In 1897, a little girl named Virginia wrote to the The Sun, a New York City newspaper, to ask if Santa Claus is real. The editor’s response to her has since become famous. As a new parent, I (like many other parents) wonder what I would tell my own child who asks a question like that. What follows is the letter I would write in reply.
After absorbing over 50 hours of apologetics lectures and debates on topics as simple as an overview of Genesis and as minute as cave formation in New Mexico, my friend and I had an idea. We seriously considered condensing the information in our vast, overpriced DVD library into a series of short video clips to deliver the key points in a way that would be more engaging to our generation and easy to share online.
We never got past the first script, but I am happy to report that several ministries with superior skills and funding have had the same idea in recent years. Answers in Genesis now has Check This Out, The Institute for Creation Research produces That’s a Fact, and Creation Today has my personal favorite: Creation Minute. These video series focus on foundational issues surrounding science and the Bible, but what about the other important questions of life?
Now, Mark Spence of Living Waters teaches on these broader topics in a series of apologetics videos taken from the Way of the Master TV Show. I was blown away by the quality of not only the teaching but also the production that goes with it. Unlike those old lectures, these videos get right to the heart of some of the most-asked questions about Christianity or religious beliefs in general. Everyone has time to watch three minutes (or less) of non-stop, hard-hitting apologetics on the questions that matter most.
You can watch all 10 videos below or click a link to jump to a specific clip.
I want to focus on an aspect of communion that is inherent in the word itself: community. The word spoken in Jesus’s day was koinonia, which is translated not only as “communion” but also “fellowship,” “sharing,” “participation,” and “contribution”. Communion is so much more than a ceremony of remembrance. It is about sharing the person of Jesus Christ in fellowship with one another. Outside the traditional partaking of bread and wine, the ways we participate and contribute within Christ’s community have taken different forms over time.
Something that’s brand new to our generation is the phenomenon of online social networking. It is blossoming at a rate beyond comprehension. Last year, I found a map made by an intern at Facebook that gives an idea of the magnitude and complexity of online connections. I found it fascinating, even mesmerizing, to see nearly every country in the world defined only by soft blue lines indicating a connection between two people. Facebook is projected to have a billion users by the end of this year – that’s one in every seven people from every corner of the world.
What are people doing in that community? Are they mainly sharing baby photos, celebrity gossip (Beliebers, you know who you are), promoting some social or political cause? Well, as of February, the page with the most engagement in terms of shares, comments, and “likes” is a page called Jesus Daily, followed by Dios Es Bueno! (God is Good) and The Bible. While that’s not exactly as spiritually deep as circulating Paul’s letters or Luther’s 95 theses, it shows that at least in some ways the people in this community are using it to spread the message of Jesus Christ.
If the Reformers lived in this millennium, it’s likely they would have used these technologies to spread their message, too. We always hear about Luther’s posting of the 95 theses on the door at Wittenberg but don’t always consider how that message got around after that. Around the time I was asked to speak for communion at our church, I came across a story in The Economist talking about the parallels between how we use social networks compared to how the reformers shared their messages through pamphleteering.
As an illustration, think about how something today “goes viral.” You share an idea and it resonates with a small group of people who saw your initial post. Those people in turn share that post with people they know, then their friends re-share it, and so it multiplies. The printing press was the 1500’s equivalent of social media. What started as a “post” on one church door was copied, re-copied, commented on and translated until in just the first 10 years over 6 million pamphlets by Luther, Calvin, and others were distributed. This is the way they shared the truth of Christ’s words in that era.
Now go back even further, before the printing press, all the way back to the first century A.D. How did Jesus’ disciples who witnessed his life and teachings first-hand make their message go viral? How did they share this earth-shattering experience within their communities and beyond into the whole world? In that time, they didn’t post messages on church doors or distribute pamphlets because any sort of writing was extremely hard to come by.
Instead, what they did probably looked a lot like what the Bible describes taking place at the Last Supper. Acts 2:46 says “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” Many met in the Temple, but more commonly they had fellowship in their home over a meal. They participated in the first communion with Jesus in that same context. He used that time for several purposes, one of which was to teach them a model of what it meant to partake of his saving blood and of his body. The Gospel spread in a similar setting: in the homes of new followers of Christ who gathered together for fellowship, breaking bread, learning his doctrine, and praying with one another.
