“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.” The messages that Jesus Christ gave to seven Churches teach much about Him and about us. The Church at Ephesus was not a Catholic or Universal Church, it was a local Church. Christ established only local autonomous Churches and never established a Catholic one or an invisible one like the Protestant invented after they left their mother Church. Each local Church had an angel in it. Now don't get all charismatic and crazy, this angel was a messenger or preacher and we call him the Pastor. Christ's message was sent to the Pastor / messenger and he delivered it to the local Church. The seven messengers, which are the Pastors, are represented by the stars from the previous chapter and notice that Christ has them in his right hand. Notice also that He is walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, which are the seven churches. Jesus, holding the pastor in his hand, is walking in the midst of the local church where two or three are gathered together in his name. That is the definition of the ecclesia and why Jesus clarified with the same words, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” If you have not put your light into a local candlestick you are not being obedient. When one gets saved they become part of the family of God, but you are not part of the church until you unite with a local body of believers, two or three or more gathered with an angel. Get to Church this year.

Msg# 1202 Jesus, The First and The Last

“And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive.” Jesus' seven salutations contain an emphasis needed for each particular local Church. Smyrna means 'myrrh' and resonates with the gathering gloom of death. In persecutions unto death we are addressed by the First and the Last. Isaiah says “Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.” again, “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” Jehovah and his Redeemer are one and are the first and the last. Again “Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last” The God of Israel is this same first and last. When a Christian names the “Diety of his choice” as a liberal president put it, he names the Lord Jesus Christ. We worship the Lord Jesus Christ as our Jehovah God and Supreme Creator. Mormons don't; JWs don't; Christians do. Politicians and other infidels refuse us to even publicly pray in his name. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” ... “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” ... “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” You will be persecuted for it, but keep the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in your conversation this week.

Msg# 1203 Overcomers

In the seven messages Christ left for the messengers of the seven local Churches there are seven promises to those who overcometh as follows: “To him that overcometh: (of Ephesus) will I give to eat of the tree of life (2:7), (of Smyrna) shall not be hurt of the second death (2:11), (of Pergamos) will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written (2:17), (and keepeth my works unto the end) (of Thyatira) to him will I give power over the nations (2:26), (of Sardis) the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life (3:5), (of Philadelphia) will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, … and I will write upon him my new name (3:12), (of Laodicea) will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne (3:21) .” One may ask who are these who overcome? Are they the ones who 'Endure to the end?' who 'Keep the faith?' who 'Don't loose their Salvation?' No, the Apostle John who penned these words of Christ for the overcomers clarifies who they are in 1John 5:4-5 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” Overcomers are born-again ones! You born-again?

Msg# 1204 Two Edged Swords

To the angel, or messenger, to the Church in Pergamos the Lord Jesus Christ addresses himself as “he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.” This is without doubt a reference to his previous letter to the Hebrews wherein he states “For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart.” With the saints at Ephesus He instructs us to put on the whole armour of God “and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” By their own admission Protestants, reformed, evangelicals and modernists have dropped their sword. They mistakenly teach that only the autographs that dripped from the prophets pen is accurate so they serve up a host of Bible Critics who pretend older and better manuscripts from the philosophers of Alexandria Egypt can solve all those Bible defects and tell us what God meant to say in the autographs. Those philosophers do not even know you have a soul and spirit! Their ecumenical Bible societies will never print a sharp sword with two edges. Baptist, who are not reformers or reformed need to keep their hands on their swords in these days. Jesus says to the angel of the Church in Pergamus, that he already has a sword with two edges, don't get yours from some society of Bible critics. When you are dwelling where Satan's seat is, striving to hold fast His name, and not denying His faith, it is most important to have a solid hold on the two edged sword, which is the Word of God.

Msg# 1205 The Woman Jezebel

The Judge with fire in his eye addresses a message to the Church of Thyatira. These seven messages migrate through seven problems and admonitions in the same manner that the Churches migrate through seven periods of time and history. The Judge shows up in this 4^th message to deal with “that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess.” Recall that the coiled serpent, Jezebel, Ahab's vile wife, manipulated the government officials to have Naboth executed so she could take possession of his whole inheritance and give his vineyard to her husband, that evil toad, King Ahab. By the 4^th century A.D. Roman Catholic Church Fathers, Saint Clement and Saint Origen of Alexandria Egypt, and later Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, had decided that the Nation of Israel, who had rejected the Messiah, and the Children of Jacob, who crucified Him, should be robbed of their whole inheritance. Church leaders in Rome decided they would become 'Catholic' and take possession of Israel's whole inheritance. They manipulated Constantine, the Roman emperor, to have the Donatists and all other dissenters executed. They then promised that they, as a Catholic Church, would have the lion lay down with the lamb, have the swords beat into plowshares, and usher in a kingdom of peace on earth. Such promises were made to Israel for a dispensational Kingdom Age not to a Catholic Church with a Replacement Theology! Roman Catholicism is certainly the Jezebel in Revelation 2, and her children are the 200+ Protestant denominations which broke off but still accepted her Replacement Theology. A child of Jezebel, John Calvin, called it Covenant Theology. He claimed his catholic church to be the new elect ones! The message in this Revelation is that God will judge Jezebel and her children who pretend to be Jews and are not.

Msg# 1206 A Bema Seat Judgment

The saints of Thyatira are addressed by Jesus the Righteous Judge with eyes like unto a flame of fire, and feet like fine brass, with this challenge “Unto you I say, ... as many as have not this doctrine (of Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess), and which have not known the depths of Satan, ... I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.” A clear judgment is coming for those Jezebels who reject the proper place of Israel as God's Elect, whether done by the Catholic denial of the Millennial Reign of Christ in Jerusalem, or John Calvin's claim that the reformers are the new Elect of God. But Christ is the judge of the quick and the dead, the believer and the unbeliever. He has complete vision: “In the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God...” His seven Spirits are listed in Isaiah 11 establishing that “with righteousness...shall he judge.” Therefore the believer needs to make his prayer “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm139) We need a renewed awareness that “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” (1Cor3) There is a 'Bema Seat Judgment' and a tiny Baptist remnant who need to hold fast till Jesus comes.

Msg# 1207 Remember Your Valentine

Around Valentines day couples always need to visit some pertinent reminders. Peter wrote his second epistle to stir up pure minds by way of remembrance, and even when your married mind is pure, remembrance will do it some good. Remember why you married her. The first 'not good' thing recorded in the Bible is 'It is not good for man to be alone.' We marry for three base reasons, love, significance, and security. In our perverse and twisted society today, I might mention we marry a female because in His formation of the stable home, that is the only suitable environment for rearing children, God created the female as the only appropriate helper to the male. Humans need love on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. To love and be loved. Humans need significance on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. To be significant to someone, and to hold one in significance. Humans need security in those three dimensions. Marriage security comes with vows that say 'till death do us part', 'in sickness and in health', and 'for richer or poorer.' And so, 'I plight thee my troth,' is crucial to security but so often broken in life. Remember and renew your vow to your valentine. Women talk, talk, talk. Just look at the escalation of women news anchors of late. Men logic and work. Political correctness forbids this difference to be spoken, that's how the Harvard president got fired. Ergo, another remembrance this Valentines, is that husbands need to practice the fine art of listening. Look at her, when she talks. Shut off the TV, Ipod, Droid, etc. Take her by the hand and listen. Don't finish a single sentence for her. You can get your listening effectiveness above the 25% average, to make home a taste of paradise.

Msg# 1208 Sardis' Name is Protestant

Addressed by “He that hath the seven Spirits of God,” the Church of Sardis had a name of life but was in fact dead. Protestant reformers came out of the indulgence selling Roman Catholic Jezebel mentioned previously with the battle cry “Only Faith; Only Grace; Only Scripture;” but they brought most of the rest of Jezebel's doctrines with them! They used Bible criticisms and allegorical interpretations to frame up their covenant and replacement theology which denies Israel her place and keeps the catholic church intact. Protestant Churches ended up like the Sardis Church, with the name of life, 'i.e. sola fide' but a doctrine of death, 'i.e. replacement theology.' Jesus' command to them “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, … remember how thou hast received and heard (i.e. sola fide, sola gratia, sola scriptura) and hold fast and repent.” Nothing good is said about the Church of Sardis. The post-post-reformation church, called evangelical and neo-evangelical, still cannot understand the independent local church, nor its rapture, nor the 1000 year Millennial reign of Christ. And so the returning King of kings, who will sit on the Throne of David in the Hills of Zion in the City of Jerusalem warns this group; “if therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” Reformers have changed their battle cry to “only election, only catholic, only amillenial covenant theology!” It is distressing that GARB and Southern Baptist Churches are readily being swallowed into the Sardis Church, with faulty reformed catholic doctrine. Historically, Baptists have not needed reform nor been reformed. Ever since Christ taught it to them they have held to the three sola's without any Latin or Catholic flavorings.

Msg# 1209a Three Generations For Christ - Rices

In 1958 a Baptist Preacher named Cecil Palm worked his way door to door through the streets of Gang Mills, NY until he stopped at 40 Plat Street. Doris Romiano Rice was there sitting on the front step with 4 little ones and answered the Baptist Preacher's question with a memorized line “No thank you I am Catholic.” But Levi called out from under the car in the driveway, “I would like to help start a Baptist Church in town.” That year the Rices sat on folding chairs in a garage on Bear Town Road and listened to Pastor Cecil Palm preach the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus said “Except ye be converted ... ye shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Levi was converted from agnosticism, Doris from Roman Catholicism, and everything in our little home on Plat Street changed overnight when Jesus paid in full the sin debt of my mom and dad. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” I remember my dad and his Christian friend, Monty Bills, dumping all the booze in the house down the kitchen sink, the carton of cigarettes thrown out the car window and I remember forgetting our babysitter because dad and mom were home and not bar-hopping all week. Every time the Church doors were open Levi and Doris had all the Rices present to sing and hear Scripture from that new black book now clutched by each of their children. Merriam Clark taught the junior boys Sunday School class about the Lord Jesus, Abraham, Moses and Elijah as if he knew them personally. Within 2 years, at the age of 8, I became a born again Bible believing Christian.

Msg # 1209b Three Generations For Christ - Ed

In 1960 while Dale Linebough preached a revival service up stairs, in Gang Mills Baptist Chapel, Opel Linebaugh presented a flannel graph of Little-Pilgrim-Progress, coming to the cross of Calvary. As was the new custom in the Rice's house we were present for every preaching service of the Sunday through Friday revival. I knew I needed what had brought all the changes to my parents life. I knew my older brother, Charles, had been born-again-saved shortly after they were. When Opel reached out with a pair of scissors and clipped Pilgrim's sin burden off his back, a little 8 year old boy named Eddy Rice said to God, “That is what I want.” Before that paper packet of Pilgrim's sin hit the concrete floor of the Baptist Church basement, I was born again by the forgiving power of John 3:16 which my Sunday School teacher asked me to memorize word perfect. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” My sister, Barbara, and I were born-again-saved in that same autumn week and I remember waiting all winter to be baptized when the ice was out of Fords Pond. The change that I saw in my parents life and in the Rice's home was now changing things in my own 8 year old heart. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh to the father, but by me.” I now knew the way. I now had the truth dwelling in me. I now had the eternal life of Jesus Christ quickened into my soul. I now had a days-man, a mediator, between me and my Creator. The Lord Jesus Christ was my Saviour and Lord.

Msg # 1209c Three Generations For Christ - Bev

In 1962 in a Church in Addison NY, a lady sat behind a fidgeting 12 year old and finally said to her “Isn't it about time that you got saved?” Beverly Cook took the question to heart and moved to that altar of that old Church. “What have you come forward for?” the preacher asked. “I want to be saved,” she responded. “Okay,” the preacher told her, “If you will come to our confirmation classes you will be saved.” After answering all the questions correctly in the American Baptist Confirmation Classes, Beverly was baptized and told that she was now saved. She was not born-again-saved. American Baptist Confirmation Classes cannot do the work that only the Lord Jesus Christ can do. Three years later the Cooks moved to a farm in Tuscarora and that teenager was setting in Tuscarora Baptist Church where Pastor Carl Schoonover preached “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. The Bible says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. … For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” At the age of 17 Beverly, with a full head knowledge of Jesus, was marvelously converted to full a heart knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ when she called upon Him and asked that He be her Saviour. She was courting a young Eddy Rice, they married in 1971, and with a 1972 Vietnam-draft joined the USAF. While serving the Lord in Harts Hill Baptist Church, at 22, Beverly was baptized following Christ's command to true believers.

Msg # 1209d Three Generations For Christ - Boys

In 1991 our oldest son, Michael, went with his youth pastor, Jeff Carpenter, Friendship Baptist Church, Rome NY, to a youth rally in Chili outside of Rochester. Pastor Hal Roscoe had invited some Baptist Preachers to reach teenagers for Christ at this Thursday-Friday-Saturday conference for teens. Our son came back from this first annual rally with such a dynamic change in his life and such a zeal for the Lord Jesus Christ, that Bev and I determined that we, at all cost, would take leave of work to attend the next one. We drove the bus for the teens that Brother Carpenter took to that 1992 Youth Ablaze Rally. Shane, our middlest son, dedicated his life to be a missionary at that February three day rally. Danny Castle, a Baptist Preacher from the south, preaching from the old King James Bible, held the undivided attention of 140 teens for two hours of preaching. I had never seen anything quite like what the Lord was doing in these 3 day Youth Ablaze meetings under Pastor Hal Roscoe in Chili NY, and Bev and I determined to get every teen we could influence to attend. One year we talked a Mrs. Hordge into going to help on the bus trip and she was marvelously saved at Chili. While a Youth Pastor at Jewel Baptist Chapel we took 18 teens and twelve of them were saved; one was my son, Matthew, Praise the Lord; one was the preacher's daughter Tracy Burdict, Glory to His name. We have led teens to the Chili Baptist Church's Youth Ablaze meeting from 4 different Churches where I have labored. God always does marvelous things in Chili. We were there for their 20^th year Anniversary in 2011. Youth Ablaze is etched into our heart.

Msg# 1210 Rapture from Philadelphia

The message to the Church of Philadelphia has very special appeal to those who believe in the inerrancy of the Word of God, the pre-millennialm, pre-tribulational rapture of the Church and the Millennial reign of Christ on the Throne of David in the City of David. Protestants, reformed and other covenant theologians no so much. It is addressed from “He that is holy, He that is true, and He that hath the Key of David.” There are other keys mentioned in Scripture but the key of David here emphasizes the Throne of David, and City of David cast aside by allegorizing, Bible critic protestants. The Christ will sit on David's throne in the Hills of Zion in Israels promised land, just as God said. There will be a 7 year time of Jacob's Trouble followed by a dispensation for the 1000 year reign of Christ no matter to John Calvin's Institutes and errant reformed theology. The Church of Philadelphia, representative of those who believe the Bible without allegorical hermeneutics, will be “kept from the hour of temptation” by the pre-tribulation rapture that they preach. It is no coincidence that the Declaration and subsequent Bill of Rights drawn up and signed in Philadelphia opened prison doors and set loose Baptist Preachers imprisoned for Preaching the whosoever will Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This message to the Church of Philadelphia references that open door for those who keep His Word and it calls the covenant theologian, with his replacement theology, saying he is a Jew when he is not, “the Synagogue of Satan.” That is powerful warning not to tangle in Calvinism or his reformed theology. They will one day “worship before thy feet,” so keep your feet on the pillar and ground of truth.

Msg# 1211 Laodicean Last of the Last Days

For the 20^th century preacher of the Gospel the most notable message of the seven recorded in the Revelation of Jesus Christ is the one which depicts the apostate Church as neither cold nor hot and spued out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. The turn of the century found the Bible revising Protestant Church invaded by liberalism and modernism and belching out cultic leaders like Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russle, Mary Baker Glocer Eddy, and Ellen White. The message to the Laodicean Church is altogether applicable to this era in the last of the last days. Denominational Churches say, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” The Neo-Evangelical Mega Churches of the 21^st century do not know that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Jesus, the addressee of this seventy message is addressing as “The Amen” because He is indeed the final authority, the Verily Verily, and the End; “The faithful and true witness” because unrevised, uninternationalized Scripture is still the inerrant, infallible, verbally inspired Word of God, completely preserved in the English Language in only the King James Bible; and “The beginning of the creation of God” because it was Jesus the Christ who created all things that where created, and they were created by Him in 6 days like he said, else he is a deceiver and fake. The Laodicean Church failed to hold Him as the final Amen, the replaced the True Witness with revised standards, and international versions, and teach their children Darwinian Evolution instead of the Six Day Creation, echoed in a seven day week. America stands ready for judgment because its Churches are primed to be spued out of Christ's mouth. Come out and be ye separate!

Msg# 1212 Three Vails of Christianity

Three vails illustrated in the old covenant are removed by the redeeming act of the Lord Jesus Christ in our new covenant through His blood. God said to Moses “And thou shall make a vail of blue and purple and scarlet ... and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.” (Ex26) Only one was allowed to annually enter the most holy place and that not without blood in a basin. Secondly a vail was put over Moses' face when he spent 40 days receiving the Word of God in Mount Sinai, for “the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.” (Ex34) The third vail is the one that a woman put over her face when she presented herself to submitt and obey a man as her lord. This vail was only worn in this context (Gen24:65, 38:14,15,19) and when he accepted her as his own, he would lift the vail in the same way it is done in Christian weddings today. In our new covenant with Jesus as our crucified Saviour, the first veil is rent from the top to the bottom by the hand of God. Hebrews 6,9, and 10 says that we can now boldly enter into the holiest place and commune with God face to face. 2Cor3 explains how the vail over the law is removed. Christians can now use great plainness of speech and see with our minds no longer blinded by that vail. The last vail is seen when we approach the Christ and call him our Lord. Then just like Ruth's kinsman-redeemer lowered her vail, filled it with blessings and promised to come for her, even so our kinsman redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, makes us such promise. Awesome.

Msg# 1213 Passover and Golgotha

“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.” (Deut 16) The place the LORD chose was in the Hills of Zion, a Beulah Land, the City of Peace, Jerusalem, where stands a skull shaped hill called Golgotha. “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.... In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, ... a lamb for an house: ... And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. ...” (Exod 12) “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” The Only Begotten Son of God was separated from the flock on 'Palm Sunday' the 10^th of Abib with cries of 'Hosanna to the Son of David', 'Hosanna in the highest', 'Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.' He was 'kept up' until the 14^th day of the month when the whole assembly of the congregation hung him on an old rugged cross where in the evening He cried, “It is finished.” God's timing is perfect, man's not so much. The Lord Jesus Christ is our passover lamb. Don't let the traditions of man detract from the worship of what he did on Golgotha's hill, and the empty tomb found near by.

Msg# 1214 There's No Good Friday

The last days of our Saviour's life, often called his passion from Acts1:3, are extremely well documented in 30 chapters, or 1/3 of the four Gospels. On this Palm Sunday the Christ is escorted into the city of Jerusalem, and for the next three days a blow by blow description of each event, parable and teaching in the Christ's ministry is therein presented. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are equally described in great detail. But when Protestant and Evangelical scholars try and account for an additional day and make the crucifixion occur on a Good Friday, like their Roman Mother Church taught them, they come up a whole day short. Rather than following their Bible they follow the errant tradition of Catholicism and pretend that Jesus spent one day in complete seclusion. They are not careful about adding things or removing things from their modernist bibles. There was no day in seclusion or retirement in Christ's life in this week. Jesus Christ, the Passover Lamb was slain on Thursday the 14^th of Abib just as it was prophesied 1,520 years earlier in the passover lamb's selection and sacrifice. Protestors only reformed the grossest errors of Roman Catholicism. Their errant traditions and doctrines are peppered throughout Protestant commentaries, footnotes, and teachings. The Catholic Good Friday tradition is a good example. Baptists have always known that the wide gate and broad path of reading Roman Catholic pagan traditions into the Bible constitutes misleading error. Throw out your commentaries and foot notes, study the week of passion from a King James Bible, and you can easily discover for yourself the 3 week days which led to his betrayal and crucifixion and the 3 days which he spent in the tomb. On Sunday, the first day of the week, they will find that tomb empty.

Msg# 1215 He Arose Because

The AP wire blurted through every TV-network showing 'Good-Friday' and Easter to be the Holiest Week of 'Christians'; accompanying footage showed pagan, penitent, Catholic, hooded, marchers whipping themselves with chains or black shrouded women in chains dragging crosses through the streets. One local report said “Some Christians even believe that Jesus arose from the dead after he had been crucified!” Easter, is carefully calendared each year to be the Sunday after the Jewish Passover so that it aligns with the day the Christ arose from the dead and his tomb was found empty. If one does not believe in the resurrected Christ they are NOT Christian! The resurrection is integral to the gospel. “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, … how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures:” (1Cor 15) It is integral to the Christ being restored to his position of preeminence wherein he “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; For by him were all things created, … And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Col 1) Lastly the resurrection of 'God in the flesh' from the dead is essential because He and He alone could perform the work of the High Priest. On Yom Kippur only the high priest could take the atoning blood into the holy of holies and sprinkle it seven times before God on the mercy seat. These practices were images of what was actually before God the Father in Heaven. And the resurrected Christ had to ascend to Heaven and in full measure be our High Priest, and atone for our sin.

Msg# 1216 Building in God's Time

It is curious how Nehemiah's burden to go from Babylon back to Jerusalem comes 70 years after the dedication of the temple, which comes exactly 70 years after its complete destruction by Nebuchadnezzar. Neb took the priests and smiths, scholars and lawyers out of Jerusalem 20 years prior to that destruction. You recall the account of four children of Judah, named Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the college boys who were then taken into the Babylonian captivity. Well Cyrus, king of Persia, decreed the decree that sent the priests back to the Lord's Promised Land, and they did their first sacrifice and passover exactly 70 years after their deportation. For so it was prophesied by Jeremiah the prophet “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jer25:11) and again “And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.” (Jer25:12) and again “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” (Jer29:10) Why seventy years? “Carried away to Babylon; ... until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.” (2Chron 36:20-21) It is a wise steward who waits through trials and frustrations with the understanding that things happen in God's time frame, no in ours.

Msg# 1217 Nehemiah, Servant and Leader

When Nehemiah heard that the remnant which left the captivity and returned to the Promised Land were in great affliction and reproach, and that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, the Bible portrays for us certain ingredients which rose this valiant leader to so daunting a task. When the burden on our heart is the burden on God's, when 'the desire of our heart' comes from God, when His priorities override all of our own, we are poised to do great things. God does not raise up great ministries, he raises up great men. Great men take His burden for people and fall on their face before God with the burden. “I heard, … I sat, … I wept, … I mourned for days, … I fasted, … I prayed before the God of heaven, … and I said 'I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, … Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant,...” A leader needs no permission to lead, only the opportunity, and when Nehemiah's opportunity came he boldly steps through the open door. Even so Nehemiah was 'very sore afraid' but he knew how to pray on his feet. “Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, ... ” (Neh 2:4) Nehemiah also knew how to think on his feet. He had not mission statement nor mission plan, no recommendations from committee, board or Sanhedrin, he had only a burden, a prayer life and an opportunity. Lastly Nehemiah had a remarkable ability to employ others. He sets out on a solitary quest to do something great for his God. He does, will you?

Msg# 1218 The Good Samaritan's Compassion

A certain lawyer ask two questions of Jesus “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” and “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answers both questions in one awesome parable of the Good Samaritan. Missionary Harris to Colca Canyon, Peru, reminds us that South America is our neighbor. My son is a missionary to Cajamarca, Peru, so his message rings close to home. Unlike the priest of organized religion, unlike the Levite of 'works' religion, the Samaritan had compassion. The true born again Christians in America need a revival of Christlike compassion. The Good Samaritan was so filled with it that he made the sacrifice it took to help. He gave up the time, the transportation, and the talent it took to make the difference. He became a giving man who wrote, as it were, a blank check for the salvation of his neighbor. The bigger picture in this parable, aimed at answering the bigger question, is a portrayal of what Christ did for fallen man who could not do for himself. But the clear application for those who would be Christlike is that His compassion in us will cause selfless sacrifice and the issuance of more blank checks to accomplish the commission we have been given. America has had the Gospel of Jesus Christ saturated throughout. It has been rejected on the larger part, only agnosticism, hedonism, and humanism being taught to our children. There is a remnant who received that Gospel and that remnant needs a new fire of compassion to help us answer the question “Who is my neighbor?” and answer it on a national level. People need the Lord, and some nations are still hungry to hear the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rally behind a missionary, they need your support.

RE: Msg# 1218 Correction, USA Also Needs Gospel

I stand corrected about Msg#1218 The Good Samaritan's Compassion, it is not only needed abroad.

As you know, I enjoy your emails. I run a street ministry in Nashua NH. It would perhaps astound you to know how many people have never heard of Jesus Christ, have never even seen a Bible. In the US, we live in a post-Christian society. The message that the Gospel has been saturated or rejected in the US is old news now, so old it is no longer true. We have a whole new generation (I would argue two generations) that have never even been invited in to know Jesus. I am 54 and I never had an invitation to know Jesus from the age of 20 to 50. Did I reject the gospel? NO. I didn’t even have the chance to reject it. As a collective Body of Christ, we tend to act like we can’t evangelize in the US anymore because we have already been rejected, so let’s go to the jungles where they have never heard the Good News. Today, the jungles, where you find natives who have no idea who Christ is, is in my neighborhood and yours. We complain about our country having turned our backs on God, and then spend thousands of dollars to evangelize in a foreign country for a week. Let us redouble our efforts to reach out to our citizens, not in a stadium where we talk to ourselves, but on the streets, face to face, talking to the natives who are hurting and lost. Invite your flock to spend a week with me in NH instead of in Africa—I won’t charge them a nickel and they will learn how to spread the Good News like Apostle Paul, direct to the people, with compassion.

Msg# 1219 Come and See

Preacher Mike and Heather Gross, Missionaries to Sierra Leone, reminded us of a plea used often in the Bible, “Come and see.” When you are headed out to preach the Gospel in a country which is 78% Muslim you want to be well acquainted with the verse “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” (Ps39:8) Jesus came to John the Baptist who said “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” After Jesus' Baptism (by immersion) John identified him as the Christ; “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” Surely this great truth is one that must be seen for oneself. John the Baptist said it “And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God.” Then when John the Baptist appointed two of his disciples to follow the Christ he again said, “Behold the Lamb of God,” and when they approached the Christ he said to them “Come and see.” To those who are searching, the longing, those hungering and thirsting after righteousness repeat the refrain; “Behold the Lamb of God, … come and see!” When Nathanael said “Can there any good come out of Nazareth?” it was Philip who said, “Come and see!” When the Samaritan woman knew that Jesus was the Messiah she said to all, “Come and see!” Nowhere in the Bible is a soul won by lifestyle evangelism, it is done when a genuine believer and witness says with their mouth, “Behold the Lamb of God … Come and see.” Got a mouth? Be a witness. They need the invitation.

Msg# 1220 Mother's Day and Mother's Way

King David tried to move the Ark of Covenant into the City of David with the most efficient, most logical method, even the way the Philistines moved it, on a new oxcart. It was a good and effective method. It really worked very well. It did, however, make God very angry. David told the Levites who were charged to carry the Ark on their shoulders, “For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after due order.” We have our own most logical way of ordering our homes and rearing our children. The LORD our God makes a breach upon us and we see shipwrecked homes and lives. God's way says “Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, ...Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands … even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: … thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee, … Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection, … I suffer not a woman to teach nor usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” God makes a breach upon our marriages and that breach cannot be repaired but by doing it God's way. God's way says complete, consistent, persistent discipline of our children with actual corporal punishment. In your Bible chain together and read Proverbs 13:24, 19:18, 22:15, 23:13-14, 29:15! “A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” David corrected his methods; God removed the breach. Praise the Lord for mothers now gone who did it God's way. We need some today who will correct their methods and do it God's way. It brings His blessing instead of His breach.

Msg# 1221 The Gates of Jerusalem

If a normal picture is worth a thousand words, this one should cover the 300 normally in my Penny Pulpits. Take two laps around the City of Jerusalem, visit each gate with your Bible open.

Msg# 1222 Soul Winners Face Opposition, So ...

A born-again believer is to be the witness for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the salt of the earth a light on a candelstick, and opposition is certain. Nehemiah 4-6 gives an insightful outline on how opposition comes. Sanballet the Horonite (a city of Moab) and Tobiah the Ammonite were a committee of two that opposed Nehemiah from day one. Mobites and Ammonites are shamed distant kin of Israel. Their committee grows and start off chapter 4 with indignation and mocking. In verse 11 their mocking migrates to physical threats repeated ten times! In his work, progress is slowed do to rubish in the way; rubbish is in the way of our witness too. Facing opposition Nehemiah #1 made prayer unto God; #2 let his opposition know that he knew their tactics; #3 labored with sword in one hand; #4 regularly rallied all the laborers (believers do this twice on Sunday and once midweek, it still takes all three to thrive); #5 listened for the trumpet; i.e. the second coming; #6 laborers were encouraged to stay within the walls; (Believers need to stay in Church to let their light so shine. The candlestick is the local Church.) and #7 kept at the work. In chapter 5 internal opposition joins in. 'A man's gotta eat' (vr 2) 'A man's gotta buy a house' (vr 3) and ' A man's gotta pay taxes' (vr 4) are excuses for improper life priorities that halt many a witness, just like they threatened to halt Nehemiah's effort. We need to do what he did, have a consult with yourself, make sure your life priorities are right. 'Only one life, will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last.” Preach the Gospel to every creature. It is the job of every believer.

Msg# 1223 Revival's Work and Word

Surely we battle against spiritual wickedness in high places but the revival recorded in Nehemiah chapter 8 occurred after the people struggled together with hands in the dirt and backs in the labor. In like manner an autonomous body of believers in a local Church, i.e. the only Church that Jesus built, united in spiritual warfare are benefited by dirty hands and aching backs. Facing the physical demands as well as the opposition of inane building codes with even more inane inspectors; yes taking on the opposition, ridicule, and scoffing of the world, as did Nehemiah and his construction team, builds a unity, a determination, and a fervor that showed up in the spiritual revival that walks on to our Bible in these chapters. It is significant that revival came at 'Rosh Hashanah', the feast of trumpets, at 'Yom Kippur', the day of atonement, and on the 15^th of the 7^th month, in the feast of booths. Every believer should explore the importance of this trinity of holy convocations found in the 'seventh month'. (which makes for a unique search phrase in the King James Bible, you could really learn some things about the three here.) But more significant in the revival is the reading and emphasis on God's Holy Word. So to for our revivals today, there must first be a revival of God's Holy Words. Not the allegorized, modernized, stripped down Alexandrian Manuscripts that war against our Authorized Bible, but a reading, a using, and a obeying of the Bible that contains all the undoctored Holy Word's of God. Old fashioned is still God's chosen method. Gim-me-dat old time revival, out of the old time Authorized Bible. Reading it and heeding it, produced the revival found in Nehemiah's day, and it still can today.

Msg# 1224 Baptist Letter to a Catholic Priest

Sir, calling yourself a 'father' in the Roman Catholic System, please consider carefully what I say here “lest haply ye be found to fight against God”. If your Roman Catholic System is right and there is only one “Holy Mother Church” with her one sanctified “High Priest” called 'Pope', and she alone can dispense the sacraments which mystically produce eternal life in a soul, and I defy her absolutely, calling her “The Great Whore” and “Mother of Harlots”, rejecting all her sacraments, all her Popery, all her Roman traditions, refusing to bow to her authority and refusing to call you or any other of her clergy 'father' and refusing any 'priesthood' that you or they claim to have, then you and she know my fate as sealed and solidly taught in her tradition! Contrariwise, if you, clinging to her holy sacraments as a means of eternal salvation, teaching and holding to her pernicious ways, asking others to call you 'father' and 'priest', bowing to her statues and statutes, and praying to Mother Mary instead of “Our Father, which art in heaven”, you hiding back in that confessional doling out “Hail Mary” penance assignments with no Biblical repentance, you know the certainty of God's Holy Word and your certain fate. One here is right, one here is dead wrong. There is no middle ground. There is no compromise. There is no 'conciliatory' position. There is no brotherhood between you and me. I would say to you “While you have breath in this life you may still reject the Roman Traditions of the Mother of Harlots, REPENT, and cling in FAITH to the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him alone. … Choose you this day whom ye will serve. Your eternity hangs on your choosing.”

Msg# 1225 Knowledge-Wisdom-And-Understanding

“The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.” Happy Father's Day. Proverbs10:1 starts a deluge of genius observations which follow the most spectacular crescendo of wisdom ever recorded in human literature. Believers know it to be supernatural literature and the best literature ever kicked out of a public school system. The spectacular climax of wisdom is attained in chapter eight where she is personified as the everlasting creator and Lord of all. My Lord. I trust, your Lord, but many on the broad path called 'Christendom' are yet “denying the Lord that bought them.” The seven chapters up to this crescendo of wisdom literature have seven paragraphs which lead with the opening “My Son.” The first leads off with seven requirements in an 'if-then' clause. The 'then' is our focus for this Father's Day but to attain it requires wading through the seven 'ifs.' Proverbs balances the triune entity of knowledge-wisdom-and-understanding superbly. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, … The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Somewhere it must be clarified that the 'My Son' messages are not gender specific. Indeed John1:12 declares “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, ...” In the Bible being a 'son' put you in standing for an inheritance. When you are a believer that's what you are. One using a modernist's bible looses that standing as verse 12 has what they think God 'meant to say', instead of what He said. This worthwhile 'then' is “Understanding the fear of the LORD, and finding the knowledge of God.” Don't miss it.

Msg# 1226 Good Samaritan Attitude

Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan ingeniously expounded answers to two questions of the attacking Jewish lawyer. Nick Bickish, missionary to Alaska, summarized His answer with three glimpses of attitude. You'll display one of them daily. The thief that accosted the sojourner along the road from Jerusalem down to Jericho had the attitude “Whats yours is mine. ” He left the man half dead. It is amazing how many people have that attitude. Our Socially Secure socialism propagates that very attitude through generations of welfare recipients. A born again believer cannot carry that attitude long, not when Christ indwells them; and don't forget it was He who said, “If a man won't work, neither should he eat.” Along came the Priest and Levite. These characters were introduced to show the argumentative lawyer that neither the human Priest hood, nor the Levitical Law could attain the eternal life he desired. Their attitude was “What's mine is mine.” Busy about their own business, all concerned about their own resources and their own reputation, these two passed by on the other side. They would not stop and intercede nor minister because they had to go be priestly and minister-ey. A lot of us live with that attitude. Of course in Jesus' story the Samaritan was the only one that was Christlike. He had the attitude “Whats mine is yours.” You would think 'Christians' would spend more time exemplifying this selfless attitude, but it only shows up when we “abide in Him, and He abides in us.” When a child we would sing a song “Jesus, and Others and You, that is the way to spell J-O-Y!” Quite foreign to our hustle-bustle, me-first, I-got-my-rights society. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

Msg# 1227 Casting All Your Care

“Be careful for nothing;” It sounds strange but, “Christians today are entirely to careful.” It is profound that Pastor Daniels, a native Pastor of St. Vincent a Caribbean Island, brought that message to New York. When Christians in 3^rd world countries pray for their daily bread it is often very literal. Americans have so much, and such extreme independence from God, that this Pastor visiting us through H.E.L.P. Ministries could well teach us that we are too “full of care.” The Bible says “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” When circumstances rise up and make us worry we insert halfhearted prayer in this verse. When people cause us to fret and worry we insert incomplete supplication and become full of care. When 'things' or 'lack of things', cause our worry we drop all thanksgiving and forget what Jesus instructed; “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? … Shall (God) not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” In a land filled with blessings and more resources than any other country, it concerned Pastor Daniels that we have not learned to cast all our cares on Him. We worry about our things, and fuss over what people say, and burden ourselves over circumstances that are completely out of our control. They are in His control and we need to learn anew to cast all our cares on Him, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, letting your requests be made known unto God, for He careth for you.

Msg# 1228 Rest After Revival?

The God of the mountains is still God in the valley. Mountain top experiences don't last long nor carry us far. Doldrums, a word derived from the Middle English 'dull', is a period of stagnation or slump; a period of unhappy listnessness. Listlessness, a word derived from the Middle English 'lacking listen', is to lack energy or to be disinclined to exert effort. Christians hover around these words in our journey through the valleys of life. While there God asked “What doest thou here, Elijah?” (1Kings19) and he wants your response to that question. While camped in doldrums of life take time to Rest (vr5), to Respite (vr6), and Restore, (vr7). Remember “He restoreth my soul? … He leadeth me in paths of righteousness, for His names sake?” God keeps us in these valleys and wants us to Rehearse what He has done, (vr10) Refocus on our purpose and Reenlist for service (vr 15). God does not use earthquake, storm, nor fire to ask, but with a still small voice he Reiterates, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” He wants us to Rejoice, Remember, and then to go and Recruit others. All these 'Rs' were present in Elijah's Retreat which came right after the mountain top Revival. You know the one where he prayed down fire from heaven, fire that consumed the sacrifice and altar, and caused King Ahab and all of Israel say “The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.” (1Kings 18) After his prayer that brought rain to drought old Jezebel drove Elijah to his wilderness retreat. In the same spiritual doldrums which engulf America we need to take full advantage of Elijah's lessons so we can give God answer to “What doest thou here?” Keep busy in retreat.

Rebuttal to Vulgar Vulgate in Dr. Keen's Article

I loved your “Understanding the Shadows” article in the Spring 2012 “Unpublished Word,” but I hated and herein reprove the section titled “Scriptures in Translation.” Therein you used two very bad, even ungodly, translations, the Greek Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate, to establish and build a translation principle that needs to be 'rediscovered.' In reality the only thing that needs 'rediscovered' about these two translations is that they are Alexandrian tools of Satan to detract and twist away the authority of God's Word. The Septuagint was Satan's Alexandrian sham, never accepted by the Masoretes you mention, nor the Christ we serve. Jerome's Latin Vulgate was a fruit of Origin of Alexandria's biblical criticism which took out 'repentance' and installed Roman Catholic's 'penance', took out 'presbyter' and installed Roman Catholic 'priests', making a clear path for the Mother of Harlots who called their Vulgar Vulgate 'the only bible.' Your use of these two to develop an otherwise good principle must receive a 'D-minus' at best.

I have no authority to issue this grading, only a reverence for you and your work. A reverence that was initiated in 1985 while a bus worker under Pastor Chuck Zimmerman of Huber Heights Baptist Temple. I love you both. Please accept the 'D-minus', fix the article, and re-publish. Surely there are adequate Scriptures that support your principle and you need not dip your hand in the Devil's tool box for any justification.

Msg# 1229 Go or Send With Your Gospel Gun

“The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Prov 11:30) Baptists have a method of sending out “foreign ambassadors” to be 'that wise'; we call them missionaries. While on 'deputation' Alan Granger, Missionary to Mexico, reports that of 10 missionaries called, one makes it to the field by making 4,000 calls, getting 1,000 contacts, hosting 300 meetings, gaining 125 supporting Churches where only 70 turn out to be sincere. It sounds scary but this Independent Baptist method lands more preachers of the Gospel on foreign soil than any other method, and we are so commanded to go and to send. Matthew28 says “Go ye”; Mark16, “Preach the Gospel”; Luke24, “Preach repentance”; John20, “So send I you”; Acts1, “Ye shall be witnesses”. So not only would you be wise to win souls you would be obedient to Christ's commands. That's wise. Understand also that the need is so great. “Untold millions are still untold, untold millions are outside the fold.” These are not only in Zacatecas, Mexico, there is a “whosoever-will-may-come” living right next door to you! “People need the Lord!” Your neighbor has been effectively taught since childhood that he evolved from apes with no Creator. But you know for fact that “As it appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” There is only one answer to this “judgment” and you are called to be “His witness” to a dying world. They have been taught to disbelieve the Bible, but someone who 'does not believe in guns', can still be shot with my 357 magnum! You gotta shoot them with a “Gospel Gun.” Use your Bible on them.

Msg# 1230 Intimacy With Christ

“Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” This first verse of John 13 marks another turning point in the teaching ministry of the Christ. The next five chapters develop an intense intimacy between Christ and the believer. It is, unfortunately, more intimate than most believers ever experience in their relationship with their Lord. Joun 13 begins describing this intimacy with two powerful points. The disciple indeed is a servant indeed, and the disciple indeed is a possessor not just a professor. Every, all to frequent, Baptist Church fight, I've seen far far to many, mimics the disciples quarrel “Who is going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven,... I want the position on Christ's right hand.” There is no greater reproof or grander lesson than the Master girding himself in a servant's towel and washing the disciple's feet. He crowns this lesson with: “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” It is scary; so many unhappy Baptists. Jesus then tactlessly asks each disciple to examine their reality. One would betray him and one would deny him. “Is it I?” is the question he means for each to ask. It is easy to 'be' Christian. It is difficult to 'act' Christian. Further, wearing Peter's overzealous mouth does not capture the humble heart of a servant. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” How is your love? Intimacy with Christ starts here. Are you a servant indeed? Are you a disciple indeed? Happy are ye.

Msg# 1231 Intimacy Indeed

Intimacy, a descript of a powerful bonding relationship between two humans, is what God wants in his relationship with you. Surely you have a close friend who can share anything with you and you with them. It is not carnal at all. “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Gen2) Five chapters of John which portray such intimacy with God start with the assurance that you are a disciple indeed and then, in chapter 14 we are assured this intimacy indeed. Its precious beginning, resounded at so many precious funerals, assures “And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” With an intimate friend one can share all ones hopes and dreams, desires and plans with no fear of laughter or scoffing. Herein Jesus shares his most intimate plans for the future and we are included in them. With an intimate friend one gets to know every aspect of who they are and what makes them 'tick'. Jesus says “If ye had known me, ye should know my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” The OT portrayal of conception in marriage is carefully worded as “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived.” Indeed our purpose is to know Christ. With an intimate friend one can ask them anything; and herein Jesus confirms to us “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.” An intimate friend is forever a personal comforter. On his physical departure Jesus promises “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” From an intimate friend... “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.”

Msg# 1232 Intimacy Abides

Jesus taught his disciples “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. … Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine.” This is a continuation of the perfect intimacy that is available to those who are disciples indeed. John chapter 15 is not teaching how to become a disciple, if you are not a born again, Bible believer coming into chapter 15 go back to chapter 3 and start over. If you are a disciple indeed (chapter13) and you desire his intimacy indeed (chapter14) you are ready for this lesson on abiding indeed. Abiding in Christ involves obedience and love and it produces the fruit of the vine. The fruit of the vine is not more vines, it is the sweet, plump, juice filled, healing package of blessed nectar called the grape. The grape also carries forth the seed, and the seed can produce more vines when they get into good soil, but that's another lesson. There is a cultic-ego-driven, ugly sect of fundamentalism that insist that the branches must produce more branches. True fruit from the true vine is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance and these are indeed the sweet, people blessing, God glorifying nectar that flow's out of a true believers life. Chapter15 goes on to teach what friendship with God is, to worn that being God's friend make's us the world's enemy, and to assure us that the Comforter that indwells us is indeed the Spirit of Truth which proceeds from the Father and testifies of Christ. When you are abiding and that Spirit of Truth is indwelling, you will indeed bear fruit, and you will indeed testify of Christ. How's the fruit? How's the testimony?

Msg# 1233 Revive Us Again?

Lord wilt thou not revive us again? When the Lord returns will He find faith on the earth? Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. America does not. If the 1,500 race-fans personally surveyed in Watkins-Glen with Evangelist Garraway are representative, not one in 500 have your faith, even less a diligent seeking. We are blessed in grace. We want others to be that blessed, but America is incensed with scoff and ridicule for God's Word. What overwhelms in this plight is that someone risked scoffing and ridicule to get you the Gospel truth. In the midst of all the convincing deceit and lies that swallow up the majority, God drew you with his truth and caused you to believe; securing in you the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. God is good. When you share that glorious salvation with a neighbor think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you. Jesus assured you “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” There are Christians suffering real persecutions in this world. In America there are laws protecting your speech about the love of Christ. Chick-Fillet found them barely tenable but the laws are still in place. You are revealing the glory of God like a light in a dark place, when darkness comprehends it not, remember we are still joint heirs with Christ. When we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified together. Wilt thou not revive us again. Really? Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as Christ is pure.

Msg# 1234 Our Comforter is Their Reprover.

The 16^th chapter of John continues the discourse Jesus undertook to prepare his disciples for his departure. “These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be offended.” Believers will be killed in the name of the Lord, yeah they will suffer all kinds of wrong for his names sake. They have. It's surprising today how both Islam and sodomy are accepted in our society and government schools where both the Holy Bible and the name of Jesus Christ are cursed, mocked, and banned; but we were warned that it would be so. This world hates Christ and his believers. Present in the believer is the comforter, and although he is that to us, to the world he is the reprover. He leads us into all truth, but he reproves the world of sin because they believe not on Jesus the Christ. He seals us forever in the righteousness of Christ, but he reproves the world of theirs because all their righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The Comforter compels us to know the judge of the quick and the dead but he reproves the world that “as it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment,” they fear, curse and reject the righteous judge and his righteousness judgments. This society, about to replace a sodomy approving, baby killing, liberal leader with a pagan Mormon -Roman Catholic economy team, is no friend of my Lord and God, Jesus Christ. They might put a band aid on our hemorrhaging, socialist economy but it will take your witness filled with the Holy Spirit of God to fix the soul of this nation. Your presence will reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment today, give them the Gospel of Christ while you are at it.

