David, when he composed Psalms 23, knew this. Looking at life from the standpoint of a sheep, he wrote “He [the Good Shepherd] leads me beside quiet waters.” In other words, he alone knows where the still, quiet, deep, clean, pure water is to be found that can satisfy His sheep and keep them fit.
Generally speaking, water for the sheep came from three main sources: dew on the grass, deep wells, or springs and streams.
Most people are not aware that sheep can go for months on end, especially if the weather is not too hot, without actually drinking, if there is heavy dew on the grass each morning. Sheep, by habit, rise just before dawn and start to feed. Or if there is bright moonlight they will graze at night. The early hours are when the vegetation is drenched would dew, and sheep can keep fit on the amount of water taken in with their forage when they graze just before and after dawn.
Of course, dew is a clear, clean, pure source of water. And there is no more resplendent picture of still waters than the silver droplets of dew hanging heavy on leaves and grass at break of day.
The good shepherd, the diligent manager, makes sure that his sheep can be out and grazing on this dew-drenched vegetation. If necessary, it will mean he himself has to rise early to be out with his flock. On the home ranch or afield he will see to it that his sheep benefit from this early grazing.
In the Christian life it is a more than passing significance to observe that those who are often the most serene, most confident, and able to cope with life’s complexities are those who rise early each day to feed on God’s Word. It is in the quiet, early hours of the morning that they are led beside the quiet, still waters where they imbibe the very life of Christ for the day. This is much more than mere figure of speech. It is practical reality. The biographies of the great men and women of God repeatedly point out how the secret of the success in their spiritual life was attributed to the quiet time of each morning. There, alone, still, waiting for the Masters voice, one is led gently to the place where, as the old hymn puts it, “The still dews of His Spirit can be dropped into my life and soul.”
One comes away from these hours of meditation, reflection, and communion with Christ refreshed in mind and spirit. The thirst is slaked and the heart is quietly satisfied.
In my mind’s eye I can see my flock again. The gentleness, stillness, and softness of early morning always found my sheep knee-deep in dew- drenched grass. There they fed heavily and contentedly. As the sun rose and the heat burned the dew drops from the leaves, the flock would retire to find shade. There, fully satisfied and happily refreshed, they would lie down to rest and ruminate through the day. Nothing pleased me more.
I am confident this is the same reaction in my Master’s heart and mind when I meet the day in the same way. He loves to see me contented, quiet, at rest, and relaxed. He delights to know my soul and spirit have been refreshed and satisfied.
But the irony of life, and tragic truth for most Christians, is that this is not so. They often try, instead, to satisfy their thirst by pursuing almost every other sort of substitute. For their minds and intellects they will pursue knowledge, science, academic careers, vociferous reading, or off-beat companions. But they are always left panting and dissatisfied.
Some of my friends have been among the most learned and highly respected scientists and professors in the country. Yet about them there is often a strange yearning, and unsatisfied thirst which all their learning, all their knowledge, all their achievements have not satisfied
To appease the craving of their souls and emotions, men and women will turn to the arts, to culture, to music, to literary forms, trying to find fulfillment.
And again, so often, these are amongst the most jaded and dejected of people.
Amongst my acquaintances are some outstanding authors and artists. Yet it is significant that to many of them life is a mockery. They have tried drinking deeply from the wells of the world only to turn away unsatisfied — unquenched in their soul’s thirst. There are those who, to quench this thirst in their parched lives, have attempted to find refreshment in all sorts of physical pursuits and activities.
They try travel. Or they participate feverishly in sports. They attempt adventures of all sorts or indulge in social activities. They take up hobbies or engage in community efforts. But when all is said and everything has been done, they find themselves facing the same haunting, hollow, empty, unfilled thirst within.
The ancient prophet Jeremiah put it very bluntly when he declared, “My people… have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
It is a compelling picture. It is an accurate portrayal of broken lives – shattered hopes – of barren souls that are dried up and parched and full of the dust of despair.
Among young people, especially the “beat” generation, the recourse to drugs, to alcohol, to sexual adventure in a mad desire to assuage their thirst is classic proof that such sordid indulgences are no substitute for the Spirit of the living God. These poor people are broken cisterns. Their lives are a misery. I have yet to talk to a truly happy “hippie”. Their faces show the desperation within.
And amid all this chaos of a confused, sick society, Christ comes quietly as of old and invites us to come to Him. He invites us to follow Him. He invites us to put our confidence in Him. For He it is who best knows how we can be satisfied. He knows that the human heart, the human personality, the human soul with this amazing capacity for God can never be satisfied with a substitute. Only the Spirit and life of Christ Himself will satisfy the thirsting soul.
From: W. Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 (Zondervan, 1970) p.61-64. Great book and I heartily recommend it to our readers. Carl
You either come to God for forgiveness and salvation based on what the Savior Jesus did on the Cross, or you’re going to come under divine judgment and come to Jesus as your Judge. Which will it be? Carl
Bryan Loritts provides a great challenge to build relationships that last in his new book Enduring Friendships: Sticking Together in an Age of Unfriending. The book uses Paul’s New Testament letter to Philemon as a backdrop for thinking deeply about friendship. And it does challenge us to think deeply about our relationships. Onesimus, the slave to Philemon, who likely stole and then ran away from his servitude, making him deserving of severe consequences if not death. Philemon, the enslaver, and partner in the gospel with Paul. Paul, the missionary, who led both of these men to Christ and now pleads with them to do hard things for their relationship and for the glory of God.
He wants Onesimus to repent and go back and face his offended enslaver.
He wants Philemon to repent and receive Onesimus, not as a slave who stole from him, but as a brother who merits his embrace and partnership.
Paul himself wants to pay whatever is owed to Philemon. “Put it on my account.”
We don’t know “the rest of the story”, but can imagine that repentance was had, forgiveness was extended, and God was glorified, because Onesimus is later counted as a Bishop in the early church.
This book reminds us that relationships are hard but worth fighting for. And enduring relationships are costly and take courage to pursue through the messiness of life. What a mess the book of Philemon offers up. But what a beautiful picture of grace and forgiveness if Paul’s formula is lived out. The offender repents, the offended forgives, and the beauty of reconciliation is witnessed by all.
I wish I could say I didn’t have any tangled messes of relationships in my 49 years, but I can’t. I wish I could say that I’ve always done the right and hard thing for the sake of reconciliation. In ministry, the slights received often make us callous toward deep relationships and make it easier just to let people walk away or not make the journey back to the one we offended. People come and go. Sometimes close relationships are resisted because we begin to expect slights, disrespect, betrayal, and eventual departure. Enduring Friendships reminds us that relationships are worth it.
The key to it all of course is Jesus. He empowers us to forgive, to receive grace, and to repent. And he did the hardest thing of all so that we could experience reconciliation by offering up his own body on the cross.
Some great thinking and maturing to be stirred up by Bryan Loritts’ new book. Grab a copy.
Here’s a few of my favorite quotes:
Soul-level friendship often feels like a full-time job with periods of bad compensation.
The problem is relationships are drama, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. Whose life is not made up of mountaintops and deep valleys? If we’re not up for drama, we are not ready for relationships.
