I like Bill Shatner. Although I never liked “Star Trek,” I loved the “Twilight Zone” and the episodes he starred in.

This morning my wife was watching the episode of “Raw Nerve” that featured Florence Henderson. Florence was explaining to Bill that the soul lives forever. She got an “A” on that as far as I was concerned. Bill doesn’t believe in an after-life. He said that he believes that this life is all there is and after that, it’s over. This thought terrified him.

Quite frankly, it should terrify him. What Bill doesn’t understand–but Florence at least understood this part–is that there is a life after death and it is forever. The question is where you are going to spend that eternity. You only have two choices. In that regard it’s easy: heaven or hell.

After watching the show this morning I just had to write and ask whomever is reading this: are you ready? Are YOU READY?

Ready for what?

Ready to die. Ready to leave this earth. Ready for Jesus to return if you are still alive. All three of these are certainties. The odds of you dying are remarkable: 100%. You will die.

But that isn’t the end.

Do you know for certain where you are going once you die? You can know. Seriously.

You can know, right now, where you are going at the moment of death if Jesus is your Savior.

Bill, you don’t have to be terrified. Give your life over to Jesus and all your fears of death will vanish.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” –John 3:16-18

ARE YOU READY?

May He Increase!

The Chasm

There is a chasm between every human being and the Creator of the Universe. It’s a chasm that no one can cross over by strictly human means.

Why the chasm? What caused it? In a word, sin. The sin of Adam and Eve and all of their children (that’s you and I) caused a separation between God and us.

In ancient times, in the days before Jesus of Nazareth, God provided a way to “cover” the people’s sin: animal sacrifice. It was the blood of the animal that appeased God’s wrath. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22). In fact, we see this subtlety after Adam and Eve sinned.

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. –Genesis 3:21.

Prior this moment, Adam and Eve were vegetarians and were naked in ever sense of the word. But now that they sinned, something needed to cover that sin and that was the blood of an animal.

But that was the Old Testament, the old covenant. It never removed sin, it only covered sin.

When Jesus came and died upon the cross, His shed blood removed our sin. Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the world as our sacrificial Lamb (John 1:29).

The cause of God’s condemnation: willful ignorance

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. –Romans 1:18-19.

Here Paul begins a long passage where he describes God’s indictment of the world. Paul is clear: God has revealed His wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness!

Why?

Because that which is known about God is evident within them!

Why?

For God made it evident to them!

Paul is just getting started, but already he leaves all of us without excuse.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. –Romans 1:20.

In case you missed it, let’s just break this one down. Since the creation of this world:

1. God’s invisible attributes have been clearly seen
2. God’s eternal power has been clearly seen
3. God’s divine nature has been clearly seen

How?

By being understood through what has been made. In other words, by looking at all God has created, we can clearly see items 1-3.

Update 10/21/2009 3:30 p.m. PDT: Please reference - Exhibit A. (HT: Caffeinated Thoughts)

So what?

We are without excuse!

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. –Romans 1:21-23.

Stunning! I believe Paul is saying that everyone knows there is a God. That means atheists and agnostics. Surely atheists deny the existence of God (that’s willful). As such, they do not honor Him as God or give thanks. So what follows this? They become futile in their speculations and their foolish hearts are darkened.

Update 10/21/2009 3:45 p.m. PDT: Please reference – Exhibit B. (HT: GetReligion.org)

The result of this?

Professing to be wise, they became fools! The natural outflow of this is the exchange of the glory of the incorruptible God for the worship of corruptible man and the animals.

The consequences of the condemnation: divine abandonment

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. –Romans 1:24-25.

Because man has not acknowledged God in His role as Creator, “God them over” in the lusts of our hearts to impurity. The Greek word for “impurity” means “the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate living.” Just because you may be living in lust and luxuriant living and nothing bad is happening, doesn’t mean God is okay with it. He’s abandoned you!

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. –Romans 1:26-27.

Because man has not acknowledged God in His role as Creator, “God them over” to degrading passions. The Greek word for “passions” means “in the New Testament, in a bad sense, depraved passion, vile passions.”

The Bible is clear: homosexuality is a sin. I don’t care what the prevailing “wisdom” says. The Bible is very clear on this. Moreover, from the reading of these passages in Romans, this appears to be a judgment levied on those who would not acknowledge God as Creator!

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. –Romans 1:28-32.

Let’s break this down.

Again, because man has not acknowledged God in His role as Creator, “God them over” to a depraved mind. What flows from having a depraved mind?

1. Doing things that are not proper
2. Filled with unrighteousness
3. Wickedness
4. Greed
5. Evil
6. Full of envy
7. Murder
8. Strife
9. Deceit
10. Malice
11. Gossip
12. Slanderers
13. Haters of God
14. Insolent
15. Arrogant
16. Boastful
17. Inventors of evil
18. Disobedient to parents
19. Without understanding
20. Untrustworthy
21. Unloving
22. Unmerciful

It is truly an ugly list. Do you recognize any of those items in your own life? I see some of them in my own life from time-to-time. That’s the sin nature that we all have!

And what is the penalty for those who practice these things?

Those who practice such things are worthy of death! Death! It’s the death penalty!

And look closely. It’s not just those who practice such things but those who give hearty approval to those who do! Do you understand how cancerous it is for churches that are part of the Body of Christ to support the behaviors mentioned in these passages?

The Bridge

As we already mentioned, all of this caused a chasm between us and God. The only way to get from our side of depravity to God’s side of glory and righteousness is through the cross of Christ.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. –Romans 3:23-26.

God publicly displayed to all the world, His wrath and His indictment that He poured out on His Son. Jesus took our place. The wrath God had stored up for you and I He placed upon His Son. He loved us so much that He did that so you could cross that chasm between you and He and spend eternity with Him!

The Alternative?

So let’s say you choose to continue living in your depravity. Maybe you’re happy living a life apart from God. Maybe you’re saying to yourself: “Hey, this is all there is. There is no afterlife so I need to get it all now!”

If that’s you, friend, then you are deluding yourself and believing the lie of Satan. I care about you too much to deceive you so I am going to tell you the truth of your end. If you die before Jesus returns, that isn’t the end of your life.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Any if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. –Revelation 20:14-15.

If you don’t believe in the afterlife, and that you’re just going to die and be buried or your ashes scattered at sea, I have a news flash for you: you’re wrong! The sea is going to give up her dead just as those who are buried. And you’ll be raised up for judgment and thrown into the lake of fire! You’ll be spending eternity with Satan in hell!

That is the truth, friend. It’s one or the other. God loves you so much He’s giving you the choice! He is not going to force you to love Him, but He will force you–in the time to come–to worship and acknowledge Him as God! Don’t be on that side the chasm.

May He Increase!

He just wrote a really powerful post that I wanted to partly share here at May He Increase.

HT: pcorrela

Young men, have you really made up your minds to this? Have you clearly looked into the fires which are before you, if you persist in despising Christianity? Call to mind the words of David: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). The fool, and no one but the fool has said it: but he has never proved it! Remember, if there ever was a book which has been proved true from beginning to end, by every kind of evidence, that book is the Bible. It has defied the attacks of all enemies and faultfinders. “The Word of the Lord is flawless” (Psalm 18:30). It has been tested in every way, and the more it has been tested, the more evidently has it been shown to be the very handiwork of God Himself. What will you believe, if you do not believe the Bible? There is no choice but to believe something ridiculous and absurd. Depend on it, no man is so grossly naive as the man who denies the Bible to be the Word of God; and if it be the Word of God, be careful that you don’t despise it.

Men may tell you that there are difficulties in the Bible; things hard to understand. It would not be God’s book if there were not. And what if there are? You don’t despise medicines because you cannot explain all that your doctor does with them. But whatever men may say, the things needed for salvation are as clear as daylight. Be very sure of this–people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They understand it too well; they understand that it condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment. They try to believe it is false and useless, because they don’t like to believe it is true. An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this book. Men question the truth of Christianity because they hate the practice of it. (Editor Note: Emphasis is the original author’s, but I would have highlighted the same portions myself.)

You can read the rest of the post, THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG MEN…warnings about thoughtlessness and contempt of Christianity, here.

If you have not yet become a Christian, what do you have to say about this? Do you understand what the author is saying? Are you concerned? Don’t care? Curious? Want to know more?

I want to hear what you have to say.

May He Increase!

HT: Bern@t

While “bad” things happen to “good” people sometimes, God will not destroy the righteous along with the unrighteous. One parable that describes this is the parable of the wheat and the tares (or weeds).

Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.” –Matthew 13:24-25.

Here the man is Jesus. The field is the world. The enemy is Satan. The good seed are the believers. The tares are the followers of Satan, or simply unbelievers.

Satan does not rest. Even at this moment he is busy about sowing weeds among the wheat!

“But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.” –Matthew 13:26.

