Trust

For some time since my salvation I have been presented with a variety of ideas as to just what a Christian is and it has become very popular to lower the standard to allow greater numbers to come into the fold and to disregard what the Bible, the revelation of God and f His will for His people. Before I became a follower of my LORD, Jesus, the Christ, I thought the idea of any of the scripture being the truth. Since my conversion in 1990 my entire out look and my complete life has been regenerated and it is my firm position that every word of the scriptures, contained in the Christian Bible, is the God inspired truth.

Now you have my statement of faith and we'll move on to the subject matter. The variety of beliefs today that attempt to be labeled 'Christian' run a very wide range from my position to 'the Bible is not the Word of God but the Word of God can be found there.' After the past 21 years of study, the one thing that I know for certain is that a saved man, woman or child are indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God! Now, on that basis and God's knowledge of what each of His Children needs I understand that the applied meaning of any scripture or group of scriptures will vary from Child of God to Child of God.

As I have studied and as I have matured in my faith over the past two decades I have read and reread the scriptures. On each reading God has revealed new truths and all of them from the same scriptures. Not one lesson learned disagrees with any other lesson from a certain point in scripture but rather each lesson clarifies and magnifies the other. As the years have passed I have learned some great points I had not discovered yet and at the same time I have been used of God to teach some points others had missed until God revealed them through me.

From all of this we have, what I am instructed to understand as twelve points of Christianity. I submit to you;

Twelve Points That Show Christianity is True
Truth about reality is knowable.
The opposite of true is false.
It is true that the theistic God exists.
If God exists, then miracles are possible.
Miracles can be used to confirm a message from God
(i.e., as an act of God to confirm a word from God).
The New Testament is historically reliable.
The New Testament says Jesus claimed to be God.
Jesus' claim to be God was miraculously confirmed by:
a. His fulfillment of many prophecies about Himself;
b. His sinless and miraculous life;
c. His prediction and accomplishment of His resurrection.
Therefore, Jesus is God.
Whatever Jesus (who is God) teaches is true.
Jesus taught that the Bible is the Word of God.
Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God
(and anything opposed to it is false)
Copied from theologyweb.com
Now we are at my point concerning the Rapture! The term rapture is not found in the English translations I have read, rather the term is used to codify the teaching of Paul in 1Thes. 4;13-18. In a recent post, in response to one of mine a slippery accusation was leveled at me that fell just short of accusing the person of not being saved. While in my post I had not even alluded to such I am guilty of believing every word of the scriptures and I have serious doubt of anyone that does not hold that position.

So we have arrived at the point where I usually recommend self examination because I am not God and I can condemn no one, that is God's providence. As per Matt. 7, all of it, it is my place to judge/discern the truth and the criteria I am to use is to inspect their fruit. If a person tells me they do not believe anything the Bible teaches, their fruit is suspect! It all comes down to one point, if the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, teach it we must believe it by faith or we need to nourish our faith a bit more, one or the other.
Romans1:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Considering that the subject of trust is on my mind this evening this might seem a strange verse to kick it off with but in my, perhaps, twisted mind, it isn't. And then this has become my life verse at this point in my life and without trust in the Word of, the person of and the Holy Spirit of God, it is impossible to surrender your life to the service of the LORD in a sacrificial manor.

Recently the hot button topic on several forums I frequent has been men's ideas of just what Hell really is. I have even used a recent article of mine, “No Literal Hell?” to stir up one of these hot discussions. On the five forums I have had posts that were reassuring that some still believe the Word of God over men's ideas but to the other end of the spectrum I have also been called totally unreasonable, in different words, for believing that a Loving God could even do such a thing. Along with the article, where able to, I posted a Poll Question to those that would answer, “Is the Bible the Word of God and for that reason is the Catching Away, a.k.a. the Rapture, a fact?” Because I was careful to frame the question and to only allow a yes or a no answer many refused to answer. Of those that have to this point there is a 10 to none average that believe. The others want to separate the issues so they can vote no on the Rapture. But to do that is to lie when one says the Bible is the Word of God if he/she does not believe the passages foretelling the Rapture, then all of the Bible is not the Word of God in their mind, no matter what they say.

And thus I have arrived at this article. In 2Tim. 3:16, I learned that all and yes, that really does mean all scripture is God breathed and worthy for teaching. Now, I have been called a fool more than once or standing, flat-footed, on the scriptures but I have remembered Rom. 12:1 and have trusted my God to lead me into Salvation and because He has, He also filled me with the Holy Spirit and from the Spirit of God I have 'trust.' I would that all grew to maturity in their faith but God is not a Cosmic Bully and He has required a few things from each of us. Why don you try Him? He is faithful, I promise!