A Christian who does not forgive is a contradiction in terms.
There is no lasting friendship without grace.
If you want to have sustained friendships over the course of your life, you must accept that you will at various points be Onesimus and Philemon – offender and offended.
When we fail to allow for nuance and complication, we set the table for short-lived friendships that never resurrect from the graveyard of offense and betrayal.
The journey of friendship is fraught with unavoidable hurt because those involved are marred by sin.
Gossip is saying something behind a person’s back we would never say to a person’s face. Flattery is saying something to a person’s face we would never say behind their back.
Pride is the #1 killer of friendship. Humility is the prime nourisher of healthy relationships.
When we are at death’s door and inevitably stare into the rearview mirror of our lives, we will not take joy in our acts of retribution.
An ungracious Christian is an oxymoron.
Nothing illumines our witness and stands more in contradistinction to our world than when we fight to remain at the table of friendship with people who we have wronged and who have wronged us.
About Lane Corley
I am – Follower of Jesus Christ – Husband to the beautiful and patient Heather Corley – Father of three. – Church Planter/Church Planting Catalyst for Send Network – When I can, I’m reading, raised bed gardening, and on mission with my church. – Hoping to be helpful.
I recently did a teaching on the book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young and how to tell the book is a channeled book. She is channeling an unidentifiable spirit being who self identifies as ‘Jesus Christ’. But by examining what this spirit tells her in the light of the New Testament, you can tell that it is not the real Jesus Christ but a deceiving, seducing, evil spirit whose goal is to lead God’s people into occultic practices.
There are many ways to discern this deception: by comparing what the spirit says to what the real Jesus Christ said and did in the New Testament, how she used God Calling*, another channeled occult book, as her inspiration, misquoted Scripture, plus others means.
One of the ways you can tell is by the flattery and romantic non-sense that is used in the text.
Some examples are:
Let My gold-tinged Love wash over you and soak into the depths of your being.
When you seek my Face in response to My love call, both of us are blessed.
Look into My Face and feel the warmth of My Love-Light shining upon you.
When your joy in Me meets My joy in you, there are fireworks a heavenly ecstasy.
Take time to rest in the Love-Light of My Presence.
When you trustingly whisper My Name, My aching ears are soothed.
When you walk through a day in trusting dependence on Me, My aching heart is soothed.
Feel your face tingle as you bask in My Love-Light.
I am aching to hold you in My everlasting arms, to enfold you in My Love.
As you listen to birds calling to one another, hear also my Love-call to you.
Now if you have read the New Testament, it does not take long for this type of verbiage to raise an alarm. I never read in the New Testament where Lord Jesus talked to Peter, John, James, or any of the other disciples this way. I can see ole Peter shaking his head and saying that Jesus never talked to him that way.
Apostle Paul warns us about the enemy of our soul using flattery to entrap us:
“Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” (Romans 16:17-18)
Paul warns us not to be ‘unsuspecting’ Christians, not to go through life thinking that the enemy does not have designs on us to bring us into captivity to their master satan. There are evil workers of the antichrist spirit (I John 4:3) who will use smooth and flattering speech to gain our trust and confidence resulting in our bondage.
Jude, the Lord’s half-brother, also warns us about flattery as a tool of deception:
“These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.” Jude v16
These sinners Jude is warning about are seeking power and control; power and control over you and me so we can help them accomplish their own wicked goals that are cloaked in a false robe of righteousness. The Lord warned us about those who look like sheep but speak like dragons (Rev.13:11).
The Old Testament prophet Daniel tells us that flattery (or smooth words) will be a tool of the ultimate human evil, the Antichrist. Daniel 11:32 says in part:
“…with flattery he will corrupt those who act wickedly toward the covenant…” (HCSB).
Truly what Proverb 26:28 says concerning flattery is true:
A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin.
Watch out for this tool of the devil. Protect yourself from religious deception. Read the New Testament and know the Truth that will set you free from bondage to religion and sheep in wolf clothing.
“The word that is used in the original language for salvation covers the entire work of God on behalf of the human soul. I am sure that not one of us, not even the one who has spent the most time in the study of the word of God, can fully comprehend the height and the depth of the vast subject of salvation. The depth is our need, the height is the provision that God has made. Salvation begins when the sinner recognizes the fact that he is less perfect than God and therefore under condemnation.
In order to make this very practical, I shall appeal to you directly concerning your own salvation. God comes to you today, just as you are. There is nothing that you have to do in order to draw his attention to you. You do not have to make yourself better in order for him to start his work. There is an old hymn that puts it well:
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream.
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.
God comes to you whatever your background of education or the lack of it. He comes to you with your prejudices, however they may have been formed. He comes to you with the declaration that you are in a position that is desperate without His help, but he tells you that He is ready to furnish the help you need. Unfortunately, there are those who turn away from Him because they live in a world where illusions are so plentiful. A man is in vigorous health, making good money, and relatively happy. It is easy to think that since you are getting along so well in your progress through the world that you are also getting along well in your progress towards God. The fact is that you are lying in the embrace of death and do not realize your need.
A Chinese evangelist was once preaching on the street in a town in China. He spoke of the weight of sin and a heckler called out to ask how much that weight was. Fifty pounds? One hundred pounds? The evangelist answered: if you have a corpse lying in his coffin, will he feel a one hundred pound weight on his chest any more than a fifty pound weight? So the weight of sin is upon the human soul, and it is only when the Holy Spirit makes us conscious of need that we can feel the weight of sin and turn to the Saviour who is able to lift it.
If you fancy that you have an ability that can help you, you have never understood your own inability or the magnitude of the task which is demanded of you. A man might be the world’s champion Olympic swimmer, but if he were suddenly thrown overboard in the midst of the ocean, the distance to the shore would be totally beyond his powers. And God declares that you are overboard in the sea of sin and that estranges you from him. No breast-stroke of emotion can bring you to the shore. You must recognize your lost position and submit yourself to his sovereign grace. God commands men everywhere to repent. And repentance does not mean an emotional state of being sorry for your sins. It is derived from a Greek expression for the military command of “right about face”. You have been facing yourself, trusting in your own ability while Christ has been behind you, despised and rejected by you. You must about face. You must despise and reject your own efforts for salvation and realize that God has done all the work through the Saviour and that He requires you to put your trust in him.”
For God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Quote from Donald Grey Barnhouse, Man’s Ruin (Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids), pp. 169-171
Question: Jesus said, “If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14). I’ve heard thousands of prayers that were offered, in reliance upon that promise, “in the name of Jesus” or even “in the mighty name of Jesus,” sincere prayers from simple people that were never answered. Wouldn’t these many unanswered prayers offered “in the name of Jesus” prove that Christ doesn’t or can’t keep His word?
Response: “In the name of Jesus” is not a magic formula like “Open Sesame,” which merely had to be spoken once in order for the secret door to the thieves’ treasure to swing wide open. Merely repeating the words “in the name of Jesus” doesn’t make it so. For a prayer to be truly “in the name of Jesus,” it must be as He would express it if He were praying. It must be for the furtherance of His interests and to His glory. His name must be stamped on the character and engraved on the heart and life of the one praying “in His name.”
Many years ago I managed the affairs of a multimillionaire. In order to do so, I had been given the authority to act in His name. Powers of attorney giving me the right to sign his name and to conduct business in his name were registered in various counties and states. There was nothing on the face of the documents that would prevent me from making out a check for a million dollars, signing his name to it, and depositing it in my own bank account. Had I done so, however, he could have recovered from me in a court of equity.
Though the documents didn’t state it explicitly, it was understood that I had the power to use another person’s name only for his good and in his best interests, not my own. And so it is with our Lord. There are no restrictions stated in His promise that he will do whatever we ask in His name. It is understood, however, that to pray in His name is to ask as He would ask for His interests and glory.
Tragically, all too many Christians imagine that “in the name of Jesus” are magic words that, if added to a prayer, no matter how self-seeking, will enable a person to get from God whatever he or she desires. When the desired response doesn’t come from God there is often great confusion as to why earnest prayers aren’t answered, and even at times resentment against Christ for not keeping what is perceived to be His promise. James explained it well:
Ye ask [in prayer] and receive not because ye ask amiss, [not to God’s glory, but] that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3).
The event, so central to Scripture and, indeed, salvation itself, seems as though it is being reduced to a “sideshow” in what is the increasing paganization of culture and even the church. Dr. Peter Jones warned about this 22 years ago in his excellent 2001 book Pagans in the Pews. For way too many, the focus is now on them and not on the One who came to redeem us all.
In Soft Occultism, Patricia Patnode describes: Young women looking for meaning are enchanted by a new paganism elevating ego and material desire. Young men are also being “enchanted by a new paganism” for pretty much the same reasons. It elevates “ego and material desire.” It affirms and directs worship to the being they most love – themselves.
The paganism that is all the rage is not really new, of course, and has been part of the human condition since shortly after the fall. However, paganism in the Western world faded far away as Christianity ascended in the early centuries. It only seems to us starker and more pronounced today because it follows the Christian era and is strongly resurgent now that Christianity is being pushed aside. God and His Son have been pushed to the background of society and even the church, it seems.
Patnode writes: The new, default spiritual identity for young people in the West is soft occultism, or casual witchery. This identity can easily accompany an existing religious affiliation, and often does since it is so obviously integrated in most aspects of modern Western culture. Some may want to argue that this is only true in the culture outside the church, but the same transformation is happening in many of the “Seeker Sensitive,” “Purpose Driven,” narrative-focused churches, along with many other churches where we may not have expected it to have taken root. Like so many other infections, it seems small and merely bothersome until it is suddenly malignant and, everywhere, a threat to the body.”
It is interesting that Patnode points out that popular lifestyle gurus and life coaches borrow their material from the church!
The root of all kinds of evil is indeed the love of money, but the reason we love money so much is because we love ourselves, and money can, we think, make us happy. Self-love is the root of the root. The search to “uncover hidden knowledge of ourselves” entices us away from the clearly revealed knowledge about ourselves in the word of God. Sound biblical teaching and discipleship in the local church by the pastors, elders, and more mature believers is being gradually replaced with “Christian Life Coaching” and profiling systems. The soft occultism that is pervading much of the church entices and draws the unwary into its grip through “spiritual tools” from occultism like the Enneagram. It too often is embraced and grows through the aid of the pastors in those churches, as well as through Bible Colleges, seminaries, “Christian” publishing houses, and magazines.
A few years ago, I heard of an intriguing new personality test straight from the pulpit….I went home that day and took the test, thinking it was all fun and games and absolutely safe, of course, because I had heard it at church. Upon discovering my number, I was completely won over. At the time, I thought that beyond the pleasant emotional pull of simple “self-awareness,” it was a great tool of transformation, which pointed out my strengths and weaknesses and the blind spots that I had never noticed before but which were keeping me from being the best I could be. I thought it would help with the relationships in my life and could be a great way to authentically connect with others on a deeper level. What ended up happening, though, was the complete opposite. I became hyper-focused on my alleged “type,” and with crazy eyes, I shared it with my friends, family, acquaintances, and even absolute strangers in the grocery store.
I began placing everyone in a box according to what I viewed their “type” to be. In doing this, I felt that I was protected in a way from people I could never hope to comfortably mesh with. I took control into my own hands and steered clear of “certain types” and, for two years, dove headfirst into progressive Christianity without realizing it. I read books by a guy named Richard Rohr (whose occultic teachings, by the way, not a lot of pastors seem familiar with), listened to his followers, and read books by Ian Morgan Cron, Suzzane Stabile, and David G. Benner. I listened to podcasts about the types and read a slew of books based on false doctrine and a specific false view of God known as panentheism. Panentheism teaches that God is in everything. I read about the false self versus true self2 and how to properly relate to others with this spiritual tool. I began psychoanalyzing my family, friends, and close acquaintances, and for two years walked in this way.
Then, two very close friends warned me about this system and ideology that had obviously taken control of my life. The second they warned me about this tool, I realized I already knew the truth in my heart. For a while, though, I continued to double back to it because of the sway it held in my church at the time and many other churches in the Nashville area.…What I found was absolutely astonishing!…What I can mention is that the types originate from a form of automatic writing, which is an allegedly “spiritual way” of making contact with the “spirit world.” It is strange that no one seems to question who these “spirits” might be or whether making contact with these “spirits” is even a safe idea, let alone Christian! Indeed, the practice has origins in the occult and the demonic. I can say without a doubt that this “Tool” isn’t helpful at all, but a blind walk onto a pagan spiritual path – into which many Christians are walking blindly towards and/or have fallen into step with today. It’s getting in touch with an exciting “self” outside of the gospel – a self where you don’t need Jesus at all. I believe that this harmless seeming “Personality test” is an unholy Spirit in the church today, leading Christians out of truth, which is horrifying.
So many pastors and church members walk right into this false religious practice with a big smile on their face and joke with their friends about their types, all the while not realizing exactly what they have attached themselves to. Without thinking, Enneagram adherents start to place others in “personality boxes,” too, which is not kind. I have to wonder what’s truly being “made” of it all by sinister forces beneath the surface. Using it in our churches and messing around with this ideology is dark – horribly dark – and I’m saddened that very few seem to be paying attention.
All of my Christian life, I’ve listened to pastors preach about staying away from evil, and now I plead with you to do your own deep research and throw this evil out of the church. The flock needs protecting and shepherding like never before.https://midwestoutreach.org/2023/12/07/the-occulting-of-culture-and-the-church/
The son of a saloon keeper, Mel Trotter had learned bartending from his father when his dad was too drunk to pour a drink at the bar. As a young man, Trotter had resolved to escape the saloon, leaving home to take up barbering. Unfortunately, he was so successful as a barber that the income gave him the opportunity to gamble and drink at will.
Trying to escape big city temptations, Mel Trotter moved to Iowa about 1890 and managed to stay sober long enough to marry. But his wife soon discovered that she was married to an alcoholic. He repeatedly vowed to straighten out his life, once staying sober for 11 months. But even the birth of a beloved son could not keep him from drinking. After one 10 day binge, Trotter returned home to find his wife weeping over the dead body of their two year old son.
Trotter left his son’s funeral for a saloon. Then he hopped a train for Chicago, running from his failure, from alcohol, and from the certainty he could not conquer his addiction. He knew his life was running out, but he resolved to end it in anonymity.
The night of January 19, 1897, homeless, hatless, and coatless, Mel Trotter sold his shoes for one last drink before planning to commit suicide. The alcohol barely warmed him as he trudged barefoot through a Chicago blizzard, trying to find lake Michigan so he could drown his sorrows forever. Passing the darkened businesses on Van Buren Street, Trotter stumbled. A young man stepped out of the doorway of the only lit building, helped Trotter up, and invited him inside. Trotter followed, too numb to read the sign over the door: Pacific Garden Mission.
The man sat Trotter down in a warm room full of derelict men. The missions Superintendent, Harry Monroe, was in the middle of his evening message but broke off his comments when he saw Trotter. Monroe felt compelled to pray aloud, “Oh, God, save that poor, poor boy.”
Monroe then shared the story of his own troubled life before he had met Christ. “Jesus loves you”, he concluded, “and so do I. He wants to save you tonight. Put up your hand for prayer. Let God know you want to make room in your heart for him.” Barely understanding what he was doing, Trotter raised his hand. Something inside him rose up and accepted the invitation in simple faith. And in that moment the shackles of alcoholism and despair fell away.
Trotter spent the next 43 years ministering to the men and women he met on the streets, as lost and hopeless as he had been. His message was simple: “God loves you in the midst of the deepest failure and despair and his love has the power to change even the most ruined life.” He was ordained in 1905 and for 40 years served as a supervisor of a rescue mission in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Alumni of his mission founded 68 other rescue missions across the United States, and Trotter became an international evangelist.
That dark night in Chicago Mel Trotters life didn’t end — it began!
Have you ever struggled with an addiction, whether alcohol, drugs, sex, or something else? God is in the business of delivering men and women from addictions. He did it for Mel Trotter, and he can do it for you.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. Psalms 40:2
Source: E. Michael and Sharon Rusten, The One Year Christian History (Tyndale, 2003) pp. 38-39 (If you are a looking for an historical daily devotional, I heartily recommend this book.)
Do not stay in the chains of addiction. Let Jesus Christ deliver you today. Humble yourself and ask him to do it today, right now. God bless you.
Pray you and your family are having a great Christmas and New Year Season.
God has a sense of humor.
When the 19th century university elites of Germany began to say the Holy Bible was just a collection of old tales compiled from stories told around the campfire for generations and not reliable, God just sent some men with shovels and spades to the Middle East and had them dig in the ground to show these university elites who professed to be wise that they were fools.
I was recently reminded of this fact when I discovered a new YouTube Channel entitled “Expedition Bible” (link to website) that shows how archeology and ancient history confirms the Bible.
The videos take one archeological discovery in the Middle East (Iraq, Jordan, Israel, etc.) and shows how what was discovered confirms the places, people, and events mentioned in the Bible. The author adds certain tools (arrows, lines, camera angles, graphics, context, etc.) to the videos to help you understand what you are looking at, from what viewpoint and how it fits into the Bible narrative. The explanations and subject matter are the most comprehensive I have viewed.
An example would be the YouTube video concerning Nineveh. I understand if you’re afraid to click on published links, so in that case just go to YouTube and search for Expedition Bible.
Another bonus of the videos is that the author, Joel Kramer, a born-again archeologist, refers to some of the earliest published writings of archeologists who were early or the first to excavate places like Ur, the homeplace of Abraham; Babylon, where the Jews spent seventy years in exile and the birthplace of worldwide idolatry, and Nineveh, where Jonah preached and contains the palace of Sennacherib, who conquered parts of Israel. I have been able to find these out-of-print old titles online for free and in downloadable formats. If you are interested in ancient history, these books are a must have.
An example is the title Ur of Chaldees – A Record of Seven Years of Excavation by Leonard Woolley and published in 1929. Woolley was the archeologist in charge. Ur was where the biblical Abraham lived at one time and today is in modern Iraq.
Following is a link to the About page where you can learn about the author and his goals and, by scrolling down, you can see his statement of faith.
I hope you will check out the content and see how archeology confirms the Bible. Then share the information with your friends who still believe the lies of those old foolish university professors.
“If you want to be distracted, look around; if you want to be disgusted, look within; if you want to be delighted, look at Him.”
If we want to be distracted from our fruit bearing produced by our reverence for God, all we have to do is look around at the world and the seemingly hopelessness and futility of it all. We will soon find ourselves depressed and hopeless, distracted and overcome in spirit and soul by the world.
If we start to focus on our lack of fruit bearing and the sin that so easily besets us, we will be disgusted by what we see within ourself. We surely have sinned and come short of the glory of God…as born-again believers. We find ourselves still carrying on our back the corpse of the “old self”, our crucified sinful nature (Romans 6:5-7 & 7: 15-25). Truly disgusting.
But, if we focus on our Savior and Deliverer Jesus Christ and all He accomplished for us through His death and resurrection and His continued intercession for us, there is bright, living hope and assurance and Holy Spirit power for living a Christian life that is pleasing to Him.
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17: 9
Many years ago, in the early days of radio, an incident took place which I may well recount as a crystallization of the aims and purposes I had before me in undertaking this task: the exposition of the epistle to the Romans. In a certain city in central Pennsylvania, listeners were attempting to get my program from a distant station that was broadcasting on a wavelength so near to that of another station that the two programs sometimes became confused. From New York a certain minister was preaching his sermon at the same time that my Bible study was going forth. Friends told me that a woman who was trying to unscramble the two broadcast said, “If I hear a voice talking about the dignity of human personality, I know that I have the New York station. If the voice says that a man must be born again, I know that I have Dr. Barnhouse from Philadelphia.”
Within that exaggeration there is a profound truth, and within that truth there is the expression of the ministry which I seek to exercise. I am convinced that the ministry which seeks to exalt mankind can, in the end, do no good for mankind. On the contrary, the ministry which will reach the truths of man’s complete ruin in sin and God’s perfect remedy in Christ, can best reach the heart of the need of the human race and can bring the only remedy that can heal the heart which God has declared to be humanly incurable.
Quotation from: Donald Gray Barnhouse, Man’s Ruin– Romans 1: 1-32 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 1952) p. 1
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim and renowned critic of Islam, has revealed her conversion to Christianity, describing her journey from Islam to atheism and ultimately to Christianity.
In a Weekend Essay published on UnHerd, Hirsi Ali, who is known for her bestselling books and outspoken views, says her encounter with Bertrand Russell’s 1927 lecture “Why I am Not a Christian” led her to atheism, offering solace and escape from the fear instilled by religious doctrine. She found Russell’s views on religion, rooted in fear, resonant with her own experiences.
“It did not cross my mind, as I read it, that one day, nearly a century after he delivered it to the South London branch of the National Secular Society, I would be compelled to write an essay with precisely the opposite title,” adds Hirsi Ali, who is originally from Somalia and is a survivor of genital mutilation.
