"When you feel a force pushing you in a direction, I submit to you this is not God, because he has given us free will.  He leads, not pushes. He's not a pusher, he's a leader."

To begin the sermon, the pastor said that we must let the Word of God be the decider, and one of the warning signs that we are not doing this is if we avoid fellowship. So, I suppose, in order to fellowship in that church, in order to sing in harmony, we must buy into this sort of scholasticism.

According to the pastor, he's never felt the Lord pushing him or shoving him. God wants a love relationship; not power-based. But he started the sermon telling his parishioners that there is a false confidence from a breeze that seems right, a nice breeze that is gentle and looks good. He spoke of warning signs and the need for us not to trust in our own feelings. But then he starts this sophistry of pushing-versus-leading and avoidance of fellowship.  He did sort of let on about one thing. He mentioned as an example, Do not be unequally yoked. He tried to tie it in with the wind theme by saying something about the "wind of desire". O.K.

My take: His daughter or some other young girl was getting sweet-talked by a pushy older man. This guy is obviously unsaved or he wouldn't be pushing for marriage. The daughter/other has been avoiding the pastor lately, even to the point of not attending his services. I can tell the pastor has something to lose, because he has broken form. Usually, he goes through the Bible "verse by verse" as though that is some kind of proof of integrity.

Well, I think God is sovereign over all, both the good and the evil, the saved and the unsaved, the angels and the devils. We should not try to twist scripture to warn young men and women of the evils of mixed marriages. We should instead warn every man in Christ to flee the wrath to come. I don't care if this makes them dis-fellowship us or say we are pushing our religion on them. They will wish we had done more when they stand before God on the day of judgment. If men would submit themselves to Christ, the problem of marriages would take care of itself (the husband and wife, if believers, would find harmony; the mixed marriages would result in the unbelieving spouse leaving or putting up with the believer).

If you feel a force pushing you in a direction or leading you in another, check it out with the Bible. It really doesn't matter if you feel pushed, pulled, led, bridled, wild, free, bound, or another thousand intuitive discerning things: You must control yourself enough to submit first to God's word and then to the brethren.

Chris Simonson  11/30/2005

Nation's Largest

The United States of America is pretty loaded with big things. When we are informed that something is the nation's largest something-or-other, it must be big. And so, we find that the nation's largest "house of worship" is indeed large. It's in Houston, Texas, which boasts a lot of the nation's largest things. It will seat 16,000 plus another five thousand for the youth. 

Present attendance is 30,000 scattered over five weekend services, so the new "house of worship" is needed. The remodel to convert the building into a superchurch was 90 million dollars. Yes sir, I said 90 million dollars, and that's just for the remodel. We won't bother to ask how much the building and it's huge parking lot in Houston cost. 

Let's just do some math:  $90,000,000 divided by 30,000 church-goers equals only $3,000 a head. And although the 90 mill seems like a lot of money, let's look at the payback schedule. Now let's say that only one-fifth of the head count are wage-earners. That comes out to $15,000 each to pay off the loan they took out. If the average income of these tithing attendees is $30,000 per year (I figure that is low because of the demographics), that's a five-year payoff if they are good little Christians and tithe the gross income. 

I'm not sure that this venture will get anybody into a right relationship with Christ (who said, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also), but it sure impressed the newspapers (another Jesus memory jog: That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God).

Well, Houston, we're losing radio contact as we approach the nation's largest black hole...

Chris Simonson  11/29/2005

A gentler, nicer god

My god is nicer than your god. That's what the serpent said in so many words to Eve. he tricked her by making her think God was cutting her out from a secret blessing by being unkind and stingy, And that they could become gods too if they took the forbidden fruit.

Since that time, God has appeared to be unkind and stingy to the mind of the sinful flesh. The modern gospel caters to this, thinking if it convinces the sinner that god is nicer than the
God of the Bible, they can trick them into believing and thus be 'saved'. This explains why there is a large homosexual contingent within the church today. This explains why women rule over men and children are their oppressors. This explains why the gospel is not being preached, and this explains why men and women are not being saved.

For those of us who want to present the God of the Bible, we should not be ashamed of the gospel as presented in the Bible.  We should be able to show that the same God who rightly condemns sin also justifies men who believe in the Jesus of the Bible. 

If we cannot show how gentle and kind is the God who brings wrath upon the wicked for just cause, then we should admit we do not know the God of the Bible. We should repent, asking mercy of the gentle and kind God who grants mercy when we humble ourselves. Otherwise, we will continue mocking Him with our portrayal of Him as a wishy-washy sentimental mother and calling that gentle and kind. For this cause comes the wrath of God upon those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. 

Romans 1 and 2... if we'll read it.

Chris Simonson  11/28/2005

Faith

An example of faith: More than thirty years ago, I was shopping at a grocery store and just happened to strike up a conversation with a middle-aged woman. She seemed depressed but needed to talk. We got on the subject of faith in God. At this she recoiled, saying she wanted nothing to do with God. It was apparent that this was causing her depression. I was but a young man, but I thought maybe it was of God to have this conversation and bring something out into the light. 

Pretty soon, she admitted she used to believe in Jesus many years ago when she was a young mother, but had turned against God because of something that happened. She began to weep. But she told me the story anyway. Her young son, not yet a toddler, was in his crib in the next room. He was the most precious thing in her life. Although life was unpleasant for her in other areas, God had given her this child as a remedy. She looked forward to many happy years bringing him up and enjoying their love together. She heard a strange noise in the crib, then a loud thump of something hitting the floor. Horror and fear came upon her as she rushed to the bedroom to see her worst nightmare come true. Her little baby was lying on the floor with a broken neck. Dead. He had somehow climbed over the railing. She shook with sobbing as she
told me this.

I was overcome with grief also. How do we deal with this kind of God who gives life then takes it away? She felt guilt, but she guilted God more than herself. I don't remember what I said to comfort her, if anything. I was a little shook up. But, then, she began to tell me a story about what happened to her many years after she stopped believing in God. Maybe she still had faith.

She was in a grocery store much like the one we were in. She heard screaming, a little girl screaming and screaming. The mother was screaming. People began rushing toward the noise to see was the matter. They began to scream and shout. Soon, the fire engines and ambulance came. More shouting, more screaming. This went on for maybe twenty minutes.

The woman told me she wanted nothing to do with the matter and stayed in her corner of the grocery store, out of sight of the commotion, waiting until it had been dealt with. But it only seemed to get worse. She couldn't stand the screaming of the child. It reminded her over and over again of the loss of her own child.  She thought to herself, "Why should I care about another's child when God took away my child?"

She decided she couldn't be in the grocery store any more and moved toward the exit. But this is exactly where the crowd of maybe a hundred people and emergency responders had gathered, blocking her retreat. She could see though the dense circle the child, wailing and screaming incessantly. At first she couldn't tell what was the problem. Firemen with saws and cutting torches had surrounded the child. The mother was screaming at them. The crowd was screaming at them. Everything was crazy.  Police officers had to kept the crowd back. They were shouting to do this and not to do that, screaming insults at each other for their lack of sense and sympathy for the child.

The woman finally saw the problem. The little girl had stuck her arm down into a vertical chrome-finished tube. This tubing formed the guardrails and the cart storage corral at the entrance to the store. Evidently, someone had left it unassembled or taken it apart, and the little girl had stuck her hand down an open tube that forms a post. The arm was not going to come out and the experts had decided to cut the post off near the floor and take the girl to a hospital to do a more refined cutting job around the arm itself. Also, they had to get her away from the insanity of the crowd. But this wasn't happening either. There were arguments about whether to use this or that cutting method, etc.

The woman with whom I was talking was still shaking with emotion while she told me what happened next. Suddenly, she sort of  heard a voice that said, "You go over to that girl." It was so compelling, before she could stop herself, she began walking toward the girl. The crowd, several people deep, parted before her as the Red Sea. She walked unhindered up to the girl.

Everyone got out of her way. She leaned over and quickly grabbed the girl's arm. The crowd was absolutely silent. Then she said gently but firmly (and she knew her voice could be heard all over the store), "Little girl, in the Name of Jesus, take your arm out of there!" Instantly, the little girl pulled her arm out of the tube.

There were no thank-yous or praises. Only a few gasps of unbelief. The woman immediately turned and disappeared back into the grocery store and finished her shopping. The crowd dissipated as quickly as it had formed. She does not know the outcome of her deed, and maybe I am the only one to whom she ever gave this testimony of faith.

