A Pure and Undefiled Religion

Praise God! Let us celebrate our Maker!

During my daily Bible reading recently, God has been graciously showing me select passages highlighting methods for activating a pure and undefiled religion, simple ways to live among our fellow humans--believers and atheists alike.

It is refreshing to find such simple, elegant religious pointers in the Bible, especially in an age where religion has become progressively more complex and convoluted, what with all the political correctness and false teachings going on in the church. (Political correctness is fine and all, but Biblical correctness should take preference over mere human opinions; after all, Jesus Christ himself was not political correct.)

You'll find the inspirational verses in the following places: Philippians 2:4, Psalms 133:1, Hebrews 10:24, and James 1:27. These passages are beacons! Simple and useful guidelines on how to activate our 'religion' and serve God, by considering others as just as important as ourselves (GASP!) and then acting on this wild new perspective.

If Christ humbled Himself and lived as if others were just as important as He was (and let's be honest, our Savior was surrounded by thieves, liars, backstabbers, cowards and prideful heathen who were most definitely NOT as important as He), then there is no reason or excuse under heaven why we should not follow His example.

It's time to simplify our faith, people. Let us get back to the Bible. Let us return to a pure religion founded on the Word of God, and on that alone. Amen! 

America is on a Dangerous Path

One could say America turned onto and first trod this road the day President Clinton defiled the White House. One sin begets another. His lust begat lies, his lies tolerance for wickedness, and so on. It continued with President Bush, and this journey America is on is being spearheaded today by our incumbent president, the man who seems intent on accelerating our destruction.

For years America has been trading off the greatness of the World War 2 generation. Seven decades have worn this greatness down to a nub, until today we find that countless nations around the world hate our once revered country.

It is no coincidence that this slow and steady decline of faith in America as the greatest nation on earth has coincided with the steady decline of morality and religious values on which this nation was founded. (And don’t bother arguing that Thomas Jefferson was an agnostic; even he lived by an unshakable ethical and moral code founded on Christian principles.) Contrary to his early claims of being a Christian, Obama clearly possesses no moral compass, but prefers to lend his support to whichever group happens to be in the majority at the moment, and has a proclivity for waving the flag of whichever assemblage might produce for him the most votes.

President Obama is, ironically, as misguided as was Jefferson Davis in his day. His principles lay with the highest bidder. Either he is intentionally sabotaging America or he is unspeakably, monumentally inept, making the wrong choices at every turn. He needs our prayers so that he might be led by God rather than by self-interest.

The attacks on this nation, the growing anti-American propaganda, the wars, all these terrible events will accelerate and worsen the more America strives to become a godless nation. We are systematically denigrating our religious values, shoving God out of school and public life while pushing for the tolerance of those acts which used to be committed only in the dark. If our government and its people continue seeking the outlawing of God Almighty, we will reap even worse consequences than those which trouble us now. In the Bible God gave the Israelites opportunities to repent. Whenever they chose stubborn disobedience to His Word, He let their enemies overtake them. I fear the same for my nation, a land I love—America the Beautiful.

Concerning anti-discrimination laws, our government needs to tread carefully.

Discrimination of any sort is both backwards and harmful; this includes anti-Christian sentiments! It is good that we Americans are seeking anti-discrimination, but if in doing so we trod over religious liberties, cultural advancement will go out the window. Likewise so-called ‘Religious Liberty’ bills are just as controversial. We must take care to make sure these bills do no authorize discrimination, just as we must work to prevent anti-discrimination laws from shoving Christians into a rock-and-a-hard-place, forcing them to choose to either follow their beliefs (and thereby invite lawsuits), or to compromise their faith in compliance with religious intolerance promoted via these anti-discrimination laws.

Let’s get specific: The pastor of a Christian church is asked to perform a gay wedding. Adhering to God’s view that homosexuality is a sin in His eyes as it is contrary to His design, the pastor says he is not comfortable with performing the marriage and refuses to do it. The gay couple sues. Following the current social agenda and the popularity contest that our judicial system is fast becoming, the gay couple wins. The pastor loses his position. Another pastor is brought in to the church, one who will perform marriages of any type, because, after all, making concessions in one’s faith is what the church is all about in this the age of tolerance for sin. Whatever brings in the numbers.

In the obverse we have a so-called Christian owner of a diner (re: Indiana Religious Freedom Bill) who turns away a lesbian couple, citing the bill. This is intolerance and displays an arrogance not advocated by the Bible. It is false Christians like the bigoted diner owner who give Christianity and religious freedom a bad name. Religious freedom bills should exist to protect believers from being forced to jeopardize their faith, not to empower them to endorse discrimination.

A balance between the two sides can be met, but not by bigots, racists, God-haters, or religious hypocrites.

We need a better class of leadership in this nation. We need men and women of unshakable faith if we ever hope to enact this decisive balance. We should invite the LGBT community into our places of business, we should hire them, bring them to church, but if we feel it would displease God to honor their lifestyle by marrying them, then we should not be forced to choose between God’s will and man’s. After all, as our Creator, it is God’s right to decide what is pleasing to Him, and what is detestable (Leviticus 18:22). I know of many straight couples who were forced to choose a different church and pastor to marry them due to various reasons. It upset them, but they didn’t sue anyone over it. Why start a war over a disagreement, when a peaceful resolution can be found by those who honor God above man?

