A Review of, “Find God’s Will In God’s Word” a Workbook, by Pastor Josiah Nichols MDiv
In case you don’t know what an inductive study is, here is a definition from the web; Inductive study, particularly in the context of Bible study, involves a method that helps individuals understand and apply the teachings of the Bible. This method is characterized by three main steps: observation, interpretation, and application. The goal is to draw conclusions based on the evidence found in the text rather than starting with preconceived notions.
Unlike other workbooks, this one does not lead you by the hand to predetermined conclusions. This one simply allows you, the reader, to employ the guiding principles set forth in the guide’s worksheets. The author trusts God the Holy Spirit to teach you from God’s Word.
There are only a total of eight written pages, those pages are an introduction to the study, an explanation of, the right spirit, The gospel, the right tools, and an example of how to fill out the worksheets. This leaves all of the rest of the 154 pages of worksheets. Here is a picture of the example of how to use the worksheets.
You’ll notice on page 6 titled, “The Right Tools” the author includes some things that will be helpful in your study. I’ve included some pictures of the resources I like to use. You’ll have to purchase your own. I think this book could be done with a simple study Bible. You definitely don’t need all the resources I’ve put up. You can also use Bible Hub for free. It has tons of resources. Something you might notice, is that if you are using bound books, they can get pretty heavy to carry around with you. There is an alternative. You can use a Bible program like Bible Study from Olive Tree. You can purchase digital copies of all the same resources. Makes it a lot more portable. Here are the pictures.
This is a John MacArthur Study Bible in the Legacy Standard Bible(LSB) translation.
You might also need a New Testament Greek dictionary, A good commentary set, and a Greek New Testament.
Who is this workbook for? Anyone who is attempting to discover more about God, and His will for us. I would use it for a middle school, and up, homeschool curriculum. It would be helpful to keep you focused on specifics in a study if you are easily distracted. It would also be great to use in a group. It may not seem like the value it is due to there being a lot of worksheets, and hardly any written pages, but that is the point. It is inductive. I hope this helps you make up your mind to get the workbook, and learn more about you’re Creator, and Savior.
A Review of, “Ashamed Of The Gospel: When The Church Becomes Like The World” by Dr. John MacArthur
In this book MacArthur correctly diagnoses some major problems within the Church. They are not new problems. Charles Spurgeon dealt with similar problems during the Downgrade controversies. I won’t be listing all of the problems. Instead I’ll sum them up. The gospel of Christ, and His word, are not believed to be, relevant or sufficient, for the Church today. This view is held by Church leaders, and Church goers. There are many ways this is fleshed out, and put on display in this book. MacArthur identifies many of the bad ideas, and explains them. He also gives examples. Of course, the book wouldn’t be complete without giving the solution as well. That part is simple. The gospel, and the word of God, are always sufficient, and relevant. MacArthur also fleshes those ideas out. When you look at the over 50 years of service to Christ, and His Church, that John has committed his life to, you can see how the elders at Grace Church have protected the congregation from these bad ideas. This book is a quick read. If you are a young Pastor, or even someone who is concerned about the direction their local Church is going, I’d recommend this book. It will be a great help to you in keeping the main thing, the main thing.
A Review of, “A Christian’s Handbook To Logical Fallacies, by Eitan Bar
This will be a short review. If you are looking for a book to use as a concise, and quick reference on logical fallacies, or a primer on the topic, this will suffice for most people. I did find the author’s understandings of Calvinism to be offensive, and lacking understanding. If you are not a Calvinist, you’ll probably chuckle at some of his attempted whit. I did not. That aside, for the price, and the accessible way the book is organized, it is helpful as a quick reference book. There are better ones out there, but if you are a laymen, this one will be one of the better ones you can get. I do recommend it in that regard.
A Review of, “Karl Marx, And The Satanic Roots Of Communism” by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand.
