But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, , so that you wil not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made the promise to Abraham since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, "I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU." And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast, and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. As a new christian at first reading I took all by faith and have been blessed by the Lord Jesus Christ himself to at last understand the mysterious that Is Jesus Christ Himself. The godman that takes away the sin of the world. This Jesus that was crucified is all over the bible. From the rock that sprung for living water for the Jews wandering the deserts to the manna that came forth from heaven to the blood that we drink to remember Him at the Lords supper. Jesus Christ is Lord of All. Or. He is not Lord at all. Imprint these words on a tablet in your heart. There will come a day when they are not engraved in stone but in your heart of human flesh. The "life" I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who died for me and gave himself up for me. A ransom for many. What a gift. Praise the Lord. Everything that has breath praise the Lord. All creation points to Jesus. I am most blessed to have been given this awareness of faith and I ask no I plead do not take your countenance from me. My god and my savior. Amen and Amen!
The mystery of the Cross. My life and faith revealed
Current mood: thoughtful
Category: Life
Another important verse for my bible believing brothers and sisters.
1Corinthians 15 the whole chapter but for my tastes 15.4-6 15.17-19
This chapter refers to christs ressurection from the dead.
I am very blessed to have been shown mercy and grace to see Gods kingdom. Without that grace of God I would be blind and at the exact time the Lord humbled me inorder to recieve this blessing and to preach this that others may be saved unto salvation.
Trust and obey. For there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
But you get what you need!
Current mood: bouncy
Category: Blogging
Christmas is a time where real heros shine. I was reminded this morning that His grace is all I really need in this life. When I was a child I thought like a child. Learning a wee bit more has brought me to a place of contentment that oftentimes I forget about in this wonderful home I have. People tell me that you are just a dream yet my faith is the evidence of things unseen. This faith was given to me by Him(YHWH). Praise God through our Lord Jesus Christ this christmas(And forever more); that by the foreknowledge of the Father I have what I have this morning. The peace, the pain and the hootspah to live this life of faith. Remember this important point. Everything on earth happens for a reason. Find that reason and you will find the truth. Amen
THIS IS THE REASON WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN! THANKS TO THE FATHER THROUGH HIS SON YHWH! QUOTING COLOSSIANS CHAPTER 3.1-4 PAUL SPEAKS TO HIS CHURCH AT COLOSSI: FOR CONTEXT TELLING HIS DISCIPLES HOW NOT TO BE LIKE ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE AROUND THEM BUT TO BE IMITATORS OF THE LORD
THEREFORE IF YOU HAVE BEEN RAISED UP WITH CHRIST, KEEP SEEKING THE THINGS ABOVE, WHERE CHRIST IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. SET YOUR MIND ON THE THINGS ABOVE, NOT ON THE THINGS THAT ARE ON EARTH. FOR YOU HAVE DIED AND YOUR LIFE IS HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD. WHEN CHRIST, WHO IS OUR LIFE, IS REVEALED, THEN YOU ALSO WILL BE REVEALED WITH HIM IN GLORY
Over this past year, our women's discipleship has been studying the different names of God. The studies have truly been a blessing. Although giving someone a name these days is more about sounding abstract and unique, God's names actually mean something! (You don't find God calling Himself, "Apple" , "Cosima" , "Fifi" or "Lime" - I have a son and know that these are real names given to kids these days!)
The study that I completed was on the name Adonai, and I want to share a short excerpt with you.
Adonai is translated as either "owner" or "master" and at times translated "my master". God is sovereign and rules over all things. As the righteous and holy Creator, He is the rightful owner of all things created, and He can rightly require our worship and obedience. He is the "Lord of lords…" (Deut. 10:17) An example of God's required obedience can be found in Malachi 1:6.
"'A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?' says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name?'
There can only be one sovereign owner and we must understand that it is not us. For we own nothing – not the car we use, not the house we live in, not the children we bore, not the money we have …we are all just stewards of God's ownership and should count it a joy that He would grant us the grace and faith required to maintain what has been provided by Him.
