Tag: Jesus

God Speaks To Mankind

God has spoken to mankind over the centuries in many different ways, and in these last days He has given specific instructions.

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, [2] in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

Heb. 1:1-2 (emphasis added)

And then again,

Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James a and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. [2] And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. [3] And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. [4] Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” [5] While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

Matt 17:1-5 (emphasis added)

That is pretty plain, is it not? God, the Father, has spoken to us through His Beloved Son, Jesus. By reading the Bible we can find out what He said. If someone claims to speak for Him, it will line up with what Jesus said. If it does not, the person is not speaking for God.

Thank you, God, for making it so simple!

No secret societies, no rituals, special prayer methods, magic words, secret oaths or mystic ceremonies. Just read what Jesus said in the Bible to know what God has said.

Carl

Is The New Spirituality Correct About The Existence of Sin?

New age gurus, spirit guides, higher selfs, Ascended Masters, Cosmic Christs, “Master Jesus”, and other spirit entities teach their adherents that there is no sin, the person controls their destiny, and, since the adherent is god himself (so they teach), there is no coming judgement for sin only evolving into a higher plane of being.

This is a great deception like has never been seen in the western world before. Tens of millions, both religious and non-religious, are believing these doctrines of demons. Pew Research Center’s survey (December 2017) found that 60% of self-identified American Christians held at least one New Age belief. The evil spirits who masquerade as these entities know the truth. They are leading these people to the same destruction that awaits them.

To counter the New Age lies about there being no “sin” and “future judgement”, please consider the following:

  • There is a Day of Reckoning
  • There are Books containing the record of our sins.
  • You can pay for your own sins.
  • There is a better way.

THERE IS A DAY OF RECKONING

The truth is that there is a judgement of the dead. The following biblical Scriptures give us a glimpse of this yet to come event:

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.” Revelation 20:11-12

And

I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire.

A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him; thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; the court sat, and the books were opened. Daniel 7:9-10

This is the Great White Throne Judgement at the end of time. Holy God is the Judge and “thousands upon thousands” holy angels are attending Him. The others are the physically dead who have rejected Jesus Christ as their Savior.

There are several books present. One is the book of Life which contains the names of the redeemed. These are the saved who have trusted in the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross.  His death on the cross paid for their sins. This book will be opened to see if the person’s name is listed as “redeemed”.

THERE ARE OTHER BOOKS CONTAINING RECORDS OF OUR SINS

The scripture also says “and books were opened”. What are these books? Well, these books contain our sins, more specifically our ungodly deeds. Not only our ungodly deeds though but our ungodly words also. Listen to Jesus’ half-brother Jude and Jesus Himself:

 “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”   Jude 14-15

Concerning our “words” Jesus Himself said:

“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”      Matthew 12:36

So God has a record of not only a person’s ungodly deeds but his ungodly words also. Not only does “sin” exist, but there is a Holy God who is keeping track of each person’s “sin”. That is very sobering. Every ungodly thing you or I have ever done or said is written down in heaven.

Just think about standing alone before the Holy God of all creation and His Holy Host and being judged. All of our sinful deeds and words being revealed in such an pure and holy company and we’re having to answer for our actions!

THERE ARE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES IF YOU PAY FOR YOUR OWN SINS

This judgement will be a horrible for the person who has rejected Christ’s atoning sacrifice for their sins.  There is no way of escape. The person is already physically dead and the “second death” now looms before him. Payday has come.

“For the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23

Since the person has rejected God’s payment for their sins, now they have to pay. He rejected God’s Love Gift to the world that paid for the world’s sins.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”   John 3: 16-17

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans 5:8-10

This very Judge the person is standing before is the very One who was in-Christ on the cross reconciling the world to Himself. In other words, the Judge has already paid for the person’s sins but they rejected this free gift of salvation.

“… that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them…”  II Cor. 5:20

All hope will now flee away.  Despair. Terror. No ONE will escape.

The consequence of choosing to pay for your own sins, is to experience the “second death”. At the end of the person’s judgement and his guilt has been proven before a Holy God and the host of heaven, an angel will come forth and cast the person into the lake of fire where they will spend eternity.

