What's this? A post?

Not really, it's just a commercial. Artur's world is changing. A race of giants has invaded the homelands of his people, the Rufoux, and the barbarian tribes of the fantastic land of Medialia are begging for the help of his warrior clan. Ahead of him lies an epic struggle to protect the lives of his clansmen, and their lifestyle as well, as he denies himself the love of the beautiful Andreia. Only he can deliver these pagan nations, separated from God, in this ancient world, but the effect on their lives is greater than he could have ever feared or imagined. Read "Wars of the Aoten" at StCelibart.com, free and available to all. Also much poetry, children's books, artwork, music, film and devotional material with a Christian viewpoint.

More stuff at St. Celibart

A couple of new posts at St. Celibart: A modest nature film with eagles, falcons, a raccoon and some cool footage of a pileated woodpecker at work, “Birds&Bees.” Also new music, “Just the Sea,” a song about a girl from a poem. I’ve also improved the quality of “Hummingbirds” and “Animations,” so they should be more enjoyable to watch; they are larger files now, though, so please be patient. Come and visit, and spread the word.

Arts for Christ's Bride

A couple of new posts at St. Celibart: A piece of short fiction, “Conversation at Rome,” which I’m not going to tell you what it’s about, and the long-awaited “Sonny Boy: Harps of Angels,” a short documentary about Sonny Boy Williamson, pioneer of the blues harmonica. Come and visit, and spread the word.

New posts

A couple of new posts at St. Celibart: a recently discovered and translated Celtic ballad, “The Adventures of St. Celibart,” not performed since mediocre minstrels sang it sometime between 500 and 1357 A.D., and a devotional essay, “Serving the Spirit,” a therapeutic look at sin in the life of the believer, and belief in the life of a sinner. Come and visit, and spread the word.

1 Chr. 22:9-10

"Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever."

As usual, it's best to lift the veil and interpret OT passages according to NT revelation, that is, Christologically. This little passage about Solomon then should be approached typologically. The interesting thing here to me is that we often think of Christ in His second advent as the Conquering King, the typology that is applicable to David, while it is also in the second advent that He will fully take on His role as Prince of Peace. This is the typology of Solomon. “Solomon” means peaceful, and he was son of the king, making his title Prince Peaceful.

As well, compare Heb. 3-4. The author indicates that the rest of the land, promised here to Solomon, was really a prefiguring of the believer's rest in Christ. In all of Israel's history, the only extended time of rest in the land occurred under Solomon; all the judges and the rest of the kings had to deal with constant threat or warfare, not to speak of the later times of gentile domination or dispersion. Through Solomon God presented a prefiguring of the kingdom under Christ.

In v. 10 the promise extends beyond Solomon, the type, to Jesus, the antitype. If you, like me, interpret the genealogy of Matthew to be Joseph's and the genealogy of Luke to be Mary's, you will see that Jesus' bloodline to David split away from the kingly line at his sons, that is, went through Nathan instead of Solomon. So the men who sat on the throne after David did not carry the seed, and the promises of v. 10 are not really applicable to Solomon, only to Christ. Therefore, the building of the house refers to the Church, not the temple, and the promise that God would be his Father indicates David's Son, not his son. Again, Solomon is a type, but the real message is about the antitype, Jesus.

Back with more stuff

A couple of minor new posts at St. Celibart: “Benediction of St. Jude,” new music that you may hear again somewhere else, and a drawing based on Galatians 6:11. Come and visit, and spread the word.

He said, She said

Today I was watching the news and heard a female anchor ask Franklin Graham a question: "If there is a God, why would He — or She — ..." The rest of the question doesn't matter. I have two thoughts on this issue of applying gender to God; please read both before rolling your eyes and slamming your keyboard.

The first is that gender is a limitation of created beings. To apply this, or any human limitation, to God is to insult Him (and I say "Him" because that's how "He" chose to describe "Himself" in Scripture, and that's the only reason.) To think He is limited in any way, including gender, is to have a low perception of Him. He is all things to all people, Father and Mother, male and female.

The second point is that women who think the Judeo-Christian tradition demeans them need to remember this one thing: God has elevated them high above all other created beings. The purpose of creation is to facilitate the work of Christ, and that work began in a physical way with the Incarnation. Womankind was absolutely essential to the Incarnation; mankind had, by necessity, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with it. What more do you want?

Music and stuff

New posts at St. Celibart: An oldie but goodie, “To Your Holiness,” and a combination of homilies on Christ’s words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

On Sunday St. Celibart received its 5,000th hit, in just over six months of existence. Probably about 10% of these were me, so they don’t really count, but I send a shout out to all of you who have visited and thanks for your support. I hope you will continue to come by every now and then, and that the material is a blessing and exhortation to you. Please pass the word: Arts for Christ’s Bride, free and available to all.