Hirsi Ali traces her initial disillusionment with Islam following the 9/11 terrorist attacks when she questioned the justifications for the attacks in the name of Islam.
During her teenage years in Nairobi, Hirsi Ali says she was influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, which instilled in her a strict interpretation of Islam.
This period was characterized by a strict adherence to religious practices and a deep-seated disdain for non-Muslims, particularly Jews. However, her later exposure to atheism through figures like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins provided a stark contrast to her previous beliefs.
Hirsi Ali attributes her turn to Christianity to a broader concern for the challenges facing Western civilization. She cites threats from authoritarian regimes, global Islamism, and “woke” ideology as catalysts for seeking a unifying force. Christianity, in her view, offers a foundation of values and traditions that uphold human life, freedom, and dignity, and counters the divisiveness she associates with atheism.
Responding to her embrace of the Christian faith, conservative Christian philosopher Dr. Robert George wrote on Facebook: “Two decades ago, under the influence of the writings of Bertrand Russell, she became an atheist. Her thought was that atheism was smart and sophisticated — it was allegedly what really intelligent people believed (the ‘brights,’ as Daniel Dennett embarrassingly labeled himself and his fellow unbelievers). It was the way to a world of rationality and civil liberty. Hirsi Ali is not the first to have gone down that misguided path. She now sees that it is indeed misguided and that there is, if I may quote scripture, ‘a more excellent way.’”
Hirsi Ali’s embrace of Christianity also stems from a personal quest for spiritual solace and meaning in life.
Hirsi Ali critiques atheism for leaving a “God hole,” which she believes has led to the rise of irrational ideologies and the erosion of Western values. She argues that Christianity provides a unifying story and foundational texts, similar to those in Islam, that can engage and mobilize people.
Speaking at the National Press Club in 2015, Hirsi Ali offered five amendments to the religion of Islam that Muslims should take seriously if they really want to bring about a peaceful reformation to their religion.
She suggested Muslims should view the Quran and the hadith as creations of human effort, potentially divinely inspired but ultimately human in origin. This perspective challenges the traditional view of Muhammad as a moral guide post-Mecca, which Hirsi Ali finds problematic.
As the second amendment, Hirsi Ali advocated for a change in how Muslims prioritize life after death over life before death. She called for a reorientation toward valuing earthly life more.
She also argued that Shariah law is responsible for widespread violence and oppression in Muslim cultures, exemplified by regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Islamic State terrorist group.
As her fourth amendment, she called for the elimination of the principle of “Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong.” This principle, according to Hirsi Ali, leads to vigilantism and mob justice, as seen in cases where citizens punish individuals for alleged violations of Shariah law or disrespect toward Muhammad.
Hirsi Ali also called for an end to the concept of Jihad as Holy war, advocating instead for a focus on peace.
“Whatever you do, He will make good of it. But not the good He had prepared for you if you had obeyed Him. That is lost forever.” C.S. Lewis
While the government is not God—a truth they tend to forget from time to time—their burgeoning relationship with the companies developing artificial intelligence serves as a helpful parable for understanding a key component of our relationship with the Lord.
Scripture is clear that when our sin takes us outside of God’s will, there will be consequences (Galatians 6:7). And though that cost may be delayed at times, it doesn’t go away. As such, it is much better to work with God than to wait for him to correct us when we go off the right path. That doesn’t mean the Lord can’t redeem our mistakes, but it’s still far better to have never committed them in the first place.
C. S. Lewis described this principle well when he said of God, “Whatever you do, He will make good of it. But not the good He had prepared for you if you had obeyed Him. That is lost forever.”
As Christians, we must not make the mistake of giving up the good that God has prepared for us simply because it’s not what appeals to us in the moment. The Lord wants to direct our path because he alone knows what is ultimately best for us and for his kingdom. But he also loves us enough to give us the freedom to make that choice for ourselves.
So which path will you choose?
Will you take the road that seems best to you, deciding that it’s worth the risk of God “bringing down the hammer” to correct you in the future? Or will you let the Lord lead and submit to his will as you partner with him in advancing his kingdom?
Put that way, the choice should be simple. And, ultimately, it is. But it’s also one that all of us get wrong from time to time when we lose sight of what is really at stake.
So take some time now to pray and ask God if there are any ways that you have strayed from his will. If the Holy Spirit brings any to mind, repent and commit to whatever steps are required to correct those mistakes.
And don’t wait to do so. Every day spent outside of his will is filled with moments and opportunities you can’t get back.
Let’s make sure we don’t miss them today.
Source: Ryan Denison, PhD,Is “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy” AI Possible? Biden Issues Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence. November 3, 2023, Denison Forum.
Today, over 3,000 people groups have no missionary presence and likely have no access to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The lack of accurate knowledge about God’s saving grace is not limited to just these distant groups. You and I are surrounded by THE LOST every day regardless of what nation we live in.
Fellow Christian, what are you doing to fulfill the Lord’s commandment to:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…” (Matthew 28: 18-20)
How did the Bible trigger the West’s passion for medical advancement?
Vishal Mangalwadi: Mainstream Hinduism taught that matter (including the human body) was evil—illusion or maya. In contrast, the first chapter of the Bible declared the material realm, including the human body, to be very good. Genesis 3 taught that sickness and death came as a curse upon human sin. The Lord Jesus came to give us abundant and eternal life. His soul did not reincarnate. His crucified body was resurrected and glorified. The Bible teaches that God will resurrect our perishable bodies as immortal and glorified bodies.
Because of God’s high view of the human person, including his body, the Lord Jesus healed the sick and commissioned his disciples to a ministry of healing. Therefore, medieval Roman Catholic monasteries did not simply pray, preach, and practice piety. Many of them took care of the sick. They studied, and taught medicine. The Schola Medica Salernitana became the world’s first medical school in the South Italian city of Salerno. It grew out of a 9th century dispensary in a monastery. This monastic tradition blossomed into modern medicine after the 16th century biblical Reformation.
What is the biblical ideal of human dignity and how did it inform the West’s social structure?
Vishal Mangalwadi: Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, saw human life as suffering. Thomas Hobbes, the only atheist in English Enlightenment, viewed life as “nasty, brutish, and short.” Pope Innocent III detailed “The Misery of Man.” Secular intellectuals have no option but to see man as nothing more than an evolved animal.
Species, races, and individuals do not evolve equal. Evolution does not bestow any rights upon any animal. Western notions of human dignity, equality, and inalienable rights are the Bible’s unique contribution to the modern world. Pico della Mirandela (1463-94) articulated the Bible’s case for human dignity in An Oration on the Dignity of Man. His case rested upon (a) creation of man in God’s own image and (b) God’s incarnation in the Jesus of Nazareth.
God became man in order to save man, because man was made in God’s image – precious and immortal. Full implications of these doctrines are still being worked out. Yet, much of our future will be shaped by the question: Is man merely another animal (organic intelligence) or is he uniquely God’s image—so precious to God that He would come to this earth to save him?
How did the Bible equip the West to cultivate compassion?
