Port St Lucie Church of Christ

It Cost to Be Free Part 6

joewilson — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:00:52 +0000

Legend has it that Jude was possibly martyred with Simon in Persia. For some reason the Roman Catholics invoked Jude in desperate situations until they decided to remove all the saint-relics and prayers to him. Again, Jude is NOT Judas Iscariot who betrayed Our Lord and despaired because of his great sin and lack of trust in God’s sacrifice. It cost to be free!
Bartholomew is the apostle also called Nathanael, a native of Galilee described in John 1:45-51. Tradition tells us he preached the gospel in India (probably more accurately Arabia), where he left behind a copy in Hebrew of the Gospel of Matthew. He is said to have been flayed alive, there. It cost to be free!
Simon, the Cananaean is wrongly thought to have been from Cana or Canaan. Kananaios, is a transliterated word from an Aramaic word, quan’ anaya, which means “the zealot”. Zealots were a Jewish nationalistic party before AD 70 of whom Peter was a member, who swore on the head of their oldest son to deliver Israel from Roman bondage. He is to have preached the Gospel in Egypt before joining the Apostle Thaddaeus, (Judas), in Persia, where, according to legend, he was martyred by being cut in half with a saw. It cost to be free!!
Thomas, called Didymus was the Apostle that missed a very important worship service one Sunday evening. Thomas, Hebrew or Aramaic for “twin” was called Didymus, also a Greek word for “twin”. It was Thomas who refused to believe the Risen Lord had appeared to the other apostles on the evening of His resurrection. The next Sunday evening, Thomas was present when Jesus entered to room. Thomas had been the only apostle who “stood up” for Christ when He was delaying to go to Jerusalem after the death of Lazarus. John 11:16 Faith did not seem to be a problem with Thomas. When Christ asked him to “Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing”. Thomas cried “My Lord and My God”. John 20:19-29 Because of this episode, he has been known ever since as “Doubting Thomas” which seems to me unfair when he alone, wanted to go with Jesus to Jerusalem when the Lord’s life was in danger there!! John 11:7-8,16 If Thomas was pessimistic, he was also loyal.
At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “I go to prepare a place for you…and whither I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas replied: “Lord, we know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way?” To this Jesus answered: “I Am the way, the truth and the life.” John 14:1-6 Thomas is again mentioned as one of the seven disciples who were fishing on the Sea of Tiberius when the Risen Lord appeared to them. John 21:2 History records Thomas was speared to death in India. It cost to be free!!

The Last Week of Jesus Life Part 2

joewilson — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:37 +0000

The last battle Jesus fought on this earth was advanced by Him, not Satan. He laid down His garment of the Lamb Slain and had taken up His mantle as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!! Revelation 5:5 The war God had returned to heaven, assembled His forces, addressed His commander in chief, and attacked in the city of His death, where it seemed as if He had been finished.
Armageddon was the day of trouble or distress of a rushing assembly (as troops into an excited crowd, a mob violence) to kill their King on a mountain. Revelation 8:8, 17:15;Jeremiah 51:25-45; Genesis 22:11-14 This was not just a battle, conquest, or victory; this is the greatest battle ever fought, the greatest victory ever won!! Christ had fought Satan in life as a lamb, using prayer; His greatest weapon was love, not a sword. He had fought suffering for others, not destroying others. Matthew 20:28 This was the day the Son of God poured out His soul unto death. Isaiah 53:12 He carried the battle to Hades when the Lion of the tribe of Judah advanced His forces to the outskirts of Satan’s throne room. While on earth, Christ had fought against the Herods (7 of them who were the heads of the beast/government Israel), the Caesars (10 of them who had given Israel power to rule by proxy); now He with 72,000 mighty angels was at the outskirts of Satan’s throne. Revelation 12:9 Christ had come to get what belonged to Him!! He entered the strong man’s house, Matthew 12:29, destroyed Satan’s power that had restrained His servants (separated from His love because NO sacrifice had been offered to satisfy the demands of the eternal Godhead. Hebrews 10:5-10; Matthew 16:18. Satan had had the power of death, Hebrews 2:14, and the time of his reign had ended, Revelation 1:18. Christ had now been made perfect. Hebrews 5:8-9 “It is finished,” Greek word teleo-it is accomplished, the goal has been reached, He cried, warning Satan He was on His way!! By the suffering of death, for the first time an offering was made to God, the Father which would give Him amnesia and man amnesty, Hebrews 8:12, so the souls of all men AND they in prison (under the rule and power of Satan) could ascend when Christ ascended from this place. Matthew 27:52. Satan had bruised Christ head (had caused Him to be put to death) now Christ had stung Satan’s heel (taken from Satan the power of death) 1John 3:8; Matthew 16:18. This is the reason Christ cried out with a LOUD voice; “it is finished”!! John 19:30; Revelation 16:17.Acts 13:25-35
They had fought against God, nailed God to the cross, mocked God in the flesh, laid Him in the tomb, and sealed it tightly. They rejoiced and sent gifts one to the other. Revelation 11:10 They thought they had won. While they relished in their victory Christ had conquered death, hell and the grave, cast the old serpent, Satan, off his throne to roam on the earth until His Second Coming, led captivity captive (taken they who belonged to Him to the Paradise in the third heaven), and had given gifts (miraculously to the apostles and they on whom they laid hands) to men!! While they gloated over His death that had occurred on earth He ascended upon high, sat down at the right hand of the Father, purged our sins, expecting to rule until His enemies be made His footstool-WHO WON THIS BATTLE? The answer came on the day of Pentecost when the commander in chief of God’s Army, the honorable Holy Spirit, came in miraculous form on 12 unlearned and ignorant Galileans who spoke in 17 different languages to thousands in the city of Jerusalem, the year, A D 33; and invited them to be ransomed (by the blood of Christ) which they cold meet when baptized for the remission of sins to the first “marriage supper of the Lamb, for His bride had made herself ready.” Revelation 19:7; Acts 2:42; Matthew 22:1-13; Romans 7:4 ETERNITY HAD PLANNED, PREPARED, AND WAITED FOR ‘THE DAY OF THE LORD,’ all the prophets from Samuel and all that had spoken had prophesied of these days, Acts 3:24, Christ had spent 40 days telling His chosen apostles it was coming to Jerusalem,
this truly was “the day, which the Lord had made.” Truly, we can rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:25 This truly is the day of battle of God, the Almighty!! “And there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” Revelation 16:17-21 “He had born our sins in His own body on the tree.” 1 Peter 2:22-24 “All the reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell upon Me.” Romans 15:3 “God saw the travail of His soul and was satisfied.” Isaiah 53:11 Thanks be unto God who gives us all things, in Christ.

It Cost to Be Free Part 5

joewilson — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:00:59 +0000

Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of James the Less, and a relative of our Lord. Ancient writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Lydia. According to Eusebius, he returned to Jerusalem in the year 62 AD, and assisted the election of his brother, Simeon, as the leader of the church of Jerusalem. He is an author of an epistle to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Nicolatians and Gnostics. This apostle is said to have suffered martyrdom in Armenia, which was then subject to Persia. The final conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity did not take place until the third Century, history records. Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world.
Little is known of his life. Legend claims that he visited Beirut and Edessa; possibly martyred with Simon in Persia. Jude is the apostle whom the Catholics invoke in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stressed faithfulness as necessary to inherit eternal life. Jude is NOT the same man as Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Our Lord and despaired because of his great sin and lack of trust in God’s mercy. It cost!!
James, was the half-brother of the Lord, some confuse him with a cousin of Jesus. He is the author, as directed by the Holy Spirit, of the book that bears his name. Of all the pious men of holy character, James is the one who, according to the saints of the first century, stands out the most!! It was James and his brothers who persuaded Mary to publicly embarrass the Lord during His earthly ministry, (Matthew 12:46-50, 13:55-56). James and others tried to push the Lord off the pinnacle of the hill in Nazareth when the Lord went by on a Sabbath day. (Luke 4:16-30, Luke 6:1-6, Matthew 13:53-58). James and his brethren mocked the Lord in John 7 when Christ did not want to go to the Feast of Tabernacles. It is James as Paul records was visited personally by Christ after His resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:7 The historical account of his death has James thrown off the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was James who had those obviously strange knees so calloused, they were said to look like the knees of a camel (because he spent so much time on his knees in prayer). James was the managing brother of the only council held under the auspices of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem (Acts 15). It was James who advised Paul to take the pledge of the Nazarite in Acts 21. It cost to be free!!
James, the greater was distinguished as being in Jesus’ innermost circle and the only apostle whose martyrdom is recorded in the book of Acts, Acts 12: 2. James and his younger brother, the apostle John, are designated Boanerges (from the Greek which meant thunder), see Mark 3:17. He and John had such violent tempers they were constantly involved with what their tempers meted out. Some, knowing the violence of men with this malady mocked them just to see them put on a display of their tempers. With Peter and Andrew, James and John were the first four disciples, whom Jesus called, see Mark 1:16-19. It was believed that is James who asked the question, “tell us, when will this (the end of the Jewish age), be?” Mark 13:1 As a member of the inner circle, James witnessed the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37, Luke 8:51), the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2, Matthew 17), and Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33, Matthew 26:37). The mother of James and John asked Jesus to let them sit, one at right and the other on the left hand when Jesus came into His Kingdom (Matthew 20:20-23, Mark 10:35-45), a favor Christ was not able to grant. James was beheaded by order of King Herod Agrippa I of Judea. It cost to be free!!

The Last Week of Jesus Life

joewilson — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:00:41 +0000

From John 12:1, we learn that Jesus came to Bethany six days before the Passover. Bethany was the home village of a very infamous family whom Jesus had befriended. It was the home of Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and Simon the Leper. Little is known of the other village mentioned by Matthew, Mark, and
Luke as being on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, Bethany was situated on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives about two miles from Jerusalem. It seems that Jesus arrived in Bethany late on the day we call Friday and spent the Sabbath in the home of His friends. During the week now about to begin, Jesus spent the nights in Bethany. Jesus entry into Jerusalem is recorded by all four gospels, but only Matthew, Mark, and Luke give details of His preparation for this fantastic event. Jesus reached Bethany six days before the Passover. He had an appointment with God!!
On Sunday, as is generally understood, He made His so called triumphal entry into Jerusalem. On Monday He cleansed the temple; on Tuesday His call came, the hour had come!!. John 12:23 This was the week of weeks, the week man was going to kill his God! It was also the week of the greatest story that would ever be told. 2 Corinthians 4:7 The same week pictured in Revelation 16:16-21, “when men gathered together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon.” Armageddon in Hebrew is composed of two words; har which means a mountain or hill and mcgiddow (spelled migiddio), to gnash with mob violence. It was the day man in mob violence rose up against his God!! This mountain was first introduced to us as Mt. Moriah, where Abraham was going to offer Isaac whom God refused, showing us the picture of Christ as a ram caught in a thicket (wearing a crown of thorns). Genesis 22: 13
Chapter 12 of Revelation tells of the battle fought at the birth of Jesus. This was not His earthly birth, This was the birth that gave Him life from the dead. He became the firstborn from the dead, Colossians 1:18, from this birth Christ is caught up to God and to His throne to rule all nations with the rod of iron. Revelation 12:5 Paul relates “that the resurrection of Christ was the time Christ was begotten of God” and confirms it with a prophecy from David. Acts 13:27 Christ could now enter Hades and take away the keys of hell and death from Satan, bind Satan (the strong man, Matthew 12:29) so He could take those who were His (called captivity captive, Ephesians 4:4) and give “gifts to men” (baptize the apostles in the Holy Spirit-Acts 1:4-8). He had to complete the victory against Satan, destroy his power over death (Hebrews 2:14) so His statement to Peter in Matthew 16:18, “the gates of hell shall not prevail (separate) against it (the Church of Christ)” would be factual!! Christ bruised the head of the devil, He did not destroy him, what He destroyed was the power of death Satan had held because man had sinned and no sacrifice had ever been offered that would allow God to overlook sin, just roll it ahead. Satan was cast out to the earth in this war “going about seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 When Christ hanged upon the cross, He became our “antihistemi”-stand-in. “The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell upon Me.” Romans 15:3, Psalms 69:9. The greatest of all days had come, “the day of The Lord” Acts 2:20 THIS is/was the “day that the Lord had made, Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” The conquest of this day gave Christ the greatest power in heaven and on earth, it secured the greatest salvation, and brought to our planet the commander of the ARMY of the great Jehovah, the Holy Spirit, that began the invasion of the Church of Christ!! With the Holy Spirit came the Church of Christ, readily identifiable by their number (Revelation 7:4), their names written on their foreheads (according to the promise given to the Church of Christ at Philadelphia (Revelation 3:12), and the accompaniment of harpers playing their harps (praying their prayers, Revelation 5:8-9) We do not need to be told the meaning of the new song, for we have heard it twice before, once sung by the heavenly angels to celebrate the victory of the Lamb, and once sung by the conquerors themselves in the proleptic vision in which they appeared with the palms of victory that could-not yet to be sung.Revelation 7:9 The song, no man could learn except the redeemed. (We will study more on this, later,)
During His ministry Jesus avoided Jerusalem, now He “set His face toward Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51 It was time for Him to die!! He had come to purchase the “pearl of great price.” Matthew 13:46

It Cost to Be Free Part 4

joewilson — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:00:46 +0000

Have you ever wondered how the Church started in Russia? How did the Church in the eastern part of Europe get so large and why was it so numerically strong?
According to ecclesiastical tradition, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter began his missionary activity in the Provinces of Vithynia and Pontus on the southern shores of the Black Sea. Later he journeyed to the City of Byzantium and founded the Church of Christ there where he ordained the elders and appointed evangelists. Here, he was said to have found Stachys, on of the 70 whom our Lord sent out on the limited commission.
After Pentecost, Andrew taught in Byzantium, Thrace, and Russia. He converted the Jews in the temples, baptized them, and healed their sick, built churches, and left there preachers of the gospel on whom he laid hands. It is said Andrew foretold of the greatness of Kiev as a city and stronghold of Christianity. One thing is for sure, where ever Andrew started the Church no place was found for the Islamic religion which began some 500 years, later. It is legend that on one of his missionary journeys to Greece, Andrew visited the City of Patras. Here, by the preaching of the gospel and the miracles of healing her performed, in the name of Jesus, he healed Maxmilla, the wife of the Roman Proconsul, Aegeates. Seeing this miracle of healing and hearing the gospel, one Stratoklis, the highly intellectual brother of the Proconsul, also was baptized into Christ and it was Aegeates that Andrew laid hands on and made him the first preacher of the gospel in that area.
The life of Andrew touched the life of Matthias, one of the twelve who, in Sinope was imprisoned for preaching the gospel. Andrew interceded for Matthias in prayer and (according to legend) the chains fell from him and the cell door opened which held him captive.) Because of this great deed, the people beat Andrew, breaking out his teeth, cutting his fingers, and left him for dead in a dung heap. Accordingly, when he arose the next day and went into the city, people were amazed and believed his message concerning Jesus, the Messiah.
When the afore-mentioned Aegeates heard his own family were members of this NEW religion, with the urging of the idolaters in his court, he decided to crucify Andrew. The crucifixion was carried out on an X-shaped cross with the body of the Apostle upside down so that he saw neither the earth nor his executioners, but only the sky which he glorified as the heaven in which he would meet his Lord. Aegeates had him tied to the cross in this X-shaped-manner so that he could live longer and suffer more. It is believed that some 20,000 of the faithful followers of Christ stood by and mourned and as they watched, Andrew preached to them the gospel of Christ. Out of fear of the people, Aegeates came to remove Andrew from the cross, Andrew, began to entreat Aegeates to become a follower of the risen Savior. His body was tenderly removed from tree by Stratoklis and Maximilla and buried with the entire honor befitting the Apostle. Soon after the death of Andrew a demon fell upon Aegeates and tormented him so powerfully that he committed suicide. In 357 AD Constantine (son of Constantine the great) ordered the body of Andrew removed from Patras and interned in the Church of the Apostles of Christ at Constantinople. He was in life what he lived so purely that his death kept alive for many centuries the great Church of Christ of Constantinople. (It is here, in this building, we find relics of Luke and Timothy, also).
The deeds and preaching of Andrew became known in all parts of the world. He is the patron saint of Russia, Scotland, and Romania to this day.

What Did Adam Do? Part 51 – Last One!

joewilson — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:42 +0000

To be taught that “perfection would create imperfection” is the final argument in this series. God did not make a mistake in purpose, judgment, or wisdom! For someone to teach He did is to align themselves with atheism! Inborn sin is such an alignment. All things that pertain to Deity describe perfection is its most valid description. Help me find out in the following discussion just where God made a mistake in wisdom, purpose, or creation!
God put the Garden in Eden, it did not grow there by luck, its rivers and beauty just did not come about, or was not beautiful beyond description by mistake! God made Adam as Adam and Eve so when He operated on Adam all men would understand He would have had a purpose in making Adam this way. Eve was not a mistake in God’s judgment!! Adam and Eve were commanded to “multiply and replenish the earth” long before Eve, who was seduced by Satan, seduced Adam; and he ate. Child birth did not come about 9 months after Adam ate the forbidden fruit!! Eve would have had no way to understand the change announced in childbirth if it had not before Adam’s sin been different. Childbirth is no course change made because of an opps!! It was no mistake that the forbidden fruit was beautiful, looked delicious, and met the requirements for “making one as wise as God,” instead of hideous looking, smelly, and startling to behold. God made the fruit before He made Adam, before Adam became Adam and Eve, made it to satisfy the requirement Satan dramatized to Eve! Have we found something done accidental, yet? Choice was not a mistake, God was not looking for a challenge when Adam ate the fruit, He had, before the creation of the world married Christ to His Church, perfected the plan of salvation, which includes the new birth patterned after physical childbirth as a means of bring Christ into the world to save mankind!! We could go on and on but nothing made by perfection has the least hint of surprise, course change, or God being caught off guard!!
And NO, no man or woman was MADE against their will, desire, or intelligence to be a ploy for God—that is Satan’s trick–when God’s wisdom is so much superior to man’s intelligence, mand can not be expected to comprehend what God was doing until man could be developed to comprehend God’s “mystery”!! Everything happened exactly as God in His wisdom planned it!! Eve, remember was the one who worked on Adam, not God! The first sacrifice was not a mistake, it was “according to plan.” God killed something that was alive to clothe Adam and Eve, leaves (something of or from the earth) were shown never enough for God, the Father. The pattern was set, immediately. That sacrifice of the innocent for the guilty was the process of salvation showing Christ WOULD (again, by His choice) DIE so His blood, being fore pictured in the sacrifice, would be the ONLY thing that could COVER man’s sin! Have we found yet where Satan “pulled the wool over God’s eyes or bested our Maker”?? Inborn sin is man’s given explanation which makes God equal to man. For man made religion creeds and catechisms, teach their aspirants–God too can make mistakes!! This is their doctrine(s), they all teach it. Sure, opportunity abounded in every incident to change what actually took place. God NEVER staged these incidents to take place. Just because God’s wisdom and intelligence is so much more advanced than man’s, man freely acting in concert to what God beforehand KNEW, does not make God the author of man’s sin!! Man is just not smart enough to catch on without God getting on the level (as far as God’s intelligence is concerned, Isaiah 45:8) of a moron to explain to man what and how man violated the most precious of confidences. Yes, and at the moment man sinned, God could announce the solution to man’s problem that would happen some 5,000 years (years had not even happened, yet) beyond this most horrible incident!!
Some quote Jeremiah 32:35; “I commanded them not, neither came it into My mind…” as proof that God did not KNOW all things. There are some things God, I am sure, does not understand. One, is why you question Him, He has never been wrong. His prophecies all come to pass EXACTLY as He had recorded. When your Mind and Wisdom is so far greater than they with whom you deal, so that God in His PLAN has the solution to such hideousness that His mind would not, NOT could not comprehend, because His mind does not go to such depths, and still amply covers the depths of man’s depravity, how can you question what He knows or does not know??

It Cost to Be Free Part 3

joewilson — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:00:04 +0000

Did he ever win his family to Christ? Were he and his mother close? What relationship did he have with his father? Was he married? Was his wife a Christian? Did he and his wife ever have children? What was his interest other than preaching Christ and Him crucified? Was Timothy a replacement for the son he never had? We know he had at least one sister, did he have a brother? How could a man write at least two-thirds of the New Testament and we not know any more about him, personally, than we do? Did any other man ever have the zeal for the Law of Moses as did Paul, or was his zeal for the Jew and the Jewish people? It is as interesting what we DO know about him as what we do not. The great apostle Paul lost his life in Rome on the Apian Way as the bust of Simon Magus looked down on him. He was beheaded, it cost to be free!!
Most references in the New Testament to Andrew simply include him on a list of the Twelve Apostles, or group him with his brother, Simon Peter. But he appears acting as an individual tree times in the gospel of John. One, when the Gentile Greeks or Greek speaking Jews wished to speak to Jesus. (It has always been interesting to me that Simon Peter’s brother had a Greek name, Andrew. In fact Andrew and Philip were Greek names). The Greeks approached their dilemma by asking Philip, who tells Andrew. Both Philip and Andrew approach the Lord. This had singular importance for by this Christ knew His death was imminent, see John 12:22-23. Again, it was Andrew who found the lad with five loaves and two fishes! see John 6:8. Finally, it was Andrew who brought his brother, Simon Peter, to meet the Lord. On each occasion where he is mentioned as an individual, Andrew, obeys the Lord. It seems to be less likely Simon Peter would change his mode of action/reaction at any other occasion.
As Peter was well known and loved in Western Europe so Andrew was in Eastern Europe. In fact we are told that some of his relics were brought by a missionary named Rule to Scotland, to a place called Rife, but now is known as St. Andrew’s (best known as the site of a world-famous golf course and club in England). When Constantine established Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire, replacing Rome, the bishop of Byzantium, Andrew became very popular. (There were five sees (bishoprics) in the early part of the second century. They were Rome, Alexandria, Egypt, Jerusalem, and Constantinople). Now, the congregation at Rome claimed the two most famous apostles, Peter and Paul, as founders. Alexandria, Egypt claimed Mark as its founder. Mark had gone to Alexandria after the death of Peter and started the Church of Christ, there! Since Mark, who had been Peter’s scribe and assistant, and had written the letter of Mark as Peter dictated it, was the founder of the work in Alexandria, Egypt, it left Constantinople without ANY apostle in its history . It would seem to me that Mark should have been the man to inherit Peter’s authority as Pope, especially since he was the scribe for the book of Mark and I and II Peter, AND, was the last assistant of the apostle Paul, but that would leave out Rome and they could not have that!! Constantinople responded to the shame of its lack-luster church father by drafting Andrew, Peter’s brother. Andrew is the national saint of Scotland.
Andrew was at first a disciple of John, the Baptist. He is called Protokletos (the first called) because he was the first apostle to be summoned by Jesus into His service. Andrew and Peter made their livings as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. By the second century Peter symbolically came to represent the Church of the West, Andrew, the Church of the East.

What Did Adam Do? Part 50

joewilson — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:00:40 +0000

It is because of ignorance concerning what the nature of those called God entails, for man to entertain the false notion called “inborn sin.” For any to think one man or millions of men could have changed the plan “from before the beginning of all things!!” demands man humanizing God. And man-made religion is intent on trying to make God the same as man. For man does not know the end from the beginning. nor are any of our plans without flaw. Acts 15:18;Romans 3:3 We diminish the greatness and overlook the purpose for the origin of our species by not realizing the great God who made us had a plan BEFORE anything began. It is man who goes to war before “counting the cost”! Luke 14:28 One true text is not often realized: “from the beginning it was not so!” Matthew 19:8
When God/Christ created man, He was not running a scientific experiment, He was not practicing, nor was He playing out a hunch. There was no gaming in His creation nor trial and error! What He began He intended to complete!! Christ did not just HOPE He could best Satan, He that created Satan knew what Satan did not nor could not know. This tenant of atheism was never considered or entertained as possible until man began to humanize they who bore the nature called God!! You see, God cannot fail, He cannot not know, He cannot even consider failure. The realization of this truth is a “game changer” while the assumption of the opposite supposition allows one “ever to learn but never to NEVER arrive at the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:7 God committed Christ to die before there was death, knew Christ would be virgin born of Mary before there was woman, planned Calvary before there were trees, perfected His plan of procreation before there was creation, thoroughly completed His “mystery” before there was a planet, confirmed the plan of salvation before there was sin, and married the Church of Christ before there was humanity-nothing was or is a surprise, nothing caused Him to change His plan in the middle of the stream, and no one that was mortal could change the Immortals!! The very premise of inborn sin denies the deity of God demanding Him human!!
Denominationalism is happy with “inborn sin” because man could not conceive of immortality. Man’s length of existence denies him the very concept of endlessness. With man, even under controlled circumstances, cannot bring to perfection a plan. More especially, allowing those who are involved, choice!! Man could not conceive of Law, is is opposite his nature; all man knows is desire, and that someone other than man has to fulfill it!! Concepts so far beyond our abilities could NEVER consider with our abilities that we could alter, stop, or amend They who had no possibility of sin!! Man had to even be taught that there was such a thing as sin, that it would separate man from God, and that it is apart of our nature, only. When MAN taught his principles, some atheist devised a Law from the study of God’s inferior species. Which species, created by God needs NO punishment (another interesting concept) to help them do what is best for their species? God is too far and wonderful and so beyond our species that man who tired of finding Him among his own was revealed His Will and majesty-then translated into written and verbal institutions devised by the God who created man so man could hopefully please Him!! Not only did God plead with man through the offices of prophets of old time, He finally had to remember man whom He had created, by sending one of His nature to die so He could establish justice! Romans 3:25 So, God declared sin, then had to reveal a Law to define sin, and man, whom He had created, denied God’s discipline writing creeds and manuals to govern themselves, these showing man a copy cat, instead of a creator!! Finally, man is his eloquence and blithering wisdom devised false theories, calling one of them evolution, which further insulted the magnificence of a mind man could not enjoy, only fear. Isaiah 45:7-8
Creation, then was not the undoing of God’s Will, it is the expression of the same! Man, who was but one part of this great scheme called creation, could never be expected to alter nor eradicate this work of perfection. Adam would never be thought or considered to have changed, challenged, or derailed the work God, who performed this act of creation without the consent of the created, demanded without conscience (another interesting concept not devised by man). Creation is the work of another type of species. This Being, gave us what is called life (not yet understood). Man neither devised, created, nor consented to life. Man strives, only at his best, to obey this “mystery”!

It Cost to Be Free Part 2

joewilson — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:00:06 +0000

If there are “witnesses” alive, today, being “witnesses” they soon will not be!! The apostles were said to be the “witnesses” Jesus would send to the world. The Apostles went as commanded and as told them they all gave their lives for the cause of Christ!! This again separates the Church of Christ from all other religious bodies; no other religious institution has had ALL their original members give their lives in defense of the church of which they were the organizers!! We will begin a study of those who paid the debt showing It Cost to Be Free!!
All or many of us know of the life and service to the cause of Christ by the Apostle Paul. I personally think the apostle Paul took the place of John the Immerser as being the greatest man born of woman!! Unselfish, loving, patient, devoted to the cause, the apostle Paul was born in Tarsus, Acts 22:3. Tarsus was a rich commercial center which was also home to the important schools of philosophy of that day, the Stoics and Epicureans. It was in this city Paul could have learned the art of Grecian rhetoric and become acquainted with the profound religious questions that tormented the hearts of the pagans tired of offering incense to numerous divinities, but not so of Saul, the son of the synagogue keeper of Tarsus. Wealthy parents always sought for their sons the BEST teachers of the day, for example Phillip of Greece got for his son Alexander the best pagan of his time, Aristotle. Saul’s father by his influence among the Jewish people gained for his son Saul an appointment with Gamaliel of Jerusalem. Gamaliel, grandson of the greatest Hebrew teacher of Israel, Shammei was THE most sought after teacher of the day. Saul was sent to Jerusalem at a very young age. In those days the student had to earn the right to be taught by a great teacher. Saul was earnest and consistent in his studies far exceeding in zeal the efforts of his fellow students. Philippians 3:4-6
From Gamaliel Saul learned not only the Law, but the rules that interpreted the Law. At the end of his schooling, Saul (the Jewish name, Paul, the Gentile name) became a Pharisee, a term that means “separated one,” and strictly interpreted how he was to live Judaism. If we are deceived by his lowly estate as an apostle of Jesus Christ we do not know the Saul of Tarsus, Saul was “someone”! A convinced Pharisee, he acts in a way that is consistent with his identity: his profound desire to carry on the will of God lead him to take on the responsibility of destroying the infant Church of Christ. As a member of the Sanhedrin, Saul easily retained letters of authority from this body to destroy all that called on the name of Christ. As he walks (the Roman Catholics tell us he rides a horse) towards Damascus, Acts 22, ready to take as prisoner any who persisted in the new sect, a voice from Heaven demands: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul responds. “I Am Jesus, and you are persecuting Me. Get up, go into Damascus and it will be told you what I want you to do.”
When the Damascene Jew heard Saul of Tarsus, member and agent of the Sanhedrin was coming to Damascus, their hearts were thrilled. They had lost many to a sect he was coming to destroy as he had in other cities. Ananias, the local instructor of this new sect, although a good man and well thought of among even the Jews, had done an amazing job holding the little Church of Christ together, but now hearing the “mad dog of Benjamin” was on his way, many of the newer saints had denied the faith. The Jewish synagogue had been made ready for Saul’s coming. Food and festival seemed everywhere with the Jew while fear and death was the demeanor of the Christian. A runner came into Jerusalem; something was wrong! Food, fun, and festival seemed over for the Jew!

What Did Adam Do? Part 49

joewilson — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:00:51 +0000

Seeing Adam had a specific covenant with Christ in the Garden of Eden of which Eve was not included as a participant, we understand the way in which Jesus intended the words in John 12:47-50: “And if any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects Me, and receives not My word has One that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day.” It is evident that Christ will be a “judge of the quick and the dead” but there will another judge of the unrighteous dead, God the Father. The unrighteous are not under covenant with Christ!! Christ is NOT their high priest!!
How was this brought about, you ask? Adam and Eve were judged by different standards in the Garden of Eden, I answer. Eve was judged by the law of the conscience given all mankind, Adam by the law of the conscience AND the specific law not to eat the forbidden fruit, the fruit of the tree of good and evil. Eve participated in helping Satan cause Adam to violate his covenant with Christ and for that she was made to have pain and anguish in child bearing (from the language of the text we learn that Eve had already borne children, but with no pain). Adam fell short of the “glory” Christ expected him to measure up to (Romans 3:23), AND violated the law of the conscience of which Eve was held accountable. By abusing the law of the conscience, Adam had to “earn his food by the sweat of his brow” (of course, no one thinks this was the first time Adam had eaten) and for the violation of the covenant specific to him, made with him by Christ-not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam put himself in a position Eve had not put herself, Adam had sinned. If it be asked if there were two sinners in the Garden of Eden, the answer would be NO! Again, inspiration tells us: “the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” 1 Timothy 2:14
Many from lack of watching the language refer to 2 Corinthians 5:10 which reads: “For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ: that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.” The ones standing before the tribunal of Christ are the “children of the kingdom.” There is NO WAY Christ can judge those who are not apart of the Kingdom! Paul writes: “For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not you judge them that within? But them that are without God judges (not Christ). Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” 1 Corinthians 5:10-11
Farmer Cain was NOT under the same law as was his father Adam. Cain was told to sacrifice a lamb. Adam was NOT. Cain chose, instead, to offer the fruit of the ground. Cain did not understand the purpose for the type offering God demanded. Because his twin brother obeyed (believed) the voice of Christ and offered the lamb, Cain “rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” Genesis 4:7 Did Adam ever offer the wrong sacrifice? It is not written that Adam EVER offered a sacrifice at all. Why you might ask? Adam’s covenant with Christ DID NOT include the offering of sacrifices (or if it did it is no where stated). Cain’s offering did not picture the coming death of Christ as did Abel’s sacrifice. “Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fallen.” Genesis 4:6 Christ tried to reason with Cain; “why are you so immediately out of sorts?” “You have NO REASON to react so violently, it is not Abel who made the Law or compact, it is God-why are you mad at Abel?” Cain ought to have been rejoicing- God had set before Cain the way of life, not some penalty for Adam’s sin, the rules were just and equitable to each man. Cain had not YET sinned, Abel never sinned! God only denies His favor to those who reject His Laws!! God fore-knew Cain’s rebellion and anger, came to his side and pleaded with him: “before you offer” repent of your childish pouting and follow the tenants given you.” Because Cain rejected God’s plea, sin was at the door-chargeable to Cain. So high a charge would have not been laid at Cain’s feet IF Christ had no respect to His commands. Man cannot chose which or if any Laws from God they might want to nor not want to obey. Jeremiah wrote: Thus saith the Lord; “if you can break My covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season: Then may also My covenant be broken with David My servant, ‘that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, My ministers…and cast away the seed of Jacob and David My servant.” Jeremiah 33:20-26