Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36) Years ago I watched I news documentary which showed adults and children in Africa who pretty much lived from day to day without hope…fleeing from evil men…starving with no place to go…sick and dying along the way to nowhere. And a few hours later a television evangelist came on the TV and said that “all people who do not repent and accept Jesus as personal Savior will die and be eternally separated from God and suffer in the eternal flames of hell”. My thoughts immediately went to those starving people in the documentary. I broke…my whole being and all that I am revolted from such a thing…and I just could not help but be angry. At first I thought I was angry at God, assuming the evangelist was correct and that these starving people would not only suffer in this life but for ever and ever thereafter…in my mind I was shouting at God -- how could you do such a thing!? And

“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you." (Isaiah 44:22) If God truly is “no respecter of persons” then it seems to me that the above includes not only Israel but all mankind. But I only know of a few who would entertain this thought. I am reminded of what the philosopher Aristotle once said… "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." I am not a great fan of Aristotle, or any secular philosopher, but sometimes they say stuff that I like, meditate on, and can appreciate. My experience is that religious folks will not entertain new thoughts for fear that we might accept them…so they refuse to entertain any thought opposed to those that were put into their minds from childhood. But if we Christians trust God then we should not fear entertaining views which are opposed to our own…heck we might just get educated and learn that Jesus will a

"Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth.” Tacitus It appears to me that fearing God is not bad...it has its place in the quest for the truth about God. In fact it is the beginning of this wisdom... "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10) However, when fear enslaves us, we never move on to seek the truth and find the liberty that comes when we find the truth. Thomas Paine once said... "The slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.” Rights of Man, 1791 When men think and reason about God....and discover the truth...their fear of God 's wrath becomes love for God's Grace....but few seem to find it...that is sad to me. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18) "..the truth will make y

To most secular Philosophers, faith in God is opposed to reason. He or she apparently knows nothing of biblical faith. Biblical faith rests on the sure foundation of perfect reason...reasoning with the Creator of all things. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18) When I observe the wonder of creation and learn some of the science of how it all works together I cannot help but see the beauty, wisdom and reason of the one behind the creation...like King David says “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 1:1-4) The Creator says it is reasonable to believe that whe

William Blake once said… “When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.” That pretty well sums up why I post what I believe to be the truth of the Reconciliation and Salvation of all…and repudiate any doctrine that limits that truth. There are many who reason it must be true of a loving God, yet do not feel equipped to challenge the yoke of tradition. Yet the truth is far more glorious than traditions of men… “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) God sent His Son Jesus into the world to save it…the journey grieved him and he prayed for another way if possible, yet yielded to the will of his Father… "My Father, if it be possible, remove this cup from me…if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." (Matthew 26:36-46) The best and greatest man who ever lived was found on his knees in prayer only this one time and sweated greet drops of bl

The Bible tells us of some specific things that God may GIVE us… GRACE: “…the grace of God given to you by Christ Jesus…” (1 Corinthians 1:4) SALVATION: “For by grace you have been saved…it is a gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8-9) PEACE: “My peace I give to you…” (John 14:27) ETERNAL LIFE: “…and I give them eternal life…the free gift of God is Eternal Life…” (John 10:28: Romans 6:23b) HELPER: “…and He will give you another helper…” (John 14:16) KNOWLEDGE OF GOD: “…may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowledge of Him…” (Ephesians 1:17) KINGDOM OF GOD: “…it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom…” (Luke 12:32) Everything good thing we receive from God is a GIFT. In other words it is not a reward for good behavior…He does not owe us anything. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17)   And He gives out of a Father’s LOVE, which of course is His very n

"He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have." Socrates Sometimes even Philosophers get it right. "...for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am." (Philippians 4:11)

"For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting..." (Psalm 100:5) "Doublethink" means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” - George Orwell Like the Doctrines of Mercy and Eternal Torment...it appears to me.

"And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32) This “word of His GRACE” is not the same Word as the Word concerning the Kingdom. The word of His Grace is for all mankind and sets forth the Salvation of mankind by God’s grace. The word concerning the Kingdom has to do with Israel and God’s promises to them alone. Both are good news (gospels) but are completely separate. Following is how I understand and distinguish the two gospels… THE GOSPEL (Word) OF THE KINGDOM: "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" . It was first preached to ISRAEL only by John the Baptist, then Jesus Himself and his 12 chosen Jewish disciples. It will also be preached again during the Great Tribulation (Day of the Lord) just before Jesus returns. It was directed ONLY to the Nation of Israel (God's CHOSEN nation) and to Gentile proselytes (like Cornelius). It f

“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” (Romans 11:36) It seems to me that the various religions of the world, including Christianity, have missed this simple truth. Maybe because it is so simple and profound – “from Him and through Him and for Him are ALL THINGS” . However, if the Bible is the inerrant word of God, and I have chosen to believe it is, then the above is TRUE. So what does God think about our enemies…meaning those who oppose God’s Word? When the Jewish religious leaders opposed Christians Paul tells us… “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be sh

"The world is a theater, the earth a stage which God and nature do with Actors fill"  – John Heywood "In a beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) “ Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me… Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish. T hen, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, What you are about to do, do quickly. ” (John 13:21-28) Really Jesus! Shouldn’t you have talked to him and warned him of the consequences for his action? And who were you talking to anyway…Judas or Satan…or both? Really “ do quickly ” . Sounds like you are approving and encouraging them to betray you. “The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil….” (Proverbs 16:4)  “Then Jesus replied, Have I not chosen you, the Tw

"And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32) What does “the word of His grace” mean and what is this word? The Greek for “word” is “logo” and simply means that which is communicated to mankind by God. And what is that? His GRACE…unmerited favor among those who are sanctified.  Mankind is sanctified (deemed Holy by God) through the truth of His Word (what He has communicated to us)… “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:17-18) Christ Jesus came to save the world. He consecrated himself for that purpose and through his shed blood he succeeded. “…all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness… But he has appeared once FOR

“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it YOU WILL SURELY DIE…” (Genesis 2:16-17) I am told that the Hebrew word translated “die” is more accurately rendered “to die shall you be dying”...in other words the dying process began and all of us inherit the dying process as a result of the original sin of Adam.  “…as through one man (Adam) the sin did enter into the world, and through the sin the death; and thus to all men the death did pass through, for that all did sin…” (Romans 5:120 I was asked by a Christian friend if I thought his Daddy had lied to him when he told him that the penalty for unconfessed sin is everlasting punishment in hell?  It was a loaded question and I was not about to call his Daddy a liar… so I said no he did not lie to you, he sincerely told you what he believed. He was concerned as any parent

Jesus told those who believed in him how not to pray as well as how to pray… "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6:5-7) So, those who love to pray in church and on street corners are going to get the attention of those around them….but that is all. However, those who pray privately to the Father will be rewarded. NOTE: rewarded does not mean we always get what we ask for, but rewarded for going to God privately with our prayers… Here are some simple prayers that are recorded in the Bib

“…one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift…And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…” (Ephesians 4:6-11) The bible says that God is the Father of all and in us all. And that he has gifted some among mankind to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Why the gift of these persons? ”…for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12-13) Equip and edify (build up) saints with the TRUTH of what God has done through Christ Jesus until we " ALL" come to unity of faith in and knowledge of God. And minister the good news message of reconciliatio

"Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory…” (1 Corinthians 2:6-8) Paul tells us that it was the wise rulers (religious and political) of this age that crucified their Lord, but we learn from Peter in his sermons in Acts chapters 2 and 3 that it was God’s Will. And they are forgiven for Jesus asked the Father while on the cross… "Father forgive them, they do not understand what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34). The wise men of today…Philosophers, Theologians and Politicians… still do not know what they are doing but are many times just “the blind leading the blind” (Matthew 15:14). They refuse to see…but God reveals His Plan to t

“For those whom he foreknew (mankind) he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:29-31) I think Christians have erred in limiting “those He foreknew” to only those who “get saved” as the different church groups define what is necessary to be saved. God Himself has called all mankind into existence and has promised, in spite of evil and our sin, to save, justify, reconcile and glorify all mankind when His work in finished….God is FOR US, not against us! “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope (assurance) that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the c

"And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." (Romans 8:23-25) The problem I see with most people, even Christians, or especially Christians, is that we are more concerned with the journey than with the final destination. When our eyes are fixed on the evils along the way, we forget what awaits when we arrive. If we just learn to believe God and accept that evil is necessary, but temporary, we begin to see people differently along the way, and start to see the destination…the place where mankind arrives safely in the arms of a loving Father, changed in part by the journey, but finished to perfection by the Master craftsman before the Great White Throne. So how can we love the God who su

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God." (Romans 8:18-19) There is much suffering in this world. From the homeless in our country to the poor and starving in other parts of the world. Tender hearts are broken and their tears fall when they see such suffering. It all seems so futile and pointless. Why are those suffering...suffering? “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now." (Romans 8:20-22) The Greek word translated “hope” above is “helpidi” and does NOT mean hope as we understand the word 2000 years later. We s

