It Is Who You Know

Is God Your Genie in the Lamp?

2009-10-30T06:05:00.004-05:00

When God chooses to answer prayers through amazing or even miraculous results, He does so, not simply because we asked, but rather because He has some higher purpose.

God will not be a "Genie in the Lamp" to be summoned forth when needed and stuffed away when things are going well.

If that is the God you desire, you will quickly become disappointed when the answer to your prayer becomes, "No".

Despite what the "Health and Prosperity" teachers claim, "No" is a valid answer. As a matter of fact, "No" is most often the best answer, because we don't even know what we should be asking for in a great many cases! Just like you tell your children "no" when they ask for something that will harm them, wither they understand the potential harm or not; the Lord often has to tell us "no"!

Jesus said "... whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you." (emphases added) By saying, "In my name", Jesus wasn't telling us to place "in the name of Jesus" on the end of our prayers as some magic tag line to make miracles happen! And anyone who come to think this will quickly find out they are wrong. Unfortunately, they often blame God, instead of ever learning the truth.

The Lord will give you anything that is in accordance with His will. That is, if "If you remain in (the Lord Jesus) and (the Lord Jesus') words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you." He can say this because, your desires will become His desires, if you do as He says (study the Scriptures, and Love the Lord God with all your heart mind, strength and soul).

Here is a person who believes "Jesus lied" because he does not understand the very words on the pages of the Bible, and the verses that he quotes. However, his page makes a very good list of verses, when studied together (with the power of the Spirit) proves the point of what I'm trying to say. Jesus didn't lie, God is no magic genie, and the power of prayer includes "no" as an answer.

Pray for your Church Leadership

2009-06-01T09:05:00.005-05:00

Ezekiel 33:1-6 (New King James Version)

1 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, 3 when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

Chilling words.

Especially if you are among the leadership of the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas.

You see, the leadership of that church were appointed "watchmen" over the congregation of their church. One of their members, while serving as an usher, was gunned down. He was a publicly outspoken abortion provider, one of the very few who practice late term abortion, which means he was in the practice of murdering children who could have survived if they were delivered instead of killed. Yes, his murder was just as deplorable as any of the murders he habitually practiced. And God will certainly not overlook the murder of the abortionist. But neither will He hold the leadership of that church harmless for their failure to act as watchmen over Dr. George Tiller's soul. Instead of warning Dr. Tiller, his pastor and elders implicitly agreed with his activities by not applying proper, scriptural, church discipline. Further, by allowing him to serve as an usher, they assuaged any guilt he might otherwise have felt, as certainly his church leadership approved of him and his profession.

Pray for your Pastor, your Elders and your Deacons.

James 3:1 (NKJV)
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

Praise God for Flat Tires!

2009-05-11T18:32:00.002-05:00

I was truly blessed by a flat tire today.

No, really!

A coworker was driving the vehicle that had the flat tire. We were on our way to an event, when he calls me up and tells me he has a flat tire and is taking the next exit. Fortunately, the tire held together long enough for us to get into a fuel station parking lot.

As we stopped, he tells me, "Your truck stinks!" I had noticed a bad smell some time before at a weigh station, but I figured it must of been one of the tractor trailers that was in line for the scales. (The vehicles we were driving are box trucks towing a trailer mounted LED wall.) Anyway, as I went back to assist him in changing his flat tire, I noticed an odd puddle under the rear axle beside the inside wheel. Upon further investigation, that puddle was a large portion of the oil that belongs inside the axle! If it wasn't for stopping to repair his flat tire, that axle might have failed in a more catastrophic manner.

Dreams of moving into the slum!

2009-04-24T06:56:00.000-05:00

To Live Is Christ

2009-03-23T10:59:00.002-05:00

The full 53 minute video is available here.

Why wait?

2009-02-14T09:19:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting in the hotel lobby. It is breakfast time, and there is a free meal available here for me; and yet I wait.

For my breakfast pleasure, the hotel offers cereal, various sugar coated confections, toast-able bread products, and coffee. But while I am hungry, still I choose to ignore these offerings. Around me, my fellow guests are happily partaking. I am different, but they don't pay much attention to my separateness, as I am not drawing attention to myself.

Why am I not eating the proffered meal? Because I have a better deal ahead!

I have been invited to breakfast at the best restaurant in town to be payed for by my host. By eating the free breakfast at the hotel, I'm going to ruin my appetite and lessen my pleasure at the superior meal to come. I am bypassing the meal at hand based on the faith I have in my host coming to get me.

Likewise is the Christian walk. We turn down the proffered pleasures of this world because we have faith in our Host-to-come and the greater things he has set aside for us in the future. Even in this life we are offered quick and easy short cuts which lessen our ability to enjoy the better things ahead. The most obvious being premarital sex. The world says, partake now because you are missing a good thing. But God says, wait and receive a greater blessing and joy.

Where is your faith? Is it in the oft broken promises of this world, or in the tried and true Word of the Living God?

From Y!/A: "Spiritually Speaking" does excepting yourself allows others to accept you?

2009-01-25T09:35:00.004-05:00

The Yahoo! Answers staff occasionally deletes questions that people ask in the Religion and Spirituality section that they consider offensive or off topic. One way that potential "abusers" get around this is by adding "Spiritually speaking" to the beginning of their question. Often I find that these are valid, or at least useful questions to answer. Here is one that was recently deleted.

Question:
"Spiritually Speaking" does excepting yourself allows others to accept you?

Answer:
Yes and no.

"Excepting yourself", is called hypocrisy. Setting up rules for others to follow, while not following these rules yourself is what "religious" people often do. People truly and rightly hate hypocrisy.

"Accepting yourself" (if that is what you meant), is called self-righteousness. In accepting yourself, you will begin to put down others as that is the only means to keep up your own self-acceptance, or self-righteousness. Oddly, unlike outright hypocrisy, this self-righteousness will likely be accepted by many others, because they are doing same thing.

"Accepting Jesus", is the only way to be acceptable to God, and the only way to truly accept (love) others. In order to accept Jesus, you must put off your self-righteousness and hypocrisy, and accept that you are a vile sinner who cannot be acceptable in and of yourself. Others (who are not born again, from above) will not accept you, but will revile, despise, and persecute you. But God in Heaven will accept you, and this is the only way.

Source(s):
15 Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
Mark 8:15

Shaving for the Lord

2009-01-23T09:04:00.001-05:00

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I really didn't want to shave. I don't like shaving, and at this particular event, I would even fit in better with the people I work with, if I did not shave. However the boss, the owner of the company, has set a policy that his employees will not have a full beard (goatees and mustaches are okay) and will be clean shaven.

As I was mentally preparing the rationalizations that would allow me to put down the razor and go to work with a days growth of beard on my face, I realized that it was the LORD against whom I was preparing to rebel. That instead of grumbling in myself at the need to scrape the fur from my face, instead I should be grateful to even have a job. Paul wrote that we should honor our employers as we honor the Lord. I shave, not because my boss will fire me; but rather because the Lord has blessed me.

Thank you Lord, for allowing me to shave for You!

Psalm 48

2009-01-05T18:19:00.001-05:00

Is science not compatible?

2008-12-22T09:44:00.003-05:00

Is science not compatible
with religion, as they say?
Then why are they on holiday
this joyous Christmas day?

Could it be even scientists,
have hidden in their hearts,
an abiding need for Jesus
defying all their smarts?

Come, together let us reason,
says the Father from above,
though your sin be like crimson,
I'll wash them white with blood.

The blood of my Son, Jesus Christ,
who died on Calvary's tree
is offered as a sacrifice
to wash those on bended knee.

b.

Who are you bowling for?

2008-12-20T16:25:00.004-05:00

The ball is cast, but the LORD determines the pinfall.
Proverbs 16:33 (Paraphrased)

I was watching my Dad bowl yesterday, and it occurred to me, no matter how skilled, no matter how excellent a bowler you may become, no one averages 300 (the score for the "perfect game"). This doesn't mean we shouldn't do every thing to the best of our ability, but rather we should do our best and not worry about the outcome as the LORD determines both the immediate and the ultimate outcome.

If I'm bowling for the Lord, then I can be free to concentrate on the throw at hand without worrying over the game, series, or match. Or even the outcome of the ball just thrown, other than as a way to learn and better my effort. It's easy to see the blessings of God, when you get an undeserved "lucky" strike. But real liberty and joy come from accepting that the 7-10 split is just as much a blessing for your benefit and God's glory. Even though you will often fail to convert it into a spare. When you accidentally put the ball into the gutter, you can take solace knowing that you cannot fail to bowl for God by tossing the ball, you can only fail God by not bowling at all.

Ballot Access Drive Begins!

2008-11-26T17:05:00.001-05:00

My Fellow Patriots,

The Constitution Party of North Carolina Ballot Access drive has began. We need the help of each and every freedom loving North Carolinian. With your help the CPNC can meet this challenge and ensure that the true Conservatives voice can be heard.

The state of North Carolina has some of the most restrictive ballot access laws, ranking at approximately the 3rd most restrictive in the entire nation. According North Carolina General Statute Chapter 163 Section 96(a)(2) to initially gain access to the election ballot, a political party must obtain signatures from 2% of the total number of citizens that voted in the most recent general election for the office of Governor. This means, for the Constitution Party of North Carolina to gain access to the ballot by 2012, and to be able to field candidates to appear on the ballot under the Party's name, we must obtain at least 85,378 signatures. We actually need to obtain more than this number since only about 70% of the signatures we turn in will be certified by the local County Boards of Election for various reasons (i.e. individual moved out of state, not registered to vote, or in the worst case died). So, in reality we must obtain approximately 122,000 signatures.

Please help us by downloading our petition for ballot access, linked below, and gathering as many signatures as you can to put toward the total number needed. For us to achieve ballot access in 2012, we are looking to obtain at least 2,033 signatures every month until May of 2012. Please be apart of ensuring your right to vote is acknowledged in 2012 to work for better more free elections and the principled constitutional stands of candidates from the Constitution Party of North Carolina.

The Constitution Party of North Carolina stands strongly opposed to these high restrictions on the ballot, and the harmful collateral cost incurred to freedom due to these restrictions. We believe that laws such as these, that unduly restrict the liberty of the individual citizen are a violation of our Constitution, Declaration of Independence and God-given rights. We call on the citizens of North Carolina, regardless of political affiliation, to stand with us and tell our elected representatives in the North Carolina General Assembly to break down these restriction on liberty and restore the people's right to vote unabridged, or face the risk of having to finding a new job.

Please send this information out to all of your family, friends and freedom groups!

Ballot Access petition:
http://www.constitutionpartync.com/documents/2012BallotAccessPetition.pdf
Ballot Access page:
http://constitutionpartync.com/ballot.php

If you have any questions or comments please contact us.

In Freedom and Liberty,
The Constitution Party of North State Executive Committee http://www.constitutionpartync.com
Phone: 1-88-VOTE-CPNC
"Principle over Politics"

Mercy O Lord!

2008-11-15T17:25:00.000-05:00

I found myself in the unusual position of being in the seating area preferred by the teenagers at the Thursday night service. With apologies to Pastor Nick, I found myself fidgeting and losing concentration the same as the three teenage boys seated directly in front of me. I apologize to Pastor Nick because it is not his fault, as I often drift off in a daze during Pastor David's sermons too. (I've sat through so many moralizing "sermons", without scripture content, that I automatically tune out and start drifting away when the topic occasionally strays.) But I digress. ;-)

Anyway, these three young men, in a row with some other teens, drew the attention of a parent, and an usher. You see, they just haven't yet discovered how to play church correctly. I hope they never do. I spent easily a dozen years honing my skill at "playing church". But then again, I was required to sit with one or both of my parents until I learned. Once I escaped to the choir, I really had to learn how to play church, as all those adult eyes fixed on the Pastor could easily see me fidget.

My heart was breaking as I sat there; nominally listening to Pastor Nick call me back to God, while I was watching three young boys heading the same direction I had at their age. They abandoned the service at the altar call, but my heart went with them. Ah Lord God, Father; your will be done, but if it is in your plan reveal yourself in the hearts of those three young men. Spare them, what I went through! Spare them the lost decades of being a youth for you. Most of all spare them your wrath in the coming judgement! Help me shy away from my own issues of "playing church!" Have mercy on us, Lord Jesus!

It is who you know

2008-11-15T06:52:00.001-05:00

I have finally switched to the free blogspot domain, as I have chosen to let my prior paid provider, (er ahem) perish. ;-)

The url is now http://itiswhoyouknow.blogspot.com/

The name comes more from desperation at the lack of available free names, but yet is inspired by the passage from John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

This along with many other verses in the Bible make it clear, that we are not saved by what we do, but rather by who we know. Get to know the Son, because "... if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36

Major Persecution in India

2008-08-28T23:13:00.003-05:00

In the Indian state of Orissa, Christians are being beaten, raped, and murdered. The latest information is available at http://www.gfa.org/orissa-update.

Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.
(Hebrews 13:3 NLT)

Technical Difficulties

2008-08-13T08:15:00.006-05:00

My Web hosting provider has decided to get out of the web hosting business. Unfortunately, the transfer from one provider to another has not quite been seamless, so while this note will be seen by those with access to the RSS feed, the website itself will not have this article, nor the one about Yahoo Answers on it until these issues are addressed. Also, the link in the feed to this article will not function until the new hosting company gets this fixed.

Basically, the name "bryan.shouse.com" is pointing to the old page, which I can no longer update. But all this information is updating a page on a server out there somewhere, as well as remaining in the "Blogger" database.

The new company's customer service seems quite responsive, and I suspect this issue will be fixed shortly.

Update: Fixed! A minor setting change in Blogger fixed the issue.

Yahoo Answers

2008-08-05T16:00:00.003-05:00

I've been pretty active on Yahoo Answers as of late. So, to the right you will see a link to the questions I've answered.

The Tap Root of my Soul

2008-07-03T06:49:00.003-05:00

The Lord Jesus is the tap root of my soul.

These past few months have been a difficult spiritual drought for me. I haven't been in the Scriptures as I should have. I haven't attended church, or gathered with my fellow saints as I should have. I haven't spoken to the Lord in prayer with any consistency, or with the passion that I should have.

And like a tree in a drought, though the fruit is not what it would have been in a good season, and the leaves have curled up in the scorching heat of the world, my core is still strong. The roots of fellowship, prayer, and Scripture remain ready to soak up the living water; because my tap root is the Lord and he is the source that never fails. Even when I do.

Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
(Jeremiah 17:5-8 NKJV)

Al Gore is right!

2008-06-28T06:49:00.006-05:00

Al Gore is right! With much chagrin I have come to the realization that the Bible plainly teaches what former Vice-President Al Gore has been saying, lo these many years (almost since the time he invented the Internet). Namely, that mankind is responsible for Global Climate Change.

It's all right there in black and white (and red, if you have a red-letter Bible).

Gen 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
...
Gen 1:31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Then Adam and Eve sinned, and the consequences were dire!

Gen 3:17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
Gen 3:18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."

Further this set up the conditions for the first Global Climate Change disaster.

Gen 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Gen 6:7 So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."
Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Fortunately, we do not have to worry about a Global Flood ever again.

Gen 9:11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
Gen 9:12 And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
Gen 9:13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
Gen 9:14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;
Gen 9:15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Gen 9:16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
Gen 9:17 And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."

However...

2Pe 3:3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
2Pe 3:5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
2Pe 3:6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
2Pe 3:12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

(All quoted scripture is from the New King James translation.)

What's in a name?

2008-04-16T05:40:00.005-05:00

A few years ago, while I was working an event out west, I was able to get enough time off to go to church. It seemed to be a church that was in the process of coming back to life. The new pastor was struggling with a decision, the old name had to go. The name of the church carried too much baggage. It also wasn't "hip", nor did it necessarily square with the direction the new pastor wanted to take the church.

I made it back the following year, and the church seemed to be doing well on attendance. Of course, they were hosting a Christian Athlete group associated with the event I was working. He taught a forgettable sermon on something based on a couple of verses.

I actually made back for a third year in a row. Unfortunately, the pastor was off on vacation. The bulletin was full of self-help courses and most of the service was various ministries begging for help. One Sunday a year for three years isn't a fair way to judge a church... is it?

During this process, a local Bible College decided to change its name. It is amoung the oldest, best established Bible Colleges in the area. It decided that using the word Bible in its name failed to emphasize the all important traditions and teaching of the denomination to which it is affiliated...

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep.
(John 21:17 NKJV)

Giving the Dog a Bath

2008-04-14T05:58:00.002-05:00

When you give a dog a bath, the first thing he does, when you let him loose, is to go find the strongest smelling mess in the area and roll around in it. It's built-in to him, it's the way he's designed. He desires to cover his own clean scent with a strong smell that can hide him from "prey". The good news is that he can be trained out of it.

I remind myself of a dog that's been bathed. It often seems, that no sooner that I have experienced some awesome spiritual experience, but that I find myself wallowing in some old familiar sin. Unlike the dog, this is not how I was originally designed. This is the years of living in sin, and the old bad habits showing through. Perhaps it is an attempt to "blend-in" with the world. The Good News is that I am free to follow a different path.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. (Romans 12:1-3 NLT)

For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45b)

2008-03-31T20:36:00.003-05:00

Out in western Pennsylvania, the issue of abortion can strike a nerve. Democrats there often describe themselves economic liberals and social conservatives who favor gun rights and oppose abortion rights.

So, it was not unusual to see a woman stand near the end of Barack Obama’s town hall meeting in Johnstown, Penn., and offer a hurried, passionate plea for him to “stop these abortions.”

…The exchange appeared to be prompted by Obama’s earlier comments that he does not favor abstinence-only education, but rather comprehensive sexual education that includes information on abstinence and birth control.

“Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old,” he said. “I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at age 16, so it doesn’t make sense to not give them information.”

Is this the heart of someone who America thinks would make a good President? I hope not.

What actually would be a punishment, as opposed to a new life created in the image of God, is a President with such a callus disregard for human life that he considers his own grandchildren a "punishment" for a lapse of moral judgement!

Which Jesus?

2008-03-28T08:05:00.006-05:00

Which "Jesus" does your spiritual advisor preach? What "Gospel" (or Good News), if any, have you been taught?

These questions come to mind because of recent political doings. Senator Obama has famously distanced himself from certain teachings of a man he has called pastor for more than 20 years. That man officiated at the Senators wedding, baptised his children, and led the Senator to Jesus. I'm wondering which Jesus. From what I've researched, Jeremiah Wright preaches a "Social Gospel" and worships Jesus the Social Reformer. That's a very sad thing.

This "Jesus the Social Reformer" was pretty pitiful. He didn't lead any uprisings. He led no hunger strikes, indeed he was accused of being a glutton and a drunk by the religious establishment! (Matthew 11:19, Luke 7:34) He gathered up a large number of loose followers, seventy odd committed followers, a dozen disciples, a core group of three men, and a right-hand man. Of these, the right-hand man denied him three times and ran away, of the twelve one of them turned him into the authorities and then hung himself, rest of the twelve and the seventy all ran away, and the larger group were part in same with the crowd chanting "Crucify Him!".

Further, the "social ill" of his time was the "Roman Oppression". When the people were ready to revolt and make Jesus king, he slipped away. (see John 6:15) When asked if the people should pay taxes to the Roman Oppressor, he said yes! (see Luke 20:22-25) Although the religious authorities accused him of forbidding to pay taxes when they later set him up for execution. (see Luke 23:2) When he was executed, the Romans didn't even know who he was, it was the very people who he supposedly was trying to socially reform that chanted "Crucify him!" to the Roman Governor who would have released him.

No, Jeremiah Wright and his fellow Liberal Church leaders have missed the boat. This "Social Jesus" and "Social Gospel" they teach has no power. The historical and Biblical Jesus is the Son of God, very God of very God, He is the Living Word who spoke the universe into existence. And He didn't come to this Earth to bring social justice; He came to make dead people live. He came, not free men from the bondage of other men, but from the bondage of their own sins. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) He didn't come to put down the despotic human powers that oppress their fellow men, but rather the demonic spiritual powers that oppress our souls. (see Genesis 3:15)

That said, Jesus promised to return. And when He does return, He is coming to take the reigns of His kingdom. Then and only then will there be complete justice (social and other wise), and peace.

Pray for the Liberal Church, that they might come to know the true source of Social Justice, not their "social Jesus" but the scriptural Jesus who gave His life a ransom that many might live. For when the Lord God, brings peace and love for all men to your heart, then you might reach out to affect change for the social good.

The "Social Gospel" is just another, do good and work hard enough, then God will accept you, lie. It specializes in public good works. The Pharisee's would have approved. Make your prayers long, loud, and public so men (both the oppressed and the oppressor) can see your (self) righteousness. Do you works in the sight of men so they can bring glory to you. That is the way of the Social Gospel of the American Liberal Church. It is the opposite of what Jesus taught.

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
(Luke 18:9-14 NKJV)

The Pharisee's were the most renowned religious leaders of their day. They taught against the Roman Oppression, but were careful to not provoke the Roman Authorities too much. The tax collectors were fellow members of the oppressed society, but they had sold out to the oppressor for money. The tax collectors accepted government jobs, they were given a quota of money to raise and were to keep any excess that they were able to collect as their wages.

The words of Jeremiah Wright and his fellows are those of bigotry and racism. But are any of us perfectly clean of this stain? Father God in heaven, convict us all (Reverend Wright and his compatriots as well as myself) of the the bigotry and racism in our own hearts. Purge us as individuals and purge your church of this hatred. Ignite in our hearts a true love for you O Lord, and for our neighbors, and especially for our enemies, as you have taught.
In the name (the very nature) of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Amen (Let it be so.)

AT&T CEO would shut down American Education system!

2008-03-27T09:13:00.004-05:00

In a not so stunning indictment of our Education System, Randall Stephenson the CEO of AT&T remarked "If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down." These comments were caused by the fact that even though they had pledged to return 5,000 customer service jobs to America from India, they have only been able to actually move 1,400 so far, due to AT&T's inability to find enough skilled workers.

Although I'm somewhat dubious of his claim for his company's need for skilled customer service workers; (I mean really, how much skill is involved in answering a phone in pigeon english and frustrating the customer with misunderstandings until they give up and go away?) it is general knowledge that our education system is graduating a lower percentage of students, and the skill level of graduates is lower as well.

It's high time we take the action recommended by Mr. Stephenson and shut down our current Federal Government based education system. The Department of Education has been an abysmal failure since it was made a Cabinet level bureaucracy. It should be scrapped. All federal tax dollars that were funneled through that agency should be returned to the parents of school aged children in the form of vouchers that could be applied to the education system of their choice. It is time we took the power of educating America's children out of the hands of bureaucrats and returned it to the parents, as was envisioned by our Founding Fathers, and Thomas Jefferson in particular.

Instead of being beholden to the Federal Government, local school systems would have to answer to the parents of their students. Schools that do well would be rewarded by increased attendance and monies. Schools that fail could then be shut down to make room for expansion of the ones that work. Local communities could determine the employers that they'd like to lure to town by training their children in the skills needed by those companies (like pigeon english for telecommunications customer service.) Colleges and Universities could establish the type of education they'd like to see in their freshmen class and parents would reward the schools that help their children meet those criteria.

It is radical, but necessary if America is to stay competitive in the increasingly Global Economy. Not only that, but the displaced Department of Education workers could ably fill all of AT&T customer service employee needs, with little or no retraining.

5 years of war every day

2008-03-24T07:46:00.003-05:00

After 5 years in Iraq, 4000 brave American solders, sailors, airmen, guardsmen, and marines have fallen. Today, 4000 innocent lives will be taken here in America.

Over the past 5 years, 4000 of our bravest, volunteers who have chosen to fight there instead of waiting for the Islamist enemy to continue their war on us here, have made the ultimate sacrifice. Our enemy for the most part has slain our finest men and women through the use of remotely detonated bombs and the occasional homicide bomber.

We are involved in another war, a war in which 4000 innocents on average die every day of the year in America alone. It called abortion. Unlike our brave military volunteers, these innocents have no choices. The weapons of their enemy are far more horrifying than roadside bombs and human murder bombers. There are options, murdering an innocent unborn child should not be one of them.

Defunding Planned Parenthood (the nations largest abortion provider) and any other abortion providing institution would be a step in the right direction. There is a bill in the house, "Title X Family Planning Act" (S.351), that would accomplish this. If only our Representatives can stand in the face of the multi-billion dollar abortion industry.

EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed

2008-03-12T07:16:00.004-05:00

Finally, a movie to look forward to! Ben Stein interviews scientists and teachers who have been persecuted for their audacity to question Darwinian Evolution. He also interviews adherents to the theory of evolution, and allows them to fully and clearly articulate their point of view... which results in exposing the weakness and the problems of evolution.

The movie opens April 18th. (which, oddly enough is my brother's 39th birtday... enjoy youth while it lasts ~400 days and counting, bro!)

You can view trailers and more detailed information at www.expelledthemovie.com.

Zeal Without Knowledge

2007-11-21T06:27:00.000-05:00

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
(Romans 10:3)

While Paul is speaking directly concerning the Jews, this applies to all of us who try to meet God on our own, as opposed to His terms.

We can never meet God on our terms. He is the sovereign Lord Creator of the Universe. We are rebels who are defeated and merely await the just execution to come.

But just as the anti-capital punishment crowd currently objects, the death of the guilty is never sufficient to pay for their crimes. The death of the guilty, the highest form of punishment that man can mete out, is unable to restore the damage caused to the victim. (Human justice merely attempts to constrain the future evil of others by demonstrating the consequences of unlawful actions.)

God's justice demands payment. The just payment for our rebellion is death. Not merely physical death, but spiritual (eternal) death. There are two ways to avoid the consequence of God's justice. One is to live perfectly by the Law of God. Only one person has done (or will ever do) this. The other means, and the only way open to us, is to accept the payment made by that person, and in exchange offer Him our lives as His slaves (we are so very dearly purchased!).

Not willing that any should die; God sent His Son to live among us as the lamb without blemish (one who lived a perfect, non-rebellious life (John 8:28)). Being perfectly subject, Jesus willingly chose to pay the price of all our rebellion in exchange for His rightful place at the right-hand of God as our King.

Now a thing even more glorious occurs! We who are rightfully slaves, purchased by the death of the Incarnate God; are made brothers and co-heirs of that perfect man and sons of the Living God!

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
(Romans 11:33-36)

O, foolish Galatian!

2007-10-23T05:54:00.000-05:00

When I mess up and sit convicted of the wrong things I have done, then I feel the love of God, because I cannot hide from myself the fact that I'm so undeserving of His grace.

But the truth is that I'm always undeserving!
I tend to want to forget that fact, when I'm "doing well". I want to help God make me a better person, and I cannot. I pray God will break my heart when I'm doing right and good in my own eyes, to know that it is not me or anything that I've done that can make me in anyway deserving. But only who He is and what He's done.

Are you a Christian?

2007-10-11T06:15:00.000-05:00

Some things bless you so much you feel you should share them.

From the devotions book, Morning and Evening, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Evening
“Whom he did predestinate, them he also called.”
- Rom_8:30
In the second epistle to Timothy, first chapter, and ninth verse, are these words-”Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling.” Now, here is a touchstone by which we may try our calling. It is “an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace.” This calling forbids all trust in our own doings, and conducts us to Christ alone for salvation, but it afterwards purges us from dead works to serve the living and true God. As he that hath called you is holy, so must you be holy. If you are living in sin, you are not called, but if you are truly Christ’s, you can say, “Nothing pains me so much as sin; I desire to be rid of it; Lord, help me to be holy.” Is this the panting of thy heart? Is this the tenor of thy life towards God, and his divine will? Again, in Philippians, Phi_3:13, Phi_3:14, we are told of “The high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Is then your calling a high calling? Has it ennobled your heart, and set it upon heavenly things? Has it elevated your hopes, your tastes, your desires? Has it upraised the constant tenor of your life, so that you spend it with God and for God? Another test we find in Heb_3:1-”Partakers of the heavenly calling.” Heavenly calling means a call from heaven. If man alone call thee, thou art uncalled. Is thy calling of God? Is it a call to heaven as well as from heaven? Unless thou art a stranger here, and heaven thy home, thou hast not been called with a heavenly calling; for those who have been so called, declare that they look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, and they themselves are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. Is thy calling thus holy, high, heavenly? Then, beloved, thou hast been called of God, for such is the calling wherewith God doth call his people.

Jeremiah 17:5-8

2007-09-15T07:55:00.000-05:00

Thus says the LORD:

"Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the LORD.

For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,

But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
And whose hope is the LORD.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,

And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,

And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

We've Failed New Jersey

2007-04-04T06:17:00.000-05:00

There is a news report, from March 23rd, that the Burlington Township High School held a mock terrorist attack drill for testing the preparedness of the local police and the school's administration and faculty. That this isn't in itself news-worthy, is a sad statement, indictment even, of our culture. However, this little drill did finally receive some interest from the blog world, if not the mainstream media.

The interest was generated because

Investigators described them as members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the “New Crusaders” who don't believe in separation of church and state. The mock gunmen went to the school seeking justice because the daughter of one had been expelled for praying before class.

I am saddened that there are people who honestly think that followers of Christ would pick up a gun and shoot students to protest school prayer. But I'm not "outraged" at them. They don't know any better, and that is our fault. If there were true Christians in their life, who displayed the sacrificial love that Jesus gave to us, then the concept of Christians taking hostages and gunning down children would be beyond imagination.

Instead, we are treated with a national group callously using this tragedy as fund-raiser fodder. That is how this event came to my knowledge. A nationally syndicated radio show for a Christian organization that does in large measure, good things, took this simple story, and instead of offering to reach out in love, began blasting condemnation. They, in classic mainstream media method, took the few pieces of the story and put the worst face on it; spun the story in order to maximize the outrage and used it as yet another reason to send them money so they can hold back the anti-Christian tide. This is what I find outrageous.

The Burlington Township School administration has released a statement concerning the controversy.

Having a form, but denying the power

2007-01-27T08:17:00.000-05:00

I was recently asked to review a book. However, when I looked at the excerpt available on the website of the publisher; I knew that I would not read it. You see, it was written by a recent convert to christianity. And unfortunately, it seems that she has been ripped off.

The woman who wrote the book, came to see the good things in her christian husband and the church he attended. She made a decision for God. However, this whole blood of Jesus thing seemes "icky" to her. So she has written a book, all about how christianity is good, but just leave out the "icky" blood thing.

Well she is right, of course. The blood of Jesus is "icky". It is offensive. In order to be a child of God we must be washed in the blood of the Lamb. We christians have sanitized and even try to gloss over the offensiveness of this. When, in part, it is the the very offensive nature of the means of salvation that gives it its power!

Our Lord was "hung upon a tree" and crucified! If you are a christian, the very God, very man, that we claim to follow was executed by the cival authorities like a common criminal! He was executed with thieves on either side of Him. He, who rightfully was the King, was brought low. He lowered Himself; concented to humiliation, so that He might rise to the right hand of the Father.

Likewise, we must consent to the humiliation of realizing that there is no innate goodness in us. God did not see something in us that set us above anyone else. Nor is there anything that we can do to save ourselves.

If we can fully understand the humiliation of salvation... I don't know, I'm still working on this myself. :-) But I do know that it is practically the opposite of the culture in which I live. In America the rugged individual, the "self-made" man is lionized. It is almost anti-American to admit weakness, a need for help, or a lack of self-sufficiency.

The Good News of God's Salvation requires that we first admit weakness, a need for help, and that we lack self-sufficiency. Otherwise, it is not Good News! If I am capable of living a life that is acceptable to God, then I don't need an external savior.

What did you wear to Church today?

2006-11-26T07:26:00.000-05:00

If you went to church... Here, in the post-Bible belt, it is traditional to put on one's "Sunday Best" to go to church. It is so strong a tradition, it is not unheard of that people have been turned away at the door for not dressing respectfully enough for God. More commonly, instead of the direct refusal of admittance, people who are unable or unwilling to meet the standards are treated poorly and made to feel unwelcome in order to drive them away.

Mat 25:31-46 KJV When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: ³² And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: ³³ And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: ³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. ³⁷ Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? ³⁸ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? ³⁹ Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? ⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. ⁴¹ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: ⁴³ I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. ⁴⁴ Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? ⁴⁵ Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. ⁴⁶ And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The church of the goats is alive and well, here in the South. But fortunately, God has preserved a remnant, as He always seems to do. If you find yourself turned away from a church, consider that they are in a worse peril for their souls than you are, and go look for another church. And if you find yourself in a church that begins to turn away the lost and needy, speak to it's leaders and if they refuse hear or change then flee that church.

Leave the suit-and-tie of self-righteousness in the closet, and come to church in the blood-washed robes of the Lamb if you have them. Or come to church in the dirty rags of your repentance and the Lord will gladly exchange them for fresh spotless clean robes. As long as you choose to hang on to that suit of self-righteousness then you are refusing to admit your need of the Lord. See that suit for what it is, dirty rags, and let it go.

It's so easy to try and slip back into the suit of self-righteousness. "Really Lord, it's okay, I can take it from here"; I seem to catch myself saying, in deeds, if not in word. But I can't, I slip and fall in the mud, then from the mud I look up and there is Jesus, not ready to berate me, but willing to reach down and take my muddy hand and lift me up and clean me up once again! Why do we choose to keep slogging through the mud; to grab another handful of mud and start trying to wipe ourselves clean?

That is how a church of the Lamb becomes filled with goats. When the lambs all stray after their own ways, what conviction is there for the goats? When christians put on their suits of hypocrisy, then the non-christians are only convinced that the whole thing is worthless talk.

So let's leave the suits of hypocrisy and self-righteousness at home, or bring them in to exchange them for new, blood-washed robes. The only way to take control of the local church back from the goats is for the lambs to truly begin to follow the Shepherd again. This means that all of us need to use our God-given gifts for His cause in His church. Not just the pastors, but all of the people of God. But most of all

1Co 13:1-13 KJV Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. ⁴ Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, ⁵ Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; ⁶ Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; ⁷ Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. ⁸ Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. ¹³ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

For those not versed in "King James English", the word "charity" is more correctly translated "love" in modern English. In chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, Paul teaches that all the gifts are necessary, but here in chapter 13, he shows that all of that is useless without it being done in a spirit of love. That's is where we need the Lord's help more than anywhere else. Whether we preach, teach, or even encourage; we must be filled with and motivated by the Spirit of love or we will fall on our faces.

And, if you find yourself unexpectedly on your face; your best bet is to just go ahead and pray. Then let the Lord lift you up and set you about His business.

Tag(s): fashion; love

Crucify Him!

2006-11-19T07:55:00.000-05:00

I stand in the crowd, surrounded by the religious and the profane, alike. Pointing my finger and yelling at the top of my lungs; "Crucify Him!" With every wilful sin, I add my agreement to the crowd. Another chorus of "Crucify Him", made by voices that were designed to praise God, not curse Him.

As He drags His beaten body, oozing blood from the many whip-made lacerations, up the road toward the "Place of the Skull", we mock and spit on Him. Every action I take, out of my own strength adds to the spittle festooning His shredded skin. Every bit of pride I take in "my good words" is so much more mockery added to the jeers and catcalls.

And as He hangs on the cross, we stand at His feet agreeing on the best ways to divide up the cast-off soiled clothing. He is suffering pain so intense that a new word was coined to bear it's meaning, excruciating (out of, or as if, being crucified). He sees us, there, casting the dice; even actively adding to the burden He was bearing and He pities us. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Finally in that confluence, where ultimate Love met ultimate Justice, the Lord called out "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) and we think He is calling for Elias the prophet. He hangs, cursed on a tree, paying for every wrong thing we will ever do, say or even think; and yet we miss it. We think that He must be pointing back to the Law and the Prophets. "Yeah, I know Jesus died, but I'm sure that God will accept me if I just go to church more."

His body is taken down and laid in a tomb, and we try to go back to "life as normal", and forget about this whole weird affair; but He won't stay dead! Some actually see Him up and walking around, and they are indeed blessed. But to us He says "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

We are party, with every wrong action, word, and thought, to the most heinous crime ever committed; that of executing a perfectly innocent man in place of ourselves. And yet that man, who is God Himself, freely offered Himself in agreement with the death sentence True Justice demands so we do not have to pay ourselves. Because the debt has been paid, we are offered a pardon. But a pardon cannot be accepted, unless we first admit our guilt. I am guilty, and pardoned. And the only thanks that I can give is to turn my life over to Him. He bought it, it was broken and soiled, yet He bought my life with His own. I'm definitely a fixer-upper. Even though, I stood in the crowd, spit on Him, mocked Him, beat Him and crucified Him, He overcame it all and still wants me. Even though I still spit, and mock, and beat Him, I am forgiven. And you, if you will admit your guilt, and your total inability to pay the price on your own, may be forgiven as well.

Tag(s): Gospel

RC5 for Jesus

2006-11-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

After a period of inactivity, I find that RC5 for Jesus is still going on. RC5 for Jesus is a team participating in the RSA Lab's RC5 Encryption Challenge via distributed.net. The challenge is seeing who can "crack" the encrypted message first. Distributed.net is an organization that figured out how to split up very large tasks among as many computers as will join in. So, what has this to do with Jesus?

Well, directly, nothing. However, some Christian who is technically savvy saw just how popular the Top 100 Teams page is and thought what better way to put his computer to use that by putting Jesus name on that page. The RC5 for Jesus homepage has instructions on how to join, if you have a computer that tends to be left on. The application runs at the lowest priority level so as not to interfere with your normal usage.

Oh and a warning, the distributed.net client will show up as "undesirable" to most anti-virus programs. This is because the desire to be on the Top 100 page is so strong, that some participants had attempted to include the distributed.net client in a Trojan Horse to hijack unwitting computers into participating on their behalf. As long as you download the program directly from distributed.net, then it is safe, no matter what the anti-virus program may say.

Why try to put Jesus name on a page that only gets looked at by computer geeks? Because computer geeks need the Gospel, too.

I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
(1Co 9:22b-23 KJV)

They even (once you've submitted some completed work) give you your own stats page with a convenient place to put your testimony or favorite verse. And the link shows up on your neighbor's pages.

Tag(s): distributed computing, Jesus

In the company of Peter and John

2006-11-12T09:06:00.000-05:00

In September, a United States Navy Chaplin was convicted for praying while in uniform.

You can read the World Net Daily article here.

So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."
(Act 4:18-20 ESV)

Congress, considered and then failed to provide the protection for religious free speech which had been added to the Defense Appropriations Act. Currently, while not "against the rules" officially, it is within the ability of Chaplin's superior officers to order them to not pray "in Jesus name" anywhere outside of their Sunday Chapel services. and, as can be seen by the case cited above, there are those in authority who are more than willing to so order.

Missed Opportunities

2006-10-26T07:23:00.000-05:00

Today is a travel day, again. I'm scheduled to fly to Tampa, Florida to work for the weekend. A dear friend offered me the opportunity to buy dinner before I left, and I gladly accepted. :-) Anyway, as we left the restaurant, one of those things I fear most happened.

A man called out for help. My first instinct was to ignore the man. But somehow, I just quite couldn't. So, I took a small loaf of bread (one that my friend had acquired from the restaurant) and offered it to the man. He demanded, "It's cold, go to Marshall's and buy me some thermals." I hesitated. "I'll work; if you have any work." Finally I replied, "I've got bread" and held the small bag up to the man. "That's something, anyway" the man said as he took the bag and turned away. As my friend and I took leave of one another in the restaurant parking lot. I kept looking for and seeing the man. And I was troubled. I knew I should have done more, as I got in my car and drove away. It wasn't the thermals that bothered me, it was chilly and it will so get colder, but the man was better dressed than I was. I could certainly afford the thermals, and would likely not even miss the money it would have taken to purchase them. Likewise, time was not the issue, my friend was leaving and I need just a few minutes to pack for a weekend trip. No, my heart wasn't ready.

The man didn't need the thermals he demanded of me, nor did he need the bread I gave him. What he needed is the True Bread of Life, something that I could have given him. I easily could have take the man to the store, and told him that this was a free gift, just as Jesus had given me a free gift. When I thought I wanted a fire suit to protect me from the flames of God's wrath, but Jesus gave me the gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of my sins... not because of me, but because of Him. Likewise I could have gifted the man some thermals and the Gospel. But I wasn't ready.

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
(2Ti 4:2 KJV)

Father, help me to prepared when you next give me a divine appointment. Forgive me my failures and lift me up so that I can try again. In all things, your will be done. Amen

Tag(s): opportunities, Gospel

Love Hurts

2006-09-23T05:35:00.000-05:00

God loves us oh ever so much more than we can even understand. He loves us so much He even allows us to suffer pain, sickness, trials, and temptations here on this earth! If God didn't love His children, He would let them live perfectly happy lives in sin, here on this earth, and we would never understand the need to turn to Him.

The pain and suffering we face after we turn to our Redeemer are, among other things, part of that refining fire that helps us to become more like Christ Jesus. Read the Psalms, in large part written by King David, called "a man after my own heart" by God! The very words most quoted by Lord Jesus during his earthly ministries. Oh, God knows suffering, and He takes no joy from it; but rather from the results.

Give glory to God and be thankful when times are tough. If you are suffering like Job, (and Job was never given an explanation!) then will you not be rewarded like Job? More importantly, if we suffer like Christ, He says to be glad as He has already defeated the enemy that makes us suffer and our rewards will be that much greater!

Superstition

2006-07-17T07:26:00.000-05:00

I've heard it said, that in order to be a Christian (or believe the Bible) one had to turn their brain off. Nothing should be further from the truth. Unfortunately, many of us base our "religious" point of view on superstition; both Christian and non-Christian.

I grew up with a religious background. From my earliest days I was told about God. I had a superstitious belief in God. And while I did believe in God, I also knew that I hadn't met His requirements. In fact, I was rather unsure of His requirements, I only "knew" that I had to give up all of the things that were "fun" in my life. Boy was I surprised to find out that that wasn't quite true. According to my understanding of His own words, I merely had to believe in my heart that Christ died for my sins, and proclaim with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and God would take care of the rest!

After God got a-hold of my heart, I began to be interested in the facts around the Bible. It's truly amazing! As far as I can tell, to not believe that the Bible is supernatural in origin and existence is to be ignorant of quite a number of facts. Likewise, if you hold the Theory of Evolution to the light of truth, you'll find that it is thin and chock full of holes.

Now, I no longer have a superstitious faith, but one based in logic and understanding. I challenge everyone, Christian and non-Christian to push their own belief beyond "believing what you've been told" (superstition) to understanding what you believe and why you believe it. Or as the (rather ironic) tagline of the Da Vinci Code movie states "Seek the Truth"!

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
(2Ti 4:2 ESV)

Tag(s): superstition

Game-a-holic

2006-07-12T09:11:00.000-05:00

"Hi. My name is Bryan, and I'm a game-a-holic."

Like many things in this life, there is no direct Bible command condemning computer video games. But for me, I find it entirely to easy to spend inordinate amounts of time playing games. There are other distractions that I fall prey too, such as surfing the web, or television. But nothing really devours my time the way that video games can. Or, captures my imagination! I find that my earliest waking thoughts are easily bent towards whatever video game I was playing before I go to bed. And, if I awake with thoughts of a computer game, then I tend to go straight back to that game.

Still, I'm not going to condemn computer games. The problem is not the existence of the games, but rather my overindulgence of them.

Heb 12:1-29 ESV Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. ⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. ⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." ⁷ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. ¹¹ For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. ¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. ¹⁴ Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶ that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. ¹⁸ For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." ²¹ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear." ²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. ²⁵ See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. ²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." ²⁷ This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are shaken--that is, things that have been made--in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

Tag(s): distractions

Analogous

2006-05-06T05:44:00.000-05:00

We are all criminals, living on deathrow. We are all inflicted with a dread disease.

As prisoners on deathrow, the Judge has offered us a conditional pardon. You see, another person has already paid the price for our heinous crimes. In order to claim the pardon, we first have to admit we are guilty and accept that there is no other hope of release. If we go on thinking that we can "beat the rap" on our own, we will never see the reason to accept the pardon. If we remain blind to our guilt, we will cling to a hope that the verdict will be rescinded. If we accept the pardon, then we realize that we owe our lives to the one who paid the price. The best way that we could honor that sacrifice is by attempting to live our lives the way He would want us to.

Further, there is a time limit on accepting this pardon. At some point in time, a point that we do not know, that offer of a pardon will be closed. For each of us, that time may be different. But it is inevitable. Accepting the pardon means that many of our fellow inmates will mock us. Some will face far more and be beaten and even killed for accepting the pardon.

This is where the analogy breaks down. The execution is the only true death. Only those who refuse, or fail to accept, the pardon will face the true death of the execution. We have all the way up until our physical death in this world to accept the pardon. A student asked a wise Rabbi, "When should I seek atonement?" The wise Rabbi replied, "The day before you die." He paused for effect before continuing, "Since we do not know if we will die tomorrow or not, then today is the day we should seek atonement." What the student and the wise Rabbi failed to understand was that there is only one way to be forgiven... that is to accept the pardon offered by the sacrifice of the death of Messiah Jesus on the cross at Calvary.

