Monthly Archives: December 2012

Dec 21 2012

Gabriel: “I Stand in the Presence of God”

The darkest 400 years of Israel’s history have just passed.  God had not spoken to His people during that time, and we do not have any written records of the Holy Spirit descending or filling any one person in Israel.

Luke is the New Testament evangelist that gives us the most detailed account of the miraculous events that broke this 400 year silence.

The appearance of the angel Gabriel during Zechariah’s service in the Temple is the first in a series of supernatural events heralding the birth of Christ.  Zechariah’s shock and disbelief is evidence that he personally has not encountered such an event before, and the same goes for his colleagues, given the long inter-testamental silence.

This was the beginning of the most amazing work that God has ever performed on earth up to that point.

These are the first words from God through Gabriel, words that broke the spiritual darkness surrounding the land: “Do not be afraid…” (Luke 1:13).  And it is a fitting message given the awesome display of the work of the Holy Spirit that is about to begin in Israel.

But for me the most intriguing part of Luke 1 is the way the angel identifies himself and his job…

Imagine having a casual conversation with someone you met for the first time.  Their name and occupation is usually one of the first things we address in an attempt to find some common ground with them.

Zechariah finally gets to that point in the conversation with Gabriel… a point of shock… a point of awe.  Gabriel introduces himself and his occupation: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19).

My dear reader, you and I cannot comprehend what this means.  There is no common ground here between a mortal man who has not yet been glorified, and Gabriel whose job is to literally stand in the presence of God and to serve God as His messenger.

Reading the account of this magnificent event and absorbing the stunning statement “I stand in the presence of God” is revealing and humbling at the same time.  Knowing what we know about God from Scripture, how can someone assert such a claim?   The only explanation is that Gabriel is an angel of indescribable holiness, faithfulness and responsibility.  To be able to serve God face-to-face in His presence is unbearable and unfathomable for the human mind while here on earth.

But the children of God saved through the precious blood of Jesus should get used to this concept rather quickly.  The Bible speaks of our glorification in the presence of God.  Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:10

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

Just like Gabriel, we will spend an eternal lifetime standing in the presence of God.  Only then will we find common ground in conversation with Gabriel and the hosts of heaven.

Dec 20 2012

Will the World End Tomorrow?

Newsflash

NASA just put out a statement reassuring humanity that the world will not end on 12/21/2012.

The Vatican’s top scientists also released a statement saying that the world will not end despite Mayan predictions.

Federal and local governments have also reassured citizens that the doomsday scenario that is supposed to unfold tomorrow is myth.

We can all breathe easy now 🙂 🙂

But breathing easy is not what many people across the globe are doing.

There are an entire host of websites catering to  superstition, fanatic, credulous, -and whatever else you want to call them- people out there drumming up tomorrow’s winter solstice as the end of the world.  A variety of faith(less)ful groups from Tibetan monks, to pagans, to worshipers of the ancient Latin American gods and religions are taking tomorrow’s so-called planetary alignment as a sign of disaster.

The only problem is that the planets will not align on 12/21/12 as debunked by EarthSky.  As for the alignment of the Earth, Sun and the Center of the Milky Way galaxy… let’s be serious.  The earth is less than a speck of dust compared to the enormity of our galaxy,  how are we even going to try to “align” it?

Doomsday preppers have been going wild, and many of the these poor folks have been taken advantage of by savvy business predators who are looking to make money off the back of the superstitions and the unsecure.

Let’s ground ourselves in the Word of God for our security.  Let’s focus on what He tells us about the end of the world because everything will pass away, but His words will remain…

Matthew 24

3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,  but the Father only.

44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

And 2 Thessalonians 2:

“1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”

Tomorrow will be a normal day.  The world cannot end to tomorrow because such an event will negate the Word of God when He says that no one knows the “day and hour.”  Tomorrow will be a day when we will worship God and wait for His time to come to fruition.

Dec 19 2012

Planned Parenthood and the Virgin Mary

Some may still remember the despicable Christmas Planned Parenthood (PP) campaign from the recent past, a campaign from the depths of hell.

They had the audacity to take the Gospel message and change it to promote a carnage worse than the Newtown massacre.  “Peace on earth,” the message from God, became “choice on earth” a message from Satan.  Can anyone remember what happened last time Satan altered the words of God?  Hint: the setting was the garden of Eden, and man listened to Satan’s lies as opposed to the truth that came directly from God.

Rightfully so, catholics, evangelicals and godly people across the country united in a huge backlash against PP, but this has not dented PP’s onslaught against unborn babies.

The murderous spirits of Herod the Great and Pharaoh, and their blood thirst for infanticide is alive and well today embodied in the actions of PP.

I recently came across the t-shirt slogan “the virgin Mary was an unwed teenage mother,” and sadly young women just like Mary are the prime target of the abortion platform.  They shamelessly invoke Mary in their agenda as described by LifeSiteNews in the article here.   At a pro-life conference in Canada, abortion rights activists stormed the conference hall chanting the blasphemous French song “Oh, If Mary had known about abortion, we wouldn’t have to deal with all this nonsense.”

If PP existed in Mary’s day I am convinced they would have been a tool used by Satan to try to kill Jesus before He would have been born.  In his rage against the King of Kings, Satan used Herod the Great’s infanticide to no avail because God’s providential plan of redemption for humanity would not be derailed.  PP and all the Satanic forces behind them could not have aborted Jesus no matter how hard they would have tried.

Another instrument of Satan, Joseph Stalin is reported to have said, “A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.”  Similarly our society as grown accustomed to missing the microscopic and the big picture on this issue.  Abortion is not viewed as taking a life, it is viewed as a statistic.  But abortion in America is not just statistics, its 55 million tragedies – many at the hand of PP.

Millions of women in America and across the globe and are targeted every year with Satan’s abortion agenda.  In Romania one in three pregnancies is aborted!  And Romania is a country where 98%+ declare themselves “Christian!”

Yes, the Newtown massacre was the biggest tragedy since 9/11, but the tragedy that goes on in PP every day far outweighs 9/11 and all other American mass shootings combined!

God created man in His image, and every one of those tiny little babies whose bodies are destroyed by the instruments of death is a tiny reflection of God.  Christians need to realize the underlying spiritual war against God that goes on as PP unravel their platform.

At the first Christmas Satan did not prevail against Jesus, and neither will Planned Parenthood prevail in the end.

Let’s  pray for the young women who are targeted by Planned Parenthood, that they will come to realize that all the answers can be found at the cross of Jesus.  Let’s also keep in prayer the women who have had an abortion.  They need to understand that such a grave sin can be forgiven by the One who had NO sin but was made sin for us.

Dec 18 2012

Newtown: Where Was God?

In the aftermath of the Newtown shootings, former governor and pastor Mike Huckabee presented the fact that for 50 years our government has systematically removed God from the classroom, and when a tragedy of this proportion precipitates in our schools our first reaction is to ask “where was God?”

He received a strong negative backlash from the liberal and atheistic media and blogosphere for that comment.  In this 3 minute video he eloquently defends his comments and makes the case that a culture without God is now reaping the consequences of its actions

Dec 18 2012

Frank Pastore Fulfilled his Earthly Mission

Former baseball star, Christian apologist and radio host Frank Pastore has gone to be with the Lord yesterday afternoon at the age of 55.

I had the opportunity to see him give his testimony back in the 90’s at a Romanian Mission One youth conference in Southern California.  He was an atheist or agnostic at best who was set in his ways before someone on his baseball team convinced him to read the CS Lewis classic Mere Christianity.

God used the arguments that Lewis made in that book to open Frank’s eyes to see that God really exists, and that was the beginning of a fundamental change in his life, a change that we call the new birth.  He went on to obtain advanced theology degrees and became a well articulated, well spoken defender of the Christian faith.

I learned my first basic concepts of Christian apologetics from Frank while listening to his radio show.  I remember being amazed how well he defended Christianity from the cosmological argument all the way to the moral argument and to Jesus,  in order to point toward the existence of God.

I listened to his radio show on many occasions… His last show was on November 19th, 2012, three hours before he suffered a motorcycle crash on the freeway.  In that show he talked about life and death, how this world and this body is not his home, and how his body could die in a motorcycle accident but his soul will live on.  This turned out to be prophetic given the way he died.

Frank Pastore is now with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Click on the link below to listed to a one minute excerpt from his last show.

Dec 17 2012

Is Human Free Will Really Free?

Which pill will you swallow?

Which doctrine will you embrace?

The one which teaches that God is sovereign in all details including the deepest crevices of the human soul?  Or the teaching that human free will is ultimately responsible for our decision to follow Christ?

I would argue using the Bible that for believers, their freedom and free will is hidden in God’s sovereignty.  Paul tells Christians in Colossians 3:3: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”  Discussing the “when” this happens is a matter of technicality… we know that from God’s perspective the past, present and future matter not.  From His point of view, which ultimately is the only point of view of importance, our choices, our decisions, and final outcomes are hidden with Christ in Him.

