Posted in Atonement • Blessing • Division • Feast and Festivals • Humility • Law • Love • Punishment • Repentance • Temple • Yom Kippur

Day of Wrath

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Saturday is the Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur. On this day, and this day only, when we had a temple the high priest would go into the holy of holies and apply the blood of the sacrifice to the mercy seat of the Aron Khodesh, also known as the Ark of the Covenant. He had to do it in a very specific way, with no deviation, or he would die. There was a time far back in history when the high priest had to go in with a rope tied around his ankle for fear he wouldn’t do things right and would die. If he did then others could drag him out without going in themselves and risking the same death.

 

The Day of Atonement was a day associated with wrath, smoke and burning. There are two facets to the smoke and burning. Either there was a sufficient sacrifice for sin, or there wasn’t. One type of smoke and burning was from the acceptable sacrifice, and God’s wrath was turned away. The other facet of smoke and burning was the wrath of God directed at people who did not have an acceptable sacrifice.

 

The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. (Zephaniah 1:14–17, ESV)

 

Before the death and resurrection of Jesus the Yom Kippur sacrifice looked forward to the offering of His own blood on our behalf. Now we remember that work in humility, but we still look forward to that final day of judgment and fast and pray for those who aren’t prepared. Those of us who believe have accepted His sacrifice and God’s wrath on this day is turned away. Those who haven’t accepted Jesus are risking the burning anger of God. This is why we “afflict ourselves” (fast) as it says in Leviticus 16:29 and other places. We bow our heads in humility remembering the sacrifice, and the cost of that sacrifice for our sins. We also fast and pray for repentance that everyone would likewise accept God’s Word and humble themselves.

 

Gather together, yes, gather, O shameless nation, before the decree takes effect —before the day passes away like chaff— before there comes upon you the burning anger of the LORD, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the LORD. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD. (Zephaniah 2:1–3, ESV)

 

Some misguided people make a big deal out of exactly which day to have the holy days of the Lord. There is no procedure outlined for us in the Word, but there are people who want to help God out by splitting hairs about the new moon (which indicates the start of the month). They are missing the point about the whole thing. Majoring in the minors. Forsaking unity and brotherhood to push their “holier than thou” agenda. This kind of quibbling is proof that the Word does not dwell in their hearts, because love dwells with the Law and love is not in these arguments. I’ve seen many who not only quibble about this kind of minor detail but other non-biblical issues such as head coverings while at the same time ignoring more salient and weightier issues such as love and honoring others. It’s not just me, either. Watch them yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

 

Remember the Law in its entirety with love and the Spirit in a heart of flesh. Don’t get caught up in quibbling with the quibblers. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the seven churches. Repent. Love God. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.

 

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:1–6, ESV)

Posted in Authority • Cults • Daily Living • Idolatry • Law • Love • Prophecy • Repentance • Worship

Judging with Righteous Judgement Pt. 5 – How To Spot a False Prophet

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It’s very simple to spot a false prophet. The Bible gives us excellent instructions. All we’ve got to do is read and we’ll figure it out in an instant. Not only must he be 100% correct if he prophesies about the future, he must not direct other people away from God or God’s Word.
“But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.” Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.” (Jeremiah 23:14–15, ESV)
Jeremiah is not just speaking of prophets of a particular location, but to all those who do the same things.

 

A false prophet talks about following the Bible but doesn’t follow the whole book. He is a part-Bible expert, like his father, the father of lies. He picks and chooses what Scripture he preaches, and is even pickier about which Scripture he follows. He wants people to follow himself rather than God.
“To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” (Isaiah 8:20, ESV)
“Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32, ESV)

 

The false prophet takes the Law into his own hands to misuse it for his own gain. He allows and encourages sexual immorality including divorce and homosexuality (the teachings of Balaam). He is more concerned about self-defined acceptance, tolerance, and unconditional love than God’s definition of holy love and grace or His command to repent.

 

A true prophet will speak according to the entirety of God’s Word. One of the ways we know Jesus was a true prophet, and The Prophet whom Moses said would come, is that He spoke the words of God given to Moses. All other prophets of God do the same. A simple test is, do they follow all of God’s Law or not?
“I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:18–19, ESV)

 

A false prophet glorifies himself rather than God. God is glorified when His Word is taught, lived, and defended.
“The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. (John 7:18, ESV)”
The minister sent by God is one who speaks all of God’s words without fail and without compromise.

