Must America Be Punished?

No nation has had the privilege that we have or the high standard of living for so many as America. We are indeed responsible to God for the way we vote and participate and pray for our nation as it is "under God." Israel was specifically known by God above all nations and therefore God chose to punish them (cf. Amos 3) and not let them get away with idolatry.

The captivity in Babylon cured them of that but they had the sign of hypocrisy and legalism to boot notwithstanding. The promises in Deuteronomy 28 refer to God's covenant with Israel and not the church. The Abrahamic covenant of blessing those who bless us is still in effect.

We are admonished to not give up on our leaders but to intercede for them. There's nothing endemically wrong with infidel leaders who are moral and competent. The promise in 2 Chron. 7:14 is valid and pertinent to the Gentile nations: "If My people, who are called by My name [Christians] shall humble themselves [and seek His face, etc.]" God shall "heal the land" That's a promise you can take to the bank! America will only be punished if His people fail our country en masse.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Can Controversy Be Good?

"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3).

John Stott authored the book Christ the Controversialist and I think he's onto something here: Avoiding controversy completely is avoiding Christ, as it were. There are foolish controversies or quarrels, and there are ones that are worth the fight and are "non-negotiables." We shouldn't quarrel about disputable matters, such as eating meat or a Sabbath, but everyone should obey his conscience and be fully convinced in his own mind (Rom. 14:1ff).   Some have an unhealthy craving for quarrels and meanings of words (1 Tim. 6:4,8). 

We are to avoid "foolish controversies" or dissensions according to Titus 3:9. In the book Patton's Principles: A Handbook for Managers Who Mean It he admonishes us not to argue over something that you have nothing or little to gain in winning--to pick our fights wisely.  You could lose a friend arguing about a trivial subject.    As St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo said, "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."

There will be factions though we are not to have a factious spirit (a fruit of the flesh) because Christ said that he came not to "bring peace, but a sword (Matt. 10:34). But we are to beware of "deceptive philosophy and empty deceit.." cf/ Col. 2:8. So don't let anyone fool you with sophistry or "plausible arguments" and not according to the Word (Col. 2:4).   Soli Deo Gloria!

What Do We Know About Israel For Sure?

Defining Israel as the descendants of Jacob, not just of the tribe of Judah, of which the modern-day nation of Israel is composed.

There are a few facts that are clearly delineated in Scripture about present and future Israel: (1) Israel is presently blinded by God but even now the elect or remnant are being saved (Rom. 11:7-8); (2) in the last days "all Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11:26); (3) Israel "stumbled over the stumbling stone" (Christ) (Rom. 9:32); (4) they will "come" to the LORD in the last days (Hos. 3:5); (5) today's condition of Israel is prophesied as without king, prince, sacrifice, sacred stones, ephod or idol (Hos. 3:4); (6) it is prophesied that they shall be "wanderers among the nations" (Hos. 9:17) and in the last days they shall be planted again in their own land (Amos 9:15);(7) Israel is a source of blessing for "in Abraham shall all the nations be blessed" (Gen. 12:2-3); (8) at last God will" pour out His Spirit" on Israel and they shall believe in Christ "whom they pierced" (Zech. 12:10); (9) finally, the mystery of Christ is that the Gentiles and Israel are heirs together in one body and share in the promise of Christ (Eph. 2:6).  There will come a time when they will not miss the ark of the covenant.  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Divine Curriculum

"For it has been granted unto you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but to suffer for his sake" (Phil. 1:29).  "We glory in our afflictions," (cf. Romans 5:3).   Let's not suffer as offensive Christians, but for the offense of the cross, okay?
Job proclaims: "Shall we receive good at the hand of God? and shall we not receive evil [trouble]?" (Job 2:10). The psalmist says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous..." (Ps. 34:19)
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, cried in Lam.3:1: "I am the man who hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath." But he also said: "He does not afflict willingly or grieve the children of men" (Lam. 3:33).

Suffering is the crucible that God uses as a change agent. A sculptor was asked how he could make a horse out of a rock of marble. He replied that he simply takes away everything that doesn't look like a horse! The psalmist said in Ps. 119:67, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word." "It is good that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" (Ps. 119:71).

Suffering, whether it be an ordeal, punishment, discipline, trial, affliction, adversity, disaster, or troubles come to Christians as a given. They are part of Reality 101 and every student of Christ is enrolled in this school: consider it a joy to suffer for Christ's sake like the disciples did. Christ did not exempt himself from difficulty or pain of suffering. Paul shared that he wanted to obtain "the fellowship of sufferings" of Christ. Most of us have our "thorn in the flesh" like Paul and we all have our crosses to bear. Fortunately, our problems are "Father-filtered." Nothing happens apart from His providential guidance. Suffering is par for the course! It comes with the territory!

Adversity builds character and that is the good news. There is an upside of down, as it were. Suffering and success are correlated: Judson said that if you are suffering and not succeeding, it is so that others may succeed; if you are succeeding without suffering, it is so that others may succeed. So, lay out the welcome mat and welcome adversity and trials as friends and rejoice! They help us conform to the image of Christ. God sees the long-term result and the goal is Christ-likeness. If we let the world change us we are conformers if Christ changes us we are transformers. We have Christ's sympathy, for He did not exempt Himself from suffering.

Life is no bed of roses and God never promised us a rose garden. But we are not to get paranoid or develop a martyr's complex either, thinking the world is out to get us. "For it has been granted unto you not only to believe in Him but to suffer for His sake" (cf. Phil. 1:29). Christ learned obedience from what He suffered and was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (cf. Isa. 53:3).

Grief or trouble makes us bitter or better. NB:  experience is not what happens to you but what happens in you.  The same sun melts the butter and hardens the clay. Christians are like tea bags that you don't know what they're like till their in hot water. We should refrain from pity parties and have the attitude of Viktor Frankl, Viennese psychiatrist captured by the Nazi's, that "this too shall pass." He said that man can survive any "what" if he has a "why." Our attitude cannot be taken from us and it determines our altitude.

When we see others suffer we are not to gloat or feel superior, but think, "There but for the grace of God, go I." Scripture says in Obadiah 12: "Do not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune." God wants to teach us by other's examples but may have to get our attention by other means. It has been said, "God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains." All suffering is to bring glory to God and conform us to His image that we may share in His holiness. God had said what great things Paul would suffer for the kingdom and some are mentioned in 2 Cor. 11:16ff such as shipwreck, stoning, exposure, scourging, et cetera. "When times are good to be happy; but when times are bad to consider: God has made the one as well as the other" (Eccl. 6:10).

Remember, that it only takes a night to make a mushroom, but many years to make an oak. A good summation would be as Job said: "The Lord knows the way that I take; when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). Hebrews says not to despise the chastening of the Lord! Job said in Job 5:7 that "But man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." And "Man, born of woman, is of few days and full of trouble" (cf. ob 14:1). So, why do bad things happen to good people? There are no good people in God's estimation and also, bad things happen to bad people, too.

Pertinent verses are as follows:  "He gets their attention through affliction, "(cf. Job 36:155).  "Many are the afflictions of the righteous..." (cf. Ps. 34:19). "I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." But God's crucible is Father-filtered so that all things work together for our good (Rom. 8:28). What faith Job has: "Though He slay me I shall trust Him" (cf. Job 13:15). Soli Deo Gloria!

Are We Keeping In Touch?

I'm not talking about keeping in touch with family and friends, though this is vital to a healthy and fit spiritual life--for if we are awry in our human relationships we are ill at ease with God too. They can be distinguished but not separated; we need both the vertical and the horizontal relationship to be well spiritually. Many would assume that a long articulate prayer will automatically get results and since it impresses those in attendance, it expresses God's will more explicitly. We need not draw attention to ourselves; the best prayers get lost in the presence of God. Job said, "O that I might know where I might find him."

Prayer is like entering another dimension where we approach the throne room and God's gracious presence and the Holy Spirit just uses us as a channel or conduit of grace to pray on our behalf. "...The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." [Better feelings without words, than words without feelings, it has been said.] And so God translates our prayers in spite of ourselves--no need to impress God with high sounding words or thinking that with many words we will be heard. Recall the publican who simply prayed, "God be merciful to me the sinner!"

