I started here 8 years ago.  I don’t know when, even though the sign-up date is there… somehow my memory of opening an account is gone… nevertheless I started here 8 years ago and I’ve grown through the experience.  Many people have stated bluntly that my posts have made them think, and take a stronger stand for Christ.  I’m happy for that…. and I’m committed to continuing.

Xanga is my home.  I belong here.   I tried WordPress a few years back, didn’t care for it.  But I guess I will learn to work through it, like it or not.

So today I am stating up front — I am here.  I am not leaving.  I didn’t leave when ReveLife tried to woo me over… I didn’t leave to WordPress when it was all new and hot and shiny… and I’m not leaving today when they say the end of the world as we know it is just around the corner.  I’m not leaving.  And maybe you shouldn’t either.  Give it a thought… your Xanga has been your diary for private thought and reflection — why give that up?  Xanga itself has been a community of people who, for good or bad, gathered around each other to inspire, encourage and enliven one another.  Why walk away?

Why walk away?

We live in an age where reason is the standard that all things are driven by.   If one thing be universally true of Atheism, it would be that Human reason is recognized as the highest plateau in all creation.  Rationality runs the show.  If it doesn’t follow a logical sense, it’s considered flawed and thus worthless to the Human drama.

While some of that is true — we’d rather not have someone in the Presidential office who doesn’t follow some form of logic, trust me… bad deal — the fundamental principle of Human reason being the loftiest height in our landscape is, in itself, flawed.   It assumes that Human beings are the standard and faultless.  It assumes our mind supreme.  It also assumes that our Logic is without flaw…. and it isn’t.

Look at the world around you.  Look that the buildings, the roads, the businesses, the houses, the streets, the gas stations, the movie theaters, ….. in short, look at all that mankind has made over the last few centuries.  Have you ever once thought that what’s been made needed a creator to make it?   A building doesn’t “evolve”.   A road doesn’t magically appear after billions of years.  Your house didn’t spontaneously come into being one day.  That’s because of a simple rule: 

What’s created came from a creator.  Everything we know, from our Ipods to our pianos, from our computers to our cars — everything — was created by someone. 

It was first the product of someone’s vision, then effort gave form to the vision and in the end raw materials were used and someone was paid to give the labor to bring it into being.   This is basic logic.

And yet the Atheist would look at creation and not apply that same rule.   They would look at the complexity of design for a human cell and deny that what’s come into being was, by logical conclusion, the product of some visionary with purpose.  An Atheist would scoff at the very concept — because an Atheist doesn’t apply his own logic to the puzzle.   This is because an Atheist cannot afford to.  Once “God” has entered the picture, then Human reason is no longer the hottest cookie in the jar.  No longer is Human reason supreme — because Mankind has to answer to something higher than himself, which designed him.  Thus an Atheist shows by his own refusal to acknowledge basic facts that his own “human reason” is clouded, pridefully obstinate — in short, his “human reason” is flawed.

Charles Darwin, when writing “On the Origin of the Species” actually realized that there were serious flaws in his theory —- this is an excerpt from a John MacArthur sermon detailing this ..

It was a hard sell. Even Darwin had a hard time with it. If you read anything of Darwin’s you find he’s continually filling all his writings with tremendous doubts. For example, he says in the sixth chapter of his Origin of the Species, “Long before having arrived at this part of my work, a crowd of difficulties will have occurred to the reader. Some of them are so grave that to this day I can never reflect on them without being staggered.” In his chapter on instinct he conceded such simple instincts as bees making a beehive “could be sufficient to overthrow my whole theory”. And to think he said that “The eye could evolve by natural selection seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.” In his chapter on imperfections in the geological record he complained that the complete lack of fossil intermediates in all geological records was perhaps, quote, “the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory.” In other words, he was at least honest enough to admit that the thing didn’t make any sense.

So here’s my point.   Atheism worships at the altar of Human logic.  In effect, Atheism has made mankind’s reason “god”, and is, thus, the highest form of modern idolatry.  Atheism self-worships humanity as it’s “god” and it’s refusal to acknowledge the one true Creator.   But God sort of expected this when He moved Paul to write:

 As the Scriptures say,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
    and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.  (1st Corinthians 1:19-23 New Living Translation)

God’s wisdom is foolishness to men, to the Greek debater, to the philosopher, to the scholar, to the world’s best and brightest — in short, to one and all of mankind — God places true wisdom out of their reach and leaves them to their foolish idolatry which would seek any manner of erasing him from the equation.  

With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.  They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.  (Ephesians 4:17-19 New Living Translation)

Mankind would look at the world, rife with cohesion, order, and flawless harmony down to the minutest cell component… would view all this unimaginable attention to detail… and deny the basic logic that what’s been made necessitates a creator.  That is in truest essence: Pride.

And what would God say to this?  The same thing He’s been saying all along: Drop the pride, repent, and come to me.  The message is the same, whether it’s to a Mormon, a Buddhist, an Atheist or any other sinner.  Your pride is what keeps you from knowing the most wonderful grace and mercy that has ever been offered to man.  Your faith in human reason is misplaced — you show it yourself by your obstinate refusal to see the hand of the creator behind all of creation.

Human reason only functions properly when it has been renewed through the Spirit of God.  It’s only then that we understand fully and know the world around us in it’s beauty.  God doesn’t call us to shun human reason, in fact, he calls us to use it.

Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.  (Isaiah 1:18 NKJV)

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.  (Romans 12:2 New Living Translation)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthains 5:17-19 NIV)

The following is a conversation from Facebook covering the topics of Baptismal Regeneration, the Trinity, Baptism in Jesus name or in the name of the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit and a few other matters.  I thought the information was worth reposting here while everyone is waiting for me to finish “Judgment Comes, Part 5″… yeah, I’m still working on that one.  

For the sake and privacy of those involved, names have been truncated.

Gary -  When are we saved and our sins remitted?

Mark - When we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, which causes us to repent of our sin, believe that Jesus died for our sin, receive Jesus as our personal Savior. Some of my brethren also believe water baptism is part of the necessary equation. I tend to believe water baptism is an obedient act submitted to by believers rather than a necessary part of their salvation.

Gary - Thank you. Have you read where Peter told them to be water baptized when they asked him how to be saved in ACTS 1 and 2?

Have you read all the water baptism verse in the NT?

What about when Jesus said, “Except ye be water baptized ye cannot enter heaven?”

Mark - If you believe in baptismal re- generation, so be it. Many of my friends believe that Jesus taught that.

Wayne - (NOTE THIS: my initial response was not directly to the matter of Baptism or regeneration.  Therefore it doesn’t fully make sense to the overall conversation, only to Mark’s first reply.)  Mark — a good response to the above question is to turn to Titus 2:11-12. For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all who believe. It TEACHES US TO SAY NO to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright & godly lives in this present age.

a person who has not the Spirit of God can’t ever say no to their sins / passions / lusts / carnal desires…. because they lack the ability to do so. The only thing they can do is exchange one sin for another… such as giving up drinking while submitting to pride.

Make sense?

Gary -  We all wonder why with the bible and eternal life beings the most important thing in life, why folks don’t read and question every verse?

I visit all religions to share, ask questions and learn. If the bible said in ACTS that all water baptisms were in the (singular) name of Jesus, then I would ask a dozen peeps who water baptized that way: how and why.

Is it true everyone on FB wants to teach but none has any questions nor will they visit other religions nor do they really want to learn?

When I ask folks who had the KEY and what 3 things did he say, they have no idea. They do not have a clue to what the KJV of 1611 clearly says.

Wayne - Gary — when you’ve found the truth, everything else pales in comparison.

I used to work for a bank. Spent 4 years there. One thing they taught us very profoundly…. sticks with me to this day, 30+ years later. How to spot a counterfeit.

They did so not by teaching us the counterfeits — they taught us to spot counterfeits by drilling the real deal into us so thoroughly that every time a counterfeit showed up, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

Jesus does the same thing — get to know the real deal, and all those other FALSE religions will all make sense…. as it is, they all preach the same thing…. “Do enough good deeds and you’ve earned your way into Heaven.” Jesus said the opposite … your good deeds account for nothing, squat, zip, zilch, nada. They get you nowhere.

1000 religions all preaching the same message…. ONE religion preaching against the flow… which makes sense? I’d lay you strong odds that all the others are counterfeits of the real —- because you never counterfeit something cheap. Whens the last time you saw a counterfeit penny?

Gary - @Wayne Shuman;

I only work well with bible verses. Thank you.

Now, please if you may, explain the Water Baptism verses I posted from ACTS. If you cannot explain them, try to post a bank statement.

Wayne - Peter has a crowd of roughly 30,000 – 75,000 people he’s preaching to. He needs to make it absolutely clear that those who are putting their faith in Jesus are making a public commitment and not merely lip service…. that they are honestly making their faith in Christ as Messiah (RE: the verses just before where you keep pointing to… bringing it all back to faith and not some sacrament…) a firm commitment. Thus for Peter to make the statement:

Repent (which I note that you keep omitting… it’s just as equally important my friend) and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.

is not some formulaic plan of salvation, but merely a call to Israel to embrace their messiah, whom they had just previously crucified.

The indication here is not HOW these things save you (re: Repentance or baptism) but that you are following along in obedience to what Christ had already laid out…. Repentance, Faith & obedience.

As for Chapter 1…. Jesus own words were in respect to John’s baptism, not the Church’s, and how we are to expect a greater baptism to follow… namely the indwelling Holy Spirit. Again… this isn’t a matter of salvation (hmmmm, seems to me that the Apostles would have already BEEN saved at this point… you think????) nor of staking out a formulaic plan on how men ought to be redeemed. Merely that we are immersed in a greater baptism by our adoption into the family of God.

Now here’s a thought for you… the King James writers…. missed the mark. They created the word “Baptism” from the Latin word for “Immersion.” They did the same thing with the Latin word Diaconis which they transliterated into “Deacon”. The word simply means “Servant”….. but as to “baptize” — the King James writers took a Latin word, dropped the context and merely transliterated it into English in order to not take sides on the whole sprinkle or full immersion controversy raging at the time. By creating “Baptize” they skirted the issue with neutrality.

It pays to do your history homework sometimes….

Gary - Thank you.

If you search the bible, you will find where they water baptized under the water.

They “Came Up” out of the water.

I noticed you skipped the 3 verses in ACTS that I posted.

You would not have shipped those on purpose because you follow the Pope’s Water Baptism of 325 AD at the Council Of Nicea when he started his 3 titles of, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, now would you?

You follow the Apostles in ACTS in the (Singular) name of Jesus or you follow the Pope’s 3 titles of that one name?

