Word 6

In vs.3 John expands on vs.1-2.

By establishing Jesus as the Word John delivered a sword thrust into the mindset of his age. Existence was no longer an imperfect copy of a perfect idea from some kind of perfect intellectual atmosphere or the result of some kind of impersonal force or mysterious mind at work. It was Creation created by a creative person, an identifiable person, a spiritual person, a person who preexisted time. God was now more than a vague concept somewhere…

The Word 5

The Gospel of John? It’s magnetic. I find every word draws me inexorably to ask why. John is a spiritual eye opener. Its first words are its context which is why I try to glean as much as I can from the first two verses, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” If I can let the thoughts about these two verses flow then the rest of the Gospel falls into a deeper place and lifts me higher every time I…

Why does John begin His Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God?” It certainly is different than the way the other three Gospels start. Again I would beg your patience as I attempt an explanation.

I have a friend who when we go out for lunch or dinner has a way of moving the conversation to center around the person of Jesus. It is not that he doesn’t engage in casual talk. It’s that he has a fascination with how Jesus works in his life and…

WORD!

That’s right, Word. Word is the basic tool of communication. It carries everything we are, our identity, our meaning, our purpose and actually reflects the image of God in us. Please bear with me as I make my plea for the importance of this word.

The spoken word is more than a sound wave that hits our ear. If you really think about it every word has a cause in its use. It’s conveying something intentional. The one using a word is sending a message from the inner self. As…

June 29, 2012

The Chief Justice Done Good

By Dov Fischer, adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School, is a columnist for several online magazines and is rabbi of Young Israel of Orange County. He blogs at rabbidov.com.

Chief Justice John Roberts has handed a remarkable victory to American conservatives by threading the judicial needle with perfect precision. The initial disappointment collectively felt by Americans who had…

The following is a synopsis of an article by a rabbi and law professor concerning the supreme Court Decision.  Thought you might want to see this. And the full article will be available after this.  ><>W

The Chief Justice Done Good

(By Dov Fischer, adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School, is a columnist for several online magazines and is rabbi of Young Israel of Orange County. He blogs at…

Present political and judicial announcements demand a response. It’s Our Time to Take a Stand. It’s all about today. Today leadership on every level has been compromised, failed and betrayed us. Today it’s our time to act in terms of who and what we really are. Listen to Jeremiah:

“Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight…

Media news comes and goes.  It’s sensational for a few days and then disappears until something more novel comes along.  There’s the illusion.  News is not really new at all.  The novelty is not in the reported event but in the way the event is packaged and even the packaging is not necessarily novel.  It’s just different.  The themes, the human dynamics driving an event, are nothing new.  No matter how you clothe the exterior you don’t change the interior.  Biblical wisdom applied to news…

If ever there was a personal message from the Lord God about stepping out in faith and knowing you’re not alone it comes in His Words to Jeremiah, “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you…

There is no end to what Scripture can do when it comes to speaking to the moment. Every moment is a spiritual moment and created to be a God-moment in which we can experience what makes everything run. Scripture is a treasure of constant heart-moving inspiration for every next moment. That is, if you are open to its message for the moment, open to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit behind and in its words. Just as the Spirit was hovering as described in Genesis 1 Scripture is the place over which…

Belief, trust and faith are the ‘triple crown’ built into every human being from birth. They are the born-in capacities that make us human beings. Belief for the mind, trust for the heart and faith for the spirit cap the royal garments of character, integrity and maturity. The problem is until we recognize their source we will never realize their potential nor will we ever understand that we are created images of a creative God who are meant to creatively exercise the crown with which we…

Belief, Trust, Faith

There is a never ending supply of personal support from the Word of God. When you are open to letting it speak there is always something new and fresh. That is one of the beauties of its impression. The many times you hear it used in study and worship it seems there is always something new and special the Holy Spirit has for each of us. But there is a whole lot more if we are open to letting it work to achieve God’s purpose for us.

There are three ways to…

Strongholds Ongoing

The visual pictures of strongholds can be found over and over again in the Old Testament. The villages, towns, cities, fortresses, empires and kingdoms of men are all external attempts to give the promise and appearance of inner security. These days that is expressed when we say ‘we’ve got our act together.’ While Genesis records their beginning they appear throughout the history of Israel and God sends prophets to identify them so that the people of Israel will…

“The problem with sin is that it does its best in us to deny its existence. When we use the word sin note the reaction it causes, defensiveness, like “Ok, so I make mistakes but I’m not as bad as other people, especially those you read about in the newspaper and see on TV. I’m really a good person at heart.” Self-deception is sin’s major accomplishment (Strongholds and Idols 6/11/12).”

When discussing strongholds there is no question that defensiveness is a major symptom---but--- it’s…

In the last article we defined strongholds in terms of their synonyms like pretense, fantasy, hang-up, attitude and defensiveness. This time we are going to add another one---mindset. When we come up with some kind of a conclusion about human experience we set our minds on it as truth and build our responses around it.

When I was hitchhiking back in the late 40’ and 50’s I got a job on Cape Cod. What I noticed there was the really ‘in’ people were well to do and dressed a certain way.…

Strongholds Strangle

The idea of strongholds needs some comparison so we know what we are talking about. By comparison I mean other words that help us see what strongholds are. Words like fantasy, attitude, imagination, hang-ups, opinionated, pretense, defensiveness, even emotional conditions like neurosis and psychosis, all of these can be summed up by saying ‘when it comes to people and the world my experience is the best authority.’ This is man thinking and acting apart from…

The idea of strongholds needs some comparison so we know what we are talking about. By comparison I mean other words that help us see what strongholds are. Words like fantasy, attitude, imagination, hang-ups, opinionated, pretense, defensiveness, even emotional conditions like neurosis and psychosis, all of these can be summed up by saying ‘when it comes to people and the world my experience is the best authority.’ This is man thinking and acting apart from God.

Strongholds seem to…

There is an extreme difference between revelation and intuition. Revelation is external and intuition is internal. Revelation means that what has been revealed is from outside and intuition means what is deduced from within. Applied to each of us everything we learn is revealed from outside and processed within. From birth revelation takes place every next moment. Parents attempt to reveal, through how they train us, what life is all about and how to live it. Friends and enemies, schools and…

When we consider the immediate responses of people to circumstances in which they find themselves it is vital we grasp the fact that what motivates those responses comes from deep inner heart reflexes. The heart is the subject. What happens there determines response. What we need to evaluate is the reason for, the purpose of and the meaning behind those responses. And, because we are disciples of Jesus, we need to do it His way, which is to go to the Word to understand the…

They may be ignorant about aspects of personal and relational living (most of us are) but they are not dumb when it comes to manipulating the public for power. Politics is a studied science of manipulation. Once we understand that principle we can begin to analyze political behavior. There are any number of clues to the deviousness of political maneuvering. It’s not the politician alone you see on TV and read about in the paper that is necessarily at fault. It’s the shadow political cadre,…