Msg# 1235 Intimacy in The Lord's Prayer

The chapter that best encapsulates the intimacy that a believer has with his Christ is the one properly called “The Lord's Prayer” and found in John 17. The four previous chapters detail his teachings on the new intimacy in this relationship, but this chapter is a powerful summary of what we now have in this relationship. Prayer is the most bonding and unifying practice for two or three people. Not the dinner prayer, or the public prayer, but the sharing of ones heart and desire with their Father and Creator in the presence of a friend. It can heal marriages if you dare to practice it. Here Jesus shares his most intimate conversation with the Father. Your study of John 17 can teach you three important things about the trinity and God becoming flesh; three important things bout the disciples and their longevity with the Lord; and three important things about the believer and theirs as well. Lay thine hand upon a pen, outline the nine points, remember the battle, but then do more. Prayerfully examine the intimacy with your Chirst that is portrayed herein. It likely was prayed by him after his work was finished. It was likely heard in first person by the apostle John. It was most certainly recorded verbatim by the inspiration of God almighty. It is given here, in the midst of Jesus' powerful lessons on the new intimacy we have with our Christ with careful organization within John's recorded gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't waste it on just a nine point outline.

Msg# 1236 Our Read KJV

The Roman Catholic Religion used its power over the Roman Emperor to cause to perish any person who would own or read any portion of the Holy Bible in the English language. When Wycliffe had translated the New Testament to English 150 years earlier they found open preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ completely overthrew their exclusive power over the government and the masses. When Erasmus published the unaltered Greek New Testament there was found no penance, no priest, no veneration of Mary, no canonizing nor prayer to saints, and ONLY ONE offering that would forgive sin. That one offering, which would not benefit Roman Catholic coffers one little bit, was derogatorily called by Roman Pope Leo X “the fable of Christ!” William Tyndale, fluent in 8 languages, who saw the power of the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, sent to the printing press hundreds of copies of the New Testament in English, even as the vile and wicked Roman Catholic entity sent thousands of men, women, and children to their death for owning or reading one. The Catholics, Anglicans and Reformers, lost the battle against the printed Word when King James authorized and funded its wholesale translation into the English language. Hold your King James Bible close to your chest. These entities still want to destroy it and revise it away. Out from the pits of these Romanized 'churches' and the tainted manuscripts of Clement-Origin's Alexandria Egypt, regurgitate the RSV, NIV, ASV, NASV, ESV et. al. Happy Anniversary Good Samaritan; 21 years of holding dear ONLY ONE precious book, the one and only complete English translation of the inspired, infallible, inerrant Holy Word of God , the King James Bible. Hold it close and preach it on the streets while we still have that freedom.

Msg# 1237 Our Hebrew Tabernacle

The Hebrew Tabernacle was the place wherein Jehovah God dwelt with the Hebrews after their redemption from Egypt. It did not just symbolize his presence, it was the housing of his presence. Certain conditions needed to be met before our holy, all powerful Creator could make his tabernacle with mere man. The study of these certain conditions makes for a powerful manifestation of the God – man relationship. Chapter upon chapter of the Pentateuch are consumed with the detailed description of this tabernacling of God with man. The Hebrew will comprehend no other portion of the Torah without ready access to these 'certain conditions'.

The Christian will not completely comprehend the completed work of their Christ and Saviour without studious entry into this Sanctuary where God dwelt with mankind. Indeed the second book of the Holy Bible, yeah, the second book of the Hebrew Pentateuch, provides overwhelming detail about the layout and then construction of this tabernacle. The 3^rd book, Leviticus, describes the necessary procedures for man's approach to God's dwelling, and the 4^th God's careful description of its mobility. These wordy and detailed descriptions are a significant portion of God's revelation to man. They have carefully been copied and preserved word for word, yeah letter for letter, yeah more, dot for dot and tittle for tittle, for 3,500 years! The Hebrew Tabernacle carries such weight in the revelation of God that we are delinquent if we do not study and explore every revealed detail. And this we will do in the pages of my upcoming book.

Msg# 1238 Our Passover

Each of the three great Hebrew feasts required in Scripture reveals some tremendous insights for a Christian. On the tenth day of Abib a lamb without spot or blemish was selected from the flock and kept out until the 14^th day. In the afternoon it was slain and roasted whole such that not a bone was broken. It was eaten with bitter herbs till there was none left over on the 15^th day of the month, which was a high sabbath, a holy convocation, and the first day of the feast of unleavened bread. This was not a feast of plenty nor festivity, it was a feast of unleavened bread which lasted seven days. Each day there was a burnt offering of 2 bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs, three tenth deals of flour mingled with oil for each bullock, two tenth deals for a ram, and several tenth deal for each lamb. There was daily “one goat for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you,” and again “on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work.” A Church is an Ecclesia, a “called out and gathered together body of believers.” The Hebrew mirrored term is the 'holy convocation' called for in these feasts. It includes the concept of 'gathering together.' When you get saved your added to the family of God, not the Church of God. There is no catholic, universal, invisible church that you are a part of. You must show up at a 'gathering' of believers and unite with that local Church. Christ our passover lamb ushered us into a period of 'unleavened bread', where a burnt offering is a reasonable service, where sin is atoned, and where a holy convocation happens every Lord's day.

Msg# 1239 Our Pentecost

The feast of weeks, 50 days after Passover and called Pentecost, should certainly be of utmost interest to the believer. One Sabbath day after the feast of unleavened bread ended with a holy convocation and day of rest, a counting of seven Sabbaths measured out 49 days with the next day, a Sunday, being the feast of weeks. This Jewish Holy Day perpetually fell on a Sunday, the first day of the week, the day of the week that the Lord Jesus the Christ arose from the tomb, a day to be revered by Christians and called 'the Lord's Day' wherein believers have a 'holy convocation' and have for 1,982 years now, Sunday. In Pentecost the Jew remembered his redemption from bondage. It was the feast of weeks, had its placement in the first week of the grain harvest, i.e. feast of first fruits. Where the feast of unleavened bread placed an emphasis on being pilgrims and sojourners in this world, not being here long enough for bread to rise, this feast, Pentecost, was a true feast of plenty, a feast of festivity, a feast of harvest and a feast where leaven was required to make their bread full and their celebration completely satisfying. The Bible teachers who have made the presence of leaven represent only sin and evil come up disturbingly short on this vivid Pentecost illustration. Every believer knows that at this feast of weeks called Pentecost, this feast of celebration and plenty in the Jewish Calendar, the Lord Jesus Christ sent the 'other comforter', the Holy Spirit of God, to indwell, instill and empower the believer and make his life a feast of plenty, a feast of festivity, a feast of remembrance, a feast of harvest where leaven makes the bread full and our celebration completely satisfying.

Msg# 1240 Our Trumpet Sound

As the trumpet was used for gathering the hosts of Hebrews to their Holy Convocations so does it symbolize the greatest gathering of all the tribes of Israel to their Promised Land in the last day called the Day of the LORD. The Christian significance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur still lie hidden from all Protestant Christendom. Concealed in the dark veil spread by their mother catholic conception whereby a Mother Church owns all the promises previously given to God's Chosen People, Israel. Calvin's Institutes further scatter and muddy Biblical truth by laying claim to such 'chosen status' and formulating the ill conceived Covenant Theology which reeks of catholic replacement theology. Be wise herein Bible believer. No imagined catholic system can erase the Feast of Trumpets which will call the 12 tribes of Israel to their salvation. No Calvin Covenant Theology will prevent the Promised Messiah from setting on the Throne of David in the Holy Hills of Zion for a 1,000 year millennial reign. No wild allegorical method of the Revelation of Jesus Christ can stop the gathering of all nations to the great Battle of Armageddon that it calls out. Catholics and Protestants try to obscure it in their dark veil but Bible believing Christians are looking for a very similar Trumpet Call that says “Come up hither!” and marks the rapture of the true Church in preparation for God's delivering of Israel from the Abomination of Desolation. Protestant theologians scoff, but the Bible says. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds!”

Msg# 1240 Augment on Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar. The Bible prescribes Yom Kippur as a day of affliction (Lev. 16; 23:26-32). In the ancient world, the High Priest woke up early, donned his priestly garments, and sacrificed a bull for both himself and his family. He then cast lots over two goats, choosing one for the Lord and designating the other as the goat to remove sin. Only on this day did the High Priest enter into the Holy of Holies in the Temple to offer incense and sprinkle blood on the Ark of the Covenant. Before concluding the sacrifices by burning both the bull and the goat, the High Priest placed blood from the Lord's goat onto the second goat. He then cast the second goat into the wilderness, thus symbolically removing Israel's sin.

In modern observance, Yom Kippur involves a fast from both food and drink. Many spend the entire day praying in the synagogue. During the Ten Days of Awe preceding Yom Kippur, many Jewish people give tzedakah (charity) which some consider a replacement for the animal sacrifice. A small segment of the Orthodox Jewish community practices kapparot, a ceremony in which a person waves a chicken over his head, before killing the chicken as a symbolic transfer of sin. According to tradition, the Book of Life and the Book of the Dead are closed on Yom Kippur, and the fates of those within the books are sealed for the coming year.

Followers of Jesus the Messiah confidently look forward to eternal life, because our names are written in the Book of Life. When Jesus died, the veil of the Holy of Holies ripped in two, symbolically breaking a barrier between humans and the presence of God. Previously, only the High Priest had access to this room, and he only entered it once a year on Yom Kippur (Matt. 27:51).

