Flows from revelation

The “prayer of faith” (James 5:15) always flows from a revelation of who God is, in Jesus Christ.

The questions of life

Science has given us many good things and answered many questions but it can’t answer the important questions, the essential ones, like, Who am I ? What is the meaning of my life? What is life, anyway? What is a spirit? What is love? Where do I go after I die?

This is from a 70s pop song:

“…At night when all the world’s asleep, the questions run too deep for such a simple man.

Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned, I know it sounds absurd, but please tell me who I am?  … Who I am?  … “ (The Logical Song)

A test

Anything you can’t thank or praise God for, forget it.

Second chance?

The teaching that people get a second chance to repent after they die is, obviously, not in the Bible, in fact every Scripture text referring to eternal judgment solemnly warns that God’s judgment will be final, with no appeals heard. Imagine the amount of text you would have to invent and add to Scripture to establish that people get a second chance?

Here’s what the text says:

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
(Revelation 20:11-15)

It would take a lot of editing of the text to fit a “second chance” in here. But if one has no holy fear of God, then a little editing is not such a big deal.

An edited version may sound like this: “…And I saw the dead stand before God to be judged, and they could see heaven and also the Lake of Fire, and then salvation was offered to them, do they want to go to Heaven or Hell? …And, lo, the penitent dead whose names were not in the Book of Life had their names added, they looked into the Lake of Fire and decided they didn’t want to go there,  and they wept for joy having escaped the wrath of God just in the nick of time..”

Or, imagine Jesus preaching, “Repent or perish! But don’t worry, you will get a chance to repent later, after you die, if you so choose not to repent now!”

So, if there was ever a greater bile from satan’s bowels than the “second chance gospel” i would like to hear about it. It must be the most satanic of doctrines, for it deceives people. The damned in hell today, who were told they would get a second chance, must curse these pathetic preachers something awful. It is a doctrine of demons which spewed from the bowels of Rome long ago, the doctrine of purgatory.

Avoiding God

Adam and Eve hid from God in the garden, tried to avoid meeting Him, and their children have been doing the same ever since.

Forgiveness available

Jesus Christ forgives sin.  Good news for sinners.

Cain and Abel

Cain and Abel (Gen. 4): Abel offered God what God wanted – Cain offered God what Cain wanted, and it’s been this way ever since: it’s the distinction between true and false Christianity. Cain knew what God wanted, but was more interested in what he wanted. Makes you think why he bothered to offer anything when he knew it was not what God wanted? It just shows that such “religion” is ingrained in the fallen nature.

The genius of God

The genius of God getting the Bible into our hands and hearts is that now no one can ever be deceived by man-made religion unless they want to be.

A decoy

When a Liberal’s sin is exposed their only usual recourse is to accuse you of being under the law or not understanding grace, so they use these as a decoy to avoid facing the issue.

Theological frauds

http://www.gotquestions.org/redaction-higher-criticism.html

 

Sometimes fancy theological jargon is employed to make fraud appear respectable to the naive.

Institutionalized

In institutional religion sin is also institutionalized: pride becomes respectable, no longer pride, when the very fabric of the institution is based on it.

UN a joke

Stereotypes

If we see others as stereotypes, we are stereotypes.

Justified by faith

No amount of doing good can atone for one’s sins, clear the conscience or give peace with God, the Bible says. Some “Christians” have found this out the hard way, being devoutly “religious” all their life, only to find, at the end of the road, they’re in a hopeless, despairing state. The lesson: never do any kind of religious works to try and appease your guilty conscience; first have your conscience cleansed by faith in the shed blood of Christ, once and for all, then serve God from a pure, blood-washed conscience – one which has been made right by the death of Christ, justified by faith.

Indicator

The desire to be wealthy is an indicator of spiritual poverty.

Do the needful

Most of King David’s life was a fight for survival: kill or be killed, fighting for his life and to save his people. That was the reality, perhaps not a reality many can accept: the image of David the Psalmist, playing his harp, praising God, is more pleasant than David the Warrior, hacking people to pieces. I don’t think he ever enjoyed killing people, but he had no choice.

There are parallels to the Christian life, there are unpleasant things we will be called to do, things we will not enjoy doing, but we must. We need the backbone to do the needful.

Idol worshiper

If i don’t have time for the things of God, to do what i know He wants me to do, no time for fellowship, no time to help others, then i’m an idol worshiper.

A dot in a big universe

Where are we?
We’re near the edge of the Milky Way galaxy.
Could you be a little more specific?

Is this you and me?

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. (Colossians 4:12)

 

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16)

 

 

Do we pray fervently for others? Would you say your prayers are fervent?

 

What is fervent? It’s real, it’s serious, it’s urgent, it’s meaning business, it’s from the heart, it’s the love of God finding expression – the opposite of casual, nonchalant, lackadaisical etc..

 

“Fervent” means that by grace you’ve come to understand that the Father is really there, He is really listening, He watches over everything, He hears every word you speak, every thought, and it’s in this real connection, person to Person, where faith connects, and the Spirit enables and empowers.

Accountable

Amongst Christians there needs to be accountability, we all need a circle to whom we are accountable, but it’s important to note that this accountability is always mutual and not hierarchical.