Great Expectations?

"I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living" (cf. Psalm 27:13).
"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living" (Psalm 27:13, KJV). "Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and he shall srengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD" (Psalm 27:14, KJV).   "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31, KJV).   "... [F]or it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you" (Hosea 10:12, KJV).  

Charles Dickens wrote the book by the title Great Expectations and made this a treasured classic.  William Carey preached: "Attempt great things for God; expect great things from God."  We are to be ever-waiting for the coming of Christ, the Parousia (Second Advent or Coming).  In a manner of speaking, we're all "expecting." We all need delayed gratification.  We're pregnant with God's hope and promise!   It's not just during Christmas that we should honor and recognize the magi or wise men, but today to emulate them.  In other words, "wise men still seek Him!"  This is the common message on many a greeting card because it applies, resonates, and hits home.

Jonathan Edwards said that the main business of the Christian life is the seeking of God.  We are to always seek His face and R. C. Sproul says that finding God begins at salvation, just like it says in Amazing Grace:  "I was lost but now am found."  The Good Shepherd found us as lost sheep, we didn't find Him.   Pascal said that if God hadn't first sought him, he never would've found God. Scripture says:  "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me" (Isaiah 65:1, NIV). 

His coming is sure; are you ready?  Being prepared for it isn't just a matter of making our funeral arrangements and taking care of our final expenses!  Hezekiah was told that he was about to die and to get his house in order!  Do you feel that if you were to die today that you have lived according to the will of God and have completed your mission?  When David had completed God's purpose, God took him (cf. Acts. 13:36).  We're all here for a purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil, and God orchestrates and micromanages all of history for His glory and plans with no backup plan or Plan B.  We are either in the will of God or not, and the safest place to be is in the will of God.  We are bold when we know God is with us just like the apostles willingly gave their lives for the gospel message as martyrs.  They considered it an honor to suffer for His name's sake.

We must wait patiently on the Lord, for He will not tarry and His promise will be fulfilled in God's timetable. Waiting can try our patience, but the great hope we have should make it worth it and give us the grace to do God's will till the end.  There is great expectation in anticipation!   Our payoff is great and this is a greater motive to wait patiently, for the present trials we endure are nothing compared to the reward we'll see in heaven.  Simeon was told by the LORD that he'd see the Messiah before he died and when he did it turned out to be worth the wait and he could depart in peace.  We may not die happy, but if we died fulfilled, that is much greater, for happiness can be deceiving.  Over seventeen million hours ago John said that we were "in the last hour."  This only shows God's perception of time, not that the Lord tarries or delays His coming, for we know that His patience means our salvation.

Jesus said that if we seek, we shall find, but we must search for God with all our heart (cf. Jer. 29:13; Deut. 4:29) to find Him, for He doesn't deal with triflers.  In our expectations, we are to aim high for God has not set any limit as to how far He can take us if we trust in Him. We are to walk on water and move mountains!   But if we aim at nothing we will surely get there.  Therefore, dream big!

In the final analysis, we must realize that the enemy is a killjoy seeking to discourage us from finding our mission in life or calling in Christ (we're then as meandering stars) and his ominous words are:  "Hath God said?"  He asked Eve this and got her first to doubt God's Word, then to believe his words, and finally to disobey God's Word.  God wants to be our Guiding Light, Beacon, and GPS through this life and we must let Him lead the way.

This reminds me of Alice in Wonderland where she asks the Cheshire Cat at the fork in the road, "Would you tell me please, which way I ought to walk from here?"  He said that depends upon where you want to go.  Alice says, "I don't care where."  The cat tells her that it doesn't matter which way she walks then!  Alice says, "As long as I get somewhere!"  The cat says you'll do that if you walk long enough--you're sure to get somewhere!"   But we want God's best!   In sum, we must not "settle" but seek God's will for our lives and not some default plan.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Man's Never-ending Quest

"The only system of thought that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point."  --Athanasius, church father and father of orthodoxy.  
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death..." (Heb. 2:9, KJV, italics mine).   
"For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom..." (1 Cor. 1:21, ESV, italics added).  
"If a man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God?  If a man is made for God, why is he opposed to God?"  --Blaise Pascal, French scientist, mathematician, and philosopher
"Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in [God]."  --St. Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."  --Henry David Thoreau, author
"The search for God begins at salvation."  --R. C. Sproul, theologian
"Searching for God is the main business of the Christian life."  --Jonathan Edwards, theologian and revivalist


Whether mankind admits it or not, he's on a search for something to fulfill his inner needs--he's looking the Jesus he doesn't know.  He seeks the "pleasures of sin for a season" (cf. Heb. 11:35).  He may find it in the pleasures the world has to offer (cf. 1 John 2:14-15) or in some kind of intellectual fulfillment, but he will never be satisfied till he has found it in God because we are made to know God and to love Him in a personal relationship. God desires to get personal!  This void or hole in mankind's heart is a vacuum only God can fill (according to Pascal) and all of us will naturally seek crutches to lean on in order to find a substitute. Augustine said "we are restless till we find our rest in [God]!"  Man is a religious being who is meant to worship God, and if not, will find a substitute god to worship. He will not find it in political freedom, education, culture, higher standards of living, materialism, sex, drugs, nor false religions, but only in the truth that sets free.

Nature abhors a vacuum and man has expressed it in his boredom and frustration with himself and the world.  Man is not an animal in heat seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, but is hard-wired for meaningful work, dignity, purpose, and service in God.   But "emptiness is the ultimate truth," according to the Dalai Lama and Carl Jung said that "the central neurosis of our time is emptiness!"  We instinctively sense something wrong with us and the picture.  Billy Graham says, "We grasp at every passing straw, and even as we clutch it disappears." We are designed to be fulfilled in God doing His will and work, and ignoring design breaks faith with the Designer: for we are meant for purpose, honor, meaning, and dignity because we are in God's image.

So many today think of God as a thing to be used, such as the "Force," of Star Wars fame, but God is a divine person that loves us.  We use and manipulate things, but we know, relate to, and love persons.  Mankind will not admit it but he's really searching for the benefits without the Benefactor!  He may be looking for peace of mind (but not in Christ), prosperity (but not in God's economy), intellectual fulfillment (but not the truth to set him free), better relationships (but not humbly and not with God), (the answer, but not the Answerer!) or even just to know if there is a God or not (out of curiosity, not sincerity), without committing oneself to Him.

Truth is free but not cheap, we must be willing to come to Christ for it.  We look for what we want to see and view the world according to what we are, not what it is.  If we want forgiveness, we must first become convicted and file for spiritual bankruptcy, realizing we cannot please God on our own merit.  And so the qualification for salvation is to realize one's unworthiness! We must first realize our emptiness and need to be filled and made complete.

It should be noted that the Jews of Jesus' day were looking for a Messiah, but the one of conventional standards would deliver them from Roman oppression.  They wanted a military hero but got a pacifist that would rule the world of hearts in love.  It is a proven psychological fact that our prejudices and inclinations bias our viewpoints and and worldview--known as confirmation bias.  No one is totally objective and we all must realize that just because He didn't fit the profile doesn't mean He's not who He claimed to be.  The Jews saw no personal need of forgiveness or preaching and weren't seeking a Savior.

But Jesus is not always what we want Him to be and we must accept Him for who He is--the full package--or not at all, which is rejection.  We cannot dichotomize Christ and accept forgiveness without lordship and divide His offices and personhood as Lord and Savior--we must trust Him as Savior and also submit to Him as Lord of all.  We dare not "divide His person nor confound His nature," according to the church fathers.  

Jesus didn't come to do our bidding but to do the will of the Father, which was total relinquishment of His will to the Father's as the motto of His life.   Jesus is the only person who was born to die, yes to complete His mission He had to be crucified and die for our sins, carrying our penalty and paying the full cost.  We also have a purpose to fulfill God's purpose for our lives, and when we are done we can say with Paul that we have nothing to boast of but what Christ has accomplished through us.   Paul only wanted to complete the mission that God gave him (cf. Acts 20:24) and that ministry being obedient to the heavenly vision and the will of God for his life.  We also must live with a purpose and submit ourselves to God's will, which is not a one-time event but continual, progressive, and ongoing.

To really see, we need the eyes of our hearts opened (cf. Eph. 1:18) and that can only be done by Jesus Christ illuminating us through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit using the Word (cf. 1 Thess. 1:5; 2:13) to speak God's message.  The whole world is blinded by Satan  (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4) and doesn't see a need for God apart from a work of grace in the heart.   They have eyes but see not nor perceive (cf. Isaiah 6:9).  The whole world is under the influence and power of the Adversary (cf. 1 John 5:19)!

But Christ, as Savior, came to set us free from Satan's power, our sin nature, the sting of death, and the influence of the world-system that corrupts our minds.  The world at large doesn't see Jesus at work in Providence and is blind to the works of God, sometimes even calling them flukes, accidents, luck, or chance.  We all tend to see what we want to see!  No one has perfect objectivity but God. 

We must not become distracted by the world and it's pleasures and realize that God is at work in us to do and to will of His good pleasure (cf. Phil. 1:6); we are the vessels of honor being used for His glory if we let Him (cf. Isaiah 43:7).  It has been said by Corrie ten Boom, "If we look at the world, we'll be distressed; if we look at ourselves, we will be depressed; but if we look at Christ, we'll be at rest."  The way to victory is to keep our eyes on Jesus, the "Author and Finisher of our faith" and this will keep us focused on spiritual priorities.

We must "consider Jesus"  (cf. Heb. 3:1) and look at Him (cf. Isaiah 45:22), and also to realize that we "see Jesus" (cf. Heb. 2:9) spiritually and in Scripture that it's all about Him and if we keep focused on Him, all else pales in comparison.  We must not resort to the quest of the Greek disciples who said, "But we would see Jesus," for it's with our spiritual eyes we must see and be illuminated. It is a fact that believing is seeing, not seeing is believing!  

To find God, we must be open to who He is and who He claimed to be. We are to always seek His face!   Sincerity matters, but it's not everything. Our praise is recognizing Him for who He is as the eternal Son of God.  He's not just some babe in a manger who's cute and comfortable with our sensibilities and sentimentalism, but the Almighty God in the flesh--Lord at His birth.  Yuletide brings the revelation that He was born into our space-time continuum to identify with us but He did it in the fullness of time (cf. Gal. 4:4), when all was according to plan.

He entered history--the time-space continuum! And this is history that can be vouched for!  But whether He's born in us is a matter of salvation!  In our never-ending quest, we should not put God in a box, making Him too small, or we'll never find Him.  He can be real to us and our quest can be complete in Him as the "Captain of our soul and Master of our fate."   Only knowing and acknowledging the real Jesus satisfies and the danger is to accept "another Spirit, another gospel, another Jesus."  (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4).    The divine diagnosis:  Man needs God!    In summation, NB:  Wise men still seek Him!   

CAVEATS:  DON'T LET YOUR CONCEPT OF GOD BECOME TOO SMALL OR YOUR THOUGHTS OF HIM TOO HUMAN!   I MATTERS HOW BIG YOUR GOD IS, NOT HOW BIG IS YOUR FAITH?   ITS OBJECT IS VITAL.      Soli Deo Gloria!

The Art of Bible Study, Approach And Technique

"[A]nd there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word" (1 Sam. 3:21, NIV).
"[T]ill what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the LORD proved him true [tested him]" (Psa. 105:19, NIV).  
"For I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27, NKJV).
"Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law" (Psa. 119:18, NKJV).
"It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that bother me, it's the parts I do understand." --Mark Twain

NB: It is one thing to know the Scriptures, and quite another to know the Author, as the Bible doesn't so much as describe God as to make Him known.  

We all need to address a problem with a plan of attack and studying the Bible is no easy one for the novice.  Basically, all the rules that apply to any literature also do apply to Scripture, only more so.  The Bible, for instance, is to be taken literally, at face value, but not everything is meant to be literal but as plays on words and figures of speech.  Poetry is usually figurative and not to be taken literally all the time, which is a common mistake; likewise, citing Proverbs as promises you can take to the bank or divine directives is mistaken--all genres must be treated accordingly.  One common error is to interpret the Bible according to our experience; the flip side is correct, though--interpret experience according to the light of the Scripture.  The Bible makes sense and common sense is a basic concept--if common sense makes sense, seek no other sense, or you'll have nonsense, it is said.

The Bible is a library with a coherent theme that forms a complete picture taken as a whole, and to see the big picture one must recognize the storyline, the revelation of Jesus everywhere, and main message, which even a child can comprehend.  Normally, we interpret it as it's written and let Scripture be its own interpreter or Supreme Court.  This means understanding poetry as poetry and narrative as narrative, history as history, etc; i.e., distinguishing genres.  Be careful not to read into the Bible what you already believe and are just looking for proof texts to validate yourself.  We must search for the intended meaning to the recipients and what the author meant, not what it means to us when we see some far-fetched idea from some isolated passage.  Don't look for far-out truths, but try to see the obvious ones first.  Caveat for mysticism:  Note that "no prophecy is of any private interpretation" (cf. 2 Pet. 1:20), and God isn't going to show you unique, or personal truths that no one else knows as some special revelation--He reveals truth to the body of Christ and the church in particular to confirm it.  "For it is no empty word for you, but your very life..." (cf. Deut. 32:47, ESV).

The Bible is meant to change our lives, not increase our knowledge and it will keep us from sin, or sin will keep us from it.  We must apply ourselves to the study of the Word, and be in the right spirit, frame of mind, having an open, willing, and obedient attitude. We need to be like Ezra, who "prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD," (cf. Ezra 7:10).  God's Word will test you and it's what sanctifies us as Jesus called it truth (cf. Psalm 105:19; John 17:17).  Don't think it needs to be rewritten, it just needs to be reread, for you don't read it once and put it on the shelf. Even Lincoln said he was profitably engaged in reading the Bible!  We need to be like Paul said, "The Word is very near you...."  Paul urged Timothy to give himself wholly to the Scriptures (cf. 1 Tim. 4:15).

