Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013: Great Is Thy Faithfulness

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.



“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!“
 Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
“Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

~Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1856-1960)

                               

2013 is about over.  What was your year like? What are you thankful for? How did God reveal His lovingkindness, grace, and goodness to you?

Often when we sing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" at church, I think about how God is not only faithful in giving me what I need for every day life (and I don't deserve even that), but also those things that I need as He deems fit as He conforms me to the image of Christ Jesus His Son.

God's Sovereign hand rules and brings into our lives not only what we see as the "good" things (and yes they are good), but also the hardships and trials (the things we humanly might consider "bad").

Jas 1:2  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 

1Pe 1:6  In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7  so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 

Rom 8:28  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 

All I have needed and all that I will need, is for God to conform me to the image of His dear Son for His glory. That is what I NEED. It may in the immediate moment of difficulty, hurt, but it's what I need as directed by my loving and patient and gracious triune God.

And all that He deems best that we go through, we go through while in His sovereign and loving and all-powerful hand, indwelled by the Holy Spirit and empowered by Him to "will and to do His good pleasure".

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5  He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6  to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 

Eph 2:10  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 

Php 2:12  So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13  for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 

So going back to my earlier questions, I hope we who are in Christ, say with confidence, that even the hard things we faced this past year were, in the hands of our Sovereign King, good and needful. May we face the future of this coming year with the same heart, ever trusting in Him who rules the world, as He rules our lives, and may we experience His grace, mercy, and patience through the Holy Spirit's work in our lives as we bend our heads to His will.

This life is but a moment, but life with God is eternal.

Let Me Get This Straight.....

So you can mock a photo of a white family holding a precious black baby and for saying the  father of two daughters is anti-women, and not lose your job, but if you say on your own time that homosexuality is sinful, you can (or at least others will demand it)?

Oh the hypocrisy.

**Update**

Harris-Parry apologized via twitter for her remark. However, Pia Glenn (whoever she is) has yet to apologize for her really hateful and immature remarks. MSNBC did not make any comment either for this racist and misandryism nor for Martin Bashir's crude attack on Sarah Palin by asking someone to deficate in her mouth. He later resigned but MSNBC never apologized.

If Harris-Perry is really a bi-racial woman who grew up with a white Mormon family, as she said in a tweet, you'd think she would've said something to her racist panel mates.

It's all fun and games to them, except when they are the butt of racial or gender "jokes".

There is no wisdom among that panel. Just immaturity and foolishness.

CNN Host Criticiszes MSNBC's Harris-Perry Panel for Racist and Insulting Remarks

Don Lemon, a CNN host, slammed MSNBC Harris-Perry and her panel for mocking the Romney's Christmas photo of them and their grandchildren, one of whom is a black baby and who was the focus of the laughter.


"It's a bunch of people on the left who all agree with each other, and there's no diversity of opinion," Lemon said of MSNBC. "And they're saying mean, smug things about people who may disagree with them."

Lemon suggested there would be more outrage if a white Fox News panel made similar jokes about the black grandson. 


~The Hill

As pointed out on Lemon's show, if it happened on Fox News, Jesse Jackson would already be in front of a camera and on a mic protesting. To be sure, he'd be on all the leftist liberal news shows demanding the firing of the host of the program.

Wouldn't having a black baby be a good thing in the eyes of these racist liberals? I guess not if you are a white Republican. There's no satisfying the liberals, simply because they are whiney, irrational, emotional immature people. And it's not about race or civil rights. It's about their own agenda of the moment. And their anger.

No Hate? MSNBC's Harris-Perry and Panel Spew Racist and Misandry Remarks At Whites and Hispanics

   



I guess MSNBC's Harris-Perry and panel are still in Jr. High School because they sure act like it. And think like it.

Excerpts:

MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry apologized Tuesday for openly mocking Mitt Romney's black adopted grandson.....

                      
 Mitt and Ann Romney pose for their 2013 Christmas photo with their 22 grandchildren. 
(Photo is Mitt & Ann Romney's Christmas Card photo that was the object of mockery)

After the image flashed on the screen during the show, actress Pia Glenn broke out in song, singing, "One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn't the same."
"That little baby, front and center, would be the one," said Glenn, who was among the four panel members who joined Harris-Perry for the segment.

Daily Beast's Dean Obeidallah, also on the panel, chimed in that he thought the photo was "great." "It really sums up the diversity of the Republican Party and the RNC, where they have the whole convention and they find the one black person."

Panelist and comedian Judy Gold commented on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, expressing her dismay that the Republican was the father of two daughters, Catherine and Caroline.
"Men like this … they have daughters. That disturbs me," she said, chiding Cruz and conservative Republicans for being anti-women.


