Happy New Year! 2010!
ObamaCare – national healthcare in crisis
I never thought I’d see the day when Big Brother would actually take over for real. But that is exactly what is going to happen if the President’s Health Care bill passes.
I can’t help but think that there is more behind this bill than just helping uninsured Americans gain health care. From what I’ve read about the bill it seems to be more about government control of our lives. They will have access to our bank accounts and medical records. They will tell us what and how much treatment we will receive. They will even decide based on our age and health issue whether we will even be “worthy” of treatment. So they will decide when the elderly are “old enough” and not deserving to live any longer. They may say no, that’s not the case, but isn’t limiting treatment the same as saying your time has come?
With the enormous cost of this plan there will have to be corners cut all around. This will include limiting how much a doctor can charge for his services. That scares me because basically that means the doctor is working for the government, in a sense on their payroll. Where will the incentive be for a young student to want to go into the medical field? They won’t make the money that warrants their profession. They won’t be able to build up their practice and be proud of their accomplishments if all they are going to be are government puppets. With less doctors and more patients per doctor this will hurt our quality of treatment as this new plan moves on in years.
And what about medical science in general? We have the highest quality of healthcare in the world. And that stems from free enterprise and the availability of treatment that comes from the research done to help people cope with their illnesses. What will be the incentive for more research if there won’t be any monetary benefit for their findings for treatments and drugs? Money and rewards drives research.
I am not comfortable knowing that my hospital care is dictated by the government. Or that my doctor is under the government’s thumb. People from other countries come here, to the U.S., when they need treatment they can’t get from their own government based health care. Doesn’t that tell you their socialized healthcare system doesn’t work?
I know there are people out there that don’t have medical insurance. I am one of them. But I don’t want to give up my freedom for the proposed government based health plan President Obama is pushing. There has to be other alternatives than what is now being considered.
In Loving Memory Of Charlie
Charlie
1996 - April 20, 2009
Died of liver failure at Arrow Animal Hospital, Glendale AZ
Rest In Peace Charlie
In Loving Memory of Snuggles
Snuggles
October 28, 1997 - December 24, 2008
Died of congestive heart failure at Arrow Animal Hospital, Glendale AZ
Rest In Peace Snuggie
Thankful for Santa Claus?
This will be an article that not all will agree with. But I'm writing in answer to those Christians that absolutely hate Santa Claus and consider those that don't as carnal Christians.
I know that Santa Claus has a variety of origins depending on which country or person you are talking with. He's been known to have started as a man who loved to give gifts and eventually the Catholic church made him a saint. He's been known to be associated with pagan practices and traditions and some Christians throughout the last few centuries have disputed anything associated with Santa Claus.
Here's where you might disagree with me. In some ways I have to say I'm thankful for the legend of Santa Claus. Now I'm not saying we should tell our children he's real or we should in anyway worship him anymore than we would worship a Christmas tree which is yet another controversy among some Christians and cults. Who worships a Christmas tree anyway? Just because we put one up in our homes doesn't mean we are pagan or worship it. But I'm getting off the subject.
The reason I'm thankful in a way that Santa Claus is still a tradition is because it keeps Christ and Christmas in people's minds. The world now wants so much to push away Christ that if it weren't for Santa and commercialism no one would even bother to remember our Saviour's birth. I just went to our church's Christmas play and there were people sitting all around me that weren't Christians that attended. I knew they weren't because of the comments they made about being in a church, etc. But yet they were there to celebrate the 'holiday'. If it weren't for the secular traditions they wouldn't have stepped foot in a church for any kind of program.
At work we have the radio set on a secular station for Christmas music. You know how awesome it is to hear all my unsaved co-workers singing about the second birth, the little Lord Jesus, glory to our new born King? Never would they set that station to a Christian one but mixed in with all the jingle bells, white Christmas and Santa Claus are the songs with the true meaning of Christmas reminding everyone there about Jesus and what He did for us.
I love driving through the neighborhoods at night and seeing all the nativity scenes, Jesus Saves in lights and all the decorations put out to celebrate the One who died for us. It is acceptable to do that because the world is celebrating their traditions and amongst all that the Reason for the Season gets through.
In my opinion, without Santa Claus there would be no reminder of the true meaning of Christmas nor the celebration of it for the world. Sure, Christians would still celebrate our Saviour's birth but to the rest of the world it would mean nothing but another day for 'religious' people.
So even though I know there are lots of kids who don't know anything but Santa Claus, somehow somewhere the true meaning of Christmas might get through to them because of the traditional celebration with Santa. People throughout the decades have grown up with Santa Claus and yet there are still millions of Christians. I don't think being exposed to Santa means everyone will never believe in Jesus. And even though Santa has mixed origins and, of course, has nothing to do with the true meaning of Christmas I'm still partially thankful for his legend because he brings to rememberance our Saviour to people who would otherwise never hear or pay any attention.
If my opinion is wrong then so be it. But I'm for whatever will get people's attention so they will get saved from the wrath to come.
Lordship Salvation
I found this very well written article about Lordship Salvation on the desiringgod.org website. The link to the original page is at the bottom of the article. It is long but very worth the read.
Letter to a Friend Concerning the So-Called "Lordship Salvation"
February 1, 1990
Introduction
Explanatory Note: In the February, 1989 issue of The Standard, the journal for news and comment of the Baptist General Conference, I published a very affirming review of John MacArthur’s book, The Gospel According to Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988). One respected and effective minister of our fellowship responded to me with serious concern about what I was saying. The gist of his concern is seen in a few excerpts from his letter. I am going to change a few details so as not to draw attention to any one individual, because my friend speaks for many.
He said, “Near the age of fifteen I accepted Christ as my Savior. As I look back on my life, I can see He had powerful influence during my late teen years and early twenties. In my late twenties I began to be aware of the concept of Christ as Lord. As I investigated that concept and struggled with it, I realized that for Christ to be Lord, I had to submit everything to Him. In my early thirties I did just that. The concept of ‘lordship salvation’ that you support would mean that had I died at age twenty-two, that is, before Christ was Lord, I would not have gone to Heaven.”
Dear Friend!
Thank you for taking time and interest to respond to my review ofJohn MacArthur’s book, The Gospel According to Jesus. I haveheard of your love for Christ and your faithfulness in evangelism anddiscipling. This is plain also from your response. And I thank God forit. I hope these things can be discussed in a way that will minimizewidespread misunderstanding. If you see any misrepresentations of yourthinking please let me know.
Interpreting Two-Stage Experiences
Do you know what I think the biggest problem is between the way Isee things and the way you see things? It is not so much that I denyyour experience, but rather that I disagree with the way you describeit or interpret it. I can accept that you received Christ as your Saviornear the age of fifteen, and that you were at that moment savingly converted.I praise God that he opened your eyes like Lydia (Acts 16:14) and thathe drew you to his Son (John 6:44) and took out the heart of stone andput in a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) and granted you to repent (2Tim. 2:25) and believe (Phil. 1:29) and be saved totally by grace apartfrom any works (Eph. 2:8).
Not only that, I can accept that some years later, when you werein your early thirties, you had another remarkable experience with Christin which you made a decisive commitment to him as Lord and submittedeverything in your life to him. This experience, or somethinglike it, is told again and again in my church as people give their testimonies.
I highlight the word experience, because my guess is thatyour description of it has been significantly influenced bya popular, contemporary paradigm which, in my judgment, is not fullybiblical. I think I can show this from Scripture. But the hundreds oftestimonies I have listened to over the years also bear this out.
One can tell pretty quickly the people who have been taught to describetheir experience in this two-stage, Savior-Lord sequence. As I havequeried some of these people it has become clear to me that the secondarynature of the description sometimes is so tied in with thegenuineness of the experience that to question the descriptionis like calling into question the experience, which I hesitate to do.God alone is the final judge of a person’s true experience of salvation.But the Bible is the judge of how we should describe it.
When I have suggested to others another way of describing what hashappened to them, they have often seen truth in what I say and droppedthe two step, Savior-Lord paradigm as sub- and misleading.
A Converted Catholic Monk
I recall one fellow in particular from South Africa, a convertedCatholic monk. He was converted remarkably by the sovereign work ofGod one night during his evening prayers in the monastery. He knew hewas a new person the next morning when, instead of getting angry atthe bothersome 3:00 AM prayers of his aged neighbor, he felt pity andcompassion for him.
His life, typically had its ups and downs as he discovered more andmore fully the meaning of belonging to Jesus. Having left the monasteryhe joined a ministry in South Africa. Through this ministry he learnedto interpret his experience and give his testimony in a two-stage, Savior-Lordsequence. He spoke of conversion to Christ as Savior and of a latersubmission to him as Lord.
But as he sat at our dinner table one Sunday after service, tellinghis story, I could tell that things simply did not jive. The paradigmdid not work. His experience, as it came out in his longer interactionwith us, simply did not fit. So I said to him, what I think I wouldsay to you if I were talking to you now, “You know, Bill (not his realname), I think Jesus was your Lord before that later act of submission.I think he was your Lord the night you were converted and since thenyour experience has been one of more and more yieldedness to his sovereignrights as Lord over your life. And I don’t think that you have bowedto his lordship consistently since that time you ‘made him Lord’. Youare not fully yielded now or you would be sinless. But he is still yourLord now. And you were not fully yielded then, but he was your Lordthen.”
Bill was dumbfounded that I would call his testimony into question.No one had ever spoken to him like this. He had only heard one paradigmfor describing his experience. He sat in silence for a few minutes,and then said, “You know, I think you’re right.” And he went on to saythat it had never felt quite right and that what I said seemed to makemore sense out of the Scriptures as well as his experience.
My Father, the Evangelist
My own father is a full-time evangelist and has led thousands ofsouls to Christ over the last forty years of faithful gospel ministry.I just called him in Easley, S.C., to have him rehearse for me his experienceand give me a reading as an evangelist on the two step, Savior-Lordparadigm.
He said that he used to talk that way but has given it up in recentyears (he just turned seventy) because of how much damage he saw itdoing to the churches as it encouraged people to think they were savedwho were not. He quoted Romans 10:9 on the phone and said, “If a persondoes not have Jesus as Lord he does not have him at all.”
He himself received Christ at the age of six at his mother’s knee.Then as a teenager in 1934 during special services at his dad’s churchin Reading, Pennsylvania he was brought under deep conviction of theweakness of his life and the cowardice of his witness. He went forwardand “surrendered totally to the Lord.” That was the first time, he said,that he knew the fullness of the Spirit in his life, and he became powerfullycourageous, even standing up the next day in his public high schooland preaching for twenty minutes.
But he does not say Jesus was not his Lord before that experienceof deeper surrender. Rather he talks of coming more fully to submitto his lordship which had reigned savingly over his life for the pastten years but had allowed him to have many struggles and come to a crisisof commitment.
Then at about the age of thirty there was another crisis. He wasdrowning in debt and experiencing depression and insomnia. He beganto read a book by James McConkey about submission to God. The basisof the book was Psalm 37:4-5, and the author spoke of committing allto God and submitting to God’s sovereign plan for your life and restingin him. My father said that he realized at that point, in spite of thegreat power in his life for saving souls, he was not totally submittedto God. He bowed and gave up all to the Lord again. He said he founda peace beyond anything he had ever known.
