Category: Theology

Parables · Sovereign choice · Theology · Uncategorized

Why Did Jesus Speak in Parables?

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

Here is the setting and context,
Mat 13:1 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.
Mat 13:2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
Mat 13:3 And He spoke many things to them in parables,
He was preaching to the Jews about salvation and what that would look like,
saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;
Mat 13:4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
Mat 13:5 “Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.
Mat 13:6 “But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
Mat 13:7 “Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
Mat 13:8 “And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
Mat 13:9 “He who has ears, let him hear.”
Then His disciple ask the question,
“Why do You speak to them in parables?”
His answer in context to what He was teaching seems pretty clear.
Mat 13:11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.
It appears that He knows that they are not permitted to understand, and that the parables are part of that judgment from God against them. God has granted to them to hear and understand, but He has excluded the others as judgment against them. They don’t have the ability to hear or understand according to God incarnate. If we have Jesus we have the Father. He sovereignly willed that they not come to an understanding of salvation.
Jesus explains further that it is because they didn’t have him from the beginning and that what they have(not him, but self-righteousness) will be taken away.
Mat 13:12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.
Mat 13:13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
Here Jesus recalls the prophecy He gave through Isaiah,
Mat 13:14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;
Mat 13:15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’
As judgment against them they would be blind until the land of Judea was destroyed by the Romans. So God determined to do this to them in His sovereign, just, and righteous will.
This in context to the earlier verses shows us the other side of the coin, that these people are the ones who will be given more.
Matthew 13:16-17 NASB
[16] “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.
[17] “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Matthew 13:34-35 NASB
[34] All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable.
[35] This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”
These truths are from the beginning, before anyone was created.
God · prayer · Theology · Uncategorized

The Parable About the Persistent Widow is Not What You Think.

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

fletch2_scene06

Turns out the parable about the persistent widow in Luke 18 is not about annoying God into giving you what you want.  I know, that isn’t what you’ve been told.  I have heard it myself, “Folks let me tell ya whata.  If you are in need it is because you aren’t being persistent in petitioning Goda!  If you’ns would just get on your knees, and just ask Goda to give you the money for a new pickup, and do it every daya He would answers your prayers just like He’d done for that poor wida woman.  Can I geta amena!”

Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.'” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
[Luke 18:1-8 NASB]

So you see that this parable is more about how God will answer the faithful prayers of those who are suffering injustice because He is just.  God is not an unjust judge.  He is the perfectly righteous and just judge.  As such, He does not act in anyways unfair.  “will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?”  Then to drive the point home Jesus says, “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.”  So you see, this isn’t a method to twist God’s arm to get Him to give you what you want.  After all we are told to not repeat prayers like the pagans in Matthew 6:7 “”And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
[Matthew 6:7 NASB]”

This brings up another question though.  What is meant by meaningles repetition?  Well I can tell you for sure it isn’t when you are in the throws of suffering and you are crying out to God for relief, and praying over and over for His help.  That kind of praying is what you should be doing.  We are talking about long winded, scripted or non-scripted prayers that are not from the heart, but rather to make you appear spiritual, or for any other purpose than the proper use of prayer.

I am not telling you to only pray once to God when you are deeply troubled.  If that is what you are getting out of this you are missing the point.  The point is don’t follow the prosperity preachers in some twisting of scripture as a formula for extorting God.  Got it Skippy?  Good.

sanctification · Theology · Uncategorized

Sanctification, Monergistic, or Synergistic?

Bob SnyderLeave a comment


Simply put, monergism is work that is done by one agent, while synergism is work that is done by two agents.  If you are a Christian you’ve probably heard of, and  perhaps thought about sanctification.  Sanctification is the effect of being set apart by God, for God.  In this process, He progressively conforms your will and behavior to His.  He does this work by the power of His Holy Spirit, who indwells the believer.  As an effect of this conforming work, the believer thinks and behaves differently than he did before God worked in him.  

I think part of the problem with this question is that people associate monergism with Calvinism.  Calvinists believe justification to be completely monergistic.  So when a Calvinist starts talking about sanctification tons of people just stop listening.  You might be surprised to know that many Calvinists think sanctification is synergistic.  

