1/19/16

Scenes of Sodom in California by Dave Miller, Ph.D.



http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=2483

Scenes of Sodom in California

by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

By a 4-3 decision, the highest court in California has ruled that state laws which limit marriage to one man for one woman are unconstitutional. In a case that originated with the city of San Francisco (no surprise there) and numerous gay and lesbian couples, as well as various “gay rights” advocacy groups, the court concluded that the right to marry is “a fundamental constitutional right,” and therefore must be extended to same-sex couples. Shame, shame. Yet another example of outrageous judicial activism, legislating from the bench in defiance of all of America’s legal history, this far-reaching decision will undoubtedly send moral shock waves across American culture, and escalate the level of homosexual activism. This judicial audacity flies directly in the face of the over one million California voters whose signatures are expected to enable Californians to decide this November whether to protect the biblical definition of marriage with a constitutional amendment.
For a human court to undermine the very foundations of civilization, by redefining marriage as created and established by the Creator Himself, is unconscionable. The court even admitted that throughout California history, “the statutory designation of marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman has remained unchanged” (California State..., 2008, p. 25). But, of course, constitutional history means nothing to justices who have abandoned their own constitutional responsibility in order to impose their own agenda. Dissenting Justice Baxter rightfully referred to such shenanigans as “legal jujitsu”:
I cannot join this exercise in legal jujitsu, by which the Legislature’s own weight is used against it to create a constitutional right from whole cloth, defeat the People’s will, and invalidate a statute otherwise immune from legislative interference. Though the majority insists otherwise, its pronouncement seriously oversteps the judicial power (p. 7, emp. added).
The court had the unmitigated gall to compare race and gender to “sexual orientation” (a veiled allusion to deviant sexual appetites—not genetic makeup as is the case with ethnicity and gender):
Furthermore, in contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual’s sexual orientation—like a person’s race or gender—does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-couples (California State..., p. 7, emp. added).
Such ridiculous reasoning logically implies that it is inevitably just a matter of time before the courts legalize and dignify every other sexual perversion as “marriage”—from polygamy and bisexuality, to pedophilia and bestiality. After all, by the same twisted “reasoning,” the “right to marry” would extend to such persons as well. If a man has a “constitutional right” to marry another man, then a man has the same right to marry his dog. Dissenting Justice Baxter put the entire matter in perspective:
[T]here is no fundamental constitutional right to a same-sex legal union that equates in every respect with marriage.... But a bare majority of this court, not satisfied with the pace of democratic change, now abruptly forestalls that process and substitutes, byjudicial fiat, its own social policy views for those expressed by the People themselves (p. 4, emp. added).
In the 1885 Utah Territory case of Murphy v. Ramsey, the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed what America has always believed and practiced:
For certainly no legislation can be supposed more wholesome and necessary in the founding of a free, self-governing commonwealth, fit to take rank as one of the coordinate States of the Union, than that which seeks to establish it on the basis of the idea of the family, as consisting in and springing from the union for life of one man and one woman in the holy estate of matrimony; the sure foundation of all that is stable and noble in our civilization; the best guaranty of that reverent morality which is the source of all beneficent progress in social and political improvement (1885, emp. added).
Such thinking was standard and typical in America from the very beginning until the turbulent 1960s. Americans knew that the very foundation of civilization depended on the home as God defined it in Genesis 1 and 2. They knew that to tamper with that prescription would mean the unraveling of society. Americans had better wake up and realize the deadly threat that sexual anarchy poses to the survival of the Republic. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1).

REFERENCES

California State Supreme Court, Opinion No. S147999, FindLaw, [On-line], URL: http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/glrts/inremrg51508opn.pdf.
Murphy v. Ramsey (1885), 114 U.S. 15; 5 S. Ct. 747; 29 L. Ed. 47; 1885 U.S. LEXIS 1732.