I’ve been alive long enough to have come to the conclusions that Marxism/Communism is satanic. I arrived at this conclusion due to the fact that Communism does not allow for a power more authoritative than the dictator, state, or politburo. Communism rejects the truth that God has created every man equally human, with all that entails, even their human rights. Under Communism the politburo is more than equal, and subjugates everyone else underneath them. You have no God given rights under the satanic system of Communism. I was curious what Wurmbrand’s insights would be. He experienced the literal torture of Communism first hand during the Communist revolution in his homeland Romania. He and his wife, were thrown into a gulag/prison work camp for 14 years. He was tortured on a daily basis. Eventually he, and his wife were released. They were never the same after that. Wurmbrand studied the writings, and correspondence, of Marx, and other prominent Communists after his release. Like I mentioned above, I understood that Communism was satanic, but I had no idea how fundamental satanism is to Communism, and those who fought to impose it.
I assumed Marx was a satanist ignorantly so by what he stood against, and was simply a fool seeking an impossible goal, and that he was willing to kill as many people as it took to achieve it. I was wrong. Marx was a satanist first. Communism was just a means to an end for him, and those like him. This book made that abundantly clear. Wurmbrand uses many citations from Marx, and his contemporaries. Some of the things these men wrote are so blasphemous, I had to skim through them as they afflicted my conscience sorely. I would warn you that this could also be your experience reading this book, but I find it necessary to know how blatantly satanic Communism, and Marx’s writings are.
Marx wrote, “I wish to avenge myself from the One who rules above.”
Here is an excerpt from the book,
“Let us remember that Marx’s ideal was to descend into the abyss of hell and draw all mankind in after him. Let us not follow him on this vicious path, but rather follow Jesus Christ who leads us upward to peaks of light, wisdom, and love, toward a heaven of unspeakable glory.”
This excerpt was at the end of the book recalling a citation from one of Marx’s writings. He wanted to have as many people die without hearing the gospel. He said something to the effect that he would go into hell laughing after them. Lenin, and Stalin, were also monsters. I encourage you to read this book, and share it with friends in the Church who are tempted to lean into socialism, communism, and warn them strongly.
I am glad to say that the gospel is shared towards the end of the book, so if you do share this book with someone who is curious, they will also get the gospel message. I hope you will take the short time this148 pages require to be forewarned.
The One True Faith, and The Eternal Word of God.
There are some arguments out there that go something like this. “We are the one true faith. We are the original Church. We are the oldest, and can trace our line back to Peter, or Jesus Himself. All other Churches are false, and cannot trace their authority back to Peter, or Jesus. You wouldn’t even have the Bible if it weren’t for us. That is why the early Church needed our traditions, because they didn’t have a Bible yet. They only had the traditions of the Apostles, and that is all our traditions are.” Some pagan cults like Hinduism, Odinism, & Native American tribal religions claim their gods were here before Jesus. So their religion is older. Older doesn’t mean true by the way. How many of you have ever heard these arguments from Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, or some other religious group? I want you to know there has always been the one true faith. Once God created man who was endowed with the ability to have that faith, there was the one true faith on Earth. Don’t forget that it was eternally established before the creation.
Ephesians 1:3-6
(LSB Strong’s)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, 5 by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Adam and Eve had first hand knowledge of God. Their faith was one of knowing. God was with them, talking with them. They tried to hide from Him. These are not the actions of people who do not believe that they did something wrong. They were different from the angels, and demons. The angels, demons, and satan knew God is. They weren’t looking for a Savior. The Bible never talks about saving the demons, or satan. Adam and Eve were the first to hear of some hope in the future in regards to the curse of God for their sins. In Genesis 3:15 we have the protoevangelium.
Genesis 3:15
(LSB Strong’s)
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
The gospel plan of salvation is eternal. It has always been. The Son was always going to be Jesus in our fallen world. In the ancient times, man did not have much of the progressive revelation of scripture to explain the faith, but it was right there at the start. As time went on, more was revealed.
The Faith has been called different things through history. It was the faith of the patriarchs, it became known as the faith of Israel, and then the Hebrew, or Jewish faith. After the incarnation, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, it had become known as Christianity. Sometimes Christians were called people of the way. Some time between the 7th, and 8th century after the quran had been compiled, muslims began calling Christians people of the book. Earlier in the 4th century the Holy Roman Empire adopted Christianity. At the end of the 6th century around 590A.D. Pope Gregory the 1st consolidated much of western Europe under papal authority. This is when we see the Roman Catholic church start as a unified ecumenical group. The Roman Catholics have a tradition that would have you believe that they can trace their lineage back to the Peter, who they erroneously claim was the first pope. They had misunderstood a section of scripture, and put the misunderstanding into use. After a period of use, it became tradition. Whether they ignorantly made the mistake, or not, I do not know. I do know they have had centuries to repent, and double down instead.
Matthew 16:13-20
(LSB Strong’s)
Peter Confesses Jesus Is the Christ
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, saying, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
It is obvious that the rock, or truth that the Church is built on is Jesus. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus isn’t calling Peter the rock on which the Church is built, but his confession of Christ. We read in Isaiah 28:14-17
Isaiah 28:14-17
(LSB Strong’s)
14 Therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, O scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
15 Because you have said, “We have cut a covenant with death,
And with Sheol we have made a pact.
The overflowing scourge will not reach us when it passes by,
For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have hidden ourselves with lying.”
16 Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
17 I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Does that sound like prophecy about Peter? Of course not. Let’s look at Ephesians 2:19-22
Ephesians 2:19-22
(LSB Strong’s)
19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Seems pretty explicit to me. How about you? If that is not enough to seal the deal for you, Peter himself declares in 1 Peter 2:6-7
1 Peter 2:6-7
(LSB Strong’s)
6 For this is contained in Scripture:
“BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone,
AND HE WHO BELIEVES UPON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.”
7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,
“THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone,”
Moving on, we see that the one true faith continues on today. The apostasy of Roman Catholicism also continues. They may claim to be the one true faith, but they make an error by connecting their authority for their claims to the idea that the one true faith started with the incarnation, and Christ allegedly appointing Peter as the first pope. When we look past this further back into history, we see men like Noah, Abraham, and David, who truly believed God. They were looking ahead for God to provide salvation. The Old Testament saints were saved the same as the New Testament saints, by faith. Ours happens to be on the other side of the incarnation of the god-man who split time.
We’re going to switch gears and look at the eternality of the Word of God in both the person of the Son, and the progressive revelation of scripture.
Turn to Genesis 15, This is just after Abram’s encounter with the Prince of Melchizedek, which was a Christophany.
Read Genesis 15:1-21
Genesis 15
(LSB Strong’s)
1 After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying,
“Do not fear, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great.”
2 And Abram said, “O Lord Yahweh, what will You give me, as I go on being childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no seed to me, behold, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.” 6 Then he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” 8 And he said, “O Lord Yahweh, how may I know that I will possess it?”
12 Now it happened that when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
17 Now it happened that the sun had set, and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 18 On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying,
“To your seed I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
You’ll notice this is not the actions of a disembodied text floating before Abram’s eyes. This is the 2nd Person of the Trinity, the eternal Son, the Word of God. We know this is so because it is the first thing John tells us in Chapter 1 of John.
Turn to John Chapter 1.
John 1:1-5
(LSB Strong’s)
The Deity of Jesus Christ
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
John 1:14-18
(LSB Strong’s)
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John *bore witness about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has been ahead of me, for He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
Psalms 119:89
(LSB Strong’s)
89 Forever, O Yahweh,
Your word stands firm in heaven.
Isaiah 40:8
(LSB Strong’s)
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.
1 Peter 1:25
(LSB Strong’s)
25 BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.”
And this is the word which was proclaimed to you as good news.
There is a distinction between the 2nd Person of the Trinity, and the physical script printed on hides, vellum, papyri, and paper. I’m not trying to convince you that the two are the same thing. What I do want you to consider is the character of our God. He did not leave us alone after creating us. He didn’t keep from us His character. He revealed Himself in both writing, and in person as well as the creation. During Jesus’ ministry, Old Testament believers recognized Him as the Savior from His written word. We get to know Him by His Word, or we know the Word of God, by the Word of God.
