Month: July 2025

arC Ministries Is 18!

Thursday, July 31, 2025

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20 KJV).

To our Lord Jesus Christ’s glory, arC Ministries celebrates its 18th anniversary today!!!

Eighteen years ago, as a 19-year-old college student, I endeavored to use Facebook to create a Bible study group for teens and college students. Thus, “ambassadors for the risen Christ ministries” was born. As I grew more in God’s Word rightly divided, I grew increasingly aware of the need for additional ministry projects. The more I had been learning drove me to share those precious truths with others. That eventually led me to look for supplementary avenues of ministry.

During these past 18 years, God’s grace has enabled us to continue the original group on Facebook. In addition, we have branched out quite a bit in other areas. This devotionals blog has been operating for over 14 years now. For the last 13 years, we have focused on developing and drafting a grace study Bible (now in its fourteenth year). Other ministry projects include a 22-week newspaper ministry column (this devotionals blog’s predecessor), a YouTube channel with home Bible study videos, a Twitter feed, a full-length Bible studies blog, a college campus ministry, a nursing-home ministry, and our Bible-question-and-answer blog. Nine years ago, we launched our new main ministry website and now have a line of printed Bible study booklets available for sale there. Six years ago, we recorded and distributed our Old Testament Survey video series. Later that year, we launched our New Testament Survey video series (which will last a few years). We hear from people all over the world!

Our name says it all: we serve the risen Lord Jesus Christ, not some “dead Jew” and not ourselves. The original motto of our ministry was, “To equip ambassadors, and to encourage others to become ambassadors.” Our primary goal is to teach Christians, and our secondary goal is to evangelize the lost world. Eighteen years later, we still endeavor to uphold God’s Word (King James Bible) rightly divided, whether it be in edifying the Christian brethren or preaching the clear Gospel of the Grace of God to this lost and dying world. For those of you who have been with us from day 1, thank you for your prayer and encouragement. We pray for you upon every remembrance! There is still plenty more for the Lord Jesus Christ to do in and through us, so let us give Him all the praise and glory as we enter Year 19! 🙂

 

Asset or Liability to the Establishment? #6

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

“[Our Lord Jesus Christ] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:…” (Galatians 1:4 KJV).

Are we assets or liabilities to Satan’s Establishment?

God the Father justified us by faith in Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork without our works (read Romans 3:19–4:8), redeeming us from sin’s dominion positionally. Since He has taken us out of Adam and placed us into Christ, that sanctified (set-apart) identity should affect our lives every day (Romans chapters 6–8).

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin…. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans 6:1-7,11-13).

Before they trusted Christ, the Corinthians and the Galatians had been assets to Satan’s Establishment. After they trusted Christ, they never made use of their identity in Him, so they continued to be Satan’s assets. Neither group was useful to God, though both were in God’s family and should have thus been functioning in God’s ministry. Even now, believers tend to be Corinthians (man-oriented, philosophy, entertainment-oriented, carnal, wild/loose) or Galatians (Moses-oriented, commandments, ceremonies, rites, rituals, strict). They thereby are liabilities to God’s work.

Note: In order to bring you two special studies, we will temporarily break away from this devotionals arc….

Asset or Liability to the Establishment? #5

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

“[Our Lord Jesus Christ] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:…” (Galatians 1:4 KJV).

Are we assets or liabilities to Satan’s Establishment?

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith” (Galatians 5:1-5).

Whereas the Galatians inclined toward the bondage and strictness of works-religion, the Corinthians wanted the other extreme of human nature—wild, crazy, loose living. If asceticism (giving up worldly pleasures), self-righteousness, and human “goodness” characterized the Galatians; then lasciviousness (unbridled conduct), entertainment, and human evil described the Corinthians. Like the Galatians, the Corinthians assumed they could live the Christian life—and, like the Galatians, the Corinthians failed miserably. Supposing they were “free,” the Corinthians were slaves to sin practically.

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal [fleshly, governed by sin or the Adamic nature], even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal [fleshly]: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal [fleshly], and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal [fleshly]?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). As the Galatian saints needed Christ to be formed in them (Galatians 4:19), so the Corinthian believers were also Bible babies or spiritually immature. Both had failed to walk in grace as in Romans chapter 6, thereby becoming spiritual prisoners practically (the failure, disappointment, and misery of Romans chapter 7), thereby needing to be re-taught Romans chapter 8….

Asset or Liability to the Establishment? #4

Monday, July 28, 2025

“[Our Lord Jesus Christ] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:…” (Galatians 1:4 KJV).

Are we assets or liabilities to Satan’s Establishment?

The Lord had used Paul’s ministry to call the Galatians out of idolatry and heathen works-religion. “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” (Galatians 4:8,9). They returned to the bondage of works-religion—except, now, it was Judaism (God’s religion through Moses). “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” (Galatians 4:21).

“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1-3). In short, “Why have you believed this perverted gospel of Christ? Has someone lied to you, being Scriptural but not dispensational? Do you think your daily Christian living depends on your flesh [your performance in religion to make God happy], when your Christian life began by faith in Christ’s performance? Can your fleshly efforts enhance the Holy Spirit’s work in you? Of course not!”