Did the Patriarchs Know Jehovah by Name? by Eric Lyons, M.Min.



http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=1051&b=Exodus

Did the Patriarchs Know Jehovah by Name?

by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

Can you imagine if a friend whom you have known for years told someone else that you did not know him? Or, what if this friend, whose family name your family has known for generations, and whose first name you personally have known for at least two decades, indicated that you were not aware of his name? Such would likely make you wonder whether this “friend” was a liar or a lunatic. Similarly, some Bible students (and skeptics) have questioned why the Bible says that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not know God by His name Jehovah when the book of Genesis indicates that they did.
After Moses first visited Pharaoh regarding the release of the Israelites from bondage, God assured Moses that the Israelites would be liberated. He then added: “I am Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty;but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them” (Exodus 6:2-3, emp. added; NOTE: All Scripture citations in this article are taken from the American Standard Version). The difficulty that Bible students have with this statement is that the name “Jehovah” (Hebrew Yahweh; translated LORD in most modern versions) appears approximately 160 times in the book of Genesis. Furthermore, “Jehovah” is used between Genesis chapters 12-50 (which deal mainly with the families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) more than 100 times.
After God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice (instead of his son, Isaac) on Mount Moriah, Genesis 22:14 says, “Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh. As it is said to this day, in the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided” (emp. added). Years later, Isaac asked his son Jacob (who was deceiving his father in hopes of receiving a blessing), “How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, because Jehovah thy God sent me good speed” (Genesis 27:20, emp. added). How could God tell Moses that “by my name Jehovah I was not known to them” (Exodus 6:3), if Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were well aware of the name Jehovah, and even used it in their conversations? Is God a liar? Does the Bible contradict itself on this point? What reasonable answer can be given?
There is no denying the fact that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were aware of God’s name, Jehovah (Yahweh) [cf. Genesis 15:7; 22:14; 24:35,40,42,48,50,51,56; 26:22; 27:20; 49:18; etc.]. As John J. Davis wrote: “[I]n the book of Genesis...the name of Yahweh is introduced in a way which utterly precludes the supposition that it is used proleptically, or that it is anything but a correct account of the incident and the actual term employed” (Davis, 1963, 4[1]:34). Based upon the number of times the word (Yahweh) appears before Exodus 6:3, and the various ways in which it was used, including being a part of compound names that have specific meanings (e.g., Jehovah-jireh, meaning “Jehovah will provide”), it is unwise to argue that the patriarchs in Genesis were unaware of the name Jehovah. So what is the answer to this alleged problem?
Although Bible critics and unbelievers may scoff at any attempt to explain this difficult passage, which they believe is irresolvable, the fact is, a logical explanation exists. The expressions “to know the name of Jehovah” or simply “to know Jehovah” frequentlymean more than a mere awareness of His name and existence. Rather, “to know” (from the Hebrew word yada) often means to learn by experience. When Samuel was a boy, the Bible reveals that he “ministered before/unto Jehovah” (1 Samuel 2:18; 3:1), and “increased in favor both with Jehovah, and also with men” (2:26). Later, however, we learn that “Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither was the word of Jehovah yet revealed unto him” (1 Samuel 3:7, emp. added). In one sense, Samuel “knew” Jehovah early on, but beginning in 1 Samuel 3:7 his relationship with God changed. From this point forward he began receiving direct revelations from God (cf. 1 Samuel 3:11-14; 8:7-10,22; 9:15-17; 16:1-3; etc.). Comparing this new relationship with God to his previous relationship and knowledge of Him, the author of 1 Samuel could reasonably say that beforehand “Samuel did not yet know Jehovah” (3:7).
According to Gleason Archer, the phrase “to know that I am Jehovah” (or “to know the name of Jehovah”) appears in the Old Testament at least 26 times, and “in every instance it signifies to learn by actual experience that God is Yahweh...” (1982, pp. 66-67). In the book of Exodus alone, the expression “to know” (yada) appears five times in relation to Jehovah, and “[i]n every case it suggests an experiential knowledge of both the person and power of Yahweh. In every case the knowledge of Yahweh is connected with some deed or act of Yahweh which in some way reveals both His person and power” (Davis, 4[1]:39). For example, in the very passage that has drawn so much criticism, God stated: “I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, who bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Exodus 6:7, emp. added). Later, after God already had sent ten plagues upon the Egyptians (Exodus 7:14-12:30), parted the Red Sea (Exodus 14), and miraculously made bitter water sweet (Exodus 15:22-25), He said to Moses, “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God”(Exodus 16:11-12, emp. added). After several more weeks, God said to Moses on Mount Sinai: “Andthey shall know that I am Jehovah their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Jehovah their God” (Exodus 29:46, emp. added). Did the Israelites not know Who Jehovah was by this time? Without question, they did. “They had already learned of Him as deliverer; now they would know Him as their provider” (Davis, 4[1]:39).
Notice also what Isaiah prophesied centuries after the time of Moses.
Now therefore, what do I here, saith Jehovah, seeing that my people is taken away for nought? They that rule over them do howl, saith Jehovah, and my name continually all the day is blasphemed. Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore (they shall know) in that day that I am he that doth speak; behold, it is I (Isaiah 52:5-6, emp. added).
More than 100 years later, following Judah’s entrance into Babylonian captivity, God foretold of their return to Judea and spoke to them through the prophet Jeremiah. He said: “Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah” (Jeremiah 16:21, emp. added). Are we to gather from these statements that Israel and Judah were not aware of God’s name (Jehovah) before this time in their history? Certainly not. Obviously, something else is meant by the expression “to know (or not know) the name of Jehovah.” In truth, it is a Hebrew idiom that “generally signifies knowledge of some particular act or attribute of Yahweh as it is revealed in His dealing with men” (Davis, 4[1]:40).
Even in modern times it is possible for someone to know a person’s name or office without really “knowing” the person (or understanding his/her office). Imagine a group of foreigners who had never heard of Michael “Air” Jordan before meeting him at a particular convention a few years after his retirement from the NBA. They might come to know his name in one sense, but it could also be said that by his name “Air Jordan,” they really did not know him. Only after going to a gym and watching him dunk a basketball by jumping (or “flying” in the air) from the free throw line, and seeing him in his original “Air Jordan” shoes, would the group begin to understand the name “Air Jordan.”
Admittedly, at first glance Exodus 6:3 may seem to contradict what the book of Genesis teaches about the patriarchs’ knowledge of Jehovah. However, when one realizes that the Hebrew idiom “to know” (and specifically “to know” a name) frequently means more than a mere awareness of a person, then the difficulty disappears. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew God as Creator and sovereign Ruler of the Universe. But it would not be until centuries later, when God fulfilled the promises made to these patriarchs by delivering the nation of Israel from Egyptian bondage, that the full import of the name Jehovah would become known.

REFERENCES

Archer, Gleason L. (1982), An Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Davis, John J. (1963), “The Patriarchs’ Knowledge of Jehovah: A Critical Monograph on Exodus 6:3,” Grace Theological Journal, 4[1]:29-43, Winter.


From Roy Davison... God loves righteousness and justice


http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/045-GodLovesRight.html

God loves righteousness and justice
“For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD” (Psalm 33:4, 5).
Righteousness is the trait of being upright and consistently doing what is good. Job, for example, “was blameless and upright, one who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1).
Justice is the enforcement of moral and legal standards and the administration of appropriate discipline or retribution for violations. Discipline strives to improve behavior. Retribution satisfies the just requirement for a fair and adequate penalty.
“The LORD loves justice” (Psalm 37:28).

Love has attendant hate.

“Hate evil, love good” (Amos 5:15). “You who love the LORD, hate evil!” (Psalm 97:10).
Of the Messiah it is said: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions” (Psalm 45:6, 7). [Compare with Hebrews 1:9.]

God hates all workers of iniquity.

“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man” (Psalm 5:4-6).

Evil must be punished.

“The LORD tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness” (Psalm 11:5-7).
Because God loves righteousness, His soul hates the wicked. Because He loves justice, He will rain fire on evildoers.
Of course the wicked think this punishment is excessive. In their wickedness, they think evil is not that bad. But evil causes immeasurable harm. Because of this harm, a loving God is obligated to punish evil.

