Preparing for the Coming Persecution

To the Beloved, the Redeemed, The Church, the Body of believers:

Our Lord has washed us and cleansed us from all unrighteousness and, positionally, we stand righteous before Him due to the atoning work of Jesus the Christ, our Master. Not only is He our Master, but we have become joint heirs with Him and adopted sons of God. Through obedience and continual conformance to His word we are strengthened and our minds are renewed, having Faith.

Particularly here in America, we live in a time of ease and stability. Unlike our brothers and sisters who have been persecuted and tortured for Christ in other countries, in America Christians have it pretty easy: God has blessed us with abundance and we have the provisions of kings.

Dear beloved there is change coming; it has already started. Our sanctuaries and places of worship are crowded with the rotting corpses of philosophy, psychology and modernized 'religion'. As the rot works it's way through the meat, we, the salt of the earth, stand as the only preservative against this decay. Through the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our sword, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation, we go out as lambs amongst wolves in the service of and in the empowerment of the Spirit of God to bring the Gospel of our salvation to the lost as well as for the edification of our fellow brethren.

Many of the flies that swarm around the rotting meat claim to be our brethren; like dogs, they desire the rot and viciously tear at it. They have clothed themselves as lambs, having a smooth tongue and a gentle voice; full of concern and ‘love’ they are quick to spout out their love and the love they have for God. Like piranhas, they shred off the flesh of an unsuspecting victim the moment the unfortunate one steps foot below the surface of the water and all that is left is the skeleton and a dissipating circle of blood; the victim is not even able to see the malevolence, only beholding the ominous foaming up of the water.

The sins of our nation and this unrepentant modern Christendom is a recipe for destruction. In America, persecution has been looming under the surface of the water, but there will come a day when the danger will come out of the deep and devour it’s prey right on the shore, out in broad daylight. This day is coming soon with the rise of modern religion’s moving away from Scripture; in it’s drunken, religious debauchery, it will no longer be satisfied by the wine of the world, but will long to drink the blood of the saints.

Brethren, may we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming age, strengthening our faith in Christ by His word and washing our wives and children in the word of God, that they may be strong when the day comes. It has been the pattern of persecution that those who ate with us and drank with us, calling themselves our brethren, will be the very ones to give us the Judas kiss of death; they may even be members of your own families. It is only the word of God and the Spirit of God that will sustain us.

But, let us not look to the things of this earth but to the Kingdom of God, knowing that those who have served have a reward laid up for them, that it is a privilege to suffer as Christ suffered. Not that we died or were imprisoned because we rose up against the government in defiance, murdered, stole, lied or some other sin that violates the Scriptures, but because we lifted up the name of Jesus, by which all men can be saved, because we preached the Gospel out on the streets, because we stood up for the doctrines that Jesus set up through the Scriptures or because we lived moral, peaceable lives unspotted by this defiled age, through the power of Christ.

Knowing that our home is not presently here but is in eternity, in Heaven with God, where there is no death, destruction or sin, keep in mind that we will answer to God for our lives, for our thoughts, words and deeds. Presently, let us not be consumed by covetousness, that when God has blessed us with more than enough money we gave it to the fatherless, the widows, the hungry and most importantly to the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, lest we do like the wicked to whom bigger is better and more is never enough.

There may come a day when The Church will no longer be enticed by their bigger and bigger buildings, their ever-evolving ministries and the pattern of the Sunday experience; instead The Church will be under persecution, meeting in small groups and will only be doing two things, which the Scriptures lays forth for The Body of Christ to do: preaching the Gospel of Christ and edifying the Body.

Many of us will lose our homes, our jobs and even our children or wives because of the Gospel. The Church will not be associated with denominations or non-denominations under this persecution and will not be centered around one man that we listen to each Sunday, but instead, it will have men whom God has raised up in the small groups to discharge the duties of ministry.

As is the pattern of the persecuted Church, it will thrive, producing real believers that know professing Christ as Lord may mean prison time, torture or death. The Church may not have large worship teams or sound systems, lest they be heard and caught. The Church may meet in odd places, like prison or fields, abandoned office buildings or even homes, but the days of the crystal cathedral will have passed. There may be still those whom are wealthy; their money will not be invested in their portfolios, cars or vacations but will instead be providing for the needs of the saints, like food, clothes and shelter. This will not give them a tax deduction, because all non-profit organizations will probably be the first evidence of persecution, that in order to retain their non-profit status they must reject Christ and His word as being intolerant of people’s sexual or religious preferences, and that to accept Christ and his Word may mean being charged with ‘hate crimes’ or even terrorism. In fact, being a Christian may soon be considered the lowest form of life, just under the murderers.

It is possible that, in an attempt to besmirch the Body of Christ, many Christians will be framed for crimes that are abominable in the sight of God. In spite of all this The Church will thrive, and faith will grow.

The question is: What are you doing now to prepare the members of The Church right here in America for this coming persecution?

Are you teaching the men the Word of God, that they may stand firm with their families in the face of persecution?

Are you instead buying bigger and bigger buildings, consuming yourself with the cares of this world?

By your lavish examples of ‘bigger is better’ ministry, are you drowning the brethren in covetousness?

Are you creating and have created false converts via a watered-down Gospel for the sake of the tithe or some kind of status? Chiefly, these eventually will be the ones to rise up and persecute The Church, and the blood of those saints will be on your hands as well.

Have you prepared your wife and children with the Word of God, by warning them of covetousness and lasciviousness and all other sins which lead to a shipwrecked faith? Are you washing your family in the word of God in preparation?

Most importantly, are you personally living obediently to the profession of faith that you claim? As Jesus said, ‘if you love me, obey my commands.’ John 14:16

"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

26. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:25-30

Steven  1/30/2006

Dispensationalism in a Nutshell

Dispensationalism, dispensational, dispensation, Dispensationalists... what are these things and what are they doing in my soup?

"We believe that God does different things in different ways to different peoples with a different content of salvation as revealed in the Scriptures. We are careful not to interpret Scripture dispensationally but to interpret it literally. We believe that Dispensationalism is the logical product of literal interpretation."

The above is a quote from a real Dispensationalist (I will henceforth abbreviate all occurrences of "Dispensationalist" as "D"). Whether this person is a spokesman for the entire movement, or just an honest appraiser of his belief system, I don’t know, but I agree that this sentence pretty well sums up the viewpoint of all D’s. Dear reader, you may not know that you are a D, but if you agree with the above quote, and you live in the 21^st century, then you probably are one.

The classic D breaks down history (and the future) into epochs concerned with God moving in different ways upon different people. We all, even those of us who don’t buy into various methods of salvation ("content" as he calls it) , know that God moves in different ways upon different people. This does not mean anything other than we were half awake during history class. But when we start breaking down history (and the future) into dispensational epochs, we are D’s and it doesn’t matter if we ever heard of the term D. If we are a D, then we believe that God has different plans for salvation for different ages, most likely seven dispensations to be exact. This has not been classic Christianity until recently, but is now rampant throughout the churches.

