Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them...He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  (2 Corinthians 5:19-21) What does God see when He looks at people of the world? I think that from the time Jesus "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death" on the "cross" , God no longer focuses on the sin of mankind.  God is not confined to time.  He sees mankind in its finished product as if it has already been manifested.  What He sees is the inevitable result of "Christ reconciling the world".   He looks at mankind and sees   "every knee"  bowing a nd "every tongue" confessing   "Jesus Christ is Lord" . "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him...

“Neither give heed to myths…” (I Timothy 1:4). “Refuse profane and old wives' myths…” (I Timothy 4:7). “They shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto myths” (II Timothy 4:4). “Not giving heed to Jewish myths, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth” (Titus 1:14). Paul was warning about this over 1900 years ago. It makes good common sense for us to think about the "myths" , "old wives’ myths" and "commandments of men" which get embedded in church doctrine from time to time and return to the truth if we have been "turned"  to these "myths" .   "It is a trustworthy saying, deserving full acceptation, and 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)

“...So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne! Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-10) Do you get it? Let's review... 1.  “Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this!” 2.  “Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne!” 3.   “Live happily with the woman you love...” 4.   “The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil.” 5.  “Whatever you do, do well.” I Got it...Especially the part about Sue Ann!

“But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.” (Acts 5:19-20) What are the “words of this life” that they were instructed to speak to the people? “…they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” (Acts 4:2) The “words of this life” – the gospel – is our resurrection from death through Jesus. Paul speaks of it as if it has already occurred… “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world …deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—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...

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.  But this He spoke concerning the SPIRIT.”   (John 7:37-39) God is love. We will become the image of God.  The power of love will flow as rivers of living water from us after this fleshly body is destroyed and we have been resurrected a “Spiritual body”… ”So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;   it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in POWER; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a SPIRITUAL body.” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)   The Holy Spirit is the POWER of God, and love is the most powerful attribute of our omnipotent God. Love is the flowing river of living water now pouring from Calvary. It flows unquenched out of the heart of God through his Son Jesus.   Frederick...

"Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams, declares the LORD, and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 23:32) It is hard to distinguish between what God has actually said from what men say that God says. Both can come from the pulpit of a well meaning and respected preacher.  Following is  an example... “Adam sinned and immediately died spiritually. Eventually, he died physically”  The verse of Scripture he was commenting on was… “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23) Do you see the word “spiritually” in that verse?  There is no such thing as “spiritual death” to be found in the Scripture. You are either dead physically or you are alive because you still have spirit (breath-power) in you. If you do not have “spirit”, you are not alive…you are in the grave just like Ki...

"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for ALL people. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants ALL people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for ALL people...." (1 Timothy 2:1-7) Paul instructs us to pray for "all people" because God wants "all mankind to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth" . I have heard the phrase "prayer of faith" all my life. But what is that prayer?  It is asking God for what He wants - not what we want.  If we pray for what God wants we can rest assured that it will be answered for God gets what He wants! Unanswered prayer is simply not what God wants at the time. There is nothing wrong with praying for your wants and those of others. It gives us peace to place our wants in the hands of our Father. We are encoura...

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God, bringing salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16) "bringing salvation to everyone who believes" . What does that mean ? Let me illustrate it this way.  If a benefactor gave me a new car it would be good news.  But that good news would only have power if someone brought it to me and I believed it was mine.  The title was transferred to me as a free gift from my benefactor. It is mine whether I accept it, believe it, or even know about it. Salvation is a free gift from God. It was given to me, and all others, by the "grace of God" .  It is ours right now.  We did not earn it and we cannot lose it.  This good news (gospel) is the power that brings salvation to us...the knowledge of that salvation.  And when we believe we have peace and joy.   The bad news of sin brings shame and death to us all...

”Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." (1 Timothy 1:15) When I was a kid playing peewee baseball I read a book entitled "The Kid Who Batted 1000".  I loved that book but of course batting 1000 over a baseball career is impossible. So how about God?  In the game of salvation, what will be God's career batting average? "...John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world...he is the atoning sacrifice for our sin, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world...we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world." (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2; 4:14) I heard an evangelist say that about 10% of mankind will make it to heaven while the other 90% will be eternally separated from God...or worse. His god has a poor batting average and will not make the big leagues. God, the real one, informed John and Paul of His success rate in the game of sa...

“…those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint…It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Isaiah 40:31; Galatians 5:1) Until last Saturday, I had not had to deal with the death of a sibling. Now I have…my oldest brother Dee has been set free. Pondering our relationship over the years there are some regrets for not spending more time with him, but I keep coming back to the last conversation we had on the phone the day before. We planned on spending the next day together and the last words exchanged between us was just what he knew I needed to hear and what he wanted to hear back from me… Dee: “See you tomorrow, love you” Me: “Look forward to it, love you too big brother” Regrets are real, but love covers a multitude of sins.  Dee and I will still see each other tomorrow, that w...

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11) Some have made this verse something to be attained in this life. But to me it is just a simple statement of our “hope” for the next. Like Paul “I want to know Christ…” – I will really know Jesus only when I meet him face to face in... “…the power of his resurrection…” – Just as Jesus experienced the power of the resurrection, so too I am to be resurrected, and will see Jesus face to face having experienced... “…the participation in his sufferings…” – This participation of his sufferings occurs when I die and have become... “…like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Only then, after my death and resurrection, will I really “know him” . As for the present, well... “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we sh...

