Posts tagged ‘love’

April 13, 2023

Examining Ourselves – State of the Church

When traditional values worthy of conserving have been long lost in society at large, it becomes time to stop identifying as conservative, unless one is neo-conservative, i.e. desirous of conserving the modern “woke-ism”. Traditional “conservatives” must then rather be “reconstructionists”, exemplified by the efforts of post civil war Reconstruction of the 19th century, and Christian Reconstruction of the 20th century. Now, as moral relativism has descended into abominable evil, and darkness pervades, what then do we need to be?

Salt and Light

Socio-political labels aside, salt is required to de-putrefy the rot, and light to shine through the darkness. If we just go along and get along, then the salt has lost its flavor, and the light may as well be under a basket. Are we not commanded to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them (Ephesians 5:11)? Jesus said “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)

Fervent love of righteousness engenders an equally fervent hatred of evil. David said of the wicked, “Do I not hate them, O LORD, that hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them my enemies” (Psalm 139:21-22). And we are told “You who love the LORD, hate evil” (Psalm 97:10) and “the fear of the LORD is to hate evil” (Proverbs 8:13) and “hate the evil, and love the good” (Amos 5:15). Shouldn’t Bible-believing Christians abhor what is evil (Romans 12:9)?

Surely we know in our hearts that as new creatures in Christ we ought not abide and appease the contemptible wickedness of the ungodly powers that be!  

Ah, but the dread of persecution, there’s the rub.

What tribulations may come, when we have shuffled off our comfort zone to actively despise and confront the evil that flourishes unopposed… there’s the respect that makes cowards of us, and makes us rather bear with abominations from the pit of hell than bring upon ourselves the ill will of the anti-God establishment which has seized and corrupted the institutions of this once great nation, including government up to the highest levels.

“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

“A country which has enshrined sodomite “marriages” into law, has Drag Queen Story Hour presentations for children in its public libraries, and not only allows the abomination of transgenderism but even has a government that protects it, has hit rock bottom, and this is only to mention the worst of the “sexual” perversions and not the public practice and promotion of innumerable other evils that violate all the commandments of God. “-Stuart DiNenno

And how many of us are still in denial about the plandemic?

“The COVID-19 media stories, mandates, financial rewards, and injections were all based on false narratives designed to destroy America, our military, and our children. We’ve all been subjected to a cruel, well-orchestrated, global, scientific and social experiment of injectable gene-editing (mRNA) bioweapon technologies. An experiment that combined military-grade bioweapons with mass media and government propaganda that used psychological warfare tactics in order to coerce citizens into being injected (i.e. forcing citizens to stay in their homes, mandatory masking, six feet apart rule, continual PCR testing, and unlawful and unconstitutional vaccine mandates).” -Karen Kingston

Commitment to loving God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves is completely upended by letting the worst evils in our nation go unopposed.

As uncomfortable as it will be, the body of Christ – the church – must stand against the evils of our day so that the power of God will prevail towards putting all His enemies under His feet in the long run. This means getting informed with the truth, and challenging the phony narratives that have captured many minds. This we must do not only in our preaching, but in our everyday conversations and witness.

For alternative media intel visit DeceptionWatch.net.

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May 27, 2022

HIStory, the Here & How, and the Hope of Heaven

Sometime around 1,992 years ago the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ ascended with the clouds of heaven up to the Ancient of Days (cf. Daniel 7:13). Having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, He left the glories of heaven and came to this sin-cursed earth, took on flesh and lived a sinless life — obedient to the Father unto death, even death on a cross. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

What a miracle of love: God became a man! That part of the blessed work of redemption, as determined since before the foundation of the world by intraTrinitarian Covenant (pactum salutis) was accomplished in the fullness of time, in accordance with divine decree. Christ came forth, to faithfully perform the atonement for the sins of His people, as typified in the Old Testament, by perfect righteousness and substitutionary propitiation; as He proclaimed upon the cross, “it is finished.”

The third day thereafter He rose from the dead, and that calls for a never-ending chorus of hallelujahs. It behooves us to rejoice as we faithfully meditate upon the blessed historical truth of the Holy Spirit inspired Scriptures. Worthy is the Lamb of God Who was slain. All praise and glory to God Who is blessed forever, amen.

With the glorified God-Man reigning at the right hand of Majesty on High, the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, regenerates sinners to new life in Christ Jesus; comforts, counsels and empowers His people, and seals us for the day of redemption. How then should we live? Never forget that we’re now spiritually alive and well, with the Spirit Himself dwelling within us. Therefore, not only are you a part of His body which is a living temple, but also your body itself is a temple! Mindful of being thus set apart as Holy, we pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are no longer slaves to sin, but rather bond servants of Jesus Christ. Let us go forth, not on our own strength, but abiding in Him, obeying His commandments. This indeed is a most gracious gift from above. For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

In light of all this, zeal for God’s glory ought to burn within us, as the Holy Spirit quickens us and fans the flames within our souls! Indeed, man’s chief end is to glorify God, and how better to effectuate that purpose than to bring every thought, word and deed captive to Christ. His kingdom is advancing on earth, and we are the instruments. Inaugurated in the 1st century, the kingdom of heaven has expanded by the millions in Africa and Asia and throughout the world. The Christian foundation of the American experiment may be crumbling, but we must think globally and long term. Besides, we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).

So with our reigning Lord Jesus as the Head over all things, and us as the members of His body, the feet should be moving and the hands reaching out, the tongue speaking… we may not see it in our generation; even so, ours is not to sit back, wait, watch or complain about what Jesus is doing or not doing. We are what Jesus is doing!

After declaring “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” … the next word our Head says is “Go”… go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world(Matthew 28:18-20). Amen.

June 24, 2012

Is this Your Religion?

Puritan Audio Devotional: Is this your religion?

J.A. James, challenging

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June 8, 2012

Deliverance

Posted by compugor June 8, 2012 at 2:10 pm on the Midwest Christian Outreach blog:

An unbelieving man who instinctively looks at women with lust is an adulterer, but he does not even recognize that he is an adulterer. A born again Christian (especially one regenerated at age 52) may still have the same adulterous instinct, but knows that it is adultery, sinful and wrong. So he repents of it, struggles against it, and relies on the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit to deliver him from it. He may continue to struggle with it for the rest of his life, but here’s the point – he is no longer an adulterer… he no longer practices that sin by suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, and he now hates it because it is against God’s law (cf Matthew 5:28 ).

Well its the same thing with homosexuality. That’s just another sin that a believer can repent of and be delivered from. But an unbeliever cannot just “decide” to repent and believe the Word; nor can he/she be intellectually convinced; it is only by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit that sinners are saved. So it all comes down to this: you must be born again.

Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can be saved except through faith in Him. As it is written “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9)“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8)Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9).

The message has not changed, and it can’t be sugar-coated. It applies to homosexuality just the same as all sins. Christians should indiscriminately share the gospel message of faith, hope and yes, love. What a wondrous love is this, that the Lord of glory would die on a cross for the sins of His people! There is no darkness greater than the grace of Jesus. He not only saves from the damnation of hell but makes FREE from the condemning power of sin. Let us point to the thousands of ex-gays who have now “come out” of homosexuality to lead healthy, fulfilling lives:  http://familypolicy.net/hope-for-homosexuals/living-proof