Tag: Bible

Those who are hostile to God will not be allowed into His Heaven

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Although God invites everyone to be part of His forever family, those who are hostile to God and His ways will not be allowed to enter in to His heaven.  Ladies and gentlemen that includes militant homosexuals and antagonistic atheists as well as many who call themselves Christian.

It is actually somewhat understandable why many people mistrust certain Christians; however, there are other Christians whom it is quite dangerous to despise.  Those Christians and their way of living may make you feel a bit uncomfortable regarding life-choices you may have made or may currently be making but if they are actually embarking upon the spirit-walk we are all called to travel in then it is wise to take note and, perhaps, move in the same direction and along the pathway and in the same manner they are.

There is a Christian doctrine which holds that the soul of the fully committed Christian may attain a high degree of virtue and holiness and become Entirely Sanctified with the help of the divine grace of Jesus.  That term is not to be confused with the late Dr. Charles Stanley’s erroneous accusations that those who believe Entire Sanctification is a present possibility in this life are actually claiming to have attained “Ultimate Sanctification.”  The Reverend Doctor may have merely misunderstood and not been guilty of maliciously maligning that grace of Jesus which he couldn’t quite comprehend.  In some of his sermons I heard him come so close to teaching and embracing Entire Sanctification, often while using slightly different terminology that meant the same thing, and then, just as it seemed like he was about to have his “eureka” moment, suddenly he was running back away from it.

I can remember at least a couple of times, sitting in front of the television saying, “C’mon Doc, you’re only a hair’s breadth away from your breakthrough.”  Unfortunately, every time I heard Charles Stanley speak of Entire Sanctification correctly and get really close to actually comprehending the command from God for us to be holy in this life I would hear him turn around and run back toward hyper-Calvinism much like Gollum seeking out his “Precious.”  Please understand, I do not lump together all those who hold John Calvin in high regard.  I tend to see it as something along the line of:  Hyper-Calvinist … Calvinist … Wesleyan-Calvinist.  An example of the latter might be Charles H. Spurgeon who said, “There is a point of grace as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the world.”  He also said of them, who are enjoying that grace, “They are rejoicing Christians, holy and devout men doing service for their Master all over the world, and everywhere conquerors through Him that loved them.”

Now the concept of Entire Sanctification may initially come from the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine of theosis.  The critic may pounce at this point and loudly proclaim, “Aha!  It’s not a biblical thing!”  My response is, “Sorry, charlie; go back and reread the paragraph above which starts with ‘There is a Christian doctrine…Jesus.’ because the foundation of that doctrine is God’s command to be holy.”

Thomas Aquinas defined a perfect thing as one that “possesses that of which, by its nature, it is capable.”

“Perfection is that which it is better to have than not to have.” – Duns Scotus

Christian Perfection is another term used to speak of Entire Sanctification.  It is a doctrine that is chiefly associated with the followers and adherents of John Wesley’s theological understanding.  Sometimes the concept is referred to as “sinless perfection,” although a better and more accurate phrase would be “blamelessness before God.”

John Wesley, in his book, “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” wrote “…sinless perfection is a phrase I never use, lest I should seem to contradict myself.”  He also explained that he viewed it as “purity of intention, dedicating all the life to God” with “the mind which was in Christ, enabling us to walk as Christ walked.”  This assists in “loving God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves.”

Wesley did not use the term “Christian perfection” to claim sinlessness nor did he advocate it as a state of being unable to sin but rather the being more readily capable of choosing not to sin through finding empowerment from the Spirit of God to abide in holiness of heart and life in accordance with our high calling.

Thereby we may experience a freedom from willful rebellion against God, as well as impure intentions and pride.  As we followers of Jesus function at that level of Christian living the world then sees the type of Christian that assures them that God still works in His followers in our day.