                       
Wow, seriously, the Left has no ability to think reasonably nor rationally. It's all driven by emotion, agenda, and immaturity.

It's bullying.

And I'm not even a fan of the Romneys. In fact they are far too moderate. But what these "panelists" do with a photo and with those they hate shows they are unable to deal with issues. 

And by slandering others they show their own lack of character.

They ought to be ashamed, but they aren't. They wallow in this nastiness of personal insults and irrational behavior and thought.

You might want to look up "misandry" in the Oxford Dictionary if you don't know what it is.

Monday, December 30, 2013

The 2014 Rose Parade: Sodomy On Parade

                                         

Not a parade for children, much less those who still hold to the biblically correct view of REAL marriage and REAL love.

LA Times reports that two men will be "married" on an AIDS Healthcare Foundation float. The parade's theme is "Dreams Come True" but this is a nightmare.

We can't even enjoy the Rose Parade now because of homofacism. The in-your-face sodomite activity is disgusting and frankly, not only is against God's design and commands, but goes against what all people know in their hearts is not normal. A recent Pew poll found 47% of Americans find sodomy to be wrong.

Time to skip the Rose Parade as it's becoming a politically correct, agenda driven event.  I saw the AIDS HF's entry last year, so really, this isn't a surprise. It's disgusting though and I certainly will skip this tradition I've had since I was a kid. Between the illegal amnesty issue and sodomy issue, I think I'm done with the Rose Parade.

It's nothing but PC on Parade. This parade is fully of thorns and the smell is corrupted.



So is having a pretend "marriage" between homosexuals the cure-all to happiness?  Is this what they mean by "dreams come true"?

Not according to several studies as reported by FRC:



According to McWhirter and Mattison, most homosexual men understood sexual relations outside the relationship to be the norm and viewed adopting monogamous standards as an act of oppression.

In their Journal of Sex Research study of the sexual practices of older homosexual men, Paul Van de Ven et al. found that only 2.7 percent of older homosexuals had only one sexual partner in their lifetime.[19]
End quote.



The report goes on to say:

Homosexual writer and activist Michelangelo Signorile speaks approvingly of those who advocate replacing monogamy with sexually "open" relationships:
For these men the term "monogamy" simply doesn't necessarily mean sexual exclusivity....The term "open relationship" has for a great many gay men come to have one specific definition: A relationship in which the partners have sex on the outside often, put away their resentment and jealousy, and discuss their outside sex with each other, or share sex partners.[54]
The views of Signorile and Ettelbrick regarding marriage are widespread in the homosexual community. According to the Mendola Report, a mere 26 percent of homosexuals believe that commitment is most important in a marriage relationship.[55]
Former homosexual William Aaron explains why even homosexuals involved in "committed" relationships do not practice monogamy:
In the gay life, fidelity is almost impossible. Since part of the compulsion of homosexuality seems to be a need on the part of the homophile to "absorb" masculinity from his sexual partners, he must be constantly on the lookout for [new partners]. Consequently the most successful homophile "marriages" are those where there is an arrangement between the two to have affairs on the side while maintaining the semblance of permanence in their living arrangement.[56]
The evidence is overwhelming that homosexual and lesbian "committed" relationships are not the equivalent of marriage.

End quote.

And the violence among sodomite couples is also high, as FRC reports:


A study of lesbian couples reported in the Handbook of Family Development and Intervention "indicates that 54 percent had experienced 10 or more abusive incidents, 74 percent had experienced six or more incidents, 60 percent reported a pattern to the abuse, and 71 percent said it grew worse over time."[48]
In their book Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence, Island and Letellier postulate that "the incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population."[49]
The National Violence against Women Survey, sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, found that "same-sex cohabitants reported significantly more intimate partner violence than did opposite-sex cohabitants. 

When homosexual and lesbian relationships are directly compared with married couples, the difference in the domestic partner violence is pronounced..

End quote.



Even the Feminist Wire reports:


According to the CDC, one in four women has experienced domestic violence in their lifetime. The American Bar Association website reports that approximately 835,000 men are physically assaulted by a partner annually, levels of violence that are much lower than those experienced by women. But this simple gender comparison is misleading. The National Coalition Against Domestic violence estimates that gay men experience domestic violence levels at least as high as heterosexual women. My own research has shown that gay men experience domestic violence levels at least as high as heterosexual women with approximately 25-30% of gay men reporting violence from a main partner, while others have estimated levels between 50-65%.

End quote.

The physical facts of perverted love lust (the health problems include higher risk and/or incidents of: anal cancer, AIDS, HPV, hepatitis, gonorrhea, syphillis, Gay Bowel Syndrome, suicide, and a reduced life span).


Is this what they mean by "Dreams Come True"?


