Idolatry Unmasked

BY DEFINITION:  IDOLATRY IS NOT JUST THE WORSHIP OF FALSE, WANNABE, OR PSEUDO-GODS, BUT THE WORSHIP OF THE TRUE GOD IN IMAGES, DISTORTION, OR BY DECEPTION. 

"Those who cling to worthless idols lose their chance of mercy," (cf. Jonah 2:8).   

"To whom will you compare [God]?" (cf. Isaiah 40:18).   Religionists and anthropologists believe that man's concept of God evolved from panentheism (God is in everything), pantheism (everything is God), polytheism (many gods--conventional wisdom told them that the more gods the better!), to henotheism (one chief God with lesser gods mostly territorial), and finally to monotheism (one God). Even though there are modern discoveries proving that monotheism came first and mankind spoiled the truth of God that had been revealed in the beginning.   

God is the only true security blanket so to speak and trustworthy hope and anchor for our soul. They believe that the intellectual result should now be naturalism or materialism in which all that exists is nature itself, and all things can be explained by natural causes. Atheism is the natural consequence of this whereby God becomes irrelevant (God is dead) and no longer necessary to understand and explain the world and nature.  

Science has become a religion!  Evolution is merely a way to become intellectually fulfilled with the answers, forgetting that God is the Answerer and the Bible is the Answer  Book.   Academics have come to the view that they can only believe what science can prove!  This is "scientism," not science, or when science is taught dogmatically, it's no longer science but religion.   All false gods are of man's imagination, but the true God is beyond what we could conceive because He's infinite and perfect and the finite cannot grasp the infinite.  We cannot even know God exhaustively, but only truly!  We never could have conceived of the real God! 

But what is idolatry?  Putting anything in the place where God belongs, taking precedence and priority.  J. B. Phillips wrote Your God is too Small.  It can also be having a too-small idea or interpretation of God and putting Him in a box or having "too human" a concept of God as Luther accused Erasmus of Rotterdam of; for instance,  I just like to think of God as a great Mathematician, simply as Jesus, or the Man upstairs!  It's when we worship what should be used and use what we should worship according to St. Augustine.  We use things and relate to persons and therefore we understand God as a Person. God says to us: Who is like Me? To whom will you compare Me? Idols are manmade whether of the kinds in the world of historic antiquity of stone and pottery or of hero-worship and celebrity worship or trusting in man and not God. 

These gods cannot save you!  We must not trust in princes or authority figures but see them as mere servants of God like as we are. Our exclusive loyalty is to God alone: Jesus is Lord, not Caesar is Lord who was a wannabe deity or demigod. Indeed Voltaire was onto something when he said that man has created God in his image! It is true that men are looking for someone bigger than life and some kind of person worthy of admiration and adulation but God alone is our celebrity and hero. 

We cannot invent a God of our own choosing but must recognize and accept the God who is there and does exist or we do not live in reality as Plato said, "If I want to know how to live in reality, I must now what God is really like."  We cannot escape God nor His judgment, He alone is to be feared!  He alone is the one true living God that will not die or go away but sees all. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" means that He must have exclusive allegiance, not any man, church, nation, or even family.  When people say, "My party right or wrong or my nation right or wrong" they are misdirecting zeal. If Jesus is on the throne of your heart then it's misdirected and you're deceived. 

But even Israel wanted to be like the other nations and have a king and they were a true theocracy with God in charge but they rejected it. Do we want to be people-pleasers and fit in with the norms of society or do desire to be godly? Don't let anyone or anything rival God's rightful domain in your life.  We must take spiritual inventory and rethink our priorities, commitments, and devotions. Are we seeking man's praise or God's? We must not inadvertently pay homage to false gods that are manmade simply because we want to fit in and be one of the guys and be in the crowd. We must dare to stand alone and stick up for what we believe and declare our Christian colors. Our soul loyalty is to Jesus as Lord denying the Roman oath allegiance of "Caesar is Lord," as blasphemy and idolatry.  

