Archive for the 'Religion' Category

Note: Tagged Gospel Witness with the other posts in this series.

“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” – Matthew 9:38

There are three primary approaches to contacting lost sinners. Witnesses for Jesus Christ don’t win souls by accident; they do it on purpose. These tools will help you grow in confidence and effectiveness while sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Find the way that works for you.

Your knowledge, personality, background, education, and salvation testimony build upon each other to make you the Christian God wants you to become. By adding tools and ideas to your existing knowledge, you significantly increase your effectiveness while being a witness for Jesus Christ. One of the overall objectives of this training should be to incorporate tools into who you already are in Christ Jesus.

By being yourself while talking with lost sinners, you may find the exact type of people who respond to you so that they hear the Gospel and get saved by Jesus.

Holy Father God saves who He will by the workings of the Holy Spirit. Soul Winners simply tell the truth of the Gospel.

“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9

Your faithfulness in being consistent is a tool that the Lord can use mightily for His glory. Holy God sets divine appointments between a Soul Winner and lost sinners. Being consistent and reliable puts you where God can use you best.

If you are faithful by making yourself available, Father God will appoint lost sinners to hear the Gospel from you; while sharing His message of love and salvation through the cross. One thing you will have to do is be purposeful. Set specific times each week to seek the lost. Make a plan, and stick to it. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance after you go.

Believers in Jesus are called to be separate and sanctified. We are to go to the lost, telling them the Gospel, not living among them and being like them. How was Jesus a friend to sinners? By telling them the absolute truth regardless of how it made them feel. Purposefully going and telling people what great things Christ has done for them glorifies God. Try different ways of approaching people to see what works for you; God will bless the efforts.

We suppose there are three main ways we can approach lost sinners.

In our first way, let the lost get to know you over a couple of get-togethers and soon share the Gospel. Invite the lost sinner to coffee or dinner and get to know each other a little. We are not hiding that we are Christian while doing this. Prayer thanking Holy God for a meal is a great way to show the lost sinner that you are a public and caring Christian. And also, during this prayer, we can share the simple Gospel by thanking Father God out loud for Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection so that your guest may hear this necessary and straightforward truth.

Then, on the 2nd or 3rd meeting, get out your Bible and open it up to them, introducing the Gospel by sharing verses that show the truths of why they must have Jesus. This is one way to approach co-workers, neighbors, schoolmates, and other acquaintances.

We are NOT friend-winning. You must get down to business and be direct by having a specific plan to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must tell them the truth about their sin condition even if it hurts their feelings. We must convey to them the eternal consequences of their sin, even if it means they no longer consider us a friend. You’ve been the greatest friend they’ve ever had by telling them the Gospel. If the lost sinner won’t accept Jesus, that’s between them and God. Soul-winning is not friend-winning.

Another way to approach folks is a short five or 10-minute conversation and then bring up the things of God. Introduce yourself, let them get to know you by being friendly and polite, and then talk to them about the Scriptures. What we are doing here is looking for an entry point to bring up the word of God to get our Bible open. Every aspect of life is present in the Holy Bible, so being aware of the Holy Spirit while listening to your new acquaintance is an excellent way to find an opportunity to bring up the things of God. This approach may work well for you.

Again, the purpose is to get down to business, opening our Bible and sharing the Gospel. We’re not doing a Social Gospel Christianity.

“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” – 1 Corinthians 2:2

And thirdly, we can take a much more direct approach, going straight to Scripture. You can walk right up to strangers in public places, Bible in hand, and demand (politely with a smile on your face) to know the condition of their soul as to its eternal station. If they will listen for a minute or the Holy Spirit completely captures them (this does happen, it’s mighty to behold), you can quote Scripture to them about salvation while also offering to show them what the Bible means by that (those) verse(s). Many use this approach when door-knocking in neighborhoods as well.

In this manner, we introduce them almost immediately to the word of God without even stating our name or shaking hands which might sound cold, but it works well with strangers in public spaces such as parks and other gathering areas. Keep in mind that Holy God sets appointments between the witness and the lost sinner.

One term for this approach is called street witnessing. In this way of sharing the Gospel, we are not being aggressive, unfriendly, or abusive in any way. Don’t do damage to the name of Christ. We are kindly and directly showing the truth to total strangers. We never compromise anything about the truth of God. It’s essential to be polite and friendly but firm and never back down from who Jesus Christ is and what comes of a man who rejects Him.

You can walk up to people and ask them about their eternal station. You can ask: Are you going to Heaven? Or, Who is Jesus to you? Or, Do you know where you will spend eternity? Etc.

The lost may seek to get rid of you by simply stating that they are saved. We don’t accept that answer; follow up by asking what it means to be saved or asking them to explain how that happened, politely but firmly; their eternal soul is on the line.

When approaching the lost in this manner, having a verse or two of relevant Scripture committed to memory is helpful.

It is the job of the Christian to warn everybody that they face the wrath of God and that they have to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved. Pray while asking Holy God to order your steps in service of Him as a Soul Winner; prayer can undoubtedly be considered a tool of the Soul Winner.

“When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” – Ezekiel 33:8

“Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” – Ezekiel 3:19

John Chapter 9.

By way of instruction, let’s look at a few people in John Chapter 9. Character studies are a means to derive a clearer view of who and what Jesus Christ is, adjusting our worship and service of Him accordingly. First, the Pharisees, these purveyors of the traditions of men and law by letter and not by spirit, chose power, prestige, and capital R religion above the Christ of God. Also, the blind man’s parents decided to favor the temple (a Church) with the familiar social comfort of the status quo instead of truth by Christ Jesus. Then the man blind from his birth seemed strangely satisfied having received his sight but perhaps, did not want to know Him that had opened his eyes.

The Pharisees ran off the blind man. This is happening all across America in the Churches; they cast him out. They cast out the evidence of the workings of God.

“They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.” – John 9:34

There was the man blind from his birth, sighted, telling them a miracle of God had occurred, and the Pharisees cast out the evidence of Christ by arrogantly choosing to live in the lie of their religion.

Churches are turning to the New Religion of feel-good get along-ism. The Pharisees then, as the Pharisees today running the American Churches, reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those fully regenerated, serious men who know what work must be done are being run out of the Churches. The wolves and workers of inequity can’t have them there lest the truth of Christ’s kingdom by the Great Commission begins to spread. And they can’t have themselves, false converts all, exposed as the frauds they are. They called this man a sinner merely for noting what he perceived to be the source of Christ’s power (John 9:33)! Some of the worst resistance to being a committed Christian comes from the purportedly religious crowd. Don’t let them talk you off the ledge; go all in for Christ.

Are you the blind? Are your eyes opened, but you remain a fruitless edge dweller consuming Christianity as though it were mere entertainment instead of being a doer of the word (James 1:22)?

Examine your faith with all seriousness. The Pharisees knew more about the Bible than anybody and were perhaps the most religious people ever to have lived. Yet, they were lost, dead in their sins, blinded to Christ by their lofty self-estimation, residing in error. It cost them their whole civilization. Are you in error? Can you hear the truth? Examine yourselves with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Is your doctrine wrong?

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” – John 16:13

In John 9:25-33, we read the man’s testimony to the Pharisees about how he received sight. In Verse 34, again, they tossed him out of the synagogue. Well and good, the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48). Service toward God, centered around a building is the exact religion Christ ended in the first century.

The blind man’s parents (Verses 20 through 23) chose social conformity, religious leaders of dubious character, and poor doctrine of a Christless temple system over the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ. Making an application for today, they didn’t want to be tossed out of “Church” for being real Christians. They chose the wickedness of the ruling class with the trappings of comfort and ease in familiar religion over the truth and even over honest exploration of who Jesus is.

The Churches in America have shown they will comply with any civil edict, whether antichrist or illegal; For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind… (Hosea 8:7). When they come to your neighborhood for the guns, it’ll be “Christians” out on the street pointing at your house.

Don’t scoff and don’t laugh, but the day is already arriving in American Churches where those confessing Christ are, maybe not so directly just yet, but they’re being told to leave. Saying that you believe in God may be fine. Saying that you believe in Jesus may even be accepted for now. But start preaching hell hot, Christ crucified for the shedding of blood, and the Kingdom of God by His commands preeminent to this world and see what happens.

His parents risked leading him astray, which is essential for parents, grandparents, other family members, teachers, and Church leaders to understand. Raising good little cultural Christians may make them well-adjusted compliant citizens of Rome, but that is not salvation in Christ, nor is it what God’s people are called and chosen to accomplish. You must make Christian soldiers of the children in your family and your congregation.

