At Christmas time we celebrate, knowingly or unknowingly, the anniversary of the Creator God’s bodily visit to this earth. Approximately two thousand years ago He stepped from the throne of heaven to a lowly manger in the little town of Bethlehem by way of a virgin Jewish maiden named Mary.

His visit was foretold in the books of the Old Testament scripture.  His method of arrival by way of the virgin birth was announced, His tribe was revealed, His birthplace was named and the time of His arrival was given.  Many other details about the life He was to live, the death He was to die and of His resurrection from the dead, were also given.

In spite of all this information and Israel’s fervent belief in a coming Messiah, there was very little attention given to the actual event of His birth, which we now celebrate.  Only the lowly shepherds came from their hillside vigil to wonder at this little baby who was to become the Saviour.  Later the wise men from the East would find their way to Him and worship.

God’s Son, Jesus Christ was born into this world to die for your sins and for mine.  Scripture declares that the wages of sin is death. Death is separation.  Physical death is separation from the body.  Spiritual death is separation from God.

His substitutionary death upon the cross of Calvary was to pay the sin penalty that all we as sinners owe. If we choose to pay it ourselves, we will be eternally separated from God in hell.  If we accept the payment that God made for us, by believing on this Jesus and His finished work, then we will live with God forever.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.

Not many were prepared for the great event of the Saviour’s birth, and not many recognized it for what it really was.  Humanity failed to welcome God to the world that He created.  As a matter of fact we rejected Him and slew Him on a cross.

Before Christ died and was resurrected, He promised believers that He would return for them.  After His resurrection, as He ascended bodily into heaven, angels announced: “This same Jesus that is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”.

We were not told the time or the place, only that He will return.  He is coming again.  Are you ready?

Christmas may be celebrated every December 25th, but to me, Christmas comes every day.  Each day I live, I experience the gifts of God.  What does anyone have that was not given him by God?

The ability to see and appreciate the sights, to hear and enjoy the sounds, to smell and inhale the freshness, to taste and to savor, to be healthy and to work are gifts God bestows on every day life.

Beyond the physical are the gifts of repentance and faith, the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life, the gifts of a pure conscience and freedom from sin’s power, the gift of a heavenly Father and a heavenly destination, the gift of understanding and purpose, the gifts of the Holy Spirit to serve and to edify the faithful, are all freely given by God to those who will believe on His Son as their only hope of salvation.

Have you experienced any of God’s gifts?  If so, have you paused today to praise Him and thank Him for His wonderful gifts to you?

Merry Christmas!

For believers, submitting to one another is not so much about who one is submitting to as it is about submitting to God first.

We need to be reminded that neo-orthodoxy shares with theological liberalism the bias of unbelief which is manifested by their embrace of higher criticism.  Higher criticism treats the Bible as a fallible product of man, not as the God-breathed infallible book it claims to be.  

For example: Jesus credits Moses with the writing of the first five books of the Old Testament, but higher criticism assigns their authorship to four different authors designated as J, E, D & P.   The Lord endorses Genesis chapter three as historical and literal, but it is regarded by higher criticism as mythological.  

Higher criticism presupposes that no one can miraculously forecast what is to come (not even God), so they alter well established dates in order to have the fulfillment of prophesies occur after the forecast and not before.   Although it takes greater faith to believe this, the universal flood (which covered the mountains), is passed off as a local flood.   In these ways higher criticism explains away the supernatural and miraculous. 

Charles Ryrie, in his book on neo-orthodoxy, uses the term “destructive criticism” to describe what is referred to here as higher criticism.  Destructive criticism does exactly that.  It trys to destroy the credibility of Scripture.

Neo-orthodoxy fully embraces the destructive practices of higher criticism while attempting to construct a theology that has no credibility without the Scripture.  This is the Barthian’s great bias against the truth of the Bible and yet they fully insist that they are the true advocates of Christianity.  

If the accounts of Scripture and the words of Jesus Christ are not credible facts, what is left to build on?  The absurdity of neo-orthodoxy is that they have an answer, but by their own admission they have nothing credible to base it on.  