When it comes to free will, I believe that absolute human free will is not found on the pages of the Bible.  But interestingly, human responsibility is found on every page of the Bible.  If absolute free will were found in the Bible, then we would also find our ability to NOT sin.  If a man or woman had absolute freedom of choice, they should be able to choose to NOT sin!  But sadly this is not the case.

There is a multitude of biblical texts showing that while unregenerated by the Holy Spirit, we are enslaved to sin, captured and bound by our sinful nature, and the only freedom we have IS to sin.  Any attempt to rid ourselves of sin is unsustainable.  That is biblical truth.  Then how can anyone say that they have absolute free will?

I personally know people who live in sin and cannot stop sinning even though they know the depravity of their actions.  They know the truth to a large degree.  Paul tells us in Romans 1 that such people know the truth but they are suppressing it.   No matter how much these people want to give up sin in theoretical terms, they are unable to do it.  They do not have the absolute freedom to do it because they are not free.  They are chained.  Their will is not free at all.

What the children of God have is not an absolute free will but a will that is subordinate to God.  Paul teaches this in Philippians 2:13 “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”  And the previous verse implicates the human responsibility: “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…”

Our free will is subordinate to God’s sovereignty while maintaining personal human responsibility.

So, the next time you think that your own freedom of choice lifted you out of sin and unto salvation, meditate on our incontestable inability to break the chain of sin on our own.

This is the mystery of all ages, the way God the Father draws his children unto Him through the work of God the Holy Spirit, all made possible by the death and resurrection of God the Son.  And to see that He found it appropriate to reveal to us this great mystery of salvation makes us stand in awe.

image credit

Dec 16 2012

When God Ran

I absolutely loved the original Benny Hester song “When God Ran” when I was growing up.  Here is a cover by Phillips, Craig and Dean.  Enjoy.

Almighty God, The Great I Am
Immovable Rock, Omnipotent powerful

Awesome Lord, Victorious Warrior
Commanding King of Kings, Mighty Conqueror

And the only time
The only time I ever saw Him run

Was when He ran to me
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
Said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice
He said “Son, do you know I still love you?”

It caught me by surprise when God ran

The day I left home
I knew I’d broken His heart
I wondered then
If things could ever be the same

Then one night
I remembered His love for me
And down that dusty road
Ahead I could see

It’s the only time
The only time I ever saw Him run

When He ran to me
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
Said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice
He said “Son, do you know I still love you?”

It caught me by surprise
It brought me to my knees
When God ran

I saw Him run to me
And then I ran to Him

Holy One, Righteous Judge
He turned my way
Now I know He’s been waiting
For this day

Dec 15 2012

Newtown: A Lesson for All

Murdering a human being is an assault on God. He made us in his own image. Destroying an image usually means you hate the imaged. Murdering God’s human image-bearer is not just murder. It’s treason — treason against the creator of the world. It is a capital crime — and more. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6).

As usual, Jesus takes this up in devastating terms. None of us escapes.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire. (Matthew 5:21–22)

He does not say unwarranted anger is the same as murder. It’s not. Ask the bereaved parents of Newtown. He says both are liable to hell. Both come under a similar sentence from God. Why would Jesus say that?

Because both are a sin against God, not just man. Jesus’s threat of hell is owing not to the seriousness of murder against man, but to the seriousness of treason against God. In the mind of Jesus — the mind of God — heartfelt verbal invective against God’s image is an assault on the infinite dignity of God, the infinite worth of God. It is, therefore, in Jesus’s mind, worthy of God’s righteous judgment.

So what we saw yesterday in the Newtown murders was a picture of the seriousness of our own corruption. None of us escapes the charge of sinful anger and verbal venom. So we are all under the just sentence of God’s penalty. That is what Jesus was saying in Matthew 5:21–22.

And it is exactly what Jesus said again when people pressed him to talk about the time Pilate slaughtered worshippers in the temple. Instead of focusing on the slain or the slayer, he focused on all of us:

Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:2–3)

Which means that the murders of Newtown are a warning to me — and you. Not a warning to see our schools as defenseless, but to see our souls as depraved. To see our need for a Savior. To humble ourselves in repentance for the God-diminishing bitterness of our hearts. To turn to Christ in desperate need, and to treasure his forgiveness, his transforming, and his friendship.

Article by John Piper ~ from desiringgod.org

Dec 14 2012

Spiritual Warfare Behind the Shooting of Children

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Throughout the history of the universe, evil has manifested a dark form of violence specifically toward children. Not only did the Canaanite nations demand the blood of babies, but the Bible shows where at points of redemptive crisis, the powers of evil have lashed out at children. Pharaoh saw God’s blessing of Israelite children as a curse and demanded they be snuffed out by the power of his armed thugs. And, of course, the Christmas narrative we read together this time of year is overshadowed by an act of horrific mass murder of children. King Herod, seeing his throne threatened, demands the slaughter of innocent children.

