God's Crucible Of Adversity...

"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10, NIV).
"Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty" (Job 5:17, NIV).
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze" (Isa. 43:2, NIV).
"... All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come" (Job 14:14, NIV).
"Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him" (Job 13:15, NIV
"If we are to enter God's kingdom, we must pass through many troubles" (Acts 14:22, CEB).
"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings..." (Rom. 5:3, NIV).
"No matter how deep our darkness, he is deeper still." --Corrie ten Boom

Reality 101 is about adjusting to the curve balls thrown at us by our adversary Satan, as we adjust to the real world with all its pitfalls, known as OJT of real life. "He speaks to [us] in [our] affliction," (cf. Job 36:15). As part of the divine curriculum, it has been granted unto us to suffer for His sake. We have no right to ask God "Why?" because "He is too deep to explain Himself, too wise to make a mistake, and too kind to be cruel"--we must accept it all on faith that God knows what's best. People are always suing for pain and suffering, but Christians must grin and bear it as a given in life (not that we are Stoics who see it as fate from an impersonal force), but making the most of it and learning from the experiences; then we can proudly say, "Been there, done that!"

We all must go through some kind of school of hard knocks and learn from our mistakes. If you haven't made a mistake, it's been said, you haven't made anything! The best way to learn is through adversity, which is the only way to build character. So lay out the welcome mat and apply your experience to comfort others in their affliction. As a consolation, remember that Christ Himself learned obedience by what He suffered (cf. Heb. 5:8)!

What is going on as we progress in our sanctification? God will indeed finish what He has started and isn't finished with us yet, as we are always "works in progress" (cf. Phil. 1:6). The defining characteristic of Christianity that makes its practice unique is that we find meaning in suffering--it's all done through the Father-filtered hands of God and has a purpose. In psychology and religion, there is no meaning to suffering--it's seen as a distraction and unnecessary element of life, and ideally should be eliminated. (Note that Buddha said that "life is suffering").

But there is good stress as well as negative stress (and no one escapes life stress-free!) and it builds character; we shouldn't pray for a life that's stress-free and easy then, but a character that can withstand anything God can throw at us by way of trial and tribulation, this is the stress that no one can avoid and is part of life--can we expect good from God only and not evil? But whatever evil happens, God means it for our good (cf. Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28)!

For Christ didn't even exempt Himself from trials and was honest enough to warn us we'd have them, and our crosses pale in comparison to His, who doesn't ask us to do anything He didn't do. Trials, temptations, tribulations, suffering, troubles, and adversity, and discipline are inevitable. It has been said that experience is not what you've been through or what has happened to you, but in you and what you do with it! As an illustration of what God is doing in our lives picture a sculptor who sees a piece of marble and starts work on it and is asked how he can fashion a horse out of it: just by chipping away everything that doesn't look like a horse! God must take away everything that doesn't look like Jesus because we're the icons of God!

We signed up for a crucible when we got saved and it comes with the territory as we enrolled in the school of Christ. But the comforting factor in our suffering is that it's done in love and is not meaningless; in fact, we'll thank God someday for His wisdom. God reserves the right to micromanage our lives at will and does so without our consultation. Every day of our lives has been mapped out by God in Providence and He does so with the motive of love and His glory--for we exist to bring glory to Him (cf, Psalm 31:15; 139:16; Isaiah 43:7).

As a word of encouragement, we should bear in mind that God is always with us, so we are never alone; God is on our side so we cannot lose, and God believes in us so we have purpose and meaning, for God has a purpose for everything! It was proven by Dr. Viktor Frankl, a Viennese Jewish psychiatrist who spent years in a Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, that when we see purpose and meaning in our suffering that we can endure nearly anything, even a POW, or concentration camp (because God is with us)! We don't have to thank God for these troubles, but should praise Him for the opportunities they bring to glorify Him, always remembering that no cross means no crown!

In short, crucibles are necessary because the same sun melts the butter hardens the clay (we either become bitter or better); we must never wonder why bad things happen to good people because no one is good--we should wonder why good things happen to bad people!

CAVEAT: DON'T GET A MARTYR COMPLEX, (WE AREN'T SAVED BY MARTYRDOM!) AND THINK THAT THE MORE YOU SUFFER, THE HOLIER OR MORE RIGHTEOUS YOU ARE, CHRIST WANTS US TO LIVE FOR HIM AS "LIVING SACRIFICES' (CF. ROM. 12:1)!

In conclusion, William Kirk Kilpatrick, psychologist, and educator, said the test of a philosophy is not what it says about the pains it can handle, but the ones it cannot. Soli Deo Gloria!

Fideism Versus Faith

 By definition: faith is trusting in what we have good reason to believe.  We don't have faith in faith but faith in Christ; faith doesn't save, Christ does!  It's the object that counts. 

"Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see," (cf. Heb. 11:1, NIV). 


We choose to believe with our volition, it follows from our heart and where that is; if it's in the right place. We don't believe despite the evidence nor demand that all the evidence be presented before drawing our conclusion or taking a stand. Just like in a jury trial we go with the flow, or in the direction of the preponderance of the evidence--which isn't always conclusive or even certain, and there may be unanswered questions or doubts. Belief is not independent of the facts or evidence but concordant with it.

Evidence is not always conclusive, and may be subjective too (it can be circumstantial, indirect, or direct), but is only one argument to consider in making the final decision. There may be evidence pro and con, arguments for and against, we must weigh all the facts pertinent before making the final decision. We don't reach a conclusion irrespective of the evidence; however, some people cannot be convinced no matter the evidence because they don't want to believe.

(Faith is not believing something you know isn't true! Everyone has faith in something, even Secularists have faith that science can answer the questions of man; it's not a matter of faith versus reason, because we all commence with some presupposition we cannot ultimately prove, whether divine revelation or science. Fideism is the belief that we can attain to knowledge (of God) by faith alone, apart from our reason, while rationalism is the opposite, that truth is arrived only by reason--true biblical faith is based on the evidence and respects the mind, it doesn't insult your intelligence.

Fideism is basically the conviction that faith is mutually exclusive of and opposed to reason. Augustine said all knowledge begins in faith, or "I believe in order to understand." You are entitled to your own opinions and faith in them, but not your own fabricated facts. Conclusions must be based on fact, fitting, and following them, the facts aren't made to fit and follow the preconceived conclusions or notions.)

We must not succumb to the notion that believing something makes it true or disbelieving something makes it untrue-- the evidence is either true or false regardless of acceptance or belief. We cannot prove without a doubt that Christianity is true because God requires a step of faith and we can demonstrate that faith is much more reasonable than doubt and even that doubt can be an element of faith itself (cf. Mark 9:24: "I believe, help thou mine unbelief"). We must make our decision in a rational manner and decide which one fits the facts more fully and completely. Christianity is not rationalism, though, and can be defended on the open marketplace of ideas, but is rational--Christians aren't asked to kiss their brains goodbye.

However, we are exhorted to defend our faith and to have a reason or rationale why we believe in 1 Pet. 3:15 (cf. "have a reason for the hope that is within you")--if we don't, we only confirm infidels in their unbelief! If we just go by feelings we may fall by the wayside and not endure testing and challenges to our faith, as people of other faiths may have duplicate feelings about their God or religion. The unique aspect of our experience in Christ is that it's backed up by and the only religion supported by the objective, external, historical evidence of the resurrection of Christ, as well as personal, internal, subjective experience in the life and heart of the believer--Christianity is based on evidence and facts of history, not fable or sayings of wise men such as Confucius or Buddha--which are really philosophies with religiosity. Christianity is a historical faith or it is nothing, and disproving its historical credibility would discredit the faith itself.

Many have tried to disprove historical references or its historicity, but have failed in the process and have even gotten converted to Christianity in the process against their wills. No amount of argument will convince the unwilling, you cannot argue someone into the kingdom of God or persuade him by rationalism; Christianity is rational, but it isn't rationalism. No one will come to faith in Christ apart from the work of the Spirit within his heart, but he must not base his faith on the fact that he feels Christ lives in his heart--going by feelings--a duplicate experience can be had by other faiths, but he must learn to see the power of the Word in changing and sanctifying him.

God asks no one to have blind faith, which is demeaning to believers and outrage to God, but only to take a reasonable step of faith into the light--faith is the antidote to blindness, not its cause! In the end, we all have a rationale for our faith and should be able to defend ourselves with our personal testimony--like the blind man who testified, "I was blind, but now I see." This cannot be refuted and no one can deny the reality of his profession. We are exhorted to testify of what we do know and the reality of our faith, not another person. When we witness we declare the facts as we see them and can verify by experience--it's admissible in a court of law!

The problem with unbelievers who don't believe is that they don't want to believe, not that they cannot. "Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him" (John 12:37, NIV). John Stott adds that "we cannot pander to someone's intellectual pride, but must cater to their intellectual integrity." No one is required to commit intellectual suicide or believe without any answers. However, we all must take that leap of faith in obedience to the faith. The problem most have is moral rebellion, not intellectual problems or hindrances, and their questions or challenges are mere smokescreens to avoid the real issue of surrender to the lordship of Christ.