His point was, and my point is, that from the time of our first savingacceptance of Christ, he is our King and Lord and Savior and Priestand Prophet and Counselor. All that he is, he is for those who are his.And then begins a life of faltering and growing yieldedness to Christin all that he is. his can come in the form of decisive crises, or inthe form of gradually growing commitment, or in the form of daily surrenderings.The lordship of Christ, in reality, is something that is not discoveredand yielded to once, but thousands of times. It is yieldedness to hislordship that is at stake every time we are tempted to sin—every day.
He Was My Lord Then I “Made Him Savior”
I have another friend who tells his testimony like this: I receivedJesus as my Lord when I was a child but it was many years beforeI discovered how much he wanted to save me from my sins oflust and greed and pride. Then I had a powerful encounter with Jesusand discovered this great saving intention and “made him mySavior” ina new and powerful way.
That has as much to say for it as the reverse paradigm. We wouldprobably want to admonish him that he must have received Jesusas Savior at the beginning in some sense. He would have toadmit that, I think, just as I think you would have to admit that youreceived Jesus as Lord in some sense when you were first saved.
There are even indications in your response to me that Jesus wasthe Lord of your life before the crisis experience in your early thirties.One indication is your statement that Christ “had a powerful influenceduring my late teen years and early twenties.” Could we not say thatthis word “powerful” means that Jesus had a “lordly” influencein your life in those years? Was he passive or was he exerting the powerof his reign as Lord? If you were being powerfully influenced by therisen Jesus, it was the Lord who was influencing you, for onlyas Lord does Christ reign and work among his people.
You may say, “But I did not relate to him as Lord in those years.”I wonder if that is exactly true? I wonder about this because somethingmay be real even when we don’t understand it fully or even use the rightlanguage to describe it. For example, is a person not “born again” justbecause he has never heard the term “born again” and does not relateto Jesus in those terms but only in terms of faith and forgiveness andatonement? No. A person is just as born again if he believes in Jesus,even if he has never heard of the word “regeneration” or the term “bornagain”. Many have been born again and saved through gospel tracts whichsay nothing about the term “rebirth.”
So I reckon it is possible that many people “have Jesus as theirLord” who don’t think much about that term (as evidently you didn’tfor ten years after your conversion). If you were not dealing with Christas one who authoritatively calls for newness of life, you would probablyhave been changed very little. But your testimony is that Christ “hada powerful influence” on your life in those early days. I believe youwere dealing with him as your Lord even though that may not have beena title you fully understood. I’m sure I didn’t in my earliest daysas a believer.
In fact none of us yet understands the full implications of the lordshipof Christ on our lives. I am struggling every day to know what the Lordis requiring of me in specific choices among good options. I am learningevery day the extent of his lordly control of the world and his mysteriousways of fulfilling his promises as Lord of my life and my church. Submittingto the lordship of Christ is a lifelong activity. It must be renewedevery day in many acts of trust and obedience. Submission to Christ’slordship is not merely a once-for-all experience.
Rejecting Christ As Lord and Still Saved?
I say “not merely” because in a sense it is a once for allexperience. I believe this is conversion. And if I understand the maindifference between us it is right here. You seem to say that a personcan be converted and saved even if they reject the claim ofJesus to be their Lord. I may be wrong here. But that seems to be theimplication of what you are saying. For if you are only saying thata person can be saved and not know fully the implications of Christ’slordship, then we have no argument on this point.
But your response goes further than that, I think, and says thatpeople “do not have Christ as Lord” and yet are saved. I takethe phrase, “do not have Christ as Lord,” to mean “reject his lordship.”Otherwise you would only be saying that all saved people own Jesus asLord of their lives but live out that submission in greater or lesserdegrees of consistency. But that is what I am saying. There would beno dispute.
So I take it that you are saying something much more extreme, namely,that people can actually be presented with the claims of Christ as Lordand say, “No, I don’t want to bow to him as Lord, and I do not accepthis claim on my life as authoritative Guide and Teacher,” but stillbe saved (if they believe that he died for them!). If that is what youare saying, then there is a great difference between us indeed. Andnot only between you and me, but between you and centuries of Christianorthodoxy.
No Assurance While Intent On Sin
The Bible makes it plain, I believe, that people who persistentlyrefuse the command of Jesus’ lordship have no warrant for believingthat they are saved. Such people should not be comforted that they aresaved simply because there was a time when they “believed” gospel factsor walked an aisle or signed a card or prayed a prayer. In fact, Jesusseems far more eager to explode the assurance of false “professionsof faith” than he is to give assurance to people who are intent on livingin sin. Where does he ever bolster the “eternal security” of a personunwilling to forsake sin?
I am not saying that only perfect people are saved. There are noperfect people on this earth. We sin every day and every good work wedo is tainted with sinful remnants of corruption. I am saying that aperson who goes on willfully rejecting the commands of Jesus for hislife has no warrant for salvation. The evidence for this is found inthe passages of Scripture listed at the end of this letter.
To clear up just what I think the Bible teaches about salvation byfaith I’d like to respond to some other specific points in your letterthat seem to reflect either a misunderstanding of what I am saying,or a rejection (without sufficient warrant) of what I am saying.
If I Died Before Making Jesus Lord
1. You say, “The concept of ‘lordship salvation’ would mean thathad I died at age twenty-two, that is, before Christ was Lord, I wouldnot have gone to Heaven.”
I think I have said enough above to assure you that my interpretationof your experience is a very hopeful one. I do think you would havegone to heaven. But, O, how I wish you could feel how St. Paul and Jesusand all the great, godly spokesmen of Christian orthodoxy for 1900 yearswould cringe at hearing the words, “Before Christ was Lord”!
Where in the New Testament can you find anything close to such adescription of a true believer? This way of talking about an immaturebeliever has no warrant in the New Testament. And it is so misleading!
It is misleading because Christ is Lord whether we acknowledgethat or not (Acts 2:36; Philippians 2:11). And it is misleading becausehe is the Lord of every true believer whether we grasp thisfully or obey him fully or not.
Just consider these few observations. Dozens of times in writingto all the believers of a church Paul refers to Jesus as “our Lord.”Some of these places have to take in all the believers, notjust those who are more mature in their devotion to Christ. For example,Romans 8:39 is a text you would probably want to use to encourage afaltering believer that he was secure in the arms of God. Yet the versesays that nothing will separate us from “the love of God in Christ Jesus ourLord.”
If the verse is to comfort the reader, the reader has to see himselfin the “our.” Paul has no intention here of saying that there are someChristians who do not have Jesus as Lord and thus do not have security.All true Christians can say “our Lord” and be included here. (The samething could be said of Romans 6:23.)
Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus isLord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,you will be saved.” It is a frightening thing, in view of this verse,to tell people that they do not have to confess Jesus as Lord in orderto be saved. That is just the opposite of what scripture says. (Romans10:13 is just as strong.)
In Romans 14:7-8 Paul says, “None of us lives to himselfand none of us dies to himself. If we live we live to the Lord,and if we die we die to the Lord; so then whether we live or whetherwe die, we are the Lord’s.” Notice the phrase, “none of us.”There is no group of Christians who do not live to the Lord. We maydo it imperfectly and haltingly. But to belong to the Lord is to liveto the Lord.
Paul simply identifies Christians in 1 Corinthians 1:2 as “all thosewho in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,both their Lord and ours.” He can do this because becoming a Christian means confessingJesus as Lord (Romans 10:9) and calling on the name of the Lord (Romans10:13).
Paul described the content of his gospel preaching like this: “Forwhat we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord”(2 Corinthians 4:4). And in 1 Thessalonians 1:8 he says that the spreadingof this gospel by the churches is the sounding forth of “the Wordofthe Lord.” This is not a second stage “discipleship” message.This is what he preached as the gospel.
You Did Not Receive A Half-Christ
In Colossians 2:6 Paul says, “As therefore you received Christ Jesus theLord, so live in him.” This is the way we should speak to new believers:you received Jesus in all his offices when you received him for salvation.You did not receive a half-Christ. He is Prophet, Priest and King—andhe is this for you. This is the One you received. Now live in him ina way that befits his offices. If you reject him in any of his officesyou reject the Christ and are left with one of your own making who cannotsave.
There are many other uses of the term “Lord” in the New Testamentthat show that Paul and the others never conceived of the possibilityof saying that a person could be saved and “not have Jesus as Lord.”It is not a way of talking and it is dangerously misleading.
2. You say with regard to equipping people for evangelism, “Wemust have a concept that is transferable. If we have to develop theconcept of ‘lordship salvation,’ the task becomes impossible. It willbe difficult enough to equip our people to communicate salvation byfaith.”
There is one serious misunderstanding of “lordship salvation” inthis quote and one questionable attitude to Scripture.
Lordship Salvation Is Salvation By Faith
2.1 The misunderstanding is the implication that lordship salvationis anything other than “salvation by faith.” Paul said to the Philippianjailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”He said, “Believe.” And he said, “Believe on the Lord.” Nowthat is lordship salvation and salvation by faith—both. Thequestion is not whether salvation is by faith. It is (Ephesians 2:8).The question is first, What is faith? and second, Whom do we have faithin?
Paul’s answer is that we have faith in the Lord. This doesnot turn salvation into salvation by works. It simply means we haveto know whom it is we are trusting.
The answer to the question, What is faith? is the most basic onein this whole controversy. It is not a simple mental assent to facts—notlordship facts and not Savior facts. It is a heartfelt coming to Christand resting in him for what he is and what he offers. It is an act ofthe heart that no longer hates the light but comes to the light becausea new set of spiritual taste buds have been created and Christ now tastessatisfying to the soul. This notion of faith is taken mainly from theGospel of John where Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life; he who comesto Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst”(John 6:35). (See the texts at the end of this letter under the title“The Nature of Faith in the Gospel of John.” [Also see the discussionof saving faith in Chapter Nine of The Pleasures of God.])
This view of faith implies that faith itself will inevitably weana person away from sin because faith is a resting in what Jesus hasto offer, namely, the pathway of life. Obedience is not something artificiallyadded to saving faith later after a second discovery in the Christianwalk. It is what faith does because faith is the soul’s cleaving toJesus for the forgiveness and guidance and hope it needs to be happy.If you don’t do what the doctor says, you don’t trust him.
So lordship salvation is not—emphatically not —anythingother than salvation by faith (true faith) in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Does Experience or Scripture Define the Gospel?
2.2 Your quote also contains a questionable attitude to Scripture. Isay questionable because I don’t think you really want to say what Ihear you saying, namely, that our definition of evangelism and of thegospel must fit in with what we decide is effective and workable (transferable)whether or not it is out of sync with Scripture.
You say, “If we have to develop the concept of lordship salvation,the task becomes impossible.” Do you know what I hear in that sentence?I hear the words of the disciples after Jesus has turned the rich youngruler away unsaved because he would not submit to the demand of Jesusto stop loving his money. They say, “Who then can be saved?” And Jesussays, “With men it is impossible.”
It does not seem to me that your rejection of “lordship salvation”(because it would be “impossible” to teach) is in line with the attitudeof Jesus. It is your judgment call that this is “impossible,” not theBible’s. The Bible does not say that this kind of evangelism is impossibleand Jesus, and the apostles demonstrate with their lives that it isnot.
Jesus said that the way is hard that leads to life and few therebe that find it (Matt. 7:14). Could it be that we are so bent on havingimmediate, measurable results that we have defined the gospel and evangelismin a way that enables people to understand and respond even withoutspiritual comprehension and heart change? I fear this is largely whywe are so weak as a church. The very foundations have been laid wrongly.
Staggeringly Unbiblical
3. You say, “One of my primary objectives [in discipling fourmen] is to bring them to a point where Christ becomes Lord. That isa primary task of discipleship.”
