All Things Are Lawful

“All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.” (1 Corinthians 10:23-24)

“Abstain from every form of evil” (I Thessalonians 5:22)

“…to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 8:21)

Sin no longer condemns us, Christ has overcome the penalty for sin by his resurrection to perfection...and he will do that for all in God's timing. The above Scripture is not warning of the penalty for sin. All sin has been atoned for at the cross and Christ has set us free from the law and we are FREE...

"It was for freedom Christ set us free....He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (Galatians 5:1; 1 John 2:2)

HOWEVER, we still have to live out our appointed time in this “present evil age”, as Paul calls it, before our own gracious resurrection to perfection.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." (Galatians 1:3-4)

So the Scriptures first quoted above tell us that we should "abstain from every form of evil" as the best way to make this age more enjoyable for us and those we come in contact with, even though doing them no longer condemns us.

 I have learned that some things are just not worth doing. But I do not allow assemblies of men to prepare the list of  these "worthless" things...in my freedom I decide knowing I will give account to God.

"For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each of us may receive what he deserves for what he has done in his body, whether good or worthless." (2 Corinthians 5:10)

Worthless things won't be rewarded, the good we do will.  The best thing I know to do is to treat people right and with respect, if possible, and hope they appreciate it enough to treat me the same way...as Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount...

"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you,” (Matthew 7:12)

MERRY CHRISTMAS - The Whole Story!

"Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means, God with us...and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:23; 21)

"And she gave birth to her firstborn son...good news of great joy...for all the people; ...in the city of David there has been born...a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:7-12)

"...the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

"...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)

"...the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord..." (Romans 6:23)

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:16-17)

"It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." (1 Timothy 1:15)

"...they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, but on the third day He will be raised up." (Matthew 20-18-19)

"...they crucified Him...He said, It is finished! And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." (John 19:18-30)

"...Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)

"I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also...this same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven" (John 14:3; Acts 1:11)

"...we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ...He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." (1John 2:1-2)

"...I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed...Death is swallowed up in victory..." (1 Corinthians 15:51-57)

"...the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

"It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because 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 4:9-11)

“Yes, I am coming soon. Come quickly Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen." (Revelation 22:21-22)

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

“He’s making a list and checking it twice, he’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice...you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is comin’ to town.” (John Haven Coots and Haven Gillespie)

I love the songs and the whole story of Santa Claus, and I love watching kids relate to him and write letters assuring him they have been good. I have no problem with that fairy tale and do my best to keep my Grandkids from finding out who he really is, or isn’t, for as long as possible.

However, sometimes I wonder if our ideas about God come more from fairy tales than the Bible. If you’re good you will be blessed and go to heaven, but if you’re bad…look out because Jesus is coming back to town. At least with good old Saint Nick, bad children only get a lump of coal and a Ho Ho Ho, while the angry God of old Saint Religion sends bad children to be coal for an eternal fire - Ho Ho Horrible!

Anyway, enjoy the fun of Santa Claus this Christmas with the kids, but take some time to think about the real God, the God revealed to us by his one good Son, the baby Jesus who grew up to become the Savior of the world. God is a loving Father, and although He chastens and corrects his children in this life (all but one of whom are bad), His gracious gift to them after death will be salvation and the unmerited “free gift of eternal life”…

"…He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men...your Father is merciful...for God has shut up ALL in disobedience so that He may show mercy to ALL...for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord… who will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace...who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself” (John 6:35-36; Romans 11:32; 3:23; 6:23; Isaiah 9:6: Philippians 3:21)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE - God our Father loves us all

There Is Born To You A Savior

"Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for ALL THE PEOPLE; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 210-11)

We may best say that if the divine interference is absolutely necessary to the salvation of any creature, it must also be necessary for every creature. The fact that He does save one of his creatures is conclusive proof that He in time will save all of them because if He saves some and not others, a few and not all, the Scriptures which HE inspired would be nothing more than a lying mockery and deceit. God is no respecter of persons.