Remember, when reading, that the entirety of God's Word is truth (cf. Psalm 119:160), and this means the sum of it, and you cannot divorce or isolate Scripture to suit your private interpretations.  What would the reader have understood? That means don't try to apply ex-post facto standards or laws to Bible times, but interpret according to the time written and don't fit it into politically correct norms.  The whole purpose of reading is to see the world through the spectacle of God's Word and get a Christian worldview, experiencing the mind of Christ and thus be sanctified by the Truth.  It is said the Bible is our beacon, our celestial fix, our heavenly GPS, and our guidance system for life; however, it's much more than a rule book or set of instructions or code to live by--we experience God in the Word and find that He speaks through it.

One key to reading, as with all reading, is to do it with purpose and have the right attitude:  a needy heart, a willing spirit, and an open mind.  God will show us "Aha!" moments in the Word if we do this. We learn to experience the living God in the living Word!  No need to get Bible fatigue, or boredom from overuse of familiar versions, try new ones!  When we learn to see Jesus in the Word, we can rightly divide the Word of Truth (cf. 2 Tim. 2:15), as exhorted; the whole of Scripture is about Him in some fashion.

The most common mistake is to take texts out of context and get a pretext, even when using it as a proof text. As is the case with all reading, common sense, grammar, logic, diction, syntax, and the rules of inference and allusion or quotation apply.  Don't read into the text (eisegesis) with preconceived notions and opinions just looking for verifications!  You must be willing to go where the Truth leads and be willing to admit you could be wrong!  There is no such thing as total or perfect objectivity but this is no excuse not to have sound study technique and habits.

In studying it, be sure to interpret narratives or history in light of didactic or teaching passages, implicit in light of explicit, obscure and unclear in light of the clear, and also don't forget that we interpret the New Testament in light of the Old Testament and vice versa--never dividing what God has progressively revealed and joined (cf. Mark 10:9). A caveat for Gnosticism or mysticism:  Don't individualize it or think it applies especially to you and no others or there is some secret message or knowledge to be had.  It is easy to take a mere academic approach or to over-spiritualize, allegorize (see it merely as a tall tale and only a practical lesson to be learned), or be guilty of subjectivism (inserting personal opinion and feelings).

For example, seeing the story of Job as merely a grin and bear it, or David and Goliath as standing up to your foes; or the feeding of the multitude as being prepared.  Even though some passages are allegorical, such as Sarah and Isaac and Ishmael, but we must see the deeper meaning of what is intended, that which only the Holy Spirit can illuminate.  Thus, there is grave danger in negligence of the author's intent and concentrating on your immediate impression.  In other words, we don't read it like we would Aesop's Fables for the moral of the story, that we could learn from any fictional source.  We can expect "the day to dawn and the morning star to arise in [our] hearts" (cf. 2 Pet. 1:19).

There's more than one way to skin a cat:  Do word studies traced through the Word; look for the big picture and see the main message gradually revealed from book to book; take on a subject and see the entire Word develop the doctrine, known as topical study; trace the development of a doctrine; study one book at a time or certain genres of books; study by genre, such as poetry, proverb, history, prophecy, law, and gospel; do an exegesis of one text and analyze it critically, in context, to decipher its message in detail, or do expository studies to reveal and expose truths needed to be discovered,  broadcast, or disseminated even using a lexicon, Bible dictionary, or Bible handbook.

In sum, we take Scripture at face value (the Bible does engage in symbolism and Jesus didn't always beat around the bush though) and take it according to the whole analogy of the Word and we cannot fabricate our own truths; we have a right to our own opinions and applications, but not our own truths. 

CAVEAT:  We need to steer clear of being mystical and interpreting passages with private meanings that others don't see; i.e., wondering what it means to us, not what the writer intended and what the recipient understood--the Bible isn't a fairy tale or bedtime story.    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Post-ethical Society

"Nothing good ever came from Christianity." --Madalyn Murray O'Hair, atheist activist or should I say "anti-theist?"  
"Morality is a nebulous thing; listen to the God within." (New Age philosophy)
"The summation of Christian ethics:  "Follow Me," Jesus
"The test of an idea is not whether it's true, but whether it works." --John Dewey, father of American public education and philosopher-author of A Common Faith
"Ethics is about not getting caught."  --Author unknown
"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people" (Prov. 14:34, NIV). 
"Morality is merely an extension of self-interest." --Karl Marx
"The Law of God is engraved in man." --John Calvin
"...[T]he propitious smile of Heaven" that fall only on that nation that does not "disregard the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained." --George Washington from Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville as quoted by David Noebel.  
"If we are not governed by God, then we will be ruled by tyrants." --William Penn
"Morality is not based on private opinion, but transcendent truth.  Morality is merely responsible decision-making [to the secularist]" --Charles Colson
"There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is death" (Prov. 14:12; 16:25, NIV). 
"All a mans' ways are right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart" (Prov. 21:2, NIV). 
"... Hate what is evil; cling to what is good" (Rom. 12:9, NIV). 
"Let all things be done decently and in order" (cf. 1 Cor. 14:40).
"A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart" (Prov. 21:2, NIV).  
"Who stands fast?  ..., not the man whose final standard is his reason, his principles, conscience, virtue but God." --Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a martyr in his own right during Nazi regime who opposed Hitlerism

By way of intro, Kant's moral argument for God is as follows: ethics exist, to be possible, justice must exist, because it must occur in the afterlife; therefore a Judge must exist; the one who is capable to render it must be all-powerful and all-knowing.

READ ON TO SEE HOW OUR MORAL LAXITY HAS DEVOLVED INTO MORAL PARALYSIS AND MORAL DEPRAVITY, DUE TO LOSS OF BIBLICAL VALUES AS OUR ANCHOR.

We have inherited a post-ethical world that doubts the very existence of any objective, absolute, and universal morals and ethics, but that they are only relative to society, culture, time, person, and situation.  This is called moral relativism and the ethics of situation-ethics.  Kant pondered the very existence of ethics too and concluded that they don't exist if one rules out God from the equation--they both necessitate the other. Kant reasoned that God must exist for ethics to be possible.   "If God does not exist," goes Dostoevsky's dictum, "then all things are permissible."  But we know ethics do exist and guilt is real, whether psychologists can explain it away or not.  We are responsible, moral creatures that will have to give an account of ourselves to God at Judgment Day.

Secular Humanism has ruled God out and will not let a Divine Foot in the door to interfere with their personal mores and standards of behavior, which allows them to live like animals because they believe they are, in essence, animals. You can rise no higher than your image of yourself!  And what you think about God, according to A. W. Tozer is the most important thing about you.  The thing about ethics to realize is that where you begin determines where you'll end up.  Doctors still take the Hippocratic Oath, but their interpretation of it is purely humanistic.  The basic command is: "First, do no harm!"  Christianity is the only worldview that gives dignity to man and thus purpose, meaning, understanding, and legitimate goals.


We are not headed toward a utopia and man is not perfectible, contrary to modern thought.  They reason that if a man is perfectible and always evolving then so is society.  The truth is that we now have more knowledge but less wisdom and that is a dangerous combo. Most people today believe they have a right to make up their own code as they go along and whatever "feels right" to them is the right thing to do.  This all started going into a downward spiral after the teaching of Dr. Timothy Leary, who said, "Turn on!  Tune in! Drop out!"  A whole generation was lost in the quest to find themselves and gave no credence to religious feelings or interest.

