Watch “The Glory of the Crucified King by Dr. Maher Samuel” Easter

The Gospel Story In Arabic with subtitles – A truly inspired sermon.

Many people in the world struggle with the idea that God would become a man.

God loved his creation so much that He became one of us so he could save us from ourselves when we were separated from Him as a result of sin.

At Easter we celebrate God’s great love when He became a man, lived a perfect life, and became the perfect spotless Lamb of God who let himself be sacrificed to pay the price for our sin when He died on the cross.

When He rose again on the third day He demonstrated that He defeated death.

An almost equal amount of people in the world struggle with the idea that someone who is all-powerful could be treated so terribly and still be all-powerful.

We don’t recognize the ultimate power and majesty of Jesus Christ when it is manifested as humility and sacrifice.

God is perfect. To dwell with perfection we also must be perfect in our past, present, and future.

So only a perfect replacement for imperfect righteousness would work for us, and only God is perfect.

And God Came Down as the Man Jesus Christ to personally save us Himself.

He lived as one of us.

Dr. Samuel preaches in Arabic with English subtitles and brilliantly shows how God as Jesus was in control through the Betrayal and His trials and the crucifixion.

“No man takes my life but I lay it down freely” said Jesus (The Gospel of John 10:18)

Unlike anything found in human nature Jesus alone showed us ultimate strength present in ultimate humility for our salvation sake through the entire events of his trials suffering and death.

Perhaps strength through humility is not easy for us to recognize because it is so unfamiliar to humanity overall?

Pride, power, and forced compliance are more familiar to us.

But God through Jesus conquers hearts and minds by demonstrating supreme love for us.

Dr. Samuel also points out how Pontius Pilate and Pilot’s wife both testified that Jesus was a just man, thus fulfilling scripture of the Lamb of God without spot or blemish to take away the sin of the world.

Jesus Christ was even sovereign over death and rose from the grave on the third day.

He is the author of life and gives life to all who believe and place their hope and faith in Him for salvation from eternal judgement.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ did for you what you are incapable of doing for yourself?

The Gospel of John 1:

11“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.“

Watch “Where does Morality Come from? – Nabeel Qureshi (1983-2017) & Q&A”

On September 16, 2017 Nabeel Qureshi passed from this life into the next. Nabeel fought long and hard with his stomach cancer. Now he has no more suffering, no more pain, only unimaginable joy in the presence of God.

• In this particular video you will see Nabeel express his confidence in life after death because of Jesus Christ and the love and merciful grace of God.
• We will miss you Nabeel.
• Thank you for leaving us with three books and dozens of videos to help us find the Truth about God, Jesus, eternity, Christianity in contrast to what is taught in Islam.

“Because I live, you will live also.”

Jesus Christ in The Gospel of John 14:19

The Complete Incompatibility of Islamic Theocracy with Democracy – Islam’s 1400 Year Quest to Fulfill Muhammad’s Prophecy to Dominate the World

John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, served on the Board of Trustees in 1832. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

6th President of the United States of America John Quincy Adams on Islam: 1824-1829

“In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, […..] Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST.- TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE…. Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant … While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men.”   

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1955. Deutsch: Winston Churchill, 1940 bis 1945 sowie 1951 bis 1955 Premier des Vereinigten Königreichs und Literaturnobelpreisträger des Jahres 1953. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Winston Churchill on Islam:

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.”

“A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.”

“Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.”

“No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”

— Sir Winston Spencer Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899)

These were not uneducated men who knew nothing of their subject and had simply spoken recklessly. 

Rather, both of these great leaders of the free countries of Great Britton and of the United States of America spoke the real truth.

The word Islam means ,”Submit”. (Choice is ultimately not respected, and force is doctrine).

Qur’an (3:151) “We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve”

In America we do not understand that Islamic doctrine demands NO SEPARATION between church and state. All Muslims believe Islam must advance until all the world submits to Allah, that apostates must be killed, and what the Quran says must be followed. Unlike old Testament violence in the Bible only in a couple of special circumstances, the Quranic verses that call for violence in the name of Allah do so under all circumstances, even today.
There is no new testament in the Quran.

But in the Bible Jesus said, 

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”(John 8:36)

“He,(Jesus), stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. 

The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 

He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

(Luke 4:17-21)

One religion will bind you, the other resonates, defines, and inspires freedom.

filled in your hearing.”

(Luke 4:17-21)

One religion will bind you, the other resonates, defines, and inspires freedom.

One rules by fear, the other by faith and love.

These representations are based on the central tenets of the religions compared here and not the misrepresentations of said core beliefs. In short, it is when Christianity is misrepresented that violence is perpetrated. Islam is genuine when violence is perpetrated. The confusion comes when we mistake the natural tendancy for evil in human nature with religion in general. Islam is specifically designed to appeal to the darkness in men’s hearts. Genuine Christianity displaces the darkness.

One rules by fear, the other by faith and love. 

Related articles

• http://www.pewforum.org/Muslim/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-exec.aspx
• Sharia Law versus the U.S. Constitution, No Room Here for a Theocracy! (dcclothesline.com)
• Islamophile Apologist UK PM Cameron On Woolwich Jihad: “Nothing In Islam Justifies This” “A Betrayal of Islam” (ironicsurrealism.com)
• UnMasking Islam: What You Need to Know (thedailysheeple.com)
• Arab Writer: Islam’s Uncivilized ‘Civilization’ Has Accomplished Nothing, ‘Philosophy And Logic Are Considered Heresy In Islam’ (midnightwatcher.wordpress.com)
• Muslims Force Islamic Prayer into Dearborn Public Schools (independentsentinel.com)
• Islam Falsifies All Other Religions: “Jesus is a Slave to Allah” (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)
• Michigan Muslims Attack Off-Campus Bible Studies and Get Permission to PRAY IN SCHOOLS (dcclothesline.com)
• MICHIGAN: On its way to becoming the first Islamic sharia-compliant state in America (iranaware.com)
• At King’s Islamic hearings, Muslim victims warn Congress while Dems question their very participation, and Hamas-CAIR says, “No such thing as Islamism,” Islam is Islam (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)

http://www.salon.com/2015/11/14/it_was_probably_not_the_amish_bill_maher_urges_liberals_to_wake_up_about_islam_after_paris_attacks
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/The_Story_of_Umm_Qirfa

80+ dead’ after truck crashes into crowd at Bastille Day celebrations in Nice ‘terror attack’. http://tiny.iavian.net/b8cx

Dear Muslim – An Early Book Review of Answering Jihad by Nabeel Qureshi NYT Best Selling Author and Apologist

Dear Muslim,

It is fitting to address you this way and reflect the context of Nabeel Qureshi’s latest book due to be released on March 8th, 2016 by Zondervan Publishing. Qureshi’s book is titled Answering Jihad.

As a former devout Muslim who applied the same level of critical thinking to Islam and Christianity as his academic work, Qureshi is compassionate and credible to speak to the subject of Jihad and Islam.

By the age of 6, Nabeel had read the entire Quran and memorized several Islamic prayers as his parents raised he and his sister to be fully devoted Muslims.

If you are currently a Muslim, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to make yourself aware of the knowledge and facts contained in this dynamic new book. It is particularly surprising to see that much of Qureshi’s conclusions against Islam come from the very sources that should support Islam, the Quran and the Hadiths.