Or perhaps this is what they mean by "Dreams Come True":


As for  the stability of the children who have one or more parent who is a homosexual:


Excerpts:
Fully 69 percent of those with lesbian mothers were on welfare as children – four times the 17 percent in intact families ever had that experience. In fact, 38 percent of the adult children of lesbian mothers are currently on welfare versus only 10 percent of those with married parents. That’s the same 4-1 ratio.
Only 8 percent of adult children from intact homes were unemployed when interviewed in 2011 versus 28 percent with a lesbian parent.
Among those with a father in a homosexual relationship, fewer than 2 percent said they had spent at least three years in that household. These relationships are much more volatile and short lived, but neither compares with the stability of married heterosexual parents.
End quote.
~WND, go here for a full report including the questions asked and tables with percentages of measures.


For all my articles dealing with sodomy go here.

Egypt Arrests Al-Jazeera Journalists For Muslim Brotherhood Ties

CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's Interior Ministry says security forces have arrested journalists working for the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera network over alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood, the leading Islamist group that was last week branded as a "terrorist" organization. 

~AP

Whether those particular "journalists" are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood will be shown eventually. Maybe. But regardless, the network has already had a reputation of being  tied  to the MB, so Egypt's concern is valid.

Back in July 2013 Pamela Geller reported:

At least 22 staffers at the Al Jazeera network in Egypt have quit in protest of the pro-jihad network’s coverage of events in Egypt. The staffers who have quit assert that Al Jazeera brass forced them to take a pro-Muslim Brotherhood stance on the air during the recent anti-Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt....

Jihad murder mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki has praised Al Jazeera, and several years ago one of its most prominent reporters was arrested on terror charges. Al Jazeera also has, for years, been the recipient of numerous al-Qaida videos featuring Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and American traitor Adam Gadahn. Yet it never seems to be able to trace where these videos are coming from. It has repeatedly been set up at the point of attack right before a bomb went off so it could take the picture of the slaughtered, dismembered bodies.
Al Jazeera has provided material support for jihad terrorism. A number of people in its employ are members of al-Qaida. Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Afghanistan, who interviewed Osama bin Laden, was sent to prison for being an agent of al-Qaida. Al Jazeera’s first managing director was exposed as an agent of the Saddam Hussein regime, and the channel promoted the bloody jihad against American forces in Iraq.
End quote.

Then reported in August when the American version of AJ was announced (thanks to Al Gore's selling of his failed Current TV network for $500 million dollars (up the Democrat is a "one-percenter" *cough*):

In dispensing Islamic clerical wisdom, Qaradawi has called for the murder of U.S. soldiers and Jews. Earlier this year on his own popular Al Jazeera show, Qaradawi also affirmed the Islamic penalty for “apostasy,” or leaving Islam: death....

NPR is about as close as we get to hard-hitting on the network’s launch, which is already a bad sign. “Critics say Al Jazeera will have trouble shaking its image in the U.S. at least, as a news source with terrorist ties,” Celeste Headlee said by way of introducing Brian Stelter, the media reporter for the New York Times. Was she talking about Al Jazeera’s terrorist tilt – or maybe the 2008 on-air birthday party Al Jazeera threw for Palestinian terrorist Samir Kuntar, who in 1979 killed four Israelis, including a 4-year-old girl whose head he bashed against a rock until she was dead?

End quote.

~WND, in August 2013

Egypt should be concerned about Al-Jazeera and its ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. Its history is proof that it is a puppet for jihadists.


Busted! Main Stream Media Omits Stranded Ship's Summer Mission of Global Warming "Evidence" While Stuck In Thickening Ice In Antartica

"Somewhere far, far to the south where it is summer, a group of global warming scientists are trapped in the Antarctic ice. If you missed the irony of that situation, it is because much of the mainstream media has glossed over that rather inconvenient bit of hilarity. As an example here is an Associated Press story that avoids mentioning the real mission of the scientists aboard the icebound Russian ship..."

~Newsbusters
Reported as a nice reenactment of a 100 year old Australian Douglas Mawson's trip down to Antartica by some scientists, the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy's  the goal was to verify global warming. But what they found was thickening ice, not melting ice. They literally got stuck in the ice.


But narry a word by the mainstream media of the outright irony of a global warming expedition that came to a halt in the middle of summer because of increasing ice.


Truth and Loyalty to God Trumps All Relationships

Many pragmatists who claim to be Christians insist that we are to get the unsaved to like us, that we are to be friends with them first before we proclaim the Gospel to them, in order that we can some day somewhere give a tepid, non-confrontational, non-offensive "gospel" and hope that if they like us, then they'll like Jesus. Be the world to win the world is their life "verse". But Scripture says something different.

