The son of Pres. Ronald Reagan, unabashed atheist Ron Reagan, is a spokesman and advertises for the Freedom From Religion Foundation saying that he is "not afraid of burning in hell." Actually, God doesn't seek to save us by scaring us to death or threatening us, though this does work for some (to others it's counterproductive), to convict us of our sin and need for Him--the unsaved see no need for God. Hell doesn't just stand for fire and brimstone, but a place of torments, which is different for everyone. God doesn't punish in hell beyond what strict justice demands and is known for tempering His justice with mercy. The wicked get their comeuppance or recompense in hell because the earth is not adequate enough retribution. Ron Reagan may not be afraid of the fires of hell, but there is something he does dread and is afraid of and God knows what that is. I believe there are no atheists in foxholes--perhaps Ron Reagan has never faced death! He's lived such a protected and sheltered life--what does he know of fear? No one is completely fearless.
Now, back to Ron Reagan's stand against the influence of religion in America. If he's an atheist, where did he get his sense of right and wrong from? If there is no God, according to Dostoevsky, all things are permissible. Without God in the equation there is no ultimate standard of right and wrong, good and evil--it's all relative. Who's to say that religion is a bad thing? But the fact is that this is an anti-American organization because the US Constitution doesn't grant freedom from religion but freedom of religion--two entirely different concepts.
Our nation cannot coerce nor establish a religion but recognizes individual rights to worship as one chooses. These atheists have become anti-theists in their animus against the One they claim doesn't exist. But Americans have the inherent right conferred by God as unalienable to practice their worship of God as they see fit. But we also have the right to be an influence (the free exercise thereof) but not to enforce our faith on our society, just like any other group, which may be a reflection of our religious viewpoints. On the other hand, evolution is taught as a religion or anti-religion even so religiously.
Why is Ron Reagan so worried about the influence of religion? Nearly every positive social movement has been done in the name of God: from the end of the gladiators and slavery in Rome, to public education, to women's and children's labor rights, to voting rights, to freedom from slavery in the US (actually freedom is a gift of Christianity), to the founding of manifold institutions of higher learning, and even of such charitable organizations such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, leprosariums, and hospitals, among other relief organizations worldwide. The list goes on and no one denies that Christians have made a positive impact on the world. Just ask yourself, "How many relief organizations or noble causes have been founded by atheists? Would you even go to a hospital for atheists? It is not true that the world would've been better hadn't Christ been born.
The church admittedly has made mistakes such as the Inquisition, the Thirty-Years War, the witch hunts, and the Crusades, but look at the slaughter of millions done in the name of Marxism! More evil has been done in the name of atheism bar none. Secular historian H. G. Wells said in Outline of History that Jesus Christ is "easily the most dominant figure in history." The track record of atheists speaks for itself, but the track record of Christianity also speaks for itself; even atheist Bertrand Russell said that "what the world needs is more Chrisitan love." The notion that Christianity has contributed nothing good to the world, as Madalyn Murray O'Hair has suggested, is ludicrous.
The agenda of the Secularists is to remove Christianity from the marketplace and any influence in the public square. The high courts have established Secular Humanism as a bona fide religion and its influence in the public square is "religious." Our forefathers were highly religious and sought the providence of God in framing our Consitution. The secularization of society is something we ought to beware of and be on the lookout for, as well as be prepared for and informed for the fight.
There is no "social gospel" but the Second Great Commission is to reform society and seek the betterment of the culture (cf. Jer. 29:7). We are the salt and light of the sinful world. The world is a better place due to the Christian impact and credit should be given where credit is due. Secularists are fine with Christians as long as they keep their faith privatized, but when they apply it in the public square and preach in the open marketplace of ideas, they object and think that this is solely their domain. We must not concede the world to the secularists, but declare our colors! Soli Deo Gloria!
To bridge the gap between so-called theologians and regular "students" of the Word and make polemics palatable. Contact me @ bloggerbro@outlook.com To search title keywords: title:example or label as label:example; or enter a keyword in search engine ATTN: SITE USING COOKIES!
About Me
- Karl Broberg
- I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
What Is Earth Made Of?...
I'm not a scientist, and I certainly don't espouse "scientism," or the belief that science is the only valid source of knowledge, but I do believe that science can find facts, just like the Bible has scientific facts in it without having any scientific absurdities or known mistakes--where the Bible does make scientific statements, it's accurate; though it's not a science manual (though there are several instances where the Bible's knowledge is more advanced than that of current science). We must make use of all sources of knowledge: rationality, empiricism, experience, logic, history, philosophy, and revelation from God. Ultimately, all information is contingent upon its presupposition, and all knowledge depends ultimately upon God, the source. As Augustine said, "All truth is God's truth." All truth meets at the top, he would say! That's why the Bible has the roots of every major academic discipline and has something to say to initiate the study of each one from philosophy, science, logic, ethics, history, economics, theology, psychology, sociology, and even politics. All these academic endeavors have their fulfillment in the person of Christ.
Science can demonstrate that energy and matter exist, but when they allege that this is all there is, they are presumptuous (you cannot prove a universal negative), such as Carl Sagan saying, "The cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be." That is a philosophical or theological statement not in the prerogative or domain of science to make. For instance, when science says that miracles are a violation of natural law, they are saying natural law is God or has His power and that there is no Almighty who is the Lawgiver and is not bound by natural law but can overrule it at will. And so the question of miracles is really a philosophical and theological one, not a scientific one.
In addition to energy/matter/quanta in the time-space continuum (time being the corollary of space and matter), we see information, design, order, and plans in our cosmos from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the largest galaxy. Christians adhere to spirit. New Agers believe in energy in everything, in fact, everything having a spirit and the existence of a Great Spark of life. How can one not see the Anthropic Principle on earth, with its many contingent laws and nature's conveniences and not see God's handiwork? "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork!" (Psa. 19:1, ESV). Napoleon was asked why he believed: all you have to do is look to the heavens--"Who made that?" "The theory of an eternal universe is untenable!" Scientists assume the big bang and "a brief history of time" itself--which the Bible verifies (2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:2). Steven Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time postulating this hypothesis.
Logic will tell you that if there's creation, there must be a Creator. If there was a beginning or Big Bang, then there had to be a Beginner or One who got the big bang going. The Big Bang was so fine-tuned that even slight maladjustments would've made the anthropic principle impossible. One can also reason that there is a plan because of a Planner, a design because of a Designer, order because of an Orderer, and a purpose because of a "Purposer." Just like you assume an artist looking at art and an architect looking at a building ("For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything," cf. Heb. 3:4, NIV). Now, think of all the information out there! Carl Sagan said that he'd believe in intelligence if we would get a message of information from outer space. Well, there's plenty of intelligence on earth to look at to assume a Great Intelligence: every living thing as DNA or the fingerprint of God and is encoded with information, showing "intelligent design" or ID (the human genome has as much info as an entire set of encyclopedias).
Now, the ultimate dilemma or issue: we have information, which necessitates thought, which necessitates a thinker! A mind assumes a Higher Mind (the Logos of Scripture) and scientists don't dare go there because they want to deny His existence. The logical order of events is this: Thinker, thought, and then, finally, object or thing comprising forethought, design, or plan. One of Einstein's earlier statements was that God was a "pure mathematical mind." To some astronomers, the universe appears as one gigantic mathematical equation! Whether one believes in a personal God or not, there had to be a First Cause, Prime Mover, or Causa Prima, of Aristotle, and logic tells us that eternal regression and crossing infinity are impossible: everything cannot be contingent, but there must be something that needs no one or nothing and is not contingent for the chain of events to begin! We say this because, according to logic, nothing can create or cause itself, and nothing just happens or appears without a cause. One rule says that everything that begins to exist has a cause--God had no beginning and no cause and the universe began to exist and had a cause!
In sum, we must start with God and explain the universe, not the other way around! "In the beginning God..." and "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." We must start somewhere with the missing ingredient of information and its Creator, or Thinker--the Ultimate Mind! Point to ponder: "The only system of thought that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point." (Athanasius). Soli Deo Gloria!
Science can demonstrate that energy and matter exist, but when they allege that this is all there is, they are presumptuous (you cannot prove a universal negative), such as Carl Sagan saying, "The cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be." That is a philosophical or theological statement not in the prerogative or domain of science to make. For instance, when science says that miracles are a violation of natural law, they are saying natural law is God or has His power and that there is no Almighty who is the Lawgiver and is not bound by natural law but can overrule it at will. And so the question of miracles is really a philosophical and theological one, not a scientific one.
In addition to energy/matter/quanta in the time-space continuum (time being the corollary of space and matter), we see information, design, order, and plans in our cosmos from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the largest galaxy. Christians adhere to spirit. New Agers believe in energy in everything, in fact, everything having a spirit and the existence of a Great Spark of life. How can one not see the Anthropic Principle on earth, with its many contingent laws and nature's conveniences and not see God's handiwork? "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork!" (Psa. 19:1, ESV). Napoleon was asked why he believed: all you have to do is look to the heavens--"Who made that?" "The theory of an eternal universe is untenable!" Scientists assume the big bang and "a brief history of time" itself--which the Bible verifies (2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:2). Steven Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time postulating this hypothesis.
Logic will tell you that if there's creation, there must be a Creator. If there was a beginning or Big Bang, then there had to be a Beginner or One who got the big bang going. The Big Bang was so fine-tuned that even slight maladjustments would've made the anthropic principle impossible. One can also reason that there is a plan because of a Planner, a design because of a Designer, order because of an Orderer, and a purpose because of a "Purposer." Just like you assume an artist looking at art and an architect looking at a building ("For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything," cf. Heb. 3:4, NIV). Now, think of all the information out there! Carl Sagan said that he'd believe in intelligence if we would get a message of information from outer space. Well, there's plenty of intelligence on earth to look at to assume a Great Intelligence: every living thing as DNA or the fingerprint of God and is encoded with information, showing "intelligent design" or ID (the human genome has as much info as an entire set of encyclopedias).
