Christ

Gathering the Captives

By Paul Koch –

Though we may not always know it at the time, when we look back over our lives, when we examine our wandering path to the point in life we find ourselves now, we can often identify moments that were crucial in determining our current destination. They may have been certain decisions that helped to reinforce our character, like choosing to help someone in need or pretending we didn’t see them. It could be the way we’ve responded to stress in our lives or our resolve when tragedy strikes. For there are moments in all of our lives where the way we understand who we are, our values and desires, our self-understanding of our purpose will be tried.

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Where are the women? We’ve been here the whole time.

By Cindy Koch –

I know, I know. Ladies, don’t be too hard on him. The Man has posed an honest question about our society and our faith. He observed that men can look like sexist jerks by believing the word of God; so where is the honor for women today? He tried to stand up and defend our freedom, but we know how very short that answer falls. It’s easy to wonder on the outside, rather than to be the woman who must mold her life in the midst of the muck.

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Neither Progressive Nor Conservative; Christ The Way

By Joel A Hess –

“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types — the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution.”

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10 Reasons You Should Attend the Christ Hold Fast Conference

By Scott Keith –

Like The Jagged Word, Christ Hold Fast is a project of 1517 the Legacy Project. As they describe themselves:

“We are a Law & Gospel collective of creative contributors, dedicated to teaching people how Christ remains faithful even when we are faithless (2 Timothy 2:13). We provide a voice for Christians who are both Sinner & Saint (Romans 7:15-25). We promote the bad news that you are a greater sinner than you think (Isaiah 64:6-7) and the good news that Christ is a greater Savior than you can imagine (Romans 5:6-11). And get this: He will never let you go (Hebrews 13:5-6).

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The Exodus

By Paul Koch –

The season of Epiphany is drawing to a close. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and with it comes that somber and reflective time of year called Lent. Compared to Lent, Epiphany is an exciting time of the church year. After all, an epiphany is a manifestation of something divine, a moment of sudden insight or revelation. And so Epiphany begins with appearance of a star that leads Magi from the east to worship our Lord. Then we focused on the

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Chose Your Own Adventure

By Jaime Nava –

Growing up we had some well abused “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. You roll stats by randomly choosing a number on the last page for certain abilities or something of the sort. Once that is done, you begin on the first page. From there things are off and running. You would get a few paragraphs and then you had to choose which path to take. It would tell you which page to turn to and start on the next branch of choices.

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Plus Seven Holy Armor

By Jaime Nava –

In a plethora of video games armor is a thing. Many times it’s like the Medieval era with different pieces for the head, feet, hands, chest. There are of course other accessories too. In many games, although the armor’s properties are identical, it looks completely different between the male and female characters. Even worse, when it is worn by female characters it is often skimpy and revealing.

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Never Say Goodbye

By Cindy Koch –

I’m gonna love you like I’m gonna lose you

I’m gonna hold you like I’m saying goodbye

Every time I sing this song I think of you, my love.  I listen to these simple words and contemplate our time together. We have had good times and bad, we have been happy and angry, we have been sick and healthy, rich and poor. It most certainly has not all been easy, but here we are – together. Looking back on our years, I can barely remember my life without you in it.

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Trapped in the Darkness

By Joel Hess –

A little over 5 years ago, 33 Chilean miners had a mountain fall on them miles beneath the earth. Darkness. It literally could not be any darker. They could not see their hand in front of their face. The darkness was only disrupted by screams and shouts. After a while they managed to turn some lights on. Fortunately, they were all ok. But they were completely trapped. There was no possible way they would be able to escape by their own efforts and ingenuity. Can you imagine being in such a situation?

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