Post number 300. Sunday afternoon. Time flies.
Knock knock, ding dong, someone is at the door:
"Hi sir, we are here from the church of God in Christ introducing our church to your neighborhood".
Oh man, here we go again, my blood started boiling; my heart rate increased, flashes of their past visits came through my mind like lightning bolts; so I hear my favorite voice: "tell them you don't want to hear what they have to say"; really? Should I say that? "Yes, tell them you are not interested".
"Sir do you go to church?"
Yeah, I do sometimes.
"Does your church do bible studies?"
Of course.
"Has anyone done a bible study about the Heavenly Mother?"
What?
"The Heavenly Mother, and how to attain salvation through her in the last days"
I almost lost it.
I'm not interested, thank you.
"You are not interested?"
No, I am not, good bye....
And I closed the door.
Then of course I started thinking "I should have talked to them", "I should have asked them about Galatians, and about what Paul says about those who try to give me another gospel, about them being accursed"; "I should have asked them about the thief on the cross"; "I should have...."
Nonsense.
I can analyze and think about this event in two ways. The first one is that these people came to my house by design; God knows everything in the universe, He knows all events of all "free agents" before they apply their "free will" and work the events out; and that being said, there is a purpose behind their visit, and perhaps an opportunity to correct an error.
The second way to look at this is that these people came to my house by design; God knows everything in the universe, He knows all events of "free agents" before they apply their "free will" and work the events out, and so there is a purpose behind their visit, and perhaps an opportunity to drag me into their error.
"Oh but God wouldn't do that" Maybe He would....
Here is what came into my mind right after:
Proverbs 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.
Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Shutting the door accomplished both proverbs.
I think I know what the truth is, I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that I know what the truth is; and so from my point of view, these people are wrong, they have a problem, they belong to a cult, they are out there, they are on a trip, a dangerous trip.
That is exactly the way some people in the church look at me, and they look at you the same way if you believe the same things as I do. What are these things or doctrines I believe in? You know them, or at least heard of them; the doctrines of grace.
The doctrines that say that God is sovereign over all things; the doctrines that say that we are the elect children of God, chosen before the foundation of the world to be made part of His family by adoption through Jesus Christ; the doctrines that Paul taught his disciples, the doctrines that Jesus taught His disciples; the same doctrines that John taught the "Lady Elect"; and she is not the "heavenly mother".
I beat this horse to death several times before; just read the blog, it is in there, somewhere in all those 300 posts; "but your blog is too long...."; yeah I forgot. The bible is longer than my blog for sure, and some people don't read that either, is not attractive to the flesh, or to the intellect; some think it's better to read a book that talks about the bible than the bible itself; so be it.
It is a malignant problem to not know who you are; if you have an identity crisis and lose sight of who it is that you are in Christ (maybe no one has ever taught you who you really are); you run the risk of walking around this world in all kinds of confusion and depression, in a complete absence of peace and light, in darkness; in a cesspool of self-pity and condemnation. You are never good enough and blah blah blah; and it is true, we are not good enough, in fact there is no one good, no, not even one; but Christ has made us good enough by His blood; more than good enough, He already sees us seated with Him in the heavenlies.
No, there is no "heavenly mother"; and no, it is not Mary either; but there is a "Queen of Heaven" who brought judgment upon those who dared worship her. Just read Jeremiah 44 and you will see.
So who is this "heavenly mother" these people were talking about? This mother comes from the Church Of God in Christ; which is basically another cult, just as the Mormons, and the Seventh Day Adventists.
The Church of God sustains that we need to believe in this heavenly mother to be saved; that fact alone makes their gospel another gospel, which is not the one who was delivered once and for all to the saints; I did the research, even though I didn't need to research it because I already know what the true gospel is; and their belief is a false belief.
I am thankful that God has shown me the truth, I really am; but I have no patience for these people; they are not only irritating but also offensive. During their past visits they refused to reason with me from the scriptures, so I am not wasting my time entertaining their desire to proselyte me into their doom.
The main reason why the reformation happened 500 years ago was because of this kind of thing; the Catholic church denied that salvation is by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone; the trend continues up to this very present day.
As I write this blog for the sake of my daughters; it is a necessity for me to proclaim to the four winds, or the four ears, that there is only one gospel, and once you know the gospel and you believe it, you stop being in darkness; you get to be born of the Spirit, you will then will live forever in the presence of God. I didn't make that up, God did. Soli Deo Gloria.
Humans fell from grace in Adam; that is why we all die; even little children die. Physical death is a consequence of sin, spiritual death is a consequence of sin; even work is a consequence of sin, entropy is the result of Adam and Eve's sinful disobedience to God's commandments; that is the way the Bible puts it; we are born in iniquity, we are conceived in sin.
This is a fallen world, even nature is subjected to the consequences of sin; even animals die, they eat each other because of sin, human sin, it is pathetic; but God is good and He has always been good, infinitely good; in His goodness and mercy He designed a way to save us, by placing the penalty of our sin on His Son, He made a covenant with Himself, a one sided covenant, and in this contract He obliges Himself to be gracious and merciful and to save those who are chosen by Him.
Some people don't like that word "chosen"; even some Christians don't like it when the bible says we are chosen; "God is not like that" they say, well, Paul answered that kind of objection by saying "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
So you see, people have been not liking this for a couple thousand years already; and they will continue with their opposition to God being sovereign, able to do whatever He wants with His creation; they don't like the fact that God can choose someone to save, and then He can ignore some others as He wills. The bible is clear, He saves whomever He wills to save; and the real wonder of it all is not that He saves some, but that He saves any at all.
My dear children; don't let anybody sway you with persuasive words, the gospel is indeed very simple, you are a sinner destined to die but God saved you by placing your sin on His Son, and then He raised Him up after three days to prove that Jesus' sacrifice was acceptable and sufficient to pay for your sin; God gave you the faith that you needed to believe this and so by His grace you are saved; you didn't do anything to deserve it; you believe it by an act of God, a supernatural event; because He chose you to be the recipient of His grace (Ephesians 1:4).
The gospel frees you from having to perform for God; it releases you from the law, from regulations and lists of goals, and all to do lists. Paul says that you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, read Ephesians, he says that you are a new creation, read 2 Corinthians, that all things have become new and the old have passed away, he says that nothing is able to separate you from the love of God, read Romans, he says, and he says and God says.
So what is the problem? Pride and arrogance is the problem. The human heart is the problem; so deceitful above all things, and so desperately wicked; always coming up with ways for self-justification, always devising ways to feel deserving and accepted; always trying to come up with ways to feel unique and special and to boost its self-esteem.
Human pride can never accept the simplicity that is in Christ, the simplicity that He became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him; the simplicity of entering into the rest of God, saved by God, saved by His grace, it is all His doing; it is not of him that runs or he that wills, but of God who shows mercy; again, read Romans 9.
Rom 9:15-24 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?"
Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory-even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
Have a nice week.
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