Abounding Love
Part II
Abound: To overflow, to exceed certain measure. To be abundantly furnished.
Philippians 1:9 And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more, in knowledge and all discernment.
As we first look at this we must wonder what abounding love has to do with knowledge and discernment. To understand we must first understand where true love begins. If love is of the world and a mere sentiment then we must acknowledge that with offense comes a separation of love. In other words, I love you as long as you treat me as I want to be treated; and yet this is not the love that Paul speaks of here and why he claimed it would abound more, in knowledge and discernment. The point that he is attempting to make is that the more we begin to understand God’s love towards us the greater our love will be towards Him and the more our love towards others will abound. In this we will be able to see God’s love displayed to us in even greater ways, ultimately seeing it displayed in the trials that we endure. The way we achieve this knowledge begins with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This love is not based upon us but in the fact that He first loved us and while His love toward us is displayed in a great many ways none is more prominent than His crucifixion. As His abounding love toward us is displayed throughout scripture it continually points to that one period in time when He would become the sacrifice for sin. In the beginning His love was revealed in that He created us in His image, while at the flood it is revealed not only in the preservation of Noah but in the fact that He was patient in exacting His punishment on mans disobedience. It is revealed in that while He set aside Israel as His Own special people the door was still open to those who would repent and acknowledge Him as God; as in the case of Rahab, Ruth, and others. As we continue throughout scripture we begin to obtain even greater knowledge of His love toward us and I for one say that if He so loved us should we not love Him even more and how can we deny that love towards others? Jesus said, “If you love me, then keep My commandments, and My commandment is that you love one another,” yet He did not end there, He went on to say, “as I have loved you.” Therefore I must, based upon my love for Him be obedient to His word because in doing so my love for Him is revealed and begins to abound. Yet if my love for others is anything but selfless then my love for Christ becomes a lie and that lie becomes evident to those around me. However if my love for Him abounds then that love overflows to those around me and becomes evident in His characteristics that are now being produced in me in the Fruits of Righteousness and the true test of these fruits is that they are not characterized by our circumstances. The whole excuse of I am only human flies out the window and while there is truth to the statement it, it only serves to prove that our relationship with Him is weak. The question becomes, why is it weak? Is it weak because we value the things of the world more than we value Him and if that is the case have we truly looked at our condition through His eyes? Do we see ourselves as exceedingly sinful, thus recognizing our need of a Savior or are we simply following Him because we have seen the miracles and tasted the bread? While the two may seem to be the same they are not because one is grounded in self-righteousness and the other in selfishness. You see self-righteousness says that we really aren’t that bad and therefore minimizes our need of a Savior while selfishness states that while we do see the need we are not willing to fully partake in His gift because we are not willing to give up what we have in order to have a relationship with Him. Both of these not only limit our love for Him but also limit our love for others. They limit our love for Him because they require Him to perform in the manner that we deem acceptable and truth be told they have the same effect on our love for others. The evidence is clear because although we might claim that we love Him and others we have no fruit. You see without that abounding love there is no joy. Our worship suffers as does our fellowship with others. Without joy we stand there with a fake smile on our face and when we shake hands with others we are secretly anticipating the end of the service so that we might hurry up and get home to our own lives. With out love we have no peace and while outside we might seem as if we have it all together the truth is that we are worried. We are worried that our health might fail or that our investments might fail. We see the condition of the economy and we are worried about how it will affect our style of living. We work in different ministries within the church so that we might seem as if we have love but our lack of love is revealed because we are looking for that return of investment. Without love there is no longsuffering or patience. Just as we have no peace because we seek a return on investment our lack of love generates anxiety at the lack of return. We expect things to move at our pace and when God doesn’t move in our time frame we quickly change directions. We refuse to love others because we have seen no change in them regardless of the aid that we have provided them. We hold ourselves accountable for the results instead of allowing God to work out the details as He sees fit. Our goodness is associated with our love. In other words we only love those who do what we expect them to do. Everything we do is based upon the treatment we receive from others and only provided to those who fit into our specifications. Without love our faith is tied to our ability to control the situation. We place conditions on all that we do. This once again reverts back to our expectations of return on investment. Without abounding love we have no meekness, (humility) nor temperance because everything is based upon us and not Him. We are not humble because we worked hard to get where we are and we do not have temperance because it is our plan and while it may be a good thing, it is not a God thing and if love abounded more and more and that love generated a closer relationship with Christ and that relationship in turn generated more knowledge and with that knowledge came discernment then we would see that these very things are what He has done for us because even though He knew that many would deny Him, He still shed His blood. Even though He knew that many would refuse to acknowledge Him as God, He waits for that last one to come to Him. Regardless of our choices he still exhibits His characteristics and that is the abounding love that we should also strive to possess but the only way to possess it is to completely surrender to Him. Complete surrender does not restrain us rather it releases us from all the preconceived notions that we so eagerly hold on to. It places our faith firmly on Him to do what He promises to do without setting deadlines. He told Noah to build an ark that it would rain for forty days and nights and He was true to His word some 100 years later. If we wait until the conditions are right the time will never come until it is too late for us to do anything about it. The time for abounding love is NOW! For what better choice do we have for revival than to love as He loved us? What better apologetic is there than to be obedient to His command. What better glue to keep the body together than to love as He loved the church and honestly what other choice do we have? These are things that we should have been doing all along but we have denied Him for generations. In all honesty we have denied His attributes since man sinned in the garden but are we not held to a greater responsibility having seen the promise? Are we not held to greater punishment because after having the truth among us we still deny Him? We are without excuse because we had the example and yet we still chose to deny His love not only towards us but also towards others.
Abounding love is revealed not just in what we say but in how we live towards others.
Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Eph 4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Eph 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
Eph 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Abounding Love
Abounding Love
I know that I have often written concerning love and yet here I am again writing once more regarding the subject. It is a subject that I feel that needs to be so indoctrinated into our lives so that when others see us they can see Christ through us. So many of us are so wrapped up in what God can do for us that we neglect what He needs to be doing for others and we miss the picture where we are a part of what He is doing for others. The apostle Paul wrote often in regards to love because he saw the effects of what the lack of love could do; how it could destroy the entire church and how the lack of it would turn people away from Jesus Christ.
Php 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
Php 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Php 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
That your love may abound; Jesus said, “by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another;” but He didn’t end there. He went on to say; “as I have loved you.” So what does it mean to have abounding love? Is it love to do things that make you look good? Is it love when things are done in the name of the church? Is love concerned with numbers or quality? I am convinced that many of our programs are not being done out of love but as a way to pat ourselves on the back and the reason I say this is because so often we begin the sentence with we or our instead of Jesus Christ or God. This is the whole purpose of love; it reflects the glory away from us and places it where it belongs; unto the glory and praise of God. Many of us attempt to have a ministry and the problem is we begin to think of it as our ministry leaving Jesus Christ and God out of it; oh we might claim that it is for them and we even preach them but the truth is that we readily take all the credit for what is going on inside the ministry instead of giving the glory to Them, and truth be told those that might be benefiting from the ministry know that there is a lack of love. They know that they are merely numbers or statistics to you; another feather in your cap. That is the difference between a good thing and a God thing because a God thing doesn’t worry about numbers. A God thing doesn’t look for recognition and a God thing is invested in the lives of others out of a pure love. It does not expect anything in return nor does it judge the outcome but leaves the results in the hand of the One who deserves all honor and praise. He didn’t add to the early church daily simply because they witnessed, He added as He saw fit and it was based upon their love for others, for how else does one find favor with all men except by love.
Friends we have gotten so wrapped up in who’s name is on every single program that we have succeeded in turning countless thousands away from the gospel of Christ because to be quite honest who would want to be a part of something that is no different then they can find on the streets. The excellent things are the things of Christ. It is the selfless, self-sacrificing love that invests itself in the individuals. The excellent things are the God things that manifest themselves in our genuine love of others. It is not just handing them a box of food and sending them on their way nor is it simply sharing the gospel with them it is making an investment in them that regardless of how many times they refuse to go to church with you, you continually invite them and then you continually go out of your way to meet their needs, and then you continually take their calls in the middle of the night and you go with them to the police station. You wrap your arms around them and comfort them, you continue in love and leave the results up to God because He is the one who adds to the church as He sees fit. We have put boundaries on our love and call it casting our pearls before the swine when people do not respond in the manner we deem acceptable and have placed ourselves as their judges when judgment has been given to the Son. We do this because we look at Christianity as a business and the bottom line is we need to see some return in investment and have placed all the glory on ourselves. We look at these mega churches and assume that they have things right and the truth is that in some cases they don’t but that is not up to us to decide it is God’s place to know their hearts. What I see in scripture is that as the churches grew He scattered them so that the gospel could be scattered. Paul was sitting in prison not because God couldn’t get him out but because God had a purpose for him there. He had a captive audience much in the same way that we have captive audiences when we go through different trials and tribulations. His guards couldn’t leave him unguarded if they did they could expect potential death for leaving their post. When we go through illnesses and are bedridden in the hospital what better opportunity to share Christ? Where is your roommate going to go? However the thing is, it is not just about speaking it but how we respond to the trials and how we respond shows His love for us to others. James tells us that we are to count it all joy when we fall into various trials and tribulations knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work that you might be perfect and entire wanting nothing. These are the very attributes of God and His patience towards us and they reveal His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us; not that we would be glorified but that the Father would be glorified. His whole purpose was to glorify the Father. He loved, even though He was hated, He comforted even though He received no comfort; He healed, even though He received no thanks. When I stop to think about it I wonder if we are any different than those who quit following Him because we too are looking for a sign for what He can do for us. We are looking for that sign that shows it will all be worth it and until we see it, well we just aren’t going to give love as He asks us too; after all we have a family to consider. Yet that Roman guard stood beneath the cross, witnessing His death and even though he knew that he could possibly be executed he spoke those words that have rung throughout the years, “Truly this was the Son of God!” He saw no miracles that were performed, all he saw was the punishment for our sin laid upon Him and that was enough for him to be convinced of the truth and yet it didn’t end there because three days later He arose, defeating death that we might know that we too would have everlasting life. What more do we really need to see to encourage us to love? How can we love Him who we cannot see if we do not love those who we can see?
I asked my Pastor a question today and I pose it to you as well. Do you think that we would need apologetics if we truly loved in the manner that we should love? Think about it logically. What better proof does one need than to display the love of God towards others? How much more evidence would one need if the fruits of the Spirit were evident in the lives of those who are called by His name? I am not saying that they would all believe because even though these things were present in the early church not everyone believed but the results were left up to God because once again He added to the church as He saw fit. Many times I believe that we use apologetics as a tool to show our own intelligence, that others might look at us and brag about how well we handled certain situations or debates and yet our answers are so empty and void of love that even when we have provided a good argument we have lost the battle because God is no where in the response. I see many of us attacking the President of the United States in a manner that is so far away from God that it is little wonder that many unbelievers attack us in the way that they do. How quickly we have forgotten that David repented that he had laid hands upon God’s anointed. How quickly we have forgotten the words of Christ to Pilot that he had no power except it had been given to him by the Father. This is not saying that they are doing things in a righteous way only that they have been put into the position so that His purpose can be achieved. It is because we fail to be obedient that we are allowed to these positions and it is our reaction to these trials that speak volumes to unbelievers. Yet we insist on bashing those in authority over us and then have the nerve to claim that we are Christians when the world does the same thing. This does not mean that we blindly go along with what they want to accomplish but we rebut it in a manner that is pleasing to God. Daniel exemplified this as did Christ. Yet when we deny the very fruits that we are to possess we prove their presuppositions regarding God.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
The world sees enough of this and when we insist on having the same characteristics of the world then they see no reason for God. In fact in their mind it only goes to prove that He does not exist, however;
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Notice the first fruit. Without it the rest will not come. Without love there is no joy. Without it you cannot have peace nor can you have longsuffering or patience. Without it gentleness and goodness is non-existent. Without love faith becomes irrelevant and meekness and temperance are thrown out the window. Jesus said that love covers a multitude of sins and that is the difference between the love that we claim to have and the true love of the Father. It is evident when it produces the remainder of the fruit. I am convinced that when we get our love right we will see great revival however I also believe that we may have to endure even greater trials before we will get it right because;
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Gal 5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
We refuse these very things.
Abounding love! The first step is to have it towards Him who gave us life and loved us enough to take on the form of man and become the perfect sacrifice for us and until we get that right we can little hope to get our love right with others.
Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
I know that I have often written concerning love and yet here I am again writing once more regarding the subject. It is a subject that I feel that needs to be so indoctrinated into our lives so that when others see us they can see Christ through us. So many of us are so wrapped up in what God can do for us that we neglect what He needs to be doing for others and we miss the picture where we are a part of what He is doing for others. The apostle Paul wrote often in regards to love because he saw the effects of what the lack of love could do; how it could destroy the entire church and how the lack of it would turn people away from Jesus Christ.
