Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 2/27/21

• Dave Ramsey, Christian finance guru, selling Tennessee home for $16M

Many, no, make that MANY Christian churches are offering Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University personal finances classes to their congregants. The main reason for that is because Ramsey insists his “students” adhere to Old Testament tithing. I’m all for helping people manage their personal finances with no ulterior motives, but that’s not the case with churches and Ramsey. They’re in symbiotic cahoots. A “ministry” that results in being able to purchase $16 million dollar mansions (photo above) with cash is a giant red flag. Count me out.

• Catholic Archbishop Insists Biden Is Not A ‘Devout’ Catholic Based On Abortion Stance
• Opinion: Biden’s stance on abortion contradicts his Catholicism
• What happened to the USCCB working group on Biden?

Heated debate continues within the “big tent” of the American Catholic church over U.S. President and church member Joe Biden’s unqualified support of the abortion genocide. Recent polls reveal 56% of American Catholics support abortion on demand.

• Priest at Catholic church that flouted public health orders dies of COVID-19

Pandemic denial wasn’t/isn’t restricted to some evangelical pastors.

• Faith Crisis Amid Health Crisis: Catholics Need the Mass to Return

Roman Catholicism is ALL ABOUT its sacramental salvation system, whereby the sacraments are alleged to endow recipients with graces so that they are better able to obey the Ten Commandments (impossible!) in order to hopefully merit their way into Heaven. But Catholics haven’t had consistent access to their churches and the sacraments since the pandemic began in March 2020. Will God give them a pass because of this lack of access (I’m being facetious) or will some Roman Catholics begin to question their sacramental salvation system in light of the year-long inaccessibility?

• Pope Francis: Mass is never just ‘listened to.’ It’s ‘celebrated’ by all the faithful (not just priests)

Imagine going to an hour-long religious ceremony every week, fifty-two-weeks per year, for seventy-eight years (average U.S. lifespan), and the content of the accumulated 4000+ ceremonies is nearly-identical. That’s the “spiritual life” of U.S. Catholics. Despite the platitudes of popes, prelates, and priests in regards to the mass, Catholics who are honest with themselves know there’s not an hour of the week that’s more boring.

• Pope Francis Accepts Resignation Of Conservative African Cardinal

Since he was elected in 2013, progressive pope Francis has systematically neutralized his most-vocal conservative opponents in the college of cardinals, most notably Gerhard Müller, Raymond Burke, and now, Robert Sarah.

• Progressive Church Comes under Fire for Denying the Bible Is God’s Word

Bible-denying tares are preaching from pulpits.

• To Fight White Supremacy, Coca-Cola Discontinues Vanilla Coke (SATIRE)

Ah! I had wondered why Vanilla Coke, my favorite soda, was no longer stocked on our grocer’s shelves (see here) and now we know!

Throwback Thursday: The “Coexist” bumper sticker

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on April 27th, 2016 and has been only slightly revised.

I was driving home from work today when I spotted a “Coexist” bumper sticker on the back of the car in front of me. You’re no doubt familiar with these stickers. In place of the letters, C-o-e-x-i-s-t, the sticker substitutes symbols of various religious and humanistic belief systems. The original design was created by Polish graphic artist,  Piotr Mlodozeniec, in 2000 and has been revised by several others.

A few sources describe the symbols as follows:

• The C with the star is the crescent moon, the symbol for Islam.
• The O is the symbol for peace.
• The E includes the symbols for male & female with some also saying the “e” is symbolic of science (i.e., E=mc2).
• The X is the star of David, symbol for Judaism.
• The I is dotted with a Wiccan pentagram.
• The S is the symbol for the yin-yang, supposedly representing Eastern religions such as Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
• The T is the cross, the symbol for Christianity.

The combined symbols are meant to signify the supposed capacity of humans of different religious beliefs to live together in peace, harmony, and you-do-your-thing-and-I’ll-do-mine relativism.

Every genuine, born-again believer who sees that sticker knows better. There is only one way to ultimate peace and salvation and that’s through Jesus Christ. All other religions are idolatry. When I see a car brandishing a Coexist bumper sticker, I say to myself, that poor soul doesn’t know Jesus. We need to tell more people about the Savior. I surely try to love all people, but I don’t respect their idolatrous religions.

