From The Mind of Fire

GOD IN A BOX

2012-01-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

When it comes time to buy a new Bible, we've all pondered the different versions, type size, format and study aids that each kind affords. And when we make the final decision and purchase we bring it home and then . . . ?
We take it out of the box in which it is contained. That is, the physical Holy Book comprised of paper and ink.

In today's world we often hear the admonition, "Don't put God in a box" and I would like to examine this notion, for in some respects, it's valid, and yet in other cases, it decidedly and most certainly is NOT . . .

When Anne Kisly and I did a couple of rebuttal articles at TTUF on the novel, The Shack, (to review these, go to www.thetruthunderfire.com and type in "The Shack" at the search engine provided) we received a number of comments and responses from readers.
A few of those responses had the admonition of "Don't put God in a box", because we were critical of the portrayal of the Trinity in that novel, and of the statements and actions each of them made. It was the opinion of these readers that since God is Almighty and limitless in power and knowledge, He could do anything He wanted (even the things spoken of in that novel?).

Which is not exactly accurate: being God, there are some things He can't do! Such as the following -

God can't create a rock so big that He can't move it - that would entail His bringing into existence something greater than Himself, and since He is all powerful (omnipotent), this would be impossible.
God cannot learn: He knows everything (omniscience). He cannot travel, because He exists everywhere (omnipresent); He cannot lie as He is the embodiment of truth; God cannot change because He is perfect and immutable: were He to change He could only migrate from perfection to something less than perfection (and if He were to become 'absolutely perfect' it would mean that He was less than perfect before).

God cannot force anyone to love Him, because love is something that must be volitional or it is meaningless.

There are times and occasions when we inappropriately put God in a box; we see this even in the Scriptures:

Psalm 78:19, 41 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

We can put God in a box by questioning His power and His compassion; sometimes even against our intellectual understanding, our hearts betray Him by doubting His power and love for us. The Hebrews in the wilderness doubted that God could or would care for them and feed them (a number exceeding two or three million people!) in the midst of a barren wilderness. We can limit God - the Holy One of Israel, by our lack of faith and unbelief, just as they did.

Mar 6:5-6 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.

And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching (Compare this with the account recorded in Matt. 8:5-11).

Even His own disciples struggled in their faith in the LORD (Matt. 17: 18-20), as well as those who were intimately associated with Him, like Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Both sisters expressed the same complaint to the LORD Jesus when He arrived only after their brother died:
John 11:21 . . . Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died (and again in vs. 32).

In each case, a lack of faith restrained what the LORD would desire to do; preconceived notions and ideas about God, confined Him to a box of unbelief (He could have healed Lazarus, but now he's dead and so it's too late).

Another example I find interesting shows a mix of belief and unbelief co-existing in the heart of a distraught father on behalf of his ailing son:

Mark 9:21-24 And He asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.

And ofttimes it [demonic spirit] hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

The LORD didn't leave the father to tend his son all on his own; He saw the faith of the man, and despite some doubts, brought healing to the boy, casting out the demonic spirit. Fractions of doubt, in the midst of believing God, He can deal with and work such things out of our lives. It's the wholesale and skeptical doubt and unbelief (like that of John the Baptist's father, Zacharias as found in Luke 1:11-20) that allows no faith at all that seems to prohibit God from working in an individuals life and situation (but by no means deters Him from fulfilling His plan!).

Getting back to the children of Israel in the desert, under the leadership of Moses, its most notable that the only two people who successfully made the journey (out of the millions in the Exodus) into Canaan land were Joshua and Caleb; the only two that expressed faith in God's Word as He declared it to that nation (Numbers 13:30-38).

We err when we limit God by doubting His Almighty power and His infinite love for us personally (too often its not a matter of believing God's ability, that He can do the impossible; but rather His willingness - does He really love me enough to answer my prayer?).

However, we commit another error when we believe God will do anything and in any manner He chooses, even if it contradicts His Word! Joshua and Caleb both believed God's Word, as did Abraham before them, and Noah before him - and countless others throughout recorded Scripture, and God proved Himself faithful by abiding by His Word.

This is a biblical 'box' that God willingly places Himself in! While His power and love are limitless, His character, His nature, His plan of action for the world are restricted by none other than God Himself as He inspired various writers to record Scripture that reveals such things to us!

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

God has declared through various (8 to be precise) biblical covenants, promises He has made to the people of the world, and specifically to the nation of Israel, and even more denotatively to such as Abraham and David.
He has bound Himself to abide by these 'agreements' some of which are conditional and requires the faithfulness and obedience of the recipient, and others are unconditional that reside solely in the responsibility of God Himself (such as the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants).

Let's have a quick look at one of the passages that deals with the Davidic Covenant: Psalm 89 . . .

Psalm 89:3-4, 28-29, 34-36
I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

That sounds pretty resolute doesn't it? A solid, biblical promise uttered from the lips of God Himself! There are Bible promise books of different varieties (I have one version myself) and as you look through them, understand that God has placed Himself in this 'Bible Box' and will keep His promises, but never in violation with His nature, character and overall plan for the ages.

At the same time, we must understand that these promises will hold up - even under the most dire and impossible of situations because God's Word is true, His power is limitless and His love unfathomable!

The two primary attributes of God are His holiness and His love:

Holiness of God -
Exodus 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (See more on the holiness of God here: 1 Sam. 6:20; Psalm 99:9; Isaiah 6:3;, Ez. 39:7; Hab. 1:13; Rev. 4:8; 15:4).

Love of God -
Deut 7:8-9 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
(See also: Jeremiah 31:3; John 3:16; 16:27; Rom. 5:8; Eph. 2:4-5; 1 John 3:1; 4:9, 16)

Other attributes are His sovereignty . . . (Deut. 4:39; 1 Chron. 29:12; Job 9:12; Ps. 29:10; 47:2; 83:18; Dan. 2:20; Matt. 6:13; Acts 17:24 and Rom. 9:19).

. . . and as mentioned earlier:

His omnipotence (Job 42:2; Ps. 115:3; Is. 43:13; Mt. 19:26; Lk. 1:37; Rev. 19:6).

His omniscience (Job 26:6; 31:4; 34:21; Ps. 147:5; Heb. 4:13; 1 John 3:20).

His omnipresence (Deut. 4:39; Ps. 139:8; Prov. 15:3; Is. 66:1; Jer. 23:24; Acts 17:27).

And His immutability (Ps. 102:27; Mal. 3:6; Heb. 1:12; 13:8; Jms. 1:17).

Therefore in summary, let us 'let God be God' in all of His power and authority, not diminishing His ability in matters of faith, prayer and His love and good will towards us by putting Him in an unqualified box, but at the same time understand that He never contradicts His Word and so we can be sure that His attributes are unalterable which enables us to perceive that which is of God and that which is not. In this regard, we know where God is coming from - from His Biblical Box!

God bless you!

The Deity of Jesus Christ by Dr. R. A. Torrey

2011-12-18T21:15:00.001-08:00

The following is a treatment by Dr. R. A. Torrey on the Deity of Jesus Christ; it is in full, and unedited. This publication is preparatory for a larger body of work, soon to be published on TTUF on the Deity of Christ Jesus ("JESUS IS GOD – The WORD Incarnate a.k.a. the MESSIAH of Israel") and a link to this treatment will be included in one of the segments of series.

The Deity of Jesus Christ
by R. A. Torrey

"While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?..." Matt. 22:41-42.
The question that our Lord Jesus puts here to the Pharisees is the most fundamental question concerning Christian thought and faith that can be put to anybody in any age. Jesus Christ Himself is the center of Christianity, so the most fundamental questions of faith are those that concern the Person of Christ. If a man really holds to right views concerning the Person of Jesus Christ, he will sooner or later get right views on every other question. If he holds a wrong view concerning the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is pretty sure to go wrong on everything else sooner or later.

"What think ye of Christ?" That is the great central question; that is the vital question.

And the most fundamental question concerning the Person of Christ is — is Jesus Christ really God? Not merely, is He Divine, but, is He actually God? When I was a boy, to say you believed in the Divinity of Christ meant that you believed in the real Deity of Christ, that you believed that Jesus was actually a Divine Person, that He was God.

It no longer means that.

The Devil is wise, shrewd, and subtle, and he knows that the most effectual way to instill error into the minds of the inexpert and unwary is to use old and precious words and put a new meaning into them. So when his messengers masquerading as "ministers of righteousness" seek to lead, if possible, the elect astray, they use the old precious words, but with an entirely new and entirely different and entirely false meaning.

They talk about the Divinity of Christ, but they do not mean at all what intelligent Christians in former days meant by it. Likewise, they talk of the atonement, but they do not mean at all the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ in our place by which eternal life is secured for us.

And oftentimes when they talk about Christ, they do not mean at all our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the actual historic Jesus of the four gospels; they mean an ideal Christ, or a Christ principle.

So our subject is not the Divinity of Christ, but the Deity of Christ; and our question is not, is Jesus Christ Divine, but rather, is Jesus Christ God?

Was that Person Who was born in Bethlehem nineteen hundred and twenty-one years ago, and Who lived thirty-three or thirty-four years here upon earth as recorded in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Who was crucified on Calvary's cross, Who rose from the dead the third day, and was exalted from earth to heaven to the right hand of the Father — was He God manifest in the flesh, was He God embodied in a human being?

Was He, and is He, a Being worthy of our absolute faith and supreme love and our unhesitating obedience and our wholehearted worship, just as God the Father is worthy of our absolute faith and supreme love and unhesitating obedience and our wholehearted worship?

Should all men honour Jesus Christ even as they honour God the Father (John 5:23). Not merely is He an example that we can wisely follow, or a Master whom we can wisely serve, but is He a God Whom we can rightly worship? I presume that most of us do believe that He was God manifest in the flesh and that He is God today at the right hand of the Father, but why do you believe so?

Are you so intelligent in your faith, and therefore, so well-grounded in your faith that no glib talker or reasoner, no Unitarian or Russellite (JW) or Christian Scientist or Theosophist, or other errorist can confuse you and upset you and lead you astray?

It is important that we be thoroughly sound in our faith at this point and thoroughly well-informed, wherever else we may be in ignorance or error, for we are distinctly told in John 20:31 that "these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."

It is evident from these words of the inspired apostle John that this question is not merely a matter of theoretical opinion, but that it is a matter that concerns our salvation. It is to confirm and instruct you in your blessed faith, your saving faith in Jesus Christ as a Divine Person.

When I studied the subject of the Divinity of Christ in the theological seminary, I got the impression that there were a few texts in the Bible that conclusively proved that He was Divine.

Years later I found that there were not merely a few proof texts that proved this, but that the Bible in many ways and in countless passages clearly taught that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh. Indeed, I found that the Doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ formed the very warp and woof of the Bible.

Divine Names

The first line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus is that many names and titles clearly implying Deity are used of Jesus Christ in the Bible, some of them over and over again, the total number of passages reaching far into the hundreds. Of course, I can only give you a few illustrations at this time.
Turn with me first of all to Revelation 1:17,

"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last."

The text shows clearly that our Lord Jesus was the speaker, and here our Lord Jesus distinctly calls Himself "The First and the Last."

Now this, beyond a question, is a Divine name, for in Isaiah 44:6 we read,

"Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."

In Revelation 22:12, 13, our Lord Jesus says that He is the Alpha and Omega. His words are,

"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

Now in this same book in the first chapter and the eighth verse the Lord God declared that He is the Alpha and the Omega. His words are,

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

In I Corinthians 2:8, the apostle Paul speaks of our crucified Lord Jesus as "The Lord of glory." His exact words are,

"Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

There can be no question that "The Lord of glory" is Jehovah God, for we read in Psalm 24:8-10,

"Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah."

And we are told in the passage already referred to that our crucified Lord Jesus was the King of glory; therefore, He must be Jehovah.

In John 20:28 Thomas addressed the Lord Jesus as his Lord and his God: "And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God."

Unitarians have endeavored to get around the force of this utterance made by Thomas by saying that Thomas was excited and that he was not addressing the Lord Jesus, but was saying "my Lord and my God" as an ejaculation of astonishment, just the way that profane people sometimes use these exclamations today.

But this interpretation is impossible and shows to what desperate straits the Unitarians are driven, for Jesus Himself commended Thomas for seeing it and saying it. Our Lord Jesus' words immediately following those of Thomas are, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" John 20:29.

In Titus 2:13 our Lord Jesus is spoken of as our "great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
In Romans 9:5 Paul tells us that "Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever."

The Unitarians have made desperate efforts to overcome the force of these words, but the only fair translation and interpretation of these words are found in our Authorized Version.
There can be no honest doubt to one who goes to the Bible to find out what it actually teaches, and not to read his own thought into it, that Jesus is spoken of by various names and titles that beyond a question imply deity, and that He in so many words is called God.

In Hebrews 1:8 it is said in so many words, of the Son, "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."

If we should go no further it is evidently the clear and often repeated teaching of the Bible that Jesus is really God.

Divine Attributes

But there is a second line of proof that Jesus Christ is God, a proof equally convincing, and that is, all the five distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to Jesus Christ, and "all the fulness of the Godhead" is said to dwell in Him.

There are five distinctively Divine attributes, that is, five attributes that God alone possesses. These are Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Eternity and Immutability. Each one of these distinctively Divine attributes is ascribed to Jesus Christ.

First of all, omnipotence is ascribed to Jesus Christ. Not only are we taught that Jesus had power over diseases and death and winds and sea and demons, that they were all subject to His word, and that He is far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come (Eph. 1:20-23), but in Hebrews 1:3 it is said in so many words that He "[upholdeth] all things by the word of his power."

Omniscience is also ascribed to Him. We are taught in the Bible that Jesus knew men's lives, even their secret history (John 4:16-19), that He knew the secret thoughts of men, knew all men, knew what was in man (Mark 2:8; Luke 5:22; John 2:24,25), which knowledge we are distinctly told in 2 Chronicles 6:30 and Jeremiah 17:9-10, that God alone possesses. We are told in so many words in John 16:30 that Jesus knew "all things," and in Colossians 2:3 we find that in Him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Omnipresence is also ascribed to Him. We are told in Matthew 18:20 that where two or three are gathered together in His Name, that He is in the midst of them, and in Matthew 28:20 that wherever His obedient disciples should go, He would be with them, even unto the end of the age, and in John 14:20 and 2 Corinthians 13:5 we are told that He dwells in each believer, in all the millions of believers scattered over the earth. In Ephesians 1:23 we are told that He "filleth all in all."

Eternity is also ascribed to Him. We are told in John 1:1 that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In John 8:58 Jesus Himself said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." Note that the Lord Jesus did not merely say that "before Abraham was I was," but that "before Abraham was, I AM," thus declaring Himself to be the eternal "I AM."
Even in the Old Testament we have a declaration of the eternity of the Christ who was to be born in Bethlehem.

In Micah 5:2 we read,

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

And in Isaiah 9:6 we are told of the child that is to be born,

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

And in Hebrews 13:8 we are told,

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."

His immutability is also taught in the passage just quoted from Hebrews, and in the first chapter of the same book, in verses eleven and twelve, we find that while even the heavens change, the Lord Jesus does not change.

The exact words are,

"They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as cloth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."

Each one of the five distinctively Divine attributes was ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ.

And in Colossians 2:9 we are told in so many words,

"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily [in a bodily form]."

Here again we might rest our case, for what has been said under this heading, even if taken alone, clearly proves the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It shows that He possesses every perfection of nature and character that God the Father possesses.

Divine Offices

But we do not need to rest the case here. There is a third unanswerable line of proof that Jesus Christ is God, namely, all the distinctively Divine offices are predicated of Jesus Christ.

There are seven distinctively Divine offices. That is to say, there are seven things that God alone can do, and each one of these seven distinctively Divine offices is ascribed to Jesus Christ. The seven distinctively Divine offices are: Creation, Preservation, Forgiveness of Sin, the Raising of the Dead, the Transformation of Bodies, Judgment and the Bestowal of Eternal Life, and each of these is ascribed to Jesus Christ.

Creation is ascribed to Him.

In Hebrews 1:10 these words are spoken of our Lord:

"And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands."

The context clearly shows that the Lord addressed is the Lord Jesus.
In John 1:3 we are told that

"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."

Preservation of the universe and of everything is also ascribed to Him in Hebrews 1:3 where it is said of the Lord Jesus,

"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person [God's], and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."

The forgiveness of sin is ascribed to Him. He Himself says in Mark 2:5-10 when His power to forgive sins was questioned, because that was recognized as a Divine power,

"But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins."

The future raising of the dead is distinctly ascribed to him in John 6:39,44,

"And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

The transformation of our bodies is ascribed to Him in Philippians 3:21. In 2 Timothy 4:1 judgment is ascribed to Him. We are told that He shall "judge the quick and the dead." Jesus Himself declared that He would be the judge of all mankind and emphasized the fact of the Divine character of that office.

In John 5:22,23 He said,

"For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father."

The bestowal of eternal life is ascribed to Him time and time again.

In John 10:28 He Himself says,

"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand," and in John 17:1,2, He says, "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."

Here then, we have the seven distinctively Divine offices all predicated of Jesus Christ. This alone would prove that He is God, and we might rest the case here, but there are still other proofs of His absolute Deity.

Statements Which in the Old Testament Are Made Distinctly of Jehovah, God, Taken in the New Testament to Refer to the Lord Jesus Christ

The fourth line of proof of the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ is found in the fact that over and over again statements which in the Old Testament are made distinctly of Jehovah, God, are taken in the New Testament to refer to Jesus Christ.

We have not time to illustrate this at length, but will give but one illustration where many might be given.

In Jeremiah 11:20 the prophet says,

"But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause."

Here the prophet distinctly says that it is Jehovah of Hosts Who judgest and triest the reins and the heart. And in the 17th chapter and the tenth verse Jeremiah represents Jehovah Himself as saying the same thing in these words,

"I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."

But in the New Testament in Revelation 2:23 the Lord Jesus says,

"...I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works."

We are distinctly told in the context that it is "The Son of God" who is speaking here. So Jesus claims for Himself in the New Testament what the Lord in the Old Testament says is true of Himself and of Himself alone.

In very many other instances, statements which in the Old Testament are made distinctly of God the Father, are taken to refer to Jesus Christ. That is to say, in New Testament thought and doctrine, Jesus Christ occupies the place that God the Father occupies in Old Testament thought and doctrine.

The Way the Name of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son Are Coupled Together

The fifth line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord is found in the way in which the name of Jesus Christ is coupled with that of God the Father.
In numerous passages His name is coupled with the name of God the Father in a way in which it would be impossible to couple the name of any finite being with that of the Deity. We have time for but a few of the many illustrations that might be given.

A striking instance is in the words of our Lord Himself in John 14:23 where we read,

"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

Here our Lord Jesus does not hesitate to couple Himself with the Father in such a way as to say "We," that is, God the Father and I, will come and make our abode with him.

In John 14:1 He said,

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me."

If Jesus Christ was not God, this is shocking blasphemy. There is absolutely no middle ground between admitting the Deity of Jesus Christ and charging Christ with the most daring and appalling blasphemy of which any man was ever guilty.

Divine Worship to be Given to Jesus Christ

There is a sixth line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus. Those already given have been decisive, each one of the five have been decisive, but this, if possible, is the most decisive of them all, and that is that we are taught in so many words that Jesus Christ should be worshipped as God, both by angels and men.

In numerous places in the gospels we see Jesus Christ accepting without hesitation a worship which good men and angels declined with fear and which He Himself taught should be rendered only to God (Matt. 28:9; Luke 24:52; Matt.14:33; Acts 10:25,26; Rev. 22:8,9; Matt. 4:9,10).

A curious and very misleading comment is made in the margin of the American Standard Revision upon the meaning of the word translated "worship" in these passages, and that is that "the Greek word translated worship denotes an act of reverence, whether paid to a 'creature' or to the 'Creator."'

Now this is true, but it is utterly misleading; for while this word is used to denote "an act of reverence paid to a creature" by idolaters, our Lord Jesus Himself distinctly says, using exactly the same Greek word, "thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve," and on the other hand he says in John 5:23 that "all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father."

And in Revelation 5:8-13 the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders are represented as falling down before the Lamb and offering worship to Him just as worship is offered to Him that sitteth upon the throne, that is, God the Father.

In Hebrews 1:6 we are told in so many words, "And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him."

One night in the inquiry room in Chicago I stepped up to an intelligent looking man at the back of the room and said to him, "Are you a Christian?"
He replied, "I do not suppose you would consider me a Christian."
I said, "Why not?"
He said, "I am a Unitarian."
I said, "What you mean then is that you do not think that Jesus Christ is a person that should be worshipped."
He replied, "'That is exactly what I think," and added, "the Bible nowhere says we ought to worship Him."
I said, "Who told you that?"
He replied, "My pastor," mentioning a prominent Unitarian minister in the city of Boston.
I said, "Let me show you something," and I opened my Bible to Hebrews 1:6 and read, "And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him."
And he said, "Does it say that?" I handed him the Bible and said, "Read it for yourself," and he read it and said, "I did not know that was in the Bible."
I said, "Well it is there, isn't it?"
"Yes it is there."

Language could not make it plainer. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus, the Son of God, is to be worshipped as God by angels and men, even as God the Father is worshipped.

Incidental Proofs of the Deity of Jesus Christ

The six lines of proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ which I have given you leave no possibility of doubting that Jesus Christ is God, that Jesus of Nazareth is God manifest in a human person, that He is a being to be worshipped, even as God the Father is worshipped.
But there are also incidental proofs of His absolute Deity which, if possible, are in some ways even more convincing than the direct assertions of His Deity.

1. Our Lord Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Now any one that makes a promise like that must either be God, or a lunatic, or an impostor. No one can give rest to all who labor and are heavy laden who come to him unless he is God, and yet Jesus Christ offers to do it. If He offers to do it and fails to do it when men come to Him, then He is either a lunatic or an impostor.

If He actually does it, then beyond a question, He is God. And thousands can testify that He really does it. Thousands and tens of thousands who have labored and were heavy laden and crushed, and for whom there was no help in man, have come to Jesus Christ and He actually has given them rest. Surely then He is not merely a great man, but He is in fact God.

2. Again in John 14:1 Jesus Christ demands that we put the same faith in Him that we put in God the Father and promises that in such faith we will find a cure for all trouble and anxiety of heart.
His words are, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." It is clear that He demands the same absolute faith to be put in Himself that is to be put in God Almighty.

Now in Jeremiah 17:5, Scripture with which our Lord Jesus was perfectly familiar, we read "Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man," and yet with this clear curse pronounced upon all who trust in man, Jesus Christ demands that we put trust in Him just as we put trust in God.

It is the strongest possible assertion of Deity on His part. No one but God has a right to make such a demand, and Jesus Christ, when He makes this demand, must either be God or an impostor; but thousands and tens of thousands have found that when they did believe in Him just as they believe in God, their hearts were delivered from trouble no matter what their bereavement or circumstances might be.

3. Again, the Lord Jesus demanded supreme and absolute love for Himself. It is clear as day that no one but God has a right to demand such a love, but there can be no question that Jesus did demand it.

In Matthew 10:37 He said to His disciples,

"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me," and in Luke 14:26,33, he says.

"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

There can be no question that this is a demand on Jesus' part of supreme and absolute love to Himself, a love that puts even the dearest relations of life in an entirely secondary place. No one but God has a right to make any such demand, but our Lord Jesus made it, and therefore, He must be God.

4. In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus claimed absolute equality with the Father. He said, "I and my Father are one."

5. In John 14:9 our Lord Jesus went so far as to say, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." He claims here to be so absolutely God that to see Him is to see the Father Who dwelleth in Him.

6. In John 17:3 He says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." In other words, He claims that the knowledge of Himself is as essential a part of eternal life as knowledge of God the Father.

Conclusion

There is no room left to doubt the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ. It is a glorious truth. The Saviour in Whom we believe is God, a Saviour for Whom nothing is too hard, a Saviour Who can save from the uttermost and save to the uttermost. Oh, how we should rejoice that we have no merely human Saviour, but a Saviour Who is absolutely God in all of His fulness and perfection.

On the other hand, how black is the guilt of rejecting such a Saviour as this! Whoever refuses to accept Jesus as his Divine Saviour and Lord is guilty of the enormous sin of rejecting a Saviour Who is God.

Many a man thinks he is good because he never stole, or committed murder, or cheated. "Of what great sin am I guilty?" he complacently asks. Have you ever accepted Jesus Christ? "No." Well, then, you are guilty of the awful and damning sin of rejecting a Saviour Who is God.

"But," you answer, "'I do not believe that He is God." That does not change the fact nor lessen your guilt before God. Questioning a fact or denying a fact never changes it, regardless of what Mary Baker Eddy may say to the contrary.

Suppose a man had a wife who was one of the noblest, purest, truest women that ever lived, would her husband's questioning her purity and nobility change the fact? It would not. It would simply make that husband guilty of awful slander; it would simply prove that man to be an outrageous scoundrel.

So, denying the Deity of Jesus Christ does not make His Deity any less a fact, but it does make the denier of His Deity guilty of awful, incredible blasphemous slander against the Lord God of Heaven. It also proves that you who deny His Deity to be ________________. I leave your own conscience to finish the sentence thus begun.

Thus concludes this extremely well written and documented treatment by Dr. Torrey.

A CHRISTMAS PRAYER

2011-12-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

LORD we approach Your holy throne of grace provided through our LORD Jesus Christ: and we desire to express our heart felt gratitude and humble thanks for the Supreme Christmas Gift that You gave to us, in the Person of Your Son, our LORD and Savior: Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel!

We were all lost in this world of sin, desperate and alone, stumbling in the darkness of Man's own making; with no chance of hope or healing from any quarter in all the wide world.

There was no soundness in our flesh, no wholesomeness in our hearts.
Our minds and our spirits were tainted and blotted out any understanding of You: the Holy, Transcendent, Almighty GOD and Creator of the Universe and of all things visible and invisible.

All we like sheep have gone astray and there is none that seeks for You, there is none that understands You, there is none that stands approved by Your Holy Eyes of Fire that sees all, and weighs the hearts of all souls in the balances of Your Truth and Justice, and finds them all wanting and truly poverty stricken.

Yet the Word was given to Your Holy prophets and they foretold of the Blessed Hope that would arrive in the Person of Your Son, the Messiah of Israel!

And in the fullness of time, He was born under the Law, born unto a woman, a virgin daughter of David, Mary of Bethlehem, the betrothed of Joseph, who received "the desire of women", that is, to have conceived within by the power of the Holy Spirit, He who would be Messiah.

From that humble abode of a lowly manger, the KING of Kings was received by a small band of shepherds who beheld the Babe in swaddling clothes; surrounded by hay and animals in their stalls, and His mother and legal father, Joseph, but whose Father was truly the LORD God!

Yet over that stone crib lay the shadow of the Cross and that Holy Babe began His tender, mild life the same way that it ended: in the arms of His loving mother, whose heart was pierced by the sword that was prophesied by Simeon at the Temple in Jerusalem.

Here is the KING of Israel, standing at the banks of Jordan, His clothes wet from that river and behold, there came the Holy Spirit as a dove, and the voice of the Father from heaven, declaring that in Him, He is well pleased!

Here is the KING of Kings declaring the officiation of the Kingdom that He proclaimed and would usher in, in the fullness of times, at the nod of His heavenly Father.

Here is the KING, the Messiah, whose hands are the hands of the Healer! He who healed the blind men and deaf, the lame and the leper; Here is the One Who raised the dead to life!

He who stood in the face of the blind leaders of Israel's religious body and spoke fearlessly of their hypocrisy and of the Father's Truth; He Himself the Son, being the very embodiment of the TRUTH!

The LORD Jesus surrendered Himself on that fateful Day, having presented Himself as the King of Israel, the true Messiah on the day appointed by the prophecy of Daniel: a Day overlooked by those who He came to set free, but for their obstinate hearts remained blind and unhealed.

And our LORD Jesus wept over Jerusalem...

Six heinous trials: unjust and deceitful and satanically inspired, condemned Him that knew no sin! Voices that once hailed Him as the Son of David, then cried out, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him!"

Beaten, bloodied, mocked and derided maliciously; He took it meekly and in silence, as a Lamb before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.

For if He had, He could have with but a single Word, banished His enemies to oblivion or sought for twelve legions of angels to do the task for Him.

Scourged, pummeled and crowned with the curse of thorns, He stood as Pilate declared to all, "Behold the Man!" And there the Man Who is God, was the Innocent victim before a human judge.
Yet Pilate would one day stand before his Judge, the God-Man at the pure white Throne of Judgment...

Condemned to die the death of the Cross, His hands and feet pierced, His heart melted as wax, His strength dried up, His tongue cleaving to the roof of His parched mouth, thirsting for more than mere water: rather -

for the comfort of His beloved Abba Father, Who even as His beloved Son then bore the sins of the entire world, the entirety of humanity . . . turned His face away and forsook Him. . .

. . . Six long hours He endured the Cross, despising the shame for the joy that was set before Him: the salvation of precious souls who He would redeem from their sinfulness and would have been doomed eternally in the torments of flame!

And willingly, ever willingly, He laid down His Life for us; for no one took that Life from Him, but rather He gave it up of His own accord.

For the sake of His Love for us, "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life."

