Personally, I think that current state of Christian Education in our nation today is very poor. It is true that an individual's Christian education should start at the home. Unfortunately, in this day and age most kids come from broken homes and they are not taught the fundamentals of the Christian faith. When the father is not present in the home there is something wrong. When parents do not make there children go to Sunday School there is something wrong. Christian Education begins at the home and unless America has a revival in their homes then Christian Education will suffer. It is much harder for churches to reach young people when they come from broken homes and when they hear in school that they are a product of primordial ooze that evolved over millions of years into what they are today. We as Christian Educators need to get back to the basics and teach young people and new converts how to walk and talk like a Christian. That was the whole purpose of Horace Bushnell. We need some more Horace Bushnell's today. We need some people who will challenge the way things are done in society and make an impact for the Kingdom of God. We need some godly parents who will set examples for their children and then we will see revival unlike ever before in our homes and in Christian Education.
When I compare the present state of Christian education to how it was practiced in previous eras (even the form of religious education in the Old Testament), there are some elements or traits that we have lost that must be rediscovered. First of all, as I have stated before, we have lost the importance of the family. The family is essential for Christian education. Without the family, Christian education cannot be effective because education starts at the home. Furthermore, we have lost or greatly under-valued the authority of the Bible. It is true that the Bible is the most sold book in history yet it is the least read. Simply put, we need some educators who will teach the Word of God line by line, precept upon precept in order to impact the next generation, and those who are considered Biblically illiterate.
One of the main problems we have in our educational framework is existentialism! Although there are many things that existentialist's and Christian's have in common, there are some things that Christians and existentialists would disagree on. First, existentialists question the authority of Scripture. The Word of God says that all Scripture is inspired and is profitable for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. In other words, Scripture has all the authority. Scripture is not only authoritative, but it is sufficient. Secondly existentialist' attack a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 says I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father except by me. These two things alone makes existentialist' wrong. However, what could be good for Christian educators is to understand the importance of critical thinking which was advocated by existentialist'. So there are some things that are good about existentialism. But it's ideas on the authority of Scripture and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is heretical. The most logical thing to do for Education in our country is to use the principles that coincide with Scripture and to shun those ideas that are contrary to Scripture.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Resurrection and Deity of Jesus
Introduction
The Resurrection is what makes Christianity different than all the other religions in the world. Without the Resurrection, Christianity would have nothing to stand on because Jesus Christ would have been just a mere mortal man. But can Christianity be validated? Did Jesus Christ really resurrect from the dead and authenticate His claim to be God? There are at least three reasons why Jesus rose from the dead and they are the following: 1.) The fact that so many people testify of seeing Jesus after His resurrection, 2.) The fact that the apostles were willing to die for what they believed in. and 3.) Paul’s conversion from being a murderer of Christians to preaching the resurrection of Jesus. These are the three reasons that will be discussed in detail in this paper.
Post Resurrection Appearances
The fact that Jesus appeared to so many people after the Resurrection authenticates Jesus’ claim to be God in the flesh. Jesus appeared to over 500 people after His resurrection. The fact that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time is more than enough evidence to suggest that Jesus did in fact resurrect from the dead.
J.N.D. Anderson writes of the testimony of the appearances:
“The most dramatic way of dismissing the evidence would be to say that these stories were just mere fabrications, that they were pure lies. But, so far as I know, not a single critic today would take such an attitude. In fact, it would really be an impossible position. Think of the number of witnesses, over 500. Think of the character of the witnesses, men and women who gave the world the highest ethical teaching it has ever known, and who even on the testimony of their enemies lived it out in their lives. Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence- and then attempting to attribute the dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication they were trying to foist upon the world. That simply wouldn’t make sense.”
So we see that that the character of the witnesses who saw Jesus after His resurrection was exemplary. In fact, these people were transformed by what they saw. Josh Mcdowell in his book Evidence for Christianity gives a list of all the people that Jesus appeared to and they are the following: Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, to women returning from the tomb, to Peter later in the day, to the Emmaus disciples, to the apostles without Thomas, to the apostles with Thomas present, to the seven by the Lake of Tiberias, to a multitude of 500-plus believers on a Galilean mountain, to James, to the eleven, at the Ascension, to Paul, to Stephen, to Paul in the temple, and to John on Patmos. The fact that Jesus appeared to so many people is evidence for the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead
Persecution and Death of Apostles
The second reason why Jesus rose from the dead is the fact that the apostles were willing die for what they believed in. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek state that:
“the New Testament writers suffered persecution and death when they could have saved themselves by recanting. If they would have made up the Resurrection story they certainly would have said so when they were about to be crucified (Peter), stoned (James), or beheaded (Paul). But no one recanted- eleven out of the twelve were martyred for their faith (the only survivor was John, who was exiled to the Greek island of Patmos). Why would they die for a known lie?”
Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, had this to say about the apostles:
“Twelve powerless men, peasants really, were facing not just embarrassment or political disgrace, but beatings, stonings, execution. Every single one of the disciples insisted, to their dying deaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead. Don’t you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did.”
The apostles would not have subjected themselves to all the persecution and ultimately execution if the resurrection did not happen. The fact that they would not recant and went to their death suggests that they had a life-changing experience. Jesus really did rise from the dead and the people who saw him literally shook the foundations of the world for the cause of Christ.
Some critics suggest that the apostles stole the body of Christ and that Jesus really did not rise from the dead. Again, why would the disciples not come clean to the authorities and admit that they stole the body before they died. The body was not stolen. Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead. Others state that Jesus did not actually die. They state that he swooned. Now this argument can be taken apart because of the brutality of Jesus’ death. Crucifixion was a brutal way for someone to die. It is a known fact that Jesus’ friends and his enemies thought he was dead. Geisler states that “the Romans, who were brutal executioners, whipped and beat Jesus brutally to the point of collapse. They then drove heavy, wrought iron nails through his wrists and feet, and plunged a spear through His side. They didn’t break his legs to speed death because they knew he was already dead.” When Jesus was laid into that tomb there was no doubt that he was dead. So knowing that fact and knowing that the disciples were willing to stake their lives on the fact that Jesus died, was buried and that he rose again is pretty solid evidence to suggest that Jesus literally rose from the dead.
Paul’s Conversion
The third reason why Jesus rose from the dead is Paul’s conversion from being a murderer of Christians to being the greatest missionary who ever lived. Paul, who at one time was known as Saul of Tarsus, was present in the stoning of Stephen. He was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians when a bright light knocked him off his horse and blinded him. Paul heard a voice and questioned the voice asking the voice who it was, and the response was, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.
According to Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner,
“ recent scholars agree, for a variety of reasons, that Paul is the most reliable witness to Jesus’ resurrection appearances. Once an adamant adversary of Christianity, Paul explains that he jettisoned his unbelief after he saw the risen Jesus. Given his conversion from the ranks of Jewish scholarship to one of Christianity’s greatest scholars, Paul is certainly viewed as an excellent witness to the resurrection appearances.”
Paul was taught by the great Jewish teacher Gamaliel, and was on track to possibly become a member of the Sanhedrin. His scholarship was brilliant and many suggest that he had a P.H.D in his time. The fact that he was so opposed to Christianity only to suddenly become a Christian suggests that he indeed had something miraculous happen to him. He did have an encounter with Jesus Christ and that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that He is indeed Deity.
Conclusion
To summarize what has already been stated Douglas Groothius declares:
“The New Testament reverberates and glistens with the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. The Gospels record Jesus’ teaching that he must be betrayed, killed, and rise again. Then they all testify that his tomb was empty and that he appeared to his disciples as he said. The Book of Acts records the preaching of the resurrected Christ as its central fact. The various New Testament letters and the book of Revelation would melt into nothingness without a resurrected Jesus. The resurrection is attested to by four separate Gospels, the history of the early church, by the letters of Paul, Peter, John, James, Jude, and the Letter to the Hebrews. There is a diversity of credible witnesses. Since the New Testament volumes show considerable fitness in terms of historical reliability… this is a good initial reason to accept the resurrection as an objective reality.”
C.S. Lewis writes this regarding Jesus:
“I am here trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
I choose to believe He is God. He is my Lord and my Savior and I will preach that He rose from the dead till the day I leave this body. Even if there was no evidence to suggest that He rose from the dead I would still believe because I have faith. Faith is believing God when you can not see the tangible reality. I was not there when Jesus rose from the dead, but I have the Word of God that tells me that there were godly men who lived with him and saw him after he rose from the dead. That is enough evidence for me.
The Resurrection is what makes Christianity different than all the other religions in the world. Without the Resurrection, Christianity would have nothing to stand on because Jesus Christ would have been just a mere mortal man. But can Christianity be validated? Did Jesus Christ really resurrect from the dead and authenticate His claim to be God? There are at least three reasons why Jesus rose from the dead and they are the following: 1.) The fact that so many people testify of seeing Jesus after His resurrection, 2.) The fact that the apostles were willing to die for what they believed in. and 3.) Paul’s conversion from being a murderer of Christians to preaching the resurrection of Jesus. These are the three reasons that will be discussed in detail in this paper.
Post Resurrection Appearances
The fact that Jesus appeared to so many people after the Resurrection authenticates Jesus’ claim to be God in the flesh. Jesus appeared to over 500 people after His resurrection. The fact that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time is more than enough evidence to suggest that Jesus did in fact resurrect from the dead.
J.N.D. Anderson writes of the testimony of the appearances:
“The most dramatic way of dismissing the evidence would be to say that these stories were just mere fabrications, that they were pure lies. But, so far as I know, not a single critic today would take such an attitude. In fact, it would really be an impossible position. Think of the number of witnesses, over 500. Think of the character of the witnesses, men and women who gave the world the highest ethical teaching it has ever known, and who even on the testimony of their enemies lived it out in their lives. Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence- and then attempting to attribute the dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication they were trying to foist upon the world. That simply wouldn’t make sense.”
So we see that that the character of the witnesses who saw Jesus after His resurrection was exemplary. In fact, these people were transformed by what they saw. Josh Mcdowell in his book Evidence for Christianity gives a list of all the people that Jesus appeared to and they are the following: Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, to women returning from the tomb, to Peter later in the day, to the Emmaus disciples, to the apostles without Thomas, to the apostles with Thomas present, to the seven by the Lake of Tiberias, to a multitude of 500-plus believers on a Galilean mountain, to James, to the eleven, at the Ascension, to Paul, to Stephen, to Paul in the temple, and to John on Patmos. The fact that Jesus appeared to so many people is evidence for the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead
Persecution and Death of Apostles
The second reason why Jesus rose from the dead is the fact that the apostles were willing die for what they believed in. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek state that:
“the New Testament writers suffered persecution and death when they could have saved themselves by recanting. If they would have made up the Resurrection story they certainly would have said so when they were about to be crucified (Peter), stoned (James), or beheaded (Paul). But no one recanted- eleven out of the twelve were martyred for their faith (the only survivor was John, who was exiled to the Greek island of Patmos). Why would they die for a known lie?”
Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, had this to say about the apostles:
“Twelve powerless men, peasants really, were facing not just embarrassment or political disgrace, but beatings, stonings, execution. Every single one of the disciples insisted, to their dying deaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead. Don’t you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did.”
The apostles would not have subjected themselves to all the persecution and ultimately execution if the resurrection did not happen. The fact that they would not recant and went to their death suggests that they had a life-changing experience. Jesus really did rise from the dead and the people who saw him literally shook the foundations of the world for the cause of Christ.
Some critics suggest that the apostles stole the body of Christ and that Jesus really did not rise from the dead. Again, why would the disciples not come clean to the authorities and admit that they stole the body before they died. The body was not stolen. Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead. Others state that Jesus did not actually die. They state that he swooned. Now this argument can be taken apart because of the brutality of Jesus’ death. Crucifixion was a brutal way for someone to die. It is a known fact that Jesus’ friends and his enemies thought he was dead. Geisler states that “the Romans, who were brutal executioners, whipped and beat Jesus brutally to the point of collapse. They then drove heavy, wrought iron nails through his wrists and feet, and plunged a spear through His side. They didn’t break his legs to speed death because they knew he was already dead.” When Jesus was laid into that tomb there was no doubt that he was dead. So knowing that fact and knowing that the disciples were willing to stake their lives on the fact that Jesus died, was buried and that he rose again is pretty solid evidence to suggest that Jesus literally rose from the dead.
Paul’s Conversion
The third reason why Jesus rose from the dead is Paul’s conversion from being a murderer of Christians to being the greatest missionary who ever lived. Paul, who at one time was known as Saul of Tarsus, was present in the stoning of Stephen. He was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians when a bright light knocked him off his horse and blinded him. Paul heard a voice and questioned the voice asking the voice who it was, and the response was, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.
According to Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner,
“ recent scholars agree, for a variety of reasons, that Paul is the most reliable witness to Jesus’ resurrection appearances. Once an adamant adversary of Christianity, Paul explains that he jettisoned his unbelief after he saw the risen Jesus. Given his conversion from the ranks of Jewish scholarship to one of Christianity’s greatest scholars, Paul is certainly viewed as an excellent witness to the resurrection appearances.”
