Jesus is looking for a hot date

John and Ashley had a great first date. Dinner under candle light. A walk by the ocean under the moon light. They talked for hours about life, love, and everything in between. John was walking Ashley back to her house when he started hinting he might want a kiss to end the night. Ashley wasn't so sure and smiled the subject away. When they finally arrived at her house all the lights were out and it appeared that everyone was asleep for the night. John leaned against the door-jamb and looked longingly into Ashley's eyes. Using his smoothest, most charming voice he asked, "Didn't you have a good time?" Ashley answered back quickly, "Oh, yes! I... I just want my first kiss to be special. To be about love, not just feelings." Thinking quickly John responded, "That's just it. I think I love you more than anyone I've ever known. I just want to show you." Ashley didn't say anything. She was looking at the ground not wanting to hurt John's feelings and risk not getting to see him again. John tried on more time, "It's just  a kiss. It would mean a lot to me." At that moment the porch light came on and the door opened. Ashley's little sister was standing there looking half asleep but said firmly, "Dad says just kiss him. And if you won't that I should. And if I don't want to do it he will come down and kiss him himself. But will ask him to please quit leaning against the intercom button?"

I am having a hard time figuring out why people who claim the name of Jesus don't seem to understand or know that Jesus was very clear in what he was here to do for us and what he wanted to us to do for him. I've heard the Salvation by Grace side. And the Forgiveness by works side. And then there is the Jesus Will Save Everyone No Matter What They Do. That one just makes me laugh. And a whole slew of ideas in between. You would think that what God wants for us and from us would be the easy answer and the how would be the hard one. But for some reason everyone has got this backwards. Everyone is so sure on prayer, worship, church, giving, missions, and personal study. But hell would freeze over if you ever got the same answer from two people about what the Gospel is and what the Gospel requires. It's like knowing what to do while in school, but not knowing how to apply.

I have some shocking news. Salvation isn't by grace or works...technically. Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He also said if you love me you will obey me. So loving Jesus means obedience to the commandments. Whoa! That sounds an awful lot like the Old Covenant! You can hold that order and the chips too, right? But then Jesus also went on to say that once you have done everything he told you to do to call yourselves unworthy servants for you have only done your duty. Ugh... this is getting confusing. Are we under the law or aren't we? Is it grace or obedience? Earned or free? The thing about Jesus and the Bible as a whole is that you have to read it as a whole not in parts. Sounds exhausting, but there is no other way to go about it. And don't trust anyone else to do it for you. Just because  they say they have been to Bible college and read it cover to cover does not mean they are not lying, do not believe them. Read it for yourself and get to know the Shepherds voice. That way no matter who you are listening to you will not be led astray because you will know if it comes from Him or not.

Thankfully, Jesus didn't leave us hanging on this most fundamental, elementary step. The answer is simple, it's just not easy. And He did that on purpose. Those who seek will find. But those who do not seek will not find. No one stumbles upon the truth of God without effort. He doesn't allow it. I'll give you the simple run down, but it is up to you to search out the truth of this. You must know it for yourself in your heart. Knowledge of the head seems the same as knowledge of the heart, but it is not and it is a pseudo foundation to stand upon and you will fall when the storm comes. The truth is it is grace and works. Jesus requires that we give Him everything and He gives us everything in return. Jesus is offering us a trillion dollars in gold and we are staring at him blankly and saying, "I don't have anywhere close to a trillion dollars!" and He replies, "Okay, give me everything in your pockets." and then we pull out a crumpled dirty five dollar bill and he gives us the full reward. People get all fussy about those who say we must do things to qualify for salvation and say, "You can't earn the gift of salvation!" That's true. What you bring to the table is basically worthless. These say that you don't have to do anything to be saved except to believe in Jesus. Don't you know that even the demons believe, and shudder? The other side of the fence gets all fussy when you say that it isn't our actions that give us entrance to the throne room. They say that our actions garner us rewards in heaven. That is also true. But God doesn't owe you anything. It is His generous nature that awards you your rewards. Believe me, you do not want Jesus bringing out the balance sheets of your life and paying out accordingly. The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair. Even if you lived a perfectly correct life it would not equal the value of the trade that Jesus is making. Only the priceless God being offered in payment for the gift is sufficient. You owed the bank. He stepped in and payed your bill. Now He expects you to give-pay Him everything you have got even though it will fall far short of the balance originally due.