Vengeance and recompense belong to God.

God says, “Vengeance is Mine, and recompense” (Deuteronomy 32:35).
Because God created man with the ability to choose evil or good, evil must be tolerated temporarily. But God will set all things right on judgment day, and there is partial punishment of evil now, both by direct intervention and by governmental justice.
At Christ's return, the wicked will be punished, “Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9).
Governments administer God's wrath, “For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Romans 13:4). 
Christians leave vengeance to God: “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. Therefore 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head'” (Romans 12:19, 20).
Because Christians are citizens of a heavenly kingdom (John 18:36; Philippians 3:20) they do not fight or avenge themselves, but defer to the wrath of God. They are ministers, not of wrath, but of reconciliation, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

The wrath of God arises from His love.

God's wrath results from His love for righteousness, for justice and for His children.
Parents understand this. What would your reaction be to someone who molested your child? Absolute indignation, and rightly so.
God's wrath is always earned.

God has destroyed exceedingly wicked people.

Because of His love for righteousness, God limits evil on earth.
God has used catastrophes, such as the flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, to administer justice.
First, however, we must discuss a question that applies to all catastrophes. What about the innocent children who died in the flood? God loved them and they will be with Him in heaven, just like the innocent children who died in the tsunami of 2004. Of little children Jesus said, “In heaven their angels always see the face of My Father” (Matthew 18:10) and “Of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14). Also safe in the arms of God will be the millions of babies murdered by their mothers through abortion.
The history of the world shows that God is extremely patient with sinners, but the antediluvians were intolerably wicked! “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).
There were exceptions. Enoch “walked with God” (Genesis 5:22) and warned of God's judgment: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude 14, 15).
In Noah's time he and his family were the only ones on earth who served the Lord! God “did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5).
Those who perished were evildoers by choice. God also gave them a final chance to repent. By the Spirit, Christ preached to those who were disobedient “when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared” (1 Peter 3:18-20).
During the 100 years it took to build the ark, the wicked had a chance to repent. When a man spent 100 years building a huge boat on dry land people certainly heard about it and also about his reason for doing so. But they refused to repent.
When God warned the Ninevites that their city would be destroyed, they repented “and He did not do it” (Jonah 3:10).

God uses governments to keep evil in check.

“If you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Romans 13:4). 
Under the Old Testament, God's people had a government that was ordained and led by God (a theocracy). God was the King of Israel (Isaiah 44:6).
God's use of the armies of Israel to wipe out evil nations involved direct commands that were to be obeyed precisely. They were simply instruments of God's wrath. This provides no precedent, because no nations are now directly led by God.
Through the ages, God has used rulers and armies providentially to accomplish His purposes. He used Nebuchadnezzar to punish Israel calling him 'My servant' (Jeremiah 25:8, 9).
God is patient, wanting the wicked to repent: “'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live'” (Ezekiel 33:11). “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
God would not have destroyed Sodom if there were ten righteous people in the city (Genesis 18:32).
But evil can become so extreme that God's love for righteousness and justice mandates immediate intervention.
God promised Abraham that He would give the land of Canaan to his descendents but only after the wickedness of those who lived there was complete. “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Genesis 15:16).
Moses explained to the people, “It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you” (Deuteronomy 9:5). 
Sins of these nations included adultery, homosexual practices, sexual intercourse with animals and the sacrifice of infants to Molech (Leviticus 18:20-30; 2 Kings 16:3).
Sacrifices to Molech varied from place to place and over time but descriptions by ancient historians [Cleitarchus (300 BC), Diodorus Siculus (90-30 BC) and Plutarch (100 AD)] can be summarized as follows: the hollow image had a human-like torso with a bull's head. A fire was built in a cavity at the belly. Outstretched arms which became red hot were flat and sloped back so a baby thrown into the arms would roll into the fiery stomach. Sometimes the baby was killed first, sometimes thrown alive into the arms of Molech. In that case drums were beaten and flutes played to cover the screams of the infant. Mothers were not allowed to show any sign of grief.
Such extremely evil practices have at times been punished by God with retribution on earth, but what about eternal retribution?

