Posted on 01/27/2008 7:56:14 PM PST by Manfred the Wonder Dawg
January 25, 2008
ESV Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
In recent days I have spent time in Lima and Sullana Peru and Mexico City and I have discovered that people by nature are the same. Man has a heart that is inclined to selfishness and idolatry. Sin abounds in the remotest parts of the land because the heart is desperately wicked. Thousands bow before statues of Mary and pray to her hoping for answers. I have seen these people stare hopelessly at Mary icons, Jesus icons, and a host of dead saints who will do nothing for them. I have talked with people who pray to the pope and say that they love him. I talked with one lady who said that she knew that Jesus was the Savior, but she loved the pope. Thousands bow before Santa Muerte (holy death angel) in hopes that she will do whatever they ask her. I have seen people bring money, burning cigarettes, beer, whiskey, chocolate, plants, and flowers to Santa Muerte in hopes of her answers. I have seen these people bowing on their knees on the concrete in the middle of public places to worship their idol. Millions of people come into the Basilica in Mexico City and pay their money, confess their sins, and stare hopelessly at relics in hope that their sins will be pardoned. In America countless thousands are chained to baseball games, football games, material possessions, and whatever else their heart of idols can produce to worship.
My heart has broken in these last weeks because the God of heaven is not honored as he ought to be honored. People worship the things that are created rather than worshiping the Creator. God has been gracious to all mankind and yet mankind has hardened their hearts against a loving God. God brings the rain on the just and unjust. God brings the beautiful sunrises and sunsets upon the just and unjust. God gives good gifts unto all and above all things he has given his Son that those who would believe in him would be saved. However, man has taken the good things of God and perverted them unto idols and turned their attention away from God. I get a feel for Jesus as he overlooked Jerusalem or Paul as he beseeched for God to save Israel. When you accept the reality of the truth of the glory of God is breaks your heart that people would turn away from the great and awesome God of heaven to serve lesser things. Moses was outraged by the golden calf, the prophets passionately preached against idolatry, Jesus was angered that the temple was changed in an idolatrous business, and Paul preached to the idolaters of Mars Hill by telling them of the unknown God.
I arrived back at home wondering how I should respond to all the idolatry that I have beheld in these last three weeks. I wondered how our church here in the states should respond to all of the idolatry in the world. What are the options? First, I suppose we could sit around and hope that people chose to get their life together and stop being idolaters. However, I do not know how that could ever happen apart from them hearing the truth. Second, I suppose we could spend a lifetime studying cultural issues and customs in hope that we could somehow learn to relate to the people of other countries. However, the bible is quite clear that all men are the same. Men are dead in sin, shaped in iniquity, and by nature are the enemies of God. Thirdly, we could pay other people or other agencies to go and do a work for us while we remain comfortably in the states. However, there is no way to insure that there will be doctrinal accuracy or integrity. If we only pay other people to take the gospel we will miss out on all of the benefits of being obedient to the mission of God. Lastly, we could seek where God would have us to do a lasting work and then invest our lives there for the glory of God. The gospel has the power to raise the dead in any culture and we must be willing to take the gospel wherever God would have us take it. It is for sure that our church cannot go to every country and reach every people group, so we must determine where God would have us work and seek to be obedient wherever that is.
It seems that some doors are opening in the Spanish speaking countries below us and perhaps God is beginning to reveal where we are to work. There are some options for work to be partnered with in Peru and there could be a couple of options in Mexico. The need is greater than I can express upon this paper for a biblical gospel to be proclaimed in Peru and Mexico. Oh, that God would glorify his great name in Peru and Mexico by using a small little church in a town that does not exist to proclaim his great gospel amongst a people who desperately need the truth.
I give thanks to the LORD for allowing me the privilege of going to these countries and broadening my horizons. The things that I have seen will be forever engraved upon my heart. I will long remember the pastors that I spent time with in Peru and I will never forget Adolfo who translated for me in Mexico. I will relish the time that I spent with Paul Washer and the others. When I think of church I will forever remember being on top of that mountain in Sullana at that church which had no electricity and no roof. I am convinced that heaven was looking down on that little church on top of that mountain and very few people on earth even know that it exist. Oh, God I pray that the things of this world will continue to grow dim and that God’s people will be caught up in his glorious presence.
Because of the truth: Pastor: J. Randall Easter II Timothy 2:19 "Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases."(Ps. 115:3) "He predestined us according to the good pleasure of His will."(Eph. 1:5) Those who have been saved have been saved for His glory and they are being made holy for this is the will of God. Are you being made holy? Spurgeon says, "If your religion does not make you holy it will damn you to hell."
Correct, but then again getting to heaven isn't the object of our hope. Our hope resides in continuing to remain in fellowship with Him, performing as He wills for us.
If we slip out of fellowship, we just leave some rewards which had been created for us in eternity past, on the shelf, so to speak, as an eternal memorial of our foolishness for not remaining in fellowship with Him. We don't get ahead, instead we make a foolish spectacle of ourselves by failing to be in the right place at the right time to perform His Will.
I think you’re right. The New York State GOP was pushing McCain and I wrote back and told them I would NEVER vote for him and why were they pushing him on us? I got an answer and they said he was a man of integrity, etc. I almost gagged. The party will never get ONE penny from me. I’m afraid we’re going to lose this election.
I’m not sure what you mean here.
No, Q, not in principle, only in how it is practiced by some and the consequences thereof.
Sure the NWO puppet masters’ greed is off the scale as is their power mongering through such funds
You got it.
What? So you are going to define "plan" in human terms so you can say that it doesn't apply to God? What is your evidence that says that God CANNOT plan because it takes time to plan? How do you know God cannot plan outside of time? And, besides all the scripture you have been showed clearly evidencing that God has a plan and purpose for all of us that He intends to execute, what is your alternative position? Does history unfold randomly? If God does not have a plan then He cannot be in control.
FK: ***God does not have “afterthoughts”. He is omnipotent and omniscient.***
Very true, but how would you reconcile the Reformed theology of all men being frogmarched when God spent the entire OT and most of the New failing to get the Jews to accept the Messiah?
Well, there is no need to reconcile because God did not fail. However, it does not surprise me that you bring it up since God is portrayed as a colossal failure in many endeavors in Apostolic thought. I have never understood that view, but I suppose that it probably relates to God's need for the Church to bail Him out when He gets into trouble. :)
As the Bible tells us, God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. Not one person more or one person less, according to whom He had chosen from before the foundations.
Needless to say the Serbian Holocaust remains a sad chapter in the history of WWII, a chapter quickly swept under the rug, not finding its way into any history books that I ever read, but uncovered and written unforgettably in many of the books published by evangelicals -- the same evangelicals who were appalled by Clinton and NATO's 1996 war against the Serbs, and our continual support of the KLA terror state, along with other Muslim causes.
Why this goes on is a mystery to all of us except that we are inviting within our midst the seeds of our own destruction. The politically-correct and the religiously-correct crowd, which includes the Communists and Socialists and Democrats and RINO Republicans have all laid the ground work and opened the door for a Muslim infiltration at all levels of society in such a way that people are seemingly blind to it going on around them.
Our failure to support the Serbs against the Muslim terrorist KLA, to support Israel against the Palestinian Muslims, to call a Muslim terrorist a Muslim terrorist, to allow Muslim oil money to buy our foreign and domestic policies is going to cost us dearly -- unfortunately.
Did the Vatican State know what was going on and if so what did they do to stop it? Is this another example of what we discussed earlier where organizations become "organisms of sorts" and protection of the organization becomes more important than the mission.
I assume that all of us find these atrocities sickening.
K:No, Q, not in principle, only in how it is practiced by some and the consequences thereof.
Yet no one has been able to produce a better more equitable economic system.
Communism, tried and failed miserably. In that system they discovered that they could grow all the wheat they needed on their big collectives, but when it came time to get it to the market most rotted in the fields. They had eliminated the evil businessman who makes a profit by providing a service, such as getting trucks to ship things. They also discovered that dairy production dropped dramatically. Why, because the farmer is not going to get up at 4:00 am to milk the states cow, but he will if it is his cow and he gets to keep the profit from his labors.
Fascism, the fusion of the state with private business interests. All innovation disappears and large business/govt. interests control profit and product availability with law and bureaucracy.
Socialism, the Mayflower Compact is the best example of what a miserable failure that system is. The Pilgrims were going to share everything and almost starved to death their first year in America. They changed plans and decided that everyone keep the profit from what they produced and the second year they had such an abundance they had a harvest feast with the Indians.
Capitalism, left uncontrolled historically has produced terrible results but with antitrust controls and safety controls for workers has produced the most effective and productive means of producing goods and services of any economic system. It also offers the greatest opportunity for an individual to achieve great success in life.
Thanks for the ping.
Certainly a plausible hypothesis, seemingly.
Greed in the human heart from the pollution of Creation by satan’s pride, rebellion . . . is the root problem.
There’s lots of comments about buyers and sellers and commerce in Scripture. It is the attitude of the heart that’s always the problem, not the system, per se.
Until Christ returns, it will continue as a problem.
