The Scourge Of Racism
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Released January 5, 2024
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As should be plain to anyone that read the March 14, 2021 post the Lord led me to write presenting the biblical Gospel, salvation from sin is the uppermost concern of the living God for His human creatures.1 Every other instruction, promise and benefit follows from this divine priority and is built on that spiritual foundation. Any professed Christian preacher, teacher or anyone else that asserts otherwise is deceived and as a deceiver, not telling the truth (Mark 1:14-15, 13:10, 16:14-16; Luke 19:9-10, 24:46-47; John 3:16-18; 1 Timothy 1:15)! Also, God’s salvation is not obtained through any other person or means except His Son, Jesus Christ, (John 14:6; Acts 4:8-12).
In continuing concern for black males without Christ and now, also those that profess to know Him, I write as He leads to dissuade any that may consciously or unconsciously believe the social good works they are doing are good enough for Him to slide you into Heaven and eternal glory. Not so, according to God’s Word the final authority for what Christianity is all about. Indeed, Paul, the Jewish apostle to us Gentiles makes it clear that neither by attempting to keep “the law,” its works or those considered good by sinful mankind can anyone “be justified in” the sight of God, but only by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:19-4:4; Galatians 2:15-16, 3:10-14, NKJV)!
A works based salvation is common to manmade counterfeit Christianity as men strive to be good and do enough through their own efforts to make it into Heaven. Of course, those with no interest in religion at all during these socially conscious latter days also seek to do good works as a false show of inherit human goodness that is impressive to people and they think God too, should He be taking note. The Lord led me to address this contemporary pitfall of people doing social good as a replacement for His call to repentance from sin and salvation in a 2016 post.2 For professed Christians, such a notion wickedly attempts to redefine biblical Christianity and is heretical!
The reason no works or deeds no matter how noble or good can impress God our Creator enough to dismiss human sin is because of who He is eternally in character--holy, righteous and just (Psalms 90:2, 99:1-5, 9, 111:2-3, 7-8).3 As holy, God is wholly other than and set apart from sin. Sin offends the holiness of God and stirs up His wrath against it! Perfectly righteous, God can never just “let sin slide” or uphold it, but must judge it out of His perfect justice. He created angels and man perfect, but some of the angels and man sinned. God has judged all fallen sinners giving only willing mortal man grace to be saved from His wrath and eternal separation to Hell (Revelation 20:10-15).
After being saved by grace through faith in Christ, His followers enjoy intimate fellowship with Him and the Father. This fellowship is possible only because the blood Christ shed on Calvary is effectual forever to enable divine forgiveness and cleansing upon our continual humble and honest confession and repentance from our sins--often revealed in the study of the written Word along with the Holy Spirit’s convicting work (Psalm 19:7-14; John 16:5-11; 1 John 1:1-2:2). Faithful Christians in this biblical context do good works serving Christ and fellow man at His direction through the power of the Holy Spirit to glorify God (Matthew 5:14-16; John 12:25-26,13:12-17; Acts 2:44-47, 9:32-43)!4
Truly, for the Christian as it is written, “Faith without works is dead,” (James 2:14-26, NKJV). Thus, we in Christ do not do good works to be saved, but because we are saved and as a result, God who is at work in and through us is glorified (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-15)! Here is where the Lord gives sober warning to church folk doing even “wonders” in His name beyond the typical dead churchy works carried out in the midst of manmade counterfeit Christianity the religion thinking they are pleasing Him. For unless you are doing the will of His Father which is first to actually be saved by grace through faith in Christ and walking in the intimacy of relationship with Him, your works are worthless as a means to gain entry into Heaven and immortal glory (Matthew 7:21-23, NKJV).
Therefore, to the men I share identity with as black Americans and all others: not social good works, but salvation from sin is God’s limited time priority for us and only means of reward from Him! Otherwise, despite self-gratification, the honor and awards of grateful mankind, “you will die in your sins” (whether that is from the “normal” ways mortal men die or the escalating judgments of God leading to His nearing foretold wrath) to await “the judgment seat of Christ” in Hades with no hope of exoneration because you refused to believe in Him through the Gospel (Luke 16:19-31; John 8:21-24; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11, NKJV). I implore you by the mercies of God to seek His salvation now, since as His Coronavirus judgment has reminded us, tomorrow is not guaranteed and sudden happens!
