The Greatest Lie Ever Prayed, Part 1-5

The Greatest Lie Ever Prayed, Part 1

I've been thinking about a prayer that is often used by me and  other well meaning Christians. It is a prayer that is used in witnessing and mostly at the end of a sermon during the invitation.

What is this prayer? We hear these words, "Please give your life to Jesus and invite Him into your heart." In other words, "ask Jesus into your heart" and you will be saved!

This is often followed by a prayer, in which the pastor leads the congregation into a prayer that goes something like this: "Jesus, I need you now. I am a sinner. I know that you love me. I ask you to come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior."

If a man, woman or child prays that prayer or something similar that involves inviting Jesus into one's heart, we then ask for a show of hands -- "How many just invited Jesus into your heart? Raise your hand!" Then we get all excited and tell the congregation: "Look at the number of conversions. Welcome to the family of God."

Then we take the count and share it with our pastoral buddies and report, "Last Sunday's service, we had 22 people raised their hands and invited Jesus into their hearts.""Hallelujuah! Praise the name of Jesus," our pastoral comrades tell us.

But were these really true conversions? Did we not possibly participate in the greatest lie ever prayed?

In Part 2, I am going to share some reasons why I believe this may be a very big lie. We could be involved in the greatest hoax perpetrated in Christianity. In the mean time, let me leave you with one simple assignment.

Find one passage that commands us to ask "Jesus into our hearts in order to be saved."

End of Part 1

The Greatest Lie Ever Prayed, Part 2

Satan must hate when people turn to Jesus.  Since he is the great deceiver, you know he has a plan to distort the message of the gospel in order to deceive people into thinking they are saved when in fact, they may not be.

“Asking Jesus into your heart,” is not a biblical phrase. Nowhere is anyone commanded to do so in order to be saved. “Giving your life to Jesus,” is another non-biblical phrase.  Yet we hear well meaning pastors and Christians asking others to do this. Are we perpetrating a false gospel?

If someone were to ask you that they wanted to become a Christian, what would you say?  One thing is certain, I think we would all agree on this, we do not want to give out misinformation that can alter a person’s destiny.

Here are a few reasons why I believe “asking Jesus into our hearts” does not produce salvation:

1. No such command or phrase exists in the Bible.

Does it matter what the Bible teaches and does it matter what it is also silent on? Often Christians will go to Revelation 3:20 as proof that asking Jesus into your heart is the right thing to do.

The verse reads: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” 

Note first of all that Jesus is writing to a “church,” (cf. v. 14) not an individual. Once inside the church, Jesus will individually fellowship with the people, but it’s the church’s door He is knocking on, not the door of a person’s heart.

Second, in verse 22, we read: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the CHURCHES.”  Again, this is not written to a person to open his heart to Jesus, but to a church to open its door to Jesus.

Many times this verse is used in this way:  “Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart. He won’t break it down. Jesus is a gentleman.  You have to invite Him in. You have to ask Jesus to come into your heart.” But look again at the passage. Is that really what is being taught there?

2. Asking Jesus into your heart makes no sense.

Is Jesus already not present in your heart? If you say no, He is not, then you have limited God’s omnipresence.

“But pastor Rich, God does not exist inside the heart or life of an unsaved person?” Why wouldn’t He? The bible says that Jesus “enlightens every man who comes into the world” (John 1:9).

Elsewhere John says that “God is light” (1 John 1:5).  Therefore, if God is light, and Jesus enlightens every person who is born into this world, to some degree, His presence is within every person. If you have a problem with God existing in the heart of an unsaved person, then how do you handle this passage that teaches that God is in hell?

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol (hell), you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:7-10). 

Let me ask you this:  As a Christian, do you believe God is with you always?  He stated that He would never leave nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).  Have you ever prayed, “Lord, be with me as I go to visit uncle Pete and share some important news to him,” or something similar, asking for God’s presence when He clearly states that He is always with you?  

We often use Christian phrases that we’re comfortable with but is without theological content. Here’s another one.  Have you ever ask people to tithe to the church?  Or have you ever been asked to tithe?

Find me one verse – just one in all the New Testament that is directed to Christians or to the church, where tithing is commanded or encouraged?  You’ll come across a couple passages in the gospels where Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees for holding to a command in the Old Testament, but not doing the more important principles of the law, such as love and justice (Matt. 23:23; Luke 11:42). 