If you are a Christian, you owe it to your community, whether they are Atheist, Muslim, Christian, or something else, to raise awareness of the truth about Islam. Whether it is examined from a doctrinal or a historical standpoint, Islam is clearly not a religion of peace.

I cannot overstate the thorough quality of writing and diplomatic yet direct stating of the truth that Qureshi brings to this difficult subject.

Answering Jihad is as interesting as it is informative, and in my opinion, it is also well written. I view this book with the highest regard and highly recommend it to you.

Other books by Nabeel Qureshi :

DNA Science is Unraveling Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Sorry Darwin.
There is no model in science for increasing information through natural selection. Darwin assumed there was.
Modern science proves natural selection loses information and results in degradation. Subtraction cannot result in addition.
You just can’t get 3.2 billion bits of genetic information code in every strand of human DNA that way.
But then if we see a red octagon shaped sign with STOP written on it, we would never assume it got there by random time plus matter plus chance. We would know an intelligent being put that information there.
We have God’s signature in our cells. We know it as DNA. Information with order. Words with meaning.
That is intelligence.

Of Jesus Christ, John’s Gospel says,

“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.” (John 1:1-3, NKJV, The Bible)

This Is Who Jesus Christ Is to Me – An Easter Reflection for All Year

What is it like to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? 

I’m not talking about merely knowing a lot facts about Jesus.

The point of this article is WHO Jesus is to Me, not merely what.

The HOW of Jesus is the Gospel story, but the WHO is the untold reward.

Greater than the gift is the love that gave the gift, but the Giver is greater still.

You can know Jesus, and He abides IN the hearts of all who put their trust in Him.

I will fail to tell all that Jesus is.

But I will make an attempt to share ,as best I can, just who Jesus is to me.

———————-

Jesus Christ is my best thought, my most cherished possession, He is God and man, Savior and Creator, and to know Him more is my greatest ambition.

Oh the height, depth, and breadth of all that Jesus is!

He is the only way , the only truth, the meaning and purpose of life, and the only hope for eternity.

He is the author of the language of the information of life we call DNA, and the undesigned-Designer, eternal and ever-existing, who orchestrated the fine-tuned Big Bang so that our universe could sustain life.

He is the wonder in nature and science, each reflecting His infinite beauty, order, and intelligibility.

His courage to face a grievous death and torture was driven by a boundless love for everyone.
He endured rejection so we could be accepted.

He has borne our shame and by His stripes we are healed.

He died so we could live.

He defeated death for us and rose from the grave victorious.

He hears our most distant thoughts and our most earnest prayers.

He longs for us to know and love Him with all our heart, mind, and strength and all that is in us.

Christ’s love is stronger than sin and death, and mightier than any bonds known to ensnare the hearts and minds of mankind.

Only Christ’s Spirit and love can evoke love so strong in the hearts of sinners that it burns away all other passions.

Jesus is hope when all else is hopeless.  He is love when all around us is hate.  He is the reason to live when faith in all else is gone.

Nothing can drive Him away from any who truly trust Him.
He will never leave us or forsake us.

No desire, temptation, or affection can compare to knowing Christ; and anyone who truly knows Him would never choose to leave His presence – for nothing else compares to knowing Jesus Christ who is God and who is Love.

Though I walk through the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death I will fear no evil, for He is with me.

He so loved us that He came down from His glorious throne and became one of us.
He left majesty to live in humility.

 He humbly worked as one of us with the same hands that formed the universe,

all to save us, even before we knew Him.

He is all powerful, yet for the joy before Him, He endured death on a cross for those who loved Him and those who hated Him.

After three days He opened the tomb they laid Him in and rose from death.
Even now He opens His arms to beckon to all who labor and are heavy laden to give us life and rest.

My heart is bound and accountable to Christ’s heart who gave His blood to cleanse my soul of sin.

Duty as motivation is not worthy of comparison to the intimate resolve to love Christ.
Christ’s love, when realized, goes beyond motivation, discipline, and dedication.

Christ’s love is limitless and the one who knows such love is confident in trials and courageous in tribulation.

The human mind may seek in vain to grasp the full scope of God’s love, but we should continually endeavor to do so.

Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, and everything in between.

His promises are sure and are anchored in His great love, which He publicly demonstrated on the cross for you and me.

And, believe me, when I say this; words can’t even begin to express to others this inexpressible love Christ is in the hearts of those who know Him.

Jesus is the Most Sacred Flame, the Light of the World, inextinguishable and inexhaustible, burning in the hearts of all who trust Him as Savior.

The totality of who Jesus is to all who know Him cannot be fully expressed because He transcends measure, time, and space.

He alone is worthy of our eternal praise.

 

Evolution – The Theory of Everything – and The Definition of Insanity

The Definition of Insanity is to do the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome.

This concept can be true for scientific theory also, adding a multitude of repetitions to a scientifically flawed theory will not eventually make that theory true.

This was Darwin’s missing link in his science, when he made an unfounded assumption that short term adaptation of species eventually amounted to differentiation of entirely new species over millennia.
The fossil record says no.
Our fine-tuned and information rich DNA says no.
In regards to biological origin, we now know the difference between the adaptation of a species and the creation of entirely different species.

If Darwin had known the science that we know now he never would have concluded that adaptation amounted to entirely different groups of species, even by adding millions and millions of years.
Repeating bad science over and over again, even millions of times, and expecting a different outcome is Insanity.

This is also true for the Origin of the Universe.  From the first 3 seconds of creation at the Big Bang to all the conditions that must be precisely as they are to support life on Earth, most scientists agree we live in a truly remarkable and finely tuned existence.

Steven Hawking claims he can explain why our universe is so finely tuned in so many ways. He calls his, “Theory of Everything “, M Theory.

M Theory is what Hawking calls a Multiverse.
In Hawking’s Multiverse, an infinite number of universes are created by gravity, matter, and the laws of the universe. Hawking assumes that infinite repetitions repeated over and over again, we will eventually have a finely-tuned universe, and solar system, and planet with precisely all the conditions needed to sustain life as we know it.
Repeating flawed theory over and over again, even to infinity, and expecting a different outcome is insanity.

Sir Roger Penrose is an equally qualified mathematician of physics who worked with Hawking and shared the 1988 Wolf Prize with Hawking for their work on understanding the universe.
When asked what he thought about Hawking’s Multiverse Theory, Sir Penrose is reported as saying, “M Theory is far from testable”, “it isn’t even science.”  And other notable scientists agree with Penrose.

But what M Theory may be is insanity.
It certainly fits the definition of Insanity better than it fits the definition of science, which is that it must be testable and observable.

I am a Christian and believe God is the most plausible answer to everything.

The science of the fine-tuning of the Origin of the Cosmos above, and the fine-tuning of the information-richness contained within our DNA within each of us reaffirms my belief that,
“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.”

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(John 1: 1-3, 14 NKJV)

“Follow Jesus, My Brethren, and Not the Church”

“Follow Jesus, my brethren, and not the church, for our Lord has never said to his disciples, “Follow your brethren,” but he has said “Follow me.” He has not said, “Abide by the denominational confession,” but he has said, “Abide in me.” Nothing must come in between our souls and our Lord.” ~C.H.Spurgeon~ The Prince of Preachers

Darwin’s Theory Has Evolved into an Epic Fail

Darwin didn’t know in 1838 what we know now after decades of scientific research.

The missing link on which Darwin’s theory depends, never existed.

Darwin’s theory has evolved into an epic fail.

