We have established that an all-knowing, all-powerful God who is everywhere at once, has taken away my free-will and made me His puppet.  But, miracle of miracles, He also loves me, relentlessly, no matter what I do, with a never-failing, agape love that is beyond my comprehension. That love has caused Him to send His Son Jesus to the cross to die for the sins of the whole world. At the cross, all of God’s righteous judgment on every one of those sins was…

To many, that title is a meaningless cliché, but it is a truth the meaning of which is beyond our comprehension. For example, picture an omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (present everywhere), omnipotent (all powerful) god who has completely obliterated any free-will you ever had, leaving you completely under his dominion That is precisely the god that some may think I have pictured for you the past two weeks. If that were true, and it were the “end of story,” God would be a frightening, untenable,…

Some time ago, I was discussing a theological idea with a pastor friend of mine. During the discussion, as a totally, throw-away, inconsequential statement of universally accepted truth (i.e.,“the sun comes up in the East”),  he mumbled this aside, seemingly not to me, but as a reminder to himself—”Of course, we have free-will.”  Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, “free-will” has been baked into human nature. It is the  logical result of being able to determine good and evil, right and wrong,…

After several weeks of discussion about the biblical view of the woman’s place in God’s plan for mankind to rule over the earth, we need a break to catch our breaths! I know that some, if not many, of you don’t agree with me about this topic. If so, it doesn’t mean that either of us is “wrong;“ it simply means that we are on different paths in our quest for truth. I wanted to, at least, put this minority view in today’s culture…

I first heard this phrase in the movie “Gigi” in 1958 as a college student, in which Maurice Chevalier sang the song, “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.” I can still hear him singing it today, 65 years later The phrase is a celebration of the fundamental difference in every aspect of who men and women are, in their very essence. It is how God made us, as we have been discussing for the past few weeks. It is a glorious, wonderful distinction, perfect in…

As I write these weekly blog postings, I DO NOT do so from a position of “I know that I am right,” but, as a learner, I am sharing what I believe God has shown this octogenarian “little child” in my heart. That is particularly true this week as we look at the “the role of women in society,” a very controversial topic in the church today. Women are created to rule over the earth, in a unique, irreplaceable role (Genesis 1:27). They complete…

The Bible is clear in its answer to this question, although the culture today hates that answer. The man has been given the task of ruling over the earth; the woman is his “helper:” “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3). Man’s first calling in his relationship with his “helper” is the first of two foundational pillars in a powerful, effective,…

Last week we looked at the first foundation stone of what I believe to be the Bible’s plan for a successful marriage and the training ground for us to learn how to rule over the earth for God. That foundation stone was loving our wives, our assistants in our ruling task, with agape love. This week we will begin to look at foundation stone #2 2. Lead your wife with strong, firm, decisive, decision-making. “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.…

We are gradually learning to become more and more like little children in the family of Father God. We are learning not to demand of our Heavenly Father to “know for ourselves,” but to simply trust our Daddy to lead, show and then, actually, do His will for us Himself in our lives. As we do so, He begins to explode in our minds new insights, ideas and innovations!  This is not surprising. It is God’s way to naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously do the…

We have been investigating what the Bible means by “walking by faith” as a necessity for our task of “ruling over the earth.” In this posting, I want to apply this truth to the practical situation of ruling in our families. What does that look like? In a nutshell, walking by faith in my family begins by walking in the light with family members in everything. Exposing my sin to the glorious, freeing, cleansing light of the grace of God, knowing they are all…