Close

Tag: Holy Bible

Pastors, Now is the Time to Stand Against Tyranny!

pastorwardclinton1 Comment

Pastors, Now is the Time to Stand Against Tyranny!

By / 10 June 2015 /

 There are tens of millions of evangelical Christians in the United States, and millions do not participate in politics even though the Bible says that the civil magistrate is a “minister of God” (Rom. 13:4). Millions of these Christians don’t participate in the political process because their pastors are either afraid to address political issues or they believe that Christians would not get mixed up in politics.

Either reason is contrary to the Bible and the history of this once-great nation. “To the pulpit, the PURITAN PULPIT, we owe the moral force which won our Independence,”John Wingate Thornton wrote in The Pulpit of the American Revolution. Too many Christians don’t believe or know this history.

Many Christians believe they can be neutral. But there is no neutrality. By not engaging culture at the political level, another worldview dominates and impacts all of us. We must then live under their standard, as we are doing today.

 

Founding American ministers of the gospel confronted the issues of their day by appealing to the people in terms of the Bible. The annual “Election Sermon” still “bears witness that our fathers ever began their civil year and its responsibilities with an appeal to Heaven, and recognized Christian morality as the only basis of good laws.”In addition, the clergy were often consulted by the civil authorities in the colonies, “and not infrequently the suggestions from the pulpit, on election days and other special occasions, were enacted into laws. The statute-book, the reflex of the age, shows this influence. The State was developed out of the Church.”

The diminishing light of civil liberty in this land is linked directly to the lack of preaching on it in today’s pulpits…

Read more at http://eaglerising.com/19467/pastors-now-is-the-time-to-stand-against-tyranny/#U7bD2r3TsM4cGgOI.99

Divine Claim

pastorwardclintonLeave a comment

Relate: One of the big arguments atheists sometimes use and Muslims frequently use to deny the divinity of Jesus is the claim that Jesus never claimed to be God. The argument, which is even found in the Quran, states that Jesus never came right out, point blank, and said, “I am God” therefore He must not be God.

This argument is ridiculous on two grounds. First, it is simply not true. We see very clearly Jesus saying in John 8:58, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM.” When Moses was sent by God to go rescue the people of Israel, he asked God, “What is your name that I might tell them who sent me?” God responded, “I AM. Say this to the people, I AM has sent me to you.” This is the very name of God and Jesus point blank uses it as His own. It is found all over the Old Testament but except for in Exodus 3:14, when it is used, we find instead the word Lord all in caps. (see Genesis 2:4, Exodus 3:2, Leviticus 1:1 and about 6,500 other times)

Not only does Jesus use the very name of God as His own, but there are also many other times where either another calls him God and he does not correct them or Jesus is speaking of Himself and the people listening understand clearly that He just referred to Himself as God. An example of the former is when Thomas says, “My Lord and my God” and Jesus responds, “You believe because you have seen. Blessed are those who have not seen yet still believe.” An example of the latter is found right here in John 10. Jesus had just said, “I and my Father are one” and now the crowd is picking up stones because, “You, a mere man, claim to be God.”

The common Muslim or skeptic response to this is that when Jesus says, “I and my Father are one”, He is talking about purpose or intent. He is saying He is one the same mission as the Father, not that He and the Father are one and the same. Really? If that were the case, these listeners were downright evil. If Jesus were merely saying, “I am on a mission from God. We’re on the same team. We are one in purpose and intent” then why on earth would the people want to stone Him? Why would they be stoning someone who was claiming to obedient to God? Either the person using this argument is being intellectually dishonest or they are just plain ignorant. The fact is, Jesus claimed to be God. This is not the first or the last time He will do so in the scriptures.

React: The question is not if Jesus claimed to be God in the gospels. The question very clearly is what we will do with those claims. We cannot simply call Jesus a good man. We cannot truly label Him a prophet and nothing more. If He was merely a good man, He would not have made those claims. If He was a prophet and nothing more, then He was a false prophet and should not be venerated as such. We have three choices. The first is that Jesus was misguided. He believed He was God but clearly He was mistaken. The second choice is that Jesus was a liar. He made claims to be God which He knew were false. If we are to come to either of these conclusions then Jesus was a blasphemer. He should not be respected or honored, He should be condemned. The judgment of God is on him. The only other option is to accept His claim at face value. We can either worship Jesus as God or with that crowd we must pick up the stones. There is no other choice. Which do you believe? Is Jesus God or is He a blasphemer?