Having said that, I think if we consider where sanctification finds its origins we can be helped.  Think about the Bible for a moment.  It was written by God.  No Christians doubt this.  We know that He wrote it by using individual men.  These men had their own lives, with their own personalities, and experiences.  They made real choices and lived the consequences.  We also know that they wrote exactly what God wanted them to.  We also know that unless God determined for them to have the experiences, and lives that they had, we wouldn’t have the same Bible.  

We wouldn’t say that a pencil was synergistically responsible for a written work because it is not at all an agent equal to the author.  The literature did not find its origins in the pencil but in the mind of the author.  We would say that the author monergistically created the work of literature.  The problem is that our man-centered theology and thought process gets in the way of seeing how sanctification is no different.  Of course, we are used in the process of sanctification and it is being worked out on us and in us, thanks be to God.  His glory should be the primary focus of our lives because God is perfectly glorious.  We can’t equate ourselves with God.  When we elevate our stature and lower God’s, is when we assume synergism.  We are simply His creatures, part of His creation, that has sprung from His mind, that He is using to bring glory to Himself, which is the most loving thing He could do for us and to us.

So much like a baby in a crib, given that all things it needs are provided by God, it will grow according to the plan that God has laid out for it.  No force of its will can make it grow faster or slower.  Sanctification is like that process.  We are growing in faith, holiness, and knowledge of our own personal sin.  We are producing works in keeping with the Spirit.  Let’s not equate ourselves in err to God.  We are made in His image, but nonetheless, we are made.    

Church · cultural · God · love · marriage · Repentance · Theology · Uncategorized · under God

Men, Submit to God. Women, submit to God. He says, submit to your Husbands.

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

Untitled

So, you are a modern woman, and you have heard, perhaps even said, “I can do what I want!  You don’t own me!  I don’t need a man!”  Well, if you are Christian woman, you should eschew such ignorant, godless, rhetoric.  It is prideful and selfish.  Very unbecoming of a Christian man or woman.  I am so sick of how the world has been portraying husbands and wives.  Let’s not allow the culture to define us.  Let’s be defined by God’s word.

Imagine a man who claims to be Christian, and won’t submit to God’s word.  Instead of doing what God has commanded, he does what he wants.  Is that a man who is at war with his sinful flesh, or is that a man who is giving into his flesh?

Imagine a man who claims that nobody has ownership of him.  We know that is wrong.   God tells us in His word that our bodies do not belong to us.  A husband’s body belongs to his wife.  A wife’s body belongs also to her husband, but God owns them both.  They are His creatures.  The ones who die in rebellion, will burn forever in Hell.  He will pour out His righteous wrath on them for eternity.

Imagine now, an arrogant, prideful, man exclaiming that he doesn’t need a woman.  That man is calling God a liar.  Why, the very first book in God’s word explains why He made Eve.  It was because it was not good for man to be alone.  God made for him a helpmate.  Everyone knows that men need women.  If we are to be fruitful and multiply it is obvious.  So, to subdue the Earth, we must have wives and they must have husbands.

Modern notions of gender are so diabolically satanic.  They defile, degrade, and mock what God has made for our good and His glory.  The enemy loves it every time a feminist howls in rebellion, every time a man becomes a selfish boy.  We need to embrace our roles as God has defined and ordained them to be.  We should reject what culture says.  The cultural hermeneutic says, “The verses in the Bible that tell a woman to submit to her husband, the verses that say a woman should not teach or have authority over a man, the verses that tell men to support their families, to be the spiritual leaders of their homes and Churches, the word of God that tells us how to live as godly men and women should not be applied as God intended because modern culture’s consensus is superior.”  Well, last time I checked, we don’t ask culture to explain God to us, we read His words and hear straight from God Himself in the reading of it.  I don’t have to consult the latest social pundits.  God has spoken, and He has done so with the ultimate authority that entails.

Want to know why your marriage doesn’t work?  Want to know why you are miserable in your Church?  Want to know why your children run your home?  Simple, you have forsaken God’s will as expressed in His word.  Rebels and scoundrels, each and every one of us!  Repent and believe the word of God and live to please the Savior who has bled and suffered for you on the cross of His crucifixion.  Christ submitted to the will of the Father to cleanse for Himself a bride.  That bride is the Church.  It submits to Christ.  Submit yourselves to His headship as Lord and master of your lives.  This means even unto death.  We must love our wives as Christ loved the Church.  Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.  We did not deserve His love or sacrifice.  We were, by nature His enemies, and He died to save us.  Men, love your wives when they don’t deserve it.  Women love your husbands when they don’t deserve it.  Men, submit to Christ.  Women, submit to your husbands, not because he says to, but because the one, true, living God, almighty says to!

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
[Ephesians 5:22-33 KJV]

Husband, head, protector, provider.  Not what T.V. says, not what the movies show.

God · Theology · Uncategorized

Power in the Blood, or the Shedding of it?

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

lamb

Some people think that the blood of Jesus contained within it the saving power of God.  They believe that it cleanses us from sin.  If this is true, how much do you use to cleanse you of a lie?  How much do you use to cleanse you of murder?  How do you apply it?  Do you pour it over your head?  Do you drink it?  Do you inject it?  What do we do in this day and age when we cannot find the physical blood of Christ?  Is it a mystical thing?  These questions should help us to see that it was the shedding of His blood that was the work of atonement expiating sin.  The blood was special because it belonged to the God-man Christ Jesus, but it isn’t some property of the blood that we must consume to cleanse us of our sin.  It is the effect of Christ’s work through the shedding of His blood that is of import.  If we deny the efficacy of His work and the adequacy of His representation, we deny the gospel.  Claiming that the blood, apart from Him is salvific because of its properties as God’s blood, imparts a carnal attribute of mortality to the immutably immortal nature of God.  Only by the hypostasis of the two natures do we have a salvific euaggelion (εὐαγγέλιον) or gospel.  To deny the hypostatic union, is to affirm the heresy of Nestorianism.

forgiveness · God · Repentance · sanctification · saved · Theology · Uncategorized

Is 1 Peter 1:16 Instructive or Informative? “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Bob Snyder1 Comment


I have been thinking about sanctification as of late and its implications in regards to assurance and security.  This verse came to  mind and I wanted to see if it was an instruction to strive for personal holiness or if it was informing us that we are holy in Christ.  I always thought it was the first, because of many years in the Nazarene denomination.  It turns out the answer is, “Yes.”

(NASB) 1 Peter 1:1,2 1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

Let’s examine verse 2 a bit more closely.  (NASB) 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

What is according to the foreknowledge of God the Father?  God’s election of the saved people living scattered among the cities listed in verse 1.  What work are we doing to be sanctified according to verse 2?  I’ll wait here while you look…  Back?  It was a trick question.  We aren’t doing the work.  The Holy Spirit sanctifies us.  The Greek word is, “ἁγιασμός”  (hagiasmos) g0038; from 37; properly, purification, i.e. (the state) purity; concretely (by Hebraism) a purifier: — holiness, sanctification.

To what end are we elected by the Father, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit according to this verse?  “…to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood…”  Spending most of my life in the Nazarene Church, I understood that sanctification was something I did.  I might be wrong here.  This might not be their official doctrine.  I’m just saying that this is what I thought.  The emphasis on the monergistic origination of sanctification never came across.  Still to this day, people insist that sanctification is synergistic.  I would only agree with that in a broad practical sense, because at the end of the day God isn’t sanctifying a dog or a cat.  He is sanctifying us, and part of that is our condition during the process.  So we are involved in sanctification, because it is happening to us.  We are actively participating in it, but it is not from us.  We were incapable of sanctification let alone desiring it, before the work of the Holy Spirit.

I know many of you are out there right now screaming, “What about all the verses that instruct you to behave!?!”  Well of course we should do what God wills, and refrain from what He has forbid.  That is a no brainer.  I am not saying we shouldn’t, but the fact that someone wants to and has the ability to, is proof that sanctification is supernaturally originated by God and not from within us.

So you’ve been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, in accord with the Father’s sovereign will in election, granted saving faith and repentance from God, and you have repented of your sins, and placed that faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross, so that your sins were expiated, and His righteousness was imputed to you.  Now we would say that you have been saved, or justified.

Follow along here on the ordo salutis (order of salvation)  train. (concise version)  🙂  election, regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification.  So as you can see all of those things find their origination in God and they are worked on/in us by Him.  If we think we are responsible for any of them, we are robbing God of His glory, being self-righteous, legalistic, and relying on our works in our man centered thinking.

This can lead to serious doubt.  It can wreck our assurance and cause us to question our security, because when we sin, we ask, “Why do I keep doing this?  Am I really saved?  If I’m saved how can I fall to this sin over and over? I must be a false convert.  I must be fooling myself.  I’ve taken the 2 Cor 13:5 test and failed!”  “…(NASB) 5  Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you  fail the test?..”  Notice that last part, “Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you  fail the test?”  Have you noticed that Jesus Christ is in you!? It is as if Paul is yelling, “Come on people! Don’t you see what has been done to you, for you, and for the glory of God?  Can’t you see the difference?  unless you truly can’t.”  When a Christian is doubting, and takes a look at his condition, it will be obvious that God has been at work renovating the sin wrecked ramshackle of a mess that they were.  Unless of course you can’t see His work anywhere in your life.

So we can rest in secure in the knowledge that if God has saved us, we are secure in Him.  When we fall because of our lack of strength, He keeps us with His infinite strength.  What He has done to us, nobody and nothing, can undo.

Romans 8:26-39 (NASB) 26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
31  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was  raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written,
“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
WE were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now that we understand what God has done to us in election, regeneration, and justification, we can see that He will sanctify us as well.  Philippians 1:6 (NASB) “6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Think about a newborn baby in a crib, looking up at his parents.  He doesn’t have to focus his attention on growing.  He doesn’t have to even try to grow.  Sure he grows, and is involved in the process, but his growth doesn’t come from him.  It is God’s plan, and design, that the child grows according to.  Imagine that baby saying to himself, “I need more milk to make me big and strong.  Grow legs! Grow grow grow!!!”  It is ridiculous, but that is the way many of us are as Christians.

We are focused too much on our own efforts and failures.  When we do see growth we might even attribute it to our efforts.  This robs God of His glory, and God will not be robbed.  So in our self-righteousness, we sin against God and don’t even realize it.  Then when we fail, we punish ourselves, as if that whipping we gave to ourselves could add to the perfect, gory, violent, painful, terrifying, work of our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ…  …  Think about that.  Let it soak in…  How dare we?  How dare we!  You should be crying right now.  I know it makes me want to cry, to think of how I would defile the work of Jesus with my self-righteousness.

Just like that baby, we will grow according to God’s plan, in His time, exactly by the trials He has for us, and in precisely the areas He has determined.  Rest assured, if you are saved, you will be sanctified, because God wills it, and what He wills, He accomplishes, unless of course you think you can stop him…

1 Peter 1:12-21 (NASB) 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.
13 Therefore,  prepare your minds for action,  keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As  obedient children, do not  be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but  like the Holy One who called you,  be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
17 If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 18 knowing that you were not  redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (NASB) 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own  vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in  lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

So we will be holy, because God is holy.  He is actively sanctifying us and we are living out that sanctifying work, in Christ, by the power of the Spirit, in the will of the Father.  The answer to the question, “Is 1 Peter 1:16 Instructive or Informative?” is, yes.  Go with God and peace be with you.

 

cultural · forgiveness · God · hate · love · marriage · Theology · Uncategorized

Are Your Feelings Determining How You View God, Or Is God Determining How You Feel?

