OpenAirArticles

Stand for Christ

2012-02-06T17:04:00.008-08:00

The Gay Marriage Debate: Stand for Christ
By Tim Lamb

Once again the debate for homosexual rights, or gay marriage to be more specific, is in the news. Our Governor will compromise her very public admission of faith to deliver a present to liberal voters of the state and gay supporters world wide, exposing herself as either ignorant of the scriptures she claimed to uphold or a hypocrite to them.

With all the compassion one can muster for what were once a downtrodden persecuted people there is still no room in scripture for the condoning of "homo-sex". Still, there is neither any room for the despising and reviling that has historically taken place between many Christians and Gays.

Christianity MUST stand opposed to the legitimizing of homosexuality. We have all the reason we need to stand against anything that opposes the clear teaching of scripture; and we have a moral obligation to do so. God wants better for them and expects His followers to take the high road, the narrow road.

The stand for Christian righteousness has one huge problem or obstacle. Those whom we propose to correct with our scripture rejected traditional Christianity years ago. They are a diversified group who are united by this cause. Theistic and a-theistic alike link arms under the Rainbow Banner of "tolerance", there-by creating a cavernous division across America. What is absurd to us is liberating to them and they find support in all the "straights" who otherwise think the same.

From their perspective...If there is no God giving us laws of nature and righteousness to live by...if there are no sexual boundaries we want our kids to learn...If sex is, indeed, "whatever makes you happy"...if there is NOTHING spiritual in the covenant of marriage - Then they have every right to be sexually liberated. In opposition to them we do not link arms with those who oppose the gay lifestyle simply on bigoted principles. There are no real grounds for opposing them except the moral ones found in the Bible. Unnatural though it may be in our eyes their desire feels as natural to them as ours does to us. Their physical nature tells them it's good and they will have no concept of denying ones self and things of the flesh; denying ones desires for the sake of spiritual purity is foreign and completely unrealistic to them. And unfortunately they have found in others who claim to have the same faith as us(including our governor) the tolerance they seek.

While they make the cause of sexual fulfillment a uniting factor of all beliefs. We hold fast to the things that naturally separate us from the others who oppose. We do not link arms with Muslims or any other theistic faiths that oppose homosexuality. We are not united by our stand against this practice because our cause is not simply to oppose them but to further Christ. Our cause is the cause of righteousness and the setting aside of differences to focus on one source of impurity would be counter to that cause.

Gay marriage is not our enemy, it is the force behind gay marriage; the force behind all sexual immorality; this should be our target. The world will not end if gay marriage is made law just as it will not become instantly pure if we succeed in our stand. The problem does not exist in the law it exists in the heart. We take the stand against because by our faith we cannot say yes. But our work is the same. To reach the hearts of the lost with the word of salvation through redemption. The letter of the law will not save souls and hearts will not change if we are afraid to show compassion for the sinner.

The Fundamental Christian community appears to have been struck dumb by this challenge. We have "brothers" and "sisters" of every denomination who have abandoned the clear teaching of the word of God to join this movement. (Local bishop supports same-sex marriage) Those of us remaining firm stand with our Bibles open to Romans chapter one (or any number of passages) pointing to the words with a bewildered look on our faces. You need to know, it's Okay to speak up. It's Okay to take a stand. Just don't do it in a cloud of hatefulness. Speak the truth simply, because it must be said. Understand that this has come about due to the Idolatry of the people and they cannot be deterred from it until they return to the worship of God.

The sexual revolution included with it pre-marital sex, Sexually Transmitted Disease, abortion, destabilizing of the family and a litany of new and expensive social programs to protect the sexually liberated; and it demands tolerance from those who stand with gaping jaws, confused and overwhelmed. But the success of the slow, patient and exquisitely planned and executed agenda of the Gay community must astound even those who began it fifty years or more ago. They have systematically dismantled moral absolutes that have stood in most of the Christianized world for millennia, Who, in their wildest dreams could have fathomed that a group so despised a half century ago would now have protected status and legal rights in the courts of this land. It's earth shattering! (House committee advances gay marriage bill)

But this is a sign of the times and though we must say no to gay marriage we cannot be sidetracked by it. We must remain focused on the over all picture. We must continue to share the Gospel to all who will listen. We must, ourselves, be living examples of the WHOLE Word of God, making no excuses. Those who claim Christian faith and support immorality must not take the spiritual lead. We must speak out and we must be heard. At the same time we must not martyr the Gay cause to the battle. Speak for Christ and for repentance from sin. Speak the truth but make it known it is for the cause of Christ that we do it.

Freedom in Christ

2011-10-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we don’t really appreciate how free we are in
Christ. We especially fail to appreciate how free our
brethren are in Christ. Jesus said, “He whom the Son
sets free is free indeed”—free from coercion; free from the
consequences of sin; free from religion; free from the Law. This
doesn’t mean we’re free to sin, because we’re still beholden to
the Lord. But we are free from the dictates and the coercion of
men, and from what other people want us to be, and how they
want us to act in the religious sense.
There are plenty of religious people who want to control you
any way they can. You’ll find it everywhere. You’ll even find it
within the true Body of Christ where people expect you to do
certain things, act certain ways, and be a certain kind of person
in order to meet their approval. A lot of this stems from their
personal understanding of what God expects of them, and thus,
what they assume God wants of all other believers.
In the Book of Galatians Paul goes to great lengths to explain
to the brethren their freedom in Christ and how wrong it was
of them to want to put themselves back under the Law, even to
the point of demanding circumcision and keeping the whole
Law as a means of righteousness. And it wasn’t particularly in
all their minds to keep the Law for salvation’s sake, but for the
sake of righteousness itself. In other words, yes, we’re saved by
Christ—by His death on the cross and His resurrection—but in
order to be righteous we must keep the Law.
Sadly, this thinking has crept into many of the so-called
Messianic congregations today. They feel they must keep the Law
in order to be righteous. They don’t deny that Christ died for
their sins; they don’t deny that salvation is by grace. But in order
to live righteously they must keep the Law.
That’s what the Galatians were going through. So Paul went
to great lengths to explain to them what it means to be free in
Christ. He compares it to the position enjoyed by an heir of an
estate. As heirs to the Kingdom of God we have special rights,
privileges, and power that transcend the need for us to be slaves
to the Law.
He had just told the Galatians that there’s no difference
between a Jew and a Greek, a slave or a freeman, or a man or a
woman, in our standing before our heavenly Father. We are all
one in Christ, and we are all Abraham’s seed by faith. Then he
says:
Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does
not differ from a servant, though he is lord of all, but is
under tutors and governors until the time appointed by
the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in
bondage under the elements of the world. But when the
fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born
of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those under
the Law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.
(Galatians 4:1-5)
We were redeemed from being under the Law. Particularly
at that time, it was the Jews who were under the Law. They were
bound to the Law of Moses for a time, until the fullness of time
came for God to send His Son to redeem them from under the
Law. The Galatians didn’t understand this; it had to be explained
to them lest they continue trying to keep the Law for righteousness’
sake.
Today, are not many in the churches under bondage to laws
in one form or another? There are religious rules that people are
expected to follow, and if they don’t follow those rules, at the
very least they are looked upon as less spiritual. In some cases
they are excommunicated or threatened with eternal damnation.
When I was a Catholic I really believed that if I missed going
to mass on Sunday and died before confessing that “sin” to a
priest, I’d go to “Hell.” I’d be eternally lost. If I committed certain
“mortal sins” and didn’t confess them to a priest, I was lost.
Now, we don’t see that so much in Protestant and other
non-Catholic churches—certainly not in Evangelical churches.
But in most religious circles there are certain rules by which
people are expected to live. If you don’t go to church regularly
you will certainly be accused of “forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together.” In some churches, if you don’t attend on
Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, or just
about every time there is a service, you have forsaken the
assembling together of the brethren; there’s something wrong
in your spiritual life.
That puts people under bondage to man-made laws. Such
authoritarianism causes people to feel spiritually inferior to the
core group of faithful attendees.
Jesus set us free from such bondage to men. He says through
Paul, “because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his
Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you
are no longer a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ (Galatians 4:6-7).
Can anyone legitimately lay any charge against someone who
is a joint heir with Christ to the Kingdom of God? Can anyone
judge us in matters outside the purview of God’s Word?
Who are you that judges another man’s servant? To
his own master he stands or falls. Yes, he shall be held
up, for God is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)
In this column we share a lesson we enjoyed within one of our
house assembly meetings. It has been written as a narrative, but
contains the thoughts of those who shared together. There is no
single teacher in our assembly. Therefore, there will be portions
that seem out of context, but they are the result of thoughts that
came to someone during the discourse. This writing is a compilation
of the thoughts expressed at one particular meeting, as well as
some additional thoughts I have added in producing it. AD
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3 FALL 2011 PAGE 7
These words were written in regard to observing certain days
above another, and to what one eats or doesn’t eat. They address
how believers are not to be judged beyond what the New
Covenant requires of us as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are not under the Law of Moses or any law of man except as it
pertains to fulfilling all righteousness in the eyes of those outside
the Body of Christ, and that, only if the laws of man don’t
require us to break the Law of Love under which we live in Christ.
Yet there is one Law under which we live in Christ:
For, brethren, you have been called to liberty—only
not liberty for the flesh’s opportunity, but serve one
another in love. For all the Law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
But if you bite and devour one another, take heed
that you do not be consumed by one another.
This I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you will not
fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are
contrary to one another, so that you cannot do the things
that you would.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the
Law. (Galatians 5:13-18)
The one Law for believers in Jesus is the Law of Love. Our
freedom in Christ transcends not only the Law of Moses, but
any laws of man—especially religious laws—that are not embodied
within the Law of Love: “You shall love God with all your heart,
mind, soul and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as you
love yourself” (Mark 12:30-31).
Most churches are not as oppressive in their laws as some,
but they still require certain things of their members that are
outside the purview of the New Covenant. And that is the crux
of the issue: the Old Covenant vs. the New Covenant.
Many believers cannot separate in their minds the demands
placed upon Israel in order to keep them faithful to the Old
Covenant of separation as opposed to the New Covenant of
adoption into the family of God.
This is what Jesus was alluding to in His parable of old wine
skins not being able to hold new wine. The old was done away;
the new has nothing to do with it.
And although separation from the laws of most churches may
not be as radical as separation from the Law of Moses, that
separation must occur if one is to fully experience their freedom
in Christ. Every time we place ourselves under the laws of men
we remove ourselves from God’s grace to some degree.
Now, our heavenly Father knows our hearts, and He is very
merciful toward us. We do not lose our salvation or our standing
as His sons. But we hinder the working of the Holy Spirit in our
lives in those areas we have allowed the laws of men to rule over
us. That’s what is meant by removing ourselves from God’s grace
to some degree. How can we experience God’s grace, say, in the
area of worship, if we confine our worship to the dictates of men?
Or how can we experience God’s grace in the areas of what we
eat or how we dress, or in any other behavior, if we confine our
behavior to the dictates of men?
In many, if not most, cases, we fail in these areas out of
ignorance or naïveté. It’s not done with purposeful intent to
remove ourselves from our freedom in Christ. It is the deception
of Satan who works through religious institutions to bring God’s
people under bondage so they are not fully productive for the
Kingdom of God. It’s important that we realize our own freedom
in Christ so that we may help other brethren realize their
freedom in Christ. That is what is meant by living in the Spirit.
Our purpose is not to flaunt our freedom in Christ or to lord
it over others. We are not to condemn those living under
religious bondage, but we should openly rejoice in our freedom
in Christ so they can understand it and recognize that they can
have that freedom as well.
Remember that Paul was speaking to the Gentiles in Galatia:
Notwithstanding then, when you did not know God
you served those who by nature are no gods. But now,
after you have known God (or rather are known by God),
how do you return to the impotent and impoverished
elements to which you again desire to be in bondage? You
observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am
afraid for you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.
(Galatians 4:8-11)
On one side, many Christians look at this and say, “Paul is
talking about the Jewish feasts.” On the other side are those who
say, “Those are the pagan holidays that Christians adopted; those
are the ones you’re to stay away from, but you are still obligated
to keep the Jewish feasts.”
So believers get torn one way or another. Someone is going
to put them under bondage to the Jewish feasts (which cannot
be kept without the temple), or someone is going to put them
under bondage to the Christian-pagan feasts. There is no end to
the people who want to put others under bondage to something
they think makes them more holy.
But it doesn’t really matter what Paul had in mind—whether
the Jewish feasts or the Christian-pagan feasts; he was trying to
make them see that they are not to be in bondage to any of these
things.
And who better could God use to convey this message than
one with Paul’s credentials in Judaism:
For we are the circumcision who worship God in the
spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the
flesh. If any other man thinks he may trust in the flesh,
I more: circumcised the eighth day, from the stock of
Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews; as touching the Law, a Pharisee; concerning
zeal, persecuting the Called Out; touching the righteousness
which is in the Law, blameless. (Philippians 3:3-6)
If one such as Paul (whose zeal for the Law compelled him
to persecute the saints) would stand against bondage to the Law,
who are we to compel others to submit again to that bondage,
or to any other religious bondage?
PAGE 8 FALL 2011 MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3
Yet there are plenty of religious leaders who desire to see
others brought into bondage to those religious leaders’ dictates—
to their holidays, to their religious festivals, to their “holy days,”
to their dietary laws. And the Messianic Jews are not the only
ones. There are plenty of Christian denominations and even
independent, autonomous gatherings that wish to bring their
people under bondage to the Jewish feasts, or who tell them what
they may or may not eat or drink.
This latter has less to do with health and nutrition than it
does with perceived righteousness. No one with any knowledge
of nutrition would deny that the Seventh-day Adventists’ diet is
among the healthiest, and from a pragmatic standpoint it is
probably wise for many to follow such a diet. But there are those
within that denomination that would attach validation of
righteousness to it. And that is where they intrude upon one’s
freedom in Christ.
Paul was afraid for those in Galatia who had put themselves
under bondage to the Law. He realized the precarious position
in which they were putting themselves, surrendering their
freedom in Christ. Paul was afraid for them because he was
beginning to doubt that they were hanging onto their freedom
in Christ, and that they were putting themselves back under the
Law, trusting in the Law to save them.
In Galatians 4, Paul makes a distinction between the present
Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her children, and the
heavenly Jerusalem which is free, and which is the mother of all
who believe in Christ Jesus.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says that Christ has raised
us up together and has made us to sit together in heavenly places
(Ephesians 2:6). That’s the New Jerusalem—our mother country.
As citizens of New Jerusalem which is presently situated in
Heaven, we are free in Christ by His grace which saves us. As
such we are heirs with Christ to the Kingdom of God. That
inheritance is not available to those who are not in Christ.
This New Jerusalem, which will one day descend to rest upon
the New Earth (Revelation 21:2), is our home. If we will think
of ourselves as citizens of the New Jerusalem rather than citizens
of the United States of America, or of any earthly nation (all of
which are part of Satan’s domain for the present), we might
better grasp the spiritual reality of our freedom in Christ.
Romans 14:4 asks, “Who are you to judge another man’s
servant? We all stand or fall according to our Master who is able
to hold us up.”
We don’t judge the Lord’s servants, and neither should
anyone judge us for how we live our lives, other than in those
areas where our lives do not conform to the Word of God in
relation to the New Covenant.
We should exult in the realization of our freedom in Christ.
It is a cause for rejoicing, not for self-doubt. No man has a yoke
on us unless we allow him to place it there. We are joint-heirs
with Christ. We inherit the Kingdom through faith in Jesus
Christ. We have been given that honor through God’s mercy
and grace. He opened the way for us by providing His Son as
atonement for our sins. And if we put ourselves under any law
we are saying His grace is not sufficient; Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t
enough to set us free; we need to be under law. Any law. It may
be only one law. Because if we place ourselves under one law we
are obliged to keep all the Law (Galatians 5:3).
Christ has become ineffectual for you, whoever of you
are justified by the Law; you have fallen from grace.
(Galatians 5:4)
That’s serious stuff. To put ourselves under any law means
that we’ve fallen from God’s grace. Thus Paul encourages the
Galatians to come back to Christ.
You ran well. Who hindered you so that you would
not obey the truth? This persuasion does not come from
Him who calls you. (Galatians 5:7).
So we must be careful that not even we put ourselves on guilt
trips. If we sin, we are to confess our sins, and He is faithful and
just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1
John 1:9). We must not think we can do anything to pay for the
sin we just committed. We don’t have to do penance; Christ has
already paid the penalty.
It’s not only Roman Catholicism that puts the onus of
penance on people. Every religion puts this on people, some to
a greater degree than others. And by religion I don’t necessarily
mean an institution, but as well, a religious mind-set. We can
have our own religious mind-set and put ourselves under
bondage to that mind-set. It makes us feel good. It makes us feel
as if we’ve purged ourselves. It makes us feel pious.
This doesn’t mean we take a cavalier attitude about our sin.
It’s recognizing that there’s nothing we can do to make atonement
for that sin. It’s recognizing that it’s already been done for
us by Christ Jesus.
Now, if we injure somebody in some way, the Law of Love
requires that we make restitution. But restitution is to man, not
to God. Thus, restitution is not penance.
Paul says to us, “Therefore stand fast in the liberty with which
Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the
yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).
In other words, we are to be resolute in our freedom. Being
resolute means not letting anyone or anything—including
ourselves—rob us of our freedom.
So Paul acknowledges that there is a right way to live even
though we are under grace. That right way to live is by walking
by the Spirit of God. We have instructions under the New
Covenant in what it means to live by the Spirit of God as
opposed to living by our carnal nature.
It isn’t so much doing certain correct things, as it is being led
by the Holy Spirit in every aspect of our lives. The Holy Spirit
will not lead us into sin, but into righteousness.
Paul goes on to describe the works of the flesh as opposed to
the works of the Spirit. But why was it necessary for him to
delineate between the two? After all, if we are led by the Holy
Spirit we don’t have to be concerned about which works are
those of the flesh and which are those of the Spirit.
Well, because the Holy Spirit guides us through our knowledge
of God’s Word. Ignorance of God’s Word may easily result
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3 FALL 2011 PAGE 9
in our being deceived by others, and even by ourselves. “There
is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death” (Proverbs
14:12; 16:25).
The Law of Love is directly tied to walking in the Spirit of
God. The two cannot be separated. And being led by the Spirit
is freedom in Christ.
Yet do we not sometimes stray from being led by the Holy
Spirit? Yes. But walking in the Spirit of God is not so much a
matter of perfection as it is a way of life. We may stray at times,
but the Holy Spirit will convict us and prompt us to repent and
return to walking in faith. And if our hearts remain fixed on
Christ Jesus we will respond positively to the prompting of the
Holy Spirit.
We must hold on to this truth: we were transferred from one
kingdom into another. We were transferred from the kingdom
of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son of God’s love. So yes,
we have freedom, but our freedom is in Christ. Those of us who
have come out of a sectarian group know what it means to be in
bondage. But we also know what it means to serve a Master, and
to have a living Lord to regulate our lives.
So although we say we are free, we also like the rod and the
staff that comfort us. We’re very fond of our Master, and when
we receive correction we know He is there.
In the Book of Isaiah there is a portion where the prophet is
speaking wonderful things for having been given visions by God.
In chapter eight there is a short section where God stops to give
personal instruction to Isaiah:
For YHWH said this to me with a strong hand, and
instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this
people, saying, “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy’ in regard to
all those to whom this people shall say, ‘A conspiracy.’
Do not fear what they fear, nor be afraid of it. Sanctify
YHWH of hosts Himself, and let Him be your fear, and
let him be your dread, and He shall be a refuge. (Isaiah
8:11-14)
What we have in Christ is a living Lord who will exercise His
authority over us—who will communicate His will to us as to how
we are to behave as His servants.
The Lord’s yoke is easy, and His burden is light. But there is
a yoke and a burden for us to bear. Colossians 3:23-25 says:
Whatever you do, do it heartily, as for the Lord, and
not for men, knowing that you shall receive the reward of
the inheritance from the Lord, for you serve the Lord Christ.
But he who does wrong shall receive for the wrong
that he has done, and there is no respect of persons.
Inheritance is not a given; it is the reward for our service in
obedience to Christ. And there are differences in the rewards.
Not all in a kingdom are rulers in that kingdom. This is why we
are warned that, although one may be saved by grace, one’s works
built of wood, hay and stubble, yet built on the foundation of
Jesus Christ, may be burned up, while only those who have built
on that same foundation of Christ with gold, silver and precious
stones will receive reward (1 Corinthians. 3:12).
Every day, by the impression He places on our hearts, He
instructs us on how we are to conduct ourselves. As we learn
from His Word, and are led by His Spirit, the Lord shows us
right from wrong in our walk with Him. We have the choice
whether or not to obey His instructions. And herein lies the rub:
Likewise, account yourselves also to be dead indeed
to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you would obey it in its desires, nor yield your
members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. But
yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the
dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
to God. For sin shall not have power over you, for you
are not under the Law, but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the
Law, but under grace? It cannot be! Do you not know that
to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, you are
his servants whom you obey—whether of sin unto death,
or of obedience unto righteousness?
But God be thanked that you the servants of sin,
but you have obeyed from the heart that form of instruction
that was delivered to you. Being then made free from
sin, you became the servants of righteousness. (Romans
6:11-17)
This is the seeming dichotomy: we are free Christ, but we
are slaves Christ. He is now our Master; sin is no longer our
master. Freedom in Christ requires that we recognize Him as
our Master, because that’s what makes us free.
Life in Christ is not anarchy. Anarchists think they are free
because they refuse to obey any laws (actually only certain laws).
But in truth they are enslaved to their own laws, and their
self-mastery is destructive of themselves and others. It is better
to be enslaved to a righteous master than to be enslaved to
ourselves. All creatures need boundaries in order to live safely
and productively. Christ’s mastery over us frees us from the
dictates of men, religion, government, and even ourselves.
Now, in order to fulfill righteousness we obey governments,
but we are free to disobey when the government requires us to
act contrary to the Word of God. We may suffer the consequences
at the hands of the government, but we will receive
reward at the hand of God. And there are other ways in which
we conform our behavior before others in order to maintain a
pure testimony, just as Paul was a Jew to the Jews and a Greek
to the Greeks (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
It will be argued by those who wish to keep us under the Law
that it was not the law of man but of God. And this is true. Yet
in a sense, after Christ fulfilled the Law and opened the way for
freedom in Him, the Law of God became the law of man.
The truth is that God never expected man to be able to
completely obey the Law. But the Jews didn’t fully realize that.
They thought they could force themselves to keep the Law by
creating other laws as hedges against the Law. This merely
resulted in greater bondage. Ultimately the Law condemned us
and proved that we were slaves to sin.
PAGE 10 FALL 2011 MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3
Now we must agree that the Law of God is righteous; it
illuminated man and some men embraced it. The righteous of
Israel said, “I love the Law.”
We can say today, “I love the Law; it’s beautiful.” But we
would hate to be under it. Because no matter how much we want
to do right by the Law of God, we will inevitably break the Law.
And if we offend in one law we are guilty of all the Law.
The Law was given by God out of His mercy and love.
Embodied within the Law of Moses was love for God and love
for man. This is why Jesus said that the Law is summed up in
these two: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your mind, and with all your strength, and you shall love
your neighbor as yourself.
If the flesh were perfect enough to have kept the Law then
there would have been no need for Christ to die for us. We
would have been like Adam before he sinned. But the reality is
that no man is sinless. All have sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God (Romans 3:23).
Man cannot keep the Law, but man doesn’t believe that. Man
thinks he is inherently good; that the evil that man commits is
the result of outside forces causing him to act badly.
And that’s why even most Christians hold onto some form
of law. They won’t believe the verdict God has given against the
carnal nature of man. They don’t want to acknowledge that there
is nothing good in them.
Even when many say, “There’s nothing good in me,” deep
down they are saying, “I’m so good for stating this.”
The only way anyone can see this truth of man’s intrinsic sin
nature is by a head-on confrontation with Jesus Christ. Then we
see ourselves like Peter who came to the end of himself when he
said, “Depart from me because I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Or
like Paul who said, “There is no good thing in me.”
When one sees this truth it results in despair, humility, and
disgust with one’s self. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in
bringing us to repentance and trust in Jesus Christ as One who
saves us by His sacrifice on the cross.
This is contrary to today’s message that permeates the
Christian media—the message that we should put aside such
feelings and think of ourselves as glorious in Christ even while
we are living sinfully.
When we see ourselves in comparison to Jesus Christ, how
can we do anything but despair of anything within us being good?
It’s devastating to realize just how hopeless we are without Him.
The realization must come that in this life we are never going to
be good enough to stand before the living God. This should
crush us.
How many times in our lives have we sinned?
Just think. There are 365 days in a year. Multiply that by the
number of years you have lived, and then multiply the result by
how many times you merely think you sin per day. And anyone
would dare say they can stand justified before God without the
blood of Christ covering them?
Even as we despair over our sins we risk the danger of being
self-righteous. We think we should be righteous within ourselves
and we butt our heads against a wall wondering why we can’t
live sinlessly in sinful flesh.
The Lord does everything He can to help us see that we are
not righteous within ourselves. That’s why He died for us; that’s
why He had to save us more from our flesh than from the world
and the Devil.
And so by faith we come to the place where we are accepted
in the Beloved; we are accepted in Christ. We now have imputed
righteousness.
So we walk up to the Throne of Grace; we embrace God, and
we cry on His shoulder, because we are so simple. And we say,
“Father, how can I even come into Your house? I’m so unworthy,
but I can’t leave You!”
And He embraces us on the basis of Christ’s righteousness.
Our relationship with God is not based on our righteousness,
but on the realization of our own sinfulness. And we say with
the apostle Paul, “Christ came into the world to save sinners, of
whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).
So there we are in the throne room of God, embracing His
Son, fellowshipping with the Father over just how sinful we are.
But as long as we are there in the Spirit we are not committing
sin. It’s very difficult to sin in the Lord’s presence. As soon as
we find ourselves tempted it becomes a habitual thing in our
nature to cry out to our Father for help.
So we look at the Law and we realize how wonderful it is
simply because it reflects the holiness of God. But we are not
under it because, being sinful, we can never achieve the perfection
the Law demands. The Law says we have to be perfect in
our belief and behavior in order to have communion with God.
So in His mercy God pulled us out from under the Law and
established us in His grace.
While the Law reflects the holiness of God, it also reflects
His mercy just by His giving it for our instruction. So while the
Law proves we cannot live perfectly, it demonstrates our need
for God’s grace.
God’s grace says that because Christ has lived perfectly on
our behalf and has offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our
sins, never to be sacrificed over and over as Israel had to offer
their sacrifices under the Law, we are accepted when we believe.
The perfect nature of His sacrifice is graphically illustrated in
the Book of Hebrews:
For the Law, having a shadow of the good things to
come, not itself the very image of those things, can never
with those sacrifices that they continually offer year by
year make those who come to it perfect. For would they
then not have ceased to be offered because the worshippers,
once purged, would have had no more conscience
of sins?
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again
made of sins every year because it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats could take away sins.
Therefore, when He comes into the world He says,
“Sacrifice and offering you would not, but You have
prepared a body for Me. You have had no pleasure in
burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, ‘Look,
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3 FALL 2011 PAGE 11
I come to do Your will, O God (in the volume of the book
it is written of Me).’”
Above, when He said, “Sacrifice and offering, and
burnt offerings, and offering for sin You would not, nor
had pleasure in them that are offered by the Law,” then
He said, “Look, I come to do Your will, O God,” He takes
away the first so that He may establish the second, by
which will we are sanctified through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest stands daily, often ministering and
offering the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.
But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from now
on expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For
by one offering He has perfected forever those who are
sanctified, of which the Holy Spirit is also a witness to us.
(Hebrews 10:1-15)
To suggest that we can offer any sacrifice for our sins,
including our own good works, or even to suggest that Christ
Jesus Himself could be sacrificed again, is to deny the efficacy of
His perfect work on the cross of Calvary.
To try to live under the Law is to say, “I’m going to prove to
God and to the world how good I am.”
God will not accept us on that ground. It is only on the basis
of our admitting that we are sinners and that His Son paid the
price for our sins that He will accept us.
Jesus spoke this parable to some whom he perceived to be
self-righteous:
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one
a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee
stood and prayed within himself thusly: ‘God, I thank
you that I am not as other men are, extortionists, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice in the
week, I give tithes of all that I possess.’
“And the tax collector, standing far off, would not so
much as lift up his eyes to Heaven, but struck upon his
breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner.’
“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself
shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be
lifted up.”
God is not in the business of perfecting our flesh; He’s done
away with our flesh. In Christ we are dead, having died with Him
on the cross through our faith in His atonement on our behalf
(Luke 15:10-14).
I can do nothing righteous. Therefore, any righteousness that
I perform I credit to Jesus Christ.
Now, we must be careful not to take our freedom in Christ
as license to sin. We cannot say, “Because God loves me, and
I’m His child, I don’t have to be concerned about how I live my
life. I can do anything I please. He’ll understand.”
That’s a very scary place to be. Because now that we belong
to Him—now that we are His property—He can discipline us. And
in this we have reason to fear. What child does not fear a father
who, though loving, is willing to mete out discipline in order to
bring correction? And our heavenly Father will discipline us:
For whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges
every son whom He receives. (Hebrews 12:6)
So we are free in Christ, but we are also open to His
chastisement. Which is totally different from condemnation.
Trying to keep the Law condemns us. Our position in Christ
risks at the worst chastisement for our sins, but carries the benefit
of reward for our compliance to His chastising work.
This subject is very confusing to many believers—particularly
to those new in the faith. It is often presented in ways that
confuse people more than it helps them. They will not let go of
the Law, or of the idea that they can strive to keep the Law
perfectly. This is because so much teaching is an appeal to the
flesh to do “right.”
They say, “We’re delivered from the ceremonial law, but not
from the moral law.”
Well, is that good news? I can do the ceremonial law a lot
easier than I can do the moral law!
That is the basis for many of the dos and don’ts of religion—
even Christian religion. It still puts us back under the Law.
Confusion enters into the equation when we think that doing
away with the Law is the same as doing away with right and
wrong. It’s mistakenly thinking that once the Law is done away
there is no sin. Add to this that James tells us “sin is the
transgression of the Law.”
The problem is often that we tend to focus on one area of
Scripture rather than take the whole counsel of God. The Law
is summed up in the Law of Love. If we love God and man we
will not purposely live contrary to the leading of His Spirit. The
difference is that we are not under the system of the Law that
says we must do these things to attain unto God. We follow the
Spirit of God; we do not follow the Law of God which was meant
to keep in line those who did not have His Holy Spirit. Let me
say that again: we follow the Spirit of God, not the Law of God.
We still recognize sin, which we hate, and we still recognize
righteousness, which we love. It does not take that away; it just
takes us out from depending upon keeping the Law as a means
of righteousness and/or salvation. The Law, whether written on
paper or written on the hearts of men (Romans 2:15), is the
system by which the whole world will be judged, except for those
who are in Christ and, thus, are indwelt by His Holy Spirit.
It seems a contradiction to say this, but it is precisely because
we recognize we cannot keep the Law that we rely on the Holy
Spirit to guide us into all righteousness. It is His strength, not
the strength of our flesh that compels us to do according to the
will of the Father and not the will of our sinful flesh. If we live
according to the Law of Love by the power of the Holy Spirit in
compliance with God’s Word, we do not have to strive to keep
the Law. That’s what it means to live by faith and not by the
strength of the flesh.
If we fail on occasion, we need merely confess our sin to the
Father and be assured that He will lift us up as He has always
done.
By Al Dager
Media Spotlight
http://www.mediaspotlight.org/pdfs/Vol34-No%2003-Web.pdf

2011-08-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

Working Out Salvation

by Henry Morris III, D.Min.
"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12)This verse is sometimes used by those who would insist that our salvation requires "works" either to obtain or to maintain the "new birth." Even a casual reading of the New Testament does not support that view (John 5:24; 6:37; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 4:24; etc.).This passage, both in context and by specific word choices of the Holy Spirit, is focused on what we are to do with our salvation--obey and produce! The writer of the Hebrews letter spoke of "things that accompany salvation" (Hebrews 6:9). And even the Old Testament prophet Isaiah insisted that we should "draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3).Two parables speak specifically to this work: the gift of the talents and the gift of the pounds. God illustrated His grace by the gift of "talents" (Matthew 23:14-30) to His workers, as well as His expectation of their productivity for the profit of the Owner. Differing amounts were given to the servants based on their abilities, and judgment was based on their efficiency, or the percent of their return. In the gift of the pounds (Luke 19:13-27), God is the investor and His servants are all of us who receive (John 1:12) the gift of salvation. What we do with this gift is our responsibility. The same amount was given to each servant, without the mention of abilities. Judgment was then based on the servants’ effectiveness, or gain.It is no wonder, then, that Paul exhorted us to "work out" the priceless salvation that has been given to us with "fear and trembling." God is "working" in us, and He expects us to "will and to do his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). HMM III

2011-05-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

Never Too Late
"And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:42-43) One of the two thieves on the cross continued in unbelief right up until the time he died (Luke 23:39), but the second repented and believed unto salvation. The one assures us that no one need despair, since it is always possible to accept Christ at any time before death. The other warns us, on the other hand, that no one should presume. Long-continued rebellion against God is likely to become so fixed in one's character that sincere repentance may become impossible.The repentant thief, beholding Christ and hearing the first of the seven so-called "words from the cross" (Luke 23:34), came to believe that Jesus truly was Lord and that He could, indeed, grant forgiveness and salvation.The penitent thief had no opportunity to be baptized, to change his lifestyle, or to do anything whatever except repent, believe on Christ, and confess his faith (Romans 10:9-10). And that was sufficient!Both thieves would die that day, and the soul of the unrepentant thief would soon descend into Hades, there to await condemnation at the future judgment day. The other, because of his trust in Christ, would go with Him to paradise.The tragedy is that far too many people, assuring themselves that it is never too late, keep waiting until it becomes forever too late! "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1). The overwhelming majority of people who come to trust in Christ for salvation do so when they are young. Very few come to the Lord when they are old or about to die. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.
Days of Praise

YOUR BATTLE IS THE LORD’S (2 Chronicles 30:15)

2011-05-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

The reason I am writing this is to remind you the battle you are facing is not yours, but God’s.