Alan Burns (-1929)
Faith Fellowship Magazine
Volume 58, Number 1

The Purpose of Evil

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create EVIL: I the LORD do all these” (Isaiah 45:7)

The great barrier to belief in God, and especially to a loving God, is the presence of evil in the world. Quite frankly, I do not blame people for rejecting God or at least rejecting the idea of a God who really cares about people. And I am confident God does not blame them either.

The Bible, read in its entirety, can help us understand evil, but few have read or even had opportunity to read it. After all, the printed Bible was not made available to the public at large until recent times.

So why, if there is a God, did He create evil and why does He continue to allow it to prosper?

                                וְנָתַ֣תִּי אֶת־לִבִּ֗י לִדְרֹ֤ושׁ וְלָתוּר֙ בַּֽחָכְמָ֔ה עַ֛ל כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר נַעֲשָׂ֖ה תַּ֣חַת הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם ה֣וּא׀ עִנְין

The above Hebrew is translated in the Concordant Version of the Bible as follows:

“I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: It is an experience of EVIL Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it” (Ecclesiastes 1:13 CV)

God created evil in order that mankind could experience it and be humbled as a result. And when God is through with it, I am confident He will remove it…

“He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken. And it will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isaiah 25:8-9)

In this present evil age we will be humbled, but we live in faith that although evil is necessary, it is also temporary...the best is yet to come.

Resurrection To Glory

“...set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things....When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4).

Glory is mankind's final destiny. And we do not have it now except in the form of the promise of God.  It is our hope...

“…We... rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2).

And Glory comes with our resurrection...

“…Sown in dishonor… raised in glory…” (I Corinthians 15:42-43a).

In this life we experience suffering from time to time but we can cope with the suffering when we "set our minds on the things above, not on earthly things" - "in hope of the glory of God" to follow...

“…The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be…” (Romans 8:18).

As we celebrate Jesus we should not focus simply on a baby in a manger but set our minds on things above, where our risen Lord sits at the right hand of God waiting to return and complete our resurrection to Glory.

The Throne of Grace

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). 

Many among Christianity have made God’s thrown one of fierce judgment rather than Grace. And by judgment they mean an angry God pouring out His wrath on the sinner…and by wrath they mean casting them forever away from Him into a fiery furnace to be tortured forever. 

But God says His throne is where we come and find Grace and Mercy, not condemnation and everlasting punishment.  It is not that God does not get angry, and that He never pours out his wrath on men. But His wrath ends in death which is the "wages of sin". (Romans 6:23)

The Scripture tells us that "God is love" (1 John 4:8) so even His wrath flows from Love and therefore must be remedial in purpose… and short lived. Surely He does such as he instructs us to do…

“Be angry, yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger…” (Ephesians 4:26)

But I hear you say "God is Just".  True, and the word means that God always does what is right.  It is right to put the sinner to death.  It is also right for God to raise the sinner to life as the just result of His Grace and Mercy for...

“The LORD’S loving-kindness’ indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning…Love never fails” (Lamentations 3:21-23; 1 Corinthians 13:8)

It is best to remember that God is not like us, then we would not create such horrible and fierce judgment and call it "just" as is common among the religious dogma of the Church.

The Grace and Salvation of God are FREE

"I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:4)

Let’s be perfectly clear, the Grace we receive from God is FREE. We do not earn, accept, or reject it. The GRACE of God is ours as a FREE gift. We only learn of it “by Jesus Christ”.

And we are SAVED by the grace of God, it is also FREE. And we only learn it is ours “through Jesus Christ”.

“…the FREE GIFT of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23b NASB)

I notice some translations leave out the word “free” but look at it in the original Greek and the idea of being free is there. These translators have a problem with "eternal life" being free. They also have a problem with salvation being free as a result of the "grace of God which is freely given you". They prefer their own version which requires joining their group by accepting their offer of salvation with heaven the reward. They add words like “offer” to their translations but reading the original Greek we see it is THEIR offer, God has no such requirement - Salvation is a "free gift" to “all men” by the "grace of God"…

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men…” (Titus 2:11 NASB)

But notice the NIV translation...

