May He Increase

My Faith Journey (So Far)

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 18:14:00 +0000

This morning I was listing to The Patrick Madrid Show on Relevant Radio online. The main topic was about folks who have left or have come back home to the Catholic Church. I really wanted to call in, but my schedule just wouldn't allow it so I thought I'd blog about it instead.

HT: Richard Croft

Beginnings

I'm a cradle Catholic. I was baptized a month after I was born. At five years old, my family moved to Orange County, California and started attending St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Cypress. The following year, my parents enrolled me in St. Irenaeus Parish School and I attended from first to eighth grade. I did my First Reconciliation, received my first Holy Communion and was Confirmed before I graduated. I was an altar boy, I think, for about a year or so when I was in fifth grade. I don't recall why, but I only served during student body Masses and not on Sundays. Around that time, I picked up the guitar and started playing for those student body Masses until I graduated.

I went to St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower after that. During high school, I participated in Youth Ministry back at "St. I" and started playing for the 5:00 PM Sunday Youth/Contemporary Masses.

Up until that time, I didn't have any issues with my Catholic faith. In fact, when I was a child, maybe around 10 years old, I would say Mass in my parents' living room with my stay-at-home mom being my congregation. I had no embarrassment or trepidation about it at all. I loved saying Mass and I suppose that it was more about the comfort of the ritual to me more than anything else. At that age, in spite of being Catholic educated, I don't think I had a full grasp of the meaning of the Mass.

Holes in the Armor

I'm grateful--now--for my years at Bosco. Although at the time I wasn't thrilled with going to an all-boys high school, in retrospect, it was the best thing for me. I suppose I acted and did things a lot of teenage boys do, but when I think about how much I did do at a Catholic high school I shudder to think about how "bad" I would have gotten had I gone to public high school instead. Thank God for my parents who sacrificed all those years. I doubt I'd be where I am today had they not done all this for me.

What I didn't yet understand then but do now, is Ephesians 6 about the "whole armor of God."

Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. --Ephesians 6:10-17 NABRE.

I had holes in my armor. I'm not going to blame my parents or the schools for my lack of plugging those holes. At some point, you have to take accountability for your faith. You have to own it and the responsibility for becoming mature in the faith (Hebrews 5:14). And so, sadly, at 17 years old, in the summer before my senior year of high school, I started down a path that would take me far from "home," just as the prodigal son did in Luke 15.

There was a brief period of time after high school and early in my college years that I did come back and play at 5:00 PM Sunday Mass, but my heart was not in the right place. I was playing for all the wrong reasons and for my glory, not His. My heart was growing cold and the college years did nothing to embolden or strengthen my faith at all. Whatever embers I might have had for God during these years, college was more than happy to pour cold water on them.

I can see now how crucial it is for us to teach our young people about their faith and why we do the things we do. The Mass isn't just an empty and meaningless ritual which is what I told my mother years ago. I still remember telling her this and sadly, she didn't have a compelling rebuttal. My folks admit that they grew up in a time when you didn't read the Bible and in some cases, they were told not to!

Whispers in Deaf Ears

In the mid/late 1990s, I went to a couple services at nearby, non-denominational Christian church. I hadn't set foot into any church at that point in nearly 5 years or so. For me, at that time, it was a breath of fresh air. Being a musician, I loved the fact that they played several worship songs before the service started. The music was upbeat and uplifting. The pastor was an older gentleman with a froggy-sounding voice but I loved his manner and sermons. I wasn't so much interested in God at that point as crazy as it sounds, as much as I was using it as a finger-pointing exercise at the Catholic Church.

I was attending with a female friend. Yes, she was only a "friend," and yes, at the time, I was interested in her. So sure, I was motivated to go as often as she would invite me. It was her family's church and her dad was an elder there at the time. When the friendship cooled, I stopped going. and settled back into my very comfortable existence in the dark.

Finding God Again

I met my wife at the company we both worked for in the late 1990s. Ironically, she and I both went to St. I but she was a year ahead of me. I knew of her back in those days but never talked to her then. It was due to her and her family that put me on the path back to God.

