“Opinion on the Trinity Doctrine & Reexamining The Great Commission”

By: Andrew D. Williams.

 

I want to start this opinion with Scripture so that all will see what Gods Word has revealed to those who truly seek Him.

 

In Genesis 1:11:  It is written,

“In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” The name God is “Elohim”; it is a plural name; however, when used in reference to the one true God, it is constantly joined with verbs and adjectives in the singular (Deut 6:4; 32:39).

In many Old Testament passages Elohim is used with a plural verb or pronoun (Gen 1:26; 3:22; 11 : 7). I want to let Scripture speak for itself. Since it is God’s Word, He is very capable of defending Himself.

In John l : 1-3 it is written,

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” When we speak of the attributes of God, we are referring to those qualities of God which constitute what He is.

They are the very characteristics of His nature. I am not referring here to the acts which He performs, such as creating, guiding, and preserving, nor to the corresponding roles He plays- Creator, Guide, Preserver. The attributes are qualities of the entire Godhead. They should not be confused with the properties, which, technically speaking, are the distinctive characteristics of the various persons of the Trinity.

Properties are functions (general), activities (more specific), or acts (most specific) of the individual members of the Godhead. Keep in mind the attributes are permanent qualities. They cannot be gained or lost. They are intrinsic.

While our understandings attributes are not our conceptions projected upon Him. They are objective characteristics of His nature.

I want to look at a few noncommunicable attributes.

• God is Spirit: He is the ultimate pure and perfect being, incorporeal, without material substance or physical parts, not having size or dimensions.
• God is One: He is the only and ultimate unified being, with each divine attribute perfectly united with all other attributes, yet each maintaining its own uniqueness, identity and function.
• God is a tri-unity: There is only one God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three eternal and co-equal persons- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit-the same in substance (who each person is), but distinct in subsistence (what each person does).

Now I want to point out two communicable attributes.

l) God is a person: He exists and is aware of His existence, having the power of self-determination and possessing all the attributes of personality.
2) God is True: This means His being and knowledge eternally conform to each other. Thus God, is true for He alone represents things as they actually are, for truth is reality revealed.

I believe that now since Scripture has spoken for itself we can have a better understanding of the “un” Baptismal formula that is recorded in Matthew 28:19. Jesus, Himself told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to go and tell His disciples that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. (Matt 28:16-20),

We read this. . . “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.” It may sound a little weird that Jesus would give a baptismal formula on a mountain high up, that has no water. However, when you read Scripture it is not only a baptism formula, it is a Great Commission that Jesus was giving to His disciples and what better spot than a mountain that is above “see level.”

We as believers need not to get caught up on where it was given, but Who was giving it (Jesus). He commanded His disciples to go make disciples of all nations.

What does a disciple do after he has been taught the things of God? He then gets baptized. Jesus then says, “baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I [Jesus] am with you always, to the very end of this age.” I want to point out that God watches over His Word.

2 Timothy 3:16 says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

If we say that what is recorded in Acts 2:38 is more important than what Jesus says in Matthew 28: 19 than we choose Peter’s words over the words of Jesus, if that is so with Jesus being God, we basically chose mans words over God.

Luke was describing the effect of Christian baptism the person baptized comes under the authority of Jesus. Keep in mind that this authority came from the Father. Luke was not giving standardized formula to be pronounced at baptism. In the name of meant “under the authority or influence of.” More important than the formula pronounced over the person being baptized is that person’s confession of faith in Jesus (Acts 22:16; Rom 10:10; Acts 2:38; 8:14-16; 10:48).

I also want to point out that at Jesus’ Baptism by John the Holy Spirit descended from heaven like a dove and remained upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus tells us to obey His commandments and that is exactly what I aim to do.

I am also very familiar that Acts 4:12 says “Nor is there salvation in any other name under heaven given among men which we must be saved.” When dealing with the Godhead you cannot take one without the other.

The Word of God tells us that each teacher will be held accountable for who they lead astray, so Jesus will be held accountable if His Words in Matt 28: 19 are not correct. However, I want to say thank you for your time you took to read this.

 

Sincerely,

Andrew Williams

The title of this Sermon is Keeping the commands of Christ. But, I think a good subtitle might be learning to be a complete servant of Christ through life experiences.

Let me share this with you, it will get us into the right mindset for this lesson.

B-I-B-L-E, basic instructions before leaving Earth.

Let’s consider a couple of things, first and obviously, Christianity means being a disciple, or follower, student of Christ, and that infers that He (Christ) is the one we follow, who we are a student of, disciple of; and keeping His commands means He is the boss, the great Scottish preacher Peter Marshall referred to Him as the “chief”.

We do what He says for He is the teacher/ Leader. In Short, giving up our life, or dyeing to self, and picking up our own cross means being His servant, or slave, so let’s look at the Greek word for slave

Which is doulos and means:

• a slave, bondman, man of servile condition
• a slave, one who gives himself up to another’s will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men
• devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests; a servant, attendant

Meriam Webster Dictionary defines Disciple this way:

Someone who accepts and helps to spread the teachings of a famous person

• That statement comes with the assumption of spreading that teaching as taught, correctly, without making your own changes. Be a Servant
  “Matthew 20:26–28Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. ²⁷ And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” .

Matthew Henry commentary: That man who labours most diligently, and suffers most patiently, seeking to do good to his brethren, and to promote the salvation of souls, most resembles Christ, and will be most honoured by him to all eternity.

So how life’s experiences can be used to better understand this.

In an earthly sense, when we have a boss, when we follow the commands of another, we expect a reward for it, such as a paycheck.

We want that paycheck so we can sustain life, for ourselves and sometimes for others.

So why would it be any different when we follow the commands of Christ? We expect a reward at the end of the day, and in this case namely, Heaven.

What is another reason we have a boss? Or a manager, or leader? To show us the way, to give us instructions on how to do our job correctly.

For instance, I spent many years, in fact most of my working life,  with AAMCO transmissions as a customer service manager. My main job was to work with customers. AAMCO taught me what to say, in fact it was a 5,000 word track that had to be followed by the exact word, they taught us what to say, to the letter, in each stage of our relationship with the customer, from the time we answered the phone, until the time we handed them their keys. Why? To maximize the amount of sales, to make sure the customer was not misled in anyway, and understood perfectly what their cost would be, and exactly what they were paying for.

Of course, the technicians had a different role, but they were also taught exactly how to proceed in their work when it came to the diagnostic aspect, and what to say if a customer should be involved.