Darwin’s”science” can’t pass the test of scientific method.
Darwin’s theory of “Differences of Kind” does not stand up to it’s own test of ,”Observable Evidence”.

Darwin’s theory unravels with the introduction of “millions of years” thus again failing the “Observable Evidence” test.

Darwin’s “finches” show only adaptation, not what Darwin theorized to be “Differences of Kind”.

Neither biology or the fossil record show any proof in the form of “Observable Evidence” of “Differences of Kind” or transitional links in kinds among the 14 species of living things.

As time goes on, the evolution of scientific sophistication and accumulation of scientific evidence only confirms what we were told in the beginning.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
(Gen 1:1 NKJV)

The Search for Truth and the Prejudice of the Heart

The empirical question we can ask ourselves is this ;
“Do I really want to know the truth?”

But do we know ourselves?

Are we aware that the integrity of the mind can be easily compromised by that which the heart refuses to believe?

The answer to these questions can free us from self imposed restrictions to living life to the fullest now and can lead us to full assurance for all our tomorrows.

The intellect is most often subject to that which we desire to be true and false.

That is the prejudice of the heart.
We often consider something to be true or false based on more than intelligence.

So there must be a component in making the case for truth that appeals to our inner hunger for more than that which is tangible.

The message must contain resonance with our longings and then corresponding claims that cohere with reason.

Is it any wonder then that God initiates a relationship with us through an act of love?

He paid for our sins on the cross because He loves us.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “
(John 3 :16)

His act of love is directed towards our hearts.

” With the heart man believes and is saved, by the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ” (Romans 10 :10)

When we come to truth we come to a relationship with Jesus, who says to us;
“I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.”

True Christianity is a relationship that satisfies the deepest longings of the heart and the biggest questions of man’s intelligence.

When we believe and ask Christ to save us, we ultimately come to a person and a relationship with the personage of Jesus Christ.

Do you want to know the Truth ?
He is truth, and He is waiting for you.

The Only Fire Able to Temper the Firmest Resolve

“We love Him because He first loved us.”
(1John 4:19 NKJV)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
(John 3:16 NKJV)

To Know the Love of Christ – A Sure Cure for Two Dimensional Religion

The real Jesus Christ draws people to Himself and is continually intriguing.

The personage and love of Jesus is unlimited in width and length and depth and height. Jesus is multi – dimensionally infinite.

“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:17-19 NKJV)

Why are so many people not drawn to church ?

Have so many of our churches become so shallow and uninteresting?

Perhaps we have adopted the world’s shallow 2 dimensional philosophy of the heart and mind. A mind devoid of a transformed heart is shallow by comparison with the renewed heart and mind.

To truly know Christ is to experience love that transcends that which the mind is even able to comprehend.

If the church can reflect Jesus Christ and God’s love to the world, people will be drawn to worship Christ as they were drawn to Him during His earthly ministry.

The transformed mind and heart will come to know Christ and His unlimited personage, divine personality, and infinite love.

Then we will be able to introduce Jesus to others.

To know Him and experience Him we must be rooted and grounded in love with Him through faith in Him.

“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom 10:10 NKJV)

And then we must continually be, “grounded in love, “”that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This is the path to transformation and then to ongoing discipleship.

Father God please help us know the width and length and depth and height of Jesus and His love so we can better share Him with everyone.

“And War Broke Out in Heaven” – The Lasting Implications for Mankind

Did you know there was a war in Heaven?
It’s true, and some of the details of this incredible event are revealed to us in the Bible and have lasting implications for mankind.

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,”
“Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death”.
“Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” 
(Rev 12:7-12 NKJV)

Lucifer was said to be the angel who reflected God’s glory. He wanted to be God and tried to overthrow God. One third of the angels followed him in this revolt. It is recorded in the Bible in Isaiah 14.

 “How you are fallen from heaven, 
O Lucifer, son of the morning! 
How you are cut down to the ground, 
You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 
‘I will ascend into heaven, 
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; 
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation 
On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, 
I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, 
To the lowest depths of the Pit. “Those who see you will gaze at you, 
And consider you, saying: 
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, 
Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world as a wilderness 
And destroyed its cities, 
Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’ 
(Is 14:12-17 NKJV)

The implications for mankind from this event have lead to the fall of mankind from relationship with God and the change from an innocent nature in mankind to a moral consciousness of right and wrong.
That also means we have become responsible for our actions, impure, and unable to know our Holy perfect God in our current state.

This happened in the Garden of Eden when the disobedience of first man and woman occurred after Satan tempted the woman saying, “You will be like God,”, the same prideful ambition Satan succumbed to.

And to bolster these claims we also know that the oldest book of the Bible, the book of Job, also portrays Satan as our accuser as he is referenced here, “the accuser of our brethren”, and the unseen reason for many of mankind’s sorrows and trials.

Satan appears to be desperately appealing to every possible scenario to prove that he has been unjustly judged by God as he awaits his sentence to be carried out.

But we have an advocate with Father God who is Jesus Christ His Son. He came from God to be one of us. He alone lived a perfect sinless life. He willfully died a cruel death to pay for our sins. He rose from the dead to defeat death and offer life to all who believe.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” 
(John 3:16-18 KJV)

Jesus said;
“In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. ” (John 16:33)

Trust Him as your Savior today.
Rest in Him for all your tomorrows.

Desire to Know Truth No Matter Where It Leads You

My wife and I were sitting in the office of a marriage counselor as he gave us an, “interview”.

We had hit the proverbial bump in the road and had just agreed to seek counseling after two months of separation.

I asked the counselor what purpose an interview with him would serve towards the reconciliation of our marriage.
He told me the purpose of the interview was to determine if the two of us sincerely wanted to know the truth about our relationship with one another, and how to mend it, and whether or not he was willing to be our marriage counselor.

I was shocked.

He continued to tell us how most people don’t really want to know the truth in regard to what is wrong with their marriage.

“I estimate about 90 percent of the people who come to me for help don’t really want to know the truth about what’s wrong and how to fix it,” he said.

That was twenty years ago and I still remember the feeling of shock I had at the thought that most of us, more often than not, are reluctant to know the truth even when our very lives depend on it.

Yes, it has been tough at times. But we’re still married after 37 years.
And we owe a great debt of gratitude to a counselor who dared to be painfully honest with us even though we could have easily been offended and walked out of the office that day.

We have learned a great lesson;

The truth is often hard to take, but is always best for us.
We should always follow the truth no matter where it leads us.

C. S. Lewis reflected on his conversion to Christianity in a similar way in his book, “Surprised by Joy”.

“You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”
~C.S.Lewis~

Consider what Jesus said in regards to the truth ;

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
(John 8:32 NKJV)

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
(John 14:6 NKJV)

The truth is that we all need Jesus as Savior before this life ends, reluctant as we may be to accept that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Follow Jesus.

Dear Readers, Do You Agree With Suzanne ? Should I Continue to Post Anonymously or not ?

The following comment is from a reader in Bavaria.

“I really saw that your site IS completely Christ-centered. Hats off! Such a thing is rarely to find.

“Every sermon should ultimately be about Jesus.” Tim Keller

This is absolutely true. I appreciate Tim Keller as well and I’d like to say that the Gospel Coalition “triumvirate” 😉 – often represented by Tim Keller, Don Carson, AND John Piper – consists of three Christ-centered preachers and teachers. They are all different, yet they complement each other perfectly.

