The Serpent and the Cross: Rethinking John 3:16

Hello brethren. As some of you know, my pastor (the author) and I (the editor) have been working for a couple of months on one of his book projects. Well, I want to let you all know that we are now finished and the book is available on Amazon.

The book is called, "The Serpent and the Cross: Rethinking John 3:16". In it, one of the most beloved, yet most often misunderstood verses in the Bible is given a close examination. I think you will be as surprised as I was with what the verse truly teaches about the love of God, and its consequences for we who follow Christ.

Here is the official description of the book:

"John 3:16 is the most popular verse in all the Bible. Many quote it assuming to understand its meaning. Sermons are preached from it. Businesses use it as their slogan. It has even made its way into professional sports! Yet, the meaning and import of this profound verse is still as dark to many as its truth was to Nicodemus. Jesus brings the truth of His kingdom into the mind and heart of Nicodemus in an unexpected comparison between the serpent on the pole deep in Israel's history, and the Son of Man on the cross yet future to Nicodemus. The parallels are striking. More importantly, a proper understanding of the serpent on the pole leads to a proper understanding of the Son of Man on the cross."

As I worked on this book, I must admit that there is so much to be found within John 3:16 that, as a result of our modern mushy-minds, we do not quickly see. However, as Pastor Charlie explains, a proper interpretation of this verse grants the Lord far more glory than the fluffy "God is in love with you" gospel so often preached today.

Currently, the book is available in paperback from Amazon, and the Kindle version is currently being processed (but will be out soon). Here is a link to it: http://www.amazon.com/Serpent-Cross-Rethinking-John-16/dp/0615954367/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391709518&sr=1-1&keywords=serpent+and+the+cross

I hope you all have a blessed week!

Edit: The Kindle version is now available here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA52LXG

Love Your Enemies

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

Good day to you all, Brethren. For quite some time, I have wanted to write upon one of the most important subjects of all time. This subject lies at the foundation of Christianity, being not only the  summation of the way in which the Children of God must walk, not only the breath and life of believers, but it is also the foundational element of God and the great gravity which binds together the Holy Trinity. Love is the basis of all that God does, has done, and will do. Therefore, we can rightly say that love is not merely a description of God, but rather that God is love (1 John 4:7-8). 


This reality is arguably the most important reality for us to grasp, and a full discussion of love would last for an eternity, since our God is eternal and unfathomable. However, in this post, I wish to discuss a specific aspect of love, one which is beyond us: love of our enemies.


Out of all types of love, this is probably the most difficult of all. Honestly, it is difficult to love someone who is always attempting to put you down or undermine your faith, or even kill you for believing Christ and obeying Him. It is difficult (to say the least) to do good to those who do evil to you (Romans 12:17-21, cf. 1 Peter 3:8-12). Nevertheless, it is commanded.


So, if we are to understand how we are to treat our enemies, the first question we must ask is: what is love?


Well, I can tell you that love is not a wonderful fluttering in one's heart over, or an infatuation with, someone, although those can be outward signs of love under certain circumstances. How do I know this? God, who is in a very real sense the essence of love itself, does not love in this manner.


"God is a righteous judge,
And a God who has indignation every day.

If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword;
He has bent His bow and made it ready.
He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons;
He makes His arrows fiery shafts.
Behold, he travails with wickedness,
And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood.
He has dug a pit and hollowed it out,
And has fallen into the hole which he made.
His mischief will return upon his own head,
And his violence will descend upon his own pate." (Psalm 7:11-16)

Therefore, God’s love for man does not necessitate giddy infatuation over them. Now, one may look at this passage and say that it shows a god of hate, not love. However, we in the modern church have been emphasizing the word love for so long that it has actually lost its original meaning and power. God is not giddy over sinners (or even us who are saved), nor is He romantically in love with anyone (the Song of Solomon was not a picture of the love Christ has for His Church, quite frankly that idea is absolutely revolting and blasphemous on so many levels). Nevertheless, God does love all men, even those whom He has righteously decreed to be created as hell-bound vessels of wrath. 

 

How is it that the Lord still loves those whom He is sharpening His sword against to slay? How is it possible to be absolutely furious with those who refuse to repent (Psalm 2:4-6), so furious that you command your Son to dash them to pieces with an iron rod (Psalm 2:9) and ultimately cast them into untold, eternal torment and yet love them? Honestly, I do not know. I firmly believe that this is a reality too deep for mortal man to understand, but it is true nonetheless.     