Now, the ultimate dilemma or issue: we have information, which necessitates thought, which necessitates a thinker! A mind assumes a Higher Mind (the Logos of Scripture) and scientists don't dare go there because they want to deny His existence. The logical order of events is this: Thinker, thought, and then, finally, object or thing comprising forethought, design, or plan. One of Einstein's earlier statements was that God was a "pure mathematical mind." To some astronomers, the universe appears as one gigantic mathematical equation! Whether one believes in a personal God or not, there had to be a First Cause, Prime Mover, or Causa Prima, of Aristotle, and logic tells us that eternal regression and crossing infinity are impossible: everything cannot be contingent, but there must be something that needs no one or nothing and is not contingent for the chain of events to begin! We say this because, according to logic, nothing can create or cause itself, and nothing just happens or appears without a cause. One rule says that everything that begins to exist has a cause--God had no beginning and no cause and the universe began to exist and had a cause!
In sum, we must start with God and explain the universe, not the other way around! "In the beginning God..." and "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." We must start somewhere with the missing ingredient of information and its Creator, or Thinker--the Ultimate Mind! Point to ponder: "The only system of thought that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point." (Athanasius). Soli Deo Gloria!
Monday, March 18, 2019
Lord, Teach Us To Pray!
"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3, ESV).
"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him" (John 4:24, ESV).
The disciples saw the prayer life of Jesus in action and besought Him to share how they could partake of this privilege of intimate communion with God the Father. If you will study all of Scripture, nowhere does it teach us the methodology of prayer or how to do it in a godly fashion. There had been heroes of prayer like Moses, Elijah, Daniel, David, and other prophets, but they weren't teachers of prayer. Obedient prayer with God is done in protocol with all due respect to any believer's prayer, but God is a God of order and design and Jesus did teach on the subject to give us a precedent. only the Lord would be qualified to teach us how to pray to the Father because God is His Father.
The Father seeks such to worship Him, those who do so in the Spirit and in truth. We are to go directly to the Father by virtue of Christ's name and authority--going to the top as it were! The Father, who sees in secret will reward us. There is no example of prayer by Paul or Peter of praying to anyone but the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This doesn't preclude calling on the name of the Lord for salvation or deliverance in any capacity--for He's the Savior. But our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son (cf. 1 John 1:3). We must not put God in a box or make Him one-dimensional by limiting the scope of our prayer and denying the Godhead or triune God. We pray in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit, unto the Father (cf. Eph. 2:18). Jesus reiterated that no one comes to the Father, except through Him.
We have the right to address the Deity the way we choose, but ignorance is no excuse and we must have faith as the missing ingredient; however, corporate and personal prayer follow the template or paradigm of the ideal prayer, as given in the Lord's prayer. We pray with Scriptural warrant and authority so as not to offend the weaker brethren who may be inclined to judge. Remember, 1 Cor. 8:12 says we sin against our brother when we wound his conscience and our liberty is limited by his conscience. The point is that, just because we have a right to do our own thing, it may not be wise but counterproductive.
God is more than a throwback to our need for a father figure, He's everything we need and can meet all our needs--we are never bankrupt when we have Him as an asset! We all need to embrace God as our heavenly Father and become intimate with the Almighty as a matter of becoming a child of God.
CAVEAT: WE ARE TO BEWARE OF CHARISMATIC LEADERS THAT LEAD THE FLOCK ASTRAY AND THE FLOCK LEARNS TO TRUST THEM INSTEAD OF SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES ON THE MATTER. This is how heresies and cults begin--with the flock forsaking the truth and thinking sound doctrine and the truth doesn't matter--only singing kumbaya and being congenial does. Soli Deo Gloria!
;
"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him" (John 4:24, ESV).
The disciples saw the prayer life of Jesus in action and besought Him to share how they could partake of this privilege of intimate communion with God the Father. If you will study all of Scripture, nowhere does it teach us the methodology of prayer or how to do it in a godly fashion. There had been heroes of prayer like Moses, Elijah, Daniel, David, and other prophets, but they weren't teachers of prayer. Obedient prayer with God is done in protocol with all due respect to any believer's prayer, but God is a God of order and design and Jesus did teach on the subject to give us a precedent. only the Lord would be qualified to teach us how to pray to the Father because God is His Father.
The Father seeks such to worship Him, those who do so in the Spirit and in truth. We are to go directly to the Father by virtue of Christ's name and authority--going to the top as it were! The Father, who sees in secret will reward us. There is no example of prayer by Paul or Peter of praying to anyone but the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This doesn't preclude calling on the name of the Lord for salvation or deliverance in any capacity--for He's the Savior. But our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son (cf. 1 John 1:3). We must not put God in a box or make Him one-dimensional by limiting the scope of our prayer and denying the Godhead or triune God. We pray in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit, unto the Father (cf. Eph. 2:18). Jesus reiterated that no one comes to the Father, except through Him.
We have the right to address the Deity the way we choose, but ignorance is no excuse and we must have faith as the missing ingredient; however, corporate and personal prayer follow the template or paradigm of the ideal prayer, as given in the Lord's prayer. We pray with Scriptural warrant and authority so as not to offend the weaker brethren who may be inclined to judge. Remember, 1 Cor. 8:12 says we sin against our brother when we wound his conscience and our liberty is limited by his conscience. The point is that, just because we have a right to do our own thing, it may not be wise but counterproductive.
God is more than a throwback to our need for a father figure, He's everything we need and can meet all our needs--we are never bankrupt when we have Him as an asset! We all need to embrace God as our heavenly Father and become intimate with the Almighty as a matter of becoming a child of God.
CAVEAT: WE ARE TO BEWARE OF CHARISMATIC LEADERS THAT LEAD THE FLOCK ASTRAY AND THE FLOCK LEARNS TO TRUST THEM INSTEAD OF SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES ON THE MATTER. This is how heresies and cults begin--with the flock forsaking the truth and thinking sound doctrine and the truth doesn't matter--only singing kumbaya and being congenial does. Soli Deo Gloria!
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Sunday, March 17, 2019
Prone To Wander
"Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, Your sins have been your downfall! ... 'I will heal their waywardness [backsliding] and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them" (Hosea 14:1,4, NIV).
"Backsliders get what they deserve..." (Prov. 14:14, NLT).
"Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself..." (Isa. 45:15, NIV).
"But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night...[?]'" (Job 35:10, NIV).
"... God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart" (2 Chron. 32:31, ESV).
Robert Robinson wrote the famous hymn "Come Thou Fount" to show his struggle with the faith and how God got him through the hard times. Everyone is subject to backsliding, depression, and wandering from the faith because this is the natural inclination of our sin nature. Robinson was indeed a man of struggles and hardship and suffered melancholy, known today as depression. In fact, in his later years, he would've given anything to feel like he did at twenty-two writing that hymn. It would seem it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. The feelings come and go like a yo-yo and a weather-vane in a storm, but our faith must endure. We must learn Reality 101 that we also must not depend upon feelings as a measure of our faith, but obedience. Sooner or later, we must face the reality of the test of our faith.
We may wonder about the whereabouts of God as Job did ("If only I knew where to find him..." in Job 23:3, NIV) and if He is meeting His end of the deal and if we do really have faith after all. The fact is, is that the same trials make some bitter, and some better. We ought to rejoice in our sufferings (cf. Rom. 5:3) and that we are considered worthy to suffer for His name's sake. There may be times when there seems no hope like Job experienced, or one may be at the end of one's rope and their hope has perished like Jeremiah's. But we must learn to acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of the storm and if He got us to it, He'll get us through it! We don't have to wonder where God is, but where our faith is! God can calm all the storms of life and every stormy relationship or stressful event. We hang in there like Job in Job 14:14, NIV: "...All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come."
We must feel the pain to be able to relate and to and comfort others in their afflictions (cf. 2 Cor. 1:10)! That's one reason Jesus felt our pains and was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief"--to identify with us. Even believers may wonder periodically if God is really there, and if He is aware of our situation. But no problem is too trivial or too big for our God to be able to take care of. But note that God didn't explain Himself to Job and doesn't need to explain Himself to us--He's too profound! We all have a cross to bear, a crucible that comes with the territory--no cross means no crown! It is adversity that builds character and if we had no problems our faith could never be tested--and it's more precious than silver and gold. So, when your storm comes, learn to seek God and His presence and the comfort of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus isn't asking anything of us He didn't go through Himself (He didn't exempt Himself from predicaments, adversities, and exigencies) but He was honest enough to warn us to count the cost. No one gets through life trouble free or without any stress or trials; we need it to grow by them though. We must not question where God is, but ask ourselves: Where isn't God? And we must celebrate the fact that the battle is the Lord's, and we are fighting from victory, not for victory. This is where we find out if we have the right stuff to be disciples and what we are made of. We cannot skate through life problem-free! Let's echo Alfred, Lord Tennyson's words: "I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar." In the meantime, we are to go over to the other side with Jesus at the helm and simply live a life following Him in obedience to prove our faith and love.
Note that God is not playing cosmic hide-and-seek and He is not MIA or missing-in-action! Next time, don't wonder about God, but where you are! The late Francis Schaeffer said, "He is there and He is not silent." St. Augustine of Hippo said, "You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you." Pascal, in the same vein, talked of a "God-shaped blank" or vacuum only God can fill! Soli Deo Gloria!
