Just sharing.

[beensetfree]

“And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment.”

Revelation 4:4

These representatives of the saints in heaven are said to be around the throne. In the passage in Canticles, where Solomon sings of the King sitting at his table, some render it “a round table.” From this, some expositors, I think, without straining the text, have said, “There is an equality among the saints.” That idea is conveyed by the equal nearness of the four and twenty elders.

The condition of glorified spirits in heaven is that of nearness to Christ, clear vision of his glory, constant access to his court, and familiar fellowship with his person: nor is there any difference in this respect between one saint and another, but all the people of God, apostles, martyrs, ministers, or private and obscure Christians, shall all be seated near the throne, where they shall for ever gaze upon their exalted Lord, and be satisfied with his love. They shall all be near to Christ, all ravished with his love, all eating and drinking at the same table with him, all equally beloved as his favourites and friends even if not all equally rewarded as servants.

Let believers on earth imitate the saints in heaven in their nearness to Christ. Let us on earth be as the elders are in heaven, sitting around the throne. May Christ be the object of our thoughts, the centre of our lives. How can we endure to live at such a distance from our Beloved? Lord Jesus, draw us nearer to thyself. Say unto us, “Abide in me, and I in you”; and permit us to sing, “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.”

O lift me higher, nearer thee,
And as I rise more pure and meet,
O let my soul's humility
Make me lie lower at thy feet;
Less trusting self, the more I prove
The blessed comfort of thy love.

 

[beensetfree]

Thorns and Thistles
====================

Today was one of those days when life's struggles piled up and
ran over.

There is so much work to do to fix up the house and out
buildings. The projects that have been finished needed
repairing again. Bills are piling up and the money coming in
does not meet their demands. Family relationships need
improvement too.

We are asking God for direction for our future, but He is
silent. Does He care? Is He listening? Don't think about that
now - the lawn needs mowing.

So, I was mowing the grass and on the other side of fence in the
cow pasture, there was a large bunch of thistles. I related to
them; I was feeling kind of prickly myself.

Then the MountainWings Moment: That is our lives!

God never promised that our lives would be void of trials and
tribulations. Each little sticker on those stems represents
trials and frustrations. They represent "dry" times in our
spiritual walk, or times when we are ridiculed and condemned by
others. They can stand for many different things to different
people. But have you ever seen the beautiful flower at the top?
It's lovely! And it's sitting on a crown of thorns.

We are called to carry our cross and wear a crown of thorns,
just like Jesus did on this earth. He is molding us, prodding
us on, testing us to see what we are made of. The next time you
see those thistles, remember that God in His loving mercy
created them to remind us that our lives may seem full of thorns
and thistles, but there is beauty in the midst of them all.

Thank God for the thorns and thistles.

 

[beensetfree]

He Lives! Our Hope...
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV

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Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:5-6 RSV

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It is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:18-20 NASB

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Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

[beensetfree]

Habakkuk 1:8

While preparing the present volume, this particular expression recurred to me so frequently, that in order to be rid of its constant importunity I determined to give a page to it. The evening wolf, infuriated by a day of hunger, was fiercer and more ravenous than he would have been in the morning. May not the furious creature represent our doubts and fears after a day of distraction of mind, losses in business, and perhaps ungenerous tauntings from our fellow men?

How our thoughts howl in our ears, “Where is now thy God?” How voracious and greedy they are, swallowing up all suggestions of comfort, and remaining as hungry as before. Great Shepherd, slay these evening wolves, and bid thy sheep lie down in green pastures, undisturbed by insatiable unbelief. How like are the fiends of hell to evening wolves, for when the flock of Christ are in a cloudy and dark day, and their sun seems going down, they hasten to tear and to devour. They will scarcely attack the Christian in the daylight of faith, but in the gloom of soul conflict they fall upon him. O thou who hast laid down thy life for the sheep, preserve them from the fangs of the wolf.

False teachers who craftily and industriously hunt for the precious life, devouring men by their false-hoods, are as dangerous and detestable as evening wolves. Darkness is their element, deceit is their character, destruction is their end. We are most in danger from them when they wear the sheep's skin. Blessed is he who is kept from them, for thousands are made the prey of grievous wolves that enter within the fold of the church.

