Webmaster's Blog
| Mar 1, 2010 |
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Eat or Believe?
The human body is made up of the fleshly physical
parts which can be seen and touched, plus the soul and spirit parts
that are invisible and cannot be seen or touched. Eating
something physical nourishes the fleshly parts of the body.
The way the spiritual parts of the body are nourished is through
spiritual food, which is the food of faith.This little blog attempts to correct the confusion of whether salvation comes by eating something or believing something. Listed below are verses from the Gospel of John containing the words believe and eat, or their derivatives. The comments in red parenthesis following each verse attempt to explain the verse in its context. Many comments may seem like overkill or ridicule but are meant to stress the difference between eating and believing. –
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John 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (not eat) John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (believe, not eat… Receiving doesn’t mean simply to say hello in a receiving line. It means to receive into our spiritual heart… to believe totally and exclusively on the name of Jesus for salvation.) John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (believeth gives eternal life, not eateth) John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (not eateth… Whosoever means anyone, even Nicodemus. At this point in time, Nicodemus could have said, “I believe, Lord,” and walked away with the fullest confidence that he had everlasting life, that he was saved forever, never hearing one word about eating anything to have everlasting life. Everlasting means lasting forever, not just for a little while until we sin again.) John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (not eateth… People are condemned for not believing, not because they don’t eat something.) John 3:36 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. (not eat… Again, God does not display anger on anyone for what they eat or don’t eat. But He has INTENSE anger for anyone who does not believe on His Son. This INTENSE ANGER [wrath] abides with the unbeliever… not the uneater… FOREVER.) John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (believeth, not eateth… same notes as for Jn 3:36… substitute condemnation for wrath.) John 5:38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. (To have something spiritual abide in us, we either hear it or read it and believe and accept it in our spiritual heart. Physical things that we eat don’t abide in us… they provide physical nourishment for our physical body and then the waste is disposed of.) John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (believe, not eat) John 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth LIFE unto the world. (Jesus is the spiritual bread of God, not bread which we make with our hands. This spiritual bread nourishes our spiritual soul and gives it LIFE everlasting. Physical bread can only nourish our physical body, nor can it cause us to live forever.) John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (Jesus is the spiritual bread of LIFE, not simply physical existence. We cannot get spiritual life by eating anything. Eating physical food will not eliminate our future hunger or thirst. When salvation is found in spiritual faith, we no longer hunger or thirst for salvation because we have it and it lasts forever.) John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (Seeth the Son means to percieve, discern, acknowledge, consider, see, that Jesus is the Son of God. Believing on Jesus, not eating, gives everlasting life. God's will is for us to believe on His Son, not to physically eat anything. God does not give everlasting life if we eat something. God will give us everlasting life if, and only if, we believe fully and exclusively on His Son.) John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (Same note as Jn 6:40) John 6:51 I am the LIVING bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (Well, make up your mind, Jesus… Up to this point we are told over and over that believing gives us everlasting life. Now all of a sudden, You tell us eating gives everlasting life? --- Explanation: Bread that humans make is not living, it is lifeless. Jesus often used physical examples to explain spiritual things. Here, Jesus is using eating to demonstrate believing, getting something spiritual inside us. What we eat gives us physical life… what we believe gives us spiritual life… forever. If we believe on the Son we have everlasting LIFE. If we believe not the son we have everlasting WRATH.) John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (This verse does not contain the words believe or eat, but here, Jesus gives the explanation of what He had been speaking of in verses 32 – 62, where eating was not meant to be taken as a physical event, but spiritual.) John 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. (we believe, not eat) John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of LIVING water. (he that believeth, not eateth… another physical example of something spiritual. Normal water has no life in and of itself. The living water is a metaphor for Christ living and abiding within the believer. The believer is so eternally grateful for her salvation that she cannot help herself, but wishing all her friends to be saved also, she gushes out the living gospel of Christ, the good news that salvation comes by believing on the Son, not by eating anything. A person doesn’t gush LIVING water by eating bread.) John 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John, the one that Jesus loved, parenthetically explains that Jesus was speaking of spiritual things, not physical. We receive the Holy Spirit by believing, not eating.) John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die IN your sins. (die IN, not because of your sins… Jesus died for all of our sins so we wouldn’t have to, but unless we believe on the Son we will die IN that state of unbelief and stay lost forever.) John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? (Jesus didn’t ask the man he cured from blindness, Dost thou eat the Son of God?) John 9:36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? (The blind man didn’t ask, Who is he, Lord, that I may eat him?) John 9:37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. (The blind man was not talking to a piece of bread… he was talking to the living God of all creation.) John 9:38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. (The blind man believed on and worshiped the living Jesus, not a piece of bread.) John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. John 10:30 I and my Father are one. (Who gives eternal Life?… Jesus, not a piece of bread. Who is holding the believer in His hand? Jesus, not a piece of bread. Who is also holding the believer in His hand? The Father, not a piece of bread.) John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (Jesus said, I AM THE RESURECTION, He didn’t say a piece of bread is the resurrection. A dead person cannot eat anything; yet her beleiving soul will live forever.) John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (not, Eatest thou this? Notice also that the person must be living to believe in something. Once we die it is to late to change our mind and say, "I believe.") John 11:27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. (She did not believe that a piece of bread was the Christ.) John 11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? (not, if thou wouldest eat) John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. (Believing on Jesus the Light dispels the darkness of false religions… believing on a piece of bread IS darkness that abides.) John 12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. (Hearing is the same as reading. The bible will condemn anyone who has heard the gospel of Christ or read it, but not believed on the Savior. The bible does not condemn those who do not eat a piece of bread.) John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (Jesus did miracles to show that he was the Son of God so that we could believe on Him, not to show us how to heal anyone. A few thousand people saw and believed. Now, through radio, television, internet, print media, especially the bible, greater works of millions of people can be exposed to the Son of God and believe and be saved.) John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; (not eat on me) John 20:25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. (Thomas did not say, Except I shall eat a piece of bread, I will not believe.) John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (These things, the miracles that Jesus performed, were written down so that we may read of Him, get to know Him, and believe that He is the Son of the Living God who sacrificed Himself once, only once, never to be repeated, so that whosoever believes on Him should have everlasting life.) –
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The above verses on believe, believeth, faith, receive and receiveth are taken just from the Gospel of John. There are many other verses like these in the rest of the New Testament that stress that salvation comes about only by the spiritual act of believing, not by doing anying physical. Place your faith in Jesus
Christ for your eternal salvation NOW.
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| Feb 7, 2010 |
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Adopted Forever
Let us say that you want a pet but you don’t want to pay an arm and a
leg for one. So you go to the dog pound and say, "I want that one." The
poor dog would have been destroyed, or "put to sleep," to put it in
more humane terms, but you "rescued" it from that fate. You adopted it.
You take the dog home and train it and show it some newspaper and say, "This is where you ‘go.’" Later that day the dog ‘goes’ somewhere else in the house. To teach the dog a lesson for bad behavior you put it outside all night long. The next day you have second thoughts and bring the dog back to the dog pound and say, "I want to adopt this dog." I see it has a collar. Do you know the previous owner? I’m the previous owner. Let me check my records. Oh, yes, I see that you are the current owner, not the previous owner. Sorry, but you can’t adopt him again. He is already yours. The above scenario is a physical example of something spiritual. Justification is a spiritual occurrence that takes place only once. When you get saved, you get adopted into the family of God. You only get adopted once. You cannot get unadopted and then readopted. A natural family member can get disinherited, put out of the family forever and loose all the benefits and blessings of her father, but an adopted member cannot get unadodpted. When Adam disobeyed and disbelieved and rebelled, he was put out of the family of God. Therefore all Adam’s children were born outside of God’s family. But before the foundations of the world, God had a plan to bring man back into His family. His plan was to adopt anyone who would believe His promise of everlasting life. If you believe that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, even your sins, you are adopted right then and there into the family of God. And just like man’s adoption laws, when God adopts a sinner into His family, even HE cannot unadopt her. The adoption was His work alone, she had nothing to do with it. It was impossible for her to earn the adoption because she was trapped and confined in the Sin Pound. She couldn’t say, "If only I can get out of this Sin Pound MAYBE I can do some good works and IF I AM GOOD ENOUGH I MIGHT earn my adoption." Can’t happen. The only thing she did was to believe God when He called her, and He did all the rest. Everyone is a creature of God but not everyone is a child of God. You have to have God’s righteousness to be adopted into His family. But God’s righteousness is a gift that cannot be purchased or earned. God GIVES you His righteousness the moment you place your complete faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior. At that moment you are adopted into the family of God forever. The book of Ephesians explains this way: Salvation is BY grace THROUGH faith and cannot be earned because it is THE GIFT of God, and not of anything on your part (Eph 2:8). And just to drive the point home, Eph 2:9 emphasizes (in not so many words): It is forbidden to be of works in order to prevent anyone from bragging that she did more works than the next person. Notice that Eph 2:8 says that salvation is BY grace THROUGH faith. It can be thought of in this way: Grace proceeds downward from God toward man. Faith proceeds upward from man toward God. God extends salvation by His hand of grace to anyone who will reach up through faith to receive it. As Hebrews 3:15 says, "While it is said, TODAY [for we are not promised tomorrow] if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart." Extend your spiritual hand of faith in Jesus Christ toward God NOW and He will take hold of your hand and adopt you and NEVER let you go. --- --- But the bible also says to work for your salvation. --- --- No, it doesn’t… you’re not paying attention. The bible says to work OUT your salvation, not work FOR it. (Phil 2:12) To illustrate, let’s say I’m a reliable, responsible person (use your imagination) and I got caught up in the downsizing of the economy. My unemployment benefits have run out but I have interviewed for a job, and start work in two weeks. I go to Ms. Moneybags and ask you for a loan to pay my electric, water and gas, just until I start my new job. Being the benevolent person that you are, you give me the money to pay the bills and then some. But you tell me that the money is a gift, I don’t have to pay you back. Gee, thanks, I say, and ask which bill should I pay first, electric, water, or gas. Look, I gave you the money... it’s yours to do what you want with it... you work it out. That is kind of what happens AFTER we get saved. We don’t work TO get saved, but AFTER we get saved. For, before we get saved, we are not God’s child and can do nothing to please Him. But once we have been adopted into God’s family we work OUT our salvation to do pleasing works for Him. We choose how we will show our appreciation in serving the Lord. Oh, we may pray about it to determine if what we want to do is in God’s will. But barring divine intervention it is up to us to work out the details of how we want to serve the Lord. Place your faith in Jesus
Christ for your eternal salvation NOW.
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| Jan 17, 2010 |
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The Conversation
Warning! This blog
contains comedy material that may be harmful to your ego.
Why do you have so many Jesuses in your religion? What do you mean? We only have one Jesus. My understanding is that in every church of your religion there is a little piece of bread that you call, Jesus. Those are not pieces of bread. They ARE Jesus. That sounds like more than one Jesus when you say, “they.” The bible says there is only one Jesus and he is in heaven. Yes, Jesus is in heaven but he comes down from heaven and becomes part of the bread. That still sounds like more than one Jesus to me. You don’t understand. The bread is merely an accident. It really is Jesus. It doesn’t look like an accident to me. It looks like that bread was made on purpose. What? Jesus came down from heaven and accidentally bumped into the bread? Did anyone ever call 911 to get Jesus out of the bread? No, it’s not like that. You’re just making fun. We have a doctrine called transubstantiation, whereby the priest says some holy words and transforms the bread into Jesus. Jesus comes down from heaven and becomes part of the bread. So then, Jesus is lying and deceiving everyone by making people believe he is in heaven when he is really in all those pieces of bread? You don’t understand. Jesus commanded us to eat his flesh. Sounds cannibalistic to me. And it still looks like bread to me. And I’ll bet it tastes like bread also. You know what they say about things looking and quacking like ducks don’t you? How can you eat Jesus if he is in heaven? You’re just making fun of my religion. Well, yes and no. I’m trying to get you to see how silly it is. It’s not silly. Millions of people believe that. That doesn’t make it right. When you were a child you were told by grownups how to act and what to believe. You are the grownup now. Think for yourself. Read the bible. I don’t have to read the bible. The priest reads the bible for me every Sunday. Oh, do you have bible lessons each Sunday? No, he reads certain passages from the Old and New Testaments and then explains it to us. There you go again, taking someone else’s word for what the bible says. How do you know the priest is not twisting things to make it agree with your religion? The priest wouldn’t lie to us. Suppose the priest thinks he is telling the truth. Suppose the priest is just repeating lies he was taught in seminary? How do you know he’s not lying if you don’t read the bible for yourself? You just don’t understand. Oh, I understand better than you think. I used to be part of that religion. It’s like being in a dark forest. You get so used to the dark you hate for anyone to shine light near you. But one day I decided to squinch my eyes and peek at the light. Little by little the light didn’t hurt my eyes and my ego so much. Then one day I was able to open my eyes real wide and follow the light out of the forest. When I stepped out of the forest I heard a clang behind me. I looked back and it was the shackles that had fallen off me. I was free of the shackles of following rules and regulations, never knowing if I would ever go to heaven. In fact, I was sure I was not going to heaven. But when I stepped out of that forest a great relief came over me. I finally knew for sure that I would never be in darkness again, but be in the light of Jesus Christ. Forever. And it was so simple. No rules. No regulations. But freedom. Freedom to place my faith where I wanted to place it, not being forced by deception to place my faith in darkness where others wanted me to place it. Talk about blind faith. That’s what I had before. But now I have faith in the creator of the universe, the one who died for my sins, in my place. No piece of bread has ever created the universe. No piece of bread has ever died for me. But what about your loved ones that have passed on before you? Sorry, but they are not my problem any more. Everyone who dies passes the point of no return. They are out of gas. There is no turning back, no changing of minds. Dying without faith in Jesus means just that; without, outside, away from… forever. Maybe some that read this blog would not take offense, but reconsider their faith with an open mind in their adulthood. Maybe some will see a glint of light and open their eyes and follow the light out of the dark forest. We are all creatures of God, but not everyone is a child of God. Want to become a child of God and be with Jesus forever? There is only one way, the way, His way. Stop trying to earn righteousness with sacrifices and rituals and traditions. Place your faith and trust exclusively in Jesus Christ and nothing else, and you will become a freed child of God forever. Do it NOW.
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| Dec 30, 2009 |
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Houston, We Have a Problem!
Heb 10:26
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins
In context, our text is written to the new Hebrew Christians, who used to be Jews who operated under the Mosaic law, and performed blood sacrifices day in and day out to cover their sins. And having the assurance that their sins were covered from day to day with those sacrifices, sinning was not thought of as anything abhorrent. (I'll just do whatever I want to do and let tomorrow's sacrifice cover me.) Ah, but Houston, we have a problem. We can't just sin any more like we used to and expect to be covered by tomorrow's sacrifice because we have left those dead-works sacrifices behind. We now trust in and believe on Jesus and the one sacrifice (singular) that he made for us to save us from our sins completely, and not merely cover our sins. And our text says, "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" by Jesus. That is, he sacrificed himself one time to pay for all our sins and one time only, never to be repeated. Now that we have been saved, if we sin willfully we cannot expect Jesus to make another sacrifice to cleanse us from that sin because by His one perfect sacrifice all sins have been paid for. And don't expect God to treat this willful sinning lightly. But be prepared for some serious chastisement, for Heb 10:31 tells us, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Rather, let us now obey Heb 6:9 and do things that accompany salvation. Our text above (Heb 10:26) was taken from the epistle to the Hebrews, which stresses that Jesus is better than the angels, better than Moses, and better than any priest and has performed the perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for the sins of the whole world forever. However our text also has application to some of today's self-proclaimed Christians, especially those who have been exposed to the truth of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith. There is a doctrine called replacement theology whereby it is taught that God is finished with the Jews and has transferred his affections to a certain denomination as His chosen people. This denomination believes that it has replaced or superseded Israel as God's chosen people and has assumed the Jewish priesthood, and has even gone one step above the Jewish priesthood by ordaining priests "according to the order of Melchisedec," which the Jews never had. That title was reserved by God strictly for Jesus to indicate that His was a never-ending priesthood which was better than the Jewish priesthood. But there is one strange thing about this replacement priesthood: they perform "bloodless sacrifices," that is, no animal is killed as prescribed by Jewish Law. But Heb 9:22 tells us, "...without shedding of blood there is no remission" of sins. Another strange thing about this priesthood is that each priest claims to be another Christ, which cannot be, for there is only one Christ "by whom also he made the worlds" (Heb 1:2). Has your priest/Christ made any worlds? And, who "[upholds] all things by the word of his power" (Heb 1:3). Can your priest/Christ hold the universe together? And "when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb 1:3). Is your priest/Christ presently sitting at the right hand of God? Heb 11:6 says, "without faith [exclusively in Jesus Christ as your Savior] it is impossible to please [God]." Please reconsider your faith. Your faith must be directed toward the correct person to save you from your sins. It has to be a person who has no sins of his own. Your faith has to be in God Himself. Is your faith in your religion? Or your church? Or your priests? Or your good behavior? Or some combination of things? That faith will never save you, but will deprive you of the joys of everlasting life with Jesus Christ and will surely land you in the Lake of Fire... forever. For John 3:36 tells us, "He that believeth on the Son [exclusively] hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son [exclusively] shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" forever. Please direct your faith exclusively, nothing else added, toward Jesus Christ for your salvation. As Hebrews 3:15 tells us, "Today [that is, right here and now] if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Don't turn away from the truth of the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Don't put it off, for we are not promised tomorrow, but believe and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. |
| Apr 22, 2009 |
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Faith
Heb 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen.
But what is this “substance” spoken of? And whereof is this evidence that is mentioned, and why can’t we see it? And what is meant by “hope”? Again, definition 2 comes close to this concept of faith, but not close enough. Putting the faith, substance, hope and evidence of Heb 11:1 all together can be likened unto a prophecy. When a prophecy is given, it is predicting the outcome of events. It is predicting that things will happen in the future. But can this prediction be relied upon to actually come to pass, which in turn would give credence and credibility to the one doing the prophesying? The Old Testament had a test for this confidence. Let the prophet first predict something that would happen in the near future, and if that prophecy came true then he could be depended upon to predict things reliably in the distant future. Comparing faith to prophecy then, the substance of our faith can be thought of as the fulfillment of the prophecy or promise itself, that is, the thing that is expected to come to pass. Just as the evidence of a prophecy is the actual coming to pass of the prophecy itself, the substance of our faith will have been proven to be the evidence of the future fulfillment of the promise that was hoped for with absolute confidence. Our faith in our Savior coming to rescue us from our sins and this world of sin is the substance that will be manifested as hoped for evidence when He actually returns. Our Lord Jesus Christ predicted that He would be put to death on the cross, would stay in the grave for three days and three nights, and then rise again on the third day. This short time prophecy came to pass exactly as He said it would. That is, we can see the evidence of that prophecy in the empty tomb. Therefore this gives credence, credibility and confidence to our hope in His long time promise of unseen everlasting life if we would simply believe on Him as our Hope and our Salvation. |
| Apr 11, 2009 |
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Praise and Worship...
or Entertainment? Many church services feature musical talents such as a solo singer, or a group of singers, with or without musical instruments. Some of these musical talents are permanent fixtures of the service, some are featured guest appearances. This is usually called the praise and worship service. However some may call it entertainment. Some enjoy it, some do not but suffer it, that is to say, suffer through it. First Corinthians chapter 8 discusses the practice of offering things to idols. Paul stresses the fact that although meat offered to idols means nothing to a mature believer, it may offend or hinder the faith of an immature believer. For the sake of the immature believer, he says, try not to eat meat offered to idols when fellowshiping with immature believers. Don't put a stumbling block in front of them that are weak, Paul says. By extension, this practice of putting stumbling blocks in front of the weak might also be applied to other things. Say, for example, "praise and worship," so called. To the mature believers, suffering through a recital (which is really what it is when one person sings to the congregation), may be nothing. They may even enjoy it. But to the weak in faith, it may be an aggrivation, which is no attitude to have in a church service. The weak in faith may actually go to church to be edified by the pastor, not aggrivated by a recital. To paraphrase Paul in 1Cor 11:22 concerning abusing the Lord's supper, it were better for the entertainers to "praise and worship" in their homes than cause a weak believer to regret coming to the service. |
| Mar 15, 2009 |
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Many Called, Few Chosen
Many would say that God gave us free wills. Free even to accept or reject the only salvation afforded us through faith in Jesus Christ. But then there are some who say that our free wills are not free enough to accept or reject Jesus Christ. A will that free would oppose God's will, and they'll have no part of that. However, that is God’s will also. It's not too hard to see how that reasoning comes about. Take for example, Matthew 22:14, "For many are called, but few are chosen." By stretching things somewhat, this little verse can be taken to mean that God only chooses those whom He calls, rather than God calling the whole world but only choosing those that respond to his call. That is, respond by freely and willingly placing faith in Jesus Christ exclusively for salvation. Of course, the context further has God calling all believers to service but rewarding only those who comply, while unfruitful believers are cast into the outer darkness of disfavor. How about you? Do you have a free will? Or is your will subject to the rules and regulations of your chosen religion. Must one go to certain seminaries to get a proper understanding of the bible? Are our brains so inferior to those in high religious places that we have to let them tell us what the bible says? Let us not fall into the trap (literally) of being led by those who bend the bible into such a twisted mess that even they don't realize that some of their own rules and decrees condemn Jesus to hell! Let us read the bible for ourselves to see what the words actually say, rather than what some would want us to believe what they mean. The bible contains truths that will set anyone free. |
| Mar 11, 2009 |
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Let's Kill Him Again!
There are many, even millions, that will not let Jesus stay resurrected. They insist on killing him every Sunday. They even do it daily. But they don't call it a killing; they call it a sacrifice. The bible tell us that Jesus offered himself once for the sins of the world, as was prophesied in the scriptures, was buried and rose again from the dead, according to the scriptures, and is now seated at the right hand of God, alive and well. No one took the life of Jesus against his will. He offered himself willingly; once. Indeed, that was the purpose of his incarnation. No, Jesus did not go up to the Sanhedrin and say, "Here I am, kill me." But he was determined to die on the cross. Jesus offered himself up to the Jews by "pulling their strings," so to speak. The Jews had perverted the law of the Sabath so badly that sneezing might have been considered work. Jesus used this perversion by doing healings on Sabath days to infuriate the Jews into bringing him to trial, and eventually death for blasphemy against God. However, he rose again from the dead after being in the grave three days and three nights. But now we have a cult that claims to turn a piece of bread into Jesus so they can "offer Him up again" for our sins. The poor piece of bread doesn't have a chance. It is not even given an illegal trial. Nor is it buried for three days. It is simply held up for everyone to observe, offered up and then passed around to be eaten. An exhaustive search of the gospels will not show anyone who took Jesus off the cross and started eating him. Please let the bible be our guide in this most important matter. Let us not be deceived and have our minds corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ, the real Christ. That simplicity is this: that sacrifices and works cannot earn righteousness for anyone. Righteousness only comes by faith in Jesus Christ; plus nothing else. |
| Mar 8, 2009 |
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From Prototype to Perfection
We do it all the time. We build a prototype of something, then we tweak it here, change something there, refine some other thing until we get it just right. Now it’s perfect. Well, guess what? There is nothing new under the son because God has already done it. Adam was the first prototype. Oh, he was very good in God’s eye (Gen 1:31). But he did have one flaw: his free will got in the way and clouded his faith. When God promised Adam that he would die the day he disobeyed Him, Adam’s free will obscured his faith in God’s word. Jesus, the second Adam, the perfected prototype, if you please, did have a perfect faith that did not obstruct His perfect free will. Jesus could control His will to make it conform to His Father’s will. He always said what His Father wanted him to say, always did what His Father wanted him to do, even to offer himself on the cross for the sins of the whole world (1Jn 2:2). There are other examples. Abraham had two sons. The first born, Ishmael can be considered the prototype, for he was not the child of promise but the child of self-works. But Isaac was the perfected child of promise. Isaac had two sons also. Esau, the first born of the twins was the prototype in that he cared not for spiritual inheritance, but for the immediate physical. Jacob, on the other hand, was rough around the edges at first but later had the perfected faith of his fathers Abraham and Isaac. The church can be considered the perfected form of prototype Israel. Whereas the nation of Israel was wrapped up in her repetitious ritual works, the church is free to forgo works of righteousness by having faith in her Savior Jesus Christ. Our new incorruptible bodies will be perfected when the Lord Jesus calls us, compared to the corrupt prototype bodies we have now. This present world will be perfected when the Lord Jesus Christ renovates this prototype evil world. Yes, God knows a thing or two about perfecting prototypes. |
| Mar 1, 2009 |
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Upon This Rock (Matt 16:18)
Christ has just asked his deciples what were people saying about him. After telling Jesus that some thought he was John the Baptist or one of the prophets, Jesus asked the diciples what they thought of him. Peter then correctly states that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus then answers and says that upon this rock he would build his church. Of course, this is where the contreversy starts. What rock is Jesus talking about? Rome maintains that the rock is Peter so they can have their Apostolic succession. Others say that the rock is the confession of what Peter has just revealed, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah the Jews had been waiting for. But can Jesus be speaking of something else, something a little more "graceful" (by grace are ye saved)? Adam condemned all of us to a Christless eternity by not beleving what God promised him about being disobedient to His command -- for doubting God and not having faith in His word. God ejected Adam from the Garden and eventually raised a nation and taught them to do rituals. They did rituals and rituals ad infinitum. There was no end to the rituals. There was never enough of them. God was teaching Israel not only obedience, but also the futility of human works. Does this remind us of rituals that some religions perform over and over that never satisfy? Jesus now comes on the scene and teaches us to lay our burdens on Him. John and Paul also come on the scene and teach us to repent from trusting in our works for salvation (useless, for we can never do enough of them), but to trust in the One who gave His life for our sins and salvation. So, to get back to "upon this rock," the rock has to be the rock of faith. Peter beleived, had faith, that Jesus was the Christ, his Savior. Jesus is building his church on our faith in Him, not Our Works. We are not to place our faith in any ritual, alms, prayers, or other good works or person or organization, for "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we MUST be saved." |
| Feb 17, 2009 |
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Eternal Separation
We are such physicsl beings. Those of us who are born again speak nonchalantly of how Christ died for our sins, how He died in our place, how He died for us so we wouldn't have to, and fully believe it. But we usually think of His physical death. Many speak of Jesus shedding His (physical) blood for us. But when Christ cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," Jesus was not speaking of a physical forsakedness, but spiritual. When we say that Christ died in our place, what really took place on the cross was that Christ tasted the eternal spiritual separation from God that we would have endured had we not been born again in our faith in what He did for us. Of course we would have had to endure eternal physical separation also, but the spiritual separation would be the more painful. If it was so painful for Christ to be separated from God for just three hours, imagine the pain of being separated forever and forever. And that's not even counting God's eternal wrath mentioned in Jn 3:36. Are you "born again?" If not, you'd better hop to it. But don't try to do it yourself -- you and a thousand others helping just can't do it. Nor should you count on prayers or sacrifices or rituals. They are are all physical works that represent our physical beings but don't count for anything spiritual. And our dead spirit can't do anything to help either because it is, well, dead. Someone Spiritual has to do it, for it is a spiritual rebirth. The Holy Spirit will give you a new spiritual life, will spiritually rebirth you, through your faith in Jesus Christ. He will give life to your dead spirit, a spirit that is already separated from God even though you are living physically. Unless you are born again of the Holy Spirit, even though you are physically alive, your spirit is already dead, and will remain so forever. Therefore it is imperative that you place your complete faith and trust in Christ and what He has done for you. By doing so, the Holy Spirit will restore life to your dead spirit and you will be adopted into the family of God and become His child and forever be with the Lord Jesus Christ. |