But the leader of a 1.2 billion member “christian” denomination teaches something very similar to that bumper sticker. The Catholic pope declares that people of all religions can be saved “if they follow the light they’ve been given” and are “good.” He says EVEN atheists will be saved if they “follow their conscience” and are “good.” That message is straight from hell. Every born-again believer who embraces the Catholic church as Christian needs to turn off TBN and start reading their Bible again.

“There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” – Matthew 10:34-36

For more Bible verses that teach Jesus is the only way to God see below:

JESUS THE ONLY WAY

Truth from Arkansas! Sunday Sermon Series, #72

It’s Two-fer-Tuesday, my friends, which means two new sermons from the brethren down in Arkansas.

First, we have Pastor Roger Copeland of Northern Hills Baptist Church in Texarkana, preaching from Luke 4:16-30 on “The Acceptable Year of the Lord.”

Next, we have Pastor Cody Andrews of Holly Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Star City preaching from Nahum 1:1-8 on “A Portrait of God.”

Both of these sermons were delivered on Sunday, February 7th.

Pastor Roger Copeland – The Acceptable Year of the Lord

Pastor Cody Andrews – A Portrait of God

Roman Catholics and the “Sign of the Cross”

One of the most common and distinguishing practices of Roman Catholics is the sign of the cross. Surely, I must have addressed this practice after 5.5 years of blogging and 1844 posts, right? Wrong. I searched my archives and couldn’t find a single post dedicated to it. Okay, let’s finally examine the ubiquitous sign of the cross.

The Roman Catholic church considers the sign of the cross to be a “sacramental,” something not as powerful as a sacrament, but still very helpful. The church officially defines sacramentals as “holy things or actions of which the church makes use to obtain for us from God, through her intercession, spiritual and temporal favors.”

In making the sign of the cross, a Catholic touches the fingers of the right hand to the forehead, to the chest, and to both shoulders while saying or silently invoking the trinitarian formula: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The sign of the cross is a self-blessing. Catholics are taught that this self-blessing will accord to them favors and protections. Catholics will reflexively practice this ritual while attending mass or other Catholic religious services. It’s believed that using “holy water” blessed by a priest in conjunction with the sign of the cross will increase the blessings. Holy water fonts are strategically located near the doorways of Catholic churches and congregants routinely dip their fingers into the fonts and bless themselves as they enter and exit the church. Outside of church, it’s common for Catholics to perform the sign of the cross during difficult and threatening circumstances. Catholics believe the sign will protect them from evil spirits and danger. In that respect, the sign of the cross is a superstitious prop in the same manner as a pagan rabbit’s foot, charm, or juju. How many movies have you seen in which a Catholic character is in dangerous circumstances and unthinkingly makes the sign of the cross upon themselves?

The sign of the cross self-blessing has its origins in the early church. Church “fathers” Tertullian and Athanasius mention it in their writings. As the early church became increasingly institutionalized, the clergy class accorded to itself increasingly greater powers including the supposed abilities to administer the sacraments and to efficaciously bless people, objects, and events. We can piece together from the writings of the “fathers” that pastors/bishops began the practice of “blessing” their congregations by tracing the sign of the cross in the air while reciting the trinitarian formula. The lay congregants responded by blessing themselves in conjunction with the clergy’s blessing, the more crosses the better, and also blessed themselves on occasions when the clergy wasn’t present. What started out as a somewhat “innocent” practice was ritualized and devolved into rank superstition.

What are we to make of the sign of the cross self-blessing? There is no mention of the ritual in the New Testament. A symbol of the cross of Christ, whether material or traced in the air with the hand, has no special powers. Roman Catholicism has a myriad of other sacramentals besides the sign of the cross including physical crosses aka “crucifixes,” rosaries, statuary, scapulars, medals, candles, etc., etc. These are all facets of Catholicism’s false salvation system that’s ultimately based upon sacramental grace and merit. In contrast, Gospel Christians preach the genuine Good News! Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ is our Savior, Lord, and ever-present Shepherd. Born-again believers do not need sacramentals, which are superstitious pagan amulets by another name.

Catholic friend, come out of works-religion and superstition. Repent (turn from your sinful rebellion against God), trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith alone, and ask the Lord to lead you to an evangelical church in your area that preaches God’s Word without compromise.

Above: Former U.S. Speaker of the House and “devout” Roman Catholic, John Boehner, casually demonstrates the sign of the cross.