The formula of Secular Humanism was "down with God, up with man!"  We deify man and dethrone God.  This kind of thinking goes back to Protagoras saying, "man is the measure of all things" or Homo mensura in Latin, WHEREBY WE BEGIN WITH MAN TO MAKE OUR CONCLUSIONS. NOTE THAT ATHANASIUS, FATHER OF ORTHODOXY, SAID, "The only system of thought Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point."  The conclusion of the matter is that without God there is no anchor to weigh in on and to tie everything together with, no grounds for commonality and unit and no common thread or unifying factor.  If there is no God, then there are no moral absolutes and all values, principles, ethics, and standards are relative.  In essence, this is to say that if we let ethics be the result of personal decision and whim, it's the same as denying any ethics at all--if there is no universal standard, there is no standard; this will lead to utter chaos and destruction of society, for no society has survived the loss of its gods, according to George Bernard Shaw.

There are many ethical systems and most people seem to think the ends justify the means, which is pure pragmatism and what communists embrace.  The New Morality says all that matters is the motive of love or good intent, not the results.  In reality, the motive and the end result must be righteous and pure in God's eyes for it to be ethical. Politics without principle is one of the Seven Deadly Sins named by Gandhi--that is our present reality, in which pragmatism and expediency rule.  And to most people, the Golden Rule has degenerated into the phrases:  He who has the gold, rules! Might makes right! Do unto them before they do unto you!  (Iron Rule).  It is a proven fact that Americans follow the Brazen Rule, which says treat unto others the way they treat you!  They certainly don't go high when others go low, but stoop to their level and are a no better example of righteousness. Our contemporary intelligentsia believes ethics evolve with time and are suitable only for the age they are in, but morals are timeless: what was right in Moses' day, is still valid today--God's principles and laws don't waver, because God is immutable and never whimsical, arbitrary, nor capricious.

The whole premise of having ethics is that we are in God's image and are obliged to act like He would, just as Plato observed:  If I want to know how to live in reality, I must know what God is really like!  The good news is that Jesus came to explain God to us and to show us the Way!  We have no excuse not to know the highest ethic achievable:  The Sermon on the Mount highlighted in the Golden Rule.  But this can only be realized by believers living in the Spirit.  The Christian life has not been found unworkable and failed, but found difficult and not attempted.  Christianity is not the first choice of many because it demands so much--denying yourself, giving up all, and following Christ no matter the cost.  In religion, you can be good without God, and are already considered good by nature.

We have a president with no moral compass, it's alleged, is it any wonder that our nation is becoming numb to ethical dilemmas and growing apathetic and calloused toward ethical issues, with a gradual normalization of wrong?  When you have everyone doing their own thing, chaos results and it turns out like Israel before it had a king:  "Everyone did what was right in their own eyes" (cf. Jdg. 21:25). Our nation is in moral paralysis and it has little or no sense of "ought" to judge our laws by, which are only the vested interest of those with the most money, loudest voice, and most influence with the rich and powerful and/or ruling class.

People have traded morals for practicality and we live in a market-driven and results-oriented society that is not truth-centered or oriented.  According to pragmatism, the value of an idea is its result, not its truth, which cannot be ascertained.  They say we must be results-oriented.  The rich and powerful have succeeded, by and large, in eradicating God from the public arena and common marketplace of ideas, and the Christian voice has been muffled and nearly silenced, and even fallen for Satan's lies, as the Evangelical Right turns a deaf ear to political mischief.

Alas, the day when our nation decides that anything goes and we are answerable to no one and there's no Higher Power we are held accountable to--a day when God is dead in our nation, or no longer relevant and believable. We are approaching that day now when all we get is lip service and an occasional nod to God to satisfy the so-called Evangelical Right, who believe they represent God but have hijacked the faith. In the final analysis, morality matters simply because God is the moral center of the universe--He is our judge, we are not His judge.

The ultimate questions we must inquire concerning are:  Does man have a purpose?  Can man live without God?  Has man forgotten God?  The idea of Secular Humanism is being good without God, a religion without God in the picture.  We must rise to the occasion and fly our Christian colors and vociferously proclaim and spread the word of our Great Commission. CAVEAT:  God is the only reliable anchor of society, the glue that holds it together via His divine institutions family, church, government--all meant to curtail and keep evil at bay.

A word to the wise is sufficient from Saint Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo: "Government is not a necessary evil, but necessary because of evil."  But then again, as an afterthought, I daresay our Bohemian and iconoclastic president has defied all norms of expectation and seems to be more of a Teflon president than Reagan, getting by with his unconventional M.O. without losing any of his loyal, devoted "base."      Soli Deo Gloria!

Christianity Is Good Psychology...

"There is something about the way God is that is like the way we are." --J. P. Moreland and Scott Rae
"Psychologist, Heal Thyself." --Joyce Milton
"If there is no God, all things are permissible." -- Dostoevsky
"... [A]nd [God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7, KJV).
NB: The Greek antiquarian axiom: Know thyself!

The Christian faith is a school of psychology, in fact, a better one than pop or even traditional psychology, and it is a competing one for the hearts and minds of Christians, some of whom feel alienated from the church and don't find solutions in its traditions and teachings. Too often Christians seeking psychological counseling just have unresolved personal problems and aren't obedient believers repenting of their sins and being accountable--the troubled souls need guidance and support for the social maladjustment. But psychology is starting to realize the importance of accountability and of making choices again, which is a kind of recognition of sin, the ultimate irresponsibility. The point is that without God there is no sin and we are not accountable!

The fact is that only the church offers answers to all the ultimate questions and dilemmas of man, and psychology focuses on behavior, dodging the bullet. Psychology is supposedly the study of the soul or psyche, but it has reverted to studying and modifying behavior. They don't have the big answer to what's wrong with us but focus on diagnosis and so-called self-help therapies. We instinctively sense something is awry with our condition. William Kirk Kilpatrick concludes, "The real test of a theory or way of life, however, is not whether it can relieve pain but what it says about the pain it cannot relieve." Why is it that religious people are known to be less stressed than nonbelievers?

Christian psychology, which seems like an oxymoron, focuses on positive psychological hygiene, as well as avoiding bad, destructive behavior. We are supposed to cease to do evil and learn to do good. Don't just avoid sin, but do the right thing and live right. According to Christian psychologists, most mental illnesses don't really exist, but they are over-diagnosed to people who have emotional problems with life adjustment and coping in the real world. They have not learned to hack Reality 101. (Modern psychology doesn't know any answers to life's problems and issues, such as the meaning and purpose of life, where we came from, where we're headed, and why we are here.) They study behavior but cannot define human nature and don't know what makes us human--the image of God!

Every rational person knows about the existence of good and evil and has eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Adam, but most people still think man is basically good, while Christianity is counter-cultural and says we are basically and intrinsically evil and corrupt through and through--no one escapes corruption and is pure in God's eyes. This raises a red flag when they cannot account for the evil in the world and don't even have a definition for it. But Paul said, "Wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24). We must know ourselves as the Greeks admonished, and the picture isn't pretty. A famous Christian philosopher remarked: "What is wrong with the world? I am, sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton." Christianity gives us dignity and makes us accountable and oriented toward reality, and isn't a cop-out or escape. Christianity is the only worldview that adequately answers all the ultimate questions plaguing mankind.

Christianity is unique too: The problem is sin, and Christ is the answer! Man is plagued by real guilt (not a guilt-complex a la Freudian psychology) and needs forgiveness and freedom from guilt which can only be realized in spiritual renewal and salvation. We are each individually responsible to God and accountable and will be judged as to what we did with our gifts from God. Christianity doesn't give us the freedom to live as we want, but the power to live as we ought and sets us free from the bondage of sin's power over us. We were born in bondage not born free! Only in Christianity is there meaning in suffering and the guilt problem is dealt a final blow and resolved for good so that it doesn't dog a person for the rest of his life.

We are in the image of God, having intellect, will, emotion, intuition, conscience, etc., and must seek good and moral choices, as well as avoid the evil one: Doing the right thing while avoiding bad behavior as well. We all have human traits of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence to name a few of the known 52 virtues delineated in Scripture. The goal is not to pinpoint blame or to point the finger, but to bring healing through reconciliation to God. Only then will we realize what makes life worth living. Soli Deo Gloria!

Our Common Salvation

Jude wanted to write a treatise (cf. Jude 1:3) on "our common salvation," but was diverted to discuss heresy that had crept into the church.

This is a subject known doctrinally as soteriology, from the Greek soter, or to save.

The common man has no comprehension of what salvation means, and probably relates to a boxer being "saved by the bell."  A renowned theologian (R. C. Sproul) was asked if he was saved:  "Saved from what?"  The man was taken aback and had no answer; he didn't know what our salvation is from!   Actually, we are saved by God and from God (delivered from the wrath to come according to 1 Thess. 1:10).  We are as bad off as can be, but not too bad to be saved!

Christianity is a religion of salvation and this is pivotal.  "Salvation is of the Lord," says Jonah 2:9, and this means that God does all the work and gets all the credit and glory.  The other two possibilities are to be saved by a  combination of our efforts and God's, or to be saved by our efforts alone.  Only in the scenario that has God doing everything, can we have the assurance of salvation?    If we had to do anything, we'd blow it.

The Bible proclaims the saviorhood of God; this is His purpose in dying  ("...and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.").  The Scriptures speak of Christ as being the only way to be saved and that there is no other Savior (cf. Acts 4:12; John 14:6; Hos. 13:4;  Isa.43:11).

All three offices of Christ take part in our salvation:  as Prophet, we are saved from ignorance of sin; as Priest from the guilt of sin; as King from the dominion of sin (per D. James Kennedy).

There are many aspects to look at our salvation.   At the point of salvation we are saved from the penalty of sin or justified, then we are sanctified or saved from the power of sin, and in the state of glory, we will be saved from the presence of sin.  Another way of looking at this is that of our position (in Christ), our condition (fellowship and sanctification), and our expectation (glorification).  From the standpoint of the tenses, we are saved, we are being saved, and we shall be saved.  Our outlook is given perspective so that we have a worldview:  "Our past is forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured."  This all began in eternity past, is realized in time, and looks forward to, and is consummated in heaven.

Our salvation is a done deal, a fait accompli, a finished work--a divine accomplishment, not a human achievement.  Religion is a do-it-yourself proposition and says, "Do," but God says, "Done!"  The entire Trinity took part:  the Father planned and authored it, the Son secured and accomplished it, and the Holy Spirit applied it.

Only in Christianity can we have the assurance of salvation and this is not meant to be permission to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit.   Assurance enhances growth and is assuredly a boon to our spiritual well-being--otherwise, we are stunted and paralyzed in our walk.  Note that assurance and security can be distinguished, but not separated.  They go hand in hand and without one, you cannot have the other.  Assurance is not to satisfy idle curiosity, but meant to strengthen our faith, and is a sign of faith, not presumption.

Salvation is not by knowledge--that would be intellectualism--and not by emotion--that would be emotionalism--and not by works--that would be moralism.   It is not by faith plus works, not by faith plus being good, nor by faith plus law-keeping.  It is by grace alone, through faith alone,  in Christ alone.  Principle:  Don't divorce faith and faithfulness!  What kind of faith is saving faith is the issue:  only obedient and repentant faith will do.

There are only four possibilities for salvation to note:  by works alone; by faith plus works; by faith alone bringing about good works, and by faith alone equaling salvation minus good works.  The first is religion, the second is legalism, the third is correct Reformed teaching, and the last one is only antinomianism or easy-believism.  [This labeling from R. C. Sproul]  The formula during the Reformation was that we are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.

Our faith is simple--so simple a child can do it-- but not simplistic; it is childlike, but not childish.  It's not a matter of trying, but trusting--trust and obey!  It is the work of God (John 6:28-29 answers this question:  "What shall we do, to do the works of God?  It is the work of God that you believe..."); because we are incurably addicted to doing something for our salvation, according to Chuck Swindoll.   The reformer called this Soli Deo Gloria, or to God alone be the glory!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Hermeneutics Made Simple

Unlocking Scripture

"Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law" (Psalm 119:18, NKJV).

"So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (Acts 20:32, NKJV).

"'For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life..." (Deut. 32:47, NKJV).

"Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart..." (Jeremiah 15:16, NKJV).  

Readers of the Bible that fail to glean anything substantial, inspiring, or convicting have missed the point of not knowing the Author first; the Bible is meant to be a closed book to anyone nonspiritual, for it is spiritually discerned (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14).  There are foundational principles for decoding the Word just like for any book, only more so.  If one is unaware of the main message of salvation and the main diagnosis of sin and the main enemy of Satan, one will not comprehend anything intelligible or meaningful and inspiring.  We don't just read it to get inspired like one would read Shakespeare, but to be transformed and changed--it wasn't written to increase our knowledge (so don't read it for merely academic pursuits!), but to change our lives, for the Word is powerful, and living, and has the Spirit giving it convicting influence.  Sometimes readers get out of focus and experience "Bible fatigue" whereby it's lost some pizzazz or original flavor due to overly familiarization with the text; a new translation or version may be in order to refresh yourself and get back on track in the Word.

Many people claim to read the Word but have only given it passing attention and perusal.  What they ought to try is to let the Bible read them and go through them as they go through it and read it (to use figures of speech).  The Bible has a way of feeding you and making you hungry for more--it quenches your thirst and makes you thirsty--nothing else will satisfy once experienced!  Our goal is not so much to know the Word as the Author (it's a means to an end), and in our efforts to be people of the Book, to obey it and know God through it, as Jesus said in John 17:17, NKJV, "Sanctify them by Your truth.  Your Word is truth."  Our goal in learning the Word is not to just become familiar with it, but with the Author, and subsequently in a living relationship in which He speaks to us through it.

