Category Archives: Biblical Worldview

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If Your Pastor Doesn’t Lead the Charge, Is God Raising up Gideons?

By Dennis Petersen

Will God’s People Fear God to the point of doing the work to defend their families while they can?

What does it mean to “trust in the Lord with all thine heart?”

“and lean NOT on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Isn’t it perplexing how the more our ‘doubting Thomas’ society leans toward their own flawed understanding, the more they are swayed by the deception of ‘political correctness’ and refusing to trust in the sovereignty of God?  And let’s be clear we’re talking about the Creator God, “Who upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb 1:3)” and “Who works all things after the counsel of his own will (Eph 1:11).” 

For some time, especially since the providential placement of a decisive leader whose actions champion life, liberty and truth as America’s head of state, my soul has been in a continual state of uneasiness over the downward spiral of our nation’s culture. While I am truly content to rest in the confidence that God’s providence prevails in His appointment of kings and national leaders, I am also deeply aware that many of us see the apathy and lack of firm reliance on the supremacy of the whole counsel of God being declared by believing church communities in our land. We should be shocked by the lack of bold challenges to God-fearing citizens to rebuild the broken-down walls of our nation to guard the innocent from the enemies that would destroy the liberty that past generations gave their lives to build.

I discovered an excellent article by an old preacher I remember hearing 40 years ago who seems to be submitted humbly to the sovereignty of God and the supremacy of His Word.  He does not appear to be one who wants to do anything less than clearly declare the whole counsel of God. See if you can identify with his opening statement that should spark all of us to contritely thank God for His mercy. (You can read his article at the website linked at the end of this article.) 

“I am continually humbled by the grace of God and His mercy on me.  I am very aware how inadequately I am living in a constant consciousness of the fear of the Lord.  I repeatedly revisit the remembrance that one day I will stand before God and give an account for every word I have spoken.  Thanks be to God for His love that covers a multitude of sins by His gift of grace received by His beloved.”

Like the true prophets of the Bible, in reverential fear, the author reminded me of one of the saddest stories of our nation’s history.  It was the occasion of the death of the man who was honored by his own contemporaries as the beloved father of our new American nation, George Washington.

Today’s American church family desperately needs to be reminded of an analogy here.

Retired President Washington died because of medical malpractice.  In his time the misguided professional medical doctors believed in a falsehood that led them to literally bleed George Washington to death.  Washington was only 67 years old.  He had completed his eight years as president only two short years earlier, after leading the continental army to victory over the British empire through nearly five long years of unimaginable hardship and sacrifice in the ‘Revolutionary War.’  He contracted pneumonia. In their ignorance of modern pathology, they believed that congestive infection like that was due to “bad blood” in his body. The remedy was to deliberately bleed sick patients.  Washington was already weak from his sickness, but they decided to do what was fairly routine for them.  They drained several pints of blood from his arm.  When the symptoms continued, they bled even more of his life-sustaining blood.  If only they had heeded the wisdom of Leviticus 17:7 – “the life of the flesh is in the blood.”  But by draining the blood out of a man weakened by pneumonia, the doctors made him weaker and finally killed him.  It was the worst thing they could have done.

Today’s American church of Jesus Christ sorely needs to see a vitally important analogy here.  The idea that any of us has some kind of personal entitlement to God’s blessings without contrition before a righteous Judge is preaching a stunted gospel of “cheap grace.” And it is literally bleeding an already weakened church. Such thinking produces a careless apathy and cowardice that helps set us up for national destruction. Can you imagine how wickedly glad our enemy, Satan, would be if we continue to fall for this trap? Instead of a life-giving conviction and a robust will to fight – to actually trust God to help us take action by participating in the battle to preserve our liberties – a warped gospel induces drowsiness and more indifference.

“Past miracles don’t guarantee future mercy.  They should awaken urgency, overpowering gratitude, humility, and profound soul searching.  Throwing ourselves off the cliff of morality to prove the power of Grace tempts God and provokes wrath.”

We thank God for the faithful pastors who are boldly declaring the whole counsel of God to their churches with courage, regardless of the increasing spiritual warfare they endure in the process. However, we are aware from nationwide studies and polls done by numerous reputable research groups like Barna, that the lukewarm church in America is going backwards. As much as 88% of young people raised in churches are leaving the faith of their fathers. Up to 30% of generation X, Y, and Z young Americans consider themselves without a faith or atheist. Way too many men, including pastors are hooked on porn. Most of us are afraid to speak up for the unborn, the oppressed, and those being enslaved by the sensual, demonically inspired demons of our age. Does it even matter to most people anymore that we are forsaking the clear Biblical command to teach Bible truth to our children daily?

1 Chronicles 12:32 tells “of the sons of Issachar who understood the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” The chapter tells of the military talent of each Israelite tribe.  Issachar’s weapon was the gift of “understanding the times.”  Do you think that if we were reminded regularly that we are recruited into spiritual warfare when we are born into Jesus’ family of sons and daughters that we might be more attuned to Biblical principles of our mission?  For starters, the very idea of our call to offensively anticipate victory over the “gates of hell” should be a daily reminder.  Why not pray with fellow Christ-followers who desperately see the need for God to give us men with God-inspired insight like He gave the Sons of Issachar?

Wrath comes when you do not properly respond to mercy

In 2 Chronicles 32:25 we read, “But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore, wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem.”

The Word of God for this generation today is abundantly clear, but who’s listening?

God has obviously extended His mercy to our wicked generation, and that includes His own people who are too timid to speak up, lead, and take authoritative action over the works of the devil in our age. In humility that will happen when God’s ordinary saints who love Him dearly do three things: Revive, Repair and Rebuild.

Revive – We must fervently seek a fresh outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit.  Our assemblies of the saints must cry out to God with hearts of gratitude and plea for His sovereign refreshment of our spirits.

Repair – America desperately needs prayer-filled spokesmen (like prophets of old) to boldly declare God’s righteousness. This only will send the demons of hell into retreat. The righteous (living disciplined  in humble forgiveness) are as bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1).

Rebuild – your children will raise up the old foundations when you practice the true Biblical spiritual vitality as defined in Isaiah 58:6-12 – the “fasted lifestyle” that God choses.  Pastors must rebuild their sermons from the ground up.  We don’t need entertaining stories. We need God’s inspired word by hearing plenty of Bible verses.  Let’s talk of our mighty God.  Let’s fill our conversations with content the Holy Spirit can use to reach lost or floundering souls!  People need a fresh rediscovery of the Good news.  The gospel must once again roll off our tongue in the workplace, on campus and at the mall.

Who cares that 90% of the church’s children are deliberately given over to be trained by teachers working for the Canaanite gods of evolutionism, humanism, and the idolatry of self, so dominant in today’s society? Big pharma and Hollywood have more sway in society than true Christ followers. Hardly anyone in most churches is actively part of a discipleship lifestyle to influence others by witnessing and mentoring. Many Godly radio ministries are delivering valuable Bible teaching and providing excellent resources. And yet, we keep getting a steady church diet of self-help and how to cope with basic issues of life. Meanwhile Christians in many parts of the world are suffering persecution and martyrdom that is seldom, if ever, discussed in a Sunday service. Why not?

Could it be that those few of us who would like to speak up are not being given the opportunity because the message doesn’t conform to the heretical agenda of porridge being served to try keeping people in church?

If you know the truth that will free people from the chains of deception and do not tell them, what does the Bible tell us about our accountability to God? 

Ezekiel 33:6 tells us clearly that the watchman who sees the destructive storm coming to his people but doesn’t warn them, is guilty of their lost lives.

Must we allow our society to become as decadent as Rome before a modern Telemachus takes a public stand for righteousness against the brutal insanity that drives our post-modern world? See the story of Telemachus at http://www.prayerfoundation.org/favoritemonks/favorite_monks_telemachus_coliseum.htm .