It $ pays to do your history and bible homework sometimes and find the truth instead of what others tell you

Wayne - Seems to me that the book of Matthew predates the pope… or at least the last time I checked it did…

Gary - You still flatly refuse to explain the ACTS baptism verses

Wayne - Only so far as they likewise support the rest of Scripture that God wrote. To be blunt, I see no disparity

Gary - That is OK. Most folks who follow the Pope cannot explain them nor do they have a desire to learn nor have they bowed in tears and asked GOD to reveal HIS truth

Wayne - Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. If Jesus said so… well… it’s clear enough for me.

Gary - Thank you.

Have you thought these 3 were titles of a Name?

A “proper name” or “title” or “office.”

More explanation: Matthew 28:19;

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the ( Singular ) name of the Father which is Jesus, and of the Son which is Jesus, and of the Holy Ghost which is Jesus.” (Singular)

Wayne - I reject Modalism, just as much as I reject Oneness Pentacostals. If you can’t deal with the fact that the Trinity exists, then I would honestly question your salvation…

look at your finger… it is created in the image of God.

Your finger is flesh,
Your finger is blood,
Your finger is bone.

You cannot remove a single component and have a working finger. Just like the God who created you.

Jesus is God, but he is not the father.

Just like the flesh of my finger is not blood. Both work in total unison…. but both are utterly distinct from one another.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit…. three… in one harmony.

Clear enough for you?

Mark - I love both of you brothers & I believe this discussion is very profitable. PLEASE keep it going as time permits. Most who will read this exchange haven’t heard most of these arguments before.

I recently met a wonderful brother & his wife. He rambled on a bit about having been Baptized again recently in the name of Jesus. Years before, he had been Baptized in the name of the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. He seemed genuinely convinced by someone in the name of the F,S, & HS was not sufficient. My response was, well, I think you’ve pretty well got it covered @ this point & added a big smile.This all happened while we were witnessing to a non-Christian. I do know that Romans & I John give assurance to believers who may not have been water Baptized @ all. That us good enough for me. In addition, I have been submersed after conversion, so Biblically speaking, I’m well covered. I must add, the doctrine of the Trinity is a pillar of Biblical Christianity. There is no getting around that one. Blessings!

Gary - Thank you all.

I will donate Cajun food and Cajun Shrimp boats if anyone can post 2 verses;

1) where the baptizer spoke over the person in going under the water the words, “Father, Son, Holy Spirit”

and the 2nd) where the baptizer spoke over the person in going under the water the words the name (Singular) of Jesus.

Wayne - This ought to add some fuel to the fire…..

Mark - Jesus only needs to say it once Gary, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” – Matthew 28:19 NIV. Besides, it wouldn’t make sense if you grabbed a hold of the account in Acts, marched out to the creek and baptized people in Jesus name when He said, do it the way I told you. He also said, go make disciples, so to run out and make converts wouldn’t make sense either. Lastly, the Cajun food, and Cajun fishing boats belong to Jesus. I’m assuming your offer was set up on a tier system. Give one Scripture – win the food. Give two – win the boats.

Gary - I am not able to find any contradictions in the KJV. It all is congruent for those who read it with an open mind.

But, now when I was younger and Catholic, I read Matt 28:19 as the Formula instead of the Commission. I read the 3 titles as 3 names instead of 3 titles of the only 1 name of Jesus.

That is why I visit another religion every month. To share, and learn and ask questions and grow.

Gary - You guys are saying in a round about way, y’ll all cannot find any verse where they were water baptized in the 3 titles?

Gary - Ya’ll all also were not able to find any verse in ACTS where they were water baptized in the name of Jesus?

Mark - if you don’t trust in the Triune God revealed in Scripture, and disregard clear teaching of our Lord as recorded by Matthew, you might be a redneck, a cult member, confused or just another blinded reprobate. At this point, I can’t tell which. KJV only folks might not even grasp whats going on here I’m afraid. Either way, keep passing the good news around, that Jesus died for sinners like you and me, and all who repent of their sin and come to Him, He will not turn them away.

Gary - Thank you Mark;

I guess I am different. If I was not able to understand or explain every verse in ACTS, I would be attending other religions with an open mind seeking to learn. I love to learn.

Wayne - Gary — If God wrote scripture, then you can expect a unified message throughout, start to finish. It might be progressive revelation (Moses gave us the Law, but Law was only put into place to show us how far we had fallen and therefore usher in a new covenant of Grace… progressive revelation….) or it might be stated plainly or bluntly (The just shall live by faith — likewise — He who hides his sin shall not prosper, but whoever confesses & forsakes their sin shall obtain life.) (Habakkuk 2:4 and Proverbs 28:13) either way you’ll find a consistency to the message… because of one over all author.

Now…. that all said…. let’s go back …. way back… all the way back to your first comment.

When are we saved and our sins forgiven?

You are pulling from the Book of Acts with the aim of proving what’s known as “Baptismal Regeneration”.  Or plainly put, that it is Baptism that brings about our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins.  This is commonly deduced from 1 Peter 3:21 and again from Acts 22:16 which says

(using King James for just a moment …)

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Which seems to imply that the washing away of sins occurs from being baptized.

But let’s look at the rendering of this verse in another version… (I do prefer the New Living Translation personally… esp. since I am a missionary teaching the Scriptures to people who cannot comprehend neither Greek, Hebrew, nor King James English.)

What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.

One little preposition changes everything. Our sins are washed away NOT BY BAPTISM…. but — BY — calling upon the Lord (by Faith)…. such as the consistent message is throughout all of scripture. This is because in the Greek …. punctuation and often even prepositions… are left up to the reader to UNDERSTAND…. and not everyone always does. This is one reason so many “translations” have proliferated over the years as we try to better grasp what was meant… and likewise to compare what we have from the earliest manuscripts to what’s being put forth.

But let’s take this from another point…. You keep pointing to the book of Acts.

Acts mentions “Baptize” (Greek word, Baptizo or Baptizomai) 24 times in the King James version. Several instances run concurrently (re: all at the same time in the same passage) —- Acts 2:38 & 41. Acts 8:12, 13, 16. Acts 10:37, 47-48. Acts 19:3, 4, 5 (which incredibly uses the word 5 times in only 3 verses). Thus 15 instances of the word actually break down to only 4 real life situations — meaning only 13 real uses of the word “Baptize” in 13 specific occasions.

What’s even more interesting is that 10 full times the word is used NOT…. N-O-T …. regarding the churches baptism …. but of John the Baptists’ !!!! This means that really, only about 9 instances in the book of Acts are pointed to as regarding baptism in direct correlation with the Church. All the rest refer back to John’s calling the people to what…. Baptism? No…. John was calling the people to “Repent”! (Luke 3:3; Acts 13:24)

Acts likewise mentions Repent (Greek word, Metanoia) on 10 separate occasions. Interestingly enough… 10 independent instances, not one concurrent use of the word alongside itself. Also interestingly enough… side by side with Baptize in Acts 2, 8, 11 & 19. So nearly 40% of it’s usage is side by side with the word “Baptize.”….. but there’s a key passage (even in the King James…) that you seem to be ignoring… and this only from the Book of Acts.

Here’s the verse… for your benefit, from the King James.

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. (Acts 11:18)

God granted the Gentiles…. repentance unto …. L-I-F-E. Repentance, if you clearly understand this verse, is what brings about salvation and Life. Not only that… but repentance is something God G-I-V-E-S… not an act of our own.

Does this stand up to the rest of Scripture?

Romans 2:4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

Proverbs 28:13 He who covers his sin shall not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes it shall obtain mercy.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

There are many other verses one could turn to… many… but I think these three read it plainly enough… Repentance is a gift from God that leads us from death to life. It has a purifying affect upon the heart.

A key note here — if you look to the incredible passage of Isaiah 1:18 — Come, let us reason together, though your sins be red as scarlet I shall wash them white as snow — That incredible offer of salvation….

…….is preceded by FIVE full verses calling men to repent!!!!

two verses offering salvation…. preceded directly by 5 verses calling men to repent in order to obtain that salvation. Tell me that repentance isn’t important.

So Let’s go back to your original question — When are we saved and our sins forgiven?

By the preponderance (That word means the overwhelming evidence in support of….) of verses in Scripture it’s clear that Salvation comes when we repent, turn to God and trust in him…. not by baptism, which merely places us in union to Christ’s death and resurrection by proxy.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart
Lean not on your own understanding
Acknowledge him in all that you do
And — HE — will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

From one end of scripture to the other the message goes forth.

The just shall live by faith.

And we obtain faith not by baptism…. but by repentance.

Repent and believe. (Thus says Jesus, Matthew 4:17, 9:13; Mark 1:15, 2:17; Luke 5:32, 13:3, 5, and most importantly Luke 24:47 which is Luke’s rendering of the great commission and spells it out in perfect detail.)

You really need to stop looking to those who are dead and blind for your answers…. for honestly, those DEAD in their sins are BLIND to the truth of God and have nothing to offer you which can lead you along the path of righteousness.

Here’s how I once graphed out Ephesians 4:17-19 — just so the effect of that verse becomes clear….

So I tell you this and insist upon it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the FUTILITY of their thinking.

Thus, before Christ, we are in this condition —

Our Thinking is futile
—Our Understanding is darkened
—–we are separated from the life of God
——–we are ignorant
————we have hardened our hearts
—————-we have lost ALL sensitivity to sinful things
——————-we have given ourselves over to sensuality
———————–we indulge in every manner of impurity (RE: all things UN-holy)
—————————-and lastly, we continually lust for more.

And from this sort of person you want to glean “Spiritual insight”? Sorry…. Jesus, himself, called them “Blind leaders of the blind.” They know nothing.

Christianity isn’t a matter of looking for what’s the best in all religions and incorporating it back into our faith — Christianity REJECTS the world’s wisdom and religions as folly, foolishness and the doctrines of demons. (1 Corinthians 1 & 2; James 3:15-16; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; Colossians 2:16-23)

Christianity rests wholly, solely, purely & plainly upon Christ, his words and His works… and nothing else. The book of Hebrews makes that absolutely clear.

Wayne - Oh, and @Gary — regarding “not being able to find verses regarding threefold name baptism….”    I answered you already. I told you that Jesus command in Matthew was stated plainly enough for me to follow. Be baptized in the name of the Father, in the Name of the Son & In the name of the Holy Spirit.

I see NO —- N. O. —- disparity regarding manner of baptism here. In Jesus name, in the 3 fold blessing…. no disparity and no bother. Seems to me both are covered in Scripture so there’s no point to arguing the matter.

But let me point something out to you… if it was merely to be “in the name of Jesus”… and nothing else… then why didn’t Jesus make it that simple? Why specifically spell it out in very detailed terms? Why go through all the bother?

Why did He not simply say:

Baptizing them in MY name.

Period, end of conversation.

He spelled it out because it was important. He spelled it out because this isn’t three titles for one (singular) person, but THREE PERSONS IN UTTER UNITY. Three personages to one God.  A Trinity.

Again bringing us back to the question and matter of the trinity which YOU…. Y-O-U… keep avoiding and not addressing.