The Hypocrite Squawks “Judge not…Judge not”

pastorwardclintonLeave a comment

judge

“Before thou reprehend another, take heed that thou are not culpable in what thou goest about to reprehend.  He that cleanses a blot with blurred fingers will make a greater blot.  Even the candle-snuffers of the sanctuary were of pure gold.” — Quarles

It is always slightly amusing, as well as somewhat annoying, to see someone spew the words “…Judge not…” on social media followed up with harsh criticism of the person or persons who just incurred their wrath for expressing an opinion contrary to their own.  The amusing part is that they have just demonstrated that they don’t really know what it is that the Holy bible actually says.  Follow up attempts at conversing with them frequently demonstrates lack of any desire to find out and it only agitates their guilty conscience.

We know that sacred things are liable to be abused by profane persons.  It should really come as no surprise, then, when they use and abuse the sacred text to attack us in order to inflict pain and/or attempt to silence us.

In the “Sermon on the Mount”  Jesus admonished His followers that they must judge, that’s right, we are to judge and to do so in a correct fashion.  Curiously enough, though, He first gave the willfully ignorant something on which they could hang their hat if they wished to remain blind to the truth.  Now the one who is severe on others will naturally excite their severity against himself.  Therefore a certain level of tact is called for because the Christian has not been given permission to ignore sin.  Many, if not most, of the problems we are experiencing today is because we find it easier to sit down and be quiet rather than to stand and speak up.

A nation that was based largely on biblical values has turned anti-biblical, with the trend accelerating in recent years because too many who call themselves Christian have failed to stay true to the teachings of The Christ.

“Many Christians have been changing their views on abortion and homosexual behavior regardless of what the Bible teaches. In wanting either to avoid the label of being intolerant or in some cases desiring to steer clear of governmental persecution, Christians are acquiescing.  We believe that much of the giving in is because so many in the church have compromised [their belief in] God’s Word beginning in Genesis, and so now generations in our churches really don’t look to the Bible as the absolute authority of the Word of God.” – Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis

The minister, whose God-given task it is to declare to the people their faults and sins, should closely examine himself, lest, after he has preached to others, he himself should be cast-away.  Likewise, each and every follower of Jesus, who is called The Christ, should seek to be as much like Him as possible.  We must seek purification for it is only when we have wrestled with and overcome our own besetting sins, that have the insight and tact to direct others how to overcome theirs.

When the devil reminds you of your past, simply remind him of his future.

A bad liver cannot be a good counselor or bold reprover; such a person must speak softly for fear of awakening his own guilty conscience and that is why we are called to be holy unto God.  Therefore let each one of us seek to study the Word of God, live the Word of God, be like the Word of God, and boldly proclaim the Word of God.

– Pastor Ward

Pastors, Now is the Time to Stand Against Tyranny!

pastorwardclintonLeave a comment

Pastors, Now is the Time to Stand Against Tyranny!

By / 10 June 2015 /

 There are tens of millions of evangelical Christians in the United States, and millions do not participate in politics even though the Bible says that the civil magistrate is a “minister of God” (Rom. 13:4). Millions of these Christians don’t participate in the political process because their pastors are either afraid to address political issues or they believe that Christians would not get mixed up in politics.

Either reason is contrary to the Bible and the history of this once-great nation. “To the pulpit, the PURITAN PULPIT, we owe the moral force which won our Independence,”John Wingate Thornton wrote in The Pulpit of the American Revolution. Too many Christians don’t believe or know this history.

Many Christians believe they can be neutral. But there is no neutrality. By not engaging culture at the political level, another worldview dominates and impacts all of us. We must then live under their standard, as we are doing today.

Founding American ministers of the gospel confronted the issues of their day by appealing to the people in terms of the Bible. The annual “Election Sermon” still “bears witness that our fathers ever began their civil year and its responsibilities with an appeal to Heaven, and recognized Christian morality as the only basis of good laws.”In addition, the clergy were often consulted by the civil authorities in the colonies, “and not infrequently the suggestions from the pulpit, on election days and other special occasions, were enacted into laws. The statute-book, the reflex of the age, shows this influence. The State was developed out of the Church.”

The diminishing light of civil liberty in this land is linked directly to the lack of preaching on it in today’s pulpits…

Read more at http://eaglerising.com/19467/pastors-now-is-the-time-to-stand-against-tyranny/#U7bD2r3TsM4cGgOI.99

What is Man? ….

pastorwardclintonLeave a comment

SECOND CHAPTER SUMMARY
from “What is Man? Adam, alien or ape?” I am posting here periodically the chapter summaries of each of the 14 chapters of “What is Man? Adam, alien or ape?” Here is the summary for Chapter 2, “The Cheshire Cat Cosmos (or can a universe create itself from nothing?)”
If you don’t already have the book this might further stimulate interest (please share these posts with your friends!)
“If the universe is an accident of nature, then Man is also likely to be a meaningless accident. If, on the other hand, the universe was created by God, then humanity is also likely to be a purposeful creation. So the question “where is Man?” will directly affect the way we resolve the basic issue, “What is Man?”
Until about 100 years ago, most scientists who studied the universe as a whole (cosmologists) believed the universe was eternal and had no beginning. But this began to change in 1916 when Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity, which implied that the universe could not be static or unchanging. Subsequently in 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the universe (or cosmos) is expanding, and this result was confirmed in 1963 by the discovery that the earth is bathed in a background of weak microwave radiation — now interpreted as the remnants of a “hot big bang” origin of the universe. The Bible’s opening verse declares that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, and the theological implications of these new discoveries greatly alarmed those who reject the ancient idea of divine creation.
In this chapter we trace the development of atheistic thinking about cosmic origins, and the successive ideas advanced to sidestep the conclusion that creation demands a Creator. The current atheistic claim is that the universe created itself from nothing without the involvement of any spiritual agency, alleging that the laws of nature must lead to the spontaneous creation of a material cosmos. Her we gently point out that even if this were the case, someone or something having a non-material nature would have to create and host the laws of nature. Since these laws are essentially mathematical, only a non-material intelligence could have composed them and put them to work. The atheists’ theories therefore lead logically to the necessity of God.

The Holy One of God is a Miracle Worker, follow Him

pastorwardclinton1 Comment

Injil Markus 3:9  And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.

3:10  For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.

Isa healed, He did not kill or order anyone to kill in His name, therefore, He demonstrated the One True God’s compassion and love for mankind.

3:11  And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

3:12  And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.

The jinn – shayatin – eblis.  It was not yet time for revealing Isa’s identity fully but the demons/shayatin are not the proper ones for spreading that information, anyway.  The responsibility and privilege of letting others know belongs to those who love and are loved by the one true God.  The disbelievers of Isa need to hear the truth about Isa so that they may likewise become true believers.  There are many “Christians” who are still struggling to find the way more accurately themselves and are in need of further guidance so don’t allow the evil one to discourage you from the path to true righteousness.

3:13  And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.

3:14  And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,

3:15  And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

Some believers in Isa have the ability to do that even today but most do not because they simply do not know that which they should know, which is a  sad state of affairs.  How much better the world could be if all of Messiah’s followers were more intense in following Him fully and faithfully.

What is Man? ….

pastorwardclintonLeave a comment

SECOND CHAPTER SUMMARY
from “What is Man? Adam, alien or ape?” I am posting here periodically the chapter summaries of each of the 14 chapters of “What is Man? Adam, alien or ape?” Here is the summary for Chapter 2, “The Cheshire Cat Cosmos (or can a universe create itself from nothing?)”
If you don’t already have the book this might further stimulate interest (please share these posts with your friends!)
“If the universe is an accident of nature, then Man is also likely to be a meaningless accident. If, on the other hand, the universe was created by God, then humanity is also likely to be a purposeful creation. So the question “where is Man?” will directly affect the way we resolve the basic issue, “What is Man?”
Until about 100 years ago, most scientists who studied the universe as a whole (cosmologists) believed the universe was eternal and had no beginning. But this began to change in 1916 when Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity, which implied that the universe could not be static or unchanging. Subsequently in 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the universe (or cosmos) is expanding, and this result was confirmed in 1963 by the discovery that the earth is bathed in a background of weak microwave radiation — now interpreted as the remnants of a “hot big bang” origin of the universe. The Bible’s opening verse declares that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, and the theological implications of these new discoveries greatly alarmed those who reject the ancient idea of divine creation.
In this chapter we trace the development of atheistic thinking about cosmic origins, and the successive ideas advanced to sidestep the conclusion that creation demands a Creator. The current atheistic claim is that the universe created itself from nothing without the involvement of any spiritual agency, alleging that the laws of nature must lead to the spontaneous creation of a material cosmos. Her we gently point out that even if this were the case, someone or something having a non-material nature would have to create and host the laws of nature. Since these laws are essentially mathematical, only a non-material intelligence could have composed them and put them to work. The atheists’ theories therefore lead logically to the necessity of God.

Back to top