PSEUDO-SPIRITUALITY

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALITY

I woke up one day last week with this word in my mind, I wasn't even sure how to spell it, but looked it up on Google and found it was a fancy word for "false" or we might say a "counterfeit". So when it is added to any word as a prefix it simply means it is a "fake imitation" of that thing. Because we are all created in the image and likeness of our Creator, we all are born with a built in desire to worship someone or some thing. Since our spiritual enemy, Satan the "Great Deceiver" takes advantage of this desire and gives us a mixed variety of false spiritual experiences to choose from. That is why the "church" has been plagued with so many so-called "New Age" religious experiences to lead us astray from worshipping our Creator God through Jesus Christ His Son. Jesus and many NT writers all warned us over and over to expect "many" false prophets and teachers to appear in the "churches" in the last days before Jesus comes back to earth for His second coming in "clouds of glory". I believe we are now in the beginning of these "Last Days" that has been predicted. But no one except Father God knows the time when this event will take place, but there have been many false attempts to tell us the date. This seems to be a popular lie to try to deceive people.

 

That is why it is critically important to have a good understanding of OT prophecies, as well as a knowledge of NT prophecies that pertain to the second coming of Jesus. It seems that this topic has been the most often one to be "counterfeited". I suppose that is because everyone wants to be sure they go to heaven to be with Jesus, and the sooner the better. For sure no one wants to suffer under the reign of the coming Antichrist, so that is why the "Pre-Tribulation Rapture" theory has been so popular. Because they have taught that the church will be caught up to be with Jesus before this Antichrist shows up on the scene. But a simple reading of (Rev 13:1-10) will prove this theory to be false. So many of this type of "pseudo-spiritual" teaching can by avoided by a careful and prayerful comparison to scripture. The reason for counterfeit $100.00 bills is because there are "real ones", the same thing goes for counterfeit expensive watches or any other valuable item. So it should be no surprise to us that our enemy, Satan the "Great Deceiver" would use so many different "counterfeit" spiritual experiences to trap believers in Jesus. So again I would encourage you to check out all Scripture passages that mention "false" (pseudo) prophets or teachers.There are quite a few, so be like the Bereans in (Acts 17:11)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                         30/12/12

THE ONE MEDIATOR

THE ONE MEDIATOR

 

From Paul's first letter to his young disciple Timothy we read in (1 Tim 2:5) "For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus". The most common use of this word in our society today would be in the case of a dispute between a labor union and an employer, and the government might appoint a "mediator" to try and bring the two sides to an "agreement". In the scripture mentioned here the two sides are "man", who because of Adam and Eve disobeying the only restriction their Creator had placed on them in the Garden of Eden, this act of rebellion brought "sin" and "death" into creation, (Rom 5:12). This original act of sin brought a division between God and man that only Jesus Christ the "sinless God/Man" could take care of by His death on the Cross of Calvary. We read that everyone on earth are "sinners" (Rom 3:9-23), and the penalty for sin is death

(Rom 6:23) so it required the death of a sinless man to pay this debt and redeem mankind. This is the very heart of the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God., which is really the key message of the complete Bible, especially the NT portion, which includes the New Covenant.

 

The marvelous "secret plan" that was kept hidden from mankind until the apostle Paul came on the scene, was that through Jesus Christ He would make "One New Man" from the Jews and the Gentiles (non Jews). See (Eph 1:3-10, 2:11-22, 3:1-10) to understand that this secret plan was really the creation of the "Biblical Church" that Jesus said He would build, as recorded in (Matt 16:18). This True Church includes people from every tribe and nation in the world who place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. When they do this they are "born again" by the Spirit of God, as Jesus told Nicodemus he must be in (John 3:1-8). At this moment they are "adopted" by the Father into His Eternal Family. This is why the Name of Jesus is the most important Name of all the persons mentioned in the Bible. And of course the Name that is used more often than any other as a "curse word" by those wicked and ungodly followers of Satan the god of this world. Jesus called him the father of lies, and that there is no truth in him. See (John 8:44) for the discussion He had with a group of religious leaders. He is often referred to in scripture as the "Great Deceiver", and he still functions in that role in the present 21^st century. That's why Jesus and the apostles like Paul, John, and Peter warns us to beware of deception!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                         22/12/12

 

the incarnation

THE INCARNATION

 

At this time of year when we celebrate the coming to earth of Jesus Christ, in a time we call "Christmas", our minds are drawn to the miracle of what we call "the incarnation". In the writings of the apostle Paul, we find several passages that pertain to this event. (Phil 2:5-11) is one of my favorite scriptures pertaining to the first coming of Jesus to our planet, and (Gal 4:4-7) is another. But first we should look at (Luke 1:26-38), where we read of the coming to Mary of the arch-angel Gabriel, with the news that she had been favored by God for the task of being the human instrument through whom the Savior of the world would take on human form! Most of us learn quite early in life how the human reproduction system works. It requires a female to produce an egg at a certain point in her monthly cycle, which must then be fertilized by a male at the right time in order to achieve conception. In Mary's case, at the correct time in her monthly cycle, she was "overshadowed" by the Holy Spirit, and the child conceived in her womb was truly the Son of God. This was one of the greatest miracles of all time!

 

The way Paul described this miracle event in (Phil 2:5-11) is awesome! The first part of the chapter describes how we should relate to other members in the body of Christ by putting others ahead of ourselves. He uses Jesus as our example of humility. Let me quote verses 5-7 from the Amp version "Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus—let Him be your example in humility—who although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God, God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained; but stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity] so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being." This is what Christmas is all about!!

Is it any wonder that the world system and other world religions, do not want us to celebrate Christmas as the birthday of the Savior? They do not believe in Jesus, and don't want to be reminded of His coming in the "fullness of time", born of a virgin, so that He could fulfill all the scriptures from the Old Testament prophets, who told about His supernatural birth. Let's do all we can do to keep this true message of Christ in Christmas this year, and every year until He comes again for His second appearance!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

THE SEVEN FOLD DNA of GOD

THE SEVEN FOLD DNA of GOD

 

Our scientific world after many years of research, agree that every human on our planet has a separate and unique DNA. In other words we are all different and unique, and were created this way by our Creator God. According to (Ex 34:5-7) God Himself declared to His friend Moses His self revealed character, which we can call His DNA, so Moses could record it as part of God's Word the Bible. It consists of seven parts 1/ Compassion

2/ Grace 3/ Slow to anger 4/ Mercy 5/ Truth 6/ Faithful 7/ Forgiving, this is the way God wants us to see Him. Unfortunately because of our concept of a father based on our own earthly fathers, it has been very difficult for most people to accept God as our Father. God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus and the Father are declared as being One and the same in several scripture passages. For example (Heb 1:1-3) and in (Col 2:9) where we read "For in Him [Jesus] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily".

