MY TRUTH OR THE TRUTH

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What are our psychologists teaching us about life? The latest is the “identity theory of life“. It is entirely subjective. It emerges from how we feel, what we think, and what we want. It is not beholden to our Creator, to any fixed standard outside of us. It is my truth, not the truth.

What does God tell us about life? he starts with “In the beginning, God...” Then when He has anything to say about human beings, He says, ““Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…

There is a truth outside of us that we cannot escape. It determines what we are and who we are. And yet the world rebels against that truth. Why? The Prince of this World deceived Eve:

“But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5

We want to be God and determine how we will live our lives. We do not want to live according to our Creator’s commandments.

We are made in the image of God. What does that mean? Martyn Isles in his book Who Am I? Solving the identity Puzzle says the following:

“Scripture tells us that the whole of God’s nature may be summarised in that sacred word “holy”. First, it means sinless and perfect. So Adam and Eve were made sinless and perfect. But holiness is also a short way of referring to all of who God is. It includes all aspects of His perfection – all of His character traits. So, God’s character traits were able to be demonstrated by mankind in creation because of their holiness, to radiantly image Him and reflect His glory this includes things like His love, grace, mercy, righteousness, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and so forth. Wow!

God made it possible for us to get right with Him and return to the right relationship. It could only be achieved by Jesus (God the Son) paying the price of our rebellion which was death. Jesus died so that we might live. He rose again from the dead and so will we to eternal life, first to reign with Jesus on this Earth during His Millennial reign, and then after the White Throne judgement, on a new Earth where only the righteous will dwell.

“They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:5-6

The Millennial Kingdom is next on God’s agenda for mankind. Are you prepared for what is coming? I was not and God narrowed my focus for a while so I could prepare the website http://www.millennialkingdom.net. May I suggest you go take a look and get prepared?

DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD

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Where do I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life?

Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts them together to see what they mean.

I love listening to John Lennox. He is an evangelist extraordinaire. He makes it so simple and at the same time exciting as he reveals God’s truth about the universe He created. Christians will enjoy this video immensely and want to share it with others. Non-Christians will hate it as it challenges their faith to the core.

FREEDOM

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If God exists, then we also need to consider a positive aspect, which is sometimes called “freedom for.” Just like a car that has been designed by its creator to operate in a certain fashion, humans have been made in God’s image for a greater purpose and only experience freedom when they discover and live that purpose (Genesis 1-2). It is only when we know the truth, and align our lives to it, that we can experience genuine freedom.

LIVING IN ACCORDANCE WITH GOD’S DESIGN:
The secular worldview says to live as you want. The Christian view says to live as God leads.

The secular view emphasizes the individual as supreme. The Christian view says that loving God and loving others is supreme.

The secular view says that we create existential truth. The Christian view says we discover the truth.

God has done His utmost to reveal the truth to us by sending His only Son not only to reveal the truth about Him and us but to atone for our sins and rebellion by dying on The Cross in our place that we might have the opportunity to get back into a right relationship with our Heavenly Father.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.“ John 1:14

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24

God has also made it clear as to what is the outcome for those that reject the truth about God.

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” Romans 1:24-25

“He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.” Romans 2:6-8

God has also revealed in great detail what will unfold in the last seven years prior to Jesus’ return and the wrath of God is poured out on an unrepentant people. For those that want to know the truth, God has given it to us in His Word. Literally, thousands of fulfilled Bible prophecies prove the Bible is God’s revealed inerrant Word. You reject it at your own peril as the following Scripture reveals.

“Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:15-17

THE BIBLE IS TIMELESS TRUTH

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Post by John MacArthur

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

God does not intend for His Word to be subdivided, excerpted, and wrenched out of context. The Bible speaks with consistent authority and perpetual relevance in all matters. It does not require correction, innovation, or editorial oversight.

The key to the Reformation was biblical preaching, which has been the key to every revival. The church flourishes when biblical doctrine is faithfully preached from Bible texts. At such times, the truth of God’s Word is properly in focus, as the Spirit originally intended.

