One of the great things that Tony did was to teach us how to make observations of the Text and how to ask questions of the Text. (I capitalized the word Text to point out that the Text is Scripture. It is not just a text, but it is the Text, the Word of God, His written Word.)

It helped me to realize the importance of the Text itself, and the unimportance of my own ideas, my own intuition, my own understanding. All of this helped solidify the truth that the Text has something to say. It has one thing to say. It does not carry one truth for you and another for me. It has one truth, one message; it is one Word.

That is a hard concept in today's world wherein everything is supposed to be relative. God's Word is True. I remember a conversation I had years ago wherein I mentioned Jesus' statement from John 14:6 "Jesus said ... I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." The words there were clear. There is only one way to God and that is, in and through Jesus Christ. Jesus even clarifies that particular point by stating emphatically, "No one comes to the Father but through Me." Even so, the person I was talking with could not accept what He said. They thought that He must have meant that He was one way, one of many ways...

Now I have two things to say, when I started with one thing, it has led to this more important fact.

First:

The most important thing is this. What Jesus said is absolute. There is no other way to God. He is the only Way. He is the only Truth. He is the only Life. In coming to Him, one finds in Him, Eternal life. All other paths lead elsewhere. They do not lead to life and they do not lead to God. Jesus taught that they lead to destruction, death, and eternal damnation. Yet He came to bring life, to offer life to all who would ever realize their need and come to Him on His terms.

Whatever you believe, whether you are a Buddhist, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, a Jew, or a Roman Catholic, if you have not come to Jesus Christ in repentant faith and surrendered fully to Him, you are heading to destruction, death and eternal judgment. That is, you will end up in the eternal Lake of Fire that we call Hell. This is because your sin which separates you from God, must be judged. Jesus died to save sinners. he died to pay for their sins. He is God's provision for sin. If you reject Him, you have no hope.

There is no other way, there is no other truth, there is no other life than that which is found in Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God and His Word is that there is NO OTHER WAY TO GOD. Trying to live in harmony won't cut it. Trusting in Allah, won't cut it. Demonic gods can't help you. Following Moses, really following Moses, will only point out your need for Christ. Aside form that Judaism won't help. The Church and the sacraments can't help you. Mary, does not and can not save. If you pray to her, she isn't listening. Rather, your prayers are entertained by demons. Only Jesus can save, only Jesus does save. He saves those who turn from their sins and come to Him by faith.

So read your New Testament and learn how to come to Him, how to trust Him.

Second:

That brings me back to my original point which has now become my second point. Read God's Word for what it is, God's Word. Read it to learn what it says, what it teaches, what its one message is. One can do that by the methodology that Tony taught us. Observe what it says and ask questions of the text. I'll share a link which shows a video of a first session Hermeneutics Class. That class explains the methodology that Tony taught us very well. Whatever your level of expertise in interpreting Scripture, this video is worth watching and following.

One other thing. Get rid of your paraphrase versions of scripture. Get a good translation like the NASB. One cannot really observe the text nor ask questions of it if one is using a paraphrase. The process is subverted by the use of a paraphrased bible. Get the best translation you can, then make observations of it and ask questions of it.

Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvKDYfZtq9g&list=PL4sbg6ng23C7dShc85IESn2DtaLUO2wGH Open your Bible to follow along during the video. If you don't have a Bible, then here is a link to the text that he is teaching from. https://biblehub.com/nasb/philippians/4.htm

One more note: Jesus told a parable: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

His point was that if you understood the value of the life He offers you, you would be willing to turn from all that you have and all that you are to obtain it. God bless! B.

What does it mean to be naked?

What does it mean to be naked? In The Garden, it meant nothing - until Adam and Eve sinned. Before that, they had been naked and unashamed. 

^Gen.2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Adam and Eve had not been ashamed. They were, naked, exposed, without any covering, but they had nothing to be ashamed of. Their exposure was benign because they had no frailty, no weakness, no sin, no reason to hide, and therefore, they had no shame. They were at peace with God. They belonged to Him and to one another. They had no guilt. There was no shame in what they were. There was no shame in who they were. There was no shame in their being.

What did it mean in the Garden before sin to be naked and unashamed? It meant that they could stand before God. They had been made in His image. They were breathing the breath of life which He gave. They had no fear, no remorse, no holding back. They lived without any  hiding, without any hesitation. That word ashamed carries with it the idea of holding back, of hesitation. It carries the sense of uncertainty and of delay. In Ex.32:1, the same word is translated, "delayed." It says, “the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain.”  

Shame is closely associated with delay or reticence, holding back. For Adam and Eve in The Garden before the fall, there was no reticence, no holding back. They had no awareness being anything less than what they were meant to be. They were just the way that God had designed them, just the way that He had made them. They were in perfect harmony and fellowship with the Holy God who had created them, the God who had made them. They were without sin, naked before Him and not ashamed.

That was their condition ^2:25, but now, ^3:10, something had changed. 

Now, suddenly, once they had sinned something inside of them had changed. They had changed. They were different. One moment they were perfect creatures holy as God is holy in the sense that they had no sin. The next moment, everything had changed. They had become sinners. They had sinned. They could sense their nakedness their exposure, and now it brought shame, fear, uncertainty, hesitation. They could sense their shame. Their guilt from which they now sought to hide and which they sought to cover up, filled them with shame. It filled them with regret, remorse, and fear.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

      They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ^{Gen 3:6-10}

They tried to cover their shame by covering their exposure, their nakedness. But it did not work. They had made loin coverings of fig leaves sewn or pleated together, but still they knew that they had become something less than they should be. They were now sinners tainted with sin and their attempt at covering themselves had been futile and worthless.

They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the Garden. They were used to that sound, they had known that sound, and in the past they had gathered to Him without shame. Now they fled. They hid themselves. Knowing the inadequacy of their scanty loin coverings to hide their condition from God, they tried to hide themselves amidst the trees of the Garden. "Oh when He sees me He will know." "Oh, if I can just hide from Him, He won't see me. He won't know." Yet God did see them. He did know. God always sees. He always knows.

How revealing Adam's response is.

“I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ^{Gen 3:10}

Now for the first time, Adam was afraid. God had made Adam as the earthly ruler of God's Creation. He had given him dominion over God's Garden. He had charge over every animal and every plant over every living thing. He had rule over the Garden and had been given the task of its watch-care. He had been made in God's image. He had walked with God. Yet now for the first time, he had become afraid. 

Adam was afraid. "I was afraid because I was naked," he said. In the past, _2:25, he had been naked and unashamed. He had been naked with no sense of hesitancy, naked with no remorse, naked with no shame. There had been nothing to make him delay - to hesitate. Now, _3:10 he hid. He cowered. Notice that he feared and hid even though he had covered his nakedness. Adam had made loin-coverings. Yet he knew that before Him, he was still naked. Adam now had new feelings to contend with, shame, and fear. So, he tried to hide. 

Covering his nakedness had not helped. He still had this new sense of shame, this hesitancy, this wrongness, this sin. So hearing the sound of God’s presence, he hid. But his hiding was of no use either. God still found him out.

Later in this chapter, God would make a covering for Adam and for his wife Eve. He would make clothing for them.

 ²¹ The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

It was not just a self-made loin-covering, but a God-made tunic, a garment of skin. It was not made from leaves of a tree, but from the animal skin. This killing of the animal was used to garner the animal’s skin. The skin atoned for, it covered, Adam and Eve's nakedness. This represented the covering of their sinfulness before God. This was the first animal sacrifice, the first physical death, one made by God as an example of the Sacrifice that He would one day make on behalf of all mankind. 

Blood had to be shed. Payment had to be made. Yet, as with all of the Old Testament sacrifices, this one did not expiate their sin. It only pointed to the One True Provision that God would make in His Son Jesus Christ. This first sacrifice pointed to Christ whom God would freely offer as the ultimate sacrifice for sin. Every Old Testament sacrifice pointed to Christ.

When Adam and Eve pleated fig leaves to make loin coverings, they were attempting to cover their nakedness, their shame. Yet it did not work. It could not work. All of man's efforts to atone for his sin will always fail. Adam and Eve made loin-coverings of leaves. God made for them tunics of animal skin. It was not that one covering was just a skimpy loin-covering and that the other was a tunic. Nor was it really that one was made of a skin and had come at a cost. Rather, it was that God had made the provision - pointing to the provision which He would one-day make in Christ. God had covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness. He would provide for the forgiveness of their sin.

Even in the middle of this third chapter God makes reference to the One who would be His provision for our sin.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed;  He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Read this third chapter of Genesis.³ In the middle of the text, God spelled-out some of the results of Adam’s and Eve’s sin, He made a promise to the deceiver that one day, the seed of the woman would crush the deceiver’s head, the head of the serpent. The serpent is the devil and the seed of the woman is Christ. Years later when Christ died on the cross, He bore our sin. He bore our sins. He paid for them in full, so that those who come to Him, those who belong to Him, those who are His, are forgiven.

God pointed out to the serpent that Jesus would crush Satan's head, while Satan would only bruise Jesus' heel. That is, Jesus would strike the death-blow to Satan's power, but Satan would only bruise Christ's heel. This was exactly what happened. When Jesus died on the cross, He took with Him man's sin. There, He paid the full penalty for sin. Satan lost his power. He was defeated. Jesus was killed, yet on the third day He arose again victorious over sin and death. This is what is meant by, "you shall bruise His heel. Death did not hold onto Him. He rose again. It became as a bruise upon His heel. Yet Satan was crushed. He lost his power. He lost his stronghold. Ultimately, because of Jesus, he and all who still belong to him will be cast into the Eternal Lake of Fire. 

