Our Snake Oil

In antiquity, myrrh was like snake oil that was touted as the panacea for anything or the cure-all for everything from colds to bad breath much like Apple cider vinegar is today. We know today that they were just gullible and unscientific and didn't even have the rudimentary medical knowledge, which resorted to superstition such as eating gizzards or drinking urine.  If there was any cure, aspirin, for example, it was accidental, pure happenstance, or chance.  The Chinese were further along with their alternative medicine of acupuncture.  Jesus was given myrrh at his birth as a gift and that is why--it was celebrated for its medicinal value.

Now Christ is our cure-all (not meant in a derogatory manner of speaking) for what ails us--sin, which is the root cause of all our ailments.   He is the answer to our dilemma and dual predicament. We have a problem with what we've done (our sins) and must be forgiven and justified by the blood, and we have a complication due to the way we are in our old sin nature (our sin cleansed by the sanctification of the cross of Christ).   We must then be forgiven for what we've done and changed from what we are. We must put our faith in the person and work of Christ (knowing Him as Lord and Savior), who paid a price we couldn't pay, on a debt He didn't owe! Greater love has no man than this:  That he lay down his life for his friend!

We lose focus when we think of salvation as our helping God out in saving us, or in cooperating--it is not synergistic, but monergistic and that means God does all the work--it is passive and not a cooperative venture,  as we receive the gift of salvation apart from any works we've done (cf. Titus 3:5) and any merit we may think we deserve--grace means simply that we cannot add to it, we didn't earn it or deserve it, and we cannot ever repay it!  

All we have to offer Him is brokenness and strife, all of our sin are to be cleansed in the blood of the Lamb who is worthy--"our righteousness is as filthy rags," according to Isaiah 64:6.  We are quickened unto faith and repentance as the gift of God and these are not works as Catholics claim. They are God's gift, but we do them, God doesn't do them for us--we have to make good and take the leap of faith, and show the fruits of repentance per Acts 26:20 that prove it.

In short, it's not what we do for God, but what He does for us that is key and the focus of our attention.  I'm not against merit or good works, just against those done in the flesh for salvation and apart from the Holy Spirit.  God ordains good works for us to do per Eph. 2:10, "that we should walk in them."   However, God rewards us for what He does through us--how amazing!  His work in us because we are simply vessels of honor used by Him for His glory ("... the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," according to the Westminster Confession of 1646).

Let me add that the Reformers' theology and the rallying cry of being saved through faith is summed up in Jonah's cry: "Salvation is of the LORD." It is not a cooperative venture, nor an independent one, but a passive one whereby we receive Christ as Lord and Savior and subsequent salvation as a free gift.  Salvation is either of us, of us and God, or of God alone; the only way to be sure of it is for it to be of God alone, for we are sure to foul things up. 

This is contrary to the tradition of man that says we must qualify for heaven by our deeds.  It is human instinct to be incurably addicted to doing something for our salvation, as the Jews asked Jesus:  "What shall we do, to do the works of God?" Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent" (cf. John 6:28-29). It's grace all the way as John 1:17 says, "The law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Obedient Christian

It has been wondered among believers what the obedient Christian looks like--can we spot them? Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey His commandments (cf. John 14:21).  Obedience is the only test of faith according to John MacArthur, and can be distinguished but not separated from it, as they are equated and correlated in Heb. 3:17-18; Rom. 1:5; 16:26; Acts 6:7, and John 3:36.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said eloquently: "Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes."  In Acts 5:32 it says that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Him.

There is no such thing as a disobedient Christian as a subclass or rank of Christian, though Christians can and do disobey God and sin both willingly and unintentionally. We never reach a point of entire sanctification or perfectionism as Wesleyans and Deeper Life or Keswick movement people like to call it, because if we deny we have sinned we make Him a liar and His word is not in us according to 1 John 1:10.   Also, Proverbs 20:9 (ESV) says, "Who can say, 'I have made my heart pure, I am clean from my sin?'"  The psalmist said he'd seen the limit of all perfection in Psalm 119:96.

We are not fruit inspectors of each other's fruit but should examine ourselves carefully to see whether we are walking in the faith--don't break faith!  In other words, we should be too busy in our walk with the Lord to wonder about our brother's walk and whether he is obedient.  We should search our own hearts and examine our own fruits.  The Spirit-filled life exhibits the fruit of the Spirit in increasing bounty as one matures because fruits are grown and if we abide in Christ they are a natural result.

The reason we obey God is that we are His creatures and it is fitting and proper as we owe Him this.  We don't feel we have to as believers but want to or get to.  God alone is worthy of our obeisance and homage.  God's commandments are not burdensome (cf. 1 John 5:3) and we do them "in love."  To love Him is to obey Him!  The Bible was given to shed light on God's will and as believers, we naturally seek God's will in our lives as a matter of His lordship.  All sin is disobedience according to Scripture, and we become more godly and less sin-prone as we mature in Christ.  God's Word gives us instruction in righteousness.  Bear in mind that it is God's Spirit living in us that gives us the power to overcome sin and obey Christ and become Christlike--we cannot do it on our own (the Christian life is not hard, it's impossible!).  God's commandments are for our own good and He knows what is best for us.  We must not rely on the energy of the flesh, but learn that He gives us the power in the Spirit--we don't have the freedom to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit.

The Navigators taught me a great truth:  The obedient Christian is regularly involved in prayer, getting into Bible study and reading, fellowship and worship, and witness and outreach.  We have both a ministry to our brothers and a mission to the unsaved in our obedience.  There are Lone Ranger Christians who navigate solo and think they don't need the body--if you love Jesus, you will love His body!  We must be "rooted and grounded" in the body of Christ and in the truth to have discernment and growth and move forward in our walk.  It is absolutely impossible to be living in obedience apart from the discipline, nurture, discipleship, and fellowship of the body of Christ! We all need each other and no one, no matter how gifted, has all the gifts and doesn't need the other members of the body.