However, I will admit that this still does not seem like love to our modern minds. Honestly, few will look at these truths and see love behind them. Nevertheless, love is there. First of all, the Father does this out of love for the Son (since it was love that motivated Him to give all things into the hand of Christ) (John 5:20-23) and the Son then obeys the Father out of love (John 14:31), destroying the unrighteous and then giving the Kingdom back to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24-28). Thus, all this is done in an ultimate sense as a result of the love within the Trinity.

Secondly, God also does this in spite of the love He has for the perishing ones.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

 

This passage is found in the well-known Sermon on the Mount. Here we find a powerful declaration of God’s love even for those who hate Him. Firstly, Christ repeats a statement popular among the unsaved-yet-super-spiritual persons of all time: namely, love those that love you and hate everyone else. However, Christ declared that this idea is completely false. In fact, one must love not only his brothers, but also those who are enemies of yourself and God. Why? Because God does the same thing. In spite of the hatred of unbelievers, God showers innumerable blessings upon them. He grants them rain, sun, snow, food and happiness (Acts 14:17), and all other blessings (such as the sending of Grace and Truth incarnate, Christ Jesus, to proclaim the truth).

Yet, is this love, or is this mere concern for them? Well, we must look at this passage in further detail to determine this.

First, Christ states that we must be perfect just as our Father is perfect. Moreover, we are to be sons of our Father, and sons are called to become images of the Son (Romans 8:29), and Christ merely does what His Father does (John 5:19). Therefore, whatever we are commanded in this passage to do is what our Trinitarian God does.  

So, what are we commanded to do? Agape our enemies. In this text, Christ uses the word agape (ἀγαπᾶτε specifically) to denote what kind of love we must have for our enemies (those who hate us and thus hate God). This is not merely being nice to the other person, rather it is true love.

 

Yet, what is this love? Well, I would argue that the best summation of agape love is found in 1 Corinthians 13.

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

This love, agape love, is the love which we must have for all men, not merely fellow believers. This is not to say that we love those outside of the Church in the same exact way as we love those inside the body, for we are commanded to give especial love to the Church (Galatians 6:10). Nevertheless, we must be patient, kind, selfless, humble, gentle, enduring, hopeful, unfailing, never keeping a record of how they have wronged us. 

 

This has huge implications for us. For example, this is one of the reasons why we Christian workers are called to do good to our unsaved masters (Eph. 6:5, 1 Peter 2:18, Titus 2:9-10). In all of this, we are to work hard, as for the Lord (Colossians 3:22-24). Why would we do so? Well, we love both God and man, and we long for all men to escape the wrath to come. Like our Lord, we do not take pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, but rather long for them to turn from their evil ways and live (Ezekiel 18:23). We realize that living a holy life will make an impression upon those who are outside of the faith, and thus our hard work may lead to the repentance of our unsaved bosses. This is love, and this is what motivates us in all our dealings with the unsaved, even those who hate us.

Again, we are called to love those outside of the Church. This is key, since if we love only those inside the Church, what reward do we have? It is easy to love those in the Church, because they will love you back. However, it is so much harder to truly love those outside of the Church because they will often hate us in return. Nevertheless, it is still commanded of us, and is a demonstration that our love for God and man is far greater than the “love” which the unsaved have for one another.

Now, does love always bring peace? No, for Christ came to bring a sword, not peace (Matthew 10:34-36), and our love will inevitably stir up hatred, even possibly amongst those closest to us. This is not because we are unloving, rather our patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-control, etc., is of the Spirit, and God is light. As I have said before, men love darkness and hate light (John 3:19-21), and therefore will hate our love. Moreover, they will really hate the message which we lovingly preach (Eph. 4:15), which is Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 1:23), and this reveals their sins, which is something they fear (John 3:20). Therefore, it is the very love we have for them and the message it compels us to preach that will both draw some and repel others. As wise men have said, love hurts.

Because of what we originally declared about this passage (from Matthew 5) being based upon a command to be like our Heavenly Father, loving whom He loves and in the same way, we must also conclude that God has this same required love for those who hate Him and will hate Him eternally. God must love all men with agape love, otherwise He would be no better than the unsaved. It is this love for all, coupled with His justice, fury, holiness, faithfulness, kindness, mercy, gentleness, goodness, and all of His other attributes that sets Him above all men. Moreover, the degree to which we imitate this love is the degree to which we are set apart (sanctified) from those who hate the Lord.

