What is Re-Forming You?

Yes, it is Halloween – not my favorite holiday – not my favorite season as a rule —- getting used to things getting darker quicker.

It always gets better.

It is Reformation Day. Luther finally, reluctantly, and fearlessly came to a line that he could not cross and declared, “Here I stand; I can do no other.”

Where do you stand so that you can do no other?

What in you/me needs to be re-FORMED.

God is forming us and we can cooperate if we will – be pliable, flexible, and moveable.

People put on costumes for Halloween. I used to dress as a hobo when was a kid. We are usually just putting on a show. We don’t really become goblins and hobos and zombies. But there are things we put on that form us and we become because we are always becoming.

Some stuff needs to be put off . They tend to stick to our skin and form us wrongly:

Ephesians 4:22: … put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Colossians 3:8: But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Colossians 3:9: Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Other things, according to scripture, Jesus followers need to PUT ON.

It is more than a costume. These things shape us:

Galatians 3:27: put on Christ.

Ephesians 4:24: And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Ephesians 6:11: Put on the whole armor of God,

Colossians 3:10: And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Colossians 3:12: Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Colossians 3:14: And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

Halloween, pagan, earthy, sometimes offensive, fun, opportune, present in-your-face, and not really going away reminds me to check my costume with regard to my own reformation. What am I putting on and what am I putting off. Is it only a PUT ON or and I being REFORMED.

Something is shaping you right now. What is it?

All Hallows Eve and All Saints

_{Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud, Soissons Cathedral; statues of saints sheltered in a side chapel during the bombardments in 1918. Learn more in our Online Collections Database.}

“Here is a call for the endurance of the saints…”
“Blessed are the dead … who die in the Lord.”

When Babylon falls and God’s triumph is unfolded, all of Heaven rejoices. This is your message for All Hallows Eve.

We rejoice and sing with the 144,000!

The geometric figure of perfection times perfection and harmony of perfection with eternity is 144,000, representing all of those who stand before God. They all join in praise.

We are included.

Babylon, which is the corruption of earthly power at any time of history is a spiritual as well as a temporal reality. It has fallen, is falling, and shall fall.

Redeemed creation sings the new song. It cannot be learned from the outside, but it can be sung. It is learned from the inside. The redeemed can know it. One enters in, opens the heart and mouth, and the song flows.

And if that is not enough, the message goes forth to the hold-outs.

The invitation goes forth to gather all tribes into this circle of worship. This has happened, is happening, and shall happen. It is where eternity pierced time with good news and a call to adoration and reverence.

There are those who are marked. They have participated in the timeless cult of greed, fear, intimidation, idolatry, corruption, imperialism, and oppression. There is no rest. It is a system of torment.

We hear the cry, “Come out.”

Jesus is calling, “Come unto me and rest.”

For those who fear All Hallows Eve, or cringe at the Day of the Dead, who wilt under fear, these are the words of hope:

“Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

Death is no longer a creepy thing. It is not the domain of the macabre.

It is rest.

It is fulfillment.

It is completion.

It is blessedness.

It is freedom and release.

It is unveiling of that which was hidden from sight.

It is the fall of Babylon.

This is encouragement to endure.
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Revelation 14:1-13
Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion! And with him were one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.

No one could learn that song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; these follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

They have been redeemed from humankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found; they are blameless.

Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth– to every nation and tribe and language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Then another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

Then another angel, a third, followed them, crying with a loud voice, “Those who worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands, they will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.

There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”