The Scourge Of Racism
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In my book, “The Strong Man Of God, Back To Basics,” I write in some detail about the temporary roles and activity God has assigned men and women in this present mortal age. Satan, sin and self has done so much to corrupt the understanding of those roles and activity that in these latter days a “battle of the sexes” not sanctioned by God is underway creating confusion and destroying lives. This evil battle will end forever at Christ’s coming, but the eternal roles and activity God has designed for man, His creature, will continue solely with His saints. As I point out in this edited 2012 Commentary, this eternal design is exceedingly greater than that which is mortal!
Originally Published June 2012
Many professing Christian men live as though their present mortal experience is the greatest of all possible experiences in their eternal existence. While they claim to believe in "life after life," they live like "this is as good as it gets." As a result, they deny themselves nothing that they desire and are too focused on and consumed by the temporary experiences of this life including the over acquisition of material things. Teaching in many churches and Christian media are responsible in major part because prosperity is their emphasis. Even those concerned with helping men speak almost exclusively to their mortal roles as husbands and fathers. But man as God designed him is more.
That God has greater plans for man than his mortal existence is hinted at in Eden and loudly heralded by Jesus Christ (Genesis 1:26, 2:7-9, 3:17-19, 22-24; Luke 20:27-40; John 10:10, 11:25-26, 38-44, 14:1-6). Mortality was always only intended to be a temporary, stage one of human existence. The "tree of life" which in its fruit provided instantaneous immortality among the trees of Eden could have been accessed by Adam. In his mortality, however, the man was tested as to his willingness to obey his Creator, failed and was driven from the garden (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:6, 22-24). But God was not done with man for He had created him to live in a body and serve His purposes forever!
Millennia later, out of the context of unrestrained praise to God for the excellence of His name in the whole earth and glory beyond the physical universe (Psalm 8:1-3), Israel's king David marvels and asks Him the rhetorical question of creation's ages. He wants to know, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit (give attention to, care for) him," (Psalm 8:4, NKJV)? The question is followed by David's recognition of man's exalted role and responsibility in God's created order as ruler over all the works of His hands and a restatement of praise for the excellence of God's name in the whole earth (Psalm 8:5-9). Truly, man's eternal destiny is great!
While being a man as God designed does involve for most being husbands and fathers in this present age, these roles are temporary; partial preparation for and a foreshadowing of the ultimate rule to which God created us to serve. To that end sin and death did not alter God's purpose that man should be immortal. Bodily resurrection is now God's primary bridge to immortality. It is about rising to die no more. This is stage two of human existence leading to rule over all the works of His hands. All who ever lived and died will be raised from the dead to immortality, but not all will enjoy God’s eternal life and glory brought to light by Jesus Christ (John 5:24-30; 2 Timothy 1:8-10).
Every aspiring strong man of God should be fervently living out our mortal lives to please God while eagerly looking forward to the hope of immortal glory through Christ who has gone on before us and is soon to return (Colossians 1:9-18, 24-28; Titus 2:11-14)! Our mortal experience swallowed up in immortality will be in time by roughest comparison like a grain of sand at the universe’s center; in quality, no comparison! The apostle Paul teaches us to live now as if Christ has already raised us to immortal glory. This being the case, we are to set our minds on and value the things important to Heaven where Christ is already seated in immortal glory (Colossians 3:1-2).
This does not mean as some charge teachers like me teach that to please God we must withdraw from the world and take a vow of poverty. Conversely, it certainly does not mean that we sell our souls out to pursuing pleasure, money and things to the point Kingdom priorities in the Gospel and this life are lost to us (Luke 12:15-21; Colossians 3:3-6). I have known too many professing Christians that have allowed the pursuit of riches to ruin their otherwise promising spiritual walk as the Bible forewarns (1 Timothy 6:6-10). Nevertheless, I am a living witness of the gracious provision God extends to the man who puts Christ and His Kingdom first (1 Timothy 6:11-16).
Therefore, let every aspiring strong man of God in the image of Christ be the husband to his wife, father to his children and son to his parents God's Word requires in the power that our eternal Companion, the Holy Spirit supplies. However, know He is not just concerned for our fruitfulness in those temporary roles, but also as God designed in our eternal roles as sons, disciples and servants of God and fellow man. In all our roles the Spirit prepares us for eternal service as rulers with Christ over every creature and created thing our God has made as part of our glorious inheritance in Him (Romans 8:15-23; Revelation 22:1-5). Do not miss out seeking after yours now! The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
The ability to think, reason and form opinions is a powerful ability we humans have from being made in the image and likeness of God. Created by Him with freewill, we are free to think whatever we want. The issue is, however, is what we are thinking lined up with reality and truth especially as set out objectively for us by our Creator? Atheists clearly see the reality and truth of God’s existence and deny it because they choose to think otherwise about the evidence. But for those of us that have been born again by the Spirit of God, we not only see the reality and truth of our God, but by His Word and revelation our eyes are opened to joyfully know these more deeply and learn that which is to be--His mind as it were (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)!
In the aftermath of declaring the spiritual reality and truth about the Eternal Sons Of God in the June 19, 2016 repost, the Lord has led me to repost this re-titled and edited 2013 blog that followed it. It serves as a prelude to addressing immortality from a biblical perspective. In it, we also see again the devastating consequence of culturally conditioning the faith to the point human thinking supplants God’s Word. For while titillating, flights of fancy, romantic ideas, wishes and subjective speculations in their error create heresy and rob believers (as they have done over the centuries) of the awe and child-like wonder available from the authentic glimpses of the unseen spiritual realm and future God has provided us in His Word. Why settle for false fantasy when the reality and truth are so good?