1 See the March 14, 2021 post, The Gospel Is For Black Males Too!, under the category, The Cause
2 Read the January 17, 2016 post, Suffering For Preaching God’s Word, under the category, Instruction.
3 See the May 31, 2020 post, Keeping It Real About God, under the category, Instruction.
4 This is the heart of every Christian man and woman that aspires to be like and obey Christ as strong men and great women of God I write about respectively in my book,
The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. The book is published by Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. and is available in print or digital formats at major internet
booksellers. You can also purchase a print copy in the Strong Man Store.
As the Lord leads, in this post for now, I wrap up talking about His Father’s planned eternal day very near; that day He has prepared for those He has saved from His just wrath against sinners by grace through faith in Christ which launches it.1 Professed Christians have been the first audience for the posts discussing His eternal day as the culmination of those the Lord led me to write July 2-23, 2023. Depending on whether or not the professed Christian reader was truly saved and faithful, the posts I pray were hope inspiring! If not, then, the Lord made clear His call to return lest you miss out on God’s eternal day.2 As always, unsaved sinners were an important second audience for the posts.
For the sake of the unsaved sinner, as the Holy Spirit gives words and power I humbly yet again declare the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ; that out of God’s love He came into the world to die on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day. All who repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ’s atoning work announced in the Gospel will be forgiven and saved from eternal condemnation and God’s approaching just wrath against sinners. Too, the believer is brought to spiritual birth and eternal life by the Holy Spirit who also marks him out for God’s eternal day (John 3:16-21, 36; Acts 2:36-40; Romans 10:11-13; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Ephesians 1:3-14).
Beyond superficial intellectual assent to the Gospel announcement as belief in its content, the Lord instructs that the one truly saved came to it and Him with the heart of a humble little child. He said, ‘“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven,’” (Matthew 18:1-4, NKJV). To be converted is to experience a real change of heart first toward one’s sins from calloused acceptance to grief they exist with appeal for rescue granted (Matthew 5:2-6)!3 Second, it is to appreciate from the heart what God has done in Christ to deliver us from our sin guilt through unmerited forgiveness (Romans 3:9-4:8, 5:6-11, 6:23).
The Holy Spirit would have me also review what is at stake for the unsaved sinner as one who never accepts the Gospel or one of the many impostors that proliferate within professing Christianity at this hour. If you never receive the Gospel and become converted before dying, at your death you will be sent to Hades under the earth to await the judgment of your works. And not being found in the “Book of Life,” you will be excluded from God’s eternal day in Hell forever (Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 20:11-15, NKJV)! Concerning religious folk as impostors in and outside of the churches that even in His ‘“name’” do astounding works, the Lord is clear the same fate is yours (Matthew 7:21-23, NKJV).4
The same fate also awaits ‘“anyone’” who ‘“worships the beast (Antichrist) and his image, and receives his mark…’” or who remains hardened to the Gospel up until God in wrath launches His eternal day (Revelation 14:9-11, 16:1-21, NKJV). If it is all like that for unfaithful Christians, the unsaved and religious impostors, how could it be those that abandon the faith as apostates have a place in God’s eternal day? They don’t (John 15:6; Hebrews 3:7-19, 6:4-8, 10:37-39)!5 The Word of the Lord as it is written could not be plainer: ‘“But he who endures to the end will be saved,’” (Matthew 10:22, 24:13; Mark 13:13; Luke 21:19, NKJV). We then, who are by faith truly saved must faithfully endure in it with all perseverance to the end to enjoy God’s eternal day (Hebrews 10:35-36)!6
(I am taking Labor Day off next Sunday, September 3rd with thanks to God for the privilege to labor in His Kingdom causes! He willing, my next post appears September 10th. Enjoy your Labor Day.)
