Saturday, February 20, 2010

Men, are we failing God?

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Timothy 5:8

Were can we even start with this verse of scripture? It has so many roads that as we travel them they could cause our travel to look more like a maze than a road. However it may be; we are going to say as much as we can before we run out of space. First of all let us understand the Lord is speaking here to men. Please understand God gave certain laws to man and others to the woman, men are to provided for the family, men are to provide a living (as far as money), men are to provide protection for the family (as far as security), men are also to be the head in the family as well as make the important decisions of the family. Secondly we find that woman was taken from man to be his helpmate, not to take over for the man or to take over his responsibilities. I understand that as time has progressed women have been given more rights by the government and laws set in place by the government, however no law given by mans government should nor will ever override the laws of God. For example if and when the U.S. Government passes a law that makes gay marriage the same as a marriage between a man and a woman that law will not make it right in God’s sight nor will it be justified with God. Just as a states law cannot override the federal law, neither federal nor state law can override the law of God. We have a thing called biblical doctrine which simply means biblical teachings Paul calls it “…he hath denied the faith…” making it a doctrine of faith. Now there is only one doctrine of faith or one biblical truth and all others are simply wrong. God says it is mans responsibility to command, care and provide for the family or that man “…is worse than an infidel” that is worse than a lost person or worse than the worst among us. He is worse than an infidel because he is a Christian who should be following biblical doctrine but refuses. Men that refuse to support their own children whether at home or those of divorce or even those born out of wedlock, it does not matter they are his to care for and do not belong to the U.S. Government or a foster home or an orphanage, they are his and are his responsibility to care for. Just because some pastor of a church changes this responsibility does not correct the word of God nor does it lessen the responsibility because remember there is only one doctrine. Pastors do and say a lot of things they will be shamed before the Lord Jesus Christ one day in judgment.

Now please understand God never said that a woman could not help a man provide or help her husband do any of the other things that are mans responsibility, however it is not her responsibility to take control of these things for a man but rather she is to be a helpmate. There are many fathers today that are lazy and have no concern in doing these things and yes some of them are Christians and this is a disgrace to God’s wonderful grace. There are many Christian men who allow their wives to command their family duties in their irresponsibility to so and this is also a disgrace to the grace of God.

Family taking care of family, church members taking care of church members is what the faith of the bible teaches. The bible never teaches that man is to rely on the government to take care of their family. But as the bible also teaches it is mans responsibility to make sure these things are done in a correct matter. The man is the leader in the family and the men are the leaders in the churches and just as a pastor is responsibly to care and the teaching and the leadership his church, the man is responsibly care for his family. Both are responsible and answerable to The Lord Jesus Christ for these duties.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Jehovah God Command’s “Turn ye unto me”

Zechariah 1:2 - 4 “The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. (3.) Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. (4.) Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.”

