5/10/12

“Nobody’s perfect,” rants Lucifer, the lying loser who is the accuser of the brethren. Ironically, he was a perfect angel when he was created; but he became the wicked, vengeful murderer—and father of all losers.

So I feel constrained to compile this Biblical acrostic that shines the spotlight on the saints of the most high God as described by Ephesians 5:25-27: “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.”

A. Anointed saints are those who are full of the Holy Ghost and who pray in tongues daily. They faithfully practice:

• Jude 20: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.”
• Romans 8:9-11: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

They are like those described in Psalm 23:5: “Thou annointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.”

B. Born again saints are no longer like the sinners described in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. They became saints when they were convinced and convicted upon hearing the one true gospel as proclaimed in the following scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, John 3:5-8, and Acts 2:37-38. 1 Corinthians 6:11 takes us through the process of what happens when one is born again and changed from a sinner to a saint: “…but ye are washed, [baptized in Jesus name] but ye are sanctified, [by the baptism of the Holy Ghost] but ye are justified [sin free] in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

C. Chosen saints of God are those mentioned in Revelation 17:14: “…for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” We must live for God and please Him as Enoch—mentioned in Hebrews 13:5—did. “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14.)

D. Dead to sin saints: Romans: 6:1-2: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, [saints] that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

Here are some examples of how saints that are dead to sin live their lives:

• Romans 6:12: “Let not sin therefore reignin your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”
  • Verse 17-18: “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”
  • Verse 22: “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”

E. Saints are examples to a sin-cursed world of the new life in Jesus that is available to all. Take note of what Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12-16:

• 12. “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
• 13. “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”
• 14. “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.”
• 15. “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”
• 16. “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”

F. Saints are faithful, friendly, and all fired-up. Chapter 11 of Hebrews lists some of the faithful Old Testament saints. They are referred to as a, “great cloud of witnesses.” Beginning with righteous Abel, who still speaks to us from the grave, their testimonies inspire and challenge all of us. Enoch never died, Elijah was caught up. But the other witnesses sleep in the dust awaiting the rapture trumpet. Matthew 27: 52-53: “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”

G. Saints daily grow more Godly. When we are born again, like a new born baby, we are perfect in God’s eyes.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

However, as a new born baby in the natural, in order to remain perfect, must grow and mature, so must we as saints of God continue to grow.

• “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)

Also see Hebrews 6:1.

H. Saints are Holy Ghost filled. They must strive daily to live a life of Holiness.

• Hebrews 12:14 says it without equivocation: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

I. Saints are “Instant in season, out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2). In fellowship and worship with other saints, or in living their daily lives, they can be counted on to be examples. 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22:

• 14. “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.”
• 15. “See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.”
• 16. “Rejoice evermore.”
• 17. “Pray without ceasing.”
• 18. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
• 19. “Quench not the Spirit.”
• 20. “Despise not prophesyings.”
• 21. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
• 22. “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

J. Saints are joyously justified, jubilant join-heirs with Christ. They are anxiously waiting for the return of their bridegroom with oil in their vessels for their lamps.

• 1 Peter 1:8: “…ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
• James 2:5: “…heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him.”

K. Saints are knowledgeable, kingdom-minded epistles known and read of all men. “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.” (2 Corinthians 3:2) Also, like the Bereans, they search the scriptures daily. (See Acts 17:11.) Psalm 16:3 says that the, “excellent saints are the delight of the Lord.”

L. Saints love God, their neighbors and their enemies. Matthew 22:37-39: ^“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

Saints strictly, and without equivocation obey God’s commandments.

• John 14:15: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

No saint, who loves his neighbor, would knowingly harm, shed the blood of, or take the life of another human, whether in war or even in self-defense.

• Matthew 5:43: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.”
  • Verse 44: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

M. Saints are merciful, mighty ministers. When you minister to those in need, you are ministering unto the Lord. See Matthew 25:32-45. The Samaritan mentioned in Luke 10:30-37 is a good example of a merciful minister. Not a single saint should be narcissistic. Philippians 2:3 instructs us: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”

N. Saints are New-lifers.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
• Romans 8:9-11: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
• Romans 6:4: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

O. Saints are overcomers. Glorious promises are given to those who are overcomers in the seven churches of Asia that are written about in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

There are several ways we can overcome:

• Revelation 12:11: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
• Romans 12:21: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

P. Saints are the powerful, peaceable, prayin,’ praisin’ fruit of Pentecost.(See Acts 2.) The Prince of Peace empowers them. (See Isaiah 9:6.)

We are empowered by the Holy Ghost:

• Luke 24:49: “Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”
• Acts 1:8: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”
• Luke 10:19: “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
• Acts 4:31: “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”
• Acts 16:25-26: “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.”
• Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Q. Saints are quintessentially quickened and qualified.

• Psalm 4:3: “But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.”
• Malachi 3:16-17: “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”
• Ephesians 2:1: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”
• Revelation 21:27: “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.”

R. Saints are ransomed, redeemed, righteous, and rapture-ready.

• Titus 2:11-14: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

1 Peter 1:18-19 says that we were redeemed by the “precious blood of Christ.”

• Hosea 13:14: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.”
• 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
• Revelation 22:17: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

S. Saints are saved from sin but are not “holier than thou.” They are sanctified, but not sanctimonious. Jesus prayed in John 17:19: “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”

The anointing of the Holy Ghost in Peter (Acts 2:37-47) convinced 3,000 religiously devout Jews and proselytes of what they needed to do to be saved. Likewise Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailer exactly what he needed to do to be saved when they spoke to them the word of God. (See Acts 16:25-33.). It is evident that they preached that they needed to do more than believe on the Lord, because Paul baptized them in Jesus’ name the same night.

Hear Paul’s admonition to the elders:

• Acts 20:32: “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified”
• 1 Corinthians 1:2: “Unto the churchof Godwhich is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
• Hebrews 10:14: “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.”

T. Saints are truly-true believers who have triumphed over sin in the flesh. “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph” (Psalm 47:1).

• 1 John 3:8-9: “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
  Please read the context of this scripture, 1 Peter 3:1-9.
• 2 Peter 3:14: “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

U. Saints are uncompromising and un-blamable.

• Romans 8:1-2: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
• Colossians 1:21-23: “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard.”
• 1 Thessalonians 3:13: “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God.”
• Daniel 3:16-18: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

V. Saints are and will be victorious.

• 2 Chronicles 20:17: “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.”
• Psalm 34:7: “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”
• 2 Timothy 4:6-8: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Hence-forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

W. Saints are worthy, worshipping, witnesses, according to Psalm 100 and hundreds of other scriptures. God loves the singing of the songs ofZion (See Psalm 137:1-4.) He loves all jubilant thanksgiving and praise from joyful saints, but that is only part of worship. The “true worshippers,” that God is seeking (See John 4:22-24), are those who are sold-out love-slaves of Jesus Christ, who serve Him continually. The integral, essential element of scriptural worship is intercession and the supplication of the saints as they weep and travail on their knees and their faces. This kind of worship touches the heart of God. It also defeats Satan. Read the 11 verses of Ezekiel chapter 9 and see those who were marked for life—and those who were marked for death. There is no middle ground.

X. Saints are not xenophobes, because, “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Saints love everyone, fear no one—not even enemies—and leave the judging up to “the judge of all the earth.” (See Genesis 18:25.)

God is not a xenophobe: Saints will be in heaven with every nation under the sun:

• Revelation 7:9: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”

Y. You, saints, beloved of God, are the focus of this writing. In scripture the saints were called brethren, disciples, believers, Christians once, sect of the Nazarene’s once, etc. But the Lord’s elect are called “saints” in both testaments. It is an intimate, loving title, used almost exclusively in the book of the Revelation. But since God’s love for us never stops giving, there’s a new name awaiting the saints in heaven.

Z. Zion, the city God is preparing for His saints. The city called Heaven is a dream come true, prepared by the Bridegroom: Jesus, the only God. It awaits His glorious bride.

Revelation 21:1-5 gives a glimpse of why it is called Heaven:

• “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”

Let’s sneak a peek at the awesome Bride:

• Revelation 19:7-8: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

Lest we forget:

• Philippians 3:14-15: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”
• 2 Peter 1:10: “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:”

AMEN AND AMEN!

2/29/12

Without equivocation, Lucifer and his fallen angels are our diabolical adversaries. Even so, ironically there is a transcendent, doctrinal belief we share: There is only ONE GOD and His name is Jesus Christ our Lord.

Furthermore, if the latest-craze shortcut to heaven, easy- believism was actually scriptural; they would be considered saved.

James 2:19 says they are fearful, trembling, BELIEVERS in one God. Acts 19:15, Mark 5:13-18, e.g., prove they confessed Jesus Christ, worshipped Him, prayed to Him, and He answered their prayers. So…?

Read prayerfully and carefully all the monotheistic scriptures in this acrostic and don’t be a “doubting Thomas.” In the final judgment everyone will believe that Jesus Christ is God, and will bow before Him and confess His name. See Isaiah 45:21-23, Philippians 2:9-11.

1.  ALMIGHTY GOD: El Shaddai, spoke to Abraham in Genesis 17:1: “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” Jesus reveals in Revelation 1:8 that He, Himself ALONE is the Almighty. Only one God can be all-mighty

2.  BAPTIZER: ^“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:2). ^”The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). Since every saint of God in the New Testament church was baptized in the Name of our great God, the Lord Jesus Christ, He completed their new birth by baptizing them all with the Holy Ghost. See Acts 2:38, 4:12, 8:16, 10:43-48, 19:1-6, 22:16, Galatians 3:27, etc.

3. CREATOR: Genesis 1:1 identifies GOD ALONE AS CREATOR. Jesus Christ was revealed as the Spirit of God incarnate in John 1:1-14. Verse 10 says that Jesus Christ, who was the almighty God in fleshly form, was the Creator. John1:10: “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.”

4. DESTROYER: The God who destroyed the world in Noah’s time--and Sodom and Gomorrah--will soon bring the horrors of Armageddon told about in 2 Peter 3:10:12 and the damnation of Hell’s fire in Revelation 20:10-15. In the Old Testament God had many titles, including Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14). In Matthew 1:21-23 the Savior and Destroyer is revealed as Jesus Christ, “God with us.” Soberly consider what Jesus said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

5. ETERNAL GOD: Moses said in Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting. arms.” The Apostle Paul refers to Jesus Christ in 1 Timothy 1:17: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:8 says it all: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Furthermore, Jesus told John in Revelation 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

6. FATHER: The most familiar scripture that mentions God as father is Matthew 6:9-10: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Jesus Christ, who the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6) called, “the mighty God, the everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” wrote these words in Matthew about Himself. In John 14: 6-9 Jesus reveals Himself as father: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord,  show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?”

7. GOD: The most quoted Bible verse in the world is the Hebrew “Schema”. “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).The first commandment is “I am the Lord thy God… thou shalt have no other gods…” (Deuteronomy 5:6-7). Psalms 136:2: ^“O give thanks unto the God of gods: for His mercy endureth for ever.” Thomas, in John 20:28 called Jesus, “my Lord and my God.” 1 Timothy 3:16 says that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. Titus 2:13 calls Jesus, “the great God and our Savior.” 1 John 5:20 says Jesus is, “the true God, and eternal life.” Jude 1:25 calls Jesus, “the only wise God our Saviour.” et al.

8. HOLY ONE: In Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. The seraphims around the throne said unceasingly, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” In Revelation 4:8 they are still worshipping the one on the throne—Jesus Christ, the Lord God Almighty.

9. I AM” was God’s title when He spoke to Moses from the burning bush. See Exodus 3:14. Jesus Christ enraged the Jews in John 8:58 by claiming the title I AM to describe Himself. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.”

10. JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH is what Abraham called God before He rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. See Genesis 18:25. Our Lord Jesus Christ who has, “all power [authority] in heaven and earth,” (Matthew 28:18) will judge all of the world. (See Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Corinthians 5:10:11, Revelation 20:10-15).

11. KING OF GLORY: Psalms 24:10: “Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.” 1 Timothy 6: 14-15: “…our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in His times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” In Revelation 17:14 the Lamb of God is called the same thing.

12. LORD: Deuteronomy 10:17: “For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords.” Ephesians 4:5 says, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism. [in the name of Jesus Christ]. See Acts 2:38, et al.]

13. MIGHTY GOD (See almighty God).

14. “NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME” (Philippians 2:9): God had many titles in the Old and New Testament and all are important in their context. But there is salvation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. (See Acts 4:12). Colossians 3:17 instructs us: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Invoking the name of Jesus, by faith, applies the power found in His precious blood. WARNING: Water baptism that omits the name of Jesus Christ does not remit sin. The confusion about baptism is one of Satan’s favorite deceptions. Soon every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. See Isaiah 45:21-23, Philippians 2:9-11.

15. OUR SHEPHERD: Probably the second most quoted scripture in the Bible is the 23^rd Psalm. Psalm 23:1: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” [a shepherd]. In Psalms 80:1 David calls God, “the Shepherd of Israel.” And it is an awesome revelation that John 10:14 identifies Jesus, the Lamb of God, as the Good Shepherd. Hebrews 13:20-21 says that Jesus, the Good Shepherd of the sheep, shed His blood for the everlasting covenant, to make us perfect.

