Are We Cannibal?

John 6:54 “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

If we must eat the flesh of Jesus Christ and drink His blood, then wouldn’t that make Christians Cannibals? I know some folks believe that the wafer, unleavened bread, or etc. that they take at the Lord’s Supper turns into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. However, the truth is, no it does not. We are Christians, saved by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we have our sins pardoned by His blood. That is salvation as a whole to us if we believe in Him and all this. Salvation includes nothing else and anyone who says is does not have a scriptural leg to stand on. People are preaching things in the scriptures that are no there. We are Christians by faith in Jesus Christ, which was actually given to us by God’s Holy Spirit. But some people like to abuse the scriptures because they are lost, (the Lord calls it the blind leading the blind, Matthew 15:14 “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”) and they lead them right into a fiery ditch called hell. We must search the scriptures to make sure what we hear is true or not. Folks, we are not cannibals, we do not actually eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ. The unleavened bread and the wine is simply a metaphorical representation of His flesh and blood. The actual symbol here is a showing of His broken flesh and His spilt blood for us. The intaking of the wine and bread is to show us taking it in to keep living. It does not keep us living but metaphorically it shows that Jesus Christ is more than a name, more than a person, He is in us and He is the two main substances we need to stay alive. It reminds us that we need nothing else in this life but Jesus Christ in us. It also reminds us of what He did for us to bring about our salvation. He allowed His flesh to be broken and His blood to be spilt and death to take Him in order to bring life to all that God will save. Folks, some things are out of order and to actually believe that the bread and wine turn into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ is gross to say the least. It is cannibalism at the least. The Lord’s Supper is the most valuable thing a Christian will do, and a church will do together. But it is simply a metaphorical reminder of what Jesus Christ done for us, and a reminder that He is all we need to live. It is also a reminder to us that He lives in us and keeps us living also. So as often as your church observes it, always attend and take of the Lord’s Supper. Always remember that Jesus Christ gave His flesh, and spilt His blood to give you salvation and eternal life with Him, and God. “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.” 1 Corinthians 11:26 

What Is Truth.

John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

This is the most absolute question man must ask themselves, especially if they are a Christian. The bible says a lot about the word TRUTH, but we need to seek and find the truth. We must first understand that man are liars, Satan is a liar, the father of lies, and man gets their lying form him. “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44 Therefore as Christians we must decide what truth is, however, in our search for it we must understand that the truth does not come from man. Unless a person is saved and taught of the Holy Spirit they will never know nor understand truth. Mankind teaches lies all the time as truth, but it is only lies. They confuse the truth in their own misunderstanding and believe it as truth. Mankind is always seeking truth to glorify themselves, so God said, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.  Amen.” Romans 1:25 And God made sure there was an astounding “Amen” in there. If you look at the vast majority of what is called “Christianity” you will find they glorify man while belittling God to make their doctrine support their works rather than God’s grace. They even declare that Paul and James were not in context with each other to prove their lie. So, as we seek to hear, read, and understand truth, let us first understand where truth comes from. First, it is not from man, God said “…let God be true, but every man a liar...” Romans 3:4 Second, we must understand that God is truth, Jesus is truth “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6 And we know that the Holy Spirit is truth “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” John 16:13 and also note that “HE” will guide you into ALL truth. It is not man that is truth, except that the Holy Spirit is leading them to teach the truth. Is your teacher reading scriptures and teaching them, or is he out in left field teaching with man’s wisdom? Does he truly stay with the teaching of the scriptures or does he teach with his philosophy? Personally speaking, I see a lot of churches failing to use God’s word, especially on their signs. I see a lot of manmade slogans and not scripture. Now I’m not saying some of the slogans are “ok” at best, however why not God’s word? What saves sinners, slogans, hell houses, hell films, or the gospel? Jesus said, “And the gospel must first be published among all nations.” Mark 13:10 He does not mean first and then the philosophy of man but first and foremost. It is the Gospel that must be taught not man’s philosophy which includes everything other than the gospel, works, baptism, church membership, and etc. etc. etc. Churches must understand that their pastor’s wisdom and slogans might sound good and slick, but the gospel is what God saved sinned with. The gospel is truth, and only the gospel. "...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:” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 not “the key to heaven is hanging on a nail” which is a total lie. Folks, it is truth, and as wise as slogans are God’s word is always truth no matter what. Also Jesus is the light, life, way, and everything you need to be saved, you do not need anything else. Everything else is changing the truth into a lie. Seek the truth, but it is only found in God’s Holy Word.

Christians have been, and will always be hated.

2 Timothy 3:12-13 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution…But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”

Paul, writing to young Preacher Timothy is explaining to him about evil people. Paul speaks of two sorts of evil people, (1.) “evil men” could very well be lost people who hate God, and (2.) “seducers” which is defined as an impostor which I would think could be counterfeit Christians who are not real Christians. These two groups could include also Christians who have actually fallen away from the truth. I must believe that all three groups must be included here. Paul speaks here of it never getting any better, in fact he says it will get “worse and worse”. As Christians we must understand that people of all sorts, even some real Christians hate and work against the truths of God. I see weak Christians allowing God’s truths to be trampled on by lost imposters and helping them to promote the false teachings of Satan. Paul warned young Timothy “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine” 2 Timothy 4:3. I see these people as weak Christians who change God’s truths into lies, because in this same scripture Paul wrote, “after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers” then in verse 4 Paul wrote “they shall turn away their ears from the truth” as though they believed the truth before. And Paul went on in verse 4 to say, the truth “shall be turned unto fables.” Which means fiction or lies. This tells me that these people knew and understood the truth before their turning God’s truth into Satan’s lie. Paul went on in verse 5 to warn Timothy, as we ought to also be warned “But watch thou in all things” meaning we must hold on to the truth and not fall from it, as these others have. Paul warned that this falling away from the truth would grow worse and worse, but also the impostors and the evil men would also grow worse and worse. Now God is speaking about time as a whole. We sometimes speak of the past in our time, going back to the 50’s and 60’s and so on when times were better for Christians. But to God it is simply time therefore we are not talking about generation to generation but time as a whole. What we see today is simply those past years evolving into today when the sin, imposters, and the falling away from the truth flowering into what we have today. Today it is seen as evil to believe the truth and the lies are seen as glorious truths. They have managed to change right into wrong and wrong into right. I have even heard people say about biblical truth, “I would not serve that kind of God”, well you do not! If you do not serve God in biblical truth then you do not serve God. This is why churches and Pastors and Missionaries of truth are struggling, people hate the truth of God, but flock to the lies of Satan. We, who love biblical truth are not just ignored, we are hated with the hate of Satan in their hearts. It seems like, you love the truth and other people, even those impostors hate you. There is no such thing as “we disagree”, nope, it is hate pure and simple. But Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:14 “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;” Paul went on to write in 2 Timothy 4:5 “…do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” What Paul just said was, “Timothy, you do the work of a called gospel preacher that carries out fully the truth of God’s word, while proving it”. We must understand that we are not alone, God is with us. Sure people will hate the truth, they will hate God, and they will hate you for believing the truth, but walk in it anyway because leaving it has greater consequences than staying with it.  Luke 12:4 “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” Only God can deal with what is after this life. This life is as a vapor, but life after this one is an eternity, and so are the crowns and rewards for standing on the truth. Yes beloved, we are hated, but we are loved by even a greater power, God!