Sign of the cross – what is the meaning?
https://www.gotquestions.org/sign-of-the-cross.html

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 2/20/21

• Catholic dioceses offered ‘take home’ containers for Ash Wednesday

Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday for Roman Catholics and parishes all across the country modified the ritual in reaction to the pandemic, changed from priests smudging ashes on supplicants’ foreheads to sprinkling ashes on their heads. Some Catholic parishes even offered “ashes to go” in sealed restaurant condiment cups (photo above) so that congregants could apply ashes to their own forehead at home. Ach. Imagine the apostle, Paul, fretting over some silly religious prop such as this. Regarding condiments: I like Rochester meat hot sauce and chopped onion on my hamburger (see here).

• Catholic archdiocese of Detroit to restore Sunday Mass obligation in March

Catholics MUST attend mass each and every Sunday under threat of mortal sin and eternal damnation. However, the pandemic has played havoc with this mandatory obligation. At the start of the pandemic, U.S. Catholic bishops granted dispensations, which allegedly allowed their followers to miss Sunday mass without incurring mortal sin, only to rescind and reissue the dispensations like a yo-yo as the virus waned and spiked and waned again. All of this speaks to the arbitrary legalism of Roman Catholicism.

• German bishop says Catholic Church must change its stance on homosexuality

The German Catholic prelates are the church’s progressive vanguard and they will be openly blessing homosexual “marriages” in their churches shortly. Rest assured, they’re already blessing same-sex “marriages” on the QT. Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions back in October so this next “reform” will not be such a big stretch

• As Poland’s Catholic church embraces politics, members depart

It’s not often that I use the Roman Catholic church as an example, but I’m willing to make an exception in this case. Poland’s Catholic church is in a syncretic, hand-in-glove relationship with the ruling Law and Justice conservative political party. Poland’s younger, urban citizens are generally NOT pleased with this church-state symbiosis and are leaving the Polish Catholic church in droves as a result. American evangelicals should take note.

• Catholic archbishop warns of ‘doctrinal abuse’ undermining RCC

Catholic archbishop and former papal nuncio to the Unites States, Carlo Viganò, has been a publicly defiant critic of pope Francis since 2018. I placed a library hold on the biography of Viganò that is mentioned in this article. It should be interesting reading.

• Romanian Orthodox Church’s full-immersion baptism ritual under fire after infant dies

Immersing a baby underwater once, let alone three times, as was done in this Romanian Orthodox infant baptism ceremony, is absolutely insane. The Catholic and Eastern Orthodox teaching that an infant becomes a born-again Christian when they are baptized (baptize means “immerse,” but Catholics only sprinkle infants) is also insane and anti-Biblical.

• Hillsong Church Global Lead Pastor Steps Down

Brian Houston and his Hillsong music troupe took mega-church, hipsterism to new lows, but Houston’s getting a bit “long in the tooth” for hipster Hillsong. I would have thought a Stephen Furtick clone would have been chosen to replace Houston instead of an equally old Gary Clarke, but perhaps they think an outwardly “mature” leader is appropriate after the Carl Lentz scandal. The hipster mega-church I formerly attended periodically featured Hillsong music videos with the Hillsong emblem clearly visible on the corner of the screen.

• Judge denies former IFB pastor’s bid to be released from prison

A federal judge has denied former IFB celebrity pastor, Jack Schaap’s request that his prison sentence be shortened due to his parents’ failing health. Schaap was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2013 for seducing a female high school student. See my previous post on Schaap here.

Throwback Thursday: Is it OK to eat Chicken in a Biskit crackers on Fridays during Lent?

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the first day of the 40-day Lenten season for Roman Catholics. So for today’s Throwback Thursday installment, we’re rolling out this old chestnut that was originally published back on February 22, 2016 and has become an annual Lenten staple here at excatholic4christ. Enjoy!

This morning, I was listening to the 10/30/15 podcast of the Calling All Catholics talk radio show on The Station of the Cross, 101.7 FM, out of Buffalo, New York. Catholic priest, Dave Baker, was taking questions, assisted by moderator, Mike Denz.

One of the listeners had a question regarding the church’s rule on mandatory abstinence from meat on Fridays during Lent, which I thought was quite timely because we’re currently in the Lenten season. Because the Catholic church absolutely forbids meat on Fridays during Lent, any Catholic who defiantly consumes meat allegedly commits a “mortal” sin and is doomed to hell for eternity unless they confess the sin to a priest.

But the rule’s not always as cut and dry as a juicy rib-eye steak or a succulent pork chop. The listener wanted to know if the ban on meat even included something like beef bouillon. Priest Baker irresolutely suggested that beef bouillon was “probably” permissible to consume, but encouraged the person to visit the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ web site to get the specific details.