I find these words staggeringly unbiblical! Nowhere! Nowhere in theNew Testament, can you find such an idea, that mature Christians shouldsuggest to newer believers that Christ is not their Lord. Do you honestlythink the apostle Paul would allow a new convert to say to him: “Jesusis not my Lord, but I am saved”?
Now let me see if I can cool down here and be conciliatory. AgainI believe that you are in essence teaching something true, namely thatvery often a person is converted without realizing the full implicationsof the lordship of Christ for their lives.
It is like deciding to join the army and knowing that there willbe a commander but not realizing all that he may tell you to do andall the rebellion that still remains in your heart. But that is verydifferent from saying that you can join the army while rejecting thevery right of the commander to tell you what to do.
So I agree that discipling is “teaching them to observe all thatI commanded you” (Matt. 28:19). But I do not agree that Jesus is notthe Lord (commander) of true Christians. No one is a Christian who doesnot, in principle (i.e. even if he does not know all the specifics),bow the knee to Jesus as Lord and say one way or another, I reckon myselfdead to sin and alive to God. “Those who belong to Christ (ALL of them!)have crucified the flesh” (Galatians 5:24).
How Do You Preach To Disobedient, Professing Christians?
4. You ask, “Could we dare say that they [the unconcerned, apathetic,stingy, uncommitted professing believers] do not have salvation?”
I believe that our unwillingness to take this possibility seriouslyis one of the things that makes preaching across our country anemic.If you measure by the preaching of Jesus and by the epistles of Paulthe way to preach to disobedient, professing Christians it means sayingthings like: “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who dosuch things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21;cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-10). “Would that you were cold or hot! So, because youare lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of mymouth” (Rev. 3:15-16). “Strive to enter by the narrow door;for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke13:24). “If you live according to the flesh you will die” (Romans8:13).
The absence of this kind of preaching—with such urgency to professingbelievers—is one of the weaknesses of the evangelical pulpit. Iam puzzled that you are so hesitant to consider that millions of professingChristians are not saved, when that is what Jesus very strongly suggestswas true in his day (Matt. 7:13-14) and will be true at the end of theage—our day (Matt. 24:12-13).
MacArthur is right when he says that Jesus far more often calls people’sfalse assurance into question than he tries to give security to anywillfully disobedient beginner. And yet we seem to have just the oppositeconcern. We shrink back from calling any one’s assurance into questionif they are a professing believer. And we shrink back from telling newbelievers anything about the demands of Jesus that would cause themto wonder if they are really saved. We are not in sync with Jesus orthe epistles at this point.
Labor On For the Lord of Glory
Well, I hope that what I have said will help us both to be as effectiveas possible in the immensely important cause of evangelism and worldmissions. My great burden is that we know what the evangel is. I thinkithas been watered down in some presentations to the point where itis not the robust, powerful, life-changing message that I hear in theNew Testament.
I hope the lines will be open between us for further conversation.These things are immensely important. There will not be any lastingand deep revival apart from a radical commitment to the full-orbed truthof all that the Bible teaches (Acts 20:20,27).
I praise God for how he has used you in his service. Let nothingI say be heard as diminishing the great way in which God is blessingyour life and work. May great grace continue to crown all your laborsfor the Lord of glory!
Your partner in the Great Work,
John Piper
Appendix: Texts That Point to the Necessity of Yieldingto Christ as Lord in Order to Inherit Eternal Life
NOTE: None of these texts means that salvation can be earned by works of the law. Salvation is by grace through faith; it does not come from ourselves; it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). What these texts teach is that the faith which justifies also sanctifies (Acts 15:9). All the obedience of believers necessary for final salvation is obedience that comes from faith (1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:11; Gal. 5:6; Hebrews 10:35-36; 11:8). If it does not come from faith it is legalism and gains nothing but deeper condemnation (Romans 9:32). What is being taught in all these texts is this: “By my works I will show you my faith . . . faith apart from works is barren . . . faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:18, 20, 26). Salvation is by grace through faith. But saving faith is no fruitless mental assent to gospel facts. These texts point to the truth that the faith that saves is a feeding on Jesus with such satisfaction that we are gradually weaned away from the enslaving addictions to sin (John 6:35; Hebrews 11:24-26).
The Necessity of Doing Good
Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shallenter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father whois in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we notprophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do manymighty works in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘Inever knew you. Depart from Me, you evildoers.’”
John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming whenall who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come forth, thosewho have done good, to the resurrection of the life, and thosewho have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”
Romans 2:6-10, “For He will render to every man according to hisworks: to those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory andhonor and immortality He will give eternal life; but for thosewho are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, therewill be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for everyhuman being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, butglory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew firstand also the Greek.”
Galatians 6:9, “And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in dueseason we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.”
1 Timothy 5:8, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, andespecially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worsethan an unbeliever.”
James 2:17,26, “Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead .. . For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apartfrom works is dead.”
The Necessity of Obedience
Matthew 7:24-27, “Everyone then who hears these words of Mine anddoes them will be like a wise man who built his house upon therock; and the rains fell and the floods came and the winds blew andbeat upon that house but it did not fall, because it had been foundedon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesnot do them will be like a foolish man who built his house uponthe sand; and the rains fell and the floods came, and the winds blewand beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall ofit.”
Matthew 12:48-50, “But Jesus replied to the man who told him, ‘Whois my mother, and who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his handtoward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother,and sister, and mother.’“
Luke 13:6-9, “And He told this parable: A man had a fig tree plantedin his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none andhe said to the vinedresser, ‘Lo, these three years I have come seekingfruit on this fig tree, and I found none. Cut it down; why should ituse up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Let it alone, sir, this yearalso, until I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruitnext year, well and good but if not you can cut it down.’“
Luke 8:11-15, “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comesand takes away the Word from their hearts, that they may not believeand be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hearthe Word receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe fora while and in time of temptation fall away. And as for what fell amongthe thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way theyare choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and theirfruit is not mature. And as for that in the good soil, they arethose who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart,and bring forth fruit with patience.”
