Why Believe In Eternal Security?

Why I Affirm Eternal Security

Dated May 1999 @ Discovery Church, Hastings, MN 55033

In spite of the fact that I believe in the assurance of one's salvation, I do not want to give either false assurance or a sense of insecurity. The apostolic injunction to make one's calling and election sure is to be noted (cf. 2 Pet. 1:10) and only after one is confident of his salvation and has made his decision for Christ to accept Him personally and believes in his heart does he have a right to speculate about whether he can lose his salvation. The question is raised by those who base their assurance on subjective experience rather than on the Word of God.

Some people claim to have been saved over and over again and have made countless dedications and re-dedications or commitments. At a recent "Arise with the Guys" evangelical outreach featuring Tony Dungee et al., a few hundred were "first-time: decisions. God makes it clear that He wants us to know for sure that we are saved(2 Pet. 1:10) and John says in 1 John 5:13 that He wants those who believe in the name of the Son of God may know that they have eternal life.

We must distinguish between conjecture and certainty. I am not an expert in epistemology, but we cannot know in an absolute sense anything that requires faith, but here is a faith-knowledge that is "the assurance of things hoped for." There is no certainty in religion and in a works religion, you can never know for sure. Charles Swindoll says that one can never say how much works is enough or how little is enough to lose it. Ignorance is not bliss! God wants us to be in the know. Swindoll says we should know the "value of knowing the scoop!" If we can lose our salvation then we really cannot know for sure but only hope. God doesn't want us to say: "Well, I hope I go to heaven!"

Our salvation cannot be forfeited, to put it bluntly. To state the doctrine in plain terminology: "Once saved, always saved!" A cute way of affirming that apostasy is never the lot of the believer is to say that "if you have it, you never lose it; if you lose it, you never had it!" The Calvinists referred to the doctrine as "perseverance." This is more correctly termed "preservation" because God really preserves us more than we keep ourselves. Note that God doesn't give us permission to give up and go back into sin (cf. Romans 6:1).

The doctrine is commonly called "eternal security." I do not have this as my hidden agenda, but I see this as vitally important to the understanding of soteriology. One will never really grow until he has ascertained his salvation and rests in the faith and accepts Christ's work on his behalf as "finished" and a done deal. If our salvation was not a continuity, we could not be certain whether we were saved. By definition of the term "eternal life," we must assume that one's life cannot be terminated and is not "temporary salvation" but "everlasting salvation (cf. Heb. 5:9; 9:12).

There are extremes in the spectrum. For instance, the antinomians believe that you can do anything you want to as long as you simply believe. The legalists believe that you have to do this or do that plus believe and they are adding to the work of Christ and not believing in grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone. The Quietists believe we should "let go" and "let God" and deny any cooperation in our sanctification, the Pietists like the Amish believe in the exertion of human willpower and effort to sanctify and do not become grace-oriented.

I deem this doctrine important because I first started to understand the Scriptures after I comprehended God's grace. I had been confirmed a Lutheran and had rededicated myself at a Billy Graham Crusade, but I never had assurance. In the Army, I met up with some Navigators (a parachurch organization) and God led in the right direction.

Catholics, I found out, deny assurance, as well as security and call it the sin of presumption. They say you cannot know for sure unless you have a special divine revelation to that effect. I am told that this is the born-again experience, if you will, and would agree with that. Catholics believe in sacramental theology and divide sins into mortal and venial categories. Some sins are egregious enough to kill the grace of justification and one must do penance to be restored. "Penance is the second plank of salvation for those who have made shipwreck of the faith," according to R.C. Sproul. Man is "incurably addicted to doing something to get saved"; however, Christianity is about receiving a gift not earning merit. We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone, the Reformers affirmed. We receive salvation, we don't earn or deserve it.

Assurance is necessary for our "well-being" but one doesn't necessarily have assurance as a fruit of conversion or of the Holy Spirit. It is not of the essence of faith since sometimes doubt and faith coexist and assurance is intermittent, not frozen in concrete, so to speak. God doesn't require perfect faith, but sincere and unfeigned faith. Assurance is not a sin but a duty and it is the link to our sanctification. Growth results from this awareness. But let's not be subjective and base our assurance on some past experience, such as raising our hands or walking to an altar. Let's base our assurance on the Word of God, which is objective and reliable and performs its work in us who believe. True assurance is based on the Word of God coupled with the testimony of the Holy Spirit--that's why we must search our hearts and examine our fruit.

This doctrine wasn't really articulated by Augustine but really developed in the Reformation. It was developed at the Synod of Dort (ca. 1618-1619) and Calvinists and Arminians took issue with it against each other immediately. Even though Jacob Arminius wouldn't go so far as to say that one could lose his salvation the Arminians objected. The Wesleyans and Lutherans followed suit. The Lutherans made salvation contingent upon continued faith. The doctrine was articulated in The Westminster Confession, ca 1646, which is very eloquent. It must be noted that assurance and security go hand in hand and if you deny one, you must deny the other to be consistent.

Now the question arises about those who apostatize: First John 2:19 makes it clear that some commit apostasy or fall away, but those were "not of us." Some so-called people profess faith but later repudiate it and do not endure. They are like seed that doesn't take root. Some people do lip service to Christ and honor him with their lips, but their hearts are far away. The believer can fall but not absolutely. His fall is only temporary. Jesus prays that our faith will not fail. Some are saved "as if by fire" or by the skin of their teeth, but they do make it, even if they get no reward or lose the reward. There is a sin unto death as punishment, but no sin unto hell. To sum it up: their departure manifested their true state, but we shall be kept in the Father's hands. Jesus said, "He that comes to me I will in no wise cast out."

There are many inferential proofs that make it clear that salvation is eternal and permanent. King David never lost his salvation but only prayed for the joy to return. We can grieve the Holy Spirit and lose our joy, but not the Holy Spirit, which will never be taken away from us. The Holy Spirit is the "earnest of our inheritance and is given a "pledge' and "seal." God is the ultimate Promise Keeper. Salvation is a covenant and God will not renege. We are adopted as children and cannot be un-born. We are His sheep and Christ will not lose any of His sheep. We are born of "imperishable seed" and "salvation is of the Lord" (not of our efforts). Our salvation doesn't depend upon our free will but on God's immutable decrees. "We are born, not of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man [cf. John 1:13]." "It is not of him that runneth, nor of him that willeth, but of God, who shows mercy [cf. Rom. 9:16]."

The objections to this doctrine are that it leads to indolence, smugness, complacency, and false assurance or license to sin. But only when one realizes the grace of God and has experienced the peace of God can he have the good works." "For we are created unto good works." We are His handiwork and He is the Potter, while we are the clay. Some think the doctrine violates Scripture. They usually point to Judas or Saul and make false conclusions. The Bible never says Saul lost his salvation, and never says Judas was saved. "He that endures to the end shall be saved is not a proviso, but a veiled promise of endurance.

I agree with Martin Luther that we should base our doctrine on the Bible and not on some experts or scholars. The Reformation cry was "Sola Scriptura" or Scripture alone. If one doesn't realize salvation he can lose orientation, therefore we need the helmet of salvation for battle. Moreover, we are to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" and this implies a spiritual workout to prove it and make it real. Some of us really need a spiritual workout. Soli Deo Gloria!

Do You Know Your Place In The Church? ...

Many believers do not recognize their place or gift in the body. One needs to experiment and try different services or opportunities to see how God uses or blesses you. You do not tell God that you refuse to serve in an individual capacity because you do not think you have that gift. You also should not have gift envy and wonder why you are not gifted like someone else nor even expect others to have your gifting and be able to walk in your shoes. You don't need this gift projection either; i.e., gift projection.  Remember, we are all on the same team with one mission statement and vision of fulfilling the Great Commission with a great commitment. 

We must show faithfulness in little to be faithful in much and rewarded. God the Holy Spirit equips each believer as He sees fit and enables each to do God's will effectually. What it boils down to is not ability but availability! We will be judged by our faithfulness in what God has gifted us, not its success. Note: we all have different gifts but the same Spirit! And we aim and strive for the greater gifts with the spiritual ambition of a noble thing, such as to prophesy or edify the church. 

You must decide whether you want to be a part of the solution or part of the problem. That is the dichotomy! A Christian who will not serve is a contradiction in terms and only those who serve Christ know true peace and fulfillment. There may be two types of Christians questioning their church body's functionality or effectiveness. One says, "What is wrong with this church?" and says, "You are wrong!" Another one says to God, "God can you fix the church?" and God replies, "That is why you are in it!" Either way, we must learn to serve God and labor in the Lord trusting in what He tells us and taking it to heart. Let us be faithful to our heavenly vision and calling and fulfill our ministry. 

We must be the reason people believe in God and be positive witnesses and be the only Jesus some may ever see or the only sermon they may hear! What they see ought to be what they get! We do much harm to our witness and jeopardize our testimony's credibility if we do not live up to it and live it out faithfully! Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?    Soli Deo Gloria! 

Was The Apostle Paul A Christian?

 It has been disputed even today whether Paul was an apostle or one duly appointed and even an inferior one at that. Paul was so questioned about it that he wrote 2 Corinthians to refute the idea in chapters 10 and 11 he makes his case. What else is an apostle but one who has seen the risen Lord, can do miracles, signs, and wonders, and is personally appointed by the Lord Himself?  But the contention was that Paul was just a troublemaker, not a peacemaker, a divider, was always in trouble with the law or in jail, got shipwrecked, stoned,  beaten with rods, unpopular, left for dead, gone without food,  not an uniter, and a poor preacher and even too hard to understand and didn't get along with Peter or other apostles even disputing with Barnabas. 

We see believers do likewise today thinking that if you haven't achieved the American dream or are not a success in the eyes of the world, then you are not measuring up as a Christian and not be one at all, especially if bad things happen like divorce, bankruptcy, unemployment, disease, disability, or trouble with the law.  The proliferation of prosperity theology is appalling and widespread and is popular as even the mention of the word "sin" is considered a killjoy and taboo.  What we must learn is that we are not to cash in on our spiritual lottery ticket but learn to be content in whatever circumstance God gives and be thankful to be in God's will.  

But we must realize that hardship is par for the course in our Christian experience of hard knocks and the spiritual adventure and road to Reality 101 learning. In short, we are not promised a bed of roses and our life is no rose garden. We can have just as many hardships as an unbeliever. It is written that the Jews thought they were immune to disaster or calamity by virtue of being God's people but had a wake-up call during the Babylonian captivity. It is true God can and does put a hedge of protection around us but God can allow short-term evil for long-term good; look at Joseph saying, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." and also Job saying, "Should we accept good times from the LORD and not evil times?" 

We are to judge Paul by his writings which Peter called "scripture" despite being hard to understand. He is the one we owe our understanding of the gospel message.  Paul is the one who preached to the Gentiles and founded more churches than the other apostles in Europe and Asia. But we must put his life into the perspective that Jesus said he would suffer 'great things for Him." Paul said it was a privilege to suffer for the sake of the Name. Paul wrote at least 13 epistles and is considered the chief New Testament writer. 

What About The Hard Sayings Of Jesus? ...

And after some disciples heard these sayings, they no longer followed Him..... Jesus never made it easy to be a follower of His and stipulated strict guidelines and requisites like denial of self, and having first priority in our hearts so much that we "hate" our parents. He also said that we "cannot come to the Father unless it has been granted.." We cannot believe in Jesus apart from grace ("Apart from Me, you can do nothing...." "This is the work of God... that you believe in Him whom He has sent."). St. Augustine of Hippo said it well: “God command what you will, but grant what you command…” If we can turn over a new leaf, make a New Year’s resolution, Boy Scout pledge, or AA pledge to change our lives, what good is regeneration? God must change us from the inside out!

What good is regeneration if we can accomplish this of our own strength and without grace working in our hearts? God opens the door of faith and kindles it within us as He quickens our dead spirit. This is called "lordship salvation" as opposed to "easy-believism" or that commitment to Christ as Lord is not required for salvation. We must receive Him for who He is! Jesus never watered down His message, contextualized it, nor dumbed it down, but told it as it is in straight talk and calling a spade a spade. He never minced words or made it easy to follow Him but discouraged half-hearted disciples who may have admired Jesus but were not ready to lay down their lives for Him.

For instance, no fornicator, murderer, liar, drunkard, homosexual, thief, or swindler will get into the kingdom. But with all these requirements, we cannot change ourselves but we must be willing to let God change us: we come as we are, but do not remain that way due to the grace of God working in our hearts. What good is regeneration if we can believe apart from it or conversion if we had the power to transform our lives ourselves? The whole point of the gospel is that God changes us and we become new creatures in Christ: a changed life as a testimony!

Salvation must be grace from beginning to end: "Salvation is of the LORD," (Jonah 2:9) and that means we do not contribute anything to our regeneration and conversion. Therefore, it is not of us and God nor of us alone but of God alone! It is the work of God on our behalf who gets the glory. Soli Deo Gloria!

From Faith To Faith

 We do not stand still in the Christian life we are either going forward or backward we are not treading water walking; you can walk backward and you can walk forward but you cannot walk and place. That's why it says we go from faith to faith our faith grows that's why it's called a growing living faith because something in his life grows. We must be willing to walk with God by faith through thick and thin with our dynamic faith growing as we come to know God personally come what may as it were. We all have a spiritual journey where we grow and learn from our mistakes our errors our flaws our faults our misjudgments and our sins. We must learn to practice the presence of God in whatever happens whatever occurs to us in faith but always calling upon the Lord and being unseasonally in prayer and fellowship.

That means keeping short accounts of the God of our sins and confessing constantly what we do wrong. There is a vacuum in our soul only God can fill we must do so by filling it with God. The more the world that is in God and our soul the less the room there is for God our spiritual. Our spiritual journey or pilgrimage with God begins that salvation and doesn't cease until we reach glory in heaven; even there we learn and grow from glory to glory as we know the Lord better and better all the more. Because this is what eternal life is knowing God and knowing the Lord personally. So we go but we grow by faith to faith glory to glory strength to strength as it were. 

This involves being committed to our Lord in faithfulness to our calling. Our mission should be the primary focus of our life we must not be disobedient to our heavenly vision you know we are.  Some will must realize that he was faithful and little shall be faithful in much we must be faithful to whatever assignment God has given us his will for our lives for he that is given much much of him shall be required. This involves being faithful to our resources, our blessings, our talents, our gifts, our time, our relationships, our skills, our calling --whatever God gives us.  Soli Deo Gloria! 

Why Am I Here?

 

"Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless." Bertrand Russell, atheist philosopher ( Without God in the metric life makes no sense!)  

Some of us just wish to be remembered! Some to make a contribution to the world or the church's mission. We are here to make a difference not to be remembered! Even the wicked can be remembered or live on in infamy! We are marching to a beat of a different drum though and follow God's marching orders not to follow the crowd as to get lost in it, to be of the world but not of it. We may even feel taken for granted or forgotten in life but are here for God's pleasure and purpose, not ours. We owe society as well as God and should feel some obligation to pay back or make a positive influence. Even if we are forgotten, we have struck a chord that will vibrate for eternity in God's timing and purpose as David fulfilled all God's purposes and then slept with his fathers, We must relinquish our will to God and do and seek His will for our lives, Remember, God wants us to see the big picture and know we have a big God and not to see God in merely human terms.  As long as we see the big picture we are properly focused and oriented to God's will: "All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose." We must realize in our faith that it is not how big our faith is but how big our God in whom it is; the object of the faith is what counts-- you can be sincerely wrong and have zeal not according to knowledge! We all should be aware of our mission statement of the Great Commission! When our work is done we are called home and only what is done in Christ will last and be rewarded, above all remember that God is the Benefactor and it pays to serve the LORD! We will surely be rewarded if we faint not and continue on in the Spirit of the Lord and be faithful and obedient to our heavenly vision! Our work is not in vain! Note that our faith is not measured by our experiences or ecstasies but our obedience: "Only he who is obedient believes; only he who believes is obedient."  Yes, we were designed and hard-wired to serve, know, love, and worship God! We are part of some divine intricate plan! If not God, it will be for someone else! a false or pseudo-God. 

Discovering God

 Christianity is about the God who is there! Just believing in God will not save you, the demons believe and tremble! Faith is going beyond mere assent or agreement or intellectual head belief.  King David was anointed with the Holy Spirit by Samuel and the Spirit never left him from then on, He dwelt in the house of the Lord all the days of his life and fulfilled all God's will and purpose for him as a man after God's own heart. Some people say they believe in God but are He the right one? One cabbie in Ireland came across an atheist and asked him: Is it the God of the Protestants or the God of the Catholics you don't believe in? Many will acknowledge or give lip service to a Deity but the mention of the name of Jesus is an offense to some and a sound barrier to be broken. 

David wanted to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living; he didn't want a 'PIE IN THE SKY" religion but a practical one that proves it pays off to serve God and He blesses us in the here and now and we can enjoy God now, not just wait till glory.  He felt secure in his salvation despite heinous sins.  David longed to be in the house of the LORD,, where the glory of the LORD was, and he could meet with God, but we have the resident Holy Spirit inside us permanently who will never leave nor forsake us. We don't have to go out looking for God in that sense because God has found us and sealed us with the Spirit. David's psalms teach us to seek the face of God and to enjoy His presence and anointing in prayer and worship. 

All Christians are now anointed and we have a greater advantage than David because of the complete Word of God and Holy Spirit, We are better off than he was though he was a prophet. In those days some presumed that God would never let anything bad happen to Israel or Jerusalem because of the temple but they did;t realize that God does not dwell in temples made of stone or manmade. This was false confidence that they found out was wrong when Babylon invaded and put Israel into exile and deported them. 

The Jews actually had to search for God on their own and learn godliness not depending on externalism or religiosity for they had no temple to make sacrifices either. They ultimately leaned on God as their protector, provider, and fortress, and did not lean on their own understanding or wisdom, or resources.  Necessity is really the mother of invention and the Jews were finally cured of their sin of idolatry. 

They also must have learned to wrestle with God in prayer and to seek and find justice in this world even wondering if there is any in their complaints to God.  They had a lot to learn only in exile and learned to practice personal piety and seek God's face as is basic spirituality. They must have also wondered where God's justice is because a wicked nation was punishing them. They grew homesick and even despondent longing for the good old days. I'll bet they vowed to be faithful and truly worship God when they returned to the homeland.

Isaiah 5:13 says that the Jews went into exile due to their ignorance of God and lack of knowledge of God. It is through much tribulation we enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).  Ignorance was no excuse and God had some issues for them to work out corporately and personally (Hosea 4:1,4). It is evident they learned their lesson as idolatry was never an issue again and piety rose with the establishment of synagogue worship.

NOTE these points in closing: anyone can find God if they seek Him with all their heart in all sincerity. He is not far from any one of us, as close as the mention of His name. He is found even by those not looking for Him (Isaiah 65:1) and God seeks us and finds us more than we do Him: we are to seek Him while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6)! Seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened, ask and it shall be given (Matt. 7:1)! God's chief complaint is that man does not seek Him!    Soli Deo Gloria!

Do You Follow Your Heart?

Some people misuse or abuse the word "heart" and think it just stands for how they feel or their emotions. Like saying, "I feel in my heart that you are wrong!" Or "I cannot accept that in my heart." Sometimes things don't resonate or ring true but we are meant to be rational creatures who reason out things and listen to the voice of reason! We must be true to our hearts but realize they have an intellect and volition too. The will is like the driver that controls the two horses on the carriage of emotion and intellect giving feedback and needing direction. When we accept Christ into our hearts, it means to be willing to obey Him, love Him, and know Him! I want to know Jesus more clearly, love Him more dearly, and follow Him more nearly!

Too many people are told to follow their hearts in pursuing a career or even marriage and misconstrue that as going by one's feelings or emotions, which can vary like a weathervane in a storm. We are to seek godly counsel in major decisions and go to the LORD in prayer as a fist and not a last resort. If something is God's will, He will provide and give us the love for the endeavor and the means of doing it. God does have a plan for each of us and has even written out our lives before we were even born. God is always in control and our spiritual guide and counselor. If we don’t seek God’s will, He may say, “Okay, have it your way!” We should always bow in relinquishment and commitment to God’s will and favor.

We must realize that no one is purely emotional, intellectual or logical, or volitional; note our will are not born free but the slaves of sin, and when we get to know the Lord, we are set free! "If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed." We are to love and seek the LORD with all our hearts, soul, and strength; all our being and essence. We must therefore guard our hearts, for out of them flow the issues of life (Prov. 4:23) and that as a man is in his heart, so is he (Prov. 23:7). We cannot fool God who even sees the motives of our hearts (Prov. 21:2): "The LORD weighs the heart."

Pascal was right: "The heart has reasons the mind knows not!" And Jeremiah was also on target: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Jer. 17:9 This is why Jesus wants to come into our hearts and we must believe in our hearts! He opens the eyes of our hearts to the truths of scripture and opens our hearts to make them receptive to the gospel message. God can also judiciously harden our hearts as He did to Pharaoh. But only after we have done so. Some people are just intellectually in love with the idea of the Bible as scholars or of Jesus as the model or guide of humanity but Jesus is not looking for admirers, but worshipers in spirit and in truth.

In sum, if we do not feel right about a decision, we should wait upon the LORD and pray and seek wise counsel because it may be our conscience speaking to us and God may be trying to prevent us from ruining our lives; remember this: the heart of the matter is that it’s a matter of the heart! Soli Deo Gloria! 

Knowing Truth...

 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge," according to Prov. 1:7.  In the Bible, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding are linked. They lead to each other. If you know things, you can be wise with that knowledge, understand it, and use it to the best means and ends. We are to increase in our knowledge of the Lord. 

Jesus claimed to come to bear witness of the truth and that those who belong to the truth will listen to Him (John 18:37) and even said He is the epitome of truth itself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life..." (John 14:6).   Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:7). Because of Christ, we have universal, objective, transcendent, absolute, and timeless truth to live by. 

One must ultimately ask: on what basis do you define or reckon knowledge? It cannot always be certain but must be true to the best possible proof and belief. Without reference to God, can there be any real knowledge? Can you make truth claims when the God of truth doesn’t exist and you deny absolute truth? Knowledge must be accepted and believed! Denying knowledge is denying reality in a way as is not knowing the truth and inventing your own truth.

All in all, one must be justified to believe in knowledge. But what we now have in a secular society is a way to be intellectually fulfilled and have the answers without God in the metric especially by appealing to evolution or saying that science is the answer; au contraire, God is the only Answerer!

The starting point as far as the world or secular society (Secular Humanism) is concerned is mankind as the "measure of all things" or reference point. They believe in commencing with man and contemplating, understanding, and explaining or explaining away God!  Athanasius said that the only system of thought God will fit into is the one where He is the starting point: we begin with God and explain reality or the world, not vice versa. 

Reality has to correspond with the truth and if Christianity is true, then its concept of reality is worth studying and living by. If not, then it is completely irrelevant.  Postmodern philosophy says that "God is dead" and this means God is no longer relevant, meaningful, necessary, or helpful in understanding reality and the world; they only want to believe what science can prove as absolute truths and not what God reveals. 

This is a philosophy and not science and should be called "scientism." That is very apparent when people harness science for unscientific reasons such as making philosophical proclamations as Carl Sagan said, "The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." Science cannot know this and this statement cannot be subject to the scientific method. Science is not the only means of gaining absolute or perfect knowledge.  

The point is that without God, we can know nothing at all, we need an infinite reference to understand a finite reference point!  For instance, if there is no God, life has no ultimate meaning and unless there is a God, all things are up for grabs and all things are permissible because we have no reason to believe in morals at all except for selfish preservation like a survival instinct.  To have firm branches, we need firm roots and our worldview is like our roots!  It is the foundation that our knowledge depends upon!  

Because of God, we can say that we can know things for certain (we have a firm foundation) and that morals are absolute and not relevant to the person or situation. When you say that truth itself is relative, is that statement relative? When you say that you must not believe anything someone tells you about God, should we believe that person? When you say that you can know nothing for certain, can we trust that person is certain, and can he be certain?  Soli Deo Gloria!

Dissension In The Church...

There are certain doctrines that Christians, even sincere, will always disagree about and it should be that way for we are not to be contentious about every minor doctrine and learn to distinguish what the main thing is: the gospel. Augustine said, "In necessary things, unity; in unnecessary things, liberty; in all things charity." We should never abandon the essential and nonnegotiable truths of the faith but "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto us." Keep the main thing the main thing!

We are not to stay away from all controversies but godless ones, not godly ones. Some matters are not worth the adrenaline they stimulate or generate more heat than light! It is not always the right thing to do to remain congenial when truth is at stake. Remember, the church fathers did debate doctrines till they could concur on the truth and resolve them with creeds. Note: sectarian spirit is wrong and we should not say "I am of Paul, I am of Peter, I am of Jesus" and so forth. But remember, the spirit of the Reformation was: “I dissent, I disagree, I protest,” meaning we are not slaves to a church dogma but should search the Scriptures like Bereans to see whether those things are so. (Acts 17:11).

Don't major on minors and get sidetracked in gray areas that are a matter of personal conscience in which each should be convinced in his own mind while respecting matters of opinion. Heresy arises to prove whom God approves and who is in error and should be judged. We are to judge those within the church who are false teachers or wolves in sheep's clothing. Just because there may be disagreement among sincere believers is no reason to become neutral or refuse to take a stand as a bystander. “If you are not firm in your faith, you will not stand firm at all.” (Isaiah 7:9). “They refuse to stand for the truth.” (Jer. 9:3).

We have a right to our own opinion, just not our own facts! Also, we are to get convicted of the truth knowing that we hold opinions, but convictions hold us! Do you have any convictions you will die for? It was only certain orthodox doctrines that the church fathers fought for and defended and put into their creeds such as the deity of Christ, the resurrection, the inspiration of scripture, and the sinfulness of mankind. The whole point is that we should never become argumentative, divisive, judgmental, contentious, or prejudiced in our discussions.

No one has a monopoly on the truth and knows all the answers. Thankfully, we know the Answerer and have the Answer book, and if we can agree on that we have a basis of fellowship. Remember, our fellowship is based on a relationship with Jesus, not an agreement on a doctrine we cherish as a fetish as having a Bible-club mentality.

What is important is that we all agree that Jesus is Lord and have He is the Judge, not us. If we can balance and reference our teachings to the Word of God, that is important. Can you cite scripture to support it? Now, I do not mean we should be adept at proof-texting or even taking verses out of context but know that our doctrines need biblical support. Inexperienced students of the Word take verses out of context literally concerning their immediate context in the paragraph, book, and rest of scripture; also out of context socially and culturally, and even out of context theologically meaning they ignore the basic teaching of scripture as a whole to prove one far-fetched ideas or teaching.

Remember, "no scripture is of any private interpretation" meaning God is not going to give some gifted teacher the ability to see things that others don't. "The sum [entirety] of God's word is truth" meaning not in isolation or out of context. We must compare scripture with scripture and verse with parallel verses and let scripture be its own interpreter! We must strive for truth in interpretation and know what we believe; not knowing is a kind of unbelief!

In sum, just because believers don’t agree on some doctrines, doesn’t mean we should avoid those doctrines, or take stands on them, but understand that others may disagree and not always intend to dissuade them but “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” and find commonality or common ground on which to fellowship. Soli Deo Gloria!

The Spirit Of The Law...

The Pharisees were guilty of obeying the letter of the Law at the exclusion of the spirit of the Law. They majored on minors and paid heed to minor points such as tithing in small matters and ignored the weightier matters of the Law: faithfulness, mercy, and love. (Matt. 23:23). For instance, one may say that he frowns upon dancing but overlooks covetousness as a minor affair or offense. Being a legalist leads to judging and even condemning one's brother or sister. We are not to compare ourselves to other persons or our Christian brethren (2 Cor. 10:12). Legalism is one way to end up doing that!

Sometimes necessity knows no law like when in the parable of the Good Samaritan and the priest didn't want to become ceremonially unclean by defiling himself or even missing his Sabbath. This is an example of "going beyond that which is written!" (1 Cor. 4:4). Besides going against the spirit of the law, it is fulfilled in loving our neighbor, making up your own rules, and adding sins is also legalism. Tradition is often added to the Word of God and counted as a way to gauge sin. The priest was a slave to his tradition and could not see a need to be fulfilled. Legalism elevates tradition to the level of Law and binds people where the Bible has left them free! Jesus was concerned about the heavier matters of the Law such as "justice mercy and faithfulness."  (Matt. 23:23). 

In my day, good Christians watched the hemlines, movie lines, and hairlines! Spirituality was something to be seen by men and an external thing noticed by others. Basically, believing that faith plus works equal salvation is legalism; actually, faith equals salvation plus works--viva la difference! One must distinguish that legalism sees sins, not sin! Remember, the letter kills but the Spirit gives life! Legalism is a form of spiritual tyranny as one believes he is spiritual but actually still a whitewashed tomb or refined sinner; salvation is not about reform but renewal! 

We are forgiven for our sins and what we did, but delivered from what we are, sinners. The problem of mankind is slavery to sin and that can be any sin, even pet ones or presumptuous ones. When one says, for instance, to give up this or that to become a Christian, one fails to realize we are slaves to sin in toto and are sinners by nature.

The opposite and equally evil distortion of the Law of God is antinomianism! (AGAINST THE LAW!).  The theme song: "Freed from the Law, O blessed condition, now I can sin all I want and still have remission." Some believers may think salvation is a license to sin or that God overlooks our sins. But Martin Luther wrote a book condemning these heretics: Against the Antinomians. The only way to maintain a balance between these two extremes of Bible application is to know the Bible and to understand the definition of sin and what it is not as well. Soli Deo Gloria! 

Do You Pray With Purpose?

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise." Psalm 100:4

 Do you lose track of yourself and God when you pray? Some even fall asleep probably because they are experiencing peace with God! Even wondering in thought, undisciplined, aimless, and undirected or unfocused? You are admonished to stay alert in prayer which means be watchful for prayer opportunities and needs of others first and then yourself. Prayer does have a purpose and it's not to get God to see things your way or to change His mind or to get Him to do you a favor or grant your every wish or whim. Successful prayer changes you, not God!

It is an honor just to be able to go directly to the Father in Jesus' name and to boldly approach the throne of grace to ask God what He is already predisposed to do! Contrary to some, prayer is not just asking God to do things for you and He is no genie! The purpose of prayer is prayer! That's right! We learn to experience God and have an intimate encounter with the Almighty; bare your soul!

It's a privilege to pray as a child of God to the Father and have His attention and audience! When we gain access to the throne room and get into fellowship with God, it's its own reward! We come as we are in prayer but will not stay that way! We should enjoy prayer and our ongoing dialogue with God! We must beware of what breaks this beautiful relationship: unconfessed sin in our lives. First order of business and Job One is to come clean with God and confess known and unknown sins in general. God will then cleanse us of all unrighteousness, even the sins we are not aware of.

We ought to have a divine and spiritual purpose for our prayer like a petition or request, intercession for others in need, praise offering, thanksgiving, or confession. That would be the primary reason for going to God and all the rest is incidental but we must stay focused on our purpose and not get sidetracked or lose our focus. Prayer without purpose (like reading without one) is like going by feelings and they are as variable as a weathervane. We must not worry about anything, pray about anything, and thank about everything! As the spiritual say: "Take it to the Lord in prayer!" Just like when you read the Bible to get a word from the Lord, you must ask yourself: "What is occasioning the prayer; why and for what?

Do you ever wonder why your prayer life seems anemic and you are out of your league compared to the prayers of preachers who get plenty of public practice? Don't give up and figure out and ponder what interferes with your prayers: apathy, lack of prep, lack of Bible interest or reading, sin in your life, negligence, easygoing life with not concerns, no emergencies God forbid! Don't let prayer be your last resort but your fist call for help! You must learn to go directly to God and not first to your friends or family! God is your Provider and has promised to see to it all our needs are taken care of; we just need to learn to lean on Him and trust and obey!

A problem some have is that they give up too easily and accept a "No!" for an answer when God is just asking you to wait or telling you He has something better. You must realize that problems come to drive us to our needs and this is good when we have no place else to go. We ought always to pray and not to give up; praying as if it all depends on God, but living as if it all depends on us! Don’t forget to seek the prayer support of others for urgent causes and needs and be willing admit your own.

Remember, prayer is dialogue with God and God speaks to us primarily through His Word and reading it is meant to put us into the mood to pray and to know what our needs are and what to pray for in a godly manner. The formula or format is to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit (Eph. 2:18; 3:12). In sum, it is paramount to pray “in the Spirit” being attentive to God’s will to be heard and to look for needs to fulfill by your intercession and petition. Soli Deo Gloria! 

What Are You Looking For?

What are you looking for?


Many people admit to be "looking" but don't know or realize for what or for whom. Those who seek God have different motives and reasons: a sense of meaning and purpose in life; peace of mind; filling the void in life; moral fiber to face decisions; strength in crisis; healing; friendship; the absolute truth; forgiveness; freedom from guilt; and the answer to the it all. Many have sought a higher standard of living, human rights, education, freedom, and the supernatural for answers but it eludes them.

We can have all these things and never find God. There is a vacuum only God can fill and we are spiritually empty and restless till we find our meaning and rest in God. He fulfills all our expectations and more. Considering how much God can do for us; how can we neglect such great salvation?

To accomplish the aforementioned, many seek gurus, swamis, wise-guys, cult leaders, mediums, fortune tellers, experts, philosophers, the intelligentsia, the academia, the pundits, the politicians, the religious leaders, the celebrities, the heroes of society, and religion or even drugs and pop psychology. But there is only one true answer to the ultimate and big questions of life: Jesus is the Answer and the Bible is the Answer Book.

All we need to know is in Him and His Word. Without God, life makes no sense! For instance, there can be no objective, transcendent, absolute, universal, and timeless truths but all so-called truths would be relevant because there would be ultimate standard to appeal to and final Arbiter of truth.

But before we can find the answer, we must admit to the questions: are you a sinner and lost without God? Can you find meaning without Him? Do your realize your need? Do you realize that Jesus claimed to be the only way to truth and God?

God is no Cosmic Killjoy, Celestial Policeman, Mother Earth; Clark Kent or Superman (secret identity and super-human under disguise with super powers); Popeye (who is a human with super power); or Man Upstairs who is impersonal and cannot be known; doting Grandpa; or the Force that is to be utilized in our favor. We must see that God is personal and we can know Him. That is why He came to earth as Jesus to reveal Himself. We use things and forces, but we know and relate to persons. None of the assumed deities loves us as Jesus does who proved God's love by dying for us.

To find God, we must first see our need then! To be saved we must realized we are lost. To be made righteous, we must admit we are unrighteous, to be justified we must admit our injustice, to be reconciled, we must admit our estrangement, and to be forgiven, we must admit our sin and guilt! We must seek God with all our heart to find Him (Jer. 29:13; Deut. 4:29; Isaiah 55:6). 

Soli Deo Gloria!

How Do You Love God With All Your Heart ...

 You start out by acknowledging God in all your ways (Prov. 3:5-6) and submitting to His will. It isn’t based in emotion, though they do result. God’s love is shed abroad by the Holy Spirit into our hearts by a work of grace (Rom. 5:5). Remember, the proper divine order is “fact, faith, feeling.” You learn to trust God by acknowledging Him in all your ways and taking baby steps of being faithful first in small things and letting God trust you with more. We progress from "faith to faith." (Rom. 1:17).  We all take a leap of faith in salvation and must go wherever God leads like Abraham went out not knowing where he was going.

 Now we all live in a doubt-certitude continuum and our faith must grow from faith to faith (Rom. 1:17). We practice our faith and obey (they go together hand in hand) God makes it grow. It isn’t how much faith we have as much as how big our God is and if we are obedient to the faith. Faith isn’t as much about believing despite the evidence or how big your faith is, but how much you obey--they go hand in hand (Heb. 3:18–19). It isn't how big your faith is, but how well you obey. Faith is not believing despite the evidence or how convinced you are, but obeying in spite of the consequences. 

What believing with all your heart, mind, and soul means is that it is with all we have, our whole being withholding nothing and not having some area of our lives that isn't surrendered to His will.  We prove it by our lives and testimony: "All that counts is faith expressing itself through love." (Gal. 5:6).  This doesn't happen overnight. The more we love our neighbor is indicative of our love for God. We commence by loving them and no one who doesn't love his brother can claim to love God.  Thus, the command to love our neighbor as ourselves, even becoming good Samaritans, thinking of their affairs, not just our own and meeting them in their time of need and using whatever resources, gifts, talents, opportunities, time, blessings, or relationships you have to their benefit.   

Note that  to love God with all our heart, soul, and spirit means with all we are and with all our being--all the bases are covered! 

Are You Living A Secret Life?

 If you are a believer in Christ, you live a secret life, a privatized life in addition to the one most people see; i.e., your relationship with Christ.  Now I am not saying we should not show our faith (we should not broadcast it but let God open the door to witness for Him) for we are to prove our faith by our works; the faith you have is the faith you show!  We are not to wear our religion on our sleeves and advertise how pious or religious we are which may really be religiosity, not spirituality. 

We must also be Daniels in the sense of not being ashamed to take a stand for Christ and be countercultural or even to do civil disobedience and defy the laws of the land if they contradict the Bible. We are not to practice our spiritual life that the public may see but do do good works that men may see them and glorify our Father in heaven. We are to complete the good works God has ordained for us as His masterpiece. (Eph. 2:10).  

We have died! our new life is hidden with Christ.  That means that the only fulfillment, meaning, purpose, dignity we will find must be in Christ and in His will to His glory. Living selfishly will not cut it with God!  We must love our neighbor as ourselves which means that we will come to their aid in times of need and not just be  concerned with only our personal affairs. But God gives us an agape love for others by shedding it abroad in our hearts and we prove our faith and love for God by loving one another. 

We can only find God's will if we are willing to do it! We must seek His will and be willing to do whatever He puts in our way.  This is also how we find our spiritual gift: by experimenting and debuting for whatever opportunities God gives us. God certainly has a plan for our lives and few there be that find it before their senior years. Wisdom does grow with age and the recognition of the brevity of our lives. 

The reason David was called a man after God's own heart was that he was willing to do all God's will  (Acts 13:22). That doesn't mean he never sinned but found God's will for his life and fulfilled it. Even Paul said that his "only aim was to complete [his] mission." (Acts 20:24). We must be careful to fulfill the calling we get from God (Col. 4:17) that we receive a "full reward." 

Remember, only God sees our heart and secret motives and judges the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb. 4:12; 1 Chron. 28:9). All of us are like a moon with a dark side only God sees! Yes, God sees our shortcomings too but doesn't count them against us (Psalm 32:2; 2 Cor. 5:19). God loves and accepts us with all our warts, flaws, and weaknesses. 

We must transition from doctrine to application: from orthodoxy to orthopraxy or from teaching to ethics. We must practice our faith and grow thereby in it by doing good works. We must turn our creeds into deeds!  the whole purpose of salvation is a changed life!  Remember the formula of the Reformers: "We are saved by faith alone not by a faith that is alone!" We are not saved by works, but not without them either; faith without works is dead and cannot save. We prove and authenticate our faith by our deeds, for we are known by our fruits.  Our faith must therefore be validated by our good works to prove it is saving, sincere, and genuine faith; for God doesn't require  perfect faith, only sincere faith (1 Tim. 1:5: 2 Tim. 1:5). 

In sum, we must become heavenly minded and think about those things that are spiritual, setting our minds on that which is above, not on earth for our citizenship is in heaven and we are mere pilgrims passing through, not preoccupied with the temporal.  To keep our eyes on Jesus (Heb. 3:1; 12:2). Soli Deo Gloria! 

Happy Thanksgiving/Hanukkah

The scholars say that the convergence of these two holidays won't happen again for 70,000 years--what a special day! I recall that Lincoln proclaimed the feast of Thanksgiving in October of 1863 and it was fixed as the fourth Thursday in November by FDR. The Last Supper or Holy Communion, also known as the Eucharist (which means thanksgiving, by the way, in Greek) is a unique Christian tradition. Thanksgiving is our heritage (not to celebrate seems un-American). One of the first lessons we learn as children is to be thankful and say thanks, especially saying grace at dinner time (a family ritual, if you will). It is ingrained in us to think of the holiday as Turkey Day, with an afternoon of football and family get-togethers. One of the two real family holidays with Christmas.

Jesus healed ten lepers and only one came back to give thanks: He said, "Where are the nine?" Romans 1:21 talks about people knowing God (though not in a saving way, of course) and neither being thankful nor giving Him the glory--"so their foolish hearts were darkened" and consequently "God gave them up." Truly sober words and a word to the wise is sufficient. About giving thanks, what if you have a meal for a guest and he was to say afterward, "How much do I owe you?" Wouldn't you be insulted? We can't pay God back even for all eternity to do it. The psalmist says in Ps. 116:12, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His goodness to me?"

Lincoln said the greatest gift God has given a man is the Bible and he said it was the greatest cure for depression. The Great Hallel (Ps. 136) exhorts us to give thanks unto the Lord several times as does Ps. 107 ("Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, His mercy endures forever"). Whey gives thank you might venture to ask. Just as there are benefits to being a veteran like health care and the G.I. Bill and there are fringe benefits to a job, there are benefits to being joint-heirs with Christ and heirs of God. "And do not forget all His benefits," says Ps. 103:2. We thank God for who He is and for what He has done (as recounted the history of Israel in Psalms 78 and 105, and the praises of the Great Hallel. "The Lord has done great things for us; whereof we are glad" (Ps. 126:3). Most importantly, we thank God to gain entrée into His presence per Ps.100:4, which says, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, enter His courts with praise."

I cannot help but be reminded of the following hymn: "Count your blessings, name them one by one, and you will see what the Lord has done." We are to thank God in all things (1 Thess. 5:18), for all things (Eph. 5:20), and with thanksgiving let our requests be made known unto God (Phil. 4:6). A friend of mine has a daughter that complained about the pain in her foot and he told her to thank God for blessing her foot! What faith! God turns curses into blessings and makes the wrath of God to praise Him (Ps. 76:10). The key to a Spirit-filled walk is to be "abounding in thanksgiving" (Col. 2:7). Finally, the offering of sacrifice makes us acceptable to God (Lev. 22:29), and is considered a thank-offering or a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Jonah offered sacrifice with a "voice of thanksgiving." "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies Me," says Ps. 50:23. In heaven, the elders and angels will offer thanksgiving to God: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen" (Rev. 7:12).

The best biblical example of contentment and thankfulness for God's provision despite matters is in Habakkuk 3:17-18: "Though the fig tree, not blossom...yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." We must learn to be content in all circumstances just like Paul in Philippians 4:13. Ever hear of the man without shoes that became thankful when he saw a man without feet? How about the father who took his son to a third world country to show them how they live to teach him gratitude, and the son was impressed that they didn't have fences! I'm sure you can think of examples galore for this blessed day. Soli Deo Gloria!

Neither Were They Thankful

"Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy" (Psalms 107:22, NIV)."But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you..." (Jonah 2:9, NIV).

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and grateful" (Col. 4:2, NIV).

"Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" (Rev. 7:12, NIV).

"I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD" (Psalm 116:17, KJV).

They knew God but didn't give Him thanks and for this reason, God darkened their foolish heart. We are responsible for the light God has given us or we will be judged accordingly. Thanksgiving is a sacrifice to God (cf. Psa. 50:14) and praise is another sacrifice to God (cf. Heb. 13:15) that we can offer God as a way to gain entree into His divine throne room and presence. "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise..." (Psa. 110:4, KJV). That seems to stipulate a formula for getting into the spirit of worship and prayer. They are juxtaposed in this verse and go hand in hand--thanksgiving for what He's done or will do and praise for who He is and how He reveals Himself in glory.

You can be sure that an ingrate is not filled with the Spirit, neither knows it, for this is a basic lesson of spirituality we all learn to mature in the faith. But a lot of ingratitude is habitual and a matter of nurture and upbringing; i.e., it might be the parents who didn't bring them up right! As Romans 1:21 equates the two and says, "they glorified him not as God." Gratitude and praise go together to comprise an act of worship that we owe God as creatures, knowing that He is alone is worthy of our worship. We ought to be so thanksgiving oriented that we are grateful that someone thanks us for kindness rendered in Christ's name-it should make our day! But we should remember that our tasks in the Lord are often thankless tasks!