You’re flat-out wrong if you think peer pressure doesn’t exist in the American Church today. It’s all about fitting in.

“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” – Proverbs 1:10

Real Christians are supposed to be radically different from those that remain in darkness. Being regenerated in Christ Jesus changes, or it should change, everything about a man.

For all we know, the blind man’s parents died in their sin, to be cast into eternal torment. If we don’t receive this instruction, the blind man’s parents died in vain, for nothing. Suppose we choose religion over Jesus or Church over God’s works. If we seek faithless ceremony and activities with friends over the hard work of building the Kingdom of God in anticipation of His return, then we’ve missed a central point of this passage. If we don’t heed it, Jesus did this miracle for nothing; the Holy Spirit brought it to the mind of John to pen down for nothing. Shame on us if we learn nothing from their death.

As to the blind man, we’ve heard all kinds of preaching around verse 25. Most of it was making application toward salvation which is fine. But, if you examine the text, the blind man, while talking to the Pharisees, still doesn’t know salvation in Christ Jesus.

“He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” – John 9:25

He partly understood. He seemed weirdly satisfied. Why did he not inquire as to how Jesus had done this and who Jesus indeed was? By this time, Jesus’ disciples knew that He was the Christ. The blind man knows a miracle had been done and that it was wrought by God. But strangely, after washing his eyes, he didn’t immediately seek to find Jesus so that he might inquire of God.

“They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.” – John 9:17

Many today, as the man did with the Pharisees, confess that Jesus came from God, perhaps a prophet or a “good man.” Jesus is who and what He says, or He’s a liar; He can’t be both. But, why didn’t the man ask at the first, who art thou (for example, John 8:25)? We’re forced to wonder how many around us, having been made sighted, abide not entirely in the belief of Jesus Christ. Except that the Father draws a man to Christ, they remain with a simple, perhaps, intellectual understanding of Christ but lack faith unto life everlasting. He’s drawing you to choose even now.

The man knows a miracle had been done and that it was wrought by God. Perhaps your eyes are open, or you’ve seen some of the workings of God but have not drawn nigh to Christ and made your covenant with Him that you might be made wholly a son of God? Not to be simply aware of God, but hear from God through His word, having the gentle calling, drawing, and pressure to fulfill the works that He has foreordained that you should walk in them. Christianity isn’t a feeling; although you will experience the full range of emotions if you enter into a relationship with the Holy One, being a son of God is about following Jesus.

Later, Jesus comes and finds the man (Veres 35-37), and in verse 38, he believes. We don’t want to make of it something that isn’t there. But we find it interesting that, having told the Pharisees the truth as best as he could reckon – that Jesus was of God (Verse 33), then once the man left the comfort of that Christless religious system, Jesus found him. If you know that your religion is wrong, get serious about Christ.

But giving the blind man recognition, he stood up for Jesus to the religious crowd. Then (Verse 35), Christ comes and asks him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? When Christ asks, say yes! It’ll be the best thing you ever do.

Read verses 35-41, don’t make Jesus come looking for you. Praise His holy name that He does come to us, but get settled on the Rock, the sure foundation of the Christ of God, that you may enter into His kingdom to do the works that the Father has set before you. Having your eyes opened, now be fully converted to a doer of the word, made a joint heir of eternal life with Christ.

If you’ve never told somebody that you’re a Christian, pray and tell somebody today. For example, say to a stranger, “I believe in Jesus; He has saved my soul.” Verbalize your faith; share your salvation testimony with somebody, do it this week! This is a critical first step that God will use to grow you into a mature fruit-bearing believer.

In supposition, ask yourself, Am I wrong or in error? Do I only see part of the picture? What of my doctrine? Who am I trusting, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Holy Bible? Or are you trusting in men, traditions, and religion?

The Sanhedrin had only two eschatological views, and still, they missed Christ. Today there are several, and within some of those are dozens of bizarre or boutique theories that the Bible never shows.

Don’t get trapped by a building, don’t get trapped as a fruitless wanderer with eyes half opened, yet having a dead faith (James 2:17), and don’t choose the comfort of a Church over Christ’s kingdom and the labor set in order by God for your service of Him. But choose true religion; worship in spirit and in truth, seeking Christ in all things, magnifying His kingdom, proclaiming His holy name, and glorifying the Father, even unto the end.