Bob SnyderLeave a comment


Are Your Feelings Determining How You View God, Or Is God Determining How You Feel?Are you acting like a child?  Are you following people who act like unreasoning beasts, and encourage others to do the same?  A child allows his emotions to rule him.  He is without discipline and only knows want.  A false teacher promotes what is against God.  He acts like an unreasoning beast, “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,” (2 Peter 2:12 NASB)

Do you let your feelings determine how you view God, and treat others?  Love is a big deal.  People go on and on about feeling like they are in love, wanting to feel love.  People also feel other emotions like, hate, impatience, greed, jealousy, envy, apathy, and pride.  People desperately want others to validate their feelings, by agreeing with them.  When we allow feelings to determine how we treat others, and how we view God, we are behaving like children.  All they know is what they want.  Their wants are not informed by anything else, just their will alone.  As they get older, hopefully their parents discipline them, and train them.  If you are an adult, and your feelings rule you, then spiritually speaking, you are a sinful little child.  If you believe all of the self-help gurus out there, teaching you how to get in touch with your feelings, and how to be happy.  God tells us how we should feel about others, about situations, and He also tells us how we should feel about Him.  When we obey our feelings that are against what God commands in His word we are definitely in sin.  

Viewing God through any other lense than His word is creating an idol in your mind.  When you just go by your fallen, sinful, emotions, to build a picture of God, it will most certainly be a false god, not the one true God of the Bible.  If you find yourself disagreeing with long-held orthodox doctrines, in favor of your own personal interpretation, chances are you are worshipping a god of your own making.  Repent, and worship the God of the Bible.  Let your mind be informed by the word of God, so that the God you worship is the true one.

As Christians, we are not to behave, think, or feel like the world.  We are to obey God in all things.  So when God tells us to love our enemies, that is what we must do.  Love needs to be thought of as an action as well as a feeling.  All of the emotions must be thought of as actions as well as a feelings, because they move us to action.  Unless God changes your heart and mind, in regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will not be able to think or feel rightly.  When you are truly born again, and you resist feeling the way your know you should or you indulge a feeling you know you shouldn’t, you are sinning.  Sinning this way is accepted by the world and encouraged.  We are not to be like the world.  

There are benefits to obeying God.  Yes, God gave us emotions, but they are under the effect of sin.  They are affected by the fall.  Knowing this, hopefully you can see how they need to be conformed to God’s will as expressed in His word?  Don’t reject the will of God, for your own childish feelings.  Bring your feelings into obedience to God.  You can do it with His help.  It will be a blessing to you and to all of the people you come in contact with.  God’s will is always better.  So next time you are feeling your way through life ask yourself if those feelings are sinful or are they in obedience to God?

Movie Review · Repentance · sharing the gospel · Theology · Uncategorized

I Really Wanted to Like This Movie, but… A Review of “Risen.”

Bob Snyder5 Comments

Let me just start by saying that I won’t post any spoilers.  If you want to know specifics you can message me.  That being said, I truly wanted to like this movie.  I especially wanted to like it when I heard what the premise was, and also saw that Joseph Fiennes was in it.  He did such a wonderful job as Martin Luther.  He, and a couple other actors outclassed the actors that played the Apostles, and it felt like hippies from the (I removed a word here.  See the comments below to read why.)  movement wrote the lines for the Apostles.  This movie had so many opportunities to do it right, but it never coalesced.  We never heard why Jesus had to die, we never heard that He was truly God, we never heard any confession of sin on anyone’s part.  All we did hear were incoherent ramblings about love unrelated or linked to the gospel.  I was so disappointed with this film.  I was hoping for a “Jesus of Nazareth” or a Charleton Heston in “The Ten Commandments” level production.  This was devoid of any useful theological information, or gospel proclamation.  I was also let down by the incongruous use of artistic license.  Sometimes it was seamless, and others it was glaringly awkward.

It wasn’t all bad.  It far exceeded the recent tripe that has come out of Hollyweird.  With the bad taste left in our mouths from “Noah” and “Exodus gods and Kings” with batman as Moses, I found their effort with “Risen” to be a bit refreshing.  The acting of the main characters was top notch, the supporting cast… meh.  There was no profanity, or romantic scenes.  There was however, graphic violence.  If you want to have Christian themed entertainment that never gets around to being truly helpful and wastes your time, then go see, “Risen.”  Otherwise, stay home and do a Bible study.  You’ll get much more out of that.  Then, go out and evangelize the lost.  They need it and this movie isn’t going to get it done.