In the final analysis, do we desire the world's delicacies and rewards or what God can offer us eternally?   In summation, A W Tozer said, "What we believe about God [our idea of Him] is the most important thing about us."     CAVEAT:  Worship [pay homage owe allegiance to] the LORD thy God, and Him shalt thou serve."  (Cf. Matt. 4:10)    Soli Deo Gloria! 

Are We Supposed To Worship Jesus?

FROM A QUORA POST OF GODWIN GOZIEM JIREH

 Know that Jesus Christ who came from heaven to earth is God the Son (John 1:1, 14, 18; Hebrews 1:1–3; 1 John 5:20). He was worshipped, is still worshiped, and will be worshipped throughout eternity.

God the Father commanded all His angels to worship His Son Jesus when He was born on earth (Hebrews 1:6) and as soon as the Wise men from the East laid eyes on the infant Jesus, “they fell down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11).

All through the public ministry of Jesus, people from all walks of life recognized His divinity voluntarily and spontaneously worshipped Him. For example, Jesus accepted the freewill worship of the following persons:

• a leper who was healed - Matthew 8:2
• a nobleman whose son was healed - Matthew 9:18
• Jesus' disciples who saw Him walked on water- Matthew 14:33
• a Canaanite woman who requested Jesus to heal her daughter - Matthew 15:25
• the mother of James and John - Matthew 20:20
• a man tormented by evil spirits - Mark 5:6
• a blind man who was healed - John 9:38
• some women who met Jesus after His resurrection - Matthew 28:8-9; cf. Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10
• Jesus' disciples who saw Him after His resurrection - Matthew 28:17
• Apostle Thomas acknowledged Jesus as "My Lord and my God!" - John 20:28

Also know that all the angelic beings are currently worshipping the Father and Son Jesus (Revelation 5:11–14; 7:9–10) who are, spiritually speaking, “the temple of heaven” (Revelation 21:22). Eventually, all will worship Jesus someday; “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10–11).

So, from all the scriptural data presented so far, it is very obvious that we are posed to worship Jesus. Moreover, we find several passages in Scripture revering Jesus in worship as Lord and where the names attributed to Him indicate that other believers recognized Jesus as Deity- John 1:1–3, 14, 18; Acts 20:28; Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:3, 8.

Putting God To The Test

 "Harden not your provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works for forty years," (cf. Heb. 3:9). 

In Hebrew, the word for testing can be interpreted to imply that one is already guilty and they must consequently have the burden of proof of one's innocence: contrary to our right to be considered innocent till proven guilty. The Israelites lacked faith and tried God's patience and therefore were tested in the Wilderness before being ready to enter the Promised Land. What they conceived was nothing short of treason against God and Moses and to see if  God was "worth following."  They came to the conclusion this God-thing was working well for them and longed for the "good old days" in Egypt. 

But they were not living in reality because they didn't have faith in God and know that He always acts in character and that's why and how we can know Him. It isn't all a matter of what works for you or what the end result is (pragmatic) but what is true that matters in the final analysis. Plato said something very pertinent: "If I want to know how to live in reality, I must know what God is really like"  God can be our Exemplar and we can emulate Him because we can see Jesus. The Israelites failed to believe in the God who is and worshiped their own figment of their imagination., a concocted and ill-conceived image of God in their own box.   We must accept God for who He is and not what we want Him to be for us.  It doesn't matter how strongly one believes error, it's still false; truth doesn't depend on whether one believes it or not; we can have false convictions and be sincerely wrong. 

God will make an impression on our hearts as we come to know Him in reality and we found out that He is true to Himself with no hypocrisy or contradiction. Gideon put God to the test with fleece and David said we should "taste and see that the LORD is good." In Malachi God challenges us to liberality in giving in exchange for blessing, to find out that we cannot out-give God.  But Jesus was tested by Satan and he challenged Christ to jump off a cliff to see if God's Word would prove true. This is the kind of testing that is sin; assuming we can make God prove Himself on purpose to test Him when we should know better. 

