How To Address The Deity

I have heard prayers to every kind of deity imaginable as a Christian, having had fellowship with many factions, sects, and denominations.    The Mormons, for instance, like to think of God just as their "Heavenly Father."  They put God in a box, and fail to see Him as Redeemer, Judge, and Counselor as well.  God is multifaceted like a diamond and we shouldn't just see God as "the man upstairs,"  the "Great Spirit in the Sky" or "the Old Man," for instance.  We don't invoke God like the Greek pagans, who said, "O mighty Zeus, judge of the right, protector of the innocent, power behind the lightning bolt, ad infinitum; we don't try to butter up God, but simply call on Him as He gave us the right to do via Jesus' instruction in the Sermon on the Mount.

Suppose one person addressed the president as President so-and-so, another as John, and another as Dad; who do you suppose had the greatest privilege and intimacy?  There is power in knowing God as Father, and we have the right to be called the children of God (John 1:12).  In prayer, how would you feel if someone prayed in the name of the "Man Upstairs?"  Wouldn't it show more respect and intimacy to use Jesus' name?  Angels don't even have this authorization to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit--which is our formula for prayer,  Let your prayers show your intimacy with the Almighty and not alienation or unfamiliarity.  We go to the top, and the Most High has an open door policy for us.

"...I write to you dear children because you have known the Father" (1 John 2:14).
"So if you call God your Father..." (1 Pet. 1:7).

God has given us His covenant names to claim and to realize His divine nature, but He loves it when we address Him simply as "[Our] Father" (this is the most honorable appellation He has given us as His children--see 1 John 3:1).  Note:  There is no universal fatherhood of God--only believers can claim God as their  Father.  When Jesus introduced this, it was radical and revolutionary; it was a breakthrough and taking new ground or territory spiritually.  "The Spirit cries out with our spirit, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15). Per contra popular thought, Abba doesn't mean "Daddy," though abi does.   We have this divine privilege that angels don't have a family!  We are adopted into God's family and born of the Spirit.  If we pray simply:  "O God in heaven," it sounds like we don't know our Lord very well.

Surely God is in heaven, but He is here too! "Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far away?" says Jeremiah 23:23.   He is the "YHWH Shamah" or "the LORD who is there."  Case in point:  "Surely the LORD was in this place and I knew it not."  God is the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord is upon us to pray "in the Spirit" (Jude 20). The formula (cf. Eph. 2:18), I reiterate, and that the Bible sanctions are to pray in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit,  to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Eph. 2:18).   Note that I am not saying we cannot intersperse other forms of address in our prayer, like LORD God, but the primary focus is on His Fatherhood.

We are to "boldly approach the throne of grace" as Hebrews 4:16 exhorts and have faith.  When we take ourselves too seriously and take our eyes off of Jesus it is hard to penetrate His dimension ("Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise" per Psalm 100:4).   Jesus ushers us into the very throne room of God and we have access or entree and the right to go to the top with God's "open-door policy."  Jeremiah 3:19 says that God was disappointed that Israel didn't call Him "Father"  ("I thought you would call Me Father.") Father is a term of endearment or gesture of intimacy.

When Jesus cried out, "My God, my God," he felt distant from His God and Father. There is no greater honor (every human father is proud to have his son call him Dad and would be insulted if he were called "Mr. so-and-so," or even "Sir");  there is no greater privilege.  We should take advantage of this right and not feel estranged from God anymore.  When we pray we are to "put on the Lord Jesus" and that means to pray as a SON!

In conclusion:  It is not wrong to pray to Jesus or the Holy Spirit (though it is sinful to pray to any saint or invoke the Virgin Mary, which is Mariolatry); but there is little precedent for praying to Jesus (the text in John 14:13-14 is dubious),  or the Holy Spirit it in Scripture and we should really pray as the Lord taught us in obedience.  We are ushered into the dimension of God, His very throne room, and presence, by the virtue of Jesus' redemption on our behalf.

The scriptural formula is expressed in Eph. 2:18, NKJV:  "For through Him we both have access by one spirit to the Father."  Soli Deo Gloria!

What Is Significant Prayer?

The most perfect and ideal prayer we can make is to commend ourselves unto God's care, let His will be done in a prayer of relinquishment, and have the faith to mean it when we say, "Amen!"  We must dismiss the notion that we can change God, but let successful prayer change us.

Jesus rebuked the vain repetitions of the Pharisees and the meaningless long-winded prayers they were wont to do, then He formulated the Lord's Prayer because the disciples asked Him "Lord, teach us to pray," of all things to want to learn.   This prayer was never meant to be a recital or vain repetition, but the answer to the question, "How shall we pray?" (not "What shall we pray?).  It is never wrong to go through the petitions and pray them as long as one comprehends it and meditates on it while doing it.  Therefore, everything we need to know about prayer is in this paradigm or framework Jesus gave us if we understand and apply it rightly.  The vital link is, "How big is our God?" because this affects our prayer life and our faith in the answers--that is why it is said, "Be it done unto you according to your faith."

God's name or reputation is holy and worthy of praise; for He exalts above all things His name and His Word (Psalm 138:2).   Prayer, by definition, is communion or communication with the Almighty and that means it is two-way--not just us doing all the talking.  We have to learn to listen like Samuel who prayed, "Speak LORD, for your servant hears." The more we listen, the more we hear; we must practice this fervently because hearing God, as well as prayer to Him are like muscles one must exercise to be fit--we don't want to become unfit or turn a deaf ear to God by negligence or because we are remiss or derelict doing our part.   The book of Job (33:14) says that God speaks to man, but he doesn't hear.  God always speaks to me when I read the Scriptures because I have trained myself in this discipline.   Sometimes God has much to say and we do all the talking.  One way God speaks to us is by verses we have committed to memory, something a believer told us in edification, or some circumstance.  Being cognizant of His control or providence shows our faith and how we will interpret the answers.

Psalm 100:4 says to "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, enter His courts with praise."  For the LORD "inhabits the praises of His people" according to Psalm 22:3.  The essence of prayer is communication and to change us, not change the unchangeable one!  The purpose of prayer is prayer--we should love to touch base with God and stay in fellowship with Him by keeping short accounts of our sins and confessing them ("If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the LORD would not have listened," says Psalm 66:18)  and we should "pray without ceasing," which means that we keep the conversation going (our attitude and fellowship) as Brother Lawrence, the humble cook and Carmelite monk in a monastery, did in the seventeenth century when he wrote The Practice of the Presence of God, which is a classic on the continuity of daily fellowship  in our labors.

When we do corporate or public prayer one goal is to be a witness to others and teach them how to pray and be an example; and, if possible, to convert any unbeliever by our witness.  All prayer should be in the power of the Spirit, as it says in Jude 21:  "Pray in the Spirit."  We should strive to put our heart into our prayers, but sincerity is not everything if we ask amiss or are wrong.  Just because we can put a lot of emotion into it is no guarantee that God will answer affirmatively.  Prayer is, in summation, acknowledging God for who He is and what He has done; thanking Him for what He has done, and praising Him for who He is.  The better we know God, the better our prayers.

 When we pray we should think of putting on Christ and assuming our role and position as a son of God and having the authorization to use Christ's name and permission to call the Most High our Father--the angels don't have this authority and power to influence God--remember prayer is the ordained means that God uses to accomplish His will and we are acting as vessels of honor, being used for His glory.   This implies intimacy and the more we pray, the closer we get to God--if we don't pray much, it is because we probably don't believe God is listening or answering our prayers.  Finally, our prayers are in the power enabling the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who puts our feeble words and baby talk or lisping into groans too deep for words to the Father. "For we know not how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us."   We go to the top in our prayer, the Most High, who is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has an open-door policy, which means we are always welcome and God is never inconvenienced.

We should think of the attributes of God when we pray:  His greatness or awesomeness (nothing is too great, nor too small for God--they are all small); His sovereignty (we can be assured that He is in control and we are on the winning side); God is omnipotent or almighty (nothing too big for God--"Is anything too hard for Me?" says the LORD in Jeremiah 32:17);  God is eternal and everlasting (He has all the time in the world to answer our prayer and time is no object, because He is not bound, defined, limited, nor in the time/space continuum that we are slaves to--this means God knows the future from the past and can forgive our sins past, present, and future as an example.   God is worthy of praise, worship is essentially "worth-ship" because only God is worthy to be worshiped--we can't praise God too much, in fact, there is power in praise!

Prayer is where the action is and is the acid test or the so-called litmus test of our spiritual relationship. Many people have weak prayer life because they take themselves too seriously; we should pray as we can and not as we can't.  It is a trick in prayer to learn to pray the Word and claim its promises.   It is not to be seen as a duty but as a glorious calling and honor. Learn to be sensitive to the inner voice of the Holy Spirit and the promptings He will give.  God does speak; it's just that man doesn't listen.  "Indeed God speaks once, Or twice, yet no one notices it"  (Job 33:14).   In sum, the greatest prayer is one of relinquishment, uttering in the manner of Jesus, "Thy will be done!  Soli Deo Gloria!

What Kind Of Soil Are You?

In the parable of the sower, in Matthew 13, Christ depicts four types of individuals who hear the gospel and how they respond.  There is the soil along the path, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil. It is important to evaluate the condition of our own soil because we can go through phases in life where it may vary--we are not always apparently good soil, even if we are saved.   We may identify with these kinds of soils at some time in our spiritual journey, but to enter the kingdom of God we have to be good soil--we may just backslide or revert to our old nature at seasons of our life though.  But it is erroneous to conclude that there is a whole new category of a believer called a believer with a thorny soil;  he must have been good soil at one time or he never would've been saved in the first place.

It has been shown that the average person rejects the gospel 7.6 times before accepting it--that is an average and one person may reject it 8 times and another 7 times, and so forth.  That is proof that we are not always receptive to the message of truth and aren't usually ready for it as given or sown the first time.  But God prepares our hearts over time and when we are prepared soil we do respond affirmatively. "Salvation is of the Lord," says Jonah 2:9 and we do not cooperate in it as Rome teaches but simply accepts it by faith with God doing all the work, even giving us faith as a gift--it is not something we conjure up by our efforts.   All of us can relate to once being thorny soil that had other things on our mind or even rocky soil that doesn't want to pay the price of persecution or tribulation and hasn't counted the cost--Jesus warned His followers to "count the cost."

