Times are tough all over and if you are one of the many people that are telling yourself, I need a loan to get through this, you are not alone. When money is tight and you are stuck between a rock and a hard place, you do have several options that will hopefully be able to get you some cash in a hurry.
Many people will think about asking friends or family, but think about this before you do it. This is not a lending institution and they are going to be there day in and day out to remind you that you owe them some cash. This does not even bring about the fact that favors will have to be paid off in the future because of this one small loan.
If you can manage to get someone in the family to give you a few bucks, they are probably going to be all over you for the money. Either that or you may even develop an attitude that since it is family, there is no need to set up a timely payment plan like you would with a bank. Many family hardships are due to loans and if at all possible, you may want to keep this as a last resort.
If the amount of money that is needed is truly short term and no larger than a single paycheck, a payday advance loan is a great way to get that money in hand right away. It is a pretty high interest rate for a short period of time, but you are paying for convenience and may not have a choice at this point.
For the loan to be processed, it is usually just a matter of a valid id, checking account and pay stub. They process your information and you have money in hand in a few minutes. Terms are usually fairly short and no more than a couple of weeks. The borrowing amount is usually your paycheck up to about $500.
While family and friend are there to lend support when needed, money may not be the best area to test the waters. If you have the discipline to treat it as a professional arrangement, which very few people do, you can explore that, but otherwise you should go to the organizations that are set up for exactly this reason. We intend this is constructive for anybody researching I Need Money the latest and you locate the loan you need. Examine our website for more details referring to money loan.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Monday, July 23, 2007
What Really is a Christian?
= quote from the Bible
Is God Relevant Today?
Many ask: Christianity is old fashioned and so why step back a hundred years or more, by believing in God?
The spiritualising of our culture is on the increase and many of us have not noticed.
May I suggest that even if you do not agree with this article, keep it stored away in a bottom draw, you may want some answers in the future.
We now live in a very modernistic world and continue to demand more modern all the time. It causes in us a very short sense of historical perspective. We are encouraged to discard and forget the past history and embrace the New World ideas (we have somehow evolved into a higher life form, from any other people who lived before us. And so now, think that we can dismiss the wisdom of the aged and the vitally important historical lessons; we then design our New World lifestyles.) We have been so bombarded with modernism and materialism from the TV, school, magazines, movies, newspapers, computers and advertising that we have become conditioned to the idea of a world that is without any real god or even the need for one. It’s like we have been brainwashed by all this, it is a false idea and a shallow lifestyle. Like someone who is so taken up with the Internet that he scarcely notices his family, so we are today - so taken up with the larger-than-life world that we scarcely notice God - the material world becomes so real, that the spiritual world is basically lost to us.
There is a saying - "There is no such thing as an atheist on the battle field." When we find ourselves in a situation where we are stripped of our security and comfort, many of us ask a God, who supposedly does not exist, to help us in our hard times. God is there all the time but many of us only acknowledge when we must.
Many question the existence of God, but not the theory of the 'atom' - for it is still only a theory - it sounds like a good theory to me too, but total proof is not available; yet we put great faith in it. The theory of the atom was first recorded by Democritus, a Greek philosopher around 465 BC. He gave us the word 'atom'. Are we much more clever and enlightened now or is it just more technology? Technology and new medical advances can produce a wonderful new drug to alleviate pain, but then people use the drug to escape reality and destroy themselves as well.
High technology does not equate to wisdom and spiritual insight. God and the spiritual realm are out of reach of the scientific sphere - they cannot be measured and tested in the same clinical way in a laboratory. Why then does man consider that he understands enough about God and the spiritual realm, to declare them obsolete? Stephen Hawking the brilliant theoretical physicist and mathematician, his work helped confirm the 'big bang' theory to Evolutionists and yet I heard him state on radio recently: "We still do not know the origin of the universe or why we are here."
(Even many evolutionary scientists are now saying that the theory of Evolution is not really plausible without their being some kind of 'higher intelligence'. They propose that, that higher intelligence could be the combined intelligence of the universe. Hmm, I do not think that a rock has very much intelligence and certainly not enough to create the full range of incredibly complex of life forms in evidence on the earth today. The ‘Big Bang’ theory suggests that while ‘first there was nothing’, this “nothing” exploded into millions of huge stars bigger than our sun.’ How? Where is the mechanism for such a process? There are thousands of scientists around the world, now declaring evolution as impossible.)
Some will say to me "I don't need God, why should I ?" And true enough in a physical sense most of us can live without God, but if God does exist, as I propose, He says no person can have any quality of life at all in the next life, without living for Him in this life.
If God does Not Exist Why Do We Look Hard?
Funny thing though, in this very modern enlightened age we live in, crime is on increase world wide; many still starve to death every year; suicide is on an alarming increase; there are millions of homeless youth now in the Western countries, the list could go on. In Australia - recently a thirteen year old girl was found with an eight hit a day heroin habit; almost half the secondary students lose their virginity before they leave school; every three days at least one teenager becomes a mother; one in ten children will experience depression before the age of fourteen; hundreds of Victorian schools are now resorting to surveillance cameras and armed security guards to combat vandalism, theft and drugs dealing; Children as young as six, are reported to be trying heroin; parents who suspect their children are using drugs can hire sniffer dogs to search their home; children as young as seven are starving themselves in order to have the perfect body; more than 2000 children every day, log onto the Internet to find advice on when they can leave home, when they can have sex, and which parent to live with after a divorce; children as young as 11 years old are buying drugs on credit in the school yard, they trade what they can including sex, for drugs; etc. The more a culture discards God, the more animalistic and less human that culture becomes. God has a better plan than that, and always did.
This idea that some have about there not being a God is a relatively new phenomena.
Although we know that things have changed greatly in the last 100 years, we actually live by a deeper assumption that says: 'the way that it is now and how it was for my parents, is the way that it has always been' forgetting the thousands of years of culture, with their ways of life and the many philosophies they held. The things of the past seem very distant while the things we live with now seem so forever real. Just like watching a movie that really gets you in, during the movie the rest of life seems sort of distant and not so real and we want the movie to just keep going - so it is with life, in the middle of this easy, entertained and luxurious life, God and the spiritual realm seems sort of distant and not so real, yet They are more real than anything else.
Surely now in our modern 20th century life style of television & video's, computers, microwave & fax, the great scientific achievements with all our great logic, God and the spiritual realm just do not make sense. The truth is people are flocking to something spiritual now - the need to connect with that deeper part of ourselves it seems; in a reaction to the highly modern plastic world we now have for ourselves.
10% is Very Little in Any Other Field.
There is always mystery about things when we do not know how they work. Since the beginning of time man has believed in God or gods. The rapid development of the sciences from the time of the Renaissance from about 1350 - 1650 AD, increasing through the Age of Reason from 1650 - 1750, which blossomed in the time of Rationalism - 1750 AD onwards till now; removed much of the mystery of life. Many mere humans came to conclude that science explains ‘all’ things that matter, and that God is no longer necessary. The reality is, there is far more that we do not understand than what we do. We only know a fraction of all there is to know; in fact, the more we learn, the more we realise we do not know - while discoveries answer some questions, they usually create more questions because of the greater depth of understanding in that field of research. There are so many natural and strange things that science cannot explain; so how can we confidently assume that God is irrelevant to life and the of origin of all things? Scientists tell us that we only know a fraction of all there is to know - about 10%.
If there are 10 facts that you need to know, in order to understand how a car works; consider if you knew the answer to only one question, are you qualified to work on a car? Why then, do we feel so qualified to dismiss God, when all we know is about 10%?
In the fraction we do know and in the midst of the mysteries of nature and metaphysics, somehow there is no mystery left as to how everything works. Sounds contradictory. It certainly does not seem very scientific. It is possible for God to exist in the 90% that we do not know about.
Some say to me "There is no God !" There is a basic flaw in such a statement - in order to know that there is no god you would have to have 'all knowledge' and that is impossible for any one person. For a person to declare that God does not exist, he would have to be God, to know that there was no God. Just saying that God does not exist might sound tough to some and to others it may sound intellectual but it does not explain the existence of such a highly complex universe at every level. The water molecule was supposed to be one of the first molecules because it was a simple cell, now it has been discovered with better technology that it is extremely complex molecule. That’s just water what about a budding flower? What about the human body? What about the human brain?
For 1000 's of years the spiritual was an integral part of the culture, for them, to think that it was not was foolish because they saw the effects of it in their communities, and as I said before, things that our scientific world still cannot explain.
With amazing technological and scientific achievements we have discarded the need to touch the spiritual realm and then in a time of desperate need or crisis we suddenly feel the need to make contact. Why?
Most people at some time lie in bed at night and think 'is this what life is about, is there no real purpose for it all.' And then we get to 35 or 40 and have a mid life crisis because they bought a house, achieved well at work and now have a family but feel empty; then what do they say to their partner ? 'I need some space, time to think, I need to find myself' Hence their are now many people (academics also) flocking to Eastern Mysticism, Transcendental Meditation, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, the Occult, Mediums, Christian Science, Pyramidology, Mormons, Jehovah's Witness's, Astrology and the different forms of the New Age religions such as Spiritualism; (Jan Groenveld, the leader of the Brisbane-based Cult Awareness and Information Centre, estimates there are up to 2500 cults in Australia.). If the ‘spiritual’ side of life does not really matter, why are so many seeking it? In a recent survey in Australia - 82% said they believed UFO's exist, while only 70% believe God exists. We really do know that the spiritual exists; (but it seems we like to believe some things that have less proof than other certain things with much proof, why?) Many now agree that it is not a question of the existence of God, but which of the religions represents the True God.
Some declare that it is the same god behind all religions. This is not very logical considering that these same religions contradict each other.
So we see that we are after all, no more modern and highly evolved than those who lived in Medieval times, we are just as spiritually seeking as they were, and even superstitious - have you ever thought about why we barrack for our football team when listening to the radio or a cricketer will always wear the same hat or whatever? Many people use the superstitious term 'touch wood'.
The spiritual needs of humans are like emotional needs such as socialising, if you stay at home never going out, fairly soon you get desperate for some company and social stimulation. Or even physical needs, if you do not eat anything, it will not be long and you start to feel somewhat desperate for something to eat and so it is with the spiritual also.
It is something like the feeling that someone adopted may feel when they do not know who their biological parents are and why they are what they are? They want to know their roots and feel an emptiness without it. There is also a certain emptiness until man finds God and knows his eternal roots - did I really come from a monkey and am I just a animal? Is there nothing else of lasting value, is this all there is?
In all of us there is a God shaped vacuum and we will fill it with something, I suggest to you, that God is the only One who can fill it.
Some say to me at this point, but there are so many different religious Christian groups how do you know which one could be right? This is a fair question, we have Catholics, Anglican, Baptist, Orthodox, Methodist and Assemblies of God to mention a few.
Where ever there are humans, they will always want to be different from each other. Say for-instance in a business, you have partners who cannot agree on how to run it and so part company. Neither of them is necessarily wrong or right just a different way of doing things, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. So too with churches, one church is not the right one, for all church groups have their strengths and weaknesses, the important point is, they all worship the same God and have the basics in common.
Why Wars And Why Does God Seem Hidden Then ?
People say to me 'if there is a God why are there wars ?' or 'if God really does exist why does He not really show Himself ?'
The answer is quite simple, 'God Wanted A Family.' From the beginning of time God's plan always was and still is, to have a family that He had made. God wanted a being that He could relate to, and be a real friend to, but in order for God to have this being that would choose to love and befriend Him, He had to give this being the ability to make decisions for himself - a ‘free will’. So, God made us human with the ability to think, reason and feel, the ability to make educated choices about those we wanted to befriend and what we choose to believe, He hoped that we would choose Him.
He could have made us all robots that would say 3 times a day "I love you my maker" in a very good digitised sounding voice, but then how can you have a full and complete relationship with a machine, it just would not be a fulfilling friendship. Even if He had made us like a faithful dog, as good as they are, there is still not the fullest expression of a deep relationship.
But, with any privilege or right, there comes with it responsibility - in this case God granted us the great privilege of having free will and so the responsibility is also great. The danger is, that this being might choose not to love God, and not only that he might even choose make war with other people, murder the innocent, even children, and all those things that are wrong. As 'free moral agents' with the ability to choose, what we do, and how we act, there will be great conflict at times even to the point of genocide.