As Christians, we don't just believe in God, but in the God who is there!  We don't just believe He exists, but that He is the God who does exist.  We believe in the God who indwells us, that He is real and not silent.  He's not dead but the God who won't die! This kind of faith doesn't come from nothing but the experience of walking with the LORD.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Getting To Know The Holy Spirit

 The Spirit of God is not an apparition, vapor, essence, force, influence, or phantom.  He actually has a job description that unifies and completes the work of salvation.  The Father planned and purposed it, the Son accomplished and executed it, and the Spirit applies and reveals it. They work as a synergy whereas the sum of the parts has more effect than the individual parts separately together.  Jesus referred to Him as our Comforter or Counselor.  

Here is the shortlist of His tasks to usward: 

Guides to truth   John 16:13

Reveals Jesus    John 16:14

Comforts    John 14:16

Counsels   John 14:26

Imparts wisdom   Eph. 1:17

Prays for us     Romans 8:27

Gives us power Acts 1:8

Helps infirmities and weakness   Rom, 8:26

Gives spiritual gifts  1 Cor. 12:11

Gives spiritual fruit.  Gal. 5:22-23

He is also known to illuminate, enlighten, inspire the Word to us and open our eyes to wondrous things in the Word.  

NB: The Holy Spirit never seeks His own glory or attention but to glorify and reveal Christ to us.

Can You Show The Bible Is Credible Without Citing It?...

1. It’s self-attesting, appealing to itself for authority. If it appealed to science, then science would be the final arbiter of truth, and science has been wrong, like when the sun revolved around the earth. We’d expect God’s word to begin with God and explain the world and truth, not anything as a footnote. The Bible rightly begins with God (“In the beginning God….”_). That’s not the beginning of a story but of all rational thinking. Either matter is eternal, created, or evolved—we know it’s not an illusion or Maya. Where we begin virtually determines where we end up. It actually claims to be the very Word of God and other scriptures don’t—over 2000 times it says, “Thus saith the LORD.,” or its equivalent.”
2. It’s the only one of the twenty-six known scriptures in the world that contains fulfilled prophecy, you’ll find no prophecy in the Koran, Brahman Vedas, or Bhagavad Gita, and over 2000 of them are in the Bible, not just a few lucky guesses, and these are in great detail and not vague like Nostradamus. Jesus fulfilled 333 prophecies explicitly.
3. The Bible is credible because it has miracles that are not helter-skelter or for show but to demonstrate a lesson from God, like demonstrating Christ’s deity. Other religions believe miracles because the religion is already believed, but Christianity is verified and confirmed by miracles, especially the resurrection as the biggie one. Jesus said to believe in Him for the miracles’ sake.
4. The Bible is based on history and fact—the resurrection is objective, historical fact “with many infallible proofs.” (Cf. Acts 1:3), if I can indulge a quote to say what I’m saying. There is circumstantial, historical, and empirical evidence for it. The historical, scientific, and geographic truths have been verified by archaeology. There are no scientific absurdities or anomalies, though it makes many scientific statements ahead of the writer’s time. Its history has been checked thoroughly. There is much corroborating evidence about Jesus, for instance, from secular sources. If you dehistoricize the Bible, it’s totally discredited, but no one can do that. There’s no evidence of it being a legend or myth like Greek mythology.
5. The writing of the Bible is a miracle in itself: over forty authors in three languages over 1500 years and yet having one theme.
6. It has a unique power. Most people that disbelieve it haven’t read it. We don’t have to defend it—it defends itself—just read it and prove it yourself! It doesn't contradict itself but contradicts people. The Bible has a unique ability to convict of sin and shed light: it reads you as you read it, it makes you hungry as you feed on it. You never have read it enough and don’t just read it once and set it back on the shelf!

Is Confessing The Same As Repenting?...

This is also an issue for the believer because, of the Ninety-Five Theses that Martin Luther posted, the first one was that repentance was a “progressive” activity of the believer, not a one-time act. Note that repentance is a prerequisite to salvation and it was preached by Jesus: "Repent and believe in the gospel." It is required for salvation in Acts 2:38 and 3:19.. Acts 17:30 commands all men everywhere to repent.

