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As I did seven months later in this edited 2012 repost, I am following last week’s repost reflecting on Amy Winehouse’s death with that of Whitney Houston’s. For whatever all of the reasons, many moderns do not seem to take death seriously nor do they understand that unlike video games there is no reset button to delete its reality and start again. Physical death is typically irreversible except by God as demonstrated by Jesus Christ and even then is only a temporary delay to the inevitable permanent departure from this mortal life (John 11:38-44). Only Christ to this hour has suffered death, been buried and resurrected to immortality (John 19:28-20:18; 1 Timothy 6:13-16; Revelation 1:18).
While I do not declare the eternal end of Ms. Houston as a professed Christian, in this repost I am led by the Lord to soberly challenge all of us that make up His churches to consider yet another means Satan takes some of our number captive with destructive intent. We so easily forget he is called “Destroyer” because that is his perpetual mission and work done so well among mortal humanity (Revelation 9:11, NKJV). I also warn all of the naively idealistic engaged in any pursuits of this world that without a solid grounding in Christ, Satan lurks in the shadows seeking an opportunity to lure you away from your steadfastness in Him (Colossians 1:19-23, 2:4-10; 2 Peter 3:14-18).
Originally Posted February 19, 2012
Stunned and immediately grief filled was my reaction to the news Whitney Houston had died last Saturday. I had just returned from out of town conducting the funeral of an in-law where I used as my eulogy topic, The Reality Of Death. Many in the small gathering prayed to receive Christ thereafter and I am glad. But for the few who did not pray and anyone reading this without assurance of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, Whitney Houston’s sudden death ought to serve as a sobering reminder that death is possible for any of us at any time. My heart goes out to Ms. Houston’s daughter and entire family.1
I was led by the Lord to write last July 31st of the tragic death of another female singer, Amy Winehouse. While then I wrote of how deeply Ms. Winehouse’s death affected me without knowing much about her background and musical accomplishments, Whitney Houston is another story. Even without all of the details, her story is very grievously familiar to me. In fact, it is for men as a first priority, but also women like Whitney Houston that my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics is written;2 professed Christians in and coming out of the churches for whatever reasons whose lifestyles reflect not the image of Christ in strength, but continued human frailty and weakness in sin.
Though they are not the rule by any means among the churches, Black American churches have a long history of losing their congregants to the world as they go forth to parlay their God given talents into fame and fortune. Without making excuses, it is understandable why since the world stage offers a wider audience and greater financial rewards than the churches for the many that historically come from poverty and sometimes--as in the case of Whitney Houston--middle income homes. Nonetheless, I will never be convinced that the Lord’s Church was intended to be the devil’s bullpen where he can easily call in relief for those he tires of, disables and/or destroys.3
Christians belong to Christ who purchased us with His blood on Calvary. We live for and serve Him using our natural talents and spiritual gifts for His purposes, to His glory! It is about Him, not us. Therefore, whatever occupation Christians go into, we labor under His Lordship and to please Christ (Colossians 3:23-25). The entertainment and sports fields especially are rigged by Satan to trap and destroy those who with starry eyes and little if any Christ-like character pursue them. Whitney Houston--as so many before her--left her church and for a while soared to the highest heights of fame and fortune as an entertainer. She then got trapped by the devil’s sorcery embodied in drugs, alcohol and carnality.
As a disciplined minister, I will not automatically put Whitney Houston in Heaven as so many are doing. Indeed, this is what Satan wants because if he can convince us that sin has no eternal consequences, then his bullpen of churches will stay full with others eager to follow in the footsteps of Ms. Houston. And so, faithful to my calling (Ezekiel 33:1-9), I warn my reader to consider the words of Jesus concerning the life priorities of His disciples in Mark 8:34-38. Too, make no mistake: it is not enough to grow up in a church and perform any work including singing in the choir that saves (Matthew 7:21-23). Nor does God play favorites; we will reap what we sow (Romans 2:4-11; Galatians 6:7-8)! Finally, it is not enough to emotionally believe Jesus loves you that saves, it is faith in and love for Him displayed in obedient lives (1 John 2:3-6).
1 Unfortunately, since writing this post, Ms. Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, followed her mother in a heartbreakingly similar death in August 2015. She was just
22 years old.
2 The book is available at all major internet book sellers, by order at your favorite brick and mortar bookstore or in the Strong Man Store.