What a wonder of grace it is when fierce persecutors are converted, for then the wolf dwells with the lamb, and men of cruel ungovernable dispositions become gentle and teachable. O Lord, convert many such: for such we will pray to-night.

 

[beensetfree]

Know Your Enemy
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour

1 Peter 5:8 KJV

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The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Revelation 12:9 NIV

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No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

2 Corinthians 11:14,15 NASB

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Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:7 RSV

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Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

[beensetfree]

“Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies.”

Psalms 5:8

Very bitter is the enmity of the world against the people of Christ. Men will forgive a thousand faults in others, but they will magnify the most trivial offence in the followers of Jesus. Instead of vainly regretting this, let us turn it to account, and since so many are watching for our halting, let this be a special motive for walking very carefully before God.

If we live carelessly, the lynx-eyed world will soon see it, and with its hundred tongues, it will spread the story, exaggerated and emblazoned by the zeal of slander. They will shout triumphantly. “Aha! So would we have it! See how these Christians act! They are hypocrites to a man.” Thus will much damage be done to the cause of Christ, and much insult offered to his name. The cross of Christ is in itself an offence to the world; let us take heed that we add no offence of our own. It is “to the Jews a stumblingblock”: let us mind that we put no stumblingblocks where there are enough already. “To the Greeks it is foolishness”: let us not add our folly to give point to the scorn with which the worldly-wise deride the gospel.

How jealous should we be of ourselves! How rigid with our consciences! In the presence of adversaries who will misrepresent our best deeds, and impugn our motives where they cannot censure our actions, how circumspect should we be! Pilgrims travel as suspected persons through Vanity Fair. Not only are we under surveillance, but there are more spies than we know of. The espionage is everywhere, at home and abroad. If we fall into the enemies’ hands we may sooner expect generosity from a wolf, or mercy from a fiend, than anything like patience with our infirmities from men who spice their infidelity towards God with scandals against his people. O Lord, lead us ever, lest our enemies trip us up!

 

[beensetfree]

The Tea Cup
===========

There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the
beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and
especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding
anniversary and the shop they visited had a beautiful teacup.

They said to the shop assistant, "May we see that? We've never
seen one quite so beautiful." As the lady handed it over to them,
the teacup spoke suddenly.

"You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup.
There was a time when I was red and I was clay. My master took
me, rolled me, patted me over and over and I yelled out,
'Let me alone' but he only smiled, 'Not yet.'

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said,
"and suddenly I was spun around. 'Stop it! I'm getting dizzy!'
I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.'

Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered
why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door.
I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as
he shook his head, 'Not yet.'

Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to
cool. 'There, that's better', I said. And he brushed and painted
me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag.
'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.'

Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first
one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate.
I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could
see him through the opening nodding his head saying, 'Not yet.'

Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it.
I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out
and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a
mirror and I couldn't believe it was me.
'It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.'

'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurts to be
rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you would have
dried up.

I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I
had stopped, you would have crumbled.

I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if
I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.

I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all
over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened;
you would not have had any color in your life.

And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't
survive for very long because the hardness would not have held.

Now you are a finished product.

You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.

Moral: God knows what He's doing for all of us. He is the
potter and we are His clay. He will mold us so that we may be
made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good,
pleasing, and perfect will.

Let this story remind you that God has a perfect plan for your
life. He may need to place some obstacles in your life to
strengthen your character, so that you may be strong in the days
of greater adversity. Don't get discouraged when you feel like
the heat of the struggle is going to burn you. God knows
exactly when to pull you out and deliver you from that problem
and when He does you will be much wiser and stronger than you
were before.

God knows your inner strength and ability to be strong even in
the midst of a problem.

 

[beensetfree]

Redeemed! Set free...
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Ephesians 1:7,8 NIV

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Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 9:12,14 KJV

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For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.

This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:23-26 NASB

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Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

[beensetfree]

“I will sing of mercy and judgment.”

Psalm 101:1

Faith triumphs in trial. When reason is thrust into the inner prison, with her feet made fast in the stocks, faith makes the dungeon walls ring with her merry notes as she cries, “I will sing of mercy and of judgment. Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.” Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble, and discovers the angel beneath. Faith looks up at the cloud, and sees that

“'Tis big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on her head.”


There is a subject for song even in the judgments of God towards us. For, first, the trial is not so heavy as it might have been; next, the trouble is not so severe as we deserved to have borne; and our affliction is not so crushing as the burden which others have to carry. Faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal; there is not a drop of God's wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith discerns love gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God.