Many Christians have difficulty understanding the Word for lack of reading skills and of basic hermeneutics.  One must always put them into context (social, historical, paragraph, book, and the whole analogy of Scripture itself).  Another key is to see it all as a revelation of Christ and who He is, as revealed developmentally and gradually throughout the Bible; each book shows Christ in a new light and we can know Him in this way.  The Bible is written in many genres: historical narrative; poetry; didactive or teaching letters; prophecy; sermons; wisdom, literature or proverbs; songs and psalms;  and parables or figures of speech, beating around the bush or plainspoken.  One reason students don't read adequately is the biblical terminology or vocabulary and they don't avail themselves of dictionaries and Bible study aids.  A simple solution may be another version or study Bible!  The primary reason not to get anything out of the Word is not reading with a purpose or not depending on the Spirit's illumination and guidance.  If we don't put anything into it or any effort, we can expect little reward (as Psalm 119:162, NKJV, says, "I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure").

Furthermore, ask questions when studying about: lessons to learn; principles to know; promises to claim; errors to avoid; duties to perform; commands to obey; prayers to echo; warnings to heed; truth to realize; and examples to follow.  We so often neglect the main message and don't see the forest for the trees; keep the main thing the main thing! Whether you understand it or get anything out of it is not God's fault, but a mirror on the condition of your soul and openness to His will and Spirit. A guideline to follow is to bring an open mind, needy and thirsty heart, and obedient spirit to the Word!  In other words, expect God to speak to your heart.  Once you've had an "Aha!" moment in the Owner's Manual of life or an existential encounter with the Word, you'll be hooked and always eager to find the Bread of Life in the Word, which is the only message that can satisfy.

Some commonsensical principles of interpretation are to view the Old Testament in light of the New Testament, and vice versa; to interpret the implicit in light of the explicit, the obscure in light of the clear, (NB:  the New Testament trumps the Old Testament) and the narrative in light of the didactive or teaching passages; letting Scripture be its own Supreme Court and its own interpreter by letting cross-reference verses shed light on a passage; not to fabricate some far-out, far-fetched understanding comes from an isolated passage; and remembering that no Scripture is of any private interpretation (cf. 2 Pet. 1:20) and we have the responsibility to interpret it correctly and not become subjective; we have a right to our own applications and opinions, but not our own interpretations!  We have no right to fabricate our own truths or go off on a tangent all alone, avoiding taking some far-fetched idea from an obscure passage.  Taking the Bible literally doesn't mean we don't read certain passages as plays on words or figures of speech, but we do take it at face value when it's called for!  It should go without saying that all rules of inference and logic must be followed.

To be purpose-oriented, one must simply seek the purpose of the text as the author intended (what occasioned it?), before applying it to yourself--that entails reading with a purpose and not aimlessly.  Interpretation comes before application.  A mistake by the beginner is to read into the Word, rather than what's in it or reading out of it.  Finally, you can't just read any verse at random and expect it to be a divine message from the Almighty! The whole idea of reading with a purpose is to arrive at some take-away to meditate on as spiritual food for the day. The idea is to unlock the Word one verse at a time, but not to lose focus on the main message of salvation in Christ.  This is called bibliomancy and is not recommended.  (To get a clear view, one must see the big picture and know the gradual unfolding of the redemption story, or be able to walk through it.)   Soli Deo Gloria!

Going Forward, Faith To Faith

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield.  The LORD gives grace and glory..." (Psalm 84:11, HCSB).   "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17, KJV).  

It is commonly said, that people will go anywhere as long as it's forward!  They want a promotion!  Unfortunately, many believers are heavy laden with a backsliding heart and aren't progressing or growing in faith; however, something that is alive grows!  There's a difference between the profession of faith and the reality of faith.  We progress from unbelieving and doubting faith to little faith, saving faith, and then to serving faith.  Maturity is not a given nor a foregone conclusion.  We are to ever increase in our faith as Romans 1:17 says (from faith to faith) and to show it in our lives as fruit (from faithfulness to faithfulness).  We must not divorce these two realities.   These two words are identical in Hebrew (cf. Habakkuk 2:4).  They shall know us by our fruit!

The faith we have is the faith we show and without the evidence of faith to be validated by works, it's spurious, suspect, and even dead.  That kind of faith cannot save us for we are not saved by faith per se, but faith in Christ--it's the object that matters; we don't put faith in faith.  But 2 Cor. 3:18 portrays our faith as having "ever-increasing glory."  Yes, God shares His glory with us and we will be in glory someday (Psalm 84:11).  There must come an awakening in our faith from our spiritual slumber and the day must dawn and the morning star rises in our hearts (cf. 2 Pet. 1:19).

I've heard Christians say that they are "Jesus" to someone and that is not our sanctification, even though God uses us for His glory and we are mere vessels of honor doing His will and work.  NB: We cannot reach somewhat of a "sinless perfection" (cf. Prov. 20:9) or "entire sanctification" (cf. Psalm 119:96) whereby we become Jesus in any sense of the word--we are not commanded to be Jesus, but to obey Him. We cannot save anyone and no one should expect us to save them!  There's only one Savior who alone gets the glory (Soli Deo Gloria!), for "salvation is of the LORD" (cf. Jonah 2:9).

We can be the helping hand of Jesus or His voice, or even the heart of Jesus extending mercy and comfort, but we must be humbled by the fact that we are not worthy of worship and we are not Jesus to anyone despite our do-goodery.  When we preach the gospel, it must be preaching the Word and Christ Jesus as Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 4:5), not preaching ourselves as the center of focus.   Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but of ourselves less.   We think of Jesus, not being so preoccupied with ourselves (cf. Heb. 3:1; 12:1).

Paul was received as if he were Christ Himself, but he wasn't Christ to them  (cf. Gal. 4:14).  He was so humbled that God revealed His Son in him (cf. Gal. 1:16) and, realizing this, he couldn't wait till Christ be formed in them (cf. Gal. 4:19).  When we see Jesus by faith (cf. Heb. 2:9), the eyes of our hearts are opened (cf. Eph. 1:18) and we do see Jesus alive in our brethren and realize that He is using us for His glory and work.  But the temptation is to think that our righteousness or goodness is our gift to God and we are doing it of ourselves.  However, all our righteousness is of God as the source (cf. Isaiah 45:24).  Paul was quite humble:  "For I will not venture to speak of anything except for what Christ has accomplished through me..." (Romans 15:18, ESV; cf. Amos 6:13).  Hosea 14:8 says that our fruit or righteousness comes from Him and comes from the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22-23).

The logical, applied goal of our faith is a desire to live it out and to complete the mission God gave us in the Lord (cf. Acts 20:24).  "All that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV).  Sanctification is the process of growing in the faith and becoming more Christlike in our demeanor and conduct to show forth the witness of Christ in our lives as a living testimony.  We're all here for a purpose and God has a plan for all of us and will fulfill His will without or with our cooperation (cf. Psalm 57:2; 138:8; Job 23:14).  God even has a purpose for the evildoer! (cf. Proverbs 16:4).  Finding our spiritual gifting is part of the package and we will be as wandering stars without any purpose in life till we recognize how God uses us in the kingdom.

We are to put our faith into practice (cf. 2 Cor. 1:24), translating creeds into deeds to show others the reality of our faith, not just the profession of it. Remembering we are not saved by faith, but by Christ.   Only where our faith is difficult is it worth it; we must realize that it will be done unto us according to our faith (cf. Matt. 9:29).

