Christmas Blessings from the Reimers Family 2022

December 14, 2022
Written by Kim Reimers (Double Click to Enlarge)

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

December 17, 2021
Michelangelo’s Second Coming painting as found on Art Now and Then

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Perhaps many Christians are yearning for the second fulfillment of these words in the year of 2021. It is an old song with roots that go back centuries. It has quite a history. Yet, the words echo many of the thoughts of believers worldwide in our day. Part of the song has a somber tone which denotes a request of God throughout the ages:

“Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadows put to flight.”

But then there are these words:

“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, O Israel.”

It is the promise hinted at back after man had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God in the book of Genesis (3:15). He was to come the first time to ransom mankind from its fallen nature. It is what we think of this time of year. He will come a second time to right all wrongs and usher in eternity.

The Text of the Hymn

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Adonai, Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Perhaps no other group can take this old Latin text and create a Southern U.S. version of this song as well as The Petersons.

And here is the more traditional version:

May God cause your heart to be thankful for the fulfilled promise spoken of in this song and to long for the second coming of our Emmanuel.

Chris Reimers


Christmas Blessings from The Reimers Family 2020

December 25, 2020

Pic by cathys.klown

 (Tune: The First Noel)

The first Noel of this new decade

Sees nations divided, people sick and afraid

Truth and Myth are thrown in the same heap

And “they” tell us that prejudice runs very deep

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is The King of Israel!

But today is not very different from then

The shepherds were not highly thought of by men

Out alone with the sheep on a cold winter’s night

While the cities were bustling, Caesar’s soldiers on site.

And lo, a bright Star shown upon earth’s plight

Those poor “lowly” shepherds saw angels that night!

Theirs was the privilege to go forth and tell

That King Jesus was born, Emanuel!

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is The King of Israel!

Praise God that His ways are much different than ours

He’s not impressed by political powers

Timing and healing are in His Control

Yet He’s more concerned for the state of our souls.

While this year might seem a nightmarish long night

Our Hope is the One Who said, “Let there be Light”

We don’t know what the next year will bring

Maybe we’ll see the return of THE KING!

And so from the Reimers, A Joyous Noel!

We’ve been mostly homebound, not much else to tell!

It’s peaceful and quiet here out in the woods

It’s been 25 years now, Isn’t God Good?

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is The King of Israel!


Radiant With Hope

April 6, 2020


“Amidst chaos and confusion, where can we find hope?”

Just like my church (and yours) Parkside Church is full of empty seats until further notice. Pastor Begg gives a sermon to his congregation through his church’s website. It is relevant to our times. The message starts at 16:45. May God bless you by His Holy Spirit through this recent lesson.

(CLICK HERE TO HEAR PASTOR BEGG’S RECENT TREATISE.)

CR


A Cappella Medley

August 7, 2019

David Wesley is very talented. Be edified dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

cr


What mean these stones?

June 1, 2018

A Sermon by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (An excerpt)

Let me put it to you like this. Christianity is not a philosophy. What is a philosophy? Well, a philosophy is made up of ideas put forward by men, in an attempt to try to understand life and our problems and how to deal with them and how to solve them. It is a matter of ideas, of thoughts and of teachings. My point is that while there is obviously a teaching and a doctrine which is a vital part of Christianity, that is not the first thing. What differentiates this is that it is first and foremost a record of historical events and historical facts. What mean these stones outside Gilgal? All that they mean is that certain things happened to these people-history. Let us be clear about this. There are so many people today who talk about the Christian attitude-towards war and peace, a Christian attitude towards education, a Christian attitude towards art, drama and literature. Now all that tends to turn it into a philosophy, into a teaching, into a theory, into a point of view. But that is really not to be true to our position. So Christianity, we must remember, is not one of a number of theories and ideas and philosophies with respect to life. It is quite unique because it is teaching which is based upon history.

I can go further and I can say this. That this is the thing that differentiates the Christian faith from religion-from any kind of religion. You take these religions that people, some of them, are turning to at the present time. Buddhism or Confucianism or Hinduism, or any one of these ‘isms’. What are they? Well, they are all something invented by men. They are all teachings. They involve a kind of worship, but they are not based upon facts and upon events. They are all based upon ideas-and they are ideas that are supposed to lead you and to help you to arrive at the particular deity that you want to worship.

Now here again, you see, our Christian faith is entirely different. It calls attention to facts. And that is why this building in a sense is going to do exactly the same as the bread and the wine do in a communion service. They again are calling attention to facts. So, we must start with this all important matter-this principle-and realise that it is vital to our whole situation. The uniqueness of the Christian faith depends upon a series of historical facts and events and the teaching which results from them.

—————————–
It is probably not altogether right to excerpt from one of the greats, though I think the good Doctor would be happy with my reasoning here. How many were saying in 1977, when the sermon was given, that the Bible was a good book but that much of it consisted of “meaningful fables” and “nice stories” and that its historicity was in serious question? This type of liberal Christianity, already quite popular then, was something that Martyn Lloyd-Jones abhorred. How much more are the historical parts of the Bible under attack today? Yes, parts of the scriptures are beautiful poetry and some are eschatological wonders. But there are the parts that, until the past few centuries, were always considered history and still are by men in agreement with Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Remarkably, currently and in the recent past, men are calling what has always been considered history poetry or allegory. There is the “Documentary Hypothesis” and a myriad of similar criticisms which weaken the inspired intentions of the text. Some go so far as to question the miracles.

I admire men like David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Walter Martin, and Charles H. Spurgeon and I agree with them. All great scholars, they upheld the Bible as the inspired word of God in times of question. We are living in times when many consider the Bible as just another book on the shelf. In their time, these great men were astonished that anyone could have such an opinion and if any were with us today I think they would receive more mocking than they did in their day and would respond no differently than when they were alive.

This is a sermon that needs to be heard more today than ever. I am including a link to the text of this sermon and another to the recording of the actual sermon. Either would be more than worth your time.

Chris Reimers

COMPLETE TEXT OF “WHAT MEAN THESE STONES?”

A RECORDING OF THIS EXACT SERMON BY Dr D Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Preached at West Street Baptist Church; Crewe; in 1977.)

A sermon WITH THE SAME TITLE was preached at Newport; South Wales; in 1977. Martyn Lloyd-Jones often used this text at the opening of new churches. It was on this text that he last preached at the opening of Barcombe Baptist Chapel in 1980.

MEET DR. LLOYD JONES (INTERVIEW)


Worthy is the Lamb – Bethel Pentecostal Church Choir, Dumbraveni, Suceava County, Romania.

April 9, 2018

I love my Romanian brothers and sisters. I would like to thank Irina Rimes for sharing this with me.

cr


The Resurrection

April 1, 2018


What a Friend we Have in Jesus

January 7, 2018

I would like to thank my friend Kiki Shalom for sending this to me via Facebook. Kiki had a difficult year in 2017. He was forced out of his own African country because of war and the money that he did have was stolen by thieves. He spent the last part of the year as a refugee in a neighboring country. He is a devoted Christian and he often sends inspirational things like this to encourage others. He was very sad that he had to leave his home and he was very honest about his feelings on Facebook. He found himself helping others in his new “home.” His reliance on God’s Word is a wonderful example. If you can find him on Facebook, you will see him share some of the struggle he had this year. You can also see wonderful Christians encouraging him as he has so encouraged others.

cr

My friend Kiki Shalom

Important note: Since posting this, I have learned that Kiki is back in his home country of Burundi. He seems much happier.


Do Lord

October 9, 2017

I would like to thank my neighbor, Tom Overton, for posting this on his Facebook page twice recently. He commented “Time again to put a smile on your face” with his last posting.

Thank you, Tom. It did just that.

CR


%d bloggers like this: