Category: Creation Science

Good Riddance! #10

Thursday, April 18, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Originally, mankind had the spiritual light of God’s Word. Once he fell into sin in Genesis chapter 3, his heart was darkened. When God gave up the unthankful and willfully ignorant Gentile nations in Genesis chapter 11, in chapter 12, He created a new group of people, Israel, through Abraham, who would accomplish His will in the earth (Adam’s original purpose before sin entered). For 2,000 years, as we Gentiles groped in spiritual darkness (Acts 14:16; Acts 26:17,18; Ephesians 2:11,12; Ephesians 4:17-19), Israel had God’s Word and God’s light (Romans 3:1,2; Romans 9:4,5). Alas, Israel too rejected that wisdom!

And so, we come to today, the Dispensation of the Grace of God, which has been operating for nearly 2,000 years. While Israel is temporarily blinded (Romans 11:25), God is forming the Church the Body of Christ, an agency of people who will do in the heavenly places in eternity future, what Israel will do in the earth in eternity future—rule for Jesus Christ’s glory.

As people who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, we are members of the Church the Body of Christ. When we teach God’s Holy Word and the principles found therein, we are actually publishing the original laws and social structure that existed before sin entered. We are not “bigoted” for opposing the sins of the world; actually, they are presumptuous for defending and engaging in activity that never belonged in creation in the first place!

The lost world wishes we members of the Body of Christ were not here—they want to tell us “good riddance” for being hindrances to “progress.” One day, when the Lord Jesus catches us away to be with Him in the heavenly places, as we leave this earth, we can say, “Good riddance!” to this evil world system! 🙂

Good Riddance! #9

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Let us leap into the future and observe the world’s moral conditions during the Tribulation period: “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, not of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts” (Revelation 9:20,21). Even as God’s wrath is being poured out on earth, mankind just defiantly and unapologetically continues its murdering, its stealing, its idolatry, its sexually-perverted activities, and its devil worship! (This will be the result of today’s “progress,” and believing Israel will confront such a depraved society during the Tribulation.)

As Jesus Christ Himself affirmed, the first person to die for having faith in the God of the Bible was Abel (Luke 11:50,51). Abel adamantly stood for the principles of the God of heaven and earth, and he died because of it. God commanded the blood sacrifice, and his brother Cain willfully ignored that instruction and brought his “alternate” belief and sacrifice. Even after Abel and he talked, Cain was still convinced that his religion was “just as good” as Abel’s, and that he would be right with God without doing it God’s way (sounds just like today’s “everyone will make it to heaven eventually” argument, huh?).

Cain hated God’s testimony that his brother the prophet Abel uttered. Just as lost people execute Christians and silence God’s messengers today (and they will do it in the Tribulation), it all goes back to the first brother of the human race who got rid of his godly sibling who stood up for God’s Word….

Good Riddance! #8

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

While today’s Scripture is not written directly to us members of the Church the Body of Christ in the Dispensation of Grace, what John wrote is just as applicable to us as it is to his audience, Israel’s believing remnant during the seven-year Tribulation (which is still future). Regardless of the dispensation, lost people always hate God’s people.

Just as Abel withstood Cain’s unbelief by rejecting his “form of worship,” Israel’s believing remnant will refuse the antichrist’s “form of worship” (the religion in which apostate Israel will participate in the Tribulation). Both Abel and Israel’s little flock are persecuted for obeying God’s Word, and both are executed for believing God’s Word.

Moreover, this has been true for many members of the Church the Body of Christ. Currently, Jesus Christ is sitting at the Father’s in heaven’s glory (Colossians 3:1); nevertheless, Jesus Christ is here on earth in the form of us Christians. Just as Jesus Christ resurrected and ascended back into heaven as a hated exile, the lost world also wants to get rid of us! They cannot harm Him, but they can (and do) attack His people, the Church the Body of Christ.

Ever since Adam and mankind’s fall in Genesis chapter 3, man has become dumber and dumber spiritually: “when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). The result? Read verses 22-32, which mention, among other things, homosexuality, fornication, envy, murder, deceit, haters of God, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, those without natural affection [abortion, for instance!], unmerciful, “[who] not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (verse 32). We just outlined the social “progress” in “progress” today, and like Abel and believing Israel, we receive flak for opposing it….

Good Riddance! #7

Monday, April 15, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

The unsaved, hell-bound world around us complains, “Jesus preached love! Why are you judging? You Christians need to stop trying to force your beliefs on others and just focus on the wonderful things Jesus did and said.” To these “defenses,” we reply to them, “Where is your love for Jesus, for His people, for His Word? Why do you hate Jesus’ people for repeating His wisdom?”

