Jesus is not a flu shot.
Jesus Christ in the past 100 years has been turned into a 5 minute, no commitment required, convenient, just-in-case FLU SHOT.
The biggest problem I see in today's evangelism is this --- we are pushing a CURE on a world unconvinced of the DISEASE.
The church today is good at explaining the cure. Jesus is the cure. We are good at explaining what the cure will do. It will forgive your sin and take you to heaven when you die. We are good at explaining what will happen if you don't take the cure. Eternity in a place called Hell for whoever dies lost. We are sometimes good at explaining how to take the cure. Sometimes we say it is praying a prayer, sometimes we say it is asking the Lord to save you, but in general we to some degree or another teach it is only by repentance and faith.
What we are very weak at, and often totally neglecting, is convincing the disease. The reason for that is for the past 100 years or so we have for multiple reasons turned Jesus Christ into a Flu shot. Jesus is more like chemotherapy.
What I mean by that is ---Salvation today is geared more today of getting the person whatever it takes to make a one-time decision to "receive Christ", and we usually motivate them by either
1) advertising the benefits of getting the cure.
2) explaining the consequences for not getting the cure.
Anyone interested is given the cure, and it is made as painless as possible. Biblical doctrines are turned into an abbreviated short-cut method, so someone has all the head information to make the most reasonable choice --- to get a Free one time, easy ticket to eternal life in exchange for gaining heaven and rejecting Hell. Who wouldn't want that?
What is wrong with it? And is this not the Gospel?
Well, think of the prodigal son. Yes he was given the fatted calf, but he didn't know that when he headed for home. It was unexpected. Someone getting a flu shot expects something totally different than someone who has cancer. Not many flu shot patients are content if they survive the flu shot. They better survive! They are entitled to have a wonderful flu season.
If a chemo patient has a round of chemo where they feel somewhat normal, they are excited. Back in the Great awakening times, you heard extensive preaching on SIN, YOUR SIN, the Holiness of God, Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God, the righteousness of God, God's expectations, God's penalty for your offenses against him, etc. It was a negative message. People responded like they did in Nineveh from the preaching of Jonah.
"WHO CAN TELL?" was Nineveh's response.
Jesus said "they repented at the preaching of Jonas." That was God's response, but it is only for those who respond Biblically.
The Bible said God saw their works, and God spared them. Jonah did not come down and say, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Won't you please come and ask the Lord to save you? He really wants you all in heaven so that is why he died on the Cross." The emphasis was on the sin problem, not the cure and not the consequences of not getting the cure.
When the emphasis is on the disease-- specific and clear and targeted for that audience --- then the hammer of God's judgment will fall and people cried out "WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?". They didn't come expecting heaven, they came fleeing from the wrath to come. That produced a repentant group of people. Yes, when people come to the end of their selves that will produce repentance when people see the goodness of God when God is all they have left.
However, most folks in America never get there, and they instead choose the easy, watered down modern gospel where they come not convinced they have sinned against a holy and righteous God. They come excited to go to heaven, they are glad to get a vaccine against hell should they really catch the hell bug, but they never saw themselves as truly wicked and evil and hell deserving because their disease was never exposed for what it was.
Hence, the seed is only falling on stony ground, and that seed is not going to hold up and it will not bear fruit. There is something radically different about our converts than even 100 years ago, and how I think that can be explained is we have changed the gospel of faith and repentance into the Flu Shot Gospel.
When you look around at our methods the past 100 years I think you clearly see the fruit is not the same as what you saw for thousand of years before that. Today, the majority of professing Christians are not true Bible Christians, instead they are Christian Hindus. False converts who have the Flu Shot Jesus as their fire escape, and they still have their gods of this world as well. True saving faith is turning from idols to serve the true and living God.
A Flu Shot is something you can just get in the state you are in, and keep living your life just as before. You don't have to give it a ton of thought afterwards, and if someone asks you about it, you simply say, "Yes, I had my shot, I am good to go!"
Jesus Christ is not a flu shot, so most people are not good to go at all. It is time to renounce this false method and replace it with sound bible teaching. A person will get a flu shot just in case they were to get sick.
Especially if it is quick, painless, and covered by their insurance. The flu is something that only might happen to them. They are not super concerned, but JUST IN CASE, WHY NOT? What have I got to lose?
The Flu shot Jesus Gospel is just like a real Flu shot, as it is something you:
1. Agree to get JUST IN CASE even though you are currently OK.
2. It is a ONE TIME thing you never have to think about again (until immunity wears off)
3. It will not turn your world upside down.
4. You can get it even if there is nothing physically wrong with you from what you can tell.
5. You can get it even if you've never had the flu nor would ever get the flu!
6. There are low chance of any adverse effects.
7. Has minimal demands. You should stick around for 15 minutes after to make sure you don't have a bad reaction -- but we won't hunt you down!
8. Appealing if there is no wait and no cost.
9. No appointment necessary! Come whenever you feel like it, 7 days a week, whenever the pharmacy is open!
10. The Flu Shot givers have to get our quota of 5 a day! (7 at other chains!)
11. Flu shot advertisement is so heavy that often people get it so we pharmacists doctors and nurses quit bugging them!
12. Flu itself is usually not too serious and only fatal in certain immune-compromised situations.
13. If your immunization records burn up, there is no proof you even got it!!!
14. We use such a fine tip needle that leaves no impact nor draws blood that often people don't realize I gave it to them!
Contrast that with chemotherapy. One will only commit to chemotherapy if they know they are dying. Chemo changes a person inside and out. Chemo is something that changes everything.
It will change your plans, it will affect your finances, it will affect your mood, it will affect your blood, it will not be a flippant decision, and it will be something you won't forget - and can never Doubt or DENY you received it!!!
Yes bible salvation is a moment, and yes, there is no such doctrine as works for or works after salvation, but I believe God showed me the clear contrast in the modern gospel and the old fashioned gospel we've mostly abandoned.
Today in general we have repackaged the chemotherapy gospel for one of a one-time easy flu shot. The cure is Jesus Christ, the way to get the cure is faith and repentance. What needs to be better emphasized is WHY you need the cure. Without that, you merely have a flu shot Jesus!
Example --- who would volunteer for 40 weeks of intensive chemotherapy just in case you get cancer? Who would hook their arm up to a 4 hour cocktail of chemotherapy just in case? I could tell you how bad cancer is, i could give you statistics about how bad cancer is and how it is killing people and how most people get it and what the risk factors are,but it will not affect you one bit until YOU PERSONALLY GET DIAGNOSED and hence CONVINCED Of THE DISEASE!!!!!
Yet, if I tell you how bad the flu is and how it could kill babies and old people and people with asthma, you might volunteer for that. No one wants to go to Hell. Everyone wants to go to heaven. People will take a Flu Shot Jesus because it appears to immunize them on the rare chance they truly one day get caught being a sinner. <But what population is going to volunteer for the reproach of the cross, and accept the temptation, tribulation, and persecution that comes from accepting the true Christ? Only one convinced of the disease!!!
Monday, March 25, 2013
The Flu shot files
This next post is based on a message I preached at my church last new years and is inspired by merging my career as a pharmacist and my calling as an evangelist.
I have an older blog, etvfc.blogspot.com. My real last name is not Etvfco but it stands for my ministry idea the Lord gave me, The End Times Vol. Fire Co, ie ETVFCO. My older blog fell out of preference for me because for some reason it won't let me put my writing into paragraphs nor do spell check. Each of my long winded posts became one long winded run on rambling paragraph with a myriad of spelling errors.
Hence, this blog was born, and I'm praying next splitting my posts into 2 blogs perhaps, one for Christians, and one for the lost or one for the church. One to wake up the lost, another to wake up the churches and encourage people to evangelize. These flu shot posts are for both at different times, but since I don't really know who everyone is who is reading this, it may not always reach the right group of people.
Also, please pray for these blogs, that God will direct and draw people and it will awaken the lost and charge the saved. Also, many of these posts will eventually become gospel tracts I will have published and will be distributed all over by the grace of God. Eventually I want to have a blog set up where you can add your church and/or ministry information to one of my pre-written gospel tracts and you can download it and print them out yourself and hand them out.
