About Me

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I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.

Friday, August 24, 2018

Does Time Matter?...

"[M]aking the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:16, NKV).
"Time is the thing we have least of." --Ernest Hemingway
Do you have the time?  It's a gift from God! What you do with it should be your gift to God!
Carpe diem (seize the day)!  

By definition, time is a corollary of space and matter (not a measurement between two events because sometimes nothing happens) which both began ostensibly at the so-called Big Bang, which was the result of God's decree and the so-called energy clock began ticking. The Bible says that time began (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2). According to the kalam cosmological proof of God, everything that begins to exist has a cause; the universe began to exist and therefore has a cause.  Thus it follows that everything in (subject to) time and space also had a beginning or a cause; God is eternal, not the effect of anything and needs no one or nothing (cf. Acts 17:25), and therefore, has no cause.

The law of causality corollary (kalam argument) states that everything that begins to exist has a cause.   He alone can manipulate the space-time continuum that runs according to His laws and rules.  "When the fullness of time had come..." Jesus was incarnated into the space-time continuum!   Time captivity implies that things happen in sequence and you cannot go back or skip to the future, but it is not an independent force or power, just a way of relating.  (We define time as a corollary of space and matter and is not absolute).

God created the space-time continuum and exists prior to and above it, not limited nor defined by it.  He has the power to defy its rules as its Creator; however, we are captive to time and cannot remove ourselves from its slavery.  We live in the present, not the past nor the future!  But with the Lord, a thousand years is as one day and vice versa.  Time is not of the essence.  God is the ultimate "multi-tasker," being able to do everything simultaneously.   (Everything that begins to exist has a cause, therefore, God has no cause or limits being eternal.)   He alone can manipulate the space-time continuum that runs according to His laws and rules.  "When the fullness of time had come..."  (cf. Gal. 4:4).  Jesus was incarnated into the space-time continuum!   Time captivity implies that things happen in sequence and you cannot go back or skip to the future, but it is not an independent force or power, just a way of relating.

God created the space-time continuum and exists prior to and above it, not limited nor defined by it.  infinite numbers of tasks at a time--all equally efficient and uncompromised.  When He spends time with us personally, it doesn't mean any less time for others.  Time is even comprehended differently among creatures:  a mushroom grows up overnight, while an oak tree takes decades.  A dog year is as seven of ours in comparison.  We all see time relatively, but with God, there is the absolute present and ever or always  NOW.  He is outside its framework and boundaries, not captive and understood by it.

Time matters for us as we are allotted only a certain amount of it and must give an account of our stewardship.  God has forever!  He existed in eternity past and eternity future is in His hands.  He is the Alpha and Omega or the beginning and the end of all things, including history and time as we know it.  We can do several things with our time as stewards:  use it; give it; find it; borrow it; make it; invest it; redeem it; spend it; buy it; steal it; waste it; save it; kill it, and even share it! Love can be spelled T I M E!  We all value quality time with our loved ones.  It must have some intrinsic value!  We all have 168 hours per week allotted and have the same responsibility as stewards to use it the best we can because we will give an account.  We all have a God-ordained right to set aside a certain amount of it for worship and rest as a Sabbath.

We have no excuse in saying we do not have the time for God's will, for procrastination is no excuse.  Time is definitely of the essence!  There will be downtime, spare time, quiet time, quitting time, spare time, free time, and busy or occupied time, but we must learn to be creative with what God gives us by grace and be accountable.  There are some things that deserve our full attention and others that don't!  Sir Walter Scott, the Scottish historical novelist, quipped, "Time and tide wait for no man!"  We all need to be wise and make time work for us and we do this by prioritizing and putting Christ first.  David said in Psalm 31:15 said, "My times are in Your hands."  We entrust our stewardship to God for prioritizing and He always provides the means to do His will; i.e., there's always time for that.  And redeem the time for the days are evil.... Eph.  5:16. 

Time spent with God in prayer, worship, or service is always an investment of time and the busier we are, the more it pays off in dividends. "Time flies" (tempis fugit in Latin) because we are stewards.  In other words, it's not as much as finding the time, as making the time.  Eternity has been put into the heart of man (cf. Eccl. 3:11), and we cannot understand nor explain it fully, even how God is not its slave but Creator, but we don't have to understand it to accept it and believe it; the true test of reason is that some things are beyond reason.  Jesus is even Lord of time, not its servant. 

We cannot control time and we are subject to its constraints and boundaries, but we can manage it to our benefit.  Having time to spare or to do what you want can be a gift and one should use it wisely, not as a given to take advantage of or take for granted., while the exhortation to take one's time controverts biblical advice; on the contrary, it's a resource to be used to the glory of God. In the final analysis, we're all on borrowed time!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Does Truth Matter?...

"Truth does not change according to my ability to stomach it." --Flannery O'Connor
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (cf. Prov. 1:7).  
"Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice" (cf.  John 18:37, NKJV).
"... We hold these truths to be self-evident..." (The Declaration of Independence).  
"Refusing to acknowledge and defend the revealed truth of God is a particularly stubborn, pernicious kind of unbelief.  Clouding the truth nurtures unbelief."  --John MacArthur, The Truth War
"Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne."  James Russell Lowell, The Present Crisis
BY DEFINITION:  "Truth is what corresponds to reality," (John Locke) --actually, God's reality! 