We had extensive diagnostic forms that had to be completed in an exact manner, so there would be no confusion to what was wrong with the car or truck, what was required to put it back into proper working conditions, and if there were any extenuating problems, or options to the repairs.

And then of course we had quality control in place when it came to the actual repair. We even had what was referred to as AAMCO “cops”, that would come into the centers and make sure we were repairing cars to the standards set forth by AAMCO home office.

And, why did we do that? Why would we put up with such severe micromanagement?

Because the pay was very good, and provided us a means to support our families.

Most importantly, It helped us do our job as close to perfection as possible.

So how does this apply to being a Christian? Christ, through the scripture gives us detailed information on how to arrive in Heaven someday. We memorize the “track” which are bible verses, and even hand out bible tracks don’t we?

Something would happen at AAMCO occasionally. A Customer Service Manager would decide he knew a better way to deal with customers than the AAMCO track

And before long sales would start going down.

We have the same thing in our Christian walk. Christ, gave us the “track” to salvation. He refers to it as the narrow path. He gave us the words we needed to follow the track perfectly, yet some decide they know a better way, and what happens? they are found teaching a false gospel, misleading people to an eternity in a hell without reprieve.

And we have bible “cops” just as AAMCO had their “cops”, and who are those cops? Me and You, we are to study the scripture daily (Acts 17:11) to see if what I teach or others like me teach are the truth. And, honestly, if you think I am teaching something in error, I truly want you to point it out to me, and why you think I am in error, and if I find you are right, I will change my view and teaching, in fact I found two things I have been wrong about in just  this last  week, and in the future, when I speak concerning those things,  those corrections will be in place.

Christ, being the “head” of the church, the leader, the “boss” if you will, gives us the instructions needed to make the right decisions, to do the right things, that will end in a successful journey.

In this physical life, we are talking about completing a project, maybe like an AAMCO rebuilder; building a transmission. Without instructions, it would be difficult to complete, at least correctly, and without a supervisor, it might be very difficult to understand the instructions, or how to follow them, and execute them properly.In the spiritual sense this is exactly what we have in Christianity.

1. First, we have a goal: Heaven
2. We have the blue print or the track for obtaining the goal: The Bible
3. We have instructors: Preachers and teachers
4. And we have the author: God
5. And we have quality control in place: Us; studying God’s word; the Bible, to make sure the Preacher is teaching the Scripture properly.

Now let me put this in a more personal sense, I’m neither the dumbest nor the brightest guy you will ever meet. As everyone in this room, I have enough intelligence and talent to get me through the day, and for the most part through life, however you would be amazed at the mistakes I make, and have been making for 69 years.

When I was young, I had so much chatter going on in my brain, it was literally making me crazy, often I would use booze to slow it all down, a bad decision.

I still get lots of “ideas” maybe I should do this, or that, it’s like I am almost 70 years old and still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.

And when I would change the AAMCO track because I had a “better” idea, things would get all confused, sales went down, the boss got mad at me, the techs got mad at me because it affected their income and job security as well.

But I found an answer, a solution to all this confusion… I quit making decisions on my own, and decided to just follow the track, and that is the same decision on my spiritual track, the narrow path, to heaven, to lay down my life and pick up my cross. And, what I mean by that, is I have two things I focus on in life now… paying the bills, and reading my blueprint or map to heaven, knowing the track, and sticking to it. It simplifies all other things.

 Let’s, keep one thing straight here; there is nothing we can do to enter heaven, it is by grace we are saved, and not by our own work, but we do have work to do, God has given each and every one of us a purpose, an assignment and that is found in Matthew 28: 18-20.

Ephesians 2: 8-10 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

So heaven is the reward, but it is by no means a gimme, yes, it’s a free gift, maybe we should refer to it as a free opportunity to all who would accept and follow through,

Allow me to share a quote from C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity:

“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Keep My Commandments

“If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Titus 1:10 For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,(NKJV)

Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.(NKJV)

1 John 2:4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.(NKJV)

Revelation 21:8 says, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

As Christ says in

Matthew 7:13-15 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

 

Do you see the connection? We are to “follow the track” and not just follow it, but with the right heart, with diligent study, so we can be a pure, as perfect as possible.

In the past I have taught, or compared knowing the scripture to an FBI agent spotting phony money, the way they are taught to do this, is simply teaching them to know the real thing so well, they spot the phony immediately, and it is the same thing in our spiritual walk, if we teach a false doctrine, those who know the scripture will spot us immediately, and the same holds true for me, if I know it, teach it, practice it perfectly I will spot the phony/ false teacher and Christ tells us the same thing. Go to verse 15 of Matthew 7:

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

We are warned of false prophets, but why? If all we had to do is believe, would it really make any difference whether the preacher was telling the truth or not, and he may be honest, repeating a false doctrine he had been taught.

We are told the way is difficult, and few actually find it, what difficulty is there in just saying I believe?

Sounded easy to me. But in truth it is not very easy, we must give up self, literally die to self, and that is difficult, giving up any worldly desires, dreams of wealth or power you might harbor, … but even more than that, you must give up all your personal ideas, convictions, hatreds, partialities, in other words you must come to Him with a childlike readiness to serve Him, to Learn of and about Him and His commands.

You must give it all up, pick up your cross and follow Christ, and picking up that cross is work, it’s difficult work, but on the other hand, it’s serving your Lord, it’s a work of love.

Allow me to quote C.S. Lewis once more….

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him.

The principle runs through all life from top to bottom, Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life.Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits

Matthew 7:16-20New King James Version (NKJV)

16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Luke 20:

³⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; ³⁶ nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

in Luke 20:35 Jesus states . ³⁵ But those who are counted worthy

So what does being counted worthy mean? What is that work, what must we do, once we have come to the realization Christ is exactly who He claimed to be, and we are serious about being His disciples.

• Choose the Narrow Way
  “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it”(Matthew 7:13–14).

• Take My Yoke
  “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”(Matthew 11:28–30).

• Deny Yourself
  “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?”(Luke 9:23–25).

 

Let’s wrap this up with a description of the goal: Heaven, and I think we can all agree it is worth following correctly, it is worth diligent study in order to know the commands, to know the pitfalls, it is worth accepting correction when we are wrong.

But, not just heaven, but eternity in Heaven, where there will be no more death, but continuous life forever, in a place we will want to be.

Matthew 6 and John 14 teaches us it is an actual place, we will have bodies, not just spirits floating around. It’s a place of great treasures, and prepared for those who seek it seriously, diligently. We are told in Matthew 25 that we will enter the joy of our master, and Luke 20 tells us we will be like angels, in fellowship with one another, and ultimately with God.

Matthew 6: ¹⁹“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

Let’s take a look at Revelation 21, and we will wrap up this lesson.

in Revelation 21 we are told there will be a new heaven and a new earth, There will be a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, and that God will dwell there with us, that there will be no more tears, death, sorrow, nor crying, for all these former things will pass away, and it will be forever and ever. It tells us this place is made of beautiful stones, and the gates of the city will be made of pearl, and the streets will be made of Gold like transparent glass. There will no longer be night, but light all the time; coming from God, and Christ, and we will walk in that light, no longer wearing these filthy rags of sin we bear now.

Only those written in the book of life shall dwell there….

Let’s make sure we are written in the Book of Life, by accepting Christ as our savior, without argument, following the script He has provided, following it as perfectly as we can, searching it daily for errors of the teachers, and of ourselves making the necessary adjustments to our beliefs and our behavior daily as needed, let’s lay down our lives, give it all up for Christ, the Lamb of God, being faithful servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I will see you there….

Thank you for your time, and the lesson is yours.

Hi Jim, since you are so good at defending our faith, I was wondering if you would read the following response a friend of mine from my high school days posted on FB. I have tried discussing these matters with her but she gets very defensive. I would be glad to know how you would respond to her comments point by point. “The bible is not the basis of our Constitution. I wholeheartedly disagree. And recorded history does too. I am currently reading the biography of Alexander Hamilton and I have read The Federalist Papers, biographies of most of the Founding Fathers, and a number of history books. The common denominator is their desire to avoid a national religion. The bible is not factual. There is too much hard scientific evidence to the contrary. While I believe that you have the freedom to believe what you want, I have the freedom from your beliefs too. The bible has 11 cases of incest, and has been used to justify slavery, child abuse, discrimination, and war. I do not want government based on that.” Thanks for your help with this

Michelle, one of the first things we must recognize is hard core evolutionist/ atheist most likely cannot be changed, 2 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12, Romans 1: 28. the 2nd point is argument is never the answer, they do get on the defensive. So, it really depends upon the person you’re speaking to when determining how to approach them, (1 Peter 3:15 tells us to defend the word…. meekly and humbly) we must lead them into a “conversation”.

It appears to me in your message that the following are the arguments she poses:

1. “The bible is not the basis of our Constitution.
2. The bible is not factual. There is too much hard-scientific evidence to the contrary.
3. While I believe that you have the freedom to believe what you want, I have the freedom from your beliefs too.
4. The bible has 11 cases of incest, and has been used to justify slavery, child abuse, discrimination, and war.

I will give you my answers at the end of this message.

One thing I find interesting about your statement is she doesn’t want government based upon the bible, (you and I know that is a scary thing, every other government has absolutely been as she described, when not based upon the Bible, consider Hitler’s Germany for instance)  and all the examples of abuse, and such that she quotes… she obviously has never read the bible, let alone understands it, nor does she understand much about our countries history, nor does she know much about science, all she knows in all these subjects is what another atheist has told her. The bible hasn’t changed, science has, it is always moving towards biblical statements concerning scientific facts. She apparently has her mind set on believing the lie, without evidence.

Normally the way I respond to atheist is to ask them if they are interested in truth…. Biblically or not… and all of them will say yes and state that as the reason for rejecting scripture (but you must remember Liberals are not really interested in the truth, even though they think they are).

Your response should be something like this: “if you are truly interest in learning the truth, if you are truly committed to knowing the truth then you must be willing to examine both sides of the issue, consider all the facts, with an open mind, and until you are ready to do that, you are rejecting the truth, and are only interested in a philosophy that supports your desired lifestyle. (Always, always remember the part about meekness and humility)

A person truly committed to truth, will seek truth diligently, and when they find it, will live by it.

A good question is simply to ask them is “What if I could prove to you God does exist, and He is the author of the bible, would that change your view”?

I tell the guys in the prison, that I can do exactly that, but so what? What difference does it make if they do not let this truth change their lives?

We can give scientific and mathematical proof of creation being the true reason for our existence (vs. evolution) all day long (literally, all day long), and the committed atheist/ evolutionist will reject it, and come up with some answer such as …. Well given enough time…

This is the reason I am developing the new class called the two witnesses. These are facts contained in scripture that cannot be argued by anyone. They are the scientific facts stated in the bible such as the jet stream circuit (verified by during world war II by airmen), that there are springs in the bottom of the ocean (verified by scientist in the 1970’s), and all the health facts long before mankind had any proof, or idea of the facts being presented.

2^nd are the prophesies in the bible, predictions of the future which are now history, of which there are some 2,500 of them and all except a few last day prophesies have been fulfilled exactly as predicted. For instance, Daniels 70 “7’s” (predictions of 70 – 7 year periods of time ending with the crucifixion of Christ) are so accurate that even bible scholars thought that it was history being passed off as prophecies, until they found the dead sea scrolls in 1948 that predated the prophesies, proving it was prophecy.

They cannot be argued, because they are in the bible and are proven scientific or now historical facts, and, it can be proven the bible has not changed (we have thousands of very early copies, even 4 -5 thousand of just the new testament)

One technique I like to use is to tell people in the theaters of their minds to picture a chalk board like they had in school, stretching from the beginning of time to today. Start by drawing line on your board at the very top, all the way across, in a straight line and label that line “The Bible” because it is the same all through time, it never changes and never will. Secondly start a line at the bottom left and title it “Science” and as we progress through the course they will move that line up every time science changes it position due to more evidence… the line will always head towards the Bible line, and eventually if we’re around long enough it will meet up with the bible line and join it, but will never go above it.

The point to the two witnesses is simply this; for early man to record all these facts of science and the future, they had to have a source of higher intelligence, a higher power, that higher power is what we refer to as “God” and to the logical mind it proves the bible had to be inspired by God.

Remember the apostles when they were evangelizing made the statement that the Jews found the gospel a stumbling block, and the Greeks considered it nonsense… the reason is the Jews had basic understanding, the Greeks didn’t. The Pew research institute tells us people born in 1996 and later only about 50% have any knowledge of scripture at all. Which means half of America today (Liberals) are merely modern day Greeks… it sounds like nonsense to them, and they consider it intellectual suicide to even consider the possibility of the Bible being the truth. So, anytime you are dealing with an atheist you need to determine that. However, you do have some inside knowledge about her… she and everyone else who claims to be an atheist are lying (Romans 1:18 – 19) The Brown trucking company in Georgia polygraphed everyone applying for a job with them until 1988. One of the questions they asked everyone is if they believed in God… when a confirmed atheist would answer no, in every case the machine indicated they were lying, and they tested over 15,000 people.