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart! Nonbelievers are described in Rom. 2:8 as those who reject the truth, and this truth is true objectively, regardless of whether one believes it or not or who told us. What they do is feign intellectual problems to try to stump the Christian and change the subject from making a decision for Christ in surrender. God is no man's debtor and will authenticate Himself to any seeker who desires to know Him, but Jesus said that also that only those willing will believe: "If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know..." (cf. John 7:17).

In exhorting decisions, one must realize that he doesn't need all the answers to believe, but he can believe anyway if he is willing and wants to believe--no amount of evidence will convince the person whose heart is hardened. Just like a jury making a verdict based on known evidence, not all evidence may be in, so we just go ahead and believe anyway, though we don't know all the answers. The important thing is to know the Answerer!

We must realize that Christianity is a reasonable proposition and we will never be disappointed in our decision. As volumes have been written about the so-called evidence that demands a verdict and God gave us a mind and expects us to use it and inquire of the Lord. The evidence can be presented cogently and there is hardly any question that hasn't been answered--Christianity is not going to come tumbling down by some brand new doubt that hasn't been resolved before!

When the plain facts are presented cogently one will realize that Christianity is based on a rational body of truth, in history, and its veracity was proven in the blood of the martyrs who died for their proclamation about Jesus rising from the dead. Even the historicity of the resurrection is vouched by multiple sources and is probably the most attested fact of antiquity--would any historian doubt the reality of Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great in contrast--Jesus was no myth and his historicity is vouched for by many pagan sources too.

All in all, we cannot deny the facts and one must be confronted with making a decision for or against Him--making no decision, is making a decision against Christ! It is not the believer who has to fear the scrutiny of the facts, but the skeptic who refuses to face the facts and acknowledge the truth! It has been said that Christianity goes beyond reason, but not against it! If the facts of the Bible were presented to any court of law, the jury would have to declare them true based on the evidence which would be admissible.


Most people who don't believe have never examined the evidence or even read the Bible. This is the whole crux of the matter--that we don't have to defend it or prove it, the seeker can do that himself by reading the testimony of the evangelists in Scripture himself. God, indeed, welcomes any honest inquiry and doubt, because He expects no one to believe something he isn't intellectually convinced of, or to commit intellectual suicide. Soli Deo Gloria!

God Judges What's Fair

 

Isn't it unfair that Eve did not have the choice of her partner?

Certainly not! Adam had no choice either! God is incapable of unfairness and He is no respecter of persons and snows no partiality. The reason she was taken from Adam’s rib was so that he wouldn’t look down on her as an inferior but she would be equal. Look at it this way: Eve is the crown of God’s creation; the finishing touch and His final at. How do we know what He told Eve? God could have said that I know that man perfect for you! God is the perfect matchmaker and this was a marriage made in heaven for sure.

There was no favoritism nor sexism involved. If it had been the reverse or converse, Adam could’ve raised an objection by this standard. Eve was created in flawless beauty and I’m sure she had no complaints when she met Adam. When was his partner and equal and it wasn’t till she sinned that Adam was placed in a position as head of the family unit;—that was not God’s fault.

She didn’t belong to Adam as some kind of property but was equal in every way so that Adam could relate to her perfectly with fellowship and companionship? This was only possible because they were equals and complimented each other.  Soli Deo Gloria! 

What Would Life Be Like Without God?

 We’d be animals in heat avoiding pain and seeking pleasure; eating, drinking, and making merry till we die with no purpose dignity or meaning in life but ourselves. We would not realize being made in the image of God meaning we’d have no human rights as a result. What would be the purpose of life then?

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (cf. Prov. 9:10) and also the beginning of knowledge (cf. Prov. 1:7); therefore we would be fools who knew nothing for sure, all knowledge and values relative and no absolutes. All knowledge begins in faith and is contingent.

We could realize no moral values and be completely subjective without any standards of perfection, not knowing the way to live right., as Plato said, “If I want to know how to live in reality, I must know what God is really like.” Where would we get our morals as guides? It has been said that liberty without restraint is evil and lawlessness. Who would make the rules to obey, if not the Lawgiver? No one could assume authority?

One may counter that atheists can be good moral people. But that’s like going to a restaurant enjoying the meal and denying there’s a chef. They are enjoying and reaping the benefits of centuries of Christendom and Western Civilization whether they accept it or not. God is the Lawgiver and Judge that we must be accountable to. Without hell to shun, or a Judge to fear nor Ruler to obey, we’d become quite uncivilized without the salt and light that believers bring the world.