"Backsliders get what they deserve..." (Prov. 14:14, NLT).
"Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself..." (Isa. 45:15, NIV).
"But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night...[?]'" (Job 35:10, NIV).
"... God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart" (2 Chron. 32:31, ESV).
Robert Robinson wrote the famous hymn "Come Thou Fount" to show his struggle with the faith and how God got him through the hard times. Everyone is subject to backsliding, depression, and wandering from the faith because this is the natural inclination of our sin nature. Robinson was indeed a man of struggles and hardship and suffered melancholy, known today as depression. In fact, in his later years, he would've given anything to feel like he did at twenty-two writing that hymn. It would seem it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. The feelings come and go like a yo-yo and a weather-vane in a storm, but our faith must endure. We must learn Reality 101 that we also must not depend upon feelings as a measure of our faith, but obedience. Sooner or later, we must face the reality of the test of our faith.
We may wonder about the whereabouts of God as Job did ("If only I knew where to find him..." in Job 23:3, NIV) and if He is meeting His end of the deal and if we do really have faith after all. The fact is, is that the same trials make some bitter, and some better. We ought to rejoice in our sufferings (cf. Rom. 5:3) and that we are considered worthy to suffer for His name's sake. There may be times when there seems no hope like Job experienced, or one may be at the end of one's rope and their hope has perished like Jeremiah's. But we must learn to acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of the storm and if He got us to it, He'll get us through it! We don't have to wonder where God is, but where our faith is! God can calm all the storms of life and every stormy relationship or stressful event. We hang in there like Job in Job 14:14, NIV: "...All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come."
We must feel the pain to be able to relate and to and comfort others in their afflictions (cf. 2 Cor. 1:10)! That's one reason Jesus felt our pains and was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief"--to identify with us. Even believers may wonder periodically if God is really there, and if He is aware of our situation. But no problem is too trivial or too big for our God to be able to take care of. But note that God didn't explain Himself to Job and doesn't need to explain Himself to us--He's too profound! We all have a cross to bear, a crucible that comes with the territory--no cross means no crown! It is adversity that builds character and if we had no problems our faith could never be tested--and it's more precious than silver and gold. So, when your storm comes, learn to seek God and His presence and the comfort of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus isn't asking anything of us He didn't go through Himself (He didn't exempt Himself from predicaments, adversities, and exigencies) but He was honest enough to warn us to count the cost. No one gets through life trouble free or without any stress or trials; we need it to grow by them though. We must not question where God is, but ask ourselves: Where isn't God? And we must celebrate the fact that the battle is the Lord's, and we are fighting from victory, not for victory. This is where we find out if we have the right stuff to be disciples and what we are made of. We cannot skate through life problem-free! Let's echo Alfred, Lord Tennyson's words: "I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar." In the meantime, we are to go over to the other side with Jesus at the helm and simply live a life following Him in obedience to prove our faith and love.
Note that God is not playing cosmic hide-and-seek and He is not MIA or missing-in-action! Next time, don't wonder about God, but where you are! The late Francis Schaeffer said, "He is there and He is not silent." St. Augustine of Hippo said, "You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you." Pascal, in the same vein, talked of a "God-shaped blank" or vacuum only God can fill! Soli Deo Gloria!
Friday, March 15, 2019
God Has No Plan B
"'Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass,.." (Isaiah 37:26, NIV; cf. 2 Kgs. 19:25).
"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD" (Prov. 21:30, NIV).
"The LORD has made everything for its purpose..." (Prov. 16:4, ESV).
"God doesn't play dice with the universe." --Einstein
Actually, God has no Plan A either! We should ascribe to God the only Plan that is decreed, His Plan and since it will be fulfilled and God cannot fail, be thwarted, nor be frustrated, We don't call it Plan A, but simply God's Plan. Job 42:2 says no plan of God can be thwarted! THERE'S NO PLAN B OR BACKUP PLAN! "The LORD Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand' (Isaiah 14:24, NIV). He further says, "For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?" (Isa. 14:27, NIV). Providence is in play and John Wycliffe was right on in his famous tenet: "All things come to pass of necessity."
As believers, we must realize that God is working all things for our good and turns curses into blessings and the evil one cannot touch us. We must exercise an act of faith and realize that God does work in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform and that He is ultimately and always in control, both now and forever. We should be in awe as God even causes "the wrath of man to praise Him!" (Cf. Psalm 76:10). And our enemies may intend evil, but God works it out for the good and means to bless us in the long term. The problem is that we don't see the big picture and are near-sighted spiritually. Short-term evil can result in long-term good. In fact, Wilhelm Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz saw this world as "the best of all possible worlds." John Wycliffe would concur: "All things come to pas of necessity."
We must get on board with God to get the best will for our lives and for Him to bless us and that we don't have to settle or end up with second best. God's will is done cheerfully and cooperatively in heaven and we are to pray for this on earth, according to the Lord's prayer. In fact, His Plan will be accomplished with or without our cooperation! God doesn't need us to do His Plan as if He needed anyone! We have the privilege to participate in His blessings and provision, cooperating with Providence and proving God's good, pleasing, and perfect will (cf. Rom. 12:2). As believers, we ought to be committed to God's Plan and seeking to fulfill it at every opportunity and open door. If we don't seek God's Plan or best for our life, God may say to us: "Okay, have it your way!" Then we will be in a state of disobedience.
In sum, God is not haphazard or arbitrary but has an intricate plan (life is no fluke!), of which we have the privilege to become partakers of in bringing Him glory as The Westminster Shorter Catechism states our purpose to be: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Soli Deo Gloria!
"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD" (Prov. 21:30, NIV).
"The LORD has made everything for its purpose..." (Prov. 16:4, ESV).
"God doesn't play dice with the universe." --Einstein
Actually, God has no Plan A either! We should ascribe to God the only Plan that is decreed, His Plan and since it will be fulfilled and God cannot fail, be thwarted, nor be frustrated, We don't call it Plan A, but simply God's Plan. Job 42:2 says no plan of God can be thwarted! THERE'S NO PLAN B OR BACKUP PLAN! "The LORD Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand' (Isaiah 14:24, NIV). He further says, "For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?" (Isa. 14:27, NIV). Providence is in play and John Wycliffe was right on in his famous tenet: "All things come to pass of necessity."
As believers, we must realize that God is working all things for our good and turns curses into blessings and the evil one cannot touch us. We must exercise an act of faith and realize that God does work in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform and that He is ultimately and always in control, both now and forever. We should be in awe as God even causes "the wrath of man to praise Him!" (Cf. Psalm 76:10). And our enemies may intend evil, but God works it out for the good and means to bless us in the long term. The problem is that we don't see the big picture and are near-sighted spiritually. Short-term evil can result in long-term good. In fact, Wilhelm Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz saw this world as "the best of all possible worlds." John Wycliffe would concur: "All things come to pas of necessity."
We must get on board with God to get the best will for our lives and for Him to bless us and that we don't have to settle or end up with second best. God's will is done cheerfully and cooperatively in heaven and we are to pray for this on earth, according to the Lord's prayer. In fact, His Plan will be accomplished with or without our cooperation! God doesn't need us to do His Plan as if He needed anyone! We have the privilege to participate in His blessings and provision, cooperating with Providence and proving God's good, pleasing, and perfect will (cf. Rom. 12:2). As believers, we ought to be committed to God's Plan and seeking to fulfill it at every opportunity and open door. If we don't seek God's Plan or best for our life, God may say to us: "Okay, have it your way!" Then we will be in a state of disobedience.
In sum, God is not haphazard or arbitrary but has an intricate plan (life is no fluke!), of which we have the privilege to become partakers of in bringing Him glory as The Westminster Shorter Catechism states our purpose to be: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Soli Deo Gloria!
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Finishing Our Work
"I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar." (Alfred, Lord Tennyson).
Note to the reader: Not to be morbid, but preparing for one's passing involves more than taking care of one's final expenses!
OUR DAYS ARE DETERMINED AND PLANNED BEFOREHAND! (CF. PSALM 119:16).
"In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness" (Eccl. 7:15, NIV). [The godly can perish before their time.]
"So He will do to me whatever He has planned. He controls my destiny" (Job 23:14, NLT).
Paul thanked God and prayed he would complete his mission, which would be his greatest joy. King David passed away, but having fulfilled God's purpose and having done all God's will (cf. Acts 20:24, 10:36). It is true in a sense that we don't pass away till God is finished with us, which should be an incentive to do God's will and be ready. We ought always to be ready to meet our Lord, for we know not when we will (cf. Amos 4:12). Now Hezekiah was told directly from God to get his house in order because his time was short! However, he objected and told the Lord that he was only in the prime of his life (it would be a shame!). Note that Matthew Henry said we ought to live every day as if it's our last. Only God knows what we are here for and when our time is completed; we only see through a glass darkly--of which we will understand on the other side. (One mystery, or paradox that Scripture mentions, is that people who want to live often die, and those who would die, go on living. )
Now, the great question one must ask is whether the godly die before their time. Yes, they can! Isaiah 57:1, NLT, says so: "Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time." Some think that when no one needs them they will die, but God can always use a committed believer who is conformed to the pattern of His will. We have no luxury of judging someone's life by its length. It is good to live to be old, which is a luxury, but not all become wise.