Getting back to the clothing which covers our nakedness, in Adam's day, he became clothed from God in the expectation that God would provide a final payment for Adam's sin. Today, that One who is God's provision has been revealed. We no longer look forward to God's provision. We can know about the Christ and His reconciling work by reading and studying the New Testament and by entering into a relationship with the living Christ through faith. 

In the Old Testament looking forward to Christ, an atonement or covering was made. It represented that one day Christ would come and fully pay for sin. Atonement looked forward to the time when people could be made fully right with God. That day is today. Oh, I do not mean that we are yet perfect. I do not mean that we now become sinless. Rather, I mean that our sins have been fully paid for. We still look forward to the complete salvation that Christ provides. We look forward to when sin and death finally will be completely done away with. That will come about when this creation will melt away with intense heat, and God will make a New Heaven and a New Earth. In that day, there will no longer be sin. 

Now we come to God, not clothed in self-made clothes, nor even in clothes made from animals which have been sacrificed on our behalf. We come to God clothed in Christ, in His righteousness, clothed in Him. He paid for our sins, all of them, on the cross, and we are not just clothed by that sacrifice. That sacrifice fully paid the debt of our sin. When we come to Christ, our sins are forgiven. We have been redeemed by His blood. We are forgiven. And, redeemed and forgiven, we stand before God in Christ’s righteousness, now given new life and adopted into God’s own family. The result is that relationally, we have no guilt or shame before Him. ^{(See Eph. 1:3-14)}

All that we have in Christ, we have because of Christ. It is all God’s doing. Part of the lesson that we can glean from Genesis three is that our own efforts will not do us any good before God. Adam could not effectively cover his nakedness before God. He still found that he was afraid and he still tried to hide. This is the plight of any human efforts. They are not effective in covering our sin, and they are not effective in hiding us from God. Nothing that we can do will make us right with God. The only effective answer for our sin is that which God provides. In Adam’s case, God provided a sacrifice pointing to Christ. Ultimately, God’s only provision for sin is found in Him.

Man-made religion is like a bunch of fig leaves. It cannot hide our sin. Nor can we hide from God and forever pretend that He will not see us. He does see us, and we are exposed before Him. Eventually, we all die, and eventually we all face Him in judgment. Do you really think that the leaves with which you try to hide the shame of your guilt before God will do any good at all? They won’t! There is no hiding of our shame. There is no hiding from God.

Yet God has made a provision. God has made a way for us. It is through His Son Jesus Christ who died bearing our sins, paying the full penalty for our sins. He calls us to repentance. He calls us to Himself. He has made a way for us to be cleansed from our sin and made right with God. It is not in some man-made religion, or even in some false form of Christianity. It is through trusting God’s provision, His Son Jesus Christ, and coming to Him through repentance in faith that a person can be saved. In the end, nothing else will do you any good.

Even if you  were the most devout adherent or the most devout leader of any of the world’s religions, you would still stand at the Judgment condemned in your sin. Neither Buddha, nor Mohammad, nor the most advanced yogi, nor Mother Theresa, nor the Pope, nor Mary the Mother of Christ, nor any other person except Christ will do you any good when you die and face God. Any religion associated with any of them is useless. It is like using fig leaves to hide the shame of one’s sin. It never works.

Yet today, if you know that you are a sinner, you can find forgiveness and be given new life by turning from your sin and trusting Jesus Christ as the full provision for your sin. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me.” ^{Lk 9:23} He said, “Come to Me all who are burdened and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls.” ^{Mt. 11:28-30}

This rest for our souls found through submission to Christ and through learning from Him, is what Adam was looking for when he made a covering for himself. Only it did not work, because he was not coming to Christ, but trying to find rest some other way. What Jesus offers through faith in Him is a free gift. It is not something that we can earn. It is not based upon our own merit. Actually, it is just the opposite. We have to start by admitting that we are sinners and that we have need of the Savior. Until we do that, like Adam, we are just trying to hide.

Jesus said this as well. “I am the way the truth and the life. No one come to the Father but through Me.” ^{Jn 14:6} If you want to be right with God, you must come to Him through Jesus Christ. There is no other provision. There is no other way. All other paths are false. No other path provides life.

There is another category.Some things are not of dirt and not of God.Yesterday, I said, that the things of this world are all just dirt and that the things of God are things of His Spirit, of His Life.There is another category, though. It includes the things that are not of dirt and not of God.

This is the spiritual side of man. The part that is not of dirt, yet bears the broken image of God. Without Christ, the spiritual side of man exists, but it exists apart from God. It exists, but it is dead. 
That is to say, it is separated from God, and in the normal course of things, our individual human spirit remains forever separated from the God with whom it was originally intended to have fellowship. It is dead. Man was made in the image and likeness of God, but at the fall, when our forbearer, Adam, sinned, all mankind became separated from God. 
We see this initially in Adam's own life in that when he sinned he tried to hide himself from God. He even made fig-leaf coverings for himself to aid in covering his nakedness before God.