Furthermore, obedience not only implicates obedience to the Word per se, but to all dully delegated authority or "the powers that be" in Paul's lingo.  A Christian must obey the law unless it is in clear contradiction to the Word.  He is a good and upright or model citizen who not only exercises his rights but does his responsibilities.  To obey authority also means parental and any authority in loco Dei or in the place of God, even an institution.  The government is a God-ordained institution, just like the church and the family--but family is the premier authority and most important one to be protected.  Another aspect of obedience is submission to one another in the name of Christ, and not lording in over others, for instance, but allowing Christ to rule in His body, the church.  The final aspect of obedience that must take place is accountability because if one is a rogue all on his own and doing his own thing he is out of fellowship with Christ and disobedient to direct commands.  Every believer needs accountability and is accountable, whether it is to his suiting or not.

In my personal walk, obedience is how I relate to the leading of the Holy Spirit as I walk in the Spirit and walk by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7).  Paul said, "As many as are led by the Spirit are sons of God."  The goal is to know Christ through the body and, our walk and make Him known by our testimony, witness, and mission.   When I read the Word I get "Aha!" moments where I feel God speaking to me or me of something convicting, which you might call an existential experience--you can experience God in the Word and He has promised to use it to speak to us.  I obey Christ by submitting to authority and not trying to make up my own rules, and do my own thing, like Israel was doing in Judges 21:25 ("each man did what was right in their own eyes...").

I believe prayer is the acid or litmus test of the believer and a true gauge of his pursuit of holiness and fellowship with God.  Fellowship is another test to consider:  '"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another ..." (1 John 1:7, ESV).  God has put me in the ministry of doing a Bible study and I am being obedient by preparing and studying for that--when God considers us faithful, He puts us into the ministry. I also obey God by abiding (or staying in fellowship by having no unconfessed or unjudged sin) in Christ and being sensitive to the Spirit so as not to quench or grieve the Spirit  I am ready to witness of my faith in obedience and look for open doors from God at all times, and thank God for every opportunity that He gives me to share my faith in observance of the Great Commission. In short, I have heard it expressed very well:  A great Christian has a great commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment! There are many commandments in the Bible as well as prohibitions, but basically, we become a natural as we go on to know the Lord and walk with Him in faith and fellowship.  Soli Deo Gloria!

True Truth

"... [B]ecause they refused to love the truth and so be saved"  (2 Thess. 2:10, ESV).

Our relationship to the truth:  We know it, believe it, submit to it, and then love it, according to John MacArthur.
What we witness today is the New Age definition of finding the truth within your own supraconsciousness, and the Postmodern value system that there is no absolute truth, but what may be true for you isn't for someone else, not to mention the prevalent Secular Humanism and their scientism or misuse of science to make statements out of their proper domain,  and belief in science as a religion.

"Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice" (cf. John 18:38, NKJV).
"Sanctify them by Your truth.  Your word is truth"  (John 17:17, NKJV).

BY DEFINITION:  THERE IS SCIENTIFIC TRUTH OR FACT, HISTORICAL TRUTH OR FACT, AND LEGAL TRUTH OR FACT. 

SCIENCE DEPENDS UPON MEASUREMENT, OBSERVATION, AND REPETITION AND MAKING INFERENCES EITHER DEDUCTIVE OR INDUCTIVE;

LEGALITY UPON ORAL AND/OR WRITTEN TESTIMONY, AND EXHIBITS OF VISUAL, AUDIBLE, AND ORAL TYPES (LEGAL EVIDENCE NEED ONLY BE BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT TO BE CONSIDERED TRUE); 

HISTORY DEPENDS UPON THE VERACITY AND FIDELITY OF DOCUMENTS, CORROBORATING EVIDENCE, EXTERNAL AND/OR INTERNAL RECORDS-- AND EVIDENCE SUCH AS WHETHER IT CONTRADICTS ITSELF AND OTHER CONTEMPORANEOUS RECORDS.  

Francis Schaeffer referred to truth that is objective and true regardless of whether we believe it or not or no matter who believes; it is always true in all situations and circumstances as "true truth."  Get over the phrase "It works for me!" as being a valid truth claim. Because something works don't prove its truth, Christianity isn't true because it works, but works because it's true. The Angelic Doctor, Thomas Aquinas, who borrowed from Augustine, the Doctor of Grace, saw all truth as God's truth and that all truth meets at the top. God cannot tell a lie (cf. Titus 1:2) and is the God of truth, and John said that  we know the truth and that no lie is of the truth (cf. 1 John 2:21), meaning that something cannot be self-contradictory and in violation of the law of noncontradiction (something cannot be something else and not be it at the same time in the same manner). That law is the first premise of truth and we could know nothing apart from this law, for you have to assume it to disprove it.  In general, we are to speak the truth in love (cf. Eph. 4:15) and bear witness of the truth in Jesus as we witness, and the unbeliever is called one who "rejects the truth" in Romans 1:28.

All knowledge of the truth is either a priori (before the fact or happening) or a posteriori (or after the fact or as a consequence).  We either develop experience or reason things out, but most of what we accept as true we learned by faith!  Paul's complaint was that they were always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (cf. 2 Tim. 3:7).  Jesus said, that "when He the Spirit of truth comes" He will "convict the world" (cf. John 16:8). All truth is revealed truth, for only one of infinite knowledge can know it and God opens the eyes of our hearts. He alone decides whether one perchance repents and "comes to a knowledge of the truth" per 2 Tim. 2:25.

