Be Sober, Be Vigilant!

(2Corinthians 2:11) “So that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

It is nights like last night that helps me remember that without salvation and the protection of our great God that we would be left to the dogs and the bulls of Bashan and be ripped to shreds. Have you ever stopped to consider the spiritual warfare, which rages on in the heavens; how it unfolds and although the devil has been defeated on Calvary, he is still a player of substantial influence in that unseen territory. I agree that he needs permission for all that He does, He always has and for many years to come will still need permission until he is chained for a thousand years in the bottomless pit and then he will be let loose and roar once again deceiving as he is prone to do for a short while until he will ultimately be cast into the lake of fire; “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

The devil’s destiny with all his allies will suffer torment for all eternity for their defilement to God and for the blood of the saints that they have feasted upon. But as his time is not yet ended, he persistently endeavours to get the child of God stumble. Whatever God hates he loves! “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” (Proverbs 6:16-19)

These are the areas he often will look to trip up the child of God, be on guard against this.

“Those things which God hates it is no thanks to us to hate in others, but we must hate them in ourselves. 1. Haughtiness, conceitedness of ourselves, and contempt of others - a proud look. There are seven things that God hates, and pride is the first, because it is at the bottom of much sin and gives rise to it. God sees the pride in the heart and hates it there; but, when it prevails to that degree that the show of men's countenance witnesses against them that they overvalue themselves and undervalue all about them, this is in a special manner hateful to him, for then pride is proud of itself and sets shame at defiance. 2. Falsehood, and fraud, and dissimulation. Next to a proud look nothing is more an abomination to God than a lying tongue; nothing more sacred than truth, nor more necessary to conversation than speaking truth. God and all good men hate and abhor lying. 3. Cruelty and blood-thirstiness. The devil was, from the beginning, a liar and a murderer (Joh_8:44), and therefore, as a lying tongue, so hands that shed innocent blood are hateful to God, because they have in them the devil's image and do him service. 4. Subtlety in the contrivance of sin, wisdom to do evil, a heart that designs and a head thatdevises wicked imaginations, that is acquainted with the depths of Satan and knows how to carry on a covetous, envious, revengeful plot, most effectually. The more there is of craft and management in sin the more it is an abomination to God. 5. Vigour and diligence in the prosecution of sin - feet that are swift in running to mischief, as if they were afraid of losing time or were impatient of delay in a thing they are so greedy of. The policy and vigilance, the eagerness and industry, of sinners, in their sinful pursuits, may shame us who go about that which is good so awkwardly and so coldly. 6. False-witness bearing, which is one of the greatest mischiefs that the wicked imagination can devise, and against which there is least fence. There cannot be a greater affront to God (to whom in an oath appeal is made) nor a greater injury to our neighbour (all whose interests in this world, even the dearest, lie open to an attack of this kind) than knowingly to give in a false testimony. There are seven things which God hates, and lying involves two of them; he hates it, and doubly hates it. 7. Making mischief between relations and neighbours, and using all wicked means possible, not only to alienate their affections one from another, but to irritate their passions one against another. The God of love and peace hates him that sows discord among brethren, for he delights in concord. Those that by tale-bearing and slandering, by carrying ill-natured stories, aggravating everything that is said and done, and suggesting jealousies and evil surmises, blow the coals of contention, are but preparing for themselves a fire of the same nature.” (Matthew Henry)

Our bodies need rest and sleep to help rejuvenate our cells and help us function with some form of normality. If the body is derived of sleep, it cannot repair itself and sluggishness becomes part of my mornings, it takes me at least half an hour to begin to function with any constituent normality. A good soldier is fed the right balance when it comes to food and sleep, give him to much and he will become lazy, give him to little and he will have to draw unnecessarily from the bodies recourses leaving him short of his optimum fighting capabilities. Obviously, when we walk in the spirit and with deliberation go out to deny our flesh these necessities, food and sleep, we will enter a realm of strength in the spirit. Fasting and prayer has their place in a believer’s life. Do you remember what the Lord Jesus was doing prior to being tempted of the devil? That’s right he had been fasting for forty days and nights. It is important to see that He was not only fasting throughout the days but also throughout the night; He fasted day and night for forty days! The bible then tells us that He was hungry. He was in a state of weakness, His brain was receiving signals that it needed to eat or He would surely die. He was hungry for food, His body needed sustenance but there was something He held with higher regard, He proves this to us by His response to the devil. And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Everything about the Lord seemed to be balanced and well thought out, but that would surely go without saying. Bread is important to sustain the body, but the Word of God is of far more importance and it must be view as such. We must begin to reason with the correct understanding; by default we eat when we are hungry and even sometimes when we are not. Have you placed as much emphasis on the Word of God as you do on food? I know I haven’t, but I should as my life depends on it. The Lord Jesus was full of understanding, He is teaching us through His spirit and his Word to reason with His understanding, and may we have an earnest desire to learn from him!