They go hand in hand and you can distinguish them but not separate them. For instance, if, you try to repent without confession, it’s like not really admitting any wrongdoing and coming clean without owning up to your sins and confessing (which is homologeo or to say the same thing as) Now we all do sins we are not aware of and that’s why when we confess God forgives us of them too (cf. 1 John 1:9).

The Greek word metanoia for repentance is to change one’s mind, have afterthoughts, or to turn directions. Remember that Judas tried to confess without repentance and it only amounted to simple remorse and guilt. Confession is a matter of fellowship and repentance is more closely associated with salvation in the grand scheme of things though.

How can you repent of a sin without having it in mind? Like this? “I repent of my sins, but not admitting any of them!” But if you also confess without repentance you are setting yourself up for repetition and an impenitent heart that is insincere and toying with God and making light of the act. The sacrifices of God are a contrite heart (cf. Psalm 51:17). Like saying I’m sorry I was caught with my hand in the cookie jar but not sorry enough to refrain from it again. Even Judas admitted or "confessed" his sin: "I have betrayed innocent blood."

Even if one realizes or thinks he might do the sin again, is no reason to not repent of it because repentance is the gift of God and He must grant it (cf 2 Tim. 2:25; Acts 5:31;11;18). No one completely ends sinning by confessing or repenting but it’s still commanded and the ways to grow in faith and closer to God. There’s no guarantee you’ll not commit a sin again but God looks at your attitude.

Proverbs 28:13 says that he who confesses and forsakes his sin shall find mercy. Both repentance and confession are acts of faith and cannot be done without it. That’s why theologians refer to penitent faith or believing repentance The definition of confession is to say the same thing as God says about and admit it, and repentance is to make a complete turnaround, do a 180, or make an about-face and turn from your sins toward God—a radical change of heart, mind, and will (cf. Acts 20:21).

I can’t cover all the bases but here’s some more reflection: We are all personally offended by some sins more than others for sure but these may not line up with God’s Word. We must also bear in mind that the devil accuses (the accuser of the brethren) and creates a guilt complex, but the Holy Spirit convicts and brings us to repentance by the Spirit of grace.

Believers shall never “come into judgment,” (cf. John 5:24). And we can not come into condemnation (cf. Rom. 8:1). But we commit sins of omission too that we may not be aware of besides the sins of commission that we do know of. Remember that confession and repentance are progressive and don’t end at salvation We must keep short accounts with God to stay in fellowship and walk with Him by faith.

“He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall find mercy.” (cf. Prov. 28:13).

Note: Genuine repentance brings forth fruit! (cf. Acts 26:20), “…that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” (cf. Luke 3:8), “Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance.”   Soli Deo Gloria!

Coming Of Age

 All of us have a right to leave our mark (leave a legacy) and make a difference in the spiritual world.  Also, we all have a right to be treated as adults and not children once we've come of age and though we may still be innocent in regards to the evil we can still be mature in godly matters.  The focus of Jesus' life was the relinquishment of "They will be done!" There are many seasons of life that we all pass through and they all have their right of passage. In Jewish culture, the bar mitzvah was the age of maturity for a young man.  

We notice that especially in Mary, the mother of Jesus, that she had to adjust to the Lord growing up and realizing His mission in life to please the Father and to accomplish His will, not His own.  A mother's role is complex and she has to realize when she is mothering too much when it is not welcome and not respecting a son's independence or manhood and even robbing it and smothering him in affection or caretaking. There comes a time when all men ought to leave their mothers and cling to their wives as to another form of care and affection. But we still "honor" them according to the commandment despite being emancipated.  

She started out in her path with the Lord just being her handmaiden but then became blessed among women by being selected to bear the Savior in her womb, so she became a mother and had to realize many responsibilities, that were above what the average would be. At the marriage of Cana, she realized she had no more authority over the Lord.  There comes a time when a mother must recognize her child is all grown up and has a right to make his own decisions and to be responsible for them.