“39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. 40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? 41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” – John 9:39-41

Say not to yourself, I see. But seek truth by Jesus Christ.

Read parts One and Two.

Dominion is established at creation, re-settled post-flood , but recreated in Christ. It’s an interesting and worthwhile short study of the mandate for dominion from the start brought forward by the Great Commission given to us today. The cultural mandate is derived from God’s given dominion. This is why the left can’t stand Christ. They’re accepting, for now, your little private church and prayers, but that’s not the deputation the Almighty has given. We are to preach the Gospel to every creature, teaching all the world upon conversion to obey Christ. This the left, inside and outside of their New Religion, cannot have.

Thus, man has both a basic constitutional urge to dominion as a result of his being created in God’s image and a fundamental responsibility to do so as a result of his being commanded in the Creation Mandate. Man’s distinctive task in God’s world in accordance with God’s plan is to develop culture. Culture may be defined as the sum deposit of the normative labors of man in the aggregate over time. Adam was to “cultivate” the world (Gen. 1:26-28), beginning in Eden (Gen. 2:15).

[…]

The ultimate authority of the Triune God specifically undergirds both the Creation and the New Creation Mandates. The Creation Mandate was given directly from the mouth of God, who had just created all reality by means of His spoken word (Gen. 1:26-31). This was the very God who said, “Let Us make man in Our image” (Gen. 1:26), thus indicating His Trinitarian being.

The activity of the later New Creation Mandate is to be performed “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). It also was uttered by the very mouth of God: God the Son, who holds “all authority in heaven and earth” (Matt. 28:18) and by whom the universe was created.

A little off-topic, but this is why I worship on Sunday. We don’t worship in the old creation covenant but in the new.

Both Adam and Christ are federal heads, Adam of sin and death (Romans 5:12), Christ to redemption. You have the one, Adam, but you can be recreated and restored through redemption in Christ Jesus.

Read John 6:43-47

“44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” – John 6:44-45

In verse 44 above, Jesus declares that the Father calls those as He will to the Son for an inheritance in the resurrection. As to verse 45, see Isaiah 54:13, and some consider Jeremiah 31:34 along with Micah 4:2, but many don’t regard the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) as the work of God that verse 45 speaks to, but we do.

Jesus goes on to say: “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. – John 6:46

Starting with John 6:46 and considering John 1:18, 14:9 (Below), an understanding of these three verses is unknowable but by those receiving the earnest of the promise for life everlasting by salvation in Christ.

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” – John 1:18

“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” – John 14:9

Rife with seeming contradictions, except that the Spirit of God explains, these verses cause the blind to cast off His word as mere poorly constructed mysticism or fables. But unto those drawn by the Father (verse 44), born anew by the Spirit, having come to Christ in contrite desire to learn of the Father, saved by faith in Jesus Christ, we know well and true that the three are one God. If you’ve seen the Father, you’ve seen the Son (John 10:30). Having seen the Son, you’ve seen the Father. Being drawn to the knowledge (faith) of the Father or the Son, that comes through the functioning of the Spirit. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen God altogether.

Put down your doubt of forgiveness from sin, by the cross of Jesus Christ, and take up salvation from death and hell through the resurrection, by faith unto life everlasting, that you may learn of God, drawn and called into a new life, a better life to know God. We know Him not by the vain imaginings of our mind, the explanations of self-proclaimed gurus and new age “prophets,” or the false teachers of the New Religion. We know Him, having our eyes opened by faith. It’s so rare as to prove the rule; in the Gospel age, those coming to faith don’t see Christ then believe; they hear the truth of the Gospel (Hebrews 11:6), make a profession of faith in their heart before the throne of God (Romans 10:9-10), that faith brings the surety of God by His Spirit. God teaches (reveals) of Himself to bring faith.

Nor could verse 45 mean only that academic study or classroom instruction is the means of knowing God, for many have religion, learning about God, and perhaps trying to keep a law to get to heaven. For these, the law is unto death, a schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24) from which you both realize your sin and seek Christ’s forgiveness or be determined guilty of God by the law (Romans 2:12) that you could never keep, for if you break one point, you’ve broken them all (James 2:10).