Giving out just 3 tracts a day reaches a 1000 people a year! I can also have a front cover version you can edit with your location. Example, the tract would be called How to find God from "BLANK". You could put a picture of your hometown or city and then you fill in the blank! It would be the same message but on the front you change locations and put your own favorite picture and on the back you put your church information and contact info.
In no time, you can have your own personal gospel tracts to hand out! How to find God from Germany! How to find God from Long Island! How to find God from St. Lucia! If you are getting a blessing from these writings, let me know. If you are not sure what this whole Christian thing is about or if you are not % sure you are saved, send me an email, etvfco@gmail.com.
I have an older blog, etvfc.blogspot.com. My real last name is not Etvfco but it stands for my ministry idea the Lord gave me, The End Times Vol. Fire Co, ie ETVFCO. My older blog fell out of preference for me because for some reason it won't let me put my writing into paragraphs nor do spell check. Each of my long winded posts became one long winded run on rambling paragraph with a myriad of spelling errors.
Hence, this blog was born, and I'm praying next splitting my posts into 2 blogs perhaps, one for Christians, and one for the lost or one for the church. One to wake up the lost, another to wake up the churches and encourage people to evangelize. These flu shot posts are for both at different times, but since I don't really know who everyone is who is reading this, it may not always reach the right group of people.
Also, please pray for these blogs, that God will direct and draw people and it will awaken the lost and charge the saved. Also, many of these posts will eventually become gospel tracts I will have published and will be distributed all over by the grace of God. Eventually I want to have a blog set up where you can add your church and/or ministry information to one of my pre-written gospel tracts and you can download it and print them out yourself and hand them out.
Giving out just 3 tracts a day reaches a 1000 people a year! I can also have a front cover version you can edit with your location. Example, the tract would be called How to find God from "BLANK". You could put a picture of your hometown or city and then you fill in the blank! It would be the same message but on the front you change locations and put your own favorite picture and on the back you put your church information and contact info.
In no time, you can have your own personal gospel tracts to hand out! How to find God from Germany! How to find God from Long Island! How to find God from St. Lucia! If you are getting a blessing from these writings, let me know. If you are not sure what this whole Christian thing is about or if you are not % sure you are saved, send me an email, etvfco@gmail.com.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
America's Real Coke Addicts
I don't know the exact statistics but 40% of Americans are addicted to coke. And 30% are addicted to Pepsi. The rest drink diet Dr. Pepper.
The number 1 addiction is sugar in America. Honestly. Another one on top of the charts is prescription medication abuse. I strongly feel a neglected one is prescription medication USE in general. The food industry addicts us with high fructose corn syrup, and our fast food nation infuses the calories at an off the charts pace, and we are too busy spending 50 hours a week sitting on a chair eating chips and clicking a mouse at our jobs to exercise, and this translates to the medical industry convincing us that we need their drugs to survive. The diet causes the health problems, but the food industry is in cahoots with the medical industry it seems, and they claim they care about our health, but they lie. Why change when we can just give you pills so you can live and eat as you want? The drug store that sells the smoking cessation products also is selling the cigarettes. They want the money plain and simple, and they don't care what you buy as long as it is one of the two. Either get addicted to the food or totally depend on the medical and pharmaceutical industry to keep us alive. And rack up the medical treatment bills and make healthcare as essential to survival as oxygen and cause the people to embrace socialism and communism by the government in the Trojan horse called Universal Health care.
I don't know all the answers, but I think that the devil is ultimately deluding us. One huge problem in the church today is instead of true holiness produced, and Christians exhibiting true fruits of the spirit, where the world looks at the church and says, "Eureka! There is where we can find the TRUE AND LIVING GOD!", we instead exchange addictions. We came in drunks and pornographers and adulterers and fornicators and drug addicts and crack heads. We get saved (though most stay lost but know have a head knowledge of salvation) and the world comes at us in a Trojan horse.
I try fasting and by 3pm I have a headache and am in withdrawal. I will leave early so I can go through Timmies (for those who don't know Timmies is Tim Hortons, a coffee and donut drive thru place where your car automatically pulls into every time you pass it for some unknown)unexplainable reason) but I don't have that same ability to get out early to do bible study. I am addicted to sweets, sugar, soft drinks, and Spot coffee (Timmies didn't begin with an S). Try dropping sugar and caffeine cold turkey and see what I mean. We get irritable and sluggish and can't function. We depend on our coffee more than our God. We would fast but we just past a McDonalds. We want to lose weigh, but Easter dinner is just around the corner. We would diet after Easter, but we have Timmies 2 year old bash to attend, and then it is Mother's day all you can eat brunch, and then it is the 4th of July Picnic and then the graduation parties and cookie fellowships and bake sales and candy bar drives and after easter 50% off Cadbury eggs, and the food courts after our summer revival. We get more calories from junk food than most get from normal diets in third world countries.
Meanwhile, we don't see we are still a bunch of addicts. The Bible says the truth will make you free and the Bible says our body is not our own. We have liberty yes as Christians, but our country and our churches needs us to be fasting and praying for our nation. Do you fast anymore? Am I the only one struggling with American cuisine? If I went to a gas station and the gas there was polluted and full of junk, I would go to another station. Why do we put junk in our bodies and instead of embracing help with our diets, we shun them off as legalists. How much junk food do we buy in a week? How much soda do we drink? How much do we spend out on coffee?
Having a treat or a date with our wives is one thing. But daily dropping $30 bucks on fast food and $10 every time you pass a Timmies is absurd but that is reality. We can't give to missions, we can't fast and pray, but we can eat everything we want because I have liberty. We are too fat to have any stamina for God, too broke to support the work of God, too irritable when we put God over our appetites, and too tired running on empty to do much for God. If I diluted my gasoline with 50% water my car would have problems. We dilute our diets with 50% junk and wonder why we crash by 3pm.
And at 3:02 it is time for my Snickers break.
All I am trying to say is we need to really see how much the devil is coming in the back door like a Trojan horse and wearing us down not by starving us but by fattening us up so we are fat and happy and loving the hand that feeds us. The world's junk food and world's processed garbage and the world's fried fast food and the world's liquid crack cocaine called high fructose corn syrup (which literally causes a sugar HIGH) give us a great appetite for the World. We could care less about praying but are excited because we have a $10 Outback coupon to use up.
I had my coffee with 2 sugars today and half of a toaster strudel and 3 cokes at Outback during our family dinner and a frosted cookie from Wegmans ($11.99 a pound) and another coffee and a slice of chocolate fudge cake for dessert and wonder why I don't feel like fasting. It was funny, as I was heading to check out at the grocery store today,with my cookies and cake in hand, I passed a guy doing a demonstration for a special $500 juicer. I tried the juice, it was good. I had the credit card and almost bought the thing. And it would have sat with all the other impulse purchase because I am too lazy to take care of it. And if I really did buy it, it probably would have been used to make milk shakes instead of fruit smoothies and if I did make fruit smoothies I would probably just have added them to my pizza and wings.
Anyone else guilty? The bible warns about the glutton and drunkard coming to ruin. The church nails the drunkards. I am afraid instead of true repentance, the majority of us switched addictions. Even us saved folks seem to be addicted to either our diets or coffee or our sodas or our double Whoppers. And if we aren't snagged by food, then it is the media, our cell phones, etc. Those are the addictions we wear and everyone sees and yet we tell everyone they need to quit their smoking and stop boozing while we are chomping down our 3rd vanilla dip donut of the day. We are like the Baptists down South who were so shocked at the European Baptists drinking wine at the bible study that they choked on their cigarettes. And the North East Baptists were so disgusted by the smoking Southerners and the drinking Europeans, they couldn't finish their coffee.
We think we are better because the guy in our cell killed 6 people and we only killed 3. That is self righteousness. We need to humble ourselves and repent and pray. And if we can't pray and fast because our diets control us, something has to change.
I speak for myself. Am I more in love with a hot fudge and peanut butter Dairy Queen Sundae with whipped cream and a cherry and chopped pecans than a soul that is about to drop into hell? I think I can top that sundae with extra souls and be ok. Yet as my embracing of the American foods increases, the intensity of my prayers decrease. I am full and content now. After I go get myself another bowl of ice cream, of course.
American Christians we need to fast for our country. But I am finding that the power to fast and desire to fast is FAST FALLING AWAY. Maybe it is just me. Maybe everyone around me is fine and fasting. But as one who used to regularly fast without problem and now is finding major obstacles and major withdrawals now, I suspect that is not just me.
