In this newsletter I want us to look at the not-so-obvious things that can cause a believer to “draw back” from living a life of faith such as depicted by Abraham in Hebrews Chapter 11. I want to elaborate on the subtle danger of becoming ensnared in “the affairs of this life” which can cause us to become very “mindful of the country from which we have come out.” The cure for such earthly mindedness is stated in Heb. 11 as becoming a people who “...confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Is this your confession of faith, and if not, why not? Are we as American Christians exempt from living such a life of faith as “strangers and pilgrims on the earth?” If your answer is “yes” you are suffering from the erroneous beliefs of the Puritans that America was divinely chosen to become God’s “new Israel - a manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth.” In previous newsletters (Nov. & Dec. 2004) I sought to challenge the concept that Christians have a “moral Christian duty” to be politically active in “the affairs of this life.” America is not a manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth, and we do not have a biblically-based commission to seize it for God.

Let me ask you a vitally important question: Do you think that although God loves us just as much as He loves Jesus, that Jesus EXPERIENCED more of the love of God in His life than you and I are experiencing right now? I believe we would have to answer “yes.” This leads to a second question: Do you think God wants us to EXPERIENCE all of His love in the same manner as Jesus did? Again, the answer must be in the affirmative. It is up to each and every believer to appropriate all of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us, and equally to lay hold of all of the love of God which has been poured out upon us. How much of that love can you experience? The answer is “as much as your heart desires!” The Holy Spirit is not given to us in degrees or stages. God gives initially to every believer the same measure of the Spirit that He gave to His Son Jesus. No one possesses more or less of the Holy Spirit. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to pour out the love of God into the heart of the believer! All of God’s infinite love is poured out into the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit! No one has received more or less of the Holy Spirit, and no one has received more or less of the love of God!

Satan is identified with numerous authoritative and destructive titles such as “The Prince and Power of the Air” who presently directs the course of this world (Eph. 2:2). He is “The Devourer” whom God promises to rebuke for us (Mal. 3:11). Jesus called him “...a murderer from the beginning...” (John 8:44). The apostle John said that “...the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 Jn. 5:19). Paul tells us he is “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4). These titles of Satan cannot be limited to his functioning only in oppressive, spiritual realms! I would like to convince you that the Scriptures teach that he is also at work in physical realms (such as extreme, destructive weather) on earth as well! Why do we readily attribute the destructive powers of Asia’s tsunami as being an “act of God” or an “act of nature” rather than an “act of Satan” whose titles so vividly describe his destructive deeds? This newsletter will help you understand why the evening news often calls pending forecasts to contain some really “Wicked Weather.” How right they are! Read this newsletter to see why from a spiritual perspective!

Jesus gives as a sign marking “the beginning of sorrows” an ever-increasing manifestation of “wars and rumors of wars.”. How many wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom have you seen in your short time on earth? How many have taken place since Jesus first prophesied the coming of such events on the earth? To tedious of a task to enumerate! There has been many and there are many more to come! Like “labor pains upon a pregnant woman,” the world shall find a pattern of “wars and rumors of wars” to be the way of life on earth. When we consider the devastations that come with “famines, pestilences, and earthquakes” the title “the beginning of sorrows” is quite appropriate. We have all seen the horrible pictures recently of starving children and old people wasting away. Africa and the Sudan come to mind most predominantly. North Korea was recently on the verge of universal starvation. People in South America, in Iraq, Russia and even in Israel are starving because they can’t afford what it costs to stay alive. Most of the world goes to bed hungry! What a world! Come Lord Jesus! This newsletter will help you t be prepared for what lies ahead.

It is not hard to find psalms which are filled with all-too-vivid expressions of David praying against the well-being of his enemies. Often I have winced at the intensity of David’s expressed hatred and animosity for his enemies. For a long time, I struggled with the vengeful praying that David frequently practiced in light of the seemingly contradictory words of Jesus in the New Testament pertaining to how we are relate to our enemies. Some of God’s people can behave worse than unbelievers (1 Cor. 5:1) We must learn to cultivate the ability to see the INVISIBLE realm in which the forces of darkness work through cooperative human beings, either believers or unbelievers. Others may consider YOU to be THEIR enemy, but we must not, we cannot, consider any human being to be OUR enemy and therefore treat them as such! Nor can we pray against them as David was permitted to do. There is only one way that we are to interact with people who hate, persecute, curse and spitefully use us. We are to love them, pray for them, bless them, do good to them, and be merciful to them. This newsletter will help you to practice “Perfect hatred.”

The seven “Kingdom parables” of Matthew 13 contain a prophetic depiction of what is to happen to the present manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth. For the most part, we are talking about a depiction of the church of Jesus Christ from its inception with the original twelve disciples right up to this present hour, and on into the future that remains ahead until we reach the end of the age.How important are the contents of these parables? They contain...things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world (Mat. 13:35), and they contain...the mysteries (hidden truths) of the Kingdom of Heaven... (Mat. 13:11).

These seven parables span the time-frame of the Kingdom of God on earth depicting the sowing of the seed to the harvesting of the crop. It is vitally important for us to grasp the meaning of these seven parables for that understanding will prevent us from believing false prophets preaching great expectations such as a coming last-day church revival that is not based on God’s Word.

What happens to true followers of Christ at death? Is the doctrine of “soul sleep until the resurrection of the dead” the immediate destiny of the believer at death? Is the doctrine of soul confinement in some place other than heaven until the resurrection of the dead the immediate destiny of the believer at death? Both of these scenarios are being taught as the biblical answer to the question, “What happens to true followers of Christ at death?” Both use a selected string of Scriptures as validation for their premise. However, it is only by “comparing [ALL] spiritual things with [ALL] spiritual” that we are able to avoid the pitfalls of teaching as man’s wisdom teaches and rather be safely taught as the Holy Spirit teaches.
This newsletter is dedicated to considering ALL of what the Scriptures have to say pertaining to “life after death” for the true follower of Christ. I am of the firm conviction that Paul taught, as a literal truth, that the immediate destiny of all New Testament believers at death is that the soul and spirit ascend to heaven and into the immediate presence of Christ.

It is imperative that we understand clearly that the mandate is not for the Christian to gain control of the world in which he presently lives, but rather to guard himself from the sway and influence of a Satan- dominated world. Prophecy plainly proclaims that here is coming a day in which “…the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Rev. 11:15). That is the future commission of Jesus Christ at His second coming. It is not the present mandate given to the followers of Christ. In this newsletter we ponder how God’s moral law will enable the believer to keep himself from the wicked one who has the whole world under the sway of immorality and injustice.

God’s intent for the Christian is to “…keep himself (in order that) the wicked one does not touch him.” Pure and undefiled religion in God’s sight consists of “…keeping oneself unspotted from the world” (Jm.1:27). We do not have a commission to remove the spots from the world, but rather we are to remain unspotted by what we find in the world.

I’m sure you have read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. This newsletter contains a “Sermon on the Amount.” I would like to convince you that God still calls His people to practice the concepts of tithes and free-will offerings. A tithe is just what the root of this word contains; it is a tenth of our income. Offerings are free-will offerings that are given above our obligation to give God His holy tithe. (Hang on a bit if you are mentally verbalizing the opposition,“but we are not under Law but under grace.” God’s principles of giving did not originate with the giving of the Law, nor were they abolished with it!)It is significant to note that the proper or improper use of money was the moral to the story behind many of Jesus’ forty Kingdom parables.

Money is the initial test of Christian faithfulness. God blesses you and then watches to see what you are going to do with what He has given you. If we are not faithful with what is another man’s (property), namely the tithe, then God will not entrust you with what He calls “the true riches.” This newsletter is dedicated to convince you of the benefits that are derived from following the biblical principle of tithing.

In Psalm 103 God states as part of His benefits to His followers that He wants to “satisfy our mouths with good things so that our youth may be renewed like the eagle.” My wife and I have followed the principles of the dietary law for over thirty years. I was not even a Christian when we began to observe them for needful health reasons. Now in our sixties and seventies, we are healthier than when we were in our late twenties and thirties! It required that we would allow God to satisfy our mouths with what He considers to be good things as spelled out in His dietary laws. Satan wants to satisfy our mouths with things that look so good, and taste so good, but in reality are deceptive food designed to rob, kill and destroy us of our physical health. The psalmist boldly declares in Psalm 17:4 that “By the words of Your lips, I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer.” I have found it to be far easier to walk in a way that maintains health than it is to be cured from the consequences of yielding to the deceptive food Satan merchandizes to rob, kill and destroy us. Are the principles of the Dietary Law still for us today? This newsletter will give you “food for thought.”

The holidays of the world are not only childish, but also several of them have their origins steeped in paganism. Most tend to dismiss anything labeled as having “pagan” origins as being harmless and irrelevant in today’s society. The mentality today is that the pagans were the Huns and the Vikings. However, if we ponder the literal meaning of this word we can easily see that the concept of paganism thrives in our educated high society as it did in ancient times of ignorance: pagan-“…little or no religion… marked by a frank delight in, and uninhibited in the seeking after material goods, sensual pleasures or self-indulgent habits…acceptance of life as practiced in all of its customs and rituals….”(Webster).

Unlike the childish pagan-based holidays, the seven Feasts of The Lord (Lev.23) serve as reminders of holy days that focus on the future and therefore can be used as constant reminders for God’s people to be a separated people from the customs of the world.

Perhaps the mythical Sherlock Holmes would have been intrigued with the Bible since it contains a host of “mysteries” (“hidden truths”) that God fully intended to be understandable truths by the reader. Consider well that the Scriptures depict the New Covenant as being “…a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Heb.8:6). Nowhere greater is this truth made evident than by the revelation that all the mysteries of the Bible are found only in the New Testament. In other words, none of God’s mysteries were revealed or even stated by any of the writers of the Old Testament Scriptures. Daniel, a beloved prophet of God, was told prophetically that in the “time of the end…knowledge shall increase” (Dan.12:4). I believe that a significant part of that increased knowledge is to be found in the hidden contents of the 12 mysteries stated in the New Testament!
The purpose of this newsletter is simply to attempt to stir up your interest in this vital and amazing New Testament theme!