc”.
Forgive the “Dad Joke” pun, but I am traveling with my wife and the
youngest pair of my step kids and that’s what we do. Anyway, we are all together to attend the River
Rock Music Festival Christian Music Festival for two full days of Christian
music and fun. TammyLyn attended the
festival last year and was very enthusiastic about having her family experience
it too. SO here we are. Anyone familiar
with the dynamics of blended families, interacting with teenagers, replicating experiences,
and travelling for family vacations, I’m asking for prayers and I don’t think I
have to explain why.
Anyway, as the word Bethel means the “House of God”, I am
in the house and I am ready to worship! I am ready to praise the Lord.
The River Rock Music Festival seems like it is going to be
a first for me. When I think of 2 day
music festivals, I can’t help but think of the Woodstocks or Lollapaloozas and
think of wild times with alcohol and drugs in abundant supply. I never attended any of those concert events
because I was too timid, for those in my past that may be hard to believe but
it’s true, there was something about surrendering to a long event with the promise
of drugs, large crowds, and loud music that caused me to say “no”. Hearing reports of bad venues, bad weather, inflated
prices, and violence and discord at some of those events made it easy to say no
to ever going to one as I grew older and less wild. I wanted to have fun and knew that “other
people” could really mess that up.
But today’s and tomorrow festival seems to be a far cry
from those rock n roll extravaganza’s. First, I was shocked to discover that
not only is this event Christian, it is really Christian in that there is no
alcohol or smoking allowed at this event.
That’s different. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised really, drunkenness is
prohibited according to the Bible but unfortunately according to various surveys
done over the last few years, many of those who identify as Christians don’t
have a biblical worldview and walk the walk of Christian Discipleship and don’t
live much differently from their non-Christian neighbors.
So, that’s good – we will worship today with far less
inebriated concert goers than normal. I would say none but as a former addict I
know that a determined person can bring drugs into any venue and enjoy their affects
in all environments. Marijuana, pills,
and psychedelic drugs can all be ingested and enjoyed and go beyond detection.
So some people today could choose to exercise their freedom from the law and
take it as a license to sin. I doubt
that anyone would do that but I know it certainly is possible and if I see
someone who is “lost to the music” today I will have my suspicions.
As the man in our small band of worshippers, I have the unspoken
responsibility to make sure everyone is safe and it is a responsibility I take
seriously, so as much as I intend to fully enter in to worship, I will undoubtedly
keep an eye on our surroundings. I know
the evil that men can do and I know that Satan would love to cause strife at
such an event that is designed to give God glory. Today’s festivities run from 11am to 10PM,
and the line-up of Christian musicians and speakers include:
So if you are in the area of “Barely Maine”, I invite you
to come on our and worship with us at the River Rock Music Festival at Sunday
River Resort in Newry Maine. (https://riverrockfestival.com/)
If not, I hope you have a quick
day at work today and a wonderful weekend where you experience the beauty of
all that God has provided you with and that you take a moment or two this
weekend to thank the Lord and give Him praise.
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible
Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Psalm 62:5 (NLT2)
5 Let all that I am wait
quietly before God, for my hope is in him.
Today’s Bible verse assures us that we can quietly wait before God because our hope lies in Him.
Although I will be at a venue today surrounded by Christian music, there is a lot to be said for spending quiet time with the Lord. Quiet time for prayer and Bible study are the foundational disciplines of the Christian Disciple and it is our time with the Lord that can help us to have peace in the world regardless of the raucous or wild circumstances that we may face.
Although I am not really into crowds, I am hoping in the Lord not the security of my situation to give me peace. In Christ, I am assured that I am secure in Him. My hopes for good outcomes and safety are not sole based on my ability to manipulate circumstances and make wise decisions with where I go and what I do.
While we should all be wise and discerning with the things we expose ourselves to in this world, the truth is that in this world broken by sin and subject to the influences of the powers of darkness there is no “safe place”. History has tells us of the evil that men do and the sudden death that can come at their hands or to other situations like accidents or natural disasters.
In the Final Destination movies, the unseen specter of death seeks to take back the lives of people who have escaped death and in those films we see the characters make every effort to remain safe but in the end, for nearly all the characters, death manages to make its way through their defenses and take their lives.
But for the Christian, death has lost its sting. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So no matter what, the Christian really is going to “be okay” because the Lord is with them. It is in the Lord that we have our hope.
Only when we forget this fact of our spiritual reality can fear, anxiety, or depression come in and invade our lives. So spend some quiet time with the Lord to remind yourself about who you are in Christ and how your hope is assured because your hope is in the Lord.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from Clinton E. Arnold’s
“Powers of Darkness”
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and
encourage all to purchase Clinton Arnold’s books for your own private
study and to support his work. This resource is available on many
websites for less than $20.00.
Jewish Magic
Perhaps
nothing reflects Jewish popular belief in demons, spirits and the powers of
evil more clearly than the widespread information illustrating Jewish
involvement in magic. Contrary to Old Testament and official Jewish
restrictions against the use of magic, many Jews throughout the Mediterranean
world adopted and even further developed these occult practices of their pagan
neighbors. In fact, Jewish magic gained a notoriety of its own in antiquity.
Its importance for illuminating folk belief is rightly stressed by P. S.
