God's Work?

I thought of the following verse immediately when I recently read that some "clergy" are defending Planed Parenthood by saying that they are "doing God's work." "Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?" (Mal 2:17)

"I am going to heaven!"

I got an encouraging call last night from a man named Roman. He told me that I had given him a Gospel tract and he wanted me to know that he read it and trusted Christ. The title of the tract I wrote a few years ago was, "How to get to Heaven from Cameroon." I asked him where he was headed now that he was trusting in Christ to save him. He replied: "I am going to heaven!" Praise the Lord! "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth..." (Rom 1:16)

Pray for the Boko Haram

Please pray for Cameroon! Yesterday, two attack bombers killed themselves, and at least 20 other people in the city of Maroua. One of our church members has a son who is an MD in this city. He and other doctors are treating scores of wounded. Please pray for the salvation and surrender of ISIS associated jihadists in Cameroon, called the Boko Haram. Please pray for the protection and revival of the Cameroonian people.

STOP TRYING TO BE CHRISTLIKE

Doing "righteousness" in the flesh is just as "filthy" to God as doing unrighteousness in the flesh (Is 64:6). We must recon ourselves dead and allow Christ to live though us. STOP TRYING TO BE CHRISTLIKE and live by faith the joy of Christ's life in and through you! (Gal 2:20)

"soft tissues don’t preserve for 75 million years"

Susannah Maidment, of Imperial College London, is quoted as saying: “I’m a paleontologist. I know that soft tissues don’t preserve for 75 million years. You just don’t find things like this in the fossil records.”

Other biological dogmas include statements like: “Organic molecules such as proteins and DNA degrade fast after a creature's death. They are almost never found preserved in bones older than a few thousand years. This has been the dogma for many years.”

You would think that the recent discoveries of soft tissue in several dinosaur bones would be a wakeup call to evolutionists. Based on the observable scientific data a logical syllogism might be:

- Organic molecules in bones are preserved for only a few thousand years.
- Organic molecules have been found in different types of dinosaur bones.
- Some dinosaurs lived a few thousand years ago.

However, the same evolutionists who used to make the quotes above are now saying that dinosaur soft tissue must have been preserved – not 75,000 years, but 75,000,000 years. What? I thought scientific data was supposed to govern and shape our theories, not the other way around.

I own a book that contains quite a bit of history. It’s called the Bible, and it tells me that dinosaurs walked this earth a few thousand years ago. Once again, the observable scientific data supports the Bible and not paleontology’s archaic, refuted dogmas.

Rom 1:19-25
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 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.

Not Bravery but Sin

Like everyone, I have been hearing and thinking much about the “sex change” controversy. Since the original sin, men like Jenner have convinced themselves of two great errors. First, man thinks he can change himself into something better than God intended (Gen 3:5), and second, man deceives himself into thinking that, “my way is better and more enjoyable than God’s way” (James 1:22-24). These fallacies are both dead wrong, and by “dead wrong,” I mean – “dead” wrong. One survey reported that 45% of transgender people between the ages of 18-44 have attempted suicide (the national average is 1.6%). This is heartbreaking.

On the one hand, people claim that their personal vice is a disease – “caused by my environment and the way I was raised.” On the other hand, some claim that they are also not responsible for their proclivities because they were “born that way.” The truth is that our battles with pride and ungodly lust are neither diseases nor genetic disorders – God calls them sin (1 John 3:4). The intentional self-mutilation of one’s body because of one’s intense discontentment and rebellion against God and His design is not bravery; it is sin.

I will not disagree with any sinner who tells me he was “born that way.” God confirmed in his Word that we are all born sinners (Rom 5:12). Our preferential sins may be as diverse and as unique as our favorite ice creams, but the bottom line is – we are all sinners. The bad news is that we cannot make ourselves better, and our way is not better or more enjoyable than God’s Way (John 14:6)

However, this truth is only half the story!!! There is love (1 John 4:16). There is hope (Titus 2:13). There is victory (1 Cor 15:57). There is freedom (John 8:36). There is joy (John 15:11). There is escape (1 Cor 10:13). There is power over ANY and ALL sin, through Jesus Christ the Lord (Titus 2:11-15; Phil 4:13)!

The bad news is that you are a transgressor of God’s law (Rom 3:23), and you cannot improve, change or save yourself (Isa 64:6) – no matter what your pet sins are. The great news is that Someone does have the power to change you into a new person (2 Cor 5:17), and to give you true joy and fulfillment in life. His name is Jesus. He came and died for your sins – all of them. He loves you and will save you from your sin if you will humbly repent and put your faith in Him.

I know that Jenner and others claim to be happy. One man recently told me, after leaving his wife for another woman, “I have never been happier.” Two weeks later, his girl friend left him. The sex change proponents may promise “true happiness,” but God said, “There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked” (Isa 48:22). Make no mistake, rebellion against God, in all its forms, is wickedness.

Happiness is based on happenings, but true, eternal peace and joy are found only in Jesus Christ. Jenner may be happy for a season (Heb 11:25), but when he wakes up to the realization that surgery cannot bring lasting peace to his soul, he will find himself just as unsatisfied with his life as he did before his surgery. Something will still be missing from Jenner’s life until he finds his completeness in Jesus Christ.

“And ye are complete in [Christ]” (Col 2:10).

Faith Defeats All Temptations

Though the pleasures of sin be short and inconsiderable, yet, because they are near at hand, they have more influence than the joys of heaven, which are future and absent. We wonder at the folly of Esau to sell his birthright for a morsel of meat, (Heb. 12:16). …When lust is up and eager for fulfilment, all considerations of eternal glory and blessedness are laid aside to give it satisfaction.

A little pleasure, a little gain, a little happiness in the world will make men part with all that is honest and sacred. A man would wonder at their folly, but the great reason is, they live by sense: “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me” (2 Tim. 4:10). Here lies the bait, these things are present; we can taste the delights of the world, and feel the pleasures of the flesh; but the happiness of the world to come is a thing unseen and unknown. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32).

This is the language of every carnal heart. …Present advantages and vanities, though they are small and but trifles, have more power to pervert us than good things at a distance, and the promises of God, even, to allure and draw in our hearts to God. Here lies the root and strength of all temptations; the inconveniences of strictness in religion are present, and they may have present distaste and present trouble to the flesh, and our rewards are yet future.

So, how can we check this ‘living by sense’ that is so natural to us? Why, faith, substantiating our hopes provides a remedy. Faith makes things to become as real as if they were already enjoyed. …Where faith is alive and strong, and is “the conviction of things not seen”, it baffles and defeats all temptations.
~ Thomas Manton "Sermons on Hebrews Eleven" (1620-1677)