The Rapture

For some time since my salvation I have been presented with a variety of ideas as to just what a Christian is and it has become very popular to lower the standard to allow greater numbers to come into the fold and to disregard what the Bible, the revelation of God and f His will for His people. Before I became a follower of my LORD, Jesus, the Christ, I thought the idea of any of the scripture being the truth. Since my conversion in 1990 my entire out look and my complete life has been regenerated and it is my firm position that every word of the scriptures, contained in the Christian Bible, is the God inspired truth.

Now you have my statement of faith and we'll move on to the subject matter. The variety of beliefs today that attempt to be labeled 'Christian' run a very wide range from my position to 'the Bible is not the Word of God but the Word of God can be found there.' After the past 21 years of study, the one thing that I know for certain is that a saved man, woman or child are indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God! Now, on that basis and God's knowledge of what each of His Children needs I understand that the applied meaning of any scripture or group of scriptures will vary from Child of God to Child of God.

As I have studied and as I have matured in my faith over the past two decades I have read and reread the scriptures. On each reading God has revealed new truths and all of them from the same scriptures. Not one lesson learned disagrees with any other lesson from a certain point in scripture but rather each lesson clarifies and magnifies the other. As the years have passed I have learned some great points I had not discovered yet and at the same time I have been used of God to teach some points others had missed until God revealed them through me.

From all of this we have, what I am instructed to understand as twelve points of Christianity. I submit to you;

Twelve Points That Show Christianity is True
Truth about reality is knowable.
The opposite of true is false.
It is true that the theistic God exists.
If God exists, then miracles are possible.
Miracles can be used to confirm a message from God
(i.e., as an act of God to confirm a word from God).
The New Testament is historically reliable.
The New Testament says Jesus claimed to be God.
Jesus' claim to be God was miraculously confirmed by:
a. His fulfillment of many prophecies about Himself;
b. His sinless and miraculous life;
c. His prediction and accomplishment of His resurrection.
Therefore, Jesus is God.
Whatever Jesus (who is God) teaches is true.
Jesus taught that the Bible is the Word of God.
Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God
(and anything opposed to it is false)
Copied from theologyweb.com
Now we are at my point concerning the Rapture! The term rapture is not found in the English translations I have read, rather the term is used to codify the teaching of Paul in 1Thes. 4;13-18. In a recent post, in response to one of mine a slippery accusation was leveled at me that fell just short of accusing the person of not being saved. While in my post I had not even alluded to such I am guilty of believing every word of the scriptures and I have serious doubt of anyone that does not hold that position.

So we have arrived at the point where I usually recommend self examination because I am not God and I can condemn no one, that is God's providence. As per Matt. 7, all of it, it is my place to judge/discern the truth and the criteria I am to use is to inspect their fruit. If a person tells me they do not believe anything the Bible teaches, their fruit is suspect! It all comes down to one point, if the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, teach it we must believe it by faith or we need to nourish our faith a bit more, one or the other.

No Literal Hell?

I have just been surfing a few Christian Forum sites and the things promoted by people naming the name of Christ amazes me. Over the years I have heard the name Rob Bell more than once and in seeking the wisdom of other Basics Grounded Teachers have avoided wasting my funds on the books he pushes as Christian. There is a post on one forum this morning that seeks? to equip other members of this particular forum for the upcoming debate that is, apparently, sure to come. I'm going to attempt to be kind here but the truth is that in his link I did not find the scriptures.By the scriptures, of course, I mean the Bible, the Word of God's personal revelation of Himself.

The book, it is reported by the poster, is concerning the lack of any real Hell. In all the copies of the Bible that I own Genesis 1:1 points out that it is Almighty God that created the Universe and all that it contains. And when we go to John 1:1-3 we learn that the Son of God, popularly known as God in the flesh and Jesus, is the Creator of all of this. As it is very popular to ignore the Bible and to read the Commentary instead, I'll limit this post, from here forward to that Commentary, the New Testament. In the Four Gospels, Jesus/God taught more on the turth and fact of Hell than He did on Heaven. If any of us then puts it forward that there is no such place as a literal Hell... we are guilty of calling God a liar!


I know that I will stand, what is popularly known as, the Bema Seat Judgment but I certainly never wish to even be near the Great White Throne Judgment and calling God a liar, directly or by inference, is one sure fire way to get there and to, experientially, find out that Hell is real and that it is never ending. Throughout the scriptures we find that God cannot tolerate sin in His presence and Jesus stated that he was 'the' way, 'the' way and 'the' life. (John 14:6) Not even that He was or might be one of the ways, He is The Way.(Emphasis mine.)



So my question is this, “Why do we believe that a Finite Man, created by God knows more that the Infinite Creator that has forever been?

Faith!

ASV: Hebrews 11:6. And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him ; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.

As I go to and I teach or attend classes at Church today I am deeply sorrowed and disappointed. In the Church Family it is estimated, by the optimistic, that ten to fifteen percent of the Church is saved and that the rest are there for their own agendas. If we look at past surveys that have been taken by independent but Christian Organizations the truth is much more glaring! The Barna Group is reported to have done a survey in the mid-eighties and before I was a Christian that put the number of saved at somewhere between one and two percent of the Church Family.

I was taught that the conditions for taking the Double Blind Survey was that the participants must be among the Faithful and that was defined as attending Church no less than three services each week. The questions concerned and were centered on the Basic Tenants of the Christian's relationship with their Savior. I do not recall all of them, nor do I any longer remember the exact percentages but they were at the very least, depressing! The questions I do recall were, 'Do you believe in the Virgin Birth? Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins? And, Do you believe Jesus is returning to Rapture you?'

The groups in the different churches ranged from fifteen to twenty per-cent of each churches membership and the average range of people that answered yes to all of the basic tenants was less than ten per-cent. Ten per-cent of that group would translate into one and a half to two per-cent of the Church Family and I just must ask myself, “Why do they even bother to attend?” In my case I do not believe that Jesus will rapture me, I know it to be a fact! I also know all the rest to be true because it is recorded in my personal copies of the scriptures the Almighty God had recorded and preserved for me to read!

It is my prayer the you, the folks that read my ramblings on these forums and in my email list and on my blog are praying for God to increase your faith to the point that He has mine. So, aside from prayer, how did I get to this point? For the past twenty-one years I have made it a point to learn as much as God has shown me by reading through the Word of God in several translations. With prayer I have made myself and all that God has permitted me to hold, available for His Service and use. Because of my willingness God has grown my faith ad God walks and talks and uses me in His service and it has, in spite of my early years, been a wonderful life in His service.

Every man woman and child can have the same relationship! It begins with making yourself available to God and prayer for those you love and your neighbors. May God bless.

Fear?

John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. (ASV)

We, Christians, have just celebrated the resurrection of our LORD and it is my prayer that we would learn a few of the many lessons that are there to be taught in His resurrection. One of the most commonly needed and avoided is on fear. Before Jesus departed and before He was cruelly ailed to the cross, Jesus, who is God in the flesh of a man, gave a command to His followers:
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. (ASV)

And yet, in spite of this I see fear manifested in the Brethren all the time. Folks, inside the Church Family speak constantly on matters such as where will I ever get enough money to take care of my wife and my children, what with the cost of gas and it causing everything to cost more but we aren't getting any raises in our pay?

And honestly, this is just the sort of thing our LORD was talking about. So, do we have the faith of Mary or of Paul and John? These men and women ha held tightly to the belief that Jesus was Who He said He was, they believed He was God. They also knew from attending services that God was eternal and yet Mary, Peter and John went to the tomb to begin attending, properly, to the dead body of God.

When Mary found the tomb empty, she went immediately to the men to tell them what she had seen and what she had concluded. When John out-ran Peter he was not sure of what to do next and Peter, old foot in the mouth Peter ran right past John to begin processing what he had been taught by Jesus in the light of the circumstances. But then it appears that te men left Mary and maybe the other women there alone as it seems to me that they walked back to their house, discussing what had happened and how it fit with what Jesus had taught them.

But then Mary, bless her sweet ad loving heart stood there weeping until Jesus spoke to her. As soon as Jesus dismissed her, she went, as fast as she could run to inform the e of what had happened and that she had spoken to and had touched Jesus! Mary knew that Jesus had been murdered on the cross and that the same fate was probably her destiny, after all the Disciples were huddled in the upper room with the doors and windows bared trying to figure what they should do when they would hear those Roman boots stomping out the cadence as they would come to arrest, force them into a trial ad then execute them, just as they had done to the LORD!

So I ask you, and I do not need the answer... you do, who have you told today? And. If you, truly, believe, why are you living with fear? And finally... who besides Satan is your fearful silence pleasing?

Christians?

Heb 11:1 Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.

Heb 11:2 For therein the elders had witness borne to them.

Heb 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.

There are many kinds and types of Christians today but there is only one that will enter into the Kingdom of God. Abraham followed God, by faith, into a land he had never seen that he and Sarah could become the parents of a great nation. Abraham believed God in spite of the truth of their inability to produce a single offspring before they were about fifty years past the age of birthing a child.

When we study the entire Bible and discard the Oxymoron Ideology of a New Testament Christian, we are taught from the beginning to the end of scripture that we are to have the same “small child-like” faith in God, the Father that we had in our dads when we were 2 to 8 or better years old. Do you remember when your dad knew everything there was to know in the world and he could beat the socks off of Super-man, Bat-man and all the Super Heroes of the Justice League at the same time?

I do! And it is that complete and unreserved faith of a small child that we are to place in God! The doctors tell me that I'm in the final stage of MS and have removed me from the terrible meds they use to fight the disease and I'm happy as a lark... I'm going home! I was saved a little over twenty-one years ago and I have been home-sick ever since. Unlike Paul and John, I have not been to Heaven, neither in spirit nor in body and yet My heart aches to be there! Now, the doctors are foolish for believing they could keep me alive and for believing that they can know when I will die. (Read the book of Job.) God, my Adopted Father, has known that from before the Earth was created but there is no man that knows such things!

And, finally, on this matter of defining a Christian. This is a very dangerous area to walk into in the culture of today, a man can have his fellowship removed at the drop of a hat in this area... requiring both self examination and the examining of one's friends! I am familiar with these reactions, having been kicked out of one church and being banned from a few web sites that have moved over to a “liberal” view of the scriptures. The ?pastor? that booted my family, I should mention, has had his license removed and can no longer preach in a Missionary Baptist Church, even though I did no more than to pray for God's love and leading for the Church Family there. The web sites? I'll not mention them either because there can be no profit for me in Heaven for such and they are prayed for to become aware of the truth of God and to cease leading the Lost into a false sense of security.

So, how do we know a Christian from a pretender? Remember the World's favorite scripture? If you live your life for Christ, you have had Matthew 7:1 used to quiet and to shut your mouth. The truth of the matter is exactly the opposite of the misuse of that single verse ripped out of context, we are to judge by the same standards we wish to be judged by. Couple this with Philippians 2 telling us to work out (to practice) our salvation in our daily lives and it is clearly seen that a Christian, a follower of the Christ, lives as much like Jesus as he or she can and is daily getting closer to perfect.

Stand?

2Ki 9:21 And Joram said, Make ready. And they made ready his chariot. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.

2Ki 9:22 And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?

2Ki 9:23 And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah.

2Ki 9:24 And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and smote Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.

2Ki 9:25 Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, Jehovah laid this burden upon him:

It is not popular today but as Christians we are called to stake out a position and to stand fast. If we are to rely upon Christ for our salvation we must, with sincere heart call Him in prayer and know, not think, we must know that He is faithful to answer. Now, we have squared away our eternal destiny but it is not a time to relax, there is a great deal to be dealt with. As the LORD did with Jehu, when we will listen to Him, He will give us direction and purpose to be passionate about.

It is very common today to hear, “Don't give me that Holy Spirit junk,” or much worse from both the man outside the church as well as from the long term member. In the recent past I have received that reply from even a pastor and from a pastor/prof. in recent months. But the fact is that the moment a man, woman or a child is saved they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. (1Cor. 6:19) I will, certainly, never tell you that we cannot disobey for why else would we find the caution not to do so? (1Thes. 5:19) God has never been a bully although some read the Jewish Bible, our Old Testament and illustrating their lack of study, try to label Him that and much worse.\

On a personal level I have been saved now for about 21 years and the very first thing I reached for was a personal knowledge of my Savior and that has involved a better than 21 year reading and rereading of the Bible as well as uncounted Topical Studies. I have had false accusations thrown at me that range from I'm a lying heretic to I'm an over-studied Bible scholar. None in that entire range are correct, I'm a man with a GED that has fallen in love with my God and I am doing my best to consume the scriptures!

Just as God wanted Jehu to clean, certain bad elements out of Israel/Judah so has my LORD given me a loving concern for the lost man and the best way to help the lost is to know the scriptures with a degree of intimacy. I came to know my wife by spending time with her, the same is true of the scriptures! My stepfather was a warrior and one great lesson he taught me is that a man will die for what he loves. I would die defending my wife and I have done my very best, on a daily basis to die to myself, that I might live for God. But, in the end, it comes down to one thing, you must decide, where will you stand?