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.” (Titus 2:11 NIV)

I really like the NIV because of the way it reads, but when I check out what it says I find that the Greek manuscripts do not include the word "offers".

I know most of you will not take time to look it up in the Greek so here it is for the verses above in Romans and Titus…

“…τὸ δὲ χάρισμα (free gift) τοῦ θεοῦ ζωὴ αἰώνιος ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν."(Romans 6:23 Greek)

"Ἐπεφάνη γὰρ ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ σωτήριος (bringing salvation) πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις" 

(Titus 2:11 Greek)

It is deception to leave out the obvious idea of a “free gift”, or to add the word “offers” to the text. Translators know most people won’t look it up and they know most church leaders and teachers who do look it up won’t say anything because they prefer it NOT say “free gift” and they DO want it to say “offer”. They do so in order to back up what they are teaching. Think about it...it is the heart of the growth strategy of almost all institutional churches to require non members to accept their “offer” - which means it cannot be "FREE". 

 Again, it is THEIR offer, not GOD's - The bible says that Salvation is a “free gift” to “all men” by the “grace of God”.

Rejoice in that as we approach the celebration of the birth of "the Savior of the world"...

"Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord..we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world...the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world..." (Luke 2:10-11; John 4:42; 1 John 4:14)

Sanctified

"...Sanctify them in the truth, Your Word is truth." (John 17:17)

Truth is always truth whether people believe it or not.  I don't think it can be discovered and appreciated without thinking and reasoning about God and His Word.

“Come let us reason together says the LORD, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18)

I have reasoned that God is not just the creator, but the Father of mankind.  And He loves them in spite of their faults, and intends to make them into his image through death and resurrection. I reason that mankind must experience the death of the old mortal creation in order to appreciate the new creation to come, the abundant, immortal life which will be the  mirror image of God. Jesus was the first, all the rest of us will follow.

God is lhe originator of truth. And truth regarding mankind, in a nutshell, is the good news that God in His grace intends to give mankind eternal life after death. But this truth cannot be discovered by blindly believing and doing what others say, or joining a religious institution.  Truth is discovered by thinking and reasoning on your own, and being willing to discard the false notions about God along the way.  

Doing so over the past 65 year has given me peace and joy in this present evil age. Try it and you may find that the…

“…peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

Have You Fallen Away From Grace

“…continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43)

Whether you think that only those who believe the gospel in this life will be saved, or as I, believe that all will eventually be saved after their resurrection when they believe, one thing we should have in common. This salvation from death, this resurrection to immortal life….is purely and solely by the unmerited favor (grace) of God. We do not choose it, we cannot earn it, and we will not be rewarded with it because of any good works that we do.

We first came to a knowledge of this unmerited favor by hearing the gospel of our salvation. We believed the good news, if at all, as a result of the gift of “faith” granted to us by the "grace" of God …

“…it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through FAITH, and this is not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:5-9)

There are many good Christian people who sincerely believe that it is their commandment to go into to world and win people to Christ...in other words save people. That is not our commandment or role. Any commandment we have from God has to do with sharing the good news of unmerited salvation, not doing works that result in getting saved.

We will be rewarded for telling people the truth about salvation as a result of unmerited favor. And the truth is that God will save mankind when resurrected and “seated” with Christ Jesus in the “heavenly realms”, all by His unmerited favor - grace.  Our actions in this present life will only be acceptable to God and rewarded if we  believe and “continue in the grace of God”.

So do not let religious doctrines of men change what you first believed about your salvation. I have found that all of the doctrines of men add works in some form to that grace which saves. Those who teach such doctrines have “fallen from grace” to another gospel, which is "no gospel at all".

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel —which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ…You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace…” (Galatians 1:6-7; 5:4)

They were falling away in Paul's day, and people have been falling away from the gospel of grace for 2000 years.  It would be nice if the institutional churches would repent of its failed works, help those around them, and as far as salvation is concerned - “continue in the grace of God”…but don’t hold your breath until that happens.