Flirting With Satan

"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil"  (Heb. 5:14, ESV).
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil..." (Isaiah 5:20, ESV).

Some Christians think it's cool to dabble in the occult and experiment with its luring temptations. The most popular and largest segment of the occult is astrology, which has been around for at least 4,000 years, as an adventure into supernaturalism.  It seems "innocent" enough, but it opens the door to satanic activity in your life, such as using Ouija boards, palmistry, Yoga, TM, crystals, seances, tarot cards, or channeling.

Paul encountered sorcerers in Ephesus in Acts 19 and, when they repented, they brought all their sorcery texts and burned them publicly. Remember, Simon the Great had been a sorcerer and, after believing, sought to buy the gift of God with money, and today this heresy is known as simony.   King Saul sought advice from the witch of Endor, a medium, and was punished with death with his sons as a result. 

Of course, they don't see the harm, but a mature believer realizes that this domain belongs to the devil and will steer clear of it--it's no joke!  You cannot partake of the Lord's Table and the table of demons!  The Bible clearly condemns astrology and any type of star worship in Isaiah 47:13 as follows:  "You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you."

Contrary to popular thought, the magi were not astrologers but noticed a sign in heaven and knew the Scriptures were being fulfilled from a prophecy of Jacob.  Nowhere does God condone astrology and a believer in Christ is disobedient to lend it any credence.

Why is this so serious?  Even if you don't take it seriously and are just playing around, your testimony is jeopardized and it speaks of your lack of faith in God.  Also, you have a responsibility to obey Scripture and not to do anything that makes your brother stumble (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12).  We don't play around with Satan but take him seriously as our adversary.  Anyone who is into occult practice, such as consulting the stars for advice, is doing the work of the devil and in league with him, and will be judged--i.e., we are not to call evil good (cf. Isa. 5:20).  If you don't worship God, you'll still find something or someone to worship--it's our God-given nature!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Are You Cashing In or Enduring?

"Endure hardship as discipline..." (Hebrews 12:7, NIV).  
"But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship..."  (2 Timothy 4:5, NIV).
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith"  (2 Tim. 4:7, NIV).

Some believers seem to be deluded about the cost of discipleship and the suffering that comes with the package.  God doesn't promise to make us all rich, famous, influential, or powerful:  We are not worshiping at the altar of Almighty Chance trying to cash in our spiritual lottery ticket and live a balanced, successful life; we're here to do God's will: to know Him and make Him known (cf. Jer. 9:24).  We are just vessels of honor used by God, which should be seen as a privilege of grace, and are just servants to whom we hope God will say at that day:  "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

It is by discipline, suffering, trials, tribulation, and adversity that we build character and these are our crosses to bear, but they pale in comparison to Christ's.  Philippians 1:29 says that it has been granted unto us "to suffer for his sake."  Christ was honest enough to warn us of this and didn't exempt himself from any humiliation, persecution, shame, suffering, nor temptation.   Paul also expresses the desire to rejoice in the fellowship of His sufferings in Phil. 3:10.  Contrary to what Joel Osteen writes about in Your Best Life Now, our reward is in heaven and we are only spiritual pilgrims on green cards with citizenship in heaven only passing through!

Some of us have more hardship than others, but none of us gets a free ride or a bed of roses; it's an affliction that shapes our character and makes us Christlike.  Sure, God blesses us and makes our work in the Lord a success if we keep the faith and endure, but success in the eyes of the world is not what's meant--they have their reward in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14), but ours is in heaven.  We are, therefore, to endure with patience the race set before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus (cf. Heb. 12:1).

The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints guarantees that we won't lose our salvation, but it doesn't ensure we won't lose our full reward or be disqualified (cf. 1 Cor. 9:27; 1 Cor. 3:15).  "We must never, never give up" (in the words of Winston Churchill) and never quit but endure the hardship we are faced with, though it be a bucket of tears--it's always too soon to quit!

We may be tempted to compromise our integrity or to break faith, but we must go on from faith to faith (cf. Rom. 1:16).  That means faith is the essence and we believe that God is working on our behalf and we cannot lose or are in a win-win situation.  We may be tempted to deny Christ, or not to take a stand on His behalf, but we must keep the faith regardless.  No matter what the world dishes out we must be able to roll with the punches; we're not called to grin and bear it like a Stoic, but to see the reward hopefully, and to endure joyfully.