If you correlate yourself with the name of Jesus at all it behooves you to find out the truth and sweep of what this means. Don't forget the words of Jesus in Revelations, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.  Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent." You will know a tree by it's fruit; and salt water and fresh water can not come the same stream. The secret and mystery of salvation is passion. Passionate pursuit of Jesus and all that He is. Jesus judges the motivations of the heart. You can do right with the wrong motives and be condemned. Or you can do wrong with the right motives and be forgiven. But the key is to quit lying to yourself about why you do what you do and your actions will start to change dramatically. Seek the truth, repent, and never look back. We are the Bride and He is the Bridegroom. Jesus is looking for a hot date. I will leave you with this simple, but profound mathematical truth:

         1 x 1 = 1, valuable.
 (-1) x (-1) = 1, workable.
    1 x (-1) = -1, worthless.

Feel free to comment or ask questions! 

No such thing as free

This subject has been weighing on my heart for a long time. I have prayed and prayed and prayed for clarity from the Holy Spirit for longer than I can remember. And God has honored my pleas. I know that the initial reaction to this for most will be to reject it. But I plead with you ask the Lord to open your eyes, ears, and mind. This a foundational concept. More and more are starting to see that there is something inherently wrong with the Church but have a very hard time pinning down exactly what it is. It is because these spiritual foundation stones that we have laid down in our hearts were either not the proper stone or they were laid improperly and so everything built upon them was skewed and wrong even though the materials with which we built on top of the foundation were good. Not everything is as it seems. Sometimes this is because Jesus used double meanings for the things He taught and other times it is because wolves in sheep's clothing presented preconceived notions before presenting the Word and so altered the understanding for the listeners. Here is an example of the first type of double meaning:

1) "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

Though the pharisees scoffed at this claim, we now know that Jesus was not talking about the physical temple, but His body and His coming resurrection. This is an example of the second kind:

2) "And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification."

I don't know who had the idea to translate this Greek word as free, but it is grossly misrepresented and has lead to an entire generation standing upon a falsehood. The Greek word here is χάρισμα or charisma. It is the same word we use today that means:

1. Compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.
2. A divinely conferred power or talent.

The literal definition of the Greek word from a theological standpoint is:

           A gift of grace, an undeserved favor.

The pharisees didn't want to understand Jesus, I am sure, but I am also sure that when He said He would rebuild the temple in three days His disciples didn't dismiss Him. They probably thought He was about to either do something mind blowing or He must have meant something else and they just were not getting it, as happened often. It is here that the idea of the free gift of God has always left me scratching my head because it doesn't match the very clear things that Jesus also said such as:

"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?...In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."

This doesn't sound free does it? This sounds costly, very costly! And what about the series of parables that Jesus told about the Pearl of Great Price, The Hidden Treasure, The Lost Coin? These all speak of people recklessly abandoning their lives and giving everything so that they could possess this infinity more valuable treasure. It was at this point that I did the word study on this word free or charisma.

This is a case of mistranslation, many translations do not even include the word free in the verse from Romans, but simply render it: gift. But I think gift doesn't adequately describe what it is Jesus did for us and gave us. I believe the word should not be translated without price or price-less, but priceless or incalculable or may favorite that the thesaurus brought up: worth a king's ransom. I don't think it could be said any better!

It seems the Church has thought that Jesus was too hard of a man and that we shouldn't make it so hard on people. To all the disciples He asked them to leave their business, wives, and probably children without even looking back. The rich young ruler apparently had lived a very good and moral life. But what did Jesus say that he had to do to receive eternal life? Did He say be charitable? Did He say give 10%? 20%? 50%? No, he said give everything you own away, come follow me and you will have eternal life. We have betrayed the people and have become the perverse and adulterous generation by allowing people to simply sit before a well groomed speech set to moving music and to simply come forward, ask Jesus to forgive their sins, come into their heart, be baptized and so be saved. Have we so easily forgotten what Peter said when asked what we had to be saved?