Php 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
Php 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Php 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
That your love may abound; Jesus said, “by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another;” but He didn’t end there. He went on to say; “as I have loved you.” So what does it mean to have abounding love? Is it love to do things that make you look good? Is it love when things are done in the name of the church? Is love concerned with numbers or quality? I am convinced that many of our programs are not being done out of love but as a way to pat ourselves on the back and the reason I say this is because so often we begin the sentence with we or our instead of Jesus Christ or God. This is the whole purpose of love; it reflects the glory away from us and places it where it belongs; unto the glory and praise of God. Many of us attempt to have a ministry and the problem is we begin to think of it as our ministry leaving Jesus Christ and God out of it; oh we might claim that it is for them and we even preach them but the truth is that we readily take all the credit for what is going on inside the ministry instead of giving the glory to Them, and truth be told those that might be benefiting from the ministry know that there is a lack of love. They know that they are merely numbers or statistics to you; another feather in your cap. That is the difference between a good thing and a God thing because a God thing doesn’t worry about numbers. A God thing doesn’t look for recognition and a God thing is invested in the lives of others out of a pure love. It does not expect anything in return nor does it judge the outcome but leaves the results in the hand of the One who deserves all honor and praise. He didn’t add to the early church daily simply because they witnessed, He added as He saw fit and it was based upon their love for others, for how else does one find favor with all men except by love.
Friends we have gotten so wrapped up in who’s name is on every single program that we have succeeded in turning countless thousands away from the gospel of Christ because to be quite honest who would want to be a part of something that is no different then they can find on the streets. The excellent things are the things of Christ. It is the selfless, self-sacrificing love that invests itself in the individuals. The excellent things are the God things that manifest themselves in our genuine love of others. It is not just handing them a box of food and sending them on their way nor is it simply sharing the gospel with them it is making an investment in them that regardless of how many times they refuse to go to church with you, you continually invite them and then you continually go out of your way to meet their needs, and then you continually take their calls in the middle of the night and you go with them to the police station. You wrap your arms around them and comfort them, you continue in love and leave the results up to God because He is the one who adds to the church as He sees fit. We have put boundaries on our love and call it casting our pearls before the swine when people do not respond in the manner we deem acceptable and have placed ourselves as their judges when judgment has been given to the Son. We do this because we look at Christianity as a business and the bottom line is we need to see some return in investment and have placed all the glory on ourselves. We look at these mega churches and assume that they have things right and the truth is that in some cases they don’t but that is not up to us to decide it is God’s place to know their hearts. What I see in scripture is that as the churches grew He scattered them so that the gospel could be scattered. Paul was sitting in prison not because God couldn’t get him out but because God had a purpose for him there. He had a captive audience much in the same way that we have captive audiences when we go through different trials and tribulations. His guards couldn’t leave him unguarded if they did they could expect potential death for leaving their post. When we go through illnesses and are bedridden in the hospital what better opportunity to share Christ? Where is your roommate going to go? However the thing is, it is not just about speaking it but how we respond to the trials and how we respond shows His love for us to others. James tells us that we are to count it all joy when we fall into various trials and tribulations knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work that you might be perfect and entire wanting nothing. These are the very attributes of God and His patience towards us and they reveal His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us; not that we would be glorified but that the Father would be glorified. His whole purpose was to glorify the Father. He loved, even though He was hated, He comforted even though He received no comfort; He healed, even though He received no thanks. When I stop to think about it I wonder if we are any different than those who quit following Him because we too are looking for a sign for what He can do for us. We are looking for that sign that shows it will all be worth it and until we see it, well we just aren’t going to give love as He asks us too; after all we have a family to consider. Yet that Roman guard stood beneath the cross, witnessing His death and even though he knew that he could possibly be executed he spoke those words that have rung throughout the years, “Truly this was the Son of God!” He saw no miracles that were performed, all he saw was the punishment for our sin laid upon Him and that was enough for him to be convinced of the truth and yet it didn’t end there because three days later He arose, defeating death that we might know that we too would have everlasting life. What more do we really need to see to encourage us to love? How can we love Him who we cannot see if we do not love those who we can see?
I asked my Pastor a question today and I pose it to you as well. Do you think that we would need apologetics if we truly loved in the manner that we should love? Think about it logically. What better proof does one need than to display the love of God towards others? How much more evidence would one need if the fruits of the Spirit were evident in the lives of those who are called by His name? I am not saying that they would all believe because even though these things were present in the early church not everyone believed but the results were left up to God because once again He added to the church as He saw fit. Many times I believe that we use apologetics as a tool to show our own intelligence, that others might look at us and brag about how well we handled certain situations or debates and yet our answers are so empty and void of love that even when we have provided a good argument we have lost the battle because God is no where in the response. I see many of us attacking the President of the United States in a manner that is so far away from God that it is little wonder that many unbelievers attack us in the way that they do. How quickly we have forgotten that David repented that he had laid hands upon God’s anointed. How quickly we have forgotten the words of Christ to Pilot that he had no power except it had been given to him by the Father. This is not saying that they are doing things in a righteous way only that they have been put into the position so that His purpose can be achieved. It is because we fail to be obedient that we are allowed to these positions and it is our reaction to these trials that speak volumes to unbelievers. Yet we insist on bashing those in authority over us and then have the nerve to claim that we are Christians when the world does the same thing. This does not mean that we blindly go along with what they want to accomplish but we rebut it in a manner that is pleasing to God. Daniel exemplified this as did Christ. Yet when we deny the very fruits that we are to possess we prove their presuppositions regarding God.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
The world sees enough of this and when we insist on having the same characteristics of the world then they see no reason for God. In fact in their mind it only goes to prove that He does not exist, however;
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Notice the first fruit. Without it the rest will not come. Without love there is no joy. Without it you cannot have peace nor can you have longsuffering or patience. Without it gentleness and goodness is non-existent. Without love faith becomes irrelevant and meekness and temperance are thrown out the window. Jesus said that love covers a multitude of sins and that is the difference between the love that we claim to have and the true love of the Father. It is evident when it produces the remainder of the fruit. I am convinced that when we get our love right we will see great revival however I also believe that we may have to endure even greater trials before we will get it right because;
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Gal 5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
We refuse these very things.
Abounding love! The first step is to have it towards Him who gave us life and loved us enough to take on the form of man and become the perfect sacrifice for us and until we get that right we can little hope to get our love right with others.
Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Monday, July 27, 2009
You can't argue with a fence post.
Recently at church I was speaking to one of our deacons wife's when she made the comment that you can't argue with a fence post. I must say that the comment sort of offended me because I felt as if it was an excuse to not share the gospel with certain individuals. I let it go at the time but it has never been far from my thoughts and while in my devotions this morning the thought came back and I realized that while you can't argue with them, you can prepare them. Growing up I was raised on a horse ranch so I had plenty of experience with putting up fence so it was pretty cool when this example came to me. You see if you were to take a plain wooden fence post and put it into the ground it would not be long before it would begin to rot with the rotting beginning on the outside. This is the same as a person who has not had the gospel preached to them. They have evidence of God because He tells us that His law is written on the hearts of man. Now if you used a pressure treated post it would still rot but would take a little longer to do so. This would be as a person who has heard the gospel but still denies Christ. Now as a young man growing up on a farm we would often times coat our post with creosote to keep them from rotting. The result is that many of our post are still standing some 30 years later. This can be reflective of a person who has heard the gospel, denies it and argues against it while the creosote is reflective of the answers that are provided. These answers provide logical explanations for the arguments presented and while we might not see the results of the covering we have the promise in God's word that His word will not return unto Him void yet there is still rotting taking place. You see many of our post seemed to be in good condition from the outside but upon closer inspection they had been rotting from the inside. There was a crucial step that was missed when we coated the post. We neglected to coat the base and the top of the post so therefore the weather conditions were able to take its toll on the post. The results of debating others regarding our faith is not up to us. All we can do is be ready to provide an answer and not just any answer but one that is both logical and rational because our faith is not blindly placed but is based upon rational logic. Peter tells us that we do not follow foolish tales. 2Pe 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Regardless of the evidence that we may provide if our lives do not support that evidence it is as if we forgot to seal the base and the top of the posts. The complete sealing is God and not us. It is the work of the Holy Spirit who resides in us and will continue in us until that day. And while it is true you can't argue with a fence post you can continually prepare it. Who knows, if Christ came back today perhaps that preparation is what will be used to allow the Holy Spirit to seal it. Until then keep preparing. If you have any questions regarding evidential support for questions regarding God or the Bible please feel free to contact me at any time.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Are Christians using Relativism?
Are Christians using Relativism?
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
John 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
John 14:25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
How many times have we heard people say that, well I don’t believe that Jesus was talking about our day and time after all it is not the same as it was then, things are different or I worship Him in my own way? First let me say that I am simply a layman. I don’t have a college degree from some seminary nor do I hold some position in the church. I am simply a man that loves the word of God and serving my Savior. Over the past several years I have witnessed an even greater trend of worship than I ever thought possible. I have heard many people within the church body use the exact same excuse for not living their lives for Christ as non believers give for not believing in God. It is as if the entire concept for Relativism has been applied to the Christian faith in the denial of absolutes and yet Jesus clearly said here; that He that loveth Him not, keepeth not His words. Therefore is appears to me that we have an absolute truth, that if one loves Him they will keep His word and if they don’t love Him, they won’t, however many believe that it is relative to the believer and their view point of the scriptures. For example I have often heard people say; well Jesus said I have to love you, but that doesn’t mean I have to like you. How can you have one without the other? The truth is you can’t. If you truly love them then you also have to like them because they are intertwined and when we attempt to distinguish between the two we fail to truly meet the need of the person. You see if I liked you then I would be concerned about your well being. I am not simply speaking about your spiritual well being but you’re physical as well. That means I am going to get involved with you as a person. I am going to make an investment in you that requires me to spend time to get to know you because if I get to know you I am going to recognize areas that require a special touch and this can only be accomplished when our relationship with Christ goes beyond lip service only. It requires us to love Him so that we keep His words and they abide in us and if they abide in us then we know that He abides in us and the evidence is revealed in the fruit that we produce.
We are responsible for the denial of absolutes in the world because we have lived as if there are no absolutes. We have encouraged relativism not only in the world but in our children which has made it easier for them to deny Him because we have not wanted to truly pick up our cross and follow Him. In many of us there is not even the slightest evidence that He resides in us and yet we claim Him as if He were just some fad. Paul says in Rom 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Yet we fail to see how it applies to us in our lives and how it affects the lives of others around us. We wear our robes proudly as the Pharisees did walking around as whitewashed tombs ready to drag our neighbors out into the street to stone them for their faults when we are as stinking grave clothes on the inside. Have we chosen to follow vain philosophies of men rather than the gospel of Christ? I firmly believe that we have so precisely intertwined the two that many of us can’t see the truth nor do we want too because if we did we would have to acknowledge that we are not in the body of Christ. Many of us are going to allow our pride to carry us straight to hell. We are going to stand before Him only to hear depart from Me, I never knew you. My heart breaks because I have been guilty of these very things that I speak of and I will have to account for them. Yet the question is if these things are applying to you what are you going to do about it? Are you going to continue to deny that the scriptures do not apply to our day and time or that they are relative to the hearer? If the Holy Spirit is not reminding you of His sayings, you might want to check your condition because there are only two possibilities here; one is that you are already abiding in His words and the other is that you are not His child because if you are His child these things are going to step on your toes if you are not abiding in His word.
I say these things because of the number of people with whom I have spoken to who have confirmed these very things. Many of them have seen no difference in themselves and others who have claimed to be Christians and while it is not an excuse it confirms that we have been blaspheming His name among the nations, when He had set us apart from the world that others might see us and recognize Him as God. I say this because I have seen people hurting and being turned away from the church because the body of Christ has refused to love as Christ loved us. I say this because I have seen God’s people give with conditions and when those conditions weren’t accomplished they refused to give again, when God commanded us to give freely without being grieved. (Deut. 15: 1-11) I say this because I have seen the denial of His promises. I say this because I see children in the church who do not even know the basics. They do not know the books of the Bible nor do they know the creation story. I say this because they refuse to acknowledge Him as God. I must wonder how many of us have chosen to not follow Him any more because what He say’s is just too hard. (John 6:66)
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
John 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
John 14:25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
How many times have we heard people say that, well I don’t believe that Jesus was talking about our day and time after all it is not the same as it was then, things are different or I worship Him in my own way? First let me say that I am simply a layman. I don’t have a college degree from some seminary nor do I hold some position in the church. I am simply a man that loves the word of God and serving my Savior. Over the past several years I have witnessed an even greater trend of worship than I ever thought possible. I have heard many people within the church body use the exact same excuse for not living their lives for Christ as non believers give for not believing in God. It is as if the entire concept for Relativism has been applied to the Christian faith in the denial of absolutes and yet Jesus clearly said here; that He that loveth Him not, keepeth not His words. Therefore is appears to me that we have an absolute truth, that if one loves Him they will keep His word and if they don’t love Him, they won’t, however many believe that it is relative to the believer and their view point of the scriptures. For example I have often heard people say; well Jesus said I have to love you, but that doesn’t mean I have to like you. How can you have one without the other? The truth is you can’t. If you truly love them then you also have to like them because they are intertwined and when we attempt to distinguish between the two we fail to truly meet the need of the person. You see if I liked you then I would be concerned about your well being. I am not simply speaking about your spiritual well being but you’re physical as well. That means I am going to get involved with you as a person. I am going to make an investment in you that requires me to spend time to get to know you because if I get to know you I am going to recognize areas that require a special touch and this can only be accomplished when our relationship with Christ goes beyond lip service only. It requires us to love Him so that we keep His words and they abide in us and if they abide in us then we know that He abides in us and the evidence is revealed in the fruit that we produce.