 

A false prophet speaks visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. He says “all will be well” and “no disasters will befall” those who despise the word of the Lord and follow their own heart instead of God’s heart.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’ ” (Jeremiah 23:16–17, ESV)

 

A true prophet of God will warn of departure from God’s word. He will speak the words of God, the first one of which is REPENT.
“I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.” (Jeremiah 23:21–22, ESV)

 

A false prophet tells people to go after other gods, either in the form of idols or self-image. Going after other god’s means to obey something or someone other than God. God tests us with many false prophets, and there are many today teaching that we don’t have to listen to all of the words of God. The true prophet says that we shall keep God’s commandments and obey His voice, serve Him and hold fast to Him.
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. (Deuteronomy 13:1–4, ESV)

 

Do not fail the test.
Shalom

Posted in Blessing • Daily Living • Judgment • Law • Love • Reward

Judging with Righteous Judgment Pt. 4 – Honor Parents

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The admonition to honor father and mother is one of the toughest to apply in these “progressive” times. Parents are not always right. In fact many of them are consistently very, very wrong. Too many are listening to liberal philosophies of men and ignoring what God says for living and raising kids. We (especially older “we’s”) can point fingers at the younger generation’s growing refusal to honor their elders, but not without the proverbial three fingers pointing back at us. The parents are the ones that produced the younger generation. If they have shortcomings it’s obvious that we are the ones who made them that way. We don’t follow God’s ways ourselves, but then wonder why our children turn out to be so lawless.

 

That doesn’t let the youngsters off the hook, though. Sooner or later they grow up, and make their own choices. Frequently they take the hard work and sacrifice of parents and squander it on selfish decisions (like the prodigal son). There are other role models than parents they can look to, and many biblical helps available if they used their “free will” to choose them. God tells us that in the last days the love of many will wax cold (that means get colder and colder for you modern graduates of the public school system).

 

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12, AV)

 

“Iniquity” is none other than lawlessness. Living without the Law. The church leads the way in this department with many many excuses for why they don’t follow parts or the whole of the Law. So not only do parents share the blame for the fecklessness of the younger generation, but churches are bearing a chunk of the blame too.

 

The primary meaning of “honor” is to take care of your parents when they need it. This includes financial help, or help with living arrangements, or legal assistance.

 

For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:10–13, ESV)

 

It also means to respect your elders for the good things they do and forgive them for the bad things. Parents can make it tough to be honored. Sometimes they refuse help. Other times they just aren’t deserving of help. Honoring parents does not mean you agree with everything they do or say. Sometimes too, we cannot honor our fathers and mothers because they are far from the faith. In that case perhaps the best you can do is to just be ready to honor them, avoid bad attitudes, and forgive.

 

I try to honor my adoptive mother (father’s gone now) but she really makes it tough. She has wandered from the faith and has hard feelings towards me. She sort of booted me out of her life a year ago and “adopted” another son (a son of a friend) to take care of her end of life issues. I still honor her in prayer and attitude though, and if I get a chance I will honor her as she needs in other ways too.

 

I can’t properly communicate how pleased I am that my kids honor their parents. Mostly. 🙂 They have financially helped us quite a bit in these tough economic times. My daughter and son-in-law in particular give their tithe to us. This will redound to their heavenly bank account in multiples. I’m not taking any of that away from them with public praise because they are not doing it for that reason. They are doing it because they are honoring God and honoring their parents. But it doesn’t hurt to give them some praise anyway because they’ll be picking our nursing home too!

 

Righteous judgment begins in the individual with self-analysis and application. Honoring parents is a part of it. Not as a take-it-or-leave-it suggestion, but as bedrock for any other blessings God wants to give us.

 

“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (Ephesians 6:2–3, ESV)

Posted in Daily Living • Feast and Festivals • Identity • Judgment • Law • Love • Tradition • Trumpets

Judging with Righteous Judgment Pt. 3 – Baby Steps

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Training in righteous judgment comes from balanced and consistent practice. This is illustrated for us in Scripture such as 2 Timothy 3:16 and Titus 2:1-10 among many others. We learn how to apply the Law by applying it ourselves to our own life on a daily basis. We start with small things, which some call shadows, learning love and faithfulness with baby steps. Later we can perhaps run a marathon.

 

The feasts and holy days of our Father are excellent places to begin training in righteous judgment. Think about how many questions have to be answered in order to practice His instructions in the feasts and festivals. Am I going to take the Sabbaths off from work? Will I let worldly things get in the way of our celebration? Is it all important, because every word He speaks is important? What does it mean to take time to blow a trumpet or learn how to blow one? What are the themes associated with a feast, and where else do we find them in the Word? Where is Jesus in the symbols? Since Jesus was the one to prescribe these, is there a new connection I can make with Him, making His presence more real and concrete in daily living?