As the Father has mercy on His sons, He is not less the Master for showing His love; drawn by the Father, salvation is a gift by His grace, but Jesus Christ is also the Lord upon whom you must believe.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” – John 6:47

The Washington Stand.

On Pentecost Sunday in Abuja, Nigeria, four gunmen stormed a Catholic Church during mass, massacring at least 50 worshippers in one of the most brutal rampages of the year. As word of the attack spread, so too did outrage that the violence in this African nation continues on.

While Christians have been routinely targeted by Nigeria’s Islamic extremists, this latest slaughter — in the country’s relatively peaceful southwest — is sounding new alarms. “It is a black Sunday in Owo,” Ondo’s governor, Arakunrin Akeredolu, said, condemning a “vile and satanic attack” against people “who have enjoyed relative peace over the years.”

Just a handful of days earlier, black-clad extremists wielding AK-47s reportedly opened fire as believers left an evening service in Nigeria’s Adu Village, leaving three — including a young girl — “seriously injured,” locals confirmed. Islamic extremists are “hunting and killing us on a daily basis,” often “intimidating us by displacing us through burning of our houses and properties, and destroying our farms,” one individual told International Christian Concern.

News of both shootings coincided with the publication of the 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom.

“I’m still upset about last year’s removal of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern,” said Sam Brownback, former ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom under President Donald Trump, before Sunday’s tragedy. “That was not called for. The situation continues to be terrible, and that’s shown forth, as well, in the report.”

The State Department records 1,112 conflict-related deaths in Nigeria in 2021, many of them clashes between religious groups. “In May, criminals shot and killed eight Christians and burned down a church and several homes in Kaduna State,” the report states. On September 26-27, “Muslim herders killed at least 49 persons and abducted 27, most of whom were Christian, in several attacks on communities in religiously mixed southern Kaduna State.” The report also cites “several cases” of “Muslim men kidnapping young Christian girls and forcing them into marriage and conversion to Islam.”

Many familiar with the situation expressed disbelief that the Biden administration had removed the 211-million-strong nation from its circle of concern. Family Research Council’s Lela Gilbert, senior fellow for International Religious Freedom, has been appalled at the lack of urgency from Nigeria’s president and other world leaders.

Oh stop it.  Just stop it once and for all.

Stop this notion that there is such a thing as the world police.  This entire awful situation is due to Christians misunderstanding the Scriptures and ascribing to Christ things He didn’t say and positions He doesn’t hold.

The answer is to pick up a gun and go to war against the Muslims.  Don’t ask for outside help.  There will be none forthcoming.

Christian men are responsible for themselves, their families, and their communities.  Provide for your own protection.  Kill the intruders and terrorists.  Protect your own.

Via WRSA, this discussion was seen.  A few quotes from it, and then some remarks.

he’s yet another member of team “let’s create a state powerful enough to give me everything i want without realizing that such a state is also powerful enough to take everything i have.”

(or worse, knows this full well but presumes that it is he and his who will be wielding the whip hand and doing the taking and determining “the collective good.”)

but his argument is far more revelatory than i suspect he realizes and in it we may see both his incomprehension and the nasty shark smile of a desire to dominate by violence.

note that he cites “society” and “democracy” but not the rights that prevent democracy from devolving into that most vicious and inescapable of tyrannies, the tyranny of the majority.

and one sees glimmers of how chris sees the exercise of political power’s manifestation: to threaten violence to demand that the state do things for you. and this is telling. for the true reason for an armed populace has nothing to do with that. it is, in fact, the precise obverse.

the purpose of an armed populace is to PREVENT the state from doing things to the people against their will.

So far so good, and we can’t find anything with which to disagree.

where chris and many others like him go awry is that they do not understand rights. rights established under free contract may be positive, but just societal rights are always negative.

they state: i possess agency and so long as i am peaceful and do not violate the rights of others to such agency and property i am to be left alone to do as i will. nothing more. (but certainly nothing less)

chris and other big statists like him seek to enshrine into society some set of “positive rights” such as a right to education or to healthcare or to housing.

such rights are always and inevitably antithetical to the actual liberty of a republic because a positive right demands that others perform services or cede property to you whether they wish to or not.

this violates their basic (negative) rights to personal agency.