If you are a child of his, you can be certain that Satan will “rage against you.” In 2 Chronicles 20, a great multitude came against God’s people. King Jehoshaphat and his people set their hearts to seek the Lord and to fast. The king cried out to God a prayer that most of us have prayed at times in our spiritual journey: “We have no might against these that come against us, neither do we know what to do; but our eyes are upon you” (20:12). “The Spirit of God came in the midst of the congregation…saying, Be not afraid nor dismayed…for the battle is not yours, but God’s (20:14-15). Isaiah gave this warning to all satanic forces: “Who have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you exalted your voice?... Even against the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 37:23). God told his people Israel, and he tells us today: “The battle is not against you. It is Satan’s rage against me, the Lord who abides in you.” God said to Satan, “I know where you abide, and where you come and go, and your rage against me” (37:28). I ask you: where is your battle? In your marriage? Your business or job? Your finances? Your health? Does your battle get more intense day after day? If you have a heart for Jesus and a desire to cleave to him, you will face the rage of hell. But that is still not your battle. You can end your battle quickly if you choose – simply by quitting and giving in to your fears and doubts. Satan will not bother those who give up their confidence in the Lord. Yes, the battle is the Lord’s, but we have a part – and that is to trust and believe his promises in the face of hopelessness and what seem to be impossibilities. “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” (Isaiah 40:27). Faith demands that I turn over all my problems – all my critical situations, all my fears, all my anxieties – into the hand of the Lord. When I have done all I can do, and I know my battle is beyond my power, I must submit all into his hands. Our Lord knows the raging of Satan, and we must truly believe he will act. He will bring us through floods and fires and put to chase all spiritual enemies. Here is God’s Word concerning what he will do: “Because of your rage against me…it has come into my ears, therefore I will put a hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way you came” (Isaiah 37:29). If you will hold fast to your faith – trusting him, resting in his promises, rejecting all lies of Satan coming into your mind – then expect God to come by his Spirit into your situation and bring an expected end to your particular battle. He will move heaven and earth to deliver you and make a way. The way out is to trust, trust, trust! “He makes wars to cease” (Psalm 46:9).
by David Wilkerson

DECEIVED AND DECEIVING

2011-05-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

Is Judgment Day really here?

The Bible does guarantee it, but is it possible for man to know when it is? The whole country has been hearing about the latest prediction by a false prophet of a fringe Christian cult by the name of Harold Camping. Today according to Camping is to be the Churches catching away and the beginnings of the end of the world. Let the fruit of his mouth be the witness against himself. The Bible says in Jesus Words "of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."(Matthew 24:36) Yet many that are Bible ignorant will and are being lead astray. The Bible tells us to "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."(1 John 4:1) And that "many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many."(Matthew 24:11) That "evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."(2 Timothy 3:13) Jesus himself tells us that "when Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them."( Luke 17:23) It is sad that because of men like this "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written."(Romans 2:24) Many lost sceptics will look upon this episode of fraud and associate all Christians as lunatics therefore self justifying their disobedience as their excuse to deny the truth and not believe in the only One who can save them. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:(Acts 17:30) Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31) Camping is receiving mass publicity over this, it is because of the fallacy of greedy deception by one that many will be lead astray. The scriptures speak of the "Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.(1 Timothy 6:5) Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.(Jude 1:11) They would tell you other wise but bottom line is it's all about the money.

Be not deceived, according to Harold Camping and company the raptures at 6:00 pm EST make sure you get your last load of laundry in by 4:45! The second coming is always coming until He truly comes and then He will be here!
Camping's organization, Family Radio, is perfectly happy to take your money -- and in fact, received $80 million...$$$$$$$
Read it! Doomsday church: Still open for business

No Rapture, No Judgment: May 21 Doomsday Prediction Fails

Rapture believers await end, skeptics carry on

2011-04-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

Impact of the Empty Tomb
by Henry Morris, Ph.D. *

There are “many infallible proofs” of the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the testimony of the empty tomb is the most conclusive of all. Jesus had been buried, with the tomb sealed and guarded by a watch of Roman soldiers. Yet on the third day of His burial, on the morning of the first day of the week, the body was no longer there, and the empty tomb still stands today as an unanswerable proof that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.

There are other proofs, of course. The ten or more recorded appearances of the resurrected Christ to His disciples, the amazing change of demeanor of the disciples from that of fearful hideaways to fearless evangelists, the worldwide spread of the Christian faith as founded on the resurrection, and so on. But the impact of the empty tomb was the foundation and bulwark of all the rest. As we consider its impact on the world, and on us today, it is instructively fascinating to consider first its impact on those who first encountered it.

Impact on the Soldiers
A watch (possibly a “quaternion” of four Roman soldiers—compare Acts 12:4) had been designated by the Roman Governor Pilate to guard the tomb after Jesus’ body had been buried there by Nicodemus and Joseph. The account is in Matthew 27:62-66.

Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

The “great stone” had already been “rolled...to the door of the sepulchre” by Joseph when he and Nicodemus buried Jesus (Matthew 27:60), but now the soldiers (as directed by the chief priests) sealed it in place with the official Roman seal, which could only be broken on penalty of death. Then they took their guard positions for the rest of the three-day period. Probably they took turns at sleeping, one sleeping while three remained awake on guard. Certainly none of the hiding disciples (or anyone else) would have dared to try to invade the tomb for any reason.
The soldiers had probably been selected from that “whole band of soldiers” (Matthew 27:27) that had stripped Jesus in Pilate’s hall and scourged Him and mocked Him and then taken Him out to crucify Him. They had watched Him suffer and die, but then they had also experienced the great darkness and the great earthquake (Matthew 27:45, 51), and had heard their centurion cry out: “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39).

They had no reason to fear the disciples, but they must have had some concern about what God might do to them, if indeed Jesus was the Son of God, as their centurion had cried. In any case, they certainly would not be lethargic and careless about their assignment, or about to fall asleep while on duty.

They were hardly prepared for what did happen!
And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. (Matthew 28:2-4)

As soon as they recovered and were able to move, they scattered from the site, rightly deciding that the mighty angel was more to be feared than the priests or even Pilate.
But what to do next? They realized that the happening at the tomb would soon become known, including their flight, and they realized Pilate might well have them put to death for leaving their post.

Their best hope would be the priests, who seemed to have some kind of influence with the governor, and perhaps would be able to understand their plight. Therefore, some of them (what happened to the others is not recorded) headed for the temple, to tell Caiaphas and the others that the tomb was empty, though it was not because of the disciples, who were still somewhere in hiding.

Behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. (Matthew 28:11-15)

Under other circumstances, the soldiers would have been afraid to say they all four had been sleeping on duty. But they were also greedy, and the “hush-money” convinced them. They were in mortal danger anyway, and they realized that Pilate might be amenable to bribery too, and they really had no other choice. Roman officials were indeed known to take bribes to render desired decisions (note the reputation of the governor Felix as implied in Acts 24:26).
The idea that the disciples had stolen the body while the soldiers slept circulated for a while, but it was so unreasonable that it could not survive very long. In the first place, if the soldiers really were all asleep (which is practically inconceivable), they could not have known what happened. Secondly, the work of moving the stone, stripping the grave clothes off the body, and carrying the body away would surely have awakened at least some of the soldiers.

Finally, the disciples could never have persisted in preaching a lie about resurrection when it began to cost them all their possessions and finally their lives to do so. Thus, the story circulated by the soldiers was basically unbelievable and could not convince people very long.
But it served the immediate purpose, presumably, of sparing the soldiers’ lives for the time being. They did know that the tomb was empty, however, and we can at least wonder whether some of them also might have eventually come to believe that Jesus was really the Son of God, and to seek His forgiveness and salvation.

To read the rest of Dr. Morris’ commentary on the impact of the empty tomb, visit icr.org/ChristEmptyTomb.

2011-03-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

In the wake of the terrible earth quake and tsunami in Japan I felt it necessary to speak out as some will be reaching out to God in this and others will blame God or use this as “evidence” for their disbelief. I do not claim to speak for God and would never attempt to apologize for Him or even defend Him; but maybe another perspective will ease some pain somewhere.

Are natural disasters really “ACTS OF GOD”? No, only in that He allows them.
Did God create a world so faulty? No, God created a perfect world, but when man fell into sin, or imperfection, he took the world with him (Genesis 3:17).
Are these little, individual rescues really miracles? Maybe, they could be answers to some persons prayer. For those of us who believe that nothing is left to chance for those who call on the name of God these are absolutely miracles. For followers of Christ, we give glory to God in all good things. I think in the wake of such a disaster we all look for signs of grace and mercy and even the cynical media calls these relatively small victories miracles.
Did the people of Japan disserve this? Was it some kind of divine judgment? No, any Christian who does not know that we all disserve judgment is lacking in his theology. I believe if God were dishing out judgment America would be leveled. God did warn that, as a sign of Jesus soon return we would see “earthquakes in diverse places”(Mark 13:8). Well, New Zealand, Peru, Chile, Haiti, Turkey, Indonesia, and Japan are getting pretty diverse but while the severity seems to be increasing most of these areas are not new to earth movement.

You can find natural reasons for earthquakes easily enough but spiritual reasons are more difficult. We can only turn to scripture and see that God never promised His people protection from the things of this earth(John 16:33), only protection from His own wrath when it does come (Romans 5:9, 1Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9). So I believe we can know by the word of God these things are not God’s wrath unleashed, they are the “broken earth” bed we have made for ourselves. I believe we are seeing them increase in intensity and number and resulting damage and loss of life, and therefore could be the signs Jesus spoke of. I do know that the earthquake in Japan is another lesson in the fragility of life and that eternity can come at any time for you or me. Read the Word of God, be obedient to it, and trust it for knowledge; and trust Jesus Christ for your salvation; and pray that you can withstand the tests and concerns of this life. Preserver, the “New Earth” as promised to the “overcomer”(1 John 5:4,5 and Revelation Chapters 2&3) in Revelation 21, will not shake.

Tim Lamb

2011-03-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

The Soon Coming Climax

Proof The Bible Is True
WE ARE NOW IN THE LATTER DAYS OF THE END TIMES

SALVATION

The Times Prophesied in the Bible is at hand!

Luke 12:54-57-Jesus said: "When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right"? This message may be called a road sign of warning. Some may look at a sign that reads—THE BRIDGE IS OUT, and say, "Oh, someone is just trying to scare us into taking another road; let’s go on the same way." They go on and plunge to their death. The sign was meant to warn them of impending danger. God wants you to know, WHEN YOU SEE THESE THINGS COME TO PASS (the prophecies from the Bible in this message), KNOW YE THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NIGH AT HAND-Lk 21:31.

• Will Russia + some Arab nations invade Israel Yes.

• Will there be a one-world system or global economy? Yes.

• Will diseases increase such as AIDS & new ones appear? Yes.

• Will hostility toward Born-again Christians & the Bible increase? Yes.

• Will alternate life styles increase, prosper & become accepted? Yes

• Did you know the Bible tells us what is happening?

WHAT IS GOING ON?

People have said the end was near many times in the past—true. But did you know the Bible shows us no prophecy of the latter days meant anything until Israel was reborn into a nation? Did you know God’s Word indicates to us a generation would not pass from Israel’s rebirth (May 14, 1948), till all be fulfilled (which includes the Rapture, the Tribulation, Armageddon and Jesus Christ’s return)? A generation can be as much as 70+ years

Many people have been preaching about the latter days of the end times in churches, on radio, TV, the Internet and through books and magazines. To those that understand the Bible, no explanation is needed. To those that are prideful, self-centered, that love this world, that despise God’s correction, and seek the praise of men rather than of God, no explanation is possible-ref Dan 12:4, 10; Mt 24:37, 39.

It has been said that it is virtually impossible for anyone to make 11 straight predictions, 2000 years into the future. There is only one chance in 8 x 10 to the 63rd power, or 80 with 63 zeros after it that such a thing could be done. If such a set of predictions existed, it would have to be the Word of God.

Consider, could you write eleven straight predictions that would take place in the year 4000 A.D.? Include the rebirth of a specific nation and how it would be reborn. Include specific nations that would exist, certain nations that would be allied together, and the exact size of a nation’s army. Include what the people and church would be like. Also include the names of actual cities and fruit trees that would exist. Do eleven straight prophecies and be exactly correct on every single one. The Bible not only does this eleven times, but hundreds of times with absolute, perfect accuracy. If this is so, even the most skeptical person (that is truthful) would have to agree that there is indeed a God and the Bible has to be His Word. 2 Pet 1:20,21-KNOWING THIS FIRST, THAT NO PROPHECY OF THE SCRIPTURE IS OF ANY PRIVATE INTERPRETATION. FOR THE PROPHECY CAME NOT IN OLD TIME BY THE WILL OF MAN: BUT HOLY MEN OF GOD SPAKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY GHOST. O FOOLS, AND SLOW OF HEART TO BELIEVE ALL THAT THE PROPHETS HAVE SPOKEN-Lk 24:25. However, believing there is a God and acknowledging the Bible is the Word of God does not save a person. A person needs to admit they are a sinner, repent, and receive Jesus Christ as their only hope of being saved.

Let's prove the Bible is true and we are nearing the end of the last generation before Christ returns.