Entirely Sanctified Christians remain subject to temptations, and have a continued need to maintain a prayer life that keeps them connected to the One who empowers them to fulfill His command to “Be ye holy, for I am holy.”  Charles Stanley correctly understood we cannot attain Entire Sanctification in our own power, and as long as we try to do it that way we’ll never get it; when we understand that the Spirit of God empowers us to live that way then and only then we may be empowered to receive that point of grace.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. — Jesus

Regarding John Wesley

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There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer—I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them, and rejoice to avow it. But far be it from me even to imagine that Zion contains none but Calvinistic Christians within her walls, or that there are none saved who do not hold our views.  Most atrocious things have been spoken about the character and spiritual condition of John Wesley, the modern prince of Arminians.  I can only say concerning him that, while I detest many of the doctrines which he preached, yet for the man himself I have a reverence second to no Wesleyan; and if there were wanted two apostles to be added to the number of the twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two men more fit to be so added than George Whitefield and John Wesley. The character of John Wesley stands beyond all imputation for self-sacrifice, zeal, holiness, and communion with God; he lived far above the ordinary level of common Christians, and was one ‘of whom the world was not worthy.’ I believe there are multitudes of men who cannot see these truths, or, at least, cannot see them in the way in which we put them, who nevertheless have received Christ as their Saviour, and are as dear to the heart of the God of grace as the soundest Calvinist in or out of Heaven. — Charles H Spurgeon

“There is a point of grace as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the world.”  Of such he says: “They are rejoicing Christians, holy and devout men doing service for the Master all over the world, and everywhere conquerors through Him that loved them.”  The experience to which Mr. Spurgeon refers has often been described as the higher life, entire sanctification, Christian perfection, perfect love, the rest of faith, and by numerous other names or terms.  Various modes of expression have been selected by various Christians which have best coincided with their cultural and theological views.  There may be shades of difference in their import, but, generally speaking, the terms mean one and the same thing.  We do not contend for names.  It is immaterial which expressions are employed; the main point is, do we possess the experience designated by these terms, and which is recognized and professed by Christians representing all our churches?

Emergent Church

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Bible3

Sounds pretty straightforward to me, how about you?

Forgiveness and reconciliation

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Forgiveness, not revenge, is a necessary ingredient to promote reconciliation.  Unfortunately, in our day, even forgiveness is not a well understood concept.  There are many people who claim to have “forgiven” someone who can, and frequently do, recite chapter and verse of the offense which they have “forgiven”.  C.S. Lewis said, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”   How would you like to spend an eternity being constantly reminded by The Supreme Being (the one true God) of every offense you’ve ever committed?  That would be … well, more like the other place than heaven.

Now, does that mean we need a couple of really long paragraphs here for explaining what forgiveness really looks like?  Actually I think our friends from the New York City area can sum up the definition for our purposes with their vernacular – “forgetaboutit”.  I like the way C.S. Lewis put it, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

RECONCILIA’TION, n. [L. reconciliatio.]

  1. The act of reconciling parties at variance; renewal of friendship after disagreement or enmity.

Reconciliation and friendship with God, really form the basis of all rational and true enjoyment.

  1. In Scripture, the means by which sinners are reconciled and brought into a state of favor with God, after natural estrangement or enmity; the atonement; expiation.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity. Dan 9. Heb 2.

  1. Agreement of things seemingly opposite, different or inconsistent.

— Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, Electronic Version, E-sword

  The very nature of God, His very being and essence is to be unchanging and unchangeable, as the Apostle James so eloquently states: “With Him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”   That means we can trust Him, what He says He will do, will, in fact, be done and in the very manner He prescribes.

What should be crystal clear to each of us, unfortunately many today in our Biblically illiterate culture are unaware, nor is it politically correct to note, God might, without the slightest stain upon His own honor have left all mankind to suffer eternal destruction, for certainly we have no more claim upon His divine favor than had the fallen angels.  The fact that He did not immediately send the entire family of fallen man to irremediable woe was due solely to His imperial (sovereign) will.

