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."
AMEN, Mary. If only pleasant things happened to us, how would we learn to trust Him?
"O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble." -- Isaiah 33:2
“So, using whatever text appeals to you, what’s your take on the Sermon on the Mount?”
I kind of like Prophet Steven Wright’s take on it.
“So what if the meek inherit the earth.
We’ll just take it back...bunch of meeks.”
Heavy, really heavy!
Great post, b-d.
lol. Sounds like something out of "Ren & Stimpy."
“What’s the speed of dark?”
A United Airlines Pilot who flew the It'ly route for a while gave me a bottle opener -looks like silver. The handle holds what looks like a gold medal with an image of J2P2 on one side and of St. Peter's on the other. We call it the "popener".
“If a jogger runs at the speed of sound,can he still hear his Walkman?”
Yes.. Eucharist is Jesus becoming once again flesh to be consumed by the flesh.. an insult to the Holy Spirit.. in essence.. and in reality.. It flys in the face of the Holy Spirit performing spiritually.,. The Eucharist raises the flesh to preposterous import.. and reduces the spirit/Spirit to figurative character..
LoL...
Great points, you two.
Thx.
Liberalism's worst enemy is the Catholic Church.It is not the Bible, because the Bible can be interpreted and twisted to suit liberalism.
You're fooling yourself if you think otherwise
The Catholic Church makes concrete the correct interpretations of Scripture that teaches against abortion,homosexuality,masturbation,and every kind of immoral issue.
The gates of hell can invade individual scriptural interpretations,but the gates of hell cannot invade the scriptural interpretations of faith and morals of the Catholic Church.
Exactly. Well-said.
The Eucharist raises the flesh to preposterous import.. and reduces the spirit/Spirit to figurative character.
Almost as if it's denying the Holy Spirit which we're told by Christ is unpardonable.
Do please slow down on the Eucharist problem of flesh v. Spirit (which we beg the Father to send on the gifts). There’s the whole problem of what a resurrected (or “spiritual”) body is. Even if we’re wrong I don’t think it’s the slam dunk you make it out to be.
It is a definite problem.. with some, with others they deny there is a problem.. The conversation could be engaged.. What do I know?.. Except what seems to me to be my experience.. WHat then is the Holy Spirit(paraclete)?, a drone in the hive to be given "tasks" by men, or very God.. You see it is a definite problem..
A valid point, I think.
You know better than to maen this! I pray!
My construction on that Scripture is that
the meek will be all that’s left.
And, meekness is an attitude of the heart TOWARD GOD.
Not wimpiness in any & all contexts.
“Liberalism’s worst enemy is the Catholic Church.”
Bishops: Iraq Situation Intolerable
By DAVID LIGHTMAN Washington Bureau Chief, The Hartford Courant
3:03 PM EDT, July 23, 2007
WASHINGTON - Responding to a call from 14 Catholic members of Congress, a spokesman for the nation’s Catholic bishops said today the current situation in Iraq is intolerable and that they would like to meet with the lawmakers to discuss how to responsibly end the war.”The current situation in Iraq is unacceptable and unsustainable, as is the policy and political stalemate among decisionmakers in Washington,” said the Most Rev. Thomas G. Wenski, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops committee on international policy.
Then there’s Berrigan and Drinan.
I wonder when the KJV philacteries are going to appear.
Liberalism is more a product of the reformation .
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