ping!
Read the whole article, it’s not long, but it is indeed insightful, IMO.
Well, this leads me to a thought that has been swirling in my head now for a few days. Christian denominations in America need to review their “open-borders” policy, because right now quasi-Christians are dismantling our fabric. The secularists have infiltrated our houses of the Lord and used our places of worship against us. They pretend to believe but don’t live a Christian life. They believe Karl Marx is God. This needs to be addressed by all denominations.
I have loved the biblical study of “faith.” It lells us what faith is; where to get faith; why we must have faith; and the rewards of faith.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God): for he (me or you) that cometh to God must believe that He
(God) is, and that He is a rewarder of them that deligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)
“He (Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
And being fully persuaded that, what He (God) had promised, He was also able to perform. Therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:20-22)
The verse in Hebrews is specific .. “Faith is the substance ...?
So what is the “substance” faith is based upon ..??
THE WORD OF GOD! God always keeps His Word - while man struggles to tell the truth. This is why we cannot base our faith on the words of a man .. just as we cannot base our faith on things we don’t understand, things we cannot see or truths we don’t know. We can only base our faith on the Word of God.
NIV Deuteronomy 4:32
Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?NIV Psalms 89:47
Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all men!NIV Psalms 104:30
When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.NIV Psalms 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.NIV Psalms 148:4-5
4. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.
5. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.NIV Isaiah 40:26
Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.NIV Isaiah 41:19-20
19. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together,
20. so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.NIV Isaiah 42:5-6
5. This is what God the LORD says-- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:
6. "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.NIV Isaiah 43:1
But now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.NIV Isaiah 43:6-7
6. I will say to the north, `Give them up!' and to the south, `Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth--
7. everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."NIV Isaiah 45:7-8
7. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.
8. "You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it.NIV Isaiah 45:12
It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.NIV Isaiah 45:18
For this is what the LORD says-- he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited-- he says: "I am the LORD, and there is no other."NIV Isaiah 54:16-17
16. "See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;
17. no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD.NIV Isaiah 57:16
I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me-- the breath of man that I have created.NIV Isaiah 65:17-18
17. "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
18. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.NIV Ezekiel 28:13-15
13. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
14. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
15. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.NIV Malachi 2:10
Have we not all one Father ? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?
NIV Matthew 13:35
So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."NIV Matthew 25:34
"Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.NIV Mark 10:6
"But at the beginning of creation God `made them male and female.' (Not umpteen eons later; after lots of Evolution takes place!)NIV Mark 13:18-19
18. Pray that this will not take place in winter,
19. because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now--and never to be equaled again.NIV Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.NIV Romans 1:25
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.NIV Romans 8:20-22
20. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21. that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.NIV 1 Corinthians 11:8-9
8. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;
9. neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.NIV Ephesians 3:8-9
8. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9. and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.NIV Colossians 1:16-17
16. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
17. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.NIV 1 Timothy 4:4-5
4. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
5. because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.NIV Hebrews 4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.NIV Hebrews 9:11
When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.NIV Hebrews 9:26
Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.NIV Hebrews 12:26-29
26. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."
27. The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
29. for our "God is a consuming fire."NIV 2 Peter 3:4
They will say, "Where is this `coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."NIV Revelation 4:11
"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."NIV Revelation 10:6
And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay!NIV Revelation 13:8
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.NIV Revelation 17:8
The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
And contrary to what some claim, faith is not believing something you know isn’t true.
It’s believing the person who makes the statements because you know His character and know that He is trustworthy.
Bishop Sheen on his TV program was talking about science and scientists. He said scientists should be even greater men of faith than those who aren’t. Scientists do not create. They only discover the workings of that which has been created. They theorize as to how things were created, they can even replicate created things, yet they cannot take nothing and create something out of it.
When this world speaks of faith, they do act as if those who have faith in God and His Son, Jesus, must suspend all intelligent thought in order to do so.