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71
on: July 28, 2018, 02:34:14 PM
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Started by dan p - Last post by dan p
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Hi and as mI was hearing a teacher explain Heb 11:4 on , he mentioned that Adam was not written into the FAITH CHAPTER in Heb 11:4 !!
Will any say why NOT ??
dan p
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72
on: July 28, 2018, 09:27:19 AM
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Started by Soldier4Christ - Last post by Soldier4Christ
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Remember the Day of Rest
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.” (Exodus 20:8-10)
The Hebrew word for “remember” actually means to “mark” or “set aside.” The Israelites didn’t need to be told to “remember” the sabbath, because all nations had been keeping time in weeks ever since creation (Genesis 2:1-3). (Note the references to the sabbath in the sending of God’s manna, prior to the giving of this commandment [Exodus 16:23-29].) But they did need to be reminded to mark it as a holy or rest day, as God had done in that first week.
The Hebrew word for “sabbath” does not mean “Saturday” any more than it means “Sunday.” It means, simply, “rest” or “intermission.” The institution of the sabbath (that is, one day out of every seven days to be “set aside” as a day of rest, worship, and remembrance of the Creator) was “made for man” and his good (Mark 2:27). It was even of benefit to the animals used by man (note the mention of “cattle” in the commandment). It had been a pattern observed since the completion of God’s six days of creation and making all things at the very beginning of world history (note Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:11).
It is still appropriate today, as well. “There remaineth therefore a rest [that is, ‘a sabbath-keeping’] to the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). All men have a deep need to remember their Creator and His completed work of creation at least once each week, as well as His completed work of salvation—especially in these days when both of these finished works are so widely denied or ignored. HMM
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73
on: July 27, 2018, 05:07:08 PM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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He Got Used to it
Charles Naylor, 1941
John had not been saved so very long, but he was greatly enjoying his life. Salvation to him was the sweetest thing he had ever known. He abhorred sin. When he saw sin or heard it in any form, it was very obnoxious to him. He had a keen sense of its sinfulness.
But after a while John went to work in a factory. There he was thrown into contact with men of all sorts, most of them given to profanity and obscenity. How he hated to hear such language! But hear it he must. His soul was vexed continually with it and he heartily wished himself in some other employment. But as time went on he did not seem to mind it so much, until finally he took it as a matter of course and paid little attention to it.
One day a brother said to him, "John, how do you get along working with all those profane men?"
"Oh," said John, "I've got used to it now. It doesn't bother me much any more."
Mary, John's wife, was saved in the meeting where John was saved. She, too, was very happy in the Lord, but she lived in a neighborhood where the people were much given to gossiping about each other and where about all the women discussed was each other, the scandals of the neighborhood, fashions, and worldliness of various sorts.
Mary had taken her part in this gossiping with the others before she was saved, but after she had found the Lord she abhorred it utterly. It was very trying for her to listen to it any longer. When her neighbors came in she tried to be courteous to them and to listen to them somewhat from that standpoint, but she tried to turn the conversation to spiritual things whenever she could. She soon found, however, that her neighbors did not care for such things. So little by little she ceased to speak of them. After a while she lost the keen sense of displeasure at their conversation. Little by little, without her being aware of it, she became interested in the things they talked about. After a while she began to enjoy hearing the things of which they talked. She was like John. Sin was not to her as it had been. She had grown used to it.
But since John and Mary had become used to sin, were they the same as before? In getting used to these things, had they lost anything themselves? Yes, they had lost something very real, something very vital to their souls. They did not have the same relish for the Christian meetings that they formerly had. They did not have the same deep, abiding love for the church as individuals. They could see faults and shortcomings, that they had not seen before in their brethren and sisters. They still prayed and testified in the prayer meetings. They still attended and enjoyed the preaching services, but there was not quite the same relish for the things of the Spirit. Their prayers were not so earnest as before. They were not so zealous for the salvation of the souls of the people as they had been. In getting to the place where sin was less sinful to them and less obnoxious to them--they had come to where righteousness did not mean so much to them. In getting hardened to the sin about them, they had also become hardened to righteousness.
Our love of righteousness and spiritual things, is in direct proportion to our hatred for evil. Whenever we get used to evil so that it means little to us--then righteousness also comes to mean less than it did to us. When the great gulf between sin and righteousness becomes filled up with indifference, we almost lose sight of it. We need to be careful that we do not lose our sense of the sinfulness of sin.
It is natural for us to become used to whatever is around us. There is an adaptability to human nature through which we adjust ourselves to existing circumstances and conditions. If we are not careful, this natural adaptability will take the edge off our sense of the sinfulness of sin--and as surely as that sense is blunted, something very vital to our spiritual prosperity has been lost.
Lot lived in Sodom and remained a righteous man, but he did so only because he kept his soul in an attitude toward God where he was continually vexed by the deeds of the unrighteous. He never lost his sense of the sinfulness of sin, and that was the one thing that protected him among the evil people with whom he was surrounded.
The closer we live to God, the more we will hate evil. The truly spiritual person can never find pleasure in any form of sin, no matter who it is that is guilty of the sin. God never gets used to sin. If we retain our godlikeness, we can never become used to it. Therefore, if we begin to feel less concerned about the wickedness of those around us, if we realize we are becoming indifferent to it, if we can hear the name of God taken in vain or hear obscene stories and not have our soul roused in indignation against them--then we should be warned that we are drifting away from that high plane of spirituality on which it is our privilege and duty to live.
There is also another side to this question. People come to realize that they are not as spiritual as they once were. They realize that they are not living so close to God as they did in the past. Perhaps they feel it keenly at first and make efforts to recover what they have lost; but not making earnest enough efforts or not being diligent enough, they do not recover the lost ground. They go on realizing they are less spiritual than they should be, and if they continue in this condition they will shortly get used to it. They will have a realization of it perhaps when they compare themselves with what they were; but there comes a sort of indifference, a sort of adjusting oneself to the conditions--and after a while they are very hard to move to any attempt to regain their lost spirituality.
They have become used to being unspiritual. They are not just altogether satisfied with it, but they would rather be as they are, than to make an effort to be more spiritual. So they drift along. Oh, of course, they would like to be more spiritual like their brethren, but they have become used to being as they now are, and as they are doing pretty well, why bother about things? To be sure, they have lost their former zeal, but they have got used to being without it. They used to feel very keenly when they omitted spiritual duties, but now they have become used to omitting them and it does not bother them so much.
We can get into a place where it is just natural for us to love righteousness and to hate iniquity, to desire to do all we can for God and not hold back from effort. We can get used to service and sacrifice, and this we must do if we are to prosper in our souls as God designs that we should prosper. But woe unto us, if we sacrifice those qualities of righteousness in the soul, and get used to sin. |
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74
on: July 27, 2018, 05:04:57 PM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription
For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________
Faith, Hope And Love
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
“And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love” (I Cor. 13:13).
St. Paul had been discussing, in I Cor. 13, some of the miraculous signs that were to vanish away as God’s revelation became complete. But faith, hope and love, he declared, would abide as a triune evidence of true Christianity.
These three are all we need in the present “dispensation of the grace of God.” Any church where faith, hope and love are found in abundant measure is a “full” church. It may have but a few members, but what greater blessing could it wish for than faith, hope and love in its fellowship?
Faith, hope and love are a trinity often referred to in St. Paul’s epistles. Each is of basic importance in its way, and none can exist without the other two.
Faith is of primary importance. “Without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (Heb. 11:6), and how can there be hope and love without faith?
Hope holds the central place among the three. Hope in the Bible is more than a wish; it is the opposite of despair, an eager anticipation of blessings to come. Hope is the Christian’s experience, his living with eternity’s glory in view.
Love is the crowning virtue of the three; it is the fruit of faith and hope, and is greatest in the sense that it is “the bond of perfectness.” Moreover, love is eternal. Some day, for every true believer, “faith will vanish into sight; hope be emptied in delight” and love will reign supreme.
May God help us, in our fellowship with each other, to evidence a full measure of faith, hope and love. |
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75
on: July 27, 2018, 05:02:17 PM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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__________________________________________
From Grace Gems - Free and Public Domain:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
http://www.gracegems.org/19/literature.htm
FREE E-mail Subscription:
http://www.gracegems.org/
___________________________________________
Do we have any evidence that we really intend to go there?
(John Owen)
We all profess that we are bound for Heaven, immortality and glory. But do we have any evidence that we really intend to go there--if all our thoughts are consumed about the trifles of this world, which we must leave behind us--and have only occasional thoughts of things above?
"If then you were raised with Christ--seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above--not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears--then you also will appear with Him in glory!" Colossians 3:1-4 |
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76
on: July 27, 2018, 04:59:36 PM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 7-27-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
_______________________________
For decades, Republicans at all levels of government gave campaign lip service to the hopes of Christians around the country only to turn their backs on those same voters once in office. Why, then, continue to elect these well-meaning but mild-mannered choirboys? Instead, why not throw in behind a serial philanderer who’s delivering the strongest pro-life message in our history and seating a conservative Supreme Court that will defend religious liberty for the next generation?