Jesus never encouraged people to follow Him; in fact, He did all He could to discourage them and to count the cost of signing up for life.  It wasn't something you give a whirl or make a short-term contract with, but a permanent transaction of becoming a child of God with all the consequences as well as blessings (divine discipline or chastisement and reward).  You don't just "try Jesus" but you must be willing to commit your life to Him much like a marriage where you commit to a lifelong contract. You don't experiment with Him or accept Him on a trial basis!  Jesus wasn't looking for admirers or sidekicks, but followers and worshipers who love Him and prove it by obedience.

The final goal is the smile of God, and He does so when we joyfully walk in His will and are obedient.  "True holiness is doing the will of God with a smile," (Mother Teresa).  The "joy of the Lord is [our] strength," according to Nehemiah 8:10; it's something the world cannot take away, as we are commanded to rejoice always.

The choice is clear:  We are either for Christ or against Him; there's no middle ground of neutrality. Persecution is part of the deal or the package that we signed up for and the deal is for a lifetime:  All who are godly shall suffer persecution.  It's like a  feather in your cap or crown on your head when you've been mocked or ridiculed for your faith and you know you've spoken out for Christ as His witness to a dark world.

 The goal is to please God; "The LORD takes pleasure in his people..." (Psalm 149:4, ESV).  We ought to rejoice in tribulation:  Cf. Rom. 5:3!   The caveat in tribulations:  Keep your eyes on Jesus, not yourself, the world, nor others--no matter how tempting.  Soli Deo Gloria!  

Hearing God's Voice

"For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.  He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds.  He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings"  (Job 33:14-16, NLT).

"My sheep hear my voice..." (cf. John 10:27).  Jesus speaks to His children through any means, even the voice of a child, as in the case of St. Augustine.  God speaks once, yea, twice, and man hears Him not, according to Job:  "Indeed God speaks once, Or twice, yet no one notices it.  In a dream, a vision of the night, When sound sleep falls on men, While they slumber in their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction"  (Job 33:14-16, NASB).  No one can claim they've never been the recipient of God's messages, no matter how limited--when he reacts positively, he opens the door to more opportunity.  C. S. Lewis has said that God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, and shouts to us in our pains!

Mystics claim a special ear to God's messages like Joan of Arc did, and to put some trust in them is not in the one firm foundation--this is how cults begin.  If God speaks to you on a personal level for encouragement, that's between you and God, and is personal--don't feel you should share it.  To prophesy to the church is another gift of communication.  In these last days, the Word of the Lord is rare and, since we have the complete revelation of God in the Bible, it is not needed--the Word is all we need, clear and sufficient!  If God speaks to you, you must test it with the truth of Scripture.  We are not receiving new revelations anymore since God's Word is complete and the canon is closed, and to add to His Word brings on a judgment of God.

Now, to the point of God speaking to everyone:  God woos His elect to open their eyes to the truth of the gospel message and to soften their hearts--no one would otherwise believe.  If you believe that God woos everyone, you must also ask if He woos everyone equally.  If He woos everyone equally, why do some respond and others don't?  You are faced with either believing in the sovereignty of God's grace in salvation or the necessity of some kind of merit of the person getting saved.

The Arminian will not admit that God doesn't even woo some, but he doesn't know why some people respond to the gospel, and others don't!  Romans 5:21 says that grace reigns through righteousness. Grace is sovereign and efficacious, in other words, and that means that God gets the desired effect and it works for His purposes, not being wasted.  God isn't frustrated and doesn't say,  "Well, I tried to save you, but you were too far gone!"  We are all bad, but not too bad to be saved!

Some people do need greater wooing and more intense grace to become believers, but they are not a bigger challenge to God, just more opportunity to demonstrate His grace and how effectual it is.  God doesn't destine people to hell as if they had no choice in the matter like some blind fate or kismet; however, He does let some go their own way without His intervention of grace--He doesn't owe grace to anyone, or it would be justice; God doesn't have to save anyone!

Point in fact:  Distinguish between the inward and outward call of the gospel; the inward one is from God and is effectual, and the outward call from man sometimes falls on deaf ears and can, therefore, be ineffectual.   God's Word says that He's never let the world without a witness (cf. Acts 14:17)--everyone has had the opportunity to hear from God!  Paul says He is not far from every one of us!

In summation, we are not to seek "voices" or special revelation, and we shouldn't feel left out if we have no extra-biblical experience, such as a vision, divine voice, or visitation.  The existence of Scripture as God's written Word does not preclude God's audible voice or any oral communication.  God has promised to speak to us in His Word which is all He has to say to us and need not be improved upon.  We must be faithful to the Word first, though other forms of communication are not retired!  The sheep hear God: "... Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice"  (John 18:37, ESV).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Evil's Facade

"... [Y]ou hate all evildoers"  (Psalm 5:5, ESV).  "... I will fear no evil..." (Psa. 23:4, ESV).
"The fear of the LORD is the hatred of evil..." (Proverbs 8:13, ESV).
"What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil..." (Isaiah 5:20, ESV).
"Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good"  (Romans 12:21, ESV).
"Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight"  (Psalm 51:4, NLT).  "Will those who do evil never learn?" (Psalm 14:4, NLT).
"There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing evil..." (Rom. 2:9, NLT).
"... 'All who belong to the LORD must turn away from evil'"  (2 Tim. 2:19, NLT).
"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"  (Gen. 6:5, ESV). (According to St. Augustine:  Man has the inability not to sin or non posse non peccare in Latin.)

Man is not basically good, but inherently evil to his core and is radically corrupt through and through and must be redeemed by God to be able to do anything good; in his fallen state, he cannot do anything but sin and evil.  "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"   (Jer. 17:9, ESV).  Isaiah 1 says:  We are to cease to do evil, and learn to do good! ("Depart from evil, and do good..." (Psa. 37:27, ESV).

Evil doesn't advertise or promote itself by that moniker but tries to convince one of its good intentions to bring about the greater good as the end result.  If something is not done God's way, it's the devil's way.  God is able to work with evil and tolerates its existence because He can turn it into good (like curses into blessings), and there is a lot more evil to work with!  What evil is, is not what people would suppose:  It's goodness without God in the picture or the equation (like humanism that deifies man and makes him the measure of all things, the starting point of the equation, and dethrones God as dead and no longer relevant.  God turns evil into good:  "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good"  (cf. Gen. 50:20).  There is no yin/yang or an equal balance of good and evil; however, Satan masquerades as an angel of light (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4).

We must become familiar with our common foe, or we will become like him, a do-gooder, who is trying to save humanity his way.  There is only one person who is good, God.  We do not have the power to harness the power of evil for good, like in Star Wars where they use the powers of the dark side.  Christ annihilated evil and defeated it in toto at the cross and we are only here to proclaim His victory and to claim His authority.  There is no such thing as pure evil, for evil, depends on good for its very existence; it's the privation of good; the deviation from good; the negation of goodness; and the perversion of goodness.

Satan was once good with no evil, but then pride was found in his heart and he fell and was booted out of heaven and his place of authority.  Satan is not coequal with God, such as a yin/yang type working arrangement, but only a servant of God who must obey.  There is now a cosmic battle or angelic conflict going on between Satan and his minions, and Christ, the church, and the elect angels on the other side.

We all have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in a sense, and are not innocent in God's eyes and are responsible for the light we have to be faithful and fruitful.  It is good to be innocent of evil as much as possible and to be wise to what is good.  Don't practice the occult nor magic arts and don't experiment with evil in any way, shape, or form.

It all started when Satan challenged authority and asked Eve, "Hath God said..?"  By her own volition Eve took of the forbidden fruit and the result of the so-called proverbial apple saga still goes on as it epitomized all sin in that one act of obedience--they only had one rule to obey and couldn't do it!

Today's youth are concerned more about what works than what's true, and they believe the test of an idea is not its truth value, but its results.  The sorry result is that something can work and not be true or good, e.g., Yoga, or TM.  These are not forbidden activities in Scripture, but nevertheless evil in that they circumvent the goodness and wisdom of God.  Christianity is not true because it works, it works because it's true!   Youth are concerned if something works for them and is practical or pragmatic, while God demands obedience and loyal faithfulness not to experiment with other religions or philosophies.

For example, to the innocent bystander or outside observer Yoga may seem innocent enough, but Yoga is a Hindu art that means union with God, and you learn to get in touch with one of their gods.  People are lured and enticed into Eastern philosophy and religion, by such innocent-like practices that have mass appeal to man as being "good."

Heed the following caveats of 1 Thess. 5:22 (ESV), Job 28:28 (ESV), 1 Pet. 3:12 (HCSB); and Rom. 12:9 (ESV) respectively:  "Abstain from every form of evil";  "...'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding'";  "... BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL"; "... Abhor what is evil; hold fast what is good."  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Punishment Of God

"Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished"  (Psalms 91:8, NLT).
"But I will punish you [the nation Israel] according to the fruit of your doings..."  (Jer. 14:21, KJV).
"You [Israel] only have I known of all the families of the earth:  therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities"  (Amos 3:2, KJV). 
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pains."  (C. S. Lewis).  
"Why should a living man complain, a man about the punishment of his sins?"  (Lam. 3:39, ESV).

God has forgiven all our sins (past, present, and future) at the cross, judging them in the blood of Christ on our behalf and there is no double jeopardy with God's justice.  However, on the other hand, God's children are not without divine discipline, pruning, and corrective action. He will do virtually anything to mold us in His image and to dislodge any un-Christlike flaw He sees.  Do not equate punishment with pruning, viva la difference!  When we bear fruit, God prunes us in order that we bear more fruit and sometimes this is inconvenient and unwelcome, but it's for our own good.  We can be assured that all that befalls us is Father-filtered and the devil cannot wreak havoc on our lives without His divine approval.  He has no power to even touch us! 1 John 5:18

If we are without discipline when we are wayward, we are not children (Heb. 12:5ff), for what child isn't corrected by a loving parent?  "Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?" (Lam. 3:39, NLT).  "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.  Be zealous therefore and repent." Rev. 3:19  If God were to actually punish us for our sins, we'd have to go to hell for ever to suffer for them!  But there is no double jeopardy with God.  God has judged our sins on the cross, but we will reap the consequences of what we sow according to Galatians 6:7 and that means we don't get away with sin, even as believers!  If we sow the wind, we'll reap the whirlwind (cf. Hos. 8:7).

As one of Job's friends said, God had punished him less than he deserved (we all are given mercy and are given less chastisement than deserved--there's no karma or cause and effect relationship between actions and events):  "What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us [Israel] less than our sins deserved and have given us a remnant like this"  (Ezra 9:13, NIV).  God always tempers His justice with mercy. Habakkuk 3:2   Zophar speaks in Job 11:6 (ESV): Know then that God exacts of you [punishes] less than your guilt deserves."  Eliphaz challenged Job: Whoever perished being innocent? (Job 4:7).

God punishes nations (like the great Nineveh) for their injustice and cruelty; however, we are always judged individually.  We are to behold the "goodness and severity of the Lord" (cf. Romans 11:22). God is treating us as children, so try to conceive of how much severer the punishment will be for those who trample on the Son of God putting Him to open shame (cf. Heb. 10:29)?  Let us heed the words of the psalmist in Psalm 119:67 (NLT) in summation:  "I used to wander off until you disciplined me, but now I closely follow your word." ("Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now I have kept thy word," in the KJV).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Get A Life!

"In him was life, and the life was the light of men"  (John 1:4, ESV, italics added).  
"[Y]et I will rejoice in the LORD!  I will be joyful in the God of my salvation"  (Habakkuk 3:18, NLT).  
"Without the way, there is no going; without the truth, there is no knowing; without the life, there is no living." --Thomas a Kempis
"The unexamined life is not worth living." --Socrates

Jesus did indeed say, "I am ... the life!"  Note well that He didn't affirm "a" life with an indefinite article, but "the" life with a definite article. There's no other life to be had!  He is not one of many ways to life, nor the best way, but the only way to life (eternal).  When they say we should get a life, they are often talking in the temporal and not in light of the eternal, for we are just pilgrims passing through on our way to eternity.  Only those who know Jesus are really alive, the others are dead spiritually; for Jesus came not to make bad people good, but dead people alive, according to C. S. Lewis.

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1, ESV), and God made us alive in the Spirit through faith in Christ.  Dead people can do naught to please God, much less have faith, and so God had to quicken faith within us and awaken our spirits with the power to believe.  You are alive for the first time spiritually when you are born again or born from above,  i.e., born of the Spirit. As children of God, we share in the blessings and life of the kingdom of God.

We do not want to merely get a temporal life with all the world has to offer, when this pales in comparison to all the blessings we have in Christ.  Joy, for instance, is a Christian trait of being able to rejoice under any circumstance and see that God is still in control, "... for the joy of the LORD is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10, ESV).

Man was not made for idleness, but for work and we must find our calling and fulfill God's purpose for us ("For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep ..," Acts 13:36, ESV). We're here for a purpose--God's purpose-- and we are to be like Christ, who was "a man on a mission" par excellence.  People who don't know their purpose try to accomplish too much, but when we focus we get more done, because "you become effective by being selective," it's been said. Don't be fooled or sidetracked by what the world has to offer, nor love the world, for our citizenship is in heaven, and we know that because He lives, we shall also live eternally with Him in glory.