Well, being the curious sinner-saved-by-grace that I am, I went to the USCCB website and found the following information:

Q. I understand that all the Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence from meat, but I’m not sure what is classified as meat. Does meat include chicken and dairy products?

A. Abstinence laws consider that meat comes only from animals such as chickens, cows, sheep or pigs — all of which live on land. Birds are also considered meat. Abstinence does not include meat juices and liquid foods made from meat. Thus, such foods as chicken broth, consomme, soups cooked or flavored with meat, meat gravies or sauces, as well as seasonings or condiments made from animal fat are technically not forbidden. However, moral theologians have traditionally taught that we should abstain from all animal-derived products (except foods such as gelatin, butter, cheese and eggs, which do not have any meat taste). Fish are a different category of animal. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, (cold-blooded animals) and shellfish are permitted.

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/questions-and-answers-about-lent.cfm

So while the bishops say it’s “technically OK” to consume meat-based broths, gravies, and seasonings, they add that Catholic moral theologians have traditionally taught that Catholics should abstain from all animal-derived products with the exception of products that don’t taste like meat.

Yikes! I’m still confused. This is getting more complicated than college calculus. Okay, let’s try to break it down using my favorite cracker, Chicken in a Biskit, as an example. One of the ingredients listed on the box of the cracker is “dehydrated cooked chicken.” So, is it a “mortal” sin for a Catholic to eat Chicken in a Biskit crackers on Friday during Lent? The U.S. bishops say meat-based seasonings are OK, but then turn around and say the church’s moral theologians forbid any meat derivative that tastes like meat. And, yes, Chicken in a Biskit crackers taste somewhat like chicken. So, which is it? I WANT TO KNOW! Is it OK to eat Chicken in a Biskit crackers or not? Will a Catholic go to hell for all eternity because they ate a Chicken in a Biskit cracker on Friday during Lent????

Ridiculous? Absolutely. The Bible doesn’t say anything about abstaining from meat on Fridays, but it does warn against religious leaders who forbid certain foods. All of these complicated abstinence rules remind me of the Pharisees who took the Mosaic Law that no one could obey absolutely anyway (except for Jesus Christ), and made it even more intricate and burdensome.

Praise the Lord for freeing me from the legalistic chains and man-made traditions of Roman Catholicism! We all sin every day by breaking God’s Biblical commandments. But God loved us so much He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross. Then Jesus rose from the grave, conquering sin and death, and offers eternal life and fellowship with God to all those who repent (turn from their rebellion against God) and accept Him as Savior by faith alone. Accept Christ and seek out an evangelical church in your area that teaches God’s Word without compromise.

For more of my thoughts regarding Lent see here and here and here.

Truth from Arkansas! Sunday Sermon Series, #71

It’s Two-fer-Tuesday, my friends, which means two new sermons from the brethren down in Arkansas.

First, we have Pastor Roger Copeland of Northern Hills Baptist Church in Texarkana, preaching from Luke 4:1-13 on “The Temptation of the Christ.”

Next, we have Pastor Cody Andrews of Holly Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Star City, preaching from 2 Peter 3:8-14 on “What a Day That Will Be.”

Both of these sermons were delivered on Sunday, January 31st.

Pastor Roger Copeland – The Temptation of the Christ

Pastor Cody Andrews – What a Day That Will Be

A Look Back at “Up With People!”

The funny thing about being older (I’m 64.5 YO) is I can remember a lot of things from my childhood better than I can remember last week.

In Catholic grammar school back in the 1960s, the nuns really loved for us young students to sing songs. Ach! There were plenty of Catholic religious songs and also secular songs. The nuns always chose the smartest and most popular girl in our class, Ann C., to come up to the front of the classroom and lead the singing. Well, singing was never one of my fortes and, truth be told, I thought Ann was pretty cute and I was much more interested in watching her sing than singing any of the songs myself. But I digress.

One of those old songs turns up in my head occasionally. A musical troupe called “Up With People” was founded in 1965* as an organization for young adults “that enabled them to interact with the world through positivity and music.” It was clearly a “healthy,” establishment-sanctioned alternative to the burgeoning, counter-culture, hippie movement. The ensemble’s signature “sing-out” folk song, “Up With People!,” was featured on many television variety shows at the time. It was a cultural phenomenon. Many adults breathed a sigh of relief. “Ah, not ALL youth are going down the toilet,” they consoled themselves. While our parents loved the song, it was waaaaaay too square for us nine-year-old hipsters who were already listening to the Beatles and the Byrds. Regrettably, the nuns at our parochial school also loved the song and forced it upon us along with all of the requisite corny body motions (see video below).

