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'Heaven' and 'Hell'?
This is pretty strong language, yes, but is it really any different than some of the language that Jesus used in condemning the self-righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees?
We want to clarify, for you, that 'Heaven' is simply the enjoyment of the blessings of the Presence of God, whereas, the 'Hell' that we speak of here, could be described as the cursedness of a life lived in disobedience to His Covenant, and thus not in enjoyment of the benefits of His Presence!
Full Essay
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Peace, Heavenly Peace
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods,
Rocks, hills and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, Repeat, the sounding joy!
The carol, of which this is but one glorious verse, is probably one of the best-loved and most familiar hymns of praise that we sing during the Christmas season. When the Christmas season passes, however, this song, more often than not, seemingly passes out of the thoughts of even most Christians, only to be resurrected the following Christmas season, where they readily and easily ( thoughtlessly, ignorantly? ) sing verses like those above; 'why is this?'
Most Christians will quickly acknowledge the rule of King Jesus; up there, somewhere, reigning in 'Heaven', seated at the Father's right hand, holding sway over 'the hearts and minds' of those who acknowledge Him as their King. Isaac Watts, though, realized that Jesus had been sent to this earth ( world ) to reign and rule, on this earth! He was not alone in this assertion, i.e., it was nothing new!
Full Essay
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Empire-builders versus Kingdom-builders
( the city of man versus the City of God )
Where do wars and fights [ come ] from among you? Do [ they ] not [ come ] from your [ desires for ] pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.( James 4:1 & 2 )
Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, [ saying ], Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us. ( Psalm 2:1-3 )
Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. ( Psalm 127:1 )
'Death and destruction around the world': so said a good friend of mine in referring to the havoc that has been created and foisted upon the world, through wars unconstitutionally perpetrated in the name of freedom and democracy! I believe that most of us, if we're honestly seeking the truth, would have to admit that, at the basis of these 'wars', is not, as we've been led to believe, in our willful ignorance, a concern for freedom and democracy, but rather, a self-seeking and self-serving lust for power, and an undeniable greed for 'all the oil under the sand'!
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In God We Trust?
How can we say we trust in God, and yet rely on the state for our salvation?
There are many Christians out there who seem to want it both ways. We want to keep God and Government in separate realms. Over here; we want to have our faith, and live our lives according to that faith ( as long as we don't offend anyone ), but over there, we want to let the civil government have their way, whether it's right or wrong. In spite of this; we often complain when the civil government steps on our God-given liberties. Some of us don't seem to care, having seemingly given themselves over to an attitude of 'que sera, sera'; like the realm of civil government doesn't have anything to do with our Christian faith. Speaking of attitude, we often take the same stance towards wicked civil government ( often not very 'civil' ) as we sometimes have toward young men; 'boys will be boys': you might well say, 'bad government will be bad government', so we might as well vote for the lesser of two evils, right? Wrong! Many Christians seem to have forgotten the fact that God has called us to bring every thought ( word and deed ) into subjection to Him, and when we try to separate these realms into religious and secular ( 'and never the twain shall meet' ); we tend to forget, as well, that there is no such thing as two separate realms; Jesus removed the separation, and if we would still posit that the separation is firmly in place, then maybe we need to rethink our own position!
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The Everlasting Kingdom
And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. ( Daniel 2:44 )
David wrote, in Psalm 104 ( 5 ), of our great God and Creator who 'laid the foundations of the earth, so [ that ] it should not be moved forever'. Whether you believe. as some, that he was writing of the physical globe, or along with Daniel, of God's Covenant Creation; it is clearly stated that it will stand, or be lively forever. David also wrote earlier, in his 78th Psalm ( verse 69 ), 'He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He has established forever.' David's son, Solomon, wrote that 'the earth abides forever' ( Ecclesiastes 1:4b ). Why then do we hear, from these fear-mongering end-times prognosticators, that the world is going to end tomorrow? Well, the Scriptures do speak, most famously in Isaiah 65:17, of a 'new heavens and a new earth'. Actually, probably better known is Peter's reference to it, in II Peter 3:13!
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Stand Up, Christian Soldiers!
Christians are cowards!
This may seem like a pretty strong, and for the most part, untrue statement, but American Christianity, for the most part, has become so lackadaisical, that it's about time to 'warm up the paddles'! For one thing, it usually takes some pretty strong medicine to cure such a terrible sickness. Many Christians out there, whether individually ( usually ) or as a whole, have bowed to the demands of their government, and seemingly forgetting who the Ruler of this world is; have said, 'we have no king but Caesar'!
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The Face of God
Recently; I have been reminded that to live 'coram Deo', or before the Face of God, is to live a life in obedience to His commands, the imperatives of the Covenant that He has made with us through Jesus Christ. We, as Christians, or followers of Jesus the Christ, have willingly and knowingly entered into the bonds of this Covenant, and based upon our obedience or disobedience to that Covenant, reap the benefits, the just deserts of that Covenant, either the blessings or the curses. You can find these laid out most famously in Deuteronomy 28.