She invited me to a little church she was attending. It, too, was non-denominational. One Sunday, just before Thanksgiving 1999, I had an experience that can only be described as God-breathed. I don't recall what the sermon was now, I only recall sitting there and weeping. I went to the pastor after the service and just tried to explain that I was moved by the message but I couldn't even get the words out because I was sobbing uncontrollably. It was the Holy Spirit removing the scales around my heart and breaking down all the walls I had put in place over the years.

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. --Ezekiel 36:26

I knew at that moment I was the prodigal son and I asked God to forgive me, wretched as I was. For the first time in my life, I dove into the Bible and devoured it. It was during this time that I discovered two of my spiritual fathers that helped me along my new path: Chuck Missler and Skip Heitzig. Chuck appealed to my brain and Skip to my heart. Chuck's Bible studies are heady and not for the faint-of-heart. Skip spoke to my need for every day and every-man Christian truth. I'm grateful to both of them to this day for their ministries and studies.

My wife and I were married in a Christian ceremony at a non-denominational church in 2001, though not the one we were attending. When the church that my wife and I were attending closed up, we actually went back to the church that I had attended in the mid-90s. By then there was a different pastor. We got "plugged in" and I supported the video and online ministries there for a number of years until changes found us wishing to break away and find a new church home.

Personally, though I still loved the Lord and being in His Word, I found myself becoming one of "The Dones," I term I had heard about online. I was done with the organizational church at the time. I was burnt out with the ministry I was involved in and as a result of being a part of that ministry, I had access to "behind the scenes" of the church and the pastors. The analogy is going to Disneyland as a guest versus working for Disneyland: the "magic" and luster of it is gone as you see the dark underbelly, so to speak.

Coming Home

My folks never stopped attending St. Irenaeus all these years. Faithfully they are there every Sunday. They never pressured my wife nor I to attend but would gently invite us or talk about things going on when we'd meet them for Sunday brunch after Mass and our Sunday services.

Then in 2015, my wife and I went to Easter Sunday Mass. Truthfully, it was my wife who encouraged us to go back to Mass, partly to honor my parents who are in their 80s now. I wasn't totally convinced that going back to Catholicism was the right move. After having spent over 10 years in non-denominational Christianity, I've heard countless sermons and studies on everything wrong with the Catholic Church. Why would I want to go back now?

As we settled in to the very familiar pews, I felt a tug on my heart. Then we saw little pamphlets in the racks that were called, "5 Ways to Wake Up Your Faith in Jesus," I think. Interesting, I thought, as I opened it up. Then my mouth dropped to the floor. Here, in my hand, was something you could have found at any Christian church we had gone to! It was the pure and simple gospel message! I was floored.

Then, during the homily, the priest actually used the term and phrase, "relationship with Christ." What! Am I actually in a Catholic church? In all my years growing up, no one ever talked about having a "relationship with Jesus." That was only talked about at our non-denom churches. And it wasn't just my experience, my wife said the same thing.

Truthfully, it took me months to overcome my objections about coming home. It took me some time to settle in and become a part of my old Catholic faith again.

Where I'm At Today

I'm so blessed to be back home. It hasn't been without some catching up and rectifying some things:

My wife and I are working on getting our marriage convalidated
My 10 year old son was baptized last year, had his First Reconciliation, and will have First Eucharist next month
We enrolled him in St. Irenaeus School this past year and he is almost done with his first year there. As my parents sacrificed for me, I want to sacrifice for my son and teach him all the things that I didn't have to strengthen his faith

I've reached a point that I'm open to all the Church teaches now. When I encounter something contrary to what the non-denoms have taught me or something that I don't yet fully understand, I'm accepting it and then researching and learning about it for myself. I'm doing my best to lay aside my presuppositions and seeking answers to deepen my faith rather that dismissing them out-right. I'm asking God to open my heart to understand all that His Church teaches.

I'm also blessed to be able to use my God-given talent once again by playing guitar on Sundays at 9:45 AM Mass with the choir, too.

What's in a Name?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 14:00:00 +0000

[This is part of the Gems in the Biblical Text Series. Have you seen the other posts yet?]

Some of you may have seen this before. It’s been covered by different Bible scholars. My goal here is to present it in the hopes that maybe someone hasn’t seen this before and will find it a blessing.

