Jesus Christ, Lord Over Creation

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. (Colossians 1:15-16)

[This devotional article is from the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) website: https://www.icr.org/?utm_source=phplist11309&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=June+20+-+Jesus+Christ%2C+Lord+over+Creatione%5D

June 20, 2024

Darwin’s theory of evolution challenged the biblical account that our Lord Jesus Christ created all things, speaking everything into existence (Hebrews 11:1-3). Many Christians responded by trying to fit evolution into the Bible. This is done despite the fact that theistic selectionism—which believes God used natural selection as the driving force behind creatures’ amazing complexity—isn’t found anywhere in Scripture. Or science, for that matter.

During times of intellectual conflict, the Christian community tends to only focus on salvific points of the Christian faith. People justify this approach by saying “secondary issues” such as biblical creation are controversial and shouldn’t be addressed for the sake of Christian unity and getting along with more people.

But today’s church is starving for doctrinal precision. Compromising biblical creation weakens the church, debilitating its witness and impact. Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones wrote about the “essential nature” of biblical creation that “these early chapters of Genesis, with their history, play a vital part in the whole doctrine of salvation.”1

As Christians, we shouldn’t compromise or be silent about the doctrine of creation. We can stand with certainty on the authority and authenticity of God’s Word and duly honor Jesus as the Creator and Lord of all. CCM

Editor’s comments: There are no excuses for Spirit-illuminated Christians for compromising the interpretation of the Genesis account of creation to give credence to atheist humanistic science, in blending the Word of God with theistic evolution in any of its forms (syncretism). The Bible consistently and indisputably affirms creation by divine fiat (all things were spoken into existence out of nothing by God) throughout the corpus of the Scriptures, in both the Old and New Testaments. From the Defender’s Study Bible Notes:

Hebrews 11:3

11:3 things which do appear. The physical universe, therefore, was not somehow made out of pre-existing materials of any kind. Thus theistic evolution is an oxymoron. Only special creation of the worlds, accomplished merely by the omnipotent “Let there be!” of God, can account for the things that are seen. His processes of creating and making all things ex nihilo—that is, “out of nothing” but His own omnipotence—were all completed and stopped at the end of the six days of creation week (Genesis 2:1-3). His present works consist of conserving and redeeming what He has created, as confirmed by the two most basic and universal of all known scientific principles, the so-called First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. The First Law (mass/energy conservation) assures us that the universe did not create itself, as many modern physicists and New Agers imagine. The Second Law (mass/energy deterioration) assures us that the universe must have been created in the beginning and is not of infinite age—otherwise it already would have completely deteriorated into uniform stillness and death. Therefore it could only have been spoken into being by the omnipotent Word of God! Those who believe otherwise are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). [See https://www.icr.org/bible/Hebrews/11/1-3/?utm_source=phplist11309&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=June+20+-+Jesus+Christ%2C+Lord+over+Creation%5D

The Apostolic Teaching of Spiritual Gifts for the Church Today — Part 1

In this series I will make the case that there is solid hermeneutical support in the Scriptures for the continuation of the spiritual gifts beyond the apostolic era and throughout the entire kingdom building age until Christ returns at the end of history. The gifts are intended to be normative in the ministry of the church in all local instances of congregations according to apostolic teaching; in fact, they should be the core of the ministry of the Spirit for believers. The New Testament (NT) lays out the formula for this in the key passages of Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 – 14. I will provide a breakdown of the biblical references of this argument in a future segment. Let it suffice at this point that much of the ground breaking theological analysis and explanation supporting this position among modern orthodox evangelicals has been contributed in monumental books by Christian pillars that include D. A. Carson, Wayne Grudem, and Sam Storms.1

DISCLAIMER: The views of this series of articles are not necessarily those of the authors referenced herein nor are they endorsed by such authors, although some points made in this article are derived from those sources.

The Exercise of Charismata by Ordinary Believers Can Never be Classed with Inspired Scripture

At the outset, I posit that it is critical for God’s people to understand that the spiritual charismata are not meant to compete with the authority of or add to the Word of God in the Bible. God, while establishing the revelation of His will to man in the inspired writings of the Holy Scriptures (2 Tim 3:16; Heb 1:1, 2) also prescribed the spiritual gifts as a system of ministry in those same writings handed down by Christ’s apostles in the NT (Rom 12:4 – 6a; 1 Cor 12:1, 4 – 7; 1 Pet 4:10 Note – each reference is from an epistle by an apostle). Since the gifts were prescribed for ministry in the Body of Christ by the Word of God through the Holy Spirit, God designed them to be exercised without overriding or being in conflict with His Word. This is made to be compatible and hold true with the principle of the sufficiency of the Scriptures of the Bible (2 Tim 3:15, 16)—they alone remain the all-sufficient divine revelation to mankind for the knowledge of who God is, His will for man, for salvation (Rom 16:26) and all matters of living in godliness as required by God, while not lacking in any essential teaching, which cannot be true for the gifts of prophecy or teaching (Roms 12:6) alone, as well as any of the other gifts. The primary apostles (the original Twelve appointed by Jesus Christ and later on including Paul—Mark 3:14; 1 Cor 15:8; 2 Tim 1:1) alone spoke and wrote divinely inspired words in the first century (1 Thess 2:13; 2 Pet 3:16; 1 Jn 4:6), but this may have included their ministerial associates who recorded their teachings, i.e., Mark, Luke, Jude, etc., and considered part of the apostolic ministry. The NT refers to their writings in the same terms of authority as the Scriptures of the Old Testament (OT) prophets (Eph 2:20, 2 Pet 3:16). It is well established in Christian orthodox theology and since the early church period that it was the apostles whom God exclusively chose to invest with words of divine authority that furnished the foundation for the NT scriptures at the exclusion of those who were mere gifted prophets (i.e, not apostles) or teachers of that era (Luke 11:49; Jn 16:12 – 14; 1 Cor 2:9, 13; 14:36; 2 Cor 13:3). It was the apostles to whom God gave the sign gifts and miracles (Rom 15:19; 2 Cor 12:12) to attest to the divine messages they preached and not to the gifted NT prophets or teachers. The only inspired writings contributed by prophets that are included in the Bible canon are those of the OT (Matt 11:13; Luke16:16; Rom 16:26; Heb 1:1; 1 Pet 1:10 – 12; 2 Pet 3:2). The word “prophet” and its plural and feminine forms occur 31 times in the book of Acts. Of those, it refers to the OT prophets 26 times. In the majority of those passages it is in reference to the OT scriptures being cited for the divine fulfillment or authority of the events being described. A few passages refer to the OT prophets themselves. In the remaining 5 places, the mention of prophets are those from a local church or the Jerusalem assembly, but who were not apostles or their associates. In none of those cases is the prophecy treated as the inspired Word of God or placed on par with the OT prophets. The prophecies are often predictions incidental to the events occurring at the time and at other times they convey an encouraging, uplifting message that may not include predictions of any sort. Those local prophets vanish into obscurity in the biblical narrative after being mentioned briefly in Acts. Contrary to those local prophets, the apostles’ ministry of the Word was to all the churches collectively and to the universal church in perpetuity. Thus, the argument that the OT prophetic ministry carried over into the NT era at the same level of inspiration and authority, apart from the apostles, is specious and not supported in the NT. It must be said in all fairness at this point that the NT connotes an element of revelation with the gifted prophets and the prophetic ministry (1 Cor 14:30). 1 But it has also been shown historically that the terms for prophet and prophecy used in the first century of Palestine and the Roman culture had a broad usage and meaning that rarely involved divine revelation, even in Jewish circles, but instead was in common usage by heathen and Jewish sources to refer merely to a proclaimer or announcer. This cultural factor would have lent confusion to the use of the term within the NT, at least in the first century Roman societies. This may be what is behind the Lord’s designation of the apostle to speak His words with divine authority under the New Covenant, in lieu of the prophet.

