Defenders Of The West - Vlad Dracula

Vlad Dracula laid the foundations of the modern state of Romania. Just like Skanderbeg, Vlad would not only go on to be honored in his homeland of Romania, but his fame would spread around the world, indeed, much more so than the Albanian warlord. That is where their similarities end, for whatever fame Skanderbeg currently enjoyed in the West still revolved around his heroic resistance against the Turks. Today, Dracula is best remembered as an undead bloodsucker. With the publication of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula in 1897, it was deja vu all over again. For if the fifteenth-century Saxons had transformed Vlad into a maniacal but still human sadist, the twentieth-century Irish novelist transformed him into a vampire, a citizen of the night, fluttering about in the darkness in search of his latest victim before retiring for the day in a coffin.

From the Court of Matthias Corvinus began history's earliest propaganda campaigns, or, in modern parlance, "fake news," with the aid of his Transylvania Saxons. The first set of stories against Vlad detailing his diabolical cruelties appeared in December 1462, complete with fantastical, lurid engravings; thanks to the new movable-type printing press invented a few years earlier by Johannes Gutenberg, these tales quickly spread throughout Europe. Appearing under titles such as The Frightening and Truly Extraordinary Story of a Wicked Blood-Drinking Tyrant Called Prince Dracula, these pamphlets became instant best sellers.

No depravity was spared Vlad; the stories discussed in graphic detail how he boiled people alive and shredded others like cabbage. Force parents to eat their children [and the list goes on and even worsens, which I don't care to mention]. Most historians dismiss these early stories attributed to Matthias Court as obvious propaganda. Reading the first German set, one can see why. From beginning to end, line after line, the entirety of the text depicts Dracula engaging in one vile or bizarre act after another, with nary a word of explanation or context. He supposedly did it all because he was a sadist, an immoral monster, in short, the devil's son, as the name Dracula, originally "Dragon's Son," came to mean following the publication of these stories.

In short, Dracula did resort to cruel punishments, though the lurid early descriptions in the German publications are largely fictitious. It can't be emphasized enough that although impalement has now been synonymous with Vlad III Dracula, most of his contemporaries, not just the Turks, practiced it. Stephen the Great and the legal written codes of the Saxons of Transylvania prescribed impalement as a suitable punishment for a variety of crimes. Ironically, these accounts would be sensationalized to cast Vlad as a sadistic terrorist, which is often left out.

An excerpt from Chapter 8 by Raymond Ibrahim

Power In The Bood

 There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder-working pow'r

In the blood of the Lamb;

There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder-working pow'r

In the precious blood of the Lamb.

"Where is that blood? Is it just something you have to imagine? Did Jesus find a way to actually give you His blood so that the wonder-working pow'r of the blood can actually come into you physically where you are?

That's the wonderful thing about the Lord's Supper: Christ's body and blood aren't something we have to imagine. How precious it is that Christ comes to us with the very body and blood born of Mary that was shed on the cross, and He gives it to us in a way that doesn't freak us out or gross us out. He gives you His body and blood under the bread and the wine, and with the promise of 'For you, for the forgiveness of your sins.'"

-Pr. Will Weedon

Was Forgiven, Am Now Forgiven, And Will Be Forgiven

The way Lutherans deal with forgiveness is that we can say we have been forgiven, that we are forgiven now, and will be forgiven. There is, in which we live in light of a past reality, an event that has brought us forgiveness in baptism. However, that doesn't mean we aren't forgiven daily, because Jesus tells us to pray in the Lord's Prayer, 'Forgive us our sins.' We are not saying, I thank you; you forgave my sins.

Continually, this life of faith is one in which God counts us as righteous because of Jesus, because we continue to be in Christ or remain connected to Jesus. Faith is that which brings me Jesus; insofar as I am connected to Jesus, I receive His righteousness.

Scripturally, we can speak of all our sins already being forgiven, and we can speak of our sins being forgiven daily. We also have this future aspect of justification that is true for us in a more real sense on the Last Day.

-Dr. Jordon Cooper

Baptism of Our Lord

Holy Baptism gets its power to be what it is and do what it does only because Jesus is baptized. Baptism would never have the power to do anything more than simply be a symbolic ritual if the One who takes away the sins of the world had not united Himself to us in this way. Jesus is the Word made flesh; as Luther famously put it, 'Apart from the Word in the water, the water is just plain water, and there is no baptism, but with the Word of God, it is a baptism.' That is life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus was baptized, the power of God entered into the water with the baptized people of God. It was like putting a live, high-voltage cable into the water where everyone was bathing, and it was instant death for everyone who was in the water. Apart from the cable in the water, it's just plain water, and nobody gets hurt by it. But when the cable goes into the water, it becomes deadly water.