16. POWER: Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power…” Jesus said in what is called the Lord’s Prayer, which was addressed to our father which art in heaven, “for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.” But Jesus also said in Matthew 28:18: “all power is given unto me.” And in Acts 1:8 he told His disciples: Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Thank you Jesus for giving me power [Spiritual authority] when I was baptized with the Holy Ghost on March 28, 1949!

17. QUICKENER [One who gives life and restores life]: In Genesis 2:7 the Lord God made man from dust and breathed life into him. The Lord Jesus spoke to a decaying corpse and Lazarus revived (John 11:43). And in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Jesus, with a shout, will restore all of the dead in Christ—not just to life—but to life eternal!

18. RESURRECTION: [See quickener].

19. SPIRIT: Genesis 1:2” “…the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep” [before creation]. John 4:24: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” There are many Bible references that say God is Spirit. See Job 34:14-15, John 1:1-13. But in John 1:14, God, the Spirit, took flesh in the bodily form of the Lord Jesus Christ.

20. TRUTH: Psalms 100:5 says the Lord’s truth endureth to all generations. The Lord Jesus identifies Himself in John 14:6 as “the way, the truth, and the life.”

21. UNCHANGEABLE GOD: Malachi 3:6: “For I am the Lord, I change not.” And Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and to day, and for ever.”

22. VICTORY; “O sing unto the LORD a new song; for He hath done marvelous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory” (Psalms 98:1). Jesus said in John 16:73, [even before His crucifixion and resurrection]: “be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” And we can be over comers: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

23. WORTHY: Psalms 18:3: I will call upon the Lord for He is worthy to be praised.” In the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God is worshipped, for He is worthy. See Revelation 4:10-11.

24. -EXCELLENTLOVING REDEEMER: Isaiah 41:14: “Fear not… I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” Revelation 5:9 “for thou [Jesus] wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”

25. YOUR HOPE AND MINE: “…the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” See Joel 3:15-16. I am daily, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

26. ZION: Psalms 48:1-2: “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.”

At the end of this study of the ONE and ONLY ONE GOD, we joyously contemplate all the awesome promises of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the ONE and ONLY ONE GOD who will be sitting on His throne in the New Jerusalem. By God’s grace, when He makes everything new, I’ll be there and I pray you will be to. See Revelation 21:1-7.

10/4/11

(Bible reasons for my 62 years of conscientious objection to shedding blood) 

Even if you are an avid Bible student, the name Ishbi-benob may not sound familiar, and that is a good thing. He was a giant like Goliath who almost gained fame and fortune when he   tried to kill David, but his effort was thwarted when he was instead killed by Abishhi.  (See 2 Samuel 21:16-17.)

If war stories with all the blood, gore and death fascinate you, you can read a lot of them in the 39 books of the Old Testament and in the book of Revelation.

Sunday School teachers teach children about how Noah built an ark that saved the lives of his family when the rest of the people were destroyed by the flood. They regale them with Joshua’s heroics and the stories of the Judges, like Samson.  They hear about David killing his tens of thousands. And in Numbers 21:14 you can read about the “book of the wars of the Lord”.

Welcome to the glorious New Testament Church Age

Jehovah Nissi, our victory banner, who became the victim of the flaming sword by His death on the cross, has now become Jehovah Shalom, the Prince of Peace.

I thank the Lord that He came to bring peace on earth and good will to men. He is the one who fights our adversaries and brings us comfort. Psalms 34:7 assures us that, “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” No one in God’s church should hurt or harm anyone—for any reason. Without equivocation, Jesus told Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight” (John 18:36). Servants of God should leave the fighting to God.

My reasons for being a conscientious objector

In 1948, as required by law for all 18 year olds, I registered for selective service. One of the questions we were required to answer troubled me. That question was: Are you a conscientious objector? I felt that I could not truthfully answer that I was, because I had not yet received the Holy Ghost, though I had been baptized in Jesus’ Name four months earlier.

On February 2^, 1951, since the Korean War was in full swing, I received my orders to report for induction into the army. Things had changed for me between my registration and induction. I had been glorious filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and received my heavenly calling into the ministry on March 28, 1949. Since I was now a servant of God, I entered the military as a conscientious objector, refusing to bear arms.

This began my own personal, spiritual warfare that causes me to write this controversial essay.

No, I would not bear arms to kill another human creation of God—even in self-defense. Why?  Because the captain of my salvation loved all of His enemies—even those responsible for His crucifixion. He commands all of His born-again servants to love our enemies (Matthew 5:49). How can a merciful peace-maker love his enemies and kill them at the same time?

Examine every word in the New Testament with your most sophisticated, high tech, exegetical microscope and you will not find a single instance where a saint physically harmed another person. Paul, who once relentlessly persecuted the church, after his conversion, was the victim of persecution. There is no scripture that says he ever tried to retaliate.

Every time someone considers volunteering in the armed forces, (other than the chaplaincy) I advise them against it. Almost daily, I pray for all my fellow saints globally—especially those in war zones where there is bloodshed and death. I earnest pray that God will open the eyes and hearts of my fellow saints, who are armed with deadly weapons, that they, somehow, avoid shedding blood. I fear blood will be on their hands in judgment.

Consider this scriptural injunctions: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).    When one voluntarily joins the armed services they surrender themselves and swear by and oath to become the property of the United States Government and subject to the Commander-in-Chief during the period of their enlistment, and sometimes beyond. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 says that if any man is in Christ, all things are become new, and we become His Ambassadors with a ministry of reconciliation—not warfare.

We may be confronted with some of the scriptures below, which might ignite the “wrath of the Lamb” when we stand before His judgment seat,  if we are guilty of ignoring God’s royal law of love.

A synopsis of Matthew 5, says enough to disarm any potential shedders of blood. Blessed are the meek, merciful, peacemakers. We are admonished to resist not evil and turn the other cheek. The scripture goes on to say we should love our enemies and does anyone in his right mind harm or kill those he loves? It doesn’t matter how others treat us, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves-even if they hate us in return.

What the Lord said in 1 Timothy 2:4 should challenge every saint to be a soul-winner and not a soul-destroyer: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Why? Because He is, “…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Romans 12:14, 17 &19: “Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not” (14). “Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men (17). “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (19).

The voice of God, speaking through John the Baptist, told the soldiers: “Do violence to no man” (Luke 3:14).

John 10:10 identifies Satan—not saints—as the source of stealing, killing and destroying.

Does Isaiah 1:15 refer to you or me? “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

2 Timothy 2:3-4: “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

Listen carefully to Jesus’ words to James and John in Luke 9:54-56: “And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.”

Romans 13:8-11: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law

Luke 22:49-51: “When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.” This is the only scripture,  that I am aware of in the New Testament, where a servant of Jesus shed blood--and Jesus healed the person who had been injured.

Why didn’t the multitude of those who were martyred because of their belief in Jesus defend themselves? Wasn’t it because they were baptized in Jesus’ name, Holy Ghost filled servants of the most high God.

Maurice R. Gordon, Pastor

09/08/10

King David’s words after his sins of adultery and murder, describe the condition of every human born into this world: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalms 51:5).

Our loving Creator, knowing our sinful condition, offers us an incredible choice. Joshua 24:15 says it succinctly:  “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” The prophet Elijah challenged Israel at Mt Carmel with the words:  “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him” (I Kings 18:21).

The following scripture is all inclusive: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men…” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11).  The Bible Study here tells of Peter’s Conversion. Even though, he had faithfully followed Jesus for three years, (according to Luke 22: 32), he still needed to be converted!

“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me” (Luke 22:31-34).

There are two things you need to know:

FIRST, Peter was a very strong believer in Christ. He had followed Him for over three years. What’s the proof of Peter’s faith? When Jesus asked him, “Whom do men say that I am?” Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Peter’s confession of faith so pleased the Lord that He gave him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. He witnessed so many miracles that he could not help but believe in Christ.

SECONDLY, Peter, like many professing Christians today, had a false sense of security, because he was a believer. He was confident that his faith was sufficient, and said, “Lord, I will go with Thee even unto death.” But because he had not yet been converted, he cursed, lied and denied that he had ever known the Lord at Jesus’ trial. (See Matthew 26: 69-75.)

So, when are you truly born again?

The purpose of this Bible lesson is to convince you that you are not converted by simply believing on the Lord Jesus. Even the devil believes and trembles. (See James 2:19.)

Theologians are sometimes asked how and when one is born again. Many would say that you are born again when you believe. The Bible teaches that being born again involves a complete change of heart. Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again, both of the water and the Spirit. (See John 3: 5-8.)

Not once does the Bible say that you are saved the moment you believe on Jesus. It does say that you shall [future tense]be saved if you believe on the Lord Jesus. Believing is definitely the first step in obtaining salvation. This must be followed by repenting and obeying the commands of the Lord. Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall [again future tense] be saved” (Mark 16:16).

Just believing, alone, doesn’t remit sins. On the day of Pentecost, the message of salvation was stated simply. Acts 2:38 says: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Since without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, (See Hebrews 9:22), Peter could not have been converted before Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

Before Jesus’ ascension in Acts 1:4 Jesus commanded the Apostles to not depart from Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. In Acts 1:8 Jesus said, “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost comes upon you.” We are all weak and unconverted without the power of the Holy Ghost, even if we are believers. It is no wonder that Peter denied he knew the Lord before Jesus’ crucifixion.

About 120 believers, including the apostles, the mother of Jesus and his brothers and sisters, were obedient. While they were prayerfully waiting and believing, Acts 2:4 says: “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

The newly converted Peter no longer denied Jesus and tried to hide in the crowd. He boldly stood up as the spokesman for the newly-converted 120 power-filled believers. After preaching a dynamic message, he told those who were convicted of their sins just what they needed to do to be saved. Read Acts 2:37-47 again for yourself.

I want to ask you a couple of the same questions asked in the scripture. Paul asked, in Hebrews 2:3: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” Paul asked the Ephesian believers, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (See Acts 19: 2-6.) Paul re-baptized them in the name of Jesus and prayed with them until they received the Holy Ghost and spoke in other tongues just like Peter and the others did on the day of Pentecost. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” Acts 3:19.

Can you afford to settle for anything less than what the Bible calls the New Birth?

8/5/10

By Quincy Larson, Granddaughter of Rev. Gordon, age 14

First off, one thing you’ll need to know is that I'm an Open Water Scuba Diver, Adventure Diver, Advanced Diver, and a Scientific Reef Check Diver! This was accomplished on my 10-day trip to Racha Yai, Thailand. This was a school-sponsored program allowing a group of students to go to Thailand in the summer. It was a little expensive, but only some students got in and I did. My parents decided it was a good experience for me and for my education.
        Our main purpose for going to Thailand was actually quite serious. We were collecting scientific data for the Thai government and for Reef Check based out of San Francisco (site for info if you want it http://www.reefcheck.org). Leonardo DiCaprio is even a Reef Check celebrity chairman! (lol)
        So we were on a boat called Scubacat for 9 days. The first 5 days were spent getting the beginner group (including myself) certified in Open Water, Adventure, Advanced, and for Reef Check. The next 4 days were spent actually collecting the Reef Check data. In the 6 days of certification, I completed 21 dives in total. You have no clue how much I saw!
    There were a lot of jellyfish.  (On one of the night dives I got entangled in one and had a numb hand for 2 days!) I also saw a ton of eels. Did you know that you could scream underwater, with your regulator in your mouth? We also saw a sea turtle and a really cool purple octopus. There's a lot more we saw, but that's not the point.
    The point is that there was a lot that could've gone wrong. Scuba diving could be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Fortunately, apart from some minor jelly stings, nothing went wrong.
    After every long day, I'd take a 2 min. shower and go into my room or play cards. I shared a room with my friend Krickett (yes, like the insect). It was small, had a built-into-the-wall bunk bed, but it was cozy. It felt safe and warm. A place that even when there was a storm outside (which was most nights) I could be dry and happy.
    The night before the data collection was supposed to start, something happened. I grabbed my brush from my bottom bunk. I was going to brush my hair on the way downstairs to play spoons. (It wasn't as intense as Colorado's version. And they didn't know that, so I won every time.) As I stood up, I hit my head on the top bunk. At first, I didn't even realize what that loud noise was from. Then I collapsed on the floor.
    Krickett was outside in the hall and had heard the noise. She thought something had fallen or broken, and went into the room to see what had happened. She found me crying on the floor. She brought me to one of the teachers onboard, who happens to be a retired war general, or something like that, who was a paramedic in many wars (most of which, my parents weren't even alive during). Long story short, I had a big bump on the back of my head and diving for the rest of the trip was out of the question.
    I'd passed all the tests I had to take. I'd even gotten 100% on "fish ID", "substrates", and "invertebrates." I was completely Reef Check certified I just couldn't do reef check.
    So sitting there, alone on the boat, I realized something. How was it that the eels, the stingrays, the jellyfish, the barracudas, and just plain scuba diving didn't hurt me? Then I thought about how my room had been my safe haven. I was safe in my room, but it was the one thing that brought me down?
    Thinking about this, I realized it's the same thing in life. Those jellies, barracudas, rays, eels, all represent the BIG-BAD things; things that if you asked a youth group about, they'd laugh and say "No, duh!" Things like murder, abuse, sex before marriage, things that my sisters and I know to stay away from. Doing those things would be like trying to dive without an air tank, or sticking your hand on a lion fish; things that are just plain stupid!
    What most pastors forget to talk against is the bedroom. The safe haven place that feels warm, feels okay; the place in which we let our guard down. I know I have an issue with worldly music getting into my head, but it's my safe zone. I tell myself that as long as my #1 played song on iTunes is Christian I'm okay. It's like men saying that looking and thinking about other women isn't adultery, because you aren't acting upon it. Or saying that reading a book that goes against what you believe is okay, because we say the book won’t influence us. It's like saying that one try, or one beer is okay, it's not like we're getting drunk or anything. One thing that happens a lot is saying that dating a non-Pentecostal guy or even a Pentecostal guy who loves himself more than the Lord, is okay, it's not like I'm going to marry him anyways.
    These are the things we feel are in our safe zone. The things we feel are okay and we do in our warm, dry, safe place. These are the things youth pastors neglect to preach about. These are the things that are never mentioned during Sunday morning service. These are the things that will make ALL of us sit out the whole trip; the trip of life! These are that things that will make us go to hell.
    One little tiny accident in my safe zone, and I had to sit out the rest of the trip, the rest of an amazing experience!  Don't let the things in your safe zone make you sit out on what God has for your life. Be careful of the safe zone. You know how God can get into your head, personal life, and into you? Well, so can sin.