Obedience is not optional. It is essential for assurance of salvation (Matt. 7:21-23). The apostles taught this in James 1:23-25.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
How Can We Be Obedient to Adonai? Obedience to Christ is impossible without faith. Hebrews 11:3-6:
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Faith is impossible without regeneration, for not all have faith (2 Thess. 3:2). Christ is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Why would we not serve our Master who freed us from the bondage of sin? For He tells us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15). Romans 6:20-23 states:
For when you were slave of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When we go to work, we expect to be paid. After all, we have an agreement and when you fulfill the duties of our job description, there is a contract that is due to you for the work that we have completed. The "wages" of our work is money. We earned it; someone else did not earn it for us and it was not provided for free. After all, we didn't get to sit on a beach in Hawaii sipping a piña colada to get that paycheck!
Same thing applies to this passage. The "wages" of our sin is death. We earned it through and through.
But, we did not earn eternal life. The passage is clear; it is a free gift. It was decided before the foundation of the world. We were predestined unto salvation and we do not deserve it. Romans 8:28-30 states:
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren, and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Although our spirit has been freed from slavery to sin, our flesh still sins after we are born from above. Romans 8:5-10 states:
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
So, in our sinful flesh, how can we be obedient to Adonai? 1. We must look to the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16) 2. We must not look to our own feelings (1 Peter 1:14) 3. Obey in faith (Romans 14:22-23) 4. By the grace of God (2 Thess. 23-24)
Jewish and Christian Apologists have always used satire in the defense of the faith and the ridicule of unbelief. The satire of Elijah on Mt. Carmel was as brilliant as it was brutal (1 Kings 18:27). Jesus and Paul did not lack in the use of satire (Gal. 5:12). John Bunyan and many great Christian writers and preachers used satire as a sword to cut to the heart of unbelief. Did they offend people and hurt their feelings? You bet they did! Did they care? NO! In Matt. 15:12-14 we read,
Then the disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?" But He answered and said, "Every plant that My heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up". "Ignore them." "They are blind guides of the blind." "And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
Jesus had just ridiculed them and called them "hypocrites" for robbing their parents in the name of God (vs. 1-18). Did the Pharisees "feel hurt" when Jesus publicly called them names and described them as thieves? Yes. Did Jesus run over to them, get down on his knees, and beg their forgiveness for hurting their feelings? No. But that is what modern evanjellyfish Christianity would tell him to do.
Just before Walter Martin died, he had been scheduled to speak at a conference on apologetics in Rockford, Illinois. The conference organizers asked me to take his place and give a main lecture on "The Cost of Discernment." Here is the recording. Leng
th of audio: 43:10
In that message, I demonstrated from Scripture that "being sensitive" and doing your best to avoid "hurting people's feelings" are vices, not virtues. If getting people mad, making them cry, and hurting their feelings were sins, then hell is the greatest sin God commits! God does not give a rip about your feelings. He wants you to be holy, not happy.
Walter had been condemned as mean, rude, and offensive by the lampooned cultists and occultists. He was my friend for 27 years and, believe me, he used satire a lot. It was part of his appeal to those who had not bowed the knee before the idol of sensitivity training. Those of you who love apologetics now understand why you are accused of "poor taste," "meanness," etc. Spineless evanjellyfish are everywhere condemning us left and right for following the example of the prophets, the apostles and Jesus Himself.
I spoke at Biola University on Islam and young girl came up all upset because I said that Muhammad was stupid as well as evil. I used the comic book, Muhammad's Believe it or Else, as a satire of a nut case who got an army to do his bidding. She had tears in her eyes and demanded to know if the feelings of any Muslims were hurt when I called their prophet stupid. I asked her to email me, as there was no time at the lecture to open the Bible with her. We began to correspond and, in the end, she agreed that the prophets, the apostles, Jesus, and God the Father ridiculed and mocked people and called them names such as "stupid" (ex. Jer. 10:8-21). She replied: "BUT WE SHOULD NOT FOLLOW THEIR EXAMPLE BUT BE NICE!" Such ignorance! Such stupidity is only rebellion covered up in the name of being nice.
You will never be effective as an apologist until you learn not to be man-pleasers but God-pleasers. Fear the frown of God more than the frown of man. The smile of God should mean more to you than the smile of man.
"Wickedpeedia," the highly unreliable and liberal-biased online encyclopedia, usually doesn't get things right. But because anyone can submit an entry, and because they can't censor everyone, sometimes a good article appears that is right on the money. The entry on satire is an example of a good article.