We must acknowledge the wise wording of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1ff that there is a time for every matter under heaven--including a time to die. Actually, the Bible declares the day of one's death better than the day of his birth! "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants" (Psalm 116:15, NIV). Christians have the hope of eternal life due to Christ's resurrection that gave us reason to believe and this should be all the more motive and inspiration to live a life pleasing to Him, and not for the day only, but one day at a time in light of the Word and of eternity.
Therefore, let's all be looking forward to "crossing" (not passing) our bar and meeting the Lord in glory. In the meantime, we are to live as if it's "one step between [us] and death!" CAVEAT: WE MUST BEWARE LEST WE SIN UNTO DEATH (CF. 1 JOHN 5:16) AND GOD DECREE TO TAKE US BEFORE OUR TIME AS DIVINE DISPLEASURE! Soli Deo Gloria!
Note to the reader: Not to be morbid, but preparing for one's passing involves more than taking care of one's final expenses!
OUR DAYS ARE DETERMINED AND PLANNED BEFOREHAND! (CF. PSALM 119:16).
"In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness" (Eccl. 7:15, NIV). [The godly can perish before their time.]
"So He will do to me whatever He has planned. He controls my destiny" (Job 23:14, NLT).
Paul thanked God and prayed he would complete his mission, which would be his greatest joy. King David passed away, but having fulfilled God's purpose and having done all God's will (cf. Acts 20:24, 10:36). It is true in a sense that we don't pass away till God is finished with us, which should be an incentive to do God's will and be ready. We ought always to be ready to meet our Lord, for we know not when we will (cf. Amos 4:12). Now Hezekiah was told directly from God to get his house in order because his time was short! However, he objected and told the Lord that he was only in the prime of his life (it would be a shame!). Note that Matthew Henry said we ought to live every day as if it's our last. Only God knows what we are here for and when our time is completed; we only see through a glass darkly--of which we will understand on the other side. (One mystery, or paradox that Scripture mentions, is that people who want to live often die, and those who would die, go on living. )
Now, the great question one must ask is whether the godly die before their time. Yes, they can! Isaiah 57:1, NLT, says so: "Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time." Some think that when no one needs them they will die, but God can always use a committed believer who is conformed to the pattern of His will. We have no luxury of judging someone's life by its length. It is good to live to be old, which is a luxury, but not all become wise.
We must acknowledge the wise wording of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1ff that there is a time for every matter under heaven--including a time to die. Actually, the Bible declares the day of one's death better than the day of his birth! "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants" (Psalm 116:15, NIV). Christians have the hope of eternal life due to Christ's resurrection that gave us reason to believe and this should be all the more motive and inspiration to live a life pleasing to Him, and not for the day only, but one day at a time in light of the Word and of eternity.
Therefore, let's all be looking forward to "crossing" (not passing) our bar and meeting the Lord in glory. In the meantime, we are to live as if it's "one step between [us] and death!" CAVEAT: WE MUST BEWARE LEST WE SIN UNTO DEATH (CF. 1 JOHN 5:16) AND GOD DECREE TO TAKE US BEFORE OUR TIME AS DIVINE DISPLEASURE! Soli Deo Gloria!
Sunday, March 10, 2019
The Christian And Science
"Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?" (Job 38:33, NLT).
There is "no final conflict" [between science and Scripture]." --Francis Schaeffer
The National Academy of Science defines science as "The use of evidence to construct testable explanations and prediction of natural phenomena, as well as the knowledge generated through this process ... and scientists gather information by observing the natural world and conducting experiments." --Dr. Jeff Myers in Understanding the Faith. It is my premise that science does not have all the answers but is only one avenue or vehicle of knowledge and truth, for all truth is God's truth, as Augustine said. In other words, you cannot measure three feet of love or six pounds of justice--values and principles are not subject to scientific analysis. Scientists have faith in the reliability and predictability of the laws of the universe, while Christians believe in God of the universe who made the laws. How can there be laws without a Lawgiver? The first modern scientists laid its foundations assuming there's a God, how can they now deny the one they assume? Basically, there are disciplines other than an empirical investigation to arrive at the truth: ethics, mathematics, philosophy, and religion are all outside the scientist's parameters.
We can indeed learn by experience and empirical investigation, but rational thought and revelation are two other avenues of learning. All knowledge is contingent and springs from faith, not just religious! Even music, art, and mathematics are beyond the scope of science and depend upon insight and rational or creative thinking. There is objective truth that is true regardless of belief and true for everyone all the time, and then there is an opinion or subjective truth, such as one saying that broccoli tastes good. You cannot prove anything that isn't true, logical, and verifiable.
Science wouldn't have been founded without an assumption of the Christian worldview of an orderly, predictable, and governed universe. In fact, the first modern scientists were believers. But today science has gone too far--they perpetuate the idea they can solve all man's problems. Moreover, secularists use science for non-scientific endeavors and to solve problems which lie outside its province. Many things simply cannot be answered by science: ethics, for example, is not in its domain. Basically, science gives the know-how, not the know-why. Science takes things apart, while religion puts them together, it's been said! But many things are not subject to scientific analysis, such as history and one-time events of the past, such as creation. They weren't there and science relies on observation, repetition, measurement, and experiment!
Scientists have been known to make philosophical statements such as astronomer Carl Sagan said, "The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be." Science doesn't give us answers to the ultimate questions, such as the meaning and purpose in life, and our final destiny. What's so sad is that people put their faith in science when science is based on faith! Scientists assume there's no God without evidence. People that think science contradicts faith don't understand either. Einstein said that science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind!
It's not all a matter of facts or reason versus faith (and God doesn't ask us to leave our reason behind), but which set of presuppositions one wants to accept from the starting point of one's worldview. Both sides have faith! There's no smoking gun evidence either way. The mystery of life, of which science has no answer, can be answered by faith in God who causes all life to grow. In fact, there's no strict definition of life--science doesn't know what it is in essence! But what we do know is that life comes only from life (biogenesis, which means spontaneous generation, or producing lifeforms from nonlife matter is impossible), as surely as DNA comes only from DNA! Cloning is not producing life from nonlife, but another way of reproduction. This begs the questions of where the first life and DNA came from if not God! Experiments to achieve life fail to come off and this is the Achilles' heel of evolution. Infinite regress is impossible--the chain of events had to start somewhere (notably a First Cause). The Bible makes it plain that God created life and it's His gift and comes from Him, the Source and Author of life.
Teaching science dogmatically and ruling out God from the get-go is not scientific. Scientists need to learn when they are becoming unscientific and venturing into scientism, or of harnessing science for unscientific means! Scientists must be aware that there is "scientific evidence" for the existence of God: DNA; the anthropic principle; the Big Bang; the Second Law of Thermodynamics or entropy; and biogenesis! The Bible is not a science textbook, but where it does make statements about scientific principles, it is right on--there are no scientific absurdities. They cannot explain away these phenomena! All in all, true science doesn't contradict Christianity and there's no reason believers cannot become scientists. (Though archaeologists have attempted in vain to disprove the Bible's historical accuracy, it has not yet controverted a biblical reference!)
In conclusion, science sometimes seems to be at odds with the Bible, but it is always been proven wrong when at variance and the Bible correct after all, such as that the earth was the center of the solar system! To name some examples of the Bible predating science: the ocean currents, the anthropic principle, the beginning of time, the water cycle, the round earth to name a few notables! According to Paul Little, in 1861, the French Academy of Science issued fifty-one scientific facts that "controverted the Scriptures!' Today, none of these so-called "facts" are believed! Someday, scientists will have to admit what theologians have been espousing--that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Soli Deo Gloria!
There is "no final conflict" [between science and Scripture]." --Francis Schaeffer
The National Academy of Science defines science as "The use of evidence to construct testable explanations and prediction of natural phenomena, as well as the knowledge generated through this process ... and scientists gather information by observing the natural world and conducting experiments." --Dr. Jeff Myers in Understanding the Faith. It is my premise that science does not have all the answers but is only one avenue or vehicle of knowledge and truth, for all truth is God's truth, as Augustine said. In other words, you cannot measure three feet of love or six pounds of justice--values and principles are not subject to scientific analysis. Scientists have faith in the reliability and predictability of the laws of the universe, while Christians believe in God of the universe who made the laws. How can there be laws without a Lawgiver? The first modern scientists laid its foundations assuming there's a God, how can they now deny the one they assume? Basically, there are disciplines other than an empirical investigation to arrive at the truth: ethics, mathematics, philosophy, and religion are all outside the scientist's parameters.
We can indeed learn by experience and empirical investigation, but rational thought and revelation are two other avenues of learning. All knowledge is contingent and springs from faith, not just religious! Even music, art, and mathematics are beyond the scope of science and depend upon insight and rational or creative thinking. There is objective truth that is true regardless of belief and true for everyone all the time, and then there is an opinion or subjective truth, such as one saying that broccoli tastes good. You cannot prove anything that isn't true, logical, and verifiable.
Science wouldn't have been founded without an assumption of the Christian worldview of an orderly, predictable, and governed universe. In fact, the first modern scientists were believers. But today science has gone too far--they perpetuate the idea they can solve all man's problems. Moreover, secularists use science for non-scientific endeavors and to solve problems which lie outside its province. Many things simply cannot be answered by science: ethics, for example, is not in its domain. Basically, science gives the know-how, not the know-why. Science takes things apart, while religion puts them together, it's been said! But many things are not subject to scientific analysis, such as history and one-time events of the past, such as creation. They weren't there and science relies on observation, repetition, measurement, and experiment!
Scientists have been known to make philosophical statements such as astronomer Carl Sagan said, "The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be." Science doesn't give us answers to the ultimate questions, such as the meaning and purpose in life, and our final destiny. What's so sad is that people put their faith in science when science is based on faith! Scientists assume there's no God without evidence. People that think science contradicts faith don't understand either. Einstein said that science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind!