“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? (Galatians 1:8-10) Pretty harsh wouldn’t you say? Paul says anyone who preaches a gospel contrary to what he had preached to them was accursed – meaning “devoted to destruction” (death-not tortured in hell). So don’t you think it important to know what Paul preached, and receive it? So what did Paul preach?….you will have to read Romans through Philemon to get it all but 1 Corinthians 15 will give you a good summary. But it is what he did NOT PREACH about that is very interesting to me….he did not speak of eternal conscious torment in hell even one time…even to deny it. Why? Because it never crossed his mind that anyone would believe

I want to pause in my assault on false teachers and teaching for one day at least…..in order to assault the rest of us Christians...just kidding...I think. My oldest brother recently posted this comment on his Facebook page: What does "following Christ" really mean? Just an idea. Jesus was certainly not religious in any sense of the word. It started me thinking, as usual, so blame him for what follows ...although I thank him for making me think and “reason” about my view of Scripture. My mind went immediately to the words of Jesus quoted by Luke... “Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple (follower) . Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cos

“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it YOU WIL SURELY DIE…” (Genesis 2:16-17) Here is a quote from an article by a Christian fundamental author and bible teacher I read this morning… “Part of the awful impact of sin is the death it produces in lives: "sin reigned in death.” (Romans 5:20). "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Sin brings "spiritual" death. Such is a good example of an otherwise good teacher subtly passing on what is false, probably unaware of the problem. He boldly and correctly identifies the awful impact of sin and even quotes the Scripture correctly. So what is the problem? Do you see it? OK, after correctly quoting the Scripture he makes the statement “Sin brings SPIRITUAL death”. Which of course is false. There is absolutely nothing in the Scripture he quoted about “SPIRI

”For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. However not all men have this knowledge…” (1 Corinthians 8:5-7) I suppose that there are as many gods and lords as there have been cultures and religious men over the years. And of course Paul is talking about those men or idols made up by men that people worship. He does not condemn such people to hell, but simply says that all men do not have the knowledge of the “one God, the Father, from whom are all things…and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things” . But they will one day, if not predestined to do so in this life, then after the resurrection of both the just and the wicked. Jesus told his listeners... “Verily, verily, I say to you — He who is hearing my word, and is believing Him who sent

Grab yourself your favorite beverage, for this may take a little longer than usual. As promised yesterday, I want to tell you what I consider to be the most egregious of the “secretly introduced destructive heresies” which was introduced and remains in Church doctrine. I will use two different translations of Matthew 25:46 to help reveal this “heresy”... “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:45-46 NASB) “And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during” (Matthew 25:46 YLT) So which is it - “eternal” punishment and life as the NASB has it, or “age-during” punishment and life as the YLT has it? Once again I went to the concordance and the oldest original Greek manuscripts. I found that the Greek word translated “eternal” and “age-during” is “aionion” with the Strong’s Concordance number 166. So I used a research tool and called up all 71 verses in Scripture where “aionion” is used to f

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be FALSE TEACHERS among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them….” (2 Peter 2:1) The last couple of days I have given some examples of what I consider to be false teaching introduced by false teachers through bad translations of the Bible, but today I want to look at how Peter told us to identify false teachers and apply it to myself. So let’s see what he says about these false teachers… First, Peter says that “false teachers” are those who “secretly introduce destructive heresies” : Applying this to myself I can honestly conclude that I do not fit in this category. I post my views on Facebook or my Blog for everyone to see….quoting the Scripture from which I have arrived at my views. No secrets. Second, Peter says that “false teachers” are those who are “denying the Master” : Well if you read my posts I not only do not deny that Jesus is the Master but

Yesterday I mentioned 1 Timothy 4:10 and that it is a good example of how different translations into English can “secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them” . (2 Peter 2:1). Here are two different translations... “…we work hard and do our best because our hope is in the living God, the One Who would save all men. He saves those who believe in Him.” (1 Timothy 4:10 New Life Bible) “…we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.” (1 Timothy 4:10 NASB and most other translations - over 15 that I looked at) So which is correct? Is God the “savior of all men, especially believers” like almost all translation have it, or is it that he “would” save all men but will only save “those who believe” as set forth in the NLB? Again, I went to the resources I mentioned yesterday to find out. I found that the majority of English translations are correct and that "God is the Savior of all men, especially b

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be FALSE TEACHERS among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them….” (2 Peter 2:1) I think of a “prophet” as one to whom God originally spoke the Words (the Scripture) found in the Bible and were told by God to tell others what God said. As best I can tell, these ORIGINAL Words of God given to the prophets were codified into what we now call the Bible around 325 AD. I think a “teacher” is anyone who explains those Words to others. The Apostle Paul seems to be the last Prophet to receive any ORIGINAL Words of God because he says that his ministry was to reveal the mystery previously hidden and therefore COMPLETE the Word of God... “...I became a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given me towards you to COMPLETE the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has NOW been made manifest to his saints...