1 Read the following posts: July 30, 2023, There Is An End!, August 13, 2023, There Is A New Beginning! and August 20, 2023, God’s Eternal Day Firmly Established, all un- der the category, Bible Prophecy.
2 As it is referenced in each of the posts noted in the above footnote and now, this one, the Lord is calling His dull of hearing sheep among others as well to turn back to Him with a whole heart through this Ministry’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, featured on its dedicated YouTube Channel.
3 Indeed, the transformation of heart in biblical conversion is so thorough, the person saved is described as “a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new,” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV). If that is not you in heart, then, you are not saved!
4 Read the September 4, 2016 post, Christianity The Religion American Style and the related two-part post that begins September 11, 2016, American Culture’s Religion, both under the category, Call To Repent to consider the truth that Christianity as a religion of human invention and practice does not impress God nor can it save!
5 Let every professed Christian and any self-anointed “good person” claiming a spot in God’s eternal day and holy city carefully consider who is excluded by Him and Christ (Revelation 21:8, 27, 22:12-17)!
6 This is most certainly the aim of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. Pick up your Hard or Soft Cover or E-Book Edition in the Strong Man Store, among internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores.
As I have repeatedly done in many posts over the years in the hope any might be saved, I warn sinners reading this you have no deliverance from condemnation, wrath and eternal removal from God’s presence except by the means He has graciously provided through repentance and faith in the Gospel (Good News) of His Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16-21, 36)!1 The fact you may have heard, but rejected the Gospel a number of times from men like me as its joyful heralds sent by Christ does not weary us who are ourselves saved by it, nor does this bode well for you in the judgment. God has allotted only so much time for the Gospel to be preached in the earth and it is about up!
On this Palm Sunday nearly two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ rode slowly into Jerusalem riding a ‘“donkey’s colt.’” By doing so, He fulfilled Bible prophecy and fueled the messianic hopes of the many who had seen or experienced His miraculous works including His chosen disciples who did not at the time “understand these things” “written about Him.” The only unhappy souls on that day were the “Pharisees” of the Jewish religious establishment (John 12:12-19, NKJV). These were the folk that instigated the Lord’s crucifixion later in the week at Passover thinking to be finally rid of Him because they did not realize even this was part of God’s plan to save sinners (Isaiah 53).2
For after His burial, resurrection on the third day following and appearance to them, Christ instructed His disciples ‘“that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the’” Old Testament ‘“concerning’” Him. “He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” He followed this with assuring instruction everything that happened to Him was foretold ‘“and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem,’” (Luke 24:44-47, NKJV). Thus, to be saved from condemnation and wrath a man must first repent of his sins--that is, change his mind about their acceptance and turn away from them!
Next, such a man must believe the Gospel that Christ died on the cross for his sins in his place; that He was buried and rose again on the third day after to enable God to remove or if you will, forgive his sins and their guilt. After this God sends the Holy Spirit into the heart of the repentant, Gospel believing soul to bring about new birth into eternal spiritual life as well as impart assurance of salvation among other blessings (John 3:1-8, 7:37-39; Acts 2:36-41, 10:34-48; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22). And because men must “hear” the Gospel to believe it and be saved, as Christ has willed I rejoice to be among those from Him in the first century He has “sent” to preach it (Romans 10:11-17, NKJV)!
As the Lord Jesus Christ humbly rode into Jerusalem that Palm Sunday, so, spiritually speaking He desires to ride into the hearts of willing sinners for salvation during this, His Father’s predetermined interval of grace (Acts 1:4-8, 17:30-31). This is because at His return as foretold the Lord will come in blazing glory on “a white horse” to carry out His part in expressing the wrath of God in judgment and begin His reign among survivors ruling with “a rod of iron,” (Revelation 19:11-16, NKJV)! “Now,” as it is written, “is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” for you since not being saved from your sins there is no guarantee of a tomorrow (2 Corinthians 6:1-2, NKJV).
It has taken this long and as long as it will finally be in God’s grace to fulfill His will that the Gospel be preached in all the nations. In this truth the reality of God’s grace is made all the more evident since beyond Israel that is one nation and heard the Gospel “first” (Acts 3:22-26, NKJV), there are only the many Gentile nations. This means God’s eternal plan to save sinners always included us Gentiles (Isaiah 49:1-6; Romans 15:7-13) and is a part of the purposeful reason God has taken this long to have the Gospel preached in every nation using redeemed human agency (Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-20; Acts 26:1-18).3 Indeed, what the Lord designates as “the times of the Gentiles” draws near its close as does another reason for God’s delay, Israel’s punishment (Luke 21:20-24, NKJV).4
How glad I am Christ came to save sinners! I repented of my sins and believed the Gospel to be saved on Resurrection Sunday 1977. Not only has my life been slowly changing for the better, but I enjoy one of God’s great mysteries in His work of salvation: the risen, living Christ in me “the hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:24-29, NKJV)!5 Fear of wrath and the judgment do not attend to me as a result. But you sir, if you continue refusing to repent and believe the Gospel, as Christ told first century Jews: “you will die in your sins,” (John 8:21-24, NKJV). This means the guilt of your sins not forgiven by God will be with you in Hades as you await your audience with Christ who while you lived on the earth was your prospective Savior, but now, will be your Judge (John 5:24-30; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11).6
(As my Lord has graciously blessed, I will be taking Resurrection Sunday off to celebrate my 47th spiritual birthday. He willing we see it, my next post will be on April 7th. To God be the glory!)
1 Read the March 17, 2024 post, Sinners Cannot Create A Perfect World, under the category, Call To Repent, as a most recent warning to sinners.
2 Isaiah wrote his report on the substitutionary suffering and death of Christ for and to save sinners from their sins some seven hundred years in advance. Those among black Americans as victims that are convinced nobody knows the trouble we as a people have seen from oppression should consider the Lord Jesus does since Isaiah specifically writes, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth…,” (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 26:47-67, NKJV). Get my latest book, The Scourge Of Racism in print at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. E-books are also available at major E-Book sellers. Learn about the book and read reviews on the Featured Publishing Resource Page at https://www.opendoorcommin.org/featured-publishing-resource.
3 Out of the overflow of God’s grace and longsuffering, an angel seen and heard by all will preach the Gospel a final time to the whole world just before Christ’s return (2 Peter 3:1-9; Revelation 14:6-7).
4 See the February 6, 2022 post, The Divine Delay, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
5 Of the many changes God has been working in my life is conforming me to the image of Christ as the Strong Man of God (Romans 8:29). He led me to write about this in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics available at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book is also available at major E-Book sellers.
6 If you will further consider Christ as Savior watch this Ministry’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Reconciled To God, on our YouTube channel.
God’s plan crafted from eternity to save mankind from our sins and mighty acts to carry it out in time reached a major highpoint with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ, the praiseworthy substance of Christmas!1 His birth had been foretold to His mother, Mary, by the angel, Gabriel, nine months earlier (Luke 1:26-38). As also foretold by God through the prophet, Micah, some seven hundred years before, Mary gave birth to Christ in Bethlehem amid circumstances He had providentially superintended (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:1-7). So much so was the event of Christ’s birth worthy of praising God, angels step out of eternity into time to be seen and heard by men leading it!
Indeed, first one angel in the brilliant “glory of the Lord” suddenly appeared in the “night” darkness and stood before “shepherds” guarding “their flock” in “fields” adjacent to Bethlehem. The glory emanating from the angel enveloped and caused the men to “greatly” fear (Luke 2:8-9, NKJV). “Then the angel” spoke to the shepherds first to calm their fear assuring he was bringing them “good tidings (good news) of great joy” in making the greatest birth announcement ever made in the history of and for all mankind: “…there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”2,3 He followed this with giving the shepherds a “sign” of verification (Luke 2:10-12, NKJV).
Before the one angel had even finished his last word good, “suddenly there was with” him “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men,’” (Luke 2:13-14, NKJV)! The praise of God by the heavenly host spoke of what humanity by faith could soon personally experience and God ultimately accomplish in all the earth through bringing His Son into the world at that precise moment--peace; His peace from the finished work of Christ on the cross to save from sin He would grow up to carry out!4 Those of us who have been saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ ought not just celebrate His birth at Christmas, but with angels and the shepherds go tell it year round; glorifying our God who saves (Luke 2:15-20)!
