Saturday, March 26, 2011
Savior AND Lord
What about the person who professes they are saved and never obeys Jesus as Lord? Are they truly saved? Here is what I have literally and physically had said to my face, “You don’t know. It’s not up you who’s saved and who’s not. Why don’t you mind your own business and let God be the judge.” I quote Acts 4:12 and John 14:6 and I just get the heat of pure hate come out of them. I am such a bigot. I am “the problem”. I am the reason too many people don’t want to come to church cause I’m so full of hate and closed mindedness and got no love for people who are just trying to get over their hurt. Two months ago I finished reading a book about Jonathan Edwards. Are you familiar with his stuff? He was a preacher during the Great Awakening, preached the sermon “Sinner’s In The Hands Of An Angry God”, first president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), and in 1751 was fired after 21 years of being pastor of his church. Why? Because he wanted to stop serving open communion. (Anyone can partake.) Why? Because he no longer could trust anybody who came through the doors and said they were “Christian”. Why? Because they didn’t act like Christians. The church sold the “good seats” to the rich people and the poor people sat in the balcony. They had no care what so ever of spiritual things or what the Bible said to condemn their hard hearts. They didn’t know the Bible, didn’t read the Bible, didn’t care what the Bible said. Jonathan Edwards preached and preached to these people because he was convinced that true saved people with the Holy Spirit alive in them would see their error if the Bible clearly showed it. It was there in chapter and verse! He was sorely mistaken. About what? That truly saved people with the Holy Spirit alive in them would see their error if the Bible clearly showed it? No. He was mistaken that these people were, in fact, saved people with the Holy Spirit in them. But he didn’t want to be. He wanted a process by which to find out. A trial period where he could examine their walk and discern. His congregation flipped out. They had had about enough of his big mouth and condemnation from the Bible and they were going to get rid of him. Not the other way around. I have quoted chapter and verse to people in Bible studies, Christians, people who lay the Christian vocabulary on thick… ”Praise Jesus! Praise the Lord!”… And me pointing to scripture draws the same reaction from them as a pig staring at a Rolex. "Rick Warren has been such a blessing to me.” “Joel Osteen just makes it so simple.” “I have 1000 Rob Bell podcasts. He’s so easy to listen to.” All real quotes. (Two of them from very close family members of mine.) Quote the Bible passage that shows them wrong and you might just get your glasses slapped right off your face. Or a copy of “The Message” bounced off your melon. (They’re not so bad. Most are still in small paperback. They just sting a bit if the corner catches you. Those hard bound NIV Study Bibles hurt like being hit by a brick.) They do get defensive. You are blowing holes in all they hold sacred. They don’t like it. It doesn’t feel good. Jesus is about feeling good and you’re not feeding that so you’re a great big speed bump in the go cart ride. Outright calling them deceived, not really saved, or so stupid they should be watered twice a week all would have the same effect. They get furious. But I am no longer shocked. I used to be. ”How in the world can you keep saying that when the Bible outright says the opposite?” They don’t even bother to figure out how. They just get mad and shut you off. I’m disgusted and disappointed but no longer… Shocked. Or wait, some figure out a loop hole. I have heard this, “Dude, the Bible is just a book. I worship a ‘God’. You keep your book. I’ll stick with God.” ??? A God who did what? A God who said what? Say’s who? You just drop your jaw. What a profoundly defective attitude. Anyway… Jude said that false teachers in his day had “crept in unaware.” (Jude 4) These days they walk through the front door and people pay them stacks of cash to do it. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But… Are any real Christians deceived? I have to say I don’t think so. John 10:4-5 4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. Now I know a deceived false teacher can easily point to the same verse and say they aren’t deceived either. Maybe another topic. I’m digressing… I’m just saying Jesus said the wheat and the tares look alike. (Matthew 13:24-40) And God allows them to grow up side by side. But c’mon. They’re not alike. Either way. None of us know the heart of anyone. That guy could be saved. That lady over there. Maybe. Maybe not. Eleven disciples were genuinely shocked when Judas betrayed the Lord. The only thing I’m saying is that we must rid ourselves of man made formulas that make that determination. Just because you saw this guy walk down the aisle for an altar call doesn’t necessarily mean they are saved. It could. (I walked down an aisle at an altar call.) But that does not always, in all cases, no exceptions, positively mean they are born again. Make sense? Well, there are people out there who argue that it does. If that is accepted as true than anything you do or say to get them out of their chairs and up front to the altar will do. People “saved” with a card board, cartoon, insufficient gospel will have a false salvation in which they have a false sense of security that makes them reject the true gospel with a cross and repentance and rejection and enmity with the world because they are sure they don’t need it. Since they are not regenerated people the cross of Christ is still foolishness to them (1 Cor 1:18) and so they react in the same carnal way any un-regenerated person would, with hostility. Additionally, people saved so easily will be far greater in numbers and able to drown out the voices preaching the cross of Christ. So… When we see so many around us deceived by these false teachers are we looking at true sheep of Christ the Good Shepherd? I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong. A Christian can back slide and sin. 1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. But I don’t think the Bible teaches that a child of God can be. 1 John 2:19-21 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 20 But ye have an unction (an anointing) from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. A true child of the Living God knows their Shepherds voice and they do not listen to another. That voice is in His word, the Holy Scriptures, and not in any man or woman saying they speak for God. How do you tell? We must compare all things to His word in the Bible. (Acts 17:10-11) 1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. And don’t ever be intimidated by anyone telling you you’re being too picky or splitting hairs just because you see where the Bible disagrees. 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. Stand your ground.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Once Saved... (IF saved indeed)... Always saved
This question of the assurance of salvation has come up again in my "circle".
The Bible teaches that once we’re saved we’re saved forever.
I can see where not knowing that comes from.
I really can.
It comes from just refusing to believe that man has absolutely no provocation in the process of his salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It comes from the firm heretical conviction that I have played a small part in getting myself saved.
“After all. I had the common sense to come up for the alter call didn’t I?”
“If there was something that I did to get myself saved then it’s something that I do that keeps me saved.”
Never mind that we’re told by the Word Of God that it is the Spirit which seals us.
2 Corinthians 1: 21-22
21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,
22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
Never mind that it is God that has a plan for ours lives.
Romans 8:29
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Now we’re expected to believe that God didn’t consider that we might want to leave. You call that omnipotence?
We’re told our names were written in the Lambs Book Of Life before the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:8
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
But we’re to understand that it’s written in pencil with a fat eraser on the other end. Oh I know the next quote.
Revelation 3:5
"He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels."
“See here? Insinuates that our names CAN be erased!”
Well, it says outright that He will not do it!
”To the one that ‘overcomes’ He won’t. THERE! Gotcha!”
Not at all. Who’re the ones that “overcome”?
1 John 5:4
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith
And then sooner or later somebody will say, “I know somebody that said they were saved. They had a Marlboro dangling from their lips and a beer in their hand and every other word they said was a profanity and they were adamant that they were a Christian. Born again and had the assurance of salvation and said that Pastor Joe Bob said that no matter what they did they’d never lose their salvation cause they stepped up at that alter call and signed that dedication card and by golly they’re a child of God.”
Let me tell you something...
1 John 1:4-10
4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
If anybody is out there living in hedonist sin and says he’s a Christian and a child of God, He’s a liar!
Period, dot.
And how can anybody say, “But...but. He said he accepted Christ at that revival.”
Big fat deal! I can say “I’m a toaster.” But am I making toast?
I don’t subscribe to this idea that just because somebody steps up to the alter just because 50 other people are headed up there, says a bunch of words that nobody explained to him what they meant, and gets sent off to a side room where “our trained councilors are ready to give you a paperback New Testament and a Jack Chick tract,” is necessarily saved. Unless they came to believe it makes no difference what words they said. Especially when there is no evidence that such a transformation took place.
"What? You mean I can just go out and live any way I want?"
Well, if you are saved and have the Holy Spirit in you, (Rom 8:9), how do you want to live?
Conditional salvation people will quote all the verses where the believer must abide, must walk in the light, “faith without works is dead.”
You’re darn right we’re to abide! And run the race with endurance. But this is not to “earn” or “keep” our salvation.
Abiding is PROOF of our salvation. You want to find the Christian in the crowd? Look for the one that’s abiding.
This is John’s whole point in writing 1st John.
1 John 5:13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
The entire epistle is devoted to combating the heresy that how you live your life doesn’t matter.
That false teachers (Gnostics) were coming in and saying they were “spiritual” and what was done in the body had nothing to do with whether they have salvation. John says that they are liars!
1 John 2:4-5
4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
Now, just as then, there were those that thought hedonism and salvation were compatible.
That's not true by a long shot and no (credible) teacher of the assurance of salvation has ever said anything of the sort.
If anybody's out there reading this thinking I'm saying we have license to sin, think again.
1 John 2:18-19
18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
Hebrews 6:9
But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, (i.e. enduring in the faith) though we are speaking in this way.
I'm quite sure there's plenty of people that have been baptised, memberized, sittin' in the pews every Sunday... Going straight to hell!
"Churchianity" is a disgusting thing.
Peter (1 Pet 1:4-5) describes our inheritance as "incorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation"
He is able to keep us from falling.
Are we to believe we’re more powerful than He is?
The true believer will live in the guidance of the Holy Spirit every day. And the believer will have “war waging” within. It is a horrible thing when the Christian back slides. (I know). The war within can make a Christian literally fall face down on the ground. Doubled over in pain. (I know).
It is full of conviction and weeping and is not something the Christian can ignore and act flippantly about.
But I admit there are times when the backsliding has been going on for a while.
Ephesians 4:30
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
And the voice of the Holy Spirit grows dim. But the Prodigal Son, (the true child of God), in his filth and pig food will say, “I will arise and go to my father...” (Luke 15:18).
We are His sheep.
His property. Bought with a high price. Should we wander the Lord will come get His property. (Matthew 18:12-14)
He came and picked us out of the gutter when we were yet sinners. How much more will He come looking for us if we’re His child gone astray.
He’ll come for us.
And sometimes.....that’s not a pleasant experience.
The Bible teaches that once we’re saved we’re saved forever.
I can see where not knowing that comes from.
I really can.
It comes from just refusing to believe that man has absolutely no provocation in the process of his salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It comes from the firm heretical conviction that I have played a small part in getting myself saved.
“After all. I had the common sense to come up for the alter call didn’t I?”
“If there was something that I did to get myself saved then it’s something that I do that keeps me saved.”
Never mind that we’re told by the Word Of God that it is the Spirit which seals us.
2 Corinthians 1: 21-22
21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,
22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
Never mind that it is God that has a plan for ours lives.
Romans 8:29
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Now we’re expected to believe that God didn’t consider that we might want to leave. You call that omnipotence?
We’re told our names were written in the Lambs Book Of Life before the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:8
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
But we’re to understand that it’s written in pencil with a fat eraser on the other end. Oh I know the next quote.
Revelation 3:5
"He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels."
“See here? Insinuates that our names CAN be erased!”
Well, it says outright that He will not do it!
”To the one that ‘overcomes’ He won’t. THERE! Gotcha!”
Not at all. Who’re the ones that “overcome”?
1 John 5:4
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith
And then sooner or later somebody will say, “I know somebody that said they were saved. They had a Marlboro dangling from their lips and a beer in their hand and every other word they said was a profanity and they were adamant that they were a Christian. Born again and had the assurance of salvation and said that Pastor Joe Bob said that no matter what they did they’d never lose their salvation cause they stepped up at that alter call and signed that dedication card and by golly they’re a child of God.”
Let me tell you something...
1 John 1:4-10
4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
If anybody is out there living in hedonist sin and says he’s a Christian and a child of God, He’s a liar!
Period, dot.
And how can anybody say, “But...but. He said he accepted Christ at that revival.”
Big fat deal! I can say “I’m a toaster.” But am I making toast?
I don’t subscribe to this idea that just because somebody steps up to the alter just because 50 other people are headed up there, says a bunch of words that nobody explained to him what they meant, and gets sent off to a side room where “our trained councilors are ready to give you a paperback New Testament and a Jack Chick tract,” is necessarily saved. Unless they came to believe it makes no difference what words they said. Especially when there is no evidence that such a transformation took place.
