Posts filed under ‘Emotional virtue’
I Will Be Like the Most High, Part 1
In essence, what we will eventually learn is that while God offering salvation is most definitely something that brings tremendous glory to God, it is not His highest purpose. It is only part of His highest purpose. The overriding higher purpose of God has been to prove the entire universe and every creature within it that this so-called battle between “good” and “evil,” God vs. Satan is no battle at all. Not only that, but it will be forever written into the annals of future history into future eternity that sin was finally exhausted and still, God won. Sin actually will come to an end when Satan will have done everything he can to bring his own paltry, arrogant-driven promises to fruition.
Can We Move Past Talk About Signs and Wonders Please?
The reality is that what we need to know about the end times or the last days if you will leading up to and including the Tribulation period is already noted in God’s Word. It is clear. It is unmistakable and does not have 3,000-year-old secrets that have gone undetected until today when “prophets” or teachers can bring them to the fore as though by direct revelation from God. These revelations have occurred directly because at least one author stated that God “told” him what was coming. He said God showed him a connection between the Shemitah, blood moons and more, yet apparently, God was kind of unsure about all of it because when you read his books, he sounds more like a politician than a prophet, always presenting his propositions with “might” or “could” or “may” happen. That’s not the declaration of a true prophet, yet that is what is accepted today as coming from a “prophet,” but is nothing more than emotional virtue, basing “truth” on how we feel about something. Truth is truth regardless of how we feel. Feelings can be deceiving and often take us off the path of truth. It started in the Garden of Eden with a woman who had no sin nature and in essence was “perfect” yet untried. We don’t have the luxury of living without a sin nature. It is something we must fight against all of our lives until it is finally and fully removed from us. That’s what makes our lives much more difficult than Adam’s and Eve’s because they started life without sin natures. Imagine how they felt once they realized what their sin had created.
Continue Reading September 28, 2015 at 8:23 AM Leave a comment
Plethora of False Teachers Pointing the Way
Please notice the emphasis is on equipping true Christians for the task of works of service in order that we might build one another up as we become mature in Him (an ongoing process until we get to heaven). We are not to be taught the truth of God’s Word so that we can marvel about how much we think we understand. Nor are we to learn from qualified teachers so that we can run around like chickens without our heads worrying about the sky possibly falling. We are to be equipped for the purpose of service, which builds up the Body of Christ (the invisible, true Church).
Continue Reading September 22, 2015 at 1:42 PM Leave a comment
Christians Need to Stop Date-Setting Predictions Based on Sensationalization
While it is fine to study and learn about the end times or even prophecy in general, I so wish Christians would just focus on the Great Commission. But that isn’t exciting enough for many. They want to “see” or “hear” God. They want desperately to witness the signs in the heavens (that will come at the end of the Tribulation and sporadically throughout), but what then? They’re already in fear now. I cannot imagine how much they will be in fear then.
Our Completely Unrealistic Expectations in Our Relationship with God
Certainly God wants our worship, but doesn’t need it. Yes, He wants our love, but doesn’t need it. Definitely, He wants us to show Him how much we love Him, but lifting our hands, swaying our hips to the music, and shouting out a song during worship doesn’t necessarily prove that to Him. It simply proves that we can dance and get excited about high-amped music. By the way, I’m saying all this as someone who has played drums for years. I’ve played at churches too, but gave that up a while ago for a variety of reasons.
Watch Out for Those Who Teach God Speaks to Them, Pt 4
In Matthew 4, Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness. After 40 days/nights, Jesus was hungry and that’s when Satan struck. He came to Jesus with temptation and Satan used Scripture to promote his temptation. Imagine what might have happened had not Jesus known the Bible. We will never know the Bible as well as Jesus did, but don’t despair. We always have God the Holy Spirit working within us to help us in our time of trouble. When you hear something that sounds great or seems questionable, there is a responsibility to compare it to God’s Word. If you are unsure, then ask someone else whom you trust.
Continue Reading September 14, 2015 at 2:06 PM Leave a comment
Watch Out for Those Who Teach God Speaks to Them, Pt 3
Numerous passages in Scripture teach us that the Holy Spirit indwells true believers (Romans 8:4, Ephesians 1:13b-14). There are a lot of people running around today who call themselves Christians, but unless they are authentic or true believers, the Holy Spirit does not indwell them. If the Holy Spirit indwells us, then we should assume that He exercises His power in and through us as well. His job is to recreate the image of Christ within us (which will not be completed until the day we step through the door of death into eternity). In John 5:17, Jesus asserted the truth that says He and His Father are always working even to the present day. That means that God has things to do and regarding the Church – His Bride – the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (or Him). This means that in spite of Satan’s best efforts – which includes getting Christians to live in unbelief – God will get the job done!
Watch Out for Those Who Teach God Speaks to Them, Pt 2
Every time I read of a prophet (or apostle) or even just an average person in Scripture seeing the Incarnate Christ in His splendor, that individual falls over as though dead! There are a few examples in the Bible where Jesus appears in pre-incarnate visage where His deity is essentially clothed or hidden from view so that He mainly looks like another man and those individuals (like Abraham) don’t pass out or go into a coma.
Watch Out for Those Who Teach God Speaks to Them, Pt 1
Today, it is not necessarily tongues that we are hearing about, but authority that is being claimed. Let’s face it, anyone who is bold enough to say that God told them something is really also claiming an authority that biblically speaking, only the prophets and apostles truly possessed. Moreover, even though the last of the actual apostles died out, there is an apostolic movement today in which people alive now are claiming to have that same apostolic authority. Yes, some people living today have actually come out stating they are full-fledged apostles.
Is Anything Wrong with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Denomination?
While we’re on the subject, take a peak around the Internet and look up Dr. Russell Moore or Ronnie Floyd. These guys are two of the top people in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and they make a ton of money off the tithes and offerings of parishioners within the SBC. Moore is in charge of a $7 million budget for his office alone (president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention). How can this be, especially when another branch of the SBC – one that oversees missionaries – is having to call back hundreds of missionaries from the field because of a huge budget deficit?
StudyGrowKnow 