Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

" ...you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die...the  wages of sin is death..."   (Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23a) Good old Grandpa Adam and Grandma Eve believed a lie....and it was Satan who told the lie.   Once we start believing that a lie is the truth, it is almost impossible to convince us otherwise...Christians included. And of course the whole purpose of lies is to hide the truth, right. Sooo....What was that first lie? "...you surely will not die...but when you eat...you will be like God." (Genesis 3:4) I was taught in Church that Christians go immediately to Heaven when they die. But after I began to seriously study the Scripture, I found that I was believing and teaching something that was not true...a lie. The truth about when we get to heaven comes from Scripture, such as the following.  Note the "will be" , the "after that" and the "at his coming" : &qu

The resurrection of Jesus some 1984 years ago is the most important event in the history of mankind – up until now. But it is not the greatest event that will ever happen for mankind.  Really, what could trump that? “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the chief messenger, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ wiil rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) The truth is that if Jesus doesn’t return and raise us from the dead, the resurrection of Jesus makes no difference does it. Yep, the greatest day for mankind is yet to come – it is the return of Jesus to complete the plan of God. A secret hidden by God until He revealed the mystery to the Apostle Paul who told us about it. “…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shal

Following is a summary of what I was taught growing up in church… When a child dies before reaching the age of accountability, that child goes to heaven.  H owever, if the child reaches the age of accountability he is lost and needs to be saved and it is the Church members Great Commission to save the lost.  T he lost will be cast into hell upon death to be eternally punished and separated from God and that lost person's blood may be on the hands of a disobedient Church member who failed to tell them. To be saved  the lost person must confess and repent of sin, and accept Jesus as his Savior by his own free will before he dies.  At that point the person becomes a new creature in Christ and will go immediately to heaven at death.   The church further emphasized that if a person is actually saved, he will want to join the Church, be baptized, observe the Lord's Supper, and fellowship primarily with others in the church, and of course, support the ministries of the church with a r

“But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-24) The wisdom of God in planning the crucifixion of our Savior as part of the Salvation of every sinner, including the very sinners who had part in his crucification is an enigma. It is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greek philosophers and most everyone else. The Wisdom of God says... " God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. .. 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... to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven...one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: You brood of vipers! ...every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire…" (Matthew 3:7-10) "Vipers" spew out poison from their mouths.  These "vipers"  that John the Baptist is talking to are the religious leaders, not their congregations, or those outside which they termed sinners. Whatever they were spewing from their pulpits was not "good fruit" . “...after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire… “ (Matthew 3:11) Of course John is talking about Jesus. Those religious leaders needed a strong dose of his Truth, not the poisonous  "precepts of men" they were passing out. “They worship me in vain, they teach as doctrine the precepts of men." (Matthew 15:9) When Jesus returns he will "baptize&

King David was feeling depressed when he wrote…  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” (Psalm 22:1) Ever been there – I have. There are just sometimes in each of our lives when we wonder if God really gives a damn. In those times all we have is prayer and whatever "faith" God has given to us…for most of us it is just a “measure” . “...God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3) Jesus never sinned and yet was crucified, and in the hours just before he died, he experienced the anguish and depression that Kind David and all mankind experience from time to time... “ My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death ...And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground... God, my God, why have you forsaken me ” (Matthew 26:38; Luke 22:44; Matthew 27:46) Breaks my heart, yet in that necessary moment, God Himself, throu

Many famous Christians seem to think so.  I heard Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, say so in an interview on YouTube the other day.  That did not sound right to me so I looked into the Scriptures to see what they have to say. “God is Love...Love is patient.” (1 John 4:16; 1 Corinthians 13:4) “God is Spirit...The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…” (John 4:24; Galatians 5:22) Since "God is love" , and "Love is patient" , His patience CANNOT run out. And since  "God  is Spirit"  and the fruit "of the Spirit is...patience" – His patience CANNOT run out. “…He is PATIENT with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance…Bear in mind that our Lord’s PATIENCE means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him…” (2 Peter 3:9,15) And what was it that Paul wrote to them? “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus ca

"He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed." (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10) I had a friend who asked me to address some of the passages used to deny the eventual salvation and reconciliation of all, like the verses above. I wanted to say why? Most Christians only believe what they are told by theologians - and I am not one. And they sure don’t believe the clear teaching of the salvation of all, regardless of how many verses I show them that clearly teach it. But for my friend, and the handful of others who give a damn about the damned, here is the explanation, in context, of the above verses. Paul is speaking to his fellow JEWS who believed that Jesus was their Messiah.  These Jewish believers were

”He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.” (Isaiah 33:6) I found the phrase “fear of the Lord” 22 times in the New International Version of the Bible. It seems in each context that mankind is encouraged to fear the Lord as a conscious CHOICE. That choice to fear the Lord is the key to the treasure of finding a "sure foundation" in our Lord and Savior. God does not GIVE us a "spirit of fear" . “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7). Nevertheless, our choice to fear the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom. It starts us on our journey to find that God need not be feared, for His only begotten Son has atoned for our sin on the cross - a demonstration of God's love and faithfulness. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...there is no fear in love, but perfect love dri

“...because of you the name of God is being blasphemed among the nations.” (Ezekiel 36:22; Romans 2:24) Ezekiel told this to the Jewish religious leaders, not the ordinary like you and me. To blaspheme means to slander by saying false things about someone. The Jewish religious leaders were blind to their own unrighteous condition.  Much of their teaching  "blasphemed " God. By the time of Jesus's birth the traditions taught by these Rabbis had been elevated to the status greater than the Word of God. Jesus accused them of... " ... making the word of God of none effect through your tradition which you have delivered... " (Mark 7:13) Christian religious traditions have also been elevated to the equivalent of Scripture. Most church members know a lot about tradition but not much about Scripture. Christian tradition generally promotes self-righteousness rather than humility.   Paul knew, for he had been "zealous" about those "traditions"

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...” (John 3:16-17) “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” (1 John 4:14) “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15) In my immature years I had a hard time with the above verses which seemed to contradict themselves. It did not make sense that it was okay for God to love "the world" and for Jesus to save "the world" , yet we are NOT to love it and if we do the Father does not dwell in us. Made no sense to me at the time. Now that I am in my mature years, I realize that John was simply stating the obvious. Since God loved the world and sent Jesus to save the world – we don’t have to love it or save it . When we try to do what God has already done, it just shows that we have not trusted God and therefore the love of the Father does not dwell in us. “You see, at jus

“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed…” (2 Corinthians 11:4) “another Jesus” - Exactly who is this other Jesus Paul is referring to? Well, it is the Jesus who will cast all unbelievers into hell to be eternally tormented. If this is the Jesus you go to church to worship, well it is not the real one and you’re wasting your time. There will be no "reward" for attending that church. The real Jesus you need to be worshiping proved God’s "LOVE" for us and did not proclaim God’s "WRATH" against us – that one you may hear about in some churches is  “another Jesus than the one” Paul proclaimed. “God proves his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through him…now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eter