Category: Theology

Neat Little Book, A Review of, “I Am A Church Member” by Thom S. Rainer
Apologetics · Book Reviews · Church · Theology

Neat Little Book, A Review of, “I Am A Church Member” by Thom S. Rainer

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

IAmAChurchMember_R2.indd

The Pastor at the SBC Church I attend gave these booklets out to everyone last Sunday after Service as an early Christmas present. It didn’t take long to read. I am a slow reader, so for me that is saying something. It was pretty concise and brief. Packed in a small booklet between two hard covers is a primer, if you will, on being in The Church and being in A Church simultaneously, instead of one or the other. The ideas inside this book truly express the gospel, and what it means to be part of the body. I encourage all new Christians and those of us who have matured to read this booklet. For the younger folks it will help them understand what this is all about and for us a bit further along it will help us remember what we are to be about. We aren’t in a social club, even though we socialize with one another. We aren’t there for the benefits, even though we do benefit from corporate worship and ministry to the body. We are there for the love of God and the worship of Him who made us. In the abounding overflow of His love expressed to us by Christ crucified we should lavish that same love on the body as we minister to each other and share the glorious gospel of Jesus with those who have never heard. As a healthy body, made of healthy members, we can magnify Christ and glorify God, through the proclamation of His gospel, His word, and our love for one another. This book is a great reminder and primer.

Some complain that this is legalistic or that the scripture verses are out of context. Some also complain about the contracts at the end of every chapter. I answer that by saying you need to look at the intent of the book. You don’t have to sign the contracts and turn them in.  They aren’t binding.  I think they are kind of silly myself.  As an entire mission, I agree that the local Church needs to shape up, but it can’t be done by people obligatorily signing up for things. The idea within this booklet is for you to have a changed heart and then you’ll want to do the things within the booklet. The problem with the Church is that it is full of unchanged people. You can’t expect them to, “get on board” when they aren’t even on the team. So to the critics, I ask, “Are you sure you are saved?” If you are then you won’t hate the Church.

Available for purchase here

amazon

Christianbook 

and from Holman the publisher

ISBN: 9781433679735

Trim Size: 0.24 x 5.00 x 7.00

Page Count: 96

Weight: 0.50

Binding: Paper Over Board

Status: IP

Publication Date: May 2013

I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the DifferenceI Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference by Thom S. Rainer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Apologetics · Theology · Uncategorized

A Quote From Randy Alcorn’s Book, “If God is Good”

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

Page 122, 2nd from last paragraph, “…Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious sexual predator and cannibal, stated in an interview, “If it all happens naturalistically, what’s the need for a God?  Can’t I set my own rules?  Who owns me?  I own myself.”…”

This is where evolution and atheism take you, to the edge of insanity and over.

marriage · Theology

All arguments in favor of gay marriage are invalid.

Bob Snyder1 Comment

Regardless of the revisionism that is going on with the liberal, “ahem… theologians” a gay marriage is not an acceptable marriage according to God Himself and His word.  In this few verses spoken by God Himself, incarnated as the Word made flesh, He said in Matthew 19:3-6 in the New Testament, “…3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” 4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, 5 and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? 6 “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”…” Oh and if you’re curious that is God/Jesus quoting Himself when God spoke in Genesis.

In Genesis 1:27-28 God says that He created male and female for the purpose of reproduction and that for His glory as more humans equates to more image bearers. Genesis 1:27-28, “…27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” …”

In Genesis 2:24 we have the definition of marriage ordained and officiated by God, “…24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh…”

So any union devised by the darkened heart of sinful humans that isn’t the God ordained and defined union of one man to one woman for life is by Biblical definition not a marriage. You can call it what you want, but it isn’t marriage.  Since Biblical marriage is a religious union the government has no business in it other than protecting our 1st amendment rights.  We should never be forced to condone homosexual marriage or facilitate one, be it in business or our personal lives.  It is an obvious abuse to do so.

Any sexual relations outside of a Biblical marriage are sinful. Homosexual desires are sinful.  Heterosexual lusts are sinful outside of a heterosexual marriage.  Desiring your spouse in a heterosexual marriage is not sinful.  Desiring someone outside of your heterosexual marriage is sinful.  These are very simple concepts people.  God is very clear in His word people.

So since you can’t be married unless it is a heterosexual marriage, and all sex and lust outside of that marriage are sinful, you can see that homosexual lusts and unions are sinful and not to be condoned or in any otherwise facilitated by the Church.

The only people that have problems with this are the ones who want to condone, endorse, and otherwise approve of perversion. “Hey! I don’t like being called a pervert or thinking of myself as a pervert!  I know!  I’ll twist God’s word around or completely disregard it and live in disbelief of Him.  That way I can justify my perversion instead of repenting and being forgiven.”  Wow! What a mess.

Listen folks every Christian is no better than the vilest offender. The Bible says we all deserve to be killed by God, sent to Hell, and to have God’s wrath poured out on us for all eternity because we are sinners.  Romans 3:23, “…23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, …”Even just a lie makes you worthy of hell.  Revelation 21:8, “…8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”…”  Proverbs 12:22, “…22 Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, But those who deal faithfully are His delight…”  God sees a lustful thought as adultery.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, “…but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart…”

We don’t hate liars and we don’t hate homosexuals. There are Christians who were once liars, and homosexuals, but they have repented of their sins and put their faith in Jesus to save them.  1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “…9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. …”

Why would anyone being saved by grace hate a person who hasn’t been? Maybe you haven’t experienced hate from a Christian; maybe they have just told you the truth in love?  Proverbs 27:6, “…6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy…”  We don’t want you to die and go to hell for being an unrepentant sinner.  We just want you to experience saving grace through saving faith and repentance given by God.

Forgiveness of sins is available to you. Jesus, being fully God and man, lived a perfect sinless life, one that you could not live.  He earned all righteousness by obeying the law of God.  He went to the cross and there was crucified, enduring the horrendous torture.  Upon the cross the wrath of God that has been stored up for you upon the Day of Judgment was poured out on Jesus.  He paid your penalty.  Justice has been satisfied for you so that you don’t have to go to Hell and suffer, Jesus suffered for you.  Only He could take the suffering of infinite punishment and survive until it was complete as He is God.  The man Jesus then died, was buried, and resurrected of His own power, thus conquering death and sin.  All we must do in response is to admit that we are sinners who deserve Hell, turn from our sins and begin to fight them, turn towards Jesus, and believe that His work of atonement on the cross paid our sin debt, and set us free to live for Him.  Repent, and believe!  It is that simple to be born again and made into a new person.

Theology

2 Samuel 6:14-16 NASB, not about being irreverent in Church…

Bob Snyder1 Comment

People that lean a bit more charismatic use these verses against having an orderly worship service and to defend their irreverent behavior. I wonder if they understand what they are reading.
2 Samuel 6:14-16 NASB

And David was dancing before the L ord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the L ord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet. Then it happened as the ark of the L ord came into the city of David that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the L ord ; and she despised him in her heart.
…
2 Samuel 6:20-23 NASB

But when David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!” So David said to Michal, ” It was before the L ord , who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the L ord , over Israel; therefore I will celebrate before the L ord . I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes, but with the maids of whom you have spoken, with them I will be distinguished.” Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

Theology

2 Samuel 6:6-11 NASB Sinners from clay presume too much.

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

When sinful man thinks he is cleaner than the dirt he was formed from and touches that which is holy this is what happens.
2 Samuel 6:6-11 NASB

But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the L ord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God. David became angry because of the L ord ‘ s outburst against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. So David was afraid of the L ord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the L ord come to me?” And David was unwilling to move the ark of the L ord into the city of David with him; but David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. Thus the ark of the L ord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the L ord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

I’m Offended That You Are So Very Unreasonably Wrong!
Theology

I’m Offended That You Are So Very Unreasonably Wrong!