For the article written by the man of God referenced above, see this link:

AMERICA’S DESTRUCTION: WHAT IS GOD TRULY SAYING?
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The Top 14 Reasons Why I Should Believe In Creation

Theological reasons to believe the God of the Bible ALONE is capable of producing the universe. (remember that the word “Universe” means “one word.”)

  1. Jesus had confidence in the clear words of the Torah (thus Genesis) when He said in Luke 16:31 “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead.” Also, His endorsement of the reality of Adam and Eve from the BEGINNING, and not billions of years AFTER the beginning is clear in Matthew 19:4. There are many passages testifying to Jesus’ absolute endorsement on the principal of the inerrancy of the Holy Hebrew Scriptures.
  2. If Jesus is not all-powerful enough to be our Creator, there is no way He could be powerful enough to be our Savior. (John 1:1, 14, Col. 1:16 & 17)
  3. Christian faith is based on the authority and integrity of Holy Scripture. So if we can not trust the foundational statements of Genesis to be clear, unambiguous, accurate, and totally truthful, there is no reason for anyone to place their personal confidence in other passages of Scripture upon which their hope for eternal salvation should rest. (Heb. 11:3, Rev. 14:7)
  4. Paul’s preaching of the resurrection of Christ to pagans at Mars Hill was based on the premise that the same God was also CREATOR and SUSTAINER (LORD) of heaven and earth.
  5. The cornerstone of Christian faith is the declaration of God’s law at Sinai, wherein the literal miraculous creation of God in six normal DAYS is the basis for the timeless order of the law of work and rest. Without this there is no explanation for the historic 7-day week that has transcended cultures worldwide from before the most ancient secular historic records. (Exodus 20:11)

Logical reasons to believe the Biblical account of creation is a better explanation for origins than evolution

  1. Creation is intricately designed, integrated, purposeful, and full of aesthetic beauty. These attributes can only be satisfactorily explained by virtue of an intelligent, personal, meaningful Creator, since the only alternative is randomness with no purposeful, orderly cause.
  2. The natural creation and all living creatures are filled with systematic information that cannot have originated by itself. Information requires intelligence. Increasing orders of information from simple levels of life to the most complex cannot be explained naturalistically because you can never get MORE information from LESS information.
  1. To exclude the purposeful intelligence of the Creator from the creation requires one to believe that natural physical elements are eternal and that those elements, left to themselves over time, can randomly produce all the vast variety of living things. Such false reasoning is similar to expecting the chemistry of paper to produce the knowledge of the encyclopedia to be written on it without the external application of intelligent creativity.

Scientific observations that cause the creation explanation to make more sense than evolution.

  1. Irreducible complexities in the most basic living systems demand an intelligent designer, creator and sustainer. Innumerable complex details must be simultaneously in place for even the most “simple” creatures or their organs to function at all. There can be no “incipient” (incomplete) immune system, reproductive system, digestive system, visual perception system, circulatory system, etc.
  2. The Anthropic Principle, witnessed in thousands of ways on planet earth, clearly demonstrates that the creation is designed for life, and particularly man, to thrive here. Earth’s environment is so delicately balanced that even slight adjustments or deletions of certain features would make life and human life utterly impossible. A whole book could be written on this with chapters on the perfect order of features in the cosmos (solar system), the atmosphere, the earth’s chemistry, the geology, the hydrologic cycle, the synergy of life forms, the sizes of everything from tidal variations, to bananas, and the timing of everything from seasons and days to animal growth cycles and migratory patterns.
  3. The computer-like code of all life called DNA, which carries the genetic information regulating every phase of all living systems, is so exceedingly complex that even pagan scientists have acknowledged their absolute awe at the miraculous marvel of its complexity.

General reasons why a thinking person should believe the Biblical account of creation rather than evolution.

