Anne Rice: A Christmas Christian

Update: Anne Rice passed away on Dec. 11, 2021 at the age of 80- in plenty of time to be home for Christmas

 In 2009, I read Anne Rice's auto-biography:  CALLED OUT OF DARKNESS: A Spiritual Confession. It had a deep resonance with my heart! 

My first experience with Anne Rice was around 1998 when I finally read "Interview with the Vampire". As a boy, I loved monster stuff (Dracula, werewolf, Frankenstein) and had heard a lot of praise for the Vampire Chronicles. 

As I read the book, I was totally absorbed and very impressed. At the same time, the novel captures a presence of evil unlike anything else I have ever read. Not that I was repulsed by it, I was actually impressed by it. It was the truth of it that caught my attention- this work of supernatural fiction regarding the tragic life of godless vampires captured the tragedy of it all in dazzling images and fast moving narratives.

Knowing a little of Louis and Lestat, it was delightful to read of Anne's return to the faith and mesmerizing to read her life story. It is also comforting to know that the proverb is indeed true: 'Train up a child....' 

I encourage this book and after reading it, I was especially gratified how Scripture captured her mind and shaped her theology. 

I highly recommend this excellent story of life and faith. Here are some of her comments: 

For more than twenty centuries, Christianity has given us dazzling works of theology, yet it remains a religion in which the heart is absolutely essential to faith. 

The appeal of Jesus Christ was first and foremost to the heart. 

So here is the story of one path to God. 

The story has a happy ending because I have found the Transcendent God both intellectually and emotionally. And complete belief in Him and devotion to Him, no matter how interwoven with occasional fear and constant personal failure and imperfection, has become the true story of my life. 

Before I can describe how I returned to faith, at the age of fifty-seven, I want to describe how I learned about God as a child. 

What strikes me now as most important about this experience is that it preceded reading books. Christians are People of the Book, and our religion is often described as a Religion of the Book. And for two thousand years, all that we believe has been handed down in texts. 

It’s important to stress here that my earliest experiences involved beauty; my strongest memories are of beautiful things I saw, things which evoked such profound feeling in me that I often felt pain. 

In fact I remember my early childhood as full of beauty, and no ugly moment from that time has any reality for me. The beauty is the song of those days. 

I vividly remember knowing about God, that He loved us, made us, took care of us, that we belonged to Him; and I remember loving Jesus as God; and praying to Him and to His Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, when I was very small." 

Rice’s Faith Begins to Crack 

Anne is very honest in her struggle with faith. She writes about the progression:
She saw ‘good people’ with no faith.
She had a desire for modern world.
She had a conversation with priest- “He just said, ‘You are catholic- there is no life outside catholic church’.
Her heart wanted to explore.
She then quit the church and she stayed away.... for 38 years!
Never prayed to God about it.
She stopped talking to God.
God could not have made a church so fragile- vulnerable to information- 'churches told you lies.'
Rice writes ‘Interview with the Vampire’- ‘an obvious lament for my lost faith’ 

Before long though though.... her Atheism Begins to Crack 

She began to study history- the more she studied history- ‘the more my atheism became shaky’- particularly the survival of the Jews-
She went back to New Orleans and found the Catholics warm and receiving
Struggle was waging- atheism held firm, but questions were coming up.
She then took trips to Europe and Holy Land. She found the Statue of Jesus at Rio de Janeiro " a spiritual experience".

She began to see His presence and also began to see that the Lord was pursuing her.

Atheism was cracking…”I was losing faith in nothingness”

She saw people committed to ‘good’- ‘NO ONE WAS INDIFFERENT to conscious or to acute moral responsibility’.

Creation was speaking to me- the music of a violin sang to me of God-
Jesus weighed on her.. ‘He started a worldwide religion’ Why was America obsessed with Jesus- he was on their lips- Why was His name the most common curse word I heard? 

FINALLY she gave in to something deep… I loved God..I loved Him in Jesus… I wanted to go back. 

“In the moment of surrender, I let go of all the theological or social questions which had kept me from Him for countless years. I simply let them go. There was the sense, profound and wordless, that if He knew everything, then I did not have to know everything, and that, in seeking to know everything, I’d been, all of my life, missing the entire point.” 

“And it was His knowing that overwhelmed me….His was the Divine Mind that made snowflakes, candle flames, birds soaring upwards… 

He knew the answer to every conceivable question before it was formulated… 

And why should I remain apart from Him just because I couldn’t grasp all of this? He could grasp it. Of course!”