There was a time when we had minimal perception and consciousness of God: we were pagans and barbarians living by the Iron Rule or the law of the jungle, each man for himself, and might making right. Without God in the calculus and picture, it would be a bleak outlook: coming from nothing, having no purpose, and going nowhere! IN SHORT, WE’D BE UNCIVILIZED AND IN NEED OF MISSIONARIES.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Why Do We Need The First Commandment?

 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; all these things shall be added unto you," (cf. Matt. 6:33). 

"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not..." (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4). 

The First Commandment is the greatest and summation of all God requires of us.  All others are mere corollaries and applications.  If we have God, we have all we need!  In antiquity, they were thinking that the more gods you had, the better off you were!  They had a whole pantheon of gods and failed to realize the Most High.   But if we have God, we have all we need. We all can have insecurities, but where we find it is vital to our salvation and obedience to God. We can get obsessed with the wrong priorities in life and must realize how idolatrous we are and make honest confession to God to be cleansed of it--coming clean!   God must not be replaced as the owner of our heart and our first love.  God is greater than any idol can ever be; if we worship them, we are the loser:  We forfeit the grace that could be ours!  

If we fail to admit it, we are only cheating ourselves.  We must not sacrifice temporary happiness or fulfillment for the permanent one found in Christ.  We must live in light of eternity, not just for the here and now.  We are to be content only in God.   God is greater than our heart and we must realize the battle is the LORD's and submit to His authority over our lives.  Those who "know their God shall be strong and do exploits" (cf. Dan. 11:32).  So we must have a handle on who God is and His role in our lives.  With God, we can confront evil and realize how great He is in our lives.  Remember, God called Abraham out of idolatry and so we must come out from it; it's the default state! 

We can only defeat our idols in the name of the Lord and victory through the Spirit who sets us free from the lies of Satan.  Sin holds us in bondage and alienates us from God.  This may entail sacrificing temporary happiness for the long term fulfillment of God's will.   The joys of this world pass away but that of the Spirit endures.  One way to sacrifice this is by being people-pleasers instead of seeking the praise that comes only from God.  God is greater than all our idols.  It is only the truth that sets us free and God is the one who grants repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.  Those who love the truth are saved and those who suppress it are condemned. 

When we give God His place of honor and reverence, we are only giving Him what we owe Him and can never pay back--an eternal debt of gratitude and worship. We can march on in victory with God on our side with the marching orders to spread the word. We can navigate our mission in the name of the Lord and not in our name or of any idol.   God holds our allegiance only and no one else.  We do not say my affiliation right or wrong, whether it be party, church, race, or state.  Then we are on solid ground and firmly planted into God's will--the safest place to be.  

But we must all come to a confrontation with evil and not waver between the two opinions of wondering who God is and whom we will serve.  All idolatry is ultimately a betrayal of the one whom we owe allegiance to and becoming a two-timer with God or cheating on Him and not being faithful.  Sooner or later, God will teach us that there is but one God who is worthy of our worship and allegiance.  

Thus, the First Commandment reminds us of who God is and who we are in perspective, and our duty to Him as our Number One priority. God must be in the first place or He has no part of us.  He will not settle for a second-place or lower status in our hearts.  He wants us to have the spiritual wake-up call and realize: "The LORD, He is God!"    Soli Deo Gloria! 

First, Examine Your Sin

 

SEEING OUR OWN SINFULNESS

"The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7-8, NIV).
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9, NIV).
"... But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it" (Gen. 4:7, HCSB)
"It is no use giving us rules of conduct; we cannot keep them." --John Stott
"In Adam's fall/ We sinned all" (The New England Primer, 1727).

We all are born "in Adam" (as opposed to becoming "in Christ" upon salvation) or with "original sin" (the result of the first sin) inherited from Adam, by virtue of his being the representative head of our race and acting on our behalf when he disobeyed God. When Adam ate of the so-called "proverbial apple" it was the prototype or model sin: "He spurned God's grace; contradicted His truth; rejected His authority; disputed His wisdom; repudiated His justice, and resisted His grace" (Author unknown).

Sin is our birthright and a virus we all have inherited. It has been defined by the Westminster divines as "any want of conformity to or transgression of the law of God." By the way, it's "any thought, word, action, omission, or desire contrary to the Law of God" (Charlie Riggs of the BGEA) i.e., anything contrary to the nature of God--our Declaration of Independence from God--it's such a killjoy word for preachers but cannot be ignored without peril. It's our birthright and a virus we inherit. We must be against it!