 

We need to carve out time for His appointments with us, just as we would for a dentist, doctor or lawyer. Each instruction has to be contemplated, incorporated into our planning, and juggled with other commitments. How we treat the less weighty things is an indication of how we will treat the more weighty things. We have to rate the importance of His commands compared to all the other demands on our time. There are times the other things will have to give way. How much do we love the Father, and how willing are we to clear everything out of the path to Him?

 

Questions and considerations like these also play into weightier issues too. If we are faithful in small things, we will be faithful in greater things. If we are unfaithful in small things, how can we be trusted with bigger things? Are we the second son who says “I will go” then doesn’t?

 

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. (Matthew 21:28–32, ESV)

 

On the other hand, do we get caught up in all the showy stuff about holy days such as Hebrew language or mystical interpretations and neglect to just do them with a heart of flesh in the Spirit? Do we worship the traditions or the One who gave them? These are just some of the issues that help train us not only to see the right things to do, but also to do them.

Posted in Clean & Unclean • Daily Living • Idolatry • Law • Love • Paganism • Prayer

Judging with Righteous Judgment Pt. 2 – Canaanite Marriage

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Judging with righteous judgment in the area of marriage can be tough. Especially in modern times when the only requirement is that you “love” the other person. Modern love however is lacking in righteous judgment almost completely. The main consideration is strong sentiment or romance only, which we get from the Greeks. Some are even so stupid as to think they should be “sexually compatible” so they jump in the sack before marriage. I don’t think you can get much dumber than that, because of course we are all “sexually compatible.” God made it that way.

 

But what God wants is almost never a consideration. Then later people want you to “pray” for their marriage. Really? Ignore God and do what you want, then pray for God to get your ass out of a sling of your own making? Sorry, baby. You poured the wine, you drink the cup.

 

In several places in the Law believers are instructed to avoid marriage with Canaanites. This law seems to have been in place long before Sinai. Isaac was directed not to marry a Canaanite (Genesis 24:3), and Isaac in turn charged Jacob with the same prohibition (Genesis 28:1). Some of Jacob’s sons didn’t pay attention, so Judah had trouble with sons from a Canaanite woman (Genesis 38).

 

God formally charged His people not to intermarry with Canaanites (Deuteronomy 7 for instance) because they would turn the hearts of Israel away from God. Solomon proved this (and many others did too) with his 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11).

 

Okay, so what’s a Canaanite? We don’t know for sure today who is and isn’t one, because there is no country or tribe called Canaan anymore. Some think that a Canaanite has dark skin. This is wrong, because the Bible doesn’t mention skin color in connection with it. Besides, the Canaanites had the same father as everyone else – Noah. Skin color was never an issue. According to creation ministries such as Answers in Genesis and Creation Today Adam and Eve very likely were dark brown, and not just from running around naked in the Garden either. Jesus was probably dark brown. Recently there was a story in the news about a black couple in England who had a white baby (and it has happened before too) and there are white couples who had black babies from what I understand. There is only one race – human. Skin color is a consideration, not because it is wrong but because the prejudice of other people will make things more difficult. But God never said not to intermarry with people of different skin colors.

 

God’s concern was intermarriage with people who followed their own hearts. Pagans. Idolaters. Unclean. One of the hallmarks of Canaanites, besides idolatry, was sexual immorality. The father of Canaan was Ham son of Noah, who was the one that “saw the nakedness of his father” while he was drunk (Genesis 9). This gives us a clearer picture of the identity of modern Canaanites, even if there is no tribal or geographic area attached to them. They are the ones who don’t follow God. They have no heart for Him at all. They’re everywhere. They might even be in the church. Ezra says they are impure with their practice of abominations that have filled the land end to end with uncleanness (Ezra 9). Paul tells us not to be “unequally yoked” in a partnership between righteousness and lawlessness (2 Corinthians 6:14). He doesn’t mention skin color, though some want to twist the meaning of light and darkness into merely skin color. He references the temple of God and idols instead.

 

So the application of the Law about intermarriage is to make sure the possible partner has a heart after God’s. This is a much greater consideration than idiotic romantic love. I’ve always told my kids that almost any two people can make a good marriage if they are committed to God and to each other. There are other considerations too, but this is the most important. If your prospective mate does not have the same faith as the one approved by God, it is more likely they will pull your heart down to the pit rather than helping lift you up to heaven. And no amount of prayer will change that.