All of these are ways we share life with the people in our own time. We do things with our peers, but we also do things with our family. This, I think, is the most important way we build a Godly community. Sure, it’s great to spend time with people our age but God’s truth perseveres through time by passing it from one generation to the next – from father to son and mother to daughter. Want an easy way to do that? Do what Jesus did! Have dinner with them and make it a point to discuss how God is working in your life and the world around us.
The next time you share in communion, let me invite you to consider how you might use the connections you have to other people to express the love and joy that Jesus brings. It may take a digital form. It may be written down on paper, spoken over a meal, or passed down from parent to child. Whatever your community may look like, let it be a time of communion with the God who is everywhere in all things and all times.
Christianity is too judgmental, too strict. We must drop such dogma if we are to live as free people in a just society. You have heard this said before. You may have thought it yourself. This impression is false and easily disproved by a simple comparison of the words in the Bible vs. the collection of documents that define United States law.
Suddenly the Bible does not seem to be such an oppressive rule book after all, especially when considering this chart does not account for many federal regulations, state laws, city ordinances, etc. Some point to the dietary laws penned by Moses as an example of invasive restrictions on personal freedom. This seems to be a reasonable argument until you look at Title 21 of the U.S. Code which governs food and drugs. It has 699,440 words. Moses only managed to write 174,733 words in the Bible during his entire 120 years on Earth! The FDA certainly has a lot more “thou shalt nots” limiting dietary freedom than God ever passed down to the Jews.
The same holds true for many other aspects of our lives from the time we brush our teeth to driving to and from work to watching TV at night. All of these activities are regulated, monitored, and controlled to one degree or another by one or more federal agencies somewhere along the line.
Before going further, we would be wise to understand the reasons that we write laws to begin with. Consider the words of Frederick Bastiat in his masterful book, The Law:
Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place…Each of us has a natural right – from God – to defend his person, his liberty, and his property.
[amazon asin=1440446458&template=iframe image] Those things which we have a natural right to defend are those which originate from our Creator. Therefore, the words God has spoken to us in the Bible should be the foundation of our laws which protect those gifts. Then, how do we end up with so many statutes which extend far beyond this intent? Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:8, “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.” When we step away from the biblical basis of natural law, we begin to use it improperly. The law fails when we turn its intent toward what Bastiat describes as “stupid greed and false philanthropy.”
We have attempted to force “false philanthropy” upon our society through legal plunder – the use of force to deny a person’s right to their property. As evidence, the longest section of the U.S. Code is the one dealing with health and welfare. It is over 8 million words which makes it longer than the entire tax code and associated regulations combined. Surely it is noble to take care of the needy and sickly, but it is unjust to forcibly confiscate someone else’s money to do so. Religion accomplishes the same task through genuine charity which is not given out of duty, obligation, or force (2 Cor 9:7). In this and many other ways, the Christian worldview is the antidote (not the source) of injustice or oppression.
When preachers step forward to explain these principles and call us to adhere to God’s standards, some will object that it’s too legalistic. But, the same folks will not cry “legalism!” when the IRS comes to enforce tax laws which are three and a half times the size of scripture. It might be easy to jest at this hypocrisy, but it raises a useful point. Is it reasonable to expect anyone to fully comply with a set of laws so voluminous we can’t even manage to read them let alone understand and follow them to the letter? Certainly not, and here the faithful critic of legalism is correct to point out our utter inability to live a sinless life (Rom 3:12).
If we fail to follow every rule and regulation codified in U.S. law, we may experience little or no consequence. Even if we are to commit the most heinous of crimes, our sentence may only be the death of our earthly bodies. In contrast, God administers eternal and infinitely more severe consequences for breaking just one of his commandments. This may be one reason that biblical guidelines are seen as less forgiving than federal laws.
While more and more people are beginning to fear our government, our deeper fear is of the one who can destroy both our body and soul in Hell (Matt 10:28). The natural desire is to ignore or deny this existence of Hell, hoping it will squash our fear. Why would God set up such severe punishment? Does he hate us? No. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son (John 3:16) to pay the debt we owe so we won’t have to suffer this awful fate.
This is how a righteous judge can also offer us the kind of liberty and peace that can be found nowhere else but in the salvation of Jesus Christ. When we approach God in repentance and ask forgiveness, it is freely granted. Ask the same of Homeland Security when you forget to leave a pocket knife in the car at the airport and you’ll find out just how “forgiving” our government can be.