Paul was taught by the great Jewish teacher Gamaliel, and was on track to possibly become a member of the Sanhedrin. His scholarship was brilliant and many suggest that he had a P.H.D in his time. The fact that he was so opposed to Christianity only to suddenly become a Christian suggests that he indeed had something miraculous happen to him. He did have an encounter with Jesus Christ and that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that He is indeed Deity.
Conclusion
To summarize what has already been stated Douglas Groothius declares:
“The New Testament reverberates and glistens with the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. The Gospels record Jesus’ teaching that he must be betrayed, killed, and rise again. Then they all testify that his tomb was empty and that he appeared to his disciples as he said. The Book of Acts records the preaching of the resurrected Christ as its central fact. The various New Testament letters and the book of Revelation would melt into nothingness without a resurrected Jesus. The resurrection is attested to by four separate Gospels, the history of the early church, by the letters of Paul, Peter, John, James, Jude, and the Letter to the Hebrews. There is a diversity of credible witnesses. Since the New Testament volumes show considerable fitness in terms of historical reliability… this is a good initial reason to accept the resurrection as an objective reality.”
C.S. Lewis writes this regarding Jesus:
“I am here trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
I choose to believe He is God. He is my Lord and my Savior and I will preach that He rose from the dead till the day I leave this body. Even if there was no evidence to suggest that He rose from the dead I would still believe because I have faith. Faith is believing God when you can not see the tangible reality. I was not there when Jesus rose from the dead, but I have the Word of God that tells me that there were godly men who lived with him and saw him after he rose from the dead. That is enough evidence for me.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Speaking the Truth in Love: Praising the Lord
I think what we need to do is just praise the Lord for what He has done, Hallelujah! We need to thank Him for saving our soul! Jesus Christ did not have to die on that cross. He could have called legions of angels to come down and then humanity would be damned forever! Oh thank you Jesus, for saving a sinner such as I from a devil's Hell! Thank you for putting a new song in my heart. We need to praise the Lord for another day of life. Life is precious and we are not promised another day. We need to thank the Lord for blessing us with provision for our needs! We have a bed to sleep in, clothes on our backs, and food to eat. Thank you Lord for your provision. Is it not great that we serve a kind and compassionate God. We serve a God that Loves us and wants us to commune with him. Oh God we give you praise. Nothing else can satisfy. The things of the world do not satisfy. Only Jesus can bring satisfaction. Saints, we need some people who are addicted to Jesus. We need some preachers who preach Christ and Him crucified. We need some men and women who will declare war on the Devil. The Devil is a defeated foe and we do not have to live in defeat. We serve an Almighty God who is more powerful than the Devil. We praise the Lord's Holy Name. He is most excellent and worthy to be praised. So just praise and watch your joy be restored!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Speaking the Truth in Love: Preaching the Word
Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin!The time for waiting is past! The hour of God has struck! War is declared! In God's Holy Name let us arise and build! The God of Heaven, He will fight for us as we for Him. We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of the sayings of Christ, and the gates and the minions of Hell shall not prevail against us. Should such men as we fear? Before the whole world, yes, before the sleepless, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God, We will venture our all for Him, We will live and we will die for Him and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God than live trusting in man. And when we come to this position the battle is already won, and the end of the glorious campaign in sight. We will have the real holiness of God, not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; We will have a masculine holiness, one of daring and faith and works for Jesus Christ.
Christ's call is to feed the hungry, not the full; To save the lost, not the stiff-necked; Not to call the scoffers, but sinners to repentance; Not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home, in which to rock Christian professors to sleep, by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers and artistic musical performances, but to raise living Churches of souls among the destitute, to capture men from the Devil's clutches, and snatch them away from the very jaws of Hell, to enlist and train them for Jesus and to make them into an Almighty Army of God! But this can only be accomplished by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered Holy Ghost religion, where neither Church nor state, neither man nor traditions are worshiped or preached, but only Christ and Him crucified. Not to confess Christ by fancy collars, church steeples, or richly embroidered altar clothes, but by reckless sacrifice and heroism in the foremost trenches.
Above was quotations taken from the ministry of CT Studd. I am convinced that America needs revival. I am also convinced that God wants me and other young men to be vessels that God uses to spark a revival in this nation. To do that, we need an audience of people. I have a desire to preach the Word of God and no one will tell me otherwise. There are young men that I know right now that want to preach their hearts out but they have no where to do it. For some reason pastors will not open their pulpits to young preachers. At least that is what I have experienced since I have graduated from seminary. Maybe some have had different experiences
Church should be about worshiping the one and true God. This is why I have such a passion for people and for preaching the Word of God. I sincerely love people. I have a passion for souls and I have a passion for God's people. So my challenge to you is to love people. Love them because doing so will please God. Let people know that you genuinely care, and be truthful to people. Honesty is always the best policy. I do not know what life holds for me. I am completely at God's mercy, and He can do whatever He wants to do. So as of now I am letting the Church of God know that I can not quit no matter how heartbroken I feel at this present time. I do sometimes despair of life itself, but you know so did Paul. He had times where he felt like quitting and throwing in the towel, but He held onto the promise that God would deliver Him and come through for Him in the end. The Christian life is not easy. It is full of setbacks and many trials, but the Lord in His vast knowledge is molding us and shaping us to be more and more like Him. I have to admit that these past few weeks have been the roughest of my entire life. My faith has been tested, and my hopes and dreams have been crushed. I am living the exact words that I preached in a small church in Hawkinsville just a few weeks ago when I told them to never quit. I loved that church that I preached in, and I loved those people with all of my heart. My problem is I get too attached to the people of God that when something does not work out it devastates me. I wanted to be at that church for a long time, but it did not work out. Did I question God? Absolutely. Do I understand why I am not able to be in that church for a long period of time? No. But God does. H e is sovereign and He alone knows all the answers. So if you have been devastated by circumstances that did not go your way, know that you are not alone. You can call on me and I will listen. I love you all, even the people who have hurt me. I wish them nothing but the best in life. Was that hard for my flesh to say? Absolutely. But the Spirit Man in me over-rules the flesh and tells me to love with all of my heart. I pray that God will give me and other young men pulpits to speak in, so we can proclaim the love of Jesus and that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Pray for me and I will do the same for you.
Your Brother in Christ, Tony Workman
Christ's call is to feed the hungry, not the full; To save the lost, not the stiff-necked; Not to call the scoffers, but sinners to repentance; Not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home, in which to rock Christian professors to sleep, by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers and artistic musical performances, but to raise living Churches of souls among the destitute, to capture men from the Devil's clutches, and snatch them away from the very jaws of Hell, to enlist and train them for Jesus and to make them into an Almighty Army of God! But this can only be accomplished by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered Holy Ghost religion, where neither Church nor state, neither man nor traditions are worshiped or preached, but only Christ and Him crucified. Not to confess Christ by fancy collars, church steeples, or richly embroidered altar clothes, but by reckless sacrifice and heroism in the foremost trenches.
Above was quotations taken from the ministry of CT Studd. I am convinced that America needs revival. I am also convinced that God wants me and other young men to be vessels that God uses to spark a revival in this nation. To do that, we need an audience of people. I have a desire to preach the Word of God and no one will tell me otherwise. There are young men that I know right now that want to preach their hearts out but they have no where to do it. For some reason pastors will not open their pulpits to young preachers. At least that is what I have experienced since I have graduated from seminary. Maybe some have had different experiences
Church should be about worshiping the one and true God. This is why I have such a passion for people and for preaching the Word of God. I sincerely love people. I have a passion for souls and I have a passion for God's people. So my challenge to you is to love people. Love them because doing so will please God. Let people know that you genuinely care, and be truthful to people. Honesty is always the best policy. I do not know what life holds for me. I am completely at God's mercy, and He can do whatever He wants to do. So as of now I am letting the Church of God know that I can not quit no matter how heartbroken I feel at this present time. I do sometimes despair of life itself, but you know so did Paul. He had times where he felt like quitting and throwing in the towel, but He held onto the promise that God would deliver Him and come through for Him in the end. The Christian life is not easy. It is full of setbacks and many trials, but the Lord in His vast knowledge is molding us and shaping us to be more and more like Him. I have to admit that these past few weeks have been the roughest of my entire life. My faith has been tested, and my hopes and dreams have been crushed. I am living the exact words that I preached in a small church in Hawkinsville just a few weeks ago when I told them to never quit. I loved that church that I preached in, and I loved those people with all of my heart. My problem is I get too attached to the people of God that when something does not work out it devastates me. I wanted to be at that church for a long time, but it did not work out. Did I question God? Absolutely. Do I understand why I am not able to be in that church for a long period of time? No. But God does. H e is sovereign and He alone knows all the answers. So if you have been devastated by circumstances that did not go your way, know that you are not alone. You can call on me and I will listen. I love you all, even the people who have hurt me. I wish them nothing but the best in life. Was that hard for my flesh to say? Absolutely. But the Spirit Man in me over-rules the flesh and tells me to love with all of my heart. I pray that God will give me and other young men pulpits to speak in, so we can proclaim the love of Jesus and that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Pray for me and I will do the same for you.
Your Brother in Christ, Tony Workman
Monday, July 12, 2010
Starting a Church
I will say that as a preacher, I am not here for your comfort! I am a preacher of the Word! The Word has a way of stinging, especially if it is the Truth! You see many people want to have there ears tickled in this society! Churches do not want to hear some Hell-Fire and Brimstone preacher to stand in there pulpits and preach repent or perish in the... See More flames! Jeremiah was not accepted in His day and He spoke the Truth and the people did not want to hear it, so what I can expect when I take the pulpit! I was told by a man that some Churches would throw me out because they would not like what I was preaching! I say let them throw me out! It proves that they have Ichabod written over there church! I do not play the political games that many churches play! I am a Jesus thumping radical that just happens to know that there is many people that are traveling down the broad road that leads to destruction! My preaching may not be popular! I might even come across to you as angry! But the reality is I am passionate about the Word and I am passionate about souls or I would not speak the Truth! Many people think that Jesus was all about love and all about tolerance! My friends, that is not the case! He called out people many times by calling them white-washed tombs and he called them sons of the devil. That is straight to the point and that came from Jesus! He is nothing to mess around with. Either you are with Him or you belong to Lucifer! It is your choice! You are either a child of God or a child of Satan! So I will tell you people once and for all that I will not back down from anyone, and I do not care whether you like me or not, because ultimately all that matters is what Jesus thinks! I will preach what He tells me to preach, and I will do so with no shame or regret! Many people know me as a personality on facebook, but my question is do you want to know me as a person? If you do then I am going to attempt to start a church! It will not be about politics! It will just be about Jesus! Young preachers that do not get a chance to preach will be preaching! I do not believe it is right for a pastor to hoard the pulpit! I believe that pastors should allow young men preach the Word from time to time! Otherwise, there gifts are not being used properly! At the church that I want to start, young men will be able to stir up the gifts that they have and they will be able to use them! Now I will make sure they are doctrinally sound. I will call on talented singers to sing for Jesus! Now it will only be for a volunteer basis, but ministry is not about the money! It is about the souls of people that are going to Hell! I want young men and women who can play a guitar and sing! I want to start a reformation in this country! I want people to start Honoring the Propitiation again in this nation! I want elderly people to be a part as well! I have a heart for everyone! I want soldiers who are ready to make a difference! All of this will happen if you guys would help to make that happen! I am asking you to help me in this endeavor! I can not do it on my own! I am not a perfect man! If you want the perfect minister, look elsewhere! I have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God numerous times! But if you want a man who has a heart for God and is dedicated to preaching the Truth, then I want you to strongly consider joining with me and help make this a reality!
Monday, June 28, 2010
The Problem of Evil
Since the beginning of time, there has been a war raging in the cosmos. It is a war that starts in heaven when Lucifer decides that he wants to be God. Lucifer was God’s most beautiful creation. He walked before the throne room daily and was considered an archangel. But Lucifer became jealous of God, and it was out of that jealously that Lucifer convinced one third of the angels to join his efforts to overthrow God and become God himself. It was at this point He ceased being an archangel and became the Prince of Darkness. The Devil’s revolt resulted in him being cast out of Heaven by God and ever since Satan and God have been enemies.
In our time we look forward to the day that evil will no longer hold sway in the world. We long for a heaven on earth. And one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth. But until that day comes when evil is finally no longer, evil still remains and causes much pain on the earth. In God’s original creation everything that God created was good. In fact for a time, humanity itself knew no sin. Then man sinned, and evil manifested itself into the world. Evil can be defined “as the refusal to accept the true God as God. True evil elevates itself or another to replace God.” The question often arises, if God being holy and just knew that evil and sin would come to the earth than why did He not prevent it or stop it? There are three reasons why God allows evil to continue in the world and they are the following: 1.) God created man with free will and thus gave man the ability to choose to accept Him or reject Him, 2.) The fact that evil and suffering is so prevalent in our lives reveals the fact that we have our own inadequacies and that we need God, and 3.) God allows evil because He does not want His children to get used to the present life because as the Bible says, we are just pilgrims and sojourners passing through and as believers, Heaven is our final eternal state.
God created man with free will and thus gave man the ability to choose to accept Him or reject Him. God did not create evil. God did create persons with freedom who could practice it. So we are who actualize evil, not Him. He could have created a world without the possibility of evil, but He preferred a world with free choice. God created us with the power of choice.