The conclusion - Will Christian appeal to Scripture or to Natural Theology?
"Can you prove by reason alone that there is a God or that Jesus loves me?"
Christian looked at him and said:
"The Gospel is not optional. It is either turn or burn; repent or perish. I exhort you with all divine authority to repent of your sin and turn to your Maker before He casts you into hell forever. The message of the cross is not the product of human reason, experience, feelings or faith. It was revealed by God himself in the pages of the Bible, the Written Word of God. The Greeks want foolosophical arguments and the Jews demand miracles. But I will not do either lest your faith be based on philosophy or experience instead of Revelation."
Christian continued,
"Talkative, Foolosophy has finally run its course. The New X-ism is the end result of rejecting the God of the Bible. You can't have truth, morals, meaning, or beauty if you begin with man. The only choice before you is clear: If you begin with the Revelation of God in the Bible, you have everything. If you begin with man, you have nothing."
Talkative asked,
"But what about the arguments of the bubble men? They claim that man, starting from himself, within himself, apart from any outside source such as this Bible you mentioned, can understand the truth about God, man, the world around us, etc."
Christian chuckled, answering,
"They foolishly try to jump from the finite to the infinite. They start with particulars and try their best to turn them into universals. I guess they think they can turn lead into gold! They cannot even make 'is' into 'ought.' Matter cannot be changed into morals by merely wishing it to be so. Natural law is a bust. They are living in a time warp."
Talkative replied, "I never knew that people actually believed this nonsense."
Christian agreed and said,
"They did, but the foolosophers have since then moved on and escaped from the bubble. Once the foolosophers that used to be stuck in this Valley failed to find truth and morals by reason alone, they threw down the baton and admitted that without God there can be no truth or morals. We were relieved that the search for such things was over and we could just have a good time. Then the bubble men picked up the baton and shouted, 'Just give me until tomorrow and I will find truth and morals through human reason alone.' But they have failed just like all those before them failed.
God has commanded men everywhere to repent and believe in Jesus Christ and His gospel. He does not ask you to repent. He commands you to repent. The Bible says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised from the dead on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared before his disciples."
Talkative said,
"I don't know why but I believe what you are saying. I know that I am a sinner on my way to hell. I need a savior. Tell more of Jesus and His love for sinners like me."
I awoke from the dream as Christian and Talkative were on their knees together asking God for mercy through the merits of Christ alone. Talkative had listened to the bubble men for years and never accepted the gospel. But confronted with Divine Revelation, he acknowledged his sin and guilt and that Jesus was the only way to heaven. The Holy Spirit opened his heart and mind to the Gospel. After all, no one was ever argued into the kingdom. They are born into it by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
A satire dedicated to Evangelicals that love the Bible, and are unwilling to trade it for natural theology no matter how much whining is done about Evangelicals being "over-committed to the Bible!" Inspired by J.P. Moreland's 2007 ETS address a few days ago.
Last night I had an interesting dream. I have been rereading Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan and wondered how he would have dealt with the Natural theologians and philosophers who today litter the evanjellyfish world.
In my dream, Christian entered a valley that was very hot and dusty. It was as dry as a bone. He became thirsty for something to drink. As he walked down the Path, he found a sign that told him that he had entered the Valley of Foolosophy. He had not heard of it before. Another sign indicated that there was a village called Mantown up ahead. Although it was on a bypath that ran alongside of the Pilgrim highway, it did not look too far off from the Path. So, he decided to go there.
When he arrived at the village, some kind of celebration was going on. Banners, flags, games, rides, and food booths were lined up along the main street and Christian stopped to refresh himself. The good citizens of Mantown welcomed him to their annual "Vanity Fair." There was a Freak Show in the middle of the village that seemed to draw quite a crowd. The barker shouted,
"Come one, come all. See the amazing time bubble and those trapped inside. Just a nickel a look."
Christian could not resist a good Freak Show and paid his nickel and entered the tent. The Ring Master was dressed in a red suit and had a goatee, hoofs, and a tail. He raised his pitchfork and announced the time bubble was about to appear. Out rolled a large glass bubble that had a least a dozen men inside. They were all sitting in chairs while someone was lecturing. It became clear to Christian that the men in the bubble did not know they were in a time bubble and that they did not know that they were only a freak show to the citizens of Mantown in the Valley of Foolosophy.
