Tag: born again

Are You About To Slip?

Their foot shall slide in due time. (KJV) Deuteronomy 32:35

“As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is also expressed in Psalm 73:18,19. “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation in a moment!”…

“The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and JUSTICE bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that have never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls, all you that were never born again and made new creatures, raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God…

“…And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands calling, and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with thier hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God.”

The preacher Jonathan Edwards spoke these words on July 8, 1741 while preaching his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in Enfield, Connecticut. As he preached some people called out for him to stop. At one point there was so much noise, he had to ask them to be quiet so he could be heard.

He concluded the sermon by saying, “Let everyone that is out of Christ now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let everyone fly out of Sodom: ‘Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.’ “

The people of Enfield were never the same.

Have you fled to Christ, the Lamb of God, to be cleansed by his shed blood on Calvary? We all need to flee to Jesus to escape the coming wrath of God. If you have not, why not today?

“They cried to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who will be able to survive? “ Revelation 6:16

Source: E. Michael and Sharon Rusten, The One Year Christian History. A great daily devotional based on historical events.

A Mormon Woman

What do Mormon women and Prozac have in common? Quite a bit, because research has shown that “Utah residents currently use more antidepressant drugs, notably Prozac, than the residents of any other US state.”* Since over 70% of Utahans are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is an obvious link between Mormonism and depression. According to this same research, the problem is more noticeable among women than men. This data can be shocking if all someone knows about the LDS church is what is seen on the TV commercials. These families seem so happy and the husband and wife seem to have such a great marriage. Why this apparent contradiction?

What most people do not see is the “pressure-cooker” environment that these women endure day-in and day-out. When you peel off the mask of Mormonism from these women’s faces, what you see is immense pain. Does LDS theology contribute to the problem? Most definitely. Basic Mormon teaching emphasizes the need for perfection. The most inexperienced LDS missionary will be able to quote Mathew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” The LDS take this command very seriously. When you combine this requirement with the role of having larger-than-average families, the problem is understandable for the women. She is expected to bear and raise as many children as possible, take care of the home, be supportive of her husband in his career (sometimes even work outside the home to pay for his higher education), be active in her church callings and duties, and serve in the community. Sometimes the pressure to fulfill all these roles becomes unbearable.

A story may illustrate this in a more vivid way. This is taken from the LDS Stephen E. Robinson’s book … where he tells us about his wife, Janet. Mr. Robinson is a religion professor at Brigham Young University.

“A number of years ago our family lived in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Things were pretty good there…Janet had a particularly exciting year that year. Besides being Relief Society president, she graduated from college for the second time (in accounting), she passed the CPA exam and took a job with a local firm, and she gave birth to our fourth child (Michael)—all in her spare time, of course. Actually, Janet was under a lot of pressure that year, but like many husbands, I didn’t notice or appreciate how much pressure she was under until something blew. And blow it did.

One day the lights just went out. It was as though Janet had died to spiritual things; she had burned out… One of the worst aspects of this sudden change was that Janet wouldn’t talk about it; she wouldn’t tell me what was wrong.

Finally, after almost two weeks, I made her mad with my nagging one night as we lay in bed, and she said, “All right. Do you want to know what’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong—I can’t do it anymore. I can’t lift it. My load is just too heavy. I can’t do all the things I’m supposed to. I can’t get up at 5:30, and bake bread, and sew clothes, and help the kids with their homework, and do my own homework, and make their lunches, and do the housework, and do my Relief Society stuff, and have scripture study, and do my genealogy, and write my congressman, and go to PTA meetings, and get our year’s supply organized, and go to my stake meetings, and write the missionaries . . . “I’m just not perfect—I’m never going to be perfect, and I just can’t pretend anymore that I am. I’ve finally admitted to myself that I can’t make it to the celestial kingdom, so why should I break my back trying?”

Janet Robinson’s feelings are very typical of how many Mormon women feel. She had obviously come to the place where she was facing the doctrine that her church had taught her and being honest with herself about her inability to live up to it. When Mormon women become born-again Christians, many of these pressures are still hard to gain freedom from. It has been so ingrained in them from childhood that they must be perfect. One of my favorite verses to help in this process when discipling these women is Romans 8:1&2 – “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” I always like to point out what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say that there is “some” condemnation. Also, the spirit of life “sets me free”, not “keeps me bound”. These truths are part of what it takes to free these women from what the LDS church has led them to believe that God requires.