If more comes of this conversation I’ll consider posting it up as an addendum.  But I honestly think that the matter is spelled out clearly in the questions and responses given.  If nothing else, it is something to chew on.

Recently someone sent me a list of questions.  They are enrolled in a “Missionary college” and as part of their homework they are required to pose the following questions to some missionary they know.  I felt that some of the questions were good enough to share, so here goes.

Those of you who know me, know that I am not the type of person to give short answers…. be prepared.

1. Full Name: 

Wayne Shuman.   I am also known as 陳偉恩 (Pronounced “Chun Way-Un” in Chinese.   Interestingly, 偉恩 (Way-Un) means “Great Grace” or “Abundant Mercy”.  God chose that name for me.

2. Birthplace:

New York, America.  Only lived there 6 months though, so it’s really not “home” to me.  I spent about 30+ years living around Chicago.  That’s where I call home.

3. Birthday:

June 5th, 1964 — yes, My birthday is in 2 weeks.

4. Mission Field and Time there:

Taiwan, 4 years 3 months. 

5. Years elapsed between the call and the exit:

By this I assume you mean the time between I felt that God wanted me on the Missions field and the time I actually left for the Mission field.  The answer then would be 1 year, 2 weeks.   There’s a story to go with this — I’ll add it at the end if there is nowhere else in the questions to talk about it.

6. Exit country:

Sorry, this is another odd question.  I assume you mean where I left “From” — That would be America where I lived most of my life.

7. Marital Status:

Marriage #1  1987-1998.  Ex-wife pushed for and obtained divorce, despite my fighting against it.  In the end she got what she wanted.

Marriage #2 2008-present.  I love my wife so much that I married her twice — once in a civil ceremony (in order to speed up the process of obtaining a green card for her — originally we were going to stay in America.)  on January 25, 2008.   And again in a church ceremony on May 24th, 2008.  Yes… two days from now.  

8.  Do you have children?                           

Yes, by the previous marriage.

If your answer is Yes, how many do you have? 

I have two children by my previous marriage.  I have a son who is 24 and proclaims to be an radical Atheist Bi-Sexual.  I likewise have a daughter who is 22 and is a lesbian agnostic.  

I did not get to spend much time with my kids as they were growing up  (My wife demanded sole custody which meant she called the shots for their upbringing… for whatever good that did…), but I did try hard to preach the gospel to them when I did get to have time with them.  As a result, neither child wants any contact from me at this point in their lives.  They do not want to hear that their lifestyles are sinful.  I write my blog mostly so that in case some day they want to know who their father was and what he believed in.

9. Academic Preparation:

35+ years of studying Scripture and theology.  No college training, just in depth study of the Word, theology, cults and Church history.  

I have 20% of the New Testament and 5% of the Old Testament memorized, chapter and verse.  I have the whole of scripture topically memorized so that I can pull up key verses (by memory) on any given subject if necessary.   Definitely helps when I need an answer for the questions that pop up around me.

I have gone to Seminary — but I prefer not to count that.  It was run by Liberals who questioned the authority of God’s Word, who questioned the accuracy of God’s Word, and who did much to destroy the actual faith of many believers.   I fought my professors tooth & nail and refused to back down from my position that the Bible was written by God, not man, and is the ONLY source of our knowledge of God.   The only thing that Seminary taught me was not to trust in men who claim to be “Christian” Seminary Professors.

10. Mission Training:

Again, none.  When God calls someone to go, I don’t believe that it is always necessary for them to take a PH.D. with them.  Paul was classically trained, that shows in his letters to the Churches.  But Peter and John were a simple fishermen.  No college training.

Acts 4:13 The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.

Does training help?  It can.  If you want to train to be a medical doctor on the missions field that would be of great benefit to those you are taking the gospel to.  But if you’re getting a college degree in Economics — give it up and take something practical / useful to the folks you intend to preach to.

11. Have you been at other mission field?

No, this was not something I had planned to do.

12. Church or Mission Agency that sent you:

None.

I had my reasons.   It seems to me that Missions Agencies tend to do several things which counter-act or are counter-productive to the purpose of missions. 

(A) they tend to restrict or enhance the message of the Gospel.

By this I mean that they tend to tell you what you can or should preach, stressing things such as Tithing, Speaking in Tongues, Baptism in the Holy Spirit and any number of other things that while helpful in some ways — ARE NOT THE GOSPEL.

The Gospel is simply this — You are a sinner, who has offended a Holy God by your acts of rebellion against him.  Your sins deserve punishment, but the good news is that Jesus died for your sins if you will simply believe in him.   To believe means to trust in Him with all your heart.  (Proverbs 3:5-6)  To repent of your sins (Proverbs 28:13; Acts 17:30) and turn to God for forgiveness, understanding that not one “good” work that you’ve done amounts to anything before the God who made you.  (Jeremiah 17:9; Isaiah 64:6)

(B) Missions agencies are just that — agencies.  They have bills, they have staff with salary requirements and often the money to pay these bills and staffing needs are pulled directly from the funds intended to go to the missions fields.  That means that a percentage of the money that you draw in for “Support” doesn’t go to you, it goes to your agency — who supports you.

Why have a middle man (The missions agency)?  Why not just go?  Trust that God will meet your needs and take care of you — AS HE HAS PROMISED.   (Philippians 4:19; Psalms 55:22; Isaiah 40:31)  Paul had one church that supported him, and many others that sent money as they had the opportunity.  God always made sure that Paul had enough to cover his missionary needs — and even beyond that, Paul labored in the field so that he would not be a burden to any city he preached in.  (Acts 20:33-35; 1 Corinthians 9:11-12; 2 Corinthians 11:7-8, 12:14-16) 

(C) Missionary Agencies & The great assumption.