John 14:15, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”
John 15:2, “Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takesaway, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that itmay bear more fruit.”
John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he whodoes not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of Godrests upon him.”
Romans 6:12,14, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies,to make you obey their passions . . . For sin will have no dominionover you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Do you not know that the unrighteous willnot inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the immoralnor idolaters nor adulterers nor sexual perverts nor thieves nor thegreedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor robbers will inherit the Kingdomof God.”
Hebrews 5:8-9, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience throughwhat He suffered; and being made perfect He became the source ofeternal salvation to all who obey Him.”
Hebrews 10:36, “For you have need of endurance, so that you may dothe will of God and receive what is promised.”
1 John 2:4, “He who says ‘I know Him,’ but disobeys his commandmentsis a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (See 1 John 3:1-10.)
1 John 2:17, “And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but hewho does the will of God abides forever.”
The Necessity of Holiness
2 Thessalonians 2:13, “But we are bound to give thanks to God alwaysfor you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from thebeginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit andbelief in the Truth.”
Hebrews 12:14, “Strive for peace with all men, and for the holinesswithout which no one will see the Lord.”
The Necessity to Forgive Others
Matthew 6:12-15, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgivenour debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also willforgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neitherwill your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Note: The eternal significance of this forgiveness in Matthew 6 is made plain in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18. Jesus is not merely talking about losing fellowship. He is talking about losing God if we go on through life with an unforgiving spirit.
Matthew 18:32-35, “Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘Youwicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me;and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercyon you?’ And in anger his lord delivered him to the torturers,until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father willdo to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from yourheart.”
The Necessity Not to Live According to the Flesh
Romans 8:12-14, “So then, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh,to live according to the flesh—for if you live according to theflesh, you will die, but ifby the Spirit you put to death thedeeds of the body you will live. For all who are led by the Spiritof God are sons of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality,impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy,anger, selfishness, dissension, haughty spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing,and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those whodo such things will not enter the Kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:24, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucifiedthe flesh with its passions and desires.”
Galatians 6:8, “For he who sows to his own flesh will from the fleshreap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spiritreap eternal life.”
The Necessity of Being Free From the Love of Money
Luke 14:25-33, “Now great multitudes accompanied Him; and He turnedand said to them, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own fatherand mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, andeven his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear hisown cross and come after me cannot be my disciple . . . so therefore whoeverof you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.’“
Luke 18:18-22, “And the ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, whatshall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Whydo you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments:“Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear falsewitness, honor your father and mother.’” And he said, ‘All these I haveobserved from my youth.’ And when Jesus heard it, he said to him, ‘Onething you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to thepoor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.’“
The Necessity of Love to Christ and God
Matthew 10:37-39, “He who loves father or mother more than meis not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more thanme is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and followme is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he wholoses his life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 24:12-13, “And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love willgrow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”
John 8:42, “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, youwould love me, for I preceded and came forth from God.’“
Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good for those wholove God and are called according to His purpose.”
1 Corinthians 2:9-10, “As it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, norear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for thosewho love Him,’ God has revealed to us through the Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 8:3, “But if one loves God, one is known by Him.”
1 Corinthians 16:22, “If anyone does not love the Lord let himbe accursed.”
2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, “The coming of the lawless one by the activityof Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders,and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish because they refuseto love the truth and so to be saved.”
2 Timothy 4:8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousnesswhich the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, andnot only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he hasstood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promisedto those who love him.”
James 2:5, “Listen, my beloved brethren. Has not God chosen thosewho are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdomwhich He has promised to those who love Him?”
1 Peter 1:8, “Without having seen Him you love Him; thoughyou do not now see Him you believe in Him and rejoice with unutterableand exalted joy.”
1 Peter 2:7, “To you, therefore, who believe, he is precious.
1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. Ifanyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.”
The Necessity to Love Others
Matthew 25:40-46, “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say toyou, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you didit to Me.’ Then He will say to those at His left hand, ‘Depart fromme, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and hisangels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty andyou gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, nakedand you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visitme.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry orthirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not ministerto you?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as youdid it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ Andthey will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternallife.”
Luke 10:25-28, “And behold a lawyer stood up to put Him to the test,saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’He said to him, ‘What is written in the law, how do you read?’ And heanswered, ‘You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with allyour soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and yourneighbor as yourself.’ And He said to him, ‘You have answeredright; do this, and you will live.’“
Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcisionis of any avail, but faith working through love.”
1 Peter 3:9, “Do not return evil for evil or reviling for reviling’;but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, thatyou may obtain a blessing.”
1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed out of death into life,because we have loved the brethren. He who does not love remains indeath.”
1 John 4:8, 20, “He who does not love does not know God;for God is love . . . . If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates hisbrother, he is a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he hasseen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
The Necessity to Love the Truth
2 Thessalonians 2:10, “[They] are to perish because they refusedto love the truth and so be saved.”
The Necessity of Being Childlike
Matthew 18:2-3, “And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midstof them, and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and becomelike children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.’”
The Necessity to Bridle the Tongue
James 1:26, “If any one thinks he is religious and does not bridlehis tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is vain.”
The Necessity of Perseverance
Mark 13:13, “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But hewho endures to the end will be saved.”
Luke 9:62, “Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to theplow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.’“
1 Corinthians 15:1-2, “Now I would remind you, brethren, in whatterms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which youstand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast—unless youbelieved in vain.”
Colossians 1:21-23, “And you, who once were estranged and hostilein mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of fleshby His own death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachablebefore Him, provided that you continue in the faith, stableand steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel, which you heard,which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of whichI, Paul, became a minister.”