This is how people will pay for their sins if they reject Christ.

This lake of fire was created by God for the devil and his angels, not man. God never intended for man to go there. This is what the new age spirit guides, Ascended Masters, higher selfs, false prophets and other spirit entities do not want you to know.

BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son in to the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. John 3:16-17

Lord Jesus paid for our sins on the cross and God sent Him into the world for this purpose.

…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

Therefore, repent (change your mind) of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today and be saved from the wrath of God that is coming. When I did this earlier in my life, God had an angel write in my sin account, PAID IN FULL BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST.

Listen to what a murderer who repented and was saved, said about this:

And when you were dead in your transgressions…He made you alive together with Him, having FORGIVEN US ALL OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14

Do you want your “certificate of debt” to be cancelled? Or do you want to stand before a Holy God and pay the “certificate of debt” yourself with your eternal well-being?

Flee to the cross of Jesus Christ. The proof that God accepted His sacrifice for your and my sins is that He raised Jesus from the dead.  He is now interceding for the believers in heaven.

Put your trust in what He did for you. Ask Him to save you and forgive you for all of your sins. And to come into your life and be your Lord.

The evil spirits that are deceiving millions in the New Spirituality or New Age movement know all of this. That is why they are working such deception and taking millions of souls captive through their lies. They know what awaits them, they can not repent and be saved.

But you can. Seize the opportunity before it is too late.

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered.
“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”  Romans 4:7-8

May your sins be covered by the precious blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Carl

Oecolampadius -“The Light of The House”

This morning I read my devotion from The One Year Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten. The devotion spoke about how being “second fiddle” is a time-honored profession in God’s work.

Johann Hausschein was Ulrich Zwingli’s “wing man” or “second fiddle” during the Reformation in German-speaking Switzerland in the 1500s. He was very intelligent and Erasmus considered him the “foremost intellect of his day”. Johann was a theologian, preacher, a reformer of church practices and a defender of biblical truths.

Johann’s surname in German means “the light of the house”. At some point in his life he changed his surname to the Greek equivalent, “Oecolampadius”.

“Light of the house”. What a beautiful word-picture of what the biblical believer in Jesus Christ is to be. He is to be like a light shining in a home, repelling the darkness so that those living there can see their way. A light removing the mystery of what is around us, in the darkness.

If you have ever been through a hurricane, ice storm or tornado and lost your electric power, you were thankful for any source of light you had as the darkness enveloped your home. There was great rejoicing when the lights came back on.

I spent a considerable amount of my life working at a wood preserving manufacturing plant where we made wooden utility poles like you see along the highway. After an ice storm or hurricane destroyed the utility grid in an area, we would send hundreds or thousands of wooden utility poles, so the local utility could restore power. Our truck drivers said people would line the streets and applaud when they rolled into town with the utility poles.

Humans were not made to dwell in darkness.

Sadly, far too many today do dwell in spiritual “darkness”, a state of ignorance. Ignorant of the life changing love of God which He manifested by sending His Son Jesus to die for our sins. Ignorant of the resurrection of Christ, the born again experience, and the many other biblical truths that deliver man from evil and the evil one.  As we will see later, we, as lost people separated from God by our sins, are described as being “darkness”.

The prophet Isaiah (9:2-4) prophesied by the Holy Spirit and said, concerning  Jesus’ birth:

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.

Jesus is the Light. What a beautiful metaphor and truth.  Isaiah goes on to say there will be great joy and rejoicing because of this Light:

“… You shall increase their  gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of  harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.” 

Why this rejoicing and gladness?

“For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor…”

Because Jesus  will set people free from the oppressor of mankind, the evil one, satan.

