Looking For A Loophole?

"[Since] they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them"  (Romans 2:25, NIV).

By definition, conscience is an innate sense of right/wrong and the ability to apply it to conduct in situations. 

W. C. Fields was said to peruse the Scriptures on his death bed and when asked why he quipped: "Well, it occurred to me that I might be wrong, so I'm looking for a loophole?"  Everyone is in the same boat, susceptible to error (to err is human!).  Only God is infallible or incapable of error and His divine impeccability is one of His traits.  We can be inerrant, but not infallible:  For example, if you scored 100 percent on a spelling test, you were inerrant; but you're not infallible!

Some Christians similar to claiming infallibility (which is pontificating from the chair of St. Peter called speaking ex-cathedra in Latin).  We are to trust no human as infallible, but hold only the Holy Scriptures to that standard, as Augustine wrote Jerome on his convictions.

We all have a conscience or the ability to relate standards to conduct and situations and make judgments of right and wrong.  We are held to be responsible to our conscience, and it either accuses or excuses us  (cf. Rom. 2:25).  But we can indeed have a clear conscience and be in sin or be dead wrong at the same time because you can be sincerely wrong, but this is no excuse to go against conscience as our guide as Martin Luther said, "To go against conscience is neither right nor safe." Jiminy Cricket said to always let our conscience be our guide--but it should be enlightened by the Word of God.

It is obvious that God is a God who cares a lot about right and wrong and He has gifted us with a moral compass as a guide to behavior in all situations (you instinctively know not to bud in line, for instance, unless you've hardened your conscience--if you ignore it, it'll go away!).  Where do we get a sense of fair play, good faith, altruism, courage, good faith, frankness, objectivity, integrity, and sportsmanship?  It's obvious that this is a reflection of God's character.  This is why we learn a lot about life playing sports and through the wisdom of the school of hard knocks in life's spiritual journey.

There is a natural or higher law that all people know, which is supreme over the law of the government.  Being legal doesn't mean it's right, ethical, or moral!   We are responsible for this moral code, whether we admit it or not.  We have a built-in sensitivity to evil and all of us have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, by virtue of being Adam's progeny.  None of us can claim innocence!  We are moral creatures responsible for our actions and that's where sin comes in; animals are not moral creatures.  We alone are designed to communicate with God with a heart to love Him, a mind to know Him, and a will to obey Him.

Mark Twain was said to say that it wasn't the Scriptures he didn't understand that bothered him, but the ones he did!   We all have some manner of inner moral compass and fabric to convict us.  "If there is no God," Fyodor Dostoevsky's dictum goes, "everything is permissible," and up for grabs, and we are without a moral compass as animals and can act like them, not being accountable and not awaiting judgment.   We all have a sense of "ought" however, and this is evidence for God's existence.

God alone is the moral center of the universe and everything's is relative to Him.  In sum, there is no loophole, all of mankind will be judged by Christ if they are not found in Him, and they will be condemned by their own words and conscience!  In the meantime, judge nothing before the time (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5).  We don't want to be like Israel in Judges:  "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes"  (cf. Judges 17:6; 21:25).  The cross is the only way out by faith in it as the propitiation of our sins, being God's satisfaction or propitiation of justice on our behalf.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Heart Of Contrition

"And this is the condemnation [verdict], that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil"  (John 3:19, NKJV). 

The sinner flatters himself too much to hate his own sin (cf. Psalm 36:2).

"... Repent!  Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall" (Ez. 18:30, NIV).  

"In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God"  (Psalm 10:4, ESV). [God is in none of his thoughts!]
"Return [repent] ... Your sins have been your downfall" (Hos. 14:1, NIV). 
"Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices"  (Ezek. 36:31, NIV).

"Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts, Let him turn to the LORDS, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon"  (Isaiah 55:7, NIV).

We must come to the end of ourselves, a spiritual wake-up call is in order, even have a mental breakdown of sorts in which we realize in a rude awakening the vileness of our own sin, and evil and stop blaming God for our problems--we are only reaping what we've sown or got what we deserve, and even less at that.  When Peter realized his sin he said, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man." And Ovid said, "I see the better things and approve them, but I follow the worst." Even Paul said, "What a wretched man that I am..." (cf. Romans 7:24).  "... [P]our out your heart like water in the presence of the LORD"  (Lam. 2:19, NIV).


Man naturally believes he can do something for his salvation, some work that is pleasing to God, but he must try to stop saving himself, as it were, and accept salvation as a free gift of grace.  He throws in the towel and upon the mercy of God:  the only qualification for salvation is to admit you're not worthy of it. We cannot clean up our act or get our house in order--only the grace of God can change us!  We are never good enough to be saved; we are bad enough to need salvation!  

We cannot work ourselves up into a spirit of repentance or do any pre-salvation work, but must just throw ourselves upon the mercy of God and realize our destiny is ultimately in His control.  We are literally "sinners in the hands of an angry God," according to Jonathan Edwards, and the Scripture says our foot shall slip in due time and our calamity is near if we don't repent (cf. Deut. 32:35).

Repentance, then, like faith, is the gift of God (cf. Acts 5:31, 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25)--for we can do nothing apart from Christ's work in us (cf. John 15:5 ).   Caveat:   "[Not] knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4, ESV).   God transforms the hardened heart, turning it from a heart of stone to flesh (cf. Ezek. 36:26).  God will then cause us to walk in His ways (cf. Ezek. 36:27).  A changed life is the only evidence of salvation:  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."  (2 Cor. 5:10, ESV).

"For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death"  (2 Cor. 7:10, ESV).  There is being sorry you got found out with your hand in the cookie jar and feeling sorrow and remorse enough to change your ways.  David said, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Ps 51:17, ESV).

We must declare spiritual bankruptcy because the good news only comes after the bad news is accepted.  C. S. Lewis said this catch-22:  "We must see how bad we are to be good, and we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good."  Thankfully, we are bad, but not as bad as we can be by virtue of the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit; we are as bad off as we can be, though, in our total depravity.  Total depravity doesn't mean utter depravity; we are not as bad as possible.  We are as completely depraved as possible, our whole being (intellect, emotions, and will) and we cannot be a little depraved no more than a woman can be a little pregnant!

We all have an inner conscience or moral compass that either accuses or excuses us (cf. Romans 2:15).  It is good to feel bad about our sin (guilt is therapeutic) and we must realize we are bad--but not too bad to be saved.   If sin were yellow, we'd be all yellow; there is no island of righteousness in our being--our wills, minds, and emotions are all evil, corrupt and depraved.  Our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to God!  (cf. Isaiah 45:24).   We are born sinners and in sin:  "We are not sinners because we sin, but sin because we are sinners" (theological axiom).  The Anglicans express sin in their Anglican Book of Common Prayer as follows:  "We have done those things we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things we ought to have done."  That means they are sins of omission as well as of commission.

In true contrition, we own up to our wrongdoing, do an about-face, a 180-degree turn, or a U-turn from our sin.  It's imperative to come clean, hiding nothing and openly admitting and confess all sin and remember that confession, or homologeo in Greek means to say the same thing as. It is progressive, in that it continues throughout the Christian experience and fellowship.  We are not just afraid of hell, or regretting the results we have reaped, but want to change our life to please God and hate sin for what it is:  an offense to God's nature.  We feel we haven't just broken God's laws, but His heart.  When we sin we don't break God's laws, they break us; and sin is only "pleasure for a season" (cf. Heb. 11:25). Contrition says goodbye to our former life without looking back, burning all the bridges to make it impossible to return.

We don't need to turn over a new leaf or make a New Year's resolution, but to repent of our sins and put Jesus in charge to change us from the inside out--i.e., make us new persons in Christ.  We will then find forgiveness from what we've done and deliverance from what we are (justification and sanctification). In sum, we must renounce sin and not just feel sorry for its consequences and ask God to change us.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Judge No Man

It's not our prerogative to judge someone's soul status because we don't have all the facts, and only God sees the invisible heart and motives.  Scripture says to judge nothing before the time (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5), and that means that we are not to condemn each other's ministries because they don't suit our fancy or understanding of doctrine.  Jesus, himself, is the sole authority on the quality of each man's work and will test it whether it stands the test of fire (cf. 1 Cor. 3:12-15), and should be rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ. We are to minister as God calls us and let no man judge us but Christ himself.

Someone may say that Christians shouldn't be involved in politics or express worldview, but they are making presumptions that they hold the standard in their hands.  Every Christian is designed to reach out to a different group or category of people, and we are not to look down on someone's ministry because it doesn't have the outreach we think it should have.  For example, take the Christian Motorcyclists Association, an evangelical organization that seeks unity through reaching out to a certain ilk of individuals often looked down upon or misunderstood as rebels.  We are not to say, "Jesus wouldn't drive a Harley!" because we are biased against them.  On the other hand, we should not say, "Jesus wouldn't write an editorial to the paper on politics!"

We have to realize that we are not Jesus, we are only working for Him in the capacity for which the door has been opened.  Jesus wouldn't do this (like smoke, drink, dance, party, watch TV, go to movies, go on vacation--you name it, some people insist they alone know what Jesus is like and they fit the mold!    Everyone is at a different stage and we are not to judge them, for they are the servant of another man as Paul says in Romans 2.  Soli Deo Gloria!

A Dangerous Knowledge

We all need to know the scoop, the lowdown, or the skinny in the world of theology to navigate faithfully through the Word, i.e., to know our way around the block in the Word with correct interpretation and application.  In the last days, according to 2 Tim. 4:3, many will bail out theologically and in 1 Tim. 4:1 it says even believers will give heed to seducing spirits, or doctrines of demons.

Today's Eastern philosophy predominates with New Age (the Age of Aquarius) and it's many Buddhist and Hindu applications are stealing people away from the truth of Scripture by an experience with the occult or Eastern religion.  We need to be informed of a balance of doctrine, and know what we believe (the problem with today's youth is that they largely don't know what or why they believe).  A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing and when we think we've cornered the market or have an exclusive mindset (no one has a monopoly or has all the truth!) or if we seek knowledge for its own sake, we've misused it. Knowledge must not remain theoretical but must have an application and become real to the person's experience.

Not many are mighty in the Scriptures, but we all need to train to show ourselves approved unto God (cf. 1 Pet. 3:15).   The Bible warns that "knowledge puffs up!"  (Cf. 1 Cor. 8:1).   One of God's peeves is that man perishes through lack of knowledge or ignorance (cf. Hos. 4:6). Ignorance is not bliss, but it binds you and opens you up to being led astray.  Don't you sometimes just thirst for the unadulterated truth of God: sometimes there's no knowledge of God in the land as Hos 4:1 says.

The biggest error Christians have in acquiring knowledge is to be over-influenced by one teacher and drink of only one fountain, as it were--this is a good way to lose perspective and to be led into error.   Indeed, there are Christians who are like bulls in china shops, or more accurately, like Dennis the Menace!  Their middle name is trouble and their head knowledge is way above their application of it.
Soli Deo Gloria!  

Popular Perceptions/Experiences Of God

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons"  (1 Tim. 4:1, ESV).


Virtually every spiritual experience of Christianity is duplicated and counterfeited by false religions.--don't be fooled by mystics of any faith!  The Buddhists claim visions and to "see the light of God;" the Hindus and other faiths claim to "speak in unknown tongues;" the Muslims claim to experience the "spirit of Muhammad" and that he lives in their heart! Transmigration, as anything, or reincarnation, or as a person ("better luck next time!") replaces evolution or sanctification, whichever the case may be.  Pantheism, or that the universe is God and all is God or that we are all One replaces theism.

The concept of yin/yang replaces the biblical concept of evil being the corruption/perversion/deviation/negation of good. It's a parasite on goodness.  There isn't much daylight between believing all is God and there is no God.  The incarnation of Christ becomes the latest of many avatars or personifications of the gods.  The experiences of Eastern religion have begun to replace illicit drugs such as LSD.  Prophecy is replaced with tarot cards, palmistry, and mediums. Hearing voices is most likely a sign of an experiment or an opened door with the occult, drug world, or mental illness, then a sign of a spiritual encounter with God on a personal level--it's too subjective to trust.   Faith in karma, which replaces Judgment Day, is then the Eastern answer to Providence.  The goal is to be freed from the law of karma (i.e., reunion with Brahma or extinction of desire or being in some kind of Nirvana).  In Buddhism enlightenment replaces salvation.