"Repent and be baptized..."

or Jesus and John the Baptists message while they walked the Earth

"Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven is near!"

How have we so recklessly forgotten the words of the prophet Jeremiah?

"No one repents of his wickedness, saying, "What have I done?" Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle."

or Moses' charge in Deuteronomy

"When such a person person hears the words of this convent, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way... The Lord will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that man."

I have heard some speak of the New Covenant as if it were a one sided promise. That Jesus will forgive all our sins and let us share in His inheritance if we just do the simple Billy Graham dance. Doesn't matter what happens between here and death, that's what grace is for. That is a lie. How worthless we have made Jesus' sacrifice if we think that the God of all creation who gave everything to be with us would trade it for nothing.

The Old Covenant wasn't flawed or evil. It was simply a typology, symbolic so that when the real thing came we would recognize it. The New Covenant is actually the same as the Old Covenant except that the symbolic parts were replaced by reality. There were three parts to the Old Covenant or Law

1)Laws of Cleansing
2)Laws of Ceremony or Sacrifice
3)Laws of Righteousness

The first two were replace by real cleansing and real sacrifice the third Law still remains. Remember at this point Moses' words when reading the Law to the Israelites,

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach."

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was He replied,

 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  

And this where most people stop, but Jesus goes on:

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Obviously, Jesus abolished the Laws of Sacrifice and Cleansing. So what are these laws that describe what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself? The Laws of Righteousness. And, Jesus gave us a definition of the word love in John 14,

“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching...He who does not love me will not obey my teaching."

Love is not an emotion, it is an action. And with Jesus, love equals obedience. But as Paul tells us the Law or obedience cannot save you. And yet, it is still a requirement. The deal was always the same, "You give me everything you have got and I will give you everything I have got."

Our righteousness is rags before the Lord and so He has said, "Trade me you rags for my fine linen."
Our spiritual treasure is filth and manure and so He has said, "Trade me your filth for my fine gold."

Remember this, we have no rights before Jesus. We have no right to march into the judgement room and demand payment, our inheritance. This is what Jesus had to say about our walk with Him,

"So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"

The starting point is doing everything He asks and then we beg for mercy. His gift is not cost-less, it is costly. It is not without price, it is priceless. We must trade Him everything for the gift. No such thing as free.

Feel free to comment or ask questions! 

The deal never changed, only the terms

I have started a practice in my own time that I think would be very helpful for all Christians in understanding the personality, loves, hates, and desires of Jesus. I read Old Testament passages and insert the name Jesus anytime Lord, God or any other name for God is used. This will dramatically change your outlook and understanding of the man Jesus. I don't believe this is blasphemous as Jesus himself said, "...that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." and John said about Him
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. So with this in mind I want to quote a passage from Deuteronomy 29:19-28. I know this is kind of long, but please stick with me, this is important,

    " When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.” This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.   Jesus will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that man. All the curses written in this book will fall upon him, and Jesus will blot out his name from under heaven. Jesus  will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
 Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which Jesus has afflicted it.  The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jesus overthrew in fierce anger.  All the nations will ask: “Why has Jesus done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”
 And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of Jesus, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. Therefore Jesus' anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. In furious anger and in great wrath Jesus uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”

Jesus said of himself, "I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it." and concerning his disciples, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Jesus death on the cross did not abolish all law or any law, but replaced it with a different law. And what is Jesus' new law? "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" and the second, "Love your neighbor as yourself." All commands rest on these two things. So if this is what Jesus commands us now and this is also a summation of the Old Testament Law, what changed? The terms. In the Old Testament you had to follow the Law and love Jesus to the best of your ability and offer animal sacrifices to atone for your sin. In the New Testament you are to follow the law and  love Jesus to the best of your ability and Jesus' blood atones for sins once and for all. The difference is in the Old Testament the sacrifices never paid the penalty for sin they only pushed it back until a sufficient sacrifice could be made, Jesus' life. The difference between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant was that Law had many dietary, sanitary, and ceremonial commands and practices. These were all typologies so that when the real thing came they would recognize it. But the laws concerning righteousness never changed. Righteousness is still righteousness. And what God command in the Old Testament He still commands in our day. It has always been saved by grace. He has always accepted His righteous ones(Enoch, Moses, Elijah) that "loved him with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind, and all their strength" and "loved their neighbor as themselves". The rule has always been love me with all you've got, trust in me for everything and I will forgive you the rest. And the things that made Jesus furious with rage still make Him furious with rage today, make no mistake. Loving Jesus with all that you are was the ticket to heaven all along.

People often wonder why Jesus didn't address many social issues that plague our society today such as homosexuality, social norms, and politics. Many assume that since He didn't talk about them He must not care about them. The reason Jesus didn't reinterpret the whole of theology while on Earth is because He still stands by His words that He sent though the prophets.

I have never met a Christian that would claim Jesus didn't command us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Everyone agrees these are good and right. Where the division comes is the interpretation of these. But we were given the interpretation, remember? "All the Law and the Prophets rest on these two." The Old Testament is Jesus speaking.


Don't think that you can say with the man from above, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.”  Jesus gave everything for us. He expects us to do the same. Never forget:


"You are not your own; you were bought at a price.'

Feel free to comment or ask questions! 

Milk Is The Cause of Cancer!

My wife and I were talking the other night about repentance and what it really means to repent. I understand this concept very well in my own heart. As the saying goes, "He who is forgiven much, loves much." But I often struggle to articulate the degree and severity that Jesus meant when He said, "Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven is near!" The Holy Spirit gave me a parable of sorts that night that says it more clearly than I have ever heard:

Let's say that I was able to definitively prove to you that the drinking of milk other than human was the direct cause of cancer as much as blood is the vehicle for transferring AIDS. Would you continue to drink milk? At all? Would you say, "I love milk, but I know it's bad for me, so I will start weening myself off slowly. This month I will drink only 10 glasses. Next month I will drink 9. And so on." This person would either have to be insane or they didn't actually believe the truth in the beginning. But it is true! So what would be the proper response? Stop drinking milk! Now! Then, I would start finding out what was made with dairy. Anything that had any dairy in it would be cut out of my diet.

This is the difference between a Paul-like conversion and the majority of 'Christians' I meet today. Many treat sin and purity flippantly. They assume that their life operates on their own time-table. They use grace as a scapegoat for sin.

"Sure you want to do good things and stay away from the bad. But we are all forgiven in the end anyway. Don't be so uptight about it. Enjoy your life and trust in Jesus"

These thoughts pass through a lot more heads than speak it. But there is an increasing number who are starting to speak it as well. Repentance means going out on the battlefield and defeating the enemy head on at the outset. And once the battlefield has been won you go throughout the towns and countryside routing out the enemy, leaving none alive. This is what repentance and the Christian walk should look like. Yes, you will be under constant attack from the flesh until the day you die. But you should be defeating the massive frontal enemy at the outset.

If a drug addict was trying to get clean the first step would be... stop taking drugs! Then he would begin routing out the causes of his drug addiction. The dealers, the co-dependents, the enablers. Then he would dig deeper and rout out the emotional causes of his drug addiction: depression, hurt, bitterness, regret, selfishness. In this way he would win the lifelong battle, but it begins by not taking the drugs! He can't say, "This month I will only take two hits of crack a day. And next month only one hit a day." That would be ridiculous! Everyone knows that wouldn't work and no one would believe he was serious about getting clean.

We all face the same battle and demon in varying ways. Stop sinning! Then find and cut out the things that make your sin possible. Then find out why you are committing the sin in the first place. This is the process of sanctification. This is holiness. Remember Jesus' words,

"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."

Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is near!

"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near."

Solomon had it right, "There is nothing new under the sun." What has been will be again. And it is. Jesus first coming was heralded by many prophets, but one man in particular paved the way, John the Baptist. His message was of repentance, commitment and purification. The Messiah came and conquered the world through spiritual victory and is coming again to conquer all kingdoms physically. But there is someone who will be coming in between these two comings that Christians have been anxiously looking for as well, the  Antichrist. The Beast. The abomination that causes desolation. And I believe his appearance is immanent.

