Christian Living / obedience

Another Unintended Consequence of Permissive Parenting

Proverbs 13.24 describes, the one who spares his rod hates his child, but the one who loves his child is diligent in disciplining him.

Recently I heard someone state that the constitution prohibits hate speech. Many young people would either agree with that thinking or support that amendment were someone to make such a proposal. The constitution actually prohibits the muzzling of hate speech. The constitution commands free speech. (more…)

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August 18, 2017
Judgement / obedience

Bad Times and Good Times At The Same Time

Mathew 24.38 describes, in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark.

I had the recent pleasure of visiting the life size Ark built to replicate the one described in the Bible. God had Noah build an ark for saving his family and an animal remnant from God’s judgement of the entire earth for its rebellion against Him. It’s amazing the size while inside are descriptions and replications for how Noah might have housed, fed, watered and removed the waste of all the animals. (more…)

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August 14, 2017
evangelism / Judgement / obedience

Who is Your King?

Judges 21.25 records, in those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.

Not much has changed in 4000 years or so. People are people with the same propensities from generation to generation and from nation to nation.

It is because our origin is from God through His creation of one man and one woman from whom all the peoples of the world have their beginning. This ideology is unique to Christianity and explains why in precept, not always in practice, Christianity stands alone in its teaching that all people are created equal regardless of gender, race, income or intelligence. (more…)

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August 8, 2017
evangelism

The Natural Progression of our Religion

Acts 22.14-15 describes, the God of our ancestors has already chosen you to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear a command from His mouth, because you will be His witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

Paul’s description of how he came to know the one true God summarizes how all of us come to know the one true God. We enter the world estranged from God. It is not inherent to the human species at birth to recognize or serve God. From infancy, we humans are self preserving and self seeking. (more…)

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August 4, 2017
Christian Living / Judgement / obedience / Suffering

It is Difficult to Be Faithful

Judges 14.17 describes, she cried on his shoulder until the party was almost over. Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much. Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle.

Nagging has a way of wearing us down. That explains why children use it most often because it is so effective at moving their parents to give them their way. God rewards faithfulness and even warns that only those who remain so until the end will be rewarded. Faithful until what end? Ours or the world’s I suppose. (more…)

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July 31, 2017
evangelism / faith / obedience

Christian Holy War is Still Necessary

Judges 3.2 describes, God left those nations simply because He wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war.

The idea of holy war is not a very positive one today. While it’s quite an old concept the Muslims have made the idea immensely unpalatable. The Muslim version of holy war involves using women, children and the handicapped, in addition to men without other options for gaining heaven, through the means of suicide, for accomplishing their objectives. Their holy war is the destruction of the infidel or the conversion of the infidel through terror and fear. The god they serve is abusive, terrible and unattractive in every way. Yet holy war predates Islam. (more…)

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July 20, 2017
Christian Living / evangelism / Judgement / obedience / Suffering

Who Is Willing to Suffer for Jesus?

Acts 5.41 records, they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.

The Church was able to grow from a handful of believers in Jesus into a world wide religion because it has been willing to suffer dishonor for the proclamation of Jesus as the only God and Savior of the world. When the Church has lost influence it has been the result of those who profess Jesus as Savior privately being afraid to do so publicly lest they suffer for proclaiming His ways. (more…)

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July 18, 2017
Christian Living / obedience

How to Bring More Love Into the World

Matthew 24.12 observes, because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.

It’s hard to do good when everyone else is doing wrong. Its hard to do good when everyone else seems to be advocating doing bad.

Our hearts and minds are shaped by someone or something. If we saturate ourselves with Bible reading, listening, memorizing and meditating we will think about things more like God thinks about things. If we listen mostly to the radio, internet and television while attending public schools and working in a secular environment we will think and thus act, more like those around us. (more…)

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July 14, 2017
heaven / obedience

Who is Going to Heaven?

Matthew 22.14 reports, many are called, but few are chosen.

Who God is and Who we think He is are often in-congruent. What we expect God to do or be like often conflicts with how He acts or describes Himself in the Bible.

Bible reading and study is the critical discipline necessary for aligning our opinion of God most closely to the true nature, character and ways of God. Today’s verse is a case in point over Who God really is and what we normally think God is like. (more…)

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July 12, 2017
Christian Living / Judgement / obedience

What Is A Christian?

Jeremiah 3.13 commands, you must confess that you have done wrong, and that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the LORD.

Somehow the definition of Christian has become those people who live perfect lives and attend Church. Of course no one lives a perfect life. The impossibility of living perfectly is why Christians are called hypocrites and what is often used by non Christians to justify their continued lifestyle of defiance against God. The premise however is all wrong. (more…)

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July 8, 2017