Home » Uncategorized (Page 14)
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Repentance: What it is: Bible Study 5B in “How Do I Receive the Gospel?”
with others. Some have also said that they have used these in their family devotions. Please watch the embedded video below or watch the video
on YouTube, and please feel free to share your comments here and there
and to “like” the video if you believe it is valuable.
The Easiest People In the World To Fool
The Bible doesn’t make a point blank statement to describe the people easiest in the world to fool — “they are. . . .” You can cull this information from a cumulative view of all of scripture though. On top of that, it has been my observation.
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
COVID-19 and Churches Subject to the Higher Powers of Romans 13
Government response to COVID-19 challenged Christian thinking on Romans 13 and other like New Testament passages. In other terms, it sharpened ecclesiology. One might call it a test or trial that aided sanctification. In the middle of this test, growth occurs. A church might look and act differently in a matter of months and say something it never said before that seems to contradict former statements and stated doctrines or practices. It might sound like it is contradicting itself. Everyone and every church needs the opportunity to change. That’s even a reason why the Jezebel of Revelation 2:20 was given space to repent, including by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Repentance: What it is Not: Bible Study 5A, “How Do I Receive the Gospel?”
Sustainability
Through all my thirty-three years of living in California, I often heard the word “sustainability.” It means “to exist constantly.” Only God has existed constantly (Psalm 90:2). God alone sustains the whole universe, all matter and space, and then the earth. Speaking of Jesus, John writes (John 1:3):
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power.
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
To put all these scriptural quotes together, everything was made by the Lord Jesus, He upholds all of them by the word of His power, they were created by Him and for Him, and by Him all things consist.
Man does not sustain Himself. He does not have the power even to sustain his own body or even further basic singular functions within the body, let alone his body. He doesn’t sustain his circulatory system or nervous system. Scientists themselves know that atoms that make up man’s body are held together by, to them, some mysterious strong nuclear force.
Science right now even shows that there are hundreds of aspects of our lives in the physical world that have nothing to do with us. We have no control over them related to sustainability. We know from scripture and from general revelation in creation that God is responsible for this, what Thomas Jefferson called the laws of nature and nature’s God.
Is The Orthodox Church a False Church Within the True Church?
In the mid 1960s, Walter Martin became the first “Bible Answer Man,” exposing cults and false religions from all over the world. In 1989, when Martin died, Hank Hanegraff became the new “Bible Answer Man,” sort of like the line of the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride. Someone else can become “The Bible Answer Man.” It’s passed down. You might not in fact be “The Bible Answer Man.” It’s just a title. You’re actually Joe Slobotnick from Walla Walla, otherwise known as The Bible Answer Man.
We believe a man to be not simply justified through faith alone, but through faith which works through love, that is to say, through faith and works.
Even within the professing church, any deviation from the true gospel of grace is a damning lie to be cursed. We understand why the world rejects this. It is, however, a very sad day when people inside the church, even the evangelical church, begin to reject this. . . . . There are about 300 million people worldwide who are in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The sister church in the West is the Roman Catholic Church that has the exact same doctrine, and there are 1.3 billion people in the Roman Catholic Church worldwide. So 1.6 billion people call themselves Christians and believe in a salvation that is a combination of grace and works. That is false Christianity within true Christianity. That is false Christianity teaching a false gospel. It is not to be joined, it is to be cursed. And as I have said, getting the gospel right is the most important reality in the world, because the true gospel is the only way of salvation. We’re not surprised that the true gospel is under assault. We’re not even surprised that it’s under assault inside the church.
The church by definition is an assembly. That is the literal meaning of the Greek word for “church”—ekklesia—the assembly of the called-out ones. A non-assembling assembly is a contradiction in terms.
What Does God Want From Me? God’s Law, His Perfect Standard: Bible Study 3
Studies #1 and #2 are often viewed as interesting and informative by the lost. Study #3 is where things start to hit home and “get personal,” as it were. The Bible study defines sin, goes through the Ten Commandments and other commands God has given men, explains the sin nature and the imputation of Adam’s sin, explains what God promises for perfect obedience–the kind only Christ has ever rendered–and any disobedience–the state into which all the rest of mankind falls–and then explains why the attempts people make to get out of the threatenings of God’s law fail. The study is designed to be used by the Holy Spirit to produce conviction of sin in the unconverted, and prepare them to hear the glorious gospel, the saving work of the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ–in study #4.
Is Kneeling at the Flag and During the National Anthem Disrespectful to the Flag?
What’s the point of kneeling at the flag and during the national anthem if it isn’t disrespect? Of course it is disrespect. The people doing it say that they are misunderstood. A lot is written about this, so it’s not hard to hear the point of kneeling.
The kneelers are protesting systemic police brutality against black people in the United States. The flag represents the United States. At a time to show respect, they choose to show disrespect to make a point.
Many, who don’t kneel, but support the kneeling, agree. Probably not intended as a point of irony, Angels manager Joe Maddon, speaking of one of his players who kneeled, said, “I’m very proud that he stood up for his beliefs. It’s not easy to do that. A young man like that.” As an aside, I would content it’s getting a lot easier to kneel. In general, the media, the Democrat party, and the woke crowd all support it and even worse. What belief was he “standing,” albeit kneeling, for? Standing when the flag passes is respect. Kneeling is disrespect. People stand for the national anthem out of respect. Someone kneels out of disrespect. Kneelers want to disrespect the flag to make a point.
I could kneel because of abortion. Someone could kneel because of useless wars. Someone else could kneel because of the women’s vote. A woman might keep kneeling until there is a woman president. Are police being brutal? Not as a whole, not enough to disrespect the flag over. It’s also a strange way to protest police brutality. Everyone is already against police brutality. Police are against it. Why disrespect the flag over it?
Gabe Kapler, manager of the A’s, became the first manager or head coach to kneel during the anthem. I’m guessing he checked with management before he did it to be sure he wouldn’t be fired, or he just already knew in Oakland, that would be a net gain for him.
Respect for the flag has associated itself with respect for the military. Why? Is this just something arbitrary? No, there are red stripes on the flag that talk about people dying. Those are almost exclusively military and even police officers. People have died, shed their blood, so that others could live with freedom, including black people. I’m guessing that Kaplan felt a bit awkward after all these years of standing, suddenly kneeling, and thinking about the privileges he has had in living in this country.
In general, I have associated patriotism with standing for the flag, putting my hand over my heart, taking my hat off, looking stedfastly at the flag, and then singing with the national anthem. I think of the veterans who have died. Sometimes my eyes water.
I would agree that the more kneeling there is, the less respect there will be for the flag and for the country. The country itself won’t be worth it anymore to its citizens, not worth fighting for, not worth bleeding for or dying for. The more the kneelers kneel, the less respect I feel for a country that rewards and praises kneelers. It’s working that way with me. I’m looking around for a country I respect more than the United States. I’ll keep living here, but maybe I’ll get to the point where I would rank some other country ahead of the United States for different reasons than a Hollywood actor or actress who threatens to leave everytime a Republican wins the presidency.
There is a threat to a country when its people don’t respect it anymore. It won’t be as good or nice a place as it once was to live. As well, children won’t grow up with the concept of respect. Their idea of something good is showing disrespect. That is a growing sentiment, it seems, young people who won’t show respect anymore except for themselves. They don’t respect their parents or almost anything or anyone but themselves.
If a person knows what it means to disrespect, then it means that he knows what it means to respect. Young people for instance know when they are being disrespected. They are masters at that. It’s a reason why they want boundaries set up against interaction with those who don’t respect most of how they act.
The overall concept of respect is being lost in the country, which starts with God. People don’t respect God. They love themselves. They even think people should love each other. They don’t care about God though, and that’s obvious. Anything bigger than themselves, they don’t tend to respect. When respect for God is lost, then it won’t take long that almost nothing or no one is respectable any more.
Another Quixotic Whiff for Mark Ward on the Bible and Its Preservation
With full disclaimer, from my childhood I recall Gilligan and the fearless crew on the uncharted desert isle. Mr. Howell, the Professor, and Skipper are dressed as women in an attempt to fool some visiting natives looking for a “white goddess” to throw into their volcano. Not expecting any of those three to pull it off, the Skipper orders first mate, Gilligan, to “dress up like a girl.” The words since stuck in my brain Gilligan repeated again and again, “You can’t make me! You can’t make me! You can’t make me!” Everyone knows how that ended.
I will not and cannot discuss textual criticism with my brothers and sisters in Christ who insist on the exclusive use of the King James Version. I will discuss only vernacular translation.
Beyond the theological incompatibilities already discussed, the evolutionary model simply contravenes the clear and straightforward meaning of a number of other biblical passages that emphasize God’s direct and immediate role in creation as well as truth-affirmations about the context, timing, and goal of creation.
Beyond the theological incompatibilities already discussed, the modern textual criticism model simply contravenes the clear and straightforward meaning of a number of other biblical passages that emphasize God’s direct and immediate role in preservation as well as truth-affirmations about the context, timing, and goal of the preservation of scripture.
[I]t is undisputed that from the 16th to the 18th century orthodoxy’s doctrine of verbal inspiration assumed this Textus Receptus. It was the only Greek text they knew, and they regarded it as the ‘original text.’
We can appreciate better the struggle for freedom from the dominance of the Textus Receptus when we remember that in this period it was regarded even to the last detail the inspired and infallible word of God himself.
[T]he Textus Receptus remained the basic text and its authority was regarded as canonical. . . . Every theologian of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (and not just the exegetical scholars) worked from an edition of the Greek text of the New Testament which was regarded as the “revealed text.” This idea of verbal inspiration (i. e., of the literal and inerrant inspiration of the text) which the orthodoxy of both Protestant traditions maintained so vigorously, was applied to the Textus Receptus.
[W]e have the Copies in both languages [Hebrew and Greek], which Copies vary not from Primitive writings in any matter which may stumble any. This concernes onely the learned, and they know that by consent of all parties, the most learned on all sides among Christians do shake hands in this, that God by his providence hath preserved them uncorrupt. . . . As God committed the Hebrew text of the Old Testament to the Jewes, and did and doth move their hearts to keep it untainted to this day: So I dare lay it on the same God, that he in his providence is so with the Church of the Gentiles, that they have and do preserve the Greek Text uncorrupt, and clear: As for some scrapes by Transcribers, that comes to no more, than to censure a book to be corrupt, because of some scrapes in the printing, and ‘tis certain, that what mistake is in one print, is corrected in another.
Watch this and others like it. This is a real apologist in a biblical sense.
Who is God? Bible study #2
Following Bible study #1 on the character of Scripture as inspired and preserved, Bible study #2, on the most important Being, covers the nature of God, discussing His incommunicable attributes such as omnipotence, self-existence, His character as a Spirit, and so on, as well as communicable attributes such as justice, love, holiness, etc. The meaning of the names Jehovah, Eloheim, and Adonai is explained, and God’s Triune character set forth.
Recent Comments