We recently learned of the death of a young missionary who was trying to reach a government protected, unreached island tribe off the coast of India.  The tribe killed him when he reached the shore.  The world says “leave these people alone and let them live as they have for thousands of years.” But the reality is that the darkness they live in is full of fear and terror created by evil spirits that control and torment them. They are one of the “oppressors” that Jesus, The Light, came to expose and defeat in peoples lives.  On my desk I have a DVD entitled “I Will Never Go Back! The Testimony of Chief Shoefoot, A Former Shaman.”  This Amazon witchdoctor tells how he was possessed and controlled by demons and how Jesus Christ set him free from these evil spirits.  He said he would never go back to living like his people had lived for thousands of years. Why? Through someone sharing Jesus Christ with him, he now knows the truth about God, man, sin, satan and freedom in Christ. He is walking in the Light.

May we be “the light of the house” wherever God puts us.  May we reflect the light or knowledge of Jesus, in humility and wisdom, onto the people and circumstances around us.

People don’t like darkness and some people are just like outdoor moths. They will come to the Light!

Father God, Giver of all wisdom, thank you for sending the Light into the darkness and rescuing us when we were helpless.  Help us to reflect  Jesus, the true Light, into the darkness around us.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth)…”  Ephesians 5:8-9

Carl

Bird Talk

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Said the Robin to the Sparrow

“I would really like to know why these anxious Human Beings rush about and worry so?”

Said the Sparrow to the Robin,

“Oh, I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you & me.”

—Unknown (Source: Teach Us To Number Our Days by David Roper)

Lord Jesus said:

“No one can serve two masters…” “You cannot serve God and mammon.”

“ON THIS ACCOUNT I AM SAYING TO YOU, Stop worrying about your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, and about your body, with what you will clothe yourself. Is not the life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the heaven, They are not sowing seed, nor reaping, not even are they collecting into granaries.  And yet your heavenly Father is feeding them.  As for you, do you not surpass them? “

“For your heavenly Father knows that you are in constant need of all these things.  But be seeking first the kingdom and His righteousness, and these things, all of them, shall be added to you.  (abbreviated Matthew 6:24-34 NASB & Expanded Translation, Emphasis mine)

Please read the complete text when you have opportunity. I would like to briefly expand on several points:

  1. Jesus’ words tell us that worry keeps us from obeying God. He told us in the  parable of the soils (or hearts) that worry is one of the weeds that chokes out the word of God in our hearts keeping us from knowing it and obeying it.
  2. When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you receive His righteousness; therefore, you have already sought His righteousness as instructed in verse 33. You already possess it in Christ through salvation. Romans 5:17 says “….much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
  3. As a born again believer, you can now “see” (i.e. understand) and “enter” (i.e. begin to live under the rule of God) “the kingdom” of God. This what Jesus told Nicodemus in his discussion about being born again in John 3.  We now just need to keep expanding the kingdom of God in our character and life, i.e. II Peter 1: 2-11.
  4. THEREFORE, as a believer, you have and are fulfilling the instructions that Jesus gave in verse 33. And this means “…that all these things shall be added to you.”  So let us “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God.” (Philippians 4: 6) “Casting all of your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7)

As a born again believers in Jesus Christ, we are precious to God the Father.  Evidence of this is seen on the Cross as He sent Jesus to display His self-sacrificial, agape love for us.  May we lay hold of His promise (v33) by faith and walk with our minds girded for action and sober in spirit; free from the crippling and thought paralyzing mental attitudes of worry, fear and such.

Remember Texas and Louisiana in your prayers as they grapple with Hurricane Harvey.

Carl

 

 

 

Real Evidence That You Love Lord Jesus

“…, that one is he who is loving me…”

If you ask people if they love Jesus and what is the evidence of their love, you would get a variety of answers.  Some would say that they go to church frequently or are church members.  Others would say that they love their fellow man and do no harm to others; maybe some would say they fast certain things during the year or that they pray.  Some would say they go on pilgrimages to holy sites, give of their money or keep their denominational traditions.

In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus told us how He determines if we really love Him or we are just honoring Him with our words, but our hearts (who we really are) are far from Him.  Listen to what He said in John 14: 21 (Wuest Expanded Translation):

“He who has my commandments and habitually keeps them, that one is he who is loving me with a divine and self-sacrificial love.”

On this blog we have quoted the Apostle John in I John numerous times writing about habitually practicing righteousness.  John was at the last supper when Jesus said this. That is where he received this truth.