I know I need to radically change my diet to get into position to truly fast on a regular basis to impact this world. Prayer makes a difference. Yet I am too selfish and addicted right now to do so. Am I the only one? Will the rapture happen before I can see my diet turned around? And do I see that this is a big enough deal to bother?
The number 1 addiction is sugar in America. Honestly. Another one on top of the charts is prescription medication abuse. I strongly feel a neglected one is prescription medication USE in general. The food industry addicts us with high fructose corn syrup, and our fast food nation infuses the calories at an off the charts pace, and we are too busy spending 50 hours a week sitting on a chair eating chips and clicking a mouse at our jobs to exercise, and this translates to the medical industry convincing us that we need their drugs to survive. The diet causes the health problems, but the food industry is in cahoots with the medical industry it seems, and they claim they care about our health, but they lie. Why change when we can just give you pills so you can live and eat as you want? The drug store that sells the smoking cessation products also is selling the cigarettes. They want the money plain and simple, and they don't care what you buy as long as it is one of the two. Either get addicted to the food or totally depend on the medical and pharmaceutical industry to keep us alive. And rack up the medical treatment bills and make healthcare as essential to survival as oxygen and cause the people to embrace socialism and communism by the government in the Trojan horse called Universal Health care.
I don't know all the answers, but I think that the devil is ultimately deluding us. One huge problem in the church today is instead of true holiness produced, and Christians exhibiting true fruits of the spirit, where the world looks at the church and says, "Eureka! There is where we can find the TRUE AND LIVING GOD!", we instead exchange addictions. We came in drunks and pornographers and adulterers and fornicators and drug addicts and crack heads. We get saved (though most stay lost but know have a head knowledge of salvation) and the world comes at us in a Trojan horse.
I try fasting and by 3pm I have a headache and am in withdrawal. I will leave early so I can go through Timmies (for those who don't know Timmies is Tim Hortons, a coffee and donut drive thru place where your car automatically pulls into every time you pass it for some unknown)unexplainable reason) but I don't have that same ability to get out early to do bible study. I am addicted to sweets, sugar, soft drinks, and Spot coffee (Timmies didn't begin with an S). Try dropping sugar and caffeine cold turkey and see what I mean. We get irritable and sluggish and can't function. We depend on our coffee more than our God. We would fast but we just past a McDonalds. We want to lose weigh, but Easter dinner is just around the corner. We would diet after Easter, but we have Timmies 2 year old bash to attend, and then it is Mother's day all you can eat brunch, and then it is the 4th of July Picnic and then the graduation parties and cookie fellowships and bake sales and candy bar drives and after easter 50% off Cadbury eggs, and the food courts after our summer revival. We get more calories from junk food than most get from normal diets in third world countries.
Meanwhile, we don't see we are still a bunch of addicts. The Bible says the truth will make you free and the Bible says our body is not our own. We have liberty yes as Christians, but our country and our churches needs us to be fasting and praying for our nation. Do you fast anymore? Am I the only one struggling with American cuisine? If I went to a gas station and the gas there was polluted and full of junk, I would go to another station. Why do we put junk in our bodies and instead of embracing help with our diets, we shun them off as legalists. How much junk food do we buy in a week? How much soda do we drink? How much do we spend out on coffee?
Having a treat or a date with our wives is one thing. But daily dropping $30 bucks on fast food and $10 every time you pass a Timmies is absurd but that is reality. We can't give to missions, we can't fast and pray, but we can eat everything we want because I have liberty. We are too fat to have any stamina for God, too broke to support the work of God, too irritable when we put God over our appetites, and too tired running on empty to do much for God. If I diluted my gasoline with 50% water my car would have problems. We dilute our diets with 50% junk and wonder why we crash by 3pm.
And at 3:02 it is time for my Snickers break.
All I am trying to say is we need to really see how much the devil is coming in the back door like a Trojan horse and wearing us down not by starving us but by fattening us up so we are fat and happy and loving the hand that feeds us. The world's junk food and world's processed garbage and the world's fried fast food and the world's liquid crack cocaine called high fructose corn syrup (which literally causes a sugar HIGH) give us a great appetite for the World. We could care less about praying but are excited because we have a $10 Outback coupon to use up.
I had my coffee with 2 sugars today and half of a toaster strudel and 3 cokes at Outback during our family dinner and a frosted cookie from Wegmans ($11.99 a pound) and another coffee and a slice of chocolate fudge cake for dessert and wonder why I don't feel like fasting. It was funny, as I was heading to check out at the grocery store today,with my cookies and cake in hand, I passed a guy doing a demonstration for a special $500 juicer. I tried the juice, it was good. I had the credit card and almost bought the thing. And it would have sat with all the other impulse purchase because I am too lazy to take care of it. And if I really did buy it, it probably would have been used to make milk shakes instead of fruit smoothies and if I did make fruit smoothies I would probably just have added them to my pizza and wings.
Anyone else guilty? The bible warns about the glutton and drunkard coming to ruin. The church nails the drunkards. I am afraid instead of true repentance, the majority of us switched addictions. Even us saved folks seem to be addicted to either our diets or coffee or our sodas or our double Whoppers. And if we aren't snagged by food, then it is the media, our cell phones, etc. Those are the addictions we wear and everyone sees and yet we tell everyone they need to quit their smoking and stop boozing while we are chomping down our 3rd vanilla dip donut of the day. We are like the Baptists down South who were so shocked at the European Baptists drinking wine at the bible study that they choked on their cigarettes. And the North East Baptists were so disgusted by the smoking Southerners and the drinking Europeans, they couldn't finish their coffee.
We think we are better because the guy in our cell killed 6 people and we only killed 3. That is self righteousness. We need to humble ourselves and repent and pray. And if we can't pray and fast because our diets control us, something has to change.
I speak for myself. Am I more in love with a hot fudge and peanut butter Dairy Queen Sundae with whipped cream and a cherry and chopped pecans than a soul that is about to drop into hell? I think I can top that sundae with extra souls and be ok. Yet as my embracing of the American foods increases, the intensity of my prayers decrease. I am full and content now. After I go get myself another bowl of ice cream, of course.
American Christians we need to fast for our country. But I am finding that the power to fast and desire to fast is FAST FALLING AWAY. Maybe it is just me. Maybe everyone around me is fine and fasting. But as one who used to regularly fast without problem and now is finding major obstacles and major withdrawals now, I suspect that is not just me.
I know I need to radically change my diet to get into position to truly fast on a regular basis to impact this world. Prayer makes a difference. Yet I am too selfish and addicted right now to do so. Am I the only one? Will the rapture happen before I can see my diet turned around? And do I see that this is a big enough deal to bother?
Friday, March 22, 2013
Power Shortages and Outright Outages
I have my laptop plugged into the same surge protector as our lamp. There are times when my computer is "plugged in" but the only way I will truly know if there is any real current flowing to my computer is if I try to turn the lamp on. When I turn the knob for the lamp and nothing happens, I can deduce that in all likelihood the power strip was flipped off by one of my young-ins. If I don't do the lamp test, I can go typing normally on my laptop, thinking it is plugged in. Only when the low-battery warning comes up would I then realize something was wrong.
By no means am I slamming the church. But if you love something you long for it to be better than it is. The Bible warns in the end times there will be a great falling away and the church will be assaulted with false prophets, false converts, and false doctrine. In the last days, says the Bible, perilous times shall come. We are living in that day. World War III can happen at any moment, and only the Lord Jesus is restraining everything and hitting the pause button on the world events.
Jesus is coming. For every mention in the Bible of his first coming, it is reported there are 8 times as many mentions of his 2nd coming. The first time caught most of the world off guard, and for many it wasn't until they woke up in hell the second after they died did they truly realize the opportunity they missed. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? If I have cancer but don't know I am sick, or I never fill the prescription because I don't believe it will do anything and hence neglect the cure, or if I flat out tell the doctor off and dismiss him as a quack, I die. Jesus is coming but this time there will be no hiding the fact but then it will be too late. We are in the last inning, the signs are everywhere, and I can almost hear the trumpet. When the trumpet from heaven blows and Jesus cries, "Enough! Come up hither!" we fly away! The we, though, only pertains to the saved, blood bought child of God.