Alone in the tomb, in the utter silence and stillness of death, all of His precious blood having been spilled, His Spirit descended into sheol and declared to the saints of old that long awaited the coming One, of Whom the prophets declared and showed for the coming Kingdom:

And in joy He brought them out from that place of waiting and ushered them into eternal bliss!

And Himself, presenting before the Father, the propitiatory sacrifice of His blood, at the altar there in heaven, awash in its crimson splashing; the proclamation of innocent purity for souls - now saints, past, present and future - who would receive the Messiah.

He is Risen! He is risen indeed!
For no corruption could hold Him!
Death could not touch Him!
The grave could not withstand Him!
Satan and his hordes couldn't detain Him!

He ascended in glorified body, into heaven and the angels declared that, One day He would return in the same fashion!

And so we watch and pray as You commanded, LORD!
For these two thousand years since the doing of this Divine Deed, the Word has been declared, the Gospel preached, souls have been redeemed and born into Your Kingdom!

And as we await Your arrival to inaugurate Your Kingdom as foretold in Your Holy Word, we want to declare with one voice and one heart our thanks, our worship, our love and our desire to follow You in all the ways that You have prepared for us, Your church.

This Christmas we acknowledge the tremendous, insurmountable, eternity-spanning love and grace wrapped up in that tiny Baby that You once were; ordained to bring us salvation and everlasting life!!

We acknowledge that this celebration we participate in, which is done joyously, with our eyes to the skies, looking for and hasting Your Coming, to deliver Your people, called out from among the nations, the church, Your bride.

We pray that when that Day arrives, You will lead Your people Israel through the final days, the Seventieth Week of Daniel, safely onward, redeeming Your remnant who shall cry for Your return; whom You will hear and answer, and arrive to judge the world, and it's leaders who rebel even now against Your Rule and Reign, but will nonetheless be dispatched promptly upon Your Second Advent!

And then O LORD, Your glorious Reign shall commence, and Your final enemies will be vanquished. "The seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdom of our LORD and of His Christ; and He shall reign FOREVER and EVER!"

"And then on that day, the knowledge of the LORD shall fill the earth, as the waters cover the seas."

GLORY TO YOU LORD!

And EVEN SO, COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS!

KING of Kings, (click on this link)

and

LORD of Lords!

HALLELUJAH!! (and DEFINITELY click on THIS link!)

May the LORD JESUS CHRIST, our GLORIOUS and OMNIPOTENT LORD and SAVIOR make this year, a most special year in which we draw ever closer to His Holy Heart, so passionate and fervent in His Love for us, His beloved, and may we come to know Him in a deeper and grander way, than ever we have known before! May we partake deeply of the "unsearchable riches in Christ Jesus" AMEN! GOD BLESS US, EVERYONE!

agape, grace and peace,
your brother in Christ,

James Fire

OCCUPY The World... Til The RETURN of the KING

2011-11-28T07:10:00.000-08:00

Matthew 20:6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

We are hearing more and more about the Occupy Wall Street Movement as these days progress. At first I thought pretty much like everyone else did about this movement: another bunch of disgruntled, unemployed people that are angry and frustrated about the way things are headed in this nation.

Sort of like the Tea Partyers but with a harder edge; most of these seemed to be university age youth with enormous schooling debts and little prospect of getting the higher paying jobs they've been aiming for.

Then somewhere in the middle of all this, I began to notice things and wondered if this was everything that it seemed to be, or perhaps something much more. I started doing a little research, and to my (not very big) surprise, there were some discoveries made.

Here are a couple of articles that I submit for your consideration on the matter:

Occupy Wall Street is a Socialist Scam

Occupy Wall Street Follows (Saul) Alinsky Playbook

These people tout signs declaring that "Capitalism Doesn't Work" and others like, "Obama isn't a brown skinned Socialist that gives away free health care . . . you're thinking of Jesus". To see this and other signs, click on any of the images found here.

We are certainly living in turbulent times and there is so much happening, its hard to keep it all straight, and not feel overwhelmed at the way things are spinning out of control. Alinsky would approve of the condition of this nation, because he knew that such soil is ready to receive the ultimate seeds of revolution and transform a society into a Marxist haven where such Socialists can feel at home.

For us Christian however, there really is no place on this planet that we can call 'home'. Many times, somewhat tongue-in-cheek I refer to going to my 'earthly dwelling abode' - or my house - because I can't really call it home.
Our home is heaven, wherein we have our citizenship.

Spiritually speaking, we've been born from above (that is, heaven - or a heavenly birthing), born again (John 3:3, 5), regenerated by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5); as a result of our nativity in the heavenlies, we have no lasting citizenship here. We are pilgrims, strangers, foreigners:

1 Peter 2:11-12
¶ Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

See also Heb. 11: 13.

We are just passing through this 'foreign land' called Earth, on our way to heaven. Until then however we are to have a lifestyle that is "honest among the Gentiles" who may speak of us disparagingly but if they were honest, they would have to admit to the good works we engage in and are called to (Eph. 2:10) and glorify God . . . "in the day of visitation," that is, when the LORD Jesus Christ returns to take us home, just as He and angelic witnesses have testified (John 14: 3; Acts 1:11).

Unfortunately some Christians are so caught up in looking for the LORD's return, that they are not being diligent in their service for the King. It would seem that many of these are only looking to escape from uncomfortable, even desperate circumstances rather than having the hopeful expectation of the arrival of the KING - any who genuinely seek the LORD with expectation will be busy about their work, knowing that His coming draws near, and such has a purifying effect on one's personal walk (1 John 3:3). Those not looking for the LORD's return, or looking only for their own benefit (delivered from having to pay off a mortgage, a lousy job, a life that is bland or difficult, etc.) will say "my Lord delays His coming..." (Matt. 24: 48-49).

Even though we are to be watching and praying always (Mark 13:33; Luke 21:36), looking and expecting our LORD's return (Titus 2:13), we are not to adopt a 'pie in the sky in the great by and by' attitude and be idle; Paul the apostle gently reproved the church at Thessalonica for these things (1 Thess. 4:11-12; 2 Thess. 3:6, 10-12).

No, we are to occupy* in this world, being busy about the business of the King, until He returns:

* Occupy in the Greek means pretty much what one would suppose: to be busy about something, engaged fully in the business at hand. The idea here is the same as Luke 9: 62; diligence, perseverance and endurance are all implied here, also an undivided heart that will not look back (as with longing over something left behind. Consider Lot's wife (Luke 17: 32-33).

Luke 19:11 ¶ And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

vs. 12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.

vs. 13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

vs. 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

vs. 15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.

vs. 16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.

vs. 17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

vs. 18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.

vs. 19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.

vs. 20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:

vs. 21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.

vs. 22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

vs. 23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?

vs. 24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.

vs. 25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)

vs. 26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.

vs. 27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

And from that point, the LORD Jesus Christ, the certain Divine nobleman, ascended up to Jerusalem where He made His grand entrance riding on a donkey, presenting Himself as the Messiah of Israel, but the "citizens" hated him - the religious leaders, and later the people in general with some notable exceptions - and would not have Him rule over them.

The Jews thought that the kingdom of God was near, but they were unaware of the LORD's plan of the ages, that because the nation of Israel would initially reject their Messiah, this would provide an opportunity for the Gentiles to find salvation in the mystery of the church, or the body of Christ, composed of both Jews and Gentiles (but predominantly at this time, the latter). While the kingdom of God was still far off at that point, the King Himself was in their midst!

The LORD Jesus gave them a parable that showed that He would return to His place, that is, heaven (vs. 12; see also Hosea 5:15) once He made His presentation to Israel and propitiation for the sins of the whole world.

As He left this domain and returned to His own, He left instructions and work for those who were genuinely His people (those believing Jews, such as the Apostles, those converted by them, and the early church in the first portion in the book of the Acts of the Apostles and later, the Gentile believers).

In this parable, every servant receives an equal amount - which I believe speaks of the Spirit of God via salvation, and by this same Spirit we are able to live and breathe and work in the kingdom of God (John 3:5).

By the Spirit are we able to affect those around us as we present to them the Gospel, and thereby reproduce fruit after its own kind, that being, salvation. Note that the first two servants are able to increase that which was given to them; the same thing is seen in Matthew 13: 8 in the parable of the Sower of the seed.

For whatever ministry and calling the LORD has placed into our lives (and that is everyone that are born of and citizens to the kingdom of God; every saved soul, every saint has a ministry: what's yours? If you don't yet know, ask the LORD for wisdom to perceive what He has given you, and He will. What sort of gifts do you have? This is a strong indication of where He would have you work in the body of Christ, and out in the world at large) there will come a time when we will be called into account, and receive reward (or not) for faithful service to our King (See 1 Cor. 3: 6 - 15).
Remember, eternal life in heaven is a gift by the grace of God (Rom. 6:23b; Eph. 2:8-9); whatever service we do for our LORD will receive - not gifts, but rewards: the difference being that gifts are free and rewards are earned for good conduct and work.

Yet even for our good works, we cannot boast, for if they are genuinely good (Eph. 2:10), then they are born of God's Spirit and to Him goes the glory and credit; we are just blessed to be included in the work, receive rewards and with which we shall be able to magnify God all the more (Rev. 4:10-11)once we arrive through heaven's portals and into His Presence!

And notice in the parable of Luke 19, that for reproducing that which was granted by the LORD, these first two servants receive an incredible privilege and authority: rulership over (ten or five) cities! How lavish is our LORD in bestowing such incredible reward - for work that was actually accomplished by He Himself: in the hearts of servants that were simply yielded and obedient to the call to service! Amazing!

And then we have the third servant . . . who didn't occupy til the LORD came . . . and this servant could hardly be called that. He was slothful, lazy, accusatory of His LORD; he calls Him "austere" or in a general sense, a very strict person, whose virtues are to the extreme.

Not only did this wicked servant not employ himself in the service of the King, he didn't even so much as deposit it in the bank, where though that wouldn't involve any labor on his part, at least it would draw interest - such is the apathy of this man, who didn't care at all for that which the King offered.
As a result, the ten pounds was taken from this wicked servant and given to the one who was faithful to the highest degree (the first servant). You might ask, "But didn't you say that the ten pounds represent salvation? If that's the case, then this third servant lost his salvation! You don't believe one can lose one's salvation, do you?"

No, I don't believe that a genuinely born again, Spirit indwelt believer can lose their salvation. A very good book on this subject by William MacDonald is called Once In Christ - In Christ Forever. I've read this book and recommend it highly. This very well may be used as subject matter for an upcoming FMF article and book review! This servant that the LORD calls wicked doesn't even keep the ten pounds, does not possess them, but goes and buries them in the dirt!
In my mind, this is hardly a person in possession of salvation! Also that which was intended for the salvation of this third servant, was then turned around and used as further blessing and reward for the first!

Finally, for those who would refuse the LORD in His rightful role as such, these are taken before the LORD in judgment where they are sentenced and executed (vs. 27); for those who reject Jesus Christ as LORD and SAVIOR, they will one day meet Him as their Judge!

2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

And for those of us who are diligent in serving our LORD out of a heart of love and devotion and thankfulness (1 Cor. 13:2-3) for all that He has done for us:

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of [his] goodness, and the work of faith with power:

That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember, we are not called to be 'busy' for it's own sake, but to serve the LORD out of a motive of love and devotion - we are not to be 'Marthas' nor really only 'Marys' (though this is the more important and "good part"), but both in their right proportion - See Luke 10: 40-42; also Col. 1: 3-10; 2 Peter 3: 13-14, 17-18.

Therefore may we indeed occupy Earth, this foreign land, this sphere of missionary service, this domain wherein we make true disciples and herald the Gospel of Jesus Christ the God man before a lost and ruinous world - until the LORD arrives and takes us home! I have a very strong feeling that as for the church, we won't be occupying for much longer! Maranatha!

To purchase the book with study guide by William MacDonald, True Discipleship, click here.

Lastly, I would like you to consider this video: The Disturbing Vision of William Booth

Ye Shall Know the Truth and the Truth Shall Make You Free! Part Two

2011-11-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

I had originally planned on continuing with additional details of my old man life. But why drag you through more that, right? So I thought it best to go this direction...

Things didn't get better they got worse for me, ...at first, solely because of the bad choices I made. 2 Peter 2: 22 sums it up:

But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Frankly, I didn't have the internal strength to resist temptation and continue walking with God and and I went back to my old lifestyle. I did eventually figure a few things out though and today I endeavor to walk with God and learn his Word. And for all practical purposes, isn't that is what we all are trying to do?

The title of the above is based upon the Record of John 8 specifically vss 30-36

30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Years ago these verses of Scripture became my favorites, they were the first Scriptures I had laid to memory. There was a time that I was so enslaved, I was convinced there was no hope for me.

And there was a time that when I heard these Words for the first time ...

...all of a sudden it became clear: the Bible IS more than this huge relic of a book reserved for brief spats in man made ritual. That the Bible WAS God's Word, God's communication to man ... That Jesus Christ God's only begotten Son WAS (and IS) the Word; God's communication to man in the flesh. That the written Word and the Word in the flesh were given so that I, ...so that all could be free...!? Emotions of unworthiness and thankfulness began to work overtime on my stone cold heart!

The above verses jumped of the page and rattled my being, it was as if a 1,000,000 candle light spotlight just lit up!! THERE really is TRUTH available in this world that is layered and layered with LIES, deceit, corruption, pollution, subtle evil that lulls, woos one into accepting the chains and bondage of sin; an evil that fools you in to thinking you have something to protect and guard and not let go of. A curtain of darkness so thick, so heavy...hope for release it would seem, was an exercise in futility!

Yet The Sword of the Spirit with surgical precision began to slice through the spiritual bars that were like a tourniquet to my heart. And for once in my pathetic existence there was reason to keep going, and my heaviness lifted. I could see a light at the end of a dark tunnel, and it was starting to light my way.

Thanks be to God!!

I took Bible classes, went on a mission, took more classes; tripped on the stumbling stones, fell flat on my face more times than I can count. Thought I knew a thing or two about a thing or two... Later learned I was wrong!

Started back over and we keep on pressing forth. I saw a bumper sticker many times that I think is apropos "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven". That pretty much sums it up.

I met my beautiful wife 35 years ago, who like myself was hungry for truth, together we've went forward and are still going.
It was Sept '75 I was sent to Ft Smith, AR in August with eleven other young people like myself. We were going to start home fellowships, run Bible classes, and basically learn how to practically apply the principles in God's Word.
Our responsibility was to work part time and witness and fellowship full time. The people I was sent with were people from all different backgrounds (we didn't know each other from Adam) and we would set up housekeeping etc. One was basically put into a situation where one HAD to walk upon the principles set for in God's Word or suffer the consequences.

At first I was being challenged in the area of finding a job. I landed a job in a 24 hr mini mart working 10pm - 7am: not good hrs. The first night on the Job the owner shows me his Blackjack, and a loaded .45 pistol; tells me "Don't hesitate to use these, cuz, this place gets robbed a lot!"

I worked there for a few weeks and got robbed. The guy walked out with out paying for probably $30.00 worth of groceries I ran after him; he had a sock full of rocks or something and he swung hard, missed nailing me in the head by a hair . . . I wasn't about to shoot somebody for ripping off a few groceries.
Needless to say I quit the job the next day!

Shortly after I left, a woman was abducted and I don't think they found her, or her captors to this day! So, anyway I need a job and wasn't finding one. My family coordinator said to me, "You want to know the secret to getting a job?"
"Yeah..."
"Want one!" Anyway the next day I started out on foot, on the highway that we lived on, criss-crossing the street and would keep going until I found a job. Two, plus miles and a number of hours later I almost got run over by a crazy women driving an MG crossing the road.
I applied at every possible place I could and frankly I didn't think I would find a job. I was about to talk myself outta this approach, when I see a Pizza Hut across the road and I decide to go to one last place. It's after 2pm, and I am weary, but I check to see if they are hiring. The mnanger comes out and it just so happens that she was the same person that almost hit me in the MG!

She does in fact, hire me! I'm to work lunch rush and Saturdays... she says I'll be helping Tracy on Saturdays (hmmm I wonder what she's like?).
I was to stop by Friday afternoon and pick up my shirt. I met Tracy that Friday PM, and she made my name tag; I was thinking, Wow she's pretty, Should be ok working on Saturdays.
Being a relatively new Christian, I was more enthusiastic, than knowledgable. I personally never cared for high pressure sales or witnessing. Tracy will tell you she had to drag the witness outta of me; I will tell you that it was carefully planned strategy to not scare her off.

Truth is we both know that the hand of God was upon the whole thing. Tracy and I are as different as up and down. There's really no way we'd ever be married except for God. I could make a list a mile long detailing how opposite of each other we are. It took us a while before we learned that you don't fall in love, you fall in a hole.
True Love on the other hand is a decision of the will that manifests itself in giving. Our culture, in my opinion, stresses feelings...feelings come and go...hence the reason for the high rate of divorce! One day the feeling is gone and so people think they've fallen out of love.

Think about it: God so loved that he GAVE...John 3:16. I was taught and I believe that it's true that any two people can stay married IF ... and it's a big IF, they put God first and practice the principles set forth in his Word.

Anyway I was looking forward to working on Saturdays and I would endure the incredible cast of characters all week long so I could work with Tracy. Now Tracy really wasn't looking for a boyfriend, and I was supposed to be focused on witnessing and classes, etc. and that's what I did. But you know in Proverbs 18: 22 it says ...he that findeth a wife findeth a good thing.

And I did!
She was hungry and had loads of questions, and I was more than eager to try to answer them. She ended up witnessing to her entire family, mom, sisters, grandmothers! They all joined the fellowship! I have always been amazed that her family was so meek regarding God's Word; I've concluded it's because they had very little religious background.
We grew the fellowship as best as we could and it was sort of like canoeing through white water rapids: we capsized, fell out, bumped our heads, and kept on moving forward. You know that a quiet stream that has no rocks is safe, but it's the rocks in the stream that make it sing and brings a bit of adventure as you make each bend.

We were married in '76 and I wouldn't trade the time for anything. To me her price is above rubies... (Prov. 31: 10)

It was hard at times; we fluctuated in our walk with God and it took ten years to really grow in commitment to God and his Word, and to each other. A lot can happen in ten years and it did.

I am thankful for Tracy in innumerable way, not the least being that she won't allow me to get old and stodgy in my thinking. God uses the marriage as an example of the one body, the body of Christ.

Now, we have four of the best kids on earth and five of the best grandkids on earth. What else could one ask for? God has blessed us in innumerable ways. Together we are looking at that light at the end of the tunnel. We see through a glass and that we see through it darkly (2 Cor. 13:12). God has released us both from many prisons, and daily helps and blesses us more.

God's Word is inexhaustible, so you always have something to look forward to.

Job 5:8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

Psalm 145:3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

Tracy and I have reached the point in life where there is NO turning back! You see God's Word isn't clever anecdotes and proverbs placed in a book - IT IS LIFE!

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; [makes alive] the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are SPIRIT, and they are LIFE.

We have attended fellowships, and ran a home fellowship for many years; we've been to a number of churches, and may go to a number more. We have witnessed to all kinds of people at all kinds of times, in all kinds of circumstances; seen people delivered and seen them walk away... and come back.
Through the whole thing we still wonder about a lot of things.

God bless you if you have read this far; if you are Christian I think you understand, if you're not I would encourage you to believe - -

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

So If you have any questions I am sure James, or anyone associated with him will endeavor to answer them. God bless you, thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ. Thanks James for letting me share! Thank you all for reading!

Before I close let me encourage you to think on these things:

Psalm 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

As He Is that High Standard...we still fall short, yet it's true: He, that is, Christ Jesus is coming back!
Thats our hope and hope motivates. We can't wait...what a day of rejoicing that will be!!

And there you have it saints, and people, all - the testimony of our dear brother Dan, and his lovely lady, Tracy. We pray that reading this has been a blessing (It certainly has been FOR ME!) and that it has drawn every Christian who's read it, closer to the LORD; and for those who don't know the LORD personally yet, we pray that this testimony has made you thirsty to know He Who is the Living Waters, He Who is Himself: LIFE and TRUTH and LOVE made flesh - God the Son, the LORD Jesus Christ: To Him be all the glory and majesty and praise both now and forever and ever! AMEN!

Brother Dan has been gracious enough to allow me to post his email address, on the chance that some of you would like to ask him questions about how he and Tracy came to know the LORD and his life in JESUS now.

Perhaps some time later he might even encourage his saintly bride to write her own testimony, bringing greater detail into her own conversion and that of her family! If the LORD brings about such an endeavor for her, I could place links to both of their testimonies onto that of the other, so you could read one right after the other one!

His email address is: DanKnoll@aol.com

May the LORD bless you abundantly in Jesus Christ His only Begotten Son!

Ye Shall Know the Truth and the Truth Shall Make You Free! Part One

2011-11-11T07:43:00.000-08:00

It wasn't very long after I subscribed to Facebook that I came across this gentleman named Dan Knoll.
We began communicating back and forth and discovered in each other avid students and lovers of God's Most precious Word.
I admire this brother, not just for his generous heart, his wit, his biblical knowledge and knowledge in general regarding pertinent subjects biblically related, but for the kind of man that he is: genuine, giving, and abundantly willing and able to exalt the LORD his God, and share the Word and the Gospel of our salvation with any one who is hungry for them.

It is, in part, for this reason that I solicited him to give his testimony on how he came to know the LORD and within about a single day, he delivered it to my email box (that was quick!). And so, with no further delay, here is the testimony of our brother in Christ, and saint of the living God, fellow citizen of heaven, and co-heir in Christ Jesus our LORD, Dan Knoll:

When asked, by James Fire to share my Christian testimony, I gladly jumped at the opportunity. And then it dawned on me, that I may have only verbally shared it in bits and pieces it the past. I am now past middle age and what seemed earthshaking years ago, is relatively mild nowadays.

I remember reading once in a Steinbeck novel, that "every body wants to leave their mark on the world even if it's a scribble." On the other hand I like what the Lord's brother James wrote,

James 4:14

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

I recall a guy I knew that was really an aggressive witness, who said that he would walk down main street with a toilet on his head if he knew it would cause a person to accept Christ.

So I believe that is the heart behind the sharing of Christian testimony, or how one came to know the Lord Jesus Christ:

I was a regular, relatively average kid growing up in Wisconsin in the '60's and '70's. My parents did the best they knew how to bring me up as a Roman Catholic. At 55 years young I am still learning just how many layers of deception exist in this physical realm we are trapped in. I was drafted into the altar boys and future priest club an so on and so forth. By the 4th grade I was a good Catholic boy or so they thought.

I think it was around that time I started to have some questions about God, and life. I actually believe to this day I was reborn around then since I would listen to the Gospel readings in the mass ritual and I believed in my young heart that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that he suffered died and rose from the dead 3 days and nights later.

I did remember... wondering how they got 3 days and nights from Friday at 3pm to Sunday morning... the priests didn't really know either and just told me to accept it on faith or something like that. That would be one of many questions I never received a satisfactory answer for from the Roman Catholic church.

I must admit I was somewhat intrigued by evil, the devil etc. I was in a constant quandary between trying not to sin and sinning what seemed to be incessantly. I played 'Let's Make a Deal' with God on a weekly if not daily basis. And I think my prayers were never answered.

Adolescence brought with it an ample dose of rebelliousness. I was the oldest of 8 and the kid that broke the ice for my poor folks.

I attended Catholic grade school for 8 years, went to a public Junior High in 9th grade, and it was in my sophomore year that I really started to cast off much of my upbringing. I think it's safe to say that, though Roman Catholics wind up in Mass every Sunday. Their indoctrination basically permeates ones being.

Sorta like the old sayin' "You can take the boy outta the Roman Catholic church but you can't take the Roman Catholic church outta the boy". I have tried to prove that absolutely wrong!
I met a kid - "Lancey" on my way to school one morning and he ended up becoming influential over me at that time. He was a nonconformist in lot of ways; 2 years older than me, so I kinda looked up to him.

Like so many kids I was really getting into the popular music, and he open me up to new exciting music I never heard before. Started hanging out with him a lot. He played guitar; it's what every "hip" teenager at that time wanted to do. And I wanted to learn to play, and my buddy Lancey was more than happy to teach me.

Now alcohol was no big deal in my life, my Dad let me have a little beer every so often. All my relatives were drinkers, and smokers but only a few were considered drunks. Lancey, he would have a beer when we were hanging, and jamming, and of course I would join in. One day he asked me about reefer, I admitted to not smoking dope.

You see I was a bit of a book nerd even though I wanted to be cool, I replied to him with some cliche I had read; he didn't pressure me but told me that pot causes you to see the world from a totally different point of view and that it EXPANDS your mind.

So I started to read all I could about pot and the problem was, it seemed that the books I read all sort of bent in favor of pot and it's benefits. At any rate I became more and more curious, I was highly interested in expanding my horizons. Lancey, he really was a mentor to me and I finally told him I was ready to open my mind.

As you probably can imagine nothing happened except I was kind of paranoid on account of smelling like a reefer. Went home and my kid brother spouts off that I have been smoking cigs. My Dad was a truck driver and wasn't home and Mom she gave me the third degree but both my folks smoked cigs so it ended up as no big deal.

Later that week dad gets home and he gets the report, and more or less tells me not to smoke and if he ever finds out I'm smoking dope he'd kick my a--.
Wonder where he came up with that notion . . . ?

As you might have guessed I continued to pursue the pot scene, never got high like all my friends have been telling me. So I am about to blow the whole thing off as a bunch of hype. In the process of pursuing the dope scene I started changing the kids I would hang with. I abandoned my old RC school friends and started hanging with a new and exciting crowd of freaks, and these cats were cool. We had a really open campus; I mean if you didn't have a class you could leave school for whatever reason and go to the store or where ever.

A lot of kids would go out into their cars and smoke; and a buddy invited me to join him, his sister, and some other kids to smoke some new dope he just got. It was the third or fourth hour. So I go out with them and started smoking pot with them and thats when it hit me like a ton of bricks! I had gotten blasted! I was laughing my guts out non-stop. It was mind blowing; it also was the start of a downward spiral that would end a number of years later.

The counter culture of which I now was a part of seems to me to flow in parallel to straight culture. And I was able to blend into both relatively unnoticed. They say that the frontal cortex doesn't fully develop till one is well in their 20's - in my opinion drug usage further retards the process. Hence the stupid choices continued longer than they should have. Looking back 40 years it's pretty hazy. I ended up a doper extraordinaire and gained the moniker "Danny Stoner" I was cool and liked by the freaks . . . I thought . . . had friends albeit not really. And when I was straight for a few hours, I had a gnawing urge to break this habit, but I'd smoke it any way.

Now I was in what they called 'A track classes' in 10th grade, but my grades were dropping rapidly, and I started choosing easier classes in 11th grade, and I was barely making passing grades. I had a job bagging groceries; needed it to buy dope, but it was a drag, man! While I was working, I would see this guy come in with his wife and baby on many different occasions. I was 16, he was probably 20 or so.

Anyway there was something about him that I liked and wanted to get to know him. I asked around and finally someone told me his name was Gary, and said, "The dude is cool, he plays guitar, love getting high. And the dude loves Dylan" (who was my hero at the time).

So, I try to break the ice and strike up some small talk with him while I'm working and he's shopping for groceries. Found out where he lived, and just showed up one night after work. It was awkward at first, but we hit it off and I thought it was great spending many, many nights getting high, talking about everything under the sun - you know like God and man and law.

Gary became my best friend. Everything else around me was falling apart. School was a hassle . . . all I took was Art classes, the job was a drag, family life: uncool. Gary turned me on to peyote and he explained things like how modern thinkers really proved God was dead and the corporations were really running the show - we were all just pawns in their game!

We were avid readers but the choice of material was heavy counterculture LEFT. After numerous trips I had come to the conclusion the system was all 'BS - total lies everywhere'. Religion was truly the opiate of the people, the 'work day rat race' was bs, everything was bs, except Dylan and getting high.

In my art classes there were a bunch of slacker dopers like myself and some truly strange ones even to me. There was this girl, she sorta gave me the creeps but I was sort of fascinated at the same time. Her art was really good and she would whip it out in seconds, it was kinda creepy and amazing at the same time. She was sorta like the Ally Sheedy character in The Breakfast Club, but darker. I don't know but somehow I was placed at a table next to her.

Anyway one day she just out of the blue tells me "I am a witch!" Mentally I'm thinking, Yeah right! what ever trips your trigger!

Verbally I said something like, "Hmm, I'll be!"

There apparently was a number of girls involved in witchcraft and this was in 1973 and '74. I lived about 30 miles NE of Madison and Madison was inundated with witchcraft and drugs. They called Madison "Berkley East" or Mad Town and it lived up to the name!

Even the mayor was a doper!

This so called witch started crossing my path at different times and it was creeping me out...and I got into the drug scene deeper and deeper. I thought it strange that she would tell me in class, "Don't become a Jesus freak!"

I'm like thinking of all things, Why not a Jesus freak?

But don't worry. I have by this time become a pothead, tripper... not good in any way or form. I had gotten in much trouble at home, been caught with dope numerous times.

My Dad, from the old school, knocked my block off a few times: I really didn't like him. I stole his car once and crashed it; should have been killed, but just had a few bruises.

The wrecker driver asked me, "Is Bob Knoll was your old man?"

I said, "Yeah why?"

He says "I hope he's mellowed out since I knew him for your sake." He hadn't and . . . Well the thought crossed my mind to take off and not look back. The cops took me home and my folks were awakened at 3 am, I was pathetic to say the least. There are a lot of things . . . It's now late '74 I barely graduated High School, got canned from a number of jobs, still a staunch rebel, no real prospects for the future except doping and serving my own selfish interest.

I read all kinds of books about all kinds of ways "but heaven was 10 dollars a bag and god was still spelled "me". My buddy Gary was moving off to join a commune out in the southwestern hills of WI. I was bummed.

Started smoking pot at home in the basement; one morning around 3 a.m. Dad was on his way to work and obviously smelled the dope, handed me 20 dollars told me to "Get the F out" and "never wanted to see my face again."

Looking back can't blame him a bit. We have since grown relatively close.

I had an aunt that offered me some money to go to college and since all my other prospect were nil I took it. Enrolled in the system and chose a college in the southwestern hills of WI. Majored in art, minored in philosophy.

While I as at UW Platteville it was a wasteland. I tried to be a student but the drugs had a big grip on my being. I spent most of my time high, and reading Carlos Casteneda books on the Yaqui Indian Way of Knowledge, endeavored to dance with mescalito. Took my classes high or tripping.

I remember quite clearly one afternoon a girl knocked on my door and invited me to a open bible fellowship or something . . . I spouted off some far out nebulous bs and it didn't seem to discourage her in the least, in fact after constraining and being turned down 3 times at least, she finally left. I remember thinking, That person was different, in a good way.

It was February or March and I get a letter from my friend Gary from the commune in Mt Horeb. And I thought, How did he know my address, how did he know I was in Platteville?

Anyway, the letter was quite infectious, going on and on about how he found the answers we were looking for but were sure couldn't be found. 4 or 5 pages of positive upbeat wording, he closed with "You gotta get up here as soon as possible, it's gonna blow your mind!!!"

Frankly I couldn't think of much else! I think it was a Thursday and Friday I was hitching a ride to Mount Horeb. It was probably 2 pm when I got there. The trucker dropped me off on the main hwy. and I had to walk the mile or so down a country road to find this place. Fortunately I saw Gary walking toward me in the distance with Noah, his son on his shoulders.

We no sooner got over our initial greetings when Roger comes around the corner in a old red IH pick up hollering, "Hop in dude! And light up the CHIEF" as he tosses 'the chief,' a hollowed out pine tree branch home made pipe that held a 1/2 oz of pot. I commenced to light it and passed it to Gary and he put up his hand and shook his head!

...whoa this is not cool, I thought to myself, my best buddy passing on the reef?! What is this all about??

So as Roger gives me the nickel tour of the commune property Gary is uncharacteristically quiet. Anyway he says to Roger, "Drop us up on the ridge, I want to show Dan the scenery and we'll walk back."

It seem as though Roger and I smoked a ton of weed & I wasn't high at all but rather somber. After Roger left Gary sat on a log and point blank asked me, "What do you think about God?"

After an awkward silence I spouted off something like, "Well I am sure there is some sort of creative universalism out there but I haven't met him." As we walked back toward the living quarters he spoke of a life more abundant, and that there is a way of truth, and one can have true peace without drugs, and "There's this fellowship in Madison that I would like you to go with Polly and I and Noah. Would you come?"

Well I guess so. We made it back to the house. I don't remember exactly how many actually lived on the commune as people commonly drifted in and out quite a bit but there was Roger who was a Viet nam vet and Gary and Polly, a few single folks I didn't know at all, And this couple who were committed satanists of which I was oblivious to, until we got back and I went with Gary to his and Polly's room.

The rest of the night they both witnessed to me quite aggressively, and told me how their lives had become a living hell battling daily with the witch and warlock. They would wake up with evil scrawled all over their door, one night Polly said she awoke with a loud noise hitting the bedroom door and after a few moments Gary went to investigate and they found a butcher knife stuck through a picture of Jesus with the Words LIAR written in what looked like red paint or blood. I was stressed yet not afraid; I don't know if I was oblivious or whatever - my head was spinning from all the Word they shared with me.

Morning came early and I really didn't want to be around Ken & Katy after what Gary and Polly told me.

I am really pretty fogged up mentally, and Gary is excited to take me to this Bible fellowship?? And I am sorta not too excited, yet I am thinking there must be something special for Gary to be this excited. So we all pile in the van and head to Madison. The meeting was in a downtown complex of efficiency apts. and we make our way in and I noticed what seemed to be a genuine love as greetings were made.

I would say that there were 8-10 people crammed into the small apartment. All of the folks there were young people early 20's at the oldest. I sat on the carpet with another long hair, I couldn't help noticing everything was clean and simple in the apartment. The fellowship leader's name was Perry.

It was a relatively uneventful meeting, I thought. They opened with prayer, started singing old gospel songs a cappella...kinda square I thought. Then they prayed again, and out of courtesy I had my eyes closed. Then Perry said some one speak in tongues and interpret! And a young lady stood up boldly and spoke in tongues out loud and interpreted. And in a split second my eyeballs went from closed to being as big a saucers I am sure!! I immediately thought, These people are Angels, man! Whoa! I can honestly say that I went from a hung over foggy state of mind, to thoughts racing through my brain.

I vaguely remember an account in the Bible about "tongues like as fire" descending upon the 12 apostles YEARS ago - what?! Does this mean . . . ? I really don't remember what Perry taught on.

And I was a bit out of sorts to say the least, what I did notice as I watched these young Christians was a sort glow, a gentle calmness that is hard to put into words. I understood a little what Gary was talking about. After it was over everyone sat round and visited; Perry he asked me small talk type questions. He told me he was from Rochester, N.Y.; and Billy was from Port Arthur, TX; Bonnie was from Wichita, KS; And Cindy was from Bloomington, IN., and that they were in Madison for a year sharing God's Word and running Bible classes.

Gary says that he and Polly are "gonna take their class", and I'm excited too but gotta go back to school! And as I am kinda cooling off, ready to go, and as I started out Cindy can up to me and gave me a hug and in the most genuine honest way said, "God Bless you! I am so glad you came."

I didn't know it then, but the love of God she manifested at that time is what melted my stone cold heart. There was something different there; it wasn't phoney religious hypocrisy.

I was a basic loser, kinda shaggy, pretty messed up, a dope head, a freak, and yet somehow I knew she meant what she said. We drove back to Mt. Horeb and Gary & Polly spoke a lot of Word to me on the way. Gary shared Romans 10:9-10 with me, and John 10:10. He told me how he met these guys Billy and Perry, how they witnessed to him: he was sick with bronchitis for 2 months and they kept telling him how Christ came so we could have life, more abundantly.

He told me how he decided to go to a fellowship, which just so happened to be a communion service and he shared the bread and the wine and his bronchitis was healed immediately, and that he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior that night! He couldn't wait to get back and tell Polly, cause she really didn't want any part of it. But she saw the change in his demeanor; he was healed and she knew there must be Power in the name of Jesus Christ so she accepted Christ that night too!

And then all hell broke loose in their living arrangements. I was getting excited about God, his Word and our Lord Jesus Christ. I really didn't want the moment to end but I had to go back to Platteville. After heartfelt goodbye they dropped me on the highway and I started to hitch back to school. I had a lot of things racing through my mind, I'm gonna clean up my act, quit the dope: heck if Gary can do it I can do it! They told me to look for a fellowship in Platteville. Perry or Billy gave me a Bible, and I told myself I am gonna start reading it.

... Man it's taking a long time to get a ride. A blue Datsun stopped and a red headed dude said he's "going to Dubuque, so hop in". We make the basic small talk and after 20 or so minutes the dude says "there's some pot in the glove, roll us up one" . . . aw man! I really don't want to get high. So I said, "Man I not into getting high right now", and this cat just grins a weird sly grin and says, "Oh sure you are, don't be a leaker; come on roll us up a doobie man."

Well at the time I didn't know it but this was a classic display of John 10:10a The thief cometh not...but to Steal...the Word from you, to kill you if he can, and to destroy you... If we die before accepting Christ we don't have everlasting life and hence we are destroyed. Needless to say I rolled the doobie, smoked it with the dude but I didn't get high and I was again amazed God was calling me - wow I better listen! He dropped me outside Platteville and I had a lot of thinking to do . . .

I knew somewhere in that time frame that I was a child of God, after many years I have found that being a Christian is a way of life.
The things I shared above were just the beginning; Part One of my testimony.

It was a blessing to go back into the recesses of my memory and recall. The truth is . . . every week, month and year adds more to the story. I was to find out that the ride was just starting and what lay ahead was just gonna get wilder. Testimony and witness are the same word (in the Greek) and every day we add to our testimony and our witness.

The events above were 36 or more years ago. And through that time I have rose up . . . and fell down. I sometimes wonder how much have I really learned in that time?

One thing I know for sure is every day, every moment... we have to chose to live for God Who loves us as His dear children. He understands us, He knows our frame, know that we are dust. I love God now more than I did yesterday, I need to love others more too.

This concludes Part One of Dan Knoll's testimony; Part Two is also now posted as of 11/19/11!

GOD Has Thrown in the Towel!

2011-10-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

Strange title for this entry, eh?

Some of you might remind me that God wouldn't "throw in the towel", He wouldn't quit, or relent or give up - He can't grow weary because it says so in His Word:

Isaiah 40:28

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

Others might see a contradiction between this verse, and the creation account described in Genesis and later commented on in Exodus 20:

Exodus 20:11

For 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.

Incidentally, this is a great proof text to show (from vs. 10 to 11) that the six days of creation are a literal six days as vs. 11 is comparative to vs. 10!

Yet when God "rested" it wasn't demonstrating weariness, but simply having completed a task, He stopped working. I can go about the task of dusting furniture and when I'm done, I can immediately go and lift weights. I've "rested" from dusting, but not weary at all.

No, what I'm referring to is something altogether different.

Let's turn back the clock of time to about 33 A.D. in Jerusalem and visit the dwelling that's come to be known as the Upper Room (a place I've visited twice now when I traveled to Israel).

It's the Passover: the LORD Jesus Christ had made arrangements previously to celebrate the Passover with His disciples here, which many believe was the residence of John Mark's parents (Mark, who became a believer, was the amanuenses for Peter in writing his gospel account; hence the Gospel of 'Mark'; and was the nephew of Barnabas who accompanied his uncle 'Barney' and Paul the apostle on a missions trip).

This was a blessed event, and one I'm sure that every believer would have loved to partake of, with our LORD actually present with us - but this is no vain wish you know! There is coming a day when we will partake of this Supper, with our Resurrected LORD in the Kingdom! See Matthew 26: 29

Blessing was mixed with burden however on that night, because the LORD disclosed to His followers that "one of [them] with betray [Him]" Matthew 26: 20 - 25 states: "and they were extremely sorrowful and asked 'LORD, is it I?'." Eleven of them asked Him that question, but a twelfth said something similar:

"Master, is it I?" Note, this disciple didn't call Him "LORD" but "Master" that is, 'teacher'. This was Judas Iscariot, the self-serving disciple! Interesting!

Then something else happened:

Luke 22:24 And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

Could you imagine being a fly on the wall in there? Seeing these apostles bickering among themselves?

"James and I are going to be the greatest! After all, we're the sons of thunder! And we were on the Mount of Transfiguration when the LORD allowed us a special revelation!"

"Don't you two forget, that I was there too," exclaimed Peter. "And I might add, who of you have ever walked on water?!"

"Typical boast from a big brother!" retorted Andrew, but which one of you is always leading people to Jesus, hmm? That should tell you something!"

I can hear a crescendo of cacophony as tempers flared and heated words became hotter, and in the midst of this tumult, a lone figure arises and quietly goes about a needed task. He pours water into a basin, then girds a towel around His waist. Slowly, so as to not spill the basin filled to the rim with water, He makes His way to the first of His disciples.

While on the way, one of them notices, and falls silent and stares. Another sees the disciple staring and turns himself to see what he was looking at. He too falls silent in shock.

The basin is set at the foot of the recliner (people ate at the tables while reclining on couches in those days; chairs were an invention of previous times, but in the Middle Eastern culture of those days, this was the preferred method) of the first disciple and suddenly the room was hushed until all you could hear was the sloshing of water as the towel was dipped, and the LORD Jesus began to wash the disciples dirty feet.

You see, it was typically the job of a hired servant (and then, the lowest of these) to greet guests at the door and offer them the customary foot washing, as people in those days wore sandals and walked miles of dusty, unpaved roads. I can just picture the disciples as they first entered this place, noticing that there was no basin of water ready, and no servant . . . can you just see them staring at each other with disdain, each knowing what the other was thinking?

'There is no way, I'm going to wash your feet! Don't you know who I am? I'm the greatest in our LORD's kingdom, that's who!"

And yet there they were, reclining, bickering and insisting on the greater virtues of themselves as being worthy of the greater honor in the kingdom - still and silent however, were those men as the LORD quietly, humbly and willingly washed one man's feet after another, and another.

Note that not one of them interrupted the LORD and said, "Please, let me do that!" Peter came closest in refusing to have the LORD wash his feet (John 13: 8). Yet the LORD insisted, saying that if He didn't, then Peter would have "no part with Me" and upon hearing that, Peter said, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." I have to smile when I read these words of such love and devotion.

The LORD in response said that " . . . He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit . . ." (vs. 10). We are washed judiciously from our sins by the blood of the Lamb, but in consecration of daily washing from our daily walks with the LORD where our 'feet' can get dirty in a world of sin, there is the washing of the water of the WORD. Once so washed, we "have part" with the LORD in fellowship, but not until then (Eph. 5:26-27; 1 John 1:7-9)

Yet the LORD continued, uninterrupted until He finally completed His task, and then (from different Gospel accounts) said:

John 13:13-17

Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

And then from Luke's Gospel we have:

Luke 22:25-27

And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

As is so often the case, the 'rules' of the kingdom, or 'kingdom principles' as they are called, are Topsy turfy, upside down, and diametrically opposed to the 'rules of the world'. And this is to a point, that God's "(blessed) ways are not our (baneful) ways" Isaiah 55:8-9.

The values, the estimable virtues, those things highly esteemed in the kingdoms of this world (whose ruler, or 'god' is Satan) are power and the acquisition of more power for the purpose of subjugating others beneath those with a 'will to power' as Nietzsche would put it.
To lavish oneself with wealth, opulence, even decadence in a self-serving philosophy motivated by pride, arrogance and "sensual wisdom"; this is what Satan offered to the LORD when he promised to deliver "ALL these things . . . (note: not some, much or most!)" at the temptation in the wilderness (Matt. 4:8-9).

I believe this may well be the deal with the devil that the anti-Christ will agree to, once he comes into his own.

Yet the kingdom of God is far different in its values, virtues and those things highly esteemed by God!
The riches of His kingdom are far and above greater than anything that this world can offer, thus to "esteem the reproach of Christ [as] greater riches" (Heb. 11:26) and be rejected by this world as He was (and still is!) by adhering to one's allegiance and loyalty to God and His Holy Word.

Meekness, humility, gentleness, surrendering and sacrificing self as a servant of God to people for the LORD's sake and out of a mutual love for those people - these are the things that make for greatness in God's Kingdom!

Now, its the same Person that gave us the greatest example of 'servanthood' Who will also be adorned and adored in worship, as the greatest King! The very KING of Kings and LORD of Lords, Jesus Christ.

And the LORD is building a kingdom where, not merely its subjects, but the co-regent who will sit with Him on His throne, "seated in the heavenlies" - an overcoming bride that mirrors the character and servanthood of her Bridegroom.

Luke 14:11

For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased (Like Lucifer and all his followers); and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted (Like the LORD Jesus and all of His followers). See also Matt. 18:4; 1 Pet 5:6

James 4:6-10

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Those who are proud and resistant are not open to God's ways, but to the Frank SINatra method - they want to do it "MY way" and remember: all it took to turn a holy cherub into a devil was for him to say "MY will be done" rather than "THY will be done" (Isaiah 14:12-19. compare this with the admonition from James).

Those who are humble as a little child (Luke 18:16-17), who are willing to learn, to be led, teachable and obedient (who do not ascribe to themselves proud wisdom and lofty knowledge), these will be led into the Kingdom by those kingdom principles outlined in the Word, expressly described in the GOSPEL.

The Gospel's central message of course is the atonement for our sins by the LORD Jesus Himself, the very KING of Kings who clothed Himself with humility and died in the most shameful way possible: by bearing our sins upon His Holy Soul!

Matthew 20:26-28

But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (See also Phil. 2:5-11 the very opposite of Lucifer's pride and fall as recorded in Isaiah 14th chapter, cited above).

Such a ransom that was paid as we will never be able to conceive or fully understand! How our HOLY and PRECIOUS, GENTLE and GRACIOUS LORD suffered so terribly with our heinous sins laid upon Him!
This is the ULTIMATE in servanthood!!

Think of the LORD Jesus Christ and compare Him with the world leaders today: no comparison is there?

Yet when one considers Jesus Christ, there is no doubt that His holiness and virtue, His nobility and integrity, His truthfulness and sense of justice, and mercy and grace; His love and His peace and temperance, His patience and meekness; His possession of all knowledge and wisdom, His possession of all power, His possession of all good attributes causes any and all others to pale in utter absurdity as viable candidates for rightful ruling.

The LORD Himself stands apart as the singular candidate that is wholly and reverently worthy of rulership; and He desires to make us such as Himself.
And where does this sanctified training begin?

Perhaps right where the LORD Jesus threw in the towel in the Upper Room?
Will we pick up that towel and take up where our LORD (supposedly; He is still serving really!) left off?

Servanthood isn't a drag at all when you're doing it along side of JESUS (Mark 16:19-20)! By His Spirit, you will find yourself anointed, to some degree as He Himself was, as a servant of the LORD! This is a blessed place to be!
Here is a biblical portrait of the SERVANT of the LORD, JESUS:

Isaiah 61:1-2a ¶ (See also 42:1-8; 52:13-15)

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD . . .

And this same Servant is coming back as the Rightful Ruler Who will dispense justice, equity and execute such as these as the KING and JUDGE of the whole Earth!

Isaiah 61:2b-3
. . . and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Let's consider these truths as they've been put into song:

The SERVANT KING

Let's REMEMBER: OTHERS for THE LORD's SAKE, by HIS GRACE! And follow our LORD, the SERVANT KING!

Are You A CROSS cultural Christian?

2011-10-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

American College Heritage Dictionary defines culture as follows:

The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thoughts. These products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population.

A part of almost any culture you can think of is religion. It's no different here in America, where Christianity has been a significant contributor to the culture. In fact, Christianity itself has become so cultured and sophisticated and embellished that our pastors are now quite intellectual and open minded; the apparent need for modern apparatuses such as philosophy, psychology, sociology have been amply added to the church for the betterment of all concerned.

Our pews are plush, our crosses are polished, our congregations are dressed in their finest, perfumed and prim. Some of us are dressed like we are going 'clubbing' though, rather than to church!

Our messages are very 'today', concise and centered around how we can be made better: better parents, better children; better employees and employers; better neighbors, better friends, etc. They are peppered with anecdotal, positive words that tickle us and give us warm, cozy religious feelings. We learn how to have purpose, how to have our best life now, even how to see those in other religions as having their own corner on truth and spirituality.

Sometimes we even have joint services with them, or have their leaders speak from our pulpits and ours teaching in their own places of worship.

We have even come to see how there could very well be other legitimate paths to God and salvation!

Shame on us.

The church founded upon Jesus Christ, in that first and second century met in catacombs or desolate, dark buildings on the outskirts of villages, fully aware that if they were caught, it would cost them their lives. To be a Christian then meant suffering, blood and death in the physical world ...
Today's Christianity isn't about what it "will cost me" but "what can I get out of this?" Churches today are not about perilous meeting places, but plump and comfortable furnishings.

The early church confronted a fallen world with the truth, not fearing whether or not their words might offend those who would sneer at the idea that they were sinners. Today we are afraid to offend those in our own pews with the notion of our own sinfulness, of the need for repentance and living holy lives before God.
The early church was concerned about offending a Holy God; today we are concerned about offending the congregation that carries tithes into the collection plates.

Rather than polished crosses that Christians adorn on their sanctuary walls and altars or wear on necklaces or rings, Christians then wore crosses on their whip-torn backs - and those weren't smooth and polished but rough hewn, splintered and stained with blood from frequent use. They willingly suffered and died on those crosses.

We prefer to keep our crosses clean though, and feel uncomfortable talking about Jesus' blood that He shed on His cross - there are even some pastors that deny the cross and the blood shed there, claiming that this is a 'slaughter house religion of barbarism' about a "vengeful God Who has a blood lust (and no, I'm not making this up!)."

Whereas today, churches and their pastors think nothing of mixing the Gospel with the more enlightened knowledge of modern science, philosophy and liberal-minded reception of religious ecumenism, the early church thundered with bold declaration, denouncing the prodigious lies and deceptions of the false religious systems and philosophies that surrounded them.

Yes, we are far more cultured today in the church, more refined and conciliatory towards a society that doesn't like the cross, doesn't like the idea of self-denial, doesn't like the distinction between truth and lies, of being right or wrong; doesn't like this 'Jesus' that demands whole-hearted repentance and commitment to Him as LORD and Savior . . . so we make things more 'friendly' for these 'seekers' and hide these offensive truths away from view.

We could very well say that the culture of the world has become our own!
And the culture we experience in today's churches are very much about human thinking and human works (sit and watch some videos by today's popular emergent pastors and tell me if they aren't espousing their own thinking and rallying people to engage in humanly-inspired works of the green or social [justice] gospel kind!), rather than the Divine thinking of the Word, and Divine work as already accomplished at the Cross of Jesus Christ.

This is not however, the culture of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God! No, not in the least!

The culture that Jesus brought to His church was about spiritually transmitted (via the rebirth into Christ Jesus) behavior by the Holy Spirit - not a society. Behavior that looked to God as the highest priority; behavior that sought to please Him above self, behavior that led to dying and denying self, not greedily gathering up resources to better one self! Behavior that was consumed in love and obedience to God!

The art in the culture that Jesus brought to His church is of His artistry and the artwork He is engaged in is . . . you! Did you know that as a genuine child of God, you are a work of art in God's eyes? Beautiful and attractive in the finished product that He knows you will one day be in Him (Eph. 2:10 "workmanship" in the Greek is poema, which is where we get the word 'poem' from)?

The beliefs of Jesus' culture were all about the Word of God; He didn't use any philosophy or psychology, or even 'theology' in His ministry - Just the Word of God. He didn't take courses in 'seeker friendly' methods of growing congregations fast and bring popular and positive messages that made His hearers feel good about themselves. He never voiced His 'opinion' in ministry; everything He ever said was Truth.

The institution that Jesus Christ established was a singular institution and it wasn't a cemetery - uh, excuse me, I meant seminary (well, same thing these days, for the most part!). What He established was the church and He endowed the church with such power from the Holy Spirit that not even the gates of hell would be able to withstand our charge.

Oh, but that's right! Our modern churches have too much sense than to believe in a literal hell. How unsophisticated and barbaric that would be!

As Sure As Hell

It was the body of Christ that ministered the Word of God, and prayer, and the LORD's supper and fellowship - and that was enough (Acts 2:42, 47)!

There were no church programs, no youth groups, no Sunday Schools, no A/C, no Power Point presentations, no church membership cards, no 20 member praise bands, no Gramma Biker Bible Study groups or other specialized groups that tailored to the tastes of seekers who were hungry for more than just the Word of God. How uncouth and unprofessional of that ignorant early church!

All they had was the Word of God and the Holy Spirit - that poor, deprived pitiful band of believers . . . yet they turned the world upside down, and didn't employ a single modern-day method to do it with!

What do you think? Do we need to return to the culture that the LORD Jesus Christ intended for His church? What was that culture all about?

The Cross.

Are you a Cross-cultural Christian?
And what is that, you might ask?
Well, we covered some of it already, didn't we?

The Cross of Jesus Christ and what this represents is the pivotal point in the life of every soul that comes to Christ for salvation. It is the point where we die to our old life and start anew by the Spirit of God, and find that we belong to God Who bought us with His own blood (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:2, 11; Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:19-20)!

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

The KING of Heaven, the HOLY GOD Incarnate didn't come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45) on that Cross and by shedding His righteous blood, bought and brought salvation to us all.

The Highest and Holiest KING anywhere in or out of the universe took upon Himself the form of a servant, and didn't merely bear our sins, but became sin for us Who knew no sin, that the righteousness of God would be ours! (Phil. 2: 7-8; 2 Cor. 5:21). He was obedient to the end of His Holy life and died for our sins.

This is the sort of "cross culture" He wants for and from His church, and the behavior, belief, institution and product that the LORD desires in and from us! A culture of love: love for our Father GOD, our fellow saints and the fallen sinners but with no love whatever for this rebel planet and the governing forces of evil that enslaves it.

Where we will no longer be concerned about self, but DELIVERED from self and all its bondage's and freely, willingly, cheerfully and lovingly devout ourselves in service to the LORD - even if it kills us! And if the cross has its way with us, it will!!

Rom 6:6-7, 11-13 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Other passages (this list is not comprehensive, but a sampling) that describe the kind of culture that the LORD desires for us, His church that has encountered the cross as sinners, endured it as those who have died, and walked from the cross as those risen from the dead to new life in Christ, not self:

Matthew Chapter Five

Romans Chapter Eight

1 Corinthians Chapter Thirteen

Galations Chapter Five

Ephesians Chapter Five

In the following video presentations by Gayle Erwin* and his teaching of The JESUS Style, we can see all the more clearly the culture of the Cross and LIFE in JESUS!

*Take note that this author doesn't necessarily agree with some of the statements and endorsements made by Mr. Erwin elsewhere; that being said, I can whole heartedly endorse these and other videos by him, as well as his books, and encourage everyone to watch and learn of JESUS, He Who is meek and lowly and from Whom we will find rest unto our souls!

The Nature of Jesus - Part 1 of 4

The Nature of Jesus - Part 4 of 4

If you would be interested in viewing these presentations in their completion, you can order the materials from Gayle Erwin's ministry:

http://servant.org/

or watch them online here:
Gayle Erwin's Teachings

Let's study closely the life that the LORD lived as our example and by His Spirit that dwells within us, walk in this way, and be truly CROSS Cultural Christians!

The JOSIAH MANDATE

2011-09-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

2 Kings 21:19a, 20 Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign . . . And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did.

So the sad, sordid history of Israel, and Judah continued. Ever since the days of Solomon, when he married foreign wives and had many concubines from among the pagan nations that surrounded Israel and the king paid homage to their gods, things seemed to go from bad to worse.

Solomon's son Rehoboam exacted such oppression upon his people, that they rose up and the kingdom was divided in half - the northern kingdom and house of Israel, and the southern kingdom and house of Judah.

Jeroboam established worship in Bethel where YHWH was given homage . . . along with the gods of the pagans. Another temple and altar were erected there as Jeroboam feared that if he let his people go to Jerusalem to worship, he would lose them to Judah and his power would be diminished.

The paganism of Israel grew more horrendous until they even excelled in their debaucheries over the nations whose gods these were! Judah eventually followed suit, as we have seen here.
To get an idea of one of these pagan false gods, Molech, go to this link where you may choose from various articles on the subject: god of the Ammonites

Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah, who himself was a brief glimmer of righteous hope for the house of Judah, but when he expired, so did that hope, and Manasseh reigned in his stead:

2 Kings 21:2 - 6 And he did that which was evil . . .

For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove . . . and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.

And Amon followed in his father's footsteps. Yet the son of Amon, Josiah began to reign when his father became the victim of conspiracy among his subjects, who slew him when his son was only eight years old. While declared king at that tender age, Josiah didn't officially take his charge until he was eighteen (2 Kings 21: 23 - 22: 1 - 3).

Here was a king unlike any other since the days of his father David, who was said to be a man after God's own heart!

2 Kings 22: 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

The LORD Jesus Christ gave His disciples warning concerning the Last Days "Take heed that no one deceive you . . ." The Greek word for "deceive" used is planeo, meaning "to seduce, to wander away, be led astray, led into error, etc."

The same kind of apostasy that will (and does!) characterize the church in these last days was around in the days of Israel's own apostasy, but Josiah didn't turn to the right or the left: he walked in the integrity of David his father.

Yet there was much damage done in Israel:

The Temple was in disrepair and darkness; what once was a building filled with the glory and worship of God was forsaken, unless prostituted occasionally when the idol priests of apostate Israel felt like worshipping the pagan gods whose altars they erected in the Holy Place, inside the 'Nous' or the Temple proper that consisted of two rooms:

The first being twice as large as the second: the Holy Place had the menorah (lampstand of seven branches), the table of shewbread, and the altar of incense that stood directly in front of the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant was kept.

I can picture these being covered over with dust and spider webs for their abhorrent neglect by the people of God. Can you hear the heart cry, the anguish and pain of the LORD's heart for being forsaken by His people?

Much later in Israel's history, the LORD pleads with His people, in the days of Micah the Prophet, and I can hear His anguish in these words as well:

Micah 6:2-3
Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.

O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

After leading Israel out of Egypt in glorious deliverance, and leading her through the wilderness and finally into the Promised Land where He showed Himself valiant on behalf of those whose hearts were wholly His, like Joshua and Caleb, and defeated her enemies in Canaan.