But there are times that are dominated by excusing the Bible’s supposed irrelevance. People say, “We believe the doctrines of the Bible, but most people just do not identify with its old language and old stories from an agrarian time period.” So they argue that the truths of Scripture must be placed in a contemporary package to better reach people. This, in essence, is to say that we have a more effective way to reach people than the Holy Spirit had in authoring the Scripture.

One current advocate of such proud hubris is Andy Stanley. The pastor of one of the largest congregations in America, he has encouraged believers to “unhitch the Christian faith” from the Old Testament.” He had previously admonished pastors and teachers to never say, “The Bible says.” The result is that biblical doctrine is stripped of its biblical attire and dressed in faddish contemporary fashion. Such meddling is an assault on the power and authority of the Bible. God knew how He wanted His doctrine dressed, and people do not have the liberty to rearrange it to their own preference.

Once such ideas become entrenched, doctrine degrades until it comes to flatly contradict the Bible. This accurately describes the state of many churches today, where the man-centered, therapeutic doctrine they preach flies in the face of the biblical text.

The call for us today is to return to the doctrine of the Bible as God has intended it to be presented. God has set forth His truth in His chosen biblical contexts, proportions, and relations, and in such stories, parables, analogies, and narratives. He knows what suits the soul of man, and under the work of the Spirit of God, no other forms can supersede or improve on the Word of God. It is characterized by objectivity, rationality, veracity, authority, and integrity.

If God’s people desire to fulfill their calling to be salt and light in this sinful world, they must cultivate a high view of His Word. The church must embrace and proclaim Scripture in its fullness, boldly holding it forth as God’s standard for life and godliness.

“But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:11

WORLD REJECTS GOD’S VALUES

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Päivi Räsänen, a Christian politician is facing six years in prison for sharing her biblical beliefs on sexuality and marriage. Finnish Bishop-elect Juhana Pohjola, who distributed a pamphlet written by Räsänen is facing a similar sentence.

“The actions of the Finnish State in prosecuting Christians for holding to the clear teaching of the very words of Jesus regarding marriage and sex (Matthew 19:4-6) are egregious (extraordinary in a bad way),” says the statement issued by the International Lutheran Council and joined by the bishops and presidents of dozens of Lutheran church bodies worldwide.

Finland, Päivi Räsänen
Finnish Member of Parliament, Päivi Räsänen

Päivi Räsänen, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, could face up to six years in prison after being charged with three counts of ethnic agitation related to statements she made expressing her beliefs about human sexuality and marriage.

A longstanding member of the Finnish Parliament, Räsänen publicly voiced her opinion on marriage in a 2004 booklet on sexual ethics, describing marriage as between one man and one woman. She also expressed her views on a 2019 radio show and tweeted church leadership on the matter.

Pohjola, the bishop-elect of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, has also been charged with one count of ethnic agitation for publishing Räsänen’s booklet.

“… The accused clearly affirm the divinely given dignity, value, and human rights of all, including all who identify with the LGBTQ community,” says the letter, titled “A Protest and Call for Free Religious Speech in Finland.”

“We Lutherans make this strong confession along with Drs. Pohjola and Räsänen,” it continues. “The vast majority of Christians in all nations, including Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, share these convictions. Would the Finnish Prosecutor General condemn us all? Moreover, shall the Finnish State risk governmental sanctions from other states based on the abuse of foundational human rights?”

Prosecutors determined that Räsänen’s previous statements disparage and discriminate against LGBT individuals and foment intolerance and defamation. The mother of five maintains that her expressions are “legal and should not be censored.”

“I cannot accept that voicing my religious beliefs could mean imprisonment,” said Räsänen in a statement previously issued by ADF International, which is representing her. “I do not consider myself guilty of threatening, slandering or insulting anyone. My statements were all based on the Bible’s teachings on marriage and sexuality.”

What we see playing out here in Finland and most countries in the west including my own country Australia is prophesied to happen in the “last days” before Jesus returns to this earth to rule and reign from the nation, Israel, that God established for His purposes nearly 2000 years ago. Most of the O.T. prophets from Moses onward prophesied that their Messiah will rule over the nations. The Millennial reign of Jesus on this earth will fulfill these prophecies and the Abrahamic covenant. It completes the unfinished business God had with Israel and is a transitional period prior to the destruction of this earth, the second resurrection and the White Throne Judgement.

I say a transitional period because we know that Satan is bound for most of Jesus Millennial reign on this earth and yet we are told that Jesus and the resurrected Saints need to rule with a “rod of iron”. (Rev. 2:27, 12:5, 19:15)

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.” Revelation 20:1-3

Also, when Satan is released he is still able to raise an enormous army to wage a war against Jesus and the Saints.

“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10

God is revealing to us the state of the human heart, Even though Satan is bound and Jesus and the glorified Saints are ruling and reigning on this earth, people will still reject God’s values and rebel against His authority over them just as Satan and one third of the angels did at the beginning of creation. Read what God had to say about people living on earth prior to God’s first judgement of the human race. Moreover, Jesus said that prior to the the wrath of God being poured out again they would be just like the people of Noah’s day.

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

NEED TO VALUE TRUTH OVER FEELINGS

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Two high profile renouncement’s of faith have shaken the Christian world in recent days, with “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” author Joshua Harris taking the atheist plunge first, followed by Hillsong worship leader Marty Sampson declaring that he is “genuinely losing his faith.”

John Cooper, from the popular Christian band Skillet  wrote a lengthy (and scathing) post on Facebook offering some fierce push-back on some of the complaints made by these two apostates:

“I have a few specific thoughts and rebuttals to statements made by recently disavowed church influencers…first of all, I am stunned that the seemingly most important thing for these leaders who have lost their faith is to make such a bold new stance. Basically saying, “I’ve been living and preaching boldly something for 20 years and led generations of people with my teachings and now I no longer believe it… therefore I’m going to boldly and loudly tell people it was all wrong while I boldly and loudly lead people in to my next truth.” I’m perplexed why they aren’t embarrassed?”

A very strong observation, as many who critique the Christian faith enjoy throwing arrows yet leave the inadequacies and folly of their own worldview conveniently unaddressed. Why should someone believe this wavering person, especially when they are entering into a worldview that has no worthy justifications to explain virtually anything we currently experience in life?

I’ll fast forward to the crown jewel of the post, in which Cooper responds brilliantly to some of the (frequently asked/answered) questions raised by the Hillsong worship leader, who claimed these were issues the church “never talks about.”

“Thirdly, there is a common thread running through these leaders/influencers that basically says that “no one else is talking about the REAL stuff.” This is just flatly false. I just read today in a renown worship leader’s statement, “How could a God of love send people to hell? No one talks about it.” As if he is the first person to ask this? Brother, you are not that unique. The church has wrestled with this for 1500 years. Literally. everybody talks about it. Children talk about it in Sunday school. There’s like a billion books written on the topic. Just because you don’t get the answer you want doesn’t mean that we are unwilling to wrestle with it. We wrestle with scripture until we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

It is time for the church to rediscover the preeminence of the inerrant Word of God. And to value the teaching of the Word. We need to value truth over feeling. Truth over emotion. And what we are seeing now is the result of the church raising up influencers who did not supremely value truth who have led a generation who also do not believe in the supremacy of truth. And now those disavowed leaders are proudly still leading and influencing boldly AWAY from the truth.

Is it any wonder that some of our disavowed Christian leaders are letting go of the absolute truth of the Bible and subsequently their lives are falling apart? Further and further they are sinking in the sea all the while shouting “now I’ve found the truth! Follow me!!” Brothers and sisters in the faith all around the world, pastors, teachers, worship leaders, influencers… I implore you, please, please in your search for relevancy for the gospel, let us NOT find creative ways to shape Gods word into the image of our culture by stifling inconvenient truths. But rather let us hold on even tighter to the anchor of the living Word of God. For He changes NOT. “The grass withers and the flowers fade away, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8)

Amen and amen! Beautifully said by Cooper all the way around. If you check out the full post you’ll also be treated to his astute yet often looked observation that these leaders backing away from the faith say we just need to love people — yet by removing God you remove all justification and reason to even bother loving people in the first place! Everything becomes relative without Him, and Cooper does a nice job of fleshing this idea out.

From article in Faith Wire by Managing Editor, Dan Andros