Posted in Daily Living • Division • Judgment • Law • Love • Whole Bible Christianity book

Judging with Righteous Judgment Pt. 1 – Losing Friends

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I lost another friend recently. He decided after reading my book “Whole Bible Christianity,” which is full of righteous judgment or application of the Law, and a couple of emails about the practical applications, that he wasn’t a happy camper.

 

“I enjoy talking with you about Scripture; it is an entertaining, learning, and intellectual exercise. But I do not agree with your conclusions or your applications. I especially do not agree with your analysis regarding the church, others, or anything outside of Scripture.”

 

He hasn’t emailed me back after I responded to this and other things at the end of February. There wasn’t a single biblical argument he made in rebuttal, either to the book or my applications, so he just decided to call me a few names and cut it off.

 

This was after, of course, he lectured me extensively on “love,” especially on its unconditional aspects where God is concerned. I’m sure you can appreciate the irony. I disagreed with his version, which consisted pretty much of sentiment only, and argued for the Bible version, consisting of doing what God says. As with any clique, the church version lasts only as long as you push whatever agenda (doctrine, tradition, whatever) that particular church pushes. This explains his departure. So much for the church version of love. That kind of love believers don’t need. I much prefer God’s version, which keeps me a part of His household no matter what mistakes I make.

 

It wasn’t like I didn’t have abundant Scriptural proof of what I was saying. There are over 800 verses written out and hundreds of references for other verses too. It was just that he didn’t like it. That’s going to happen a lot when we are dealing with Bible subjects, and especially how they are used in righteous judgment for daily living. Law is love, and love is Law. Many people do not like the Law precisely because it is objective and clear. They want to keep doing what they are doing, and believing what they are believing. This makes their love suspect. The Law just gets in the way.

 

So one of the things we need to realize as we apply the Bible with righteous judgment, as Jesus tells us, is that we are going to lose friends. But if we are not losing “friends” then there is a good possibility that we are not really applying His Words at all, let alone with righteous judgment.

 

There is a war going on which God didn’t start. But He’s the one who is going to finish it. I have not picked the battle, but I HAVE picked which side I’m on.

Posted in Love • Sex

I Am a Homophobe

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A phobia is defined in the dictionary as a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it. Homophobe is a term used to denigrate and bully those who oppose homosexuality. But given the facts, a fear of homosexuals and desire to avoid them is perhaps not so irrational. It ends up being as good a word to describe my fear as any, and I don’t think the homosexuals should control the discussion. So I am coming out of the closet.

I am a homophobe. I am afraid of homosexuals, their lifestyle choices, and their protectors and promoters.

I am afraid they are tearing my country apart with their perverse desires to rip the traditional family to shreds. The only reason for homosexual “marriage” is to destroy real marriage.

  • Michelangelo Signorile, writing in Out! magazine, has stated that homosexuals should, “…fight for same-sex marriage and its benefits and then, once granted, redefine the institution of marriage completely … To debunk a myth and radically alter an archaic institution. … The most subversive action lesbians and gays can undertake-and one that would perhaps benefit all of society-is to transform the notion of ‘family’ altogether.” (Out! magazine, Dec./Jan., 1994.)
  • “In 1972 the National Coalition of Gay Organizations demanded the ‘repeal of all legislative provisions that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit; and the extension of legal benefits to all persons who cohabit regardless of sex or numbers.’ Would polygamy invite abuse of child brides, as feminists in Muslim countries and prosecutors in Mormon Utah charge? No. Group marriage could comprise any combination of genders.” (Stop the Wedding!: Why Gay Marriage Isn’t Radical Enough; Judith Levine; The Village Voice; July 23-29, 2003.)
  • See also the booklet Same Sex Marriage: Til Death Do Us Part?; Dr. Paul Cameron; published by Family Research Institute of Colorado Springs, CO. Get it at http://www.familyresearchinst.org/. Read it online at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron1.html#info. Homosexual marriages are short lived; Studies show homosexual marriage is hazardous to one’s health.

I am afraid they have no desire for monogamous relationships of any kind, married or not.

