And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Mark 13:10

I often forget this important command of Jesus.  I used to believe that preaching the gospel meant telling everyone I came into contact with (who wasn’t already a Christian) that Jesus came to die for their sins and that they must accept him as their Savior or risk an eternity in Hell.

Gospel means “good news,” and nothing about burning in Hell can be good. So what else could good news mean?  What did it mean to the people that Jesus brought it to?

It would be good news to people who thought that their God had forgotten them, to find out that he loves them — always has and always will.  It’s good news for them to know that their religious leaders are not necessarily God’s pristine examples of how one should behave who claims God. And it’s good news to know that, even though we fail (sin), God is not going to give up on us. He will use discipline, just as any loving parent would do to teach their children well.

Hey, that good news (gospel) still fits for me today!

Read more »

Jesus did come to deliver us from the painful consequences of our sins, but it is by God’s Perfect will that the consequences even exist.  Disobedience brings the consequence of pain, which prepares the soul for healing.  The cure is in the cause.  You cannot be delivered from the consequences of sin while that sin still exists.

But we seem determined to hold onto the teaching that Christ came to save us from the punishment of our sins.  This concept has corrupted the true teaching of the gospel.

Read more »

The center of a human being is the will.  Evil and good work upon that will. Suffering must be experienced while evil exists in the soul.  It is put there by God for a purpose:  that the man might work against the evil in him and thereby relieve the suffering.

How many people are there who aggressively attack evils in the world, yet fail to recognize and address the evil within themselves?  Even if it were possible for evil to be expunged, yet it still remains in me, I could not completely enjoy the goodness around me.

Corporate evil is not the problem.  Individual evil is.

Read more »

Located in the middle of our Bible is a collection of five books called Psalms.  I never noticed until now that the Psalms were divided into books.  And I am hard-pressed to find any division in the subject matter or authors that would identify them as separate books.

The root word is psallein, from the Greek, meaning “to play the harp.”  It seems that it might be difficult to sing songs of this nature, even accompanied by an instrument, although many today have attempted it with much success.

The first psalm was psung by King David when the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Jerusalem (I Chronicles 16:8-36).  In fact a lot of the chapters in the Book of Psalms were purportedly written by David, but the entire collection includes other authors.

Many of the Psalms are praise songs.  Not like the snippets of Psalms that are used in worship today, where they display it on an overhead projector, accompany it with a small band and sing the phrase over and over and over and over until you want to confess to something just to make it stop.

Read more »

Chapter 18 of Ezekiel is an excellent study on the justice of God.  It begins with God responding unfavorably to an often-quoted proverb, “The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (vs. 2).  I find comfort in his statement that “every living soul belongs to me” (vs. 4).

Then God goes on to explain (through the prophet, of course) that each person’s sins are accountable for their own actions.  No longer can they be blamed on the behavior of their parents or how they were raised.  You do bad, you die.  You do good, you live.

Now I’m not sure what is specifically meant by the term “death.”  Is it a physical death?  We all die, but does God take us out sooner if we’re bad? From looking around us, that doesn’t appear to be true.  Many apathetic, angry or miserable people still manage to live to a ripe old age.

Read more »

I remember as a child playing a game called Red Rover.  It consisted of two teams who formed lines about thirty feet apart.  One team would announce the name of who they wanted to receive (Red Rover, Red Rover, send Stevie right over.).  The person selected would rush at the opposite line, attempting to break through.  If he or she broke through, they could pick one of the two links broken to join them back on their team.  If they couldn’t break through, they remained as a part of the receiving team.  I never got called because of my size.

Picking sides has always been a part of childhood games.  If you were picked first, you felt special.  If picked last, you felt like a loser.  In today’s society political correctness requires everyone to be a winner in children’s games. No longer are they taught how to lose gracefully.

In 1877 Frances Havergal wrote the words to the hymn, Who Is On The Lord’s Side? The hymn was allegedly written based upon Exodus 32:26 (KJV), where Moses asks the question (from the title) of the children of Israel?  They had been bad while Moses was up on the mountain talking to God.  They made an idol and worshiped it.  When Moses asked the question, one tribe stepped forward.  For their dedication they got to kill 3,000 of their brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers and children.

Read more »

“Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for.”  Proverbs 16:6

This is so much better than having to kill an animal, or even the innocent Son of God.  It’s in the Bible, right?  So, doesn’t it have to be true?  Am I picking and choosing verses I like?  Maybe.  But, let me be clear.  I am choosing based upon rational thought and understanding.  I believe the Holy Spirit is leading me in that.

Am I rejecting verses that don’t make sense?  No.  I’m merely holding them up in question, in the hope that one day they will make sense.  By not choosing the obscure verses, am I rejecting Christ? Absolutely not.  I am open to His leading.  I am not prepared to accept any teaching that doesn’t make sense. Perhaps that is based upon my sinful condition, because of my lack of “faith,” but I don’t think so.

Again, I have asked God to show me the way.  I honestly don’t think that I will get the Vacation to Hell prize for wrong answers.  Discipline?  Yes.  Hell?  No, at least not the burning torture for ever and ever thing, with no hope.

Love and faithfulness.  Now that makes sense.

Born in a manger (feed trough).  Born to a family that lived below poverty level in those days.  How well could you live on a carpenter’s wages?  So, why all of this attention to such a lowly birth?  The exceptionally bright star, that appeared to be moving, certainly would warrant a Fox News Alert.

Since he came from God, I wonder what the baby’s name was before Mary and Joseph called him Jesus. His earthly name meant “the LORD saves.”

Who came to see him?  We know for sure that some shepherds came because angels appeared to them. The only other visitors cited in the Bible are the magi.  They were either ancient priests with magical powers, or they were eastern astrologers.  With deference to most nativity sets, the shepherds seem to be the only ones who showed up at the birthing place.  The wise men, with all of their learning, couldn’t even plan their trip so that they could make it in time.  They were almost two years off on their arrival. How wise is that?

Thirty years later he would be sought by folks in all levels of society, from Roman commanders to tax collectors, with tons of ordinary people in between.  He was even visited by Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court.

Aren’t wise people, along with rich people, just self-made individuals who seek their own ends?  What kind of people need Jesus?  Do you have to be down-and-out to bring you to your knees before Him?  Is it difficult for a mature adult to bow before a baby at Christmas?

Francis Bacon said, “A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”

I like bacon.

A lot of people lay claim to the fact that they are saved; that is, they are born-again believers in Jesus Christ.  What are they saved from?  ”The penalty of sin” would be the usual answer.  What’s the penalty? Death.  But we all die.  Yes, but we need to be saved from eternal death in Hell.

How do we get saved?  By being born again.  How are we born again?  By believing that Jesus died to save us from our sins.  And on it goes.

Jesus died to save me from me.  You see, I love myself too much.  You might not know it if you meet me.  But I’m sure you can think of someone who appears to love themselves too much.  They’re not the dangerous ones; they wear it on their sleeves, so to speak.  No, it’s those of us who seem to lead a pious life, but, in fact, are as fickle as a mood ring — we are the ones who bring confusion to those who really know us.

I love things that God doesn’t love, like always being right, comparing my Christian walk to others who don’t seem to quite measure up or priding myself in my accomplishments and possessions, while not always admitting to it (or realizing that it is so).  God doesn’t want these things for me.  Neither does Jesus, who was, and is, my mentor.  I’m called to recognize things that are not worth loving.

Jesus died because he knew it was in God’s plan, the culmination of his perfect justice.  God loved me so much that he was willing when the Son said, “Let me go talk to them Father, that they might truly know you.” (I know.  It’s not in the Bible, but it could happen.)

Read more »

The two terms are tossed around quite freely by both preacher and teacher in modern-day Christianity.  But what do they really mean?  And how do they affect us? Let’s first look at the definitions given by Dictionary.com:

grace – favor or good will     (NOTE:  Dictionary.com also defines grace as mercy.)

mercy – compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender or enemy.

From teen-hood I was taught that grace was God giving us good things we don’t deserve, and mercy was God not giving us the punishment that we do deserve.  In the gospel scenario God shows us “mercy” by allowing his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins.  We are told that our disobedience to God (our sin) separates us from Him, condemning us to eternal torture in Hell.  Because he loves us, he gives us his “grace” by letting Christ take our place (not in Hell) as a once-and-for-all sacrifice that will, in the Old Testament tradition, turn away God’s wrath.  With this marvelous (?) method of salvation, God will remember our sins no more — even those we are yet to commit.  Sweet deal, right?

The only redeeming ticket that will get you this grace is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and make him Lord of your life.  And you have to really, really mean it, or many will assume that your salvation wasn’t genuine or, as my dad used to say, “It didn’t take the first time.”  There are some believers (actually more than we might think) who, after many years, begin to live like the Devil again, and you would never know that they were “saved.”  They are either backsliders (salvation still good; they just need to be disciplined and brought back into the fold) or “it didn’t take the first time.”

Well, here I go.  Newsflash!  Jesus never spoke the word “grace,” and he never specifically addressed the accepted plan of salvation that would bring us God’s grace.

Read more »