(Thank you for reading the Strong Man Of God Blog in 2023. Our Lord willing, my next post will be on Sunday, January 7, 2024. You and yours have a Merry Christmas and blessed New Year!)
1 Read the December 3, 2023 post, Christmas: God’s Initiative To Save and the one that follows on December 10th, Christmas: God’s Acts To Save, both under the category, Holidays.
2 Please note this joyful good news was intended by God from the outset for “all people;” that is, from every nationality, ethnicity and race beginning with Christ’s own ethnic people, Israel, as also foretold (Isaiah 49:1-6; Luke 2:10, NKJV). This Christmas season learn why as a result the American Church has sinned a great sin before the Lord tolerating and practicing racism in the midst for over 400 years by picking up a print copy of my book, The Scourge Of Racism, in the Strong Man Store, all major internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores. And beginning January 5, 2024, the E-Book version of the book will be available for purchase in your favorite digital outlets. Watch the book trailer.
3 If you are guilty of tolerating and practicing racism among all the sins that without repentance separate us from the Lord as a professed Christian, He bids you return to Him as the opportunity is presented in this Ministry’s thirty minute Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on YouTube.
4 Faithful Christians must beware of today’s false prophets as those of ancient Israel who advocate for and assure God will bring peace to the world before the return of Christ contrary to His Word (Jeremiah 6:10-15, 8:8-12; Matthew 10:34-39, 24:6-7a; Luke 12:49-53, 21:9-10; Revelation 6:1-4). Christ is “peace” in the world when He returns and faithful Christians now (Micah 5:4-5; John 14:27, NKJV)! Contemporary false prophets in the pulpits and media platforms of our day like those of old present a message of human desire, not divine dictate (Jeremiah 23:16-22; Ezekiel 13:1-11).
Some in Christian media are doing a great disservice to those they claim to care about by desperately seeking to provide proof God is doing only positive things in America. This they do to blunt the truth He is also at work in the negative from their human perspective judging His people and a nation in rebellion against Him! Why is it so important for the self-serving pastors, false teachers and prophets as media personalities as well as Christian media entities that are guilty to continually spin God at work in the positive? Isn’t it for the same primary reasons the false prophets of ancient Israel and every historical milieu sought to do the same: self-preservation and profit!
Rather than a healthy regard for the truth positive or negative in nature, a large number of professed Christians in America has been conditioned over this past generation to believe God is about doing them good at all times without any concern for their sins. Consequently, every effort is made by guilty media personalities and entities to seek out and report on anything they can find to prove God is at work doing positive things for their benefit and in the world. With this mindset, these modern day traffickers in falsehood narrowly focus on and celebrate the numbers involved or impacted in evangelistic outreach events and purported revivals as though this is all God is doing.
While folks getting saved and revived are incredibly positive works of God to be celebrated, He does these as He is also judging sin in His house and the world to the end (Isaiah 63:1-6; Matthew 28:18-20)!1 Is the Almighty God of the Bible not capable of doing more than one thing at once? Did He not judge Eve and Adam and then provide them with a temporary covering for sin (Genesis 3:16-21)? Did He not also destroy the world in the flood as well as Sodom and Gomorrah with holy fire, but save Noah and his family and “righteous Lot” respectively (2 Peter 2:4-10a, NKJV)? Did He not severely punish Judah in 586 B.C. by expelling the majority from the land, but save a remnant in it?
The remnant of Judah in the land included God’s faithful prophet, Jeremiah, who prophesied His judgment and a terrified Ethiopian eunuch that had helped him (Jeremiah 38:1-13, 39:11-40:6).2 And though many Jews were saved by grace through faith in Christ at the outset, did not God in wrath scatter the unbelieving majority at the hands of the Romans nearly two millennia ago, but also preserve their existence and save among them at the same time until now, back in the land (Luke 21:20-24; Romans 11)? Hasn’t the Cosmos been given over to ruin and disorder, but sustained as well by Christ as Creator until the day of restoration (Romans 8:18-25; Colossians 1:16-17)?
Let purveyors of the God only in the positive false narrative hear the naked truth: God is a work all over the earth both saving and reviving souls while at the same time judging sinners in and out of His house and wicked nations as long ago foretold (Isaiah 49:1-6, 57:15-21, 61:1-2; Jeremiah 25:15-29; Luke 13:1-9; John 3:16-21, 36). And to be very clear as the Spirit leads, the salvation of souls in great numbers is not automatically indicative of biblical revival which becomes necessary when those already saved backslide on God. Refusing to repent or receive correction, they diminish in “flavor” as “salt” and dim as “light” practicing sin (Matthew 5:13-16; Romans 8:6-13; Galatians 5:16-21, NKJV)!3
Otherwise, God’s faithful regularly enjoy help in times of weakness from the Holy Spirit’s “intercession” and fresh fillings of His power to live and serve the divine purposes (Romans 8:26-28; Galatians 5:22-25; Ephesians 5:1-21, NKJV). There is also forgiveness of confessed and repented of sin in accord with Christ’s advocacy by way of His finished work on Calvary (1 John 1:9-2:2) as in all of the foregoing we abundantly reap the harvest of riches in God’s gracious New Covenant!4 Is this not positive enough in a dying world under God’s righteous judgment and soon to face His coming full on wrath (John 12:27-33; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, 15:19; 1 John 2:15-17; Revelation 6:12-17)? Yes and we who walk by faith in and faithfulness to Christ have a robust hope now, and for the future!5
However, guilty media personalities and entities contrary to God’s whole Word promote their positive false narrative as though they have impetus from Him and enough political will to perpetually reverse His judgments for their children’s sake they say. But it is your own children among others you are deceiving to your destruction rather than equipping with the truth God saves while judging in this age and hence, His call to repentance (Jeremiah 23:16-22; Amos 6:3-7; Zephaniah 1:12-13; Romans 1:18-2:11).6 You walk in fear not of God, but your livelihoods! Just as kings of old killed their phony soothsayers that did not tell them what they wanted to hear, you seek to please your audiences so they do not kill your livelihoods by withdrawing support (Daniel 2:1-12; Micah 3:8-12).
1 Read the four-part post that begins February 26, 2017, God Of Restoration And Judgment, under the categories Bible Prophecy, Biblical Worldview, Black History and The Cause.
2 Another Ethiopian eunuch and black skinned man in the Bible (Acts 8:26-40)? Yes, just as it is written, ‘“God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him,’” (Acts 10:34-35, NKJV). For this cause, the Lord is greatly displeased with the historic practice of racism among many evils within His Church; something He has led me to address in a soon to be released updated publication.
3 See especially part two of the two-part post that begins August 2, 2020, Flavorless Salt Is Worthless, under the category, Call To Repent, where the Lord leads me to also implicate guilty Christian media outlets as a foil to biblical revival in America through pushing the God in the positive only false narrative.
4 The “riches of His grace” in God’s New Covenant overflowing to us who have believed the Gospel of His Son are not just excellent in their untold number reaching into eter- nity, but quality of which “forgiveness of sins” is in no way inferior to any (Ephesians 1:3-7, NKJV)! See the January 2014 posts, God’s New Covenant, under the category, Holidays and the two-part, Party Of The Second Part, under the Category, The Faith to learn more about the New Covenant.
5 In the time of God’s judgment and all other times, “…the just shall live by his faith” as the prophet wrote and joyfully applied during his day (Habakkuk 2:4, 3:17-19, NKJV). So it is for aspiring strong men and great women of God I am blessed of the Lord to write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. You can obtain the Hard or Soft Cover or E-Book Edition of the book as well as the companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study in the Strong Man Store, among internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores.
6 Hear the Lord’s call to return to all professed Christians at this hour by watching the 30 Minute Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our dedicated You- Tube Channel in the hope perhaps, among other things of even a temporary reprieve from the many calamities as His remedial judgments presently ravaging our nation (Joel 2:12-14).