Let us look at the phrase, "literal interpretation." Sounds nice and theological. But before we do, here’s another nice-sounding phrase from one of the classical works of Dispensationalism, The Late Great Planet Earth: "These men [D’s] used what may be called the golden rule of interpretation which the Biblical record of fulfilled prophecy indicates is correct. ‘When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.’" Hal Lindsey then gives credit to David L. Cooper for writing this. I give Hal credit for making this saying axiomatic for the Late Great Christian Religion.

Hal Lindsey didn’t make this up. Tim LaHaye and his Left Behind series didn’t make this up. Who made this up? Paul the apostle didn’t develop anything along this line. Neither did Peter. John wrote Revelation, which D’s really love to get their hands on, but he never taught anything about literal interpretation, either. About the closest we come to anybody saying anything about how to interpret the Bible is Peter, who said, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation, for no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:20). In contrast to this, we see D’s holding up "common sense" as the key to interpreting scripture.

So who got this whole "literal interpretation" thing rolling? I don’t have the foggiest notion. Well, we know that Darby was successful at disseminating these ideas. Then Scofield made it big. But instead of tracing the lineage of this flavor of Bible interpretation, and before we investigate the meaning of it, I will just ask the question: What made this movement so big? I suggest that what made Dispensationalism so widespread was the "Jesus People" movement in the 1960's and 70's. Without going in to proving that, let’s just say that Calvary Chapel is a main promulgator of the doctrine. Because the movement is so well-funded and well-promoted, it is hard to go to any church nowadays that doesn’t have its devotees of Tribulation Force, or whatever. There are books out there that criticize Dispensationalism, and if you have the time, go ahead and read them. But instead of leaping into classical Dispensationalism by examining whether or not world events fit into the pigeonholes presented by Scofield, Darby, Hal Lindsey and others, let us look at the quote "…Dispensationalism is the logical product of literal interpretation." Therein lies the crux of this system, and therein lies the problem.

Literal interpretation sounds like a good way to interpret anything. If the stop sign ahead says STOP, then one should literally stop. Many traffic tickets have proven the literal interpretation of highway patrolmen in this matter. One could argue that the interpretation of the HP is one of tradition, but one must pay the ticket anyway. As they often say, "We don’t write the laws, lady, we just enforce them."

But to interpret the Bible literally could mean anything. Jesus said, "Pluck out your right eye," didn’t he? We don’t see many D’s taking this literally. I will go on. Jesus said, "Go and sell all that you have and give the money to the poor and come, follow me." Any takers? There are quite a few others. Now, the D will tell us that we cannot take those passages literally, even though they are quite clear and not in any special passages about future events or other prophetic verse. They will say "the context clearly indicates otherwise" and they’re through. However, the meaning of these scriptures are well-attested to in other parts of the Bible, Old Testament included. Luke, the gospel writer, is so bold as to even quote the very Lord Himself without editorializing. When Jesus says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife…" etc., Luke does not apologize nor interpret (he leaves that up to modern theologians). He just accurately transcribes what Jesus said over and over again: You must bear a cross to go on with Me.

So with disregard to the literalness of these passages, these same D’s will assure us that poetic and prophetic passages in the Old Testament are to be taken literally (not understanding the power of the Scriptures dealing with the Church and the Holy Spirit).

Their sort of "literal" interpretation goes against the writers of the New Testament anyway. The writers of the New Testament were used by God to explain the nature and meaning of the Old Testament writings in light of the advent of Jesus Christ. If Hal Lindsey and his cadre of prophet-interpreters can outdo Paul and Peter, then we have new apostles on the scene and we should pay closer attention to them. But I am assured that Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles and he can more than clear up end times prophecies for us. But today, we have many who feel bold to do one better than Paul himself. Or Peter, or John.

Paul evidently had problems interpreting the scriptures literally. In one passage, he takes a very literal law and adapts it to an issue on which the Lord himself spoke: "For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.’ Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope… Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel"(from 1 Corinthians 9). That’s quite a stretch for a D. Am I quoting Paul out of context? I think not. In 1 Corinthians 10 (I believe it’s the same Paul writing to the same church), Paul says, "Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come."

What things is Paul talking about? And, then he goes on to interpret those things in context of the Gospel, as usual. When will Paul give in to the authority of the modern church?

What the D’s do is take arguable prophetic passages and make them "literal," even if it goes against Paul himself. To them, these passages are perfectly clear when taken literally. For instance, they say if we look at Ezekiel 39, we see that Gog is Russia and they are going to attack Jewish Palestine and that the remaining Jews will use their weapons as fuel for seven years. Thus saith Hal Lindsey. How does this go against Paul? Paul said, "the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but spiritual…" He seemed totally unconcerned about Gog and Magog, weapons made of wood or even weapons made in the USA; he seemed to think that the Old Testament passages had to do with spiritual warfare.

Let us test the passages in light of the gospel. If we read Ezekiel "literally," then we find that Jesus is the Prince who is going to come, and that he and the rest of Palestine will be killing small sheep to make atonement for sin for a thousand years. During this time, he and his fellow Jews will be keeping Sabbaths and New Moons (read it for yourself in Ezekiel 45:17 in context, meaning include Ezekiel 39 while you’re at it).

Paul would be repulsed by such a turn against the gospel. But Dispensationalism does away with Paul’s interpretation. What good old sword-swinging oath-taking Hebrews did in the Old Testament by means of the flesh, God now accomplishes by loving Christians watching Bruce Wilkensen videos or reading his Prayer of Jabez. But that’s this dispensation. Wait until we get Gentile believers out of the way and put in some real Jews! Then there will be literal blood! Same God, different salvation plans. So this allows the Christians living in this dispensation (meaning D’s) to adapt the Old Testament writings whenever convenient to their means, as long as a literal Israel has a literal blowout with a literal Gog, leaving raptured D’s up in the air to contemplate their interpretation of Jesus’ second coming.

The D’s try to reinterpret plain New Testament writings by subjecting them to "literal" Old Testament writings. Thus they put the Old Testament in a superior position. The Jews of Jesus’ time fell into this error. Even though there was no New Testament, Jesus still upbraided them for not being able to discern the truth of the Messiah from their own writings. John 5:39. They would not, could not, come to Jesus because their hearts were hardened, read as they may of the future messianic kingdom of the Prince in Ezekiel 40-48. Darby took this whole passage literal and actually has a map of the future kingdom showing precisely where everything will be.

So in the D’s mind there are two Israels: one literal; one spiritual. Literal, or real, Israel, is the chosen race of God. Spiritual, or symbolic, Israel, is what? Not real? Not genuine? Not the very chosen of God? The D puts real significance on the transitory nature of this age and tries to make the flesh the fulcrum of God’s purpose. The non-D just accepts the fact that there is neither Jew nor Gentile in the real realm of interpretation, which is the spirit. Flying against all logic and literalism, Paul says, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God." Romans 2:28-29.