It is nights like last night, where war raged on in my dreams, as restlessness paid me a visit and I tossed and turn looking to my Saviour to help in time of need. He is faithful, and always proves His faithfulness, some nights are worse than others but He is my safeguard, in Him will I trust! I cannot with any certainty explain why I have nights like I do, but I am convinced that the Lord Jesus is teaching me to become more dependent upon Him and not to try get through these nights on my own ability. It is not about me squaring up to my opponent and saying “let’s get it on”, like I may of done as a as a young teen. The battleground is with the unseen enemy and yet he has a phenomenal influence on our lives. Winston Churchill was a great leader as he would anticipate his opponent’s next move. He made it His business to study His foe. It would be wise of us to study our adversary. Before we can do battle and come out as victors, we must understand our enemy. Come on brethren; let us stand as men for the days of childishness have run their course. Firstly we must not be under any delusion that we do not have an enemy and then secondly we must understand his tactics and how he lures us to walk in sin. Sin is a state of unbelief, which leaves us doubting our salvation. Faith is a gift of God; daily, we need to fall to our knees, asking for more faith and in doing that we must take the Word of God more seriously than we take our daily bread. Let us not be ignorant of the devil’s devises! Look at what James instructs us to do; “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

We must always under trial submit ourselves to God, because if we don’t then the opposite will happen, the devil will not have any reason to flee from us.

Michael the archangel teaches us the greatest of lessons; “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." (Jude 1:9)

We must always remember that it is only through the victory of our Saviour the Lord Jesus that we have victory over the devil and all his demons. That seems like an obvious statement, but we are reminded to remember this more than once in scripture and I believe the reason for this is that we tend to forget this simple truth.

We must remember to put on the whole armour of God; “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11)

Study the Word, understand your opponent and remember who it is that has had the victory and stand in Him. There is nothing he can do to the children of God without permission and he is working within the Sovereignty of God’s rule for our well being. But let us not be ignorant of his devices; “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” (2Corinthians 2:11)

How I long to kneel in the presence of my Saviour, until then!

Signing off

Tyrone

A happy God!

(Psalms45:8) “Whereby they have made thee glad.”

This morning as I sit in my chair in front of my keyboard, with sleepy eyes with my mind slowly kicking into gear as I contemplate what subject to pen this morning. As I look for a thought that would dominate my mind, as I look to my dreams and my thoughts throughout the night, as I probe and pull looking for the direction my thoughts will take, I keep coming back to a song that even now rings true to my ears, “when I think of the goodness of Jesus when I think of what He has done for me, my very soul cries out hallelujah, praise God for saving me.” I am often in a state of happiness and my joy is full when I remember Calvary, and even more so when I am reminded that Calvary was for me! Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour hung and bled on a tree for so many and I was amongst the number, He died for Tyrone; yes He died and suffered for me! He gave so much of Himself, in fact He could not have given more, it cost Him His life, separation from His Father as He hung on a cruel Roman tree as He was judged for the sins of the world (all those who through the ages would repent and believe, from the very first to the very last). So much of Him was given and even now He cries out, “just a little longer and the trump of God will sound” and my mind repeatedly echo’s these words to itself, “whosoever will to the Lord may come He will not turn one away. Jesus Jesus, heals the broken hearted Jesus heals the broken hearted he will not turn one away”.

We have so much to be grateful for, my list is full of immense gratitude, it would conclude in that, I owe Him my life, my body and soul belongs to my God, not because He could claim it and do whatever He chooses with it, as He has it in His power as God to do whatever He chooses. Yet, I willingly give Him of myself as He has freely given me all in Himself, in and through His Son, my Saviour; this is why I now have eyes which can see. The gift of God is so beautiful to behold, and yet not everyone can echo these words. “O how I love you Lord!” If only we could see into the hidden realm of the spirit world, we would then see how much we are loved. How God gives His angels charge over His children, how they also work together for our salvation and to His glory.

All of God’s children are the benefactors of God’s mercy and His grace; we all at times derive much joy and immense satisfaction knowing that one day we will be like our glorious Saviour, complete in so many ways! But how often do we give thought to the joy the only true awesome omnipresent holy and righteous God derives from His children. “For the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” (Proverbs 3:12)

I will suggest saying that He loves and delights to dwell in the house of His people. What? God delights to dwell with me as useless and fickle as I can be at times. “Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, "Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!" (Psalms 35:27)

“The great God has pleasure in this prosperity of good people, not only of his family, the church in general, but of every particular servant in his family. He has pleasure in the prosperity both of their temporal and of their spiritual affairs, and delights not in their griefs; for he does not afflict willingly; and we ought therefore to have pleasure in their prosperity, and not to envy it.” M Henry

I would like to explore more of these thoughts, but as I now begin to habitually develope a pattern of running late for various engagements I will leave you with some of Charles Spurgeon, thoughts so that I may make the golf course on time. It is not the golf engagement that is of importance but rather the message I deliver if I am habitually late for an engagement.

“And who are thus privileged to make the Saviour glad? His church-his people. But is it possible? He makes us glad, but how can we make him glad? By our love. Ah! we think it so cold, so faint; and so, indeed, we must sorrowfully confess it to be, but it is very sweet to Christ. Hear his own eulogy of that love in the golden Canticle: “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine!” See, loving heart, how he delights in you. When you lean your head on his bosom, you not only receive, but you give him joy; when you gaze with love upon his all-glorious face, you not only obtain comfort, but impart delight. Our praise, too, gives him joy-not the song of the lips alone, but the melody of the heart’s deep gratitude. Our gifts, too, are very pleasant to him; he loves to see us lay our time, our talents, our substance upon the altar, not for the value of what we give, but for the sake of the motive from which the gift springs. To him the lowly offerings of his saints are more acceptable than the thousands of gold and silver. Holiness is like frankincense and myrrh to him. Forgive your enemy, and you make Christ glad; distribute of your substance to the poor, and he rejoices; be the means of saving souls, and you give him to see of the travail of his soul; proclaim his gospel, and you are a sweet savour unto him; go among the ignorant and lift up the cross, and you have given him honour. It is in your power even now to break the alabaster box, and pour the precious oil of joy upon his head, as did the woman of old, whose memorial is to this day set forth wherever the gospel is preached. Will you be backward then? Will you not perfume your beloved Lord with the myrrh and aloes, and cassia, of your heart’s praise? Yes, ye ivory palaces, ye shall hear the songs of the saints!" C.H.Spurgeon

So with those thoughts...

Signing off

Tyrone

Life in the Spirit.

(1Peter 3:18) “Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”

“Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;” Being made alive in the spirit, but wasn’t He always alive, If He is God, which He is, He then has no beginning; He was never created! He is part of the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), so then how was it that He died and was made alive in the spirit?

He is the first fruit of our salvation, to all who believe. He has lead the way by example, He is the greatest of leaders, His motto was never, “do because I say so”, No, He encourages us to follow His example by leading with the actual doing of it. He died in the flesh and on the third day He rose again, He committed Himself to His Father, the Righteous Judge. He trusted Him as He wants us to trust Him. Nothing is expected of us that the Lord Himself has not experienced. He may not have known what it is like to sin as He never sinned, but He suffered for sin in our place, He most definitely knew what it felt like to suffer, and in fact no man ever suffered or will suffer as much as He suffered for the sake of righteousness, the truth be told, He was given into the hands of His enemies. "Now was that scripture fulfilled God hath turned me over into the hands of the wicked;" and no angel is sent from heaven to deliver Him, no friend on earth raised up to appear for Him.

The example of Christ is proposed as an argument for patience under sufferings; Jesus Christ himself was not exempted from sufferings in this life, though He had no guilt of His own and could have declined all suffering if He had pleased. The reason or commendable cause of Christ's suffering was the sins of men: Christ suffered for sins and yet He never sinned, I hope this grips our heart, can you ever remember being blamed for something you never did? It must have happened somewhere in your life. Do you remember how violated you felt, well this was possibly an everyday experience for the Lord Jesus, that was His life and how it played out. The sufferings of Christ were a true and proper punishment; this punishment was suffered to compensate and to make atonement for sin; and it extends to all sin. In the case of our Lord's suffering, it was the just that suffered for the unjust; He substituted Himself in our room and stead, and bore our iniquities. He that knew no sin suffered instead of those that knew no righteousness. This is a phenomenal thought I hope its grips our hearts! The merit and perfection of Christ's sacrifice were such that for Him to suffer once was enough. Prior to this the legal sacrifices were repeated from day to day, and from year to year; but the sacrifice of Christ, once offered, purged away sin, “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for His own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” (Hebrews 7:27)

Obviously God has always purposed all things He has chosen to do, it is not random, He is full of wisdom and He will silence all His critics, those who appear to be wise, yet have become fools as they think they have the answer to life but will be proved wrong on Judgment Day.

The blessed end or design of our Lord's sufferings was to bring us to God, to reconcile us to God, to give us access to the Father, to render us and our services acceptable, and to bring us to eternal glory, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)

“For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18)

It is very clear and we could make reference too many other scriptures to verify the truth of the Lord Jesus’ purpose here on earth. The issue and event of Christ's suffering, as to Himself, were these, He was put to death in his human nature, but He was quickened and raised again by the Spirit. Here comes the point... Now, if Christ was not exempted from sufferings, why should Christians expect it? If He suffered, to make amends for sins, why should not we be content when our sufferings are only for trial and correction, but not for punishment? If He, though perfectly just, why should we not, who are all criminals? If He once suffered, and then entered into glory, shall not we be patient under trouble, since it will be but a little time and we shall follow him to glory? If He suffered, to bring us to God, shall not we submit to difficulties, since they are of so much use to quicken us in our return to God, and in the performance of our duty to Him?

We must grasp the truth and purpose of suffering, they have a specific purpose for us in our lives, and they are there to cause us to flee to our Saviour in time of need. They will help fuel our hope, which is heaven and an eternity in the presence of God, where we will receive a body that will be incorruptible and will never age as this fleshly body of ours does. It will take on the attributes of the Lord Jesus, we shall be like Him. To what degree and how that will look, time will tell. I know this that all those who endure unto the end, will be like Him!

