WHEN I DIE…

As I age and think about getting closer to the promised land, the following thoughts come to mind.

When I die,…

whether there be one person at my grave…

or one hundred…

I would want these things told…

I would want the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ preached and Jesus Christ exalted and glorified.

I would want any unsaved person there to hear that they must be born again if they ever hope to enter heaven.

I would want told that my Saviour, Jesus Christ, saved me from a very sinful life.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship

one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

I would want told that in Jesus Christ there is hope in a very hopeless world.

I would want told that the promise of the Father, the Holy Ghost is real and that the Lord does not disappoint. This fallen world gives us empty promises that disappoints us time and time again, but “all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen”.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him 

are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Last of all I would like the praises of God sung by any born again Christian there, with hands lifted up in praise to our God.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Until then…

LOVE FROM ABOVE – A Poem

Psalm 77:14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

Matthew Henry: The remembrance of the works of God, will be a powerful remedy against distrust of his promise and goodness; for he is God, and changes not. God brought Israel out of Egypt. This was typical of the great redemption to be wrought out in the fulness of time…

My Mom (Jennie) was born again when she was in her late 80’s. She went to be with the Lord in 2007. 

LOVE FROM ABOVE

Love your parents, love each one,

Love them for the good they’ve done,

Love them hard and love them long,

Love them still when they are wrong.

*

Love them young when all is bright,

Love them old in dark of night,

Love them oh so joyfully,

Love them in humility.

*

Love them with what matters most,

Love them in the Holy Ghost,

Love them truly from your heart,

Love them dear before you part.

*

Love a gift from God above,

Love is lasting, only love.

When their time on earth is spent,

You’ll have treasure heaven sent.

Cathy White 2010 ©

AND BECAUSE INIQUITY SHALL ABOUND…

Today’s church is very much interested in what is happening in the Middle East, seeing it as a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. The grounds for this belief, whether we are aware of it or not, is the unbiblical teaching of dispensationalism. 

Please read the following post… And because iniquity shall abound… It was written in 2008 by PJ Miller, and it is as relevant today, even more so, than when it was first written ten years ago. I recommend reading the post and PJ’s comments at the end. (Although the blog is no longer active, you can still read the posts and comments.)

Excerpt… “it is imperative that Christians today take discernment based on God’s Word very seriously as not doing so will certainly cause one to feed on leavened bread and adulterated word which in turn will cause you to set your spiritual affection after things of this world – idols of this day and age. (*we see this today …Christians who’s theology has led them into making an idol out of flesh and blood people, and plots of ground in the Middle East).” PJ Miller

The war drums are beating again. Now is the time to take this issue to heart.

A STRANGER’S LOT…

1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Benson:

I beseech you, as strangers —

Or sojourners; and pilgrims —

Who have no inheritance on this earth, but are traveling to the heavenly country.

The former word… properly means those who are in a strange house, a house not their own:

the second… those who are in a strange country, and among a people not their own.

We sojourn in the body;

we are pilgrims in this world; 

Psalm 39:12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

R.S. Candlish:

This is your sad cry as you suffer under the inevitable evils of a stranger’s lot, even though you may have the blessedness, in the land in which you are strangers, of being sojourners with him whose land it is. 

For, however hospitably he with whom you are sojourning may entertain you, it is still, as it were, within the precincts of an inn, nor can you expect to escape the vexations and troubles inseparable from that mode of accommodation. 

Then you must remember that the land in which as strangers you are for the present entertained as sojourners, is the earth which has been cursed for your sin, and on which, with whatever mitigation, the sentence still lies. 

You may think it strange, perhaps hard, that you should be thus lodged, even temporarily; in the midst of creation’s groans, mingling with your own. 

But for wise ends your gracious entertainer considers this to be right. And may you not always be appealing to Him, and reminding Him of your relation to Him?

The earth is indeed the Lord’s. …. And it has in its bosom a countless multitude of redeemed bodies, belonging to redeemed souls; bodies now vile perhaps, but destined to be conformed to the Lord’s own glorious body. 

…things in particular you must have much at heart. The first is to break every tie that ever bound you, or could bind you, to the usurper’s service; the service of the prince of this world. 

Surely now you will not betray your Host with whom you dwell, by shrinking from knowing His name and defending His cause, or by keeping up a treacherous correspondence with the enemy.

 

JEWISH EVANGELISM cont.

I told the story of  evangelizing a Jewish man named Al here, but there were others. In the nursing home, where we did Sunday services, there were many Jewish people.

There was…

Joseph – Joseph was a relative of a resident at the nursing home. He was a survivor of the holocaust. He told us about the awful things he went through during WW2. Many times when we saw him he would smile and reach into his pocket to give us a hard candy. That was his trademark of sorts. After offering him a Bible tract, which he took, he handed us a Bible tract someone else had given him in his neighborhood. He would always smile and sometimes he would say… “keep up the good work”.

and…

Irwin – Irwin was also a relative of a resident at the nursing home. He knew that we did Christian services, and it seemed to us that he thought that was a good thing. Even so, we didn’t seem to have an opening to share the Gospel with him, so we prayed. We prayed that Irwin would ask us questions about salvation. One day we were sitting in the lounge with Irwin, just chatting about different things, when he asked a question. “What about someone like me” he said. “Would I go to heaven if I died? My husband shared the Gospel and the exclusivity of Jesus with him. He listened. He didn’t angry, he listened. He said OK. 

and…

David – David, also a relative of a resident, read many of the tracts that my husband gave him. He told us so. He also sat through one of the Christian services at the nursing home when my husband did a teaching on the Passover. Usually during the services, anyone who didn’t want to attend would just go into the adjoining room. But one Sunday the adjoining room was occupied, so David stayed in the room. After the service he told my husband that everything that he taught about the Passover was correct. This was an encouragement. But at a later time when my husband said he would like to talk about the Messiah with him he clearly told him NO. So sad.

and there were others, in other places…

Rachel – An elderly Jewish neighbor in her 90’s. She would visit me and I would visit her. She would say to me that I should teach others what I was sharing with her. She thought it was really good, but didn’t think it applied to her. She did read the Gospel tract I gave her though, and said she liked it.

 and…

Harriet – Harriet was a woman in her late 90’s. We were looking for an apartment and Harriet was moving, so we went to see her apartment. Our realtor always came with us, but on this particular day he gave us the address and told us to go on our own.

We went to look at the apartment and as we were about to leave I felt prompted to ask Harriet if we could pray for her. That began a very long and interesting conversation. Harriet invited us to sit down so we could talk. She told us she saw a book about Jesus when she was a child and she wanted it. Her mother bought it for her, but she said others in her Jewish circle were not happy with that! She also told us that her son died at an early age, and her husband died shortly thereafter. Sad to say that from that point on she questioned the goodness of God.

I ran into Harriet again one day, and I sat down with her to talk about the Lord. I read her Christian poetry and she really enjoyed hearing it. Although she invited me to come visit at her home again, she was still adamant in her unbelief. 

and there were others not mentioned in this post.

I recently posted about the new Israel Bible featured in Charisma Magazine. It does not contain the New Testament and is a denial of Jesus Christ!

Quotes…

“This Israel bible, directed at the Christian Zionist evangelical market…”

“May The Israel bible be a small contribution toward bringing about the final redemption of Israel and the world.”

What????? 

Do not be deceived by the heresies of Christian Zionism and Dispensationalism.

The Jewish people need to be evangelized as much as anyone else.

1 John 4

1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spiritof antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 

4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 

6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.