We are responsible for the denial of absolutes in the world because we have lived as if there are no absolutes. We have encouraged relativism not only in the world but in our children which has made it easier for them to deny Him because we have not wanted to truly pick up our cross and follow Him. In many of us there is not even the slightest evidence that He resides in us and yet we claim Him as if He were just some fad. Paul says in Rom 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Yet we fail to see how it applies to us in our lives and how it affects the lives of others around us. We wear our robes proudly as the Pharisees did walking around as whitewashed tombs ready to drag our neighbors out into the street to stone them for their faults when we are as stinking grave clothes on the inside. Have we chosen to follow vain philosophies of men rather than the gospel of Christ? I firmly believe that we have so precisely intertwined the two that many of us can’t see the truth nor do we want too because if we did we would have to acknowledge that we are not in the body of Christ. Many of us are going to allow our pride to carry us straight to hell. We are going to stand before Him only to hear depart from Me, I never knew you. My heart breaks because I have been guilty of these very things that I speak of and I will have to account for them. Yet the question is if these things are applying to you what are you going to do about it? Are you going to continue to deny that the scriptures do not apply to our day and time or that they are relative to the hearer? If the Holy Spirit is not reminding you of His sayings, you might want to check your condition because there are only two possibilities here; one is that you are already abiding in His words and the other is that you are not His child because if you are His child these things are going to step on your toes if you are not abiding in His word.
I say these things because of the number of people with whom I have spoken to who have confirmed these very things. Many of them have seen no difference in themselves and others who have claimed to be Christians and while it is not an excuse it confirms that we have been blaspheming His name among the nations, when He had set us apart from the world that others might see us and recognize Him as God. I say this because I have seen people hurting and being turned away from the church because the body of Christ has refused to love as Christ loved us. I say this because I have seen God’s people give with conditions and when those conditions weren’t accomplished they refused to give again, when God commanded us to give freely without being grieved. (Deut. 15: 1-11) I say this because I have seen the denial of His promises. I say this because I see children in the church who do not even know the basics. They do not know the books of the Bible nor do they know the creation story. I say this because they refuse to acknowledge Him as God. I must wonder how many of us have chosen to not follow Him any more because what He say’s is just too hard. (John 6:66)
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Wrong Side of the River
The Wrong Side of the River
Recently during our Sunday evening service Pastor was reviewing the message from the morning service, which he had not been able to finish due to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The message had began in Joshua chapter one but was tied in to many other passages concerning the children of Israel. As confirmation regarding where God has had me, he used this to show how we, the believers are compared with the children of Israel; in fact Peter uses the same terminology that Moses used when he calls us a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, and a special people. Paul speaks of us being grafted in to the vine, but if He did not spare the natural vine, how much more will He not spare us. As you read both Old and New Testaments you can see the harmony between the two and see the behavior of Christians today in the actions of the children of Israel; and that is what we see as Joshua is preparing to cross the river Jordan and enter into the promise land.
In Numbers chapter 32, we see;
Num 32:1 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle;
Num 32:2 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying,
Num 32:3 Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon,
Num 32:4 Even the country which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle:
Num 32:5 Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.
John speaks of this in I John;
1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
We today are doing the same thing. We have the promise but we are not willing to cross over the Jordan because we have great possessions and the land where we are is good for those possessions. We might have truly placed our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ but the moment we reach the river Jordan we refuse to cross over to serve Him. As you look further on in chapter 32 of Numbers you will see the arrangement they made with Moses. They would send their men at arms over the Jordan to help subdue the land if they could but build cities and sheepfolds for their families and their livestock.
I want you to think about this for a while. In order to justify our disobedience to Him, in spreading the gospel we willingly give our tithes and offerings to missionaries and ministries, but when times get rough those are the first things we stop giving to. After all we need to worry about our own families on this side of the river and as long as we have peace on this side of the river, as long as we have success on this side of the river we are content but when things start to get rough, when neighboring kingdoms begin to invade, when famine begins to hit, we call our men at arms home to help. Oh, we might go down to the edge of the river but we will not cross over because we might get our feet wet or muddy. You see we were there when the priest began to carry the ark across and God began to push back the waters. We saw the wall begin to get higher as the ground began to dry. We saw our brothers and sisters begin to walk across on dry land but it wasn’t enough to cause us to follow because the land on this side was good for our own purposes and we continue to do the same thing today. Oh, we receive some blessings but we never achieve the richness of His blessings because we refuse to cross the river. We refuse to sacrifice our own wants and desires required to receive the full inheritance that awaits us and therefore the ones who we send across the river to help, receive our blessings, they receive the rewards that God had intended for us and thereby we will stand before Him empty-handed, achieving the promise by the skin of our teeth only. John tells us of those who receive the inheritance, saving their lives only. He tells of the tears that will be shed for a thousand years because of the lack of service to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and the countless numbers of lives that were lost because we refused to cross the Jordan.
I am reminded of the movie “The Mummy” in 1999 with Brendan Fraser. During one of the scenes the boat that they are on catches fire during a battle. There are two groups attempting to reach the destination of a dig, as the boat starts to sink both groups jump into the river and swim for safety. We see them both reach land when one hollers out, “O’Connell, it looks like we have all the horses.” O’Connell replies, “Benny, it looks like you’re on the wrong side of the river.” Benny looks around and realizes that they are on the wrong side. We have all of our possessions, we go to church every Sunday and we holler out, it looks like we got all the horses, to a lost and dying world, thinking that if they could just be like us, then they wouldn’t have the problems they have, but Jesus his calling back, your on the wrong side of the river, to be in complete obedience to me you have to leave everything over there and cross over in order to receive the full inheritance I have in store for you.
He never promised them that it would be easy, in fact He told Paul that He would show him all that he must suffer for His name sake, but his inheritance would come not here but when he reached his final destination, when he would see Him in heaven, the true promise land. The difficulty is not found in the task but in the completion of the task. There was just as good of pasture on the other side of the Jordan but it was what might await them there that kept them from crossing. They had already won some battles over here, they had already defeated some of their enemies and those who they had not done battle with had known what happened to those who they had defeated but those on the other side probably did not know nor would they give in without a battle and they might just lose what possessions they already had, so the thought was why risk it? The early church experienced the same thing, just as we do today and the one thing that has plagued us has been the infiltration of the enemy and our unwillingness to remove him from the church because after all it sounds good. It is enough to just send our men at arms while we stay here where the battles have already been fought and then as Samson watched as the Israelites went into the city of Gaza without any judgment falling upon them we watch as the world slowly moves into our churches and sets up housekeeping and before you know it we are walking into their gates without being noticed because they have seen our kind before. Oh, and by the way did you know that so and so goes to church on Sundays? Then before you know it the power is gone and the enemy has your eyes put out and you spend the rest of your life going around in circles amusing the crowd until one day He returns and exacts His judgments upon the earth.
It is true that those who crossed over eventually disobeyed God and He allowed them to fall into captivity; it is true that many of the early churches disobeyed and allowed false teachers to spread their deceits without hindrance and it is true that many once strong churches have all but lost their power, it is equally true that God will exact His judgment upon all, judging us by His standards and not ours.
“It looks like we got all the horses.” “It looks like you’re on the wrong side of the river” Ask yourself, which are you hollering?
Recently during our Sunday evening service Pastor was reviewing the message from the morning service, which he had not been able to finish due to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The message had began in Joshua chapter one but was tied in to many other passages concerning the children of Israel. As confirmation regarding where God has had me, he used this to show how we, the believers are compared with the children of Israel; in fact Peter uses the same terminology that Moses used when he calls us a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, and a special people. Paul speaks of us being grafted in to the vine, but if He did not spare the natural vine, how much more will He not spare us. As you read both Old and New Testaments you can see the harmony between the two and see the behavior of Christians today in the actions of the children of Israel; and that is what we see as Joshua is preparing to cross the river Jordan and enter into the promise land.
In Numbers chapter 32, we see;
Num 32:1 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle;
Num 32:2 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying,
Num 32:3 Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon,
Num 32:4 Even the country which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle:
Num 32:5 Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.
John speaks of this in I John;
1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
We today are doing the same thing. We have the promise but we are not willing to cross over the Jordan because we have great possessions and the land where we are is good for those possessions. We might have truly placed our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ but the moment we reach the river Jordan we refuse to cross over to serve Him. As you look further on in chapter 32 of Numbers you will see the arrangement they made with Moses. They would send their men at arms over the Jordan to help subdue the land if they could but build cities and sheepfolds for their families and their livestock.
I want you to think about this for a while. In order to justify our disobedience to Him, in spreading the gospel we willingly give our tithes and offerings to missionaries and ministries, but when times get rough those are the first things we stop giving to. After all we need to worry about our own families on this side of the river and as long as we have peace on this side of the river, as long as we have success on this side of the river we are content but when things start to get rough, when neighboring kingdoms begin to invade, when famine begins to hit, we call our men at arms home to help. Oh, we might go down to the edge of the river but we will not cross over because we might get our feet wet or muddy. You see we were there when the priest began to carry the ark across and God began to push back the waters. We saw the wall begin to get higher as the ground began to dry. We saw our brothers and sisters begin to walk across on dry land but it wasn’t enough to cause us to follow because the land on this side was good for our own purposes and we continue to do the same thing today. Oh, we receive some blessings but we never achieve the richness of His blessings because we refuse to cross the river. We refuse to sacrifice our own wants and desires required to receive the full inheritance that awaits us and therefore the ones who we send across the river to help, receive our blessings, they receive the rewards that God had intended for us and thereby we will stand before Him empty-handed, achieving the promise by the skin of our teeth only. John tells us of those who receive the inheritance, saving their lives only. He tells of the tears that will be shed for a thousand years because of the lack of service to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and the countless numbers of lives that were lost because we refused to cross the Jordan.
I am reminded of the movie “The Mummy” in 1999 with Brendan Fraser. During one of the scenes the boat that they are on catches fire during a battle. There are two groups attempting to reach the destination of a dig, as the boat starts to sink both groups jump into the river and swim for safety. We see them both reach land when one hollers out, “O’Connell, it looks like we have all the horses.” O’Connell replies, “Benny, it looks like you’re on the wrong side of the river.” Benny looks around and realizes that they are on the wrong side. We have all of our possessions, we go to church every Sunday and we holler out, it looks like we got all the horses, to a lost and dying world, thinking that if they could just be like us, then they wouldn’t have the problems they have, but Jesus his calling back, your on the wrong side of the river, to be in complete obedience to me you have to leave everything over there and cross over in order to receive the full inheritance I have in store for you.
He never promised them that it would be easy, in fact He told Paul that He would show him all that he must suffer for His name sake, but his inheritance would come not here but when he reached his final destination, when he would see Him in heaven, the true promise land. The difficulty is not found in the task but in the completion of the task. There was just as good of pasture on the other side of the Jordan but it was what might await them there that kept them from crossing. They had already won some battles over here, they had already defeated some of their enemies and those who they had not done battle with had known what happened to those who they had defeated but those on the other side probably did not know nor would they give in without a battle and they might just lose what possessions they already had, so the thought was why risk it? The early church experienced the same thing, just as we do today and the one thing that has plagued us has been the infiltration of the enemy and our unwillingness to remove him from the church because after all it sounds good. It is enough to just send our men at arms while we stay here where the battles have already been fought and then as Samson watched as the Israelites went into the city of Gaza without any judgment falling upon them we watch as the world slowly moves into our churches and sets up housekeeping and before you know it we are walking into their gates without being noticed because they have seen our kind before. Oh, and by the way did you know that so and so goes to church on Sundays? Then before you know it the power is gone and the enemy has your eyes put out and you spend the rest of your life going around in circles amusing the crowd until one day He returns and exacts His judgments upon the earth.
It is true that those who crossed over eventually disobeyed God and He allowed them to fall into captivity; it is true that many of the early churches disobeyed and allowed false teachers to spread their deceits without hindrance and it is true that many once strong churches have all but lost their power, it is equally true that God will exact His judgment upon all, judging us by His standards and not ours.
“It looks like we got all the horses.” “It looks like you’re on the wrong side of the river” Ask yourself, which are you hollering?
Monday, March 23, 2009
A Time of Silence
A Time of Silence
Before the birth of Christ we are told that there was around 400 years or so of silence. Many things were happening in the world but God was silent. There were no new prophecies being foretold because He was preparing for the coming of His Son, the greatest gift of all and with the anticipation of His coming how could anyone recognize it if He was providing new prophecies as well? Oh, I am sure that Satan was hard at work providing his own prophecies in order to avert the attention of others away from this special moment but God had His own plan and that was to not alert them anymore than He had already done in scripture. We saw few who were actually paying attention to the signs that He had shown for this tremendous occasion and it stands to reason that He will accomplish the second coming of His Son in the same manner. After all we are told in scripture that it will be as in the days of Noah. We will be going on with life as usual; eating, drinking, marrying, going to work and doing all the things that preoccupy our time and keep us from seeing the signs that God has displayed for us. We get wrapped up in these so called prophetic messages spoken by mere men, which many do not even compare with scripture at all. This is the first sign for us that we need not listen to these things. What we need to do is to search God's word, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Jesus said that many would come in His name, who are not His to draw away the very elect. I have myself remained somewhat silent as of late because I see many brothers and sisters while claiming one thing go chasing after another thing. We have a popularity contest going where we attempt to gain as many friends as possible but we do not cultivate the friendships we have and I am as much to blame as the next person. There are very few people who even read these blogs which in some cases is a good thing because we have false doctrine being passed out as sound doctrine. I remained silent because I have been in His word and in study of many things that I have read in order to understand better at how to provide an answer regarding the Hope that I have. It is not enough for us to answer with scripture or claim it is because the Bible say's so nor is it enough to claim blind faith because our faith is not blind. Our faith is based upon the evidence that He has provided for us since He spoke the earth into form. Our faith is based upon logic which surpasses man's own logic for as the Creator of logic, He can confound the thoughts of man. I have remained silent because I have been led to do so, as Paul could not but go into Jerusalem regardless of the warnings he received from others regarding the fate that awaited him there. I remained silent because I knew that until I had a better understanding of what we faced I would not be able to see it nor could I answer in the way that God would intend me to answer. In many cities Paul merely passed through or spent little time therein because God laid it upon his heart when to remain silent and when to speak the loudest. As he left behind those Ceasera to go into Jerusalem he provided the greatest example to those of us who would come after him. It was the example that Christ had provided before him and one that many of us will also provide to those who will come after us. Regardless of what lies ahead we cannot but proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ for there is no other name under heaven whereby you may be saved. The silence may not end in some places because there is no sense in casting pearls before the swine but in the cities and places where they are willing to hear the silence will be broken and the gospel proclaimed. Our warning is of woe because we have heard the word, we have seen the light therefore our punishment will be greater than those who have not heard or seen it.
Mat 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Mat 11:22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
Mat 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Mat 11:24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
I speak now only to those who are willing to hear, those who know the word of God and who are willing to compare spiritual with spiritual and those who are willing to put God's words above mans. I ask that you also speak. Surrender your will to His will and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in all that you do and say. To those who will not listen or insist on promoting mans ideas and words, those who share words that are not consistent with His word I remind you what He says about these things. I do not repeat them for if you are in the Word you know these things and if you do not know these things then you are not in His word. I will not do battle with you for it is not up to me but it is in Christ's hands. He does the battle for me and if you sit there as Judas and ask 'Is it me Lord?' simply turn the words around for they reveal the truth. 'It is me Lord.' He knows who is His and who is not and you know in your heart the truth, just as Judas knew. Regardless of the miracles he was apart of, regardless of the work that he did; both he and Jesus knew that he was not of Him. The opportunity was there for him to become His, Christ did not need him to accomplish these things because He freely gave Himself. He did not cower in the Garden but approached them as they came in asking who they sought. Just as the opportunity arose for Judas to betray Him so the opportunity will also arise for those of you who merely go through the motions to deny Him as well. The question is what choice will you make or the real question is have you gone past the point of making the right choice.
Before the birth of Christ we are told that there was around 400 years or so of silence. Many things were happening in the world but God was silent. There were no new prophecies being foretold because He was preparing for the coming of His Son, the greatest gift of all and with the anticipation of His coming how could anyone recognize it if He was providing new prophecies as well? Oh, I am sure that Satan was hard at work providing his own prophecies in order to avert the attention of others away from this special moment but God had His own plan and that was to not alert them anymore than He had already done in scripture. We saw few who were actually paying attention to the signs that He had shown for this tremendous occasion and it stands to reason that He will accomplish the second coming of His Son in the same manner. After all we are told in scripture that it will be as in the days of Noah. We will be going on with life as usual; eating, drinking, marrying, going to work and doing all the things that preoccupy our time and keep us from seeing the signs that God has displayed for us. We get wrapped up in these so called prophetic messages spoken by mere men, which many do not even compare with scripture at all. This is the first sign for us that we need not listen to these things. What we need to do is to search God's word, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Jesus said that many would come in His name, who are not His to draw away the very elect. I have myself remained somewhat silent as of late because I see many brothers and sisters while claiming one thing go chasing after another thing. We have a popularity contest going where we attempt to gain as many friends as possible but we do not cultivate the friendships we have and I am as much to blame as the next person. There are very few people who even read these blogs which in some cases is a good thing because we have false doctrine being passed out as sound doctrine. I remained silent because I have been in His word and in study of many things that I have read in order to understand better at how to provide an answer regarding the Hope that I have. It is not enough for us to answer with scripture or claim it is because the Bible say's so nor is it enough to claim blind faith because our faith is not blind. Our faith is based upon the evidence that He has provided for us since He spoke the earth into form. Our faith is based upon logic which surpasses man's own logic for as the Creator of logic, He can confound the thoughts of man. I have remained silent because I have been led to do so, as Paul could not but go into Jerusalem regardless of the warnings he received from others regarding the fate that awaited him there. I remained silent because I knew that until I had a better understanding of what we faced I would not be able to see it nor could I answer in the way that God would intend me to answer. In many cities Paul merely passed through or spent little time therein because God laid it upon his heart when to remain silent and when to speak the loudest. As he left behind those Ceasera to go into Jerusalem he provided the greatest example to those of us who would come after him. It was the example that Christ had provided before him and one that many of us will also provide to those who will come after us. Regardless of what lies ahead we cannot but proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ for there is no other name under heaven whereby you may be saved. The silence may not end in some places because there is no sense in casting pearls before the swine but in the cities and places where they are willing to hear the silence will be broken and the gospel proclaimed. Our warning is of woe because we have heard the word, we have seen the light therefore our punishment will be greater than those who have not heard or seen it.
Mat 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Mat 11:22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
Mat 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Mat 11:24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
I speak now only to those who are willing to hear, those who know the word of God and who are willing to compare spiritual with spiritual and those who are willing to put God's words above mans. I ask that you also speak. Surrender your will to His will and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in all that you do and say. To those who will not listen or insist on promoting mans ideas and words, those who share words that are not consistent with His word I remind you what He says about these things. I do not repeat them for if you are in the Word you know these things and if you do not know these things then you are not in His word. I will not do battle with you for it is not up to me but it is in Christ's hands. He does the battle for me and if you sit there as Judas and ask 'Is it me Lord?' simply turn the words around for they reveal the truth. 'It is me Lord.' He knows who is His and who is not and you know in your heart the truth, just as Judas knew. Regardless of the miracles he was apart of, regardless of the work that he did; both he and Jesus knew that he was not of Him. The opportunity was there for him to become His, Christ did not need him to accomplish these things because He freely gave Himself. He did not cower in the Garden but approached them as they came in asking who they sought. Just as the opportunity arose for Judas to betray Him so the opportunity will also arise for those of you who merely go through the motions to deny Him as well. The question is what choice will you make or the real question is have you gone past the point of making the right choice.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Has Religion Changed?
Has Religion Changed?
Has religion changed or is it man who adjusted it to fit his own thought process. While it is true that organized religion has changed over the years the fact is that one thing has never changed and that is God’s plan and idea for mankind. As I have been reading over several papers, theories, lectures and books regarding the subject of religion, man’s reasoning and free thought, Origin of the Species, and anything else I can get my hands on I have come to the conclusion that we are all just a bunch of idiots. We have science on one hand based upon mans own perception of things, conducting experiments whose conclusions are determined by the same people performing them generating thesis as a fact based upon these conclusions and then several years later those facts are proven wrong by another group, which goes on and on. We use test to determine the age of the earth with data formulated by us and coming to conclusions that support the data that we input into the test and we all just eat it up. We buy into it because we need to believe in something and we believe that evidence to be absolute yet when fallacies are found we just as readily accept the new evidence. The same rationale that they use to promote their own theories and tear down those pertaining to God can be used to tear down their own rationalization because honestly I cannot see how it took millions of years for some vertebraed Pikaia to become what we are today. Furthermore I cannot see the logic in their determination of the evidence that they have or the logic in their debates against Christianity.
Of course we ourselves have aided them in this because we hold to the breakdown of the organized religion therefore agree with them that the protestant reformation was a deciding factor in the change when if we were to honestly look at it the same principles were implied at creation. It was His idea from creation that we follow the precepts He set forth, it is just that as our free will denied Him and disobeyed Him He had to tweak it in order that He not alter our free will. He wanted us to love and honor Him on our own and not because we had too. We aided them by altering scripture to make it fit a modern world thereby justifying the very principles that they claim against it. We aided them by using scripture to justify our motives for our own private battles and wars; when the very basis of wars while found in the Old Testament were not for selfish reasons. In each case the nation, that He had Israel conquer had practices that were detrimental to society, with most of them practicing human sacrifice the highest form of obscenity towards God. Consider for a moment the demise of the Aztec, Inca and Mayan people; each had forms of human sacrifice many of which were extremely brutal. Look at many of the indigenous tribes of South America where cannibalism was practiced and where warfare was prevalent many tribes we will never know about because they were annihilated just as many North American tribes were forced into extinction by us. It was not God’s people who caused the North American tragedy but the selfish greed of man. We move places we don’t need to be and then adjust the interpretation of scripture to fit our greed and I am not speaking about physical moving here but a degeneration of our own morality because we want what the world has just as the children of Israel wanted what these neighboring tribes had. Just as they worshipped the idols of the land so we too worship the idols of the land and our education does little more than encourage it. It deadens our senses to scripture and towards others because we’ve adopted their principles and then changed the scripture to fit the new principles that we have adopted. Then we argue that they are what God meant when He inspired the Word and because we are educated many buy right into it thinking that we know what we are talking about and all the while we are grieving the Holy Spirit who has gone from screaming at us to a silent voice that we couldn’t hear with the greatest technology and honestly we don’t want to hear anyways because it goes against how we were raised and what we were taught in college concerning economics one on one. I don’t think Christian speakers should have a set price for their seminars or speeches because it adds to the fire power against us when we have men asking for several thousand dollars to come preach. Many of these guys have agents who help set the price and I must ask as Mark Cahill, what is a soul worth? Is it worth the evidence that we fail to display in these actions? Is it worth your big home or your six digit income? Is it worth your business that you refuse to operate under His authority? Quite honestly I am sick of hearing the cases against us and seeing it for the truth of the situation. We did not come from the Catholic Church; they came from us. They infiltrated the body of Christ and distorted The Way for their own personal gain. They weren’t right from the beginning. They figured a way they could incorporate all the idolatrous practices of those around them to be able to draw them in and then devised a way to keep them there by indoctrinating the bondage of the law yet the Word did not die. It remained until the appropriate time and was revealed, yet while it was hidden for a period there were still those who were obedient to it. There were still those who denied the power of those false teachers who like Stephen would not be silent even to the point of death. It was not God’s doing but the free will of man and his selfish desire of power and pride but as long as there are those who will stand for Him, He will continue to fight their battles, like Enoch who did not die but was taken up alive, Noah who would not yield to the ways of the world even though everyone else was following their own free thought; their own reasoning and logic because after all it had never rained before and they had it all figured out. Joseph who refused to let his power control him like it had done many of his contemporaries or Daniel, or Nehemiah, Esther, David, Gideon, the eleven disciples or Paul.
We have aided them by our lack of knowledge to the point where they do studies to prove that religious people are less intelligent than those of non-religions. We aid them because many of us couldn’t pose a probable argument defending the evidence of our faith to save our lives and this shows them a lack of intelligence because who would believe in something that they did not understand. Faith in Him is based on the evidence received from the past, looking forward to the promises that are to come, providing hope in those promises. Yet because we cannot provide an intelligent answer we are perceived as ignorant and the reason we can’t provide this is because we haven’t worked out our faith. We’ve accepted the promise, and placed faith in the blood but as for the rest of it we are too busy living for ourselves to care about it or is it because we are as the parable of the soils? If so then what soil are we? If we are unable to provide an answer to the world how do we expect to be able to provide one for our children and before you say it is by our life please understand that what they grow up seeing in us had better be enough to withstand when they are in the world and it had better be firmly grounded in sound doctrine.
The logic of the world is not final and we have evidence for that based upon the flood because just as they rationalized with the fact that it had not rained before the One who had created caused it to rain and just as they claim that there is no God the One who created them will return again and He will judge them in their sin just as He had judged those during the flood. Just as He judged Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Lot and just as He judged Israel during their disobedience and as He will judge us based upon our works. We are justified by faith but we are rewarded by our works and this is where we have changed scripture to fit our failure to do so. While there are many out there who actually live his word they are in minority and those who do not are the ones who are changing religion to fit their own image of God. One who thinks like them and like the things they like while those in the world think they are god. Who can blame them when you consider that they logically came from a vertebrae billions of years ago.
Has religion changed or is it man who adjusted it to fit his own thought process. While it is true that organized religion has changed over the years the fact is that one thing has never changed and that is God’s plan and idea for mankind. As I have been reading over several papers, theories, lectures and books regarding the subject of religion, man’s reasoning and free thought, Origin of the Species, and anything else I can get my hands on I have come to the conclusion that we are all just a bunch of idiots. We have science on one hand based upon mans own perception of things, conducting experiments whose conclusions are determined by the same people performing them generating thesis as a fact based upon these conclusions and then several years later those facts are proven wrong by another group, which goes on and on. We use test to determine the age of the earth with data formulated by us and coming to conclusions that support the data that we input into the test and we all just eat it up. We buy into it because we need to believe in something and we believe that evidence to be absolute yet when fallacies are found we just as readily accept the new evidence. The same rationale that they use to promote their own theories and tear down those pertaining to God can be used to tear down their own rationalization because honestly I cannot see how it took millions of years for some vertebraed Pikaia to become what we are today. Furthermore I cannot see the logic in their determination of the evidence that they have or the logic in their debates against Christianity.
Of course we ourselves have aided them in this because we hold to the breakdown of the organized religion therefore agree with them that the protestant reformation was a deciding factor in the change when if we were to honestly look at it the same principles were implied at creation. It was His idea from creation that we follow the precepts He set forth, it is just that as our free will denied Him and disobeyed Him He had to tweak it in order that He not alter our free will. He wanted us to love and honor Him on our own and not because we had too. We aided them by altering scripture to make it fit a modern world thereby justifying the very principles that they claim against it. We aided them by using scripture to justify our motives for our own private battles and wars; when the very basis of wars while found in the Old Testament were not for selfish reasons. In each case the nation, that He had Israel conquer had practices that were detrimental to society, with most of them practicing human sacrifice the highest form of obscenity towards God. Consider for a moment the demise of the Aztec, Inca and Mayan people; each had forms of human sacrifice many of which were extremely brutal. Look at many of the indigenous tribes of South America where cannibalism was practiced and where warfare was prevalent many tribes we will never know about because they were annihilated just as many North American tribes were forced into extinction by us. It was not God’s people who caused the North American tragedy but the selfish greed of man. We move places we don’t need to be and then adjust the interpretation of scripture to fit our greed and I am not speaking about physical moving here but a degeneration of our own morality because we want what the world has just as the children of Israel wanted what these neighboring tribes had. Just as they worshipped the idols of the land so we too worship the idols of the land and our education does little more than encourage it. It deadens our senses to scripture and towards others because we’ve adopted their principles and then changed the scripture to fit the new principles that we have adopted. Then we argue that they are what God meant when He inspired the Word and because we are educated many buy right into it thinking that we know what we are talking about and all the while we are grieving the Holy Spirit who has gone from screaming at us to a silent voice that we couldn’t hear with the greatest technology and honestly we don’t want to hear anyways because it goes against how we were raised and what we were taught in college concerning economics one on one. I don’t think Christian speakers should have a set price for their seminars or speeches because it adds to the fire power against us when we have men asking for several thousand dollars to come preach. Many of these guys have agents who help set the price and I must ask as Mark Cahill, what is a soul worth? Is it worth the evidence that we fail to display in these actions? Is it worth your big home or your six digit income? Is it worth your business that you refuse to operate under His authority? Quite honestly I am sick of hearing the cases against us and seeing it for the truth of the situation. We did not come from the Catholic Church; they came from us. They infiltrated the body of Christ and distorted The Way for their own personal gain. They weren’t right from the beginning. They figured a way they could incorporate all the idolatrous practices of those around them to be able to draw them in and then devised a way to keep them there by indoctrinating the bondage of the law yet the Word did not die. It remained until the appropriate time and was revealed, yet while it was hidden for a period there were still those who were obedient to it. There were still those who denied the power of those false teachers who like Stephen would not be silent even to the point of death. It was not God’s doing but the free will of man and his selfish desire of power and pride but as long as there are those who will stand for Him, He will continue to fight their battles, like Enoch who did not die but was taken up alive, Noah who would not yield to the ways of the world even though everyone else was following their own free thought; their own reasoning and logic because after all it had never rained before and they had it all figured out. Joseph who refused to let his power control him like it had done many of his contemporaries or Daniel, or Nehemiah, Esther, David, Gideon, the eleven disciples or Paul.
We have aided them by our lack of knowledge to the point where they do studies to prove that religious people are less intelligent than those of non-religions. We aid them because many of us couldn’t pose a probable argument defending the evidence of our faith to save our lives and this shows them a lack of intelligence because who would believe in something that they did not understand. Faith in Him is based on the evidence received from the past, looking forward to the promises that are to come, providing hope in those promises. Yet because we cannot provide an intelligent answer we are perceived as ignorant and the reason we can’t provide this is because we haven’t worked out our faith. We’ve accepted the promise, and placed faith in the blood but as for the rest of it we are too busy living for ourselves to care about it or is it because we are as the parable of the soils? If so then what soil are we? If we are unable to provide an answer to the world how do we expect to be able to provide one for our children and before you say it is by our life please understand that what they grow up seeing in us had better be enough to withstand when they are in the world and it had better be firmly grounded in sound doctrine.
The logic of the world is not final and we have evidence for that based upon the flood because just as they rationalized with the fact that it had not rained before the One who had created caused it to rain and just as they claim that there is no God the One who created them will return again and He will judge them in their sin just as He had judged those during the flood. Just as He judged Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Lot and just as He judged Israel during their disobedience and as He will judge us based upon our works. We are justified by faith but we are rewarded by our works and this is where we have changed scripture to fit our failure to do so. While there are many out there who actually live his word they are in minority and those who do not are the ones who are changing religion to fit their own image of God. One who thinks like them and like the things they like while those in the world think they are god. Who can blame them when you consider that they logically came from a vertebrae billions of years ago.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Continuing The Hunt
The year was late 1981 and I was sitting in the middle of the woods on top of a hill. Below me I could hear the rumbling of the river to one side and every so often the bubbling of the brook that fed into the river. The moon was out but could barely be seen through the canopy of trees that covered the area. Even through this there was a stillness, a peace that confirmed everything would be okay. Unsure of what the future would hold for me, a young man in his junior year of high school. I no doubt had ideas of greatness, assured that there were things that I was meant to do, but fear surrounded me that I would not be able to accomplish them. As I listened to the rattling of the leaves caused most assuredly by some small creature I was reminded of how small I really was; just a insignificant country boy who came from a less than stellar family with no real accomplishments of their own so how could I accomplish anything. Suddenly in the distance I heard the sound of Duke, my young Walker coon dog baying. I sat there listening to his beautiful voice running that coon down, knowing that he would never actually catch it he continued anyways on the hunt. I laid back on the ground, shut my eyes and just listened to him. I don’t think I have ever heard a sound as wonderful as his voice since then. As he ran from one trail to another his voice would change confirming that he was on the right trail. By the end of the night he had finally got tired of running the trails and walked up beside me. We sat there for a few moments before he put his head in my lap and I scratched his head for a while before we finally headed home.
Not long after that I arrived home from school one afternoon to find an empty dog box and leash. In the middle of the day someone had stolen him from our yard but I never forgot that dog nor the sound of his voice. He had left an even greater impression on me with his determination. Even though he knew the coons would evade him by climbing a tree he still persisted in the hunt. He refused to give up even when the odds were against him and that is what has driven me all these years later. As I read the letters of Paul while he was in prison I am reminded of Duke. Tucked away in a Roman prison, chained to a guard Paul could not but praise God with prayer and song. I am sure that those around him were thinking him crazy but he persisted because it was not about him but Jesus Christ and because of that persistence many came to know Christ as their Lord and Savior. All too often we give up way too soon. Things get hard or maybe we are laughed at and we give up. The cares of the world overtake us and we get wrapped up in our own success and we give up. We get looked over for a promotion at work and get our feelings hurt and we give up. Oh we might still go to church on Sunday but we have given up living for Him. We hear the world denying him and we give up instead of getting on a new trail and continuing the hunt. We stop baying and give up, returning to the Master empty handed instead of continuing in the hunt until we can’t hunt any more. Stephen continued even while they threw stones at him and though he never saw the fruit of his message the young man holding the coats continued the hunt until he too was put to death.
Several years after Duke was stolen I was in the Air Force when I got a call from my dad. He called to say that while on his way home from work he had gone a different direction and had seen this dog in someone’s yard. After a few days he decided to stop and after he had gotten out of the car the dog recognized him and began jumping all over him. When the new owner came out to see what was going on my dad explained what had happened years before. The man could only acknowledge that the dog recognized my dad and offered to give him back to which my dad explained I was no longer around. This relieved the man as he told my dad that the dog had been the reigning night champion hunter for the past couple of years. Duke had never given up the hunt. “The harvest is plenty, but the labors are few, pray that the Master of the harvest would send laborers.”
Not long after that I arrived home from school one afternoon to find an empty dog box and leash. In the middle of the day someone had stolen him from our yard but I never forgot that dog nor the sound of his voice. He had left an even greater impression on me with his determination. Even though he knew the coons would evade him by climbing a tree he still persisted in the hunt. He refused to give up even when the odds were against him and that is what has driven me all these years later. As I read the letters of Paul while he was in prison I am reminded of Duke. Tucked away in a Roman prison, chained to a guard Paul could not but praise God with prayer and song. I am sure that those around him were thinking him crazy but he persisted because it was not about him but Jesus Christ and because of that persistence many came to know Christ as their Lord and Savior. All too often we give up way too soon. Things get hard or maybe we are laughed at and we give up. The cares of the world overtake us and we get wrapped up in our own success and we give up. We get looked over for a promotion at work and get our feelings hurt and we give up. Oh we might still go to church on Sunday but we have given up living for Him. We hear the world denying him and we give up instead of getting on a new trail and continuing the hunt. We stop baying and give up, returning to the Master empty handed instead of continuing in the hunt until we can’t hunt any more. Stephen continued even while they threw stones at him and though he never saw the fruit of his message the young man holding the coats continued the hunt until he too was put to death.
Several years after Duke was stolen I was in the Air Force when I got a call from my dad. He called to say that while on his way home from work he had gone a different direction and had seen this dog in someone’s yard. After a few days he decided to stop and after he had gotten out of the car the dog recognized him and began jumping all over him. When the new owner came out to see what was going on my dad explained what had happened years before. The man could only acknowledge that the dog recognized my dad and offered to give him back to which my dad explained I was no longer around. This relieved the man as he told my dad that the dog had been the reigning night champion hunter for the past couple of years. Duke had never given up the hunt. “The harvest is plenty, but the labors are few, pray that the Master of the harvest would send laborers.”
Sunday, February 8, 2009
What Love is This
What Love is This?
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Just how do we truly look at these verses? Do we truly love one another as Christ loved us or do we simply claim to love one another? I am sure that there are some emotional bonds between us and we consider this to be the fulfillment of that command but is it really what He meant? Does our love for one another go beyond the body of Christ and extend outward to those who we come into contact with or those who are in our community or perhaps standing on the corners holding up “will work for food signs.” Does our love extend out to those who are not of our race or sexual preference?
To fully understand the type of love that Christ was talking about here we have to forgo our own definition of love and look back throughout the entire Word of God to grasp His definition of love. We have to understand that the times He exacted punishment upon people it was because of their disobedience of remaining in sin. It was His hatred towards sin and not the people that exacted His vengeance and even in those cases He was longsuffering. He did not exact any judgment without first providing time for repentance nor did He do so without first providing an example of His goodness and love. As we look back through the Old Testament we can clearly see these examples being provided and the unwillingness of man to repent. It is mans decision to continue in disobedience that forces God to exact His judgment upon the children of disobedience and I believe we are seeing the many repercussions of our own disobedience today in and out of the church.
In Deuteronomy we are told to not withhold our hand from our poor brothers and that we are to give with a pure heart not looking for what we will get out of it, yet we have changed our perspective on our giving by placing requirements upon our giving. We change the rules to fit our own needs being more concerned for our own well being than that of others, yet if we consider carefully Christ’s words are we truly loving as He loved us. Look first at the promise made in Deuteronomy 15;
Deut. 15:10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
Before you claim it is of yourself let us remember His words in chapter 8;
Deut 8:10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Deut 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
Deut 8:12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
Deut 8:13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
Deut 8:14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
Deut 8:15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
Deut 8:16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
Deut. 8:17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
Deut. 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
Deut. 8:19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
Originally I intended to only put verses 17 through 19 in here but as I read the verses again I felt the need to put the preceding ones in because they hold so much relevance to our actions today. I myself have found my family in situations that we were unable to obtain income for a period of time and while many knew of the situation we had no offers of help in those situations. After losing my job we started a business, in a field that I had previously had a business in before we met. There are many people in our church who are in the same industry who could have helped provide contacts or even business for us because our business is the service side of the industry and yet no one has bothered to attempt to help. Before I go on it is not merely me who is seeing this but many others in our church and in churches all across the nation. Yet every Sunday we put on the display of loving on each other. We put on our fake smiles and hug each other and do nothing else to reach out to those who are hurting amongst us. We forget that God gave us these things not just for our benefit but so that we could help meet the needs of others that through us they might see the love of Christ.
When the children of Israel prepared to take Jericho, Joshua sent spies into the city and they went to a woman who was known as a harlot who hid them. When they arrived at her house she told them how they had heard all the things that their God had done and how the people were afraid, yet she was the only one who repented. Because of her actions God had spared her. God uses the actions of others to display His love and grace. Jericho could have been taken many years earlier but because of the disobedience of the children of Israel they were given another 40 years to turn from their wickedness and yet during that time only one family did so. As we go around preaching the love of God to others unless they see it in us first they cannot fully understand it. They are like Rahab the harlot who has heard of all these things that God has done. They are like the rest of Jericho who has heard it and are fearful but not willing to turn from their wickedness, yet when someone comes in and shares the goodness of God with them and then the time comes that they go and pull then out of the rubble and allows them to dwell with them within the encampment and not at the outside edges of the camp then there is no telling what God will do with that person for through the lineage of Rahab came the greatest king of the Jewish people and from him came the promised Messiah. (Matt. 1:5) We see the love of Christ being displayed at the church during Pentecost and God adding to the church by the thousands. They met the continual needs of those who could not work and helped those who could by providing for them until they were able to provide for themselves.
Consider for a moment the story of Ruth and Boaz. Again we have a women outside of the children of Israel being shown the love of God through the actions of Boaz and while she might have received even better treatment than others the fact was that they purposely left food in the field so that the poor could glean from it in order to provide food for their house hold. Over and over again we see the display of love reveals the love of Christ and draws others to Him. It is not a one time action which is why we seldom see people come to church when we pay a utility bill or help with their rent. It is continual, by continuing to meet physical needs and spiritual needs. Perhaps they have lost their job and need help finding a new one, it is then providing work for them while they search out new employment or perhaps watching their children while they look for work or while they attend classes to increase their education so they can get a better job or by training them in a different position at your own company whatever the case is, if they see it as a constant in our actions toward them then they see Christ’s love through us and this is the love that He first showed us. It is the love that kept him from wiping us off the face of the earth while we were in our disobedience. It is the love that continued to call us to Him even when we continually refused His calling and it is the love that, even while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. It is the love that reveals that we are His disciples. It is the love that is lacking and so desperately needed now during these trying times that we are facing. It is the love that will possibly lead to another great revival and help usher in the second coming of Christ. How sad it would be to not be obedient in these times when He could do a great work through and allow countless millions to pass into utter darkness because of our refusal to obey Christ.
You see it is a love of sacrifice. Rahab sacrificed her own lustful desires, Ruth sacrificed her pride, and Christ sacrificed His position in heaven to take on the form of man and then provided His body as a sacrifice for our sins, to pay the penalty for our disobedience, our sins against a just and holy God. He who knew no sin became sin that we might be redeemed. Then in the greatest of victories He defeated death so that we might have eternal life through Him. We have denied sacrifice to be a part of the love that we are supposed to show others because honestly the lack of sacrifice permits us to justify our own lusts, particularly greed. It is basic human nature to gather up for themselves over and above their needs. This was the reason that God had commanded the Israelites to only gather what they needed for the day when He provided the manna from heaven, it was to teach them that they could survive by allowing Him to provide and yet when they reached the promise land they soon forgot these lessons. We have allowed people to come in and teach supposed biblical aspects to financial freedoms and a prosperity message because we all strive to have more. None of us truly want to be in debt or unable to provide sufficiently for our families but the truth is that the bible is clear regarding what we earn and that message is it all belongs to God. His command to not withhold from the poor was not part of His 10% but part of what was left over. It was not that we give to the co-op and let them hand it out as they saw fit but to give it as He led us to give it. It was not to go to the church to help meet the needs of others that we might have met but for us to open our pockets to them ourselves first and then let the church know so we could meet together and determine how else we could help them.
We are reaching the time when we are very vulnerable to outside influence because of the status of the country. We have already been hearing the voices of others who claim that Christians are a prejudiced religion and that their lack of love towards other religions is well documented in the Bible. As we look at the condition of this country and the lack of morals that are being flaunted in public we have got to recognize that it is time to get back to the unconditional love of Christ. It is important because we are facing the same circumstances now that Europe faced when communism took power and if you do not believe me then read this exert from a minister who was at the meeting in Romania when they began the congress of churches.
Once the Communists came to power, they skillfully used the means of seduction toward the Church. The language of love and the language of seduction are the same. The one who wishes a girl for a wife and the one who wishes her for only a night both say the words, “I love you.” Jesus has told us to discern between the language of seduction and the language of love, and to know the wolves clad in sheepskin from the real sheep. Unfortunately, when the Communists came to power, thousands of priests, pastors, and ministers did not know how to discern between the two voices.
The Communists convened a con¬gress of all Christian bodies in our Parliament building. There were four thousand priests, pastors, and ministers of all denominations—and these men of God chose Joseph Stalin as honorary president of this congress. At the same time he was president of the World Movement of the Godless and a mass murderer of Christians. One after another, bishops and pastors arose and declared that communism and Christianity are fundamentally the same and could coexist. One minister after another said words of praise toward communism and assured the new government of the loyalty of the Church.
My wife and I were present at this congress. Sabina told me, “Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ! They are spitting in His face.” I said to her, “If I do so, you lose your husband.” She replied, “I don’t wish to have a coward as a husband.”
Then I arose and spoke to this congress, praising not the murderers of Christians, but Jesus Christ, stating that our loyalty is due first to Him. The speeches at this congress were broad¬cast and the whole country could hear proclaimed from the rostrum of the Communist Parliament the message of Christ! Afterward I had to pay for this, but it was worthwhile.
We are already seeing many one time strong denominations crumble to the whims of the people. They are denying the inerrancy of the scriptures and the deity of Christ in order to gain a larger congregation and to align themselves with those who will come into power. The approval of same sex marriages will provide them the power to create laws that will silence many churches. Yet there will be a few who will still stand for the word of God and continue to preach against sin. The truth is that the preaching against sin is not being prejudiced against a group of individuals and this is the love we need to remember. While Christ preached against sin He loved the sinner and showed it in His actions. He was not tolerant of their sins because tolerance would mean that He kept quiet about it, therefore showing approval of it. No, He spoke loudly against sin but even louder regarding His love towards them. This He did by eating with them and healing their ailments. He did not condemn them but revealed that they were condemned already; the women at the well and the women caught in adultery are examples of this. Yet we pass over these examples quickly because we; like the Pharisees consider ourselves as better than these lowly sinners and this is the reason that the world has been able to convince so many to turn from Christ and we go right along with it because it keeps us from having to reach out to others.
The conditions surrounding us today is preparation for yet another dark time in history. We are at the edge of persecution as never seen before in our own country. We have people in power who can convince many that the watering down of scripture or the total elimination as them as the inerrant Word of God is necessary to insure world peace and peace within our own nation. And with the passing of recent laws we are insured that this will soon come to pass if spoken against, with the justification being that we as Christians are a prejudiced religion responsible for ethnic cleansing throughout history. Hate crime bills we be passed in attempt to silence the word of God and they will justify their own hatred towards us based upon these laws.
Oswald Spengler wrote in Decline of the West:
You are dying. I see in you all the characteristic stigma of decay. I can prove that your great wealth and your great poverty, your capitalism and your socialism, your wars and your revolutions, your atheism and your ¬pessimism and your cynicism, your immorality, your broken-down marriages, your birth-control, that is bleeding you from the bottom and killing you off at the top in your brains—can prove to you that there are characteristic marks of the dying ages of ancient states—Alexandria and Greece and neurotic Rome.
This was written in 1926. Since then, democracy and civilization have died already in half of Europe and even as far as Cuba. Much of the West sleeps.
To those who think science proves anything; (exerts from trials during persecution in Europe)
“Your religion is anti-scientific,” the judge taunted at another trial, to which the accused girl—a student—answered, “Do you know more science than Einstein? Than Newton? They were believers. Our universe bears Einstein’s name. I have learned in high school that its name is the Einsteinian universe. Einstein writes: ‘If we cleanse the Judaism of the prophets and Chris¬tianity as Jesus has taught it from what came afterwards, especially from priestcraft, we have a religion which can save the world from all social evils. It is the holy duty of every man to do his utmost to bring this religion to triumph.’ And re¬mem¬ber our great physiologist Pav¬lov! Do not our books say that he was a Christian? Even Marx, in his preface to Das Kap¬i¬tal, said that ‘Chris-tian¬ity, especially in its Prot¬es¬tant form, is the ideal religion for remaking characters destroyed by sin.’ I had a character destroyed by sin. Marx has taught me to be¬come a Chris¬tian in order to remake it. How can you, Marx¬ists, judge me for this?”
It is easy to understand why the judge remained speechless.
To the same accusation of having an anti-scientific religion, a Christian answered before the court: “I am sure, Mr. Judge, that you are not such a great scientist as Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform and many other medicines. When asked which he considered to be his greatest discovery, he answered: ‘It was not chloroform. My greatest discovery has been to know that I am a sinner and that I could be saved by the grace of God.’”
Christians in some of the former Soviet Republics are still persecuted today. In restricted nations worldwide, the Christians of the Underground Church are suffering today more than ever before. It is estimated that approximately 160,000 Chris¬tians were martyred in 1997.
The only sadness that should scream out of our heart is the sadness that we have not done more before now. It should be that we have allowed so many to reject Christ because of our actions. The sadness should lead us to repentance and a bolder approach to those within and without the body of Christ. The truth of our own condition may come sooner rather than later and when it does come where will you stand?
Following are three letters from Maria, a Christian girl who led Varia, a member of the Communist Youth Organization, to Christ.
First letter
...I continue to live here. I am very beloved. I am beloved also by a member of the cell of the Komsomol [the Communist Youth Organization]. She told me, “I cannot understand what a being you are. Here many insult and hurt you and yet you love all.” I answered that God has taught us to love all, not only friends, but also enemies. Before, this girl did much harm to me, but I prayed for her with special concern. When she asked me if I can love her, too, I embraced her and we both began to weep. Now, we pray together.
Please, pray for her. Her name is Varia.
When you listen to those who loudly deny God, it seems that they really mean it. But life shows that many of them, although they curse God with their lips, in their hearts have a great longing. And you hear the groaning of the heart...They seek something and wish to cover their inner emptiness with their godlessness.
Your sister in Christ, Maria
Second letter
In my former letter I wrote you about the atheist girl, Varia. Now I hurry to tell you, my beloved ones, about our great joy: Varia has received Christ as her personal Savior, witnessing openly to everyone about this.
When she believed in Christ and knew the gladness of salvation, she, at the same time, felt very unhappy. She was un¬happy, because before she had propagated that there is no God. Now she has decided to atone for her guilt.
We went together to the assembly of the godless. Although I warned her to be reserved, it was useless. Varia went and I went with her to see what would happen. After the common singing of the Communist hymn (singing in which Varia did not participate), she came forward before the whole assembly. Courageously and with much feeling, she witnessed to those gathered about Christ as her Savior and asked her former comrades for forgiveness that she had had her spiritual eyes closed until then and had not seen that she herself was going to per¬dition and leading others toward it. She implored all to give up the way of sin and to come to Christ.
All became silent and no one interrupted her. When she finished speaking, she sang with her splendid voice the whole Christian hymn: “I am not ashamed to proclaim the Christ who died to defend His commandments and the power of His cross.”
And afterwards...afterwards they took away our Varia.
Today it is the ninth of May. We know nothing about her. But God is powerful to save her. Pray!
Your Maria
Third letter
Yesterday, the second of August, I had a talk in prison with our beloved Varia. My heart bleeds when I think about her. In fact she is still a child. She is only nineteen years of age. As a believer in the Lord, she is also a spiritual babe. But she loves the Lord with all her heart and went at once on the difficult way. The poor girl is so hungry. When we knew that she was in prison, we began to send her parcels. But she received only little of what was sent to her.
When I saw her yesterday, she was thin, pale, beaten. Only the eyes shone with the peace of God and with an unearthly joy.
Yes, my dear ones, those who have not experienced the won¬derful peace of Christ cannot understand it...But how happy are those who have this peace...For us who are in Christ no sufferings and frustrations should stop us...
I asked through the iron bars: “Varia, don’t you regret what you did?” “No,” she answered. “And if they would free me, I would go again and would tell them about the great love of Christ. Don’t think that I suffer. I am very glad that the Lord loves me so much and gives me the joy to endure for His name.”
I beg that you pray for her. She will probably be sent to Siberia. They have taken away her clothes and all of her things. She has remained without anything, except what is on her. She has no relatives and we must collect for the most necessary things. I have put apart the last sum which you sent me. If Varia is deported, I will hand it to her. I believe that God will strengthen her and will give her power to en-dure in the future, too. May God keep her!
Your Maria
Fourth letter
Dear Maria, at last I am able to write you. We arrived well at [loca¬tion omitted]. Our camp is ten miles from town. I cannot de¬scribe our life. You know it. I wish to write only a little about me. I thank God that He gives me health and that I can work physically. Sister X and I were put to work in a work¬shop where we work at machines. The work is difficult and Sister X’s health is bad. I must work for both her and me. I finish my work first and then I help my sister. We work twelve to thirteen hours a day. Our food is just as yours, very scarce. But it is not about this that I wished to write to you.
My heart praises and thanks God that, through you, He showed me the way to salvation. Now, being on this way, my life has a purpose and I know where to go and for whom I suffer. I feel the desire to tell and to witness to everybody about the great joy of salvation that I have in my heart. Who can separate us from the love of God in Christ? Nobody and nothing. Neither prison nor suffering. The sufferings that God sends us only strengthen us more and more in the faith in Him. My heart is so full that the grace of God overflows. At work, they curse and punish me, giving me extra work because I cannot be silent. I must tell everyone what the Lord has done for me. He has made me a new being, a new creation, of me who was on the way of perdition. Can I be silent after this? No, never! As long as my lips can speak, I will witness to every one about His great love.
On the way to the camp, we met with many brethren and sisters in Christ. How amazing it is that you feel through the Spirit that they are children of God when you first see the brethren and the sisters. It is useless to speak. From the first look you feel and know who they are.
While we were on the way to the camp, at one railway station, a woman came, gave us food and said only two words: “God lives.”
The first evening when we arrived here (it was late), we were taken to underground barracks. We greeted those present with the words, “Peace with you.” To our great joy, from all corners we heard the answer, “We receive you with peace.” And from the first evening we felt that we are in a family.
Yes, it was really so. Here there are many who believe in Christ as their personal Savior. More than half of the prisoners are believers. We have among us great singers and good preachers of the gospel. In the evening, when we all gather after heavy work, how wonderful it is to pass at least some time together in prayer at the feet of our Savior. With Christ there is freedom every¬where. I learned here many beautiful hymns and every day God gives me more and more of His Word. At the age of nineteen, I celebrated the birthday of Christ for the first time. Never will I forget this wonderful day! We had to work the whole day long. But some of our brethren were able to go to the river nearby. There they broke the ice and prepared the place where, during the night—according to the Word of God—seven brethren and I were baptized. Oh, how happy I am and how I would like that you, Maria, should be with me, too, that I may atone at least a little bit, through my love toward you for the wrong I committed in times past against you. But God puts every one of us in His place and we must stand firm where God has put us.
Give greetings to the whole family of God’s children. God will richly bless your common work, as He blessed me, too. Read Heb_12:1-3.
All our brethren greet you and are glad that your faith in God is so powerful and that you praise Him in your sufferings unceasingly. If you write to others, tell them our greetings.
Yours, Varia
Fifth letter
Dear Maria, at last I have found the opportunity to write you a few lines. I can tell you, my dear one, that, by the grace of God, Sister X and I are healthy and feel well. We are now in [location omitted].
I thank you for your motherly care for me. We received all you have prepared for us. I thank you for the most valuable thing, the Bible. Thanks to all. When you write to them, send my greetings and thanks for what they have done for me.
Since the Lord revealed to me the deep mystery of His holy love, I consider myself to be the happiest in the world. The persecutions that I have to endure I consider as a special grace. I am glad that the Lord gave me from the first days of my faith the great happiness to suffer for Him. Pray for me that I may remain faithful to the Lord to the end.
May the Lord keep you all and strengthen you for the holy battle!
Sister X and I kiss you all. When we are sent to [location omitted] perhaps we will have the opportunity to write to you again. Don’t worry about us. We are glad and joyful, because our reward in heaven is great (Mat_5:11-12).
Your Varia
This is the last letter from Varia—the young Communist girl who found Christ, witnessed about Him, and was sentenced to slave labor. She was never heard from again, but her beautiful love and witness for Christ shows the spiritual beauty of the suffering, faithful Underground Church.
If this is the testimony of a young believer, one must ask, where are we failing? How many of us will be willing to stand for Him in the midst of persecution regardless of the outcome? There are many more stories regarding those who have been persecuted but I will only share one more with you.
A pastor by the name of Florescu was tortured with red-hot iron pokers and with knives. He was beaten very badly. Then starving rats were driven into his cell through a large pipe. He could not sleep because he had to defend himself all the time. If he rested a moment, the rats would attack him.
He was forced to stand for two weeks, day and night. The Communists wished to compel him to betray his brethren, but he resisted steadfastly. Eventually, they brought his fourteen-year-old son to the prison and began to whip the boy in front of his father, saying that they would continue to beat him until the pastor said what they wished him to say. The poor man was half mad. He bore it as long as he could, then he cried to his son, “Alexander, I must say what they want! I can’t bear your beating anymore!” The son answered, “Father, don’t do me the injustice of having a traitor as a parent. Withstand! If they kill me, I will die with the words, ‘Jesus and my fatherland.’” The Communists, enraged, fell upon the child and beat him to death, with blood spattered over the walls of the cell. He died praising God. Our dear brother Florescu was never the same after seeing this.
This is the love of Christ exemplified by those who believe in Him. It is the willingness to sacrifice all things that His love might be shown to others. There is no accounting for how many have come to know Christ through the actions of others who were not afraid to stand for Him. Because they face constant persecution they understand the need for sacrifice concerning love. They give regardless of their own situation because it is what Christ has asked them to do and not what man expects them to do. If we were to do the same thing today what do you think the result would be in our surrounding communities? If we went out into the community and helped feed those who are hungry and I am not talking about just one meal or if we fixed their houses for them or helped clothe their kids and we did this on a regular basis while sharing Christ with them. If we took the young boys who did not have father figures and included them in on our time with our own boys and the mothers with the girls and we showed them the love of Christ in our actions and how He works in our lives what kind of response do you think we would have in our communities? We can do this now if we begin to sacrifice our own wants and desires and begin to heed His or we can wait for full persecution to come and see who is really willing to stand for their faith in Jesus Christ.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Just how do we truly look at these verses? Do we truly love one another as Christ loved us or do we simply claim to love one another? I am sure that there are some emotional bonds between us and we consider this to be the fulfillment of that command but is it really what He meant? Does our love for one another go beyond the body of Christ and extend outward to those who we come into contact with or those who are in our community or perhaps standing on the corners holding up “will work for food signs.” Does our love extend out to those who are not of our race or sexual preference?
To fully understand the type of love that Christ was talking about here we have to forgo our own definition of love and look back throughout the entire Word of God to grasp His definition of love. We have to understand that the times He exacted punishment upon people it was because of their disobedience of remaining in sin. It was His hatred towards sin and not the people that exacted His vengeance and even in those cases He was longsuffering. He did not exact any judgment without first providing time for repentance nor did He do so without first providing an example of His goodness and love. As we look back through the Old Testament we can clearly see these examples being provided and the unwillingness of man to repent. It is mans decision to continue in disobedience that forces God to exact His judgment upon the children of disobedience and I believe we are seeing the many repercussions of our own disobedience today in and out of the church.
In Deuteronomy we are told to not withhold our hand from our poor brothers and that we are to give with a pure heart not looking for what we will get out of it, yet we have changed our perspective on our giving by placing requirements upon our giving. We change the rules to fit our own needs being more concerned for our own well being than that of others, yet if we consider carefully Christ’s words are we truly loving as He loved us. Look first at the promise made in Deuteronomy 15;
Deut. 15:10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
Before you claim it is of yourself let us remember His words in chapter 8;
Deut 8:10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Deut 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
Deut 8:12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
Deut 8:13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
Deut 8:14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
Deut 8:15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
Deut 8:16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
Deut. 8:17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
Deut. 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
Deut. 8:19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
Originally I intended to only put verses 17 through 19 in here but as I read the verses again I felt the need to put the preceding ones in because they hold so much relevance to our actions today. I myself have found my family in situations that we were unable to obtain income for a period of time and while many knew of the situation we had no offers of help in those situations. After losing my job we started a business, in a field that I had previously had a business in before we met. There are many people in our church who are in the same industry who could have helped provide contacts or even business for us because our business is the service side of the industry and yet no one has bothered to attempt to help. Before I go on it is not merely me who is seeing this but many others in our church and in churches all across the nation. Yet every Sunday we put on the display of loving on each other. We put on our fake smiles and hug each other and do nothing else to reach out to those who are hurting amongst us. We forget that God gave us these things not just for our benefit but so that we could help meet the needs of others that through us they might see the love of Christ.
When the children of Israel prepared to take Jericho, Joshua sent spies into the city and they went to a woman who was known as a harlot who hid them. When they arrived at her house she told them how they had heard all the things that their God had done and how the people were afraid, yet she was the only one who repented. Because of her actions God had spared her. God uses the actions of others to display His love and grace. Jericho could have been taken many years earlier but because of the disobedience of the children of Israel they were given another 40 years to turn from their wickedness and yet during that time only one family did so. As we go around preaching the love of God to others unless they see it in us first they cannot fully understand it. They are like Rahab the harlot who has heard of all these things that God has done. They are like the rest of Jericho who has heard it and are fearful but not willing to turn from their wickedness, yet when someone comes in and shares the goodness of God with them and then the time comes that they go and pull then out of the rubble and allows them to dwell with them within the encampment and not at the outside edges of the camp then there is no telling what God will do with that person for through the lineage of Rahab came the greatest king of the Jewish people and from him came the promised Messiah. (Matt. 1:5) We see the love of Christ being displayed at the church during Pentecost and God adding to the church by the thousands. They met the continual needs of those who could not work and helped those who could by providing for them until they were able to provide for themselves.
Consider for a moment the story of Ruth and Boaz. Again we have a women outside of the children of Israel being shown the love of God through the actions of Boaz and while she might have received even better treatment than others the fact was that they purposely left food in the field so that the poor could glean from it in order to provide food for their house hold. Over and over again we see the display of love reveals the love of Christ and draws others to Him. It is not a one time action which is why we seldom see people come to church when we pay a utility bill or help with their rent. It is continual, by continuing to meet physical needs and spiritual needs. Perhaps they have lost their job and need help finding a new one, it is then providing work for them while they search out new employment or perhaps watching their children while they look for work or while they attend classes to increase their education so they can get a better job or by training them in a different position at your own company whatever the case is, if they see it as a constant in our actions toward them then they see Christ’s love through us and this is the love that He first showed us. It is the love that kept him from wiping us off the face of the earth while we were in our disobedience. It is the love that continued to call us to Him even when we continually refused His calling and it is the love that, even while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. It is the love that reveals that we are His disciples. It is the love that is lacking and so desperately needed now during these trying times that we are facing. It is the love that will possibly lead to another great revival and help usher in the second coming of Christ. How sad it would be to not be obedient in these times when He could do a great work through and allow countless millions to pass into utter darkness because of our refusal to obey Christ.
You see it is a love of sacrifice. Rahab sacrificed her own lustful desires, Ruth sacrificed her pride, and Christ sacrificed His position in heaven to take on the form of man and then provided His body as a sacrifice for our sins, to pay the penalty for our disobedience, our sins against a just and holy God. He who knew no sin became sin that we might be redeemed. Then in the greatest of victories He defeated death so that we might have eternal life through Him. We have denied sacrifice to be a part of the love that we are supposed to show others because honestly the lack of sacrifice permits us to justify our own lusts, particularly greed. It is basic human nature to gather up for themselves over and above their needs. This was the reason that God had commanded the Israelites to only gather what they needed for the day when He provided the manna from heaven, it was to teach them that they could survive by allowing Him to provide and yet when they reached the promise land they soon forgot these lessons. We have allowed people to come in and teach supposed biblical aspects to financial freedoms and a prosperity message because we all strive to have more. None of us truly want to be in debt or unable to provide sufficiently for our families but the truth is that the bible is clear regarding what we earn and that message is it all belongs to God. His command to not withhold from the poor was not part of His 10% but part of what was left over. It was not that we give to the co-op and let them hand it out as they saw fit but to give it as He led us to give it. It was not to go to the church to help meet the needs of others that we might have met but for us to open our pockets to them ourselves first and then let the church know so we could meet together and determine how else we could help them.
We are reaching the time when we are very vulnerable to outside influence because of the status of the country. We have already been hearing the voices of others who claim that Christians are a prejudiced religion and that their lack of love towards other religions is well documented in the Bible. As we look at the condition of this country and the lack of morals that are being flaunted in public we have got to recognize that it is time to get back to the unconditional love of Christ. It is important because we are facing the same circumstances now that Europe faced when communism took power and if you do not believe me then read this exert from a minister who was at the meeting in Romania when they began the congress of churches.
Once the Communists came to power, they skillfully used the means of seduction toward the Church. The language of love and the language of seduction are the same. The one who wishes a girl for a wife and the one who wishes her for only a night both say the words, “I love you.” Jesus has told us to discern between the language of seduction and the language of love, and to know the wolves clad in sheepskin from the real sheep. Unfortunately, when the Communists came to power, thousands of priests, pastors, and ministers did not know how to discern between the two voices.
The Communists convened a con¬gress of all Christian bodies in our Parliament building. There were four thousand priests, pastors, and ministers of all denominations—and these men of God chose Joseph Stalin as honorary president of this congress. At the same time he was president of the World Movement of the Godless and a mass murderer of Christians. One after another, bishops and pastors arose and declared that communism and Christianity are fundamentally the same and could coexist. One minister after another said words of praise toward communism and assured the new government of the loyalty of the Church.
My wife and I were present at this congress. Sabina told me, “Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ! They are spitting in His face.” I said to her, “If I do so, you lose your husband.” She replied, “I don’t wish to have a coward as a husband.”
Then I arose and spoke to this congress, praising not the murderers of Christians, but Jesus Christ, stating that our loyalty is due first to Him. The speeches at this congress were broad¬cast and the whole country could hear proclaimed from the rostrum of the Communist Parliament the message of Christ! Afterward I had to pay for this, but it was worthwhile.
We are already seeing many one time strong denominations crumble to the whims of the people. They are denying the inerrancy of the scriptures and the deity of Christ in order to gain a larger congregation and to align themselves with those who will come into power. The approval of same sex marriages will provide them the power to create laws that will silence many churches. Yet there will be a few who will still stand for the word of God and continue to preach against sin. The truth is that the preaching against sin is not being prejudiced against a group of individuals and this is the love we need to remember. While Christ preached against sin He loved the sinner and showed it in His actions. He was not tolerant of their sins because tolerance would mean that He kept quiet about it, therefore showing approval of it. No, He spoke loudly against sin but even louder regarding His love towards them. This He did by eating with them and healing their ailments. He did not condemn them but revealed that they were condemned already; the women at the well and the women caught in adultery are examples of this. Yet we pass over these examples quickly because we; like the Pharisees consider ourselves as better than these lowly sinners and this is the reason that the world has been able to convince so many to turn from Christ and we go right along with it because it keeps us from having to reach out to others.
The conditions surrounding us today is preparation for yet another dark time in history. We are at the edge of persecution as never seen before in our own country. We have people in power who can convince many that the watering down of scripture or the total elimination as them as the inerrant Word of God is necessary to insure world peace and peace within our own nation. And with the passing of recent laws we are insured that this will soon come to pass if spoken against, with the justification being that we as Christians are a prejudiced religion responsible for ethnic cleansing throughout history. Hate crime bills we be passed in attempt to silence the word of God and they will justify their own hatred towards us based upon these laws.
Oswald Spengler wrote in Decline of the West:
You are dying. I see in you all the characteristic stigma of decay. I can prove that your great wealth and your great poverty, your capitalism and your socialism, your wars and your revolutions, your atheism and your ¬pessimism and your cynicism, your immorality, your broken-down marriages, your birth-control, that is bleeding you from the bottom and killing you off at the top in your brains—can prove to you that there are characteristic marks of the dying ages of ancient states—Alexandria and Greece and neurotic Rome.
This was written in 1926. Since then, democracy and civilization have died already in half of Europe and even as far as Cuba. Much of the West sleeps.
To those who think science proves anything; (exerts from trials during persecution in Europe)
“Your religion is anti-scientific,” the judge taunted at another trial, to which the accused girl—a student—answered, “Do you know more science than Einstein? Than Newton? They were believers. Our universe bears Einstein’s name. I have learned in high school that its name is the Einsteinian universe. Einstein writes: ‘If we cleanse the Judaism of the prophets and Chris¬tianity as Jesus has taught it from what came afterwards, especially from priestcraft, we have a religion which can save the world from all social evils. It is the holy duty of every man to do his utmost to bring this religion to triumph.’ And re¬mem¬ber our great physiologist Pav¬lov! Do not our books say that he was a Christian? Even Marx, in his preface to Das Kap¬i¬tal, said that ‘Chris-tian¬ity, especially in its Prot¬es¬tant form, is the ideal religion for remaking characters destroyed by sin.’ I had a character destroyed by sin. Marx has taught me to be¬come a Chris¬tian in order to remake it. How can you, Marx¬ists, judge me for this?”
It is easy to understand why the judge remained speechless.
To the same accusation of having an anti-scientific religion, a Christian answered before the court: “I am sure, Mr. Judge, that you are not such a great scientist as Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform and many other medicines. When asked which he considered to be his greatest discovery, he answered: ‘It was not chloroform. My greatest discovery has been to know that I am a sinner and that I could be saved by the grace of God.’”
Christians in some of the former Soviet Republics are still persecuted today. In restricted nations worldwide, the Christians of the Underground Church are suffering today more than ever before. It is estimated that approximately 160,000 Chris¬tians were martyred in 1997.
The only sadness that should scream out of our heart is the sadness that we have not done more before now. It should be that we have allowed so many to reject Christ because of our actions. The sadness should lead us to repentance and a bolder approach to those within and without the body of Christ. The truth of our own condition may come sooner rather than later and when it does come where will you stand?
Following are three letters from Maria, a Christian girl who led Varia, a member of the Communist Youth Organization, to Christ.
First letter
...I continue to live here. I am very beloved. I am beloved also by a member of the cell of the Komsomol [the Communist Youth Organization]. She told me, “I cannot understand what a being you are. Here many insult and hurt you and yet you love all.” I answered that God has taught us to love all, not only friends, but also enemies. Before, this girl did much harm to me, but I prayed for her with special concern. When she asked me if I can love her, too, I embraced her and we both began to weep. Now, we pray together.
Please, pray for her. Her name is Varia.
When you listen to those who loudly deny God, it seems that they really mean it. But life shows that many of them, although they curse God with their lips, in their hearts have a great longing. And you hear the groaning of the heart...They seek something and wish to cover their inner emptiness with their godlessness.
Your sister in Christ, Maria
Second letter
In my former letter I wrote you about the atheist girl, Varia. Now I hurry to tell you, my beloved ones, about our great joy: Varia has received Christ as her personal Savior, witnessing openly to everyone about this.
When she believed in Christ and knew the gladness of salvation, she, at the same time, felt very unhappy. She was un¬happy, because before she had propagated that there is no God. Now she has decided to atone for her guilt.
We went together to the assembly of the godless. Although I warned her to be reserved, it was useless. Varia went and I went with her to see what would happen. After the common singing of the Communist hymn (singing in which Varia did not participate), she came forward before the whole assembly. Courageously and with much feeling, she witnessed to those gathered about Christ as her Savior and asked her former comrades for forgiveness that she had had her spiritual eyes closed until then and had not seen that she herself was going to per¬dition and leading others toward it. She implored all to give up the way of sin and to come to Christ.
All became silent and no one interrupted her. When she finished speaking, she sang with her splendid voice the whole Christian hymn: “I am not ashamed to proclaim the Christ who died to defend His commandments and the power of His cross.”
And afterwards...afterwards they took away our Varia.
Today it is the ninth of May. We know nothing about her. But God is powerful to save her. Pray!
Your Maria
Third letter
Yesterday, the second of August, I had a talk in prison with our beloved Varia. My heart bleeds when I think about her. In fact she is still a child. She is only nineteen years of age. As a believer in the Lord, she is also a spiritual babe. But she loves the Lord with all her heart and went at once on the difficult way. The poor girl is so hungry. When we knew that she was in prison, we began to send her parcels. But she received only little of what was sent to her.
When I saw her yesterday, she was thin, pale, beaten. Only the eyes shone with the peace of God and with an unearthly joy.
Yes, my dear ones, those who have not experienced the won¬derful peace of Christ cannot understand it...But how happy are those who have this peace...For us who are in Christ no sufferings and frustrations should stop us...
I asked through the iron bars: “Varia, don’t you regret what you did?” “No,” she answered. “And if they would free me, I would go again and would tell them about the great love of Christ. Don’t think that I suffer. I am very glad that the Lord loves me so much and gives me the joy to endure for His name.”
I beg that you pray for her. She will probably be sent to Siberia. They have taken away her clothes and all of her things. She has remained without anything, except what is on her. She has no relatives and we must collect for the most necessary things. I have put apart the last sum which you sent me. If Varia is deported, I will hand it to her. I believe that God will strengthen her and will give her power to en-dure in the future, too. May God keep her!
Your Maria
Fourth letter
Dear Maria, at last I am able to write you. We arrived well at [loca¬tion omitted]. Our camp is ten miles from town. I cannot de¬scribe our life. You know it. I wish to write only a little about me. I thank God that He gives me health and that I can work physically. Sister X and I were put to work in a work¬shop where we work at machines. The work is difficult and Sister X’s health is bad. I must work for both her and me. I finish my work first and then I help my sister. We work twelve to thirteen hours a day. Our food is just as yours, very scarce. But it is not about this that I wished to write to you.
My heart praises and thanks God that, through you, He showed me the way to salvation. Now, being on this way, my life has a purpose and I know where to go and for whom I suffer. I feel the desire to tell and to witness to everybody about the great joy of salvation that I have in my heart. Who can separate us from the love of God in Christ? Nobody and nothing. Neither prison nor suffering. The sufferings that God sends us only strengthen us more and more in the faith in Him. My heart is so full that the grace of God overflows. At work, they curse and punish me, giving me extra work because I cannot be silent. I must tell everyone what the Lord has done for me. He has made me a new being, a new creation, of me who was on the way of perdition. Can I be silent after this? No, never! As long as my lips can speak, I will witness to every one about His great love.
On the way to the camp, we met with many brethren and sisters in Christ. How amazing it is that you feel through the Spirit that they are children of God when you first see the brethren and the sisters. It is useless to speak. From the first look you feel and know who they are.
While we were on the way to the camp, at one railway station, a woman came, gave us food and said only two words: “God lives.”
The first evening when we arrived here (it was late), we were taken to underground barracks. We greeted those present with the words, “Peace with you.” To our great joy, from all corners we heard the answer, “We receive you with peace.” And from the first evening we felt that we are in a family.
Yes, it was really so. Here there are many who believe in Christ as their personal Savior. More than half of the prisoners are believers. We have among us great singers and good preachers of the gospel. In the evening, when we all gather after heavy work, how wonderful it is to pass at least some time together in prayer at the feet of our Savior. With Christ there is freedom every¬where. I learned here many beautiful hymns and every day God gives me more and more of His Word. At the age of nineteen, I celebrated the birthday of Christ for the first time. Never will I forget this wonderful day! We had to work the whole day long. But some of our brethren were able to go to the river nearby. There they broke the ice and prepared the place where, during the night—according to the Word of God—seven brethren and I were baptized. Oh, how happy I am and how I would like that you, Maria, should be with me, too, that I may atone at least a little bit, through my love toward you for the wrong I committed in times past against you. But God puts every one of us in His place and we must stand firm where God has put us.
Give greetings to the whole family of God’s children. God will richly bless your common work, as He blessed me, too. Read Heb_12:1-3.
All our brethren greet you and are glad that your faith in God is so powerful and that you praise Him in your sufferings unceasingly. If you write to others, tell them our greetings.
Yours, Varia
Fifth letter
Dear Maria, at last I have found the opportunity to write you a few lines. I can tell you, my dear one, that, by the grace of God, Sister X and I are healthy and feel well. We are now in [location omitted].
I thank you for your motherly care for me. We received all you have prepared for us. I thank you for the most valuable thing, the Bible. Thanks to all. When you write to them, send my greetings and thanks for what they have done for me.
Since the Lord revealed to me the deep mystery of His holy love, I consider myself to be the happiest in the world. The persecutions that I have to endure I consider as a special grace. I am glad that the Lord gave me from the first days of my faith the great happiness to suffer for Him. Pray for me that I may remain faithful to the Lord to the end.
May the Lord keep you all and strengthen you for the holy battle!
Sister X and I kiss you all. When we are sent to [location omitted] perhaps we will have the opportunity to write to you again. Don’t worry about us. We are glad and joyful, because our reward in heaven is great (Mat_5:11-12).
Your Varia
This is the last letter from Varia—the young Communist girl who found Christ, witnessed about Him, and was sentenced to slave labor. She was never heard from again, but her beautiful love and witness for Christ shows the spiritual beauty of the suffering, faithful Underground Church.
If this is the testimony of a young believer, one must ask, where are we failing? How many of us will be willing to stand for Him in the midst of persecution regardless of the outcome? There are many more stories regarding those who have been persecuted but I will only share one more with you.
A pastor by the name of Florescu was tortured with red-hot iron pokers and with knives. He was beaten very badly. Then starving rats were driven into his cell through a large pipe. He could not sleep because he had to defend himself all the time. If he rested a moment, the rats would attack him.
He was forced to stand for two weeks, day and night. The Communists wished to compel him to betray his brethren, but he resisted steadfastly. Eventually, they brought his fourteen-year-old son to the prison and began to whip the boy in front of his father, saying that they would continue to beat him until the pastor said what they wished him to say. The poor man was half mad. He bore it as long as he could, then he cried to his son, “Alexander, I must say what they want! I can’t bear your beating anymore!” The son answered, “Father, don’t do me the injustice of having a traitor as a parent. Withstand! If they kill me, I will die with the words, ‘Jesus and my fatherland.’” The Communists, enraged, fell upon the child and beat him to death, with blood spattered over the walls of the cell. He died praising God. Our dear brother Florescu was never the same after seeing this.
This is the love of Christ exemplified by those who believe in Him. It is the willingness to sacrifice all things that His love might be shown to others. There is no accounting for how many have come to know Christ through the actions of others who were not afraid to stand for Him. Because they face constant persecution they understand the need for sacrifice concerning love. They give regardless of their own situation because it is what Christ has asked them to do and not what man expects them to do. If we were to do the same thing today what do you think the result would be in our surrounding communities? If we went out into the community and helped feed those who are hungry and I am not talking about just one meal or if we fixed their houses for them or helped clothe their kids and we did this on a regular basis while sharing Christ with them. If we took the young boys who did not have father figures and included them in on our time with our own boys and the mothers with the girls and we showed them the love of Christ in our actions and how He works in our lives what kind of response do you think we would have in our communities? We can do this now if we begin to sacrifice our own wants and desires and begin to heed His or we can wait for full persecution to come and see who is really willing to stand for their faith in Jesus Christ.
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