People are born blind to the truth and must have their eyes opened by God:  "[Y]ou will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (cf. John 8:32, ESV).  Note that there is something known as propositional truth and the Bible reveals it to us this way as statements that are either true or false, right or wrong, but Jesus is the very incarnation or personification of truth itself, known as a person.  Jesus didn't say He was telling us the truth, or speaks forth truth, but claimed to be truth--we can experience truth through knowing Him personally because our God is a personal God who can be known--you cannot know truth by following a rigid set of dos and don'ts.  A book may be true, but only the Bible is truth and truth transforms the soul.  Jesus said in John 17:17 that "[God's] Word is truth."  "The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17, NIV).

Jesus said He was the personification of truth itself and he who is of the truth hears Him, who came to bear witness of the truth (cf. John 18:37).  This implies that we can know the truth and have a relationship with it because it is embodied in a personality.  The more we know Jesus, the more we know the truth who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Paul said in Eph. 4:21 that the truth is in Jesus!  Another theologian has said quite interestingly that without the way there is no going, without the truth there is no knowing, and without the life, there is no living.   We could know nothing if  not for Jesus telling us what the truth was and that He was truth--everything would be relative without an absolute standard to judge by, and everything would be up for grabs.  In antiquity might was right and Pilate scoffed at the idea of there being a universal truth that was valid everywhere, even where Rome wasn't in rule.

Today people of the postmodern persuasion are convinced that all truth is relative:  One prof opened his class by saying, "You can know nothing for certain!"  A quick-witted student asked him, "Are you sure?"  He replied, "I am certain!"  In Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, he explores the absurdity of everything being relative in the absence of objective truth based on God.  The very statement "All truth is relative" becomes relative in itself and of no truth value!  Something must be certain or we could know nothing and that is where they see themselves--as knowing nothing for certain--leading to absurdity.  Academia brainwashes and indoctrinates today's students into buying into this balderdash. What people are wont to say nowadays is that something may indeed be true for you but not for them--denying any objective truth that is true no matter what.  People today are not concerned with truth, but only with what is practical and works --Christianity works because it's true, it isn't true because it works, pragmatism is only concerned with successful results.

Note that there are several ways to arrive at truth, but all require the acceptance of some preconceived idea or presupposition we cannot prove or disprove;  there is no such thing as total objectivity outside of God's province.  All knowledge of the truth begins with faith. Augustine said, "I believe in order to understand."  Sir Francis Bacon and John Locke are considered the fathers of modern empiricism or science, the scientific method of research: Experiment, controls and variables, and depending upon repetition and measurement; however, unfortunately, science today has become scientism and people are skeptical of things not verifiable scientifically--when one makes scientific-like statements outside the domain of science, such as a philosophical or religious one, that is scientism (i.e., Carl Sagan saying that the cosmos is all there is, all there ever was, and all there ever will be). Science cannot make value judgments--it can tell us the know-how but not the know-why nor philosophy of something.  For instance, whether miracles are possible is not a scientific question, but a philosophical and religious one and depends ultimately on whether there is a God and the reliability of the sources and documentation.  Philosophy or reasoning and speculation from axioms or maxims (self-evident truth) to arrive at a Supreme Good, for example, as the Greeks did. History is another source of truth but it is not repeatable, and therefore must be verified by other means, such as the reliability of the documentation or witnesses' credibility and veracity.  One can only ask whether the records are historically trustworthy. Many things that would be accepted in a court of law as true are not verifiable by scientific method, but by eye-witnesses and credible sources. Science cannot prohibit miracles, for instance, as false, because they lie outside its domain and it is like measuring radioactivity with a voltage meter.  Logic (this is the relationship between two statements which can be either valid or invalid, while the statements are either true or false--to get a valid and true conclusion, you must have a true premise), known also as the "analytical method" of the Enlightenment--we have both inductive and deductive reasoning, going either from particular to universal or from universal to particular respectively. Aristotle formulated the first laws of logic as we know them and named one syllogism or going from major premise to minor premise, to conclusion. The preferred way to arrive at truth is to accept what is revealed propositionally in Scripture (Theology, queen of the sciences) as the infallible, inerrant Word of God and go from there in faith. The Bible is full of logical statements and Jesus is the Logos or the logic. Cosmos means order and is the opposite of chaos, in which science would be impossible and it is the enemy of learning.  We can conceive of something logical that doesn't exist like a magic dragon, but in reality, all that exists must be logical or intelligible--that is why science was born of Christianity and not the Maya or illusion (the concept of the universe) of Eastern thought or faith. Science has its limits and has no right making claims against the supernatural because you cannot put God in a test tube under laboratory conditions, as it were.

The study of the determination of truth and knowledge is known as epistemology.  The rules of evidence always apply--whenever one makes an assertion, and anyone can allege something, he must come up with evidence to be credible (for instance Muslims claim our Bible is corrupt without having any evidence and so it is not a valid truth claim).  There is a truth known as the correspondence theory of truth or Truth with a capital T that reflects statements that correspond to the objective, real and logical world.  The Postmodernist denies this kind of truth and this is called anti-realism--or that there is no "real world" out there to believe in. They insist everyone has their own reality and subjective understanding of reality and there can be no standards to fall back to and set the objective standard of absolute truth. This kind of logic is merely nonsensical and leads to an academic gridlock. whereby nothing can ever be ascertained.


What they are saying is that truth is whatever they agree on or reach a consensus on, or whatever they can get away with saying; consequently and generally, the only truths that aren't real are those relating to the Christian worldview in particular; however, their truths are absolute.  One might refute their thinking by merely asserting that rape is always wrong under all circumstances and should be illegal as a consequence.  If there is one absolute truth, there follows that others most likely exist and that absolute truth does exist.  However, if there is no God one could reason that no one has the right to claim universal truth and this is where they are coming from--they don't want to believe in God because it interferes with their sexual (among other) mores.

By definition, truth is exclusive or it's not truth and biblically it's what God decrees and agrees with--He alone delimits and defines truth!  John Lock attempted to limit it to what corresponds to reality in the Correspondence Theory of Truth.  No matter how we look at it, no one has a monopoly on truth except the personification of truth itself--Jesus.  A word of wisdom from Thomas a Kempis is in order:  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, with the Way there is no going, without the Truth, there is no knowing, and without the Life, there is no living!

And in conclusion, truth is whatever God says is true and comes from Him--we appeal to the Almighty.  We alone have faith in the God of truth!  We don't need all the answers if we know the Answerer!  Even moral values are more like a mathematical equation in being set up by a Superior Mind who reckons in good faith, fair play, honesty, courage, good conduct, meaning, purpose, goodness, faithfulness, truthfulness, purity, integrity, bravery, nobility, altruism, gracefulness, generosity, love, mercy, kindness, and even justice.  And so it would be logical to deduce God is a person who experiences these so-called divine and human values and standards that we share as being in His image and likeness to some degree, though in tainted and fallen or diminished form. Only God knows the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, for example!  But those things which are revealed belong to us as a privilege and responsibility to share and disseminate.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Life's Priorities

Job One is to practice the lordship of Christ over our lives and to abide in Him.  What does this entail? We must walk even as He walked in constant fellowship and union with Him in obedience and confession with our motto being, "Thy will be done!  We must rearrange our priorities and change our lifestyle to please Him Jesus doesn't just have an important place in our lives, but the predominant and preeminent place. Everything else is secondary! This involves seeing things in a new light as God sees them, not as the world sees them, for we are no longer of the world. The centrality of Christianity is Christ! All else is peripheral or circumference. 

Furthermore, we must put our whole heart into following Christ with as much gusto as we can muster, as "Mr. Hustle" himself, Pete Rose did when he put his whole heart into his game. God wants the same kind of attitude of us:  "And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered"  (2 Chronicles 31:21, NKJV). God found men who "wholly followed the Lord."  

This means a commitment to Christ through thick and thin and living by His agenda.  It means a "great commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment!"  We "crown Him Lord of all," as the hymn goes, but this must be from the heart, not just the lips.  Joshua and Caleb are two examples:  "... for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly"  (cf. Numbers 32:11).

What is lordship mean?  "...You are not your own; for you were bought with a price (cf. 1 Cor. 6:20, ESV). "As you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk ye in him" (Col. 4:6)--we didn't receive Him as best bud, sidekick, or colleague, but as our Lord!  The only legitimate salvation is "lordship salvation" (once quite a controversy), which means we must accept Him with all the authority over us, dedicating our wills to Him all our lives, as living sacrifices. There is no such thing as a class of disobedient Christians who have accepted the lordship of Christ. 

Obedience is the test and the relationship is expressed by obedience. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only those who believe are obedient; only those who are obedient believe."  We are either obedient or not, with no middle ground--this has no degree of fulfillment and obedience. We must bow to His lordship and I don't mean just lip service. A. W. Tozer said, "The Lord will not save those whom He cannot command." If we don't accept His lordship, we haven't accepted Him and this is nothing less than easy-believism or "cheap grace," as Dietrich Bonhoeffer termed it.

We abide in Christ and walk in the Spirit in fellowship with God, as we are led by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit for every good work that He has ordained for us.  Let it be said of us what God said of Joshua:  "He wholly followed the Lord!"  We live in a trusting and obedient life: "Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!" 

Jesus said that if you love Him you will obey Him (cf. John 14:21). Believing and obedience are equated in Heb. 3:18-19 and in John 3:36 (ESV) as:  "He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."  Hebrews 5:9 (ESV) says, "And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him."     Soli Deo Gloria!

Back To Basics...

When we don't know what ails us and have too many spiritual problems and deficiencies to face up to, maybe it is time to go back to Square One, to First Base, the fundamentals, or the basics. Spiritual troubleshooting can be problematic; usually, the problem is that you just need to get back to basics because you've forgotten something. You are not ready for the meat of the Word if you haven't digested the milk, but will only err and be "tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine" (cf. Ephesians 4:11), not being grounded in the truth. 

Just like milk is a basic and most never tire of it, you should never get tired of the basics, and should never feel insulted by hearing them--the gospel message always seems like music to the ears. Some churches seem to be abecedarian or rudimentary, stuck in the ABCs; however, there should always be a challenge to those who are mature and can discern good from evil, according to Hebrews 5:14, and for those ready for the meat of the Word.

The preacher's role is to feed the sheep and the lambs or to meet the needs of the whole body. Some students of the Word get intoxicated with the deeper truths of the Word and haven't even mastered the basics, such as:  How to be assured of your salvation;  the learned discipline of confession; how to give a testimony; how to put on the armor of God; how to walk in the Spirit; knowing the way of salvation; how to pray; how to witness; and skills in reading the Bible. 

Did you know some Christians don't know what repentance and faith are?  Sad to say, all the exposure some believers get to the Word is what they hear on any given Sunday.  A preacher can bring him to repentance of his sins (to make him see them and have a right mental attitude toward them) because God is against sin and they need to learn how to claim victory over them--Jesus came to save us from our sins (Matt. 1:21).

Studying the deeper truths doesn't guarantee maturity unless one has mastered the basics and is able to digest them. We are hold to the deep doctrines of the faith with a clear conscience.  (cf. 1 Tim. 3:9). And to study and show ourselves approved unto God able to rightly divide the Word of truth. (cf. 2 Tim. 2:15).   Meditation is thought digestion and this is a lost art in today's church at large. 

