“When all else fails, pray.” Have you ever heard that? Maybe you’ve said that. If we pray before everything else fails, maybe it won’t fail.
Author Archives: Clark Bunch
“He Cannot Save Himself”
He Cannot Save Himself
Many questions were asked of him,
though no answer was heard.
Pilate pressed him to respond,
but Jesus spoke not a word.
As prophesied by Isaiah,
like a lamb he was silent.
Which angered the crowd even more,
and they began to riot.
Governor Pilate faced the Jews,
and in order to honor custom,
told them that at their choosing,
he would release one prisoner among them.
He knew that Jesus was delivered
out of envy, malice and vice.
But the crowd choose Barabbas,
shouting “Crucify Jesus Christ.”
Pilate washed his hands before them,
saying “I am innocent of this man’s blood.”
The crowd said “Let his blood be upon us,
and upon our sons.”
They stripped off his own garments,
placed on him a robe and crown.
And then pretended to worship,
before him kneeling down.
They placed on his head
a crown made of thorns.
Then they spat, hit and slapped him,
and mocked him to scorn.
They compelled the man Simon
to carry his cross.
And divided his garments,
by casting lots.
They made for him a sign,
placed over his head.
“This is Jesus, King of the
Jews” the words read.
Thieves were crucified with him,
on his left and his right.
One was loud and boastful,
the other more humble, contrite.
“We are guilty of our crimes,
and deserve to die this way.”
And when Jesus saw his faith,
promised paradise that day.
“He cannot save himself” they mocked,
as his blood fell to the ground.
But they were crucifying an innocent,
in whom no guilt was found.
This was God’s plan of salvation,
established before there was time.
Each event had been prophesied,
and now fell perfectly in line.
The trial, the false witness,
his hanging on a tree;
It was all prophesied clearly
in Isaiah fifty-three.
So the words of their mocking
are actually true, you see.
He could not save himself, for
on the cross… he saved me.
On the Subject of Theology
Theology – theo meaning having to do with religion, ology meaning the study of something. Theologians are those that study religion. We need not all be theologians, but a Christian should at least know what we believe, and hopefully why we believe it. In this we are lacking.
In his Collapse of Evangelicalism, Michael Spencer says ” massive majorities of evangelicals can’t articulate the Gospel with any coherence.” The next day after reading these words, our school chapel sang Hymn 604 in the Baptist Hymnal, which ends with these words: “And repeat the gospel story ’till his name the world has heard.” We have not done this. It is not surprising that the un-churched do not know how to become a Christian, but church members not knowing how one gets saved is unacceptable. Continue reading
The Collapse of Evangelicalism
The InternetMonk recently posted some very thought provoking essays on his expectations of Evangelical churches in the 21st century and what happens after that. It’s a three part series, and I’ve linked them in order. Perhaps not the world, but the American Bible belt would become a very different place. On the one hand I hope that he’s wrong. But after carefully reading the first post, I realize that he’s probably not. Many of my readers are already iMonk fans, but if you missed these they’re worth another look.
Church History: The Protestant Reformation
Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic Monk. That is the first fact to get straight before going any farther. He worked hard studying the scripture – and at working hard – in order to be the best young monk he could possibly be. By nailing his 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg he was hoping to begin Catholic Church reform. He was neither expecting nor prepared for what happened next. Continue reading
Thank You to All Who Have Prayed For Us
All we can do is say “Thank You” to any and all who have been praying for us. Regular fans and readers will recall being asked to pray for Teresa and our unborn child some weeks back. In 2002 and 2004 we had early term miscarriages, and were uncertain about this pregnancy from the very start. Pictured at left are two ultrasound images, the top from Jan 5 (9 weeks) and the other from Feb 2 (13 weeks). The baby is now 6.51 cm, with a fetal heartbeat of 162 bpm. It is too e
arly to determine gender, and atour next appointment (17 weeks) we will probably still have to wait.
If you click on the thumbnail image it will open full size. They were scanned at only 200 dpi so they could be uploaded more easily.
In December I asked Christians to please pray, and so I wanted to update my readers of our progress. The doctors say everything is perfect. The due date is August 10th. You can keep tabs on us by checking the Journal page of My Other Blog from time to time. I blog theology and religion on The Master’s Table, with the goal of being God honoring, Christ Centered. Check out My Other Blog for news, humor, politics, funny pics and videos, and the events of my life.
UPDATE: 1) Johannah Lorelai was born August 11 (my wife’s birthday) 2009. You can read more here. 2) There is no longer a journal page on My Other Blog, but the above link still goes to the home page.
On the Lighter Side (2)
A young man inherited everything in his grandfather’s library, but did not share his grandfather’s love of books. His friend dropped by as he was boxing up loads of old books for the garbage. “Some of this stuff could be worth something. You should check up on the stuff you’re throwing out” his friend warned. “All of this is junk” the young man insisted. “Take this for instance. It’s a weird German Bible by some Gutenberg character.” “Oh my God!” his friend exclaimed. “A Gutenberg Bible! There are only 46 of those known to exist. You can’t throw that away. Do you have any idea?” “No, no, no” he protested. “This one is all worn out, and wouldn’t be worth nothing anyway. Some guy named Martin Luther done scribbled in it.”
There is a serious post coming on the Protestant Reformation and Church History, I just can’t write it tonight. It’s after 11:30 already. UPDATE: Here it is.
Jesus Example: Fish for Breakfast
Okay, this one may seem a little silly but there will be a point. This lesson may be more about friendship than anything else.
So after Jesus had been crucified and buried, the disciples were in a tough spot. They had given up the past three years of their lives to spend with Jesus, basically doing the world tour around the Mid East. They had also preached, taught and cast out demons, but often disappointed Christ with their lack of faith and understanding. So now all their hopes and dreams have been nailed to the cross. Continue reading
Jesus’ Example (What Did Jesus Do?)
What would Jesus do: Remember that one? Just in case you missed the 90’s, that was the Christian youth catch phrase to end all others. There were backpacks, bracelets, t-shirts, teddy bears, pencils, bumper stickers, and the list goes on. If it could be printed, it was.
The question wasn’t new. “What would Jesus do” is asked by the characters in the short novel In His Steps by Charles Sheldon. The locals of a small church congregation are challenged to ask this simple question before making any decision of consequence, and their lives are changed in the process. The only problem, of course, is that we cannot always know for certain what Jesus would do in a particular circumstance. What then? Continue reading
Jesus’ Example: Resisting Temptation
The temptation of Jesus is recorded in Matthew 4:1-11. We will be referring to these verses many times.
Walking the earth as a man subjected Jesus to all things common to humanity. The Epistle of James teaches that God is not tempted by sin, and does not tempt anyone to sin. But Jesus is God in the flesh; he experienced all the things we experience and can thus empathize with our weaknesses, feelings, emotions, frustrations, and so forth. Whatever we experience, Jesus himself has been there. And so it is with temptation. Continue reading
The Master's Table 