When discussing this topic with some of the women that I’m discipling, the conversation became very lively! They all agreed that many more are clinically depressed who don’t do anything about it. They cannot even acknowledge or call attention to the fact that they’re struggling because to do so would be an admission that they are not living up to the Church’s standards. When they had these feelings themselves, they immediately assumed that the problem was with them, not their Church, because the Church is perfect. They just needed to try harder. One woman illustrated it this way from her life’s experience: “LDS women are put up on a pedestal for all to see…This is NOT the abundant life that Jesus talked about in John 10:10.

Why discuss the life of the LDS woman in this way? My purpose is to enlighten as many as I can so that, as Christians, our hearts will break for the LDS women that we know and compel us to reach out to them and share the truly good news of Jesus with them.

Source: Evidence Ministries, Posted by Keith on Aug 10, 2011 in Mormons 

https://www.evidenceministries.org/2011/08/the-lds-woma

Unconventional But It Worked

The following is a true story as told to me by my son-in-law who is a North American Mission Board missionary. Only the names have been changed.

While talking with a pastor friend, the pastor related how Young Man had just asked Jesus Christ into his heart, been born again, and joined the church. The pastor was concerned because Young Man had a lot of zeal but lacked knowledge on how to be a witness to his friends. He was afraid he would turn people away from Christ instead of drawing them to Him.

Meanwhile, Young Man was out witnessing to his friends about their need for a Saviour to escape Hell. He carried a cigarette lighter in his pocket. He witnessed to his friend Tim by grabbing Tim’s arm and putting the cigarette lighter underneath his forearm and apply the flame to the skin. You can imagine Tim’s surprise as he jerked his arm away from the flame.

The next Sunday, the pastor runs into Young Man before church and Young Man tells him how he had witnessed to Tim, his friend, with the cigarette lighter. The pastor realizing that he was right about the Young Man, says to the Young Man, ” I have to talk to Tim right after the service. Where can I find him?”

The Young Man says, “Oh, Tim is seated in the church, he wants to be baptized.”

Tim had received his friend’s unconventional witness concerning his need to have his sin washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ so he could escape the justly deserved flames of Hell. In other words, Tim was born again and wanted to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism to testify to the world that he had been born again.

Do you need the flame of a cigarette lighter applied to your arm to get your attention?

The New Testament warns us there is coming a day “when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed –for our testimony to you was believed.” II Thessalonians 1:7-10

Today is the day to believe on the Lord Jesus and what He has done for you at the Cross by shedding His precious blood so your sins could be covered. Do not put it off.

Carl

Whitewashed… or Washed White…

There are a lot of people whitewashed with religion who are not washed white in the blood of Christ. This is indeed a true saying. Nicodemus was a most religious man, but he needed to be washed white. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee” said the Saviour, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) And when Nicodemus expressed his surprise at the Lord’s teaching, he was met by the solemn declaration, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7) You may be respectable, moral, upright, kind, amiable, and religious, without being washed white in the precious blood of Christ. (I Peter 1:19; I John 1:7).

A professing Christian was awakened out of her slumber of death in a very remarkable way. A high Church dignitary advised her to burn some Gospel tracts given to her by a relative. As she watched the destruction of one of them, her eye caught the words of one of the pages, “I was going respectably and religiously to hell.” The Holy Spirit revealed to her the fact that though she was “whitewashed” she was not washed white; that, in fact, she was “going respectably and religiously to hell!”

The Lord Jesus said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7: 13, 14) Multitudes throng the broad way, some on the clean footpath, and others on the dirty footpath. Few find the strait gate; they mistake other gates for the strait one. Some mistake ‘religion’ and ‘churchanity’ for Christ and Christianity.

Which road is the reader traveling — the broad or the narrow? Which class do you belong to —-the whitewashed or the washed white? Are you regenerated? Have you been ‘converted’ to, and by, God? If not, hearken to Christ’s declaration: “Except you be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). If you have never experienced this great change, you are an unsaved, unsanctified, unforgiven soul. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be cleansed from every stain (Acts 16:31). — A.M.

A tract from Pilgrim Tract Society, Randleman, NC 27317. Contributions send tracts to many nations. Send postage for 100 samples of tracts)

For more information on the Narrow Way, please search this blog for the “Narrow Way”. It is the most read post. Thank You. Carl

The Power of The Gospel: “Such Were Some of You”

The apostle, Paul, today will give us insight into how God’s power can deliver people from bondage. I pray this blesses you and yours.

[9] Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, [10] nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. …

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NASB (emphasis added)

In this scripture Paul is writing to the Corinth church in Greece. He is telling them people who practice certain sins will not “inherit the kingdom of God” or in today’s vernacular, “will not go to heaven when they die”.

This Corinth was the “new” Corinth created by Roman Emperor Julius Caesar as a retirement city for veterans of his Roman legions. The “old” Corinth was destroyed a hundred years before by Emperor Achaiacus, for rebellion and its citizens were sold into slavery. It was this “old”Corinth that contained the temple of the goddess Aphrodite, with its 1,000 – 10,000 (the number varies) temple prostitutes. In Paul’s day it was still a very immoral, wicked city. In the Hellenistic Greek world, the term “Corinthian” was associated with whore mongering and prostitution.

Into this immoral culture came Paul, preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the sins of the world; the Light shining in the darkness. Through His preaching, the power of God was released and many pagans trusted in Christ for salvation. As a result of their faith in Christ, they were born again.

Being born again CHANGED them. CHANGED them from the sinful people he had listed in verse 9 and 10. He says of them in verse 11:

“Such were some of you….”

God working in their lives caused:

Adulterers to quit sleeping with other people’s spouses and to become faithful to their spouse.

Fornicators stopped sleeping around, instead learning to possess their own vessel (body) in sanctification and honor (I Thess. 4: 4 ) and glorifying God in their bodies (I Cor. 6: 20).

Idolaters stopped worshipping demon inspired false gods and started worshipping the one and only True God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Homosexuals stopped sleeping with men and recognized the God-given natural function of the female (Romans 1: 7), in a marriage context.

The effeminate men quit playing the part of the female in the homosexual relationship and became the men God created them to be.

Thieves stopped stealing from others and started giving to others.

Drunkards stopped abusing alcoholic drink, resulting in soberness.

The covetous changed from “acting unethically to obtain more,” to being satisfied with what they had. They probably became givers.

Swindlers stopped extorting people to obtain money and other things. These also probably became givers.

Revilers stopped speaking rudely of others, maligning people’s character.

Paul goes on to say that this CHANGE happened in the Corinthians because when they were born again God did three things to each one of them. He:

1. “…washed…” them – Titus 3:5 says the following

“He saved us ….. by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

2. “…sanctified…” them – God set them apart from sin to Himself resulting in a willingness to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. They separated themselves from sin and grew in personal holiness.

3. They “…were justified..” – based on their faith in Christ, God declares them righteous before Him. They received the Holy Spirit in themselves.

CHANGE came in these people’s lives (and ours) because they were “washed, sanctified and were justified”. It is the work of a loving, forgiving God who loved us enough to send His Son to the Cross for our sins so we could be saved from the guilty and penalty of our sins and be CHANGED.

In closing, the Shantung revival in northern China (1920 – 30s) was a work of the Holy Spirit. He used a Miss Marie Monsen, a Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran, to awaken the missionaries and the Chinese church.

She asked everyone she met if they had been born again. As you can imagine, many missionaries and church members were greatly offended. But God used this and her teaching on sin to remove the blinders from the church members. Many were just religious and had never been born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore, they had not CHANGED.

Others realized that at some point in their Christian walk, they had stopped confessing their sins; thereby, stopping the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The CHANGING had stopped.

You see, being religious will not really CHANGE you. In Colossians 2:20-23 Paul is speaking about religious decrees (don’t eat this, don’t touch this, etc.) and he shows the futility of such man-made religion in verse 23:

“These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self -abasement and severe treatment of the body, BUT ARE OF NO VALUE AGAINST FLESHLY INDULGENCE.” (Emphasis added)

Trusting only in the work of Christ on the Cross can break the bondage in a person’s life. Jesus said you MUST be biblically born again to experience victory over fleshly indulgences. Paul, in our opening scripture is saying that the Corinth believers used to be controlled by fleshy indulgences but God CHANGED them. They, like many church members and pagans today, were practicing many forms of sexual sin and other wicked things but God set them free from their bondage.

Have you been CHANGED, my friend? Have you been biblically born again through faith, and faith alone, in the work of Christ! If you have not, today is a good day to ask Jesus to save you from your sins and to be washed, sanctified and justified by the Holy Spirit.

Don’t settle for “religion” or the “traditions of men”. The Lord Jesus is vastly different from “religion”. He is True Life and Freedom.

Carl