Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
The Teacher
April 24, 2011
Jesus is not still in the tomb; He is not still in the grave; He has risen! So, why do we weep, why do we cower, and why do we ignore the incredible power of God and His resurrected victory over life and death? You are named in heaven, so why do you act like a wimp, as though you have no power? He reigns as King of the universe.
If He returns, and His Word assures us He will return, why do you fear the power of wickedness? He has died for our justification, so where do the proponents of Islam stand in this picture? They are going to be on bended knees before the Lord of the universe, and His name is Jesus, not Mohammed. One is alive and well, and the other is as dead as a doornail and equally as powerless. If Mohammed`s followers were to stand beside Elijah this day, and if each were to pray for the power of their gods to come down, which one do you think would be wasting their time?
So, whom do you support? Whose book is holy and whose book is not holy? Both cannot be holy, for they are contradictory and only one is the Word of God. Have you allowed political correctness to tell you that you must respect all religions, even if such apostasy would put truth to the cross all over again? If a book denies the truth of God, should it be endorsed before our children or should we be giving them the only Book of truth?
Let us consider Jesus’ death and resurrection! Where is the incentive in your life to challenge the gods of religion in defense of the cross, as did Elijah challenge the 450 prophets of Baal? The odds were 450 to one in the ensuing power struggle, which took place, but he knew that he was calling upon the living God, to use His power to demonstrate His glory. Where do you stand with respect to exhibiting the same kind of faith in God’s power? Are you claiming it, naming it or defaming it?
As Mary stood outside the tomb, the Lord called her by name, regardless of the fact that she did not recognize Him. His knowledge of her superseded all knowledge we, as mere mortals have. Whether Richard Dawkins knows Jesus or not does not mean that Jesus does not know him. Though a Muslim does not know who Jesus is, He is intimately knowledgeable of who that Muslim is. The same holds true for every declared Christian who walks the face of this earth.
When Mary finally recognized Jesus, she saw Him as all mankind should see Him – as “Teacher”, the Teacher of the truth. If He is the truth, the Word made flesh, and the Giver of life, and if we are commanded to eat His flesh, why, on God’s green earth, do we still celebrate what is called Easter, better named Resurrection Day, and not insist, at the same time, that our children, in a nation under God, are taught the Bible in classrooms where truth should reign?
The Teacher of truth arose from the tomb and our good Christians are daily putting Him back into it, saying “Yes” to Him, on one hand, if it means we can have Easter eggs and a holiday, and “No” to Him, on the other hand, if it means accepting the work of the risen Lord on the cross. Hypocrites all!
We have a political party in Canada, which is called the Christian Heritage Party, a misnomer in itself, for our heritage does not lie in religion at all. It rests in God, with our foundation of truth declared to be the Bible, and His Law, our law. This is our Canadian heritage that belongs only to a risen Lord who hated religion of any shape or sort. This party has fairly good policies that would appeal to many believers, were it not incorrectly placing our Canadian heritage in the hands of religion instead of in truth. Which do their leaders think God blesses – religion or truth? Perhaps they should get right with God and then call upon His power in truth, instead of in religion, so that miracles can happen – they just might get elected.
In its religious form, would members of this party have recognized Jesus as the Teacher like Mary, had they been at the tomb that day? If they fail to embrace truth today, would they have recognized Him yesterday in their search for a resurrected man of God who was a Catholic, a Baptist, an Anglican or a Christian of any other religious denomination? If so, they never would have found Him and they never would have recognized Him, for He came in the name of truth, not Christian. How different from the Pharisees would they have been? Only the truth had victory over death and He walked out of the tomb as truth, the only Man who has the right to claim He is the way, the truth and the life.
If this is true, why is it not the policy of the Christian Heritage Party to put the Bible back in the schoolroom so the children can be reclaimed from Satan’s clutches? They should be taught truth, not religion, and, is it not true that so-called Human Rights legislation is against religion in the classroom? How, may I ask, are religious daggers entering them, and our good Easter celebrants of the CHP are not up in arms about it, when crosses are not allowed and the Bible is not taught?
America has lost the power, which comes from the empty tomb. On the day that Jesus arose from the tomb, truth was victorious over religion. The nation has rejected the risen Lord and, as a result, the children of America no longer are connected to the power. They now are floating in limbo in the ‘lah-lah land of Nod’. They are like the children of the rest of the nations, ruled by Satan, who cannot escape the coming judgment. How could we claim the risen Lord, under the name of Christian, allowing our children to be ruled by religion, which leads to death, instead of by truth, which leads to life?
Fools you are, and fools you remain. It doesn’t take a global village to raise our children; it takes men and women who, like Mary, will approach the cross and cry out in victory, “Rabboni”, which is to say “Teacher”.
But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”
Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher).
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her (John 20:11-18).
And so, Mary became a witness to the truth, and it was truth alone, which could claim the resurrected life – not Christianity, not Islam, not Communism and not Atheism, all religions with no claim to life, whatsoever. Only the truth can teach us that life and the name of Jesus are one and the same, as declared in the Holy Book of Life, called the Bible.
This is the only Book, which will give our children the opportunity for life – to claim the power of Jesus, to name Him as Teacher and to never defame Him.