When Mary and Joseph lost track of Jesus as the temple in Jerusalem (where was her faith?), it wasn't negligence even though she thought she had let God down, but it was Jesus purposely assuming His mission "to be about His Father's business." Jesus doubtless had done this on purpose.  She might have doubted her ability as a mother and was probably thinking she had failed God or erred from His will feeling guilty. We too can doubt our mission in life or not even realize it, and then conclude we have failed God. However, Jesus never doubted His divine mission first as Savior.  But it's never too late to get on track with God and back with the program.   Mary would learn the lesson and might have needed to apply it to herself, that one must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and follow God as Job One.  

Yes, there would come a time when she would "treasure these things in her heart," and she did ponder them meaning she didn't fully comprehend them but they would be food for thought and reason to meditate. She would have to acknowledge His authority and to listen to His teachings. Mary had been thankful and praised God for being chosen but there came a time when she was just addressed as "woman" by Jesus and she had to realize that she couldn't order Him around anymore that there comes a time when a child is no longer under the parents' tutelage, aegis, or authority. At the marriage feast at Cana Jesus told His mother: "What has this concern of ours to do with Me, woman..." (cf. John 2:4).  Jesus had to mention that His mother would be anyone who did God's will--a spiritual family.  Mary would be subject to Jesus now! 

There would come a time when she would become His disciple and follow and contribute to His ministry, even carrying for His personal needs as He sojourned and preached.  She stuck by Him all the way to the cross and probably mourned like any mother and thought it all had been for naught and that her mission had failed too. She didn't understand again but must have known by faith that God would work it all out and that there comes a time to trust and obey God even beyond our understanding--you don't have to understand to obey.  We too may have to realize a mission we don't comprehend and go by faith and not by our understanding. We all must learn to walk by faith and not by sight. She became a mourner for the Lord.

We all have a unique place in God's scheme of things and it all starts with a decision to follow Christ.  Even Mary had to do this and to become a follower.  Just like her, we are all called to a unique opportunity and place in God's kingdom. It all goes to show also that you don't have to understand God's will and probably won't but you can still accomplish it by faith.  Soli Deo Gloria!

We All Have A "Dark Side"

 Mark Twain is quoted by Charles R. Swindoll as saying that we are all like a moon that has a dark side no one sees. This is true. We all have "feet of clay" and are vulnerable to sin because of our very nature. We cannot clean up our act before we can come to Jesus; we must come as we are, but we cannot stay that way.

We must see how bad we are before we can become good. It's not how bad we are, but how bad off we are. It is like the distance of a deaf man to a symphony or a blind man to the Mona Lisa. We cannot bridge the gap. Jesus sees through the veneer and we cannot fool him.

Humanists think mankind is basically good, but we an inherently bad. You must realize that we are not sinners because we sin, rather we sin because we are sinners. It is our constituted nature to sin. We can deal with sins in the plural, but our problem is sin in the singular--our old sin nature inherited from Adam. This is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man.

The totality of our nature is permeated with sin and our image of God is marred and defaced morally. "No one knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good," says C. S. Lewis as in a catch-22. The paradox is that we must see our bankruptcy--the truly bad person thinks he is all right! And Lewis adds, "We must realize how bad we are before we can be good." The way up, by paradox, is down.

We are sinful in toto and in solidarity with Adam completely. Someone has said, "We cannot escape our birthright." We cannot ingratiate ourselves with God, because we "have feet of clay." That means we have hidden vulnerabilities. We are permeated with sin through and through--there is no vestige of righteousness.

R. C. Sproul writes of a man who never lost his faith in the basic goodness of man despite being held captive in Iraq--this is sheer ignorance! Compared to Saddam Hussein the run-of-the-mill sinner looks like a saint; however, he is just as bad off from God's viewpoint and they both must come to Jesus the same way in childlike repentance and faith.

HOW DEPRAVED ARE WE THEN?