“having predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He made us accepted….” (Ephesians 1:5-6)

“who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the eternal times.”  (2nd Timothy 1:9)

The greatest wonder of all time is the Lamb of God being slain for the redemption and reconciliation of sinful man.  Man had gone astray; he had become the enemy and needed to make reparations or be reconciled.  God, the creator, would have been fully justified in wiping man from the face of the earth and beginning again – it was well within His capabilities and the angels would have continued to say, without missing a beat, “Holy and just art Thou, O God.”  As Moral Governor of this world and the Judge of all, He has a legal enmity against those who trample His Law beneath their feet.  Talk about Someone to whom reparations are due.  However, He chose to provide the remedy and He determined what that would be before He even began His creative work just as He has told us in His book the Holy Bible.  To reject His remedy is to refuse reconciliation and remain in a state of alienation.

  “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”  (Colossians 1:19-23)

“For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!” (Romans 5:10)

This is where some confusion tends to creep in and we need to remember it is not that God is reconciled to man it is that man may be reconciled to God for that is the language of the New Testament which was also alluded to by the Old Testament in our holy scripture.

 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus The Christ.

  He has delivered us who once were, just like everyone else, children of disobedience (Eph 2:2).  The children of disobedience or pre-converted are incapable of doing a single thing which is pleasing in God’s sight because what they are doing, albeit ignorantly, is claiming “Jesus’ blood atonement is not necessary for my salvation; I can save myself through my own works or some other path of my choosing.”

  Heaven is not Burger Kingtm; you get it God’s way, not your way.

Reconciliation to God

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 “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11), “They are everyday doing that which is provoking to Him, and He resents it, and treasures it up ‘against the day of wrath.’ As His mercies are new every morning towards His people, so His anger is new every morning against the wicked, upon the fresh occasions given for it by their renewed transgressions.  God is angry with the wicked even in the merriest and most prosperous of their days, even in the days of their devotion; for, if they be suffered [permitted] to prosper, it is in wrath; if they pray, their very prayers are an abomination.  The wrath of God abides upon them (John 3:36) and continual additions are made to it.” (Matthew Henry, Electronic Version, E-sword)  “If He turn not, He will whet His sword” (Psalm 7:12) “What blows are those which will be dealt by that long uplifted arm! God’s sword has been sharpening upon the revolving stone of our daily wickedness, and if we will not repent, it will speedily cut us to pieces.  Turn or burn is the sinner’s alternative.” – C.H.Spurgeon

The destruction of the person at odds with God is assured; however, practically everyone is aware of the “grace note”.  God takes no pleasure in the destruction of those deemed wicked.  Therefore, even in the midst of the threatening of the wrath of God upon disobedient persons He holds forth the possibility that with repentance the reconciliation between man and God can take place.

  “In Adam all die”  (1st Corinthians 15:22)

“For since death is through man, the resurrection of the dead also is through a Man.”  (1st Corinthians 15:21)

“Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.”  (John 14:6)

“Sin is man’s declaration of independence from God” – Anon

“Our lives are a manifestation of what we think about God.” – ibid

“Before God can deliver us we must undeceive ourselves.” – St Augustine

“True repentance is to cease from sin.” – St Ambrose

“Born once, die twice; born twice, die once.” – Unknown

“There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘Alright, then, have it your way.’” – C. S. Lewis

Reconciliation

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    Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies,  envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  (Galatians 5:19-21)

Every one of us is an omelet, there is a lot of good in us … well most of us (don’t look around) …but there is some bad in us too and that makes us unfit for the presence of The Supreme Being.

  But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all your conduct; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (1st Peter 1:15-16)

“It is not a little dislike, but thorough hatred which God bears to workers of iniquity.  To be hated of God is an awful thing.  O let us be very faithful in warning the wicked around us, for it will be a terrible thing for them to fall into the hands of an angry God” — C. H. Spurgeon.  Light cannot have communion (commingle) with darkness, they are totally incompatible.

Therefore if you are not a Christian at this point in time you’ve got a serious problem according to God’s Word, the Holy Bible; but the remedy is available – commit yourself to Jesus.  It is simpler than most folk realize.

