Do Lives Matter?

“For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten.” (Ecclesiastes 2:16)

Black Lives Matter – All Lives Matter – Blue Lives Matter

Matter in what sense? Matter to Whom? Matter for how long?

It has been my observation over 66 years that the only lives that actually matter to anyone are those they love, or are currently dependent upon. That is not a cynical view of life, but simply common sense reality.

I have been to, or witnessed on TV, funerals where the house was packed, tears were abundant, and eulogies were long. But two weeks later, the deceased did not matter to anyone but those who had really loved them or had been dependent upon them. That is OK. That is life as most men understand it.

Napoleon nailed it for most men when he said... 

“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever” – Napoleon Bonaparte

Do people really matter?

I think so, but my hope will not be in Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Both have come to glory for this fleeting moment, but neither will matter much to anyone 20 years after they go into the grave. 

My hope is in the biblical truth that mankind matters to God and my understanding of what He has done for mankind through Christ Jesus.  This grace of God which gives hope was beautifully penned by hymn writer Edward Mote…

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean of Jesus’ name. When darkness seems to hide his face, I rest on his unchanging GRACE. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand” – Edward Mote

"For the GRACE of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all." (Titus 2:11)

Kept Blameless, How?

“May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)

Kept blameless, how is this possible?

Some say it is because of a choice we make. But I think it is because of a choice God made to send his Son into the world to save it, not just to offer salvation, nor just try to save…but to actually SAVE all “ungodly” “sinners”.

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world…the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world…you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us…Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially those who believe…” (John 1:29; 1 John 4:14; Romans 5:6, 8; 1 Timothy 1:15-16; 4:9)

Faith is believing the gospel and it is the means by which mankind can enjoy the good news. But whether sinners have faith in this life or not, God will save all according to the Bible it seems clear to me. 

Maybe the confusion is that some people do not know what they are to be saved from. That too is pretty simple to me. We will be saved out of death, the result of sin, when Jesus returns to resurrect the dead.

“The wages of sin is death...The last enemy to be destroyed is death…Behold I show you a mystery…the trumpet shall sound and the dead will be raised…death has been swallowed up in victory.” (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:26, 51-54)

Very few Christian leaders agree with me, but nevertheless it is my conviction that the Bible is clear in teaching the ultimate salvaton of all mankind.  

So what about being "kept blameless"? We are kept that way because after we are "transformed" we in fact will be blameless citizens of heaven, just like Jesus.

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body." (Philippians 3:21)

I Disagree - So What?

"They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jeremiah 31:34)

Those who believe what God says are believers. Two people may disagree regarding what God has said but if both believe what they think God has said they are believers. I disagree with many believers on what God has said in the bible. So what?  That does not make one of us a believer and the other not, it just means one of us is wrong, but sincerely wrong.

But one day we will all "know the Lord" and agree.  That truth is how I have learned to appreciate all believers, even those who have different views. 

Some leaders have an extraordinary gift in communicating their beliefs and in doing so they comfort people. But using your gift to comfort people does not make what is communicated true, just comforting which comfort is good and acceptable to God, in my opinion, for in this present age we see but a "dim reflection" of His glorious truth. 

“Now we see but a dim reflection through a glass, in obscurity, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. For now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:12-13)

All believers have faith, and we all have hope in what we have come to believe. But the most important thing is to love one another regardless of our differences. Failing to do so has resulted in divisions among believers which is sad.  We are on the same team.

Only God "Can Forgive Their Wickedness"

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples indeed, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32)

You “will know” the truth he said. Jesus was talking to the Jews who had believed in him. Yet they were not free yet for they did not "know the truth". Believing in Jesus does not set you free, only the "truth" about Jesus can do that.  

The promise was that if they “hold to” his teaching (when they received it) they would then be his followers and the truth of his resurrection, and theirs, would "set them free" from the fear of death. They were Hebrews who because of the law were “held in slavery by their fear of death” which comes to all who are unable to perfectly obey it. The devil would see that all sin and therefore die…

“…by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants." (Hebrews 2:14-16)

We all share in that fear of wrath and death if we are honest, both Jew and Gentile. And only when we “hold to” the hope of resurrection do we become, like the Jews, “Abraham’s descendants” "by faith" in the grace of God...