It's not all a matter of facts or reason versus faith (and God doesn't ask us to leave our reason behind), but which set of presuppositions one wants to accept from the starting point of one's worldview. Both sides have faith! There's no smoking gun evidence either way. The mystery of life, of which science has no answer, can be answered by faith in God who causes all life to grow. In fact, there's no strict definition of life--science doesn't know what it is in essence! But what we do know is that life comes only from life (biogenesis, which means spontaneous generation, or producing lifeforms from nonlife matter is impossible), as surely as DNA comes only from DNA! Cloning is not producing life from nonlife, but another way of reproduction. This begs the questions of where the first life and DNA came from if not God! Experiments to achieve life fail to come off and this is the Achilles' heel of evolution. Infinite regress is impossible--the chain of events had to start somewhere (notably a First Cause). The Bible makes it plain that God created life and it's His gift and comes from Him, the Source and Author of life.
Teaching science dogmatically and ruling out God from the get-go is not scientific. Scientists need to learn when they are becoming unscientific and venturing into scientism, or of harnessing science for unscientific means! Scientists must be aware that there is "scientific evidence" for the existence of God: DNA; the anthropic principle; the Big Bang; the Second Law of Thermodynamics or entropy; and biogenesis! The Bible is not a science textbook, but where it does make statements about scientific principles, it is right on--there are no scientific absurdities. They cannot explain away these phenomena! All in all, true science doesn't contradict Christianity and there's no reason believers cannot become scientists. (Though archaeologists have attempted in vain to disprove the Bible's historical accuracy, it has not yet controverted a biblical reference!)
In conclusion, science sometimes seems to be at odds with the Bible, but it is always been proven wrong when at variance and the Bible correct after all, such as that the earth was the center of the solar system! To name some examples of the Bible predating science: the ocean currents, the anthropic principle, the beginning of time, the water cycle, the round earth to name a few notables! According to Paul Little, in 1861, the French Academy of Science issued fifty-one scientific facts that "controverted the Scriptures!' Today, none of these so-called "facts" are believed! Someday, scientists will have to admit what theologians have been espousing--that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Soli Deo Gloria!
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?
PERTINENT VERSES TO PONDER:
"But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks [gets their attention] to them in their affliction" (Job 36:15, NIV).
"God left him, to try him, that he might know all that is in his heart," (cf. 2 Chon. 32:31)
"[F]or he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men" (Lam. 3:33, ESV).
"I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times..." (Isa. 45:7, NLT).
"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).
"... Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10, NIV).
"[F]or he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men" (Lam. 3:33, ESV).
"I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times..." (Isa. 45:7, NLT).
"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).
"... Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10, NIV).
"He speaks to them in their affliction." (cf. Job 36:15, NIV).
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver, I have tried you in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. 48:10, ESV).
"... 'We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God'..." (Acts 14:22, NIV).
"... But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering" Romans 8:17, NLT).
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28, NIV).
"Who best can suffer, best can do." --John Milton
Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote the book, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? Note: There are many quick answers: There are no good people! In the book Robinson Crusoe Friday asks why evil isn't destroyed: "What about you?" Robinson replies. And so why do good things happen to bad people? What is good and what is bad then, if there is no God? When we call something good or evil, we are referring to some standard or Supreme Good, which was seen as God by Plato. Ponder not about debating good but wondering where the idea of goodness came from, if not God?
In short, God is love, but we must see the big picture of what God is doing for His glory and also not forget that God is one of justice, wrath, vengeance, vindication, and judgment. God will surely fulfill all His attributes. Also, justice delayed is not justice denied! We see no justice, but God lives in eternity and sees the big picture. When we say that it's not fair for innocent people to suffer, how we do know of their innocence? And if God were to eliminate all evil in the world, what about the evil in us--Jesus said that only God is good! We must have faith that God is working for the greater good and short-run evil will result in long-range good. Likewise, we must praise God for the opportunity to do good when we see evil. Instead of asking where God is, we must realize where the devil is!
The point is that we only see good in light of evil and evil is not God's fault! God didn't create evil, but only the possibility of evil, which was necessitated because of free will! This would make no sense if no one turned evil and rebelled against God; therefore, evil exists and must be reckoned with and judged. Remember, Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they come as a package: we can distinguish them and separate them, but evil exists only as a parasite on good. If mankind had no choice of good or evil, there would be no love or hate in the world; we'd be robots, puppets, automatons, or animals with no free will or opportunity to know and love God. Don't break faith because we all have to pay our dues. God simply couldn't create a world of free people who have a chance to obey Him and then have none disobey or do evil!
We talk of injustice, intolerance, inequity, et cetera. How could there be injustice without justice? If there were no good, there could exist no evil! Mankind was created good and went terribly bad, even Satan was once good! But, fortunately, God is able to turn evil into good and His glory and wisdom will be shown in the end. Most people just object to evil when it happens to them, but don't realize they are part of the problem too if they don't know God. The point is that God sends good in envelopes of affliction to make us grow in our faith. In the final analysis, we ought to celebrate the opportunity to see good in light of evil and to turn evil into good and to have the opportunity to do good when evil seems so certain and unavoidable to everyone to some degree--no one goes through life trouble-free.
Jesus learned obedience by what He suffered (cf Heb. 5:8) and didn't exempt Himself from suffering, nor guarantee we would lead a life in a bed of roses or in a rose garden. "Jesus was honest enough to tell us we'd have tribulations" and that life was a test of our faith. Would you believe in a Savior who wasn't sympathetic to suffering and had experienced none first-hand? But God is the great Sufferer and when we break God's laws, we break God's heart. When bad things happen, people act differently: some become bitter, some better!
Therefore, it is by adversity in life that we build character and learn the lessons of life to become mature. And the existence of Satan, evil, sin, death, and adversity is not an argument against God, but for Him. The ultimate question should not be: "If there is a God why is there evil?" but the opposite: "If there is no God, why is there so much good?" God is able to make "the wrath of man to praise Him" (cf. Psa. 76:10).
Faith is a choice and we must decide between good and evil. If faith were easy, it wouldn't be worth anything! There is no easy answer to the existence of suffering, but it's just as likely to produce sincere faith as to destroy insincere faith; in a way, it's a litmus test! There is no smoking gun evidence for or against God, so it takes faith both ways. It isn't a matter of faith versus reason, but faith versus faith--which set of presuppositions you want to accept; Faith in man and science, or God and His Word as the revelation. Most people don't have enough faith to be atheists!
We must decide to believe and be willing to do God's will for our eyes to be opened to the truth. God will authenticate Himself to us if we are willing. God will not force someone to believe against their will, though He can make them willing (a paradox). Faith can only be valid and of value, if it's difficult to attain! That's because God is all-powerful or omnipotent and can overpower someone's will and make the unwilling willing--no one can reject His will (cf. Jer. 20:7; Rom. 9:19).
In sum, upon salvation, we enroll in the school of suffering, which is a given, and we must celebrate it as a red badge of courage that gives us braggadocio as it were and the right to say, "Been there, done that!"--this is Reality 101 and no one escapes it! God owes us no explanations: "He is too deep to explain Himself, too kind to be cruel, and too wise to make a mistake!" We answer to God not the other way around! We are not to second-guess God: John Wycliffe tenet says, "All things come to pass of necessity." We ought not get a martyr's complex, thinking the more we suffer, the more holy we are, but everyone is called to go through the school of hard knocks at times.
God knows that in our affliction, we will seek Him (cf. Hosea 5:15) and we should know that He gets our attention by affliction (cf. Job 36:15). "People are born for trouble as sure as the spark flies upward" (cf. Job 5:7, NLT). In the final analysis, one must acknowledge the fact that there are no easy answers as God didn't even explain Himself to Job. God is too deep to explain Himself, too kind to be cruel, and to wise to be wrong or mistaken. No religion, philosophy, or faith has the complete answer! Soli Deo Gloria!
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver, I have tried you in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. 48:10, ESV).
"... 'We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God'..." (Acts 14:22, NIV).
"... But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering" Romans 8:17, NLT).
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28, NIV).
"Who best can suffer, best can do." --John Milton
Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote the book, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? Note: There are many quick answers: There are no good people! In the book Robinson Crusoe Friday asks why evil isn't destroyed: "What about you?" Robinson replies. And so why do good things happen to bad people? What is good and what is bad then, if there is no God? When we call something good or evil, we are referring to some standard or Supreme Good, which was seen as God by Plato. Ponder not about debating good but wondering where the idea of goodness came from, if not God?
In short, God is love, but we must see the big picture of what God is doing for His glory and also not forget that God is one of justice, wrath, vengeance, vindication, and judgment. God will surely fulfill all His attributes. Also, justice delayed is not justice denied! We see no justice, but God lives in eternity and sees the big picture. When we say that it's not fair for innocent people to suffer, how we do know of their innocence? And if God were to eliminate all evil in the world, what about the evil in us--Jesus said that only God is good! We must have faith that God is working for the greater good and short-run evil will result in long-range good. Likewise, we must praise God for the opportunity to do good when we see evil. Instead of asking where God is, we must realize where the devil is!
The point is that we only see good in light of evil and evil is not God's fault! God didn't create evil, but only the possibility of evil, which was necessitated because of free will! This would make no sense if no one turned evil and rebelled against God; therefore, evil exists and must be reckoned with and judged. Remember, Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they come as a package: we can distinguish them and separate them, but evil exists only as a parasite on good. If mankind had no choice of good or evil, there would be no love or hate in the world; we'd be robots, puppets, automatons, or animals with no free will or opportunity to know and love God. Don't break faith because we all have to pay our dues. God simply couldn't create a world of free people who have a chance to obey Him and then have none disobey or do evil!