  I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  (Galatians 5:16)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)

But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  (Galatians 5:22-23)

Fallen man has come under the wrath of God but that is not what we were created for.  We were created for fellowship with Him and that is what He still longs for and the reason He made the way for us to be reconciled to Him.  “The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2nd Peter 3:9)

Those who fail to heed God’s commands and are not actively abiding in Christ Jesus prior to their departure from this world will hear “Depart from Me you cursed into everlasting fire” (Matt 25:41)  What is usually not realized is that this will be spoken from a broken heart for God Himself has stated that He has no delight in the death of the wicked and longs to be able to welcome you into His heaven but, you see, His Justice, coupled with His other divine attributes, prevents those who have not been reconciled through His Son to gain entrance into that holy place.

Perhaps this illustration will help:  God has a peanut allergy.  For those of us who are not allergic to peanuts this may not make a whole lot of sense but bear with me.  I enjoy a good PB&J sandwich occasionally and I’ve eaten one in the presence of someone who was allergic to peanuts and he sort of went flakey.  For me, his reaction certainly seemed to me to be a little illogical, but for him he knows what ingesting only a little bit of peanut product will do to him and he wanted to put distance between himself and that “hazardous” substance.  Now the Holy Bible tells me that there was at one time a “hazardous substance” in heaven.  It was found in the heart of Lucifer and it cost God one-third of His angels.  He is not going to permit Heaven to ever be polluted again.  Now, we are, in essence, saturated through and through with peanut oil and the only cure, the only way to get rid of it, is Jesus.  Buddha brand aspirin won’t work, pagan pepto stuff won’t work; nor will churchy chlorine sans Christ or anything else you can come up with.  Jesus is the only cleansing/purifying agent who can remove all the impurities that are in us and make us fit for heaven.

Reconciliation

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The third chapter of Genesis explains why human history is written in the ink of blood and tears.  This should not be confused with the idea that we are being punished for Adam’s sin (if considering him as a private person) we suffer for our own sins but Adam was the federal head of the human race.  Adam acted, not for himself alone, but for all who were to spring from him, so that his act was, judicially constituted, our act.

The corruption of the nature of all the offspring of Adam is referred to as original sin, or depravity, and demonstrates itself in a tendency towards evil, and that continually.  That tendency remains in the person who has decided and is following Christ Jesus until cleansing is provided by baptism through God’s Holy Spirit.  Some refer to it as pursuing purity, others as Christian maturity, still others prefer to state it as entire sanctification.  Keeping the concept simple; when a person becomes a Christ Follower they proclaim that “Jesus is my co-pilot” whereas the fully committed Christian humbly acknowledges Jesus as “The Pilot”.

By his act of disobedience in Eden man had effectively declared unbelief in the trustworthiness of the Word of God and decided to take control of his own destiny.  Only later did he realize that he had unwittingly submitted to the enemy of his soul rather than maintaining his trust in the One who loved him.  Sin broke the happy relationship which originally existed between man and his rightful lord.  The fact that we continue disobeying the law of God demonstrates our oneness with Adam.  Our complicity with Adam in his rebellion is evidenced every time we personally sin against God.

Actual sin or personal sin is a voluntary violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible person.  This should not be confused with involuntary shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes, failures or other deviations from a standard of perfect conduct that are the residual effects of the fall.  However, such innocent effects do not include attitudes or responses contrary to the spirit of Christ, which may be properly called sins of the spirit.

Thankfully, for every one of us, God sets the rules, not we.  See Matthew 18:23-35 in His guidebook, the Holy Bible, also known as the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

Unfortunately for fallen, unreconciled man, physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, expulsion from the earth, not annihilation.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endures forever. (Psalm 111:10)

Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned My rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.  For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to Me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm. (Proverbs 1:29-33)

You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.  The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. (Psalm 5:4-5)

“For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” (Psalm 1:6)

One of the really disturbing sayings among those not actively following the ways and teachings of Jesus is that they will be with all their friends in hell but the children of light, those who have placed their faith in Jesus and are actively obeying Him, are aware that no soul in the place of torment will have any friends due to the fact that they will be blaming each other for their own failure to appropriate Christ Jesus as their own personal Savior and vehicle of reconciliation to God.