Beloved as Christians we are not Israel, we are different in so many ways and in many ways we are just like them. Here we read a message from God to the people called His beloved “son” Israel, and that message is “Turn ye unto me”; because Israel had a great fleshly desire to turn from Jehovah God and to turn to the thinking with their fleshly minds rather than to what God wanted them to do and that was to worship Him properly in spirit and truth. Jehovah God commanded that if we (as Christians) were going to properly worship Him we were going to worship Him in spirit and truth and anything else was false worship and equal to the falling away which the Israelites so wrongly done. God spoke this warning to His prophet Zechariah to tell the Israelites. Today God has not prophets but rather His called ministers, missionaries, and pastors, and Jehovah God is still making this same command John 14:21 “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” Keeping the commandments of God is worshiping Him in spirit and truth. If we fail to keep His commandment then His blessings will stop coming and we will fail to honor the Lord here on this earth. The Lord says our works will be tried by fire and those of wood, hay, and stubble will burn up and no reward will be given as a result. The blessings of God do not necessarily amount to earthly treasures but can; the blessings of God are mostly heavenly treasures. Heavenly treasures are opportunity to; (1.) to be allowed to do something to bring glory to God, and (2.) something that will bless us here on this earth. There are so many today that believe that God’s blessings to us are earthly treasures such as money, large congregations, lots of programs, good jobs, and etc. however while it is true that God could bless us in some of these things they are not normally what God is talking about. Let us use this example of a blessing from God; God gave the Holy Script to His beloved Israel for their care however they did such a bad job of caring for it God took it away and put it in the hands of the Gentile churches, beloved this is a great blessing for us from God. God calls men to preach or to pastor this also is a great blessing, and God has also blessed us with churches. While it is true the glory of these things are glorifying to God that are also blessings from God and while they may not have much reward here on this earth they will be of great rewards in heaven. Israel is God’s chosen nation, the nation He dealt with and allowed to do His earthly work but since they have failed to comply with God’s commandments He has removed that blessing as He will with us if we continue winking at God’s commandments. The Lord told Israel to turn unto Him or loose His blessings, God also told them how disappointed he was in their fathers but it still did not move His beloved Israel and it will not move Christians today. While so many today look at God’s blessings as earthly treasures, here God’s blessing to Israel was “I will turn unto you” and what a blessing that is. Let us notice in verse 3 the phrase “the LORD of hosts” is repeated 3 times to let Israel know this promise was from Jehovah God or the Trinity. This is like the phrase in Hebrew 13:5 “…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Is actually from Joshua 1:5 which means the word “I” should also be repeated 3 time as it is a promise from the Trinity and beloved could there ever be a greater blessing from God.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Bathing In God’s Word!

Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

This passage of scripture has been debated for more years than we need to talk about. The key topic or debate of this verse is “by the washing of regeneration” The Church of Christ as well as a few others will debate this refers to baptismal regeneration however this definition or thought makes absolutely no sense because the scripture could not be more clear as to the facts of salvation which is by grace through faith. To say this passage of scripture is proof that the baptismal waters has saving power is to water down the blood of Jesus Christ and make it worthless i.e. that tap water has the same saving power as the blood of Jesus has which would be no less than blasphemy in the least. This subject has a history going back all the way to the year 100a.d. when the churches of error started teaching it after the apostle’s death even to the point they were baptizing their infants in order to save them, a teaching that Catholicism adopted and still practice today along with a few more outside of the Catholic church. Let it be noted that the fruits of the mother church of error still fall close to the tree of error, which is protestant churches still adhere to the old teachings of their mother.

Let us take a moment to look at their thinking and the contradiction their thinking brings to the scripture. First, if it did mean “by the washing of baptism” then it contradicts its context. The Lord had started verse 5 with “Not by works of righteousness which we have done…” which excludes any type of work on our part for salvation. How could salvation be by works of any type if works renders grace useless i.e. Romans 4:4 “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” And how many times does the scripture conclude that salvation is by grace. Secondly, verse 5 also says “…but according to his mercy he saved us…” mercy means pity that is God had pity on us to save our unworthy souls. If this meant baptism then where does grace and pity fit into it? What is merciful about baptism or anything that is considered as works on our part? Thirdly, why is it that Paul spent the first four chapters of the book of Romans explaining in very detailed facts that works is not needed for salvation i.e. Romans 4:2, 3 “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. (3.) For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” And Fourthly, the scriptures never conclude that if one is not baptized that they will be condemned. These believers of baptismal regeneration love to use the scripture in Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” But again where does it conclude that if one is not baptized then they are condemned, not one single time in the entire New Testament is it concluded. Salvation and baptism do go hand and hand because once one is saved then they should be baptized and a member of a local church.

In conclusion let it be known that the phrase “by the washing of regeneration” is a reference to the scriptures and not to baptism at all. Let us notice in Ephesians 5:26 “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,” The word of God is the saving message, while it is not salvation in itself it does bring salvation to us by the way of the gospel message. It is neither by our preaching nor by the craftiness of our preaching but rather the message which is the word of God. The word “washing” in verse 5 means - to take a bath – that is to come clean through the word of God, to clean your soul, but to take a bath in the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse your sins.