Seek and you shall Find
Knock, and the door shall be
opened
An author is an originator or creator, as of a theory or plan.
In Hebrews 12:2, Jesus is described
as the
author and perfecter, or finisher, of our faith
Truth be Told,
I didn't Find Truth, Truth Found Me
If we faithfully seek the truth, we are faithfully seeked in return,
Just as his Word Promises
So, Rest Assured,
As long as you nurture and hold tight to the Faith
God Never Fails and Always Fulfills his Promises
7 things we know
about Jesus and his followers from
non-biblical sources;
Notably, each fact corroborates the Record of
the New Testament.
1. Jesus Christ was executed (by crucifixion?) in Judea during the period when Tiberius was emperor (A.D. 14-37) and Pontius Pilate was governor
(A.D. 26-36). Tacitus [Annals 15.44.2-5]
2. The movement spread from Judea to Rome. Tacitus
3. His followers worshipped him as (a) god. Pliny
[Letters from Bithynia, c. A.D. 110]
4. He was called “the Christ.” Josephus
[Antiquities 20.197-203—an undisputed passage]
5. His followers were called “Christians.” Tacitus, Pliny [see above]
6. They were numerous in Bithynia and Rome. Tacitus, Pliny
[see above]
7. His brother was James. Josephus [see above]
The Bible itself is evidence
of one of its main claims—that is, that the God who made
the heavens, earth, and sea,
and everything in them is a communicator who delights
to reveal himself to wayward humans.
We read in Hebrews 1:1-2,
"In the past God spoke to our forefathers
through the prophets
at many times and in various ways, but in
these last days
he has spoken to us
by his Son,
whom he appointed heir of
all things,
and through whom he made the universe.”
These verses in Hebrews
point to the
culmination of biblical revelation
in the
eternal Son of God
This Son became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth,
forever uniting God and man
--in one person--
100 percent God and 100 percent man
(John 1:14).
The prophecies,
promises, longings, and anticipations
under
the old covenant find their
fulfillment,
meaning, and culmination
in the
life, death, and resurrection
of
Jesus Christ
As the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20,
"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are
‘Yes’ in Christ.”
The purpose of the Bible, then, is
“to make [a person]
wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”
(2 Tim. 3:15).
The Bible is not an end in itself. As Jesus said to the
religious experts in his day,
“You diligently study the Scriptures because
-you think-
that by them you -possess- eternal life.
These are the Scriptures that
testify about me”
(John 5:39).
So, under divine superintendence,
the goal of the Bible is to bring its readers to
receive the forgiveness of God
in Christ
and thus to possession of eternal life in
relationship with the triune God
(John 17:3).
For some,
The pursuit of ultimate Truth
is a driving force in life that needs to be
quenched until it is satisfied, that is,
with the
Living water of grace, truth, and glory
in Christ Jesus
And for non-believers, most often, non biblical testimony
preceded biblical testimony
There is a wealth of Christian apologetics out there,
some included within my blog.
For me, coming to faith was a very long and tedious Path.
I had to WORK for it
through a combination of life experience, struggles, strong familiarity
With Judaism, and Christianity
(liberal and conservative, catholic and Protestant)
vigorous study from a wide array of sources and perspectives,
But more profoundly,
intimate, personal evidence and witness of
the work of Christ revealed in
supernatural ways that supersede human reasoning.
Ultimately,
The riches, power and glory of christ himself
empowers me to Testify, but I couldn't have
communicated that
without being fully versed in
Biblical Accuracy and Sound Doctrine.
Jesus is described as the author and perfecter, or finisher,
of our faith in Hebrews 12:2. An author is an originator
or creator, as of a theory or plan.
The Greek word translated “author” in Hebrews 12:2
can also mean
“captain,” “chief leader” or “prince.”
Acts 3:15 uses the same word
: “And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses” (KJV), while the NIV and ESV
use the word “author” instead of “prince.”
From this we can deduce that Christ is the originator of our faith
in that He begins it,
as well as the captain and prince or our faith.
This indicates that Jesus controls our faith,
steers it as a captain steers a ship,
and presides over it and cares for it as a monarch presides
over and cares for his people.
The Greek word translated “perfecter” in Hebrews 12:2 appears
only this one time in the New Testament.
It means literally “completer” or “finisher” and speaks of
bringing something to its conclusion.
Putting the two words together, we see that Jesus, as God,
both creates and sustains our faith.
We know that saving faith is a gift from God, not something
we come up with on our own (Ephesians 2:8-9),
and that gift comes from Christ, its creator.
He is also the sustainer of our faith, meaning that
true saving faith
cannot be lost, taken away or given away. This is a source of
great comfort to believers, especially in times of doubt and spiritual struggles.
Christ has created our faith
and
He will watch over it, care for it, and sustain it.
It is important for us to understand that God in Christ
is not only the creator and sustainer of our saving faith,
but He is also the sustainer of our daily walk
and the
finisher of our spiritual
journey
For if God in Christ is not the author of our
new life,
and if Christ is not the finisher and perfecter of our faith
through the
Holy Spirit’s indwelling power,
then we are neither born again nor are we a
true
follower of Christ
And I am sure of this, that he who began a
good work in you
will bring it to completion
at the day
of
Jesus Christ
In him you also,
when YOU heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
and believed in him,
were
sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the
guarantee of our inheritance
until we
acquire possession of it,
to the
praise of his glory”
(Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 1:13-14).
Let us encourage one another—and all the more as
you see the Day approaching.
If we hope to grow spiritually and endure for the long haul,
we need our
brothers and sisters in Christ for encouragement.
The writer of Hebrews observed that many of his readers who professed to be Christians were throwing away their trust in the Lord (Hebrews 10:35).
Persecution and hardship may have led some
to give up meeting together The solution
was to start meeting together again
Regular, real-life, day-to-day fellowship with other Christians
is an essential component of Christian growth and perseverance.
If we, like the writer of Hebrews, live with the
expectation that the day of Christ’s return is soon,
we’ll grasp the importance of spurring one another
on in our walk of faith.
But if we give up meeting together,
how can we expect to give support and receive encouragement?
The richness of community among first-century believers provides a worthy model for Christians today. These early believers were devoted to meeting daily in their homes for teaching, fellowship, worship, eating meals, sharing in the Lord’s Supper, and praying together (Acts 2:42).
“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
They broke bread in their homes and ate together
with glad and sincere hearts”
(Acts 2:46).
Besides gathering in smaller home groups, the
book of Acts confirms that the early believers came together
for larger corporate meetings (Acts 2:44).
Their commitment to one another was so profound
that they pooled their resources and shared
what they had with those in need
(Acts 2:44–45).
A spirit of mutual consideration and cooperation permeated the early church: “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. . . . There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need” (Acts 4:32–35, NLT). Coming together to care for one another was the prevailing attitude among believers in these early gatherings (1 Peter 1:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:9).
Christians ought not to give up meeting together because we form one family—God’s family, or the “household of faith” (Ephesians 2:19; 1 Timothy 3:15; Galatians 6:10). As members of God’s household, believers are to show love for one another, hospitality, tenderness, compassion, and humility (Hebrews 13:1–2: Philippians 2:1–3).
To the believers in Philippi, Paul stated, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4, ESV). God calls Christians to look out for their brothers and sisters in Christ. It is not just for our own good, but for the strengthening and building up of the whole body of Christ that Scripture tells us, “Do not give up meeting together.”
God has given the members of His body spiritual gifts
“for the common good”
(1 Corinthians 12:1–11).
These gifts are to be used for the
edification of the church
“to equip his people for works of service, so that
the
body of Christ may be built up
until
we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge
of the Son of God
and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of
the
fullness of Christ”
(Ephesians 4:12–13).
We can only reach our full potential as believers
when we allow God to mature us through
fellowship within His body, with
Christ as the head
(Ephesians 4:14–15).
Paul compared the church to the human body, explaining,
“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’
And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’”
(1 Corinthians 12:21).
Every member of the body of Christ
-God’s family-
Is essential and valuable.
Through Christ, God puts believers together
“like living stones”
to be "built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood” with
Jesus as the foundation stone
(1 Peter 2:5–6).
Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Here the writer to the Hebrews exhorts all who profess faith in Jesus Christ, the “author and perfecter of our faith” (v. 2), to do two things. First, we are to remove or put off any burden that keeps us from Christ-likeness, especially sin because sin ensnares us and keeps us in bondage to itself. Second, we are to persevere, patiently enduring all things until we grow and mature in the faith. James reminds us that trials serve to strengthen our faith and bring us to maturity (James 1:2-3). Hebrews 12:1 is reminding us to persevere through those trials, knowing that, by God’s faithfulness, we won’t be overwhelmed by them
(1 Corinthians 10:13).
So who are the “cloud of witnesses,” and how is it they “surround” us? To understand this, we need to look at the previous chapter, as evidenced by the word therefore beginning chapter 12. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of the Old Testament believers looked forward with faith to the coming of the Messiah. The author of Hebrews illustrates this eloquently in chapter 11 and then ends the chapter by telling us that the forefathers had faith to guide and direct them, but God had something better planned. Then he begins chapter 12 with a reference to these faithful men and women who
paved the way for us. What the Old Testament believers
looked forward to in faith—the Messiah—we look back to,
having seen the fulfillment of all the prophecies
concerning His first and second comings
We are surrounded by the saints of the past in a unique way.
It’s not that the faithful who have gone before us
are spectators to the race we run.
Rather, it is a figurative representation and means that we ought to act as if they were in sight and cheering us on to the same victory in the life of faith that they obtained. We are to be inspired by the godly examples these saints set during their lives. These are those whose past lives of faith encourage others to live that way, too. That the cloud is referred to as “great” indicates that millions of believers have gone before us, each
bearing witness to the life of faith we now live.
And that is exactly the point Im making about
morality on atheism--
it’s an illusion,
a set of assertions without justification.
And this is because there is no ontological basis for it.
Nothing “out there” on atheism makes it the case that some actions
are really right, and some really wrong.
To support this point, I quoted a number of thinkers saying essentially the same thing.
• “In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, and other people are going to get lucky; and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, No evil and no good; nothing but blind pitiless indifference.”
– Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life.
• “The central question about moral and ethical principles concerns their ontological foundation. If they are neither derived from God nor anchored in some transcendent ground, they are purely ephemeral.”
– Paul Kurtz, Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of Secularism, p. 65.
• “If there is no single moral authority we have to in some sense ‘create’ values for ourselves … [and] that means that moral claims are not true or false… you may disagree with me but you cannot say I have made a factual error.”
– Julian Baggini, Atheism: A Very Short Introduction, pp.41-51.
To these we could add Michael Ruse and E. O. Wilson: “In an important sense, ethics as we understand it is an illusion fobbed off on us by our genes to get us to cooperate. It is without external grounding. Ethics is produced by evolution but is not justified by it because, like Macbeth’s dagger, it serves a powerful purpose without existing in substance. . . . Unlike Macbeth’s dagger, ethics is a shared illusion of the human race.” “The Evolution of Ethics,” in Philosophy of Biology, ed. Michael Ruse (New York: Macmillan, 1989), 316.
These atheist thinkers are exactly right—on atheism,
there literally is no right and wrong; thus, any moral judgment
is nothing more than a matter of opinion
(whether one person’s or most of the world’s population).
Yet, one of our deepest intuitions as human beings
is that some things really are good and some evil.
As humans, we truly apprehend an immaterial realm of
moral truths.
This is because we are made in God’s image, and have
been created with the proper faculties to discern good and evil.
Thus, objective morality fits well with a theistic worldview,
but finds no place in an atheistic worldview.
Christian theism explains our moral experience, but atheism can’t.
Holy War in the Bible: Christian Morality and an Old Testament Problem
The challenge of a seemingly genocidal God who commands ruthless warfare has bewildered Bible readers for generations. The theme of divine war is not limited to the Old Testament historical books, however. It is also prevalent in the prophets and wisdom literature as well. Still it doesn’t stop. The New Testament book of Revelation, too, is full of such imagery.
Our questions multiply.
- Why does God apparently tell Joshua to wipe out whole cities, tribes or nations?
- Is this yet another example of dogmatic religious conviction breeding violence?
- Did these texts help inspire or justify the Crusades?
- What impact do they have on Christian morality and just war theories today?
- How does divine warfare fit with Christ’s call to “turn the other cheek”?
- Why does Paul employ warfare imagery in his letters?
- Do these texts warrant questioning the overall trustworthiness of the Bible?
These controversial yet theologically vital issues call for thorough interpretation, especially given a long history of misinterpretation and misappropriaton of these texts. This book does more, however. A range of expert contributors engage in a multidisciplinary approach that considers the issue from a variety of perspectives: biblical, ethical, philosophical and theological. While the writers recognize that such a difficult and delicate topic cannot be resolved in a simplistic manner, the different threads of this book weave together a satisfying tapestry. Ultimately we find in the overarching biblical narrative a picture of divine redemption that shows the place of divine war in the salvific movement of God.
In the last days
Jesus predicted coming pestilences
(Matthew 24),
this worldwide pandemic is clearly this
God is using this virus with a three-fold purpose:
(1) Revival
(2) Awakening and
(3) Outpouring.
Outpouring points out how much the church
needs the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Having the Holy Spirit on the inside,
we can stand any kind of battle on the outside.
God is faithful to His promise:
“I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28).
The Holy Spirit will be poured out “on all flesh”
referring to all believers.
God will pour out His Spirit in abundant measure,
an overflowing supply.
Joel 2:28; Isaiah 32:15; Ezekiel 39:29; Zechariah 12:10; John 7:39
The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit
And it shall come to pass afterward,
that i will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
And I will not
hide my face anymore from them,
when i pour out my Spirit upon
the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”
Him Whom They Have Pierced
“And i will pour out on the house of David
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
a spirit-of grace and pleas for mercy,
so that, when they look on me,
on him whom they have pierced,
they shall mourn for him, as one
mourns for an only child,
and weep bitterly over him,
as one weeps over a
firstborn.
Now this he said about the
Spirit,
whom those who believed in him
were to-receive,
for as yet the Spirit had not been given,
because Jesus was not yet
glorified.
Keep in step with the Holy Spirit
Every believer and member of the body has a purposeful, uniquely designed function. Whether near or far,God places individuals in our pathways to complete the work of Christ and fulfill his call to the great commission of universal redemption. We are united in Spirit, we are one in mind and soul in the body of Christ. Us believers are forever and eternally bonded in reverence and love for Christ our Lord.
Every day in these last days, it is very evident that the Body of Christ both near, far, and around the world are increasingly uniting in the spirit, aligning together under his will and call.
Be wise in the full doctrine of truth
and follow
wise counsel so that you are fully equipped to
keep in line
with the Spirit of Prophecy, wisdom, and revelation.
After SEEING A VISION so great,
we know the cloud of witnesses are interceding for us around the globe. And for the gospel, I have no fear.
I now know clearly that,
The entire heaven and the so great a cloud of witnesses are all watching, focusing, interceding, calling me by name, for me to finish my course. there is nothing I cannot do on this earth and nothing can stop me.
To all God called servants I tell you this,
The entire heaven is focusing on you. The so great a cloud of witnesses is here with us, surrounding us, looking upon us and interceding for us. For the gospel, there is nothing you cannot do on this earth.
Stand strong, confidently, be bold and match forward; accomplish your course. Fear nothing fear no one. Nothing can stop you; neither Satan nor man nor animals nor death.
For those God called servants who have fallen away from their course, repent and come back to your course to finish the race.
The entire heaven from the throne is looking upon us all God called servants on this earth now, to witness Jesus Christ to the world, carry the great commission (Mk 16:15) and to finish our course.
All those in heaven, the great cloud of witnesses, have all finished their courses and won. For the gospel, they are looking upon us, all God called servants on earth now.
Heb 12:1-3: Therefore seeing we also are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, let you be wearied and faint in your souls.
At the end of your course, I want you to say like Paul,
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith
(2 Tim 4:7)
God is with you and the entire heaven including the
so great a cloud of witnesses
is surrounding you and interceding for you.
Go you into all the world,
and
preach the gospel to every creature
My prayer
is that the body of believers works in unity,
ever present in the voice and will of the spirit,
to bring about restoration and deliverance
to a lost, hurting, broken world.
I pray for physical and spiritual strength
by the renewing of our minds in Christ
that all believers hold fast to the faith,
preserver through tribulation, and
keep focus on ANew Creation,
The New Jerusalem in our Messiah
'For the
Restoration and Peace on Earth .