God’s love for all men is the type of love described in 1 Cor. 13. Look throughout the Bible (especially in the life of Christ), and we see God’s patience, kindness, humility, selflessness, lack of swift provocation, forgiveness and passing over the times of ignorance, not retaliating against those who spat on Him, hatred and sadness over evil but joy over truth, bearing all things, full of hope, and enduring even the worst of trials unscathed. Overall, His love never failed, and never will fail. What love is this!

One could go for an eternity about this subject, but I must close sometime. So, let me close with this. We must love all men, even those that would kill us. We must never cease to do good to all men (Galatians 6:10), not only through teaching them the truth, but also through doing general good things for them (Romans 12:19-21). We must be like the Good Samaritan, showing mercy to and loving your neighbors, even those who are of a nation which collectively hates you, in our case, those who are citizens of the kingdom of Satan (Luke 10:25-37). Ultimately, it is not enough to love those within the Church. We must also love those who hate us, for that is a love beyond humanity: the agape of God.

Grace and peace to you all.

God's Sovereignty vs. Man's Will Part 2

I want to start out by saying that this warfare over predestination has taken a turn away from Scripture and into a misconstruction of Election. Whenever one says, "I believe that the Lord saves and man has nothing to do with his salvation", instantly the philosophical meanderings of John Calvin are brought up and debated on a non-Scriptural, philosophical plane. It seems that we care more about our disagreements and agreements with theologians than with the Word of God. However, if we are to understand what the Lord told us, we must throw Calvin, Arminius, and every other theologian and philosopher aside and merely look at Scripture. Not saying that all theologians are unhelpful, but rather that God's Word is all we need to be made wise, understanding His Will and Plan (Psalm 19:7-9).

With that in mind, let us go to the very beginning of time.

In the beginning was the God, the Triune Lord. In this state, the Father loved the Son and the Spirit, the Son loved the Spirit and the Father, the Spirit loved the Father and the Son. It was a perfect, loving, holy relationship within Elohim (Hebrew name for God, its plural ending emphasizes the three-in-oneness of God). It was in this state wherein the Father made a wondrous decree to the Son:

"You are My Son,
On that day I have begotten You,
Ask Me (note: a command in Hebrew), and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the ends of the Earth as Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron,
You shall shatter them like earthenware." (Psalm 2:7-9)

In this passage, we find the very goal of all creation, and specifically of all men: we are a gift to the Son. This is especially important to bear in mind throughout this entire discussion, for it colors all that we must know as Christians. 

Because the Son loves the Father and does all that He commands (John 14:31), Christ asked His Father for the nations and the World. Thus, God created the Heavens and the Earth.

In man's beginning, he was created as a son of God (Luke 3:38). Why was he created this way? Well, he was made to be the Image and likeness of God, specifically the image of the Son (thus, Adam was to be one of the many brethren which God predestined to be the Image of His Son, Rom. 8:28-29). If sin had not entered the world through the Fall of Adam, his descendants would all then be children of God.
Yet, this would not work in God's decree.

[Please remember, a decree is that which causes something to come to pass or into being ("Let there be light!"), it is not something that merely looks ahead at that which will come to pass on its own ("There will be light."). Thus, God's decree is a creative declaration which causes, by the merit of it being God's omnipotent command, all that it says to come into being. But I digress.]

If God's decree is to take place, man must fall. Please keep reading and paying close attention. Man must fall if Christ is to break him with a rod of iron and shatter him like a clay pot. It must take place. So, through God's decree, and not His authorship, sin entered the Perfect World. Man fell, and God had to kill him for his iniquity (Gen. 2:17). So, all the world was placed under a curse and judgement from God, leading to death (Rom. 3:9-18, 5:12, 6:23, etc.). 

However, what now was God to do? (I am speaking, as Paul did, in "human terms") If every man was evil, then Christ must destroy all of them. If this happens, Christ will not have an inheritance left. Yet God's decree reached beyond this seeming dilemma, for nothing can stop Him. 

Look again to the beginning of time with the Lord. Listen to the parable of the Wheat and Tares.

"Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven was (Note: the original greek is in the past tense here) compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'" (Mat. 13:24-30)

What does this passage say about our topic? Well, look at Christ's explanation:

"Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, 'Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.' And He said, 'The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.'" (Mat. 13:36-43)

Now we have the keys to understand the passage and its significance to our topic. Christ sowed good seed, the Sons of the Kingdom, into the World (not the Church, but the World). After Christ did this, Satan came in and sowed tares (weeds), those who are his sons, into the world amongst the wheat. These two plants, wheat and tares, are growing together in this world now, and both seem to look alike at times (cf. vs. 29). Nevertheless, these two plants are inherently different from the beginning, and are always different, even to the end. Once the end has come, the angels will gather both the wheat and the tares, the first to the Kingdom, and the last to Hell (Revelation 14:14-20, 20:11-15, etc.)

This parable can only fit with a complete recounting of all of history. In the very beginning, Christ sowed His people into the world. These are the ones who were predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, making them brethren with Christ (Rom. 8:28-29). However, Satan infiltrated the world, by the fall of man, and thus sowed his own sons into the world (note: he did not create them, rather they are those who do just as He does and will never repent of their ways). All of this flows well with my last post, and I suggest reading my last one to better understand this difference between sons of God and sons of the Devil.

If you still do not know what I am getting at, here it is:

God, in the very beginning, decreed that His Son would inherit the world and mankind. Some of these men would be crushed, whilst others would be His brethren. So, God created the world. In this world, He sovereignly planned and placed His Sons (Christ's brethren). If sin had not entered, these sons would be the only one's created, and they would have inherited the world and ruled alongside Christ for eternity. However, God decreed that men must fall in order to be destroyed. Thus, God sovereignly decreed that Satan would introduce sin into humanity, causing his downfall. This sowed sons of the Devil into this perfect world, leaving tares among the wheat. Nevertheless, the wheat were still wheat. The sons of the kingdom were still sons of the kingdom, they never became tares. These wheat were destined, by nature of being wheat, to be gathered into the barns.

Yet, these wheat had to be destroyed for justice's sake, since they sinned, just like the tares. However, God was not stopped. He sent His only begotten Son to live and die in the place of the wheat, thus allowing them to enter Heaven through Faith. However, these wheat were much like the tares: without faith or anything good in them. Thus, God caused them to believe in Christ, granting the believing ones eternal life. This in turn ensured their eternal life, allowing God's judgement to pass over them and onto His Son.  

Now, the tares were never the sons of God. No, they are by nature sons of the Devil. As a result, they must inherit the judgement placed on their father: burning in Hell for eternity, crushed under the weight of Christ's wrath. This is their decreed doom, and it cannot be undone. 

Not everyone can be saved, nor can everyone go to Hell, since both would undermine God's Decree. Thus, God proceeded with His aforementioned plan.

This is why the Elect are elect, why they gain faith and no-one else does, why they cannot lose their salvation, why they are justified, and all other implications of the Gospel. 

I will be continuing on this subject later, since I have merely scratched the surface of this issue and much more needs to be addressed.

God Bless. 

"Jussive in Meaning": What is Proverbs?

