When the Son of Man comes

Luke 18:8b  "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" 

Does Jesus say this as a self-fulfilling prophecy, or as a challenge? Knowing Him, I know which one I'm aiming at. 

Alice Von Hildebrand on Fleeting Fads and Eternal Truth: An Interview from the National Catholic Register

Alice von Hildebrand

My sister posted this intriguing and timely interview  from the National Catholic Register, of Alice von Hildebrand, Catholic philosopher and wife of the late Dietrich von Hildebrand.
Dr. Hildebrand is a beautiful and truthful lady. I'm not Catholic and don't agree with penance and transubstantiation, but I believe the 'real presence' of Christ is in us, the church, His tabernacles here on earth. And we should reflect His beauty and truth. He is Truth and Beauty and Goodness.
I wish to promote the unity of believers; so even though she and I would disagree on some things, we can agree on the fundamental truths of Christianity and especially on the love of the Truth, who is the person of Jesus Christ: God with us. 

NRO Online: This Baby Changes Everything: an interview with Scott Hahn

There has never been any person to compare to Jesus. His birth, life, death, and resurrection are the center and focus of human history. He is Emmanuel, which means God With Us. He is the Creator, Savior, and Lord. He is the Prince of Peace, the Light of the world, and the Lover of your soul. While Christians celebrate Advent, waiting for the birth of the Savior, Jesus is waiting for each of us to come to Him and to look to Him as our hope. As the Creator of the world and of all nations in history, He humbled Himself to come as a helpless child for our sakes. He put Himself at our mercy, so we can have His mercy. We love Him because He first loved us.
National Review Online posted an interview today with Scott Hahn about the advent season and his book Joy To the World: How Christ's Coming Changed Everything (And Still Does). The interview is very good; the book sounds very thought-provoking. I'd like to read it soon. I wanted to share this in the spirit of brotherhood, which should exist between Protestants and Catholics as members of the Body of Christ. I hope you enjoy the article and consider reading Hahn's book as well.  

Endtime Pilgrim: The Deliverer is Coming!

I really enjoy the perspective of Dr. Gavin Finley of endtimepilgrim.org. His article The Deliverer is Coming!, as with many of his writings, expresses the idea that God is a storyteller, and that He is playing out an epic tale over the ages, which will culminate in the return of the Deliverer to bring to fruition a long laid plan of redemption for His beloved Creation. I hope you enjoy Dr. Finley's article, and that you click the links at the bottom of the article to read his many other writings.

Happy Epiphany: The Light of the World has come to the Gentiles!

Isaiah 60: 1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. 3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side. 5 Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. 6 The multitude of camels shall cover your land, The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, And they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. 7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; They shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, And I will glorify the house of My glory.

Steven Curtis Chapman - Films and Music Inspired by THE STORY "This Is H...

I just saw this after someone tweeted it. I hadn't heard this song by Steven Curtis Chapman before. It's so beautiful, and helps me to focus again on the cross, and get ready to celebrate the resurrection.

Ryan Kelly ~ Were You There?

Ryan Kelly, of Celtic Thunder, shared this today on Twitter. I love hearing artists sing such heartfelt songs of love for the Savior. Especially good to hear Ryan express his faith in Christ, since their shows are much more secular.

The Well of Living Water

I heard this on my local Christian radio station,J93.3FM, last week. A recording of Mark Hall, of Casting Crowns, talking about his new book 'The Well'. He said 'the woman at the well thought she was standing beside a well talking to a man, but she was really standing beside a hole in the ground and talking to the Well'. He said we often draw from so many other things in our lives instead of from Christ, the Well of Living Water. We think we're drawing from a well, but it's just a hole in the ground which cannot satisfy. How true that is.

This really struck me, as I seem to be in a season of uncertainty and changes in my life; and I feel like I've been asleep for many years because of depression and fear, and am just now trying to wake up and live. I feel like I'm wanting to stretch my wings and be willing to make mistakes while trying new things. In the process I feel like I'm being pulled by both the world and by Christ, and I have to learn how to walk in this world, but not be of it. I am tempted to 'be of it' though, since I've lived a sheltered life for so long, and often feel lately that I've missed out. My last post on Neil Gaiman relates to this, of course. I want to be free to do things even if I make mistakes and fall down in the process. I don't mean that one should go out and sin, but that I should stretch myself by using the gifts God has given me. I will make mistakes as I do this, but I will also grow into who God meant me to be.

