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IF GOD KNEW, WHY DID HE CREATE?

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IF GOD KNEW, WHY DID HE CREATE?

Why did He createRecently, in a doctor’s office, I engaged an elderly gentleman in conversation. He asked what line of work I was in. I told him I was a pastor. He said he would like to ask me a question and wanted to know if it would be ok. I assured him it was. He said, “What is this all about? If God knows everything, He knew all the evil that people would do. If that is true, why create in the first place?” I assured him that his was a common question, and since God knew everything that was going to happen, He must have anticipated his question also.

I asked him, “Do you have children of your own?” He said he had two sons and a daughter. I said, “Would you prefer they have free will, or be programmed as robots? Also, why do you think couples would plan to have children when they know these children will have trouble throughout life, get sick and ultimately die? In addition, every parent knows their child will sin and do wrong, bringing grief to others and to themselves? Why would they go ahead, in the face of these facts, and have children? Yet, with free will, the parents are not responsible for the choices of the children” He did not answer the question.

“The answer”, I said, “is, they want offspring they can love and provide for. The only thing parents expect in return is love and a life of gratitude that does not shame their family name. This is also why God created Man. God did not cause any of the grief or misery in this world. He created us with a free will and we did the rest. He knew we would sin; but in spite of that, knowledge does not remove free will. God has expressed His love to us a thousand ways, the greatest being the incarnation and crucifixion.” The gentleman had no answers or questions.

God will never give us the answer to all our questions, but enough has been given to render every man without excuse. You can know all you need to know to settle the sin question and the purpose question. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 29:29.

IF I WERE THE DEVIL

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WHAT THE DEVIL MIGHT DO WITH YOU

DEVIL

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Ken Blue

 

 If I were the Devil I’d point to the hypocrites in the church, and I’d scoff…

I’d point to imaginary contradictions in the Bible, and I’d scoff…

And I would convince you that all religions are after your money, and I’d scoff…

 

If I were the Devil I’d keep your mind occupied with movies, music, and money.

I’d convince you that evolution is right, and that there is no purpose for your existence.

And you are a product of chance, and the chimpanzee is your first cousin.

 

If I were the Devil I’d poison your mind with pornography until you couldn’t think of anything else.

I’d destroy your body with drugs, and alcohol until you were burned out.

And I would destroy your soul through bitterness at the God you do not believe exist.

 

If I were the Devil I’d keep you so busy you would become set in your ways.

I’d harden your will as concrete, so when it came time for you to die, you’d have no desire or will to believe.

And I’d destroy your life, or bless it, so you would curse God as you go home with me to hell forever. And then I’d scoff!

  

(The idea came from Paul Harvey)

IS HAROLD CAMPING, A FALSE PROPHET?

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WHO IS THIS HAROLD CAMPING?

CampingBy Ken Blue

When one is familiar with the literal and dispensational teaching of the Bible; listening to Harold Camping sounds like a combination of Charlie Sheen and Jared L. Loughner. I have never read any person who is as confused and deceptive when it comes to handling the Word of God.

In my book, Standards and The Standard, I devoted several pages exposing the false teaching of Camping. He proclaimed that the Lord would return in 1994. Since he missed it, that makes him a false prophet, and God has something to say about that: “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” Deuteronomy 18:22.

Camping now teaches that the rapture will happen May 21, 2011. According to Camping’s prediction, the Rapture will happen exactly 7,000 years from the date that God first warned people about the flood. He said the flood happened in 4990 B.C., on what would have been May 21 in the modern calendar.

Camping pulls the date of the flood out of his make-believe hat. Bullinger has the date of the creation B.C. 4004. Ruckman’s Bible says the creation was B.C. 4004. The Chronological Bible has a date of B. C. 3976. The New Analytical Bible B. C. 4004. Scofield has the date of B. C. 4004. Camping said the flood happened in 4990 B.C. that would be almost 1000 years before the creation if other scholars are correct. The simple truth is, Camping doesn’t know what he is talking about.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Camping pulls the date of the flood out of his make-believe hat.[/perfectpullquote]

Camping makes the following statement which shows what he does not believe: “They (religious leaders) may be told that the end will not come until Antichrist rises as a political leader who will make them take the mark of the beast.” Many are told that God will rapture His people before a 7 year Great Tribulation after which Christ will set up a 1000 year reign from an earthly throne in Jerusalem. Others are told that Christ will come to rapture believers the same day he destroys the world. While just about every church has a different idea as to what the Bible teaches concerning the end, they all seem to agree on one thing; no man can know the day or the hour of Christ’s return because the scriptures say that He is coming as a thief in the night. But are they correct? Can We Know?” Camping goes on to say, “God will destroy this world on October 21, 2011… His Word showing us that these dates are 100% accurate and beyond dispute.” The Bible does not give these details, most Bible believers would dispute them.

Harold Camping teaches that EVERY church in the world is an apostate! He teaches that the church age ended in 1994 and that the Holy Spirit is NO LONGER working in the church!

Camping has taken the teaching of a Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller who thought he had the time of Christ’s return as 1843. His followers sold their homes and businesses and went about the country preaching the imminent return of Christ.  They were the followers of William Miller, a farmer and self-taught bible scholar from New York. Miller believed the cleansing of the temple in Daniel 8 was not of a real temple but rather referred to the purification of the earth by fire at the Second Coming of Christ. Miller’s date was between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844.  He began to teach this throughout the Northeast and gained a wide following.  Despite the great excitement, March 21, 1844, came and went without the return of Christ.  Miller was devastated, and a new date was set for October 22, 1844. These teachings fathered both, the teachings of Camping, the Seventh Day Adventist and the Jehovah’s Witnesses religions.