And there is only one plan, one method or one "content" of salvation, whether in the Garden of Eden, before the flood, after the flood before Abraham, before Moses, before Christ, before the end of the world, until the end of the world. "Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things that now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things that angels desire to look into." 1 Peter 1:10-12.

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water." 1 Peter 3:18.

"They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." 1 Peter 4:5-6.

Some D will object: "But this book was written to the Jews scattered throughout the world and has only symbolic reference to us as Gentile believers." I say, read 1 Peter 2:10 and let the Bible interpret itself. If you insist on being "literal," I adjure you to read, once again, 2 Peter 1:20 "knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation…" So, if you are a D or thinking of becoming one, know that even though you appear to be all-spiritual because you can correctly predict coming world events (ha!), you will severely hamper your spiritual growth, for our life is hidden with Christ in God and only the subtle mind of the Spirit can search this out.

 - Chris Simonson  1/27/2006

"It has become inordinately difficult even to begin to think about constructing a naturalistic theory of the evolution of that first reproducing organism." In a video he has produced he says, "[DNA research] has shown, by the almost unbelievable
complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce life, that
intelligence must have been involved."

"I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian... It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose."

The God whom he refuted all these years has allowed him to change his mind based
upon the hard evidence of creation. However, he remains obstinate against his
need for a Savior. He believes in a God, just like the demons, but at least they tremble in fear because they know that Jesus is the Holy One of God and
will cast them into the lake of fire.

As for Antony and his opinions, we place them with the rest of the opinions of
the "experts" out there. God's word places him with other men who change
their minds over and over again. The atheist societies who used to use him as
their poster child will probably ignore his latest findings.

If he does not come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord, Antony is now more
culpable for his sins than when he was an atheist. God have mercy.

Chris Simonson  1/26/2006

Faith Healers

Isn't it strange that we receive many reports from Christians that they or someone they know received a healing at a Benny Hinn convention (or equal), but the authentication of such healings is not available to us? We are not privy to the medical history, mental or otherwise, of these people. If we stop and think about it, those who give reports of healings are quite ill or dysfunctional.

Yes, we do get evidence from medical records that doctors and hospitals cure all sorts of maladies. Many people (including non-Christians) have seen phenomenal results not totally explainable by modern medicine, but nonetheless effected using modern medicine under controlled conditions. As an example, a person has cancer. They are treated using x-rays, chemotherapy and surgery. Miraculously, they survive the treatment and are rid of their cancer. But this does not qualify for a miraculous healing, because it wouldn't have happened unless two thousand scientific discoveries and methodologies were employed to effect the cure.

Faith healers supposedly operate on the level of true miracles, ones that have no explanation whatsoever but the direct, overriding intervention by a spiritual force. However, there exists only spurious documentation of these healings. Unless a person uses selective reporting and selective listening, there is really no hard evidence that anyone has been miraculously healed. That seems unusual, in a world of information technology that can keep track of a patient's heartbeat via satellite.

We all have heard that so-and-so received a healing, but this person dies of the very disease or disability of which they were supposedly healed. Or, we cannot find so-and-so because they either don't exist or there is no real record whatsoever of their miracle. It seems we are dealing with hoaxes and hucksters. It seems their authentication is of a private interpretation.

However, I personally believe in miracles. God uses them to authenticate his servants. Jesus said to the cleansed lepers, "Go and show yourself to the priests". By doing so, they received a clean bill of health and proved that a miracle had occurred. Similar things happened to the apostles. I believe this totally, even though it hasn't been aired on Oprah. Whether this still happens, I don't know. There aren't that many committed servants of God out there, and the need for miraculous signs is long past.

But in our post-Christian society with our medical science close at hand to transplant hearts and livers, what's the use for an overriding, direct intervention by a spiritual force? And yet, the Christian (and non-Christian) will go to a healing ceremony to get a new heart or liver on the off-chance God does such things.

Those who recover from illness or other bodily dysfunctions want this to qualify as miraculous. But natural healing is a common experience, not a miracle. Some recover; some don't. Even when we recover, some other sickness will overtake us later. "What's the last disease you will ever get?", is the question. The answer: "The one you die from." We should always praise God for healing us of things, which He does, but we shouldn't claim miracles for a couple of reasons.

First of all, we all get colds and headaches. We get joint problems, muscle problems, skin problems, etc. Many of these go away even without a doctor's care. We know this from personal experiences as well as the history of millions of people. We are not dealing with subjective interpretation but with hard facts. Secondly, miracles are not natural recoveries from disease or accident, but they are phenomenal, unexplainable, usually instantaneous cures. There are no props or hospital equipment. Physical force or medicine is not employed.

Miracles are contrary to what science usually observes, but the are scientifically observable. This proves them miracles.

Science says that in order for something to be a fact, if one person observes something, so another person can (and must) observe it, without intervention of the first person. A miracle may not be reproducible, but this does not disqualify it from being measured and documented. Smoke and mirrors are not accepted. Contrary to this, faith healers must use special theatrical techniques to accomplish their miracles. They pump up the audience with stories, music, lights, shouting, chanting, etc., under specially controlled conditions, then they bring on the so-called miracles. The followers are taught this is "faith". Jesus and his followers did not do this. This is not faith, but gullibility mixed with fear and fleshly longing.

We are dealing with the phenomenon of mass-hypnosis. This is a scientifically observed phenomenon and is reproducible throughout the world. Under controlled conditions, a crowd can be manipulated into almost anything. Using sensory conditioning, isolation from conflicting views, peer reinforcement, and dozens of other sly techniques, the faith healer or magician can perform miracles, but
they are only good within the bounds of the controlled environment. In real life, it just doesn't spend.

The term "mass-hypnosis" is not Biblical, so it should find some Biblical counterpart. It does. We should understand that the word hypnosis is what we used to call "putting a spell" on someone. Hypnosis sounds scientific and we have cataloged the techniques, so it must not be sorcery, right? The KJV calls it "bewitched". In Acts, we read about a man who "used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria" (Acts 8:9) Later, Paul says to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth?" (Gal. 3:1).

Mass-hypnosis would be simply mass deception. And masses are so easily deluded. The same people who go to faith healers go to modern medical doctors, witch doctors, herbalists and exorcists, hoping they will cure them of their problems. If we look at their lives, do we see healing? What do we see? We see symptom-obsessed, paranoid Christians running around from cure to cure, driven and tossed by every wind of opinion, useless to themselves and to their fellow man. Paul tells us to "be no longer children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" (Eph 4:14).

Do we see the love that helps other people? These claim great love, but we must remember these are the same ones who claim to be healers or healed. They are the Robert Tilton's of the earth. The Bible warns of this type of fake spirituality. Paul warns us: "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." (Romans 16:17-18).

It seems that we moderns, with our modern medicine, do not need God's healing. So he does not heal us. We need his chastening. We love our doctors and their medicines. We find our cures amid pharmacies and physicians. We come to God when all else fails, not really believing anything, but just giving him a try to see if it works.