Faith says of her grief, “This is a badge of honor, for the child must feel the rod”; and then she sings of the sweet result of her sorrows, because they work her spiritual good. Nay, more, says Faith, “These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” So Faith rides forth on the black horse, conquering and to conquer, trampling down carnal reason and fleshly sense, and chanting notes of victory amid the thickest of the fray.

“All I meet I find assists me
In my path to heavenly joy:
Where, though trials now attend me,
Trials never more annoy.
“Blest there with a weight of glory,
Still the path I'll ne'er forget,
But, exulting, cry, it led me
To my blessed Saviour's seat.”

 

[beensetfree]

Rest in Him!
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:9-11 NIV

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Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30 KJV

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By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Genesis 2:2,3 NASB

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The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17 KJV

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You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.

1 Peter 1:18-20 RSV

__________________

Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

[beensetfree]

“This man receiveth sinners.”

Luke 15:2

Observe the condescension of this fact. This Man, who towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners — this Man receiveth sinners. This Man, who is no other than the eternal God, before whom angels veil their faces — this Man receiveth sinners. It needs an angel's tongue to describe such a mighty stoop of love. That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful— they are of our own race; but that he, the offended God, against whom the transgression has been committed, should take upon himself the form of a servant, and bear the sin of many, and should then be willing to receive the vilest of the vile, this is marvelous.

“This Man receiveth sinners”; not, however, that they may remain sinners, but he receives them that he may pardon their sins, justify their persons, cleanse their hearts by his purifying word, preserve their souls by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and enable them to serve him, to show forth his praise, and to have communion with him. Into his heart's love he receives sinners, takes them from the dunghill, and wears them as jewels in his crown; plucks them as brands from the burning, and preserves them as costly monuments of his mercy. None are so precious in Jesus’ sight as the sinners for whom he died.

When Jesus receives sinners, he has not some out-of-doors reception place, no casual ward where he charitably entertains them as men do passing beggars, but he opens the golden gates of his royal heart, and receives the sinner right into himself — yea, he admits the humble penitent into personal union and makes him a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. There was never such a reception as this! This fact is still most sure this evening, he is still receiving sinners: would to God sinners would receive him.

 

[beensetfree]

Why Doesn’t God Heal Everyone?


Since God is all-powerful, why doesn’t He heal everyone who prays for it?

Gift of Healing
The Bible speaks about the different gifts given to the church and the gift of healing is one of those gifts. To start with, it’s a gift, so this gift is not from us. We are not the source of that gift; God is. Some may have this gift because it is God’s prerogative, but they might not even know it, but others might say they have the gift and don’t have it. Either way, the source is always God because no one can do miracles without Him.

The Apostle Paul makes it clear that “each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1st Cor 12:7), and “some the utter of wisdom, the utterance of knowledge, to another faith, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit” (1st Cor 12:10). A crucial point Paul makes is that it’s God“who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (1st Cor 12:11), so it’s not what we get or pray for as gifts, but what we receive from God, “as he wills.” Some people believe this gift is still at work in the church, and who can say that God still isn’t working miracles today through His people.

I can’t say that. We cannot put God into a box that fits into what we think God is like. We have no real clue about the ways of God, however we are given some help in discerning if these gifts are from God because not everyone that claims to be a “miracle healer” is one, and to be honest, I rather trust those accounts that hardly anyone knows about than those who are proclaiming from the pulpit that they can heal any man or any woman. First of all…that’s wrong. God gives this gift…and it is by God’s power that they’re done. For another, it might not be God’s will for a certain person to be healed. It is very much like His dispensing the gifts; it is His prerogative, not ours; it is His prerogative to heal whomever He wills to heal. It is not according to our will but His will alone.

Text out of Context
One of the most often quoted texts about healing is taken from Isaiah 53 where many laid hold of what they think is a promise to heal everyone. Isaiah the Prophet wrote, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). That sounds like God is going to heal everyone who trusts in Christ, but is that what it means? Is the context of this single verse, which rests in a chapter about Jesus taking on our sins upon Himself, really about our physical healing? Did Jesus die just so we could get over a cold or a disease? Would Jesus come to suffer and die during the Passion just so we could receive a cure for cancer?