The ancient Rabbins held that the law we find delineated for us in Deuteronomy 22:6 was the least of God’s laws and the violation of even that one law results in a person being counted guilty as if violating the whole Law.  After all, a careful study of the Holy Scripture reveals no Biblical authority for believing there is any such thing as a little sin; an insignificant sin.  It is the solemn declaration that those who have despised God’s authority and trampled His commandments beneath their feet are exposed to the Divine displeasure and to the well deserved and completely appropriate punishment as the expression of that displeasure.

  “For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)

Did you catch that?  One single transgression against the law of God is all that it takes to establish a person in the category of the wicked.  Some folks think, or are hoping that, if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds they’ll be okay.  That is not the way God does things.

God sets the rules, not mankind.  God does not grade on a curve.  The first six chapters of Romans in the Holy Bible lays out clearly and concisely that every person on the face of this planet, whether Jew or Gentile [the Biblical way of saying “all races, all people groups”], prior to reconciliation with God through His divinely provided remedy is categorized for eternal separation from the One, True, Holy God.  We all love to quote John 3:16, and that’s good, but we must not overlook the verses immediately following:

    For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.  He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil.

For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who practices truth comes to the Light so that his works may be revealed, that they exist, having been worked in God. (John 3:17-21)

Reconciliation excerpt

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In this day and age most of society implicitly and/or explicitly rejects the premise which has been clearly set forth in the Holy Bible that “all have sinned.”  Rather most folk seem to prefer to meander towards the tendency to want to believe that some people are naturally good and others have, probably through no fault of their own, unfortunately been influenced to be bad.  We use “science” today to say the fault probably lies in our genes.  However the human race is suffering as a result of the sin of Adam, or it is suffering for no reason at all.

In the 2,000 years of church history following the time of Jesus’ physical presence in this world many theologians and scholars have set forth their thoughts in an attempt to define sin.  Some have defined it quite broadly making it out that practically everything that a human being does which is not specifically an act of devotion toward God is sin.  The problem with that definition is that it degrades the problem of sin which is, God is holy and He will not permit those who are hostile to Him and offensive to His absolute purity to dwell in His presence.

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24)

God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment (2nd Peter 2:4)

An overly broad definition of sin can also cause those who are trying to trust and obey Christ Jesus to feel very insecure in their faith walk.  Another definition, which was offered by the renowned theologian John Wesley: “Sin is a willful transgression of a known law of God.” This is a far more scripturally sound explanation of what sin is even if, perhaps, a bit too narrow a description.  Temptation is not sin, it can lead to sin, but it is not in and of itself sin.

Sin came into the world through the disobedience of our first parents, and spiritual death by sin.  The enormity of such an offense is nearly impossible for us to truly comprehend.  Consider the fact that we are told that Adam was able to converse with his creator on a regular basis and then he chose to disobey a plainly articulated command with concise consequences.  Man lost the favor and friendship of God and incurred His holy displeasure and righteous indignation.  Fallen man became separated from God.  It is easy to write or read those words, but who is competent to fathom their fearful import!

The concept of Adam as the head of the human race and that his actions determined the natural direction for all his posterity is clearly taught in the Holy Bible.  Sin, the willful disobedience, snapped the golden cord which had united man to his maker.  Even as God confronted Adam regarding his disobedience He began articulating the methodology of the remedy He had predetermined that He would use before He had ever begun His creative work.  If we follow Adam’s path we will experience eternal separation from God; if we follow Jesus’ path we may experience eternal companionship with God on a superior basis to even that which Adam enjoyed before the fall.

Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned:

Therefore as by one offense sentence came on all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came to all men to justification of life.