Through history, in different regions of the middle east, the progressive revelation of scripture was being revealed by various prophets. At the time of the incarnation the scriptures had already been compiled, and translated into Greek for approximately 250 years. It has been traditionally dated to the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt. The Septuagint had been in use before the time of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus, the Apostles, and the early Church could have very well been acquainted with the Septuagint, on top of their knowledge of the Tanakh. They had the word of God in print. Let’s remember what the scriptures primarily are. They are God’s mind for us to know Him by, with all that entails. Think about how they were conveyed being progressively revealed. Over time, there were more, and more revelations from God recorded until we had the entire canon of scripture. The Roman Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox weren’t even around for the Septuagint. It was completed by Jewish translators who were Commissioned by Ptolemy II around 800 yeasrs before they were historically a thing.
How impoverished are the religious sects who don’t see this truth? They fight, and argue, about who was first on the scene, who has authority, or power. They practice all sorts of strange traditions that are no wheres mentioned in the Word of God. They put on all sorts of fine raiment. They cause men to bow down, and kiss their rings. They sit on gold encrusted thrones. They heap up odious labors upon their followers. They rob God of His glory. Martyrs have gone to their deaths destitute of earthly wealth, and go on to their eternal rewards which show these pious men to be spiritual paupers.
Our God, condescended from the majesty of heaven, deigned to put on human flesh, dwelt among us, and laid down His life as a sacrifice to justify us to Himself. We must repent of our sins, and trust solely in the finished work of Christ Jesus.
There is only Male, and Female. Everything else is a lie.
For those of you who are confused, and need instruction in objective truth, a female of any mammalian creature by nature has XX chromosomes, ovaries, a womb, can conceive offspring via sexual intercourse with the male of the species, and can feed the offspring via milk naturally produced by lactation, none of which requires surgical modification, unless the female was born with a birth defect, or was injured during the course of their existence. There is no such thing as a transwoman. It is sin. It is deceit, and perversion.
A male has XY chromosomes, and is born with a penis, testicles, and a different musculoskeletal system. The endocrine system is also very different. The adult male produces sperm cells in his testicles which combine with the ovum produced in the female ovaries when the two engage in coitus.
Up until about a decade ago this was all settled science. In fact, in 1972 we sent a space exploration spacecraft into space with a plaque on it that had a graphical representation of the two human genders. Yes, gender is inseparable from sex.
“The Pioneer plaque was sent into space on March 2, 1972, with the launch of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. It was designed to communicate information about Earth and humanity to any extraterrestrial life that might encounter the spacecraft. A second plaque was launched with the Pioneer 11 spacecraft on April 5, 1973.”
It is only in this era of postmodern, antichrist, world, that we would forget, the truth, and superimpose a lie on all mankind.
Genesis 5:1-2(LSB)
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.
Christianity Did Not Come From Any Other Religion.
Numerous times I’ve read that Christianity came from Judaism, or Protestantism came from Roman Catholicism. Some even go as far to say that muslims, roman catholics, jews, mormons, and jehovah’s witnesses, all worship the same God. Well they don’t, and that is why I didn’t capitalize them. They are all cults. None of them have the true God. Only the one true faith has the one true, and living God. That one true faith has been known by different names throughout history.
At the moment God created a creature that could have faith in Him as their Creator, and Savior, there was the one true faith. That creature is man. Adam, and Eve knew God in the garden, but that knowledge was from knowing Him face to face. They talked with the preincarnate Jesus, who is the eternal Son. When they sinned, and were cursed by God, He cursed the serpent by saying that Eve’s seed would crush the head of the serpent. Whether you believe it is necessarily a reference to a singular seed, representing the protoevangelium, or that seed being the collective of elect individuals representing humanity up to the incarnation, with Christ being the culmination, and fulfillment of the protoevangelium, you still end up with the faith of antediluvian people being in the coming Savior who would set things right, and deal with their sin.
We know that Noah found favor in the eyes of the God because of his faith. How do we know he had faith? He built the ark. God in the Old Testament was followed, and worshipped by the Patriarchs. These men truly believed. People who followed them, may not have, but we know the one true faith existed in those times. It has never ceased. We follow this true faith in God, and His telling of a coming of the specific Messiah through the Old Testament. We read of Abraham, Isaack, Aaron, Jacob who became Israel, the people of Israel, and so on. Inside of the works righteousness, self-righteous, oppressive religious system the jews developed, there was always a group of them who truly believed the scriptures, and the prophecies. They were waiting for their Savior.