It should come as no surprise that Satan makes himself busy about sowing weeds among the church body. In fact, it’s where Satan directs his attacks. Why bother with those who are happily going about their lives, living life on their own (and Satan’s) terms!

“The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’” –Matthew 13:27.

It’s a interesting question. We can liken this to us asking God: “Lord, why/how could you allow someone like Jim Jones to start a church and then have them commit suicide in the middle of the jungle?”

“And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.’” –Matthew 13:28-29.

It’s so hard for us in our modern day to liken ourselves to being a “slave.” It has such a negative connotation for us. No so in God’s lexicon. He wants us to be slaves for Him.

In God’s mercy and justice, He would rather let the weeds grow for a little while longer than for His precious wheat to be uprooted.

“‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘” –Matthew 13:30.

The harvest is the end of the age.

Jesus further explains:

“So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” –Matthew 13:40-42 (Emphasis mine).

If you are not yet a Christian, that last portion of the verse should bother you. It should rock you to your core.

Are you willing to put off or deny your salvation because of your stubbornness of heart?

Are you so sure that there is no God?

Are you so convinced that when you die you simply ceased to exist?

Are you so sure that evolution is factual and you are simply a cosmic accident?

Are you really sure?

What if … you are … wrong?

Repent and believe in the Good News of Christ today!

Think about something:

Who has less to lose? You or the believer?

If I’m wrong, then yes, I’ll simply cease to exist at the end of my life. But, if you’re wrong … you will spend an eternity in hell; a place that no one currently occupies but was intended for Satan and his demons … and all those who would reject Christ!

So I ask you: why would you wait a moment longer to gain eternal life?

May He Increase!

The post was regarding the doctrine of Jesus being fully God and fully man. If Jesus was truly God, why was He asking if He could be spared the cross?

Let’s first take a look at the passages in Matthew that reference this. This is right after the Last Supper in the Upper Room. After that supper, Jesus and the eleven disciples (Judas left to go get the temple guards to arrest Him) made their way to Gethsemane. Jesus left them to be on watch.

And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. –Matthew 26:39, 42, 44.

Three times Jesus prayed. Three times Jesus’ sought the Father’s will. Jesus was not trying to get out of His mission: to take upon Himself the sin of the world. He knew His purpose for His existence in the world.

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God. –John 13:3.

A couple things were going on during these hours in the garden. Jesus was Holy. Jesus was God. A holy God cannot look at sin. Sin must be judged.

Sodom and Gomorrah–those ancient cities of sin–had to be judged by God.

And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. –Genesis 18:20.

God sends two angels to investigate what is occurring in those cities. Is it because God cannot physically do it Himself? No, it’s because God is holy. In order for God to deal with His people, the sin issue has to be dealt with first.

In the Old Testament, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies to speak with God and only on one day per year: Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:2). Otherwise, he or anyone else would die. Why? Because God is holy and man is not. Moreover, the only way even the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies–where the ark and the Mercy Seat were kept–is by first going through a ritual purification (Leviticus 16:3-4) and making a sin offering. Why? The high priest’s sin had to be dealt with before entering to speak with God and make a sin offering for the people!

Back to Gethsemane … Jesus is about to make a once-and-for-all sin offering on behalf of all humanity! It’s never been done before and will never be repeated again. Jesus, being fully God and fully man, realized the enormity of the sacrifice. Being completely holy, He would have recoiled at having to take upon Himself the sin of the whole world.

I do believe, too, that Jesus prayed three times in order to confirm, beyond any doubt, that there is only one way to the Father: by Jesus’ shed blood of His cross. He prayed three times that if there is any other way, then let’s take that route. Jesus’ prayer was answered: the only way you will ever enter heaven is by Jesus’ blood. There is nothing else that will wash away yours or my sin!

The book of Isaiah even says the same, and that’s in the Old Testament!

“I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides Me. Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand.” –Isaiah 43:11, 13.

Buddha doesn’t save.

Confucius doesn’t save.

Mohammad doesn’t save.

Allah doesn’t save.

Joseph Smith doesn’t save.

The dalai lama doesn’t save.

Scientology doesn’t save.

Eckhart Tolle doesn’t save.

Being an atheist or an agnostic certainly doesn’t keep you from judgment; it doesn’t save.

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” –Acts 4:12.

That name, my friend, is Yeshua, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah and our Coming King.

That cup of suffering was freely accepted by Jesus. He took it from the hand of the Father. He paid it all so He could be with you forever. Won’t you accept His free gift of salvation today?

May He Increase!