In this parable, the sower is the same, the seed is the same, and the soil is the same; what is different is the condition of the soil and this is the responsibility of the recipient.  The sower sows wherever he has the opportunity or sees an open door.  Only in so-called  "good soil" does the seed germinate and take root to go on and bear fruit.  Why is fruit important?  John the Baptist said, "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance..." (Luke 3:8).   "By their fruits, you shall know them."  Jesus "appointed [us] that [we] should go and bear fruit and that [our] fruit should abide..." (John 15:16).  We should "bear much fruit and prove to be [His] disciples." (This fruit is the outcome of our lives for Christ, doing good deeds foreordained for us and not the fruit of the Spirit since the listeners of Jesus knew nothing of this and the Spirit was not yet given!)

I am of the persuasion that faith without works is dead and without fruit there is no faith--true faith produces fruit and this fruit is good works (though converts is a good work, it is not the only one); we are not saved by good works, but we are not saved without them either-without works our faith is suspect.  There may be Christians who don't amount to much and may end up with no reward according to 1 Cor. 3:15 where they are saved, as if by fire, but they do produce some fruit and end up losing or forfeiting their reward.   The condition of the soil is up to us and we are culpable for soil that is unresponsive to the gospel and has no place for the Word in our lives.

Lots of people are superficial and initially believe the Word of Christ, but don't have genuine saving faith, having good intentions, but poor follow-through.  The purpose of this parable is to show three types of recipients to the general call of the gospel when we preach or evangelize and why they don't accept our message.  It is meant to encourage us to sow a seed and that some will inevitably fall on good or tilled soil.   Hearing the Word is not sufficient, one must be obedient to the gospel and go on to follow the Lord as His disciple.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Learning A Christian Worldview

"No nation has survived the loss of its gods" (George Bernard Shaw).

A worldview is a way of interpreting your world, such as purpose in living, where you came from, and where you are going--our role in the world-system--questions such as: Is there right and wrong? Is there a God? What is the meaning of life? How do you interpret reality? There is a current war of ideas in the world: Marxism (basically an economic understanding, but also totalitarian, aiming to establish a domination of the proletariat or working class and abolishing the bourgeoisie in class warfare), Secular Humanism (basically that man is the measure of all things, up with man, down with God, or deifying man and dethroning God, and reality starts from man), New Age (the idea of cosmic consciousness or supra-consciousness, being in touch with the inner god), Postmodernism (founded by Nietzsche as the patron saint, saying that "God is dead" or irrelevant and we can live without Him), Islam (believing the future belongs to Islam and being bent on world hegemony), and Christianity (Christ's kingdom is in the hearts of man and not of this world and the church is a power to transform and preserve society) itself--the first five have one thing is common in that they oppose Christianity. Any viewpoint that doesn't start with God is evil!

We are to discern good and evil to be able to handle the meat of the Word (Heb. 5:14). Once we get saved, the battle has just begun and we enter Satan's turf as the god of this age. But the battle is the Lord's and as John said in 1 John 4:4, "Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world." Paul says in Rom. 8:31, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" We have to know our enemy according to Sun Tzu in The Art of War because he believes in dividing and conquering, and playing mind games, and waging psychological warfare. "For we are not ignorant of his schemes" (cf. 2 Cor. 2:11). Don't give him a beachhead, but arm yourself with a divine viewpoint to understand what he is doing. Do not fight among yourselves as Lord Nelson noticed his troops doing when he said, "Gentlemen, remember, the enemy is over there!" In Walt Kelly's cartoon Pogo, he says, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." We can be our own worst enemy because the three enemies are the world-system itself, the devil and his minions, and our own flesh or sin nature (cf. 1 John 2:15 -16). The government is not the enemy, for all the powers that be are established of God (Rom. 13:1).

We are exhorted to "hate that which is evil and cling to that which is good" in Rom. 12:9 and in 1 Thess. 5:21-22 it says, "...hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil." [which means that when evil appears, resist it.] Only those who have their senses trained to "discern good and evil" can digest the meat of the word and the infants in Christ can only live on the milk of the Word according to Hebrews 5:14. We need to love God with our whole minds and not be indolent or anti-intellectual--we are to use the minds God has given us (Mark 12:30).

We are in the world, but not of it according to Scripture (John 15:19 says, "You are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world"). If we love the world-system or cosmos of Satan, the love of the Father is not in us--indeed he entices us with many delicacies of the world to compete with our spiritual appetites. Beware of the pseudo-philosophies of this age as the admonishment in Col. 2:8 says, "Let no man spoil you through philosophy or vain deceit..." We need to "contend for the faith" like Jude said in Jude 3 and that means taking stands for Jesus and sticking up for what is right in an evil world. We are the salt and light as the children of God.

Paul's swan song was: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7). We all have a conscience and can tell right from wrong (Rom. 2:15), and we are all responsible and don't have any excuses for knowing God (Rom. 1:18-20). In 1 Chron. 12:32 it says that only a few people were able to interpret the times and knew what to do. Daniel 11:32 says that the "people who knew their God "shall be strong and do exploits." At the time of the end, the wise will understand and the wicked will not (Dan. 12:10). When Nebuchadnezzar realized that God was sovereign he came to his senses (Dan. 4:35).