Pray for me to seek first the kingdom of God and not fall for the world's false substitutes.

Re-post for Christmas: "He waters the hills from His upper rooms"

I posted this last year at Christmas time and would like to share it again this year. Be sure to follow the links as well. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

The Captain of Our Salvation

Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying:


“ I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”

13 And again:


“ I will put My trust in Him.”

And again:


“ Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

The Name of Jesus: Bob Burridge of Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies

Merry Christmas!!! Here's the latest post in 'The Truth About Christmas Series' called 'The Name of Jesus'.

The Birth of Our Savior: Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies: Bob Burridge

My favorite 7th grade science/Bible/homeroom teacher, Mr. Burridge, has recently started a new website and foundation, the 'Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies'. On the Institute's blog, he has a series of articles about Christmas. Here is Part 8: The Birth of Our Savior, which again mentions 'upper room' (Greek 'kataluma') as the true translation of the place in which there was no room for Christ, rather than the traditional 'inn'. The article, and the others in the series, look at the Christmas story from the perspective of Scripture, removing the false impressions that have been added by years of tradition. I hope you will read this article and then take the time to read the others in the series, as I plan to.

Mr. Burridge is no longer a science teacher. After teaching for many years, he became pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church, Pinellas Park, Florida. Here is a page about the Institute and its founder.

Bigger and Better than Mary: Drunken Mystic blog

Here's a new post by Britt Mooney about the way God works, beginning with the physical and ending with the spiritual, saving the best for last, as He did when He turned the water into wine in John chapter 2.

"What must I do to be saved?"

Dr. Joe Mizzi on 'What must I do to be saved?' (Come to Jesus!)

Charles Spurgeon's testimony: "Look, look, look! You have nothing to do but look and live!"

Jesus on salvation: John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

Thoughts of Francis Turretin: Puritan Gem of the Day

Thoughts of Francis Turretin: Puritan Gem of the Day

The Light Came to the World: Dr. Joe Mizzi

Dr. Joe Mizzi has a good post up called 'The Light Came to the World'.

"He waters the hills from His upper rooms"

I posted a few days ago on an Answers in Genesis article called "Born in a Barn?, which states that the word translated as 'inn' in Luke 2:7 is actually the Greek word for 'upper room'; the same word that is used in referring to the room where Jesus met with His disciples. It is a guest room, considered the best room in the house. It stated also that Mary and Joseph may have been planning to stay at a relative's home, but that since there were so many people coming to Bethlehem for the census, that the guest room was full, and Mary and Joseph were staying in the lower room where the animals were sometimes brought if it was very cold outside. The other day, while I was continuing to read Thomas Merton's 'Seven Storey Mountain', Merton quoted from Psalm 104, which in the Douay-Rheims version says "Thou waterest the hills from thy upper rooms: the earth shall be filled with the fruit of thy works." This of course brought to mind the 'upper room' in the gospels and in the article. What an amazing parallel, that God waters the lower rooms, the earth, sending His goodness down from the highest place to the lowest place. As was brought out in an earlier thread, water always flows downward to the lowest place it can reach, and seeps down into the ground to refresh it. This is what God did when He sent His Son to earth. There was no room for Him in the upper room, but He came to the lower room to bring us life, and He said "In My Father’s house are many mansions [rooms]; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." "Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation!" Psalm 68:19

Psalm 133

1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!

2 It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the LORD commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.

Answers in Genesis: Born in a Barn?

Here's an interesting article on the Answers in Genesis website about whether or not scripture says Jesus was born in a stable.

Evangeliku: Dr. Joe Mizzi: Who do you say that I am?

Here is a recent post by Dr. Joe Mizzi on his blog, Evangeliku.

Beggars All: Reformation And Apologetics: Built on Sinking Sand: The “Scriptural” Foundation for the Papacy (2)

Beggars All: Reformation And Apologetics: Built on Sinking Sand: The “Scriptural” Foundation for the Papacy (2)

Here is Part One.