Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Satan, The God Of This World

I ran across an interesting scripture in 2 Cor 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

This god of our world's system is deceiving people about the good news Christ brought. To put a name to this god we need only look in the book of Revelation. In Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Satan the Devil deceives the whole world. Now that's interesting because a deceived person doesn't know he is deceived.

So here we have the bible telling us that Satan is the god of this world. It is his world. That certainly explains why so many evil and painful things happen as well as the present condition of society.

Under Satan's inspiration and deception mankind has built our society, it's governments, education system and religions. This world is Satan's world. He is a hateful god. His system is driven by greed, competition and strife. In simple words his society is built on the get way of life.

The bible tells us of another God, a loving God and speaks of another world one that is going to be established in the future. It will not be Satan's world. Satan will be put in a place of restraint because if allowed, Satan will once again bring this earth to a condition where it would not be able to sustain life.

The good news that Christ brought is that Satan is not going to be allowed to destroy all life on this planet and that a new society will flourish. One built on the give way of life.

Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

What Is Truth and Who Decides?

We are bombarded by so-called scientific studies coming out on both sides of issues. One that comes to mind is coffee. One study shows that it is bad for you another shows it is good for you. The good or bad of coffee can change from week to week depending on who pays for the latest "scientific study".

In our technological and scientific advanced society truth has become very fluid. Today's lies will, with enough advertising and publicity, become tomorrow's truths. Truth has become whatever a large enough group says it is. Like situations ethics truth has become a matter of time and place. This making of truth out of lies and lies out of truth has permeated all aspects of our lives.

Our government institutes regulations condoning lies. The example that comes to mind is food product labels. A product can be labeled as all beef and contain a percentage of pork. Our courts have ruled that a political candidate can openly lie about the opposition and it is considered a free speech right. We are constantly bombarded by advertisements that proclaim half truths and out and out false claims. It seems that our whole society is based upon falsehoods, some of which we treasure and vehemently defend, Santa Claus for one.
All these deceits and out and out lies are making life painfully difficult and in some cases actually killing us. We have drifted so far from truth that we no longer have any clear idea of what it is and why it is important.

Many of us consider ourselves religious and worshipers of God yet give no real thought to what is truth. Scripture tells us that we must bring truth into our worship of God. Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

What is truth? God's word is truth. Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. Truth is something to be obeyed. Rom 2:8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, God's commandments are truth. Psa 119:151 Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth. God's law is truth. Psa 119:142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.

We must decide, will we allow God's word instruct us in the truth of how to worship God or will we continue in our own traditions? Jesus tells us that following our own religious traditions will not do.

Mar 7:7 But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.
Mar 7:8 Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.
Mar 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Sunday, Not The Commanded Day of Worship

Picking up where I left off about the Sabbath I looked into the other popular reason for Sunday worship which is that is the day Christ rose from the dead. The first delemma I ran into was Christ's own words Mat 12:40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now there is no way I can get three days and three nights out of a Good Friday crucifiction and a Sunday resurrection.

Upon closer examination of scripture I saw that there were two sabbaths that week. One was an annual Holy day, a high day, and the other was the regular weekly seventh day sabbath.
Joh 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was a high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
The high day that this verse is referring to is the First Day of Unleaven Bread which fell on a Thursday that year AD31.

Biblically a new day starts at sunset. Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

So Christ's body was placed in the tomb just before sunset on Wednesday where according to His own words it was to be there 3 days and 3 nights. Wednesday evening was the first night, Thursday evening the second night and Friday evening the third night. That takes care of 3 nights now Thursday day was the first day, Friday day the second day and Saturday day the third day. In keeping with Christ's own words He would have been resurrected just before sunset on Saturday evening exactly 3 days 3 nights later. So when Mary Magdalene came to the grave site before sunrise on Sunday morning Christ was already gone.

Joh 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
Joh 20:2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.