We must see our sinfulness to be saved and come to repentance. The law was given to make us see our sin ("for by the law is the knowledge of sin," cf. Rom. 3:20). It was never given to save us but to show us we need salvation. We don't know how bad we are, till we attempt to become good, and we cannot become good without knowing how bad we are--the solution to this catch-22 is knowing Jesus as our Savior. This so-called doctrine of total depravity or more realistically, radical corruption. means our whole being--heart or emotions, mind or intellect, and will or volition--are corrupt and unable to please God--we're not utterly depraved or as bad as we can be, but as bad off as we can be!

Even our reasoning powers and conscience are corrupt--spoiled by sin (cf. Titus 1:15). We are stubborn, rebellious people whom God has to conform to do His will like a Potter working on clay. G. K. Chesterton said tongue-in-cheek that this is the only doctrine "that can be proved." "... [B]ut men loved darkness rather than light" (cf. John 3:19).

Our sinfulness becomes even more apparent to us as we get closer to God--the closer our walk, the more consciousness of sin. Peter exclaimed, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man" (cf. Luke 5:8). Samuel Rutherford said to pray for a hearty sense of sin, because "the greater sense of sin, the less sin." The point of being bad is not that we are too bad to be saved, but never good enough to be saved--Isaiah 64:6 says "our righteousness is as filthy rags."

In fact, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more (cf. Rom. 5:20). Let's not play the "let's compare game!" It doesn't matter that we may be better than our neighbor--we all look like saints compared to Saddam Hussein, because God doesn't grade on a curve--we're all in the same boat of falling short of God's glorious ideal per Rom. 3:23.

This solidarity in Adam means we have a legacy of sin as our inheritance and we cannot escape our birthright. We were born in sin, not born free! Our wills were in bondage too, not free till we were freed in Christ upon salvation (cf. John 8:36)! We cannot even save ourselves and don't even meet our own standards of good, as Ovid said, "I see better things and I approve them, but I follow the worst." But the whole point is that the greater we are forgiven, the greater our love, as William Jay of Bath said, "I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior."

In Adam's fall, we all ceased to be good, though not ceasing to be human. We all have a dark side or are like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--we all have feet of clay or a vulnerable side no one sees. The world thinks a man is basically good, but he is inherently evil and cannot please God--all he can do is sin. People think this means we are as bad as we can be, but we are as bad off as we can be. We are not as corrupt as possible, for God restrains sin, but our whole nature is corrupt.--total depravity, not utter depravity. Why? God can turn the wrath of man to praise Him (cf. Psalm 76:10). We see goodness in light of evil and evil brings opportunity for good. The good news is that no one is too bad to be saved, but grace abounds to the chief of sinners, as John Bunyan wrote (cf. Rom. 5:20).

Sin has been our downfall and we must be reminded of our old sin nature or it will dominate. "Sin wants to destroy you, but we must not let it" (cf. Gen. 4:7, CEV). We need to renounce sin in ourselves and turn from it first to have discernment. "The absurd," according to Albert Camus, "is sin without God"--we must become aware of sin to repent of it; that's why knowledge and admission of sin is the missing ingredient (Whatever Became of Sin? by Karl Menninger, MD).

We are all guilty of rebellion, independent attitudes, lawlessness, godlessness, injustice, unbelief, iniquity, and all manner of transgression and unrighteousness--these are all evil violations of God's person and nature. D. James Kennedy says the law was given to show us we don't keep it, the "law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul" (cf. Psalm 19:7). The Law doesn't convert us or save us, it measures and convicts us!

In the final analysis, we all must exclaim to God as Paul did, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Cf. Rom. 7:24). He answers his own question: "Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Cf. Rom. 7:25). The higher law Christians adhere to is the law of love, which is done willingly and gratefully. Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Believe The Bible?

Did you know that there are twenty-six books in the world that claim to be Holy Scripture (the Brahman Vedas, the Buddhist Canon of Sacred Scripture, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, the Zoroastrian Zend-Avesta, et al)? However, the Bible is the only one with predictive prophecy! Remember, Deut. 18:18 says that the test of a true prophet is 100 percent accuracy or the death penalty! "If they speak not according to this Word, they have no light in them" (Isa. 8:20). Only God knows and prophesies the future (cf. Isaiah 41:22; 45:21;46:9; Jer. 28:9). Note that there is something very peculiar and unique about Jesus: He doesn't quote the authorities but relies on His own authority and spoke like no man has ever done.  

The Qur'an, on the other hand, has one instance of self-fulfilling prophecy when Mohammad predicts he'll return to Mecca!  Only God can predict the future and God (in Isaiah) challenges any other "god" to tell the future.   But there are over 2,000 fulfilled prophecies in the Bible, not just a few lucky .guesses.  Jesus Christ Himself fulfilled over 300!