When the eternal Son condescended from the majesty of Heaven, deigned to put on human flesh, and live among His sinful creatures, it was to finally deal with sin, and cleanse for Himself a bride, for the glory of God. Jesus said to Thomas in John 14:6 (LSB) “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” According to Acts 4:12 (LSB) “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
The Jew says the Savior has not come yet, even in light of the fact that the first Christians were the Jews from Jerusalem. He loves his self-righteousness, his laws, his ceremonies, and detests the true Savior. They seek to save themselves. The muslims are the same. Of course they are. They plagiarized the Old Testament, and added all the demonic doctrines of Moo Ham Head their satanic prophet. He was nothing like Jesus. Moo Ham Head was a murderous, thieving, lying, slave owning, pervert, pedophile who died, and went straight to Hell. Jesus is alive! Jesus is thrice holy, righteous, good, true, just, and loving. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (LSB) “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Our God sacrificed Himself, His only Son, the second person of the Trinity, to justify us to Himself, for His glory, and our good! Moo Ham Head never did that. He never dealt with sin. Romans 5:8 (LSB) “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus never taught that baptism into the Roman cult saves a person. He never taught that you must be baptized to be saved, or that it has any actual efficacious results on our justification at all. His word never teaches that either. It is one of two sacraments we have as Christians. It is for the public profession of your conversion. We identify with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Rome, the Eastern churches, the Mormons, and many other cults, mandate a work of man, like the observance of a sacrament, to attain justification, or maintain it.
Roman Catholics make a blasphemous mockery of Christ’s atoning work on the cross with their mass. It is one of the most blatantly satanic, antichrist, man made doctrines, I’ve ever learned about. Read Romans for crying out loud. I don’t know how anyone, even a lost person, can read the book of Romans, and decide that salvation is partially caused by the works of the person claiming to be Christian. It is the most deceitful reading of the text. The text, over and over again, obviously argues for salvation being by faith alone. Works are a product of being born again, and justified by God. They are the product, not the cause. That kind of self-righteousness is disgusting, and only equaled by the other cults like mormonism, and the JW’s.
The hubris of man to think he can merit God’s favor by the work of his filthy hands. This is the pride, and self righteousness, on display for all to see. Why, they don’t even really need a Savior… They could just obey, and earn their way… Not! God says in Romans 6:23 (LSB) “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” All men are sinners. How are you going to deal with your sins? Are you going to try to make yourself as holy, and righteous as God? Because that is His standard of good. You’d have to be as good as God, which means you’d have to be God. You can’t!
In Christ you can have His goodness as God, imputed to you by faith in Him, and His grace. Turn from these false religions that cannot save you! They cannot deal with your sins! Only Jesus laid down His life to take the hell that you deserve. He took the punishment that His people deserve on Himself, on the cross of His crucifixion! Moo Ham Head didn’t! Joseph Smith didn’t. None of the Popes did! Marry didn’t! The watchtower didn’t! Buddha didn’t! Repent, and put your faith in the singular seed from God who finally, and thoroughly dealt with sin! You can start living eternal life today. Don’t wait for tomorrow!
Christianity is the modern name of the one true faith. It does not find it’s origins in any other religion. It is the continuance of the one true faith founded at the creation. Many people have co-opted it, renamed it, made up their own doctrines, made up their own gods to fit their needs, but nonetheless, it is apart from all the lies. The ancient self righteous jews didn’t wait for the Savior. The ones who had the true faith were already putting their faith in Him for their eternal peace. Roman Catholicism came out of the Holy Roman Empire. It co-opted Jesus from the true faith, and built a self-righteous, works righteousness system around Him. The muslims co-opted Jesus but reduced Him to be simply a profit. They too made a works righteousness system. The same is true of all the other systems that claim the name of Jesus, but make man responsible for his own justification in part, or in whole.
A Review of, “How Should We Then Live” by Francis A. Shaeffer.