There was no Good Friday crucifiction and Easter Sunday resurrection which leaves the only authorization for Sunday worship coming from the Roman Catholic Church.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Faith

I hear a lot about faith these days. I hear things like," you just have to believe" and "you have to work up faith". Just what is faith anyway? The dictionary defines faith as a noun which means, 1:A strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny, 2:Complete confidence in a person or plan etc: 3:An institution to express belief in a divine power 4:Loyalty or allegiance to a cause or a person.

Now let's see, how does the Bible define faith? In Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.

Okay, let me review this. Faith is a strong belief, complete confidence, an institution, loyalty, and the assurance of things hoped for and a conviction of things not seen. Faith is the evidence of things not seen and comes before the actual receiving. Faith is not a feeling. Feelings are physical faith is spiritual. God promises to supply our every need. Faith is believing God will do what He says in His word, the Bible.

How does one come by this faith? Does he do like the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz stand there repeating "I believe, I believe, I believe"? I can tell you one thing it doesn't work for me because while I'm telling myself that I believe in the back of my mind is a voice that says, If you believe this one I have a bridge to sell you. So how do I acquire faith? The bible holds the answer. Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Faith is a gift from God. To acquire this gift I must ask for it

Sunday, January 21, 2007

How Old Is Creation?

Making my rounds of some blog sites I came across questions and discussions on the age of the earth. Some religionists believe that the world could be millions of years old and others are convinced that the bible says that that it's creation took place about 6,000 years ago. Who is right?

Starting in the book of Genesis we read Gen 1:1 In the beginning God Created the heavens and the earth . The next verse, Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
The words "without form was translated from the Hebrew word tohu meaning "waste" and the word "void" was from the Hebrew word, "bohu" meaning confusion.

Scofield Reference Notes: without form and void;
(Jer_4:23-27); (Isa_24:1); (Isa_45:18) clearly indicate that the earth had undergone a cataclysmic change as the result of divine judgment. The face of the earth bears everywhere the marks of such a catastrophe. There are not wanting imitations which connect it with a previous testing and fall of angels.

A better translation of this verse would be "And the earth became waste and confusion. And seeing that God is not the author of confusion. I Cor 14:33 one can only conclude that something happened between the time the earth was created in Gen 1:1 and time we read of in Gen 1:2. (But that is a different study.) Suffice to say that billions of years could have past between the original creation of the heavens and the earth and the time written of in verse 2 of Genesis where God is resurfacing the earth in preparation for the introduction of man.

I come to the conclusion that this preparation was done in twenty four hour days because plants life was created on the third day but the sun did not shine in full strength until the fourth day and the insects needed to pollinate the plants were not created until the sixth day. Plant life could not have survived for thousands of years waiting for sunlight and insect life.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Sunday Not The Commanded Day Of Worship

You may read the bible from Genesis through Revelations and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. So says the late Catholic Cardinal Gibbon's book Faith of Our Fathers. Now I know that there is a couple of vague scriptures that some have used to authorize Sunday worship and calling it the Lord's Day. One that comes to mind is in the book of Revelation.
(Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet )

Notice this verse does not say the “first day of the week,” or “Sunday” is the “day” called “the Lord’s day.” As a matter of fact, it is not speaking of any day of the week at all, but of “the day of the Lord”—the time of the coming plagues, climaxing in the coming of Christ, and the millennium. This is the theme of the book of Revelation. This text does not designate any day of the week.
Just what day does the the Bible call the Lord’s day.?

The Lord's day is the day Christ is Lord of. Mat 12:8 For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath. Does it make sense that He would do away with it especially after just saying that that the Sabbath was made for man? Mar 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Will Christ Return In 2007?