Originally Posted May 26, 2013
Faithful Christians know that we are not to impose our own ideas, views or desires onto Scripture or the faith. Even the apostles among themselves had to constantly guard against this in preserving the purity of their Scripture rooted message and the simplicity of Christ (Galatians 2:11-21). Nevertheless, with the rise of Christianity the religion of men after the passing of the 1st century apostles, as foretold, all manner of corrupt violence has been done since to God’s Word with the result that much wrong thinking and many false doctrines exist and persist among professing Christians along with their leaders in the churches to this hour (Acts 20:27-31; 2 Peter 2:1-3).
Examples of unbiblical thinking and ideas abound, but consider a few popular ones. As it concerns the impact of literature on Christian thinking, Dante may have written a fictional work showcasing Catholicism’s Purgatory and Hades as Satan’s current residence, but the Bible teaches neither idea. The television show Touched By An Angel starring Della Reese featured female angels, but where are they in the Bible? One of the most popular widespread cultural sentiments today not at all taught in the Bible puts anybody human opinion believes to be good in Heaven at their death. Related to that thinking is the unbiblical idea the dead in the afterlife can see earth activity.
I have heard even professing Christians say regarding departed loved ones: “I know he (or she) is looking down on us right now.” Where in the Bible is it taught that disembodied human spirits either in Heaven or Hades are permitted to view earth activity in real time? Concerning the afterlife too, not discouraged by solid Bible teaching to the contrary, many professing Christians solely out of mortal sentimentality and desire continue to insist they will reunite with loved ones and take up where they left off before death disembodied in Heaven and after at the resurrection to immortality forever! Such wrong human thinking and ideas will only continue to proliferate among professing Christians unless the guilty repent and turn back to the Bible as the final authority for spiritual reality and truth.
I fully empathize with the deep emotional ties we mortals have to our family and friends in this life. As finite mortals, the temptation to want eternity to be like our present is linked to what is familiar and excellent to us. For example, males find it hard to think of an eternity without females because of their mothers and intimate involvements with others. However, God’s Word is to be considered true because His perfect character permits Him to speak no other way (Numbers 23:19; Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Samuel 7:27-29; Psalm 119:160; Titus 1:1-2)! Thus, Scripture is clear that death ends life, all biological family and marital ties as we knew them physically in this mortal age forever (Job 7:6-10; Ecclesiastes 9:2-6; John 19:25-27; Romans 7:1-3; 1 Corinthians 7:39).
Indeed, for the Christian, the disconnect process from family begins in terms of priority at salvation when we take up with Christ (Psalm 45:10-11; Matthew 10:34-39; Luke 14:25-27; Romans 6:3-4) following His example (Mark 3:31-35). Sadly, many professing Christians do not believe Christ means what He says about the primacy of our relationship with Him. But He warned the otherwise thriving church of Ephesus He would take away their existence unless they returned again to Him as their “first love” (Revelation 2:1-7, NKJV). Some in days to come will deny the Lord clinging to their mortal families of this world and perish eternally (Mark 8:34-38; Revelation 14:9-11).
At the onset of the new eternal order God also gives His redeemed sons a permanent memory wipe of all the “former things” of this present creation to include the sinful, sorrowful and painful experiences we had even with family and friends during our mortal sojourn so that they will not interfere with our new glorious experiences in His presence forever (Isaiah 25:8, 65:17-19; Revelation 21:1-4, NKJV). The memory wipe is necessary too because though in perfect agreement with God’s righteous condemnation of the wicked to the lake of fire, how could we not grieve forever as emotive creatures knowing that people we cared about during our mortal lives are there (Malachi 4:1-3; Revelation 20:11-15, 21:8)?
Please note how Christ’s mortal family members (Mary, James and Jude) relate to Him as Lord, are not accorded any special standing nor do they appear to pursue it by right of family relationship in the aftermath of His resurrection and ascension in the canonical New Testament (Acts 1:12-26, 15:6-22; Galatians 1:18-19, 2:1-10; James 1:1; Jude 1). Only the transcendent spiritual relationships formed in and through the Holy Spirit of divine love with fellow faithful believers (including those from the family) in this present life will survive death intact and continue as we serve God together forever (John 3:3-7, 13:34-35, 14:15-17; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 13:8-13; 2 Corinthians 5:16-17; Galatians 5:22-25; 1 John 3:14-15, 4:20-21; Revelation 22:1-3).
Rather than attempting to impose our wishes on Christianity and corrupting His Word to do so, God’s will is for us to accept His will, way and Word as it is written (1 Corinthians 4:6)! If we do, it will mean we think righteously, objectively and truthfully about things as well as hold to and teach sound doctrine as the Lord wills (John 7:24; 2 Timothy 1:13-14). As it concerns our unsaved family and friends presently, the truth about God’s total disconnect at death should move us to do all of the loving of, witnessing to and good deeds for them we are going to do now (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10; Ephesians 5:15-16; Colossians 3:17)!
Concerning after we die, remember Heaven currently is only a temporary stop for our disembodied spirits to await God’s promised resurrection to immortal glory. As exceedingly superior to our present, mortal experience as Heaven will be to us disembodied, Scripture promises exponentially greater, unending experiences still to unfold for us as the immortally embodied and glorified eternal sons of God (Ephesians 2:4-7; Revelation 21:5-7)! The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
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