Preachers tend to sermonize and preach in their prayers and think that it is the time for a doctrinal exposition or want to elaborate the best they know-how even if the average Joe gets lost in the shuffle. Some believers have a special anointing of prayer-works and are the exception to the rule; J. I. Packer says that his prayers are feeble as it were and nothing to brag about but they are his private matter.

The test of prayer is the result, not that we are expedient, but we must realize that it is done to us according to our faith. The Pharisees were very articulate and pompous in their prayers and Jesus called them hypocrites. Psalm 116:1-2 shows us that the psalmist prayed because he knew God heard him. This is my experience: the more I realize that God hears me, the more I pray. Psalm 119 is the longest prayer in the Bible and shows that prayer can be refined and polished and doesn't always have to be spontaneous, extemporaneous, or be an ad lib effort.

 Now the best players put the focus on God and not on ourselves; the more they dwell on Christ the closer we draw to the throne of grace. We are not to always be uttering prayers, but be in the attitude of prayer with the line open, as it were. Finally, it is important to "pray the Word" and by this, I mean utter the prayers of the Bible and personalize the text to your own life situation.   Soli Deo Gloria!

What Is Genuine Fellowship?

Our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son and with one another in Christ (1 John 1:3,7). "If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another...." According to the Navigators, fellowship is on the "Wheel of Obedience" along with prayer, witnessing and Bible study. The early disciples devoted themselves to fellowship... (Acts 2:42). This is God's body-building program where we exercise our spiritual gifts. The Greek word is koinonia. By definition, fellowship is two fellows in the same ship. We must share something in common to have fellowship.  There is no fellowship with the unbeliever as light and darkness (2 Cor. 6:14).

Male bonding is not fellowship per se, but fellowship is a sort of bonding, nevertheless. "Let us endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3). The hobby of the 17th-century gentleman was to talk theology or what is called "God-talk" (but even this is not necessarily true fellowship, but can be merely intellectual or academic). When two Christians get together ("Whenever two or three are gathered together in my name there I am") and talk about the weather or sports it is not necessarily true fellowship. This is faux fellowship. We don't need a neutral subject to share with one another. In Malachi, the fellowship was with those who feared the Lord and spoke often with one another (Mal. 3:16).

There are some who think they are spiritual lone rangers or lone wolves. Like the Simon and Garfunkel song "I Am A Rock." It says: "I have no need for friendship, friendship causes pain" and "A rock feels no pain and an island never cries...." I like the Beatles' lyrics better: "I get by with a little help from my friends." We are all in this thing together and need each other as one part of the body needs another.

The purpose of fellowship is manifold: to edify the body, share honesty, touch base, have good company, keep in touch, be accountable, be a companion, share burdens, have someone to talk to in time of need; we are not to have a bed of roses or a rose garden and not to be comfortable, but be comforters (2 Cor. 1:4).

In sum, we are social creatures and should always strive to reach the "rock higher than [us]." "For iron sharpens iron: so a man the countenance of his friend"(Prov. 27:17).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Is Evolution Untenable?

They say they have found the missing link; actually, there are thousands of missing links and of the 11 million forms of life on earth there are none--no half pig and half sheep or half horse and a half cow or half ape half human. I say that the missing ling link between great ape and man is one who is building a chapel because animals are oblivious to God and don't have the necessary equipment to know Him or worship Him. They simply don't have the mind to know Him, the will to obey nor the affections to love Him.

I'm not saying animals don't have intellect, will or feelings--I'm saying only on a limited scale. Man is the crown of God's creation in His image and the only one of the creatures that God said He breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living being. Some apes and chimps are smarter than the dumbest humans intellectually (so this cannot be the distinguishing trait), but they still aren't able to know God and have eternal life and worship God in Spirit and Truth. There are things that distinguish man from beast: thinking in the abstract and imagination, ability to analyze and criticize self, self-consciousness, and embarrassment, knowing good and evil, desire to know God, loss of innocence, awareness of eternity and death, and a conscience to guide instead of instinct.

We can adduce what man has that animals don't by a sort of algorithm. The point of this is that if we say a man is an animal then it logically follows that it is morally right to experiment on humans like the Nazis did; if we say animals are people too, then we must extend rights to them and not eat them or experiment on them.