Book Reviews · cultural · God · marriage · Theology · transgender · transsexual · Uncategorized

Dr. R. Albert Mohler’s new book, “We Cannot Be Silent.” is a must read for Christians trying to make sense of all the gender chaos going on around us.

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cannotbesilent
If you have been a regular listener of, “The Briefing” you’ll find Dr. Mohler’s newest book to be quite familiar, as he has addressed much of the subject matter on his program.  The book offers a fuller fleshing out of the history, and circumstances, that have lead to our current state, as well as a Christian analysis of it.

The chapter titles in the table of contents paint the picture of what you’ll read in the book;

1 In the Wake of a Revolution

2 It Didn’t Start with Same-Sex Marriage

3 From Vice to Virtue: How Did the Homosexual Movement Happen?

4 The Impossible, Possibility of Same-Sex Marriage

5 The Transgender Revolution

6 The End of Marriage

7 What Does the Bible Really Have to Say About Sex?

8 Religious Liberty and the Right to Be Christian

9 The Compassion of Truth: The Church and the Challenge of the Sexual Revolution

10 The Hard Questions

 

Dr. Mohler takes you step by step, setting the scene with historical information, about how the foundation for this revolution was put in place, so that in the right environment of postmodernism it could explode.  follow along step by step, to see how the plan of the enemy has been unfolding for decades.  Dr. Mohler cites the work of opponents, and proponents to Christian values effectively, and fairly in this book.  He uses their own words in thorough quotations from their published works.  You can trace a line from no-fault divorce, birth control, abortion, and now all of the gender issues.  As we deal with the consequences of these doctrines of death culture, Dr. Mohler educate and offers a Biblical analysis. He explains what these changes in our culture will mean for us as a nation, and for Christians.  

Dr. Mohler also explains what the Church’s response should be in light of our past failures to inform culture.  Bad theology, watered down truths, attractional models, moralism, and pragmatism have all gotten us where we are at today.  Real love, tells the truth.  We have to proclaim the truths of the Bible to the lost.  The things that seem difficult are often what are necessary.  The gospel is the only hope for the people of this nation.  Chapter 10 offers valuable Biblical responses to questions that are already being asked.  If you haven’t given these issues much thought and would like to, or if you are a bit confused and don’t know how we got to where we are today, I would recommend reading this book and referring back to it from time to time.

God · prophecy · Theology

Prophecy, Human Prophets, and the end of Prophetic Revelation.