D. A. Carson rightly observes: When Paul presupposes in 1 Corinthians 14:30 that the gift of prophecy depends on a revelation, we are not limited to a form of authoritative revelation that threatens the finality of the canon. To argue in such a way is to confuse the terminology of Protestant systematic theology with the terminology of the Scripture writers. (1 Grudem, eBook, page 62)

The treatment of prophecy and the role of local prophets by the biblical authors in the NT period is didactically defined by the context and is clearly not identical with the role in the OT–there is no reason whatsoever to constrain NT prophets to the OT definition. And this in no way diminishes the divine inspiration of the OT prophecies. The principle of using new wine skins (apostles) for the ministry of the Spirit under the New Covenant as opposed to old wine skins (prophets) of the era of the OT under the letter of the Law (Matt 9:17) might be applied here. Although the apostle functioned as a gifted prophet (Eph 3:3, 5) as well as a gifted teacher in the NT (Acts 13:1; 1 Tim 2:7; 2 Tim 1:11), the gifted prophet or teacher of the local church was not an apostle. This is made clear in 1 Cor 12:10, 28 and Rom 12:4 – 6 where prophet/prophecy and teaching are mentioned separately from apostle (note that the role or office of apostle is in itself not included in the lists of gifts whereas the prophet and teacher are ministerial roles defined by the exercise of those particular gifts—they are granted individually and separately by the Spirit; plus, prophet is not defined as an office in the local church in the NT, such as pastor, elder or deacon). In addition, as in the case of the OT prophets, in their foundational role of the the establishment of Christ’s Church, the apostles were specifically appointed (or “hand-picked”) to that office by the Lord Jesus Himself, whereas the local church prophets in the NT were not (Isa 6:8f; Acts 1:2f; Rom 1:1; Gal 1:15, 16). They also were eye-witnesses of Christ during His earthly ministry and post-resurrection appearances (in Paul’s case, it was post-ascension) which were crucial qualifications never applied to local church prophets in the NT. Prophetic gifting was not included in any of the qualifications for church leadership of deacon or eldership, but apostleship and teaching were. The apostles and elders had the authority to appoint elders (Acts 14:23; 1 Tim 4:14,Titus 1:5), whereas the gifted prophets and teachers did not. Thus, although the prophetic gift in the local church inherently involved spiritual revelation according to the NT pattern, apart from an apostle, the prophetic message was not to be treated as a direct command of God at the same level and authority as the Scriptures. The revelations of a local church prophet in the NT had to be vetted by the congregation (1 Cor 14:29; 1 Thess 5:21; 1 Jn 2:18-27), which would not be the case if such revelations were in the same class of unquestioned divine inspiration as the apostle’s teachings. Instead, the words of local church prophets had to align with the apostle’s teachings and the canon of scripture to be valid. Paul made it clear that the authority of the apostolic teachings was greater than the prophets of the local churches (1 Cor 14:36 – 38), whose messages consisted of the very words and direct commands of the Lord (vss. 36 – 37; 1 Tim 6:3f). In no case were Christians admonished to obey the local church prophets or held to any sanctions for not obeying them to the same degree of the apostolic teachings (Phil 2:12). Therefore, those who place the speaking gifts of 1 Cor 12, i.e., word of knowledge, of wisdom, prophecies, teaching, etc., meant for local church ministry of exhortation, on a plane equal to or higher than the Holy Scriptures, appear to not understand the divine purpose for the gifts, are not rightly dividing the Word, and may be doing a disservice to biblical truth. They repeat the error of the Montanists in the second century who elevated the speaking gifts to the level of the inspired Scriptures2 resulting in great damage to the body of Christ with its heresies. And those who confine all miraculous gifts to attesting apostolic signs and wonders in the first century are in error. It is also an unbiblical argument to appeal to how the spiritual gifts played out in the history of the Church down through the centuries to the present. The divine law and principles in the sovereign plans of God revealed in the Scriptures are agnostic to the fallacies inherent in mankind, including the failures of the Church on earth–they do not nullify or scuttle God’s everlasting decrees or teachings in His Word. Finally, there is the problem of denying the spiritual power and presence of God in and amongst His people because of fear or discomfort of His intrusion when they reject the ministry of spiritual gifts. This might be viewed as akin to the liberal camp’s denial of the supernatural as an argument to shut God out of their lives and consciences. Therefore it is not a trivial thing to shut out the presence and supernatural working of God in the individual believer and the church through denial of the charismata (1 Thess 5:19, 20). This might account for the spiritual insipidity of many Christians today.

