Thursday, 9 April 2015

LOT: A DEFEATED RIGHTEOUS MAN




2 Peter 2:6-9 (KJV)
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

COMMENT

Lot a nephew of Abraham, connected with his uncle and followed him to Canaan where both lived in tents. He shared the promises and blessings that his uncle received from God. The separation came as a result of a quarrel by his servants and those of Abraham.   Abraham resolved the contention by asking his close relative Lot, to choose to move either to the right or to the left and whichever side he moved his uncle would move to the opposite side. That amicably solved the problem and as soon as Lot moved away to the fertile lowlands of Sodom, God began to speak to Abraham.

In Sodom, Lot was eventually accepted by the residents of the place. He even became an elder in the city. All what was happening in the city affected him and his family.
Today’s world has become the modern Sodom and Gomorrah. People are openly getting involved in terrible sins and they are proudly saying they are progressive. They don’t care about what the word of God says. They even claim that God does not disapprove their evil actions. They claim they are born gay and the human rights advocates and some misguided religious leaders support them. All righteous men and women are terribly bothered, but God in his wisdom has a way of delivering them out of the temptations just as he removed Lot from the doomed city.

Like Lot, in most cases, we find ourselves in situations of defeat despite the fact that we are righteous. Thanks to God because when we committed our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and because of his action on the cross, we were made righteous. We are   the true righteousness of God and that is our identity. God has promised not to leave or abandon us. Unless we denounce Christ and Christianity in public, our names are still written in the book of life.

Lot had many problems in Sodom. It was very difficult to get out of the city. His daughters were engaged to be married to boys from the city and Lot even tried to get them out with his family but it was impossible. The previous evening the city men had tried to attack the angles that came to rescue Lot but lost their sight in a miracle. They were lusting after the angles but God fought them by making them blind.

Getting out of the city in the morning, the Angels had to force Lot and his family out. Even getting out of the city of sin, not all escaped. Lot’s wife disobeyed the order not to look behind. When she turned to see what was happening, her body turned into a pillar of salt.

Although a righteous man, Lot escaped but lost part of his family. He had no wife of many years and nothing is mentioned about his servants and property.

Lot, although was a defeated man, he was righteous. The scriptures under reference call him righteous (holy) and not a sinner. Not that he did not, at all commit any sin, but God declared him righteous on the faith account of his uncle Abraham.  As a human being, he is not capable of making himself  righteous but God by his grace and the account of the faith of his uncle is able.

In Romans 4:3, the bible says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”( kjv)

Thursday, 2 April 2015

HEAVEN OUR ASSURED DESTINATION



REFERENCE: John 3:6-8, 2Corinthians 1:18-22 (kjv)

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit
  John 3:6-8
                                     
18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;
22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
 2Corinthians 1:18-22

COMMENT

Salvation is the most important concept on earth. Salvation provides one of the human basic needs; the spiritual need which demands to understand what happens when we die. As long as we cannot obtain a satisfactory answer on what happens when we die, we live with worry. Until we get hold of salvation, the basic need will continue to cause uneasiness. All human beings have this need whether they understand or not. Whether atheist or agnostic, this need is human and basic. You have to find an answer one way or another.  

In John 3:3, Jesus had a discussion with Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, wanted an answer to this notion of salvation. He was told that he must be born again and a detailed explanation was given. 

The process of accepting the Lord Jesus as your personal saviour is not complicated at all. The bible says it is by your heart you believe and by your mouth you confess that Jesus Christ is your saviour and there and then, you get born again. Romans 10:19. Your sins are cleansed and you are made the righteousness of God. Your nature is altered now that you are spiritually in Christ and he is in you. Romans 4:3.

You are made righteous: You don’t just become righteous. It takes the hand of God to make you like his son. It is not you who is righteous but Jesus who bought you at price. He died on the cross for you and then rose from the grave for you. If Christ was a book and in the book you placed an envelope, wherever the book goes, the envelope goes as well. It is as if the book and the envelope are one thing. That is how a born again Christian is attached to Jesus.

We cannot sin away our salvation and righteousness, unless we denounce the Lord Jesus Christ publicly. It must be carefully noted that we did not earn our salvation and righteousness by doing good things. It was Jesus, and remains only Jesus, who made us what we are, immediately we believed in him. Jesus has not changed and has not lost his status of righteousness. We are in him whether we have sinned or not. There is a major difference between a sinning righteous man and the man who sins because he a sinner by nature. Consider the case of Lot who is described as a righteous man in 2 Peter 7:6-8. The righteous sinner has the Holy Spirit urging him to stop sinning even when he is not willing to heed the advice. He is uncomfortable and will not enjoy the sin he is involved in. God may   sometimes allow suffering in him to make him change his evil ways. Sin will, in most cases, affect our relationships with fellow human beings especially the ones close to us, but will not at all make God change his mind about your salvation. You are still the righteousness of God because Christ Jesus has not changed, and it is only on his account that you are righteous.

1 John 2:1 says that Apostle John is writing to us so that we refrain from sinning but in case we sin, we have an advocate in heaven before God and he is righteous. His name is Jesus the one who is always righteous.