This is the message of the hour, and the message the churches need to convey to a lost, blind, and dying world. When I preach at a Sabres Hockey Game, I see thousands of blind and indifferent people all walk past me and I get a sense of what Noah felt. Noah preached righteousness and just wanted to tell people to get in the boat and that God is angry with the wicked every day. The Bible says that. The Bible says knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men. The churches in many instances are repackaging the Lord Jesus into this warm fuzzy cozy teddy bear who loves humanity too much to send them to hell. They deduce since God loves them then he must let them into heaven. What mankind doesn't understand is God is a God of love, but just as strongly are his other divine attributes, holiness, justice, wrath. If you truly love God, you will hate evil. You will hate anything that is ungodly and seeks to destroy what God loves. You will hate hypocrisy because God cannot lie. You will hate things that blind those from the truth. You will hate sin. When we see our sin, we see how hell deserving we really are and we run to the cross for mercy and deliverance. We see our sin will put us in hell and we flee from the wrath to come and come to Jesus.
Most churches are doing more damage than good because they present a powerless Christ and the world loves this new and improved Jesus who is more like the fun genie of Aladdin than the God of the Bible. They have "powerful emotionally charged" services with loud music and their Sunday Morning services are often a pep rally laced pregame church tailgate party minus the booze. We don't need to give Jesus a hand. We need to give him our lives.
The power is out in most churches, but unless they look at the world and see their light is dark, they won't see they are not plugged in. Jesus is standing outside the end times church and waiting to be let back in. Like I said before, the rapture will hit and many churches won't even notice because the only ones who would be gone, they were trying to run off anyway.
Churches, make sure to see you are truly plugged into the Lord Jesus Christ. When you see the light out there in the world, it should be obvious that there is a major power shortage. The problem is we are examining the impact of the church by the amount of the world it draws, not how much light it produces. When you use the world to draw the world, you will look like the world. And the world likes the darkness. The church is supposed to be the light because Jesus is the light of the World. We are supposed to let our light so shine before men so they can see our good deeds and glorify our Father which is in heaven.
Maybe the fact there is no light is related to the fact most churches are not truly glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. It is one thing to jump your spiritual vehicles every Sunday and have enough battery to get home. It is another to have enough power to drive the whole week. As John Wesley said, if Jesus Christ sets us on fire for him, people will come to watch us burn.
If the church can admit our fire is out, and as Evangelist Don Hardman puts it, "the church is producing paper fire", we can get back to the source and get re lit. The churches today are more imitation fireplaces and from a distance they look inviting and it looks like real fire. But it is not melting the cold hearts, it is not pushing back the flames of hell, it is not causing the cockroaches of sin to flee, it is not shining a lighted path to those blind in sin, it is not dissolving the metal chains of bondage around people, it is not exposing the errors of false doctrine and liberal opinions, and it is not a warm inviting fire that the lost want to hover around because they have such hypothermia because the world has chilled them to the bone.
The Bible says our God is a consuming fire. If we get around him long enough, our hearts will burn for the things of God because that fire will be a purging fire. I fear that the next time the majority of professing Christians all across America face the fire of God it will be Hellfire. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire warns Revelation. Church today seems to merge their church membership roll and the book of life. Head knowledge and a membership card are not what makes you saved. Jesus makes you saved. He that hath the Son hath life the Bible says.
And if you are truly saved, your heart will burn with the things of God like a furnace, and the light that is produced will be seen by a dark dark world.
Christian, church, can you see that the light is getting dim, and in many cases, out completely?
By no means am I slamming the church. But if you love something you long for it to be better than it is. The Bible warns in the end times there will be a great falling away and the church will be assaulted with false prophets, false converts, and false doctrine. In the last days, says the Bible, perilous times shall come. We are living in that day. World War III can happen at any moment, and only the Lord Jesus is restraining everything and hitting the pause button on the world events.
Jesus is coming. For every mention in the Bible of his first coming, it is reported there are 8 times as many mentions of his 2nd coming. The first time caught most of the world off guard, and for many it wasn't until they woke up in hell the second after they died did they truly realize the opportunity they missed. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? If I have cancer but don't know I am sick, or I never fill the prescription because I don't believe it will do anything and hence neglect the cure, or if I flat out tell the doctor off and dismiss him as a quack, I die. Jesus is coming but this time there will be no hiding the fact but then it will be too late. We are in the last inning, the signs are everywhere, and I can almost hear the trumpet. When the trumpet from heaven blows and Jesus cries, "Enough! Come up hither!" we fly away! The we, though, only pertains to the saved, blood bought child of God.
This is the message of the hour, and the message the churches need to convey to a lost, blind, and dying world. When I preach at a Sabres Hockey Game, I see thousands of blind and indifferent people all walk past me and I get a sense of what Noah felt. Noah preached righteousness and just wanted to tell people to get in the boat and that God is angry with the wicked every day. The Bible says that. The Bible says knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men. The churches in many instances are repackaging the Lord Jesus into this warm fuzzy cozy teddy bear who loves humanity too much to send them to hell. They deduce since God loves them then he must let them into heaven. What mankind doesn't understand is God is a God of love, but just as strongly are his other divine attributes, holiness, justice, wrath. If you truly love God, you will hate evil. You will hate anything that is ungodly and seeks to destroy what God loves. You will hate hypocrisy because God cannot lie. You will hate things that blind those from the truth. You will hate sin. When we see our sin, we see how hell deserving we really are and we run to the cross for mercy and deliverance. We see our sin will put us in hell and we flee from the wrath to come and come to Jesus.
Most churches are doing more damage than good because they present a powerless Christ and the world loves this new and improved Jesus who is more like the fun genie of Aladdin than the God of the Bible. They have "powerful emotionally charged" services with loud music and their Sunday Morning services are often a pep rally laced pregame church tailgate party minus the booze. We don't need to give Jesus a hand. We need to give him our lives.
The power is out in most churches, but unless they look at the world and see their light is dark, they won't see they are not plugged in. Jesus is standing outside the end times church and waiting to be let back in. Like I said before, the rapture will hit and many churches won't even notice because the only ones who would be gone, they were trying to run off anyway.
Churches, make sure to see you are truly plugged into the Lord Jesus Christ. When you see the light out there in the world, it should be obvious that there is a major power shortage. The problem is we are examining the impact of the church by the amount of the world it draws, not how much light it produces. When you use the world to draw the world, you will look like the world. And the world likes the darkness. The church is supposed to be the light because Jesus is the light of the World. We are supposed to let our light so shine before men so they can see our good deeds and glorify our Father which is in heaven.
Maybe the fact there is no light is related to the fact most churches are not truly glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. It is one thing to jump your spiritual vehicles every Sunday and have enough battery to get home. It is another to have enough power to drive the whole week. As John Wesley said, if Jesus Christ sets us on fire for him, people will come to watch us burn.
If the church can admit our fire is out, and as Evangelist Don Hardman puts it, "the church is producing paper fire", we can get back to the source and get re lit. The churches today are more imitation fireplaces and from a distance they look inviting and it looks like real fire. But it is not melting the cold hearts, it is not pushing back the flames of hell, it is not causing the cockroaches of sin to flee, it is not shining a lighted path to those blind in sin, it is not dissolving the metal chains of bondage around people, it is not exposing the errors of false doctrine and liberal opinions, and it is not a warm inviting fire that the lost want to hover around because they have such hypothermia because the world has chilled them to the bone.
The Bible says our God is a consuming fire. If we get around him long enough, our hearts will burn for the things of God because that fire will be a purging fire. I fear that the next time the majority of professing Christians all across America face the fire of God it will be Hellfire. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire warns Revelation. Church today seems to merge their church membership roll and the book of life. Head knowledge and a membership card are not what makes you saved. Jesus makes you saved. He that hath the Son hath life the Bible says.
And if you are truly saved, your heart will burn with the things of God like a furnace, and the light that is produced will be seen by a dark dark world.
Christian, church, can you see that the light is getting dim, and in many cases, out completely?
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Extra Extra Read all about it ---and then Obey what you read!
We have been talking about the Bible. There is a new mini series out called "The Bible" that is taking America by storm. We shall see if a TV series about the Bible truly gets people back to the Bible. If America went back to the Bible, there might be some hope for our country. However, to go back to the Bible, you have to turn off the TV for a while, and if you turn off the TV you might miss the next Bible episode. So goes the dilemma for the 2013 American.