It is time to recognize that when we look to God’s instructions we can be free; when we pile regulations on top of laws built on the wrong foundation, we are crushed under the weight of government power. If we are to find freedom, let us heed the words in Galatians 5:1:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Isaac Newton is renowned as one of the greatest scientists of all time, but many are not aware that he spent more time writing about theology than about physics. Now you can see digitized versions of his biblical commentaries thanks to the Israeli Library.
via JERUSALEM: Israeli library uploads Newton’s theological texts | Health & Science | CentreDaily.com.
When I first began exploring word clouds as a means of visualizing biblical data, the result using Wordle was little better than a jumble of words sized according to frequency, with random colors and angular variations to add interest. It’s a decent proof of concept, but as I said earlier, it fails as a design concept unless it’s intelligently combined with other elements. Since then, I have discovered more well-developed technology that can “auto-magically” create word clouds which are good enough to stand alone as an artistic element.
At least one tool, Tagxedo, bridges the gap between Wordle’s overly simplistic automation and the manual processes required for intricate typographic designs such as maps made from words placed by hand, one by one. Its strength is in its ability to layout and color the words based on an uploaded image. I have re-created my original word cloud using words in the KJV (with some highly common words intentionally removed), laid out using an image of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns.
This tool allows you to save images in a range of useful formats as well as create your own products using that design. Interestingly, when I shared the above image with the Tagxedo creator, he pointed out the fact that the Tagxedo store features a few products already designed with Bible words, albeit from a different image of Jesus.
What I particularly like about this concept is that the usual images of Jesus are merely artistic imaginations which may not have anything at all to do with how he really looked. Instead, we get a truer, clearer picture of the Savior from the words he spoke though the writers of scripture. How much more appropriate is it to paint his image with those words?
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.
-Psalm 40:7
What you’re looking at is a QR code. Anyone familiar with these would immediately recognize that it is unlike all other such codes – a distinction which will be explained shortly. They have become prolific in marketing campaigns because they allow smart phone users to point their camera at the code then get a quick response (QR) that usually takes them to a website with further information without having to remember or type in a long URL. It can also be used to share contact info on business cards, encode some bit of text, and much more. Those unfamiliar with QR codes can think of it as a souped-up bar code.
In thinking about applications for MetaV, I thought about ways to crunch huge amounts of information into smaller spaces so that a “big picture” is readily apparent while still making it possible to get further details on demand. While this illustration is not built directly using the MetaV database, is does represent this vision rather well.
I wanted to find a way to use this technology to bring people information about God rather than some product or service I’m trying to sell. An easy way to do this would be to encode a URL to some Bible passage. YouVersion.com uses this principle in its Facebook sharing tool, for instance. One could create a collection of these codes about a particular topic, but how might you arrange those codes in a meaningful way that represents the over-arching concept?
The answer I arrived at was the three level QR Code, above. The first level is a code that simply returns the text “God.” The second level, shown in the colored squares which are normally solid squares that serve as alignment markers, represents the three persons of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The third level is the area with the smallest squares which again are usually a solid color arranged according to normal QR code specifications. These individual squares return 129 different Bible passages that tell us more about each person of the Trinity, the relationships between them, and our relationship to God.
Beyond the directly encoded text, this work is a sort of metaphor for the Trinity and the Bible itself. The allusion to the Trinity is obvious from the fact that three different levels of the code are used to represent a single Godhead. The parallel with the Bible is a bit more subtle, but just as relevant. Taken on the whole, everyone knows the Bible speaks of God. One has to get just a little deeper to know that it’s talking about a Triune God. Go deeper with your study to discover more details in specific passages. Another interesting aspect of QR Codes that they have in common with the Bible is the “error-correction” properties of it. What this means is that some portion of it can be destroyed or be otherwise unreadable and yet the overall code retains its message accurately. When we compare Scripture with Scripture, unclear or isolated portions become understandable when put within the greater context.
I would encourage anyone with a mobile device capable of reading QR codes (all you need is a decent camera and a free scanner app) to play around with this. It works best with low glare and low ambient lighting, as demonstrated in the video below. You can also get this as a poster to put up in areas where tech-savvy people may take a second glance to dive into it and hopefully learn more about who God is.
Note: QR Code is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated in the following countries: Japan, United States of America, Australia and Europe.