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Teats, Triggers, and Tyrants
I will not take a bull out of your house, [ nor ] goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest [ is ] Mine, [ and ] the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field [ are ] Mine. ( Psalm 50:9-11 )
Lest I be accused of pulling this Scripture out of context; the only real import this passage has on my topic here, is that all these things belong to God; not us, and certainly not some silly, puffed up tyrannical despot.
Commenting on the recent raw milk raid on some poor operation out in California that's only trying to make a better life for the next generation through healthier eating; a friend of mine stated, in almost enraged shock, 'my God; they're squeezing cow's teats, not triggers!' The recent raid, though almost laughable, is only a symptom of a looming, and seemingly irreversible ( without bloodshed ) problem; our federal government is playing God again! The banning, and even criminalizing of things as simply good for you as raw milk is like barely scraping the top of the iceberg that sank the Titanic! I mean, 'really'; when you think about all the good things that God has given to us, everything necessary for health and happiness; the federal government has, in their 'messianic complex', in their finite 'wisdom', deemed it necessary, because many people lack responsibility and the common sense God gave a horse, to say, 'here; we'll just ban it, or regulate the hell out of it', thus taking the burden of responsibility off of our shoulders, because we're just too stupid and senseless to know better! Well, needless to say, 'it don't work that way'! We're all still personally responsible before God, and even to each other, as the people of God.
'Jesus is Lord; Caesar is not!'
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The Difference Between Having and Taking
"So God created man in His [ own ] image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Genesis 1:27 & 28 )
From the moment in time when Eve decided to take from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, things have gone down-hill. They were told before this happened, to 'have' dominion but ever since the 'Fall', it seems like man has taken whatever dominion he has, whether it be over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the beasts of the earth, or the earth itself. One has only to read one of the good old history books, ancient or 'modern', to read this history, 'necessary' or not, of violence.
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The Truth Has Made Us Free
Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked. Proverbs 25:26 ( ESV )
When Peter was asked by a bunch of ( Re? ) publicans if His Master paid the temple tax, like a good Jew, he responded in the affirmative; of course He does.................right? After they had gone into the house, a bit later; Jesus asked Peter this question, 'From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?' When Peter responded that it was 'from strangers'; Jesus reminded him that 'then the sons are free'. Nevertheless; Jesus went ahead and paid the temple tax, not because He must, but because He could.
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Resurrection Reality
by Stephen J. Wagner
Why is it that there is so much fear among religious and political conservatives over some supposed tyrannical plot by evil conspirators to gather all the people and nations of the world into a single political and religious order? Is it the workings and writings of organizations like the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, or the more secretive and certainly more sinister Skull and Crossbones Society and the Masonic Order? Is it from the hearing of the histories and the workings of the Old World banking dynasties of Rothschild, Lehman Brothers and Rockefellers with all of their lust for power and control. Is it the work of preachers and pundits pounding out their predictions of futuristic apocalypse week after week, book after book setting rapture dates and spinning Armageddon tales of horror, all with the imprimatur of biblical inerrancy.
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Beyond Father's "DAY"
There are many who lament and decry the breakdown of our American culture together with our decent into tyranny. Some recognize that the family is suffering sever attacks from an array of forces and influences that seem more prevalent than in past generations. The seeming need of two incomes, the continual assaults from the entertainment industry and political antics of the "alternative lifestyle" groups are all sited as threats to the Christian family. I would submit that none of these are the real problem. The real culprit is men who have, on an epidemic scale, abdicated their responsibility.
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Say what?!
by Steven J. Wagner
It's fairly simple and quite logical. Evolutionism relies on the premise that the world and mankind exists as a result of billions of purely chance occurrences taking place over billions of years time. Evolutionism denies the God of the Bible and all of the creation account recorded therein. To be internally consistent, those who believe in Evolutionism must reject any notion of objective standards of ethics and morality or demonstrate how such notions can be supported by their belief in a "random universe". When one ponders the problem of ethics and morality one cannot help but ask the question back to the atheists who gave us Evolutionism in the first place "Why should we accept something that science cannot prove and we cannot observe?"
Christians know why Johnny should not do meth and a lot of other destructive things and we have a logical and internally consistent way of knowing how we know. The Evolutionist does not. He should quit whining or give up his foolish and destructive rebellion and submit himself heart and soul to the Lord of all creation Jesus Christ. For it is true that the fool that says in his heart "There is no God".
Essay by Bo Stuart
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Kingdom or Empire?
So many Christians have gotten their underwear all knotted up over the current state of affairs in our country and its culture that we think a reminder of what we are supposed to be doing here is in order. Too much of our money, time and hand wringing has been expended trying to keep the empire afloat. It is time to repent of our mis-placed priorities and recognize that the fate of the United States Empire is not our first concern. Empires are certainly used of God but by their nature are not "of" God. They, including ours, are built by war, power, force, fear, intimidation, cunning, deceit and political intrigue. In contrast, the Kingdom of Heaven comes through good works, sacrificial love and service, teaching and preaching. Its Warriors effectively wield the sword of truth in faith, believing that the Spirit of God will win the hearts and minds of men. Empire builders kill people and beak things until those who are left submit to their greater ability to use force. Covenant life “comes down from heaven” while the ways of empires originated in hell.
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