1. The Jewish people would be scattered worldwide; yet Israel would become a nation again after a long time and at a time the Bible calls the "latter days"-ref Isa 66:8; Mic 5:3; Ezek 38:8. Against what appeared to be impossible odds, this prophecy has been fulfilled. It happened as predicted on May 14, 1948 after about 2500 years. That’s 1 out of 1. Note: Israel was destroyed in approximately 721 B.C. and Judah about 135 years later. Since that time, approximately fourteen different peoples have possessed the land of Israel. Yet as the Bible said, the nation of Israel would be reborn.The rebirth of Israel was a key sign, indicating we had entered a time period called the "latter days." It was the beginning of a countdown leading to the Tribulation and culminating with the Battle of Armageddon and the return of Jesus. Along with the fulfillment of this crucial event are over 360 prophecies that would all come together, so we might recognize that the Tribulation is very close. Some are listed here.Yet the Bible foretells that most people would not believe these things, despite the overwhelming evidence of the signs from God’s Word being fulfilled exactly as predicted. As people refused to believe the flood was coming in Noah’s time, so people today willingly choose to disregard the signs of the times.
2. Israel shall be brought forth in one day, at once-ref Isa 66:8. Prophecy fulfilled-May 14, 1948. That’s 2 out of 2.Note: On Nov. 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the U.N. approved a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. On the morning of May 14, 1948 (the last day of the British mandate), a meeting of the People’s Council took place in Israel to decide on the name of the state and to finalize the declaration. At precisely 4 pm, the proclamation ceremony began at the Tel Aviv museum. The 979 Hebrew words of the Scroll of Independence were read. All stood, and the scroll was adopted. The notorious White Paper, issued by the British in 1930 restricting Jewish immigration, was declared null and void. Members of the People’s Council signed the proclamation. David Ben-Gurion rapped his gavel, declaring, "The State of Israel is established. This meeting is ended." Israel was brought forth as a nation in one day, at once, exactly as predicted. At midnight, the British soldiers and high commissioner would leave. President Truman was swift in announcing U.S. recognition of Israel. The following morning, on May 15, Israel was under attack by the Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and Iraqi forces.
3. Israel would be brought forth (or reborn) "out of the nations"-Ezek 38:8. Prophecy fulfilled-May 14, 1948. That’s 3 out of 3.Note: As previously stated, on Nov. 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the "United Nations" approved a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. This prophecy was perfectly fulfilled. Consider, for centuries the land of Israel had been occupied by many nations. Israel was "brought forth out of the nations"—the children of Israel from many nations have been returning to their ancient homeland.
4. Israel must regain the city of Jerusalem-Joel 2:32; Isa 28:14; Ezek 22:19. This happened just as predicted in 1967. That’s 4 out of 4.Note: The Bible gives us two methods so we would know the time we are in. One is by Israel’s rebirth. The other, by a precise line of events that would all come together at one time. Israel was reborn on May 14th, 1948. The Bible indicates that from Israel’s rebirth a generation would not pass till all be fulfilled. We are not setting any date; however, it seems clear from Israel’s rebirth and the signs of the times— that we are living in the generation in which the Rapture and Tribulation will come and catch most people by surprise. Are you ready?
5. The Christian church at the time of the end would be lukewarm, neither cold nor hot for Jesus. It would be asleep. Prophecy fulfilled. That’s 5 out of 5.Note: God will spew them out. Many ministers and people that call themselves a Christian will not be going to heaven. The Bible tells us—you have acquired wealth, but your true condition is wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, and you don’t know it-Rev 3:14-22. This is today’s church. Most preachers use little Scripture, but lots of worldly stories. Many sing a great deal, but put little emphasis on repentance, obeying, serving, and fearing God, on the fruits of the Spirit, Bible prophecy, water baptism by immersion, and studying your Bible faithfully every day. Many are entertainment or feel good centers that teach what their members want to hear. Many (so-called Christians) are so lukewarm or dead, they don’t even bring their Bibles with them to the meeting house of God. Some famous ministers and Bible schools think this is the best church age ever, yet the Bible shows it is the most deceived. The Bible teaches there will be a great falling away not a great end times revival.
6. The Bible gives us app. 119 descriptions about the people at the time of the end. These fit the people of today perfectly, but did not fit the people of fifty years ago.

Here are some:
A. Some would depart from the faith and go into devil worship.-1 Tim 4:1. This is perfect.

B. People would mock about the last days and not believe-2 Pe 3:3; Jude 18.

C. People would become lovers of themselves-2 Tim 3:1,2. Remember the TV commercials—"I do it for me"?

D. People would be disobeying their parents-2 Tim 3:1,2.

E. People would be grateful for nothing-2 Tim 3:1,2.

F. Alternate lifestyles would increase, prosper & become accepted.-Lk 17:28,30; ref Gen 19:5; Ro 1:24,26,27.

G. People would be without self-control in sex-2 Tim 3:1,2,6; Rev 9:21, Lk 17:28,30; Jude 7. Is this not the sex generation?

H. People would love pleasures more than God-2 Tim 3:1,2,4. This is true. Shall we go on a picnic, watch football, or sleep. Church?—we can go another time. Our American motto "In God we trust" has become a joke. Remember, these were all predicted centuries ago as part of the signs that we are at the time of the end.

I. People would be taking drugs-Rev 9:21. The Greek word for sorceries, in Rev 9:21, means pharmaceuticals or drugs. God’s Word is 100% right on every one. That’s 6 out of 6. How could you have any doubts at this point?Note: Fifty years ago, many people seldom locked their doors at night. There was little or no profanity on television, radio, or in the movies. One of the biggest problems in public school was gum chewing. Those days are long gone. Can you find a new movie that doesn’t curse God’s name?
7. There would be weapons that could destroy the world-Mk 13:20; Rev 6:8; Rev 9:18; Zech 14:8,12. Incredibly, this prophecy was written in the days of spears and arrows, yet today it is true. That’s 7 out of 7.Note: It is estimated that the combined nuclear arsenals of the USA and Russia could kill every living thing on earth 6 times over.
8. The Gospel must be published in all the world-Mk 13:10. This seemingly impossible prophecy was written when there was no printing press, but today it is true. That's 8 out of 8.
9. In the "latter days," when Israel was once again a nation, there would be a great military power to the extreme north of Israel in the land of Magog (which is modern-day Russia)-Ezek 38:2-4,8,15,16. Incredible.

That’s 9 out of 9. Note: How could the Bible have foretold the location of this nation, facts about its military, and even the time period it would come to pass? As was already said, in Lk 24:25-O FOOLS, AND SLOW OF HEART TO BELIEVE ALL THAT THE PROPHETS HAVE SPOKEN.
10. There would be a nation to the far east of Israel, to the end of the earth. This nation would have an army of 200 million. This is astounding. How could the Bible have told the location of a nation and given such a huge figure regarding the size of its army nearly 2000 years ago? China has boasted that they could field an army of this exact figure. That’s 10 out of 10.
11. There would be an economic alliance of the nations of the Old Roman Empire. It would have a military capability. This is an exact description of the European Union today (the EU), which has already adopted the one-currency system for many of their member nations. It is written, IN THE DAYS OF THESE KINGS (these nations, which is now) SHALL THE GOD OF HEAVEN SET UP A KINGDOM-Dan 2:44.

That’s 11 out of 11. We have just reached the point that seemed impossible—11 perfect predictions made thousands of years ago—with God nothing is impossible. Certainly, at this point, even the biggest skeptic should see the Bible is true, there is a God, and we are nearing the time of the end.

That’s 22 prophecies in 11 sets, all made centuries ago. With God nothing is impossible. Even the biggest skeptic should see the Bible is true and we are nearing the time of the end. Don’t let your desires and agenda blind you to the truth. The Bible is the Word of God and we have proved it. From the rebirth of Israel to the soon coming tribulaiton, 365 prophecies needed to be fulfilled. Incredible, 363 are done and the last two are happening now. These prophecies include 101 regarding Israel; 73 about today’s church, false prophets and christs; 119 concerning what the people would be like; 20 regarding the days we are in, evil and persecutions; 43 give information about countries and cities that would exist, and alliences; 5 regarding inventions; 2 miscellaneous, and the final 2.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent and get baptized by full immersion. Read and obey the Gospel. God is not willing that any should perish, yet most do.

The Rapture is close, but most are not ready and will be left behind. Mt 16:26-WHAT IS A MAN PROFITED, IF HE SHALL GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND LOSE HIS OWN SOUL? OR WHAT SHALL A MAN GIVE IN EXCHANGE FOR HIS SOUL?

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? THE RAPTURE AND TRIBULATION

RAPTURE (the Biblical term is "caught up" or "translation") is a term used to describe the removal from the earth of all living people that have been born-again, as evidenced by their fruits. Just prior to the Tribulation coming about, the Rapture will take place. The number that will be raptured will be far fewer than most people might think. The Bible unmistakably portrays the raptured saints in heaven before the throne of God, prior to the Antichrist coming forth and the Tribulation beginning. The Scripture tells us, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed and be with Jesus in the air. 1 Cor 15:51,52-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; 1 Thes 4:16,17-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. We may be asleep, immediately, we will be with Jesus. All the unbelievers, the lukewarm Christians, and those that did not obey the Gospel will be left to face the dreadful Tribulation.

THE TRIBULATION is the worst time in history since man has been on the earth. Immediately following the Rapture, the man of sin (called the Antichrist) comes forth. It appears he assumes control of the EU. He can be expected to be very charismatic and brilliant. He confirms a treaty with Israel and others, which begins the Tribulation-ref. Dan 9:27.

The Tribulation is a 7 year period, but the Lord may have shortened the first 3 1/2 years in some way-ref Mk 13:20; Ro 9:28. We are not setting a date; however, we are now living in that generation in which this will happen. Hate, murder, thefts, rape, and every imaginable form of evil will abound.

During this horrible period of God’s wrath, Russia, Iran, and other nations will come against Israel. One-fourth of the world’s population will die. One-third of trees are burned up. All green grass is burned up. One-third of the sea will become blood. One-third of the creatures in the sea will die. One-third of the ships are destroyed. One-third of the waters become wormwood (or poisoned, or radioactive). Massive famines, increased earthquakes, and more diseases will happen as birth pangs of a woman. Those left alive will have opportunities to receive Jesus through the preaching of 144,000 male, virgin Jews; however, death by decapitation lies ahead for most that put their trust in Jesus, unless they renounce their faith.

There will also be many false Christs and false prophets. A one-world, false religion that God calls MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH will increase. This religion has existed for hundreds of years and exists today. The nations of the world have become intoxicated with her false teachings. The temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt.

About 3½ years from the end of the Tribulation, the Antichrist (also called the beast) is killed with a wound in the head by a weapon, but his deadly wound will be healed. He will come back to life. He then declares himself to be God and moves into the temple in Jerusalem. A false prophet appears that will do great wonders. The sacrifices at the temple will be stopped. The abomination of desolation occurs. An image of the Antichrist will be set on a wing of the temple. Those that refuse to worship it will be beheaded. The elect born-again Jews now flee for their lives to a place where God will hide them and take care of them during the last three and a half years. Power is given to the Antichrist over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. All that dwell on the earth shall worship the Antichrist, whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life.

During these last three and a half years (called the Great Tribulation), world conditions will continue to worsen. A one-world system will exist. The Antichrist shall make war against the saints and will overcome them. People will be required to take the mark of the Antichrist or the number of his name (666) in or on their forehead or right hand. If they, refuse they cannot buy or sell.

Two prophets of God will appear. One of them is Elijah. Their ministry lasts 1260 days. They warn people not to take the mark or worship the image. There is no forgiveness from God afterward for those that do. They will go to the eternal lake of fire. These two witnesses have the power to shut up heaven so that it does not rain. They have the power to bring all kinds of plagues on the earth. Multitudes will be slain for the Word of God. Some type of locusts will sting men with a sting like a scorpion. It will be so bad that men will seek death and shall not find it. There will be terrible sores upon men. The rivers and fountains will become blood. Men will be scorched with great heat. Earthquakes and diseases continue to get worse and worse. Two hundred million troops will march to Israel from the east and cross the dried up Euphrates River. One-third more of the earth’s population will be killed. After the 1260 days, the two prophets of God will be killed. People will rejoice, but then after three and a half days, they will arise and ascend up to heaven as others watch. Great fear falls on those that see this. Men will be so terrified that their hearts will fail, as they consider what is about to happen. Multitudes will hide in the rocks and say, "FALL ON US AND HIDE US FROM...HIM (Jesus)…FOR THE GREAT DAY OF HIS WRATH IS COME; AND WHO SHALL BE ABLE TO STAND?"-Rev 6:16,17.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION of those days, the Battle of Armageddon explodes. It lasts one day. The kings and armies of the earth are gathered to make war against Jesus. Jesus Christ returns as the King of kings and Lord of lords with all His saints. If He had not returned exactly when He did, there should be no life left on earth. The Antichrist and false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire. Satan is chained for one thousand years, so he can deceive the nations no longer till the thousand years be fulfilled. Every force of nature is likely to be unleashed at once, including killer tornadoes, hurricanes, tidal waves, lightning encircling the earth, and the biggest earthquake in mankind’s history. The cities and the mountains of the world will crumble. The Bible tells that every island fled away. The mountains were not found. There is great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of 70 to l00 pounds. The earth will move out of its place. At the end of that one day, there are so few people left alive that a child could list them.

This may all sound like a fairy tale, but remember—from Israel’s rebirth to the Tribulation, there are about 365 prophecies. Incredibly, nearly all have now been fulfilled. In addition, there are over 10,000 prophecies in the Bible and every one up to this time has come true without a single exception. THE FOOL HAS SAID IN HIS HEART THERE IS NO GOD-Ps 14:1.

ARE YOU READY TO MEET JESUS?

We have proven that the Bible is God's Word. Now you are faced with a decision. Will you ignore what you have learned, or will you surrender your life to Jesus? If you had a sudden heart attack or the Rapture came in the next five minutes, are you sure you are ready to meet God? You may say, "I believe I’m a good person. I do good things. I go to church and give offerings.I help the poor". I am not a bad person. The Bible says all of your righteous deeds ARE AS FILTHY RAGS. There are none that do good, no not one. You may be religious and go to church, you may have never gone to church and just live a moral life. Maybe your a immoral person and God has lead you to this site for the first time, but if you died right now—you would perish to hell. Why? Because you have not been born-again. You may say, "Well my church never preaches like this. I have never been told this".Will you trust your religion, your self or what the Bible says? If you choose not to accept God’s way to enter heaven, then you are choosing eternal separation from God.

YOU MAY ASK, WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?

FOUR THINGS
1. You must admit that you are a sinner. The Bible tells us, ALL HAVE SINNED AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD. THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH.

2.Repent, be willing to change, to forsake all sin, to humble yourself and live for Jesus. Repent. Be willing to ask God for His help to make that change. The Bible tells us, EXCEPT YE REPENT, YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH. WHOSOEVER THEREFORE WILL BE A FRIEND OF THE WORLD IS THE ENEMY OF GOD. Jesus tells us, HE THAT IS NOT WITH ME IS AGAINST ME.

3. Believe in your heart Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son, God Who came to this earth in human form. Believe He died for your sins. It is written, THERE IS NONE OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN GIVEN AMONG MEN, WHEREBY WE MUST BE SAVED. If you are caught robbing a bank, you have to go to jail. Jesus never sinned. When He died on the cross, He did not die for the things He did. He died to pay your jail sentence.

4. Ask for forgiveness. Ask for God’s mercy. By faith receive Jesus Christ as your only hope of salvation. Afterwards, be willing to get baptized by full immersion in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Nicodemus was considered a very religious man in the Bible; however, in Jn 3:3, Jesus shows him it is not enough.

You MUST BE BORN AGAIN. I am going to ask you to make that decision for Jesus right now. You need to humble yourself, repent and ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. Please kneel right where you are. Can you sense God calling you right now? Is your heart pounding? You may have said a prayer or been baptized or confirmed, but something inside you is saying, "I am not sure." Perhaps you thought you knew God but have gone astray having never really known and have never truly comitted your life to Jesus. God knows your heart, He knows if you have just played a game with Him with out being real. Would you rather go to be with God or the lake of fire? You have that choice right now. God wants you to receive the gift of eternal life. Are you sure there is not a sin, there is nothing that stands between you and God? But you may know there is. The Bible tells us that there is not a just man in the earth that does not sin. The Bibles says God looks down on man to see if there are any who do good, there is no one good, no not one. Man has missed God's perfect standard and this is sin. Let's check the record, judge your self. Is God first in every part of your life? Have you ever used God's holy name in vain? Have you ever looked at someone with sexual desire (lust - which is adultery in the heart)? Have you ever told a lie (including "fibs")? Ever stolen anything (value is irrelevant)? If you are honest with yourself, you know you would be guilty on Judgment Day. God's punishment is hell for all who break His Law. That's why Jesus died in your place. You broke God's Law but, Jesus paid your fine with His own blood. The Bible tells us THERE IS A WAY WHICH SEEMETH RIGHT UNTO A MAN, (his own way) BUT THE END THEREOF ARE THE WAYS OF DEATH. A person can not merit favor with God by doing any thing. No amount of good deeds can bribe God or make up for sin committed. God requires complete and utter surrender of all doubt and unbelief, to turn then, and place your faith from the heart in His Son Jesus Christ. To TRUST JESUS for Gods mercy in our lives. It is not what we do but what Jesus did for us and in this we must TRUST. It’s not a matter of whether you think you know Jesus, but does Jesus know you? 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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Right now, kneel and cry out loud to God, Jesus save me! Jesus forgive me! God have mercy on me! Give me your Spirit by faith so I may live and not die! Show yourself to me, tell me! that I may know I am born again and that I am saved! I would say stay to your knee's and do not get up until God has told you, you are saved. Then you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Not because you read this page, not because you said a prayer but because God has breathed His life in you!

We recommend you get yourself a Bible, read it, believe it, and obey it. Jesus will never let you down. Pray God will bring you true Bible believing people into your life, people that have been born again and know Jesus Christ, His Spirit and know His Word the Bible, that you may fellowship with. Then Go tell people what God has done for you, so that others may know and be saved too!

Most important in these last days, in these turbulent times of distress that is coming on this earth. TRUST JESUS He is a ever present help in time of trouble. TRUST Him to the end no matter what and see the salvation of our God!
Amen Come Lord Jesus

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord...

2011-01-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

TO COMFORT ALL WHO MOURN
The Voice of the Martyrs News Letter January 2011
We have written before about before about a Colombian pastor's wife named Luz. When we first met her, the agony of her loss was evident. Although her name means "light" in Spanish, most of the light had gone out of her face and eyes. She was pregnant with twins, and her older daughter was still a toddler. Luz's husband, a pastor named Diego, had been murdered a few months earlier, shortly after following God's call to plant a church in a Marxist guerrilla-controlled Colombia village.
When we were introduced to Luz, she was living with her mother-in-law. Every time Luz left the house, she had to walk across the porch were guerrillas had dumped her husband's body, cut into pieces and stuffed in a black garbage bag. How could a young mother deal with such loss? In her grief, Luz often quoted Psalms 23 "The Lord is my shepherd. ... He restores my soul."
The voice of the Martyrs provided financial help to Luz in the weeks after her husband's murder and after the birth of their twins. And the wife of one of our Colombian co-workers has met regularly with Luz over the past two years to counsel and encourage her. They have prayed together that God's "oil of joy" would salve the ache in Luz's heart and that He would replace her heaviness of spirit with a "garment of praise"
Last year with the help of VOM's Families of Martyrs fund, Luz was able to buy a small chicken farm to support herself and her three children. Today, much of the "luz" or light, has returned to her eyes and face. She has seen God's faithfulness, and she knows that she has not been forgotten by her spiritual family.
How can you support the work of VOM? Go to...Persecution.com

2010-11-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

Dangerous Counterfeits

November 30,2010

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

(1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Human beings are very gullible, and counterfeiting is a profitable occupation for many deceivers. But spiritual counterfeits are the most dangerous of all, and at times the most difficult to detect. There are many false gods, and this is the subject of the very first of the true God's Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). We are warned also to "beware of false prophets" (Matthew 7:15) and "false Christs" (Matthew 24:24). There are those who preach "another Jesus" (2 Corinthians 11:4), and many who come preaching "another gospel" (Galatians 1:6) a gospel of self works righteousness to some how, in their mind, "merit and maintain" their salvation, rather than trusting in the complete, finished, secure, saving gospel of Christ by "grace through faith" (Ephesians 2:8).

There are also counterfeit Christians that perpetrate these lies who are "false brethren" (2 Corinthians 11:26) as well as "false teachers" (2 Peter 2:1-2) and "false apostles" (2 Corinthians 11:13). They preach "peace; when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14), or may use the law "unlawfully" (1 Timothy 1:8) "unlovingly" (1 Corinthians 13:1) causing "little ones to stumble" (Matthew 18:6) and some will even "shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matthew 24:24), Masking themselves within the "Pentecostal Apostasy", giving heed to "deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1). And no wonder! For Satan himself is the greatest counterfeiter, for he "deceiveth the whole world" (Revelation 12:9) transforming himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into "ministers of righteousness" (2 Corinthians 11:15), false Christians, ministers appointed by Satan to deceive others, in his own attempt to become a counterfeit god. Thus we are warned to "try the spirits whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1) and to "prove all things"--to test them by God's Word.
In this scientific age, it is especially important that we not be deceived by "science falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20). So-called evolutionary "science" is not supported by any real scientific evidence and is contrary both to common sense and the Bible. Many professing Christians have "erred concerning the faith" because of humanistic evolution, (1 Timothy 6:21) which has been made the pseudo-scientific rationale for a multitude of false philosophies including the social emergent reinterpretation of scripture. May God help us to hold fast only to that which is good!

Salvation is of God by His Spirit

2010-11-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

Regeneration

November 6, 2010
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6)
Perhaps the greatest purpose of Christianity is to take that which is only flesh and see it reborn as Spirit--to see spiritual life born where before there was only death. But then, even in the most mature of believers, there remain aspects of the old nature mixed in with--even at war with--the new. In frustration Paul cried, "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me" (Romans 7:21). But each Christian should, through the power of God, be winning that war.
Christ came to regenerate the spiritual side of man. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:1-2).
Too many Christians still have their spirits buried deeply within the flesh, having "yielded their members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity" (Romans 6:19). But Christ came to change all that. "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:3-4).
Through faith, "according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again" (1 Peter 1:3). To "beget" means to reproduce a like kind. Since He has "begotten us," we should be becoming like Him in attitudes and aims. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). This is the object of Christianity. JDM
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Multitudes in HELL

2010-10-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

October 25, 2010
"The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword." (Ezekiel 32:21)

The subject of hell is largely ignored today, even by evangelical teachers and pastors. This is a tragic mistake because multitudes are there already, and multitudes living today will soon be there. It is good to preach the love of God, but God also commands us: "Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire" (Jude 23).
The Lord, through Ezekiel, has given us a graphic picture of those in earlier ages who are now in Hades, awaiting the final judgment. The great Pharaoh of Egypt, along with his countrymen, had practiced the Egyptian religion with all its complex concepts and rituals, but religion, in itself, will not keep one from hell. When Pharaoh died and had "gone down" to "hell" (actually, this word in the Old Testament is sheol, equivalent to the Greek Hades a great pit deep in the core of the earth), he found many there already from the centuries before him. Some specifically named (Ezekiel 32:22-30) are Asshur, Elam, Meshech, Tubal, and Zidon, each with their multitudes. Esau, Jacob's brother, was also there (same as Edom). These, significantly, come from all three original branches of Noah's family. All had come from a godly ancestor, but that did not save them. "When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but . . . worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator" (Romans 1:21, 25). All of these individuals whose final end is explained in Scripture verifies the warning of Christ: "Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat" (Matthew 7:13). Only those who worship the true Creator, receiving Christ as personal Savior from sin, will be saved. HMM
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Read: "The Truth About Hell"

TRUSTING JESUS!

2010-08-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Jesus Saves!
This last week was exciting to say the least. The parable you reap what you sow is true! You sow to the work of the Lord and you’ll get to see some fruit! We were blessed to see to new young people come to the Lord and be baptized for the remission of their sins this week. Devon and Carissa both genuine born again by the Spirit of God and washed in His blood. Were dunked on Wednesday August 25th 2010 in the Cedar River. Praise Jesus! The angels rejoice over one that repents and turns to Jesus, they got two! Saved, secure, kept by the power of faith and on their way to heaven can it get any better than that! We were blessed to be apart of it all. May the Lamb receive the reward of his suffering.

2010-08-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

2010-07-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

He Shall Judge the World
July 27, 2010

"Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." (Psalm 96:13)

Those men and women who reject or ignore the wonderful offer of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ need somehow to realize the eternal consequences of their foolishness. Jesus Christ was not just a religious teacher in Israel two thousand years ago, but is the very God who created them, the Second Person of the triune Godhead (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). God the Father "created all things by Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 3:9), and therefore "hath committed all judgment unto the Son" (John 5:22).

And on what basis will He judge us? Our text tells us that "righteousness" and "truth" are the criteria. The problem is that "there is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4). However, the Lord Jesus was incarnate Truth and Righteousness, and God "hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ has made eternal salvation available freely to us. There is no other way. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of Go d abideth on him" (John 3:36).

But how do we know that all this is not just a peculiar doctrine of one particular religion?

Here is how. God "hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). By defeating death itself, Christ has vindicated His claim to be the Judge of all! HMM

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2010-04-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

The Naked Communism of Earth Day

It is no accident that April 22, Earth Day, is also the birth date of Vladimir Lenin, an acolyte of Karl Marx, the lunatic who invented communism as an alternative to capitalism.

Earth Day is Naked Communism.

To begin, it substitutes a worship of the Earth, Gaia, for the worship of God, creator of the universe and the instructor of moral behavior for mankind.

The Earth does not demand a moral code of personal behavior. Indeed, the lesson it teaches is “the survival of the fittest “and an indifference to suffering. The “natural events” mankind fears most all involve the potential for significant loss of life and for injury.

The Earth is a beautiful place, but it is utterly merciless. Man has learned to adapt to it and, by adapt, I mean to use its resources to build shelter and protection from it, to plant and harvest crops from it, and to domesticate some of its species while hunting and fishing for others for food. Earth Day postulates that man is the cause of harm to Earth by virtue of his cities, his highways, his use of its sources of energy, and even the garbage that results from the normal course of maintaining life. For centuries mankind routinely burned and buried garbage. Now we are told we must separate and recycle it. We are told that everything plastic is bad even though it is one of the great inventions of modern times.

Communism is a litany of murder and oppression
Communism reached its zenith in the last century. Its imposition in the former Soviet Union, in China, and elsewhere is a litany of murder and oppression. In the 20th century, a minimum 110 million people died as a result. It enslaves mankind wherever it can.

Environmentalism has been built on the foundation laid by communism because both exist to control everyone’s life. They are opposite sides of the same coin, both are opposed to the ownership of private property and both regard man as state property to be drained of his earnings through taxation.

Environmentalism’s preferred method is coercion and the mechanism for this is government.

While America was established to ensure “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, environmentalism exists to exert more and more control over our lives by limiting our choices, our liberty. Environmentalism redefines happiness as doing without the advances of science and commerce that protects and prolongs our lives.

There is nothing voluntary about environmentalism.

There is nothing voluntary about having to recycle. There is nothing voluntary about having to fill your tank with a mixture of gasoline and ethanol. There is nothing voluntary about the imposition of mileage standards for cars. There is nothing voluntary about losing access to beneficial chemicals that control countless insect and rodent pests that spread disease and destroy property.

While the vast majority of Americans clamor for the government to permit access to our nation’s vast natural resources of coal, oil, and natural gas it stands in the way, claiming always that drilling and mining pose a threat to the environment. At the same time it acquires more and more of the nation’s landmass to deter access and economic growth.

Greatest hoax of the modern era, “global warming.”

In the name of the environment, the U.S. government is set to impose a Cap-and-Trade
law on Americans that has no basis whatever in science and is, in fact, based on the greatest hoax of the modern era, “global warming.”

Cap-and-Trade will tax energy use and directly control how much energy individual Americans can use to heat or cool their homes through “smart grid” technology controlled by the utilities, not the consumer.

Environmentalism is the reason the U.S. has not had a single new refinery or nuclear plant built since the 1970s. Think about that every time you drive your car or turn on the lights.

The spread of endless environmental propaganda has been taken up by the nation’s mainstream media and has infiltrated the nation’s schools through its textbooks and other means of instruction. Earth Day will be the occasion for an orgy of media coverage.

Just as communism failed the former Soviet Union and just as Red China abandoned communism as the model for its economy, environmentalism continues its relentless quest to deter economic growth and security in America. It is the infrastructure of a New World Order.

Do not celebrate Earth Day. Denounce it.
© Alan Caruba, 2010
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/22235#When:10:33:14Z

2010-03-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

When earth's wine gives out!(J. R. Miller, "Come with Me" Daily Bible Readings in the Life of Christ, 1890)"When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to Him: They have no more wine." John 2:3This incident is a very fitting illustration of the failure of all this world's joys. The wine gave out at a wedding-feast. There was not enough of it to last through to the end of the feast. It is just so with all earth's pleasures. It comes in cups--not in fountains; and the supply is limited and soon exhausted. It is especially so with sin's pleasures. The prodigal soon ran out of money, and began to be in need. A poet compared the pleasures of sin to a snowflake on the river, "a moment white--then gone forever!" But it is true in a sense also--of pure pleasures. Even the sweetness of human love is but a cupful which will not last forever. The joy which so fills us today, tomorrow is changed to sorrow. Amid the gladness of the marriage altar there is the knell of the end, in the words "until death do us part." One of every two friends must hold the other's hand in farewell at the edge of the valley of the shadow of death--and must stand by the other's grave, and walk alone for part of the way.The best wine of earthly life and of love--will fail. If there were nothing better in this world--how sad it would be! But it is here that we see the glory of Christ's gospel. Jesus comes when earth's wine fails--and gives heaven's wine to supply the lack. How beautiful and how true is the picture here: the failing wine, and then Jesus coming with power and supplying the need! That is what He is doing continually. He takes lives which have drained their last drop of earthly gladness--and He satisfies them with spiritual good and blessing, so that they need nothing more.When human joy fails--Jesus gives new joy, better than the world's, and in unfailing abundance. How sad it is for those who have not taken Christ into their lives, and who have nothing but the empty cup--when earth's wine gives out!
Grace Gems (Devotions)

The Love, Faithfulness, and Promises of God

2010-03-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

Everlasting Love
by John D. Morris, Ph.D.

"The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." (Jeremiah 31:3)

Perhaps no doctrine in Scripture is as clearly stated as that expressed in our text and in many other passages. God loves us! His love is an "everlasting love" and compels Him to act strongly and lovingly on our behalf. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). This theme finds glorious expression in the grand hymn of the last century entitled "I Am His, and He Is Mine."

Loved with everlasting love, Led by grace that love to know;Spirit, breathing from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!O this full and perfect peace, O this transport all divine—In a love which cannot cease, I am His and He is mine.

Jesus prayed, "I in them, and thou in me, . . . that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am" (John 17:23-24). The Father will never allow us to part from Him or our Savior.

These precious facts are taught to us by the "inspired" (literally "God-breathed") Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16), and "the Comforter . . . , the Spirit of truth who will guide us into all truth" (John 16:7, 13). He drew us to Himself "in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself" (Ephesians 1:4-5). "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John 3:1). In His grace, we come to Him, experiencing sweet forgiveness and everlasting love. Cradled in the security of His undying love, we have peace. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee" (Isaiah 26:3).

Appreciating God's Creation

"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." (Genesis 2:8-9)

Everything in the garden of Eden was prepared for man's enjoyment. In the time between creation and the curse, Adam and Eve no doubt fully enjoyed the vegetation (Genesis 2:5, 9, 15-16), the animals (vv. 19-20), the atmosphere and the weather (vv. 5-6), the rivers and the raw materials (vv. 10-14), each other (vv. 18, 21-25), and fellowship with God (3:8). But soon they rebelled and were driven from the beautiful garden (3:24), and ever since, mankind's ability to enjoy creation has been shackled somewhat, for creation was distorted by sin, and the eyes of each one of us have become dull. The second verse of the well-loved hymn "I Am His, and He Is Mine" describes a partial reopening of the eyes of a believer upon salvation, as a love gift from our Lord.

Heav'n above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green;Something lives in ev'ry hue Christless eyes have never seen!Birds with gladder songs o'erflow, Flowers with deeper beauties shine,Since I know, as now I know, I am His and He is mine.

In His abundant love for His children, our Lord promises to supply all our needs once again. "Why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" (Matthew 6:28-29). Creation's beauty waits to thrill us and instruct us. Our loving Father wills it so. But creation will be fully restored soon, and "the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing" (Isaiah 35:1-2). He beckons us to join Him in His kingdom.

His Everlasting Arms

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee." (Deuteronomy 33:27)

The third verse of "I Am His, and He Is Mine" recalls former times of alarm, fear, and doubt, but testifies of the rest and peace in His love, cradled in the "everlasting arms" of the Savior.

Things that once were wild alarms Cannot now disturb my rest;Closed in everlasting arms, Pillowed on the loving breast!O to lie forever here, Doubt and care and self resign,While He whispers in my ear--I am His and He is mine.

This verse reminds us of the evening when Jesus and His disciples were in a boat and a violent storm arose. They awoke Jesus from His sleep and cried, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" (Mark 4:38). Of course Jesus cared, for He loved them. So "he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still" (v. 39). To His disciples, He said, "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" (v. 40). The time would come when they would need that faith and peace. They would learn to rest in His loving care.

The song also reminds us of the special loving relationship between Jesus and the disciple John. "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23). A deep intimacy with Him was John's, and can be ours, if we will only pillow our head on Him. No passage expresses that intimacy as well as the Song of Solomon, using the analogy of husband and wife to reflect the self-sacrificing love between our Lord and His children. "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine" (Song of Solomon 6:3). The affairs of this life interrupt our times of intimacy with Him, but there will be a day when we will "ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

While God and I Shall Be

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

The final verse of the majestic hymn "I Am His, and He Is Mine" focuses on the unending love between the believer and God. As we read in our text, nothing can "separate us from the love of God."

His forever, only His—Who the Lord and me shall part? Ah,with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart! Heav’nand earth may fade and flee, First-born light in gloom decline,But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.

Resting in such supernatural love, which lasts forever, begets peace and rest even now. Our Savior beckons, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Aspects of our present life may be temporary, but His love lasts forever. "The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, . . . but my salvation shall be forever" (Isaiah 51:6). "And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar gray hairs will I carry you" (Isaiah 46:4).

