Head-dibs

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor. 4:3-4, ESV) One inherent characteristic of an adversary is his need to remain undetected. Even an enemy who hides in plain sight does so with the intent to remain unseen. When we acknowledge our enemy, we do not merely say he exists, but point him out with neon light. The apostle Paul in writing to the calls out the enemy of the church: Satan. Satan is a person, “the god of this world,” not a principle or force and certainly not a polar “opposite God” but a created being who rebelled against God. “Well,” someone asks, “if Satan is not a god, why is he called one here?” Go back to John 12:31 when Jesus calls Satan “the prince of this world.” Paul later echoes this in Ephesians. Notice carefully how Satan is not called “god”...

'Nuff said

My second climb up the mountain, but on a different trail.

“But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:2, 5) The apostle Paul was accused of being self-serving, sneaky but his defense is an appeal to conscience and false accusations are betrayed. Living in truth means one is not bound to explain and defend every statement, every action; rather, it is to live openly before the Lord. When we live in obedience to His Word, we expose what is right, what is wrong and conscience will agree. This is where God does the fighting. When it comes to the way we use our words, we preach Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul defines his ministry in 3:6 as being “of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit” in other words, he is responsible to obey God’s Spirit in delivering the message of forgiveness of sins in Christ in order for people to become the s...

More like the Angel of Death . . .

Steve Martin contributes to the Atheist Hymnal--enjoy! (video focuses about :10):

2 Corinthians 3 laid the foundations for true spirituality--but what do we do once we have it? Once we obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit allowing Christ to lift the veil of spiritual blindness and He writes on our heart what is on His mind for all men to read, “now what?” “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.” (2 Cor. 4:1) In other words, “we are not wearied to the point of fainting.” The source of living true spirituality comes with the courage found in God’s mercy which we receive by faith. Mercy is an attribute of God requiring a closer look because we often find God’s mercy at work when God’s people are in trouble. “And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” (2 Sam 24:14) “When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, ‘Son of David, have mercy on us!’” (Mt 9:27) “I thank C...

“The Errancy of Inerrancy” “New Bible Deconstructionary” “Quarrel Majority: Schismatic Evangelicals and the Schismatic Movement” “The ‘God is Dead’ Movement Is Alive” “Unitarianism: A Religion for Atheists With Children” “Declaring War On Complementerrorism” “The Low-Down on Higher Criticism: “Critical Mass: The World Has Enough Catholics Already” “For I Don’t Know The Plans I Have For You: The Openness of God” “Relativism Is Always True” (ht: BN and “Off The Record”, Wheaton College, Vol 1, No 1, 2005)

"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart . . . Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:1, 16 NASB) Since nobody does it better, the Lion has the floor: It’s been said that “fear” has two meanings. The first is “Forget Everything And Run.” That’s how it is sometimes. We see courageous people do courageous acts, but one little thing happens to us and we crumble. The second is “Face Everything And Rise.” This is courage.  Webster defines courage as “the ability to do something frightful, difficult or dangerous.” In other words, courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it. The great Phillips Brooks preached: “Oh, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.” The last series of posts explored True Spirituality through 2 Corinthian...