[ … ]

so here is the thought experiment:

if the rights of the individual are paramount, so must be the individual’s right to protect them.

to argue otherwise is to place the prerogatives of the state above the rights of the people.

and that is tyranny.

try to imagine a situation in which we the people fully cede a monopoly on the capability of effective defense against the state and still retain the ability to exercise our “right and duty” to “throw off such government and provide new guards for their future security.”

what real fundamental argument can one make that the state must have the power to subdue its people by violence and that the citizenry must be prevented from possessing the power to resist such predation?

try to imagine what such a state would look like and how you as a citizen could possibly trust it.

I take him to be a classic libertarian.  He says, “where chris and many others like him go awry is that they do not understand rights. rights established under free contract …”  And neither does the writer, I claim.

The contract is between the people.  Rights are not established in that contract.  Rights are recognized in the covenant, along with stipulations, blessings and curses.  Those curses (setting up a new system of government) are outlined in the very founding document of the country.

The writer makes some legitimate logical points when he observes that we should try to imagine what an all-powerful state would look like and why we should trust it.  However, he goes badly wrong when he says “what real fundamental argument can one make that the state must have the power to subdue its people by violence and that the citizenry must be prevented from possessing the power to resist such predation?”

That’s an easy answer.  The philosophical question of ‘The One and the Many” has been debated for as long as mankind has existed.  Recall the discussions of Parmenides, Socrates and Plato on the state, nature of reality, philosophers as kings, and other related topics.

The writer has no answer except to say that individual liberties are paramount.  We’re left with one side singing “nah nah nah nah boo boo, I’m right and your wrong, and this is my view.”  The other side repeats the song, and we’re back where we started.  Competing world and life views.

I am not a libertarian.  I am a Christian.  I honor the Lordship of Jesus, who is The Christ, the only sovereign of heaven and earth.  Individual liberties are not paramount.  The collective is not paramount.  Only the law-word of God is paramount.

Rights and duties come from the Almighty, and from nowhere else.  They come from God, and God alone.  He is the only sovereign and potentate.

I strongly recommend R. J. Rushdoony’s book “The One and the Many: Studies in the Philosophy of Order and Ultimacy.”  But in lieu of having this at your fingertips (you should order it), here he gives a very brief primer on his views of government.  Sphere authority.  Vocation, family, church, neighbors, etc., etc., with the state being only one of a number of governments over mankind, and not the ultimate authority.

He points out that the word sovereign is nowhere located in the founding documents, a statement that surprises the judges before whom he has testified as an expert witness in defense of home schooling, as the founders were studious to avoid it.

Two sovereigns cannot coexist.  If you want to listen to a 30 minute summary of Hegel, the roots of statism, the notion of the state as sovereign, the failure of the church, and proper government of man, you can do no better than this audio.  It will be the best 30 minutes you’ll spend this week.

That’s a promise.

Democrat Representative David Cicilline explains his party’s position on Second Amendment rights: “Spare me the bullshit about constitutional rights.” pic.twitter.com/u6tzPLsyAz

— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) June 3, 2022

He seems like a highly objectionable and horrible person, cantankerous, awful to be around, haughty and loud-mouthed.  And use of obscenity in a place like the Congress proves that he isn’t a thinking man, but rather, a person controlled by his emotions.

But okay, I’ll spare him any discussion of the constitution.  The constitution isn’t the source of my rights.

The source of my rights is the Almighty maker of heaven and earth, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the one to Whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess (that Jesus Christ is Lord).

Housekeeping Note: I (PGF) will be offline next week. No posts from me. Be back soon. Herschel will probably dock my pay of course.

Chuck Baldwin Dates Revelation, including a solid refutation of historicism and identifying “the Beast.” Touches on Chapters 11 and 17. Dr. Baldwin continues to suggest that there may be an early fulfillment in part and a later (sometimes referred to as “now, not yet) fulfillment of Revelation, if that’s what he means. We remain interested in his reasoning behind this and hope that a future message will explain.

And Dr. Ken Gentry, in two short posts, Part One and Part Two dates Revelation.

Plus an explanation of the temple in Revelation 11.

Part One  Part Two

There are perhaps two judgments in the remaining verses of Psalm 107. Both are of a national type. They may lend one into the other as that would not break from a general pattern of prophecy and judgments in Scripture. First verses 33-38, then the last.

“33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;

34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.

35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.