And just how has Trump backed up his rhetoric? Ralph Reed, head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, recently stated30 that Trump, in contrast to Hillary Clinton, “was strongly pro-life and released a list of conservative judges from whom he promised to select Antonin Scalia’s replacement.” Moreover, Reed continued, “He pledged to defund Planned Parenthood, move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, end the harassment of churches by the IRS, withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and defend religious freedom. He has kept every one of those promises.”
Evangelical Christians now sense a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to advance the principles and values of Christianity that are today being attacked from multiple angles. As a result, they’re willing to overlook the moral failings in their president’s personal life.
But it’s not only the leftist push against Christian traditions, mores, and values here at home that’s driving support for the president. It’s the broader objective of saving all people of faith from oppression in other parts of the world.
The Washington Free Beacon’s Susan Crabtree writes31, “[Former U.S. Senator and Kansas Governor] Sam Brownback, who serves as the ambassador at large for religious freedom at the State Department, pledged a new U.S. government commitment to halting the persecution of religious minorities around the world and called on other countries to join the campaign.”
Some 80 countries sent representatives to the summit where Brownback spoke this week about worldwide religious persecution, particularly against Christians, and the need to spread the ideals of religious liberty beyond American borders. At the summit, Brownback asserted, “Religious freedom really, truly is for everyone. It’s a right given by God, and your presence is an encouragement to people of faith around the world that someone cares about their plight.” He added, “Unfortunately, a large majority of the world live in countries where the freedom to practice their own faith is extremely limited … and in some cases deadly.”
Moreover, Vice President Mike Pence spoke Thursday about religious liberty32, which he called the “first freedom of everyone in the world.” He rousingly addressed threats to religious liberty in China, North Korea, Iran, Turkey, Europe, Nicaragua, and even here at home. And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a declaration33 calling on governments around the world to defend that liberty. The document states, “Religious freedom is a far-reaching, universal, and profound human right that all peoples and nations of good will must defend around the globe.”
It should be no surprise that evangelicals continue to support a president who has delivered more than they ever could have imagined. Her childhood Methodist background notwithstanding, a President Hillary Clinton would have dealt a crushing blow to any hope of restoring (or even limiting the damage to) Judeo-Christian values in our country.
In the end, evangelicals are not the narrow-minded Bible-thumpers the media wants us to believe. They’re actually politically astute, and they know a winner when they see one. And in the minds of Christians across the country, President Trump has been a champion for the values and principles they believe in.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/57385-evangelicals-stick-with-the-defender-of-religious-liberty
MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST
Eminent Domain and Protection for Private Property34 — Congress is finally moving to undo the Supreme Court’s damage in the Kelo ruling.
Americans’ Love the First Amendment… Sometimes35 — The average citizen’s ignorance of protected rights under the First Amendment is inexcusably high.
California: The Land of Topsy-Turvy36 — Where straw-law transgressors are punished more severely than abortionists who traffic baby parts.
Trump Takes on Erdogan’s Regime37 — Standing strong for a detained American pastor; yanking F-35s until further notice.
Video: Do the Rich Pay Their Fair Share?38 — Will Witt took to the streets to ask people what they think.
OPINION IN BRIEF
David Harsanyi: “Socialists like to blame every inequity, the actions of every greedy criminal, every downturn and every social ill on the injustice of capitalism. But none of them admit that capitalism has been the most effective way to eliminate poverty in history. Today, in former socialist states like India, there have been big reductions in poverty thanks to increased capitalism. In China, where communism sadly still deprives more than a billion people of their basic rights, hundreds of millions benefit from a system that is slowly shedding socialism. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the extreme poverty rate in the world has been cut in half. And it didn’t happen because Southeast Asians were raising the minimum wage. In the United States, only 5 percent of people are even aware that poverty has fallen in the world, according to the Gapminder Foundation, which is almost certainly in part due to the left’s obsession with ‘inequality’ and normalization of ‘socialism.’ Nearly half of American millennials would rather live in a socialist society than in a capitalist one, according to a YouGov poll. That said, only 71 percent of those asked were able to properly identify either. … If all you really champion are some higher taxes and more generous social welfare, stop associating yourself with a philosophy that usually brings destitution and death.”