  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:12, 18-19)

Such repetition and emphasis intimates the basic importance of the truth here revealed and also hints at our slowness or rather reluctance to receive the same.  Interestingly enough, the meaning of these declarations too plain for any unprejudiced mind to misunderstand.  “In Adam all die.” (1st Cor 15:22)  Every member of the human race enters into this world a guilty sinner, alienated from The Supreme Being before he ever commits a single transgression on his own.

Yes, dear reader, it is a bleak picture being painted thus far and we still have more groundwork to be laid out before we can truly get to the bright colors of hope and victory which are coming our way if we allow the confusing clutter to be cleared from our pathway by this bleak portion.  From whence came this clutter?  The enemy of our soul who has been seeking to work us woe from way back at the beginning of human history.

Jesus v Muhammad

An Excerpt from my book “Reconciliation”

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“sIn”

  “If a man possesses a repentant spirit his sins will disappear, but if he has an unrepentant spirit his sins will continue and condemn him for their sake forever.” – Buddha

“The first sin in the Universe was Lucifer’s self-conceit.” – Thomas Carlyle

“Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, but it is forbidden because it is hurtful” – Benjamin Franklin

Sin exists.  Sin separates man from God.  What is sin anyway?  Mr. Franklin’s little statement quoted above can take us a long way toward understanding the Ten Commandments: The “Thou Shalt” and “Thou Shalt Nots” thingy, and the purpose behind them; obey them and have a better life, ignore them and things just won’t go as well.

Sin is not a word we hear much outside of religious circles.  The main reason for that is due to the fact that our world, meaning primarily western culture, has replaced the word with many others in an effort to describe behavior which it does not consider to be currently socially acceptable.  Unfortunately, changing the name does not change the reality of the concept; a skunk by any other name is just as smelly.  Some behaviors are not right, regardless of society’s fungible norms or the words used to describe them.

In this day and age most of society implicitly and/or explicitly rejects the premise which has been clearly set forth in the Holy Bible that “all have sinned.”  Rather most folk seem to prefer to meander towards the tendency to want to believe that some people are naturally good and others have, probably through no fault of their own, unfortunately been influenced to be bad.  We use “science” today to say the fault probably lies in our genes.  However the human race is suffering as a result of the sin of Adam, or it is suffering for no reason at all.

In the 2,000 years of church history following the time of Jesus’ physical presence in this world many theologians and scholars have set forth their thoughts in an attempt to define sin.  Some have defined it quite broadly making it out that practically everything that a human being does which is not specifically an act of devotion toward God is sin.  The problem with that definition is that it degrades the problem of sin which is, God is holy and He will not permit those who are hostile to Him and offensive to His absolute purity to dwell in His presence.

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24)

– Pastor Ward Clinton

Stand Strong

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young uncle sam

A word of encouragement to our pastors, who, now more than ever, are on the front lines of the culture war given the assault on marriage and religious liberty.

John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, a lesser-known hero of the War for Independence, was a pastor and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1775, he preached a sermon on Ecclesiastes 3:1 — “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.”

Pastor Muhlenberg closed his sermon with these words:

“In the language of Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight.”
He then removed his clerical robes and revealed to the congregation that he was wearing the uniform of an officer in the Continental Army.

Pastor Muhlenberg’s example of a man of God fighting for our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should give increased fervor and devotion most especially to those who lead us in the fight for faith, family and freedom.

Like few times in our nation’s history, this is a time to fight for the values we cherish!   — Gary Bauer

If anyone wonders whether the founding fathers thought the federal government should define marriage and not the states, and whether it should interfere with our religious beliefs, here is what Thomas Jefferson thought:

Thomas Jefferson letter to Samuel Miller

Date: January 23, 1808

I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from inter-meddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the States the powers not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in any religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. It must then rest with the States.

It is times like this that we need to strengthen ourselves by reading the book most hated by liberals which was penned by their greatest enemy whom they can never defeat.

1 Peter 1: 19-21  And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Morals