However, Jesus' death gives believers access to God, because He entered into the Heavenly Holy of Holies to offer His blood for our redemption (Heb. 9:11-12). Unlike the Israelites' annual sacrifices on Yom Kippur, Jesus' one sacrifice continues to provide atonement to this day. Yom Kippur, for followers of Jesus, reminds us of the certainty of our redemption through the blood of our Messiah and High Priest, Jesus.

Yom Kippur also reminds us of the ultimate salvation of the Jewish people. The prophet Zechariah speaks of a day when the nation of Israel will recognize her Messiah and "they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son" (Zech. 12:10). When the Jewish people recognize Messiah, as Paul writes, "All Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11:26). The Day of Atonement thus reminds us of our own salvation and also looks forward to the salvation of Israel. (From Chosen People Ministries 9/24/2012 Newsletter email@newsletter.chosenpeople.com)

Msg# Augment Essay on God, Albert Einstein and I

What is a firmament? “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:1-3) The dictionary clarifies some: fir·ma·ment n. The vault or expanse of the heavens; the sky. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin firm³mentum, from Latin, support, from firm³re, to strengthen.] When considering this word one thinks of Gen 1:6-7 “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.” This often makes us think that the firmament is dry ground, but this is not so. The 'firmament' is indeed all of outer space for the Scriptures continue “And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.” (Gen 1:7-8,14-15) Of these lights and this firmament God says “And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,” (Gen 1:17) but Scripture also says that on the fifth day he created all creatures “and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” (Gen 1:20) Note again verse 6 where waters are divided from waters by this firmament that we call heaven; implying that far above the stars which he put in the firmament there is still a shell of water. Awesome. God, Albert Einstein and I consider the universe bounded, God and I consider it bounded by a shell of water. Secular humanists consider it unbounded. In mathematics the difference between bounded and unbounded makes a supreme difference in ones understanding of phenomena; especially considering the speed of light as bounded or unbounded. Unbounded light approaching the edge of a bounded universe might change time; even to where a day is as a thousand years or a thousand years a day. Thank you Albert Einstein for a little unbounded thinking about our bounded universe.

Msg# 1241 God, not man, spells out the End Times

C.I. Scofield detailed 176 Bible verses that speak specifically of the 2^nd Coming of Christ and another 212 Old Testament verses that address the Kingdom age, and no serious believing Bible student could read through the list without shifting radically towards Bible truth about the end times. The more steeped one is in Calvinism, and John's 'Covenant Theology', or in Romanism and the Pope's 'Replacement Theology.' the more radical and necessary the shift will be. Bible truth will take you all the way to a pre-millennial, pre-tribulational rapture of the Church. Believing God's promises to Israel will cause you to know that God is going to regather and restore all twelve tribes of Israel to land that he promised to them and rule and reign all nations of the world from their capital city of Jerusalem, nestled in the 'Holy Hills of Zion' (not in the 7 hills of Rome!) Discarding the Pope's allegorical methods will cause a believer to understand from the Revelation of Jesus Christ that Christ himself returns as King of kings and Lord of lords to sit on the Throne of David and rule from that city for a literal 1,000 years of the dispensation called “The Millennial Reign of Christ.” Discarding John Calvin's Institutes and clutching a King James Bible will cause you to realize that there is a literal 7 year 'Tribulation Period' wherein God's literal wrath is poured out on this world, that there is a literal 'Abomination of Desolation' that raises his ugly head 3 ½ literal years into that period, and the literal Salvation of Israel the nation is accomplished in a literal 'Battle of Armageddon' that ushers in this literal reign of Christ for the last dispensation of time. God's Word trumps Reformed Theology every time.

Msg# 1242 The Close of This Dispensation

When one understands the seven epic spans of human testing which God orchestrates for humankind, one can understand the word 'dispensation' in Ephesians 3, and the close of our current dispensation as well as the 2^nd Coming of Christ. Without a dispensational understanding one will never grasp the transition from the 'Dispensation of Grace' that Paul writes about to the 'Dispensation of Millennium' that Christ speaks about. Without it one cannot comprehend God's transition of dealing with his Church to dealing with his Chosen Nation. Without it one confuses God's dealings with the Church with God's dealings with Israel and their 144 thousand. With it we can visualize the seven stages of Church history and the importance of each Church message in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. With it one can understand the two trumpet calls, one to gather the saints to meet the Lord in the clouds of the air, and one that calls Israel to the promised land when his foot touches down on the Mount of Olives. Understanding that God will end the presence of His Ecclessia in this world, when he calls to them “Come up hither,” clarifies the removal of the restrainer, his Holy Spirit, that indwells them. The way is made clear for the White Horse, the Red, the Black and the Pale, which usher in a 7 year tribulation like this world has never seen. Indeed Mattthew24, Mark13, and Luke21, yeah the whole of the 'Olivet Discourse' now comes into a clear crisp focus, when, and only when, one comprehends the dispensations of God spoken of as the mystery in Ephesians. Most Christendom think they replaced Israel and Christ will never occupy Jerusalem. There is only a remnant of Bible believers who comprehend dispensationalism. They were called re-baptizers, today just Baptists.

Msg# 1243 The Transition to the Next Dispensation

The seven year transition from the Church to the Millennial Kingdom is easily outlined by the Bible believer who rightly divides the Word of Truth. It is transitional and described by Christ as a “Great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time...” In the Revelation a close of this world as we know it is written in a seven sealed book that can be opened only by “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, … the Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes.” Before the book is open the seals must needs be removed and seven trumpet blasts, each saying “I told you so,”must be sounded. When the Lamb, that the believer knows, removes the first seal on the book, out comes a conqueror on a white horse. The three horses which proceed from the next three seals make it evident that this conqueror is not a good nor permanent thing. Indeed, just as the seal removal is preparatory to the opening of book, the events related to each seal are preparatory to the wrath the will unfold in this seven year tribulation. The seventh seal unveils seven trumpets, also preparatory to the opening of the book. At the halfway point through the seven years, 3 ½ years in, when the abomination of desolation breaks the contract set up with Israel, the seals are gone, the trumpets promising woe have all sounded, the wrath of God begins to pour out of the opening book. The world scoffs and laughs at the number 666 and a battle called Armageddon. The Bible believer has been given these truths to ennoble and embolden their witness. Let it have its perfect work.

Msg# 1244 The Last of the Dispensations

The Millennial Reign of Christ is both undeniable and incomprehensible. “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.” (Jer 23) Christ's literal 1,000 year reign was so incomprehensible that Clement, a 3^rd century philosopher of Alexandria Egypt denied it completely. Origin, his student and the father of Bible criticism, passed on Clement's faithless unbelieving hearsay to Saint Augustine who secured it for the Roman church who fastened it into Calvin's Covenant Theology and election philosophy! Let God be true and every man a liar, there is coming a 1,000 year reign of Christ, wherein Satan is bound, the curse is lifted, and the wolf and the lamb nap together. Swords are beat into plows, and every nation marches to Jerusalem to worship the Christ sitting on the throne of David. There is a temple built there which is far larger than that whole city is today. And departing from it men “look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against (God): for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched;...” Incomprehensible, but believable. Very believable.

Msg# 1245 Lahai-roi - He Sees Me

Psalm 33:12 says “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.” Arguably the United States of America could have laid claim to that clause, but that was years ago. If the religion of a nation is what it teaches her children, the USA changed drastically about the time of the Stokes trial. Now teaching them to worship the creature more than the Creator. The Psalm goes on to clarify that God is watching all from heaven. He points out the feckless efforts of kings (and presidents) of human strength or of horses (war machines). Nor is our salvation found in a voting booth! In America the majority is in favor of woman conveniently killing their children in the womb and they approve sodomy as an alternate parenting technique. The majority call evil good, and good evil. The Psalmist makes it clear that “The eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him” and “upon them that hope in his mercy.” Is his eye upon you? Isn’t it great being in the eye of our Creator? American children, after Stokes, were brought up and trained that a dog eventually mutates into a horse; don’t expect normal thinking from them. After the election dust settles, there will only be a minority that will say “Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.” Join this minority in America, you will only get gross intolerance from the world, but you get the Creator's eye. God says, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in the LORD.” This Psalm starts with a command to rejoice, praise, and sing. You have got his eye; be about His business.

Msg# 1246 A Golden Rule for Sheep

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” is the golden rule recited and rehearsed by religion, and once-upon-a-time by all school children, but it falls way short of what Jesus actually taught. Jesus taught his rule no less than three times to no less than three audiences. Each account records two commandments: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Jesus' 'golden rule' has two parts but even so the second part is much larger than what we 'do' or don't 'do' to each other. In fact it is larger than a rule, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another.” When a professed believer is missing His love you can glimpse through a sheep's clothing. If you are a 'believer' who can harbor hate for your 'neighbor' check you own 'sheep's clothing', it might be you are not clothed in His righteousness. If you are entangled in a Baptist Church fight look around because somebody there is not loving their neighbor as they love themselves, and you can get a glimpse through their sheep's clothing, perhaps find a wolf. When you glimpse, check to see if you love that person like Jesus does and you can check out your own duds. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments … For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” No Christ, no Love. Know Christ, know Love.