Galatians chapter 6: “[12] As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. [13] For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. [14] But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” There will be no “glorying [boasting, bragging]” in any human performance. The only performance worth finding value in is Christ’s finished crosswork on Calvary….

Asset or Liability to the Establishment? #3

Sunday, July 27, 2025

“[Our Lord Jesus Christ] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:…” (Galatians 1:4 KJV).

Are we assets or liabilities to Satan’s Establishment?

One of our ministry partners of long ago had this magnet on her refrigerator: “Strive to be the woman of whom Satan says in the morning, ‘Oh no, she is up!’” This characterizes a person who is a liability to the evil world system. That Holy Spirit-filled believer stands in contrast to the words of a preacher, “Some Christians are no bother to Satan at all.” Here is the asset whom we would hope and pray we would never be!

No matter how loving or friendly we are, we Christian ambassadors absolutely preach an offensive message: “Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). We are reminded of a “feel-good” “Christian” celebrity who said he purposefully avoided using the word “sin” in his pulpit because it was “too negative.” If Christ really died for our sins, the implication is negative because man is a corrupt being at heart. Also, it means man cannot save himself, which is another affront or insult to him! As a certain lost, self-righteous religious leader once bellowed, “You cannot tell me I cannot offer God some good work!” Christ died for our sins. We cannot be rescued from those sins personally unless we come to realize we have a sin problem—and the sin problem cannot be comprehended or rectified until we first say “sin” is our problem.

When Paul dealt with the Galatians who loved the “performance-based acceptance system” of Law (do good to be blessed of God), he knew his “grace-based acceptance system” (God will bless us according to His own goodness) would be unpleasant to them. He wrote to such followers of false teachers in Galatians 4:16, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Paul, telling the truth, was a liability to Satan’s Establishment; the Galatians, though also believers in Christ, were assets to it. They were fighting against God’s current dealings with men, which automatically made them participants of the Devil’s plan, which contradicted God’s will for them (today’s Scripture)….

Asset or Liability to the Establishment? #2

Saturday, July 26, 2025

“[Our Lord Jesus Christ] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:…” (Galatians 1:4 KJV).

Are we assets or liabilities to Satan’s Establishment?

It is not enough to simply do. We ought to recognize purpose. Why should we do this and not that? Failing to realize exactly what makes right conduct proper, not ascertaining precisely what makes wrong conduct improper, we become more inclined to change for the worse. Throughout human history, this has occurred repeatedly in every sphere of society (political, religious, economic, et cetera). “We do not know why it is this way, we just know this is the way we have done it.” If good habits are not appreciated for their intrinsic worth, bad customs will easily eventually replace them; those bad ways, though profitless, will be all the more difficult to identify and forsake.

Power-hungry people care not whether they are doing right or wrong: what matters to them is they are in authority, answering to no one. Imagine a child taking his father’s sword from its display case and waving it around simply because he has access. He possesses no skill and recognizes no danger, but he holds and wields the sword because this is something new, exciting, different, “progress.” His peers—equally immature and just as imprudent—find value in his conduct. They see nothing perilous about it. Here is the general public, encouraging that which is inappropriate because they are too childish to know any better (not comprehending why it is unsuitable). An asset cheers this travesty on, delighting in seeing it repeated, clapping and leaping for joy to behold it. It is a sordid affair, this present evil world and its participants.

When someone filled with the Spirit of God comes along and declares, “This is wrong. This is sin. It should not be.,” this person immediately becomes a liability or embarrassment to what has become normalized (and all who support it). The “outsider” is seen as a troublemaker, whose very presence and testimony stand in opposition to Satan’s Establishment; extreme steps will be taken to neutralize or eliminate him. In today’s Scripture, Christ’s death on Calvary has delivered us from “this present evil world.” Indeed, we are outsiders, sanctified (set apart) for the Master’s use….

Asset or Liability to the Establishment? #1

Friday, July 25, 2025

“[Our Lord Jesus Christ] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:…” (Galatians 1:4 KJV).

Are we assets or liabilities to Satan’s Establishment?

The “Establishment” is “a group in society exercising power and influence over matters of policy, opinion, or taste, and seen as resisting change.” Such crowds exist in each realm of human civilization—politics, religion, sports, business, education, and so on. Why has a certain course of action been taken for the duration it has? What originated the “normal operations” of a company, nation, or family? Was it because right, honest, and decent people were behind it, ensuring its survival to benefit future generations? Or, was it because wrong, dishonest, and indecent people had large sums of money and/or high-ranking social connections to protect their selfish interests and get away with their wickedness?

If the right individuals do not do whatever they can to prevent the wrong individuals from replacing them, then the wrong individuals once installed will begin normalizing whatever is wrong. This will make it that much harder for the general public to distinguish wrong from right. False assumptions and faulty rationalizations surface. “If they are so wrong, how did they ever wind up with so much influence? How can so many people not be right?” These very speakers will follow in the footsteps of those evildoers they admire, maintaining that course of action that should never have been taken in the first place.

