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,

God Will Help You

“Behold, this river of God is full for your supply;”

“He Will Help You” 

by C.H.Spurgeon

“‘I will help you,’ says the Lord.” Isaiah 41:14 (NKJV)

This morning let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of us:“I will help you. It is but a small thing for me, your God, to help you. Consider what I have done already. What! not help you? Why, I bought you with my blood. What! not help you? I have died for you—and if I have done the greater, will I not do the less? Help you! It is the least thing I will ever do for you; I have done more, and will do more. Before the world began I chose you. I made the covenant for you. I laid aside my glory and became a man for you; I gave up my life for you; and if I did all this, I will surely help you now. In helping you, I am giving you what I have bought for you already. If you had need of a thousand times as much help, I would give it you; you require little compared with what I am ready to give. ‘Tis much for you to need, but it is nothing for me to bestow. ‘Help you?’ Fear not! If there were an ant at the door of your granary asking for help, it would not ruin you to give him a handful of your wheat; and you are nothing but a tiny insect at the door of my all-sufficiency. ‘I will help you.’”O my soul, is not this enough? Do you need more strength than the omnipotence of the united Trinity? Do you want more wisdom than exists in the Father, more love than displays itself in the Son, or more power than is manifest in the influences of the Spirit? Bring hither your empty pitcher! Surely this well will fill it. Haste, gather up your wants, and bring them here—your emptiness, your woes, your needs. Behold, this river of God is full for your supply; what can you desire beside? Go forth, my soul, in this your might: the eternal God is your helper!Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismay’d!I, I am thy God, and will still give you aid.“How Firm a Foundation”Adapted from Morning and Evening.By: Charles Spurgeon on Dec 16, 2012

(Shaft of Light on Water,Original Photo taken by the Author)

Related articles

• “A very present help” by Charles Spurgeon (tollelege.wordpress.com)
• “His unspeakable gift to us” by Charles Spurgeon (tollelege.wordpress.com)
• Isaiah 45. The LORD appoints Cyrus. Salvation will come only by the LORD (KJV) (bummyla.wordpress.com)

Closing the Theological Loop of the Faith and Works Debate.

The Death of Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cruising the blogosphere or Twitter can be very revealing.

It seems you can always find a comment or article by someone expressing concern for an apparent lack of focus on works and holiness on the part of Christians. They almost always quote James 2:17.

 ^“Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone.”(James 2:17)

And then you have another group who only wants to quote about love.

 “ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”(1 Corinthians 13:3) 

Both are true. The Answer is in closing the theological loop of the Faith and Works Debate.

Faith without Works is dead.

Works without Love is Nothing.

The only question is; “How do we find this LOVE we need so our works will amount to something instead of nothing?”

This is how,…

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. He is God in flesh and He came here just to save us and make us His own.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus and His cross. Jesus was born to die there. He took our sins on Himself. He was perfect and Holy. Christ alone was worthy to pay our debt.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. He conquered death so He alone could give life to all who come to Him in faith, believing Christ died for them and accepting Him as Lord and Savior.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the JOY set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

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

The NEW Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept that you can do anything, Courage to believe I can do all things through Christ, And wisdom to believe it is so.”– God Came Down

“The Spirit which rests upon Jesus must anoint us also, or the measure of faith will not be enlarged.”
Breathe then the prayer to God, my brother, “Increase my faith:” this will be a far wiser course than to resolve in your own strength, “I will believe more,” for, perhaps, in rebuke of your pride you will fall into a decaying state, and even believe less. After having made so vainglorious a resolution, you may fall into grievous despondency: do not therefore say, “I will accumulate more faith,” but pray “Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” Herein is your wisdom.”– C.H.Spurgeon —

God Grant Me Faith – Prayer

Lord thank you for the faith to change what I can, the courage to believe nothing is too hard for you, and the wisdom to know that for sure. — God Came Down

“The Spirit which rests upon Jesus must anoint us also, or the measure of faith will not be enlarged.”
Breathe then the prayer to God, my brother, “Increase my faith:” this will be a far wiser course than to resolve in your own strength, “I will believe more,” for, perhaps, in rebuke of your pride you will fall into a decaying state, and even believe less. After having made so vainglorious a resolution, you may fall into grievous despondency: do not therefore say, “I will accumulate more faith,” but pray “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” Herein is your wisdom.”– C.H.Spurgeon —

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

Written by Martin Luther in 1529, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, is a reflection of the heart , mind ,and faith of The Father of The Reformation of The Church of Our Lord and God Jesus Christ. Reading the lyrics to this song reveal what Luther valued most.

I have memorized this song and found it to be of great encouragement, for at times these words ring true for for me and I’m sure for all believers almost 500 years after Luther wrote them.

Enjoy!

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing: For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing: Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same, And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us; The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them, abideth; The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth; Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.

Having Eyes That See

“I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
C.S. Lewis

“All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” ( Luke 10:23)

The Secret Ingredient To Eternal Life

“For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”(Hebrews 4:2)

Many have stumbled to their doom attempting to comprehend the “how” of the saving power of the Blood of Christ.

Faith is that secret ingredient that when mixed with God’s truth in the heart of the sinner results in salvation.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.”

(Ephesians 2:13)

Natural means cannot grasp the supernatural truths of God’s supernatural ways.

Faith is the means to grasp the supernatural truth of God’s salvation for us.

Related articles

• The Cross – The Eternal Passion of God (christcenteredteaching.wordpress.com)

Infinite Truth – Finite Reasoning

We can’t grasp all the infinite concepts of God with the finite reasoning of man.
We think within the limitations of our known existence.

Only Faith in God’s limitless abilities through faith will satisfy.

God came down in the person of Jesus Christ to personally save us Himself.

What humility!
What bridled strength in order to identify with those who have no strength!
What love, even for those who hated and cursed Him!

God created the limits of our existence, but He is not limited.

God created reason, but transcends all our attemps to fully explain Him.

Lift Up Your Eyes On High

 “To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to  whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,

By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the weak,
And to those  who  have no might He increases strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,

But those who wait on the ʟᴏʀᴅ
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:25 – 31 (NKJV)

Faith is How Our Finite Minds Grasp the Concept of an Infinite God

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is belief.  (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is confidence. (Also Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is trust.

This faith is a belief, confidence, and trust in another being, who is almighty God, creator of all the universe.

This faith is the pathway to hope, life and fulfillment in the inmost being,and the satisfying of our greatest longings in the deepest reaches of our souls.

To know and to be fully known.

To love and be fully loved.

For some the problem is accepting that God exists.

They reject that everything came from something, (God, an Intelligent being).

Atheists and Agnostics believe that everything came from nothing. ( they can’t explain  how the highly sophisticated language of DNA came to be).

(No it can’t be aliens because then we ask who created them ?)

We all know the name Alfred Einstein.

His greatness is based on many mathematical theories that have since become reality, and many that are considered too advanced even for modern science.

In other words, Einstein could map the future with accuracy using scientific mathematics and formulas.

This is also true for mapping the past with accuracy using scientific mathematics and formulas.

The mathematical odds make the amount of order in creation of a single bacterium impossible to reach by odds of 10 to the billionth power to 1 against Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Science is in serious denial.

The order and intelligence reflected in creation is impossible for Evolutionists to explain.

This is where God makes sense.

God is our infinitely intelligent creator, and all of creation reflects some attributes of His order and intelligence.

A being of infinite power and intelligence created all that is.

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Psalm 24:1,2

Now faith begins to make sense, and even seem logical.

How can finite beings fully comprehend an infinite being  that is God?

Only another God could do that. And there are no other Gods.

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.”

Isaiah 45:5 

Faith is simply acknowledging that God is who He has said He is,that He can do what He has said He can do,and that He is perfect,Holy and He is love.

An important word to note here ; Christ was perfect. Christians and those who have professed to being Christians are not perfect.

And history is rife with examples of abuses of power in virtually every venue, enterprise, nation, government, organization, banking system, role of leadership and  committees both large and small.

Anywhere power is, man’s pride has played  the part of being a god in the form of despot and dictator,…even Christianity.

The Bible even records in the book of Galatians an occasion when the freedoms Christ’s cross bought us were being threatened by human regulations.