Consider the last line in the hymn. "But while God and I shall be, I am His and He is mine." As long as either God or the individual remains, their love will last. "But the LORD shall endure forever" (Psalm 9:7). "He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). Thus, the Christian "will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever" (Psalm 23:6). "I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:27-28).

A Letter of Sorrow and Hope

2010-03-10T18:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

It’s hard to know how to start this letter – it is a time of great sorrow. We are living in a time where the people are without hope – it ought not to be that way. In the last few weeks we have been surrounded with tragedy to the utmost – three different parents, totally unrelated, lost their sons, two to suicide, one to drug overdose. This I’m sure is a pain without measure. You may recall, not even one year ago, this (the pain of losing a child) was almost the fate of my mother when my sister attempted to take her life. This makes real the tragedy of so many without hope. And sadly, they believe leaving this life holds something better for them. Truth be told, it is this life that determines what eternity has in store for us. God has made provision for us to spend eternity with Him, though His Word is clear – none of us are worthy. As shown even in these tragic deaths, we live in a fallen world. A world where truly living for God is almost unthinkable to most. Amongst our friends and family, many can not stand (yes, can not stand – even hate) to spend even a few minutes on a conversation about the God who gave us life and breath and love and EVERYTHING good that we know. They will profess even to love Him – but God says if you love Him you will obey Him – this is expressed over and over in scripture as God’s definition of loving Him. We can not take a human emotional attachment and call it love when God Himself has told us what REAL love for Him is. He despises those who, with their lips profess Him, then turn and walk contrary to His ways. So, this is where I’m going with this – if you yourself would bow the knee to God, allow Him to be Lord (Master) of your life - in every way, let the peace of Christ reign in your own heart – you would have the hope, the real and true hope to pass on to this dying generation. We can not fill them with lies that people go on to a better place when they leave this world – without Jesus, this simply is not true. It is such a deception that is over these children that leaves them longing for ‘that better place’. We were created for God’s glory. We were created to worship and honor Him. He is worthy of all praise. He has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, that we might have life – not just life here, but eternal life. We have sinned against God, each one of us, in such a way that hell is our rightful punishment for our blasphemy against God. But it’s true that He desires that none should perish – it says so in the Bible – and we find that He really means it by the unfathomable sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. He has not made us puppets, where we MUST follow Him. Even the angels had a choice – thus Satan and the demons. We have a choice! Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, for eternal life; or continue on, following the ways of this world, following after our own agenda – give Jesus a nod now and then (maybe even every week!), and perish in to eternal punishment/torment. Jesus has come so that we might have life, and have it abundantly. Before you go on, trying to apply your own reasoning to the things I’ve presented, remember God has the final word – the things I’m sharing, hard as they may be, are from His Word – please resist the temptation to appeal to your own reasoning, the reasoning of others, the reasoning of other religious leaders – read the Bible yourself and see. God has gone to great measures to ensure that we today have His Word, that we may know Him and not be deceived by subjective reasoning. If you have any questions, I would gladly provide scripture references. For now, I will close with these passages from the Bible, be blessed:

2 Timothy 3:1-5

1But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;

2 Timothy 4:3-4

3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

Lisa

The Chains of Sin and Death

2010-02-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

Acts 12:6
And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

Peter lay soundly asleep in Herod's prison. This is faith in action. Faith snoozes evern in a storm. Stephen had been stoned, James had been killed by the sword,...and Peter sleeps like a parishioner in the back row of a dead church. He was bound with chain between two soldiers. More guards stood before the door of the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and stood by him, " and a light shined in the prison." There is a strong inferance that the light didn't awaken Peter from his sleep, because the Scriptures tell us the angel struck him on the side. As he arose, his chains fell off, he girded himself, tied on his shoes, put on his garment, and followed the angel. After that, the iron gate leading to the city opened of it's own accord, and Peter was free.

The sinner is in the prison of his sins. He is taken captive by the devil. He is bound by the chains of sin, helpless unable to even see, under the sentance of death. He is asleep in his sins. He lives in a dream world. But it isn't the gospel light that will awaken him. How can "Good News" alarm a sinner? Rather, the Law must strike him. He needs to be struck with the lightning of Sinai and awakened by it's thunderings. That will rouse him to his plight of being on the threshold of death. Then he will arise and the gospel will remove the chains of sin and death. It will be "the power of God unto salvation."Then he will gird him self with truth, tie on the gospel shoes, put on his garment of righteousness, follow the Lord and the iron gate of the Celestial City will open of its own accord.

You can preach and yell at a man till the cows come home but unless Gods Word strikes the man they will remain bound by chains in the prison of darkenss. God's Law to the proud and God's Grace to the humble. It is the full message that the Apostles preached. When was the last time you witnessed for Christ? Go teach a sinner his ways, point him from destruction and towards eternal life that is in Jesus Christ, it is your responsibility. Go, let God use you to wake them up!

2010-01-27T15:16:00.001-08:00

Seeing the Father
January 25, 2010

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17)
James used three unique words in his description of the heavenly Father. The Greek phrase is ouk eni parallage e tropes aposkiasma. A good translation would be, "There is not any possibility of change nor place for a shadow to turn." Certainly, this is similar to John’s critical message: "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).
We are told that the Lord Jesus, the Word "made flesh" (John 1:14), is "the light of the world" (John 8:12). Moreover, because He is also the "Lord of lords, and King of kings" (Revelation 17:14), He is the only one who "hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen" (1 Timothy 6:16). The great paradoxical mystery of the triune Godhead can only be seen and understood as we recognized the Lord Jesus Christ as "the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). Philip once wanted to "see the Father." Jesus simply told him, and us, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).
No wonder, then, that when we are given a physical description of the resurrected Christ (the only physical description of the Lord Jesus, by the way), He is described by John as such: "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace" (Revelation 1:14-15). Centuries earlier, Daniel saw the preincarnate Word and noted: "His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass" (Daniel 10:6). All of us would do well to "see" our Lord this way when we seek His face in prayer. HMM III
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The Golden Egg

2010-01-11T17:27:00.000-08:00

Christianity today often resembles an egg into which someone has poked a hole and sucked out all its contents and then taken the shell, encrusted it with gold and jewels, and set it up as an object of veneration. In many ways, it remains a beautiful shell, but more and more people are finding that it no longer offers any nourishment. Indeed, there is a growing sense that somewhere between the time that Christ walked the earth and the church of the present day, a vital part of Christianity has been lost. In its place is a brand of "religion" that bears little resemblance to the teachings of Jesus Christ whose entire focus was on repentance from sin, self-denial and helping the poor. Modern Christianity, having lost sight of Christs teachings, has been co-opted by legalism, materialism and politics. Simply put, it has lost its spirituality. Whereas Christianity was once synonymous with charity, compassion and love for ones neighbor, today it is more often equated with partisan politics, anti-homosexual rhetoric and affluent mega-churches. But unlike many Christians today, Christ did not engage in politics, identify with the government or attempt to push an agenda through governmental channels. Indeed, Christ spoke truth to power and made it abundantly clear that his kingdom was not of this world. People today are starved for spirituality. Failing to find any true "nourishment" in the brand of Christianity offered today, they are seeking spiritual fulfillment in the most unexpected places. Finally, those who call themselves Christians must be mindful of the proper use of power. Its legitimate use does not include imposing ones will upon others through the government, or otherwise. From the standpoint of Christ, the proper use of power is to rely wholey upon Christ, speak truth and seek justice, regardless of the consequences...
Operta

By Grace are Ye Saved!

2010-01-05T16:56:00.001-08:00

But God

by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

January 5, 2010
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)." (Ephesians 2:4-5)

For two one-syllable words, the opening words of this passage speak endless volumes of truth. Before they appear, there is nothing but wrath and death. Then suddenly, there is rich mercy, and great love, and grace, and salvation, and eternal life!

The difference is God!
The world before God intervened was dead in trespasses and sins and completely helpless. Instead of the "universal fatherhood of God," all men were "children of disobedience" and "children of wrath" (vv. 2-3), living "according to the course of this world" and "according to the prince of the power of the air" (that is, the devil) (v. 2).
But God! Note that the word does not say "But man." Salvation is all of God and all of grace. It is God, and God alone, who "hath quickened" those who were "dead in sins." Instead of walking according to the course of this world, He has made us "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (v. 6). It is not humanistic works by which we are saved, but by "the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (v. 7).
All of this has been made possible by an even greater divine intervention: "And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God! raised him from the dead" (Acts 13:29-30). Jesus Christ, who rose victorious over sin and death and Satan, "is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" (Hebrews 7:25). Because He has done all this, we can enjoy throughout "the ages to come . . . the exceeding riches of his grace" (Ephesians 2:7). HMM
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2009-12-30T10:19:00.001-08:00

The best way to run the goats out of the church!
(D. J. Ward)
"Feed My sheep." John 21:17"Feed the flock of God entrusted to you." 1 Peter 5:2The best way to purify the church and keep it pure--is to get rid of all the goats! And the best way to run the goats out of the church--is to feed them 'sheep food'. God's sheep will grow in grace under the preaching of grace--but goats will go hungry because they choke on 'sheep food'. They will soon leave and go somewhere else. Preach sovereign grace!“Now I commit you to God and to the message of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified." Acts 20:32

Grace Gems (Devotions)

2009-12-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

Our conception of Christian life

(J. R. Miller, "The Wider Life" 1908)

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus!" Philippians 2:5 Paul tells us that we ought to have the same spirit as Jesus, the same temper and disposition as Jesus, and the same principles as Jesus. The life of Christ--must be the pattern of our lives. We can learn what were the qualities of Christ's life, by a study of the Gospels. These precious books not only tell us about Christ, of the facts of His life, the works He did, the words He spoke--they also show us His sympathy, His kindness, His helpfulness, how He lived, how He interacted with people, how He bore enmity, unkindness and persecution. Perhaps we do not think enough of Christ's beauty of character and disposition--in forming our conception of Christian life. It is one thing to profess to be a Christian; and another thing to grow into the loveliness of Christ. One may be altogether sincere in confessing Christ--and yet be full of faults, only a beginner, having everything of Christian duty yet to learn; and all the beautiful qualities of Christian character yet to acquire."Whoever claims to live in Him--must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:6

Grace Gems (Devotions)

Merry Christmas Truth

2009-12-24T15:59:00.000-08:00

Wonderful Counsellor
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

December 24, 2009

"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." (Isaiah 9:6)
This magnificent verse, used so often on Christmas cards, is a splendid prophecy of the divine/human nature of the coming Messiah. He would be born as a child, like every other human being, but He would also be given as a Son at the same time, with the giver clearly being God Himself. "He gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16).
The name of this God/man offers further testimony. At the introduction of this prophecy, God had named Him Immanuel, meaning "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14). Now He is given a series of names, all of which are needed to express His full identity. It is likely the first two names should be considered one name: He is our "Wonderful Counsellor" (the punctuation marks have been added to our translations, but the combined term is more in keeping with the structure of the other names).
This "child," amazingly, is also "The mighty God" and "The everlasting Father," stressing His absolute and eternal deity, as well as His omnipotence and the unity of the Father and the Son in the Triune Godhead. Finally, as "The Prince of Peace," it is only He that can unite the warring factions of mankind and bring true world peace. This stresses His humanity, but also His perfect and effective humanity.
Also, in His human nature, He is our "Wonderful Counsellor," our perfect example and infallible teacher. He both shows and tells us what to believe and how to live, and He is never wrong, for in Him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," and "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:3, 9). HMM
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2009-12-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

The Incarnate Deity

by John D. Morris, Ph.D.

December 16, 2009

"Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:5-7)The entire gospel message runs counter to the human mind. The Creator dying for the creation. The judge paying the penalty for the guilty. The immortal One dying. Sinless God substituting for human sinners. No human or devil ever could have thought of this scheme, and indeed, no such one did. This is evidenced by the works-oriented salvation offered by all cults and false religions, as conjured up by such sources.But make no mistake! The babe in the manger was the Creator, holy and eternal! "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. . . . All things were created by him, and for him: . . . that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself" (Colossians 1:15-20).In order to qualify as a sacrificial substitute, He had to be born as a child into humankind, but without the inherited sin nature of His human parents. A virgin birth was therefore necessary.He had to live a sinless life. He had to be fully human, but also fully God, so that His substitutionary death could apply to the sins of more than one guilty sinner. He had to be "God with us," the meaning of the precious title Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23), as prophesied years before (Isaiah 7:14). JDM

Christ, by the highest Heav'n adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord:Late in the time behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin's womb.Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail th'incarnate Deity!Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmamuel.Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!"

A Little Humor

2009-12-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables when a voice in the dark said,

'Jesus knows you're here.'

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze.

When he heard nothing more , after a bit, he shook his head and continued.

Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard

'Jesus is watching you.'

Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice.

Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

'Did you say that?' he hissed at the parrot.'

Yep', the parrot confessed, then squawked, 'I'm just trying to warn you that he is watching you.'

The burglar relaxed. 'Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?

''Moses,' replied the bird.

'Moses?' the burglar laughed. 'What kind of people would name a bird Moses?

''The kind of people that would name a Rottweiler Jesus.'

Nice Jesus, Nice Jesus.

2009-12-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

Justice, Mercy, and Grace

by John D. Morris, Ph.D.

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)." (Ephesians 2:4-5)The first word of our text sets up a great contrast between what we were and deserved as dead sinners, and what we are, due to God’s mercy and grace. In the preceding verses, the picture of man’s state is very dark; we "were dead in trespasses and sins" (v. 1). We were cut off from the things of light and "walked . . . according to the prince of the power of the air" (v. 2), controlled by Satan. Our lives were characterized by the "lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (v. 3). Everything about us was abhorrent to God, not only our sinful, fleshly actions, but the perversion of our minds, and we deserved His "wrath" (v. 3).It is not likely that mere man could have conceived the concepts expressed in the following verses. Scarcely would a human mind have proposed that the very God, whose justice demanded punishment, would take that punishment upon Himself in order to lavish upon us His incomparable grace. "But God . . . is rich in mercy" (v. 4). He had compassion on us, which with "his great love" compelled Him to act strongly on our behalf. He devised a masterful plan to "quicken," or make alive, those who were dead "together with Christ," for "by grace ye are literally completely saved." Just as certainly as Christ is alive, we are "made alive" through His grace.This plan of grace defies understanding and description. Through it, we have been "saved" (vv. 5, 8), we have a present home "in heavenly places" (v. 6), and we will experience its "exceeding riches" throughout the ages (v. 7). Even the faith to accept it is "the gift of God" (v. 8). God’s gracious plan fully overwhelms our wickedness and worthlessness; it exceeds all our desperate need. JDM

2009-12-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

"Salvation"
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
What does it mean to “believe in Him”? To trust and know that He is able and desires to save you? In a nut shell that works, but it goes deeper. It is neither more complicated nor simpler, it is a matter of knowing what you believe in Him for.
First you must believe you can be lost, that there is some place to be saved from and some place to be saved to. Second you must believe that you need saving, that you are destined for one place and desire to go to the other. Third, you must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and so has the authority to save you, and you must believe that the Son IS in fact God so that He is able to forgive you because only God is perfect and only a perfect being can forgive perfectly. No one else can die in your place, for your sins.
You must know that Jesus is who He says He is, and that you are who He says you are, and have faith that He will follow through on His word, and then you believe in Him, and you shall not perish; and if that doesn’t make you love Him, then you don’t “believe in Him”. Love not being a requirement of salvation is most definitely a result.
Others will tell you, you must stop sinning, or follow rituals, or be like them, but it isn’t their word that gets you saved, you must believe in HIM. Satan will tell you, you are too dirty to be saved, or that with one slip up you will lose it anyway, but you cannot believe Satan, you must believe in Him!
Jesus and the Father put their hands around you, the Spirit protects you, and they will not lose you if you believe in Him. Satan cannot take your salvation away and he cannot cause you to lose your salvation if you believe in Him! I’m not even sure you can take your salvation back. I think maybe once He has you He will not give you back, but there is no fear at all if you believe in Him.
Do you believe you are bound for Hell, and you desire to go to Heaven; and do you believe Jesus died to make that happen? Then Love Him and thank Him and stop sinning and be the new person (2 Corinthians 5:17); go out and earn the crowns that righteousness brings. Follow the most important commandment and Love the Lord with all you are and you will be more than saved you will be family…
John 1:12 "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name"
Believe in Him, believe in His name...Praise Him!!!
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Tim Lamb

When I hear "God is Love", I cringe.