People generally perceive God in one of five ways:  a critic who is detached and impersonal and even judgmental and harsh; a life coach that is a positive influence and encouraging; a projection of some person we see a need for such as a father figure or friend; a force that is impersonal and we cannot know or have a relationship with and cannot love us; or a principle to live by and code of conduct to make us feel good about ourselves. 

Christian Science downgrades Jesus to just a divine principle and no more divine than we can be. While the Unity School of Christianity believers say that Jesus is a force.   New Age adherents such as Shirley MacLaine--as the life-giving cosmic energy of the cosmos.  George Lucus, the originator of the Star Wars sagas, believes all religions are right, and that God is just some impersonal force to be tapped into, either the good or dark side (there's no yin/yang-like struggle of equals).  If all religions are right, that is saying none are right:  all can be wrong, but logically, with the contradictions (Islam denies that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead), they all cannot be right!  The Baha'i faith believes that all religions basically teach the same thing concerning God--another cop-out from facing the real issue of sin and salvation, which is the crux of the problem. They can have things in common and be contradictory at the same time. 


The Holy Spirit, the animating principle agent in creation and salvation, is not some blase, passive force, but a living personage equal with the Father and the Son in the deity.  Some Christians do believe that the Holy Spirit is just the Spirit of God or a manifestation of Him, but the Bible clearly teaches that the Paraclete, Counselor, and Comforter is a person who has a will, thoughts, and emotions. When you say tongue-in-cheek or not, that you wish the "Force" to be with someone, you are relegating God (which is idolatry) to a blind force like the blind kismet or impersonal fate of Islam and this force cannot love you, and it's an impersonal fate, or the fatalism of Stoicism.  The unbeliever cannot share in the power of God and the nature of the Divinity--for he is dead spiritually!

Where am I headed here?  We are not to witness based upon subjective feeling or experience, nor to base our assurance upon it--there is too much false assurance out there!  The thing that makes Christianity unique is not our experience in Christ, but that it is based upon objective, the historical fact--the resurrection!  Christianity is the only faith-based upon history and evidence that can stand up in a court of law when before unbiased jurors.  Christianity is history or it is nothing!  We are not mystics who claim some surreal experience, but a transformed life in Christ that cannot be matched by counterfeit experiences.

When you say, "The Force be with you!" we are welcoming and approving the devil's work and inviting danger by the flirtation with it.   The whole point in Christianity is that you can know God on a personal level, which is denied by all other faiths except Judaism--an impersonal force or God cannot love anyone.  Our faith is not measured by our experience but by our obedience.   The issue is not what kind of experience you had, but do you KNOW God?   Soli Deo Gloria!

Flirting With Satan

"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil"  (Heb. 5:14, ESV).
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil..." (Isaiah 5:20, ESV).

Some Christians think it's cool to dabble in the occult and experiment with its luring temptations. The most popular and largest segment of the occult is astrology, which has been around for at least 4,000 years, as an adventure into supernaturalism.  It seems "innocent" enough, but it opens the door to satanic activity in your life, such as using Ouija boards, palmistry, Yoga, TM, crystals, seances, tarot cards, or channeling.

Paul encountered sorcerers in Ephesus in Acts 19 and, when they repented, they brought all their sorcery texts and burned them publicly. Remember, Simon the Great had been a sorcerer and, after believing, sought to buy the gift of God with money, and today this heresy is known as simony.   King Saul sought advice from the witch of Endor, a medium, and was punished with death with his sons as a result. 

Of course, they don't see the harm, but a mature believer realizes that this domain belongs to the devil and will steer clear of it--it's no joke!  You cannot partake of the Lord's Table and the table of demons!  The Bible clearly condemns astrology and any type of star worship in Isaiah 47:13 as follows:  "You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you."

Contrary to popular thought, the magi were not astrologers but noticed a sign in heaven and knew the Scriptures were being fulfilled from a prophecy of Jacob.  Nowhere does God condone astrology and a believer in Christ is disobedient to lend it any credence.

Why is this so serious?  Even if you don't take it seriously and are just playing around, your testimony is jeopardized and it speaks of your lack of faith in God.  Also, you have a responsibility to obey Scripture and not to do anything that makes your brother stumble (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12).  We don't play around with Satan but take him seriously as our adversary.  Anyone who is into occult practice, such as consulting the stars for advice, is doing the work of the devil and in league with him, and will be judged--i.e., we are not to call evil good (cf. Isa. 5:20).  If you don't worship God, you'll still find something or someone to worship--it's our God-given nature!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Are You Cashing In or Enduring?