Just how seriously does God take our relationships with those who hate Him? Does He care? Is He neutral? Does He want us to copy what they, with just a few minor adjustments so we can prove we're "just like them" and then somehow think that earns credibility with the world (who cares if it's valid before God and His children)?

1Co 15:33  Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."

Deu 13:6  "If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known,
Deu 13:7  of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end),
Deu 13:8  you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him.

1Co 5:11  But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one. 

Mat 10:34  "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 
Mat 10:36  and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 
Mat 10:37  "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 
Mat 10:38  "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
Mat 10:39  "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

Jos 23:6  "Be very firm, then, to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left,
Jos 23:7  so that you will not associate with these nations, these which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods, or make anyone swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them. 
Jos 23:8  "But you are to cling to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. 

Jos 23:11  "So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the LORD your God.
Jos 23:12  "For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 
Jos 23:13  know with certainty that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.


Psa 106:34  They did not destroy the peoples, As the LORD commanded them, 35  But they mingled with the nations And learned their practices, 36  And served their idols, Which became a snare to them.
Psa 106:37  They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons,
Psa 106:38  And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood.
Psa 106:39  Thus they became unclean in their practices, And played the harlot in their deeds. 40  Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against His people And He abhorred His inheritance. 

Psa 26:2  Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart. 
Psa 26:3  For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth. 
Psa 26:4  I do not sit with deceitful men, Nor will I go with pretenders. 
Psa 26:5  I hate the assembly of evildoers, And I will not sit with the wicked. 

Rom 16:17  Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. 18  For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. 

Pro 20:19  He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, Therefore do not associate with a gossip. 

Pro 24:1  Do not be envious of evil men, Nor desire to be with them

Pro 24:21  My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not associate with those who are given to change, 

Pro 28:17  A man who is laden with the guilt of human blood will be a fugitive until death; let no one support him. 

Pro 1:10  My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 

Pro 1:15  My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, 
Pro 1:16  For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. 

Pro 6:23  For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life 
Pro 6:24  To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the adulteress. 
Pro 6:25  Do not desire her beauty in your heart, Nor let her capture you with her eyelids. 
Pro 6:26  For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the precious life. 

Pro 14:7  Leave the presence of a fool, Or you will not discern words of knowledge. 

Mat 10:21  "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22  "You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved

2Co 6:14  Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 
2Co 6:15  Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 
2Co 6:16  Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 
2Co 6:17  "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. 
2Co 6:18  "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty. 

We don't stop living in the world, as Paul said. We can't not mingle with the unsaved (1Cor. 5:10). However, Paul also said we ARE to be separate in fellowship, goals, union, and the like (2 Cor. 6:14-18). We are still commanded to not be in fellowship with the world, but we are to proclaim the Gospel to it. We are not to seek the friendship of the world, nor be unequally yoked with it because of what else he said: bad company corrupts good character. As seen throughout Scripture, fellowship and union with those who are hostile with God end up influencing those who say they belong to God. It never worked for Israel and it doesn't work for Christians. Friendships with the unsaved are not based on truth and unity, so such friendships are shallow and we should always keep in mind the Great Commission within those friendships. But we are also to keep a distance too; we cannot do what the unsaved want to do if it violates Scripture and the testimony of the Gospel and our witness as slaves of the King of kings. There is, in a word, a limit. And if we are being loyal to Christ, that necessarily means that they will despise us because they hate Christ Jesus. After all, those who are truly saved are IN Christ so if they hate Him, they will hate us.

1Pe 4:3  For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 
1Pe 4:4  In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 
1Pe 4:5  but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 
1Pe 4:6  For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. 
1Pe 4:7  The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 

1Jn 3:13  Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. 


Sunday, December 29, 2013

The Now and The Not Yet


"Both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 'I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise.' And again, 'I will put My trust in Him.' And again, 'Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me'" (Heb. 2:11-13).

From our own perspective and experience, it is difficult to think of ourselves as holy. Sin simply is too much a part of us in this fallen world. In thought and practice we are far from holy, but in Christ we are perfectly holy.

We may not always act holy, but because of our faith in Christ we are perfectly holy in God's sight. Just as a child may not always act like his father, he is nonetheless still his son. We are holy in the sense that before God, the righteousness of Christ has been applied and imputed on our behalf through faith. We were made holy through His sacrifice and have become "those who are sanctified."

"By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14). We are as pure as God is pure, righteous as Christ is righteous, and therefore entitled to be called His brothers because we now share in His righteousness.

The Sanctifier and sanctified now have "one Father," and the Sanctifier "is not ashamed" to call the sanctified His brothers. What an overwhelming truth!