SHORT CUTS
Braying Jenny: “I think [Trump’s] dangerous. I don’t know why people take it. I think Americans should be out in the streets screaming to the top of their voice. Do something. Make something happen. … I think that this man does not deserve to be the president of the United States. He is one of the most deplorable people I’ve ever encountered in my life.” —Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Seriously? “Really, for any other president, a tape like this, on which we hear his voice, his married voice, suggesting that his lawyer pay a Playboy bunny $150,000 in cash to keep her quiet — for any other president, there would be an address to the nation tonight.” —Jimmy Kimmel (“Bill Clinton, of course, lied under oath about using a 22-year-old White House intern as his own personal humidor, has been credibly accused of multiple incidents of sexual misconduct, and, despite all that, still enjoys a career in the political mainstream.” —The Daily Wire)
Dezinformatsiya: “The president sees that his numbers are waning. He cannot be this dictator that he’s trying to be at this moment. … Putin has got Donald Trump big pimping — big pimping Donald Trump right now. Donald Trump thinks he can do whatever he wants to the world and this nation, and it’s not happening.” —CNN political analyst April Ryan
Non Compos Mentis: “Global News reports that the [Toronto] gunman committed suicide. If so, this is an important clue suggesting [the assailant] was not an ISIS-inspired attacker. As … others have explained, suicide is a big no-no for jihadists.” —The New York Times’ Rukmini Callimachi (Yes, which explains why they commit suicide all the time.)
Non Compos Mentis II: “The damage that has been done to these children [at the border] will be lifelong, to the families units as well. And in fact, I suggest they need to be compensated for what this administration did to them. To have these children ripped apart and separated is one of the most reprehensible things I’ve witnessed in my 20 years of service here in the House of Representatives.” —Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY)
And last… “How did we destroy jobs and reputations before Twitter? I mean ‘we’ in the sense of faceless, howling mobs distributed around the country. We couldn’t! Why, kids today have fast, easy access to vindictive mobs; when I was growing up, if a famous person said something bad, the most you could do was write a letter to Time magazine.” —James Lileks
https://patriotpost.us/articles/57382-friday-short-cuts
Join our editors and staff in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. We also humbly ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the spirit of Liberty in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Nate Jackson, Managing Editor
Mark Alexander, Publisher |
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77
on: July 27, 2018, 04:58:22 PM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 7-27-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
_______________________________
The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Jul. 27, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/57392-mid-day-digest
THE FOUNDATION
“There exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity.” —George Washington (1789)
IN TODAY’S EDITION
Trump’s regimen of tax cuts and deregulation is yielding solid economic growth.
Facebook set a record for the worst single-day loss in stock market history.
Evangelicals stick with the defender of religious liberty.
The House tackles limitations for eminent domain.
Americans love the First Amendment… sometimes.
California: The land of topsy-turvy.
Trump takes on Turkey over detaining an American pastor.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists, and Short Cuts.
IN BRIEF
Grand Domestic Product — 2Q GDP Up 4.1%1
This isn’t exactly the news Sen. Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT) and his young henchwoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez2 wanted to hear. Today, the Commerce Department apprised us of second-quarter GDP figures, and it’s encouraging all the way around. “Gross domestic product grew at a solid 4.1 percent pace in the second quarter, its best pace since 2014, boosting hopes that the economy is ready to break out of its decade-long slumber,” CNBC reported3.
Elevated consumer spending, a bump in business investment, more exports, and more government spending are all being credited, though we’d happily take less government spending. Even better, CNBC says, “In addition to the strong second quarter, the Commerce Department revised its first-quarter reading up from 2 percent to 2.2 percent.”
Interestingly, The Washington Post reports4, “While the vast majority of economists warn that Trump’s trade war will hurt U.S. growth, they say it temporarily boosted growth in the spring as foreign firms rushed to make purchases before the tariffs took effect. Exports added more than a percentage point to growth, something that hasn’t happened in years and is unlikely to repeat. Soybean exports exploded in the second quarter, as customers in several countries scrambled to snatch up supplies before new foreign taxes on U.S. soybeans went into effect, part of a broad retaliation against Trump’s tariffs on a range of foreign products.”
Yet it’s worth reminding that Donald Trump’s trade blueprint appears to be paying off5. Part of his pending agreement with the EU is to have Europe import more U.S. products. This inevitably creates a dilemma for China, which will feel additional pressures to broker a trade compromise. So while a fear-induced increase in exports may have helped GDP in the second quarter, additional concessions will only further help the economy down the road.
