Never Read A Bible Verse!

Never read a bible verse, don't do it. Read a bible paragraph, read a bible chapter, read before the verse you're using, read after the verse you're using, get the context, but don't just read a bible verse. I'm not a scholarly bible student but I've been through The Book more (much more) than the majority of people who call themselves Christian and have learned that other than Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21 most of everything between them needs to have their context examined before being used. Check this out:

"And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree" - (Revelation 9:4) - Seen on an Earth Day T-Shirt.

This one's a classic. This verse was actualy worn on a T-Shirt at an Earth Day rally. I wish I had been there to see it, not only is it out of context, it's only a partial verse. On the surface it looks warm and fluffy and earth friendly, but let's look at Revelation 9:4 again, this time  in context:

1 Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 2 He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it  stings a man. 6 And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. (Revelation 9:1-6)

Nothing says "Happy Earth Day" like a plague of man eating locusts.

The Five Solas

The Five Solas ( or more properly, The Five Solae) are five Latin phrases that emerged during the Protestant Reformation and summarize not only the reformer's basic beliefs but ours as Christians as well. "Sola" is a Latin word that means "alone" or "only". The Five Solas are the essential original teachings of Chirstianity, especially in regard to salvation. In essence, when it comes to God, the 5 Solas are all you need.

Sola Scriptura - the Scripture Alone is the standard. The Bible is the word of God, it's a divinely inspired unified work of literature, it's Jesus' autobiography, and contains everything you need to know to get into heaven. Every word of the 66 books of the bible is inspired by God's Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit also helps us understand the scripture. The bible does not contain all the knowledge that God holds, there's not enough paper for that. What the bible does contain is what God needs us to know to reach him and receive his grace. 2 Tim 3:16-17 tells us that "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." and Proverbs 30:6 tells us "Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar." Additions include catechisms, traditions, watchtower magazines and books like the Pearl of Great Wisdom.

God Heals All Wounds

Sometimes things happen, we're imperfect creatures in an imperfect world and the good times cannot last forever. Something bad will happen. Why? I don't know, but having been in this world as long has I have been it's a guaranteed fact that three good days in a row is a blessing we should be eternally thankful for, because that really really beats the averages.

So often we're left to wonder "Why do bad things happen to good people" when we as Christians know for a fact that no one is good other than God, we see that in Matthew 19:17 and Romans 3:10. However even in the bible we see this question being raised, Solomon writing in Ecclesiastes 8:14 brought up this subject, why does it seem that the righteous suffer while the evil get away with evil. 

Can we blame Satan for all of our pains and woes? You could, but what good would that do? We're still imperfect creatures in an imperfect world. It's what we do with our pain and our needs that counts. Lucky for us our creator is perfect and knows our pain and wants to help us, John 6:44 tells us that God is trying to draw us closer to Him and we should let ourselves be drawn to Him and let his love heal us:

¹⁹ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
    He saved them out of their distresses.
²⁰ He sent His word and healed them,
    And delivered them from their destructions.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness,   And for His wonders to the sons of men! (Psalm 107:19-21)

Who Is God?

Happy Valentines day! As you hold your loved one close today keep in mind that he/she is a gift from God Himself and He's feeling the same joy that you're feeling when you hold your loved one close and bask in his/her nearness.

Why do I say that your mate is a Gift from God? Because it is God's essential nature to love, and being made in His image it is in our nature to love also. God demonstrates this by giving us a partner that we can cherish as he cherishes us, but there's more. God demonstrates His love by lavishing it on undeserving people who are in rebellion against Him. God’s love is not a sappy, sentimental, romantic feeling. Rather, in Greek it is called agape love, which is the love of self-sacrifice.

God Is Jesus!

I'm so tired of that sorry old question "Is Jesus God?" There's even a meme that predates the internet that states that Jesus never really came out and said that He is God. I actually heard that tired old thing 'way back in the 60's when I was in Catholic school. There are actually people that claim the bible itself does not say that Jesus is God.

When I introduce myself I generally say "Hi, I'm Doug, and this is my wife..." From that can you infer that I'm single? Of course not, you would think that I'm married even though I never came out and said "I'm married" So how could someone ignore the divinity of Christ when he said 

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. (John 14:11)

Here he says it - plain as day. He is in God, God is in him - what more proof does someone need? Maybe a quote from a close personal friend of Jesus Himself:

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: (2 Peter 1:1)

Peter and John were the men closest Jesus while he walked with us on earth, and here Peter himself proudly declares Jesus to be God. 