The happiness the world knows is shallow and transitory, and depends upon happenings, while our joy no one can take from us and is a fruit of the Spirit.  All the things that man seeks:  importance, impact, and identity are found in a relationship with Christ.  Only the Christian worldview answers the questions we face today with any certitude and consistency--it applies to all of life and all academia's disciplines. Too many people are on elusive pursuits of dreams they cannot achieve or think that riches, power, and fame will bring them fulfillment. We are designed for God and according to Blaise Pascal:  "If man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God?  If he is made for God, why is he opposed to God?

Henry David Thoreau said that "if a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer."  There is only one true drummer to hear:  Jesus!  Two instruments tuned to the same pitch will be in tune with each other, and that's why Christians all everywhere are in fellowship with each other--they share the common bond of Christ.

The biggest mistake in thinking some make is to think that they have to be a success to amount to anything:  Mother Teresa of Calcutta says we are not called to success, but to faithfulness!   Einstein said we shouldn't strive to become a person of success, but of value!  That's it: We are vessels of honor fit for God's service and purpose and we are merely to bear fruit where He has planted us.

In the final analysis, getting a life doesn't entail achieving the American dream, making impressions, or accomplishing anything on our own, but to be used by God in His service, bringing glory to Him (Isaiah 43:7 says this is our purpose).  Knowing who you are in Christ is far more important than achieving, for God doesn't want our achievements, He wants us!  In short, don't just get a life, get life itself, the life only found in Christ.  In sum, even Paul said that he ventured not to boast of anything but of what Christ had accomplished through him (cf. Romans 15:18).
Soli Deo Gloria!

Faith In Action

"No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised"  (Rom. 4:20-21, ESV).  
"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out ..." (Heb. 11:8, ESV).
"... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love"  (Gal. 5:6, NIV, italics mine).


The theme of James is that "the faith you have is the faith you show!"  You may indeed have faith to move mountains, but don't just brag about it!   You can boast of great faith, but if it accomplishes zilch, what good is it?  James would say to us that he wanted to show his faith by his good deeds or works; Paul, on the other hand, would show us his works by faith--these are two complementary assertions, depending on which side of the coin you see.  James is appealing to do-nothing believers, who won't practice their faith and put it into action;  while Paul sees believers who are trying to justify themselves by the works of the law--no one shall be justified by the works of the law, but by grace through faith in Christ alone--it's not how much faith, but the direction of it per Ephesians 2:8-9.

It has been wisely put by theologians that saving faith is only manifest in obedience:  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." Obey wholeheartedly!   We must not legalistically obey out of obligation rather than love, like Amaziah, who did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not with a whole heart (cf. 2 Chron. 25:2).  The two are correlated and what God has joined together, let not man put asunder (cf. Mark 10:9).

You can no more separate faith and works than your body and spirit--they are distinguished, but not separated--we are not a soul encased in a body, but a soul and body unified in one being, as distinguished; however, if you separate the soul and body, you're dead--likewise with faith and works. We must translate our creeds into deeds to be alive in the Spirit.  Anyone can say he has faith, and faith is not being credulous, for we don't believe in spite of the evidence--we have sound reasons to believe--but in obey despite the consequences!

Some imagine that great faith necessitates great emotion, but this is not always the case, God may withdraw feelings to see what is on your heart and to test your obedience.  Faith, then, is not walking around on some religious or spiritual "high," or around on cloud nine, but being in fellowship with God, being in touch with reality and the real world, and reacting according to God's will.  We cannot have a religious ecstasy or euphoria and walk around in its glow the rest of our lives; we must learn to grow in our relationship with Christ and in our knowledge of Him and in grace itself, in order to become vessels of honor and to live our lives in glory to Him as our purpose (cf. Isaiah 43:7).

True faith is not accepting our "fate," but walking in obedience to whatever God wills and making no plans without consulting Him.  Even David knew the pits of despair and what being downcast or having the doldrums meant, so much more must we to grow, but our victories will be all the more sweet after we know what defeat is and the price it cost Christ and the discipline it takes.


Martin Luther wondered if James was an epistle "of straw" because he thought it was teaching salvation by faith plus works.  Actually, we are saved by faith alone (though these exact words are not in the Bible, it's taught), according to the teaching of the Reformers, but not by a faith that is alone. Dead faith doesn't save and isn't profitable (cf. James 2:17,20,26), and we need a living faith--a little is a lot with God in it, implying that it grows and thrives. James aptly said that the kind of faith that doesn't produce cannot save, period!  Roman Catholics believe grace, faith, and Christ are necessary, but not sufficient--you must add merit to grace, works to faith, and the Church to Christ, not to mention adding tradition to the authority of the Word as equal validity.

We want to see faith in action in our family of believers, even as we are the ambassadors of Christ in the world, and people want to see the gospel in shoe leather, as it were, and this means the only gospel some will see is the one we live out--that's why it's paramount to practice what we preach and to keep our testimony from becoming jeopardized.

Some say that talk is cheap (we must beware of mere lip service, as in Isaiah 29:13, which Christ condemned, too), but we are called to preach the gospel not only by our lives as a witness, but in our words, and sometimes we are called to listen as the greater gift, but our testimony is fundamental: Actions can speak louder than words!

We must look for the open door to be lead by the Spirit in our witness and then it will be the Lord speaking through us as we are led by the Spirit.  Actions open the door to preaching the Word and usher us into the presence of God and the open door.  We are not to become mere do-gooders or be known as a goody-goody, but to live out the works that Christ has ordained for us that we should walk in them (cf. Eph. 2:10).  Faith, then, is not something you have, but something you show--we say, "Show me your faith!" Remember, Romans 2:6 says we will be judged by our works, not our faith!  If you have no good works, your faith is suspect, because if there's no fruit, there's no faith!

I'm not advocating a "works religion," but one proved by its works; in a works religion you never know how much is enough--we don't do works in order to get saved, but because we are saved out of gratitude.  Our works must be consistent with our talk, as we don't just talk the talk:  "They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works..." (Titus 1:16, ESV).  The point is that faith expresses itself!  In sum, Works are no substitute for faith, but the only evidence that it's there.  We are not saved by works, but unto works, and, though we are not saved by works, we are not saved without them either!  There are works without faith, but not faith without works!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Those Who Know The Truth

"The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:   ...  I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth...."  (2 John 1-3, ESV).

"For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth.  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."  (3 John 2-3, ESV).

"Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth"  (John 17:17, ESV). 

"...as the truth is in Jesus" (Eph. 4:21, ESV).  

By definition:  Truth is what God says is truth (He's the final arbiter), and anything consistent with His nature, "will, mind, character, glory and being," and laws.  "Truth is the self-expression of God," in other words (per John MacArthur).  

It is not only possible to ascertain the truth in this relativistic age, where people think they can decide their private truths, but commanded in the exhortation of Jesus in John 8:32:  "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."  Note that Christ didn't say we would find some truth, or our truth, or relative truth, but THE truth!  No man ever spoke like this:  not by authority, but with authority!  This is not referring to getting a good education as the answer to life's problems, though the Bible isn't anti-intellectual and nowhere demeans learning.

The truth that sets free is knowing Jesus as personal Lord and Savior, who is the embodiment and personification of truth itself:  For he told Pilate that He came to bear witness of the truth, when Pilate didn't know what truth was (saying, "What is truth" in John 18:38)!   If Jesus is the truth, that means you can know it, and we would know nothing for sure without this divine revelation, for truth depends upon the existence of a God, and must be revealed to us as the starting place of all knowledge:  "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge..." (Proverbs 1:7, ESV).

Today, in liberal academia, students are taught that they can know nothing for certain and that they can be certain about that one truth (which has no truth value per se, since saying all truth is relative, this means that this statement must also be relative!). When people say truth is relative they usually mean to the situation or to the person's circumstances, situation, or viewpoint, but you must always inquire, "Relative to what?" This is subjective truth.   If there is no God, then the quest for truth is meaningless and vain. Postmodernists say that the only truths that are certain are the truths relating to them, and the ones relating to Christianity are only relative.  Objective truth is true regardless of whether one believes it or not and no matter who says it.  Jesus said that he that is of the truth will hear His voice (cf. John 18:37), and so this is where we throw down the gauntlet.

The word of the year, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is "post-fact," which is when people think that emotional connotation is more valid than the literal meaning or denotation.  Naive students like to say or write what they "feel" rather than think:  they have lost all meaning and understanding of cognition.  Thought precedes feeling and feelings depend on thoughts.  Our mind controls our body, not vice versa. Today, people are not as concerned about the truth as to what's true for them!  They also don't care what something means (and even the Bible), but what it means to them:  "O, that's your interpretation!"  We seem to have lost all basis in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding and resorted to subjectivity.

What makes Christianity so unique is that it's not based on subjective thought, empiricism, or interpretation, but on objective, historical fact of the resurrection of Christ and Christianity is a historical religion, not a myth, nor a catalog of rules or wise sayings of philosophy.   The whole purpose is to not to increase our knowledge but to introduce us to a person (the living God!).  We don't get saved by cognition or Gnosticism (getting in on the scoop), but by a transformed life through a living knowledge of a person.