He turned to his neighbor and asked him if he knew anything about this amazing time bubble. His name was "Talkative" and he was happy to instruct Christian on the fine points of time bubbles. This bubble was originally constructed over two thousand years ago in a land far away called Greece. The famous men who made it are all long dead. They built the bubble to make sure that they and their ideas would never be forgotten. The bubble was filled with some kind of poisonous gas or vapor and once you entered the bubble, it put you into a trance-like dream-state in which you imagined that the ideas of the creators of the bubble were still alive. The person you see lecturing is only an illusion. Sometimes he is Socrates, sometimes Plato, but, most of the time, he is Aristotle.
The men who listen to him don't know that the outside world has moved on and even the memory of the creators of the bubble has well nigh vanished. These poor men think that the world is the same today as it was in the days of the creators of the bubble. They write books, give lectures, and stage debates with the assumption that everyone still follows the teachings of the creators of the bubble.
The bubble was rolled back into the side chamber to make way for the next freak show. But Christian was determined to find out more about this amazing bubble. He excused himself and snuck into the side tent to see the bubble up close. When he got up close, he saw that someone had attached a wire to the bubble with a phone attached so you could hear what they were saying.
The speaker was shouting,
"It is universal, self-evident, and intuitive that man has a free will. No one dare deny it. It is so fundamental to Foolosophy, that all rational thought would cease if someone were so foolish as to deny that man is autonomous; that he can be whatever he wants to be; know whatever he wants to know; do whatever he wants to do. Not even the gods can interfere with man's free will. All the creators believed in freewill and all rational men to this day believe in it too."
The men leapt to their feet and shouted,
"Hip, Hip, Hurray for free will! Hip, Hip, Hurray for free will!"
They marched around the bubble with flags waving while shouting their support of Free will.
Hearing a noise behind him, Christian turned and saw...
Part 2 of a satire inspired by J.P. Moreland's ETS address.
Hearing a noise behind him, Christian turned and saw that Talkative had followed him and had been watching him all this time. Christian asked him,
"What do you think of these men and their amazing time machine?"
Talkative replied,
"No one today believes that anything is universal, self-evident or intuitive. We have moved beyond freedom and dignity to the new humanism. These men are in a time warp and think that Aristotle's humanism is still around. Thus, all their lectures and books are hopelessly out-of-date and irrelevant. The New Humanism has taken the 'human' out of humanism. It is now 'X-ism.' Man does not have any greater right to survive than any other animal. To give man a higher or special place in the world would be racist. One day man will go the way of the dinosaur and all his fantasies of meaning, morality, and gods will die with him. The New X-ist welcomes Nothingness with open arms. Truth, justice, morals, meaning, and beauty are only sparks firing along the electrical wiring of the brain. They are only chemical secretions in the end. The idea of 'god' is only a brain fart - whose day is passed.
The freaks in the bubble still think that we in the Valley of Foolosophy still believe in Aristotle's universal truths. We think it funny when they give us arguments based on 'design' that are, in turn, based on a defunct worldview that died many centuries ago.
God, free will, and all the other weird ideas from the Greeks, the Geeks, and the Catholics, have all been thrown out. They don't seem to understand that their world is forever gone."
Christian thought, "how sad; to live in the past, out of touch with the present." A tear rolled down his checked as he watched the men in the bubble slapping each other on the back for giving lectures based on the failed views of the creators of the bubble. He was reminded of the words of the immortal Barb:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Macbeth Act 5, scene 5, 19-28
Christian looked at Talkative and felt sad for him.
"I have some wonderful good news for you. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. You are not junk or a mere hairless ape. You have dignity and worth because God created you to glorify him. You have purpose and meaning. Man fell into sin and guilt at the dawn of time. We rebelled against our Creator. By nature we reject His holy laws and are under the just wrath of almighty God. But God so loved us that He sent His Son to die for our sins to earn a way for us back to the Maker's presence. But you must acknowledge your sin and bow your knee to Jesus Christ as Lord."
Talkative responded,
"Can you prove by reason alone that there is a God or that Jesus loves me?"
Little children, (what a loving father) let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
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