God did not do it, we did, God did not stop it because He gave us the gift of free will with its great responsibility.
If we say 'God should stop wars', we are also saying that God should take away our free will and freedom, and turn us into human robots.
'Free will' is a great privilege and has not only a great responsibility but also great risks. God’s plan was a risk, but it had great rewards also. God could have done it a different way but He chose this way.
Life on earth seems to have become something like a trial program
This life was never meant to be a trial program but in some ways, it now seems to be like one.
We were to have lived a life with God, everything was perfect, but when man disobeyed God, that action destroyed God's plan for us by making us incompatible with God and heaven. God then put into place another plan, in order to restore the possibility of us having a life with God forever. This new plan is not an easy one for anybody, we must work at it; the choice is up to you.
Though God established a second plan, He did not remove our free choice - we can accept or reject Him.
In this way we are not robots, we can make the choice to love Him or not, just as any man and woman can make the choice to love each other and get married or not. By this, God knows and we know, if we have chosen Him or not while we live on earth.
When we then stand before God to answer for our life, it will be our choice that determines if we live with Him forever or otherwise.
Surely God would want friends who chose to be with Him rather than robots programmed to do and say everything that was required of them.
This is why God does not show Himself completely to us, to the point where there is no longer any doubt about His existence and character, because if He came as a super hero with all His abilities and displayed them publicly then all mankind would know without a doubt that He existed and would follow Him for fear of going to hell. (I explain what ‘hell’ is later on) Where is the real relationship in that? Or the genuine faith?
God is a god of faith, it takes effort to believe and we are to be the same. When you think about it, where would the pleasure be, in everybody telling you that they love you and want to be with you, just out of fear - simply to avoid hell? I want my children to obey my directions because they honour and love me not because they are scared.
This is why God has shown Himself to man throughout history in a relatively small way, and why Jesus when He came, came as a servant and not a super hero in a spectacular way to dazzle all mankind thereafter.
Some say to me "Oh, I believe in God but I don't need to go to church to prove it." Sure, going to church does not prove that we believe in God, but the real issue here is - to Believe in God is to Act, it is not something passive. Say, for-instance, you did a great thing for someone else at great cost to yourself, you would expect some sort of gratitude and recognition. God too, having paid a great price for us, expects some sort of gratitude - He expects us to give over our life to working for Him and His plan for mankind.
What is Being a Christian?
As I begin I must explain that when I quote the Bible, I believe I am quoting God's words not just some old book that has suffered many trials over the centuries and is now an unreliable list of various old timers imagination's. (I can give you evidence of the genuineness of the Bible as being from God if you would like to see it). The Bible calls itself the 'LIVING WORD OF GOD' and in 1 Timothy 3 16 it says of itself,
2 Tim 3:15-17 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to be saved from hell that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to
teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us
to do what is right.
It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.
All men have an ultimate source of authority, whether consciously or unconsciously, and the authority of the Christian Church is the Bible.
There are many churches who will not accept this and teach an easy and weak Christianity. There are churches who preach a form of Christianity but there is no life or genuine reality (Sunday Christians) as it says in 2TIMOTHY 3
2 Tim 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days
perilous times will come: For men will be
lovers of themselves,....lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God, having a form of
godliness but denying its power. And from
such people, you should avoid.
I often say to people I talk to about Jesus Christ , "Christianity is usually not what we have been told it is; forget the traditions and the do's & don'ts". Christianity is about something alive and new - when a person lives their life with God as the BOSS, it changes them.
Many people say "Oh yes I am a Christian" and as I look at their lifestyle I wonder upon what basis can they really say this, because they do not live anything like what Jesus told us to. Yet they said they are a follower of Him, or in other words call themself a Christian.
'A Christian' is one, who is one, and not just someone who tells us they are one. If I was to declare long and loud that I was an American, it means nothing, I am still Australian; yet this is what many do - declaring themselves to be a Christian when they are not at all, they have not done what was required to be one. If you do not agree to, and abide by, the rules of any club, you will not be accepted in.
Rom 2:13 For it is not merely knowing what God
requires of us that brings God's approval.
Those who obey God's requirements will be declared acceptable by God.
You are not a Christian until you actively do something , for instance a commitment or pledge to God that is permanent. Not just going to church on Sundays.
Think of it this way, if I go and live in America I am not an American - I am still an Australian but living in America. I shall remain to be an Australian living in America until I become naturalised; this is when I have made a commitment or a pledge of allegiance to that power. I then must obey the laws of the land as a good citizen, which is a sign of my continuing commitment.
So it is to be a Christian, I can live thinking or even saying, I am a Christian, but if I have not made a commitment which is permanent and total, then I am not a Christian.
You are not born a Christian; even if you are born into a Christian family; likewise, a man is not lawyer because his father is a lawyer; you cannot even become a lawyer by sitting in a court of law for many years, he becomes a lawyer with much work and commitment.
As one person put it 'Going to church does not make you any more a Christian than going to Macdonald's makes you a big mack'. It is all about a genuine, meaningful, life long contract with God.
God makes it quite clear that religion is not an 'add on' or just tacked onto our normal lives it IS our life (now and forever) and all else is an 'add on'. You could say that my job is not my real job, being a Christian is my real job and my other job just pays the bills. This is what God expects of us.
Real Christianity is a close relationship between me and Jesus Christ, a close friendship with the mega powerful God.
He calls us to be more intimate with Him than any other person in the world.
MAT 22:37-38 Jesus said to him, " You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment."
Some people will say to me "If you want to be a Christian then that is OK but why do you `born agains` have to be so into it?"
That is a good question; firstly, as Christians we believe that God created everything; then Jesus was tortured and killed for the wrong we do and finally hell is a terrible place of torment and suffering.
If someone made you, then gave up their life for you, YOU TOO would want to give all for him, particularly if you were going to suffer forever if you did not. There must be something more than a 'Sunday' Christian experience.
On radio I once heard a caller ask of an Oxford professor "So you have proved that Jesus Christ did exist and the Bible is reliable but why do you have to take it any further, by idolising Him now ?"
That is a fair question and their are two aspects to look at in answer :-
1) Firstly, the obvious conclusion - seeing that it is relatively easy to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Jesus Christ did exist and that what He has said in the Bible is reliable, this then dictates that we must obey His commands. How can a person say that they believe the Bible to be true, but then not do as it says? It is like declaring the law of gravity to be true, and doing something contrary to it like jumping off a 32 story building.
The Bible says He died for us and He commands us to
love and follow Him or else we must reject the Facts/Evidence as well as Him.
2) Secondly, there comes a time when God requires that FAITH must overtake the scientific evidence, ('faith' is absolute belief in God, being convinced) We are to be totally devoted to Him, being convinced that He is God over above all the scientific evidence. Throughout history God has only shown Himself in a relative small way, He will not give mankind the absolute indisputable proof, for where would the faith be? (If a volcano was about to erupt beside your house, you would not sit down and reason out whether or not to flee, you just would. In the same way if God showed Himself to mankind completely, so that there was no doubt in anybody’s mind about the future, people would not sit down and reason out whether or not to love and serve God, they just would. There would be a rush for tickets, not love - it would not be a genuine choice for God.) For God is a god of FAITH and He lives by faith as a lifestyle. The Bible states this -
Heb 11:6 But without trusting in God, it is impossible
to please God, for he who comes to God must believe
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him.
EPH 2:8 For by a gift of God you have been saved
through trusting Him,
God offers to save us from the penalty of our wrong but only trusting Him can save us.
The Good News
God made us to be family for Him, we were stolen from Him by the wrong we do and He wants us back. Jesus His son was the only (perfect) man that could possibly pay for the cost of our wrong. So He came and died in your place to bring you back to God. So the Christian life is an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. It is talking and relating to Jesus every day.
JOHN 3:16 "For God so loved mankind that He gave
His only Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not go to hell but have everlasting life
in heaven"
This term "BELIEVES IN" does not mean simply believe that something exists. You may believe that the Labour or Liberal Party exists but you may not believe 'in' them and vote for them in the next election.
The Bible says that 'even the demons believe He is God' but there is no way they can be saved.
JAM 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You
do well. Even the demons believe and tremble!
But if you look at the original language that the New Testament was written in, which was Ancient Greek, the word means literally :-
'to trust in, to rely upon, to cling to'
so in other words
JOH 3:16 For God so greatly loved and dearly
prized the world that He gave up His only Son,
so that whoever trusts, clings to, and relies
upon Him should not perish,{go to hell, come
to destruction, be lost} but will have eternal
life and be saved.
and the verse before that says
JOH 3:15 In order that everyone who believes in Him
{who cleaves to Him, trusts Him and relies on
Him} may not perish, but have eternal life and
actually live forever.
And why shouldn't we after such a great sacrifice on His part. I have made that decision, that God is my boss and my own life does not belong to me, but to him.
Its about BELIEVING In Him NOT about being good
Do you notice here that good or nice people do not necessarily go to heaven but those who believe in God, in fact their will be many 'good' people go to hell because God did not say 'if you are good you can come to heaven'. He said 'if you believe in Me, humbly apologise for the wrong you have done and devote yourself to Me' (being good should come naturally after you believe.) There will also be some not-so-good people that will go to heaven for the same reason, they may not have been very nice but they believed in God (faith) and lived for Him.
Think of it like this you are a business man, a very good man, a visionary who is very powerful and you have two employees working for you. One is a very good person and has a reputation as such, but was not particularly loyal to you, the other is not such a good or nice person although he tries to be, but he is very loyal and devoted to you. Which one is more acceptable to you ? Normally, the second person, and so it is with God.
In our country God has a reputation for His goodness and appreciating the virtues of goodness, this is fine but we must not lose sight of the fact that He tells us that His bottom line is still being devoted to Him rather than being good. God wants us to be devoted to Him firstly (make Him the Boss over our life) Then over time we shall become better people as well. God does not look for 'good people' but devoted, obedient people. As the Bible shows; Christianity is like being married and so if you never do anything for your partner in fact you never even talk to them except in times of desperate trouble; your partner will question the genuineness of your love and you effectively have no marriage. This is logical and so it is with God.
If you feel like saying as some do: this is wrong and God is unfair, just consider that He made us and everything else, so it's His toy He can make the rules He wants to. (Even the rules He makes are for our own good – He knows better than anyone else how we should live.
In the way we direct our children for there own safety because we love them, so too God directs His children for there own wellbeing.)
So we see that God calls us to be devoted to Him with all we are, not just believe He exists .
Merely going to church does not make anyone a Christian, Jesus criticised those who merely went through the motions; He wants more.
The Bible even says that we are saved by faith and not by being good,
EPH 2:8-9 For by a gift of God you have been saved
through trusting in Him, and that not of yourselves; it
is the gift of God, not by earning it or anything you
can do, unless someone should boast.
Every person is religious
Everyone has a religion and a god - each person has a belief system, their own value system and a god.
ROM 6:16 Don't you know that, to whoever you give
yourself to obey as a slave, so to speak, you become
a slave to that thing, whether to the wrong you do,
which leads to hell or otherwise a slave to God, to
obey His call for you which will give you life forever
in heaven.
So you could say that we Christians, are in a way, slaves of God. Or in the times that we live it may be better to say that 'God is our Boss'
WHAT IS A GOD? Definition - the thing that holds our affection, that we are devoted to; that we give ourselves to; the thing we place most importance upon; the thing that determines or molds our value system.
We all have a religion and a god -:
• Humanism (man is god of himself. Most Australians are
quite Humanist in philosophy)
• Hinduism • Islam
• Confucianism • Buddhism
• Jesus Christ • popularity
• money • career
• power • fame
• sexual pleasure • yourself
• television • sport
• girl friend - boy friend - wife - husband - baby
We can trust God He is the Supreme Being
If then, the scientific world tells us that we only know about 10% of all there is to know, we really know very little; yet if God is the great Creator who made us and everything else, He knows it ALL. So for us to say 'I know what life is about and I shall set my own course and values' etc.. is a little silly, because we would have to be God with All Knowledge to know that the way we perceive life is perfectly balanced. It's like a ship navigating it's way around the world for 75 years or so; through all the storms and strange unknown places but using only itself and it's crew members aboard the same ship, as a reference point to navigate by. Just like a ship, we need someone on the outside of our own limitations to get our bearings for life. It is a huge gamble to do otherwise and considering the eternal consequences, I feel it is one not worth taking.