Now I personally practice tithing, but I do so as a starting point, not as a command. But here is my point:  We often use comfortable and catchy phrases that have little to no basis in sound theology. 

Now we can encourage church members to tithe and we can pray, “Father, please be with us as we go on this mission trip,” and it won’t matter all that much in terms of eternity.  But when it comes to saving faith in Jesus in which a person’s eternal destiny is on the line, we cannot and we shouldn’t be careless.

End of Part 2 

The Greatest Lie Ever Prayed, Part 3

Here are additional reasons that simply asking Jesus into your heart may be “the greatest lie ever prayed.”

3. In order to be saved, the Bible teaches that a man must repent (Acts 2:38). Asking Jesus into your heart leaves out the requirement of repentance.  

Sometimes we try to add this in by leading people into prayer by saying, “Lord, forgive me of my sins,” but will that cut it?  People should be specific to some degree.  Perhaps this would suffice:  “Lord, I have come to see myself as a sinner deserving hell.  I believe in your finished work on the cross for my salvation.  My ways have never been your ways and my will has never been your will.  I renounce all my rebellion and choose right now to trust in Jesus as my only hope of salvation and forgiveness of sins.”

Of course, the words do not have to be precise and perfect, because God looks upon the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). But repentance or a personal renouncing of sin in a person’s life must take place.  You cannot come to understand your need of a Savior unless you actually see yourself as a sinner in need of God’s saving grace.

4. In order to be saved, a man must trust in Jesus Christ alone(Acts 16:31). Asking Jesus into your heart leaves out the requirement of faith.

Simply asking Jesus into your heart is something anyone can do which would not require any faith or trust. To trust in someone in the biblical sense is to fully depend on that person alone. It is to believe who a person says he is and to rely completely on what a person says He has done and will do.

Let’s say you’re hanging over a cliff with one handing holding onto a branch.  You have no hope of reaching the top on your own strength.  Jesus comes to you and looks down upon you and says, “If you want me to save you, then let go of the branch.” 

What we often do is pray a prayer that grabs a hold of Jesus hand with the hand we have free while holding onto with the other hand the branch of security, pleasure, relationship, money, fame, etc.  We want Jesus to save us on our terms, not His.  Simply asking Jesus into your heart does not go far enough.

End of Part 3

The Greatest Lie Ever Prayed, Part 4

Is accepting Jesus into your heart a biblical means of salvation?  I have already shared four reasons that strongly suggest it is not. 

Here is the fifth:

5. The person who wrongly believes they are saved will have a false sense of security.

Millions of people who sincerely, but wrongly, asked Jesus into their hearts think they are saved but struggle in sin and often feel insecure. They live in doubt and fear because they do not have the Holy Spirit giving them assurance of salvation.  Simply asking Jesus into one’s heart apart from repentance of sin is a sure way to lose in the end.  Often people who struggle with sin think back to the time when they “accepted the Lord into their hearts” as a means of assurance.  But what is better than that is to examine your life in terms of fruit bearing.  Are you bearing fruit?  Do you have a hatred for sin and are you, by the grace of God gaining victory? A transformed life is one of the best assurances of being saved.

6. The person who asks Jesus into his heart will likely end up inoculated, bitter and backslidden.

Why?  Because he recited a formulated prayer that apparently has not worked, he grows disillusioned with Jesus, the Bible, church, fellow believers and the Christian life. He then ends up worse than he was at first.

7. It presents God as a beggar just hoping you will let Him into your busy life.

This presentation of God robs Him of His sovereignty.  Remember, the Bible says that it is “By grace you are saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8).  God gives as a gift to His elect “saving faith in Jesus.”  Just merely asking Jesus to come into your heart is actually no faith at all. Faith is the instrument that God uses to bring individuals into a saving relationship with Himself. That is not to say that faith is the basis of our salvation; rather, it is the channel by which God grants salvation.

The great  theologian B.B. Warfield said, "The saving power of faith resides thus not in itself, but in the Almighty Savior on whom it rests...It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but that Christ saves through faith."

Faith comes to the believer as a gift from God. It is not something that individuals are capable of mustering up on their own. Were faith a work of man's own doing, man would be in a position to take partial credit for his redemption.  But faith is “not of works lest any man should boasts” (Eph. 2:9).