The consensus among the “experts” is that Trump’s “trade wars” will fail, because these coastal elites have already determined how it will end. But if major compromises are continuing to be made, the outlook for the economy will only brighten. That’s not to say future GDP won’t be moderated, as some surmise. It may very well drop. Yet the foundation seems to be strong and ready to be built upon. That’s why President Trump responded to today’s news by saying, “We’re going to get a lot higher than these numbers and these are great numbers. We are now on track to hit an average GDP annual growth of over 3 percent and it could be substantially over 3 percent.” He’s right to be optimistic. The better our economy is, the less the anti-capitalist rhetoric of the Democratic Socialists will resonate in the midterms.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/57389-grand-domestic-product-2q-gdp-up-4-dot-1-percent
Facebook’s Face-Plant6
Thomas Gallatin
Facebook set an infamous record on Thursday — the largest single-day stock market loss for any company in history. As CNBC reports7, “The social media giant’s market capitalization plummeted by $119 billion to $150 billion as its stock plummeted by 19 percent. At Wednesday’s close, Facebook’s market cap had totaled nearly $630 billion, according to FactSet.” Facebook missed its quarterly revenue forecast and lowered its revenue outlook amid declining user growth.
Concern over privacy after the company’s failure to protect user data8 is the leading culprit for the social media giant’s increasingly negative public image. But add to that Facebook’s poor handling of the disinformation controversy — its new algorithms have proven to throttle traffic9 on conservative feeds and it even blocked the Declaration of Independence10 as “hate speech” — as well as the massive cost increases to advertise on the website. With all that blundering, it’s not surprising to see the company taking this hit.
Mark Alexander further notes that Facebook is trying to put a smiley face on the massive loss: “Company execs laughably asserted that the reduced revenues were due to its spending billions of dollars developing stronger privacy measures… Laughable because Facebook’s entire business model revolves around compromising the privacy of its users.”
Now Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is facing renewed pressure to step down as the company’s chairman, something he has refused to do in the past. Will a stock bust in the middle of an economic boom1 finally do the trick? While Facebook has taken a face-plant, this good economic news should lift everyone’s faces. It appears that more Americans are busy working and fewer are sitting at home checking their Facebook feeds.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/57388-facebooks-face-plant
Top Headlines11
Cohen: Trump knew in advance of Trump Tower meeting with Russians; Trump: No I didn’t (Hot Air12)
Trump’s message to critics: “I’ve never been a politician before” (The Daily Caller13)
Jim Jordan running to replace Ryan as House Speaker (Washington Examiner14)
Meadows backs off impeaching Deputy AG Rosenstein after leadership talks (The Hill15)
America’s adversaries are weaponizing information, NSA director warns (The Washington Free Beacon16)
Remains of U.S. war dead retrieved from North Korea (Fox News17)
Trump threatens Turkey with sanctions over detained pastor (The Hill18)
Record high number of foreign college graduates taking U.S. jobs (Washington Examiner19)
Coca-Cola will raise soda prices due to Trump tariffs (National Review20)
Humor: Facebook fact-check feature narrowly saves man from laughing at satirical article (The Babylon Bee21)
Policy: The importance of the truce In U.S.-EU trade disputes (Hudson Institute22)
Policy: U.S. must avoid a single-payer health care system that stresses doctors to the breaking point (The Heritage Foundation23)
For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report24.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/57390-friday-top-headlines
FEATURED ANALYSIS
Evangelicals Stick With the Defender of Religious Liberty28
Brian Mark Weber
The Left is losing its collective mind these days. And why not? Just when they think President Donald Trump is cornered and his presidency ready to implode, his poll numbers inch upward. When the mainstream media sends its reporters into the “foreign” territory of the American heartland to see whether Trump’s support has waned, they’re chagrined to discover just the opposite: His base is hardening. But there’s one group among the president’s base that really irks the Left: evangelical Christians. With the tapes recording a discussion about an alleged Trump payoff off a Playboy model in the headlines these days, could evangelicals be ready to jump ship?
Nope. Trump continues to enjoy high poll numbers among those who identify as evangelicals. Why?
John Fea, chairman of the Department of History at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, seems to have it all figured out. In a recent (wrong) opinion penned for USA Today29, Fea asked, “Why do so many evangelicals believe in Donald Trump? Because they privilege fear over hope, power over humility, and nostalgia over history.”
Fea characterizes evangelicals as “intellectually lazy” in waging a “failing war against thickening walls of separation between church and state, the removal of Christianity from public schools, the growing ethnic and religious diversity of the country, the intrusion of the federal government into their everyday lives (especially as it pertains to desegregation and civil rights), and legalized abortion.”
In truth, Fea wants (racist) evangelicals to succumb to the secular agenda instead of seeking to repel its corrosive effects on our culture. Instead of seeking new leadership to protect the sanctity of the unborn, promote the primacy of marriage between a man and a woman, and reject the Rainbow Mafia’s thought policing, evangelicals should celebrate the new world in which they find themselves.
That world, by the way, has left Christians vulnerable to crippling lawsuits and wrecked livelihoods for refusing to bake a same-sex wedding cake, for erecting a cross in the public square, and for reciting a prayer before a football game. Their First Amendment guarantee of religious liberty has, for years now, been under withering assault by intolerant leftist secularists. |
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78
on: July 27, 2018, 09:45:19 AM
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Started by Soldier4Christ - Last post by Soldier4Christ
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That Old Serpent
“And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:2)
This prophetic vision given to John leaves no doubt as to the identity of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. That “old serpent” (literally, “that primeval serpent”) who deceived our first parents into rebelling against the word of God is none other than the Devil, or Satan, often viewed in Scripture as typified by a “great dragon” (Revelation 12:9), the fearsome animal of ancient times, probably the dinosaur.
His ultimate doom is sure—he will be bound a thousand years, then finally be “cast into the lake of fire . . . tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). At present, however, he is not bound, for “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We must be sober and vigilant, “lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
His devices are manifold, but all are deceptive (he was the most “subtle” of all God’s creatures, Genesis 3:1), malevolent, and designed to turn us away from the true Christ. “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
He is a great deceiver. He can appear as a fire-breathing dragon or a roaring lion, deceiving us into fearing and obeying him instead of God. He can also be “transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), deceiving us into trusting the “feigned words” of his “false teachers” (2 Peter 2:3, 1) instead of the Holy Scriptures of the God of creation. Our recourse against his deceptions is to “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). HMM
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79
on: July 27, 2018, 09:44:04 AM
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Started by Soldier4Christ - Last post by Soldier4Christ
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Too Hard for God?
“Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:14)
This rhetorical question posed to Abraham by the Lord was in response to Sarah’s doubts concerning His promise that they would have a son. It would, indeed, require a biological miracle, for both were much too old for this to happen otherwise. With God, however, all things are possible, and He can, and will, fulfill every promise, even if a miracle is required.
This same rhetorical question was asked of the prophet Jeremiah. “Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:26-27). The One who created all flesh, who raises up kings and puts them down, could surely fulfill His promise to restore Israel to its homeland when the set time was come.
But Jeremiah had already confessed his faith in God’s omnipotence. “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee” (Jeremiah 32:17). The God who called the mighty universe into being would not fail to keep His promise and fulfill His will.
Actually, the word translated “hard” in these verses is more commonly rendered “wonderful,” or “marvelous,” or an equivalent adjective, referring usually to something miraculous that could only be accomplished by God. For example, “marvelous things did he . . . in the land of Egypt” (Psalm 78:12). “For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone” (Psalm 86:10).
The first occurrence of the word (Hebrew pala), however, is in our text for today. There is nothing—no thing—too hard for the Lord, and we should never doubt His word! HMM
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on: July 27, 2018, 09:41:57 AM
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Started by Soldier4Christ - Last post by Soldier4Christ
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When God Repents
“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.” (1 Samuel 15:29)
There are a number of Scriptures that speak of God repenting. For example, in the days before the great Flood, “it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth” (Genesis 6:6). In the same chapter containing our text, God said: “It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments” (1 Samuel 15:11). Yet, the Scriptures plainly teach that God changes not. “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent” (Numbers 23:19). Bible critics have made much of this apparent “contradiction” in the Bible.
There is no contradiction, of course. The words translated “repent” in both Old and New Testaments are used of actions that indicate outwardly that a “change of mind” has occurred inwardly. It is precisely because God does not repent concerning evil that His actions will change toward man when man truly repents (this human “repentance” can go either way, changing from good to evil, or vice versa), and God will respond accordingly, since He cannot change His own mind toward evil.
Thus, He said concerning national repentance: “If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them” (Jeremiah 18:8). That is, if the nation truly repents, then God will change His own projected course of action. He seems outwardly to “repent” specifically because He cannot repent in His inward attitude toward good and evil.
God has greatly blessed America in the past, but America’s people have drastically changed in recent years. Can the time be long coming when God must say: “It repenteth me that I have so favored this apostate nation?” HMM
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