Christian Television?

It seems to me that every time I go over to the Christian television stations too much of what I hear is anything but Christian. Most of what I hear is more about the Jesus business and not much about Jesus or the Gospel. There is too much emphasis on attaining "stuff" and not enough about sin, repentance, and God's plan of salvation through his son Jesus Christ. Please, change the channel.

If you are watching a Christian program and all they talk about is money, run for the hills. If you hear, plant a seed for this, give an offering for that, or if they give incentives like a prayer cloth or some other trinket, turn it off and never watch that garbage again. Use your discernment and don't get caught up in drama or hyper-emotionalism.
There are many scriptures that address this problem but keep the following in mind when watching some of the nonsense that passes itself off as Christianity

Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you”

Matt 6: 19-21, 24
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. NIV

1 Tim 6 : 3-11
3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. NIV

And here is the kicker:

2 Peter 2:3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed. NLT

Please, be alert, be aware, and stay away from strange "ologies" and "isms"

I hope that this has helped somebody today.
Until the next time, may the LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.

When Times Are Hard What do We Do?

With all that is going on in the world and in our country in particular with the down economy, the harsh political climate, and the erosion of the culture, many believers are asking “What is going on”. All I know is this, GOD is in charge, He is allowing things to happen as he sees fit and it is in the long run always for HIS glory, not ours. Whether we see it or not, understand it or not, you can be rest assured that it is for HIS glory, part of his grand design.

One of the most difficult scriptures to understand is Isaiah 45: 7

I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the LORD, am the one who does these things. (NLT)

So, how do we as believers cope with all that is going on around us knowing that God is allowing these things to happen?

1) We submit to his will and place our burdens and lack of understanding at his feet. Psalm 46:10 says “cease striving and know that I am GOD “ (NASB) some translations have it as “Be still” but the message is the same.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ told us in Matthew 11: 28 – 30

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (NIV)

Paul wrote in 1 Th 5: 16 -17 to “Be Joyful always, Pray continually” (NIV) .

Surrender is not a one time thing. It must take place daily, moment by moment, situation by situation.

2) We must remember that we are his children:
1 John 3:1

1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (NIV)

Roman 8: 15-16 says

“15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. (NIV)

3) We need to develop an eternal perspective. We are only here a short time. All of the turmoil we face on a day to day basis pales in comparison to what awaits.

Romans: 8:18 is applicable here : “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us (NASB)

Go read last weeks post again and remember, "Victory is ours"

I hope this has helped somebody. Until the next time, may the LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.

Victory is Ours!

I could probably spend the rest of my life studying, learning, and then sharing what I have learned from the Book of Romans. This was inspired by a daily devotional I receive via email. I’m taking a slightly different direction then the devotional because I felt led to do so. I hope this speaks to you as it spoke to me.

We all have good days and bad days. We also have days that are just so so, one second we are up, the next we are down. One day we are flying high, the next day we are crushed. As believers we need to keep in mind that throughout the roller coaster of life we are still victorious regardless of our circumstances.

Romans 8:35 -37 reminds us this very fact:

"35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” NLT

I really like the NLT rendering of this:”overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loves us.” WOW! Does it get any better than this?
As we continue to grow in faith we can fully expect to be buffeted by all kinds of trials. James reminds of the attitude we should take when this happens:
James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds”. NIV
Psalm 118: 6 reminds us: "The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" NIV

Keep all this in mind when you hear and read about the earthquakes around the world, the bad economy and how it impacts each of us personally, and when politicians knowingly lie to us on a daily basis in the mad quest for power claiming they are doing things for our good. These are all temporary problems and issues and have no impact or effect on our victory which is eternal.

I hope that this has helped somebody to day. Until next time, may the LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.

Gods Will and Our Faith

In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 8 we see two examples of healing that touch on two very important aspects of supernatural healing, God’s will and our faith and in full context we see an example of each.

Matt: 8:2-3
2 A man with leprosycame and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy NIV

Here we see an example of God’s will in healing. Why does God heal some and not others? Why does he heal some instantaneously and others more slowly over time using doctors, people, or circumstances as conduits of his healing power? One thing is for sure, if it isn’t for HIS glory and the forwarding of his kingdom it won’t happen.

Matthew 8: 5-13
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." 7 Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him." 8 The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour. NIV

Here is an example of Jesus healing somebody because of their understanding of his power and their trust and faith in that power. Does this mean that if our level of Faith is high enough God will do as we ask? Only if it is his will and part of his plan for our lives.

Don’t let anybody tell you that you haven’t been healed because your faith isn’t strong enough or point an accusatory finger at you saying you have some un-confessed sin or that you may not even be saved and that is the reason why you haven’t been healed. There are many misused scriptures concerning healing, too many to enumerate here.
Know this; God does heal today just as he always did. Who he chooses to heal, when and how he chooses to heal is HIS will, and is not a reflection of the level of our faith or salvation. ( I John 5:14, Romans 9:14, Ex 33:19)

I hope this has helped somebody today.
Until the next time, may the Lord bless us and keep us, In Jesus name I pray.

Context, Context, Context - Part 4

Predestination continued.

This point of view is one that I have come to after many years of study, prayer, and meditation on the relevant scriptures, taking all of them together in context, using the whole council of God. I see no inconsistency in my conclusion. Feel free to disagree and discuss any part of what I have written.