We are to do more things with the Word than simply hear it preached:  We are to study it; meditate on it; memorize it; share it; teach it; receive it; examine it; pray it; heed it, read it; preach it; and obey it in order to get a proper grasp on Scripture--we are only cheating ourselves not doing these because you forget 95 percent of what you hear, but you remember 100 percent of what you memorize! 

But it does no good if we don't apply it to our lives!  The mind has to be selective in what it remembers and has to prioritize or we would face information overload, also known as cognitive overload or too much input.  We need reinforcement from other methods, even though we can retain 100 trillion facts in our brain.     Soli Deo Gloria!

It Is Finished!...

The declaration from the cross that summed up the work of Christ on our behalf is as follows:  The Father had planned or authored it, the Son realized, revealed, executed, and fulfilled it, and the Holy Spirit applied and made it known--it was a cooperative venture of the Trinity. But it was Christ who paid the ultimate price of His blood and will be glorified and worshiped for it ("Worthy is the Lamb"). We cannot add to Jesus finished work which is perfect already because He left nothing as undone for us to do--all we have to do is receive it as a free gift.  Jesus paved the way back to God (not one of several ways, not merely the best way of many ways, but the only way). 

If you were to add a mustache to the Mona Lisa because you thought it was an added touch for the good--you would ruin the masterpiece and insult Michelangelo to boot.  Don't even go there, suggesting we can finish what God started--God always finishes what He starts.  His work was not contingent, but a sure thing: Salvation is a done deal and not something we work for--that is how we can be sure.

Jesus actually called out "tetelestai" in Aramaic, an accounting term that means "Paid in Full."(salvation is a done deal!).    Jesus was saying that Satan had nothing on Him now and that the price of our redemption had been "secured and accomplished.  God was both just, and the Justifier--what had seemed incomprehensible. All of our sins were nailed to the cross according to Colossians 2:14 and Christ, in His infinite nature and perfection, was able to take on our punishment--so we don't have to bear it in hell, where we deserved to go. 

The miracle of the infinite redemption price was that Christ did it voluntarily and was not murdered on the cross, but gave up His Spirit willingly of His own accord, and expired on His terms at the exact moment of His choice. His statement emphasized that He had won and that what He came to earth to do was done so He could go to the Father. Jesus left nothing undone, He even provided for His mother, made intercession for the transgressors, and refused the painkiller to ease the pain of His suffering--neither did He left no prophecy unfulfilled.

What this means is that our salvation is a done deal and we don't add to God's work to get saved by our own efforts in the flesh or gain the approbation of God via morality, ritual, good deeds, philosophy, or religiosity.  It isn't Christ plus doing good, plus obeying and complying with church rules, plus being a moral person, plus achieving the American dream, ad infinitum.  Not plus anything!  We simply accept our salvation as the free gift of God via a personal act of faith alone in Christ alone by God's grace alone!

The gift of faith is also by grace and God enables us efficaciously to receive Christ as the Lord and Savior of our lives. We act on the faith that God gives us: It is God's gift, but our act! We are not on probation as a believer, but enter eternal life in the here and now and are to live in light of eternity the more abundant life that He promised.  It must dawn on you that you can do nothing but believe in your heart and follow on to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior from Day One.  Soli Deo Gloria!

An Offering To God

God is looking for us being living sacrifices (God wants us to live for Him, besides being willing to die for Him) and all for His glory.  We are not saved by martyrdom.  We offer ourselves to Him to fulfill His will and to glorify Him (cf. Is. 43:7)  We don't have anything of our own merit to offer, such as righteousness, good deeds, morality, or philosophy, but nothing but brokenness and strife--in short, our sin!  We come to God only as the lowest bidder with nothing in our hands but Christ's righteousness.

We received Christ as an unworthy sinner who had nothing to offer God, being at His mercy:  The sinner's prayer in Luke 18:13 says, "God be merciful to me, the sinner."  He threw himself on the mercy of God,  declaring spiritual bankruptcy, and saw himself as unworthy!  John Bunyan wrote, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners--see how he appraised himself!  Paul never stopped thinking of himself as the chief of sinners (he said "am" not "was" foremost among them--cf. 1 Tim. 1:15).

The problem with people is their opinion of themselves--they won't let go and refuse to see their sin (Martin Luther said it is our job to make them see it). This is not the same as having low self-esteem, but of having no merit for salvation in God's eyes. This is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man. We are as bad off (not as bad) from being worthy as we can be, and as far away and removed from God as imaginable. In Luke 5:8 (NASB) Peter says, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" Genuine repentance and saving faith entail cognition that you are a guilty and vile sinner in God's estimation.

Our offering to God is us--He wants us, not our gifts or merits. He wants us with all the wrinkles, blemishes, pimples, warts, bald-spots, missing teeth, eating disorders, disabilities, tears, and all our sins.  We must come to Him as we are to get a changed life; we don't change our life and then come to Him for approval. Our righteousness is all as filthy rags (cf. Is. 64:6). We don't come for approval but for change!   God can clean up our act and we can't.  Who has anything that God should desire?  God loves us despite all this and sees potential in us for His ultimate glory.

We must realize that God rewards us for what He has done through us:  "... Since You have performed for us all our works" (Is. 26:12, NASB);  "For I will not presume [venture] to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me..." (Rom. 15:18, NASB);  "You who rejoice in Lodebar [naught], And say, "Have we not by our own strength [without God's] taken Karnaim for ourselves [they are boasting]?"  (Amos 6:13, NASB);  and "... From Me comes your fruit [fruitfulness]" (Hos. 14:8, NASB).