Vishal Mangalwadi: Through parables such as that of the Good Samaritan, the Lord Jesus explained the command ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ He exemplified it by blessing those who cursed and killed him. Jesus courted the wrath of religious establishment by caring for the sick even on Sabbath. He reinforced prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos, by teaching that God’s holy law was made for man’s good. Therefore, a religiosity that did not care for individuals was worse than worthless. It was obnoxious. What we do for the littlest of his brothers, we do for him.
What is your response to people who say the Bible subjugates women?
Vishal Mangalwadi: The women’s lib movement started in America because social inequality between men and women was obvious. Many women got paid less then men for the same work. They were allowed to serve coffee after worship, but not communion during the worship. They could play piano in a church but not pray. Yet, crucial questions are: who told America that men and women were created equal; that sin brought subjugation as a curse; that the curse was nailed upon the cross of Calvary? The question that triggered my reflections was: Why didn’t the Saudi women burn their burqas and their bras? What empowered American women to launch the women’s lib movement? Was it because American women were more oppressed than the Muslim of Hindu women? Or was it because something had already made American women stronger than other women around the world? My counter-intuitive discovery was that it was the Bible that empowered women.
No culture has ever required a husband to love his wife. Every culture, including Jewish and post-Christian Western cultures, have permitted husbands to divorce their wives and/or take other women. In 1831-32, French magistrate Alexis de Tocqueville observed that American women had become much stronger than European women because the biblical ideal of marriage had had the biggest impact in America. No country in the world will even try to impeach a president who lies about his private sex life.
The Bible emancipated Western women because it alone asserted theological equality of male and female and also because it defined God’s idea of marriage as a one-man one-woman lifelong and exclusive relationship. A woman is liberated to develop herself and to strive for her dignity when she knows that her fallen husband is not permitted to despise her, divorce her, covet his neighbor’s wife or to take another woman as a girlfriend, concubine, or wife. He has to love her, irrespective of the level of her intelligence, charm, abilities, and fallenness.
Roman wives were the victims of Rome’s playboy culture. Many of them followed and financed the Apostle Paul and (over time) won the Roman empire for Christ, because they understood better than modern feminists that Paul was emancipating them.
Men and women are equal, but husbands and wives (like parents and children and all other formal relations) have to live in a hierarchical relationship. No institution can function on the basis of equality-without-hierarchy. Christian marriages are being destroyed because the Western church has surrendered to the world’s folly that equality precludes authority. The Christian idea of marriage is unique. It can be sustained only if we take seriously the Bible’s idea of the fallenness of men and women and the necessity of wives submitting to fallen husbands, and husbands loving fallen wives.
How is human equality a biblical principle?
Vishal Mangalwadi: Sociologically, the modern idea of human equality was born when Martin Luther discovered the New Testament doctrine of the “priesthood of all believers.” Gradually, this truth began to challenge the West’s social/racial injustices.
George Whitfield was the first white revivalist in America, who began preaching to the blacks. His preaching evoked protests: “Do you really want us to kneel with our slaves and drink communion from the same cup?”
In order to counter deep rooted prejudices, in 1740, Whitfield began writing a series of articles. These explained how and why the Bible teaches human equality. Whitfield’s writings created the consensus which Thomas Jefferson articulated in the original draft of the Declaration of Independence as, “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable that all men are created equal.” By “sacred” Jefferson meant derived from sacred Scriptures. Under pressure from Benjamin Franklin, the Declaration was changed to read, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”
To Indian sages, inequality was self-evident. That is why they invented the caste-system which still survives. Equality was “self-evident” even to American Deists because their worldview was shaped by the Bible. Now that evolution is shaping everyone’s intellectual lenses, only a fool will be able to assert that all men have evolved equal.
What role did the Bible play in the establishment of the university?
Vishal Mangalwadi: No Hindu ashram ever grew into a university. No Orthodox Christian monastery developed into a university in Eastern Europe, Greece, or Russia. Augustinian monasteries and Cathedral schools blossomed into West European universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Prague, Heidelberg, and Wittenberg because St. Augustine taught that the human mind was God’s supreme gift to mankind. The mind was made in God’s image, therefore, in order to be godly, one had to cultivate the mind as well as piety.
These monasteries were different than every other center of religious education. Young boys came to a monastery to learn to pray and become a priest. But in these monasteries they had to study logic, literature, philosophy, mathematics, and rhetoric as well. This is what created the West’s uniquely rational religious leader, who prayed as well as studied birds and the solar system.
Following the Reformation, Christian thinkers realized that God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4-7). In order to know truth, man has to study three books: The book of God’s words (the Bible), the book of God’s works (in nature and culture), and the book of God’s reason (logic and mathematics that run the human mind and physical universe.) This insight was captured in Harvard Crest in 1643. VERITAS is written on these three books. Today, the university has degenerated into a factory producing laborers for the market and the state because, without God’s word, the university has been forced to shy away from the very concept of truth.
Since the Bible is not a “fax from Heaven,” explain how sentences written by humans can be considered the Word of God?
Vishal Mangalwadi: Prophet Elijah said to king Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word” (1 Kings 17:1). By the end of the chapter, the Sidonian widow of Zarephath exclaimed, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” (vs. 24). Eventually Ahab was forced to acknowledge that Elijah’s words—a man’s words—were, in fact, the word of God.
God said to Jeremiah, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth…I am watching over my word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:8-11). God’s word includes the words He gives His men and also men’s words which He watches to perform, fulfill, and honor. Daniel and his friends were willing to go into the lions’ den and fiery furnace because 70 years of Jewish history had confirmed to them that Jeremiah’s words, disregarded by their fathers, were in fact God’s word.
The gospel is that Jesus Christ died “according to the Scriptures,” was buried and rose again the third day, “according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). That means that Jesus didn’t have to die. In the Garden of Gethsemane Peter gave him the opportunity to evade arrest. During his trial, Pilate gave to Jesus plenty of room to escape crucifixion. The Lord Jesus sacrificed his life because he believed that the words of Scripture, written by fallen and fallible men, were in fact God’s words.
As you observe the West’s treatment of the Bible, where do you see western society headed?
Vishal Mangalwadi: Germany, the birthplace of biblical Reformation, became the arch villain of the 20th century, because during the 19th century, German theology undermined the Bible’s authority. I see post-biblical America as the greatest terror to the 21st century. I think the future of greed-driven American capitalism is best captured by James Cameron in his terrible, pagan, and commercially hit movie, Avatar.
Muslim nations cannot be the world’s biggest threats because while Islam can build a strong Caliphate, it does not and cannot build nations. Protestantism has built history’s greatest nations; therefore, the world has the most to fear from Protestant nations that destroy the very foundations of their morality and civility.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway as a way to reinvigorate civilization’s soul?
Vishal Mangalwadi: Bible Gateway is the only site I use to get into the Bible. (Though I am yet to cultivate the discipline to use everything that it offers.) I appreciate this interview because the new generation needs to learn why the Bible must be studied, trusted, obeyed, and applied.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Vishal Mangalwadi: Christianity has lost America because the church forgot that “God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth…” for this reason Paul the apostle was appointed a “preacher” and a “teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth” (1 Timothy 2:4-7). The American church has the capacity to disciple the nation, but for over a century it has lacked the theology for discipling nations. It has been preoccupied with saving souls, not with discipling nations.
