Such a small letter… Such a BIG difference

One of the earliest and most fundamental controversies within the Early Christian Church centered around the ideas identified by two Greek words: homoiousios (ηομοιουσιος), meaning “of a similar substance,” and homoousios (ηομοουσιος), meaning “of the same substance”; two words that differ by a single letter: iota. In fact, in his “History of Christianity,” Edward Gibbon pointed out, with mirth, that Christianity was nearly split by the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet.

In Alexandria around the year 319, the previously obscure presbyter, Arius, attempted to rationalize the mystery that Christians find in the relationship between Jesus and God. He attracted a large following preaching the neoplatonist idea of the absolute oneness of the divinity. He felt that this was a unity that could not be shared, and therefore Jesus was a lesser deity who had been called into existence by God. Jesus was “homoiousian,” that is, of a similar nature to God, but not the same as, God.

Opponents, led most prominently by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, preached that Jesus was in fact “homoousian,” the same as God. This caused such conflict that Emperor Constantine demanded they work out their differences at what became the Council of Nicaea in 325.

The homoosians won the debate and codified their beliefs in a set of statements known as the original Nicene Creed, which states that Jesus is “one in being” with the Father. A version of the creed is still recited at mass by Catholics to this day.

Seek First the Kingdom

Many False Prophets

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. – 1 John 4:1 (ESV)

There is an unusual emphasis in the New Testament about false prophets. The Greek word pseudoprophetes appears eleven times and has no corresponding word in the Old Testament.   Of the almost three-hundred usages of the word “prophet” in the Hebrew Scriptures, eight of them are connected to “false” prophets, and only in relation to visions and dreams. In the New Testament, the pseudoprophetes are workers of “miracles” and “signs and wonders.”

John gives the warning to “try the spirits” because many false prophets are now here. Prior to Christ’s coming, the false “dreamer” (Deuteronomy 13:1-5) would readily be exposed when his prophecy did not come about. Such a false prophet was to be executed!   But the prophets of the “last time” (1 John 2:18) will perform great wonders (Matthew 24:24) and can “seduce . . . even the elect” (Mark 13:22). Here’s the problem: They come from within the Body of Christ!

Peter warns us in 2 Peter 2:1-3 in five ways:

• They come from a “Christian” background.

• They deny the biblical Lord Jesus in some way.

• They will become very popular, especially with emotionally motivated people.

• They will degrade doctrines of the Bible.

• They will stimulate greed to attract followers.

We are warned to test every one of them, and when they do not abide in the doctrine of Christ, we are to reject their teaching and not have any fellowship with them (2 John 9-11). They are dangerous (Matthew 7:15)!

Death and Life

Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

 
Abortion is a clear example of this truth. The killing of children can be tolerated and even championed as a social good so long as we don’t call it what it is. Call abortion an individual’s right to privacy and you can write it into the legal code. Call abortion a compassionate choice offered to a frightened girl to save her future or to save a child from an undesirable quality of life and you can swing popular opinion. Call abortion a liberation of women from the social and economic oppression of male dominance and passionate people will march on capitols chanting demands to preserve the human right of abortion on-demand.
But you won’t hear the street marchers chant, “We will fight for the right to kill our children!” Because calling abortion what it is might awaken uneasy consciences out of a euphemistic stupor to realize that millions of the most defenseless human beings on the planet are being denied the self-evident, Creator-endowed human right to life.
Death is in the power of logic contradicting, term redefining, and deceptively clinical tongues. We have allowed legal child-killing on-demand for 41 years because we’ve called it something else. Abortion is the intentional killing of unborn children.
That’s why Christians, the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:13–14) must keep speaking the truth about what abortion is with relentless clarity. “We destroy arguments” (2 Corinthians 10:5) by not yielding the ground of clear truth. Because life is in the power of truth-speaking tongues.
93% of all abortions [in the United States] are performed on healthy mothers, with healthy babies . . . Less than 1% are performed because of rape or incest. The number of children killed by abortion every year dwarfs the Holocaust and other homicidal horrors of history: Approximately 3,300 children are killed by abortion every day in the United States. Americans kill 1.2 million unborn children every year. The World Health Organization estimates between 40 and 50 million children are killed around the world by abortion, approximately 125,000 every day.
Unborn girls are killed at a higher rate than unborn boys. Estimates are as high as 163 million unborn girls have been intentionally killed since the 1970’s because they were girls, resulting in what some are now calling a “gendercide.”
Here’s the point: truthful tongues save lives. Legalized abortion is an evil that occurs and is tolerated because of deceptive words. And it’s truthful words that are required to clear the fatal fog with clarity. I don’t know if our speaking truth will succeed in helping to change the abortion laws. World Magazine reports encouraging developments. But as John Piper says, “We are not called to win; we are called to witness.” However, history does show that the faithful, relentless, prophetic witness of the saints over many years results in the remarkable spread of the gospel and the end of thousands of horrible social evils from the individual to the national levels. So we must keep speaking. We must call abortion what it is: the killing of children and a vicious established legalized evil and injustice.

A muddled middle road of moral & political neutrality on abortion is not an option if you believe the Bible. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we just remembered because of his relentless truth-telling in the face of established, legalized racial evil, once said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.” We dare not be guilty of this. The Lord who said, “Rescue those who are being taken away to death” will not accept the excuse, “Behold, we did not know this” (Proverbs 24:11–12).

Read Psalm 139. May life be in the power of our truthful tongues.

Do Something!