The doctor came into the room, after analyzing the results of the test. "I have very grave news", he said as he sat down. "You have a disease, that is 100% fatal." The doctor paused as the words sank into reality, the mind of the patient whirls as it attempts to understand the implications. The doctor finally breaks the silence, "There is one cure..."

What do you think the patient does at this point? Well, if he is like some of us, he gets mad at the doctor. "What do you mean there is only one cure! That's narrow-minded and bigoted!" When we should be, "Well what are we waiting for, give me the cure!"

The cure to our fatal disease is the same as the pardon for our crimes. Our crimes and our disease is sin. Sin is missing the mark of perfectly following God's Law and Will. The penalty and natural result of sin is death. We are all guilty, we are all infected.

The cure is Jesus Christ. He paid the price so that we might not have to do so. And He arose from the grave to prove that He has the power to give eternal life. The power to pardon us and cure us. Declare Him Lord in your life. Ask Him to give you faith, true saving faith. There are many who have taken the "sinner's prayer" inoculation. The "sinner's prayer" is worthless unless you have true life-changing faith. If you spoke the sinner's prayer in a bout of emotionalism, but your life has not changed, then you need to seek God still. Cry out to Him, He is faithful.

Tag(s): Gospel

Having too little self-esteem is not possible.

2006-05-05T14:44:00.000-05:00

For too long has the old saw been repeated; "today's kids just have too little self-esteem." Well that's just tripe! The problem with all of us (not just any particular generation's children) is that we have too much self-esteem!

Self-esteem is setting our "value" by our own standards. If you set your "value" higher than even the worst criminal, the lowest person you can think of, then you esteem yourself too highly.

The true "worth" of an item is the amount that someone is willing to pay for it. Likewise we should set our own sense of worth on our value; our value to God. The Lord Jesus Christ laid down His perfect life for you and me. Our true worth is based in the value of His sacrifice. We have worth only because of His ultimate worthiness. This is far more than any sense of self-worth that I can imagine. God, from before time began, planned to sacrifice Himself, His only "natural" Son, so that we might be redeemed.

I can esteem myself no higher that I esteem anyone else, if I base my worth on His worthiness. We shouldn't esteem ourselves, but rather we should remember the value of everyone else to God. When asked what is the great commandment of the Law,the Lord Jesus replied that it is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength; but He didn't stop there He continued saying the second is like the first and it is, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You cannot love your neighbor as yourself if you esteem yourself more highly than him. You cannot love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength if you believe that you are better than any other person on the planet.

If we base our sense of worth on our selves, then we become overly concerned with what other people think of us. It becomes very easy to fall into the trap of man-pleasing. But, if our sense of worth is based on what God thinks of us...! How freeing, even when I was at my lowest, God loved me more than I can even imagine. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." I don't have to earn God's love, it's not even possible to earn God's love, it is given to us as a free gift! Out of a deep sense of gratitude I should try to thank God by trying to be a God-pleaser, doing what He says is right, no matter what my fellow man may think.

Tag(s): self-esteem

God is not an Optimist

2006-04-23T06:20:00.000-05:00

No, God is the ultimate realist. And from this I derive great hope and comfort!

You see, no matter how bad I think I am (or how good) God knows the real truth. I'm much worse than I think I am. That is my natural person, my "flesh" as Paul puts it, is much worse than I even imagine; God only knows how bad! Amazingly, He chose to offer Himself a sacrifice for me, not because of any good thing He saw in me, but for His love. Mercy may be defined as not giving someone what they deserve. God shows mercy every day to me by not striking me dead. (The wages of is death, after all!) Grace is giving something that is not deserved. It is Grace that God extends salvation from His own righteous wrath through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the cross at Calvary. That Grace should never be a license to continue sinning, because while it is a free gift to me, it cost God more than I can ever imagine.

God is not an optimist because He offered His grace while I was still deep in my own sins. God reached out to me where I was, because He knows that there is nothing that my natural self could do to reach Him. That is the danger of false religion and self-righteousness. (Now there is an oxymoron! God is the only being with true self-righteousness!) False religion tries to claim that if I would only work harder and stop doing wrong things, then God will accept me. That is a lie from Hell. God only accepts perfection. The only way I can be counted perfect is to stand covered by the blood of the perfect sacrifice.

There is a current popular Christian song with lyrics something like "Would you take the place of this man; would you take the nails from his hands". Taken in this out of context form, this is darn near blasphemous. The Messiah, the Christ, was the only one who was able to live a perfect life. I'm not qualified to take His place. The nails weren't the worse part anyway. Other people have been crucified and had nails driven in their hands and feet. Jesus suffered separation from God. That is the final death that our sins demand. And that is the punishment I was facing, until His grace reached me in the mire of my sins. Not because God optimistically hoped that I would reach Him, but because He realistically knew that I could not and would not. I'm very thankful God is not an optimist!

Tag(s): optimism

My next event

2006-04-09T06:09:00.000-05:00

Franklin Graham is preaching at the Easter Sunrise service at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. And I guess he needs a big screen. :-)

The story I linked to goes on to say that Billy Graham preached to 40,000 people there in 1956, 50 years ago. They are expecting 7,500 for Franklin Graham. But to be fair, there are, according to the story, more places for people to go for their Easter Sunrise service now in Washington, DC.

Tag(s): work

tuLip

2006-04-08T19:53:00.000-05:00

I find myself on the beach this morning, walking in the sand with the waves just coming up far enough to cover my feet to the ankles before returning back to the rest of the ocean. As I look back, I see where the waves have erased some of my footprints, yet others remain for a while longer. Inevitably, they are all doomed to oblivion. Erased like the sins of the sons of God. Sure, the hole in my foot caused by the seashell I stepped on will last a while longer, it may even leave a scar. The results, the consequences, of sin are still there, even though the sin is gone. It helps me to remember not to step on pointy sea shells.

Okay, so I didn't actually step on a seashell this morning. And the water was chilly and the wind was cold so I didn't stay out there that long. And, of course, I'm typing from inside my hotel room. But still, it was beautiful and tranquil and my mind was running in its strange courses. As I was walking I did see a spot where the waves had just wiped out my footprints and the angle made it look like I had just walked straight out of the ocean. It made me think of evolutionists. How they look at the evidence, refusing to accept any result that might imply a supernatural result. And they claim to be open-minded.

Ever since the drive down here; the statement of a teacher on the radio had been tumbling around in my head, like a pair of sneakers in a dryer. "It's the Limited Atonement that keeps me from being a five-point Calvinist." He's in good company. It seems that almost everyone I know who seem to be strong Christians would make that statement. But they are all wrong! They actually are five-point Calvinists; they just don't understand the "L". I find it ironic, that many detractors claim that most five-point Calvinists would repudiate the "L" if they understood it. I think most anybody able to read and understand the Bible in a simple and natural way would embrace the "L" if it was presented to them in full.

The nationally syndicated radio teacher continued with his understanding of atonement. "Christ's death on the cross was sufficient for the whole world, but is only effective for the elect." (selah) Well, that's as close to a textbook definition as I have ever heard for "limited atonement". Perhaps he had been misled into thinking that "limited atonement" meant that the Messiah's sacrifice was only just barely enough to cover a few of the billions of souls that have or will have pass through this mortal veil. That's not "limited atonement", that's heresy and sacrilege. (Of course, maybe I just misunderstand limited atonement.)

Oh sure, some people just refuse to accept election, even though it is plainly taught in the Bible. As far as I can tell, that's just pride and/or ignorance. Election is humbling! We are saved from God's wrath by faith through grace. And faith is the gift of God. As Paul wrote;

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
(Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)

There was no spark of innate goodness in me. God didn't see some awesome thing that He didn't see in someone else. He chose me because of Him. It is the fact that God will have mercy on those whom God chooses to have mercy that makes it possible for any of us to be saved! It doesn't matter what we have been guilty of in the past, if He has chosen you, it is not because of you but in spite of you!

And because He chooses us for His own sake, there is hope for us when we fail. No matter what we do, if He has chosen us, then He will forgive us. This isn't license to go live like the world; it is freedom to grow more like Christ. If you came to the altar for "fire-insurance" and then went back to your old life without any lasting change, I suggest that you check your "policy", it's most likely expired or, more correctly, was never valid. (Read the Epistle of James.) However we are promised that God punishes His children for their good. We are to patiently endure our punishment; it never seems good at the time, but trust that it is for our good. In fact the punishment itself is assurance of our salvation! (See Hebrews 12:5-11.)

How do you know if you are one of the "elect"? Simple, ask God to come take over your life, believe with your heart that Jesus Christ died for you and paid for your sins, and tell someone else about "your decision".

Romans 10:6-13 ESV But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ or "'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Tag(s):gospel

Rubbing the lamp, a vain repetition, or WDJD

2006-04-04T05:59:00.000-05:00

Praying "in the name of Jesus". We read, and are taught;

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
(John 16:23-24 KJV)

And we are often very, very wrong in our understanding of this!

There are those that teach "the plain and simple" understanding of this. God wants to make you happy, so all you really have to do is pray hard enough for long enough in Jesus name, and really believe it will come true, and God will give us what our greedy hearts think they want.

Hey, just what do you think "full joy" is? Isn't it getting everything we ever wanted? I know that I was very happy after I got that big bag full of candy on Halloween. Funny though, I wasn't very happy the next day, when I was mysteriously ill (after gorging myself on all that candy... I'm sure that had nothing to do with it!) Thank God that He loves us so much that He usually won't let us have our hearts desire. You might not have this problem, but my wicked little greedy heart wants what it thinks is good. Fortunately, like our parents, He usually holds back that bag of Halloween goodies, and lets us have them a little at a time so that we may enjoy them. (If we don't grab them and stuff them in our mouths and then complain that we haven't gotten any lately, while we are still chewing.)

Of course, once we grow in the Lord, we understand that God actually changes the desires of our hearts, so that we begin to want "the God things" for our lives instead of what we might in the moment consider "good". After having a few overindulged belly aches, we might even cooperate with the careful distribution of goodies. But, I know this is probably just me, then we get jaded in our prayers. God's going to give me "my daily bread", the essentials that I need to live. "In the name of Jesus" becomes that tag at the end so everyone know that they can join you in the "amen" if they so desire. It becomes a kind of closing phrase, that lets everyone know that either you are finally winding down from a deeply spiritual (long winded and excessively verbose) prayer, or that you are "so good" (so self-righteous) that you only need to make a short and to the point prayer.

In the time that Jesus walked the earth, and in the culture in which he lived, (and even moreso before that) a person's name was reflective of his character. Jesus renamed two people to better reflect their characters. Jesus name (Ye Shua, or God Saves) should be filled with the content of his character as described in the Bible. Or in other words, when we pray, and ask for things "in Jesus name" we should be asking for thing that Jesus would want or would want us to have. "Not my will, but Your Will be done!"
(WDJD = What Did Jesus Do)

Tag(s):prayer

The Sabbath is a matter of the heart.

2006-04-01T08:24:00.000-05:00

As I was passing through Denver on my way home last Sunday I heard a Messianic Jewish Broadcast on the local Christian radio station (670 AM, KLTT). The subject of the program was a "midrash" (an interpretation or teaching) challenging 2000 years of Christian Tradition. Of course, I had to call in. :-)

I didn't do too well, actually. They were using incorrect logic to try and prove their point that the Sabbath is Saturday (actually Friday evening through Saturday morning) only. I wanted to point out that the same logic could be applied to (for instance) the Levitical sacrificial system and circumcision. I, unfortunately, only mentioned circumsicion so the host jumped on the topic and ran with it. We brought it back to the Sabbath, but about the time I wanted to get to the real issue, we ran out of time. I really should stick to writing. :-)

All I should have done was address what Paul said in Colossians 2:16-17,

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Their argument doesn't stand in light of Scripture. But it does bring up a vitally important issue. What about all of those Laws and Commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures?

Jesus said,

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19 KJV)

How do we balance this? The key to understanding is in Christ Jesus' words; "but to fulfil". The Lord Jesus Himself was the ultimate sacrifice, therefore the Levitical sacrificial system has been fulfilled! There is no more need for man to bring an animal sacrifice to the Lord to cover his sins because the perfect Lamb was sacrificed for those who are His.

In the same way, we no longer need the outward sign of circumcision, as the Holy Spirit has circumcised the hearts of the saved (regenerate) with love. Circumcision, as a command, has not been done away with, but has been fulfilled. If you wish to have your infant circumcised for medicinal reasons, go for it. If you wish to have your infant circumcised as a sign to God, don't bother. Just like infant baptism, it doesn't do the child any good. Likewise, it doesn't do them any harm... except that they might use it as an excuse to not do right by God. The Jews of Jesus day claimed (believed) that they were right with God because they were circumcised, likewise today many claim (believe) that they are okay with God because they were baptized as a child!

Finally the Ten Commandments have not passed away, but like all the other commands we are called (and empowered!) to keep them on a higher level. Continuing with the Lord Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount;

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
(Matthew 5:20-48 KJV)

Likewise the Sabbath is a matter of the heart. It's purpose was fulfilled in the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah). He is our Sabbath rest!

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28-30 KJV)

For the saved, every day is the Sabbath, we choose to meet on Sunday, not in observance of the Law of the Sabbath, but because we desire to meet together on the day that our prommised Sabbath began.

I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
(Psalms 118:21-24 KJV)

Oh, the program where I did so poorly, is here. The Harvest, Kehilat T'nuvah : Torah Talk : On which days should we worship God? Part III.

They obviously disagree with me, but as Paul wrote;

Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.
(1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 ESV)

Or as Dr. Kent Hovind says, "Eat the meat and spit out the bones." :-)

Tag(s): Sabbath, Torah, Law

Walking the Walk by Faith: Wheat and Tares

2006-03-27T08:40:00.000-05:00

Simply the best teaching on the parable of the Wheat and the Tares that I have read.

Walking the Walk by Faith: Wheat and Tares

(Okay, so I haven't read a lot, but still it's an excellent teaching!)
Tag(s): Church

Shiny Chains

2006-03-26T08:16:00.000-05:00

When we were saved the Lord delivered us from the bondage of our sins, yet for most (okay all of us), within a few moments or days we had picked up and put back on one or more of those chains.

There is a particular chain that is on my mind, I won't get into what it actually is, perhaps you have one like it yourself. It's a very shiny chain to me. Twice I've been freed from bondage to this chain, yet there it was, all sparkly and shiny.

So, there it was, at a time when I should have been focusing on the Lord, my attention strayed to this shiny chain. The Lord reminded me, "I've released you from that chain, let it go."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize that I'd picked it up! Praise Your Holy Name!" I said as I set it back down for a moment.

"You really should turn your attention to something else." The thought occurred, warning me.

"Yes, but it is a particularly shiny chain."

"It wouldn't be tempting if it didn't seem attractive on the outside, but you know how destructive it is. And you have only the vaguest clue of how putting that chain back on might limit you."

"Yes, but I wonder if it still fits."

"He was wounded for our transgressions, He bore our sins on His body on the tree. (Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24) Would you add to this?"

"No, but ..."

"You know it is a sin, it is a willful act of disobedience for you to put that back on."

"Yes, but maybe if I put on like so, but not quite..." Click.
"Father! What have I done! Forgive me!" I cried as I lifted the newly attached chain to the Lord.

"You are forgiven, however I love you too much to not let you suffer the consequences of your choice. Like a child who burns his hand on a stove, if he could not feel the pain he would continue to burn himself. So, if and when I release you from your bondage to that particular sin you will have scars to remind you not to put it back on yet again."

Oh, and it hurts Him so much more than it does me.
Now I begin to understand Psalm 51.

Tag(s):temptation

The Counterfeit Church

2006-03-24T07:54:00.000-05:00

Mike has done it again! His excellent post on the current Counterfeit Church - Walking the Walk by Faith: The Counterfeit Church - caused me to want to comment. And of course, being that I'm so long-winded I couldn't let it stand as a comment... actually, I got off of his topic of the current Counterfeit Church and onto my opinion of the coming Counterfeit Church.

The Counterfeit Church Mike Ratliff writes about, with it's heretical doctrines is in large part made possible here in America by our Scriptural ignorance. The Roman Catholic Church finds the Scriptures incompatible with their doctrines and the "Emergent" Church finds the Scriptures to be outmoded and irrelevant to "modern life". Very few of today's Churches find it convenient or useful to teach the "Whole Council of God". Sure, they use a verse here and a verse there to teach their moral lesson, but they don't really teach what is in the Bible; mainly because the teachings of the Bible are incompatible with their doctrines and morals.

But instead of a second Great Awakening that Mike sees, I see the emergence of the One World Church! The roots of the One World Church are apparent today. I believe we may well see it in our lifetimes. The Dali Lama accepts Jesus as a way to reach heaven. Islam has no real beef with "Christianity" as long as you down-play the "Jesus Christ dieing on the cross" thing. Hey, Mohammad said Jesus was a Great Prophet, that should be good enough! (Great Prophets do not die a dishonorable and shameful death on a cross. Instead, he fools the Jews and the Romans into crucifying someone else. Therefore, Muslims "honor" Jesus Christ more than do Christians!) Islam even teaches a literal second coming of Jesus Christ. (A doctrine that a large part of the christian church no longer holds.) Interestingly, their Jesus Christ is coming to destroy the Jews and the Infidels. Sadly, anti-semitism is so rife, that much of the church wouldn't take issue with the "Christ" coming to destroy the Jews, as long as they (the false church) aren't included as an infidel.

And it's not like the RCC doesn't have Mary, the Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, and Co-Redemptrix (three blasphemous titles) to fall back on. They aren't really very far from the Islamic view of Jesus, doctrinally. ("After all, the Ten Commandments say that Jesus has to listen to his Mother!", an RCC youth leader said to me at the Catholic World Youth Day last year.) And even many "Evangelicals" aren't willing to split on such a minor issue as demoting the Savior for the sake of Ecumenism. We're all god's children, right? As long as we strongly believe we are going to heaven, god will honor that! Sure, jesus said he was the only way; but he meant that he was representative of the many ways. Don't you see, if all ways lead to the same destination, then they are all the same "the one" way just like he taught! After all, it takes great faith and strongly held religious convictions to blow yourself up along with a bus load of Infidel (children) as a martyr for god.

Alright, so there are still some issues, but you wait and see. There will be an Ecumenical Council where the RCC and Islam come to terms! Probably joined by the Orthodox Church, and acclaimed and accepted by nearly all of the main-line protestant churches (including many well known evangelical leaders), as well as a large contingent of the so-called Emergent Church. It may take a catastrophic event of some sort to provided the initial impetus... or it may not.

Or, in our lifetime there may yet be another Great Awakening, or even both! All of this is exciting to me because we win either way! Either way, the Lord is still coming back and the victory is already His!

Lord, I pray that you bring your promised Peace to Jerusalem! Maranatha!

Tag(s): One World Church

Are You Offering Strange Fire?

2006-03-23T08:40:00.000-05:00

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
(Leviticus 10:1-2 KJV)

Paul commands us to make ourselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). But, he is saying that to Christians who have already been cleansed by the saving blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Nadab and Abihu were priests. They had just been consecrated in Leviticus chapter 8. They knew that they should only use fire from the altar to burn incense, still they choose to take fire of their own choosing instead.

Jesus was kind and gentle to sinners who realized what they were. He was harshest to the religious people. The self-righteous do not understand their need for His sacrifice.

Some friends of mine related a story about "retired" nuns that they knew. These dear ladies spend nearly all of their time (12 plus hours a day) in chapel praying. If you ask them to, you can be certain that they will pray fervently for you. It broke my heart to hear this! I was assured that these dear ladies all have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, but I couldn't help but wonder if some of them were praying so hard in order to earn Merits. What a tragedy!

If we try to earn our way, whether we call it Merits, or whether we just think that if we are "good enough for long enough", then we are rejecting the one perfect acceptable sacrifice for our salvation; Jesus Christ.

By all means we should pray continually, and do the other things in Jesus' Name, but we need to bring the fire of motivation from the altar of Jesus' Sacrifice and not from the strange fire of our own self-righteousness.

The results of offering strange fire hasn't changed from before either. After this life, if all we have to offer is the strange fire of our own self-righteousness, then the Wrath of God will break out and consume us the same as He did to Nadab and Abihu.

And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
(Isaiah 66:23-24 KJV)

Tag(s): merits

Re: The True Spirit of KJV Onlyism

2006-03-18T08:28:00.000-05:00

This started out as a comment to Walking the Walk by Faith: The True Spirit of KJV Onlyism. But it has gotten a bit long. :-)

It is very unfortunate that there are so many who rant about "KJV only". The point of the KJV and earlier English translations was to make the Bible accessible to the "common" man. It's really ironic how this cycle seems to continue. Jerome translated the Greek Bible into Latin, the common language of his day. It was named the Vulgate, from the root word vulgar, which meant common. After Latin was no longer commonly spoken, the RCC outlawed translations into common, or native languages. Now there are those who try their best to keep the Bible out of the understanding of the modern English speaking population. (Or at least the people who go to their churches.) Fortunately, those who fight against the spread of the Bible are doomed to failure. (No other book has been translated more times, nor has been printed more times. Even downloaded... the top download on "Project Gutenberg" used to be the KJV Bible, until they made changes to it's availability!)

On the other side of the issue, hidden behind the vitriol of the ranters, there really are issues with some of the manuscripts that have been included in many newer translations. Should that be left to the hands of experts? Who gets to choose the experts? Personally, having weighed the evidence available to me, I find the KJV to be the most accurate of the "English" translations. So, I use it to balance what I read in more modern, less accurate translations such as the NLT, NIV, and even the ESV and NKJV. I'm not saying that these translations are bad. God used the NIV (what I consider to be the least accurate of the "accepted" modern English translations) to open my understanding of His salvation. But, though I'm currently reading through the NIV, I find that I use it the least of all for my posts, or even in conversation with other Christians.

I believe we, God's people, should have a healthy debate concerning the translations available in our native tongues. We should not divide over them unnecessarily. However, everyone who doesn't teach out of the Wycliffe New Testament is wrong! ;-)

But what seith the scripture? The word is nyy in thi mouth, and in thin herte; this is the word of bileue, which we prechen. That if thou knoulechist in thi mouth the Lord Jhesu Crist, and bileuest in thin herte, that God reiside hym fro deth, thou schalt be saaf.
(Romans 10:8-9 Wycliffe New Testament, 1385)

(I love e-Sword!)