Bob Snyder1 Comment

When we think about Biblical prophecy, we sometimes imagine, God telling the Old Testament prophets what is going to happen in the future, kind of like a fortune teller.  This creates problems for us later on.  When we think of prophecy in such a simplistic way we end up with false prophets starting new cults and a plethora of other problems. To understand Biblical prophecy we have to first understand some things about God.
Understanding Biblical prophecy has to include understanding some attributes of God that you might not have considered.  Let’s start with God’s eternality.  The Bible says that what is temporary/temporal is seen, and what is eternal is unseen/invisible.  You may have heard it mentioned before or just assumed it, but have you thought about the implications?  Since God is eternal, He will never not be.  There is not an instance where He was not.  He will be forever and He has always been.  There is no other being that is eternal like this, and that is because of the aseity of God, or His uncreated being.  Since He has always been, He has no beginning.  He is the uncaused causation of all things.  He is the original originator.  He is also omniscient, or possess the knowledge of all things.  As the Creator He knows everything about everything, and He knows what He knows perfectly and in complete truth.  He never learns a thing, or thinks a new thought. God is omnipresent.  He is everywhere you can call a place, and places we can’t conceive, and He is in those places in all times, and He exceeds them.  God transcends our concept of space-time, and dimensions.  He could be called hyper-dimensional.  He is also perfectly wise in His application of His omniscience.  We call that omnisapience.  When He applies His knowledge He does so with wisdom that is solely His.  It is beyond all creatures ability to grasp it.  When we consider these attributes apart from one another, they are interesting.
Understanding that there are many more attributes, and they are also perfected in God, we begin to comprehend a more grand, and majestic concept of God.  We can’t know God as He knows Himself, but we can know Him as He intends for us to know Him.  He gave us His word, and His Holy Spirit for this end.  As fallen, sinful, finite, creatures, under the noetic effect of sin, nevertheless we can know God as He has made provision for us.
Think about each one of those attributes for a moment, and then consider them along with His love.  He loves us perfectly, without violating any of His other attributes.  He created us in accord with His plan to show us His love, grace, mercy, longsuffering, and lovingkindness.  He created us, Himself having perfect knowledge of what that would look like.  With Heaven and Hell, sin and temptation, the fall, His incarnation, the gospel, the redeeming of His elect, their glorification, all done in accord with His perfect will, and wisdom.
He is also communicative.  He has created us with the ability to communicate.  He has communicated some of His attributes to us in our creation.  For instance, we are made in the image of God, we are made with senses that allow us to communicate with others, and we have emotions.  Remember that our attributes are not perfect.  Simply existing as finite creatures contrasted with the infinite Creator displays the disparity of our attributes compared to His.
We know from His word that in the early times of our history, that He walked and talked with Adam in the garden.  We know that the Christophanies of the Old Testament record that the preincarnate Christ (eternal Son) appeared to people as the Angel of the Lord, or as the Word of God.  Then He used men as prophets.  Think of them more as a mouthpiece or speaker hooked to a source, rather than a person who predicts the future.  Considering that God knows everything perfectly, and that the past, present, and future are all realities that He has always known in perfect truth, and that He keeps everything working, He doesn’t reveal possible futures to His prophets, but rather tells them of the certainty of the future because it is a reality that He has already known in perfection, according to His eternality, and sovereign will.  For example, think about it this way.  You have already watched a movie.  You know the entire movie.  Not only have you watched this movie, but you are also the writer, director, and producer of the movie.  Then, you tell one of the people in the theater about an upcoming scene.  You tell him to tell the rest of the audience what is coming up.  He is your prophet.  This is done with their lack of understanding of your roles in creating the movie.  Once they witness the scene your prophet told them about, they think your prophet is a mystic, or a fortune teller who can predict the future.  In their ignorance of you, and your work they develop a wrong notion of who you are, and what you are about.  This is the poor concept of Biblical prophecy many people have, and it displays their ignorance of God, and His attributes.
Realize that my analogy was very lacking, but try to understand what I am getting at.  God is not simply a being with a precognition of what the future holds.  He is the one who determined it in His perfection according to His will.  So when He says something is going to happen, it is because it is a certainty.  It has already happened in the future.  As mortal time travelers, we can only travel forward through time, at normal speed, and are subject to the created laws of the created natural world.  God transcends all.  He is not subject to time.  He created time.  He is not subject to space.  He created it as well.  He also created their relationship that Einstein referred to as, “space time.” Having perfect, complete, knowledge of the end of the world before He ever created it is one thing, but to imagine that God has that same perfect complete knowledge of every minute instance, in every individual life, and every particle floating on the wind, and their interconnected, relationships, causes and consequences from the dawn of time to the end of it, is just beyond us.  To us it looks like chaos, but it is divine order.  How can I see the effects of an individual life cut short today, 400 years from now?  I can’t.  God in His sovereignty has it all under control.
