A punch of Theology.

A punch of Theology.
Lets take a minute, and interview four men, from your main religions.

The reporter comes up to the Orthodox Jew and asks "Sir, if you died tonight, where would you go?"
"Well, I'd go to Paradise" -says the Orthodox Jew.
"Why?" -reporter
"I am a righteous man, I do good works, I study his law, love his law, feed upon his law. I am a righteous man." - Orthodox Jew.
"Ok, I understand that. Ok. Muslim, if you died right now, where would you go?" - reporter
"I would go to paradise." - Muslim
"Why?" - reporter
"Because I love the Koran, I have made all the pilgrimages, I make the daily prayers, I give alms to the poor, I am a righteous man." - Muslim
"Ok, I understand that. Mormon, if you died right now, where would you go?" - reporter
"What a good question Mr. Reporter, I would go to the Celestial kingdom." - Mormon
"Why?" - reporter
"I am a righteous man. I received the ordinances and covenants in the post-mortal spirit world, I obey the LDS laws and ordinances, I listen to the teachings of God, I am a righteous man." - Mormon
"Ok, Ok. I understand that." - reporter
*the reporter turns to the True Christian*
"Christian, if you died today, where would you go?
"Heaven." - Christian
"Why?" - reporter
"Well.., I was born in sin, and in sin did my mother conceive me. I have broken every law that God has ever given. Thoroughly found unrighteous and lacking in merit and worth. I deserve the deepest darkest judgment of..."
The reporter cuts in and says "Stop! The other guys I understand, they say they are going to Heaven because they deserve to go to heaven. God owes them. God is their debtor. They've proved themselves worthy. God must give them heaven. But you I don't understand! Your telling me with joy that your going to heaven, but then your telling me you have no merit or worth to go there. How are you going to heaven?"
And the Christian smiles and say " Because I am going to heaven based upon the merit and worth of another, Jesus Christ My Lord!"

Now of those four people, who gives glory to God, and who gives glory to men? You see that? This is not about Us. This is not about our morality and our goodness. This is about Him! Are you seeing a difference?
Do you start to understand now why Christianity stands apart from any other religion. Do you really think you could ever be good enough to get into heaven? Every other religion is based upon this lie. By good works you can earn your own salvation.

All men are under the fierce wrath and justice of God because their vile wickedness. Let me get into detail a bit about mankind. Your think your righteous? Then follow me in this brief look at mankind.

"Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

I like the way Paul Washer phrases it, something along the lines of this... If I could pull out your heart right now, if I could take every thought you have ever had, from your first waking moment until this very hour. If I could take every thought you have ever had, not just your deeds, but your thoughts. And put those thoughts on a video. Then show that video to a room full of your closest friends, you would run out of that room screaming. Because you have thought things so wicked, and so perverted you could not even share them with your closest friend. As a matter of fact, if your friend knew some of the thoughts you had against him, he would no longer be your friend.
And I do not know that because I am a prophet, I know that because its what the scriptures say, and I know that like you I too am a man.
You would spend ever ounce of energy to hide from everyone in that room what has gone through your mind just in the last hour.

Don't tell me scriptures not right when it talks about All men having sinned because all men are sinners.

"Genesis 8:21 The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth."

This could mean evil from childhood. Evil, from a babe. Imagine for a moment you have an 18 month old baby in your arms. And that baby sees the shiny watch on your wrist, and he grabs for the watch. And you pull his hand away and say 'No', he begins to cry and move about in your arms. He reaches for the watch again, you grab his hand and say 'No'. He begins to scream and cry. He reaches for the watch again, you say 'No'. He begins to frail his arms even in the direction of your face!
I submit to you, that if that 18 month old baby had the strength of an 18 year old man he would slaughter you there where you stand, rip the watch off your arm, and walk across your bloody body, out the door without feeling an ounce of remorse.
Men are Evil.

You see, here is another thing you need to understand. Hitler was not an anomaly. Hitler was not a phenomenon. Hitler was what everyone on this earth has the potential of being. And not only that, you need to understand even in all the wickedness of Hitler, Hitler was still restrained by the common grace of God. And You need to know this, that if it were not for the common grace of God restraining you in your unconverted state you would make Hitler look like a choir boy! What we do not understand is what scripture teaches about men. Men are Evil.