36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation;

37 And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.

38 He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.”

The earth, from the day of the first sin, has been dying; sin takes once bountiful rivers of plenty and makes them desolate. There’s no going back to the Garden; that route is kept secure by a flaming sword and Cherubims (Genesis 3:24). God removes access to raw resources when you won’t use them for His resplendence. You can point to a hundred vectors for the current and ongoing destruction of Western Civilization, but there is only one cause; you hate Christ, for if you loved Him, you would keep His commandments (John 14:15).

Noah, a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), warned them that they were the problem for one hundred years. The prophets of old warned and warned that our Lord was tiring of their turning that which is good and holy unto the Lord into evil, and they would not hear.

“Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?” – Malachi 2:17

For wickedness and disbelief, the Almighty will turn a fruitful land into salted barren earth, for the sin, not of Klaus Schwab, but of those that dwell in the land. The WEF is merely a symptom of corruption caused by sin. When the people sin, they get ungodly rulers.

As did those souls who would not or could not hear the prophets’ warnings and of Jesus Christ; Americans, Christians, cannot get it through their heads down into their hearts that they are the problem, they are not keeping all that Christ commands. They live the high life, recreating themselves to death with endless busyness, willfully destroying all the blessings that the Lord would bestow by laying up the fruit of righteousness before the altar of Heaven. For this, best as we can tell, benefits are turned into curses of barrenness by our Lord. He does this out of lovingkindness. Americans will cry out to Him. They will know that He is Lord; it’s simply a matter of what it will take to get their attention.

Verses 35 and 36 seem encouraging, but the Almighty may take our mantle and give it to another, turning wilderness to fruitful land and dry ground into waterspings. These verses do not say that He gives these things back. In most Scripture about national judgment, there is no sense that those who are judged are those same that later see the blessings of God. It’s most often another generation or separate people that God will raise up to be His. There God takes the hungry, those hungry for Him, those desiring nothing more than that He be glorified above all else; there, the Holy One builds them a city, an exceptional habitation, where He may rule and reign.

American Christians are so settled on the heavenly city that they are of little use in the Kingdom of God. They must think that forgiveness from sin and salvation from death and hell are given to them because they are special. Christ’s people are supposed to be peculiar, not fruitless, useless; why wouldn’t God take their food and other resources?

You can make your own personal, family, or Church application to this if you like, but this judgment is not about the individual; it’s national. Moses and that generation died, and then Joshua and Caleb, the only two just men, Joshua leading the next generation, went into the land. God didn’t need them; they needed Him! Know this, Christ will have a people, and He doesn’t need you at all; you need Him. You serve at His good pleasure, and where you won’t do His works, how does the Almighty derive His pleasure and glory? Why wouldn’t He take America’s blessings from them to bring a new, worthy generation before His throne to worship Him with fear?

Here we see what happens; God brings them low through oppression.

“39 Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.

40 He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.

41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.

42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.”

Americans have no clue what affliction and sorrow are. They are oblivious to what’s coming, and the local Churches are not warning them, and where they may be warning them, they won’t or can’t tell the congregation that it’s their fault. It’s as though they read the Holy Bible and only remotely understand it with vague acknowledgments that God will be God and have no other above Him.

Armchair disciples, knowing every word and deed that Christ did, extraordinarily detailed knowledge both about the bible and what’s inside it, doing absolutely none of it, not a lick, they are disciples of Jesus Christ nowhere but the vain imaginings of their mind.

But fear not, God will find a poor people, needful of Him, thankful for His small blessings, that will honor Him and give Him the glory He is worthy to receive.

Verse 42 should be the desire of every believer on earth; the righteous shall see the workings of God and rejoice, even and perhaps, especially in judgments. And what a better picture; do you not long for the day; all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Want to know how to have that, be salt and light and righteousness doing the work of a disciple of Jesus by keeping His commandments, preaching the Gospel to every creature, and teaching all nations that which Christ commanded from the beginning.

Fear not, the princes of this world will get what’s coming, and if they are not careful, they’ll get it in this life.

Vengeance is the Lord’s. Read Deuteronomy 32:35-43.

And we’ll leave it with these verses.

“17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” – Luke 4:17-21

As at the time Christ spoke these words, the High Churches today are at the feet of the ruling class. The Pharisees of our time are indistinguishable from the American Church to Washington DC, filled with error, the blind leading the blind, but Christ will have a people. He sets up nations and brings them to naught, judging empires into the dustbin of history.