Faith healers drive people away from the true faith that heals. We do not need physical healing so much as we need spiritual healing. Christ came to save us from our sins. We need to be healed of this horrible disease. The smug Christian will say he's been saved and then turn around and hate those who preach the everlasting gospel. He is not saved, but in jeopardy every moment. Repentance is the sure way to be healed. It's good not only for eternal life, but it also keeps us very much healthier than we would be if we kept on in our sins.

Throw out the faith healers with the rest of the leaven and come to Christ, the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth. Then you will be healed. This may not be measurable by scientific methods, but it will be effective in this life and observable to all.

Chris Simonson  1/25/2006

Luxury Alcohol Crops, Transubstantiation, and The Young Earth

There was a marriage at Cana. Jesus' mother asked him to do something about the wine shortage at the feast. Many have commented on his remark, "Woman, what do I have to do with you?" but I will leave that for some other time. The people needed more wine. Well, they didn't exactly need the wine, water could have sufficed, or milk, but this just is not the stuff marriage feasts are about. They weren't starving or dying of thirst, either. Mary should have asked her son to save all the starving people in Persia, according to modern social gospels.

So, we have a miracle, the first miracle, based around people having a good time. Plain and simple. John isn't afraid of recording this type of miracle. He puts it first chronologically and we should be proud of our Lord. If we aren't, maybe we're too busy being proud of ourselves and our wretched holiness.

Anyway, we do not know how Jesus turned the water into wine. And it is an important miracle or John wouldn't have recorded it. According to him, there are many more, but the ones he wrote down were for our benefit, for our faith. So why did he turn water into wine? I just read an explanation given in a children's picture book: "It showed his willingness to help people who are in need."

I don't think so. This was a party, not a homeless camp.

But, our Lord does care about the little things and things we care about, like wine for instance, but what we really need is faith. We need to believe that Jesus Christ can turn water into wine. Instantly. If we do not believe that, then we do not have faith.

The water in the urns was probably full of impurities that would not pass our stringent water control standards. So beer companies would not choose it. But even if it were pure spring water from the Rockies, the process of making fermented beverages takes a long time (compared to instantly). Oh yes, many of those religious types whose faith is based on not drinking some sorts of beverages will cry out that this was unfermented wine.

Supposing this were true, which it isn't, we are still talking about making grape juice from nothing but water and various impurities, instantly. Impossible. In case the reader knows nothing about the process of making wine, I'll give a brief rundown.

First, good wine has no added water to it. The only water it has comes from the crushed grapes. The water got there because it was drawn out of the earth by the living vine. In an extremely complex method that is so complex that most scientists believe in evolution (go figure), air molecules, sunlight, water, inorganic chemicals in the earth, bacteria, earthworms, and probably a hundred thousand other things we don't know about yet, all get together and grow a vine that grows a grape that a man picks, crushes and puts into a glass (usually after it ferments and people in 30 A.D. mideast could not stop fermentation, folks). That's wine-making in a nutshell.

Allowing for a few days either way, I figure it would have taken mother nature to evolve that wine from that water about 4 billion years. It took Jesus Christ a nanosecond. Clearly, he is the Lord of the Universe, capable of creating anything he chooses when he so chooses, or he is not. One of the two is correct.

So I believe the purpose of turning the water into wine was to show his divinity, that he is very Creator of this planet and has control over everything, even whether our dinner party goes well or not. Yes, he is good and kind and gives his rain upon the luxury alcohol crops (some people hate vineyards and this is what they call them), and upon the millet fields in a third world country. He also withholds the rain when he so chooses. If we believe in another Jesus, then we truly have no fear of God and I have to wonder, do we have his grace?

Yes, the earth is very young, and although it gives the appearance of being very old, we either believe Jesus turned the water into a nice, mellow dinner wine that had the appearance of being the product of 4 billion years, or we don't. If he can turn water into wine instantly, then he can also create the earth and the universe instantly. Of course, we know it took him six days, but that's another theological issue.

And this earth and its heavens are about to be done away with, with a new heavens and a new earth on the way. We either believe it or we don't. Jesus did many miracles to show, not that he cares about us, but that he is the Almighty One. The Father gave him these miracles so we would believe. If we don't know that, then we have no everlasting life, and we wither as branches cut from the living vine, and men gather them up and burn them.

Those who believe will join him in the marriage supper of the Lamb, where we will have that promised cup of wine. (Matthew 26:29, Revelation 19:9)

Chris Simonson  1/24/2006

Self-Atonement

Many, if not all, religions believe in some method of self-atonement. Generally speaking, this includes all methodologies used to pay for past, present or future mistakes one has made in the process of being human. Some of these self-atonement schemes take on bizarre if not horrific forms, such as offering young virgins to monsters, or worse, accepting all forms of bizarre and horrific behavior in the name of "love". All of these attempts at ridding oneself of guilt, or engrams, or neuroses, or liability, must be driven by some universal force or why the common experience? Christians, the ones who know what they are talking about, call this force by the simple name of sin. The devil's in the details, for sure, but the responsibility for all this madness lies at the door of each human's soul, or how else would God judge the world?

Simply stated, self-atonement is sin, along with all the other sins. If sin is used to rid oneself of sin, one finds an impossible situation, but one nonetheless keeps trying until death do him in. And such is the effect of sin. It makes people think they can use principles or laws or science, whatever, to overcome the natural tendency to keep God out of the mix. Oh sure, they love their religion, Christian it may be, but they hate the idea that they cannot in any way, shape or form atone for their own sin. A popular way to deal with atonement is to ignore the need for atonement. The wicked go to great lengths to rid themselves of the nagging suspicion that God is, after all, going to punish them. They go so far as to invent an educational system that dogmatically teaches that the universe got here by a very small dot that blew up, thus self-actualizing into time and space, organizing itself into the three dots after this sentence...

The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons think a man can atone for his own sin by simply dying. Death is the payment for sin, they say, so what's the problem? The problem is, just because J.W.s don't believe in an extended death that reaches well past the death of the body, doesn't mean that there is no hell. This hell is a place of eternal torment, a place of total destruction that man cannot atone for.

This is why self-atonement is so devilish. The devil has convinced billions that a system of religion that includes self-atonement is not only beneficial but necessary. This is a sure way to hell. God hates it.

There is only one way to atone for sin. God has already done it. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world for the payment of sin, whether past, present or future. Those who neglect this by seeking to atone for their own sins are surely condemned by their arrogance. Those who neglect this by casually saying, "I'm saved", and yet they have no feeling in their heart for the Lord who gave his life for theirs, are also surely condemned likewise.

There is a need for repentance. One must turn from his own estimation of his goodness to the goodness of God. If we do not despise our own selves before God, then we are surely deceived that we are saved, and we have never repented at all. Repent, therefore, and be saved. Look to Him who died for you and loathe yourself for your lack of thanksgiving and absence of service. Bend the knee (worship) before him and he will abundantly pardon you.