Of course God can heal and there is power in Jesus’ name, but to claim Isaiah 53 as a promise that God will heal everyone is to rip the text out of its proper context and create a false pretext. The verse says that Jesus was “pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities,” and not so everyone would be healed who claimed the last part of the verse about being healed by His wounds. The healing we receive is not physical (at least yet) but a spiritual healing or the forgiveness of our sins because “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6b). Isaiah is writing about our iniquity being laid upon Jesus; His being pierced for our transgression; and being crushed for our iniquities.

There is nothing in this chapter about physical healing because the context is all about Jesus taking upon Himself the wrath of God that we all deserved, so Jesus made “his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days” (Isaiah 53:10b). How some believers use one simple verse, in fact part of one verse (Isaiah 53:5b), and turn it into a promise of healing all who claim it is beyond me. It does violence to the context and strips away the powerful meaning of Isaiah’s writing. I doubt Isaiah would write such things when he was simply referring to someone being physically healed.

Not Enough Faith?
Some of the “faith healers” use this verse (Isaiah 53:5) as a promise that God will heal everyone who asks for it, but more than a physical healing, Jesus brought us peace by His stripes. Jesus made “his soul makes an offering for guilt” (Isaiah 53:10) so that we would have peace with God (Rom 5:1), and that means there is no more condemnation for those who trust in Christ (Rom 8:1). When the person is not healed, the faith healer will simply lay the blame on the person asking for healing, and when they are not healed, a person is left with no healing and feeling blamed because their supposed lack of faith prevented God from healing them. Either way, the faith healer appears to be right, because if someone’s not healed, they point back to the person’s lack of faith, but when they use Isaiah 53:5 as a promise, they are setting up people for great heartbreak and disappointment. They become disappointed at their alleged lack of faith or they see God as rejecting their appeal for healing.


Conclusion
We could look at the Apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh or Timothy’s stomach problems, and according to some of these faith healers, they must not have had enough faith to be healed. God allowed Paul’s thorn in the flesh to keep him from being conceited. If God had healed Paul’s thorn in the flesh, would Paul have remained as humble? Apparently not because Paul himself said his thorn in the flesh was “to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited” (2nd Cor 12:7), so in Paul’s case, it was not God’s will to heal him and it was best for him and the gospel’s being spread if he kept this thorn, whatever it was.

Not happy with that answer? Then consider what God says: “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’” (Isaiah 45:9)? Just as Job’s friends were wrong about his suffering, as it wasn’t because he was living in sin, so too do some people assume that if someone is not healed, they must be living a sinful life or their faith is weak, however only God knows the heart and He has reasons for whatever happens in our life (Rom 8:28), and He doesn’t owe us an explanation. Besides, we’ll find out someday…it just may not be in this life.

 

[beensetfree]

He is Omnipotent!
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38,39 NIV

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Then Job answered the LORD, and said, "I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee."

Job 42:1,2 KJV

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"Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, who shows lovingkindness to thousands... O great and mighty God. The LORD of hosts is His name!

Jeremiah 32:17,18 NASB

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Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has instructed him? Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust.

Isaiah 40:13-15 RSV

__________________

Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

[beensetfree]

“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”

Psalm 32:5

David's grief for sin was bitter. Its effects were visible upon his outward frame: “his bones waxed old”; “his moisture was turned into the drought of summer.” No remedy could he find, until he made a full confession before the throne of the heavenly grace. He tells us that for a time he kept silence, and his heart became more and more filled with grief: like a mountain tarn whose outlet is blocked up, his soul was swollen with torrents of sorrow. He fashioned excuses; he endeavored to divert his thoughts, but it was all to no purpose; like a festering sore his anguish gathered, and as he would not use the lancet of confession, his spirit was full of torment, and knew no rest.

At last it came to this, that he must return unto his God in humble penitence, or die outright; so he hastened to the mercy-seat, and there unrolled the volume of his iniquities before the all-seeing One, acknowledging all the evil of his ways in language such as you read in the fifty-first and other penitential Psalms. Having done this, a work so simple and yet so difficult to pride, he received at once the token of divine forgiveness; the bones which had been broken were made to rejoice, and he came forth from his closet to sing the blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven.