We were chosen according to His purpose and grace and according to the good pleasure of His will (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 1:5).  I must emphasize:  We don't impress God!  It is grace that He even uses us as vessels of honor rather than vessels of dishonor.  We fit into His plans; we don't fit Him into ours. The kind of sacrifice God wants is for us to live our lives for Jesus, but take up the cross and be willing to die too, if He wills.  

Before we give our "offerings" we must first give of ourselves or they are worthless, because it is a privilege and honor to be used by God in giving offerings as sacrifices of worship. We come to Christ on His terms of absolute surrender to His Lordship and ownership of our lives, giving up the throne of our heart to Him so that He can live through us!     Soli Deo Gloria!

How To Engage Christ

Note, that in Ephesians 6:19, Paul asked for prayer support "... that words may be given to [him] in opening [his] mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel."  Yes, Paul needed those doors to be opened and didn't force Jesus on anyone.  You have to earn the right to speak and wait for the door to open.  Machine-gun  evangelism, or preaching to everyone the same message such as "repent sinner!" is out of line (this is only half the message--one must present the good news about Jesus too), and you must get them lost before saving them, but always saying the same thing simply doesn't work but only alienates. A good fisherman knows how to use different bait for different fishes. There is a "time to sow and a time to reap" and one must be patient because "He has made everything beautiful in its time"  (Ecc. 3:11).

The best preparation is to know the Word and your personal testimony, not to make mention of knowing why as well as what you believe.  Not knowing what you believe is a kind of unbelief and we are commanded to be ready to give an answer for the hope within us in 1 Peter 3:15.  You may have to make a defense and do so equipped with the full armor of God:  His truth, His righteousness, His Word, His peace, His shield of faith all given to you--note that your righteousness is God's gift to you, not yours to God (cf. 1 Cor. 4:7:  "... What do you have that you didn't receive?").  The more we learn to depend on God and realize that it isn't us doing it, the more success we will have.

There are plenty of provocative questions one might stimulate a dialogue with such as:  "What do you think is on the other side?  If you were to die today, are are you sure you'd go to heaven?  How are you managing your spiritual journey?  Do you ever ponder the hereafter?  What do you think a Christian is?  There are many such inquiries, and to personalize them is even better.  But let God direct the conversation and don't push it, but be Spirit-led.  Dare to be used by God because He will not let down a person of faith who wants to show his Christian colors and speak up for Jesus--you'd be surprised how many people really don't hold anything against Jesus Himself.

We are not to force an answer, but make sure they are ready to give one.  We should talk to God about the person before we talk to the person about God, it has been said.  In my own experience, it usually happens that, after much involvement with the person's own life, God seems to open the door and people don't really care how much you know until they know how much you care. The key to being used is to be prepared and to have compassion for the lost, which is a barometer of your usefulness, because you cannot do it in the flesh, but must know how to be led by the Spirit.  In witnessing, they would rather see a sermon than hear one any day--so guard your testimony. Once you've experienced God using you, you get addicted and desire to be used again and again--you get the bug!  They also say that once you've experienced the love of Christ, you want to pass it on!  You cannot lose, but it's always to your credit that you stood up for Jesus.

There are several roadblocks or impediments to overcome before the chance to present the gospel happens. Many don't know what to do at that last stage--they don't even know the gospel itself! There are opportunities, for instance:  To mention sin, then God, then Jesus, then salvation, then finally, the personal challenge, invitation, and opportunity for salvation--be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and don't force the issues.

Not making a decision, is a no decision. and we must make a beeline for the gospel as soon as we see the door open, i.e., know when to cast the bait and when to reel him in or close the deal.  We are never losers in this proposition because only God can open a door, and the results are up to Him who alone can convert a soul. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..." (John 6:44, ESV).  We are only being obedient to the Great Commission and doing our part.  "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received..."  (1 Cor. 15:3a, ESV).  We are only responsible for what God has given us and that is called faithfulness.

We all have a testimony (what you know for sure that happened to you) and that says something about how you came to know Christ personally, and as long as we don't jeopardize it, God will open doors: people will see Christ in us and want we we have--that is the highest compliment. But we must "be ready in season, and out of season" (cf. 2 Tim. 4:2) or we should always be on duty and know when to cast the line or drop the net because timing is everything--it must be God's timetable!

It is vital to know that you cannot argue someone into the kingdom.  "Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels, which generate more heat than light!   And the Lord's servant must not quarrel..."  (2 Tim. 2:23f, NIV). We should not be embarrassed that we don't know all the answers--it only proves that you don't need to know all the answers to have faith and it doesn't shake your faith to not know--but you can tell them you will find the answer. There is no question that hasn't already been asked and none is going to make an impact on the power of the cross. The servant of God is never quarrelsome, but patient and sometimes he is all ears before God gives him the opportunity to speak forth the Word of God--you must wait for God's timing.  Learn to build bridges, not tear them down and find common ground, especially by getting to know them and showing interest in their problems or life crisis.  Jesus is the only one who can bridge the gap between us and God and they must realize their alienation and estrangement from a relationship with Him and the more abundant life Christ promised.  Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:19 that God has given to us the "ministry of reconciliation" or of bringing people back into a harmonious relationship with God.

Remember, the final pivotal question and challenge is whether there is any reason they cannot accept Christ as their Lord and Savior right now and see the urgency.  But the problem with most Christians is that they don't know what to do when they reach this point:  i.e., knowing an invitation or prayer of salvation.  Many Christians do not see the big picture or have a handle on the gospel and how to present it, even if given the opportunity.  But they must be willing to step out in faith from their comfort zone and be used by God--a beautiful experience!

In the final analysis, you must realize that your skill is not as important as your faith and faithfulness. The bait that God uses for seed is the Word of God and He promises that it will not come back void in Isaiah 55:11 and will always accomplish God's purposes.  God promises to honor His Word, so incorporate it and depend upon it, not your brilliance, witness, or testimony, important as they are.  1 Cor. 3:7 says, "Neither he who plants, nor he who waters is important, but God who gives the increase." Note that there are different lures or bait for different kinds of fish and we can become "all things to all people that by all means [we] might save some" (1 Cor. 9:22b, ESV).

