Death is the enemy of creation. It has no regard for the beauty or the goodness of life. Death sweeps through the gardens of life, destroying the lilies and the roses, the weeds and thistles. Flowers hide their beauty beneath green leaves, blushing unseen. But the sting of death, caring nothing for their beauty and fragrance, withers them instantly with…
(John 3:15-16; Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). All judgment for our personal sin was poured out upon Christ and judged (John 5:27). At the First Advent (Christ coming as a man, as Messiah), Christ was judged for our sin, at the Second Advent (Second Coming) Christ is Judge! Everyone who has rejected the Cross of Christ at…
We were created whole – a seamless piece of love. Faith is the most commonly used perception of every human being – yet saving faith is rare. The weeping willow hangs like a widow’s veil, the wind sighing through the spruce trees could be hopeless passion, or misfortune. Who could foretell this frenzied flowing song? Then came the whistling singer….
When there is no concept of personal responsibility, there is no reason to seek the Lord, no reason for transformation. As a nation, our blindness to the truth will cause our destruction. We must understand that our human nature is the problem. We all must contend. We must receive Christ to redeem ourselves and our nature – we must be…
Our citizenship in God’s glorious kingdom is not determined by external acts of dos and don’ts; it is not what we eat or drink. We are a spiritual kingdom of believer-priests living in satan’s kingdom. Our righteousness is an ever-present possession because Christ indwells us. It is His righteousness imputed to us because of the cross where the Father was…
The sanctuary of Trinity is in our soul, and it is there full-time for retreat, peace, rest, and refreshing, so we can drink from God’s fountain and then rise from our knees and return to the conflict – the angelic conflict – the daily and minute-by-minute battle between good and evil, to turn conflict to peace, suffering to blessing, losing…
Childlike closeness is central to the believer’s son-ship with Father God. This is the heart of the Gospel. By faith in the cross-work of Christ, we are adopted by God as His children. At salvation, God restores the believer and we are called “privileged to God,” our “Abba” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Christ had the unique position and power to…
In the quest for economic security, things seem to be more valuable than family. A nicer car, a larger home seem more important than parental support of children The Hebrew word for “family” is “mishpahah“, which implies a family consisting of father, mother, children, community/neighbors, and God, plus the extended family of relatives. Family solidarity is the hallmark of a…
In the search for The Ultimate, religion exalts self to God, exalts finite values over infinite revelations. The religious self exalts itself over God. Idolatry has many faces, all designed to validate self and the ideals of self. Existentialism makes man his own creator. Existentialism actually praises the human nature by denying God. Man says, “I am.” In this statement,…
Christ became our nature (human), that we might partake of His divine nature. Christ was and is full of grace and truth – the two great things that fallen man stands in need of. He was full of grace, and therefore qualified to intercede for us; and full of truth, therefore fit to teach us. Christ had fullness of knowledge…
The simple words of John’s Gospel excel in the depths of expressing God’s wisdom and God’s mysteries. John uses simple words to define the depths of deeper meanings. We can know the most profound wisdom of God in simple terms, simple vocabulary. This is how we know that God’s Word is truly inspired. The light that shines throughout the Bible…
Am I building God up… or myself? The storytellers of Scripture are more than storytellers, they are messengers of God. The classroom is in the stillness of the soul as the Holy Spirit speaks, teaches, convicts, and assures the believer of eternal things. Truth is not a function of one’s opinion or perspective, it is not based on culture or…
As believers in the Church Age, we have the responsibility to carry on the Christian legacy – Christ’s legacy. Even though sin has a hold on us, Christ, by the indwelling Holy Spirit, has a stronger hold. Praise be to the Lord for that. We do not inherit our soul. God breathes soul-life into us when we take our first…
Material success is not the measure by which we gauge spiritual maturity. Affluence does not equal godliness. It is not the exterior but the interior of a person’s soul that must be covered with Christ – bathed daily in His righteousness, His Word. “He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of (His) righteousness for His Name’s sake.” The…
When the Lord removes the curse on creation (caused by the fall/a result of the fall), the aggression that came upon all creation, including us, resulted from evil-knowledge (you shall know good and evil). When evil-knowledge is removed, we will be made whole (purified), filled only with good-knowledge of the Lord (Isaiah 11:9). Aggression will be replaced by peace when…
God offers liberty to the captive, freedom to the prisoner, calm for the troubled soul, comfort to those who mourn, peace where there is only despair. We as believers are made righteous trees, ones planted by God. Our purpose is to glorify God in ambassadorship (Isaiah 61:3c). The Spirit of the Lord is upon us and fills us. He will…
Through the lens of Christ my Savior, I can see (and live) closer to the reality of eternity because the view is more clearly defined. The errors of worldly thinking are many. Ravi Zacharias once explained that: “For the hindu, ‘karma,’ the moral law of cause and effect, is a life-defining concept. Life carries a moral debt (or even debts)…