  1. The intricate order of nature demands an explanation. To deny the purposefulness of the Creator requires NOT FAITH (of the Biblical kind in a Supreme Awesome Designer) but GULLIBILITY in simplistic, humanly contrived concepts that ascribe powers to material objects that are totally impossible.
  2. The rejection of divine creation (and its cultural implications of moral accountability) by much of modern society has led to a plague of meaninglessness, moral depravity, lawlessness, and the bloodiest century of death in all of human history.
  3. Every aspect of evolutionary dogma is totally unsupported by ANY facts. Much of evolutionary scenarios are completely opposite to Biblical and scientific realities. Every evolutionary axiom and supposed proof has been thoroughly controverted by careful scientific exploration and examination. Many hoaxes of evolutionary scientists have been popularized by a seductive popular press for decades, only to be exposed and defeated by serious collective investigation.
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How to Tactfully Help People Change Their Minds

A Paradigm Shifting Experience

Think about it!  Have you ever changed your mind?  Have you experienced the challenging process of truly admitting you were wrong about something, maybe even deceived by something you trusted to be true?  If so, then perhaps you’ll find some helpful insights in the next few minutes that can assist you in conveying your discoveries to others.

 

Let’s face it!  Whenever we are confronted by a different opinion than our own we tend to get defensive.  We feel shaken from our “comfort zone.”  It’s not easy to admit we have been mislead or deceived.  It takes courage to be willing to convert our willing allegiance to different ideas.  Doing so can tend to make us feel like we’re betraying those whom we trusted for our own personal development.  It’s emotionally upsetting to even think that the information we relied on for direction might be wrong or inferior to more enlightened explanations.  If our sources of information were personal relationships like relatives or trusted friends or authority figures, it is even more distressing for us to even entertain the idea that they could be wrong.

 

We’re all human.  So realizing that we share the tendency to resist change should cause all of us to be understanding and patient with others as we work through these challenges to shift our points of view—to shift our paradigm.

 

Changing our mind is really a healthy and inevitable part of growing up… of maturing.  When it comes to shaping our core values and ideas about the world and principles we live by, it doesn’t take long to realize there are many topics that often stir heated debate.  We can choose to get defensive or we can choose to have an open mind.  We should dig deeper to establish our personal convictions but better yet, we should also realize that new information could lead us to adjust those convictions.  For many of us the choice is somewhat directed by what we have seen modeled by those we look up to.  If we’ve lived with people who were calm and considerate we will tend to be less reactive than those who have been surrounded by volatile and prejudiced personalities.

 

Most of us don’t really like getting into an argument.  That’s why we would rather avoid discussing something controversial if there’s a possibility we might have to defend our position with someone who has a different opinion.  So, how do you know if it is even appropriate to open a conversation with someone about a topic that you fear could provoke an uneasy controversy?

 

First, examine your deep personal inner motive.  Are you bent on proving you’re right or do you sincerely care about the person you’re addressing enough to consider their own concerns and perspectives.  Let them know you can humbly identify with them.  Put yourself in their place.  Tell them you understand their feelings.  Admit that maybe you were even in their position or at least that you know others you respect and admire who held the same position they hold.  Then humbly give them a simple statement that you discovered something else that transformed your thinking about the matter.  They may have some curiosity about your own story.  That’s when you can help them discover your own unique journey.  If you treat it like a story they’re more likely to want to hear about it.  It’s just human nature.

 

You may have heard that attitude is everything.  When it comes to making progress or expanding our understanding of reality there is nothing more important than having a positive and humble attitude.  It’s not easy to diffuse negativity and arrogance.  If a few probing questions don’t raise some open curiosity, it might be better to wait for a better opportunity.  After all, it’s not our job to convert everyone we run into.  Serve water to those who are thirsty.  Help whoever you can to create a sense of thirst, but trying to convince someone who is dead set against what you have to say is simply asking for a conflict… and maybe more trouble than you are prepared to handle.

 

How important is it to have the right environment to change our mind?  We can’t very well eat certain kinds of food unless it’s prepared properly, right?  Raw meat and unbaked bread dough are rarely attractive to anybody are they?  Neither can you expect people to swallow some advanced information if they haven’t even heard the basics.  That’s why we must always be sensitive to the fact that we grow incrementally.  If we’ve been deceived over time, how likely is it that it happened incrementally?  It may take some time and several “chapters” of convincing before we build a strong enough case to persuade other people to change their paradigm.

 

Appetite may be the best “sauce” to help people swallow their food, but let’s not miss the influence of a good presentation.  Just as an attractive table setting and colorful platter embellishment invites us to enjoy a good meal, the “packaging” of our information is also likely to influence whether or not others will investigate it.  A positively presented message with enhancements that stimulate the senses is much more likely to gain a listening ear than one that is negative and dreary.

 

I learned that the first step toward any change is awareness of something you didn’t know. You can only change something when you are AWARE that there exists something that can be changed.

Isn’t this the key to all change?  When CAN begin to make changes?  Is it not at that point when you are aware that your thoughts led you to a feeling, and then that feeling led you to take an action which then led to a result?

What do you think is the second step toward making a change?  Could it be a conscious change in your own understanding?  So where does your “way of thinking” originate?  Could it be that you came to honestly admitting that your own understanding was created by your own exposure to ideas and concepts that came from outside of you?

Think about it.  Is there a thought or belief in you that was ever formed by anything other than something outside of yourself?  It might have been at home or at school.  It could have come from the radio, TV or from books.  But, if we’re honest, we weren’t born with a preprogrammed ‘chip’ of insight and understanding.  Haven’t all of our insights and ideas about things been formulated because of inputs from the constant bombardment of the opinions of others?   Do you think that admitting this – being aware of this – can help us to at least have a healthy desire to question some of what we do and believe?

 

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AwesomeWorks is about declaring God’s Wonders to the Next Generation

For all who teach their children to Love the Truth

Without Fear of Jehovah, Men have no love of the truth.

Thank God for the “bridges” He provides, inviting us to be transformed… to pass out of darkness into light… to destroy the speculations that lure us to destroy ourselves… and to change our destiny from death to eternal life.

Even more, thank God we can be equipped to help our own children, grandchildren and others to be mentored in Truth as we declare to them regularly the truly awe-inspiring works of our Creator.

The essential Key?  Love the Truth!  Know how to identify deception and delusion!

“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

 

The institutionalized powers that govern our contemporary American culture are deeply embedded.  The public education system, the halls of higher learning, the mainstream news and entertainment media, the corporate officers of Big Business, the Hollywood elite… they are almost all secularists!  They deliberately wield their agendas to posture themselves in direct opposition to Christian morality and virtue.  The decline and departure of many godly men and women from positions of influence poses a threat to freedom and the future of America, causing understandable fear among law-abiding citizens.

This sad reality is an historic call for deep abiding prayer and action, lest we further offend our Sovereign King of all creation.

It could not be any clearer.  The only question remaining is:

“Will we respond to His call?”

AwesomeWorks is devoted to call this generation of fathers to “praise God’s works to the next generation… declaring His mighty and awesome acts.” (from Psalm 145)

 

 

 

Note about secularism:

 

Secularism is a religion established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963.  Secularism openly minimizes the public and political influence of Christianity. The Court’s secular motive now appears to be a deliberate strategy—one that effectively creates a deep separation of the legal and governmental world from the influence of the positive and genuine religious values of our Godly ancestors.  Let’s be honest – it is the equivalent to blasphemy to declare that God commanded obedience to secular Justices when those authorities command iniquity and adherence to falsehood.  The problem is that most of us in today’s culture have not been sensitized to the utter abhorrence to the crime of blasphemy.  We have been desensitized because we are surrounded daily with a regular diet of blasphemy in our digital age of entertainment.

Secularists are not looking for compromise.

Their ambitions are openly defiant. They vigorously oppose the obvious supernatural creation of man and the divinely created spiritual nature of every child of God. (more…)