Missionary agencies often ASSUME that the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) means

“Go —- to college and spend several years learning and preparing.

They assume that without some specialized training, God can’t use you.  Peter and John would have been useless to today’s Missionary Organizations. But bear this in mind —- God doesn’t choose the wisest and most college prepared!  1 Corinthians 1:27-29 tells us the exact opposite. 

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.  

Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.  God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.  (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

Go —- on a missions support round up, making sure all your needs are met BEFORE you go to the missions field.  (Meaning: Go from church to church to church in your home country — SOMETIMES FOR YEARS — until you get enough people to commit to supporting you when you finally do someday get to the missions field you intend to work in.)

Which begs the question — why even bother waiting on God to supply your need if you’re only going to do it yourself before you go?   Missions Agencies ASSUME that support must come from local churches back home, rather than from you actually being on the missions field and working and laboring there and allowing God to supply you as you work.

Go —- learn a new language (or two, or three) before you can be effective in preaching.

Missionary Agencies ASSUME that if you are going to preach in Chad, Africa, you must first learn French, before you learn the tribal tongue of the people you’ll work closest with.  

I am not making this up — I have a friend who is with Wycliffe Bible Translators, working in Chad, Africa.  He had to spend 2 years learning French first… before he was allowed to tackle the tribal language.  This meant he knew Spanish, English & French  — BEFORE — he ever learned a single word to preach the gospel where he felt led to.

Go —- present yourselves to a missions board to have their approval that you are “sent by God.” 

Ummm, isn’t that rather “sent by men of the Missions board”?  When Abraham heard the call to leave Ur of the Chaldees, he did not first put it to the vote of a committee.  (Genesis 12:1-4)  He simply obeyed.

All that before you can …. go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.

Seems to me that Missions Agencies throw far more into it than Jesus ever intended.  The Disciples only had to wait 40 days…. why then do the agencies require upwards of 10 years?

(D) Missions Agencies will often require you to come back home every 5 years or so “for a vacation or break.”  

What this really means is that you will be required to go BACK to the churches you visited in your home country in order to (1) give them an overview of the missions work you’ve been doing and (2) work again to renew the missionary support you worked hard to get before you left the first time…. and hopefully gain more support (both for yourself and for the missions agency which takes a percentage).

I can’t tell you the number of missionaries I spoke to over the years whose one biggest complaint was that they were FORCED to leave their missions field for some mandatory “vacation”…. right when their work was at it’s most crucial point…. and have to remain on “Vacation” until they have drummed up sufficient new “support” for them to go back.

Paul lived on the missions field, died on the missions field — dare I expect to do less?

My final conclusion on the matter of missionary agencies was “Why not just go — and leave all the red tape behind?  Preach the Gospel where you can, as you can, as God leads — and allow God to marvelously supply all your need as it arises….. thus giving praise and Glory back to Him… and not the missions agency which begot you.

And so left I did, without an agency backing / supporting me — and I’ve never been more relieved that I choose that path.

13. Your Transportation at field:

An 8 year old car that was given to us by my wife’s parents.  It suits our needs and has been a blessing since we obtained it.

14. Do you have a job?

I sometime teach English and get paid for it, but it’s not very often or very much.  My wife has a full time job that helps us along.  She is a teacher at an Elementary School

I am presently a student, learning Chinese, so that I can adequately preach the gospel.   My story of becoming a student is a funny one though, and worth sharing.  In any case I am learning Chinese with grade school students, which gives me great opportunity to show the heart of the Gospel in action to both child and parent — even without knowing the language.

15. Monthly Expenses (USD currency)

a. Food  –  $400 for 2 people.  We eat as cheaply as we can.
b. Water  –  $30
c. Gasoline –  $120
d. Electricity –  $80 – $100
e. Others

1. Housing — $450
2. Cat supplies — $150  (We have 5 cats and often feed strays.)
3. Propane — $40  (In Taiwan, they use propane for hot water and cooking)
4. Car Insurance — $350 a year
5. Car maintenance — $500 a year  (Oil changes and light repair work)
6. Life insurance — $350 a year (on my wife only)
7. Medical — $350 a year (but 2 years ago I had an emergency appendectomy which cost us about $2500 US)

16. Do you receive economic help from any movement?

No.  I run auctions on Ebay once a year around Christmas in order to apply what we get  back into our ministry.  I usually sell Christian Music CDs… and have had people actually donate their CD collections to me for resale just for this purpose.

17. Do you receive support and counseling?

No, the only “counseling” a Christian should need is constant reading and application of the Word of God and the humble submission of himself to those he is accountable to in his local church.

God has breathed life into all of Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right.  By using Scripture, a man of God can be completely prepared to do every good thing.  (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

18. Do you have a Retirement Plan?

The man who trusts in God will lack for no good thing.  (Psalm 34:9; Psalm 23:1; Philippians 4:19; Psalm 55:22)

My wife has a retirement plan through her job, but for the man of God we ought not to look entirely to such things but rather to the Lord who abundantly supplies.

I do believe that the Proverb that says “Go to the ant, you sluggard” Isn’t referring to retirement plan but rather it’s a open rebuke of laziness.  Something we could dare to hear more about in our day and age.

19. Do you have a LOCAL prayer group that prays for your mission, family and you?

Yes, we do.

But let me offer this up to you.  The greatest prayer warrior we’ve ever seen was a man named George Muller back in the 1800′s.  This man feed over 1500 orphans in England for over 40 years —  BY PRAYER ALONE.  But his manner of prayer was unique.   He laid his prayers out to God ALONE…. no one else.  He told no man of his need, be it money, food or provisions.  He told no one but God and his wife.

He kept a record, a journal, of every item he ever prayed for, and noted just when and how God provided.   By the end of his life, when other men found his prayer journals, he had listed over 50,000+ answered prayers — often to the exact amount he had prayed for.

This man went to God alone so that God alone would get the glory for having answered the prayers.  He did not always and constantly present his needs to other men so that one of them might be moved to answer the prayer for him.   God alone.

When you trust in God completely, you start to see that you need nothing else.

20. Do you have a INTERNATIONAL prayer group that prays for your mission, family and you?

yes.  My Blog readers do constantly lay me before God in prayer.  I do know this.

21. From your perspective, answer the following questions: If your answer is No in any question, please explain Why?

I’m going to answer all the questions that follow individually…  but also all at once here by saying that the questions are foolishness to a Christian.  Does a Christian “NEED” to feel loved?  Does a Christian “NEED” to feel valued?  Is “Safety & security” a promise from God?

Paul wrote this of himself — Greatest missionary ever known to man… and this is how he summed up his ministry.

 Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again.  Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.  I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.  I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.  (2 Corinthians 11:23-27)

So for us to ask things such as the following portion of this Question & Answer survey is nothing more than foolishness and shows a very worldly mindset bent on being comfortable and lazy.

Need I remind you of Paul’s promise to all Christians?

Those who desire to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus SHALL BE PERSECUTED.  (2 Timothy 3:12)

Jesus said that we should expect that the world won’t like us or our message — if they hated him, what makes us think that they’ll like us?  (John 15:18-21)

 a. Do you feel loved? — God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.  (John 3:16) Yes, I feel loved.  What else am I supposed to feel?

 b. Do you feel valued?  Feeling “valued” is a vain pursuit.  The only thing that has “Value” is to hear God say “Well done my good and faithful servant…” (Matthew 25:21) AFTER I DIE…. that has no bearing upon the here and now.

c. Do you feel you have a purpose for your life?  The world follows after such vanity.  I know Rick Warren wrote “the Purpose Driven Life” — but to be blunt, this man can’t even present the Gospel straight, what’s to make me buy into his baloney about me needing some grand purpose?

d. Do you feel safe and secure?  Jesus had no place to lay his head, no bed to call His own…. and you want to ask if I feel safe and secure?   God is my strength & my shield — The Lord is my shepherd.   Beyond that — I don’t care about personal comfort or safety.

e. Do you feel part of a community?  If you are asking do I have a local Church that I belong to, worship at and minister in — yes.

f.  Are your basic needs supplied?  Yes, Praise God, amen.

g. Are your health and your family’s health well?  When it’s not, we pray.  When it is, we simply & humbly thank God for His bountiful blessings.

h. Is your family committed to your ministry?  My wife, yes, my children, no.

i. Are you satisfied with your achievements?  I am simply a servant of God doing what I am called to be doing.  Achievements are meaningless.  (Luke 17:10)

22. Do you have any project in mind you want to develop? If you do, how much you think will cost? (USD)

Interesting that you should ask this — yes I have a project in mind.  I desire to give New Testaments with Proverbs & Psalms to the children I minister to daily.  It’s something that won’t be needed for another 2 years, but I am already at work trying to build up the funds and find the necessary Chinese Bibles (and name printing) so that I can do this.   I know what it will cost — but I’m willing to trust that God knows this too and is already working on taking care of it.

23. At your mission field:

I have to freely admit that I am not sure what you’re actually asking here.  I’ll try to give some form of answer based on my understanding.

a. Do you have liberty of association? 

If you mean by this — Am I free to worship openly and freely — then yes.   Taiwan does not have religious persecution…. yet.

b. Is there persecution or prejudice against the church? 

Sadly, no.  And interestingly — the only persecution I get is from the Church itself.   They don’t like my message of the Bible being God’s Word, Jesus being God in the flesh, bringing men to the repentance of their sins and faith in Christ being the primary mission of the Christian or any other number of similar evangelical doctrines.

The “Church” Here is mostly liberal social gospel garbage.   By that I mean that they don’t believe the bible, they don’t believe Jesus is the only way to Heaven, they don’t believe Jesus is coming again to set up a kingdom — they believe that we need to work to make this world a better place to live… through politics, through social action & through “being nice to one another”, forgetting that we are not permanent residents on this Earth.  (1 Peter 2:11; 2 Peter 3:13; Hebrews 11:10, 26 & 13:12-14)    This is not the Gospel Jesus came to deliver.   The Church is is luke-warm (Revelation 3:15-16) and shall one day be spit out of Jesus mouth if they do not repent.

24. Any advice for young people who feel the Call for missions:

(#1) Know your bible.   Consider it more precious than food.  Let the WORD of Christ dwell in you richly (Colossians 3:16) so that you might be able to give answer for the hope that is within you.  (1 Peter 3:15)   Remember that the means of our affecting the salvation of men is two-fold — The word of God and the Spirit of God…. who uses the Word of God in the hearts of men to bring them to repentance.  (Luke 8:11, 15; 2 Timothy 3:15-17, 4:2;  John 16:7-11; Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9)

(#2) Likewise — know your enemy.  I am not talking about Satan, though his schemes are plain and open to those who know the Word of God.  No, I am talking about the cults who you will come up against time and again — and likewise the false philosophies of our day and age which presume to know more than God.  Walter Martin’s “Kingdom of the Cults” is the best book you can have with you on the missions field beyond just a bible.  It will give you deep insight and information into the belief systems of most cults and world religions and give you answers on how to best present the Gospel to these lost souls.   I regularly come up against Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and Buddhists here in Taiwan.   All of them are lost and without the Gospel of Christ… in need of salvation. 