God is sovereign over the universe and human affairs. Divine sovereignty and human freedom co-exist. I really like the statement in Daniel 4:35: “All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does what He wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can hold back His hand…
Humanity is created in the image of God, and lives in a reality (or world) created by God, therefore humanity is not excused, rather condemned for denying the existence of God (i.e. the existence of earth, stars, sun, moon, heavens, intelligent design, the complexity of every biological life-form, etc.), therefore, man is without excuse. The evidence for God is literally…
Law 1: Identity law Law 2: Non-contradiction Law 3: Excluded middle Identity – 1Truth is 2absolute – untruth is absolute. 3Neither can be the other. Therefore, non-contradiction is “neither can be the other.” So, all three are absolutes. Human Logic is based on reality – patterned after reality. “God, our Creator, gave us truth. We added untruth.” The principles of…
Life is fleeting, like the wind and evaporation – short-lived and quickly passing. We search for truth and knowledge, but are never filled – that is what eternity is all about. Time is lived for filling, eternity for fullness. Life should be a humbling experience as we discover and learn truth. Reference Proverbs 30:14. Self-gratification never satisfies the soul. Only…
All the things we cherish cannot be provided by any government, but by the individual citizen, each doing their part by being responsible and productive citizens. Disintegration of American jurisprudence; our liberties are being eroded in increments. Compromise is a sell-out. Philosophical differences can become clarifying – a clarification of principle and truth when truth is challenged or misrepresented. Artificially…
God is in control. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a time when the Lord’s will is not done. God’s plan for creation is never-failing. God is never surprised. If the Lord wills, it will. The true believer enters into the tears of Christ; He wept over those who would not come to Him. The humility and…
On the appointed day, at the exact moment chosen by Him, the Lord will call me into His glorious kingdom. The Lord will clothe me in white – a robe of my very own, paid for by Christ, my loving Savior. My soul will be housed in a covering prepared by my Lord Himself. My Lord shall knock on the…
Christ’s First Coming (called the “First Advent”) was rejected by the Jews, and destruction followed in 70 A.D. by Titus. Likewise, when the dispensation of the Gentiles (non-Jews) is completed, Christ will come again (called the “Second Coming”) and destroy Gentile nations. Christ, at His Second Coming will, by the Word of His mouth – a mere breath, something less…
Understand this – human viewpoint supplants divine establishment. Panaceas captivate the ignorant. Religion is anti-Christ. The entire world is being gathered and prepared for dictatorship. It is the sin nature that tempts us to commit sin. This inherent distorter of human life continually opposes God’s plan for blessing humankind (Galatians 5:17). Human nature is unreliable, unstable, and unable to handle…
Equality cancels freedom – think about this. It restricts intellectual growth and financial independence. Equality enforced destroys individual freedom. Individual freedom is what a republic/democracy is all about. Equality seems so right but it neutralizes freedom of the individual and the corporation. God is the power of truth. Truth is powered by God. God is truth. Absoluteness is essential for…
Formal Equivalence “Word for word” or “literal” translation of Scripture is termed the principle of formal equivalence as it develops and reveals as nearly as possible the structural usage of the original languages. It seeks to represent each word of the original text with an exact equivalent word in our modern English that most closely represents the original intent of…
The Bible (God’s inspired Word) is the true narrative that answers the greatest questions of life. God has provided His truths of reality (His and ours) and His divine solutions. The Bible brings true reality into proper perspective. We cannot hear God as plainly if we’re not reading/studying His Word. Believers must be devoted followers of Christ, living what the…
To truly know and even begin to understand God, our Creator, you must allow God to tell you what He is like. God is so far above us that we can best know Him by studying His own revelations of Himself. The revelations in nature, in life, and in the Bible help us to visualize invisible God, help us to…
The Holy Spirit enlightens mankind regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment. In our walk through life, we either negate the working of the Holy Spirit leading our thinking-life (Romans 8:6,13), or we negate the works of the flesh – the sin nature (Romans 6:6;8:4; Galatians 5:16; 1 John 4:4). It is always one or the other, back and forth, and the…
Distractions of the world – enticements – interfere with our relationship with God. When Christ became incarnate (became human so He could be related to humanity), He did so to go to the cross so we could be ‘related’ to God. Being in Christ, we are made holy because He is holy. We become adopted children because Christ is the…
Ill-defined terms and ambiguous statements are linguistic devices, ones employed by political propagandists in the art of persuasion and suggestion, and usually arouse emotional appeal that directs the people’s attitudes and decisions, usually to their own detriment. Social media mas mastered the art of propaganda so that untruth becomes truth, and truth becomes untruth, and many of the weak-minded are…
The blinding flash of Justice, the thunderous tones of Judgment… …so it was on the cross when Christ died. The ultimate state of salvation is glorification. Then, Christ ascended into Glory. No sacrifice is too great for the soul that has grasped the concept of genuine humility. Sanctification is the reason we are here – lost people need regeneration by…
Singing praises to the Lord about what we have done is not praise! Singing praises about all that God has done through Christ by the Holy Spirit is the only acceptable praise. “The war between Christ and satan, which was waged on Calvary’s hill, involves issues and powers belonging to higher realms than this earth and things beyond the boundaries…
Paul welcomed exhaustion, suffering, poverty, dangers, and death because they helped him to grow into the image of Christ. The important task before each of us is to be truthful to ourselves first, so we can be truthful with God. We need to be the person God wants us to be and allow Him to reign over our soul. Understand…
The church in America today needs more than revival, it needs Bible and re-Bible – meat, not milk. The regrets of the future are avoidable today. We can, right now, change our future to one of no regrets. The void in our souls is God-shaped. Everyone has eternity in their heart, put there by God. As believer-priests, we represent God…
Believers must be a force for good against evil. We must look beyond ourselves to those still longing for God. Where are you looking? Look into God, then look at the longing faces all around. They are everywhere. Christ gave His life so we could live to share the good news of reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace with God. Written January…
We must be taught to do good, taught not to do wrong. We lust (i.e. a need for attention and praise, etc.). We need to unlearn the self and learn God. If the truth hurts, suffer for a while. Life is a checkout line… and no one wants to go first. Live in truth; live diligently. He who knew no…
I find it interesting that religious leaders, from the Pope on down in the chain of command, will not stand up to the untruths of their religion because these rituals without reality flatter their ego and ambitions. Forms of religious rituals do not save, nor keep saved, nor do they change (or pay the price for) our sinful character. Having…
God is a divine mathematician. God’s exhale was the mathematical formulas that created creation. When God removes the curse on creation, the harmony of mathematics will be heard by all of creation as it flows endlessly from the Throne of The Most High. We are atoms (indivisible), descended from Adam with the same nature –indivisible – with volition (personal choice)…
In the blazing radiance of the Lord’s glory our depravity is exposed, and His glory helps us see our depravity. He will expose the real self. America seems to be asleep, complacent in slumber, enjoying plentiful crops, clothes, possessions and luxuries, while our enemies plot our destruction, Material possessions build false security – a falseness to reality. Only when God’s…
Wolves rushing in Eagles swooping down Confusion binding truth Untruth leading the blind The Restrainer slowly being withdrawn The way of Anti-Christ is being prepared Tribulation is just ahead Wickedness rules the day Come quickly, Lord Jesus – call us out We’re listening for the trumpet And the thunder of your shout. Amen. Written Sunday September 18, 2022
A non-meritorious system of perception and belief based on confidence and trust in the authority of God’s Holy Word and His Veracity.
The method in which linguistic elements (as words) are put together to form constituents (as phrases or clauses), the part of grammatical usage dealing with this.
Sobriety reveals one’s sweetness; alcohol releases one’s suppressed emotions. It is interesting that alcohol keeps the alcoholic in denial of addiction – the guilt of drinking keeps the alcoholic away from church and the Lord’s day. Alcohol breaks apart marriages, it keeps families apart, it ruins relationships, it is a guilt trip, it causes paranoia and cirrhosis of the liver,…
Jewish tradition said that there was in the temple a “chamber of secrets,” into which gifts given in secret were available for the poor, to be received in secret. God blesses the secret giver and the secret receiver. There is no secret from God, who rewards the secret receiver and giver. The cross of Christ is the place of sorrow…
It is only the splendor of God’s glory-light that prevents our seeing Him. Lord, take the veil from our eyes. Take the vileness from our hearts. Open our eyes that we may see you in all your shekinah glory. There is no such thing as “sacred secularism” – mutually exclusive ways of life must be separated. Humanism is all about…
Throughout history, the invisible kingdom has called millions of believers to suffer for it. We have much to learn from the Holy Spirit. Notice from the Life of Christ that He loved freedom – He died for freedom. As you study Christ’s life, notice He was compelled to save all mankind. He never tried to heal the whole world, but…
God knows we cannot stop being human, but He wants us to be more spiritual, so we will be less humanistic. He wants us to be more like Christ, His Son, so we will be less like ourselves. When I was growing up, I liked skipping flat stones across the surface of the water. As an adult, I have enjoyed…
Each person must practice daily to align their own morality with divine truth – the Word of God – the Bible. The Word of God is the Hand of God let down to lift us up. Christ broke the power of sin, satan, death, the flesh, and ritual. I owe humanity my best, and God my very best. Christ expressed…