“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, or no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:2-3) And so Peter begins by saying that all Scripture is from God. Then he warns his listeners of false prophets who would arise and be among them… “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” (2 Peter 2:1) I believe this is true because I believe the Bible. And that was 2000 years ago, no telling where these “secret heresies” will be embedded among churches after 2000 year sooooo….the difficult thing is to figure out the "false prophets" are and especially what they "secretly introduced" into the church since they have been mingling with the church for 2000

“…we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. Prescribe and teach these things.” (1 Timothy 4:10) I can imagine being asked by a defensive church leader. Robert, assuming that the above verse is true (as if the Bible might not be true) and God is actually the Savior of all men and does so, what exactly are we to do, close all the churches, seminaries and missionary organizations? I would bow my head in prayer and ask the Father for permission to say YES  – but before I did he would go on to ask: Doesn’t obeying the 10 commandments, repenting when we sin, joining a church, sacrificially giving, getting baptized, reading the bible, winning people to Jesus, getting involved in AWANA, fighting abortion, bashing Obama for his love of Islam and attending and supporting the local church please God? So I would swallow my pride and humbly say. I don’t know but it will sure please 20% of the Christians I know who need some help in doing those

To lighten things up a bit: I was around 16 years old and was sitting in my pew next to a friend minding my own business. It was the close of a service and the Pastor was extremely happy because he was in the baptistery to baptize those who had walked the aisle during the revival. All was quiet and reverent when the Pastor announced “buried with Christ in Baptism, raised to walk in newness of life”. I was not as intent on what was going on as some because I had already been baptized myself 3 times. As I recall I was irreverently trying to make bubbles with my saliva with my mind in lala land. THEN IT HAPPENED…down he went into the water and up he came, at which time my friend leaned over to me and said… “WEEEE, another sinner bites the dust” It was his fault not mine!…those bubbles spewed out over the balcony onto the unsuspecting people below and we just could not stop laughing. THEN, just as suddenly as we laughed, FEAR seized my body as a saw the Pastor and congregation looking up

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:2-7) The last two days I have been thinking about God’s plan for mankind, and I concluded in studying the word saint in the Scripture that all people are saints in God’s eye. Paul says above that it is God’s intention and choice to bless us, not curse us. In fact God decided and PREDESTINED this before He created any of us…and He knew that ALL would sin and fall short of the glory of God in this present evil age which must have been why he created evil… “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and c

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:1-2) Yesterday I was thinking about who the saints are and want to continue my thoughts. Religious dogma has altered the meaning of “saint” to restrict it to a few people whom their particular sect considers to be more righteous than other folks…even praying to them on occasion. It appears to me, however, that to God all mankind are holy to Him and set apart…therefore Saints….despite the fact that He also clearly says, “there is none righteous, no not one” , and “all have sinned” . God created mankind to be made into His image. At least that is how I read the Scripture. But only a few of these saints have been “faithful” since their creation. Paul was chosen to reveal the glorious future of all mankind to those who God has predetermined to hear and believe in this present ev

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the SAINTS who are at Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:1-2) Paul had no choice in the matter of becoming an apostle, it was the WILL of God for him. And he wrote this letter to saints “who are FAITHFUL” . Not to all Saints, but to the faithful saints…meaning of course that there are also saints who are unfaithful…which made me start to think about the term “saints” in the Scripture. The Hebrew word for Saint is “qodesh” and the Greek word for Saint is “hagios” and both are translated not only “saint” but “holy” in the English versions of the Bible. The short definition is “set apart” or “holy” or “sacred”. But it has nothing to do with a person’s goodness or righteousness as Christian dogma implies but simply refers to any person or thing God sets apart, and is therefore “unique” or “special” just because God says so. The Holy

King David lamented to God… “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.” (Psalm 51:12) I think many Christians have lost the “joy” of their salvation. David lost it due to the guilt associated with his sin and I suppose that still happens. But many who have lost this joy are not sure why? They are faithful members of a local church. I sympathize with them because I lost my joy while actively involved in a local Church as a deacon, lay preacher, and bible teacher, and serving on an international mission board. But the more I served the less joy I had. After 25 years of working in the local church trying to please God, all I had was “guilt” that I just did not do enough, which guilt was regularly reinforced by well-meaning pastors and guest evangelists who would imply that most people would end up in hell because the church was not doing a good enough job to save them. AND THEN IT HAPPENED…GOD OPENED MY EYES TO THE TRUTH. I had labored all those years to DO what God in Christ had