It makes it even more strange when nowadays more people are joining the metaphysical fad of testing the laws of life with mystical feelings rather than traditionally accepted disciplines of scientific testing.
A mountain climber would test a ledge he was about to step onto, by lightly stamping on it first; it would be foolish to test it by conjuring up an emotional feeling about it. It just does not make sense.
In that situation we suddenly get practical, why do we think that the risks of the life hereafter are any less serious.
It is often not until a personal tragedy, that a person realizes the weakness and inability of their own potential, realising that there must be a mastermind and higher power behind our world and existence; they then tend to be more open to the concept of something spiritual.
Unfortunately some will accept a weird mystical faith rather than the God of the Bible because they know of a badly behaved Christian. This would be throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Recently a friend had a very near major car accident with his family on board, both he and his wife felt quite sick for the rest of that day. In the days following he felt insecure about his life as he realised just how vulnerable he was. He did not have control over his life as he had always thought he did. He came to me to talk over the dilemma he now faced, 'if I am not in control and I have no power to change that, who does? In a time like that we realise things that we just do not consider when life is OK; we instinctively know there must be somebody.' After a great deal of investigation, the God of the Bible, seems the logical answer to me. As I said earlier it has been said that “There is not such thing as an Atheist on the battle field.”
I have a lot of evidence of the existence of the God of the Bible and the validity of the Bible if you wish to see it. Such as photos and reports by archaeologists, ancient literature and scientific evidence.
Why not take a little more time here to read through this article and investigate the claims of who Jesus Christ is?
Acts 14:16, 17 In earlier days he permitted all the
nations to go their own ways, but He never
left himself without a witness.
There were always his reminders, such as sending you rain and good crops and giving you food and joyful hearts."
God also left Himself a witness in our archeological finds as well.
Even Nelson Glueck who is generally acknowledged as the leading Palestinian archaeologist ( he is not a Christian) of our times states :-
"As a matter of fact, however, it may be
stated categorically that no archaeological
discovery has ever controverted a Biblical
reference. Scores of archaeological findings
have been made which confirm in clear
outline or in exact detail historical statements
in the Bible" (my emphasis) He was speaking
particularly of the time of Abraham.
God knows all and owns all so we should give all
He is the Benevolent Ruler who asks that our very life should be devoted to Him.
MAT 10:37-38 "And he who loves son or daughter
more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And he who is not self-sacrificing in
following after Me is not worthy of
Me"
The Christian life is one of sacrifice, having to give when we least feel like it and suffer because we stand up for Christ, so we need to count the cost of following Him and if we cannot make the sacrifice then admit it and live with our choices.
If He is the SUPREME BEING who made us (and everything else), surely He calls the shots, it's His business what He asks of us and who are we to argue or try to change it.
LUK 14:27-33 "And whoever does not die to his own
desires and wants to follow after Me, cannot
be My apprentice and follower, For which of
you, intending to build a tower, does not sit
down first and count the cost, whether he has
enough to finish it - lest, after he has laid the
foundation, and is not able to finish it, all
who see it begin to mock him, saying, `This
man began to build and was not able to
finish.' Or what king, going to make war
against another king, does not sit down first
and consider whether he is able with ten
thousand to meet him who comes against him
with twenty thousand?
Or else, while the other is still a great way
off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions
of peace.
So likewise, whoever of you does not give
up everything that he has, cannot be My
follower and apprentice.”
This is total commitment not some form of mental assent – “Oh yes I believe in God. Now I want to get on with my own life.”
God commands us to apologise to Him for our wrong and turn away from our own lifestyle (doing our own thing) to follow Him.
Every person, even the good person is in need of Gods forgiveness
ROM 3:23 for all persons , have done wrong and
fall short of the glorious standard of the
holiness and majesty of God.
This applies to every single person, even you .
So when people I talk to say "But I am a good person I don't really need to apologise to God for my wrong, because I don't do anything really bad" They misunderstand God and the Bible.
IT IS A VERY POPULAR VIEW BUT IT IS NOT HOW GOD WORKS; God is PERFECT and PURE and HOLY and wants us to be the same, so anything less is wrong. He wants us to live with him forever, if you were to stand before Him now you would literally die of shame. (The Bible says 'no man could stand before Him and live') But because we have not stood before Him as yet, we feel very righteous in our own eyes.
If we consider the killing of Jesus on the cross for the wrong we do, we get an idea of how God feels about our wrong. In ancient times God's people had to sacrifice sheep for their wrong, even the 'good' people had to do this, in fact the really bad people were not required to do this because they were punished by death.
Our Wrong Separates Us From God.
ISA 59:2 "The wrong things you have done, have
made a separation between you and your
God and your wrong has hid His face from
you."
Jesus Christ spoke of some of the things that separate us from God.
MAT 15:19-20 Out of your heart come evil
thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage,
vulgar deeds, stealing, telling lies, and
insulting others. These are what make you
unclean.
So, all have done wrong and it is things such as :-
• Choosing to be the boss of our own life (Adam wanted to do his
own thing).
• Swearing • Ignoring God.
• Disobedience to God • Envy.
• Lying. • Selfishness.
• Immoral talk. • Witchcraft
• Adultery • Sex before marriage.
• Stealing. • Unkindness.
• Murder. • Greed.
• Homosexuality. • Outbursts of anger.
• Pride. • Gossiping
• Indifference to another in trouble. etc...
The Bible calls these things "SIN" - an old English word meaning - the wrong we do.
The word SIN in the Bible is an old English word and it does not only mean some big terrible act, it also refers to the little things. The word sin means literally 'to fall short of the target'. God is PURE and made us to be family for Him and to live for Him totally, in pureness just like Himself (now that's some target) so if we do anything less than this we have 'fallen short of the target'. This was Adam's error or sin, he did not do some great terrible act as we would perceive it but simply chose to do things his own way. "Doin' his own thing" so to speak.
Many, or perhaps even most people feel that they are not a 'bad person' and so God would not really expect them to apologise for the wrong they have done. Usually they point to the serial killers and pedophiles; the Martin Bryant's and the Ted Bundy's and say: 'I'm not like them, I don't do anything like that'
Wrong is wrong whether it is great or small; we need to apologise to God for our own wrong, rather than trying to ignore by pointing at a particularly bad example of a human being.
It is like going to Alcoholics Anonymous - we need to admit that we have done wrong during our life, as small as we might think it is, before we can be forgiven by God for the wrong we have done (saved) and receive the promise of an everlasting life in heaven.
So, God made mankind to live with Him, but then mankind were stolen from Him by the wrong they did, so He had to then save mankind back in order to have them live with Him again. For us to live independent of Him was never meant to be an option and to do so is wrong (sin).
Our Wrong must be paid for in hell, Will you Pay for it yourself?
ROM 6:23 For the consequences of our wrong is
punishment in hell forever, but the gift of
God is life forever with Christ Jesus our
Lord.
The consequences of our wrong is being condemned to hell forever. What is Hell? HELL is a jail, a place where one is cut off from God permanently, the absence of God is total hell, no happiness, no love, no security, no care; only hate, torment, sadness, fear, pain etc..... It is a place of great suffering. God is love, care, security, truth, kindness - hell is everything opposite to God.
Think of it this way. God is pure and cannot be touched by what is wrong. He created man pure to be with Him, but man did wrong and was separated from God. God sent His Son as the only possible way to pay for the wrong we do and Jesus paid that price in full. God instructs us to receive Jesus Christ and His payment for our wrong. If we do not accept Jesus and His payment, we choose to pay for it ourselves.
When we then die, if we received Jesus, we live with God, or else we go to the only other place where God is not – Hell. And where God is not, is torment. There are only two places of residence after life – in ‘God land’ or in ‘no God land’ so to speak.
In reality, God does not condemn us to hell, we judge ourselves to hell. We choose God’s provision or reject it.
2 Th 1:8-9 in flaming fire, bringing judgment on
those who don't know God and on those who
refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord
Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting
destruction, forever separated from the Lord
and from his glorious power.
In the beginning, hell was made as a jail for the angels (demons) who disobeyed God, it was not supposed to be for mankind. But then mankind disobeyed also, and so hell then became relevant to mankind as well.
Matt 25:41 "Then the King will turn to those on the
left and say, 'Away with you, you cursed
ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the
Devil and his demons!
Many people choose not to believe in a real hell as the Bible speaks of but there is perhaps even some scientific evidence for it now. Some people like to joke that they would rather be in hell anyway because that’s where all their
r mates will be, having a big party.
There is a problem here - hell is a place of torment. If you hit your finger with a hammer, you are so taken up with the pain that you do not think about drinking beer with your mates and hell is like that - in the torment and pain there will be no time, effort or concern about mates.
We do not have to pay if we allow Jesus Christ to pay
ROM 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward
us, in that while we were still doing wrong,
Christ died for us to pay the ultimate price.
When Jesus Christ was crucified and died on a wooden cross, He paid the full cost of our wrong with His life, the SACRIFICE of Jesus for our wrong is the bridge over the separation that was cause by our wrong in the first place. He, is the Bridge we cross taking us from hell-bound to heaven-bound. So we do not have to pay for our wrong in hell any more, as long as we apologise for our error and turn away from it and follow Him. I have done this and now belong to God.
The Central and Consuming Search of World Religions.
The religions of the world are striving to deal with the problem of man’s imperfection (sin) yet they do not deal with the problem effectively. A perfect Man (Jesus Christ) had to be the great sacrifice to pay for our wrong, no one else is good enough. Hindus and Buddhists try to be better people and improve their karma; the Jews and Moslems try to be good people; all these efforts are honourable but fail to deal with the real problem of our imperfection (falling from God’s grace). The Humanist’s denial of God and hell will not make either of these two disappear and the Satanists are worshipping the very one that hell was designed for, he cannot save them. Unless a person has someone to pay the price for their imperfection (sin), they will not be restored to God - saved from hell and have a beautiful place in heaven with God forever.
Jesus Christ is the bridge that will take us from hell-bound to heaven-bound; the only bridge between us and heaven.
God can let us off the punishment - FORGIVE US
Total forgiveness is available for us all.
Their are even some people who live and labour under a constant sense of GUILT over the wrong things they have done and they are not even Christians; total forgiveness is available to them because of Christ's death. Nobody should carry any guilt once they apologise to God and live for Him, because the sacrifice of Christ was incredibly powerful to achieve this.
Some times we feel we have little or no power over the way we act, but God can give us the strength to live differently; this is the power of the God working with us.
There must be something more to this life.
When a person comes into a close relationship with God the Almighty, they then realise what the purpose of life really is; this is what it is all about - me and God forever not just a brief life on earth and then nothing. There is a fulfillment not known before.
It is time to admit our wrong, apologise and change our ways
We are told to admit our wrong and change our ways. In fact God does not ask you if you want to or even feel like it
Acts 7:30 Truly, these times of ignorance God
overlooked, but now commands all men
everywhere to turn away from their present
wrong ways and go in the opposite direction.
Rom 10:9-10 For if you speak with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. For it is by believing in your heart
that you are made right with God, and it is by
saying with your mouth that you are saved.
1John 1:9 If we apologise for the wrong we have
done, God is trustworthy and pure to forgive
us and clean us from our wrong.
180 degree turn from what you want to do with your life, in order to do what God wants you to do. He's our Boss and Commander.
"Lord, Your wish is my command"
2TI 2:3 - 4 You must endure hardship as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in
warfare entangles himself with the things of
this life, that he may please him who enlisted
him as a soldier.
ROM 6:21 And what was the result? It was no good,
since now you are ashamed of the things you
used to do, things that end in eternal doom.
We need to apologise for our wrong and then turn around and go in the opposite direction (repent) and live for God - not become entangled in the affairs of life which end in separation from God forever - spiritual death in hell.
Does a soldier argue with the General? Only if he wants to end up in jail. So too with God the King, if we want to argue with Him we will also end up in an eternal jail of torment?
Well, I have decided that because He died for me and saved me, so I will give myself fully to Him as all Christians should do, but often do not.
According to the Bible definition of a real Christian, some so called Christians, in all sorts of churches are not really Christians at all and are not necessarily saved from hell.
They will not give themselves over to God fully, but want also to live for themselves.
Does God sound too hard or inflexible?
In the last 100 years our culture has developed a increasing self-centredness 'No-one is gonna tell me what to do!' attitude. We have a post-modern way of thinking that finds it difficult to understand the thousands of years where a nation would submit to a king or leader and be told what to do or else lose their life. So now when the Bible tells us to apologise to God and let Him be our boss, we feel He is trying to be a dictator, somehow He is totally unreasonable, surely this kind of a God could not be the true God.
To feel this way, is to fail to understand God and who He really is, He is a benevolent ruler who could have ruled with an iron fist but chose not to.
If you create or make something, you determine how it is going to work - and so why shouldn't God do the same?
1CO 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is
the home of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God, and you are not
your own? For you were bought at a price; (the
death of Jesus) therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's.
LUK 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone
desires to follow me , let him deny himself –
(the way he wants to live and live a self-
sacrificing life daily), and follow Me.
SO IN A NUTSHELL
God made man and the world perfect even as God is perfect; man did wrong and made himself incompatible with God. God established a new plan by sending His son, Jesus to die for our wrong and thus restoring the possibility of living with God forever; but we must choose to give all to Him.
So any time you want to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God and be a Christian, simply apologise to God for the wrong you have done; live differently; get a Bible (for a very readable Bible, ask for the New Living Translation or the Contemporary English Version) and read it regularly; talk to Him every day; find a good group of Christians to get together with regularly. Another important aspect of God’s plan is that we tell others about Him - help to bring others to the Father as the family that He desired from the beginning.
So a Christian then, is one who has :-
1/ Admitted their need of God.
2/ Acknowledged their wrong.
3/ Asked for forgiveness.
4/ Turned from the wrong in their life
to follow Jesus Christ.
5/ Lives for God day to day in all they do.
PART 2
=======================================================
Real Christians are easily identified
As one person put it 'Going to church does not make you any more a Christian than going to Macdonald's makes you a big mack'.
Living for God every day, the real Christian is easily spotted in the world, by his life - the way he lives.
Rom 2:13 For it is not merely knowing what God
requires of us that brings God's approval.
Those who obey the God's requirements will
be declared acceptable by God.
MAT 7:17-29 A healthy tree produces good fruit, and
an unhealthy tree produces bad fruit. A good
tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree
can't produce good fruit. So every tree that
does not produce good fruit is chopped
down and thrown into the fire.
Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is
by the kind of fruit that is produced.
"Not all people who sound religious are
really godly. They may refer to me as 'Lord,'
but they still won't enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they
obey my Father in heaven.
On judgment day many will tell me, 'Lord,
Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast
out demons in your name and performed
many miracles in your name.'
But I will reply, 'I never knew you. Go away;
the things you did were unauthorised.'
"Anyone who listens to my teaching and
obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a
house on solid rock.
Though the rain comes in torrents and the
floodwaters rise and the winds beat against
that house, it won't collapse, because it is
built on rock.
But anyone who hears my teaching and
ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds
a house on sand.
When the rains and floods come and the
winds beat against that house, it will fall with
a mighty crash."
After Jesus finished speaking, the crowds
were amazed at his teaching, for he taught as
one who had real authority--quite unlike the
teachers of religious law.
I have chosen to do this what else can I really do if I want to be a real Christian?
LUK 14: 26-27 "If you want to be my follower you
must love me more than your own father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters--yes, more than your own life.
Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.
And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.
In fact I like to ask, upon what basis or authority do people dare to call themselves Christians and go to church when they dictate to God, how much of their life he can really have? He could wipe us off the face of the earth if He wanted too, yet we stand in defiance of Him.
John 3:3-6 Jesus replied, "I assure you, unless you
are born again, you can never see the
Kingdom of God." "What do you mean?"
exclaimed Nicodemus. "How can an old man
go back into his mother's womb and be
born again?” Jesus replied, "The truth is, no
one can enter the Kingdom of God without
being born of water and the Spirit. Humans
can reproduce only human life, but the Holy
Spirit gives new life from heaven.
I am born again, I am now different to what I was.
'Born of the Spirit' what does this really mean? It is a term that refers to God's act of causing a person - the one in the wrong, to pass from a state of heading to hell, to a life with and in, Jesus Christ.
As I apologised to God for the wrong I had done and chose to be His apprentice and follower, He accepts me and puts His stamp of ownership on me, gives me the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with me all the time and then I become a citizen also of heaven as well as Australia.
ROM 8:10-11 And if Christ is in you, the body is
dead because of our wrong, but the Spirit is
life because of we have been made right by
God. But if the Spirit of Him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who
raised Christ from the dead will also give life
to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who
dwells in you.
God did not desert us
JOH 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will
give you another Helper, that He may abide
with you forever,
26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom
the Father will send in My name, He will
teach you all things, and will remind you all
things that I told you.
When we admit our wrong to God and apologise for it and choose to change our life to something of more purity the Holy Spirit somehow comes to live within us because He promised too. There is a fusion of His Spirit and life with our spirit and life as the Bible says 'take in His divine nature' we see things differently and begin to live differently. We step into a new dimension or realm called 'The kingdom of God' we become citizens of a new world, we have dual citizenship
2COR 5:15-20 and He died for all, that those who
live should live no longer for themselves, but
for Him who died for them and rose again.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
person; old things have passed away; and all
things have become new. Now all things are
of God, who has reconciled us to Himself
through Jesus Christ, and has given us the
ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God
was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not attributing their wrong to them,
and has committed to us the word of
reconciliation.
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God were pleading through us: we
implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled
to God.
A few things here, when we are born again our life becomes new and different it is one of the evidences of a real Christian, we naturally want to serve Him in whatever way we can. If you really love someone who saved you from hell, you want to repay him in real terms not some token visit to church or snap prayer when we are desperate.
The Bible calls us the bride of Christ and at the end of all things their will be the marriage of the Lamb to the church, and that's just what it is like, the Christian faith is like being married, you really love someone and give yourself to them in every way you live with them rather than just a casual visit on a Sunday morning.
We are, as it says 'Ambassadors for Christ' and of this new kingdom, the British ambassador to Australia is ambassador all week and all year not just on Sunday morning. We represent God on earth every day.
Another evidence of a real Christian from these verses is that we have the 'ministry of reconciliation' whereby we are always trying to bring others to God as well, because that's what He wants. This is real Christianity. Other evidences of a real Christian, is his intimacy with his Father, he prays/talks to God about all sorts of things.
The Bible also says 'not to give up meeting together as Christians'(church) We have a church meeting in our lounge room each Sunday morning where we worship God together which is another evidence of Christian and pray and study His Word together which is also another evidence of a Christian. I am not talking here about a dead, lazy church with only dead traditions, but a lifestyle with Jesus Christ (the great creator of our very life) on a day by day basis talking to Him serving Him, serving others, caring for the lost and lonely. The Christian also preaches the gospel to everyone he can, the Christian is called to love their enemies etc. etc. etc.
How do we know how a Christian should live? whatever the HANDBOOK OF LIFE / Bible says. Would we buy a new unusual car and throw away the manual? Just because we decided we knew what fuel it should have and where we could put the water and where to drive it etc...
Rom 6:18-21 Now you are free from the wrong you
did, your old master, and you have become
slaves to your new master, righteousness. I
speak this way, using the illustration of
slaves and masters, because it is easy to
understand.
Before, you let yourselves be slaves of
impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy. In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren't concerned with doing what was right. And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and
have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
Slaves to God - to live for Him.
JOH 15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in
you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall
be done for you.
See the necessity of being in Him or abiding in Him to be a Christian.
1JO 3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin.
Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
JOH 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who
believed Him, "If you abide in My word, (Bible) you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
All of ourselves abiding in Him
HOS 10:1-2 Israel empties his vine; he brings forth
fruit for himself. According to the multitude
of his fruit he has increased the altars;
According to the bounty of his land they
have embellished his sacred pillars.
Their heart is divided; now they are held
guilty. He will break down their altars; he
will ruin their sacred pillars.
Our life must be dedicated to Him and not divided part for Him and part for me, as you see in this Scripture that is not acceptable to God.
JOH 15:14 "You are My friends if you do whatever
I command you.
Is God Relevant Today?
Many ask: Christianity is old fashioned and so why step back a hundred years or more, by believing in God?
The spiritualising of our culture is on the increase and many of us have not noticed.
May I suggest that even if you do not agree with this article, keep it stored away in a bottom draw, you may want some answers in the future.
We now live in a very modernistic world and continue to demand more modern all the time. It causes in us a very short sense of historical perspective. We are encouraged to discard and forget the past history and embrace the New World ideas (we have somehow evolved into a higher life form, from any other people who lived before us. And so now, think that we can dismiss the wisdom of the aged and the vitally important historical lessons; we then design our New World lifestyles.) We have been so bombarded with modernism and materialism from the TV, school, magazines, movies, newspapers, computers and advertising that we have become conditioned to the idea of a world that is without any real god or even the need for one. It’s like we have been brainwashed by all this, it is a false idea and a shallow lifestyle. Like someone who is so taken up with the Internet that he scarcely notices his family, so we are today - so taken up with the larger-than-life world that we scarcely notice God - the material world becomes so real, that the spiritual world is basically lost to us.
There is a saying - "There is no such thing as an atheist on the battle field." When we find ourselves in a situation where we are stripped of our security and comfort, many of us ask a God, who supposedly does not exist, to help us in our hard times. God is there all the time but many of us only acknowledge when we must.
Many question the existence of God, but not the theory of the 'atom' - for it is still only a theory - it sounds like a good theory to me too, but total proof is not available; yet we put great faith in it. The theory of the atom was first recorded by Democritus, a Greek philosopher around 465 BC. He gave us the word 'atom'. Are we much more clever and enlightened now or is it just more technology? Technology and new medical advances can produce a wonderful new drug to alleviate pain, but then people use the drug to escape reality and destroy themselves as well.
High technology does not equate to wisdom and spiritual insight. God and the spiritual realm are out of reach of the scientific sphere - they cannot be measured and tested in the same clinical way in a laboratory. Why then does man consider that he understands enough about God and the spiritual realm, to declare them obsolete? Stephen Hawking the brilliant theoretical physicist and mathematician, his work helped confirm the 'big bang' theory to Evolutionists and yet I heard him state on radio recently: "We still do not know the origin of the universe or why we are here."
(Even many evolutionary scientists are now saying that the theory of Evolution is not really plausible without their being some kind of 'higher intelligence'. They propose that, that higher intelligence could be the combined intelligence of the universe. Hmm, I do not think that a rock has very much intelligence and certainly not enough to create the full range of incredibly complex of life forms in evidence on the earth today. The ‘Big Bang’ theory suggests that while ‘first there was nothing’, this “nothing” exploded into millions of huge stars bigger than our sun.’ How? Where is the mechanism for such a process? There are thousands of scientists around the world, now declaring evolution as impossible.)
Some will say to me "I don't need God, why should I ?" And true enough in a physical sense most of us can live without God, but if God does exist, as I propose, He says no person can have any quality of life at all in the next life, without living for Him in this life.
If God does Not Exist Why Do We Look Hard?
Funny thing though, in this very modern enlightened age we live in, crime is on increase world wide; many still starve to death every year; suicide is on an alarming increase; there are millions of homeless youth now in the Western countries, the list could go on. In Australia - recently a thirteen year old girl was found with an eight hit a day heroin habit; almost half the secondary students lose their virginity before they leave school; every three days at least one teenager becomes a mother; one in ten children will experience depression before the age of fourteen; hundreds of Victorian schools are now resorting to surveillance cameras and armed security guards to combat vandalism, theft and drugs dealing; Children as young as six, are reported to be trying heroin; parents who suspect their children are using drugs can hire sniffer dogs to search their home; children as young as seven are starving themselves in order to have the perfect body; more than 2000 children every day, log onto the Internet to find advice on when they can leave home, when they can have sex, and which parent to live with after a divorce; children as young as 11 years old are buying drugs on credit in the school yard, they trade what they can including sex, for drugs; etc. The more a culture discards God, the more animalistic and less human that culture becomes. God has a better plan than that, and always did.
This idea that some have about there not being a God is a relatively new phenomena.
Although we know that things have changed greatly in the last 100 years, we actually live by a deeper assumption that says: 'the way that it is now and how it was for my parents, is the way that it has always been' forgetting the thousands of years of culture, with their ways of life and the many philosophies they held. The things of the past seem very distant while the things we live with now seem so forever real. Just like watching a movie that really gets you in, during the movie the rest of life seems sort of distant and not so real and we want the movie to just keep going - so it is with life, in the middle of this easy, entertained and luxurious life, God and the spiritual realm seems sort of distant and not so real, yet They are more real than anything else.
Surely now in our modern 20th century life style of television & video's, computers, microwave & fax, the great scientific achievements with all our great logic, God and the spiritual realm just do not make sense. The truth is people are flocking to something spiritual now - the need to connect with that deeper part of ourselves it seems; in a reaction to the highly modern plastic world we now have for ourselves.
10% is Very Little in Any Other Field.
There is always mystery about things when we do not know how they work. Since the beginning of time man has believed in God or gods. The rapid development of the sciences from the time of the Renaissance from about 1350 - 1650 AD, increasing through the Age of Reason from 1650 - 1750, which blossomed in the time of Rationalism - 1750 AD onwards till now; removed much of the mystery of life. Many mere humans came to conclude that science explains ‘all’ things that matter, and that God is no longer necessary. The reality is, there is far more that we do not understand than what we do. We only know a fraction of all there is to know; in fact, the more we learn, the more we realise we do not know - while discoveries answer some questions, they usually create more questions because of the greater depth of understanding in that field of research. There are so many natural and strange things that science cannot explain; so how can we confidently assume that God is irrelevant to life and the of origin of all things? Scientists tell us that we only know a fraction of all there is to know - about 10%.
If there are 10 facts that you need to know, in order to understand how a car works; consider if you knew the answer to only one question, are you qualified to work on a car? Why then, do we feel so qualified to dismiss God, when all we know is about 10%?
In the fraction we do know and in the midst of the mysteries of nature and metaphysics, somehow there is no mystery left as to how everything works. Sounds contradictory. It certainly does not seem very scientific. It is possible for God to exist in the 90% that we do not know about.
Some say to me "There is no God !" There is a basic flaw in such a statement - in order to know that there is no god you would have to have 'all knowledge' and that is impossible for any one person. For a person to declare that God does not exist, he would have to be God, to know that there was no God. Just saying that God does not exist might sound tough to some and to others it may sound intellectual but it does not explain the existence of such a highly complex universe at every level. The water molecule was supposed to be one of the first molecules because it was a simple cell, now it has been discovered with better technology that it is extremely complex molecule. That’s just water what about a budding flower? What about the human body? What about the human brain?
For 1000 's of years the spiritual was an integral part of the culture, for them, to think that it was not was foolish because they saw the effects of it in their communities, and as I said before, things that our scientific world still cannot explain.
With amazing technological and scientific achievements we have discarded the need to touch the spiritual realm and then in a time of desperate need or crisis we suddenly feel the need to make contact. Why?
Most people at some time lie in bed at night and think 'is this what life is about, is there no real purpose for it all.' And then we get to 35 or 40 and have a mid life crisis because they bought a house, achieved well at work and now have a family but feel empty; then what do they say to their partner ? 'I need some space, time to think, I need to find myself' Hence their are now many people (academics also) flocking to Eastern Mysticism, Transcendental Meditation, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, the Occult, Mediums, Christian Science, Pyramidology, Mormons, Jehovah's Witness's, Astrology and the different forms of the New Age religions such as Spiritualism; (Jan Groenveld, the leader of the Brisbane-based Cult Awareness and Information Centre, estimates there are up to 2500 cults in Australia.). If the ‘spiritual’ side of life does not really matter, why are so many seeking it? In a recent survey in Australia - 82% said they believed UFO's exist, while only 70% believe God exists. We really do know that the spiritual exists; (but it seems we like to believe some things that have less proof than other certain things with much proof, why?) Many now agree that it is not a question of the existence of God, but which of the religions represents the True God.
Some declare that it is the same god behind all religions. This is not very logical considering that these same religions contradict each other.
So we see that we are after all, no more modern and highly evolved than those who lived in Medieval times, we are just as spiritually seeking as they were, and even superstitious - have you ever thought about why we barrack for our football team when listening to the radio or a cricketer will always wear the same hat or whatever? Many people use the superstitious term 'touch wood'.
The spiritual needs of humans are like emotional needs such as socialising, if you stay at home never going out, fairly soon you get desperate for some company and social stimulation. Or even physical needs, if you do not eat anything, it will not be long and you start to feel somewhat desperate for something to eat and so it is with the spiritual also.
It is something like the feeling that someone adopted may feel when they do not know who their biological parents are and why they are what they are? They want to know their roots and feel an emptiness without it. There is also a certain emptiness until man finds God and knows his eternal roots - did I really come from a monkey and am I just a animal? Is there nothing else of lasting value, is this all there is?
In all of us there is a God shaped vacuum and we will fill it with something, I suggest to you, that God is the only One who can fill it.
Some say to me at this point, but there are so many different religious Christian groups how do you know which one could be right? This is a fair question, we have Catholics, Anglican, Baptist, Orthodox, Methodist and Assemblies of God to mention a few.
Where ever there are humans, they will always want to be different from each other. Say for-instance in a business, you have partners who cannot agree on how to run it and so part company. Neither of them is necessarily wrong or right just a different way of doing things, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. So too with churches, one church is not the right one, for all church groups have their strengths and weaknesses, the important point is, they all worship the same God and have the basics in common.
Why Wars And Why Does God Seem Hidden Then ?
People say to me 'if there is a God why are there wars ?' or 'if God really does exist why does He not really show Himself ?'
The answer is quite simple, 'God Wanted A Family.' From the beginning of time God's plan always was and still is, to have a family that He had made. God wanted a being that He could relate to, and be a real friend to, but in order for God to have this being that would choose to love and befriend Him, He had to give this being the ability to make decisions for himself - a ‘free will’. So, God made us human with the ability to think, reason and feel, the ability to make educated choices about those we wanted to befriend and what we choose to believe, He hoped that we would choose Him.
He could have made us all robots that would say 3 times a day "I love you my maker" in a very good digitised sounding voice, but then how can you have a full and complete relationship with a machine, it just would not be a fulfilling friendship. Even if He had made us like a faithful dog, as good as they are, there is still not the fullest expression of a deep relationship.
But, with any privilege or right, there comes with it responsibility - in this case God granted us the great privilege of having free will and so the responsibility is also great. The danger is, that this being might choose not to love God, and not only that he might even choose make war with other people, murder the innocent, even children, and all those things that are wrong. As 'free moral agents' with the ability to choose, what we do, and how we act, there will be great conflict at times even to the point of genocide.
God did not do it, we did, God did not stop it because He gave us the gift of free will with its great responsibility.
If we say 'God should stop wars', we are also saying that God should take away our free will and freedom, and turn us into human robots.
'Free will' is a great privilege and has not only a great responsibility but also great risks. God’s plan was a risk, but it had great rewards also. God could have done it a different way but He chose this way.
Life on earth seems to have become something like a trial program
This life was never meant to be a trial program but in some ways, it now seems to be like one.
We were to have lived a life with God, everything was perfect, but when man disobeyed God, that action destroyed God's plan for us by making us incompatible with God and heaven. God then put into place another plan, in order to restore the possibility of us having a life with God forever. This new plan is not an easy one for anybody, we must work at it; the choice is up to you.
Though God established a second plan, He did not remove our free choice - we can accept or reject Him.
In this way we are not robots, we can make the choice to love Him or not, just as any man and woman can make the choice to love each other and get married or not. By this, God knows and we know, if we have chosen Him or not while we live on earth.
When we then stand before God to answer for our life, it will be our choice that determines if we live with Him forever or otherwise.
Surely God would want friends who chose to be with Him rather than robots programmed to do and say everything that was required of them.
This is why God does not show Himself completely to us, to the point where there is no longer any doubt about His existence and character, because if He came as a super hero with all His abilities and displayed them publicly then all mankind would know without a doubt that He existed and would follow Him for fear of going to hell. (I explain what ‘hell’ is later on) Where is the real relationship in that? Or the genuine faith?
God is a god of faith, it takes effort to believe and we are to be the same. When you think about it, where would the pleasure be, in everybody telling you that they love you and want to be with you, just out of fear - simply to avoid hell? I want my children to obey my directions because they honour and love me not because they are scared.
This is why God has shown Himself to man throughout history in a relatively small way, and why Jesus when He came, came as a servant and not a super hero in a spectacular way to dazzle all mankind thereafter.
Some say to me "Oh, I believe in God but I don't need to go to church to prove it." Sure, going to church does not prove that we believe in God, but the real issue here is - to Believe in God is to Act, it is not something passive. Say, for-instance, you did a great thing for someone else at great cost to yourself, you would expect some sort of gratitude and recognition. God too, having paid a great price for us, expects some sort of gratitude - He expects us to give over our life to working for Him and His plan for mankind.
What is Being a Christian?
As I begin I must explain that when I quote the Bible, I believe I am quoting God's words not just some old book that has suffered many trials over the centuries and is now an unreliable list of various old timers imagination's. (I can give you evidence of the genuineness of the Bible as being from God if you would like to see it). The Bible calls itself the 'LIVING WORD OF GOD' and in 1 Timothy 3 16 it says of itself,
2 Tim 3:15-17 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to be saved from hell that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to
teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us
to do what is right.
It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.
All men have an ultimate source of authority, whether consciously or unconsciously, and the authority of the Christian Church is the Bible.
There are many churches who will not accept this and teach an easy and weak Christianity. There are churches who preach a form of Christianity but there is no life or genuine reality (Sunday Christians) as it says in 2TIMOTHY 3
2 Tim 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days
perilous times will come: For men will be
lovers of themselves,....lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God, having a form of
godliness but denying its power. And from
such people, you should avoid.
I often say to people I talk to about Jesus Christ , "Christianity is usually not what we have been told it is; forget the traditions and the do's & don'ts". Christianity is about something alive and new - when a person lives their life with God as the BOSS, it changes them.
Many people say "Oh yes I am a Christian" and as I look at their lifestyle I wonder upon what basis can they really say this, because they do not live anything like what Jesus told us to. Yet they said they are a follower of Him, or in other words call themself a Christian.
'A Christian' is one, who is one, and not just someone who tells us they are one. If I was to declare long and loud that I was an American, it means nothing, I am still Australian; yet this is what many do - declaring themselves to be a Christian when they are not at all, they have not done what was required to be one. If you do not agree to, and abide by, the rules of any club, you will not be accepted in.
Rom 2:13 For it is not merely knowing what God
requires of us that brings God's approval.
Those who obey God's requirements will be declared acceptable by God.
You are not a Christian until you actively do something , for instance a commitment or pledge to God that is permanent. Not just going to church on Sundays.
Think of it this way, if I go and live in America I am not an American - I am still an Australian but living in America. I shall remain to be an Australian living in America until I become naturalised; this is when I have made a commitment or a pledge of allegiance to that power. I then must obey the laws of the land as a good citizen, which is a sign of my continuing commitment.
So it is to be a Christian, I can live thinking or even saying, I am a Christian, but if I have not made a commitment which is permanent and total, then I am not a Christian.
You are not born a Christian; even if you are born into a Christian family; likewise, a man is not lawyer because his father is a lawyer; you cannot even become a lawyer by sitting in a court of law for many years, he becomes a lawyer with much work and commitment.
As one person put it 'Going to church does not make you any more a Christian than going to Macdonald's makes you a big mack'. It is all about a genuine, meaningful, life long contract with God.
God makes it quite clear that religion is not an 'add on' or just tacked onto our normal lives it IS our life (now and forever) and all else is an 'add on'. You could say that my job is not my real job, being a Christian is my real job and my other job just pays the bills. This is what God expects of us.
Real Christianity is a close relationship between me and Jesus Christ, a close friendship with the mega powerful God.
He calls us to be more intimate with Him than any other person in the world.
MAT 22:37-38 Jesus said to him, " You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment."
Some people will say to me "If you want to be a Christian then that is OK but why do you `born agains` have to be so into it?"
That is a good question; firstly, as Christians we believe that God created everything; then Jesus was tortured and killed for the wrong we do and finally hell is a terrible place of torment and suffering.
If someone made you, then gave up their life for you, YOU TOO would want to give all for him, particularly if you were going to suffer forever if you did not. There must be something more than a 'Sunday' Christian experience.
On radio I once heard a caller ask of an Oxford professor "So you have proved that Jesus Christ did exist and the Bible is reliable but why do you have to take it any further, by idolising Him now ?"
That is a fair question and their are two aspects to look at in answer :-
1) Firstly, the obvious conclusion - seeing that it is relatively easy to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Jesus Christ did exist and that what He has said in the Bible is reliable, this then dictates that we must obey His commands. How can a person say that they believe the Bible to be true, but then not do as it says? It is like declaring the law of gravity to be true, and doing something contrary to it like jumping off a 32 story building.
The Bible says He died for us and He commands us to
love and follow Him or else we must reject the Facts/Evidence as well as Him.
2) Secondly, there comes a time when God requires that FAITH must overtake the scientific evidence, ('faith' is absolute belief in God, being convinced) We are to be totally devoted to Him, being convinced that He is God over above all the scientific evidence. Throughout history God has only shown Himself in a relative small way, He will not give mankind the absolute indisputable proof, for where would the faith be? (If a volcano was about to erupt beside your house, you would not sit down and reason out whether or not to flee, you just would. In the same way if God showed Himself to mankind completely, so that there was no doubt in anybody’s mind about the future, people would not sit down and reason out whether or not to love and serve God, they just would. There would be a rush for tickets, not love - it would not be a genuine choice for God.) For God is a god of FAITH and He lives by faith as a lifestyle. The Bible states this -
Heb 11:6 But without trusting in God, it is impossible
to please God, for he who comes to God must believe
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him.
EPH 2:8 For by a gift of God you have been saved
through trusting Him,
God offers to save us from the penalty of our wrong but only trusting Him can save us.
The Good News
God made us to be family for Him, we were stolen from Him by the wrong we do and He wants us back. Jesus His son was the only (perfect) man that could possibly pay for the cost of our wrong. So He came and died in your place to bring you back to God. So the Christian life is an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. It is talking and relating to Jesus every day.
JOHN 3:16 "For God so loved mankind that He gave
His only Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not go to hell but have everlasting life
in heaven"
This term "BELIEVES IN" does not mean simply believe that something exists. You may believe that the Labour or Liberal Party exists but you may not believe 'in' them and vote for them in the next election.
The Bible says that 'even the demons believe He is God' but there is no way they can be saved.
JAM 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You
do well. Even the demons believe and tremble!
But if you look at the original language that the New Testament was written in, which was Ancient Greek, the word means literally :-
'to trust in, to rely upon, to cling to'
so in other words
JOH 3:16 For God so greatly loved and dearly
prized the world that He gave up His only Son,
so that whoever trusts, clings to, and relies
upon Him should not perish,{go to hell, come
to destruction, be lost} but will have eternal
life and be saved.
and the verse before that says
JOH 3:15 In order that everyone who believes in Him
{who cleaves to Him, trusts Him and relies on
Him} may not perish, but have eternal life and
actually live forever.
And why shouldn't we after such a great sacrifice on His part. I have made that decision, that God is my boss and my own life does not belong to me, but to him.
Its about BELIEVING In Him NOT about being good
Do you notice here that good or nice people do not necessarily go to heaven but those who believe in God, in fact their will be many 'good' people go to hell because God did not say 'if you are good you can come to heaven'. He said 'if you believe in Me, humbly apologise for the wrong you have done and devote yourself to Me' (being good should come naturally after you believe.) There will also be some not-so-good people that will go to heaven for the same reason, they may not have been very nice but they believed in God (faith) and lived for Him.
Think of it like this you are a business man, a very good man, a visionary who is very powerful and you have two employees working for you. One is a very good person and has a reputation as such, but was not particularly loyal to you, the other is not such a good or nice person although he tries to be, but he is very loyal and devoted to you. Which one is more acceptable to you ? Normally, the second person, and so it is with God.
In our country God has a reputation for His goodness and appreciating the virtues of goodness, this is fine but we must not lose sight of the fact that He tells us that His bottom line is still being devoted to Him rather than being good. God wants us to be devoted to Him firstly (make Him the Boss over our life) Then over time we shall become better people as well. God does not look for 'good people' but devoted, obedient people. As the Bible shows; Christianity is like being married and so if you never do anything for your partner in fact you never even talk to them except in times of desperate trouble; your partner will question the genuineness of your love and you effectively have no marriage. This is logical and so it is with God.
If you feel like saying as some do: this is wrong and God is unfair, just consider that He made us and everything else, so it's His toy He can make the rules He wants to. (Even the rules He makes are for our own good – He knows better than anyone else how we should live.
In the way we direct our children for there own safety because we love them, so too God directs His children for there own wellbeing.)
So we see that God calls us to be devoted to Him with all we are, not just believe He exists .
Merely going to church does not make anyone a Christian, Jesus criticised those who merely went through the motions; He wants more.
The Bible even says that we are saved by faith and not by being good,
EPH 2:8-9 For by a gift of God you have been saved
through trusting in Him, and that not of yourselves; it
is the gift of God, not by earning it or anything you
can do, unless someone should boast.
Every person is religious
Everyone has a religion and a god - each person has a belief system, their own value system and a god.
ROM 6:16 Don't you know that, to whoever you give
yourself to obey as a slave, so to speak, you become
a slave to that thing, whether to the wrong you do,
which leads to hell or otherwise a slave to God, to
obey His call for you which will give you life forever
in heaven.
So you could say that we Christians, are in a way, slaves of God. Or in the times that we live it may be better to say that 'God is our Boss'
WHAT IS A GOD? Definition - the thing that holds our affection, that we are devoted to; that we give ourselves to; the thing we place most importance upon; the thing that determines or molds our value system.
We all have a religion and a god -:
• Humanism (man is god of himself. Most Australians are
quite Humanist in philosophy)
• Hinduism • Islam
• Confucianism • Buddhism
• Jesus Christ • popularity
• money • career
• power • fame
• sexual pleasure • yourself
• television • sport
• girl friend - boy friend - wife - husband - baby
We can trust God He is the Supreme Being
If then, the scientific world tells us that we only know about 10% of all there is to know, we really know very little; yet if God is the great Creator who made us and everything else, He knows it ALL. So for us to say 'I know what life is about and I shall set my own course and values' etc.. is a little silly, because we would have to be God with All Knowledge to know that the way we perceive life is perfectly balanced. It's like a ship navigating it's way around the world for 75 years or so; through all the storms and strange unknown places but using only itself and it's crew members aboard the same ship, as a reference point to navigate by. Just like a ship, we need someone on the outside of our own limitations to get our bearings for life. It is a huge gamble to do otherwise and considering the eternal consequences, I feel it is one not worth taking.
It makes it even more strange when nowadays more people are joining the metaphysical fad of testing the laws of life with mystical feelings rather than traditionally accepted disciplines of scientific testing.
A mountain climber would test a ledge he was about to step onto, by lightly stamping on it first; it would be foolish to test it by conjuring up an emotional feeling about it. It just does not make sense.
In that situation we suddenly get practical, why do we think that the risks of the life hereafter are any less serious.
It is often not until a personal tragedy, that a person realizes the weakness and inability of their own potential, realising that there must be a mastermind and higher power behind our world and existence; they then tend to be more open to the concept of something spiritual.
Unfortunately some will accept a weird mystical faith rather than the God of the Bible because they know of a badly behaved Christian. This would be throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Recently a friend had a very near major car accident with his family on board, both he and his wife felt quite sick for the rest of that day. In the days following he felt insecure about his life as he realised just how vulnerable he was. He did not have control over his life as he had always thought he did. He came to me to talk over the dilemma he now faced, 'if I am not in control and I have no power to change that, who does? In a time like that we realise things that we just do not consider when life is OK; we instinctively know there must be somebody.' After a great deal of investigation, the God of the Bible, seems the logical answer to me. As I said earlier it has been said that “There is not such thing as an Atheist on the battle field.”
I have a lot of evidence of the existence of the God of the Bible and the validity of the Bible if you wish to see it. Such as photos and reports by archaeologists, ancient literature and scientific evidence.
Why not take a little more time here to read through this article and investigate the claims of who Jesus Christ is?
Acts 14:16, 17 In earlier days he permitted all the
nations to go their own ways, but He never
left himself without a witness.
There were always his reminders, such as sending you rain and good crops and giving you food and joyful hearts."
God also left Himself a witness in our archeological finds as well.
Even Nelson Glueck who is generally acknowledged as the leading Palestinian archaeologist ( he is not a Christian) of our times states :-
"As a matter of fact, however, it may be
stated categorically that no archaeological
discovery has ever controverted a Biblical
reference. Scores of archaeological findings
have been made which confirm in clear
outline or in exact detail historical statements
in the Bible" (my emphasis) He was speaking
particularly of the time of Abraham.
God knows all and owns all so we should give all
He is the Benevolent Ruler who asks that our very life should be devoted to Him.
MAT 10:37-38 "And he who loves son or daughter
more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And he who is not self-sacrificing in
following after Me is not worthy of
Me"
The Christian life is one of sacrifice, having to give when we least feel like it and suffer because we stand up for Christ, so we need to count the cost of following Him and if we cannot make the sacrifice then admit it and live with our choices.
If He is the SUPREME BEING who made us (and everything else), surely He calls the shots, it's His business what He asks of us and who are we to argue or try to change it.
LUK 14:27-33 "And whoever does not die to his own
desires and wants to follow after Me, cannot
be My apprentice and follower, For which of
you, intending to build a tower, does not sit
down first and count the cost, whether he has
enough to finish it - lest, after he has laid the
foundation, and is not able to finish it, all
who see it begin to mock him, saying, `This
man began to build and was not able to
finish.' Or what king, going to make war
against another king, does not sit down first
and consider whether he is able with ten
thousand to meet him who comes against him
with twenty thousand?
Or else, while the other is still a great way
off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions
of peace.
So likewise, whoever of you does not give
up everything that he has, cannot be My
follower and apprentice.”
This is total commitment not some form of mental assent – “Oh yes I believe in God. Now I want to get on with my own life.”
God commands us to apologise to Him for our wrong and turn away from our own lifestyle (doing our own thing) to follow Him.
Every person, even the good person is in need of Gods forgiveness
ROM 3:23 for all persons , have done wrong and
fall short of the glorious standard of the
holiness and majesty of God.
This applies to every single person, even you .
So when people I talk to say "But I am a good person I don't really need to apologise to God for my wrong, because I don't do anything really bad" They misunderstand God and the Bible.
IT IS A VERY POPULAR VIEW BUT IT IS NOT HOW GOD WORKS; God is PERFECT and PURE and HOLY and wants us to be the same, so anything less is wrong. He wants us to live with him forever, if you were to stand before Him now you would literally die of shame. (The Bible says 'no man could stand before Him and live') But because we have not stood before Him as yet, we feel very righteous in our own eyes.
If we consider the killing of Jesus on the cross for the wrong we do, we get an idea of how God feels about our wrong. In ancient times God's people had to sacrifice sheep for their wrong, even the 'good' people had to do this, in fact the really bad people were not required to do this because they were punished by death.
Our Wrong Separates Us From God.
ISA 59:2 "The wrong things you have done, have
made a separation between you and your
God and your wrong has hid His face from
you."
Jesus Christ spoke of some of the things that separate us from God.
MAT 15:19-20 Out of your heart come evil
thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage,
vulgar deeds, stealing, telling lies, and
insulting others. These are what make you
unclean.
So, all have done wrong and it is things such as :-
• Choosing to be the boss of our own life (Adam wanted to do his
own thing).
• Swearing • Ignoring God.
• Disobedience to God • Envy.
• Lying. • Selfishness.
• Immoral talk. • Witchcraft
• Adultery • Sex before marriage.
• Stealing. • Unkindness.
• Murder. • Greed.
• Homosexuality. • Outbursts of anger.
• Pride. • Gossiping
• Indifference to another in trouble. etc...
The Bible calls these things "SIN" - an old English word meaning - the wrong we do.
The word SIN in the Bible is an old English word and it does not only mean some big terrible act, it also refers to the little things. The word sin means literally 'to fall short of the target'. God is PURE and made us to be family for Him and to live for Him totally, in pureness just like Himself (now that's some target) so if we do anything less than this we have 'fallen short of the target'. This was Adam's error or sin, he did not do some great terrible act as we would perceive it but simply chose to do things his own way. "Doin' his own thing" so to speak.
Many, or perhaps even most people feel that they are not a 'bad person' and so God would not really expect them to apologise for the wrong they have done. Usually they point to the serial killers and pedophiles; the Martin Bryant's and the Ted Bundy's and say: 'I'm not like them, I don't do anything like that'
Wrong is wrong whether it is great or small; we need to apologise to God for our own wrong, rather than trying to ignore by pointing at a particularly bad example of a human being.
It is like going to Alcoholics Anonymous - we need to admit that we have done wrong during our life, as small as we might think it is, before we can be forgiven by God for the wrong we have done (saved) and receive the promise of an everlasting life in heaven.
So, God made mankind to live with Him, but then mankind were stolen from Him by the wrong they did, so He had to then save mankind back in order to have them live with Him again. For us to live independent of Him was never meant to be an option and to do so is wrong (sin).
Our Wrong must be paid for in hell, Will you Pay for it yourself?
ROM 6:23 For the consequences of our wrong is
punishment in hell forever, but the gift of
God is life forever with Christ Jesus our
Lord.
The consequences of our wrong is being condemned to hell forever. What is Hell? HELL is a jail, a place where one is cut off from God permanently, the absence of God is total hell, no happiness, no love, no security, no care; only hate, torment, sadness, fear, pain etc..... It is a place of great suffering. God is love, care, security, truth, kindness - hell is everything opposite to God.
Think of it this way. God is pure and cannot be touched by what is wrong. He created man pure to be with Him, but man did wrong and was separated from God. God sent His Son as the only possible way to pay for the wrong we do and Jesus paid that price in full. God instructs us to receive Jesus Christ and His payment for our wrong. If we do not accept Jesus and His payment, we choose to pay for it ourselves.
When we then die, if we received Jesus, we live with God, or else we go to the only other place where God is not – Hell. And where God is not, is torment. There are only two places of residence after life – in ‘God land’ or in ‘no God land’ so to speak.
In reality, God does not condemn us to hell, we judge ourselves to hell. We choose God’s provision or reject it.
2 Th 1:8-9 in flaming fire, bringing judgment on
those who don't know God and on those who
refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord
Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting
destruction, forever separated from the Lord
and from his glorious power.
In the beginning, hell was made as a jail for the angels (demons) who disobeyed God, it was not supposed to be for mankind. But then mankind disobeyed also, and so hell then became relevant to mankind as well.
Matt 25:41 "Then the King will turn to those on the
left and say, 'Away with you, you cursed
ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the
Devil and his demons!
Many people choose not to believe in a real hell as the Bible speaks of but there is perhaps even some scientific evidence for it now. Some people like to joke that they would rather be in hell anyway because that’s where all their
r mates will be, having a big party.
There is a problem here - hell is a place of torment. If you hit your finger with a hammer, you are so taken up with the pain that you do not think about drinking beer with your mates and hell is like that - in the torment and pain there will be no time, effort or concern about mates.
We do not have to pay if we allow Jesus Christ to pay
ROM 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward
us, in that while we were still doing wrong,
Christ died for us to pay the ultimate price.
When Jesus Christ was crucified and died on a wooden cross, He paid the full cost of our wrong with His life, the SACRIFICE of Jesus for our wrong is the bridge over the separation that was cause by our wrong in the first place. He, is the Bridge we cross taking us from hell-bound to heaven-bound. So we do not have to pay for our wrong in hell any more, as long as we apologise for our error and turn away from it and follow Him. I have done this and now belong to God.
The Central and Consuming Search of World Religions.
The religions of the world are striving to deal with the problem of man’s imperfection (sin) yet they do not deal with the problem effectively. A perfect Man (Jesus Christ) had to be the great sacrifice to pay for our wrong, no one else is good enough. Hindus and Buddhists try to be better people and improve their karma; the Jews and Moslems try to be good people; all these efforts are honourable but fail to deal with the real problem of our imperfection (falling from God’s grace). The Humanist’s denial of God and hell will not make either of these two disappear and the Satanists are worshipping the very one that hell was designed for, he cannot save them. Unless a person has someone to pay the price for their imperfection (sin), they will not be restored to God - saved from hell and have a beautiful place in heaven with God forever.
Jesus Christ is the bridge that will take us from hell-bound to heaven-bound; the only bridge between us and heaven.
God can let us off the punishment - FORGIVE US
Total forgiveness is available for us all.
Their are even some people who live and labour under a constant sense of GUILT over the wrong things they have done and they are not even Christians; total forgiveness is available to them because of Christ's death. Nobody should carry any guilt once they apologise to God and live for Him, because the sacrifice of Christ was incredibly powerful to achieve this.
Some times we feel we have little or no power over the way we act, but God can give us the strength to live differently; this is the power of the God working with us.
There must be something more to this life.
When a person comes into a close relationship with God the Almighty, they then realise what the purpose of life really is; this is what it is all about - me and God forever not just a brief life on earth and then nothing. There is a fulfillment not known before.
It is time to admit our wrong, apologise and change our ways
We are told to admit our wrong and change our ways. In fact God does not ask you if you want to or even feel like it
Acts 7:30 Truly, these times of ignorance God
overlooked, but now commands all men
everywhere to turn away from their present
wrong ways and go in the opposite direction.
Rom 10:9-10 For if you speak with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. For it is by believing in your heart
that you are made right with God, and it is by
saying with your mouth that you are saved.
1John 1:9 If we apologise for the wrong we have
done, God is trustworthy and pure to forgive
us and clean us from our wrong.
180 degree turn from what you want to do with your life, in order to do what God wants you to do. He's our Boss and Commander.
"Lord, Your wish is my command"
2TI 2:3 - 4 You must endure hardship as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in
warfare entangles himself with the things of
this life, that he may please him who enlisted
him as a soldier.
ROM 6:21 And what was the result? It was no good,
since now you are ashamed of the things you
used to do, things that end in eternal doom.
We need to apologise for our wrong and then turn around and go in the opposite direction (repent) and live for God - not become entangled in the affairs of life which end in separation from God forever - spiritual death in hell.
Does a soldier argue with the General? Only if he wants to end up in jail. So too with God the King, if we want to argue with Him we will also end up in an eternal jail of torment?
Well, I have decided that because He died for me and saved me, so I will give myself fully to Him as all Christians should do, but often do not.
According to the Bible definition of a real Christian, some so called Christians, in all sorts of churches are not really Christians at all and are not necessarily saved from hell.
They will not give themselves over to God fully, but want also to live for themselves.
Does God sound too hard or inflexible?
In the last 100 years our culture has developed a increasing self-centredness 'No-one is gonna tell me what to do!' attitude. We have a post-modern way of thinking that finds it difficult to understand the thousands of years where a nation would submit to a king or leader and be told what to do or else lose their life. So now when the Bible tells us to apologise to God and let Him be our boss, we feel He is trying to be a dictator, somehow He is totally unreasonable, surely this kind of a God could not be the true God.
To feel this way, is to fail to understand God and who He really is, He is a benevolent ruler who could have ruled with an iron fist but chose not to.
If you create or make something, you determine how it is going to work - and so why shouldn't God do the same?
1CO 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is
the home of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God, and you are not
your own? For you were bought at a price; (the
death of Jesus) therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's.
LUK 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone
desires to follow me , let him deny himself –
(the way he wants to live and live a self-
sacrificing life daily), and follow Me.
SO IN A NUTSHELL
God made man and the world perfect even as God is perfect; man did wrong and made himself incompatible with God. God established a new plan by sending His son, Jesus to die for our wrong and thus restoring the possibility of living with God forever; but we must choose to give all to Him.
So any time you want to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God and be a Christian, simply apologise to God for the wrong you have done; live differently; get a Bible (for a very readable Bible, ask for the New Living Translation or the Contemporary English Version) and read it regularly; talk to Him every day; find a good group of Christians to get together with regularly. Another important aspect of God’s plan is that we tell others about Him - help to bring others to the Father as the family that He desired from the beginning.
So a Christian then, is one who has :-
1/ Admitted their need of God.
2/ Acknowledged their wrong.
3/ Asked for forgiveness.
4/ Turned from the wrong in their life
to follow Jesus Christ.
5/ Lives for God day to day in all they do.
PART 2
=======================================================
Real Christians are easily identified
As one person put it 'Going to church does not make you any more a Christian than going to Macdonald's makes you a big mack'.
Living for God every day, the real Christian is easily spotted in the world, by his life - the way he lives.
Rom 2:13 For it is not merely knowing what God
requires of us that brings God's approval.
Those who obey the God's requirements will
be declared acceptable by God.
MAT 7:17-29 A healthy tree produces good fruit, and
an unhealthy tree produces bad fruit. A good
tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree
can't produce good fruit. So every tree that
does not produce good fruit is chopped
down and thrown into the fire.
Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is
by the kind of fruit that is produced.
"Not all people who sound religious are
really godly. They may refer to me as 'Lord,'
but they still won't enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they
obey my Father in heaven.
On judgment day many will tell me, 'Lord,
Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast
out demons in your name and performed
many miracles in your name.'
But I will reply, 'I never knew you. Go away;
the things you did were unauthorised.'
"Anyone who listens to my teaching and
obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a
house on solid rock.
Though the rain comes in torrents and the
floodwaters rise and the winds beat against
that house, it won't collapse, because it is
built on rock.
But anyone who hears my teaching and
ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds
a house on sand.
When the rains and floods come and the
winds beat against that house, it will fall with
a mighty crash."
After Jesus finished speaking, the crowds
were amazed at his teaching, for he taught as
one who had real authority--quite unlike the
teachers of religious law.
I have chosen to do this what else can I really do if I want to be a real Christian?
LUK 14: 26-27 "If you want to be my follower you
must love me more than your own father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters--yes, more than your own life.
Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.
And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.
In fact I like to ask, upon what basis or authority do people dare to call themselves Christians and go to church when they dictate to God, how much of their life he can really have? He could wipe us off the face of the earth if He wanted too, yet we stand in defiance of Him.
John 3:3-6 Jesus replied, "I assure you, unless you
are born again, you can never see the
Kingdom of God." "What do you mean?"
exclaimed Nicodemus. "How can an old man
go back into his mother's womb and be
born again?” Jesus replied, "The truth is, no
one can enter the Kingdom of God without
being born of water and the Spirit. Humans
can reproduce only human life, but the Holy
Spirit gives new life from heaven.
I am born again, I am now different to what I was.
'Born of the Spirit' what does this really mean? It is a term that refers to God's act of causing a person - the one in the wrong, to pass from a state of heading to hell, to a life with and in, Jesus Christ.
As I apologised to God for the wrong I had done and chose to be His apprentice and follower, He accepts me and puts His stamp of ownership on me, gives me the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with me all the time and then I become a citizen also of heaven as well as Australia.
ROM 8:10-11 And if Christ is in you, the body is
dead because of our wrong, but the Spirit is
life because of we have been made right by
God. But if the Spirit of Him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who
raised Christ from the dead will also give life
to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who
dwells in you.
God did not desert us
JOH 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will
give you another Helper, that He may abide
with you forever,
26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom
the Father will send in My name, He will
teach you all things, and will remind you all
things that I told you.
When we admit our wrong to God and apologise for it and choose to change our life to something of more purity the Holy Spirit somehow comes to live within us because He promised too. There is a fusion of His Spirit and life with our spirit and life as the Bible says 'take in His divine nature' we see things differently and begin to live differently. We step into a new dimension or realm called 'The kingdom of God' we become citizens of a new world, we have dual citizenship
2COR 5:15-20 and He died for all, that those who
live should live no longer for themselves, but
for Him who died for them and rose again.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
person; old things have passed away; and all
things have become new. Now all things are
of God, who has reconciled us to Himself
through Jesus Christ, and has given us the
ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God
was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not attributing their wrong to them,
and has committed to us the word of
reconciliation.