Archaeology has repeatedly confirmed the OT tradition and many have set out to disprove the Bible and with over 25,000 sites recovered there still is no contradiction.  Like Jesus said, "The rocks cry out!"   Historically, the Bible has been verified, and even though secular historians are usually given more credibility than the Bible, they have yet to disprove anything in the Scriptures!  For example, Luke has been discovered to be one of the best historians of antiquity.

Also, science has failed to contradict the Bible, even though the French Academy of Science declared 51 scientific facts that controverted the Bible in 1861, now not one of the so-called facts is believed--the Bible was right!.  There is not a contradiction between science and Scripture and where the Bible does make a scientific statement of fact, it is correct, even if ahead of its time.  The Bible is not a scientific textbook, said Galileo, but a book of salvation--however, where it does state a scientific statement it is correct and never proven wrong.

The Bible is self-attesting, (over 3,000 times it says, "Thus says the LORD" or its equivalent) [no other sacred writing does this--they don't dare!]  Scripture is its own Supreme Court, its own interpreter, and commentator.   It is believed because it is believable unless you have the presupposition that miracles just don't happen! Ancient peoples didn't doubt the reality of miracles, just what they meant.  The writers are not inveterate or consummate liars, but credible witnesses--the credibility of a demon is not to be established and this only stands to reason!  The test of their veracity was they the Apostles went to their death without recanting--death was their test!  "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths or fables when we made known to you the Word of Truth but were eyewitnesses of His majesty"  (2 Pet. 1:21). "Thus saith the LORD" or its equivalent) which means it assumes you believe it and doesn't appeal to some higher power or authority.  It proves and verifies itself.  If you appealed to science, for instance, science would have higher authority than God!

The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit and is therefore inerrant and infallible in its original manuscripts.  None of these are extant--we rely on copies.   An interesting fact is that there are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts available to test the veracity of Scripture, while we only have 10 good copies of Caesar's Gallic Wars or of the History of Herodotus.  There is no comparison, yet no one doubts the authenticity of these documents.  There is more proof for the resurrection of Christ than for any other fact in antiquity.  It is the most attested and variously supported fact if the era!  Doubting Jesus' historicity is unsound and yet scholars don't dare doubt the historicity of Caesar or Alexander the Great.

The Bible is like a caged lion--you don't have to defend it, it can take care of itself.  People who criticize it usually haven't read it!   The Bible can convict a person if he has an open mind and is willing to do God's will he shall know whether it is of God.  Jesus said, "If a man is willing to do His will, he  shall know whether the doctrine is of God or whether I speak on my own authority" (John 

7:17).

I know of a preacher that said, "I know the Bible is inspired because it inspires me."  The works of Shakespeare can be entertaining and educating, but only the Bible can transform the soul. The proof of the pudding is in the eating:   "The Word of God is alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of joints and marrow, of soul and spirit, and it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" Hebrews 4:12).! 

Not At Liberty To Our Own Jesus Image

For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached ... ye might well bear with him," (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4). 

 Everyone thinks of someone when they think of Jesus, whether some characterization, movie personification,  caricature, or even image we invent, or even the one of conventional or historical reference--the historical Jesus, as if this one is not the one the apostles believed in but somehow they were deceived and got it all wrong and even latter deified Him when Jesus never really claimed to be God.  We don't have the prerogative or right to think of Jesus any way we choose or in some invention of our liking or as whom we personally prefer to think of!  We must receive Christ for who is He is in all reality, or not at all!  He is Lord of all (cf. Romans 10:12; Acts 10:36).

Paul said, "I know in whom I have believed..." and "I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection."  Jesus said that to know Him is eternal life.  We must be anchored in reality for our image of God or our interpretation and what we think of Jesus is the most important thing about us, it may not matter in the long term what you think of the president, but your conception of Jesus is the criterion of your judgment. this is what determines your destiny! It can have consequences, personally speaking, because it may affect our testimony and how we live our lives, and what our goals are. 

To see Jesus as some all-encompassing and accepting all no matter what, or as some sentimental, maudlin, non-judgmental, politically-correct, unoffending, loving Jesus, as some Jesus Christ Superstar or celebrity, or as some impotent but friendy man upstairs we envision or a flexible man that can fit into our stereotypes or boxes of definitions makes Him one-dimensional and not who He meant to be as the Almighty.  Some may sincerely say, "I like to think of Jesus as my friend" or "as my buddy" or as my "Advocate," or brother" but we must realize He is "Lord of all" and must submit all things to Him and make Him the number one priority; He owns us because we are slaves whom He has redeemed! The more submitted we are to His lordship, the freer we are.   But we live in a pluralistic society where people deny absolute truth and think no religion can be right or has the right to claim it, so we must not be dogmatic in order to get along.  In this reality, contradictions are a-okay and there's no absolute truth or values! 

