Sometimes It Just Takes An Earthquake - Acts 16: 30-31 “The Philippian Jailer”

    Living through an earthquake is arguably one of the most harrowing events one could ever experience. The paralyzing fear that must take hold as the very ground beneath you shakes and trembles is possibly indescribable. The story of the Philippian Jailer is one such account.
    The back-story begins in Acts 16:25-29. We encounter a Roman soldier charged with guarding the jail. His duty was to see that the prisoners, his prisoners, remained incarcerated under lock and key. In his prison sat two remarkable men, Paul and his helper, Silas. They had been beaten and thrown in jail on the usual charges: spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.
    That night a ground-splitting earthquake shook the very foundation of the prison and awoke the slumbering guard. Upon discovering that the powerful quake had literally left the cell doors hanging ajar an even greater fear befell him - the prisoners, his prisoners, had escaped!            
    Now, under Roman military protocol a soldier who allowed a prisoner to escape brought a sentence of death upon himself for failure to carry out his duty. But tonight, our soldier would not subject himself to the humiliation of a military tribunal and summary execution. He would save his pride and do the deed himself with his own sword. He would not be the first victim of pride.
    As he readied himself for suicide the strangest thing happened - his prisoner, Paul, cried out in a loud voice, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” True, the quake had opened all the gates but Paul and the other prisoners remained in their cells.
    At this point something wonderful happened. Just as God had used an earthquake to shake and open the earth, He opened the Roman soldier’s heart.
        The jailer fell to his knees and reacted in faith to God’s earthquake as we see in Acts 16:30-31 -And he brought them out and said,”Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
    What “earthquake” did God use to open your heart? For those as yet unsaved, what earthquake will he use? Sometimes it is the death of a loved one. Sometimes it’s the loss of a job, or home, or marriage. Sometimes it’s the rock bottom one hits with a addiction. For many, myself included, it took a hard moment in life to realize - to understand- that we could not save ourselves; that we needed Jesus Christ in our lives as both Lord and Savior.
    We had to hit bottom for Jesus to raise us up. God doesn’t help the haughty. He doesn’t help the arrogant or the proud. They are already “self-elevated.” In reality, it is a cruel and merciless satanic joke played on them. Only Christ can raise us up to salvation. And Christ can only reach down to help us up. Until we find ourselves in that precarious position we are “above” being saved. Remember Matthew 9:12 - “When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”
    When we understand that we are incapable of redeeming ourselves and that our entire salvation is dependent upon Christ we also understand the meaning of Acts 4:12 - “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
    From his knees the proud duty-bound Philippian Jailer found his salvation in the one name that could save him - Jesus Christ. Sometimes it just takes an earthquake.
    God grant you a blessing of peace.

The Necessary Tribulations of Discipleship - Acts 14:21-22

It is all too often in 21st Century America that Christians feel the rising tide of intolerance lapping at our doorsteps. I didn’t say “religious intolerance” because we all know that other religions seem to get a pass as opposed to Christianity. There doesn’t seem to be a week go by without some group or individual challenging the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their affronts are routinely vicious and condescending at the same time. From celebrities to educators to scientists to politicians to the media, they crawl out of their holes, their stingers poised to attack anyone and anything they see as “Christian.”
    Many believers feel the weight of “culture-pressure,” and it can often lead to feelings of disconnect with the rest of the world. Let me say - that is good news. Consider the words of our Lord and Savior in Matthew 10:38, “take his cross;” Mark 8:34, “take up his cross;” and Luke 9:23, “take up his cross daily.” Jesus told us from the beginning that following Him would not be easy. Following our Lord would be tantamount to bearing one’s own cross just as He bore His own cross . . . for us!
    Tribulations and persecution were always part of following Jesus Christ. It has never been any other way. It has never been an easy road to follow.
    Perhaps one of the main reasons Christians, real Christians, are persecuted so often is because we have an exclusive faith. It is exclusive because our belief (Holy Scripture) tells us that the unregenerate will not and cannot be saved; that those who refuse to repent and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior . . . cannot be saved! There is no magic formula for behavior that will open heaven’s gates for us. We acknowledge that good works will never be our key to eternal salvation and glorification. And so we are seen as and perceived by the unregenerate as exclusivists. And we are. But it is our willingness to “take up our crosses” that sets us apart and makes us holy.
    Part of our path to discipleship has always been and will always be “mined’ by those who hate us for being Christians. No true Christian could ever miss the pitfalls, the accusations, and the traps set for us by the unregenerate for they are truly sons of the devil.
            Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
- John 8:42-47
    This is where our persecution comes from. But this is where our strength comes from -
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have[a] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  Romans 5:1-5
    Yes, as Christians we will face many tribulations, just as the early Christians did. And also, just as the early Christians did, we will persevere in spite of our tribulations.
    May God grace be with you always.

Hell - It’s Real! - Matt 13:49-50

    According to the Westminster Catechism, “It is wrong to pick and choose among the teachings of the Bible. We must accept all that the Bible teaches, or else reject the Bible as a whole and take the consequences. If we accept what the Bible teaches about God’s love, we must also accept what it teaches about God’s justice and His wrath against sin. Romans 1:18 W.C. 89/12
    You’ve heard the talking points before - “God is all love and mercy and would never sentence ‘good people’ to an eternity in hell.” Let’s hope that you’re not one who has ever made such a mistaken point.
    I’ll cut to the chase: what did Jesus, Himself, say about the existence of hell? He revealed to us that hell is a real place. It is not an analogy, a metaphor or hyperbole. It exists in time and place!
    “So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” - Matt 13:49-50
    Christ says that the evil will be separated from the good and there will be a place reserved just for them - hell. In addition to Christ’s assurance that such a place exists He also assures us it will be a place of eternal and excruciating pain and suffering. See Luke 16:19-31
    Now, to question or doubt these revelations from Holy Scripture is to question and doubt Jesus Christ. That’s the bottom line. I’m sorry to smash the delusion of those who believe that God is simply too merciful to send anyone to hell. He can and He will. Romans 3:23 specifically states that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So exactly who are all these ‘good people’ you were talking about?
    Secondly, and more importantly - if hell doesn’t exist or if God would refuse to send anyone there then what was the point of Christ’s death? If there’s no hell and no real threat of eternal damnation then we never needed saving to begin with and Christ’s horrific suffering and death was without purpose! And if hell does exist but being a ‘good person’ is enough to get us into heaven . . . we still didn’t need saving and again it negates the redemption bought for us by the shedding of Christ’s blood. No, for all you confused ‘modern Christians’ there is indeed a place of eternal torture called hell and “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 That name is Jesus Christ. And that is the good news about hell. It exists so that we can find salvation in the self-sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
    No matter how good one is they can never earn what only Christ could give to us by the grace of God. May that heavenly grace be always with you.

On Human Dignity - John 1:1,14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1, 14

If there is no God then we are merely animals imbued with moral choices and cognitive decisions - contradictions in the animal kingdom. If there is no God then the only difference between ourselves and amoebae is our ability to think and make choices. We would merely be another link in the chain of life. But except for the most deluded of secular thinkers even the atheists admit that man is a being of a higher order. From where then does mankind’s higher order, his difference, come? First, in Genesis 1:26, "Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’"
Clearly God had a specific plan for the human species. Having made us in His own image and likeness, God gave us cognitive minds, rather than animal instinct. He gave us an inbuilt moral compass so that even the uneducated heathen would "know" the difference between right and wrong. He gave us the ability to feel and show compassion for one another and for all his creatures. These three characteristics of the human species make us different from all other life on earth. These three characteristics are also part of God’s very being and the foremost reason He created us in His likeness. God is cognition; He is morality; He is compassion.
Genesis 1:27 reads - "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Three times in one verse scripture emphasizes that God created
man and woman in His own image. God made no other creature in His own image . . . none! If this fact were not enough Christ went so far as to become human. . .incarnate. He did not come as a horse or an eagle or a fish - He came as man. He came to offer the free gift of salvation to any who would accept it. Thus His very incarnation as a man brings dignity to our species. The dignity that each man is born with can never be taken from him. He may give it away or throw it away by his words and/or actions, but human dignity can never be stolen. Even death cannot rob a man of his dignity.
"We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed -" 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 May the Word of God be always with you.