The only way we can forfeit our salvation, as I have said before, is by denouncing Jesus and Christianity. A group based in the US is currently helping people in denouncing Jesus and the Church.  On top of that, the organization issues certificates to stand as documentary evidence. They have made it a legal issue, and they are right.

As today’s scriptures indicate, God in his wisdom has made it difficult for us to denounce his son Jesus Christ. He is God and knows very well how stupid we are.
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Our sealed destination is heaven.
                                                 

New Trend: ‘Radically Inclusive’ Churches That Embrace All Religions And All Lifestyles



April 01, 2015 | Michael Snyder
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If you want as many people to attend your church as possible, why limit yourself to just Christians? All over America, “radically inclusive” churches that embrace all religions and all lifestyles are starting to pop up.

Church services that incorporate elements of Hinduism, Islam, native American religions and even Wicca are becoming increasingly common. And even if you don’t believe anything at all, that is okay with these churches too.

In fact, as you will see below, one Presbyterian minister in Oregon is even inviting people to “bring their own god” to church. But if these churches don’t really stand for anything at all, what is their purpose? And what does the popularity of these churches say about the future of religion in America?

One such church that has gotten quite a bit of attention lately is led by D.E. Paulk. The son of Earl Paulk, he was once considered to be the “heir apparent” at one of the largest megachurches in America. But these days he leads worship at a church that recognizes “all gods and prophets, including Mohammed“…

The Spirit and Truth Sanctuary, which D.E. founded in 2012, welcomes everyone from Wiccans to atheists, Hindus to Muslims, recognizing all gods and prophets, including Mohammed.

After much soul searching, D.E. established his church based around one principle: ‘Christ cannot be, and will not be, restricted to Christianity‘.

Paulk insists that there is “no hell except what one creates with one’s own actions“, and he is very proud of the diverse group of people that currently attends his services…

A stained glass window looming over the pulpit captures the spirit of the church. It’s a design that contains a Christian cross, ringed by symbols from Judaism, Islam and Hinduism. In the middle is a dove, which symbolizes the spirit of peace that binds them all together.

A CNN reporter visited one of Paulk’s recent services, and it was definitely far different from what Earl Paulk’s services would have looked like in the old days…

The service then started to feel like a Pentecostal tent-revival but with an unusual twist.

A group of singers took to the stage and opened with a hypnotic Tibetan Buddhist chant that evoked the spirit of compassion: “Om Mani Padme Hum.”

The chant segued into “Shanti, Shanti Om,” a Hindu prayer for peace. Then as the chanting grew louder, the drums and bass kicked in as the singers switched to a Muslim chant about the sovereignty of God: “La ilaha, Il Allah.”

And of course D.E. Paulk is far from alone.

All over America there are ministers that are going out of their way to be more “inclusive”.

As I mentioned above, there is even one Presbyterian minister out in Oregon that wants people to “bring their own god” to church…

A Presbyterian USA minister in Oregon who says that he doesn’t believe in God—and doesn’t require his members to believe either–remarked in a recent article that he is offended by those who assert that he is not a Christian.

“Someone quipped that my congregation is BYOG: Bring Your Own God. I use that and invite people to ‘bring their own God’—or none at all,” wrote John Shuck of Beaverton’s Southminster Presbyterian Church in a guest post for Patheos last week. “While the symbol ‘God’ is part of our cultural tradition, you can take it or leave it or redefine it to your liking.”

Even though Shuck has publicly acknowledged that he does not believe in God, he insists that he is “still a proud minister”, and he gets offended when people try to tell him that he is not a Christian…

Shuck reiterated his unbelief in his article “I’m a Presbyterian Minister Who Doesn’t Believe in God” on Tuesday, as he asserted that “belief-less Christianity is thriving.”

“We all have been trained to think that Christianity is about believing things,” he wrote. “Its symbols and artifacts (God, Bible, Jesus, Heaven, etc) must be accepted in a certain way. And when times change and these beliefs are no longer credible, the choices we are left with are either rejection or fundamentalism.”

But Shuck says that although he rejects the Bible as being literal, and denies the existence of Heaven and Hell, he takes offense when people tell him that he’s not a Christian.

“Even though I hold those beliefs, I am still a proud minister. But I don’t appreciate being told that I’m not truly a Christian,” he stated. “Many liberal or progressive Christians have already let go or de-emphasized belief in Heaven, that the Bible is literally true, that Jesus is supernatural, and that Christianity is the only way. Yet they still practice what they call Christianity.”

Elsewhere in the Northwest, other ministers are trying similar approaches.

Just consider the following excerpt from an article in the New York Times…

Clad in proper Pacific Northwest flannel, toting a flask of “rocket fuel” coffee typical of Starbucks’ home turf, Steven Greenebaum rolled his Prius into a middle school parking lot one Sunday morning last month. Then he set about transforming its cafeteria into a sanctuary and himself into a minister.

