Category: General

We are either in league with Satan, or we are at war with him; the devil leaves no one alone. How can we overcome and defeat him in our lives?

God says the weapons of our warfare are mighty through Him to the pulling down of enemy strongholds (2Co 10:4); as we seek God He opens our eyes to see truth and then aligns our hearts to live according to it (Jn 8:31-32): it’s the essence of overcoming the father of lies. (Jn 8:44)

Jehovah has predestined His own to be conformed to the image of His Son (Ro 8:29), so it really doesn’t matter what the enemy throws at us – we’re more than conquerors through Him Who loves us. (Ro 8:35-37) In hungering and thirsting to live according to God’s design, to abide in Him, to walk worthy of Him unto all pleasing, to live in holiness and righteousness, we’re confident we’ll be filled with Him (Mt 5:6); He will heal our souls and lead us in His way for His name’s sake. (Ps 23:3)

Thank God He gives us eternal victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1Co 15:57)

articles   ♦   blog

In responding to sin and brokenness I must avoid unholy extremes: I must be repulsed by sin, hating any trace of it in myself or others (Jud 1:23), yet I must not look down on anyone with disdain or contempt. The one error ignores God’s heart (Ps 97:10a); the other ignores my own. (Pr 20:9)

Contempt, finding others beneath me, unworthy of my company, is judging them; it’s walking in pride, thinking of myself more highly than I ought (Ro 12:3); it’s an abomination to God. (Pr 16:5)

Any goodness within me is God’s grace (1Co 15:10), not something to boast in. (1Co 1:29) God help me esteem others better than myself (Php 2:3), considering that if I were in their shoes I’d probably be doing worse: “but for the grace of God, there go I.”

There’s no room for contempt in a spirit-filled walk. Whatever sin, brokeness or deception I perceive in others, Father remind me how You’re delivering me from my own ignorance and depravity. Give me Your heart for justice (Mi 6:8), and Your compassion and sorrow for sinners (Php 3:18); warn them through me with holy tears (Ac 20:31), neither excusing nor minimizing their sin … nor my own. (1Ti 1:15)

articles   ♦   blog

Amazing! God says, “Be strong” (1Co 16:13), so He’s designed our muscles to respond to stress by rebuilding themselves: tear ’em down a little, feed ’em, rest, and they come back stronger. Pushing our minds works similarly: we can train ourselves way beyond our present limits to do what looks impossible at first.

Tranining ourselves in godliness works similarly, and it’s a more important kind of strength (Ep 6:10), so He says: “Exercise thyself rather unto godliness.” (1Ti 4:7-8) Spiritual exercise, systematically stressing our inner selves, produces mental, emotional and spiritual growth. (Ja 1:2-4) God’s called us to some amazing things; if we’ll try, taking it one small step at a time, who knows what we can do in Him? (Col 1:10)

So push yourself a little: try to love God a little more — meditate on His nature and His ways, setting aside time to feed on His majesty, to behold His beauty, to admire and worship Him. Ponder your path, look for ways to align more fully with His Law, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2Co 7:1) Walk in the light, relishing every moment as a perfect gift in which to enjoy Him, and He you.

Push your mind a little: hide one more piece of His Word in your heart, intentionally focus on His word and meditate on it a little more throughout each day (Ps 119:97), comparing scripture with scripture and wielding the sword of the Spirit (Ep 6:17) in spiritual warfare. (Eph 6:11-12)

Push your heart and soul a little: practice being a little more like Christ, putting Him on (Ro 13:14), pretending to be a little more like Him every day. (1Pe 2:21) Try to love your neighbor a little bit more; every man a brother and every woman your sister; seek their highest good at every turn, how best to serve each eternal soul.

Don’t strive to earn your way to God, but knowing you’re already His; we’ll fail, and miserably at times, but less and less as we grow in His likeness. It’s not a contest but a journey, a journey through God and into God (Jn 15:5), the journey of a lifetime … and beyond. (Php 1:6)

articles   ♦   blog

After calling out variance as a work of the flesh, YHWH continues with emulations. (Ga 5:19-21). The enemy often tempts in extremes; we need balance to avoid the one while evading the other.

As variance is unholy glorying in differentness, emulation is an effort to match or surpass a person or achievement, typically by imitation. Is it unholy competition, ungodly sameness.

How then do godly men encourage us to emulate them (Ro 11:14), begging us to follow their example? (1Co 4:16) Imitating the godly helps ensure our own walk with God. (Php 4:9) How is this supposed to work?

The difference between holy and unholy emulation is evidently in our motivation. As we follow after God (Ep 5:1) good role models are invaluable; we’re not trying to outdo each other, but being discipled, coached and motivated through wholesome example. As long as we’re rejoicing in the godliness of others and enjoying our own unique design and gifting in God, emulating Christ in others, where ever and whenever we can find Him, we’re walking in love.

articles   ♦   blog

In the Bible it is written, “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.” (Is 40:22) Some site this verse as evidence that Earth is flat and not a ball (sphere), since a different Hebrew word would be used here if the author wanted to describe a ball rather than a circle.

However, if we read the text carefully, it does not say that Earth is a circle, but it implies that Earth has a circle. The Hebrew word circle is also translated circuit (Job 22:14) and compass. (Pr 8:27) The Scripture appears to teach that both Earth and its Heaven (atmosphere) have a circuit, or a circular route they travel together … an orbit if you will … an idea consistent with our modern heliocentric model, which long preceded its discovery.

This should come as no surprise since there can be no real conflict between Science and Scripture if God is the Author of both. (1Ti 6:20) Only a Spherical Earth model accounts for the sun actually rising and setting from an earthly perspective while also providing for time zones, for each hour of our 24 hour day always occurring somewhere on Earth, disproving all Flat Earth models by contradiction.

Here is a video (9 min) demonstrating this fact in an experiment we can do at home which 3rd graders should easily understand. In a more in-depth article, we use this same approach to disprove all Flat Earth models mathematically, as well as provide direct proof of the size and shape of Earth by considering the consistent behavior of the stars, which demonstrates that Earth is a sphere about 25 thousand miles in circumference.

articles   ♦   blog

In the midst of arguably the most interesting election year in history, what principles should guide our voting? What is government’s role, and what types of laws are pleasing to God? Should we try to legislate morality, or let people do what they want in their personal lives so long as they aren’t harming others?

When Messiah returns He will institute holy government: He Himself will rule the nations from Jerusalem … with a rod of iron. (Re 19:15) It seems to me unlikely that He will enforce a different Law than Torah; He delights in it and expects us all to do the same. (De 4:5-6, 8)

Torah is God’s plumb line, our metric for evaluating moral goodness. The fact that many resist and rebel against God’s Law didn’t keep Him from requiring Israel to obey it, nor will this keep Him from imposing it on the rest of Mankind. (Re 2:26-27) Whether we like it or not, Torah will eventually be the law of the land. (Mi 4:2)

It would appear then that laws are good or bad based on how well they align with God’s law, and governments are good or bad according to how they represent God’s holy standard of righteousness.  (Ro 13:3-4)

The only real question then seems to be whether it makes sense for us to try to influence our culture and society to accept and conform to this standard or not. If “righteousness exalts a nation,” if “sin is a reproach to any people” (Pr 14:34), if we delight in God’s laws (Ro 7:22) and believe they are good (1Ti 1:8), and that anyone who breaks them is harming God, themselves and others (Ma 22:40), then the answer would appear to be “Yes.”

articles   ♦   blog