We’ve all heard John 3:16 but often we do not consider the entire conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus. That night he spoke of being born again, believing in both earthly and spiritual things, and much more.
Christians, how was your Mother’s Day? Did you celebrate it with flowers, fine dining, and gifts? Did your mother have a good time being the center of attention for a day? How about the family? Did everyone enjoy honoring the family matriarch? Now that the festivities are over, have you ever stopped to ask why we celebrate Mother’s Day? Is it really just another innocent holiday (holy-day) celebrated by Christian families? Or have you considered it may just another piece of nostalgic Americana that has been hijacked by materialistic greed (especially within greeting card and restaurant industries).
Admittedly, as a Bible believer, I find the ecumenical holy days like Mother’s Day a bit uncomfortable because I can’t escape the paganism at our Local Churches. Sadly, even local churches that believe on Jesus Christ for their Salvation are so taken up by the world that they have no problem celebrating pagan holy days such as: Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Halloween, and Christmas. It seems the only people not caught up in this madness are the Jehovah’s Witnesses as they’re too busy witnessing to the world (like Christians should be doing).
Now Mr. Worldly Wiseman (the character in Pilgrim’s Progress) will remind us that Paul says inRomans 14:5 “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” However, as a self-proclaimed Pharisee (Acts 23:6), Paul is referring to the Sabbath and Jewish holy days. He is not referring to the pagan worship of Zeus, Santa Claus, or the local spring fertility goddess orgy. Proof of this is seen in Acts 19 when the pagans burn all their pagan books and the silversmiths (the greeting card and chocolate purveyors of their day) see their nostalgic “holiday” (and its associated profit) collapsing all around them.
Next Ignorance (another Pilgrim’s Progress character) will object: “But we aren’t worshiping Mother on Mother’s Day!” Are you sure about that? In new-age America, the two biggest “gods” that anybody worships are “self” and “money.” Mother’s Day (like Valentine’s Day and Christmas) is an excuse for our feminist-influenced mothers to worship self and to “enjoy” materialism for a day. If you don’t believe this, try not participating in the Mother’s Day mania next year and see what kind of scorn you endure. You will be criticized by both the “non-honored” mother and the Church-attending-pew-warmers attempting to salve their burning consciences for joining in the festivities of the world.
Try this experiment: Honor your mother on a different day than “Mother’s Day” or even honor her with something other than a greeting card, phone call, or Sunday dinner. As a Christian, you could send her a Bible, a tract, or even take her out soul-winning. See how well the non-materialism goes over. You will notice that many mothers caught up in Mother’s Day could care less about true honor; they are really looking for an excuse to brag/gossip to their friends about how wonderful their child is. On this note, Mother’s Day (like Father’s Day) is a bit like Easter: If you truly honor your mother and father (and Our Lord Jesus Christ) then you would honor your parents every day (Ex 20:12,Deut 5:16). Anybody who honors mother and father only once a year during a non-Christian Holy Day is a self-righteous fraud (a bit like Christians who only say “He is Risen” while munching on chocolate eggs on one Sunday in April).
Now putting the soapbox aside: If you claim the name of Jesus Christ, yet have never compared Mother’s Day to Scripture, I urge you to dust the cobwebs off your King James Bible and follow in the footsteps of the Bereans: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)
Where did we get Mother’s Day? Typing, “Where did we get Mother’s Day?” into an Internet search engine brings up Wikipedia in the top 10 results. Since Wikipedia is a shining example of anti-Christian ideology and rhetoric, it will be a fine starting point for our research (thus avoiding our natural Christian bias). According to Wikipedia, while Julia Ward Howe started Mother’s Day in America, worldwide it is linked to Catholic, Muslim, and Greek/Roman pagan traditions. So what does this mean for us as Bible Believers? We will answer this by addressing the 5 major Mother’s Day themes described by Wikipedia.
“The modern Mother’s Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in March, April, or May as a day to honor mothers and motherhood…. One of the early calls to celebrate a Mother’s Day in the United States was the “Mother’s Day Proclamation” by Julia Ward Howe. Written in 1870, it was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe’s feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.”
