Parable of the Wedding Feast

Matthew 22 begins with a very interesting parable. The parable does a good job of summarizing the old and new covenants and what the kingdom will be like.

22:1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

To me, it's pretty obvious that God is the king in this parable and following that logic, he sent out the prophets to tell people to repent.

4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

So once again he sends out the prophets to tell people to repent. The prophets were ignored and even killed. This to me sounds like the post Solomon era.

7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Sounds like the Assyrians and Babylonians.

8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Here is where I see the introduction of the New Covenant. The New Covenant was no longer meant for just one man, one family, or one nation. The Covenant is now available to all who are found worthly throughout the world. The covenant also comes with a command to go out to the world and tell others about the kingdom.

11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

OUCH! What is with this garment? What could it be? In this parable a man hears about the kingdom and thinks he is worthy. He is wrong. He didn't properly prepare himself. Just because someone believes in the kingdom and wants in doesn't mean he gets in. There are additional requirements needed to keep us from being cast out. The scriptures are clear on what these are: Repentence and Baptism. These are

14 For many are called, but few are chosen."

Only a few? I thought in today's feel-good churches everyone was saved? I thought in our secular society it didn't matter what you believed or how you worshipped.

We do have something to be saved from. The only way to be part of the kingdom is to hear, respond, and submit.

Paper Tiger

I think I have finally come to a realization as to why the United States has not won a war since World War II.

It's not a failure of leadership. Its not the political climate in Washington, its not even the strength of our enemies. It's because of the American people.

Don't try to reply using the Gulf War of the 90's as an exaple of a war we won. We are still fighting it. Saddam violated the ceasefire within 30 days and consistently did so for years before we invaded to re-instate it.

Prior to 9/11 we didn't even realize we were at war, but our enemies did. We hear a daily death toll of american soldiers (much less than anticipated), but we never hear the good news of how many people who want to kill our children are in hell.

Osama called America a "paper tiger". he may be right on that one.

Fortunately/Unfortunately

Fortunately, I am fully represented at the state and national level all by Republican representatives.

Unfortunately, that means the election results were very disappointing to me last night.

Fortunately, I have heard that many of the 'new democrats' are more conservative & evangelical than their teammates. More than a few oppose abortion and support the 2nd Ammendment.

Unfortunately since they are freshment congressmen, they won't have much political pull with their colleagues.

Fortunately,....well I can't really think of anything else

Unfortunately, Nancy Pelosi seems sure to be the next Speaker of the House. This alone should have scared the fence straddlers. Some of the newly elected have said (during election time for what it is worth) that they would not commit to voting for her for Speaker. I think even the Dem's will realize the harm this woman brings to our country. And from the looks of her...there is no chance of a sex scandal.

This election cycle has brought two new issues to light in congress that did not exist previously when the democrats were in power (for over 30 years).

1. Homosexual activity now is a bad thing. Both the media and pundits seemed to agree that this kind of behavior is no longer to be tolerated in Washington during the campaigns. I'm glad we all agree on that now.
2. Representatives and Senators involved in scandals should step down. Instead of staying in office to fight the accusations or just waiting them out, the new trend is that they immediately resign as called for by the libs and media (sorry for being redundant there).

I didn't vote for Kinky Friedman, but he did have some good lines this campaign.

"Politics comes from the latin "poly" meaning more than one, and "tics" meaning small blood sucking creatures."

He also said he changed his mind on the fence border along Texas and Mexico because in his words (borrowed from Jesse Ventura)...

"You never know when you might need to get out"

My original plan on this blog was just to ramble on for a year to see what it was all about. Which means there are about 2 weeks left. But Pilosi will keep me busy.

Voting made simple

Voting is so simple.

I have no idea why there are already people complaining that they didn't understand the system. Everyone has had months to make sure they are registered, and verify where they go to vote. There should not be any questions. Voting is no more complex than operating a McDonald's cash register these days. I'm not sure why we even have poll workers anymore. Maybe to give some sun to the walking dead that seem to man every polling place I've ever been in.

This election cycle has been so short sighted. I haven't heard any discussions to date, that this election is going to determine confirmation of probably at least two supreme court justices in the next 4-6 years.

I only hope the media is using the same polling systems they have been using the last few elections.