Finally, we must acknowledge Paul's attitude in Romans 1:14-16 that he is ready, under an obligation or indebted, and not ashamed or embarrassed to spread the Word.  This is the least we can do out of a debt of gratitude we owe for our salvation--of which grace we cannot ever repay, can't earn, and don't deserve.  The right attitude is that we "get to witness" not that we have to.  Someone took the time to preach to us, so we must observe the Golden Rule and do unto others likewise.  If we are well prepared, Christ will be the rock of offense and stumbling block, not us.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Exposition On Islam

First of all, did you know that the name Islam means "submission" and a Muslim is one who submits because they adhere to the doctrine that we are just God's slaves who cannot know an unknowable and impersonal God, who also is not a loving God as Christians believe? We believe that he that loves not, knows not God, for God is love--as 1 John 4:8 says. Muslims believe in a "religion of the sword", as it has been called, and their usual methodology is not to persuade people but to force them to convert with the threat of death or impose their faith on them; for they are entitled to kill an infidel in their so-called holy war or jihad against the infidel or non-Muslim.  They adhere to the doctrine that "tomorrow belongs to Islam."

I realize some more moderate ones interpret jihad spiritually and simply believe they have to be actively involved in spreading their message. They call it proselytizing when a Christian tries to convert a Muslim and this is forbidden by Fundamental Islamic law or Shari'ah law, that is practiced in some nations where you are not even allowed to make mention of Christianity or legally hold a prayer meeting or Bible study.

To understand Islam you must go back to the seventh century when Muhammad made his flight to Medina to flee those in Mecca who disapproved of his alleged revelations, starting their calendar in AD 622.  He claimed to have these revelations and they are depicted as epileptic fits and convulsions. Tradition, and not the Koran or Qur'an, says these revelations were from the angel Gabriel, but the Koran gives contradictory and conflicting reports.  In the seventh century, Sabianism was the predominant religion of the Arab tribes headed by shieks with absolute sovereignty, and they worshiped the sun god or female god and the moon god or male god.  Allah was the name of the male moon god and was preexistent to Islam--it is not another name for God as we know Him.

The five pillars of Islam, or requirements to be a Muslim, are as follows: Saying the affirmation, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet," who is superior or superlative to all previous ones and is the last one for all mankind); the praying of the salat five times a day on a mat facing Mecca (and this is more a recitation than prayer, because they are not conversing with God--this was another custom incorporated into their faith from Sabianism); the giving of 2.5 percent or 1/40th of the income as almsgiving to the poor; fasting during the month of Ramadan (also a carryover from Sabianism); the required once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca for every able-bodied convert (to appease the local merchants); and the optional sixth one is jihad or dying and going beyond the call of duty in the name of Allah. Ironically, the only way they can be assured of their some seventy virgins in a paradise of "wine, women, and song," is to die a jihad, but they must refrain from indulgence in this life (i.e., wine, women, and song).

Catholics believe tradition is of equal authority to the Scripture since the Council of Trent (1545-46), but Christianity has not incorporated pagan religion into their faith, which would be syncretism. Admittedly they celebrate Christmas on Mithra's birthday, but this is not a requirement for salvation, but only tradition.  One could arguably equate saying of the Rosary with the salat because they are both recitations, not prayers.  There is no legitimate comparison between the five pillars of Islam with the ordinances of Christ or of our way of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Islam does not believe in women's rights (they are property and are mentally inferior to men), nor in any other traditional Western rights such as freedom of the press, assembly, or speech.  They see geopolitical advantages to their faith and believe "tomorrow belongs to Islam," in which the end justifies the means (it is now the fastest growing religion).  They will settle for nothing less than world hegemony or domination (except the most moderate followers).  Their values are still in the seventh century, including dress, and punishment by the old "eye-for-an-eye, tooth for a tooth" philosophy--for instance, they still stone adulterers and cut off hands and refuse to let girls get an education. The most dangerous philosophy is that they believe America is the Great Satan and it is their mission to obliterate Western Civilization, which is founded upon democratic principles and human rights--their nations are mainly run by despots, though they may theoretically be democracies by design. There are over six million of them in the States and most of them are not radical, though some metro areas have become hotbeds for terrorist recruiting, and most Muslim organizations are taken over by radicals.

The worst sin to them is shirk, or believing in more than one God--of which they accuse Christians of or being polytheistic.  That sin is unforgivable and there is no space for tolerance, a virtue unknown. Basically, their religion is fatalistic and God whimsically and capriciously decides their final outcome as to going to heaven or hell (this fate is called Kismet and they resign themselves to anything that happens and anything they perpetrate as being the will of Allah). It is a works-based faith (your good deeds must outweigh your bad ones) that never gives one assurance of the mercy of God--that is why they never stop praying for it--they don't understand and deny the concept of grace (a Christian concept and teaching).

The thing that makes them ignorant is that they believe the Bible is corrupt but the Koran or the Qur' an (message) is without error in Arabic.  Actually, it is allegedly filled with plagiarism, being the "best and most beautiful book on earth" (they insist that a man couldn't write this)--but there is no evidence of corruption in the Christian text with over 5,000 Greek ones to examine!  God has shown that He preserves His Word.

The odd thing is that they believe Christ was born of a virgin, sinless, performed miracles, and ascended into heaven, and is coming again to establish worldwide Islam while asserting that He is only a prophet and not divine and didn't die on the cross--some believe Judas died in His place. They believe the man Jesus died but His Spirit lived on and went to heaven. The reason for not accepting the crucifixion is that it is ignominious and repugnant to them and they cannot see how God could be defeated by men. Islam's empire is founded upon force and politics, but Christ's on compassion, love, and freedom--not ignorance.

