Come On Now!
Author: Pat Aman
I would like to start by saying I was raised Southern Baptist.
After Joe and I married, we went to a Freewill Baptist Church and later a Methodist Church because He was raised Methodist. But we ended up in a Pentecostal Holiness Church where I went thought seminary studies and received my Ordination Credentials.
(Thank you Pastor King White for being my mentor. You have gone back home now, walking on the streets of gold. I know you had a beautiful crown to lay at the feet of your Savior.)
Anyway, I love to read and study about the history of the Christian church.
John 1 The Word Became Flesh :1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
As many have started to get ready for Easter, you will begin to hear people talking about the ways different religious institutions celebrate this Easter season. And people will begin to also disagree and fuss over the teachings of God’s Word.
Now please bear with me on a little history today, because I need to share some things, to make a final point about how words that people speak can touch people’s lives.
I have had to handle situations through the years on Christian Celebrations.
I have never cared to argue the Bible with anyone. But when I have been faced with those situations, I held fast, and only lost it one time.
But, when someone tells you that you are not smart enough to know what you are saying, you kind of sit up in your seat.
Well, really they were saying that all preachers, teachers, evangelists, and just people saved by the blood of Jesus, are dumb, believing in illusion.
You know that is when you want to say, “Lord, can I just lay hands on them one time? I promise I will pray for their healing afterwards.”
Now people remember to laugh, because the word says, (“Nehemiah 8:10)“The Joy Of The Lord, Is Your Strength.”)
I have had conversations with people who says the Bible was written by man for man’s own use.
Also, there is a God, but Jesus was just a man who was on earth, did a good job while he was here, but that was the end of Him.
I will tell you that during these words of conversation, I so wanted to lay my Bible aside for just a few minutes, but I stood fast and worked hard at sharing with the person what God was telling me to share.
They would come back and say, well, who wrote the Bible? And who did this? And who said this? And we need to remember that evil is inside of us to do as we see fit.
I would used scripture after scripture, but they would come back and say, ‘Tell me the answers to my questions, without using scripture.’
Boy, oh boy, it just seem to deeper and deeper until I realized that Satan was wasting my time.
See, Satan knows God’s Word also, and he even used it in the wilderness when temping Jesus. He took it out of context, and quoted it to suit his own needs, but Praise God, he lost the battle, and Jesus was victorious.
Quickly, let me get something straight, and do not take me wrong when I said it was wasting my time. I pray that maybe I said something that will one day sink in, and the person or persons will turn their lives around. I will not give up on the them, I will continue to pray for them and I told them I would. I told them that I pray they meet the Jesus I know, and then they would know without a doubt that the Word, (Bible) was with God, and the Word was God.
I explained how God, through the Holy Spirit, uses visions, and so many other ways to speak to man, (giving solid Scriptures again) to write His Word for us. I even tried to explain that the only way over forty men could write the Bible and there be no contradiction, should be enough to know the Bible was and is the inspired Word of God.
I do read a lot of books, and I study many great theologians of all denominations. I have studied Charles Haddon Spurgeons (know as the Prince of Preachers) sermons, not all of them, I have a long way to go.
I have study the workings and history of Benjamin H. Irwin, of Lincoln, Nebraska, a former Baptist preacher, who organized the body into the national Fire-Baptized Holiness Church at Anderson, South Carolina in August of 1898. By this time, Irwin’s group had organized churches in eight U. S. states and two Canadian provinces.
Abner Blackmon Crumpler, a Methodist Holiness evangelist in North Carolina, founded the Pentecostal Holiness denomination in 1897, as the inter denominational North Carolina Holiness Association. The first congregation to carry the name Pentecostal Holiness Church was formed in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1898. Pentecostal was dropped from the name in 1901, but was restored in 1908.
Gaston B. Cashwell, a minister of the Methodist Church, joined the Pentecostal Holiness Church in 1903. He became a leading figure in the church and the Pentecostal movement on the east coast. In 1906, he traveled to Los Angeles to visit the Pentecostal revival at the Azusa Street mission. Upon returning to Dunn, North Carolina, in December of 1906, Cashwell preached the Pentecost experience in the local Holiness church.
And I have studied many more great theologians.
But a statement that was made by Karl Barth caught my attention, and really touched my heart.
