The Baptism and Temptation of Christ

Let’s share together some lessons from God’s word. 

Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him.  But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have the need to be baptized by You, and yet You are coming to me?”  But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.  After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and settling on Him,  and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17 NASB)[1] 

Note that when Jesus was baptized, it was to fulfill all righteousness - not just for a ceremonial purification.  It is because Jesus was perfectly righteous that He was the unblemished Lamb needed to pay the price for our sins.  The use of capitalization by the translators to identify our Lord shows that it was their judgement that John the Baptist saw the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus.  John heard and understood the voice of God. 

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.  And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” 

Then the devil took Him along into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,  and he said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written: 

‘HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS ORDERS CONCERNING YOU’; 

and 

‘ON THEIR HANDS THEY WILL LIFT YOU UP, SO THAT YOU DO NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’” 

Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’” 

Again, the devil took Him along to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;  and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”  

Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” 

Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to serve Him. (Matthew 4:1-11 NASB)[2] 

Jesus was tempted as we are, but He did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15) He was without food for 40 days and nights.  That He was hungry, is an understatement.  His human body must have also been weakened physically.  Yet, Jesus said that the works He did were the works of His Father. (John 10:32,14:10)  Tempted as He must have been to turn stones into bread, He refused to perform miracles at the command of Satan. 

The devil used scripture to try to deceive when he told Jesus to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple.  You can be certain that Satan knows the scriptures, and that he still tries to twist them to cause believers to sin.  That is why we must study the whole wisdom of God and submit to the counsel of the Holy Spirit. 

Satan is a liar. (John 8:44)  He intended to take the kingdoms of the world away, not to give them to Jesus.  If the Son of God had worshiped Satan, He would have lost His birthright to rule the kingdoms of the world with an iron scepter as Messiah. He also would have sinned, and then He could not have been our Savior.    However, He rebuked Satan and sent him away, and God sent angels to care for Jesus. 

There is one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Because He was faithful to the end and died for us, we can have eternal life.  All glory and honor be to God whose love knows no bounds.

 

 

 

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[1] https://biblehub.com/nasb_/matthew/3.htm

[2] https://biblehub.com/nasb_/matthew/4.htm

Praise Report

In an answer to a specific prayer, the Lord has blessed us in a wonderful way today.  We praise Him for His love, kindness, and help.  God is good - all the time!

What do You Believe?

Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all believe in something.  Most of the things we believe in can be verified by our senses.  We can see the sun and feel its warmth, so we believe it exists.  We can hear dogs bark and know they are nearby.  We believe there is a skunk living under the shed because we can smell it.  When we get out of bed in the morning, we believe the floor under our feet will support our weight.

To believe  in something is to accept or regard it as true.[1] If we accept with certainty that something exists or is true[2] we say it is a belief.

Religions, science, and philosophies are organized systems of related beliefs.  They are often ardently championed by their adherents.

Atheists do not believe any deity exists.  The agnostic believes that ultimate reality is not known and may not be knowable.  They are, consequently, not committed to the existence or nonexistence of a deity.  Essentially, the agnostic believes that we can only know with certainty what we perceive with our senses.  Atheism and agnosticism are belief systems.

The skeptic questions facts, attitudes, and beliefs that others say are true.  The skeptic wants to test ideas to see if they are true and tries to accept nothing at face value.  He or she wants proof. For the skeptic, the belief that things must be questioned is axiomatic.  It is their belief system.

What if something cannot be confirmed by observation?  What if it may exist, but it cannot be seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted?  What if it is an idea that cannot be verified by scientific experiments?  Freud theorized that the personality includes an Id, Ego, and Superego.  We are told that the universe was formed by a huge, spontaneously occurring explosion billions of years ago.  Did life begin on Earth by spontaneous generation as well?  Have you observed life erupt from a mixture of ocean ooze and sunlight?  Today, scientists are speculating about the existence of dark matter in space.  Sounds okay to me, but where is the conclusive evidence?

A theory is an unproved speculation about reality?  Have any of these widely accepted theories been upheld in a conclusive way?   Light seems to bend in space, and memories long forgotten can be brought back to recall when the brain is stimulated with electrodes.  These observations do not, however, prove with certainty the existence of the unconscious, or subconscious mind, or dark matter.

Some theoretical concepts defy verification.  Nonetheless, to many people these ideas make a lot of sense.  Many believe  they are true simply because learned people say they are.

If we give credence to the unproven speculations of science, philosophy, and political systems, does not fundamental fairness require that we consider the possibility that God exists, too?  If we are skeptical about the Almighty God, must we not at least apply the same degree of rigorous examination to other belief systems?

Knowledgeable Christian apologists have debated unbelievers of all kinds, making the case for our One God in Three Persons … the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They have shown that creation attests to its Creator, and that over 300 biblical prophesies were fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.  They have explained the statistical impossibility that the universe and life were spontaneously generated, and that it is virtually impossible for so many prophesies to be fulfilled in one life by accident.  They have revealed the proofs that the Holy Bible is reliable and is an exact representation of the ancient scriptural manuscripts.  The archeological evidence confirming biblical events, and the corroboration of the Bible by ancient secular manuscripts substantiate that the Bible is the truth.  They have demonstrated the internal consistency of the Bible and explained any apparent contradictions in it.  The scope of this post does not permit me to elaborate.  Simply put these apologists have proved the existence of God as he has revealed Himself in the Bible.  There is nothing more I can say that will add to their scholarly arguments.  I can only tell my experience.

From where I sit what Jesus said of the Pharisees may be true of today’s unbelievers as well.  “… You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” (Matthew 23:24 NIV)[3]

God is Spirit, and He is not apprehended by our five senses.  Jesus promised, however, that if we earnestly seek Him we will find Him. (Matthew 7:7-8)  God is not unknown or unknowable.  He has given us the Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit.  Everything that we need to know about God is available to us in His Holy Word.  If we believe in Him, God will cause us to feel His presence and see the result of it in our lives.  If we trust God the Son (Jesus Christ) for our salvation, He will give us His Holy Spirit, dwelling within us, to guide and teach us as we read the Word.

God is real.  I can testify it’s true from my own experience.

How would you like to come into the very presence of Almighty God and worship Him for giving you life everlasting?  Believe in Jesus Christ today and then walk as Jesus walked.

 

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[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/believe

[2] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/belief

[3] https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/23.htm

 

Mistakes to Learn From Afghanistan

“There is no avoiding war;

it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.”

Niccolo Machiavelli

https://www.brainyquote.com/search_results?x=33&y=17&q=niccolo+machiavelli

It is easier to see clearly when looking at past events, than it is to forecast the future.  It might be helpful for all of us to remember that the decisions that resulted in the War in Afghanistan were made with the information  available at the time, and without the benefit of hindsight, (although a little regard for History might have helped.)  It is a mistake to judge what has taken place in Afghanistan without considering that decision making usually takes place without complete information.  In decision making, we never have all the information needed, nor do we even have enough useful information to guarantee a successful outcome all of the time.  In some cases, leaders may consider it to be better to act decisively, rather than to vacillate, even if there is a risk of being wrong.

On September 11, 2001, airliners hijacked by 19 terrorists aligned with al-Qaeda were deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  Another hijacked airliner crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when the passengers heroically struggled with the terrorists to get control of it.  On that terrible day, around 3,000 people died.  First responders and civilians are still dying from exposure to the smoke and debris.  The primary cause of the War in Afghanistan was the 9/11 attacks, and it is a mistake to think otherwise.

We may never know the whole truth about why Usama bin Laden ordered the 9/11 attacks.  We do know that American military actions have been taking place in the Middle East and Afghanistan ever since.  Many militant Islamists have paid with their lives, including Usama bin Laden himself.  Regardless of the ultimate outcome in Afghanistan, it was a mistake for bin Laden to kick over that kind of hornets’ nest.  It drew the United States deeper into the affairs of the Muslim world, rather than moving us out.