Biblical prophecy is being set up and fulfilled around us everyday. First, I want to address a subject that is under much contention. The physical nation of Israel. Some say they are still God's favorites. Some say they are irrelevant. And many say a lot of things in between. There is no doubt that God favored and was fighting on their side in the Old Testament. Jesus definitely gave them the land of Israel as their inheritance. The question is was this promise nullified or revoked when the New Covenant was ushered in or because of the Jew's rejection of Jesus through His death on the cross. Generally speaking, most have no scriptural basis for this belief. At least I have never heard of any and don't think any can be found because of Paul's words to the Romans,

"I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! ... God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew... Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! rather because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious... I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that your may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved... for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable."

Israel's inheritance was not apart of the Old Covenant. It was an gift that stemmed from Abraham's faith and faithfulness. Israel was carried off into captivity and occupied many times, but none of these revoked their ownership of the land. Israel was even occupied in Jesus' day by the Romans. But as in Elijah's day, He has always kept a faithful remnant for Himself. And the promise and the inheritance is not revoked for the faithful on account of the unfaithful. The geographic land of Israel belongs to the Jew's ,the natural sons and the adopted sons, and it is where He will return to. It is where he will set His city. And He will fight for it.

"This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares:  “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.  On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.  On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations.  Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.’
 “On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.
 “The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah.  On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord going before them.  On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.

I say all this to get to this: I believe the Beast and his false prophet are walking the Earth. Jesus it the descendant of the child of the promise, Issac. The false Christ will be a descendant of the false son, the illegitimate son, Ishmael. There has been some very alarming events in the news lately. This is the most disturbing:

"Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are convinced that the End of Days has come. They believe the Shia messiah known as the “Twelfth Imam” or the “Mahdi” will appear soon to establish a global Islamic kingdom known as the caliphate. What’s more, they believe the way to hasten the coming of the Twelfth Imam is to annihilate Israel (which they call the “Little Satan”), and the United States (which they call the “Great Satan”). We should not, therefore, be surprised that Iran is probing for weaknesses in American intelligence and homeland security. Khamenei told Iranians in July 2010 that he personally met with the Twelfth Imam. He also claimed to be the personal representative of the Mahdi on earth, and said all Muslims must “obey him.” Meanwhile, Western intelligence agencies say he continues to work with Ahmadinejad and the Iranian military to develop nuclear warheads and the ballistic missiles to deliver them.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/11/07/why-irans-top-leaders-believe-that-end-days-has-come/#ixzz1dPj0f400

There is a lot of time spent studying Biblical eschatology(end times study), and there should be. But take some time and read some Islamic eschatology sometime.  It is eerily similar to ours. Governments overthrown. Evil eradicated. Righteousness reigns. Messiah. God  reigning on earth. You would think you were reading Revelations. Except the names and winners are changed. You have to understand that the Antichrist and false prophet are not going to be against Christ. Satan never wanted to oppose Jesus. He wanted to be Jesus and have everything that He has. And He has been mimicking him ever since the beginning.

The world is so interconnected that globalization is the only option at this point for the politicians. We are in a bubble here in America. We see Islam and Muslims as fringe and obscure. And we still have a sense of Nationality and freedom. But

"As of 2009, over 1.5 billion or about 23% of the world population are Muslims.[1] Of these, around 62% live in Asia-Pacific, 20% in the Middle East and North Africa, 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa and around 2% in Europe & Americas" - Wikipedia

And this was in 2009. Islam is sweeping the world. I've often wondered why the U.S. is not mentioned in Biblical prophecy. We have such a instrumental place in the world. We are the concentration of the vast majority of wealth and power. We are said to be founded on Christian principles. Most Americans probably cringe inside every time the hear the word Islam or Muslim after 9/11. We know that the southern half of the U.S., at least, is armed to the teeth. How on Earth could this be true?: "All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast". I think Americans have demonstrated, despite our failings and disregard for Jesus' commandments, that we would fight to the death over our freedom. So how would America ever be in submission to an Islamic, Antichrist, world government? Maybe it is because we are not here. Everyone knows how much Muslims, and particularly Iraq, hate Israel and the Jews. But this fact is mysteriously absent from the headlines: Israel is the "little Satan" to them. America is the "Great Satan". And when all this World War lll starts going down who do you think will be their first target? God promised to fight on Israel's behalf and to secure His kingdom on that land. There was no such promise made for this land.

