Jesus Christ

To the Mourners at Covenant Presbyterian Church

Posted on March 29, 2023March 29, 2023 by RKM in Announcements

We here at Rogues & Kingdom men would like to extend our condolences and our sorrowful prayers towards Pastor Chad Scruggs who lost his beautiful little girl, the congregation at Covenant Presbyterian Church, the Covenant School and all those who lost loved ones in Monday’s tragic event where three 9-year-old students and three school staff members were murdered by a former student of the school.

The Lord said that the mourners in this age would be blessed for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). No one would in those days and in ours would attribute blessing to a mourner. Someone who mourns is someone who has generally suffered loss and not gain, sorrow and not joy. Isaiah prepared the way for this coming enigma. The comfort of the mourner was a sign that the Messiah had come. Those who awaited the coming of the Messiah were expecting that He would bring comfort to the broken hearted in this world especially to His people. We are told in Isaiah 61:1-2 that not only would He bring good news, but that He would bind up the broken hearted (v.1), proclaim liberty and freedom (v.1) and in the context of our verse, that He would comfort those who mourn (v.2). Isaiah continues to declare that the Messiah would:

To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:3)

Rest assured that our mourning will turn to praise because in it, God will be glorified! As grievers, we will experience that great day of comfort when Jesus will wipe every tear from our eye and all our mourning will turn to rejoicing.

Brothers & Sisters, we mourn with you this day and you are in our prayers!

With Love,

Your brothers in Christ

RKM

The Book of Hosea: Chapter 3

Posted on March 24, 2023 by RKM in The Book of Hosea

The narrative in Chapter 3 shares a thematically identical structure to that of chapters 1-2 except that it is given in the first person rather than the third and utilizes different terminology to convey the same ideas. What has burdened the interpreters of this chapter is whether or not the woman in question is Gomer and even whether chapter 3 is parallel to chapters 1-2 at all. It seems if we follow the text chronologically that we are left with, not Hosea acquiring Gomer for the first time, having children, separating due to her adulterous ways, but reacquiring her post-unfaithfulness to him. This is the first time that the term adultery is used in the book[1]. Some argue that this needs to be a new woman since the children are not named but the parallel symbolism of Israel/Gomer and Hosea/Yahweh is still in place hence it would be a strange deviation from the entire argument to suddenly move to another lady to communicate the same symbolism.

Continue reading →

The Eschatology of Jesus: French Edition

Posted on February 24, 2023February 23, 2023 by RKM in En Français, End Times/ Eschatology

One can well imagine the number of theological works published on a regular basis in the English language worldwide. I’m sure we`d be surprised at the sheer number. Other languages are not so fortunate, and some have little resources available. Living in Canada, especially in the larger city centres, you may hear many languages being spoken but the two prevalent today are still good old English and French. I thought I’d contribute to sharing my theological insights to my fellow French speaking brethren. So, without further adieux, I’d like to share with you one of my works in the French language.

Previously, I published a summary of the eschatology of Matthew 24 in a 60+ page document where I went through the texts of Matthew 21-25 focusing on how this chapter relates to the overall understanding of the 2^nd coming of Christ. After some hard work with my Petit Robert dictionary, I’m proud to present you all with the French edition which you can find here.

Continue reading →

Trudeau’s Head

Posted on February 7, 2023 by RKM in The Kingdom

If you’ve followed my overview of the book of Amos, you may have discovered themes that seem all too familiar, and perhaps you may have wondered how on earth did he know about Canada in 2023? Aside from being a seer, the history of men is a vicious reoccurring cycle of trading up what is good in God’s blessings to embrace that which is not. In Amos’ day, the kingdom of the north prospered economically, and they enjoyed a time of relative peace surrounding their borders. But with that prosperity came the sins of arrogance, greed, indifference, and a lack of purity especially in their worship. Men began to oppress others financially by charging outrageous prices for goods and impoverishing them to the detriment of forcing them to become slaves. They banished the mouthpieces of God’s word and threatened to have Amos brought before the king for criticizing their debauchery (Amos 7:10-17). They began to see themselves, not so much as a nation of Yahweh worshippers, but one that accommodated other forms of worship to other gods, and they weren’t too fond of criticism. They’d even gone so far as to erect a temple to Canaanite gods in Samaria (1 Kings 16:29-34) and seemingly few had a problem with it (1 Kings 19:18: 2 Kings 10:18-28). Bethel became a brothel and the people may have become a little too excited to go to that church on Sunday to participate in the sexual perversion with the temple prostitutes. The most horrible part of this delusion is that they thought they were immune to judgment both spiritually and tangibly. They thought they were fine because they still offered some form of worship to Yahweh, all the while mingled with the adoration of Baal. They banked heavily on their military position and wealth as fool proof detractors from anyone interrupting their comforts which, I might add, was proven to be dead wrong. There was a pendulum style shift in their economic standing in these periods where they went from a wealthy nation during the reign of Jeroboam, to losing everything due to heavy taxation, social chaos and losing control of their livelihoods due to their Assyrian neighbours. They eventually fell to the Assyrian army and were taken into exile.

Continue reading →

A Stroll in a Cemetary & The Future

Posted on November 14, 2022November 14, 2022 by RKM in The Kingdom

The work of tracing a family tree can be a daunting one especially if you care to do it right. Scouring records of genealogical data from multiple sources for hours on end is no laughing matter especially if someone in the past wasn’t a very good bookie. We all come from a long ancestorial lineage and few of us are privileged enough to have met but only a few of our familial forebearers and hence, an investigation in necessary. One thing for certain, while conducting our inquiry, we discover quickly that we may know very little about their past. Baptismal records may reveal some affiliation to a religion, work documents to their occupation, land surveys to determine where they lived, and, of course, court records may divulge their badness but ultimately, we know only sparse few details about our distant past relatives.

Continue reading →

Identifying as Sons

Posted on October 10, 2022 by RKM in People of God

The identity of the Son is truly the most important part of identifying ourselves in Him. We know that this was a significant title applied to our Lord Jesus and communicated His special relationship to God the Father. Keeping this in mind, this title, however, is not unique and applied to others in the scriptures (Genesis 6:2). This is especially the case when appropriated to Israel. In His command to let the people go, the Lord refers to Israel as His son (Deuteronomy 14:1) and even His firstborn son (Exodus 4:22). The importance of identifying the Sonship of Israel with Jesus is crucial to understanding the fulfilment of this Sonship and its expansion in the New Testament in Christ and in His people.

Continue reading →

Unity & Abraham’s Seed

Posted on October 3, 2022October 3, 2022 by RKM in People of God

As we previously mentioned, understanding who we are in Christ has significant impact upon our unity and in return upon taking the nations for Christ. Even though the enemy unites under the banner of identity, we shouldn’t refrain from doing so also. We need to establish our identity in Christ as new creatures who represent a new creation, a creation which broke into this world through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the firstborn of all creation and especially of this new creation which He established at His resurrection. We are today a new creation in Him, and new things have come, and the old things are gone (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Continue reading →