by admin | Apr 8, 2016 | Articles
This is republished from A Voice in the Wilderness (www.a-voice.org) Re: Repentance is in the Heart "..yet when they have returned in their minds in the land where they have been carried captive, and have repented in their hearts, and made supplication to You in the land of those holding them captive, saying, We have sinned and done perversely, we have committed wickedness; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and have prayed to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name: then hear in Heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and attend to their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You; and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them.." (1Ki8:47-50) This is part of Solomon's dedicatory prayer for the glorious temple for which David drew up the designs, and Solomon built it. Unlike typical dedications today that glorify 'man' and his own efforts at having built the building, and praising all the people who scrimped and saved, and ran the fund drives to make the building program "a huge success", where the city mayor and other dignitaries of the world are also invited to the building's 'christening'... The glory of the holy God has just entered the building to where the priests could no longer...
by admin | Mar 28, 2016 | Articles
“Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to this city, spend a year there, do business, and make a profit; whereas you do not know what will be tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Jacob 4:13-14 Plans…plans…plans, most Americans have some sort of plan, goal or objective. Yet take a moment to realize that without Jesus as your Savior, it doesn’t matter whether you succeed at any such plans. America is a busy place, one that is fueled by endless consumer spending, often time that spending is directly related to being busy. Having been in restaurant management off and on for years, busyness results in jobs. Handing out food on the other side of the counter to endless people could not be done if they all had the time to make a lunch or dinner at home. Coffee shops would not be on every block corner if there was time for people to enjoy a cup in the morning. Children take up time or at least should. As they get older parents often consider activities that they would like their children to participate in and things that they would like their children to learn, such as instruments. While there is nothing necessarily wrong with participating in such activities, just as there is nothing wrong with grabbing a bite to eat, which oftentimes can be very affordable if chosen wisely, there is once again the aspect of whether or not parents take the time to ensure that their...
by admin | Mar 23, 2016 | Articles
There is a doctrine missing from most of today’s so-called churches, far and few include the doctrine of repentance that is NECESSARY for Salvation. A half truth is still not the truth, it is still a lie. Simply believing in Jesus and acknowledging that He is the Son of God who died on the Cross for your sins is not enough, you must also repent of your sins. “You believe that God is One. You do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder.” Jacob (James) 2:19 repent To feel pain, sorrow, or regret for something one has done or left undone. To change the mind in consequences of the inconvenience or injury done by past conduct. In theology, to feel such sorrow for sin as leads to amendment of life; to be penitent; to grieve over one’s past life, and to seek forgiveness for sin, with a determination to lead a new life. Webster’s Universities Dictionary of the English Language, Webster, 1942 Jesus died on the Cross for our sins. He is able to forgive us for all of our sins and make you a new creature. You must repent and believe into Jesus. “In those days John the Immerser came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven has drawn near!” Matthew 3:1-2 “Therefore bring forth fruits worthy of repentance…” Matthew 3:9 “But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Matthew 9:13 “I did not...
by admin | Mar 15, 2016 | Articles
Troubled times appear in print, online and on television to viewers nationwide through many media outlets. Not only is the country beginning to be in an uproar about the current presidential candidates, but the outcry is a culmination of many decades of political strife in this country. Ofttimes the root of the problem is that America has not molded to the needs of this ideology or that of different liberal viewpoints. What makes a country great and was America ever great? When people think of greatness the thought that comes to mind is that there is easy money to be made, or for others free handouts from the government, either way the basis is often money. While there are certainly liberal social agendas that get pushed across this country by the extreme fringes of society, if one were to surmise that the country could be made great again, that would be assuming that at one point the country was great. After all can something be made great again if it was not great at one point in time? After World War 2 this country saw an outpouring of economic growth that was unprecedented in modern societies. The manufacturing of the United States was to be desired by countries around the world. The hardworking people of the United States were an envy to others who could not find their opportunity in their home country. People flocked to the United States as immigrants from every corner of the earth. Suburban communities popped up all over across the United States and the American Dream, as it is called, became the...
by admin | Mar 10, 2016 | Articles
For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?” 2nd Corinthians 2:15-16 Have we as a society become so complex, so manipulated, so burdened by our own prisons that most can not possibly see the simplicity that is in Christ? I would equate the situation of America like that of an apartment complex meeting trying to solve how to fix the darkness in the hallway. As the meeting is ongoing there is much debate back and forth on how to solve the problem. The meeting drags out days with finally it being decided that the light bulb is burnt out and needs to be tended to. One man suggests that he has some welding tools and perhaps if another can put a small incision into the side of the bulb he can fix the broken filament. Another suggests that the bulb be carefully opened and tritium gas be put inside, perhaps the glow will provide enough light to get by. One resident suggests pointing a flashlight towards the bulb to give it the appearance of operating and casting light, then they can continue on with there business. After much debate, finally the newest member of the apartment community provides an extra night light for the hallway. The light is red, but the residents are now able to function and begin to build their community strong...
by admin | Mar 2, 2016 | Articles
The cultural of the world constantly changes and that of those who live in the United States of America see new trends on a constant basis. One who is trendy tends to be one who follows the current trend or influence, fashion and ideologies. For years I have tried to figure out how society can be so wrong and the collective, hive-mind mentality that goes behind that. Ask anyone nowadays and they will tell you that families have fallen apart, lives are being destroyed, people are more alienated from normal forms of conversation and have become more distanced in terms of relationships, despite new forms of communication that allow for constant status updating, connecting to one another through social media and an onslaught of instant notification through text messaging, email, cellular phones and other venues. Yet with all of these options at our fingertips, a true Believer can see these things and also see the amount of sin that society engages in as a whole. They willingly seem to love things that are contrary to God and furthermore purport through their trendy actions that nothing is wrong with the way they behave. They are without God, not only do their actions prove it, but by their actions they prove that they are brute beasts. Harsh? There are two passages of Scripture that has long spoke to my heart about today’s society. “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,...
by admin | Feb 20, 2016 | Articles
“Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, But Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, If I intend for him to remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” John 21:21-22 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2nd Corinthians 5:10 About a year ago my family and I were attending a conservative “bible-believing” KJV-Only Baptist church several miles from our home. We would faithfully pack in our car and head out early in the morning to be able to attend both Sunday School and the regular church service. We joined about 8-10 others who also came on a regular basis, some also having traveled some distance. Overall there were many things about the church that were noteworthy, there was no offering plate passed around, simply a box on the wall where one could offer a free-will offering. The church believed in repentance, often a foundational doctrine that is missing from most of America’s churches. The hymns and music was biblical, the demeanor of the pastor was one who took a stand towards Truth. Missing from the church were a podium for the pastor to stand on, decorations for the holiday season and other things that one would expect to see in regular Baptist churches, these were all benefits of someone who had looked into and sought out the Truth. Yet one Sunday morning, as we are still in a slight daze from having gotten...
by admin | Feb 18, 2016 | Articles
Nearly every day while reading the news I spot an article headline that depicts some sort of ‘evolutionary’ evidence portrayed to the reader as fact. The most recent headline that I spotted was that “humans and neanderthals had breed as recently as 50,000 years ago”. I quickly scuff off such nonsense, continuing to scan the headlines for an article that perks my interest. The problem is that these sorts of articles are written for those who are uneducated in the Truth of God’s Word. The average person will view the headline or read the article and thus have one more excuse not to believe God’s Word, one more reason to not consider their Salvation, one more thought as to why they can continue on as they are. A long time ago in Sunday school I listened as the teacher used an argument that evolution made about as much sense as a chair appearing out of nowhere in the room. A ridiculous argument you say? Have you ever checked into the evidence that the evolutionist have? I assure you if you do some digging, you will find that a chair appearing in a room on its own would take less faith to believe in then the assumptions that evolutionists and our supposed scientific community makes. I’m sure many readers would consider me an unscientific ignorant person, who believe in fairy-tales and old out-dated religious views, but I ask that you bear with me for yet another moment. I will wholly admit that I am not very scientific, I have not studied with the scholars at universities, I...
by admin | Feb 10, 2016 | Articles
By now most people have heard about the earthquake in Taiwan. As of this writing there are still people who are trapped alive underneath the debris of buildings and rescue workers are trying hard to get them out. A lot of tragedies never make but a brief mention in national or international news. Take a house fire that kills a family, a tornado that rips through part of a town or a car accident that renders people dead. In all of our local communities there are tragedies on nearly a weekly, if not daily basis. The bigger the city one lives in, the more common the tragedies become. On occasion we hear of really big tragedies. Take the 2004 tsunami in the Indian ocean that killed over 200,000 people. Throughout history there have been some very big disasters that have killed scores of people. Take the Black Plague for instance and the staggering number of lives that the disease claimed, estimated from 75 million upward to 200 million. I n America the biggest tragedies ever recorded was that of the Galveston hurricane in 1900. It is estimated that between 6,000 – 12,000 people died as a result of that storm. As I watched some videos of the devastation in Taiwan and the rescues workers hard to get to people, I couldn’t help but to get saddened at the need for the world to understand the necessity of accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Even as these men and women are pulled out of these buildings, with little life left in them,...