2008-12-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

“Every time we try to define God, we diminish Him” Dr. Rusty Fuller, Trinity Baptist Church, Ada, Oklahoma

Sometimes, when I hear someone say “God is Love”, I cringe. Not just because they are often making that statement to deny that “their god” would get angry or demand justice or condemn sin; but because it so simplifies the God of the Universe, the “I AM”, as to make Him completely misunderstood.I want to worship the God who created the universe, the God who threw sin out of Eden; the God who sent the world wide flood, and the God who parted the sea. My God struck down the man who touched the Ark of the Covenant and took Enoch straight to heaven; He took Israel though the desert for forty years then gave them the Land flowing with Milk and Honey. My God keeps all His promises!!My God touched the heart of the Psalmists, and rained down fire on Sodom. He hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and answered the prayers of Daniel. He gave wisdom to Solomon, strength to Sampson, and confused the heathens at Babel. He makes shepherd boys into kings, and brings kings to their knees. He gave me a book that tells what He has done and what He will do, and He expects me to believe it and trust Him by faith; He makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, and will one day separate us like sheep and goats.My God causes a child to be born to an old barren women, and puts a child in the womb of an humble virgin, and He came into time himself to show me His nature; to die in my place and raise again to defeat death an make the way clear for me to reach the foot of the throne, the holy city, and life everlasting.He came as a Lamb, and will return as a Lion, and all will bow to the King, who was once the baby whose birth we celebrate….and still I didn’t say enough!

Merry Christmas!!!

Tim Lamb

THINGS I SAW AT THE CAPITAL

2008-12-10T19:46:00.000-08:00

Brothers and sisters, I wanted to share with all of you some of the things I have been seeing and some things I saw at the Capital on the day of December 7th 2008. I saw how easy it would be to take over the state of Washington, I saw like the days of Noah they were eating and drinking and the rains were falling and their was Noah building the ark and they laughed and mocked, I believe they had plenty of time to repent but they did not, I think maybe because God is merciful, God parted the skies and made Himself known, He may have showed them that this was of Him and they paid no never mind they just kept sinning, for their eyes were not on the sky( the things of God) they were on their fleshly desires (the world) They were as before their warnings, the thunder came and lightening flashed(GOD) and then came the flood, And the ones that were speared were the ones that obeyed even as crazy as it seemed to others that a man would build a boat the size of a great ship, God had hope that none would perish and He wanted to spare more then Noah's family, but He grieved for it would not be so. I feel what is happening is God is sending us out to warn and with our obedience of preaching His word He is inviting people to get into the Ark, He is giving them a chance to repent. The rains came down yesterday and I prayed they would cease as did many others, but there is going to be a day when God is not going to hold back the rain of His wrath and judgment upon the disobedient. What I saw yesterday grieved me I was grieved all day. We like Noah were pushed aside, we like Noah were mocked and scorned and we like Noah are shouting until the last bit of light shined through the crack of the door GET IN, TIME IS RUNNING SHORT!" and to the dismay of it all they rejected the offer even up until those last two ladies we asked to pray with us at the end of the day. This time Gods servants were the last to leave waiting for even one to enter into the ark, unlike the days of Noah when Noah and his family left them behind. But soon it will be like the days of Noah. And what I believe also is that it was shown to all the world(National News) how easily influenced by the system of things the people are. And because of this most of those that call themselves Christians will receive the mark of the beast. The ones getting ready to start the New World Order may now have their eyes fixed on the un- churched state of Washington, Come on! the church could not even hold a rally and also the only pastor that was "supposed" to represent Christians stood there and advertised "ChristianFaithChurchianity" and the Harlot church itself. She is one of the many Jezebels that run the so called church of Christ in Washington let alone America. Christian Faith center is the largest church in Washington and one of the few largest in the United States. That is scaryyyyyyyyy! Wendy Treat who by the way pushed right past the man pastor. Who as if you did not notice did not even use the Word of God as a sword against the enemy of the body of Christ. He became a weakling like Ahab as soon as Jezebel showed up. And it did not help that he called Washington state the arm pit of America, Hmmmm is he really for us or against us? It takes more then one scent gland to make an armpit stink, so what is he saying about all of our other state officials and fellow Washingtonians? He sure did not help any yesterday. Where were the pearls of wisdom that are supposed to flow out of a Godly mans mouth once the Holy spirit shows himself? I believe the flesh, camera lights and the lure of the tempestuous woman sent him right into confusion. And then the effeminate man is the one who called in the troops, nothing more need be said there. OAS and the others Toby, Lisa, Lance and the other gentlemen whom were told "They are not with us!" God had us there for His purpose. His eyes wander to and fro to see who will stand in the gap for Him. What happened yesterday is a precursor to the things to come. Many will be nursing off of the breast of the Harlot willingly and others will be poisoned by her because of lack of knowledge, God says there will be no excuse on the day of judgment, that means everyone has the opportunity to know the truth. The Lord says to seek, Seek means to LOOK for the truth, not with someone else's eyes but with your own. But many in the church are trusting in a man/woman to teach them, to read the bible for them because they are to lazy or just to busy sleeping in the pews and they think church on Sunday is what is going to keep them in good with God. God knows all things and He knows how much time a Christian spends devoting himself or herself to being God's bondservant and frankly so does Satan. So how much more do we need to go out into the world and love them, reproof them, warn them and tell them to Repent?..... Until the door closes on the ark and the "Light" comes into the world again. God thank you that your mercies are new every morning and we have another day to live for you! My life is not my own. Always in your service Lord. One whom loves you.

Elizabeth

THUNDER!

2008-11-29T20:49:00.000-08:00

“THEY HAVE BECOME FILLED WITH EVERY KIND OF WICKEDNESS……ALTHOUGH THEY KNOW GOD’S RIGHTEOUS DECREE THAT THOSE WHO DO SUCH THINGS DESERVE DEATH, THEY NOT ONLY CONTINUE TO DO THESE VERY THINGS BUT ALSO APPROVE OF THOSE WHO PRACTICE THEM.” Romans 1:29,32People today believe they have the right to be as wicked as they wish, and defend the rights of others to do things regardless of personal or public opinion. We have lost sight of absolute truth and so lost sight of God.Jesus came full of grace and TRUTH, but we do not receive Him (John, chapter one). Jesus said, “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” John 3:21, and this world becomes a darker place every day. Jesus said, “God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in TRUTH.” We do not worship God we worship ourselves and the works of our hands; we worship what does not demand TRUTH from us.We say ‘In God we Trust’ and then we put life and death into the hands of people thinking of their own selfish needs. We say, “Let the people choose”, that is not trusting God. We say, “Let the people enjoy” and insist morality is relative to the person, then we call on God’s blessings, for our country. God’s blessings follow those who follow Him. We approve of those who practice homosexuality, fornication, adultery, all manner of perversion; we defend those who lie, cheat, and defame God, and then we ask for His blessing? FOOLISHNESS, that is what it is.God fearing people, Christians, in poll after poll you say this is a God fearing country, well show it, lead the way, follow truth, deserve God’s blessing, trust Him:“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14If you do not have faith in God, tell those who do have faith in God it is up to them, by the Word of God! God’s people must take the step to bring God’s TRUTH back to America, Absolutely!!!

Tim Lamb

Gay Pride?

2007-06-30T23:47:00.000-07:00

What is homosexual pride? Not being homosexual excludes me from defining the term. However, the homosexuals have been more than willing to define it for us heterosexuals. How do you ask? Well, unless you live in a barn in Arkansas, you have been exposed to Gay Pride Parades.

Once a year, around the country and world, homosexuals unite to define what homosexual pride means. Since they have freely chosen to come out of the closet and share with us their pride, I think we should take the time to examine it and the actions that accompany pride. Pride to them is tolerance, unity, freedom, self expression, love, kindness, spirituality, brainwashing children, and of course sexual perversion. I want to focus mainly on tolerance and sexual perversion.

Let's start with tolerance. In the great Pacific Northwest, tolerance is the rule. However, you must first qualify for that tolerance. Basically, you have to believe what they ( radical environmentalists, polytheists, and homosexuals) believe and if you do not then you are an intolerant bigot. Do you see the contradiction here? "We are tolerant. But we will not tolerate you unless you believe like us." Now, they may throw that back at you Christian. Do not let that bother you or shake you.

We (truly born again Christians) are the most tolerant people on the face of the earth. I have seen my brothers and sisters on the streets take insults and degrading verbal attacks with such grace and patience. Why? Because we care about their souls and where they will spend eternity. Why else would we endure the insults, garbage thrown at us, and being spit on? We are not asking for money. We are not even asking for them to say that simple little prayer. We are only pleading with them to look beyond the desires of their own flesh. Listen to their conscience and respond to the law which is written on their hearts. I was no better than them before I was saved. I may not have manifested my perversions publicly, the way they do but I was just as sinful and wicked.

The same is true with the homosexuals. Supposedly, there whole focus is tolerance and unity. You don't even have to call out their blatant lifestyle of sin. Just start preaching the righteousness of Jesus and they will attack you. They will come back with their version of Jesus. Which is textbook idolatry. They have created a God to suite themselves. But even then, they have no need for a Jesus. If every Christian decided to abandon the faith and never mention the name of Jesus again, they would celebrate and gladly accept the change. They do not want Jesus anymore than the pornographer or adulterer. They have no love or fear for the Creator. They, to themselves, are their own gods. But the Bible is true and Jesus is the only means of salvation, they have shaped their Jesus from the evil desires of their perversion.

They claim that God made them this way. Let's assume that is true for a moment. If God made (in the womb) them to be homosexual, then should they not praise God for doing so? If they love being homosexual and He made them that way, shouldn't they express that appreciation? Hey I know, they could have a parade that the city would support and give them access to the main streets downtown. They could organize a big celebration with local celebrities and politicians, floats, balloons, and police escorts and protection. Then they could use this opportunity to publicly thank God for making them homosexual.

Of course, they chose not to give thanks to the God they say made them homosexual. Supposedly, a lifestyle that is fulfilling and liberating. They chose to do what all pagan God haters do, they celebrated themselves. They took their perversion and put it on public display. Things that network television will not broadcast are paraded in front of little children with their parents by their side. Men dressed as women, women dressed as men, inflatable penis and vagina characters, and many things that I do not wish to even write about. This is pride? This is depraved humanity running wild.

This is not to say that heterosexuals are pure and spotless. You would have to a be fool to say such a thing. Just walk through Pioneer Square and you can fulfill every perverted desire you can imagine in two blocks. So I am not saying that homosexuals are perverts and heterosexuals are not. But just because heterosexuals pervert a gift from God (sex and procreation) does not prove that all forms of sexuality are moral and ordained by God. Much like preaching the gospel, we cannot look at results to judge the effectiveness. We preach the Biblical gospel and pray that God would save souls. So to say that heterosexuals are just as perverted does not give any validity to homosexuality. I am sure there are same sex couples that have been faithful to each other all their lives. If you could find (and you probably could) a child molester that only molested other children and not his own. Would that make his actions okay? Of course not. This comes down to what is right and wrong.

There is only one form of sexuality that is approved by God and that is heterosexual sex in the confines of a marriage covenant. Man can shake his fist at God and fly the rainbow flag high, but that does not change anything. Sin is sin. Perversion is perversion. You can dress it up, dance in the streets with Hilliary Clinton, and even get married in a "church" but at the end of the day you are still lost. Speaking of the Mrs. Clinton, who claims to be a Christian, here she is showing her true colors: Mrs. Clinton is in black in the middle of picture. This was at the NYC parade.

Here is one picture of tolerance in practice. Now I know what they will say. Something like, "what about when a Christian kills a gay man just for being gay?" To that I would reply, that man is not a Christian. Another difference is this, this sign was slowly driven down the middle of Seattle with young adults and children reading it. They in turn notice that all the older more "responsible" adults are in approval and even cheering for the sign. In this particular case it is distasteful since Jerry Falwell just recently passed away. This is not an endorsement of Jerry Falwell's past actions, just hoping that we could have a little more respect for the dead. I don't dance in the streets when a homosexual dies from AIDS. I am saddened because unless that man repented and trusted Jesus before he slipped into eternity, he went to hell. A true Christian does not enjoy the idea of people going to hell. And yes the sign says, "Jerry Fagwell". Do they even know what they are doing? Mocking the God of the universe. Hey love gospel preacher, tell these people that Jesus is better than sexual freedom. These people need the moral law of God dropped on them like a nuclear bomb. They are not mocking a false god. They are mocking God, the just judge of all creation. If they only knew the true God and His standard of holiness.

I came across PFLAG and found some of their statements alarming. Here is a taste of the group that claims to support "all" families. PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbian and Gays) is an organization that supports, affirms, and encourages homosexuality. Part of their mission statement is as follows:

Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons, their families and friends through:
Support to cope with an adverse society
Education to enlighten an ill-informed public
Advocacy to end discrimination and secure equal civil rights.
PFLAG provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. Keeping families together is the mission of PFLAG. Our family values stress education, understanding, acceptance, and support, but most of all love, thereby empowering our children — straight and gay — to lead happy and productive lives.

They make a point of saying that "keeping families together is the mission of PFLAG." How do you do that if a man decides to follow his sinful nature and lay with another man? "Hey kids, daddy likes to sleep with other men. Don't worry, me and mommy will stay together. Just wanted you to know so if you see young men coming and going through the night you don't have to worry. I love you so much. Goodnight"

Our children-straight and gay-......How do you know if a child is gay? "Hey Johnny, give Billy a kiss and see if you like it better than kissing little Susie." If that is not happening now, it will not be long. Children will do what they are taught to do. I believe the homosexual community is realizing that they need to get to our children early. And they are doing it!!!!
If you dare click here for a picture, that is truly disturbing. This picture is from Iceland but you know this very thing went on last Sunday in downtown Seattle.

I could go on until my fingers become numb from typing. Bottom line, these people need to be saved. They need the gospel. I fear that many are so proud and hard hearted that they will never humble themselves before God. And every witness for Christ knows that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. They see no need to humble themselves, afterall, they spend months preparing for a day that celebrates their......PRIDE. What eternally damning irony. Pray for these lost and deceived souls. Pray for the children that were exposed to the brainwashing tactics of the Tolerant Ones. Speaking of the tolerant ones, here is their president:

Goodnight Aunt Bee......This ain't Mayberry baby........

More on our Folk Life outreach (cont. from main page)

2007-05-31T17:10:00.001-07:00

Back to the kids at Folk Life. I am so concerned for these kids because at such a young age their hearts are already being hardened. I am not implying that God cannot save these kids. But I am implying and saying that these kids are advanced in years when it comes to their hearts being hardened to the gospel. When I was 12 years old (even 16 for that matter) I was not a Christian. I had a potty mouth and just as mischievous as the next kid. The difference, however, was that I had a respect for my elders. If I had seen people preaching the gospel at a public event when I was 16 years old, I would not have listened but I would not shout and curse at them. And that is what I see in these kids today, a complete total disrespect for their elders and people in general. Several adults, in their 40's and 50's, actually shook the hands of these kids with the vulgar signs. They were praising them for their stand against religion. They should be ashamed. Furthermore, they should tremble with fear. They are rejecting the one true God and they are encouraging children to do the same. Judgment day may be a little harsher for them.

So how do you reach a group of people that see no need for a savior? You open up the moral law of God and show them their sin. It is painful but it is a necessary step. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). In their current state, they will not be saved. They are shaking their fists (some literally) at God. They want nothing of God. Deep down they know that they have to die to self if God comes into their lives. And fallen man loves nothing more than himself.

I write not in discouragement. Unlike the world system, we have a plan. We have a solution to the world's problem because we know that the problem is man's sinful nature. The solution is the Good News of Christ. Our job is preach His gospel and pray. Every solution that comes from the world only digs the hole a little bit deeper. God is the answer. Jesus said: "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."(John 14:6) Any other way, any other truth, or any other life other than Jesus is a solution from the god of this world and he is a liar.

If you heard about our team through the Folk Life outreach and are new to this blog please listen to this sermon.

Four Tragic Shifts In The Visible Church 180-400 A.D.

