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
Tag: God
Enduring Friendship: Sticking Together in an Age of Unfriending
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.
Why We Should Prepare to Meet God
“The greatest reason why you should prepare to meet your God is because you MUST meet your God.”
It is not optional.
No excuse slips will be accepted. Your physical death nor your grave will keep you from it. There will be no back door to escape. No escape anywhere. No escape.
Unless your case is settled out of court through a meeting with the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, you MUST appear before the judgment bar of God and you are going to meet with yourself in the presence of God.
What a terrifying thought to meet with yourself! All your evil thoughts, evil words and sinful actions revealed in the presence of a pure, sinless Holy God who hates sin. A Holy God whose Son you have rejected as your Savior and whose precious blood that was shed for the forgiveness of your sins, you have trampled under your feet. A Holy God who is described as a consuming fire.
“But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shall escape the judgement of God.”
Romans 2: 2 tells us that man’s judgement will be according to truth. Every individual sees himself in the distorted mirror of his own imagination. We have seen mirrors in amusement parks which make a tall man look short and a thin man look fat. The human imagination makes the individual see himself in some sort of comparison with others, and always in a light more favorable than is justified by the truth. The coming of God’s judgment will destroy that distortion; a “hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies” (Isa. 28:17).
You will be forced to look upon yourself as you truly are, in the sight of a Holy God, who hates sin.
And Romans 2:3 says that there will be no escape. No escape. Don’t forget that –no escape.
No, there is no escape. But wait! There is a way of having your case settled out of court. You must move fast. You must come to Christ now. For now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. The Bible teaches us that the issues of eternity are settled in this life. There is no second chance. The Lord said, If you “die in your sins; where I am going, you cannot come….for if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins” (John 8:21, 24).
Today His mercy calls. You are guilty, but you can yet escape God’s wrath, through Christ. If you refuse God’s mercy, you must face Him.
There is no escape.
Come Today To Christ!
Carl
Excerpts from Donald Grey Barnhouse, Romans 1, pp. 12-14, 22
Flattery: A Tool of the Devil
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 protect you from wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Bless God for His provisions!
Carl
Salvation
“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
Scripture: John 3:16 NASB
The “Lie” Comes Into The Open
[10] and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. [11] For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, [12] in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 (Emphasis added)
In the end times, the people who did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved but took pleasure in wickedness are going to receive a deluding influence from God so that they will believe what is false, “the lie”. Many bible scholars say this is the same “lie” that Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden when he tempted her to eat the prohibited fruit. He said “…you will be like God…” (Genesis 3:5). In many of Satan’s deceptions today, we see this same “lie” still being used. I would like to share a little about one avenue through which many are being deceived.
I recently read a pamphlet entitled Oprah Winfrey’s New Age “Christianity” and the Emperor’s New Clothes by Warren B. Smith (2015) of Lighthouse Trails Publishing, Inc. Mr. Smith was a member of the New Age Movement until God delivered him and he became a biblically born again Christian.
He shows that the ancient “lie” of Eden is now called the New Age doctrine of spiritual Oneness:
“….Oprah was unleashing two very public New Age classes. And these classes were teaching millions of people that the way to save themselves and the planet was not by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior but rather by accepting the “God” and “Christ within”. As Williamson put it in her book A Return to Love: Reflection on the Principles of A Course in Miracles: “I accept the Christ within.”
“In defending her New Age beliefs, Oprah Winfrey would argue that what she is promoting is for the good of the world, and she tells detractors —-“I am not a New Age anything, and I resent being called that.” While Oprah is free to call her New Age teaching whatever she wants, a rose by any other name is still a rose. Oprah and her spiritual colleagues are New Age because they all teach the heretical New Age doctrine of spiritual Oneness—We are all one because we are all “God” and we are all “Christ”. As Marianne Williamson writes:
“We are all one, we are love itself. “Accepting the Christ” is merely a shift in self-perception.”
In another section Mr. Smith talks about Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth which Oprah recommends and held an online seminar with the author. The book
“….describes how the world is at a crisis point and that we are in dire need of spiritual help. Tolle insists that humanity must “spiritually evolve” in order to avoid personal and planetary disaster. According to Oprah, Tolle and New Age teachers everywhere, “spiritually evolving” means “shifting” and accepting the New Age/ New Spirituality belief we are all divine —-i.e. we are all “God”. In his book and in his first class with Oprah, Tolle reiterated the same teaching that key New Age leader Barbara Marx Hubbard received from her New Age “Christ” —–“Evolve or die”. Thus, what people were basically being told by Winfrey and Tolle was —if you don’t “shift” to the New Age/New Spirituality point of view, planet earth may be destroyed and humanity may become extinct. This echoes what Barbara Marx Hubbard’s New Age “Christ” told her. He made it clear that in the future, those who refuse to see “God” and “Christ” in everyone will eventually be eliminated by what he describes as a spiritual “selection process”.
The “lie” is that we are Gods and Christs ourselves! Really?
If you have read the Bible and had your understanding enlightened by God’s Holy Spirit, it is obvious to you that this is a “lie” and a whopper of a “lie”. The God of the Bible said
“…For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me….” (Isaiah 46:9)
There is only one true God and only one Christ, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of mankind. This “lie” is nothing but the repackaged demonic “lie” of eastern religions. Each of us is a created being in need of a Savior, Jesus Christ. Not a god or Christ.
The problem of the New Age Movement is that they are listening to the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), satan, who fell from his exalted position in God’s creation because of this very thing, he wanted to be God. And it did not happen and will never happen!
I encourage you to purchase this little booklet (cost is less than $2) at Lighthouse Trials Publishing and read it for yourself.
Now be faithful to warn your kids and extended family about this “lie”. Appreciate your time. I hope you were enlightened by this article.
God Bless You and Yours!
Carl
Psalm 119: 38 