See the value of a grace-wrought confession of sin! It is to be prized above all price, for in every case where there is a genuine, gracious confession, mercy is freely given, not because the repentance and confession deserve mercy, but for Christ's sake. Blessed be God, there is always healing for the broken heart; the fountain is ever flowing to cleanse us from our sins. Truly, O Lord, thou art a God “ready to pardon!” Therefore will we acknowledge our iniquities.

 

[beensetfree]

It Is Right to Hate Evil: A Reflection on Charlottesville





It has been a while since I last wrote an article. Rest assured though, the main reason for this has been some major life transition over the last couple of weeks that should soon calm down a bit here soon. However, the recent events in Charlottesville, VA have spurred me into writing mode again. Unless you have been living under a rock you’ve undoubtedly heard about the “White Nationalist” rally that occurred their near the end of last week. Now first of all let’s call this thing what it was: a hate-fueled mob of KKK members, neo-Nazis, and other white supremacists of the morally bankrupt variety.

As an amateur student of World War II and as someone who is radically opposed to all things smacking of Nazism, eugenics, the KKK, or any other white supremacy, it is somewhat jarring to see American citizens hoisting swastikas in 2017. My great uncle flew as a tail gunner in WWII, helping to wipe the virus of Nazism off the face of Europe. When I was a child, my father made a point to instill in me the horrors of Nazism and racism that fueled the fires of war in 1940s Europe. Me made sure I knew why we fought and defeated such an ideological evil.

I say all of this because I not only find the white supremacy rally in Charlottesville jarring; I find it to be historically and morally despicable. In the midst of their angst at feeling emasculated by a culture they feel is leaving them behind, these young men (because the majority are overwhelmingly angry young white men) are spitting in the faces of their grandparents and great grandparents. And for what? Because they think an orange clown who weaseled his way into the White House will give them back their socio-cultural power? It is almost sad to see how don’t even realize they’re getting played. Almost sad.

By now, you can probably tell that I have no sympathy at all for the white supremacist mob that descended on Charlottesville. And you’d be right. In fact this part of my problem. I despise white supremacy—particularly the Nazi variety—so much that I have trouble not hating the people that this ideological disease has infected. This is the hard reality for me as a Christian to swallow: while the white supremacists in Charlottesville are morally culpable for their actions there (and around the country), they are also victims of demonic “principalities and powers.”
It would be easy for me to hate them.
It is easy for me to hate them.

But as a Christian I am made to remember that while I will never cease to stand against the evils of racism, Nazism, the KKK, white supremacy, those who are complicit in these evil systems are themselves victims of them. For the evil of racism (and all its iterations) not only dehumanizes its targeted groups; it also dehumanizes the perpetrators who engage in its hate-filled actions. It turns them into monsters, distorted visages of what they were meant to be as humans made in God’s image.
And this brings me to the title of this article. For you see we Christians are not allowed to hate any humans, however evil their acts. For while they are morally culpable and will have to stand before the Judge of all creation one day, they are simultaneously victims of the systemic evils—the “principalities and powers” that Paul speaks of—that have infested God’s good world. For these evils are ultimately subsets of the “ontological wasting disease” that is evil. As David Bentley Hart notes of evil in his book The Doors of the Sea:

Evil is born of the will: it consists not in some other separate thing standing alongside the things of creation, but it is only a shadow, a turning of the hearts and minds of rational creatures away from the light of God back toward the nothingness from which all things were called. This is not to say that evil is then somehow illusory; it is only to say that evil, rather than being a discrete substance is instead a kind of ontological wasting disease. Born of nothingness, seated in the rational will that unites material and spiritual creation, it breeds a contagion of nothingness throughout the created order (p. 73).​

Evil is not a substance that stands alongside of God’s good creation. It is a privation, a nothingness that perverts and distorts those who have succumbed to it. They are simultaneously perpetrators and victims. And this is why the title of this article speaks of it being right to hate evil. Evil in all its systemic and pervasive forms (the ideologies of Nazism and white supremacy included) is ultimately not a good creation of God; it is a paradoxical nothingness that will ultimately be destroyed. Hart again:

Our faith is in a God who has come to rescue His creation from the absurdity of sin, the emptiness and waste of death, the forces—whether calculating malevolence or imbecile chance—that shatter living souls; and so we are permitted to hate these things with a perfect hatred. And we are not only permitted but required to believe that cosmic time as we know it, through all the immensity of its geological ages and historical epochs, is only a shadow of true time, and this world only a shadow of the fuller, richer, more substantial, more glorious creation that God intends; and to believe also that all of nature is a shattered mirror of divine beauty, still full of light, but riven by darkness (101-02).​

Because evils like white supremacy, Nazism, racism, white nationalism—you name it—are themselves subsets of the larger cosmic wasting disease that is is evil, we are are right to hate them with a righteous hatred.