Certainly the NWO Oligarchy has enriched itself beyond the wildest fantasies of anyone else in history. And they are using the wealth to engineer the Biblical END TIMES of enslaving the whole world to satan’s leadership as Scripture outlined. No big surprises there.
Thankfully,
THE KING IS COMING.
HAIL THE RETURN OF THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!
The author of the
ENDGAMETHEMOVIE.com
film [viewable easier, it seems at ABOVETOPSECRET.COM]
documents how the Carter Administration began dismantling the safeguards set in place after the Great Depression. How Klintoon further dismantled them etc.
The NWO Oligarchy has been having a field day.
I read one report that claimed that the NWO folks had enough trillions set aside . . . that they planned to pay of everyone’s debts . . . and give everyone $10,000 or so beyond that . . . one presumes for a price . . . choosing the world government? worshipping satan and being chipped???
######
documents how the Carter Administration began dismantling the safeguards set in place after the Great Depression. How Klintoon further dismantled them etc.
The NWO Oligarchy has been having a field day.
Does dying for a cause prove it is true and right?
Does dying for a cause prove it is true and right?
Alright,forget about relaxing!
5 little kids is a fine example of a large Catholic family.
Glory be to God!
Some people still long for a return to those good old monopolistic days when there was only one store in town, one doctor in town, one church in town ... and everyone in town had to buy what they were selling at the price that they charged or do without.
Then came the Reformation and competition and lower prices and higher quality and increased quantities of the necessities of life -- like the scriptures in one's own language ... .... and the rest is history .... and those old monopolists are still griping.
Thanks UC, I hadn't really put that together before. The natural progression then proceeded from State mandated religion to freedom of religion and separation of church and state.
"Blame America First" does not play on this forum - or among conservatives at large - or among Republicans.
The Biblical truth behind capitalism resides in the acknowledgment that God gives men their place on earth, numbers their days, establishes their boundaries, and that each man is thus required to glorify God in thought, word and deed in this life.
If the reason for our very existence is to glorify God on earth, then it follows that our work is the fruit of the spirit, and thus that work is good and God-given.
Before the Reformation, men were told their lives on earth were simply preface to their heavenly existence, and so it didn't matter that despots ruled over them. This myopia is what accounts for the lethargy found in places even today like Catholic Central and South America, etc.
But as the Bible was actually read by the masses during the Reformation, men understood that God had ordained them to be fruitful now, and thus they had a right and responsibility on this earth today, according to God's will for them, which included a liberty of life and conscience.
I really like Loraine (a guy) Boettner's book, "The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination," especially the last chapter...
As Uncle Chip pointed out, the correct understanding of separation between church and state (while always maintaining the state's responsibility to protect the rights of the church) was a gradual process coming to fruition in the reformed churches...
And in regard to the relationship which existed between the Church and the State, the Lutherans were content to allow the local princes great influence in the Church or even to allow them to determine the religion within their bounds — a tendency leading toward the establishment of a State Church — while the Reformed soon came to demand complete separation between Church and State." "At the time of the Reformation the Lutheran Church did not make such a complete break with the Catholic Church as did the Reformed. In fact some Lutherans point out with pride that Lutheranism was a "moderate Reformation." While all protestants appealed to the Bible as a final authority, the tendency in Lutheranism was to keep as much of the old system as did not have to be thrown out, while the tendency in the Reformed Church was to throw out all that did not have to be kept.
Even those who worked against the Reformation knew the inherent power and truth of its goal -- individual freedom according to the words and will of God...
"The testimony of Emilio Castelar, the famous Spanish statesman, orator and scholar, is interesting and valuable. Castelar had been professor of Philosophy in the University of Madrid before he entered politics, and he was made president of the republic which was set up by the Liberals in 1873. As a Roman Catholic he hated Calvin and Calvinism. Says he: "It was necessary for the republican movement that there should come a morality more austere than Luther's, the morality of Calvin, and a Church more democratic than the German, the Church of Geneva. The Anglo-Saxon democracy has for its lineage a book of a primitive society — the Bible. It is the product of a severe theology learned by the few Christian fugitives in the gloomy cities of Holland and Switzerland, where the morose shade of Calvin still wanders . . . And it remains serenely in its grandeur, forming the most dignified, most moral and most enlightened portion of the human race."
The Reformation underscored the validity of the "trickle-down theory of economics." As Christ told us, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" (Luke 12:48). All philanthropy is founded on sharing the bounty of God's world by producing more of it through the God-given mandate to help our fellow man become likewise productive. Thus the truest basis for a sound and God-glorifying capitalism is to abide by Paul's instructions...
"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." -- Colossians 3:17
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