Now to answer her statements:

1. “The bible is not the basis of our Constitution.
   1. A simple study of American history proves that the Bible/ Christianity is absolutely the basis of our Constitution, and our very existence, in addition:
      1. In the beginning the education of children was the responsibility of the church
      2. All school children learned from the McGuffey reader which was based upon bible scriptures

• If you go to court, you swear to tell the truth by placing your hand on a bible (liberals may have had this changed…. Wouldn’t surprise me) indicating, truth, and the commitment to it was found in the Bible

1. Congress and the Senate began, and I think they still do, with prayer.
2. All courthouse, and federal buildings generally have the ten commandments posted or some other scripture.

2. The bible is not factual. There is too much hard-scientific evidence to the contrary.
   1. There are over a hundred examples of science now proving the truth and consistency of scripture, basically science is just catching up to biblical statements concerning our cosmos and our Earth.
3. While I believe that you have the freedom to believe what you want, I have the freedom from your beliefs too.
   1. This is a biblical principle, God only wants those to come to Him voluntarily.
4. The bible has 11 cases of incest, and has been used to justify slavery, child abuse, discrimination, and war.
   1. People over time have misused biblical scriptures to preform evil acts, there is no doubt about this, the crusades are a good example of this. However,
      1. Slavery is a fact of history, began in Africa (this is just a fact of life, and the bible does not hide from facts.)
      2. Child abuse has been prevalent throughout history. Various societies have used children in their temple worship (not Christian or Jews) for sexual purposes all through time (for instance, and for obvious reasons, I like to use Amy Carmichael as an example of this, who went to India to save the little girls from this abuse, and later the little boys as well. (Again, this is just a fact of life, and the bible does not hide from facts.)
         1. A simple reading of scripture tells us God is against this, and anyone commits this crime will suffer harsher judgment than anyone else.

• Incest is much more common than we like to admit, it’s like the old joke that some family trees do not have branches. Again, this is just a fact of life, and the bible does not hide from facts.
  1. In the beginning, everyone was a brother and sister, all born of Adam, so there was no option.
  2. In the ark, these eight people were all relatives, again no option.
  3. In early America, in the small villages across the land, very often the only mate available was a cousin.
  4. President Roosevelt was married to his 1^st

1. Discrimination:
   1. This is common among all people groups, and not just a white man’s invention. And there are many examples of this, not just skin color even though that is the common reason. The sad thing is evolutionist preach there are five races of mankind, but the bible teaches us there is only one race: the human race, and now DNA has proven the bible to be correct, again proving evolution to be wrong. And, there is only one skin color; brown with various shades depending on how much of what I call food coloring is present.
2. War: Again, this is just a fact of life, and the bible does not hide from facts.
   1. War has existed all through history.
      1. America has been involved in war many times, generally dragged into it by other countries, such as in world war II when we were attacked without provocation in Pearl Harbor by a country that did not believe in God, nor the bible.
         1. Also by Germany, and contrary to what many will tell you, Hitler was not a Christian.
         2. The American revolution… to gain freedom from England and establish our country as a Christian country, following the precepts of Christ, but giving religious freedom to all (the idea of course Christian religion, and even those who claimed this really meant their brand of Christian religion which for the most part was their own brand of Christian beliefs.

• The civil war, in which the conservative republicans recognized that slavery was an evil practice being defended by the liberal democrats of the day (in addition the KKK later was the strong arm of the democratic party… not the republicans) When John Kennedy supported the civil rights bill in the 1960’s he was considered a traitor to his party, and his reward was assignation.

1. God uses war in the scriptures for several reasons, including to punish the Jews who turned their backs of Him.
2. He used wars and battles to demonstrate His great power, that it was He who was in control, allowing just a handful of men defeat great armies, and at time sending angels to destroy evil empires and armies.

Let’s look at the other options. A godless society: Our government today has approved of homosexual activity as legal, even to the point of gay marriages in direct opposition to God’s word. It has opened girl’s restrooms in the schools, and public, as well as private buildings, subjecting our little girls to any perverts, to whatever abuse they choose to perpetrate on these children.

God says thou shall not murder, yet the godless society says that is Okay… genocide against the aged, with the idea that anyone over 80 should not receive medical care outside of pain killers to make them more comfortable (I guess that is their idea of compassion). We have murdered 60 million innocent babies, by tearing the them literally, limb from limb, knowing full well they feel that pain, and then crushing their skulls… great example of a compassionate yet godless society.

Even if the Bible wasn’t true (and it is proven to be true, by science) I would still prefer is precepts over the godless societies that have emerged from time to time, including the United States in the last 8 years.

I hope you will look around this website, you find overwhelming evidence that proves the bible to be the Inspired Word of God.

Prison Sermon on Pride for December 2016

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a cosmic battle going on, a spiritual warfare between two factions, pride on one side, humility, and meekness on the other.

I decided to teach this lesson by comparing the two factions and giving examples, as well as definitions of each.

My favorite joke is to say my greatest source of pride comes from how humble I am…. But seriously I use this to remind myself that pride can sneak up on you, you have to be very careful around this deadly poison (pride)  that seems to have a mind and purpose of its own, and that is to destroy its victims, for ever and ever and ever…..

I have often wondered about pride, I have talked about it, preached about it, but really what is it? How can I recognize it, know it when I see it? How can taking pride in my work be a sin?

I used to think the old bumper sticker “God is my co-pilot” was a positive thing, a good statement of faith, but what it’s really saying God is taking second place in my affairs, and I am in control of my destiny, this is pride…. No God is the pilot, and I am the flight attendant and my job is serving the others on board while we make this journey….

C.S. Lewis writes, in Mere Christianity, that pride is the “anti-God” state, the position in which the ego and the self are directly opposed to God: “Un-chastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”

But again, that is confusing, because we have all been taught to be proud of our accomplishments, or take pride in ourselves, family pride, pride of our son’s football team, or our daughters musical talents, or whatever they may be involved in.

How about taking pride in our work, meaning to do a good job, create a good product, and etc.

What about humility or being meek? Are these just other words for weakness? This is what I discovered:

Hubris

This is the type of pride C.S. Lewis is speaking of:

Hubris was a character flaw often seen in the heroes of classical Greek tragedy and The familiar old saying “Pride goeth before a fall” is basically talking about hubris.

In ancient Greek, hubris referred to actions that shamed and humiliated the victim for the pleasure or gratification of the abuser. The term had a strong sexual connotation, and the shame reflected on the perpetrator as well.  Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Definition of Hubris by Aristotle

From his book “Rhetoric”

 

“Hubris consists in doing and saying things that cause shame to the victim…simply for the pleasure of it. Retaliation is not hubris, but revenge. … Young men and the rich are hubristic because they think they are better than other people.”

Aristotle thus believed that people indulge in crimes like sexual misconduct and maltreating others only to fulfill their basic desire to make themselves feel superior to others.

A couple of examples:

Paradise Lost

In his famous epic “Paradise Lost”, Milton portrays “Satan” as a character that suffers from Hubris. He loses his glorious position through giving in to his excessive pride. It was his Hubris that made him try to take control over Heaven. Although he failed miserably, his pride lasts:

“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n.”

The reason of his desire to rebel against his creator originates from his reluctance to accept the authority of God and His Son because he believed that angels are” self-begot, self-raised” and hence bringing his downfall in being thrown out of Paradise.

How often have we heard men boast “I am my own man” or how about that song by Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley…. I did it my way?

A good example of making God the co-pilot, second in command rather than first in their lives.

Doctor Faustus

An instance of Hubris can be spotted in Marlowe’s “Doctor Faustus”. Faustus’s arrogance and extreme pride in his scholarship and his irresistible desire to become superior to all other men of his age forces him to sell his soul to “Lucifer” by signing a contract with his blood. He learns the art of black magic and defies Christianity. Finally, he must pay for his arrogance and pride. The devils take away his soul to Hell and he suffers eternal damnation.

Let’s look at the other side of this cosmic battle….

What is the opposite of hubris?

Meekness and Humility

God’s Cure for Pride, Haughtiness, and Egotism

Two men came to lead their people; first Moses to lead the Jews out of Egypt, and then Christ to lead all men out of captivity.

Both men, came, gave up comfort, and lived by, and taught us God’s will.

Numbers 12:3 – Moses was very meek, above all men on face of the earth.

Matthew 11:29,30 – Jesus said, “I am meek and lowly in heart.”

These men were two of the greatest characters who ever lived. God chose both to be givers of His law. Jesus was the Divine Son of God. Surely, we should seek to be like these men.

Other verses emphasize the importance of these qualities

Matthew 5:5 – Blessed are the meek (gentle – NKJV), for they shall inherit the earth. Jesus declares a “blessing” (happiness) on those who are meek.

Galatians 5:22,23 – Meekness is one of the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit – qualities that we must possess if the Spirit leads us.

Definition: Meekness

This is a difficult word to understand, because we think “meek” implies weakness. Sometimes it is translated (NKJV) “gentleness,” but that also implies weakness.

The best way to know the meaning of a word is to study passages where it is used. As we do, we will see meekness is an attitude or quality of heart [1 Peter 3:4] whereby a person willingly accepts and submits without resistance to the will and desires of someone else.

The meek person is not self-willed – not continually concerned with self, his own ways, ideas, and wishes. He is willing to put himself in second place and submit himself to achieve what is good for others.

Meekness is the opposite of self-will, self-interest, and self-assertiveness.

This is a sign, not of weakness of character (as some think), but of strength. It requires great self-control to submit to others.

Think about it, we are born with only one thought, self, we know nothing of the outside world, the only thing we know is that if we are uncomfortable, or hungry we cry, because things are simply not going our way….

The job of the parent is to teach the child, to speak, walk, read, write, but more importantly to look to others, to put their needs and desires ahead of their own.

Jody’s focus when we teach a Sunday school class of little ones, is teaching them to share.

Our instinct is to gather for ourselves, work a job so we can have money to spend on ourselves. Not for others.  So, we must resist our natural instinct to be meek, and that takes great strength of character.

Meekness is what we must possess to fulfill the greatest commandant, to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, as well as the  2^nd greatest commandment to love each other, and by this men will know we are Christians…. Love is agape…. To put the others needs ahead of your own.   Fits perfectly doesn’t it?

Matthew 22:37-40  37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is  the  first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

 

“DYING TO SELF”

by Dr. D. W. Ekstrand

The world’s philosophy says LIVE FOR SELF… but God’s Word says DIE TO SELF!  Many people came to Jesus and asked to be His disciples, but most of them turned away because they were not willing to give themselves to Christ; i.e., make themselves a “slave of Christ” (Lk 14:26, 33; 16:13; Rom 12:1; 1 Cor 6:19-20; 1 Pet 1:18-19). Jesus said, “He who loves his father or mother or himself more than Me, he is not worthy of Me” (Mt 10:37-39). Thus Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

The essence of a being’s “existence” has to do with the fact that he is a “living reality” — if one no longer has or the functions of vitality, they are said to “no longer exist.” So, the essence of “death” is the absence of “life” – therefore when one dies “one ceases to exist.”

To carry the argument into the spiritual realm, when someone “spiritually dies    to self,” self ceases to exist – that is, SELF IS NO LONGER THE REASON FOR ONE’S EXISTENCE. 

As such, the individual is no longer concerned with “his own will or happiness,” because he is no longer in the picture… he is         no longer the center of his own little universe… he no longer continues to arrange the world around himself.

The individual who “dies to self” understands that God created him for a reason; that he is a part of God’s plan for the world. To be used of God one must understand the essence of who he now really is, and how it is that God can use him.

Every genuine child of God wants to be used by God to accomplish His purposes in the world

Jesus said, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (Jn 15:8).

That is the essence of God’s plan – we are saved to bear fruit; created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph 2:10).

We bear fruit when Christ lives His life in and through us (Jn 15:5; Gal 2:20). The apostle Paul said, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). The Lord wants us to live a godly and spiritually productive happy life.

Definition: Humility

This is an attitude or quality of mind [Acts 20:19] whereby a person holds low esteem or opinion of his own goodness and importance. Spiritually, one abases himself because he realizes his sinfulness and therefore he is willing to depend on God to meet His needs. It is the opposite of pride, haughtiness, and self-exaltation.

The goal of death to self and daily cross-bearing is “fellowship with Christ.” The goal of life for the believer is to “seek God” and make Him their all in all, their last end.

Jeff Alexander suggests the following five ways that we embrace the cross (www.cause-of-god.com) —

Humiliation – This is the essence of the Christ-life. Here God uses reproaches, abuse, poverty, loneliness, persecution, distress, seeming failure, disappointments, and the like. These things succeed when they cause us to lose our own will and let God take charge.

Rejecting the praise of men – Self thrives on praise and adulation; self-esteem is the hotbed of the self-life.

Embracing simplicity and child-likeness – Self feeds on things grand and glorious; Christ-likeness is child-like and simple.