Man is depraved through and through, as bad off as he can be, but not as bad as he can be. N.B. that this is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man. It is like being pregnant; you can't be a little pregnant. Sin affects every aspect of our being which means we have radical corruption or total depravity. "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh" (Rom. 7:18a). I don't mean utter depravity (that we are as bad as we can be) but total depravity (that every aspect of our being is spoiled with sin). We all have "feet of clay" (having flaws not readily apparent) and can't "clean up our act" nor ingratiate ourselves to God.

We show our solidarity in Adam when we sin--we sin because we are sinners, we are not sinners because we sin. It is not okay to fudge a little because we a diabolically alive--we all are like a moon that has a "dark side" no one can see. We may be a run-of-the-mill sinner compared to Hitler and see ourselves as saints in comparison; but Christ is the standard and exemplar, not Hitler.

We are inherently bad, biased to evil, having lost our inclination to good at the fall. Evil permeates our nature and we are defiant volitionally. This is all God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of himself. This is called original sin by some. Augustine of Hippo said we can only do evil (non-posse non-peccare). But Jesus sees through the veneer and facade. We are "by nature children of wrath" and "enemies" of God before we are saved. We must see how bad we are to be good and we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good.

There are many verses that support depravity including Jer. 17:9 ("The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?"); Isa. 1:5-6, 64:6; Jer. 13:23; Rom. 8:8; Gen. 6:4-5. The law shows our present state: "Indeed, it is the straightedge of the law that shows us how crooked we are" ( Rom. 3:23, J. B. Phillips).

CAVEAT: EVEN OUR WILLS ARE STUBBORN AND DEPRAVED AND MUST BE WOOED AND TRANSFORMED BY GRACE AND THE HOLY SPIRIT! Soli Deo Gloria!

Fulfilled Prophecy in Christ

 More than 333 prophecies were fulfilled by Christ showing some 451 details, not vague generalities that can be misunderstood or misinterpreted, but exact accountings. 

1. Born in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2; Matt 2:1,5)
2. Of the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10; Heb. 7:14)
3. Of a virgin  (Isaiah 7:14; Matt 1:18-22)
4. A prophet like unto Moses (Deut. 18:15; John 7:15-17)
5. The King of Israel   (Zech 9:9; John 12:12-15)
6. Rejected (Isaiah 53:3; Jn 1:11)
7. Silent  (Isaiah 53:7; Matt 27:12-14)
8. Betrayed  (Psalm 41:9; Matt.  14:17-20)
9. Tried and condemned  (Isa. 53:8; Matt. 27:1-2)
10. Crucified  (Psalm 22:16; Jn 19:17-18)
11. His garments divided  (Psalm 22:18; Jn 19:23-24)
12. Given vinegar and gall  (Psalm 69:21; Jn 19:28-29)
13. His bones not broken (Exodus 12:46; Jn 19:31-36)
14. He is our sacrifice  (Usa 53:5-6; 1 Pet 2:24-25; John 1:29)
15. Was raised from death! (Psa. 16:10; Luke 24:1-7,47)

Note: the gospel of Matthew was written to show that Jesus is the Messiah the King of the Jews who fulfilled prophecies and repeatedly refers to them as they are fulfilled. 

Cheap Grace

PART I

Easy-believism or cheap grace (first popularized by theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer) has been a constant misconception of our faith. It justifies the sin, not the sinner! Salvation is indeed free, but not cheap! It will cost something and you will be tested. The most obvious one that some won't be willing to pay is to turn from a life of sin, like living in sin and not being willing to change that lifestyle. If we want to live godly in Christ, we will suffer persecution, according to Jesus. We must be willing to seek first the kingdom of God (cf. Matt. 6:33) above all other priorities, dreams, ambitions, and whatever is ours--because all ultimately belongs to Him, because Jesus doesn't want these things--He wants us as living sacrifices (cf. Rom. 12:1)!

That's what He meant when He said we must deny ourselves and follow Him. We don't know where He will lead us or know God laid out a plan for our whole life at salvation but must be willing to do His will, whatever it is in the complete surrender of our wills to His. Jesus also said that we must love Him preeminently above family, friends, children, spouse, and even self. In the last days, men will be lovers of themselves (cf. 2 Tim. 3:2), or "looking out for number one!"