CAVEATS:  THE LIE OF SATAN IS THAT WE SHALL BE AS GODS; WE ARE TO BECOME GODLY, NOT GODS! A COROLLARY IS THE NEW AGE DECEPTION:  "I'M JESUS; YOU'RE JESUS!" OR WE NEED TO FIND THE GOD WITHIN!      Soli Deo Gloria! 

Primer On Mariology

"God in heaven appoints each man's work" (cf. John 3:27, NLT).
"But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus..." (Acts 20:24, NLT).  
"Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined"(Isaiah 1:1, NLT)

Mariolatry is the excessive veneration, worship, or idolizing of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.  This is prevalent in the Roman Catholic persuasion.  Let's explore Mariology and not split hairs nor nitpick with our Catholic friends, who declared us Protestants to be heretics at the Counter-Reformation known as the Council of Trent (1545-1563). But we disagree, we dissent, we protest!  It is also referred to as the hyper-elevation of Mary into sainthood or canonization.  They actually believe she can hear their prayers!

It should be pointed out that idolatry is placing anyone in God's place or position, for He alone is worthy of our adoration and worship.  Mariolatry has gotten to near cult status, and she is even considered a Mediatrix or Co-Mediator with Christ.  But Protestants know that there is only one mediator between God and man, the God-man Jesus Christ. 

Mary, for real, knew she was a sinner but the servant of the Lord in need of salvation, for she addressed God Most High as her Savior.  She knew that true greatness, despite the fact that she had found favor in God's eyes, was because of grace and God must be given the glory--she had faith; and saw herself as the humble servant of the Lord willing to do the "impossible," which she knew could be done in the Lord.  "With God nothing shall be impossible" (cf. Matt. 19:26).

One is reminded of Paul saying in Romans 15:18 that he would "not venture to speak of anything but what Christ had done through" him.  We can do nothing of ourselves as Jesus said in John 15:5 ("apart from Me you can do nothing").  All our fruits are from Him!  (cf. Hosea 14:8).  We may think we have accomplished a lot or achieved greatness but it is nothing and we owe it to God who is working through us as vessels of honor (cf. Amos 6:13).  In fact, all that we've done in the Lord has been in His power and enabling ("... all we have accomplished is really from you" according to Isaiah 26:12, NLT).

Mary has been elevated to the stature of Mother of God, even Mother of the Church, and also given some divine status as the source of grace rather than the receiver of it, being full of grace.  Catholics actually believe that salvation is through the church and that veneration of Mary is essential to their dogma (they see faith as acquiescence with church dogma).  I find it blasphemous to name the name of Mary in the Rosary and relegate as some kind of luck or magic charm to invoke God's favor.  We have the privilege of going directly to the Father in prayer and need not go through her or any saint.  This is called the invocation of saints (prayers to saints who are canonized by the Pope). It is taught dogmatically that no one comes to Jesus except through Mary.  

Obeisance to Mary is encouraged in this spirit of veneration.  It is amazing how Mariolatry has progressed so that they actually believe she was even born without sin (re the "Immaculate Conception of Mary") and that she didn't die but was ascended into heaven (re the "Assumption of Mary").  But the error seems to originate from the understanding that Mary stayed a virgin (correct nomenclature is perpetual virginity) even after Christ was born and that she is the source or conduit of grace rather than recipient and vessel.  But there are several references to Jesus having four brothers proving the normalcy of her womanhood (two brothers wrote epistles: Jude and James).

All in all, Mary was "startled" (we should be too at this biological anomaly!) at the news that the Lord was with her and that she was blessed among women; in the Magnificat (song of Mary), she sang that her soul does glorify the Lord.  It is amazing at her humility since this type of greeting would go to most people's heads and she kept things in perspective.  She was the maidservant of the Lord par excellence in God's eyes and we must see this in the light of God's economy in which the way up is down!  Humility comes before honor!  She knew full well too much pride destroys you.  And she didn't have low self-esteem, just high God-esteem!   She first humbled herself and became a maidservant; she didn't decide to exalt herself, though she is to be highly honored or favored among women.  NB: Jesus referred to her as "woman" on the cross.  He didn't exalt her but commended her to the aegis of  John.  

Note also that she never forgot who she was: the Lord's servant!  As it says in Isaiah 51:1 that we should never forget our roots, "the rock from which we were hewn, the quarry from which we were dug."  That's all we are no matter how noble or ignoble a task He gives us. She found out that with God we can accomplish the impossible and by consequence, we should attempt to walk on water, move mountains, and attempt great things in faith, expecting greater results.

In application, we should never idolize someone in God's place, not even hero-worship (no one is perfect or great but God who is manifest and personified in Christ for us to see in the flesh), and we all can come to the realization that God is pleased with us and will work the impossible in our humble lives if we are obedient and willing.  Never forget that you are specifically, uniquely designed for a special anointing and calling of God and we should not be disobedient to the heavenly vision, eager to complete our mission as a man or woman on a mission par excellence.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Doing Something About Evil

 "... [F]or they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take Me into account..." (Jeremiah 9:3, HCSB).
"... If you do not stand firm in the faith, then you will not stand at all" (Isaiah 7:9, HCSB).
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (cf. Genesis 18:25).  
"In fact, if the trumpet makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?"  (1 Cor. 14:8, HCSB).   
"What's wrong with the world?  I am.  Sincerely yours,  G. K. Chesterton
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."  --Edmund Burke


God ordained the institution of government to keep evil at bay, but there comes a time when those in the know have to stand up for what they believe either in civil disobedience or engaging in public discourse to disseminate the truth, as Francis Schaeffer said that there comes a time when this is not only a right but a duty!   We see this today manifest in peaceful demonstrations and protests.   But we must beware lest we assume that the government is always the problem or the solution, and the other extreme:  "My country, right or wrong!"

If we don't stand for the faith we have, it's worth noting, and we don't really stand at all.  If you won't stand for your faith, is it of value?  And if faith weren't a challenge or difficulty, it would be worth little.  We are representatives of God's righteousness as well as ambassadors of the kingdom of Christ.  Ultimately, it matters whether we have a faith we can live with, or one we will fight or even die for!  That's because infidels and the ignorant are seldom convinced by debate or argument and the faith we have is the faith we show!

Our do-goodery may win them over yet and perchance they may see Christ at work in us.  But we must first become introspective like G. K. Chesterton was:  "What 's wrong with the world?  I am, sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton."   He realized that true faith expresses itself and there's a difference between bogus faith or the mere profession of faith and the reality of faith.   We must first know what our faith is and what we do believe and this is the weak link in the chain of uninformed believers:  "Tell me your certainties, I have enough doubts of my own," said German famed playwright and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe over two centuries ago!

We need to end the doubting and commence to doubt our doubts and believe our faith, translating it into deeds, practicing what we preach, and preaching only what we practice.  Then we become a fidei defensor or a defender of the faith!   Note that there does come an opportunity and time in each person's life to prove what side he's on and to take a stand for right versus wrong and to fight the evil in the world:  God did something about evil; He created you and me!  This is the opportunity to throw down the gauntlet much like Martin Luther did on the door of the church at Wittenberg (All Saints Church) in 1517 with his Ninety-Five Theses to end the Dark Ages.