He donned vestments adorned with the symbols of nearly a dozen religions. He unfolded a portable bookshelf and set the Koran beside the Hebrew Bible, with both of them near two volumes of the “Humanist Manifesto” and the Sioux wisdom of “Black Elk Speaks.” Candles, stones, bells and flowers adorned the improvised altar.

Some of the congregants began arriving to help. There was Steve Crawford, who had spent his youth in Campus Crusade for Christ, and Gloria Parker, raised Lutheran and married to a Catholic, and Patrick McKenna, who had been brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness and now called himself a pagan.

Other churches are attempting to become more “inclusive” by being willing to embrace alternative lifestyles.

For example, one of the largest evangelical churches in San Francisco has decided to take a new approach to the LBGT community…

Now, San Francisco’s City Church is putting an end to its policy of banning LGBT members who are unwilling or unable to take a vow of celibacy.

What led to the change of heart at City Church? Apparently, Ken Wilson’s book A Letter to My Congregation was a big part of it. Fred Harrell, senior pastor of City Church, feels the mind-changing book “shows great empathy and maturity to model unity and patience with those who are at different places in the conversation, all while dealing honestly with Scripture.”

“Our pastoral practice of demanding life-long ‘celibacy,’ by which we meant that for the rest of your life you would not engage your sexual orientation in any way, was causing obvious harm and has not led to human flourishing,” Harrell wrote in a letter to the church from the elder board. “It’s unfortunate that we used the word ‘celibacy’ to describe a demand placed on others, as in Scripture it is, according to both Jesus and Paul, a special gift or calling by God, not an option for everyone.”

But if people can just “believe whatever they want”, what makes these churches “Christian” at all?

We live in a society in which it has become very trendy to “choose your own path” and in which nobody wants to do anything that might “offend” someone else.

For instance, consider the words that one CNN reporter used to describe her transition from “Christian” to “seeker”…

After years of spiritual reflection and inquiry, I am at a place where I don’t want to feel guilty, hypocritical, judgmental, closed-minded or arrogant. So, where do I stand now — 30 years after “finding God,” questioning my faith, committing sins, seeking hazardous adventure and trying to love life and people to the best of my ability?

I am a “seeker.” A constant seeker within this world, among people and, of course, for spiritual enlightenment of all kind. Because if I did possess the truth — the “final answer” — I am convinced I would spend the rest of my years missing out on the enrichment and surprise of seeking it.

Those are some lovely words.

But it almost sounds as if she is actually afraid of the truth. It is almost as if she does not want to find it, because if she did it might offend someone.

In the final analysis, this CNN reporter is just like so many other Americans. Most people end up believing exactly what they want to believe. And what this CNN reporter wants is to avoid feeling “guilty, hypocritical, judgmental, closed-minded or arrogant”.

Of course there are thousands upon thousands of Christian ministers all over the nation that want the same thing. They never use the word “sin” because they want people to feel good about themselves. And they never talk about anything controversial because they want people to keep coming back and they want the donations to keep rolling in. So they preach messages about how wonderful everyone is and about how God wants to help all of us “achieve our destinies” and make all of us very wealthy.

But meanwhile our nation continues to swirl even farther down the toilet.

In the Scriptures, we were warned that such a day would come…

For the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine, but they will gather to themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, having itching ears, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn to myths. 

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/April01/014.html#P0WtGvWTejxHloVd.99

Islamic State Attack On Italy Coming



April 01, 2015 | Bill Gertz
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The Islamic State terrorist group likely will launch an attack on Italy within weeks, not months, according to a senior Libyan government official.

Aref Ali Nayed, Libya’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, said in an interview that one likely method of attack would be to use stolen Libyan airliners now believed to be in the hands of Islamists in Libya.

“The horrific video showing 21 Coptic Christians beheaded in Libya contained a direct threat from ISIS to Rome,” said Mr. Nayed, using an acronym for the terrorist group. “The threat of ISIS to Italy could become a reality in a matter of weeks rather than months.”

The Islamic State could use two attack methods, the ambassador said. The first would be for Libya-based terrorists to infiltrate Italy by using one of the many boats carrying undocumented Libyans to Italy. Once in Italy, the terrorists could regroup and carry out an attack.

“Second, ISIS could weaponize a civilian airliner or small military aircraft in Libya, loading it with explosives and/or chemical weapons.” Mr. Nayed said. “Rome is one hour from the ISIS-controlled airport in Sirte.”

U.S. intelligence agencies warned in September that Islamist militias in Libya have taken control of nearly a dozen commercial jetliners that remain unaccounted for.

Intelligence reports circulated in late August included warnings that one or more of the aircraft could be used in a regional suicide attack coinciding with the Sept. 11 anniversary. No attacks using hijacked airliners took place last year.

A U.S. official familiar with the reports in September said “there are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing” and that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks showed what could be done with hijacked planes.

Mr. Nayed said the recent attack in Tunisia that was claimed by the Islamic State shows that the group is capable of conducting coordinated and effective attacks with speed and precision from Libya.

“Their attacks are increasing in both frequency and scope, and we must take their threat against Italy and Southern Europe very seriously,” the ambassador said.

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/April01/015.html#xc76WeUa0ZPDxuif.99