Theology

Omnipresent

Bob Snyder4 Comments

Omnipresent, is the quality of being present in all places.  God is omnipresent.  God is the creator of everything.  He keeps everything from being destroyed.  He makes the natural laws that we rely on to make sense of our world.  Not only does He make those laws, He also keeps them enforce.  God exists independent of the creation.  Time and space are part of the His creation.  He is not.

God is not, some unconscious universal force that permeates everything like what the pantheists believe.  His presence is not, limited to any one time or space.  He can specifically reveal Himself during a time, in a specific location, without ceasing to exist above all time and space.

Here is something we have heard Christians say from time to time, “Yeah man, like… God is everywhere…  He is in the trees, the rocks, the water, and in us.”   This in something a pantheist would say.  We as Christians are not pantheists.  A pantheist believes that God is literally permeating everything, and that everything, collectively is God.  Kind of like the force from Star Wars.

star-wars-yoda-luke-that-is-why-you-fail

God is present in all places, even Hell.  He will pour out His wrath on sinners in Hell for all eternity.  God is present to the person in the deepest, darkest, cave in the most remote mountains.  He is present to the drowning person in the ocean.  He is present, not because He is in them, and they are collectively Him, but rather He is above all things, in all things, and outside of them.  It speaks to His sovereign will.  He is present as a matter of His will, not due to it being in bondage to the creation, but because of His lordship over it.

Don’t be confused by what I just said.  “How can God be outside of creation and in it at the same time?” you ask.  In the sense that He is not bound by His creation, or subject to it, He transcends it.  This is what is meant by He is outside of it.  Of course to be everywhere He would need to be, well… everywhere, and He is.  It is that He is sovereign, and transcendent.  I hope this makes it clear

Church · Church Reviews

We Visited Calvary Chapel in Ontario Oregon on 03/16/14.

Bob Snyder4 Comments

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We visited Calvary Chapel in Ontario Oregon on 03/16/14

  1. How approachable/welcoming, is the Pastor before and/or after the service? The Pastor was there, but he did not preach, as he was recovering from a surgery, and cold.  It should be noted, that a congregation that size makes it difficult to have a Pastor greet everyone who comes in.  They did have assigned, volunteers, greeting people as they walked into the sanctuary.
  2. How friendly is the congregation? The congregation was friendly, and welcoming.  I was already acquainted with several of the congregants who I work with.
  3. How many congregants are there? There were approximately between 200 to 300 people there.  They have two morning services, one at 9:00 a.m. and the other at 11:00 a.m.
  4. How do they take the offering? They didn’t take an offering that I noticed and I didn’t see where they had an offering box.  I will try to find out how they do it.
  5. Where are they located? They are at 1775 Alameda Dr, Ontario, OR 97914.  If you turn left just before Albertson’s, then go all the way down to the end of the street, it is on the corner to your right.  Here is their phone number, (541) 889-2260
  6. How is the service broke down between, prayers, worship, and sermon? It seemed to be approximately 10% announcements, 15% prayer, 30% worship, and 45% sermon.  The worship songs were all contemporary.
  7. What is the condition of their facilities? The facilities were above average.  The main parking lot is not paved.  They do have handicap parking up close to the sidewalks.                                                                                                                   cchapel
  8. What is the preaching style of their Pastor? The sermon was an exegesis of Haggai 1, and part of 2.  It seemed expository. As I said earlier, they had a guest Pastor preach the sermon.  If he is any indicator of the type of preaching their Pastor delivers, then I would say they do pretty well.  We will have to visit again on a Sunday when he is preaching.
  9. Do they use a specific translation of the Bible, or prohibit any translations, if so why? Their web page indicates that they use many different translations. Everyone brings their own.
  10. Do they have a web page? Yes, here is the link, www.ccontario.com   If so, is there a clear, orthodox, confession or statement of faith? Here is the link to their statement of faith page, www.ccontario.com/sof/index.php  I didn’t see anything that would make me think they were not orthodox.  I did notice that it seems they are Charismatic and Continuationists.
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Omniscience

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092811_attribute_omniscient

Omniscience is the quality of having all knowledge.  The word comes from two words, “omni” meaning, “all” and, “science” meaning, “knowledge.”  In the Christian faith we believe God to be omniscient.  He is the creator of all things.  This includes knowledge.  Whatever can be known by man is only knowable because God has created it and given revelation of it to us, as well as the ability to perceive it and understand it.  There is nothing that God does not know.  This includes all things past, present, and future.

Some people don’t like the idea of an, “all-knowing God.”  This idea threatens their sense of self-originating will and free agency.  The idea, that God knows who will be saved, and who will not be saved, before He creates them, seems to them to be an offense.  They object on the basis of God’s love.  They say, “If God is love He wouldn’t make a man knowing he was destined to Hell.”  What they miss is that all men since the fall are destined for Hell.  We don’t deserve anything good.  We deserve death, and Hell.  This simple truth escapes them.  They don’t see man as depraved sinners, corrupted through and through by sin.

I however, should take comfort in the omniscience of a sovereign and eternal God.  The fact that He knows everything gives me great peace.  I can trust Him in His complete, perfect knowledge.  He, knowing everything and ordaining all things by His will, comforts me.  I can sit by and not worry, because in Him is the primacy of His will and deity which by His nature is goodness and love for those that are in Him.

Theology

Theology

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Doing-theology1Theology

Theology is a Greek word that means, “The study of God.”  The first part of the word is, “Theo” from, “Theos” (Θεός) which is Greek for god.  The second part of the word is, “logy” from the Greek word, “logia” (λογία) which means, “The study of.”  So to the Christian the word, “theology” specifically is the study of God.  This is different for the lost person.  They look at theology as a study of some deity that may or may not exist.  In the secular world there are colleges and universities that have classes teaching this, dare I say, “Study of god.”  Their sources are like ours, as far as many of the texts go, but they don’t know the true God, and as such study Him with incorrect presuppositions.  It is imperative that Christians start with proper presuppositions.

First and foremost, is that God is the originator of all things, known and unknown to us.  This includes what can be learned.  All knowledge comes from the LORD.  Our ability to reason, use logic, remember, recall, convey, communicate and feel all comes from God.  We would not be able to know anything if He did not will it to be.  This seems basic, but there are books of theology that never assert this truth.  Think about this for a moment.  What does a tree know of God?  What does a child know of God?  What does a lost person know of God?  What do you know of God?  Read through those questions again and ponder the implications of each one of them, replace the, “what” with, “how.”  God is a communicative Creator.  We know this by His inclusion of the attributes essential to communication being integral to our faith and existence.  Without those attributes we could not know God the way He intended.  He planned to give us the progressive revelation of His word, in the form of the Bible.  He planned for us to be able to write, read, and relay the knowledge of Him and His good message.  We can know Christ the eternal God through what is written therein.   So it is supremely important that we ascribe God the Creator, primacy in originating all things, including theology.

We must not ascribe attributes to God that He Himself does not affirm in His word.  This would be a very dangerous endeavor.  We would be making a god for ourselves, which is not the same as the true God who reigns supreme over all creation.  Idolatry is, and has been, an insidious and cancerous evil.  It substitutes a counterfeit god who cannot save us.  The attributes or perfections of God that are taught in His word reveal to us the things that can be known by us of Him.  Let us study theology then, in true faith and repentance, humbly approaching the feet of God, giver of all things.

Theology

Justice is restorative to the victims, and punitive to the offender.

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justice

 

 

 

 

 

Justice is restorative to the victims, and punitive to the offender.   All of us, before salvation are offenders. That is the part people skip. They think they are pretty good, and don’t deserve hell, like the Bible says they do. We deserve death and hell, every single one of us.  We are all sinners.  Those that God made, even knowing they would reject Him naturally will suppress the truth in unrighteousness.  (Romans 1:18-22) So if we all deserve hell, it is a miracle that God saves any.  God didn’t need to do anything.  He chose to create and demonstrate His loving kindness.   How can a fallen creature look upon its Creator, who perfectly defines all things by His very existence, and have the impudence to judge Him as evil? It is ludicrous.  Creations have no rights to their Creator.  He has all rights to what He has made.  God demonstrates His justice, by pouring out the rightfully deserved wrath, on the unrepentant sinners, in Hell for all eternity. This brings glory to God, because in punishing sin, He restores the victims. The victims are the people who have repented and put their faith in the grace of Jesus and His atoning work on the cross. The offense caused by sin would mar God if He did not punish it. The believers would be victims of this, if God did not punish the unbelievers.  They would be victims, because God would be unjust and unloving to not punish the unbelievers in Hell for all eternity.  So the wrath poured out on the offender restores that what would be done to the believer, by demonstrating that God is, in fact just, and will not let sin go unpunished. The fact that He is just, and restores those He has no need or obligation to restore, shows that He is also loving and merciful. God didn’t have to make anyone. He was perfect without creating a thing, but He did create, because He desired to do so. He is omniscient.  So in His all knowledge, if He creates people, knowing which ones will not repent, and knowing which ones will repent, and even still creating them all demonstrates that some vessels were made for wrath, and others honorable purposes.  Read Romans 9 for crying out loud people.  For those of you that claim to be Christian, READ YOUR BIBLE!!!  If He chose to do this then it is good because He defines good.  He is the creator.  We are the creatures.  Saying He is evil because He judges and punishes creatures He made, knowing they would be in rebellion demonstrates how little you actually know about your Bible and God.  You have believed the horrible Barney theology of, I love you, you love me nonsense.  Open theists and Universalists shouldn’t even call themselves Christian.  They are heretics.