Living by pure faith – Self depends on outward assurances; living by pure faith trusts the Word of God even when there is no indication of God’s presence or blessing.

Seeking our nothingness and His all-ness – We must make a daily habit to distrust ourselves, our own wisdom, and our strength, and look to Christ alone for what we need.

Now, let me offer a few examples of those who have displayed amazing humility and meekness: This is a story given to us by our pulpit preacher Mitch Wilburn a couple of weeks ago…

Michael W Smith met with Billy Graham for the purpose of planning Rev. Graham’s funeral. The famous evangelist was, at the time, 94 years old. He was confined to a wheelchair, on oxygen. His mind was sharp and spirits were high. But his body was seeing its final days. So he called for Michael. And he called for his pastor. He wanted to discuss his funeral. He told them that he had a request.

“Of course,” they said. “Anything you want. What is it?”

“It has to do with the funeral…”

“You cannot mention my name.  Just mention the name of Jesus.”

Billy Graham has preached to over a billion people. He has filled stadiums on every continent. He has advised every president of the last half century. He has consistently been at the top of every most-admired list. Yet, he wants to be unmentioned at his own funeral.

Mother Teresa was a teacher in a school in India, and all her needs were met in the convent where she lived.

However, she chose to give up her life in that convent to live with the poorest of the poor on the streets of Calcutta, taking care of the very sick and dying. She took care of people with whom no one else wanted to bother.

The Missionaries of Charity is the name of the religious order Mother Teresa started. Women who join this order give up their possessions and live a life of great simplicity. When they find people dying in the streets and the slums, they take them into their hospitals, clean them up, give them medical care, and if they cannot recover, provide a clean and sanitary place to die with dignity.

I have often stated my real hero is not the mother Teresa’s of the world, who are fine examples of humility, but the humble little nurse/ nun who gives up all her life, her happiness in a worldly sense, live among the poorest of the poor by choice, and we never even know their name. They live and die for others, without recognition, without glory or honor, they just do the work.

That is above most of us, certainly for me.

We should start each day with a prayer, and self examination. Starting the day with the prayer, and then with the determination that we will die to self this day, we will put all others first. And then at night, praying for forgiveness of our failure, examine those failures, what could we have done differently this day?

That is a form of dying to self, just having the goal, and working on it daily, and each day we will move a little closer to accomplishing that goal.

Thank you for having me, I pray we all go in peace and as we start the New Year, that we all are determined to move closer to being meek and humble:

I think we can see the difference, the two sides of the story are glaringly obvious now. We can recognize the prosperity preaching is not real teaching, at least Christian teaching, we don’t need self-help guides, we only need Christ, to die to ourselves is Christ, the greatest gain, the greatest of all victories.

 

 

 

 

Jody doesn’t share her thoughts very often, but today she has something to say:

Our God is an awesome God! Our country is a Christian nation! Our election is celebrated!

America was founded on three documents: The Declaration of Independence; The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783, and the Constitution. These documents give conclusive proof that America is a Christian nation. One does not need a law degree or a degree in history to grasp this truth. It is obvious to anyone who does not have an agenda. Let us review the documents and show this proof.

Suggestions for President Trump:

Abolish the Supreme Court. We do not need them, we each have our own State Supreme Courts,  and the US Supreme Court has followed Obama’s lead in making laws, without authority to do so.

Why was the Supreme Court created?

Although the Constitution establishes the Supreme Court, it permits Congress to decide how to organize it. Congress first exercised this power in the Judiciary Act of 1789. This Act created a Supreme Court with six justices. It also established the lower federal court system.

The Supreme Court was constructed to adjudicate law for specific cases, mostly disputes among states or situations in which the United States is a party. The high court was assuredly never meant to override law or overturn state law, and even the proponents of judicial review in the ratification conventions never explained this power in relation to overturning state law. How can I assert this with certainty? Because the Constitution’s biggest proponents assured us of this. The proof lies in the states, where the Constitution was defended against some of the most compelling attacks by the Brutus Writings, Patrick Henry, and other powerful voices of opposition.

 

Abolish the IRS. They also have violated the Constitution in acting on behalf of the Liberals.

16th Amendment: The American people were told that the income tax provision would apply only to the top one percent of wage earners, and would sock them with a one percent tax on income. The rest of America – you know, the ones who had to vote for this thing – were told we would be left alone. None of this would apply to us.

Prior to the passage of the 16th Amendment, virtually the sole source of income to the federal government came from tariffs collected on imported goods. That itself was a profound limitation on the size and reach of the federal government. In 1910, for instance, the budget for the entire federal government was $1.042 billion. You read that right. The entire federal budget in 1910 was one billion dollars.

Withdraw from the United Nations, it is a joke, and it will fall when our funding is gone.

U.S. Funding of the U.N. System

The U.S. has been the largest financial supporter of the U.N. since the organization’s founding in 1945. The U.S. is currently assessed 22 percent of the U.N. regular budget and more than 27 percent of the U.N. peacekeeping budget. In dollar terms, the Administration’s budget for FY 2011 requested $516.3 million for the U.N. regular budget and more than $2.182 billion for the peacekeeping budget.

Assist California in seceding from our great Christian nation, but include sanctions of any trade with  them, which will bankrupt them. This will cleanse our country of the filth inflicted on our children from Hollywood.

The huge majority of professional pornography is generated in California – Los Angeles, to be exact. Some estimates say that 90% of all porn is shot in the San Fernando Valley.

All states will gladly accept any Christian refugees who choose to flee California.

Deport the protesters to California, where they can be taken under the wing of the Hollywood elite, at least, until their funds run out.

The ACLU should be exclusive to California, banned from all courts in our Christian Nation.

Maybe the professional politicians can relocate to California, and with their amazing acting skills,  they can compete with the most successful, famous Hollywood stars, until their funds run out…

Hillary can either be President of California, or further pursue her acting career.

It is amazing to me to see the great concern the radical liberals have for the environment and animals, yet eagerly promote homosexuality and abortion.

Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Genesis 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

They will soon find themselves on the extinct list without ability to reproduce, as God intended with us, His creation.

I believe America has received a reprieve from completely sliding into the abyss of perversion. And, we have been spared the wrath of God for our sins.  We have had people in office, running our country that do not adhere to God’s law first, they do not honor Him nor His precepts, and have made shambles of the Christian Character of America.

We have lost the respect of the world, but more importantly we are falling from God’s grace, as we as a nation have been turning our backs on Him.