“…because the law brings wrath…the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” (Romans 4:15-17)

After God gives "life to the dead", and all are "made alive", then all will know the truth and all will be set free from the fear of death. For now however, only those who hold to the truth of the resurrection in faith are “just” and capable of being set free.

“Now the just shall live by faith...As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive…No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 10:38; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Hebrews 8:11-12)

There is a lot of wickedness in this world, and I do NOT FORGIVE it, and I do not believe we should.  We should fight to eliminate all evil from the world by any means that is available - but after they get what is coming to them in this present evil age, and when they are "made alive", God will "forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more".

That is grace, and that is love - we do not possess it now -  Soooo....

Vote for Trump, lock and load, help him rid this world of the bad guys and let's make America Great Again!

Creation's Liberation

God’s plan for mankind has always been to save them all. The revelation of that plan, however, did not come to mankind until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul between 33 and 50 AD. Up until then God had only revealed his dealings with regard to his chosen people Israel as shown to Moses and the other Prophets to Israel. What He had planned for Gentiles was a “mystery”.

“Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation…which was not made known to people in other generations…This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 3:2-6)

Without the revelation of the salvation of Gentiles as well as Jews, the Gentiles had “no hope” and were “without God in the world” only in the sense that they were unaware of God’s plan for them.

“That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12)

But God chose Paul to give the good news of His intent to save everyone by the resurrection of the dead to immortal life.

“…this grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known…As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (Ephesians 3:8-10; 1 Corinthians 15:22)

The church which Paul was establishing with this good news gospel was to share the good news to everyone. It has failed because it was corrupted by religious men starting before Paul died.

“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… I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ…the grace of our Lord overflowed to me, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.” (Galatians 1:6-11; 1 Timothy 1:14-16)

What we see today is a form of legalism, which only saves those who obey a gospel invented by religious men which has nothing to do with grace and ”which is really no gospel at all”. 

Mankind, through the promise of salvation, are set free from the fear of the harsh penalty of the law (death)- by faith in the glorious “hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”  The whole creation is to be saved by he same God who "subjected it" to frustration.

“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.” (Romans 8:20-24)

Called Out - Independence Day

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God...on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:16-18)

"Hades" (hell in the KJV) is the state of people after death. It means “unseen” or “grave”. The word "church" is the Greek word “ecclesia” and means “called out ones”. Christ Jesus is the first to die and be called out of death never to die again, the “rock” or foundation stone of our faith. And he has promised to return and resurrect mankind (call people out of death).  So what the above verse says to me is that DEATH will not prevail for we will be CALLED OUT of death at the resurrection.

“If 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....For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout...and the dead in Christ will rise...Therefore comfort one another with these words” (John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

Our Independence Day!

Exam Time

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” (2 Timothy 4:3)

"The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed." --Thomas Paine (Author, 1737-1809)

The issue, of course, is what is the "sound doctrine" that was abandoned by those "wanting to have their ears tickled".

By the time the Bible was available to the masses in written form the doctrines of men had been established by the religious leaders of the Catholic Church. Those of us who point out some flaws in those doctrines are many times labeled as those who "will not endure sound doctrine". But after examining the Bible as Thomas Paine suggests, I will no longer endure the false doctrines of those religious men who framed their doctrine "in accordance to their own desires".

The "sound doctrine" that Paul was teaching was that although the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life for all sinners.  He taught over 1900 years ago.  It was "sound doctrine" at the time, and still is. Examine it for yourselves...

"For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life..." (Romans 6:23)

"This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." (1 Timothy 2:3-7)

"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)

"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22)

The problem is that sinful men want only their special righteous group to be saved so they began to "accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires". It started with the Jews who saw themselves, and still do for the most part, as God's only chosen people. And Christianity today feels the same way, and even disagree among themselves which particular Christian group is the real chosen ones to be saved.

We have for our examination the written Word of God in the Bible. One need only to examine it, not just read it, in order to return to "sound doctrine".

"For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men..." (Titus 2:11)