Indeed, I loved reading this post. The only thing that makes me somehow sad is the fact that I do not know with whom I am talking here [OK OK, from your “About” I know that you are a man 🙂 ]. I abstained from saying, “Hello Christ Centered Teaching” since it sounds a bit strange in my ears. Do you not agree?
Just flipping through Scripture, reading for example the introduction of Romans, a man introduces himself by writing,

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” Rom 1:1)

You, too, are a faithful (!) servant of Him who has called you by your name, didn’t He? He chose you and you are precious in His eyes. God, your Father in Heaven, knew your name before you were born and He loves like His only son Jesus.
Just imagine all the prophets of the Old Testament had not been given any names or we could only read gospel 1, gospel 2, gospel 3, gospel 4, and anonymous letters.

“You, too, my dear brother, have a prophetic voice which must be heard!”

I assume you may wonder why I insist on it that much. Who am I to do so?
Honestly, the Lord urged me…
Also, it grieved me a lot to read about your painful loss when you were only eleven years old. In fact, it was the same for my hubby Paul who was born in Chicago/Illinois. When he was about 9 years old [“about” because he can’t remember it], he was forced to return to Germany with his mother and his younger brother because their father had died in the 1970’s. Just in case they would have stayed in the USA, their mother as a German – unlike their American sons – would have had difficulties with retaining custody.

Well, that’s it for now, my brother in Christ.

Every blessing to you,
your sister
Susanne from Bavaria 🙂”

I appreciate each and every comment I recieve.
But this comment really has me thinking.

Some of you already know that I occasionally post expanded views of the works of Tim Keller, Viktor Frankl,  and others.

Tim Keller did a sermon series titled,”Public Faith”, in which he states that we live in a culture that encourages us to be open about everything except our religious beliefs.
We are told that it is good to say what we believe about sexual preferences and everything else, but we are told to keep our views about religion, particularly Christian religious views, to ourselves.

And Viktor Frankl, the Austrian Phyciastrist who survived Auschwitz, who wrote one of the New York Times top ten most influential books of all time, “Man’s Search for Meaning”, would have published it anonymously if not for the urging of a close friend.

Frankl later realized that many more opportunities arose for him to help others because he published his book with his real name.

In contrast, I risk very little by being anonymous and my humility is not pumped up so much as to make me tempted to forget my first love, namely Jesus Christ.

I consider these men to be a few of my most admired and most Christ Centered Teachers.

So what do you think?

Would my name help the cause of Christ, or only serve to hurt it ?

Please prayerfully consider these things with me and share your thoughts in this forum with me.

Because He first loved us,
C.C.T.

The True Origin of the Species – Will the Theory of Evolution Be One of the Greatest Jokes in the History Books of the Future ?

“I myself am convinced that the theory of evolution, especially to the extent to which it has been applied, will be one of the greatest jokes in the history books of the future. Posterity will marvel that so very flimsy and dubious an hypothesis could be accepted with the incredible credulity it has.” 

~Malcolm Muggeridge ~

I agree with Muggeridge’s prediction.

DNA is at the core of all living things.

And incredibly, the more we learn about it, the more sophisticated we find it to be.

Those who both discovered DNA and those who know it best agree, it simply could not have originated by random chance.

Some of them believe aliens seeded DNA on earth or a comet brought it here but none can begin to explain how it arrived at the present complexity that makes you and I all we are.

It’s just not mathematically possible in 15, 30, or even 300 billion years.

Even if life was seeded here by aliens or brought here from elsewhere by a comet, this much remains unanswered, “Who originally designed our designers ?”
At some point there has to be an Undesigned Designer who always was, and is eternal.

An Original Originator.

And DNA is like an ancient echo from the origin of all living things and reflects an intelligence beyond our modern comprehension.

We have the ancient Biblical records that proclaim ,”God spoke and it was,” and we have the modern day proof of what God said in the scientific evidence of DNA.

Given the undeniably marvelous and miraculous complexity and sophistication of DNA and that it is the most sophisticated of all known languages, and this level of sophistication uses only four biological letters, (I call them letters because that is what geneticists call them), and given the fact that the Bible says that all living and nonliving things came into existence by God’s spoken word, one can say that the known scientific evidence of DNA is observational proof and scientific validation of the Biblical book of Genesis account of God as Creator of this world in it’s entirety.

Don’t be fooled.
Accept only the Original.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
(2Cor 5:17,21 NKJV)

The Ultimate Dooms Day Prepper – The One Thing You Need to Know to Be Victorious Through the Great Tribulation

Revelation 12:11 (NKJV)

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

I personally enjoy the study of Biblical end times prophecy.

The book of Revelation is the only book that states that the reader WILL be blessed in reading it.

But I’m also aware that the subject engenders fear in many.

If that wasn’t bad enough, most would agree that the Biblical prophecies and visions are hard to understand.

Nobody wants to live in fear of those days as they approach or as they unfold.

That is why I am eager to share this most remarkable truth.

If you only understand and believe one thing from the book of Revelation,make it this truth from chapter 12 and verse 11 that one thing. I also believe that if you miss this one truth, even if you understand everything else this book is about, you miss everything.

The book of Revelation from the Bible is the End Times, Last Days book that tells the prophecy about all the events leading up to the Battle of Armageddon and Christ’s Return, the millennium, and the Great White Throne of Judgment.

What is the secret clearly revealed to us?

It comes in three closely related aspects, the central of which is belief in Jesus Christ as savior.

First – “They overcame him,(satan),by the Blood of The Lamb”…

Those who have asked Christ and believed have Christ IN them.

Jesus said,”Greater is he who is IN you than he,(satan),that is in the world.”

The gospel of John 3:16 reads,”For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Jesus is “The Lamb of God”,who died to pay for our sins, who rose in victory from the grave, and gives eternal life to all who ask by faith. He will hear your prayer today.

Second- “and by the word of their testimony”,…

Those who have trusted Jesus Christ as savior refuse to deny Him, no matter what happens.

Jesus said,“Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”(Luke 12:8,9)

For love,Jesus suffered openly for us to save us. We can honor Him as servants who are not above our Master.

Thirdly- “they did not love their lives to the death.”

The only way I see anyone having enough courage to remain unmoved from our testimony for Jesus in the face us death, is to love Jesus more than life itself.This is what He did for us on the cross.

King David said of God, “Your loving-kindness is better than life.”

Here’s the coolest thing about Revelation 12:11,… Since it is a prophecy it hasn’t happened yet.

Since it hasn’t happened yet, we can choose whether or not WE are the ones it prophesies about.

Remember,we can overcome by the Blood of The lamb.

It’s our choice.

Just ask Him to save you, and you have the most important thing to face anything that life could throw at you. And nothing or nobody will ever be able to take eternal life or Christ from you.

All because He first loved us,

May God richly bless you!

Jesus Christ – His Divine Union of Contrasts – King of Kings – Yet He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men

The Crucifixion (1622) by Simon Vouet; Church of Jesus, Genoa

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Look no further than the Gospels of Jesus Christ in the Bible for proof of His existence. Mankind could not have conceived the embodiment of such extremes in the leader of a man made religion.
Only Christianity has a founder who embodies the full spectrum of what it means to be human and does so in Holy perfection.

James Stewart said it well.

“He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men, yet he spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God.

 

He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming, yet he was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with him, and the little ones nestled in his arms.

 

His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine.

 

No one was half so compassionate to sinners, yet no one ever spoke such red hot scorching words about sin.

 

A bruised reed he would not break, his whole life was love, yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell.

 

He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for sheer stark realism He has all of our stark realists soundly beaten.

 

He was a servant of all, washing the disciples feet, yet masterfully He strode into the temple, and the hucksters and moneychangers fell over one another to get away from the mad rush and the fire they saw blazing in His eyes.

 

He saved others, yet at the last Himself He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts which confronts us in the gospels. The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality.”

 

– James Stewart, Scottish theologian

 

The Cosmos Within – The Greatest Scientific Discovery of All Time – A Highly Sophisticated Language Is at the Core of All Living Creatures

Compare this digital rendering of Human DNA with the stained glass window below it. DNA is magnificently ordered. Information with order is proof of intelligent origin.

The book of Genesis in the Bible records that God spoke all things into existence. God spoke and it was. DNA is an echo of what God said.

The question of origin is one of the biggest questions in life.

The answer to the source of life, our origin, could help answer the other big questions of, meaning, morality, and destiny.

The problem is that ideas and theories formed before the discovery of DNA.

And the facts about DNA unfolded little by little over decades, almost completely without being noticed for the deepest meaning of DNA.

Darwin formed his theory of Evolution long before DNA was even discovered, and even longer before we would discover the complexity of DNA.

DNA is not a complexity that is born out of randomness, but it is a complexity that is highly sophisticated and ordered.

In fact, the complexity of DNA transcends the realm of science and ushers us into the realm of the miraculous. Scientists agree despite themselves.

Sir Francis Crick for instance, who took credit for discovering the incredibly ordered appearance of the Double Helix form of DNA,
believed aliens must have brought DNA to Earth.

But in time we would learn that even Crick’s theory of alien supreme beings sending life on our planet only moves the question of a intelligent engineer / creator back one step without answering the question at all.

We are left to then ask, who was the supreme being who engineered and created the aliens ?

Later Crick would partially concede by calling the presence of life as we know it, Almost a miracle.

The issue here is that the universe is not old enough for random chance to assemble our level of complexity, and the same is then true for all life in the universe, such as alien life forms.

Mathematicians cannot find evidence to support Darwin’s theory of Evolution. On the contrary. When they calculated the odds of time plus matter plus chance arriving at complex human protein formation, they discovered the odds of Darwin’s theory are,”beyond ridiculous”. Even with 13 billion years since the Big Bang, our human proteins could not have formed by chance.

But we have understood far more about human proteins than we understand about our DNA language, which appears far more complex than proteins. Yes, DNA is a language. Remember that God spoke all things into existence?

One recent discovery, for example, is that geneticists recently found another layer of DNA that was previously “hidden” , it works in harmony with the previously known DNA.

And before that, scientists discovered that DNA that was labeled as unnecessary or “junk DNA” , is in fact absolutely necessary and serves functions we could not have previously envisioned.

It took years to map Human DNA, but mapping DNA is not understanding DNA. Scientists who know DNA best say that understanding the DNA language will keep them busy for the next 100 years.

Even if the universe was several times older than 13 billion years, the complexity of DNA could not have formed by random chance.

To put it in contrast, we are told that the universe has 10 to the 85th power total atoms. That’s the number ten followed by 85 zeros. A big number for sure.

Now picture a number 471 times bigger than that. That is the odds that life came into being by Darwinian random chance. It really is beyond ridiculous. That is 10 to the 40,000th power against Darwinian theory.
Even if the the presence of carbon in the universe halved that number, as some proposed, it would still be beyond ridiculous to believe Darwin.

Each strand of DNA contains 3.1 Billion bits of highly ordered information. The recently discovered additional layer of hidden DNA will no doubt increase that number above the 3.1 Billion bits of information. Our universe is 13 billion years old. You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to see evolutionary random chance simply could not have the time to assemble our DNA.

Even Hawking can’t understand the complexity of why the universe goes to,“all the bother of existing”.

Apparently Hawking discovered that in the properties of the laws of physics, the big bang had to be precise withing 1 Quintillionth of a second or the universe would have immediately re-collapsed on itself.

This was only one of some 31 contingent events that all had to happen with such exact properties and in precise correlation to each of the other that it would take more faith to believe the Big Bang happened by mere random chance than it would to believe the Big Bang was carefully orchestrated by God.

Hawking confidently stated that the universe didn’t need God?

Why does the scientific society cling to old scientific theories that have been proven false by newer scientific fact ?

That question is an even tougher one to answer.
What we now know about DNA means that it takes more faith to believe in evolution than to believe that God is our Creator.

As time goes on and scientific gains are made in all areas of proven scientific fact, all facts increasingly support the miraculous and Biblical account of God as Author and Creator.

Science really is discovering how God did it.

God spoke, and it was, and at the core of life DNA echoes what God said. Information with order equals intelligence. The all knowing intelligence of God.

Consider this. God made us for a relationship with Him. And God has gone to even greater lengths to make a way for us back to Him.

As it is written in God’s word about Jesus in the Bible.

“giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
(Colossians 1:12-16)

Jesus Christ – Crown Him King of My Life – Why Can’t Sermons Be More Like Songs?

Why can’t more sermons be this Christ Centered ?
How often do our songs contain Christ Centered richness, but our sermons barely mention, let alone celebrate, the One who loved us with His own life?

Simply Crown Him The King of Life.

Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon his throne,
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless King
through all eternity.

Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed o’er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save.
His glories now we sing,
who died, and rose on high,
who died, eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.

Crown him the Lord of peace,
whose power a scepter sways
from pole to pole, that wars may cease,
and all be prayer and praise.
His reign shall know no end,
and round his pierced feet
fair flowers of paradise extend
their fragrance ever sweet.

   Crown him the Lord of love;
behold his hands and side,
those wounds, yet visible above,
in beauty glorified.
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
For thou hast died for me;
thy praise and glory shall not fail
throughout eternity.

Oxford Scientists Confirm Biblical Account of the Human Conscience – C.S.Lewis said it -“You Don’t Have a Soul – You Are a Soul – You Have a Body”

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image,”
(Genesis 1, The Bible)

Oxford scientists have discovered humans are unique from all species of living things.

The researchers identified two areas of the human brain that are both physically and functionality unique to humans.

Humans alone have physical portions of our brain designated to diserning good and evil.

Discribed as ,”Shaped like small stems of broccoli”, these areas are active when people are asked questions that challenge disernment between good and evil.

The significance of the fact that humans alone have the ability to judge good and evil has literally rocked the scientific and philosophical worlds.

But knowing the difference between good and evil does not mean that we can always choose to do good.

And that is where the issue of responsibility for our actions come becomes Biblical. That is what shows why only a Messiah, Jesus Christ, was necessary. Only Jesus could choose to do good and only the perfect and sinless One could pay for our sin.

The fact that we are physically different a major way confirms our Biblical description and need, and gives even more credence to the Jesus of the Bible.

Humans alone are designed to sense differences between good and evil, sin and righteousness.

We have the capacity to recognize Holiness even though we incapable of perfection ourselves.

Evolutionary theorists can no longer use animal behavior as a model for justification of human behavior and human cultural trends or sexual behavior.

Chimpanzees, Apes and Bonobo monkeys don’t have these uniquely human portions of the brain, nore do and other species of animal or mammal.

“And you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis in The Bible)

This new discovery supports the Biblical account of creation of the world and all that is in it.

Mankind was created by God and unique from all other species of creation to uniquely reflect the image of the Creator.

This new finding supports a non-evolutionary, Biblical account of creation, not primordial soup theory, or evolution at in any way.

The implications of a physical character of the human brain that is constructed to relate to a being who is the source of all that is good, holy, and righteous, is confirmation that humanity is unique in recognizing God for who and what He is. This is at the core of the truth most important to humanity.

The most important thing to humanity is to know we were created by God and for a relationship with God. And that sin separated us from God, but Christ died in our place to pay for our sin, and offers redemption to all who will only choose to receive Him as Lord and Savior.
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
(Gen 1:26-27 NKJV)

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/you-say-lateral-frontal-pole-i-say-that-little-devilangel-that-whispers-in-my-ear-9094043.html

They Gave Christ a Cross, Not Guessing that He Would Make it a Throne

“He did not conquer in spite of the dark mystery of evil. He conquered through it.”

~James Stewart~

———————————

“It is a glorious phrase of the New Testament, that ‘he led captivity captive.’ 

The very triumphs of His foes, it means, he used for their defeat. He compelled their dark achievements to sub-serve his end, not theirs.

They nailed him to the tree, not knowing that by that very act they were bringing the world to his feet.

They gave him a cross, not guessing that he would make it a throne.

They flung him outside the gates to die, not knowing that in that very moment they were lifting up all the gates of the universe, to let the King of Glory come in.

They thought to root out his doctrines, not understanding that they were implanting imperishably in the hearts of men the very name they intended to destroy.

They thought they had defeated God with His back the wall, pinned and helpless and defeated: they did not know that it was God Himself who had tracked them down.

He did not conquer in spite of the dark mystery of evil. He conquered through it.”

James Stewart (1896–1990) was a minister of the Church of Scotland

—————-

” And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

He has made alive together with Him,

having forgiven you all trespasses,

having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us,

which was contrary to us.

And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

 Having disarmed principalities and powers,

He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

(Colossians 2:13-15)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

(John 3:16)

“Jesus alone founded His empire upon love”- Napoleon Bonaparte

“In a statement about Jesus Christ, Napoleon while he was exiled on the rock of St. Helena he called Count Montholon to his side and asked him,”

“Can you tell me who Jesus Christ was?” Upon the Count declining to respond Napoleon countered.”

“Well then, I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend?”

“Upon force.”

“Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him.”

“I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man: none else is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than a man. I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lighted up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts. Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy; He asks for that which a philosopher may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable, supernatural love toward Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man’s creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it, which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ.”

~Napoleon Bonaparte~

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

(John 3:16 NKJV)

God Required Holiness of Humanity – So God Provided Holiness to Humanity

God said,
“Be Holy because I am Holy.”

Man’s dilemma,
“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

So God came down to man as a man,Immanuel, God with us.

and the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

after the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life,

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting ?

 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,

that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 The Lord has shown his holy arm
    in the sight of all the nations,
all the ends of the earth have seen
    the salvation of our God.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, 

the gospel of your salvation.

Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal,

 the promised Holy Spirit, 

who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance 

until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—

to the praise of his glory.

(Scripture references – 1 Peter 1:16,Romans 3:23,1 Corinthians 15:55, Matthew 1:23,2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 52,53, Ephesians 1:13-14)

Inseparable, Unchangeable, Irrevocable – The Magnificent Love Jesus Christ Has for Us

Do you know Christ has always loved you?

His love is the most powerful force in the universe.

He loved us so much that He came to us to pay for our sins on the cross.

He loved us so much that He defeated death for us by dying and then coming back to life.

Now Christ gives life to all who choose to receive His love.

Simply ask Him.

He is listening now.

The following passage is from the Bible, God’s Holy Word.

“What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can  be against us?

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,

how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long;

“We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers,

nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth,

nor any other created thing,

shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(Rom 8:31-32 ) ( Rom 8:35-39 )

Watch “The Cross – Billy Graham’s Message To America”

Witness the power and reality of a man who knows Christ to such a degree that he became God’s prophet to the nations of the world.

Millions have come to know Christ through the ministry of the Reverend Billy Graham.

Watch this video and see how God has used and is still using Billy Graham as His instrument to bring life through Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

” For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

We Acknowledge a King Men did not Crown and Cannot Destroy

” Our western civilization, like all others before it, must some time or other decompose and disappear. The world’s way of regarding intimations that this is happening is to engage equally in idiot hopes and idiot despair. On the one hand, some new policy or discovery is confidently expected to put everything to rights: a new fuel, a new drug, détente, world government, a common market, North Sea oil, revolution or counter-revolution. On the other hand, some disaster is as confidently expected to prove our undoing: Capitalism will break down, communism take over, or vice versa; fuel will run out, atomic wastes will kill us all, plutonium will lay us low, overpopulation will suffocate us.In Christian terms, such hopes and fears are equally beside the point. As Christians we know that here we have no continuing city, that crowns roll in the dust, and that every earthly kingdom must some time founder. As Christians, too, we acknowledge a King men did not crown and cannot destroy, just as we are citizens of a city men did not build and cannot destroy. It was in these terms that the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome and in Corinth, living as they did in a society as depraved and dissolute as ours—under a ruler, the emperor Nero, who makes even some of our rulers seem positively enlightened—with the games, which, like television, specialized in spectacles of violence and eroticism: “Be steadfast, unmoveable,” he exhorted them, “always abounding in God’s work and concerning yourselves with the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, and the things that are not seen are eternal.” It was in the breakdown of Rome that Christendom was born, and now in the breakdown of Christendom there are the same requirements and the same possibilities to eschew the fantasy of a disintegrating world and seek the reality of what is not seen and is eternal—the reality of Christ. In this reality we see our only hope, our only prospect in a darkening world.”

Malcolm Muggeridge

Christ is the Gospel – He Must Be Our Constant Theme

By C.H.Spurgeon

“Beloved, because Jesus is the sum of the gospel he must be our constant theme.

“God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

So spake men of old, and so say we. 

When we have done preaching Christ we had better have done preaching; when you have done teaching in your classes Jesus Christ himself, give up Sunday school work, for nothing else is worthy of your pains.

Put out the sun, and light is gone, life is gone, all is gone.

When Jesus is pushed into the background or left out of a minister’s teaching, the darkness is darkness that might be felt, and the people escape from it into gospel light as soon as they can.

A sermon without Jesus in it is savourless, and worthless to God’s tried saints, and they soon seek other food.

The more of Christ in our testimony the more of light and life and power to save.”

The devil’s Hordes Greatest Defeat

Christus op kruis – Vlissegem (Photo credit: PhilFlickr2)

 “The devil’s hordes thought, at first, that the crucifixion of Christ was their triumph. 

But their very triumphs, God used for their defeat. 

They thought they had God with His back to the wall,

pinned and helpless and defeated. 

They did not know it was God Himself who had dragged them down to that point. 

He did not conquer in spite of the dark mystery of evil,

He conquered through it.” 

Scottish Theologian James Stewart

 

Christian and World Renowned Oxford Professor of Mathematics Dr. John Lennox

“John Lennox is Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, Fellow in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science, and Pastoral Advisor at Green Templeton College, Oxford. He is also an adjunct Lecturer at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University and at the Oxford Center for Christian Apologetics and is a Senior Fellow of the Trinity Forum. In addition, he teaches for the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme at the Executive Education Centre, Said Business School, Oxford University.”