Faith comes as a result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit-He makes alive our hearts to believe. Apart from the new birth, there can be no true faith. Therefore, faith, though it manifests itself in action, comes as a result of God's work in us.

God grants us faith and that faith is evidenced by our walking in the good works that "God has prepared beforehand" for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). True saving faith involves repentance from one's sin and a complete trust in the work of Christ to save from sin and make one righteous.  The jailor asked Paul this simple question:  “Sir, what must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)?  Paul did not respond by saying you need to pray a prayer of accepting Jesus into your heart. He said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved” (v. 31). 

The Reformers spoke of three aspects of faith:

First, is the mental component: Recognition of the truth of the gospel.  Which is: “That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). 

Second, is the emotional component:  Acknowledgment of your spiritual need for the gospel as a needy desperate sinner

Third, is the volitional element:  Choosing to personally commit to the Lord Jesus Christ who, by virtue of His death, provides the only sufficient sacrifice for one's personal sin. Any one of these three aspects of faith, taken by themselves, is insufficient to meet the biblical definition of saving faith. Therefore, the presence of all three components together results in saving faith.

End of Part 4

The Greatest Lie Ever Prayed, Part 5

One of the greatest needs for believers is to have assurance of their salvation. And if you are in that category, here is what John the apostle wrote:    “These things I have written to you (He’s talking about the book of 1 John) who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). 

What is the assurance?  Believe in the name of Christ or placing your complete faith and trust in Jesus alone to save you from God’s wrath, to forgive you of all your sins, and to restore you in a right and proper relationship with God.

Here it is in a nutshell:   “Repent or turn from your sin + Trust (faith) in Christ alone as your Lord and Savior” = salvation.

Too many are told that all they have to do is to “accept Jesus as their personal Savior” (a prayer or phrase not found in the Bible).  But repentance is often left out and total trust in Christ alone is not emphasized.

What would the greater lie ever prayed produce? 

These horrible words from Christ Himself:  “I never knew you, depart from Me you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23). 

Reason #8. The cause of Christ is ridiculed.

Visit an atheist web-site and read the pagans who scoff, “How dare those Christians tell us how to live when they get divorced more than we do? Who are they to say homosexuals shouldn’t adopt kids when tens of thousands of orphans don’t get adopted by Christians?” Born again believers adopt kids and don’t get divorced. People who ask Jesus into their hearts do. Jesus gets mocked when false converts give Him a bad name.



Reason #9 - The cause of evangelism is hindered.

While it is certainly easier to get church members by telling them to ask Jesus into their hearts, try pleading with someone to make today the day of their salvation. Get ready for a painful response. “Why should I become a Christian when I have seen so called Christians act worse than a pagan?” People who ask Jesus into their hearts give pagans an excuse for not repenting.

Reason #10 -  People who ask Jesus into their hearts are not saved and they will perish on the Day of Judgment.

How tragic that millions of people think they are right with God when they are not. How many people who will cry out, “Lord, Lord” on judgment day will be “Christians” who asked Jesus into their hearts?

So, what must one do to be saved? Repent and trust. (Heb.6:1) The Bible makes it clear that all men must repent and place their trust in Jesus Christ. Every man does have a “God shaped hole in their hearts,” but that hole is not contentment, fulfillment and peace. Every man’s heart problem is righteousness. Instead of preaching that Jesus fulfills, we must preach that God judges and Jesus satisfies God’s judgment...if a man will repent and place his trust in Him.If you are reading this and you asked Jesus into your heart, chances are good you had a spiritual buzz for a while, but now you struggle to read your Bible, tithe, attend church and pray.

Perhaps you were told you would have contentment, purpose and a better life if you just ask Jesus into your heart. I am sorry, that may have been the greatest lie you ever prayed.

Note:  Here are two passages that need mentioning:

Colossians 2:6:  “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” 

John 1:12: “But as many as received Him (Christ), to them He gave the power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe in His name.” 

First, notice that both passages have the word “receive” in it. So to say that “I have received Christ” is not unbiblical.  I do not want to give that impression.

Second, both passages qualify what “receiving Christ” is about. In Colossians 2:6 -- it is about “walking in Him.” In John 1:12 - it is about “believing (or trusting) in His name.”

Therefore, to “receive Christ” as Lord and Savior, is not merely a formality, but putting one’s faith and trust in Him alone that results in a public walk with Him.

End of Series

Knowing God By Way of Causality, Parts 1-3

Knowing God By Way of Causality, Part 1

Since God is the initial cause of everything, then we can make some reasonable conclusions when we see God working in human affairs.  For example, if we see a demonstration of His power, and since He is the cause of power, then we attribute to him all power (Omnipotence).

If we see a demonstration of His wisdom and knowledge (look at how the world has advanced over the centuries, in Medicine, science and technology), and since we know what God is the source and cause of all knowledge and wisdom, then we attribute to him all knowledge (Omniscience).

If we see a demonstrations of God’s ability to be and see two or more places at the same time (satellite image), and since we know that God is the source of this, for how else would man even create such a thing (remember, man is created in God’s image and likeness – Gen. 1:26), then we can attribute to God the ability to be everywhere and see everywhere at the same time (Omnipresence). 

Therefore, as God reveals Himself to men in His actions, and we see the effects of these actions, then we ascribe to God such attributes in its greatest degree.

You ask, “But Pastor Rich, what about evil?  Since man does evil, should this also be traced back to God as the first cause?”  No.  The Bible says that “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

End of Part 1

Knowing God By Way of Causality, Part 2

We see by way of negation that God does not have our limitations. We ascribe to God the perfections of everything that we see and have that’s good, and causality all of the influences that are at work in human existence we ascribe in their ultimate degree to God – in this way we may know God (however limited) apart from the Scriptures.   This is one of the general revelations that renders all men “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).  This method of knowing God is a method that even men who have no contact with the God of the Scriptures acknowledge.

For example, in fetishism, that is the worship of God by means of fetishes (the belief that certain objects have supernatural powers), always the worshiper regards his life as belonging to the object that he worships. In other words, when he bows down before an idol, he attributes to the idol certain characteristics of his life. He recognizes that he has a derived life.

Therefore, by a law of nature we recognize that what is true of us (in a noble and good sense) is ultimately true of God, but true of Him in the exalted sense, for we belong to Him and are created in His image (Gen. 1:26).  That’s part of our being. It’s something that God has planted within us. It’s one of those intuitive things that we just know because we bare the marks of the Creator.   

Secondly, our moral nature demands that we approach and understand God in this way. For example, our moral nature thinks of a God as a person. We think of a person as someone who knows, who wills, who acts. That is the way we think of God. And because we do think of God that way then if we know anything, or if we can know anything, then God must be that way as well.

Of course if God is not that way then we cannot know anything. And so there is no point in talking about anything else. But if our senses are reliable then that is the way in which we know Him through general revelation. If our moral nature recognizes that he’s a person who knows, who wills and who acts, so must He be.

End of Part 2

Knowing God By Way of Causality, Part 3

Since God is the initial cause of everything, then we can make some reasonable conclusions when we see God working in human affairs. 

We can make some logical conclusions about God by focusing in on ourselves – people all of whom have been created in His image (Gen. 1:26).

First, one area of focus is the intellectual side of man. If man knows anything, then God knows it more infinitely.  If man thinks, God thinks. If man reasons, God reasons, etc.

Second, another area of focus is on the moral behavior of man. Since we are “persons,” (created in God’s image) so is God a person. Since we are persons with a moral compass – knowing the difference between right and wrong, God is the same way but more infinitely.

Third, our spiritual nature demands a personal God. When we think of God we think of a person who will hear our prayers. Who will listen to our confessions. Who will pay attention to the praise that we render to him.

Theologian Paul Tillich, speaks of God as “the ground of our being.” However, nobody should go around and worship the ground of being!  We don’t bow down before God on our knees and say, “O dear ground of being.” We naturally think of a person who will hear our prayers, who will listen to our confessions, who will hear our praises. We do not get down on our knees and thank the law of gravity for anything.

In other words, basic to our spiritual nature is the concept that there is a personal God. If we have a spiritual nature at all, and if we can know anything at all then God must be like that. If we say, “He’s not like that,” then we can never know anything. 

There’s no use to talk about knowing anything. So this is the way that we naturally think. This appears to be universal among men, with exception. Often times you will find men who want to deny this and deny it for a particular reason. But generally this knowledge is universal and necessary and yes it must be, if we know anything.

All I am trying to show is that even without the Bible telling us all that we need to know about God in this life, just by focusing in on one aspect of God’s creation – man, the theological conclusions by way of causality is enough to render all men, standing before God “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).

Now this is just “general” revelation (nature itself).  Add to this “special” revelation (the hearing of God’s Word, the Bible), many are held even more accountable.

End of Series

The Necessary Work of The Holy Spirit in Salvation

When we think of the salvation of people, we do not tend to think much about the work of the Father through the Holy Spirit. But according to the Bible, the work of God the Father through the Spirit is necessary in order to complete the accomplishment of the Father’s own eternal purpose.

Here’s a bold statement: If God had done nothing more than to give Christ His Son to die for sinners, still not a single sinner would ever have been saved. In order for any sinner to be saved (sinners like you and me), we need to first see our need of a Savior. In order for this need to be realized, the Spirit of God must first open our eyes.

John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.”

John 16:13: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”

If God had done nothing more than to give Jesus to die for sinners and then sent His servants (witnesses and evangelists) to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ alone, no sinner would be saved if left entirely alone to do as they please.

It is the work of the Spirit to open the eyes of the blind, quicken (or make alive) the spirit within man, before man can truly embrace Jesus for salvation.

That’s how important the work of the Holy Spirit is for all who come to know Christ.

The Incomprehensibility of God, Parts 1-3

The Incomprehensibility of God, Part 1

When talking about God, one of the first things to mention is His incomprehensibility.  There are a couple of important things that renders God incomprehensible to humans.

The first, should be obvious – it’s our sinful state and present condition.

One important requirement to understand and know God to a certain extent is to have the Spirit of God.

“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:14). 

Here the natural man is the unsaved man.  He is unsaved and therefore void of the Spirit of God. When a person believes in Christ and trusts Him alone for eternal salvation and the forgiveness of sins, that person immediately is given the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13-14). 

Who authored the Bible? The Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).  Therefore, if a person is not saved and does not have the Holy Spirit living within him or her, understanding the Bible’s message apart from having the author is impossible.

We are spiritually incapacitated and therefore we do not have the faculty for understanding the word of God.  For example, in the room or area in which you are sitting or standing, there are scores of radio waves all around you. You cannot hear the sound. But if you have a device which is able to pick up on the sound and transmission of those radio waves, such as a radio, you can hear what’s going on around you.

The Holy Spirit is God’s spiritual receiver that enables people who have Him to understand the spiritual message of the Bible. Without Him, receiving the message of the Bible is impossible. This is why for so many people who are void of the Spirit and therefore, unsaved and in their sinful state, God is incomprehensible.  Not even the Bible can help here.

End of Part 1

The Incomprehensibility of God, Part 2

Man’s present state of sinfulness makes God incomprehensible. When Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians, he said:

They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed (Eph. 4:18-19). 

Notice man’s understanding is darkened.  There is also separation between God and man. Then there is ignorance.  Then to top it all, there’s the hardening of the heart. 

So when you hear people say, “Where is God when I needed Him?”  God is always present. It is man’s sinfulness that makes Him incomprehensible.

In Ephesians 4:17, we read: “This I say therefore, in testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.”

Again, look at what is being said:  Man is alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. The hearts are blind that produces ignorance resulting in alienation from God and the darkening of the understanding.  The outcome: God is incomprehensible.

But besides man’s state of sinfulness, there’s another reason why God is incomprehensible.

More on this in Part 3

The Incomprehensibility of God, Part 3

God is not only incomprehensible because sins limits our comprehension of Him, but secondly,

2. God is incomprehensible because of His infinity or infiniteness.

About God, the Bible says this:  “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen (1 Tim. 1:17).   

God is eternal, invisible, He is an infinite being and because He is infinite, He is eternal, and because He is eternal, he is infinite.

Over to another passage:  “Who (God) only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen” (1 Tim. 6:16). 

God is infinite. Because He is infinite He is incomprehensible to finite man. Now I think the logic of this should be very obvious.

Isaiah asked these series of questions:  “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare Him to? (Isa. 40:18). In other words, what on earth can you compare God to and what can you use to accurately describe Him?

He is incomprehensible.  The finite cannot grasp the infinite. I hope we know and understand this.   You ask, “Why?”  Because a God that is comprehended is no God at all.

If we could really know God in the fullness of His being, we would be gods ourselves. The only person who can know God is God. This is why Jesus said “no one knows the Father except the Son; and no one knows the Son except the Father” (Matt. 11:27). 

BTW, I would also take this to mean that even in heaven when we are in our gloried bodies, where there will be no sin to hinder us, yet even in that perfect state of being, we will never fully comprehend God.

Did you think you would?  Sorry to disappoint you.  You will not.

Of course we will come to know a lot more about God than we know now, when we are in His presence.

God’s divinity escapes all human senses. God may choose to reveal certain features about Himself to us, but such features are only a small part of His overall infiniteness. In fact, there is a sense in which when God reveals Himself, He is still hidden. This is true because there are things about God we shall never know.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us (Deut. 29:29).  Pour over the Word of God and learn all you can about the “revealed” things of God. Don’t worry about the things that are not revealed. There are some things that are not even going to be known when we get to heaven. You know one of the things that’s going to make eternity interesting is the fact that our knowledge of God is probably going to be an increasing / growing knowledge.

Here is something interesting to think about. Remember, Paul said that, “There abides faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).   He writes this in the present tense. He says, there “abides” faith, hope and love.

Some people say that when we get to heaven we’re not going to have faith and hope anymore we’re just going to have love. That’s not true according to what Paul said.  He said there “abides” (present tense) faith, hope and love. When we get to heaven we’re going to have new revelations from God and we’re going to exercise faith and hope in them as we see them come to pass.

And when I read from the Bible these words:  “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.' 'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” (Rev. 7:17). I take this to mean that there is going to be an increase and development of not only my intellectual life, but also of my emotional life.  All my experience of God will be developing in heaven.

Yet, as eternity continues, God will then and forever be incomprehensible.

End of Series

Which Is First?

As we come closer to electing a new president, one thing really concerns me. As Christians, how do we balance being an American vs being a Christian? In other words, how far do we take our patriotism?

I am an American. I love my country. Nevertheless, I also have to admit, that even though America was founded on Christian principles and beliefs, America is still a country of this world. While we may ask God to make this country’s economy better and bigger, and while we may ask God to strengthen our military and increase our global influence, America is still a kingdom of this world and as a Christian, I am told to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt. 6:33).

Jesus said that when we pray, we ought to ask from the Lord, “Holy be your Name, YOUR KINDGOM COME, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9-10).

As a Christian, my desire is not merely to be in a nation that has the biggest and strongest military and that has a robust economy, but I need to pray for heaven’s morals to become our nation’s morals. “God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

America is going to pass away one day just like all other countries that has preceded it. How America will be done away with is not certain. But the time will come. What is certain is that as a Christian, my “citizenship is in heaven” (Philip. 3:20). While on earth, I am just passing through. I am not to have the mindset that here on earth is all there is. I am an “alien” (1 Peter 1:1) and a “stranger” (1 Peter 2:11) just making my way through.

I want to vote for a candidate who will help bring us as a nation to our knees in humble repentance, calling upon God to forgive us and restore us to what His will is in heaven.

In the mean time, no matter who is elected as president, I should pray diligently and thoughtfully for our leader(s) (1 Tim. 2:1-3), and while doing so, always remember and never forget that I am actually a citizen of a heavenly home in which I was chosen to spend eternity.

While I should never be ashamed of my American citizenship, I realize that one day I will have to set aside my earthly American citizenship for my eternal heavenly one.

I am a citizen of two places, two countries, two homes. The kingdom of God comes first.

Facts vs Truth

What is the difference between facts and learning truth? With the use of the computer and the internet, we are drowning in facts.

Did you know there are 3,000 pages of new material printed every second?  One thousand books in America are published every day.  The Bible says that in the last days there will be an “increase in knowledge” (Dan. 12:4).

Here’s something to think about. Man’s accumulated knowledge (measured in inches) from the time of creation to the year 1845 would measure just one inch.  But from the year 1845 to 1945 it would have grown to be three inches. Then from the year 1945 to 1975 it would be as tall as the Washington Monument. And from the year 1975 to the present it would be out of sight.   There has been an increase in knowledge.  But are we learning any truth?

The Bible speaks of those who are “always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7).  Therefore, learning facts and not learning truth can make a huge difference in where one spends eternity. 

Today we see more suicide, more broken homes, more drug abuse, more illness, more heartache than ever before, and yet we swimming in facts. You see, facts are like a recipe; but truth is the meal.   It’s the meal we need, but we often are satisfied with only the recipe of facts.