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Gleanings From The Word

Tag: Gleanings

  • Patron Saints, Luck, and Guardian Angels

    Patron Saints, Luck, and Guardian Angels: What Are You Worshiping?

    A lottery ticket in a hand with patron saint medallion and "lucky" angel"

    Without ever knowing it, she managed to push several of my hot buttons at once. I stood behind her at the convenience store checkout. As her purchases were being rung in, she kissed her patron saint medal and rubbed her guardian angel pin. She said to the cashier, “For luck!” Then she ordered her lottery ticket.

    I’m not a fan of lotteries and regard them as a tax on the greedy and poor. I’ve seen many families and lives ruined by gambling, including by “harmless” lottery playing. However, there is no biblical prohibition on gambling, so I recognize that as being my issue.

    I don’t believe in “luck”. I believe in a sovereign God who is ultimately in control of all things. There is such a thing as divine providence and blessing, but not luck. Again, my issue.

    Patron Saints! Now that’s a problem. It’s a man-made system of idolatry. The saints are all who believe in Jesus Christ, not a select class voted on by denominational elite. Every reference in the Bible to saints (68 of them) refers to the body of believers.  In every instance but one, the word is plural, not singular, referring to more than one person. Praying to patron saints is a direct affront to God.

     “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
    Exodus 20:3-6 ESV

    Guardian angels? The jury is still out on the whole concept of guardian angels. You can’t prove or disprove their existence from Scripture. In any event, God is sovereign over everything, so he doesn’t need an angel to intercede for us. If they exist, their role isn’t to be worshipped or to tend to our whims. Angels are under the sovereign command of God. Certainly, their role isn’t to make us “lucky”.

    Over the past number of years, the public at large has developed a huge and unhealthy fascination with angels. There are people who track “angel sightings”. You can buy prosperity angels, good luck angels, fertility angels and more. You can go to see New Age practitioners who will give you angel readings and special messages for you from your personal angel.

    Most of it is promoted by people just out to make a buck and the odd fraud artist. I don’t doubt that some of those things are from angels. Fallen angels. Evil spirits and demons.

    The fascination with angels has become a form of worship. 

    For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. Romans 1:21-25 ESV

    What are you worshipping? God alone is worthy of our worship.

    Until next time, praise God for His love and His patience with us.

    May God pour out His abundant blessings on you,

    Kevin

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    SUMMARY

    A woman ahead of me at checkout kissed her patron saint medal, rubbed her guardian angel pin, and bought a lottery ticket “for luck.” It sent me back to Scripture on luck, patron saints, and guardian angels, and to the real question underneath it all: what are we worshiping?

    TAKEAWAY

    Luck and gambling aren’t biblically prohibited, but Scripture points to a sovereign God who governs through providence, not chance

    “Saints” appears 68 times in Scripture, almost always plural, always describing the whole body of believers, never a select class chosen by denominational vote — making patron saint devotion a man-made system

    Guardian angels can’t be confirmed or denied from Scripture, but if they exist, they serve under God’s command, not ours; today’s cultural fascination with angels has drifted into a form of idolatry

    YOU MIGHT CHECK THESE OUT

    Bible Gateway – a free online bible, easily searchable in many translations

    Got Questions – a great source for quick answers on a wide range of Christian/Bible questions

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  • Thundereggs – Picture of God’s Hidden Work in Us

    A split McDermit Thunderegg showing the rough exterior and the polished interior

    Thundereggs (or thunder eggs) are one of God’s natural wonders. 

    They are rock nodules that form inside rhyolitic volcanic ash layers, kind of like a filled-in geode. Most are about baseball-sized, though they range from under an inch to over three feet across. On the outside, they just look like plain rocks, but inside they usually have a center of chalcedony, sometimes fractured and filled back in with agate, jasper, or opal. Quartz and gypsum crystals show up often too, along with other mineral growths.

    The real payoff comes when you cut one in half and polish it. What looks like nothing on the outside can reveal intricate patterns and colors inside. And like other agates, thundereggs from the same bed can still vary quite a bit from one to the next, even while keeping a kind of family resemblance. No two are identical.

    Today’s image is of the exterior of a thunderegg beside the cut and polished interior. It’s courtesy of North West Rockhounding. The inside looks far more dramatically beautiful than what we see from the outside.

    For me, they are a great visual reminder of the state of people. From the outside, even on our best days, we don’t seem very much like Christ; it’s even a less attractive picture for non-Christians.

    All people are created in the image of God (Imago Dei), but we are scarred and marred by sin. Believers get a makeover. We are born again and have the imputed righteousness of Jesus, but it takes time, effort and the loving work of the Holy Spirit to transform us.

    There will be a day, though, when all that we were created to be will show through. I can hardly wait.

    He will finish the work He has started in us.

    I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 ESV

    We come to Him rough, unfinished and unattractive, but He transforms us.

    As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5 ESV

    The beauty of being transformed into His image will be seen by all of His children. What a moment that will be.

    I can hardly wait to see the finished you and me. The world’s finest gems and thundereggs will pale in comparison.

    My God richly bless you.

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    I share how a thunderegg looks like nothing but a plain rock on the outside, yet holds dazzling color and pattern once it’s cut open and polished. It’s a picture of how we come to Christ rough and unfinished, but He is doing the patient work of transforming us into what we were created to be.

    TAKEAWAY

    Thundereggs form as rock nodules inside volcanic ash, appearing plain outside but often hiding chalcedony, agate, jasper, or opal within

    Believers are made in God’s image but scarred by sin; through Christ we receive imputed righteousness and undergo ongoing transformation by the 

    Holy Spirit

    Philippians 1:6 promises God will finish the good work He started in us, and one day that inner beauty will fully show through

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