God’s Word, is what upholds all creation.  He spoke that creation into existence by His Word.  He spoke to the prophets.  He calls the Bible His word.  It is His mind for us to know Him.  Jesus is called the Word made flesh.  There is an interconnected relationship between God, and the certain reality of His Word.  He speaks things into existence.  Just read Genesis for all of the, “He said, and there was” statements.  Consider that God in His perfect foreknowledge of our futures tells a chosen man, “Thus sayeth the Lord” and then that man relays God’s word to the people, for it to be known to them, according to His purposes.  It is amazing, and since we know God is good, we can trust in Him.
Prophets are not the normative.  In the Bible there were big gaps in time between prophets.  There were not a bunch of true prophets operating all simultaneously.  We don’t read that.  We know there were many false prophets working simultaneously.  We also know that they would work directly against God’s true and chosen prophets.   There is even a test for prophets in Deuteronomy 13 along with a punishment for false prophets.  God gave His oracles to Old Testament, Jewish, men. All of the Old Testament Prophets were of His chosen men.
Prophets weren’t prognosticating future events.  They were exceptions to the rule.  They were relaying what God had told them of the reality of things He had determined in eternity that would unfold in the future.  To the people it looked like telling the future, but remember my analogy of the movie.  When they relayed the word of God it was specific and exact.  Events played out just like they were revealed.  Not like people claiming to be modern prophets, like Joseph Smith, Muhammad, and the charismatic crowd of false prophets.  Their prophecies are riddled with inaccuracies.  Most of their prophecies failed to happen at all.  Their prophecies were used for their own licentious purposes more often than not.  We see that in so called modern day, “prophets” all the time.  We can all remember the time televangelist Oral Roberts claimed that god told him if he didn’t raise 8 million dollars He (God) was going to, “call him home.”  Then there is Beth Moore who claims that God told her to write down what He is telling her and then for her to speak it as often as she is able.  You can see that false prophets cause all kinds of trouble, from starting new religions, spreading a false gospel like the prosperity gospel, to claiming extra-biblical personal revelation, which is the bread and butter of a false prophet.
Have you ever wondered why people claiming to be prophets now don’t stand up to the record of Old testament prophets, and why they don’t have the accuracy of a person speaking the reality of the word of God?  There is a very good reason as to why they aren’t true prophets.  That reason is Jesus is the culmination of Prophecy, and the Prophet above all prophets. He is the fulfillment of the office of Prophet.
When He finally entered into His creation, at the advent of His incarnation, He exemplified the perfect execution of the office of Prophet.  He fulfilled it.  The Word of God, who is God, the Word that became flesh, God of all creation, came into His creation and spoke His words to His creatures.  There were people at the time who hated Him, and people who left their lives to follow Him, but they were all astonished who listened to Him.  Why is that?  The scripture says it is because He spoke as one who had authority.  Think about that.  You go to the synagogue or temple and listen to the scribes and pharisees teachings.  Almost all of them disagree with each other on various topics.  It makes you wonder who is right?  What should I believe?  Then, comes this man Jesus who speaks as if He is explaining His own words He spoke to you earlier.  He doesn’t have to consider what the scriptures could mean.  He doesn’t have to wonder at the intent of the author.  He is the author.  He knows what He was saying and what He wanted to communicate.  As the authority of His very own words, He spoke as a man speaking the words of God.  He was the culmination of all the prophets and inaugurated the end of prophecy in the sense of explaining what would happen.
We have the completion of the progressive revelation of scripture in the form of the Bible.  The canon of scripture is closed.  All of the word of God that He intends for us to have has been given to us and compiled in one volume.  All of the papyri, scrolls, and codices, we call scripture have been gathered together in the Bible.  When a prophet speaks the word of God now, he speaks what is written in the Bible.  There is no more telling of future events, unless it is from the Bible.  There are no more new commandments, all are recorded in the Bible.  There are no new teachings.  There are no new scriptures to add.  Everything God had to say to us is in the Bible.  The office of prophet is simply the accurate and truthful preaching of the word, from the Bible. As for those who insist Acts chapter 2 says otherwise, the ascension marked the inauguration of the end times.

[Hebrews 1:1 NASB]
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
[Hebrews 1:2 NASB]
in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
[Hebrews 1:3 NASB]
And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
[Matthew 7:28 NASB]
When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching;
[Matthew 7:29 NASB]
for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
[Mark 1:21 NASB]
They *went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach.
[Mark 1:22 NASB]
They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
[Luke 4:31 NASB]
And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;
[Luke 4:32 NASB]
and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority.
[John 1:1 NASB]
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[John 1:2 NASB]
He was in the beginning with God.
[John 1:3 NASB]
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
[John 1:14 NASB]
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.