Paul targets thanksgiving as the right mental attitude in his epistles: "Giving thanks always for all things unto God..." (Eph. 5:20, KJV); "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Phil. 4:7, KJV); "In everything give thanks" (1 Thess. 5:18, KJV); "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts ... and be ye thankful" (Col. 3:15, KJV). This is stated as the will of God for us. He wants us to learn to see the silver lining behind every cloud and to learn that all our adversity and affliction is Father-filtered and will work together for our good (cf. Rom. 8:28).

The amazing example of having the right attitude of gratitude in dire circumstances is when Paul and Silas were in prison and sang joyfully unto the Lord. No one can take away our attitude and that's why we must cultivate this as a sure way to stay focused on God. Paul demonstrates his attitude of gratitude in prison writing Philippians by opening with thanksgiving.

Gratitude is not the ultimate proof of faith per se but is the sign of a right mental attitude (cf. Col. 4:2; Psa. 100:4). God condemns ingrates: "... for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 5:6, ESV). Nowhere in Scripture are gratitude and faith equated, correlated, or juxtaposed as a measure or keynote of each other; however, faith and obedience are in Hebrews 3:18-19, NASB, as follows: "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief" (cf. Heb. 4:6, 11). Some translations mistranslated these verses and put in "unbelief" instead of "disobedience." James 2:18, NIV, says, "... and I will show you my faith by my deeds."

But the NASB and ESV are more literal and use what is functional equivalence; i.e., word for word translations not thought for thought. Faith and obedience are eternally equated in Romans 1:5 and 16:26 (that they might "come to the obedience that comes from faith," cf. NIV) and in Acts 6:7, "They were obedient to the faith."

Also, note that Dietrich Bonhoeffer said quite dogmatically, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." These two are definitely equated in the Word. Doctrinally speaking, the only proof of faith is obedience just as Christ admonished that if we love Him we will obey Him. Thanksgiving, even praise, can be signs of faith but not the ultimate litmus test, but obedience is the plumbline (cf. John 14:21). We don't have the law to obey but are measured by our obedience to the will of God (we are free in Christ but not free from God's will!), which is an easier yoke and we have the Spirit which bears witness with our spirit to give us peace. Clearly, obedience is the test: "... Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22, NKJV).

Jesus made it clear love would be the telltale sign of the believer (cf. John 13:35) and the world would know we are Christians by our love. Love is the distinguishing trait of our faith and its greatest contribution in charity, outreach, missions, evangelizing, and labor. Faith is what pleases God and its expression is love: "... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV). Soli Deo Gloria!

The One And Only

Are there any parallels between Jesus and any other great man of religion? Muhammad amassed an army of 10,000 to set out to conquer (killing thousands), while Jesus conquered hearts in His invisible kingdom through love ("My kingdom is not of this world"). Buddha, which means "Enlightened One," (while Jesus claimed to be the Light) and Buddha's real name was Siddhartha Gautama, and he came from an affluent Hindu family and lived a sheltered life in childhood. Muhammad and his followers looted and pillaged caravans, while Jesus had no flaws in morality and his followers aimed to live by his code of love. Jesus was from a working-class family, while Buddha had privilege, Muhammad, a camel driver, married a rich woman 15 years his senior and then took to meditation. Buddha left his wife and son to become an ascetic, while Jesus never married, was tempted of the devil for 40 days in the wilderness, and had a close-knit band of followers, both male and female to the very end, and Muhammad set out with his army in at least 66 battles. Buddha was appalled at the suffering of his day, while Jesus was a man suffering, and acquainted with grief, even dying on a cross willingly. Buddha set out merely to reform Hinduism, while Christ was the fulfillment of Judaism and the prophecies. Buddha claimed that his mother was impregnated by a six-tusked white elephant, while Jesus was born of a virgin woman in fulfillment of a prophecy made 700 years prior--the kind of life He lived would be consistent with this.

George Gordon, Lord Byron, the great Romantic poet, said that "if ever a man were God or God were a man, Jesus was both!" John Stuart Mill, considered by some to be the most intelligent man to have ever lived, said Jesus was the "guide of mankind." Bertrand Russell, the atheist philosopher, said that "what the world needs is more Christian love and compassion"--people emulate Jesus like no other man as the epitome of love in action. Will Durant said that Jesus is the dominant figure of Western Civilization. No one predecessor is His equal and no successor meets His standards of perfection and lawlessness.

Jesus, Himself, challenged His enemies to convict Him of sin. Even the Koran says that He was without sin. The crassest heretics have not denied his sin-free life either. He was flawless, whereas Muhammad had his flaws. Buddha couldn't have been perfect and didn't even claim it--he was agnostic--because he claimed to have come to "Enlightenment" after his search under the bo tree near the river Gaya, and therefore couldn't have always known the way, while Jesus confounded the Pharisees at the age of 12 and knew the business of His Father, and didn't claim to know the way but to be the way--Buddha didn't believe in God, and said that, if there was one, He couldn't help you find enlightenment, because you must find it on your own.

You cannot compare Jesus with any other man (you can only contrast), for He is alone and incomparable: His character was unique (flawless, without sin, and it is said that He is in a moral category by Himself, and it has been well said that His character supports His claims); His conduct was unprecedented (He forgave His enemies on the cross, and He invariably practiced what He preached); His claims were unparalleled (made Himself the Son of God--no other religious leader such as Muhammad or Buddha, an agnostic, has said this); and His credentials were unequaled (His life didn't belie but confirmed His claims, His miracles were true signs and consistent with his nature, and not just for show or selfish reason of profit, and even His enemies acknowledge His character). The caliber of His life was such that no one could challenge His answers and authority, and accuse Him of wrongdoing or sin.

The founders of other faiths are known for what they said, Jesus is primarily known for who He was and what He did--that He claimed to be the Son of God, died on the cross, and rose from the dead! Any man can claim to be God for instance, (but you need credentials and character), but to prove it by rising from the dead is quite another! It has been said that the kind of life Jesus lived verified His claims and you would expect the Son of God to behave like Him--there is no ungodliness or weakness in His person. There is everything we would want in a man to worship and adore and He doesn't fall short of any ideal or standard, but only inspires even the greatest of men--even Napoleon proclaimed Him to be no mere man and he claimed to know men.

Jesus lived in obscurity as a common man without privilege: He had no army, yet He conquered millions; He never wrote a word, yet He inspired more books and inspired more literature than anyone else; He had no riches, yet He made many rich; He had no formal education, yet He was the greatest teacher to have ever lived. Jesus was not born into privilege or opportunity, but into an average working family and knew what the average man went through in daily life from personal experience. He confounded the Pharisees with His brilliance at the age of twelve with His questions and answers concerning the Scriptures. There was no duplicity in Him, for He practiced what He preached, yet He condemned hypocrisy in others. Though men have conquering armies, Jesus conquered hearts and many millions would die for Him.

Who was the greatest leader of all time? Who has done the kind of miracles that have never been duplicated? Who was the greatest teacher? Who gave us the highest ethic or moral code to live by? Who lived the holiest life of all men? Who has the most followers and worshipers of all time? Who was the greatest philosopher or "un-philosopher" of all time? Who has done the best for mankind? Who had the greatest personality of all time? Who sets the highest standards to live by? Who had a more profound impact on civilization, either direct or indirect (inspiring the building of hospitals, universities, orphanages, charities, and missions)?

All other men pale in comparison to Christ and no one can meet His standards of holiness. Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but not so with the disciples who were near Him--they never stopped admiring His perfection and even worshiped Him. What Jesus did, no man can do and we don't compare Jesus with others but contrast them: We don't say, "Jesus the Great," though we say Alexander the Great, or Peter the Great, for even that is an insult and do Him injustice; what we do is contrast Jesus with others and make Him the standard to judge all of mankind by. If God became a man, what kind of man would you expect Him to be?

Of the greatest men who have ever lived, none have dared to claim to be God in the flesh or the one and only way to God. Jesus didn't claim to be the best way to God, nor one of many ways, but the one and the only way to the Father. Only Jesus had the "words of eternal life" and showed us the Way. He didn't claim to be telling us the truth, but that He was the incarnation of truth itself ("I am the truth"). He said that all who are "of the truth" will hear Him, but unbelievers are those who reject the truth. In all of recorded history, no one has matched His personality and life! Many books can claim to be true, but only God's Word is Truth with a capital T, and the testimony is this: nature forms you, sin deforms you, education informs you, prison reforms you, but only Christ transforms you!

The New Testament books are not to be compared with the writings of other religions where so-called miracles are attributed, for they were written within a generation of the events and by eye-witnesses--not compiled centuries later. The difference between Christ's miracles and those of other faiths is that they were signs of His deity, and not just fantastic, for a show, or for personal advantage. You can take the miracles out of Islam, for example, and the religion remains intact, but if you remove the miracles from the Bible you disembowel it and make it nothing. Without miracles, Jesus would have only been a footnote in history and not worth following. Even Muhammad believed Christ performed miracles and he did none himself (there are none in the Koran)--only years later did writers ascribe some to him.

