JUSTICE OR JUDGEMENT

The scriptures speak about both of these things many times, and we should come to a real understanding of each of these words. Both of these words express part of the very essence, or character of God. He is certainly just in all His ways, and because of this He will have to judge evil! We often hear people speak of the coming judgement of God as a very fearful event, when He pours out His wrath on the ungodly after the rapture of the Church. It will indeed be a fearful event for those who have not made the choice to receive Jesus as their own personal Savior, but not for those of us who have made this choice!

God declares over and over in His Word that He is a just and righteous judge, because He is perfect, and knows all things. Therefore His judgements are always based on perfect justice. As we look around the world today we see very little justice! God is often blamed for this injustice because people say if He is really all powerful, then He could prevent these incidents that are unjust. The real problem is that when He created this earth and put Adam in charge of it, and He didn't take back this authority from Adam even when he chose to disobey God's command and follow Satan's suggestions through his wife Eve. Then when at the appointed time Jesus came to earth to be the Savior of fallen mankind, He destroyed Satan's power and gave back the authority to rule the planet earth to His followers, the Church. So the injustice we see in the world is not God's fault, it is the fault of the Church who has not assumed their rightful place of authority, but have given it to the world system which is under the control of Satan!

We will only see a proper system of righteous justice when Jesus returns to set up the visible Kingdom of God on planet earth. This will definitely happen at a time appointed by Father God, as promised in His Word. In the meantime He has given us His Word to direct us in the way of righteousness, and how we should live our lives to please Him. Recently I heard a brother sharing in a message that he was not looking for coming "judgement", but for "justice" on the earth. This clicked with my spirit, because both things are going to come to earth at the same time when Jesus returns! If you study the scriptures that mention "The Day of The Lord" you will clearly see that it is a day of blessing for the righteous, but a day of terror and extreme destructive judgement for the unrighteous! Take your Bible and check it out for yourself! (Acts 17:11).

Sincerely submitted

Gramp

RECIPE FOR FACING A NEW YEAR

1/ Don't hang out with the "wicked"----(Ps 1:1), Remember we were all in that crowd before we were saved (Eph 2:1-10). Remember we have been redeemed for a purpose! (Phil 1:27, 2:14-15)

2/ Forget the past ---(Phil 3:12-15), Press on to reach perfection! (not sinless perfection, but Christian perfection), or maturity! And verse 16 reads "But we must hold on to the progress that we have already made".

3/ Accentuate the positive-----(Phil 4:8-9), Eliminate the negative! (3:18-19)

Don't mess with Mr in between! (Phil 2:12-15)---(the words of an old song)!

4/ Be content with what you have----(Phil 4:11-13), (1 Tim 6:6-10), It seems that contentment often has to do with our desire for riches, or material possessions.

Why not give these simple steps a try this year and see what happens.

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp

THE FALL FROM THE WALL

You all know the story of Humpty Dumpty and his fall from the wall, and all the kings men couldn't put him back together again. I recently read an article, in which the author likened the situation in the church structures of today to this children's story. Present day church structure is not the same as Jesus had in mind when He made the statement "I will build my church" (Matt 16:18). When we read the book of Acts, the church we see developing in Jerusalem after the day of Pentecost was more like what He had in mind, I'm sure! Here we see a church that was based on "relationships" between people who were being saved and added to the church (Acts 2:42-47). They met for teaching and fellowship in homes, and in public places for larger gatherings.

Unfortunately this all changed after Emperor Constantine merged the church together with the Roman Empire in 317AD and we see the beginning of the first State Church, which over the years developed into various denominations. A brief study of early church history will reveal how the church became like Humpty Dumpty on the wall, with each group thinking they had the right doctrines, and therefore all others were wrong in what they believed. Jesus never came to start a "Religion", but that is what church became, and most people consider Christianity to be one with the other major religions of the world. Actually it would be more accurate to say Jesus came to destroy religion! The main religion of the day was Judaism, and the Pharisees were one of the leading denominations which were always at odds with the teaching of Jesus. And these religious people were the only ones that He criticized for their hard hearted religious practices (Matt 23:1-36) gives a graphic description of what Jesus thought of religion, and I have no reason to think He has changed His opinion of such religious practices!

In our present 21st century we are beginning to see some major changes to religious structures that could easily be compared to Humpty Dumpty on the wall. I believe as this system falls, it will be impossible to put it back together again like it was, and what will take it's place will be a completely different structure that will be more like the church we see functioning in the Book of Acts. It seems that the newly formed "house church networks" that are springing up all over the world, could take the place of old line denominational structures with their expensive to maintain buildings, and their elaborate system of "top down" management patterned after the world system! Let us be praying for proper discernment for believers during this transition period!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp

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 Archangel 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.”

That 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 Jesus Christ? 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.

Gramp

BECOME A STAR

Recently while reading the account of the birth of Jesus in (Matt 2:1-2) where the wise men from the East had followed a star to find the new King of he Jews, I had a certain thought. We should all strive to become a star that might lead someone to Jesus! In (Dan 12:3) we read "Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever". When we think of someone becoming a star today, most likely we think of some famous personality who has become well known through their public appearances. We might never become that sort of a star, who is considered as such by the world, but we are not of the world!

A star is meant to be seen in the heavens, and Paul tells us in (Eph 2:4-7) that God has seated us in heavenly places in Christ, so He can point to us as examples for others to follow. Of course he was speaking of our spiritual standing, but the world should be able to see a difference in our behavior as followers of Jesus! We are told by Jesus to "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven". (Matt 5:20) We know that not all stars shine forth with the same brightness, but they each have their place in the heavens, and God calls them all by name!

So each of us can become a "star" in this sense, and let our little light shine, as the chorus we learned in Sunday School tells us. Paul has a good word for us along the same lines in (Phil 2:12-15), where we are encouraged to be "bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people". As the world gets darker, we should shine forth even brighter! (Isa 60: 1-3). Even the light from a small candle can be easily seen in a dark room. So let us be encouraged in these days of great spiritual darkness, when the dark works of Satan are being displayed everywhere, even in some churches. It seems that the old fashioned gospel that tells people they are sinners in need of a Savior, has been replaced in many circles with a different gospel. This new so-called gospel in "man centered", instead of being "God centered" and tells people only what they want to hear, and not what they need to hear! ( 2 Tim 4:3-4) May God forgive us for our sin of keeping our light hidden, and start to become a "star" that will clearly point the way to Jesus as the only Savior from sin!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp

THE MIRACLE OF BIRTH

According to (Eph 1:3-8) we all had our beginning in the love of God our Creator, long before we were ever conceived in our mother's womb. So that's where the real miracle began, in the loving heart of God! Most of us know a bit about how our physical life came about, by the joining of a sperm from our father with the egg in our mothers womb. Then from this small beginning, the miracle of birth continued until some 9 months later we emerged from the temporary safety of our mother's womb, into the light of day. This day of our birth was duly recorded and has been celebrated in some way every year since then! This is the brief description of how the "natural physical" birth of each one of us human beings came about. But we know from scripture that we were all born with something missing! This missing ingredient was a "spiritual" life, in (Eph 2:1-3) Paul makes it clear that we are all born into this world as little "sinners", with a sinful nature inherited from Adam. But thank God that Paul continues "But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead (it is only by God's grace that you have been saved). (Eph 2:4-5) This "spiritual birth" is also very much a miracle birth, as outlined by Jesus to a very religious man, as recorded in (John 3: 1-8). We see that Nicodemus was a religious leader from the Jewish denomination known as the Pharisees. This was a very strict group, that could be compared to any of our Conservative Evangelical Denominations of today, who adhered strictly to the scriptures of the day. Jesus made it clear that being a leader in the Pharisee Party was not good enough, but that Nicodemus must be "born again"! This requirement for knowing God, and becoming part of His forever family, has never changed since that time. Joining some church will not make you a Christian. There is only one way to become a true Christian, or a follower of Jesus, and that is by way of the "new birth". Some churches have developed different forms or traditions whereby people can become members of that particular church, but this must not be confused with actually becoming a member of God's family. There is only one way to enter the family of God, and that is by confessing our sins and receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Jesus makes this fact clear in (John 14:6), when He declared "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me". There is no way around this statement of Jesus, and it requires a "miracle of the new birth" to make it real!!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp

SIGNS AND WONDERS

We are hearing much about signs and wonders lately in the area of supernatural appearances of gold flecks on hands or clothing, oil or blood spots on peoples hands, gold fillings in teeth etc. I have looked into scripture to see what I could find about this topic, and found more than I expected. In (Dan 4:2-3) we read "I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders the Most High God has performed for me. How great are His signs, how powerful are His wonders! His Kingdom will last forever, His rule through all generations". These words were part of a message from King Nebuchadnezzar to the people of his kingdom. Then in (Heb 2:4) we read "And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever He chose". Actually we find many places in the NT where God performed miracles and supernatural signs in the ministry of Jesus and His followers.

It is important to point out that God always had a purpose or reason behind every miracle that He performed by His supernatural power. It is also important to point out that not all supernatural signs are necessarily caused by God. In the book of Exodus we see where both Moses and Pharaoh's magicians were able to perform miracles. In various NT passages we see miraculous signs and wonders performed by Jesus and His followers, as well as by Satan's followers. So we see there have always been a mixture of genuine supernatural signs, and at the same time there could be counterfeit miracles and signs! This is still the case today, and a brief study of church history will reveal that most revivals of God's power were accompanied by a corresponding move of satanic signs and wonders. Therefore we need to be cautious and ask God for discernment to know the difference between the real and the counterfeit. God has never been in the business of entertaining Christians! Much of what we see in church circles today is more "entertainment" than it is ministry. Paul warns us in (2 Cor 11:12-15) to expect false prophets and "deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ". Satan can come as an "angel of light" to deceive believers and keep them from enjoying the genuine miracles and signs and wonders sent from God to edify the Body of Christ! So let's pray and trust the Holy Spirit to keep us from being deceived in these matters! Paul gives a good word of advice in (Gal 5:16) "So I say let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature graves"!!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp