At the end of 2019 there was another horrible Church shooting in Texas.

Only this one ended quite differently from the 2017 tragedy at Sutherland Springs, Texas where dozens were killed or injured. The church had learned the lesson of Sutherland Springs and the killer was stopped in 6 seconds, taking only two lives. The video revealed that in addition to the hero who shot the killer there were about half a dozen church members who had stood up with their pistols to confront the killer.

Yet with the obvious contrast to the 2017 tragedy, there were some who questioned the idea of the letting church members take their guns to church. There were, of course, the usual anti-gun politicians who apparently would rather see more “Gun Violence” victims than gun carrying heroes. However, there were conscientious Christians who wrestled with the spiritual implications of guns in church.

We know that the Temple guards and even the levities carried swords (see 2 Chronicles 23:6-10). However, a more instructive example is found in the story of Queen Esther.

You know the story. The enemies of the Jews had tricked the King of Persia into signing a decree allowing the Jewish worshippers of God to be slaughtered. Queen Esther cleverly and courageously presented her case to the King. The King asked Mordecai to write a decree “As seems best to you” (Esther 8:8).

Interestingly, Mordecai did not ask the King to send out his army or the local police to protect the worshippers. Perhaps he understood that state provided protection is only good as long as the police are there, and is not available when they are gone. In the modern case of a church killer, relying only on police protection would leave the congregation helpless for many minutes when dozens could be shot.

Neither did he ask that the King disarm the enemies of the worshipers. He would have recognized that the weapons themselves were not evil, only those who use them with evil intent. Then, as now, bad people can always get weapons and banning them only endangers good people. To a killer, a “Gun free zone” sign on the church door means “Killers welcome”.

What Mordechai did ask for is what we call the Jewish Second Amendment. He asked that the Jewish worshipers be given the right to defend themselves from their attackers (Esther 8:11). Because they had the right to defend themselves, the Jewish Worshipers of God survived the attempt to extinguish their faith and triumphed over their enemies. The Lord enshrined the right of worshipers to bear arms and protect themselves in the Feast of Purim, just as the right of Americans to bear arms and protect themselves is enshrined in our Second Agreement.
We urge the Pastors and Churches to project their worshippers like Mordecai did. Welcome those legally licensed to carry guns so that they can fulfill the calling on their lives to protect their church family. And don’t keep it a secret. Call a “Carry your gun to Church Sunday” so the cowardly killers in your community will know they can’t turn your church into a shooting gallery.

We should continue to pray for God’s protection and ask Him to send His guardian angles to our churches. But let’s not turn away the guardian angels who have concealed hand gun permits.

It seems that people are always bringing up bad news.

Most of the time they are trying to sell us something: political positions, political candidates, TV networks, newspapers, or various other dubious products.

So we were surprised to see an amazing compilation of global good news in a recent Wall Street Journal article by John Norburg of the CATO Institute.
1. People around the world becoming more prosperous. The worldwide poverty rate was cut in half, from 18.2% to 8.6%, from 2008 to 2018, and the middle class now contains more than half of the population for the first time in history.
2. People are becoming healthier as basic sanitation and medicine have reached more people. For example, Malaria cases dropped 60% between 2007 to 2017. In the last decade life expectancy increased by 3 years and childhood deaths decreased by 30%.
3. The environment is getting better. During the last decade air pollution deaths dropped by 20%. Deaths from climate disasters dropped by one third over the last 15 years and have dropped by 95% since the 1960’s.

Beyond Mr. Norburg’s good news we can report that America is experiencing a revival of its prosperity. Unemployment rates age at historical lows and stock markets are at historic highs. Minority communities are seeing the best employment and wages in history. There is a boom in American manufacturing and blue collar wages are on the rise.

But the best news of all is that the Good News of Jesus is still spreading around the globe. Millions of souls are being added to the kingdom of God every year. We are living in the midst of the greatest revival in history.

So this Christmas let us banish doom and gloom from our tables and thank God for the Good News of Christmas.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come!

Next week, December 23, the Hebrew Feast of Hanukah begins. The Feast memorializes the dedication of the Temple in 165 BC, after Antiocus IV Epiphanes attempted to stamp out the Hebrew religion. It also celebrates a miracle where a one day supply of Temple oil lasted eight days. Thus, it is called both the “Feast of Dedication” and the “Feast of Lights”.

With the cleansing of the Temple in 165BC, the Nation of Israel was reborn and the Temple and the Nation of Israel were made ready to receive the Messiah. However, it was 160 years later that He was born and 190 years later that He began His ministry. Jesus celebrated the Feast of Dedication and used the occasion to clarify that He was the Messiah while teaching in the Temple (see John 11:22-39).

Hanukkah is also a significant date leading to the Second Coming of Christ. It was 102 years ago on December 9, 1917, when Hanukkah began the sundown, that the Turks surrendered Jerusalem to the British. The British mandate ultimately lead to the U.N. vote to form Israel thirty years later in 1947, and to the birth of Israel in 1948. Christians all over the world saw the miraculous rebirth of Israel as preparation for the Second Coming of Christ.

Few Christians expected the return of Christ to be delayed so long after the nation of Israel was made ready. However, if we look back to the formation of Israel in 165 BC, preparatory to the advent of Christ, then a waiting period of 160 or 190 years is not so surprising. At 102 years, if counting began in 1917 instead of 1948, we would only be a little over half way through a 190 year wait.

Let us pray over the Feast of Dedication and let us remember how it made the way ready for the Messiah. The Feast of Dedication also reminds us to purify our hearts, the New Convent temple of the Holy Spirit, as the Second Temple was purified in 165 B.C.

And let us also pray that Christians do not get discouraged by the delay in Christ’s return, for no one knows the day or the hour.

Instead, let us joyfully add to the numbers of the Church and look forward to the day that the number is completed and the Lord returns (Revelation 6:9-11).

Even so, come Lord Jesus

This year why not invite the Holy Spirit to spend Christmas with you.

Christmas is a high point on the Christian calendar. We decorate our homes and feast with our families. Our churches are full of activity, with Christmas programs, Christmas hymns, and sermons about the baby born in Bethlehem. Then on Christmas Eve we have our midnight services and trade presents.

We honor Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, the Angels and the Shepherds, and Baby Jesus. But what do we do to honor the Holy Spirit who conceived Jesus (Matthew 1:18 and Luke 1:35)?

All too often the Christmas season is a spiritual desert, as the Holy Spirit is ignored. Our services can become mere recitations of tradition, our worship lifeless formality, and our focus shifted to Christmas gifts instead of the Spirit’s gifts. Churches and ministries close their doors for the Holidays, locking out both the Holy Spirit and the needy who desperately need His ministry.

We forget that for some the Christmas season is a time of great need and pain. The poor have material needs beyond toys and turkeys. Family problems and health issues do not go away at Christmas. And many cannot receive the joy of the season because of broken relationships and losses. In fact, the Christmas season, when many take a holiday from the Holy Spirit, is often the time when Satan launches his most devastating attacks.

Instead of ignoring the Holy Spirit, we should be welcoming Him for Christmas. It was He who conceived Jesus, and He who spoke a warning to both Joseph and the Wisemen after the most famous gift giving history. The gifts of the Holy Spirit to us give us more power than that new car you may be looking at and more wisdom than any I-phone. Then there are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, love joy, peace, and the others that make life worth living.

So this year let us invite the Holy Spirit to be with us to share in the peace and joy of Christmas.

“For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” Romans 14:17

In the first year of the Untied States of America under its new Constitution, 230 years ago on November 26, 1789, the New Nation celebrated its first Thanksgiving.

President George Washington’s proclamation, thanking the Lord for His protection and provision, and praying for unity, repentance, and good government, is as relevant today as it was 1789:
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor . . . .
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these United States . . . that we then may all unite unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are now blessed. . . .
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discretely and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord, to promote the knowledge and practice for the true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows best.
So let us follow Washington’s admonition to be thankful, united, and prayerful this Thanksgiving.

It was 40 years ago this week, November 19, 1979, that Egyptian president Anwar Sadat made his historic visit Israel to end a generation of war.

Before the birth of Israel in 1948 there was a 2500 year old Jewish community of some 80,000 people living peacefully with Egyptians. Throughout the Arab world there were 850,000 Jews in similarly ancient communities. Then came independence for Israel and the persecution began. Jews were attacked by mobs, robbed, burned out, and forced to flee for their lives. Today only about 4000 Jews remain in the Arab countries.

The Arab countries attacked Israel from the moment of its birth in 1948. In 1967 Egypt, Syria, and Jordan planned to overwhelm Israel with a three front war. When it came it took only six days for Israel to expanded its borders, take Jerusalem and humiliate the Arabs. Egypt in Syria joined forces again in 1973 to mount a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, but after initial success, were humiliated again by Israel. The survival of Israel against the overwhelming numbers of its enemies can only be attributed to the power of God.

During the Yom Kippur war the United States, for the first time, had provided intelligence and material support to Israel. After the war the US negotiated a cease fire and initiated a search for a permanent piece. In 1979 the Egyptians and Israel is signed a historic peace treaty. Egyptian President Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Prior peace treaties had only signaled a pause in the fighting, but this time Egyptian president Sadat took action to show goodwill and the desire for a lasting peace. So on November 19, 1979 he did what no other Arab leader had done. He went to Israel.

Two years later the courageous Sadat was assassinated by the radical Muslim Brotherhood. But peace had taken hold, and even when the Muslim Brotherhood got temporary control of Egypt, the peace was not violated. Egypt has even cooperated with Israel to combat the terrorists in Gaza.

We do not know what the future holds, but for now we can thank God that Israel’s southern border with Egypt is secure thanks to the peace sealed by President Anwar Sadat 40 years ago this week.

Even so, let us continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.