Jesus was not born into a gauzy, sentimental winter wonderland of sweetly-singing angels and cute reindeer nuzzling one another at the side of his manger. He was born into a war-zone. And at the very rumor of his coming, Herod vowed to see him dead, right along with thousands of his brothers. History in Bethlehem, as before and as now, is riddled with the bodies of murdered children.

Why?

“The course of this world,” we’re told, is driven along by “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). And behind all of that is a bloody skirmish. Satan is, Jesus tells us, a “murderer from the beginning” because he hates life itself. And he hates the life of children, particularly, because they picture something true about Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus showed his disciple John that behind the particulars of history there’s another, darker, story going on. Jesus showed the picture of a woman giving birth to a child, with a dragon crouching before her to devour the baby (Rev. 12:4). When the woman and her child escaped, the dragon “became furious with the woman and went out to make war on the rest of her offspring” (Rev. 12:17), and has done so ever since.

Satan hates children because he hates Jesus. When evil destroys “the least of these” (Matt. 25:40, 45), the most vulnerable among us, it destroys a picture of Jesus himself, of the child delivered by the woman who crushes the head of our reptilian overlord (Gen. 3:15). The demonic powers know that the human race is saved, and they’re vanquished, by a child born of woman (Gal. 4:4; 1 Tim. 2:15). And so they hate the children who bear his nature.

Violence against children is also peculiarly satanic because it destroys the very picture of newness of life and dependent trust that characterizes life in the kingdom of God (Matt. 18:4). Children are a blessing, and that enrages the horrifying nature of those who seek only to kill and to destroy (Jn. 10:10).

The satanic powers want the kingdoms of the universe, and a child uproots their reign.

[There are no] easy answers to the grieving parents and communities in Connecticut. We don’t fully understand the mystery of iniquity. We don’t know why God didn’t stop this from happening. But we do know what this act is: it’s satanic, and we should say so.

Let’s grieve for the innocent. Let’s demand justice for the guilty. And let’s rage against the Reptile behind it all.

As we do so, let’s remember that Bethlehem was an act of war. Let’s remember that the One born there is a prince of peace who will crush the skull of the ancient murderer of Eden. Let’s pray for the Second Coming of Mary’s son.

~ from “Moore to the Point” by Russel D. Moore ~ “School Shootings and Spiritual Warfare” 

Dec 14 2012

The Virgin Birth: Without it Christianity Cannot Stand

“The answer to that question would explain history for me.” – Atheist Larry King on his show’s 25th anniversary (June 5, 2010), on whether Jesus was born of a virgin.

The Washington Post is stirring things up on this theme by asking the question “Did Isaiah really predict the Virgin birth?”

It may be shocking to some of us who hold to the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture that there are some Christians who may not believe that Jesus was born of a virgin Mary.

To add fuel to this controversy there have been translations of the Bible which omit the word “virgin” from the Isaiah 7:14 prophecy. Examples:

“Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” NRSV

“Look this young woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman will name him Immanuel.” NET

The word in question here is the Hebrew word “almâ” which should be translated “virgin.” Strong’s dictionary which translates and annotates every word in the Bible (even provides detailed translation notes) gives the following commentary on “almâ:”

“There is no instance where it can be proved that this word designates a young woman who is not a virgin.”

Therefore, because of the paramount importance of the virgin birth, the word “virgin” absolutely belongs in Isaiah 7:14.

Without the virgin birth, Christians do not have a living faith; in fact, they do not have any faith at all. Why? Comparative religion scholar John Weldon gives us the answer:

“If Jesus Christ was not virgin born, then by definition he was produced by normal human procreation. If so, this makes him a normal human being just like every other person. The implications of this for all of Christology and biblical theology are devastating. If Christ was not virgin born, then he was not sinless, but a sinner like all other humans. If he were a sinner, he would require salvation from sin. If he was a sinner, he could not be God incarnate. If he was not God incarnate, he could not be the atoning Savior for sin. If he was not the atoning Savior for sin, we are still in our sins and the whole edifice of Christian theology crumbles. If we are still our sins, we are without hope.”

This is not only about the inerrancy of the Bible. This is about reducing and trying to fit God into human terms and human experience. The minute we are successful at boxing God into human parameters, that god is no longer the great “I am” revealed in the Bible.

This is why theologically liberal “Christians” must first of all come to the cross and receive the gift of faith for their salvation, and then they must use their faith to believe that Jesus was indeed conceived by the Holy Spirit in a supernatural way and born by virgin birth.