Tag(s): Bible

Jesus Christ!

2006-03-08T06:07:00.000-05:00

The name above all names (Eph 1:21), the only name by which we may be saved (Acts 4:12), and seemingly America's favorite curse word.

I was on a plane recently, and as we were coming into land, the landing gear made a loud noise and a bump which startled the woman seated behind me. "Jesus Christ!", she called out. It hit me like a slap, I wanted to turn around and say, "You should praise His name that the landing gear worked, not curse Him for startling you." But I didn't.

I was watching a movie, and I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of curse words, until at the nadir of the plot, the protagonist called out, "Jesus Christ!" in frustration and anger. I felt like leaving the theater, but I didn't.

I was on the phone with a fellow Christian. I mentioned a piece of disturbing news. He replied, "Jesus Christ!" I was momentarily stunned, I wanted to say, "Brother, we should always praise His name." But I didn't.

Lord, give me the strength to stand up for you and the wisdom and compassion to say the right words. If your name is going to be America's favorite curse word, then let me use that as an opening to spread your Gospel.

Tag(s): epithets

Legalism: Limiting Worship to Truth Without Spirit

2006-03-06T09:08:00.000-05:00

It's a funny thing. Legalism is (to my understanding) attempting to use the letter of the law to defeat the spirit of the law. For example I offer up this startling piece of legalism.
-> Musical Instruments in the Public Worship of God <-
Of course, legalism always fails when examined in the light of the law, at least God's Law.

It seems to me that the author (who claims that we should sing psalms only and those without musical accompaniment), fails to address Psalm 33:1-4

"Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth."

Specifically, Psalm 33:3,

"Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise."

(Boy does this apply to the service at the church I attend while at home!)

Or rather, if as the author claims, the use of musical instruments in worship ended with the death of Christ Jesus on the cross, then why does he contend that we should sing Psalms? What about the Psalms (that he claims the church should be singing) that mention praising God with musical instruments? There are 12 that mention the Harp, 8 that mention the Psaltery, 3 that mention an "instrument of ten strings", 3 that mention the trumpet, 2 that mention "players of instruments", 3 that mention the tembrel, 6 that mention a "new song", not to mention 3 that relate dance to the praising of God.

Finally consider that twice Paul told us we are to speak to and teach each other with "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" (Eph 5:19, Col 3:16). Does anyone really believe that Paul would use the phrase "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" to reference the book of psalms alone?

Anyway, any teaching, no matter how verbose and littered with scriptural references and man's traditions, which does not stand in light of the whole council of God (all of the Bible) is suspect. Everything should be tested against the scriptures.

God wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. These two things cannot be separated. If you try to worship in truth, but leave out the spirit, then you are actually failing to worship God. Most likely you are worshiping your own traditions (a god of your own making) instead. Likewise if your worship experience is all spirit and ignores or leaves out the truth, then it is not God that you are worshiping, at least not the God of the Bible. In this case you are likely worshiping the spirit of entertainment, of "feel good" (again a god of our own making).

So, should you sing psalms? Absolutely! Sing them with or without accompaniment. Shout to the Lord with joy! (or "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands." Psalm 100:1, my favorite!) And even applaud, clap your hands in joy to the Lord. And dare I say dance?

Psalms 98:1-9 KJV (A Psalm.) O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. ² The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. ³ He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ⁴ Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. ⁵ Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. ⁶ With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. ⁷ Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. ⁸ Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together ⁹ before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

Tag(s):legalism

Like a Coal

2006-03-05T08:40:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted very recently, and thanks for the encouragement. I don't think it is the road, exactly, that wears me down, it is the lack of fellowship I experience while on the road. My pastor likes to use a little illustration about fellowship, it goes something like this.

There was a man sitting in a pub, he hadn't been to church for several Sundays. When his pastor walked into the pub and sat down by the fireplace, the man felt a bit defensive and blurted out, "I know I haven't been in church the last few Sundays, but I've found that I can worship the Lord just as well by taking walks in the woods and enjoying the natural world He created." His pastor didn't say anything, but using the tongs he reached into the fire and pulled out a red-hot glowing ember and set it on the edge of the fireplace. As they watched, it quickly went from red-hot and glowing, to grey and ashy, and finally black and cold. The man turned to his pastor and said, "See you in church Sunday."

While I'm not exactly skipping church to go enjoy nature (or the current sporting event on TV); I am missing church. And I feel just like that coal. Sometimes when I'm on the road, God provides me with the opportunity to visit another church. I've been blessed that they mostly have been on-fire-for-the-Lord, Bible-believing and Bible-teaching churches. But most often I'm working 12 to 14 hour days, seven days a week. I try to listen to mp3's of teachings, read and study my Bible daily, and even to pray constantly; but none of that replaces fellowship. (Fellowship doesn't replace an active prayer life and solid Biblical study either!) It's interesting, how it all seems tied together to me. It is difficult to study and pray without fellowship. And without study and prayer it's difficult to stay in fellowship. I'm most-likely willing to skip fellowship, skip church, when I need it most. Same as with reading/studying and praying.

Anyway, I'm currently home and am planning to be in church in just a couple of hours from now (God willing!). That's another thing I've certainly been taught on the road. Whether or not I get to go to church is entirely in His hands! A couple of times (once should have been enough, but I'm a slow learner sometimes) when He made it possible for me to go to a church meeting I told someone there that there was no way I'd be able to make the next meeting... Then I found myself, at that next meeting, giving God the glory and eating humble pie, admitting that He is the one that determines whether I go to church or not!

God has His reasons, and they are good. He tells us that over and over again. I'll trust in Him, and pray that I learn the lessons that He is teaching.

When the man had left, the pastor placed the black coal back in the fire, and in short order it was red-hot and glowing again.

Tag(s):fellowship

Don't Waste Your Cancer

2006-02-18T06:22:00.000-05:00

John Piper has written a powerful article on the eve of his surgery; read it here.

Don't Waste Your Cancer

Praise God for John Piper's cancer! Pray for his recovery but even more pray for his strength in Christ Jesus to continue glorifying God in his health and sickness. The most powerful prayer is "Your (God's) will be done!"; especially if you really mean it.

Tag(s): cancer

His Grace is New Every Morning

2006-02-16T06:20:00.000-05:00

²¹ But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: ²² The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; ²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴ "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
Lamentations 3:21-24 ESV

As I woke up this morning, it came to mind that I did not do my job "as unto the Lord" yesterday. I took a shortcut, that leaves open the possibility that some equipment might become damaged. Worse, when confronted on it, I made excuses and attempted to pass the blame. When called on that I lamely changed the subject by agreeing that I might be mistaken, but someone else was wrong too.

I'm so thankful that the Lord's love and mercies "never come to an end; they are new every morning". Now, having been reminded of my failure of yesterday, I can make apologies and correct the issues. And perhaps even share what my change of heart is about! Praise God!
Tag(s): Grace

Walking the Walk by Faith: Being Mocked: The Essence of Christ’s Work, Not Muhammad’s

2006-02-14T06:53:00.000-05:00

In his blog, Walking the Walk by Faith, Mike Ratliff reprints an excellent John Piper article that helps us understand the Muslim cartoon riots. It also points out one of the fundamental differences between Islam and Christianity. The story is here; Being Mocked: The Essence of Christ’s Work, Not Muhammad’s
Tag(s): Islam, Christianity

Two Songs, Three Movies and Some TV

2006-02-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

The flight from Atlanta to Honolulu is fairly long. In fact there is time to watch three movies and a couple of hours of TV.

I had just a few days before, turned off the radio. We (I and two co-workers) were sitting in our rental car, waiting for a time. The radio was tuned to a local "classic rock" station. First, there was a song about a man trying to convince a woman that their adulterous affair was okay, and that they should continue without regard to the consequences. Next there came a song about the remembered joys of teenage fornication. I wasn't able to make it through the second song. My heart broke. I'd lived enough of those things and I don't want them anymore. Sure, there were times of fun and joy, but there were times of deep misery (which the songs refuse to mention) as well. I have too many of these songs in my head, I want to replace them with music about my new life.

Anyway, normally, while on a flight I like to take the opportunity to read the Bible and pray. (I've got nothing but positive comments from people who see me read the Bible!) Of course, this being most likely the longest flight I will take this year... except that I forgot my Bible (sort of). I was pretty down on "secular" entertainment, but now, stuck on the plane without my Bible, I decided to give the movies a try.

The first movie was "Walk the Line". This is the story of Johnny Cash. And while the writers seemed to want to minimize the role Christianity played, it seemed to me that they just couldn't do it. Johnny Cash went from being a social Christian, through his greatest worldly success (which ultimately cost him everything worth having and brought him nothing but pain) to a true relationship with God. Even in the movie, though they try to gloss it over, the change is abrupt and obvious. Praise God! I'm glad I saw this movie.

The second movie was "Cinderella Man". In this, the most touching part to me, is the love he shows his family by sacrificing himself for them. He had promised that he wouldn't send away his children, but when he couldn't keep the electricity on, his wife finally did. The only way he could keep his family together was to sell his pride. He chose to go on "public assistance" and even visited the rich people he knew (the same ones who had taken his career) and begged them for help. This self-sacrifice due to love is just a hollow picture of what Jesus Christ has done for us! And oh, how convicting when I dare not open my mouth for fear of what people might think! How can I claim to love God, yet not stand up for him when someone uses His name to curse? Or worse, not tell them about the wonderful gift of salvation? Father forgive me! Help me really know, understand, and express your love!

The final movie was "Wallace and Grommet: Curse of the Wererabbit". This was simply mindless entertainment. I'm sure I could find some way to "moralize" it, but I didn't really get anything useful out of it, other than a few chuckles. On the plus side, it was also relatively benign. It didn't seem to "teach" the twisted morals that is so pervasive in "entertainment".

After the movies, the recorded TV programming began. There was some "news magazine" thing that I barely paid attention too. That was followed by a current sitcom. The second word out of the mouth of the lead character was a swear word. Where, if I remember correctly, he was cursing his own daughter. I pulled the sound at that point, but still it was on the screen. I noticed how the teenaged daughter was dressed. There certainly was no one on the plane that was dressed in a similar manner. Then followed a science show about origins. A topic I enjoy. It was entertaining.

When I got to the hotel, I found my Bible. It was where I could have dug it out on the plane, if I had realized it. Ah well, I guess I needed to find some balance concerning modern media. Certainly I am glad that I got to watch "Walk the Line" and "Cinderella Man". Praise God!

Tag(s): entertainment, movies, music, TV

On the Road Again

2006-02-08T08:32:00.000-05:00

For some reason, flying really brings to mind, that I'm putting myself into God's hands. But, you know, we are in God's hands every moment of every day. The God who created the world (including the principles of aerodynamics) is the same God who designed our bodies to function in ways that doctors can begin to learn and understand. Yet, the very "breath" of life remains beyond the purely naturalistic scientist's grasp.

The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
(Proverbs 3:19-20 KJV)

Praise God that He built the universe to function according to laws and principles so that we could find them out. If "random chance" (i.e. evolution) was the father of the universe, then why shouldn't the universe prove to be set up on random chance?

Tag(s): reason

How Have You Received the Good News of the Kingdom of God?

2006-02-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

What is the Good News of the Kingdom of God?

Well, it starts out with the bad news.

We are all rebels against God. God said if we keep His Commandments perfectly then we will live; fail this and the price is death. Quite simply, we have all failed to keep His Commandments. Therefore, we are all living under a death sentence.

Now, that we know that we are in trouble, we can understand the need for the Good News.

Even while we were rebels, lost in our sins, Christ died for us. Jesus, the Anointed One of God, lived a perfect life, and then willfully offered up his perfect life in payment for our sins! He did this because He saw you (from before the world was formed!) and loved you and wants to draw you to Him. All that's needed is for you to believe in your heart that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and confess that Jesus is Lord you will be saved, granted eternal life in the kingdom of God.

What you do with this message, depends on the condition of your heart.

³ And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; ⁴ And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: ⁵ Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: ⁶ And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: ⁸ But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. ⁹ Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.(Matthew 13:3-9 KJV)

³ Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: ⁴ And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. ⁵ And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: ⁶ But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. ⁸ And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. ⁹ And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Mark 4:3-9 KJV)

⁴ And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: ⁵ A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. ⁶ And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. ⁷ And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. ⁸ And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Luke 8:4-8 KJV)

The Lord explains this parable to His disciples.

¹⁸ Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. ²⁰ But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; ²¹ Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. ²² He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. ²³ But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:18-23 KJV)

¹⁴ The sower soweth the word. ¹⁵ And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. ¹⁶ And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; ¹⁷ And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. ¹⁸ And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, ¹⁹ And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. ²⁰ And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred. (Mark 4:14-20 KJV)

¹¹ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. ¹³ They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. ¹⁴ And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. ¹⁵ But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. (Luke 8:11-15 KJV)

When you hear the Word of God, one of four things happens, depending on the state that your heart is in. The sower of the seed (the person that communicates) doesn't make a difference.

The seed that falls by the way side is not understood at all by the hearer and is removed by Satan. The effect on them is as if they never heard the word at all. I was there for a time. The word was spoken all around me, but it didn't have any real impact on me. It was "trodden down" by my worries that I would have to give up all of the fun in life that I had (as little as that was), I strangely feared that God would make me do things that were uncomfortable like missions or embarrassing, like preaching, or teaching. Many times, while sitting through yet another interminable seeming altar call, I'd feel an emotional tugging on my heart... I even got to the point that I was oddly comforted by the fact that I felt that "tugging". It meant to me that God hadn't given up on me yet. That is a dangerously hardened heart! It leads to yet more hardening, finally I was sitting through altar calls without any prompting, at first I was afraid and then I accepted the "fact" that I was not one of God's elect. God simply didn't choose me to be on his team.

I did not personally experience hearing with a heart of rocky soil, but I believe it to be a widespread, fairly common experience in the current day. Sometimes, people hear the word of God and they have a strong emotional reaction. They immediately begin to do "all the right things". They may work hard at being a Christian. But they don't have a depth of understanding in their heart. Perhaps they think of Christianity as only a way to have good things in this world, a way to make this life easier. So, when hard times come, or a strong temptation arrives, they fall. Oftentimes they become even worse off than they were before, because they had tried the whole "Jesus thing" and it simply didn't work for them.

When the word falls among the thorns, or the cares of this life, the hearer becomes unfruitful, or doesn't grow. The desires for things in this world, the lies of money (that "if I only had more, then I could... serve God better or fix all my problems, etc"), pursuing "the good things" of life (at the expense of the "God things"), any or all of this can choke out our Christian walk. When Jesus says to "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness" he is telling us to weed the garden of our hearts. When we go after all the things in this world, we are making a liar out of God!

²⁵ Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? ²⁶ Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are ye not much better than they? ²⁷ Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? ²⁸ And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: ²⁹ And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ³¹ Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³² (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things. ³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³⁴ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Matthew 6:25-34 KJV)

Only when our hearts are "good ground" will they begin to show an abundance of good "fruit". Our hearts get to be good ground by the working of the farmer. The ground by the wayside, may eventually be included in the field. The rocky ground in the field begins to be worked by the plow, and the stones begin to be removed. The weeds in the field begin to be pulled. This is all God's work. He supplies the seed (His Word). We get to sow the Word in the hearts around us. We get to water the hearts around us with His Spirit. But He provides the growth!

⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. (1 Corinthians 3:6-9 ESV)

Tag(s): Gospel

Review: New Living Translation, Second Edition

2006-02-03T10:16:00.000-05:00

An easy to read, modern (American) English translation. The footnotes were more often distracting than helpful; to me at least. The most useful footnotes were for units of measure; the text includes conversion to American standard measurements with footnotes listing the original measurements and metric equivalents. It is unfortunate that the translators chose, for instance, to alter the original uses of the names Jacob and Israel and then add footnotes correcting themselves.

Anyway, this Bible was definitely a blessing to me over the past year as God allowed me to read through it. I know that God has allowed this translation to help me grow in His Word. And even though I find in inadequate for detailed study, I do highly recommend it for reading. As always, pray for God's wisdom and discernment when reading! And if the footnotes actually cause you to do some research, that can't really be a bad thing after all, can it?

Tag(s): Bible, New Living Translation

It's like coming home!

2006-01-31T07:39:00.000-05:00

Yet again, God has truly blessed me by allowing me the opportunity to go to church during an event. And God is at work, even in the heart of Aspen! Visiting the First Baptist Church of Aspen was like coming home.

I have to admit, the name "First Baptist" carries a bit of baggage with me. You see, in North Carolina there are Baptist churches on literally every corner. Unfortunately, it seems that many of them have gotten away from teaching the scriptures in any real way. I guess I'm not the only one, the church itself is prayerfully considering a name change. A change to something a little more, dare I say it, "seeker friendly".

There is nothing wrong, and everything right in attempting to appeal to people, so that they can come hear the Word of God proclaimed. I pray for God's continued guidance and wisdom as the leadership of the First Baptist Church of Aspen decide on a name.

I'm getting way off track! FBC Aspen was like coming home because of the love the true believers there showed towards me. God has gifted this church with a true heart of love. If they continue in His Word, I'm certain that God will use this church to do wonderful things in Aspen. (He already has begun to!)

So! If you happen to find yourself in Aspen, Colorado, make sure you set aside the time to go worship with the church who happens to be on the corner of 7th and Francis street, no matter it's name. I intend to keep track of this church, and to update this article when they announce their new name.

I really need the Lord's help with names! I met the greeter (perhaps the most important position at any church, this is the person who makes the initial impression on the visitor concerning the nature of the church). He is a true man of faith, who showed he loves God more than snowboarding because Sunday was an awesome powder day! It seems to me, that anytime we have something in our lives that we might make an idol of, some thing we really love, God will test it. It is awesome, when we look back and see that God gave us the desire to worship him and be with His people, even on those perfect powder days! (I have failed this one, so many times! Praise God, His grace is renewed every morning... I need it!)

I also met a couple of older members, who put me in mind of the story of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa (the church that spawned the Calvary Chapel movement). Calvary Chapel was a small church with older members and a pastor who was convinced that the teaching of the Word for the "equipping of the saints" was the right way to go. The Lord gave them a heart of love and a desire to reach out to the lost in their community. For them, it was necessary to break with all of their "traditions" and to trust wholly in God. While Aspen is not filled with hippies, it is filled with affluent pagans that are seeking the truth, much like the hippies of the sixties. Filled with grown up hippies and their children.

I was honored to speak briefly with the worship leader, as well. Though his testimony really stood out in the worship service itself. The church sings "contemporary" music and even classic hymns with modern accompaniment. They worship in Spirit and Truth!

Finally I met Assistant Pastor Stan, and Pastor Steve. These two solid men of God have been raised up in Aspen for the kingdom of God in these times. He will be faithful to keep these men strong, as they will begin to face ever increasing resistance from elements in the community; if they remain committed to teaching God's Word. I will not pray that things go quiet and easy for them. No, let them learn to lean on God through the tough times that are promised to those who follow the Lord Jesus. As Pastor Steve taught in his lesson on Sunday, there is no "Easy Button" in this life. But God has given us a Comforter, who will see us through the hard times.

God is doing a great work in Aspen!

Tag(s): Aspen, First Baptist, Easy Button

Born-Again Driving in Aspen

2006-01-29T17:33:00.000-05:00

Back in the part of North Carolina where I'm from, six inches of snow falling overnight would shut everything down for at least a couple of days. Here in Aspen, it's business as usual. So, here I am driving (Well, not while I'm typing!) in conditions where I'd normally stay at home. I've driven a little bit in the snow, so I feel pretty confident. Better yet, unlike the assortment of poorly snow-equipped vehicles I've driven in the past, here I've been allowed to drive a four-wheel drive jeep with traction control and anti-lock brakes!

Whereas before, perhaps driving a rear-wheel drive vehicle, I might have been traveling sideways down the road because of ruts in the snow, now I have a vehicle that travels straight and smooth down the road in a safe manner. Of course, the temptation is to be over-confident and drive beyond the ability of the vehicle to recover. My old car couldn't help but be dangerous while driving down the road. This new car is only dangerous because I'm driving it!

Likewise, recently, God has given me a new heart, a new life. My old heart traveled life crookedly. It couldn't help it, by nature my old heart was dangerous. The new heart that God has given me is capable of all kinds of terrain, dealing with circumstances that my old heart never could have handled. This new heart is only dangerous when I take control. You see, with the new heart comes a new "driver". When I allow God to control, when I focus on Him, then my new heart can easily maneuver through life. The problem, the temptation, is when I "see the boisterous wind" I take my eyes off of the Lord, and even try to grab "the wheel" of my life from Him! Then I'm a danger to myself and others.

The sad thing is, that I'm all the time grabbing for that "wheel" and off I go caroming about like a teen-aged diver in a snow covered parking lot... Except that I'm not in a parking lot, but rather on a highway. It's only God's grace that has kept me from smashing the guardrails and keeps pulling me from the ditches. And only His grace that keeps me from continually crashing other hearts, or running them off the road. I guess that is the key; the best way we can love our fellow drivers on the road of life is to love God and trust Him by keeping our hands off the wheel!

Tag(s): snow driving, Christian living

Winter X Games 10

2006-01-28T19:24:00.000-05:00

In my last post I mentioned one of the reasons that I have not posted as often recently, the other reason is the X Games.

My current employer requires me to travel, so I've been in Aspen, Colorado since the 24th. I'll fly back home on the 2nd. The X Games are being broadcast live on ABC and ESPN from today through Tuesday the 31st.

It looks like I'll be able to attend church tomorow, I just have to find one to attend. This is certainly not the "Bible Belt"!

Tag(s):X Games

Evolution "Debate"

2006-01-28T11:42:00.000-05:00

One of the reason's I haven't posted as much here lately is that my attention has been split. In reply to my post The Great Conspiracy "Mark" invited me to his new forum, Evolution - The Debate. I invite anyone with time, a heart for the lost, and the insight provided by God, to come on by. Also, anyone who believes in evolution is welcome to come and judge for themselves. Of course it could be just a good read. :-)

Tag(s): creation-evolution debate

Humble Pie

2006-01-26T07:02:00.000-05:00

There is nothing better than a large serving of Humble Pie! I suppose if one were to learn to walk with true humility, then eating the occasional "big'o slab" of Humble Pie wouldn't be necessary. But until then, I will rejoice at each bite.

I know this must seem backwards to the world. After all, we all know such proverbs as "If you don't blow your own horn, who will?" and "You've got to look out for number one!". The world says, "Lift yourself up, and you will be respected." and "You can't help anyone else until you have helped yourself."