The practical experience of a Christian's life in this world includes sin, but the positional reality of his or her new nature is holiness. "In Him [we] have been made complete" (Col. 2:10). Yet practically we have a long way to go. So the overriding purpose of our lives is to become in practice what we are in position. Now that we are Christ's brothers and God's children, let that be all the motivation we need to live like it. 

~JM, Drawing Near

The Universe That Christ Jesus Created

                   

“In [Christ] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”, Colossians 1:16

Man is certainly interested in knowing about the universe that Christ created. That is evident, for example, by his exploration of space. Manned space capsules photographing the earth rising over the lunar horizon and satellites beaming pictures to us of planets at the outer edges of our solar system leave us in awe and wonder. Even more amazing is, not that man has gone into space, but that God came to Earth. In Christ, the invisible God who created everything and everyone became visible to man. How sad that while man looks into space, He refuses to look at the One who came to Earth.

~JM Strength for Today


                        

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Coming To America....

                

Hundreds of pregnant foreigners are flying to Britain just days before they give birth to receive free care on the NHS.
A government report found that immigration officials at one airport stopped more than 300 such mothers-to-be over two years.
Most of the women had to be admitted and allowed to give birth on the NHS, the report found, because their pregnancies were too advanced for them to fly home.
Airlines typically do not carry women more than 36 weeks pregnant. However, the women boarded flights in their home countries with forged doctors’ notes concealing the length of their pregnancies.
The disclosure will heighten growing fears over “health tourism”, which sees foreigners coming to Britain for free NHS care.

Heretic Harold Camping Dies

Act 20:29  "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31  "Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
 




                      

As The "Christian" Post reported on December 15, 2013, another false teacher died.

Quote:

Harold Camping, the Christian minister known for his failed judgment day prophecies, has passed away at the age of 92, according to an emailed statement from his Family Radio Network to supporters of the ministry.
The statement from Family Radio Network reads:
Harold Camping - Home with the Lord!
"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints."
Psalm 116:15
Yesterday, Sunday, December 15th, at around 5:30 p.m., Harold Camping passed on to glory and is now rejoicing with his beloved Savior!
On Saturday, November 30th, Mr. Camping sustained a fall in his home, and he was not able to recover from his injuries. He passed away peacefully in his home, with his family at his side. We know that each of us remain in God's hand, and God is the One who knows our appointed time to leave our earthly body behind.
End quote.

His death was not precious in the sight of God, nor did Camping go home to be with the Lord. Rather he now  in Hell, he awaits judgement before the thrice Holy God whom he often taught against.

This is the typical anti-biblical nonsense Camping continued to teach:

Quote:

Not One Stone upon Another: No Faithful Churches Left 

Therefore, we can now understand what God is saying in Luke 21, verses 5 and 6: And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. He is saying that there shall not remain one church that is still  recognized by God as a part of the temple of God. Now we can see what God is saying. He is saying that there shall not remain one church that is still recognized by God as a part of the temple of God.

The fact that the command to depart from the church is to be obeyed by every believer is underscored by the language of Luke 21:5-6 where God declares that in the temple there would not be one stone left upon another stone that would not be thrown down. We have already learned that according to I Corinthians 3,the temple is the corporate church that God had been building for more than 1950 years. This is the temple that Luke 21:5-6 says will not have one stone left upon another that would not be thrown down. Therefore, the  believers must leave the church.

~Harold Camping,  The End of the Church Age and After, p, 212-213

The Alliance  of Confessing Evangelicals' Council's statement written by Ligon Duncan and Mark Talbot gave numerous examples of his false teaching and refuted them.

"Articles in mainline religious journals report that some churches are losing members who have fallen under the spell of Camping’s propaganda (see: World magazine (4/20/02) and, Christianity Today, (5/21/02). It is a dangerous mix when biblically illiterate people come into contact with a misguided religious instructor." ~The Christian Courier

Now can you guess where his readers might end up? If they are commanded to leave the local church, where are they to go? Well of course, to his church! Except instead of calling a church, he changed the term to "fellowship". The huckster was also given money by his followers. Besides this, he kept saying Jesus was going to return. So he was a liar, a deceiver, and a hater of what Jesus Himself loved and purchased with His own blood, and that which even the gates of hell would not prevail against it: His church.

Mat 16:16  Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Mat 16:17  And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Mat 16:18  "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
Eph 5:26  so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
Eph 5:27  that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

It is within this local church of believers, by the way, were church discipline is practiced (see Matt. 18) for the purity of the Gospel and of the believers in that particular body. That can't happen if they aren't in a local church. I find that quite convenient.

Don't Shrink Back From Declaring The Whole Purpose of God

God is love. That's usually all we hear most professing Christians and evangelists and pastors say. They emphasize that to the exclusion of His other attributes, some of which will never pass their lips.

Yes, God is love, but He is HOLY, HOLY ,HOLY.

He is righteous.

But He also has wrath. He hates  the wicked.

He is a jealous God for His own.

He is long-suffering, patient, kind, good, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and gracious.

He does not wish to save all people, otherwise Hell would be empty.

There will be false teachers among YOU and your leaders. The ones you presume would never steer you wrong or offer a heretic as a solid brother in Christ.

All of this is in Scripture and it serves His purpose, which ultimately is to glorify Him. Yes, even Hell glorifies God because it glorifies His righteousness and inflexible justice.

Act 20:20  how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Act 20:26  "Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 "For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 

Act 20:29  "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30  and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31  "Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.


We cannot pick and choose which parts of Scripture we want to proclaim and which ones we either ignore, but may for some, flatly REJECT. God is not a piecemeal God. Nor is His Scripture.


Jesus Did Not Die For All People

If Jesus died, literally for all people; if this is a clear, dogmatic, universal truth throughout Scripture, then why does it not say that in every passage where the topic for whom Jesus died, is it not stated that way? In other words, if its true, then it should be clearly stated in every passage that Jesus died for every person.

But it doesn't.

Instead Scripture clearly states that Jesus died for "many".

Isa 53:11  As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.

1Sa 3:12  On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.13  And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.14  Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house  SHALL NOT BE ATONED FOR by sacrifice or offering FOREVER."

Heb 2:10  For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

Rom 5:15  But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

Acts 13: 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

Rom 5:19  For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

Luk 2:14  "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Rom 8:28  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30  and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Joh 17:9  "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;

Joh 10:11  "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 

Heb 13:20  Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,

Act 20:28  "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

Mat 1:21  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 

Mar 13:20  And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

Rom 11:7  What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8  as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." 

Rev 5:9  And they *sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 

Rev 13:8  and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

If Jesus died for all people, if His intention and desire was to save every single person, then why did Jesus hide the Gospel from some?

Luke 8: 9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ”‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’

John 17: 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one DOOMED TO DESTRUCTION so that Scripture would be fulfilled.


So in all of these passages, why does it not say "all"--why does it not clearly state that Jesus did for all the people, including Eli's sons, the religious leaders of Jesus' day, and Judas who was prophecied to be the "one doomed to destruction"?

For a fuller treatment on the topic, go here and here.

Speaking generally, only two views or interpretations of the Cross have received much favor among the professed people of God: the one which affirmed that the Atonement was effected to make certain the salvation of all who believe; the other which supposed that atonement was made in order to make possible the salvation of all men. The former is the strict Calvinist view; the latter, the Arminian. Even here, the difference was not merely one of terms, but of truth over against error. The one is definite and explicit; the other indefinite and intangible. The one affirms an Atonement which actually atones (i. e. fully satisfied God for those on whose behalf it was made); the other predicates an Atonement which was a sorry failure, inasmuch as the majority of those on whose behalf it was supposed to be offered, perish notwithstanding. The logical and inevitable corollary of the one is a satisfied, because triumphant Savior; the other (if true) would lead, unavoidably, to a disappointed, because defeated Savior. The former interpretation was taught by such men as Wickcliff, Calvin, Latimer, Tyndale, Bunyan, Owen, Dodderidge, Jonathan Edwards, Toplady, Whitefield, Spurgeon, etc. The latter by men who, as theologians, were not worthy to unloose their shoes.

Of late, a new theory has been propounded to the Christian public, a theory which approximates perilously near that of the Universalists. Erroneously based upon a few texts whose scope is confined to the people of God, the view which is now rapidly gaining favor in circles which are regarded as orthodox, is to the effect that, at the Cross, the sin question was fully and finally settled. We are told, and told by men who are looked up to by many as the champions of orthodoxy, that all the sins of all men were laid upon the crucified Christ. It is boldly affirmed that at the Cross the Lamb of God did as much for those who would not believe, as He did for those who should believe on Him. It is dogmatically announced that the only grievance which God now has against any man, is his refusal to believe in the Savior. It is said that the single issue between God and the world, is not the sin question, but the Son question.


Now, you are aware that there are different theories of Redemption. All Christians hold that Christ died to redeem, but all Christians do not teach the same redemption. We differ as to the nature of atonement, and as to the design of redemption. For instance, the Arminian holds that Christ, when He died, did not die with an intent to save any particular person; and they teach that Christ's death does not in itself secure, beyond doubt, the salvation of any one man living. They believe that Christ died to make the salvation of all men possible, or that by the doing of something else, any man who pleases may attain unto eternal life; consequently, they are obliged to hold that if man's will would not give way and voluntarily surrender to grace, then Christ's atonement would be unavailing. They hold that there was no particularity and speciality in the death of Christ. Christ died, according to them, as much for Judas in Hell as for Peter who mounted to Heaven. They believe that for those who are consigned to eternal fire, there was a true and real a redemption made as for those who now stand before the throne of the Most High. Now, we believe no such thing. We hold that Christ, when He died, had an object in view, and that object will most assuredly, and beyond a doubt, be accomplished. We measure the design of Christ's death by the effect of it. If any one asks us, "What did Christ design to do by His death?" we answer that question by asking him another—"What has Christ done, or what will Christ do by His death?" For we declare that the measure of the effect of Christ's love, is the measure of the design of it. We cannot so belie our reason as to think that the intention of Almighty God could be frustrated, or that the design of so great a thing as the atonement, can by any way whatever, be missed of. We hold—we are not afraid to say that we believe—that Christ came into this world with the intention of saving "a multitude which no man can number;" and we believe that as the result of this, every person for whom He died must, beyond the shadow of a doubt, be cleansed from sin, and stand, washed in blood, before the Father's throne. We do not believe that Christ made any effectual atonement for those who are for ever damned; we dare not think that the blood of Christ was ever shed with the intention of saving those whom God foreknew never could be saved, and some of whom were even in Hell when Christ, according to some men's account, died to save them.



Now when we talk about the death of Jesus Christ then we are talking about an actual purchase. We’re not talking about a potential purchase, we’re not talking about a general sort of act on Jesus’ part that may in the future become a purchase. We are talking about a real purchase. It is the act of Christ dying on the cross that pays the price to God, purchasing the people who will be redeemed from every tribe and tongue and nation. Now what I want you to put in your mind is that the death of Jesus Christ is an act by which He purchases His people. It is not a potential act, it is an actual act. It is not a general act, it is a particular act.

Now all of that is very, very important because if you ask the average person for whom did Christ die? I think if you asked the average Christian, for whom did Christ die? If you asked most pastors, for whom did Christ die? The answer would be, “For everybody, for everyone.” That’s the typical belief. You hear people say, “Christ died for the whole world,” that means He died for every human being. And He wants you to receive that gift of His death personally on your own behalf. Jesus paid the debt on the cross for everyone’s sins, He paid the debt in full, He loves everyone equally. He wants everyone to be saved. And He waits for the sinner to turn a potential atonement into an actual atonement, or to turn a general atonement into a particular atonement, and the sinner can do that by an act of the sinner’s will. So much of evangelism is driven at the sinner’s will, crafted, manipulated to bring the sinner to a certain place emotionally, psychologically that he will activate his own will and accept what Christ has done and therefore turn a potential and general atonement into an actual and particular atonement.

So that view is that Jesus’ death on the cross was a death for everyone in general...listen...but a death for no one in particular. Okay? That’s the view. That is the standard view. We would call it an Arminian view but it’s the standard view, He died for everyone in general and no one in particular. In fact, you have the most popular Christian book in the last ten years, the author says, “I can lead anyone to Christ if I find the key to that person’s heart.” So it all depends on our technique and how good we are at identifying what moves people psychologically and emotionally.

Now let’s think about that a little bit. We need to work on sinners to get them to receive the salvation already purchased for them. That’s the idea. That’s the popular idea. The fallout of that idea is pretty serious.  That means that hell is full of people whose salvation was purchased, right? That if in fact Christ paid for the sins of everyone who has ever lived, their sins were paid for. He died for their sins. He was a substitute for their sins, therefore hell is full of people whose salvation was purchased, whose sins were paid for by Christ. The Lake of Fire then will be filled with eternally damned people who suffer forever for their sins, even though those sins were already paid for. Christ then atoned and bore the punishment for the sins of the people in hell in the same way He did for the sins of the people in heaven. So the only difference between the people in heaven and the people in hell is that the people in hell are suffering double jeopardy on a legal level, their sins already being paid for in full and yet they’re there suffering for sins that have already been paid for, and they’re there because they didn’t have the sense or somebody didn’t make the right approach to activate them emotionally and mentally to turn the potential atonement of Jesus into an actual one. Therefore, the people in heaven can spend eternal life congratulating themselves, or congratulating whoever it was that moved them emotionally or psychologically to make the right call.

Does that sound like biblical theology? Did Jesus Christ do the exact same thing for all the people in hell that He did for all the people in heaven? 