Was she saved by her wonderful act of faith? No. Was it faith in the Name of Jesus that freed the girl's arm? Absolutely yes. But this woman needed (needs) to believe firmly in the promise that all things work to the good for those who love God. I hope I helped this woman back to faith. I hope to see her in heaven when I get there.  I hope to see her little child with her. I hope that someone reading this will investigate the claims of the gospel of Jesus Christ and find deliverance from the wrath of God by repenting from their bitterness and disobedience toward God. 

He is a kind and gracious God, full of compassion; but to those who are disobedient, fiery indignation awaits. We must willingly bow the knee now, before we are forced to bow at the great Day of Judgment. May God remember our works that we have done in faith. Blessings upon all those who are in Christ, who love him without guile and hypocrisy.

Chris Simonson  11/25/2005

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated by giving thanks for our blessings.

Our national holiday was proclaimed by President Lincoln, whom said,

"They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit ...to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

The Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower because they suffered persecutions. Then they suffered hardships in the New World.  They were willing to endure this, because the Church of England had persecuted them back home. They gave thanks to God very well, therefore, not only because He provided food for them, but also had answered their prayers to establish a new government
and "a kingdom for Christ" as William Bradford put it.

In America today, we have very little persecution or hardship.  The church can give thanks that they are not persecuted, but this seems a distant problem. We don't even think that God deals with us in anger for our sins. It seems like a distant problem. As Lincoln did, may we praise our beneficent Father who dwells in the heavens, and may we acknowledge our sins before Him.

Chris Simonson  11/24/2005

Can't have both

Every person is born with a desire for the things of God and a desire for the things of the devil. The one desire comes because we were created in the image of our Creator; the other because early on we sinned against God by being led away by the lust of our eyes, the lust of our flesh, and the pride of life.  This account is told in the early chapters of Genesis.

As a result of our "fallen nature" we find ourselves like pigs at a trough, eating the good and the bad alike without respect to what's good for us. Our pure and holy Creator is displeased with such behavior, and punishes the devil and his followers. But upon those of us who have looked up from our ruined condition and realized the horror of mixing the holy and the filthy, He has mercy. We did not come to our senses because there is some wisdom in pig behavior, but because our Lord picked us from the hog pen and gave us a new nature, created after the image of the Holy One, Jesus Christ.

Of course, we can't have both. We will hold to the one and forsake the other, or hate the one and love the other. This is where it becomes apparent who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Those who cling to their filthy ways and try to be Christians at the same time are twice condemned, once for their direct sins of disobedience, and twice for their hypocrisy. Better to have never known the way of salvation, if having known for a while  but returned as a pig to the slop, thus bringing twice the condemnation.

Those of us who are God's listen to the admonitions and repent of our sins. Yes, we have sin, but we also walk in the light as He is in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. Without that, we would be impure. With it, we are made righteous and holy before a loving Father.

We can't have both. We must decide who we are going to follow.  Will it be our lusts disguised as church service for our own worldly benefit, or will it be the new man in Christ who can do the works for which he was prepared by God himself? There is a huge difference between the two, and if we can't tell, then maybe it's time we confessed our wickedness before a just and holy God and cry out to him for guidance, with true repentance. But remember, you can't have both.

Chris Simonson  11/23/2005

We Did Not Produce

It is the paradox of the Word of God that when we try to produce good by our own efforts we are condemned, but when we know we are condemned and seek mercy apart from good works, we produce good. Many who think they preach the gospel of grace say it is not necessary to produce in order to obtain favor with God, but the Bible teaches that those who seek to please God must believe in Him, and diligently pursue Him. Our pursuit results in good works, no doubt. 

If it results in something else, like laziness or self-indulgence, then we can  say that we do not believe in the correct God. Jesus said that many would be fooled by strong delusions. These delusions consist of good feelings about our standing before God, even though we are under His wrath.

Many people substitute false works in order to replace the works they do not have. This accounts for the Pharisees' righteousness and the Pentecostalism of last century and its destruction of obedience to the faith. As long as we keep a set of rules pertaining to Judaism, we can be greedy and dishonest, and lazy. As long as we speak in tongues and scream, we can be greedy and dishonest, and lazy. 

Of course, when we find ourselves dishonoring our parents and government and finding pleasure in the things that God hates (homosexuality, for instance) we can point to our so-called works and call them good. This just does not cut it with God. That's why he says our righteousness acts are as filthy rags, and our iniquities, like the wind, have swept us away.

In the end, there will be those who produced and those who did not. It does not matter whether we thought we were doing good or keeping busy, it all falls under the judgment of God. The wicked try to convince us there will be no judgment of the Christian, or some kind of different set of judgment rules imposed upon the Christian than the Muslim, but I don't think this can  be shown from Scripture, unless one wants to add stuff to the verses that deal with judgment (or subtract).

God will be looking for fruit. This fruit will have measurable results in this life. Some pastors think that trying to please God this way is like someone working in a horrible factory. They think this is un-human. They think that, instead making us toil in this factory, God is looking for some sort of natural fruit that comes from us. They think we will be measured differently than others because we didn't judge whether anything was right or wrong (even though we condemned the righteous and justified the wicked). It didn't matter as long as there was "love". We had to fake this feeling of great love in an attempt to get around the problem of non-productive
lives.

God won't be using some yardstick no one knows about. He is the Just and the Fair. The devil would have Him be an equivocating, indecisive, personality-changing Eastern despot, but He will judge the devil also. Jesus is the one who judges and makes war.  His name is the Word of God. He does not change. And he is still running the production factory of heaven, may His Father's
kingdom come and will be done on earth.

Chris Simonson  11/21/2005

Imaginary Past

We all have a real past, but we have an imaginary past that, in our minds, takes precedence over the real one. Not many of us would disagree with the saying that memory is a fickle thing.  First of all, it is colored by how we experience the present, and as that slips away into the past, we file our experiences in memories that are none too reliable. 

When we rely on our past memories as trustworthy, we may be mistaken and downright deceived by them. But how else can we live? We must rely on our past in order to find our way home from the grocery store, remember what kind of food allergies we have, etc.

But the memory is a fickle thing. One person brings up the past in an argument and the other person says, No that's not how it was at all. So attempts are made to reconstruct the past in counseling sessions or courts of law presided over by repressed memory practitioners or worse, lawyers. Their own past colors the testimonies of all, as they try to convince the protective agency or the jury who did what how. We all know this.

But do we do anything about it? Not usually. We go right on with our lives, trusting in vain imaginations we have gained along the path of becoming gods or kings, all the while heading straight towards hell. How do we break such a powerful spell as our past holds over us? Can we go to a brainwashing camp or Scientology potluck to rid of us of the past? 

Full-grown adults do these things and worse in an attempt to rid themselves of demons; and yet, they get seven times more when the demon goes and finds others more wicked than itself to possess the lives of the memory-holders.

We should remember things that are true, irrespective of our own perspectives. But, is this possible, seeing as we are limited by our small perspective of reality? We think we are gods, knowing good and evil, and indeed, the real God treats us as thought we were, in that He will judge among the gods and strip them of their vain imaginations and they will die like men (Psalm 82). 

They thought to ascend the heights and bring God down from above, just like Lucifer. They thought to live forever in their own selfish thought-world made from false or twisted memories. But they would not trust in the God who made the past, the present and the future.

So, they have to worry about the future, because, whether or not they believe it, there is no imaginary future, imaginary past or present; only a certain fearful looking forward to the day when we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give answer for what we have done in our bodies, whether good or evil. But, if we do not lean on our own understanding (because the imaginations of man are continuously evil) but lean on God's wisdom, we can have assurance in that day of judgment, because we will know the truth and be freed from the past, living for God in the present, ready for the future.

Chris Simonson  11/18/2005

Everybody Wants To...

LIVE (but Jesus said those who seek their life will lose it, and those who lose their life will find it)...

GO TO HEAVEN (but Jesus said that unless a man forsakes all, he cannot follow him to the kingdom)...

BE LOVED (but Jesus said his followers will be hated by all men for his sake)...

BE PRAISED (but Jesus said that he who is despised will be lifted up in due time)...

LOVE THEMSELVES (but Jesus said we must hate our own selves in order to follow him)...

But, nobody wants to die.

Most assuredly I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If anyone will serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, him will my Father honor.
John 12:24-26.

