We Were Drugged

Bless our parents who drugged us!

The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question, “Why didn’t we have drug problems when you and I were growing up?” I replied, “I had a drug problem when I was young”:

I was drug to church on Sundays. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals.

I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.

I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults.

I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn’t put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.

I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profane four letter word.

I was drug out to pull weeds in mom’s garden and flowerbeds and cockleburs out of dad’s fields.

I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins; and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place!

–Copied

SHARING

What Is New Testament Church Membership About?

–It’s about having a God given position. (1 Corinthians 12:18)
–It’s about doing for God, rather than self-service. (Ephesians 3:21)
–It’s about loving others with the love of Christ in us. (John 13:34)
–It’s about service, rather than personal position. (Psalm 84:10)
About cleaning the floors and windows; about picking up pieces of paper (rather than leaving it); it’s about washing dishes after a church supper, etc., etc.
–It’s about doing things for God without seeking the praise of men.
–It’s about being slow to take offense & always seeking reconciliation.
–It’s about trust and staying on board, knowing that with God, all things are possible.
–It’s about looking beyond people’s faults to minister to their need.
–It’s about taking responsibility, rather than letting the burden fall on someone else.
–It’s about not quitting, but fighting the good fight of faith, knowing your labor is never in vain.
–It’s about confessing our faults one to another, rather than criticizing others for their faults.
–It’s about empathizing–putting yourself in the other person’s shoes–where they are, not where you judge they should be.
–It’s about keeping a good conscience with both God and men, knowing God will uphold you for your faithfulness.
–It’s about starting again when others are quitting; it’s about singing when others are grumbling; it’s about finding a way when others are making excuses.
–It’s about getting up after you’ve fallen; it’s about coming back after you’ve strayed away.
–It’s about wanting to encourage others, by the things you do and say.
–It’s about wanting to be found faithful when Jesus comes again.

About our discouragements and negative thoughts: let them testify of how much we need God’s vision in doing His work.

About the changes we see in others: let it remind us of our need to “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”, who changes not.

About continuing in the church fellowship: it’s according to the triumph of the tie that binds our hearts together (the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us) “Sure and Steadfast”.

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Jephthah’s Rash Vow (Judges 11)

Judges 11:39 – “…who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed.” So it is just a matter of what did he vow? Judges 11:31 – “…whatsoever cometh forth to meet me…, I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” So, unless Judges 11:39 is wrong, Jephthah offered his daughter up for a burnt offering.

To argue that since Jephthah was a man of true faith, and that other scriptures teach against human sacrifices, somehow assures us that Jephthah didn’t offer his daughter for a burnt offering, would then also allow us to argue that since David was a man after God’s own heart, and since God’s laws forbade it, then David did not really commit adultery with Bathsheba, or cause Uriah’s death.

Even if there had been some way for Jephthah to redeem his daughter from this vow, according to Judges 11:39, he did not do so, for the scripture states, “he did with her according to his vow which he had vowed.” Had he just redeemed her for thirty pieces of silver (the price of a dead slave), it would have been no big deal for either him or her. It would have caused him no sorrow, only just brought him relief. Had she been redeemed from the vow, she would have been freed from all its claims and there would have been nothing to bewail. And rather than the scripture speak of Jephthah doing to her according to his vow and the daughters of Israel lamenting her four days a year, the Bible would just say she was redeemed and everyone went on with their lives as before.

Regarding Jephthah’s vow, the only thing he did that was lawful was perform his vow. NOTHING else about his vow was under Divine direction. God never required this vow. Jephthah did it rashly on his own without spiritual wisdom or consideration, because thoughtfulness would have considered that it would be a loved one who would be the first to go out to meet him upon returning home. Rather than Jephthah go forth to battle on the strength of faith alone, he yielded to the temptation of projecting that he was a mighty man by making such a bold vow.

Learn from this not to make our lives subject to any word but God’s Word. Beware of setting ourselves up as being a person of some superior principles. We must only make vows that are right with God and that we will keep. Human intentions, no matter how grand they may supposedly be, are never infallible. Be wise, understanding what the will of the Lord is.

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Making Sure You Have Repented And Believed

The devil likes to fill a church up with those who have crept in unawares, unaware to themselves and others that they are not really saved. In the end, this will make them two-fold more the child of hell, as it leads to a disastrous result to themselves and the church.

In the interest of getting numbers and boasting of success, carnal ministries have forsaken the route of genuine repentance and heart belief, unto accepting people as they are with an induced profession of faith. While this appeals to the natural man, it does nothing to convert people to the real kingdom of God.

Consequently, churches are having to revamp their positions from teaching sound doctrine, which unsaved members cannot endure, unto offering all kinds of activities that satisfy the flesh, with a dash of religion to sear the conscience.

God’s will for mankind is that they be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He has designed the new birth to bring forth a spiritual nature that is of God, loves God, and finds its satisfaction in doing the will of God. Just as sin and error grieves the Holy Spirit, it also vexes the soul of a righteous person. The soul of a Christian is made lean and weary, apart from walking in the fellowship of God’s will and way. A Christian is not at home in the midst of religious error, nor do they find inner peace apart from obedience to God’s Word.

God’s children grow weak where the truth is being diluted with compromise. They only feel full and strong through being fed the meat of God’s Word. God’s Spirit bears witness within of the vanity of a religious worship that is not in spirit and in truth. They are aware that the only way to reap of the Spirit is to sow to the Spirit. They hearken to the fact that it’s not what man approves of, but what is approved of by God, that shall be accounted as faith.

SHARING

Sunday Sins

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…” Revelation 1:10

There seem to be few and little left that are in and of the Holy Spirit on the Lord’s day. God has always had a 6 and 1 pattern for man’s week. The Old Testament Sabbath (Saturday) commemorated God’s finished work of creation–“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Genesis 2:3 Under the Mosaic Law (the Ten Commandments,) “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” Exodus 20:8 Sunday, The Lord’s Day, the resurrection day, commemorates the finished work of redemption, which is of greater significance, not less, than the finished work of creation. To not regard this ordination of God, is a transgression of God’s law = sin.

The Holy Spirit inspired the written Word of God in both the Old and New Testaments. Rather than re-write every principle found in the Old Testament, the New Testament (2 Timothy 3:15-17) binds both Testaments in principle and doctrine, by declaring that the text of the New Testament is found in the context of the Old Testament. 1 Corinthians 10:11 and Romans 15:4 refer to that which is written in the Old Testament as being “written for our learning” for our “ensample.” Since none of God’s Word ever passes away, but is settled forever, we know God hasn’t reversed Himself on any issue of His Holy Word.

Christ, Himself, (the author of true Christian faith and living) declared that he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfil–Matthew 5:17. “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:19 If the principles set forth in the Old Testament have been reversed by God, then God cannot judge anyone of the Old Testament time for having broken them, and He would be a debtor to those He punished in the past for the breaking of them.

The right-and-wrong of the Old Testament provides the context for the right-and-wrong of the New Testament. Notice a few:
(1) Not to use the Sabbath for secular work – Exodus 20:9-11
(2) Not to buy and sell on the Sabbath day – Nehemiah 13:15-22 – called the profaning of the sabbath
(3) Not to be used as a day for secular pleasure, but a day to be dedicated unto the worship and honor of God – Isaiah 58:13-14

WHO IS OF THIS SPIRIT TODAY?

While there have always been many professors, there have been but few believers of God’s Word. Exodus 31:13-17 declares that those who keep God’s Word on His day, and the sanctity thereof, are doing so as a sign between God and His people. THUS SAITH THE SCRIPTURES.

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