Noah’s family tree consists of the following gentlemen (and their ages):

Adam - 930 years
Seth - 912 years
Enosh - 905 years
Kenan - 910 years
Mahalalel - 895 years
Jared - 962 years
Enoch - 365 years (Did not die. More on this later.)
Methuselah - 969 years
Lamech - 777 years
Noah - 950 years

Let’s look at what each of their names mean.

Adam

Adam, as probably everyone knows, was the first man, the first human being. So it will probably come as no surprise that "Adam" means "man."

Seth

Seth was the third child of Adam and Eve. You probably remember the story of Cain and Abel, their first two sons. Cain killed Abel. When Seth was born, Eve said:

"God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him." –Genesis 4:25.

The root word of Seth’s name means "to put, to lay upon." If we take that an apply it to what Eve said, it means "appointed."

Enosh

Seth had a son and named him Enosh. His name means "man" but also means "mortal man."

Kenan

Next is Kenan, the son of Enosh. The meaning of his name is somewhat obscure. There are commentaries that say it means "nest" and others that say it means "sorrow" or "dirge." You will see that this apparent ambiguity doesn’t matter for our purposes here.

Mahalalel

Kenan had a son named Mahalalel. His name means "blessed" or "praise of God." You get this from the two parts of his name. The "El" is the name of God. You see this in such names as Dani-el which means "God is my Judge."

Jared

Jared is next. His name means "descent." It means "to go or come down."

Enoch

Enoch is an interesting character. His name means "dedicated." The root means "to train, to train up." In other words "teaching."

Enoch was the father of Methuselah, the oldest person in the Bible at 969 years old when he died. But Enoch didn’t die. One of the interesting passages in Genesis is found in chapter five, describing Enoch:

Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. –Genesis 5:24.

The Hebrew word used for the passage "and he was not, for God took him" is "laqach."

It’s a fascinating word that is full of meaning: "to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away."

There are commentators that believe and suggest that Enoch being "snatched up" to heaven is symbolic of the rapture of the church. It’s a model of the rapture, in other words. I think it’s no accident that the word "laqach" has meanings that include "marry" and to "take a wife." Who is the believer’s bridegroom? Christ! Who is the church is relation to Christ? His bride!

Methuselah

Enoch’s son was named Methuselah. His name means "man of the dart." It comes from two roots. One is "muth" which means "death" and "shalach" which means "to bring" or "to send forth." So, his name means "his death shall bring."

Like Enoch his father, Methuselah is an interesting guy. Enoch gave him a prophetic name.

And, indeed, in the year that Methuselah died, the flood came. Methuselah was 187 when he had Lamech, and lived 782 years more. Lamech had Noah when he was 182. The Flood came in Noah’s 600th year. 187+182+600=969, the year Methuselah died. –Chuck Missler, Hidden Treasures.

Lamech

Lamech was the son of Methuselah and the father of Noah. His name means "powerful" but also means "lament" or "lamentation." His name is also somewhat obscure. Again, for the purposes of our study, we will go with "lamentation" or "despairing."

Noah

Finally we reach Noah. Noah’s name means "rest." How picturesque. The man at the head of the only family that was spared the flood, was named "rest," or "to bring relief" or "comfort."

Let's put it altogether now

Adam = "Man"

Seth = "Appointed"

Enosh = "Mortal"

Kenan = "Nest" or "Sorrow"

Mahalalel = "Blessed God"

Jared = "Come Down"

Enoch = "Teaching"

Methuselah = "His Death Shall Bring"

Lamech = "Lamentation" or "despairing"

Noah = "Rest" or "Comfort"

Do you see anything remarkable yet?

Let’s write out the meanings in a sentence:

"Man is appointed mortal sorrow. (But the) blessed God (shall) come down, teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest."

I was stunned when I first encountered this. This is the gospel message that is found in the Old Testament!

Is it really possible that a group of Jewish rabbis would have or even could have conspired to hide the message of salvation in the Biblical text? There is no way the human mind could have pre-planned this. This was conceived in the mind of the Creator and King of the Universe.

And He loves You!

[This is part of the Gems in the Biblical Text Series. Have you seen the other posts yet?]

Gems in the Biblical Text

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 01:15:00 +0000

Tomorrow night, August 13, I'm blessed to be teaching a class at my church.

The course is something I have a deep passion and love for: the Word of God. Some of you may remember or used to visit my old WordPress blog at mayheincrease [dot] com. The materials I'm using to teach the course come primarily from the blog.

It's called "Gems in the Biblical Text" and does a survey of some fascinating details on topics such as:

The Genealogy Of Noah
Cords, Ropes, and Rahab
The Cities of Refuge Laws
Is the Value of Pi Wrong in the Bible?
Where Is Moses' Tomb?

And many more.

My goal for that course, and certainly through the posts that will be a part of this series, is to enrich the believer's faith in the Word of God and to attempt to change the mind of the skeptic.

Please join me along this journey.

You can start the tour with "What's In A Name?"

We Are Still Here . . . For Now

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 17:21:00 +0000

It's the morning of December 21, 2012.

As I write this--at 8:52 am Pacific Standard Time--the earth is still spinning and the sun is out and still shining.

Mayan Calendar

Not sure what time the Mayan calendar had pegged for the "end of the world" or the "end of an era," but one thing I am sure of is that countless millions of people will take this non-event as another piece of evidence that all doomsday prophecies are fallacies.

To a certain extent, I'm in agreement with that because Jesus did tell us:

"Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will." --Matthew 24:42-44.

Jesus further explains in Mark 13:32 that only God the Father knows "the hour." Jesus the Son nor the angels know when it's going to happen.

What can we conclude from the passages in Matthew?

Everyone needs to be ready, moment-to-moment
That Jesus is coming when we all would least expect it
If the "head of the house" had known that "the thief" was coming, he would protect his house

I'm fascinated with bullet 3 because of who the "head of the house" and the "thief" are. Most of us, I think, just have the image in our heads of a robber trying to break into our house in the middle of the night. But I think we need to look at the verse in terms of Jesus' second coming.

Who needs to be on the alert? The "head of the house" does. In this scenario, can Jesus be this "head of the house?"

My conjecture is that it's Satan who is the "head of the house" because he is called the "ruler of this world" is John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11. In this type, Jesus is "the thief" because only His Father knows when to send Him back to claim His bride, the Church, at the rapture.

Yes, we are still here at this moment. But Jesus can come back in the next moment, maybe even before I publish this post.

Are you ready?

What Is Truth?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:52:00 +0000

In John 18:38, Pontius Pilate asked Jesus: "What is truth?"

What is truth?

The other day, I put the question up on my Facebook page to see if I could get at least a smattering of answers to that question. I have friends who are Christian as well as those who are not so I was hoping for a dichotomy of answers.

Sadly, no one responded.

According to Merriam-Webster, truth is defined as:

(1) : the state of being the case : fact (2) : the body of real things, events, and facts

Interesting definitions. Keep those in mind as we go back to see what Jesus said to Pilate to cause him to ask the question "What is truth?"

Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." --John 18:37

What are we to make of this?

Jesus is a king
There was a reason why He was born
There was a reason why He came into the world

What is the reason?

To testify to the truth. The truth.

So I ask you: what is truth? Let me know in the comments!

A Personal Vision

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:44:00 +0000

Recently I heard of a note that was left by a missionary who had been executed in Africa.

I don't have any information beyond this. I don't know who to credit this to nor when this event occurred. If someone reads this and knows more about it, please let me know so I can attribute it.

Regardless, it's one of the most powerful testimonies I've read. I'm trying to imagine what what going on in the heart of this guy when he wrote this and nailed it to the wall of his cell before he was executed.

I'm ashamed of myself that I struggle with living with such conviction. Here is the text of the note:

I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colourless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.

I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labour by power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, or let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problems recognizing me--my banner will be clear!

What do you feel when you read this, especially if you are a Christian? Does it inspire you to live bigger for Him?

Laboring In Vain

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 19:02:00 +0000

While I'm still working out what this new blog site will focus on, I do want it primarily focused on Christianity.

In the interim, I wanted to share one of my favorite quotes from one of America's Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin.

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move--that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service.

This was spoken by Franklin during June 1787 during the Constitutional Convention. If you click the link, there is a link to an image of this in Franklin's own hand.

It amazes me how far away we have gone from those days. America is a country that has lost her moral compass. I shudder to think what Franklin would say today if he could see what has happened to United States today.

Atheists/Agnostics/Liberals/Progressives: what say you when you read this quote? Do you think that America can keep going down the path we are currently on?