1 Peter 3:9
“To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” NIV

Here is where the term elect comes from. All the scriptures that I used last week also apply here. The big difference is the term foreknowledge as opposed to predestined. What this does is give further insight into unraveling this issue.
Here is how.
God is eternal and so he has to be, according to our temporal standard, the same past, present, and future. (Heb 13:8) God is not on a timeline, he sees everything simultaneously.
Given this eternal perspective he knew right from the outset, from the beginning of creation, who would choose to be saved and who would reject his salvation plan. The choice is ours, of our own free will. Does he draw us in? Yes. Everybody will be presented with the choice, whether or not it is accepted or received is an individual decision we make.
Here is the kicker: 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

God does not want anybody to perish so he has his salvation plan in place and EVERYBODY will have an opportunity to accept the plan or reject it. Being eternal he already knows who received his plan and trusted in Christ as savior.

This conclusion is what makes the most sense to me. I used the Bible in full context to arrive at this conclusion. This topic and the difficulty of it is one of the reasons I fell away for a while. I could not make sense of it where I was attending church and from what I was being taught. As always though, the spirit drew me back in. I dropped the “ology” and “ism” I was being taught, which freed my mind, and I have found a place where I can be comfortable and assured with the concept and conclusion I have arrived at.

Gods way are not our ways. God trying to teach us anything is tantamount to us trying to teach quantum physics to an amoeba, and this analogy still isn’t strong enough to describe the difference in intellect and nature of his being compared to ours.
We only have his book, the Bible, to go by. A small part of his knowledge is contained in this book and we are only capable of fully understanding a very small part of it. It contains an eternity of knowledge and we have but a lifetime to get to know what we can.

I pray that this has helped somebody today and until the next time, may the LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.

Context, Context, Context - Part 3

The Doctrine of Predestination – Another Point of Contention

This doctrine is an important aspect of an “olgy” and “ism” that I have major issues with. Those who believe differently from me I still call my brothers and sisters but unfortunately many on the other side of this issue fall into the “Believe as I do or you are a heretic” category. These are many of the same folk who accuse others of turning the Word on its head to fit their doctrine when they are guilty of the same thing when it come to predestination. This is indeed unfortunate.

Here is the scripture in dispute:

Ephesians 1:11 “ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,”
NIV
Here are some scriptures related to this discussion to read and study:

Christianity 101 – John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Joel 2: 32, Acts 2-21, Romans 10:13 – “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 8:32a “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all”

One thing that stands out in these verses is that Christ died for us all. It doesn’t say he died for the chosen ones, or the predestined ones, he died for us all, loved us all, while we were all still sinners. John 3:16 clearly states "whoever believes in him" it does not say the predestined or elect that believe in him will be saved.
Who specifically is Paul talking about? He is talking about all those who have received Christ as savior. When we received Christ, of our own free will, we became part of the elect, the chosen, the predestined.
If we believe that God chose us individually, before the beginning of time to be saved, and others for damnation then we have a massive contradiction with the scriptures quoted above. Since the Bible cannot and does not contradict itself, this view is erroneous.
There is another view of this subject that adds clarity, at least for me. Again using the principle of using the bible to clarify itself lets look at Eph 1:11-12 in context:

“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

Paul was calling the very first believers the predestined ones. This view, is also acceptable and causes no contradiction with the rest of scripture.

But Dan, what about 1 Peter? I'll tackle that aspect next week.

This is a very difficult subject and I tried to simplify it. Keep in mind the most important thing to remember is that your salvation does not hang on believing one way or the other, it hangs on faith and trust and receiving Christ as savior.

I pray that this has helped somebody today and until the next time, may the LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.

Contex, Contex, Context - Part 2

Matthew 18:19 A Point of Contention Within the Body


"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” NIV

As stated last week the most important thing to look for when studying the Bible is context of a given scripture. We gave an example of cultural context last week. This week I want to touch on scriptural context. I don’t like to be repetitious but I need to emphasize this point. For the sake of simplicity there is context within a passage, passage within a chapter, chapter in the book being studied, and the Book within the rest of the Bible. In other words we need to use the Bible to clarify itself. Given proper context there should never be a contradiction in the Bible. If there is contradiction, there is error.

There are many very popular preachers that use Matthew 18:19 out of its context. They use it to treat Jesus like a genie. They say if your faith is strong enough and several agree with you in prayer you WILL receive what you ask for. That is not what Matthew 18: 19 is about. There is also much spiritual abuse that can come out of this interpretation as well. If you don’t get what you ask for they will tell you your faith is not strong enough, or worse yet, that you may not even be saved. I even heard one very popular “teacher” say “Don’t give me that will of God stuff”. Can you imagine a man of God heaping this kind of condemnation on somebody? I am here to tell you that kind teaching is from the pit. How do I know this for certain?
1 John 1:9 says: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” NIV

So then it is the will of God is what determines how our prayers are answered. So what about Matthew 18:19? If you start at Matthew 18:15 and read the whole passage in context you will see that the correct interpretation (exegesis for you bible scholars out there) concerns disputes and overt sin among believers.

15"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'[b] 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be[c]bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[d] loosed in heaven.
19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." NIV

Given this clarification there is no longer a conflict with 1 John 5:14. Again I want to emphasize that it is important to use scripture to clarify itself. By simply going back several verses we can clearly see the intended meaning of Matthew 18:19.
The Christian walk is difficult enough without incorrect teaching getting in the way. Always take the time to study on your own and don’t take anybody’s teaching as fact. If something doesn’t hit you right and triggers your discernment look it up, study, and please pray about it.

I hope this has helped somebody today.

Until next time may the LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.