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God were pleading through us: we
implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled
to God.
A few things here, when we are born again our life becomes new and different it is one of the evidences of a real Christian, we naturally want to serve Him in whatever way we can. If you really love someone who saved you from hell, you want to repay him in real terms not some token visit to church or snap prayer when we are desperate.
The Bible calls us the bride of Christ and at the end of all things their will be the marriage of the Lamb to the church, and that's just what it is like, the Christian faith is like being married, you really love someone and give yourself to them in every way you live with them rather than just a casual visit on a Sunday morning.
We are, as it says 'Ambassadors for Christ' and of this new kingdom, the British ambassador to Australia is ambassador all week and all year not just on Sunday morning. We represent God on earth every day.
Another evidence of a real Christian from these verses is that we have the 'ministry of reconciliation' whereby we are always trying to bring others to God as well, because that's what He wants. This is real Christianity. Other evidences of a real Christian, is his intimacy with his Father, he prays/talks to God about all sorts of things.
The Bible also says 'not to give up meeting together as Christians'(church) We have a church meeting in our lounge room each Sunday morning where we worship God together which is another evidence of Christian and pray and study His Word together which is also another evidence of a Christian. I am not talking here about a dead, lazy church with only dead traditions, but a lifestyle with Jesus Christ (the great creator of our very life) on a day by day basis talking to Him serving Him, serving others, caring for the lost and lonely. The Christian also preaches the gospel to everyone he can, the Christian is called to love their enemies etc. etc. etc.
How do we know how a Christian should live? whatever the HANDBOOK OF LIFE / Bible says. Would we buy a new unusual car and throw away the manual? Just because we decided we knew what fuel it should have and where we could put the water and where to drive it etc...
Rom 6:18-21 Now you are free from the wrong you
did, your old master, and you have become
slaves to your new master, righteousness. I
speak this way, using the illustration of
slaves and masters, because it is easy to
understand.
Before, you let yourselves be slaves of
impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy. In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren't concerned with doing what was right. And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and
have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
Slaves to God - to live for Him.
JOH 15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in
you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall
be done for you.
See the necessity of being in Him or abiding in Him to be a Christian.
1JO 3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin.
Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
JOH 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who
believed Him, "If you abide in My word, (Bible) you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
All of ourselves abiding in Him
HOS 10:1-2 Israel empties his vine; he brings forth
fruit for himself. According to the multitude
of his fruit he has increased the altars;
According to the bounty of his land they
have embellished his sacred pillars.
Their heart is divided; now they are held
guilty. He will break down their altars; he
will ruin their sacred pillars.
Our life must be dedicated to Him and not divided part for Him and part for me, as you see in this Scripture that is not acceptable to God.
JOH 15:14 "You are My friends if you do whatever
I command you.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Some Basic Construction Principles to Build Outdoor Fireplace
Until recent years, a major handicap to build outdoor fireplace was the difficulty of locating essential metal parts, such as grilles, doors, grates, and the like to build outdoor fireplace.
Neil Baulch grew up on a Farm where fireplaces were a normal part of life and writes on various topics. http://www.BuildOutdoorFireplace.com/
Now, metal fireplace units and a wide variety of parts are manufactured by various companies. Your lumber, building material, or masonry supply dealer will be happy to assist you in your needs for barbecue equipment.
With these metal units, anyone can create an attractive fireplace by using a complete unit as a building form and setting up masonry around it. In any desired design.
First essential for a good fireplace is a strong, solid foundation. In warm climates, where frost is not a factor, your fireplace can be set on a firm bed of tamped ground, cinders, or gravel. In cold climates, where deep frost occurs, your outdoor fireplace should be built on either a floating slab of reinforced concrete, or on a solid foundation of concrete or of brick or stones set in mortar and extending 4" or 5" or more below the frost line. For a below-frost-line foundation, see a local authority such as your building supply dealer.
Be sure to provide proper allowances for the metal parts of your fireplace to expand and contract as the result of heating and cooling. This can be done by placing sheets of corrugated paper between the sides of the unit and the masonry. When the first fire is built, this corrugated paper will burn away, leaving space for expansion.
A chimney is not always necessary when you build outdoor fireplace. If you plan to burn only charcoal in the fireplace, the three masonry walls around the metal unit are all that is required.
However, if either wood or coal is the fuel to be used, the fireplace should have a chimney.
It is also wise to provide the chimney with a cap to keep out water and possibly a screen to check flying sparks from wood fires.
It is wise to provide a means of adjusting the depth of the fire grate beneath the grill, since a charcoal fire should be placed much closer to the grill than a wood fire.
Bonus Books :
Neil Baulch grew up on a Farm where fireplaces were a normal part of life and writes on various topics. http://www.BuildOutdoorFireplace.com/
Saturday, July 21, 2007
What Are The Signs Of A Stroke And What Actually Is A Stroke?
Many people at sometime in their life, have to deal with a stroke and the various associated problems. If a person survives the stroke, it is not going to be easy to get through, but it is possible, especially with the right attitude, tools and support.
Some first signs of a stroke :-
* Sudden weakness in your arm, leg or hands.
* The impression that you are not able to feel one side of your face or body.
* Difficulty seeing or experienced temporarily blurriness in one eye.
* Difficulty walking or experiencing balancing problems.
* The worst headache of your life.
A stroke will typically occur when a blood vessel that directs oxygen and nutrients to the brain, bursts or is blocked by a blood clot or some other mass. This is thought of as a rupture or a blockage and part of the brain does not get the blood and hence, is starved of oxygen. This is a very dangerous time and therefore at the first signs of a stroke, you should call 911.
When there is not sufficient oxygen supplied, the nerve cells in the affected area of the brain are starved and cannot operate, and this means that the part of the body that they control does respond correctly either. There can be permanent damage to the brain cells, which do not regenerate or can be replaced.
Two types stroke. One is the Ischemic stroke that is cause by a blockage of the blood vessels. The other is called a hemorrhagic stroke and bleeding results from a rupture of the blood vessel. Bleeding strokes have a much higher death rate than those caused by clots.
The Ischemic stroke is the most common form. It occurs when a blood clot forms and blocks the flow in an artery bringing blood to part of the brain, as blood clots usually form in the arteries of the brain. This is called a cerebral thrombosis stroke and is most common first thing in the morning or at night.
A hemorrhagic stroke is a hemorrhage that occurs when a blood vessel on the brains surface ruptures and bleeds into the space between the brain and the skull. A cerebral hemorrhage is when a defective artery in the brain breaks and fills the surrounding tissue with blood.
When a blood vessel in the brain bursts, pressure from the escaping blood will compress part of the brain. If the person lives through this ordeal, the pressure will eventually subside and then the brain may regain some of its former function again. This why at the first signs of a stroke, it is so important to get medical treatment immediately and the help and that they need to recover and live through this devastating ordeal that can cause a great deal of permanent damage to a person's physical and mental well being.
Below are some of the emotional feelings that a person can experience during rehabilitation.
* Emotional stability, sudden laughing or crying
* Anxiety
* Grief at the loss of mobility
* Humiliation
* Depression
* Memory loss
* Confusion
Remember to have compassion and understanding when helping a stroke victim. This is the best way to get them back on track and keep them motivated for a fast recovery. You want to get them through the hard times and keep them ready for the better times that are coming.
Modern medicine and resources can save lives, if we get it quickly and are diligent to follow through with the many strategies and helps available.
Neil Baulch writes about various health topics. http://www.signsofastrokeinfo.com/
A Bible Timeline And Preaching The Word Of God
In our Bible study some years ago, a lady who had been a Christian and laboured in the Church for many years, made this statement, “Yes, but Abraham had the Law and so he understood about ......” (she was not referring to the pre-mosaic laws) I wonder how many Christians would actually pick up the error in this statement. Moses came about 500 years after Abraham and so it is impossibility. I have since compiled a Bible Timeline and shown her graphically the chronology of people & events.
Unfortunately, a very large number of preachers and teachers in our churches continue to preach shallow, light weight messages and their congregations barely grow in Biblical knowledge. Preachers love to give us ‘moral essays’ and ‘warming affirmations’ because supposedly, if we love people this is what we will do. Too bad if God’s people are falling through the cracks ‘for a lack of knowledge’ (revelation, oracle) as long as we are positive and loving to all, that is the main thing, it seems. The more relevant we become to the world, the less relevant we are to the world.
Recently I was teaching on the death and resurrection of Jesus, and a retired pastor and a strong preacher of the gospel, who had been in the ministry for 40 years came up and reproved me smartly over some interesting points I made and he referred to 1Ti 1:4 nor to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the divine training that is in faith;. (Revised Standard Version © 1947, 1952.) I quietly asked him if I was teaching anything of a heretical nature at all, to which he said “No”. I continued on to explain that that Scripture was not referring to exploring Scripture but to the false teachings and philosophy of Gnosticism, but he would not have it. Let me ask, how can a 40 year preacher & laborer in the gospel, not know and understand about something that possibly half the books of the New Testament refer to?
How can he understand and preach the Bible in fullness without knowing about something that was so influential in the New Testament church? And then how can the congregation hope to understand these things and be able to interpret their Bible well if they are not told?
Why do we get stuck in a rut of favorite’s topics and feel-good messages?
We preach on a text from Galatians and a passage about David from 2Samuel and a topical from Matthew and then the faith of Moses or the strength of Samson – bits from here and there, but we do not put it all together in a clear understandable, easy to remember, perspective with a good Bible TimeLine including Church History as well. Constantly we are bombarded with new books, modernist ideas, some of them dangerously leaning toward Liberal theology, when if we were to be taught the basics of Church History, we then would not be so doomed to repeat it.
Let’s us as teachers and preachers sew together the fragments of God’s Word and Plan into a seamless tapestry that our people can draw on for the rest of their lives, helping them to understand God, His Eternal Plan, the role of the Church and how to better interpret the Bible to live by.
It’s not hard to do, and it’s not boring if we are prepared to put in a bit of study with prayer and fervor.
John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth. (ASV)
Neil Baulch has been a lay preacher for 20 years.
http://www.bibletimelinesite.com/
Unfortunately, a very large number of preachers and teachers in our churches continue to preach shallow, light weight messages and their congregations barely grow in Biblical knowledge. Preachers love to give us ‘moral essays’ and ‘warming affirmations’ because supposedly, if we love people this is what we will do. Too bad if God’s people are falling through the cracks ‘for a lack of knowledge’ (revelation, oracle) as long as we are positive and loving to all, that is the main thing, it seems. The more relevant we become to the world, the less relevant we are to the world.
Recently I was teaching on the death and resurrection of Jesus, and a retired pastor and a strong preacher of the gospel, who had been in the ministry for 40 years came up and reproved me smartly over some interesting points I made and he referred to 1Ti 1:4 nor to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the divine training that is in faith;. (Revised Standard Version © 1947, 1952.) I quietly asked him if I was teaching anything of a heretical nature at all, to which he said “No”. I continued on to explain that that Scripture was not referring to exploring Scripture but to the false teachings and philosophy of Gnosticism, but he would not have it. Let me ask, how can a 40 year preacher & laborer in the gospel, not know and understand about something that possibly half the books of the New Testament refer to?
How can he understand and preach the Bible in fullness without knowing about something that was so influential in the New Testament church? And then how can the congregation hope to understand these things and be able to interpret their Bible well if they are not told?
Why do we get stuck in a rut of favorite’s topics and feel-good messages?
We preach on a text from Galatians and a passage about David from 2Samuel and a topical from Matthew and then the faith of Moses or the strength of Samson – bits from here and there, but we do not put it all together in a clear understandable, easy to remember, perspective with a good Bible TimeLine including Church History as well. Constantly we are bombarded with new books, modernist ideas, some of them dangerously leaning toward Liberal theology, when if we were to be taught the basics of Church History, we then would not be so doomed to repeat it.
Let’s us as teachers and preachers sew together the fragments of God’s Word and Plan into a seamless tapestry that our people can draw on for the rest of their lives, helping them to understand God, His Eternal Plan, the role of the Church and how to better interpret the Bible to live by.
It’s not hard to do, and it’s not boring if we are prepared to put in a bit of study with prayer and fervor.
John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth. (ASV)
Neil Baulch has been a lay preacher for 20 years.
http://www.bibletimelinesite.com/
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