But in the midst of such righteous hatred, we must be careful not to hate the misguided souls that this evil has enslaved. For they too are victims of these evils. They too are dehumanized and distorted by the evil that infects them. And I say this not as a perfectly righteous bystander, but as one who must also remember that perfect hatred of evil does not mean hatred of the enslaved humans who perpetrate it.

They will be judged for their sins, just as we all will, but by the one truly just Judge.
So for now, let us unite in our hatred of the evil ideologies of racism, white supremacy, Nazism, and other forms of malice. But let us remember that we must also seek to help free those who have been enslaved and fooled into perpetrating these evils. For we worship a God who himself destroyed the power of death and evil by letting them do their worst to him, while at the same time freeing those people they held in their sway.
We are right to hate evil, because we worship the God who will, one day, finally destroy it and free human creatures from its hold.

 

[RiverOL]

No Fixed Rate
2 Peter 3
"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (v. 18)

We are going to consider the things we need to know and do in order to gain a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. One of the questions put to me most frequently during the years in which I have been a minister and a counselor is this: "Why does one person seem to have a closer relationship with God than another, even though both have been on the Christian way for the same length of time?" Even the most casual observer of the Christian life cannot help but notice that people do not travel along the road leading to deeper knowledge of God at the same rate. We grow old at the same rate. But progress in spiritual things is not made at a fixed rate. From time to time I meet people who have fewer years of Christian experience than I do, yet they seem to know God more profoundly.


They leave me feeling seriously challenged and humbled. You have come across this yourself, haven't you? Surely you have met people who, though younger than you in terms of discipleship, are able to forgive injuries more readily than you, seem to be free of the nasty censoriousness you sometimes struggle with, and are swift to praise others whom they see doing more effectively the things they want to do themselves. Why? This is the issue which over the coming weeks we must make plain. Lovers of Scripture will have no doubt that God wants to move closer to us. The question we have to decide is: Do we want to move closer to Him?

Prayer
Father, make this time in my life a time of vision and venture in the things of God. May it become a time of spiritual advancement to a degree I have never before known. I ask all this in Christ's Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Running Away from God
The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. —Jonah 1:1-3a NLT

The prophet Jonah reacted badly to God’s command. He turned his back and began a downward slide that ended in the belly of a “great fish.” His every action took him farther and farther from the Father.
Jonah’s was a sorry, half-hearted commitment. God told him to go to Nineveh and preach repentance, but Jonah didn’t quite make it. He said, “I started to go. At least, I made the attempt.”

Many Christians today are like Jonah—committed in word but not in deed. What about you? When God tells you to do something, do you run away? Or do you answer a resounding “Yes!” and move ahead with a heart full of faith?

 

[beensetfree]

eryone!Learn more in this life-changing Special Report
I know that my Redeemer lives
As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take
His stand on the earth.

Even after my skin is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I shall see God;
Whom I myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see and not another.
My heart faints within me!

Job 19:25-27 NASB

__________________

May the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, O LORD,
my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 NIV

__________________

The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

Genesis 48:16 KJV

(this is the Angel of the Lord, The Lord Jesus Christ)

__________________

For thou art our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; thou, O LORD, art our Father, our Redeemer from of old is thy name.

Isaiah 63:16 RSV

__________________

Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.

 

[beensetfree]

“A people near unto him.”

Psalm 148:14

The dispensation of the old covenant was that of distance. When God appeared even to his servant Moses, he said, “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet”; and when he manifested himself upon Mount Sinai, to his own chosen and separated people, one of the first commands was, “Thou shalt set bounds about the mount.” Both in the sacred worship of the tabernacle and the temple, the thought of distance was always prominent. The mass of the people did not even enter the outer court. Into the inner court none but the priests might dare to intrude; while into the innermost place, or the holy of holies, the high priest entered but once in the year.