The book of Galatians was written to Christians who had begun to slip back into a moralistic form of Christianity that would appeal to self by adding to the gospel a human ceremony and making it an amendment to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as necessary for salvation.

In fact, even the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was orchestrated, lead, and carried out by the moral elite religious leadership of Jesus time who helped pressured the Romans to carry out the cruel crucifixion of Jesus.

Only Jesus is perfect and will always be the only perfect example of who and what a Christian should be.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28,29,30

As prevalent as pride is in our world today, and given the contrast of how humble our God is, is faith in God not the logical choice for finite humans in relation to an infinite God?

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Hebrews 11:6

Faith is the means of coming into a relationship with Almighty God.

“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 paid our sin debt. Simply pray,” Lord save me, come into my heart.” ( because God is already listening to your heart).

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 10:32

Please tell us if you did ask God to save you. We would love to hear from you and encourage you.

Streams In The Desert

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the Desert.” (Isaiah 43:18,19)

Nothing is too hard for God.
God makes things happen in places where we think those things could never happen.
He makes a way in places that we can’t navigate.
He brings life to barren places and empty hearts.
He makes rivers of living water in barren places.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
(2 Corinthians 5:17)

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)

May you have a Happy New Year, and a Happy New Life in Christ.

Saved and Sealed for Eternity – God Cannot Lie

God keeps His promises.

“… it is impossible for God to lie…” (Hebrews 6:18).

God made a promise to all of us who believe and have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. This particular promise is found in Ephesians 1:13-14.

“And you 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.”

For those who believe The Good News of Christ, there is a “promise” that cannot be broken and a “seal” that cannot be taken away.
This ‘promise” and ‘seal’ is not a ‘what’, but a ‘who’ as stated in verse 14, God Himself in the believer.

He is the ultimate fulfillment of the greatest longing of every soul. To feel His presence in your heart, is to be changed forever. None who experience His presence can find fulfillment to this degree in anything else that can be desired.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time, He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

We are created by Him to have a relationship with Him. We are ‘hardwired’ to know God and once you do, if you really do, you would never want to leave Him….ever!

God Himself is the deposit who guarantees our inheritance.
We, who placed our faith in Christ, The Gospel of our salvation, are now “God’s possession”. He bought our lives with the life He gave in the personage of Jesus Christ on the cross, His life for ours. When you trust Him to save you owe Him everything.
You are God’s possession. And no one can take us from God. Nor would any who experience Him want to leave.

“They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” (1 John 2:19)

The arms of God hold us in an embrace that possesses our deepest longing. Our free will chooses God because He made us for Himself.

God cannot lie.

His promise cannot be broken.

His Spirit in us is the seal that cannot be taken away.

None who ever genuinely know Him would ever want to leave Him.

Love Fuels Faith

Love ,”believes all things , hopes all things.” (1 Corinthians 13) 

When faith is present fear is absent.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:18-19 )

Our faith is fueled by confidence that Christ Jesus paid all our debt, took all our torment, and lives in us. Faith that works by love says, “I know God loves me”.

Faith knows that God will do all He has promised to do because He has proven the extent to which He loves us. And this is the extent of His love.

“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 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

Such love should spur confidence in those who call God Father through belief in Christ as Savior. A confidence that is rooted in a love that gave everything for us on the cross because He loved us.

Confidence is faith when it is rooted in God’s love for us. Such love fuels our faith.

 ^“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6)

Jesus Said He is the Great, “I AM”

John 8:58 “Very truly I tell you.” Jesus answered,” before Abraham was born, I AM “

This verse has twice as much truth that Jesus is God when taken with Exodus 3:14.
God also said He is,” I AM.”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites:”I AM has sent me to you.”

TIme is one of the most explored and least understood realities of science today. Yet thousands of years ago God spoke of Himself in only the present/ eternal state. God’s name ,”I AM” evokes an image of timelessness. “I AM”, means God is always in the now. Time has no hold on the one who created time. God is always in the now. He is eternal.

The Jews who heard Jesus make this statement about Himself knew what He was saying, and they tried to stone Him because Jesus said of Himself, “I AM.”, (Verse 59).