When Jesus was baptized, He brought His death on the cross into the water with Him, and when you were baptized, you were united into His death, so His death became your death. Listen to this - you died while you were still alive! When Jesus was baptized, He brought His resurrection from the dead into the water with Him, and when you were baptized, you were united to His victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil. Listen to this - you rose from the dead before you were buried in the ground (Romans 6:3-4)."

-Rev. Paul Nielsen  

Dinner Table

Stop and think about it. At your dinner table, your heavenly Father is going to actually be giving you food that sustains your earthly life. You're going to go on living because something has died. I'm not just talking about your meat but even about your vegetables; something dies. It gives its life to go into you so you can go on living, and this is a gift to you from your Father in heaven. And so, you approach this gift with reverence and awe. You get to go on living; something else has given life up for you. An image of something far, far greater in the church, having a table where we receive supernatural food from the Father."

-Pr. Will Weedon

Religion or Relationship?

Part of our post-modern, politically correct world is constantly changing our vocabulary. Certain words become bad, and one of them is religion. The sad thing is the one place where Christians have participated in post-modern political correctness the most enthusiastically is in trashing the word religion. It's a thoroughly biblical word, and what has been put in its place is relationship. We hear it again and again, Christianity is not a religion; it's a relationship. Implying rather strongly that religion is a bad thing and relationship is a good thing. Is that necessarily true or an either-or?

You won't find the word relationship if you read through all of Scripture. What you will find are words like fellowship and communion. What does fellowship mean? What does communion mean? Communion and fellowship are communal things that take place, not individual. So, in this relationship, if you want to say there is individual faith, we are brought into a collective body - the body of Christ, His Church. And within that body is how we communion with Christ and one another.

What's odd about this relationship idea is that Scripture is very clear on how we have that relationship with Jesus; he calls it communion. What is communion? That's the Lord's Supper; that's the fellowship. Jesus is coming to us in His body and blood in the bread and wine to give us His life, salvation, and forgiveness of sins. You can't get any closer to Christ than that. So when we see how the New Testament speaks, it blows this whole idea; "it's not a religion; it's a relationship" out of the water. Even the relationship they think and want to have with Jesus is nothing compared to the communion we individually and collectively have with Christ.

Pr. Richard Futrell

Do This In Remembrance of Me

 Most Protestant churches don't have an altar; they have communion tables. You will almost always see "In remembrance of me on that table." To them, that is the most important thing, thinking back on Jesus' sacrifice for you. If you take that as Jesus meant, how do we know what Jesus meant? Jesus was a Hebrew and spoke in Aramaic, not Greek, even though the New Testament was written in Greek. He spoke Aramaic, and in Aramaic and Hebrew, the word 'remember' means 'continue the action,' bringing the reality of the past into the present and continuing the action.

-Rev. Dr. Charles Spomer

Doctrine Of The Trinity

Anytime you undermine a proper understanding of who Jesus is, the true Son of God who became man for us and our salvation, you undermine our salvation. It's always the atonement, it's always the cross, and the work on the cross for us and our salvation. So if Jesus is not God, then we cannot look to the cross and say there is God for me, defeating death, sin, and the devil and rising again for my justification. If He is not God, whatever He is doing, He can only do for Himself; He cannot do that for me. He cannot do that for the world. It is always the heart of the Gospel that gets compromised when we compromise things like the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of Christ, and so forth.

- Dr. Carl Beckwith

Accommodating Worship

Dr. Joel Elowsky, professor of Historical Theology and Director of the Center for the Study of Early Christian Texts, on the subject of making a church service more accommodating for unbelievers he said: "The early Church would have a real problem with that, and it seems like in the early period of the Church they made it harder to come into the Church, and it was all part of this habitus if you will; nobody could come to Church without a sponsor. They actually had people who watched over the doors, called porters or doorkeepers. The early Church would close the doors when the worship began because they didn't want shall we say, 'cast their pearls before swine... so to be trampled upon.'

When it came time for communion, those who were unbaptized or not catechized were asked to leave the service. So when it came to worship, the early Church didn't let the culture color what they were doing; they saw the church service, i.e., the liturgy, as a way to be refreshed so as to go out into the world the next week to serve the Lord. Still, they didn't see this idea of accommodating their worship for the culture.

-Dr Joel Elowsky

Folded Burial Clothes

Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus head not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself." (John 20: 6-7)

"How often has John given us the little details that are pregnant with meaning? They came to the burial site, and the burial garments which their Master had been wrapped by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus with all those spices were still there and not only so, but folded and with the face cloth folded up in a place by itself. Do you realize what this means? On the most stupendous morning in human history, God in the flesh woke up, took off his burial wrappings, and folded them. He made up His bed, if you will. He is that sort of God, not of confusion, but one who loves to do all things decently and in order.

St. John Chrysostom, the great commentator on John from the fourth and fifth centuries, writes, 'Now to separate and to place one thing by itself and another after rolling it up by itself was the act of someone doing things carefully and not in a chance way and as if disturbed.' You see, he sees the care given to the clothes as a sign that there absolutely was no grave robbery here, as the women might have feared. Rather, there's deliberate care setting aside what He no longer needed - clothes for burial. He is alive!"

Pr. Will Weedon

The Triumphal Entry

At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, Jesus tried to shush up those who wanted to spill the beans on who He was or even the miracles He so often brought, but now He is taking the wrapper off the gift.

Messianic secret over, Jesus is about to tell them in a coded way that only lovers of God's Word would get. He is about to fulfill the prophecy found in Zechariah 9:9 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.'

Just like when all of Jerusalem learned that David had appointed his son Solomon to be king when Solomon rode the king's mule into the city (1 Kings 1:33), so everyone who knew the Scriptures would see that the long-awaited restoration of the Davidic monarchy was unfolding before their eyes when they saw Jesus ride in on the donkey. The Romans, of course, would just see a guy on a little donkey. The people of the Word would see the promised Messiah.

'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest.' The shout is from Psalm 1:18, and Hosanna means "save now." Save us now, Son of David, save us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, save us in the highest.

By the way, Palm Sunday is four days before the Passover. It's the day the lambs were to be taken; were they being driven into the city at the same time as the Lamb of God descended the slope and approached?"

-Pr. Will Weedon

The Lodge - A Lutheran Response

 A response to the religious teachings of lodge organizations has been implied as the above concerns have been described. Lutheran Christians believe in the Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—as He has revealed Himself in the Holy Scriptures and as the Christian church universally has confessed Him in the ecumenical creeds from the early years of the Christian era (Apostles’ Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds). God has clearly revealed Himself in the Bible as the one and only true God (Is. 44:6). The Scriptures consistently and repeatedly teach that Jesus is God together with the Father (John 1:1,14) and that the Holy Spirit is also God (Acts 5:4). Thus, the true God is the Triune God—three Persons (Matthew 28:19) but one God (Deut. 6:4). 

Furthermore, since the Father can neither be known nor confessed apart from the Son (John 5:23; 14:6), prayer to God is always to be offered through faith in the name of Christ (John 14:13; 15:16). Man is more than an “imperfect Ashlar.” He is by nature dead in his trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). He is powerless (Rom 8:8) and an enemy of God (Romans 5:6, 10), incapable of hewing the rough edges off his life to make himself acceptable to God (Romans 3:20-24). A person can be reconciled to God only because salvation is completely of God (2 Cor. 5:18) through the saving work, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 6). The benefits of this salvation are not received because of human effort to obtain them but are God’s gift received through faith in Christ (Gal. 2:16). St. Paul summarizes the primary conflict between the “religion” of the lodge and the central teaching of the Christian faith: “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law [“purity of life and conduct’], Christ died for nothing” (Gal. 2:21). St. Paul rejects and condemns any teaching that people may be saved by the addition of human works as “another Gospel” (Galatians 1). 

The Scriptures teach that Christians with integrity are to confess Christ and His Gospel boldly and without compromise, mindful that God’s Name—which they are commanded to keep holy—is God as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word (John 17; Matt. 10:32; Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Tim. 6:12;1 John 2:23, etc.). In the view of this evaluation, it is a compromise of the Christian confession to take part in ritual, religious acts, in the name of a generic deity, that intentionally delete the Name of the true God and Jesus Christ whom God has sent to be the only Savior of the world (Luke 12:8).

-LCMS PDF Document

The Lodge - Beliefs and Practices

Lodge organizations commonly insist that they are not a “religion” and that they do not establish a set of “doctrines” to which adherence is required for membership. The description below does not focus on these claims—however true or not true they may be in actual practice—but points to religious tenets or themes present and even espoused, both explicitly and implicitly, in the official rites and literature of the organization in question. In the discussion below, Freemasonry remains the primary example.

Nature of God: One of the Landmarks of Freemasonry is the belief in the existence of a Supreme Being. However, the Supreme Being of Freemasonry is officially a generic god designed by intent to be universally acceptable to all who would seek admittance to the Masonic lodge. This god is a unitarian, not trinitarian, Supreme Being. Presumably, required acknowledgement of the existence of such a deity will not be offensive to Masons who are not Christian. Albert Pike, one of several “authorities” accepted by most Masons, writes in his Morals and Dogma: “To every Mason there is a God; One, Supreme, Infinite in Goodness, Wisdom, Foresight, Justice, and Benevolence; Creator, Disposer, and Preserver of all things. How, or by what intermediates He creates and acts, and in what way He unfolds and manifests Himself, Masonry leaves to creeds and Religions to inquire” ( 525). “Great (Grand) Architect of the Universe,” sometimes abbreviated as G.A.O.T.U., is a name Freemasonry uses to identify its Supreme Being. Other secretive names for God in various rituals are Ma-Ha-Bone and Jah-Bul-On. 

Person of Jesus Christ: While Freemasonary generally does not directly or explicitly deny Jesus Christ—for to do so would be regarded as sectarian—Jesus Christ, whom Christians regard as the only way in which one may have access to the Father, is conspicuous by His absence. All official prayers in Masonic lodge meetings are directed to the Grand Architect of the Universe apart from any reference to Jesus Christ. Whenever Scripture passages are quoted, references to Jesus Christ are purposely omitted. One example of this would be the use of 2 Thessalonians 3:6 in the Masonic ritual. The opening words of the verse “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” are omitted. Furthermore, in restricting a Mason from interfering with the religious beliefs of another, the lodge thereby discourages, and perhaps even in some cases prohibits, any bearing of public witness to Christ in the lodge. Other lodges have similar restrictions. 

Nature of Man: According to Freemasonry man is not totally sinful, just imperfect. In the first degree of Masonry the perfectibility of man is taught with reference to rough and smooth ashlars, stones that have been hewn by hand and made square. The rituals state: “By the Rough Ashlar we are reminded of our rude and imperfect state by nature; by the Perfect Ashlar, of that state of perfection at which we hope to arrive by a virtuous education, by our own endeavors, and by the blessing of God.” Freemasonry’s view of human nature parallels closely the modern New Age view that man is in some sense divine and has the capacity to become his own god. Recognized Masonic “authority” Joseph Fort Newton writes that “the great secret of Masonry is that it makes a man aware of the divinity within him.” He further states that “God becomes man that man may become God.” 

Salvation: Official rites of Freemasonry suggest the acceptance and promotion of a “salvation” by works. The initiated Mason is given a lambskin to wear “as a badge of Masonry” in order to remind him of “that purity of life and conduct which is so essentially necessary to his gaining admission into the Celestial Lodge above.” In the second degree ritual the Mason is reminded that he should wear his apron (lambskin) “as an emblem of that purity of heart and conscience that is necessary to obtain for you the approval of the Grand Architect of the Universe.” In the Masonic funeral service the family of the deceased is told that the lodge member’s soul went to heaven. The ritual includes the words: “Masonry … seeks to constantly build the temple of the soul and thus to fit us for that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Other lodge organizations in their funeral ceremonies offer the hope of an eternal reward to their members apart from any reference to God’s grace in Christ. 

Bible: Masonic rituals make frequent references to the Bible. In countries where Christianity is the predominant religion, the Bible is considered one of the three great lights of Masonry along with the Square and Compass. However, in countries where other major religions are dominant, the holy books of those religious are placed on Masonic altars. In his extensive preface to the Masonic Bible, Newton writes: “Thus, by the very honor which Masonry pays to the Bible, it teaches us to revere every book of faith in which men find help for today and hope for the morrow, joining hands with the man of Islam as he takes oath on the Koran,….” For Freemasonry the Bible is merely a “symbol of that eternal Book of the Will of God” (Newton) and “an indispensable part of the furniture of a Christian Lodge” (Pike).

