The Door of the Sheep

 

 

John 10: 7-9 “So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life and have it abundantly.” 

Jesus Christ is the door. Jesus is the gate. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the life. No one comes to the Father but through Jesus the Son. He is the narrow gate and narrow is the way that leads to life (Matthew 7: 13 – 14). 

Isaiah 59:2 “But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” Sin separates us from God and the only way that that sin can be atoned for is by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. His blood shed for you and me at Calvary that we might believe on Him and not perish but inherit eternal life (John 3:16). 

Enter by the narrow gate, for narrow is the way and broad is the road that leads to destruction. Believe that God so loved you that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, that when you believe on Him you will not perish but have eternal life. 

So, hear me when I say to you “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the Holy Spirit,” (Acts 2:38). “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved,” (Acts 4:12). 

Jesus is coming soon.

Does the Enemy Know Who You Are?

 

So, you are a Christian. You have a cell phone, a tablet, a laptop, a TV connected to Broadband, or you fastidiously have none of the above. This to protect you from Big Brother. Well, if you live in the Western World or even if you live in one of the more technically advanced areas of the East then Big Brother already knows who you are.  

Even in NZ, Police may have access to CCTV footage from your town, or you may have been photographed by speed or toll cameras. The Chinese Government are said to be very good at hacking the CCTV systems in other countries to gather data about their own citizens and even you and me.  

We live in a digital age my friends and if you think not having digital devices, or even bank cards, can keep your information safe from prying eyes then I am afraid you are laboring under a misapprehension. Big Brother knows a whole lot about you and if he really wants to get in touch personally then there is probably very little you can do to stop him. 

However, if you wanted to evade the authorities as people do who appear on the television show ‘Hunted.’ The contestants show that while is very difficult to avoid being detained when the police are after you it is possible if you keep a very low profile to evade capture for several days. I suspect that if you had a network in place and used burner phones and cash or gift cards as a line of credit, it might be possible to successfully flee capture and hide at least in the medium term. Changing your appearance by dying your hair and using makeup to change your skin tone might increase your chances of avoiding recognition as well. 

For me as a Christian, the question is why I would bother to avoid Big Brother. Surely, if Big Brother is watching me, he is only seeing my witness as a Christian and that I present very little threat to anyone. That I am a peaceful person seeking only to be helpful to those around me and that I share Christ with the lost but that I hardly force them to listen to me. 

I understand that the secularists hate Christ and would like nothing better than to destroy Christians and Christianity. That has always been the case though and many of the Reformers like Huss and Wycliffe died for nothing other than being bible believers and servants of Christ Jesus.  

As much as I fear being persecuted for my beliefs myself, I do not fear the State being able to study me or using the data they have acquired about me to apprehend me. The book of Revelation speaks of a time when people will be given the choice renounce Jesus Christ or die for Him. It seems that millions of people will die for Christ and will cry out to the Lord for vengeance against those who persecuted and killed them (Revelation 6:9-11). 

Finally, I think that my faith gives me peace of mind about the world in which I live. I am a Christian and so I believe that nothing can separate me from the love of God (Romans 8:31-39). I will walk in the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil (Psalm 23:4). Come Lord Jesus.

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The Christian World View

 

One Christian world view is called Dominionism. In this world view the Church continues to strive against the world and to win converts to Christianity until the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. It holds that at some point in the future the Church will finally be successful at winning everyone to Christianity and then Jesus will return immediately to reign.

 

This is a popular Christian world view because it encompasses the Church Age to date and appeals to younger Christians who are raising their families. Jesus is not going to suddenly return in this world view so there is a certain guarantee that there will be time to see your children grow up and for you to live your life. May not so great a guarantee if you live in an unstable region of the world but I guess you know that the Church will always be there.

 

Another world view is called Dispensationalism. It is kind of the opposite of Dominionism in that it holds that the Bible describes in certain scriptures prophecies about when certain events will happen that will precede the return of Jesus Christ and also has different outcomes upon the return of Jesus. There is a belief that when Christ Jesus returns he will establish a kingdom that will last for one thousand years at the end of which will be a judgement and then a new Heavens and a new Earth and an eternal Kingdom of God.

 

These world views help us to understand what the bible says about the future but they are not the most important thing. The most important thing is understand the sin or unrighteousness separates us from God. However, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes on Him shall not perish but inherit eternal life.

 

This is the most important world view and is characterised in the verse Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord."

One Man's Truth…

 

I was reading a Facebook Meme the other day which complained that the Bible stated that Methuselah lived for 969 years. I think the feed stated another number but 969 is what the Bible actually states. It also stated that this was false because we know that there are numerous genetic factors that would make it impossible for a man to live to 969 years.

 

Of course the gist of the meme was how could Christians believe this nonsense. I guess it all comes back to what you believe and your background. I mean the biggest challenge we face in this life is death and the human body would seem to be susceptible to any number of maladies that can lead to death. Not the least of these being, that humanity seems to be prewired to cease life somewhere around seventy years of age which is also the limit of human life as defined by God in the Bible.

 

This all happens because of the shortening of telomeres in our cells telling our DNA to stop dividing, exposure to solar radiation, aging in certain cells and any number of other physiological factors. The most pertinent factor is, however, that Jehovah said that the end of our variant of humanities life would be in the range of seventy to eighty years. So what of Methuselah.
 

Well, Methuselah lived before the flood when the Earth was a hot house world covered in the original forest that God had created. Everything was new, Mankind had fallen but was genetically in excellent condition. God allowed those who close to Him to live for a very long time. Jehovah, reduced the length of human life to reduce the exposure of the world to sin. Wicked men with long lives could inflict much harm on those around them whereas, with shorter lives that harm was limited. Imagine the mayhem unleashed if some of the Kings of Earth had lived for a thousand years.

 

So where does all of this leave us? Well, the person who wrote the meme believes that science has shown beyond dispute that for various physiological reasons no man can live to the age of 969 years. This is his belief and he has faith in the science behind it. I deduce that his faith is naturalistic and he or she is an atheist. This is a world view, a faith. They would contend that if something cannot be proven by science or if the science can be said to disprove it then it is not true. This is a simplistic notion. There is much even on Earth that we cannot know because we don't have the means to genuinely evaluate the facts before us. Whether that is because we were not there when something first formed or because we don't have a method that we can investigate the truth of some matter with. Therefore we are limited to theorising an answer to our investigation.

 

In the case of Methuselah's age we can say based on what we know today he could not have lived to 969 years but what if tomorrow a scientist came up with the keys to the tree of life. A potion that causes our body to begin rebuilding itself in the way that it did when we were first conceived. Would our atheist friend believe that mankind could now be immortal because science has found a way for Methuselah to live to a great age? Of course, the answer is yes because science can demonstrate that immortality is now possible.

 

So, really the issue is that the writer of the meme believes in science but does not believe in God. He or she, has faith in science but does not have faith in Jehovah God. Therefore, truth is a matter of perception not a matter of fact. You see, you can believe in science and only believe what can be proven in the laboratory or you can believe in God and every word that comes from the mouth of God. What matters in the end is Truth and most unbelieving folk know in their hearts the God created the Heavens and the Earth. They just don't want admit it.

 

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." ESV

 

From <https://www.openbible.info/topics/unbeliever>