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British Christians are confronted by a grim, undeniable fact: our nation has come under the judgment of God. For this there are many reasons, but they can be summed up in one simple statement: We have committed the sin for which Esau was rejected – we have despised our birthright (Heb. 12:15-17).
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Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? (1 Cor. 6:2)God has a double purpose in redeeming us. On the negative side, it is to save us from hell – for which we should be eternally grateful. On the positive side, it is to prepare a people for Himself, who will share the throne with Christ.
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As followers of Jesus Christ, we find ourselves caught up in a conflict that spans both heaven and earth. The forces that confront us are “persons without bodies” – evil spiritual powers in the unseen realm that oppose all true righteousness and seek to establish Satan’s dominion over the whole world.
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At first glance it might seem that the story of Balaam, the soothsayer, recorded in Numbers 22-25 has no relevance for today’s Christians. However, the writers of the New Testament refer to Balaam in three separate passages – always with a note of warning. Clearly, therefore, his story contains important lessons for Christians.
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Isn’t that amazing? Almighty God, who has the resources of the entire universe at His disposal, is seeking people to worship Him – people like you and me, drawn from a fallen race of sinners! What can be God’s motive? Does He have some deep need for affirmation and approval? Hardly!
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In this letter I am continuing with the theme of my previous letter: worship. In Psalm 96:8 the psalmist establishes one primary condition for approaching God: Bring an offering and come into His courts. In Exodus 23:15 the Lord affirms, “None shall appear before Me empty-handed.”
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A Roman Catholic historian has given a brief but vivid summation of 2,300 years of continuous Anti-Semitism
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For more than fifty years, I have tried to help people with innumerable different problems in their lives. Eventually, I have come to a surprising conclusion: our basic problem as human beings is that we do not realize how valuable we are.
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Recently, while meditating on various definitions of faith, I came up with my own: Faith is taking God seriously. This was the result of encountering so many Christians who claimed to have faith, but did not take God seriously…
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Paul is praying for these Christians to be completely sanctified and he specifies the three areas which make up total human personality: spirit, soul and body.
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In my previous letter I analyzed the three elements that make up total human personality: spirit, soul and body. In this letter I will continue with the same theme, but I will focus on one particular issue: the relationship between man’s spirit and his soul.
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As I was pondering on the vast gap that separates God’s ways and thoughts from ours, I was forcefully reminded of the account of Gideon and his army in Judges 6, 7 and 8.
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If you were asked to describe the Christian life in two words, how would you respond?
For my part, I would have no hesitation, I would simply say: Following Jesus. That is the
essence of the Christian life.
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“What is man . . . that You should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?” 1 Isn’t that an amazing revelation – that God visits us every morning and tests us every moment?
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As Christians we will all undergo tests. They may come in many different forms: a crisis in our health or finance; a breakdown in a personal relationship; rejection or persecution because of our faith; some long dark tunnel with no light at the other end. In any time of testing it is important to bear in mind that God is more concerned with our character than our achievements.
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In my two previous letters my focus has been: TESTING. First, the purpose of testing; then, how to respond to testing. In this final letter on testing, my theme is: the hardest test of all.
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Charismatic and evangelical Christians love to quote the words of Jesus in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Yet I believe that many of us have only apprehended the first half of that verse. A way only has meaning if it leads to a destination. Jesus is the way, but the Father is the destination.
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“You will be like God, knowing good and evil.”1 Surely that is a lofty and commendable ideal – to be like God. How could there be anything wrong with that? Yet in the mouth of Satan – manifesting himself in the form of a serpent – it enticed Adam and Eve into a disaster, the evil consequences of which have affected all their descendants.
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The Bible contains a supernaturally inspired revelation of God. But God is so much “other” than we are that at times it becomes necessary to adjust, or expand, our usual forms of speech in order to communicate the Bible’s revelation of God.
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In this letter we will look further at the third Person of the Godhead – the Holy Spirit. There are three profoundly significant adjectives that apply to the Holy Spirit: eternal, omniscient, omnipresent.
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The Holy Spirit has chosen to reveal Himself through the Scriptures. What do they tell us about Him?The primary revelation of the Holy Spirit is contained in His title: He is Holy. This is the standard by which we must judge every message, every manifestation, every movement that claims to be of the Holy Spirit: Is it compatible with His holiness?
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When Jesus promised His disciples that He would ask the Father to send them a divine Helper, He gave this Helper a special name: “the Spirit of truth.” At the same time, however, He warned them that the world would not be able to receive this Helper.
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When Abraham sent his servant from Canaan to Padan Aram to seek a bride for his son Isaac, the servant loaded ten camels to take with him. In the Middle East I have seen with my own eyes how much can be loaded onto a camel. It is amazing!
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My previous letter focused on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The focus of this letter will be the fruit of the Spirit. There is a difference in kind between gifts and fruit. This may be illustrated by comparing a Christmas tree with an apple tree.
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In giving instructions about the conduct of worship in the New Testament church, Paul writes: “For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.”1 Paul takes it for granted that when Christians meet for worship, angels will also be present and will participate.
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In my previous letter I pointed out that Christians in their worship must reckon with the presence of angels – both good and evil. In particular, Scripture reveals the activity on earth of fallen angels before and also after the flood in Noah’s day.
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When we are born again as Christians into the kingdom of God, we discover that we are caught up in a war with an opposing spiritual kingdom – the kingdom of Satan. In this we have no option. Because the kingdom to which we belong is at war, we are part of the war. We discover, too, that we have various kinds of enemies, but the most powerful and the most formidable is a kingdom of rebellious angels in the heavenly places, under the rule of God’s archenemy, Satan.
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In my previous letter, I pointed out that when we become Christians, we are automatically involved in a vast spiritual war that spans both heaven and earth. Furthermore, our most powerful and dangerous enemies are a kingdom of evil angels whose headquarters are in the heavenliness.
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Confronted by the scriptural revelation of the rebellion of Satan and his angels against God, we might be tempted to exclaim: “Well, couldn’t God have crushed that rebellion on the spot and sent Satan and all his angels to the lake of fire, where they belong?”
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