Carried By Christ

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. Psalm 139:1-4

Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Message of Salvation

Quote the Bible without full context as atheists do and you can easily paint God as a tyrant. For every reasonable argument you can come up with to defend the Scripture, the non-believer, who is determined to convince you that the Bible is not the inspiration of God, will come back with a never ending list of atrocities and injustices in the Bible. Their aim is to put you on the defensive, and trap you into believing that they have proven the Bible, of which they have misrepresented, and text that you may not have the full understanding of because in many cases recognizing the full context may take more than a casual glance at the Biblical passages referenced, as being in error.

I believe that the Bible is God's inerrant and inspired Word. I study its text constantly, continuously hungering for the teaching the Scripture offers me. But salvation is not dependent on how well I know the Bible, or whether or not I am capable of arguing against the attacks against it.

The message is about Salvation. Sure, it helps that over 25 percent of the entire Bible contains predictive prophecies that have been literally fulfilled (of which is true of no other book in the world), and I believe that Creation testifies to an intelligent designer that could be none other than the God I believe in. But what is most important is that the sins I remain in separates me from God, but because of His love for us, God did the only thing that could satisfy His justice, holiness, and love for us by coming to Earth in the Person of Jesus Christ and taking our sins upon Himself.

Once I accept that gift, and allow His Grace to envelope me, it is then that I understand the Word of God, and recognize that a Christian's Faith does not stand in the supposed wisdom of man, but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

In other words, I am not saved because of the message of the Bible, but because of the love of the Lord. Remember, the early believers in Christ were not converted by the text of Scriptures because the text did not exist in full form, yet, and most of them in that age could not read. They were saved by the spoken word. The foundation of faith is not written on a page, but exists in the person of Jesus Christ who then writes His Love and Sacrifice on your heart.

I am not downplaying the importance of Scripture. I am saying that while the enemy's poison darts are being thrust at you by challenging passages of the Bible without the full context attached, your response need not be an academic defense of a scholarly nature explaining to the poor soul the true meaning of the text they are challenging. The message should be the Cross. Salvation. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Christian Spectacles

In the movie, National Treasure, the characters had to wear special spectacles (The Ocular Device) to view the otherwise invisible clues on the back of the Declaration of Independence. They saw things, because of what they had available to them, that others could not see.

As Christians, in this choatic world of political upheaval, we see things different as well because of our faith in Jesus Christ.

Supporters of the rising global and socialist movements see a brave new world on the horizon. The opposition of the Obama Administration, and Democrat led Congress, sees idiocy and a downward spiral into the very socialism we defeated when the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Berlin Wall came down. As Christians, we see spiritual warfare coming to a head. The end times are upon us, and we are fearful, yet rejoice because The Rapture may be in the near future.

However, because we recognize the work of Satan in a world where moral principles have been abandoned, and people are setting aside personal liberty for the comfort of a strong, central government that claims they will take care of everything, it does not mean that we should, as Christians, lay down our arms and proclaim "It is the Will of God, and these things must come to pass." We are expected, in obedience to Scripture, to fight against evil when we recognize it. After all, the Armor of God described in Ephesians 6:10-20, notice, has no protection for the back - meaning that we ought not be the kind of Christian that exposes our back to the enemy, or runs away proclaiming that the existence of such evil is God's Will, and we should do nothing. Our spiritual armor is not designed to protect us when we run away for good reason. These are defensive weapons designed to confront the enemy, head on.

Despite viewing the world in a way that the non-Christian cannot, we must be aware that everyone is affected by what happens in society. Even though we may see connections to prophecy, or believe we are in the end times, it does not excuse us to accept these things because we believe there is nothing we can do about it. We are commanded by Scripture to combat that which is against God, and to do nothing is the ultimate in disobedience to Him. We must, as Christians, be involved, and battle the evil that is upon us.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Jesus' Ministry Was Preaching, Teaching, and Healing

Matthew 4:23 (King James Version)

23And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Repentance and Salvation

2 Corinthians 7:10 (King James Version)

10For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.