Conquer

During a worship service I attended last night they sang a song you may be familiar with. The words went like this:

Savior, You can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. You are mighty to save. Forever the Author of salvation. You rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave…

As we were singing, my attention was drawn to the word “conquered”.

Conquer - To subdue: to reduce, by physical force till resistance is no longer made; to gain by force; to win; to take possession by violent means; to gain dominion or sovereignty over.

There is another song you may also be familiar with that goes like this:

The enemy has been defeated. Death couldn’t hold You down…

Even though these words are true they are somewhat misleading. Death didn’t have Jesus restrained until He eventually broke free from its grasp. Jesus didn’t just escape the grave, He CONQUERED it. Jesus didn’t just defeat the enemy, He CONQUERED them.

Sometimes innocent statements like this can have more effect than we realize. We need to be careful that we don’t limit how powerful God is by our words or actions. In 2Kings we see example of a time when Israel was being attacked by Aram…

2Kings 13:18-19 - Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times." (NIV)

How often do we accept sickness or hardships brought on by the devil because we only see Christ as escaping from hell instead of CONQUERING it?

The appostle Paul quoted Psalms 68:18 about this: “…When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train…” (Ephesians 4:8 NIV). Young’s Literal Translation says it this way: “…Thou hast taken captive captivity…” (Ephesians 4:8 YLT).

As I mentioned in my post “What’s So Great About Christmas Anyway?”, Jesus isn’t called the Captain of the Hosts for nothing. Jesus invaded the fortress of hell and He conquered it. That is to say that He subdued it; He reduced it by physical force until resistance was no longer made against Him; He took possession by violent means; He gained dominion and sovereignty over death, hell and the grave, FOR ALL OF ETERNITY.


James :)

The Trinity Test

I was browsing the internet the other day and came across this link:

http://www.heaven.net.nz/writings/trinitytest.htm

The website above also contains a forum for discussing the Trinity that now holds over 14000 arguments and comments for or against the Trinity doctrine. I guess it just goes to demonstrate what I said when I posted about the Trinity in this blog, all of the material out on the web about the Trinity “will only confuse you”.

I find it interesting that their argument against the Trinity doctrine attempts to substitute the name of the doctrine for the word “God” in the scriptures as though the two are supposed to be interchangeable, and then rejects the doctrine because it doesn’t support their invalid testing method.

Let me show you:

They take a verse such as John 14:1…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. (NIV)

Substitute “Trinity” for “God”…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in {Trinity}; trust also in me.

Expand “Trinity” into “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in {Father, Son, and Holy Spirit}; trust also in me.

Apply a separate person count to each reference to God…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in {1 + 1 + 1}; trust also in {+1}.

Then they point out that those person counts add up to 4 persons instead of the 3 persons they incorrectly think the “Trinity” is supposed to add up to.

Only this arithmatic evaluation of the Trinity is completely invalid. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do not add up to 3 persons, they add up to 1 person. And when Jesus tells us to trust God and also Himself, He isn’t identifying Himself apart from the Trinity. There is only 1 God, not 3 (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

Take a look at the “Trinity Test” another way and the arithmatic problem becomes very clear:

This time we’ll use Psalms 103:1

Psalms 103:1 - Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. (NIV)

Now replace all references to the “psalmist” with a person count, just like the “Trinity Test” does with God.

Psalms 103:1 - Praise the LORD, O {1} {+1}; all my {+1}, praise his holy name.

Following the exact logic as the “Trinity Test” we must conclude that this verse is referring to 3 people, not one. How absurd is that?

So getting back to the “Trinity Test” with a correct understanding of the Trinity, John 14:1 actually should read as follows…

John 14:1 - Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God {God's Spirit (The Father), God's Soul (The Son), and God's Body (The Holy Spirit)}; trust also in me {God's Soul in human body (The Son)}.

…Because whether we are referring to God (The Trinity) or Jesus Christ (The Son) we are still referring to the very same God.

If you haven’t read my explanation of the Trinity yet, I recommend you do so. It will clear up all of the confusion.


James :)

What is the Spirit of Elijah?