  • 43% of white male homosexuals estimated they had sex with 500 or more different partners. 75% had 100 or more. 28% (the largest subcategory) reported more than 1000 partners. 79% said more than half their partners were strangers. 70% said more than half their sexual partners were men with whom they had sex only once. (Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women; Bell and Weinberg; New York; Simon and Schuster; 1978, pp. 308-309; referring to a study published by The Kinsey Institute. I’ve also seen it cited as published by Touchstone; 1979.)
  • Homosexual activists and marketing experts Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen say “[T]he cheating ratio of ‘married’ gay males, given enough time, approaches 100%…Many gay lovers, bowing to the inevitable, agree to an ‘open relationship,’ for which there are as many sets of ground rules as there are couples.” (After the Ball; by homosexuals Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen; Plume; Sept. 1990; page 330.)
  • “The single most important factor that keeps couples together past the ten-year mark is the lack of possessiveness they feel. Many couples learn very early in their relationship that ownership of each other sexually can become the greatest internal threat to their staying together.” (The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop; by homosexuals David McWhirter and Andrew Mattison; Prentice Hall Trade; February 1985.)
  • “The incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population.” (Intimate Violence in Lesbian Relationships: Discussion of Survey Findings and Practice Implications; Gwat Yong Lie and Sabrina Gentlewarrier; Journal of Social Service Research 15 (1991): 41–59. Quoted from www.exodusglobalalliance.org/ishomosexualityhealthyp60.php.

I am afraid of their diseases, their AIDS virus, the way they carelessly spread so many STD’s and the death and destruction that follow in the wake of their lifestyle choice.

Read more at www.wholebible.com/Homophobe.htm

Posted in Atonement • Continuity & Discontinuity • Faith • Law • Love • Righteousness • Salvation

The Word of God Saves Us

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Does the Law save us?

 

Lots of Christians say that the Law doesn’t save us. They hammer the point, mostly made plain by Paul, that salvation is by faith, not by works. Works, it is claimed, is doing something, including doing the Law. Therefore, according to this line of thinking, we shouldn’t follow Laws. The Law doesn’t save us. “It isn’t a salvation issue” as I’ve been told. A few modify this idea with the imaginary designations of civil, ceremonial, and moral and just say we don’t do the first two. Never mind that the Bible doesn’t do this, that everything God says is moral, and that they can’t tell you which commands are “only” civil or ceremonial. They are all linked together. There are other excuses too, but this summarizes the main points. But let’s go with their hammering for a moment.

 

It is true, of course, that salvation is by grace through faith. It is also true that it is a gift, and cannot be earned. It is received by accepting the finished work of Jesus in the crucifixion and resurrection. His blood pays the debt incurred by our sin. For our sake He who knew no sin was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). We cannot work for this. We can’t follow some rules then demand salvation as wages. That is what Paul is talking about. Merit versus a gift. Wages versus unearned wealth. We are not saved because we behave so well that we deserve it. While we were yet sinners Jesus died for us.

 

But what would these people say if I asked instead, “Does the Word of God save us?”

 

That kind of changes the dynamic, doesn’t it? Because in fact it is the Word of God that saves us. “God said let there be light.” He speaks, we accept His Word, and we are saved. By His Word He creates a new heart of flesh in us, and engraves His Word on it through the Spirit. We respond by abiding in that Word, eating and drinking His body and blood (the Word of God) on a daily, minute by minute basis.

 

Before you get too uptight about my characterization, remember also that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” as John says in John 1:14. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31). “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). His Law and His Word are the same thing. The goal of the Law is the Christ (Romans 10:4). We cannot say we abide in His Word, that it is written on our heart of flesh, then get picky about which ones we’ll consent to follow, can we? Does such pickiness really go along with salvation?

 

The Word of God is life, it is moral, it is in civil laws and ceremonial laws, it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. He does not separate His Word into a sections that we can dismiss on a whim. That attitude is certainly a “salvation issue” in the negative sense.

 

So answer me, you who say the Law doesn’t save. Does the Word of God save us?

Posted in Church • Daily Living • Love • Marriage • Natural Man

Suicide Silence

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I’ve been quiet for a while (no pun) because I’ve been struggling with writing an article about suicide. Recently a nephew went out this way, and this brought back memories from a few years ago when an acquaintance went out by her own hand also. It has taken some time to put down my thoughts on paper (okay, a word processor) and arrange them in a readable format. The article has some very personal testimony, and is very blunt. The connecting subjects of divorce, homosexuality, depression and anger are part of it, so exercise caution in reading. There will be many who do not like the truths I included, and I will be attacked. Here are some of the opening paragraphs, and there’s a link at the bottom for the whole article on wholebible.com

 

Her name was Theresa, a woman who killed herself at the end of December 2004 by jumping from a cliff on a hill near my home. She left behind eight kids, a broken marriage, and saddened friends. I knew Theresa a little because a few years before she died I answered an ad she placed at a local music store for people to form a band. We played together a couple of times; she was gifted with writing songs and playing keyboard and guitar. It didn’t work out for us to keep playing together because she lived in a town about 45 minutes away, so I mostly lost touch with her except for a couple of emails. Once she attended a Bible study we had in our home but as I remember the distance again was too great so she didn’t keep coming. I was reacquainted with her when I saw the newspaper article telling of her death.