After the crucifixion, His own followers were ready to write Him off and go on living as if they had wasted three years of their life. It was the miracle (the great sign that He would give) and the fact of the resurrection that turned a disbanded and demoralized group of followers into roaring lions of the faith, who were not afraid of the authorities anymore, nor of death itself. If God were to become a man, you would expect Him to be like Jesus and do miracles and Jesus foots the bill and doesn't let us down on any count. It is one thing to claim to be God and quite another to prove it and have people die for your claims! "He spoke like no other man ever spoke"--with authority (He didn't say, "Thus says the Lord, but, "I say unto you.").

The Christian scholar Philip Schaff portrays Christ graphically as follows:

This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Muhammad, and Napoleon; without science and learning shed more light on matters human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.

Nothing can explain Him, except the profound hypothesis that He is the living Son of God! We don't compare Christ, we contrast Him who is in a league of His own as the one who claimed to be God in the flesh or incarnated--you can rest assured of this: No one will ever improve on Jesus! As John Stuart Mill (considered one of the most brilliant minds of all time and an atheist) said he is "a unique figure not more unlike all his predecessors than all his followers,"

The problem with most would-be messiahs is that their character doesn't support their claims and the problem is that familiarity breeds contempt with men, but there is no discrepancy with Christ--his character does not disprove His deity, but it is consistent with it and confirms it. No one, not even a psychiatrist could analyze Him as unbalanced despite His claims. Christ is beyond our analysis (no one can figure Him or peg Him) and we can only be in awe as we wonder what kind of man would we expect the Son of God to be. Who can understand a man who washes His disciple's feet, yet claims to be the Judge of mankind? Soli Deo Gloria!

Have You Heard?

 Have You Heard?

 Do you believe rumors, tall tales, or what some call old wives' tales?  The Bible is not place for myth, fable, or fiction but  separates the wheat from the chaff.  We all tend to have so-called confirmation bias and  believe that which already agrees with our worldview and tend to  believe the party line whatever that may be to us. "Is is hard to kick against the goads," as Paul found out on the road to Damascus, to fight God's will and go our own way. 

God cannot lie nor break a promise (Heb. 6:18) and it was not only prophesied that Christ would die and rise but it happened just as they said and as Jesus had foretold several times. We must not half-believe but with our whole heart and let God change it from the inside out! We realize we only come to a knowledge of the truth by grace (Acts 18:27) when God grants it and it is not by speculation or conjecture but by revelation. It had been so-called hearsay according to some disciples until they saw the risen Lord in person. "But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty..."   (2 Pet. 1:16).  Jesus had taught them all the prophets had foretold that had to be fulfilled. Jesus didn't just make a truth claim that He is God but proved it by rising from the dead (Acts 17:31; Romans 1:4).   He didn't cheat death, nor escape death, but defeated death by rising from it in His own power and authority granted of the Father. 

Some claim they are ignorant and haven't heard the gospel and ignorance is an excuse with God or even bliss! Where have they been living? Haven't they heard of the most important historical figure of Western Civilization and the biggest revolutionist of all time? Clearly the dominate figure of history!  Practically everyone has heard something about Jesus and His resurrection, even if they don't believe it. God judges one according to the God they do know and reject, their own conscience bearing witness against them. 

Jesus came to bear witness of the truth and "those who belong to the truth hear [Him]."  He is the very incarnation of Truth with a capital T. We know this because a few brave disciples risked their lives to spread the good word or the biblical evangel or gospel.  We don't have to be eyewitnesses because Jesus had eyewitnesses, and they were not consummate liars and deluded madmen but saw the Lord and were willing to be martyrs for it. These  testimonies are not the rantings and ravings of madmen.  

It is a fact that He rose from the dead is history and is "arguably the most attested fact in antiquity." (Dr. D. James Kennedy). It is either the biggest and cruelest hoax perpetrated on humanity or the best news ever known. It proves the deity of Christ and gives us hope of a resurrection. Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe! We need to believe in our hearts and let Christ rise in them for salvation, it must mean something to us and be personal, for the demons believe and tremble.

There is plenty of circumstantial evidence for it but no "smoking gun" evidence for evidence isn't always compelling, certain, convincing, or conclusive. We cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt because God desires faith (trusting in what we have good reason to believe). Only faith and not reason or works please God unto salvation,. Everyone must take the leap of faith into the light.     

In sum, the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are sons of God (Rom. 8:16) and our hearts burn within us as the truth resonates.    Soli Deo Gloria!                                       

Is There Justification For Evil?

"Who can say to Him, 'What have you done?" Job 9:12 

"What's wrong with the world?  'I am. sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton.'"

"We have met the enemy, and he is us!" Pogo, in Walt Kelly's cartoon. 

NOTE: THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF EVIL (MORAL AND NATURAL), I AM CONCERNED WITH THE MORAL ASPECT. 

FIRST:    God justified giving mankind free will when He planted the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and commanded Adam not to eat of it. Notice that there was one, simple rule to follow!   If there had been no test of obedience, one could say that true love and obedience couldn't exist.  It is impossible for evil to exist with free will and no one choosing it.   

Thus, God gave mankind the right to choose evil without being coerced or inclined in that direction and then prevent them from choosing it. If evil had not existed, then we would have no choice but to obey God and wouldn't be freewill moral agents but mere automatons, puppets, dolls, pets, or robots of God. 

The Bible clearly says God allows evil for His own purposes (Prov. 16:4) and even uses it to glorify Himself and can turn short-term evil into long-term good (Acts 2:23:4:28). All things happen according to God's design and plan (Eph. 1:11).  All things are going according to plan!  (Isaiah 37:26).   We must acknowledge nothing can happen without God's permission if we realize God is sovereign.  If God isn't ultimately in control, what kind of God is He?

But we tend to complain to God when we are the victims of evil: "Why me Lord?" Job probably never contemplated God's justice in allowing evil till it happened to him!  He said, "Must we accept good times from God and not bad times?" (Job 2:10).   "God turns the wrath of man to praise Him!" (Psalm 76:10) and that means God has ultimate purposes we cannot know and everything is for the final glory of God (Romans 11:36) for we were created for the glory of God (Isaiah 43:7). 

We wonder if God has done anything about evil and don't realize we can do something ourselves: God made you! Realize that Jesus was indeed the victim of evil and didn't complain to His Father that He had gotten bad karma or something He didn't deserve: remember, Jesus signed up for the Via Dolorosa and the Passion to the cross for our sakes. He was a willing target of Satan. 

We see in the crucifixion, a gross evil event perpetrated by wrongdoers and malefactors doing Satan's bidding via Rome, but God knows what He is doing and that "all things work together for good for them that love God that are called according to His purpose," (Rom. 8:28). But God allows short-term evil for long-term good. As when he told Joseph about his brothers, "Your brothers meant it for evil but I meant it for good," (Gen. 50:20). 

Evil must run its course because there is an angelic conflict in the spiritual arena between God and Satan and we are in the middle of it and sign up as combatants when we get saved. Good overcomes evil and will defeat it in the end, for Satan is already a defeated foe because of the victory of Christ at the cross and especially in His  resurrection, the victory over death itself. We are to equip ourselves with the weapons and armor of God and fight in Jesus' name. 

At the end of history, evil will be cast away into the lake of fire and will be silenced forever. But it is better in God's eyes to have defeated evil with His goodness than never to have allowed it to enter the equation in the first place. This way, all of us can participate in this war in heavenly places and be rewarded for our own victories with crowns and rewards.  

Only in Christianity is evil actually given meaning and given some sense of justification.  But we must not merely justify evil's existence but find what the answer to it is for the sake of argument: we must not just philosophize about it, grin and bear it, or become mere stoics but have faith in face of evil; this means that the prima facie answer is knowing a Person, namely, Jesus, not words of man, but the Word of God!   

In the final analysis, if God were to eliminate all evil in the world immediately, none of us would be left; only God is good.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Jesus In Control Of His Destiny

 Jesus is said to have "set his face toward Jerusalem." He knew that He was born to die! His destiny was in His own hands as revealed by His Father. There was no turning back, even at the Garden of Gethsemane He prayed in relinquishment: "Thy will be done." There could be no conflict of interest or of wills within the Godhead. He boldly proclaimed His "fate": "That everything written of Him must be fulfilled."  Remember, Jesus volunteered to go to the cross and accept His Passion on our behalf! 

The fickle crowds (four days latter the shouted to crucify Him) did try to crown Him king at His triumphal entry and He did say that it was now His time, but He must be crucified first and He knew this--having prophesied it five times. He had said, "No prophet can die outside Jerusalem."  But He refused to stop the adorations and acclamations of the crowd and said that if they were restrained, the stones would cry out! 

Throughout His ministry, "Mum's the word so to speak," but now they vociferously shouted Hosanna to the Son of David!" This was prophecy and that blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.  Jesus literally allowed them to throw His hat in the ring: for one doesn't become King by mere announcement!  There's protocol and tradition. He was not using figures of speech or a play on words and didn't beat around the bush anymore! 