Chris Simonson  1/23/2006

I Believe, Therefore Have I Spoken

Many people whom consider themselves Christians cannot articulate their beliefs. If questioned about even rudimentary doctrines, for instance, "Why does God choose some for salvation and not others?", they balk, or worse, spout out things that are in some book other than the Bible. They cannot present, in well-defined terms, their faith. They smile and say, "I just know that I'm saved and that's all I need to know." Or, "Jesus loves me just the way I am", etc.

We have all heard these things because we go to church and hear them. We say these things to each other because this is acceptable behavior among parishioners. But do we obey Christ when we do these things?

That should be our only concern. What men say behind our backs (or to our face), things like "He is parading his faith around, shoving it down others' throats, being a Bible-beater, a holier-than-thou...", shouldn't concern us. But it does. We are made of flesh. That is why we have to fight against this, or we will eventually join their ranks, the ranks of those to whom Christ says, "He who is ashamed of me and my words, of him will I be ashamed..."

Let us not be ashamed of Christ and his words. If we are ashamed of one, we will be ashamed of both. There is no such thing as a silent witness, unless it is the woman's role under an unbelieving husband. But even then, as the occasion arises, the woman must share her faith with others, especially when they see her godly behavior and ask, Why the hope? The sophists will come up with arguments of "what ifs" to avoid the plain teaching of Christ on this subject, but then, these theologians want nothing to do with the gospel anyway.

Therefore, dear Christian, does the scripture, "I have believed, therefore have I spoken" apply to you? If our love for Christ does not ignite a passion to share the whole story of redemption with our fellow believers as well as the lost, perhaps we have lost our savor.

A word to the sisters: Explaining the story of redemption includes all aspects of the Bible teachings, such as Proverbs, which instructs us in a fatherly way. Remember that God has appointed to you your proper gift of being a woman. The women's lib movement has tried to destroy this and it has filled the church. But we should not ignore reality. You are not to assume the role of a man. In obedience to love, you should teach morality and ethics to women and children, but you are not to teach a man nor usurp authority over him, no matter what your opinion of him may be. Once you have settled this in your heart, you will have no problem presenting the gospel to a man without teaching him. You will be submitting to him in the fear of God. It's too bad the pastors won't teach the men in their congregations to reject the spirit that goes along with women usurping the role of the man in their own households. But the spirit of the age has destroyed even that foundation in the family, under the guise of focusing on the family.

So, let us all praise our God by speaking forth the wonderful story of salvation, in as many ways as possible, as opportunity presents itself. Let us not be ashamed of Jesus or his words. As we have believed, let us therefore speak.

Chris Simonson 1/19/2006

My troubles surround me
They press in on me from all directions
If I lie down, my bed is no rest,
For the anguish of my soul says,
Would to God it were morning!
The fear of my heart makes me toss and turn
No rest for the weary they say.
When morning comes I say,
Would to God it were evening!
For the day brings nothing but evil
And my flesh is wearied with pain.

Some of us are happy to say goodbye to the world for a few hours. Our sleep is precious, like an oasis in an otherwise hostile desert of bad luck. But then, we wake up and it all starts over again. When we are asleep, we could say that reality is shut out around us, but it isn't. If we were on a sinking ship and asleep, we would still drown whether we knew it or not. Such is the nature of reality.

Such was the case of some fishermen, one named Peter, and one named Andrew, etc. They were not the ones who were asleep, however. They were wide awake with terror. Sailors they may have been, yet the wind and waves were about to send them to the bottom of Lake Genneserat. As the little boat dashed its cargo of men back and forth, it would be extremely hard to stay asleep.

However, there was a man on board who was still sleeping! In their stress and fright, they may have overlooked this, or maybe they were trying to take care of the problem without waking their guest. But now it was time to wake him up! "Master, don't you care if we all perish?" Or, in another version, "Lord, save us: We perish!

Yes, it was Jesus of Nazareth who lay in their boat, sinking along with them. What sort of dream was he dreaming? Did he dream? But look what happens when he wakes up! After he says, "Why are you fearful? How is it you have no faith?"; He arises from his couch and rebukes the wind and the sea and they are immediately calmed. "Where is your faith?"

God is not asleep at the wheel. It may be hard for us to understand this, but we must have faith. The ship is not going to sink and we are not going to perish, as long as Jesus is on board. If need be, maybe we will have to rebuke the wind and the sea from time to time.

Faith is tested by adversity. Distress in any form is adversity, by definition. So, let us have faith and rejoice in hope that our Lord sits at the right hand of power in the heavens and sees every little hair on our heads. Have faith.

Chris Simonson 1/18/2006

Bless himself

The Christian church is in a "bless my soul" mode nowadays. I can see down through church history how men have gone from one extreme of condemning themselves to the other, excusing all the time. The church is in the excuse mode. Because the church has become so adept at forgiving itself, through its own made-up priesthood, God has let them defile themselves.

Confront them about their sins, and they are outraged. Ask them about their walk with God and they bless themselves. In Deuteronomy we read, "...when he hears the words of this curse and blesses himself in his heart saying, 'I will have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart'...the LORD will not spare him, but the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man and all the cures that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven." 29:19.

In the Prophets, we see the nation of Israel expecting a blessing from God even
though they turn away from obeying him. So, because they are the nation of Israel, they are warned. "All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, 'The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.'" Amos 9:10.

Were these idle threats? History tells us they were fulfilled exactly as promised. Do any of these scriptures have anything to do with the church that calls itself after the Name of Jesus Christ? Do we begin to make excuses once again and bless ourselves?

Chris Simonson 1/17/2006

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our country calls itself Christian because it was established by Christians using Christian principles. Mr. King, Jr. said that we cannot be truly Christian people so long as we flaunt the central teachings of Jesus: brotherly love and the Golden Rule. He also said, "Even though I have never had an abrupt conversion experience, religion has been real to me and closely knitted to life. In fact the two cannot be separated; religion for me is life."

None of this saves a person, including Martin Luther King, Jr.

He preached a social gospel, that is, one that concentrates on the things of this earth, equating earthly goals with spiritual messages. That's all he did. He accomplished more than many white folks in spreading the social gospel of "peace on earth and goodwill to men."

Jesus said he did not come to bring peace to the earth, but a sword. The sword has indeed taken many Christian lives. The sword took Mr. King's life also, but that doesn't prove he was persecuted for Christ's sake. The man who killed him was a hate-filled person attempting to thwart integration. He did not kill Mr. King because he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, but for some other, social-political cause.

Many well-meaning persons are confused about the message of Christianity. They celebrate Christmas in the crass greed of consumerism, thinking this has
something to do with Christ, then three weeks later they celebrate Mr. King's birthday, thinking this has something to do with Christ.

Mr. King was an intelligent man. He felt that the Bible was useful for spreading his message of anti-racism, and that the Christian religion was a good vector for his agenda. Due to his intellectualism, he felt that he could separate the message of the gospel from its main purpose, that is, to preach Jesus Christ crucified for the world's sins. His was a legalistic message, proclaiming that those who believe in God should keep the law, the law as appended by Martin Luther King Jr. Although he rightly condemned the smug church who said nothing, the smug church later adopted him and his methods for their agenda. Such is the religion of the lost.

