The True Gospel of Christ

"But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." - Galatians 1:8

That's harsh. With a promise like that, it becomes severely important that we get our facts straight. Recently I had the chance to talk to a Mormon about his beliefs. He opened up with "Yes I'm LDS. We're Christian." I have a serious problem with that, and so does the Bible. Basically what this experience confirmed to me is that it is vitally important to know what you believe and be able to prove it from Scripture. If you dont know, you could be tricked into believing someone who is cursed! This recently happened to a friend of mine and it breaks my heart. It seems like a lot of "Christians" don't know exactly what they believe or exactly where to draw the line between God's truth and false doctrine. My goal in this blog is to draw that line. Clearly.

"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." Colossians 2:8

1) There is only one God. There never has been another; there never will be another. He exists in three persons, the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. He is not three gods that fill some sort of office. He does not have a goddess wife. He is not an exalted man. We cannot ever become gods. We are not his spirit children that preexisted with Him in heaven. God is not a person. He is three persons. One God, three persons. This is called the Trinity and this is what Scripture teaches.

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." Deut 6:4
"Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me." Isaiah 43:10
"Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." Psalm 90:2
"The Spirit of God descending... a voice came from Heaven... my beloved Son" Matthew 3:16-17

2) Jesus Christ is God. He is the only way to have a relationship with God. Anyone who says otherwise is, to put it bluntly, lying or deceived and has a false religion. Do not believe them! Jesus Christ is not a god. He is God. He is not a created being. He is not literally begotten of the Father. He is not our spirit brother. He is not the Devil's spirit brother. He is God in flesh. He has two natures, human and divine (for you theology geeks who like big words - yes that'd be me - it's called the hypostatic union). He was born of a virgin, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. He actually physically historically lived on earth and literally died on the cross, and was literally buried in the ground and physically resurrected the third day he had been dead.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1
"...the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 2:9
"...Christ died for our sins...He was buried...He rose again on the third day...He was seen...He was seen...He was seen...He was seen..." 1 Cor 15:3-7
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6

3) We are saved by grace through faith. Works do not earn salvation. You do not need to be baptized to be saved. The faith through which we are saved produces works. The lame man got up and carried his bed home, the blind man opened his eyes and saw, the fruit of the Spirit pourds out of anyone indwelt by Him. The Holy Spirit comes into you when you become a Christian. He will not leave you. Salvation is assured and cannot be lost. We do not need to do works to stay a Christian or keep the Holy Spirit in us.

"For I am persuaded that [nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ." Romans 8:37-39
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Eph 2:8-9
"...your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God" 1 Cor 6:19
"not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit," Titus 3:5
"Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." James 2:17

These are three central doctrines to Christianity that most cults and false religions get wrong. So if you ever run into someone that says they are Christian but doesn't believe these things, you can be sure that they are involved in a very dangerous religion, and basically serving demons. We need to witness the true gospel to these people in love, and prayer is always a good idea. After all, without the help of God, where would we ourselves be?

God's Gift of Life

This has been a hot topic of conversation/blogging lately with the long-awaited arrival of a brand new baby boy, Tyler Christian Blakey. I got the privilege of visiting him and even holding him for a few minutes. For a few pictures, you can visit www.godsongmusic.com and read Bobby's blog about his new baby! I'd like to brag that I'm a natural at handling babies after that experience, but he was asleep the whole time, so I don't know if it counts. Basically Bobby, Christa, and I sat around talking and waiting to see what the baby was going to do next. He stretched a lot, made a few funny faces, and there were a few times where it seemed like he was dreaming (Of course, every time he smiled we attributed it to the fact that he likes me, and every time he looked as if he were in pain we concluded that it must be a bad dream about getting a shot or another horrible hearing test).

Of course, we talked mostly about Tyler, how he was going to be raised and such. Topics such as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy came up (neither of which Tyler will believe in), as well as some interesting ones about the experiences of childbirth. Bobby and Christa were both quite pleased to tell me that their experience so far has been wonderful (I'm sure the free dinner every night helps a little), and that it has basically contradicted everything they've heard about raising a child. First the pregnancy was supposed to be hard but that was pretty fun for Christa, she said. Then childbirth was supposed to be the most horrible thing, which was "intense" as they like to describe it, but nothing close to what they had been told. Next is the first few days home from the hospital in which the parents get no sleep, but Bobby and Christa are doing quite well, getting plenty of sleep, and have actually been having fun with their new child! (Novel concept I guess...) Perhaps some babies are different... but certainly for Bobby and Christa this one is truly a gift from the Lord!

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him." Psalm 127:3

The Lord gives life graciously, and often I forget that He does that for everyone including me. God has given me life, and given me loving parents to hold me and love me and feed me and stick with me through good times and bad. I got a little glimpse of that when I got to play a little tiny bit of that role in holding Tyler. In fact, God is the loving Parent who sticks with us through thick and thin and loves us unconditionally, and feeds us because we can't feed ourselves. I think I'm growing up and becoming independent and self sufficient now, on the verge of running my own life by myself. Fat chance. I'm just as dependent on the Provider now as I was almost exactly 17 and a half years ago. Can I make the sun rise each day, or the rain fall, or the wind blow, or plants grow? What I forget is that He will always have to take care of my needs, whether I want Him to or not, whether I like it or not, even whether I believe in Him or not.

So the question is simply, how do I respond?

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever." Psalm 23:6

Doubled Up

Has anyone ever heard the same message twice and said to themselves, "Ugh, not this again. What is the deal with the Pastor, doesnt he realize he just taught this 6 months ago?!" Has anyone ever wanted to say something, but then thought to themselves, "What's the point? It's all been said before, they don't need to hear it again." Has anyone ever heard the same message twice and said to themselves, "Wow, I don't think I could ever get tired of that message! God is so good!"

Personally, I've fallen into all three categories, so I'll let you in on a little secret: The first two happen when we're not giving our all to God! For whatever reason and with whatever excuse we have decided that something or someone else takes priority in our lives, and 'magically' that translates into a lack of excitement or even hostility toward the teaching of God's truth. It's actually quite simple; we are just too blinded by our sin to realize it. If we feel like God is boring or repetetive or far away, it's because we are actively doing something wrong (i.e. we are sinning, and God isn't pleased with it). In my life, the most common two things that I miss are Bible reading and prayer. The importance of these two activities has probably been stressed to me thousands of times, yet here I am, stressing it again to myself and to my readers.

It's amazing how quickly such joyful activities can become a burden, or get excused away due to other religious activities. I am a member at quite a few Bible studies, so it's easy for me to say to myself, "Dude, Evan, you are so spiritual. God is pleased with you. I mean, you get into the Word prolly twice as much as 99% of the world, so reading it every day is not that big of a deal. Just take a break tomorrow and worship him by doing what you love; go take a break and have some fun!" Wait what!? Red Flag! Sounds more like my sinfulness and complacency than Christ talking; wouldn't you agree?

The Bible takes no such stance with meditation on Scripture. Psalm 119 is a great psalm for the importance of the Word and way of God. Psalm 119:10-11 says

"With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You."

I need to seek God with my whole heart, not half way. So diligently should I seek it and meditate on it and read it continually that it is hidden in my heart. Memorizing something takes time and effort and repetition. I'm sure making that transition from knowledge to application (head to heart) doesnt require any less effort. Besides, if God is the principle thing, the one thing we want in life and our only hope, then we will already be devouring His words like there's no tomorrow. I know a few people like that - they absolutely love the Lord and are a continually an encouragement to me to keep focusing on Him.

Once we get this down, the same message over and over again doesn't get boring. Instead it is encouraging! I hope this message was encouraging to you. But if it's same old same old "God is important, read the Bible, blah blah..." I'd do some soul searching. I know I had to before I wrote this one. I didn't know what to write, because I'd heard it all before. Hah. No more.

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." - Hebrews 3:13

Treasures of Wickedness

I'll be honest. I get so caught up sometimes in what is going to benefit me on earth, and base moral decisions with that as the most weighty factor. I recently wrestled at a wrestling tournament in which I had to forfeit first round to a girl, because the computer randomly paired her up with me, and we aren't allowed to wrestle girls at King's. This is based on the moral principle that men should treat women with gentleness, respect, and modesty. To be blunt, wrestling involves some sketchy situations that would certainly not be consider gentle, respectful, or modest if a girl was involved. So, I forfeited. I got about 4 positive responses and all other negative responses. So basically I did not win favor in the sight of man, nor the pleasure of placing higher than I did.

But who cares? Maybe a few wrestlers I half-know, or one of the assistant coaches. What does it gain me in the long run, though? I seriously hope I'm not looking back on that day for the next 50 years saying, "Man, if only I wrestled that girl..." It seems so important at the time, but when its all over, winning a few more matches doesn't matter one iota. How I lived my life is what will matter. People are more likely to look back and see a righteous pattern and use one of these incidents as an example than to praise me for getting 4th place in a small tournament rather than 7th. Proverbs says, "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death" (10:2). Funny how God hits it right on the head every time...

Perhaps you've heard someone say before that "The man with the most toys in the end wins." That has to be the most ridiculously hollow philosophy to ever form on the face of the earth. Wins what? What toys? Who cares? Everyone's dead in "the end"! The only thing that's left, as Bobby has been stressing to us in High Point recently, is our relationship with Christ. We are either his friend or his enemy, and only that is truly eternal. "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death" (Prov. 11:4).

So let us not waste our time any longer storing up earthly wealth or treasures of wickedness, because ultimately a life focused on doing that will only lead to disappointment, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matt. 6:33). The Lord will take care of our earthly needs if we make our focus living a righteous life pleasing to him.

"The hope of the righteous will be gladness, But the expectation of the wicked will perish" (Prov. 10:28).

A Christian According to John

Well, technically according to the Holy Spirit who led John to write these words, but for simplicity we'll avoid technicalities as much as possible. As many of you may know, there is a problem at The King's Academy. Committed Christians are few and far between, and sin is often overlooked as 'no big deal.' I do sincerely apologize for every and any way I have contributed to this. There is a probability that many people may think they are Christians and are not, or just claim to be, and are not, and I think I know how people are able to pull off this balancing act between professing and practicing. It has occurred to me that a lot of people are going through an entire high school career having no idea what it means to be a Christian. What are the criteria for being a Christian? How do I know if I am a Christian? What sorts of things characterize a non-Christian? These are questions I hope to answer in this blog by using First John as my primary source. I've found it has a plethora of straightforward statements concerning those who love and know God.

A Christian…

Walks in the light, and he who walks in darkness is not a Christian - "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (1:6).

Realizes that he or she is imperfect - "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (1:10).

Is obedient to the Word - "...He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar..." (2:3-6; see also 3:24; 5:3).

Loves his brother - "He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now" (2:9; see also 3:10,14-15; 4:20-21).

Does not love the things of the world - "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (2:15).
The things of the world are - "...the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life..." (2:16).

Will never lose his or her salvation - "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us"(2:19).

Confesses Jesus Christ - "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also" (2:23; see also 4:15; 5:1,10,13).

Abides in love - "Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father" (2:24). "For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another" (3:11) (see also 4:7-8; 4:16)

Practices righteousness - "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him" (2:29; see also 3:10).

Is not involved in habitual sin - "Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him" (3:6; see also 3:8-9; 5:18).

Should not be surprised if the world hates them - "Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you" (3:13).

Has the Holy Spirit in them - "And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us" (3:24).

Overcomes the world – “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (5:4-5).

Has the Son of God – “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (5:12).

Is not under the sway of the wicked one – “…but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (5:18-19).

And once faced with all these criteria it suddenly becomes obvious why only by the grace of God anyone can ever become a Christian.