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.

Saturday, March 27, 2021

If God Is The Universe By Definition, Does Anyone Know The Real Definition Of God To Debunk This?

 God is infinite, meaning He cannot be defined, limited, or described exhaustively or adequately, but only known truly. ‘Canst thou by searching find out God?” “The finite cannot grasp the infinite” is an old maxim. God gives no definition of Himself neither does the Bible but only reveals Himself to us so we can know Him and have a relationship with Him. It’s not whether you can define Him, but whether you know Him that counts. Describing God won’t save your soul but trusting and believing in Him will.

When we define God it’s like putting Him in a box and making Him one-dimensional (the man upstairs, the Great Spirit in the sky, Father Time, the Cosmic Killjoy, the Celestial Policeman, our Father Figure, the Force, etc). The only useful description of God I’ve heard of is by St. Anselm of Canterbury who said, God, is that perfect Being above or beyond which cannot be conceived or imagined; whatever is greater to be than not to be He is.

God is the Creator and the universe is part of creation, not part of God who created it and is separate from it or transcendent. Something logically cannot be both created and the Creator. The universe had a beginning; the Big Bang and is not eternal; God did not!

Also, God must be immutable and eternal as well as immaterial to be God for God is not in flux but changes not and is not the slave of time or anything in the time-space continuum. Anything subject to change cannot be God. Being the Creator of time, He is not bound by it or limited by it but all things in the time-space continuum had a beginning.

But God who is eternal with no beginning or cause but is that First Cause that is a necessary being. Something has to be necessary or nothing would exist. God's name means “I CAUSE TO BE.” His name also means: “I AM,” or that He is self-existent and dependent or contingent upon no one or nothing unlike us.  Soli Deo Gloria! 

Sunday, March 21, 2021

Doing A Great Work Part III, The Servant Of All

 "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD pondereth the heart," (Prov. 21:2; cf. 16:2).

"The LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts," (cf. 1 Chron. 28:9).  

To be great in God's kingdom, we must be willing to become the servant of all. But some aren't even willing to work or be servants but think labor is beneath them when Jesus didn't excuse Himself from getting down and dirty with working, ordinary-class men in their daily tasks. We must not strive for the most visible, most rewarding, most important, most prestigious, most self-serving, or most profitable, but the most humbling!  The goal is to have a heart of a servant as Christ did who took up the towel to wash feet (a foot-washing ministry) and gave us the example of the order of the towel or doing what is without any inherent dignity.  All work has dignity!  Our dignity is in serving Christ and doing His will no matter the task.  

We must recognize that in God's economy the way up is down!  As John, the Baptist, said, "He must increase, but I must decrease."  this is the way to be filled with the Spirit, to empty yourself first.  We must remember that we are co-laborers with Christ who was our example and showed the way of humility and doing God's will. God sees the motive why we are doing something and tests the heart, for we must be more righteous than the Pharisees who were out to make a good impression as people-pleasers. We are to be collaborators with the body of Christ to accomplish God's will, not our agenda.

The church must have a mission and a vision ("Where there is no vision, the people perish") in order to be focused on God's will and to do be motivated. We must do God's work God's way.  We all have a gift and must not envy that of another, we are to work together as one body in the same Spirit, though we have diversities of ministries.  This is a way of walking worthy of our calling.  We are doing God's work because God chose to use us as vessels of honor to do it, not because we are worthy or can do anything on our own, for apart from Christ we can do nothing. Paul said that he would venture not to boast of anything but what Christ had accomplished through him.  All our good works and our fruit are from Him who enables us. Our righteousness is not our gift to God, but His gift to us.

We ought not to focus on what others are doing and look to our labors in the LORD without judgments.  We are not the fruit examiners of everyone's fruit! In the end, it's not about us, but all about Jesus as we must first say "No" to ourselves before we can say "Yes" to Jesus. To be good leaders as many aspire to be, we must first be good followers.  It is said, that we must not strive to be a person of success, but a person of value! Knowing this, that our labor in the LORD is never in vain but will be rewarded.

We must acknowledge that God sees the heart and motive of all we do (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9; Prov 21:2).   Knowing this:  Each of us does our part but it is God who appears front and center in directing all events for His glory as the main event, we must remember it's all about Him and forget ourselves.   In the final analysis, it's not what we are doing in or labors for the LORD that defines us but how well we do it (a task well worth doing is worth doing well, as unto the LORD!) it all matters whether we are doing it as unto the LORD and in the name of the LORD,  and to the glory of the LORD.  Soli Deo Gloria!