We talk of injustice, intolerance, inequity, et cetera. How could there be injustice without justice? If there were no good, there could exist no evil! Mankind was created good and went terribly bad, even Satan was once good! But, fortunately, God is able to turn evil into good and His glory and wisdom will be shown in the end. Most people just object to evil when it happens to them, but don't realize they are part of the problem too if they don't know God. The point is that God sends good in envelopes of affliction to make us grow in our faith. In the final analysis, we ought to celebrate the opportunity to see good in light of evil and to turn evil into good and to have the opportunity to do good when evil seems so certain and unavoidable to everyone to some degree--no one goes through life trouble-free.
Jesus learned obedience by what He suffered (cf Heb. 5:8) and didn't exempt Himself from suffering, nor guarantee we would lead a life in a bed of roses or in a rose garden. "Jesus was honest enough to tell us we'd have tribulations" and that life was a test of our faith. Would you believe in a Savior who wasn't sympathetic to suffering and had experienced none first-hand? But God is the great Sufferer and when we break God's laws, we break God's heart. When bad things happen, people act differently: some become bitter, some better!
Therefore, it is by adversity in life that we build character and learn the lessons of life to become mature. And the existence of Satan, evil, sin, death, and adversity is not an argument against God, but for Him. The ultimate question should not be: "If there is a God why is there evil?" but the opposite: "If there is no God, why is there so much good?" God is able to make "the wrath of man to praise Him" (cf. Psa. 76:10).
Faith is a choice and we must decide between good and evil. If faith were easy, it wouldn't be worth anything! There is no easy answer to the existence of suffering, but it's just as likely to produce sincere faith as to destroy insincere faith; in a way, it's a litmus test! There is no smoking gun evidence for or against God, so it takes faith both ways. It isn't a matter of faith versus reason, but faith versus faith--which set of presuppositions you want to accept; Faith in man and science, or God and His Word as the revelation. Most people don't have enough faith to be atheists!
We must decide to believe and be willing to do God's will for our eyes to be opened to the truth. God will authenticate Himself to us if we are willing. God will not force someone to believe against their will, though He can make them willing (a paradox). Faith can only be valid and of value, if it's difficult to attain! That's because God is all-powerful or omnipotent and can overpower someone's will and make the unwilling willing--no one can reject His will (cf. Jer. 20:7; Rom. 9:19).
In sum, upon salvation, we enroll in the school of suffering, which is a given, and we must celebrate it as a red badge of courage that gives us braggadocio as it were and the right to say, "Been there, done that!"--this is Reality 101 and no one escapes it! God owes us no explanations: "He is too deep to explain Himself, too kind to be cruel, and too wise to make a mistake!" We answer to God not the other way around! We are not to second-guess God: John Wycliffe tenet says, "All things come to pass of necessity." We ought not get a martyr's complex, thinking the more we suffer, the more holy we are, but everyone is called to go through the school of hard knocks at times.
God knows that in our affliction, we will seek Him (cf. Hosea 5:15) and we should know that He gets our attention by affliction (cf. Job 36:15). "People are born for trouble as sure as the spark flies upward" (cf. Job 5:7, NLT). In the final analysis, one must acknowledge the fact that there are no easy answers as God didn't even explain Himself to Job. God is too deep to explain Himself, too kind to be cruel, and to wise to be wrong or mistaken. No religion, philosophy, or faith has the complete answer! Soli Deo Gloria!
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
The Methodology Of Prayer...
"We both have access to the Father through Christ by one Spirit" (Eph. 2:18, CEV).
"But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matt. 6:6, HCSB).
"... 'I assure you: Anything you ask the Father in My name, He will give you'" (John 16:25, HCSB).
"When ye pray, say, our Father" (Luke 11:2, KJV).
In the spirit of the Reformation: "I dissent, I disagree, I protest!" We are not captive to church dogma and each of us has a right to interpret Scripture.
NB: We all should pray as if it all depends on God, but work like it depends on us! Both Arminian and Calvinist would concur.
Christians have the prerogative to pray in Christ's name, using His authority, to access the throne room of the Father (cf. Heb. 4:16), and boldly in the Spirit at that! Most Christians are timid in their prayers and don't pray like sons but like servants! Jesus told us to pray like this when praying corporately as His body: "Our Father in heaven..." Jesus had the audacity to claim God as His unique Father, even though Jews had considered themselves children of God, this was a bold assertion to claim. It seemed He was making Himself equal to God, calling God His Father.
"And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father!' So you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son, then an heir through God" (Gal. 4:6, HCSB). We need to lay hold of our divine privilege as a child of God and enjoy the right to access God's dimension in the third heaven. "The argument from silence in that the Bible doesn't forbid praying to Jesus is flimsy and flakey at best and almost anything could be proved with such dialectic. It should be plain that we ought to pay due respects to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving Him due honor to whom honor is due as we engage the potential of the full Godhead.
The only biblical template for prayer is the Lord's prayer despite its over-familiarity, it is not meant to be a recitation nor a to make prayer look like a cakewalk. By and large, there are no hard-and-fast rules for prayer procedure except that it be done in the divine formula of access to God, whether assumed and conscious or not. Jesus seemed to espouse certain conditions for prayer or protocol and never deferred to the tradition of the elders. There is no correct or set way or pattern to pray in that God does hear all believers' prayer, but the power is in the equipping of the saints in knowing to whom we are praying and availing ourselves of the rights of sons and daughters of God. However, there exists proper etiquette with God or S.O.P. for all things are to be done in an orderly fashion per 1 Cor. 14:40. "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father" (Eph. 2:18, HCSB). This means that all three persons of the Godhead or Deity are involved in our prayers! Thus, efficacious prayer avails with the concerted work of the tri-personality (the three personas of the Godhead).
Just like in creation being done cooperatively all three members of the Trinity co-equally involved; i.e., from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. The Trinity accomplished our salvation: the Father authored, purposed, and planned it; the Son executed, accomplishes, and fulfilled it, and the Spirit applies and makes it known all in concert! Basically speaking, the Father originates or initiates; the Son reveals and makes manifest, and the Holy Spirit executes, fulfills, and applies. Likewise, the whole Trinity is cooperating in our prayer life: we pray addressed to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit! We are exhorted to always pray "in the Spirit." Jesus' involvement means more than attaching His name to the end with the formula "in Jesus' name" for good measure as if it's a magic formula or hokum.
Prayer can be summed up: we pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit. We look to Scriptural warrant and precedent for examples to echo in prayer. Paul showed powerful prayers to the Father. He went to the TOP! In the Old Testament, and we are not living in the Old Testament, they prayed to the LORD God of Israel, for instance, but we have a more revealing person to address a prayer to now that we know Jesus. Jesus set the example in praying to the Father and the Lord's prayer is likewise.
However, we must not forget that it is in Him that we have such access to the Father and He has given us a license to pray in His authority. As Eph. 3:12, HCSB, says, "In Him we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him." Just like knowing a person intimately gives us power in communication and fellowship, even giving us boldness in requests, so knowing the Father and availing our rights as a child of God gives us power in prayer, so it is like putting God in a box to see Him as only one person of the Godhead and not as a triune Being working in synergy. Sometimes it is appropriate to address Jesus directly in prayer, but He is seated at the right hand of the Father in glory and we have the right to go to the top as it were and use His authority as a passkey to heaven's very throne room of grace.
Famous quotable lines worth noting: "When you can't stand life, kneel!: "Crises have kept me on my knees!" "Pray as if everything depends on God; work as if everything depends on you!": "Better heart without words than words without heart!" "I have often gone to my knees, simply because there was no place else to go!" "When it is hardest to pray, pray the hardest!" "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees!"
NB: The Oneness Pentecostals or Apostolic Pentecostals deny the Trinity and have done away with the Father and have reverted to old heresy of modalism and are pejoratively referred to as the "Jesus only" movement. This is a red flag that those who value sound doctrine are leary of. Praying without biblical precedence opens Pandora's box and is highly problematic.
A word to the wise is sufficient: tradition must bow to conviction and we do not interpret Scripture in light of experience or feeling, but experience and feeling in light of Scripture. One of the battle cries of the Reformation was sola Scriptura or Scripture alone (as our authority); we must appeal to Holy Writ to settle all doctrinal matters and not tradition; the Catholic faith exalts tradition as equal status to the Bible, and this is one thing that distinguishes Protestants. Tradition must be concordant with Scripture!
One need not fear they're out of their league or that their prayers are anemic, because God sees the heart and the Spirit translates our prayers!
NB: Paul the apostle was always careful to give the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ his due and reverent attention in addressing the Godhead in prayer. Indeed, the historical orthodox doctrine has been to address the Father in all prayer in Jesus' name in the power of the Spirit. Paul exhorts us in 1 Cor. 4:6 HCSB, emphasis mine: "...' nothing beyond what is written.'"
NB: People act out their faith for four reasons: reason--it sounds logical; emotion--it feels good; culture--everyone does it; tradition--we've always done it. But Christianity is countercultural and challenges us to throw down the gauntlet and cross the Rubicon of the truth based solely on the Word of God.
CAVEAT: IGNORING SCRIPTURAL PRECEDENTS FOR THE SAKE OF TRADITION OR CUSTOM IS THE GATEWAY TO HERESY AND EXALTING TRADITION ABOVE OR EQUAL TO SCRIPTURE AS ROMANISM ESPOUSES.