Jesus did everything He could to discourage insincere followers and make salvation "well-nigh impossible." But it is worth the cost to follow Jesus through thick and thin and the reward is eternal. The more abundant life we experience begins in the here and now, as we live in light of eternity with God's blessing in all we do in His name. True prosperity isn't necessarily higher income, not even fame, or power. What being prosperous entails is God's blessings on our ventures and helping us to find what He will bless us in. The disciples were inquisitive about what their reward would be since they gave up everything to follow Him, and Jesus said that it would multiply not add (like ten times, instead of ten more).

Jesus had no trouble attracting admirers or people who wanted to be buddies or sidekicks, but He was looking for disciples who would devote their lives to the learning of Him and be following Him--this is what He meant by those who worship God in Spirit and in truth. Jesus said that if we abide in His Word we are disciples indeed (cf. John 8:31). Don't be someone to whom Jesus might say, "You have sacrificed nothing!" This is an awful rebuke of a disobedient life, and some believers may be saved as if by fire and by the skin of the teeth, so to speak.

The reward that we strive for is everlasting and we should be inspired by athletes who make great sacrifices and strive for a temporal prize that fades away. One of the metaphors that Christ uses for the believer is one of an athlete--we are to exercise discipline in our life and set our eyes on Jesus and finish the race He has set before us. If athletes can endure the discipline and think it will be worth a temporal prize, so much the more should we be inspired to make sacrifices for eternal prizes in Christ's kingdom, and even the ultimate sacrifice, because we are considered worthy to suffer for His kingdom (cf. Philippians 1:29).

The prize we seek is worth more than anything on earth and we should be willing to sacrifice anything on earth to gain it--God doesn't ask everyone to make great sacrifices, but He does expect them to be willing to do so. Nothing on earth (fame, fortune, power) is worth losing our soul for and Jesus said succinctly (cf. Mark 8:36), "What shall it gain a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?" One soul is worth more to God than the entire world! You cannot put a price on salvation nor on the joy that a believer has in Christ.

Jesus never made it seem easy to be a bed of roses to be a believer and admonished us to count the cost, but "all these things shall be added" unto us if we follow Christ. The problem with most seekers is that they want the benefits without the Benefactor. We are not to get a martyr's complex either, thinking that the more we suffer, the more spiritual we are, or that we gain salvation through suffering or martyrdom--Jesus isn't calling us to die for him but to take up our cross and follow Him regardless of the results and through thick and thin. We are called to deny ourselves and this is the unique sacrifice of Christianity, and the one that makes it unattractive to some, because they are unwilling to heed Christ's "hard sayings." When we suffer for His sake, we shall in His glory--no cross--no glory!


PART II

"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder" (James 2:19, NIV).
"Believe in the Lord [i.e., accepting his lordship or ownership] Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31, NIV).
"...' Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37, NIV).

A. W. Tozer wrote a book, I Call It Hersey, to debunk the false notion of easy-believism (i.e., not accepting Christ as Lord of one's life but believing in spite of it) or cheap grace (i.e., forgiveness without repentance, justifying the sin, not the sinner!), as Dietrich Bonhoeffer referred to it as. This message of domesticating and dumbing down the call to lordship is the gospel in vogue in modern, mainstream denominational churches who disregard repentance and, its flip side, faith as the only means of salvation. William Booth warned of a church offering forgiveness without repentance!

We must have a penitent faith or believing repentance as it were. Salvation is indeed free, but not cheap--it costs everything we've got (total surrender of self to His will). The propagators of the easy-believism tend to preach that we don't have to obey Christ to be saved--just believe! This is not accepting Him as our Lord. Christ will not dichotomize His offices and personhood.