To begin this study, we must ask the question: “Who was Julia Ward Howe?” Again, according toWikipedia: “Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet, most famous as the author of ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’.” Juliawardhowe.org reveals that “Julia called together the first convention of women ministers attended by figures like the Universalist Lorenza Haynes and Unitarians Mary Graves, and Eliza Tupper Wilkes.” Finally, About.com claims that both she and her husband were Unitarians, which makes sense in light of the fact that she called a conference of women preachers attended by both Unitarians and Universalists. To sum it up: Julia was a Feminist Unitarian Preacher.
In the years after the Mother’s Day Proclamation, Ann Jarvis founded five Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to improve sanitary and health conditions. In 1907, two years after Ann Jarvis’ death, her daughter Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother and began a campaign to make “Mother’s Day” a recognized holiday in the US. Although she was successful in 1914, she was already disappointed with its commercialization by the 1920s.
While Julia Ward Howe made the first Mother’s Day Proclamation, it was really Anna Jarvis who was the force behind the modern American celebration. As is usually the case in America, Anna’s attempts at good works were usurped by the love of money less than 10 years after she foisted Mother’s Day upon us. If the roots in paganism and feminism weren’t bad enough, its crass materialism would be enough to discredit this holiday in the eyes of an honest observer. While not a Feminist/Unitarian, Anna was also not somebody a Christian should follow. She wasted her life and fortune suing and fighting everybody from Eleanor Roosevelt to the “The American War Mothers” in a vain attempt (Col 2:8, Php 2:16, 1 Tim 1:16) to perpetually honor her earthly mother instead of spending her life honoring her Lord and Creator Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11-13 tells us that Christian works will be tried by fire and only those founded on Jesus Christ will survive. If we spend our time fighting for non-Christian “good causes” such as saving the whales, the environment, or Mother’s Day, we will suffer loss in Heaven (1 Corinthians 3:15) as we entangle ourselves in the world (1 Timothy 2:4).
Celebrations of mothers and motherhood occur throughout the world; many of these can be traced back to ancient festivals, like the Greek cult to Cybele or the Roman festival of Hilaria. The modern US holiday is not directly related to these.
The historical background of Mother’s Day can aptly be summed up with Jeremiah 10:2 “Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen…” Jeremiah specifically told the Jews not to fall into idolatry with 5 verses warning not to worship the “Queen of Heaven” as doing so provokes God to anger. Jeremiah 7:18 “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”
In some countries it was changed to dates that were significant to the majority religion, like the Virgin Mary day in Catholic countries, or the birthday of the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad in Islamic countries.
Sadly, many people are caught up in the Mary-worship of the Catholics and are ignorant of what the Bible says on the matter. Paul informs us in 1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” This means that while Jeremiah wrote to the Jews of his day, his message is still to be taken seriously by us today. It is no surprise that Muslims are also caught up in Mother’s Day since they are essentially a cultic offshoot of Roman Catholicism in the same way that Mormonism is an outgrowth of Christianity.
As we can see from our cursory examination, Mother’s Day is an overly commercialized modern holy day rooted in Idolatry (Anna Jarvis), Feminism/Unitarianism (Julia Ward Howe), and Paganism (Queen of Heaven, Greek/Roman Mythology, Catholic/Muslim Idolatry). As a pagan holy day, it offers nothing to a Christian save a worldly compromise to pacify women seeking to usurp the authority and honor of both God and their husbands (see Genesis 2:18 and 1 Corinthians 11:7). If after studying all this information, you still feel compelled to celebrate Mother’s Day in the manner of the world, consider this: instead of sending your mother chocolate that will only ruin her health, you could edify her soul by sending your father a Bible study on Proverbs 31, Titus 2,1 Corinthians 11, and 1 Corinthians 14:35. These may help regain his role as the spiritual leader of the family who will insist on his children honoring his wife each and every day according to godly wisdom in place of materialistic foolishness.
American Christians, when was the last time you read Jeremiah – I mean seriously read Jeremiah? I ask this question because so many of us think that God made something special here in America, and therefore God won’t abandon us. Some of us even think that what God made here is so special that it is worthy of us expending our blood to defend it. But what does God say in this matter? If you’ll turn to Jeremiah 18, you will see that God thinks our defense of “liberty” and/or the “Constitution” is futile. Picking up arms, going to the polls, and/or legislating in the name of “God”, “country” or “morality” keeps our “troops” on the wrong battlefield.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no pacifist and I’m no slouch. I’m not talking about Christians employed in military service (military service is clearly biblical: 2 Timothy 2:3). Nor am I talking about Christians standing up for truth and/or righteousness (people need to hear the truth: 1 Timothy 2:4). What I am talking about is putting the values of American patriotism (or nationalism) ahead of the Bible. Our primary mission isn’t to stand up for Uncle Sam, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc. It is to stand up for our biblical foundation and preach the Gospel: Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” According to Jeremiah, God only wants one thing from this country: to turn from evil (repent) as a nation.
Let us analyze American Patriotism in light of Jeremiah 18:2-10. These verses will make it abundantly clear that as American Christians, we need to concentrate on fighting a spiritual war above all other battles. As Ephesians 6:11-12 tells us: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We do not need to get sidetracked fighting symptoms of apostasy such as homosexuals in the military, liberal activist judges or politicians undermining Natural Law. Instead, we need to focus on the cancer that is destroying this nation from the inside out: unbelief.
Jeremiah 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Why should we be analyzing the Old Testament, let alone Jeremiah? Paul tells us that the Old Testament is written for our admonition in the end times: 1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Like Jeremiah, we are to hear God’s words if we are to understand what we are to do in these perilous times.
Jeremiah 18:3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
Jeremiah 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
As usual, God is trying to teach us something. He is giving us a visual picture to precede his spiritual lesson. Here we have a potter working a vessel of clay on his potter’s wheel. The vessel of clay becomes marred, and instead of attempting to repair it, he just makes another vessel out of the same lump of clay. This concept of God as the potter and man as the clay is one that is repeated throughout scripture. See also Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 64:8, and Romans 9:21
Jeremiah 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jeremiah 18:6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Jeremiah 18:7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
God then proceeds to lay into Israel over their wickedness and tells Jeremiah that he can pluck up, pull down, and otherwise destroy any nation in an instant. Just like the potter working a piece of clay, God can destroy and rework a nation at will. Now, re-read 1 Corinthians 10:11 (above). Here, some may ask: “This is the Church Age, isn’t God just speaking about Israel?” What does 1 Corinthians 10:11 say? It says this picture of the potter is both for our example and for our admonition.
Jeremiah 18:8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
As usual, God works multiple lessons into every example. God explains in verse 8 that there is hope for a nation that turns from its evil. Not only is there hope for a wayward nation, but in a direct refutation of Calvinism’s “eternal decrees”, God explains that he will repent of his planned destruction if a nation repents of its evil. This is not a one-off concept; it is re-iterated in Jonah 3:9-10, Genesis 18:32, and Matthew 11:21-23.
Jeremiah 18:9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
To the American patriot’s credit, they are correct to believe that God had a hand in this country’s beginning. Verse 9 tells us that God builds and plants nations in an instant. This is what happened to the United States. Popery had Europe in a stranglehold and through the Jesuits was attempting to usher in another “Dark Age.” When all hope seemed lost, God fulfilled the prophecy of Genesis 9:27 and opened up a land of freedom in the midst of Shem’s tents. This verse also best explains why King George III inconceivably divorced America with the Prohibitory Act on 22 December 1775 and how the seemingly invincible British army lost a war to a rag-tag band of farmers (see The Revolution Myth by Gene Fisher and Glen Chambers).
Jeremiah 18:10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
Now, here is where it gets scary for modern Americans. Verse 10 builds on verse 9 and tells us that God benefits, and does good for, those countries that He builds and plants. This concept is quite clear in history when one examines the United States. We were instantly propelled onto the world stage with almost limitless opportunity, resources, and talent. Then our sin natures got the better of us and we succumbed to one of the most famous verses in the Bible, Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
So where does this leave us as modern day Americans? The answer should be obvious. Our country needs to repent of its evil and spiritual rebellion towards its Creator. As Christians, we need to go out to the highways and the hedges and witness to the lost (Matthew 22:9, Luke 14:23). We must stay focused on the harvest of Luke 10:2 “Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”
We cannot allow ourselves to be sidetracked by man’s logic and/or “good causes.” 2 Timothy 2:4 “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” Running to the hills will accomplish nothing. Storing up food, money, and/or ammunition will not save us (see how fast Belshazzar lost everything in Daniel 5). Gaining political office and/or voting our way out is doomed to failure (see the dismal track records of the “Christian Coalition” and the “Moral Majority” since Christians have tried to vote this country back onto the narrow path; Matthew 7:13-14). Even protesting abortion, while a good thing, will do nothing to change the heart conditions of the heathen who voluntarily murder their own children in the name of Baal (Jeremiah 7:9).
Have I deflated your patriotic balloon enough yet? Don’t give up entirely, just redirect your energies. Ephesians tells us that our enemies are not liberals, homosexuals, or even the New World Order. Our enemy is the Devil himself. We don’t even need to worry about the 2nd Amendment as guns aren’t going to win this battle. Crack open that dusty old King James hiding on your bookshelf and don your battle gear: Ephesians 6:12-13 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
This outline is the beginning of a series of articles that, Lord Willing, will become a book on the subject of Soul Liberty. This compilation has been three years in the making and could possibly take more. It is the result of much Bible study, much prayer, and much debate. The thesis of this outline has rocked the very soul of its author who until this year was determined to resist its conclusion. The thesis can be summed up as follows:
Jeremiah 18:7-10: “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.”
Key points to consider for all who love Jesus Christ:
Matthew 9:37-38: “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
Repentance is an integral part of salvation and the Christian life. Learn what repentance is (and is not) in order that you may live with God in heaven and on Earth according to his will.
Even though the Ark of the Covenant is long lost, you can still explore it virtually. In this study tool you can find info about the ark, its history, symbolism, and contents.
Chances are that you or someone you know has asked the question: “Why hasn’t God revealed himself to me personally?” Another variation is: “If God is real, why won’t he just come down from Heaven and remove all doubts about his existence?” The answer may surprise you because the premise of the question is false. You see, God actually has revealed himself to the world and to you personally. There are several ways he has done this and reasons you may not have recognized the revelation for what it was.
The first and most obvious way that God shows himself is through the world around us – his creation. I doubt anyone has ever put it better than Paul in his letter to the Romans: “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 (Romans 1:20).” Anyone who is open-minded toward the possibility of God’s existence cannot help but conclude that he’s there and he cares about every detail of our world and our lives. Much more can be said about this and I would encourage anyone to browse through the “First Days” links on our site to find websites focusing on the topic of creation.
The things we can discover about God through studying his universe fall under what we call general revelation. The more specific way God reveals himself is known as special revelation. This involves direct, detailed communication from God either in personal appearances on earth or through inspired writings collected in the Holy Bible. God has shown up in various forms throughout history:
The above list is just a brief summary of several times God has chosen to reveal himself to us visibly. One more such appearance to “prove” his existence is not only unnecessary, but it would not be likely to produce any fundamentally different result from the reaction given when Jesus Christ was here on earth. Though he showed himself to be God through many infallible proofs (Acts 1:3), the religious leaders of his time ordered his gruesome torture and death and then persecuted those who chose to believe on him (Acts 7:59, Acts 9:4). For them and many others like them, even a man raised from the dead is not persuasive enough (Luke 16:31).
There are a few reasons for this attitude which we can learn from scriptures inspired by none other than the God that so many are unwilling to accept. The first comes from the latter half of what Paul said in Romans 1:21: “but [they] became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” In fact, Romans 1:21-32 reveals profound truths about our hearts and minds becoming darker and darker as we choose more and more to look upon ourselves and the world instead of God. This is the crux of the matter: God has not chosen to keep himself hidden; we have chosen to hide our own eyes.
More insight can be found in the account of the first people on earth, Adam and Eve. When they first disobeyed God, they were ashamed and attempted to cover themselves up with fig leaves (Genesis 3:7). Deep down, we perceive that God is the ultimate judge and we fear the consequence of sin – the consequence of death. People find every excuse to deny this truth in order to escape living with knowledge that God will someday execute his wrath upon the earth.
There may be many other reasons you cannot see God for who he truly is. I want to share with you today that it is never too late and there is profound hope in God’s grace and mercy. The punishment that we deserve has been paid by Jesus’ death on the cross. You need only to repent of your sins and accept this free gift from him. Once you have, the Holy Spirit will begin a work in your life to help you grow and to know God more personally and fully. He is truly a God who wants to be known by us. He is right there in front of us every day in his creation and in his word. Can you see him? Are you at least willing to open your eyes?
In this first of a 4-part series, Eric Hovind interviews a presuppositional apologist about a most unique tool to avoid the meaningless arguing, and cut to the heart of the matter. Must Christians argue about God and His creation without using the Bible? No! The Bible is our sword, and we must not lay it down. The unbeliever certainly won’t lay his weapon down.