The preaching of the message of the cross is foolishness to Gentiles, Paul said. So Mr. King, like thousands before him and thousands after him, twisted the
message to suit his social reform agenda. This does not save anyone from the eternal fires of hell, but only distracts from the truth that every man, white
or black, deserves the judgment of God.

Mr. King's gospel is very prevalent today, so he did a good job at his appointed role. Minds have been brainwashed into buying his sentimental views of Christ, because to say otherwise somehow links them to racism and/or hate speech. We who speak out against error, including the ambiguous message of Martin Luther King Jr., are accused of many un-provable crimes. So, the false gospels have done a good job at turning white into black and black into white, thinking this is the way to unity. But the redeemed of the Lord have no unity with this earth, whether they be Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Latino or a hundred other races of men.

We believe that on this earth is lots of hate and prejudice. We seek to deliver men from the sin that causes this, not because we want the earth, but because we
want heaven. When we die, we want to see our brothers, white or black, together with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mr. King had this to say the day before he died: "As you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of general and panoramic view of the whole human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, 'Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?' I would take my mental flight by Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there. I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus and I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon as they discussed eternal issues of reality."

His mind did not embrace the faith of Jesus Christ except in a very philosophical way. He loved the Greek mind and remained steadfast with that testimony until his death. We, as fellow Gentiles, need to repent of the intellectualism that hides in pride. God has a far greater intellect than we can imagine. Even though Mr. King did not think highly of fundamentalists because of their dogged adherence to the Bible, they have a much greater chance of inheriting eternal life than Plato, Socrates and all the Greeks on Mars Hill.

Chris Simonson  1/16/2006

Let Depression Do Its Work

Dear soul, when you first came to Christ, he showed you his love. This love is ten thousand times greater than any earthly love. We said to Him, "I will follow you anywhere", because his love is worth everything we have. And then, the experience faded. Welcome back, world.

But our God still loves us, even though time and trials seemed to have separated us for a while. We have an account of the delirious love between a man and a woman in the Song of Solomon. But it is more than that. It is a poetic description of our Lord's love toward us and ours toward him. It is inspired, not the vain ramblings of Shakespeare or Milton. Some who read it find offense, but the Jews kept it in the canon, and so have the Christians. There's a reason for this.

There are a few passages of note to the depressed.:  1) By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? 3:1-3  Again,  2) I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. 5:5-8. And finally 3)  Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned (disdained). 6:6-7.

This is passionate stuff, not for the weak in heart. The soul is exercised with great longing, great loss, and great love.  But the cost is tremendous. The flesh, once happy and satisfied, is now called into question. Will this satisfy the groom?No. He desires a godly seed. Therefore, we join him in his suffering. Jesus, who did no sin, nevertheless learned obedience by the things he suffered. Are we greater than he?

God is much pleased when we have joy in righteousness. But what when we have joy in the things of this earth? The false church will beat us because that is their job. They have no way of knowing who the beloved of God is. They think we are loose cannons, hoodlums, and feel that by burning us at the stake they are preserving the purity of the church.  Jesus said this would happen. And yet, if we are the elect of God (and we have to be the elect or all of the words of love do nothing but cause us to continue in our sin unabated) this works to our good. And indeed, all those who live godly in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution. However, if we shrink back, his soul will have no pleasure in us. But we are not those who shrink back to perdition, but go on to the saving of the soul. That's why I say, let depression do its work. Let us be chastened. Before we were afflicted we went astray. If God did not afflict us (or allow us to be afflicted), then we would certainly backslide. But he comes after us and won't let us wallow in our sins. 

This feels very depressing to the flesh, but afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Many (most) will reject this and go some other way to relieve themselves of the chastening of the Lord. These are those who go to destruction.  Yes, we have to fear this God and then our depression will flee away and the sun will shine on us as we stand before God having no righteousness that we can call our own, but the righteousness which is by faith in Christ.

In the meantime our Lord says, "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee." Song of Solomon 4:6-7. And Paul says, "Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are his. And, Let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."  2 Timothy 2:19

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead:  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; - 2 Corinthians 1:8-10.

Chris Simonson  1/13/2006

Judgment Is Certain For Everyone

We have seven facts in this life that assure us that the judgment of God is coming:

1. We recognize there is right and wrong
2. We try to make things right
3. We feel strongly negative when our rights are violated
4. We make decisions based upon our own welfare
5. We fear man, what he can do to us or what he thinks of us
6. We take vengeance if convenient
7. We reject God's message of judgment

Salvation is available. The Bible says "Because it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment, Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. And to those who look for him he will appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Hebrews 9:27-28.

In order to look for him, we must believe he is coming to judge. We must not reject God's message of judgment or we will certainly reject his message of salvation. Hebrews 10:23-31.

Chris Simonson  1/12/2006

From the Satirical Fathers: Excerpt Five

The Law and the Profits

Accept, and you will be accepted. For if you seek men's pleasure, they will measure back to you a good portion of their gain, normally ten percent. If your brother sins against you, hug him and tell him you love him anyway and make it part of next week's sermon. If he sins against you seven times in a day, you shall put him on the church's dole and make him an example of how loving you are. By doing this, you will win your brother and the congregation to yourself, plus be able to set up a social welfare program and skim off the top. This is the Law of return on an investment.

What profit is there if you gain the whole parish and can't get men to trust you? Let your light so shine before them so they will gladly pour into your bosom bank account those things that are necessary for life and comfort. What shall I profit you then, brothers, if I come to you with an unknown investment? Without a vision, the people slack in their payments. We must convict them of their need for a bigger church building, with a modern multi-media projection system. If we know our brother has something against us for not providing air conditioning, we should take out a loan and refrigerate, thus reconciling with our brother.

Pastors, youth leaders and therapists, seek those things that are solid investments. Be not afraid, for it is your bank's good intention to see another tax-free money-maker. Therefore, I say unto you, do not be afraid of those who think small. Say unto them, "Grace and Happy Returns", and they will then fall down and say God is in you of a truth.

This is the Law and the Profits.

Chris Simonson  1/11/2006

Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

Alien influences (one flew over the cuckoo’s nest)
Alien abductions (up the flue)
Alien righteousness (I’ll fly away)

Bound by fears, humans seek relief in places worse than those they just escaped. Psychologists have different names for this, and different  cures, but generally speaking, the cure is worse than the disease. So we have good religious men placing their hopes in the latest drugs or messages from the great beyond. This is not just mere paranoia.  Every evil influence is backed with some truth or it wouldn’t be bought by anyone. 

For instance, we know from real life that flu can kill, that it can kill more than all the wars combined. We know that avian influenza can kill, and that it can mutate and that it could become pandemic if it were to mutate into a form easily transmitted from human to human (which it has not, yet). We also know that people have seen things up in the sky that cannot be explained by ‘experts’. And, we have about ten thousand other things to worry about.

That’s why we need a Savior; not a savior to rescue us from every earthly woe, but one who can rescue us from the cause of every earthly woe, that is, sin. The world perishes and those who put their trust in worldly things. But, the righteous live forever in a new heavens and a new earth. But what makes them righteous? One theological term is ‘alien righteousness’.

This means that the righteousness is not natural to the person or this world, but is from beyond. It is alien to this world in that it does not come from around here, but from heaven above. It comes from God, who is the author of righteousness.  How does it infect humans? By faith.

Jesus Christ is the vector for this righteousness. He, the righteous One of God, became sin for us, the sinners under God’s wrath. We became convinced we were under wrath because of all the horror surrounding us.  Then we cried out to the Lord and he forgave us our sins. Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith, made us righteous before God. We were aliens from the blessings promised to Israel, but now have found our freedom from death through their promised Messiah.

Chris Simonson  1/09/2006

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of Faith?

I write to those who call themselves Christians; may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ rest upon you. If we say that we believe in Christ, and have been saved, one would ask, "What assurance do you have of your salvation?" The simple and correct answer is, "Through Christ."

Do we really believe that Christ is our savior? That we have been saved from being cast into hell and that our wretched and defiled hearts have been washed clean? Do we truly live like God sent his Son to be crucified, who was blameless to pay for all our sin; that he was raised again on the third day, and conquered sin and death on our behalf? If such conviction, which is the testimony of faith in our Lord lives within you, then you have gained the knowledge and personal communion with the living God, through His holy Scriptures.

This type of faith leads to good works and righteousness: feeding the hungry, looking after the widows, orphans; but most important and preeminent in a believer’s work is to show love to the brethren as well as the preaching of the gospel to those who are lost... to warn of Hell and the coming judgment upon all those who reject Christ. But, there are those who, by works of the law, call themselves Christians; those who when given a talent, proceed to bury it in the earth and hold back from those who are in need, who’s lives are consumed by the law, and the ‘taste-not, touch-not’ religious traditions of men; who’s faith is wrapped up in church buildings, businesses, homes, cars, relatives, pot-lucks, concerts, plays & camping trips.

These are the people that speak of Jesus’ ‘love’ but yet do not what He says, and stumble those who truly seek after Christ. May we take the time to examine ourselves, to see if we be in Christ, not just because some card we once signed tells us so, or once responded to an alter call.

Steven Styles  1/06/2005

Doctrines of Cutlery

Dear Pastor,

Today’s Sunday sermon on the Art of Using Fine Cutlery was exceptional; it was exactly what my hungry mind wanted to hear. It was amazing to learn all the proper uses of silverware. I have often thought silverware was something you just simply scooped up your food with and popped it in your mouth as quickly as possible, but today’s speech has brought me to a realization of it’s greater use and purpose.

For instance, you stated that the reason silverware is often made of silver is because silver is one of the earth’s most powerful antibacterials; so, in using silver forks and such we prevent the decay and buildup of harmful bacteria, such as botchilism, salmonella, etc. You taught us useful tips and tricks for properly washing silverware; I loved your idea for cleaning our silver with water-softener and a sheet of aluminum foil, for that maximum shine. Your gracious smile and gentle approach made it easy to listen and feel comfortable. I laughed and I cried at your mastery of cutlery humor. Your gift is apparent, and has been helpful to not only me, but to my entire family and any guests who use our silverware.

Thank you for your controlled and well-planned -out sermon; it has temporarily distracted my family and I from the burden of starvation. The next time you come to speak, maybe you will bring food to put on the ends of our silver forks.

- A hungry sheep

One should pause, and consider what it is they are teaching in the name of the Lord: a man may have the best intentions in mind when it comes to teaching Biblically-based principles and may have even made sense, but if the teacher is not submitted to the Scriptures on a continual basis, he will began to take himself and his flock away from the glorious Word of God. One may set out to teach the principles of family life, or counseling, or many other pursuits but if this is not tempered with the Scriptures and the authority of Christ by the power of His words, one has simply aligned oneself with the same morals of ‘good people’ around the world; as for these people, the Bible describes their righteousness as filthy rags, as being clouds without rain, who often pervert the Word of God through abominable doctrines and their ‘good morals’.

Joshua 24:15 "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Steven  1/05/2006

Which is More Important:

The Brethren meeting together, or our sunday service... and which can be based upon the Scriptures as more important?

Do we just take lightly the meeting together of the Brethren as if it is an extra-curricular ‘church’ activity? For, which is better: feeding a starving man once a month, or teaching him to cultivate his own crops? Both are beneficial, but one is merely a welfare program while the other truly has the man’s interests in mind.

Do we build a doghouse with the Brethren, yet contrive to erect a massive house on Sundays with the women and children. If you were to offer a banquet to be held on Sunday, and ask “Which of you has a magnificent dwelling to offer as a place for this lovely banquet" , you would most likely see many a hand raising. But if you were to ask, “Whom has a home where the Brethren can meet once a week?” there would most likely be naught but eerie silence, as we have seen.

I believe God is looking for a few, good men to edify the Body of Christ and to preach His Gospel. Soldiers would not be effective in the battlefield if they hardly ever trained together as a unit. Last time I looked, most soldiers don’t have their wife and children with them on the training field, nor do they bring them into battle. Any good marine will tell you he has another marine there to check his pack and weapon. And, yes, if one has not, as of yet, noticed the roar of cannon, we are in a battle; the enemy has made a point to target the authority of the Body of Christ, the Brethren; when we meet together, we should meet as if we are at war.

God, through His Word, has sent us draft notices and has warned us against the over-inflated, long-haired, lukewarm, hippie-dippy, feminized, draft-dodgers. Jesus spent time teaching and preaching to the multitudes, but He revealed doctrine to and had kinship with the 12 disciples, His Brethren, when He and they were assembled together. Likewise, Christ has kinship with us and reveals His Word to us, when we meet together as Brethren; as David said in Psalms 133, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2. It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 3. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, Even life for evermore.”

Follow up:

The importance of the meeting the Church, the body of Christ is made up of all those whom have professed Christ as Lord and obey His commands, men, women and children. I am not against men, women and children meeting together in Christ, but the emphasis cannot be placed upon that as the official meeting of The Church, as spoken of in Hebrews 10:19-25, lest we move away from the pattern of the Scriptures into sectarian traditions and modern feminism.

Even some women, led by the spirit of feminism, understand the power of this regular meeting, and they make sure that they meet once a week, encouraging this over the pulpit; they are serious about attending for at least 2 or 3 hours at a time so they can teach the husband's wives doctrine.

Steven  1/04/2006

Where is The Church?

The modern "christian" church in America generally meets every Sunday; such a meeting usually has 45 minutes of worship, and 45 minutes of teaching.

This modern church meets in large cathedrals, or buildings, or warehouses; it usually owns one or more properties, of which it is most often indebted. ( Note: many modern churches own multiple facilities, which they rent or lease out. )

This modern church generally has paid staff which work from 9-5, and is headed by a pastor, whom works approximately 4 days a week.

