Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

"...grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18) When I look around I do not see many growing toward those with which we disagree - whether in the political or religious arena. And I rarely encounter any growth in the "knowledge" of our Lord.   When is the last time you learned something new about God's plan and purpose as revealed in the Scripture? I attended a denominational church for more than 60 years and cannot remember anything new in its teaching during that time - just the same old traditions passed down in its statement of faith. Much of which I consider to be what Jesus said about traditions of men... “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain  your own tradition... you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.” Mark 7:9-13) At the end of each year I ask myself whether I have grown in grace and in knowledge of our Lord.  Those areas in which I...

"And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables.” (II Timothy 4:4) The Final Solutions of Sinful Humanity: One: Hitler’s final solution was to eliminate the Jewish people who he believed were corrupting the world.  Two: The final solution of institutional Christianity  and  Islam is to offer salvation from hell for sinners if they repent of their sin and join their religion. If anyone refuses they will die, and then be tortured in a lake of fire they call hell - forever in the Christian religion and until their sins are paid for in the religion of Islam. The Final Solution of the God of the  Bible: God’s final solution is to ransom, save, redeem, and reconcile all sinners to Himself through the incarnation, death, entombment, and resurrection of His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ. My anger towards institutional religion's final solution seems well founded to me. HOWEVER, I think that most members of those religions who are involved in ...

  "Do not for a moment suppose that I have come to abrogate the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abrogate them but to give them their completion .” (Matthew 5:17) The Old Testament contains the Law and the Prophets. Whatever the Law and the Prophets said was completed when Jesus came to Earth. “The Law and the Prophets continued until John came; from that time the Good News of the Kingdom of God has been spreading, and all classes have been forcing their way into it. ” (Luke 16:16) John the Baptist was the final Prophet to Israel. The message found in the Law and the Prophets ended with John the Baptist. Jesus presented the good news message of the Kingdom of God – and all humanity started forcing their way into it. By force is meant they were opposed by the Jewish leaders who refused to believe that their God was also the God of all other nations (gentiles). The last Prophet was Paul, who was given the secrets of the Kingdom of God, one of which is that the God of ...

 "...pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with all who are calling upon the Lord from a clean heart." (2 Timothy 2:22-23) Righteousness: Pursue things that are right for yourself and those around you. Faith: Expect things God has promised to come to pass even if you cannot see how they could happen. Love: Do for others what they cannot do for themselves, and do it without requiring anything in return. Peace: Attempt to get along with others, and get away from those you cannot.

 Jesus had this to say about the predominant views of the influential rabbis…. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men”  (Matthew 15:7-9) And the Apostle Paul had this to say about the teachings of those Rabbis… “These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility…”  (Colossians 2:22) The truth about the reconciliation of all sinners to God was given the Apostle Paul by Christ Jesus, the Son of God… “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things...

"And those not be receiving you, and refuse to hear your words, come outside of that house or city or town, and shake off the dust from your feet. Truly , I am saying to you, it will be more tolerable for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judging than for the people of that city." (Matthew 10:14-15) The judgment will not be "tolerable' for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, but it will be "MORE tolerable" than for the people who hear about and reject the good news about Jesus.  When the grace of God in saving humanity is revealed to unbelievers at the judgment of the Great White Throne, the shame will be greater for those who heard the gospel of Christ Jesus and rejected it than for those who never heard about him.  YET, all at the Great White Throne will bow and acclaim that Jesus is Lord. Yes, they will have missed out on the thousand year reign; but will have slept through it, unaware it is was going on. Then they will be cast into the secon...

  “And the sixth messenger trumpets. And I hear one voice out of the horns of the golden altar which is before God… The One voice is… …saying to the sixth messenger who has the trumpet, "Loose the four messengers who are bound at the great river Euphrates. " And loosed were the four messengers, made ready for the hour, and day, and month, and year, that they should be killing a third of humanity… Wow, think about that! The Current World Population Clock as I write this post today says there are 7.942 billion people in the world. A third of them would be 2.647 billion people. So, who kills them, and how? …And the number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred millions-I hear their number. And thus, I perceived the horses in the vision, and those sitting on them, having cuirasses fiery and amethystine and sulphurous; and the heads of the horses are as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths is issuing fire and fumes and sulphur. By these three calamities were...

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines." (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) Are these gifts still active within the Body of Christ today?  I was raised in a church who taught that only the  spiritual g...

   “To you  the command  is  given , you peoples , nations , and populations of all languages , that at the moment  you hear  the sound  of the horn , flute , lyre , trigon , psaltery , bagpipe , and all  kinds  of musical  instruments , you are to fall  down  and worship  the golden  statue  that Nebuchadnezzar  the king  has set  up . But whoever  does not fall  down  and worship  shall immediately  be thrown  into the middle  of a furnace  of blazing  fire . ” (Daniel 3:4-6) Millions of people across the world get up on Sunday and go worship a god who they believe will everlastingly torture most people in a lake of fire. And there are a few who stay home worshipping the LORD whose "mercy is everlasting" and whose "faithfulness is to all generations" . "Shout  joyfully  to the LORD , all  the earth . ...