-LCMS PDF Document

The Lodge - Identity, Founders, and History

Identity: “The Lodge” in this evaluation has reference to secret societies and organizations that include religious themes, teachings and practices in their initiation rites, regular meeting activities, and funeral rituals. Freemasonry serves as a primary example of such an organization that espouses and promotes teachings and practices that conflict with the fundamental teachings of the Christian faith. The concerns raised concerning Freemasonry apply also--though usually to a lesser degree— to other lodge organizations such as the Moose, Eagles, Elks, and Oddfellows, along with the women’s and youth auxiliaries of these lodges, particularly those associated with the Masonic lodge. 

Founders: For information regarding individuals who were instrumental in founding each of the lodges in general, and Freemasonry in particular, readers are urged to consult the web sites of these organizations. In addition, a resource such as the following can be especially helpful: Alan Axelrod, The International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies & Fraternal Orders (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1997). 

History: The history of lodge organizations [and, in particular, Freemasonry] can be traced to medieval (ancient) Europe and the rise of the craft guilds, particularly the stonemasons who built the large cathedrals in that period of European history. The concept of a lodge comes from the literal establishment of lodging facilities for the itinerant (free) masons as they moved from one building site to another. Over the centuries these “operative” masons began to “accept” those who did not practice the craft of stonemasons into their developing organization and meetings. Hence the expression by which modern Masons are known: Ancient, Free, and Accepted Masons. 

Modern Freemasonry can be traced to the year 1717 when, under the leadership of a Church of Scotland minister, Dr. James Anderson, four London lodges united to form the first Grand Lodge. The Book of Constitutions produced by Dr. Anderson attempted to formalize the Masonic Landmarks and Charges in existence at that time. Landmarks are aspects of Freemasonry that are not to be changed and Charges are guidelines to Masonic behavior in various life situations. Today the ritualistic degrees and practices of Freemasonry have developed to a point where there is no officially recognized authority accepted by all the lodges. However, the initiation rites and other rituals of Freemasonry and other lodge organizations have become available for study and review by non-lodge members. In addition, numerous books commenting upon and evaluating Freemasonry have been written by highly respected Masonic “authorities” so that an accurate evaluation of concerns from a Christian perspective can be made. 

-LCMS PDF Document

Not Religious But Spiritual

When people say I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual, what they mean is that they want a god that doesn't say anything. Because as soon as God talks, you have religion, you have doctrine, you have assertions, you have something you have to believe in. As long as God can be silent, I can get along with him just fine. As long as God never mentions things like "thou shalt not steal, remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, honor your mother and father," as long as God never mentions those things, he and I will probably get along just fine. This is what most people want, who are spiritual but not religious: a god who is mute, a god whom they have cut the tongue out of so he can't say anything against their own life. But God will not be silent! Romans 3 says every mouth is shut before God. It's not God's mouth that is shut in the end; it's our mouth, our own attempts at self-justification, our own attempts to stand before Him.

-Pr. Bryan Wolfmueller

All 

Three Kylikes

The poet Eubulus noted that three bowls (kylikes) were the ideal amount of wine to consume. The quantity of three bowls to represent moderation is a recurring theme throughout Greek writing (today, the standard 750 ml bottle contains roughly three glasses of wine). In his c. 375 BC play Semele or Dionysus, Eubulus has Dionysus say:

“Three bowls do I mix for the temperate: one to health, which they empty first; the second to love and pleasure; the third to sleep. When this bowl is drunk up, wise guests go home. The fourth bowl is ours no longer but belongs to violence; the fifth to uproar; the sixth to drunken revel; the seventh to black eyes; the eighth is the policeman's; the ninth belongs to biliousness; and the tenth to madness and the hurling of furniture.

-Eubulus

666

Folks like to run to the possibilities of how easily this could be fulfilled in our day with credit cards, computers, and such. There are all kinds of guesses as to what this actually refers to. Some think it's Nero because if you translate Nero Caesar into Hebrew, well, then it does add up to 666.

Martin Franzmann, a Lutheran biblical scholar of the twentieth century, notes: that John's readers no doubt were in the know. Still, the clue to the cryptogram which would enable us to make an absolute certain identification has been lost. So it is not surprising that none of the modern attempts to solve the cryptogram is wholly convincing. But this much seems to be certain; the number 666 is symbolic as well as cryptic. 6 is a number of inferiority; whether we contrast it with 7, the number of completeness, or with 8, the sum of the numerical equivalent of the Greek letters of Jesus' name is 888.