Jesus Himself taught us how to pray corporately or as a church: "Our Father who is in heaven...." And I take His Word at face value. God is more than a projection or throwback to our need for.a father figure but is our all in all through the Trinity. It is true that some have rejected God on this account for they had no father figure or thought God was just a throwback to our need for one. Our heavenly Father knows our hearts and we need to have that more than a doctrine of prayer by all means. However, we ought to be obedient to the plain teaching of Scripture and realize this is to our advantage to see prayer the way God does. (The principle for Bible interpretation is that we interpret the obscure in light of the plain and what may be implied in light of what is obvious--the implicit in light of the explicit.)
We all should inquire and do some soul searching as to whether we know the Father and can say that we are His children. If we pray only to one member of the Godhead without regard to others, we are unduly discriminating and should wonder whether it's warranted or Scriptural and if we know the Father; e.g., imaging the pastor praying thus: "O God..." Wouldn't this be sufficient to conclude he isn't familiar with the Father or even the Lord and seems estranged or alienated from a distant God--perhaps to a foreign God or unknown God? God invites us to call Him Father even in the Old Testament: see Jeremiah 3:19, ESV, which says, "... And I thought you would call me, My Father...."
"Now to Him who has power to strengthen you ... according to the command of the eternal God ... to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ--to Him be the glory forever! Amen." (Rom. 16:25-27, HCSB, italics and boldface mine).
There are conditions for effective prayer: Praying according to God's will; entering His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; abiding in Christ's Word; being thankful, confessing known sin, and having faith that He will answer! Prayer is successful when it changes you not God, who doesn't need change and cannot change. Soli Deo Gloria!
"But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matt. 6:6, HCSB).
"... 'I assure you: Anything you ask the Father in My name, He will give you'" (John 16:25, HCSB).
"When ye pray, say, our Father" (Luke 11:2, KJV).
In the spirit of the Reformation: "I dissent, I disagree, I protest!" We are not captive to church dogma and each of us has a right to interpret Scripture.
NB: We all should pray as if it all depends on God, but work like it depends on us! Both Arminian and Calvinist would concur.
Christians have the prerogative to pray in Christ's name, using His authority, to access the throne room of the Father (cf. Heb. 4:16), and boldly in the Spirit at that! Most Christians are timid in their prayers and don't pray like sons but like servants! Jesus told us to pray like this when praying corporately as His body: "Our Father in heaven..." Jesus had the audacity to claim God as His unique Father, even though Jews had considered themselves children of God, this was a bold assertion to claim. It seemed He was making Himself equal to God, calling God His Father.
"And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father!' So you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son, then an heir through God" (Gal. 4:6, HCSB). We need to lay hold of our divine privilege as a child of God and enjoy the right to access God's dimension in the third heaven. "The argument from silence in that the Bible doesn't forbid praying to Jesus is flimsy and flakey at best and almost anything could be proved with such dialectic. It should be plain that we ought to pay due respects to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving Him due honor to whom honor is due as we engage the potential of the full Godhead.
The only biblical template for prayer is the Lord's prayer despite its over-familiarity, it is not meant to be a recitation nor a to make prayer look like a cakewalk. By and large, there are no hard-and-fast rules for prayer procedure except that it be done in the divine formula of access to God, whether assumed and conscious or not. Jesus seemed to espouse certain conditions for prayer or protocol and never deferred to the tradition of the elders. There is no correct or set way or pattern to pray in that God does hear all believers' prayer, but the power is in the equipping of the saints in knowing to whom we are praying and availing ourselves of the rights of sons and daughters of God. However, there exists proper etiquette with God or S.O.P. for all things are to be done in an orderly fashion per 1 Cor. 14:40. "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father" (Eph. 2:18, HCSB). This means that all three persons of the Godhead or Deity are involved in our prayers! Thus, efficacious prayer avails with the concerted work of the tri-personality (the three personas of the Godhead).
Just like in creation being done cooperatively all three members of the Trinity co-equally involved; i.e., from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. The Trinity accomplished our salvation: the Father authored, purposed, and planned it; the Son executed, accomplishes, and fulfilled it, and the Spirit applies and makes it known all in concert! Basically speaking, the Father originates or initiates; the Son reveals and makes manifest, and the Holy Spirit executes, fulfills, and applies. Likewise, the whole Trinity is cooperating in our prayer life: we pray addressed to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit! We are exhorted to always pray "in the Spirit." Jesus' involvement means more than attaching His name to the end with the formula "in Jesus' name" for good measure as if it's a magic formula or hokum.
Prayer can be summed up: we pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit. We look to Scriptural warrant and precedent for examples to echo in prayer. Paul showed powerful prayers to the Father. He went to the TOP! In the Old Testament, and we are not living in the Old Testament, they prayed to the LORD God of Israel, for instance, but we have a more revealing person to address a prayer to now that we know Jesus. Jesus set the example in praying to the Father and the Lord's prayer is likewise.
However, we must not forget that it is in Him that we have such access to the Father and He has given us a license to pray in His authority. As Eph. 3:12, HCSB, says, "In Him we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him." Just like knowing a person intimately gives us power in communication and fellowship, even giving us boldness in requests, so knowing the Father and availing our rights as a child of God gives us power in prayer, so it is like putting God in a box to see Him as only one person of the Godhead and not as a triune Being working in synergy. Sometimes it is appropriate to address Jesus directly in prayer, but He is seated at the right hand of the Father in glory and we have the right to go to the top as it were and use His authority as a passkey to heaven's very throne room of grace.
Famous quotable lines worth noting: "When you can't stand life, kneel!: "Crises have kept me on my knees!" "Pray as if everything depends on God; work as if everything depends on you!": "Better heart without words than words without heart!" "I have often gone to my knees, simply because there was no place else to go!" "When it is hardest to pray, pray the hardest!" "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees!"
NB: The Oneness Pentecostals or Apostolic Pentecostals deny the Trinity and have done away with the Father and have reverted to old heresy of modalism and are pejoratively referred to as the "Jesus only" movement. This is a red flag that those who value sound doctrine are leary of. Praying without biblical precedence opens Pandora's box and is highly problematic.
A word to the wise is sufficient: tradition must bow to conviction and we do not interpret Scripture in light of experience or feeling, but experience and feeling in light of Scripture. One of the battle cries of the Reformation was sola Scriptura or Scripture alone (as our authority); we must appeal to Holy Writ to settle all doctrinal matters and not tradition; the Catholic faith exalts tradition as equal status to the Bible, and this is one thing that distinguishes Protestants. Tradition must be concordant with Scripture!
One need not fear they're out of their league or that their prayers are anemic, because God sees the heart and the Spirit translates our prayers!
NB: Paul the apostle was always careful to give the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ his due and reverent attention in addressing the Godhead in prayer. Indeed, the historical orthodox doctrine has been to address the Father in all prayer in Jesus' name in the power of the Spirit. Paul exhorts us in 1 Cor. 4:6 HCSB, emphasis mine: "...' nothing beyond what is written.'"
NB: People act out their faith for four reasons: reason--it sounds logical; emotion--it feels good; culture--everyone does it; tradition--we've always done it. But Christianity is countercultural and challenges us to throw down the gauntlet and cross the Rubicon of the truth based solely on the Word of God.
CAVEAT: IGNORING SCRIPTURAL PRECEDENTS FOR THE SAKE OF TRADITION OR CUSTOM IS THE GATEWAY TO HERESY AND EXALTING TRADITION ABOVE OR EQUAL TO SCRIPTURE AS ROMANISM ESPOUSES.
Jesus Himself taught us how to pray corporately or as a church: "Our Father who is in heaven...." And I take His Word at face value. God is more than a projection or throwback to our need for.a father figure but is our all in all through the Trinity. It is true that some have rejected God on this account for they had no father figure or thought God was just a throwback to our need for one. Our heavenly Father knows our hearts and we need to have that more than a doctrine of prayer by all means. However, we ought to be obedient to the plain teaching of Scripture and realize this is to our advantage to see prayer the way God does. (The principle for Bible interpretation is that we interpret the obscure in light of the plain and what may be implied in light of what is obvious--the implicit in light of the explicit.)
We all should inquire and do some soul searching as to whether we know the Father and can say that we are His children. If we pray only to one member of the Godhead without regard to others, we are unduly discriminating and should wonder whether it's warranted or Scriptural and if we know the Father; e.g., imaging the pastor praying thus: "O God..." Wouldn't this be sufficient to conclude he isn't familiar with the Father or even the Lord and seems estranged or alienated from a distant God--perhaps to a foreign God or unknown God? God invites us to call Him Father even in the Old Testament: see Jeremiah 3:19, ESV, which says, "... And I thought you would call me, My Father...."
"Now to Him who has power to strengthen you ... according to the command of the eternal God ... to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ--to Him be the glory forever! Amen." (Rom. 16:25-27, HCSB, italics and boldface mine).
There are conditions for effective prayer: Praying according to God's will; entering His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; abiding in Christ's Word; being thankful, confessing known sin, and having faith that He will answer! Prayer is successful when it changes you not God, who doesn't need change and cannot change. Soli Deo Gloria!
Assumption Of Good Soil
"And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Cor. 2:4-5, NKJV).
Too many preachers are adept and savvy at preaching to the choir and have adapted their sermons so as not to reach nor be sensitive to seekers and the wayward sinner. Jesus never assumed the crowds were believing in Him and were disciples, in fact, He constantly illustrated the kingdom of God as if the audience wasn't yet in. He was always cognizant of false disciples and pseudo-conversions. There were always the Pharisees listening in to find something to criticize and condemn Him for. Preachers must be cognizant of all varieties of listeners: pagans, atheists, agnostics, skeptics, seekers, newborn believers, adolescent believers, and even the seasoned believer. Their job is to feed the sheep and the lambs as well as call the sinner to repentance; the gospel message is never passe.