"What? You mean I can just go out and live any way I want?"
Well, if you are saved and have the Holy Spirit in you, (Rom 8:9), how do you want to live?
Conditional salvation people will quote all the verses where the believer must abide, must walk in the light, “faith without works is dead.”
You’re darn right we’re to abide! And run the race with endurance. But this is not to “earn” or “keep” our salvation.
Abiding is PROOF of our salvation. You want to find the Christian in the crowd? Look for the one that’s abiding.
This is John’s whole point in writing 1st John.
1 John 5:13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
The entire epistle is devoted to combating the heresy that how you live your life doesn’t matter.
That false teachers (Gnostics) were coming in and saying they were “spiritual” and what was done in the body had nothing to do with whether they have salvation. John says that they are liars!
1 John 2:4-5
4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
Now, just as then, there were those that thought hedonism and salvation were compatible.
That's not true by a long shot and no (credible) teacher of the assurance of salvation has ever said anything of the sort.
If anybody's out there reading this thinking I'm saying we have license to sin, think again.
1 John 2:18-19
18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
Hebrews 6:9
But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, (i.e. enduring in the faith) though we are speaking in this way.
I'm quite sure there's plenty of people that have been baptised, memberized, sittin' in the pews every Sunday... Going straight to hell!
"Churchianity" is a disgusting thing.
Peter (1 Pet 1:4-5) describes our inheritance as "incorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation"
He is able to keep us from falling.
Are we to believe we’re more powerful than He is?
The true believer will live in the guidance of the Holy Spirit every day. And the believer will have “war waging” within. It is a horrible thing when the Christian back slides. (I know). The war within can make a Christian literally fall face down on the ground. Doubled over in pain. (I know).
It is full of conviction and weeping and is not something the Christian can ignore and act flippantly about.
But I admit there are times when the backsliding has been going on for a while.
Ephesians 4:30
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
And the voice of the Holy Spirit grows dim. But the Prodigal Son, (the true child of God), in his filth and pig food will say, “I will arise and go to my father...” (Luke 15:18).
We are His sheep.
His property. Bought with a high price. Should we wander the Lord will come get His property. (Matthew 18:12-14)
He came and picked us out of the gutter when we were yet sinners. How much more will He come looking for us if we’re His child gone astray.
He’ll come for us.
And sometimes.....that’s not a pleasant experience.
Friday, March 11, 2011
The Right Rapture Attitude
Around six months ago after we had finished church service on Sunday, I was standing in the entrance talking to my pastor. We were talking about the antichrist potentially being the Islamic "Mahdi".
I have been very thankful to have a pastor who has closely considered the idea and the implications.
We were standing there talking when one of the ladies of the church approached us and asked what we were talking about. We told her that there's a good chance the antichrist will be a Muslim and then, I'll never forget this, she made this barking laugh and practically shouted, "I don't care about that. We won't see the antichrist anyway! LOL"
It was bizarre and I was taken aback. She acted like we were talking about all that snow in Michigan or something.
Now... I have yet to hear anything that convinces me in anything other than God's Church being removed from this world before He judges it with His wrath. That being the case I have no reason to dispute a scenario that has a catching up of the Church before the antichrist confirms a seven year covenant with Israel, (Daniel 9:26-27).
I remain a pre-trib rapture believer.
But this reaction on the part of this sister genuinely filled me with disgust. Agree with her statement or not I have to say I did not feel sympatric to her attitude. This is a dead serious matter to me and will be for anybody that suffers greatly through it.
Then the thought later occurred to me, "Have I helped encourage this flippant attitude?"
Perhaps I have. I hope not but I might have.
I have yet to come to any place where I would advise anyone to get ready to endure God's tribulation on "those who dwell on the earth" but... We truly need to prayerfully and seriously consider a day when we will be compelled to man up and refuse to bow to Islam, political correctness, hate crime accusations or compromise.
More and more those whom we defy and resist will become more vicious in their harassment and assaults.