God says, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." (James 4:10) and "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."(Matthew 6:33)

For an excellent teaching on how humility is perhaps the very core concept of following our Lord Jesus, read the latest article by Mike Ratliff, here. I know it's a teaching about faith and works, but as he teaches, the works sprout from walking humbly, following our Lord's example!

If anyone had reason to boast certainly it was Christ Jesus! I mean really, he is God in the Flesh! But he came and walked this earth in submission and humility so that when he comes back again, it will be in the Glory of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords! So, eat humble pie now, learn to live pointing to Jesus Christ, the way that he pointed to God the Father. And be lifted up in his honor and glory in times to come!

Tag(s): humility

Still Heresy: Christian Universalism

2006-01-24T07:20:00.000-05:00

Back in May of '05 I wrote a short article explaining why so-called Christian Universalism is heresy. That post is linked here. Why bring it up again? Because a universalist found and commented on the article just last week. No, the comment is no longer there, I'll repost it and my reply here as a new post for two reasons. One, I don't want to link (not even with a text reference) to the websites mentioned. And two, this topic deserves fresh attention. So, in response to my article, titled Heresy: Christian Universalism
Rebecca wrote:

You really ought to check out what Orthodox Christian Universalist teachings are prior to trying to refute them. As it is you have only shown your lack of knowlege [sic] of the topic. If you should like to find out what Christian Universalists actually believe, you should check out some of their writings which can be found in places like [ed. snipped web address] or [ed. snipped web address] or look up [ed. snipped name] ministries. There you can find information addressing the verses you mention, hundreds of verses which clearing support Jesus' perfect work and triumph over sin and death and the salvation of all men. Then, if you still reject the bible's teachings on universal salvation and Jesus' perfect work, at least you will have some knowlege [sic] of what you are arguing against. I hope that one day you will know of God's perfect, undeniable grace which cannot be twarted [sic] by mere man or triumphed over by Satan's works. In the meantime, I have no doubt that "he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it unto the day of Christ Jesus." Be blessed in your search.

In reply, I wrote:

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Luke 4:8 KJV
Satan quotes Scripture... or rather misquotes (quotes it out of context) it to support his "logical" assertion during the Lord's temptation. The websites you mention do likewise. (Actually, they are all the same website!)
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:8-9 KJV
If you do not wish to be on the wrong end of God's words, through His apostle Paul, then please renounce the false doctrine (the false gospel) of Universalism, certainly stop teaching it by pointing others to its propaganda websites!

The websites to which you've directed readers are examples of just the kind of heresy that the enemy uses to harden the hearts of those whom he is able. Even the name is a lie Orthodox (means according to the doctrine of Scriptures) Christian (means a follower of Christ and his teachings) Universalist (One who holds the doctrine that all men will be saved.) The simple reading of Scripture reveals that Universalism is neither a doctrine of Scripture, nor a teaching of Christ. It is flatly and undeniably heresy (a false doctrine).

I pray that you do this (renounce the heresy), because when the end comes and the Lord separates the sheep from the goats, you don't want to be a goat!
(See Matthew 25 for an example of the Lord's teaching on Hell.)

[Even though I have removed the direct references, the information is still easily available on the web. I cannot stop anyone from exposing themselves to false teaching, but I really do feel strongly about leading sheep directly into the wolves' den.]
Tags: heresy, universalism

Walking the Walk by Faith: The Proper Evangelistic Viewpoint

2006-01-21T15:05:00.000-05:00

This post Walking the Walk by Faith: The Proper Evangelistic Viewpoint is an encouragement to me. If you are struggling between the free will of man and God's sovereignty, go read it! Mike's post states eloquently the balance necessary in our understanding of God's sovereignty and Jesus' calling us to do the work of the Great Commission.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. ¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
(Matthew 28:18-20 KJV)

If God is sovereign, and the work of salvation is entirely His,

⁸ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast.
(Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)

why then does he command us to go make disciples? Simply because we are not God! I told you, go read Mike's post, he's a lot more coherent!

Please don't be a "Calvinist" who shuts himself off from the blessings involved in sharing our faith. And on the flip-side, don't be "Armenian" such that you are assuring people that they are saved based solely on a prayer they may have said in some emotional time, but are seeing no fruit of the spirit (they may very well be tares, goats, false converts). Let's be Christians, and deliver the whole council of God!
Tag(s): Calvinist, Armenian

The Walk

2006-01-18T20:48:00.000-05:00

Truly inspirational!
sidekickharrysez: The Walk
Thanks to Mike Ratliff's blog for the link.

Tag: Christianity

The Great Conspiracy

2006-01-17T06:04:00.000-05:00

I'm not much of a believer in conspiracies. However, there is one "conspiracy" that I see almost everyday. The people who take part in this conspiracy have contributed to every social ill that western society suffers from today. This conspiracy is the root cause of the worst abuses man has perpetrated on man in the last century.

This conspiracy has lasted because it consists of the willfully ignorant, who believe and teach a lie because the truth is to terrible to accept. It also doesn't need secrecy in general, but this conspiracy thrives because its supporters are willing to shade the evidence, bend the truth, misrepresent facts, and if necessary outright lie.

This conspiracy is the so-called "Theory of Evolution".

The "Theory of Evolution" is the functional expression of "Naturalism" and "Humanism". Naturalism is the belief that there is nothing beyond that which can be observed and explained; therefore there is no Super-Natural. Humanism is the belief that humans are the highest form of life and that we determine our own collective destinies. In fact, as the highest form of life we determine the destiny of everything, in Humanism, mankind is god.

The Theory of Evolution led directly to Nazism. If man is the highest form of evolved life, then it stands to reason that one of the "races" of mankind is more evolved than the rest. Well, since "Aryan" scientists (naturalists) came to this conclusion first, then obviously (accepting the Theory as true) the Aryan is the most evolved, and therefore the superior race. The Munich Olympics really strained this concept, but the answer to why the more evolved superior Aryan athletes lost was that the non-Aryans were "sub-human animals". If you kill off all of those "sub-human animals" so they can no longer pollute the gene pool, then you are doing a service to mankind. Well, if you believe the Theory of Evolution to be true, anyway.

The Theory of Evolution led directly to Communism. Since man is god, then man can best take care of himself. As he evolves he will best take care of himself in a collective society where the workers will do what they are best at, the thinkers will be freed to think, and the leaders will lead. Everything becomes utopia, just like the Garden of Eden as spoken of in the "myths" of the religious. Of course for this to work, one has to free the masses from their religious myths. And since Communism works for the good of all, then if you kill off all of the religiously infected people then you have achieved a greater good for society as a whole. If the Theory of Evolution is true.

The world "over population" lie, legalized abortion, assisted suicide, eugenics, euthanasia, genocide, and more are all the fruit of the Theory of Evolution.

All this is supported by well meaning scientists and teachers who are willfully ignorant of the truth. The scientists know that their individual science doesn't support evolution, but they assume that the other branches do. The geologist knows that geology does not support evolution, but he points to the biologist for the "truth". The biologist knows that biology does not support evolution, but he points to the geologist for the "truth". When they receive results back from their experiments and tests that don't give them "acceptable" answers they either retest until they get results the like or lie about the results to make them fit. The scientists must do this or face scorn and rejection at the hands of their willfully ignorant peers.

Or worse, some scientists are "True Believers". These are the religious fanatics of the Theory of Evolution. They have looked through and seen that if Evolution is false, then Naturalism and Humanism are also false. That means that, if the Theory fails, then there must be a Creator God. And if there is a Creator God, then that Creator, but by the fact of creation has authority to judge... This is to terrible to consider for the fanatic, he will lie, cheat, steal, and even kill to support the Theory of Evolution.

Of course the majority of the believers of the Theory of Evolution are not scientists. They are the everyday person who goes through his or her life with blinders on. Caught up in the cares of day-to-day life, they don't want to think about origins. When they do, they are comforted by the knowledge that all very intelligent and highly educated people believe that the Theory of Evolution is Fact. They know this because the news media tells them this is so. The news media, the scientists, and the rest of the believers are all willfully ignorant for the same reason as the fanatic, even if they will not lie (except a small harmless white lie), cheat (except a minor bending of the rules, if it is judicious), steal (except if it is something small that want be missed anyway), or kill (except, well damaging the reputation of someone isn't really killing).

But all this is for nothing, because even a simple person can look at the world around him and see that the Theory of Evolution is false. There must have been a designer. Some power beyond the Natural. A Supernatural Designer. If there is, then He gets to make the rules. If He has, then we should find out what those rules are. (If you want a hint, look for a book that is a coherent collection written by say 40 authors in three languages over the span of 1500 years. The manuscript evidence for the integrity of this book is so overwhelming as to be Super-Natural.)

Oh, you may have heard of something called "intelligent design". Even the courts are calling this religious Creationism re-packaged. It is not. It is the attempt of Naturalists who, seeing that the Theory of Evolution is failing, are trying to come up with a Natural Designer (instead of a Super-Natural one). If we are not the highest form of life (we obviously didn't make the earth, stars, sun and moon) then perhaps some Natural force or being did. A powerful and intelligent elder creature or species... Enter the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It's truly amazing the lengths to which we will go to avoid our responsibility to our Creator.

Tag(s): conspiracy, evolution

Thought Life (Visual Influence)

2006-01-16T07:06:00.000-05:00

As I turned to greet a young couple, who were seated next to me, my eyes were instinctively drawn to the exposed cleavage in the low-cut blouse the young lady was wearing. After that brief indiscretion (which perhaps no one but myself and God noticed) I quickly shook hands with the young man, said "Glad to see you" and was off looking for someone else to talk to.

Later, while sitting awaiting class to begin, an attractive woman arrived late and made her way to the seat just in front of me. As she sat, with her back to me, her hip-huggers stayed low and her open-knit top with the flesh-colored undershirt rode up displaying a tattoo, that I just couldn't quite make out as it was covered by the back of the chair.

All this was at Church, yesterday.

I know, it's all my fault. If I were really spiritual, then there could be naked super-models walking around Church and my focus would never leave Jesus... Well, I'm not there yet, and those two images that I described above are burned into my brain. It's not sinful to see things, it's sinful to let your mind toy with wrong ideas.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
James 1:14-15 KJV

But also we should avoid things that could cause others to stumble. I heard an interesting way of putting this on the radio, "If Jesus was coming to take you to church, what would you wear?"

Maybe I'm selfish, but I can't turn on the TV without seeing half-naked women, I can't go to the mall without seeing half-naked women, at least let me go to church... No, you know what, the church is for those of us who are not perfect, whether it is in our thought life or how we dress. Come as you are, and I'll let God deal with my heart and yours.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
James 1:2-7 KJV

Lord give me your wisdom!

Tag(s): visual

The Truth Shall Make You Free

2006-01-15T07:23:00.000-05:00

This is one of those snippets of scripture that has gotten into the popular culture. And, removed from its context, it doesn't always make sense. For example; a prisoner who is in jail because he is guilty would certainly disagree with this quote. The truth put him in jail. So, what is the truth that shall make us free?

First, let's get the immediate context...

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:31-32 KJV

We see that it is a conditional statement, that is, a requirement must be met before we even know the truth, and knowing the truth is required for the truth to free us.

For the truth that shall make us free, let's look a few verses earlier.

Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. As he spake these words, many believed on him.
John 8:28-30 KJV

The "truth that makes us free" is that Jesus is revealed as God on the cross. "When you have lifted up the Son of man," Here Jesus is plainly speaking of His coming crucifixion, to us who have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. To those who heard it then, they believed that Jesus would be revealed as God when He was "lifted up" as in honored as the King that would restore the Kingdom to Israel. He had told them plainly before that

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
John 3:14 KJV

That serpent was lifted up on a pole. And even just a few verses before He tells them

Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
John 8:21-24 KJV

They almost get it! He is telling them that they must believe that He is the "I am"! Those that do not believe that Jesus is God will die in their sins. Those that believe that Jesus is God may then be His disciples if they continue in His word. And by continuing in His word they will know the truth and the truth will free them.

This is actually our choice as well, believe that Christ Jesus died for our sins on the cross, or die in our sins and face the judgment to come. We know we are sinners, just by comparing our lives with the Commandments God established. But fortunately, as Paul wrote to the Romans,

the word is near us, even in our mouths and in our hearts. If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved. For with the heart we believe unto righteousness; and with the mouth we confess unto salvation.(Romans 10:8-10)

Technical note: In the King James, and some other translations you will see words that are grey and italicized. The translators did this so that you would know that the word doesn't exist in the original language, but has been added for readability in English. Most of the "I am" statements in the Gospel of John are followed by a grey and italicized he. Therefore this word doesn't exist in the original language! You may have noticed that every time before chapter 8, when Jesus said "I am he", those nearby picked up stones in order to stone Him. They understood that He was claiming to be the I AM, the God who spoke to Moses, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3:14). Claiming to be God is the basest form of blaspheme (see the Ten Commandments). So, this Jesus was not only claiming to be the King of the Jews, the Messiah, but also God. "I and my Father are one."(John 10:30 KJV)

Tag(s):truth, gospel

Are You Wheat, or Are You a Tare?

2006-01-11T06:26:00.000-05:00

There are many in this world who call themselves "Christian" and even consider themselves Christian, but Jesus (the Christ) said,

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 7:22-23 KJV

You see, the Lord tells us that even among the Church, there are those who are not His.

²⁴ Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: ²⁵ But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. ²⁶ But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. ²⁷ So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? ²⁸ He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? ²⁹ But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matthew 13:24-30 KJV

The tare, spoken of here, is a weed that is indistinguishable from the wheat, until the ear of the wheat develops. (Thanks to Fausset's Bible Dictionary via e-Sword.) That is, until a "Christian" grows enough to produce fruit, we cannot tell the true Christian from the false.

The book of James (among other things) addresses this issue. There were those, in his time, that believed that they could convert and yet live like the world. The "sinner's prayer" is just a bunch of words, unless you have faith in your heart. James points out, that unless your faith produces fruit, then your faith is dead and unable to bring you eternal life.

If you go regularly to Church, listen to the Word as it is being taught or find a Church that teaches God's Word.

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17 KJV

Seek God in earnest and He will reveal Himself to you! Don't just be content to go to Church every Sunday and to live like the world the rest of the week. Seek true life change by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The consequence of rejecting Him is eternal death.

³⁶ Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. ³⁷ He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; ³⁸ The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; ³⁹ The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰ As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. ⁴¹ The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; ⁴² And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Matthew 13:36-43 KJV

Tag(s):Kingdom of God, Christianity

Halley's Bible Handbook

2006-01-10T06:33:00.000-05:00

This is going on the reference shelf! It is a bit dated, but that just means that there is even more archaeological information available now than in Dr. Halley's time.

This Handbook is designed to be read along with the Bible. The abbreviated commentary includes a brief introduction to each book of the Bible and highlights key passages.

The most important page in the book is page 814. This book is cited by Pastor Chuck Smith, of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and it is obvious that he took page 814 to heart. A distinctive of Calvary Chapels is their acting on the advice of Dr. Henry H. Halley, as offered on page 814. (Sadly; this is a distinctive, and not a forgone conclusion common to all churches!)

By Dr. Henry Halley / Zondervan Corp.

This is one of the all-time best-selling Bible handbooks! Since its 1927 publication, Halley's has offered millions of readers a wealth of Bible information in a simple and easy-to-understand format. It includes a concise Bible commentary, important archaeological discoveries, historical background information, church history, maps, and much more. 864 pages, hardcover from Zondervan.

Oh, page 814 expounds upon the simple suggestion that all churches have a congregational Bible reading plan and that the pastor's sermon should be from the part of the Bible that was read by the people during the prior week!
Tag(s):Books

Thought Life (Music)

2006-01-09T06:09:00.000-05:00

I struggled, first thing this morning, with a song. The song was from my past and, while it does have a catchy tune, it condones and even praises values that I no longer wish to hold. Music is a very powerful media, it is helpful in memorization (I learned both Psalm 148 in part and the Preamble to the Constitution via music), and it communicates directly to the emotions (there is a reason that soundtracks are added to movies). As a matter of fact, I find it difficult to forget songs with catchy tunes. "So what?", you ask. "What's the big deal about having some old rock songs rattling about in your head?"

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust [desire], and enticed. Then when lust [desire] hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
James 1:14-15 KJV

"Will you die because you listen to secular music on the radio?"

Yes.

But not directly (unless there is an electrical short in the radio). You see, the things that we put into our brains, become the things in our hearts. If all you listen to is music that espouses the joy of sin and ignores the consequences, then it becomes easier to allow yourself to do those things. Why not instead tune into music that espouses ideals that you actually believe in?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Colossians 3:16 KJV

That's the kind of music that I want to have floating around in my head! So, switch that radio station to the "real rock alternative", your local Christian music station of whatever style that you prefer (check out different styles, you might find that you like them). Of course, if you have enough time, you can tune into teachings on the local Christian talk stations as well. And, on the off chance that there are no "good" Christian stations in your area, one can play tapes or CD's of Christian music.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Philippians 4:8 KJV

Tag(s):Music

Challenging New Year's Resolutions

2006-01-07T17:49:00.000-05:00

Understanding I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat Him, by His grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to His will, for Christ's sake. I will remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to the glory of God, and my own good, profit, and pleasure, in the whole of my duration; without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence.

Resolved, to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general.

Resolved, never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.

Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.

Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.

Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonour, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.

Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive, myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

Resolved, never to count that a prayer, nor to let that pass as a prayer, nor that as a petition of a prayer, which is so made, that I cannot hope that God will answer it; nor that as a confession which I cannot hope that God will accept.

Resolved, to ask myself, at the end of every day, week, month, and year, wherein I could possibly, in any respect, have done better.

Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slaken, my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful, I may be.

Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them; what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them.

Resolved, always to do that which I shall wish I had done when I see others do it. Let there be something of benevolence in all that I speak.

Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 1.

Thanks to BBN Voice the magazine of the Bible Broadcasting Network

Tag(s):Resolutions

The Difference Between Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia

2006-01-03T19:43:00.000-05:00

I had an interesting discussion at work today; it seems that not everyone understands the difference between the Harry Potter series and The Chronicles of Narnia. Why would someone accept one and reject the other?

It all comes down to the world view of the authors. C. S. Lewis trusted in Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior. J. K. Rowling trusts in herself. The lead characters in Narnia depend on Aslan who, not because they merit (or deserve) it, chooses to save them. The lead characters in the Harry Potter series depend on themselves and their own hard work (and a little luck) in order to save themselves.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
Psalms 146:3-5

Let me establish the level of importance of this subject. Nobody will be cast into Hell because he has read (or not read) any of these books. Our eternal destination is solely determined by what we believe and do concerning Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ who, not because of anything good in us or any good thing we may have done, has chosen to save us.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Philippians 4:8 KJV

Tags:Harry Potter, Narnia

Beyond the Gates of Splendor

2006-01-02T07:55:00.000-05:00

In 1956, a team of missionaries---including Jim and Elisabeth Elliot---traveled to Ecuador. This feature-length documentary tells their startling true-life story of sacrifice, ministry, love, forgiveness, and changed lives. The powerful journey begins with interviews of the Waodani people discussing their way of life before hearing the gospel message. (Rated PG-13; contains some violence and native nudity.) 96 minutes.

I have seen this documentary. It's the story of the true courage of those who love Christ more than their own lives, Christ's love as exhibited by the wives of five slain missionaries, and the changes brought about in the lives of a people who are born again because of Christ's work. I highly recommend the documentary, and am looking forward to End of the Spear the theatrical version of this story, told from the point of view of the natives.

tag: movies

Recent Blog Updates

2006-01-01T21:28:00.000-05:00

I have taken advantage of some of the time that I've had away from work this last month to make a few changes to the layout and to add some features to this site.

First, since I tend to write long posts, I've switched the main and archive pages over to summaries with a link to the post page with the full post thereon posted. :-)

Second, due to the excessive length of the (right) side bar, I have trimmed some of the links (need to do more trimming) and placed the archive page links in a drop down menu.

Most dramatically, I've added a side bar on the left side of the main and archive pages. This bar contains a list of books which I'm currently reading, or have recently read. I intend to write short reviews of the books listed and once I've done so, I'll add a link to those reviews with its appropriate entry on the left.

Oh, I've also added "tags" to each post (well, the most recent couple of months posts, so far). This should help readers get an idea what the post is about (in conjunction with the summary) and should make older posts more accessible to the web (and, more importantly, users thereof).

Tag:blog

Reflecting on 2005

2006-01-01T19:23:00.000-05:00

A new year is begun. As I reflect on the past year, I see that God has done great things in my life! It seems strange, that I'd still be in the process of having my burial clothes removed after more than a year of my Christian walk.

What am I talking about? My pastor just taught John 11:38-57 this morning. It's an awesome picture. Jesus could have rolled away the stone by himself. He could have personally unwrapped Lazarus' grave clothes. Instead he allowed others to take part in the resurrection of Lazarus! Likewise, He allows us the opportunity to aid in the spiritual rebirth of our neighbors! Jesus supplies the power to bring them to everlasting life, but we get to roll away the stone by speaking the Gospel, the Good News, to them. He also allows us the opportunity to loose the grave clothes of those who have been born again into the Kingdom by teaching and discipling.

Just recently during the Wal-Mart gift wrapping (which I mentioned in my previous post, The Reason for the Season) I was afforded the opportunity to witness to people while their Christmas gifts were being wrapped. The cloth that had my jaws tied shut was removed with the help of my Church's youth leader. Thanks Nick!

Tag(s):Christianity

One Step Closer ...

2005-12-27T08:14:00.000-05:00

to the building of the third temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Of course it will take a miracle for the temple to be built there, as there is a mosque of the satanic cult of Islam currently occupying the place. Still, G-d is in the miracle business, and this is the place where He placed His Name! (1 Kings 9:3)

The Temple Institute <opt-in@templeinstitute.org> wrote:

Date: 23 Dec 2005 02:10:02 -0000
Subject: The Blue Robe of the High Priest
From: The Temple Institute <opt-in@templeinstitute.org>

The Me'il Techelet-
The Blue Robe of the High Priest

Kislev 21, 5766/December 22, 2005

The Temple Institute is pleased to announce the completion of the me'il techelet - the Blue Robe - of the High Priest. This robe is the culmination of over three years of research and painstaking labor. But much more so, it is the fulfillment of a positive commandment - one that until now has stood unfulfilled since the destruction of the Second Holy Temple. This is the first time in nearly two thousand years that such a garment has been created.