Be watchful. Be ready. Repent! Do not give the Devil a foothold. Remember  Jesus' words,

"Do not worry about what you will eat, or what you will drink, or what you will wear. Do not worry about your life."

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me"

"If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints."

There is a great delusion coming and is already showing it's head today. Your enemy, the Devil, will use any and every tactic to devour you and get you turn away from Jesus. Purify your lives and be ready to give anything and everything for His name. Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven is near!

Feel free to comment or ask questions! 

Baby, I was born this way!

When Jesus created us and placed us in the garden he said that we were very good. We were ignorant and immature and yet, He was pleased. And then came the fall. We added knowledge to the mix and the the deal changed. The standard changed. We now had to follow a strict set of rules and guidelines to be righteous. None of us could do that though. That is not what we were created for. We were sheep entering a cheetah race. There was no way we could ever be complete and faultless. This is what the Old Covenant meant: we would have to be everything to anything and everyone at all times. We would have to have every answer right, every step right. Perfect wisdom that not only accomplishes His purposes in the moment, but for all eternity. We were not  created for this. This is why no one would every be able to fulfill it. The Law was a description of God and so God would have to fulfill it. And Jesus did. Then He gave us a New Covenant.

What is a covenant? Is it a free give-away flyer in the mail? Is it a loose deal between friends? I think the best way to describe a Biblical covenant is to use the definition of the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was not optional. And the standards and requirements were not different for anyone. What is the difference between the Old and the New Covenant? It is the standards and requirements. Let me give a parable of sorts to demonstrate these:

The Old Covenant was like a standardized test. You have to study, study, study. Take the test and if you pass your in. And everyone gets the same test. Except, it was a pass/fail test not a sliding grade. And that is where the mistake comes in. People grade themselves against the Law and get A's, B's, C's and so on. Only, if you get a 99%, you still fail. And the test is on the complete realm of knowledge and wisdom. Everything that ever was, is, and ever will be. We could never possibly know. And that is why  Jesus had to come take the test for us, because only God could ever be that.

The New Covenant is more like a track race. The catch though is that there isn't a start or a finish line. You can start wherever you are on the track and there is no finish line for you to cross. Your only job is to run. Many prefer the Old Covenant to the New Covenant because it gives them a standard to judge themselves on. That is self-righteousness and it pales in comparison to the righteousness that the Old Covenant describes. There is no way to grade yourself on the race, the New Covenant, because you can't show how far you've run or how long until you cross the finish line or even how well you are running compared to your fellow racers because they are not running on the same track as you, though you can still see them. It's only about how much passion you run with. Have you ever been to a High School gym class? Some are giving it their all. Some are merely participating. Some are not participating at all. Have you ever seen an Olympic track race. That look in their eye; that desire and passion that they run with is what Jesus is looking for. Does it matter how fast or how well you run? Not at all. Have you ever seen a Special Olympics track race. The faces are the same. The passion and desire is the same. The speed is not. That doesn't matter, because you are not judged on the Law and if you have perfection in athleticism. You are judged on how well you ran the race you are in. This is the same parable that Jesus told in the parable of the talents:

  “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’  “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’  “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’  “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’  “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’   “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Run with passion. Give it your all. Take the truth that you know and live it to the fullest. Like all good athletes, always be looking for a way to improve you technique and performance. Make your coach proud. But don't ever think that your performance will be approved because of the ground you have covered. You can never reach a certain point and rest or run with less drive. Your race will sometimes be fast and some times slow based on the terrain and heat around you, but always remember that it's not the speed and distance you cover, but the eagerness with which you run. This was the original purpose. This is what you were created for. You were born this way. Run!