Of course, our questions to them are rhetorical—we know the answers (lost people hate Jesus Christ, they hate His people, for sinners and saints are from two very different families!). Their questions, on the other hand, are just desperate attempts to avoid accountability to a holy righteous God, to ease one’s conscience, to discredit the message, to ignore their sin problem, to blame shift, et cetera.

Beloved, this thoroughly confused, lost, and dying world still needs the forgiveness and soul salvation only found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and His death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for their sins. Like Cain, they use religion to cover up their sins (to no avail). They, like Cain, ignore God’s “words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Like Cain, they want to change the laws God has already established and replace them with “alternate” beliefs, and get rid of those who speak out against it. They, like Cain, live their lives the way they want, but without coming by faith in Jesus Christ, they will never come to know their Creator God. They can die in their sins and go to hellfire denying God’s Word forever and ever, but it will still be true. They can even hate and murder God’s people, the Christians, but the message the saints preach is authoritative, relevant, eternal, and true!

They know they cannot get rid of God’s Word, so they attempt to get rid of God’s people….

Good Riddance! #6

Sunday, April 14, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Satan is God’s enemy (Satan is Hebrew for “adversary”); hence, Satan’s children hate and oppose God’s children. Recall Jesus’ rebuke of Israel’s unbelieving religious leaders, Satan’s counterfeit Jews: “If God were your Father, ye would love me…. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning [referring to Cain killing Abel], and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:42,44).

The conflict between lost people and Christians is actually the visible manifestation of the invisible spiritual battle that Satan’s lie program is waging against God’s truth. Unbelievers have slaughtered millions of God’s people throughout the ages. Even today, Christians worldwide are imprisoned, tortured, and slain for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of heaven and earth. (Fret not, for He knows the names of all, and His righteous judgment will be expressed in due time!)

In the context of today’s Scripture, John is comforting his believing Jewish audience who will experience the seven-year Tribulation. He instructs these Jewish Christians to neither be startled nor distressed when the apostate Jews embrace the antichrist and shun and persecute them for rejecting him as false (cf. Matthew 10:16-42). As satanic Cain hated and slew godly Abel (1 John 3:11,12), so unbelieving Israel will despise and betray the believing Jews, the Israel of God. John consoles them to be strong by faith in Jesus Christ, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

The satanic opposition that Abel faced and that Israel’s believing remnant will face, is what we Christians face today….

Good Riddance! #5

Saturday, April 13, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

The context of today’s Scripture uses the historical narrative of Cain and Abel to reinforce the doctrine the Holy Spirit is communicating through the Apostle John: “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:11-13).

John, writing to believing Jews who will live after our Dispensation of Grace—that is, who will live during the seven-year Tribulation—uses material the Bible already taught to further educate them. We can gain two main points from this passage.

Firstly, John reminds them of the kingdom doctrine Jesus Christ uttered to His little flock (believing Israel) during His earthly ministry: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). These Jewish believers are to love one another, just as Jesus Christ loved them (contrast this with today’s Scripture).

Secondly, John reminds believing Israel that just as unbelieving, disobedient Cain murdered his brother, Abel, the man of faith and God’s prophet, so her unbelieving brethren (that is, apostate Israel) will seek to persecute and kill her. Remember, Jesus Christ warned “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:32-42). Speaking of the Tribulation, Jesus predicted His Jewish followers would not only be hated by the unbelieving Gentiles, but also by unbelieving Israel (who are all following Satan’s evil world system and the antichrist’s apostate religious system).

John, in today’s Scripture, reminds his audience suffering in the Tribulation, that Satan’s world system and its members have always hated the Lord Jesus Christ’s people. They should not be shocked, nor should they lose heart….

Good Riddance! #4

Friday, April 12, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Jesus Christ claimed that Abel was a “prophet” (Luke 11:50,51): Abel spoke to mankind on God’s behalf. Abel was also a saint, a man of faith because he believed what God said. Cain, Abel’s older brother, was just the opposite—Cain refused to believe God, and so he did not obey God. Imagine the animosity Cain had toward Abel.

Genesis 4:3-5 says, “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”

Hebrews 11:4 confirms: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

Now, read Genesis 4:8: “And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” What do you suppose Cain and Abel discussed before Abel’s death? Abel spoke God’s Word, reminding Cain that he had not brought the blood sacrifice God had commanded. Cain, reacting toward God’s Word as any other religious person would, becomes even more upset—how dare God reject his “alternate” viewpoint. Cain hated Abel for his “narrow mindedness”—Abel stood in the way of man’s religious “progress” and Abel had to go! Thus, Cain murdered Abel in a fit of jealousy and rage.

