Biblical Values Anyone?

Part 4

     President Biden, who doesn't follow truth unless it happens to support his truth, has been played by the Marxist left. He is so grounded in his own importance, he will accommodate anyone who keeps him in the Oval Office, his life-long goal.    

     Biblical values and morality - not on the socialist agenda. The left considers human self-fulfillment, satisfaction and pleasure to be the highest good. Your difficulties in life? Cope as best you can. 

     The philosophy of humanism began with Satan in the garden, an expression of his lie that humans can be like God (Genesis 3:5). Scripture identifies humanists as those who have "exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25). 

     Christian and Jewish leaders and parents must protect their children from humanistic indoctrination by exposing its error and instilling in them a godly contempt for its destructive influence (Romans 1:20-32; Jude 4-20; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5; 2 Timothy 3:1-10).

     America and Israel are the last prizes Satan needs to seize. For more than 60 years, he has made progress cancelling our faith. Just one example: Hillary Clinton telling us to leave our faith at the church...it's not welcome anywhere else. Remember that? 

     Satan seems to have no problem with the "faith" of Muslims. 

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Secular Humanism, in pursuit of happiness 

Part 3

     The man asks, "What does the philosophy of humanism teach?" 

     He answers his own question: "It teaches that humans have not been created but are the product of a chance process of evolution."

     Stop! If our government believes that, look out. No matter what they promise, our future is no more secure than those in the "third world." 

     Those living the high life, flush with money, do not fear a personal, infinite God. They dismiss the Bible. They overlook massive evidence of creation all around us.

     The "wise" assume knowledge does not exist apart from human discovery. Therefore, human beings - them, not us - are the ultimate authority.

     We want our "authorities" to be kind, fair and honest. But without fear of God, why would they bother? 

     Human power has ruled throughout history. And today there are more tools than history ever imagined. We keep saying, everything we invent can be used against us. 

     "Moral standards" seem like a worthy idea. But when secular humanism defines the standards, the pursuit of happiness will lead wherever it will. Happiness for one may result in misery for another.

Final: Biblical values

Deceptive Philosophers 

Part 2

     During the 1800s, an American newspaper published the writings of Karl Marx. In the 1930s, Hitler forced communists out of Germany. They relocated to America, where their successors have taken control of the Democratic Party.

     The USA is a magnet for normal people fleeing nations without life and liberty. But will they find it? The freedom so prized by those who sailed on the Mayflower is not on the agenda of hard leftists.

     Christians in America - except for our missionaries - have been so privileged we don't know what it is to "stand up for Jesus" in the face of opposition and threats. Our government has been agreeable over the decades not because most politicians are people of faith, but millions of voters have been. 

     That is changing. Some commentary: 

     The apostle Paul warned us to be on guard against all philosophies, religions and traditions that emphasize functioning independently of God and his written revelation. (Paul was referring to the Old Testament; his and other letters had not yet become "scripture.") 

     The great threat to Biblically based Christianity is "secular humanism." This is the underlying philosophy and "religion" in most secular education, government and society in general - throughout the world. It's amazing that true Christian faith - not what passed for truth in Rome over many centuries - survived this long. It's also amazing that Jewish faith survived for centuries without a base in Jerusalem. 

     If you meet God, ask him why he gives Satan such a long leash, from Adam to now, and beyond. American Christians (and Jews) will be tested, as God continues to seek people of hope and faith...those he calls my people who are called by my name. 

Next: The pursuit of happiness

 

 

         

Who Will You Serve? 

Part 1

     Americans choose who we will serve...not only at election time, but daily. Most serve our secular government and its promises. Many wish to serve a government which adheres to the Constitution, laws and practices upholding life and liberty. (You can add pursuit of happiness if that makes you happy.) 

     Christians and Jews, while required to obey secular laws, are first to love and serve the Lord, separated from the world. Take Joshua, who followed Moses as leader of the 12 tribes. 

     After Israel crossed the Jordan River into Canaan, the land God had promised, Joshua assembled the people for a covenant renewal before he died. 

     "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served or the gods of the Ammonites. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15 

     The people said, "We will serve the Lord." Not long after Joshua and the elders died, they forsook the Lord.  

Next: Deceptive philosophy

     

     

 Part 6

Love Surpasses Knowledge 

     In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul refers to the "mystery made known by the Spirit - for ages past kept hidden in God who created all things." 

     "Now, revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets, the mystery was that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus." 

     "I pray that...he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being...through faith. I pray that you, being established in love may have power with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."

     "To him be the glory...throughout all generations for ever and ever."

Commentary:  

     The true church is founded on Christ's revelation to the original messengers, witnesses and representatives of the crucified and risen Lord. Their testimony is preserved in the New Testament, valid for all times. 

     All believers depend on the words and faith of the first apostles as recorded in the book of Acts, and their inspired writings. 

     Christ: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8   

     We are so close. God is known both as "Messiah" and "Christ," one and the same, just different languages. Some 25,000 Jews accept this. All will know this when He - "Faithful and True" - returns to Jerusalem on a white horse to "rule the nations with an iron scepter." Rev. chapter 19 

     And Jews will begin a millennium of peace and prosperity. No more mystery. 

Part 5

Peace by the Blood, Not Law 

     Paul, the descendant of Abraham, tribe of Benjamin, told the Ephesian Gentiles to remember that they were once separated ... excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise (to Abraham's seed), without hope and without God (Ephesians v. 2:12). 

     "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ" (v. 2:13).

     "He himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace. And in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, through which he put to death their hostility." 

     In verses 17-18, "He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit." 

     Access. We who have faith in Christ have the freedom and right to approach our heavenly Father with confidence that we will be accepted, loved and welcomed. 

     This access is gained through Christ who shed his blood on the cross and his intercession for all who come to him (Hebrews 7:25). 

     Ephesians vv. 19-20 - "You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone." 

     "In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. You are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (v. 21).

Conclusion: Love surpasses knowledge

 

Part 4

Grace Offered; Faith Required; Gift Given 

     If we skimmed over the word "incomparable," Paul adds: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." 

     When the saved arrive in heaven, no one will stick out his chest and claim to be deserving. The Lord's grace is greater than all our "good works" put together. By grace he calls us to repentance and faith. With this call comes the work of the Holy Spirit, giving us the power and ability to respond to God, by his grace.

     Once we are "born again," Christ gives continuing grace to live the Christian life, resist sin and serve God - with good works. God's grace operates within committed believers both to will and to act according to God's good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13). From start to finish, salvation is by the grace of God. There are tons of scriptures for this.

     If the Lord wants to reward individuals for good works which he inspires by grace, he still gets the glory. 

     "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).     

Next: Peace by blood, not by law