3 For the uninitiated, “bullpen” is a Baseball term that refers to the area and the relief pitchers themselves that warm-up and wait to be called up to replace a pitcher
already in the game. This is fine for Baseball, but not the Lord’s churches with Satan as a manager calling Christians up as naïve players to get in his game with the
intent to destroy them!
Last week’s repost, “The Devil’s Bullpen” and this one form the February 2012 posts to which I refer in the opening paragraph of the two-part, “The Faith That Saves,” under The Faith category.1 Sadly, satanically inspired confusion over the exact origin and nature of the faith God requires to save a man continues to this hour. While some have wrongly made the faith that saves so high men need a special gift from God to exercise it, others have made it so low as to be mere words devoid of any heartfelt sincerity which Scripture teaches God requires (Romans 10:6-10). It is from out of the latter group that easy belief from a cheap grace arises and which this edited repost addresses.
The Lord Jesus likens a man’s heart of faith to be saved to that of a trusting little child (Matthew 18:1-5). Such faith is anything but empty words. As every parent knows, trusting little children constantly and consistently look to them wide-eyed to take care of them and meet their every need. So it is with us who are saved by grace through faith in the living God! Unlike human parents though, that weary with their children’s dependent faith, God is pleased with and encourages the growth of it in His.
Originally Posted February 26, 2012
The Lord has led me to follow-up last week’s blog on Whitney Houston’s death to address the issue of faith that endures to salvation as is plainly taught in His Word. This faith is in contrast to that which passes for it in the lives of so many professing to be Christians today. It is the faith that fills the heart of and is a matter of character in every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in the image of Jesus Christ I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics.2
As many in our nation are physically flabby, so, many professed Christians are spiritually. Consequently, they are weak, effortlessly seduced and perpetually overcome by Satan, sin and self. One major reason for this is the easy belief in Christ and the Gospel that many pastors and churches accept without question or follow with genuine discipleship in their eagerness to fill seats. Essentially, all one has to do to be pronounced a Christian these days is say with the lips, “I believe.” And while there is a real place for not making ourselves judges of the heart, God surely expects us to pay attention to the attitudes, lifestyle and behavior of those who have said, “I believe,” (Matthew 7:15-20).
According to Hebrews 11:6, the faith that saves and endures to completion is two-fold. First, it is confidence and trust in as well as reliance on the truth that God is. That is, that God exists. Though this is good, in my experience it is unfortunately where many people stop in their faith. They often struggle for a lifetime because while they believe there is a God, they are unwilling to accept His judgment of them, repent and take the next step to embrace the Gospel for deliverance (John 3:16-21; Romans 3:9-26). Of course, many of those persons are not truthful at all about believing God exists since if they really did, like the demons, they would be in terror of their Judge (Isaiah 6:1-5; James 2:19)!
The few--relatively speaking--that press on into salvation are those who not only believe God is, but that He is also “a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,” (Hebrews 11:6b, NKJV). This is the second aspect of the faith that saves and endures to completion. Diligence has to do with pursuing something with all perseverance and painstaking effort. Diligence is so important to God, it is purposely built into the lives of His aspiring strong men and great women of God as a character trait.3 In repentance and the two-fold faith that pleases God, then, folk believe the Gospel and cling steadfastly to God’s promises contained therein through many trials and tribulations to the death (Matthew 5:10-12, 10:21-22, 24:9-13; Hebrews 3:14, 10:32-12:2; 1 Peter 1:3-9; Revelation 12:11).
Salvation is of faith from beginning to end (Romans 1:16-17). “Without faith it is impossible to please” God and be saved, much less live for Him (Hebrews 11:6a, NKJV). Sobering, is it not? Therefore, I urge you dear reader, to see if you are really a Christian and repent from any easy belief that has deceived you. I also urge you to get my book to learn what God from the Bible expects your life to look like as one professing to know Him in faith. You will be shown how to live with the “blessed assurance” and victory of biblical faith in Christ that endures to the saving of the soul. No one will question from your lifestyle and deeds at your death whether you really knew Christ or not.
1 The Faith That Saves Pt. 1 was reposted April 6, 2014 followed the next week by Pt. 2.
3 Purposely teaching men biblical manhood in Christ’s image includes teaching them His holy character God wills to build into their lives. Half of the twenty-six week
Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study is spent doing this. Learn more.
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