...she [Eve] took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband [Adam] with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
      They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” Gen. 3:6-10

Eating of the forbidden fruit was the beginning of sin on this earth. It brought death, first in the form of spiritual death which is separation form God. This spiritual death is ours, inherited from our forbearers since the fall. Then, sin also brought physical death, not only to all mankind, but also to all living things on this earth from that time onward. Adam and Eve eventually died physically. Universal bondage to physical death is also ours by inheritance since that day.

The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death, but, it says that the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. We see from our passage above that Adam and Eve sinned and with sin came death. God had warned Adam, "...from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Yet, Adam sinned by eating of the forbidden fruit and with sin came death, spiritual as well as physical. That very day, he became dead to God. Their fellowship had been broken. He now feared and sought to hide from God. And physical death began to set-in as well.

The wages of sin is death. We see that. That is the human condition. Yet, the verse goes on to say that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What happened? What changed? What made it possible for dead and dying sinful man to come to life? The answer is,

God intervened.

In Genesis Three, God spelled out some of the nature of the curse that man brought upon himself. The woman would bear children with much pain, the man would eat bread by the sweat of his brow. The serpent, through whom Eve was deceived would crawl on its belly and eat the dust of the earth.

God also promised to overturn the slavery to death that sin had brought. He told the serpent that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent on its head, while he, the serpent merely would bruise Him on His Heel. God promised to send a Savior. Jesus Christ is that Savior. He crushed the serpent on his head. He rendered the serpent powerless. He struck the death blow upon its head. 

How did He do this? He did this by dying in our place on the cross. Jesus, who knew no sin and had no inheritance of our slavery to death, took our sin upon Himself when He died on the cross. Death was master over us through our sin, yet when Jesus died bearing our sin, He freed us from our subjection to both sin and death. That is, he freed all those who would ever become His. He died on the cross because He took our sin upon Himself. Yet on the third day, He rose from the dead! He was not contained by death, but He rose again. He was bruised on His heel as he dealt  the death blow to the head of the serpent, as He wrested power over us from the devil.

Everything on this earth is made of this earth. It is dirt. Yet the Spirit of God lives in those who belong to Jesus Christ. There is also an evil spirit, a dead spirit which controls the lives of humankind. All people born of this earth are spiritually aligned with this evil spirit. We are all born sinners separated form God. We are all born sinners, dead in our sins and slaves of death in our bodies.

Yet God has reached down in time and space to bring about victory over death, deliverance from sin and death. He has done this in His Son Jesus Christ who died to pay for our sins, and rose to assure our justification. Anyone who turns from his or her sin and comes to Christ through faith will find forgiveness and eternal life as a result of what Christ has done on their behalf.

You and I know about sin. From our earliest days it masters us. We lie, we cheat, we envy, we lust, we steal, we seek our own good over the good of others, we covet. Our lives are filled with greed and self-indulgence. Many of us fornicate and indulge in all kinds of immorality. Yet, for the most part we try to hide our own nakedness and try to believe it when we say that we are good people. 

Jesus' message to us is, Repent! "Repent," He says, "for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

The Bible says, "as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become Sons of God."

Jesus says that your religion will not save you. In order to enter into eternal life you must be born from above, "you must be be born again!"

Have you repented? Have you truly received Christ? Have you been born from above?

Jesus says, "If anyone wishes to come after Me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

Be intentional!

Turn form your sin and follow Christ!

The things of this world are all just dirt - refined dirt maybe, but dirt just the same. It is dirt which is sometimes disguised as a pretty package. The package is always deceptive and the dirt is always just dirt.

The things of God though, the things of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, they are real. They endure forever. They are not just dirt, but they flow forth from and are part of the life that God has provided in Jesus Christ.

These times of the corona-virus are the strangest times that I have ever seen. People who are Christians need to pay attention to the things of God, and not pay attention to the things of this world. If you are a Christian, don't get sucked into the things of this world, the fear and the anxiety, the focus on something that ultimately is just dirt.

Look instead to God's Word and the things of the Spirit. Walk with Him in an intentional manner.

The first and foremost fruit of His Spirit is love. Love without fear. Love without reservation. Jesus said that the way that the world can correctly identify us as Christians is by our love for one another. 
The world is telling us that we must, for now, live in semi-isolation. In this world, although we belong to our Heavenly Father, and are of the realm our Heavenly Lord, Scripture tells us to submit to the world's authorities, and it tells us to pray for them. So, pray for them and find ways to intentionally love in semi-isolation. Call one another. Write to one another. If need be run errands for one another. Be loving. Be intentionally taking up your own cross and following your Lord.

Also, avoid wasting a lot of time on the  Internet, watching shows, listening to news, etc. Read God's Word. In your home read with those with whom you live. Read alone if necessary, but spend time reading and thinking about God's word. Ask questions of the text, and let the text supply the answers.