Recall today’s Scripture. This present world system is evil, for God’s chief enemy (Satan) is alive and well: “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine” (Luke 4:5-7).

Assets are useful or valuable things, peoples, or qualities that guarantee the Establishment’s endurance. In contrast, liabilities are things, peoples, or qualities that threaten the Establishment’s existence. Let us see which we are to Satan’s Establishment….

The Kingdom of God is Within You #14

Thursday, July 24, 2025

“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21 KJV).

Is there really a “mis-translation” in the King James Bible here? (NO!)

Re-read today’s Scripture in context one final time: “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Christ was not implying an invisible, spiritual reign in the hearts of men. Instead, He explained how a literal, physical, visible, earthly, Davidic, Israeli kingdom would not arrive so late in His earthly ministry. National Israel had already scorned Him for three years, so He was now heading to Calvary’s cross. One day, He would return in power and great glory to reign literally and physically and visibly in the Earth (Luke 17:24; Luke 19:11-15), “But first must he suffer many things [crucifixion], and be rejected of this generation” (Luke 17:25).

Contrary to what Amillennialists declare, today’s Scripture and its context is not an invisible, spiritual kingdom (“Jesus reigns in the hearts of men”). As touching the prophetic program, “the kingdom of God” is His literal, physical, visible, earthly, Davidic, Israeli kingdom. Otherwise, the LORD’s promise to King David is a lie, for the Davidic Covenant cannot be fulfilled (Isaiah 9:6,7; Jeremiah 23:5,6; Daniel 2:44,45; Luke 1:31-33; Acts 1:6; Acts 2:29,30). Contrary to what textual critics tell us, “The kingdom of God is within you” is not a mis-translation of our King James scholars. Its wording underscores Israel’s need to have faith in God’s words first. Lost Israel such as the Pharisees had to accept Christ by faith (“within you” meaning “within your souls”) before they could see and enter His literal, physical, visible, earthly, Davidic, Israeli kingdom (check John 3:1-8). Yet, the unbelieving Pharisees had reduced Christ’s role to mere political deliverance, seeing no need for their spiritual salvation (forgiveness of sins).

Finally, to believe our Dispensation of Grace fulfills Luke 17:20,21—“Jesus reigns invisibly in men’s hearts today”—is to destroy the dispensational distinctions in Scripture. It is also why modern “scholars” tend to “re-translate” the Authorized Version here. Lacking dispensational eyes, they tell spiritual lies. Avoid them!

The Kingdom of God is Within You #13

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21 KJV).

Is there really a “mis-translation” in the King James Bible here?

The Bible opens, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Sin corrupted both realms: Satan contaminated the Heaven using his fallen angels and polluted the Earth utilizing sinful man. Creation is in rebellion. The Holy Scriptures are the record of God restoring both Heaven and Earth to Himself, that He fill each sphere of influence with His life, thereby achieving His eternal purpose.

“For by him [Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:16-20).

Father God will use Christ’s shed blood to redeem two groups. One is His earthly people, the nation Israel, whom He will fill with His life and then install in the offices of Earth’s governments. (If Amillennialists are correct—if there is no literal, physical, visible, earthly, Davidic, Israeli kingdom—God will never be able to recover Earth from Satan’s influence!) The other is His heavenly people, the Church the Body of Christ, whom He will fill with His life and then install in the offices of Heaven’s governments.

As touching the ages to come, see Matthew 25:34: “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:….” God had that kingdom in mind going all the way back to when He placed Adam on the Earth, proving Christ’s kingdom in prophecy is literal, physical, visible, earthly.

We summarize and conclude this devotionals arc….

The Kingdom of God is Within You #12

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21 KJV).

Is there really a “mis-translation” in the King James Bible here?

Due to a miserable (!) failure to rightly divide the Word of Truth, today’s Scripture and context (verses 20,21) have been twisted out of shape to teach something they do not teach and never did teach. They do not describe God’s current dealings with man at all, but typify what He did with Israel in time past. Peter’s ministry—an extension of Christ’s earthly ministry—concerns Israel rising to kingdom glory, God’s salvation and blessing going to the world (Gentiles) in Israel’s literal, physical, visible, earthly, Davidic kingdom (Isaiah 60:1-3; Zechariah 8:20-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 2:32; Luke 24:47; John 4:42; Acts 1:6; Acts 3:24-26). However, Paul’s ministry is God’s salvation and blessing going to the world (Gentiles) through Israel’s temporary fall and without her kingdom (Romans 11:11-14). Though Christendom has neglected it for 20 centuries, we dare not miss this important distinction!

Just because God did something in time past does not mean He is doing it in the but now, and just because He is doing it in the but now does not mean He will keep doing it in the ages to come. Though He is not growing His earthly people (Israel) now, Romans 11:25-29 indicates He will return to that after He closes our program and completes us the Church the Body of Christ: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

We are not Israel, and we have not replaced Israel, so we are wise in our own conceits (we think we are someone we are not) if we believe we are Israel or that we have replaced Israel….