He knew what he was doing and this took grit and fortitude but crossed the Rubicon despite this:  Challenging the entire establishment much the way that Jesus was an antiestablishment figure and upset the religious apple cart.   He had the necessary dynamic for living and courage:  He knew what he believed and much more importantly, like Paul in 2 Timothy 2:12, he knew in Whom he believed.   Jeremiah was in a similar situation and was considered unpatriotic because he prophesied against Jerusalem and he said in Jeremiah 9:3 that "they refuse to stand up for the truth."  Jerusalem had become unfaithful and was supposed to be a city on a hill, as it were.  There's a limit to patriotism though:  We don't put country above God! 

Irish playwright and Nobel Prize winner George Bernard Shaw noted pertinently that "no nation has survived the loss of its gods."  And John Adams quipped that our Constitution "was made only for a religious and moral people."  Yes, I want to mention in passing that we have many issues and causes in our society and have found many questions, but it's now time to search for the answers and that means we need visionaries who can rightly interpret the times and have a Christian worldview so that they are not deceived by the prevalent Secular Humanism and the newfangled Postmodernism that is creeping into our schools and institutions that are simply "anti-Christian," a sort of militant atheism that wages war on Christendom. That's why it's called a "Truth War."

All the other worldviews agree on this one point:  They're all opposed to "dangerous" Christianity.  But the only truths that are irrelevant are the Christian ones!   And we must not let Christ be eradicated from the public square and open marketplace of ideas, even the social media but must fear not to exercise our First Amendment rights. There is no social gospel to preach but we do have a social commission to complete to be salt and light for social justice, as Cicero called Rome a city of light.

In sum, we are not to parade our righteousness, wear it on our sleeves, nor even to flaunt it, but we never should privatize it, being ready to stand up for Jesus and fly and declare our Christian colors, which means we are declaring war on the enemy, knowing that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one or wickedness and its "isms." (cf. 1 John 5:19).   (Relevant is the saying that everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it!)   

CAVEATS:  WE ARE NOT CALLED TO USHER IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM, NOR TO LEGISLATE "CHRISTIAN SHARIA LAW," NOR LEGISLATE OUR FAITH.    Remember:  The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing (Edmund Burke).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Full Assurance Of Salvation

"Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble"  (2 Peter 1:10, HCSB).   


It is not presumption nor conjecture to believe one is saved eternally in real-time, it's faith and a boon to one's well-being, even justification and a motive and reason to do good.  We should be able to quote 2 Tim. 1:12 that saying, I know whom I have believed and am confident that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him day.   Assurance is paramount and enhances our sanctification and is the helmet of salvation to fight Satan and his minions.  If we lack assurance, our walk is paralyzed and we are in limbo, so to speak, meaning we are not resting in faith.  Assurance is not of the essence of faith, and not an automatic fruit, but it is commanded and our duty to know (cf. 2 Pet. 1:10), not just be idly curious about!  Assurance isn't the job description of the pastor-teacher but individual responsibility to examine their heart.  All one can do is "reassure."

Actually, some believers are congenital doubters or have little faith, but false assurance is the bigger problem (believing one is secure without biblical warrant or sanction).  Also, note that it's not some one's job description to certify your salvation--they can only give reassurance:  One must examine his own heart and the fruits of his faith, and see if they align with the Word of God and the witness of the inward Spirit (per Romans 8:16; 2 Cor. 13:5). 

We need not speculate about our destiny with God, for we can take God at His Word and at face value, standing on the promises of God; however, this implies we are not ignorant of the Word and have faith to begin with. In the final analysis, realize that we don't rest on conjecture, but certainty!

God is the great Promise Keeper and His Word "cannot be broken"; He has given us His Spirit as the earnest money or down payment on our salvation dividend.  Our destiny is in God's hands!  Believing this, we ought to rest in faith and stop trying to save ourselves by piety or religiosity.  We see salvation as a done deal (a fait accompli) with nothing we can add improvements to it, and we cannot earn, deserve, nor pay it back--it's the gift of God received through faith by grace, giving all the credit and glory to God (Soli Deo Gloria!  "Salvation is of the LORD," per Jonah 2:9). Salvation is not of us, nor of us and the LORD, but solely of the LORD.

In sum, taking a verse that you can cling to as a promise is the way to have assurance, and some call this a spiritual birth certificate, for example, a favorite of mine: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life [now], and shall not come into condemnation, but has [past tense or done deal] passed from death unto life" (John 5:24, KJV).    Soli Deo Gloria!

A Personal Invite: RSVP!

"For the grace of God has appeared with the salvation of all people" (Titus 2:11, HCSB).   

We must all realize that God's call to salvation goes out to us personally and that He cares about our welfare, lot, and future as well as about final destiny with Him.   His plan is personalized, tailored, or individualized with us in particular in mind as if only we we alive.  He knows the plans He has for us; to prosper us and not to harm us!  (Cf. Jer. 29:11).  God's best is for us, spiritually speaking.  But we must apply God's message to us personally (claiming it) and realize that He is talking to and has us in mind.  The only counsel that seems pertinent is to RSVP, because this is such wonderful news we cannot afford to lose the opportunities that are possible.

The offer has not only to do with our forgiveness from our past sins (justification), but deliverance from the power of sin and from what we are (sanctification)!  God never paints a pretty picture of our condition in solidarity with Adam, but tells it like it is--we are slaves to sin and not free before salvation and only Christ can set us free.  G. K. Chesterton said that the only doctrine that can be proved is total depravity!   In fact, the extension of our salvation is fourfold:  pardon from our sins, power over sin; purpose for living and to carry on; and peace with God, man, and ourselves (the four P's).

This means that we are not just sanitizing our life (cleaning up our act) and giving up sins, but turning our back and renouncing sin in general and it's power and influence in our lives, which entails not loving the world (cf. 1 John 2:15) nor the things of the world (the devil's delicacies which spoil our taste for the real thing); what we are doing, in reality, is salvaging our soul itself, not only staying alive but being alive in the real sense--entree into a new life from above in Christ.

For Christ "didn't come to make bad men good, but dead men alive!"  We are never more alive when we live in Christ and know His power that resides in us (the power of the resurrection per Phil. 3:10)).  When we know Jesus, we see Him in a spiritual sense at work around us, even using us for His glory.  To know Jesus, then is to be fully alive with this abundant life (cf. John 10:10) He promised, that involves our soul's participation.  We were dead in our trespasses and sins (cf. Eph. 2:1) especially to the spiritual before knowing Christ, but now we are alive spiritually and can comprehend and know spiritual things (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14).   The only healthy response is to obey ("For to obey is better than sacrifice..." per 1 Samuel 15:22)!  By faith we obey but obedience is the only test of that faith, not ecstasy or experience.  "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes" according to Bonhoeffer.

NB:  Our salvation is nearer than we realize, (cf. Rom. 13:11).   Jesus is as close as the mention of His name and we can do nothing to earn our salvation or even to keep it (cf. Jude 1)--it's all been done for us on the cross and we must just receive it as a free gift on God's terms (cf. Eph. 2:9).     Soli Deo Gloria!