I was thinking about the “Up With People!” song recently and it strikes me now that some of the lyrics are antithetical to the Gospel. Let’s take a look, shall we?

(Verse 1)
It happened just this morning, I was walking down the street
The milkman and the postman and policeman I did meet
There in ev’ry window and ev’ry single door
I recognized people I’d never noticed before

(Chorus)
Up! Up with people!
You meet ‘em wherever you go
Up! Up with people!
They’re the best kind of folks we know
If more people were for people
All people ev’rywhere
There’d be a lot less people to worry about
And a lot more people who care
There’d be a lot less people to worry about
And a lot more people who care

(Verse 2)
People from the south-land and people from the north
Like a mighty army, I saw them coming forth
‘Twas a great reunion, befitting of a king!
Then I realized people are more important than things

(Chorus)

(Verse 3)
Inside everybody there’s some bad and there’s some good
But don’t let anybody start attacking people-hood
Love them as they are, but fight for them to be
Great men and great women as God meant them to be

(Chorus)

Yup, you spotted it. Verse 3 is a problem. It propagates a Christ-less universalism and civil religion. Everybody has some good in them, it says, and we all have to help each other reach the greatness potential that the nebulous, inter-faith deity allegedly desires for us. Every works-religionist can subscribe to this song. No wonder the nuns loved it. Hey, it just occurred to me that this song is very similar to a Joel Osteen “sermon.”

In contrast, the Bible declares there is none righteous, no, not one. We are all sinful beings and we all deserve eternal punishment. But Jesus Christ, God the Son, was punished for our sins on the cross of Calvary. He defeated sin and death by rising from the grave and offers eternal life and fellowship with God to all those who trust in Him as their Savior by faith alone.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

Positivity won’t cleanse your soul, cure the evils of the world, or get you to Heaven! Jesus Christ alone is the Way to Heaven.

*After a little digging, I discovered the Up With People organization had its roots in the ecumenical, inter-religious “Moral Re-Armament” (MRA) movement, which began in 1938. See the Wiki article here.

Addendum: We were subversive little nine-year-old rascals and I remember myself and a few buddies conspiratorily changing the last lines of the chorus from…

There’d be a lot less people to worry about
And a lot more people who care

to

There’d be a lot MORE people to worry about
And a lot LESS people who care

But we didn’t sing the rebellious alternate lyrics loud enough for the temperamentally volatile nun to hear us.

Up With People lingered on after its 1965 peak and actually appeared as the marquee halftime act at Super Bowls X (1976), XIV (1980), XVI (1982), and XX (1986). A scaled down Up With People is still in existence, continuing to crusade for the cause of worldwide brotherhood (see website here).

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 2/13/21

• Catholics will receive sprinkling of ashes on top of head instead of smudge on forehead

This coming Wednesday, February 17th, is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent on the Catholic liturgical calendar. Unlike Sundays and “Holy Days of Obligation,” mass attendance is not mandatory on Ash Wednesday, but Catholics flock to church anyway because they enjoy receiving ashes on their forehead, which they then proudly display throughout the day, all of which is un-Biblical (see here). In consideration of the current pandemic, this year’s ashes will be sprinkled on top of the supplicant’s head rather than smudged on their forehead (see photo above). Methinks many Catholics will be thinking, “What’s the point of getting ashes if I can’t proudly display them?” Hmm, I strongly suspect there’s a Lenten-themed, Chicken-in-a-Biskit post coming up in the near future.

• Vatican rejects Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary appeal

The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary religious order was begun by Catholic priest, Leonard Feeney (1897-1978), who famously opposed the Roman Catholic church’s drift into universal salvation theology in the 1940s and 1950s before he was excommunicated. See my relevant post here. The RCC once taught that only Catholics could be saved, but now teaches that all religionists and even atheists can merit Heaven if they “follow their conscience” and are “good.”

• Bishop aims to ‘reinspire’ Catholics to have deeper love of God in Eucharist

Catholicism teaches that consuming the allegedly transubstantiated Jesus wafer at mass is the “source and summit of Christian spirituality.” With Catholics prevented from attending mass because of COVID-19, the basis of Catholic “spirituality,” physically ingesting the faux Jesus wafer, has derailed.