Bob Snyder4 Comments

I can’t believe that we are being required to even have this conversation. Transgender, transsexual, gay, lesbian, gender identity, so on and so on ad nauseam.  There are as many perverse titles and nomenclature as there are sexual perversions.  Yes they are sexual perversions, not anything more than that!  If I want to claim I identify as a grizzly bear and therefore should be allowed kill and eat people, I don’t imagine anyone would call me, “trans-species grizzly-man-beast” and grant my wish while calling others who disagree with me bigots, haters, and bear-a-phobes. Why? Maybe because it is RIDICULOUS!!! I was born a biological human, male.  It was determined by God.  I have a sinful nature inherited from the fall.  That is what makes people murderous, perverted, liars.  PERIOD!!!  There is no amount of secular nonsense that will make sin not sin.  I am so sick and tired of the needless arguments and damage done to individuals as well as society by these idiotic, moronic, hell bound, goats on the left. Why do we even listen to them or give their words credence? Why would any reasonable person entertain such utter nonsense?  Do they do it in the name of political correctness?  Do they do it because they truly care about other people?  Do they do it out of love?  Nope, they do it because they are sick and twisted nasty sinful monsters. Monsters are real, they are us. We are the monsters.  When left to our own corrupted natures we commit many varied horrors in the name of our gods, namely the god of self.  We want to be the arbiters of good and evil for ourselves if not for everyone else.  We want to define what is acceptable and what is not.  When law and order are gone they are replaced with murder, rape, and theft.  When God is removed from a society and it becomes secular like during the communist revolution in the former Soviet Union and in China we see the monsters at work killing all the Christians and killing all of their opponents.  Atheism and Communism go hand in hand to make monsters genocidal megalomaniacs realize their potential. The hippy dippy left here in ‘Merica! Have done their best to make this a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. “Oh, man you smashed a bald eagle egg! Murderer!  Go straight to jail and pay a $250,000 fine, but hey murder a baby in the womb and it’s a woman’s right.  Their lack of consistent reasoning will give a person a headache.  Things that used to turn our stomachs, like seeing two men kiss on television, are being hailed as brave acts of valor. This makes absolutely no sense. I have no idea how to combat this invasion of perversion.  When you try to lovingly correct them from the word they shout you down and insult the word and you.  If you get angry and shout at them you are decried as a bigot and a hater.  If you sit by and quietly stew away in your own disgust you are ineffectual.  It isn’t possible to reason with an unreasonable person.  I give up!  I’ll preach to the choir and I’ll preach to people who are willing to dialogue, but for the unreasonable I have no time.

Luke 9:23-26
Theology

Luke 9:23-26

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

deadtoself1

Luke 9:23-26 (NASB) And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Who has crucified their own flesh daily?  Who truly follows Christ?  What does it mean to follow Christ?  We all want to save our lives.  None of us want to die.  To crucify yourself you must take up your cross and follow Jesus all the way to Golgotha.  When you rise in the morning, see the sinful desires of your selfish flesh.  See how they would entice you to do things to appease them?  Wage a violent war against the natural man who is tied to you.  He is dead already if you are saved, but his corpse is always before you.  We fight what he used to revel in.  Put those desires to death.  Crucify your worldly desires and have them supplanted by the new affections of the regenerated heart.  As this occurs, you’ll praise God for the loss of your old life and the gift of your new one in Jesus.  To do His loving will, to carry it out in the world that is perishing, to show grace where it is not merited, to have mercy on those in need, to give to them the words of life, the gospel message of Christ Jesus, the Lord, Master, and Author of our faith, granted to us along with repentance while we were yet sinners, enemies of God, under the condemnation of sin, freed by His grace and imputed righteousness.  Proclaim salvation from sins in Him to all the world.  What good is earthly pleasure on this temporal plain when such a thing as an ageless age exists, where time is not marked?  Our lives are short compared to such an existence.  What is discomfort or tribulation here, even much of it, compared to eternity with God?  Be bold in preaching His word and the gospel of His redemptive work on the cross.  Be bold in the preaching of His resurrection from the dead.

Review of the book, “Walls Fall Down” authored by Dudley Rutherford
Book Reviews · Theology

Review of the book, “Walls Fall Down” authored by Dudley Rutherford

Bob Snyder4 Comments

_240_360_Book.1330.cover

In the first part of every chapter Rutherford adds fictional dialogue to the historical narrative of Joshua 6:1-20. I can’t begin to tell you how much I dislike this when people do it. It seems so presumptive. Many people won’t have a problem with this. It is just a personal preference with me. I understand for movies and other media it is common. I just personally don’t appreciate it. You really have to be careful that you don’t change the meaning of the word of God in so doing. It isn’t a risk I think is advisable. There are even some commentaries and study Bibles that have made a mess of the Bible and their authors are usually trained theologians.

I appreciate the concept in the first chapter to take the focus off of our problems and to seek after God’s greatness instead, but he takes it to a different place on page eleven. Rutherford writes, “God can and will make the walls fall down in your personal Jericho, and the first step in accomplishing this feat hinges upon your ability to grasp His greatness” I think he is contradicting Himself a bit here and sounding like a prosperity preacher. So I have to, “grasp His greatness” before God will make walls fall down? Throughout the book there looks like there is a lot of conditional statements. Granted there are some conditional statements in the Bible, but we have to remember that God is sovereign and will accomplish His will.

Rutherford says much that I can agree with on the trinity, omniscience, and omnipresence, of God. He also encourages us to read the Bible daily. Then on page 23 he has to scare me again with this kind of lingo, “This truth leads you to trust not only in His knowledge and wisdom but also in the strategy He has already prescribed for your victory. How awesome that we serve an omniscient God who is willing to share His knowledge with us so that we can conquer the impossible obstacles in our lives.” Now if he is talking about God conquering sin in our lives by the gospel than that would be great, but it doesn’t seem like that is what he means. There is a theme throughout the book that looks like Rutherford is saying that God will conquer every trial we have, oh and sin to. I don’t want to be unfair. He does attempt to make a distinction between the false prosperity gospel and the true gospel. He just comes off as a little of both in his terminology.

On page 42, in chapter two Rutherford makes a good point about God’s promises. When he says something is going to be, it is a certainty and we can and should act on it as a reality yet to be realized. He ties this in with Gods sovereign purposes for us as individuals. Throughout the Bible we can see where God has used people for certain purposes of His and we have purposes. God will use us as He has planned. Subsequently he starts laying out the notion of trusting in God’s plan for your life and how that will look. I agree with him here, when we believe something we behave as if it is true. If we trust God and His word we will behave accordingly.

He teaches tithing as in 10% and something Christians are supposed to do. This is not a true doctrine for Christians. According to the New Covenant we are to prayerfully consider how much to give and then do so with a joyful heart. Some people might be convinced to give 70%. Would you tell them that their obligation is only 10%? I don’t think so. Some people are very poor and are in debt. It would be irresponsible to tell them, “God wants His 10%”. The author missuses a few idioms. One that should have been caught by the editor was, “Shark invested waters” instead of, “shark infested waters.” He quotes Joyce Meyer, Rick Warren. He misapplies and incorrectly exegetes the story of Gideon to imply that it is better to have 300 committed men than thousands of self-serving ones. The text is obviously about God cutting the numbers down so that He gets the glory for winning the battle and not the army. The book isn’t very deep at all. Representative of most of the Christian books out there, a mile wide and an inch deep, like a puddle in a parking lot. He doesn’t endorse works righteousness. He tries to teach obedience to God relationally and God will bless you. I honestly don’t think he is trying to teach you to obey to get a blessing, although it would be very easy to take what he is saying that way. Read with caution; eat the meat throw out the bones. He keeps talking about victory, but over what? He takes until the end of the book to get around to it. I am still not sure of what I just read. Maybe instead of this read, “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan or, “The Holiness of God” by R. C. Sproul.

I received this book for free, and am not obligated to give it a positive review.

If you’d like to purchase this book here is a link on Amazon

Lost, Saved, Baptized, Rinse and Repeat.
Apologetics · Church · Theology

Lost, Saved, Baptized, Rinse and Repeat.