The good news is that the state of Minnesota just started an education revolution that can disciple America. Students will enroll in an accredited college, but go to the local church to study online as a cohort in a face-to-face mentorship with a credentialed Academic Pastor. A student will get a college degree for under $10,000 a year. Check out www.VirtuesCampus.com.
Bio: Vishal Mangalwadi, LLD, was born and raised in India. He studied eastern religion and philosophy in India, Hindu ashrams, and at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. He is a dynamic and engaging speaker who has lectured in 35 countries. He is a social reformer, political columnist, and author of 14 books. Christianity Today calls him ‘India’s foremost Christian intellectual.’
Noted theologian and preacher John Piper recently listed eight ways he says the Old Testament doesn’t apply to modern Christianity while also believing that the promises of the Hebrew Bible largely apply to the Church.
In an episode of the podcast “Ask Pastor John” posted last week, a listener named Maureen asked Piper, “Which Old Testament verses are for me, as a Christian, today.”
“Sometimes I select a verse that is meaningful to me from my Bible reading in the morning. But then later in the day, as I further reflect on it, it feels like I’ve lifted the verse out of context and misapplied it to myself. How, Pastor John, do I know which Old Testament promises are for me?” Maureen asked.
Piper responded that, while he believed “all of the Old Testament is for those who are in Christ Jesus,” there were still “differences between the people of God — the Church — today and the people of God — Israel — in the Old Testament, and how God relates differently to each.”
Piper listed eight specific differences, beginning with how Old Testament Israel was “an earthly, political nation-state,” while the modern Church “is a people whose citizenship is in Heaven and who are sojourners and exiles here, scattered among all the nation-states.”
The second difference Piper pointed to was that Israel was “a theocracy to carry out God’s punishments for those who broke His law, including capital punishment for idolatry and various other sins.”
“The Church is not a civil government and is not authorized as a church to carry out God’s punishments. Excommunication from the church through church discipline replaces execution through the judicial processes,” Piper said.
A third difference is that Israel was “basically one ethnicity” while “the Church is made up of all ethnicities.” Piper added that “practices that were designed to separate Israel from the surrounding peoples and ethnicities” are “done away with as requirements for God’s people.”
The fourth difference Piper laid out was that while Israel “had defined geographic borders and a geographic religious center,” the New Testament Church “has no geographic borders or religious center.”
A fifth point of difference, according to Piper, was that individuals were born into ancient Israel, while “people are born again into the Church.”
“The new covenant is entered by the miracle of God’s forgiving sins through faith and through God’s writing the law on our hearts,” he explained.
Difference number six was that Israel did not have a “great commission,” specifically a call on members to evangelize, whereas the New Testament believers are called to evangelize.
“The Old Testament religion was mainly a ‘come and see’ religion, while the New Testament religion is mainly a ‘go and tell’ religion,” Piper said.
A seventh difference, according to Piper, was that ancient Israel had a sacrificial system in place, “but that entire system was done away with when Jesus fulfilled it by becoming the final sacrifice and by acting as the final High Priest.” theologian saying that “the people of God in the Old Testament did experience the working of the Spirit of God, but they did not experience or know the Spirit as the indwelling Spirit of the risen Christ.”
“Today, we know the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. He works in His Church, therefore, in a way that he did not work in the Old Testament, because the Church is His body, the body of the risen Christ,” he added.
Despite the key differences, Piper added: “We can take any text in the Old Testament and make it our own by treating it as fulfilled in Christ, with the necessary changes implied in those points.”
In May 2018, megachurch Pastor Andy Stanley garnered controversy when said in a sermon that Christians needed to “unhitch” the Old Testament from their faith.
Stanley referenced Acts 15, in which the leaders of the early Church decided that Gentile converts did not need to strictly observe Jewish law to become Christians.
“[First century] Church leaders unhitched the Church from the worldview, value system and regulations of the Jewish Scriptures,” said Stanley. “Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish Scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.”
Critics, among them Messianic Jewish author and radio host Michael Brown, argued that “throughout the New Testament,” Gentile believers “were called to live holy lives, based on Old Testament teaching.”
“Pastor Stanley forgets that the Old Testament also tells us the story of Israel, including Israel’s blessed future,” wrote Brown at the time.
“Cut out the Old Testament, and you cut out much of Israel’s destiny, which all believers should understand. Cut out the Old Testament, and you also cut out the destiny of the nations.”
For his part, Stanley told Brown in an interview in July 2018 that he still considered the Old Testament inerrant, and that his comments were centered more toward an audience that does not trust the Bible.
“I told my kids growing up, if anyone ever asks you, ‘Do you believe Adam and Eve are real people?’ here is how you are to answer: do not say ‘yes’ because the Bible says Adam and Eve were real people,” Stanley said.
“You say this: ‘I believe Adam and Eve were historical characters because Jesus did. And when somebody predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off, I go with whatever they say.'”
White House walks back Biden remarks about seeing images of beheaded Israeli children
ChristFollower01
Pray for discernment. Pray for all who are suffering. Understand that “the first casualty of war is truth”. All wars employ propaganda.
Top Comment
Top Comment
6
Why does the Bible contain prophecy?
Marshall
The Church Age is the period of time from the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) to the Rapture, otherwise known as a “gap.” If you don’t believe in any of this, then you will not have the missing pieces of the puzzle.The Prophet Daniel is my favorite because he wrote prophecies concerning Greece and the Macedonian Empire that turned out to be Alexander the Great. Not only that but he also wrote about the Antichrist and the Tribulation which is the 70th “week” (which is not 7 days but 7 years due to the translation). It’s like a dozen means 12. There is a gap after the 69th week in which God stopped the game time clock. The 69 weeks have already happened (69 x 7 = 483). Sir Robert Anderson studied Daniel and wrote the book, The Coming Prince, in which he explained the prophecy that the Jewish Messiah would come 483 years after the commandment (of Artaxerxes, king of Persia) to rebuild and restore Jerusalem. Anderson’s calculations showed that Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem in Luke 19, known as the Triumphal Entry, on the precise day that was prophesied by Daniel. God warned Israel about the 70 weeks (70 x 7 = 490 years). Due to the pause, there are the final 7 years remaining (490 – 483 = 7 years). And that is one reason why the book of Daniel is so helpful in learning about the Antichrist.
Top Comment
Top Comment
1
Thoughts on leftwing support for Hamas and radical Islam
Jan Shay
We knew the end times were coming and told to be prepared. I agree with Wayne. We are to pray for Israel, support them and stand with them. I will follow God’s direction as He tells us what to do in His Word.
Top Comment
Top Comment
5
Dr. Ben Carson lists 7 ways communism has won in America
Tiresias
His speech is just a red meat for conservatives. The choice between capitalism and communism is a false choice. We can choose what the role of government is going to be and how to socialize those costs across the population. I’d like to see him give a speech of what programs to support and how to govern rather than mere rhetoric.