We must submit to Him as Lord and trust Him as Savior. We cannot accept a half-Christ. He is Lord of all, or not at all! (Cf. Rom. 10:12; Acts 10:36). We must bow to His authority (cf. Phil. 2:10-11) and ownership over our lives as the "Captain of our soul and Master of our fate" (cf. Invictus by William Ernest Henley)--we must release control of our life. In other words, our destiny is in His hands (cf. Job 23:14) and we must openly confess Him as our Lord before men to confirm our salvation (cf. Rom. 10:9-10; Matt. 10:32-33). There are no secret Christians or closet believers. There are also no Lone Ranger ones or solitary saints--we must all get connected with the body to function and grow.

Now there is no such thing as a carnal Christian as a class of believers, though believers can become carnal or lose their fellowship, backsliding or even falling from grace. Christians do disobey God, though they do not continue in it, for God disciplines them and brings them back into the fold. If we are without discipline, we are not real children of God! Blessed are those who have learned to be rebuked by the Scripture and don't need a school of hard knocks to learn lives Reality 101. "The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all" (Psalm 34:19, NIV).

God is looking for believers with gusto, who are gung-ho for the Lord, not halfhearted! We must seek Him with our whole heart to find Him, for God regards not triflers. It was said of Joshua (cf. 14:8) that he "wholly followed the Lord." We must hold nothing back, making no compromises with the world, for if we love the world or the things of the world, we will not love God (cf. 1 John 2:15). We must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (cf. Mark 8:34). Jesus never made it sound easy to be saved, but even discouraged halfhearted "disciples."

We, also, must not contextualize or water down the gospel message to lure or entice folks with an "acceptable" gospel they can swallow or handle without offense (but Christ is the Rock of offense and a Stone of stumbling!).

Some people merely pay lip service or go through the motions, memorizing the Dance of the Pious, in their worship--which is a fraud and a sham, not the real thing--this is Churchianity or playing games with the church, not Christianity. The Bible condemns those whose lips are near but their hearts are far from the Lord only doing their religious "duty" in church, not out of the heart. Lukewarm believers are ones who are not walking with the Lord and need Christ in their heart to be a real encounter with Him.

The only genuine test of faith is obedience and "only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes," according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yes, there's a cost to discipleship and no one is promised a bed of roses--our reward is not in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14), for the Lord is our portion (cf. Gen. 15:1)!

Our faith is not measured by our ecstasies or encounters, even experiences such as visions and dreams, but only by our obedience (cf. Heb. 3:18-19)! Jesus will say that we are merely good and faithful servants at the Judgment Seat of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10). Yes, the cost is great and it's a life of sacrifice of self--not living for oneself--but the cost of rejection is greater!


PART III

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (cf. The Cost of Discipleship) the famous martyred Lutheran Nazi resistor, talked about "cheap grace." Our salvation is free, but it costs everything. "Easy-believism" refers to belief without commitment and lordship. We must accept Christ as the lord of our lives and the center of our being.

Simple acquiescence or agreement is not enough; one must believe in one's heart and decide to follow Jesus no matter the cost. Jesus said, "Take up your cross, deny yourself and follow Me" (Matt. 16:24).

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, regretted that the twentieth century would usher in Christianity without Christ and faith without repentance. Your head belief must travel 18 inches to your heart to be heart belief. True faith loves Jesus and is a living relationship with Him.

Repentance is the flip side of faith and goes hand in hand with it. They compliment each other and need each other--they are different viewpoints. We are to leave the fundamentals of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. To get assurance we must examine our hearts and look at the fruit of our lives. The Word of God coupled with the testimony of the Holy Spirit will bring assurance of true faith.

Don't let anyone tell you that it is easy to become a Christian. Sure children can get saved but one must receive it as a child even if one is old. Jesus said to enter at the "narrow gate" for narrow is the gate and hard is the way that leads to life and "few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:14). Many preachers say, "Just believe! It's easy!" but the Holy Spirit must be working in the person's heart to convict them (John 16:8) and draw them to Christ (John 6:44). Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

God gets all the glory and we are not the captain of our souls or the master of our fate--our ultimate destiny is in the hands of God. Arminians think this makes God look like a terrible tyrant, but in reality, He is sovereign over all. Soli Deo Gloria!