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."
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. - John 6:63
Nevertheless I shall continue to accept as certain knowledge only the words of God fully and without additions, rationalizations or qualifications.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20
Oh, bull. You didn't want more substantive responses. You accuse me of "favoring" communism, yet you are unable to come one with one sentence in my posts to back up your asinine, ridiculous assertions.
I had a hard time explaining to myself such sentences, paragraphs, phrases
Which ones? And if you can't explain them, why don't you ask for an explanation before shooting from the hip? Is that too humble for you?
It was hard to even imagine why such a perspective would be so seemingly proffered . . . especially by one wish such a background
What perspective did I offer? I simply outlined the differences between various political and social regimes, without endorsing a single one.
It’s still hard.
Well, I can't help you there.
Perhaps there’s just an intellectual fascination with hair-splitting over definitions and specifics of the world Communist push of the globalists?
It's good to know your enemies' differences. Ignorance is never an asset.
I really don’t understand the origin of such pontifications
That's obvious. Besides, facts are not "pontifications," except to those who don't understand.
BTW, posting in a public forum is invitation enough to respond
True, but it is also a matter of respecting another human being who doesn't wish to waste his time with you, which you obviously choose to ignore for the sake of attention.
I already told you: stop posting to me. I have no interest in your blather. You are not offering anything of substance that interest me. All you do is shoot form the hip and offer nothing worthy of a response. I don't care for your comments. Get it?
I am guilty of shooting from the hip more than a time or 3.
In this case . . . I didn’t per se read any blatantly clear sentences supporting Communism.
But I had a hard time understanding what the seemingly deliberate inferences were supposed to be. I figured my provocative style would ferret things out one way or another. Seems to have clearly done so.
I’m not convinced that simply asking you a straightforward question is the best way or even a consistently likely way to garner enlightenment from you.
***And when you bow to Mary and the saints, you make them gods.***
Do we now?
Does that mean that when someone of secular authority such as a monarch passes by and we bow, we are worshipping them? Or when performers on the stage come out and bow to the audience, they are worshipping them? Ever been bowed out of a New York hotel by the doorman? I guess that I have been made a god by the doorman, eh?
Bowing is a sign of respect or reverence. Prostrating one’s self, now that is worship.
******You do realize that the monarch of England is the head of their church?
And you have no problem with it?***
I have absolutely no problem with that. I am not English :>)***
Ah, but if you are a true son of Eire, any pronouncements from the English must be taken with suspicion, and to take to heart the very creed that one professes that is an English government decree, then one might wonder at the incongruity.
Governments have no business in proclaiming religious doctrine.
***There was an altar on the wall of the restaurant . . .
Very, very, very, VERY much like the Buddhist altars in most Restaurants in Taipei.***
Long before the Jews wrote the OT, various other religions wrote their scripture in books or scrolls of various kinds. Therefore the practice of writing scripture and disseminating it is pagan, right?
Lost in the mists of time, the ancients developed the idea of priests or shamans that were schooled in their religions and taught the people about it. Therefore anyone learned in religion is pagan, right?
Thousands of years of civilization have seen the people of a religion give money to it. Therefore the idea of tithing is pagan, right?
***I have no idea what your James Joyce comment means.***
Maybe if you got out more. I believe that you claim that you are in some version of academe; I find it difficult to believe that an educated man is unaware of the contributions of James Joyce to the literary genre.
***And, believe me, or not, I know Bibliolatry from very close up personally and with other loved ones.***
I have doubt about it. The question is why you would defend it by defining it otherwise.
***I make no sense out of the “What insurance company do they use?” question.***
Again, an educated man ought to know the difference between the word ‘insure’ and the word ‘ensure’.
**I like to at least pretend that anything close to dialogue is likely not in vain.***
One of the tools of the great deceiver is despair.
***Still believing the Rubber History book, sounds like.***
Nope, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs is consigned to the fiction section.
The reprobate deserve no respect. To disrespect them, to display discourtesy, is a sign of faith and election. Indeed to fail to behave in such a way is to call one's own special status with God into question, and to fail to take advantage of the gifts God has given one.
It's a corollary to the notion that any discourtesy shown to the reprobate is the fault of the reprobate for daring to express an opinion or otherwise call attention to himself. The things we say and do demand and impose a duty on the elect to show contempt .
Bowing is a sign of respect or reverence.
= = =
As with most things spiritual . . .
It DEPENDS on the HEART ATTITUDE . . . toward that which one is bowing to.
Did/do I worship the Chinese host/family/leader I was being introduced to as I customarily bowed?
NOT AT ALL!
Would anyone watching me bow have mistaken my bow for worship?
NOT AT ALL!
HOWEVER, such benign and accurate assumptions are NOT true with most bowings at most shrines of any stripe or flavor vis a vis RELIGIOUS RITUALS before them AND the heart attitudes too often prevelant in such rituals.
Me, too. It’s gonna be a blast getting to know all you good Christian FReepers. Mind you, I’m in no hurry...
I love Jeff Foxworthy. What a wit.
I have NO idea. And I’m not going to engage in stuff nobody can prove one way or another. I doubt our memories will be entirely erased but I’m gonna let God do what’s best.
You sound convinced that the above analogy has some applicable validity above a microgram's worth???? Fascinating!
Lost in the mists of time, the ancients developed the idea of priests or shamans that were schooled in their religions and taught the people about it. Therefore anyone learned in religion is pagan, right?
You sound convinced that the above analogy has some applicable validity above a microgram's worth???? Fascinating!
Thousands of years of civilization have seen the people of a religion give money to it. Therefore the idea of tithing is pagan, right?
You sound convinced that the above analogy has some applicable validity above a microgram's worth???? Fascinating!
***I have no idea what your James Joyce comment means.***
Maybe if you got out more. I believe that you claim that you are in some version of academe; I find it difficult to believe that an educated man is unaware of the contributions of James Joyce to the literary genre.
Of course I'm familiar with Joyce's work. Doesn't mean I mind read your meaning and implications from such a single sentence. I'm sorry, your loftiness, I just haven't been able to grasp your crypticness. 'Tis a common failing of mine. And, often when I read many things . . . other folks come up with one or two obvious meanings and I come up with half a dozen or more and struggle to discern the right one. Genius IQ's are not all they are cracked up to be. So sorry.
***And, believe me, or not, I know Bibliolatry from very close up personally and with other loved ones.***
I have doubt about it. The question is why you would defend it by defining it otherwise.
Oh, dear me. Didn't realize I was so unclear. I didn't realize that bright folks would remotely imagine that I was defending BIBLIOLATRY! I didn't realize the words I used were that difficult. Perhaps I'll eventually figure out a strategy for amending my ways. I guess the only thing I can recommend in between time is a good dictionary.
***I make no sense out of the “What insurance company do they use?” question.***
Again, an educated man ought to know the difference between the word ‘insure’ and the word ‘ensure’.
OH, Dear, dear, dear me. My chronic lifetime spelling problem strikes again. Making it a higher priority has never been a very successful thing with me. What a pity. BTW, are you implying that I'm lying about my education?
**I like to at least pretend that anything close to dialogue is likely not in vain.***
One of the tools of the great deceiver is despair.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, another famously cryptic, terse, ambiguous, obscure, obtuse comment.
Perhaps you are fantasizing that I'm in despair because I'm not awash in Maryolatry and magicsterium worship?
LOL! GTTM! ROTFLOL!
Ahhhhhhhhhh
So, NOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW you are confessing, admitting that prostrating one's self before a statue of Mary would be worship.
What a long overdue admission.
Are you really blind or unaware of the 100's fo thousands to millions of folks who do precisely that? IIRC, I even saw some do so in Rome.
[PRTTY's: Should be interesting to watch the convoluted rubber logic gyrations and rationalizationis dodging that one! LOL]
OH MY!
What lofty sweetness.
I’m sure God is quite impressed.
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body [were] an eye, where [were] the hearing? If the whole [were] hearing, where [were] the smelling?
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
And if they were all one member, where [were] the body? But now [are they] many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
And those [members] of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely [parts] have more abundant comeliness. For our comely [parts] have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that [part] which lacked:
That there should be no schism in the body; but [that] the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
[Are] all apostles? [are] all prophets? [are] all teachers? [are] all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. – I Corinthians 12:12-31
Have you ever heard a preacher who did not have the gift of preaching? He does more harm than good.
The same holds for any person, council or assembly that holds itself to be the head of the body of Christ, the church. Christ is the head of the church. So when any one or any thing tries to be the head of the body of Christ, the result is more harm than good.
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.– Colossians 1:15-20
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. – Colossians 2:16—23
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. – I Corinthians 3:1-7
In my professional life, as well as in my private one, I concentrate on finding out everything about any subect that concerns me, no matter how I feel about it personally, no matter how much I like or dislike it.
To know is better than not to know.
I take your response as a clarification, if not an outright apology, and I forigve you.
Just remember, you don't have to agree with me. God forbid! But give others the same courtesy you'd expect others to give you.
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