Chris Simonson  11/17/2005

Sin

Do you ever feel that in your Christian walk as if you cannot overcome certain sins? It is as if you are on the high seas, adrift, moving further and further from God, feeling the hot, afternoon sun beating down on your flesh; thirsty for God's Word but unable to drink. When you attend Sunday Service, like a bitter spring on a desert island, they shake your hand and say "how are you doing?", and you religiously deflect, "I am fine, thank you; and yourself?" And yet, you attend the service in order to fill this spiritual vacuum in your soul, though never being fully edified nor satisfied.

How can this be remedied? You have to trust in the grace of our Lord Jesus and continue to walk by faith, knowing that God forgave us once for all. I guess the point is that when you fall down you brush your knees off and continue to walk, not wallowing in your sin, but confessing your sins to one another. It is a struggle and it will always be one, as long as we are on this earth, but His grace is sufficient. Do we continually sin that grace may abound? No. We should live as if the Lord is returning today. Just a thought.

Steven  11/16/2005

Equipping the saints

I handed the tract to a middle-aged man. “What’s this about?” he asked, seriously studying the back page. I had already told him it was about Jesus, so I began to explain how that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and he stopped me, explaining that he already knew Christ. He wanted to know what church I was representing and why I was out on the street passing out tracts that did not have the name of a church printed at the end of the message. We run into this all the time.

After some lengthy conversation, in which he showed good grasp of the Scriptures, he made it pretty clear that we ought to be ought serving a particular church and inviting people to it, not preaching the gospel and leaving them on their own. I said that I cannot recommend a particular church because I’m not sectarian. He said that he had felt the same way until God had showed him that he must submit under authority to a church (of our choice, of course), no matter what. I asked him what was the point? He said that this is how God equips the saints to do the Lord’s work. I asked him if his church was equipping him for his ministry. He said it was, sort of. I asked him what his present ministry was (obviously, he wasn’t downtown at 10:00 p.m. doing any evangelizing). His reply: “I mow the yards at the church."

Chris Simonson  11/15/2005

Steven  11/14/2005

Salvation... What is it? 

Men today talk a lot about God's love. They present God's love as a message of hope for depressed people or scared people. I suppose there is nothing wrong with that, if the message also allows room for the truth. The message of God's love is one of salvation, not a "fix-it" for making life here on earth easier or better.

Depression and fear are direct results of sin. If there were no sin, everything and everybody would be happy. There would be no pain, sorrow, sickness or death. This is not the case. Sin has brought all of these things into the world. The effects of sin are everywhere and deeply embedded into the matrix of the world. Without defining sin, except to say it leads to death and destruction, we will use it to define salvation.

"Salvation is deliverance from sin."

Sin has separated mankind from God. Sin has not only brought the curse of death, but it has also cut us off from any hope for reconciliation with God. That is, it has cut us off if we seek to please God in our fallen condition. He totally rejects our efforts. He sees our attempts to be good as filthy rags. His wrath is upon all who refuse to come to him on his terms instead of their own. Sin has made the minds of men into confused, hell-bent thinking machines determined to prove God wrong at every turn. Man proclaims his own righteousness and his love for God; God makes the final decision.

Sin therefore is the problem. There is another problem, closely related to sin. In the Garden of Eden story, sin enters the world through the disobedience of one man, Adam. However, there are a couple of steps to this. God says, "Don't." The serpent says, "Do. " Eve says "O.K." She does and then so does Adam. There is a serpent. He is the old adversary, the devil, Satan. He is crafty and appears as an angel of light. His servants appear as ministers of righteousness. With his deceptions working on us from the outside, and sin working on us from the inside, what possible chance do we have to be delivered from the effect of sin?

"Salvation is deliverance from sin."

God is righteous and holy. We are not. We sin daily and God hates it. He must do something about it. He has shown us what is right. The Ten Commandments, for instance, show the righteous requirements of a God who is holy. He tells us that if we break the law, then we must die. If we keep the law, we will live. He is right; we are wrong. Therefore, by the righteous requirements of the law, we must die.

However, that is not the end of the story. Throughout the Old Testament, there are promises of salvation. We see in the law of God provisions for payment of sins committed. We see the promise that if a man turns from his sin, he will be pardoned by God even if he has committed terrible things in the past. We hear from the prophets that there will be a Messiah, a Christ, who will redeem his people from their sins. This Messiah will deliver the chosen people from their enemies and reign over them forever and ever.  This is how it is presented in the Old Testament to the Jews.

