In recent blog postings, we have seen that the reality of the person we really are is “as we think in our hearts,” not what we say and do (Proverbs 28:3). Furthermore, we saw that what we are thinking in our hearts bears no resemblance to the One in whose image we were created to reflect, as we live our lives (Genesis 1:26-28)! God tells us in Isaiah 55: 8, 9 that His ways and thoughts are as different from ours as night and…
The backwards, inside-out, upside-down Antioch church we investigated last week is a beautiful picture of Isaiah 55:8, 9: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” That church was “God’s way,” of thinking and living (natural, spontaneous, unconscious – NSU), writ large in the lives of genuine, experiential believers. We are called to…
Some time ago I was having a conversation with a good friend who is interested in theological ideas. I asked him, “Who was the leader of the church in Antioch, the home church of the Apostle Paul during his missionary journeys?” He didn’t know, because there wasn’t one! In the inscrutable plan of God, Antioch, against all odds, “just happened!” Here’s how. After Jesus’ resurrection, His 120 followers remaining from His earthly ministry were waiting together in Jerusalem, just as Jesus had instructed them,…
Let me get this straight: I am told that we are in the end-times, and Jesus will return at any time for us—first, to rescue us (all true believers) from the evils of the world, at the rapture. Second, He will then, after a few years of violent tribulation here on the earth, chronicled in Revelation, return to the earth with us, to assist Jesus as He Himself then rules the earth, personally and physically, in the “New Jerusalem” of Revelation 21. To me,…
“I have met the enemy and he is me” – Pogo the Possum (personalized but not edited!). This bit of insight from the famous cartoon character of the 1970’s expresses beautifully what we have been discussing the past few weeks—living by the grace of God. It is important that Pogo’s wisdom is absorbed by us with ginosko (experiential) knowledge, rather than just eido (intellectual, arms-length) knowledge. This is because we all remain experientially susceptible to our former diet, the fruit of the Tree of…
For the past few weeks we have been looking at the history of mankind’s journey here on the earth—beginning with why God made us in the first place, what life was like in the Garden of Eden, resulting in “The Fall,” and its causes and results. Last week, we saw that Adam’s fateful lack of leadership brought about a radical change in mankind’s way of life. We went from living by simply hearing what God said and doing it, to living by deciding for…
The result of Adam’s and Eve’s sin of wanting to be good as God is good was a fundamental change in the whole way of life of all mankind. At the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, mankind’s lifestyle changed radically from simple faith in what God says, to attempting to obey God’s law. The whole world, filled with Adam’s and Eve’s descendants, now functions based on this premise: “Is it good or is it bad; is it right or is it…
I woke up this morning and realized that Donald Trump is blowing up the unrecognized “color revolution” that has been eating away at our culture for at least the past half-century! Trump’s cabinet nominees that have been announced so far leave little doubt that it is no longer “business as usual” in Washington D.C. The RINOS and faux-patriots are beside themselves. They can only scream bloody murder as they watch the results of Trump’s 5-million-vote popular mandate play out right before their eyes, as…
Last week we saw what the initial life Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden was like, as they learned what their God-given mission, and that of their descendants, would be—(1.) to reflect God’s image, (2.) to rule over the whole earth, and (3.) to reproduce offspring to continue the mission. However, at this point, this idyllic life in the Garden was completely destroyed! Satan, the fallen angel through whom sin had already entered God’s universe, approached Eve in the form of…
As we have discussed at some length over the weeks, all who view the Bible as their “standard of faith and practice” will never agree completely as to what the Bible says “faith and practice” should be. However, that is not only “O.K.,” it is to be expected, and even desired. As we have seen, they are not our enemies, but our brothers and sisters in the Lord! We are all in different stages in our journey to The City With Foundations, the New…