The Bible is the best seller of all time. It is written by God through men in a sense like this blog is written by me through my computer. It is the evidence inside that proving that claim, and the closer you look at the preserved word of God, found only in the 1611 Authorized Version, known as the King James Version, the more you will know it is God's word.
If it had no power, there would be no cries to remove it. It is alive! Atheists can't handle it, the cults can't stand it, the government cannot stop it, the religious cannot see its simplicity, and the devil cannot destroy it. The word of God is quick and powerful and it is a weapon of mass instruction. It will destroy the sin in our lives, it will push back the forces of evil, and it will brain wash it's readers. And heart wash. And tongue wash. And hand and feet wash. And eye wash.
It is a book to be loved, and a book to be cherished, a book to be discovered, a book to transform, a book of promises to claim, and a book to be obeyed. It is never out of date, and often ahead of it's time. It satisfies, it quenches, it feeds, it nourishes, it is food to the soul and water to the thirsty, it is Jesus on paper, it is the power of God in print, it is more valuable than gold, more precious than silver, and no book compares to it. It contains more wisdom than all the libraries in the world, it's paper holds more value than all that is printed by the US treasury, it is priceless, and valuable, and is medicine for the sick and life for the dying.
It is everything we need in a world that only has what we think we want. It is a filter, it is a furnace to put a fire of God in our hearts, it is a detox machine, it is an antidote, it is the answer no matter the question, it gets us in tune with the heart beat of God. It is reality in a world of illusion. It is truth in a world of lies. It is hope in a world with none. It is the way in a world going in the wrong direction. It is sobriety in a world drunk on sin. It is peace in a world at war. It provides tranquility in a nightmare world. It is a bullet proof vest for the devils attacks. It is a shield, it is a sword. It is more powerful than the Niagara rapids. It's light is brighter than 1,000 explosions.
It gives strength to the weak, joy to the depressed, eternal life to the condemned, mercy to those who see their guilt, and it brings the knowledge of our sins against a holy God. It is wonderful, eye opening, heart stirring, and edge of your seat expectation. It is passion on paper, it is God's love letter, it is God's appointment book, it is God's mind in print.
It is the history book of the Universe, it is scientifically accurate, it is a compass, it is a lamp to our feet, it is our GPS, it is our gift from God. It is never duplicated, man cannot improve it, new translations can't touch it, bible scoffers can't handle it, the government can't remove it. It is God's word, God's book, God's thoughts, God's truth, God's mind, God's love.
The words that said Let there be light are just as powerful in book form. This book is better than the movies. This book is life changing, earth shaking, world impacting, destiny desire and direction changing, damnation prevention instruction giving, always riveting, salt to a tasteless world, light to a dark land, directions to the lost, guidance for the found, adoption for the fatherless, treasures for the seeker, rewarding to the hunting, and an open door to those knocking.
Have you read it? And will you let it read you?
If you are lost, this world is still your home. This world is not my home since I have been saved. Now I am just a passing through. The Bible - don't leave home without it.
The Bible is the best seller of all time. It is written by God through men in a sense like this blog is written by me through my computer. It is the evidence inside that proving that claim, and the closer you look at the preserved word of God, found only in the 1611 Authorized Version, known as the King James Version, the more you will know it is God's word.
If it had no power, there would be no cries to remove it. It is alive! Atheists can't handle it, the cults can't stand it, the government cannot stop it, the religious cannot see its simplicity, and the devil cannot destroy it. The word of God is quick and powerful and it is a weapon of mass instruction. It will destroy the sin in our lives, it will push back the forces of evil, and it will brain wash it's readers. And heart wash. And tongue wash. And hand and feet wash. And eye wash.
It is a book to be loved, and a book to be cherished, a book to be discovered, a book to transform, a book of promises to claim, and a book to be obeyed. It is never out of date, and often ahead of it's time. It satisfies, it quenches, it feeds, it nourishes, it is food to the soul and water to the thirsty, it is Jesus on paper, it is the power of God in print, it is more valuable than gold, more precious than silver, and no book compares to it. It contains more wisdom than all the libraries in the world, it's paper holds more value than all that is printed by the US treasury, it is priceless, and valuable, and is medicine for the sick and life for the dying.
It is everything we need in a world that only has what we think we want. It is a filter, it is a furnace to put a fire of God in our hearts, it is a detox machine, it is an antidote, it is the answer no matter the question, it gets us in tune with the heart beat of God. It is reality in a world of illusion. It is truth in a world of lies. It is hope in a world with none. It is the way in a world going in the wrong direction. It is sobriety in a world drunk on sin. It is peace in a world at war. It provides tranquility in a nightmare world. It is a bullet proof vest for the devils attacks. It is a shield, it is a sword. It is more powerful than the Niagara rapids. It's light is brighter than 1,000 explosions.
It gives strength to the weak, joy to the depressed, eternal life to the condemned, mercy to those who see their guilt, and it brings the knowledge of our sins against a holy God. It is wonderful, eye opening, heart stirring, and edge of your seat expectation. It is passion on paper, it is God's love letter, it is God's appointment book, it is God's mind in print.
It is the history book of the Universe, it is scientifically accurate, it is a compass, it is a lamp to our feet, it is our GPS, it is our gift from God. It is never duplicated, man cannot improve it, new translations can't touch it, bible scoffers can't handle it, the government can't remove it. It is God's word, God's book, God's thoughts, God's truth, God's mind, God's love.
The words that said Let there be light are just as powerful in book form. This book is better than the movies. This book is life changing, earth shaking, world impacting, destiny desire and direction changing, damnation prevention instruction giving, always riveting, salt to a tasteless world, light to a dark land, directions to the lost, guidance for the found, adoption for the fatherless, treasures for the seeker, rewarding to the hunting, and an open door to those knocking.
Have you read it? And will you let it read you?
If you are lost, this world is still your home. This world is not my home since I have been saved. Now I am just a passing through. The Bible - don't leave home without it.
Monday, March 18, 2013
B.asic I.nstructions B.efore L.eaving E.arth
I often get many questions on which Bible versions as well as the overall translation process. I am a bit harsh, but I say the new versions are good for toilet paper. Or if you have a canary. One preacher calls them Bible perversions. Another Preacher, Allan Jones, said we never had HIV until we had the NIV.
God is a God of love, but He also is Holy and he is to be feared in a good way. If you had a fear of God you would not have additions, you would love God because you would understand what he saved you FROM, and Hell would make sense. The Bible promises blessings and cursings. The Bible warns that God will bring judgment if you mess with the book. After each of the 3 biggest phony translations hit the stands in America, after just a few months we had a Presidential assassination in our country. A few months after the Bible was taken out of the schools, JFK was assassinated. Our country has forgotten God and God's book and we watch drought after drought, earthquakes, floods, oil spills, hurricanes, stock market crashes, food increases, gas price increases, shootings, wars, disease, depression, cancer, anger, anxiety, and 9/11 and wonder what is going on. It's all in the book. God is trying to get our attention. And get us sick of the consequences of doing things our way.
The Bible promises if you do God's will you will know that Jesus was sent by God the Father. The Bible says if you love God and obey him, he will reveal himself to you. The Bible really is a living book, but it meant to be obeyed. If you come with an expectant heart, and an open heart, the Bible is an open book. Most come with their minds made up and dare God to change it, and hence it is a closed book. The response of the AUTHOR is 100% determined by the attitude of the reader. Today it is a challenge because there is so much distraction out there. God speaks in a still small voice. Think of someone whispering. You won't be able to hear a whisper if we are busy on our cell phones or IPhones or IPODS or GameBoys. The biggest obstacle today for the Bible is everything that is competing to distract us. A good question to ask is what is going to matter 500 years from now? Who won the Super Bowl? Which country won the tiny gold medal that they now have to pay taxes on? The latest hollywood movie? Or maybe where you are then?
Ultimately the Bible is important because it provides the correct answers for our final exam. Right answer--- right password to the right eternal destination. Wrong answer-- wrong password to the wrong eternal destination. Hell is eternal truth realized too late. The Bible allows you to get the information about who God is and what he requires BEFORE it is too late. "The greatest trick the devil ever played is convincing the world he doesn't exist." We can't see it, but we are at war right now. The devil is a real being, with a legion of angels at his disposal. He hates you, he hates God, and he will use every trick not in the book to fool you, blind you, numb you to sleep, or distract you.