The blue robe is now on display at the Temple Institute's headquarters in Jerusalem, joining the completed ephod and breastplate of the High Priest. These garments can be viewed by the public until such time as they are called into service for the resumption of the priestly duties in the Holy Temple. New pictures of the robe can be seen by clicking here.

"And you shall make the robe of the ephod entirely out of blue wool. Its head-opening shall be folded over within it, its opening shall have a border all around of weaver's work - it shall be for it like the opening of a coat of mail, that it should not be torn. And you shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, on its hem all around, and gold bells between them, all around; a gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, all around. It must be on Aaron in order to minister. Its sound shall be heard when he enters the Sanctuary before G-d and when he leaves, so that he not die" (Exodus 28:31-35).

This last verse quoted above is difficult to understand: "Its sound shall be heard when he enters the Sanctuary before G-d and when he leaves, so that he not die." For it can be demonstrated that pure gold produces no sound. How can these golden bells be "heard when he enters the Sanctuary?" But in reality the meaning of the Hebrew word kolo is "his voice." The verse actually refers to the voice of the High Priest himself, who prays on behalf of himself and the nation of Israel within the Sanctuary. It is forbidden for the High Priest to enter the Sanctuary unless he is garbed completely in the full set of priestly garments. Any lacking of completeness in the High Priest's garments would render him liable in the eyes of Heaven, G-d forbid! His service in the holy place is actually invalid without the garments, which must be precisely as prescribed by the Torah, down to the last detail. Thus this verse actually conveys the thought that the blue robe, with its seventy two pomegranates and seventy two bells along its lower hem, completes the prescribed vestments and grants the High priest license to enter the Sanctuary, stand before the G-d of Israel, and address the Almighty, as a representative of the entire nation of Israel.

Our prayer at the Temple Institute is that the completion of the blue robe will bring the rebuilding of the Holy Temple and the renewal of the Divine service one day closer. Meanwhile, we will press on with our efforts to fulfill G-d's commandments, continuing to prepare all of the garments and vessels for the time that they will be needed.

...snipped extraneous material...

With blessings from Jerusalem,
Rabbi Chaim Richman - Yitzchak Reuven
The Temple Institute
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
http://www.templeinstitute.org/

tags: Temple, eschatology

The Reason for the Season

2005-12-22T09:24:00.000-05:00

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Matthew 1:18-2:12

Matthew's narrative shows us the revelation of the news to the rich and powerful. In Luke's (see The Christmas Story (Part 2)), the revelation to the outcast, the poor, and the common people is highlighted. God's message of salvation is for everyone!

This is the second year that my local church has had the privilge (and responsibility!) to offer free gift wrapping in front of our local Wal-Mart store. The local Wal-Mart was willing to allow this because we do not charge a fee or solicit (or even accept freely offered) donations. Of course, when asked how and why we do this, we explain that it is the free gift of our church as inspired by the free gift of salvation that God has given us... the reason for the season.

There are many who would like to remove the "religious" aspects of the season. There are even some Christians who say we should abandon this pagan-originated, commercialized holiday. But I just praise God that He has sovereignly created this holiday. A time to soften the hearts of both the rich and the poor; and an obvious time for His children to get about doing His work!

Tag: Christmas

You might be a Redneck if: You think you are good enough to go to heaven.

2005-12-20T12:32:00.000-05:00

A friend sent me one of those silly e-mails that get circulated. The text was in big bold print.

Redneck
We have enjoyed the redneck jokes for years. It's time to take a reflective look at the core beliefs of a culture that values home, family, country and God.
If I had to stand before a dozen terrorists who threaten my life, I'd choose a half dozen or so rednecks to back me up. Tire irons, squirrel guns and grit -- that's what rednecks are made of. I hope I am one of those. If you feel the same, pass this on to your redneck friends. Ya'll know who ya' are...

You might be a redneck if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a redneck if: You still say "Christmas" instead of "Winter Festival."

You might be a redneck if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a redneck if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem.

You might be a redneck if: You treat Viet Nam vets with great respect, and always have.

You might be a redneck if: You've never burned an American flag.

You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and expect your kids to do the same.

You might be a redneck if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

If you got this email from me, it is because I believe that you, like me, have just enough Red Neck in you to have the same beliefs as those talked about in this email.

God Bless the U SA !

Git 'er done!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rednecks still go to hell, if they don't have a personal relationship with our kinsman redeemer, Christ Jesus.

Espousing moral values and Biblical traditions is good. You may even be "more good" than those other (city folk, country folk, forieners, yankees, westerners, easterners, northerners, southerners, whatever) people. But God compares our best "good" (our self-righteousness) to used minstral cloths (Isaiah 64:6).

We all do what we think is right. Some have had their morals shaped by Biblical teaching, some by other philosophies. But what we think is right doesn't matter. There is a creator, to whom we are accountable. Who, by that account, has the right to judge the world and the people in it. What He thinks is right is what counts.

Fortunately, he has written us a book. We can tell His book from all the other "religious" books and writings because His' book both claims that it is true and it stands up to the test every time. (As opposed to the Koran, the book of Morman, the Papal Bulls, etc. all of which are full of contradictions and errors.) Study it for yourself, don't take my word or any other man's word for it.

Where I'm from, the majority of the people believe that they are good enough to go to heaven. God says, none of us are good enough to go to heaven. (Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23)

The price of our failure to be good enough is death. (Romans 5:12, Romans 6:23a)

However, God loves us even though we are fallen. He loves us so much that He offered His own Son as payment for our sins. (John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Romans 5:18, Romans 6:23b)

All we have to do is accept this sacrifice and we can be made right with God our creator. (Romans 10:9-13)

After that, read the Bible and do what it says. Find a Bible-believeing, Bible-teaching Church for fellowship. And talk to God about your concerns, hopes, and fears (a.k.a. pray... prayer is merely talking to God).

If you've done all that in the past, check yourself. We are saved by grace through faith, not works. However, a faith that does not produce a change in your life and lead to spiritual fruit (good works) isn't a "saving" faith. (Read the book James.)

Tags: Redneck, Gospel

Testimony

2005-12-16T12:03:00.000-05:00

I grew up attending a dead church. Most Sundays, I didn’t want to go. Sometimes I would remember the other children, who I liked; or perhaps the hollow approval of Sunday school, where I could show off my superior knowledge (a product of being taught in a Christian School during the week). I was the smugly arrogant know-it-all. Even when I had a thought for the others, where I would be willing to let them have time to try to answer the teacher’s questions, it just became another opportunity to show how much smarter I was. I waited while they squirmed to be released from the pending question, to which they neither knew nor cared to know the answer. Then finally I would consent to share my wisdom with the teacher, preferably in a manner that let everyone know that I knew the answer all along. What was frustrating to me were the many times that the teachers were wrong, or had only a shallow understanding of what they were teaching. This was true both in Sunday school and High School. The Bible was just another subject that I had to learn. Not that I had any deep understanding of the Bible, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. But that wasn’t too troubling, as I could tell it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to any of my classmates either.

We were Christians. We had to be, as our whole class was converted in Kindergarten by our teacher. She was strict, and forced us little heathens to convert to Christianity via scare tactics. She said mean and scary things, but she would stop if I said some “prayer”. So I said some prayer, which I didn’t mean or even understand, out of fear and the desire to be left alone. Voila, I was a “Christian”. As far as I know, she had a 100% “success” rate! (Success, that is, at emotionally beating “confessions of faith” out of heathen kindergarten children.) I do remember one thing fondly from this person. She taught the class a song that has been with me ever since (it was a painful process). I seem to recall that she wanted to teach us to sing all 14 verses, but she either gave up, or I’ve blocked the rest from my memory.

Great is the Lord,
And greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In the mountain of his holiness.

Beautiful for situation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is mount Zion, on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
(Psalm 48:1-2)

Speaking of mental and emotional torture, forcing a child to sit through an adult Sunday church service is severely such. I remember, counting the light fixtures, counting the ceiling beams, playing with toy cars, playing connect-the-dots with my brother on the church bulletin (The absolute highest purpose of church bulletins, for a child!). Later on, passing notes written on the church bulletin, and fantasying about evil men breaking in during the service and gunning down the preacher, so I could heroically save everyone to the adoration of one, or another, of the young women in attendance. When Jesus taught that children should be allowed to come to Him, I’m sure He had no desire to torture them with adult services! Even as a teenager, when I was in the choir, and I had to learn to look awake (as we actually stayed behind the preacher), I learned to escape. I did, actually try to listen to his words, and what he taught. But most of it was inane banalities having little to do with real life. It’s a sad thing; that church gave me a Bible for graduation, but I never needed to bring one there.

That was Sundays, during the week I faced school. There was a weekly chapel. We sang songs, and it was short. There were often skits, music, dramatic readings, and other entertainments of a “Christian” nature. Very rarely, the principle would speak. Even as an unregenerate person, I knew there was no power in his teaching. (Later on he was caught in his sin, and lost everything. Pray for him, God can forgive even the most heinous sins.) But he was idolized by (at least part of) the faculty. How odd, it seemed to me. It really pointed out the hollowness and hypocrisy of Christianity, even over the mindlessness of the Sunday service that I was forced to attend. (As it has been said, “I had a drug problem as a child. I was drug to church every Sunday!”)

My church had a children’s choir, a youth ministry group that would go and sing at other churches. Later on, I did the same with the school. I must have attended dozens of revivals; suffered through dozens of altar calls; sang hundreds of choruses of “Just as I Am”

Just as I am, without one plea
but that Thy blood was shed for me.
And that Thou bid'st me come
to Thee, oh Lamb of God I come, I come.

I was affected. Often these emotional altar calls, with the hypnotic repetitions of a simple chorus, tugged at me. Whether I was in the choir loft, or in a pew, I felt the “tugging” on my heart that the preacher talked about, but I stayed seated. While the choir loft emptied, and the people in the pews came forward, I would say in my heart, “not today, I’m not ready, I’m afraid”. Somewhere along the line I had figured out that I wasn’t a Christian. But then again, I came to see that most of these so-called “Christians” who I went to church and school with were no better than me, even worse in many cases. But there were a few, a single classmate and a handful of teachers, who seemed to have the “real thing”. I didn’t understand the difference.

So I graduated. I had joined the military before hand, because “I was going to make my own way.” Or as my dad sagely told my mom, “Let the boy make his own mistakes.” My first experience of the real word! Boy did the real world have a foul mouth! Boot camp (even Marine Corp boot camp) is mostly a mental thing. Once I figured out how to “play the game” it became much easier. There were “divine” services which we were “encouraged” to attend. This was rather like the school chapel services (but designed for young men); some entertainment, via singing rousing hymns followed by an encouraging sermonette that had little to do with Jesus. After boot camp, I got caught up in the cares of this world… I did what seemed right to me. I shed whatever things I had been taught that were inconvenient to me. I never bothered to attend a church; they were basically a waste of time. I eventually left the service, I was discontented and not really handling the responsibility of the rank that I had achieved.

Once I got out of the service, I played the self-righteous, hypocrite. Pretending to be a Christian, even though I knew I wasn’t. Years of church and school helped me make some of the believers around me unsure. I “knew” more of the Bible than they did, (had forgotten more than they had ever learned,) even if I didn’t really understand it. Finally, I admitted my charade to a believer (who actually understood many of the things that I merely “knew”). She challenged me to re-read Romans… I took up the challenge and was stifled by the stilted English used in the King James Version. So she bought me a more modern translation. Once I began to read it, it began to make sense for the first time. Over a period of time, I began to see my own hypocrisy and met some Christians who, while they were not perfect, they also were not hypocrites. Finally, one morning I got to chapter 10.

⁸But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: ⁹That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
(Romans 10:8-10 NIV)

I didn’t immediately give my heart and life to the Lord Jesus, but I finally understood these words! It was a revelation to me, so after a few days of reflection and thought I finally did believe in my heart (I had believed in my head for many years, and believed that I was destined to Hell.) And I confessed with my mouth that Jesus is Lord!

Then God gave me a hunger for His Word, and the desire for prayer. He immediately fixed my foul mouth and soon put a desire to be baptized in my heart, which led me to the church I currently attend. I was still very carnal, am still very carnal; but I’m growing!
Praise God!

Tags: Testimony, Gospel

Offensive

2005-12-15T12:56:00.000-05:00

As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Romans 9:33 KJV

The story: FOXNews.com - Politics - Judge Bars Indiana Legislature from Christian Prayers details the removal of "Christian" elements from official prayers (offensive words like "savior" or "Jesus Christ"). It's alright for Islamists to pray in the name of Allah, or Wiccans to pray to the "goddess", but how dare the Christians pray their "exclusive" prayer! (It is claimed Christianity is "exclusive" because we believe that Jesus Christ is the only way... but we are exceptionally inclusive because that way is open to any who will believe.)

This is just the latest assault on Free Speech as it relates to Christians. I wonder how long until it will be illegal to espouse Biblical Christianity in public? Ray Comfort and Emeal "EZ" Zwayne have been barred from speaking to people outside of their local courthouse. You can read about that case here. The latest update to their story is available through this newsletter, here.

That's convicting, I have difficulty speeking to people about the Lord Jesus and I don't face court action... yet.

Tags: Offensive, Christianity, Free Speech

God Hates Divorce

2005-12-12T08:20:00.000-05:00

¹⁴You cry out, "Why has the LORD abandoned us?" I'll tell you why! Because the LORD witnessed the vows you and your wife made to each other on your wedding day when you were young. But you have been disloyal to her, though she remained your faithful companion, the wife of your marriage vows. ¹⁵Didn't the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard yourself; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. ¹⁶"For I hate divorce!" says the LORD, the God of Israel. "To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. "So guard yourself; always remain loyal to your wife."
Malachi 2:14-16 (NLT)

This was written to the people of Israel around 400 years before the Messiah arrived on the scene. At the time of the Lord Jesus' earthly ministry, divorce was nearly as rampant as it is in modern America. They had taken man's traditions (the Talmud) and used it to counter God's Word (Matthew 15:3-6 and Mark 7:5-13). How much worse we have become in the U.S.A. We just blindly ignore God's Commandments, purposely toss them out. Even in our churches (which are supposed to be teaching the Word of God) there is no difference between the divorce rates of members and of those who are not. Why? Because instead of teaching God's Word, most of our churches teach a philosophy, or the current "Christian best-seller" (the Holy Bible is the penultimate "best-seller", why not teach it?)

Do you want to change the divorce rate? Do you want children to stop having pre-marital sex (Psalm 199:9), with the attendant teen pregnancy, abortion, and children growing up without their father (the number one commonality of the prison population in America)? Teach the Bible at Church (then at Home, and then it might even be taught in public forums again!)

Tags: Bible, Divorce, social change

Ouch! Praise God!

2005-12-05T09:05:00.000-05:00

I'm still pretty much a newbie Christian (should be obvious :-). Anyway, something occurred to me when I stubbed my toes last night, walking half-asleep to the bathroom in the dark. "... All things work together for good to those who love God, and are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

Actually, in proper order, I stumbled half-asleep into my computer bag and thought, "Ouch... Praise God!" In my half-asleep wandering to the bathroom, my brain was caught up in all the concerns and worries of the previous day, the shock of the stubbing cleared my mind, and I was left with a sense of peace, the feeling that God wanted to reassure me. Half remembered verses like Romans 8:28 came to mind. When I lay back down, I was praising God because I knew that it was only His work that I wasn't cursing and swearing after stubbing my toes.

"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." (Romans 10:17) And "Commit your works to the LORD and your thoughts shall be established." (Proverbs 16:3).

What can you do? First get right with God. This means accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord, the ruler of your life. Then walk in it; if Jesus is the master of your life, then do the things He tells you to do. Start this by reading the Love Letter/Life Manual He wrote to you... the Bible regularly and often. Find a Bible believing and Bible teaching church (if the pastor teaches entirely from the Bible, you search what he says and compare that with the rest of Scripture, and his teaching is consistent with God's word, then you will have likely found a good church) and attend regularly and often. And try to pray... regularly and often. (Hint: you can pray while driving your car; just please don't close your eyes!)

And you will find yourself, stubbing your toes one morning and praising God for it!

Tags: Praise, Gospel

Thanksgiving is the Giving of Thanks

2005-11-24T08:26:00.000-05:00

Giving thanks to God is best demonstrated by giving the first of our blessings back to God. We should do this, not because He will bless us even more (He will), but because it is the proper way to give thanks. There is a story that I've heard told that illustrates this point.

There were two children who each received a box of candy from their grandfather. One child, grabbed the box and, while running to his room to eat his gift, called "thanks" over his shoulder. The other child accepted the gift, then smiled and lifted the box back to his grandfather and said, "please take the first piece, grandfather". While it is true that the first child personally ate (at least) one more piece of candy than did the second child; who do you believe enjoyed (was blessed by) their box of candy the most?

Often we take the box of blessing our heavenly Father daily gives to us and we forget even to say the word "thanks" over our shoulder as we run to do our own things. Today, let's at least say the word "thanks" and perhaps let our hearts be moved to offer something back. Father help us to remember your blessings and to begin to be thankful on a daily basis, not just once a year.

Tags: Thanks, Giving, Thanksgiving

A National Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T06:03:00.000-05:00

Whereas

Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A. D. 1789.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Washington, D.C., October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

tags: Washington, Lincoln, seperation of church and state, thanksgiving

Micro-Evolution = True ; Macro-Evolution = Fairytale

2005-11-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

Back in September I wrote a brief post lampooning Evolution, Proof of Evolution! An anonymous poster pointed out that watches have indeed "evolved". Of course they have done nothing of the sort. Watches have at every step been designed! (As he freely admits.) I believe one of the issues this poster may not be aware of is an undisputed, scientific fact called micro-evolution. Micro-evolution is the term used to describe the observable changes within a species that occurs due to some outside influence. Macro-evolution is the disputed so-called theory that claims that species change into other species... given enough time. This, of course, is non-observable and un-scientific. The analogy of the watch is a way of demonstrating this. If you were to roll sand around on a beach for billions of years, then according to the principles behind evolution, watches should form (as should computers, calculators, televisions, etc).

So if evolution is so foolish, why do so many otherwise intelligent people believe it? The answer is in the question. Evolution is based on faith, belief, just like any other religion. Evolution is the religion of anti-God; it claims there is no God, only random chance. That's exactly the same as me looking at my wristwatch and claiming there is no designer...

tags: evolution, religion

From Orphans of the World to Children of God

2005-11-13T08:58:00.000-05:00

I recently heard an excellent illustration of our Christian experience. I’ll try to relate it here.

There was a couple in Virginia, who adopted seven orphans from Russia. (The children were all from the same family.) Russian orphanages were not the best places in the world for young children. The children had picked up some survival habits that were no longer necessary, and indeed maybe even harmful to their new family life. For instance, they would hide food in their beds because in the orphanage the only way they could be sure of their next meal was to horde food. Their new father constantly pointed out that this was no longer needed, as all the food in the kitchen was theirs. Another issue was that when bed time came, the children would fold their clothes and put them in their bed as well. As orphans, if they didn’t guard their clothes, their clothes would be stolen. Again their father reassured them that they’d have clean clothes every morning if they could only trust him. Occasionally, as it was the way of orphans, things would disappear from their neighbor’s yards. Their father had to remind them that their needs would be met, and they no longer had to take what they could get in order to survive.

You see, that on the plane flight from Russia to Virginia, they were changed from orphans to children of a new family. In the same way, when we accept Christ as Lord we become changed from orphans of this world to children of the Living God. (Galatians 3:26) So, stop hiding food in your bed, give generously of the first-fruits of your increase. (Malachi 3:8-10) Stop trying to take care of your own clothing, accept the righteousness of Christ. He has washed us clean and there are no deeds that we can do that will make us righteous! (1 Corinthians 6:11) Sure, as we learn to trust our Father we will grow to be more like Christ, but we don’t by our works do that.(Galatians 3:2-3) We no longer need to “Lie, Cheat, and Steal” as our Father has promised to meet our needs (Matthew 6:32-33, Luke 12:28-31). He can do that because it’s all His, the earth and everything in it (Deuteronomy 10:14). All He really wants us to do is believe and trust Him! (Galatians 3)

tag: Christianity

Hell's Best Kept Secret

2005-11-03T08:33:00.000-05:00

Let me make it more real for you. In 1991, in the first year of the decade of harvest, a major denomination in the U.S. was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. That is, in one year, this major denomination of 11,500 churches was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. Unfortunately, they could only find 14,000 in fellowship, which means they couldn't account for 280,000 of their decisions, and this is normal, modern evangelical results, and something I discovered way back in the late seventies; it greatly concerned me. I began to study the book of Romans intently and, specifically, the gospel proclamation of men like Spurgeon, Wesley, Moody, Finney, Whitfield, Luther, and others that God used down through the ages, and I found they used a principle which is almost entirely neglected by modern evangelical methods.

I began teaching that principle; I was eventually invited to base our ministry in southern California, the city of Bellflower, specifically to bring this teaching to the church of the U.S. Things were quiet for the first three years, until I received a call from Bill Gothard, who had seen the teaching on video. He flew me to San Jose in northern California; I shared it with a thousand pastors. Then in 1992 he screened that video to 30,000 pastors. The same year David Wilkerson called from New York. He called from his car. (He had been listening to the teaching in his car and called me on his car phone.) Immediately, he flew me 3,000 miles from L.A. to New York to share the one-hour teaching with his church; he considered it to be that important. And recently I heard of a pastor who had listened to the audio tape 250 times. I'd be happy if you'd listen just once to this teaching which is called "Hell's Best Kept Secret."

The Bible says in Psalm 19, verse 7, "The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul." What is it that the Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Why scripture makes it very clear: "The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul." Now to illustrate the function of God's law, let's just look for a moment at civil law. Imagine if I said to you, "I've got some good news for you: someone has just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on your behalf." You'd probably react by saying, "What are you talking about? That's not good news: it doesn't make sense. I don't have a $25,000 speeding fine." My good news wouldn't be good news to you: it would seem foolishness.

But more than that, it would be offensive to you, because I'm insinuating you've broken the law when you don't think you have. However, if I put it this way, it may make more sense: "On the way to this meeting, the law clocked you at going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for a blind children's convention. There were ten clear warning signs stating that fifteen miles an hour was the maximum speed, but you went straight through at 55 miles an hour. What you did was extremely dangerous; there's a $25,000 fine. The law was about to take its course, when someone you don't even know stepped in and paid the fine for you. You are very fortunate."

Can you see that telling you precisely what you've done wrong first actually makes the good news make sense. If I don't clearly bring instruction and understanding that you've violated the law, then the good news will seem foolishness; it will seem offensive. But once you understand that you've broken the law, then that good news will become good news indeed.