Bob Snyder3 Comments

Have you ever heard anyone say, “I got saved and baptized when I was a kid, but then I walked away from my faith, and now that I’m an adult, I have come back?” Then, they get baptized again and share their testimony. After a few months of being, “back” they walk away again/backslide. A while later they decide they need to recommit their life to Christ, so they come back to Church and get baptized again. I don’t know how many times, in the Nazarene Church I attended, I heard someone say this, but it was a lot. I didn’t know how to understand this then. I didn’t have the Biblical knowledge to know this was wrong. I knew it was wrong intuitively, but couldn’t build a case Biblically.
I struggled with this myself. Was I really saved that time when I was 19? If so, why am I still fighting these temptations to sin in my life? The Nazarene Church taught, “Entire Sanctification” back then. It was a doctrine that said it was possible for a person to mature spiritually, in this life, to the point where they no longer sinned. I got so frustrated with my constant failings. I cried out to God and told Him, “I can’t do it! I can’t stop sinning! If You want me to stop you are going to have to stop me!” So then came about a 10 year period where I gave up fighting the sins that were too hard to stop on my own. Sure I gave the outward appearance of being a Christian when I was at Church, but at work I still acted like a child. I used profanity all of the time, I told dirty jokes, I engaged in low humor, I entertained hateful thoughts against others because of their political beliefs, and I liked what I saw on television, except I would still cringe when a show used blasphemy. I knew I was doing wrong. I knew from what the Bible said, I was doing these things because my heart desired to do them. I also knew in my head that I didn’t want to keep doing them.
The Church also taught that you could become apostate or lose your salvation if you continued to sin after being saved. This was the doctrine of, “Apostasy.” I remember asking the Pastor about what it said in Hebrews 6, about not being able to be saved after losing your salvation by continuing in willful sin. He explained that was correct. I asked him how anyone can stay saved if that was true. Another person quoted the passage about forgiving 70 times 7. They were trying to tell me if I repent, Christ will keep forgiving me, but if I didn’t repent, and then died, that I would go to hell. All of this didn’t jive with what I was reading in the Bible. It seemed as if people were just cherry-picking passages out of the Bible to justify the way they wanted to live.
The denomination had its own definition of sin. I couldn’t justify it with what I had been reading in the Bible. I knew I was a sinner. I knew I kept committing sins. I felt powerless to be holy like the Church said I must be. My best efforts kept failing. That is why I gave up. The Church said sin was a willful transgression of a known law of God. I asked, “What if I fell into traffic, looked up to see a truck coming, cussed, and then was killed before I could repent?” I was told that was just a mistake, not a sin. So I asked, “What if, I blasphemed instead of cussed, in the same scenario?” I was told I might go to Hell. I was having a difficult time understanding being saved if it was always precariously perched on the narrow ledge of my flawed capacity.
I went down the roads of, “Easy Believism” and “Cheap Grace.” I rejected the doctrines of, “Entire Sanctification and Apostasy.” While I was confused and erring I still knew and was strongly convicted that this was not right either. There is something I am missing. I was going through a very difficult time in my life.  I didn’t trust God with my money, I didn’t trust God with my marriage, and I proved I didn’t trust God by my actions.
A good friend suggested I read the book, “Crazy Love” written by this, Chinese American Pastor from California, with a shaved head. I was not at all anticipating the affect it would have on me or my life. Francis Chan’s book was a kick in my guts. It wasn’t a cruel kick, but rather one that was used by God. He got my attention and exposed how I was lukewarm. I was going to be told, “depart, I never knew you.” It was also about the same time this new radio program was playing on the local A.M. station. This funny, yet serious man named, “Todd Friel” with, “Wretched Radio” kept chipping away at what I had been told by the Church, with truth from the Bible. He was presenting a Reformed view of soteriology. (salvation) It was rocking my world. I was also listening to a local theologian on the same station. His name was Matt Slick. At first I was like, “What’s with this clown’s name? Is he a used car salesman or what?” So I was curious. I went to his website, “CARM.ORG” I read many of his articles and listened to his program and Todd Friel’s program intently and found myself nodding in agreement with them. I got on the internet and watched video after video from Matt Chandler, David Platt, Paul Washer, John Macarthur, R.C. Sproul, Leonard Ravenhill, Martyn Lloyd Jones, and so on. It was like I had this table with a billion puzzle pieces on it, and I only had a couple of corners figured out with some clouds, and these two men were helping me put the pieces together faster than I had ever done before. One day after most of the pieces were put together it was like someone nudged the table and the remaining ones fell into place. It was one of those epiphany moments you have in life.
I don’t want to forget to mention the affect that, “Witness Wednesday” on, “Wretched Radio” had on me. I heard Ray Comfort and Todd Friel presenting the real gospel message to people on the streets and on college campuses. I finally heard the gospel after 15 or so years of believing I was a real Christian. Instead of hearing, “You’ve got a Jesus shaped hole in your heart. Won’t you let Jesus in? God is a gentleman and won’t come in unless you ask Him. He is waiting at the door of your heart, won’t you let Him in?” I was in a state of shock. It was so simple. Why hadn’t anyone preached this to me before?!? Why? Why? Why?! I was so angry with the Church, my friends, and most of all me. How could I not get it? Faith and repentance! Du!
What I had known to be the Christian faith was off by just a scant amount, it seemed Christian, but it was out of phase. Through all of these influences in the middle of my suffering, I heard about real saving faith and repentance that are granted by God. Faith I couldn’t force myself to have in 15 years of trying. Repentance I couldn’t force myself to do, and the effects of these two things. I found myself running headlong into a study of Reformed Theology, the Reformers, the Puritans, and God’s sovereignty. My wife would ask me if we could talk about something other than religion. My co-workers were probably wondering what was going on with me. I would talk about my faith with everyone I met and share the gospel with them. I started evangelizing wherever I went. I actually read my Bible from cover to cover with a reading plan from R.C. Sproul’s Ligonier. I consumed scripture like I had never done before. The word of God became alive to me. Doctrine after doctrine fell into place in a harmony I had never before experienced in all of my piece-meal Bible reading.
I’d be remiss, if I didn’t tell you about the great help Dr. R. C. Sproul’s book, “The Holiness of God” was to me. He corrected the low view of God, the high view of man’s abilities, and the marginal view of sin that I had. It fixed in my head how holy God is, how helpless man is, and how offensive sin is. With this knowledge firmly ensconced in my mind, I could finally put the false teachings behind me.
You see, people don’t get saved and then lose their salvation. They don’t get resaved over and over again. You get saved ONCE! If your life isn’t characterized by growth in knowledge of personal sin and in holiness you aren’t saved. It never happened. Do you read your Bible regularly? Do you hate sin in your life, the sin you used to make room for? Do you love to go to Church and be with God’s people and worship Him together with them? Do you trust Jesus alone for your salvation and righteousness? Do you love to do good works, not out of a sense of duty or obligation, but rather do… YOU… LOVE… to do the good things God has prepared for you to do before creation?
A saved person is a new person. They are a different person. They have a different nature. They are born again. They died to themselves and were resurrected with Christ a new person. I never got this in all those years. I suspected there was more to this religion, but I couldn’t grasp it. I couldn’t comprehend it… yet! Then God worked a double miracle in my life of regeneration, and justification. I trust Him to complete the sanctification that He has started in me. I desire to be conformed to His word and will instead of shrinking from it. I love Jesus! I hope you will to.  Watch the video to get the gospel presented to you.

Pitch and atonement
Theology

Pitch and atonement

Bob Snyder1 Comment

cross alone

Someone told me that the Hebrew word for, “pitch” in the book of Genesis is the same as the word for atonement. I was curious about this so I grabbed a concordance and looked it up. This is what I found; the Hebrew word for, “pitchH3724” is “kâphar transliterated as kaw-far’ ” The word means, “A primitive root; to cover (specifically with bitumen); figuratively to expiateor condone, to placate or cancel: – appease, make (an) atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, to pitch, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile (-liation).” I found it interesting that this word was used in conjunction with Noah’s ark from Genesis. Here is the verse I was using, “(Genesis 6:14 NASB)

“Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.” So get this, mankind was saved by God within a wooden vessel covered with atonement. Mankind was saved from God’s wrath within atonement… Kind of cool hu?