2006-11-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

by Jon Zens
Most professing Christians do not realize that the central concepts and practices associated with what we call 'church' are not rooted in the New Testament, but in patterns established in the post-apostolic age. While there are a legion of disagreements among serious students of church history concerning various issues and details during the period of 50 A.D. to 325 A.D., they all speak as one voice in affirming the four undeniable shifts that will be examined in this article. Church historians of all theological and ecclesiastical backgrounds observe in their writings the following four shifts:
1. The church portrayed in the New Testament was a dynamic organism, a living body with many parts. The church from around 180 A.D. onwards became an increasingly hardened institution with a fixed and complex hierarchy.
2. The early church was marked by; the manifestation of a polyform ministry by which edification and the meeting of needs were accomplished through the gifts of all the brethren. The post-apostolic church moved more and more toward a uniform conception of church offices which separated ministry from the 'laity' and limited significant ministry to the 'clergy'.
3. The church of the first and most of the second centuries was characterized by cycles of intense difficulty and persecution - it was a suffering body. With the advent of Constantine the church became protected, favored and ultimately sanctioned as the state religion by the Roman state, and thus became an institution at ease.
4. In the New Testament the church, with no small measure of vulnerability, depended on the Holy Spirit to hold the brethren together and to lead them in ministry. Later, the church trusted in itself as a very powerful institution, along with its many rules, rites and offices to secure visible unity among its adherents.
These four shifts are indisputable. They did not come about in a day. They were the result of many factors working together as time elapsed. There are many implications to ponder in light of these significant changes that occurred. I would like to explore each of these shifts in order to highlight certain key issues that each of us needs to face.
We claim to take Christ's revelation about the church in the New Testament seriously, yet the reality is that too often we are more attached to the 'received order' which is based on human traditions. What does it mean to be faithful to the New Testament's teaching about the church? In what sense are the examples of the church life 'binding' on us?
For instance, some assert that since the early church met primarily in homes, we are obliged to emulate this example. I think the primary theological point of the New Testament in this regard is that under the New Covenant there are no holy places. Contemporary Christianity has almost no grasp of this significant point. Taking the cue from the Old Covenant, people are still led to believe that a church building is 'the house of God'. Believers are free to meet, anywhere in which they can foster, cultivate and attain the goals set before them by Christ. The problem today is that many church structures neither promote nor accomplish Christ's desires for His body. Homes are a natural place for believers to meet, and the early church flourished well into the first and second centuries without erecting any temple-like edifices. In places around the world where persecution reigns, house-church movements have flourished. Someday in America, if our religious infrastructure falls as a result of economic and political turmoil, true believers will be forced to meet outside of traditional church buildings. But the issue still is not what type of place believers gather, but what shape their committed life together takes as they wrestle with the many duties and privileges flowing out of the priesthood of all believers.
I believe that it is far more important to capture the spirit of church life as we see it unfolded in the New Testament, than it is to try and woodenly replicate cultural particulars of the first century. We do not live in the first century, but the concepts and principles in the New Testament endure and will come to expression in any culture. The four tragic shifts about to be examined will give us all plenty to reflect and act upon as we seek to take our discipleship earnestly. Christians must take their stand and devote their precious energies to building up the body of Christ in ways that return to the original patterns of the New Testament.
1 The Shift From the Body of Christ as a Dynamic Organism to a Settled Institution
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul goes into some detail concerning the implications of the church being a living organism, a body with many parts. In the early chapters of Acts we see a vibrant, caring, sharing and witnessing body of believers created by the power of the Spirit who was poured out by the risen Christ. This corporate 'new man' created by Jesus was not without leadership and organization, but there is no evidence of desire by the leaders to create a tightly-knit religious institution, with an elaborate hierarchy and intricate chain-of-command. The leaders above all were to be servants to feed and build up the flock; the organization that came to expression was for the purpose of meeting people's needs, not to create a religious bureaucracy.
The church Christ purposed to build is always described in terms of 'koinonia', a common sharing of life together in the bonds of Jesus Christ. However, the reality is that as time went on after the apostles' death, the church gravitated increasingly toward finding its essential definition, not in a dynamic organism, but in a visible institution with a hierarchy of officers. The church came to be no longer identified as a body of believers bonded by love as members one of another, but as a religious organization whose officers gave it significance. Ultimately it was asserted that without the officers, there was no church. Organization usurped vital life as the hallmark of the church.
This legacy still remains with us today. The needs of people are subordinated to the maintenance of religious bureaucracy. Patterns of church government often have nothing to do with the ethos of the New Testament. Many define the 'true' church in terms of outward marks such as "the proper preaching of the Word, administration of the sacraments, and practice of discipline". But these characteristics have been outwardly present in dead churches. The New Testament defines the church dynamically in terms of functioning together as a body. If church was defined, for example, in the organic terminology of Acts 2:42-47, how many churches would you find? Why is it that even today when somebody asks "What church do you attend?:, the next query after you tell them is usually, "Who is the pastor there?" We still tend to define church in terms of leadership instead of by loving relationships among the brethren.
2 The Shift From Polyform Ministry to Uniform Ministry
In the early church ministry was conceived of in terms of Ephesians 4:16, "From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." Ministry was seen as committed to the whole body by Christ its Lord. As Paul put it, "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many ... As it is, there are many parts, but one body" (1 Cor. 12:14,20). To every person in the body of Christ is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the benefit of all (1 Cor. 12:7). Universal giftedness in the church, which is secured by the resurrected Christ leading captivity captive (Eph. 4:7-8), included such important leadership gifts as apostles and administration.
The great tragedy is that from about 180 A. D. onwards the increasingly institutionalized church began to assign ministry more and more to the officers (the "clergy"), and less and less to the common people (the "laity"). George W. Forell astutely summarizes the shift from body-ministry to bishop-ministry:
Ethical guidance for people recently converted to Christianity and likely to bring a pervasive pagan attitude to his new life was offered at first by a polyform ministry of grace, reflected in the New Testament. But, as time went by, moral authority was increasingly focused on an ordered ministry of bishops and deacons ...The institution most effective in containing the threats to the unity of the nascent Christian movement was the gradually evolving office of the bishop ...Through the office of the bishop the shape of the Christian life is determined and the masses recently brought into the Christian movement are conformed to Christ.1
No emphasis on one person who occupies the office of bishop (pastor) can be found in the New Testament. While it certainly contemplates a plurality of leaders as part of life in Christ's body, the overwhelming emphasis falls upon exhortations that involve all the members of the body. At least 58 times in the New Testament believers are commanded to fulfill responsibilities relating to "one another". We have turned the tables and viewed ministry as essentially resting upon "the minister", and forgotten that ministry as unfolded in the New Testament is spread around to everyone.
If ministry is not seen as focused in one office in the New Testament, where was precedent for a separate caste found? It was found in the exclusive priesthood under the Old Covenant. William Bausch observes:
Our survey has shown us that no cultic priesthood is to be found in the New Testament. Yet we wound up importing Old Testament Levitical forms and imposing them on Christian ministry.2
The negative implications that arose from the shift from polyform to uniform ministry are myriad. The mutual care so basic to the fabric of early church life was virtually lost. Why? Because mutuality - "you are all brethren" - was buried underneath the superstructure of institutionalized officers. William Bausch crystallizes this point by saying,
Nevertheless in practice there is no denying that there has historically been a gathering into one person and his office what were formerly the gifts of many. ...[This practice] goes astray, of course, when it translates to mean that only ordination gives competence, authority, and the right of professional governance. It goes further astray when eventually all jurisdictional and administrative powers in the church come to be seen as an extension of the sacramental powers conferred at ordination. In short, there is a movement here away from the more pristine collaborative and mutual ministries of the New Testament.3
We must face the fact that the traditions regarding church government and order which we have inherited are cast in very suspicious garb. They are clergy-centered and generally stifle and suppress the "one another" perspectives of the New Testament. Servant leadership should be a natural part of body-life by which the people of God are encouraged toward, facilitated in and equipped for various ministries. Unfortunately, however, the shift from polyform to uniform ministry has created the deplorable situation in which the church forever remains as a dependent, helpless, non-maturing infant for the sake of the officers who watch over the crib. We have inherited traditions in which the tail wags the dog. It is my conviction that because of the deep-seated nature of this awful shift in perspective, the greatest practical need facing the church today is the reincarnation of "a polyform ministry of grace".
3 The Shift from a Suffering Church to an Institution of Ease
The early church grew and prospered incredibly without having church buildings or being protected by the state. In fact, from apostolic times to the ascension of Constantine the church went through cycles of intense persecution spearheaded by the ruling powers. These times of persecution are well documented in such books as Persecution in the Early Church by H. B. Workman and Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church by W. H. C. Friend.5
However, the advent of the emperor Constantine in 312 A.D. brought great changes, most of them for the worse. Money from state funds was used to erect Christian church buildings and support Christian clergy. Ultimately, Christianity was declared to be the state religion. From Constantine onwards the visible church became enmeshed in political intrigue, and the state mingled in the determination of church affairs. As Louis Berkhof notes regarding the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. [which Constantine convened and presided over]:
A settlement forced upon the Church by the strong hand of the emperor could not satisfy and was also of uncertain duration. It made the determination of the Christian faith dependent on imperial caprice and even on court intrigues. ...The sequel clearly probed that, as it was, a change in emperor, and altered mood, or even a bribe, might alter the whole aspect of the controversy. This is exactly what happened repeatedly in subsequent history.6
Constantine set in motion the ideal of a territorial state religion with Christianity at the helm. This ideal was the death knell of all that the Gospel stood for. It signaled the end of believers gathering separately from the pagan culture as a counter-culture where the way of Christ was displayed in simplicity. Now the church was conceived of as all the people in a nation who were born as citizens of the state and constituted as part of the visible church by infant baptism. Church and politics were fused together, creating immense confusion. Ron VanOverloop notes this phenomenon operation from the post-apostolic church to the Reformation:
As was the case in the early church when emperors called the great ecumenical councils together, so was the progress of the Reformation to a great extent determined by the political maneuvering taking place in each country.7
In the early church the disciples banded together in homes and other places as communities "called out" from the world; but Constantinianism erased this distinction and defined "church" as all citizens in a given territory. This had the practical effect of watering down true discipleship and creating a worthless nominal Christianity. Werner Elert contrasts the early days with the rise of Constantinianism:
[In the early church] the strength of their ties with one another is matched by the strength of the boundary they draw to the outside. In business dealings with one another they do not choose an unbeliever to arbitrate; they transact their business "before the saints" and between "brother and brother" (1 Cor. 6:1.5). One is to throw in one's lot with those who fear the Lord, consider their common good, and daily visit the saints face to face ...After Constantine things changed radically with the influx of the masses. This did not prosper the Christian brotherhood. If we can believe only half of what Salvian says, there was not much left of it a hundred years later in many parts of western Christendom.8
The shift from a suffering church to an institution sanctioned and promoted by the state forces us to face a crucial question: Was the Constantinian change the rise or fall of the church? How you answer that question will greatly define your whole view of the church and its mission. In light of New Testament revelation about the church Christ purposed to build, I submit that Constantinianism was a wretched stone thrown into the sea of church history, the ripples of which still lap on our shores today.
We must make a choice. Are we going to cast our lot in with the New Testament vision for the body of Christ [simplicity, suffering, servanthood], or in with the Constantinian model [powerful institution, clergy dominance, rule by political maneuvering]? Are we going to devote the energies of our short life-span to perpetuating the post-apostolic shifts that moved away from the simplicity of Christ, or to restoring the spirit of the New Testament vision?
4 The Shift from a Spirit-Dependent Church to a Letter-Dependent Institution
Twice in his epistles Paul refers to the fact that the church serves Christ "in [the] newness of the Spirit and not in [the] oldness of the letter" (Rom. 7:6; 2 Cor. 3:6). The church was a community of the Spirit from the Day of Pentecost. In light of this reality the early church did not trust in fixed forms to maintain and guard her existence. There was an openness of the body to be led by the Spirit in light of Christ's Gospel-word.
This can be seen, for example, in the glimpse of an early church service revealed in 1 Cor. 14. Edification was the goal which was to be reached by the Spirit-led participation of the body. The balance Paul desired can perhaps be summed up like this: no form of order in the service must be allowed to stifle the free expression of edifying gifts in the body; no expression of spontaneity in the body must be allowed to blossom into unprofitable disorder. William Barclay isolates these important points from 1 Cor. 14:
[Paul] is determined that anyone who possesses a gift should receive every chance to exercise that gift, but he is equally determined that the services of the Church should not thereby become a kind of competitive disorder. ...There must be liberty but there must be no disorder. ...There was obviously a freedom and an informality about [this service] which is completely strange to our ideas. ...Clearly the church had no professional ministry. ...It was open to anyone who had a gift to use that gift. ...There was obviously a flexibility about the order of service in the early church which is now totally lacking. There was clearly no settled order at all. Everything was informal enough to allow any man who felt that he had a message ...to give it. ...The really notable thing about an early Church service must have been that almost everyone came feeling that he had both the privilege and the obligation of contribution something to it.9
Unfortunately, as time went on this Spirit-dependence gave way to more and more fixed forms of worship, which phased out body participation and committed ministry only to an ever-growing web of ecclesiastical hierarchy. By 250 A.D. church order was set in concrete with one bishop ruling over various territories. The momentum of this church bureaucracy was accelerated when Constantine and his successors sanctioned the church and contributed moneys and resources to this increasingly powerful institution. What began as a Spirit-led organism ended up as a letter-dependent institution. The leaders no longer trusted in the Spirit to hold the body together; instead they leaned on intricate human contrivances and rules to feign outward unity.
One of the saddest features of this shift to letter-dependence, combined with the church's new collusion with the state, was the employment of coercion both to gain and maintain adherents. Simply trusting in the Spirit would have resulted in a spiritual reality too vulnerable to be controlled by human contrivances; the use of raw power backed by the weapons of the state seemed to promise greater stability. Eric Hoffer makes this tragic observation which church history, unfortunately, verifies:
There is hardly an example of a mass movement achieving vast proportions and a durable organization solely by persuasion ...It was the temporal sword that made Christianity a world religion. Conquest and conversion went hand in hand. ...Where Christianity failed to gain or retain the backing of state power, it achieved neither a wide nor permanent hold. ...It also seems that, where a mass movement can either persuade or coerce, it usually chooses the letter. Persuasion is clumsy and its results uncertain.10
Again we must ask ourselves, "Are we going to be a part of perpetuating this shift to trusting in outward carnal hedges to hold the church together, or are we going to purpose to contribute to a return of child-like trust in the Spirit of Christ to build and sustain His body?'
Concluding Remarks...
We have examined four clear shifts in early church history. These shifts are acknowledged by church historians of all theological persuasions. James D. G. Dunn, one of the foremost New Testament scholars of our time, summarizes the essence of these four shifts like this:
Increasing institutionalism is the clearest mark of early Catholicism - when church becomes increasingly identified with institution, when authority becomes increasingly coterminous with office, when a basic distinction between clergy and laity becomes increasingly self-evident, when grace becomes increasingly narrowed to well-defined ritual acts. We saw above that such features were absent from first generation Christianity, though in the second generation the picture was beginning to change.11
'Such features were absent from first generation Christianity,' that is, they are not found in the New Testament. Does this concern you? Is your heart burdened by the chasm between the original work of the Spirit and the hardened institution that quickly emerged in the post-apostolic days? Does it bother you that most of what we associate with 'church' has little to do with the New Testament, and more to do with patterns that reflect a drift away from it?
Further, and this is the key question, were the shifts we have studied a faithful extension of New Testament ideals, or a tacit denial of all that they stand for? If the answer is the latter, then it is incumbent upon believers to work for the recovery of Christ's ways and to stop contributing to the perpetuation of non-edifying ecclesiastical patterns.
The following articles contain excerpts from various sources relating to early church history. I commend my thoughts on the four shifts and the upcoming collaborating materials to your discerning conscience. May the Lord guide you into appropriate responses as 'the worthy walk' is set before us in the Gospel.
1. History of Christian Ethics, Vol. 1, Augsburg Pub. House, 1979, pp. 39-40
2. Traditions, Tensions, Transitions in Ministry, Twenty-Third Publications, 1982, p. 54j
3. Traditions, Tensions, Transitions in Ministry, p.30
4. Cincinnati: Jenning & Graham, 1906, 382pp.
5. New York: Anchor Doubleday, 1967, 577pp.
6. The History of Christian Doctrines, Banner of Truth, 1978, p.87
7. 'The Westminster Confession of Faith', The Standard Bearer, Oct. 1, 1979, p.17
8. Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries, Concordia Pub. House, 1966, pp. 66-67
9. The Letters to the Corinthians, Revised Edition, Westminster Press, 1975, pp. 133-134
10. The True Believer, Mentor Books, 1964, pp.100-101
11. Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, Westminster Press, 1977, p.351
This article was lovingly typed and proofreadby Micheal & Marci Blubaugh, Deland, FL.
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