ritual

CONSECRATE

Posted on May 9, 2022May 9, 2022 by West Oaks Fellowship

In the Old Testament, Moses, under direct orders from the Lord, declares (Leviticus 20:7):

You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.

According to this passage of Scripture,for Israel to be and remain the people of God, they must be “consecrated” and “holy.” This is not merely speaking ritualistically or in a ceremonial sense, but also in a spiritual, moral, ethical, and behavioral sense. The basic or principal command was (Leviticus 19:2),

You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.

This leads directly to the commands to honor one’s father and mother, to keep the Sabbaths, to refrain from theft and falsehood, to deal rightly with neighbors and servants, and to be kind to the blind and deaf. It’s interesting to note that each command is followed by the refrain, “I am the Lord,” which strongly upholds and continually emphasizes the original premise . . . the Lord God is holy, as is one’s relationship with Him! Thus Israel’s holiness is not based upon mere ritualistic behaviors and/or actions, but is clearly identified as obedience to God’s divine truth/law (Numbers 15:40):

So that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God.

Therefore, this consecration was more than religious and/or ceremonial; it made a “holy” impact in the entire life … a holy dimension that encompassed one’s entire being … spiritually, morally, ethically, and behaviorally!

Several Old Testament Hebrew words are translated “consecrate” in the biblical text, but each refers to the setting apart of a person or object for the service and/or worship of God. God set His people apart from other nations to worship and serve Him as no other.

However, there remained human responsibility in the framework of His consecration, thus we see the practical implications of consecration fully developed by God’s Old Testament prophets. According to their declarations, true and believing faith leads to consecration – which is an internal/inward dedication that results in the spiritual modification of one’s character and the on-going development of one’s spirituality. For His prophets, the immediacy of one’s relationship to God’s holiness was indicated by a willingness to faithfully participate in acts of spiritual consecration and dedication which demanded absolute obedience, as well as certain observances that necessarily resulted in a spiritual transformation of that individual.

As an example, the “unclean lips” of the prophet Isaiah are purified by a coal from the heavenly altar, and his “guilt is taken away” and his “sin forgiven!” (See Isaiah 6:5-7) Here, a willing and obedient heart is combined with the actions of almighty God. Amos argues that divine holiness demands the ethical reconstruction and consecration of an entire society. The celebrations, feasts, and assemblies (Amos 4:4; 5:21-24) were declared spiritually worthless and meaningless apart from the spiritual, moral, ethical, and behavioral qualities of justice and righteousness. God promises in His holiness, even to avenge the poor, the afflicted, and the oppressed in Amos 2:6; 4:1; 5:10-15.

This only happens when people of true faith turn from human thinking to embrace the wisdom of a living God who knows all and sees all. Otherwise, human benevolence becomes extremely selective, biased, bigoted, highly discriminatory and judgmental. For Habakkuk, the corollary of divine holiness was displayed in righteous anger against evil, faithlessness, and wrongdoing! This prophet even speaks of some spiritual vindication for the righteous — men and women who actively and effectively uphold the standards/concepts of God’s holiness and live wholeheartedly by faith in Him. (See Habakkuk 1:12; 2:4)

As one moves to the New Testament, the word consecrated is only used nominally in reference to objects of Hebrew worship. However, the concept is fully ratified throughout the Biblical text in the term/word “sanctification.” Here we find a distinct, as well as unique “setting apart” of individuals (not objects) for the service and worship of the Lord. Just as in the Old Testament, one finds an act of God combining with the will and subsequent actions of humanity, to bring about sanctification. Biblical, New Testament sanctification always results in a spiritual modification that works to bring about a total adjustment in one’s ethics, morals, thoughts, desires, passions, and behavior.

While it is certainly God that sanctifies, there remains human responsibility in the sanctification process. Just as grapes do not become fine wine automatically, neither does a believer become a true disciple of Jesus Christ without owning and nurturing their relationship with Him. Romans 6:19-23 serves to remind us of this simple fact!

For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Scriptures reveal that one’s thoughts, choices, and actions matter in the sanctification and/or consecration process!

However, we must never forget that this process is impossible without the work of the Lord, and can in no way be achieved or obtained by human effort alone. I Corinthians 1:26-31 states this clearly:

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.’

What shall we do? Partner with the Lord … be consecrated, be sanctified … or not?

Choose today whom you’ll serve. — Pastor Frank

ADVENT

Posted on March 28, 2022March 28, 2022 by West Oaks Fellowship

Most everyone who has attended West Oaks Fellowship for a while comes to understand that when we approach the holiday season called Christmas (from Christ – mass), our spiritual emphasis shifts (similar to Resurrection Sunday vs Easter or Reformation Day vs Halloween) to a sincere focus on the many blessings of Christ’s first advent (coming), and the concepts of Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love that Jesus offers all humanity. Our concentration, as believers on Advent (Greek – parousia, Latin – adventus) … meaning arrival, a coming, or presence … allows us an opportunity to celebrate and rejoice in the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. John 1:14 declares:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(also see II Peter 1:16, Philippians 2:5-8)

Hopefully, we will all fully embrace the celebration of Christ’s coming into our world in the same manner as we consider His resurrection, the advent (coming) of God’s Holy Spirit (Pentecost), and His anticipated 2^nd Advent (return to earth). Nevertheless, as a serious student of history, Christianity, and God’s Word, I’m somewhat baffled by some of the silliness, traditions, and ungodly, heathen practices that have creeped into the church (the body of Christ at large) and many believing families’ Christmases.

While I’m not advocating a cessation from celebrating Jesus Christ’s First Advent (coming), like not decorating your home, etc., etc. as some legalists/religionists would demand, I am asking all true believers to give careful consideration to their celebrations and traditions. Just because everyone is doing it (as you may tell your teenage son or daughter) or because it feels good, that doesn’t make it right! Romans 14:5-6a shines some light for us:

One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord.

Then continuing in verse 7-9,

For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

In essence, it’s absolutely essential, that faithful, committed followers of Jesus Christ know exactly why they are celebrating our Lord’s Advent in the manner they do, and should a question arise about one’s holiday practices, have a proper, biblically-qualified, spiritually-based answer that can be clearly articulated.

Now, I know some of you are already saying, “give me a break PF” … because you’re one that “loves” Christmas! Indeed, I pray you love Christ, and wholeheartedly rejoice in His 1^st Advent (coming)! Nonetheless, as unpopular as it might be, please ask yourself what exactly is it that you love so much?

Today, one of our fine, young-adult men messaged me a detailed question about believers using Christmas Trees – after his study of scriptures in Jeremiah 10:1-11. The modern-day Christmas tree was not introduced into America by Germans until the 19th century. The annual tradition of erecting a National Christmas Tree was not established until 1923 in Washington, D.C. – some 147 years after the birth of our nation, and 316 years after the first permanent English settlement in America. Ever wonder why? Certainly, that’s a valid question for every believer to consider.

Does one bring an idol into their home for any reason? Well, if I was an archaeologist, and had excavated an ancient relic from a pagan temple in Israel, I would probably have it on display in my office. Unquestionably, I would use it as a tool to explain portions of the scripture and give testimony concerning the authenticity of the Bible. However, at that point, someone could accuse me of having an idol in my home or office. The accusation would be true, but not be a genuine reflection of my faith or worship.

While there is little argument about the following points concerning a typical American Christmas celebration on December 25, the key for each and every believer, as well as for each and every family, is simple obedience to Christ and His Word, coupled with the true spirit of any and every action/activity, etc.

No biblical data exists, nor any early known written documentation referencing or establishing Christ’s birth in December or on its 25^th day; however, there is insurmountable evidence concerning the dates of His death and the coming of God’s Holy Spirit at Pentecost (an annual Hebrew feast/celebration).
The date of December 25^th was a long-standing pagan holiday, “Saturnalia,” …the worldwide celebration of the re-birth of the sun-god (an anti-christ type – thousands of years before Jesus was born under various names – all commemorating variations of a false trinity consisting of a father, mother and child), and was intentionally highjacked by the early Roman church in 350 AD by Pope Julius.
As late as 1855, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists refused to recognize December 25^th as a legitimate holiday in reference to Christ’s birth.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 Ed., p. 253, tells us that as late as 1913, many States did not even recognize December 25^th as a permissible holiday.

Certainly, each and every believer is free to celebrate Advent 2017 in their lives and families with meaningful and worshipful expressions of reflection, gratitude, ceremony, exaltation, and even jubilation! Nonetheless, Colossians 2:16-17 speaks plainly:

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath (plural in the Greek text) day things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

Yes, the significant substance of any truly spiritually-centered celebration must be Jesus Christ (not a shadow – but the real thing). Therefore, we are compelled to ask, is our Christmas a spiritual, or cultural event?

The Hebrew people managed to get the practices of their culture and genuine spirituality and those things that were, “a mere shadow of what is to come” awfully confused and extremely complicated. Perhaps that why the Lord declares in Jeremiah 6:20:

For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba and the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.

Have you ever wondered what the Lord thinks of an American Christmas? Perhaps we should humbly, and perhaps solemnly, consider the words Isaiah 43:24:

You have bought Me not sweet cane with money, nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; rather you have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities.

Our Lord rejects, not their ceremonial service, but the substitution of it for personal holiness and morality. In addition, may we never forget Jeremiah 7:23:

But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
(also please read Isaiah 1:10-17; Micah 6:6-8)

I Samuel 15:22 asks:

Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.

What are our Advent celebrations, customs, traditions, … pagan rituals/practices coated in some form of Jesus-juice to make them seem/feel OK? (ceremonial, ritualistic, theistic, existentialism) Are they done in/by faith and are they pleasing to our Lord? I know, I know, too much! Nonetheless, let’s agree on Colossians 3:17 for this ADVENT:

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Think about it, pray about it, act upon it.

— His & Yours, PF

INFANTICIDE

Posted on March 21, 2022 by West Oaks Fellowship

While this word does not appear in God’s Word as it currently is appearing throughout our nation, there are definitely some undeniable parallels within the biblical text.

Leviticus 18:21 warns the Hebrew people to, “not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech.” In Leviticus 20:2-5 the warning is expanded to not only the Israelites, but anyone living among them with the punishment of such an event being death by stoning. The very practice of offering a child to Molech, a satanic cult, is considered a defilement of the Lord’s sanctuary and profaning the Lord’s holy name!

King Manasseh of Judah forsook the Lord’s instructions and warnings by encouraging the sacrificial offering of babies/children to Molech (which was worse than the evils practiced in the nations God commanded Israel to destroy) according to II Kings 21:1-9. When Josiah, Manasseh’s son, became king, he made a covenant “to walk after the Lord” and live righteously in II Kings 23:3.

Ultimately, according II Kings 23:10:

He defiled Topheth (an altar location outside the walls of Jerusalem), which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for Molech.

Nonetheless, the memory of this detestable, satanic ritual was still alive in the 6^th century B.C. (Ezekiel 16:20-22; 20:25-31; 23:36-39).

The statue/idol of Molech was a human figure with a bull’s head and outstretched arms, ready to receive the children destined for sacrifice. The image, made of metal, was heated red hot by a fire kindled within, and children were sacrificially laid on its arms. Often, the young child, while crying in anguish, would roll off the idol’s arms and land in the fiery pit below. In order to drown out the cries of the infants and young children, the Molech cult worshippers played flutes and beat drums while the mothers stood by without tears or sobs, to give the impression of the voluntary nature/character of their infanticide offering.

No matter what one may choose to call it, killing babies is defined as infanticide! Legally speaking, according to Merrian Webster Dictionary, “the killing of a newly or recently born child.” Medically speaking, “the killing of an infant.”

In English we define abortion as the expulsion of a fetus from the womb, while infanticide is described as the killing of an infant after birth. Since the 1973 Supreme Court decisions of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the Latin term “fetus” has generally replaced words such as child, baby, and infant to describe humanity in the womb. However, many do not realize that both “fetus” and “infant” simply refer legally, to a young life. Irrefutably, biology affirms biblical truth – at conception, life begins no matter what the new child is called!

Undoubtedly, the enemy’s tactic of deception and bold-faced lies continues … attacks come through various methods and procedures, but the primary ingredient is desensitizing humans to sin. Perhaps the recent bizarre proposal of certain states and political proponents to keep the new-born baby (human being) comfortable until a decision is made on whether it will be allowed to live or be slaughtered may just wake up some previously deceived individuals! Some are even claiming that this criminal act that totally violates a doctor’s Hippocratic oath is somehow for the mother’s health – really?

How does killing the breathing infant while he/she is wiggling on a table help the mother? Does the newborn infant have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in America or not? How about under the superior authority of God?

By this practice, if allowed, mothers will sacrifice newborn sons and daughters, who are the gift and blessing of our Lord, upon the egoistic, narcissistic altar of the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy! This is not dissimilar to the worshippers of Molech who scorched their infant babies to death and destroyed God- granted/given life in a satanic, evil-inspired, pagan cult ritual. God forbid that our nation would dare to proceed down this path!

If we were to discover that “unwanted” newborns were actually being systematically slaughtered (infanticide), wouldn’t we do something … everything possible to stop such an atrocity? Are we too desensitized to what God declares in Proverbs 31:8‐9?

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.
Proverbs 31:9-9

Who is least able to speak for themselves? Who among humanity is most needy? Perhaps it’s time for genuine believers to willfully and sacrificially offer rescue for unwanted, speechless, life!

Please, simply consider Truth – His & Yours, PF