Alexander:
[Jewish]
incantations and books of magic … open up areas of popular religion which are
often inadequately represented in the official literary texts, and which are in
consequence frequently ignored by historians. As an indicator of the spiritual
atmosphere in which large sections of the populace lived—rich and poor,
educated and ignorant—their importance can hardly be overestimated.
The
New Testament itself helps to confirm this Jewish interest in magic by
specifically naming two Jewish magicians—Simon (Acts 8:9) and Bar-Jesus, or
Elymas (Acts 13:6–12). Luke also writes about certain itinerant Jewish
exorcists, who had added the name of Jesus to their repertoire of magical names
(Acts 19:13–20).
Over the past century
archeologists have discovered numerous Jewish magical charms and amulets. Many
of these have been collected and published with photographic reproductions as
part of a beautifully done twelve-volume work by Jewish scholar E. R.
Goodenough on Jewish symbols of the Greco-Roman period. Goodenough helped call
the scholarly world’s attention to Jewish involvement in magic (and perhaps
even mystery religions) by his analysis of the material evidence. The magical
charms typically have a depiction of some Jewish symbol (such as a menorah or a
representation of Solomon) on one side; the other side may contain a series of
magical words or names (such as Sabaoth, angel names, names of patriarchs and
often names of pagan deities). These amulets were used for many purposes, but
most commonly for protection from evil spirits.
There are also a
number of Jewish magical documents. In the standard collection of Greek magical
papyri edited by Karl Preisendanz, some of the magical texts are distinctively
Jewish. Just as significant is the extent to which Judaism influenced the
development of the magical tradition as a whole. A number of scholars agree
there are few Greek magical texts from late antiquity without some sort of
Jewish component. The Jews provided the Greeks with new magical names to
invoke, such as Iao (a Greek form of
Yahweh) and numerous other names thought to be laden with power. Most scholars
are not concerned to draw any firm distinction between Jewish and pagan magic.
The occult sciences crossed all religious boundaries and borrowed from all
religions.
In Jewish magic it is
interesting to note the prominence of Solomon. According to the biblical
account of Solomon’s life, he was granted a measure of wisdom from God
unsurpassed by anyone preceding or following him (1 Kings 3:12). Later Judaism
understood this gift to include wisdom and expertise in dealing with the spirit
realm. The eminent Jewish historian Josephus believed this tradition:
God
also enabled him [Solomon] to learn that skill which expels demons, which is a
science useful and sanative to men. He composed such incantations also by which
distempers are alleviated. And he left behind him the manner of using
exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never return, and this
method of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man
of my own country whose name was Eleazar, releasing people who were demonic in
the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains, and the whole
multitude of his soldiers. (Josephus Antiquities
8.2.5)
Josephus
then gives a very detailed account of how this Eleazar performed exorcisms
using a magical ring and by reciting incantations ostensibly written by
Solomon. A number of these Solomonic magical traditions have been preserved in
the form of a document known as the Testament of Solomon. Although the
Testament postdates the New Testament, many scholars agree it may have been put
together in the first century A.D. It is a major source for helping us to
understand early Jewish demonology. The Testament functioned as a serious
Jewish work on magic and a sort of encyclopedia of demonology. The work centers
on Solomon’s rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, but focuses specifically on
the demonic opposition he faced and his ability not only to thwart the evil
powers but also to manipulate them into actually aiding the construction of the
temple! According to the Testament, the archangel Michael gave Solomon a
magical seal ring that he used to interrogate the evil powers. By using it,
Solomon was able to find out their names and evil activities, and to force them
to divulge how they could be thwarted. The Testament is thus filled with
accounts of Solomon’s interrogation of the demons and how he manipulated them.
These traditions
about Solomon would have had great significance for the Jew, who was fearful of
evil spirits, and who sought a means for protection. A number of early
Christian writers are familiar with the Solomon tradition and allude to
exorcisms taking place using Solomonic formulas. The Testament is significant
for our study by giving us yet another glimpse into the belief in demons and
the use of magic that flourished throughout the Mediterranean world in popular
culture, even in Judaism. The Testament also employs many of the terms used by
the apostle Paul when he referred to the powers of darkness. This certainly
does not imply that Paul agreed with everything said in this Testament, but it
does show that Paul was concerned to give a perspective on these evil powers
(that he believed to exist)—a perspective he based on the Christ event.
One final point needs
to be made about first-century Judaism. Many of the common Jews were firm
believers in astrology. The Testament of Solomon itself testifies to this
Jewish interest in astrology (since magic and astrology overlap significantly).
In the past fifty years, new archeological data and newly discovered documents
have confirmed and further illustrate this interest in astrology. For example,
among the Dead Sea Scrolls was an astrological document (a horoscope containing
the signs of the zodiac) that likely reflects part of the beliefs of the Qumran
community, also illustrating that astrological beliefs even extended to some of
the Jewish sages.
This discussion
verifies and illustrates the strong Jewish belief in the powers of darkness
throughout their history, and which intensified as the birth of Jesus
approached. Furthermore, the Judaism of the Roman period shows a prevalent
tendency toward overlooking the Old Testament restrictions against practicing
magic and astrology. These activities became a common mechanism for overcoming
the fearful threat posed by the powers of darkness.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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Encouragement for the Path of
Christian Discipleship
[1]
Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness:
Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove,
IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 71–74.