In the New Testament, we find that the promises given to the Jews are now open to the Gentiles through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We find that Jesus is the promised Christ. We see him crucified, bearing the sins of the world in final payment for all sins, past, present and future. We find the true repentance in believing in Jesus and calling him Lord. We behold the love of the Father. We find adoption as sons through the Spirit of God. We tremble as we hear, as never before told, that the earth and its ways will be consumed in fire, that the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire along with that old serpent, the devil, Satan.

There will be a new heaven and a new earth. There will never again be pain, sorrow, sickness or death. Only the righteous will be allowed. These are those who have washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb. They have come out of the great tribulation that vexed both man and all creation. They will live forever with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. They will see their Father and be loved by him for eternity.

This is salvation.

Chris Simonson  11/11/2005

From the Satirical Fathers -  Excerpt Two

Seek ye first of all the things of the Gentiles, and your own contrivances, and the kingdom of God will be added unto thee. 

Salt is bad. If is used to flavor, thou hast broken holistic faith. If it is tossed into the recycling bin it is good for nothing and thou shalt stumble thy brother and incur the wrath of modern medicine and environmentalists. 

Husbands, submit unto thine own wives as unto the Lord, for by being less than the least thus shalt thou be reconciled with thy pastor. 

Set your affections on things of earth and not on things that are above, lest thou be too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good. Where your heart is there will be your treasure also.

Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of Leaven? It is like unto a woman in a lab coat, who, having a Harvard degree, prepares a Petri dish with confidence and confusion, watching while the culture goes to hell around her.

Chris Simonson  11/10/2005

The unsaved actually lie!

While cruising the Net, I couldn't help but notice that many things presented as true were actually lies. I noticed a corollary. 

The unsaved seem to think that lying is O.K. as long as it serves a higher purpose, usually having to do with immorality. There is a site, for instance, that purports to be a Baptist church site, but it doesn't take ten seconds to figure out that it only mocks the Baptists and anyone else who happens to believe that the wicked are going to hell. But it's O.K. to pretend and mock as long as a higher purpose is served such as mocking God and extolling the bodily functions.

This is the way it is with many of the wicked, but people take their advice anyway because the other alternative, that God sits in heaven and will judge their mockery, is too awful to consider for even a fraction of a second. But know this, guilty conscience, God will bring every work into judgment, whether good or bad, whether one claims to be a Christian or an atheist. We will be judged by how much truth we knew, and how much we lied about it (or, hopefully, how much we obeyed the truth). 

No lie.

Chris Simonson  11/09/2005

Robert Schuller: "Well, I'm not going to say that, because I think that leads ultimately to holier- than-thou-ism self-righteousness. And that comes out of the personality of the preacher and it does untold damage."

(AudioClip from, "Resources on Televangelism," White Horse Inn, Michael Horton) - credit given to www.myfortress.org

11/08/2005

Who's Your Boss?

If you are a typical American, you feel as though no one is your boss, that you are a free moral agent or you are your own person, etc. You may go to church and even pride yourself you are under the authority of a church or a pastor, but still, you consider yourself pretty independent.

And yet, for all the pretense, everybody has a real boss over them.  Independent thinkers and free moral agents think they have no boss, but honestly, the more rebellious and outlandish a person becomes, the more bosses he or she has! Think of it. 

We copy people whom we admire. Those people are, in effect, the bosses over us. If we copy our rock stars, our movie stars, our other "stars", we are under their rule and they are our bosses.  We act like them, we dress like them and we say the things they say and sing their songs. Try as we may to pretend otherwise, we serve our real boss. This may be the devil, or this may be the Lord, but we have to serve somebody.

Jesus is my boss. That's because he is my strength and my song. He protects me against other bosses who want me to fall, to join them as they are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where they will suffer everlasting torment from the hand of God.  How about you? Won't you submit to Jesus and let him be the boss of you life, before it's too late?

Chris Simonson  11/07/2005

Words are life.  Words are death. Words are useless. Words are useful. Words are beautiful. Words are ugly. Using words, I could go on like this for some time, and I would be stating the truth. I don't really know how useful that would be, however.  Jesus said, "He that is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed when he comes in his glory, the glory of his Father and the holy angels."

