Words from a Branch

  Daniel 1             Babylon attempted to re-identify Daniel and company through a brutal program of brainwashing, not dissimilar in content to today’s programs of conformity. The key to successful resistance, as we see in this chapter, is to draw the line precisely at the point of obedience. Draw the line too early, and you have lost your witness by your absence. Draw the line too late, and you have lost your witness through compromise. The key to effective witnessing is to be in the world, but not of it. We must understand that the world is not so much a physical place; it is, in reality, a state of mind. Verses 1-4: the Ruin of Israel             Daniel’s home was completely devastated, and even the Temple was plundered. Babylon took the best and brightest, Israel’s future, and sought to turn them into Babylonians. Daniel has witnessed a catastrophe; he has see...

  You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.   But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:17-18 ESV              There is an ever-present danger that the true saints will be carried off in the errors of those who claim to be saints and are not. Here Peter calls such people lawless, indicating that they are marked by a lack of submission to the commands of Christ. This is further supported by the end of verse 16 which states that these same twist scriptures bending it to their foolish ends rather than yielding themselves to its ultimate authority. Now if one would dare even to tamper with God’s holy word, what manipulations would they reframe from?           ...

  Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:   circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.   But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.   Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:4-8 ESV             We have a bad habit of holding inordinate worth in worthless things. We have confidence in the flesh as evidenced by how we identify ourselves, what we are proud of, and what we count as valuable. We talk of our family name, of our reputation...