We have a very weakened military, the economy is in the worst shape it has been in for decades, children are no longer allowed to pray in school let alone study the word, and teaching the word in school has been so far removed that people have lost memory of it. The government with the permission and even encouragement from the people have allowed for marriage consisting of a deviated sexual life style and attempting to pass it off as normal as traditional marriage. We have legally murdered 60 million babies since 1973 after we somehow decided God’s commandment of “Do Not Murder” didn’t apply to us.  Our daughters have been left unprotected from sexual deviates that are now allowed to choose which gender they are for the moment, and may enter without risk of persecution, any lady’s restroom they choose. We can’t even obtain decent health insurance for our families.

I believe we have been given a second chance due to all the prayers offered to God, begging for that chance.

But what does that mean? Do we just continue with business as usual hoping the good folks who have wondered from their Christian training will somehow change their minds and return to solid Christian values?

I see three things that we need to take control of immediately:

1. Return the power of government to the states through the convention of states now be formulated.
2. Return the education of school children to the church. Bring in your foreign missionaries, let them teach American children, bringing them up in the word of God with the overwhelming evidences of God existence… no more teaching of “bible stories”  but biblical reliable history, proving to them the bible is the word of God, by proving to them there is no other choice.
3. Take whatever means possible to stop the mass genocide of unborn children. Picketing abortion clinics, educating the young, pursuing legal measures, and bombarding the government with demands to cease the horrendous criminal activity hidden behind the false curtain of “women’s health” regardless of the child’s health.

 

 

Transcript of the September 2016 Prison Sermon by Jim Carmichael

Grace be to God that I am able to stand before you this evening and share His word with you.  

if you possess a certain level of common sense, once something is proven to you to be true beyond a shadow of a doubt,

especially when it concerns your eternal well-being, seeking that truth should become a passion in your life.

The bible gives us an example of just how strong that passion should be:

Psalm 42:1 (For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.) As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?…

Genesis 2: 7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. God is life, and He imparted life to us, now think how much you would desire that breath of life if you were drowning.

This should be our goal, to seek God with this kind of overwhelming passion.

But we can’t just choose to, at least I couldn’t, we have to have a conviction, a true ironclad conviction that God does exist, and did create the world.

 Let me define Science;            Science means knowledge.

There are two forms of science

There is true science we call observable science. WE call it true because we can see evidence of it.

We can see the result of a thing happening, such as arriving upon an accident about 5 minutes after it occurred. We didn’t see the accident, but we see two cars smashed together and can safely assume there was indeed a car accident because it is based upon observable evidence.

On the other hand, we have false science, or pseudo-science, more commonly known as scientific theory.

Now pseudo-science would be like saying, I believe an accident has occurred here, even though there are no witnesses, no wreckage, and no real reason to think so.

There is no way to prove scientific theory, because there are no witnesses, and no evidence, and in fact may even contradict real science.

We can go back to the accident, and instead of thinking an accident had occurred we would try to convince people that what appeared to be an accident was actually just an act of nature, both wrecked cars just developed through time. That would be contrary to observable evidence, wouldn’t it?

That is precisely what the theory of evolution attempts to do with observable evidence of creation, even though all the evidence points towards creation, the evolutionist wants to tell us even though it appears to be creation, it really just occurred through small mutations over millions of years.

 How can we know the bible is truly inspired by God? And, can it possibly be proven?

The answer is; God gave us two witnesses to this fact, many years before they could stand as witnesses.

The prophesies, which is man making predictions of future events of which they could not have had any knowledge of in advance, no way of knowing what or why they were predicting it, all they knew was God was telling them to write it down, and they did.

The second was having them write what would become observable science/ knowledge thousands of years in advance. They were writing things they could have had no idea of what it meant, and no man could have until recent years with the development of technology, and true science.

These are our two witnesses that offer us testimony to the fact that God must have told them what to write, and they did, it had to be the inspired word of God, there is simply no other option.

I normally do not study prophesies concerning end-time events, however I do want to look at a couple of those prophesies.

1 Timothy 6:20 warns us of a false doctrine, and false teachers stating that those would come who would profess profanity and idle babblings that actually contradict true, or observable science/ knowledge.

 That time has come, and a great delusion has swept the earth which was also predicted

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Today a great lie has covered the earth, the theory of evolution which contradicts observable evidence, yet is taught worldwide as fact, and many just accept this without investigation.

There are only two options on how we came to exist: Either through evolution, or creation.

There can only be one absolute truth regarding the beginning, not two. One is supported by observable evidence the other is not.

Did it ever occur to you that if we can prove just one fact that had to come from God, that is all that required to “prove” His existence, but I will tell you now, He has given us a thousand ways, and the theory of evolution has given us none, yet people flock to it.

Why, for evolution eliminates the need for Christ, there is nothing to be forgiven for, we just developed this way, there is nothing after this life, no hell that burns forever.

The problem with that idea is that you might not believe a bus is barreling down on you when in reality it is, but if you don’t move, believe it or not, you are going to be squashed.

Whether you believe in hell or not, if you do not accept the truth, with a passion and live by it, and teach it to others, you will be hit by it, and there will be no recourse, and it will continue forever.

I would like to explain something to you, we have all kinds of proof that creation is the only answer, from the study of the cosmos, the earth, and the human body. We use these facts very often in an attempt to “prove” creation, but at each and every turn, at every example those who believe in the lie will have a counter, and generally it will be “given enough time” and all things could have occurred by chance.

So what is the answer? Using these facts as the observable science, the true knowledge, that even the atheist will not refute… for it is science… observable science and compare it to the bible in order to verify the bible is in line with that same observable science.

So where does the proof lie?

When we can demonstrate the bible stated the observable facts long before they were observable, information given to man before he would have had any idea of why he was writing it, then we are establishing a higher power must have been in play, and we are going to look at a few examples of this evidence this evening.

The earth was designed for biological life. (Isaiah 45:18) Isaiah 45:18 For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.

Scientist have discovered that the most fundamental characteristics of our earth and cosmos are so finely tuned that if just one of them were even slightly different, life as we know it couldn’t exist. This is called the Anthropic Principle and it agrees with the Bible which states that God formed the earth to be inhabited.

I hope you see the connection, God created the earth to be inhabited, and it is so finely tuned that life couldn’t have existed as we know it without the fine tuning.

Let’s go to Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.

Satan just adds two words, In the beginning God did not create the heavens and Earth.

Just as he only changed one word in the Garden, he caused the fall of man, he now changes two words, and hopes to seal our fate… eternity in the lake of fire with him and his demons.

In the beginning God revealed Himself to early man. It was obvious enough that He told them to write, and they wrote without question, writing things they had no idea of their meaning.