Today we seem to be doing what's right in our own eyes (similar to the Israelites in Judges 21:25--"They did what was right in their own eyes"). The culture says that there is no standard of right and wrong--it is all relative and you can't force your morality on another person. It isn't that we can't legislate morality, it's whose morality we legislate.

In Allan Bloom's book, The Closing of the American Mind, he says that people now believe "all truth is relative"--if that is true then that statement has no value because it is also relative. They say nothing is always wrong and nothing is always right; what matters is sincerity. This goes back to Satan's lie: "Hath God said?" Gen. 3:1). They seem to believe that the only truths that are relative are those that defend the Christian worldview! One prof was reported as saying, "You can know nothing for certain." One astute student asked, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I am!" Jesus was the Truth itself, the incarnation of Truth with a capital T and came to bear witness of the truth--the Romans, including Pilate, doubted the existence of absolute truth (true no matter who believes it and whether anyone believes it). They thought that "might made right." This was the epitome of cynicism and an insult to Christ's veracity--he didn't even wait for an answer! The secret is to stay away from extremes: "Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil" (cf. Prov. 4:27; Isa. 30:21; Josh. 23:6; 1 Kgs. 21:2)).

As Christians we are to "submit [ourselves] to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors..." (1 Pet. 2:12-13) Paul says something similar: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God" (Rom. 13:1). We are to "render unto Caesar" according to Matthew 22:21 and even be light and salt in the world, trying to make people see the light to get saved according to our gift. With privilege there is the flip side of responsibility; they go hand in hand. There is such a thing as "social justice" not a social gospel, though. Our social commission has not been rescinded. One only need refer to the prophets, Amos and Micah. We assert that God is the only legitimate legislator (legal positivism says that man can make any law he desires) and His character is the law of the universe. Isaiah said, "Woe unto them who decree unjust laws..." (Isa. 10:1-2). It has been said, "If we have contempt for government, we get contemptible government."

God's providence works all things according to His divine decrees and He has no Plan B; He has no other plan, but to use us as His vessels of honor and to bring glory to him (cf. Isa. 43:7). Everything is going according to plan as Isaiah says in Isa 37:26 and He is in control according to Isa. 14:24, 27 and 46:8-11. "Behold, the nations are as a drop of the bucket..." (Isa. 40:15). "He's got the whole world in His hands." Psalm 22:28 says that God is sovereign over the nations and we can be sure even over every molecule in the universe. Eph. 1:11 says that God works out everything according to His will. John Wesley used to read the paper to "see what God is doing in His world." God is even in control of the toss of the die (Prov. 16:33) and in control of the whims of the king (Prov. 21:1). He leaves nothing to chance: Einstein said, "God doesn't play dice with the universe."

Christian worldview sees social injustice: "What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the face of the poor...?" (Is. 3:15). "Rescue the weak and the needy..." (Ps. 82:4). The believer who knows the Lord is concerned about the plight of the poor (Ps. 41:1) and the evil in the world: he doesn't just see evil and say, "Why?" He also sees good and says, "Why not?" This is what it means to know the Lord according to Jeremiah 22:16--to be concerned about those less fortunate and defending those who can't defend themselves, the weak ("He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; Then it was well. Is not that what it means to know Me?" declares the LORD [in Jer. 22:16]). Amos and Micah are champions of the underdog and the underprivileged and deplore how "they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals--those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted (cf. Amos 2:6-7). "...Who oppress the poor, who crush the needy..." (Amos 4:1). Malachi is appalled at those "who oppress the hired worker in his wages..." (Mal. 3:5). We are not to be partial to the poor nor to the rich but show justice to all (Deut. 19:15). Charity and welfare were mandated in Israel according to Lev. 19:4, Deut. 15:4, and other passages--they were allowed to "glean the fields" of the landowners. There was to be "no poor in Israel."

Now, what kind of values are Christians supposed to espouse? They should subscribe to the sanctity of the family unit as having preference over the government's authority, because it was established before it; it should believe in the inherent worth of the individual (you have rights, but they end where mine begin--you can swing your fist but not hit my nose!) as being in the image and likeness of God (the imago Dei), and that means having a mind to know and communicate with God, a heart to love Him, and a will to obey Him. These are called unalienable rights and our culture is based on it in the constitutional Bill of Rights. We are merely stewards of God's riches ("The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof" says Ps. 24:10) and are responsible to Him to give an account at the judgment. (There is a Protestant work ethic mentioned in 2 Thess. 3:10 that declares that those who are not willing to work shall not eat.


All authority ultimately comes from God and we get our rights and dignity form Him; "unless you assume a God, the question of man's purpose is meaningless," and without God man is a "useless passion." (Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre). We believe the government has limited power derived from God--it is not a necessary evil, as Augustine said, but necessary because of evil. We have a duty to this government since we owe them our security and protection of our property and our person from crime--justice and law and order are the primary functions. Marriage is to be held in honor and a "man shall leave his mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh" and "God made them male and female and said that it was good." No rights are absolute, such as you say it's your religion to be a cannibal or that you can yell fire in an auditorium! Sometimes it may be our duty to disobey, which is termed civil disobedience--God's laws trump the government; shall we obey God or man? ("We must obey God rather than man," according to Acts 5:29).

I believe firmly that the Bible sanctions no certain type of government, as long as human rights are respected. Government was first documented to be divided into three parts in Isa. 33:22 into the legislative, judicial, and executive branches (king, judge, lawgiver). I refer to Lord Acton's adage that is a cliche now: "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." We do not believe that our rights (note that the obverse of rights is responsibilities necessitated) are derived from the government, but directly from God, who gives us dignity and worth as man in His image or the ikons of God, as it were.

In the final analysis, it is vital to know Scripture to combat the prevalent secular humanistic viewpoint (deifying man and denying or dethroning God) in the world and not to fall into the devil's trap. Sir Francis Bacon said, "Knowledge is power." And the Bible backs this up in Proverbs 10:14 saying, "The wise lay up knowledge..." And Proverbs 24:5 says, "And a man of knowledge enhances his might." We must not remain silent and concede everything away. C. S. Lewis says, "They are trying to eradicate Christianity from the marketplace of ideas and the public square."

If God doesn't exist, everything is permissible (Dostoevsky). But we believe in transcendent or natural law that everyone is able to know by nature apart from the government. Law is designed for wrongdoers but God confers rights on us. People are in a state of rebellion against our so-called bourgeois values (which really is the Judeo-Christian heritage of Western civilization). As the psalmist says, "What can the righteous do when the foundations are destroyed?" (Ps. 11:3). For one thing, we should pray for our leaders, not condemn them [It is our God who put them there, as Paul said (cf. Acts 23:5), "It is unlawful to speak evil of a ruler of your people"]

Christians are not "utopians" but are waiting for Christ to usher in His Millennial Kingdom at His second coming. A word to the wise is sufficient: Christians have no geopolitical aspirations like the Muslim world bent on dominating the world with their hegemony, and they should not sound the alarm, but "occupy till He comes" (business as usual). As Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." In conclusion, we have read the last page of the Bible and know how it all will turn out and are assured that we are on the winning side and victory is inevitable in the end. NB: Keep the faith! "The LORD frustrates the counsel of the nations; He thwarts the plans of the peoples...Happy is the nation whose God is Yahweh!" (Ps. 33:10-12). A word of encouragement--all is not lost: God is able to heal our land if we confess our corporate sins and humble ourselves in repentance as His people (2 Chron. 7:14). Soli Deo Gloria!

You Could Be Wrong!

People are fully committed to what they believe, especially their political camp, and would not accept the argument that they could be wrong. But God is not partisan! You cannot know the absolute truth in a partisan manner!  This goes for anything secular in arguing:  the opponent could be wrong and that is a valid point.  They don't want to admit they are dogmatic in their faith.  Do you know that logically all religions cannot be right; however, they could all be wrong!  We have faith in God, However, and this is the beginning of knowledge. We know the answers to the ultimate questions!  Because our knowledge originates with God who He knows all.  You have to know all to know anything; we know A because of B, B because of C, ad infinitum.  But infinite regress is impossible--you cannot cross infinity!  Point in fact:  all knowledge is based and founded on faith.


There is an omniscient all-knowing God as a starting point.  And so, we must reason from God and with God, not against Him, nor to Him.  The Bible says that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of all knowledge (cf. Prov. 1:7)--what is divinely revealed to us and has been reasoned from there. The Bible is the final authority and arbiter of truth for us and is self-attesting, appealing to no higher authority or source.  This is reasonable because if it did appeal to something/someone higher it couldn't be the final arbiter of truth, i.e., Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone as the sole authority--the Reformers' rallying cry. And so, we begin with God and explain the universe, we don't dismiss Him from the get-go and reason against Him, begging the question.


Where you start determines where you'll end up!  Athanasius said that the only system of thought Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point.   The problem with people is that they do know God and suppress this knowledge according to Romans 1:18 (and you must know God to suppress Him) and when they knew Him they were ungrateful and didn't worship Him becoming fools claiming to be wise. They denied the God they did know.  But we cannot answer the big questions without God in the equation--secularism cannot give the know-whys.


We aren't putting God on trial by attempting to "prove" Him, but the evidence is there for the willing if one is willing to follow the facts wherever they lead. Evidence strengthens existent faith.  Even given sufficient evidence sinners will not worship God without God's intervention to regenerate them and quicken faith in their blinded souls.  But there is never enough for the skeptic who doesn't want to believe. Infidels don't want to examine or believe in evidence because it's stacked against them and they don't have the answers--they just object to Christianity. We don't need all the evidence or answers to believe!  There is adequate evidence for the willing though. The trouble is that some infidels wouldn't repent if all their questions were adequately answered and shown the way the evidence is leading, because they feel comfortable in their lifestyle--they love their sin!   


People feign intellectual problems when they really have moral ones and just don't want to live the abundant life in Christ.  The heart of the matter, then, is a matter of the heart.  They are really making truth claims by denying the Source of truth and the Personification of it--Jesus.  The issue boils down to what Pilate asked Jesus:  "What is truth?"  It corresponds with reality and is the self-revelation of God, agreeing with God who delimits and defines it.  We can appeal to no higher authority.  It's self-defeating to say there's no truth because that would be a truth claim per se!   How do they know that or what if they're wrong? 


The truth is that we base all our knowledge on two principles of logic:  the law of noncontradiction and the law of cause and effect or causality. Logic is a valid way to find truth if the premise is true, but we only know something is true if God revealed it. You cannot prove anything that's not logical!  The fool who claims to know nothing is admitting he does know something!  This ends up with the reasoning of Socrates that to find truth you must admit your ignorance or that you could be wrong!


The problem is that we all interpret the evidence according to what we already believe and fit our theories or prejudices. Don't twist facts to fit the theories!   God has to make a believer out of us by converting us and bringing us to a saving knowledge of Christ.  We must never give leverage to the infidel by giving him ammunition to believe he cannot know anything about God!


Therefore, Christians have a personal encounter with God to validate their leap of faith and to reinforce it with the experience that God is good.  The infidel cannot defend his foolish faith! Thankfully, the Christian faith is the only religion that's fact, evidence, and historically sound and based.  NB:  Faith not based on evidence is blind faith!  The conclusion of the matter is that only Christians can know with certainty anything concerning God as the starting point, while the infidel doesn't have a leg to stand on and lives a lie and self-contradiction not knowing anything for sure.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Strange Fire...

When God says, "My way or the highway, He's dead serious!"

God is really big on instructions, so it follows that He likes it when we follow them. The book of Leviticus is a "how-to" book, you could say, (or God's instruction manual--Torah, for instance, means revealed instruction) just filled with them. It is reasonable to assume that a godly person follows instructions and doesn't try to do things his way. Like some are wont to say: If all else fails read the instructions! This is a bad mentality and disastrous spiritually as Nadab and Abihu found out when God consumed them with fire for offering a sacrifice their own way and making a fire their way which God called "strange fire" and God judged immediately because He was so angry. They became examples of those who "do it their way." Frank Sinatra became famous for singing "I Did It My Way" and I'm sure that now after he has died his song led many astray and that he was dead wrong! It is a serious thing to disobey God's instructions and we are responsible for what we have the opportunity to know as David found out when he transported the Ark of the Covenant and when it tipped the person bearing was struck dead because He didn't follow protocol. What do you think the Bible stands for? "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth." Disclaimer: The Bible is more than an instruction manual, praise the Lord!

God is a God of order, design, precision, and instruction, not chaos or confusion. We become more godly (God wants you to get organized and be orderly!) by following this pattern and God making us in this image of Christlikeness. We cannot have everybody doing their own thing as it says in the last verse of Judges: "In those days there was no king, everyone did as he saw fit [what was right in his own eyes]" (Judges 21:25). Jesus said there was a "way" and He was it. Knowing Jesus is knowing the way and the first believers were called followers of the Way. In the Army you learn that there is your way and the "Army way" and you learn this lesson pretty fast--you become a quick study! "There is a way which seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the way of death" (Prov. 16:25). "For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray and have not known my ways." Do you know the Way? In another passage, it says: "But my people do not know the rules of the LORD" (Jer. 8:7). Jesus is the logos or logic behind the cosmos and God has a plan for everything under heaven according to Proverbs 16:4: "The LORD works out everything for his own ends--even the wicked for a day of disaster."

People who don't know God are always offering "strange fire" before the Lord and trying to please Him their own way by good works, ritual or religion, morality, philosophy, ethics, etc.,  and not by faith alone. Nothing that the unbeliever does can please God, for it is all dirty and filthy rags in His sight according to Isaiah 64:6. Do it God's way or don't do it at all because there is no reward for man's way or works. God only rewards what He does through us as His vessels of honor. Finally, the reason God gives instructions is to test our obedience and see if we are serious about being His followers: Israel repeatedly refused and failed to follow instructions--isn't this something we learn in kindergarten?

Jesus condemned the Pharisees, though they followed the instructions, for the same reason God judged Amaziah, (he followed the law, but not with his whole heart). The Pharisees were culpable for externalizing the law and going the motions, as it were, and not doing it from their heart. Today, in our churches we see many who have "memorized the Dance of the Pious" also and have no inward reality--this is exactly what Malachi rebuked Israel for in being frauds at worship. We are to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. No one achieves this perfectly in time but in eternity we will be glorified to have the capacity.

What is sin, but doing something our way instead of God's way ("We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way..." (Isaiah 53:6; cf. Judges 17:6; 21:25). It is vain and useless to fight God and do it your own way because God is never frustrated and knows what He is doing and can turn curses into blessings and make everything turn out for the good (cf. Rom. 8:28). Job 42:2 says: "I know that you can do all things, and no plan of yours can be thwarted." As William Cowper said, "God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform." ("Cf. Isaiah 45:25, NLT). Soli Deo Gloria!

He That Is Spiritual

It has been said that a Christian has a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which He loves, a voice through which He speaks, and hands through which He helps--this is the epitome of spirituality--to know Christ and make Him known.
"O that they were wise, that they would understand this, that they would consider their latter end!" (Deut. 32:29, KJV).

That was the title of the 1918 book by Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, that made him a renowned and celebrated theologian.  Who is?  This is a vital and bona fide question:  Like G. K. Chesterton has said, "We have found all the questions, now let's find the answers!"  When we are spiritual we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in a manifold manner.  There is no certain manifestation, such as talking about Jesus or the Bible.  Sometimes just touching base with someone in love and charity and meeting their needs is genuine fellowship and expression of being spiritual. There are telltale signs of spirituality:  A famous saying goes thus:  Where there is love there is joy; where there is joy there is hope; where there is hope there is peace; where there is peace there is Jesus!  I have learned this and have observed it:  God meets us where we are and knows where we are!  We don't always need someone to preach at us, but sometimes we need a listening and sympathetic ear.

Just think of all the possibilities of expressing the nine winsome graces given by the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Wherever two or three are gathered together in Jesus' name, there He is.  The one who is spiritual simply walks in the Spirit and has continual fellowship with the Lord (keeping short accounts of his sins and confessing them per 1 John 1:9:  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  The spiritual one simply is in touch with God and meets people's needs and is not self-centered, but Christ-centered.  He lives for Christ and not for himself.  This does not necessarily refer to a level of maturity or of being mature per se, because sometimes a baby believer can be more spiritual than the seasoned.

No one can claim to be always spiritual or that they have "arrived" at such a point of perfection, of not being conscious of sin or shortcomings.  Sometimes the wisest remarks can proceed out of the mouths of infants (cf. Matt. 21:16), as Jesus noticed:  Psalm 8:2 says, "Through the praise of children and infants..."  I believe children can even be used by God: a child's voice convicted St. Augustine said:  "Take and read, take and read."  Proverbs 20:9, HCSB, says, "'Who can say ,"I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed form my sin?'"

He that is spiritual simply walks with the Lord as Enoch and Noah ("Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God," Gen. 6:9)--and we have this privilege too!  It is a "faith-walk" because "we walk by faith, and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7).  There is no veneer to see through or guise of spirituality, such as hypocrisy (he has nothing to hide and is straightforward in speech), but a genuineness and authenticity in action. He is the real thing, an original!  He's not out to outshine someone or be a rival.  "The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments'  (1 Cor. 2:15).  There is a certain natural ability to discern the Spirit, in other words.  Whatever he does, he does to the glory of God (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31)!

There is no inherent dichotomy or division of believers into classes of spiritual and non-spiritual, first-class and second-class, or what Chafer mistakenly believed to be carnal and spiritual Christians. Just like it is wrong to have a "holier than thou" attitude (cf. Isa. 65:5), it is wrong to deceive yourself into thinking you are more spiritual than your brethren--you either are spiritual or you're not--there are no degrees to graduate to.   Any believer can be carnal or spiritual at any given period of time, it is not a given (each day one must start all over in their walk:  "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:25).  "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it," says Psalm 118:24), and he must "abide in Christ" or stay in fellowship with God in order to walk in step with Him.  The most spiritually mature can indeed fall into sin like David did but he will ultimately recover and his carnality will not be a permanent or continuous state. The continuity of our status in Christ never changes; only our state of fellowship and relationship and/or sanctification.

This doctrine need not be problematic or an issue at all:  "So I say, walk by the Spirit and you shall not gratify the desires of the flesh"  (Gal. 5:16). We are indeed free in Christ:  not free to live according to the flesh and our old nature, but power to live in the new nature or spirit.  The old nature knows no law, the new nature needs no law!  In other words:  Freedom to do what we ought, not what we want! We've never had the right to do what is right in our own eyes or to do what is scripturally wrong.  In sum,  "So we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step [pace] with the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25).   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Christian And Governmental Law...

"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof" (cf. Lev. 25:10, KJV).
"When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law" (Rom 2:14, ESV). 
"As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice ["taken away my right" per ESV]..." (Job 27:2, NIV).    "[T]o deny people their rights..." (Lam. 3:35, NIV).   ALL ITALICS MINE.   Pertaining to governance issues.  

Nowhere in the New Testament is the Christian told to obey the Law of Moses directly! We do not become somewhat Jewish to be good Christians!  The law is for the lawbreaker!  The Law was meant to show that we cannot keep it, not as a way of salvation ("For by the law is the knowledge of sin").  This doesn't mean that we are lawless or that the Law doesn't apply at all, though.  There is the timeless moral law of Moses or the permanent code of conduct, which is, not the ceremonial nor the governmental, judicial code or law.  What was moral then is still valid today and this is universal, absolute truth that doesn't ever change!  We all know "natural law" (cf. Rom. 2:15).

We can be assured that the Bible does stand for law and order and the rule of law (cf. Habs. 1:4).  Only God is a law unto Himself and can take the law into His own hands!   God condemns the perversion and mockery of justice and especially when the poor aren't given their rights in court.  In fact, the very concept of human rights is God-given and are conferred from God, not the government, which only secures them.  The only reason we have rights and animals don't is that we are in the image of God and have dignity!  We are no "animals in heat, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain"; God has a higher purpose for us!  Animals should be treated humanely and are stewardship, but have no, zilch legal status, standing, or rights in court.   Facetiously, we might say, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" (from Animal Farm by George Orwell).

Jesus can relate to us when our rights are denied because He was given a pathetic mockery of Hebrew justice by the Sanhedrin and of Roman justice under Pilate and tried under kangaroo courts.  But Jesus didn't insist on His rights nor even defend Himself, but left His destiny to the Father's will, purpose, and design.  We must recognize that only God is truly a law unto Himself and is autonomous!

We are all subject to a Higher Power and the powers that be, ordained of God.  But that doesn't mean the law is always fair or right, in fact, sometimes it's civil disobedience is the duty because we must obey God rather than man!  The apostles rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer for the sake of the Name.  NB:  Augustine who said that an unjust law is no law at all and Isaiah pronounced woes on those who decree unjust laws.

The Bible is our standard, not our traditions or customs.  The Constitution can be wrong, though it's the highest law in the land, God's laws supersede it.  That's why the Bible is considered part of Common Law in England according to the jurist, judge, and member of Parliament Sir William Blackstone.  The Bible doesn't endorse any system of government (i.e., monarchy, democracy, republic, etc.), but it does insist on the rule of law--no one is above or exempt from the law!  There have been tyrants in history who had delusions that they could lead in their own right and not "under God."  Even King John was forced to sign the Magna Charta in 1215 at Runnymede.  Pastor Samuel Rutherford wrote Lex Rex in 1644 to make them realize that even the king had to obey the law! NB:  The chief purposes of government are to keep evil at bay, maintain law and order, and rendering justice.

This is an important concept because Lord Acton's adage that "power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely" is always a temptation.  The danger in freedom has always been authoritarianism and William Penn foresaw this as he said that "if we are not governed by God we will be ruled by tyrants."  Two specific examples are obvious:  King Louis XIV of France, the Sun King, who said "I am the state," and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, who said, "Me and God." What they were implying was that what was good for them was good for the state!  Plutarch mused "Who shall govern the governor?"  We must always have a check and balance system to keep authoritarianism, despotism, and a subsequent loss of our civil rights from taking place.  Totalitarian regimes have no such system.

We break God's laws and the Bible commands us to obey the government (cf. Matt. 22:21; Rom. 13:1) or we live at our peril: but they actually break us; we are really breaking God's heart, not His laws!   A good Christian obeys the law of the land, even when in authority, but if the Bible is in conflict, he must resist.  We are not here to sanitize the society but to preserve and add flavor to it!

That means we cannot outlaw every sin and must realize that something can be legal and sin or the other way around, it can be illegal and not a sin.  We must get over the notion that when the government legalizes something that we shall suffer for their sin, for the Bible makes it clear that the soul that sins is the soul that shall die--even the children do not suffer for the sins of their parents.     Soli Deo Gloria! 

One Nation Under God

There are still those Christians who have been brainwashed into believing that this was, is, or should be a "Christian" nation, though G. K. Chesterton observed:  "America is a nation with the soul of a church."  The founding fathers were not all believers; Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were Deists at best--though Franklin did get wiser in his old age to believe "God governs in the affairs of men." They proudly proclaimed that this nation was an experiment and George Washington noted the "propitious smiles of Heaven" were upon them.  It was a "New World Order" to be initiated. Looking back to the Code of Connecticut the idea of a theocracy had failed and also the notion of bringing in the Millennial Kingdom or any sort of utopia--they were realists.


Alexis de Tocqueville visited our nation and wrote, "There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America...."  John Winthrop stated, "Whoever is the avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country."   Many people actually came to our land seeking religious freedom and the right to worship the God of the choice in the manner they see fit: Freedom of conscience and religion were really originated here. The idea of this nation was for an informed electorate and an educated class not for the ignorant or apathetic to be involved according to John Adams.  But things didn't realize their pipe-dream, which was it was.


We were at one time a melting pot in the sense of the immigrant groups assuming "American" ways, customs, and language; however, today we are a pluralistic society with many ethnic groups keeping their own identity and refusing to even learn our language--English was never made the one official language of our nation! Many of our customs, such as the President swearing-in on a Bible, taking the pledge of allegiance, saying, "So help me God" in court, and our national motto "In God We Trust" are just that:  Custom, and not law and can be struck down by the Supreme court.  Some people say they wouldn't live in our nation if we ditched the idea of "One nation under God," but all nations are under God's authority to the Christian and He rules over ever king and kingdom or dominion (Psalm 22:28).  My premise is that this never was a truly Christian nation, is not, and need not be, in order for Christians to live here with the blessing of God.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Social Justice In Action

Amos is known as the farmer prophet that never even went to prophet school and God called him to prophesy. He was the hero of the downtrodden and underprivileged--the down and out in their luck and/or opportunities, Social justice is a biblical concept. The righteous care about it, but Proverbs 29:7 says, "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.""... because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for pair of sandals" (Amos 2:6b, ESV). Demonstrating righteousness concerns the plight of the poor (Jer. 22:16, ESV says, "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the LORD."). At the judgment, Christ will not be interested in our piety or religiosity, as much as whether we fed the poor, clothed the naked, visited the shut-ins, and met the needy of the less fortunate--God only blesses us to be a blessing to others as His conduit. We are the only hands He has and the only feet He can use to reach them!


God cares about provision for the poor and Israel had mandatory welfare to make sure they could glean the farmer's fields. Charity was mandated in Deut. 15:4. Psalm 82:3 (ESV) says, "Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute." Those who "oppress the poor and crush the needy" are judged by God in Amos 4:1 (ESV). "I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted and execute justice for the needy." It is noteworthy that God said that "there should be no poor in Israel." Soli Deo Gloria!