Now in the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner and say, "Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins," it will be foolishness and offensive to him. Foolishness because it won't make sense. The Bible says that: "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness" (1Cor. 1:18). And offensive because I'm insinuating he's a sinner when he doesn't think he is. As far as he's concerned, there are a lot of people far worse than him. But if I take the time to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it may make more sense. If I take the time to open up the divine law, the ten commandments, and show the sinner precisely what he's done wrong, that he has offended God by violating His law, then when he becomes, as James says, "convinced of the law as a transgressor" (Jam. 2:9), the good news of the fine being paid for will not be foolishness, it will not be offensive, it will be "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16).

Now, with those few thoughts in mind by way of introduction, let's now look at Romans 3, verse 19. We'll look at some of the functions of God's law for humanity. Romans 3, verse 19: "Now we know that whatsoever things the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God." So one function of God's law is to stop the mouth. To stop sinners justifying themselves and saying, "There's plenty of people worse than me. I'm not a bad person. Really." No, the law stops the mouth of justification and leaves the whole world, not just the Jews, but the whole world guilty before God.

Romans 3, verse 20: "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." So God's law tells us what sin is. 1 John 3:4 says, "Sin is transgression of the law." Romans 7, verse 7: "What shall we say then?" says Paul. "Is the law sin? God forbid! No, I had not known sin but by the law." Paul says, "I didn't know what sin was until the law told me." In Galatians 3:24, "Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." God's law acts as a schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified through faith in His blood. The law doesn't help us; it just leaves us helpless. It doesn't justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God.

And the tragedy of modern evangelism is because around the turn of the century when it forsook the law in its capacity to convert the soul, to drive sinners to Christ, modern evangelism had to, therefore, find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose to attract sinners was the issue of "life enhancement". The gospel degenerated into "Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness." Now to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this very popular teaching, I'd like you to listen very carefully to this following anecdote, because the essence of what I'm saying pivots on this particular illustration; so please listen carefully.

Two men are seated in a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put it on, as it would improve his flight. He's a little skeptical at first because he can't see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the flight. After a time he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true. As he puts it on he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds that he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact that he was told the parachute would improve the flight. So, he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him, because he's wearing a parachute in a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they begin to point and laugh at him and he can stand it no longer, he slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because, as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie.

The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he's told. He's told to put it on because at any moment he'd be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on; he doesn't notice the weight of it upon his shoulders, nor that he can't sit upright. His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that parachute.

Let's analyze the motive and the result of each passenger's experience. The first man's motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was that he was humiliated by the passengers; he was disillusioned and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as he's concerned it'll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again. The second man put the parachute on solely to escape the jump to come, and because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he's saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude towards those who gave him the parachute is one of heart-felt gratitude.

Now listen to what the modern gospel says. It says, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness." In other words, "Jesus will improve your flight." So the sinner responds, and in an experimental fashion, puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The promised temptation, tribulation, and persecution. The other passengers mock him. So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ, he's offended for the word's sake (Mark 4:17), he's disillusioned and somewhat embittered, and quite rightly so. He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness, and all he got were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed toward those who gave him the so-called "good news". His latter end becomes worse than the first: another inoculated and bitter backslider.

Saints, instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning the passengers they're going have to jump out of the plane. That it's "appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). And when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking God's law, then he will flee to the Savior solely to escape the wrath that's to come. And if we're true and faithful witnesses, that's what we'll be preaching. That there is wrath to come; that God "commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). Why? "Because He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness" (vs. 31). You see, the issue isn't one of happiness, but one of righteousness. It doesn't matter how happy a sinner is, how much he's enjoying "the pleasures of sin for a season" (Heb. 11:25). Without the righteousness of Christ, he'll perish on the day of wrath. "Riches profit not on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death" (Prov. 11:4). Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but it's not legitimate to use these fruits as a draw card for salvation. If we continue to do so, sinners will respond with an impure motive lacking repentance.

Now, can you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? It was because he knew that parachute was going to save him from sure death. And as a believer, I have, as Paul says, "joy and peace in believing" (Rom. 15:13), because I know that the righteousness of Christ is going to deliver me from the wrath that's to come.

Now with that thought in mind, let's take a close look at an incident on board the plane. We have a brand new stewardess. She's carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee. It's her first day; she wants to leave an impression on the passengers, and she certainly does. Because as she's walking down the aisle, she trips over someone's foot and slops that boiling hot coffee all over the lap of our second passenger. Now what's his reaction as that boiling liquid hits his tender flesh? Does he go, "Ssssfffff! Man that hurt"? Mmm-hhh. He feels the pain. But then does he rip the parachute from his shoulders, throw it to the floor and say, "The stupid parachute!"? No. Why should he? He didn't put the parachute on for a better flight. He put it on to save him from the jump to come. If anything, the hot coffee incident causes him to cling tighter to the parachute and even look forward to the jump.

Now if you and I have put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right motive, to flee from the wrath that's to come, when tribulation strikes, when the flight gets bumpy, we won't get angry at God; we won't lose our joy and peace. Why should we? We didn't come to Jesus for a happy lifestyle: we came to flee from the wrath that's to come. And if anything, tribulation drives the true believer closer to the Savior. And sadly we have literally multitudes of professing Christians who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy. Why? They're the product of a man-centered gospel. They came lacking repentance, without which you can't be saved.

I was in Australia recently ministering; Australia is a small island off the coast of New Zealand. And I preached sin, law, righteousness, holiness, judgment, repentance, and hell, and I wasn't exactly crushed by the amount of people wanting to "give their hearts to Jesus." In fact, the air went very tense. After the meeting, they said, "There's a young guy down in the back who wants to give his life to Christ." I went down the back and found a teenage lad who could not pray the sinner's prayer because he was weeping so profusely. Now, for me it was so refreshing, because for many years I suffered from the disease of "evangelical frustration".

I so wanted sinners to respond to the gospel I unwittingly preached a man-centered message. The essence of which was this: "You'll never find true peace without Jesus Christ; you've a God-shaped vacuum in your heart that only God can fill." I'd preach Christ crucified; I'd preach repentance. A sinner would respond to the alter; I'd open an eye and say, "Oh no. This guy wants to give his heart to Jesus and there's an 80% chance he's going to backslide. And I am tired of creating backsliders. So I'd better make sure this guy really means it. He'd better be sincere!" So I'd approach the poor guy in a Gestapo spirit. I'd walk up and say, "Vhat do you vant?" He'd say, "I'm here to become a Christian." I'd say, "Do you mean it?" He'd say, "Yeah." I'd say, "Do you REALLY MEAN IT!?" He'd say, "Yeah, I reckon." "Okay, I'll pray with you, but you'd better mean it from your heart." He said, "Okay, okay." "Now you repeat this prayer sincerely after me and mean it from your heart sincerely and really mean it from your heart sincerely and make sure you mean it. 'Oh, God, I'm a sinner.' " He'd say, "Uh...oh, God, I'm a sinner." And I'd think, "Man, why isn't there a visible sign of contrition.

There's no outward evidence the guy is inwardly sorry for his sins." Now, if I could have seen his motive, I would have seen he was 100% sincere. He really did mean his decision with all his heart. He sincerely wanted to give this Jesus thing a go to see if he could get a buzz out of it. He had tried sex, drugs, materialism, alcohol. "Why not give this Christian bit a go and see if it's as good as all these Christians say it is: peace, joy, love, fulfillment, lasting happiness." He wasn't fleeing from the wrath that was to come, because I hadn't told him there was wrath to come. There was this glaring omission from my message. He wasn't broken in contrition, because the poor guy didn't know what sin was. Remember Romans 7, verse 7? Paul said, "I had not known sin but by the law."

How can a man repent if he doesn't know what sin is? Any so-called "repentance" would be merely what I call "horizontal repentance". He's coming because he's lied to men, he's stolen from men. But when David sinned with Bathsheba and broke all ten of the ten commandments (when he coveted his neighbor's wife, lived a lie, stole his neighbor's wife, committed adultery, committed murder, dishonored his parents, and thus dishonored God), he didn't say "I've sinned against man." He said, "Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight" (Ps. 51:4). When Joseph was tempted sexually, he said, "How can I do this thing and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:9). The prodigal son said, "I've sinned against heaven" (Luke 15:21). Paul preached "repentance toward God" (Acts 20:21). And the Bible says, "Godly sorrow works repentance" (2Cor. 7:10). And when a man doesn't understand that his sin is primarily vertical, he'll merely come and exercise superficial, experimental, and horizontal repentance, and fall away when tribulation, temptation, and persecution come.

A.B. Earl said, "I have found by long experience that the severest threatenings of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy; they'll not escape danger until they see it." Now I'd like you to do something a little unusual. I'll not embarrass you; I give you my word. But I would like to ask, how many of you were thinking of something else when I was reading that quote from A.B. Earl? Now, I want to admit something to you. I was thinking of something else when I was reading that quote from A.B. Earl: I was thinking, "Nobody's listening to me; they're thinking of something else." So, to make a very important point, I'd like you to be really honest. If you were thinking of something else and you haven't got a clue what A.B. Earl said, could you raise your hand up nice and high...up nice and high. It's usually half to two-thirds and we've got that here tonight. Let's try again...God bless you, Pastor, for your honesty.

A.B. Earl was a famous evangelist of the last century who had 150,000 converts to substantiate his claims. Satan doesn't want you to get a grip of this, so listen very closely. A.B. Earl said, "I have found by long experience [that's the true test] that the severest threatenings of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy; they'll not escape danger until they see it."

You see, you try and save a man from drowning when the man doesn't believe he's drowning, he'll not be too happy with you. You see him swimming out in the lake; you think, "I think he's drowning. Yes, I believe he is." You dive in, pull him to the shore, without telling him anything. He's not going to be very happy with you. He won't want to get saved until he sees that he's in danger. They'll not escape danger until they see it.

You see, if you came to me and said, "Hey, Ray," and I said, "Yeah." You said, "This is a cure to Groaninzin's disease; I sold my house to raise the money to get this cure. I'm giving it to you as a free gift." I'd probably react something like this: "What? Cure to what? Groaninzin's disease? You sold your house to raise the money to get this cure? You're giving it to me as a free gift? Why, thanks a lot. Bye...That guy's a nut." I mean, that's probably how I'd react if you sold your house to raise the money to get a cure for a disease I'd never heard of and your giving it to me as free gift, I'd think you're rather strange.

But instead, if you came to me and said, "Ray, you've got Groaninzin's disease. I can see ten clear symptoms on your flesh. You're going to be dead in two weeks." And I became convinced I had the disease (the symptoms were so evident), and said, "Oh! What shall I do?" And then you said, "Don't worry. This is a cure to Groaninzin's disease. I sold my house to raise the money to get this cure. I'm giving it to you as a free gift." I'm not going to despise your sacrifice; I'm going to appreciate it and I'm going to appropriate it. Why? Because I've seen the disease that I might appreciate the cure.

And sadly, what's happened in the U.S. and the Western world as follow is that we have preached the cure without first convincing of the disease. We have preached a gospel of grace without first convincing men of the law, that they're transgressors; and, consequently, almost everyone I try and witness to in southern California or around the Bible belt has been born-again six or seven times. You say, "You need to give your life to Jesus Christ." "Uh, I did that when I was seven, eleven, seventeen, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-eight, thirty-two?" You know the guy's not a Christian. He's a fornicator. He's a blasphemer, but he thinks he's saved because he's been "born-again". What's happening? He's using the grace of our God for an occasion of the flesh. He doesn't esteem the sacrifice. For him it's not a bad thing to trample the blood of Christ underfoot (Heb. 10:29). Why? Because he's never been convinced of the disease that he might appreciate the cure.

Biblical evangelism is always, without exception, law to the proud and grace to the humble. Never will you see Jesus giving the gospel, the good news, the cross, the grace of our God, to a proud, arrogant, self-righteous person. No, no. With the law he breaks the hard heart and with the gospel he heals the broken heart. Why? Because He always did those things that please the Father. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (Jam. 4:6; 1Pet. 5:5). "Everyone who is proud of heart," scripture says, "is an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 16:5).

Jesus told us whom the gospel is for. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives and the blind" (Luke 4:18). Now, they are spiritual statements. The poor in spirit (Mat. 5:3). The broken hearted are the contrite ones (Is. 57:15). The captives are those of whom Satan has taken captive to do his will (2Tim. 2:26); and the blind are those of whom the god of this world has blinded lest the light of the gospel should shine on them (2Cor. 4:4). Only the sick need a physician (Mark 2:17), and only those who are convinced of the disease will appreciate and appropriate a cure.

So we're going to now very briefly look at examples of law to the proud and grace to the humble. Luke 10:24...Luke 10:24. And when I give you a reference from the pulpit I'll give it twice, because I know that men are present, and men need to be told things twice...Men need to be told things twice. This can be backed up biblically. When God speaks to men in the Bible he uses their name twice. "Abraham, Abraham...Saul, Saul...Moses, Moses...Samuel, Samuel..." Because men need to be told things twice. Women once. I don't know how many times I've sat in a pew, preacher said, "Ah, Luke 10:25." I turn to my wife and say, "What'd he say?" She says, "Luke 10:25." I say, "Thank you, dear." HELP-MATE. That's why God created women, because men could not handle it on their own. The whole thing is: men lose things, women find things. "Where's the keys love?" "Hangin' on your nose, Dear." I mean, I don't know how many times I've opened the cupboard, "[Burp] There's no honey here, Honey!" She says, "Here is here, Dear." Where would man be without women? Mm? Still in the Garden of Eden. Eve found the tree. Adam didn't really know what was going on. In fact, if you look at the creation of woman, to create woman the Bible says God put man into a deep sleep. And Scripture doesn't say he ever came out of it.

In Luke 10:25 we see a certain lawyer stood up and tempted Jesus. This is not an attorney, but a professing expert on God's law. He stood up and he said to Jesus, "How can I get everlasting life?" Now, what did Jesus do? He gave him law. Why? Because he was proud, arrogant, self-righteous. Here we have a professing expert on God's law tempting the Son of God. And the spirit of his question was, "And what do you think we've got to do to get everlasting life?" So Jesus gave him law. He said, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" He says, "Ah, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; love your neighbor as yourself." And Jesus said, "This do and you shall live." And then the Scripture says, "But He, willing to justify Himself, said to Jesus, 'Who's my neighbor?' " The Living Bible brings out more clearly the effect of the law on the man. It said, "The man wanted to justify his lack of love for some kinds of people; so he asked, 'Which neighbors?' " See, he didn't mind Jews, but he didn't like Samaritans. So Jesus then told him the story of what we call the "good Samaritan" who was not "good" at all. In loving his neighbor as much as he loved himself, he merely obeyed the basic requirements of God's law. And the effect of the essence of the law, the spirituality of the law (of what the law demands in truth), was that that man's mouth was stopped. See, he didn't love his neighbor to that degree. The law was given to stop every mouth and leave the whole world guilty before God.

Similarly, in Luke 18, verse 18, the rich, young ruler came to Jesus. He said, "How can I get everlasting life?" I mean, how would most of us react if someone came up and said, "How can I get everlasting life?" We'd say, "Oh...quickly say this prayer before you change your mind." But what did Jesus do with His potential convert? He pointed Him to the law. He gave him five horizontal commandments, commandments to do with his fellow men. And when he said, "Ah, I've kept those from my youth," Jesus said, "One thing you lack." And he used the essence of the first of the ten commandments: "I am the Lord your God...You shall have no other Gods before me" (Ex. 20:2-3). He showed this man that His god was His money, and "you cannot serve God and mammon" (Mt. 6:24). Law to the proud.

Then we see grace being given to the humble in the case of Nicodemus (John 3). Nicodemus was a leader of the Jews. He was a teacher in Israel. Therefore, he was thoroughly versed in God's law. He was humble of heart, because he came to Jesus and acknowledged the Deity of the Son of God. A leader in Israel? "We know that you've come from God for no man can do these miracles that you do unless God is with Him." So Jesus gave the sincere seeker of truth, who had a humble heart and a knowledge of sin by the law, the good news of the fine being paid for and "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son." And it was not foolishness to Nicodemus but the "power of God to salvation."

Similarly, in the case of Nathaniel (John 1:43-51). Nathaniel was an Israelite brought up under the law in deed, not just in word, in whom there was no guile; there was no deceit in his heart. Obviously the law was a schoolmaster to bring this godly Jew to Christ.

Similarly with the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). They were devout Jews, godly Jews, who, therefore, ate, drank, and slept God's law. Matthew Henry, the Bible commentator, said the reason they were gathered together on the day of Pentecost was to celebrate the giving of God's law on Mt. Sinai. So when Peter stood up to preach to these godly Jews, he didn't preach wrath. No, the law works wrath; they knew that. He didn't preach righteousness or judgment. No, no. He just told them the good news of the fine being paid for, and they were pricked in their hearts and cried, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (vs. 37). The law was a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ that they might be justified through faith in His blood. And the hymn-writer said, "By God's word at last my sin I learned; then I trembled at the law I'd spurned, till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary."

1 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 8, says, "But we know that the law is good if it used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed." God's law is good if it's used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed. Well, what was the law "designed" for? The following verse tells us: "The law was not made for a righteous man but for sinners." It even lists the sinners: homosexuals, fornicators. If you want to bring a homosexual to Christ, don't get into an argument with him over his perversion; he's ready for you with his boxing gloves on. No, no. Give him the ten commandments. The law was made for homosexuals. Show him that he is damned despite his perversion.

If you want to bring a Jew to Christ, lay the weight of the law upon him; let it prepare his heart for grace as happened on the day of Pentecost. If you want to bring a Moslem to Christ, give him the law of Moses; they accept Moses as a prophet. Well, give them the law of Moses and strip them of their self-righteousness and bring them to the foot of a blood-stained cross. I heard of a Moslem reading our book Hell's Best Kept Secret, and God soundly saved him purely through reading the book. Why? Because the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.

Think of the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1-11). Violation of the seventh commandment. The law called for her blood (Lev. 20:10). She found herself in between a rock and a hard place. She had no avenue but to fling herself at the feet of the Son of God for mercy; and that is the function of God's law. Paul spoke of being shut up under the law (Gal. 3:23). It condemns. You say, "You can't condemn sinners." Saints, they're already condemned. John 3, verse 18: "He that believes not is condemned already." All the law does is show him himself in his true state.

Ladies, you might recognize this. Your table needs dusting in your living room. So you dust it clean; all the dust is gone. Then you draw back the curtains and let in the early morning sunlight. What do you see on the table? Dust. What do you see in the air? Dust. Did the light create the dust? No, the light merely exposed the dust. And when you and I take the time to draw back the curtains of the holy of holies and let the light of God's law shine upon the sinner's heart, all that happens, is that he sees himself in truth. "The commandment is a lamp and the law is light" (Prov. 6:23). That's why Paul said, "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). That's why he said, "By the commandment sin became exceedingly sinful" (Rom. 7:13). In other words, the law showed him sin in its true light.

Now, normally at this stage of this teaching I go through the Ten Commandments one by one, but what I'll do is share with you how I witness personally because I think it would be more beneficial. Now, I'm a strong believer in following in the footsteps of Jesus. Never, ever, would I approach someone and say, "Jesus loves you." Totally unbiblical; there's no precedent for that in Scripture. Neither would I go up to someone and say, "I'd like to talk to you about Jesus Christ." Why? Because if I wanted to awaken you from a deep sleep, I wouldn't use a flashlight in your eyes. That will offend you. I'd turn on the light dimmer very gently. First, the natural, then the spiritual. Why? Because "the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God; neither can he know them. They are foolishness to him because they are spiritually understood" (1Cor. 2:14).

The precedent in Scripture is given in John 4 for personal witness. You can see Jesus' example with the woman at the well. He started in the natural realm, swung to the spiritual, brought conviction using the seventh commandment, and then revealed Himself as the Messiah. So, when I meet someone, I'll talk about the weather, I'll talk about sport: let them feel a little bit of sanity. Get to know them; maybe joke here and there and then deliberately swing from the natural to the spiritual. Now, the way I do this is that I use gospel tracts. We have something like 24, 25 different tracts; we're a ministry to the body of Christ. We've printed millions and millions of tracts and our tracts are unusual. If you get a hold of them, what you'll have to do is have a stack on you because people chase you and ask for more. Let me give you an example. This is our optical illusion tract. Which looks bigger, if you can see? Does the pink look bigger? Can you see that? For those listening by tape...They're the same size; it's an optical illusion. I say, "It's actually a gospel tract; instructions are on the back...how to get saved, actually." I say, "You can keep that." He says, "Hey...thanks a lot! This is neat...Whoa!"

"Got another gift for you." And out of my pocket I get a pressed penny with the ten commandments on it. We have a machine that does this. We buy the pennies new from the bank; nice golden-looking pennies and we feed them into this machine and it presses them, or it will do your thumbnail if you want to hold still. But it presses them with the ten commandments. It's legal to do this: this is considered art. It's not defacing a penny. So I say, "Here's a gift." He says, "Oh...what is it?" I say, "It's a penny with the ten commandments on it; I did it with my teeth....I do the i's with my eye teeth but the e's are really difficult."

Now, what I'm doing is putting out a feeler to see if he's open to spiritual things. If he negatively says, "Ten commandments? Thanks a lot," he's not open. But the usual reaction is, "Ten commandments...Hey, thanks! I appreciate this." I say, "Ah, do you think you've kept the ten commandments?" He says, "Ah, yeah...pretty much." I say, "Let's go through them. Ever told a lie?" He says, "Ah, yeah...yeah, one or two." I say, "What does that make you?" He says, "A sinner." I say, "No, no. Specifically, what does it make you?" He says, "Well, man, I'm not a liar." I say, "How many lies, then, do you have to tell to be a liar? Ten and a bell rings and 'ppppbbbbtttt' across your forehead? Isn't it true if you tell one lie, it makes you a liar?" He says, "Yeah...I guess you're right." I say, "Have you ever stolen something?" He says, "No." I say, "Come on; you've just admitted to me you're a liar." I say, "Ever stolen something, even if its small?" and he says, "Yeah." I say, "What does that make you?" He says, "A thief." I say, "Jesus said, 'If you look at a woman and lust after her, you commit adultery with her in your heart' (Mat. 5:28).