Today we wonder: are different versions of the truth?  Is truth really relative?   This controverts the Bible, which claims to be the exclusive truth, and Jesus Christ its very personification, who was asked by Pilate, "What is truth?" There is no universal belief, but reality is founded upon universal and transcendent truth.  Yes, the very notion of truth is in question, and some doubt the ability to be certain on anything, and this means the Bible's integrity is in jeopardy because we claim to know the truth, just as Jesus promised truth would set us free.  Not knowing the truth is a kind of cynicism and shows a lack of faith. Doubt can be healthy, but cynicism as a mindset is wrong.  Postmodernists claim that there is no truth with a capital T as a consequence and all truth is relative except their truths. 

All knowledge is contingent and takes a leap of faith starting with some unproven presupposition.  When the postmodernists say that it's just our interpretation or that truth doesn't matter, they are contravening God who alone delimits what is truth as its final arbiter.  Truth has power and when they claim that your truth has no power over them, they are lying and do not know the truth.  The catchphrase that it may be "true for you but not for them" is nonsensical--is that statement true for all and for whom?  The Bible claims all knowledge begins in faith and the fear of the Lord--if there is no God, then truth is irrelevant at best.  The sign of a believer is that he has a love for the truth and has been set free by it! Unbelievers reject the truth at their peril (cf. Romans 2:8; 2 Thess. 2:10ff). 

This has a lot to do with our faith since a lot of believers don't know what they believe and cannot even defend their faith or explain why they have it; this is a form of unbelief.  The church is the pillar and ground of the truth (cf. 1 Tim. 3:15) and we are witnesses of it.  Christians are dedicated to defending the truth and taking their stand for it and should make no unnecessary concessions.  Augustine said that we believe in order to understand, and this proves faith is the starting point and skepticism leads to confusion and contradiction.  We're not talking about subjectivity:  Differences of opinion, values, and tastes. But we're fighting for what God decrees, His expression, and what corresponds with reality.  Objective truth exists whether believed or not and never changes or adapts to situations, known as relativism--a denial of all absolutes. 

The stakes have never been higher and it's not only our duty to defend the truth, but also to combat error and heresy. This so-called "truth war" is worth fighting as we "contend earnestly for the faith," (cf. Jude 3) and the faithful will take up arms and prepare themselves for this war against the devil and his minions and cohorts who are bent on destroying any vestige of the truth, and of reality as a consequence.  The church needs to prepare members in what they believe and realize like Augustine that there are negotiable as well as nonnegotiable teachings (Heb. 13:9 says to beware of "strange teachings"), but need to be dogmatic on the essentials, showing liberty on the gray areas and charitable toward all believers who disagree in order to maintain a witness and unity of the body (cf. Eph. 4:3).

In short, we shouldn't just compromise our faith in the name of collegiality and sing kumbaya at the campfire celebrating unity when we are denying the notion of dogmatic truth and taking a stand.  Augustine said that "all truth is God's truth" and Aquinas added that "all truth meets at the top."  The truth is an antiseptic, but you must be willing to go where it leads to become changed and convicted.  CAVEAT:  NO ONE HAS CORNERED THE MARKET ON TRUTH OR HAS MONOPOLIZED IT!   NB:  The Greeks of antiquity nobly sought the true, the good, and the beautiful.    Soli Deo Gloria!

Building A Firm Foundation For Life

We are not meant to be spiritual Lone Rangers or hermits but to edify one another with the ministry of our spiritual gifts.  No one is a rock or an island!  The only foundation for living is the one established in Christ as our Rock (cf. Psalm 18:31).  In fact, "the only system of thought that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point,' according to Athanasius.  We all tend to have false hopes for our security and meaning in life, including money, fame, power, political involvement, or social activism, but God's Word says not to trust in princes or in our own strength.  "Not by strength, nor by might, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts..." (cf. Zech. 4:6).  Martin Luther's hymn goes:  "Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing."  All that we do is by God's strength and through the Lord--we can do nothing apart from Christ! (cf. John 15:5). 

There is a relative hymn that goes:  "My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness."  We all are inclined to erect false empires and kingdoms of our own achievements, but God doesn't want those, He wants our obedience.  He wants us to trust His accomplishment in Christ. It is a common error today to put one's faith in the government and to hope that some politician will save us from all our ills in society.  The government is not the problem, and certainly not the solution either. God is the one who can work all things together for our good and well-being. The safest place to be is in the will of God, not in having a nest egg.

Once we build our secure foundation of faith we are in a position to be blessed by God--but we must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness!  Some people are too busy with their own kingdoms and pursuing wealth that they neglect the task of the kingdom of God as the first priority.  There's nothing wrong with wealth per se, but only when it is our priority and interferes with our spiritual growth and the kingdom of God.  If we have a false foundation or one built on false hope, it is liable to falling down and collapsing on us.  Jesus made it clear that the only firm foundation is obedience to Him as our cornerstone!  We need to worry about nothing, trust God for everything, pray about anything and thank about everything to have peace with God, as suggested by Phil. 4:6-7.

When we live in light of eternity our problems and trials seem to be seen in perspective and we are more able to trust in the Lord. Focus on eternity, not the here and now!  Jesus said that where our heart is, there will be our treasure also (cf. Matt. 6:20) and we are citizens of heaven  (cf. Phil. 3:20) and our conversation should be heavenly.   Soli Deo Gloria!