The three main voices of neo-orthodoxy are the Protestant theologians Karl Barth, Emil Brunner and Reinhold Niebuhr.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s name can hardly be mentioned without including the name of Karl Barth who influenced Bonhoeffer more than any other theologian.  Bonhoeffer was imprisoned by the Nazis for his part in an assassination plot against Hitler.  He was brutally hanged shortly before the Allies liberated his place of imprisonment.

Many hail Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a Christian martyr.  Bonhoeffer was martyred for a cause no doubt,  but if he was indeed neo-orthodox, that cause was not Bible believing Christianity.

•  Can one deny the words of Christ and still retain enough of His integrity to call Him the Saviour of the world or the Son of God?  

Jesus said, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and these are they which testify of me.  And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.”  John 5:39 & 40

Speaking again in John 6:63, Jesus says; “………the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

• Can one deny or ignore the literal, historical, and miraculous event of the resurrection of Christ and still have enough objective evidence to retain the integrity of Christianity?

Paul challenged this position by asking, “………how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” 

“Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.” 

“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.”  

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” I Corinthians 15:12b-19

Note:

• If Christian theology is not based on objective historical accounts as recorded in the Bible, then Christianity has no credibility and any man’s religious imagination becomes as good as the next man’s.
• If you are an unbeliever, you cannot just blow this off, agree with neo-orthodoxy, and call it good.  There is too much at stake to just ignore the claims of the Scriptures, as well as its track record for accuracy and the changed lives of believers world wide throughout history, without a thorough investigation.  If you do blow it off and it is true, then you lose………for eternity.  There is no coming back.  
• Don’t  take my word for it.  Do your own investigation concerning the truth of the Bible and be honest about it.

A well-known apologist was speaking to an assembly of Russian military officers on the subject of “Theism versus Atheism” a few years ago.  After he finished his presentation and opened for questions, he reached for a glass of water to take a drink.  Before he could raise the glass, a Russian officer fired a comment and a question at him, You keep referring to God,………..who is God?

If someone asked you, Who is so and so? what would you say?  I’m sure that in the process of answering that question, a physical description, place of residence, occupation, family members, various activities and many other things would be mentioned to identify said person.  But what would you say if you were asked, Who is God?

Since God is a spirit, a physical description would be difficult. There are, however, many words to describe Him as a spirit.  He is infinite. Keep in mind that any number (billions/quadrillions/etc.) compared to infinity is zero.  He is eternal which means no beginning and no end.  He is sovereign which means basically that He is in control.  He can make good come out of bad and He sets up rulers and kings to suit His purposes, not ours.  God is the self existent one which means He doesn’t need you and me.

God is all wise, all powerful, all knowing and everywhere present which means that you can run, but you can’t hide, that you can fix up the outside of the barn, but He still knows what is inside.  He is also perfect or without sin which is a problem for us, because nothing that is sinful can enter into His presence and live, which is politically incorrect, but not a problem for Him.  He also does favors.

God is a trinity.  He is the “Three in One”: God the Father (Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven), God the Son (He visited us), and God the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit lifts up Christ, convicts men of sin (it is He whom we resist); regenerates by His word, and seals our salvation.

God’s dwelling place is in the third heaven which is outside our universe (we have been to the moon).  He also resides in believers not the church building.  Believers are those who are resting in the finished work of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  Believers are God’s children, by virtue of God’s grace (His enabling) through faith in the Son’s death, burial and resurrection from the dead.

God is the Creator (one of His many activities and occupations) which means He most likely does not believe in evolution.  He is the provider and sustainer of life and all its benefits.  God is love which means that He is perfect in all His choices and all His relationships.  We are not.

God is the Righteous Judge with whom we have to do.  We will all stand before Him and give account; believers for reward as stewards of his gifts, unbelievers for the death sentence earned by rejecting His Son.

God is an author.  He gave us a book called the Bible.  It is the most printed and published book of all time.  Nothing else comes close.  In atheistic countries people are dying to read it.  In our country we are trying to purge it.  You should read it while you can.  If you do, read a translation.  Leave the paraphrases alone.  You will want to know exactly what He said, not what someone thinks He said.