5/3/10

(Exposé-ing the “Boogerman”)

The enemy (yours and mine)

I know this sounds incredible: but the Bible teaches us that Lucifer was perfect when he was created, until iniquity was found in him. (See Ezekiel 28:15.) Because of his narcissistic pride he was cast out of heaven to the earth. Because of his evil influence, one third of the angels were cast out with him.

When Satan saw the sinless Adam and Eve fellowshipping with their Creator, he was filled with vengeful rage, and he still hates everyone who worships the Lord God. To spite God he corrupted Adam and Eve with his lies.  Here’s the real shocker: Lucifer, as well as Adam and Eve were created sinless. After their fall, all mankind, including Jesus, who was both God and man, were born with sinful flesh. Every person is given free agency, to either choose the ways of God, or serve the devil.

Obviously, we have the same kind of flesh as did Jesus. It was possible for Him to sin. But since he—like all true saints of God—was filled with the Holy Spirit of God, He choose to do no sin. He was an overcomer, and we can be overcomers as well. Here are a few scriptures to prove that Jesus was sinless: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, Hebrews 2:17-18, Hebrews 4:14-15, 1 Peter 2:21-22.

The “mother” of all paternity/custody wars

Before I even attempt to be a war correspondent or play the role of a credible historian, I feel constrained to issue a sincere disclaimer. I know that I am unable to really “…plumb the depths of Satan…” (See Revelation 2:24.) The “text message” version of the vast, unprecedented global blood bath that Satan has caused is contained in Matthew 13:37-40: ^“He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.” 2 Corinthians 2:11is a good warning for all or us: “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

You and I are actually on the battle field (this ain’t virtual reality!)

The population of the world today is approximately 6 ½ billion. Each and every person is going to die either prepared to meet the Lord when he returns for His church, or be a part of the tares that will be burned in the fire at the end of the world. Satan, who is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning (see John 8:44), and whose primary business is to “…steal, kill and destroy…”  (John 10:10), is out to steal the soul of every person.  He is a hate-monger, a conniving master of deceit, a blood-lusting, spiteful, merciless and remorseless god.  God? Yes. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says so: ^“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Satan’s malevolent agenda is to destroy mankind in an effort to avenge himself against God. Because he was cast out of heaven and lost his glory, he wants to destroy anyone who worships God. He wants to corrupt our minds as he attempted to corrupt Moses with the enticements of the world. Moses, wisely, chose not to accept “sin for a season.” (See Hebrews 11:25.) Since Satan’s fall, he gloats when anyone sins. He knows:  “…the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ezekiel 18:4” (Also see Proverbs 8:36, Romans 6:23.)

The awesomely glorious precedents!

In Genesis 1:26-28, the Creator of the universe was the true Father of all mankind. He, as the Sovereign of Sovereigns and God of Gods, gave his blessed loved ones, who he had created in his image and likeness, dominion over all His creation, even over our arch-enemy, Satan. (See Luke 10:19.)

Another irrefutable proof of our God’s paternity right to us is recorded in Job 31:15: “…did not one fashion us in the womb?” And Malachi 2:10: “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?” These scriptures, along with many others, prove beyond doubt that all creation—including the imposter Satan—is the handiwork of just one Creator, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Believe it or not, all human death (and possibly animal deaths also) are the consequences on one three letter word. What Satan told Eve in the garden was almost the truth. The one small three letter word turned the truth into a lie. The word, of course, is NOT. If Satan had told her that the consequence of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good an evil was that she would surely die, he would have been telling her the truth. He changed the truth to a lie when he told her: “…Ye shall NOT surely die. (Genesis 3:4)”

Because she was duped by the wily serpent’s most deadly device—the lie—she unleashed a lethal chain reaction on all mankind that will not end until Revelation 21:1-5 is fulfilled.

A Sneak Peek at “Rev Boogerman’s” Last Fling

“ Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.1 John 2:18”

As the midnight hour speedily approaches, the Bride of Christ with excited anticipation, is trimming her lamp and making sure that the oil of the Holy Ghost is still running over. She knows that the trumpet is soon to sound! (See Matthew 25:1-13, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.)

Meanwhile, in a church near you, and maybe a lot nearer than you would have believed, The Reverend Boogerman is feverishly doing his own thing. Since there are about 6 ½ billion people to deceive, he is working overtime, along with his demons and innumerable hypocrites.

This should not be a surprise to anyone who has read Revelation 2:13. The church of Pergamos had a special seat (or throne) for Satan. So how did the Reverend Boogerman receive such a welcome? Why didn’t they cast him out in Jesus’ name? Because they didn’t recognize who he really was without a red suit, horns or a pitchfork. He pretended to be a respected member of the clergy! (See 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.)

So if He (or she) is unable to corrupt you and entice you to commit fornication like the church of Thyatira did (See Revelation 2:20-22), then, since he hates holiness, modesty, and sanctification, he may lure you away to his latest craze: “the Emergent Church.”  That’s where many former saints have ended up. I see them on “facebook.” Some even brag about how they have been freed from the bondage of narrow minded legalism. Apparently they don’t believe Paul’s dogmatic oath of execration in Galatians 1:8-9:  “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

I am now over 80 years old, and for 60 plus of those years I have been blessed to be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost. I also have been a licensed minister with the UPCI for almost 50 of those years. I assure you that I have heard, seen and experienced more than my share of what I call “New Cart Religious Experiments.”

A final, loving invitation from the “Resurgent Church”

If you, who once loved the message that the apostles  preached, and rejoiced in the true light that Paul said he wasn’t ashamed of (see Romans 1:16), and your heart has been touched by this lengthy Tidlink, please contact me.  Acts 2:42:  “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers,” is still being confirmed by Jesus. Since that is true, that’s what I still practice, believe and preach.

So the big, bad “boogerman” who hates Jesus and his saints, will be caught, tried, condemned, and, according to Revelation 20: 10-15, cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, along with the beast and false prophet. And a false prophet is anyone who adds or takes away from the precious word of God. Beware if you are one who loves a lie and hates the truth!

Pastor Maurice R. Gordon

03/25/10

Because I love you and you are more than worthy, I humbly bow, Jesus. Because you are my creator and friend and continually show your love for me, I humbly bow, Jesus. Even though I am less than worthy of you and your great mercy, I humbly bow, Jesus.

I know your word teaches us that we should enter your gates with thanksgiving and enter your courts with heart-felt singing and praise, I humbly bow, Jesus. I recently read where you reprimanded Job and ask him: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:4 & 7)? Where are the true praisers and worshippers today?

I well remember when we met together—on our knees—and worshipped you until those in the prayer room were shouting the victory. Then the celebration of your resurrection empowered the service, and signs, wonders and miracles were commonplace.

You threatened to bring sudden judgment upon the great church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7. You said they had fallen from the tenderness and passionate humility of their first love. When that happens to any one of us, we will most likely descend to the depths of self-satisfaction and arrogant pride. The Lord warned them to do their first works again. Worshipping you with fasting (Dictionary Definition of fasting: to cover the mouth) on our faces, with hot tears of repentance, is the only way to spiritual restoration.

Lord, you also instruct us to observe communion and foot washing. Since you filled me with the Holy Ghost 61 years ago, I’ve always counted it a special blessing to be in a service where foot washing and communion were celebrated. You saw me on my knees before my brother in humbleness washing his feet, and sometimes kissing them. You have always blessed me so much as I worshipped in this manner.

Lord, this Tidlink is to remind sincere souls that may be ignorant of your word, but really want to be like Enoch who pleased you and was translated. (See Hebrews 11:5.) You are seeking “true worshippers” to worship you “in Spirit and in truth.” (See John 4:23-24.) Help all of us to realize that we are on a “fools errand” if we don’t heed your warning in Matthew 15:9: “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

Please Jesus, show all of us, that the Bible is full of examples of those who worshipped you—or idols—on their knees, or on their faces, or prostrate. Lord, help all of us to realize that it is impossible to stand up and worship you. Show us that it is easy to stand up and give you praise, but that we must worship you on our knees.

In Matthew 4:9-10 the lying tempter Satan offered you “all the kingdoms of this world” if you would, fall down and worship him. Of course your response was a command to all your creation, “It is written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” 

Of course, my Savior, when you were agonizing in the flesh for us at Gethsemane, you fell on your knees and prayed, with sweat and tears as drops of blood. After your arrest the soldiers put the crown of thorns on you and bowed their knees, mockingly, and “worshipped” you.

Oh thou Lamb that was slain, I know that soon Philippians 2:10-11 will come to pass. “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” But I personally choose to try daily, in my place of prayer to bow my knees with my face to the floor and worship you. Or if it is possible, I’ll do the same in church, because you are worthy. But I thank you for Revelation 4: 10-11, for that says it best. “The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

(Please read “Worship 101" among my essays.)

02/20/10

1 Corinthians 7:31: “…Use this world…  [but don’t sin by] …abusing it….”

A teacher of the deaf accidentally spilled some acid while tinkering with an experiment. The year was 1876 and the teacher was Alexander Graham Bell. The novelty, that the accident gave birth to, was the telephone.

Only God knows how many millions have been and will be saved by telephone witnessing. Sadly, many will also be lost because they use this wonderful instrument for good to do Satan’s dirty business. This Tidlink is actually a flashing red light to warn biblically born again children of God of that danger. Pastors, as well as their flocks need to be warned.

So what’s a “Lying machine?”

A true minister of God is to be scrupulously honest. We can all agree on that. He preaches and teaches truth, for Jesus is truth personified. Yet many of them are unaware that they are committing spiritual suicide.

Here’s Satan’s dirty trick. You may be using your convenient telephone answering service to lie for you. And the innovation of caller ID can aid and abet you in the deception.

Here’s a common example: the phone rings. You see who is calling and choose not to answer. You may have a very good reason for not wanting to talk to the caller. But now for the moment of truth. Your answering machine message comes on: “This is Pastor___________. I’m sorry I missed your call, (the first lie). Please leave a message and I’ll get right back to you as soon as possible. When you do not call back, aren’t you compounding the first lie?

Another similar example is the computer generated message that says in part: “No one is available to take your call.” Can you in good conscience say you are not available if you use the caller ID to determine whether you want to speak to the caller or not. You be the judge.

Obviously, after 40 years of pastoring, I know all too well about people who usurp the lion’s share of your time, if you let them.

I am just challenging you to chuck the canned message and after prayer, leave a message on your answering machine that is loving and caring, avoiding promises you either can’t, or don’t intend to keep.

In Matthew 23:3 Jesus severely rebuked the Pharisees with words we should all heed: “but do not ye after their works: for they say, (I’ll get right back to you) and do not.” And in verse 33, Jesus asks them: “how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

Is this much ado about nothing?

Under the great heap of stones in the valley of Achor, were the shattered bodies of a lovely family. Only Achan, the father was at fault. He had brought to his tent a few “souvenirs” from Jerico. His actions stirred the wrath of an angry God. Not only was he the cause of his family’s death, but he also caused the deaths of the innocent soldiers at the battle of Ai. The 7^th chapter of the book of Joshua tells the story. Achan confessed, but received no mercy. I pray you will take heed and change your telephone answering machine message to tell only the truth.

“Confessions of a Happy Heretick”

Above is the title of the book Jesus inspired me to write. It was published in September 2009 by “Word of Flame,” the publishing house of the United Pentecostal Church, INC. It has been advertised monthly in the church’s publications since October, of 2009.

In closing, I have one more confession to make. It reveals why I wrote this critical Tidlink. Since my book is an easy read, and an exciting historical record of how God miraculously opened doors for us to spread the gospel since 1972, I have been busily marketing the book myself.

Here’s my embarrassing confession. And it breaks my heart because of the love, honor and respect I have for my fellow pastors. I have been calling many of their home numbers to see if they are interested in reading about  the outreach ideas my book promotes. Most of the time when I do not get an answer, their answering machines promise to return my call. Bottom line—less than one third of them ever bother to call back.

Please receive these few loving admonitions:

Matthew 5:37:  “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

Matthew 12:37: “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

2 Corinthians 2:11: “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

Galations 6:1: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

1 Timothy 4:1-2: ^“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”

James 4:17: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

The compelling catalyst is the last part of Revelation 21:8: “and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

July 13, 2009

I, Maurice R. Gordon, Pastor of the Pentecostals of Aurora UPCI of Aurora, Colorado, being of sound mind at age 79, do affirm, certify, and guarantee the following:

I will pay $100,000 in old gold coins, to the first person who can prove—using only the authorized version of the 1611 King James New Testament--that the following doctrines of the Proto-Christian/Jewish Church are unnecessary for salvation today:

1. Jesus established one church, (no denominations). No one can join the one Church Jesus established; you must be born into it.
2. God has many titles, but His saving name—Jesus, is the only, “name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). All true converts to New Testament Christianity were—and still are--baptized by immersion in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Since His blood alone cleanses us from sin, invoking His name applies His blood. (See Zechariah 13:1.)
3. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the other half of the new birth. (See John 3:5-8.) It was, and still is, evidenced by “speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance” (Mark 16:17-18, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:1-6, Galatians 1: 8-9).
4. We must be living a life of holiness, when the Lord Himself descends from heaven with the trump of God to rapture His church, or we will be left behind.
5. There is only one God, (See Deuteronomy 6:4) and there is only one throne in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb/lion is the one who sits on the throne to judge His creation. (See John 1: 10-13, John 20: 26-29.)

GO FOR THE GOLD!

To discuss the statements above call me at: 303-695-4444. Come and enjoy the feast of Pentecost with us. Call for location and time.

Visit my website: aholyroller.com

Have a Nice Eternity

06/09/09

So what is a backslider? Simply put, it’s a person who – wittingly or unwittingly – chooses the slippery path of least spiritual resistance, after they have been truly born again (according to John 3:5-8, Acts 2:38, 8:16, 10:43-48, 19:1-6, etc.).

This apostasy begins almost imperceptibly, but without the miracle of divine intervention, it’s a downhill fall, all the way to the hell of fire and brimstone, where Satan – the first backslider, and the facilitator of all the rest – will spend eternity with all the fools he has deceived. So let’s carefully analyze the purpose of this Tid-Link. You, or I, or both of us, may discover, in time, I pray, that we are off the right track!

The word “Backslider” (in all its forms) is only found in the Old Testament, and Israel’s rebellious apostasy is the prime example (see Jeremiah 2:19, 3:6, 8, 11, 12, etc.). But they were under the old covenant and, thank God, we are under the new covenant, with all its blessings, according to 2 Peter 1:4 “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

“I’ll come back to God when I’m ready…”

Backsliding, in all of its forms, is very much a major theme in the entire New Testament, but generally referred to as apostasy. Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples was an extraordinary apostate. Yes, Jesus was well aware of his thievery. But when the prophesy of the betrayal was to be fulfilled, Luke 22:3 says “…then entered Satan into Judas…” (Also John 13:27-28). It is actually demons, not Satan himself, that enter into backsliders and posses them. Matthew 12:43-45 is an example of that: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.”

In Judas’ case, after he betrayed Jesus, Satan didn’t need him any longer and the Jews who paid him the 30 pieces of silver shunned him and scorned his repudiation of heinous treachery.

Here then is a terrifying, unforgettable lesson for any potential backslider who has been duped into believing that you can sin willfully, after you’re saved, then repent and go on with God. Wrong. Dead wrong. Judas, in Matthew 27:3, in desperation, tried to “repent himself,” but that can’t be done: “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.”

Judas found out – too late – that you cannot “repent yourself,” for it is God alone who lovingly grants repentance. And since it is a divine gift, for a specific time, “death-bed repentance,” for example, is usually an act of futility, as is the priest’s rite of “extreme unction.” Furthermore, in Hebrews 12:17, there is another sobering example of Esau, who, “when he would have inherited the blessing, [the rights of the firstborn, that he sold to Jacob for a bowl of lentil soup], he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”

There are two other, similar scriptures, but before I share those, I’m reminded of a vivid pastoral event that happened almost 40 years ago. I watched in horror, as my oldest brother laid writhing and groaning on the floor. This backslidden pastor and church official, was undergoing a cold-turkey heroin withdrawal. I loved my big brother because he had saved my life in 1939 when I was drowning. But that evening he confessed to me that he would “give anything” to feel God’s touch again, but now, he said woefully, “I’m just waiting for the axe to fall.”

Revelation 2:21-22 mentions that the “woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess” was teaching the Church of Thyatira to commit fornication. Yet the Lord said, in verse 21, “And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.”

My final proof text states emphatically that backsliders can repent only when God grants it: “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (2 Timothy 2:25-26)

How, when, and why do people backslide?

So how and when does backsliding, (which is also called “apostasy” and “falling away” – Hebrews 6:4-6, 2 Peter 2:20-22) attack a child of God? Well, according to 2 Corinthians 5:17, we begin in the state of blameless, sinless perfection, “for if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” So, how do we get into Christ? Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

I personally, am blessed to have been baptized in the glorious, saving name of Jesus Christ, our one and only Lord, for the remission of my sins. Every convert in the New Testament was baptized just like that, identical to the way the apostles did it in Acts 2:39, thirty years before the New Testament was written. I also received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues like Jesus promised that every baptized believer would in, Mark’s version of the Great Commission (Mark 16:17). And that awesome Holy Ghost power, according to Luke 10:19, gives us “power over all the powers of the enemy.”

For starters, people erroneously assume that the Devil, who they think controls all evil, is their worst enemy and his headquarters is in hell. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong! I am my own worst enemy and you are yours. The business of Satan, whose seat (throne) was in the church of Pergamos (Revelation 2:13), is to “steal, kill, and destroy” according to John 10:10. But he can’t make you sin if you don’t want to.

New babes in Christ – even if they’re senior citizens – must be lovingly shepherded and fed their milk in due season. So, where’s the weak link in the chain? It is our flesh, our carnal nature, known for its “stinkin’-thinkin.’” This is why the apostle Paul said, in Romans 7:18, that in his flesh “dwelleth no good thing.” He also warns us all in I Corinthians 9:27: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

And finally, in 1 Corinthians 15:31, he gives us the easiest way to avoid backsliding. He stated it plainly. “I die daily.”

Backsliders Anonymous

So why after 40 years of toiling in the ministry did I return to the huge challenge of pastoring after just four years of well-earned retirement? And why on earth would I even try to build a church with backsliders, of all people, and try to establish Backsliders Anonymous? I confess I don’t know the answers to any of those questions now, but I reckon I’m about to find out.

Here’s the big picture. The world we live in is filthy, ugly, mean-spirited and full of sin , but the world of backsliders is far worse. The collective heathen commit big sins with impunity but backsliders who have fallen from the threshold of heaven down to the gates of hell, have Satan’s full support and are capable of far worse abominable sins. In Revelations 2:24, there is a brief statement to the church at Thyratira alluding to “the depths of Satan.” That is noteworthy.

More grim backslider information

The first world, except Noah and his seven kin, all backslid. So God, their creator, drowned them like rats. Genesis 6:5 explains why: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Throughout history, backslidden Israel has suffered indescribable horrors, including the Holocaust, because of their apostasy.

Closer to home, but beyond the pale of human reason, a former spirit-filled backslider proved to the whole incredulous world, how lowdown a former child of God could descend. His name? Rev. Jim Jones. He pastored the People’s Church in San Francisco, that is, before he moved to Jonestown in Guyana, and committed suicide with 800 members of his flock.

King David used the power of his office to take his neighbor, (Mrs. Uriah) to his bed, and when she became pregnant, he committed even more heinous crimes, by ordering General Joab to have Bathsheba’s husband, one of the king’s most honorable and loyal soldiers, killed by proxy, along with other unwitting, innocent fellow soldiers. Yet, when God sent the prophet to condemn the king, David immediately repented and incredibly, God immediately forgave him. And he was later called “a man after God’s own heart.”

One other particularly notable backslider was Moses, the murderer. He did 40 years on the back side of the desert, repenting until he met his Forgiver. And his next 40 years, as the “servant of the Lord” is also history.

Peter, after being given the keys to the kingdom, soon backslid, denied that he knew Jesus, which was a lie. He also cursed and swore. Yet Jesus accepted his penitent sorrow and 40 days later, it was Peter who preached the gospel of the kingdom on the day of Pentecost.

There’s hope for backsliders

Backsliders who come to themselves, like the prodigal (backslidden) son in the pigpen, with God’s help and our loving compassion, can lead them to 2 Corinthians 7:10: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”

Alcoholics Anonymous has a 12-step plan to sobriety, but Backsliders Anonymous only has three:

1. Stop

1. Turn right

1. Return to your first works and your first love (Revelations 2:4-5)

If you do those things, your return from the Gates of Hell to the Door of Heaven will make history – and also a wonderful testimony in our new church!

05-05-09

I’m glad you finally got up enough nerve to ask. Without equivocation, I’ll just cut to the chase. Yes, I am an extremist. Thank God, I have never been accused of being anything else.

If you’ll tell me where you stand philosophically, then after we have scrutinized this vital, cutting-edge Tidlink, who can tell? It would not be surprising if we get face-to-face, but don’t see eye-to-eye, or have a meeting of our heads, without a meeting of our minds. On the other hand, we may discover we’re both on the same page, after all. 

Obviously, if you are reading this on my website, you are aware that I am a senior citizen. However, I am not just a middle-of-the-road “Golden Oldie.” No, I am a senior American citizen. And I count myself blessed to be a sanctified-proud American citizen. Furthermore, not only am I from the “old school,” I still teach there. I stand firm against the post-modern, humanistic, values-clarification of no absolutes and anything goes. No anti-God—and now anti-American, pop culture curriculum taught here. No siree! We still worship Jesus Christ our Lord as our one and only God. We real men still love our wives and children – and all fellow humans. We still sing the “Star Spangled Banner” with a grateful heart.

Call it what you wish, but as a born-again, Jesus name baptized, Holy Ghost filled, tongue-talking, holiness living and holiness preaching, old stick-in-the mud American citizen—I will never compromise. In fact, if I was a Siamese twin, and my conjoined twin was running for president as a liberal, I’d vote against him.  

Let’s Get Historical—and Bring up the Past

Wistfully I recall my pensiveness as I stood on the deck of the troop ship USNS General M. B. Stewart near Staten Island Army Base and the Statue of Liberty. It was August, 1951 during the Korean War – the one they called a police action. The war was going full-blast and thousands of draftees like me, wearing army-issue khakis, were being shipped out from California to the Far East. But God, not luck, placed me on a ship in New York harbor in route to Bremerhaven, Germany.

I stood at the rail oblivious to all the others on deck. I stared in silence at the panorama of the shoreline, the many ships and the sea that I had never seen before. As I did so, I pondered my fate. I had never before left my beloved homeland and it was more of a soliloquy than a one-man pity party. It was only five years after the close of the World War II and our president was Harry S. Truman, a tough, no-nonsense, patriotic, loyal leader. And he was a Democrat, whatever that meant. I guess I was apolitical at the time.

The tugs fell away, the ship’s turbines came alive, and we were under way. My gaze was fixed on Lady Liberty. I loved her – and the land of the free, and the home of the brave she symbolized. As the evening fog engulfed her, I gathered my thoughts and went below.

Seventeen months and eighteen days later—after serving my God and America honorably—I saw the beautiful lady again. And when I came down the gangway, I think I kissed the pier’s concrete.

Fast-forward in a Nanosecond to the Here-and-Now

Incredibly, even though I have maintained my conservative ethics, and fundamentalism, a modern-day Pharaoh, “which knew not Joseph,” (See Exodus 1:8) has risen up. He thinks nothing of castigating and vilifying true-blue, loyal, patriotic, and pro-life (those who believe that pro-choice is no-choice for innocent boys and girls who are murdered in cold blood in our beloved America) believers. We right-wing extremists also believe what our creator says about marriage, namely: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Our president supports humans of the same sex performing perverse sexual acts and thinks it’s alright. ” God calls it “abomination,” but that doesn’t seem to matter to him. Further – he thinks nothing of bypassing our legislative due process—provided for all USA citizens by our founding fathers in our constitution – with his arbitrary and capricious, autocratic, rule-by-decree. 

His kowtowing, and “boot-licking” of some of our worst friends and best enemies, with flatteries and appeasement is foretold in scripture. (See Daniel 11:21, 32-35.) I wonder if he will bow before Osama? Would he be gleefully-glad to see that Grand Old Lady in New York harbor with her head bowed weeping, and her torch, once proudly held high, now at her knees with the light snuffed out? Will “Old Glory” be replaced by the United Nation’s flag? Will anything we have cherished, or hallowed, remain for posterity?

Beware of “Right-Wing Extremists” (Like Me)

A few days ago the president issued a warning to Homeland Security to keep close watch on extremists who refuse to lay aside our inalienable rights as Christian Patriots. We are suspect because we do not support his left of left-wing extremist policies and utopian radicalism. Yes, it breaks my heart. But God has allowed it—and it is a fulfillment of many prophecies, especially Isaiah 5:20: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

You may consider yourself a middle-of-the-roader, who does not fit either extreme, but is a Mr. In-Between. As for God who is, “the Judge of all the earth,” (See Genesis 18:25.) there is no such person. You and I are either on God’s side or the devil’s side. On one side are the sinners—and they are extremely wicked—and on the other side are the true saints of God who are extremely righteous as they strive to be like their Lord. Roman Catholicism has created a purgatory for those too bad to be good, but too good to be bad, The Bible does not teach that there is any such place, but the doctrine makes a lot of money for the Catholic Church since people feel compelled to pay to get their loved ones out of that in-between place.

Jesus Christ established only one church. He never authorized a denomination—men did that. Ephesians 4:5 says that there is, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” His true church began on the day of Pentecost, and what the Apostles preached in the book of Acts has never been modified, updated or superseded. After 3,000 were born-again by obeying Acts 2:38-41, verse 42 goes on to say: “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

The last five verses of Acts chapter 2 sounds to me like a bunch of right-wing-extremist holy rollers who were filled with the new wine of the Holy Ghost. Why not come and join us?

And remember, there is a heaven to win--and a hell to shun. You are either going to be the Devil’s fool—or God’s fool. You cannot be a Mr. In-Between and hope to please God. If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. As a follower of God’s word, I have no choice but to be a right-wing extremist.

“Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Exodus 32:26) Stand up and be counted as a proud-to-be-an-American, Right-Wing Extremist!

Dear friends, Jesus is coming soon. Not only do I want to be ready for His coming, I want everyone else to be ready for the wonderful event also. I want everyone to meet Him in the clouds with rapturous joy! (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.) If you are not sure that you are ready for what is sure to come, or if you have any questions about the Bible, my wife and I have been Spirit-filled believers for over half a century. We would love to share a Bible study with you, in our home or yours, online, or by phone.

04/07/09

In this Tid-Link – with God’s help – we will endeavor to prove that, among the billions of worshippers in this present world, and the innumerable “things” they worship; there is just ONE true worship. Furthermore, in the end of the world, all of God’s human creation will be required to bow before the One I worship, and whose name I confess: Jesus Christ, the God of the universe.

Worship Definitions:

• Webster’s New World Edition: 1) Reverence or devotion for a Deity; religious homage or veneration – a church service or rite showing this. 2) Extreme devotion, or intense love or admiration of any kind.
• Worship as the Bible defines it (see Strong’s Concordance): 1) Old Testament (Hebrew: “Shachah”); to prostrate (oneself) in homage to royalty or God, to bow or fall down flat in obeisance, due reverence. 2) New Testament (Greek: “Proskuneo”) – to kiss like a dog licking his master’s hand, to prostrate oneself in doing homage and reverence and adoration.

A couple of startling facts about worship in general

1. Worship either honors God or Satan. There is no neutral worship.
2. 2) Devil worship, when it sacrifices an innocent person and drinks their blood, and even cuts out the victim’s heart and eats it – is by no means the nadir of evil worship – abortion is. That kind of macabre cannibalistic devil worship is relatively rare, but every life is precious. But the 51,000,000 innocent unborn boys and girls were brutally slaughtered on the cruel altars of hate and lust, by butchers in sterile robes, like priests, with orders from the mothers–who-could-have-been. Un-mothers, who in worshipping their own-selves, claiming their bodies to be their own – not God’s, took a life that was not their own to claim.

“Worship?”

The prevalence of idol worship and the second command in Exodus 20:1-3, God begins the Decalogue (10 Commandments) with an introduction of Himself as the only God, and a dire warning not to have another God besides Himself. But, in addition to that command, He added the words in verses 4 and 5 that it is forbidden to copy anything in heaven, earth or the sea to worship, (or bow down and serve).

Israel later rejected those commandments and still suffers the vengeance of God until this very day. But the crass, unmitigated, idolatry of religious Gentiles is a million times more prevalent. Today there are about one billion Muslims who unabashedly worship their god, Allah, and their prophet Mohammed. Add to that number almost three quarters of a billion professing Catholics who worship their Pope as God’s sole voice on earth and is considered infallible when he speaks “ex-cathedra.” They also worship Mary as the “mother of God” as well as the venerated dead that this religion “beatifies.”

Much of the high church Protestantism also worships icons, images, crosses, relics, traditions, Holy sites, sacred cows, and also Buddhas are, incredibly, worshipped as gods. Please let the record reflect that, by no means am I implying that any of my fellow mortals are insincere worshippers. Only God is their judge, and I pray that they all meet their Maker, before they “meet their maker.” Jesus, however, said in Matthew 15:9, “In vain they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

How the worship of Creed-ism almost eradicated the Post-Apostolic Christian Church.

Surely it is the irony of all religious ironies that Satan and all his demons know that Jesus Christ was God manifested in flesh. James 2:19 says “Thou believest that there is One God; thou doest well; the devils also believe, and tremble.” Yet it was this same “author of confusion” who surreptitiously introduced his most damnable and pernicious creed; the three person Godhead.

Creeds are believed to have magic or occult powers that are magnified by repetitive recitation of “I believe in…” Now I am well aware of the name of this idolatrous creed that is worshipped by millions who are blissfully unaware of its origin. But the God of the universe commanded us to, “be circumspect; and make no mention of the name of other Gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.” (Exodus 23:13) Furthermore, Jesus’ father after the flesh, David, the sweet psalmist said, “their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God [therefore] will I not… take up their names into my lips.” (Psalm 16:4)

The teaching of this modified tri-theism places Jesus, our Creator in whom is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” the “Blessed and only potentate,” “the first and the last” – in the position of second person of their creed which was named (purportedly) by Tertullian circa 170 AD, and codified initially at the council of Nicaea in 325 AD by Athanasius, and given the pre-Papal blessing by the heathen Roman emperor, Constantine. The worship of this extra-Biblical “blessed and holy” hoax, (just like the formerly non-canonical apocrypha and a plethora of other examples of Philosophical speculation), was promulgated and propagated to supplant the Biblical truths about the true identity and authority of Jesus Christ our God.

Furthermore, Rome’s emphasis on Matthew 28:19’s three titles, “Father, Son and Holy Ghost” – which they use as an integral part of their creedal litany, completely ignores the contextual reality that was Jesus – who had “all power in heaven and earth,” (Matt 28:18) who was giving the command, so He was referring to His own name – which, according to Acts 4:12, is “the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” But, by no means should we take Matthew 28:18-19 out of its context. Verse 20 is the clincher: “Teaching them [all nations] to observe [to do] all things whatsoever I [singular, personal pronoun] have commanded you: And lo, [look!] I am [Moses saw Him in the burning bush] with you always (See Hebrews 13:8) even until the end of the world. Amen.”

Evidently the apostles clearly understood His command, explicitly so. For in the seven days after they received the Holy Ghost and spoke in those tongues from heaven, they preached the inaugural sermon of the only church that Jesus ever established in the world. Peter and the rest of the apostles preached the only Gospel, the Apostles’ Doctrine recorded in Acts 2:38, and commanded them in Jesus’ stead to: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Because of that, throughout the whole New Testament, all new converts were baptized by immersion, in the name of Jesus Christ their God. So, much ado about worshipping creedal idols is “Much ado about nothing!”

“Oh come let us adore (worship) Him”

In John 4:20-24, by Jacob’s well, the woman of Samaria asked whether God should be worshipped in the mountains of Samaria or in Jerusalem. Jesus gave her what I think was a wonderful surprise. He said, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” So it is evident from Matt 15:9 that there is vain, (or false) worship, as opposed the true worship that God loves and it is also evident in John 4:23, that there are false worshippers if there are true ones. So let’s use the remainder of this study to examine ourselves to determine – by scripture – whether WE are true worshippers of the One true God – Shall we?

Some critical facts we must use as our litmus test

1. Being scripturally born again by obeying the Apostles’ doctrine in John 3:5-8 and Acts 2:37-47 gives us an abundant entrance unto the King of the Kingdom of God. But as Acts 2:40 told the Jews to “save yourselves,” it is up to each of us to please God continually – like Enoch did in Hebrews 11:5, devoting our lives to worshipping the Lord “in the Beauty of Holiness” (Psalm 96:9).
2. In order to understand why the suggestion from the pulpit, to “stand up and worship the Lord”, is a non sequitur, it is necessary to go back in this essay and reexamine the Bible’s definition of worship.
3. Now this last heart-breaking fact I have observed firsthand: the signs and wonders that were continually experienced in primitive Christianity are fast disappearing, as the modern day “habitual ritual” of Laodicea seems to be taking center stage. When I received the Holy Ghost 60 years ago, I had been praying on my knees for over an hour. Praying in the Spirit according to Jude 20 was the church’s modus operandi back then. In fact, when they came to church, they knelt and prayed before they sat down. Likewise, when the preachers came to the pulpit, they too, prayed on their knees before they sat – and also did the same after preaching. All-night prayer meetings were sometimes weekly. The old-fashioned fast (like Queen Esther’s) without food or drink, has been supplanted by most ministers with water diets. Many have also replaced the communion wine of the Bible with pasteurized grape juice. Foot washing services are becoming a thing of the past. And when the longest prayer in a Sunday “worship service” is for the tithes and offerings, the lack of signs and wonders should come as no surprise. Don’t forget that in Revelation 3:16-20, the Laodiceans, who were neither cold nor hot, were rich and “had need of nothing.” Apparently they were having their vaunted “good church” without Jesus – who was (and is?) outside knocking on the door – trying to get someone to “hear my voice” (Verse 20).

Now, I humbly conclude this long essay with my confession. Although I have read through the Bible many times and preached 50 years (pastoring for 40 of them), I’ve discovered something new! Recently, when I read the 150 or so verses (and their contexts) about “worship” I realized that I never knew how vitally important worship is and how much God loves both those who are true worshippers, and their worship. I had also forgotten that “worship” was first mentioned by God’s friend, Abraham. Obviously, Abel, Enoch, and Noah were also true worshippers but Abraham coined the word in a truly profound, critically unique way. In Genesis 22:1-19, God tested Abraham’s faith by commanding him to go to Mount Moriah and offer “thy only son Isaac, whom thou lovest” (verse 2) as a burnt offering. To God, whom Abraham called “Jehovah Jirah” it was a human sacrifice; but, in verse 5, Abraham called it “worship!”

True worship, therefore, is not to be confused or substituted by the many ways we offer praise to the Lord, like raising our hands, clapping, shouting, singing, dancing, etc. True worshippers are those “Jesus freaks” with “holey ears” (See Exodus 21:5-6) (not referring to those who wear earrings).

True worship is intensely intimate and personal like Mordecai’s, even though his refusal to bow to Hayman jeopardized his own life, the life of his niece Queen Esther, and all the rest of the Jews on earth at that time. He resolutely refused to bow on his face to any ruler but Jehovah. Neither would Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego. Nor would – or will – the rest of the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Hebrews 12:1-3.

Yes, I learned that worship comes from the old English word, “worth-ship,” to honor one such as God, or a ruler, because they are worthy. In the U.K, they still address a Judge as, “Your Worship”. Likewise, here in the USA, we address a judge as “Your Honor.”

I personally made a vow to daily bow on my face in my prayer time. I also, if possible, bow on my face at church services. I started this about 10 years ago. I felt then, as I do now, that if Jesus came bodily into any place where I was, I would immediately fall on my face at His face. So when I pray, I personally invite Him, because He said to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise, Be thankful to Him and Bless His name” (Psalms 100). So I decided that before the final judgment, when all must bow and confess His name (Isaiah 45: 21-23 and Philippians 2:9-11) that I would willingly bow now. And when I finally see Him, I intend to bow and kiss His feet, worshipping him, because He once fell on His face in the Garden of Gethsemane, because of my sin.

Because Jesus is the worthiest of All, let’s worship Him now!

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. --Psalms 95:6

And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD. --II Chronicles 20:18

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever. --Revelation 5:11-14

Dear Friends,

Jesus is coming soon. Not only do I want to be ready for His coming, I want everyone else to be ready for the wonderful event also. I want everyone to meet Him in the clouds with rapturous joy! (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.) If you are not sure that you are ready for what is sure to come, or if you have any questions about the Bible, my wife And I have been Spirit-filled believers for over half a century. We would love to share a Bible study with you, in our home or yours, online, or by phone.

Rev. Maurice R. Gordon

3/5/09

650,000,000,000 souls would love to hear the glad tidings that Jesus died for them. If you are not already one, I want to challenge you to become a blazer. We need to blaze the message of salvation afar. One song writer put it so succinctly in the song: Salvation Has Been Brought Down, “Tell it afar in every nation, tell it afar all over creation.”