There is no comparison between the sinless Christ and Muhammad who had many flaws, including killing tens of thousands and raiding caravans--Blaise Pascal has said that what Muhammad has done, any man can do; what Christ has done, no man can do.  Yes, their traditions in the Hadith and Sunna (both regarded as authoritative and inspired) report miracles, but these are written much later after the fact and are not worthy to be compared to the work of Christ--he actually was asked to do one and said, "God hath certainly power to send down a sign."

What makes them all the more dangerous is that their religion is not about faith or salvation, but has geopolitical considerations, incentives, and promises to people who have a grudge against society and want their piece of the pie, no matter how they get it. They don't care how they achieve their ends (the ends justify the means), and will clearly use any means necessary to achieve them (the radical fringe movement influencing today's concerns), but Jesus clearly said that His kingdom is "not of this world" and is invisible--you must be born again to see the kingdom of God--a kingdom reigning in hearts. Many of the moderate Muslims are in sympathy with radicals, if not supportive indirectly--they lack a clear anti-terrorist voice or anti-hegemony teaching.  The Muslim world is slow and hesitant in uniting (though there is some recent progress) to condemn ISIS, for example, and even terrorism.

In the final analysis, they claim Islam fulfills Christianity, the way Christianity does Judaism; au contraire, it replaces it and repudiates our faith (they hold no respect for these faiths) and it holds no reverence for our Bible because they think it's corrupt, even without any evidence. They don't evangelize but impose their religion on the vulnerable by force, or by any means necessary. To them, Christ only pointed the way to Muhammad, the last and final word of Allah (not another name for the God Christians believe in, but a tribal name from the days of Sabianism in the Arab world.

Most teens today actually believe that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all pray to the same God under different names!  In summation:  There is a vast difference between the ethics of Islam that portray murder, pillage, and rape in the Koran, and the power of love conquering evil in Jesus--viva la difference!  They see Muhammad as the exemplar and superlative guide to mankind, despite his flaws.

The biggest delusion that radical Muslims are under is that if they die as a suicide bomber that they are martyrs for Allah.  The way they wage an aggressive war is not jihad, but murder.  They are the opposite of martyrs--they are murderers and will be judged accordingly on Judgment Day.  They have rejected the way of love that is found in Christ and engage in a terror of hate and hate mongering.  A martyr dies because he believes and is persecuted for his faith, not someone who murders others for not believing, by definition, not opinion.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Then Our Faith Is Futile...

If Christ has not risen, our faith is in vain, according to the Apostle Paul (cf. 1 Cor. 15:14).  Christianity is Christ and if you take Christ out of it you disembowel it; however, you can take Buddha out of Buddhism and Mohammad out of Islam and the religions remain intact somewhat for it is mainly a philosophy without God in the equation.  Our faith is not in a creed or set of rules to heed, but in a person, and getting to know Him personally.  If He is still dead, then how can we fellowship with Him and how can we overcome our sins?

A person can have a subjective experience like believing in superstition and you might not be able to convince him otherwise, but our faith is based on objective, historical fact--and even the most variously proved one in antiquity.  Any unbiased jury would be forced to admit He rose from the dead, based on circumstantial and eyewitness evidence.  The point is that you cannot prove history scientifically--by its very nature, it is nonrepeatable.  The only verification one can have is the veracity of the witnesses and circumstantial evidence. Are these Christian witnesses credible or deliberate liars and perpetrators of a deliberate hoax?  Usually, people tell the truth on their deathbed, and they were in the position to know the truth, not being just fanatics aroused by the spirit of the times.

Proof of the resurrection by circumstantial evidence, such as the change of the Sabbath as a day of worship to the Lord's Day or Sunday, the growth of the church, so fast so as to turn the world topsy-turvy in such a short period, the veracity of the eyewitnesses who died as martyrs and could've admitted to lying rather than die, the alleged appearances of Christ, and of course the empty tomb, which wasn't in doubt at the time. Do you think they were just deliberate liars and madmen? If the body was stolen, who moved the stone (it would've been nearly impossible with the guards and how heavy it was).  But the biggest evidence is the dramatically changed lives of the disciples, from being timid and afraid to take a stand for Christ to be roaring lions for the faith unafraid of death and undaunted by the authorities.

The purpose of the resurrection appearances was for our sake, to give us hope of a resurrection (some Jews believed in this but the teaching was unclear until Christ came back from the dead as the convincing conqueror of death, the last enemy).  The resurrection showed us that the Father had accepted Jesus' sacrifice and that He was victorious over Satan and that His work was a done deal!   No other religion has a resurrection story to believe in but they are all pie in the sky and offer little assurance, but only fear without knowing for sure whether they are saved.  We can still experience the power of the resurrection ourselves (cf. Phil 3:10), for Christ is still in the resurrection business! 

The resurrection was not a continuation of this life and merely an improved body of flesh and bone, but a spiritual body of a whole new nature--a new creation!  Jesus had to prove he wasn't a ghost or a spirit!  He could walk through walls, defy gravity, and even eat and feel--this is a whole new existence of another notion and kind.  The Greeks could be convinced of some kind of spiritual afterlife in spirit only, but they scoffed at our bodies being brought back to life.  

In sum, Our faith in Christ is unique and something worth living for, not just dying for.; if it were for this life only, we are the most to be pitied, says Paul, you might say:  "If you only believe Jesus lived, and isn't living, you don't believe in the same Jesus:  The resurrection is the crux of Christianity-- its "Rock of Gibraltar."    Soli Deo Gloria!