Feel free to comment or ask questions! 

Clean out the rot from among you

     "Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.  When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand  and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and into the woman’s body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped."

          When did we stop believing that God disciplines those He loves? The modern thought among Christians is that sin was something of the Old Testament and that now days Jesus views it more as an inconvenience that He will tolerate until  He returns and makes all things new; that He will gently persuade someone as long as they want to be persuaded, but that He is a gentleman and will not force His desires and beliefs on us. According to this bunch,  all the punishments of the Old Testament were to atone for their sins, as if God didn't have a choice in the matter. He did love them and that is why Jesus came, so that He wouldn't have to be so harsh and demanding with us anymore. Consider this,

"Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Jesus has standards. He desires purity. "Be Holy, as I am Holy". Holy doesn't mean perfect, it means set apart for a special purpose. "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." and, "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." The hot words of our generation are compromise and tolerance. These words are not in God's vocabulary. I'm not advocating preaching fire and brimstone or aggressiveness towards the world. This message, this language, is against those who call themselves Christians and live as if they were apart of this world. Remember Jesus words,

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

Did you see the word He used there? "I know your..." Not faith. Not beliefs. Deeds! How you act. These worldly Christians argue for mercy and say that Jesus doesn't hold their sin against them. But that is not what His mercy is for. When Jesus completed and did away with the Old Covenant He didn't leave it at that. He established a new one. Which means He does something for you and you do something for Him. Will He accept us at the judgement throne if we live worldly lives? No. He will tell us, "I never knew you!" Does this mean He will give up on us if we turn our backs on Him while still alive? Never! "If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself." So what does He do? He disciplines. "For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself..."

Is this eternal judgement? The final Judgement?

"...That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep."

If you sin against Him under the New Covenant He may strike you physically or He may even kill you to keep you from poisoning the rest of the fellowship and dishonoring His name. Or He may discipline you verbally through another believer like He did Peter through Paul.

"When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?"

So what should we do about the unfaithful among us? We were commanded in this respect as well,

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector."

This is clear in it's command. Confront sin, rebuke your brothers and sisters in love, if they will not listen and change their ways put them out of your fellowship and treat them with hostility as you would someone who worships Satan or another false god because if they will not submit to Christ that is what they are. He demands purity and submission. It is not optional.

How strict should we be about this? How strongly should we hold to this? This brings us back to the passage that I opened with. Take a minute and go read the 25th chapter of Numbers, it's exciting. No censuses or genealogies, I promise. So here we have the Israelites gathered together as an assembly. They have just heard directly from God regarding their most recent sin and have been given a direct command. Moses and the elders are before the Tent of Meeting weeping and repenting when this guy walks right by them chatting it up with a prostitute. Not Moses, not Aaron, not Eleazar, but Phinehas gets up and says, "No way, this stops right here, right now, today." He then proceeds to follow the guy into his tent carrying a spear. And while the guy is on top of his hired lady friend he drives the spear through both of them. This appeases Jesus and then the plague lifts. It wasn't the Israelites gathering together that made His anger pass. It wasn't their repentance or contrite hearts. It was action. So what is the mercy that Jesus bartered for us for? For ignorance and immaturity. "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." If you didn't know any better or are new and weak, there is mercy. If you have been told or are a seasoned believer, there will not be mercy.

But this is not only about eternal consequences, it has application to the here and now. A day is coming when the Antichrist will be revealed and I believe it to be soon, certainly in my life time. He is not going to be obvious. He is going to be the best "wolf in sheep's clothing". We must be diligent and not allow impurity and compromise to be among us. "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." And devour us He will. If you think you are too strong or too wise to be deceived or devoured you make the greatest mistake in confrontation; underestimating you enemy. What makes a wall safe and secure? A strong foundation and quality construction. If we allow impurity in the materials or poor workmanship in the things that make up our life we will not be able to stand in the day of trouble. He will divide us and pit us against one another. And He will conquer us. And will there be mercy if the master comes and finds us defeated?

"But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— IF you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel."

Feel free to comment or ask questions!