Top Comment
Top Comment
9
John Piper lists 8 ways the Old Testament doesn’t apply to Christians
Roger McKinney
“Israel was ‘a theocracy to carry out God’s punishments for those who broke His law…'”No, Israel was not a theocracy. Theocracies are ruled by human religious leaders. Israel had no human executive. God did not rule Israel day to day as human kings do. And God was no less king under the monarchy. We learn from the prophets that God is king of all nations in a similar way as he was king over Israel.And no, Israel wasn’t one ethnicity. Caleb and the Kennites who joined Israel during the Exodus were Israelites. And Israel had pagans living among them from the start, any one of whom could become a citizen of Israel simply by converting, as Rahab did and Ruth.We shouldn’t try to apply OT law woodenly, but we shouldn’t ignore it, either. It represents God’s wisdom for governments. We should try to distill general principles from it as Paul did with thecommand not to muzzle the ox.
Top Comment
Top Comment
2
Pastor arrested for allegedly raping family member at least 600 times since age 7, getting her pregnant
Wes
If this is true I hope he enjoys spending the rest of his life in prison as a recipient of what he has perpetrated.
Top Comment
Top Comment
3
Conversation24 Comments
Your voice matters. Discussions are moderated for civility.
Log in
Sort by Newest
DDonald25 minutes agoBeginning at Genesis 1:1 and ending at Revelation 22:21, the Word of God is for all of God ‘s people regardless of anyone’s ethnic background. When Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:15, to “rightly divide the word,” (KJV) he doesn’t mean to actually divide the word up for people groups. He means t…See moreReplyShare
JJohn1 hour agoPiper’s fifth point of difference fails to recognise the difference between the visible and the invisible church. The Reformed view is that the children of believers are part of the visible church. The Paedobaptist view is that they must be baptized into the visible church as soon as physically pos…See moreReplyShare
JTJames Tucker3 hours agoIf you don’t at least have a basic understanding on how your behavior should be like the 10 commandments because Jesus did not or at least did not point to all things that were good and bad except when he said go and sin no more which points to the 10 commandments. The other Jewish laws where the o…See moreReplyShare
DHDonald Hannigan3 hours agoMatthew 5:17-19 Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! Therefore, whoever nu…See moreReplyShare
MMarshall4 hours agoI appreciate John Piper giving us 8 specific examples and the fact that he was on a podcast when a listener called in that question; it means that he was able to field that question without having advance notice of it. I say, “Good job!” However, at some later point, it would be instructive for Pip…See moreReply1Share
HHospes1 hour agoFYI, Piper does not field live questions on his podcast “Ask Pastor John”. The questions are sent to him beforehand.ReplyShare
JJim5 hours agoIf you need the old Torah to live rightly then you aren’t following Jesus and His commands and expectations. Jesus, “upped the ante” so to speak by making following Him having greater expectations than OT Torah.Hating another is akin to murder according to Jesus.Just lusting is committing adultery …See moreReply1Share
TTruthTeller5 hours agoEverything JP writes or states should be carefully examined before anyone agrees with him. Check out his statements on Christian hedonism or CRTJP often uses words to deflect true meanings to “ride the fence” so as not to offend. We must learn from the OT or we loose our sense of a Holy God and how…See moreReplyShare
RRecognizingTruth14 hours agoThat is some AWFUL theology right there.Reply3Share
MPModerate Politically15 hours agoThis does not mean we get a get out of jail free card and can do anything we want. We are to follow Christ. Most everything in the law is about showing love to God, and others. There are also some health and religious laws mixed in as well.ReplyShare
JJohn55 minutes agoWe get a get out of jail free, but with it a new nature added, so we will not do everything we wanted to do before. And if there isn’t a signifcant difference from what happened before, that puts the new nature in doubt, giving us reason to suspect we may not actually have got out of jail either.ReplyShare
LKLen Kinzel15 hours agoIs this saying there are parts of the Old Testamant from which we may need to unhitch ourselves? Asking for a friendReplyShare
HHospes59 minutes agoYes, unless you want to adhere to sacrificing lots of animals.ReplyShare
The tendency of all ecclesiastical ritualism is to produce
a spirit of superstition to the subversion of faith,
of mere formality to the guidance of the Holy Spirit
and resting in our own good works
to the rejection of the finished work of Christ.
The Word of God is practically set aside,
the Holy Spirit grieved,
and the heart laid open to the inroads of Satan.
When faith is in lively exercise,
The Word of God strictly followed,
and the promised guidance of the Comforter relied upon,
the soul is strong and vigorous in the divine life,
and suggestions of the enemy are unheeded.
Satan is a keen observer
of the different states of the believer's soul,
and of the professing Church.
He knows when he will be successful
in his attempt
against the individual believer or the Church:
he waits his time --
he watches for opportunity.
When he sees the mind taking a wrong direction,
he soothes, flatters, stimulates --
solemn thought for us all!
Andrew Miller, Miller's Church History (Pickering and Inglis, LTD, London), p. 237
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
“Do not be overcome by evil.” Let not the evil of any provocation that is given you, or make such an impression upon you, as to dispossess you of yourselves, to disturb your peace, to destroy your love, to ruffle and discompose your spirits, to transport you to any indecencies, or to bring you to study or attempt revenge. He that cannot quietly bear an injury is perfectly conquered by it.”
“But overcome evil with good, with the good of patience and forbearance*, nay, and of kindness and beneficence to those that wrong you. Learn to defeat their ill designs against you, and either change them, or at least to preserve your own peace. He that hath this rule over his spirit is better than the mighty.”
Matthew Henry -Romans 12: 19-21 *forbearance means a suspension of wrath.
God has so created man, that he does not find complete rest and satisfaction until his entire being is swallowed up in the sweet will of God.
Jesus told his disciples what makes “life” worthwhile and satisfying:
“For whoever would desire to save his soul, will lose it. But whoever will lose his soul for My sake and the gospel, will save it. For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8: 35-37)
Being properly related to Him as our Lord and Savior and to His mission, the gospel, brings our soul into rest and satisfaction in this world of unrest and dissatisfaction.
God has so created man, that he does not find complete rest and satisfaction until his entire being is swallowed up in the sweet will of God.
Some translations use “life” instead of “soul” in this verse. But ‘the Greek word is psuche which refers not to one’s physical existence (bios) and its need but to a person’s soul which is the part of man that wills, thinks, and feels, or in other words, to the will power, the reason, and the emotions, to the personality with all his activities, hopes, and aspirations.’ (Wuest)
It is interesting to me that I Peter 5: 8 warns us to ‘Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour’. ‘Devour’ means “to drink down or swallow up’.
If we allow the enemy to swallow us up, we will spend our lives trying to gratify our soul… and the flesh. We will lose that which alone makes the activity of the soul, worthwhile and satisfying; a biblical relationship with the only true God and Jesus, His Son.
Who has swallowed you up? God or the devil?
Carl
Source: compiled from Kenneth S. Wuest’s study of Gospel of Mark.
ChristFollower01
Marshall
Jan Shay
Tiresias
Roger McKinney
Wes
Psalm 119: 38 