BUT NOTE:  Animals are not capable of sinning or of worshiping God so this is what separates man who alone is bad enough to need salvation since he defies God and does not obey in his rebellion and stubbornness. ANIMALS ARE OBLIVIOUS TO GOD; NO ANIMAL EVER BUILT A CHAPEL OR PRAYED.

The Achilles' heel of evolution is that they cannot explain the precise origin of life.  Experiments of life fail to succeed without rigging the system in a way it couldn't have been in primordial times.   They presume a primordial soup that gave rise to simple life but doesn't know where it came from.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Do You Know The Devil's Schemes?

Charlie Riggs says we should be aware of the wiles of the devil so we don't get entangled in his web. "We are not unaware of his schemes" (2 Cor. 2:11).  Even though the cartoon character Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us" we are our own worst enemy--part of the EVIL TRIUMVIRATE of the world, the flesh, and the devil--and Sun Tzu, in The Art of War, said to know your enemy, [Lord Nelson told his troops who were quarreling, "Gentlemen, the enemy is over there."] this is Satan's turf and we live in enemy-occupied territory. The devil is the "god of this world [age]" (2 Cor 4:4).

The battle has just begun, but the battle is the Lords! "If God be for us, who can be against us?" When we become saved, the battle is initiated. Remember the battle-cry of King David facing Goliath: "I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts!" Live in victory over the foe! The battle-cry of the Reformation was "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" by Martin Luther. who had quite a fight with the devil?

The devil is perfectly capable of putting evil thoughts into your mind, (recall what Jesus said to Peter when he rebuked him: "Get behind Me, Satan."), but don't blame the devil for your own evil, for Jesus said "for from within, out of man's heart proceeds evil thoughts..." (Mark 7:21) As examples, Satan "rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census" (2 Chron. 21:1), and Peter told Ananias that Satan had filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit.

Let's not think there is a devil around every corner and all our evil thoughts must be demonic. We are plenty of evil ourselves ("The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9). You may not be able to pinpoint which thoughts are yours and which are the devils, but remember Martin Luther said that you can't keep a sparrow from flying over your head, but you can keep him from making a nest in your hair. Satan wants you to believe a lie because he is the father of lies. He is deceptive and the accuser of the brethren before God day and night. The Holy Spirit convicts with an open and shut case, Satan accuses. The primary area of Satan attacks is our pride, which was the first sin of Satan. Even though Satan can instill evil, we are still responsible (Mea culpa) and we still decide to act on our thoughts or not to.

Satan uses psychological warfare or mind games (he messes with your thinking) and his number one strategy is to divide and conquer. But don't ever give the devil an opportunity: submit to God and he will flee from you. "Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). There is the story of a Civil War soldier who couldn't make up his mind what side to be on, so he wore half gray and half blue; he got shot at by both sides. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12).

Don't be a sitting duck waiting for the devil to attack--be proactive and anticipate that he "prowls around like a roaring lion," as Peter says. He has subtle tactics and his multitudinous demons do his dirty work. One of his strategies is to accuse you and make you feel guilty but remember "there is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," according to Rom. 8:1. There is a big difference between the open and shut case of the Holy Spirit's convicting ministry and the vague accusations to make you feel guilt and shame.

We must daily pray "Deliver us from evil." The M.O. of the devil is "to steal, to kill, and to destroy;" [his name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek Apollyon] he wants to ruin your life; whereas God has a beautiful plan for your life. We can be assured that the battle is the Lord's and again "greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Whatever Became of Sin?

This is the title of a book by Dr. Karl Menninger, the eminent psychiatrist. For the most part, psychiatrists see all mental problems as a chemical imbalance  (because we do not have a soul, just a material body), so this book was revolutionary in thought. Billy Graham says sin is a disease. The only cure is the blood of Christ. [The solution to our three problems of sin, death, and Satan.] The three areas of sin are the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes (cf. 1 John 2:15). The Greek word hamartia means to "miss the mark" or to fall short of a goal; it is an archery term and we sin when we miss achieving the norm or mark of God's law as the standard.

To label sin as human weakness, bad habits, mistakes, errors, or shortcomings merely makes the sin more dangerous--like mislabeling poison as the essence of peppermint! There are basically five names for sin: lawlessness (1 John 3:4); iniquity or deviating from right (Hos. 14:1); missing the mark (Rom. 3:23); trespassing or selfishness (Mark 8:34); and unbelief (1 John 5:10).

A renowned philosopher said that the "absurd is sin without God." Take God out of the equation and you can have no sin. When we violate our fellow man we sin against him; when we violate God's holiness we sin against Him. So what is sin? A succinct definition of sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of, the Law of God, or the will of God.

Jesus mentioned sins of the heart--these have to do with our mental attitude. There are sins of commission (when God's Law is couched in negative terms, as R. C. Sproul says, such as "Thou shalt not..."), and sins of omission (not sins we haven't gotten around to committing yet, but where we fall short of the glory of God and fail to do what Jesus would do, or what is commanded). John Bunyan wrote a book Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and Paul called himself the chief of sinners also, so we need not despair that our sins are too bad to be forgiven. Charlie Riggs sees sin as any thought, word, act, omission or desires contrary to the Law of God.

Of course, sin is universal and we are born sinners: "We are not sinners because we sin, rather we sin because we are sinners," as it has been said. The point to see our sin is not that we are "good enough to be saved, but bad enough to need salvation". "We can't escape our birthright," Billy Graham says.

Not all sins are equal though; there are some more heinous or egregious than others and are an abomination and special offense to God. There is no such thing as venial and mortal sins as Rome teaches. Venial being forgivable, and mortal being those the kill the justification of grace and require the sacrament of penance ("the second plank of salvation for those who have made shipwreck of their faith).

No sin can make you lose your salvation, and all your sins, as a believe, are forgivable and covered by the blood of Christ. But remember Christ is always making intercession for us when we sin (Heb. 7:25) and when we sin we only have to confess it and move on according to 1 John 1:9 ("If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness").  Soli Deo Gloria!

How the Earth Was Made

Maybe you've been intrigued by History's "How the Earth Was Made." Scientists think they have it all figured out! But I'm sorry, you can't take God out of the equation and maintain intellectual integrity--you're really committing mental suicide. Man will be without excuse as Rom 1:20 proclaims. They supposedly believe in the "Big Bang" but not in the "Beginner!" If you heard an explosion, wouldn't you wonder whodunit? Science is very good at telling us "know-how" but not "know-why." If they would stick to their guns on what they observe in nature there would be no conflict. One who believes science and religion cannot coexist or contradict each other doesn't know either science or religion. I can see how you can look at the sad state of affairs of a man socially and wonder if there's a God, but how can you not look up to the heavens and deny Him? Napoleon was once asked if there was a God: (looking to heaven)  "But who made all that?"

"In the beginning God...." God is the logical starting point and orientation point to get our bearings straight. If your philosophy starts anywhere else it will be erroneous. The source of all and instigator of all is God. This is of primary importance, i.e., that we acknowledge that God is the one and only creator--we are merely creatures. The account is not comprehensive, but gives us what we need to know--God believes in a need to know philosophy. The question of "when" is the beginning--the beginning of time and space as we know it--yes the Bible proclaims that time had a beginning and scientists are realizing this also.  It is better to begin with God and explain the universe, than begin with the universe and try to explain God.

The point is that everything in our four-dimensions of the time-space continuum had a beginning. You and I both had beginnings. Every atom had a beginning; nothing could be more obvious. But R. C. Sproul says not to jump to the conclusion that everything had a beginning. That would be "fatal" and contrary to reason, science, logic, and faith. Why? Imagine the total negation of everything--total nothingness! A rule of science and philosophy says: Ex nihilo, nihil fit or "out of nothing, nothing comes." There must be something transcendent or supreme over creation that didn't have a beginning in order for everything to exist in time and space. We all owe our very existence to this Being (the formulation we all refer to as "God").
 
The Bible gives us everything we need to know for our faith to nurture and save us. It answers "why," "what," and "who" and "when." God created the earth by His Word or command (Ps 33:6,9; Heb 11:6). He created it out of nothing by virtue of His essence as Creator-God. Rev 4:11 gives us the reason why God created the heavens and the earth. For the glory of God and that it would elicit worship of the Godhead.   Soli Deo Gloria!