Because we know more about Jesus from the scriptures, and can see in the four gospel accounts his actions toward people, it just seems easier to receive Him as a loving Lord and Savior than the Father who is Spirit and invisible. And the Father is easy to malign because He doesn't defend Himself. As a result He is often blamed for things that are simply called "Acts of God", especially by insurance companies who don't want to pay for damages for certain claims.

 

So definitely the Father has received a "bad rap" by society as a whole because they are ignorant of what the Bible says about Him. And this is partly because those of us to claim to be followers of Jesus have not done a very good job of representing Him to the "fallen world" around us. We really have no excuse because the scriptures make it clear what we should do to show people what a life of following Jesus should look like. There are various reasons we can offer for not being a better witness for Jesus but none of them are valid. We read in (Acts 1:8) that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us He will give us the power to "be" witnesses to Jesus starting in our home town and working out from there to the whole world. We have been told we need to "do" witnessing in various ways, but this verse tells us that out very life should BE a witness if we are walking in the Spirit as Paul tells us in (Gal 5:13-21). Here Paul explains clearly the problem often is that we are walking in the "flesh" and not the "Spirit". And God always leaves the choice up to us, he never forces us to make choices!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                    02/09/12

REJECTION

REJECTION

 

The problem of addictions and rejection are closely related, and both have the common root of "lack of love", or to be more specific, the inability of being able to give or receive love freely. This is definitely a spiritual problem that is caused by unclean demon spirits, sometimes received while the person is still in their mother's womb. We are all created with the need to receive and return love freely, and when we are not able to do that, we suffer from the feeling of not being accepted! We are told in the Bible in (Gen 1:26-27) that we are created in the "Image and likeness of God". And we know God is a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Fear is closely connected to rejection, because when we feel we have no value, the enemy makes us believe this lie, and we fear we are rejected. Those who have studied rejection say 60-70 present of all rejection is imagined, and because they are carrying a spirit of rejection, they naturally feel rejected and withdraw, like a turtle into our shell! This is the most common defense that people who suffer from rejection depend on.

 

We need to receive the truth that Paul expresses in (Phil 1:6) "And I am certain that God, who began a good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished when Christ Jesus returns". (NLT). Another common defense against feeling rejected is to explode with anger or rage, and look to our addictions, or to some other person for comfort. Love and acceptance is the antidote for rejection, and knowing who you are "in Christ" (2 Cor 5:17). Jesus had to deal with "rejection" more than anyone, so once we are in Him our rejection has already been dealt with!! PTL! That is why it is essential to be "born again" by the Spirit, as Jesus told a very religious man named Nicodemus in (John 3:1-8). This is how we became a follower of Jesus and are "adopted" into God's Forever Eternal family as Paul explains to us in (Eph 1:1-14), one of the most important passages in the NT scriptures. I can relate to people suffering from rejection, because I believe I picked up a spirit of rejection in my mother's womb. And I lived with it most of my life, until I learned about "deliverance". So I have always had compassion for people who suffer from rejection, and know that there is hope for them "in Jesus" (2 Cor 5:17). So I encourage anyone who has trouble giving or receiving love to consider this problem as something they can be delivered from. Yes there is "Hope" in Jesus!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                   21/11/12

 

COMPARE ROMANS THREE WITH ROMANS SEVEN

COMPARE ROMANS THREE WITH ROMANS SEVEN

 

This is a very easy comparison to make to clear up any confusion about who has "eternal life", and who is still a "sinner". The book of Romans was written by the man who was known as Saul of Tarsus who met Jesus on the Damascus road one day and had a transformation experience to become the apostle Paul who wrote the Letter to the Romans plus many other letters that are all part of our NT scriptures. You can read of his conversion experience in (Acts 9:1-9), so he knows what he is talking about. No one in their right mind can possibly read (Rom 3:9-26) and not realize that they have been a sinner in God's eyes since birth. Only people who have been brought up believing certain lies of Satan that they can be become a Christian by doing certain good works like going to church and being "religious" etc. Jesus told a very religious man in (John 3:1-8) that he must be "born again" to be part of God's Kingdom and go to heaven when he died. A careful read through chapters 5 and 6 of Romans will show anyone clearly what happens when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and be baptized in water. We become a new creation in Jesus as Paul declares later in (2 Cor 5:17), this we refer to as the "New Birth" and is absolutely a necessary step to becoming a follower of Jesus as Paul did and went on to become one of the greatest of the early apostles.

 

But even Paul still had a problem with his "flesh nature" as revealed in chapter 7. When we are born again our old "sin nature" that we inherited from Adam died with Jesus on the cross and was buried by our baptism in water. But our flesh nature is with us until we die physically, and this is what Paul was describing in chapter 7. So in chapter 8 he explains how to have victory over the "flesh", read (Rom 8:1-11) to see how to maintain the victory in the Christian life. Unfortunately many people who only think they are true Christians are not, because they have never been "born again" and still remain in their original sinful condition. I believe a simple reading of these chapters of Romans would clearly show them how easy it is to know without any doubt, where you stand with God. We know that He is not willing that any should perish but that all come to accept eternal life in Christ Jesus the Lord and Savior. But every one of us is given a "free will" with which to make choices. The "wise choice" is to choose Jesus and be assured of eternal life with Him and His Father, and the "foolish choice" is simply to not make the wise choice and suffer the consequences!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                  19/11/12

SOUL TIES

SOUL TIES

 

This expression can be thought of as the complete opposite to one made famous by Anne of Green Gables. Her expression I refer to was "kindred spirits", used to explain her relationship with certain "special friends". One has to do with our soul realm, and the other with the spiritual. Many people confuse these two, since they both deal with the invisible realm, as opposed to the visible, material world we live in! Our spirit and soul are so closely related that only the word of God can separate the two. (Heb 4:12).

 

Our "soul" is composed of our mind, will and emotions, and is that part of us we use to communicate with each other. Our spirit on the other hand is that part of us reserved for communication with Father God. Since the fall of Adam, recorded in Gen 3, the human spirit has been "dead in trespasses and sin" (Eph 2:1), and needs to be "born again", or "made alive" in Christ before we can have a relationship with our Creator. The unregenerate man can communicate with other humans, but not with God.

 

What we mean by "soul ties", are sometimes unhealthy relationships we can enter into with other people that lead to bondage. They are often in the sensual realm, and often involve sexual activity, or at least close emotional relationships. Once formed these ties are most difficult, if not impossible to break. We often hear of two people who formed this type of soul tie when they were young, and then perhaps after 30 or 40 years and each married to different spouses, they meet each other and before they know it are involved in an illegitimate emotional or sexual affair. This is the root cause of many divorces today, even in the church. Like any other sin, the only way to break a soul tie is to confess it as sin, repent of it, and ask Jesus to set you free from it. Better still we should never enter into any close emotional relationship with another human being, unless we know it to be "in the Lord", and with His complete approval.

 

This is a vital lesson for young people to learn before they start to establish relationships with members of the opposite gender, .or even unhealthy ties with members of the same gender! We refer to these as "gender issues", which can, and often do, lead to homosexuality in males, or lesbianism in females. This is a major problem in our modern culture!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                             4/10/11

 

ADVICE TO YOUNG PARENTS

ADVICE TO YOUNG PARENTS

I have observed many young couples, especially first time parents, who would welcome some advice from a grandfather who has been around for awhile. I certainly don't consider myself as any sort of an expert in this field, only an observer. The first thing I would like you to consider is the great privilege it is to be chosen by God to be allowed to parent a new infant that has been created in His image. And although new born babies appear on the outside to be perfect little angels, on the inside they are really just small sized "sinners" who carry the original sinful nature passed down from Adam. It is important to realize this fact up front, and that God has given you the "responsibility" of training up this child to love and follow Him. This starts from the moment of conception when the sperm from the father meets the egg from the mother. Even though our government may not acknowledge that the child is a person before they leave the womb, God's Word proves them wrong. So start praying daily for this child from the moment you find out you are pregnant. Their spirit is alive even while their body is still in the process of being formed. (Ps 139:13-16). So never stop praying for them, and pray out loud so they can get used the hearing the sound of your voices. And that includes you dads especially it will help you to bond with them when you meet in person.

 

Fathers have a definite role the play from day one, so realize your responsibility as a dad. I could never understand how a guy could get his girlfriend pregnant and then force her to have an abortion. Such a guy may be male in gender, but definitely not a "man" in my opinion. If he were a real man he would accept his responsibility to the mother by giving her and the child his name and a home. Dads, your responsibility as the priest of your family is to pray daily for this child even when they are sleeping, as a couple you can enter their bedroom and quietly pray over them. And start while they are young to teach them the Bible Stories about Jesus, and make Him a natural part of your discussions around the home. Never leave this part of their lives to the Church and Sunday school to care for. Sure that should be part of their training, but remember the responsibility before God rests with you as Godly parents. These are only a few things I have observed in my lifetime that should be learned by parents, but apparently they have never been taught by their parents or their church, So please accept these comments from me as suggestions, and not rules you should follow. The Holy Spirit has been given to you as your Comforter and Guide!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                   04/10/12

THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE THEORY

THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE THEORY

 

This term became popular early in the 20^th century among the Evangelical Denominational churches. Since I started to use a "face value" method of understanding scripture in 2001, this is one of the first of many church doctrines that I believed and taught to others, that became clear to me as a "false teaching". As near as I can understand, it was an offspring of an unholy "marriage" between two equally false teachings that had previously come into the "church". One was the so-called belief in a "Secret Rapture" that had its start in a vision or a trance that a young 15 year girl had in 1832 in a charismatic group in Scotland, where she apparently saw Jesus come back secretly in the clouds to rapture those who were ready to meet him in the air. It became known as the secret rapture, and was promoted and make popular by the "Plymouth Brethren" in England under the leadership of a Bible teacher by the name of John Darby. Then Dr C I Schofield published the first edition of his Bible in 1907, which introduced the theory that all of history could be divided into seven "dispensations", starting with 1/ Innocence, 2/ Conscience or Moral Responsibility, 3/ Human Government, 4/ Promise, 5/ Law, 6/ Church, 7/ Kingdom. Of course since we know that God only has two clearly defined divisions in His Word, the Old and the New covenants, or we use the word Testaments meaning the same thing. Jesus makes this distinction clear in (Matt 11:11) where He places John the Baptist as the man whose ministry divides between the OT and the NT!

 

 So when the secret rapture was combined with a theory that teaches each dispensation must close before the next one can start, plus the fear of still being here on earth when the "Antichrist" makes his appearance, we see how this false teaching really told people just what they wanted to hear! So the introduction of this Pre-tribulation Rapture theory in the early 1900's became very popular, and easy to believe in. Certain well known Bible teachers and the authors of the "Left Behind" series of novels and tapes have presented this doctrine as if it is based on scripture, and many sincere believers have been deceived. They need to heed the advice given in (Acts 17:11) to be like the believers in Berea. Thank God for the introduction of the "Prewrath Rapture" teaching in the late 1980's by a man named Robert Van Kampen, which sets the rapture solidly into scripture!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                              01/02/12   

 

THE RESTRAINER

THE RESTRAINER

 

One of the key points in the teaching that Jesus will rapture His Church before the last 7 year period, known as "Daniel's 70th week" (Dan 9:24-27), is that the Holy Spirit, who resides in believers, is the "Restrainer" mentioned by Paul in (2 Thess 2:7). This has been taken as a "proof text" to fit in with their theory of a "secret rapture". The Holy Spirit is defined by Jesus, as fulfilling different roles in the life of believers when He comes, but restrainer is not one of them! Check it out for yourself in chapters 14, 15, and 16 of the Gospel of John, where the words of Jesus are recorded. Depending on which translation you use, you will find words such as, Advocate, Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Strengthener,----but not Restrainer. This role for Him has been added to scripture by those who are trying to prove that the Church will not go through the time of "great tribulation" at the hands of the Antichrist, during the last half of this 7 year period. Various scriptures clearly teach this, including the words of Jesus, Paul, and John, and yet these people invent a theory that attempts to prove their false teaching!

 

There is only one person mentioned in scripture, that I am aware of, who could fill this role of restraining evil until the time set by God to let the Antichrist start his persecution of Israel and the Church. That person is the archangel "Michael", who has been given the specific task of protecting God's people, as mentioned many times in scripture. The most important reference, relating to the subject at hand, would have to be (Dan 12:1), where he is confirmed as the one who protects the nation of Israel. At the middle of this 7 year period, we are told he will "arise", and then the Antichrist will begin his reign of terror against the people of God (Rev 13:5-10). The word here translated arise, or stand up, in most English translations could be translated as "stand still", since it is the same root word that is used to describe the miracle of the sun and the moon stopping, or standing still, so that Joshua and his warriors could complete the battle against their enemy. (Josh 10:13) By letting scripture explain scripture, we can often prevent being led into error by those who are trying to prove some theory. Let's keep in mind that God must allow His Church to be purified, and changed from their present condition, before they are ready to be raptured! This purification can only come about through a time of persecution, such as much of the Church are already experiencing in other parts of the world! Why should God exempt the church in our Western world, and keep us from this time of persecution, that He has planned to make us ready to be raptured? That doesn't make any sense to me!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                revised 27/09/12

 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS

THE BLOOD OF JESUS

 

"And I know, yes I know, Jesus' blood can make the vilest sinner clean". These words are part of an old hymn that we don't hear sung much anymore. Our modern "worship" songs written in the last few years, hardly ever mention the cross or the blood of Jesus that was shed there. In fact the blood of Jesus and what it accomplished for lost sinners is not mentioned much in most churches today. Most church goers only hear things that make them "feel good" and not necessarily what they need to hear. Actually many people fail to realize that they are sinners who need a Savor, because they are not familiar with the Bible. If they only casually read (Rom 3:9-26) they would know beyond any shadow of doubt that we are all born into this world as little lost sinners. But thankfully Paul addresses this problem and gives the answer in (Eph 2:1-10), a scripture that is easily understood by anyone. Most people who are not alcoholics, addicted to tobacco or drugs etc, don't see themselves as "sinners". They probably go to church and pay tithes and consider themselves as "religious", but unless they are actually "born again" and have been adopted by Father into His Forever Family, and have received the Holy Spirit they are not part of the "Family of God".

 

Most people who have never been involved in some serious crime or have been breaking some moral issue like "adultery" really don't consider themselves as sinners, because "everybody does it", as if that makes it OK. The fact of the matter is that our Creator God has a book called the "Bible" that contains all the rules and regulations that He expects us to obey in order to live lives that will please Him. Until we realize this our life can never be completely fulfilled. Because God always has a unique plan for each life, we need to "press on" to find "that thing" which He had in mind for you when you were born. (Phil 3:12) Some people go through their entire life still looking for this "destiny" which seems to continually escape them. They need to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, and then depend on the Holy Spirit to daily lead them. This is part of God's plan for every human being on earth, and the sooner we find out about it, the sooner we can start to enjoy life as He planned it. Our world is under the control of the devil who Jesus tells us is a "liar and the father of lies" and there is "no truth in him". (John 8:44). But as a contrast to this, Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). The choice is ours to make, who will we believe and follow?

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                       03/10/12

LIFE IS SHORT--FISH HARD

LIFE IS SHORT---FISH HARD

 

I just read an article by this title written by a faithful brother from another ministry. It is patterned after a Nike slogan "Life is short, Play hard" and of course the words of Jesus to His followers "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men". (Mark 1:17). As followers of Jesus today, this should be our slogan too, don't you think? No one knows how much time we have left to accomplish what God has planned for us to do toward extending His Kingdom here on earth. But we can understand from the words of Paul in (Phil 3:10-16) that God had something in His mind for each of His children to do when He saved us. When we find "that" ministry that He had in mind for us to do, then this would be our "destiny" in life. I believe that many people have no ides what "that" is for their lives, and spend years in a job that they don't really like and are not at peace with the world. This peace must start with finding "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 5:1) when we are "justified", or "just-as if-I'd" never sinned. We know from reading (Rom 3:9-26) that every living person has sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that the "wages of sin are death" (Rom 6:23) so everyone needs to come to the decision of believing in, and receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! 

 

That is the most important decision we will ever face in life, and that is "what will we do with Jesus"? Our eternal destination depends on the correct response to that question. According to God's Word there only two possible eternal destinations and the choice must be made while we are still alive. A choice to receive Jesus as Savior guarantees you a place in "heaven" when you die, with Jesus and Father God plus all the other righteous people who have gone before you. On the other hand a decision to not receive Jesus as Savior will guarantee you a place in "hell" with the devil and his fallen angels plus all the unrighteous sinners who has gone on before you! And remember God always leaves the choice up to us, since He has created us with a free will. When we consider the facts, and the truth of God's Word, our decision would certainly appear to be a "no brainer", but why do people falter between making a choice? The answer has to be because we have an enemy who hates us and wants to keep us from making the right decision. His name is Satan or the Devil, who Jesus calls "a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44) and he has many false prophets and teachers who only have one goal which is to bring people under "deception" and miss heaven!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                            18/09/12

THE EXCHANGED LIFE

THE EXCHANGED LIFE.

 

This term was the title of a recent article I read by Jim Watt about the life of Hudson Taylor. I was especially interested in the letter Mr. Taylor had written to his sister shortly after receiving this further revelation about his life in Christ. He lived during the later half of the 1800's and died in 1905.

It was during this time that the so-called "Holiness Movement" became popular among Evangelical Christian leaders, and produced such men as Hudson Taylor and A B Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, (C&MA) denomination. Many other men like John Wesley and General William Booth had their roots in this movement as well. It seems that since the beginning of the 1900's the emphasis has changed from Sanctification leading to Holiness, to other things. In the last decades of the 20^th century since I have been part of the "Church", I have witnessed a continual decline in preaching and teaching on the subject of holiness. I'm nor sure of the reason for this, but it could tie in with the way our NA culture has changed. All the electronic gadgets that have come out in the last few years have caught the attention of many people and they have less time for God and His Word. He gets crowded out of our daily schedules, and is replaced with i pads, smart phones, emails, face book etc. Instead of having more time to spend with Him we have much less!

 

What can we do about this problem? I expect the answer to this question will involve a return to the subject of an "Exchanged Life" as Hudson Taylor refers to here. The Apostle Paul probably writes more about this topic than any other NT writer. When as Saul of Tarsus he met Jesus on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-9), he was completely changed from a religious Pharisee, to a "new creature in Christ" (2 Cor 5:17). Later after spending several years in the deserts of Arabia alone with the Lord, he became Paul the apostle and the writer of much of the NT scriptures. In (Eph 3:1-10) he was given by God the revelation of the "Church" which had remained a mystery until Paul came on the scene. When he wrote the letters Ephesians and Colossians, he explained more about who Jesus was and still is, and what it means to us when we trust Him completely. In (Gal 2:20-21) Paul explains the place of Christ in his life, that he "had been crucified with Christ" (past tense), but he now lived by"faith in the Son of God. This is a model we can follow if we want to live an "Exchanged Life"!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                  19/09/12

 

AN EXPERIENCE or A JOURNEY

AN EXPERIENCE or A JOURNEY

 

Our spiritual life includes both of these things, it starts with the "experience" of being "born again" as Jesus explained to a very religious man named Nicodemus, as recorded in (John 3:1-8). But this is only the beginning of the "journey" of getting to know our Creator God who is described in the Bible, which is the Book God had prepared so people could know how to live a life that will please Him. There are different "Religions" in the world, and each have their "Holy Book", but only the Bible was especially written by holy men and women who were led by God to write as they were directed by the Holy Spirit of God. (2 Tim 3:16-17). Today in this 21^st century many people claim to have "experiences" that they think are given to them by God, but are sometimes given to them by the enemy of God who goes under several different names in the Bible like Satan, the Devil, the Serpent, the Beast or the Deceiver etc. Jesus called him the "father of lies" in (John 8:44), in other words he is the great deceiver who couldn't tell the truth if he tried. It seems that when Jesus defeated him when He died on the cross as the perfect "God/Man", the only power He left him with was this ability to tell lies.  This action by Jesus at Calvary not only paid the price for the sins of mankind (Rom 6:23), but also reversed the curse that came upon all creation by the sin of our first parents Adam and Eve. (Gen 3:1-21) gives us the account of their disobedience, and the Apostle Paul in (Rom 5:12) gives us the results of this original sin.

 

In the teaching series by Bob Mumford called the Agape Road, Bob gives an excellent account of this journey we must all follow to arrive at an intimate relationship with our Father God. Having spent several years listening to Bob's teaching and also watching the DVD's of his presentation to a large audience over 10 years ago, I believe that every follower of Jesus should be exposed to this teaching  soon after accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. His step by step description of the start of this journey by crossing over what he calls the "death line", where Jesus is waiting for us to guide up the Agape Road toward intimacy with the Father is a good foundational teaching for anyone, but especially for new believers. I highly recommend that all followers of Jesus should take advantage of seeing these DVD's. They consist of 4 discs with 2 30 minute sessions on each, or 8 sessions in all.

A great resource for home Bible study groups, or small groups of any size from any church congregation!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                08/09/12

SOME THOUGHTS ON TIME

SOME THOUGHTS ON TIME     

 

The little word "time" is a very interesting word, that the Concise Oxford English Dictionary recently stated is the most often used noun in the English language. And the Bible has a lot of scriptures that speak about time. With our finite minds, it is very difficult for us to properly understand time. Most people complain about never having enough time, but the fact of the matter is that we all have the same amount of time. Every day has 24 hours, and every week has 7 days, that gives us all 168 hours a week, or 10,080 minutes! The best description of time I ever saw presented was a large circle drawn on a sheet of paper to represent time and space inside the circle, surrounded by eternity. God exists outside of time in eternity, and is not confined to operate in our circle. From His perspective it is always "now", and in (Ps 90:4) Moses stated when referring to God "For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few  night hours" NLT. And Peter was probably referring to this OT passage when he wrote "----a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day" (2 Peter 3:8) NLT.

 

There are lots of scripture passages that warn us that the day is coming when time will be no more, and that God is giving us more time to get things right with Him. But I believe He has an appointed time to roll up time as a scroll, so to speak, and our universe will become part of His eternity again. One of the most challenging scripture passages to me is the third chapter of 2 Peter, from which we quoted part of verse 8 above! If you read the whole chapter carefully you will see several references to "The Day of The Lord". This is probably the most important day mentioned in all of scripture, and is certainly worthy of some careful study. For the redemed children of God it will be a glorious day, but for the wicked children of Satan, it will be a horrible day when God starts to pour out His wrath. Listen to the last two verses from the NLT, "I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your secure footing. Rather you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever! Amen."

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                revised 01/09/12

TROBULED TIMES

TROUBLED TIMES

 

The inspiration for this article came from an article written by Joe Stowell in ODB on July 23, 2012. He started by quoting "Murphy's Law" that most people have heard many times, "If anything can go wrong it will". I have no idea who "Murphy" was but he might have been referring to the words of Jesus recorded in (John 16:33) "These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world". We can either focus on the "tribulation" or on the "peace" that Jesus promised, this choice is always left to us in every situation. We live in a "fallen world" ever since our first parents Adam and Eve disobeyed the one restriction their Creator had placed on them in the Garden of Eden. (Gen 2:16-17). We know from reading what Paul the apostle wrote in (Rom 5:12) that this one act on their part caused this perfect world to become "fallen". So naturally because we live in this fallen world we will suffer troubles of all kinds, but our faithful loving heavenly Father knew this would happen and made the necessary preparations to take care of this problem caused by "sin". He sent His only begotten Son Jesus, the only perfect "God/Man" who ever lived since the first Adam who was created in the image and likeness of God, to be the "Last Adam" (1 Cor 15:45) to reverse the curse brought on creation by the sin of the first Adam.

 

So we can rest assured that there is hope for all of mankind who will simply place their faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross of Calvary, and receive Him as Lord and Savior from their sinful lifestyle. Jesus is the "Truth" (John 14:6), and His death on the cross "paid in full" the debt we all owed because of our inherited sin plus the sins everyone committed since birth (Rom 3:10-26). Paul further states this truth in (Rom 6:23) that the "wages of sin is death". And everyone knows that wages are what we receive as payment for the work we do. So we are without excuse, because God has given us everything we need to know in His Word the Holy Bible. And He expects us to simply read it and follow the directions it contains. It is not complicated, but actually so simple that even a child can understand the plan of salvation when they are properly instructed. The real trouble as I see it is that people don't take the time to become familiar with the Bible, and pass on the truth it contains to their children and friends!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                             24/07/12

   

ALWAYS AND NEVER

ALWAYS AND NEVER

 

I have often said that as followers of Jesus we should eliminate these   2 words from our vocabulary. I have often heard "you always say that", or perhaps "you never do what I tell you to do". I'm sure I am not the only person who is used to hearing these words spoken in this negative sort of way. But I recently read a devotional thought in ODB on Aug 6, 2012, which put a very positive spin on the words "always" and "never". We only have to think of the promises given to us by Jesus in (Matt 28:20) where He declared "I will be with you always". And then in (Heb 13:5-6) where He declares "I will never leave you nor forsake you! So we can boldly say: the Lord is my helper, I will not fear". These are only 2 of many similar passages that we can depend on because they are direct promises made by Jesus who is TRUTH. (John 14:6). So as long as we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and have been "born again" by the Spirit of God and adopted by Father into His Forever Family, we are assured of eternal life in heaven when we die.

 

Many people are trusting in other things to get them to heaven when they die because there are many false religions that have been spreading through church circles in the past several decades. Some of these originated in the Far East many years ago and have come to NA as part of what has been called "New Age Philosophy". This basically promotes the idea that there are many roads that can lead us to heaven when we die. They are all lies started by Satan, the enemy of God, who started out as Lucifer who was one of the three arch angels in heaven. You can read about him in the OT books of (Is 14:12-21) and (Ezek 28:12-19). Lucifer was one of the highest created beings to share the leadership of God's Kingdom until his beauty and wisdom caused pride and rebellion to enter his heart and he introduced "sin" into the perfect environment of God's heaven. The result of this rebellion was God casting him out of heaven, and he chose earth as his abode because it was the only planet in our universe that was created to sustain life. The rest is history, as they say, and is accurately recorded in the Bible. Thank God He has provided His "Written Word" to guide us on out journey through life. And of course we have His Son Jesus Christ who is called the "Living Word" of God, who paid the price of our redemption from sin and then returned to heaven to be seated at Father's throne. (Ps 110:1). They then sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of followers of Jesus today!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                   20/08/12

CONSUMERS OR PRODUCERS

CONSUMERS or PRODUCERS

I recently read an article in a magazine we receive called Mission Frontiers by Mike Breen called "Obituary for the American Church". He used an expression that caught my attention "Disciples are not Consumers, they are Producers". You would need to read the article yourself to see what he really meant by this expression but I will try to explain a bit about how this pertains to us and the local churchs we attend. It is not difficult to realize that we all live in a "Consumer Culture" in North America. It seems everywhere we turn some advertisement is telling us about some new product that we must have. The fact is that most of us already have more "stuff" than we know what to do with, why would we need more? But that is what drives our society, the need to want more of the latest things available. We have all been affected to some extent simply by living in this culture, whether we are a follower of Jesus or not. We all live in a "fallen world" that has been separated from our Creator God because of sin, and we have an enemy who Jesus called the "father of lies" (John 8:44), who is constantly trying to deceive us. God has already dealt with this problem of sin, by allowing His Son Jesus to die on a cross to redeem us, but He leaves the decision up to us as individuals whether we will believe this truth and accept it or not!

 

One of the last commands Jesus gave to His followers before He ascended back to heaven is recorded in (Matt 28:18-20). The main point of this so-called "Great Commission" was "go and make disciples", baptize them and teach them everything He had taught them. In other words teach them to not only be disciples but to make disciples. From my vantage point of being involved in various churches of different denominations for many years, my observation would be that churches have not done this very well. The sad result is that we have churches full of members who are not real disciples themselves who have no idea how to make disciples. And we have come to be "Consumers" and not "Producers" as our brother Mike said. I assume what he meant by producers would be the making of disciples as Jesus commanded His disciples to do. So what can we do as followers of Jesus in this year 2012? Most of us are not church leaders, but if we attend a church we should discuss this matter with our spiritual leaders and gently bring this scripture to their attention. If they are truly followers of Jesus themselves they should see clearly that we have a problem. As a submissive member of the flock under their leadership he or she should appreciate your concern!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                             28/07/12

STOP& LISTEN& OBEY

STOP! & LISTEN & OBEY!

Back on July 6, 2012 Joe Stowell wrote the devotional thought for ODB based on (Ps 131:2) which reads "surely I have calmed and quieted my soul". I wonder how many followers of Jesus could truthfully say that today about their very busy and stressful lifestyle. I know it seems like there is no way to escape the pressure of the "information overload" that our high technological world of emails and smart phones etc. places on the average person, but stop and consider how Jesus handled the pressure He must have felt by times. He was often followed around from town to town by throngs of people looking to be healed by Him, and remember He was Divine but He was also human, the only God/Man who ever lived, and scripture tells us that He was "tempted in all points such as we", so He would know personally what His followers would face. Check out (Mark 6:31) to see how He handled the situation, where it is recorded that He said to His disciples "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile". If we claim to be His followers today don't you think the same advice would apply to us?

I think the same words that the Psalmist used in Psalm 131 that we quoted at the start of this article would certainly apply to us today, because it is part of His eternal Word. So how can the average follower of Jesus in this very busy world we live in, in this 21^st century cope? I would think that common sense should tell us, "The same way they did in the first century". It should be a "no brainer", all we have to do is stop and listen for the still small voice of His Holy Spirit, and then obey immediately what He says to us. That is one of the functions that Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would do when He came to earth to replace Jesus when He ascended to the Father after He had completed His task He was sent here to accomplish. (John 14:16-17). So it would appear to me that the first thing we should do when we feel overwhelmed by the pressures of our stressed out life is to simply follow the pattern laid down by our Lord. But of course that presupposes that you already know Jesus as Lord and Savior, and if you haven't yet done that, of course that is your first step. Just read (Eph 2:1-10) and follow the clear instructions given to us by Paul the apostle. Of course there is a maturing process to become a fully mature child of God, but the Holy Spirit will help you understand the Word of God as you faithfully read it!!

Sincerely submitted

Dave Jamer                                                                                   11/07/12

ABIDE WITH ME

ABIDE WITH ME

 

This is the name of a familiar old hymn, and also the title of a devotional article that I read today from ODB. The author mentioned about a certain soccer game in England called the annual FA Cup final, which always begins with the singing of this traditional hymn. He went on to say "At first that struck me as being odd. What does that hymn have to do with football?"

But he went on to describe how as followers of Jesus everything we do in life whether it be sports, working at our job, gong to school etc. Jesus always abides with us whether we always realize it or not. (Heb 13:5). So our actions should always reflect a Christ like attitude, knowing that He is always right there beside us and actually inside us as the indwelling Holy Spirit who was given to us when we received Jesus as Lord. Remember we now are citizens of heaven spiritually, (Eph 2:1-10). Although now for a time we still occupy these earthly bodies and live in this "fallen world". We are actually what we could refer to as having "duel citizenships" as some people have who were born in one country and them immigrant to another. Well if we are "born again" as Jesus told Nicodemus he must be in (John 3:3-8), then we are citizens of heaven as well as citizens of whatever country we reside in.

 

So it would seem to be extremely important then as a follower of Jesus in our century to realize constantly that we are citizens of heaven right "now" and make sure our actions and motives always reflect our position as children of God. Our spiritual journey starts when we receive Jesus as Lord, but remember that is only the start of what could be a long journey up the Agape Road to intimacy with the Father. And this road can have lots of twists and turns, and a few "pot holes" and "detours" to encounter, but remember who you are, and where you are going. The end of the road is certainly heaven when we die, but our goal while still here on earth is to properly represent heaven to sinners in this fallen world who don't know Jesus as the "way". He is not only "the way" to the Father in heaven, but He is the "only way"! (John 14:6). The popular statement "There are many roads that lead to heaven" is a so-called "New Age Lie" that will often lead to hell. Jesus called this the "broad road that leads to destruction" as opposed to the "narrow road that leads to eternal life". So be sure you are traveling on the right road, and help point other travelers to Jesus who is the WAY!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                  21/07/12

 

HELP IS ON THE WAY

HELP IS ON THE WAY.

 

I was impressed by the devotional article in ODB today written by Joe Stowell, one of my favorite authors. He based it on (Rev 2:12-17) one of the 7 letters to various local churches that existed at the time John wrote Revelation. The city of Pergamos was probably located in a time and space much like the place we live in today. Read this passage to get the background, and compare it to that in which we live in 2012. Jesus refers to Pergamos, or Pergamum (in the NLT), as the city where "Satan has his throne". I'm not sure where he has his throne today, but I'm quite sure it is not in Saint John NB, but I do know he has his agents that work for him here as well as everywhere. But Joe points out in verse 13 where Jesus says "I know where you dwell", this should bring hope to all followers of His! Joe's closing line was "Our greatest hope here below is help from God above". This should be a comforting word for all of us who have been adopted into His Forever Family!

 

And of course we know from scripture that the moment we believe in and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and the Father adopts us as a member in His Family He gives us His Holy Spirit to abide with us forever. And when we read chapters 14, 15, and 16 of the Gospel of John and consider all the words describing the Holy Spirit who came to replace Jesus on earth after He returned to His Father in heaven, why should we ever worry? The fact is we are under the constant care of our loving heavenly Father who is real Agape Love, and has promised to never ever leave us, so we can be "Eternally Secure"! And that is not just a doctrine for different groups in some churches who have taught a different doctrine to argue about. That has always grieved me to see followers of Jesus arguing about their different church doctrines. The simple fact is that if we are all "born again" by the Spirit of God we are all brothers and sisters in the same family. As far as being members of the Church that Jesus said He would build (Matt 16:18), there can only be one True Church in every community or location on the globe, with many different cells, but all connected to One Head which is Jesus Christ. All these different groups that use the name "church" are either counterfeits of the real thing, or perhaps real Churches that have never found out yet where they belong in the "Body of Christ", which is the proper name for this Church that Jesus started, and continues to add to all over the world!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                       30/06/12

THE GLORY OF GOD

 

THE GLORY OF GOD

 

Moses once asked to see God's glory, as recorded in (Ex 33:18), actually to get the proper context you need to read from verse 12-23. Moses would have to be considered as one of the main characters in the Old Testament, the man who led the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt. He was chosen by God to write the first five books of the Bible, referred to as  the "Torah", and spoke to God "face to face" to receive the 10 commandments which became known as the "Law of Moses". From verse 19-23 we can see a glimpse of the full revelation of Jesus in this passage. First God said He would be gracious and compassionate toward him and would shelter him in the Cleft of the rock that is a common name used for Jesus, who is the "Rock of our salvation". Could it be that when it is said that Moses talked "face to face" with God that he was actually talking to Jesus? Because God told him in verse 20 that "no man shall see Me and live", but we know from reading (Col 2:9) where Paul is referring to Jesus, he clearly states that "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily". So evidently when Moses spoke face to face with God he was speaking to Jesus. John verifies these words of Paul, when he wrote the first chapter of his Gospel of John, (John 1:1-5). This is a good place to see the close connection between the two testaments.

 

There should be absolutely no question in our minds as followers of Jesus that His Name is the most important name in the world. The one and only name that our enemy Satan hates with a passion and causes people who have no idea who He is, to use His Name to curse God automatically without thinking. Notice they never use the name of Allah or any other false name of any other of the many "gods of this world". That alone should tell us something about the importance of that "Name that is above every other name" in heaven or on earth. And yet have you noticed that many nominal church going "Christians" seem to find it very difficult to carry on a conversation about Jesus. They seem to use the word God with no difficulty, but not Jesus, the only personal Name in the Godhead. Father and Holy Spirit are "titles" but Jesus is definitely the only Name in the Trinity, the common word we use to describe our "three in one" God, Praise His Name!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                 07/07/12

 

 

THE BODY OF CHRIST (part 2)

THE BODY OF CHRIST (part 2)

 

This will be a correction to part of what I included in the first part that I put together recently. I started out by describing how I understand the term "Body of Christ" to actually mean, it is the Church that Jesus said He would build, and has been in the process of doing for some 2000 years since His death and resurrection. I have been a member of that Church for nearly 50 years here in Saint John NB, and have many good memories of experiences in various church settings during that time. But I may of confused some people by a statement I made later in the article that I would like to clarify. My statement read "it grieves me to think that I have been part of these structures", and that could be read as pertaining to my whole time in these various churches I have been part of. And that would certainly be a wrong interpretation, because I love the true Church of Christ and have always tried to serve the churches I have been part of in various capacities from deacon, to board member, to elder, and then as pastor for over 10 years. I certainly do not regret any of that time spent in those positions in these local churches.

 

The problem came in when I changed my focus in part one to what I consider as "non-biblical" churches that are in my mind merely imitations of real Churches. A "church" that would sanction ordaining an openly declared homosexual person or approve of so-called "same sex marriages" should not even bear the name of "church" in my opinion. I have never been part of such a structure, but what I meant that I "grieve" is the fact that during the first part of my time in these churches I believed in, and taught others the "false" doctrine called the Pretribulation Rapture. That is only one of the many other doctrines that are part of some church structures that are only partly based on scripture. As far as I know that was the only one that I was involved in, and that is what I should have made clear in my first part of this article. So I hereby apologize to anyone who might have thought I was grieving my time spent in Churches where I saw God do marvelous things. I fully expect Him to do even greater things in these last days of time here on earth, by the work of His Holy Spirit through members of His Body who are the true followers of Jesus, Praise His Name!! I am still concerned for other false teachings that are spreading through certain church circles, but that will be part of a separate article to come later.

Sincerely submitted

Dave Jamer                                                                                       28/06/12

THE BODY OF CHRIST

THE BODY OF CHRIST

 

This is the Biblical term for the "unique organism" that exists on earth. It was started by the Holy Spirit when He came to earth to replace Jesus when He ascended to heaven to be at the Father's side. (Ps 110:1). This was after He had completed the work the Father had sent Him to earth to accomplish. This "Body of Christ" is a many membered body that Paul compares to our human bodies in (1 Cor 12:12-21). And we know from (Ps 139:14) that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" consisting of many parts. So we know this Body of Christ consists of many people chosen from every nation or "people group" on planet Earth. Since Jesus is definitely the "Head" of this body, and He is presently in heaven, so when we are "born again" by the Holy Spirit and "adopted" by Father into His Forever Family Paul tells us in (Eph 2:6) that we are "raised up together, and made us to sit together in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus". Spiritually speaking that is where we are at the present time because we are "in Christ". (2 Cor 5:17). This is a fact that people who still have a "natural mind" cannot understand. So we have to be careful to be led by the Holy Spirit when we try to explain this to them.

 

This Body of Christ is the True Church that Jesus said He would build as recorded in (Matt 16:18), and has been in the process of doing in the last 2000 years with the help of the Holy Spirit. This is what I often refer to as the "Biblical Church" as compared to the organizations we see today that we call churches, which are really "non biblical" imitations of the real thing. That is the only way I can see our present situation in this 21^st century, and it grieves me to think that I have been part of these structures for nearly 50 years here in Saint John NB. But since I started a few years ago to ask the Holy Spirit to show me when I read scripture exactly what He had in mind when He inspired the authors of all 66 books of our Bible to write, it has been awesome what He showed me. I started to see that much of what I had been taught as being true, and in turn passed on to others, was not entirely based on scripture. It was a mixture of the Word of God and some theory of a man that had been accepted as truth and passed on as a church doctrine. Without the discernment of the Holy Spirit to guide us, we can easily be deceived by the enemy, and my life is proof of that. And I see many followers of Jesus today being deceived as I was, but don't know what to do about it. Can anybody out there help me to warn them of the danger of "false" teaching that is going forth in the Body of Christ?

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                              23/06/12

THE WRATH OF GOD

THE WRATH OF GOD

 

The Bible clearly describes two separate periods of "wrath" that will come   to the world in these last days before the "end of time" as we have known it. The first one that is commonly known as the "Great Tribulation" is the period of time when Satan is allowed to persecute God's people through the Antichrist, who Paul calls the "man of sin" (2 Thess 2:1-4). This will be the time Daniel refers to as the "time of trouble" in (Dan 12:1), and Jesus calls it the time of "great tribulation" as recorded in (Matt 24:15-22). Apparently this brief time of unknown duration, will occur shortly after this man who pretends to be the "man of peace" the world is looking for, reveals himself as the Antichrist. Daniel says this will happen at the "mid-point" of what has been known as "Daniel's Seventieth Week" (Dan 9:27). Another scripture that covers this period of time is recorded by John in (Rev 13:1-10). Here we see more clearly a description of this man who is here referred to by John as the "Beast from the Sea", but his description matches perfectly with other descriptions given of this "man of sin" in the book of Revelation that is certainly the Antichrist.