~John MacArthur



It is not quite apparent to me why the text of John 3:16 should be an argument against limited atonement. The passage does not say Jesus died for everyone, but only that the Father gave his Son for ALL THOSE WHO WOULD BELIEVE. It says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES in HIM shall not perish but have eternal life." Right? Don't we all believe this? That is why the consistent biblical Calvinists, when presenting the gospel to unbelievers, simply teach that Christ died for "all who would believe", which is actually closer to the meaning of this text than the erroneous position that He died for all in a general kind of way, and yet for no individual in particular. Instead, we believe that the benefits of the atonement will apply only to who will be believers, so he did not die for any person who would remain steadfast in their unbelief. So I would argue that John 3:16 actually supports the definite atonement position better than the indefinite position. They are reading into the text that Christ's death only potentially will save someone if they believe without the help and grace of the cross to do so. So in actuality, Christ died for no one in particular this scheme. His affection was only cast forth in a general impersonal kind of way rather then actually coming for His people who He set his affection on from eternity. 

In fact, this teaching comes full circle and devastates all of the other doctrines of grace. Although claiming to believe in Total Depravity, the teaching of the so-called four-point Calvinists is really that man still has the moral ability to turn to God on his own without regenerating grace (a grace purchased on the cross) effectively destroying total depravity, even though the Bible plainly teaches that no one seeks God unless first born again (1 John 5:1; John 6:37, 39, 44, 63-65; Rom 3:11. 1 Cor 2:14, John 1:13; John 3). That is to say, natural fallen man has the ability and desire (in some cases) to believe in Christ without regenerating grace. It is teaching a "conditional" election since it depends completely on God's foreknowledge of whether or not we will have faith, even though the Bible plainly teaches that election is not conditioned on something God sees in us and that faith is a divine gift (Eph 2:5-8). So in effect WE end up choosing God with our autonomous free will in this scheme, not the other way around. Those who deny limited atonement are also surreptitiously semi-pelagian in all the other doctrines of grace as well. Salvation becomes the work of man, rather than a monergistic divine work of grace. Some may argue that God's grace works together with man, but the problem with this is that it still leaves the final decision for salvation in the hands of man. Faith, apart from Christ's work on the cross, precedes saving grace in this view, contrary to everything the Bible teaches (ROM 9:16; John 1:13). God's grace would take us part of the way to salvation leaving man's will to make the final decision. So, according to those who claim that the atonement is unlimited (indefinite) there is no divine election in the final analysis, but only humans electing God even though we all know that it is God that chooses us (John 15:16).

~Sourcebold original, 

The Author of Our Salvation

"It was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings" (Heb. 2:10).

As we look at what Christ has done, we must never forget that He was fulfilling the sovereign plan of God. The writer of Hebrews tells us it was fitting in God's sight for Christ to bring many sons to glory. That means everything God did through Christ was consistent with His character.

The cross was a masterpiece of God's wisdom. It displayed His holiness in His hatred of sin. It was consistent with His power: Christ endured in a few hours what it would take an eternity to expend on sinners. The cross displayed His love for mankind. And Christ's death on the cross agreed with God's grace because it was substitutionary.

To bring "many sons to glory," God had "to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." The Greek word translated "author" (archegos) means "pioneer" or "leader." It was commonly used of a pioneer who blazed a trail for others to follow. The archegos never stood at the rear giving orders; he was always out front blazing the trail. As the supreme Archegos, Christ has gone before us--He is our trailblazer.

Life seems most anxious and dreadful when death is near. That's a trail we cannot travel by ourselves. But the Author of our salvation says, "Because I live, you shall live also" (John 14:19). Only the perfect Pioneer could lead us out of the domain of death into the presence of the Father. All you have to do is put your hand in His nail- scarred hand and He will lead you from one side of death to the other. Then you can say with the apostle Paul, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15:55).

~John MacArthur, Drawing Near devotional

The Death of the Grown-Up Obama Style

When Diana West wrote the The Death of the Grown-up in 2007, I wonder if she realized how badly things would plummet in just five years with the arrival of Footie Pajamas Boy. But first, let’s flash back several decades.

Granted, he was an outlier, but Orson Welles was 26 years old when he co-wrote, starred in, and directed Citizen Kane in 1941.... 

[Quoting Ricochet's podcast]"But there are problems. For starters, Obamacare actually delays adulthood. You get to stay on your parents’ plan until you’re 26! Which means the young people we’re talking about are 27-year-olds! Twenty-seven used to be the age of seriously grown men. John Wayne was 27 in the Lucky Texan. You can go to college, enlist in the army, do a couple tours, and come home again before the age of 27. The average age of marriage for men is 28."....But if you just take a step back, you can see the problem. If you find yourself in the position of arguing that real men get snuggly in their jammies and drink cocoa, you need to push the keyboard away and walk around the block a bit."

End quote.

~Ed Driscoll, PJ Media

The irony of Pajama Footie Boy and Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty appearing in the media in the same week was noted.