Category Archives: the gospel

Escape, Because You Can

by

0


The title of this post was on a billboard for a casino.  We all know what they meant.

But in the blink of an eye, I think we can all see how that applies to the judgment of God.

No one needs to stand in the great assembly of sinners that will be cast away from His presence.  Every single man and woman can enter into the joy of Christ for eternity.  How?

Humble yourself in prayer and ask God to show you.  Read the Bible with an earnest desire to learn.  Strive to do what it says.  And continue to return to earnest prayer, that God may show you what to do.

No one needs to be cast away from God’s presence. 

Positive Thinking

by

0


I just read that stuff about Olsteen.  I don’t follow the news anymore,  so I didn’t even know there was a problem.

In a way he’s right.  But only in a small way.  A very very small way.

Our Lord didn’t say, “Come be happy”.  He said “Come and suffer and die with me”.  And he made that point lot more often than he talked about happiness.

When he met with his disciples again, he didn’t chide them for their grief.  Before he was crucified, he warned his disciples that they would have grief.  But he assured them it would turn to joy.  He urged them to have faith. 

Remember how he told them the horrible things they would endure for his namesake.  Does that sound like today’s teaching about joyous positive thinking?

Olsteen, you forgot about the brotherhood of suffering for the name of your Lord. 

Hoorah for the broken hearts!   Shame for the hearts who binge themselves on joy. 

Integrity of faith is tested in the crucible of suffering.  How some people miss that is beyond my understanding. 

Research the English saying, “Stiff upper lip”.  You’ll find it reflects an honor even a godless man can respect.  How much more the servants of Christ?

Rule of thumb:
If a Christian teaching gathers a vast multitude of followers, be suspicious.

Fear?

by

0


What is fear?  Isn’t it fear to ponder what can be done to us?  Doesn’t fear come because we know we are weak and defenseless.

What is perfect strength?  Isn’t it the knowledge that we are perfectly protected?  Doesn’t strength come because we know that He who protects us is above all things?

Therefore I am proud of my weakness and am not afraid.  For the One who has sworn, by his very blood to protect me, That One cannot lie!

I see the fear that was in me, and gladly spit in its face.  “You will not own me!  You have been dethroned.  You are destroyed before you speak!  The One who is above you owns this soul.”

Come!  Believe beside me.  The shadow of fear has no hold on those who believe!

Challenge

by

0


I present a challenge to all.  It doesn’t matter how you perceive Christ.  Come and convince me that anything other then the full acceptance of His Gospel is truth.

Invited is the scholar.  Welcome is the agnostic.  The atheists already know they have been invited openly.  Invitation is extended to the religious.   Let the drunkard try to compel me this way is better.  Come and speak to me about finance, and how money is the end of all good things.  Let the violent receive the best of House seats.  Let the timid display the grandiose crown of their fear. 

Regardless who you are, come and convince me. 

Christ Jesus is king of heaven and earth.  By His merciful grace I am his servant.  It will not be me you challenge.  It will be the living God in me.

Let us all either “Put up or shut up”.

Why am I making this challenge, and doesn’t it seem rather absurdly stupid?  Yeah, it does.

I’m making this challenge because I am sick of watching the world decay all about me.  I am sick of watching Christian cower,  all the while the Living God promises strength.

By the looks of things around me, I surmise one of us is a liar.  Either it is Man or it is God in Christ.  You know the summation of that.

At the outset, I will admit that I know nothing about Islam, Buddhism, and whatever other religion you want to throw on the table.  All I know about them is that they are false.  I will speak of the gospel in Christ. 

Required materials: Pack a lunch.

It Can’t Be, But it is.

by

0


I am remembering.

How blessed I am.

For consciousness no sooner returns to my sleeping mind, and the things of my God come flooding in.

I am remembering who I was.

What an unspeakable blight to heaven and earth, was I.

For in those days,

No sooner would consciousness come to my sleeping mind and everything I could do came flooding in.

No thought of God.

No thought of righteousness.

No thought of restraint,

Except for apprehension by the laws of society.

I am considering.

There is a place where creatures are not blind.

There is a place where there is no break of sanity.

It is not a place of “was”.

It is not a place of “will be”.

It is a place of “is”.

Here, righteousness floats about like Cottonwood seeds on the breeze.

Here, righteousness is like the irritating mosquito.

Here righteousness is, “I will get to it when I feel like it”.

But in the place of “is”, sin and blindness are like those things.

So I wake to eyes in my soul that see.

Among the people of abject blindness, this one can see.

I am remembering.

What mercy is the Living God, that a man such as I should know these things like this?

I am remembering.

What potential lay in the blind souls of every man on this planet?

And now I remember my pleasurable duty;

Speak release to the captives.

With the cunning of a predator,

With the gentleness of a good mother to a newborn.

With every skill of captivity man has invented.

Yet with every possible release the living God offers.

I wake to holy sanity.

This cannot be!

But it is!

The glory is not mine.

I am no inventor of righteousness, skill, hope, regeneration, or release.

I do not have it in my hand to do any of those things.

What is in my hand is only to point:

There is God.

Here is God.

All around inclusive and exclusive, there is God.

Nothing is hidden from his sight, as it is in the eyes of dead souls.

He is perfectly dependable,  full of righteousness, peace, mercy, justice, grace, patience, life and hope.

Show me the place here that even is a shadow of a likeness to those things.

That I should know these things!

It can’t be, but it is!

Resigned to Doing

by

0


A godless banker walked into a convenience store to get himself a piece of jerky.  He stops to hold the door for a dirty sweaty young man.  Not a word of thanks is spoken.  But the banker shrugs off the thankless heart.  To him, this is the nature of the unprincipled.

Moments later, while they are both still shopping, another man enters the store.  This one is dirty and filthy.  The smell of marijuana reeks from his body.  The smell of beer isn’t far behind.

He walked up to the girl behind the counter.  From his mouth begins a long line of ridicule.  He remarks about her looks, how ugly she appears.  He speaks violently about how pathetic her children must be, what a squalor of a life she must lead, and how embarrassed he would be if she were his wife.

He was loud and rude enough to capture the attention of the two who walked in before him.  The banker busied himself with a variety of jerky, as if he was trying to decide.  But the sweaty and dirty young man walked briskly to the side of the drunk.  From that position he gave the drunk a tongue lashing that caused tears to fall.

The drunk left ashamed.  The sweaty and dirty young man paid his bill and waited beside the door.  The banker, mindless of the position of the other, bought his jerky and turn to leave.

When he looked up, he was greeted by a great broad smile and friendly eyes.  I’m sorry I didn’t thank you for holding the door sir.”  The disheveled young man said.  “I just came here to get something cool to drink.  We just finished rescuing and burying our dog.  It’s been a hard day.  I hope you can forgive me for not remembering my honor.”

The banker was stupefied.  Shame covered his heart.  He thanked the young man for holding the door and wished him good speed on recovering from his loss.  Then the banker went out to his car, away from all prying eyes, and cried like a baby.

We are our brother’s keeper.  If he is wicked let us have the determination to set him straight.  If he is attacked unjustly, let us be bold enough to step forward and offer our own bodies for protection.  If he is weak and afraid, let us give him strength by example.  And all of this Christ’s people should be doing for the glory of the Holy Name who bought them.

No!  Christianity is not a religion.  It is a doing!