Certainly we are all aware that Isaiah 55:8 states emphatically, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” In this study I want to focus on several divine principles of soul winning that are found in the New Testament.

Can God encourage—even bless—some acts of disobedience? I am reminded of the rebuke he gave King Saul when he rejected him as King with these words: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15:22). It would seem that obedience to God’s commandments is of vital importance to the Lord.

It may well be the sweetest of ironies, that the Lord would allow classic examples of the end justifying the means. So don your black robe, pick up the gavel, and sit in the judge’s seat as you examine the following defendants. Since I am a blazer, I have had to recuse myself, for I can’t help but sympathize with the accused.

Jesus, full of compassion, healed a leper who begged the Lord, as he worshipped Him, saying, “If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean” (Mark 1: 40). Luke’s account describes him as being “full of leprosy” (Luke 5:12). After the miracle, Jesus gave him a command that he found impossible to obey. He told the overjoyed, thrilled beyond words, completely healed, formerly defiled leper, to “See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest” (Mark 1:44). He was so filled with joy and gratitude that he could not keep his miracle to himself. He became a willfully disobedient example of those I call blazers.

“But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter” (Mark 1:45).

I know what it is to be totally blind, so I must recuse myself in this nest case on the docket also. I can readily empathize with the two blind men that Jesus healed in Matthew 9: 28:31. Again, I can totally understand their willful disobedience. These two men, before their healing were inmates, incarcerated in solitary confinement. They existed in a cruel prison of remorseless darkness that was totally unrelenting and without mercy. They never even caught a fleeting glimpse of the light of the sun blest day. That’s total blindness!

I wonder if their ears even heard the command of Jesus?

“And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it” (Matthew 9:30).

When He used the word, “see,” and they were looking on the face of the one God that created them, and who had just delivered them from their prison of darkness, His other words probably didn’t even register. Anyway, how can a blind person who now sees hide the fact from those around them?

Verse 31 also tells us that they did exactly what the  leper who had been healed had done and became “blazers,” spreading Jesus fame all over the countryside.

Now, if anyone is still ensconced in a seat of judgment behind the bench, how will you rule on the next case? In Luke 8: 41-56 the evidence is presented in the case of a ruler of the synagogue named Jairus. He heard that Jesus was in the area and sought Him out. When He found Him, he fell before Him in worship, entreating Him to go with him to his house and heal his 12 year old only daughter who was dying. (One of the writers indicated that she was already dead when he came to Jesus.) In Luke’s account a servant came to meet them on the way and related that the girl had died and not to bother the Master further.

Jesus comforted Jairus with the words in verse 50: “Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.” When they arrived at the house, they found both real and professional mourners making a great commotion over the death of the girl. Jesus put them all out of the house, except for the parents and Peter, James and John. He then took the girl by the hand and commanded her to arise and she was immediately healed. To me, more amazing than the miracle of resurrecting the child, was the command Jesus gave to the parents in verse 56: “he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.”

Now if you were a prominent religious leader, or a loving mother of an only child, do you think that it would be even remotely possible to restrain your outpourings of joy, and not blaze the wondrous miracle abroad? And how would you explain to the mourners that had already begun to mourn? Can anyone even imagine that it would be possible to restrain the parents from blazing the miracle far-and-wide?

I think all will agree that we must leave the bench and the gavel behind and allow the Judge of all the earth to decide.

We are all God’s creatures. He died for us. “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 2:9). If He successfully employed what we call “reverse psychology” to broadcast the glad tidings—so be it.

At first glance it appears Jesus and His disciples journeyed across the

Sea of Galilee

to minister to only one man. We always need to remember what 1 Corinthians 4:5 says: “…judge nothing before the time.” Jesus and His disciples only remained in the area for a short time, but miracles can happen in a hurry when Jesus is in the midst.

The pseudo-science of psychiatry would probably diagnose the man who lived in the tombs, and would not keep his clothes on and could not be restrained by chains, as someone suffering with a mental illness. They would prescribe drugs to keep him in a vegetative state where he could be managed—and the drugs would be the best that his fellow men could offer him.

Jesus recognized his real need, and in compassion, delivered him. In Mark 5:7 the demons that controlled the man recognized Jesus and called Him, “Jesus, thou son of the most High God”. They further, speaking through the man, ask that Jesus allow them to go into the swine on the hillside rather than into the deep. Jesus granted that request and the 2000 swine on the hillside ran down the hill and fell off a steep place into the sea.

The owners of the swine, angry over their loss, became blazers themselves. They brought the whole city out to see Jesus and the demoniac who was now clothed and in his right mind.

At the urgent request of the people of the city Jesus and His disciples got into their ship and prepared to leave that coast. The former demoniac begged Jesus to take him with Him, but He refused his request. He told him to go home and tell his friends what Jesus had done for him. In true blazer fashion “He departed, and began to publish in Decapolis [the 10 cities in the area] how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel” (Mark 5:20).

Conclusion:

I would love to meet the former leper, the former blind men, Jairus’ daughter, and the former demoniac in heaven, and hear their testimonies. It would literally be heavenly to hear that they were among those who were born again on the day of Pentecost, receiving more from Jesus than physical and mental healing. I would like to believe that the were baptized in water in the name of Jesus, (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48, Acts 19:5, etc) and were born of the Spirit by the baptism of fire of the Holy Ghost evidenced by speaking in other tongues, (Mark 16:17, Acts 2:4, Acts 10:46, Acts 19:6, 1 Corinthians 13:1, etc.). The Apostle’s doctrine that was ordained and confirmed in the early church is still being proclaimed (blazed abroad) globally today.

I want to hear how “blazers” today are setting their world on fire with their anointed testimonies as they spread the love of Jesus Christ and His glorious gospel.

These are the last days. We need multitudes of Isaiahs who will respond to the urgent call: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” and our ready response will be, “Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

Blazers have nothing to be afraid of. We have, “The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), with us. He is also “…the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15). His name is Jesus and we will have “good success.” (See Joshua 1:8.)

And finally: “And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen” (Mark 16:20).

2/12/09

The wealth, majesty, pomp and prestige, power and political clout of the mainline “high church Christianity” is a thinly veiled effort to conceal the seemingly seamy origins of the Biblical Christian church. This exposé, taken from the inerrant, irrefutable, Biblical history of the only true Christian church, is not even remotely related to the practitioners of the habitual rituals of today’s religious “upper crust.”

But the early saints were actually “addicts” – and so am I.

Our Historical Roots

The Old Testament is full of awesome prophecies about the one church that God would establish and lead, beginning in A.D. 33, but the way He would achieve it is best described in Isaiah 55: 8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Today, the vast majority of modern religions are based on their own traditions and theologies – all of which are in a state of flux. God’s way, in contradiction, is based on the unchangeable doctrines of one unchangeable God. He is the personification of the highest and noblest spiritual love. So when we are truly born again (John 3:5-8, Acts 2:38, etc.), we are actually immersed, infused and infilled with the most potent “intoxicant” known, for the baptism of the Holy Ghost is the “new wine” (Gleukos) that made them “drunk” (Acts 2:12-18).

Scriptural Oenological Overview

For those studying oenology – the science of wine – the Bible is a treasure trove of information about wine and its history. For example, Noah, who was the only man who “found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” (Genesis 6:8), got drunk after the flood. Genesis 9:20-23 indicates that his successful viticulture produced a vintage he overindulged in, and became “dead drunk.” There was no divine law against intoxication then, but now there are both Biblical and secular statures that proscribe it. So, oddly enough, it was his son Ham who made fun of his “exposed” dad and who was cursed for his insensitivity. But Noah…?

That was the first mention of wine in the Bible. The last, in Revelation 19:15, is terrifying. It mentions Jesus the judge, jury, and executioner, in the winepress (Isaiah 63:1-4). The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is finally treading out “the grapes of wrath,” and his white linen garment is stained with the blood of the damned.

Sunday Biblical Wine Facts F.Y.I.

(Note: I am not – nor have I ever been – a drinker of alcoholic beverages, except little tastes of Passover wine at the communion and foot-washing services I have attended over the last 60 years. But the following facts are true facts.)

1. Between the two references above, there are over one hundred mentions of wine in the Bible. However, if you include all of the wine metaphors and similes, then it’s equivalent to all the references to water in scripture.

1. Wine was part of Isaac’s blessing bestowed on Jacob (which would have been Esau’s had he not sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup). “Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine” (Genesis 7:28).

1. Deuteronomy 18:4 is God’s commandment to Israel to pay tithes on their corn, wine and oil. (The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.)

1. Judges 9:13 is part of a prophetic parable that God fulfilled to judge and destroy Abimelech, the first King of Israel. “And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?”

1. Though wine was a common drink in most Israelite homes, there were some strict prohibitions, ie: if a priest drank wine in the tabernacle, he would die. Yet they were commanded by God to offer wine for drink offerings. (See Numbers 15:5, etc.) Since my dad was an alcoholic, (before he was saved), I was taught to memorize Proverbs 20:1: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” So, ask God for wisdom so you can righty divide Proverbs 31:4-7.

1. Exodus 12:19 warns those observing the Passover, that they would be “cut off” (killed) if leaven was found in their house. Since Passover was in the early spring, about six months from the grape harvest, only wine, which is unleavened, was used, just like Jesus at the last supper. Fresh graph juice is full of leaven, the fermenting yeast agent that comes from the skins of the crushed grapes. Since pasteurization and refrigeration was unheard of in Bible times; in that climate, unless it was put in wineskins to ferment, grape juice turned to vinegar within a few days. I for one, love grape juice, thanks to Mr. Welch. But you or I would be hard-pressed to find an example of anyone drinking it in scripture.

1. This final fact is a mind-blowing whopper that undoubtedly would have been featured in the late Robert Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the Guinness Book of World Records. “And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs” Numbers 13:23.

A Plethora of Gleukosian Blessings

On March 28, 1949, at a prayer meeting in our old Michigan farmhouse, God Himself baptized me, a teenager with a potentially dangerous addictive personality, into His divine love. I spoke in tongues and prophesied for several hours, under the influence of His glorious, intoxicating spirit.

I had experienced the identical, highly-intoxicating, out-of-this-world new birth, exactly like the proto-Christians on the Day of Pentecost. The mockers said, (and some still say) that those “Jesus freaks” were drunk with that Gleukos/new wine. Peter did not deny it, but said, in effect, that this heavenly vintage came from “Joel’s Bar:” And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:(Joel 2:28).

They had crossed the transcendent threshold and entered into the Holy-of-Holies. And so have I. And so can you!

This Gleukos flows directly from Jesus, “the true vine” (John 15:1). It gives us power “over all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). Also, the one we love floods us with “joy unspeakable, and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). Philippians 4:7 guarantees us “peace which passeth all understanding.” These are but a few of the “exceeding great and precious promises” (II Peter 1:4) that are bestowed on us addicts who are “stoned” on the “Chief Cornerstone.”

The wildly popular pasteurized, non-addictive, Welch Grape Juice alternative

In John 2, Jesus did his first miracle at the wedding in Cana. He turned literal water into literal wine. That wine was called “good wine” as opposed to common wine, by the governor of the feast. Jesus did not turn water into grape juice. In Matthew 11:18-19, he is called, “a man gluttonous and a winebibber” as opposed to John the Baptist, who shunned both.

This final segment is for those who have turned Bible wine into Welch’s Grape Juice, which requires no miracle or faith. They seem to be offended because Gleukos is sweet wine in the wildest state of fermentation. It is so explosive that Jesus said in Mark 2:22, “And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.”

So if the old time religion, with all that fanatical emotionalism, is beneath your dignity, I’ll tell you about a quick-fix alternative, (in the interest of fairness). It’s all the rage, but compared to the “Apostles Doctrine” (Acts 2:38-47) it is a sugar substitute called saccharin, which is 500 times sweeter than cane sugar. People consume tons of it, but bees, flies and other sugar-loving things won’t touch it. This new “easy-believism, lite religion” is a classic bait-and-switch scam that is luring millions of sincere, but scripturally clueless seekers, to the huge mega-churches.

The Apostle Paul warned that in the last days, “evil men and seducers would wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (II Timothy 3:13). Furthermore, in Romans 16:17-18, he explains why these fabulously successful and wealthy doctrinal counterfeiters deceive so many, “by good words and fair speeches [they] deceive the hearts of the simple” [innocent], so telling sincere seekers that all they need to do to be saved is to accept the Lord as their personal Savior, confess Him, (which the devils did in James 2:19), or invite Him to come into your heart, is a man-made, counterfeit religion compared to what Peter and the rest of the New Testament preachers declared: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”

(Acts 2:38). The Holy Ghost is still that quintessential love elixir called Gleukos.

“But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” Matthew 26:29

01/01/09

“What must I do to be saved?” The devout Jews in Acts 2:37 and the jailor from Philippi in Acts 16:30 asked the same desperate question. Peter, who had the keys to the kingdom, and Paul, who said in Galatians 1:9, “If any man preach any other gospel… let him be accursed,” both gave the same answer: “Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).

The Apostles’ doctrine (See Acts 2:42) was, and still is, the only plan of salvation that God ordains and confirms. Obeying it is the only way we can be saved from our sins. By His marvelous and wondrous grace and mercy, I obeyed it, and am still saved nearly 60 years later.

I believe in eternal security, but not in unconditional eternal security.

The word “security” is found only once in the Bible in Acts 17:9 and apparently refers to a bail bond. The word “secure” is used several times in various settings. The teaching of unconditional eternal security is simply not substantiated by the word of God and is an extra-Biblical philosophy. In Matthew 15:9 Jesus warned us about: “…teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men.” A plethora of scriptures, taken in their proper context, prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that anyone who is truly born again of the water and the Spirit (See John 3:5-8), as I mentioned above, is saved from their past sins. But that is only the beginning. We need to continually walk with God and please Him in all things, like Enoch did (as mentioned in Hebrews 11:5) – that is, if we expect to make heaven our eternal home.

Do I believe in “once saved, always saved?” No! That statement is a classic oxymoron and a non-sequitur. Before I am finished with this Tid-link, I’ll prove it from God’s word.

There is no basis for “once saved, always saved” in the Old Testament

The Lord Jesus Christ – to put it concisely – is the one true God of the Old Testament concealed. In the New Testament He revealed who He really is when He came in the flesh to be our sacrifice for sin. Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” He is the Creator of Genesis 1:1, John 1:10, and Colossians 1:16.

He placed two perfect, sinless people, made in His image and likeness, in the paradise called the Garden of Eden. However, he gave them free will, allowing them to make their own choices. When Satan came with his deception, they chose to disobey God’s command and ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When they sinned against God, they placed all mankind under the curse of sin, and because of their personal choice, forfeited their eternal security.

Miraculously saved from Egyptian bondage–then destroyed

The Biblical account of how God miraculously delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt pre-figured New Testament deliverance from sin. The typology is awesome and beautiful:

• Jesus was our Lamb that was slain.
• The cleansing blood of redemption is placed on the doorposts of our hearts.
• We pass through the Red Sea at baptism. “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us” (1 Peter 3:8).
• The pillar of cloud and fire that protected and directed the children of Israel can be likened to our Holy Ghost baptism.

Even after their miraculous deliverance from Egyptian bondage, when trials came in the wilderness, the children of Israel backslid, made a golden calf to worship, and made plans to return to Egypt (sin). “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not” (Jude 1:5).

Solomon, “The Preacher” (Ecclesiastics 1:1), when he practiced what he preached, was exalted by the Lord to the highest possible pinnacles of wisdom, power, wealth and fame that a man could attain “under the sun.” But, because of his sinful later years, God rejected him, just like he had rejected King Saul. Solomon died a backslider and worshipper of idols. (See 1 Kings 11, Nehemiah 13:26 and 1 Chronicles 28:9).

Are you a seeker of truth? You will find that the following statements and sobering scriptures clearly disprove the heresy of unconditional eternal security:

This is the fate of successful preachers, great and small, who do everything in the name of Jesus – except baptism. Matthew 7:21-23: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

• He was one of the 12 Apostles. He was chosen of God and given a ministry and a bishopric. If he had not “fallen from grace” (see Galatians 5:4), betrayed and denounced Jesus and had a love of money (see 1 Timothy 6:10), he would have been named as one of the 12 foundations of heaven’s New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:14). Also see Acts 1:17-25.
• Just believing the gospel of Christ without obeying the “Apostles Doctrine” will not save you from sin. Neither will faith alone save you. (See James 2:14-26.) It is possible to believe in vain (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 2 Corinthians 6:1).
• The reprobates described in Romans 1:20-32, once “knew God,” but “their foolish heart was darkened.” They “changed the glory of the incorruptible God,” so, “God gave them up.” They also “changed the truth of God into a lie” and “knew the judgment of God,” but, “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.”
• Backsliding, or apostasy, is so clearly defined in John 6:66 that a child can easily understand it: “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” Also see 1 Timothy 4:1-6, 1 Corinthians 9:27, 2 Timothy 2:17-19, John 15:6.
• Who are the ones among us who will be left behind when Jesus comes for His church, if “once saved, always saved,” is a true Bible doctrine? Hebrews 4:1 warns us all: “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” Read carefully all of the scriptural references from the book of Hebrews listed here: Hebrews 3:6, 12, 14, Hebrews 6:4-8, Hebrews 10:26-30, Hebrews 12: 15-17.
• What we say, and how, why, or when we say it can cause us to be eternally lost. Jesus inferred that in Matthew 12:34-37 and James concurred in James 1:26, and 3:1-10.
• The new birth is a means to an end and not the end in itself. We need our brothers and sisters to be role-models and mentors, but at times there is a need for tough love toward the weaker believers. See James 5:19-20, Galatians 6:1-2, Romans 15:1-2.
• Unfortunately, born-again, Spirit-filled Christians, after their sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus, sometimes choose to return to their ”wallowing in the mire,” like hogs, and, like dogs, they return to the vomit they were once delivered from. See 2 Peter 2:9-22.
• According to 2 Corinthians 5:10-11 and Revelation 20:12-13 we will all be judged by our works. So we are admonished in Hebrews 12:14 and 1 John 2:15-16 to lead a life of holiness unto the Lord and separation from sinful things that can destroy our souls.
• This final statement will give this “doctrine(s) of devils” (see 1 Timothy 4:1) called, “once saved always saved,” its coup-de-grace. In Exodus 32:33 God said, “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” When we are born again of the water and Spirit, according to John 3:5-8, our names are entered into the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 20:12 and 15 says, “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” And finally, the Lord gives a wonderful promise to the faithful: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life” (Revelation 3:5).

12/15/08

It was the worst of times… and the worst of times…

In fact, while you are doing your meager Christmas shopping at “El Segundo” (which, for you “Gringos” is a second-hand thrift store like the Salvation Army or Goodwill), you’ll be shocked to see all the skinny, cloned, bell-ringing Santas.

It came as no surprise that Doris, my beloved bride of 55 years (January 16) read me the headlines of the slimmed-down Denver Post: “Now it’s official: U.S. in Depression.” (I wonder what their first clue was?)

Who could have known that the now famous, mean-spirited, foul-mouthed irreverent Reverend, from Chicago’s seamy South-Side was, at least in one respect – a proph-et? He actually made his inflammatory remark on September 11, 2001, while the rubble of the Twin Towers was still burning. “America, your chickens have come home to roost.”

Pardon me a moment while I employ my best Ebenezer Scrooge Londoner accent…

For many years, the Dems played the role of a “Sugar-Santa” (aka Robin Hood) and “gave away the store,” like there was no tomorrow! Back then, there was free lunch and the song about the “welfare Cadillac” was not just in the juke boxes. That Cadillac, with its tinted windows and white-sidewall tires, was parked in front of a run-down house in foreclosure. Yes, I believe in the “bottomless pit,” but sadly, much to our chagrin, we found out that it ain’t in the U.S. Treasury.

Yes, Mr. Preacher-man, the chickens have come home to roost. And they’re not cackling like they do when they lay eggs. These cackling chickens, along with all of us who’ve taken a hit in the back packet – are singing the blues.

Oh well, that’s what we get for what we’ve got.

“So, Great-Grandpa, you’re almost 80 years old. You were born in 1930. Can you tell us what it was like at Christmastime during the Great Depression?”

(Now I’m changing over to my “Jolly, Ho! Ho! Ho! voice.)

Well, bless year hearts, kids. You see, the “crash,” as they called it, came in 1929, but the aftershocks lasted for at least 10 years. In fact, when I was 7 years old, we lived in Chicago. All our neighbors were poor; we had no money for Christmas, and there were nine of us kids. So, my older sisters decided to go into business and make some money. They went to Mr. Brown’s Candy Store and asked for empty candy boxes, which he kindly gave them. Somehow, they got some red construction paper and some cotton and, making paste out of flour and water, they pasted homemade Santas on the boxes to make them pretty. They sold the boxes for a nickel apiece.

I worked also; going door-to-door selling little tins of Cloverine Salve, also for a nickel. They cost us three cents a can so we made two cents profit on each sale. Okay, what’s so funny?

“Grandpa, what could you buy in 1937 for two cents?”

Believe it or not, you could buy a little Baby Ruth Candy Bar for a penny. And if I made five sales, I could buy a quart of real milk or even a loaf of bread!

Wow, Grandpa, that’s amazing, but you said that when you were 11 years old, World War II began, and you mentioned rationing. What did they ration? Since we are “officially” in depression, will we have rationing?

Boy, oh boy, do I ever have smart younguns! Well, well, let me think. Gas tires, shoes, meats, sugar, and a whole bunch of other things we couldn’t afford anyway. But during hard times, we all prayed a lot and God took care of us. So this Christmas, just make it another Thanksgiving Day – and do something novel – how about giving Jesus yourself as a present, on the day we celebrate his birthday? Okay?

Sorry, Mr. Charley Dickens, I didn’t mangle my plagiarism of your famed literature masterpieces. But before I go, I want to leave you all with a humorous Depression-era story.

Obviously, church mice aren’t the only “folks” that were poor during the Great Depression. I heard about some praying Holy-Rollers who were broke and hungry (but they weren’t “begging bread”). So they went to the meat-market to get some free bones (for the dog?). When they returned home, they found, among the bones, a big ham-bone, with a lot of meat on it!

They were overjoyed and very thankful. So they made a large pot of beans and invited all the saints over for the festive celebration. I’m told that, after the meal, one of the sisters asked if she could borrow that bone and she also made a pot of beans with it and invited the church folks over for dinner. So they kept loaning the bone for beans until one sister used it to make sauerkraut and ruined it!

So this Christmas season, smile, and the world world will smile with you. (Of course if you snore, you’ll sleep alone!)

Yes, Virginia, there is no real Santa, but there is a real live God!

10/7/08

In polite society many people won’t talk about either religion or politics. It just ain’t cool. In this biased Holy-roller commentary, politics will only be the disposable framework. The wonderfully ethereal picture I wish to paint is commissioned by the Creator of the Universe Himself.

Sarah who?

Like those on both sides of this uniquely critical presidential race, we all speculated about which prominent politicians the presidential candidates would choose as their running mates.

John McCain announced that the unveiling of his choice would occur the day after Senator Obama’s acceptance speech at Denver’s Invesco Field before 80,000 roaring fans. There is no doubt Obama’s speech was great theatre!

The next morning I saw McCain’s news conference online. Beside him stood his choice of a running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To put it mildly, I was impressed with her brief remarks that day. She came across as knowledgeable and well-spoken. 
 

Unmitigated, Amazing Grace

Five days after her formal introduction, she made her obligatory V.P. acceptance speech. Since she had left no doubts, even in her first appearance, that she was an unreconstructed conservative, the attack of the liberal media began immediately. They used every sleazy, mud-slinging, character assassinating accusation they could come up with—including attacks on her children. I, along with many other Americans, was appalled and wondered if she could survive her initial baptism of fire.

Her acceptance speech was only 30 minutes long. Her audience was spell-bound by her delivery and confidence. She was not angry or vengeful. Her message was clear and concise, weighty and powerful. It was almost surreal, because there was not a hint of fear or anxiety in her demeanor. She actually seemed to be enjoying what she was doing—but it was her radiant smile that captivated me. I should have recognized it—but at a political convention?

Where did that smile come from?

The oil painting of a nameless Italian girl with no eyebrows is simply unique. It’s just a small painting, but more admirers have viewed Leonardo da Vinci’s "Mona Lisa" than any painting in history. Somehow, da Vinci artistically created her enigmatic, compelling smile. No other work of art created by man has come close to replicating it.

Now I know it is only my speculation, but I believe when God, in Genesis 1:31, "…saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good," he had to smile in the presence of the angels who were there with Him. And don’t you think Adam must have had a big smile when he woke up from his ‘rib-ectomy’ and saw Miss Universe? His smile must have been from ear-to-ear.

Now for the Best of the Story

Shortly after Sarah Palin’s speech and persona captured the attention of all who witnessed it, I discovered, from documented evidence, the source of the mysterious, "Palin Effect." Palin, as well as multiple millions, has been baptized in Jesus’ name, like me and my family, and received the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues! (See Acts 2:38, 10:43-48, 19:1-6).

Billions of dollars each year are spent on cosmetics by women (and today, by men) to create the illusion of beauty, but nothing can really replicate the glow that God’s Spirit brings to the face of obedient followers of His word.

Moses’ Holy Glow

Moses was given the Ten Commandments after forty days and nights of fasting and waiting on the Lord on Mount Sinai. When he came down from the mountain, the Israelites saw his face and were afraid. The glory of God made the skin of his face shine. (See Exodus 34:29-35). He had to veil his face when he talked with them. This radiance emanated from the presence of the Father of Light.

"…He will beautify the Meek with Salvation" (Psalms 149:4).

When King Ahasuerus deposed Queen Vashti, fair virgins from the 127 provinces of Media-Persia were taken to the King’s palace. The one that delighted the King was to become the new queen. Esther, a poor orphaned-slave captured from Israel and raised by her uncle, was the one chosen. It was because God had already chosen her, and her uncle, "…for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14). And Esther did intervene with the King to save her people from sure destruction.