To quote from Ravi Zacharias,
“What would it take to create a loving world void of evil? A world in which love is capable of meaningful expression and experience would also imply a world in which there is choice. If someone tells you that they love you, those words mean something because they are freely given. If you learned that someone had told you they loved you but that they had been forced to say it, their words would not mean very much. Thus, if we want to speak of a loving world, we must also speak of a world in which choices are exercised. And in such a world, there is also the possibility of choosing a course of action that is not loving, i.e. evil."
True love implies and demands a free choice! Or else you would have a fixed environment in which humanity would be robots. Alvin Plantinga claimed the following:
“If God creates human beings with true, morally significant free will (where humans can freely decide to act in ways that really do advance goodness in the world, or really do cause evil in the world against self, others or world), and if God wants a world in which there are significant amounts of moral goodness, it’s possible that God cannot get that kind of world without significant amounts of moral badness as well. After all, if people are left free by God, then the morally significant states of the world will in large part be up to the decisions of humans, not up to God.”
The fact that evil and suffering is so prevalent in our lives reveals the fact that we have our own inadequacies and that we need God. Simply put, all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, God promised that one day there would be one coming that would be a sacrifice for sin and would make a way for people to have there relationship restored to God. That was done when Jesus died on Calvary. Jesus took all of humanities sins, and bore them for all of humanity so that people might have a chance to be saved and inherit eternal life. We see here that “Christ’s atonement guarantees the final end of evil and suffering”. Alcorn says, “The drama of evil and suffering in Christ’s sacrifice addresses the very heart of the problem of evil and suffering. One day it will prove to be the final answer.” The answer to the problem of evil and suffering according to Alcorn,“is not a philosophy, but a Person; not words, but the Word.” Jesus Christ is the answer to the problem of evil. Only He can help us with the feeling of inadequacies and the feelings of hopelessness. Only He can save humanity from their sins. Only Jesus can provide true lasting peace.
God allows evil because He does not want His children to get used to the present life because as the Bible says, we are just pilgrims and sojourners passing through and as believers, Heaven is our final eternal state. If everything was perfect and no problems ever surfaced and there was no pain in life then people would not have to rely upon God anymore for anything. Alcorn points out that “in order to appreciate our eternal future, we will remember the sufferings of the present.” Because we have pain and suffering, we must rely upon an Almighty God. Human beings do not have all the answers. Dinesh D’ Sousa writes.
The only way for us to really triumph over evil and suffering is to live forever in a place where those things do not exist. It is the claim of Christianity that there is such a place and that is available to all who seek it. No one can deny that, if this claim is true, then evil and suffering are exposed as temporary hardships and injustices. They are as transient as our brief, mortal lives. In that case God has shown us a way to prevail over evil and suffering, which are finally overcome in the life to come.”
So in reality, in the big picture evil and suffering is only temporary. So every trial and every tribulation that we may face in life is well worth it, because one day those that believe in Jesus will receive new resurrected bodies that will no longer be corrupted. We will be in Heaven where Jesus is, and there will be no more sin. Revelation 21:1-7 best illustrates what will happen in the end: 1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
In conclusion, we have seen the three reasons why God allows evil to exist in our present world. According to Ed Hindson and Emir Caner,
“What evil forces us to conclude is either God is not good, or that our conception of God’s relationship toward us needs serious rethinking. The evidence about evil drives us decisively to this latter conclusion. God uses evil, suffering, and disorder to drive us to Himself. If He gave only good, we would be self-satisfied. If he had given immediate death when we sinned, He would be just. That He gives us partial goodness and partial suffering now forms a texture of hope that in the future, He will in fact make all things right in a final consummation and restoration. God is not through: He will continue to work on us, like a persistent sculptor working the metal with hard blows and constant lighter corrections, to help us become worthy of happiness if we receive Him and submit to His plan. On most occasions, it seems, we do not know why God allows certain evils. But we know someone who knows these things, and we can therefore trust Him to make good on His promise that “he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
In our time we look forward to the day that evil will no longer hold sway in the world. We long for a heaven on earth. And one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth. But until that day comes when evil is finally no longer, evil still remains and causes much pain on the earth. In God’s original creation everything that God created was good. In fact for a time, humanity itself knew no sin. Then man sinned, and evil manifested itself into the world. Evil can be defined “as the refusal to accept the true God as God. True evil elevates itself or another to replace God.” The question often arises, if God being holy and just knew that evil and sin would come to the earth than why did He not prevent it or stop it? There are three reasons why God allows evil to continue in the world and they are the following: 1.) God created man with free will and thus gave man the ability to choose to accept Him or reject Him, 2.) The fact that evil and suffering is so prevalent in our lives reveals the fact that we have our own inadequacies and that we need God, and 3.) God allows evil because He does not want His children to get used to the present life because as the Bible says, we are just pilgrims and sojourners passing through and as believers, Heaven is our final eternal state.