In time He raised up David to reign over His people, and the worship of God was glorious and beautiful in the Tabernacle that Moses had built in accordance with the holy visions God showed him at Sinai.

And yet for all that - the Temple stood silent . . . and dark in the days when Josiah first became King. It came to pass however the the mandate went forth from the King to visit the Temple and to begin repairs:

2 Kings 22:4-5

Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people:

And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,

Carpenters, builders and masons busied themselves about the prodigious work and they were so zealous and fervent in their desire to see the Temple restored, that there was no need to account for all the silver that Josiah collected to pay for the project as these workers "dealt faithfully".

Hilkiah was the high priest in those days, and while the work was in progress, he wandered about the Temple and "found" the scrolls of Scripture, "the book of the Law". How faithless the priesthood had been during the days of Manasseh and Amon that it wasn't until the time of Josiah's reign that the high priest himself only then "found" the Word of the LORD, left abandoned in some alcove in the forsaken Temple. Of course, had he kept it safely in his own home, it might have imperiled him before the vile kings of Judah.

Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan the scribe, who read it; then he brought it before Josiah and read it again. When the King heard the book of the Law read, what did he do? Did he rise up and dance with joy because he had heard the Word of the LORD? Did he soberly and sagely nod his regal head with religious affinity? Did he even cry out "Omein" with solemn conviction? No . . .

2 Kings 22:11

And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.

Of course this practice of rending one's clothes was a Jewish expression of profound, deep-felt grief and anguish. I believe here Josiah demonstrates a heart after God's own, as his father David had. The King was as grieved and torn over the deplorable rebellion and forlorn spiritual condition of the nation as was the true KING of Israel. The command of the King was immediate:

2 Kings 22:13

Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

It could very well be that what was read to Josiah was from Deuteronomy chapter 28 where the LORD God lists both the blessings and the curses that He would bring upon Israel if they served faithfully, or proved faithless respectively.

Perhaps Shaphan also read from Deut. 29:16-29 and upon hearing these words, and understanding how utterly guilty the nation was of the very things that God had spoken of, that this spurred Josiah on to seek the will of the LORD, and find a prophet to enquire from.

2 Kings 22:14a

¶ So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess . . .

The Word of the LORD was woeful, for He declared that He would perform precisely as He had spoken in the Scriptures, but even in pronouncing the certainty of these judgments, the LORD spoke specifically concerning Josiah:

2 Kings 22:19-20

Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.

Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

This is only one thing that I love about the LORD - that He knows those that are His and He likewise knows how to keep those who will be faithful to Him safe from judgment while delivering the unrepentant to judgement (2 Peter 2:9-10, 13-19).

Josiah could have been content with the knowledge that though God's wrath and judgment would fall upon these faithless people, he would not see it; he would be gathered together at the end of his days in peace and not witness the horror that was to come by the LORD's hand.
Yet he wasn't content with that at all: he felt compelled to gather the people together and declare the Word of the LORD (2 Kings 23:2)!

2 Kings 23:3

¶ And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

Josiah then cleansed the Temple of all things that offended: all the furnishings used in the worship of Baal and the groves (high ground that was used in pagan worship with obscene carvings made of stone and wood) and of all the host of heaven (the worship of false gods that were actually fallen angels) and he had them all burned OUTSIDE of the city of Jerusalem, not even wanting the smoke of their burning to pollute the air of God's Holy City! The ashes were then disposed of in far away Bethel!

He dispossessed the priests of false worship and the other grove idols and likewise burned them at the brook Kidron, ground the remains and scattered the ashes over the GRAVES of the children of the people!

He then destroyed the houses of the sodomites (homosexuals) that were erected next to the very House of the LORD, and he destroyed all the high hills and places of idolatry before the very priests that offered sacrifices in them, rather than in the House of the LORD (it seems almost as if Josiah was 'rubbing their noses in it'!).

Essentially Josiah 'cleaned house' and went as far as Bethel and Topheth in the valley of Hinnom; he tore apart the very house dedicated to Ashtoreth which King Solomon had built, and the house of Chemosh, another abomination.

In the midst of all this demolition of devilish constructs, Josiah pauses when he sees a sepulchre and asks about it; his men answer him saying that it was the grave of a prophet which proclaimed that such should be done to these things; the very deeds Josiah was about. The King declared:

2 Kings 23:18

. . . Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.

Josiah then got radical about the cleansing of the land, showing no mercy or hesitation, but was adamant of wiping out everything and anything that would offend the LORD his God!

2 Kings 23:20
And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.

Once he returned to the "City of Peace" he commanded the people:

2 Kings 23:21
. . . saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.

He also disposed of all the wizards and workers of familiar spirits (necromancers), idols and abominations from all of Judah and Jerusalem.

2 Kings 23:25

And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

Nevertheless . . .

2 Kings 23:26

¶ Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.

What can we learn from all of this? Look at the church today, and notice how it's as dilapidated and dark and ruined as the Temple was in Josiah's day. Just as Jerusalem was overrun with idolatry, and pagan practices and worship of those gods that the Gentile nations served so we see the church overrun with idolatry and worldliness.

Israel was intended to be a Light to the nations, but failed in that commission; the church likewise is to be the Light of the world, and the salt of the earth, but has likewise failed in this day.

After Josiah's death, Judah returned to her debauchery and obscene pagan practices, but the LORD was careful to notice Josiah's heart towards Him and didn't cast his lot along with the rest of the preponderance of Judah's pagan-loving princes.

The House of Israel was judged by God when the Assyrians came and took them all captive. Later on the House of Judah likewise suffered the judgment of God when He raised up Babylon and used that pagan nation to wage war against His city and took them all captive; as well as this, the Temple (upon the third siege of Nebuchadnessar) was leveled, and its holy instruments taken back to Babylon.

The professing church (not the possessing church of true righteousness) of the LORD Jesus Christ has become a harlot, and will find herself thrown into great tribulation (Rev. 2:21-24).

Even in the church of Laodicea which was so deplorable that the LORD turned from it and addressed the individuals within the church, that as many as would answer the door upon which the LORD is knocking and receive Him, He would graciously enter in and sup with them (Rev. 3: 19-21)!

I believe that though the church collectively has fallen into apostasy, the LORD is still willing to deal with those with a heart of Josiah. Though no Kings before him had followed after the LORD, nor any Kings after him, this did not deter him from serving the LORD whole heartedly. He didn't allow the apostasy of his day to discourage and demoralize him! He grieved over the spiritual condition of Judah, and he sought to walk righteously before the LORD, cleansing the Temple, destroying idols, slaying false priests and clearing the land of wickedness.

We who are the Temple of the Holy Spirit must likewise decide whether we will 'go along with the [apostate] crowd' and fall into a demoralized stupor of apathy and compromise; or stand solid and unmoving "not turning to the left or the right" and cleanse the Temple of filthiness. The things that we entertain in our hearts and before our eyes: what we watch, what we read, what we listen to, it must all be taken out of the Temple and burned away by the fire of God's Holy breath (2 Cor. 7:1; Psalm 101:3; Deut. 4:24)!

The idols must be destroyed: anything that represents a priority above and beyond our love and commitment to the LORD God must be burned, ground to dust, and disposed of far from our lives. (Deut. 6:5; Psalm 86:11)

The false priests (and their worship) must be slain: we must be crucified with Christ, dying to ourselves, putting the flesh to death, being radical about it, showing no mercy or hesitation (Gal. 2:20; Matt. 5:29; Romans 6:1-6).

I believe that even now judgment is falling upon the genuine church of Jesus Christ, not a judgment of condemnation, but one of chastening because He loves us (Rev. 3: 19) and desires that we should walk in holiness and purity, far apart from the example we see in this fallen world or the compromised church.

For those with the rending, grieving heart of a Josiah who mourned over sin, to those that will hear the mandate of Josiah to cleanse the temple, I believe the LORD will say:

2 Kings 22:19-20
Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.

Behold therefore, I will gather thee . . . and thou shalt be gathered . . . in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.

And finally let us hear the words of the prophet Hosea and Micah:

Hosea 10:12 ¶ Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

A Letter To Those Left Behind & Facing the Tribulation

2011-09-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

(Please note: This is intended for those who do not yet know Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior. If you know of any one among your loved ones that does not, you are welcome to forward this, or print it out and share! Time is short, let's invite as many as we can to the LAMB's Wedding Feast! God bless you!)

Dear Friends:

I am writing this letter to you today because the days being what they are, I feel it’s necessary to do so; time is very short and I wanted to give you the opportunity to consider the things I will discuss here.

What I will address here are topics and subjects that you may or may not, or perhaps don’t believe; your inclination may be to delete this letter altogether and disregard this gesture of mine.

I would earnestly ask that you not do so. In fact, if you are able to, please print this letter out and after reading it (whether you believe it or not), please file it away some where (file cabinet, in a seldom used book on a shelf, taped to the bottom of a table or chair, etc) so that when the time comes, you can easily retrieve it and re-read it. If in fact the things I will write about come to pass, you will understand that what I’m saying here is the truth, and it’s probably a foregone conclusion that you will want to have this information on hand.

Some of you have known me all of your lives, and those who’ve known me more recently have known me to be nothing but a Christian. I am one who not only believes the Bible, but one who endeavors to live out its truth daily and has devoted my very life to the LORD.

There are Christians around the world who at this very moment, as you read these words, are being murdered for their beliefs, and they are willing to be so, rather than to deny the LORD that has saved them from their sins, from eternal death and hell.

While I have not had any such experiences as these, I believe that by God’s grace I myself am willing to die for my faith, should that opportunity arise here in America (which it very well may).

However, if such a thing happens here or not, one thing I believe is certain: Jesus Christ is coming back, just as He promised that He would –

John 14:2-3
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

This is confirmed later in the book of Acts:

Acts 1:11
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Now I know what you may be thinking: “People have been predicting the coming of Jesus now for thousands of years! Every generation believed that THEY were the generation when the end of the world would come!”

Those who believed such things didn’t know their Bible very well, because the Scriptures themselves state that certain things MUST happen first before the Second Coming (or Advent) of Christ Jesus; Paul the Apostle states:

2 Thess 2:2-3
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (read the whole of chapter two here to get the context of what Paul is addressing)

The “Day of Christ” is what the Bible refers to as that event that starts off the time period known by various titles: the 70th week of Daniel, the time of Jacob’s Trouble; the day or time of sorrows and great Tribulation, etc. Paul is here saying that this Day CANNOT come EXCEPT there is a “falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition”

Two things: the falling away is what’s called the apostasy – it’s a time when those who believed the Bible and were Christians (supposedly so) fall away from this faith, and reject the Christ of the Bible, Jesus of Nazareth in exchange for a false (world-wide) religious system.

As many of you know, I do a lot of research in writing for the blogs I have created or participate in, and I can tell you that this is happening with alarming volume. Scores of so-called believers are forsaking the Bible – but not their church membership (!), because the Bible is no longer taught in their pulpits, or if it is, it’s in accord with New Age/Emergent Church teachings (time and space don’t allow explaining these movements, but sufficing it here to say, they are not at all biblical; if you would like to know about these go to www.thetruthunderfire.com and type "Emergent" in the search engine and this will produce articles for your review).

The “man of sin, the son of perdition” is what the Bible calls the Beast or “anti-Christ” – he is the one world leader prophesied in the Bible who will appear on the global scene and assume command of all governmental, political, economic and military forces. He will demand total allegiance, even worship at some point (when he stands in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem which is nearly ready today to be built!), of everyone living on this planet. He is diametrically opposed to Jesus Christ and represents all the power of Satan visibly on Earth. I believe the time of his unveiling is near.

Paul is stating that before the “Day of Christ” can come, these things must precede them, so the Second Coming of Christ could not have happened at any time in history because these things have not happened – the apostasy is of course a current event, and the world is looking for a strong, global leader to guide a one world government which, if you watch the news, is beginning to develop, as is a one world currency and a one world religion.

So what’s all this talk about Jesus coming again “soon and very soon”?

There is an event prophesied that, unlike the Second Coming requires NO previous events to occur; there are NO prophecies that MUST be fulfilled prior to this incredible, shocking, world-wide event to take place.

This is something called “the rapture of the church”. The word rapture doesn’t appear in the English Bible: the words “caught up” are used instead; in the Greek the word is harpazo and in the Latin its rapiere (this is what the word ‘rapture’ is based on). Essentially it’s an event when Christ Jesus returns “in the air” and calls His church – those who are born again, born of God’s Spirit and are members of the universal (world wide) body of Christ – to be with Him in heaven.

As astounding as it sounds, there will be millions the whole world over who will, without warning or preamble, suddenly disappear, leaving not a trace of their existence or any indication as to where they have gone. Again, the apostle Paul speaks of this matter in a couple of different places:

1 Thess 4:13-18
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (“asleep” here means those believers in Christ who have died), that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

In chapter Five of 1 Thessalonians Paul explains that this event, while the exact day is not known, will not take those Christians looking for their LORD by surprise (1 Thess. 5:1-11). The other passage where Paul addresses this can be found here:

1 Cor 15:51-54
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Here is a video for you to watch regarding the rapture of the church, and what you can expect to happen next, as well as what you can do to ensure your eternal fate:

Jesus Came! What Next?

I have discussed these matters in greater detail in an article I wrote on The TRUTH Under FIRE (please feel free to print this and all other web articles listed below as well):

24 Signs of the LORD's Return in Matthew Chapter 24

In that article I address a point that skeptics often bring up: “Signs of the last days are all about earthquakes, famines, pestilences (diseases) and wars? These things have been going on since the beginning of time! How are these signs of the end??”

It’s not so much the events themselves, but the manner of their appearing that indicates the last days era: the LORD Jesus stated that “All these things are the beginning of sorrows” in Matthew 24: 8, meaning “birth pangs”. Of course when a woman goes into labor it’s a series of contractions: they start out slow and with a somewhat lesser degree of pain, and then increase in frequency and intensity until finally, the child is born.

This is what the indication is regarding these events: that they all would increase in frequency and intensity and this is exactly what we are seeing in today’s world on a global scale regarding wars, earthquakes, disease and famine.

Something very prominent in the news today is this contention between the nation of Israel and the Palestinian people; it seems all the world desires to give the Palestinians a homeland of their own (on land currently occupied by Israel though!), with the exception of one nation – Israel herself. She refuses to give land unless there is a concession and an abiding by edicts and practices of peace, which the Muslims have not and will not agree to. Israel is becoming “a burdensome stone to all nations” just as prophesied in Scripture:

Zech 12:1-3
The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

And as we can see, all the people of the Earth are beginning to gather against Israel, some more so than others, but eventually this opposition to Israel and specifically the city of Jerusalem (ironically called “the city of peace”) will be a unified, global movement.

This is why I am writing to you today; I believe that the rapture of the church may well occur within months, or weeks, or even just days away. Of course it might not happen for another year or even five or ten years, but as I said, there are NO prophetic events that MUST transpire in order for the Rapture to happen; all of these signs that we have looked at here involve the Second Coming of Christ and the Tribulation period (seven years long) that happens prior to His Return, and since we see these things beginning to happen, we know that the church (which I believe will not be on this Earth during those seven years) will soon depart from this world – both the living and the dead (those “asleep”) in Christ Jesus.

For more about the rapture, you can read about this here (Note: This is A LOT of material in six parts):

The Rapture of the Church Explained

So if you should wake up some morning, or are about to call it a night and go to bed, and you see a News flash on television about an incredible event where people have suddenly, mysteriously disappeared – and later find out that this was no localized event, but something that happened world wide, in every nation: millions of people vanishing, and graves being emptied of many of their occupants, then know that the rapture of the church has in fact and in deed taken place; that you have entered into this horrific time period known as the 70th week of Daniel or the time of Jacob’s Trouble or the Tribulation of seven years.

You will have to pledge allegiance to the Beast, this one world leader who will appear to be awesome, incredibly intelligent, compassionate, and wise and look as virtuous and noble as Jesus Himself – but is an imposter and indeed the very son of Satan! If you do not swear allegiance to him by taking his number, 666 on your right hand or on your head, then you will be killed. It seems the choice of execution at that time will be by beheading (Revelation 20:4).

Yet even in this upcoming time of darkness, there is STILL HOPE! Any who will receive Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior will be saved; but this will cost you your life because the Beast will allow NO OTHER allegiances, but to himself, especially not to Jesus Christ of Nazareth and soon coming King of Israel and of the world! The Bible states that an innumerable multitude will stand one day in heaven, martyrs who refused the mark of the Beast (666) but died for their faith in Jesus Christ:

Rev 7:9, 13-14
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The Gospel message is simple and direct so that even a child can understand and know it; as a former teacher of Sunday School for 1st and 2nd grade students, I know this to be true.

Jesus Christ is God made flesh; He took on humanity and God became a man for the express purpose of delivering the Gospel message, to demonstrate the kind of life God would have us live, empowered by His Spirit, and to provide Himself a sacrifice for our sins.

1 Cor 15:3-4
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

2 Cor 5:21
For He [God the Father] hath made Him [God the Son] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Rom 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Titus 3:5-7
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Eph 2:8-9
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.

John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

By accepting by faith the finished work of Jesus Christ which He accomplished on the cross on your behalf and mine, placing your trust, your heart, your very life into His nail pierced hands, and committing your life to Him by repenting of your sins and freely receiving eternal life through He who is the LAMB of GOD, you will be born of God’s Spirit and become born again (anew) and become a child of God.

The choice is yours but again remember that time is running out. The rapture as far as we are concerned is a moving target: it could be today, it could be ten or twenty years from now. However, from God the Father’s perspective, the date is fixed and once it occurs there is no going back for those on Earth. There is no second chance to escape the time ahead. The time of escape is now if you would avoid this period of great tribulation, and even more importantly, escape the consequences of our sins – death and hell.

The LORD loves you! If He didn’t He would not have come, He would not have offered His life WILLINGLY on your behalf! He is still making this offer of salvation to you, and I pray that you will accept this offer.

If any of you would like to know exactly how it was that I came to be a Christian, please visit this site:

My Personal Testimony: Can I Get A Witness?

With all my love and earnest desire in prayer on your behalf,

James Fire

The 180 Film - 33 minutes to a total turn around on the abortion issue

2011-09-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

I'm posting a link to this incredible film '180' - a 33 minute documentary with Ray Comfort as he interviews people on the street about the history of Adolf Hitler, WW II, the Holocaust, and then relates the morals and ethical behavior and their implications to the issues with abortion.

This is hard hitting, irrefutable, astounding material that is having incredible results: people literally are changing their minds within a handful of minutes on the issue of abortion, favoring the life of the unborn!

I myself could have been a victim of abortion as I was born pre-maturely with a host of congenital defects, and at seven months of age, my mother began hemorrhaging and rushed to the hospital.

Doctors there in the delivery room were seriously considering aborting me in order to save my mother's life. I am ever grateful that the LORD was watching over the both of us that day, because we both survived...

And I am glad to be alive! How many of the over 50 million souls, whose infant bodies were aborted, would have like to say as much?

WATCH THIS FILM, PASS IT ON, GET INVOLVED!

www.180movie.com

Also check out this site for information on how you can support this ministry: http://www.heartchangers.com/ OR . . . if you find yourself or someone you love pregnant and need help! The LORD sees, the LORD knows, and He is willing to come to your aid in making the RIGHT DECISION!

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Psalms 71:6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art He that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of Thee.

Psalms 106:37-38 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

Psalms 139:13-14 For Thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

May the LORD bless you in saving life!

Reflections on 9 - 11 After 10 Years: Where Are We Headed?

2011-09-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Where were you when it happened? I was at work at the Tucson International Airport, getting ready to call it a night after working my shift. I was walking down the length of one of the concourses when I noticed a crowd of people huddled around one of the television sets in the restaraunt. They were so jam-packed together that I couldn't even see the TV.

"Probably watching the latest scores on some sporting event" I thought disinterestedly as I continued towards the ops area where I would clock out, grab my stuff and go home. I was carpooling that day with a co-worker who told me that there had been a plane crash in New York City. He was a Mexican gentleman and his English was a bit limited, so I didn't grasp the enormity of his words at all.

By the time I got home, put my lunch box and back pack away, grabbed a bowl of cereal and got online, there was already a squall of information storming across the Internet. I remember my jaw dropped open as I silently said to myself, "Whaaaat?!"
I bounded down the stairs and turned on the television in time to see a replay of the first plane striking one of the Twin Towers. It felt surreal, like I was watching a movie. Dumbly I just stared when they showed 'live' a second jetliner crashing into the other Tower.

America, and all the world watched this tragedy over and over again, hearing news anchors echoe the mantra of that day, "It's the worst tragedy since Pearl Harbor."

Three thousand souls lost their lives on that day. God knows those responsible for their murder. There is no such thing as eternal injustice - it won't ever exist outside of time; yet while here in this time/space continuum, we are witnesses to, and sometimes victims of terrible injustice.

Injustice comes about when truth is not rightly served (See The RED PILL Consortium article The Death of Truth and Justice), and there is a lot of deception and intrigue surrounding those events of 9 - 11. In any event, whether you believe that terrorists were the sole instigators of this heinous crime or that it was a domestic conspiracy, or perhaps some of both in an unholy alliance, that's the subject for an entirely different kind of article.

I remember that night, the pastor called for a special prayer meeting at the church which I and my friends readily attended. Somber faces, some tear streaked, all confounded and stunned assembled there in the sanctuary and poured out our hearts to the LORD.

The LORD put Matthew ch. 7 on my heart and I turned to that chapter then and there and read:

Matthew 7: 24-27 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

The Twin Towers also known as the World Trade Center, was all about global trade (although its real purpose and intent went far, far deeper than merely this!). Superficially, it was a symbol of American ingenuity, prosperity, economic might and a source of pride for many in this nation. Such affinity and allegiance to these powers became tainted, as will all things touched by pride.

America in her prosperity became haughty, arrogant, proud, and entirely confident in her own ability to steer her course, to decide for herself what is right and what is wrong, regardless of what God says, expand her empire, and bring more and more nations under her sway. America began to go the way of too many other nations that were formerly blessed of God: she began to "forget God" in various arenas in life - in education, in the media, in our home life and in society in general, even in churches! The fruit of which is rivers of blood from aborted unborn children, concessions made fluently to the homosexual agenda of their propaganda machine in media and schools, rampant sexual practices and their associated diseases, and on and on it goes . . .

Woe to such nations that forget God, that forget where their blessings and prosperity comes from; those nations that are no longer thankful to their Creator Who is also their Provider; who forget Who is LORD, and who is not!

Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

While America heard and obeyed God's Word, she was a house founded on a rock - THE ROCK, the LORD Jesus Christ (Matt. 16:18) and while shaken by various storms in this world - the storms of wars, economic trial, weather eruptions, etc. she remained firmly established on that Rock.

Yet, increasingly America swayed from the Truth of God's Word until she no longer recognized it when she saw it, and even began to believe it never truly existed to begin with! Once this started to happen, she began that satanically inspired slide off of the Rock, and onto the uncertain, unstable, unreliable foundation of sand - shifting sand that knows no definitive parameters, but only an amorphous environment that feeds doubts and skepticism towards anything of an absolute nature: like truth itself.

America, like any nation that rejects the grace of God in the Person of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, will inevitably face this same Person, but as their Righteous Judge - and America is already beginning to come under this Judgment as is readily discernable by any who know the Truth of the Word and is observant of daily life here in this fallen nation, and this rebel planet.

It occured to me as I read that passage in the church sanctuary, particularly vs. 26 & 27 that the WTC was about commerce and trade, none of which occurs today without the EFT, bar codes, etc. which itself is dependent upon computers to conduct such financial transactions.

Computers, composed of components made of silicon - basically heat glazed sand. America replaced the LORD GOD, the ROCK of our salvation with another god - the U.S. dollar upon which is printed "In God We Trust" but that begs the question, which god are we trusting in today?

We watched that 'House of Economic Power' collapse, and it became a symbol of another kind then - the symbol of the failing of the American god of wealth, prosperity and the dollar. The very god that Americans worshipped had failed them, and was unable to sustain them through this storm that has led us to so many others . . .

fighting two wars lasting about a decade now; more and more manufacturing jobs being relocated off our shores and onto those of foreign nations, further depleting our economic security and resulting in unemployment and underemployment rates that shows no letting up; bail outs that have worsened our financial and manufacturing institutions and corporations rather than help them; it has led the development of an entirely new branch of our Federal Government, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration where Americans like gray haired gramma's and freckled face young boys are scrutinized while people of the Islamic faith are handled with delicate care lest such Federal agencies be accused of profiling (this is not a criticism of the individual employees that have done their level best to secure our land in safety and ensure us in freedom from harm, but of those at the top who are the policy makers, who feel somehow obligated to be politically correct at the expense of the American people). And we are spoon fed the lie that "Islam is peace" while engaged in wars with some of these same, and watch as England, France, other European nations, and even places here in America like Dearborn, Michigan, sucuumb to the demands of these Muslims who are sworn to undermine America and demolish Israel.

Today the US dollar stands (but barely) and is on the brink of a total collapse as the world's Reserve Currency. The other currencies of the world aren't faring much better either! Its the assertion of some (and I am readily in accord with their conclusions) that the global bankers who are 'running the show' as it were, intend on dismantling the sovereignty of all nations by destroying their economies, and thereby giving them little choice but to accept a global currency, which these 'Goblins' themselves will manage, thereby assuming an enormous amount of power over the various nations across our globe and marching us relentlessly towards a one world government in which no American will be protected by their Constitutional rights (something of a unique and successful experiment for the majority of our 200 year plus history, but which itself is likewise being dismantled as our freedoms are frittered away by U.N. Treaty, but as yet is only represented by and large by paper and ink - s0 far!).

We have endured storms of all kinds, some of them at the furious power of nature herself - witness the awesome devestation of the earthquakes in Japan and elsewhere.

Other 'storms' of various kinds, in the way of global disasters have rocked our world and with seemingly no end in sight . . .

Interesting that in Matthew 24: 7, when it talks about "earthquakes in diverse places" the word for "earthquakes" in the Greek is seismos, obviously from which we get the study of earthquakes, seismology; but in the Greek it not only means the shaking of the earth, but it can also refer to "tempests" that is, meteorlogical storms, be they hurricanes, tornados, or other aerial phenomena. We have seen plenty of these as well.

Then there is a lot of talk about astronomical, heavenly bodies such as this Elenin which has the potentiality of either striking the Earth or remnants breaking off of it, hitting us, some of which would contain gases lethal to human existence. We will wait and see what happens, holding our breath somewhat... but only somewhat and unafraid because one way or another, we are going HOME! And if my ticket gets punched by a heavenly object falling on my head, so be it!

Needless to say, that these are uncertain times, perplexing times where we find ourselves in situations whose solutions are not readily apparent, if indeed there are any viable solutions. This is what the Bible indicates would happen in the last days . . .

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

The word for "perilous" here is chalepos, meaning, "reducing the strength; difficult, dangerous, furious, fierce; this word means 'hard to deal with'."

Sounds a lot like today doesn't it? And yet, getting back to Matthew 24, we know that these things are only going to get more intense and frequent (see vs. 8). This reminds me of the prophecy that Haggai made:

Haggai 2:6-7 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts (see also vs. 21; Isaiah 13:13; Joel 3:16).

If ever there was need for a stable and steadfast ROCK of SURE FOUNDATIONS, it's now, and this is what "desire of all nations" refers to: our beloved LORD Jesus Christ, Who is coming!

For those who will hear the Word of the LORD and obey Him, we are assured that though heaven and earth may pass away, His Word will never pass away, and neither will those who hear and obey it. They will stand securely on the ROCK and REFUGE, the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ!

Referring back to Psalm 9 . . .

Psalm 9:7 - 10 But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

Indeed, the LORD is a Refuge; and A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD for those who will trust in HIM! Let us therefore trust Him, and place no confidence in the 'help' of mere humanity:

Jeremiah 17: 5-6 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

And compare this with the next two verses:

Jeremiah 17: 7-8 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

So who do you trust? Life is uncertain, JESUS is not! He is the TRUTH and can be wholly relied upon, believed in, and loved and adored by any who will humbly come to Him with a repentant, surrendered, confessing heart that is willing to accept eternal life by His sacrifice on the cross for the sins of humanity, including yours and mine!

We don't know what our immediate future holds, but we know Who holds our eternal future in His nail-scarred hands! That eternal home is where I am headed, thanks to the grace of Almighty God - where are you headed?

A Study in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans – “On the Road of Righteousness” Introduction and Beginning in Ch. 1

2011-08-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is an ongoing, expositional study in the book of Romans; it represents the second such series as found on TTUF and its associate site FROM the MIND of FIRE and will be posted on both sites for both sets of readers (in case some subscribe to one and not the other).

After seeking the LORD about which book to study and post articles on, I came down to two choices, either Romans or Hebrews (both are among my very favorite), and after some consideration and reflection, I decided on Romans (yet with the intention of getting into Hebrews, LORD willing, later on down the line).

Romans holds a very special place in my heart as this is the book that the LORD used to bring me into the Kingdom of God via the revelation of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 4: 1-5 was the specific passage that the LORD used to ‘turn on the Light’ for me!).