If someone had asked the King why he chose Esther, he probably would have said, "There was something compelling about her face and demeanor that just captivated me."

"…The Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Before they crucified the Lamb of God, His enemies tried their best to remove the peace and compassionate love from Jesus’ face. Isaiah 54:14 describes some of what they did to Him. "…His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." His crucifixion was horrible, but death could only hold Him for three days!

Stephen defended his faith in Jesus Christ before the Jewish elders and priests. They became so incensed that they stoned him to death. Those present saw him aglow with the Glory of God. "And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel" (Acts 6:15).

There’s more here than Meets the Eye

As I conclude my observations, let’s also mention another powerful endowment Sarah Palin evidently has used effectively, and is available to all who are scripturally born again. Simply put, it is what we say, how we say it, and when we say it.

The critics said of Jesus, "…Never a man spake like this man" (John 7:46). And "For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." (Matthew 7:29.) Jesus also assured us that when we are called upon to speak in a critical situation, he, "…will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist" (Luke 21:15). And for good measure, here is one more reference to Stephen: "And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake" (Acts 6:10).

A few weeks have passed since Governor Palin’s speech at the Republican National convention. She, like a good lightning rod, has attracted innumerable, vicious, satanic attacks from—shall we say—the wrong side of the aisle. She’s still smiling and has become a holy-roller catalyst that has polarized this nation and the world. I don’t think any of this is an accident. Without doubt, it is "a God thing." So stay tuned.

And, Sister Sarah, don’t worry; stay the course. Don’t fret, because Jesus’ word to us, "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets" ((Luke 6:26). Yes, we’re praying for you. Keep on smiling. When we smile it always improves our "face value."

9/25/05

I am a lover of people and I consider strangers to be just friends unmet. Hence, I enjoy the adventure of discovering the small and larger areas of common ground that we all stand on.

But on one never-to-be-forgotten day, I discovered—to my shock and awe—that my philosophy of innocent idealism is simply not shared by some of my family, friends, neighbors, and others around the world!

A Classic Pandora’s Box

I love all people—and—I also love advertising that opens up new venues of dialogue with people I have never met. My purpose in advertising and the dialogue that follows is to provide an opportunity to share the true Gospel of Jesus Christ with those I talk to.

The movie, "The Passion of Christ," was soon to hit the theaters. I was following the plethora of theories on conservative talk-radio about who really killed Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Opinions were trumping scripture, but since I believe that all of the Bible was penned by God-inspired men and is indeed the final authority, the night before the movie premiered, I decided to use the medium of advertising on our church sign to settle the matter once and for all. I hoped and prayed the message—straight from the Holy Bible—which I placed on the Lovingway United Pentecostal Church marquee, would end the debates—but hopefully open to me many doors of coveted dialogue, where I could share the love of Jesus.

The Sign that was Seen around the World

Without question there are at least 100 scriptures that state that the Jewish chief priests, scribes and elders of Israel, who were the religious rulers during Jesus earthly walk, were those who killed Him. Though they are not the ones that actually hung Him on the cross, He was killed at their behest, since they claimed He had broken their religious laws. The most prolific Jewish writer in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul himself, was stoned and left for dead—thanks to his Jewish brethren.

Since I had limited room on the marquee, I chose for the sign—in abbreviated form—some of Paul’s many references to the Jews unrelenting efforts to kill Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 should—if you believe the word of God—dissolve all doubts about the identity and culpability of the haters—and killers—of Jesus:

"For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men."

Since the space on the sign was so limited, I put only the following words on it: "Jews Killed the Lord Jesus," with the scripture reference, I Thessalonians 2:14-15: and the word, "Settled!"

The next day, a verbal earthquake that no Richter Scale could measure shook the globe—and four years later there are still tremors!

But since I’m still alive…

…and since the truths of God’s word are forever settle in heaven, and Satan hates truth--what I suffered, and still suffer, is no surprise.

A few more Scriptural Accusations for your Consideration

Luke 4:28-28-29: "And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong."

John 11:47, 53: (Verse 47) "Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles." (Verse 53) "Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death."

Acts 3:15: (Verse 13) "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go."

(Verse 15) "And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses."

Acts 2:23, 36: (Verse 23) "…Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." (Verse 36) "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."

Acts 4:10: "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole."

"Adding Insult to Injury"

The above words are part of a statement by a CNN commentator concerning a request I made to the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. (See Tid-Link #2: "Yes Virginia, there is a Holocaust.")

I had inadvertently angered millions of Jewish people that I love—and the nation of Israel where I have visited more than once, by the words from the New Testament that I put on our church marquee. I could not, nor would I ever, apologize for God’s word, but since they, as well as many Christians, found the sign so offensive, I did apologize for giving offense. That was never my purpose. I could—in retrospect have put Paul’s words in the form of a question such as: "Why do you think the Bible says "The Jews killed Jesus?" People probably would have thought those words less offensive. Neither I, nor anyone can change the word of God, but I could have used more wisdom and still have answered the question that I had been hearing on the talk shows.

Since the sign had caused a feeding frenzy among the media, I felt led of the Holy Ghost to contact the Denver Bureau Chief of the Associated Press and told him what I had decided to do—with his help. He consented. I gave a live TV interview under the church sign that went around the world. I asked the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust—since the Torah teaches forgiveness—to seriously consider forgiving the few surviving German perpetrators. Hence, CNN accused me of "adding insult to injury."

Some Things I learned from this Incident

1. I embarrassed many Christian people, most of whom are evidently not ready for the persecution which will result if they stand up for God’s word as it is written and make it the final authority for everything they believe and live by.
2. Most Jewish people do not consider the words of the New Testament to be part of the Bible nor that Jesus is their Messiah. They seem to forget that Jesus, Himself, the Son of David, was a Jew. And that the first Christians were all Jewish.

The Upside

A lot of dialog with both Jews and Christians from around the world resulted. I was able to share the essay, "All Power is given Unto to Me" with hundreds. The essay, is about our monotheistic God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Many Jews found out that they and all true Apostolic Christians have more in common than they realized. We all believe in One God!

Deuteronomy 6:4-5: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

08/21/08

"The snow had begun in the gloaming, and steadily all the night, had been heaping fields and byway, with a silence deep and white."

The picturesque, and quiet wintry scene from the first few lines of the memorable poem by James Russell Lowell—except for the snow—was the farthest thing from my mind, as I walked through the tall, black, wrought-iron gates that day.

The quaint little Bavarian town of Dachau, near Munich, Germany was a pleasantly peaceful, bedroom community with stately, traditional, half-timbered homes, beautifully landscaped yards with those quaint little shops tourists adore, nearby.

But, on that damp and chilly day, I was not a tourist interested in the peaceful and pleasant setting that the rest of the town offered. The site I had come to see was only one of the notorious horrifically-inhumane, macabre, human slaughter houses where so many Jews and others died during World War II.

The year was 1952, and I was in Germany as one of the occupation soldiers in devastated Germany. The concentration camp located at Dachau had just been opened to the public by our government.

I had been deeply troubled by Germany’s demonic war machine since I had begun to read about it in 1939. Even though I had read so much about it, I was only an after-the-fact observer. I found myself woefully unprepared, mentally and emotionally, for what I observed. The graphic memory is still frozen in time more than a half a century later.

Ironically, the sign (that’s still there) welded onto the gate, says, "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Labor makes you free). As I walked into the compound, I saw a number of drab, wooden, unpainted buildings, obviously crude barracks. And yes, I saw the posted signs that said, "NO PHOTOGRAPHS."

But who would believe what I saw if I didn’t record it somehow? So…

Two or three inches of fresh, clean snow hid the long mounds in front of a very long, single story brick building. I entered it and saw the seemingly endless row of brick ovens, one after the other.

(See the photo I took with the wreath on the oven.) The cast-iron door of this oval elongated gas crematory, when opened, revealed the steel tracks for the rack on which the bodies of fellow humans had been placed before cremation. (Did you know the religious term ‘holocaust’ means whole burnt offering?) The "cremains" fell through a grill into an ash pit below. When full, the ashes were dumped on the ground in front of the building, creating mounds.

The mounds, that were, that day, shrouded by new snow, were what I had first noticed as I entered the compound. 
 The plaque in the picture describes it as, "The Grave of Unknown Thousands." The horrible job of cremating in this intensely-hot crematorium fell to innocent, starving victims who were forced to labor there. I was told—incredibly—that when they collapsed from starvation and sheer exhaustion, whether they were dead or alive, they too were shoved into the ovens.

The Nazi’s Remorseless, Murderous, Maniacal, Methodology

Beside the long pile of human ashes, I saw the row of slits where snow had fallen through the grating. The plaque placed nearby indicated that it was the site where miserable, fearful, men, women, boys and girls were executed by firing squads. The grates were built to drain away their blood.

Many other victims were striped naked and forced into a "shower room." It was like a long garage with doors at both ends, a concrete floor, and pewter-like metal walls. Gas ports were placed just below the ceiling. When the chamber was crammed with victims, the doors were tightly closed, and the gas ports opened, the cries for mercy, the prayers, and the screams were soon silenced by the shower of lethal gas.

Many others died of disease, physical abuses, starvation and medical experiments. There is no way to know how many were executed on the "Galgentanne" (The Hanging Tree).

What I saw in 1952 was another example of men’s murderous unredeemed nature run amok.

The Incredibly shocking Sequel

I confess that, even though I was a naive, and usually mild-mannered country boy, I was filled with revulsion and anger at what I had seen – and I was only an observer of the nadir of man’s inhumanity to man. Not only was I momentarily overcome with hate and vengeance, I felt like killing some of the perpetrators myself! I wondered how the residents of the town of Dachau were able to turn their backs and harden their hearts, close their eyes and ears—and mouths–as they daily smelled the acrid stench of burning human beings. I’m sure that fear for their own lives was a big motivator.

But the Spirit of Jesus Christ that indwelt me, reminded me that: "...Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people" (Hebrews 10:30).

The "Politically Correct" Snow Job that is Dachau Today

A few years ago my wife and I visited Dachau. It was very different than the pictures I took in 1952. Not much was left of the original. The gate was still intact with its message, one of the barracks still was standing and restored, and a few other things could still be seen, but it was what I read in the visitor’s center that strained the limits of credulity.

There was a sign claiming that the inmates who had died in the extermination camp included gypsies, dissidents, homosexuals, Jews, political prisoners, Russian soldiers, etc. No mention was made of the fact that Jews were their principal victims. They apparently chose to ignore the historical fact that it was the bloodthirsty head of Hitler’s notorious Gestapo, Heinrich Himmler, who was Architect of the "Final Solution." His brutal "SS’ men were the ones who actually were responsible for the extermination of an estimated six million Jews, in addition to the other groups mentioned.

And to add insult to injury, I heard a news story recently (mid-August 2008) stating that, since Muslims who reside in England don’t believe the holocaust really happened, England plans to remove it from their textbooks.

Yes, Virginia there was a holocaust—regardless of what the blind leaders of the blind say!

~Rev. Maurice R. Gordon

07/15/08

Someone wisely said, "the cheapest way to keep up with the Joneses is to pay close attention to what their kids say!"  But, built into that statement is a warning: "Kids who carefully listen to what is said at home often times will use the same offensive ethnic and religious "hate speech."  The term "holy roller" fits into that category.

I'm sure you're wondering if I have ever been called a "holy roller."  Certainly. Does it offend me?  Not in the least.  Why not?  Because when I was a kid, I was told that "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm you."

 In the Bible, religious haters of Jesus constantly used disparaging - even scurrilous slander against him.  For example; the Bible says in Matthew 10:25, "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?"

Another example is found in Matthew 27:22-23 where the scribes and Pharisees referred to Jesus, who had just been placed in the tomb as, "that deceiver." Why should any follower of the Lord be surprised when they are called unflattering names and misunderstood?

Amazingly, the word 'Christian' was a classic put-down, uttered with disgust by the rabid detractors of the fledgling New Testament church.  Actually, the title 'Christians' is mentioned only once in the Bible. (Acts 11:26)  Furthermore, on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was first poured out, the overjoyed disciples were accused of being drunk. And they were, on the new wine of the Holy Spirit. 

 One time in 1952 when I was overseas, during the Korean War, I overheard some soldiers ridiculing a stateside Holy Roller church.  They were unaware that I was a newly born-again, Jesus name water-baptized, Holy Ghost filled, tongue talking, one God believing, bonafide Holy Roller.  So I asked them why they were called Holy Rollers.  Snickering, they said "in Holy Roller churches they turn out the lights and the men and women roll up together in sheets on the floor." 

In mock amazement, I exclaimed, "Really?"

"Really," they stoutly affirmed. 

So, like a perfect squelch, I informed all within earshot that I'd grown up in a Holy Roller church and I'd never once heard or seen any such thing.  Everyone was so quiet after that. You could have heard a pin drop!

So call me anything you wish.  You won't offend me!  Jesus said in Luke 6:26: "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets."

~Rev. Maurice R. Gordon