So let’s take a look at them and see if they agree with observable science.

God told them in Genesis 1: 14-16 That He had created the lights in the heavens for signs, seasons, days and years. We know now that it takes one full year of time for the earth to make one trip around the Sun, and during that year the seasons changed due to their position in relationship to the Sun. The phases of the moon follow one another with clock like precision constituting the lunar calendar, and in Job 38:12,14 The picture here is of a clay vessel being turned or rotated upon the potter’s wheel – an accurate analogy of the earth’s rotation. Luke 17:34-36 says the second coming of Jesus Christ will occur while some are asleep at night, and others are working at daytime activities in the field. This is another clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night occurring at the same time. And, here is your first example of the bible agreeing with observable science.

Now, we have covered the seasons, the day’s, the year, and even the calendar with the earth tuning on its axis, but what about that first reason given for those lights? For signs. Now many think this has to do with astrology, but God commands us not to use the stars for predicting the future Isaiah 47:13 “You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you.”,

yet He gave them as signs, so what could those signs be for?

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

Increased when? In the end. Do we have a great increase in knowledge now?

This verse is a great witness to the fact that God has concealed the meaning of this book until the “time of the end”.  To “shut up” means to hide, keep secret or conceal.  This is a common methodology of God found throughout the Bible.  God has hidden information for us to find.   This information is revealed by the Spirit of God at the proper time.  For some scriptures it was during the time of the Apostles and Paul when God revealed vast amounts of new revelation.  But, it is also for our time based upon this verse in Daniel, that we live in right now.

So I want to go over this really quickly, in the beginning God revealed Himself to early man, a burning bush, To Noah on how to build the Ark (by the way, the dimensions of the ark turned out to be the perfect dimensions for large sea going cargo vessels, one of those revealed scientific facts) To Moses, with his ten plagues, parting of the red sea.

Later with Christ revealing Himself as God in the flesh performing miracles of healing and raising the dead, and rising from the dead Himself.

And now us, He is revealing Himself with this great increase of knowledge, so we can know and recognize Him. So we can accept Him, so we can have our witness, in order to gain eternal life.

the new technology has revealed many things in scripture that proves it to be in accordance with observable science.

Let’s go a little further. These lights in the heaven are stars; In Genesis 17:22 and Hebrews 11:12 God states that the stars are comparable to the sands of the sea. Modern day scientist estimates the number of stars as very comparable to the number of pebbles of sand on the sea shore.

 

In Jeremiah 33:22 God says they are incalculable. At a time when less than 5,000 stars were visible to the human eye, God stated they were incalculable. It was not until the 17^th century that Galileo invented the telescope and got a glimpse into the immensity of our universe, today astronomers estimate that there are 10,000 billion trillion stars (that’s a 1 with 25 “0”’s following it), and as the bible states, they also say this estimate might be “woefully” inadequate.

The bible agrees with observable science. Although the number of stars are immense, and incalculable the scientists state that the number is finite, which also agrees with the bible which states that in Isaiah 40:26, and in Psalms 147:4 God counts them and calls them by name… we serve an awesome God.

In Job 38: 31 The Pleiades and Orion star clusters are described. The Pleiades star cluster is bound gravitationally while the Orion star cluster is loose and disintegrating, the clusters gravity isn’t strong enough to hold the group together, yet God asked Job 4,000 years ago” Can you bind the cluster of Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion?” Yet, it is only recently that we realized that the Pleiades is gravitationally bound, but Orion’s stars are flying apart.

Let’s look at a star very familiar to us… The Sun… goes in a circuit. We found this in Palms 19:6. Some scientist scoffed at this verse thinking it taught geocentricity, that the Sun traveled around the Earth, and insisted the Sun was stationary, yet we now know that the Sun travels through space at 600,000 miles per hour. It is literally moving through a huge circuit in space, just as the bible stated 3,000 years ago.

 Of course what do stars do? Provide light, so….

Let’s go a little further, 4000 years ago God declared that light had its way in Job 38:19. In the original language the word used here was Derrick, which means road or path, and more accurately a road or path traveled. Job wrote this at a time when it was thought that light traveled instantaneously, we now know that light is a form of energy that travels at 186,000 miles a second in a straight line, and as the bible says, in complete agreement with observable science, light has its way.

And moving to Job 38:24 the bible states that light can be divided, and it wasn’t until about 400 years ago that Sir Isaac Newton decided to study light and discovered that white light was made of 7 colors that could be divided, and then reunited. Science confirmed this 400 years ago, but God declared it 4 millennia ago.

Let’s wrap this up with one more example, staying in Job 38, going to verse 35 God says light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. We now know that light waves and radio waves are merely two forms of the same thing, electromagnetic waves. Therefore, radio waves are merely a form of light, and by using a radio transmitter, we can send lightening’s, and they will indeed manifest themselves in speech.

As should be obvious, these are things that could have only been known by God when they were written, and they have been revealed to us in these days of increased knowledge, and written at an earlier time so we could confirm the truth of God.

We lived in a blessed time.  There are app 2,500 predictions of the future in the bible almost all fulfilled except for a few end-time prophesies, and hundreds of these scientific facts proving the bible lines up perfectly with observable science.

We didn’t even touch the tip of the preverbal iceberg… it’s an exciting journey for anyone who decides to take it… it gives you an iron clad faith, which will instill in you a passion for seeking God and his truth.

So, you can have your witnesses, your two witnesses of the end times, and you can know you live in the final days. God’s word is provable, and by that fact we know trustworthy to be true, every word…. And the increase in knowledge, the description that covers the earth, all tell us we are in the end days… the very end days.

Now I am going to wrap this up with two more verses: To me the two scariest verses in the Bible.

Revelation 3:15 -17 15I   know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other. 16 So because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of My mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.…

James 1: 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Studying apologetics, becoming a student of it, along with solid biblical knowledge will give you an ironclad faith, that faith will cause a passion in you to share the word with everyone who will listen.

And, you will have an unstoppable power to defend the word against the most aggressive atheist that might attack you.

So why are we studying this? Because many people have no idea of the truth of the scripture. They have had no background training, and all they have heard that bible is just a bunch of nonsense, full of lies, because they have been taught evolution is the true answer for the reason we are here.

They have been deceived. If not taught the true knowledge, they face an eternity in damnation, and if only for a teacher they could have eternal life.

Let’s be that teacher. We have to defend the bible, and from what? From the ignorance of the world that now believes in the theory, the pseudo-science of evolution, and to do that we must have solid, honest, provable information.  Thank you for your time.