It was a mistake for President Bush to allow a businessman like Donald Rumsfeld to direct the military efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.  War is not a matter of controlling costs by allocating “just enough” resources to achieve “limited and clearly defined objectives.”  The military needs to be able to bring overwhelming force to bear in order to seize and retain the initiative and to find, fix, close with, and destroy the enemy.  If there are insufficient resources to fix the enemy to a position, they will not be completely destroyed, and their escape cannot be blocked.  In Afghanistan, some of the bad guys got away.  We must not try to prosecute war “on the cheap.”

President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary Rumsfeld  made a mistake when they opened a second front in Iraq  before the job was done in Afghanistan.  The resources needed to close the deal in Afghanistan were diverted to Iraq, and it doomed the effort in Afghanistan to a slow and agonizing death.

In my opinion, it is a mistake to regard the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria as individual wars.  Rather, it is better to view them as theaters of operations in a larger War on Terror.  Immediately following the September 11^th attacks, President George W. Bush spoke eloquently about such a war.  In what some called “the Bush doctrine” the President said that the United States would wage this war wherever terrorists were found.  He warned that the war would last a long time, and that for America to survive we must not lose our resolve.  Somehow along the way those ideas got lost, and we need to find them again.

On her Fox News program, The Ingram Angle, I recently heard Laura Ingram point out that the United States of America has not decisively won a war since World War II.  She suggested that we needed new decision makers with a different approach to waging war. Amen.

It is a mistake for America to go to war unless we are willing to do whatever it takes to win it.  Winning a war means to destroy the enemy until they are unable and unwilling to fight.  It does not mean to achieve limited and clearly defined objectives.  It is a mistake to allow the enemy to have sanctuaries where they can recover, reorganize, and then conduct “asymmetrical warfare.”

War is the worst, most horrible thing humankind does.  I wish that there could be an end to it.  So far as I know, however, there will be war until Jesus Christ returns to Earth to set up His thousand-year kingdom.  We should do everything humanly possible to avoid going to war.  If we cannot avoid it, we must stop trying to fight with one hand tied behind our back.  We must fight to win … fight until the threat to our country is utterly destroyed.  As Albert Einstein is reported to have said, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.’  It is a mistake to fight limited, no-win wars.

It is a mistake to generalize.  Countries differ in history, culture, religion, social organization, economic resources, and infrastructure, to name a few. What worked in one country may not be possible in another.  We helped Italy, Germany, Japan and others rebuild after WWII.  We helped South Korea become a wonderful success story.  That did not work in Afghanistan.  About a decade ago an informed source who had served for a number of years in Afghanistan told me that country would revert to what it used to be before our involvement, the minute we pulled out.  Was it a  mistake for us to stay so long and try to help the Afghan people learn to have a better life?  Only if we were not prepared to stay there as long as it takes.  Only if we were not willing to pursue and destroy the Taliban, no matter where they took refuge.

To put all the blame on any one President for our failure in Afghanistan is a mistake.  President Biden’s mismanagement of the final withdrawal, however, has done incalculable damage to America and Afghanistan.

To think we can fix the way we wage war without revamping our entire way of waging war is also a mistake.  We cannot use even battalion sized special operations units when the situation calls for overwhelming force from Brigade or Division sized units with tank, artillery, and air support.

It is a mistake to think it is over.  The War on Terror will not end until the terrorists stop waging war on us.

“Wars begin when you will,

but they do not end when you please.”

Niccolo Machiavelli.

https://philosiblog.com/2012/10/06/wars-begin-when-you-will-but-they-do-not-end-when-you-please/

 

Opportunity Cost

In his poem, The Road Not Taken, the great American poet, Robert Frost, penned the famous line:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

https://poets.org/poem/road-not-taken

Economists talk about “opportunity cost.”  Generally applied, it is the benefit we lose when we choose one alternative over another. Let’s say a person may want a new car and a boat, but they do not have the money to buy both. If they buy the car, they get the benefit of dependable transportation, but they lose the recreational opportunities afforded by owning a boat. You get the idea.