It was as if the Lord in those early ages would teach man that sin was so utterly loathsome to him, that he must treat men as lepers put without the camp; and when he came nearest to them, he yet made them feel the width of the separation between a holy God and an impure sinner. When the gospel came, we were placed on quite another footing. The word “Go” was exchanged for “Come”; distance was made to give place to nearness, and we who aforetime were afar off, were made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. Incarnate Deity has no wall of fire about it. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” is the joyful proclamation of God as he appears in human flesh.

Not now does he teach the leper his leprosy by setting him at a distance, but by himself suffering the penalty of his defilement. What a state of safety and privilege is this nearness to God through Jesus! Do you know it by experience? If you know it, are you living in the power of it? Marvellous is this nearness, yet it is to be followed by a dispensation of greater nearness still, when it shall be said, “The tabernacle of God is with men, and he doth dwell among them.” Hasten it, O Lord.

 

[beensetfree]

Is Humanity Growing Increasingly Violent?





Does it seem that violent conflicts are on the rise today? Has there been an escalation of violence?
In Our Nature
From our very beginning, it was in our nature to be violent, and it all began with Able, who “was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it” (Gen 4:2b-7). In fact, Cain didn’t rule over it; it ruled over him, and so “Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him” (Gen 4:8b). Things didn’t change much by Noah’s day, except that the violence grew worse, as it says, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Gen 6:5-6), so by Noah’s time, “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Gen 4:11-12). Today, it seems as if history is repeating itself, so is escalating violence a sign of God’s coming judgment, like the flood was to all who refused to repent?

Growing Discontent
To begin with, if a person has not been born from above, they cannot “rule over” themselves, much like Cain couldn’t rule over his sin, and he murdered his brother Abel. It is only through Christ that we can do anything (Phil 4:13), and without Him, we can do nothing at all with eternal implications (John 15:5), so a person must repent and believe or trust in Christ before they have access to the power of God through the Spirit of God. It is by His Spirit that we grow in holiness, never being sinless of course, but thanks be to God, we have His righteousness imputed to us (2nd Cor 5:21). Only in Christ can we stand.

History has proven that human philosophies and practices have utterly and miserably failed, and today, we’re equipped to wipeout every person on the planet, 10 times over! And now we have consistent and sometimes almost daily confrontations between groups opposing one other’s social and political agendas. Recently, masked anarchists attacked right-wing demonstrators, and even the police were overwhelmed and unable to separate them. After several arrests, police confiscated clubs, knives, guns, pepper spray, stun guns, and all other sorts of make-shift weapons. Even bottled water became a weapon, causing one man to suffer a concussion, but you can’t confiscate fists, and hatred, and the spontaneous violence that comes from it.

It almost seems there is no contentmentanymore. Cain could have tried to learn to be content, but he never even tried. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Phil 4:11-12), so how did Paul remain content throughout all these hardships? He had lots of practice to learn contentment through many trials and tribulations, but He could still say, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). Really, his contentment was in Christ, not in circumstances.

Hate and Murder
Most believers know that Jesus equates hate with murder, although certainly the physical act is far worse, but murder is birthed in hatred and hatched in violence. When we are raised with our parent’s prejudices and bias, we almost unknowingly start thinking the same way. It’s as if we are doing what is “normal,” but normal it’s not. It might be typical, but hatred is not of God. The Apostle John writes, “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness” (1st John 2:9), and “whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes”(1st John 2:11). We will never be known as Jesus’ disciples by protests, hatred, or violence.

In fact, we may prove we are not His disciples by our hatred of others! Jesus tells us how we can know who His disciples are, but also how others can t3ell who are Jesus’ disciples. Jesus commands His followers to “love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”(John 13:34b-35). Jesus takes it even further, telling us, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28). We respond to hate with love; cursing with blessings; persecution with prayer. The way you beat hate is with love.

Conclusion
If you are concerned with an increasingly violent world, then think about the Prince of Peace Who can deliver you from the wrath of God. Don’t believe me, but believe what Jesus says: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). You are either for Christ or against Christ (Matt 12:30; Luke 11:23), and to defer to make a decision is to intentionally reject Him. Those who are on the fence will be cast into hell along with everyone else who rejects the only name given to mankind by which they can be saved, and that is Jesus Christ (Act 4:12). There is simply no other way (John 14:6). No, it’s not politically correct, but it is correct, or does society prefer the political over the correct anyway?