Depression is so Depressing

While the holidays are the time of peace and joy, it doesn't always work out that way. Emotions are always close to the surface at this time of year, and the stresses that come from our expectations, especially if the expectations are unmet, can overwhelm us. We can make ourselves so busy this time of the year: parties, family gatherings, shopping, church and school programs can evolve into alcoholic outbursts, family fights, shopping rage, and shear mental exhaustion. 

There's a lot of memories attached to this season, and much of our time is spent recalling days gone by, but that can bring up some bad memories also. Statistically over 25% of our losses occur around the holidays, and remembering the loss of a loved one during the holidays can generate a profound sense of loss and sadness. If that's not enough, a tradition of the popular media is to remind us of all the entertainers and news makers who passed away during the past year. 

As Christians we are better equipped to deal with depression than the non-christian community but we're far from immune from it.

Is Preaching By Example Enough?

You're cruising down a beautiful country road when you see a sign that reads "Bridge Out", so you begin to slow. Suddenly a snazzy red Tesla roars past you headed for the missing bridge at high speed. The driver of the Tesla obviously missed the sign or completely ignored it. Now chances are pretty good that the Tesla will run out of juice before it reaches the bridge, but still.... so to save the driver of that sports car you spring into action! You adjust your seat belt, check your mirrors, make sure your passengers are safely buckled in and you ease up on the gas. 

When you reach the bridge you see far below in the ravine the smoking wreckage of a once beautiful Tesla sports car, you look away quickly before you see what happened to the driver. What happened? You showed the driver of the Tesla how to drive safely, you showed him the proper way to slow down, you were a perfect example of caution - you did everything you could to stop him, right? You betcha, praise the lord there's no law stating that you actually had to do something, like blow your horn, flash your lights, wave at him to slow down...

Or is there?

O.T. Tuesday: For Unto Us A Child Is Born

To me one of the most mind boggling things about Jesus' ministry on earth is that His arrival was prophesied over and over with breathtaking accuracy. All of Israel knew to the day when He would triumphantly enter Jerusalem due to  the accuracy of the prophecies. To me the joy of Christmas  is the promise fulfilled, the beginning of God's ministry on earth, and the start of Satan's long final slide into the lake of fire.

He was there at the beginning of all things, but physically He was only with us for a few years, and the echoes of those three years of ministry are still reverberating through society. But today let's look back to the beginning. This is Old Testament Tuesday so let's look at the Old Testament prophesies God gave us concerning His arrival. I wondered if God smiled when ever He gave us another prophesy to ponder like a parent watching  a child working to piece together a puzzle. 

God's first first prophesy about Jesus wasn't a promise to us, it was a warning to Satan. After Satan conned Eve into eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, God had a few well chosen Words for that old serpent:

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,"Because you have done this,Cursed are you more than all cattle,And more than every beast of the field;On your belly you will go,And dust you will eatAll the days of your life;15 And I will put enmityBetween you and the woman,And between your seed and her seed;He shall bruise you on the head,And you shall bruise him on the heel." (Gen 3:14-15)

Here God is telling Satan that because he tricked Eve he's been cursed. There is going to be a child born of a woman who is going to stomp Satan in the head and all Satan can do is nip the promised one's heel. Fulfilled in Galatians 4:4. 

God uses all tools at his disposal to do his bidding, in this next prophesy God uses a non-Israelite to do deliver his message. Balaam was a Mesopotamian sorcerer whom God used to prophesize a coming King of Israel from the linage of Jacob

"I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near;
A star shall come forth from Jacob,
A scepter shall rise from Israel... (Numbers 24:17)

The Sound of A Baby's Tears

The sound of a child's crying is a gift from God. You may not think so at 3:00 AM in the morning but a parent bonds with that sound, in a room full of crying children a loving parent can identify their baby. This is one of the things that God uses to bond us to our babies. We can soon identify what the problem is from the sound of their tears, the squall of hunger, the howls of pain, the heartbreaking sobs of a tiny broken heart, even the yelps of boredom. Decades later when your babies are grown and considering having their own babies, and you hear a baby crying that sounds like your child sounded so long ago, it all comes back. Your head jerks toward the sound and your heart starts racing, concern wrinkles your brow before you realize that the baby of yours that used to make such a sound is at the counter paying for lunch.