The atheist, Richard Dawkins was quoted in the news as having said,”Religion is for people who are afraid of the dark.”

Dr. Lennox was asked if he would care to respond to Dawkin’s comment.

Dr. Lennox replied,”Atheism is for people who are afraid of the light.”

http://johnlennox.org/about/

Sometimes God intervenes in the events of life and delights the soul when we least expect it.

Dr. Lennox recounts one of his great personal stories to Harvard students during a question and answer time.

Related articles

• John Lennox: The battle is not between God and science (christiantoday.com)
• Atheism is a ‘delusion’ (christiantoday.com)
• Parliamentary prayer breakfast dismisses ‘fairy tale’ of atheism (blasphemieblog2.wordpress.com)

Biblical Content in the Context of Biblical Emphasis is Our Biblical Imperative

Most of what Christians communicate has Biblical content. Subjects like predestination, grace,love,unity, God’s sovereignty are all typical examples of Biblical Content.

But any time we communicate Biblical Content but neglect Biblical Emphasis, we violate Biblical imperative.

What is Biblical Imperative?

“That in all things, Christ might be preeminent.”

“I am determined to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified.”

To put it another way,

Jesus said,”I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but by Me.”

The entirety of Christianity begins with the redemption of mankind.
Jesus is the only way to the Father, He is the only truth that leads us to the Father, He is the only life we can obtain with the Father, for we are all already dead in trespasses and sins.

Even discipleship means nothing without Christ.

“I am the Vine and you are the branches, without Me you can do nothing.”

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Preacher.
What could you possibly have to say that would have more meaning or relevance aside from Jesus Christ ?

The Deconstruction of Absolute Truth and the Foundation of a Free Society

“It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything.”

Malcolm Muggeridge

 

Our Declaration of independence reads,”We hold these truths to be self-evident”…

So what happens when a previously free society no longer accepts Absolute Truth?

If; “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free,” then to deny the truth means you will loose your freedom.

Government becomes a kind of god because selfish people no longer behave responsibly with their freedoms.

Government gets big.

Government takes more and more.

The people stop providing for themselves and become slaves to the government.

Totalitarianism is inevitable to those who deny truth and the personal responsibility that comes with knowledge of the Truth.

Freedom cannot survive as our one and only truth.
Freedom is the result of acceptance and application of Truth.

Truth sets us free.
Without it we are slaves.

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
(John 8:32 ; 36)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

The Deconstruction of Absolute Truth and the Arts

“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Imagine a painter throwing away half of his or her color palette.

Or imagine a black and white photograph without white, only shades of dark gray.

Whether the subject is painting,photography,theater, or literature, all the above involve using contrasts to make images or tell stories.

Painters use colors ranging from light to dark.

Photographers use bright sunlight to dark shadows.

Theater and literature use contrasts in good and evil, peace and conflict, justice and injustice, love and hatred,truth and falsehood.

Now imagine a World that no longer accepts or believes in Absolute Truth, where the contrasts between right and wrong are no longer clear, and men stumble in the darkness because they cannot see.

God of Truth – He is the Rock of Absolute Truth

An Absolute Firm Foundation

 

“He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.
For I proclaim the name of the Lord:
Ascribe greatness to our God.”

Deuteronomy 32:4,5

Related articles

• The Deconstruction of Absolute Truth and Unity – The Reason Society Can No Longer Reason (christcenteredteaching.wordpress.com)
• The Deconstruction of Absolute Truth and Creativity – The Loss of Inspiration and Innovation (christcenteredteaching.wordpress.com)
• The Deconstructionism of Truth and the Bible – The Biggest Threat to Any People (christcenteredteaching.wordpress.com)

 

The Deconstruction of Absolute Truth and Belief in the Bible – The Biggest Threat to Any People

A bible from 1859. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“It is impossible to enslave, mentally or socially, a bible-reading people. The principles of the bible are the groundwork of human freedom.” 
― Horace Greeley

“Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”

(The Apostle Paul – Galatians 4:16)

The vast majority of modern Americans believe everything is relative and there are no absolutes.

Deconstructionism of truth, and the growing sceptisism regarding the authority ,accuracy and relevance of the Bible as the source of all truth, is creating a generation of people who feel lost and alone.

In this environment, anyone who has absolute faith and belief in a given truth, and states it as such, will likely be considered rude, pushy ,over bearing ,and judgemental.

The inevitable degradation of society will follow any people who abandon truth.

Without truth as a basis for what can be known, we cannot hope to solve the problems we face because we cannot build upon what is known since we deny that anything can be known!

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”

(John 17:17)

The source of truth is the Bible. The living , breathing Word of God is Jesus Christ.

“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. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

(John 1:1-5)

 ^“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

 (John 1:14,15)

May the light of truth of Jesus Christ the Savior, shine in our hearts and minds.

Related articles

• What’s Wrong with Relativism? (ethicsbythebook.wordpress.com)

The Deconstruction of Absolute Truth and Unity – The Reason Society Can No Longer Reason

 

Brumidi, Constantino – Apotheosis of Washington, detail E Pluribus Unum – 1865 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.”

(Matthew 12:25)

 

E pluribus unum

E Pluribus Unum, (Out of  Many ,One), is part of the history that made us a great nation and that made the world a better place for many.

We need an anthem of basic truths that inspires us to live in unity again.

These basic truths once formed a general basis for consensus,unity, and resolve for improving our society.

Without a clear definition of right and wrong, truth and error, everything will be a blend of gray without clear meaning.

~Reasoning is based on what is known, such as truth and facts~

To solve problems, reach solutions, make a diagnosis,theory, hypothesis, create, and improve anything, we need known truths to build upon.

(Educated guesses if you will, things we can say we are confident we know).

And the more sure we are, the bolder we will be in our attempts to make solutions to problems.

And the more of us who agree on basic truths, the more frequent and soon we will come to consensus on issues that demand our solution.

But without basic fundamental truths to unite us, we will remain divided, and will fall.

Without a basic assumption that anything can be known, we cannot hope to begin to reason solutions to our problems

by building educated guesses upon known fact and truth

because we deny that truth even exists!

 (such as presuppositions, ideological underpinnings, hierarchical values, and frames of reference)

Truth activates belief, and belief attempts things that doubt ignores.

This is the heart of realizing new realities and achievement.

Related terms are postmodernism, existentialism, and deconstructionism, but what all of these terms have in common is the abandonment of surety in truth.

Without the ability to say with can be confident of anything, we will likely lack the confidence to do or achieve anything.

This is also true in our attempts to create art or theater, be it novel or feature-length movie.

Is it any wonder that good theater seems more miss than hit?

Is it any wonder that the great art, theater and literature is in the past, or is based upon older literature or re-made movies ?

Is it any wonder that the overall approval ratings of government and officials is at an all time low?

Is it any wonder that the greater portion of change our politicians bring is for the worse?

Is it any wonder that political parties almost always make decisions down party lines ?

Is it any wonder that scientific and political debate quickly degrades into personal attacks?

Is it any wonder that thoughtless and absurd political dealings threaten the fabric and integrity of our American government ?

(These men and women are supposed to represent our finest leaders and patriots).

Is it any wonder that ,”we the people”, are often called,” we the sheeple”?

(If we deny the ability to absolutely believe anything we will likely fall for anything).

Is it any wonder that the best days of American ingenuity seem to be behind us?

Yet,we can rediscover truth as a nation and a people.