Where do we find these words? In the Bible. Many people reject the Bible, or reject its message (although they profess to know the word), because it goes contrary to their own belief system. Their belief system is based mostly on words. They believe in evolution (a tricky word) because of the word of others, not because they have personally witnessed it. The earth and its geology will vanish some day, along with all theories about its formation. We have the word of the Lord on it: "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away."

We have the word of Christ on matters of life and death. If he says, "But I say to you, For every useless word that men speak, they will give an account on the day of judgment, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned", do we take heed?

We should therefore pay close heed to what comes out of our lips. If we profess to have faith in God and his Son, Jesus Christ, then we should testify to this. "Don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God," is what Paul told Timothy. 

But if we continue on in our praise of our wealth, our careers, our accomplishments, our lusts, our greed, our church organizations, (oh yes, we brag about our denominations as though this was not condemned by God) then we will turn aside from the testimony of Jesus to other things. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." These words spoke Jesus while here on earth.

Many who do not listen to the word of Jesus mock his word. They think he is a nice guy who is going to let them do whatever they want. However according to him, "He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." His servants now bring his word to others. "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also."

And they remembered his words. Luke 24:8

Chris Simonson  11/04/2005

End Times, according to Paul

We may think to ourselves that Paul was not into end-times stuff as much as John or Peter or Daniel. By thinking this, we cut ourselves loose from the plain teaching of the New Testament that there is a judgment after death, and that’s the final wrap.

In his usual clever methods of deception, Satan uses the holy scriptures as a smoke screen for his real intents. He just wants our attention off salvation and onto something else. He assures us we are saved no matter what and that it’s time to go onto bigger and better things, like eschatology (end-times stuff). By doing this, he makes our salvation unsteady and we focus on things other than godliness in Christ Jesus. This has been proven over and over again by various sects and cults that pop up whenever a thousand years goes by, or a big meteor shower or comet shows up unexpectedly, or somebody gets a message from God.

Paul says to the Thessalonians, "Let no one deceive you in any way, for the Day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction." He does not go on to speak of Hal Lindsey-type prophesies or other pop theology, but he explains very carefully that God will send upon them (those who are perishing) a deluding influence in order that they might believe what is false. We may think to ourselves that we know what 2 Thes 2:7 means where it says "until he is taken out of the way." Pop theology says that this is the secret rapture of the church. The holy scriptures in no wise say this. This is a fabrication using wishful thinking and several scriptures relating to the visible, only, coming of Christ. That’s why the Greek text calls the second coming the "appearance" and not the "disappearance."

But let’s say you just don’t believe any of this and want to hope that you will be raptured out of here before anything bad starts to happen. On what are you placing your hope? Are you ready? Are you of those who think they are saved and yet they are so locked into this world that even if there were a rapture, the Lord himself couldn’t drag you up into the sky because you got your arms locked around the things of this world? And why do you find yourself in this fashion? Isn’t it precisely because of the doctrines you hold about the end times?

You probably find yourself absorbed in things that are totally unrelated to salvation in Jesus Christ, and yet you feel that God has called you to do them anyway. Let’s say you go around trying to sell your fellow Christians life insurance, or annuities, or legal advice, or real estate, or automobiles, or automobile insurance, or...you get the drift. You are a modern-day American Christian whose hope lies in the things of the earth and you focus others’ attention on you and your false hopes. You run the youth groups and are active in organizing all the church’s activities. You are a Sunday school teacher and the pastor lets you preach whenever he is on his vacations to Tahiti and Barbados. You can really shine.

But you hate the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh sure, you believe in the four spiritual laws. You know that Jesus came into the world to save sinners and that God loves you. You even believe that Jesus died on the cross and that he rose again on the third day. You know all of this, but you still hate the gospel. If you really thought that you were saved by the gospel, then why are you so angry when someone presents it to you in a Biblical form that shows you that you must repent in order to be saved? That’s the gospel that Jesus Christ himself preached. No, you want to give intellectual assent to a few things that Christ did for you because he thinks so highly of you.

Or, if you like the gospel so much, why do you spend a fortune making yourself comfortable here and pleasing your flesh, and then giving a pittance to the Lord’s work? You base your entire life on this misunderstanding. And in order to remove the true gospel of repentance from your mind, you think a lot about the rapture and everything that happens after you are out of here. You can be a distant observer and judge of events then, even as you are now, engrossed with holy entertainment.