Let us develop this study a bit more, and see how this narrative perfectly parallels the context of today’s Scripture….

Good Riddance! #3

Thursday, April 11, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Our sinful world despises absolute standards concerning morals and ethics (it does demand them regarding finances). Christians preaching and teaching sound Bible doctrine are a dam that holds back Satan from having complete control over every person. While the devil has fooled much of the world with all sorts of carnal and religious errors, unfortunately for him, those Christians who are King James Pauline dispensational Bible students are not so easily persuaded. Satan can only rule over ignorant people. Thankfully, we are well aware of what is occurring in this world. Man thinks he is on the rise (in actuality, his thinking is upside-down!).

For nearly 20 centuries, both the professing church (Christendom) and (sadly) the genuine, Holy Spirit-indwelt Church the Body of Christ, have allowed the errors of the world to creep into their assemblies, desensitizing them to ungodliness. This is to be expected when sound Bible doctrine is willfully ignored. What is the hallmark of lukewarm Christianity? The member of the average “Christian” church is just as “godly” as the average heathen of the evil world system, resulting in “Christians” siding with and defending the heathen and his social preferences! The heathen and the phony Christian alike hate the true Christian (today’s Scripture)—he, his God the Lord Jesus Christ, and his Holy Bible, are threats to “progress.”

Indeed, we Christians are viewed as “hindrances to progress.” Young earth Bible creationism, monogamous heterosexual marriages, owning weapons for self-defense, having a job, and driving a fossil-fueling-burning vehicle are respective threats to foolish pagan philosophical evolutionary theory, sexually-perverted lifestyles, pacifism, slothfulness, and “mother earth.” In this world, it seems like every belief is to be “tolerated”—except anything from God’s Holy Bible! As the context of today’s Scripture will demonstrate, this was true in the past, and it will be true in the future….

A Doxology of Doctrine During Distressing Days #1

Monday, April 1, 2013

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” (2 Corinthians 4:17 KJV).

A brief, light annoyance—an everlasting, much heavier weight of praise and worship….

While sitting here in a local hospital, Dad just recuperating from a total knee replacement surgery, I thought on today’s Scripture. Surrounded by all these sick, suffering, and dying people, it is nice to have God’s peace.

Christians and lost people alike suffer because of sin’s curse, the “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21). We live in a fallen world, an environment completely removed from the original perfect creation of Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Earth’s biosphere is plagued by infirmities and, the greatest disease of all, death. These realities prompt the common inquiry, “IF there is a loving God, why does He not do something about suffering?” This oft-posed query has already been answered… by the book of that “loving God.”

Today’s Scripture greatly comforts us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. Our suffering in this life is “but for a moment.” It is not everlasting! Being members of the Body of Christ does not guarantee we will not suffer; however, it does guarantee us that our suffering is temporary.

As Christians, we can enjoy God’s grace, which strengthens and consoles us. Our troubles are not removed, but our Lord comforts us so those circumstances do not destroy us. The verse following today’s Scripture elaborates: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (verse 18).

The “things that are seen” are our current circumstances—the temporary troubles. The “things that are not seen” are the spiritual fortitude God gives us and the praise we give Him—the everlasting weight of glory. As we walk by faith in these simple yet profound truths, our God strengthens and encourages us, and gives us peace. Yes, despite our suffering, there is a loving God, and He is there with us in those circumstances.

The Spirit of God and the Word of God #2

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13 KJV).

As today’s Scripture demonstrates, the Spirit of God never operates apart from the Word of God.

When God wants something done, He speaks it, and it happens. For instance, during the creation week, as described in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, we repeatedly read the phrase: “And God said… And God said… And God said…,” et cetera. The various systems of creation came into existence and became operational whenever the Lord Jesus Christ spoke: the heaven, the heavens, the earth, all life forms, and so on appeared whenever their Creator commanded them to be so. Furthermore, we read in Genesis 1:2: “…And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Although “God created all things by Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:9), the Holy Spirit was also present during the creation week, and He too was active in the creation of the universe.

Our Lord Jesus Christ told His Jewish disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he [a Person, not a force!], the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:12,13). Christ is referring to the (future) day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2), when He will baptize Israel’s believing remnant with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4,5). The Holy Ghost will then speak words through them so unbelieving Jews can hear God’s Word, know what God is doing, and how to be saved from their sins. Later, the Holy Spirit will cause those men to write the New Testament Scriptures (the “all truth” and “things to come”).

The Holy Spirit does not operate haphazardly, nor does He work apart from God’s Word. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, the Word of God is present; wherever the Word of God is, the Holy Spirit is present….