      The book of Proverbs is a very interesting book and, by definition, deserves and demands our attention. It is an often neglected book or, worse, misinterpreted book. I would like to record a few facts that I have been learning of this book. This post can be considered a part of my Old Testament series.
       When talking to people about Proverbs with someone, or reading writing of the book of Proverbs, one statement I here a lot is that the teachings in Proverbs is "Jussive in meaning". Now you might not have heard that before, and in case you haven't I will explain it to you.
        Proverbs was written in Hebrew, and in Hebrew grammar there is a type of imperative known as a Jussive. A jussive is nothing more than a heart felt plea, example: "I really wish you would let me in." That sentence is an example of a Hebrew jussive. So, that means that there are no commands in Proverbs so you can take it or leave it, and Proverbs is nothing more than a bunch of good ideas that may or may not apply to you.
          Now, that, personally, would bother me because that means that there is no authority behind Proverbs and that it is nothing more than pithy sayings that have no more meaning than Aesop's fables, and do nothing more than help you live skillfully. But there has to be more in Proverbs, and what is the history of the book and how would the Hebrews understand the book. and also where did the good ideas in Proverbs come from?
         Now Proverbs, by itself, really isn't a very hard book to understand just to read it at face value. Much of it is somewhat easy to understand, example: "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge but he who hates reproof is stupid." Proverbs 12:1, that is pretty straight forward but like all the books in the Bible, Proverbs is an inexhaustible well that needs to be laboured over to mine out its jewels, Proverbs 2:4-5. That is what we need to do.
        So let us consider the history of this book. Who was it written by? Solomon, Agur, and Lemual. The last two authors are unknown but we all know who Solomon is. Some say that this book is merely a compilation of wise sayings of wise men from before, and it is possible that a certain section of the book was such, but some have even said, lo, many teach that the proverbs are of Egyptian origin! Now that is absolutely ludicrous, that wicked pagan gentiles would be the origin of such a jewel in our own Bibles. Further more it makes little sense from what the book itself says, chapter 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; Fools despise wisdom and instruction." Now no one that knows anything of the Bible wouldn't doubt that the Egyptians feared God, although they had good reason to (one of these days I would like to write on the Exodus and its affect on Egypt), so then they could not have been the originators of the book of Proverbs. Also, it makes perfect sense that Solomon himself would write the book and that he personally thought of the proverbs by what I will write below.
          Think through what you know of Solomon. He was the son of David that inherited the throne of Israel. From early on he was characterized by wisdom, I Kings 2:9. Now there is certain event in his life that is very significant. I Kings 3:3-15, Solomon was at Gibeon which was where the tabernacle was thus he was worshipping and one night, while he was there, God told Solomon that He would give him anything that he wanted. Solomon, an example of showing some early signs of wisdom, Proverbs 2:1-6, asks for wisdom. God is pleased with Solomon for that requests and grants it and promises more. Solomon soon afterwards became internationally well known for his wisdom, I Kings 5:7. Now, how did God give that wisdom and is it possible for us to receive such wisdom?
        Now here is one of the most exciting things about Proverbs, I think, that is its origin. The origin will give us depth to the book and will answer our jussive in meaning predicament. So please turn to your Bibles to Deuteronomy 17:18-20. According to that section, what was the king to do with the Law, why was he to do that, and what is the beginning of wisdom? I will let you make the logical conclusions. Now, read Deut. 4:5-8.  The Law was to tutor men to understand wisdom, and to convict of sins, both of which happened to Solomon, Proverbs 20:9. This is why the imperetives in Proverbs is Jussive, because all the commands have already been given in the Law!
         Do you also want to know what is amazing about this book Proverbs. It leads those who read it to salvation, II Timothy 3:14-17! In verse 15, the word "writings" is what was used to explain the wisdom literature, mainly Proverbs. Then Paul continues to say "In fact, not only the Writings but all of God's Word is beneficial".
        Well this is an over view of the book of Proverbs, and again much more can be said. As you can see there is much more to Proverbs than just a bunch of pithy saying that the Hebrews learned from the Egyptian and reorded by Solomon, but is originated from the Word of God.
   

Live for Eternity

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

(Matthew 6:19-21)

I feel that it is time for me to exhort all of you, my dear readers. I have seen a great evil in the Church, especially in America. I cannot allow it to continue without a fight, so I will write to you all about this. Please let all your family and friends know about this. If you need to, have them read this post; but please do not allow this evil to go unchallenged in your life and in the lives of others! 

Men of God, as I look around me, I see Christians who are striving after worldly things. They want a new car, a college education, a pay raise, to move up on the social ladder, you name it. These things are not bad in themselves. However, this is the main goal of many of these people. There are men who go out and spend forty hours or more a week to spread the word about their political candidate in an effort to get them elected to some political office. There are some who go out and waste themselves physically, mentally, and spiritually in order to pay for a high-end college degree or to buy the house on Beverly Hills. There are also men who spend most of their time sitting around staring at a television and pressing buttons on a controller in order to get the highest score on Call of Duty (or any other video game for that matter).

Brothers, this should not be reality!  

To those who are wasting themselves in order to get a college degree, can you not do even more work in order to gain wisdom and knowledge of God? Why should you fill your head with pagan philosophy, science, and history, yet refuse to do more than just take a glance at God's Word once a day?

To those who are wasting their lives trying to buy a better house, can you not spend yourself working for the mansion in Glory? Why should you live and die in order to buy a house which will be gone in a hundred years or less, yet do nothing in return for Christ's preparing a place for you in Heaven?

To those who sit around playing video games, why in the world should you sit around wasting your time and attention killing the next fake figure on the screen when you could be standing and fighting against the powers of darkness? Why should you sit around pressing buttons all day, sometimes even doing in a video game what Satan would joyfully do in real life, while there is a spiritual battle to fight?!

To those who waste their lives on politics, can you not spend your life working for the Eternal Kingdom? These empires of the Earth will soon fade away, burned by the fires of Hell. Why should you waste your time working to strengthen something that will be consumed, when you can be working for the King of Kings whose Kingdom shall know no end?!