The world, and the devil, and the dirt part of you, want you to focus on the things of this world. They want to make your Christianity fruitless. Don't let them. Here is what the Apostle Paul wrote:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  - Gal 5:16-24

Paul was speaking against an evil group that was trying to subvert the Christianity of the Gentile believers in Galatia, a region of Asia Minor. The trap was for these Gentile Christians to adopt Jewish religious and cultural practices. False teachers were trying to get these Christians to follow Jewish Law.  Paul's warning was that if they placed themselves under the Law, their Christianity would be meaningless, Christ would be of no avail to them. Then, in this passage quoted above, he described what happens when people try to follow the Law, their flesh becomes aroused and they become fleshly. People who walk in the flesh, even who subject themselves to the Law, do not walk by the Spirit. 

There are lots of lessons here, but one application for us today is to realize that it would be wrong and foolish, even evil of us, to try and walk by our flesh. So don't give in to your fleshly desires to be caught up in the corona-virus mania. Don't give in tho the temptations to waste this precious time. Do spend time in God's Word. Do find creative ways to love in your semi-isolation. Do walk by the Spirit!

For the rest of you, you who are not Christians:
Truly, consider this virus as a warning. God is calling attention to your mortality.
Use this time of opportunity wisely. Think about your fears. think about your own impending death. Read the New testament and learn what Jesus and the Bible tell us is going to happen to you when you die. It says, you will die, then you will be judged. Nothing that you do can keep you from being sentenced to an eternity in the Lake of Fire that we call Hell. 

Yet, Jesus came to save sinners. So think on that. Once you realize that you are a sinner bound for Hell, the fact that Jesus came to save sinners should become very valuable knowledge to you. So read the New Testament and consider these things. If you get to the point where you realize both that you are a Hell bound sinner and that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, then consider these three things. 

One, Jesus' message is this: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 

Two, His call is found in Mt. 11:28-30 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Three, As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.

Some of you might think that there is another way another religion, another practice that will get you through okay in eternity. Don't be fooled. All of them are the devil's lie. There is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ. He is the only Way the only Truth and the only Life. Nobody comes to the Father except through Him. Read the New Testament honestly and you will know it is true.

In the 1960's ...

My young friend had posted a picture on her FB page that said:

This is my response. Bill Brown rant...

The nation turned further away from the God of the Bible. People did more of their own thing, and less in service to others. The Panthers and groups like Islam led otherwise decent people down bad roads. Peaceful protests turned into violent and senseless riots as self-serving agitators infiltrated peacefully based demonstrations of protest against injustice. They wanted more radical change than people like Rosa Parks or Dr. King sought, and they led people into their demonic web. People turned from serving God and serving their brothers, to serving wealth and lust and corruption.

Oh yes and don't forget those nice people from Planned Parenthood, they happened. Don't forget those nice people from the liberal schools and the liberal wing of Government, with all of their social agenda and desire to help the poor by making them reliant upon Government rather than upon God. Thanks LBJ and all the rest.

A sexual revolution happened. Sex anywhere anytime wit anyone redefined love and destroyed families as well as the structure of family life. Oh yes, then too there was the drug revolution. The whole nation turned to a lust for drugs. Happiness now at any cost. Only, in the poorer communities, somehow the drugs were more caustic and did more physical, and mental, and social, and economic damage than they seemed to do in the richer communities. Quick, more planned parenthood - less of those kinds of babies please.

Then there was the social revolution every culture is better than the one that promotes healthy families and a solid work ethic, building family businesses and stability. Then there was, of course, the feminist movement. Did I mention that? Today, my niece, bless her, used the "F" word to complain that men she dated were not more chivalrous, not more like the men of my generation were supposed to have been when they took a woman out on a date. There is something wrong there.

Then there was the homosexual revolution. It wasn't just about coming out of a closet, It was about social acceptance. it was about normalizing sin, and making homosexuality the norm. It was about the proliferation of homosexual activity and making a statement that it isn't evil, even though it is. Now a rainbow is supposed to mean homosexuality is good rather than signify a promise that God has made.

Oh yes gangs. Gangs happened. Don't forget the gangs. Gangs thrived on the streets. Gangs thrived in the prisons. A whole new gang culture arose bringing with it all of its woes. I know that I have missed a couple of the other revolutions as well.

Now we have a tattoo, and a deface your body, revolution, a smoke dope - be happy, revolution, a protest as a way of life, revolution, etc.

Meanwhile, the corrupt at the top continued to do what the corrupt at the top had always tended to do, that is, look for ways to stay at the top and to advance the hoarding of their riches at the expense of others.

The schools largely applauded the liberal causes and the foolish notion that we would be better at making life good than repentance and faith in Christ would.

In a word, sin happened. This is not a black thing. It is a people thing. It is a sin thing. It is a rebellion against God thing.

I look at those figures, and it grieves me. There seemed to be a moment back then, when things were beginning to improve, but really, it is a fiction. All those things stepped in because that is what this world is about - all those things which are the things of sin and rebellion against God and peace and order, and life.

The world is sinful. We are sinful.

The best that we can do is repent, ultimately that means turn from sin and turn from self, turn to Christ, and follow Him.

We cannot pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make this into a better world. We can turn to Christ though and start to do some good, while the others, the ones who don't turn to Christ continue in their rebellion, and one day the Lord returns and wipes the rebellious our with one word from His mouth, places their necks under His feet, and sets up His rule on this earth for the thousand years of peace before He finally casts Satan and all his followers into the Lake of Fire forever and creates a new heaven and a new earth where He will take all who are His to be with Him, away from all evil forever.

Then, once we have repented and come to Christ, we can be brave and venture to call others to join us in worshipping Him as Lord, as King, as our God.

Otherwise, we can just party, smoke-dope, serve self, despair, complain, protest, cause problems, and suffer the consequence's, and those numbers will continue to look more and more dismal, until they just are no more.

Thanks Hope, I guess seeing those numbers just made something click. I hate that it is the way it is, but I love that God has provided a way for us to un-align ourselves with this world and its ways, and to align ourselves with Him in the faith called Christianity. Jesus died to pay for our sins. He was killed on the cross to make that payment. We can trust His payment as sufficient and realize that just as God rose Him form the dead, He will raise us too, if we are found to be in Him. That, being in Him, is all about our willingness to repent and come to Him, to turn from sin and self and our attachment to this world and its ways, take Him to be our Lord, and confess Him as Lord - our own Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

God bless, B.

On Hating Trump

Why does it seem like the only ones perpetrating hate, are those who hate Trump? Sure, there are people who are hateful, and there are people who are racist, but it does not follow that if and when Trump becomes President, that hateful people will take over society.

Rather, perpetuating hatred through calling people xenophobic, or racist, or homophobic, or Islamophobic, is just the perpetuation of hatred. It is itself, hateful. The person expressing hatred of those things, is being hateful to at least the same degree as the person-whom-they-are-being-intolerant-of, is.

Jesus calls us to love. He calls us to forgiveness. You may not believe in Jesus, but He is the Lord and Giver of Life, and unless you come to have faith in Him, you have no hope. Your own hatred, your own sin, secures your doom.

Jesus can set you free from your bondage to sin and death. His Gospel, the Good News about Him, includes that He is King, and that you can enter into His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God in Christ, through repentance. Jesus says, "Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

When you do that, come to Him in faith, He gives you forgiveness. He gives you life.

Open Letter to Donald J. Trump

An Open Letter to Donald J. Trump – 04 Nov. 2016

Dear Mr. Trump,
Sir,


Have you ever considered Eph. 5:1-6? The reason I ask is because a young man preached from that passage in our church last Sunday sermon. It made me think about what I would want to say to you if I ever had the chance to. Of course, I never would have such an opportunity, so if I don’t try to say it today, I may forget all about it tomorrow. Therefore, I presume to write to you with this open letter, to remind you or inform you of these things.
I place the passage here so that you can call it to mind:
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
(Eph. 5:1-6 NASB)
Let me begin by saying this. I am concerned about your Presidential Campaign. Because of your stand on abortion, and because of your support of a better judiciary, I would like to see you win the upcoming election, but there are some real problems. Such were my initial thoughts in wanting to write to you. However, after thinking about it, I must say, I am concerned about you, Donald Trump, the man, regardless of whether you win or lose the election. In fact, whatever I have to say here would be too late, in human terms, to be of any benefit to you as concerns the election. But then, people may do what they will, but the result always is that God is sovereign. If He wants to, He will place whomever He wants to place in office. So, please, sir, let this speak to you as a man who would live his life before God, and not just as a candidate.
You have said that you are a Christian, and not knowing whether that is true or not, I will take you at your word. I appeal to you as a brother in Christ. I hope that you will read this letter, as just that, an appeal from a brother in Christ, and consider the import of this passage.
Notice first that this section speaks of our deportment, our behavior, what we do, and how we do it. It speaks of how we are to live. Its context in the book of Ephesians is that of Paul telling his readers, the young church in Ephesus about all that God does and has done for those who are in Christ. The first chapters lay out the basis of Christian life. Then, from Chapter Four, he tells us how to behave in the church and in this world. Largely, that message has been lost on the church of our generation, but it does not have to be. It does not have to be lost on me. It does not have to be lost on you.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. We, Christians, are God’s adoptive children, and we are to imitate our Father, God, not in His wrath and fury, but in His love. We are told to walk in love. Specifically, we are to love others as Christ loved us. That is, we are to imitate Him in the way that He gave Himself for us, sacrificially. He died as a sacrifice to God, so that we may live.
Jesus was humble in His giving Himself in love. He humbled Himself, left His place in Heaven, shed Himself of His rights as God in Heaven, and became a lowly man. More, He did that so that He could take on the public humiliation of hanging naked on the cross for one specific purpose; to take our sins upon Himself. On the cross He did that, and in doing that, He took God’s just punishment for our sins upon Himself as the full payment for our sins. Here, it says that we are, somehow, similarly, to give ourselves for the benefit of others. So that we, like Him, will become, as it were, a fragrant aroma to God, an aroma that pleases Him.
All of that is high and lofty. I have a long way to go in my walk with Christ. Most people do. That should not deter us though. Part of the purpose of the letter is to induce us to put off the old and put on the new. We are to grow in Christ and honor God with our lives. So to help us in that regard, God has provided some practical instructions that kind of put meat onto the bones of that first sentence.
But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; These kinds of things are those which Jesus died to save us from and to deliver us from. He will remind us of that in the next paragraph. For me, the temptation to immorality and impurity often has to do with sexual immorality or sexual impurity. Greed is almost a trap unto itself. The word used here for immorality, transliterated from Greek, is porneia. It is the word that our word pornography comes from. The word for impurity means, “not clean,” or, “not pure.” Jesus used it describe the condition of a rotting corpse when He described the pretense of the Pharisee’s morality. It is often used to speak of sexual impurity as well in the New Testament. The word here for greed means covetousness which in essence can be seen as greed, wanting more, wanting what is not rightfully yours. It is a form of idolatry.
I don’t know you, so I don’t know particulars of your own temptations along those lines. However, these kinds of sins are common among people. They are manifest throughout our American society, so it would not be difficult to imagine that these kinds of sins would beset you as well. For all I know those allegations that some have made in these regards, may or may not be true. Whether they are true or false, let God, in His Holy Spirit, convict you in whatever ways that you are actually tempted and beg Him to bring about the putting off of the old and the taking up of the new.
In Christ, we should be in the process of becoming examples of morality, purity and dignity. That is, we should reflect the attributes of Christ, Who Himself is moral, pure, and worthy of honor and respect. This is not for show, it is to honor and serve our new Master, Jesus Christ the Lord. We should be, or should be becoming this way in the inner man in the hidden person of our hearts. Then, as Jesus would say, we can let our lights shine in such a way that men may see our good works and glorify our Father Who is in Heaven. Our goal is to honor Christ. Our goal is to become more like Him. It is not to puff ourselves up or to become as you would put it, braggadocios.
Notice that these things, immorality, impurity, greed, must not even be named among Paul’s readers. He was telling them to live such exemplary lives that nobody could effectively accuse them of any of these things. In effect, the letter is also written to us. The letter is saying that all Christians have been redeemed by God and that since we have such a high and dignified place in Christ, we should act like what we have become, children of God, heirs of Heaven, joint heirs with Christ, God’s own people.
The problem that you have publicly having to do with this election is that, in the main, people do not see you that way. Many of the Christian qualities, outlined in the last half of Eph. 4 and the first half of Eph. 5, are still honored enough by the American People to be seen as qualities that they would want their leaders to have. They are considered Presidential or Statesmanlike qualities. The American People see you, as you often appear, crass, and bold, and loud, even somewhat loutish, that is uncouth or aggressive. Many Americans do not see you as humble, as moral, or as pure. While the bent of society is away from the qualities that Christians should and even must possess, many Americans still want to see these same qualities in the person whom they choose as their public servant leader. I know that it is a double standard, but there it is. Your appearance in public comes across more like that of a loutish TV show host than as a man with Presidential bearing.
You have the benefit of one ally in this. That is Mrs. Clinton. Many people who would support her evil platform are put off by her un-presidential manner as well. Even though her appearance on the surface shows better in that regard, it seems that people see through her façade. She appears to be a pretender with nefarious or at least self-serving goals. Surprisingly, as I understand them, my own daughter and my own sister, each of whom might want to vote for her because she is a woman and because they hold to several of the same goals as are found on her evil platform, dislike her enough to not want to do so. They would have been happier to see you run against Sanders whom they did seem to support. That is not enough to balance the scales in the election though. As much as they dislike Clinton, they dislike you even more. Unfortunately for your cause, they are not alone.
Many people like you and also like your platform. Many of them will vote for you. There are also many who like at least enough things about your platform to want to support you and to want to vote for you, but who find that they cannot do so with a clear conscience. That is a problem. The idea is that they see you as an evil man. They do not see you as Presidential material. They don’t have enough evidence to see you as other than rude, or loud, or prideful, or arrogant. The press in general supports the platform of evil that Clinton supports and it speaks loudly enough against you so that between your public appearances in which you do not show much humility, and what the press says about you, many people do not want to, and are unwilling to vote for you. In terms of your election, I fear that unless those people begin to see you as other than you have appeared thus far, you election may be lost.
The words, that I would want to encourage you in Christ with, are really late in terms of your election, but they are not too late for you, Donald Trump, the man. So as a Christian writing to one who says that he too is a Christian, I seek to encourage you in Christ, to grow in Him and to live as He would have you to live – in accord to the dictates of this passage and according to the dictates of the last half of Eph. 4, and indeed according to the dictates of the rest of the New Testament.
Let God do His work in you. Seek His grace to change you more into the image of His Glorious Son Jesus Christ. Listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Read and study the Scriptures. Involve yourself in a local, Bible preaching, Bible believing, church, and develop yourself in a program of Christian Discipleship. You may already do these things, but as I don’t know you and as they are things which are often dismissed by many Americans in general, I remind you that these are essential to Christian growth and Christian stability.
It says that these things, immorality, impurity, and greed, must not even be named among us. Well, that goes beyond just stating that we should not practice them. We should have no association with them at all. So much so, that nobody should even be able to suggest that they are part of our lives. We should not practice them. We should not think about them. We should not even call them to mind. Yet, they, immorality, impurity, and greed, make up a big part of the fabric of our society. They even infiltrate our churches. Paul says they must not… Must not, is a very strong statement. It is emphatic.
In Christ, wherever these evils exist in us, we must repent of them and appeal to God for grace and strength to leave them behind and to become more like Him in what we do and how we live. I know I have struggled with these issues. I don’t want to have struggles with them any longer. So, I work daily to turn from them, to follow Christ, to have Him work on me to change me to be more like Him. Earlier in the letter, 4:22ff. Paul said that we are to lay aside the old self, be renewed in our minds, and put on the new self that which has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. In many ways this is a battle for our minds. We must strive to set our minds on the things of Christ and not on the things of this world.
Brother in Christ, the way of the world is to pretend. It sees the nobility in the traits of Christ, but the best it can do is pretend. That is the way of human morality and false religion. What Paul is speaking of here, indeed, what God is speaking of, through His using Paul to write His words, is not pretend. It is not falsehood. It is found in the  new life that only exists in Christ. This letter to the Ephesian Church is a letter to all Christians. It tells of the great wonder of God making us His own children in Christ. It tells of the greatness of Christ and glories of our inheritance in Him. Then in these last chapters, 4-6, it tells us how to walk in a manner worthy of our new condition, worthy of the greatness of being adopted in Christ and of being, now, His children.
It would be silly to make this just a letter telling you how to improve your chances in an election. Consider something even greater than that. Consider the love of God in Jesus Christ which makes eternal salvation, forgiveness of sins, and the imputation of Christ’s own righteousness available to us. Consider the beauty of the Christ who died in your place and look to Him. Learn from Him. Become more like Him. That is a far better goal than that of becoming a leader of any sort, of the affairs of this world. Our calling as the lowest of any who come to Christ is incomprehensibly higher than that of being CEO, or President, or King. Nothing that this world has to offer even comes close to the calling that even the lowest one who comes to Him in repentant faith has. In Christ Jesus, the calling is to become His, to become one of His own, to belong to God as His own adoptive child. Please, my new friend, bear with me a bit longer.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are not qualities that many people possess. Yet they are exactly the qualities that God in His Holy Spirit gives to those who live in fellowship with Him through Jesus Christ. Some religious people try to fake their way. They pretend. They are hypocrites. You though, have said that you are a Christian. If that is true, then you have come to Him, and are learning from Him. So, let’s look a little more at His Word in this passage.
He finishes out the sentence with these words, “and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Actually, this is the point at which I was reminded of you. I haven’t heard whatever it was that you said, but I have heard about it, and I have heard you mention it in one of the debates as Locker Room talk. Talk for which you offered contrition. This part of the sentence tells us plainly that we must not participate in, filthiness, silly talk, coarse jesting, etc. they are not fitting for a Christian. The American People seemed horrified enough by whatever you said. They were not thinking of you particularly as a Christian. They were just thinking of what they call common decency or of the dignity of the Office of the Presidency. Yet, this passage is talking about something much higher than that. It speaks of the dignity of a much higher office, if it can be called an office, that is, it is speaking about such things as not being fit for the children of God. Please sir, divest yourself of any and all filthiness, silly talk, coarse jesting. Divest yourself of all Locker Room talk. If it isn’t fitting for a President, it certainly is not fitting for any member of God’s Royal Household at any time, in any place, whatsoever.
Instead, it says, we should show ourselves to be thankful. Thankfulness is humble. It shows humility. Thankfulness is not self-serving, but is respondent to the graciousness of another. In our case, it is our response to the grace of God for His bringing us to Himself in Christ Jesus our Lord. My brother, be humble and thankful in Christ. Not for show, but in truth for the great things that God has done for you. I look forward to the possibility of writing to you again, not as Mr. Trump, but as President Trump. More than that though, I would hope that if I did write again, I could, with confidence, address you as, My Dear Brother in Christ.
Here is a link to my favorite big-name Pastor, John MacArthur’s treatment of this passage. I am sure that if you listen to it attentively it will bless you more than I can with this letter. http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/1932/walking-in-love-part-2
In all matters, may God richly bless you in your walk in Christ.
Sincerely,
Bill Brown