Lord Jesus goes on to describe what happens when we habitually keep His commandments:

“And he who is loving me thus, shall be loved with this same kind of love by my Father, and I shall love him with a divine and self-sacrifical love, and I shall disclose myself to him.” (22)

God the Father poured out this kind of love on the world (John 3:16) when He sent His Son to the cross to bear the guilt and penalty of our sins.  And He continues to do so when we are obedient to the gospel and are born again.

But there is more. His disciples thought that Jesus was about to “disclose” Himself as the conquering Messiah to the nation of Israel.  The mother of James and John had already approached Jesus about her two sons being seated in places of honor in His messianic court. So one of the disciples asked Him why He was going to disclose Himself to them and not the whole world. Here is His reply:

“Answered Jesus and said to him, If anyone as a habit of life loves me with a divine and self-sacrificial love, my word he will keep, and my Father will love him, and to him we shall come, and an abiding place with him we shall make for ourselves. He who is not habitually loving me with a divine and self-sacrificial love, my words he is not keeping.  And the word which you are hearing is not mine but belongs to Him who sent me, the Father.” (23-24)

Now this is very amazing! The God of the universe is going to come and abide in us. How does this happen?

“This things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. And the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my Name, that One will teach you all things and recall to your mind all things which I spoke to you.” (25-26)

In Acts 2: 38 the people cried out , “What shall we do”, after hearing the first gospel message.  Peter told the Passover crowd to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  These people were obedient to the gospel message and the Holy Spirit set them apart (i.e. sanctified them) to the Lord Jesus and they were sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1).  In other words, the Lord Jesus and The Father came and made their abode with these converts through the Holy Spirit.  And God does the same for us when we are obedient to the gospel message.

This is what the Apostle John is telling us in I John 1: 3-4 when he writes:

“…what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. (NASB)

Amazing! We born again believers in Jesus Christ have the privilege of fellowshipping  with God Almighty today and everyday.   John goes on to tell us how our behavior affects this fellowship.  I John 1: 5-10 says the following:

“And it is the message which we have heard from Him and at present is ringing in our ears and we are bringing back tidings to you, that God as to His nature is light, and darkness in Him does not exist, not even one particle. If we say that things in common we are having with Him, and thus fellowship, and in the sphere of the aforementioned darkness are habitually ordering our behavior, we are lying, and we are not doing the truth.  But if within the sphere of the light we are habitually ordering our behavior as Himself is in the light, things in common  and thus fellowship we [the believer and God] are having with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son keeps continually cleansing us from every sin.”

“If we say that [indwelling ] sin we are not having, ourselves we are leading astray [nobody else], and the truth is not in us. If we continue to confess our sins, faithful is He and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from every unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned and are now in a state where we do not sin, a liar we are making Him, and His word is not in us.”  (Wuest Expanded Translation)

The reason John is telling us this he states next in I John 2: 1:

“My little children … these things I am writing to you in order that you may not commit an act of sin.  And if anyone commits an act of sin, One who pleads our cause we constantly have facing the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One. ” (Wuest Expanded Translation)

In closing, two things.

First, is there enough evidence in my life to convict me of really being in love with Jesus, per His definition, or am I a hypocrite like the people in Mark 7:6 to which the Lord said:

“And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

In Luke 6:46 Jesus asked the question “And why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?

Secondly, the Apostle John is telling the born again believer that our indwelling sinful nature, though we are dead to it, has not been eradicated from our being.  Therefore, we will occasionally sin and, when we do, we need to confess that sin to maintain fellowship with our Father. (Notice I said fellowship and not relationship. Because of our faith in the work of Christ on the Cross, our relationship is secure with the Father.)

He not only immediately forgives us but the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness, i.e. habitual sins of ignorance that we are walking in but are not aware of yet.  What a merciful God!!!

My friends, it all boils down to a simple question for everyone: Is Christ Lord of your life?

I hope you enjoy the fellowship with your heavenly Father and His Holy Son today.  Walk in the light as He is in the light.

Carl