He will tell you to write me off. Too fanatical. Too radical. Too intense. Don't buy it. The Bible says he is the father of lies.
In a war, the goal of the enemy is going to be to disrupt communication between the leaders and the troops. We are at war, and if the enemy can bring confusion over God's word he wins. Where is God's word? What is God's word? Is it the Holy Bible? Book of Mormons? TV guide? Watchtower? Koran? If it is the Bible which is it? KJV? NEW KJV? NIV? RSV? NLT? Good news for Modern Man? TNIV? NWT? Message Bible? Amplified Bible?
See how confusing it is? How do you know which one?
For starters, the main key is an FBI tactic. They don't study counterfeit bills. They know the real bill inside and out and this makes them spot a fake.
I have been reading the KJV for 7 years (I read the NIV mostly the first 3 years after I was saved) and there is power in that book. I read the NIV or other versions and it does not flow. It is not easier to read. It is just like reading a book of man. The KJV comes with it's own interpreter, free of charge. When you read the KJV the Holy Spirit hovers around that book and confirms that what God wrote is true. Most people get uncomfortable there. They run from God instead of running to God. Don't be afraid. You are going to face that author of the Bible one day anyhow. The Bible says every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It is far better to face him on this side of eternity when you can repent and receive God's free gift of forgiveness than to neglect so great salvation, and still have to face God on Judgment day. Lost.
That is my secret ulterior motive to this blog. I want you to know God like I know him. I want you saved like I was saved. I want you to escape Hell like I escaped Hell. I want you freed from sinful lusts like I was freed. O taste and see that the Lord is Good!!!!
After that intro, what was the question? Oh yes, on which version, and the translation process.
How do you know the Bible is God's word?
1. By studying the real thing you can spot a phony a mile away. The book of Mormon, the Koran, the Watchtower. The Hindu book Bhagavad-Gita. New versions. There are blatant contradictions. Their science is not correct. The bible has tons of scientific facts before man discovered it. The bible says the earth was round when science said it was flat. The Bible said the life of the flesh is in the blood where science taught that sick people must be bled. The Bible teaches God made this earth where science teaches the crazy impossible Big bang. Explosions do not produce order! The new versions fruit is rotten. The Bible says THUS SAITH THE LORD. It claims it is written by God, and it backs it up.
2. The Bible is 66 books written over hundreds of years from all kinds of men. Shepherds. Kings. Prophets. Fishermen. Different cultures. Different languages. Yet these books all form one book with a beginning middle and end. And a common theme throughout. Two college professors can't even agree on much. That unity was truly a miracle.
3. It's preservation. It was attacked all through the ages. Burned by emperors, banned by Popes. Yet it lives on. It is the best seller of all time. Have you read it? Has it read you!?
4. No copyright on the KJV! God's word is not bound says the Bible. You have to get Zondervan's permission to use the NIV! The love of money is the root of all evil says the Bible.
5. Fruit of the KJV. It is a Holy Holy book. Do the experiment I did. Read nothing but the KJV every morning for the next 30 days. Start with the Gospel of John, and read the Psalms and Romans too. Ask God to show you if it is truly the WORD of God, the very preserved Words of God. Ask, while letting God know that if He shows you the truth you will embrace it and obey it. Desire the truth more than you want to stay right.
6. The bible has it's own system of checks and balances that fall apart in the new versions. Example is Bible codes, i.e. Bible numbers have meanings. For example the number 13 is the number of rebellion. Genesis 1: 1-12 says GOD in each and every verse. Verse 13 God is omitted. Genesis 13:13 says the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord. 6 is the number for man. Revelation 18:14 says that (666). Man was created on the 6th day. The 6th book of the bible is the first names after a man, the 6 lettered Joshua. The 6th book of the New Testament, ROMANS, has 6 letters, and named after man. Guess what the 6th word in the 6th verse of the 6th chapter in Romans is? MAN!!! That does not work in the other versions.
7. "Inspiration without preservation is a divine waste of time." --Evangelist Sam Gipp. God used men to pen the autographs, and to protect them so we could be confident we can hold in our hands the very same word of God that men had through the ages, in our language. God knew in 1611 that English would be the language of today.
8. The new versions are all based on translations of altered manuscripts from Egypt. Egypt is a type of the world in the Bible, a place of rebellion and corruption. The KJV is based on pure manuscripts from Antioch. The book of Acts says that they were first called Christians in Antioch. Antioch is a good place to get a bible. Egypt is not.
9. God is not the author of confusion. If everyone had the KJV there would be unity over what the Bible says. Instead you have fights over which version to use in the message today.
10. It satisfies. Snickers and the new versions do not.
Thanks for reading this. If you have any questions, don't hesitate! I am not an expert but I love sharing what God has given me in his word and helping others know God too! Come to God for who he is, not what he has! You will seek him and find him, the bible promises, when you search for him with all your heart!
Sunday, March 17, 2013
I Love the Old Bible
A new 10 hour 5 week mini series called "The Bible" is a surprise hit on the History Channel. It is drawing as many viewers as American Idol and is produced by Touched by an Angel actress Roma Downey and her husband, reality show producer Mark Burnett. At the very least this proves America has a thirst for spiritual things.
While I don't know how "biblically correct" a History Channel show is, it may be a step in the right direction. When Jim Carrey was 19 years old he spent his first night in Hollywood in a seedy motel. Something he was watching made him want to look for a Bible in his room. He was surprised to find no bible in his hotel room. He went down to the front desk to ask for a bible and the clerk said, "Son, you won't find a bible anywhere in Hollywood."
It also may just mean America is open to spiritual things but only on their terms. I haven't watched the show but I find it hard to believe they are going to take the Bible literally. There are many places
where men today compromise the Bible. For example, many folks do not take Genesis literally and instead merge it with evolution to blend the truth of the Bible and the myth of millions of years. Others wrongly teach a local flood. The flood covered the whole earth 4,300 years ago and it left clear evidence that only a blind evolutionist can miss. Others teach that the newer bible versions are better more faithful translations, which is a lie. Only the King James version is faithful to the original writings and can be trusted. Many teach the clear miracles of the Bible and things they don't understand as symbolism. Jesus is our authority and he taught events like Jonah in the belly of the whale and the destruction of Sodom as facts. The bible literally is the history book of the universe because it's author created the universe.
The Bible describes the condition of men in the last days in 2nd Timothy 3. Verse 5 says of mankind, Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. One reason it is not actual Godliness is there is no fear, respect, or obedience of God's word today. Sitting down for 5 weeks and watching the action packed war scenes and David take down Goliath is not the same as obeying it as the literal word of God.
God's word is the History book of the Universe and as accurate as a newspaper from the future. Because of the translation of the month club, the bible has become a book that people scoff at and laugh at and IGNORE. However, we will be judged by that book whether we have read it or not.
If I pour Kool Aid in my car because I think it is cheaper than $4 a gallon gasoline, my car will still DIE even though I can plead ignorance because I didn't see any warning because I wouldn't read my car owner's manual. Folks, we are not doing so hot in America now that the Bible is replaced with Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Maxim, Cosmo, TV Guide, USA Today, and Newsweek. Schools before maybe had a problem with school spitballs. Today we have school shootings.
The Bible says BLESSED IS THE NATION WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD. The LORD and The Bible go hand in hand. When the GOD of the Bible was our GOD in AMERICA we were blessed and the BOOK was read, revered, respected, and the RESULTS WERE AMERICANS who didn't need 4 different anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds to get through life or a case of Bud-Dumber to get through the weekend. Weekends were made for the Lord Jesus and Sunday was the Lord's Day.
Now Sunday is a day one has to sacrifice because they can't buy beer until noon. Revelation saw this all coming. The Book of Genesis says WHO Began it and AND HOW it BEGAN. The Book of Revelation says WHO will END it and HOW it will END. It will not end by nuclear invasion. It will not be us destroying the environment. It will not be by us not saving the whales. God is going to show true GLOBAL WARMING so he is giving you a GLOBAL WARNING RIGHT Now!!!!
