Ungodly church goers

 

Jude 1:4

For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Do you find this as shocking as I do? That it is possible for ungodly persons to infiltrate a church group unnoticed – they behave like sincere believers and yet are far from being what they profess to be.

Jude had the intention to write this letter to believers about the fact that all of us have to follow the same way to reach our salvation. However, this issue of hidden imposters among the flock became a matter that he had to address urgently.

He gives a few clues by which we can identify them. They pervert the grace of God into lawlessness, and then into immorality. This can happen so easily, for instance when we hear someone say, “It is OK to do this, because God’s grace means He will forgive you.” Or they hold the belief that if it feels good, it is permissible. There is also an element of “everybody does it, so it seems to be acceptable”. I have heard about a pastor who tells his congregation that they can receive the mark of the beast during the Tribulation, because God’s grace will cover them (when the Bible explicitly says that those people will be thrown into hell Rev 14:9-10). We regularly see Christian young men and women living together because they see it as acceptable behaviour in their churches, while the Bible teaches purity before marriage throughout all its pages.

They deny the deity of Jesus, teaching that He was but a man here on earth, that He married and had children, and died an ordinary death. And slowly these doctrines, coming from seemingly learned and knowledgeable Christians, get a foothold among the congregation and erode their core belief.

Jude goes on to explain that they not only corrupt the body through perverse sexual practices, but they also scorn and reject all authority – not only the authority of God and His word, but also of church leaders, and governmental rulers. These evil men and seducers are angry at everything that happens and never pleased with their own state and condition. Their will and their fancy are their only rule and law. They complain and grumble about everything, their talk is boastful and arrogant, they pay flattering compliments to gain advantage. They live devoid of the Holy Spirit.

Pearls to ponder:

Now that you know what to look for, do you recognize people in your congregation that exhibit these behaviours? What about you, personally? Jude has answers as to what to do about this situation – read verses 20-25. It begins with turning inward and building up your own faith. And then rely on God’s discernment as to whether you have to confront and rebuke; or whether you must comfort those who waver and doubt. Loving the person but hating the sin should always be our motivation.

Love you with the Truth

Fulfilled prophecy

 Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

It might upset some readers to realize that this well-known prophecy originally referred to a child born to King Ahaz of Judah, and not primarily to the birth of Jesus some 700 years later. The child was to be a sign to Ahaz pointing to the fact that, before the child reached adulthood, the Assyrians would invade the north of Israel. The mother of this child could have been one of Ahaz’s wives, taken into his harem while still a virgin, and then becoming pregnant in the normal manner, naming her son Immanuel. This sign of Isaiah came true, as history proves.

Some believers find it difficult to accept that Biblical prophecies that have already been fulfilled somewhere in the past, could have any bearing on events that might still happen in the future.

But the apostles themselves believed that the words of the prophets did not only apply to historical events, but specifically also to their own time as well, as we read in Acts 3:24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days.” This is because the Holy Spirit inspired the prophets to write words that also would have bearing on events in the messianic future, even if they themselves did not understand the full application of their own words.

We see this clearly in Isaiah 7:14, because although Ahaz’s child fulfilled this prophecy in his time in history, it is also true that:

·         this prophecy refers to Jesus because the Holy Spirit says so through Matthew in Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

·         This prophecy refers to Jesus because it is addressed not only to Ahaz, but to the entire house of David.

·         This prophecy refers to Jesus because the words “the virgin will conceive” was literally fulfilled when He was born.

·         This prophecy refers to Jesus because the designation “Immanuel” was fundamentally true of Jesus in His lifetime and not only used as a title. God with us shows His deity (GOD with us) and His nearness to us (God WITH US).

In the same way, we can know that many other biblical prophecies give us a template of things still to come, even though they might have been fulfilled in history already.

Points to ponder: Am I open to see Bible prophecy as markers for the future, waiting for another fulfilment? Do I then see end-time prophecies becoming real-time events all around me as time goes on? Ask Holy Spirit to convince you of the godly interpretation of the times we are living in and ask Him to show you how to truly discern and understand those prophecies in the light of His Word. Do not merely rely on the teachings of man.

Days of Elijah  

The power of God

 

1 Cor 16:14

And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

The Shroud of Turin is an ancient piece of grave cloth with markings on it that resemble the body of a man that has been crucified and then wrapped up in it before burial. Research on this cloth has been ongoing for many years, as the images found on it matches the events described in the Bible as to what happened to the body of Jesus Christ perfectly – it shows the blood stains of a crown of thorns on the head, of holes in the wrists and ankles, of a wound in the side, a beard that has pieces ripped out, and also of a body scourged and whipped extensively.

Irrespective of what your opinion about the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin is, it cannot be denied that the latest findings produced by AI research and published by scientists recently, has certainly taken the whole debate into another realm, quite literally!

They considered the fact that the image was burned into the cloth, but without scorching the fabric deeper than a tiny layer of the uppermost fibres. Their explanation for this is that the fabric was hit by a burst of light, and this suggests something incredibly powerful, something untraceable. They surmise that it was a burst of radiation from the body that lasted only a tiny fraction of a second, which allowed the atoms of the body to disappear from our perception of reality into an altered dimensionality. They made a point of explaining that the body did not go from one stage of existence to another through the mass of his body turning into energy, because that would have created a nuclear explosion a thousand times larger than the largest nuclear weapon ever set off – it would have destroyed the cloth, Jerusalem, and most of Israel!

To my mind, we as believers have a perfect explanation for what happened – Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God! Jesus is the Light of the world, (John 9:5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”) Paul mentions that as imitators of Him, our bodies will be transformed into glorified bodies in the time it takes to blink (1 Cor 15:52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.)

Pearls to ponder:

Consider the power of that burst of light. Know that it is larger than the power that any other earthly method by which the body could disappear, would generate, which already is a thousand times larger than the largest nuclear bombs? And then consider the fact that Jesus says this power lives within us! (Eph 1:19-20 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms). Why do we ever believe that we are hopeless against the enemy and his defeated army of darkness?

That's the Power