We must realize a few points about Christ's fate: this was not karma (Jesus was innocent and didn't deserve this fate as a karma--which exact reward/punishment for deeds); nor was Jesus the victim of circumstances; nor was He intending to set us a good example; nor was He intending to become another religious martyr; or even champion a good moral cause to be remembered. In fact, Jesus was in full control all the time and this was Providence, which is God's answer to happenstance or coincidence. 

The Letter Of The Law

 The Pharisees were guilty of obeying the letter of the Law at the exclusion of the spirit of the Law.  They majored on minors and paid heed to minor  points such as tithing in small matters and ignored the weightier matters of the Law: faithfulness, mercy, and love. (Matt. 23:23).  For instance, one may say that he frowns upon dancing but overlooks covetousness as a minor affair or offense.  Being a legalist leads to judging and even condemning one's brother or sister. We are not to compare us to other persons or our Christian brethren (2 Cor. 10:12). Legalism is one way to end up doing that!  

Sometimes necessity knows no law like when  in the parable of the Good Samarian and the priest didn't want to become ceremonially unclean by defiling himself or even missing his Sabbath. This is an example of "going beyond that which is written!" (1 Cor. 4:4). Besides going against the spirit of the law, that it is fulfilled in loving our neighbor, making up your own rules and adding sins is also legalism. Tradition is often added to the Word of God and counted as a way to gauge sin. The priest was a slave to his tradition and could not see a need to be fulfilled.  Legalism elevates tradition to the level of Law and bind people where the Bible has left them free!  

In my day, good Christians watched the hemlines, movie lines, and hairlines! Spiritualty was something to be seen by men and an external thing noticed by others. Basically, believing that faith plus works equals salvation is legalism; actually faith equals salvation plus works--viva la difference!  One must distinguish that legalism sees sins, not sin!  Remember, the letter kills but the Spirit gives life!  Legalism is a form of spiritual tyranny as one believes he is spiritual but actually still a whitewashed tomb or refined sinner. 

We are forgiven for our sins and what we did, but delivered from what we are, sinners. The problem of mankind is slavery to sin and that can be any sin, even pet ones or presumptuous ones. When one says, for instance, to give up this or that to become a Christian, one fails to realize we are slaves to sin in toto and are sinners by nature. 

The opposite and equally evil distortion of the Law of God is antinomianism! The theme song: "Freed from the Law, O blessed condition, now I can sin all I want and still have remission." Some believers may think salvation is a license to sin or that God overlooks our sins. But Martin Luther wrote a book condemning these heretics: Against the Antinomians. The only way to maintain balance between these two extremes of Bible application is to know the Bible and to understand the definition of sin and what it is not as well.   Soli Deo Gloria!

How Can We Tell A Christian?

 Jesus clearly said that we would known them by their fruits. (Matt. 7:16).   Jesus also said they will know that you are My disciples, that you love one another!   (John 13:35)   That means we love our neighbors, practice the Golden Rule, and are good Samaritans.  This is manifest in charity, alms, rescue missions, food shelves, mission work, disaster relief, humanitarian crises and more where Christians can outshine the world and show what Christian love is all about. 

There are many Christians in name only or nominal believers but their faith doesn't stand the test of fire. All faith must be tested and proven. If faith were easy, it wouldn't  be worth much. Anyone can claim to be a Christian; for instance, they can sincerely believe they were born one because their parents are, but no one gets in automatically because salvation is a turnstile--one at a time! We all must personally make our decision to follow Christ at all costs and deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him.  

It is commonly believed that belonging to a church makes one a believer or should I say disciple, but many in the church are just attendees and not worshipers--they are consumers and not producers!  We are not just customers of God but followers, nor fans or admirers but worshipers and followers. Some erroneously believe they were born Christians because the live in a Christian nation! Christ in only interested in wholehearted disciples who have counted the cost and willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the Name. 

What kind of fruit should we look for? A Christian proves his faith by good works. James said that he would show his faith by his works!  (James 2:18) We are to become a people zealous of good works!  (Titus 1:16) Faith without works is dead (James 2:22) and that kind of faith cannot save. We are indeed saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. Without works, our faith is suspect. We are not saved by them, but not without them either!  We have a faith not as one we can live with but one we would die for!  We must live out our faith and prove it to others; it is not a given and we cannot expect people to believe our confession if we have no fruits!  Our lifestyles tell a lot and reveal what we really believe and speak louder than our words and our testimony speaks volumes.  

The true Christian ought to be engaged in spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible reading, witnessing, worshipping, fellowship, and good deeds. This all are taught in the local church of which he is obliged to join and not forsake.  Note: there can be no solitary saints or spiritual hermits or Lone Rangers!  For God has foreordained certain good works we are meant to do.  We should walk in them faithfully. Christians walk by faith and not by sight, they see things from God's perspective and not as the world sees them. Christians also are people of the book and love love the spoken and written Word of God preached and in the Bible.  We also walk in the Spirit and have overcome the power of the flesh. 

We do sin but Jesus always disciplines us or brings us to confession and back on track when we go astray. Christians overflow with thanksgiving and have the right attitude in serving and being servants; a non-serving Christian is a contradiction in terms. Christians find their spiritual gift by serving and are given a ministry to fulfill as stewards of God's blessings. 

"...Set an example of good works yourself..." (Tit. 2:7).

SO, ARE WORKS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION THEN?

There is a grand distinction between religion and Christianity: works out of a pure motive and not for applause versus to ingratiate oneself, or to get brownie points with a deity. Religion says, "Do!" while Christ says, "Done!" Christians are not "do-gooders" per se but do good deeds because they want to, not because they have to. The key is not "in order to," but "therefore." Good works logically follow a changed life, through which Christ lives. Changing lives is Jesus' business and the point of salvation. In a works religion, you never know how much is enough!

Since salvation is a gift only in Christianity, the person is free to do good out of gratitude. We don't have to, but want to! Many Americans have fallen prey to the misconception that achieving the "American dream" or "living the good life" is all that is necessary to accomplish salvation; that they have "made it." God requires perfection and any effort to earn one's way is in vain. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone (a living one), in the person and work of Christ alone according to the Reformers.

Some misguided souls subscribe to the credo that since salvation is by grace alone, works aren't necessary or don't follow (but we say grace is necessary and sufficient). The Reformed doctrine is that salvation is "by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone." Works equaling salvation is the essence of religion; combining works and faith for salvation is legalism. Faith that produces no works is antinomians, being against the law or lawless. The prevalent view that faith alone without any evidence (some will say gifts of the Spirit like speaking in tongues) will suffice is erroneous, being initial evidence validates salvation or the filling of the Spirit. This is known as antinomianism or "no-lordship salvation."

Note: if you don't have good works to "work out" (cf. Phil. 2:12) your salvation is suspect. The kind of works I am referring to is good deeds not works of the law. We are not saved by works; but not without them either--but unto works! Works (or righteousness) prove faith to self others and God, as well as yourself (cf. Isa. 32:17); but are not the substitute for it. We must put our faith into action--as James would say, "The faith you have is the faith you show" (cf. James 2:18).

There is no irreconcilable difference between Paul and James; they come from two vantage points: Paul was dealing with those who couldn't do enough and thought the Law of Moses was necessary; James was dealing with "do-nothing" libertines. Paul would say, "I'll show you my works." James would counter, "I'll show you my faith." Paul talked about being "rich in faith" (1 Tim. 6:18). James talked about being "rich in deeds" (James 2:5). James says, "But someone will say, 'You have faith, I have deeds,' Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do" (James 2:18).

Faith doesn't have a dormant or inert stage; it can't be left in mothballs! It goes places! Faith and works are distinguished, but cannot be separated. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17, 26).

Our works will be judged (for reward) not our faith per Romans 2:6; Psalm 62:12; Prov. 24:1 (our faith is a gift according to Rom. 12:3, Acts 14:27; 2 Pet. 1:1, et al.)! "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (1 Cor. 3:15; 2 Cor. 5:10). "God will repay each person according to what he has done'" (Rom. 2:6). Our works have to do with our testimony (Matt. 5:16; Tit. 1:16, 2:14)--"By their works they deny Him." We are to be a people "zealous of good works" (Tit. 1:16). We are to be "thoroughly furnished unto all good works" and "are created unto good works" (2 Tim. 3:17; Eph. 2:10). The faith we have is the faith we have is the faith we show! Faith must be authenticated by works or it's suspect.

It is important that we give the glory to God (Soli Deo Gloria). "I venture not to boast of anything but what Christ has accomplished through me" (cf. Rom. 15:18; Amos 6:13). Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing." Isa. 26:12 reads, "All that we have accomplished you have done for us." The reason God blesses us is so that we can bear fruit (cf. 2 Cor. 9:8). We are commanded to do good works (Gal. 6:10; Phil. 2:12). Most of all the importance of it all is summed up: "Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 2:10)--note how they are correlated. Soli Deo Gloria!