So now, some may want to know why the Lord has allowed me to be afflicted with Prostate Cancer. Has the one always crying “judgment” finally gotten his; proving to be just as guilty of sin and worthy of it as everyone else? Surely, only haters of biblical Christianity in and outside of churches who are also “enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame--who set their minds on earthly things” are thinking this way (Philippians 3:18-19, NKJV). However, they are right about me with everyone else being under divine judgment through trials in these last days and as a result, I righteously fear God (1 Peter 4:12-19)!
Without apology or regret in the leading and power of the Holy Spirit I have sought to be faithful to God’s calling upon my life from Ezekiel 33:1-9 formally begun in the spring of 1986. Not from a posture of self-perceived perfection have I been sounding the Lord’s trumpets of warning, alarm and preparation among professed Christians and their churches, but obedience and again fear, since woe is me according to Ezekiel 33:6-9 if I were not obedient! The messages are His and I have been humbly and joyfully pleased (since the Word is “like a burning fire” and “honey in sweetness” in my spirit--Jeremiah 20:9; Ezekiel 2:9-3:3, NKJV) to deliver them as His messenger boy!1
Thus, being afflicted with Prostate Cancer has nothing to do with any failure in ministry. It is not tied to any disobedience to or rebellion against God’s Word as it is written either since I keep very short accounts with Him as He has led me to teach others to do as well (Psalm 32:1-5; 1 John 1:9). For I most certainly have previously experienced affliction among other consequences the Lord has brought upon me for correction after disobedience and learned my lessons (Psalm 119:65-77)! I know all about that so, Job’s friends can back off this as a reason for having Prostate Cancer or the other serious afflictions I have spoken of too, Coronary Artery Disease and High Blood Pressure.2
Keeping it real, my Coronary Artery Disease is in part by my own hand through a lifetime of unhealthy eating habits that caused High Cholesterol. The High Blood Pressure is inherited. Humbled by the experience of having stints placed in two almost totally blocked arteries in 2015, with the Lord’s escape from death and help to adopt healthier eating, exercise and walking these conditions are now, under control--all praises and glory be to Him! No, the Lord has allowed me to be commonly afflicted with Prostate Cancer as a temporary war wound from Satan like Job for His glory and my good with all of His sons as chastening (Job 1-2:10; Hebrews 12:3-11; James 5:11).3
So caught up in the pursuits of their mortal lives, many Christians fail to grasp our spiritual family is in a state of war with the powers of darkness as enemies of our souls (Ephesians 6:10-18)! They marshal any of numerous ruinous works of sin and death to come against and oppress mankind Christ delivered from (Matthew 4:23-25; Acts 10:34-38). Being saved does not give us Christians any special privilege to avoid being touched at all by the trials, tribulations, hardships, persecutions and afflictions of illness Satan and his wicked hosts muster against us. Indeed, Satan is the originating source of persecution upon “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus,” (2 Timothy 3:10-12, NKJV)!
There is nowhere for born again believers to hide from the demonic hosts arrayed against us since we are distinctly marked out as belonging to God by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). We encounter them on the Master’s mission or they confront us and we take our stand (Luke 10:17-20; Acts 16:16-18). As an obvious war strategy they go after leaders. Even armored up fighting “the good fight of faith,” He allows some of us to be taken out or wounded in action since ‘“We through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God,’” (Acts 12:1-4, 14:19-22; 1 Timothy 6:12, NKJV). The wounded suffer permanent or temporary affliction of some kind. God is glorified and we rewarded by how we handle our business when afflicted (2 Corinthians 6:3-10, 12:1-10; 2 Timothy 4:6-8).
As part of God’s chastening in allowing my affliction, I am being stretched spiritually for my good in many ways. For example, perhaps like many of you reading this, I have struggled with faith failures during my journey in the Lord, some of which I have posted about in this Blog.4 Despite this, God in mercy has worked some mighty deliverances for me! While I wait for Him through this experience with Prostate Cancer, I see God at work continuing to grow my steadfast faith in Him; faith He will deliver me as He promised (Psalm 119:49-50)! His judgment as examination (testing) and chastening through trials is God’s standard conduct toward all of His sons not only for our good to share in His nature, but to prove our fitness for the glories to come (2 Thessalonians 1:3-12).5
1 Since the messages delivered by me in this Blog and every other means of communication are the Lord’s, they will serve as a witness against those that have refused to give heed to them (Ezekiel 33:1-5; Acts 18:4-6).