God created man with free will and thus gave man the ability to choose to accept Him or reject Him. God did not create evil. God did create persons with freedom who could practice it. So we are who actualize evil, not Him. He could have created a world without the possibility of evil, but He preferred a world with free choice. God created us with the power of choice.
To quote from Ravi Zacharias,
“What would it take to create a loving world void of evil? A world in which love is capable of meaningful expression and experience would also imply a world in which there is choice. If someone tells you that they love you, those words mean something because they are freely given. If you learned that someone had told you they loved you but that they had been forced to say it, their words would not mean very much. Thus, if we want to speak of a loving world, we must also speak of a world in which choices are exercised. And in such a world, there is also the possibility of choosing a course of action that is not loving, i.e. evil."
True love implies and demands a free choice! Or else you would have a fixed environment in which humanity would be robots. Alvin Plantinga claimed the following:
“If God creates human beings with true, morally significant free will (where humans can freely decide to act in ways that really do advance goodness in the world, or really do cause evil in the world against self, others or world), and if God wants a world in which there are significant amounts of moral goodness, it’s possible that God cannot get that kind of world without significant amounts of moral badness as well. After all, if people are left free by God, then the morally significant states of the world will in large part be up to the decisions of humans, not up to God.”
The fact that evil and suffering is so prevalent in our lives reveals the fact that we have our own inadequacies and that we need God. Simply put, all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, God promised that one day there would be one coming that would be a sacrifice for sin and would make a way for people to have there relationship restored to God. That was done when Jesus died on Calvary. Jesus took all of humanities sins, and bore them for all of humanity so that people might have a chance to be saved and inherit eternal life. We see here that “Christ’s atonement guarantees the final end of evil and suffering”. Alcorn says, “The drama of evil and suffering in Christ’s sacrifice addresses the very heart of the problem of evil and suffering. One day it will prove to be the final answer.” The answer to the problem of evil and suffering according to Alcorn,“is not a philosophy, but a Person; not words, but the Word.” Jesus Christ is the answer to the problem of evil. Only He can help us with the feeling of inadequacies and the feelings of hopelessness. Only He can save humanity from their sins. Only Jesus can provide true lasting peace.
God allows evil because He does not want His children to get used to the present life because as the Bible says, we are just pilgrims and sojourners passing through and as believers, Heaven is our final eternal state. If everything was perfect and no problems ever surfaced and there was no pain in life then people would not have to rely upon God anymore for anything. Alcorn points out that “in order to appreciate our eternal future, we will remember the sufferings of the present.” Because we have pain and suffering, we must rely upon an Almighty God. Human beings do not have all the answers. Dinesh D’ Sousa writes.
The only way for us to really triumph over evil and suffering is to live forever in a place where those things do not exist. It is the claim of Christianity that there is such a place and that is available to all who seek it. No one can deny that, if this claim is true, then evil and suffering are exposed as temporary hardships and injustices. They are as transient as our brief, mortal lives. In that case God has shown us a way to prevail over evil and suffering, which are finally overcome in the life to come.”
So in reality, in the big picture evil and suffering is only temporary. So every trial and every tribulation that we may face in life is well worth it, because one day those that believe in Jesus will receive new resurrected bodies that will no longer be corrupted. We will be in Heaven where Jesus is, and there will be no more sin. Revelation 21:1-7 best illustrates what will happen in the end: 1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
In conclusion, we have seen the three reasons why God allows evil to exist in our present world. According to Ed Hindson and Emir Caner,
“What evil forces us to conclude is either God is not good, or that our conception of God’s relationship toward us needs serious rethinking. The evidence about evil drives us decisively to this latter conclusion. God uses evil, suffering, and disorder to drive us to Himself. If He gave only good, we would be self-satisfied. If he had given immediate death when we sinned, He would be just. That He gives us partial goodness and partial suffering now forms a texture of hope that in the future, He will in fact make all things right in a final consummation and restoration. God is not through: He will continue to work on us, like a persistent sculptor working the metal with hard blows and constant lighter corrections, to help us become worthy of happiness if we receive Him and submit to His plan. On most occasions, it seems, we do not know why God allows certain evils. But we know someone who knows these things, and we can therefore trust Him to make good on His promise that “he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
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