Men, all the things of this wicked earth shall be consumed in fire and brimstone. The grand empires of man will be destroyed, the buildings will collapse, our college degrees will be of no worth, and our time playing video games will be completely wasted. When we get to heaven, our wealth will not matter, our pagan education will be worthless, our political standing will be of naught. Nothing will matter but our faith in God and the fruit which we bore as a result of this faith. 

When you stand before the judgement seat of God Almighty and He asks you, "What is the greatest thing you ever did?" or, "What did you spend the greater part of your life doing?", what will you tell Him? Will you say, "I made the American government follow the Constitution!" or, "I bought an awesome new car!", or, "I gained a Master's degree in Psychology!"? If that is what you tell him, should you expect Him to say, "Well done, good and faithful slave!"? 

Stop wasting your life on the things of this world! They will never satisfy you! Not only that, they will all perish in eternal fire! Men, why should you waste your life on things which are completely worthless, when there is eternity to work for?! 

Please, listen to me! We must stop wasting our lives! (I include my own, for I am far from perfect on this issue) We must turn from our ways, and work for the glory of God Almighty! Everything else is of no value! If it is not for God's glory, it is not worth wasting our time on! 

Live not for this world, live for eternity!

Psalm 2

Psalm 2

1 Why are the nations in an uproar

And the peoples devising a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth take their stand 

And the rulers take counsel together 

Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying

3 "Let us tear their fetters apart 

And cast away their cords from us!"

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs

The Lord scoffs at them 

5 Then He will will speak to them in His anger

And terrify them in His fury, saying 

6 "But as for Me, I have installed My King 

Upon Zion,My holy mountain."

7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You. 

8 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, 

And the very ends of the earth as Your possession

9 'You shall break them with a rod of iron, 

You shall shatter them like earthenware.' "

10 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment;

Take warning, O judges of the earth.

11 Worship the Lord with reverence 

And rejoice with trembling.

12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,

For His wrath may soon be kindled.

How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!    

More on Biblical Submission to Authority

 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." 

(Declaration of Independence)

Our nation, our very identity as citizens of America, is founded in revolution against oppressive governments. Ever since our founding, we have encouraged revolution against oppression throughout the world. As was once said, "rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God."

What does God say about this? Well, let us turn to His Word.

"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour." (Romans 13:1-7)

This is extremely blunt and easy to understand. All authority is given by God. He chooses all the leaders of all governments. That means He has chosen everyone from Reagan to Stalin, Washington to Hitler, Bush to Mao. Furthermore, because He has appointed the powers that be, we must obey the authorities and not resist them. If we revolt against human authority, we revolt against God Almighty Himself, and as a result earn damnation.

Many people in America, including many pastors, do not like this idea of submission to authority. Therefore, they come up with highly complex arguments that "disprove" submission. Chuck Baldwin is one of these men, and I strongly encourage you to read his reply to Romans 13.

Let me be blunt with you for a moment. This is a perversion of the Biblical doctrine of submission to authority. Let me explain:

First off, he claims that people who believe that we must submit to the government and not rebel are ignorant sheeple, or "just plain lazy". Not only is this insulting to me, it is a direct insult against God Almighty, the One who made this passage. Now, let me move on to specific Theological issues with this man's arguments.

He brings up a good point that our obedience to Man and human institutions is limited. However, he does not define this limit according to the Bible, and here is where he goes wrong.

Mr. Baldwin says that this passage says that all true rulers are not a terror to good, but only to evil. Therefore, any government that punishes good behavior is no longer legitimate and must be defied and/or overthrown by Christians. Is this true according to the Bible? 

First of all, the Apostle is here teaching that the government which was then in power over Rome should be obeyed. Since this Epistle was written somewhere in around early to late 50 A.D., we know that the Apostle must be talking about the government in that time. This was the same government that murdered the Apostle James in A.D. 44 (Acts 12), allowed the murder of Stephen, and instigated the killings, jailing, beating, and otherwise harassing of the followers of Christ. The worst travesty that this government had done was to murder the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, the Lord and God of all. 

I must say, this government was definitely not a terror to good works, which is why the Apostle said that Christians should obey it. 

Let us further expound upon this argument.

 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;

Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. (1 Peter 2:13-17)

Also:

 "And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.      Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?”