2 Timothy 2:11-12, “This saying is sure: If we have died with Him,we shall also live with Him; if we endure, we shall also reign withHim; if we deny Him, He also will deny us.”
Hebrews 3:6, “Christ was faithful over God’s house as a Son. Andwe are His house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in ourhope.”
Hebrews 3:12-14, “Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of youan evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the livingGod. Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, thatnone of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For wehave shared in Christ, if we hold our first confidence to the end.”
Hebrews 6:11-12, “We desireeach one of you to show the same earnestnessin realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, so thatyou may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faithand patience inherit the promises.”
Hebrews 10:36, “For you have need of endurance, so that you maydo the will of God and receive what is promised.”
The Necessity of Walking in the Light
1 John 1:7, “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light,we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus HisSon cleanses us from all sin.”
The Necessity of Repentance
Luke 3:3, John the Baptist “went into all the region about the Jordan,preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
Mark 1:14-15, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galileepreaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, andthe Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’“
Luke 3:8, “Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do notbegin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tellyou, God is able from these stones to raise up children of Abraham.”
Luke 5:32, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinnersto repentance.”
Luke 13:1-3, “There were some present at that very time who toldHim of Galileans whose blood Pilot had mingled with their sacrifices.And he answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worsesinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? Itell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.’”
Luke 15:7, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heavenover one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous personswho need no repentance.
Luke 24:46-47, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should sufferand on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance andforgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations,beginning from Jerusalem.”
Acts 2:38, “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptizedevery one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness ofyour sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
Acts 3:19, “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sinsmay be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from thepresence of the Lord.”
Acts 5:31, “God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior, togive repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
Acts 11:18, “When they heard this they were silenced. And they glorifiedGod, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentanceunto life.’“
Acts 20:21, “Testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentanceto God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Necessity of Warfare Vigilance
1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold ofeternal life to which you were called when you made the good confessionin the presence of many witnesses.”
Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gateis wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those whoenter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hardthat leads to life and those who find it are few.”
Luke 13:24, “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many,I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
Hebrews 3:12-14, “Take care brethren lest there be in any ofyou an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from theliving God. Exhort one another every day, as long as it iscalled today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulnessof sin. For we share in Christ, if we hold our first confidence to theend.”
Hebrews 12:14, “Strive for peace with all men, and for the holinesswithout which no one will see the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know that in a race all the runnerscompete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtainit. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They doit to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Well, I donot run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I pommelmy body, and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myselfshould be disqualified.”
2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finishedthe race, I have kept the faith.”
God’s Promise of Preservation in Holiness
Note: In Chapter Six of The Pleasures of God I tried to show that part of the good news of God’s sovereign grace is that “This truth enables us to own up to the demands for holiness in the Scripture and yet have assurance of salvation.” The key to assurance is not to reduce commands from requirements to options, but rather to magnify grace as a power to obey as well as a pardon for sin. This essential truth of grace as power as well as pardon is developed in Chapter Nine in The Pleasures of God under the heading, “God’s pleasure in obedience is good news because the obedience he loves is the obedience of faith.” The following passages express the certainty of what God’s gracious power will achieve for the child of God.
Mark 13:22, “False christs and false prophets will arise and showsigns and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.”
Luke 22:31-32, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have youthat he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you thatyour faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthenyour brethren.”
John 10:27-30, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and theyfollow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall neverperish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father,who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able tosnatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
Romans 8:30, “And those whom He predestined He also called; and thosewhom He called He also justified; and those whom He justified Healso glorified.”
1 Corinthians 1:8-9, “He will sustain you to the end, guiltlessin the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by Whom you werecalled into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Philippians 1:6, “I am sure that He who began a good work inyou will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 2:13, “God is the one who is at work in you, bothto will and to work for His good pleasure.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify youholy; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blamelessat the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithfuland He will do it.”
2 Timothy 1:12, “I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed,and I am sure that He is able to guard until that Day what has beenentrusted to me.”
Hebrews 13:20-21, “Now may the God of peace who brought again fromthe dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the bloodof the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you maydo His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight throughJesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 1:5, “Who by God’s power are guarded through faith for salvationready to be revealed in the last time.”
The Nature of Faith in the Gospel of John
John 3:19-21, “And this is the judgment, that the light has comeinto the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, becausetheir deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, anddoes not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But hewho does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seenthat his deeds have been wrought in God.”
Note: Coming to the Christ is one way John describes faith (John 6:35). But no one comes to the light if they hate the light (John 3:20). So before there can be the coming of faith there must be the deeper transformation that brings us to love the light and not hate it. This means that saving faith in John’s Gospel is the act of a new heart and not merely the mental assent of an old one that does not love the light. Love is implicit in John’s view of saving faith. And this is why he says in 1 John that if we don’t love we don’t even know God and have not passed from death to life (1 John 3:14; 4:8,20).
John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life;Hewho does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrathof God rests upon him.”
John 4:14, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give himwill never thirst; the water that I shall give him will becomein him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Note: Saving faith is spoken of here as a drinking of water that satisfies the deepest longings of the soul. This satisfaction is what gives faith its life-changing power. It replaces sin with “the expulsive power of a new affection” (the title of an old sermon by Thomas Chalmers).
John 6:35, “I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me shallnot hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
Note: This confirms that coming is a way of talking about believing. It also confirms that John 4:14 was talking about faith. It also shows that faith is a feeding and drinking from the presence and promise of Jesus to the degree that we are not dominated by the alluring pleasures of sin (Romans 6:14).
John 5:41-44, “I do not receive glory from men. But I know that youhave not the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s nameand you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him youwill receive. How can you believe, who receive glory from one anotherand do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
Note: Faith is impossible for a person who is in love with the praise of men. So faith is of such a nature that it excludes the bondage to applause. It includes a love for God that makes the praise of men pale by comparison to what God is.