To accept Jesus or to receive Him as Lord and Savior is not an option.  We must recognize Him as the only begotten Son of God, God the Son manifest in the flesh coequal to the Father in every way.  He is not one of many ways, nor even the best way, but the only way according to A. W. Tozer.  Even some evangelicals don't realize the necessity of receiving Him as Lord of our lives or to make a lordship decision in our salvation. 

For instance, Jesus is not the surrogate of God, a form of lesser deity or creation of God as a god, not God Himself, or as a deified man or even humanized God or demigod. Jesus must be received and recognized as the God-man or as fully and truly God as well as fully and truly man: two natures not to be mixed but to remain in their completeness and integrity, and in one person fully united without compromise of either nature and not to be confounded or diminished. The mystery of this union of two natures into one Person is known as the hypostatic union and the process of when God became a man is known as the incarnation; both vital doctrines to true Christian orthodoxy. 

We must believe in Him for who He claimed to be and He did claim and assert His deity as well as show it by divers miracles, signs, and wonders. He was like us in every manner except that He never sinned  He also suffered as a human without any special treatment from the Father.  All this so He could relate to us and intercede faithfully.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

What Unknown God Are You Guilty Of Worshiping?

 "If a person comes and preaches some other Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit than the one you had received or a different gospel than the one you embraced..." (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4). 

"Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies," (cf. Jonah 2:8, NLT) 

On Mount Areopagus or Mars Hill in Acts 17, Paul mentioned to the Athenians that he had noticed a shrine "to the unknown God."  They were unwittingly worshiping God without knowing who He is!  But we can worship unknown gods ourselves by the false worship of God, putting Him in a box, or diminishing His deity or glory. It may have all started when Satan told Eve that she could be "as the gods." Men have historically tried to "make a name for themselves" (cf. Gen. 11:4) since the tower of Babel. It is obvious to the pious man that people today aren't interested in being godly anymore, but in being gods, as Satan deceived Eve "You shall be as gods."  

In humanism, they deify man and dethrone God:  "Glory to man in the highest" so to speak. Actually, the Greeks of antiquity thought of humanism in the terms of man being the "measure of all things" ("homo mensura" from Protagoras).  In other words, starting the calculus with man, not God in the equation. 

What I want to point out is that we all can be idolaters without our knowledge, but thank God it's only he who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it is sinning: we sin in ignorance and fall short of true worship in spirit and truth--God for who He really is in reality.  When God loses His awe or becomes commonplace and trite, and the pizzazz of worship seems perfunctory and we even become frauds at worship because of lack of sincerity but in hypocrisy, we are committing idolatry. We must give God his due worship for that is what worship is: what one is worthy of.   

We can have many false gods that we invent and concoct or imagine.  God demands Number One Priority and first place in our hearts.  Anything that takes God's place in our life and removes Him from the equation or picture and inserts ourselves is idolatry. We are to fear God, so fearing anyone else is idolatry  God created man in His image but Voltaire said that man has created God in his image: we imagine that God is like us only more so! 

But we are only in His image so we can worship, love, know and serve Him, not so we can look to Him as our equal or that He is like us.  It was the Greek pantheon that was created in man's image: the gods lusted, got drunk, and deceived just like men, and it was that philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were offended by this image of God as they saw Him: Especially in being the Supreme Good, the standard of perfection and goodness. 

We are not to quarrel with our Maker (cf. Isaiah 45:9) and worship the true and living God as we are commanded and see ourselves in the true light of Scripture as sinners in need of salvation.  We have no glory of our own and our glory is the gift of God. We are not to trust anyone but God and that means any false senses of security and false hopes.  But God is no respecter of persons and demands we worship Him no matter who we are; there's no partiality with God and He shows no favoritism. We are all born sinners in need of grace! God levels the playing field and puts us all in the same boat. Even as believers, there is no caste system or elitism and we are all one in Christ (cf. Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11).  

Now, there are so many ways to commit idolatry that no one can be immune from sin.  It's the First Commandment and also the greatest and what the others depend on. You could say that all other sins are corollaries of this one; failure to let God be God.  We aren't just appeasing an angry God but rendering Him all that is due to His glory. We find out that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and this it's the first base with God. The definition of a Victorian Englishman is a self-made man who worships his creator. The roots of self-adulation, self-admiration, and narcissism are obvious.

