Friday, December 30, 2005

A look at the mass

The mass is a cheap imitation of Old testament worship. Sure there are little twists here and there but for the most part it is the same form. If you don't believe me we can take a closer look.

IN the OT form of worship there were priests who were ordained by God. These men were to be from the tribe of Levi and the lineage of Aaron. It was their job to offer sacrifices for the sins of the nation. They also were required to first offer sacrifices for themselves. This was to ensure that their own sin would not taint the sacrifice for the people.

In the mass men are ordained by the power of the pope. It is their job to offer up the perpetual sacrifice of Christ for the people. They too must perform acts of cleansing so that they will not taint their "holy" sacrifice. One such act is a washing of their hands to take away their impurity. This washing takes place before the sacrifice, to again, make it "pure." They also are the first to partake of the sacrifice before giving it to everyone.

Feel free to list more examples. I am going to stop here as this post serves only as a stepping stone for the next.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

'Tis The Season For Some Grinching

As most of you know I hate this time of year. People acting crazy over a single day is not my idea of fun. So here are my thoughts on christmas.

Lets not beat around the bush here. There is nothing Christian about December 25th. No matter how much one tries you will not find Christ in that holy day. The church has tried to make the day into a Christ filled day. Why? Some might say as a tool for evangelism. The problem with that is most "tools of evangelism" only water down the gospel and tend to taken focus off it's central theme: Christ. Let's face it the gospel has nothing to do with a tree and it especially has nothing to do with a candy cane. It is Christ paying the ransom for sinners, of whom I am chief, that they would be reconciled to God . We should not try to water that down or use illustrations that don't even come close to expressing that.

I don't have a problem with the gift giving. Just call it what it is: secular. If a person wants to get together with family and friends and exchange gifts that is fine with me. I think that would fall under their liberties in Christ. Again this is not a Jesus birthday blowout party.

"You mean, you don't celebrate Christ's birthday?" cries the zealous reader. Let me assure you dear read that I do. In fact I celebrate Christ's birth,death and resurrection on the same day. " You mean Easter?"asks the reader. Um no. I mean the Sabbath. You see dear reader on the Sabbath, I meditate on the gospel. In order for Christ to pay the ransom for my sins it way necessary for Him to come in the flesh.

Then there is that dubious name: christmas. Why any Christian would want to celebrate the mass is beyond my understanding and knowledge? The matter of the mass will be taken up in another post at a later time. For now we shall simply say that the perpetual "sacrifice" of Christ by human hands is an abomination to the Lord and so should it be to those who follow Him.

Something that I had just thought of this year was how religiously zealous some Christians have taken to this day. Would they be so zealous for the day if God had authorized it's observance? Somehow I think not. For God did authorize an Holy day. One in which we are to set the day apart. Yet lots of Christians fall short in this area(myself included). How sad it must be for our Lord and Savior, that His own people are more zealous to observe a man made day more than the Sabbath.

So there you have it my two cents on December 25th and this season that most people love. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by.

Brian J. Anderson