Suffering then is needful for all of us, it is an aid to help us flee to the cross and to remember our hope in Him. It is through death and suffering that we are made alive in the spirit; “Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”

Signing off

Tyrone

"Much of the above text comes from Matthew Henry..."

Eve's Deception!

(1Timothy 2:14) “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”

Suffering is part of everyday life for both the believer as well as the unbeliever. We all suffer because of “sins fruit” which is ultimately death. Where did this all start for mankind? Well historically, it was around six thousand years ago that this happened, mankind lived without the “knowledge of good and evil”, they were oblivious to it, they lived in a state of fellowship with God, Adam probably walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. I make that supposition on the basis that God walked in His garden that He had just created and when He walked with Adam living in the same garden, they would have often crossed paths and had fellowship, in fact after they had sinned and eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil whilst God was walking in the garden they had to hide themselves to avoid an encounter.

“And 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.” (Genesis 3:8)

How our minds endeavour to depict that scene of God walking in the garden may differ from person to person, but all I can tell you is that is exactly what happened. This awesome almighty omnipresent only true God somehow and in some form walked with a man in a garden called Eden and they spoke as friends would speak as they had fellowship. Yet their fellowship was never about death as death was a foreign subject to Adam. He understood no shame as he was not yet alive to the “knowledge of good and evil”. If fact they (Adam and Eve) walked around naked without any further thought to their nakedness. Until Eve was lured into a trap by the serpent; the tempter, and that was the devil, in the shape and likeness of a serpent. When we think serpent, our minds automatically associate that with a snake that wriggles on its belly as the slimy creature it now is. We very seldom give much thought to its existence prior to the fall of mankind in the area of sin as they became sinners. It is certain; it was the devil that beguiled Eve. “The devil and Satan is the old serpent a malignant spirit, by creation an angel of light and an immediate attendant upon God's throne, but by sin became an apostate from his first state and a rebel against God's crown and dignity.” He now in the form of a serpent comes to beguile Eve, his intention to deceive her, to get her to believe a lie! Let us consider that event, let us try and unpack what it must have looked like. The Word gives us some clues to how the serpent may have made his entry, it would have been spectacular, and does not the lure of sin always look spectacular on the outside? It is like a plump rosy apple but once you bite into it, you end up with a mouth full of worms. They were originally unseen to the naked eye but yet very much alive inside the “apple of life”. We must remember that Eve was unaware of what the devils intention was, she was blind to the concept of good and evil, her understanding had not yet been awakened too it. He appears as an angel of light, maybe this is how he chosen to tempt Eve, what we do know is the devil appeared in the likeness of a serpent. Whether it was only the visible shape and appearance of a serpent or whether it was a real living serpent, actuated and possessed by the devil, is not certain. The devil chose to act his part in a serpent, maybe because it is an erroneous creature, has a mottled skin, and then went erect like the king cobra rears up prior to its strike. It may have had legs and even possibly wings, I make such a bold statement, because once the serpent received its curse from God it began to slither on its belly and eat dust all the days of its life, not before that! Punishment never improves one condition but it makes it more difficult to endure. I like to think that perhaps it was a flying serpent, which seemed to come from on high as a messenger from the upper world, one of the seraphim; for the fiery serpents were flying, reference to fiery serpents is found in the book of (Isaiah 14:29). Either way, his entrance would have been grand! He had one intention and that was to beguile Eve! For the sake of time we are unable to unpack the rest of the immense detail we could yet uncover in this encounter, but life itself should have taught us many lessons around our own experience in this area of life, sin and its lure! The serpent achieved his objective and he deceived Eve. Somewhere along their discourse Eve believed Satan and forgot what God had told them, which if they ate from that tree, they would surely die! She was deceived into believing a lie, let us think about that statement; in other words she believed what she was doing was now the right thing to do. Satan had lied and he hid the truth from her. Deceive means; to mislead or deliberately hide the truth from somebody.

So maybe just maybe we should pay attention to the Apostle Pauls instruction to Timothy, maybe we should all forget our pride and our self-worth and our arrogance and remember that God is true and that every man is a liar. Just maybe, Paul was not a dictator who had it in for woman, but rather a watchman that God himself had appointed. He obviously loved God’s children with such love that he was willing to protect them with the truth regardless of his popularity being tainted. When he instructs me through his pen and on behalf of God, I better pay attention or it will be to my own peril. So when he said, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” It was not because he felt threatened by woman or that they did not have anything to give from a spiritual stand point, he makes it quite clear why he makes such a statement, it is to protect the bride of Christ, the church.

He wants us to understand what happened in the Garden of Eden and what we must learn from that encounter, we must not make the same mistake. This encounter between Eve and Satan back in the garden was all Satan’s manipulation, Eve had nothing to do with his manipulation, she was the innocent bystander until she was deceived and entered into that which was forbidden. She then was guilty of transgression and was punished for it, which is why child birth is painful. I trust you see the pattern; she was lured into doing something that was forbidden. She did not deliberately go out of her way to defile God, as she was deceived, in other words she believed a lie to be true. Adam on the other hand made a conscious decision because of his love for Eve, which he must of placed above his love for God. He was not deluded or deceived! Tragic, but the weakness of many men, woman! And the weakness of woman, deception! That is why we must guard our hearts and cling to God’s Word with all we have, so when we read verses like this as hard as they may be to accept for some, it is written to protect us.

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” (1Timothy 2:12-14)

It has nothing to do with the customs of their times as I have heard some say, it was the time of Roman rule; reference is clearly made to the Garden of Eden. It is important to understand why scripture sometimes make such hard statements for us to swallow at times; there is always a reason for what is penned. Father be merciful I pray that we will have eyes to see and that the pride of life will be kept at bay even now; however one thing I am convinced of, your sheep will hear your voice. Help us find grace to overcome, we all have our cross to bear, one in this area and another in that. I ask for your name sake!

All honour praise and glory belongs to our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jehovah God, the only true and living God, the Triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

With shouts of acclamation I say praise the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, yes sing praises to Jesus Christ our King for He alone is worthy of all praise, praise Him all you saint and again I say praise Him, hallelujah, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

The Second Death!

(Revelation 2:11) “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

How our mindset changes as we get older, it happens or should happen as we mature and become more responsible in life, whatever that may look like for you, it should happen that we all mature with the choices we make in life as we get older. The body ages and theirs cells begin to die as old age begins to wear us down until it finally claims our last breathe. The process of life for all, nobody will escape the first death, unless the rapture claims your body prior to death, but that is another topic for another day. Besides that, we must all die the first death, but did you know there is a second death that many will be a part of and there are also yet many that will escape the “Second Death”, I wonder which camp you will be in? I am persuaded that I will not face the second death, because I have been given sight to see, I have found repentance in and through the only One who has the power to exempt all He has chosen, excusing them from facing death for a second time. The thought of dying once should be enough for all of us. Look at how we live lives and how every single one of us looks to prolong the inevitable, death! We buy face creams that are absorbedly priced to keep the wrinkles away from our eyes as we look to keep the elasticity of a youthful skin for as long as possible. We buy vitamin supplement that will keep us young or so the marketers in the advertising industry tells us. We need complements that boast our self-worth, complements like, “he looks great for his age”, or “I want to look like that when I am seventy”, the list goes on, but the long and the short of it, is we will all die and we all know it. Deep down absolutely no one, regardless of how foolish their outlook on life maybe, everyone acknowledges that death must confront us all. That is why we all look for answers in some times very strange places, horoscopes are popular, in fact they are such a hit that newspapers, magazines and even applications for facebook and the like carry horoscope predictions. We want gratification now and yet we still look to cover our bases after death, we take out Life Cover for our wives, children and loved ones, but our minds constantly tick over in our subconscious as we keep asking ourselves, what after death? There are many voices out there but their can only be one truth, do not make the mistake that so many will make; their philosophy that there are many roads that lead to China, that may be true about life and the everyday choices we are permitted to make, however there is only one road to heaven and that is through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only God (Jesus Christ) who in the flesh dwelt amongst people on earth and then He went to the cross to die for the sins of mankind, no one else has paid that price and as we are all sinners we will end up in hell; for the penalty of sin is death in hell! If you are without sin then you are safe, you needn’t worried, I on the other hand have many sins that I need to find forgiveness for, for if I do not find forgiveness I will certainly end up in hell, I deserve hell as sin has lead me astray and far from God. I thank God for His beloved Son, Jesus Christ the Lord, my Lord as I have found forgiveness through Him. The call has gone out to all, “whosoever will to the Lord may come He will not turn one away, Jesus, Jesus He’ll not turn one away.” A song I still sing, I sing it even now in anticipation that someone somewhere across the ocean may call out to Jesus and find life and escape the second death.

I do not often make comparisons like this but with this ideology spreading like wildfire; even atheists will eventually grasp some form of the “New Age” movement and find solace there.

NAM	CHRISTIANITY
God is an impersonal force.	God is personal. He is our Heavenly Father who loves us.
God is all and all is God. He is part of creation, as are all of us.	God is the Almighty Creator of the universe and all within it. Man is finite, and one of God’s creations.
There is no sin, only misunderstanding of truth.	Rebellion from God is sin. All have sinned, and all must be saved to escape the “second death”.
Man saves himself.	Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Only through faith in Him may man be saved.
Heaven and Hell do not exist. They are states of mind.	The Bible clearly teachers that there is a literal Heaven, and a literal Hell.
Jesus is a man who exemplified “Christ Consciousness, and the divinity that is man.	Jesus is the Son of God, and is part of the triune nature of God.

Sourced from Contender Ministries, with some of my own thoughts added into the chart.

What then is the “second death” and where can we find reference made to it?

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” (Revelation 2:11)

With the second death will come "hurt", how a person can feel pain if there is no life in them is beyond our reasoning, stab a dead man as see if he cries out in pain, he obviously won’t! This death then speaks about death that has feelings attached to it.

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6)

Here we see that whoever is part of the first resurrection will not be harmed by the second death. In other words all who repent and find forgiveness in and through the Lord Jesus Christ will escape the power of the second death.

And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14)

All who end up in hell will ultimately end up as partakers of the second death, which is a place of torment, a conscious awareness of pain as those that find themselves in the lake of fire will wail and gnash their teeth in anguish.

But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

It is clear that all sinners, even those who have ever lied only once and have not found forgiveness, repenting in and through the person, the Lord Jesus Christ will end up in this lake that burns with fire and brimstone.

The bible has spoken and that is what it has to say about the second death, do you believe what it says or will you ignore its warning?

Signing off

Tyrone

Is Discipline Necessary?

(2Corinthians 7:8) “For though I made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret it: though I did regret it (for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season)”

Many years ago, it must have been some twenty two years back, where I now sit in the very same room I once heard a question asked that my mind now contemplates. I live in a flat-let that was once used to feed a new church, the Randburg Coastal Assemblies of God. I now live in the very same room. It was in the early stages of my Christian life that I recall a question posed to the leader of the Coastal Assemblies at the time, Mike Atlee. The topic was on suffering for the sake of the Gospel; all young believers bear reproach and struggle with the issues of life as Christians looking for answers, trying to understand all the emotions that go with ones new found lifestyle. Life was filled with so many mixed emotions, not that it changes as you grow in Christ, but hopefully things get a little clearer.

The Apostle Peter teachers us: “For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” (1Peter 2:20)

It is very clear that if we suffer for doing wrong, we are no different from everyone else; in our lives everyone mostly pays the price for doing the wrong thing . If I steal and I am caught then I am punished in accordance with the law. An example closer to home, after having been warned through the media and various Bill Boards in London that if one is promiscuous the chance of being infected with a HIV virus is very real, if I ignore that warning, which I did many years ago, and I end up with the virus then I am to blame and I will live with the consequences. Over the last seventeen years I have been in hospital at least six times maybe more. I have suffered with dementia, various lung infections, glandular fever, severe headaches, shingles, night sweats and many other complications which can be traced back to one bad decision. I suffer for doing something I shouldn't off done. That is not commendable before God, I got what I deserved! That is Peter’s point! But if I suffer for doing a good deed, let’s say I preach the gospel to a person and he responses to this glorious life giving message and he finds repentance and believes on the finished work of Calvary and he suffers much reproach from the people of his former traditions and religious upbringing as his family and friends persecute him. If they then look to persecute me for bringing this message to him, this would then be commendable before God as I now suffer for the sake of God’s kingdom. I trust the difference can clearly be seen.

The question posed was this, “if I suffer for doing wrong will this work out in my favour as a Christian?” the answer was, “yes it will”, although it may not be commendable before God, it must still work out for our benefit in the long run.

“And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

I was disciplined as a young believer; in fact I was committed to Satan for the destruction of the flesh just like the man in the Corinthian church. That time of my life was a destructive time, and my life was in disarray. Shortly after that I found out I was HIV positive, I lost my company because of a gambling habit, I got divorced and I lost everything I owned through sequestration. Yet, the purpose of it all was to eventually bring me to my senses. I am pleased to say that the discipline worked in my favour as I now serve the Lord. Discipline must only ever be instituted so that it will eventually lead to rehabilitation, which in turn will get us home to heaven.

Let’s look at the Apostle Paul’s intention with the discipline he instituted on that young man in the church at Corinth...

“In the name of our Lord Jesus, ye being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that thespirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1Corinthians 5:4-5)

The point behind this discipline was to teach him that his sin was serious, but it was so that his “spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”.

We see this to be true when we read Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth; “For though I made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret it: though I did regret it (for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season), As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. “For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2Corinthians 7:8-10)

This discipline did not only have an effect on the young man but the entire church was changed because of it. The young man is not singled out again but rather the church, but we must conclude that he also found repentance, because that was the point of the discipline, it was so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

In like manner my discipline also has had an effect on my life which I am now thankful for. Suffering will have its role to play in our lives, whether we suffer for wrong doing or whether we suffer for the doing what is right in the eyes of God. But we must never be under any pretence, the instruction from Peter is very clear, when we suffer let us not suffer as an evil doer but when we suffer let us not be ashamed.

“For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters: but if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.” (1Peter 4:15-16)

Nevertheless all suffering will ultimately benefit the child of God and God’s name will be praised.

Signing off

Tyrone

Fear No Evil!

(Psalms 23:4) “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;”

Do we actually believe this verse, David did! As far back as I can remember we used to sing this hymn at assembly in Primary (junior) School, “The Lord’s my Shepherd I will not want” and yet that is all my life has been filled with, “want!” words seem to roll off our tongues with such ease, and yet no real thought is given to what is said. I often say, I love you Lord, but if I loved the Lord I would keep His commandments...

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

How often do I place my own wants and will before my great God? I am sorry to confess, far too often!

How often do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil? The sad part of it all is how often have I not feared it and been a partaker in its debauchery. Far too often I must again confess. But having said that and never excusing my sin, I must acknowledge the faithfulness of God even through my disobedience. When I have been able once again to see the wood from the trees I have always seen the faithfulness of my Saviour. He has proved Himself to me, as if God ever needed to prove anything and yet He chose to save me, I am forever grateful. Even now I can recall some of those devastating nights that I faced in absolute terror and frustration as I recall standing on the edge of hell’s abyss ready to be swallowed up, to be lost forever and yet God in his mercy afforded me another opportunity to call out to Him.

I must try and explain how lost I felt, and how the blame rested solely on my shoulders, bad choice after bad choice left me spiralling out of control as the vortex of sin endeavoured to annihilate me and leave me stranded alone, eventually its destruction would have left me in some gutter, begging bread. It was only the grace of God that enabled me, bringing me to my senses as I once again called upon the name of the Lord. Having had so many diverse experiences of God's goodness to me all my days, in troubles a plenty, I will never distrust Him, how could I? No, not in the last extremity; because all he has done for me up until now was not for any merit of my own, but it has been purely for His name's sake, in pursuance of His Word, in performance of His promise, and for the glory of His own attributes and relations to his people, all those sanctified by the blood of the Lamb. Although, I have been the beneficiary of his grace, Jehovah’s name to be praised, and again I say praises to His holy name. That name therefore shall still be my strong tower, and shall assure me that He who has led me, and fed me, all my life long, will not leave me at last. If you once believed and you were truly saved, remember this He will not leave you for the wolves, even if you now are lost call out unto Him, He will rescue you! “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”, although I am in peril of death, in the midst of dangers, deep as a valley, dark as a shadow, and dreadful as death itself,” or rather, “though I am under the arrests of death, have received the sentence of death contained by myself, and have all the reason in the world to look upon myself as a dying man, yet I am free and at peace. “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” I have received a life threatening illness, but I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Disappointment has often surrounded me, and my folly has often found me out, but I will fear no evil for you are with me. You are teaching me to obey, even if I am slow to hear, obedience begins to take root, praise your holy name. “Though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered;” (Hebrews 5:8)

I see your hand at work in my life and I will fear no evil for you are with me. I have looked into the shadow of the valley of death and if one was alone it would be a frightful sight but as I look to my right I see my Saviour there, so I will fear no evil. At times when I look down into the sand I only see one set of footprints, when times were tough and I was without strength, it is not as if you have left me stranded but you rather carried me through the tough times of my life, when obedience was far from me, your faithfulness was ever so sweet, how grateful I am! As I look beyond the shadows and through the valley I see many fruit trees. “Your rod and your staff they comfort me.” Yes my Great God your rod and your staff they most certainly comfort me. Exalt the great name of the only wise God, Prince of peace, Councillor, King of kings, the great I AM, Jehovah God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Merciful God, with righteousness and justice in one hand and grace and mercy in the other, who can fathom the depths of your love, who could ever even begin to measure your mercy. No, not even all the containers in our world would be able to capture the immensity of your goodness. Your rod, my Saviour, your Son, He does comfort me and I will praise His name, for He alone is worthy of shouts of Acclamation. Have you not fed me with the finest of the wheat? I confess, “Yes the finest of the wheat”. God's ordinances are the green pastures in which food is provided for all believers; the word of life is the nourishment of the new man. It is milk for babes, pasture for sheep, never barren, never eaten bare, never parched, but always a green pasture for faith to feed in. Once we have been well fed and our eyes are now fixed on those things which are above, we must be led through the “shadow of the valley of death” yet now we will fear no evil because we have indeed tasted that the Lord is gracious. We must now desire the sincere milk of the word so that we may grow and eventually begin to eat and digest the meat of God’s Word. We must fear no evil; our hope will forever be in the house of the Lord. That day is not far now, just through the valley and up over the hill and we will soon arrive safely, unblemished and there we will eventually find rest for our weary souls. His name will be praised, as people have looked on and often written off God’s elect but all will arrive at that final destination, the house of the Lord will have no unattended chair and then shouts of acclamation like never heard before will roar through the heavens as our God’s name is praised. But until then, may we hold fast the hem of our Saviour's garment and forgetting those things that are behind us let us now shake off the dust from our knees if need be, let us stand and once again begin to run the race with zeal and diligence, lets us all lay hold of our eternal hope and find grace when needed to glorify our God for His name sake, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

Enquire of the Lord...

(2Sameul 5:23) “And David enquired of the Lord.”

This portion of scripture has relevance in every believer’s life and if I am honest it is Spurgeon who drew my attention to this truth or rather God through Spurgeon. How often have I walked as a victorious Christian in a particular area of my life and then thought to wash my hands by stepping back and saying, “next”. Only to find myself falling once again in the exact area I thought I had once conquered. The reason for this is possibly some form of pride and definitely the lack of understanding. “We have been saved by GRACE through FAITH which is a GIFT of GOD, not of WORKS lest any man should BOAST.” In other words, our faith, our conversion, and our eternal salvation, are not the mere products of any natural abilities, nor of any merit of our own; these things are not brought to pass by anything done by us, and therefore all boasting is excluded; he who glories must not glory in himself, but in the Lord. There is no room for any man's boasting of his own abilities and power; or as though he had done anything that might deserve such immense favours from God. We do not receive grace because we deserve it, it is the exact opposite, and it is because we are in such desperate need of help that God has had pity on some and poured out His mercy. Our minds in understanding must always be reminded of this truth, as soon as my mind moves from here to look for justification in what I have done, even if it is a good deed, I have fed an orphan and I want to pat myself on the back, I have forgotten my place in God’s kingdom. I have received GRACE through FAITH and it was a GIFT. We must all do good deeds, but when we look for justification in what we do we have not understood the GIFT of God, that GIFT is His Son Jesus Christ the Lord; a free gift to all who would dare to believe this simple message of salvation and fall to their knees in repentance and call upon the name of the Lord.

Let me prove this to be true; why do some believe the gospel message and others don’t? I want you to think about that, we may come up with different portions of scripture to justify why we believe and why some reject the gospel. John 3 gives us a very clear indication of why people reject this life giving message; “and this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:19)

All this really proves is that sinners deserve hell; that people love darkness rather than light. But every person that finds themselves holding to this truth as they live in sin, which is darkness have not received the GIFT of God or they have found repentance and now look to live in the light, they once loved darkness but now are drawn to the light. Why some and not others? It is a GIFT of God, some have received a life line, and their eyes have been opened to the light. Why then do we see so many "born again" believers failing in righteousness and why are there so many bad examples in this world of ours? It is because we still have a body that is drawn to sin, it is a body (flesh) that was born into sin and whenever it gets a chance it will run to darkness and yet even with so many failures in our lives we have received the will to walk in righteousness, we may fall, I have fallen many times but I will not and must not look to condone my actions for sin in my life. I will by the GRACE of God fall on my knees and ask for forgiveness. How is it that I find the will to live like this, it is a GIFT of God. God has put this hope in all who confess Jesus as LORD. You may ask why some people look to live like this and not others. I would then ask you, why do we give gifts to certain people and not to others? Is it not in our power to determine who we show mercy too? Yes it is!

In South Africa we have many beggars at the traffic lights throughout our country. Does every person give money to the needy, no, but some do! They have it in their power to choose whether to give or not to give. Does God not have it in His power to give grace to whom He chooses? He certainly does and He will pour out His mercy on whom He chooses. Some will repent and believe while others won’t. The question we need to ask ourselves, has God shown us mercy and if He has we must thank Him for His mercy and never forget that it is a GIFT of God and that we never deserved His mercy but we now have it. The human race demands justice and that is why criminals are brought to trial. We are all guilty of sin and therefore deserve the sentence of hell, but God who is rich in mercy sent His Son to pay the price for sinners, but only repenting sinners will escape judgment, only those who believe on the finished work of Calvary will go free.

I now wish to address those who have received the Spirit of God, those who have by GRACE (free gift) through FAITH received the GIFT of GOD we must never forget that we once deserved hell but now we are free from that sentence. Let our minds not look to justify ourselves now that we are free to serve the living God. David understood this better than most!

Let us now consider my original point; when I begin to walk as a victorious Christian in a certain area of my life and I must never let pride raise its head and begin to justify my actions as if I am better that my brother because he falls in the area I now walk as a victor. If I do this, then before long I will also fall in the exact same area.

David went into battle and he defeated his enemy, but before he would go into his next battle he would enquire of the Lord to ensure that God was with him and that He would give him victory over his opponent.

“When David made this enquiry he had just fought the Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The Philistines came up in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily put them to flight. Note, however, that when they came a second time, David did not go up to fight them without enquiring of the Lord. Once he had been victorious, and he might have said, as many have in other cases, “I shall be victorious again; I may rest quite sure that if I have conquered once I shall triumph yet again. Wherefore should I tarry to seek at the Lord’s hands?” Not so, David. He had gained one battle by the strength of the Lord; he would not venture upon another until he had ensured the same. He enquired, “Shall I go up against them?” He waited until God’s sign was given. Learn from David to take no step without God. Christian, if thou wouldst know the path of duty, take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer thy ship through the dark billows, put the tiller into the hand of the Almighty. Many a rock might be escaped, if we would let our Father take the helm; many a shoal or quicksand we might well avoid, if we would leave to his sovereign will to choose and to command. The Puritan said, “As sure as ever a Christian carves for himself, he’ll cut his own fingers;” this is a great truth. Said another old divine, “He that goes before the cloud of God’s providence goes on a fool’s errand;” and so he does. We must mark God’s providence leading us; and if providence tarries, tarry till providence comes. He who goes before providence, will be very glad to run back again. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go,” is God’s promise to his people. Let us, then, take all our perplexities to him, and say, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Leave not thy chamber this morning without enquiring of the Lord.” C.H.Spurgeon

Let us therefore not take for granted the victory we have in our lives in the battle against sin, we must always remember to fall upon our knees and call upon God and find grace in time of need even if we have been victorious in times past, and our dependency must always rest with His mercy.

Signing off

Tyrone