The book of Romans is considered the best and most thorough treatment of Christian doctrine in the entire New Testament. It logically, accurately, and with absolute biblical authority explains (1) how all are sinners and unrighteous before a Holy God, (2) how we may obtain righteousness via justification by grace and faith in the LORD Jesus Christ and His work of atonement on the cross, (3) how as Christians we may grow in Christ and Christ-likeness via that second aspect of salvation, sanctification, (4) the distinction between the church founded upon Jesus Christ and the nation of Israel, whose covenant with God has not been abolished or transferred to the church but will be fulfilled upon the return of the Messiah of Israel to Earth, (5) the service to and glorification of God in the life of the Christian, and (6) the primary motivation of such: the love for Jesus our LORD and SAVIOR.

Key verses are as follows:

Rom 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Rom 5:1

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

To read this study (and all further articles) for this exposition on the book of Romans, links will be provided here that will bring you to the main site: The TRUTH Under FIRE - www.thetruthunderfire.com

A Study in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans – "On the Road of Righteousness"

GOD Bless you saints - - WAY TOO MUCH!!!

UPDATE - 9-12-11: (note: all further studies will be updated on this post; eventually the entire study on this epistle by Paul will be posted here for your edification)

Concluding Chapter One of the Book of Romans - On the Road of Righteousness

UPDATE: 10-1-11
A Study in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans – “On the Road of Righteousness” Chapter Two: Guilty as Charged.

UPDATE: 10-9-11
A Study in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans – “On the Road of Righteousness” Chapter Three: The Deeds of the Law vs. the Righteousness of God - Parts 1 & 2

UPDATE: 11-26-11
On the Road of Righteousness: Chapter Four

UPDATE 11-26-11
On the Road of Righteousness: Chapter Five

UPDATE 11-26-11
On the Road of Righteousness: Chapter Six

The Modus Operandi of Jesus Christ: Grace & Truth

2011-07-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

Law enforcement and detective agencies often talk about the modus operandi of a criminal - the usual methods and practices that the perpetrator uses that help them to identify and arrest him or her. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, it means "a method of operating or functioning, and, or a person's manner of working."

When I'm on the job, and upon entering any given area, I can usually identify (without seeing who's assigned to work that area) who the worker is by the level of cleanliness; what gets the attention of the worker and what doesn't. What some specialize and focus on, others might completely ignore; they may instead focus on something else as their 'speciality'.

One's modus operandi could be considered a sort of 'trademark signature' that makes them distinct from others.

I began thinking about the LORD Jesus Christ, and how He functions as the LORD of creation, the Judge and, or Redeemer of sinners; the Head of the Church and the Messiah of Israel; that is, His methods and practices in each of these roles. After considering this for a certain length of time I realized I had another article in the making, but I also realized that to exhaust all of the ideas and perspectives that involve the quaternary nature of the LORD Jesus, it would take a very long article, if not a substantial series on this subject. I wouldn't want to monopolize the time of all of you readers in doing such a thing!

So I decided to narrow the parameters a bit (but only a bit really) by examining the primary modes of operation of Jesus Christ, and that would include the two major aspects of His very Person: grace and truth.

Now, right there, with just those two aspects of grace and truth you have enough to fill multiple seminary libraries with the volumes that would elaborate on these two precious pillars of the LORD! I shall however attempt to be as succinct as possible (if that's even possible for me!).

The LORD Jesus dealt with everyone He ever encountered, as seen abundantly in the Gospel accounts, with the Truth. Not only did He always speak the truth (He is Himself the embodiment of Truth), He spoke it with love as the sublime and singular motivation. I could theoretically speak the truth to someone who wronged me and supply it with a good 'dig' that would wound them to my gratification - but such was never the case with Jesus Christ, not even when He was speaking to the "Pharisees, scribes and hypocrites" there in Matthew ch. 23. Give that chapter a read and understand that this is God, Love Incarnate saying those things; if I were to say them, I think my blood pressure would escalate remarkably! This is not to say that the LORD Jesus didn't get angry when He made these declarations; His modus operandi in the Temple, His Father's house is ample evidence that He did indeed get angry. Or how about when women brought their children to the LORD to receive blessings upon them, and they were shooed away by His disciples - Scripture says He was "much displeased" about that! We must not preclude the idea that love never gets angry; it's because of the love and care we have for others that we sometimes become angry when they do something that would cause themselves harm or trouble.

Its important to understand however that when the LORD became angry, it was never for Himself, but on behalf of others; in the two cases cited above, His anger was for His Father's sake, as well as for those children and their mothers. Too often I can have indignation, but it isn't righteous indignation; it's because I personally was offended at someone who committed an affront towards me, not others, or most especially not God Himself.

The church of Jesus Christ is witnessing in today's world, an alarming trend of apostasy, growing like a weed (tares even?) with extreme rapidity. Along with this there have been a number of discernment ministries cropping up to expose the lies, deceptions and the "falling away from the faith." The primary weapon, indeed, the only weapon is the Truth as revealed by God's Holy Word. The modus operandi of discernment ministries is in fact, the utilization of God's Word of Truth to expose the various falsehoods entwined in churches and para-church organizations.

Such discernment ministries must be critical when examining teachings and practices of pastors, teachers and other leaders within the church with as much objectivity as possible, using the Scriptures as the yard stick of measure.
Most of us have heard the admonition to be like the "Bereans" who received what Paul the apostle had to say with an open mind, but then didn't take his word for it, but rather searched the Scriptures for themselves to confirm the truth of what he taught (Acts 17:11).

If such ministries are to follow after the modus operandi of their LORD, then this utilization of the truth must be coupled together with grace.

There are some ministries that claim to provide the service of discernment to the body of Christ, but are unfortunately little more than gossip centers, or perhaps so overzealous in their mission that their view is myopic, and any teaching that they don't agree with has the ministry providing such teaching labeled as heretical, rather than simply espousing different views that can be supported biblically; some such discernment ministries seem to make it an imperative to prove themselves right, and everyone that disagrees with them, wrong. We must remember that even discernment ministries must be discerned and held as accountable as those that they treat with biblical examination.

Other discernment ministries go the other way: they emphasize the grace of God (f0r those that are in serious need of correction) but their hold on the truth seems lax; they claim biblical integrity, and may carry a reputation for such - for a while, but then slowly they become doctrinally eroded until finally they are befriending and associating with known heretics, New Agers, Emergent Leaders, etc. while ignoring their stand in opposition to the Bible which inevitably causes confusion and division among God's sheep.

And should we likewise be extending grace to heretics and apostates? In regards to their teachings, no - absolutely not! In keeping with objectivity, we must be clear that any teaching that is presented to the body of Christ requires examination with the Scriptures to either confirm or deny its veracity. This is not therefore an attack against teachers, per se, but against the teachings of the teachers. We cannot judge hearts and motives, but we can and must judge words, teachings, doctrine to determine if its good spiritual provender or not, and reject it if it's not.

I believe that those who are conversant with the full counsel of God (and ideally this should be EVERY Christian believer, but sadly in this day and age, it's not so at all!), and have attained some considerable level of spiritual maturity are not only obligated to challenge false teachings and their teachers, but are also liable if they don't!

We should however show a measure of grace towards those in error, or promoting error by our fervent prayers for their souls, and that they would be delivered from the snare that the enemy has entrapped them in. We should endeavor where ever possible to reach out to them even as our LORD would and beseech them towards uprightness of doctrine and good works.

Ultimately even the Brian McLarens and the Rob Bells and other such like, of our present world are victims of Satan and are "deceived and being deceived" (2 Tim. 3: 13; also note vs. 7-8). The religious leaders of the LORD Jesus' day were deceivers, and were themselves deceived - but He didn't refuse any of them who would invite Him over for dinner; however unlike too many today, He didn't allow their hospitality or politically correct popularity to curb His rebukes and His intolerance towards their misconduct and their "leaven" or bad doctrine.

Those of us who love God's Word have heard enough about "don't touch God's anointed," however, the One Whom God has anointed without measure, that is, the full measure of the Spirit without any limitations whatsoever is Himself the Anointed One (Christ):

John 3:34-35 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

Isaiah 61:1 ¶ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

The Anointed One Who is the Word Incarnate took the time to make sure that His Truth was recorded in the Word Inspired - the Scriptures themselves, and one specific reason (among many!) He did, was so that His disciples would be able to judge or discern true teachings from false, viewing them through the lens of God's Word (Heb. 4: 12-13; 5: 13-14).

So those who would warn others to "not touch God's (so-called) anointed" had better themselves beware because in teaching false doctrines and heresies, they are contradicting God's Word and are offending THE Anointed One!

The LORD Jesus commended the Ephesian church for their vigilance in guarding against false apostles and teachers and expressing zero tolerance towards them (Rev. 2: 1-3, 6), yet for all of this, and their labor and their patience, the LORD found fault with them in that they left their first love - the LORD Himself. The church at Ephesus was careful to heed the admonition and warning of Paul who told them that grievous wolves would enter in, not sparing the flock, and also those in their midst would rise up and draw some away with them in Acts 20: 29-31.

There was such an emphasis for truth, and guarding against false doctrine, that they had lost focus on the One for Whom should have held the place of their chiefest love - Jesus our LORD! The grace of God and the love of God are closely knit together. You could say that grace is the outward manifestation of the love dwelling in the deepest place of God's heart.

Let's turn now and look at a few scriptures and see how these two marvelous attributes of God relate to each other:

2 Cor 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Eph 6:23-24 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

1 Tim 1:12-14 ¶ And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

2 John 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Note that in this reference from 2 John there is a correlation between truth and love. In the Gospel of John we have "grace and truth" mentioned together:

John 1:14, 17 ¶ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

The grace of God is of course His "unmerited favor" expressed to the people of Earth. There is none of us worthy of any interaction with God whatsoever, other than as our Holy Judge in which case we are worthy of His condemnation. Yet ". . . God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . ." Now, THAT is the most eloquent expression of grace found anywhere in the pages of Scripture, is it not?

The love of God is an unconditional love that is focused on the one being and receiving love, rather than the one giving it; it disregards any inconvenience, hardship, pain and or suffering that it may cost to have that love fully realized upon the recipient, and rejoices when that love is truly received and reciprocated. I think we can see a bit more clearly now how these two attributes of God are just a mere hair's breadth apart from one another, if even that broad.

Now the Truth of God is an attribute that is just as integral to His nature as is His love; observe:

1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Truth is something that is irrevocable, something immutable, something that expresses reality as seen in the eyes of God (the Creator of such), and to those whom He shares such vision. Truth is propositional, that is, something that can be rationally observed and determined upon evidences that exist in reality. We've done a series on this doctrine of truth, based in part upon John MacArthur's The TRUTH War, as well as Norman Geisler's Apologetic works. To view the first of these articles, click this link here:

Got TRUTH?

For the saint, we must understand that the grace of God is just as immutable as the truth of God, and as the love of God; for the sinner, they must likewise understand that apart from God's grace extended by the wounded, nail scarred hand of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, they will know nothing of God's love, but only His judgment based upon the truth of His Law.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

There will be no appeal, no plea for mercy will be heard, no oath or vow to remedy sinful behavior by promising thousands of years of 'community service'. All judgments are eternally binding and irrevocable; this is why its absolutely imperative that everyone who does not yet know Jesus Christ repent of their sins, turn their lives over to the LORD, and receive the grace of God by the atoning work of Christ on the Cross.

Titus 2:11-14
¶ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

God must judge according to Truth as this is His a primary characteristic of His. He cannot simply let someone 'off the hook' as this would deny justice which Truth demands. To deny Truth, God would have to deny Himself - an impossibility.

At the same time, God desires, yearns even to show mercy and grace, and has the perfect means to do so - through His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ.

Here we have the two-fold modus operandi of Jesus Christ, and they are as dependable and reliable as He is Himself.

By receiving the grace of God via salvation, the saint's exposure to truth will be a blessing, as is ably testified by every child of God who reads, studies and applies God's Word to their lives and who likewise receives encouragement, exhortation, reproof and rebuke from the LORD that loves them!

It is God's nature to show mercy, compassion, healing, restoration, and love; to bestow such love, joy and peace as only He can provide; He is the ultimat Encourager, Counselor, Manager, Friend and Lover - He is all in all for those who turn to Him with contrite, trusting and humble hearts:

Psalm 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
vs. 22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

Isaiah 57:15 ¶ For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Isaiah 61:1 ¶ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

For those willing to come to God on this basis, we have this blessed promise of acceptance from the HOLY ONE:

Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. . .to comfort all that mourn. . .

By judgment declared, based on the truth of God and His law, one is not at all exposed to grace and this will be a curse to the sinner who will never know the grace and love of God which had been rejected in the Person of Jesus Christ.

And for those under judgment, the remainder of Isaiah 61:2:
. . . and the day of vengeance . . .

Once again:

John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

So which have you chosen? The Law of God based solely on Truth, or the grace of God coupled together with Truth? The former will only bring condemnation by the Creator and Judge of all souls, whereas the latter will bring commendation to the saints of God our Savior, the LORD Jesus Christ. These are indeed the modus operandi, and we can expect that the LORD will not conduct Himself by any other means!

Revisiting the O.A.S.I.S.

2011-07-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

As these days proceed, there is a never ending supply of 'doom and gloom' information and just plain bad news everywhere we look. Many who have subscriptions to discernment ministries can get quite discouraged by what they read - what with ever increasing apostasy represented in once faithful ministries and churches, greater compromises of said ministries with globalist organizations and institutions intent upon a one world order with the subjugation of the masses under a power elite (oligarchy), etc.; our debilitating economy, increasing civil unrest with potential violence like a powder keg about to explode, and corrupt governments and unseen men of illegitimate power is also very worrisome.

As a writer for The TRUTH Under FIRE, The RED PILL Consortium and FROM the MIND of FIRE, I also endeavor to keep my head up, eyes open, heart listening and seeking God's will in uplifting the truth of His Word and exposing, denouncing and proving the falsehoods being promoted in this dark world.

Recently the LORD has been speaking to my heart about these issues (and only three days ago, as of this writing, I received an email from a Sister Saint who was enquiring about the intention of my writing and the nature of my articles) He has encouraged me to start focusing a bit more on the edification of the saints with biblical exhortation and messages that can bolster and strengthen Christians in days of such debilitating despondency (which seem to increase with no turning back). It's far too easy to become imbalanced and be all about exposing lies and deception, relating conditions of dilapidation but neglect the edifying truth of God's Word with the intent on blessing GOD's children!
It is in such days as these when messages of this kind are needful, more so now than ever!

With this in mind, I would like to "revisit the OASIS" and bring cool, refreshing water from God's Word that will invigorate and empower; and as well as this, some restful, shade from the blistering heat of turmoil, instability, controversy and uncertainty.
The first article on the OASIS dealt with very much the same subject matter, but it had a definite focus on missions and ministries that promotes the Gospel message of salvation for the lost who are certainly wandering the deserts of this wayward world. You can read that article here.

O.A.S.I.S.

This time around however I want to focus my attention on the saints of God who have already been to the OASIS and received that living water from the LORD Jesus Christ, but who may be due for another visit and refresh themselves in the sometimes weary journey on this dusty pilgrim road.

Whether sinner or saint, we all get weary in this life, we acquire heavy burdens, deep sorrows, wounded hearts, disillusionment and discouragement - yet the saint at least has the wisdom to know there is a place to go with such things - into the arms of our AWESOME LORD Jesus! Let's hear Todd Agnew tell us about it (you will note the message in this song is towards the lost, but even the saved can sometimes 'lose their way' in life, amen?):

COME YE SINNERS

As mentioned in the previous article:

"Only the Almighty Savior Immanuel Satisfies
In a world of deceitful, sinful and empty mirages, amidst the barren bleak deserts of parched souls, there is an O.A.S.I.S!"

JESUS Himself is that oasis. Our singular source of strength, refreshment and power, and above all: our greatest joy and deepest and best love!

I've shared these same verses before, but as the Word of God is a well beyond depth, there is always something more the Spirit of the LORD can teach us (I once participated in a Bible study where we spent well over an hour examining just HALF of one verse!). Therefore let's look again at

Isaiah 58:11-12 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

Obviously a drought is a place and condition in which there is a severe lack of water, and no rain to replenish the parched lands. Yet in life there are all sorts of droughts aren't there? We can and often do experience a lack that is both burdensome and painful:

The loss of a loved one; losing a much needed job or even a home. A lack of peace, or a stable and secure life. A lack of clarity and sure direction in a life plagued with occasional confusion and uncertainty. This list could go on indefinitely, couldn't it?
With today's faltering economy here in America (and the world over), with even more threatening storms on the horizon, its quite understandable how we could experience a lack of peace and security and fear about what the future holds.

We don't know what our immediate future holds, but we do know Who holds our future (both now and in eternity) - in His nail scarred hands! We can trust Him! I myself have wrestled with worry, and one day earlier this last Spring, I was out walking and praying about these things when the LORD showed me such a sight, and spoke with tender-loving rebuke such words I will never forget! To read about this, have a look at this previous MoF article -

HE WALKS and TALKS with me

"The LORD shall guide thee continually..." We may not be aware of His guidance, we may even cry out "Where are You God?" when all the while, behind the scenes He is faithfully guiding both yourself as well as your circumstances (Consider the Divinely led trails in the lives of the patriarchs like Abraham, Joseph and Moses). Where God guides us is to an "expected end" (Jeremiah 29:11), that is a place of hope and expectation for good things that render blessing to our lives. He is faithful to guide us continually; God doesn't take 'time-outs' and abandon us to our own fate.

Even in these days in which we live, He remains faithful and true to His Word, and guides us continually . . . Our God is a Rock and a Refuge where the righteous can run and be safe (2 Sam 22:3; Ps. 62:7; 94:22)! He is the sure foundation that nothing can disturb, and upon which any who are founded upon will know stability and steadfast security in the "everlasting arms" (Matt. 7:24-27):

Deut 33:26 - There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun (Jerusalem), who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
vs. 27 - The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath [are] the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
vs. 28 - Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
vs. 29 - Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

"...and satisfy thy soul in drought and make fat thy bones..." Immanuel alone can satisfy us! Immanuel: God with us, and if God is with us, and for us, none can stand against us (Rom.8:31). Relish the thought of that; really meditate on the truth of this statement: if GOD is for us, His children, walking in His righteousness, empowered by His Spirit... what's the very worst that can happen to us? He will be certain to satisfy us, and not merely to the depths of mere physical needs - note that it says our "soul" will be satisfied. "[Our] bones will be made fat", that is, we will experience a deep health (in whatever capacity God so chooses) in spite of adverse conditions of the worst kind.

It seems that God delights in placing His children in impossible situations only to prove Himself valiant on their behalf!

King Asa had an impossible situation when a vast host of Ethiopian warriors and their allies came against the House of Judah, and he sought the LORD and He won the day for them! Yet Asa ruined a perfect opportunity later on when Basha, king of Israel came against him: he sought not the LORD but for the king (Benhadad) of Syria to come to his aid.

For the LORD will "show Himself strong" for those who would direct their sincere ("perfect" or whole-hearted) and seeking hearts to God Almighty!

2 Chronicles 16:7-9
¶ And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand (emphasis mine).
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

How often we have "wars", that is strifes, contentions, etc. in our lives only because we don't call upon the LORD as we used to! May we learn to resort to the LORD God in each and every challenge, be they as big as a 'Jericho' or as small as an "Ai" (Joshua Ch. 6 -8). No problem is too big for God's power, nor is any so small that God in His compassion doesn't notice!

"...and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." All this in the day of drought! Satisfaction of soul, fatness of bones; a lush, generously watered garden and a never ending spring of water - from the Almighty hand of the God of the Impossible!

I believe these promises are spiritual in nature just as much as they are physical; that the LORD will see to all our needs whatever they may be. In the days of physical want, there will be God's provision (Ps. 37:3), and in the (coming) days in which the church has fallen into such a deplorable state, that one is hard pressed to find the truth of God's Word anywhere (Amos 8:11-12) yet for those who revere the Holy Scriptures, they will receive and themselves become vessels for the never ending springs of the water of God's Word (Eph. 5:26) to reach the lost all about them.

In fact when one examines the context of this scripture found in Isaiah 58, one observes that these blessings are bestowed upon them who open up their lives as channels of blessing and edification for others in meeting their needs (see vs. 6-7, 10, 12). God is never limited in His purposes with only ourselves in view; He longs to reach out to others through us, His church. I believe the days ahead will prove to be just such opportunities to pray, seek God and see Him move upon our lives - to the blessing and benefit of those around us! This includes of course the work of salvation in the souls of those presently lost!

In this (spiritually speaking) 'desert-world' toys and trinkets are not needed; just water, cool shade and sustenance. I believe in the days ahead as we continue to lose our extravagant trinkets and toys won in the arena of materialistic wealth, this will prove a blessing for us! For those who are stripped of everything except their LORD Jesus, its at such a point that they realize how truly, insurmountably wealthy they truly are - in HIM!

Satan has deceived the church here in America by pursuing the "dream" of Americana culture and in all actuality has robbed us of attending our LORD, sitting at His nail pierced feet and reaping the blessing that is He Himself! He who treasures the presence of Jesus in their life doesn't merely have any need of any other treasure, but spurns them, choosing "that better part" as did Mary (and not her sister Martha) at the feet of her LORD (Luke 14:38-42) .

Remember the cry of Moses:

Exodus 33:15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.

Moses wasn't going to budge from that spot (where God's presence dwelled) if He wasn't going to go with him. Look upon such a relationship of intimacy and love and tender fellowship between Moses and His Maker and know that the LORD God, our heavenly ABBA craves such a love relationship with each and every one of His children! There is not one He would overlook, but welcome all equally with His magnificent love and tender fellowship - such is the Father-heart of our God!

Hear what David declared about the LORD and his one desire:

Psalm 27:4-5
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Hear the awesome words of our LORD Jesus Christ, crying out for all to hear, down the corridors of time into our present day:

John 7:37 - In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
:38 - He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
:39 - (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

When the LORD cried out from the Cross and said, "IT IS FINISHED!" and the veil in the Holy of Holies (the very center most part of the Temple where once a year on Yom Kipur the High Priest would enter in, with myriad sacrifices made, and stand in the presence of God), it signified the end of the Temple ministry, for God would no longer dwell in houses of stone, but in human houses - within the hearts of those who would receive Jesus Christ as LORD and SAVIOR - and know the fellowship with God that He Himself intended from the beginning. When once Jesus Christ was glorified in a resurrected body, He breathed on His disciples and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22) and they became temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19)!

At this point, saint of the living God, the LORD is nearer to you than your very own breath! We need not go to a temple, or even our local fellowships to enjoy, to partake, to abundantly bask in the very presence of the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth! If this doesn't astound you, you didn't read this carefully enough!

We hold weekly prayer meetings here at the house (Sat. nights) and regularly I pray to the LORD and confess that I am amazed that the Holy God of all creation, the very Holy One of Israel, the KING of heaven to Whom the most powerful and holy cherubs bow their angelic faces and dare not look into the brilliance of God's glory, but remain on bended knee in utter obeisance to the Omnipotent One are outdone by those of us born of His Spirit, who can approach Him at the throne of grace with confidence ("boldness" as in Heb. 4:16) and address Him as Father.

His Spirit as "rivers" (torrential, powerful streams) of living water should flow out of our hearts "bellies"

John 15:10 - If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
:11 - These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
:12 - This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

May we all resort to the OASIS more often than we've been accustomed to doing; may we imbibe deeply of the LORD's precious Word, partake in a prayerful practice, and know our Abba in all the love, joy and peace that He brings unconditionally to those whose hearts belong to Him!

My deepest prayer for you saints is one that I pray for myself:

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

2 Cor 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Jude 1:24 - 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,
:25 - To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

And AMEN!

A TBC Perspective on Potential Persecution (with comments of my own)

2011-07-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

As many of you are already familiar and aware, I have done a few articles in which I've borrowed (in context) the articles of other biblical and reputable sources, and have added my commentary in another color font.

This month's (July '11) article Seduction: A Primer for Persecution?
from The BEREAN CALL was so incredibly pertinent and necessary for the church here in America (not just the main article either; the Q & A, the letters, and other articles - were all magnificent encouragements and admonitions! Click on the link above [July '11] to access the links following the article to read these extra features) to hear, understand and obey.

Therefore please take time to read this article and my accompanying commentary in green.

May the LORD bless, encourage and prepare your hearts for this time of trial, and understand that His grace will prove MORE than sufficient when such days occur here in America!

T. A. McMahon

For the last three decades, Dave Hunt and I have addressed many trends and teachings that have influenced the evangelical church, particularly in the United States. Our concern has focused primarily on unbiblical beliefs and practices that were turning Christians away from the Word of God. Twenty-five years ago, we wrote The Seduction of Christianity, a rather controversial book that was motivated by feedback from those who had read Dave's earlier books and had watched the film documentaries to which I had contributed in the early eighties. Some dealt specifically with religious cults (Cult Explosion, The God Makers, etc.). Responses from Christians who read those books and watched the films, however, alerted us to the fact that the cult beliefs that we identified were also being taught in their churches, which were being influenced by leading Charismatic and Word/Faith teachers. Those same false teachers were also spreading cultish doctrines throughout the country on Christian television networks.

One of the principal false teachings at the time was the belief that godhood could be attained by created beings. Though that is foundational to Mormonism ("As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become") and Hinduism (self-realization is realizing that man is God), it had worked its way in various forms and methods into different "Christian" movements, teachings, and practices. Much of it was promoted by extreme Charismatics, but it was also finding its way into conservative evangelical churches through so-called Christian psychology (with its emphasis on self and self-esteem, leading to the exaltation and deification of self). Of course, the lie that man could become a god was the cornerstone of Satan's seduction of the human race (Genesis 3:1-5).

In current trends we have also observed the blatant infiltration of New Age and Emergent Movement leaders and teachings in the evangelical churches that once taught biblically sound doctrine which question and downplay the relevence and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, while uplifting experiential practices, such as contemplative spirituality/prayer and even more obviously unbiblical practices such as yoga, TM and other Hindu meditative techniques.

In his war against those who have committed their lives to the true and living God, Satan, as God's chief adversary throughout history, has majored in seduction and persecution. Although persecution would seem to be more effective in its prohibition of Christianity than seduction (and it certainly generates more fear), it is far less productive for the Adversary in achieving his objective. The saying that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" has been demonstrated throughout church history. Martyrdom and other forms of persecution have always increased and/or strengthened the body of Christ...

To verify the extent and extreme nature of persecution upon the church of Jesus Christ in today's 21st century world, please examine the contents of the following web site:

The VOICE of the MARTYRS

The same, however, cannot be said for seduction.

Believers in the United States have never experienced significant religious persecution--certainly nothing like what has taken place in China, India, or throughout countries controlled by Islam. Historically, true Christians in the West as far as Europe have suffered violence from the Caesars of Rome, the Church of Rome, and Communism, among others, but a comparable level of persecution has yet to reach the shores of North America. On the other hand, spiritual seduction has proliferated here and has shipwrecked the faith of many within Christendom.

Check out any discernment ministries web site, and you will be inundated with information regarding the enormous breadth and depth of spiritual seduction; three such web sites for your perusal which I submit here are:

Lighthouse Trails Ministry

Apprising Ministries

and of course, The Berean Call

Unlike persecution, there is not even a remote value associated with seduction; it is spiritually debilitating and deadly. Stories abound of those believers who have survived and been strengthened in their faith during the persecution they suffered in communist countries only to have their walk with the Lord devastated after they escaped to the West. They could endure persecution but they could not resist seduction.

The thesis of this article, which is that seduction will ultimately bring about persecution, is intimidating for me personally. Why? Partly because Dave and I have only rarely addressed the potential for persecution in the U.S. and partly because it's only beginning to show its nasty head here. Then why write about it now? From my observations, increasing signs point to a pending clash between the professing--and even true--Christians who will conform to the world by compromising biblical teachings and those who will remain steadfast in the faith. Nevertheless, I put little value in my observations unless I'm confident that they reflect what the Scriptures teach. Nor should anyone who reads this article.

Following are seven pertinent verses (among others that could be given) that have influenced my observations and this thesis:

In Matthew 24:4, Jesus warns that the last days prior to His return will be a time of religious deception: "Take heed that no man deceive you." He adds (v.24) that the deception will be so great that if it were possible the very elect could be deceived. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus refers to the "strait gate" and "narrow way" that leads to life and announces that "few there be that find it." Luke writes (18:8) the sobering words of our Lord regarding the time of His return: "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?" Since His Second Coming is for the purpose of judgment and to save Israel from annihilation, His words here seem better suited to His coming for His bride in the midst of a professing Christianity that has joined the apostasy. The Apostle Paul gives this insightful explanation as to how apostasy could manifest among those who call themselves Christians: "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 4:3-4).

Sound doctrine will not be endured in the last days because many who have been fed the milk of scriptural truth have already been weaned away from it, i.e., seduced, by their own lusts and by false teachers. More than that, sound doctrine will become an issue that will foster division among Christians. Paul instructed the Roman believers to identify those who teach things "contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Romans 16:17). It's clear that believers who desire to stand firm for the teachings of God's Word will be at odds with Christians whose beliefs and lives are not conformed to the Scriptures.

