Category Archives: Calvary Chapel

Just Another Reckless Form of Idolatry

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After a bit of unsettling reflection on the deadly day of shopping at a Long Island Wal-Mart (see previous post),  I think there may be a loose relationship to another recent event – or rather, a category of events, which occur with disturbing regularity.

MSNBC.com
India stampede death toll passes 200
Dozens more injured as 12,000 celebrated key Hindu festival in Jodhpur
The Associated Press     updated 11:40 a.m. ET, Wed., Oct. 1, 2008

JODHPUR, India – A Hindu temple official blamed an unruly group of pilgrims trying to get ahead in a line of worshippers for a stampede that killed more than 200 people and injured nearly 60 in western India.
Authorities were still working to determine the final death toll, but the number had already crossed 200, said senior police official Rajeev Dosat.
The disaster occurred just as the doors of the temple were being opened for worship at dawn for more than 12,000 people celebrating a key Hindu festival in the historic city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan state. …  To see the entire original article Click Here

In India this is not a random, one off occurrence.  Keep your eyes and ears open to world news and you’ll certainly see it in the headlines again.  For example:

You get the idea.  In India it happens at the temples where they worship their gods and goddesses.  In the USA, where consumerism receives the kind of frenzied devotion normally reserved only for deities, it has begun to happen at Wal-Mart.  Listen closely and you can hear Jeremiah’s distant, tearful prayer:

O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
     My refuge in the day of affliction,
     The Gentiles shall come to You
     From the ends of the earth and say,
     “Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
     Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
Will a man make gods for himself,
     Which are not gods?
                     – Jeremiah 16:19-20 (NKJV)

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

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On Thanksgiving Day we can’t do much better than to consider a psalm like this.

 

Psalm 100

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

1  Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

2  Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.

3  Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

5  For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

Waiting on the Lord

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Most of us can get pretty impatient when confronted with an urgent challenge and then praying, hoping and looking for God to do something.  Isaiah offers a bunch of verses that include the declarations of those who are waiting upon God and promises to those who wait. 

Isaiah 8:17 (NKJV) And I will wait on the Lord,
Who hides His face from the house of Jacob;
And I will hope in Him.

Isaiah 25:9 (NKJV) And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

Isaiah 26:8 (NKJV) Yes, in the way of Your judgments,
O Lord, we have waited for You;
The desire of our soul is for Your name
And for the remembrance of You.

Isaiah 30:18 (NKJV) Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

Isaiah 33:2 (NKJV) O Lord, be gracious to us;
We have waited for You.
Be their [or our] arm every morning,
Our salvation also in the time of trouble.

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 49:23 (NKJV) Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord,
For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

Isaiah 64:4 (NKJV) For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him.

Follow Up to Acts 15 Part 3

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Because the subject of sexual sin is currently devastating the church, it seems there are a lot of things recently appearing on the web.  For more on this subject I highly recommend the following: