Reconciliation



                                                           

Reconciliation

                                                          




How is it that we can stare Truth "right in the face" and still not see it?

We've wondered that many times.

 

There in the Upper Room where Jesus shared His last meal with His disciples, He told them some things that they did not understand. It took the Lord's death, burial, resurrection and the overwhelming Presence of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

 

So it is with us today, as it seems that at times we can be "blind as a bat!" Like the bat, we can be living in darkness, due to sin, religious tradition, or just plain orneriness. We need to die to ourselves, be made new in Christ, and be filled with His Holy Spirit.

 

 

In 2005 I took a trip to London, England, and a side trip to Edinburgh, Scotland.


One day I was in the same train station where three weeks later, the suicide-bombers would meet for the last time before their bombs destroyed them, and others near them.

 

Please bear with us as we visit a thorny time in history. As we get better knowledge of what happened during that era, we will better understand the anger, bitterness, and commitment to kill instilled into terrorism recruits by their masters:


The Crusades

 Thumbnail for version as of 23:45, 19 May 2006

 Statue of Richard the 1st of England "Lion Heart", by Carlo Marochetti

English Parliament


While in London I was introduced to an English couple who were well experienced in the practice of prayer-walking. With a team gathered by God's sovereign hand, they had retraced the steps of the Crusaders of the 11th century, from Cologne, Germany to Istanbul, Turkey, which was then called Constantinople.

 

As they walked, they prayed, and spoke to the people they met - particularly to Jews and Muslims.

 

Their mission was to literally walk out reconciliation with the descendents of the people who had been so brutally treated by the self-righteous Crusaders. These were the men who "in the name of Jesus Christ" had wielded their swords, killing both Jews and Muslims, and then plundered their possessions.

 

In the 1990s, the little praying group went as humble followers of their Lord, to ask forgiveness for these atrocities, and apologize to every Jew and Muslim they met. They did this on an individual basis, and in meetings with pre-arranged groups.

 

Horribly, the Crusaders had claimed the authority of heaven, while they had acted on the orders of hell.

 

The religious leaders and kings who organized the crusades proved to be more concerned about the acquisition of lands and possessions, than the teachings of Jesus Christ. Perhaps they had never read the Sermon on the Mount? (Matthew 5,6,7) At least, it is clear that they ignored it.

 

At the beginning of one meeting with a Jewish group, a leader apologized for the  temporary delay which had occurred.

 

One Jewish man exclaimed:

 

"We have waited nine hundred years to hear these words.

We can wait a little longer."

 

This pained the praying group, but after all, that was why they had come. They knew the truth, and now they were committed to the humility required for healing the past.

 

This brings us to the essence of The Lord's Supper, also called, the Eucharist.

 

 

In the Holy Bible, 1Corinthians 11:23-34  (NASB), the Apostle Paul writes:

 

"For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;

And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,

"This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying,

"This cup is the new covenant in My blood, do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [have died].

But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment..."

 

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

 

For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly."

 

 

There was a season in the writer's life when she stopped thinking of herself as an individual in a sea of other individuals. The self-life that is so puffed up in contemporary culture was gradually disappearing from her view of life and all of its parts. Her Greek mindset was changing to a Hebraic mindset. As the Apostle Paul had put it, her mind was being "renewed. "

 

According to Holy Scripture, God had chosen the Hebrew people to know Him personally, and so reveal Him to the rest of the world. God's purpose was for the Hebrew nation to be His family.

 

At the writer's conversion, she had truly been born again by the Spirit, and been grafted into this special relationship with God - but babies don't know who they are. Born again, yes, but just a baby. She was different now, but she did not realize just HOW different she was.

 

History has shown that there have been many tragic lapses from the high calling of "God's chosen people." Their past, according to biblical prophecy, will yet be resolved for the Jewish people. As she thought about this, the reminder came:

 

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that

 

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."   2Corinthians 5:17-20

 

This passage was a very special and personal answer given to me. Just a few hours after my miracle of conversion that night in October of 1960, I asked,

"What has happened to me?" Immediately I opened my Bible to the page where I saw the passage above. I saw it lift off of the page, IN BOLD PRINT before my eyes.

 

 

I now had a new identity. This was clear: I was "in Christ." In this new identity then, I had a mission to accomplish.

 

Now I knew why I had been born. Isn't this what we ask ourselves, sooner or later? In the words of the spiritual song:

 

"Go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere!

Go, tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born!"

 

 

Oh, oh, OH!

 

 

 

The 'new me' had a new family too! The problem was that I did not know who they were, or where they were. This search has been going on now for nearly forty-nine years. To encourage me from time to time, Heavenly Father has allowed me to meet and fellowship with other members of "The Family." You may ask, WHO are "The Family?"

 

It is far easier to describe who "The Family" is not:

 

Not a religious denomination of whatever name

Not followers of a leader (other than the Son of God, Himself)

Not those who claim to be "The Family", insisting that you must be just like them

Not those who say, "Yes there is Jesus and the bible, and we have this other book too..."

Not those who worship deceased human beings and angels

Not those who worship themselves

and of course, not those who worship satan, or as some call him, lucifer (the fallen angel)

 

The reader can probably add to this list, as well.

 

 

So what then IS the Church that Jesus Himself is building?

How can we recognize the Body of Christ in this world?

 

We have to open The Book and then read what its Author has said:

 

All members of "The Family" acknowledge their sinfulness and need of a Savior.

They must be born again, believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

They must turn away [repent] from things of self, because self-anything is sin.

They must be converted (changed).

They must be baptized into the Name and nature of their Lord and Savior.

They must love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and

They must love their neighbor as themselves.

 

Having fulfilled the above requirements, each member of "The Family" must endure their appointed trials and testings until they die, or until Jesus comes again at the end of this age.

 

So let us examine ourselves, fellow believers, and make sure that we are truly members of "The Family" for which Our Lord Jesus will return.

 

This is why the Lord's Supper is so important for us.

 

As we worshipfully share His Body and His Blood,

 

W e   c a n   r e - m e m b e r

 

( p u t   t o g e t h e r   a g a I n   t h e   p a r t s   o f )

 

H i s   B o d y ,   t h e   C h u r c h.

 

                        Forgiving,  Granting mercy,

                                                Meeting one another's needs,

                                                            And the needs of the poor,   

                                                           

Q u I t e   s I m p l y ,   b y   L O V I N G   O N E   A N O T H E R .

 

Then Father God will say:

 

Now they are loving one another. Now My children understand. 

As they love one another, they are loving Me, for I indwell each of My children.

 

Now, Yeshua, My Son, I can answer your prayer,

that they all may be one, in US!   

(John, 17th chapter)

 


A M E N !





 


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