In view of the preceding, the question shouldn’t be whether God intended for such gifts to continue beyond the Apostolic Era (the Cessationist argument), but why Christians fail to understand how God intended for them to be exercised in the local churches for corporate edification throughout the entire Church Age in accordance with apostolic instructions. Since God designed them for the Church’s benefit until the second advent of Christ, His wise design would never run counter to or conflict with the inspired Word of God. Christians must wisely determine what this divine plan is through the apostolic teaching and obediently exercise the spiritual gifts accordingly.

Paul Provides Foundational Doctrine for Spiritual Gifts to the Church in 1 Corinthians 12 – 14

In his apostolic role, Paul felt it important to address the ignorance of the Corinthians about spiritual gifts, especially to curb abuses in their practice which may have been carried over from their pagan religious experiences (1 Cor 12:1, 2) and the influences of that culture. It also presented an opportunity, similar to the teaching about the proper exercise of the Lord’s supper in chapter 11, to lay foundational doctrine concerning the spiritual gifts for the Church. He never taught that the spiritual gifts were assigned to a restricted period of time in history, including any allusions to this that are assumed to be in 1 Cor 13 (a subject to be addressed in the next article). The tenor of the entire teaching is that of presenting enduring fundamentals of church practice. As such, when this apostolic teaching is ignored, errors and excesses are sure to follow, such as the case of the abuse of the practice of speaking in tongues that are well known in our day. On the other hand, to prevent the exercise of the ministry of spiritual gifts on the grounds of avoiding abuses incurs the risk of defrauding the Church of a significant means of spiritual edification and growth that God intended for His people, out of His wisdom, grace, love, and mercy. It also contributes to the quenching of the Spirit, warned against by Paul (1 Thess 4:19), which directly affects a believer’s fellowship with God. When this quenching comes through the church’s leadership when they suppress the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit, it can often have a negative effect on the corporate working of the Spirit within the congregation as well. When the Spirit is hindered, ministry and the body life of the members also suffer. And the opposite is true if the church’s leadership actively embraces the working of the Spirit through spiritual gifts in biblical obedience–the activity of the Spirit also tends to be manifested through members of the congregation in that welcoming environment, resulting in the benefits of ministry through the church body described in 1 Cor 12 and 14.

Spiritual Gifts are Abilities Received Entirely from the Holy Spirit

The Bible’s teaching on spiritual gifts drives home that they are generated by the Holy Spirit within individuals and are not merely based on natural talents, aptitudes, or abilities the person may possess from birth, training, education, upbringing, etc. (1 Cor 12:3 – 11; Rom 12:6). The clear doctrine in scripture is that God chooses what gift(s) will be given and manifested and to whom according to His sovereign will (1 Cor 12:11). There are allowances made to seek for God to give gifts that would have corporate benefits (1 Cor 14:1). If the gifts were actually dependent on innate human talents, they could not be considered grace gifts freely administered according to God’s will or distributed and energized by the Hold Spirit, but merely human efforts and accomplishments based on human abilities, even if used in service to God. For instance, although preaching is prescribed in the Bible as the primary means for delivering the gospel message (Roms 10:14f; 1 Cor 15:1; 1 Pet 1:12), the term is not included with any of the listed spiritual gifts. Thus, preaching may be described as an act of the individual in obedience to God, using his wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of God’s revealed will acquired through training, personal study, and reflection involving the Scriptures and optimally with the illumination of the Spirit, to deliver a message or teaching. Although the person may be depending on God by faith for leading and guidance in preparation and deliverance of a sermon, that in and of itself is not an exercise of spiritual charismata. The Greek word for preaching often used in the NT is kerusso in several forms, meaning to proclaim or declare an important message publicly. Evangeleo is also used, meaning to declare the (divine) good news (of the gospel or kingdom of God). It is possible that some different spiritual gifts would be manifested during a sermon. There are documented occurrences of this with well-known preachers, even some who did not hold ostensible charismatic beliefs. 1 And while the gifts are from the Spirit, in their delivery they are still under the control of the individual. This allows the person to use discretionary judgement on the timing and manner of exercising the gift, according to the Pauline instruction in 1 Cor 14, to maintain godly order and promote the efficient conduct of the worship service. This shows the graciousness and meekness of God in fostering a cooperative relationship with the believer and allowing a share of the control in His operations. The objective for this includes elimination of any claims that God is the author of bizarre and uncontrolled behavior, such as that associated with so-called ecstatic utterances, trances, god-possession, extremes of being slain in the Spirit, etc., that are more characteristic of heathen demonic activities that Paul is trying to avert.2

When people are ministered to by the Spirit through the gifts in accordance with the biblical formula, God and His love often becomes more real and personal to them: their faith is bolstered, they’re put in awe, and have increased admiration for God. This can spur them on to more service and good deeds on behalf of their brethren, as well as evangelical ministry. For instance, if a person is healed of a sickness or injury through the ministry of the church, whether by the direct exercise of a spiritual gift or by means of the anointing with oil according to the James formula (James 5:14ff), the recipient has received the benefit of being miraculously restored to health, which in and of itself is a mercy of God. But the benefits extend beyond that to providing edification to the heart and soul of the recipient as well as others who witness the healing or receive news of it. God gets the glory through the obedience of his children and receives pleasure in being able to show His love in tangible ways, as well as increasing the growth of His children. The one who exercised the gift (or ‘ones’ plural in the James formula) is also edified if exercised in an attitude of humility and spiritual maturity. In response to this demonstration of God’s love, the believers’ hearts are enlivened by His grace, and in thankfulness to God would extend services of love to their neighbor. It doesn’t matter that it is in response to a healing–that doesn’t denigrate the motive of the respondent. And, of course, all of this assumes that the exercise of the gift is genuine, accomplished through the Spirit.

Please stayed tuned for the continuation of this message in The Apostolic Teaching of Spiritual Gifts for the Church Today — Part 2

Bibliography

1 Carson, D.A. Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14. Baker Book House Company, 1987

Grudem, Wayne The Gift of Prohecy in the New Testament and Today. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2000 (Revised edition)

Storms, Sam The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts. Regal Books, 2012

2 Kydd, Ronald A.N. Charismatic Gifts in the Early Church: The Gifts of the Spirit in the First 300 Years (eBook edition). Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC, 1984, 2014

Godly Balance in the Believer’s Heart

The Jewish companions of Daniel—Shadrach, Meschak, and Abednego, went through the sufferings of deportation as war captives from their homeland in Israel by the Babylonians, placed into their heathen government service, always maintaining their kosher integrity and loyalty to their God. God showed up for them awesomely after the idol worshipping despot Nebuchadnezzar threw them into a tremendously stoked up furnace for disobeying his totally unreasonable and blasphemous edict to worship his horrid idol. God appeared in the fire of the furnace with them and completely protected them from the intense heat. He performed a similar spectacular rescue for Daniel from the den of lions (see Daniel 3 and 6). Job, although declared righteous by God Himself, suffered tremendously from the loss of everything, including his health, with God’s consent to Satan to destroy him (Job 2:3 – 7). But the story ends with God encountering Job, putting him in his place, and restoring all his fortunes, family, and health (Job 38, 42). Their God is the same today for the saints under the New Covenant in the blood of Christ. But many seem to think otherwise amidst all of the present turmoil and decline in our nation and across the world. They live in fear and anxiety about rumors and troubles and certain disaster that appears to be coming upon the world. We need to hear the word of the great preacher from the 19th century England.

“The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.
Psalm 126:3: Some Christians are sadly prone to look on the dark side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone through than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, yet with scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has vouchsafed them. But a Christian whose soul is in a healthy state, will come forward joyously, and say, ‘I will speak, not about myself, but to the honour of my God. He hath brought me up out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings: and he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof I am glad.’ Such an abstract of experience as this is the very best that anychild of God can present. It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as true that we are delivered out of them. It is true that we have our corruptions, and mournfully do we know this, but it is quite as true that we have an all-sufficient Saviour, who overcomes these corruptions, and delivers us from their dominion. In looking back, it would be wrong to deny that we have been in the Slough of Despond, and have crept along the Valley of Humiliation, but it would be equally wicked to forget that we have been through them safely and profitably; we have not remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who has brought us ‘out into a wealthy place.’ The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through all, and preserved us until now. Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our life’s song, ‘He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.’” -Charles Spurgeon, Christian Sermon Classics-Morning and Evening, Morning June 9.

Leveraging the Unique Pessimism of Orthodox Christianity in Gospel Outreach

Today’s topic: “The Most Pessimistic Religion in the World” by Jerry Riendeau on the Gospel Coalition website, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/pessimistic-religion/.