"Endure hardship as discipline..." (Hebrews 12:7, NIV).  
"But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship..."  (2 Timothy 4:5, NIV).
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith"  (2 Tim. 4:7, NIV).

Some believers seem to be deluded about the cost of discipleship and the suffering that comes with the package.  God doesn't promise to make us all rich, famous, influential, or powerful:  We are not worshiping at the altar of Almighty Chance trying to cash in our spiritual lottery ticket and live a balanced, successful life; we're here to do God's will: to know Him and make Him known (cf. Jer. 9:24).  We are just vessels of honor used by God, which should be seen as a privilege of grace, and are just servants to whom we hope God will say at that day:  "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

It is by discipline, suffering, trials, tribulation, and adversity that we build character and these are our crosses to bear, but they pale in comparison to Christ's.  Philippians 1:29 says that it has been granted unto us "to suffer for his sake."  Christ was honest enough to warn us of this and didn't exempt himself from any humiliation, persecution, shame, suffering, nor temptation.   Paul also expresses the desire to rejoice in the fellowship of His sufferings in Phil. 3:10.  Contrary to what Joel Osteen writes about in Your Best Life Now, our reward is in heaven and we are only spiritual pilgrims on green cards with citizenship in heaven only passing through!

Some of us have more hardship than others, but none of us gets a free ride or a bed of roses; it's an affliction that shapes our character and makes us Christlike.  Sure, God blesses us and makes our work in the Lord a success if we keep the faith and endure, but success in the eyes of the world is not what's meant--they have their reward in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14), but ours is in heaven.  We are, therefore, to endure with patience the race set before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus (cf. Heb. 12:1).

The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints guarantees that we won't lose our salvation, but it doesn't ensure we won't lose our full reward or be disqualified (cf. 1 Cor. 9:27; 1 Cor. 3:15).  "We must never, never give up" (in the words of Winston Churchill) and never quit but endure the hardship we are faced with, though it be a bucket of tears--it's always too soon to quit!

We may be tempted to compromise our integrity or to break faith, but we must go on from faith to faith (cf. Rom. 1:16).  That means faith is the essence and we believe that God is working on our behalf and we cannot lose or are in a win-win situation.  We may be tempted to deny Christ, or not to take a stand on His behalf, but we must keep the faith regardless.  No matter what the world dishes out we must be able to roll with the punches; we're not called to grin and bear it like a Stoic, but to see the reward hopefully, and to endure joyfully.

Jesus never encouraged people to follow Him; in fact, He did all He could to discourage them and to count the cost of signing up for life.  It wasn't something you give a whirl or make a short-term contract with, but a permanent transaction of becoming a child of God with all the consequences as well as blessings (divine discipline or chastisement and reward).  You don't just "try Jesus" but you must be willing to commit your life to Him much like a marriage where you commit to a lifelong contract. You don't experiment with Him or accept Him on a trial basis!  Jesus wasn't looking for admirers or sidekicks, but followers and worshipers who love Him and prove it by obedience.

The final goal is the smile of God, and He does so when we joyfully walk in His will and are obedient.  "True holiness is doing the will of God with a smile," (Mother Teresa).  The "joy of the Lord is [our] strength," according to Nehemiah 8:10; it's something the world cannot take away, as we are commanded to rejoice always.

The choice is clear:  We are either for Christ or against Him; there's no middle ground of neutrality. Persecution is part of the deal or the package that we signed up for and the deal is for a lifetime:  All who are godly shall suffer persecution.  It's like a  feather in your cap or crown on your head when you've been mocked or ridiculed for your faith and you know you've spoken out for Christ as His witness to a dark world.

 The goal is to please God; "The LORD takes pleasure in his people..." (Psalm 149:4, ESV).  We ought to rejoice in tribulation:  Cf. Rom. 5:3!   The caveat in tribulations:  Keep your eyes on Jesus, not yourself, the world, nor others--no matter how tempting.  Soli Deo Gloria!