Category: The Nation Israel

Pebbles of Paganism

Saturday, October 4, 2014

“Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these?” (Isaiah 57:6 KJV).

Imagine Israel doing such foolishness right in front of JEHOVAH!

Today’s Scripture—whose context, verses 3-12, reprimands Israel’s pagan idolatry—says the Jews collected (mindless, inanimate) rocks from a riverbed, and then poured out drink offerings and offered meat offerings to them as if they were Almighty God (the living and true God was deeply offended, as today’s Scripture indicates).

How preposterous! Israel had willfully abandoned JEHOVAH’S words (the Old Testament Scriptures), and preferred to imitate her heathen neighbors in worshipping dead idols (the Gentiles’ spiritual ignorance and moral decay are clearly described in Romans 1:18-32). Throughout the Old Testament, we read about stone idols worshipped by Gentiles (Deuteronomy 29:16,17; Isaiah 37:19) and Jews (Jeremiah 2:27; Habakkuk 2:19)—those stone idols were believed to speak and teach!

Lest we dismiss this as “ignorance due to bygone primitivism,” or in case we look down upon Israel as if our “modern” world is any better, remember that, today, most peoples of the world “pay homage” (worship) to such non-living objects in this “scientifically advanced” 21st century! In their churches and homes, even among many “Christian” people, they set up statues of wood and stone, hang paintings of “holy” figures (artistic interpretations, not actual photographs!), and then bow or kneel before them and utter prayers. The paints, minerals, and plant fibers are dead, and yet they are assumed to be able to help those “genuflecting” before them!

Today’s Scripture is a strict reminder that any forms of idolatry will not comfort (delight) the God of the Scriptures. Beloved, even if that idolatry is called “Christianity,” images of stone and wood (at their root) are heathen. Those same worthless “aids of worship” that helped Israel to ignore JEHOVAH, aided JEHOVAH in proving to Israel that she was worthy of being evicted from His land (and He did just that!). Friends, let us “turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9)! 🙂

Words for Weary and Wounded Warriors

Friday, October 3, 2014

“Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets” (Luke 6:22,23).

Although spoken to Israel’s believing remnant, our Lord Jesus’ words still comfort us weary or wounded Christian ambassadors.

A little brother in Christ recently telephoned me (and we later continued our conversation face-to-face). He was despondent because of the disrespectful way lost people—and even professing Christians—treated him. I told him that I could identify with that “coldshouldering” and assured him that he must not let it bother him; God has made provisions for us in Christ to withstand all of the Adversary’s darts (and occasional cannonballs!) aimed at us. Denominational divisions run ever so deep between professing Christians. The greatest spiritual division of all is between children of Father God and children of the Devil. The Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh experienced it, and the early Christians knew it, too.

Before dying, Jesus reminded His disciples, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Later, the Apostle John amplified those words by recounting the story of Cain killing his righteous brother Abel, concluding with, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13). The Apostle Peter wrote to his Jewish readers who abandoned their lost lifestyles, “Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you” (1 Peter 4:4). Beloved, people hated Jesus Christ living in His flesh; they equally hate Him living in us!

While quality Christian friends are very rare, hold them close once you find those few. We do pray for those who persecute us, that they step out spiritual darkness and into the light of God’s grace to us in Christ; still, we will not let their shunning of us, bother us! 🙂

Ye Do Err!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29 KJV).

If Jesus spoke audibly today, He would say this not only to much of the world, but also to 99 percent of “Christian” church members and leaders!

Today, Christianity has more books than ever before—millions and millions of books, millions upon millions upon millions of copies of those books. You would assume that, because of all these “Christian” books, today’s churches would abound with the most Biblically-literate people to ever walk the planet. Alas, this is not so—quite the opposite, actually. They know books, but not the Book! Not long ago a dear, elderly friend in the ministry bemoaned, “The average lost person fifty years ago knew more about the Bible than the average preacher does today!”

For example, a friend and I were recently researching a local church that touts its thousand-plus weekly attendance. When I found their statement of faith online, I discovered that it cited 12 basic Bible verses and one familiar 15-verse-long passage. Yea, it was a very doctrinally-shallow document—one verse supporting almost every tenet.

More recently, I skimmed a “Christian” handbook for teens, published less than a decade ago. The “Bible-believing” author, with denominational approval, wrote: “So when the creation story of Genesis describes the earth as flat, is that true in the sense of factual? Of course not. Did creation take six days as we know them? Not likely.”

While much could be said about his faulty theology (and horrific grammar!), I can only wonder what “creation story of Genesis” (?) he was reading when he claimed God’s Word indicated that the earth was “flat!” Like many today in religion, the author just fabricated an idea (denominationalism), he pretended it was “Scripture” (the average reader would never check the Bible for himself anyway!), and then he demeaned the very God and Book he claimed to adore (“I only believe the Bible verses my church supports literally!”)! As Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures!”

Beloved, be on guard against these “wolves in sheep’s clothing!”

Darkness and Light

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

“And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them, derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is proof that God’s ways and God’s thoughts are truly higher than ours!

As Jesus Christ hung on Calvary for those last three hours, there was spiritual darkness over all the earth and “the sun was darkened” (Matthew 27:45,46; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44,45). God the Father and God the Holy Ghost had forsaken God the Son (Matthew 27:46), and the physical darkness hid from the onlookers that most horrific portion of Christ’s crucifixion. We can only wonder what His disciples were thinking as they, in complete darkness, heard Him crying out in agony to His Heavenly Father. Satan and his policy of evil were working their mightiest, as Jesus had said to those who were arresting Him: “When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53).

That (spiritual) darkness has yet to be lifted from this planet. We still live in a world where spiritual ignorance and spiritual wickedness abound, whereas we Christians are “light in the Lord,” and we should “walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8-17). As Romans 13:12 says, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand [approaching]: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”

Thankfully, there is coming a day when the night will end, when Jesus Christ returns to Earth in all His radiance, He will shine forth in the skies and, via His blood shed 2,000 years ago, usher in spiritual healing for the nation Israel: “but unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings…” (Malachi 4:2). The darkness will be past and the light will shine forth. Before the light could come, Jesus Christ had to face the darkness, that we children of darkness could become children of light today in our Dispensation of Grace, and that Israel could become children of light when He returns! What wisdom!

Meek and Mighty

Monday, September 29, 2014

And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them, derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is proof that God’s ways and God’s thoughts are truly higher than ours!

Galilean king Herod Antipas and Judaean governor Pontius Pilate had heard much of this Jesus of Nazareth these last three years, but, so far as Scripture is concerned, they did not personally meet Him until His final hours alive. To them, He did not appear as royalty. Firstly, He had allowed Himself to be captured peacefully. Then, He let soldiers harshly abuse Him. Finally, He remained mostly silent during their many extensive interrogations leading up to His crucifixion. Pilate “marvelled greatly” (Matthew 27:11-14). Those watching Jesus die were equally shocked. “This is the King whom JEHOVAH God sent to rescue us? He is now helpless on the cross!”

Little did mankind know that Messiah would come twice—once to suffer and die as Saviour, again to judge and reign as King. Neither the prophets nor the angels could understand (1 Peter 1:9-12). Now, with the completed Bible canon, we see it all quite clearly. One is His meek coming (Zechariah 9:9) and the other is His mighty coming (Zechariah 14:3). Before Messiah Jesus could be manifested with power on His majestic Davidic throne, He had to first go to Calvary’s cruel cross. The scoffers did not understand it, but even if God had revealed it, they still would not have cared to know His truth.

In Father God’s own timing, He will reveal from heaven Jesus Christ in “flaming fire,” to take vengeance on those who do not know the God of Scripture and those who refuse to humble themselves and trust the Gospel of His Grace as sufficient payment for their sins (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10). Jesus Christ came the first time, not to save Himself, but to save us, to suffer God’s wrath on our behalf, that we trust Him alone as Saviour now, that we not have to suffer God’s wrath against our sin when comes the second time, when He proves again that He is “the chosen of God!” What wisdom!

Common and Uncommon

Sunday, September 28, 2014

“And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them, derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is proof that God’s ways and God’s thoughts are truly higher than ours!

When God the Holy Spirit formed His human body in the virgin Mary’s womb, He crafted an ordinary frame of dust (minus the sin nature). From all outward appearance, He looked common; lacking external beauty, He was exceptional on the inside, it was the very life of God Himself inside! “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). If Jesus stood in a crowd of Jewish men, you could not distinguish Him!

The secular world has a bias, a paradigm that one must be physically attractive to succeed, be materially wealthy to make a difference, have advanced degrees to be authoritative, and so on. (Little do they know that most Christians who literally changed the world were none of those!) The religious world has its own concept about those whom God would use—a smooth-talking, charming, overly optimistic, unrealistic, seminary graduate dressed in expensive attire. (Little do they know that Jesus was none of those, but He literally changed the world too!)

The God of the Bible always thinks differently from us humans, just as He said in Isaiah 55:8,9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Physically marred beyond the ordinary, on Calvary, Jesus died that our disfigured sinful souls be made stunning (justified) in God’s sight (Colossians 3:1-17), that these ordinary sinful bodies of flesh and blood would one day be fashioned like His extraordinary, glorious resurrected body (Philippians 3:20,21), that we not have a typical life hereafter, but an extraordinary life, “life more abundantly” (John 10:10). What wisdom!

Death and Life

Saturday, September 27, 2014

“And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them, derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is proof that God’s ways and God’s thoughts are truly higher than ours!

Jesus’ disciples witnessed their King’s slow and painful death, but they could do nothing to help Him. They were in total shock. All their dreams of His earthly kingdom were shattered. They had such high hopes to be rescued from the oppressive Gentiles, especially the Romans, and they had so looked forward to enjoying their literal, physical, visible Davidic kingdom. When Jesus’ corpse was taken down and laid in His tomb, they figured their dreams were buried with Him. They could not wrap it around their minds, how God’s Son could give Himself up so easily to sinful men.

On this side of the cross, we can see into God’s mind, to grasp what He knew as Jesus hung on Calvary and exactly what He was doing as His beloved Son suffered on Calvary’s cruel cross. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…” (Galatians 2:20). “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:5). Jesus Christ was killed, that our sin nature be put to death with Him, and He was bodily resurrected, that we might be raised with Him.

The God of the Bible always thinks differently from us humans, just as He said in Isaiah 55:8,9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Jesus Christ appeared to be weak and defeated on Calvary, but as God saw it, He was crucified so that we could be crucified with Him, that our sin nature be put to death, that we receive a new life, His resurrection life! What wisdom!

Damnation and Salvation

Friday, September 26, 2014

“And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them, derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is proof that God’s ways and God’s thoughts are truly higher than ours!

Imagine that you literally and physically stood right before Calvary’s cross as Jesus hung on it. You would see a truly awful sight, a body so disfigured that the Bible says it did not resemble that of a human. “As many as were astonied at thee; his visage [appearance, particularly his face] was so marred [disfigured] more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14). It is doubtless that those who actually witnessed it ever forgot that scene they saw on Golgatha, when the Son of God was crushed under the weight of Father God’s wrath and man’s wrath.

From all outward appearance, Jesus had lost. The Roman and Jewish governments had finally arrested their chief enemy and had condemned Him to death. He was now nailed to a cross, wearing nothing—His lacerated skin rubbed against the splintered wood as He pushed Himself upward to exhale. It was becoming harder to breathe, and the onlookers taunted Him (today’s Scripture; cf. Matthew 27:39-43; Mark 15:29-32). “You saved others and You cannot save Yourself! Come down from the cross and we will believe You!” (They fulfilled Psalm 22:7,8, written almost 1,000 years earlier.)

