The Unpardonable Sin

²⁸ “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; ²⁹ but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:28-29)

What is blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Can a Christian do it accidentally and thereby lose his or her salvation? Can a Christian be drawn into  or tricked into committing blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?   Bringing dishonor upon the Holy Spirit should make the thinking person tremble in terror. There are people who are terrified that they accidentally blasphemed the Holy Spirit and cannot be forgiven. Some fear that they blasphemed the name of Jesus and due to the triune nature of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit they blasphemed the Holy Spirit and cannot be forgiven. Is this something we need to be losing sleep over? Or as Christians are we safe from this?

To answer these questions we need to know two things, what is blasphemy and what is the role of the Holy Spirit.

OT Tuesday: Daniel, a Meandering Introduction

In 722 BC the ten northern tribes of Israel had been taken into captivity by the Assyrians leaving only the south of Israel, Judah, free. In 606 BC King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia invaded and conquered Judah and took all the vessels from the temple, he deported the healthiest of the Jews back to Babylonia to be slaves. Judah was left a vassal state, her king Jehoiakim was killed thrown off the walls of the palace, his son Jeconiah succeeded him but only lasted a few months followed by Zedekiah, who was just  a figurehead in reality. Meanwhile Egyptian pharaoh Hophra wanted to protect his eastern borders from Babylonian attack entered into a treaty with Zedekiah and sent Egyptian troops to Jerusalem. 

King Nebuchadnezzar II found out that his vassal state, Judah, had signed a treaty with his enemy, Egypt, and dispatched troops to Jerusalem. The Babylonian troops lay siege to Jerusalem for eighteen months, and eventually broke into the city destroying everything including the Egyptian troops. The temple was destroyed, the city walls torn down, the city was ransacked and burned, and King Zedekiah was hunted down like a dog. Zedekiah and his family was eventually captured and dragged off to the Babylonian encampment at Riblah. There Zedekiah watched his sons and other Jewish princes be slain, and to insure that this was the last sight Zedekiah would ever see, Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah's eyes gouged out then allowed Zedekiah to live.

Emergent Monday: Name that Tune

I love Country Gospel Music, I really do. Everything is better with good Country Gospel Music. Anyone that owns more than two dogs will tell you that there's some jobs that need to be done regularly that question the sanity of owning any dogs. But when I slap on the head phones and put on some good Country Gospel, the task of de-toxing the back yard becomes another way of glorifying God. All minor tasks that used to annoy me are now a joy to perform because I get to sing to the glory of my maker as I do them. These versions of "Me and God" and "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" can get me through any task, no matter how difficult, distasteful or degrading. 

You may think that these two songs are at the opposite end of the country spectrum and you're partially right. Closer Walk is old school country: Sara Evans did an incredible job of introducing today's audience to Patsy Klein, steel guitar, and blue grass fiddle, Me and God is much more modern, very bouncy, very happy. But the similarities are striking - both are talking about a real relationship with God, and God isn't some fluffy nothing, God is Ruler of All, our master and lord. This is a concept of which Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) will have no truck with.

IRS Demands Prayer Lists From Christians

If you're not upset you're not paying attention

Big Brother demands your prayer details

Was the same demand made from Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Wiccans, Jehovas Witnesses, Sufis, Whirling Dirvishes, Rastafarians, Unitarians, or Zoroasterians? Of course not, just Christians. The Obama administration has always and will continue to target Christianity for elimination.

But don't worry, don't lose heart, if we're hated by the world for our love for Jesus then we're doing it right!

Go on Uncle Obama, call me a terrorist again. You called me a terrorist for my faith before, you called me a terrorist for my political beliefs, and you called me a terrorist for my Twenty Years of military service, are you planning to call me a terrorist for the content of my prayers? Or maybe that I'm not registering my prayers with the IRS? Or maybe because I'm not praying to you.

Buzzwords in you Church!

Buzzwords in your church - maybe they make a spray or trap or maybe even something electronic like a Buzzword Zapper that would fry the nasty vermin the moment it's uttered with a satisfying sizzle, snap, and flash. A puff of acrid smoke would be too much to ask for, but it would be perfect. Buzzwords are rampant where I work, and now I'm being "blessed" with them where I worship. 

What is a buzzword? A buzzword is simply a word, term, or phrase that repackages an old concept in a description that sounds "new" or "edgy". Sometimes buzzwords are invented to promote a new concept or product, and that's the sign of a desperate development team or marketing genius trying to sell the unsellable. Other times buzzwords exist to hide heresy. Remember: buzzwords are not a spontaneous thing, they're invented for a purpose, and the primary purpose of a buzzword is to make the user sound "edgy", "hip", and "in the know" at the expense of the English language.