This pastor's duties are largely consistent of: marriage counseling, administrative pep-talks to staff and parishioners, compiling sermons and attending church functions.

This modern church generally has a small group of what are termed as 'elders', (usually a dozen or less) some of which may be lay-pastors, or assistant pastors, but chiefly this group consists of CFOs (chief financial officer); they oversee the expenditures of programs, cost of goods sold and salaries. Generally 'elders' are volunteers.

Income: 90% of the income generated by tithes usually goes right back into the modern church building, the church building programs and staff salaries.

Expenses: church building mortgage, church building maintenance costs, sound systems, landscaping, utilities, child care facilities, playground, parking lot, staff salaries, advertisements/mailers.

Advertising: The 10% (or more) left over from tithes is most often used to advertise church functions such as bake sales, car washes, Coffee Houses, concerts or the various drama shows. Most modern churches advertisements are found in phone books, and on shiny mailers in your mailbox.

"Missionary" work is generally extracurricular.

Doctrine: This can vary from church building to church building. Some modern churches believe in the Bible and some do not; some believe in the Bible but hold a loose affiliation to it, which often come out in the Sunday sermons, where a majority of the sermons are spent on moralism, "purpose-driven-lives" and anecdotical stories, than on Scripture.

The one, universal doctrine that rings true in today's modern church, whether Bible-believing or non-bible-believing, is the importance of regular church building attendance and tithing. Coincidently, this unified doctrine is of premiere importance in today's modern church; you cannot be considered among the faithful if you do not attend Sunday service regularly.

So, the question I have is: Is this modern church The Church, the redeemed Body of believers that Jesus Christ spoke about in the New Testament?

And, regarding this modern church (or, as I might call it "the false church", with very few exceptions), is there any Biblical evidence to support its 'pastors' duties and 'elders' duties, and its doctrines and actions?

Steven  1/03/2006

Love VS. The Love Boat

The term "love" seems to have an identity crisis in this modern age.

How many times have you heard someone strike out with phrases like, "You need to love, brother.", or "you need to be more loving!", as if they have arrived on the Love Boat and you are still on the dock.

Now, it is true, we should show love, but... what is love?

Love is not a vague idea, but a specific command:

Jesus uses the term 'love' in Matthew 26:32-39, not as a vague definition but as a specific command to love God completely; heart, soul and mind, which encompasses every part of you, to be committed to Christ as Lord, as Master and we as mere servants of the Master.

It seems most modern "christians" have a very vague, non-specific, human-relationship meaning of love, and we all know from The Love Boat, that human relationships are easily broken. Most modern "christians" will refer to love and how much they love to infinitum, but they miss the depth and richness of Love.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, which most modern "christians" know by heart, is often the springboard for how they will whack you with their paddle of "love". But, let's take a look at these verses in context and with proper word definitions, looking into our own hearts, with the idea of having the foreskins of our hearts circumcised by the Scriptures.

"Charity suffereth long, (charity throughout these verses is translated ‘agape’, meaning "brotherly love, affection, good will, benevolence", ‘suffers long’ is translated ‘makroqumiva’ meaning ‘slow in avenging wrongs, endurance, constancy, steadfast, perseverance’) and is kind; (kind here is ‘crhsteuvomai’, meaning ‘to show one's self mild, to be kind, use kindness’),

charity envieth not (envy here is ‘zhlovw’, meaning ‘to be heated or to boil with envy, hatred, anger’)

charity vaunteth not itself (vaunt is translated exalt, ‘perpereuvomai’ meaning ‘to boast one's self, a self display, employing rhetorical embellishments in extolling one's self excessively’),

is not puffed up (puffed up: ‘fusiovw’, meaning ‘to make natural, to cause a thing to pass into nature, to inflate, blow up, to cause to swell up, to be puffed up, to bear one's self loftily, be proud’)

5. Doth not behave itself unseemly (unseemly: ‘ajschmonevw’, meaning‘to act unbecomingly’, without modesty),

seeketh not her own (her is ‘eJautou’ meaning‘herself, himself, itself, themselves; ), is not easily provoked (provoked:‘paroxuvnw’, meaning ‘to irritate, provoke, arouse to anger, to scorn, despise, provoke, make angry, to exasperate, to burn with anger’),

thinketh no evil; (thinks: ‘logizomai’, meaning ‘to take an inventory, i.e. estimate (literally or figuratively), despise, esteem, impute, lay, number, reason, reckon, suppose, metaph. to pass to one's account, to impute, a thing is reckoned as or to be something, i.e. as availing for or equivalent to something, as having the like force and weight, to suppose, deem, judge, to determine, purpose, decide [purposing in your heart to think a certain way]’; evil: ‘kakos’, meaning ‘worthless (intrinsically, such; whereas GSN4190 properly refers to effects), i.e. (subjectively) depraved, or (objectively) injurious, troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive, baneful, of a bad nature)

6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity (rejoices here is ‘chairo, caivrw’ meaning ‘to be "cheer"ful, i.e. calmly happy or well-off; impersonally, especially as salutation (on meeting or parting), be well, to rejoice exceedingly, at the beginning of letters: to give one greeting, salute; Iniquity: ‘adikia’ meaning ‘(legal) injustice (properly, the quality, by implication, the act); morally, wrongfulness (of character, life or act)’),

but rejoiceth in the truth; (this rejoice is different from the one above: ‘sugchairo’, meaning ‘to sympathize in gladness, congratulate’; truth: ‘ajlhvqeia’, meaning ‘what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth, in the greatest latitude, the truth as taught in the Christian religion, respecting God and the execution of his purposes through Christ, and respecting the duties of man, opposing alike to the superstitions of the Gentiles and the inventions of the Jews, and the corrupt opinions and precepts of false teachers even among Christians’)

7. Beareth all things, ( bears: ‘stego’, meaning ‘ to roof over, i.e. (figuratively) to cover with silence (endure patiently), suffer for’, All things: ‘pas’, meaning ‘all, any, every, the whole, all (manner of, means), always, any (one), X daily’)

believeth all things, (believes: ‘pisteuo’, meaning ‘to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ )

hopeth all things, (hopes: ‘elpizo’, meaning ‘to expect or confide, hope(-d) (for), trust’)

endureth all things. (endures: ‘ hupomeno’, meaning ‘to stay under (behind), i.e. remain; figuratively, to undergo, i.e. bear (trials), have fortitude, persevere’)

8. Charity never faileth: ( fails: ‘ekpipto’, meaning ‘to drop away; specially, be driven out of one's course; figuratively, to lose, become inefficient.)


We see from these passages that Love is not that cheap portrayal that we are presented by Captain Stuving. Love has substance, and requires action.

The ultimate demonstration and definition of Love was portrayed on the Cross, when Jesus Christ our Lord sacrificed Himself for the atonement of our sins.

Steven   1/02/2006