Ever done that?" He says, "Yeah, plenty of times." "Then from your own admission, you're a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart, and you have to face God on judgment day; and we've only looked at three of the ten commandments. There's another seven with their cannons pointed at you. Have you used God's name in vain?" "Yeah...I've been trying to stop." "You know what you're doing? Instead of using a four-letter filth word beginning with 's' to express disgust, you're using God's name in its place. That's called blasphemy; and the Bible says, 'Every idle word a man speaks he'll give account thereof on the day of judgment' (Mat. 12:36). 'The Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain' (Ex. 20:7). The Bible says if you hate someone, you are a murderer (1 John 3:15)."

Now the wonderful thing about God's law is that God has taken the time to write it upon our heart. Romans 2, verse 15: "...which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness..." Now, conscience means "with knowledge." Con is "with," science is "knowledge." Conscience. So when he lies, lusts, fornicates, blasphemes, commits adultery, he does it with knowledge that it's wrong. God has given light to every man. The Holy Spirit convicts them of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). Sin which is transgression of the law (1 John 3:4); righteousness which is of the law (Rom. 10:5; Philip. 3:9); judgment which is by the law. His conscience accuses him-the work of the law written on his heart (Rom. 2:15)-and the law condemns him.

So I say, "So if God judges you by this standard on the day of judgment, are you going to be innocent or guilty?" He says, "Guilty." I say, "Well, do you think you'll go to heaven or hell?" And the usual answer is, "Heaven." A product of the modern gospel. I say, "Why do you feel like that? Is it because you think God is good and he'll overlook your sins?" He says, "Yeah, that's it. He'll overlook my sins." "Yeah, well, try that in a court of law. You've committed rape, murder, drug pushing-very serious crimes. The judge says, 'You're guilty. All the evidence is here. Have you anything to say before I pass sentence?' And you say, 'Yes, Judge. I'd like to say I believe you're a good man and you'll overlook my crimes.' The judge would probably say, 'You're right about one thing. I am a good man, and because of my goodness, I'm going to see that justice is done. Because of my goodness, I'm going to see that you're punished.' " And the very thing sinners are hoping will save them on the day of judgment, the goodness of God, will be the very thing that will condemn them. Because if God is good, He must by nature punish murderers, rapists, thieves, liars, fornicators, and blasphemers. God is going to punish sin wherever it's found.

So with this knowledge, he's now able to understand. He now has light that his sin is primarily vertical: that he has "sinned against heaven" (Luke 15:21). That he has violated God's law and that He has angered God and the wrath of God abides upon Him (John 3:36). He can now see that He is "weighed in the balance" of eternal justice and "found wanting" (Dan. 5:27). He now understands the need for a sacrifice. "Christ redeemed from the curse of the law being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13). "God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). We broke the law; he paid the fine. It's as simple as that. And if a man will repent, if a woman will repent and put their faith in Jesus, God will remit their sins so that on the day of judgment, when their court case comes up, God can say, "Your case is dismissed through lack of evidence." "Christ redeemed from the curse of the law being made a curse for us." And, therefore, exercise repentance towards God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21), put his hand to the plough and not look back because he's fit for the kingdom (Luke 9:62). That word fit means "ready for use". The soil of his heart has been turned that he might receive the engrafted word which is able to save his soul (Jam. 1:21).

Now, I haven't got time to share these quotes with you, but their in our literature. I'm sure you'll recognize these names. John Wycliffe, the Bible translator. He said, "The highest service to which a man may obtain on earth is to preach the law of God." Why? Because it will drive sinners to faith in the Savior, to everlasting life. Martin Luther said, "The first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God's law and to show the nature of sin." In fact, as we read these quotes, these men have so much conviction you can feel their teeth grit. They say things like, "If you do not use the law in gospel proclamation, you will fill the church with false converts." Stony ground hearers who will receive the word with joy and gladness. Listen to what Martin Luther said. He said, "Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ." So what's Luther saying? He saying, "Listen, guys. There's a demonic, Satanic sect that's just risen up. Man, I never, ever would have believed this could happen. He's raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ," which perfectly sums up most of our evangelism.

John Wesley said to a friend, in writing to a young evangelist, "Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace." And you say, "90 percent law and 10 percent grace? Pretty heavy. Couldn't it be 50-50." Think of it like this. I'm a doctor; you're a patient. You have a terminal disease. I have a cure, but it's absolutely essential that you are totally committed to this cure; if you're not 100 percent committed, it will not work. How am I going to handle it? Probably like this.

"Come in here. Sit down. I've some very serious news for you: you have a terminal disease." I see you begin to shake. I think to myself, "Good. He's beginning to see the seriousness of this situation." I bring out charts; I bring out x-rays. I show you the poison seeping through your system. I speak to you for ten whole minutes about this terrible disease. How long, then, do you think I'm going to have to talk about the cure? Not long at all. When you're sitting there trembling after ten minutes, I say, "By the way, here's the cure." You grab it and gulp it down. Your knowledge of the disease and its horrific consequence has made you desire the cure.

You see, before I was a Christian, I had as much desire for righteousness as a four-year-old boy has for the word "bath." What's the point? See, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." How many non-Christians do you know who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? The Bible says, "There is none who seek after God" (Rom. 3:11). It says they love the darkness, they hate the light; neither will they come to the light least there deeds be exposed (John 3:19-20). The only thing they drink in is iniquity like water (Job 15:16). But the night I was confronted with the spiritual nature of God's law and understood that God requires truth in the inward parts (Ps. 51:6), that He saw my thought-life and considered lust to be the same as adultery, hatred the same as murder, I began to say, "I can see I'm condemned. What must I do to be made right?" I began to thirst for righteousness. The law put salt on my tongue. It was a schoolmaster to bring me to Christ.

Charles Spurgeon said, "They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law." D.L. Moody, John Bunyan, John Newton, who wrote "Amazing Grace" (and if anyone had a grip on grace it was Newton), he said that "the correct understanding of the harmony between law and grace is to preserve oneself from being entangled by errors on the right hand and on the left." And Charles Finney said, "Evermore the law must prepare the way for the gospel." He said, "To overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts."

Saints, the first thing David Wilkerson said to me when he called me on his car phone was, "I thought I was the only one who didn't believe in follow-up." Now, I believe in feeding a new convert; I believe in nurturing him. I believe in discipling him-biblical and most necessary. But I don't believe in following him. I can't find it in Scripture. The Ethiopian eunuch was left without follow-up. How could he survive? All he had was God and the Scriptures. You see, follow-up...now let me explain follow-up for those of you who don't know. Follow-up is when we get decisions, either through crusades or local church, and we take laborers from the harvest field, who are few as it is, and give them this disheartening task of running after these decisions to make sure they're going on with God.

What it is is a sad admission of the amount of confidence we have in the power of our message and in the keeping power of God. If God has saved them, God will keep them. If they're born of God, they'll never die. If He's begun a good work in them, He'll complete it to that day (Philip. 1:6); if He's the author of their faith, He'll be the finisher of their faith (Heb. 12:2). He's able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him (Heb. 7:25). He's able to keep them from falling and present them faultless before the presence and glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). Jesus said, "No one will pluck you from my father's hand" (John 10:29).

You see, saints, the problem is that Lazarus is four days dead (John 11). We can run in the tomb, we can pull him out, we can prop him up, we can open his eyes, but "he stinketh" (vs. 39). He needs to hear the voice of the Son of God. And the sinner is four days dead in his sins. We can run up and say, "Say this prayer." Still, he needs to hear the voice of the Son of God, or there is no life in him; and the thing that primes the sinner's ear to hear the voice of the Son of God is the law. It's a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ that he might be justified through faith (Gal. 3:24). Saints, the law works; it converts the soul (Ps. 19:7). It makes the person a new creature in Christ. That old things pass away; behold, all things are become new (2Cor. 5:17). So find yourself a sinner, and experiment on him. But as you do so, remember this one anecdote.

You're sitting on a plane, sipping you're coffee, biting a cookie, and watching a movie. It's a good flight, very pleasurable, when suddenly you hear, "This is your captain speaking. I have an announcement to make. As the tail section has just fallen off of this plane, we're about to crash. There's a 25,000 foot drop. There's a parachute under your seat; we'd appreciate it if you'd put it on. Thank you for your attention, and thank you for flying with this airline." You say, "What!? 25,000 feet!? Man, am I glad to be wearing this parachute!" You look next to you; the guy next to you is biting his cookie, sipping his coffee, and watching the movie. You say, "Excuse me, did you hear the captain? Put the parachute on." He turns to you and says, "Oh, I really don't think the captain means it. Besides, I'm quite happy as I am, thanks." Don't turn to him in sincere zeal and say, "Oh, please, put the parachute on.

It will be better than the movie." Now, that doesn't make sense. If you tell him that somehow the parachute will improve his flight, he's going to put it on for a wrong motive. If you want him to put it on and keep it on, tell him about the jump. You say, "Excuse me, ignore the captain if you wish. Jump without a parachute...SPLAT!" He says, "I'm sorry; I beg your pardon." "I said, if you jump without a parachute, law of gravity. 'Ppppbbbbtttt' on the ground." "Ah! Goodness me! I see what you're saying! Thank you very much!" And as long as that man has knowledge he has to pass through the door and face the consequences of breaking the law of gravity, there's no way you're going to get that parachute off his back, because his very life depends on it.

Now, if you look around you, you'll find there are plenty of passengers enjoying the flight. They're enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. Go up and say, "Excuse me. Did you hear the command from our Captain about salvation, 'Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.' " He turns to you and says, "Oh, I really don't think God means it. God is love. Besides, I'm quite happy as I am, thanks." Don't turn to him in sincere zeal without knowledge and say, "Please, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. You've got a God-shaped vacuum in your heart only God can fill. If you have a marriage problem, drug problem, alcohol problem, just give your heart to Jesus." No. You'll give him the wrong motive for his commitment. Instead say, "Oh, God, give me courage!" and tell him about the jump. Just say, "Hey, it's appointed to man once to die. If you die in your sins, God will be forced to give you justice, and His judgment is going to be so thorough.

Every idle word a man speaks he'll give account thereof on the day of judgment; if you've lusted, you've committed adultery. If you've hated someone, you've committed murder. And Jesus warned that justice will be so thorough, the fist of eternal wrath will come upon you and [SMACK] grind you to powder. God bless." Now saints, I'm not talking about hell-fire preaching. Hell-fire preaching will produce fear-filled converts. Using God's law will produce tear-filled converts. This one comes because why? He wants to escape the fires of hell. But in his heart, he thinks God is harsh and unjust, because the law hasn't been used to show him the exceeding sinful nature of sin. He doesn't see hell as being his just desert, that he deserves hell. Therefore, he doesn't understand mercy or grace; and, therefore, he lacks gratitude to God for His mercy. And gratitude is the prime motivation for evangelism. There'll be no zeal in the heart of a false convert to evangelize. But this one comes knowing he has sinned against heaven. That God's eye is in every place beholding the evil and the good and God has seen darkness, as though it were pure light. He's seen his thought life.

If God in His holiness on the day of wrath made manifest all the secret sins of his heart, all the deeds done in darkness, if he made manifest all the evidence of his guilt, God could pick him up as an unclean thing and cast him into hell and do that which is just. But instead of giving him justice, he's given him mercy. He's commended his love toward him in that while he's yet a sinner Christ died for him. He falls on his knees before that blood-stained cross, and he says, "Oh, God, if You do that for me, I'll do anything for You. I delight to do Your will, oh, my God. Your law is written upon my heart." And like the man who knew he had to pass through the door and face the consequences of breaking the law of gravity and would never take his parachute off because his very life depended on it, so he who comes to the Savior, knowing he has to face a holy God on the day of wrath, would never forsake the righteousness of God in Christ because His very life depends on it.

Let me see if I can coagulate this teaching as we draw it to a close. I was in a store some time ago, and the owner of the store was serving a customer and using God's name in blasphemy. Now, if somebody used my wife's name in blasphemy, I would be extremely offended if they used her name as a curse word in that sense. But this guy was using God's name as a curse word, when God had given him life, his eyes, the ability to think, his children, his food; every pleasure he's ever had was given to him by the goodness of God, and he's using God's name as a curse word. Indignantly, between him and his customer, I leaned and said, "Excuse me. Is this a religious meeting?" The guy says, "What? H-E-L-L no!" "Yes it is, because now you're talking about hell. Let me get you one of my books." So I went out to my car and got a book that I've written called God Doesn't Believe in Atheists: Proof the Atheist Doesn't Exist. And it's a book which uses logic, humor, reason, and rationalism to prove the existence of God, which you can do in two minutes without the use of faith. It's a very simple thing to conclusively, absolutely prove God's existence; and it proves also that the atheist doesn't exist.

In fact, let me show you our bumper sticker. "National Atheist's Day: April 1." So I gave him this book, and two months later I went in and gave him another book I've written called My Friends Are Dying! A book which is a true and gripping story about the ministering of the gospel in the most murderous portion of Los Angeles; a book which also uses humor in its presentation. I gave him those books and he called me and told me what had happened. He told me his wife kept giving him filthy looks, because there he was reading a book called My Friends Are Dying! and laughing every two minutes. But he was cleaning out his room and he picked up God Doesn't Believe in Atheists. He said, "Ah," and he opened it up and read the first page and then he read the whole book, 260 pages. He said, "It was weird because I hate reading." Then he read My Friends Are Dying!, gave his life to Christ, bought himself a Bible, came around to say, "Hi," and told me after two days of being a Christian, in his Bible he was already up to what he called the book of "Lev-ih-tie-kus." And I guess he was going to read "Palms" and then John. But up until his commitment, the man was a practicing witch. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul."

And it's as though God looked down upon me, as for many years I open-air preached, and as I fought off the enemy with the feather duster of modern evangelism, it's as though God said, "What are you doing? My weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (2Cor. 10:4). Here are ten great cannons." And as I lined up the ten cannons of God's law, no longer did sinners scoff and mock. No, their faces went pale; they lifted their hands and said, "I surrender all! All to Jesus I freely give!" They came across to the winning side never to become deserters. Such converts become soul winners, not pew warmers, laborers, not layabouts, assets, not liabilities for the local church.

And now saints, with every head raised and every eye open, and no music playing, let me challenge you as to the validity of your salvation. Modern evangelism says, "Never question your salvation." The Bible says the exact opposite. It says, "Examine yourself and see if you're in the faith" (2Cor. 13:5). Better now than on the day of judgment. The Bible says "make your calling and election sure" (2Pet. 1:10), and some of you know that something is radically wrong in your Christian walk. You lose your peace and joy when the flight gets bumpy. There is a lack of zeal to evangelize. You never fell on your face before Almighty God and said, "I've sinned against You, oh God! Have mercy upon me!" You've never fled to Jesus Christ and His blood for cleansing, in desperation crying out, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" And there's a lack of gratitude; there's not a burning zeal for the lost.

You can't say you're on fire for God; in fact, you're in danger of being one of the ones that are called "lukewarm" and will be spewed out of the mouth of Christ on the day of judgment (Rev. 3:16) when multitudes will cry out to Jesus, "Lord, Lord." And he'll say, "Depart form me you worker of iniquity-lawlessness: I never knew you" (Mat. 7:22-23). No regard to the divine law. The Bible says, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity"-lawlessness (2Tim. 2:19). So today you need to readjust the motive for your commitment. Friend, don't let your pride stop you. I would like to pray for you: I'll remain up here, you remain in your seat. And if you'd like to be included in this prayer, I'd like for you to slip up your hand, but remember this. If you say, "Well, I should put my hand up but what will people think?" that's pride. You prefer the praises of men to the praises of God (John 12:43). Everyone who is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord (Prov. 16:5). God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourself before the mighty hand of God; He'll exalt you in due time (1Pet. 5:5-6). Call it a recommittal; call it a committal. But whatever you call it, make your calling and election sure.

This is (imho) the most important Christian article penned in modern times.

This article is available in other formats pdf, mp3 download, streaming video, and even a power point presentation at the website; www.livingwaters.com.

tags: evangelism, Christianity, gospel

False Unity - A sign of the end times.

2005-10-27T05:53:00.000-05:00

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
Psalms 133 KJV

Unity among Christians is to be greatly desired. Of course, in the Psalm above, David is speaking to the Jews of his day. However Paul spoke similarly to the Christian. We are called to unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace so that we will mature, use the gifts that God has given us, and not be influenced by the current "trend" in doctrine (or "Christian" best seller).

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:1-16 KJV

The Church has fallen away from these plain and simple teachings and is instead seeking a false unity at the price of the Gospel and God's Word. While the Bible plainly teaches that there should be unity in the Body of Christ, this unity beyond the Body that many modern "denominations" are currently seeking is of the devil.

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
2 Timothy 4:1-4 KJV

That time is now.

If someone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don't invite him into your house or encourage him in any way. Anyone who encourages him becomes a partner in his evil work.
2 John 10-11 NLT

Let all those pastors, teachers, who have had Islamic Clerics come into their church and teach, or are considering doing so remember what John taught.

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Jude KJV

You'd think that Jude had knowledge of the modern "ecumenical" trend. The current movement of protestant denominations joining with the roman catholic church and the roman catholic church seeking to join with their islamic brothers only has one real stumbling block; Jesus Christ. All the world's religions are compatible, except those few (we few) "fanatics" that claim the Jesus Christ is the only name by which we can be saved. I expect to see a coming together of the world's religions in my lifetime. The only question is whether the rapture will occur before, or after, the establishment of the "universal" church.

Tags: unity, Christianity, eschatology

Keeping the Sabbath

2005-10-23T05:40:00.000-05:00

Having a job where I'm required to work, literally, eight days a week has bothered me concerning the Fourth Commandment.

⁸Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: ¹⁰But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: ¹¹For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
(Exodus 20:8-11 KJV)

And what about all those people who work in the service industry. I remember one of the gretest hypocrocies from my youth seemed to be going out for lunch after Church on Sunday. Here we were being taught, don't work on Sunday (I know, the Sabbath is Saturday; that's a whole 'nother post for another day.) and yet we "require" these cooks and waitstaff to work. God says through his servant Paul, that in whatever we do, we should do it for the glory of the Lord.(See 1 Corinthians 10:31) and

²² Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: ²³And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; ²⁴Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
(Colossians 3:22-24 KJV)

If our employer requires us to work on the Sabbath, then we should work on the Sabbath. However, we should especially make clear in our own hearts that the day is truly the Lord's Day.

¹³If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: ¹⁴Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
(Isaiah 58:13-14 KJV)

Tag: Sabbath

God is in Charge

2005-10-21T04:40:00.000-05:00

A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
(Proverbs 16:9 KJV)

Or as the New Living Translation puts it...

We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.
(Proverbs 16:9 NLT)

I've learned this through example over the last few days. :-) Some of my work clothes are on a truck in Tampa Florida, as that was where I was planning to be for work next. However, God decided I need to visit San Antonio, Texas first. That's okay,

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:28 KJV)

Tag: God

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas

2005-10-18T09:05:00.000-05:00

This is the lie that the hotels, casinos, adult night clubs, and other merchants would like you to believe. It's not uncommon, I've heard some of my co-workers say pretty much the same thing; "What goes on the road stays on the road." Unfortunately that's simply not true. Everything we do stays with us, and not only us but God in heaven knows.

You spread out our sins before you--
our secret sins--and you see them all.
(Psalm 90:8 NLT)

¹¹I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night--

¹² but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are both alike to you.
(Psalm 139:11-12 NLT)

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
(Ecclesiastes 12:14 KJV)

²³Am I a God who is only in one place?" asks the LORD. "Do they think I cannot see what they are doing? ²⁴Can anyone hide from me? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?" asks the LORD.
(Jeremiah 23:23-24 NLT)

Tag: hiding from God

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

2005-10-16T07:37:00.000-05:00

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
(Philippians 2:12-16)

Don't just get "fire insurance"! If you are going through life, thinking that you "got saved" and now you have "fire insurance" so you can do anything (no matter how bad) you want... think again. James the brother of Jesus wrote:

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
(James 2:14-17)

Your "fire insurance", without true changes in your life, is worthless. We need to always remember and be deeply thankful because the cross was a horribly painful and shameful death, and through that death our sins were paid. And through the ressurection on the third day, we have hope of eternal life. (See 1 Corinthians 15:1-23)

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
(Ephesians 5:1-21)

Tags: Christianity, Salvation

Really Good News

2005-10-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

There's some lizard selling auto insurance who claims you can save some money; but I've got really good news.

I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God, and you can be too!

What? You don't think you need God's grace? You think a God who is perfectly good won't condemn you to eternal punishment? A God who is perfectly good (not to mention Holy and Just) can't be perfectly good and let us evil sinners get away with our evil actions unpunished. What? You're basically a good person? Yeah, right. Ever tell a lie? Not even a little "white" lie? You're liar. Have you ever stolen anything? Borrowed something without giving it back? Ever? You're a liar and a thief. Ever looked at someone else with lust in your thoughts (heart)? That makes you a lieing, thieving, adulterer. At least you're not a murderer, eh? Okay, that makes you a lieing, thieving, adulterous, murderer. And that's only four of the Ten Commandments!

So, what should a "good" God do with a lieing, thieving, adulterous, murderer? He should throw you (and me!) in the deepest pit of hell and throw away the key! But this good God is also loving! He looks at our wretched condition and knows that we cannot be perfect on our own. So He decided to do most of the work for us (all of the work actually). He sent His Son down here to live the perfect life and then sacrifice that life on the cross, not to pay for his sins (because he was without sin) but ours. He paid the price that we couldn't, the least we can do is live for him. God has given us a choice; accept the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross for us and live our lives for him, or suffer eternal punishment for our rebellion.

If you declare that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God brought him back to life, you will be saved. By believing you receive God's approval, and by declaring your faith you are saved.
(Romans 10:9-10)

tag: Good News

Why should Christians vote?

2005-09-29T09:19:00.000-05:00

Because God says so.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
(Romans 13:1-8)

As a Christian living in a Democracy, we owe a duty to our country to vote and serve jury duty, as well as pay our taxes. God ordains who our leaders will be, but that doesn't relieve us from the obligation to vote. Its very much like a picture of Salvation, God has chosen his children from before time began, but we must make the choice to receive God's forgiveness. Likewise we are actively charged to bring the Word to our neighbors. The fact of the one (God has chosen his elect) does not lessen the duty given to us (of accepting personally and spreading the Good News).

If voting is truly a picture of Salvation then Christians should be afraid to not vote! Moses broke a picture (by speaking to the rock, it would have been an example of asking Jesus for Salvation Numbers 20:7-13) at Mirabah and the consequences were great. (Moses was disqualified from leading the people into the promised land Numbers 20:12).