Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, and Lent are three terms describing religious activities that we hear a lot
about at this time of year. Have you ever wondered just what they are and why they are
commemorated? First, let me say that they have no real Biblical background but, even though they are
“man-made” they do point toward a very significant event: Easter.

The weather has been kind of wacky this year, hasn’t it? The rain has been especially heavy, I think. I
walked in my back yard on Monday morning, after two days of no rain and the ground is still soaked.
That’s very unusual. But, while it’s messy and not a great time to walk around back there, here’s the
thought I had: God must be preparing us for a beautiful Spring! I’m pretty excited about that. Will there
be more “severe” weather? Highly likely….more rain and some freezing temperatures. But when Spring
comes, it will be awesome!

About 2,800 years ago the writer of Ecclesiastes stated why the Bible doesn’t need to be understood in
light of the modern times or interpreted according to what we know today. He wrote: “What has been
will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes
1:9 NIV). Nothing new under the sun? Really?

My attention was called to a couple of videos going around where preachers were preaching about
women wearing pants. Both preachers were very serious about the sinfulness of a woman daring to be
so brazen and disobedient. Some may be shocked to learn that this is being talked about from the pulpit
but I can recall the time it was preached from many Southern Baptist pulpits!

I need to make a small correction about the production of “The Chosen”.

There is a limited-series program entitled “The Chosen”. I’ve heard from several people that is was good
and entertaining. I have been asked what I thought of it. I hadn’t seen it, so I began watching. As of this
writing, I have seen the first three of the eight episodes and did not see anything basically wrong with
the theology…yet.

A couple of weeks ago I made the statement that denominations come from the minds of men, not God.
God didn’t have several denominations in mind when He established the church. He had a message:
Believe on the name of Jesus and be saved. The Bible teaches us that to do that you must realize you
are a sinner, confess and repent of that sin, and ask Christ to save you. Upon accomplishing that, you are
saved; a child of God. Then, you must decide how to live…and that is mostly where denominations are
formed because you live your Christian lifestyle based on theological interpretations.

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s
curse!”  Galatians‬ 1‬:8‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
Did you know that an angel named Moroni gave Joseph Smith the “golden plates” that became the Book of Mormon?  Or, that an
angel named Jibril (Gabriel, in English) gave Muhammad the Quran? We really don’t need to discuss all the false doctrines of those
two religions once we see how we were literally warned about them by the apostle Paul, himself!  God inspired Paul to write that
the Mormon and Muslim heresies would come about long before they did.

Is it OK to look back? The apostle Paul said he pressed forward, forgetting what was behind him. We
have to admit that we can’t let the past tie us down and defeat us, but looking back on a year as a
learning experience and as a time of encouragement is a good thing. 2022 was a year of change, to be
sure. Yes, there were disappointments and sadness, but there was also much to appreciate and much
encouragement to be had.

Happy New Year!  January 1 st marked the beginning of a new calendar year.  We celebrate 2023 AD,
marking 2023 years after the birth of Christ.  Some people celebrate 2023 CE, (the Common Era, which
happens to begin at the birth of Christ.  Go figure).  Did you know, though, that if it wasn’t for a monk
named Dionysius, we would be celebrating the year AD 1739? And the AD would stand for ”the year of
Diocletian” instead of “the year of our Lord”.