You say "Well I don't agree." That's because you've grabbed enough Christianity to stand, but you don't believe the Bible. The scriptures testimony against You... and all men, is that we are born with evil and we are evil.(Psalms 51:5)

Let me ask you another question. Do you have to teach a child to lie? Do you have to teach a child to be self centered, or to be selfish? Do you have to teach a child to steal? Do you have to teach a child violence? They learn that on their own. Set them free, discipline them not, and see what you have in ten years. A Monster! Why? Because what the bible tells us is absolutely true!

And we turn away, we try not to listen, we plug our ears. You scream "I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it!" In the same way that a person dieing of a terrible disease is in total denial and says "I don't want to hear it!" But by plugging your ears and turning away, you block yourself from any remedy.

Do you still consider yourself to be a good person? Well the bible has a test for you if you do. Let me ask you a few more questions, and I want you to mentally answer these with as much honesty and you can. Think about them. Ponder them and mull them over.

1. Have you ever told a lie?

2. If you have, what does that make you? A liar correct? You say 'No, I am not a liar!' Well let me ask this then... How many lies does it take to make you a liar? Ten and a big stamp swings from the sky and splats 'liar' on your forehead? No. It only takes one murder to become a murderer, in the same way, it only takes one lie to become a liar.

3. Have you ever stolen anything? (no matter the value. Even something really small.)

4. If you have, what does that make you? A thief.

5. The bible says it is wrong to murder, but Jesus said that to Hate someone is to commit Murder in your heart. Have you ever done that?

6. The bible says that to commit adultery is a sin. Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, that to look with Lust is to commit adultery in your heart. Have you ever done that?

This test, its called the 10 commandments. I only took you through 4 of those ten! Do you think you can pass the test? If your honest with yourself, you know that you cant even pass those four. I believe that if your as honest as possible with yourself, you will admit to being a lying, thieving, adulterer and murderer at heart.

These ten commandments are Gods standard and law. Now if God judges you by that standard, do you think you would go to Heaven or Hell?
If you say Heaven, let me ask you 'why?' Do you think God should let murderers, liars, thiefs, and adulterers into heaven?
No.
Let me put it like this, imagine your in a court house, and a man is on trial. This man has confessed to raping and murdering 36 young girls. And he turns to the judge and says "sir, I know your a very loving and righteous judge. So I'm going to ask you to forgive me and let me go free." Do you think that judge is going to let that man go free? No. The judge will say it is because I am righteous that I am sending you to jail for what you have done! God is the Judge of all the universe, and he will do right.

1 John 1:10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

The bible calls all men haters of God, and enemies of God. You say "But I have loved God ever since I was a little child." No. You loved an image of god that you created with your own mind, and you loved what you made. But if someone were to come to you and pointed out the God of scripture(such as I am doing now), you would have said "I could never love a God like that!"
"That's not my God." No. Its not. But it is the God of scripture.

A man who will not accept his illness can not be healed. A man who does not have all his hopes crushed in regard to his own self righteousness, merit, and worth can not turn to Christ. We must realize that we are destitute, and there is only one savior, and his name is Jesus.

One of the first things you need to understand is that the Gospel does not begin with man. It begins with God. Who God is, the whole thing of the Gospel, judgment, Heaven and Hell all comes back to the righteous character of God.
And what people do not seem to understand, because it is rarely put forth in the gospel today is this... Everything revolves around this one thing. If God is Just, he can not forgive man. A judge must do righteously. God is the judge of all the earth, and he will do right. The problem is Man has sinned. Man must die. Man is under the wrath of God. The punishment for breaking even one of Gods commandments is an eternity in hell. Jesus our loving savior taught that in John chapter 3. The only way for a Just God to be able to forgive wicked men is to first satisfy his own justice and appease his wrath. And he has done that through the death of his only begotten son. So many people today have this silly idea that the Romans and the Jews beating up Jesus resulted in payment for our sins. Yet they do not realize that our sins were paid for on that tree because when Christ was on that tree, He bore the guilt of his people, he stood in their law place, he became a curse in their place. And then the Father crushed him under the full force of his own wrath. Someone had to die under the wrath of God. And Christ did that, and his resurrection proves it.

"Don't think I will even ask you to make Jesus lord of your life. That's the most preposterous thing I could ever tell you to do. Jesus Christ is Lord of your Life. whether you serve him or not. Whether you bless him, curse him, hate him, or love him. He is the lord of your life. Because God has given him a name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow and confess him as Lord. Some of you shall bow out of the grace that has been given to you. And others will bow because your knee-caps will be broken by the one who rules the nations with a rod of iron. And I'll not apologize for this God of the bible. I come from a long line of men, most of the buried, but all of them well received in glory. Who thinks not about the opinions of men, or the way the rest of the evangelical community is going walk. I want you to know there is a God in Heaven. And he is worthy of all praise, glory, and honor. And he Demands such from you. And he has made it possible in his glory, in his love for you to come to him. And he crys out 'All who are thirsty, come and drink. All who are hungry come and eat. Why do you spend your money on that which will not satisfy. Come and drink from Me he says. Wine and Milk, based upon the sure mercies of David I will treat you good.' He commands everyone in this room to Repent of their sins and believe the gospel. To seek him while he may be found." - Paul Washer

Now lets take a look at this Love of God.
By now either your burning with anger at reading this, or you are convicted by the spirit. The law of God is working on your heart. You realize now that you are a wretched sinner. Nothing ahead of you but Hell.
Once again I want to say this... do you know what God did for you so you would not have to spend an eternity in Hell? He sent his one and only son Jesus Christ as a perfect sacrifice for your sins.
Someone had to die under the wrath of God. His law was broken, and the punishment is eternal death in Hell. So Christ died in your place! What then do you have to do to receive this salvation Christ paid for?

You need to turn to Christ and give him your whole life. Everything. Trust him for your salvation, and you need to repent of your sins. That means to turn away from your sins. The moment you do that, you will pass from death into life. And you will receive the gift of Gods everlasting life.

Here is a nice little poem I came across. I quite like it.

PABLUM FROM THE PIT
By: Dr. Michael Brown, PhD

Koochey, koochey, koochey coo!
God loves me and God loves you!
Smile sinner, don’t be sad.
God’s not angry, He’s not mad
Even when you leave the path
There’s no hell and there’s no wrath
So don’t you fear, just do your best
Judgment Day won’t be a test
God sees you’re heart and that’s enough
The Judgment seat won’t be that tough
For you can’t sin away His grace
Or take that smile from His face
God is love and love is good
He’ll treat you like you think He should
Just trust me sinner to the end
My name is Satan, I’m your friend.

Study of Nahum

Nahum. (here we go. This is going to be long.)
The book is set 20 to 100 years after Jonah.
Nineveh has returned to its sin, and God (who is slow to anger) is not happy.
Nahum is basically sent in to call them toward repentance. They do not listen, so the book describes (very graphically) how God unleashes his wrath upon the people of Nineveh.
I always found it weird that I could not find Nineveh on any maps, until I read this book. No, it will not be on any maps after what God did to them for their sin.

Now I have heard it said that "Oh, thats just the Old Testament God." on things like this, but does that mean they are different Gods? Does not the bible say there is but One God?
I have also heard the argument that God changed.
Oh how foolish, does not the word of God say that he changes not!? You can not improve on God, and it is against the nature of God to change from what is absolute good.

No, the church in America has for some reason rejected these attributes of God because they are not politically correct.
They dont show the 'God of Love' that people want to have.
Instead they show a vision of a God of wrath, anger, hatred, Justice, and Holiness.

The American church has a tendency to focus too much on the Love and Mercy of God which is truely very important! but you should not just focus on one small aspect of God and deny the rest. We tune out what makes us uncomfortable.
What effect does it have on the church when we do this?
Lets take a few looks...

When we deny these aspects of God, then we fail to understand passages in the bible.
Where it says we are to Fear the Lord, all of a sudden we see God as too loving for us to fear, so we change that verse and say it means we are to Respect the Lord. Look at verses that talk about Fear of the Lord in Hebrew, and it turns out the word they use is "Fear", not "respect." Yes, you are to respect the Lord, but you are also told to Fear him.
This is the God who has the power to Cast People Into Hell for eternity.

Speaking of Hell, that is another aspect of God that we often fail to understand. If we only look at the love, then we think 'How can a loving God send people to Hell?'
So people change it a bit, they start thinking things like God wont send people to hell, or God will only send the truly bad people to Hell.
They do not understand that God will only send the truly bad people to hell, but all of mankind is truly bad!
The bible says even our Good works are as filthy rags. (Isa. 64:6)
Thats the polite version. You want to know what the unedited version is? The true translation of that verse is that all of our good works are as used menstrual rags.
Not just blah, but a total eewww. Gross and disgusting. You wouldn't want to touch those good works with a ten foot pole.
Why is this? Because the vast majority of our good works are done with evil intentions. We do good works for men to see, to gain praise and glory, and to gain approval. Often men try to do good works to try and gain salvation.

We are so self centered. So sinful. Man has not only denied that God will send the 'bad people' to hell, but Man has tried to justify himself, saying that he is not bad. Others are.
No. Mankind is sinful. You want proof, let me ask you, do you have to teach a child to lie? To quote Paul Washer, "Do you have to teach a child to be greedy? How about to be vicious to other children? No. They learn that on their own.
Set them free, Discipline a child not, and see what you have in ten years. A monster! "

Genesis 6:5
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Why is this so important? Why am I so concerned about telling you of the wickedness of man? Because a man who does accept his illness can not be healed. A man who continues to trust in his own self righteousness for salvation can not be saved.

The book of Nahum is not only about the wickedness of Nineveh, but it should be seen as a warning to the world.
The main message is this.
Man is Evil, and God is Just. If Man does not Repent and turn to God, then God will destroy them.
Nahum says once again if man does not repent, and does not trust God, then God is Just to destroy them.

Now we seem to have a problem. We see how wicked man truely is. And we are starting to see how Just God is.
God is the Judge of the universe, and on judgment day, we see that his Holiness and righteousness makes it so that he can not let a man off the hook.

Once again, I am going to quote Paul Washer...
"What people do not understand is this... If God is just, He can not forgive men. Its the same as if someone slaughters your entire family, and you caught them and turned them over to the police. The police handed them over to a judge. And the judge said 'I'm a very loving Judge, so I'm going to let this man go free."
You would cry out for justice, you would write the congress, call your senator, you would be on the 6:00 news saying there's a judge more vile on the bench then the men he sets free. A judge must do righteously.
God is the Judge of all the earth, and he will do right.
The problem is, Man has sinned, man must die. Man is under the wrath of God, Jesus our loving savior taught that in John chapter 3. The only way for a Just God to forgive wicked men is to first satisfy his own justice and appease his wrath. And he has done that through the death of his son."

If all you take away from Nahum is that Nineveh was bad, and God didn't like that, then you have been paying no attention to the scriptures.

Now, after seeing these aspects of God, we should take a look at the mercy and love of God. How much Greater is his mercy when we see how wicked and deserving of wrath we are? How much greater his love when we see how undeserving of it we are!
Oh let us not ignore these important aspects of God. For to ignore them is to deny the Power, Holiness, Righteousness, and Justice of our Lord. But more, its to deny his love and mercy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDFpiLOX6Bs&feature=related

Self Confession...

As a christian, I strive to be more like Christ. It is not in any way easy.

Here is a large thing I struggle with. I write this not just so you know, but more as apologies toward you, the readers.

I strive for significance. I try to be the most powerful, the wisest, the most 'christian' in my church. I apologize for that. Truly, it is pride in my life. I want people to look up at me, but I am doing it in such a way that I am looking down on people. If you feel I have looked down on you, then for that I am sorry.
I feel that sometimes I am the man on the street corner praying. Praying in the open, seeking the reward of the public, and the praises of the people.
The man who gives in the open, the man who "practices righteousness before men, to be noticed by them". That is so often me.
Boasting of my own works, and seeking the praises of others.
Can you imagine that? Boasting of works? Works? Read Isiah 64:6, and it will tell you that all our good works are as filthy rags. Or, to take a more literal and blunt meaning, as menstrual rags. Thats not just ewww, its downright nasty. That puts a whole new meaning on the term 'filthy rags' doesn't it?
So why then do I brag of my 'fitly rags'? Oh, look at me, I am such a good christian, I have This Big of a pile of gross. Check it out, and tell me what you think?

Right about now, the logical thinker would ask "Why Justin, do you write this? Are you seeking recognition? Bragging of your Christianity, flaunting that you are such a good christian by pointing out your bad?"
Maybe. I dont know. If you get that impression, please say so. If you want to point out where you think I am in the wrong as a Christian, you may do that also. If you want to complement me on my filthy rags... I dont need that.