It often requires unique, even spiritual, keys to effectively unlock doors of the soul that otherwise seem shut and impenetrable to the gospel. In the case of Mr. Riendeau’s outreach to Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan, he found a way to overcome a common Muslim misunderstanding that adherents of both Islam and Christianity are basically trying to please God by their efforts in order to gain entrance into heaven. Believers would call this a works-based religion which evangelical Christians reject, but it is the basis of all other religions in the world. He tells the Muslims that Christians are too pessimistic to believe they can earn their way into heaven, because in their theology all of mankind fell in the Garden and are under God’s condemnation, which makes it impossible to please Him by human effort—man is too sinful. Muslims usually respond by asking how do Christians think they will get to heaven? This leads to the use of the keys needed to unlock several doors of misconception held by Muslims: That Jesus was just another prophet of God to point men to God, to instruct them in the right way to please Him, and that He didn’t really die on the cross because that would be unsuitable for a prophet of God. Why would a holy man of God need to die for his people if they attained heaven by obedience and good works? That would be a ridiculous notion. Herein lies the importance of the teaching in our gospel that all mankind is lost and perishing, destined for hell, and can in no way earn favor with God. This unlocks the doors to explain how God Himself had to provide the way to heaven through the vicarious atonement of His only Son, Jesus, who was more than just a prophet, but a virgin-born incarnation of God amongst His people. This truth suddenly becomes completely sensible to them and brings the realization that God is actually gracious and merciful. The doors are open for them to receive and believe the gospel for their salvation!

Mr. Riendeau lays this out in illustrating a dialog with a Muslim where these concepts are employed and brought to bear. This approach might just as well work with others besides Muslims who think in terms of earning their way to heaven.

Overcome Them | The Institute for Creation Research

This article aptly brings out essential truths from the apostle John especially important in our day, that are at the core of the believer’s mandate to stand against the present evil in the world, no matter its source, even with active opposition, and shine as lights in the darkness to continue the increase of Christ’s kingdom and abolishment of all earthly kingdoms. This is key to accomplishing the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19ff.

Overcome Them | The Institute for Creation Research
— Read on www.icr.org/article/14436/

Begin This New Year Firmly Committing to the Literal Truth of Genesis 1

The ICR article, Creation and the New Year (https://www.icr.org/articles/type/9) by Dr. Henry M. Morrison, contains a challenge to Christians for the new year 2024 and is valid for any year as well: A “firm renewal of one’s commitment to special creation, as literally recorded by divine revelation in the inerrant Word of God is thus the proper way to begin a New Year, or a new home, or a new career, or a new family, or any phase of a Christian life. This is the time to confess and forsake all doubts, and trust God’s Word! In the beginning of the first year, God created all things. At the beginning of this year, we should resolve to believe and obey all things in His Word.”

The message begins, “It is appropriate for Christians to begin the New Year by referring back to the beginning of the very first year. The first verse of God’s Word is also its most important verse, since it is the foundation on which everything else is built. Even God’s great work of salvation is irrelevant and futile without His prior work of creation, for only the Creator of all things could ever become the Savior of all things.” The whole message of the gospel in the New Testament rests on the foundation of a literal creation narrative in Genesis 1 and the subsequent fall of mankind in Genesis 2. There was no need for Christ’s mission of atonement as the Lamb of God in His first advent otherwise and John 3:16 would be pointless.

It thus behooves every Christian to accept this challenge for each new year and truly begin the year with a renewed commitment to the inerrant truths of the Scriptures.

The Preterist View of Biblical Eschatology Explained on The Rooted Truth Podcast

Jenny Mire interviews Brian Godawa about his journey from premillenialism into preterism and describes the preterist interpretation of biblical eschatological passages in contrast to premillenialist views. He also lays out his pathway through his career in becoming a marketing apologist of this view point. This is an excellent introduction for those who are not familiar with preterism. You’ll find this broadcast at rumble.com/v3zkrox-are-we-living-in-the-last-days-with-brian-godawa.html

The Incredible Irony of the Unknown Creator

In the devotional message in Days of Praise: “The Unknown Creator,” Dr. Henry M. Morris of the Institute in Creation Research (ICR)—https://www.icr.org/article/14342, points out that “the height of irony and the depth of foolishness are reached when those whose very minds and bodies were created by Christ refuse even to admit the fact of creation.” This height and depth is described in Romans 1:18ff, indicating the consequences of denial of God and His creation by receiving His wrath and the resultant spiral into degradation, corruption, perdition, and eternal ruin. This is in fact the condition of most of the people in the world today and we are seeing how it is reaping the whirlwind of God’s wrath in plain sight. Even if unbelievers choose to continue in their blindness and eventual headlong plunge into hell, this still can serve as a warning to believers to maintain the course of holding steadfastly in faith to the truths of the Scriptures concerning the creator God who has redeemed them from perdition through Christ at the cross.

Biblical Mountain Moving Faith

In the sermon “The Way to Mountain Moving Faith,” pastor Robert Hooker of Huber Heights First Baptist Church (https://firstbaptistchurchhuberh.subspla.sh/c7d) expounds upon the passage in Mark 11:20-33. In this narrative Jesus curses the fig tree while on His way to Jerusalem during the passion week and His disciples later confirm that the tree had in fact died immediately. Jesus then gives His remark about having mountain moving faith. In this message Pastor Hooker highlights the scriptural principles that, 1. Mountain moving faith gives the believer direct access to the power of God to do the impossible for His kingdom and glory, 2. Mountain moving faith is grounded in who God is according to the word of God, that He is kind and gracious, more than willing to do what is good and right for the supplicant, 3. It involves an asking faith, a petitioning prayer to God in firm belief in who He is and all His promises to us**, 4. This faith is meant for the ordinary Christian in the same way as God honored Elijah’s requests for the miraculous, 5. It involves confidence in any request that is intentionally made in accordance with His will—not from selfish, worldly motives, 6. It is grounded on a submitting faith, that of the believer whose heart is in submission to God, then God’s sovereignty is the only limiting factor of His answers to prayers of faith, and 7. The antithesis of faith is found in things like pragmatism where people depend more on man’s ability and on other things than on God or in living in disobedience to God and violation of His moral principles.

The cursed fig tree represents the religious order in the nation of Israel that had an outward appearance of spiritual health that seemed to promise the presence of fruit, but in reality was fruitless and thus useless to God. Rather than pruning non-productive branches (John 15), the Lord kills the entire tree with a mere pronouncement, in the exercise of His own perfect faith! This signified God’s rejection and discarding of the apostate Jewish religious institutions, including its political apparatus, that were rife with hypocrisy to the point of rejecting Christ, in favor of the new order of the Spirit to be instituted through the New Covenant by Christ Jesus, to bring in His kingdom as prophesied in the Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel, etc., in place of the political nation of Israel. Thus there is a rich compound of applications in this bible passage for the believer to gain wisdom from. And there is much more in this exposition, so check out the contemporary message of this vital lesson from the scriptures that is greatly needed today.

**Note: The Lord’s statement in verses 22 and 23 indicates a believer can command things to happen by faith, including that which is impossible for humans, which would emulate how the Lord addressed the fig tree. Thus, believers should exercise faith in both prayers to God and in commanding something to be done (or not done). Also see Matthew 17:20; 21:21, 22.

The Left’s Latest Push in Hi-jacking Biblical Truth for their Agenda

In the article “Christian Nationalism and the Most-Abused Verse in the Bible” https://gab.com/links/37738822 on Gab News, Andrew Isker makes the case that “Woke Christian wolves” have ripped Gals 3:28 from its context in an attempt to bully Christians into accepting the neo-Marxist push for their utopian socialist society that erases any distinctions God has made in humans and nations around the world. It becomes apparent that this is leveraged by using Christian sheeples who go along acting as the left’s useful idiots in the church. But all of this is another manifestation of the left hi-jacking the Bible to politicize its contents to push its nefarious agenda, which is nothing new—look back to the various liberal social gospel movements of the 20th century. Christians should always be wary of and reject these false prophets and teachers as the scriptures warn, regardless of who they are, and stand on solid biblical truth. The scriptures warn believers about being tossed about by every wind of doctrine and this is a contemporary example—Christians have no excuse falling into such traps. Heeding such deception makes them friends of the world and enemies of God.