 

I thought at first that she could not possibly have committed suicide, because the last I knew she seemed to be well adjusted if melancholy and bitter over her divorce. She had, I heard, solid relationships with a Baptist church she attended after she moved to our town, loved her kids, and had various friends. I suspected foul play; she couldn’t have jumped; she must have been pushed. But as the details were related to me, they found her footprints at the top of the cliff showing she was running towards the edge, and she had to jump far enough to clear a ledge just below the lip of the cliff. What sort of pain and anger, I wondered at the time, drove her to run toward her own destruction like that?

 

More recently a nephew of mine also decided to end his life. I didn’t know him at all, really, because he lived in another state and he’s the son from a previous marriage of my sister-in-law’s second husband. I met him a couple of times when he was a teenager. He was a likable, quiet kid who was into computers and was an amateur astronomer. According to friends he was smart and had two astronomy magazine articles written about some of his work. Like Theresa, he also seemed stable and there was no warning that he was feeling suicidal. Neither left a note, so we can only guess at the final straw that caused them to self-depart this physical plane.

 

As I understand it, for a few days before Theresa killed herself she wore duct tape over her mouth. One of her kids asked her why, and she said “no one was listening to her anyway.” She was right, in a way. We don’t want to hear it when someone is contemplating their own demise. After they’re dead we wonder why they didn’t seek help, but before they go it’s too uncomfortable to consider. Even if they did talk people have difficulty with answering. We can’t even talk about it very well after our loved ones are gone, so how much harder is it when they’re alive?

 

Read more online at www.wholebible.com

Posted in Daily Living • God • Love

Forgiveness

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The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6–7, ESV)

 

God forgives sin, and expects us to do the same. “Forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matthew 6:2). Colossians 2:13-14 says that God has forgiven all our trespasses in Christ, cancelling the record of debt that stood against us. For those who enter into the new covenant, God will be merciful toward our iniquities, and will remember sins no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

 

Sin is lawlessness or iniquity (1 John 3:4). It creates a debt against us. It’s like causing damage to someone as in an auto accident or having your bull gore someone else’s (Exodus 21:28-36). It’s not hurting someone’s feelings, though hurt feelings might be a part. It’s not violating what someone else thinks is right or wrong. Sin goes against the life and love of God. We always incur a debt to God for sin, and we owe people we sin against too. Sometimes the sin is private or internal, meaning no other people were harmed (sin always hurts), but we still owe a debt to God. Forgiveness comes when we confess that we’ve sinned and repent or change direction away from the sin and towards righteous behavior God expects from us.

 

We see some examples of forgiveness in the monetary sense in the laws of the Sabbath year (Deuteronomy 15 “you shall grant a release…every creditor to his neighbor”), collateral (Deuteronomy 24:10) and the above mentioned ox. These laws help illustrate for us the concepts of forgiveness and restitution.

 

My take on forgiveness then is to dismiss the debt. When someone has sinned against me, I forgive when I relinquish my claim to payment. In other words, forgiveness means I am not owed anything. When I think of the debt again, I have to remember that the person doesn’t owe me anything. I can only dismiss the debt against me, however. I cannot dismiss the debt that others might have with each other, nor can I dismiss any debt for others that is owed to God. Only Jesus can do that, and only on the basis of believing in Him. Believing doesn’t mean just to acknowledge His existence. It means to abide in His Word, trusting and obeying in all things, especially in forgiveness.

 

Sometimes I forgive a person, but I still don’t want anything to do with them. Forgiveness doesn’t mean I have to hang around them. There are stories that make the rounds in different forms about rattlesnakes or scorpions getting carried out of danger, and they always end up biting or stinging the person who helped them. The moral of those stories is, “You knew what I was when you picked me up.” So just because I forgive someone, doesn’t mean I don’t know what they are. I might forgive the poisonous snake, but I don’t hang around waiting for them to strike. I know what they are, and don’t even stay in their neighborhood.