The God of the Bible always thinks differently from us humans, just as He said in Isaiah 55:8,9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Jesus Christ appeared to be weak and defeated on Calvary, but as God saw it, He stayed there so that His damnation would result in our salvation. He could have saved Himself, but then He would not have saved us! He chose not to save Himself—He chose to save us instead! What wisdom! What selflessness!

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Upside Down and Right-Side Up

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

“And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus” (Acts 17:6,7 KJV).

We find ourselves in a similar “trial” today!

When the Holy Spirit first preached the Gospel of Grace through the Apostle Paul and his ministry coworkers, the pagans said Jesus Christ’s ministers had turned the whole world “upside down” (today’s Scripture)—technically, right-side up! The Gospel of Christ had rippled through the cultures of the Roman Empire. Untold hundreds had abandoned heathen beliefs, practices, and temples, and were now rejoicing in God’s grace to them in Jesus Christ.

Today, since the last few decades, but particularly the last 10 years, the dominant Christian voice has become increasingly suppressed here in our beloved United States of America. Nowadays, pagan culture is infiltrating us—the reverse of the first century. What was right-side up because of Christianity is now returning to upside-down (pagan religion and culture).

Bible-believing Christians, we should be concerned, but let us not lose hope. If the Word of God prospered in a pagan world as it did throughout the book of Acts, it will surely prosper here as our culture slips into paganism. Despite all the persecution—the imprisonment, torturing, and execution—of believers, we read, “And the word of God increased…” (Acts 6:7). “But the word of God grew and multiplied” (Acts 12:24). “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed” (Acts 19:20). No matter what happens, God’s Word will never return to Him void/empty; it will prosper wherever He sends it (Isaiah 55:11).

While my generation and younger ones are distracted in the world, we should still proclaim the King James Bible rightly divided, for it contains the solutions to the problems they will face in the coming decades. As long as we get God’s Word out there, it will take care of itself (it has for 2,000 years). Let us be faithful stewards of God’s precious words now, that the future faithful remnant perpetuate them (2 Timothy 2:2).

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Could you please explain Romans 2:14?”

Blind Leaders of the Blind

Sunday, September 21, 2014

“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14 KJV).

May we not “blindly” follow the blind leaders of the blind!

Once, on religious television programming, a “Christian” author was interviewed to publicize his latest “sensationalistic” book. He alleged that Israel’s religious calendar predicted events in American history, and that our economic-financial future is written in Israel’s Old Testament calendar. While he repeatedly declared that he was “not setting dates,” he did indicate that next year seemed noteworthy in light of a special pattern of events he discovered (?). This gentleman may have meant well, but his theology was unsound. He encouraged us to take Israel’s verses, and try to fit them on us. This is not a reliable way to use the Bible—to insert people, nations, dates, into unrelated verses, is precarious spiritual ground.

While I did not buy his book—I use God’s money more wisely than that!—I did skim through it at a store. Out of his 270 pages, I counted roughly 55 verses quoted (some verses were used two or three times); much of his book was history or idle speculation, not Scripture. He quoted verses from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Joel, Matthew, and John. How many verses directly applied to us? None! How many verses described anything that God is doing today? Not a one! It was all Israel’s verses. His “plan of salvation” verses were John 3:3 and John 3:16. These are the books and authors worth publicizing on Christian television? These people are leading most of our churches? How sad—no wonder Christianity is “in the ditch,” so confused!

In the opening verses of Matthew chapter 15, our Lord Jesus severely rebuked the formalists of His day—the Pharisees who focused more on appearing good than having the eyes of faith to see and believe God’s Word. They had a nice outward show, but they were hypocrites inside. Some of Jesus’ disciples tell Him that His remarks offended the Pharisees. Today’s Scripture was His reply. We can almost hear it echo regarding most church leaders today! Beware!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “What is ‘the Marriage Supper of the Lamb?’”