How to Know God You were created to know God in a personal way—to have a relationship with Him, through His Son, Jesus Christ. How do you start a relationship with God? Greg Laurie www.harvest.org

https://harvest.org/know-god/how-to-know-god/

Pastor Chuck Smith on John 15

https://bit.ly/PastorChuck-John15

The Importance of Fundamentalism - Part One August 1, 2018 T. A. McMahon www.thebereancall.org

I’m a fundamentalist…and I hope that all who consider themselves to be biblical Christians would declare that as well. The term, however, is used in a derogatory way by many people today. I don’t know why, other than the fact that many simply don’t like Christianity, especially biblical Christianity. But regardless of what its detractors think, fundamentalism is a very valuable concept.
Let me give you an illustration from the sports world. During the college and pro football seasons, the teams’ schedules usually include a bye week. That’s a week that has no game scheduled, so it’s dedicated to practice, and the practices rarely involve tricky new plays. Instead, the focus is nearly always on returning to the fundamentals of the sport.
Throughout the season, players often drift away from fundamental techniques and develop some bad habits that decrease their effectiveness. But sports aside, if one’s fundamentals are wrong in anything, the results aren’t going to be good.
In biblical Christianity, sound doctrine is critical, and how sound it is depends upon whether or not it is fundamentally sound. There are numerous important doctrines found throughout Scripture, but I want to focus on just one, which I firmly believe is the most important fundamental teaching, and that is the gospel.
No one is saved unless he has heard and believed the gospel, whether by hearing it or reading it—and then believing it. The gospel isn’t complex. In fact, even a child can hear and believe it and be saved. Yet too often a message of “salvation” is given that doesn’t contain a fundamentally sound gospel.
I was speaking at a conference in Kansas City a few years ago, and on Sunday a friend of mine took me to a popular church there. The guest speaker was a well-known evangelist. The pastor who introduced him was excited that the speaker was going to give one of his “classic evangelistic messages.” Following the message, an altar call was given and about 250, at least one-third of the people in that service, went forward. I was stunned.
Why? The gospel was nowhere to be found in the message! It was purely an emotional appeal. I wrote to the pastor afterward, asking him about the missing gospel. I really wanted to also ask him if it concerned him that so many in his fellowship went forward. That would seem to indicate that they weren’t saved, but I decided to hold off on that question until I got a reply from him—which never came. If they weren’t saved beforehand, they certainly weren’t saved by the gospel-less message to which they were responding! It was a grievous situation.
On the other hand, in many churches, even when a gospel message is given that includes enough information for a person to put his or her faith in Jesus for salvation, rarely is it explained. Why do I think that’s so important? Well, those who have yet to accept the gospel are being asked to make a decision that has eternal consequences. How many important decisions do any of us make without explanations being given as to what we should do and the consequences that are involved? Hopefully, very few.
Proverbs:4:7
says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” There are a number of reasons why understanding is very important, especially in evangelism. An explanation of the gospel itself is not only critical, but the hearer must also be helped to understand the fundamental foundation necessary for one’s life and growth in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, what happens afterward—after a person has, by God’s grace, received the gift of eternal life? What are believers to do with that free gift?
In the book of Matthew, we are reminded that which a believer has freely received, he or she is to “freely give” (Matthew:10:8
). Jesus came to save sinners. It’s my understanding that once we’re saved and have received the gift of eternal life, we are to “freely give” out the information of what that gift is and how it can be obtained. That’s known in Scripture as the “great commission.” In Mark:16:20
, we see that “they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”
 The “great commission” is for every believer in Christ. What better way could you spend your life than being used of the Lord to encourage someone to spend eternity with Jesus Christ? Our lives may be wonderfully fruitful in a secular sense. Some of us might be doctors, heart surgeons, cancer specialists, nurses, educators, military personnel, caregivers, etc. We may be great parents or good children to our parents. Such endeavors are meaningful, but they are of little or no value beyond this earth, rewards notwithstanding. Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. I’m just comparing the good things that we do temporally with those things that have eternal value—which are far better. What could be greater than being used of the Lord in such a way that would result in eternal salvation for someone? Our temporal life lasts on the average about 75 years. Compare that with living forever with Jesus!
But what might be an obstacle to any of us freely giving what we have freely received? In fact, nearly all revolve around self. Self-love, self-esteem, self-preoccupation, self-worth, and especially self-consciousness, are among the chief obstructions to witnessing.
Regarding self-consciousness, no one likes to be thought of as stupid or ignorant. Few if any of us enjoy finding ourselves in a position in which we’re at a loss to give to anyone who asks a sensible answer to an important question. That certainly applies to believers regarding their understanding of the gospel, or perhaps, for some, a lack or a weakness in that area. A lack of confident understanding of the gospel too often creates a potential embarrassment that prevents some from sharing it with others.
