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Finalizing an already-won victory is never easy. Dogged, die-hard, guerilla forces still hanging on must be ferreted-out and destroyed, and that is always difficult. With 20/20 hindsight, one can see that this is exactly the job God created mankind to do with Satan and his “principalities and powers.”.  The following four paragraphs are based on ideas I got from Paul Billheimer, some years ago, in his book Destined for the Throne. They have helped form my understanding of our ruling purpose. At the cross,…

God has instituted the family (Genesis 1:28), the church (Acts 2:1-47), and the civil government (Genesis 9:6, 7) as the three permanent institutions to help us, as He establishes His Kingdom on the earth through us. We have discussed family and church at some length in our blog postings, and in this election season it is appropriate to look at civil government, including the activity surrounding it that we call “politics.” However, many churches are not involved in this discussion. Yes, politics is like…

Obviously, ruling over the earth, the reason we as God’s image bearers were created Genesis 1`:26-28), includes not only ruling over the physical earth, but all the activities that occur on it, including its civil government (Genesis 9:5, 6). Yet, in the majority of churches, participation in civil government is not taught, nor even ever mentioned. Why is the teaching of our very reason for existence (ruling) never discussed?  It follows logically that if the church has missed seeing and teaching its members the…

In my last blog posting, I mentioned that my friend concluded the conversation we were having with a very insightful observation. He told me that he knew his only chance of walking in the victory Jesus won at the cross, and that he was just beginning to experience, would be if he were a part of a corporate group of believers who are on the same journey with him, i.e., a like-minded church.  How to find such a church is the question. Amos 3:3…

This past week I had a very encouraging phone conversation with a close friend who lives in another part of the country. He has been struggling with debilitating depression and discouragement, even being briefly hospitalized.  He told me that God had just shown him that a seemingly innocent, long-time, recreational pursuit was really an idol in his life, giving him an empty identity as a “success.” In the process, God showed him other idols as well (which he enumerated) that he had used in…

But so is everything in this world that has not yet been captured for the Kingdom of God—the fine arts, athletics, entertainment, business, education, family life, and even religion. Unless the participants in each of these activities are experiencing LIVING BY FAITH (“the Law of God applied by the Grace of God”), as they are involved, the activity will eventually degenerate into a “dirty business.” Examples of each doing so literally jump to mind: from the brilliantly-produced Hollywood movies, to our anti-American, pro-China-leaning professional…

If you have been checking out my blog postings over the weeks, you have undoubtedly discovered that I believe the Bible teaches that we all have been given the commission by God to extend His dominion over the whole earth. This means that we will bring our sphere of influence, whatever that may be, under the rule of Jesus Christ! This will be a new idea for many new Christians and even older ones who may have grown up in a church which did…

In the Christian, evangelistic organization in which I worked for the first seven years after I graduated from college, we answered that title question with the motto we used constantly to fund raise:, “Fulfilling the Great Commission in this Generation.” We used Mark’s version of that Commission as our vision:  “And Jesus said to them,  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”’ (Mark 16:15).     The organization taught that this is why we are here—to witness to every human creature…

“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” (Isaiah 55:8, 9).  These verses became reality at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. There the human race, in Adam, dramatically changed, according to these verses, both the way we live and even the very way we…

A good friend of mine always readily, even eagerly, walks in the light about his own sin, but he struggles with believing that God really has forgiven him for that sin. That his sin is not only completely forgiven, but, according to the prophet Jeremiah, entirely forgotten by God as well, is unimaginable to him. He cannot yet see what he will soon embrace—that our sin is now irrelevant in our relationship with God because of the cross of Jesus Christ! “For I will…