Reread verse 43. If you don’t learn these truths, you won’t understand God’s purposes in judgment, grace, and for instruction in righteousness.

“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”- James 2:17

It’s not a point of pride to be called by the Father; it’s somewhat terrifying. Many ask, after the initial glow or during a time of testing, why me? But the answer is clear, to serve through Christ, bringing glory to the Father. Those that are Christs have no idea what they are doing. That’s because there is no reason by human understanding and most certainly not logic that those known of God are those He has drawn to Himself. Sons of God of varying callings and ordinations to bear fruit and genuine men of God try to exude confidence to those around them in a plan or works that God has for them, but they can do nothing except that Christ wills it. They don’t instruct you in righteousness to elevate themselves as sadly some perceive; usually, it breaks their heart to have to do it. Pray for your leadership that they would be faithful servants of God to feed the flock with truth, even facts from a friend.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” – Romans 12:2

Not knowing where to start serving God, Christians should try everything; prove His will by searching out the many ministries and callings to find which one(s) God has chosen for you. The object is not to find the one you like—this is a significant problem with the New Religion. The idea is to call upon the Father as you seek and knock on the many doors to find His will; it won’t be long before instruction arrives from the throne room of the Almighty as to what direction you are to take. We implore you, regardless of how crazy the thing sounds or ill-equipped and fearful you are of that first effort; do it, do that something! You won’t regret it.

Five years later, you’ll find yourself in the perfect will of the Father, building His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit come alive within you, the favor and blessings of Christ upon you, in the middle of a war you never knew existed, a real spiritual battle, being carried out through people.

Walking by faith is doing the one little thing that God puts in front of you. After months or years of doing the next little thing, it becomes apparent in hindsight by what means and manner God has chosen you to fulfill the works of His desire. This is why many won’t work. They expect to be told the 3-point plan with specific milestones and end goals. That’s not faith; that’s corporatism devoid of God’s ever-present guidance.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight” – 1 Corinthians 5:7

You don’t know what God will do until after you do the first thing to which He is compelling you, drawing you, calling, and willing you to attempt. But, He’s God, so you know that it will be good if you trust in Him above your own understanding. Then you must do the following little something the next day and the next, ever learning to hear and obey the voice of the Shepard. God equips the called; He doesn’t call the equipped. He derives maximum glory through raising the unequipped into a mature soldier of Jesus Christ.

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” – 1 Corinthians 2:9

Those marked by the Father are under continuous gentle and loving pressure, but its pressure nonetheless to do more and more in service of Him. You will be rewarded by degrees as you serve, and far better is the reward in Heaven. Having heard His voice, walking in trust by faith alone, workers in the Kingdom of God most often only know in hindsight where God has been leading them.

Luke 12:41-48 relates the growth of the calling(s) that the Father has put upon you, and those that returned fivefold interest over the charge given while the Master is in the far country are rewarded five kingdoms to rule (Matthew 25:14-30). Yes, that’s a reward and manifold more responsibility with the attendant work, all while trying to bring even more glory to the Father that the name of Jesus Christ may go throughout all the earth. Behold, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

After you start, God will provide; if you serve, God will give you time to act, not before but after. If you do, then God will teach you and raise you in the ability to perform. Next, God will provide you with the resources to operate if, first, you step out in faith to serve. You must start all endeavors by faith, and God will bring the increase. God doesn’t call disciples to wait for the rapture! The more you serve, the more you learn of God. Having faith unto salvation is not the end; it’s not only salvation; we are saved unto good works; those made His don’t get saved and do nothing. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”- James 2:17. I fear for those souls and their eternal state.

The fullness of service to the Almighty is unknown until we are in the midst, and even then, we continue to grow, and our service may change. And the fullness of the fruit is not known in this life. It’s by faith that a man is saved and continues in faith to follow after in service. God first draws unto salvation, then saves, then draws anew unto works, but only after you step into the breech by faith does God qualify you to the avocation.

So too, as a son serves his Father by doing as He commands while seeking His will, the son learns more and more about the Father, who He is, and what pleases Him. And as the son grows through walking by faith into the mercies and instruction in righteousness that the Father brings all His sons, thereby does the son glory that he knows God. Take that first small and tentative step of faith to do the works of God, ever drawing nigh to the Father that made you and gave you the heart of love to serve Him.