The anti-Christ at his most powerful is less powerful than the incarnate Christ Jesus. The anti-spirit is not equal to the spirit of Jesus; however, freely, God may allow him to range. There can be no doubt where the final victory will lie, and the call for wisdom is substantially the same as the call for endurance and the faith of the saints.

-Pr Will Weedon

The Trinity and the Bible

A nature exhibits what it is by the things it does. Activity reveals and makes known to us identity. Scripture marks off for us the eternal identity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One way it does that is by indicating these divine prerogatives, these activities that God alone does. God alone creates, God alone saves, God alone forgives sins, and so forth, and we see throughout the Scripture that those unique works of God are assigned to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

And yet this God is indivisibly One. One nature, one power, one will, and yet irreducibly three; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's only Scripture that gets you to the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. That doesn't come from philosophy, that doesn't come from any other place; it is only God making that known to us in the Scriptures on His terms, marking off His eternal identity for us.

– Dr. Carl Beckwith

Hoc Est (This Is)

By the words of our Lord recorded no less than four times, Christ instituted His Supper for us Christians to eat and drink. It isn't to be contemplated from afar only in the heart or received only on rare occasions as if somehow that would make it more special. It isn't to be paraded about that we might observe it from afar as if mere looking upon it would provide its benefits. Much less should we doubt it and that Christ has given this Sacrament for us. By His holy words, Christ exhorts repented Christians to eat His very body hidden under the bread. By His words, Christ encourages believing Christians to receive His true blood hidden under the wine. And by these words of His last will and Testament, Christ Himself gives us the Sacrament; gives us and every communicant this Sacrament every time the church celebrates it according to His command.

Now as with many doctrines of the Christian faith, the Lord God has pointed to this Sacrament throughout the Old Testament in many various ways through His holy prophets and other inspired writers, but now in these last days, He has spoken to us definitely by His Son. God was pointing to the Sacrament of the Altar long before Christ our Lord instituted it. But now, in a fourfold unambiguous revelation, God has made known that this meal is a reception of a communion in the very body and blood of our dear Lord and Savior. The Passover sacrifice instituted by God on the night in which He delivered Isreal from its bondage to Eygpt pointed to Christ, our Passover lamb. He delivered us from bondage to sin, death, and the devil by sacrificing Himself for us on the cross of Calvary. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. He, Christ, entered once and for all into the Holy places by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. The blood of the Passover lamb marked the doorpost and the lentils of believing Isreal, and they were safe. How much more then will the blood of Christ through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God purify our consciences. The blood of Christ marks the doorpost and lentils of our hearts, minds, and souls, and we are saved.

Once more, the eating of the Passover meal was itself a foretaste of the Lord's Supper, in which we partake of the very body and blood of our paschal Passover lamb - Jesus. Every time we celebrate the Sacrament of the Altar, God remembers His covenant promises to us in Christ. He reminds us of our Saviors' sacrifice on the cross for us. And we, in turn, preach a mighty sermon, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Rev. Prof. Don Wiley

Communion and Fellowship

Part of our post-modern, politically-correct world is the constant changing of our vocabulary. Certain words become bad, and one of them is religion. The sad thing is the one place where Christians have participated in post-modern political correctness the most enthusiastically is in trashing the word religion. It's a thoroughly biblical word, and what has been put in its place is relationship. We hear it again and again, Christianity is not a religion; it's a relationship. Implying rather strongly that religion is a bad thing and relationship is a good thing. Is that necessarily true or an either-or?

You won't find the word relationship if you read through all of Scripture. What you will find are words like fellowship and communion. What does fellowship mean? What does communion mean? Communion and fellowship are communal things that take place, not individual. So this relationship, if you want to say, of course, there is individual faith, but we are brought into a collective body - the body of Christ, His Church. And within that body is how we have communion with Christ and with one another.

What's odd about this relationship idea; Scripture is very clear on how we have that relationship with Jesus; he calls it communion. What is communion? That's the Lord's Supper; that's the fellowship. Jesus is coming to us in His body and blood in the bread and wine to give us His life, salvation, and forgiveness of sins. You can't get any closer to Christ than that. So when we see how the New Testament speaks, it's something beautiful that blows this whole idea; "it's not a religion; it's a relationship" out of the water. Even the relationship they think and want to have with Jesus is nothing in comparison to the communion we individually and collectively have with Christ.

-Pr. Richard Futrell