Now you may say to yourself, this man is brutal and crude. He should be tender and gentle with my conscience, like Robert Schuller or Pope what’s-his-name. Let me speedily add that I trust you are not a follower of either of these men, but if you are, please reconsider your salvation. Tenderness and gentleness await those who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. But, as Paul says, "If any man does not love the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed." Not all men have faith, even though they take great pains to assure themselves they do. They spend their days on theological issues that they cannot prove and that lead to doubtful disputations. They are ever anxious to tell you about some new accomplishment their church has accomplished (like winning the inner-city basketball championship). They will tell you that 500 people were saved during that conference (they have signed cards to prove it). And, they are very nice.

The end times are upon us, brethren. Of course, this has been said since the inception of the church, but it is the way it is. One or two thousand years to the Lord is like a couple of days to us. But the end could come suddenly, once the apostasy has reached its fullness. One after another of the big-name churches have fallen away. The best indicator is their acceptance of homosexuals. It starts with ordaining women, then goes to lesbians. By default, male homosexuals are also included. Mark those churches who love wickedness and have nothing to do with them. If they ask you, tell them to repent. Don’t even attend their end-times conferences or their plays or their spin-the-bottle fellowships. That’s why the end-times scriptures were given to us. So we could know when things are happening and what to do. If we can’t repent, then we are of the class: "in order that they may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness."

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word. Finally, brethren, pray for us that we may spread the word of the Lord rapidly, and that it be glorified, just as it was with you. 2 Thess. Chapter 2.

Chris Simonson  11/03/2005

We can track storms and weather systems, but we can not reliably predict specific events. Man and his computers hope to unravel even this mystery some day, if only they can collect and sort through enough data. Computer modeling is big business right now.  The hottest item is trying to predict human behavior.  However, this is where statistics break down. Men report things that are not true, and they skew real data to fit their preconceived notions. 

This is human nature. Unpredictable. Except that men will always sin, that's predictable. When preaching repentance, we can rely on Jesus Christ for some real statistics. He said that narrow is the gate and strict is the path that leads to salvation, with few that actually go that way, and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and many go that way.

Modern statistics, however, go against this. In a nation that supports all sorts of evil sexual sins within the church, we find that 80% of the citizens (according to statistics generated by polling) think of themselves as Christians. Many of that group say that homosexuality is O.K. Others say that homosexuality is a sin, but that it's O.K. to be a homosexual as long as you believe that Jesus died for your sins, meaning, you will go to heaven regardless of what the Bible condemns as sins unto death. 

Using statistics, the modern church has decided that "friendship evangelism" is more effective than shouting that men must repent or go to hell. And, statistically speaking, they are right. Their effectiveness has increased the ranks of the churchgoers and those who profess Christ. However, 90% of their churches (my informed guess) are filled with non-repentant sinners thinking themselves loved by God. They are 100% wrong.

Chris Simonson  11/02/2005

Signs of the Times

Many asked of us, "Do you think waving signs around condemning poor sinners is effective?"

They pretty much condemned us by asking this question. The signs did not condemn anyone. They just said "Homosexuality is Sin" or "Jesus is the Only Way". The Bible says the wicked condemn themselves when they reject the message preached. 

But, according to the gospel adjusted for latter-day America, we must prophesy unto them smooth things so we don't "drive them away from Christ". The false pastors heal the wound lightly, saying there is peace between a man and God simply because he had a neat feeling at our youth conference when the band played "Jesus is Just Alright with Me". 

In the air-conditioned silence of the third Sunday service, the New Pastor puts his/her lips to the microphone and in soft, husky, tones tells a  story about an elderly widow who sacrifices her own comfort in order to contribute to the church. This approach is very effective: It gets a tear and a tender feeling; a tithe and a tax-exempt status. But get in the backsliders' face with a sign out in a public place? Horror.

In answer to their condemning question, "Do you think this is effective?", I say: "If people stop driving cars and get out and walk around the public squares, if people stop watching commercials and ask whether something is worth buying, if people stop posting messages in forums, chat rooms and emails and start talking to people face to face, if people stop going to movies and see life on the reality side, stop watching movies, stop playing computer games, stop reading billboards and visiting porno sites... then I'll consider putting down the signs. Until then, it's in the face, just like the rest of the brazen advertisements out there." 

I say this in the kindest loud voice I can muster.

Chris Simonson  11/01/2005