So God is glorified in damnation by demonstrating His wrath for the purpose of His justice and He is glorified in salvation by demonstrating His grace for the purpose of His loving kindness.  This grace is not a violation of justice because He came down from majesty incarnate as Jesus to suffer the cross.  He had the wrath that you and I deserve poured out on Him on our behalf.  He paid the penalty and satisfied justice so that you could be saved if you would repent and put your faith in Him.  If you can’t then He didn’t die for you and you are not saved.  You are not one of the elect and will be in hell for all eternity.

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Help! My spouse is verbally/emotionally/spiritually abusive. Episode 1333

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Good technique for people to use.

wretchednetwork's avatarWretched with Todd Friel

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Church · Church Reviews

We visited a Charismatic/Pentecostal/Messianic/Sabbath Keeping/Egalitarian/House church on 03/08/14

Bob Snyder2 Comments

We visited a Charismatic/Pentecostal/Messianic/Sabbath Keeping/Egalitarian/House church on 03/08/14

  1. How approachable/welcoming, is the Pastor before and/or after the service? The Pastor was out of town.  His wife led the service, and a young woman gave the sermon.
  2. How friendly is the congregation? The congregation was friendly, and welcoming.
  3. How many congregants are there? There were approximately between 10-20 people there.
  4. How do they take the offering? A bag was passed.
  5. Where are they located? In Payette, Idaho at someone’s home.
  6. How is the service broke down between, prayers, worship, and sermon? It was a big mess.  It was mostly, from what I could tell, all speaking in tongues, impromtu dancing, someone was doing flag spinning, another lady was doing some sort of tai chi looking dance with her eyes closed, a Jewish prayer shawl got whipped out, a lot of singing.
  7. What is the condition of their facilities? It was in someone’s home.
  8. What is the preaching style of their Pastor? The sermon was delivered by a young woman, who is a friend of ours.  I am hesitant here.  I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but she is inexperienced, and unqualified to be a Pastor.  There was one Bible verse used for the entire service.  It was misapplied, and out of context.
  9. Do they use a specific translation of the Bible, or prohibit any translations, if so why? They didn’t seem to prohibit any translations or promote any.  Frankly, I didn’t see that many Bibles there at all.
  10. Do they have a web page? No web page.  If so, is there a clear, orthodox, confession or statement of faith? No.  I’m pretty sure there isn’t even a doctrinal consensus among the people that were there.

A note about Sabbath keepers, and the Messianic people all over the place, they need to stop and read Colossians 2:1-23!  “1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,2that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.4I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.5For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.

6Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,7having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.9For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,10and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;11and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;12having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.13When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,14having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.15When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

16Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—17things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.18Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

20If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,21“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”22(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?23These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

”Every moment, of every day, as a Christian, you are resting in the perfect work of Christ on the cross.  You are experiencing the Sabbath rest every moment of your Christian life.  Jesus fulfills all righteousness on our behalf.  The early Church met and worshipped on Sundays.  We can see this by reading the works of the early Church fathers as well as Acts.

In regards to egalitarianism; 1 Timothy 2:9-15 “ 9Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,10but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.11A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.12But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.13For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.14And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.15But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.”

1 Timothy 3:1-15 “1It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.2An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,3not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.4He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity5(but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),6and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.7And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

8Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain,9but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.10These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.11Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.12Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households.13For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

14I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long;15but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

Titus 1:5-16  “5For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,6namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.7For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain,8but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled,9holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

10For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,11who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”13This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith,14not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.16They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

For the Pentecostals, Matthew 16:4 “4“An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.”

Repent, read your Bibles, pray, and worship God in obedience to His word.  Why are you seeking experiences instead of the Lord?  It seems like your faith revolves around the gifts that you allegedly have and your experiences with them rather than the word of God and His sovereign will.  1 Corinthians 8-13 “8Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.9For we know in part and we prophesy in part;10but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.11When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.13But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Take these words as loving correction.  If you are at this group or part of it you need to leave and come under the authority of a Pastor from an orthodox denomination.  This kind of errancy happens when you are not held accountable.