What happens in too many churches is that there is the presumption of good soil when many have gotten into a worship or growth rut and are even backslidden despite their Churchianity and attendance. The preacher must be all things to all people in a sense, knowing not who may be listening in and God may be working on or wooing through the sermon, known as the "Hound of Heaven" tracking them down. The preacher sows seed in the manner of the prototype Sower Himself, Jesus, and the seed is the Word. The preacher who relies on the Word and its effect on souls in melting the hardened heart will be most efficacious. Jesus sees through the veneer and the Word penetrates soul and spirit convicting and softening the hardest of hearts. The Word shall not come back void and will accomplish God's will according to Isaiah 55:11. Jeremiah adds in Jer. 1:12 that God sees well to perform His Word.
The preacher is to be attended that gives proper place to the Word--Isaiah 8:20 says that if they speak not according to the Word, they have no truth in them! We must not rely on the articulate, eloquent talents of the mind, but the sensitivity of the spirit to the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the soul of the congregants and attendees' needs. This is so that our faith doesn't rest in the wisdom of man nor in the education, brilliance, nor talents of man but in the spiritual gift of preaching by the power of the Spirit; as the Word says, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the LORD in Zech. 4:6.
The biggest error evangelists fall prey to is assuming the lost soul is already saved--they get saved without never having had a sense of being lost. The preacher must get them lost before getting them saved; in other words, preach the law before the gospel--the bad news of sin before the good news of grace! The reality of the matter is that there is good soil in the church, but also rocky, weedy, and shallow soil! There is the good seed, but also the bad seed that the devil has sown and continues to subvert God's work. Christ has commanded that the good shall grow with the bad and we are not to do any weeding as it were to cast out the bad seed. This means that every church likely has an enemy of Christ who has crept in unawares, even a false disciple. The preacher must sow unadulterated seed, not the Word mixed with some bad seed. This implies sticking to the Word and being faithful to preach it according to sound doctrine. This will save him and his hearers.
The truth may be unbearable to the hardened in the heart (rocky soil) and the sinner shouldn't feel at ease in God's house. The church is a place to convict of sin and bring to renewal in the Spirit, setting one on the path to righteousness in the will of God. Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance! (see Luke 5:32). The sinner can prepare his soil but God can till the soil of the most hardened heart of stone and transform it into flesh. We must believe in the power of the Word itself to transform lives and work miracles--the changed lives from the gospel are the best miracle we can witness.
This is why some churches don't accomplish much for the Great Commission because they have no focus on the soils. Good soil is guaranteed to bring forth fruit! They must not become complacent or let members get a false assurance of their salvation and comfortable in their walk, not committed to growth and service. Is it any wonder that Mahatma Gandhi said that he "likes their Christ, he doesn't like their Christians[?]" And that Nietzsche said that he would "believe in the Redeemer when the Christian looks more redeemed[?]" The sermon should be a spiritual checkup and appraisal of one's walk and should have a message for everyone's heart. This is precisely why the Pharisees couldn't bear His sermons: He preached to them as if they weren't saved or spiritually secure in their turf. He threatened their job security and personal space! It was like they were saying, "Don't you know who we are?"
This is why it's so important to prepare our hearts for the Lord's day and the sermon and not let it fall on unprepared hearts or other than good soil! There is a grave error in assuming we are good soil and that the hard sayings of Christ don't apply to us or that we've arrived--for Paul, the apostle, said that he didn't claim to have laid hold of it yet! But don't be discouraged, the preacher is promised that the Word will not fall on deaf ears if preached faithfully and there will be fruit, though foliage seems the immediate result. Sooner or later, there will be results from the faithful preaching of the gospel working in the hearts of the lost--the flock need never grow tired of the gospel message but always open to new perspectives.
True preaching of the Word is as a two-edged sword: comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Jesus will see through the veneer and false pretense! The preacher ought to be cognizant of all soil types in the church and try to get through to the hardened, to set free the weedy, and to give substance to the shallow--there are too many believers who have exhibited a shallow conversion and exhibit their lack of salvation by falling away, proving their ultimate disloyalty and lack of faith. The love of the world is an obstacle to faith and the preacher must not let them feel comfortable with their weeds. No matter what the threefold enemy of the devil, the world-system, and the old sin nature or the flesh attack with--don't succumb! The preacher is commissioned to preach the Word in spite of the soil types and let God do His thing and work miracles. Soli Deo Gloria!
Too many preachers are adept and savvy at preaching to the choir and have adapted their sermons so as not to reach nor be sensitive to seekers and the wayward sinner. Jesus never assumed the crowds were believing in Him and were disciples, in fact, He constantly illustrated the kingdom of God as if the audience wasn't yet in. He was always cognizant of false disciples and pseudo-conversions. There were always the Pharisees listening in to find something to criticize and condemn Him for. Preachers must be cognizant of all varieties of listeners: pagans, atheists, agnostics, skeptics, seekers, newborn believers, adolescent believers, and even the seasoned believer. Their job is to feed the sheep and the lambs as well as call the sinner to repentance; the gospel message is never passe.
What happens in too many churches is that there is the presumption of good soil when many have gotten into a worship or growth rut and are even backslidden despite their Churchianity and attendance. The preacher must be all things to all people in a sense, knowing not who may be listening in and God may be working on or wooing through the sermon, known as the "Hound of Heaven" tracking them down. The preacher sows seed in the manner of the prototype Sower Himself, Jesus, and the seed is the Word. The preacher who relies on the Word and its effect on souls in melting the hardened heart will be most efficacious. Jesus sees through the veneer and the Word penetrates soul and spirit convicting and softening the hardest of hearts. The Word shall not come back void and will accomplish God's will according to Isaiah 55:11. Jeremiah adds in Jer. 1:12 that God sees well to perform His Word.
The preacher is to be attended that gives proper place to the Word--Isaiah 8:20 says that if they speak not according to the Word, they have no truth in them! We must not rely on the articulate, eloquent talents of the mind, but the sensitivity of the spirit to the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the soul of the congregants and attendees' needs. This is so that our faith doesn't rest in the wisdom of man nor in the education, brilliance, nor talents of man but in the spiritual gift of preaching by the power of the Spirit; as the Word says, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the LORD in Zech. 4:6.
The biggest error evangelists fall prey to is assuming the lost soul is already saved--they get saved without never having had a sense of being lost. The preacher must get them lost before getting them saved; in other words, preach the law before the gospel--the bad news of sin before the good news of grace! The reality of the matter is that there is good soil in the church, but also rocky, weedy, and shallow soil! There is the good seed, but also the bad seed that the devil has sown and continues to subvert God's work. Christ has commanded that the good shall grow with the bad and we are not to do any weeding as it were to cast out the bad seed. This means that every church likely has an enemy of Christ who has crept in unawares, even a false disciple. The preacher must sow unadulterated seed, not the Word mixed with some bad seed. This implies sticking to the Word and being faithful to preach it according to sound doctrine. This will save him and his hearers.
The truth may be unbearable to the hardened in the heart (rocky soil) and the sinner shouldn't feel at ease in God's house. The church is a place to convict of sin and bring to renewal in the Spirit, setting one on the path to righteousness in the will of God. Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance! (see Luke 5:32). The sinner can prepare his soil but God can till the soil of the most hardened heart of stone and transform it into flesh. We must believe in the power of the Word itself to transform lives and work miracles--the changed lives from the gospel are the best miracle we can witness.
This is why some churches don't accomplish much for the Great Commission because they have no focus on the soils. Good soil is guaranteed to bring forth fruit! They must not become complacent or let members get a false assurance of their salvation and comfortable in their walk, not committed to growth and service. Is it any wonder that Mahatma Gandhi said that he "likes their Christ, he doesn't like their Christians[?]" And that Nietzsche said that he would "believe in the Redeemer when the Christian looks more redeemed[?]" The sermon should be a spiritual checkup and appraisal of one's walk and should have a message for everyone's heart. This is precisely why the Pharisees couldn't bear His sermons: He preached to them as if they weren't saved or spiritually secure in their turf. He threatened their job security and personal space! It was like they were saying, "Don't you know who we are?"
This is why it's so important to prepare our hearts for the Lord's day and the sermon and not let it fall on unprepared hearts or other than good soil! There is a grave error in assuming we are good soil and that the hard sayings of Christ don't apply to us or that we've arrived--for Paul, the apostle, said that he didn't claim to have laid hold of it yet! But don't be discouraged, the preacher is promised that the Word will not fall on deaf ears if preached faithfully and there will be fruit, though foliage seems the immediate result. Sooner or later, there will be results from the faithful preaching of the gospel working in the hearts of the lost--the flock need never grow tired of the gospel message but always open to new perspectives.
True preaching of the Word is as a two-edged sword: comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Jesus will see through the veneer and false pretense! The preacher ought to be cognizant of all soil types in the church and try to get through to the hardened, to set free the weedy, and to give substance to the shallow--there are too many believers who have exhibited a shallow conversion and exhibit their lack of salvation by falling away, proving their ultimate disloyalty and lack of faith. The love of the world is an obstacle to faith and the preacher must not let them feel comfortable with their weeds. No matter what the threefold enemy of the devil, the world-system, and the old sin nature or the flesh attack with--don't succumb! The preacher is commissioned to preach the Word in spite of the soil types and let God do His thing and work miracles. Soli Deo Gloria!
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