2 See footnote three in the July 17, 2022 post, Prostate Cancer Reflections, under the category, Glory To God!
3 Read about how mortal Christian males and females are ultimately viewed by God as eternal sons in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. It is available with the companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study in the Strong Man Store, at your favorite internet bookseller or brick and mortar bookstore.
4 See the March 2, 2014 post, The Testing Of Our Faith, and followed on March 9th by Praying For God’s Solutions, under the category, Instruction. Once again the Lord puts me on public display to be a humbled example as the man He had to write a book (beginning on page 122 for those who have it) presenting faith as the foundational char- acter trait of the aspiring strong man of God in the image of Christ!
5 For a more in-depth presentation of God’s glory and chastening as good ends in allowing His sons to be afflicted, watch the new and first Bible Instruction message He gave me to proclaim on our Strong Man Virtual Institute Channel, Afflicted For God’s Good Ends!
God’s plan to save man before time and in it to announce this plainly exhibits the divine initiative to bring about such a thing as Christmas.1 After all of the many prophetic announcements and set up for His plan to save through One He would anoint contained in the Bible’s Old Testament, the time came for God’s acts to bring it into fulfillment. Through His sovereign supervision, providence and power, elect people, places and perfectly timed events unfolded in the land of Israel circa 6-4 B.C. according to historians that include a Jewish man called Matthew, an eyewitness apostle of Jesus Christ, and later, Luke, a Gentile disciple, both of whom wrote accounts of His birth.2
As led by God who established the importance of genealogies in Israel, Matthew opened his account presenting the Jewish ethnicity and royal genealogy “of Jesus Christ” from Abraham through David and his descendants up to Joseph, His surrogate father (Genesis 17:18-19; Matthew 1:1-17).3 God also had Luke give the genealogy of Christ through His mother betrothed to Joseph and a descendant of David too, that reached as a godly line He ordained all the way back to Adam (Luke 3:23-38). The genealogical credentials of Christ solidly presented, Matthew goes on to present vital details of God’s acts to bring Him safely into the world with Joseph’s obedience and cooperation.
Prominent in the acts of God Matthew reports are Mary’s troubling pregnancy as a virgin and the instructive dream He sent an angel to give Joseph. The angel urged Joseph to continue his betrothal to Mary and affirmed to him, ‘“for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.’” Moreover, Joseph was told by the angel his wife would deliver ‘“a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS (YESHUA), for He will save His people from their sins.’” Incredibly, Matthew declares not only that Mary’s pregnancy as a virgin exactly fulfilled the Lord’s prophetic Word, but the amazing truth that her Son is God incarnate as understood in another of His names, ‘“Immanuel,’” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25, NKJV). Christmas is about God’s acts to bring His Son into the world to save!
1 See the December 3, 2023 post, Christmas: God’s Initiative To Save, under the category, Holidays.
2 The approximate time of Christ’s birth can be deduced from details Luke gives in his account (Luke 1:1-5, 2:1-3).
3 God is the Originator of all human ethnicities (Acts 17:26). Therefore, to hate, oppress, mistreat by discrimination or any other means on the basis of ethnicity is to disparage the Creator’s good work and blessing of giving ethnic diversity to His creature! For this cause no professed Christian should be numbered among racists or anti-Semites since the Christ they claim to love is Jewish! Read the two-part Jesus: The Jewish Messiah, posted on January 28, 2014, under the category, Holi- days and the February 2, 2020 post, Ethnically Diverse Mankind Is Of God, under the categories, Black History and God’s Creatures. Also, purchase the recently released print version of my book, The Scourge Of Racism, in the Strong Man Store, all major internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores. Watch the book trailer.
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