I know this book has been around for a few decades now. I also know that there are many younger Christians who have never heard of it. That is one of my reasons for reviewing this book, at this time. If you are over 50, like myself, and have never heard of this book, you can lump yourself into the group of people who should read it. I usually review books to put them in the recommended category, or the don’t waste your time category. I recommend books that should be put in your library due to their value in reading again, or lending/giving to people for their edification, and for reference. This book gets a recommend, and I’ll tell you why in the review.
Schaeffer gives us a broad overview of human philosophies, and societal changes, including the effects of Jesus’ life, and ministry. He takes us from the beginnings of human philosophy, to our times of postmodernism, and explains the dangers of communism. The effects of Christianity on the world, including western civilization, art, and thinking are all explained efficiently, in laymen’s terms. The book also gives us some analysis of those eras, and their worldviews. If you’ve ever wanted to take a warp speed trip through the eras of our history, but not miss any key points, this book is for you. It is just shy of 300 pages. I don’t know how he managed to stuff them full of important data, and insights. If anyone else had written this, it would have been bloated, and 500 pages. More than likely, it would have become dry as well. Schaeffer did a tremendous favor to all of us who came after him. He was one of our great thinkers. Don’t miss this one.
ISBN 978-1-4335-7691-1
Anthropogenic Climate Change is a Lie.
If you are a young person, who believes in anthropogenic climate change, and is also Christian, stop believing the lies of the world, and believe God’s word. He says the planet will go on until the end of its appointed days. Then He will destroy it.
Genesis 8:21-22
(LSB)
“21 And Yahweh smelled the soothing aroma; and Yahweh said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.
22 While all the days of the earth remain,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.””
Isaiah 24
(LSB Strong’s)
1 Behold, Yahweh empties the earth to destruction, eviscerates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants. 2 And the people will be like the priest, the male slave like his master, the female slave like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3 The earth will be completely emptied to destruction and completely plundered, for Yahweh has spoken this word. 4 The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the exalted of the people of the earth languish. 5 The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they trespassed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who inhabit it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men remain.
7 The new wine mourns;
The vine languishes;
All the glad of heart sigh.
8 The joy of tambourines ceases;
The rumbling of those exulting stops;
The joy of the harp ceases.
9 They do not drink wine with song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of chaos is broken down;
Every house is shut up so that none may enter.
11 There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
All gladness turns to gloom.
The joy of the earth is taken away into exile.
12 Desolation remains in the city,
And the gate is struck down to ruins.
13 For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.
14 They lift up their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of Yahweh.
15 Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east,
The name of Yahweh, the God of Israel,
In the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,”
But I say, “I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me!
The treacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”
17 Panic and pit and pitfall
Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 Then it will be that he who flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit,
And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the pitfall;
For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth quake.
19 The earth is broken asunder;
The earth is split through;
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard
And it totters like a shack,
For its transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.
21 So it will be in that day,
That Yahweh will punish the host of heights on high,
And the kings of the earth on earth.
22 They will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the pit,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
23 Then the moon will be humiliated and the sun ashamed,
For Yahweh of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.
Isaiah 51:6
(LSB Strong’s)
6 Lift up your eyes to the sky,
Then look to the earth beneath;
For the sky will vanish like smoke,
And the earth will wear out like a garment,
And its inhabitants will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not be dismayed.
Matthew 24:35
(LSB Strong’s)
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
2 Peter 3
(LSB Strong’s)
1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being deluged with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be found out.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens burning will be destroyed, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH, in which righteousness dwells.
Be on Your Guard
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are looking for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest you, having been carried away by the error of unprincipled men, fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Revelation 21:1-8
(LSB Strong’s)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR FROM THEIR EYES; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. The first things passed away.”
5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then He said to me, “They are done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I WILL BE HIS GOD AND HE WILL BE MY SON. 8 But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually 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.”
So stop worrying over the Earth. Treat your little corner nice, but don’t be so concerned that your concern turns into idolatrous worship. Worship God, not the planet. Repent of your sins, and trust Jesus for your salvation. Your works, even those environmental ones, will not save you from hell’s fire, and God’s wrath. Only the justifying work of Jesus on the cross can do that.
Snyder's Soapbox 