 

The second period of wrath mentioned in scripture is known as the "Wrath of God" that will be poured out on the wicked people who are left here on earth after Jesus comes to receive His "Church/Bride" in the "rapture", which will be the time Jesus refers to in (Matt 24:21-22) when His return for His Church will "cut short" the period of great tribulation. This period of wrath, referred to in the OT as the "Day of the Lord" in many places, actually requires a period of several months, and we read about it in chapters 15 and 16 of Revelation where this Wrath of God is contained in seven bowls that are poured out one after the other by seven angels. This same wrath of God was poured out on Jesus on the cross on Mount Calvary, and those who believe in, and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior will escape this final Wrath of God. Some church doctrines fail to understand the difference between these separate mentions of wrath, and have brought much confusion to the church, in my opinion. Especially the very popular "Pre-tribulation Rapture" theory that assumes all wrath is the wrath of God through the Antichrist, and tries to assure people that the church will escape that. When in fact God will use this wrath of Satan through this "man of sin" to help purify the church to make her ready for the rapture!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                               16/06/12

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF GOD

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF GOD

 

One of the most important truths in the entire Bible has to do with the topic of "blood". Just read in the OT from (Lev 17:10-14), and then from the NT in (1 Peter 1:13-21), and meditate on these two passages and I guarantee that you will be changed forever as a follower of Jesus. In our present 21^st century when the Church in some areas has been greatly influenced by the so-called "Post Modernism" thinking, which boldly declares "there are no absolutes"; almost anything goes. A careful study of some Charismatic church groups since the so-called "Charismatic Renewal" that swept through NA churches in the 1960's and 70's, brought a new spiritual freedom to many denominational churches, but some people apparently took their freedom too far. People who had been bound in "legalism" or "tradition" seem to have cast off the concept of Biblical Holiness, in favor of this new found freedom in the Spirit. It is true that a new freedom comes with life in the Spirit of God, but His Word contained in the Bible cannot be ignored. It is almost unbelievable how scripture has been either ignored, or has been radically changed in application by some groups who seem to think that basic scriptural concepts are now outdated, and must be replaced. I would challenge this understanding as being "non-biblical", and encourage these people to study these scriptures I mentioned at the start of this article, and ask the Holy Spirit to help them understand what God is saying to us.

 

There is no question that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was the only ":virgin born" individual who ever lived, making Him qualified by God to give up freely His life on the cross to pay the price required by God to settle our sin debt. (Rom 3:23 and 6:23). All the blood of the thousands of sacrificial animals that were killed under the OT religious ceremonies, were only a picture meant to prepare God's people for the coming Messiah who would shed His blood to "redeem" us. We must keep this fact firmly in our minds whenever we read scripture, to prevent us from being led astray by the many false teachings that are circulating today in certain church circles. The warning given by Jesus and the early apostles about the danger of being deceived by false teachers in these "last days", is now upon us!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                   06/06/12   

 

 

ONE NEW MAN

ONE NEW MAN

Paul the apostle to the Gentiles used this expression in (Eph 2:14-16) where he is speaking of Jesus as the only One capable of having "broken down the middle wall of separation" between the Jews and Gentiles [non Jews], who represented the division of humanity of the day. Jesus was the only "God Man" who ever existed, since He was "virgin born" by virtue of being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Jewish maiden named Mary. In this way He was the only "sinless man" who ever lived since Adam before his "fall", which introduced sin into the creation. Because of His virgin birth He escaped being contaminated by the sin passed down from Adam. Jesus was not only the "One New Man" that Paul referred to Him here, but He was also the One who introduced the "New Covenant" to the world, which replaced the "Old Covenant" introduced by Moses many years before. These two covenants or testaments make up our Bible which we know as the OT and the NT. I am presently reading a book by Malcolm Smith called "The Power of the Blood Covenant" published in 2002 that shades a lot of light on this topic I would highly recommend it as a source of more information on this subject if you are interested.

 

The promise of a new covenant was mentioned by the OT prophet Jeremiah as recorded in (Jer 31:31-34), but was not fulfilled until Jesus came on the scene much later. All previous covenants that God had made with various people over the years were what we call "God to man" covenants. Both parties to a covenant were expected to keep their commitment to their part of the agreement, and of course God always kept His part. But even a casual reading of the Bible will prove that man was not able to keep their part. So this New Covenant was made between God the Father, and God the Son, who we know as Jesus Christ. So there is no danger of the terms of this covenant to ever be broken, because it is an "Everlasting Covenant" sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. That is why it is so critical that as followers of Jesus we understand the significance of the difference between the old covenant, often referred to as the Law of Moses, and the New Covenant. I personally never heard of this New Covent until a few years ago when someone told me about a little book by that name written by David Wilkerson in the year 2000. I don't understand why I never heard of this important teaching in my nearly 50 years attending various denominational churches, perhaps you are in a similar position!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                         02/06/12

 

LAMB OF GOD

THE LAMB OF GOD

 

This was the title given to Jesus by His cousin John, as recorded in (John 1:29-34). As you know he was fulfilling his role that gained him the title of "John the Baptist", by baptizing those who were coming to hear his preaching on the need to "repent". John was the man that the OT prophet Isaiah referred to in (Isa 40:3), and was the man that Jesus declared was the last of the OT prophets. And in (Matt 11:9-15) He confirms John's ministry as being the pivot point between the OT and the new. Since Jesus was the only man who was ever "virgin born", He was the only perfect man since Adam, who was created in the image of God. Because His Mother Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit, He escaped the original sin all the rest of us inherited from Adam. This made Him the one and only "God Man" who ever lived and the only one qualified to die on the Cross of Calvary to pay the debt we all owed. (Rom 6:23). So Jesus Christ settled the account for everyone who hears the good news of the gospel of the Kingdom, and repents of their sinful lifestyle inherited from Adam and believes on Jesus, and receives Him as Lord and Savior. When He cried out from the cross "It is finished", He meant the price of redemption for the entire human race was "paid in full", and nothing needs to be added to it.

 

This meant an end to the religious sacrifices that were part of the Law of Moses that the Israelites followed for years. The OT laws required the death of a sacrificial lamb without any blemish, which was merely a symbol of the true "Lamb of God", which was fulfilled by Jesus on the cross. This not only put an end to the OT system of sacrifices of animals, but also introduced the "New Covenant" that God had promised His people, through the prophet Jeremiah, many years before. (Jer 31:31-34). This new covenant was not a God to man covenant like the original that the people broke continually, but this new covenant was made between God the Father and God the Son. And therefore can never be broken, because God is a faithful Covenant Keeper!  This is a very important teaching that all followers of Jesus need to understand, but unfortunately has not been clearly explained by most churches that I have attended. In fact the whole message of the Kingdom of God as a "now" thing, as well as a "future" thing that will be fulfilled when Jesus comes back to set up His Eternal Kingdom here on earth. See Revelation chapter 21 for the details of this relocation of what we have always understood as "heaven" to the "New Jerusalem" down here on our planet some time in the future!!

Sincerely submitted,

Dave Jamer.                                                                                 17/05/12