Eternal Security in the 21st Century

"..nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God."

Just to say, for any who might wonder, I do believe in eternal security. Scripture is full of promises that God will never cast out his faithful children or change His mind about His salvation. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" cannot be any firmer either in the English, or in the Greek from which it is taken. Psalm 23 ends with the promise, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life..." and begins with "The Lord is my shepherd."

What causes problems with some people, though, is not eternal security, but eternal presumption. Eternal presumption claims the Lord as his shepherd, but insists on shepherding himself. When he hears the Lord calling, "Follow Me" he imagines he also hears, "..and you can take the lead," or, "wherever you want to go." We preach that Christianity is a relationship, but do we then exclude Jesus from the picture? We say that Christianity is a party, but is it Jesus' party we're going to, or do we somehow throw a party in His honor, but leave Him off the guest list?

Here in America, the polls tell us that 85% of the people are Christians, most of these claiming a "born-again" experience. Jesus gave us a parable, in which the Word of God was eagerly received, and imparted life and promise, but from it not being allowed to take root and assume its rightful place as a plant growing in the soil, the life and the promise died away. The ground where it had been planted then became dried and hardened, covered with obnoxious weeds. Consistent with that picture of God's Word being like a seed, Paul writes, "..if anyone be in Christ, ..all things are made new." The Christianity of that 85% has so little effect on their own lives that militant atheism and a "rights" agenda aimed at turning the world into a homosexual "paradise" (both representing a scant minority in the US, have them cowed to even mention the name of Christ in public. Like the withered seed, they have no power, no confidence or joy, their lives do not make a difference because their lives, for the greater part do not differ from the "norm" of the non- Christian "minority."

King David, in Ps. 19, speaks of two kinds of sin that can affect our lives. First, there are "errors" and "secret faults." In the Law, these sins, when discovered, could be atoned by some kind of sacrifice as a kind of "personal housekeeping" to keep things right with God. Also, there were the "presumptuous sins." Presuming on God's mercy and "niceness," violating God's commands and principles regardless. Even in the New Testament there is no blank-check guarantee that this can be forgiven. In Hebrews we read, "They that sinned knowingly under Moses' law received no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking-for of wrath and fiery indignation." and, "How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Is it all hopeless? Not necessarily, but as the Spirit continues in that passage, it is on us to remember the goodness of the Lord, call on Him, and commit our lives to being His people, on His terms, rather than presuming that He is ours, on ours.

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Remember "Freedom?"

Today's the 4th. Happy 4th, to all Americans! This day commemorates the children of English and European settlers binding together to form a new nation. Lately, though, that seems to be about all we know about it. Our schools spend precious little time on that era, and what time is taken is put to memorising dates and names the students know nothing else about, making the very study of history repulsive to them. If we understood the story behind the “story” we are fed, we would have a far greater appreciation both for the price paid for our freedoms in this country and the relationship of the American Experiment to the rest of the world.

From what I”ve gathered of the readers who have come to this small site in the past two and half years, it seems that the average person is probably a lot smarter and better-educated than me. Instead, then, of launching into one more Internet history lesson, there are some questions that need to be answered if we are going to be able to preserve the heritage that was begun some 233 years ago today.

Was this land first settled to establish a political system, an economic system, or to establish God's kingdom throughout the world?

We know that the majority of our Founding Fathers claimed an evangelical faith in Christ. What of the spearheads of the independence movement?

What is there to learn from a closer look at our country's early conflicts that might help us see our development as a nation among the nations more clearly?

What was the relationship between the populist / socialist movements in Europe in the mid-18th century and the developments here during that time?

How did FDR “save” the US economy, and social structure, by increasing taxes (decreasing the money supply) and spending the money of throwaway projects which forced men to leave their wives and children for extended periods, producing a fatherless generation?

How is it that what we call Patriotism we learned in a school system developed by self-proclaimed Socialists?

Is there a link between public-school “socialisation” and Socialism?

Could any of this be a factor in the so-called “Change” we are now witnessing?

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The Economics of Murder

A murder in Kansas has the attention of all the news media today. However many innocents have died in Sudan or Congo, how many Christians have been imprisoned, tortured, murdered in countries throughout the world, none of that is newsworthy. Neither, apparently, is the growing toll of abortions in this country. One man, one of a handful who openly aborted even babies at the point of birth, and who used the bloody gains of his butchery to bankroll his own filthy agenda in the halls of Government, has himself been killed. Do two wrongs make a right? Or could there have been a better solution? Doubtless this fellow Tiller (Was he yet a doctor, or was his license to practice as an MD actually pulled as I vaguely recall?) At any rate, the "abortion provider" awaits his Judgment while Public Opinion suffers a new wave of opinion engineering as the Media trade on the the shock value of his death to create a martyr.

What will come of this? Will his death reduce the number of abortions, or are there too many more dogs in smock coats ready to lap the filth he left behind? Will it cut off the funding to his favorite Governor, or with her new appointment would he have actually have been more of a liability than an asset? Interestingly, the police seem intent on finding ties to pro-life groups instead of simply looking for what ties there may be.

For you and me- Will we content ourselves cluck our tongues over the terrible situation (pick one!) as we go about our daily business of generating tax dollars, or do we bother ourselves to pray, fast, and examine our own hearts & lives that the Lord will still have mercy on this country, that we as a country may turn from our corporate individualism, petty selfishness, and our growing thirst for the perverse, and commit to the right thinking, right loving, and right living that He wants to restore in our lives?

A wise priest said recently that if a politician has no respect for the life of the most innocent and helpless among us, why should we expect them to protect the rest of us? And "it's the economy, stupid?" Righteousness establishes a nation, but sin will only, always, destroy it. No politician, but only God can do anything to save us.

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