Do you know why Christians died in the Roman Circus? Not because they worshipped Jesus. They died because they would not also worship the emperor. All they had to do was throw a pinch of incense on some coals to the emperor and they were free to go. Some did. Many said no. They died for that.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians in the western world would have zero problem tossing a compromise to the world and call you an idiot for being too dogmatic about it.
We are an entire culture grossly unprepared for persecution and I don't think that's Biblical.
2 Corinthians 8:1-2
1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
The Church used to prepare for it and were neither dismayed or troubled by it.
1 Peter 4:12
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
James 1:2-3
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
I am sitting here writing this and thinking of the many faces of people I know who are unprepared for persecution and would fold like a lawn chair.
Do you know who did not accept pre-tribulation rapture? Corrie Ten Boom. Have you ever heard of her? She hid Jews from the Nazi's in the Netherlands during WWII. They kicked in her door and took her and her family to death camps. Her sister died at Ravensbrück.
She felt strongly that pre-trib rapture doctrine left the Christian Church ill-prepared in times of great persecution.
And I gotta say, even as a pre-trib rapture adherent, I think she's right.
My line of reasoning for a pre-trib rapture comes from a systematic understanding of God's dealings with Israel being unique from the Church (Romans 11:23-26) and His past track record of sparing His people from wrath. (By that I mean Noah and Lot.)
Romans 5:9
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Removing His people, I say, before HIS wrath. God has never promised anybody freedom from MAN'S wrath.
People who disagree have completely forgotten all the brother's and sister's dying for their faith in North Korea and Iran and Rwanda and India and Indonesia and Viet Nam and Pakistan and Egypt. And, oh yes, they are going through watching their children suffer and die.
And from what I'm reading they have their hearts prepared for that day.
NOBODY that I personally know in the United States is considering a day when they could be fired or jailed or beaten and killed for standing up for Biblical truth.
I have personally been rebuked by people who feel strongly that no Biblical truth is worth getting into a fight over. Period, dot.
If they will not consider it something worth defending in times of calm how strongly will they stand for it when they have a gun to their head?
The only people I read about considering it are the post-trib guys they are not the majority.
Folks... We are at the end. Pre, mid, or post. This train ain't stopping.
And it is HIGHLY likely we'll see gas at $5.00 this summer and perhaps our dollar bottoming out soon. Egypt's fallen. The Muslim Brotherhood will be cutting off the tours to the Pyramid's soon and dynamiting the Sphinx. Libya will be radical if Gaddafi loses. (Not that I'm rooting for the guy.)
Whole states right now are desperate to balance their books and it ain't going to happen. Not without heavy cut backs and probably tax increases. Cut backs that hopefully will not be made in law enforcement.
The folks that will have a life preserver are the Christians who have a Church family to share with. Satan will attack that and get it closed with hate crime laws.
The TRUE Church will probably go back to meeting in homes and then the arrests and the traitors and the cowards and the back stabbing will begin.
All that BEFORE a Rapture. Because God's wrath will have yet to fall. This will be man's doing.
So, although I remain in my convictions I certainly don't what to give a false sense of security to people who truly need to be mindful of the times.
We're still in enemy territory and this world is not our home.
I have begun to meditate and seriously consider how I am going to give an answer in the hour of testing. Am I in or am I out?
And I don't laugh like an idiot about the last days. It ain't funny.
I have been very thankful to have a pastor who has closely considered the idea and the implications.
We were standing there talking when one of the ladies of the church approached us and asked what we were talking about. We told her that there's a good chance the antichrist will be a Muslim and then, I'll never forget this, she made this barking laugh and practically shouted, "I don't care about that. We won't see the antichrist anyway! LOL"
It was bizarre and I was taken aback. She acted like we were talking about all that snow in Michigan or something.
Now... I have yet to hear anything that convinces me in anything other than God's Church being removed from this world before He judges it with His wrath. That being the case I have no reason to dispute a scenario that has a catching up of the Church before the antichrist confirms a seven year covenant with Israel, (Daniel 9:26-27).
I remain a pre-trib rapture believer.
But this reaction on the part of this sister genuinely filled me with disgust. Agree with her statement or not I have to say I did not feel sympatric to her attitude. This is a dead serious matter to me and will be for anybody that suffers greatly through it.