I've been in situations in my life that I would rather not have been in; I've watched a live 500 lb bomb drop nearly 6 feet to the concrete just a few steps away and watching it fall I knew that if it had exploded I'd never even hear it, I was in South Korea when Kim Il Sung died, I heard the threats of war from Radio Pyongyang and wondered if I'd live to see the sun rise. I've been broken down on the side of the road in sub zero temperatures on a closed highway with only a light jacket. But none of that effected me as much as the picture above.

On 12/14/12 a madman murdered 20 kindergarten children in Newtown CT. The scene above shows elementary school children being led to safety. I was working remotely on a problem on a cable system in Florida when this picture was published on the internet. Look at the young girl in the middle, the one with her hair in bangs and in a blue shirt, the one crying as if her heart is being ripped out by a selfish nightmare of a human being. She looks so much like my daughter looked at that age. Her expression is the same as the heartbreaking expression I've seen in the past, the echos of my babies tears came roaring back across the gulf of time.

Immediately my heart froze, my brain ceased processing the information coming across my computer screen, the voices in my headset became meaningless babble. I was only astute enough to hit mute on my phone before breaking down in tears. I knew my baby was fine, I knew my baby was thousands of miles from the scene of that nightmare, I knew that this brokenhearted little girl was safe and in the loving arms of her family by the time I saw this picture, but every time I looked at that little girl I was inconsolable, the echo of my baby's tears filled my head and my heart. I was completely incapacitated  until I was able to talk my baby girl on the phone later that evening. Until then, every time I saw this picture I wept.

I pray that soon after that picture was taken that sorrowful little girl soon found the warmth and security of her daddy's arms around her, and my heart aches so horribly for those 40 mothers and fathers that can never hold their little darling ever again. My soul aches for those poor people. I pray that each and every one was able to say "I love you" to their baby over orange juice and Captain Crunch that morning, and I pray that each parent has tuned to Jesus for comfort in their agony. To have your baby snatched away so horribly is unthinkable, and on such a scale this is a national wound that needs to be bound.

However I can see on the internet the predictable rage brought on by such shock and of course the eternal question "How could God have let this happen?" Don't you think that God knows how we feel? He had to watch His own son, my adopted brother, tortured, whipped, humiliated, nailed to a cross and left to die all for the sin of doing what He was told, all the while His followers stood and watched in mute silence. Do you honestly think that a God who loves us so much that he allowed His own son to be murdered in such a brutal fashion to pay for our sins wants us to feel the same horror He felt as Jesus died in agony?

The proper question is "How could WE let this happen?" Are these children not all of our children? WE as an educated society chose to educate these children in a public building. WE as a news addicted society know that there are sick individuals walking the earth looking to do such a thing. WE as a secular society turned our back on the God that gave us the brains and the desire to protect our children. Was the shooter mentally disabled? Why wasn't be being cared for by medical professionals? Was he just a bad person? Why didn't society discipline him? Was he demon possessed? Why didn't his church seek out a deliverance ministry? Wasn't he a member of a church? Don't think for a moment I'd be surprised if I find out he's not.

In all the white noise and babble coming from the mouth of man during the aftermath of this horror I find that only God's word is meaningful and calms my heavy heart...

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Prov 3:5-6)

We first need to find strength in the Lord and do what He commands to be done, to provide His comfort to those who grieve:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2Cor1:3-4)

As for the little ones? In God's mercy they didn't suffer and I know that Jesus, my brother, has gathered those poor babies to him, along with all the other little ones we've sacrificed on the altar of Political Correctness before they even could draw breath

4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matt 18:4-6)

I look at the picture once more and I can feel the tears start welling up in memory of the sound of my baby's tears, but I know she was safe, thousands of miles away. Then I remember that she was teaching her own kindergarten class, she would have been... and I can feel the tears come again.

I'm Skeptical About Skeptics

While researching a blog entry I stumbled across the Skeptics Annotated Bible. I really wasn't paying attention to the site title or side bars and was just flash reading the content and honestly I thought it was a joke site. Verses taken out of context, verses misunderstood, statements of "fact" made on partial verses. I think my favorite was the attempted argument that salvation is not based on faith but by works by using Old Testament verses as references.

