For the Record

Spiritual Lessons

For the record –

God's primary purpose in saving us in NOT to unfold His wonderful plan for our lives.

Jesus is not the way out of life's problems.

Christianity is not the answer to our unhappiness.

We do not need to accept Christ in our life to find peace and joy.

Depression is not of the devil.

Jesus does not save the righteous from less sorrows than the wicked.


I needed to get that off my chest. If you listen long enough you find that the popular Christian message seems to say otherwise. And it's despicably wrong.

It sounds nice to imply that sinners will find better lives if they trust Jesus as their savior, but it's simply not true. It doesn't matter how many times it's promised from the pulpit or guaranteed in a tract, or taught from a life coach. Reality shatters every delusion.

In my own very short life I have experienced grief. I've watched others face tragedies. I've heard nightmarish accounts. And I've wept with heartbroken people. Christians – all of them.

And yet “a life of happiness” and a “wonderful plan” is still what is offered to the unsaved. If only they will believe on Jesus.

We'd better hide the Foxe Book of Martyrs then. And it would be a good idea to ignore how the disciple's lives ended. Better stop our ears when the prayer requests are read at church. Smile when we are actually hurting inside. Disfellowship with the depressed Christian.

I'll never forget the homeless man in Portland that I talked to.
As soon as I brought up “Jesus” he stopped me and smiled wanly – “Don't tell me Jesus is the cure. Don't talk to ME of happiness and joy. Don't give me promises. I've seen it all. If Jesus is escape from suffering why does He allow suffering in “the saved”? Why does the Pastor have cancer? Why was that little child abused? Why are they homeless?”
He was bitter from all the hollow promises he had heard over and over from Christians.

And he's right. Why do Christians promise something they themselves don't have?

History proves Christianity to be a cost, not a self-help program. All you have to do is look at the suffering of the underground church today to know that Christianity isn't a bed of roses.

Instead, all have fallen short of the glory of God. All are guilty enemies of God in need of righteousness. Mankind is condemned to Hell. The wages of your sin is death. But God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die in your place. The only way to accept such forgiveness and payment is to repent and believe. You won't find an experience; a way out of your problems; or a life of happiness. But you will be given a new life restored to your Creator. You will still have heartache. Still have tragedies. Struggles and sorrow. Just like the rest of the world. But unlike the world, you will have His mercy, and He can work your heartache for good.

Give the true gospel and you won't have bitter unbelievers who spit at your hypocrisy.
Share the truth and you won't have disillusioned Christians falling on the wayside when persecution comes.

Stop making false promises and you won't have false conversions.
Get off the conventional Christian bandwagon. It will only lead you to misery and lead unbelievers to Hell.


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When Surrender is our Idol

Can the Church be Enemies of God?

Spiritual Lessons

Can “the Church” be enemies of God?

I reflect on the many “Christians” I have talked with on the subject of love, murder and the gospel.

Many of them claimed that love is being friendly. Love ignores sin. Love accepts and never judges. That murder is only murder when the victim is a certain age or is wanted or not the product of rape. And that the gospel is: Jesus forgives and loves you. Period.

The Christians at Planned Parenthood scream “Jesus loves ME” before going in to murder their baby. And who convinced them of that? The Christian at church.

It was a Christian who stomped a baby model into the street, a Christian who howled at my “Image of God” sign. It was a Christian driving out of the church parking lot that flipped me off while trying to hand him a gospel tract. The Christian lesbian tried to explain to me how “love does not judge” and it was her Christian pastor that told her so.

Instead of engaging the darkness, being the salt, judging righteously, being a light, compassionately pulling people out of the fire, loving our neighbors, the “Christian” has tried to become the world's friend.

“...Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will b a friend of the world is the enemy of God...” James 4:4

Just as Jesus fought against Israel and called them an enemy for rebelling and vexing Him, He does so to the conventional Church. Isaiah 63. He rejects and hates our worship and songs when we have tolerated, condoned, prolonged and justified our modern Moloch. Our nation literally murders children on the alter of self and convenience. And we Christians stand by and watch. Amos 5.

It's not just the mega churches. Joel Olistein's church. Or the liberal churches. The majority of conservative, even small churches have failed to be truly Christian. Once upon a time to be Christian meant to be bold as lions. A voluntary martyr. You were a world shaker. A non-conformist. Christ-like. A relationship with Christ was merely a result, not the purpose of your Christianity. Total obedience and trials and working faith were matters of rejoicing.

Now to be "Christian" means you're emotional. You are passive. You only love worship. You listen, learn, submit...but doing, teaching, edifying are forgotten. You're sleepy. You are a friend of the world. And you condone sin.

Yes Christians, the Church can be enemies of God. And we will be judged. Christians must be awakened, or warned. Christians are either asleep or lost.

Wake up church. This isn't a joy ride. We're in the middle of a battle.

Quote of the Day

"The worst part of martyrdom is not the last agonizing moment; it is the wearing, daily steadfastness. Men who can make up their minds to hold out against torture of an hour have sunk under the weariness and the harass of small prolonged vexations. And there are many Christians who have the weight of some deep, incommunicable grief pressing, cold as ice, upon their hearts. To bear that cheerfully and manfully is to be a martyr. There is many a Christian bereaved and stricken in the best hopes of life. For such a one to say quietly, 'Father, not as I will, but as Thou wilt,' is to be a martyr. There is many a Christian who feels the irksomeness of the duties of life, and feels his spirit revolting from them. To get up every morning with the firm resolve to find pleasure in those duties, and do them well, and finish the work which God has given us to do, that is to drink Christ's cup. The humbles occupation has in it materials of discipline for the highest heaven."

F.W.Robertson, Daily Strength for Daily Needs p. 259

Quote of the Day

Surely the truth must be, that whatsoever in our daily life is lawful and right for us to be engaged in, is in itself a part of our obedience to God; ...Whensoever we hear people complaining of obstructions and hindrances put by the duties of life in the way of devoting themselves to God, we may be sure they are under some false view or other. They do not look upon their daily work as the task God has set them, and as obedience due to Him. We may go farther; and say, not only that the duties of life, be they never so toilsome, and distracting, are no obstructions to a life of any degree of inward holiness; but that they are even direct means, when rightly used, to promote our satisfaction."   H. E. Manning

(In Daily Strength for Daily Needs P.76)

A Christian's Duty

Political/World Issues 

I would like to share with you something that guest writer --  Chris Hutto  posted recently on his Google + page.  I hope that it is encouraging and convicting.  Please share your thoughts and comments (whether positive or negative)!

A Christian's Duty 

Is it the Christian's duty to speak out for the unborn children? I believe it is. What should our response be to the 3,500 children being murdered everyday in the U.S. alone? The Bible actually gives us a pretty clear answer.

Proverbs 24:11-12 states it very bluntly:

 “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?” 

It is our duty to “deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain.” And God is the Judge of those actions and will “render to every man according to his works.” The Lord sees the innocent babies that are sacrificed on the alter of convenience and God sees what you and I are doing about it.
    

God cherishes children and teaches us to as well. 

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” 

Proverbs 127:3 tells us that the unborn children in a mother's womb is God's reward to us.

 Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” 

God is the author of life. He created each human being inside of their mother. Abortion interrupts the perfect hand of God right in the middle of his precious sculpting. Before He had time to complete His miraculous work the baby is torn to pieces by the cruel hand of man.

The womb should be the safest place for a child and yet it has become a place of imminent death; a precarious balance between convenience and guilt. This is a battle between life and death. This battle is not carnal but spiritual. And it must be fought with spiritual weapons for they are mighty through God. Often that means standing with the unborn, drawing them from destruction. We must be the voice for the dumb. We must have a “readiness to revenge all disobedience” by bringing into “captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Our minds need to be reprogrammed to seeing things the way Christ does. Every life is precious. If you believe that you will do something about it.

      

Most Christians are like the people that James was addressing in chapter 5. 

“Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.” 

We live in a day of slaughter. It is as real as the Jewish Holocaust but abortion is happening under our watch. We nourish our hearts with pleasure while thousands of lives are denied birth. Am I trying to make you feel guilty? No. But maybe the cries of the thousands of innocents already has. You may be thinking, “but I am pro-life!” Where is the proof? Where is the action?
     

Does belief negate our responsibility to action? As Christians we focus a lot on our belief system. We love the words “trust” and “believe.” But what about the word “work?” Belief is essential but it doesn’t stop there.

 James 1:22 says, “But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” 

Verse 25 of the same chapter says, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” 

Many are afraid of the word “work” because so many professing Christians have highjacked the term and have made it a part of salvation and sanctification. We know that salvation comes by grace through faith. But the Bible does have a lot to say about working our salvation outwardly. The work is evidence that we have faith. As a Christian our belief must turn to action. What good is a belief if it is not practiced?

 I have to clarify a few things because I'm sure that a few thoughts have come into your head as you read this. I am not saying that good works are part of salvation because our righteousness is as filthy rags. I am not saying that we need to work for the Lord to please Him because as a child of God I am already excepted. I am not condemning Christians for inaction but extorting them to action. I am not advocating that we need to get out there and do His work in our own strength because without Him I can do nothing. But what I am saying is that,

  

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27. 

That verse explains the reality of Christ's love flowing out of us.
 What is the great commandment? According to Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40 it is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” 

So first we love the Lord and out of that love for Him we can love our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? A certain lawyer in Luke 10 asked Jesus that very question and He answered with the parable we call the good Samaritan. Without going into the whole story it can be summarized in a few sentences. A man on his way to Jericho was attacked by thieves and was robbed and beaten and left on the side of the road to die. A priest came by but instead of helping the dying man just went on his way. A Levite also passed by but ignored the man as well. Finally a Samaritan, who normally hate the Jews, came by and had compassion on the man and helped him. Isn't that a perfect picture of the thousands of babies being murdered by abortion every single day? The worlds babies are robbed of their humanity and cast aside. The religious people, Christians today, often pass by without saying a word, let alone do something for them. The Christians that have a love for Christ and for our neighbor will be like the good Samaritan, though hated by the majority, and help the unborn children.

     

James 2:8-10 says, “ If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” 

Christians should not be partial to one human being over another. We will defend other nationalities against racism and the Jews against antisemitism but why wont we defend the unborn children against ageism? And I am not talking about holding a belief in equal rights. Wilberforce helped abolished slavery in England through action. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in action. The founding fathers of the U.S. Constitution believed in action. The Apostles believed in action. Where would we be today if everyone just kept their beliefs to themselves?

Baby at 24 weeks 

James 2:14-17 is a good example of this. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled: notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.”
    

What do our words mean if no action follows? Nothing. They say actions speak louder than words. Not everyone has to speak out for the unborn in the same way but I am proposing that every Christian should have a part. The unborn cannot defend themselves. Who will if not for us? They are our neighbors. They are precious in God's sight. They are without a voice.
     

I was reading in Proverbs 31 and found something very interesting. Proverbs 31 was written to a king named Lemuel. It is written to him by his mother. First she instructs him in what a king should and shouldn't do. Then later on she explains what a virtuous woman looks like but right in the middle of those verses there are two that stood out to me. 

“Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”

 She tells him that he must open his mouth in defense of those that are dumb and headed to destruction and to judge righteously. The reason that I found it so interesting is that I believe this command was both the king (government) and part of the virtuous woman's description. It is something that the government should be doing; protecting its weakest citizens. But when they fail to do their God given job it is up to the people and mothers especially to speak out for the unborn.
In a hundred years from now how will American's see the Christians of 2014? Will they see them standing in opposition to the evil of our age or will they see a people who give lip service to God and fail to love their neighbor as themselves? The answer is up to us. The answer is up to you Christian.