Then the thought later occurred to me, "Have I helped encourage this flippant attitude?"
Perhaps I have. I hope not but I might have.
I have yet to come to any place where I would advise anyone to get ready to endure God's tribulation on "those who dwell on the earth" but... We truly need to prayerfully and seriously consider a day when we will be compelled to man up and refuse to bow to Islam, political correctness, hate crime accusations or compromise.
More and more those whom we defy and resist will become more vicious in their harassment and assaults.
Do you know why Christians died in the Roman Circus? Not because they worshipped Jesus. They died because they would not also worship the emperor. All they had to do was throw a pinch of incense on some coals to the emperor and they were free to go. Some did. Many said no. They died for that.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians in the western world would have zero problem tossing a compromise to the world and call you an idiot for being too dogmatic about it.
We are an entire culture grossly unprepared for persecution and I don't think that's Biblical.
2 Corinthians 8:1-2
1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
The Church used to prepare for it and were neither dismayed or troubled by it.
1 Peter 4:12
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
James 1:2-3
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
I am sitting here writing this and thinking of the many faces of people I know who are unprepared for persecution and would fold like a lawn chair.
Do you know who did not accept pre-tribulation rapture? Corrie Ten Boom. Have you ever heard of her? She hid Jews from the Nazi's in the Netherlands during WWII. They kicked in her door and took her and her family to death camps. Her sister died at Ravensbrück.
She felt strongly that pre-trib rapture doctrine left the Christian Church ill-prepared in times of great persecution.
And I gotta say, even as a pre-trib rapture adherent, I think she's right.
My line of reasoning for a pre-trib rapture comes from a systematic understanding of God's dealings with Israel being unique from the Church (Romans 11:23-26) and His past track record of sparing His people from wrath. (By that I mean Noah and Lot.)
Romans 5:9
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Removing His people, I say, before HIS wrath. God has never promised anybody freedom from MAN'S wrath.
People who disagree have completely forgotten all the brother's and sister's dying for their faith in North Korea and Iran and Rwanda and India and Indonesia and Viet Nam and Pakistan and Egypt. And, oh yes, they are going through watching their children suffer and die.
And from what I'm reading they have their hearts prepared for that day.
NOBODY that I personally know in the United States is considering a day when they could be fired or jailed or beaten and killed for standing up for Biblical truth.
I have personally been rebuked by people who feel strongly that no Biblical truth is worth getting into a fight over. Period, dot.
If they will not consider it something worth defending in times of calm how strongly will they stand for it when they have a gun to their head?
The only people I read about considering it are the post-trib guys they are not the majority.
Folks... We are at the end. Pre, mid, or post. This train ain't stopping.
And it is HIGHLY likely we'll see gas at $5.00 this summer and perhaps our dollar bottoming out soon. Egypt's fallen. The Muslim Brotherhood will be cutting off the tours to the Pyramid's soon and dynamiting the Sphinx. Libya will be radical if Gaddafi loses. (Not that I'm rooting for the guy.)
Whole states right now are desperate to balance their books and it ain't going to happen. Not without heavy cut backs and probably tax increases. Cut backs that hopefully will not be made in law enforcement.
The folks that will have a life preserver are the Christians who have a Church family to share with. Satan will attack that and get it closed with hate crime laws.
The TRUE Church will probably go back to meeting in homes and then the arrests and the traitors and the cowards and the back stabbing will begin.
All that BEFORE a Rapture. Because God's wrath will have yet to fall. This will be man's doing.
So, although I remain in my convictions I certainly don't what to give a false sense of security to people who truly need to be mindful of the times.
We're still in enemy territory and this world is not our home.
I have begun to meditate and seriously consider how I am going to give an answer in the hour of testing. Am I in or am I out?
And I don't laugh like an idiot about the last days. It ain't funny.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Turning Fifty
I am 50 years old today. It all comes at a bad time. I was just hitting my second wind and getting allot of lessons into my thick head. Things like my faith. Things like my priorities and putting away childish things. Things like watching my kids ease out the door and letting them go. Things like hanging out with my wife being all I really feel like doing. The kids are grown. We don’t need sitters. Me and Becky take off together and it’s like we’re dating again. And lunch for two is back to being $21.00 again. And where do we go for lunch? I don’t know… Taos. “Let’s drive up to Taos and eat lunch.”
But as Peter Gabriel once said “I guess I don't so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old.”
Right about now the odometer has rolled over for the first time.
I’ve retired from my first “career”.
I’m writing this wearing bifocals. Which means my head is tilted back in a painful position to see through the bottom lenses.
I’ve already had the colonoscopy. I had that done and came back to work the next day and discovered that I had now joined a fraternal “brotherhood” of colonoscopy alumni. Oh, yeah. They all had their “war stories” of when they went through it and now I got mine too.
The hardest part was the GoLYTELY®. If you’re in the “brotherhood” you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s a select fraternity.
BTW, the doc gave me pictures of my colon to take with me. Clean chute all the way up to my belly button. If enough people hit the “like” button I’ll take it as a sign and post them as an album.
Another symptom of growing old is when you have no shame at all discussing your colonoscopy. It’s the new “sexy”.
First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down. Blah, blah, blah…
But the thing that cheers me up the most is remembering how I felt when I turned thirty. It cheers me up because I know now how profoundly wrong I was.
Thirty seemed so old at the time. I thought for sure I should sell my big, bell bottomed, jeans because I was going to be dead soon. (They hadn’t fit for ten years anyway. I kept them as a souvenir all that time. Thought maybe I would get back into them again someday. Hope springs eternal. The waist size was 26 inches. I couldn’t even fit one of my legs into 26 these days. Not even if somebody was holding a gun to my head. You just can’t shove toothpaste back in the tube. It’s impossible.)
Thirty seems so young now. Our daughter was born when Becky and I were thirty. We went through all the dirty diaper and sticky little fingers thing when we were in our thirties. It seems now like we were kids.
And just like I smirk at people whining about turning thirty, people in their seventies are watching people whining about turning fifty and rolling their eyes. “Oh, cry me a river. Enjoy your fifties while they last. Right about now you’re in the ‘sweet spot’. Not too young but not too old. Why do you think it’s called the ‘Golden Anniversary’? I’d go back to being fifty in a heartbeat. ”
The advice is not lost on me.
On another bright note I don’t look fifty. Some of you reading this are probably surprised to hear that I am indeed a quinquagenarian. That’s because I have a rare genetic condition called “Dick Clark Syndrome”. (If you don’t know who Dick Clark is, ask your Mom or Dad or anybody over fifty. If your Mom and Dad aren’t even close to fifty years old yet or nobody you know is fifty and still alive or breathing on their own… Google “Dick Clark”. Still don’t get it? It seemed like he didn’t age. He hosted “American Bandstand” for thirty years and still looked young… Never mind.)
The point is, I have always appeared younger than I am. It used to be a curse. When I was twenty three I looked like I was eleven! For crying out loud I used to get carded just trying to buy a cup of coffee!
These days it’s paying off. Most people think I’m in my high thirties.
Dick Clark Syndrome, baby. And a very, very high volume of coffee consumed daily. Caffeine is “the wind beneath my wings.”
Also, I still have a full head of hair that steadfastly refuses to go gray.
I’d like it to go gray. I wouldn’t mind that at all. I might finally stop getting carded trying to buy coffee.
Unlike Becky who colors hers bi-weekly.
The gray goes straight for the sides of her head so that if she ever piled it high like a bee hive she’d look like the “Bride Of Frankenstein”. (Yes, that would make me Frankenstein. Uh, huh. I get it. )
This is NOT how she wants to be found when the Lord comes back so she colors it for another month.
So I don’t feel depressed about it.
I’ll get my 26 inch waist back in the resurrection, amen?
And, y’know… I MIGHT even fill out this application for AARP that I got in the mail a week ago.
We’ll see how Becky feels when she turns fifty on June 10th. Woa! Ooo…. Pow! Zoom! ROFLOL! “Oh, no you didn’t…”
Aw, yeah. Do the math. I robbed the cradle! ;-)
So I have a good feeling about clocking half a century.
Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.
I feel like I have arrived at the front door, my name is on the list, and I have been escorted to my table with a great view of the stage.
Thank you. It’s good to be here.
Shh… Act Three begins now………………………….
But as Peter Gabriel once said “I guess I don't so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old.”
Right about now the odometer has rolled over for the first time.
I’ve retired from my first “career”.
I’m writing this wearing bifocals. Which means my head is tilted back in a painful position to see through the bottom lenses.
I’ve already had the colonoscopy. I had that done and came back to work the next day and discovered that I had now joined a fraternal “brotherhood” of colonoscopy alumni. Oh, yeah. They all had their “war stories” of when they went through it and now I got mine too.
The hardest part was the GoLYTELY®. If you’re in the “brotherhood” you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s a select fraternity.
BTW, the doc gave me pictures of my colon to take with me. Clean chute all the way up to my belly button. If enough people hit the “like” button I’ll take it as a sign and post them as an album.
Another symptom of growing old is when you have no shame at all discussing your colonoscopy. It’s the new “sexy”.
First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down. Blah, blah, blah…
But the thing that cheers me up the most is remembering how I felt when I turned thirty. It cheers me up because I know now how profoundly wrong I was.
Thirty seemed so old at the time. I thought for sure I should sell my big, bell bottomed, jeans because I was going to be dead soon. (They hadn’t fit for ten years anyway. I kept them as a souvenir all that time. Thought maybe I would get back into them again someday. Hope springs eternal. The waist size was 26 inches. I couldn’t even fit one of my legs into 26 these days. Not even if somebody was holding a gun to my head. You just can’t shove toothpaste back in the tube. It’s impossible.)
Thirty seems so young now. Our daughter was born when Becky and I were thirty. We went through all the dirty diaper and sticky little fingers thing when we were in our thirties. It seems now like we were kids.
And just like I smirk at people whining about turning thirty, people in their seventies are watching people whining about turning fifty and rolling their eyes. “Oh, cry me a river. Enjoy your fifties while they last. Right about now you’re in the ‘sweet spot’. Not too young but not too old. Why do you think it’s called the ‘Golden Anniversary’? I’d go back to being fifty in a heartbeat. ”
The advice is not lost on me.
On another bright note I don’t look fifty. Some of you reading this are probably surprised to hear that I am indeed a quinquagenarian. That’s because I have a rare genetic condition called “Dick Clark Syndrome”. (If you don’t know who Dick Clark is, ask your Mom or Dad or anybody over fifty. If your Mom and Dad aren’t even close to fifty years old yet or nobody you know is fifty and still alive or breathing on their own… Google “Dick Clark”. Still don’t get it? It seemed like he didn’t age. He hosted “American Bandstand” for thirty years and still looked young… Never mind.)
The point is, I have always appeared younger than I am. It used to be a curse. When I was twenty three I looked like I was eleven! For crying out loud I used to get carded just trying to buy a cup of coffee!
These days it’s paying off. Most people think I’m in my high thirties.
Dick Clark Syndrome, baby. And a very, very high volume of coffee consumed daily. Caffeine is “the wind beneath my wings.”
Also, I still have a full head of hair that steadfastly refuses to go gray.
I’d like it to go gray. I wouldn’t mind that at all. I might finally stop getting carded trying to buy coffee.
Unlike Becky who colors hers bi-weekly.
The gray goes straight for the sides of her head so that if she ever piled it high like a bee hive she’d look like the “Bride Of Frankenstein”. (Yes, that would make me Frankenstein. Uh, huh. I get it. )
This is NOT how she wants to be found when the Lord comes back so she colors it for another month.
So I don’t feel depressed about it.
I’ll get my 26 inch waist back in the resurrection, amen?
And, y’know… I MIGHT even fill out this application for AARP that I got in the mail a week ago.
We’ll see how Becky feels when she turns fifty on June 10th. Woa! Ooo…. Pow! Zoom! ROFLOL! “Oh, no you didn’t…”
Aw, yeah. Do the math. I robbed the cradle! ;-)
So I have a good feeling about clocking half a century.
Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.
I feel like I have arrived at the front door, my name is on the list, and I have been escorted to my table with a great view of the stage.
Thank you. It’s good to be here.
Shh… Act Three begins now………………………….
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