They confuse Jehovah's Witnesses with mainstream Christianity, they claim that an item in the bible is wrong simply because they disagree with it or don't like it, they use the King James version to show highschoolers, that can't even spell Shakespeare let alone read it, how silly the bible is. I just read a screed where they thought it was funny that someone would try to eat a holy offering. I'm pretty sure that if the author actually read Leviticus rather than cherry pick partial verses for humorous effect he may have noticed that offerings made by the Jews were edible, and intended to be eaten. 

So in reviewing just a small portion of the web site I've identified the main issues that Skeptics have with the bible:

1. It's really thick, a person can't be expected to read all those words, can they? - I am guessing this is why these skeptics took so many references out of context. If they had read the entire verse they're lampooning, plus the verse before and the verse after much of their confusion would be resolved.

2. Reading is hard! Some of those words are really really big! - most readers are not taught to look up something they don't understand any more. I know that Websters Dictionary, or a good bible concordance doesn't contain nearly half the yuks that a good bible has, but if one of those was available many entries on the skeptics website would be gone.

3. They're applying their "sensibilities" to events that happened thousands of years ago - I can't actually blame the author of the website as this is a sin committed by many, many modern school teachers. Children are taught that today's society is the epitome of wonderful and history must be viewed through this skewed lens. The young soul that was authoring the web site has been programmed to ignore the era that the bible was written in and trained to inject their own personal opinions into a historical record completely improperly.

The Bible isn't a book of imaginary creatures and mythological feats of daring-do. And it is not a book of holy virtuous people showing us all by their good example how best to please God. Quite conversely the bible is a gritty down-and-dirty book of how to really tic God off without trying all that hard. Exodus could be renamed "People Just Don't Listen". Kings and Chronicles could be renamed "Ancients Acting Badly".  And one must keep in mind that the Bible is grounded in history and geography, if you ignore either then much of the bible in meaningless. Many times the bible mentions going up to Jerusalem, to modern people that generally means traveling north to Jerusalem, because when we look at a map north is up and south is down. Not in the Bible, Jerusalem is on top of a mountain so going to Jerusalem from any compass point is going "up", and inversely leaving Jerusalem is always going down. 

But those are symptoms of the real problem. I really think the main problem with bible skeptics is that God is not going to reveal the bible to them because spiritually they are dead. The bible must not only be read on a historical and geographic and literary level, it absolutely must be read on a spiritual level which an unbeliever cannot do because of their spiritual state of decay and death:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1Cor2:14)

A natural man is someone who has rejected the Spirit of God and believes they can survive just fine in this world without God's saving grace. To him the words of God are utter foolishness and he mocks those that do believe in God and God's word from a self destructive false sense of superiority. They've turned their back on God, and in return he holds back the meaning of his words until they are ready to accept them.

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,(Eph 1:17-18)

This is the doctrine of illumination in action. God's Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and revelation concerning Jesus Christ and opens our eyes so we can understand God's purposes in our lives. 

10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. (1Cor2:10-13)

The Spirit of God always points to the word of God for our instruction. As Jesus told His disciples the Spirit repeats what the Father and the Son have already said, this repetition helps us remember and fully hear what God has told us. Sometimes we need to hear something several times to understand a concept, here is God's love in action. He knows we are a flawed imperfect creature, and in His wisdom and love He's given us a helper to guide us and teach us and all we have to do is ask for His helper.

A skeptic does not have this divine help, all they have is their own, poor, attempts at understanding and in that they fall so far short. These poor sad folk are not to be humiliated but to be pitied, for they're dead, they've just not stopped breathing yet. They can save their own lives, and it's our job to help them, but as we come roaring to the end of times we don't have much time left to complete the Great Commission.

God Hates... ME?!?

Hiding is not an option

Unfortunately for a lot of people their knowledge of God doesn't extend past 1 John 4:8, and for the vast majority of those people, all they know is the last three words of the verse:

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Yes, God is love, but God is many, many more things than that. Love is most certainly one of His attributes, and a very important one, but love is only just a part of His Glory. If a person concentrated only on his divine love then that person is doing himself and everyone around him a huge disservice by shoehorning God into such a narrow definition. 

I've actually heard people that should know better say something to the tune of "God is love - He won't send good people to hell." To narrowly define God in your own mind you convince yourself that God is some fluffy deity that created kittens and puppies just for your pleasure and someday if you're good he'll give you a pony. With a rainbow colored tail. And all your sins are forgiven even before you commit them because God is Love and he couldn't possibly feel any anger toward you. 

