The Gospel Of Repentance

This subject will always be full of tension. Unfortunately, the tension is usually negative. Why? Because of man's distorted worldview of both matters. That is why I want to analyze it again. You may recall that I wrote an article entitled, "The will of God vs. the will of Man" some time ago. This will be an addendum to that article. This matter is so crucial to the nature of God and man that it deserves more treatment. My goal is to get you closer to the nature of God and the nature of man through this article - to provide Biblical insight so the tension we feel can become a positive instead of a negative.  Is that possible? Can tension become positive? With clear Biblical explanation, I believe it can. So, let us start with man since that is who we are.  God at the beginning of time created man and gave him dominion over everything He created. Man had the absolute power to do anything he wanted within the confines of God's will. In other words. man was

”Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. Anyone that loves the world the love of the Father is not him.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     - 2 John 2:15 As believers, it is absolutely imperative that we think as much like God as possible. In order for us to do that, we must know God’s word. As His children, it has to be our lifelong pursuit - the practical pursuit of holiness. Only then will we have the knowledge and awareness to conduct ourselves right in a world gone wrong.  John commands us not to love the world. What does that mean? Does it mean we hate this current life? That we hate the planet and this creation? Are we to hate people? No. Rather we do not love this evil world system. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that to be friends with the world

Podcast originally recorded April 13th, 2018 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wpu8Jz0DfFacDTk5iSPaut28gGT3UElV/view?usp=sharing

The word unfair is an adjective. It means: not based on or behaving according to the principles of equality and justice.  Also means to be unkind, inconsiderate, or unreasonable. I would add that being disrespectful is also unfair - we can not expect to receive respect if we are unwilling to give it.  The writer would be fair in saying many in this world believe God is unfair in His dealings with man. Why is that so? Because in man's perception, when things go wrong in our lives or in the lives of others that we know and love, and even sometimes those we do not know, we make a judgment. In our minds, that person or that group of people did not deserve to have their house burn down. Or for the young child to die of cancer who never harmed anyone, or that family to end up homeless on the street - that honest hardworking man to lose his job, etc.  So based on the definitions I mentioned above, is God, any one of those things: unkind, inconsiderate, unreasonable? For anyone

This is a most critical question. If Jesus died for the sins of those who die in unbelief, then Jesus' death for them was ineffective. Why? Because in the final analysis to die in unbelief is to perish, forever separated from God. If Jesus died for your sins, that means he paid your sin debt on the cross - He was punished for your sins. That means your sins can never be counted against you, ever! That is wonderful news. The common belief is Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, without exception ( I John 2:2). Even those who go to hell. I have mentioned this before, what good is an atonement that does not save the sinner? It is only a potential or virtual atonement where the person is potentially savable if he or she has the willingness to believe. God is not going to leave it up to us to determine if His plan of salvation is effective or not. In other words, He did not send Jesus to the earth to die the most horrible and tragic death ever and leave the final decisi

Another way to phrase the title question is The preservation of the Saints . It should be obvious that God secures our salvation. Since that is true, then why do so many people believe and teach that man has to secure it?  I have said this before in previous articles, but it bears repeating if God leaves it up to us to secure the salvation that he provided to us as a gift, then He might as well have thrown it in the trash. Why such harsh language? Because man cannot secure what God has already secured. The moment man was adopted into the family of God, that was a permanent adoption. We do not get in, and then get out when we choose to.  Why? Remember the Bible says we (the elect), were chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesian 1:4). Meaning that God pre-determined that some of fallen mankind would be recipients of His saving grace. Why? Because it pleased the Lord to do so (Ephesians 1:5).  Those that know the wonders of God's grace in saving them and keepin

Paul the Apostle is describing what happens when one engages in spiritual warfare. The verses that discuss this matter is Ephesians 6:12-18. The key word here wrestle comes from the Greek word pale. Pale (pronounced pal-lay) comes from another word Palaestra which was a Greek school to train wrestlers. The objective of the wrestler was to subdue his opponent by pinning his shoulders to the ground.  So now we see why Paul used the illustration of wrestling when dealing with evil spirits - it was so his audience, the Ephesians could relate to his message. How are we to wrestle? The answer is we are to wrestle in the Spirit through prayer. Once we put on all the armor of God, the Bible says, "Pray at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding on behalf of all the saints" (Eph 6:18) - Amplified Version.  The McCabe part about our spiritual conflict is that we are battling