Who would attempt to explain anything that’s important if he wasn’t sure of the subject, and I mean really convinced of it? Sadly, most people who call themselves Christians do not share the gospel because 1) they’ve never really heard or accepted the biblical gospel, or 2) they’ve heard enough truth to be saved but have never grown in their confident understanding of it. Many Bible-believing Christians either cannot or have great difficulty explaining the gospel, so they simply don’t share it.
I hope these articles will help to increase our understanding of the gospel so that we can be more confident and even bolder, as the Lord provides opportunities to share His message of hope with others. Romans:1:16
exhorts, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Sometimes, because of some of the reasons I’ve noted, we don’t realize that drawing back from sharing the gospel is, in a sense, being “ashamed” of it. We need to keep that in the back of our minds as we go about understanding it better.
So, exactly what is the gospel? The word itself means “good news.” What’s good about it? Well, it solves a problem. In fact, it solves humanity’s greatest problem, which is that mankind, early on, was separated from their Creator because of disobedience.
At the beginning of the human race, God gave Adam a command that he was not to eat of a certain fruit in the Garden of Eden—a command that Eve, and then Adam, disobeyed. God had warned them that the penalty for that sin was death, meaning that they would be separated from God spiritually and then physically, through death. The condemnation was eternal. The hopeless fact was that once they sinned, there would be nothing they could do about it except to pay the infinite penalty, which is impossible for finite human beings.
Scripture tells us that the wages of sin is death and that all have sinned. Therefore, God’s perfect justice demands that all who sin are under the penalty for sin, which is separation from Him forever. Yet God, because He is merciful, had a solution to reconcile mankind to Himself.
We see it first in Genesis:3:15
right after Adam and Eve had disobeyed God. Speaking to Satan, who had successfully tempted Eve to taste the forbidden fruit, the Lord said, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This is a prophecy concerning Christ (the seed of the woman), who would pay the penalty for all mankind Himself, thereby destroying the works of Satan and giving humanity the opportunity to be reconciled to God. Verse 15 is referred to as the “First Gospel.”
Throughout the Old Testament we find prophecies and types that point to God’s solution to mankind’s condemnation through Israel’s Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Consider the sacrifices of Abel and Cain, the two sons of Adam and Eve. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God. Cain’s was not. Why? Abel’s was a blood offering of a sacrificial lamb necessary for the atonement of sin, a “type” (or a foreshadowing) that pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world. Hebrews:9:22
tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Cain did his own thing, offering his veggies rather than what God had instructed.
The Old Testament is filled with representations and concepts that point to the coming Savior of the World. They symbolized the Messiah-to-come, and thus those living in that time period before His arrival could look ahead to Him—by faith—and thus be saved.
Space limitation restricts me from giving more than a couple of examples, yet they are staggering in their significance. Consider Abraham in his obedience to God through the impending sacrifice of Isaac, his only son, the son of God’s promise (Genesis:22:2-16 ). As the father of three sons, I can’t imagine myself in that situation without trembling uncontrollably with grief. Yet Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness (Romans:4:3
). What did he believe? He knew that if he slayed Isaac in obedience to God, even then, God would raise Isaac from the dead. He had even told his servants that he would return from the Mount with his son Isaac.
If anyone cannot see the relationship of this with God the Father sacrificing His only begotten Son, I don’t know what I can add, except maybe for this. In Isaiah 53 are found verses that prophesy what the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would experience when He paid the penalty for our sins, past, present, and future. We see Christ our Savior, “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah:53:3
). “He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted….wounded for our transgressions…bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and…afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah:53:4-12 ).
This is the Creator of the universe, the Creator of all living souls, who interceded for us! Words can scarcely put that in a way we can truly fathom. Neither now—nor perhaps for all eternity. All I can think of in response is, “Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!”
To sum up: we see that the gospel is indicated throughout the Old Testament, and it was to this that the Jewish believers of that era looked ahead by faith—and were saved. But it wasn’t only the Israelites. Job lived at the time of the patriarchs and was not a Jew but rather a Gentile. His belief in the coming Savior is made clear in Job:19:25
: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”
Why study the Old Testament, which some see as merely a history book? Because it lays the foundation for “the first principles of the oracles of God” (Hebrews:5:12
)! Without it, the Bible makes no sense. Christ and the Cross become meaningless. Still, many who profess to be Christians have abandoned the inerrant Word of God, like those enamored with pseudoscience, such as the theistic evolutionists, who deny its very clear fundamental teachings such as the global flood and the literal six days of creation. Of late are highly influential Christians who seek to accommodate the culture by making the Old Testament into a seeker-friendly offering, avoiding, or even eliminating, the truth of God’s Word, which doesn’t appeal to the world.
In part 2 of this series, we’ll turn to the New Testament, where we find the prophecies and Old Testament types of our Savior perfectly

The Only True God January 1, 2008 Hunt, Dave www.thebereancall.org

The Only True God

January 1, 2008

Hunt, Dave

As we all know, the “Lord’s prayer” was never prayed by our Lord. It was a pattern for prayer: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name...” (Mat:6:9
). To repeat these words over and over (instead of using them as a pattern for prayer from the heart) would be to disobey our Lord and to engage in what He strictly forbade: “vain repetition” (6:7).
Certainly this prayer is only for those who know God as their heavenly Father. It is a grievous error common to pseudo-Christianity to assume the universal Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. The typical Unity church service, for example, includes this affirmation repeated in unison, “I am a child of God and therefore I do not inherit sickness.” Such “positive confessions” have led multitudes astray. Paul declared that we become “the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal:3:26
).
The fact that this relationship with God as one’s Father does not come by natural birth is clear. To those who boasted of being “Abraham’s children,” Christ countered, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (Jn:8:44
). The rebellion of Adam and Eve, by which they became the followers of Satan as “the god of this world” (2 Cor:4:4
), made the devil the patriarch of mankind.
That is why Christ told Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn:3:3
). This spiritual birth is an absolute requirement, allowing no exceptions. No one will be in heaven who has not been “born again,” both “of water and of the Spirit” (v. 5).
There is a common abuse of this prayer among American athletic teams. A high percentage of teams across America (especially in high school football) pray the “Lord’s Prayer” either before or after games. Attitudes of participants vary from skepticism, to suppressed ridicule, to a shrugging acquiescence to something that might now and then bring “good luck.” This American tradition is an abomination to God.
Phil Jackson, one of the most successful coaches in NBA history, turned from the Pentecostalism in which his co-pastor parents raised him to Zen Buddhism and the occultism of Lakota Indian “spirituality.” Yet he still repeats the “Lord’s prayer” and has for years encouraged his teams to do so without knowing God or Christ. This unbiblical practice has been one of Satan’s major tools of deception.
Confusion reigns over what it means to be “born again.” The teaching is rather common that Christ’s words, “of water,” refer to the protective amniotic water sac that breaks in natural birth, while “of the Spirit” refers to being born of the Spirit of God at the second birth. The latter is true, but the former is false.
Everyone enters via the amniotic fluid into the human race. “Born of water” must mean more than that. It would be redundant to say that in order to be born again one must have already been born once. Furthermore, that doctrine would place an unbiblical restriction upon entrance into heaven! Such a proposition would mean that there would be no salvation for anyone who had not experienced natural birth. Thus no fetus that died by whatever means before coming to full-term delivery could be considered a real person eligible for the second birth and heaven, thus allowing abortion at any stage.
The biblical teaching of the “new birth” (becoming a “born-again” Christian) has caused much controversy. Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and others believe this occurs at baptism. As previously noted (see TBC 8/04), every Lutheran church follows Luther’s Small Catechism. At baptism (usually as a baby), one receives a certificate stating, “In baptism full salvation has been given unto you; God has become your Father, and you have become His child through this act....”
In fact, the Bible teaches that baptism (like the “Lord’s prayer”) is only for those who have believed the gospel. Baptism testifies to the faith by which one was born again. Otherwise it is meaningless. Infant baptism defies Scripture, denies the gospel, and is a major net by which “the god of this world” gathers multitudes into his kingdom, providing them with false assurance that prevents them from seeing their need to receive Christ as Savior and Lord.
How could a church defend baptizing an infant that cannot understand or believe? It was necessary to claim some efficacy, as the Catechisms say, “in this act of baptism....” This occult lie of spiritual power innate in and released by baptism, burning a candle or incense, doing rituals, priestly hand motions, voice tones, etc., has been for thousands of years the essence of ritual magic, witchcraft, paganism, etc., which anthropologists now call shamanism.
This pernicious delusion is also known as sacramentalism—a heresy so vital to Roman Catholicism that it has its own Latin term: ex opere operato (i.e., “in the act itself”). To deny this doctrine concerning any official sacrament is to deny Roman Catholicism, for which the penalty is automatic excommunication (tantamount to being sentenced to hell). Here it is from The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent: Seventh Session...third day of March, 1547, Decree Concerning the Sacraments...Canons on the Sacraments in General [still in full force]:
Can. 4. If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but...that without them or without the desire of them men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification...let him be anathema.
Can. 8. If anyone says that by the sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred ex opere operato, but that faith alone in the divine promise is sufficient to obtain grace, let him be anathema.
The grievous heresy of sacramentalism continues to seduce in various forms most “Reformed” churches. R.C. Sproul, for example, justifies infant baptism by likening it to circumcision: “The scriptural case for baptizing believers’ infants rests on the parallel between [O.T.] circumcision and N.T. baptism as signs and seals of the covenant of grace....The Old Testament precedent requires it” (Geneva Study Bible, p. 38).
The Ethiopian to whom Philip had just preached Christ from Isaiah 53 (Acts:8:29-35 ) asked, “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest” (8:36,37). Philip then baptized him—not by sprinkling or pouring water over him but, obviously, by immersion, for “they went down both into the water” (v. 38). Baptism publicly declares one’s faith, identifying the believer with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. One does not sprinkle dirt on a corpse. One buries it.
If “born of water” does not refer to amniotic fluid or to baptism, what could it mean? The second birth is by the Spirit of God and by water (Jn:3:5
), symbolic of the Word of God, as in “the washing of water by the word” (Eph:5:26
), and “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (Jn:15:3
). When we believe the gospel, we are regenerated and washed clean. “He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” Peter declares: “Being born again...by the word of God...which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Pt 1:23-25).
Having been brought into the family of God, we address Him as “Father” in prayer. In His high priestly prayer (the true “Lord’s prayer” that Christ prayed), He declared, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (Jn:17:3
). So the new birth involves knowing the only true God—not being “born again” through baptism, especially of infants.
There are millions of so-called gods and numerous prayers to each of them in the various religions they represent. The Bible condemns every one in unmistakable terms:
For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens....Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name....[F]ear before him, all the earth....[H]e cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth. (Ps:96:5-13 )
Such language is ridiculed by the “New Atheists” such as Richard Dawkins, who says the atheists must “spread the good news. Evangelism [to convert the world to atheism] is a moral imperative.” Although the Bible clearly distinguishes Christianity from all religions and separates their leaders (Buddha, Muhammad, et al.) from Christ, who is unique, atheists make no such distinction. Consequently, most of their arguments are irrelevant.
The Bible denounces all religions as instruments of Satan to keep mankind in darkness, shut off from the light of the gospel by which alone one can be saved, for “the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Cor:4:4
).
Atheism is just one of the world’s religions, and Satanic blindness is reflected in its arguments against God and Christianity. A recent secular article about the New Atheists was titled, “The Church of the Non-Believers.” And it is a church—a church to which everyone must belong, if atheists get their way. In their religious fervor to destroy “religious faith” and to convert the entire world to their religion, they are blind to the true faith that motivates biblical Christians.
Dawkins says, “Faith is one of the world’s great evils....[It is] belief that isn’t based on evidence [and] the principal vice of any religion.” Francis Collins, however (in charge of the Human Genome Project involving 2,300 scientists), who turned from unbelief to faith in Christ, says that Dawkins’ definition of faith “certainly does not describe the faith of most serious believers of history nor of most of those of my personal acquaintance.”
Many famous scientists, Nobel Prize winners, and some of the greatest historians and legal experts have turned from atheism to faith in the resurrected Christ—not by mystical or emotional experience but from verifiable evidence. The early pioneers in science, like Kepler, claimed that it was precisely their conviction that there was a creator that inspired their science to ever-greater heights.
“Religion is not only wrong; it’s evil,” atheists fume, unaware that biblical Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Leading atheists harangue against religion, blind to the fact that the Bible is not about religion. In its more than 1,000 pages, the phrase “religious faith” is not found once, the word “religion” appears only five times, and the word “religious” twice. All but two of these seven references are critical of “religion.” Furthermore, in these few times that it mentions religion, the Bible never means what atheists foolishly denounce.
In their war against God, Dawkins and his fellow crusaders dishonestly equate Christian “fundamentalists” with murderous Muslims. In fact, atheists are themselves fundamentalists, seeking to impose their warped interpretation of the fundamentals of science on the world.
Nor can the New Atheists be ignorant of the fact that the fundamentals of Islam (according to the Qur’an, Hadith, the dogmas and example of Muhammad, and 1,300 years of history) teach that Islam must be forced upon the entire world by murdering all who refuse to submit to Allah. Christ taught and lived entirely otherwise. Yet the New Atheists persist in equating Islam and Christianity simply because each is considered to be a “faith.” Such irresponsible accusations permeate their arguments.
Yes, some who have called themselves Christians (Roman Catholic popes, Eastern Orthodox leaders, crusaders, numerous televangelists, et al.) have been guilty of all manner of evil. In the process, they have violated the teachings and example of Christ. But Muslim terrorists follow both Islamic teaching and the example of Muhammad and his successors who tortured and slaughtered millions from France to China for 13 centuries. Today’s terrorism is just a hint of what Islam would continue to do if it could.
The fundamentals of true Christianity promote love, freedom of choice, and forgiveness, not hatred and violence. The latter are the trademark of fundamentalist Islam. To equate the fundamentals of Islam with those of Christianity is reprehensible.
Atheists also perversely equate Christianity with the fanaticism and violence of the Crusades and Inquisition. Yet the crusaders were not biblical Christians; they violated everything Christ taught and slaughtered His brethren, the Jews, everywhere they went. It is gross dishonesty to attribute the crusaders’ misconduct to biblical Christianity.
From the days of Christ, multitudes of Christians have never given allegiance to Rome but to the Bible and to Christ alone. They were martyred by the millions by the church of Rome for centuries before the birth of Luther. From the 16th-century Reformation onward, millions of Roman Catholics embraced faith in the Bible and Christ alone and were martyred by the hundreds of thousands by the popes and their armies. To fail to distinguish between martyrs and their murderers is unconscionable.
The New Atheists, led by Dawkins, call themselves “the brights” and look upon theists as dimwits. Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg recently said, “The world needs to wake up from the long nightmare of religion....Anything we scientists can do to weaken the hold of religion should be done, and may in fact be our greatest contribution to civilization.” Richard Dawkins says: “I am utterly fed up with the respect we have been brainwashed into bestowing on religion.” Religion? As we’ve seen, atheists are tilting at windmills.
In their fervor to convert the world to their religion, atheists betray their complete ignorance of biblical Christianity. The Bible is not a religious book and does not promote “religion.”
Many Christians try to be “scientific” by adopting theistic evolution as compatible with Christianity. Their compromise does not impress atheists. Unashamedly, Dawkins declares that “evolution must lead to atheism” and “the atheist movement has...a moral imperative...to aggressively spread the good news....”
Dawkins declares, “Should [theists] be free to impose their beliefs on their children? Is there something to be said for society stepping in?” This is dangerous totalitarian talk that makes one fear for parents and children alike.
James Perloff put it well: “But remember; ‘The princess kissed the frog, and he turned into a handsome prince.’ We call that a fairy tale. Evolution says frogs turn into princes, and we call it science....Is that science? Or is it, like the fraud of Piltdown Man, the forgeries of Haeckel’s embryos, the misrepresentations of Inherit the Wind, and the coercions of the Supreme Court, merely part of a long effort to deny God?”
Atheists who end up in hell cannot blame the God they hate for excluding them from heaven. We need to rescue as many as we can from atheism’s lies.  TBC

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