MAN IS NOT GOOD AND HE CANNOT PERFECT HIMSELF 

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Man, apart from God’s grace, is a sinner, not a saint.

To fail to recognize our own inherent corruption and the need for God’s saving grace leads to chaos and lawlessness.

In every generation man’s unconstrained impulse to have faith in his own righteousness and act upon that faith, reemerges. Today we see it in a radical Leftist agenda in America that is fueled by ambiguous intellectual movements which seek not just to find flaws in the American system that might be fixed, but which cry out for the system’s total destruction— to “tear the whole thing down.” Everything that came before must go, not just those ideas or structures that have rightly been judged as cruel or unjust. 

The forces that hold to the unconstrained vision, men and women who reject any need for divine aid or help and who really believe a new revolution can solve the problem, are once again at work. Trade-offs are unacceptable for the advocates of the unconstrained view. Only total solutions are acceptable. Perfection is within society’s grasp if we would only reach out and grab it. However, perfection is a high bar. Thus, any identifiable flaw in the fabric of society must inevitably spur on the next revolution. “Perpetual revolution” (not reformation) is the explicit doctrine of the foot soldier for the unconstrained vision of man.

The problem, of course, with this view is that it consciously rejects what it regards as the most detestable doctrines of the Christian faith: original sin and the desperate need for God’s grace.

The truth is the following three realities:

  1. Man is a sinner, prone to war and wickedness, and mutual slaughter.
  2. Any virtue in man is a gift from God. God the Father’s ultimate gift to mankind is the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, who by His death and resurrection made it possible for the Father to send the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit to indwell every believer who accepts Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
  3. By living in the power of the Holy Spirit we are liberated from the world’s system, even to the point of welcoming our own persecution, which is to God’s glory and the glory of His Church. 

Adapted from article “Trying To Be Good Without God, Or Hoping “We Won’t Get Fooled Again”

 DECEMBER 3, 2021 by Anthony Costello http://www.patheos.com

HOW TO ENJOY THINGS MORE

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In Eyes Wide Open, Steve DeWitt reveals some wonderful truths, “Christians who properly place God as the source and goal of the things they enjoy will find themselves enjoying those things even more. In truth, the way we as believers relish created beauties ought to outstrip that of unbelievers, since we neither find our identity in them nor hold on to them as ultimate.”

Secondary happiness, which is found in something or someone God has created, ultimately leads back to Him. The secondary only fulfills its purpose when people follow it to the primary.

Robert Crofts wrote, “Let these earthly pleasures and felicities excite and encourage us to thankfulness, to all duties of virtue and piety, to look higher to their fountain, to God himself, to heaven, to love and enjoy in Him, to contemplate His infinite goodness, love, beauty, sweetness, glory, and excellency.”

Paul said, “What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20

Paul understood that God is our primary joy. It’s fine for us to say that our children, our grandchildren, and our friends are joys if we remember that God made them and works through them to bring us happiness. They’re not lesser joys, but greater ones—precisely because we know whom these gifts come from! Then we will be able to say as Paul did:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:4-7, 11-13

The Bible teaches absolute truth. Success and a productive life come from embracing the following Biblical principles:

1. Truth exists and is knowable.

2. Truth upheld brings blessings.

3. Truth disregarded brings consequences, usually bad.

Embracing a biblically informed worldview of “truth” brings “joy unspeakable” (1 Peter 1:8) and “abundant life” (John 10:10) as Jesus promised to obedient followers.

DOCTORS & PSYCHOTHERAPISTS: BUTCHERS AND LIARS

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Another great article from Jordan Peterson: Doctors & Psychotherapists: Butchers & Liars.

We are sacrificing our children on the altar of a brutal, far-Left ideology. The medical profession is crumbling in response to radical transgender activists says, Jordan Peterson. Gender is now entirely subjectively defined ignoring a person’s biology.

Please pray for the salvation of Jordan Peterson and also his daughter who has committed her life to our Lord. I am sure God has already used her to soften his heart but from some of his comments, he has not repented and surrendered his heart totally to God. Nevertheless, God is using him to speak the truth about the world’s state of depravity.

Jordan is shocked at the speed at which the world is departing from Judeo-Christian values. May he come to realise that what we are seeing unfolding is prophesied in God’s Word as preceding Jesus’ return to put things right.

Late last year pop-star Cardi B. rocked the music world with her ultra-vulgar song “WAP.” For the sake of all that is good and holy, I will not reproduce the song here.

Considering it reached number one on Billboard, we can only assume that the majority of young people have jettisoned all moral restraints, anything goes. There are now millions of people to whom nothing is sacred. Moreover, anything that has been traditionally viewed as heathen, barbaric or malevolent, is now not only open to pursuit and practice but to praise.

Those who have studied with any seriousness the phenomenon Immanuel Kant described as “das radikale Böse” (radical evil), will see in both the song and the meteoric rise of its creator, an embrace of what one philosopher called the theologia diaboli or “theology of the devil” (see F. H. Heinemann, Existentialism and the Modern Predicament, 205-214).

POSTMODERNISM – A WORLD GONE MAD

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One symptom of madness is being disconnected from reality. That is an apt description for the whole mindset of Postmodernism. It teaches truth is a construction, not a discovery; a function of the will, not the intellect; a matter of political power, not rational inquiry.

WHAT IS TRUTH:

Only our Creator God knows the truth about us and His world. Moreover, He has revealed the truth to us not only through His prophets and His Word (Bible) but by God the Son, Jesus, coming to earth to not only reveal the truth but also to provide the means of our salvation. He paid the price for our rebellion. He died and rose again that we might have eternal life, not just the brief life on this earth. Death in Adam, Life in Christ. Reject God’s Word and you reject the truth.