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might” –                 Ecclesiastes 9:10

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,” refers to works that are possible. There are many things which our heart finds to do which we will never do. We must not be content with forming schemes in our heart and talking about them. We must carry out “Whatsoever our hand findeth to do.” One good deed is worth more than a thou…sand brilliant theories. Let us not wait for large opportunities but do just the things we “find to do” day by day. We have no other time in which to live. The past is gone, and the future has not arrived. We never have any time but the present. Then do not wait until your experience has ripened into maturity before you attempt to serve God. Endeavor now to bring forth fruit. Do it promptly. Do not fritter away your life in thinking what you intend to do tomorrow. No man ever served God by doing things tomorrow. We honor Christ by the things we do today. Whatever you do for Christ, do it with heart, soul, and strength. Where is the might of a Christian? It is not in himself, for he is perfect weakness. His might lies in the Lord of Hosts. Then let us seek His help. Let us proceed with prayer and faith. When we have done what our “hand findeth to do,” let us wait on the Lord for His blessing.

This Is My Bible

Pick up your Bible. Now, repeat after me:

“This is my Bible.

I am who it says I am. – Matthew 5:16
I can do what it says I can do. – Philippians 4:13
I am going where it says I will go. – John 14:3

God’s Word is milk for my soul. – 1 Peter 2:2
God’s Word is seed for my faith. – Luke 8:11
God’s Word is light for my path. – Psalm 119:105
God’s Word is power for my victory. – Hebrews 4:12
God’s Word is freedom for my life. – John 8:32

When I read God’s Word, it brings me joy. – Jeremiah 15:16
When I study God’s Word, it keeps me from shame. – 2 Timothy 2:15
When I memorize God’s Word, it purifies my heart. – Psalm 119:11
When I quote God’s Word, it defeats my enemies. – Ephesians 6:10, 17
When I meditate on God’s Word, it brings me success. – Joshua 1:8
When I abide in God’s Word, it gives me confidence. – John 15:7

I am a Bible-believing follower of Jesus Christ!”

Pride Can Sneak In

I have to confess that which has been weighing heavily on my heart (James 5:16): Having witnessed to hundreds of people here and abroad, I’m finally beginning to realize my pridefulness (Ephesians 2:9) in this. I do the sinner and the Holy Ghost a disservice by causing others to close their hearts to Him, thereby committing the unpardonable sin: blaspheming the Spirit (Matthew 12:31) by turning aw…ay from His calling because of some sort of animosity held against me. I weep to think of how many of the elect (Ephesians 1:4) I may have caused to stumble and remain dead in sin a little while longer… However, I must continue to sow seeds among my neighbors and shine the light that Jesus Christ has lit in me (Matthew 13:1-30, Mark 4:1-29, Luke 8:4-18), but I am finally beginning to understand how and why to not “cast… pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6). Paul saw the need to be very careful when trying to save others, (1 Corinthians 9:27) and so, now, do I . As much as it hurts to KNOW that, without a transformation (Romans 12:2) and regeneration (Titus 3:5), many of those, whom I love, that are professing followers of Christ and others sure of some kind of “salvation,” or, at least, “worthiness,” are going to be eternal kindling, there comes a time when I have to let go and allow The Father’s will to be done (Matthew 6:10). Yet, let me say that if you love Christ you WILL keep His commandments (Leviticus 26:3, John 14:15). That isn’t to say that we won’t stumble, but we certainly will be convicted of our sin. If you don’t, at the very least, feel conviction for what the Bible tells us is sin, then you should seriously doubt your own salvation and, prayerfully and with trembling (Jeremiah 5:22, Matthew 10:28), REPENT (John 14:23-24)!!! Otherwise, in the words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon; “Let them get home to their knees and pray God to give them manliness enough at least to be damned honestly, and not go down to perdition wearing the name of Christian when Christians they are not.” Please, let that not be the case. I love you all. I really get it now; “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31)…

They Hated the Light

Phil Robertson quoted the Bible recently when talking about homosexuality. It stirred up the censorship police and it sure brought the verse to the public’s attention. That’s good news. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor t…he greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Gays were deeply offended, and no wonder. The Scriptures clearly say that they are not going to make it to Heaven. However, it also says that fornicators (those of us who have had premarital sex), idolaters (those who make up false gods; football, work, anything we put before Almighty God), adulterers, thieves, and the others mentioned in the list won’t make it either. So all these folks should be just as offended as homosexuals. But it gets worse. Jesus said that if we as much as lust, we commit adultery in our hearts (Matthew 5:27-28), and who of us isn’t guilty of that? So the rest of humanity should be deeply offended by the message of Christianity …and they are. God means what He says about Hell. He will have His Day of absolute justice, despite the offense. As Christians, we care and love people enough to warn about Hell’s reality, and we care enough to tell this sinful world that God is rich in mercy, willing to forgive and grant everlasting life to all who repent of sin and trust alone in Jesus.

“Repentance and faith are distasteful to the unregenerate; they would sooner repeat a thousand formal prayers than shed a solitary tear of true repentance.” – Charles Spurgeon

The Greatest Gift

The greatest gift a man can give his family does not come wrapped in a box. It involves leading them to the throne of God.

 

Lead your Family to the Cross

“God has entrusted to parents a most solemn charge, and yet a most precious privilege. It is not too much to say that in their hands are deposited the hope and blessing, or else the curse and plague, of the next generation. Their families are the nurseries of both Church and State, and according to the cultivating of them now will be their fruitfulness hereafter. Oh, how prayerfully and carefully should you who are parents discharge your trust. Most assuredly God will require an account of the children from your hands, for they are His, and only lent to your care and keeping. The task assigned you is no easy one, especially in these superlatively evil days. Nevertheless, if trustfully and earnestly sought, the grace of God will be found sufficient in this responsibility as in others. The Scriptures supply us with rules to go by, with promises to lay hold of, and, we may add, with fearful warnings lest we treat the matter lightly.” – Arthur Pink