Msg# 1246b A Rebuttal to Gov. Huckabee

Yesterday, Tue, Nov 13, from a college day room, I overheard a portion of your interview on some talk show and was sorely disappointed in the host but equally in your argument. He said that you said people would go to hell for voting wrong. He then gave you ample opportunity to explain why a person goes to hell and despite my whispered prayer that you get this one right, you missed the opportunity with royal disgrace. You chose rather to try and teach the mocking jeering lost world about a 'bema seat' judgment where saints will one day stand. Please re-evaluate your profession, if you ever 'had it' you have certainly lost your ability to be a Preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Certainly saints will answer for their actions, but you were not preaching to saints yesterday. You had an ideal opportunity to explain to a mocking host that people go to hell for rejecting the perfect redeeming work of the only begotten son of God, that it is not of works lest any man should boast, that God so loved that world that ….” You absolutely missed it Mike Huckabee. You left your host and all his jeering fans thinking their righteous works would determine where they go for eternity. It is high time to ask yourself what is your profession? You used to be a Preacher of the Gospel, now you are no more than a governor with no gospel witness even visible. I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Very sad.

Msg# 1247 A Thanksgiving Stairway

It is applicable for all humanity, certainly all Gentiles. It is applicable for all nations, certainly for ours that just took an irreversible step into progressive social liberalism via a 51% vote. It is applicable to all individuals, even professed Christians. “Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful.” (Rom1:21a) The seven steps listed in this staircase lead humanity, nations, and individuals down and away from God. The top step is to know God. To actually know him in every sense of the word. The first step down and away is to 'glorify Him not.' The first and greatest commandment involves giving Him all glory. The second step down and away is in not being thankful. In Adam all humanity knew God; in his offspring humanity took the six steps down and away and ended up underwater. In Shem, Ham and Japheth all nations knew God; each steps down and away to reach the lowest ebb of depravity and call sodomy acceptable! God tries the reigns of every man; He sent the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” but individuals descend down this staircase away from God, and no matter their upbringing or education, they land on that bottom step. Two crucial questions need to be addressed. Which step you crossing? and Which direction you going? I am thankful that I was born and raised in a country that has a national day of Thanksgiving. Although all nature and all nations decline down those stairs, by God's grace I will not cross the step where I am not thankful, I'll face up, give God his glory and come to know him more each day. No matter which step, move up a step or two this Thanksgiving week.

Msg# 1248 The Gospel As First Presented

A student of the first preaching of the gospel will know Peter’s outline in Acts 2. Your gospel preach should start, as did this message, with an explanation that you are not just drunk or weird or abnormal. You have been touched by the hand of God and now have the presence of the Holy Spirit of God, just like the Bible says. Most of the world thinks Bible Believing Christians are just weird; Peter clarified their misconceptions right up front. Clarify that what happened to you is exactly what the Bible says should happen. Next clarify that there is a judgment day coming and they need to be saved from that great and notable day of the Lord. Then, as in verse 21 introduce the gospel: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. “ Four points make a solid introduction. Now Peter introduces Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God. They must know the man before they know the Christ, so be meticulous. This Jesus was crucified, by God’s design, and God hath raised him up victorious over death. God’s Word says that this was to happen to the Christ, and Jesus was the Christ! And this Christ is seated at the right hand of God exalted. Jesus is the Lord! Whosoever believeth on him, cannot do so until they believe in Jesus, that he was Christ, and He is Lord, vrs36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. “ Now they were pricked in the heart. Not by Peter’s words, but by God. You cannot do God’s job here, just do yours, preach the gospel to every creature.

Msg# 1249 How To Have A Merry Christmas

The literary structure of the Bible book of Isaiah is striking when one takes a step back to look at the larger scope. After a pentateuch of introduction, chapter six. After the king dies and a Godly man sees his own woe, his own undone condition, and his own unclean lips, God touches his lips, takes away his iniquity and purges his sin. Then the voice of the Lord cries, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” The cleansed one says, “Here am I send me.” Chapter seven, the LORD spoke again and said, ”Hear ye now, O house of David: ... Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (which is God with us.)” Chapter eight, Moreover the LORD said unto the prophet, “Take a great roll, and write the message down with a man's pen.” In chapter nine that pen wrote that the dimness shall not be, … “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Chapter ten, “Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness,...” Chapter eleven, there shall come forth a rod with the seven spirits of God upon him and he shall judge the earth. Now, finally, chapter twelve outlines how to have a very Merry Christmas and blessed Holy-Day. Keep the bigger perspective this year and do all six of these verses. Merry Christmas.

Msg# 1250 One Word, One Lord

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.” For a believer the double meanings captured in this little clause opening the New Testament of the Holy Bible is unparalleled. Although copyright mongering Bible Societies have drummed the truth out of the majority, there is only on Bible, and even the boy behind the plow can own the real thing. Unparalleled. The wisdom of the birth of God's perfect wisdom born in flesh is presented in such a way that whosoever believeth on the Only Begotten Son of God, shall never perish. In this wise there is a lot bundled into a name. There are six Marys in the Bible. The mother of Jesus and her sister, likely an in law sister, Mary of Bethany, sister to Lazarus and Martha, and Mary Magdalene takes a quick count to four. Jame the less's mom and John Paul's mom make six. Believers discipled enough to deny papal infallibility know that Mary that bore Jesus also bore his half brothers James and Joses, Judah and Simon and their sisters. (Matt6:3) But there is only one Jesus, the Saviour of mankind; only one Christ, the anointed one from God; only one Virgin Birth; only one Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, “God with us”; only one Lord, you will not be saved until you call him your Creator, Owner, Master, Lord; (Rom 10:13) Paul exalts that name “An apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; ... Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.” Indeed only one Word that became flesh, and yeah, only one Word that this former plowboy holds in his lap. God is Good. Merry Christmas, and be wise.

Msg# 1251 Joy and Sorrow

The joy of Christmas contrasts the anguish of loss this week. The merriment of celebration is subdued by the pain of sorrow. The promise of Messiah now contrasts with the dire depravity of man. That God so loved the world is the more striking when the deplorable inhumanity of one of our own is so vividly displayed. We have grown to expect the butchering of children in history books about dark ages or dark continents, perhaps even in some backward culture with suicide bombers targeting school children, but not in Newtown Connecticut, not in our civilized society. In the anguish and sorrow, in the shock and dismay, do not let the contrast be lost; mankind did indeed need a Saviour, a Messiah, an Emmanuel, a Lord; and God did indeed 'so love' that he gave his only begotten son. There was no room for him in this depraved world, and he was born in a barn. It is meet that the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world was there worshiped by a few shepherds. Fitting that the King of kings was worshiped then by only a few kings from the East. While we press toward the celebration of the birth of God's Only Begotten Son there is a cruel shadow of man's inhumanity and depravity emanating from Connecticut, but from there is also a somber chord of compassion struck, which rings out to every feeling soul. The world's dire need for a redeemer is the more manifest. Celebrate the Messiah's arrival and incorporate any grief and dismay, mixed well with Christian compassion, to touch the hurting world we live in. Use even this tragedy to make a more manifest presentation of His gospel to those effected by it. And consider that all humans are effected by it.

Msg# 1252 Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing

In the Bible wisdom clarified that every man born was given the travail of understanding with wisdom everything that happened under heaven. That task looms large through this Christmas season where our God and Creator is allowing catastrophes to exaggerate and punctuate the extreme callus of man's depravity. It should not frustrate the Bible believer when calamity draws these clear lines of distinction between our Biblical world view and the Darwinian world view; indeed it should embolden. They conclude that guns are the problem. The frustration rises as we realize how asinine such a conclusion is, and the error arises when we head off on a campaign to advance the 2^nd amendment when we need to step back, see the bigger picture and realize anew that “People Need The Lord!” Majority democratic vote has brought us to killing babies in the womb, sodomites adopting children, legal pot smoking on America's corners, advancing socialism, repressing capitalism and the destroyed fiber of our constitution. Our 2^nd amendment will soon go away by the popular vote of a Darwinian world. A Christian's articulation need not expose this insanity; it needs to give witness to the only solution “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; … And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.” Wisdom says “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” Be kingly this Christmas; search it out, and then preach it out. Merry Christmas.

Msg# 1253 Auld Lang Syne

Scottish poet Robert Burns asks, “Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?” then answers “For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.” That's 'Old long ago', for those with no Scottish flare. There are some things of long ago that are better forgotten but old acquaintance should be remembered. The 'pint cup' that is lifted in Robert Burn's old drinking song should never touch a Christians lips, but the idea's invoked by the poet are applicable and surely better captured by Paul in his letter to Christians at Philippi. Therein God captures Christ, the believer’s life, rejoicing in suffering, (1:1-30); Christ, the believer’s pattern, rejoicing in lowly service, (2:1-30); Christ, the believer’s object, rejoicing despite imperfections, (3:1-21); and Christ, the believer’s strength, rejoicing over anxiety, (4:1-23). In this epistle notice there are 3 things that can, if you let them, embitter our memories of 2012 or rob our joy from 2013. People can be joy robbers, but Paul encourages us instead to rejoice in sufferings and in service. Christ said even our enemies should invoke our compassion and ministry. Remember, old things are passed away and all things are become new so that we may be 'ministers of reconciliation'. Circumstances can be joy robbers, but we are reminded that imperfections and trials should produce trust. The trial of your faith should produce praise, honor and glory. Lastly worry can rob your joy, but we see that Christ, the believer’s strength, is to produce rejoicing over anxiety. “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. … I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Happy New Year.