Former editor of the New York Times, Bari Weiss was hounded from her job for refusing to conform to the canons of political correctness and the left wing culture of the Newsroom. Bari Weiss tells left-wing Brian Stelter of CNN how ‘the world has gone mad,‘ she lists ‘people who work at’ CNN as a cause

Brian Stelter was confronted by ex-New York Times journalist Bari Weiss over CNN’s coverage. 

Weiss has written that many Americans “feel the world has gone mad,” so the left-wing CNN host asked her what she meant by that comment.

 “Where can I start? Well, when you have the chief reporter on the beat of COVID for The New York Times talking about how questioning or pursuing the question of the lab leak is racist, the world has gone mad. When you’re not able to say out loud and in public there are differences between men and women, the world has gone mad. When we’re not allowed to acknowledge that rioting is rioting and it is bad and that silence is not violence, but violence is violence, the world has gone mad,” Weiss said. “When you’re not able to say the Hunter Biden laptop is a story worth pursuing, the world has gone mad. When, in the name of progress, young school children, as young as kindergarten, are being separated in public schools because of their race, and that is called progress instead of segregation, the world has gone mad. There are dozens of examples.”

Weiss said the news media, publishing houses, Hollywood and universities are all guilty of the same thing, they are narrowing, in a radical way, what’s acceptable to say and what isn’t.” Weiss added she feels “disinformation by omission” is plaguing the journalism industry. 

Fortunately, The source of truth knows exactly how this madness will “play out/unfold” and He has revealed it to us in His Word so we will know and not be unprepared. A time of testing is coming for Christians in nations that have been based on the Judeo/ Christian faith like we have never experienced before. God is separating the wheat from the chaff.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:9-14

SILENCING THE VOICE OF TRUTH

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Great message from Shane Idleman challenging pastors on what they are preaching in their churches. Can they be silent on the big issues: creation, abortion, marriage, gender, sexuality, morality.

Shane starts his message with this challenge “​Let Me Get This Straight: you can have your gun protests, lie in the media, teach evolution to our kids, flaunt sexual sin and gay marriage, teach preschool kids about transgenderism, support murdering a child in the womb, but I need to shut my mouth? I don’t think so.

Why can everybody voice, everything else, but the pulpit need to be silenced? It makes no sense. Let me tell you why. It’s because they want to silence the voice of truth.

We are talking about important moral issues that will have huge ramifications when a nation departs from God. What are you leaving for your grandchildren and your children?”

ABSOLUTE TRUTH

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True Christianity is based on the belief that there is absolute truth based on the word of our Creator. The opening words of the Bible are: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1. When we look at the Bible, we discover a number of principles about truth:

1. Truth is absolute by the will of God. God not only reveals Himself as the Trinitarian God, but also as the God who determines what is true and false. Jesus says in John 4:23, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” If we really want to discover truth, we must be willing to believe that it is the Creator who determines truth from falsehood—not our own emotions or intellectual theories.

2. Evil, or sin, is the enemy of truth. The biblical definition of sin outlines what is false and hurtful to human beings. Truth is an understanding of reality that ultimately determines thoughts, morality and actions.

3. Truth is revealed by God in the life of Christ and in the word of Scripture. In John 17:17 Christ prayed, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”

Moral truth is contained, then, in moral teachings, or law, given by God. Since these laws define the reality of life as ordained by the Creator, they exist whether we acknowledge them or not. The consequences of sin are just as inescapable whether committed knowingly or in ignorance.

The foundation of the law is God Himself. By trusting in Him and acting according to what He has commanded, we don’t have to experience the painful effects of sin. Moreover, for Christians who have been born again and have received the Holy Spirit indwelling their own spirit, we have received the power necessary to obey His instructions. “The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.” Proverbs 20:27 The Holy Spirit is the oil required for our lamp, our spirit to function as God intended.

Jesus said, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” Mark 12:29-31

This simple teaching by Jesus Christ forms the basis of all truth. There is a choice between simply going on the way you have been and turning towards God. It’s up to you.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16

PARENTS DON’T RAISE “CHURCH KIDS”

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Parents we need to raise kids that don’t just go to church on Sundays. We need to raise children that know the truth about the world, about the universe and know it can only be discovered in God’s Word – The Bible.

They need to know the Bible is inerrant. Down through the ages, God has told us through His prophets what would happen in the future. Hundreds of prophecies have been fulfilled exactly as prophesied, proof indeed the Bible is inerrant.

That the Bible provides an accurate history of God’s universe. That it not only tells us why, when and how God made it but it also tells us what went wrong and therefore why the universe and us are like we are.

That Jesus death on the cross has provided a way (the only way) back into an eternal relationship with our Heavenly Father.

That the Bible tells us the end of the story, which is good news for all that have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and have been born again by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, but it is incredibly bad news for all those that reject Jesus, God’s free gift of salvation.

That they would understand the extent of what Jesus sacrifice has provided. Our Heavenly Father has sent the Holy Spirit to indwell every believer, to be their counsellor, comforter, teacher, to produce the fruit of the spirit in their lives: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control and to provide all nine gifts of the spirit so we can be effective ambassadors for Christ in this world.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

That they would wake up in the morning thankful for the day, and commit to following the Holy Spirit’s leading, so that they can lay their head down each night, confident that God’s will had been done and His Kingdom advanced and that they had not grieved the Holy Spirit nor quenched His work in their lives.

That they would face the storms of life knowing God’s presence and provision.

That they would reach for the stars because they know the One who created them has a purpose for their lives.

That they will look up when they fall down. Reach out when they need help trusting the indwelling Holy Spirit.

That they will be like oaks planted by His stream of living water and bear much fruit.

That they would love their neighbours fiercely as their Heavenly Father loves them.

That they would see hope when every one else sees hopelessness. That they would share that hope and bring His light into every dark corner.