Justice will be done on judgment day.

God tolerates evil temporarily so man has an opportunity to repent, but because of His love for justice, judgment day will set all things right. 
In the letter to the Romans, Paul says that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18). Since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) all stand condemned before God.
Through Christ, God provides an opportunity for salvation. “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9, 10). By dying on the cross Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. 
Thus, even though God's love for righteousness and justice mandates retribution, His love for humanity (Titus 3:4) moved Him to provide a way of escape that would not violate the just requirement for punishment. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3, 4).
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
“The LORD tests the righteous” (Psalm 11:5). How people react to Jesus shows their attitude to God. People who love God will love Jesus. “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed” (1 Corinthians 16:22). “The wrath of God abides on him” who does not believe the Son (John 3:36).
Many claim to be saved although they do not believe Jesus when He says, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16) or “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). The wrath of God remains on those who claim that baptism is not necessary for salvation because they do not believe Jesus and they do not obey Jesus.
To be saved we must obey the gospel (Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17). The gospel designates faith, repentance, confession and baptism as prerequisites for salvation (Romans 10:10; Acts 2:38).

What have we learned?

God loves righteousness and justice. God hates all workers of iniquity. Because God loves justice, evil must be punished. Vengeance and retribution belong to God. He will rain fire on the wicked.
God is patient and gives people time to repent, but when they become too wicked, His love for righteousness and justice requires immediate intervention. God uses catastrophes and governments to visit wrath on evildoers. Innocent children who die, go to heaven.
The wicked will be punished when Christ returns. Because of sin, we are all under the wrath of God. Only by faith in Christ, who paid the penalty for our sins, can we be saved. God's wrath remains on anyone who does not believe Jesus and obey the gospel. Amen.
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982, Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers.
Permission for reference use has been granted.

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

From Gary... A Christmas test


If you attended school, you probably have had a quite a few tests, maybe even thousands of tests. If so, then you realize that they are not all the same. A test might query your reasoning power, deductive power, memory recall, writing ability. It may be fair or unfair (remember tests with those tricky questions?). And over the years, you may have even had a few of these "gift" tests. However, it has been my experience that these are very rare indeed. After all, Christmas comes but once a year!!! The following are 10 tests found in the Scriptures....

Commitment test
Exodus, Chapter 16 (WEB)
 1 They took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.  2 The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;  3 and the children of Israel said to them, “We wish that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 

4  Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.

What is the root of complaining? Is it not a lack of trust? And if all you are given all you really need, will you still complain? This is a test...


Rebellion test
Exodus, Chapter 17 (WEB)

 1 All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to Yahweh’s commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” 

Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?” 

  3  The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?” 

  4  Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 

  5  Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go.  6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.  7 He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”

If someone continues to complain, even after your request of God is met; ask yourself- who or what is really your GOD? 


Re-test
Judges, Chapter 7 (WEB)
 1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’  3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.   

4  Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. It shall be, that of whom I tell you, ‘This shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whoever I tell you, ‘This shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.”  

Pride is an insidious sin. There was a second test of the people in order that there would be no doubt as to who would be victorious, man or God. And I wonder... what did the people who were chosen think???

Refinement test
Zechariah, Chapter 13 (WEB)

 8 It shall happen that in all the land,” says Yahweh,
“two parts in it will be cut off and die;
but the third will be left in it.
 9 I will bring the third part into the fire,
and will refine them as silver is refined,
and will test them like gold is tested.
They will call on my name, and I will hear them.
I will say, ‘It is my people;’
and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”


Question- Do you really love God; or is your love a sham? Sometimes a test is given to you to really, really determine the question, once and for all.

Test of honesty
Malachi, Chapter 3 (WEB)
 8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings.  9 You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for. 

God is faithful, but am I? God wants to bless us, but will I listen?

Test of interpretation 
Matthew, Chapter 4 (WEB)
   5  Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple,  6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and, 
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”

  7  Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”

Both Jesus and the Devil knew the Scriptures and their proper application. But, an evil heart will misuse truth every time. Seek the truth and consider what is said, and let the Scripture speak for itself.

Test of works
1 Corinthians, Chapter 3 (WEB)
12 But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble;  13 each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is.  14 If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.  15 If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire. 

What we do is a sure indicator of who we are. Consider what is built on your foundation, and for that matter, what foundation are you using? Remember the wise and the foolish men of Matthew, Chapter 7?

Test of sin
2 Corinthians, Chapter 13 (WEB)

 1 This is the third time I am coming to you. “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”  2 I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, I write to those who have sinned before now, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare;  3 seeing that you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me; who toward you is not weak, but is powerful in you.  4 For he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of God toward you.  5 Test your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.  6 But I hope that you will know that we aren’t disqualified. 

  7  Now I pray to God that you do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is honorable, though we are as reprobate.  8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.  9 For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. And this we also pray for, even your perfecting.  10 For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not deal sharply when present, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for tearing down. 

Once your sin has been revealed to you; what do you do with that knowledge? Do you ignore it or eradicate it? Test yourself and know?


Test of trials
1 Peter, Chapter 4 (WEB)
12  Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.  13 But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy.  14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.

If you are a Christian; you will experience opposition;perhaps strong opposition or even persecution. Remember who you are- Christ's!!!

Test of teaching
1 John, Chapter 4 (WEB)
 1 Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,  3 and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.

Sound doctrine is not necessarily an easy thing to obtain, but it is worth it.  In this case, some were teaching that Jesus was not really a man (in the flesh) but a spirit and this is wrong.  Examine what you are taught and judge it by what the Bible plainly teaches. Do not let people trick you!!!


God sometimes works in mysterious ways, so the above is absolutely NOT comprehensive, but enough to at least see how HE tests.  If you wish to pass God's scrutiny, look to The Bible for directions and follow the example of Jesus. And remember God's grace and mercy have a huge impact on whether you enter heaven or not.  The test in the picture was a Christmas gift and so was Jesus!!! 


1/18/16

From Mark Copeland... "MORAL ISSUES CONFRONTING CHRISTIANS" Domestic Violence



                 "MORAL ISSUES CONFRONTING CHRISTIANS"

                           Domestic Violence

INTRODUCTION

1. A serious problem in our society is domestic violence...
   a. Spouse abuse between husband and wife
   b. Child abuse between parent and child

2. Domestic abuse has many forms...
   a. Physical violence, sexual abuse
   b. Psychological (emotional) abuse, both aggressive and passive
      aggressive behavior

3. Sadly, Christians are not immune to domestic violence...
   a. Husbands have been known to abuse their wives, and vice versa
   b. Parents have abused their children, and vice versa

[Yet problems related to domestic violence could be eliminated if
Biblical admonitions concerning family relations were followed.  For
example, consider what is taught concerning...]

I. RELATIONS BETWEEN HUSBANDS AND WIVES

   A. THE HUSBAND'S DUTY TO HIS WIFE...
      1. The husband is to love his wife - Ep 5:25-29
         a. As Christ loves the church
         b. As a man loves his own body
      2. The husband is to honor his wife - 1Pe 3:7
         a. Treating them with understanding
         b. Respecting her as a fellow heir of the grace of life (a
            sister in Christ!)
         c. Otherwise, your prayers will be hindered
      3. The husband is not to be bitter toward his wife - Col 3:19
         a. "do not be harsh" (ESV)
         b. "never treat them harshly" (NLT)
      -- How can a faithful Christian husband physically or verbally
         abuse his wife?

   B. THE WIFE'S DUTY TO HER HUSBAND...
      1. The wife is to love her husband - Tit 2:4
      2. The wife is to submit to her husband 
         - Ep 5:22-24; Col 3:18; 1Pe 3:1-6
         a. As to the Lord
         b. As the church is subject to Christ
         c. As is fitting in the Lord
         d. Even if the husband is not a Christian
      3. The wife is to respect her husband - Ep 5:33
      -- How can a faithful Christian wife physically or verbally abuse
         her husband?

[Christians who respect and apply such admonitions do not have problems
with domestic violence involving marital relations.  The same is true
for those who follow Biblical admonitions concerning...]

II. RELATIONS BETWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN

   A. THE PARENTS' DUTY TOWARD THEIR CHILDREN...
      1. The mother is to love her children - Tit 2:4
      2. The father is not to provoke his children to wrath (anger) 
         - Ep 6:4
         a. "do not exasperate your children" (TNIV)
         b. "by the way you treat them" (NLT)
         c. "lest they become discouraged" - Col 3:21
      3. The father is to bring them up in the training and admonition
         of the Lord - Ep 6:4
         a. "in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (ESV)
         b. Exemplified by Paul with his conduct among his spiritual
            children - 1Th 2:11
         c. Such discipline also includes chastening when necessary 
            - He 12:7-9
      4. In the absence of a father, a mother can provide such training
         - 2Ti 1:5; 3:15
      -- How can Christian parents provide children anything less than
         true love?

   B. THE CHILDREN'S DUTY TOWARD THEIR PARENTS...
      1. Children are to obey their parents - Ep 6:1; Col 3:20
         a. "in the Lord" - as far as their commandments agree with
            those of God - Barnes
         b. "for this right" - three reasons given by Barnes:
            1) It is so appointed by God as a duty
            2) Children owe a debt of gratitude to their parents for
               what they have done for them
            3) It will be for the good of the children themselves, and
               for the welfare of society
         c. "this is well pleasing to the Lord" - who Himself submitted
            to His parents - Lk 2:51
      2. Children are to honor their parents - Ep 6:2-3
         a. Which means to love and respect them
         b. Which comes with a promise of a good and long life (that is
            generally true)
      3. Children are to support their parents - 1Ti 5:4,8,16
         a. Especially a mother or grandmother who is a widow
         b. Failure to do so is a denial of the faith and to be worse
            than an unbeliever
         c. A personal duty, not one to be passed on to the church
      -- How can Christian children show parents anything less than
         loving behavior?

CONCLUSION

1. Through such admonitions, the Bible addresses the problems of
   domestic violence...
   a. Producing loving and lasting marriages
   b. Creating peaceful and harmonious families

2. Indeed, domestic violence disappears overnight if we simply treat one
   another as Christians...
   a. "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
      even as God in Christ forgave you." 
      - Ep 4:32; cf. Ep 5:1-2; 1Co 13:4-8
   b. "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in
      honor giving preference to one another;" - Ro 12:10; cf. Php 2:3-4

   "Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one
   another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not
   returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the
   contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that
   you may inherit a blessing."
                                                       - 1Pe 3:8-9


Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2015

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A Question About Muslim Birthrates by Dave Miller, Ph.D.


http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=8&article=5217

A Question About Muslim Birthrates

by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Q:

 “How significant is birthrate among Muslims to the spread of Islam?”

A:

Studies show that the Muslim population is growing at a faster rate than all other groups combined. In the U.S. alone, Muslims will go from less than 1% of the nation, to 1.7% in 2030—an increase from 2.6 million in 2010 to 6.2 million. Though 64.5% of U.S. Muslims today were born outside the United States, that percentage will fall to 55% in 2030 as more Muslims are born in the U.S. (Grossman, 2011; “The Future…,” 2011; cf. “The Future…,” 2015).
The significance of these facts is that the Founders of our great Republic set up the country so that the people govern themselves, i.e., they select their political leaders. The Republic they envisioneddepends on the majority of the people believing in and being self-governed by the moral and spiritual principles of Christianity. [For example, examine the 15 proclamations the Continental Congress issued to the entire country during the Revolutionary War, in which they repeatedly reiterated the essentiality of Christianity to the perpetuation of the Republic, including these remarks given on October 20, 1779, thanking God in that “he hath diffused the glorious light of the gospel, whereby, through the merits of our gracious Redeemer, we may become the heirs of his eternal glory” and beseeching Him to “grant to his church the plentiful effusions of divine grace, and pour out his holy spirit on all ministers of the gospel…and spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth;…that he would in mercy look down upon us, pardon our sins and receive us into his favor, and finally, that he would establish the independence of these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue” (Miller, 2009, p. 36, emp. added). They insisted that the establishment of American independence as a new nation was based on Christianity.]
Observe that, with the origin of America being dependent on this national foundation, if a non-Christian group were to become sufficiently numerous that they were able to exert political control over the civil and educational institutions of the country, they obviously would alter the country’s way of life—including her religious institutions. In the case of Islamic domination, American constitutional law would be supplanted by Sharia law.
The Founders feared this very scenario, but felt hopeful that Americans would never allow such to happen. Contrary to the claim in recent years that the Founding Fathers of America advocated “pluralism” and equal acceptance of all religions, ideologies, and philosophies, the truth is that they feared for the future of the nation should its Christian foundation ever be compromised. Founding Father and Supreme Court Justice James Iredell, who was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President George Washington, reflected this concern in the debates over the wording of the U.S. Constitution in 1788. He felt reassured that Islam would never be allowed to infiltrate America: “But it is objected that the people of America may perhaps choose representatives who have no religion at all, and that pagans and Mahometans may be admitted into offices.... But it is never to be supposed that the people of America will trust their dearest rights to persons who have no religion at all, or a religion materially different from their own” (Elliott, 1836, 4:194).
While America generally has welcomed all nationalities of people to her shores regardless of their personal beliefs, alternative ideologies and religions never were intended to be given credence or encouragement and allowed to transform her into either an irreligious or non-Christian society. Nor was it intended that American civilization be adjusted to accommodate religious principles that contradict the original foundations of the nation. America welcomes people to live in freedom within her borders—as long as they do so peaceably (see Miller, 2013, 33[3]:32). But to adjust social parameters in public life to accommodate divergent religions will weaken, not strengthen, the ability of America to sustain herself.
Founding Father Noah Webster articulated this indisputable fact in a letter to James Madison on October 29, 1829: “[T]he Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government.... and I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence” (as quoted in Snyder, 1990, p. 253). The “Father of American Geography” Jedidiah Morse succinctly stated: “Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them” (1799, p. 9, emp. added). And Declaration of Independence signer John Witherspoon declared: “[H]e is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion [i.e., Christianity—James 1:27], and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind” (1777, pp. 16,33, emp. added).
It would seem self-evident that if Muslims succeed in transforming America into an Islamic nation, America will be no different from, and will look exactly like, all the other Islamic nations on Earth. What true-hearted American (or Christian) has a desire to move to such a nation?

REFERENCES

Elliott, Jonathan (1836), The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (Washington, D.C.: Jonathan Elliot).
“The Future of the Global Muslim Population” (2011), Pew Research Center, January 27,http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/the-future-of-the-global-muslim-population/.
“The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050” (2015), Pew Research Center, April 2, http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/.
Grossman, Cathy (2011), “Number of U.S. Muslims to Double,” USA TODAY, January 27,http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/2011-01-27-1Amuslim27_ST_N.htm.
Miller, Dave (2009), Christ and the Continental Congress (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).
Miller, Dave (2013), “Were the Founding Fathers ‘Tolerant’ of Islam? [Part I],” Reason & Revelation, 33[3]:26-28,32-35, March.
Morse, Jedidiah (1799), A Sermon, Exhibiting the Present Dangers and Consequent Duties of the Citizens of the United States of America (Hartford, CT: Hudson and Goodwin),http://www.archive.org/details/sermonexhibiting00morsrich.
Snyder, K. Alan (1990), Defining Noah Webster: Mind and Morals in the Early Republic (New York: University Press of America).
Witherspoon, John (1777), The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men (Philadelphia, PA: Town & Country),http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Dominion_of_Providence_Over_the_Pass.html?id=HpRIAAAAYAAJ.