We can build the basic absolute truths that serve as a basis for consensus.

“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.”

(John 14:6)

Jesus is the truth.

If we reject Jesus, we reject the truth, we lose the way, and we forfeit life as a people, and a nation.

If we know Him we know truth.

Jesus is the way. If we know Him we know the way.

Jesus is life. If we know Him we know life.

This is where you can start.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

(John 3:16)

Jesus Falls Beneath the Cross (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(Yes. It is that simple. Jesus did all the heavy lifting on the cross).

Just believe and receive Him and His love gift of life that He bought with His blood for you.

Pray ,and He will hear you.

Write me, and I will rejoice with you.

And I pray  that we all can one day soon, rejoice in unity as a nation.

Out of many, one.

Prophetic -“Marking the Watershed”- The Last Book by Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Written in 1984 ,Francis Schaeffer’s last book “Marking the Watershed” reads like a prophetic foretelling of what our future would look like if we fail to put Christ first in our hearts. In fact, it reads like a prequel to Ravi Zacharias‘s 2013 open letter to America.

Schaeffer uses a watershed as an illustration.
A Watershed is a place where snow would accumulate in the mountain peaks, and is it melts, the water would separate go in opposite directions and eventually end thousands of miles apart.
Schaeffer saw this beginning to happen to Christianity in regards to Biblical infallibility among evangelical Christian leaders as early as the early 1970’s.

My summary-Christianity ,in the past, has influenced the moral consensus for political debate, art, and books and movies in the United States of America, and the World. Now we are the minority, and so is our ability to influence culture.
As I’ve said before ,the will of the people is good so long as the people are good .</strong

These following excerpts,though almost thirty years old, resonate with current relevance.

“the Bible’s absolutes provide a consensus within which freedom can operate. But once the Christian consensus has been removed, as it has been today, then the very freedoms which have come out of the Reformation become a destructive force leading to chaos in society.” Francis Schaeffer

“The primary emphasis of biblical Christianity is the teaching that the infinite-personal God is the final reality, the Creator of all else, and that an individual can come openly to the holy God upon the basis of the finished work of Christ and that alone. Nothing needs to be added to Christ’s finished work, and nothing can be added to Christ’s finished work. But at the same time where Christianity provides the consensus, as it did in the Reformation countries (and did in the United States up to a relatively few years ago), Christianity also brings with it many secondary blessings. One of these has been titanic freedoms, yet without those freedoms leading to chaos, because the Bible’s absolutes provide a consensus within which freedom can operate. But once the Christian consensus has been removed, as it has been today, then the very freedoms which have come out of the Reformation become a destructive force leading to chaos in society. This is why we see the breakdown of morality everywhere in our society today — the complete devaluation of human life, a total moral relativism, and a thoroughgoing hedonism.”

“Without a strong commitment to God’s absolutes, the early church could never have remained faithful in the face of the constant Roman harassment and persecution. And our situation today is remarkably similar as our own legal, moral, and social structure is based on an increasingly anti-Christian, secularist consensus.”

The New Neo-Orthodoxy 

There is only one way to describe those who no longer hold to a full view of Scripture. Although many of these would like to retain the evangelical name for themselves, the only accurate way to describe this view is that it is a form of neo-orthodox existential theology. The heart of neo-orthodox existential theology is that the Bible gives us a quarry out of which to have religious experience, but that the Bible contains mistakes where it touches that which is verifiable — namely history and science. But unhappily we must say that in some circles this concept now has come into some of that which is called evangelicalism. In short, in these circles the neo-orthodox existential theology is being taught under the name of evangelicalism.

Martin Luther said, “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” (1)

“For the existentialist it is an illusion to think that we can know anything truly, that there is such a thing as certain objective truth or moral absolutes. All we have is subjective experience, with no final basis for right or wrong or truth or beauty. This existential world view dominates philosophy, and much of art and the general culture such as the novel, poetry, and the cinema.”

Related articles

• Francis Schaeffer and Thomas Aquinas’ Secular “Autonomy” (philosophicaugustine.wordpress.com)
• Schaeffer Energized Evangelical Thought and Action (calvinistview.com)
• Francis Schaeffer on Warrantless Belief in Absolutes (reformedreader.wordpress.com)
• Schaeffer and Irrationality’s Spread of Despair (calvinistinternational.com)
• http://www.barna.org/faith-spirituality/619-are-christians-more-like-jesus-or-more-like-the-pharisees

Discovering that God is Love While in a Nazi Concentration Camp – Viktor Frankl “Man’s Search for Meaning”

Deutsch: Viktor Frankl (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Vitor Frankl was a psychologist who was trained in Vienna.  and was imprisoned in Auschwitz, and other Nazi Germany death camps, as well as his wife and family.

Even though the Nazi prison camp meant facing death, and surrounded by constant threat and hatred, Victor Frankl found the meaning of life there.

From  “Man’s Search for Meaning”- Experiences in a Concentration Camp”

“A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth — that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way — an honorable way — in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words,

“The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”

Viktor Frankl

1 John 4:10

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

Where the Battle Rages, there the Loyalty of the Soldier is Proved

 

Battle Map (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

“If I proclaim in the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”

Martin Luther

A Letter to My Brothers – Concerns about America

The EU has already given over a lot of land to Islam without a single shot being fired.
They occupy, use gangs to harass, put up signs declaring Sharia law, and then throw stones at first responders, so that even law enforcement agencies won’t go there.
Sweden just started allowing public prayers to go out morning,noon, and night.
Can’t happen here?
All they need is persistent patience and time.
And more presidents like O.
Did you know the head of our CIA is Muslim?
I’ve studied Islam. The Koran does not separate the powers of church and state. The Koran insists they be combined and that the supreme law be Sharia law, the law of Islam.

The idea of Islam being a peaceful religion should have been clearly disproven to everyone by know.

What can we do?

Laws may help, for sure, but what about the example I talked about above? Islam took over an entire district of the third largest city in Belgium. Could Dearborn be taken over the same way?

Here’s my answer. Know what you believe.

Muslims know what they believe and that they believe is that people must submit to Allah, it is forced religion enforced by Sharia law. In fact the word “Islam” means “Submit”.

Here’s what I believe.

Christianity today in America is confused and no longer provides a consensus of integrity whereby it can effectively influence a free society to be responsible with the very freedoms it once crafted and that we have long enjoyed.

The truth is that for decades now, Christianity has been a poor reflection of the love of God while also attempting to influence society to embrace it’s moral standard.

Someone said, “Rules without relationship breeds resentment.”

True Christianity isn’t a set of rules though Christianity has rules, the heart of being a Christian is being able to say, Jesus Christ died for me and I trust His sacrifice for my sin, He is my savior.

Then if its genuine, Christ puts His Spirit in us and begins to influence our hearts  only God can do from the inside out.

And He promises never to leave us or forsake us.

No other religion on earth has a relationship like this, where a God became man, lived humbly and sinless with us and then died for us to take away sin, then offers it as a gift of love by faith.

Islam offers no assurance of salvation besides dying for Allah.

Christianity does offer assurance of salvation, but God as Christ died for us.

Someone said that radical Islam is not the greatest threat in the world. Mediocre Christianity is the greatest threat in the world.

Last word.
If you don’t like what you see in Christians, look at Christ in the Bible. You’ll find nothing wrong with Him.
My motto is,Don’t follow Christians, follow Christ.

Your loving brother,