Discipleship is Imperative

If you want to keep Christians ignorant discourage discipleship. Which part of church life would Jesus say is the most important? Let's look at His instructions in the Great Commission. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you..." (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV) Notice the emphasis on discipleship and teaching. This is a missing ingredient in most churches today. Making disciples does not end with baptism. Christians are defenseless in the spiritual battles they face without a thorough knowledge of the Bible, and a special focus on what Jesus taught.

Foolish Atheists

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." (Palm 53:1) Is this logical? Is ad hominem (attacking the man) a valid argument? It is when a man's character is the problem. The psalmist dares to call atheists fools. Why? Romans 1 gives us a clue to the atheist's true motives. Their motives are not sincere but a desire to formulate their own standards of morality and not submit to the wisdom of a divine being. The list of evils is long. Common sense plainly tells us that none of us would want to live in a society dominated by such corruption. Nobody would be safe from exploitation by the powerful. Atheism is illogical, short term thinking, reasoning without understanding cause and effect. There is a great cause and there are devastating effects of ignoring Him.

I live in a dangerous neighborhood. One of our neighbors is actively engaged in trying to take their next door's property. Mr Moscow is actively attacking his neighbor with dangerous weapons attempting to steal their land by force. Another neighbor had been threatening to do the same to his next door for decades, claiming without proof that the next door land is his. Mr Beijing is known by all those near and far as a bully. Nobody trusts him. Down the street is a neighborhood called little America. They are divided on the left and right sides of the street, and they keep shooting each other. The next street over is little Africa. They could be a wealthy street but they keep on opressing one another. On the other side is a street called little Europe. Each house speaks a different language. They are all quite wealthy but can't agree on a common street policy, so each house is very different and the whole street looks uncoordinated. It's a dangerous part of town around here. Sheriff UNO has tried but he had no power to enforce the peace and neighbors just ignore his efforts, so it's like living in the wild west, where every neighbor does what's right in his own eyes. Be careful out there.

Self-Righteous Christians

Do we trust in ourselves that we are righteous, and despise others? Have a look at self-righteousness and self-justification in Luke 18:9-14. Do we think that others are lesser Christians than us? The faults of others ought to make us humble, not arrogant, because in them we should see our own sins. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…” (1 John 1:8-10 NKJV) None of us measures up to God’s righteousness. Let’s discern right from wrong, but avoid self-righteously judging others and humbly confess our own sins. The righteous will not live by criticism and judgmentalism, but by faith (Romans 1:17).

The Original Faith

Is the original faith in traditions of post apostolic church fathers, much much later Protestant doctrines, modern emotional experiences, or any other thing that came along after the faith written about in the New Testament? Or, should we contend for the faith that was already there when Jude wrote?

“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints.” (Jude 3 NASB)

There is nothing wrong with seeking the advice of early church fathers, Protestant reformers, or others who have faith in Christ, but we must be wise when they deviate from or add to the God-breathed words in the Bible. We need life-long personal study of the Bible, like the Bereans.

“Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11 NIV)

The Best Vengeance

We all experience unjust treatment from time to time. How do we deal with it? Can we take vengeance? What if we are totally wrong? There is a vengeance available to Christians, and it is a promise. Let God take the vengeance. He promised, and it will be perfect justice. "Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, 'Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.' " (Romans 12:19 WEB) Our job is to forgive, forget our anger and leave any justice or deserved punishment to God. He will deal with it perfectly in His own time and way. Trust Him!

Thinking about God

Jesus gave a simple two step process that one should think about when confronted with the truth of the Gospel. (Mark 1:15) Repent literally means to change our mind or heart. (Galatians 4:8-9; Galatians 5:1) Look at the grass, seeds, ants, dinosaurs, trees, our eyes, and ears. In all this is irreducible complexity, design. For further research, look into the Institute for Creation Research (icr.org), Answers in Genesis (answersingenesis.org), and the work of Norm Geisler (normangeisler.com), Lee Strobel (leestrobel.com), Josh McDowell (josh.org), C. S. Lewis (cslewis.org), and Gary Habermas (garyhabermas.com).

Evidence for God

Is the evidence of God’s existence visible? (Psalm 19:1-6) One who calls Himself God challenges the arrogance of humanity. (Job 38:2-12) Is the evidence for God everywhere? Is an atheist’s denial not logical, but emotional based upon wrong motives? (Romans 1:18-32) Is humanity responsible for a lot of evil in the world? If indeed there is a God, would He want this? Are we blind to His loving hand? (Job 12:7-10) The basis of all life is DNA, a code. If we discovered such a code written anywhere else, we would wonder who its creator was. Yet, very intelligent people claim that it came about by accident, without an intelligent designer? What are possible motives for denying the existence of God? Will you have a change of mind and heart and believe the good news of God’s reign? You decide!

God Introduces Himself

Who is God? God is Elohim (Genesis 1:1) meaning mighty. He is also Yahweh (Genesis 15:7; Exodus 6; Leviticus 18) meaning “the one who is,” “I am who I am,” or “the self-existent one.” The Bible is filled with descriptions of God (1 John 1:5; Hebrews 4:12; Isaiah 40:23; James 1:17; Numbers 23:19). He loves us (John 3:16; 15:13). Jesus is “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

God is perfect, just, faithful and upright. That is good news. Will you have a change of mind and heart and believe the good news of God’s reign? You decide!

Repentance for Christmas

Does the Christian meaning of Christmas get lost? What can we do to make it more meaningful? Read what profound changes John expected with preparation for Christ’s coming in Luke 3:7-18. What fruits of repentance do our lives show? Have we made a change for the better? Do we share? Do we extort? Are we content with our wages? Let’s let our good works shine and give God the glory.

Slander in Churches

What do you do when the ethics in the church is worse than that of the world? What do you do when you are slandered in a church meeting, remembering that the word devil means slanderer? What do you do when you are lied about in church, remembering who is the father of lies? What do you do when bullies in the church engage in defamation of your character and toss you aside like unwanted trash? In far worse circumstances, Jesus remained silent and then said, Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing.

Anointed

What does anointed really mean? People speak of anointed preaching, or anointed this or that? But what does it entail? In Mark 8:29-30 Jesus asked the disciples, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.' Christ means Messiah or anointed One. Like a king is anointed or appointed for office, so too was Jesus anointed to be king of kings. Yet his anointing entailed suffering and death. Are we willing to suffer or sacrifice our self interests so that others may live? That is the mark of a truly anointed Christian.

Is the Bible Inspired?

Is Scripture a menu or a complete package? What did Paul teach?

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV)

All does not mean just some, or the parts we like. Paul was obviously specifically referring to the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), summarized variously by well-known two or three divisions. New Testament writings also began to be recognized early on:

... Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15–16 KJV)

The core books of the Bible are agreed upon by all Christians. Peter confirmed how God inspired the Scripture to be written.

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21 NIV)

This counteracts the lie that the Old Testament was just myth and legend, made up by superstitious people. This infers the submissive will, personality and cooperation of the writer. As such, it is perfectly reasonable to call the Bible the Word of God.

Fools

Why did Jesus and others call people foolish, when Jesus taught us not to? Let’s ask:

1. Are they the same words in Greek? No! Matthew 5:22 actually uses two words translated as “fool.” The first is raca (ῥακά), meaning empty and foolish, “good-for-nothing” (NASB) and “idiot” (CEB, MSG, NLT). The second is from móros (μωρός), meaning stupid, foolish, and “worthless” (CEV). Jesus condemned such words and the anger behind them.

2. Did Jesus and others also use other words? Yes! When they called people fools or foolish, they used different words. Our translations make it look contradictory.

3. One such word is aphrón (ἄφρων). What does it mean? Though often translated as foolish or fool, it is a different word than that condemned by Jesus. It means without reason and lacking perspective. It describes a lack of good logic (Luke 11:40; Luke 12:20; Romans 2:20; 1 Corinthians 15:36; 2 Corinthians 11:19; Ephesians 5:17; 1 Peter 2:15). Jesus challenged us to a thinking faith.

4. Another word is anoétos (ἀνόητος). What does it mean? Also translated as fool or foolish it also means not understanding and not reasoning though a matter with proper logic. It is found in passages that challenge a person’s thinking (Luke 24:25; Galatians 3:1; Galatians 3:3). Faith is built upon good logic, proper reasoning.

5. What did Jesus mean in context (Matthew 5:21-26)? Jesus was speaking about unrighteous anger, and the spirit of the commandment against murder. Righteous anger hates sin because it hurts people. Unrighteous anger hates people and devalues human life. The spirit of the law is violated by that anger and the words used expose it.

Heathen Believers

Let’s look at the failure of many believers and the faith of novices in Matthew 2:1-12. The kingdom of God, while not of this world, was understood as a political threat by the disciples, Jewish leaders and the Romans. Magi were influential learned men of Babylon, priests, physicians, alchemists and probably heathen. They came to worship Jesus. Herod and many Jews did not. They either ignored or felt threatened by the birth of the Christ child. If leaders of a pagan religion offered great honor to Christ, how much more ought we Christians!

Senior Saints and the Christ Child

We read the examples of elderly Simeon and Anna in Luke 2:22-40. History records that Simeon may have helped translate the Greek version of the Old Testament often quoted in the New Testament. Yet the most important thing about his life is that Simeon was the kind of senior who had lived a "just and devout" life, the kind of man who we should all learn from. Anna devoted many decades of her life to the service of God in the Temple. She seems to be a model of the expectations of a widow in I Timothy 5:5-9.

Xmas is NOT Antichristian

Have you seen or heard the annual cry against X-ing Christ out of Christmas? Yes, that's what some claim that the word Xmas does. But, is it really true? No, it's not. X is often the Greek equivalent of "Ch" in English. In Greek, Christ is spelled χριστός. Notice the first letter (called "chi" in Greek) looks like an X in the English alphabet. Ancient Christians used Greek "X" as an abbreviation for Christ, and "θ" (the Greek letter "theta") as an abbreviation for God. So, Xmas does not X Christ out of Christmas. He is still very much a part of the abbreviation Xmas. And THAT is the truth of it.

Born from Above

John 3:3-4 Born “again” also means born “from above,” from heaven, regeneration. According to the Opportunity Index, those born poor are less likely to have earthly opportunities. Everyone has better opportunities in God than anything on earth. To be born from heaven above is to belong to heaven, a child of God. Nicodemus heard “born again” instead of “born from above,” a physical understanding not a spiritual meaning. Early Christians focused on literal circumcision, not circumcision of the heart (Romans 2:29). Even in old age like Nicodemus, life in Christ is new. We have every reason to live with youthful joy.

Joseph's Dilemma

Matthew 1:18 Joseph, betrothed to Mary, found her pregnant. At that time, a groom typically prepared a home for his bride, which could take a year. When all was prepared, he came to collect his bride, like Christ comes for the Church. Joseph decided to cancel the wedding privately for Mary’s sake.

Jesus and Noah

Matthew 24:36-44 Jesus confirms the Noah flood narrative. Does science prove it wrong? Are we sure? If the flood is a myth, how were transcontinental sedimentary rock layers formed? How were the Grand Canyon layers formed without any evidence of erosion between layers? How are whale and possum fossils found mixed together?