There was a big change in Anne after this surrender..... but it was real life and never easy.

She decided to write only for God. And then she had to deal with the harsh reality when her husband died of a brain tumor.

But she pressed on....from 2002- 2005, she 'devoured' New Testament scholarship .

“ But it was the Incarnation- Jesus becoming flesh-" that resonated the most... “You became a child for me”

“Not only do I find no evidence for isolated Gospel communities, but I see no collaborative writing in the gospels at all.” 

The interplay of simplicity and complexity seems to go beyond human control.

She finds many Christians full of love, but also full of division- and that is is hurting the church. 

Last line :

"This book is about faith in God.

“It isn’t simply finding skeptical New Testament scholarship so poor, so shallow, so irresponsibly speculative, or so biased. That has indeed been the case.

“I became convinced that my urban atheist friends were to a great extent out of touch with Christian America”

"I am broken, flawed, committed: A Christmas Christian searching for that stigmata, for the imprint of those Wounds on my heart and my soul, and my daily life.”

May Christmas has its intended impact on those who have become distant to their loving, heavenly Father! 

Christmas Red- Christmas in Isaiah

This post is the hardest one to write. There is blood red all the way through Isaiah...... all through the Bible... all through the history of man......

We live in a violent world. There is a part of me that regrets the innocence lost and lives lost every time blood is shed.

I still remember what it was like to watch the birth of my daughter. Even birth is a violent struggle of life and death. It is a bloody battle (sorry to be so graphic) and that baby is built for the fight.

The Bible has pages and pages of bloodshed and God often mentions how the land cries out in horror over innocent blood being spilled.

We tend to romanticize the birth of Jesus- sweet lambs, clean manger, nice soft hay........

It was anything but that!

These were desperately poor people, alone in an unsafe world- it was cold, dark, unsanitary.... there were no doctors or pain medication... and this baby was part of a cosmic struggle.

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. [2] She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. [3] And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. [4] His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. (Revelation 12:1-4 ESV)

This was not a safe situation. Later, King Herod would command the killing of children in his desperate attempt to kill a potential rival king.

RED- RED-RED- YOU FIND IT IN MANY PLACES.......

Isaiah 63 may be the most brutal passage in all of Isaiah:

Who is this who comes from Edom,
in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,
he who is splendid in his apparel,
marching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, speaking in righteousness,
mighty to save.”2 Why is your apparel red,
and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?3 “I have trodden the winepress alone,
and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood spattered on my garments,
and stained all my apparel.4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and my year of redemption had come.5 I looked, but there was no one to help;
I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me salvation,
and my wrath upheld me.6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger;
I made them drunk in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

We find an equally chilling parallel reference in Revelation 14:

14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

 "Grapes of Wrath" is the title of a book by John Steinbeck, an analogy to the unfathomable suffering of the Oakies driven to despair by the effects of the Great Depression. Steinbeck struggled with finding a title, but the motive of his writing the book was always clear: "I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this." 

We have also sung about this for years without taking any thought to it's source:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on. ( The Battle Hymn of the Republic)

I challenge you to meditate for a minute on WHY is there a Winepress of Wrath? 

For every human being who has ever been bullied and bloodied for doing nothing.

For every child who has been abused in life altering moments of unspeakable horror.

For every person who was made to watch loved ones injured or killed.

For every child who suffered alone and no one ever cared enough to help.

For every lie and plan of deceit that caused deep, dark pain.

For every twisted lust that led to oppression or imprisonment.

For every instance where someone with everything took the only thing of an outcast soul.

For every cry of need that has fallen on a cold, dead heart of another.

THE LIST IS ENDLESS...........

There is One who has over and over, and over and over again tried to show His love and mercy, sent sign after sign, circumstance after circumstance, and finally His own beloved Son.

I'm sure you are familiar with the famous passage, The Suffering Servant, in Is. 53. Written 700 years before Jesus was born? - look at the amazing verses again:

Is. 52:14 As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.

Is 53:

53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? 
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; 
and as one from whom men hide their faces 
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief; 
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Have you considered the death and resurrection of Christ as a part of Christmas? The baby was born to die.

There is something

I want you to do sometime, and that is study the Shroud of Turin. YOU CAN SEE IT HERE: 

http://www.shroud.com/ 

also..... a lesser known 'relic' called the Suderium of Oviedo. 

 http://www.shroud.com/guscin.htm

Did you know that the measurements of the face and the placement of the wounds are matched on these two pieces of cloth?

Consider the testimony of John:

"20:5 He bent down and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself."

Whether you accept these relics as real or not, I encourage you to look at the crucified man pictured in the shroud and contemplate what Jesus did for us. He came not to live for Himself... He came to die for me.

That has to take Christmas to a deeper level... the red he shed for me.

And the result? Spitting and indifference. Apathy and rejection. Abuse and neglect.

I have often thought about this amazing analogy:

Billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne.  Some of the groups near the front talked heatedly--not with cringing shame, but with belligerence. "How can God judge us?" said one. "What does He know about suffering?" snapped a brunette. She jerked back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror, beatings, torture, death!" In another group a black man lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched for no crime but being black! We have suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones, toiled till death gave release." Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where there was no weeping, no fear, no hunger, no hatred!Indeed, what did God know about what man had been forced to endure in this world? "After all, God leads a pretty sheltered life," they said.So each group sent out a leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. There was a Jew, a black, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate, a person from Hiroshima, and one from a Siberian slave camp. In the center of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather simple: before God would be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth--as a man! But because He was God, they set certain safeguards to be sure He could not use His divine powers to help Himself: Let Him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of His birth be doubted, so that none would know who is really His father. Let Him champion a cause so just, but so radical, that it brings down upon Him the hate, condemnation, and efforts of every major traditional and established religious authority to eliminate Him. Let Him try to describe what no man has ever seen, tasted, heard, or smelled--let Him try to communicate God to men. Let Him be betrayed by His dearest friends. Let Him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let Him see what it is to be terribly alone and completely abandoned by every living thing. Let Him be tortured and let Him die! Let Him die the most humiliating death--with common thieves.As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the great throngs of people. But when the last had finished pronouncing sentence,there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew -- God had already served His sentence.   --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 302.

The testimony of man is not pretty..... blood was shed very soon after the fall.... and great crimes have been committed ... all of them ultimately an offense against an INFINITE CREATOR.

And God was faced with a terrible situation- His holiness demanded punishment and His love cried out for mercy.

That is why the Christmas gift is so special..... 

Jesus was born, lived a sinless life, and willingly gave Himself to atone for infinite crimes and sin. He was a man and He was God, fully satisfying the wrath required because blood had been shed.

3,000 years ago, Isaiah must have read what he wrote and marveled at the mystery... what did this mean?

2,000 years ago, God made it clear- Jesus told us in very simple terms:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. [19] And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. [20] For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. [21] But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:16-21 ESV)

Every time I see Christmas green... I think of the tender shoot that came out of the stump of Jesse.....

And every time I see Christmas red... I think of the blood that was shed for me.....

And I get on my knees at Christmas, praising God... marveling myself at the mystery...

Please do not reject this Savior...IF YOU DO... you are putting YOURSELF in the vat of His winepress... and He will begin at the pre-determined time to carry out His final act...

It will not be a pretty sight......

(Updated notes)

Divine Justice and Forgiveness

In his book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, Timothy Keller explores how belief in divine justice can transform our approach to forgiveness. He references theologian Miroslav Volf, who argues that without belief in a God who judges evil, humans are more inclined to seek personal vengeance. Volf explains that trusting in divine justice—the assurance that God will ultimately set all things right—liberates us from cycles of retaliation.

This idea echoes Romans 12:19-21:

“Do not take revenge... for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Jesus’ life and death embody this truth. Even on the cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This act of trust in God’s justice challenges us to forgive others, even when it feels impossible. Just as Christ trusted His Father’s plan, we too can release our need for vengeance, knowing that God’s justice will prevail.

A Call to Peace

The red of Christmas doesn’t only remind us of sacrifice and justice; it also calls us to peace. Christ’s sacrifice brought peace between God and humanity, and as His followers, we are called to be peacemakers. Romans 12 urges us to live at peace with everyone, overcoming evil with good.

As we see the red lights, ribbons, and ornaments this season, let them remind us of this call. Peace is not merely the absence of conflict but the presence of Christ in our lives—a peace that flows outward as we forgive others and strive to reflect His love. Miroslav Volf’s insight reinforces this idea: when we trust in divine justice, we are freed to pursue forgiveness and reconciliation rather than revenge.

Living Out Christmas Red

This Christmas, let’s take practical steps to embody the message of “Christmas Red.” Here are two challenges to consider:

1. The Forgiveness Challenge: Reflect on relationships where forgiveness might be needed. Is there someone you need to forgive? Write a prayer asking God to help you release bitterness and trust His justice.

2. The Peace Challenge: Commit to being a peacemaker. Is there someone with whom you’ve had tension? Reach out with a kind gesture or word. This act of reconciliation reflects the peace Christ brings to the world.

A Reflection of Hope

As we close, consider the words of Isaiah 1:18:

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

The red of Christmas points us to the transformative power of Christ’s sacrifice. His blood, shed on our behalf, turns our scarlet sins into pure white. This is the heart of Christmas: God’s justice, forgiveness, and the invitation to peace.

Let’s pray:

Father, thank You for the gift of Your Son, whose sacrifice brings justice, forgiveness, and peace. Help us to trust in Your justice, forgive others as You have forgiven us, and live as peacemakers in this world. May the red of Christmas remind us of Your love and the hope we have in Christ. Amen.

Christmas Green- Christmas in Isaiah

Isaiah 4:2 In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.

Christ is frequently referred to as this 'tender shoot' or branch that comes up out the stump.

On that first Christmas day, it would appear that the Lord had abandoned the world. The last prophetic message was now over 400 years old… where was God? Israel had been divided, broken, and burned. The people of God were scattered through Persia and Egypt.

The covenant promise of God, however, had NOT been abandoned. There were some- the steady remnant- who would not give up on the Lord though all seemed lost.

The Jews were in a turbulent time at home. The influences of Rome and Greece had penetrated deep into the land. King Herod was holding a tinderbox together. He was obedient to the Romans but also oversaw much construction, including the Temple, which began in 20 BC and continued after his death and right up to its destruction again in 70 AD.

In the midst of all the unrest and oppressive rule, a tender shoot appeared, out of the stump of Jesse…… Salvation had come and would culminate in the greatest story in human history.

The Book of Isaiah is full of references and prophecy to this King.

Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Does God seem silent to you? As you look around in this world of consumerism, practical atheism, and seemingly powerless and fragmented church… Can you hold on to the promises of God? Cling to Christ, He is there for you!

This Christmas look around for evidence of this ‘shoot’- the Vine of God. Let Him take root in the good soil of a soft heart, and nurture His advance in your life. If you do the fruit will be glorious and beautiful!

John 15: 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Christmas Day- Christmas in Isaiah

Christmas can be hard. But bad news and times don't have to destroy us!

The Book of Isaiah can be divided into 2 parts. Chapters 1-39 - Conviction and Condemnation while Chapters 40-66 offer Comfort and Reconciliation.

 It is like a 'mini-Bible. The Bible has 66 books and Isaiah has 66 chapters. The Bible has 39 books in the OT and 27 books in the NT- and that seems exactly like Isaiah!

And Isaiah has some very tough reading in it. There are dark passages and some bad news in the Book of Isaiah. But do not rob the Bible by hiding the bad news…. The worse it is, the more glorious is the gospel message. It is the dark night that makes the day so good.

God tells Isaiah bad news and he tells it to a bad man. Isaiah cried out “Woe is me, I have unclean lips and I live among people of unclean lips.” (Ch 6)

This was in comparison to the HOLY HOLY HOLY LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.

The bad news is that we are in trouble. Israel’s history is our history. We have forsaken the true and living God, the eternal loving God, the covenant keeping Lord to follow after other gods that offer nothing but addiction and disappointment.

And because of that, Isaiah speaks of a ruthless DAY OF THE LORD. There are stark images in Isaiah of disciplined enemies who kill for killing sake. God prescribes a horrible judgment to those who repeatedly ignore Him and hurt others and ourselves by spreading the cancer of sin.

The judgment passages are disturbing. Is. 63 has the image of the Son treading on the grapes of wrath- possibly the most disturbing image in all the Bible.

When I was younger, I had a hard time with passages like that. But something changed when I became a father. It is one thing to experience a world of sin yourself..... quite another to see sin ravage your children.

God hates sin. He hates it because He is holy, yes. But He also hates it because of how it destroys, corrupts, betrays and breaks His children as well. 

How bad are we?

I stumbled upon a list of sins that ravaged the Northern Kingdom in 2 Kings that finally allowed the dam of God's judgement to break... it is not a pretty picture. Sin is nothing to play with.

And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods [8] and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. [9] And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. [10] They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, [11] and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, [12] and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this.” [13] Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” [14] But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. [15] They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. [16] And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. [17] And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. [18] Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. [19] Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. [20] And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight. (2 Kings 17:7-20 ESV)

That lead to Isaiah's call to ministry- He was ordained to actually ‘harden’ the hearts of the people.

Isaiah was given a tough job- look again at what God was calling Him to do:

Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ [10] Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” [11] Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, [12] and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. [13] And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump. (Isaiah 6:8-13 ESV)

What?

How would you like that job description?

There is so much here to unpack- part of it is the effect of idolatry. You basically become like the thing you worship. The people had turned to idols.... worthless treasures that can not see or hear or speak- and Isaiah was going to proclaim truth...but the people were going to keep rejecting it.

Rejecting God's truth over time is devastating!

Dr. Ray Ortlund, Jr  put it this way:

“Every time you hear the Word of God preached, you come away from that exposure to the truth either a little closer to God or a little further away from Him, either more softened toward God or more hardened toward God…. What you need is more grace. Nothing else can save you from your deadness. Therefore, fear your own hardness of heart more than anything else. Beware of rigidity, ingratitude, a demanding spirit. Beware of an unmelted heart that is never satisfied.”

So for some folks Christmas in not joyful...... Some people will wake up to that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Christmas day.

Only God's grace can help us avoid that sad reality.

Christmas can be a clue to our heart. Want a heart check? Are you free or weighed down? Are you vibrant toward God or becoming distant from Him?

Ask yourself this one question:

When it comes to Christmas... am I more like Scrooge or more like a child?

Don't pour water on your Christmas joy by a bunch of 'Bah humbugs'.

Amazing thing about Isaiah... he carried his tough call every day and the joy of his heart still longed after his glorious God.

May we allow grace to melt away our cynical hearts. Laugh and sing, love and give, hope and help this Christmas season. Speak positive words of life!

Please be aware that Christmas day and Judgment Day represent two epochs of time. Christmas is mercy, The Day of the Lord begins with the closing of the door of grace.

Scrooge was changed in a miracle of perspective.... you can do the same. Call out to the Lord today!

Sing that carol with a little more cheer----- Christmas time is here.

Christmas in Isaiah- A Feast Worth the Wait

Moving back to Alabama in 2010 made me realize a lot of things... but football and food is amped up here just a little bit, y'all.

Spiritual sanctification is never easy....  We do need to practice fasting more than we do.. it is a spiritual disciple. And fasting is not just food.... we can give up, or purposely withhold for a time, good things to focus our relationship with the Lord.

But God also allows times of prudent feasting. He understands and even ordains pleasure with friends and family around a meal. Celebration meals are a part of His prescription to remember and honor.

I wish I had time to use this space to parallel the Passover feast to the institution of the Lord's supper on the night that Jesus was betrayed.

Jesus did not take the last cup of wine..... and there is now an anticipation of a great feast when He returns again!

Christmas somehow heightens ANTICIPATION.... I can't wait for it!

 It is like being a kid on Christmas Eve and not being able to sleep!

Isaiah 25 expresses why the Lord is worth the wait. Jesus came at the right time. The baby came into a world ready for the gospel. The Roman roads and the greek language were to be the vehicles for the spread of this amazing story.

During this time of year, we get to  enjoy amazing Christmas parties and dinners- When you consider Isaiah 25... you get a hint of what the Lord is cookin' up!

Isaiah 25:6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
7 And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Can you imagine the celebration?

Loved ones who have been lost are now back with you- healthy and vibrant.

Your faith has now become sight- and you see the Lord in His splendor and you marvel at His great grace.

You entered into the feast broken, tired ..... hanging on by a thread.

He wiped the tears from your eyes and says 'Welcome home, my child!"

You see His scars and you now understand so much more.... and there are an innumerable sea of souls that have been ransomed by the Lamb who was slain!

A new heaven and earth are presented in glory and perfection. And you realize that Jesus thought of you!

You lack for nothing.

The angels erupt in the most beautiful display of light, and color, and sound......

And you experience something you have never experienced before. You realize that this is eternal. 

All of your previous earthly joys had an ending. The sun set on your fishing expedition. You played the 18th hole, and you experienced the slight sadness of it being over. The season ended. Friends departed. Life changed. All earthly pleasures are fleeting and temporary.

But not now.... 

Are you beginning to see it?

On God's Holy mountain, there is coming a feast- a celebration- that is too wonderful for you to even attempt to understand it. If the joys of this life are amazing, what about the next?

The God who created the thrill of a roller coater ride and the spiritual awe of the Rocky Mountains.... don't you understand that the best is yet to come?

I can hardly wait on it..... but it is worth the wait.

God is being patient and merciful.... He doesn't want you to miss out.

Christmas is a wonderful time to come back to Jesus... the ability to get right with Him is one amazing gift.

Come home, my child!