This dangerous path America is currently on can only lead to civil unrest, or worse, to a Godless nation. We must pray. We must live as good examples. We must voice our concerns and support those who support a God-fearing America. (It is right and good that we should love and fear Him; He is both Creator and Destroyer. Let us not provoke the latter.)

Consider this: without God, who will there be to bless America?

The Dangers of the Social Gospel

The design, or intention, of the modern American Church's social gospel, is the same as that of megachurch pastors: to increase the number of people who believe whatever it is they believe.

Basically the social gospel is our religious leaders' attempt to be politically correct--which is not, btw, one of the Beatitudes--and to 'modernize' scripture to make it more palatable to modern thinking--which is, btw, the doorway to following in Satan's footsteps.

To better understand this, let's get specific, Bob.

The social gospel:

1. Promotes the tolerance of New Age Movement lifestyles in the church (a good way to boost attendance)
2. Avoids the controversial subject of abortion, rather than taking a stand against it
3. Emphasizes focus on tolerance (of sin) instead of focus on Christ, who never spoke of tolerating sin, but on repenting of sin, so that it might be forgiven
4. Corrupts scripture in order to justify disobedience to God and his Word
5. Seeks to solve social and political issues and create a utopia in this world, rather than dealing with the true issue at the heart of the Gospel: the salvation of our eternal souls

While on the surface, the social gospel movement appears useful, providing shelter, food, and financial support, the emphasis placed on this human movement inherently distracts its followers from the importance of Christ, who is our Redeemer and Savior. Frederick Nymeyer put it wisely:

'The Social Gospel may be the most crucial of all problems besetting Christian churches at this time, for when a Christian's ethical certitudes are revealed to be defective, as it always turns out to be in the Social Gospel, then he ends up abandoning confidence in valid, Biblical faith. In practice what happens is that when Social Gospel action fails to produce valid results, the person promoting such programs does not abandon the Social Gospel and return to the true Gospel, but plunges deeper into further Social Gospel actions with progressively more frustrating results.'

We must remember that it is God who saves, that this world is only our temporary residence (1 Peter 1:17), and that our duty here in this world is not so much to effect social change, but to effect eternal change in the souls of those we meet.

A Good and Faithful Servant

Today God received into His arms His good and faithful servant, my grandfather.

After a long horrible illness, grandpa is finally home, having shed his old tent and put on a new one, a form that will not wither and waste away, but sustain him in perfect health forever. (2 Cor 5:1)

It is difficult . . . to think that he is no longer here with us. But he leaves behind a testimony, a life led by love, filled with good works, an example worth following in a world where precious few examples are even remotely decent.

Until we see you again, grandpa, I will strive to follow in the footsteps of the Christ-like love and obedience you leave behind.

Praise God for the time we had together with grandpa, for the wonderful memories of this godly--and often humorous--man.
Amen.

Seek First His Kingdom

But seek ye first His Kingdom, and all these things shall be added unto you. Luke 12:31

Ever wonder just what the heck this verse means? How exactly do we seek the Kingdom? Firstly, by the preceding verses in Luke chapter 12, we see that by 'these things' God is referring to our food and clothing, our basic wants and needs. He is guiding us not to worry about how we will get these things, as worry produces nothing good. He is telling us that He will provide these things, that it is His pleasure to provide us these things, if only we will focus on Him instead of on 'them things'.

It is our duty and privilege to seek His Kingdom, which means to obey His word, do good works, love our neighbors.

Lately whenever I've prayed for guidance, all I've received in way of answer is the above verse. Frankly, it was getting annoying. But then, my 'neighbor' was in need of car repairs. Though poor and in need of food and clothing, I took my tithe money and my time and fixed his car. Suddenly a few days later, I receive two separate unexpected payments!

Luke 12:31 in action. Yeah boy! God is good, God is great. It can be scary to set aside our earthly concerns, but when we seek first His Kingdom, God will tend to our needs, better than we ever could.

Trust Him.

The Bible on Love

'LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF' Galatians 5:14

That's the Bible in a nutshell, people.

We hear this verse, but do we really appreciate it? Why doesn't it say Love your neighbor as your spouse, or child, or as you love God? It advocates loving your neighbor as yourself because the highest form of human love is the love of self. Our love for others may wane, we may someday decide we don't love our mate after all, but we will always fight tooth and nail for ourselves, because at the end of the day--admit it, you know it's true--you love yourself. Think about it. After all, this is the kind of love God advocates for our fellow man(kind).

The Bible on Hatred

My father ran into a hard verse that bothered him, and asked what it could mean. Here it is: 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, wife, and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.' Luke 14:26-27

A hard verse indeed. My Apologetics study Bible explains it this way: Jesus' point was not that all who follow him must sever all ties with family relations, but rather that nothing, not even family, should be allowed to keep one from discipleship.' We need to understand that as our Creator and Savior, God has the right to demand that He come first in our lives.

Again: AS GOD, HE HAS THE RIGHT

The Word is summed up in this command, that we love our neighbor as ourself, Galatians 5:14

'So' the agnostic asks, 'we shouldn't hate our family?'

That's not what Jesus was implying. He never advocates the hatred of others, but only the hatred of sin. In the Luke verse, Jesus' statement was intentionally shocking to drive home His point that God must be put first, even before family, that we must become His disciples. We can only do this if we obey His word, which advocates love, even love of our enemies.By using potent challenging language, Jesus made clear His design not that we hate each other, but that everyone, even ourselves, must come second to Him. HE HAS THE RIGHT