John 8:45-47, “But, because I tell you the Truth you do not believe Me.Which of you convicts Me of sin? If I tell you the Truth, why do younot believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; thereason why you do not hear them is because you are not of God.”
Note: You cannot even hear the word of God (in a compliant way) if you are not “of God,” that is, not born anew by the free-blowing Spirit (John 3:8; 1:12-13). Therefore faith is a fruit of God’s work in the soul and comes from a heart regenerate and drawn to Christ. This is what Jesus means in John 6:44 when he says, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.” The drawing enables the coming, which we have seen is faith. The drawing corresponds to being “of God” in John 8:47 and being Jesus’ sheep in John 10:27.
John 10:25-28, “Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do notbelieve. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witnessto me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. Mysheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow Me.’“
Note: You do not become a sheep by believing. You can believe only because you are a sheep. This is the way Jesus taught the doctrine of election as John records it. The teaching is also found in John 6:44,65; 8:47; 18:37; 3:8; etc. But the point for faith is that it comes from a certain heart—a heart of a sheep of Jesus which is described like this: My sheep hear my voice . . . and follow me. Faith therefore must be of such a nature that it produces that following.
John 12:25, “He who loves his life loses it and he who hateshis life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Note: Hating the life in this world means being willing to suffer in obedience to Jesus command of love, just like he suffered for the sake of love. This shows that eternal life cannot be inherited by a faith that is fruitless and leaves the heart loveless and selfish.
John 15:22, “Every branch of mine which bears no fruit, He takesaway, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that itmight bear more fruit.”
Note: Fruitless faith is not saving faith and results in being cut off from Jesus (like Judas). As verse 6 says, “He is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.” (Ponder John 13:8-10.)
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Halloween In August?
Can you believe it? I went to the grocery store two weekends ago and they already had Halloween candy out for sale! That was August 16th! And today I went to another grocery store and they were putting up their Halloween display. That means for two and a half months we have to look at witches, headstones, jack-o-lanterns and all the other creepy evil things that go with it.
Halloween is becoming as much of a major holiday as Christmas. That is sad. We always complain that Christmas is too commercialized and is promoted way too early. Now it seems Halloween is getting the same treatment. But then people are now putting up Halloween decorations in their yards the same way we've always done for Christmas. Years ago this would never have been heard of. Does this mean in just a few weeks we'll start seeing mummies and ghosts in peoples yards?
Halloween is a pagan holiday and promotes evil and darkness. The wiccans (witches) celebrate this day as a holy day. I know of a wiccan that asked her employer for the day off because it was her religious holiday. I know we live in a country that gives us religious freedom but I sure am not looking forward to seeing the fruits of darkness every time I go to the grocery store for the next several months.
Looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas......
Is MySpace Safe?
Is MySpace safe?
Last year I joined myspace with the idea that I would use it as a witnessing ministry for the Lord. I worked hard on my profile adding many Christian links that would be both an interest to Christians and an enticement to seekers. Although it was a noble idea what I found was that instead of me being a light in the darkness the darkness was way too overwhelming.
It seemed like almost everyone that wanted to be my ‘friend’ had profiles so outrageous I couldn’t even look at them. The backgrounds were offensive, the language was horrible, not to mention the images people chose to put on their sites. As a child of God I try to stay away from things that aren’t pleasing to my Lord but on myspace that is nearly impossible to do.
One of the main attractions to myspace is the idea of making your own profile which is basically your very own webpage. To decorate your profile you need to find layouts, backgrounds, and images to place on your site. What I found was that the sites that offer the layouts were just as bad as myspace itself as far as offensive material, advertisements, etc. I think this should be a concern to parents. Even if you are working with your child to make his myspace safe he’s going to see offensive material while searching for profile decorations.
So how do you keep your Christian family safe on myspace?
- ALWAYS set your profile settings to Private. That way only those you know and trust will see your site.
- Only visit profiles of people you know and can trust. Profile surfing just to see what’s out there is how you run in to things you’d rather not see.
- Set your Comments to Approve before Posting to make sure nothing offensive gets added to your site without your approval.
- Stay away from the chat rooms. The subject matter alone can make you cringe, not to mention the language.
- Only visit sites offering layouts that are totally Christian oriented. There are ‘religious’ backgrounds, layouts and images on most all secular layout sites but visiting them subjects you to layouts and images you would rather not see.
- Don’t use a personal picture as your main profile image. That image is seen by the general public, not just your private friends.
- Don’t put personal information on your profile such as address, phone, school, work, financial, etc. even if your profile is private. If you get hacked all that info would be there for the taking.
- Only join Christian groups on myspace and even then be very careful as some groups are Christian in name only and, of course, not all members will be Christians, either.
- Be careful about adding slide shows, music players, avatars, etc. to your profile. Some have been know to contain malicious code that could harm yours or others computers.
- Only visit profiles that honors the Lord.
A better solution to myspace are the Christian social networking sites. Two that I personally use are Christian.com (formerly hisholyspace.com) and heavensspace.com. Both are excellent alternatives to myspace. Christian.com is closely monitored by two devoted brothers in the Lord who are always available if any problems arise. The site has a very good chat room setup where all profanity is deleted if typed and the rooms always have monitors. To find a good Christian myspace alternative just google “Christian social networking sites” or “Christian myspace alternatives”. Always check out their Terms of Service and Statements of Faith.
I ended up deleting my original myspace page and just recently started a new private page for personal friends and family only. I still use the computer to witness but not on myspace. I will leave that up to the many good ministries and Christian bands on myspace that are doing a great job sharing the gospel. I will continue to use myspace but only looking up people, ministries or bands that I know of personally and stay away from profile surfing.
Just wondering if any of you use myspace and what has been your experiences.