It's not like that. If God is Love and only Love, where did the concept of "The Wrath of God" come from? (Hint: It came from the bible.) God is so much more than a single emotion, here's a partial list of some of His attributes:

• God is Eternal
• God is Perfect
• God is Gracious 
• God is Compassionate
• God is Jealous
• God is Merciful 
• God is Mighty 
• God is Almighty
• God is Slow To Anger
• God is Righteous
• God is Awesome 
• God is Holy 
• God is Truthful 
• God is Faithful 
• God is Just 
• God is All Powerful 
• God is a Consuming Fire

I actually was one of those folks that believed God was a fluffy loving cloud sitter surrounded by babies with wings that played harps and that hell was only populated by Hitler, Stalin, and Margaret Sanger. Imagine my shock when I found out that God is actually capable of hate. As I sat for the first time in what I now fondly call The Church of the Bereans our pastor gave a fiery sermon (and when's the last time you heard a fiery sermon?) which mentioned the list of things that God hates. GOD HATES?!? Whoa, wait a minute sarge, this was a whole new concept to me. So I did the Berean thing and started to research, and son-of-a-gun he was right! which explains why he's the pastor and I'm feverishly highlighting my bible every Sunday morning.

The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all who do iniquity. (Psalms 5:5)

That was my first ooops moment - that God truly is capable of hate. But iniquity? I'm a fairly modest guy so I don't do the boastful thing (much) but it's not like I run around doing iniquity all the time. Iniquity, that's like mass murder, genocide, torture... right? So I looked up iniquity - it means a sin. Just a plain ordinary run-of-the-mill sin. Darn. Looking back at the 10 commandments I broke them all EXCEPT #2! (I thought hopefully) I never actually made a graven image. Then I read on: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God - bummer. I was raised Catholic, my youth was filled with Graven Images.

Oh but there's more, God hates:

16 There are six things which the Lord hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
19 A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

Most of these are pretty easy to understand: a lying tongue - God hates liars. Hands that shed innocent blood - He hates murderers. Feet that run rapidly to evil - God hates people that are eager to sin. And one who spreads strife among brothers - He hates people that stir up anger and hatred (rabble rousers). But a false witness who utters lies? We've already covered a lying tongue, why twice? Because God hates liars but He really hates a false witnesses; a perjurer, someone who lies under oath, a person who makes false legal accusations against an innocent person. Remember when President Clinton was impeached for perjury and all the press was busy defending him by saying a little lie doesn't matter? God thinks it does.

That leaves a heart that devises wicked plans and haughty eyes. A Heart that devises wicked plans isn't a sin is it? it's just thinking, we can't be held responsible for thinking about sinning can we? Jesus says we can:

27"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery';28but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)

So what about haughty eyes? Haughty means scornfully and condescendingly proud, so what God is saying is that he hates arrogant pride, because pride is the root of all sin. Of all sins Pride is the most serious, most subtle of sins. Pride turns us away from God instead of turning toward him. It's pride that makes us think we can manage our problems when instead we should be turning to God for help. All disobedience and rebellion has pride at it's root. Pride causes hate by arrogantly placing yourself ahead of someone else, pride causes racism by pride based on skin color or theology, it's pride that wedges itself between us and God. Pride causes people to go their own way instead of God's way, it makes you think you're above all those rules and warnings God has layed out for you. Pride causes people to begin worshiping rocks and stars and natural phenomenon that was created by God yet in their pride they ignore God. 

Pride is the thing that makes a person say "God couldn't possibly hate someone as good as >>>ME<<<." 

God has some high expectations for us mere mortals for one awesome reason - we were created in His image. All of these things he hates about us he hates because these things, these sins, hurt us. He doesn't want that, what He wants is us to live fulfilling lives, to glorify Him and thank him for his gift of life, then to all come and be happy with him in heaven. Of course that's kind of hard because you can't come into his presence when tainted with sin, and we all sin because Satan is very good at convincing us sin is fun. 

Lucky for us among all other things that he is, God is love. He knows we sin, he knows we are really, really good at sin and some of us sit up nights perfecting new creative ways to sin. But God gave us a way to cleanse ourselves of that sin, cleanse ourselves of sins we haven't committed yet, and come join him. All we have to do is ask. 

25 When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" 26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:25-26)