Revelation is a prophetic book, teaching modern history as it unfolds from a book written 2,000 years ago. It is exactly like having a newspaper from the future in our hands. The mistake the Catholic Church and Protestant Churches have made with the Book of Revelation is turning the book into a book of symbolism and mystic mumbo jumbo that no one can understand (not even them!).
God is not the author of confusion says the Bible. The book of Revelation is meant to be taken literally except where it is obvious the author is using a metaphor. It also defines words that might be confusing and the book provides it's own built in dictionary for items like the 7 Golden Candlesticks and Golden stars, etc. Revelation 1:20 defines the Candlesticks and the Stars, for example.
The book of Revelation, like the entire Bible is a CLOSED and OPEN book. God is the author of the Bible, and the Bible is 66 different Books written over hundreds and hundreds of years from all kinds of authors that forms one book with one central theme. You can't even get 2 University Professors to agree that closely in their writings! God wrote the best seller of all time, the bible, and God wrote it THROUGH men, just like I type a text through a cell phone.
The Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God. (1st Tim 3:16). Job 32:8 says But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Did I write the text or did my cell phone? I could say my blog is "inspired". It might be an outrageous claim. But if 65 other people around the world all posted the same themed blog posts, and if you connected our posts together and they formed ONE blog with a beginning, middle and end, you could say with confidence that you were witnessing something supernatural.
The Bible is like that. If you look at anything man makes, say my $27 8-pack of Gillette Fusion Razor Blades, or perhaps a 747 plane, the closer you looked at it the less impressive it would look. My gourmet razors would look dull and pathetic under a microscope. Instead, anything God designed looks wonderful the closer up you look at it.
Look at a common fly or a tick under an electron microscope! Wow! Amazing! A cell of a tree is more complex than the NASA Space Shuttle! There is a factory inside! Design demands a designer! The Bible works like that. The closer you look at the Modern Perversions-- the NIV, the New KJV, the RSV, Good NEWS for Modern Man, the Living Bible, the Amplified Bible, the Message, etc, the less impressive it looks. Missing verses, contradictions, strange confusing statements, missing words, and just plain nonsense.
The closer you look at the KJV the more impressive it looks. Yet despite the impressive evidence, it still takes faith to believe 1) The bible is God's Word. and 2) the KJV is God's Approved, Authorized translation. The way to approach the Bible is this--- with an open mind and hungry heart.
The attitude of the reader determines the response of the Author. If you read the book to JUDGE IT, it is a CLOSED Book. IF you read the book to let it JUDGE YOU, it is an open book. Modern scholars like to let the ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS which are LONG GONE, TRUMP the TRANSLATION you can hold in your HAND in the form of the 1611 Authorized version known as the King James Version. Then the SCHOLAR BECOMES THE AUTHORITY to tell you WHAT HATH GOD SAID? God wants His word in the Hand of the Common Man!!!
The Catholic church for years convinced man that they cannot understand the scriptures and you need a Priest to tell you what it says. Now no one reads the Bible anyway, so they don't act as dogmatic about it. They now encourage you to read it (so they look more "Protestant") and we humans are a bunch of rebels so now we don't read it when we are told to. Anyway, the book of Revelation works like that --- if you are open it is open. Seek and ye shall find. Ask and it shall be given unto you.
The Bible is alive.
You will honestly get help and answers to problems you are facing today, 03/17/13 from a book written before 03/17/0013. It is a living book but we are spiritually dead. It is like an unplugged fax machine. We may be sending messages, we may be sending heart felt prayers and questions to God, but if we aren't willing to turn to God his way, we continue to operate a machine with potential, but one that is useless at the moment.
When you are saved, you get plugged into God. Saved, or lost, though, the Bible will be open to the honest seeker of truth. If you respond positively to the light God sheds on both HIS WORD and YOUR SIN as you come toward Him, the more light he will shine. And like a garden, the word is a seed. With LIGHT and WATER you will see something growing sooner than you'd expect.
Why do we doubt the Bible when college books from just 10 years ago are already outdated? In Revelation 3, it describes today's Christians, and this is the final church age before Jesus returns. Jesus calls them lukewarm, and they say, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." (See Revelation 3:13-15). Lukewarm and a form of godliness are good ways to describe the average Christian today.
Most are false converts and much of the church has a head knowledge of God but end up in Hell over a mere 18 inches. It never went the 18 inches from the head to the heart, and there was just a form of godliness only. Many know the right answers, but don't KNOW the God asking the Questions. They know every sports statistic and can recite every beer jingle, but the only Bible verse they know is Don't judge. I am merely warning to let you LET The BOOK do it's job and let it JUDGE YOU.
It is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Let it do it's job. It will cut you open to perform the operation of God, but it will quickly heal you up before you hurt too long. It never just hurts without a reason. Conviction and guilt are wonderful things-- they reveal our need for a Savior and make us thirsty for God. Read God's word, but come open and hungry. Have an expectant attitude. Pray for God to reveal himself in His word.
One time I prayed for God to reveal Himself when I was reading the Bible on a lunch break. I closed my 1000 page Bible at a certain verse. That night when I went to go home, I turned on the car and my radio, and a Preacher was on the radio. The very first thing he said was that verse. Another time I asked God to reveal Himself, I was kneeling at my seat in prayer, and the Pastor said, Open your bibles. I opened my bible randomly I thought to a certain chapter in Psalms. He then announced turn to chapter so and so. When I went to turn I was shocked to see I was staring right at the verse, having already turned to it. Just tonight in church, Preacher was reading a portion from 2nd Timothy. He made some comments and moved on. Then he said to go back to 2nd Timothy. Something in me caused my eyes to lock on a verse in the middle of the page when in reality I had no idea where I was to read as he didn't announce which verse. As he announced the exact verse and started reading it, my eyes were exactly in step with his readings. There was something supernatural going on. I can't even find an address my wife needs when I am looking right at it in her address book!
This morning on my way to work I listened to a revival meeting message Bro Hardman preached last October. His main thought was in Proverbs, A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. When I got to work I had time to read my proverbs for the day. Since there are 31 Proverb chapters a good discipline is to read the chapter that corresponds to that day on the calendar. That verse was in today's Proverbs I read for the day -- correlating to a message back in October.
It is a living book. It is different than the newspaper which only has bad news. The Bible has both good and bad news. It will ignite in you a fire for God and if you get the word in you, and let God bring it to fruition, it will make you alive to God. Blessed are the PURE in Heart for they shall see God says the Book of Matthew.
It will clean up your heart, it will filter your mind, wash you and make you clean from the inside out, it will change your desires, it will speak to you, it will feed you, it will nourish you, and it will satisfy your hungry soul. Read it! Love it! Learn it! Teach it! Share it! Cherish it! Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee says Psalm 119. Meditate and Memorize it! Sing it!
And most IMPORTANTLY DO WHAT IT SAYS! OBEY IT!!!!!
While I don't know how "biblically correct" a History Channel show is, it may be a step in the right direction. When Jim Carrey was 19 years old he spent his first night in Hollywood in a seedy motel. Something he was watching made him want to look for a Bible in his room. He was surprised to find no bible in his hotel room. He went down to the front desk to ask for a bible and the clerk said, "Son, you won't find a bible anywhere in Hollywood."
It also may just mean America is open to spiritual things but only on their terms. I haven't watched the show but I find it hard to believe they are going to take the Bible literally. There are many places
where men today compromise the Bible. For example, many folks do not take Genesis literally and instead merge it with evolution to blend the truth of the Bible and the myth of millions of years. Others wrongly teach a local flood. The flood covered the whole earth 4,300 years ago and it left clear evidence that only a blind evolutionist can miss. Others teach that the newer bible versions are better more faithful translations, which is a lie. Only the King James version is faithful to the original writings and can be trusted. Many teach the clear miracles of the Bible and things they don't understand as symbolism. Jesus is our authority and he taught events like Jonah in the belly of the whale and the destruction of Sodom as facts. The bible literally is the history book of the universe because it's author created the universe.
The Bible describes the condition of men in the last days in 2nd Timothy 3. Verse 5 says of mankind, Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. One reason it is not actual Godliness is there is no fear, respect, or obedience of God's word today. Sitting down for 5 weeks and watching the action packed war scenes and David take down Goliath is not the same as obeying it as the literal word of God.