• Catholic bishop warns against ‘weaponization of Eucharist’ with elected officials

While I didn’t include a lot of articles this weekend about the RCC’s dilemma regarding the status of abortion genocide-enabler, Joe Biden, the controversy continues. In this article, a liberal prelate argues against excommunicating Biden.

• Israel outpaced the world in vaccinations. Now it’s seeing the results.

Great to see that Israel has taken a serious, coordinated approach against COVID-19, unlike here in the U.S.

• Conservative Catholic opposition to pope Francis rooted in opposition to Vatican II

This article provides a good summary of the current tug-of-war within the RCC between conservatives and progressives.

• Pope names nun as one of Vatican’s dual synod undersecretaries

Pope Francis is “greasing the skids” as a preliminary to women being ordained as deacons.

• Bruce Springsteen’s Super Bowl commercial meant as a ‘prayer’ for unity
• Steve Harvey says ‘there’s no one way to Heaven’

Wide-is-the-way, pseudo-Christianity made its mark again with Bruce Springsteen’s interfaith chapel featured in a Jeep commercial shown during the Super Bowl and also with faux-Christian entertainer, Steve Harvey’s recent declaration that all religions lead to Heaven.

Throwback Thursday: Why did Jesus tell the apostles to buy a sword?

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on April 29, 2016 and has been revised.

The Bible is an inexhaustible fountain of knowledge and wisdom. I need God’s Word every day just like I need food, water, and oxygen. The Holy Spirit uses the Word to teach me, correct me, admonish me, encourage me, comfort me, and delight me. Praise the Lord for His wonderful and glorious Word!

The depths of Scripture can never be plumbed in this lifetime. I’ve read verses and passages many times without really understanding the full extent of their meaning. Then one day I’ll be reading a verse and, “Pow!,” the Holy Spirit illuminates it to me so that I really “get it” for the first time. I’m sure that’s happened to many of you as well.

I’m currently reading through Luke and yesterday I was reading chapter 22, verses 35-38:

³⁵ And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” ³⁶ He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. ³⁷ For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” ³⁸ And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”

I’ve read this passage many times before but it never “clicked” with me. Why did Jesus instruct His apostles to buy a “sword” (Greek: makhaira: generally a large knife or sword with a single cutting edge) when He subsequently rebuked Peter for violently wielding one of those swords in the Garden of Gethsemane just a few verses later (v. 51), causing the reader to question if Jesus had contradicted Himself. I asked the young pastor of the church we attended last year about this seeming contradiction and he confessed he didn’t know the answer. In the documentary, “Fight Church,” the macho son of the macho former-pastor of the independent fundamental Baptist church we used to attend, who is now the pastor, uses these verses to justify Christians owning guns and violently kicking some butt whenever needed.

But as I read the verses yesterday, the Holy Spirit finally illuminated their meaning to me. Jesus told the apostles to buy a sword to fulfill prophetic Scripture:

“Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” – Isaiah 53:12.

Jesus was with Peter and the apostles in Gethsemane when Peter transgressed by using a sword to cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest. Jesus was counted among the violent anomos (lawbreakers). Oh, I get it now! It’s so simple. So easy. Why didn’t I understand it before? Jesus even states QUITE CLEARLY in the passage that the need for a sword was to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy that He would be numbered among the criminals:

“…and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’”

Why didn’t my previous pastor just out of seminary know this? Why does the IFB macho pastor not see this, but instead twists the passage to support his own misguided, macho man viewpoint? Why didn’t John MacArthur, J. Vernon McGee, and other notable Bible commentators understand this clearly obvious reason for Jesus’ instruction to buy a sword? Because it’s the Holy Spirit who illuminates God’s Word to us. Understanding of God’s Word doesn’t come to us from our own human wisdom.

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” – John 16:13

Jesus would also be numbered with the transgressors when He hung on the cross between the two criminals.

“With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.” – Mark 15:27-28

Jesus interceded for Peter after his violent act and He also interceded for the repentant criminal hanging beside Him (along with all the rest of us sinners who trust in Him by faith alone), just as Isaiah had foretold.

Lord, thank You for Your Word and for illuminating Your Truths which we can’t possibly discern through our own human understanding.

Note from February 11, 2021: I’m a bit embarrassed by my bold certitude regarding the interpretation of this difficult “let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one” passage. I still hold to the above interpretation (which seems quite obvious to me), but in retrospect I would ratchet down my “triumphant” tone a few notches.