Now, just think of the typical American.  In primitive times men worshiped creation such as the sun or moon and had gods for everything like Baal the fertility god.  Israel had to be deported to Babylon and taken captive before learning its lesson not to commit idolatry with the false gods of Canaan.  But we are no better today, though not pagan worshiping idols of stone or clay. Just wonder what impresses you or what your security is in.  There's hero-worship of celebrities, politicians, experts, academics, and athletes.  

What's more, there's the worship of intelligence, beauty, college degrees, technology, success, security,  against loss of it in ID theft, job security, the hype of media or a moment in the limelight, one's party, church, or nation, military superiority, sexuality, toys big and small, but most of them can be included in the lust for fame, power, and fortune instead of seeking God's will. John sums up all sin as either lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (cf. 1 John 2:16). 

People are on a mad search for happiness no matter the cost and no matter whom they worship along the way in a dog-eat-dog world of survival of the fittest and might become right. What America has become is a  materialistic society that survives on greed and possessions.  It's become a competition of keeping up with the Jones and a society that sees itself as haves and have-nots. People aren't satisfied with what God blesses them with and seek riches no matter the cost to their honor or integrity. 

   

A word to the wise is sufficient:  "Thou thoughtest I was altogether as thyself" (cf. Psalm 50:21). 

CAVEAT:  To worship God for who He isn't in reality as some figment of your imagination or anything less than who He is  (human thoughts of God) make you an idolater like Luther said to Erasmus of Rotterdam:  "Your thoughts of God are too human."  Like so many sects that are heretical and teach another Jesus (not divine), and selling him short: we must label this as idolatry.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Are You Living A Lie?

 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." (cf. 2 John 4). 

"For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie," (cf. 2 Thess. 2:11). 

"Gently instruct those who oppose the truth.  Perhaps God will change those people's hearts, and they will learn the truth," (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25). 

"I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth," (cf. 1 John 2:21).  

"But those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger," (cf. Romans 2:8). 

If we are deceived by the devil, we believe his lies (the father of lies) and do not live according to the truth but walk in darkness.  This means we are not in touch with reality, which is according to the truth.  In the last days, many shall "believe the great lie" and fall prey to Satan and his deceptions.  "They refuse to love the truth and so be saved, (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10).   Satan has held them "captive to do his will" and has blinded them (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4).  But "those who know their God shall be strong and resist him," (cf. Dan 11:32).  We can be capable of many crazy things once we practice deception and do not admit or acknowledge the truth and follow the way of lies.  

We can be deceived by conspiracy theories and any such lie of the devil that the ignorant, naive, and foolish are subject to. It may be traced to when a person only believes what his leader tells him or his tribe says: this is a phenomenon of today in our tribalistic society. In the Jim Jones cult of the Peoples Temple, the cult of death that committed mass suicide, they boasted that they needed no Bibles because they had Jim Jones!  No one Bible was found at Georgetown. 

We must realize that God the God of truth and Jesus is the personification of truth itself coming to bear witness of the truth.  Science is a gift of  God to know things but not the only way to know truth! Also, the opposite to deny science can know anything is a lie and not according to the truth. Ultimate trust in anyone but God is idolatry and God is jealous!  Prayer is our first call for help!   We don't ignore science nor act recklessly or dangerously but our first resort in healing through prayer is to call upon the LORD as Asa refused to do in his foot disease he sought not the aid of the LORD but only the physicians (cf. 2 Chron 16:12). 

CAVEAT:  We become like those we admire and believe; trusting or believing liars will eventually make you one; a child of liars.   People see themselves in others and forget that God is the one to emulate, not mankind; Jesus is our Exemplar and Role Model of truth and truth-speaking even to power when it takes courage.   

When we don't put God first and make Him our priority, we invite idolatry and worship of a lie; exchanging the truth of God for a lie and suppressing the truth. Then we become all the more susceptible to lies!  We must all have our allegiance tested.  We will never be satisfied with a false god or faux deity.  Only the truth can set us free(cf. John 8:32)! We can know it and the truth is in Jesus (cf. Eph. 4:21).   If your foundation isn't in the truth you will be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and taken in by the wiles of the devil.  If you only believe what your leader says or approves, what happens when he is gone; you will search for another authority figure to believe. 

The whole idea of the heart of Protestantism is to be able to have the right to dissent, disagree, and protest.  We are not slaves to church dogma and especially to state propaganda, that deals in misinformation. Only a framework or truth and sold Christian worldview will prevent brainwashing and giving into what the devil wants you to believe. We must repeatedly ask ourselves to whom we owe our allegiance; is it God alone?    In sum, we can see deception and lies as the motive and source of idolatry from the God of truth.   Soli Deo Gloria!