This Amazing Machine!
GT—Volume 16 Issue 9
Our Bodies are a Marvel!
As I am creating this issue, I am typing, while at the same time I’m hearing the lovely sounds of Classical music. My ears are receiving sound waves all the time, waking or sleeping. Those invisible waves beat against our ear drums on both sides of our heads. Those vibrations are funneled into the ear by the shape of the external ear and the ear canal. As the sound waves impact the ear drum it vibrates according to the variations of the sound waves. The vibrations of the eardrum cause the three bones of the middle ear to vibrate, transferring sound energy to mechanical energy. The energy is transmitted to the cochlea, a snail-shaped, liquid-filled organ. It has hairs and nerve endings that pick up the mechanical sound waves. Pitches or the specific sound frequencies stimulate specific individual hair cells in the inner ear. Thus, certain frequencies cause specific hair cells to respond. The hair cells translate the pitches into nerve impulses. Each ear has two nerve pathways, one to the left side of the brain and one to the right side of the brain.
What all that means is that I can hear beautiful harmonies. I can distinguish strings from wind, from brass and percussion. By concentration I can hear the violin or the cello, the flute or the clarinet, the french horn or the coronet, the timpani or the snare drum and in the midst of the sound pick out the tinkle of a triangle.
But that is only the beginning. I see the letters on the keyboard and they are quite different from those on the screen. The eye distinguishes letters in both fonts.
When I glance up to look out the window, but only for a fraction of a second, I can clearly see the trees, the lawn, the patio, the side of the house with windows and a door. All in living color. All in perfect definition, not blurred by the movement of my eye – Amazing! It is the most natural thing in the world, because we have grown up with such routine actions and impressions.
But how does the eye work? It has a clear lens attached by muscles that change its shape according to what we are looking toward. If it is close work our eye compensates by muscles tightening to make the lens more round. Conversely, to focus on far away objects, the muscles relax to make the lens more flat. The iris expands to allow more light to enter the eye in dim light and contracts to reduce the impact of bright light.
The retina is at the back of the eye. The lens focuses the light that falls onto the retina, which converts light into electrical impulses. The photo-receptors, include rods and cones. Rods are sensitive to black and white, while cones distinguish colors in daylight. The image that falls in the retina is upside down. This complex, inverted image is transformed into an electric code that is transmitted by the optic nerve to the visual center of the brain. There the brain decodes electrical input into a visual image inverted to give us the “right-way-round” sight.
There are too many “systems” for us to examine in this brief exposition – the circulatory system, the cardio-pulmonary system, the nerve “tree”, the complex organ that is the skin, the skeletal system, etc.
Let’s explore one more: the digestive system. There are four main processes in digestion: ingestion, digestion, absorbsion and assimilation. The whole process after a person places food in the mouth, chews it and swallows it is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. We have no volitional control of any part after we swallow.
The mouth reduces the food by slicing and grinding. Saliva is incorporated to lubricate and begin the digestive process. This is ingestion.
Digestion occurs as ground food is swallowed into the stomach. The stomach manipulation and addition of acid further reduces food into its constituent parts, i.e. macro-nutrients (carbs, fats and proteins), and micro-nutrients (vitamins and minerals).
Absorption by the small intestine takes fluid and nutrients into the bloodstream, primarily simple sugars, salt and alcohol.
The uptake of the nutrients into cells and tissues is assimilation. The last part of assimilation is the reassembly of absorbed nutrients into complex organisms – cells, blood, organs, etc.
Remember all of this is beyond your control. Your autonomic nervous system “knows” how to do everything exactly right so that the bones receive calcium and not sugar; that the blood receives fluids and not bone-building material, that your eyes receive fluid for tears, and your ears wax and not the reverse.
We live in a fantastic machine. It is built to transport us through this material world. It is flexible, strong, reliable, and has the amazing ability to heal itself without our direction or effort. We cover a cut with a bandage to prevent contamination. The coagulation of blood seals the wound and the cells regenerate tissue that is exactly appropriate – skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscles. Break a bone and all we have to do is immobilize it and the bone knits together. 
The Machine Transports What?
As a transport machine, this amazing Body works effectively. It carries our bodies to the table and carries fuel to our mouths. It moves us efficiently and easily around this planet’s surface. It has the ability to interact with others in both friendly (hugs and kisses) and aggressive ways (football tackles).
Consider locomotion. Walking takes strength and agility. Your legs alternate in carrying your body weight. The interchange requires balance as your transfer the weight of your body from one leg to the other. Your ankles adjust to the ground, whether on cement sidewalks or rough, plowed ground.
Then when speed is required other systems come into play. The heart accelerates to increase the nutrients and oxygen needed by the more active muscles. Your lungs increase the processing of air to accommodate the increased the oxygen-fueled burning up of energy. Think of the flexibility of spine, legs, arms, ankles, toes that come into play as you take a simple walk around the block.
That is all mechanical. What the body truly transports is you. And what is “YOU”?
We have had many of our young men injured in our various wars. Does the loss of an arm or leg, make a person any less of a person? It effects the person, no doubt, but the person is not diminished one iota.
Stephen Hawking contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) when he was 21. He went on to become the world-renowned theoretical physicist, despite the crippled and contorted body and his inability to speak. His amazing machine was tragically and profoundly broken; nevertheless, it did not change who he was, nor prevent the real Stephen inside from becoming great.
Who we are is not determined by our body! The body transports who we are to accomplish what we desire to accomplish.
Survival Of The Fittest?
Most scientists tell us it was an accident. There are numerous other creative theories of the start of our world. A random lightning strike into primordial soup (or “goop”) that sparked life. The drastically shocked atoms became alive to form molecules and the molecules formed simple cells. As the cells got bigger some broke apart and those who did could grow again and feed more efficiently. Some say “lost city smokers” in the depths of the oceans exuded amino acids that combined with iron attracted hydrogen and oxygen compounds that then formed RNA. RNA became more robust and made viruses, which were alive and began reproducing. A few believe life was seeded on earth by meteors from distant stars. But there is no evidence of the non-living material substances transforming into life, let alone reproducing life.
Scientists believe the Earth is ca. 3.5 to 4.5 Billion years old. If life originated as a single cell, that cell reproduced and its second generation reproduced and over time, became more complex forming rudimentary botanical life with photosynthesis. And it formed biological life with sentience. Those respective molds or viruses had mutations, accidental changes in the basic structure that enhanced survivability. On the biological side, after several billions of years, a human was formed containing ca..30 Trillion cells (30,000,000,000,000). Humans have not only sentience, but love, a moral sense, a sense of justice, a conscience that plagues us when we do harm to others.
This Theory of Evolution (not a law, because there is no proof and because it is not reproducible, as the Law of Gravity is proved, every moment we live – ask your skinned knee from falling) has many unanswered questions. For instance, “Irreducible Complexity” (“a single system composed of several well-matched interacting parts that contribute to basic function; wherein removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning. Michael Behe, Darwin’s Black Box, pg. 39) means that all the parts must be in place and working together.
Above I described the eye. Having a light-processing portion of the brain would be of no value unless there was a way to get exterior light to the brain. The optic nerve would be useless unless there were a light sensitive brain and a source of light. The cornea would have no survival value unless there was a lens to focus exterior light on the rods and cones and an optic nerve to transport the electrical impulses to the light sensitive brain. The eye consists of irreducible complexity. Without one of the several parts in place, the other parts could not enhance survivability and therefore would not be kept in the gene pool.
Mathematicians have taken the 400 Billion years and the huge numbers of changes necessary to transform a-one celled living creature and calculated that even 100, 000,000,000,000 years would not be enough for random mutations to form the 30,000,000,000,000 cells in the modern human being. One has stated that there is more chance of a tornado hitting a junkyard, whipping around scattered parts and leaving behind a fully assembled and airworthy Boeing 747, than for Evolution to produce us.
Despite the extreme complexity of the body, this amazing machine, scientists have great faith in evolution. Just think how this amazing machine converts a hamburger – a complex of bread bun, made from wheat, and eggs, and sugar, etc., the hamburger, made from muscle tissue and fat (in turn made from grass and grain), a slice of tomato, a piece of lettuce, a slice of pickle, some dressing, perhaps catsup or french dressing, add french fries, and a chocolate milk shake, into its constituent parts of protein, fat, sugar, vitamins, minerals and distributes them to bones, nerves, organs, while separating out the waste products – solids and liquids. The body processes them further, recycling some of the fluid in the blood stream.
God’s Wonderful Plan
If you were walking in the woods and discovered a pocket watch lying on the ground, you would pick up the watch and examine it. Opening the back cover, you would see the finely machined gears and wheels. In examining it more closely, you would discover that it was powered by a main spring which was wound by the stem. In contemplating the watch and its ability to measure time, you would naturally assume that its wheels and springs, hands and crystal just happened to fall together in a workable whole out of the natural minerals in the soil and rocks. Right?
Of course not! You would know from just picking it up that it was manufactured by someone of intelligence and upon opening the back would know it was engineered by an extremely skilled maker.
It is a wonder that intelligent scientists, well educated and studied in anatomy refuse to see that truth that the human body did not come together by chance. The human body (or for that matter any animal body) could not have developed on the basis of faulty mutations. Faulty, because mutations by definition are a change in the nature of something. That which was proceeding along a natural course gets interrupted and becomes something else. But the something else gets outnumbered by the natural and soon disappears.
It is far more logical to observe the handiwork of a master engineer. Think back on the few parts of the body were have investigated here. Our eyes are doubled, so we have depth perception. The lens is focused by minute muscles so we can see clearly both distant and very close objects. God designed eyes in those ways.
God planned you to be based on a common, very functional design. Two legs for a bipedal transportation, balanced by a bubble in the inner ear. He designed your digestion to be omnivorous. You can eat vegetables and meat. He gave you the ability to taste a wide variety of tastes. His love for your enjoyment gave you the pleasure of chocolate, of strawberry ice cream, of coleslaw, and fried chicken, of the mixed flavors of lasagna or borscht.
It is amazing that injuries heal. That is because our living Lord created the capability in our cells to regenerate. The blood coagulates over an open wound to protect from infection. Then the body sends in fibroblasts, a type of cell that helps rebuild skin tissue. These cells break down the clot and start replacing it with proteins, primarily collagen. This is a well-planned process. It does not happen unless an injury occurs.
He gave you emotions. And not just fear, anger, contentment, restlessness. But a spectrum of feelings from exuberance to grief. They, to a great extent, define who you are. God made you a reflection of Himself. He takes great joy in obedience and in ministering to the needs of others. He is deeply saddened by our sin and rejection of His sensible and productive way to live.
The Great And Loving Engineer!
Every time you use your manipulative hands and fingers to remove a jar lid or play an instrument, to pick up a pin, give praise to God for creating you the way you are. He could have made you like a turtle, instead he made you more like a gazelle. Recall,
I will give thanks unto thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Wonderful are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well. (Psalm 139:14)
Set aside all your education that tries to tell you the lie that you are an accident by multiple mutations. Common observation and common-sense shouts of a loving Creator. Recognize His fingerprints all over your life.
Not only has He Created you physically, but Almighty God has done so much more. He built into this world the reality of His redemption. His perfect world was ruined by man’s sin. As a result, we live in a broken world of natural disasters, of human inhumanity to man, of sick violence and murder against the weak and defenseless.
But our loving God has given us the wisdom to recover from natural disasters. We see disparate groups of people coming together to rescue, restore and rebuild, while succoring the injured and comforting the grieving. That does not come from “survival of the fittest”, but from the love of God exercised through believer and unbeliever, alike.
While never turning a blind eye to sin, God does not hold a grudge. Man destroyed God’s perfect world by his sin, still God has brought redemption to us. He has opened His heart and accepted us as His children.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him. (Psalm 103:11)
As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, So Jehovah pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. (Psalm 103: 13-14)
But the lovingkindness of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, And his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, And to those that remember his precepts to do them.” (Psalms 103:17-18)
He wants all people to live according to the precepts He has given to us, because that is the best way for us to live. Acknowledging Jesus in every hour and every part of our lives is the only reasonable thing to do. God loves us!
Questions Demanding Answers
This is a recurring feature. I pose a question in one issue. You have the opportunity to send me answers. I publish the best ones in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep you answer within 250 words.
QUESTION: What is Propitiation?
ANSWER: Propitiation comes from the Hebrew ίλασμός (hil-as-mos) = “conciliate, atone for [sins], be propitious, be merciful, make reconciliation for”. While it is used only three time in the New Testament it is a powerful concept.
For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God;” (Romans 3:23-25);
My little children, these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)
Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)
God established sacrificial worship in the Old Testament for the purpose of atoning for the sins of His chosen people. The blood of the sacrificial lamb (and other animals) was shed to propitiate the anger of God against sin.
God knew His people would sin. The Children of Israel also knew that they would sin; therefore, there needed to be a way to appease the just wrath of God against their inevitable sinning. God in His mercy set up the sacrificial system. The death of the lamb was both a substitution and an object lesson. The substitution was life of the animal for the life of the sinner. The object lesson was to teach that sin had dire consequences.
Jesus death on the cross was the once and for all propitiating sacrifice for our sinning. As Paul and John teach, Jesus, the God-man died in our place. As we have faith in the Blood of Christ, it becomes the propitiating sacrifice that atones for our sins. We are free, because God, out of love for us, sent His Son to be our substitute and our atoning sacrifice.
Jesus said
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
QUESTION: How can the Holy Spirit dwell in us?
The Holy of Holies
Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.
My gracious God, all praise be to You. You are most holy. You are majestic. Praise Your Glory, Your Majesty, Your Love for Your People.
Your magnificent Creation, even in this broken state, is glorious. That testifies to the power of Your creative ability. You exercised Your word and said “Let it be.” And it was. You created it and us perfect. But we, Father, messed up your perfect world. We have corrupted everything we have touched.
Only Your grace has kept this world functioning well and providing well for all people. You have made its beauty mask the ugliness of corruption that has saturated the world and our lives.
I am amazed that You have granted us the beauty of this world. It is wonderful that You have given us the heart to appreciate all the beauty around us. Even our ungodly architects can create beautiful buildings. Nevertheless, the beauty of those committed to Your will and way far out shined the work, the art of unbelievers.
It is beauty from “both sides”. You, Holy Spirit inspire today’s work as You did the People of God in building the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. So it is with created beauty. It is especially beautiful to the believing beholder, because we see Your inspiration in the work.
Your love for us is represented in the world around us. Note the majesty of the mountains; the stark beauty of the desert and then the startling transformation when cacti bloom. A walk in the forest excites praise for the beauty of Your Creation.
The passing parade of people display the beauty You have designed in the variety of the people. Skins of all hues, hair of all colors, but what enlivens one’s beauty is the smile. You have created us to smile, to experience happiness and reflect Your joy. Dwelling in Christ is the seat of joy. You, our Savior enlighten our lives with the beauty of worship and the joy of living in Christ. Come now, Lord Jesus, visit Your servant with the grace of Your love. Fill my life with Your goodness. Make me to be a servant worthy of Your service. Open my heart and allow me to pour out Your grace onto the people around me – believers and unbelievers alike. Give me the beauty of holiness, so that I may attract others to Your beauty.
Oh, My God, my King and Savior, there are so many distressed people around me. They have no eyes to see Your beauty. They have no heart to appreciate Your loveliness. Have mercy on them and break through their resistance to Your truth. Give them the eternal, unshakable hope of Your love. Melt their frozen hearts with the warmth of Your Spirit.
Holy Lord God I praise You. I worship Your beauty. I praise Your loveliness. I magnify Your glory. Praise You, My Father. Praise You, My Savior. Praise You, my Teacher. All glory in all the world belongs to You and only to You. Praise God!
Amen!
Good Versus Evil
GT—Volume 16 Issue 8
God’s Morality Abandoned
This never ends well. It always leads to more and more awfulness.
History is full of terrible examples of how evil is perpetrated in the name of what people have decided is “right”. It can be painful to consider. But we have reason to hope and rejoice! God has shown us what is always “right”!
Right in His Own Eyes
At the end of the book of Judges in the Old Testament is the history of the horrific war between the 11 Tribes of Israel and the Tribe of Benjamin. The operational phrase was “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)
Chapters 19-21 of Judges in the Old Testament of the Bible record a real and awful history of what happened to the People of God when they began to live without God. The depravity of man began to assert itself, leading to the further depths of depravity. There appears to be no “good guys”.
A Levite and his concubine were on their way home. As night fell thy arrived at Gibeah, a town in the Tribe of Benjamin. One of the residents offered them hospitality, according to the law of God. As they were settling in for the night, lewd, ungodly men pounded on the door. Lusting for homosexual relations with the Levite guest. To assuage their sexual lust, the Levite sent his concubine out to the wolves.
Gang raped, she died of the multiple assaults. The Levite took her body home, then callously butchered her body and sent parts to each of the Tribes of Israel. The other Tribes were furious at the horrific assault on the woman. They gathered to punish the offenders.
The Tribe of Benjamin not only refused to condemn the perpetrators, but rallied to defend their city of Gibeah from retribution against the offenders and the Israeli assault against the city that harbored the assailants. And so the two sides went to war with each other.
There were three battles in that tragically internecine war. The loss on both side was over 60,000. That was bad enough, but in victory the Tribes of Israel went berserk, rampaging through Benjamin. They destroyed every town and slew all the men, women and children. When their blood lust was exhausted there were only 600 men of Benjamin left alive.
The fury against the tribe of Benjamin caused the people of the Tribes to view all those of Benjamin as aliens, so they swore a sacred oath that they would not give their daughters to Benjamin for wives. As tempers cooled and the reality of the situation dawned on them, the eleven Tribes realized that Benjamin, without wives, was about to become extinct. Their oath (stupid and unthinking as it was) prevented them from providing Benjamin survivors with wives.
They did a head count to discover who had not joined in the war against Benjamin. Only the city of Jabesh-gilead had not come to fight.
Therefore, the Tribes of Israel attacked Jabesh-gilead, slaying all the males and the older women, saving only the virgins. There were 400 virgins left alive. These they turned over to the surviving Benjaminites. But they were 200 short.
Benjaminites seize wives from Shiloh, By Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld – Die Bibel in Bildern, Public Domain
What to do? They needed 200 more Israeli virgins, but they also needed to keep their oath. Someone reminded them that there was going to be a feast at Shiloh. During the feast the virgins danced in the evening. They told the 200 wifeless Benjaminites to hide in the vineyard adjacent to the celebration ground where the virgins danced. They instructed the men to pounce on the virgins as they were dancing, and carry off 200 to supply wives for Benjamin.
When the families of the abducted women complained, the elders of Israel asked them to forgive the kidnapping. The elders conceived that plan, because they had not been careful to save wives for the Tribe of Benjamin men out of the wholesale slaughter.
A Summary of Evils
- Vile men sought to sodomize a man
- He callously sacrificed his concubine
- Those vile men gang-raped and murdered her
- Instead of giving over the perpetrators for just punishment, the foolish pride of Gibeah and Benjamin defended them
- Misplaced fury led Israel to a stupid oath
- Three battles slew over 60,000 soldiers
- Blood lust led to mass murder and destruction of all the cities in Benjamin
- Realization – too late – of the consequences of their stupid oath and their out-of-control rampaging
- Unwilling to break their oath before God led to further carnage as they slaughtered the families of 400 virgins
- To provide a full number of wives the elders of Israel plotted with Benjaminites to provide more sex slaves
- 200 virgins were kidnapped in the midst of celebratory dancing
All of these terrible results came about because morality of God had been lost. The loss of morality that caused mass murder and ruined lives resulted from abandoning God.
Man’s Inhumanity to Man
By Pavel Semyonovich Zhukov (1870-1942): Lenin. Collection Of Photographs And Stills in two volumes, vol. 1, Russian edition, Moscow, 1970: page 302.
History has too tragic many examples of the depths to which people will go to dominate other people. Without God, people easily turn to utilitarian thinking “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.” This isn’t actually a proverb, however. It’s a justification used by Vladimir Lenin regarding the killing of thousands of Russian citizens during his push to produce a “better, more wonderful” Communist state.
As Chancellor of National Socialist Party, Adolf Hitler wanted to produce a pure Arian race (prompted by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s concept of the superman [Übermensch], who justifies the existence of the human race.). Therefore, Hitler carried out his plan to exterminate all the “inferior races”. His inhumanity branded Jews as sub-human and relentlessly murdered 6,000,000 true humans.
Those many godless systems discounted humans as either tools to be used to attain goals, or they considered people as obstacles to be eliminated.
Communism, an avowedly atheist religion, seeks to replace Christian morals. Communists advocate disinformation, i.e. lies, to advance their addendum. This has the unintended consequence of fomenting a culture of deception. It makes liars and cheats out of people in general. Factory workers over report their completed work to “meet” quotas. Managers misrepresent that they have met or exceed their factory’s goals that are set by the central committee. This sort of deception went up the line in Russia causing a series of 5-Year Economic Development Plans. When the first did not work the Central Committee began a another of 5-Year Plan. Still, there were bread lines, potato, lines, toilet paper lines, etc., etc., etc.
This deception filtered into the general population. Without a standard of morality, people became pragmatic – they did whatever worked to achieve what they needed. The people became cheats, liars and thieves.
In A.D. 2000, I went with a team to St. Petersburg, Russia to help in the construction of a Christian College. A Professor at the College needed an instructor of Christian Ethics. The believers in the school were so permeated with the immorality of the Soviet Communist regime that they retained the culture of deception and theft. They stole from one another, cheated on tests, and lied so often that those were endemic characteristics. Despite true conversion and embracing Jesus as Savior, they had not embraced Christian morality. The College needed instruction in righteousness. The godlessness of the regime had debased the people.
Ungodly Morality
In 1993, I was on a mission in Pakistan. The first night at a guest house in Lahore, at dinner was a Christian missionary and a young man he had converted. The young man had had a successful button business, which afforded him an exclusive apartment in an excellent district and an expensive car.
When his family heard that he had become a Christian, they took away his business his car and his apartment. His brothers were hunting for him to murder him. According to Islam Sharia Law, “Conversion by Muslims to other faiths is forbidden under most interpretations of sharia and converts are considered apostates (non-Muslims, however, are allowed to convert into Islam). Some Muslim clerics equate this apostasy to treason, a crime punishable by death.” (cfr.org/backgrounder/religious-conversion-and-sharia-law)
Often, direct relatives are the first and heaviest persecutors of believers from a Muslim background. For many Muslim families, leaving Islam and converting to another religion brings “shame” to the family. In moderate families, a new Christian may be ignored or excluded. In stricter families; forced separation, divorce or the removal of children are all common. (jihadwatch.org/2016/09/the-price-of-converting-to-christianity-from-islam). Murder sanctioned by law is reprehensible, but sanctioned fratricide, murder by brothers is horrific callousness.
How then do we describe a mother’s murder of her own child?
New York’s Reproductive Health Act was signed by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Jan. 22, the anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision
The RHA permits abortions when — according to a medical professional’s “reasonable and good faith professional judgment based on the facts of the patient’s case” — “the patient is within twenty-four weeks from the commencement of pregnancy, or there is an absence of fetal viability, or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health.
In other words, women may choose to have an abortion prior to 24 weeks; pregnancies typically range from 38 to 42 weeks. After 24 weeks, such decisions must be made with a determination that there is an “absence of fetal viability” or that the procedure is “necessary to protect the patient’s life or health.” That determination must be made by a “health care practitioner licensed, certified, or authorized” under state law, “acting within his or her lawful scope of practice.” (factcheck.org/2019/02/addressing-new-yorks-new-abortion-law/)
“Patient’s life or health” is an open door to perform abortions (murders of healthy babies up until and including the moment of birth). The mother can decide she does not want to be burdened with rearing a child. The doctor can affirm the “fear of the burden” is a mental health issue that qualifies. Thus, babies: beautiful girls and handsome boys are severed from life without remorse. After all, “It’s a woman’s right to choose!”
This is America’s “man’s inhumanity to man”. We have denied humanity to the child being grown within the mother’s womb, by describing he or she as a “clump of cells”. This inexcusable euphemism is a dehumanizing of the real baby formed by the father’s sperm and the mother’s ovum, which when united has the 46 chromosomes of a human and a complete DNA of a human. The Zygote (from Greek ζυγωτός zygōtos “joined” or “yoked”) “is a eukaryotic cell formed by a fertilization event between two gametes. The zygote’s genome is a combination of the DNA in each gamete, and contains all of the genetic information necessary to form a new individual.” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygote)
By any rational definition that is a human, alive; and rightly should be loved and nurtured by both father and mother; but especially by the mother, since she has by God (or if you must, by nature) been built to house and nourish the infant, protecting its life from a hostile world.
Tragically there are two victims of abortion. The first is the child who is poisoned or dismembered in the womb. The second is the woman. She has been sold a lie to gratify her convenience, “There are no consequences.” In contrary fact, many, if not most, women commonly experience some guilt, grief and depression. In reality, they are murderesses. There are a number of more debilitating consequences: “nightmares, auditory hallucinations of babies crying, suicidal thoughts — reported in a study done in Ohio by Suicide Anonymous Hotline over a 36-month period, of the 4000 women who called, 1800 had previously had abortions.” (noparh.org/post.html)
Righteousness Under God
These cases described above are “right” sanctioned by state law; what society decides is “right”. What society rejects is “wrong”.
The reality is that society is fickle. What is “right” today may be at a stroke of a pen “wrong” tomorrow. Mankind is only safe under a universal determination of what is right and wrong that does not change.
During the English Reformation, the evangelicals were initially persecuted by the Catholics – imprisoned and slain. Then the evangelicals came into power. They persecuted Catholics – imprisoned and slew them. Then Catholic Queen Mary was crowned and again the Evangelicals were imprisoned and slain.
Unless he was fast-footed and a chameleon, A Bishop, within the course of 50 years, could find himself on the wrong side of religion! Thus, a dependable, universal standard of right and wrong is necessary for an ordered society.
Only God’s standards are universally applied to all mankind, throughout all time. They a are utterly dependable.
Often times they are uncomfortable to a person or a nation. That does not make them faulty. God loves his Creation. He loves all the people he has created.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16, 17)
He wants them to live in love and peace. He established laws to preserve life and to make society work for the benefit of all who live in accord with God’s Law. He has laid out a world that is not only beautiful, it is bountiful. There are ample resources for all people to live in comfort. God has set up the world, not to be a comfortable bed with automatic food dispensers and perpetual entertainment. He has established righteous laws that require each competent person to secure a living from the world. Work is not only to provide the necessities to keep body and soul together, but to give mankind, men and women dignity, self-respect, and pride of accomplishment.
There is one fly in the ointment. The world was not created to be eternal. God intended it to be a temporary, perhaps “training ground” is as close as we can come to what this temporary world is for humans. We have been told (and believers know to be true) that God has an eternal Plan that is unlimited. This world is limited, so it is but a “stepping stone’ to God’s NEXT.
He loves us. So, God has something far better than this temporary and faulty world. He gives us inkling in the two Testaments. The Patriarchs had a foundation of insight into God’s revelation of the LAW, summarized in the Ten Commandments that were based on:
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
… and amended by Jesus:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31)
That should have been enough, but God knows us completely.
He knew that He would have to actually become a man and share our world and life, then be the sacrifice for our sins. What glorious demonstration of His love! He demeaned Himself from Almighty God to become one of His creatures. Jesus the God-man imparted teachings to His Disciples and they to us, giving us an upwards look, a window into eternity. Our Lord set our sights on eternity with our Great and loving God.
For everyone who has believed the truths that Jesus is real and living God; there is an eternity of basking in God’s unlimited love; believers will be caught up in God’s eternal peace; and will experience ever increasing joy.
That is too wonderful to fully appreciate in our present limited state. Nevertheless, the truth is far greater than we can conceive.
It is ours because God LOVES us!
Questions Demanding Answers
This is a recurring feature. I pose a question in this issue. You have the opportunity to send me answers. I will publish the best ones in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep you answer within 250 words.
QUESTION: Why did Adam pass the buck to Eve?
ANSWER: Almighty, totally Righteous God walked in the Garden with Adam, apparently each evening. Adam could walk with God, because Adam was also wholly righteous. Then one day, Adam was not there.
Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)
He was hiding because Adam had sinned. He was guilty and ashamed. God called to Adam and he came out from hiding in his leaf clothing. “Who told you that you were naked,” God asked. “Have you eaten the fruit of good and evil?”
Instead of answering directly, Adam immediately implicated Eve and blamed God,
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it. (Genesis 3:12)
Adam was overcome by sin.
- Adam disobeyed the one command God gave
- He was ashamed of his naked body
- He feared God’s judgment
- He felt guilt for the first time
- He wanted to escape God’s censure
- He naturally tried to shift the blame to escape the full wrath of God
- Eve was an easy target
- Instead of protecting her, he blamed her
It is abundantly clear that sin had overwhelmed his love for God and his love for Eve. A righteous man would have acknowledged his own fault and sought to protect his wife by allowing the blame to fall on him, “I wasn’t there to protect her from temptation. I didn’t refuse the proffered fruit. I didn’t come to You to plead for You to have mercy on her.”
Adam is a prime example of the sinful response. We who are seeking to walk with the LORD must study Adam’s bad example and seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance to walk in righteousness, so that we can walk with God.
To do so, we must keep short accounts with God.
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. (Psalms 51:3-4)
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139:23-24)
Honesty before the all-righteous God is the only policy!
QUESTION: What is Propitiation?
The Holy of Holies
Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.
Father, life is too much with me! Sometimes I feel overwhelmed. I long for release and surcease and peace. I have far more to do than I have time to do it. Important things are set aside to beat back the crises.
Just as I see a window to do the important, something crops up to demand immediate attention.
This in not the way You want me to live. Jesus, Your Word promises, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3) You told us that You were leaving us peace that the world cannot give – perfect peace!
Oh, My Lord God that is what I need – Your perfect peace. Please, Holy Spirit produce in me Your fruit of peace. Oh, my precious Savior Your Love is here now!
Oh! Gracious God, You have overcome all my fears. Oh! Father You are holding my heart and giving me what I need!
Oh, precious Savior You care for me and You carried all my sins on the cross at Calvary.
Oh! Sovereign God You have triumphed over all.
Nothing, nothing, no thing, no spirit, no person can afflict me, no pile of responsibilities can overpower me. You have my calendar and my daily work schedule in Your hands. Give me the grace to comply and address each item as You direct.
What is important is Your love for me and that I, out of gratitude, love You and love those around me. My God, steady my thoughts on You. Give me the grace to set all, ALL in this world aside so I can be more loving.
All the important and vital things in my life and the work I MUST accomplish are in fact negligible in the scope of eternity. They are all temporary and at the moment You Come Again, our Lord and King, they will be as chaff in the wind.
Give me that perspective when I begin to take my responsibilities too seriously and begin to be pressured. Grant me the equanimity to say, “I can do some more tomorrow. Now I need to praise my loving Lord!”
You are my first and overwhelming priority. I love You, My God. I worship You My King. I rely upon You my gracious Holy Spirit to guide me in what is needful; to stop me in what is unnecessary.
You are worthy of all honor, glory, majesty and praise! Praise the Holy LORD God. Praise the magnificent King! Praise the loving Father! Praise the marvelous Lamb of God! Praise the giving Holy Spirit. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Glory be to Thee throughout the whole Earth!
Amen!
The Way, The Truth and The Life
We Were Taught to Be Good
I first met our dear friend when I was in college. My wife knew her in high school. We were all members of the college group, across from the University of Washington campus.
That was a time of the beatniks and when drugs first were rampant on the “Ave” in the University District. We were all good people. We were raised in Sunday School. We had all been trained in the church. We didn’t take drugs.
I was taught in Sunday School, “You don’t have to say you are a Christian, just live your life and people will know you are.” They taught us that if we were good persons we went to Heaven when we died. We weren’t taught about sin. We were taught to obey our parents, the law and be respectful to older persons. They taught us courtesy, generosity, loving everybody. We were taught to go to church because there you were taught to be good.
Hell was an unspoken threat – never mentioned but sort of known as a bad place where you didn’t want to go.
So, we grew up with a moral code that was supposed to get us through life. But we did not obey it strictly. We obeyed and were good when we could be seen, but when parents or authorities were not looking we chose to stretch the limits to the breaking point and beyond. But we were good people!
We were never taught the hard truths of Scripture and of God,
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God! (Romans 3:23)
All we like sheep have gone astray. (Isaiah 53:6)
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. (Romans 3:12)
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
Those are the harsh words of the Gospel, the Good News. We never heard them and would have disregarded them if we had.
We had fun together. No one got hurt. We were living in a prosperous America. Our parents were comfortably well off. What was there to worry about? We graduated, then got jobs or married or both. Children came along. We were adults in churches.
We Were Wrong
Then someone came into our lives teaching that our complaisant lives were not good. He said we were going to Hell because we did not believe in Jesus as God, Lord and Savior. Because we had not surrendered our lives to Jesus, we were doomed for eternity. I, for one, tried to ignore that unpleasant teaching.
Funny thing about truth. It has a way of being right and being persistent. The truth is that we had been wrong. All our Sunday School teaching had been wrong because it emphasized earning our way into God’s favor by being good.
We were wrong to disbelieve in the devil and in Hell. Both are real.
We were wrong to think that if we could balance out more good than bad we were set to go to heaven.
We were wrong to not believe that there will be a final reckoning, a Final Judgment when Jesus as the Righteous Judge will assess each person’s life.
We were wrong to discount Jesus as being just a good man instead of God’s righteous Son and our only Savior.
We Met Jesus
My wife believed the man and surrendered her life to Jesus. A real transformation happened. The Real Live Jesus, unseen, but very real, became a part of her life, filling the void that had been there.
Next, despite the fact that I was satisfied with my life, I met the real, living Lord God, Jesus Christ. He changed me completely, too and showed the true way to love, joy and peace. He has led us for half a century.
A year or so after my wife and I were saved, Jesus gave us the privilege of leading our friend to Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit led her to Overlake Christian Church in Kirkland, where she received excellent teaching.
From the moment she acknowledged Jesus was God and her Savior, to the moment of her death, she had absolute assurance that because she belonged to Jesus, she had nothing to fear in the Final Judgment. Scripture is full of that assurance.
“Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32)
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:13)
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36)
Our dear friend doesn’t believe that anymore because she has no need for faith. She is in the Presence of her Gracious, Loving Father and she knows His grace and salvation!
We Can Be with Jesus
Let me tell you what she is currently experiencing with Jesus. She has cast off her temporal, diseased, pain-ridden body. She has been clothed in a celestial body that never will experience pain. All sadness has been banished and replaced by eternal joy. There will never again be any grief at partings. On the contrary, there will be joyous greetings with those who have gone before and with those who will come after. She is seated with Jesus on His throne. She will spend everlasting life in His love. She is now receiving and will ever receive the love of her Heavenly Father. And that is wonderful beyond our imagining. She will be loving others to a far greater extent than she could in this life.
That is wonderful for her right now. And it is wonderful for all who have given their lives to Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit, all those throughout the past and all who will in the future.
Now it is your turn, it is in this place and at this time that you can make the decision to affirm your faith in Jesus; to avoid eternal separation from the love of God the Father and to avoid the eternal misery of Hell.
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16:31)
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)
We Can Receive the Free Gift
When she knew she was dying, our dear friend was confident in her place in the family of God. She knew she was going to be with Jesus. When I talked with her a week before she died she spoke with anticipation of leaving this life to be in God’s glorious Kingdom forever. She is there now.
Is there is any doubt in your heart that you are on Jesus’ pathway to Heaven? Now is the moment of decision.
Don’t waste your life! Come now into the joy that awaits all who confess the Lord Jesus as God and accept His forgiveness for all your sin. Receive today the free gift of eternal life!
Please pray with me
I believe that You are real Jesus. In many ways, I have not lived to give you glory. I am sorry for my lapses. Please forgive me and draw me into Your loving Presence. I give you my life. Cleanse me and present me to Your Father as Your own. Thank you for saving me, Jesus.
The Lord’s Prayer
Now, Lord, we open our hearts to seek Your blessings for each of our lives through the prayer that Jesus taught us. Saying…
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen.
Yield Not To Sin
Your Reasons to Pray
Before I begin my introduction to prayer, please consider the concerns that are on your hearts.
God created us with volition, the capacity to choose.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. (Genesis 2: 16-17)
He gave Adam a choice from the beginning. This was before Almighty God created Eve from Adam’ rib. So, when Adam instructed Eve he pointed out that they had a choice between the two trees the good one and the bad one.
Much later on, Moses quoted God in saying,
See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. (Deuteronomy 30:15)
Shortly thereafter, Joshua challenged the Children of Israel,
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)
The history of the Jews clearly shows their choices. When they single-heartedly served God, they prospered. When they sinned against one another and against Him they suffered, at times greatly.
Our Puritan forebears came to this land and sought to establish a city set on a hill, whose righteousness would be a beacon for all to come and share in the blessings of God. They established a loving community of single-minded service of neighbor and single-hearted service of God. The first generation, at the first sign of trouble dedicated themselves, as a community of believers, to prayerfully search their hearts to seek out and confess sin. In loving response, God miraculously, time after time, delivered them.
Unhappily the next generations began to prosper and began to rely on self instead of Jesus. When trouble, God’s warning sign, came their way, they dug themselves out with their own wits and strength. They unconsciously chose against God.
Choose Righteousness
Today, America is on a path they are paving with the denials of God:
- denial of His existence
- denials of His hand on individual lives
- denials of salvation through Christ alone
America is evading and ignoring God‘s warning signs. We are continually choosing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We are continually choosing sin, not God. We are continually choosing human knowledge, not life eternal.
God keeps telling people everywhere, “Do not yield to sin.” He is calling, “Choose Me, choose righteousness!”
We are believers in the reality of God, in the assurance of salvation through Christ alone and in the truth, that the only true and righteous God will punish sin. Therefore, we need to pray for America and the people around us who are oblivious to their horrific peril.
After we pray for America I will give you the opportunity to pray for the concerns that you have declared.
Please pray with me.
Lord God, Holy Spirit, we acknowledge we are sinners saved by our Lord Jesus Christ. We are aware that while He has atoned for all our sin, we still sin each day. One of the fruit You ripen in our lives is faithfulness. We ask that You make us faithful to our Lord in seeking after righteousness and turning our backs on sin.
Father, we desire to be obedient children and faithful stewards of the gift of life You have given us: life in our initial birth into the world and life in the spirit; therefore, we choose life and obedience to You, and we choose to reject our tendency to sin.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for indwelling us and in tirelessly guiding us to and along Jesus’ way of obedience.
Amen
Please pray with me.
Please pray that America will have a spiritual awakening and put Jesus back on the throne of our nation.
Please pray for the concerns that have been announced.
Please pray for our church our Pastor and for your brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Lord’s Prayer
Now, Lord we open our hearts to seek Your blessings for each of our lives through the prayer that Jesus taught us. Saying…
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Freedom in Christ Jesus
GT—Volume 14 Issue 7
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
The battle cry of the French Revolution in 1779 when the people sought deliverance from the oppression of uncaring kings. The royalty continued spending money, while the income of the nation fell. This required extensive borrowing. The peasants were starving while the royalty feasted using borrowed money. France was bankrupt. The people could see that the feudal system was a failure. The concept of human reason promoted by 17th Century philosophers led intellectuals to believe that society governed by common people was the “natural order” and “Reason”, based on humanistic ideals, was the governing principle.
The Revolution was based on Enlightenment ideals, but not on a godly foundation. It sought to bring about popular sovereignty and inalienable rights. Those rights were based on those revealed in historic Christianity, but their French humanism sought to uphold rights while discarding God. Tragically, the Revolution degenerated. Eventually, with no godly morality, no one was safe from the Guillotine.
Maximilien Marie Isidore de Robespierre was born in Arras, France, on May 6, 1758. Thirty years later he was instrumental in bringing about the Revolution. It was his outcry in Estates General of the French legislature that brought about the guillotining of King Louis XVI.
Robespierre became a leader of the Committee of Public Safety. He instituted the Reign of Terror in which some 17,000 were guillotined. He was a calculating man who used his position to eliminate his opponents in that chaotic government. Ironically, Robespierre fell into disfavor and he too was guillotined in 1794.
The first French revolution was only the beginning of the turmoil. There were a number of coups in the ensuing years. Napoleon Bonaparte, a general in the Army in 1799, along with others overthrew the French Directory and replaced it with three-member Consulate, of which Napoleon was the First Director. The Directorate revised the French Constitution, making Napoleon Director for life in 1802. He crowned himself as Emperor in 1804. Ten years later, after several disastrous military defeats, he was forced to abdicate.
Essentially Napoleon destroyed the French Revolution, creating a confused back and forth government of “popular” governments and monarchies that alternated. The French Revolution, based on human reason, failed.
Certain Unalienable Rights
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another.
One Hundred years later, when the English government became oppressive, the American colonies, sought many avenues of reaching a reasonable accommodation. The King and the Parliament were in accord to keep the Colonists under the English heel.
The Colonies realized that there was no hope of bargaining with the English. They believed their only avenue was to declare their independence. Their basis for seeking separation from the monarchy was rights guaranteed by God. They looked to Him as their foundation. Enshrined in the Declaration of Independence was their rationale,
…separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” They continued, “… all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Declaration of Independence
This was no riot and there were no kangaroo courts to railroad the King or members of Parliament to be executed. The Declaration was an honorable statement of the disagreements between England and the American Colonies. It was a last-ditch attempt to diplomatically seek redress from the King.
This was in contrast to the riots and the murder of thousands of royals among the French. The difference was that the American Revolution was under the authority of God; whereas the French Revolution, begun just three years later, was under the authority of reason. Unhappily, “reason” depended upon who was doing the reasoning. Since the “reasoner” changed with the changing tides of politics in the French Revolution. The “reason’ for executions changed.
There were few executions in America. A lot of blood was spilled in the many battles with the British, but that was because England declared war on the Americans. The latter was not looking for a fight. To avoid a fight, they exercised great initial restraint.
In The Light and the Glory, by Peter Marshall, Jr. and David Emmanuel, they point out that the inferior Colonials against the greatest army in that day should not have won. Through the War, there were a series of “saves” of George Washington’s army. Had any one of them failed, the war would have been lost for the Colonists. These were miraculous incidents orchestrated by God.
Two incidents, both perpetrated by the British were sparks that ignited the war. First was the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. British soldiers responded to cat calls and snowballs, by firing into the mob, killing 5 Colonials. The second was five years later, “the shot heard around the world”, April 19, 1775, when the British marched to Concord to seize stores of Minutemen arms and ammunition. They encountered a small force on the Lexington Green. An exchange of shots resulted in eight Colonials killed and ten wounded.
God’s hand has been on America in bringing believers seeking to worship Him to this continent. He preserved the seed of a nation through the Revolutionary War. He prompted the Declaration of Independence. God’s Spirit guided the Framers of our Constitution with wisdom. They were believers who had a realistic view of the sinfulness of man and man’s thirst for power. They carefully divided the government into three Branches to provide checks and balances against any one growing a dominating role in the government.
Years before, George Washington was a Commander of Colonial troops supporting the British Army during the French and Indian War. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Monongahela when the British General Edward Braddock was wounded. Washington, astride a horse, took command. He extracted the British and led them to safety. Colonel Washington had two horses shot out from under him. His coat had four bullet holes, but Washington was unscathed. The Indians thought Washington was a miracle man, powered by their “Great Spirit”. God kept him safe.
God’s hand has been on America in bringing believers seeking to worship Him to this continent. He preserved the seed of a nation through the Revolutionary War. He prompted the Declaration of Independence. God’s Spirit guided the Framers of our Constitution with wisdom. They were believers who had a realistic view of the sinfulness of man and man’s thirst for power. They carefully divided the government into three Branches to provide checks and balances against any one growing a dominating role in the government.
Stewardship of the Legacy
Tragically the foundation in Christ has been discarded. It appears we have adopted the failed French foundation, “Reason”. It did not work for them and it is not working for us. Each political party has “Reason” to pass pet projects when in the majority. The next party in power has “Reason” to pass theirs, discarding the former’s.
The check on this foundation of Reason is a theologically educated populace. Those who are steeped in Scripture, look to the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit to guide their lives, decisions, and votes. They have learned that Human reason, while valuable, can “run off the rails”, if not guided by the hand of God. We are in danger of losing our legacy. We have lost the impetus of Christianity.
We are short of the critical mass to correct the course of our Nation because the populace is uneducated in Christianity and there are far too few believers in Jesus as the Lord God, Creator, and Governor of the universe and of nations. This began to be critical when the Supreme Court decided to exclude prayer from our schools in 1963. They sought to make a “neutral” decision. In fact, the banning of prayer has created two distinct problems.
First, they have banned all faiths, which means that they have banned all foundations of morality. This has created an absence of authoritative behavioral standards, except, “Because I told you to!”. This ebbs and flows with the current psychological trends. Thus, teachers have too few and too weak tools to discipline unruly students.
The second is that the local schools unconstitutionally infringe on the rights of students to freely exercise their religion. Christian students have been denied the freedom to pray in school. They are denied the right to express their faith.
By squelching the expression of the Christian faith our society has moved away from a morality-based culture. Such a culture has limits on behavior, which provides the classroom order students need for effective learning.
With three generations quarantined from exposure to Christianity, there are numerous adults who have little conception of the faith and the morality that is the basis of society. This is evident in the lack of courtesy we see among too many people. The failure to inculcate the respect for others that Christianity teaches has made our society far more self-centered. This is reflected in the attitudes toward our government. President Kennedy proclaimed in his inaugural address January 1961,
…ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Tragically, far too many are expecting our government to provide them a basic living.
This self-centered approach means that they vote for the politicians that offer them the biggest handout. There are a growing number of theologically ignorant and also politically ignorant voters. This is a combination that is dangerous for the stability of the nation.
America began as a Christian nation. That idea has become today out of favor, seeking instead to be multicultural. This emphasis upon diversity has fragmented our nation into political interest groups that are pitted against one another to gain the most for their pressure group.
Established in Christ
God established an ideal human government, first by separation from a despotic overlord. Next, by guiding the American Colonies to found a new government on Christ. He then guided forty-one men to write and approve a masterful Constitution that formed a great government.
Earlier, as our Lord saw the Colonials straying from His path of righteousness, the Lord God Holy Spirit used John Wesley and George Whitfield of Britain and Jonathan Edwards of Massachusetts to ignite the Great Awakening of 1740. The power of the Holy Spirit drew thousands to Jesus and revived multitudes of others to full trust in Jesus as sovereign Lord.
The New England preachers following that powerful revival called for liberty in Christ. They fomented the Revolution, seeking a new nation under God.
The Colonials were predominantly Christian believers in Christ as God. Their habit was to use “Deity” and “Providence” as euphemisms for God and Christ, nevertheless, they were devout believers in Jesus Christ.
Founding Fathers’ quotes
It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.
“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained”, George Washington, 1st President of the United States
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” Patrick Henry, Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution.“And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty.” John Adams, 2nd President
“The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time.” John Quincy Adams, 6th President
“The Bible will also inform them that our gracious Creator has provided for us a Redeemer, in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; that this Redeemer has made atonement ‘for the sins of the whole world,’ and thereby reconciling the Divine justice with the Divine mercy has opened a way for our redemption and salvation; and that these inestimable benefits are of the free gift and grace of God, not of our deserving, nor in our power to deserve.”, John Jay, 1st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
The American Revolution was founded on the firm understanding that
If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36)
The Framers of our separation from the English determined to preserve the independence of the people from any rule but that of Almighty God. They recognized that God had ordained human rulers.
Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God: and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment. For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. And wouldest thou have no fear of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from the same… (Romans 13:1-3)
The rulers were in turn subject to the rule of God. The Colonists did not foment the violent overthrow of Britain. They, in the Declaration of Independence, stated their reasons for declaring the American colonies independent,
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect <sic> their Safety and Happiness. –Declaration of Independence
In the Declaration, they listed 28 cases of abuse that the English government put upon the Colonies.
The Framers declared it was the duty of such a people to throw off that despotic government. Finally, they appealed to God to confirm the rectitude of their actions. They consigned their cause, the seeking of Liberty, to the judgment of Almighty God. He approved their stance in Christ and their establishing a government that rested on trust in God.
Restoration in Christ
The true and only source of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity is the risen, victorious Son of God, Jesus the Savior.
God now calls us to reaffirm our allegiance, not to our Nation, but to our God. It is important to us to preserve America. It is not important to God to preserve our nation or our government. What is important to Him is the state of our hearts.
First, He wants our hearts, not in part, but the whole, including all our errors and our sins. He wants our complete devotion.
Next, Christ wants us to love our families, our neighbors, strangers and our enemies.
Empowered by God‘s love working through us, He wants us to proclaim His righteousness and be demonstration projects of His righteous in us. Like the prophets of old, Jesus wants us to decry the evils in our culture. He wants His Chosen minority to declare His righteousness among the people, and to call them back to worship of the One true God.
Questions Demanding Answers
This is a recurring feature. I pose a question in one issue. You have the opportunity to send me answers. I publish the best ones in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep your answer within 250 words.
QUESTION: Are there Guardian Angels?
ANSWER: Yes. God’s angels are his messengers. They serve His purposes with instant obedience. One of the ministries of our loving Father’s angels is to keep watch over His children, those who have been adopted into His family, i.e. those who have surrendered to Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Scripture has many references to God’s angels ministering to and protecting God’s children.
For he will give his angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11, 12)
They are all around His faithful to shield them.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7)
Angels are God’s warriors against the demons and against human evil.
My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.” (Daniel 6:22)
Second, legions of angels await God’s call to battle with human and demonic forces arrayed against God’s Son and His children.
“Then saith Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into its place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Or thinkest thou that I cannot beseech my Father, and he shall even now send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:52-53)
In the Garden of Gethsemane, there are two examples of ways Angels minister to us personally. In our anguish, they strengthen us.
… saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared unto him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground. (Luke 22:42-44)
We are surrounded by guarding angels. However, they are at God’s bidding, not ours. God knows us intimately and loves us extravagantly. He has our lives in His hands. He allows some things either bad or good to come into our lives. Probably, times without number, and at His bidding angels prevent things natural and demonic from affecting our lives.
Our role is to focus on God. We may be aware of the angels that surround us, but we must not become distracted by our curiosity about angels. Let the One Who is of Prime Importance be the dominating influence in our lives. Keep our thoughts centered on Jesus, and allow Him to direct the angels in our lives.
QUESTION: What can believers do to bring America back to Christ?
The Holy of Holies
Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.
Almighty Father, I bow in submission before your sovereignty. You are my savior and my God. I worship You.
When I consider the marvelous gift You have given Americans I am amazed that You are so overwhelmingly gracious to us. You have given us a free land. You have made us the most prosperous nation in the history of humankind.
Further You prompted our Founding Fathers to draft and approve a government that was comprehensive and limited. You gave us the freedom to change our government peaceably. You warned the Framers of our Constitution of the sinfulness of humanity, so, My LORD, You gave them the wisdom to build into our government checks and balances, so none of the three branches of government could dominate and form a dictatorship.
Father, we are far from the idealism of the Founders. We have lost sight of You and have turned our backs on Jesus. We have excluded Him from our national decision-making. We have banished Jesus from our schools. We are told that witnessing for You makes for a hostile workplace.
Have mercy on us, O Righteous Judge. Deliver us from our foolishness. Renew our minds to again embrace the truth that without You, we are poor, and blind and naked. We are without hope in this world and the next without Your love. Save us from our self-contrived suicidal plunge over the cliff of materialism and relativism.
Lord Jesus, Our Savior, release the power of the Holy Spirit upon us to convict us of our sin and chastise us for straying from our Foundation, which is You, Christ, our Lord. Bring us back into Your sheepfold, where we are safe from our own folly.
You are our gracious King, whether people acknowledge You or not. You are the One who runs the universe. Your ways are the only correct ways. Your government is the only righteous rule; therefore, we desperately need Your Hand controlling our lives, our government, and our leaders. Rescue us from the enemy’s attacks. Hold back the forces of darkness and give us Your marvelous light of godly wisdom to recapture the godly vision of our Founders.
America has the potential if guided by godly men and women who trust completely in Your guidance as did our forefathers. If You will have mercy on us and send us leaders that will declare Your truths as their and our nation’s guiding principles, we will rebuild what we have destroyed. But nothing can be done without You.
Thank You for Your love for us. Thank You, Jesus, for Your love for me.
Unto God Almighty be all Honor, Glory, Dominion, and Power!
Amen
Our Lord, Jesus, is Magnificent
O Magnify the LORD with Me
Oh, sing unto Jehovah a new song:
Sing unto Jehovah, all the earth.
Sing unto Jehovah, bless his name;
Show forth his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
His marvelous works among all the peoples.
For great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised:He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols;
But Jehovah made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before him:
Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe unto Jehovah, ye kindreds of the peoples,
Ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength.
Ascribe unto Jehovah the glory due unto his name:
Bring an offering, and come into his courts.
Oh worship Jehovah in holy array:
Tremble before him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth:
The world also is established that it cannot be moved:
He will judge the peoples with equity.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
Let the field exult, and all that is therein;
Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy
Before Jehovah; for he cometh,
For he cometh to judge the earth:
He will judge the world with righteousness,
And the peoples with his truth.” (Psalm 96:1-13)
Please Pray with me.
Oh Lord, our Lord, You are our God And you are the God of all nations. As we bow in submission to Your Omnipotent Authority we acknowledge our unworthiness in and of our selves.
But in triumph, we assert that through Your Son our Lord we are now one with You. We come before You, our Father trusting in the blood of Christ to cleanse us and His righteousness to make us worthy.
Thank you, Almighty Father for Your magnificent provision for each one of us here present.
You have shown us, and our knowledge of the world teaches us that there are multitudes in the world who are dying without Christ. Who are consigned to everlasting darkness and fear and loneliness and torment?
It is our prerogative and responsibility to deliver to them Your Truths. Give us a burden for the unsaved. Give us a passion for reaching unbelievers with the most vital message in all the world – Jesus saves!
Your message is simplistic but powerful. It is the greatest news in the history of the World, but so very hard to share. We hesitate or don’t even think of it when in the presence of unbelievers – our neighbor next door, our co-worker, the woman in the checkout line ahead of us or the man behind. Give us he forethought and courage to speak to them about the love we have found in Jesus and God’s truth – Jesus saves!
Almighty and most powerful and fearsome God Our Father, most righteous and perfect God our Savior, Most Holy and loving Spirit, Who convinces us of sin, we come now before Your majesty.
We come to intercede for our missionaries. They are on the front lines in the battle to rescue the souls of men and women from condemnation. Prompts us to pray often for them. Move us to support them with generous offerings. Empower them by Your Holy and mighty Spirit to proclaim boldly, Jesus Saves!
Please Pray for our Missionaries
We lift our hearts to give thanks to our God for Your love for all Your children. Lord, Jesus, You have sheep in many other pastures. We recognize these as our brothers and sisters. Here in the Holy of holies we bow before Your throne and offer brothers and sisters we do not know to You for Your help, for Your healing, for Your deliverance, for Your instruction in righteousness, and for Your blessings of basic necessities and safety.
Please Pray for our Brothers and Sisters around the World
Please Pray for our Loved Ones in Need
To You, our God, we offer Honor Praise and Glory. We declare Your Majesty, Dominion, Power, Grace, and Love in the joy that You have given us.
Hallelujah, Lord God Most Holy!
Join with me now in offering the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us, saying…
The Lord’s Prayer
Now turn with me in honoring our Lord Jesus in the prayer that He taught us, saying…
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Father’s Day
Fatherhood of God
Scripture is filled with passages that affirm the truth that God is not only our Creator, but He is also our Father. Here are just a few:
Wherefore David blessed Jehovah before all the assembly; and David said, Blessed be thou, O Jehovah, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. (1 Chronicles 29:10)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
For thou art our Father, though Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, O Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name. (Isaiah 63:16)
…but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:44-45)
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:13)
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him. (Romans 8:14-17)
Please Pray with me
We are deeply Grateful, Almighty Lord God and our Father that You have bestowed upon us the inestimable honor of adoption as Your daughters and sons. We desire to live in ways that honor You. Guide us by Your Holy Spirit.
Please pray your prayer of thanksgiving to your Father.
Pause for Prayer
Father, you have called us to be your children and joint heirs with Jesus. You have enlisted us in Your service as intercessors to pray for the world, for our brothers and sisters in Christ for Rulers and all in authority, and for the needy.
Please present your intercessions to your Heavenly Father who is always ready to hear.
Pause for Prayer
We individually and jointly thank you for the father’s you gave us. We ask your blessing on them. Grant them your everlasting grace and peace.
Now, Father as Your beloved children, we join our hearts together in honoring You with the prayer Jesus taught, saying.
Join with me in the Prayer that Our Savior taught us, saying…
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen
Memorial Day Prayer
We Have Been Saved
But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you. (1 John 14:26)
Please Pray With Me
Father, we remember all the ways you have blessed our Nation.
We remember that your Son paid a bloody price to deliver us from the bondage of sin and the wrath of God that would certainly condemn us to everlasting torment. We remember Your son bravely confronting the withering criticism of the arrogant leaders of the Jewish faith.
At our beginning, you caused us to win the war for independence. We had no right to win against the greatest Army and Navy in the world at that time. We won by retreating more than engaging. We won with a group of citizen soldiers. We remember we you gave us the victory, as You gave the victory to the Children of Israel.
As our Nation matured you called attention to the blot on our independence. You prompted us to abolish slavery. We paid a bloody price to win the freedom of the negro race from slavery.
We remember the young men who courageously fought in the deserts, and stormed the beaches in the face of enemy fire.
We remember those who have stood as our shields against enemy attack and have secured peace for American families, grandparents, and children in their homes.
We remember that You are the Prince of Peace and that You are our shield, fortress, our high tower. You are the God who loves us and gives us life eternal, gives us joy in this life and gives us your wonderful, but unfathomable love.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
Amen.
Pray with Me
Please pray for thanksgiving for all the wonderful blessings God has given us.
Please pray for your family members who have served in the Armed Forces past and present.
Please pray for the men and women who are at this moment in combat and mortal danger.
- The Army
- The Navy
- The Coast Guard
- The Marines
Please pray for the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces—that God, the Holy Spirit will give him the wisdom to pick America’s fights only as the Sovereign Lord God directs.
Please pray for the needs of our nation, for your church and for your family and friends.
The Lord’s Prayer
Now turn with me in honoring our Lord Jesus in the prayer that He taught us, saying…
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
You May Think Easter Is Over
GT—Volume 14 Issue 5
Jesus Alive in Our Lives
Ruth and I, early in our life in Christ, were advisors to a church youth group. One Easter morning we went to a sunrise service, then had an early pancake breakfast at our church and afterward went to an Easter Egg hunt at my sister’s home. That night, after a very busy day, Ruth went into labor and our first daughter, Laura, was born the next day.
Aside from all that excitement, I remember something that struck me. As part of the sunrise service, they had an abbreviated Passion Play. The scene in the Garden of Gethsemane ended with the arrest of Jesus by soldiers. They dragged Him off resisting and fighting them.
I have reflected many times on that erroneous depiction. While it was dramatic, it was clear that the script writer or director and likely the actors had not read the Scripture. Jesus made it abundantly clear that He was willingly going to the cross. He stated He could call 10,000 angels to deliver him. He told Peter not to resist. He was and is God. No one could have forced Jesus against his will. The sight of Jesus fighting his captors was actually blasphemous. It made the Son of God out to be a weak and powerless man.
The dignity of Jesus was on display throughout that night. He wrestled alone in the Garden, but embraced His Father’s purpose, and so nothing could demean Him. The High Priest railed at Jesus,
“And the high priest stood up, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:62-64).
Jesus appeared to His disciples a number of times after his Resurrection and before His ascension. He appeared to others of the faithful as well.
In the same manner, he did or did not respond to Pilate and Herod.In the same manner, he did or did not respond to Pilate and Herod.
With the same dignity, after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples and those he loved (Mary Magdalene and Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus, plus others). Jesus was completely in charge, unhurried in His comings and goings.
With the same authority, Jesus confronted Saul on the road to Damascus and He confronted me in my living room. Because Jesus is God He is the same Risen Savior that He was on that first day He arose from the tomb.
Resurrection Life
I am confident that most of you have experienced a meeting with Jesus that transformed your life from that of self- and world-centered to being Christ-centered. The Holy Spirit drew you to Jesus and your life became transformed as your spirit came alive in Christ. That day you died and were resurrected. You died to sin and became alive to Christ.
It was a day that was like any other day, except spiritually you breached history. You were back at Golgotha where the nails that pierced Jesus’ hands and feet also nailed your sins to the cross with Him. When He died, Jesus carried your sins with him into death. 2,000 years ago, they became no longer yours.
You were born again to life incorruptible. You became washed in the blood of Christ so that God no longer sees your sin, but He sees your alive spirit and your soul cleansed and pure. God no longer sees the filthy garments of worldliness, self-centeredness, but he sees you clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Paul teaches that we are no longer chained to sin. Unhappily, all who are born come forth with that burden of sin chained to them. They are servants of sin and cannot escape. Mostly people do not want to escape. It is not until Jesus the Resurrected Son of God breaks that chain and liberates believers from sin, death, and Satan, that we become truly who God intended us to be.
Liberated from the weight of sin we are free to grow in the resurrection life Jesus has given us. We are free to learn about the deep, deep love of Jesus for us. We are free to develop the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives – Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Meekness, Self-Control.
God intends believers to be magnets by living in the spirit. His resurrection life manifested in them will draw two responses from the unbelievers. It will draw them to covet (positively) what is reflected in the life of the believer. It will draw out of unbelievers’ distaste, rejection, and even persecution. The believer’s life will, by its contrast, uncover sin and guilt. Most rationalize their sin through the sophistries: there is a “new morality”, there is no truth, everything is relative, there are no standards, or there is no life beyond this one, so it doesn’t matter what one does; because death is the eraser.
True Life In The Face Of Negativity
The Good Friday attacks on Christians in Egypt show how desperate the unbelievers are. The Christians there are no threat to Egypt or to Islam. But the violence of unbelievers against the very existence of Christians shows how fearful they are of truth. Their souls are so corrupt they see non-combatants, believers going about their lives in peace as a threat to the evil life they have chosen to follow.
In America, we have the same mindset, but currently without the physical violence. There are those so afraid of the influence of the truth of Christianity that they are seeking to erase all vestiges from view.
Over the centuries in America, crosses have been erected to give honor to God and to Christ. Most of them have been empty crosses, symbolizing the Resurrected Christ, Christ triumphant over sin and death. Because the silent message of crosses frightens unbelievers, crosses have come under attack. Suits forced their removal. The 10 Commandments are so threatening to people in courtrooms that they have demanded their removal.
Nevertheless, Believing Christians continue to witness individually. Nevertheless, individuals communicate the Gospel of the Resurrected Christ to other individuals and there is a spiritual transaction that occurs. One more believer’s name is inscribed, indelibly in the Book of Life.
“Behold, Jehovah’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:” (Isaiah 59:1)
We are coming to the place where on college campuses, that have been traditionally sites for free and open discussion, Christians’ Constitutional right of free speech has been stifled. College instructors who dare to present their faith publicly are persecuted, censored, refused promotion or dismissed.
We are coming to the place where on college campuses, that have been traditionally sites for free and open discussion, Christians’ Constitutional right of free speech has been stifled. College instructors who dare to present their faith publicly are persecuted, censored, refused promotion or dismissed.
Persistence of Christianity
Christianity has weathered 2,000 years of persecution. The unbelieving Jews first crucified their Messiah and then persecuted His followers. The Romans tried for 300 years to stamp out Christianity. Islam, since the 8th Century, has sought out and slain massive numbers of Christians in the Near East, Africa, Eastern Europe, India and Southeast Asia. Islam has attempted to wipe out its most formidable competitor for men’s’ souls.
Christianity is like a half-filled balloon. One stamps on it seeking to burst and destroy it, but it expands right next door. The early Church Father, Tertullian stated, “The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
The world seeks to wipe out the Church, But Christians must not forget that the One, true God is the Author and Finisher of our faith individually and of the Church corporately. God delivered His message to one man, Abram, who delivered it to his son and he to his son and he to his 12 sons. The Children of Israel came out of Egypt ca. 2,000,000 strong. During over 40 years wandering around the Sinai wilderness, God shaped them into People of God. They entered the land God had promised and changed the name from Canaan to Israel. For nearly 1,000 years the Children of Israel inhabited more or less of the Land of Promise. They were more or less faithful to the One, true God. In punishment, the Jews were exiled from the Land for 70 years. As strangers in a strange land, they kept the faith. Upon return to the Land, they were more or less faithful.
Then, in the process of God’s time, Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God proclaimed the Good News. There was forgiveness of sins and the Kingdom of Heaven was at the door. His death brought a new paradigm. The risen Christ became the touchstone of faith. The Holy Spirit founded the Church of Christ with 120 faithful. Immediately 3,000 more were added. They scattered throughout the Roman world to become seeds of the Gospel of the Resurrected Christ. As I mentioned for 300 years Rome sought to eradicate Christianity; only to have Christianity take over the Empire.
God has kept faithful remnants to produce a massive movement that has touched the lives of 100s of millions of people. From time to time there have been persecutions that have wiped out small to large groups of believers. Still, the Resurrected Christ has continued to bestow upon believers resurrection life that secures them from death. Bodies die, but Christians do not.
With All The Options?
Why is faith in the Resurrected Jesus so persistent? What is it about Christianity that defies the attempts to crush it out of existence?
The simple answer is faith in the One true God. He protects His own. The supporting reality is that Christianity is based on truth. Truth is persistent because it is reality. Reality isn’t just believed, it IS. The resurrected Christ isn’t just believed, He lives. He lives in the lives of believers. He lives in the believing Christian Church. He lives in the world, independent of the Church and believers. He is God.
Believers withstand torture and death. This is reality. They stand firm in faith because they know that even in horrific circumstances and even when they face death, they also know that God loves them. And in return they love God. They persist because they have hope anchored on the truth that their lives are not material, but spiritual and eternal. They know that their loving Lord has a place for them in His Kingdom, where they will live eternally. They know that this life will soon be over whether by a persecutor’s sword or by old age. Upon death, believers will be rewarded with celestial bodies that are incorruptible. Sickness, aging, grief will no longer exist for them. They are endowed with eternal joy in the love of God.
Yes, there are many religions to choose from and there are vast numbers that are adherents of other religions. By far it is a one-way street. Adherents of other religions convert to Christianity by thousands every year. The number of true Christians that convert willingly to other religions is a minuscule fraction.
The Power of Faith
I do not have the strength of faith to stand up to torture. However, I am not under such severe persecution. I know that My Lord will give me the strength to stand firm when I need it.
“For which cause I suffer also these things: yet I am not ashamed; for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2Tim. 1:12)
The Holy Spirit is the power of God. He is in the believer and with the believer. When we are born anew in Christ we receive the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity comes as One. We are adopted into the family of God to be his sons and daughters of God. We surrender to Christ and receive from Him forgiveness of sin and His righteousness, which entitles us to eternal life. We receive the presence of the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee that we are in Christ and have eternal life in the Presence of the Father.
Power to Live in a Hostile World
However, the believer must have power to live the life of a Christian a hostile world. Jesus came to the Disciples in the Upper Room, where they locked themselves in for fear of the Jews. The Lord God, Jesus the Christ breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit. That was the moment they were born-again. They became believers, Christians.
But they still didn’t know what they were about, Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” He went back to his former trade, “Well, it was fun while it lasted, but back to reality.” Jesus met them on the seashore to give Peter his mission, “Feed My sheep.” On Ascension Day, Jesus indicated that the Disciples were thoroughly His men. They had been born again. They had received the Holy Spirit to be in them, but they had not received the power of the Spirit to be with them. Jesus said that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit “not many days hence.” That was to be their empowering for ministry.
It is Jesus plan that all believers be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Most have not opened themselves to His power. They operate effectively on their own strength of faith and their witness is effective. However, God wants us to rely upon Him totally, not on our own strength. He has provided the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to be that empowerment. The release of the Holy Spirit allows Him to work in a believer’s life and He cannot until he or she lets go of the steering wheel and allows the Holy Spirit to drive the believer’s life.
The concept is scary. “Will He send me to Outer Mongolia to live in a yurt, drinking Yak milk and trying to learn the language? Will he send me to Arabia to preach on the street corners to be martyred?
I refrain from guaranteeing that God will not do that with a believer. But I will affirm that the ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit is a glory whose price it far above diamonds.
The Holy Spirit manifests his power in individuals through “Gifts”
- Wisdom – supernatural understanding and counsel
- Knowledge – revelation of something not learned
- Faith – supernatural belief God will do the impossible
- Prophesy – speaking words of God, often encouragement
- Healing – restoration from physical maladies.
- Miracles – changes in natural order by God’s power
- Speaking in Tongues – a language that is not learned can be either private prayer or public declaration
- Interpretation of Tongues – gives the sense of the Tongue offered as a public declaration.
- Discernment of Spirits – supernatural recognition of good or evil spirits in a person or region
Each Gift is not the possession of the believer. “The Spirit gives severally as He will.” However, when the believer is open to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, as needed and at God’s discretion, she or he will “manifest the Gift or gifts appropriate. The Holy Spirit is in charge.
God’s Power is for All
The Holy Spirit’s power is for all believers, as are all the Gifts. There are times in a believer’s life when a situation is beyond him or her. That is where the power of the Holy Spirit and the manifestations of the Spirit are available and essential to meet the believers’ needs.
Shout for Joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. (Psalm 33:1)
One of the attendant blessings that accompanies the Holy Spirit is a release of Joy. We see in the Psalms and in the Prophets interspersed with the cries of deliverance and warnings of condemnation, there are peons of joy where the writer is caught up in the glory of God. He cries out in Loud Praise, joyfully proclaiming the Glory of God. To be sure there are quiet, meditative prayers. However, the boisterous joy in the Presence of God and the outpourings of holy love for God can be like the crowd at ball games when their team wins a tight game. In truth, these joyous celebrations outnumber the contemplative.
When you consider it objectively, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is far greater than winning the World Series or the Super Bowl. It truly calls for praise and great joyfulness, empowered by the Holy Spirit. God said that Adam and Eve in their perfection were naked and unashamed. It is good to allow your love for the Lord to be shouted out and not be ashamed. It is good for one to release one’s control to the Holy Spirit and while moving emotionally out of one’s comfort zone, trust that the Holy Spirit will do all things decently in order.
The Lord is worthy of our most energetic praise and worship. Hallelujah! Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed, Hallelujah!
Questions Demanding Answers
This will be a recurring feature. I will pose a question in one issue. You will have the opportunity to send me answers. I will publish the best ones in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep you answer within 250 words.
QUESTION: What does it mean to be among the elect of God?
ANSWER: God is the creator of all that exists. He is the Potter and all that is material is in His hands. God can shape and reshape anything.
He has perfect knowledge of everything, even our thoughts
“O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether.” (Psalms 139:1-4)
Since this is true, God has already decided who will be a part of His Kingdom and who will not.
Those to whom he gives the faith to believe are the elect.
God’s offer of salvation is free to all, but there are many who choose not to heed His voice. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice.” One looks at one’s family and friends. Because we love them we want them to be part of God’s eternal joy. But some refuse.
It breaks my heart that a sister and a brother refused my sharing of the Good News that Jesus was offering them a free ride into blessedness in eternal life.
They are in God’s hands now, but I fear I will not see them in God’s Kingdom.
God’s elect have embraced Jesus as their only Lord and Savior. They can live in His love, knowing they are secure for eternity. Therefore, whatever befalls this body, we know that we will have an imperishable, celestial body that will be free of pain and suffering for eternity. We will be able to bask in the love of God and enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb as not only invited guests, but also as honored guests.
Yes, in a sense, the elect is an exclusive club. But it is open to all comers regardless of anything in their former lives. Even the most hardened criminal, who truly repents and believes in Jesus is welcomed. The poorest beggar, the most ignorant, the offscouring of the world who embrace Christ are welcomed with open arms. The richest men and women of the world, who love Jesus are the elect. It is neither lack of money nor bags of cash that matter. It is the heart. If the Holy Spirit has given one a love for Jesus and led her or him to surrender to Jesus as Lord and Savior, that is the admission to the exclusive club of the elect.
QUESTION: Are there really demons in the world?
The Holy of Holies
Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.
Holy Spirit, Spirit divine, open my eyes to see You as the true power of the Resurrection. Deliver me from the veil over my mind that prevents me from understanding spiritual things.
Lord Jesus, Risen Savior, I am humbled that You went willingly to the cross to die in my place. I need Your Spirit’s touch to release me from the bondage to habits of mind that do not expect You to act in my life.
Holy Spirit give me a lively faith to go boldly through my life, discarding all inhibitions that prevent me from loving my Father with abandon, prevent me from proclaiming the truth of the Gospel with clarity in all places, prevent me from worshipping exuberantly, and prevent me from bubbling so with joy that I become infectious to those I am with.
I love You Father, I love You, Jesus, I love You, Holy Spirit. I honestly desire to be conformed to the image of Christ. I want to be in Christ.
Give me the heart to discard all that prevents me from loving You with an unguarded heart. Give me the eagerness to serve you regardless of the cost. Give me the openness to embrace all you send to me, despite my sensibilities and my prejudices.
I give You glory. You are my majestic Lord God. You are the magnificent and glorious King of kings. Let all the earth praise You. Let the stars sing to Your glory. Let the planets leap for joy at Your creation. The brooks dance with joy as they obey Your laws to run down to the sea. The trees applaud Your wisdom and they grow according to Your placing of them in their position. The mountains grow up at Your command and submit to wearing down according to Your law.
Now Lord Jesus come quickly to earth and restore Your perfect peace. Bring about the promise that all nations will come to You in humble submission. We long for Your gracious reign from one end of the world to the other. We long for that unanimity of worship with every other person on the face of the earth. Your Righteous Reign will instill in us a worship of enormous joy encompassing the whole world as all peoples and languages and races join in choruses of song, rejoicing in Your love and relishing Your universal peace.
Hallelujah, my God and King.
Hallelujah, my Savior and Lord.
Hallelujah, my Spirit of power.
It is marvelous that I can own You, God. It is my privilege because You own me. My heart is Yours, as is my mind, hands, and feet. My future is Yours as was my past.
I surrender all to You my God! Amen
One, True God
February 12, 2017
The Existence of Our Amazing God
“There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.
Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms is none like you.They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men.
But the Lord is the true God; is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.” (Jeremiah 10:6-10)
A January 2017 survey from YouGov.com reveals that 76% of the nation personally believes in the existence of a God
That percent is down sharply from 2011 Gallup Poll that reported 92% believe God exists.
I suspect that half of those who say they believe in God, do not believe in a personal God. They understand God as one who created all things, set them in motion and left the world for us to manage. That is a Deistic “Clockmaker God”.
In contrast, we, who have affirmed that we believe in the personal God, because we have embraced Jesus as our Savior, the Father has adopted as His sons and daughters.
Certain That We are Known
Therefore, I’m asking that we pray in two modes:
- First, we’ll pray corporately and individually to acknowledge our One, True God. I will pray a general prayer and then pause so each who would like to may affirm his or her love for God in a personal way.
- Then I will offer a prayer for the joys and needs we have and know of. Again, I will pause to allow individual prayer.
Please join with me in expressing to God what He means to us.
Prayer
You are our God. You have come to each of us personally. You know us intimately. You love us extravagantly. You are active in our lives daily. We are so privileged to have You as our God. We love You Father, our Brother, our Master and our Friend.
Pause for Prayer
Please offer your expressions of thanksgiving, praise, and petition to our loving God.
Prayer
Our gracious Lord God we are deeply thankful that You have become a significant force in our lives. Your love for us emboldens us to come before You to express our needs and those of people we care for.
Pause for Prayer
Hallelujah! Our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We open our hearts to You to fill us with your truth and love. Give us the power to live our lives as proof that you are real, active and loving God.
Join with me in the Prayer that Our Savior taught us, saying…
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen
