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What does the Bible say about locks? Should you use them? Should you rely on God, but use “Common sense”?

Had you ever asked these questions? Or had you just accepted that “The Lord helps those who help themselves”? That saying is not scripture for a very good reason - it isn’t true! In fact, the Bible condemns the use of locks, and condemns YOU for locking your house!

Shocking? Definitely. It is almost 180 degrees from what most people believe today. Do you know why that is? Because they don’t have FAITH to trust God!

To begin with, let’s ask the question “Is God ABLE to protect you if you don’t lock your house?” I think most people would agree that God is ABLE, if He wanted to. So if He is able, is He willing? If He WANTED to protect you, HOW would He do it?

Exodus 34:23 Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man DESIRE thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

When you journeyed up to Jerusalem, God promised that no man would EVEN WANT your land. He promised that it simply wouldn’t occur to anyone to steal from you! Does that mean a lock was necessary too? Hardly. Look at the case of Job…

Job 1:8-10 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

Job was a good man. A man that God was pleased to bless. Now this man had a hedge about him, to protect him - a hedge that God had built. Did he also need a high fence to protect his possessions? Certainly not! He already had one! Read the rest of this entry »

The book of Romans has probably been responsible for more misunderstandings than any other book ever written; not excepting revelation. The book of Romans IS confusing. Let’s take this passage for example;

Romans 7:9-13 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful

Ok, let’s face it. That’s just confusing. It’s confused people for thousands of years. It used to confuse me. And it will always confuse people until they understand the KEY, the KEY to the book of Romans

It’s actually very simple; but until you understand that foundational key it makes no sense at all. But once you DO understand it, it is perhaps the most meaningful passage in the entire Bible! Read the rest of this entry »

“Why are unclean meats unclean?”

“God said so.”

“Well why did He say so?”

“Because He knows something we don’t.”

“DUH! Is that the best you can do?”

“Well … maybe it’s because they’re unhealthy…”

*****

You know, that’s the best answer I’ve ever heard on this subject. And yet this is one of the major things that sets a true Christian apart from the rest of the world. Didn’t you ever want a better answer? I did. So… why are unclean meats unclean?

Genesis 1:29-30 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Back in the garden of Eden, just after creating man God laid down dietary laws for him. God instructed him that he could eat all plants and all fruits freely. God told Man, in effect, that these were “clean” for him. (Of course, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was excepted from that. It by inference was unclean).

At this time God also set down dietary laws for animals as well; just how He enforced them is at the moment beyond me, but He clearly said that EVERY beast of the earth, and EVERY bird was to eat every green herb. We can back this up in a rather unusual way because we know that in the future God will restore the Earth to the paradise-like state it was in then, and in that time…

Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

When this day comes the wolf will be eating the same thing as the lamb - grass and herbs - and the lion will be eating the same thing as the ox - grass and herbs. So however God makes this possible, it seems that the entire Earth both was and will be again, vegetarians. So God told man that every green herb was clean, and we can infer from that that every animal was unclean, and not to be eaten! Read the rest of this entry »

Did you ever wonder? Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Christ, was a PERSON. He had MOTIVES, and REASONS for what he did, just like you and I do when we sin. But what were they? What could POSSIBLY have motivated him to betray his friend and longtime companion, Jesus? He wasn’t just the embodiment of evil, you know. He was working a plan. And he wasn’t just doing it for the money!

Matthew 27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he [Jesus] was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

Read that carefully. First, you notice he returned the money as we all know, so clearly that wasn’t his motive. And he returned the money as soon as “he saw that Jesus was condemned”! When he saw that Jesus was condemned, HE REPENTED! Because he had never expected that to happen!

Matthew 27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. …

AND he knew that Jesus was innocent, so he didn’t betray him because he was mad at Him either! So it wasn’t for the money, it wasn’t because of a grudge, and it wasn’t to see Him suffer - so WHAT WAS JUDAS THINKING?? Read the rest of this entry »

What was wrong with the Pharisees? Why did Christ condemn them? Was it for keeping the letter of the law? WHY would He condemn them for doing what HE, HIMSELF said? HE DIDN’T!

He never condemned them for the righteous things they did!

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Notice He said that tithing of mint, anise, and cummin was GOOD! He commended them for doing that - but the problem was, they were NOT keeping the rest of the law!

Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Notice He said that they had SOME righteousness - just not enough.

Matthew 23:1-3 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: FOR THEY SAY, and DO NOT!

He did NOT condemn them for professing to believe and preach the letter of the law that He, Himself gave them… He condemned them for not doing it themselves…

Luke 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.

The world today seems to have the idea that the Pharisees kept the letter of the law perfectly - and that they were condemned because they didn’t have “love”. But the Bible says they were covetous - the tenth commandment is “Thou shalt not covet” - therefore, they DID NOT KEEP the letter of the law!

John 7:19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet NONE of you keepeth the law? …

So it’s clear, they didn’t keep the law. Christ Himself said so. But this wasn’t their only problem! Read the rest of this entry »

Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. …

What LOVE Jesus had for the people! What a selfless, caring man He was, to have an attitude of forgiveness for the very people crucifying Him! What a HEART FOR THE PEOPLE our Savior had!

It’s kinda funny, it makes me a little nauseous just to write that, even though I’m about to rip it to shreds. It’s just so supercilious and over-the-top and, well, the only word I know that really describes it is “sickening”. Anyone who believes that first paragraph has a totally messed up concept of who God is, and what Christ was ACTUALLY feeling when He uttered those words!

Most people believe that Christ didn’t really NEED to say those words - He just did so that we could see that He didn’t hold any malice towards those people. To show how great was His unconditional love for mankind. HORSE FEATHERS! HOGWASH! POPPYCOCK!

It’s time you USED THE BIBLE to interpret itself! And it’s time you learned what Christ ACTUALLY was thinking, hanging there on the stake, about to be murdered for no reason! Did you know that the Bible actually has His thoughts leading up to that last “Father forgive them”, in great detail? Brace yourself, because the caring, loving, forgiving little baby-in-a-manger Jesus is about to be seriously redefined! Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s talk about FORGIVENESS today. The Bible is full of forgiving, and loving, and being merciful. It talks about it all the time! I couldn’t possibly number the sermons I’ve heard on forgiveness. On putting up with a sinning brother’s faults. On remembering that you have a beam in your own eye. On showing Love to others. And you know what? EVERY SINGLE SERMON WAS DEAD WRONG!

That’s right. The Bible does talk a great deal about forgiveness, but odds are it DOESN’T mean what you THINK it means when it says “forgiveness”!

The Bible uses a lot of terms. Love, grace, mercy, peace, forgiveness, righteousness, judgment, etc. And these terms were translated from the respective Greek and Hebrew into English words about 400 years ago. But languages grow and change, and just because *I* use the term “mercy”, and YOU use the term “mercy”, it doesn’t mean that we are saying the same thing. For example, in England “a lift” means an elevator. Here it means a ride to town. So if you go to England and say “I need a lift”, they’ll try to sell you an elevator when what you ACTUALLY wanted is to hitch a ride!

It’s the same with forgiveness. When God says “mercy” in the Bible, He means something very specific, and very definite. And quite simply, the church needs a dictionary. A dictionary that defines words as GOD defines them, not as our language or our society defines them. Mercy, to us, simply means forgiving someone. “Letting go”, of a wrong that they did you. And this is very close to what God means - but critically different…

James 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

Mercy rejoices against judgment. Mercy is excited and is happy and defeats Judgment. But mercy MUST be a step that happens AFTER judgment, because mercy can’t rejoice AGAINST judgment, IF JUDGMENT WAS NEVER MADE! Read the rest of this entry »

Practically every single Christian out there concludes their prayers with the phrase “In Jesus’ Name”; many also conclude letters and other things with it. This of course is based on the scripture that says “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14) - A promise which is repeated several times in various forms throughout the gospel. And God meant exactly what He said - but no one seems to UNDERSTAND what that is! Asking for something, and concluding your prayer with the words “In Jesus’ Name” IS NOT WHAT GOD MEANT! God had more in mind when He said that than mere words, and He was not just giving you some sort of a prayer formula to follow!

When you ask for something “In the name” of Christ, what are you asking for? If you believe that it just means you tack a little “In the name of Jesus Christ” at the end of your prayer, then you have to consider this scripture:

Acts 19:13-15 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are YE?

But these people USED the name of Jesus. And they used the RIGHT name, and they used it CORRECTLY! But it DIDN’T WORK FOR THEM! Because using the phrase “in the name of Jesus Christ” does nothing for you! Doing something “in His name”, or being gathered someplace “In His name” (Matthew 18:20) cannot mean that you mentioned His “magic” name in a prayer, because they tried that, and it didn’t work!

It didn’t work for them, and it WON’T work for you, because just “signing” your prayers “in Christ’s name” is little better than the gentiles who believe they will be heard because of their many words, and repetitious speaking! Read the rest of this entry »

God. Allah. Buddha. Baal. Ashtoreth. Diana. Ra. Gaia. Whoever he or she is, your god defines who you are. Your god typifies everything that you aspire to be in life, and possesses all of the attributes which you desire to make your own. You might say that as your god is, so you are - only not quite as good.