It has been long foretold that before the end, God will send the prophet Elijah:

Malachi 4:1-6 - "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty. "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." (NIV)

If you are like me you have heard this scripture quoted a number of times over the years, but what does it mean? Who is Elijah?

The obvious answer is contained in the words of the prophecy, "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers", but I think there is more to it than that.

We also see reference to Elijah in the prophet John the Baptist:

Matthew 3:1-3 - In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" (NIV)

Matthew 11:9-15 - "Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear." (NIV)

Matthew 17:11-13 - Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. (NIV)

And there are other scriptural references to Elijah:

Luke 4:24-27 - "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian." (NIV)

James 5:17-18 - Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. (NIV)

When we look at all of the references there seems to be more to the Spirit of Elijah than was first apparent...

• A time of judgement is coming (Malachi 4:1-6)
• Elijah prepares the way for Christ (Matthew 11:9-15)
• Elijah comes to restore (Matthew 17:11-13)
• Elijah’s mission is to turn the hearts of children to fathers and fathers to children (Malachi 4:1-6)
• Elijah’s message is repentance (Matthew 3:1-3)
• Those who revere the Lord will prosper (Malachi 4:1-6)

You need to understand this because it is very important to the times that are ahead of us. As Christians we cannot afford to continue on in our old familiar routines. The signs are everywhere! Something very big is happening in the spiritual realm, something that has never been seen or felt before on this earth. Cling to your faith, and make your hearts right with God. Do not be afraid as the world falls apart around you, because it is not falling apart.

Malachi 4:2-3 "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty. (NIV)

But be warned. Elijah walks among you now...

• Elijah was a man just like us (James 5:17-18)
• Elijah was not recognized by the people he came to (Matthew 17:11-13)
• Elijah was not accepted by his hometown (Luke 4:24-27)
• Those who reject Elijah will be cursed (Malachi 4:1-6)

God might be speaking through the words of a friend, or a young child, or a passer by on the street. Beware so you don’t fail to recognize and reject the message. Although the source may seem ordinary and unimportant, I assure you that the words are not...


James :)

Illegal Aliens

This morning I was listening to the radio just before the president's speech regarding the security of our nations borders. A pastor from a church in Chicago was giving a short message before introducing the president, and quoted Deuteronomy 10:18 out of context to justify our nation's behavior in not deporting illegal aliens.

Deuteronomy 10:17-19 - For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. (NIV)

Now as Christians we should not be mistreating the aliens among us, even if they are illegal residents...

Exodus 22:21 - Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. (NIV)

But addressing the crime of aliens trespassing on our land in accordance with current federal law is not mistreating them. If this pastor was looking for a correct Biblical analogy to the illegal alien situation he should have looked in the book of Judges.

Judges 6:3-5 - Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. (NIV)

This scripture seems to describe the problem of illegal aliens quite clearly; people from another country invading our land, camping out, taking our stuff (jobs, money, property), ravaging the land (disregard for the property of others)... Did God address this invasion by being kind to the invaders as this pastor implied in his misquoting of Deuteronomy? No. He drove them out (Judges 7:19-25).

The argument from the left is that not all illegal aliens are like this. Many of them have invaded our country only because the situation in their own land is terrible. They seek to work doing jobs that Americans don't want to do, in order to lessen the poverty of their own families. Shouldn't we as Christians be looking at this with sympathy? Shouldn't we be trying to help them instead of sending them away?

Jesus taught us "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber" (John 10:1 NIV), and although the context of this scripture is regarding salvation, there is also a practical application of its words. The ends do not justify the means. Robbing a bank and then using that money to help someone does not turn that crime into an act of righteousness, nor should it excuse the robber from the penalty for that crime.

There is a correct and legal way for aliens to enter this country. To enter by illegal means is a sin and a crime. People who are sympathetic towards illegal entry into our country are condoning sin and lawlessness. People who illegally enter our country are sinning. People who hire or harbor, and do not report someone they know has illegally entered our country are also sinning.

Now all of these sins may be forgiven, but a Christian's responsibility is not to continue living in sin, but to make it right.


James :)