I am still thinking of that poll I read a few days ago in USA News. One out of four Americans expect Christ to return in 2007. While I know that there is a religious element in this nation I had not idea that it is such a large contingent. I'm wondering if the respondents feel that things are really that bad in this society. I also wonder what they believe will happen when Christ returns. Do they have an idea of what Christ is like or is He just a name to them? Will His coming solve the problems of this world or will the Christ they are expecting just wafted them away to Never, Never Land? What does he expect of His followers? Are they expected to prepare in some way for His coming? Does 2007 mark the end of the world?
If He is returning in 2007 as 25% of those polled believe these are important questions. In my search for answers I went to the Holy Bible. In the Matthew chapter 24 starting in verse 3 I see where Jesus's disciples came to Him privately and asked, "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Curiously the first thing He says it that many Christians will be deceived by false teachers of Christ. After religious deception He goes on to tell them of world conditions. There will be wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places. He goes on to say that His follower will be hated and killed. He warns of false prophets and lawlessness. He also tells them that the gospel (the good news) of the kingdom will be told to the world.
If I understand it correctly these events have been happening in every generation since His first appearance. Why will this time be different? Well, I got my answer in verse 22. He says that unless those days be shortened no flesh would be saved alive or no flesh would survive, depending on which bible translation you are using. It wasn't until some time in the late fifty's that mankind had developed the power to destroy all life from this planet. So that kind of narrows the time frame down to the present generation. So could the 25% of those polled be right? And if not in 2007, when?

Sunday, January 14, 2007

We Don't Have A Soul

Recently while checking my email I ran across an add of some sort that asked the question, "What happens to the soul when one dies?" This question, not being in the context of religion, got me to thinking about what I have been told. I decided to do some research into the matter. If I understand it correctly most traditional Christian Churches teach that the immortal soul concept comes from the Holy Bible. On the other side, much of the scientific community tells us that there is no evidence of an immortal soul. Who is correct?

Looking at the Bible I discovered that what is referred to as the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek and not in King James old English. The first thing I discovered is the term "immortal soul" cannot be found in the Bible. Looking into the O.T. I found that the word translated soul was the Hebrew word nephesh and can mean an air breathing creature. I found passages where nephesh was translated as an animal and even a dead body. In the book of Genesis I read where man was formed of the dust of the ground and man became a living soul. The dust of the ground became a soul. So what I get from the O.T. man does not have a soul man is a soul. I could not find anything in the Old Testament that says man soul is immortal. In fact in Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 20 it says that the soul that sins it shall die.

Okay no immortal soul in the Old Testament . It must be in the New Testament. In the NT the Greek word for soul is psuche and has pretty much the same meaning as nephesh. One of the first passages I find in the NT tells us to fear the one who is able to kill the soul. The soul can be killed. Other verses tell us that the soul can be pierced through with a sword and the soul can be destroyed. In my search I could find no immortal soul in the bible.

Where then did Christianity get the concept of an immortal soul? As near as I can find out it came to the Greeks from the Egyptians and to the Christian church mainly from Plato who wrote in his book the Phaedo: "The soul whose inseparable attitude is life will never admit of life's opposite, death. Thus the soul is shown to be immortal, and since immortal indestructible....Do we believe there is such a thing as death? To be sure. And is this anything but the separation of the soul and body?" This appears to be exactly what I was taught in the church I was brought up in.

Putting it all together I am lead to believe that the immortal soul concept came down to Christianity from early paganism and that the Bible and science agree that there is no immortal soul.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Technorati Profile

Raising The Ruins

What with all the chatter going on in a number of blogs and web sites about Herbert W. Armstrong brought on by the book Raising The Ruins by Stephen Flurry I got to researching some of H.W. Armstrong's writings.

I've just finished reading his book The United States and Britain In Prophecy. Let me tell you, this book and his other book Mystery of The Ages has opened up the Bible to me. I am now able to understand many of the prophecies in it. I can see where so much of what is happening on the International scene today has been foretold in the Bible thousands of years ago. Armed with this knowledge I see currant news reports in a whole new light. Many are no longer isolated incidence's they form a pattern and reveal a direction. Now I can see that there is a strong hand guiding events and that all this mess the world has gotten itself into is being worked out for the good of mankind.