Recently, I have heard a new doctrine proposed. It is that unfaithful Christians of this age will not be in the kingdom. That is, they will not participate in the millennial reign of Christ on earth, but will...
"God is equally near to all parts of His universe. We think rightly about God and spiritual things only when we...
While doing a study on the life of the apostle Paul, I began to wonder if he was actually named Saul after the 1st king of Israel. I began to make comparisons between the two and found several things that they had in common. The name Saul means "desired" while the name Paul means "little". It's interesting to think that Paul started off as Saul, or the one to be desired, but when God got a hold of him, he became Paul the little one. Sounds like the words of John the Baptist when he said of Christ, "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30
In 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, Paul stressed the superiority of prophesying (as in the preaching of truth) over speaking in tongues, especially for the unbeliever. According to 1 Corinthians 14:3, prophesying is for edification, exhortation, and comfort. Therefore, Paul in this chapter is dealing with the aspects of prophesying that perfectly match Bible preaching today. When the unbeliever hears such preaching, "he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest" (v.24-25). This is the purpose of true preaching for the unbeliever. The word, convince, is related to the word convict. Jesus asked those opposing Him, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" (John 8:46). The preaching of the word should convince the sinners, bring the sinners into judgment, and reveal the secrets of their hearts. Does your preaching do this? Does the preaching you listen to do this? When the unbeliever is so convinced, "falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth" (1 Corinthians 14:25). May we see once again the power of such preaching in our churches.
On three different occasions the Apostle Paul admonishes believers to be followers of him (see 1Corinthians 4:6; 1Corinthians 11:1; and Philippians 3:17). With this in mind we ought to preach the gospel which Paul preached. We find this gospel defined in 1Corinthians 15:1-4, where it says the gospel includes the death, burial and resurrection according to the scriptures. Today we are taught by many of the necessity of baptism for salvation. Apparently Paul did not know this for he said, "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1Corinthians 1:17). Notice that Paul contradicted the gospel and baptism as if they were not the same. If Paul believed that baptism was necessary for salvation, then he was one of the biggest hypocrites ever to walk the face of this earth. He should have been going all over the countryside dunking people in water instead of wasting his time in prison for preaching the gospel.
"Rejuvenile" is the name of a new book by Christopher Noxon. It is also the name given to a commonly observed person today: one who is physically an adult but is often childlike in interests, habits, and sometimes in more serious ways. This person has also been variously named a kidult, a grup, a twixter, or an adultescent. This phenomenon comes in varying styles and degrees. On the mild side, it may be displayed in the man who wears a cartoon tie or the father who plays in the kiddie gym with his young children. More serious are the middle aged woman who wears skimpy outfits made for teens and the aging baby-boomer who sports a pony-tail and does Elvis impersonations while driving down the highway. Most serious are adults who never take to adult responsibilities: the 40-year-old man who still lives with mom and spends his money on juvenile pursuits; the 40-year-old woman who goes from job to job and from boyfriend to boyfriend.
Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, keeps pushing back the boundaries of its claimed evangelical stance. In an article in the July 1, 2006, edition of "World," Joel Belz reports that the seminary claims that homosexuality is a sin in one breath and bends over backward to accommodate it in the next. In a class on "Gender and Sexuality" taught by the husband-and-wife team of Jack and Judith Balswick, practicing sodomites are invited to lecture. One recent such lecturer "derided heterosexualism as a social contract rather than a historical or biblical norm." In the Balswicks' book, "Authentic Human Sexuality," they state: "We acknowledge that some gay Christians may choose to commit themselves to a lifelong, monogamous homosexual union, believing this is God's best for them." They seem to have forgotten that Paul wrote the Corinthians (1Corinthians 6:9-11) and said of those who had been "effeminate" or "abusers of themselves with mankind" (phrases referring to homosexuals), "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Evidently, salvation puts such practices in the past tense. He does not say that they could never fall into the old sins, but he does say that salvation lifts them out of these categories. A sodomite who is comfortable in his or her sodomy is certainly not a Christian.
One of the biggest fads of recent years has been Reality TV. People want something real; not stuff all made up. What the customer wants, the customer gets. The television programming is filled with Reality TV. There is only one problem. It turns out that Reality TV isn't real. To a great extent, it is made up, fabricated, and edited for effect. But will the customers care? Probably not. Jeremiah 5:31 states, "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so."
On August 3, 2006 (9th of Ab in the Jewish calendar; a month called the "fifth month" in the Bible), the Jewish people will remember the 2,592nd anniversary of the destruction of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem with a day of mourning and fasting. This is also thought to be the date when Herod's Temple was destroyed in 70AD and the date for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. The Jews still mourn their many losses. In Zechariah 7:3-5, Zechariah was asked if it ws proper to continue the fast of the fifth month. The fast had been established to mourn the destruction of Jerusalem; but now Jerusalem was being restored. In reply, the Lord foretold of the day when Israel will be fully restored and the fasts "shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace" (Zechariah 8:19). Yet, as any reading of today's newspaper will demonstrate, the Jews still fast and Rachel is still weeping for her children (Jeremiah 31:15). All who love the Lord still look to that day when the fast of the fifth month will be turned into a feast.
David Cloud has an excellent article on his site that I encourage you to read. It deals with our tendency to speak of salvation using unbiblical phrases. We talk about "giving our life to Christ" or "inviting Jesus into our hearts" as if these phrases truly described the act of salvation. They do not. That does not mean that those who use these phrases are unsaved. It only means we are sloppy in our terminology. This is important because these phrases are also sloppy in doctrinal meaning. We are not saved by inviting Jesus into our hearts but by believing on Him. It is true that we receive Him (John 1:12; Colossians 2:6), but this refers more to a receiving of His way and person. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Why should we invite Jesus in? The point is that we should get as close as possible to biblical terminology and meaning. Sloppy appeals for converts tend to make sloppy converts.