by admin | Feb 3, 2016 | Articles
Those who are in Christ, Christians, have many promises from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are also promises that Christ have given as a warning to those, that they might consider and be Saved. “I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” John 10:9 “He who believes into Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38 “Yet a little while and the world sees Me no more, but you see Me. Because I live, you will live also.” John 14:19 “Then Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you continue to abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:31-32 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. The one believing into Him is not judged; but the one not believing is judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18 “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. And...
by admin | Jan 26, 2016 | Articles
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many entering in through it. Because narrow is the gate and distressing is the way which leads unto life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 “Then one said to Him, Lord, are there few who are saved? And He said to them, Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” Luke 13:23-24 When I was a child I attended a Nazarene church on a regular basis. If my parents didn’t attend on Sunday the church bus would come and pick me and my sister up. There I met some really great people growing up and attended Sunday school. For what it is worth, more biblically sound doctrine was probably taught at that church then what is at many Baptist churches nowadays. It was at this same church that I would give my life to the Lord. At 9 years old during an alter call I would go forward and accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Eventually my parents divorced and we move a few miles away. Here my family began to attend a Pentecostal church. With rock instruments up on stage, a pastor would preach his sermon and some well-to-do people who were given authority as Sunday school teachers, etc., we would go there for a couple of years. This was my first instance of seeing speaking in tongues. I never believed it and...
by admin | Jan 17, 2016 | Articles
Recently a coworker told me that he would give me one-million dollars if he won the Powerball jackpot. At the time the prize was 1.4 billion dollars, eventually making it to 1.6 billion dollars. Indeed the largest jackpot in the history of mankind. So much money that one would instantly be wildly rich and my coworker, like people throughout the entire country, was having conversations with others for days about what he would do with all of that money. My response to him made him stop for a moment. I replied that I did not want the money. He shrieked out a “what do you mean you wouldn’t want it, a million bucks!?” Exactly, I didn’t want it, I didn’t care. Of course I have bills I could pay off, I could buy a house, I could do this or that, but what I could do at the moment is no longer stand to listen to such nonsense. While the odds where overwhelming that this man would still just be a cook, with 1 in 292 million, the reality was that men and women just like him where having conversations and thoughts about what they would do should the money-gods be on their side. He wasn’t alone, in fact I was the outsider, I was the one who didn’t care to participate in such worthless talk and the one who would honestly tell him to keep his money should he become the winner. I replied to him that I wouldn’t take the money, I would simply give it away, it was a distraction, a hassle...
by admin | Jan 9, 2016 | Articles
The other day while at work I was having a brief conversation with a coworker who was discussing his plans for the future. Having had talked to him about the need for Salvation in the past, he finished stating what he was going to say and I interjected about how even if he got everything he wanted he would still be lost and doomed, what then would it matter? Instead of simply brushing it off, he responded that he would take care of that later in life, not now. Right now he was going to live his life. Well what if there is not a later time? What if that day was the day of Salvation for him? What if he had chosen the world over Christ and an opportunity to accept the Savior through repentance and believing into Him never again became available? “For He says: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2nd Corinthians 6:2 …”testifying both to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21 “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:26 The question is how many people go throughout life with the exact same philosophy. They believe there is a God, they know that somehow they have to get right with Him,...
by admin | Jan 6, 2016 | Articles
“Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” 1st Corinthians 4:1-2 What is required of a Christian? As a Believer grows in Christ, more and more they will realize that the need for the armor of God is a very serious matter. There is most certainly a war raging and the Christian must follow their Savior Jesus Christ. I would recommend Little Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, a book which may be read of no charge HERE. In America our persecution generally differs greatly from those in other countries. For instance: Those who profess Christ in India and follow Him, as commanded, are often brutally murdered, their wives ravished and then also murdered and their children are no exception. I have read of stories where Christian families are burned alive, as spectators revile in pleasure, pleasing their Hindu gods. Despite the fact that there are apparently 330 million gods and goddesses, there is no room for the Most High and His Son. Travel to Syria and ISIS makes the news, now commonly known. How many people who profess to serve Christ are beheaded? This of course does not suggest how many are actually servants of the Most High, but certainly shows the militancy towards that. Yet not far away in neighboring Iran there are also prices to pay. Street justice comes and takes its form as a mob against those who proclaim to be Christians and would dare practice such religion. Strong beatings, maiming, death and imprisonment are not...
by admin | Dec 29, 2015 | Articles
But we never can prove the delights of His love Until all on the altar we lay For the favor He shows, and the joy He bestows Are for them who will trust and obey — Trust and Obey This article will have minimum commenting. The thought here is to provide some Scripture, some definitions and simply let those who know Christ to sit and ponder their ways. “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? So he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:25-27 “Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God, Jehovah is one. And you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, with all your soul, exceedingly in every way. And these Words which I am commanding you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but...