I have a friend who asked if cremation was biblical. There is no law in the bible on how we must dispose of a dead body.   However, a dead body is clearly something that was to be quickly dealt with. Even touching it made the Jew unclean…obviously for sanitary reasons. Jewish rabbis and Christian theologians have argued about cremation for centuries…that is what they are paid to do.  But if one would just use common sense we would all reach the same conclusion. It is OK with God. Early in Genesis, when the dying process was pronounced upon mankind, God said… “ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:19) God does not care how that is accomplished, in my opinion, but eventually the body must “return” to dust. And that is where common sense comes in, which sometimes is the opposite of religious teaching and ritual.  What is th...

"...we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this GRACE in which we now stand." (Romans 5:1-2) Sinners are standing in the  "GRACE"  of God, regardless of whether they presently know it or believe it. However, only by believing that we have been saved by Grace can we  "access"  the joy  of this "GRACE in which we now stand" .  We do not "access"  our salvation by faith but the joy  in knowing of our salvation.  Again, we sinners are saved by the "GRACE" of God because of his "great love" , whether we know it now or not. It is a gratuitous "gift" ... "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!…it is the gift of God..." (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8) By "access" Paul is referring to how we enter into th...

About fake news from the liberal press... "...there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies...these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories." (2 Peter 1:1-3) The liberal news is bad enough but Islamic radicals take it to another level all in the name of their god.  But God, the real one, is not the god of religious terrorists... "For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations." (Psalm 100:5) With the availability of the internet and open borders these terrorists can easily spread their "destructive heresies" .  They are adept in using "fabricated stories" to fool and control young people.  They have no regard for the "truth"  saying anything to gain or retain power. T hey deserve to go to hell in my view. Nevertheless, they are to be reconciled to God like all sinners...so  I do not believe God will eternally torment radical mus...

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth....This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things." (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 4:9-11) If there is a hell where God casts unbelievers to be tortured forever, did God create it? And if He puts anyone there did He know He would put them there before he created them? Would you create a child knowing you were going to torture them forever?  If God puts in hell only those who reject the "offer" of salvation from it, would it be better for "the heathen folks" if Missionaries did not make the offer at all? If hell is real, how does that impact the issue of abortion? Which fetus has the best shot at not going there?  I...

"Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." (Galatians 3:24-25) Paul says the Law (given to Israel through Moses) served as a tutor for the Jews until they are brought to Christ and are justified by believing that Jesus Christ is their Messiah.  Once they believe they no longer need the Law for it will have served its purpose.   Although we Gentiles never were under the Law of Moses, we do observe from studying Israel that the Law of Moses, or obedience to church Creeds or Statements of Faith, can save or justify anyone.  It is only by the GRACE of God that anyone is saved, Jew or Gentile, believer or unbeliever.   "... I do not nullify the GRACE of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly... " So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God...There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is the...

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.   But he said to me,   “My grace   is sufficient for you, for my power   is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) The apostle Paul had a “thorn in his flesh” which was frustrating to him and he had petitioned the Lord three times to take it away.  The above is the answer from God to Paul’s petition. Paul was content with that answer… “ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.   That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight   in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,   in persecutions,   in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10-11) But I wonder how he could be content.  Maybe it was because Paul was a student of the Old Testament Scripture and found comfort in the words of Isaiah… “Do you not know?  Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, th...

Following is a paraphrase from an article I recently read which was interesting to me. “The portions of religious Creeds and Statements of Faith which conform to the truth are useless. Why? Because what need is there of a creed or statement if we have the inspired writing in our hands. And religious creeds and statements of faith which do not conform exactly to the truth of the inspired writing only lead to confusion and division…which is rampant.” So why do we have them? Beats me...read the Bible. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

“But it is God who has wronged me, capturing me in his net. “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me. I protest, but there is no justice. God has blocked my way so I cannot move. He has plunged my path into darkness. He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished. He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree. His fury burns against me; he counts me as an enemy.” (Job 19:6-11) Job had just been through the Olympics of bad days. He was a good man and had not sinned when God  "wronged" him by allowing all his kids and grandkids to be killed and then all his his wealth and health to be taken away - and in case that wasn't enough, his wife tells him to curse God and die. He didn't but he does proclaim his innocence and says that God "wronged" him. But does God really wrong good people for no apparent reason? Yes he does. So how are we to deal with that?  Well, Job told his friends what...

"God ... endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction...And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy... even us, whom He also called." (Romans 9:19-24) We humans are rarely merciful to our enemies. However, God is both gracious and merciful to both His enemies and friends. Christians often say “love the sinner, but hate the sin." It is a nice little catch phrase that justifies judging those we think are worse sinners than us, and sounding all righteous in doing so. I know it is hard, but we need to try to spread a little mercy around from time to time like our heavenly Father. "For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all...give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: His mercy endures forever..." (Romans 11:32; Psalm 136) Sinful people are like a coin in God's hand, with Grace on one side and Mercy on the other.   The coin gets spent for both good and evil over...