All knowledge must have a purpose, and not become an end in itself--the end result is getting to know our Lord and live a life of service to Him.

Nonbelievers are those "who reject the truth," according to Romans 2:8 and they "refuse to receive the love of the truth," according to 2 Thess. 2:10.  We are concerned about orthodoxy in our doctrine, of course, but it is much more vital to be concerned with knowing Him, who is Truth incarnate.

In sum, there is "absolute truth" regardless of what academia proclaims, and that means there's Truth with a capital T!  Truth is timeless and that means what was true in antiquity is still true!  What was valid as a principle of morality still holds water.  We are not evolving new truths and standards of right and wrong as we progress in our civilization.  Truth is different from some statement just being true because only Scripture can be called "truth," and Jesus said that we are "sanctified" by the truth and that His Word is Truth--Truth alone transforms; while something may be true, doesn't necessitate it being "truth."  Education can be truth and Shakespeare can be inspiring, but only Scripture and Jesus can transform a life and give life to the dead--Shakespeare doesn't change lives!  Finally, there is no absolute belief, but there is absolute truth that is knowable as a foundation for all knowing.
Soli Deo Gloria!ab

"Let's Just Praise The Lord!"

"Bless [praise] the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless [praise] is holy name!"  (Psalm 103:1, ESV).

"Whoever offers praise glorifies Me..."  (Psalm 50:23, NKJV).  

"O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise" (Psalm 51:15, NKJV).

"You are always on their lips but far from their hearts." (cf. Jer. 12:2, NIV). 

(We may be familiar with the words Alleluia, and Hallelujah, which are interpreted from Greek and Hebrew respectively as "praise the LORD!"  

Do you recall the Bill Gaither Trio singing that anthem in the '70s?  It was ubiquitous on the airwaves and humbled the spirit into just concentrating on praise per se.  I recall repeating that phrase in song over and over again ad infinitum.  The Psalms is a book of praises; therefore, it's called the Psalter. The Jews called Psalms Tehillim, or "praises," presumably because there's praise for all occasions. The last several psalms are just doxologies or praises to God and magnifying Him through any means possible, every instrument in the band, for instance, brings Him praise; ergo everyone can praise God and you don't need to be a musician (instrumentalist nor vocalist) to bring Him praise:  God loves our singing even if we think we can't sing, it brings Him praise and He enjoys it.

Obedience brings God praise and we can do everything to the glory of God and in His name, ultimately bringing Him praise. It has wisely been said that praising God entails much more than uttering the words per se just like giving thanks is more than lip service of saying "thank-you!", because it's an action and we must show our praise by what we do.  Sometimes it's singing, but it's not limited to that, because some people literally cannot sing, and they can still praise God. There's no "one-size-fits-all" for praising God, we all do it differently.  

When we focus on Christ and meditate on Scripture, we are praising God with our minds. We are to love God with all our minds, as well as our hearts, souls, and strength.  When we do the Lord's work we are incorporating our strength, and when we worship, our souls and hearts.  "Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD!  Praise the LORD (Psalm 150:6, ESV)!"

Praise is giving glory to God for who He is, as thanksgiving is giving glory to God for what He's done.  Praise is comely for the upright in heart and "God inhabits the praises of His people," as Psalm 22:3 says in the KJV.  God doesn't need our praise, but we need to praise Him to get into the Spirit.  It may make us feel good, but that is not the goal--God deserves our praise and our duty as servants and creatures is to offer it.  Paul exhorts us to do everything, even our eating and drinking, to the glory of God (cf. 1 Cor. 1:31).  Whatever we do, in all our work, we are to do it heartily as unto the Lord, not unto men (cf. Col. 3:23).

Many Christians utter the phrase "praise the Lord" (known as PTL) as a matter of course and in a perfunctory manner. But just saying the words per se is not necessarily praising the Lord and misses the point.  Indeed we do desire to see God's praise and He lifted up in worship, but it's the same as saying "thanks" when a person really isn't thankful.  The heart must correlate with the lips or it's merely lip service.  Jesus warned about those whose lips honor Him, but their hearts are far from Him (cf. Isaiah 29:13; Jer. 12:2; Mark 7:6-7).  What God seeks is an acknowledgment of His glory, deeds, and presence.  "... There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land"  (Hos. 4:1, NIV).