Could division over doctrine result in persecution? Both history and the Word of God indicate as much. In the Book of Acts, we are told that "there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem" (Acts 8:1). It involved violent assaults, imprisonments, and deaths, and the issues were doctrinal--pitting those who fiercely defended the religious traditions of men against those who followed the teachings of Jesus the Messiah. Persecutions continued as Christians who stood firm in the doctrine of Christ refused to bow down to the deified Caesars or conform to the pagan rituals of Rome. They became vicious entertainment for those who packed the coliseums to see them burned and torn apart by animals. Later, a "Christianized" Rome persecuted those who attempted to reform Roman Catholicism. From there, doctrinal inquisitions and trials by torture proliferated against the "protestants" and other biblical non-Catholics. Today, persecution continues against believers in Islamic countries and in those places in the West where Roman Catholicism still controls the society, such as cities, villages, and even some states in Mexico and South America.

Those who have exposed the Emergent Church Movement's direction towards Roman Catholicism's beliefs, dogmas and practices (which themselves are Babylonish, thus derived from occultic beliefs) are able to prove how too many formerly biblical churches are cozying up to the 'Romish Church' and its leaders.
Its likewise disconcerting that in many churches the leadership is elevated to an almost 'priest-like' infallibility and whose word is not to be questioned or challenged, even upon the basis of scripture! Those that would do so are often chastened or dis-fellowshipped!

One such example of infiltration is the Calvary Chapel movement and how some of its leaders have allowed Emergent dogma as well as the notable association of a known (perhaps not to themselves at the time, but most surely now that the news is out!) Jesuit. See the following RED PILL -

Jesuit Infiltration

Although none of the above has manifested itself substantially in the United States, could such religious persecution take place here? Roman Catholicism has never been in a position to impose its dogmas on the American populace; Islam has only begun to control some neighborhoods here with its Sharia legalism ("Terror's Secret Weapon: Shariah," Townhall, 1/20/11). But what about a scenario of Bible-believing Christians being persecuted by other Christians who will "not endure sound doctrine"? Is that likely? Some who have previewed this article were doubtful that "Christians killing Christians over doctrines" would ever take place here, a law-abiding country where, for the most part, "doctrinal apathy" rules among evangelicals. I tend to agree, yet if someone told me 25 years ago that evangelicals would shift from the then highly influential moral majority/Christian Right to the socialism-oriented Christian Left--I would have laughed. No one is laughing at that reality now (Q&A 1/11). Only the Lord knows how extreme the oppression will become prior to His return for His bride, but there are many forms of persecution, short of martyrdom.

Its the assertion of some that internment camps that are supposedly built for the detainment of 'illegal aliens' are actually reserved for those who will not submit to governmental authority that would subjugate and oppress the rights and views of American citizens, among them most notably Bible believing Christians who will not submit to ecumenical and political unification with other religions and states (and supra-national organizations); I submit the following article, again from the RED PILL for your consideration to determine for yourself the validity (or not) of such claims -

In The Bad News Today

In previous TBC articles, we have addressed significant trends among evangelicals that have "weaned them off the Word," seducing them into following the ways, means, and agendas of man contrary to the Scriptures (See TBC 3/04; 2/05; 3/05; 2/07; 3/07; 9/07, et al.). In the midst of that process of compromise, increasing numbers of professing and true Christians have accepted the ideals of the world, including moral, social, and religious tolerance. "Intolerance" in thought, word, or deed of that which the world believes is good for humanity identifies a person as antisocial at least and as bigoted, prejudiced, or a practitioner of hate crimes* at worst. Furthermore, what if a social gospel that is based upon " doctrine?

*FROM the MIND of FIRE article

Sound doctrine, i.e., the teachings of the Bible, is what a true Christian is to abide by as one lives his life for Christ. Sound doctrine is the absolute criterion that dictates what beliefs, practices, and programs he can accept and what he must reject. Moreover, Scripture exhorts him to be discerning and steadfast in its teachings: "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness....And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:13-14,17).

But would God allow persecution to take place within the church? That's what Peter seems to be acknowledging: "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4:17). Judgment, in the sense of correction and strengthening that results from God's allowing of persecution, as we've noted, has always been a part of Christianity. The Epistle to the Hebrews also indicates that persecution is one of the things that God has used as a spiritual pruning and purifying process for Hebrew Christians.

If you're not sure how (or why) persecution might take place within Christianity, consider these examples: When Promise Keepers enjoyed popularity among evangelical men, it became known that one of its goals was to "break down the walls" between Catholics and evangelicals. Part of that process involved turning churches against ministries that evangelized Roman Catholics (emphasis mine). When Rick Warren's "40 Days of Purpose" began to influence hundreds of thousands of churches throughout the U.S., long-time members who protested on doctrinal grounds were either disfellowshiped, or threatened with disfellowship, unless they submitted to Warren's program in their own churches (see TBC 10/04 and 9/08). To question a pastor or the elders' support for introducing yoga or "Christianized yoga" in a church has been grounds for disfellowship.

Although the above examples may seem marginal to some, they and other endeavors, including church-growth marketing programs, emerging church methods and mystical practices, ecumenical overtures to Muslims and Mormons, an ecumenical global P.E.A.C.E. plan that involves all the world's religions, movements aimed at solving the world's ecological, poverty, and social injustice problems, etc., have driven multitudes of believers to start home churches.

What if you were to preach against the various agendas mentioned above because they were a rejection of sound doctrine? Remember the Apostle Paul's admonition? "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ...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..." (2 Timothy 4:1-4). What would be the reaction among those within and without the church who were supportive of those agendas?

Or what if even without your preaching or protesting it simply becomes known that you are one of those biblical Christians who is intolerant toward other religions, who rejects evolution, who won't go along with psychology, who is anti-abortion, anti-genetic manipulation, and anti-euthanasia; that you view homosexuality as a sin rather than an alternative lifestyle, and that you are against gay rights and gay marriage? Furthermore, you seem to be out of touch with the acceptable morality of the day (marriage now being statistically a minority as a practice in the U.S.) by having a "problem" with cohabitation, and it's been said that you believe sexual abstinence should be practiced outside of marriage. You are suspicious about the alarm over "global warming." It's become known that you support Israel against the alleged right of the Palestinians to be restored to the land they believe is theirs. How will such a person be dealt with in Christendom--as well as by the world that champions everything that a believer opposes? The dark clouds of persecution appear to be gathering over the church in the U.S.; signs indicate that the seats of the "coliseum" are beginning to fill with a widely diverse audience (see TBC 1/11) that, at least in a figurative sense, has "a taste for the blood" of those who reject their programs and teachings on the basis of sound biblical doctrine.

Its worthy of noting that the LORD Jesus Christ Himself supported and endorsed, even commended intolerance where lies, deceptions and false practices are concerned:

Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: (see also Matt. 16:12)

King David likewise expressed such intolerance:

Psalms 119:104, 128 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.

As did the apostle Paul:

Titus 3:10, 11 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. (see also Col. 2:8; Heb. 13:9a)

The seduction of Christianity has created a condition in which biblical discernment and steadfastness in the faith are the exception rather than the rule. Standing for the truth and righteousness of the Word of God while the opposition increases within and without the church can only result in some form of persecution. Paul makes that quite clear: "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Although that verse may distress some believers, it shouldn't. Why? Because the beginning of the verse gives a believer the key to receiving the grace to glorify God and to benefit others through persecution: living godly lives in Christ Jesus! That is a believer's only preparation and it is more than sufficient. Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, gave His disciples this astonishing word of encouragement regarding standing for His teachings:

"Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven..." (emphasis mine; Luke 6:22-23). Our prayer is that the Lord Jesus will help us to live godly lives and by His grace remain steadfast in the faith as we look for His soon coming. ~~TBC

It is my utmost and sincerest prayer that the LORD Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, the Savior of the saints, He Who is coming to rule Israel and all the world with truth and justice, grace, mercy and peace, the One and Only Prince of Peace will lead His bride into these last days before His soon return and fulfill all His perfect will by standing for truth and righteousness in the face of abject persecution, suffering, tribulation and sorrows knowing that such "light afflictions" will bring about "an eternal weight of glory" to be directed to the LORD Who enables us to endure such things!

2 Cor 4:17, 18 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Indeed, if ever there was a time and a campaign for spiritual warfare that the church is commanded to enter into by our Captain, IT IS NOW!!! We have published much in the way of spiritual warfare (On TTUF as well as on this blog). Consider the following quote regarding the boldness with which we can afford to confront the enemy and his enslaved servants (the lost souls of humanity that do his bidding) by the power of our LORD:

"Show me a warrior strong in the LORD, who laughs at temptation, who sneers at the power of the enemy, who exalts in the love of His LORD, and I will show you a warrior who is sanctified with the genuine work of the Holy Spirit in his life!"

taken from Are You a KNYHT in HIS Majesty's Sacred Service?

May we all stand fast and solid in these days upon the WORD of God, as soldiers of the cross who will do harm to no man; who dismisses wrestling with mere mortals in favor of more preferable prey - the principalities and powers of highest ranks in Satan's kingdom which is doomed to fall on bended knee and forced to declare that JESUS IS LORD TO THE GLORY OF GOD OUR HEAVENLY FATHER! AMEN!!

John 15:18, 19 ¶ If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you.
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Matt. 10:24-28 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matt 10:32, 33 ¶ Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Finally may I suggest you read this brief but powerful exhortation by pastor Jim Suttel of Calvary Chapel Roswell on VICTORY COMES THROUGH PRAYER

The LORD Jesus Christ bless you with Himself this Blessed Day!

Another Smoke Signal: An Insight on The Coming of the LORD

2011-06-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

In this passage we have an interesting insight into the coming of the LORD. The "I" and the "my" in this verse is speaking of the LORD God; this is easily discernible when you consider this in its context, from chapter 5:1, all the way through chapter 6, especially vs. 1-3.

Verse 15 above speaks of God going (departing) and returning to His place. When did God return to His place? And what is His place?

We know that the LORD God inhabits eternity, or that realm of His eternal kingdom (Is. 57:15) and in this passage of Hosea it says that He would return to this (eternal) place, but of course that would have to mean that He at one time, left it, otherwise He couldn't "return" there, could He?

So when DID God leave heaven, and then return? Obviously this is referring to the LORD God, the Son, the LORD Jesus Christ! The LORD Jesus after having risen from the dead, and then ascended into heaven, where He would and still does, sit at the right hand of the Father.

"Til . . ." His Second Coming where He will rule and reign a thousand years as the Meschiach Nagid or the Messiah King. When will this occur? Of course at the end of the time of Jacob's Trouble as spoken of in Jeremiah 30: 7 -

Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

Israel will be saved out of that dreadful time because they will be rescued from their enemies by the coming Messiah. And yet in this passage of Hosea, there is another indicator as to when the LORD will return.

". . . til they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face. . ."
Note that the word for 'offence' is in the singular; something singular in its transgression against the Holy God of which national Israel was guilty of.

I believe that this was the rejection of their Messiah, when nationally (but not individually, for His disciples certainly believed on Him, even to the giving up of their lives!) rejected their King.

"Affliction" here is speaking of Jacob's Trouble, Daniel's 70th week (as in Dan. 9: 24-27), also known as 'the Tribulation' and its at such a time that a remnant will seek the face of the LORD God and repent of their national sin.

There is another significant "til" in scripture related to this; a verse in the book of Romans:

Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Yet this blindness will begin to lift once the 'fulness of the Gentiles' is completed; which speaks of the church of Jesus Christ, His Gentile bride comprised of all nations (which itself is addressed in the Council in Jerusalem in Acts 15 as "a people called out for His name among the Gentiles").

In the book of Zechariah we have further insight into the coming of the LORD -

Zech 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

And at such a time Y'shua will be received as the rightful King of Israel, and reign in the righteousness of the LORD; this was a promise made to Mary, by the Messianic messenger, the angel Gabriel in Luke 1: 30-33, esp. vs. 32-33! This is in fulfillment of 2 Sam. ch 7 and Ps. 89 where the Davidic Covenant is spoken of, and speaks of the greater Son of David (a Messianic title of JESUS CHRIST) and His reign over Israel as well as the Gentile nations.

This is why the enemy Satan is working so diligently to wipe out Israel, using the nations of the world to come against her; we are seeing this transpire with greater intensity every day in our daily news broadcasts!

Nevertheless the Word of God stands sure and steadfast, and no weapon formed against Israel will prosper; God is her protector and will be diligent to keep His eye upon His beloved people -

Check out Psalm 122, and particularly vs. 6

Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

And -

Psalm 121:4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

What we are praying for is in all actuality for the Prince of Peace, the LORD Jesus Christ, to inaugurate His reign; until that happens, no peace in Israel will be possible in a world whose god is the devil, chief adversary of Israel!

So let us remain vigilant in our prayers for this nation, and for God to raise up a remnant who will proclaim the LORD Jesus Christ as their own and faithfully stand for the truth of God's Word. Though all the world should come against her (Zech 12:3), let the true bride of Christ stand with her and serve God's people with our intercessions and petitions! Baruch HaShem and maranatha!

James 5:7 ¶ Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

Hosea 6:1-3 ¶ Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

2nd CHRONICLES 7:14 - Is It Also for the Church?

2011-05-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE IN "If My People"?

We are all witnessing on a daily basis the slide of morality in our nation and biblical Christianity with its alarming velocity towards utter ruin. We who are concerned are seeking God's face, turning away from known sin, and desirous in encouraging the saints to live whole heartedly for the LORD Jesus Christ and to warn others, both sinners and saints of the impending judgment should this nation (and the church)refuse to repent of her wicked ways.

Abortion with its tens of millions of babies murdered. Sexual promiscuity. Homosexual death-styles promoted and endorsed. Illegal drug usage (not to mention the 'legal' variety used in illegal ways). Wanton violence. Evolution taught as science fact (no longer a theory?). The deterioration of the sanctity of biblical marriage and the family relationship. The list can go on and on.

A very common verse that's used to express our prayerful hope in the restoration of our nation is found in:

2 Chron. 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

And while I believe this verse is applicable on some fundamental, rudimentary basis for our situation here in America and among us Christian believers, who indeed are the people of "If My people. . . "?

Of course these words spoken by the LORD God to Solomon at the dedication of the newly built Temple in Jerusalem were addressed to the King himself, and his kingdom comprised of God's people, the Hebrew nation.

We read that should the LORD send judgment upon a wayward, rebellious Israel, He would restore that which the judgment destroyed if His people did four things:

1) Humble themselves - be broken of their pride and sin.
2) Pray - to petition God from a penitent heart.
3) Seek His face - To long after God until He is found.
4) Turn from their wicked ways - to repent.

And if Israel did these things from a sincere and broken heart, the LORD God promised to do three things:

1) He would hear from heaven - Acceptance of their prayer.
2) He would forgive their sin - Grace bestowed in restoring their relationship to Himself.
3) He would heal their land - restoration of the land.

Along with this "If . . . then" declaration by God found here, there are a number of others that preceded it found in chapter 6 (among other passages) in Solomon's prayer of dedication: verses 22-31, and 34-42. Even in vs. 32-33 is speaks of "the stranger" and if they "for Thy great Name's sake" if they come to the House of the LORD and pray, that they may indeed be heard by God in heaven!

Yet Israel enjoyed a special relationship with God, above all other nations in the Earth. After the Flood of Noah, God told the people of the Earth to go forth and multiply on the face of His world, but rather than obey God, they 'huddled together' and built a city and a tower "lest we be scattered abroad on the face of the whole Earth" (Gen. 11:4). They were in blatant defiance of God's command! So because no one was obedient to the LORD God, He decided of His own volition to choose a man for Himself and establish by grace a relationship with Abram (later named Abraham) of the city of Ur.

From Abraham God built the nation of Israel and to this nation, through Moses, the Law of God and His covenants were given, as well as the holy oracles -

Rom 3:1-2 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit [is there] of circumcision?
Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

Rom 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service [of God], and the promises (See also Deut. 4:29-31).

In Deuteronomy we read the following:

Deut 4:4-8 But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.
Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

God's promises and covenants to Israel will be fulfilled precisely as He declared; Israel still has a future and a destiny as laid out plainly in scripture, and by no means were these abrogated, superseded or granted to another nation (including the church! Replacement Theology, Dominion and Kingdom Now are all biblically erroneous and are addressed later in this article). The Abrahamic and Davidic covenants are both unconditional, that is, God holds only Himself, not Israel, accountable to see to it that these covenants are fulfilled (See Gen. 15:1-21; 2 Sam. 7:10-16).

Gabriel, an angel who always seems to be delivering a Messianic message, appeared to Mary and declared that she would give birth to the King of Israel, the Messiah, and that God would grant to Him the throne of His father, David and would rule the nation Israel forever (See Luke 1: 30-33).

In Acts 15 there was a council at Jerusalem to determine whether or not Gentile believers would be required to observe the Law and circumcision in order to be saved. Another issue brought up at that council was whether or not Israel had a future in light of the current dealings by God with the church, and the answer, as given by James the elder of the Jerusalem church was an emphatic YES!

See Acts 15: 7-11,13-17; note especially vs. 16 "build again the tabernacle of David . . . and will set it up" which follows after vs. 14 "God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His Name [i.e. the church]".

And of course there is Paul's indisputable treatment of God's plan for Israel as recorded in Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11. Again, please note:

Rom 11:25-29 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Note especially vs. 25 where it states that "blindness in part is happened to Israel, UNTIL the fulness of the Gentiles be come in"

The "fulness of the Gentiles" is an expression describing the church of Jesus Christ; when once the church is complete (something that only the Father knows), the LORD will bring us to heaven, and once again God's full attention to fulfilling the covenants and promises of Israel will commence.

So we see that 2 Chron. 7:14 has an explicit meaning for Israel as a nation that God has elected for a special relationship. Does this mean that the church cannot apply the truth of this passage for herself?

Or what about any of the other nations in the world?

Remember the preaching of Jonah in the dreaded city of Ninevah:

Jonah 3:3-4 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

The Hebrew word used for "overthrown" is haphak, and it means "to turn about, over, return, pervert, to change, tumbled, turn back".
Obviously the Ninevites understood the message and what it entailed. Yet notice there was no "if . . . then" clause; no mention of God altering His pronouncement should this wicked Assyrian city repent of her sins. Basically its "forty days and you guys are toast!"

Ninevah's response?

Jonah 3:5, 9 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

The Ninevites apparently had no guarantee that God would hear their prayer and spare them.

They were a particularly barbaric and cruel people who commonly brought their prisoners of war back as slaves, dragging them by hooks in their jaws; people they left behind after the conquest were typically maimed by them as they sawed off opposing hands and feet.
Nations that were doomed by the assaults of these Assyrian soliders often committed suicide, rather than face fierce treatment as their prisoners.
The Ninevites were also in the habit of taking their new borns and burying them alive in the walls of their houses so that the gods would bless their dwellings.

So, with no amending proposal by God that He might indeed spare them "if . . ." they fasted and prayed and sought the LORD God, from the King, down to the least of his subjects and citizens; likewise even the animals were made to fast and dressed in sackcloth!

As we know, God indeed spared the city. Did that make Jonah a false prophet? Because he said that they would be destroyed in 40 days, and yet when the day of their destruction arrived, they were still alive and unjudged by God (until the days of Nahum, who came preaching the same message as Jonah, but Ninevah did not at that time repent). God made a declaration to Jeremiah the prophet:

Jer 18:7-10 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

And so here we have precedent that if any nation would repent of their sin, God would turn from the judgment He intended for them, just as He did for Ninevah. Likewise if a formerly righteous nation commit evil and not repent, God would judge them!

This does not however mean that God would establish a covenant with them as He has done with Israel, nor would they enjoy the same depth and breadth of blessings as Israel has had and will have again (even now we can see how the nation is been transformed from the wasteland it was a little over fifty years ago into the fertile beauty it is today that sells vegetables to Europe, flowers to Holland, electronics to Japan!). All the nations will one day be blessed by Israel when the Messiah comes and reigns over that nation, as well as the Gentile world, enjoying the Millennial age with all its benefits.

America has a chance, albeit a very slim chance - if a wicked nation like Ninevah could repent and be heard of God, then so can our nation: what is required are those righteous saints who will declare without compromise a message like Jonah; let us pray that God would raise up such a one in this late hour.

What the king of Ninevah said, I can echoe: "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" Of course we are far more accountable as a nation than Ninevah was, as we as America have received far more revelation from God in the Scriptures, thus we have far more to repent for!

As for the church, should we humble ourselves and pray, and seek Gods face, and turn from our wicked ways, what can we expect? Lest any one claim that the church has nothing that serious to repent of, let me refer you to this warning from Understand the Times, with Roger Oakland, particularly for pastors, but also for the church at large -

RE: Open Letter To Evangelical and Protestant Pastors Worldwide
Now is the Day to Turn Back to God’s Word

He will certainly forgive our sins -

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And He will raise us up in restoration if we will humble ourselves -

1 Peter 5:5b-6 . . . and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

And will He heal our land? But we have no land or sure dwelling place here on this Earth; we are pilgrims here, just passing through this world of sin looking forward to our eternal home in heaven!

1 Peter 2:9-11 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (See also John 17:14-16; 18:36).

If not a 'land' then a heart condition and spiritual blessing and vitality is what God will restore to a repentant church.

In closing let me also emphasize that if America repents, it MUST be on the biblical basis of REPENTING from our sin, and TURNING AWAY from our wickedness and pledging our allegiance to the LORD God.

There has been, for many years now, a growing movement of nationalism in America that's riding on the coat tails of Christendom in our nation. That we are somehow a more godly, more Christian people if we obtain and maintain a patriotism for America and that we cannot truly be Christian unless such patriotism is adhered to. Some such declarations are made by the Tea Party leaders of today -

There are many ministries and movements that are part of what's called 'Dominion' and 'Kingdom Now' theology which expresses its belief that the church will take over the world and if not convert ALL the souls within it, at the very least 'Christianize' it with high moral principles and that the LORD Jesus Christ CAN'T (??!) return until we achieve this goal.

Obviously an unbiblical, to say nothing of an untenable objective; to learn where Dominionism is today, please follow this link:

Dominionism Today

For more information re: this movement here is a two part series by The Berean Call (note: while these articles are more than 20 yrs old, they are remarkably relevent and still viable in their treatment of this heresy) -

Kingdom/Dominion Theology - Part 1

Kingdom/Dominion Theology - Part 2

I will close with the following quote from the web site: The Cross Church - (American Patriotism and Biblical Christianity: Are They The Same Thing?)

"Christianity in culture does have impact and does produce change. But it only does so as long as Christianity doesn’t become a political organization and remains at its very core deeply gospel-centered. Is it wrong for believers to enter politics? Of course not. Is it wrong for Christians in politics to use their office, driven by a biblical worldview, for the good of society and their fellow man as say, Wilberforce did on the issue of slavery? Absolutely not. But the church itself is not driven by the brilliance of U.S. Constitutional ethics, but by the Scriptures of the living God (emphasis mine).

"So again, what is the solution to the plight our nation finds itself in? The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that brief answer is not about offering cultural reform back to an era of family values and more virtuous days. Jesus Christ did not come to transform America, but to transform Americans. The gospel is not the new nationalism for the conservative, but the hope for any sinner (like me and you) who by God’s sovereign electing love trusts that eternal life and salvation is attained only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord alone.
[In other words] beloved, in this hour in our nations history may I propose a simple mandate: it is time for the church to be the church."

Let us continue to pray for America, her people as well as the saints of the church of the LORD Jesus Christ - both are in need of repentance and restoration. Will they be? As for America "who can tell?"; as for the church - I am confident that every true believer will be completed until the day of Christ Jesus:

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

This Is Not A Game

The TRUE GOSPEL (Accept No Imitations!)

2011-04-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Since I have already dealt with a biblical examination and explanation of the Gospel on The TRUTH Under FIRE(http://www.thetruthunderfire.com/2009/08/simple-and-serious-gospel-of-salvation.html

"The Simple and Serious Gospel of Salvation, part 1"), and re-posted this series of articles on this vital subject here on FROM the MIND of FIRE, one might rightly ask the question - Why another article?

Its rather simple really; the previous treatment was a series, and it was rather comprehensive; it delved somewhat deeply into the various aspects of the Gospel and Salvation.

This is an abbreviated, 'user friendly' but faithful expression of the Gospel, and I hope to be succinct and sharp in this presentation.

In this day and age, we see many different Gospels - the Social Gospel, the Green Gospel, the Prosperity Gospel, the Kingdom Now Gospel - and so many others!

The same goes for different Christs - the New Age Christ, the Hindu Christ, the Islamic version of Christ, and many Christ impersonators and charlatans across our contemporary landscape.

The Bible warns us about these imitation Gospels in Gal. 1:6-9 and 2 Cor. 11:4; it warns us as well against Jesus imposter's, also in 2 Cor. 11:4 -

2 Cor 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

These other Gospels can be quite complicated with lots of rules, regulations, rites and reason, appealing to the intellect and the flesh, but all of these detract from the simplicity that is in Christ: such simplicity that even a small child can understand and accept the Gospel of Salvation (my grand niece received salvation in Jesus Christ at just 3 years of age! Her hearts desire has been and remains to be a missionary):

2 Cor 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

So what is the Gospel all about? Of course most of us realize that 'Gospel' means "good news" and it most certainly is! The best news one could possibly imagine, but not! I recall in sharing the Gospel last week end among some of our city's homeless, one man ("Eli") grew hot and irate when we tried to bring the Gospel to him when all he wanted was a dollar - he would prefer a dollar to eternal life!

Remember these 'R's: Realize, Repent, Receive, Regenerate, and Righteous:

First, REALIZE: We must first of all realize Who God is, and who we are - God is the Almighty Creator Who has every right to do with His creation what He wants, including you and I.

Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else

God is also purely holy and cannot as the KING of all creation, and the Judge of all living, tolerate sin. For simplicity's sake, let's just say that sin is disobedience to God's perfect, holy will.

Adam and Eve had only one command from God - don't eat the forbidden fruit, because the day that you do, you will surely die!

Simple, right? But what did they do? They disobeyed God and sinned.
When this happened, our First Parents received a sinful nature that was passed on to their children (Abel, Cain, Seth, etc.) and they likewise passed that same sinful nature onto their children, and so on, until today, we have several billion sinners on this planet.

Any who would doubt their own sinfulness and say, "Oh, I'm not that bad; I haven't murdered any body!" has to ask themselves, "Have I ever hated any one in my life?" According to Jesus Christ, if you ever hated (KJV "angry") anyone, you committed murder in your heart (Matt. 5:21-22)!

Have you ever committed adultery? That's disobedience to the will of God who desires that we all have a monogamous relationship with a singular spouse; but even if you haven't actually committed the act, Jesus said if you look on (someone) with lust, you already committed adultery in your heart (Matt. 5:27-28)!

A careful examination of the Ten Commandments (Exodus ch. 20) all on their own (there are many more commandments besides just these!) will prove that we all have sinned against God, without exception!
See Romans 3:23.

We must REALIZE that God is Holy and that He has no choice but to judge and condemn us to an eternity of hell for our willful rebellion and sin against our Holy and Almighty King - Sin is spiritual treason against the LORD God!

We must also REALIZE that without God, we have no hope of eternal life, as He is the ONLY source of this life! Sin separates souls from the Living God!

Ezekiel 18:4 "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (see also vs. 20)

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that he will not hear.

Once the Law of God convicts our hearts of sin (Gal. 3:22-24; Romans 7:14), we then must understand that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
Once we REALIZE Who God is, and who we are, and what we have done against the Holy God of Creation, we must then REPENT.

What does it mean to "repent"? It means a change of mind or heart or purpose,to reconsider morally; it involves three basic steps:

1) Receiving new knowledge, that is the Holy Law and then, afterwards the Gospel message itself.
2) Regret for previous course, and displeasure with one self, that is the conviction of sin.
3) A change involving action - believing the Gospel and committing oneself and life to the LORD for salvation.

With so many Gospels today, and Gospel messages in our churches, the often overlooked or ignored aspect which is an essential part of the Gospel is repentance.
If we don't acknowledge that our sin is something that would worthily send us to hell for having offended the holy God, and that this is something we must turn away from so that we may have a right attitude in approaching God meekly and in the spirit of remorse and broken-heartedness, we are left with a Gospel where God 'forgives anyway' and sin becomes less dangerous and not something to be avoided as it should be!

The words "repent" and "repentance" occurs sixty nine times in the Bible; the prophets of old preached repentance, John the Baptist preached repentance, our LORD Jesus preached it as well as the apostles, but today's pulpits aren't approaching this needful truth for fear of offending people!
Let's not worry about offending God with our sin, we're too busy worrying about offending our congregations! Is it any wonder why our fellowships are filled with false converts and 'half-way Christians'?

Matt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Once we REALIZE our situation, and REPENT we must then RECEIVE the Gospel of our Salvation which God has accomplished for us through the Person of Jesus Christ!

2 Cor 5:21 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.

1 Cor 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1 Cor 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1 Cor 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1 Cor 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

The Old Testament is very eloquent and precise in the explanation of the Gospel; two primary sources are Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. Both explain different aspects of the Gospel message at the heart of the work of salvation: the cross!
Psalm 22 portrays in vivid detail the events during the crucifixion of Christ with such clarity, the obvious reference to the LORD Jesus cannot be denied except by the most spiritually blind of this world (2 Cor. 4:4).
Isaiah 53 gets into the spiritual aspects of the cross and the Lamb of God, slain for our iniquities!