Here is the sum and purpose of Camping’s teaching: He wants Christians to believe that God is through with local churches and that all of them are apostate. Secondly, he wants you to follow him only, listen to his radio program, and purchase his literature. Oh, by the way, you could start sending your offerings to his ministry. I know this has not crossed the mind of the false prophet, but if you did it, I am sure he would appreciate it.

Now, I hope the rapture happens before March 21, and it may. But I would be willing to bet anyone a $1,000.00 Camping is wrong! You see, I can’t lose. If it doesn’t happen, I win. If it happens, I won’t be here to pay up. If you are unsaved, you lose.

JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE LAMB OF GOD

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JOHN’S UNDERSTANDING OF JESUS’ DEATH

By Ken Blue

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29.

Recently a dear lady sent an email asking if John the Baptist might have understood that Jesus would die on the cross since he called Him the Lamb of God. It is my firm conviction that neither John nor anyone else believed that Jesus would die. In fact, all four gospels indicate that none of them understood this Old Testament truth.

John was greater than all the prophets, in that he had the distinct responsibility and privilege of preparing a remnant of Jews for the promised King and the kingdom. His message was clear, “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins; the King is coming and the kingdom is at hand.”

Everything John believed and preached was that Jesus was Israel’s King and that the kingdom would soon follow their repentance and reception of Him. It never occurred to John that Jesus would be rejected by Israel or be crucified. This is why, when he was in prison, he asks “are you the one we should look for or should we look for another?” Nothing was going as John expected.

When he referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God, he was not thinking of His sacrificial death, but rather, of His purity and righteousness to lead Israel to victory against their gentile enemies. This is what all believing Jews understood.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]John probably died a perplexed and confused follower of Jesus Christ.[/perfectpullquote]

Zaharias the prophet proclaimed the expectation of Israel when he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. 76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, 78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:68-79.

When John spoke of Him “taking away the sin of the world” he was expecting that to happen in his lifetime. He is not speaking of His death on the cross. However, because of Israel’s refusal to repent, that event is reserved until the Second Advent and the end of the Kingdom. It will be during that time, sin will be taken away from the world. Satan, the Antichrist, the false prophet, and all the wicked, will be “taken away” by the wrath of the Lamb of God.

Paul never called Jesus a lamb or the lamb. That distinction is reserved for Israel. We read more in Revelation about the Lamb than anywhere in Scripture. The wicked, who are about to be expelled say, “And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:” Revelation 6:16. “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:” Revelation 14:10. This is the context of the comment by John.

It has been made clear to us, and it will be to Israel (Isa. 53) in the future, that the Lamb also had to die. But, that truth was not understood by anyone in John’s day, and most orthodox Jews do not see it today. Note the conversation on the Emmaus Road. “And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. 25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:19-27.

These two demonstrate exactly what other believing Jews expected, and how they felt. Note the words “should have redeemed Israel.” The redemption Israel expected did not include a sacrifice, rather it meant the renewing and reclaiming Israel’s kingdom, as spoken by the prophets. The redemption was deliverance from gentile dominion.

This is why John asks the question, in doubt, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” Matthew 11:3. Even though Jesus sent abundant evidence in His answer, John probably died a perplexed and confused follower of Jesus Christ.

DEBATING WITH FOOLS (ATHEIST)

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THE ATHEIST ILLUSION

By Ken Blue

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.” Psalms 53:1.

Recently I watched a debate on TV between an atheist and a Christian. The atheist demanded proof that God exist. He was asked what proof he would accept. He said, “Just any proof you have.” The Christian said, “No, I see no need to go through a list of proofs that you have already made your mind up to reject. So, to save time, tell me what proof you would accept, and I’ll see if I have it.” He said, “OK, show me God.” The Christian said, “You got me on that one. I can’t do it.”

Next, the Christian asked the atheist to prove that God does not exist. The atheist responded, “Since you can’t provide the proof demanded, I am not required to prove that God doesn’t exist.” The Christian asked, “Since I cannot give the proof you demand; are you so dense you think your lack of proof gets you off the hook?”

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The atheist has faith in his blindness and his personal reasoning about what he cannot see.[/perfectpullquote]

The believer should understand that the atheist operates with two sets of rules. One, you must present “proof,” which none of them will accept. Secondly, since they don’t believe God exist; they reason that they aren’t required to prove anything. Their ignorance drives their arrogance.

The problem is not that proof for God’s existence is lacking. The issue is, the fool has made up his mind to reject any and all arguments you present. They pretend they follow science, yet they can’t prove one point of their argument with established scientific evidence.

Don’t be intimated. The atheist does not have any proof for his argument. He cannot explain the origin of life, and he doesn’t KNOW for sure if his argument is valid; he merely believes it is. The Christian and the atheist both operate from the platform of faith. The Christian has faith in the Scriptures and the evidence he sees. The atheist has faith in his blindness and his personal reasoning about what he cannot see.

Any Christian struggling with this issue should read The Evolution Cruncher, by Vance Farrell.

Now, there are only four possible answers to the argument.

1. Matter is eternal.
2. Matter came from nothing.
3. Matter came from an eternal, intelligent Creator.
4. Nothing matters; all is an illusion, and we aren’t really here.