But what is a god anyway? Is it something you can go shopping for like lemons or shoes? Can you log into Ebay and type in “god who allows me to do _insert sin here_” and then select a promising candidate and click “buy it now”? Well… it’s a little bit more complicated than that, but… not as much as you might think. In fact, you’ve already done it. You do it every time you make a decision about God that is based on what you “think” is right. Allow me to explain.

You see, six thousand years ago God created man in his own image. And ever since then man has been recreating God in HIS image. Because our God defines who we are. Our God tells us what standards we ought to demand from ourselves. And so if we really don’t like our God, we will find a way to change him. Man has been doing this ever since God said “Don’t touch that tree…” and Eve said “well… maybe God didn’t mean THAT tree… I think that this is what He really wants me to do…” and suddenly Eve was following a new god. A God that was very similar to the real one - but subtly different.

Not too long afterwards, Cain (knowing that God wanted a lamb for a sacrifice) brought God a big armload of carrots instead. But… God didn’t WANT carrots. He wanted what He SAID He wanted. But Cain decided that this was good enough for God and “after all,” he thought to himself, “my heart is in the right place, so how DARE God not accept me!”

And so now the world had a yet another new God. We already had Eve’s god (the one who didn’t care if she ate the forbidden [or only semi-forbidden?] fruit), and Adam’s god (the one who wouldn’t want him to disobey his wife), and Cain’s god who liked vegetables. Of course, Abel had a God too - and his God seems like the right one, but he died soon after this (Cain’s god said it was OK to kill him) and so the world was back to just the other gods - let’s call them “false gods” shall we?

And this process didn’t stop here - on the contrary, God was changed more and more, but He wasn’t merely changed, he was divided and then subdivided each time a man had a sin to justify that he didn’t want to get rid of, and so God’s character was molded and morphed to allow a given man to do whatever it was that he wanted to do, and still not alienate his beloved god.

How was this accomplished? Well, Read the rest of this entry »

Where is your identity? What do you think of when you think “me”?

If you have to describe yourself, where do you start?

What would crush you the most if you were to lose it?

Most people define themselves by their “stuff”. In fact, I can scarcely name anyone I’ve met who isn’t the house, the car, the money, something. None of these people would admit that they are all about those things, but there can be no doubt that it is “for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:45). The stuff coming out of your mouth, the stuff your mind always leans towards talking about, is who you think you are. If you always talk about the Dallas Cowboys it’s because you don’t really have a life of your own; you live vicariously through them. You are a Cowboy’s fan. As such you can easily relate to other Cowboy’s fans. They are like you, and you belong to them because they share the same identity you do.

If you’re always talking about how good your grades are or what you know, it’s because you think of yourself as being smart. It’s who you are; not just a character attribute, but something that defines you to yourself, something that gives your existence value.

If you kiss your car goodnight and wash it twice a day, it’s because there is something wrong with your head; your car is more than what it should be, a tool to move you from point A to point B; it has become a living thing, a part of your psyche and very literally, part of you. If it gets scratched by a careless passerby, you flip out not because they scratched your car, but because they scratched YOU. The car is an extension of your ego.

Do you really think two retired people NEED a 10,000 square foot house with 12 bathrooms? Of course not; but after living in squalor in their childhood and hating the man who had more money and power than them, after feeling inferior for the bulk of their lives they feel GOOD about building a BIGGER house than the person they hated; it means they are a success. They have status to prove it.

These concepts expand to cover everything we get attached to; comic book collections, strength, knowledge of trivia, speed, boats, fishing and everything else. We literally lose ourselves in our jobs, our lives, and our hobbies, and forget that we even exist. In some ways, we no longer do; we literally become the job, the children, the model of the titanic made out of toothpicks. But that should never happen.

Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Every thing - every single one - I just mentioned is a violation of the tenth commandment. One of the lesser understood commandments. Those things are all based in covetousness; stuff that you have, and that you cling to far beyond its intrinsic value. And it isn’t limited to those who have a lot of nice things; bums living in cardboard boxes can be as possessive of their worthless scraps of clothing and cigarette butt collections as the most grasping scrooge around.

But what happens to us when those things we love so dearly are taken away? When the stock broker loses his millions and has to face adjusting to a lifestyle that half the population already has and another quarter WISHES they had, he can’t handle it and jumps out a window. He’d rather end his life than live it as a different person.

Because he wasn’t a person. He was a walking hundred dollar bill. And when that bill became worth twelve cents, there was nothing left of it worth saving in his mind. Athletes who start to fail, models who get ugly, anyone who loses the thing that defines themselves and gives them self-worth, face depression, nervous breakdowns, and some even drink or drug themselves to death. Why? What makes those worthless things so valuable to them that their lives are not worth living without it? Read the rest of this entry »