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

And also:

Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Understanding that God's wrath was taken out on His own Son, who paid the penalty for our sins (remember, the soul that sins, it shall surely die - and Christ Jesus is our sin bearer; therefore He became sin for us, He Who knew no sin, and died in our place!) and yet He also rose from the dead!

We will be celebrating the Resurrection of our LORD in just a couple days from now (commonly called Easter, a pagan holiday, but that's another story!) and we have every cause to celebrate! It's because He rose from the dead that He proved He conquered over sin and death, and is now able to bring eternal life to all who will RECEIVE His salvation!

Once you understand that JESUS CHRIST died for your sins, and is able to free you from the penalty of sin, and judgment by the Holy Hand of God; once you turn from your sinful life and surrender your heart to the LORD God as His own, bought by the blood of Jesus, and receive Him (John 1:12), He grants to you the GIFT (read that, "free" as all gifts are free to those who receive them!) of Eternal Life, the Holy Spirit then enters your heart, which has been cleansed of all sin and made a proper place for the Spirit of God; you then become a child of God!

This is what it means to be REGENERATE!

Titus 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, [and] hating one another.
Titus 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Titus 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Titus 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Your life is no longer your own if you belong to Christ Jesus; you are now the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, who has brought you back to spiritual life!

1 Cor 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1 Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Act 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Incidentally, this is an awesome proof text verse to show that Jesus is God, for it states that GOD purchased with HIS OWN blood!)

And finally as a result of REALIZING, REPENTING, RECEIVING and REGENERATING, there is then RIGHTEOUSNESS, that is RIGHT LIVING, approved by God and in a RIGHT relationship with Him as we yield ourselves over to His Spirit and the power of the Cross - to allow ourselves to die to our sinful nature, daily, and thereby 'making room' for the Spirit of God to empower us to live holy, RIGHTEOUS lives, to the Glory of God!

Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

And why would God go through all this bother for the sake of sinners like us, and not simply destroy this rebel planet and start over?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Also -

Ephesians 2:7 That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

May the LORD bless any who read this, that don't as yet KNOW the LORD Jesus as THE LORD and SAVIOR of all those that call upon the Most Holy Name of JESUS CHRIST!

HIS LOVE FOR YOU IS DEMONSTRATED BY THE CROSS AND EMPTY TOMB OF THE LORD JESUS the CHRIST!

My Own Road To Damascus - The Testimony of Timothy Hinze

2011-04-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

It gives me a great deal of pleasure and blessing to be able to share with all of you, the personal testimony of Timothy Hinze about how he came to know Jesus Christ as His LORD and SAVIOR!

Tim is a brother that I met and befriended on Facebook and when he shared a bit of his testimony with me there, I thought it would be awesome for him to go over it with a bit more detail on FROM the MIND of FIRE.

And so, without further ado, here is his testimony - My OWN ROAD to DAMASCUS

It was 1:00pm on a bitter cold January in 1983 that would change my life forever: I just burst out the back door of my home running for my life (literally) with my mothers’ second husband only steps behind me. He was half drunk and wanted to do me harm.

Any second I could be in the grasp of this raging violent drunk. I leaped down 5 cement steps and dove over our backyard fence that bordered our neighbor’s property. With nine years of these violent experiences to draw on, hesitation on my part was unthinkable and my reactions were honed to perfection.

I remember at age 13 once waking up at 3:00am to the sound of my weight lifting bar bell being thrown down on my bedroom floor, over and over, until a solid steel tube was shaped like a wet noodle. It landed just inches from my bed with each hurl. He did that almost 10 times. It was near 100 pounds of weight. I vividly recall even now at age 47 how one slip from his hands and I would have been a goner.

I was an 18 year old drop out, unemployed, unwanted, depressed, with no confidence, no direction, no guidance and no hope.

My life passed before me around 1:00 pm as I crashed safely on our neighbor’s side of the 5ft wooden fence that separated our properties. I survived another attack by 'Joe', my mom’s second husband. There’s no way he could negotiate that fence in his drunken state. I didn't seem to care about the bloody scrapes on my arms, from my skin just deposited on my neighbor’s property, after crashing abruptly on their cement. Nor the fact that it was around 5degrees outside; didn’t have the time to grab my winter jacket, as this half crazed man ran me out of my home once again: almost on a monthly basis.

It’s been 28 years now since that incident which would change my life forever. 'Joe' was drinking heavily the night before, into the early hours of the morning. Which meant the rest of the family was awake also. I was eating some cereal at our kitchen table. 'Joe' stumbled in still half drunk and ugly. He started demanding and threatening my mom like so many times before; that’s when I lost it. I listened to that for about 5 minutes and threw an open gallon of milk at him, hitting him in the neck and face.

This was the first and only time I ever attacked him. Looking back on it, I realized I just snapped. Nine years of verbal evil directed at my mother, triggered a reaction in me that was brewing for sometime. So 'Joe' leapt up off the kitchen chair socking me in the face; I jumped up and darted for the kitchen back door.

. . . To back track a little, my biological father was gone before I even knew him. My childhood pastor that married my biological parents told my mom not to marry him, because in the pastors words "he was evil", yet he married them anyhow! This always bothered me. They divorced 4 years later. Dad was a living nightmare, my only recollection of him was at about 7 years old seeing him lunging toward my mom with a butcher knife, my older sister Lori, 8 years old at the time, threw her body in between and saved my mom’s life.

They had already been divorced by this time, but he wormed his way in the house on the pretense he just wanted to talk to her and see us kids, when we came home from school. My mom survived that incident too by God’s amazing Grace.

The first nine years for us were quite happy and normal, except the first few years with my dad who we really never got to know. We grew up very poor, yet never lacked the essentials of life: food, shelter, clothes, education, friends etc...

We seemed quite content without our dad; you really don’t miss what you never had at that age. Not fully processing emotionally until adulthood, how two parents is the ideal family unit in God’s wisdom and offers the best chance in life for success, happiness and emotional health. We lived in a city of about 50,000. A safe community, secure, with very little crime, a warm city to grow up in. We were raised Lutheran and attended Lutheran grade school.

Most in our city were Lutheran or Catholic. Mom worked a second shift factory job to put a roof over our heads. Grama, on my mom‘s side, was a second mother and surrogate father to us. I give mom an immense amount of credit as a twenty something single mom in the 60’s, working full time to support her brood. She deserves more credit than she ever received. I love my mom very much. She made us feel as though we weren’t missing out on things that normal families had.

Grama filled in the gaps as well. Helping us with school work, prepared our suppers, played games, even whipping us now and again when we smarted off; which wasn’t very often let me tell you. Reflecting back on it now, we needed it, at least I did. She cared for us as we took turns having the flu, the measles, and every other natural side effect of living in a fallen world.

We had no money, yet the LORD always took care of us; as I already said, we were quite happy. This temporary happiness would all come to a grinding halt very soon after mom met and married a friend of my Uncle when I was 9. For privacy sake I’ll call my Uncle “Bob” and my mom’s second husband,“ Joe”. I don’t feel comfortable using their real names if you don’t mind. One reason “Joe” is still alive and is yet unsaved, and still drinks heavily.

My uncle Bob was a heavy drinker too, and he introduced his bar room buddy “Joe” to my mom. My mom regrets jumping into this marriage to this day. She was still a young 32 and had been a single mom to us 4 kids for 11 years.
She was no doubt just lonely.

She was a very attractive single mom. It didn’t take her too long to discover that she repeated another mistake in her selection for a husband. Us kids never took to him, not from day one. It may be we never had respect for the drunken Uncle that arranged the introduction in the first place. Soon the heavy drinking transformed our happy family into a bad dream of biblical proportions.

Every weekend started and ended the same. “Joe” getting violently drunk, and my mom giving her statement to the local police, and all the neighbors outside gawking at our house pretending to have some legitimate reason to be outside. We knew the police officers almost on a first name basis back then. This wasn’t like New York, so we were the main event each weekend. The police would say to mom “You need to divorce him” and “ma’am, we can’t make him leave the house, it’s his house”, or “he pays the bills”; wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that line over the years. Things were different in those days, police couldn’t do much, there wasn’t the gamut of support groups and agencies like there are now, and it was still taboo to be a ‘twice married’ – with 4 kids no less, and soon two more to join the brood.

So the police would leave and we would sift thru the broken furniture, knick knacks, plates, etc… and salvage what we could and try and put our crumbled weekend back together. Joe would head to his bedroom to sleep off yet another drunk. It would all start up again the following weekend. As you may guess weekends were the worst, the Holidays were the worst of the worst. I remember only one or two Holidays with no police presence in over 20 years living at the old house.

It’s only by God’s Grace no one was killed, and mom kept her sanity. This lifestyle took its toll on all of us, as I sadly recall the memories at 221 E. Park Avenue.

The happiest times through all these childhood years were grade school and church. I fondly recall sitting in church feeling safe and out of reach from monsters such as Joe. We were in our safe zone at church or school: this was our link to normalcy and sanity if even just for an hour or two. Grama would often sit with us in the 10:30 church service and give us suck candy to keep us content through the long liturgical service (Grama just passed away last week at age 96, April 5, 2011; one day before my 47th birthday).

Thinking back I believe someone in our local congregation must have been praying for our dysfunctional family on quite a regular basis. My favorite Sunday school teacher, Miss Klusendorf comes to mind; I’d cast my vote that she was the loyal one praying for us. She was a dear old saint who never married. She lived her entire life with her mom, only a few short blocks from us. I sadly lost touch with her during my rebellious, post confirmation years. Later when she died, I recall feeling very empty and sad.

They say children follow the pattern of their parents. Mom was brought up around this same disturbing alcohol abuse, like her mom was. Drunkenness was our family heritage of German ancestry living twenty miles west of Milwaukee, the beer capitol of the world. Beer and booze completely enslaved every uncle, aunt, grandfather, grandmother in my family.

As I grew older I was disillusioned by “organized religion” and everything it stood for. How could Christians, religious people, and church families relate to my family? We were outcasts, the family at school and church, people whispered about. My mom and grama on my mom’s side, were the only ones that were non drinkers. They kept us in Sunday school and church, even if it meant taking a cab when our car died.

Lutheran grade school also engraved the bible in our minds. We had bible instruction 6 out of 7 days a week. Saturday was our only day off. However when we turned 12, Saturday was added too, 9 am to 12 for two years leading up to our confirmation. At 14 I entered the public school system, I drifted from my Lutheran roots. “Once Confirmed” in this religion - that’s the pinnacle, though I didn’t know that then. Which leads me to another topic, the false spiritual security of Lutheran faith; that is a king size can of theological worms. I will crack the lid on that later.

As a Confirmant, in the churches eyes, you’re considered a spiritual adult. Like so many after confirmation, I became disinterested in religion. Looking back it was mostly ritual and ceremony, without a personal touch.
No commitment, no change, no power.

Just memorizing creeds, commandments, articles of faith, hymns, confessions, so on and so forth - never taught that entering God’s family and receiving His eternal blessings are a personal choice. We must make them individually, not just give the correct theological answers to the pastor’s questions; needing to repent of personal sins, turning and making Christ master and Lord of our lives. This can’t be decided by parents or anyone else. Yes we’re taught about sin and the cross, in Sunday school, but for Lutherans that sin was accounted for at our infant baptism. This is the travesty and false security of this faith. This is the lie of the Lutheran’s religion. This may be where most Lutherans lose their faith in religion. Young adults faced with life’s painful problems, not prepared mentally and doctrinally to process life’s pitfalls and temptations. Nor how to combat our flesh, and Satan, our main adversary! Instead we’re taught to confess our sins through creeds each Sunday, and receive absolution of sins twice a month at the Lord’s supper, as if Christ needs to die on the cross each Sunday!

We brush our week’s trials and sins under the carpet until next week, rather than learning victory in Grace, through practical steps outlined in scripture. Such as praying, reading, abstaining from people, places, and things that tempt the flesh. We weren’t taught about the Truths the apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian church” “To put on the whole amour of God”. We were basically told “you’re in God’s family as a infant, safe and secure”. All we can do is to get through another week, so we can receive another spiritual shower to make us clean another week. That’s the way it is year after year; how wrong is that? What’s so amazing about that type of Grace?

As a teenager I was confused and asked the question, “Why as a child of God, am I no better off than anyone else? I am just as miserable, sinful, confused, insecure, and clueless about how to handle life’s struggles. I’m like the rest of the poor sinners who never had water sprinkled on them at 6 weeks old. I’m no better off; there’s no special protection by God or working power in my life. I stumble, fall, and grope for answers just like everyone else. There’s no peace, victory, or fulfillment.”

This is when I began almost to hate my religion.

My church seemingly had no clue what my family’s was going through. Yet in the midst of all this doubt, God was working on my heart, and my conscience; poking me, trying to get my attention. I resisted Him year after year from age 14 to 18. I didn’t want to hear Him.

This is a marvelous thing you may ask: The God of the universe was speaking to you all this time, the one person who could give comfort, and you said ‘No’ to Him?
Exactly.

Now God’s voice wasn’t audible, but He spoke to my conscience using the scriptures I had learned, as well as just the mustard seed faith that was planted in me over the years. This is why I’m not opposed 100% to the Lutheran religion; it did (through the scriptures) plant the seed that became my salvation. So I reasoned in my heart that God knew what our family was going through, why should I humble myself and talk to Him? He knows I’m in pain, confused, lonely, angry, and bitter. So I closed my ears to God. I reasoned He really doesn’t love me or is powerless to do anything for me.

Otherwise, I concluded, He wouldn’t have allowed this pain in my family. I distinctly remember one afternoon only a few months before God changed my life forever. I was on the run from Joe again, angry, wondering how long I could go on. Never knowing when it was safe to go back home, and then go home to what? Tomorrow will just be the same! God was speaking really loud to me that afternoon as I was walking downtown toward the old Park theatre. I was going nowhere in particular just walking off my anger and scolding God for bringing me into this messed up world.

He said to my conscience “Talk to Me Tim”, I’m right here. Why won’t you talk to Me?” So I blurted out audibly and didn’t care who heard me on the street, “No! I hate you God the Father…I hate you Jesus (pause)…I hate you … (and I was just about to utter Holy Spirit), when my conscience said:

“Tim, enough, God gets your point”, so I stopped at that instant. I said to myself, Yes I guess He does; but continued to stoke my anger towards God. I wasn’t quite ready for God; what I didn’t know at the time was God was ready for me, and only weeks away from changing me forever!

So back to January 1983

. . . here I am bloody, angry, cold, and scared as I headed up the street not knowing what lay ahead. I can’t go home and don’t even have a jacket. The temperature was barely above zero as I walked to Cutler Park, wearing only jeans and a tee shirt. I was freezing, and the wind was howling, the cold air cut me to the bone.
I literally desired death.

Cutler Park is my stomping ground. Grama lived a block west of the park; we lived a block east of the park. As I approached this Park like a thousand times before, I was a mental and emotional train wreck. Nine years of anger at God, for allowing Joe to destroy any happiness our family had. Nine years of Joe verbally and physically abusing our family. I was tired of running from my home. Tired of witnessing everything of material value we ever owned damaged or obliterated at the hands of a raging drunken lunatic. Tired of hoping things would get better and never did. Tired of going to bed with my day clothes on, knowing there was a good chance we’d have to leave the house anytime in the am hours. Of watching my mom cry year after year.

I was at rock bottom, with zero hope, and had no ideas how to process these emotions or my immediate future. Nine years of pain, sorrow and frustration welled up to the surface. Out of nowhere, without even planning it, I screamed out:

“GOD HELP ME, I DON‘T KNOW WHAT TO DO! I DON‘T KNOW WHERE TO GO? GOD I NEED YOU”!

Tears streaming down my face, not knowing where those words came from, I was broken. I had no home, no future, no pride, no direction, nothing: not a dime in my pocket, no friends to call, and all on my own. Without any confidence that God would reply or even care I uttered those desperate pleas for help, He was my last hope.

What happened next is what forever changed my life. I get goose bumps even now as I’m writing this. Now immediately in the middle of my last plea, “GOD I NEED YOU”! and not even letting me finish the last line, Heaven opened up literally, on a cloudy day, and the most brilliant light beamed through the overcast winter sky and engulfed my entire body!

It blinded me for what seemed like minutes. In reality it was only seconds. Instantly my body was filled with warmth like it was a hot August day; now it was just a few degrees above zero. I have only a tee shirt on. Immediately I looked up above the trees and could only conclude that it wasn’t the sun I was seeing but GOD’S light, HIS GLORY.

HE didn’t say anything audibly but I knew instantly that moment that GOD had heard my prayer; the words HE was waiting for. HE filled me with HIS presence and secured my name in the book of Life that afternoon in a split second and I understood it!

I didn’t ever know He could speak with such clarity without words. HE penetrated my spirit with HIS, and helped me understand that it’s ok now! “I have heard your pleas, I will take care of you. I finally have your attention and you’re finally My child.”

Then I said out loud, “Wow, this is incredible! GOD is real, He does listen, He does care!” In one minute my years of pain, suffering and loneliness were over! I understood GOD indeed was with me all those years, preparing me for this moment. I yelled “Thank you LORD!” and didn’t care who heard me.

I was overwhelmed and was on cloud nine for months. I wondered if it was like this for all those that become saved. Later on I discovered it’s not. Now I don’t know why my conversion was so dramatic (?), however the pain I went through was equally as dramatic and maybe that’s why. This experience changed my heart forever.

God planted His Spirit in me and renewed my interest in Him eternally. I soon was baptized and read the Bible three, four hours a day. The Word came alive like never before! I now had a reason to live, real hope, and a living GOD to guide me! No one would ever take this experience and joy away from me. Some 27 years later He’s just as real and alive as that day in Cutler Park and a few times a year I go back to the exact spot where I was saved. I stand by the same tree, and look up and recall the day salvation came to me personally.

This was just the beginning as I learned the mind and heart of GOD. Learning that the Baptist church was closer to my understanding of scripture, I soon changed churches. I was like a sponge as the Word penetrated day after day. A selfish, angry, frustrated 18 year old now became a servant to the LORD. I began to be available for all in need, and GOD has given me a servant’s heart, by HIS Grace.

I was able to forgive Joe, and invite him to church; even helped him repair his cars, and just being respectful and kind to this man. Only GOD’S Spirit could do this! I just praise GOD daily for saving me, and being patient with me. The difficult circumstances HE placed me in were for a reason; eternal blessing was HIS goal.

Now those hard long years made sense to me, much like what Joseph went through as he was betrayed and sold by his own brothers to the Ishmaelites. He languished in pain and loneliness, without a home, much like me. It amazes me how GOD’S Grace works and his immense love and patience. He put up with my harsh words, and waited until the time was right; HE broke me for HIS Glory and has placed me in the Lambs book of Life forever. My own road to Damascus.

By Timothy Allen Hinze

The LORD inspired me to include this song by Kutless, entitled: Promise You at the end of this marvelous message of mercy.

Now that you've heard brother Tim's testimony, have a listen to
Promise You by Kutless.

Another Smoke Signal: HE WALKS and TALKS with ME

2011-04-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

Psalm 106:9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

Psalm 77:20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. ~

Psalm 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

Psalm 95:8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

As most of you know, I do a lot of research and study, looking at current events and trends and examine the world scene, particularly what's happening in our own nation.

Things are looking grim aren't they? Wars around the globe (rumors too); earthquakes, tsunamis and storms; economic as well as nuclear fall out; fuel prices climbing with no promise of slowing down; joblessness creeping ever higher (ten percent unemployment rate, but another 15% of underemployment - those who are working but not making enough to live on).

Like yourselves, I have limited resources on my own, and know too well my vulnerability should I get laid off, or if I incur some enormous financial obligation. Naturally in such storms in life, in the face of uncertainty and signs of impending disaster (and for those who are looking, they are readily observable), one can worry about what's going to happen.

Not to mention how things are going for the church in America; she is getting flooded with heresies, seduced by deceivers, and weakened by the world and its satanic master.

One day a few weeks ago, I was walking about the neighborhood in the morning with my walk man, listening to some music by Chris Tomlin, praying to the LORD about all of these worries and burdens. At one point the song, All the Way My Savior Leads Me (originally written by Fanny Crosby, the well known hymnist who suffered a tragic accient as a baby through a doctor's mishap that resulted in her blindness).

Here is the song from youtube; have a listen, and then come back here, would you?

All The Way My Savior Leads Me

Well, as I was walking and praying, I heard the line - "you lead me, and keep me from falling", and at that exact moment I turned to my right and saw a sight that caused my breath to catch in my throat:

A grandfatherly man was gently, slowly walking with his grandchild securely, safely held by his hands over theirs. The little tyke took a wrong step, but the grandfather was there, and didn't allow him to stumble. The toddler was kept safe.

It was then that the LORD spoke so clearly through this sight before me; it was as though He was saying,

"James, you see how gently and lovingly and carefully that man is walking with his babe? He would never abandon that child and leave it on its own; he isn't impatient with him, but willingly takes such small steps in order to accommodate that little one's own tiny stride.
"Am I not at least as gentle and as loving and as careful in my care for you? Will you not trust Me to care for your every step? Will you doubt My tender mercies for you?"

I must admit that I was ashamed of myself for my doubts and worries over my life before my heavenly Abba; as I continued to walk on, my vision became blurry as my eyes flooded with tears.

I had to repent for not only doubting God and His tender heart towards me, but for hurting His tender heart for all my lack of faith in His loving provision. Yet the LORD in proving His tenderness towards me, orchestrated that event and timed it so precisely that the meaning of that awesome sight was too, too obvious. It was a divinely appointed moment in which the LORD went out of His way to assure my faith.

I think about how the LORD led Israel out of Egypt and gently, patiently led them through the wilderness. Oh, to be sure, there was severe chastening for the people of Israel at the hand of God, but there was provision of grace in the midst of judgment as well. How could Israel have doubted His tender mercies and provision, after they saw such signs and wonders performed by the Almighty in Egypt on their behalf?

The same way that I can doubt Him, though He has performed such miracles in my own life that Israel never saw: namely His holy habitation in my heart as He became my LORD and Savior, and I became the temple of His Holy Spirit.

The same LORD that provided salvation for me, a sinner, and secured an eternal dwelling in the glories of everlasting heaven is the same LORD Who governs this entire universe, yet knows each and every sparrow when it falls, and numbers the hairs on my head (in my case, he counts my eyebrow hairs, ha ha!). As the Fanny Crosby song goes,

"How could I doubt His tender mercies?" The LORD indeed "leads me and keeps me from falling" - He is ever willing to take me by the hand and gently walk with me, and softly talk with me through His Word, by His Spirit. And He knows every bend in the road of my life, sees every provision and how long it will last - and when it dries up, has a plan to supply my needs by other means: but all of them from His divine hand of grace.

Did you know that one of the titles of God is El Shaddai? In English, this title means the "Almighty Provider" or one who is Almighty in their ability to provide - the same God that proved His Almighty abilities in creation; the same God that proved His Almighty abilities in redemption (Jesus did what NO ONE else could have: he bore the sins of the ENTIRE Human race and paid the price for it all!) is the same God that will meet my needs, supply grace for every trial, grant strength to endure any hardships, be ever-present to help in time of need or persecution or illness.

GOD is indeed Almighty so He can do anything at all; nothing is impossible for Him!
GOD is also LOVE, which means He has the motive of our best and greatest good in mind for everything He brings into our lives. Sometimes He brings trouble into our lives, just so that He can prove Himself strong on our behalf as our Deliverer! He indeed delivers us out of our distresses!

What need then for anxiety or worry? What cause can I point to as a legitimate reason for such things? If I trust Him, He can even keep me from falling into sin and rebellion against Him - and this I greatly desire for my 'new man' (that is, that part of me that is born of God and lives by the power of the Divine nature [character] instilled by Jesus Christ) has no inclination to hurt His Holy Heart.

I want to bless Him by showing Him a heart that will rest in His care, and joy in His ability and demonstrations of love and provision!

And I know you want to do the same, for His love and care for you, as for me, is also the same!

Jude 1:24 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, Jude 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. And AMEN!

The MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTER in the BIBLE - Part 2

2011-03-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

(note: this entry is based on a sermon delivered on 3-20-11 by yours truly; not everything mentioned here was preached on during the sermon, and likewise there were some things stated in the sermon that are not included here. LORD permitting, videos of these sermons will be available soon, and a link to it will be added to these entries).

From last time, we finished the study including verse 20 -

vs. 20: "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept."

This phrase, 'first fruits' is very relevant; it refers to the first harvest of fruit that is grown with the promise of an even greater crop in the future. Just as the Bible commanded Israel to render to God their first fruits (in crops, in live stock, our first born children who were especially dedicated to the LORD) we as the church today, offer God the first fruits of our labor (working as unto the LORD and not human beings) and finances (as in tithes), our time in study of His Word, prayer, and fellowship, whatever ministry the LORD has given us, etc.

God offered up His First Born (a title for one who was pre-eminent, or rank #1), the LORD Jesus Christ on our behalf, and He has risen with a promise of even greater fruit, when all the church is likewise risen from the dead!

1 Peter 1:3-5 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
"To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

Now we pick it up with vs. 21-23:

1 Cor 15:21-23 "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."

Adam represents the human race which has fallen into sin, therefore death is a part of our existence. However, Jesus Christ represents a NEW race with the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) as is evident in the true church of born again believers, and so we are inheritors of eternal life in JESUS! (see vs. 45-47 in reference to the first and last Adam).

The first fruits is when Jesus resurrected from the dead with a spiritual, resurrected body. Those who "slept" and are even now 'sleeping' will be raised up at His Return! They're not really dead in the sense that they are gone; just asleep in a sense because when the LORD comes and calls us, we (that is in our bodily consciousness) will wake up! There are some that teach the concept of 'soul sleep', that is, when a person dies they are unaware of anything and entirely unconscious, not sensing any reality of heaven or the presence of the LORD. This teaching is false and disproven quite ably from the scriptures.

There are souls under the altar in the book of Revelation that cry out to God, communicate with God, have memory of their former lives while on Earth, etc. (Rev. 6:9-11). Paul stated to be absent from tbe body is to be present with the LORD (2 Cor. 5:8).

No, our consciousness (spirit) will be very much aware of the glories of heaven and the glorious Person of Jesus when we die; its only our bodies that are asleep, but will be awakened to life eternal, albeit in a transformed state (we'll get into this momentarily).

1 Cor 15:24-26 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

The time is coming when death will die, that is, "this last enemy" will be destroyed, but for who? Those who are in Christ Jesus and the world that they shall inherit (the new Earth!) where death will no longer be a part of our existence!

The LORD Jesus Himself is the victor over death -

Hebrews 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he [Jesus] also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

All other enemies at this time will be abased, that is, put down from any power or authority that they once had; this includes human beings (Psalm 2) and angelic beings as well (Col. 2:15).

Note vs. 25, what it says: "For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet."

The reign of the LORD Jesus Christ shall endure UNTIL He has put all enemies under the subjection of His rule; this will transpire when He physically returns to this rebel Earth, and begins to exercise His rulership over all the nations. Afterwards, He will still be KING of Kings and LORD of Lords, but that He will surrender ultimate rulership and authority to the Father as we see in the following verses:

1 Cor 15:27-28 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Today we still see rebellion and sin in this world; indeed such things are growing at an alarming rate! God's Word is disparaged even among so-called believers and churches; the Bible as the very Word of God is ridiculed in Universities and considered absurd. Prayer is banned from schools, the 10 Commandments are removed from our court rooms and an increasing state of "lawlessness" is evident.

Yet such actions and conduct are in direct rebellion against the KING and RULER of the Universe; in any other kingdom such things done against the command of its king would be considered treason and punishable by death! How much more so shall the Holy and Almighty King of all creation bring justice to those who mock His authority and trample His commandments underfoot!

Indeed, one day all of Christ Jesus' enemies will be brought low, and subjected under Him! As I am fond of saying, "There is no such thing as eternal injustice!"

Romans 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Philippians 2:9-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Back to 1 Corinthians:

1 Cor 15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

This verse is somewhat obscure in its meaning, and as I consulted with various commentaries, each gave variations of meaning, or even different meanings altogether. Some suggest that this is in reference to those saints who have died, and others who have come to faith and were baptized, taking the place of those departed, filling in the ranks.

Others suggested that this was a pagan practice (baptism for the dead) that was carried over to the church.

Still others state that this was in reference to washing the dead prior to burial with a view towards the resurrection.

Which ever may be the case, Paul is arguing here that if there is no resurrection from the dead, what would be the need for these practices?

1 Cor 15:30-33 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

If there is no resurrection, Paul states, then why should he and all Christians at this time in history when persecution, suffering and martyrdom were rampant endanger their own lives by remaining faithful to Christ and renouncing the things of this world, if in fact we have no hope for the resurrection unto eternal life?

Remember vs. 19 of this chapter: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."

Today its the same, when you examine the persecuted church all over the world; the one singular hope they have, that they cling dearly to, is to remain faithful to the name of JESUS, to not deny His Name, so that they may receive a great reward at the resurrection -

Consider Hebrews chapter 11, what's been popularly called 'The Hall of Faith':

Heb. 11:35b-40: . . . and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

May I encourage you to be in prayer for the persecuted church, and ask the LORD to grant tremendous grace, peace and strength for these suffering saints to remain steadfast and faithful to the end, even if it costs them their lives? Check out the following web site:

http://www.persecution.org/
and also: http://www.persecution.com/

Paul stated that he "die[d] daily" and we can take this two different ways; on the one hand he often faced peril and the possibility of physical death as a martyr of Jesus Christ (interesting that the word for "witness" in the Greek is "martos" the very word from which we get the word, martyr!), but that he also died daily to himself, denying his sinful nature, crucifying it so that Christ Jesus might live more fully through him (see Gal. 2:20).

1 Cor 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

In a rebuke towards the worldly outlook on life ("let us eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die") Paul exhorts the Corinthian saints to "awake to righteousness" which points out that they were asleep in a sense and living a lax life, not being disciplined in holiness by the power of the Spirit. Such conduct is indeed a shame, and may we all take this admonition (myself included!) to heart!

As we are passing through this world as pilgrims (1 Peter 2:11-12) are we doing what we can to share "the knowledge of God" as we are commanded by the LORD? To proclaim His Gospel to a lost, dying world (Mark 16:15)?

1 Cor 15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?

Two questions are posed here: How does this 'resurrection' work? and What will these new bodies be like?

1 Cor 15:36-38 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

Paul relates death and resurrection to an agricultural analogy - what is planted gets 'obliterated' - it doesn't remain in seed form. Eventually it sprouts up out of the earth and it's very different looking and functions differently too!

See John 12:24 regarding the "seed of Abraham" Who is Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:16) by Whom all the world is being blessed!

1 Cor 15:39-41 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

Likewise in this world, there are various forms of animal life: aquatic, terrain, and aerial, all with 'flesh' of a different kind. Also the heavenlies have different bodies that vary in glory.

So too, there is the glory of this physical body we now have, though since the fall of humanity, this is far more limited than what God designed originally in the first man, Adam; and there will be a greater glory in the bodies we shall inherit!

1 Cor 15:42-44 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Note that when we are resurrected we will have a spiritual BODY; we won't be disembodied spirits floating around heaven for all eternity, but will have actual bodies but spiritual, not natural in being.

The LORD Jesus Christ Himself demonstrated this resurrected body in that He could appear instantly in the middle of a room without the use of a doorway; He could appear in a small town and in the next instant be in Jerusalem. He could transport to heaven (there to present the blood of atonement in the Temple of God (see Heb. 9:23-24) and return to Earth once again so that He could "breathe" the Holy Spirit upon His followers (see John 20:12).

Yet He could also be touched, handled and could eat food (see Luke 24:38-43; John 20:27; 1 John 1:1).

Here we understand the distinction from resurrection, and simply being raised from the dead; there is a difference.

The LORD Jesus raised people from the dead such as the widow from Nain's son, Jairus' daughter and most notably Lazarus (Luke 7:11-6; 8:41-42, 49-56 and John 11:1-44) but all of these died again!

Jesus declared in John 11:25-26
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (See also John 8:51-53).

Jesus lives and dies no more!
Romans 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Continuing in 1 Corinthians and getting a 'wrap up' lets look at the following verses:

1 Cor 15:45-50 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

The life of Adam was imparted to him by the breath of God; and this life was sustained by God, the Author of all life; he didn't have life in himself that was self sustaining.
However the last Adam (Jesus Christ) does have life in Himself and He can impart this life to others just as God the Father imparts life (see John 5:26; 10:28; 17:2-3).

Each of these two Adams (the original Adam and Christ, the 2nd Adam) produce after their own kind:
The first Adam - his descendents are of the earth, are sinners by nature, and produce a race of sinners.
The second Adam - his 'descendants' are of heaven (though still residing on this Earth for a time) and are a holy people, each of them produced as a new race of humans by direct interaction with God Almighty via the spiritual rebirth (John 1:12; 3:3-5)

We now bear the image of the earthly regarding our physical bodies, but one day we shall bear the image of the heavenly, with out resurrected bodies!

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Right now we who are saved are being conformed to the image of the Son in our minds (if we are yielding to Him, letting Him do His work in us) that results in a life like that of Jesus with all of His attributes of love, holiness, etc. This is an ongoing process right now that will continue until we see Him face to Face!

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

When we see Him, then we will be "glorified" as is stated above. We have been called of God to enter into the kingdom He has prepared for all who will receive Jesus Christ and His atonement for our sins. Those who do so are now justified (declared sinless before our Holy God!) and these who are free from the penalty of sin: death and hell, are one day to be glorified so that we will no longer have a sin nature, but only the nature of Jesus' holiness abiding in us! WOW!!

All of this is happening to and for us in accord to God's foreknowledge and predistination; He Who knows all things: past, present and future; He knows those that are His and those who receive His Son (see Jn. 13:20).

"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" Jesus declared that unless one is born again, he cannot see (perceive, know) it, nor can he enter into it. Neither can we who ARE born again enter into it with these bodies we now have.

1 Cor 15:51 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed," I once saw this scripture posted on the door of a church nursery! A slightly different application there, huh?

There are some of us that when the LORD returns, will be alive and well on planet Earth, and we along with those who have died as believing Christians will all be "caught up" together with the LORD, meeting Him in the air, and we shall from that point on, forever dwell in the LORD's prescence, never to be parted from Him again! HALLELUJAH!

1 Thess 4:16-17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1 Cor 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

This resurrection/rapture (The rapture involves the living who while yet alive are changed; the resurrection are for those who have died - for the church this is the one and the same event!) was believed by the Old Testament saints such as Abraham (Gen. 22:5; Heb. 11:9) as well as Job (Job 19:25-26).

The Sadducees, religious leaders in Israel in the days of Jesus were very liberal in their theology, and didn't believe in the resurrection from the dead (Matt. 22:29). Today its the same among Christian liberals, such as Marcus Borg (referred to in Part 1 of this article) as well as most (if not all) deeply involved in the Emergent Church Movement.

This event will transpire "in a moment" - how many moments are there in a single day? At any one of these moments we can expect to find our LORD returning for us! Are we watching, waiting, working for the LORD until He returns? One of the purposes of prophecy is to clue us in about God's time table, and as we see these various biblical prophecies being fulfilled, we understand His Return is that much sooner (Luke 21: 28)!

1 Cor 15:53-55 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Compare this passage with some biblical commentary found in:

2 Tim 1:8-10 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

Once again we see the connection between the Gospel and the resurrection and eternal life, with afflictions and testimony working in between the two.

1 Cor 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

Law brings order; breaking the law brings consequences. If there were no road signs designating speed limits, no one driving could break the law. But God has ordained Law to be obeyed; the problem is we are powerless to obey these holy Laws because of our sinful nature. Thus, in God revealing His Holy Law to us, we understand our need for salvation (see 1 Tim. 1:9; Romans 7:7; Gal. 3:24).
Sin is the breaking of the Law, and it brings the consequences of death and hell; there is only one remedy for sin, and that is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

1 Cor 15:57-58 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Victory is assured for the child of God! See 2 Cor. 2:14 and 1 John 5:4.

Any and all things we do for the LORD's sake and a love for Him and His saints will know great reward; even if after years of service to Him, we may forget the things we have done that have borne good fruit, but He hasn't! It's all recorded and waiting to be acknowledged on that Day when He inspects our lives we lived here in this world, and renders reward for faithful (note: FAITHFUL, not necesarily HUGE, SUCCESSFUL, IMPRESSIVE, WELL KNOWN) service to Him.

Such reward will be a means for us to worship God as we acknowledge with thankful hearts that such deeds we have done would have been impossible if not for His grace, and His Spirit at work in our hearts and lives!

On that Day we shall no more weep, there will be no more sorrow or struggles or pain or weariness; no more injustice, evil, corruption, oppression, or violence; no more tribulation and trouble - these things along with this entire rebel planet will finally come to an end (remember vs. 24-25).

Philippians 3:8-10 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

This concludes this rather exhaustive study of 1 Corinthians chapter Fifteen. In regards to the Gospel being the foundation of our salvation, and in turn the resurrection (and the preceding atonement for our sins by the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ) being the foundation of the Gospel, I thought it would be good to include this rather remarkable insight with thanks to Dr. Chuck Missler where I first learned this:

The GOSPEL In CODE - Genesis chapter 5

May the LORD bless you all in the Name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, our BLESSED HOPE!

The MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTER in the BIBLE - Part 1

2011-03-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

(note: this entry is based on a sermon delivered on 3-13-11 by yours truly; not everything mentioned here was preached on during the sermon, and likewise there were some things stated in the sermon that are not included here. LORD permitting, a video of the sermon will be available soon, and a link to it will be added to this entry)

There are 66 books in our Bible today, each of them with chapters ranging from one or a few to over sixty or more. Which of these would YOU select as the most important chapter in the Bible?

What about Genesis chapter one? 'Genesis' means "beginnings" and this chapter lays out the creation account. Did you know that the first 10 chapters of Genesis contains the foundation of all of the Bible's major, fundamental doctrines?

This is why evolution is so destructive to "the faith" because if evolution were true, then we couldn't possibly believe in a literal Adam and Eve (even though the LORD Jesus mentions them as actual people; Matt. 19: 4). And if they weren't real, how could we believe anything of the creation account? And if this was likewise contrived, the entire first ten chapters would be suspect, and therefore all the doctrines of the Bible would not be trustworthy.

This is also why theistic evolution is not compatible with scripture, for even this declares that death was a part of our reality millions of years prior to what 'evolved' into Adam, and so death wouldn't be such a 'big deal' and thus inconsequential; nor would there be a need for salvation from death or its precursory cause, that is, sin.

What about Isaiah 53 perhaps? This chapter describes the suffering Messiah and His ministry to bear the sins of His people?

Or Psalm 119 - here is a chapter wholly devoted to the magnification and extolling of God's most Holy and precious Word!

Perhaps you might think of John chapter 3 where our LORD Himself establishes the mandate of the spiritual rebirth as a necessity in order to see and enter into the Kingdom of God?

Romans chapter 8 would be a good candidate as well: here is the declaration of the love of God in Christ Jesus from which nothing, NOTHING, NOTHING can separate us!

Or 1 Corinthians 13 where love is again the subject, but as it indwells the believer as the only sole, legitimate motivation for our service to the LORD and His people. We could do marvelous, incredible deeds and service, even allowing ourselves to be martyred and yet without love, scripture says, its all for NOTHING!

Now in reality, we know that ALL scripture is important (2 Tim. 3:16)because if God saw it as necessary to get His Word recorded, then its necessary for us to read it. And study it. And know it. And understand it. And love it. And Obey it. And live it!

Well here is another candidate for "the most important chapter" and the subject of today's teaching:

1 Corinthians chapter 15 - and why?

1 Cor 15:16-17 "For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: "And if Christ be not raised, your faith [is] vain; ye are yet in your sins."

"Your faith is in vain"? "yet in your sins"? What does THAT mean?!

We'll get into all of the details in this teaching today:

vs. 1: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand"

Paul preached the Gospel and the Corinthian saints received it, and stood in it. It was their foundation. Indeed, the Gospel is the foundation of the Christian life! If the foundation is solid, anything built on it is solid, and likewise vice versa: an unstable foundation will mean an unstable structure that's founded on it.

Remember the LORD's admonition in -

Mat 7:24-27 "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."

Note that 'hearing' (and in the Greek, this word can mean to perceive, to understand; not only to merely hear) is not enough. There are those who are granted understanding of the Word of God by His Spirit, but they don't obey or "do" the Word of God.
Even though they hear and understand, their house is not founded on the Rock (the LORD Jesus Christ Himself) but on the sand - a VERY unstable foundation! When any storm in life comes their way, their 'house' - representing their lives - will not stand up to it, but collapse and fall to ruin!

Those that both "hear" and "do" can be assured that when storms come, no matter how powerfully fierce and destructive they may be (and I believe we here in America will see more and more of these!) we have God's promise in His Word, that we will survive them, and remain standing!

The LORD desires that we become and maintain a good, solid, unshakeable "house of God" (1 Tim. 3:15). So, a solid understanding and obedience to the Gospel is absolutely important and is foundational for salvation.

But what is foundational to the Gospel? This, we will examine today!

vs. 2: "By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain."

There is that word again, "vain"! What is this talking about, "believing in vain"? This word 'vain' is used six times in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, and in the Greek they are not all the same word. In this verse, the word in the Greek is eike and it means "without a reason, or cause, to be in essence a failure"

Back to Matthew ch. 7 -

Mat 7:21-23 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
"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."

On that Day of Judgment, the scripture says "MANY"! "MANY will say to Me on that day, LORD, LORD" and will list all the wonderful works that they have done in His Name, professing a personal knowledge of the LORD, yet He will declare to them, "I NEVER knew you, you that work iniquity (that word 'iniquity' means "lawlessness" not being subject to authority, which in this case means that Jesus was not truly their LORD Whom they SHOULD HAVE been subject to!). Their belief in the LORD was vain.

Note that in vs. 21 it says that the only ones who will enter into the Kingdom are those that do the Father's will; the obedient, the ones who truly have Jesus as their Lord! There are no exceptions!

In John 8: 28 - 36 we have another example of vain belief in the LORD. In this passage it says that the Jews "believed on Him" twice (vs. 30 and 31)! Yet if you read this passage in its entirety, its plain to see that these Jews were likewise believing "in vain".

We must ask ourselves the question: Are we living a life of obedience (but not perfection necessarily) to God? How can we tell if our belief and faith in the LORD is genuine?

Do we have a new and different relationship with God now than before we made a profession of faith in Christ Jesus? I know for myself as a Roman Catholic for nearly 18 years, my image of God was one of a fierce and judgmental God Who was up in heaven, scrutinizing my every move, waiting for me to mess up so He could send down his condemning bolts of lightening!

It wasn't until after I received Jesus as LORD and SAVIOR - after I surrendered my life into His nail-pierced hands, that I came to know God as a loving, tender hearted, heavenly Father (Abba meaning "daddy" Who loved me enough to send His Son to die for my sins in my place. INCREDIBLE but TRUE!

Do we have a new and different relationship with sin now than before we made a profession of aith in Christ Jesus? Before I came to know the LORD, sin was no big deal; every one does it is the motto that's heard from any one who commits sin. Sin was fun - momentarily. Yet after I came to a saving knowledge of God's grace through Jesus, I developed a hatred for sin; it started to become repulsive to me. A good measure of one's spirituality is to ask oneself: Do I hate sin as much as God does?

And why does God hate sin so much? Not only because He is a holy God and is offended at such rebellion against His Holy Commandments; but also because sin separates God from those that He loves so, so dearly - you! (See Isaiah 59:2; Romans 5:8).

vs. 3: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures"

Knowing exactly what the Gospel is, and receiving it personally is essential; the apostle Paul received it, and so did the Corinthian saints. So must we all to be saved and become a child of God. Remember this, God has no grandchildren!

We cannot think of ourselves in right standing before God because our parents are Christian, or even if our family has been Christian for generations! Or even if our Dad is an elder or a pastor of the church! God has NO grandchildren, and not every one in this world is a "child of God" as is so commonly believed.

John 1:12-13 is very clear on this point -
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Nor are we children of God because we know and understand the Gospel.
We must individually receive the Gospel, and how do we receive it?

Let me give you a couple of analogies to illustrate this point:

Let's say you're at a railroad depot; you want to take a trip, but you suddenly discover that you don't have nearly enough money to purchase a ticket! Yet someone out of a gracious, generous heart purchases one for you!
Now, with ticket in hand, you read the point of destination on it and understand that this is a valid ticket that will get you where you want to go. Obviously you know the place you're going to travel to is a real place, even though you've never been there before. You look over the train and the railroad tracks and see that they are in excellent condition and well suited for travel.

KNOWING and UNDERSTANDING all of these facts, will you be assured of arriving to your destination? No, and why not? One more thing is yet necessary:

You have to leave the railroad depot and actually get on the train and trust that its going to get you there! If you don't commit your belief by actually getting on the train, all of your knowledge and understanding is worthless.

Another analogy: An acrobat fixed a high wire across Niagra Falls, and then began to traverse its length while thousands of tons of water thundered over the edge of the Falls, crashing down onto the river below, sending plumes of steam skyward. A crowd soon drew together and as the acrobat safely navigated his way back, they broke out into applause!

He then took a wheel barrel and walked it across the high wire, and again he returned safely to the other side! The crowd went wild! He then asked,
"How many of you believe I could put a person in this wheel barrel and walk them back and forth across this high wire?" The crowd cheered in affirmation! The acrobat then pointed to one particular young man, and said, "You sir, what about you? Do you believe I could carry a person safely across this high wire in the wheel barrel?"
The young man confidently affirmed this belief.
"Alright then," said the acrobat, "hop in; we're going across the Falls!"
The young man paled as he looked at the powerful Falls that suddenly looked so very dangerous! He fell silent, and his feet remained frozen on the solid, stable and safe ground!

While professing a belief in the acrobat's abilities, the young man failed to make a commitment and trust his life to another!

Just as he needed to get 'in the wheel barrel' and entrust his life to the acrobat, proving his profession and belief to be valid, we also must entrust Jesus with our very lives, though it will mean forsaking our old life and live a new life "in Christ".

vs. 3-4: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures"

This is the Gospel, plain and simple: Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He was buried and rose again from the dead on the third day. Note that in both His death and His resurrection it says "according to the scriptures".

There are some that would suggest that the Gospel message is a Christian invention, and has nothing to do with the Old Testament. Yet the Old Testament scriptures were all that were around at the time of Paul's writing (except for some of the Gospels, and an epistle or two). Thus when Paul mentions that these things were accomplished by the Messiah, they were indeed fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies!

vs. 5-8: "And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
"After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
"After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
"And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."

Many suggest that the visitations of the resurrected Jesus were merely illusions, hallucinations or even delusional episodes brought on by extreme emotions and grief. Yet five hundred people saw Him at one time, small groups saw Him, individuals saw Him - all over a span of 40 days. They reached out and touched Him; He ate food in their midst, demonstrating He was no ghost or figment of their imagination. He really did rise from the dead!

A good book to read about the Gospel accounts, and how their details prove that Jesus genuinely did rise from the dead was written by a lawyer who studied the scriptures and determined that the facts as presented in these accounts are legally viable and would be accepted in any (unbiased) court room as evidence of the Resurrection.

Testimony of the Evangelists - The Gospels Examined by the Rule of Evidence by Simon Greenleaf

vs.9-11: "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which [was bestowed] upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
"Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed."

vs. 12: "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?"

There were some teachers, even in the early church who were very influential and didn't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! These were either Gnostics or influenced by Gnostic teachings.

To learn more about what Gnostics believed (contrary to biblical truth) see the following from C.A.R.M. ministries (http://carm.org/):

What is Gnosticism?

Today its no different; there are still those, even among the church that claim to be true followers of Jesus, that deny the resurrection. One such person is a prominent figure in what's known as the Emergent Church Movement; he is a liberal theologian named Marcus Borg. He said:

"Were the skeletal remains of Jesus to be indisputably identified, it would not matter to me. To think that the central meaning of Easter depends upon something spectacular happening to Jesus’ corpse misses the point of the Easter message and risks trivializing the story (huh??!! [emph. mine]). To link Easter primarily to our hope for an afterlife, as if our post-death existence depends upon God having transformed the corpse of Jesus, is to reduce the story to a politically-domesticated yearning for our survival beyond death."

To read the entire article, go here:
Marcus Borg article Denies the Resurrection

Reading Simon Greenleaf's book would prove quite useful in refuting Borg's false claims. Another would be material from Josh McDowell, particularly information that can be viewed here:

A READY DEFENSE by Josh McDowell

(Note: There are some issues with which I don't agree with McDowell therefore I can't endorse everything he states, but the material here seems very good to me!)

vs. 13-14 "But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
"And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain."

Once again we have this word "vain" appear, and this time a different Greek word is used - kenos, which means "empty, devoid of content, hollow".

Here is some excellent commentary on this passage from another epistle written by Paul the Apostle (remember, your best commentary on the Bible, is the Bible itself! Let scripture interpret related scripture. This is the best way for any student of the Bible to really learn the truth of God's Word):

Rom 6:5-13 "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
"For he that is dead is freed from sin.
"Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
"Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
"For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
"Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

There is a LOT of spiritual meat here that could be used for a sermon on its own! The point I want to make here is that EVERYTHING in our Christian faith, our daily living, and our hope for the future depends 100% on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
For our sins to be forgiven, He must be risen!
For His Spirit to indwell us, bring us Life Eternal and empower us to follow after Jesus, He must be risen! (see John 20:22)
For a victorious Christian life, He Must Be Risen!
For a hope and a future after this life is over, or when He returns to establish His kingdom, HE MUST BE RISEN!

Other verses that deal with the atonement for our sins, accomplished by Jesus death on the cross and resurrection from the dead are found in:

1 Cor. 5:21; Romans 8:3; Isaiah 53: 5-6, 10-11; as well as Psalms 16:10; (Romans 6:9 as mentioned already); and 1 Peter 3:18.

"By the death of Jesus our sins were slain,
By the Risen LORD, eternal life we claim!"

vs. 15-18: "Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
"For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
"And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
"Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished."

Romans 6:23 states that "the wages of sin is death". Why is this so?
Take a gold fish out of its fish bowl and toss it on the floor.
Uproot a flower from the soil and throw it on the sidewalk.
Snip the umbilical cord of an astronaut that's free floating outside of his spaceshuttle, in outer space.

What will happen to each of them? They will die, because they are removed from their source of life.

God told Adam, that in the day he ate of the forbidden fruit, he would surely die (In the Hebrew, its even clearer: God told Adam that "in dying, you shall die", that is, once Adam sinned for the first time, he would spiritually die then and there; the process of sin would then take effect and he would begin to die slowly physically until finally, it too would be dead).

God is the only source of Eternal life; knowledge of God in a genuine, spiritual way of true belief is itself eternal life according to John 17: 3. Sin separates us from God, and so its because of sin, we 'pay for it' ("wages" as in a penalty) by our death.

Yet we also know that in Jesus Christ there is no sin (2 Cor. 5:21) so He should have never died, because He never sinned; but He did die! How is that? Because He took upon Himself our own sins!

Yet as He is the author of eternal life, He overcame sin and death, and in victory rose from the dead!

Getting back to vs. 15-18, if its true that Jesus did not rise from the dead, then everything just stated above is a lie! Any that would support these statements would be a false witness!

We can see even more so now, the vital importance and necessity for the resurrection, can't we?

vs. 19: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." (see Ecclesiastes 1:14)

vs. 20: "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept."

This phrase, 'first fruits' is very relevant; it refers to the first harvest of fruit that is grown with the promise of an even greater crop in the future. Just as the Bible commanded Israel to render to God their first fruits (in crops, in live stock, our first born children who were especially dedicated to the LORD) we as the church today, offer God the first fruits of our labor (working as unto the LORD and not human beings) and finances (as in tithes), our time in study of His Word, prayer, and fellowship, whatever ministry the LORD has given us, etc.

God offered up His First Born (a title for one who was pre-eminent, or rank #1), the LORD Jesus Christ on our behalf, and He has risen with a promise of even greater fruit, when all the church is likewise risen from the dead!

1 Peter 1:3-5 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
"To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

~~ This concludes the first half of this teaching. The second half will be posted at a later time (hopefully soon!) for the prayerfully hopeful blessing of the saints!~~

THIS VICTORY IS YOURS, CHILD OF GOD - Part 2

2011-02-28T07:11:00.000-08:00

The victory we have in Christ Jesus is indisputable, unalterable, and eternal, for those of us who are of His body, the church invisible (believers who are born of God's Spirit that are represented in churches everywhere, though not all church members are included as there is a 'mixed multitude' of mere professors of Christ and those who are possessors of Christ).

We have eternal life through our LORD; we are promised this gift and assured of our residence in heaven with JESUS our SAVIOR.

However, there is another aspect to our victory in Christ Jesus that is available to us saints, but many are not receiving it; rather they're living in a complacent, compromised life that reflects the life and nature of Jesus very little.

Salvation is an all encompassing work of God's grace through the LAMB of GOD, the LORD Jesus; not only is He our LORD, not only is He our Savior, not only is He our Elder Brother, our High Priest and Prophet and King, He is also our Regal Role model.

Hebrews 2:10
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

1 Peter 2:21
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Just as our LORD suffered the agony of His Cross to purchase by atonement through His blood, our redemption, we also share in this Cross, not in acquiring redemption through our own sufferings (Jesus Christ proclaimed "It is FINISHED!" and so it is!) but in the putting to death the flesh or carnal nature that influences our thinking and actions.

What Jesus did for us on the Cross is purchase salvation in our justification; that is by Divine Judgment declare us 'not guilty' before our Holy God, being washed and cleansed and delivered from the punishment for our sins.

Rom 3:24
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Rom 3:28
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

His work would continue in the lives of His children in another aspect of salvation via the Cross, that is, our sanctification: the transformation of our minds, to put on the mind of Christ - but this is only possibe as we willingly mortify (that is "put to death") the sin nature that would enslave us and compel us to continue a carnal existence much like we did before we came to Christ Jesus for salvation.

Rom 8:13
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Rom 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Let me ask you a question that I would really ask of myself as well:

What is it in our lives that hinders God from expressing His glory, His presence, His miraculous working to reach out and touch this sinful world and make a difference for His kingdom?

Or putting it another way: what is it in our lives that needs to be put to death, so that the life of Christ Jesus can be more greatly revealed in me and minister to this lost world of souls that are heading towards hell?

Its our flesh, that is our carnal, sinful nature. Take the word 'flesh' and spell it backwards and you get 'hself'. Now put a space between the 'h' and the 's' and you get 'h self'; and now interject 'uman' after the 'h' and you have 'human self' and that is our sinful nature: its our human self as a descendent of Adam after the fall into sin, thereby creating a sinful race of humans.

It is this fallen Adamic nature that needs to die in us, so that the divine nature of Jesus Christ may be magnified in us.

2 Peter 1:4
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And what is the means of our escape from this sinful nature and all of its hellish habits, and the very compulsions and drives that finds allurements in this fallen world?
The CROSS! By faith we accepted salvation and surrendered ourselves to the LORD for our justification. It's no different for our sanctification! We must accept what Jesus has done for us in living a holy, sanctified life unto the Father, and surrender to Him; that the same Spirit that He was empowered by is able to work in and through us as we simply yield freely to Him.

Rom 6:10-14
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (For a greater comprehension of this, please read chapters 6 through 8 of Romans; its in the entire context of these three chapters that we are able to understand the spiritual reality of this victory!).

Remember the words of that old battle hymn?

1. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
forward into battle see his banners go!
Refrain:
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus going on before.

2. At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee;
on then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.
(Refrain)

3. Like a mighty army moves the church of God;
brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod.
We are not divided, all one body we,
one in hope and doctrine, one in charity.
(Refrain)

4. Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane,
but the church of Jesus constant will remain.
Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail;
we have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail.
(Refrain)

5. Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng,
blend with ours your voices in the triumph song.
Glory, laud, and honor unto Christ the King,
this through countless ages men and angels sing.
(Refrain)

Our victory over sinful self, over the world, over Satan and all the kingdom of darkness resides not in our own determination to succeed, not in any vow we might make to 'do better' not in making ourselves accountable to others (though this at least has some merit, but only AFTER the fact that we place first things first), but in allowing our own weak, frail, utterly human selves to die and evict its corpse from our house and thereby making room available, and then allow the invincible Spirit of Christ to have greater residence within.

John 16:33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

1 John 2:14
I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him [that is] from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

1 John 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Rev 12:11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Gal 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

See also 1 John 2: 15 - 17; 3: 5-9.

Besides spending time in the Word of God, and in prayer, and in godly fellowship (emphasis on both 'godly' and 'fellowship' - not socially 'hanging out' with other believers, that's a separate issue; but the sort of fellowship with Christ Jesus is the center purpose and focus for the gathering and is spiritually edifying) which are needful and essential ministerial exercises that all Christians must engage in, there is the action required in dealing with temptations.

First we must realize that temptation starts in the heart, and then the mind; a sinful thought entertained is a sinful thought engaged later on. Thus in order to keep ourselves from sin, the battle is within the mind -

2 Cor 10:4-5
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

I used to think the verse above applied to opposing imaginations and high things in the world and in unbelievers, and I still do to some degree, but I think a greater application is for we ourselves and those things in our flesh that would exalt themselves against and above the knowledge of God; bringing these things into "captivity" and "every thought to obedience of Christ".

When confronting a thought that would lead us to sin, we must acknowledge the sin-in-the-making, which is temptation, and confess that this thing is not acceptable or welcome in our lives and it is actually a trespass onto territory that God has purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28) and in the Name of Jesus Christ reject it; then in earnest prayer to the Father, ask for His divine intervention by the power of His Spirit and the crucified and Resurrected Christ, that He would allow such things to die in us, nailing it to the cross, and replace such sinful thoughts with those of His own, well pleasing and acceptable - surrender not to sin or self but to the Savior!

1 Thess 4:3-5,7
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor;
Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

This victory has been granted by the LORD Jesus Christ to all those that abide in the body of Christ. It is my heartfelt and sincere prayer that this message blesses, ministers, encourages all the saints to live such lives that know the power of Christ, the sanctification of Christ, and imprint such indelible marks of holiness in our lives that can never be erased!

AMEN!
God bless each of you!