God's word is the History book of the Universe and as accurate as a newspaper from the future. Because of the translation of the month club, the bible has become a book that people scoff at and laugh at and IGNORE. However, we will be judged by that book whether we have read it or not.
If I pour Kool Aid in my car because I think it is cheaper than $4 a gallon gasoline, my car will still DIE even though I can plead ignorance because I didn't see any warning because I wouldn't read my car owner's manual. Folks, we are not doing so hot in America now that the Bible is replaced with Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Maxim, Cosmo, TV Guide, USA Today, and Newsweek. Schools before maybe had a problem with school spitballs. Today we have school shootings.
The Bible says BLESSED IS THE NATION WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD. The LORD and The Bible go hand in hand. When the GOD of the Bible was our GOD in AMERICA we were blessed and the BOOK was read, revered, respected, and the RESULTS WERE AMERICANS who didn't need 4 different anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds to get through life or a case of Bud-Dumber to get through the weekend. Weekends were made for the Lord Jesus and Sunday was the Lord's Day.
Now Sunday is a day one has to sacrifice because they can't buy beer until noon. Revelation saw this all coming. The Book of Genesis says WHO Began it and AND HOW it BEGAN. The Book of Revelation says WHO will END it and HOW it will END. It will not end by nuclear invasion. It will not be us destroying the environment. It will not be by us not saving the whales. God is going to show true GLOBAL WARMING so he is giving you a GLOBAL WARNING RIGHT Now!!!!
Revelation is a prophetic book, teaching modern history as it unfolds from a book written 2,000 years ago. It is exactly like having a newspaper from the future in our hands. The mistake the Catholic Church and Protestant Churches have made with the Book of Revelation is turning the book into a book of symbolism and mystic mumbo jumbo that no one can understand (not even them!).
God is not the author of confusion says the Bible. The book of Revelation is meant to be taken literally except where it is obvious the author is using a metaphor. It also defines words that might be confusing and the book provides it's own built in dictionary for items like the 7 Golden Candlesticks and Golden stars, etc. Revelation 1:20 defines the Candlesticks and the Stars, for example.
The book of Revelation, like the entire Bible is a CLOSED and OPEN book. God is the author of the Bible, and the Bible is 66 different Books written over hundreds and hundreds of years from all kinds of authors that forms one book with one central theme. You can't even get 2 University Professors to agree that closely in their writings! God wrote the best seller of all time, the bible, and God wrote it THROUGH men, just like I type a text through a cell phone.
The Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God. (1st Tim 3:16). Job 32:8 says But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Did I write the text or did my cell phone? I could say my blog is "inspired". It might be an outrageous claim. But if 65 other people around the world all posted the same themed blog posts, and if you connected our posts together and they formed ONE blog with a beginning, middle and end, you could say with confidence that you were witnessing something supernatural.
The Bible is like that. If you look at anything man makes, say my $27 8-pack of Gillette Fusion Razor Blades, or perhaps a 747 plane, the closer you looked at it the less impressive it would look. My gourmet razors would look dull and pathetic under a microscope. Instead, anything God designed looks wonderful the closer up you look at it.
Look at a common fly or a tick under an electron microscope! Wow! Amazing! A cell of a tree is more complex than the NASA Space Shuttle! There is a factory inside! Design demands a designer! The Bible works like that. The closer you look at the Modern Perversions-- the NIV, the New KJV, the RSV, Good NEWS for Modern Man, the Living Bible, the Amplified Bible, the Message, etc, the less impressive it looks. Missing verses, contradictions, strange confusing statements, missing words, and just plain nonsense.
The closer you look at the KJV the more impressive it looks. Yet despite the impressive evidence, it still takes faith to believe 1) The bible is God's Word. and 2) the KJV is God's Approved, Authorized translation. The way to approach the Bible is this--- with an open mind and hungry heart.
The attitude of the reader determines the response of the Author. If you read the book to JUDGE IT, it is a CLOSED Book. IF you read the book to let it JUDGE YOU, it is an open book. Modern scholars like to let the ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS which are LONG GONE, TRUMP the TRANSLATION you can hold in your HAND in the form of the 1611 Authorized version known as the King James Version. Then the SCHOLAR BECOMES THE AUTHORITY to tell you WHAT HATH GOD SAID? God wants His word in the Hand of the Common Man!!!
The Catholic church for years convinced man that they cannot understand the scriptures and you need a Priest to tell you what it says. Now no one reads the Bible anyway, so they don't act as dogmatic about it. They now encourage you to read it (so they look more "Protestant") and we humans are a bunch of rebels so now we don't read it when we are told to. Anyway, the book of Revelation works like that --- if you are open it is open. Seek and ye shall find. Ask and it shall be given unto you.
The Bible is alive.
You will honestly get help and answers to problems you are facing today, 03/17/13 from a book written before 03/17/0013. It is a living book but we are spiritually dead. It is like an unplugged fax machine. We may be sending messages, we may be sending heart felt prayers and questions to God, but if we aren't willing to turn to God his way, we continue to operate a machine with potential, but one that is useless at the moment.
When you are saved, you get plugged into God. Saved, or lost, though, the Bible will be open to the honest seeker of truth. If you respond positively to the light God sheds on both HIS WORD and YOUR SIN as you come toward Him, the more light he will shine. And like a garden, the word is a seed. With LIGHT and WATER you will see something growing sooner than you'd expect.
Why do we doubt the Bible when college books from just 10 years ago are already outdated? In Revelation 3, it describes today's Christians, and this is the final church age before Jesus returns. Jesus calls them lukewarm, and they say, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." (See Revelation 3:13-15). Lukewarm and a form of godliness are good ways to describe the average Christian today.
Most are false converts and much of the church has a head knowledge of God but end up in Hell over a mere 18 inches. It never went the 18 inches from the head to the heart, and there was just a form of godliness only. Many know the right answers, but don't KNOW the God asking the Questions. They know every sports statistic and can recite every beer jingle, but the only Bible verse they know is Don't judge. I am merely warning to let you LET The BOOK do it's job and let it JUDGE YOU.
It is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Let it do it's job. It will cut you open to perform the operation of God, but it will quickly heal you up before you hurt too long. It never just hurts without a reason. Conviction and guilt are wonderful things-- they reveal our need for a Savior and make us thirsty for God. Read God's word, but come open and hungry. Have an expectant attitude. Pray for God to reveal himself in His word.
One time I prayed for God to reveal Himself when I was reading the Bible on a lunch break. I closed my 1000 page Bible at a certain verse. That night when I went to go home, I turned on the car and my radio, and a Preacher was on the radio. The very first thing he said was that verse. Another time I asked God to reveal Himself, I was kneeling at my seat in prayer, and the Pastor said, Open your bibles. I opened my bible randomly I thought to a certain chapter in Psalms. He then announced turn to chapter so and so. When I went to turn I was shocked to see I was staring right at the verse, having already turned to it. Just tonight in church, Preacher was reading a portion from 2nd Timothy. He made some comments and moved on. Then he said to go back to 2nd Timothy. Something in me caused my eyes to lock on a verse in the middle of the page when in reality I had no idea where I was to read as he didn't announce which verse. As he announced the exact verse and started reading it, my eyes were exactly in step with his readings. There was something supernatural going on. I can't even find an address my wife needs when I am looking right at it in her address book!
This morning on my way to work I listened to a revival meeting message Bro Hardman preached last October. His main thought was in Proverbs, A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. When I got to work I had time to read my proverbs for the day. Since there are 31 Proverb chapters a good discipline is to read the chapter that corresponds to that day on the calendar. That verse was in today's Proverbs I read for the day -- correlating to a message back in October.
It is a living book. It is different than the newspaper which only has bad news. The Bible has both good and bad news. It will ignite in you a fire for God and if you get the word in you, and let God bring it to fruition, it will make you alive to God. Blessed are the PURE in Heart for they shall see God says the Book of Matthew.
It will clean up your heart, it will filter your mind, wash you and make you clean from the inside out, it will change your desires, it will speak to you, it will feed you, it will nourish you, and it will satisfy your hungry soul. Read it! Love it! Learn it! Teach it! Share it! Cherish it! Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee says Psalm 119. Meditate and Memorize it! Sing it!
And most IMPORTANTLY DO WHAT IT SAYS! OBEY IT!!!!!
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