Who can adequately praise God, for He alone is worthy, and it only behooves us to give Him the recognition He deserves.  God thrives on our praises and everything, in the end, shall bring Him the praise He deserves, for even the wrath of man shall praise Him (cf. Psalm 76:10).

We enter God's dimension when we offer praise and are ushered directly into the throne room (cf. Psalm 100:4).  We must seek God's presence and power to offer Him praise, and this is what glorifies Him in return, as we walk with Him in the fellowship of praise.  "Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him"  (Hos. 6:3, NIV).  Give Him all the credit, to whom the credit is due!  Our obligation doesn't ever end and is never fulfilled; uttering the words without follow-through is vain.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Catholic Question

"My hope is built on nothing less,
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name"
--EDWARD MOTE

Many Catholics don't even know why they are that denomination, often because they were born into it or married into it.  Protestants stand united in the gospel message, which Martin Luther had revived, that it was by faith that a man is accepted by God.  Faith alone or sola fide became the rallying cry or the battle cry and the Counter-Reformation at the Council of Trent, 1545-1563 pronounced anathema on anyone who adhered to such "heresy" that wasn't "biblical."

Catholics had distorted the gospel to the max: by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, with Scripture alone as the authority, so that all the glory goes to God alone!  What they did was add merit to grace, works to faith, and the church and clergy to Christ, and even tradition to Scripture. Jesus condemned the tradition of man in Matt. 15 and Mark 7, and tradition is only appropriate when concordant with Scripture.  We are saved by grace through faith, and not by works per Eph. 2:8-9. Christians do works as a "therefore," not an "in order to."  In sum, I say:  "Look for Scriptural warrant or precedent, not for tradition."  Contention arose from the so-called "Counter-Reformation" that gave tradition equal authority as Scripture--Protestants affirm the Bible as the guide and rule of faith.

Religion says "do," while Christianity says "done."  We are not to become rules-obsessed like the Pharisees and know a code or a creed, we are to know a person!  Paul pronounced anathema anyone who preaches another gospel in Gal. 1:6-9 and this is the danger, not in praying the Rosary, or invoking saints, but in spreading a false gospel which is damnable; however, be at ease, Catholics can be saved, if they call upon the name of the Lord in faith in repentance; so put aside all apprehension that I'm trying to condemn them all; at worst, they are ignorant of the Word and are living defeated lives because of it. 

Caveat:  In determining truth, it's paramount to realize that Christianity isn't true because it works (yoga and TM work!), but Christianity works because it's true the converse!  You cannot say, "It works for me," without defeating the purpose of Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that these are absolute, not relative to your experiences or situations.

I don't care if you believe in the Fairy Godmother, Easter bunny, Santa Claus, Prince Charming, mermaids, dragons, the abominable snowman (Sasquatch), leprechauns, aliens, ghosts, haunted houses, Halloween, unicorns, knights in shining armor, the Loch Ness monster, cavemen, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Mother Nature, or the Tooth Fairy; those are not damnable though implausible beliefs.  Many of Catholic traditions, such as believing in the Apocrypha are not damnable per se, but just "extra-biblical," rather than "anti-biblical."  You must get this right to become a Christian (cf. Matt. 16:15; 2 John 9):  Who is Jesus Christ?  He is God in the flesh, or you're not a believer and unsaved. Technically, Catholics are Christians, because they know Jesus, but there is so much baggage that it is hard to get to the meat of the Word in that church, and many who find the Lord do leave it for more evangelical churches.

Praying the Rosary, invoking saints, and other religiosity may not be prohibited in the Word, but there are sins of omission as well and these are often mutually exclusive and when you know the Lord, you pray intimately with him and not by rote or in a perfunctory manner, or even to show religiosity as the Pharisees did.  Our prayer life is to be kept in our prayer closet and not "advertised" or promoted, for then we will have our reward--the approbation of man and his praise.

Unfortunately, many Protestants today have come full circle, in that they no longer read the Bible, but rely on their church to tell them what to believe rather than be like the believing Jews in Berea, who searched the Scriptures out in order to see if the things Paul said were so.  This is what Protestants were objecting to:  the authority of the Pope and clergy.  Martin Luther proclaimed:  I dissent, I disagree, I protest!  Hence we are known as Protestants.  

Here's an example of Protestants coming full circle:  "I don't read the Bible or believe in its authority anymore for the ultimate authority and arbiter of truth!"  Q: "How do you know what God's will is and learn about God?"  "I listen to the preacher!"  Q: "How do you know what to believe?"  "He agrees with me!"  Q: "And whom do you agree with?"  "I agree with him--we both believe the same thing!"  Soli Deo Gloria!