Karl Barth is considered by some the greatest Protestant theologian of the 20th century, and possibly the greatest since the Reformation. He went to a college to speak. When it came time for the question period, a student asked him,”Rev. Barth, what is the greatest thing the Bible ever taught you?” His answer was plain and simple, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
People, that says it all. That is what the Bible is all about. Yes, it tells us of history past, and of things to come, but most of all, it tells us that Jesus Loves Us, This I Know.
Amen and Amen
Please take time to read your Bible. Take the time to dig deep into why we as Christians and many other religious organizations celebrate Easter and Christmas.
Do not just take for granted what you have heard others say and preach. Research and talk to God and let the Holy Spirit teach you.
So, when you are faced with questions from others, you will know the truth.
Below is a little study of Easter celebrations. Maybe it will help you begin your research and study.
Love Pastor Pat
Pastor Pat Aman/©1996/2019 CWPM and Christian Faith Publishers
The first Christians, Jewish and Gentile, were certainly aware of the Hebrew calendar. Jewish Christians, the first to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, timed the observance in relation to Passover. Direct evidence for a more fully formed Christian festival of Pascha (Easter)begins to appear in the mid-2nd century…
The Christian Liturgical Calendar:
Until the 4th century CE, Easter and Pentecost were the only two holy days that Christians observed. Easter Sunday was the main day of celebration, formally recognized by the Council of Nicea in 325 CE. Pentecost Sunday was also observed as a less important holy day, 7 weeks/49 days after Easter. Other occasions related to Jesus’ execution were gradually added to the church calendar:
Lent (in Latin: Quadragesima): This was a period of spiritual preparation for Easter which typically involves fasting, penance and prayer. It was originally established by various Christian groups as an interval ranging from a few days to several weeks. It was eventually fixed in the 8th century CE at 40 days. (The number 40 is one of many magical numbers with religious significance in the Bible. 40 days recalls the interval that Jesus, Moses and Elias spent in the desert. Other magical numbers were 3, 7, 12, and 70). Among Roman Catholics, Lent lasts for 38 days spread across six and a half weeks before Easter; it starts on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Thursday, and does not include Sundays. Other Western traditions observe Lent for 40 days, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday and also do not include Sundays. Among the Eastern Orthodox churches, it is a full eight weeks.
Mardi Gres (a.k.a. Fat Tuesday and Shrove Tuesday): This is held on Tuesday, the day before the first day of Lent. The reference to “fat” refers to the custom of eating righ fatty foods on the evening before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.
Ash Wednesday: This is held on the first day of Lent, a Wednesday.
Holy Week: the week before Easter Sunday:
Palm Sunday (a.k.a. Passion Sunday): This is held on the Sunday before Easter Sunday and begins Holy Week. It recalls Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem one week before his execution.
Holy Monday commemorates Jesus’ cleansing of the temple, when he committed aggravated assaulted against money changers and other commercial interests who had tables within the Temple. Some believe that this triggered his arrest and crucifixion. It certainly would have been considered an act of insurrection by the occupying Roman Army, particularly because it occurred so close to a Passover when nationalistic feelings among Jews were at an all-time high.
Holy Tuesday recalls Jesus’ description to his disciples on the Mount of Olives of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Holy Wednesday (once called Spy Wednesday) recalls Judas’ decision to betray Jesus in exchange for 30 pieces of silver.
Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper, Jesus agony in the garden and his arrest. “Maundy” is derived from the Latin “mandatum” (commandment of God in John 13:34-35 For centuries, people in authority have washed the feet of their followers on this day.
Good Friday recalls Jesus’ death on the cross. The origin of the word “good” has been lost. Some claim that it is a corruption of “God” and that the early Christians called this day “God’s Friday.” “God” morphed in to “good” just as “God be with you” has become “goodbye.” Others claim that “good” refers to the blessings of humanity that Christians believe arose as a result of Jesus’ execution.
“A fourth-century church manual, the Apostolic Constitutions, called Good Friday a ‘day of mourning, not a day of festive Joy.’ Ambrose, the fourth-century archbishop who befriended the notorious sinner Augustine of Hippo before his conversion, called it the ‘day of bitterness on which we fast’.” 10
Holy Saturday (a.k.a. Easter Eve) is the final day of Holy Week and of Lent.
Easter Sunday commemorates Jesus’ resurrection. In the early church, converts were baptized into church membership on this day after a lengthy period of instruction. This tradition continues today in some churches…..
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