 And those who stood by said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”
 Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’"(Acts 23:2-5)


Could it be any more clear for us? Here Paul was slapped, and followed Baldwin's advice: he reviled and slandered the Authority which God had placed above him. Guess what, when Paul was rebuked, he repented, saying that he had disobeyed God's command just by slandering the Sanhedrin. 

If Paul's mere slander was sin, how much more terrible is the idea of revolting! 


Now, what is our obedience limited to?

 ^"Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.
 Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.
 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:25-29)

There we are. If the Government tells us to disobey God, then we do not disobey God.

Another thing needs addressed. Baldwin's argument here rests upon the idea that any government which harms people for doing good is not recognized nor chosen by God. It is thus not God's Agent. 

Not only is this impossible to prove using the Bible (notice how Baldwin does not use the Bible to defend this), this teaching is a slap in the face of God, for it defies His Absolute Sovereignty over everything including governments. All things, ultimately, are agents of God. He has put every single government and authority in place, and nothing can have any power without His Sovereign decision to give that power. THAT is what this passage is saying, and what Baldwin is denying.

How does Mr. Baldwin get to these conclusions? He takes the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence as if they were decrees of God Almighty. They are his substitution for the Bible, Natural Law Philosophy is his Theology, and America is his Heaven on Earth. 

That, sadly, is the state of many people today. Make no mistake, I love this country. I am patriotic, and supportive of the government. However, this nation is not my Home, this government is not my Lord. Heaven is my ultimate destination, and God is my King. 
As leaders in the Church, let us remember to look forward to what lies ahead, obeying the human authorities for Christ's sake.

Obeying Wicked Leaders for the Glory of God

    I think that it is important to note that God recognizes a leader as a leader to be obeyed and respected despite the leader's wickedness.

Matthew 23:2-3

(Jesus) "Saying ' The scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them." 

    Is it just me or is that pretty clear? Here is Jesus' opinion on how to respond to wicked and hypocritical leaders. God said that those who have seated THEMSELVES in authority, we MUST recognize their authority. Notice that these scribes and Pharisees seated themselves to a position of authority, they did not gain the position through inheritance nor any good merits of their own but interjected themselves into the seat of Moses, but despite how they got to sit in the position of leaders, they were there and were to be obeyed. We, slaves of Christ, must not rebel against our authority because we think that the individuals or group of individuals do not belong in the seat of a leader. Ultimately God Himself placed those people to be authority. So if we think that we can rebel against Obama because he isn't an American citizen or that he president due to fraud and he asserted himself, we must still obey him because, despite how he rose to presidency, God placed him there.

    We, slaves of Christ, must obey those in authority despite their wicked actions and hypocrisy. The scribes and Pharisees that Jesus is referring to is the same group that Jesus called white washed tombs and serpents. Despite that the authority is corrupt and is hypocritical we must obey their words, we cannot disobey. Their wickedness does not give us an excuse or license to rebel. Where in the Bible is that commended? I know how wicked the current governments are, they all hate God, all kingdoms of the world lie in the lap of the evil one and that has been true since the beginning of time! The governments have always been wicked, and America is no exception, America is not the new promise land or God's new people. The whole world is wicked, but what has God said? 

Mark 12:14-17

"They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵ Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” ¹⁶ They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “ Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him. 

Amen! 

    Though the main reason for asking this question to our Lord was to trick Him, the question was one that the Jews struggled with. The Jews hated their Roman rulers and they disliked paying the Romans taxes because they said, and rightly so, that paying taxes to Rome encouraged and financed many wicked practices that was prolific in Roman culture, including idolatry. Despite all that, though, Christ still commanded the people to pay their taxes.  

     Though we are to obey the word of our leaders do not do what they do, for most earthly rulers do not adhere to their very own laws, not to mention the very moral laws that God has placed within their consciences. Do not become twice the son of hell as they are.

    So why do we obey those who are in authority, even the wicked ones? It is not about obeying the government because the government is something special but because we obey and are slave of God and citizens of His Kingdom, which is eternal. God has placed those men in authority Himself and He Himself directs the king's heart to do whatever He wishes. Is He not sovereign? We obey the government because we obey God, and that is why when man's laws contradict God's laws, we observe God's laws. If a government official came and said "deny Christ or die" I will choose physical death, for I cannot blaspheme and disregard His name. "Fear God and give Him glory", and that is a command (yes God can and does command men).

    So if you call yourself a Christian then obey the government, not for the government's sake but because you love God. You are not of this world.