Opportunity cost is typically used in relation to consumer choices. I think it may be useful in understanding the consequences of choices made in other scenarios, as well. 

In the 2016 election, American voters gave the Republican Party the Presidency, and control of the House of Representatives and Senate. In the best tradition of their party, however, they managed to rescue defeat from the jaws of victory. 

Donald Trump was a political outsider who wanted to change the way Washington did business. The knee-jerk reaction of “establishment” Republicans in the legislative branch was to oppose him. They willfully refused to consider the benefits the country might enjoy if Mr. Trump’s policies were codified in law. 

Chief among these old school Republicans was the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. Speaker Ryan managed to torpedo the bulk of President Trump’s initiatives before they got out of the dock. 

Instead of taking the road less traveled, the “never Trumpers” remained mired in the old, misguided Republican policies that were holding the country back. They wanted the more familiar, “safer” road; because that was the way it had always been done … and it was the path to personal enrichment through “public service.” 

Consequently, President Trump had to content himself with revoking the regulations President Obama had established by executive order, and to implementing those of his policies that he could by executive order. The benefits were almost immediate, but the Republicans in the House and Senate ignored them. 

Like President Obama before him, much of what President Trump tried to do by executive order was immediately revoked when the succeeding (Biden) administration came into power.

The Democrats, however, are not ones to squander an opportunity.  The present squabble over spending aside, they are acting with a great deal of party unity – to the detriment of the United States of America. Like Tennyson’s Light Brigade, they continue the charge, undaunted by ‘failures to the right of them, failures to the left of them and failures in front of them.’  All the while, the RINO Republicans continue to fumble the ball. 

Painful as it may be, try to bring yourself to think about the opportunity cost resulting from the establishment Republicans’ choice to oppose President Trump’s policy initiatives, simply because they didn’t like him. After we finish crying our eyes out, then let’s try our best to throw out the RINO’s along with the Democrats in the 2022 and 2024 elections.

 

Grace and Works

We are saved by Grace, which is to say by God’s mercy, through faith in Jesus Christ.  We are not able to be righteous enough to earn our salvation by doing good in our own strength.  When we are saved, the Holy Spirit dwells within us enabling us to do the things that please God.

For the grace of God has appeared,  bringing salvation to all people,  instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age,  looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,  who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds. (Titus 2:11-14 NASB)

 https://biblehub.com/nasb_/titus/2.htm 

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,  He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,  whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  This statement is trustworthy; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. (Titus 3:3-8 NASB) 

https://biblehub.com/nasb_/titus/3.htm

All we have to do to receive this wonderful salvation is to believe in God the Son, Jesus Christ.  When we do, we become a new creation, able to live for God and do His will.  Please believe in Jesus and be saved today.

Our Mission

Some things are done for more than one reason.  Our primary reason for writing Lamp in a Corner is to tell people the Gospel (good news) about Jesus Christ.  We want to be used by Holy Spirit to help people find eternal life in Jesus, and to learn how to live in a way that pleases God.

We also provide information that will help others to view current events from a different perspective.  It is our desire that in doing so we might influence public opinion in some small way so that the United States of America will return to a path that is more consistent with the traditional values we have historically embraced.

In discussing secular current events, we endeavor to provide information tactfully, so that people do not reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they are offended by our opinions.  We want to inform, not to alienate.  At the same time, however, what we say must be honest and authentic.

As always, our foremost guide to faith and action is the Holy Bible.  We often research other sources to be certain that we provide correct information.

Please take a couple of minutes to read the passages of scripture below. They are examples of what guides us.  All Christians are called to follow these teachings. Please accept our thanks for sharing with us in God’s Word. 

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by people. 

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;  nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16 NASB) 

https://biblehub.com/nasb_/matthew/5.htm 

I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom:  Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. 

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.  They will reject the truth and chase after myths. 

But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you. (2Timothy 4:1-5 NLT) 

https://biblehub.com/nlt/2_timothy/4.htm 

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 18-20 NASB) 

https://biblehub.com/nasb_/matthew/28.htm