(#3) Lastly — and this may seem strange — but know the Gospel.  (Romans 1:16-17)

This is the most important advice I can give you because scriptures pronounce serious damnation upon those who preach it wrongly.

No matter the source of the false gospel, even if it is preached by us or a heavenly messenger, ignore it. May those who add to or subtract from the gospel of Jesus be eternally cursed!  Listen again: if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than what you have accepted, may he find himself cursed!  (Galatians 1:8-9)

“As for whoever causes these little ones who believe in me to trip and fall into sin, it would be better for them to have a huge stone hung around their necks and be drowned in the bottom of the lake.  How terrible it is for the world because of the things that cause people to trip and fall into sin! Such things have to happen, but how terrible it is for the person who causes those things to happen!  (Jesus in Matthew 18:6-7)

The key points of the Gospel are simply this:

1. Jesus was God, in man form, come to earth that he might be a sacrifice for our sins.  (John 1:1, 12-14)
2. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.  (Luke 19:10)
3. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance.  (Luke 5:32)
4. To repent is simply this — turn from your sins, stop trusting in your “good works” to save you.   (Proverbs 3:5,6; 28:13)
5. If we confess our sins, indeed if we confess that we are sinners in need of saving, then God is Faithful to forgive us. (1 John 1:9)
6. We must openly confess Christ as our savior if we are to be saved.  (Romans 10:9-10) This means that we stop living for our selves and start living for God, in obedience to Christ’s commands.  (John 15:5-10; 1 John 2:3-4)
7. All men are not “Children of God” — we are all enemies of God (Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21) — we only become Children of God by the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, after we are saved.  (Romans 8:15-16)
8. Once we are in Christ’s hands, no power in Heaven or Earth can remove us.  (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:35-39) This is cause and reason for rejoicing!

This marks the last post that I shall reprint, bringing up to date what I had previously said about Judgment from a Biblical point of view.  There was a reason for doing this, and I do feel it necessary to rehash old material before proceeding with new thoughts.  I have done some minor editing, so this is not entirely a rerun.  New thoughts will be in italics.

In any case, this was originally posted on September 20, 2011 as “Judgement Comes, P4: A Presuming Spirit” and continued an unplanned series of posts which I will soon finish.  

Prelude —

There are very few things that scare me.  Honestly, I mean that. 

1. Ghosts?  Don’t believe in them — It is appointed for man ONCE to die, and then for judgment. (Hebrews 9:27) 
2. Monsters?  Don’t buy into them — there’s so very little of this world that man hasn’t seen that if there is a bigfoot or yeti or Loch Ness out there… they’re avoiding us for a reason. 
3. Aliens?  I’ll quote Larry Norman on this one — If there is life on other planets, then I’m sure that He must know and He’s been there once already and has died to save their souls.
4. Serial Killers?  If one happens upon me, he’d probably kill me quickly to shut me up from talking about the Grace of God and the forgiveness found in Jesus death on the cross.  I don’t fear death, nor do I fear the means by which I shall someday die.

This universe may be big — but it’s not bigger than God, nor His grace, nor his ability to save.  I believe in the Sovereignty of God as well, which means I know that all things that happen — do so for an ultimate purpose…. and that’s nothing to be fearful of.

No, there are seriously few things that scare me — yet this is one of them.

But it’s not information or knowledge that scares me, it’s the presumption that we can all be teachers…. that we all know God intimately and can pull Him out of our pocket at any time — we’ve all got this “god” thing figured out and can teach you how you, also, can know “the truth as I see it“.  (The link is to my post from April 2011 entitled “What’s wrong with American Christianity, Pt 2: Wiki-Bible-Pedia — it also goes to show that this topic has long been on my “hit list….” of things wrong in the Church.)

There is a Bible verse that says that teachers (within the Church) will face a harsher judgment (James 3:1).  Ever wonder why that is?  When we teach, we presume to explain the Truth of God.  Who He is, what He’s all about, and more importantly (cause everyone loves to be a follower) what God expects of us.  We, in teaching, represent God —— or…. we MIS-represent God and lead people astray. 

Wrap your mind around this for a moment.

There are only two paths.  Heaven.  Hell.

By speaking the truth, we lead people away from Hell and into Heaven.  BUT —- ONLY —- by speaking THE TRUTH.  Half-truths are weapons in the hands of our enemy to deceive and lead people astray.  If we only give half of the picture — we are not leading people to God…. we’re leading them to an IDOL we’ve named “God” and thus leading them into the sin of idolatry.

Every cult and major religion was started by someone who presumed to teach FOR GOD.  Someone dissatisfied with God’s TRUTH who decided the Church had it wrong and he should set them straight.  Joseph Smith (Mormonism), Charles Taze Russell (Jehovah’s Witnesses), Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science), Mohammed (Islam), Nimrod  (Founder of the Babylonian cults which still pollute and foul the world today) — the list of people who presumed to speak for God is massive, and every one of these people had one thing in common — they presumed to be teachers of / for / sent by the one true God when in fact, they spurned truth and spread lies in it’s place leading

of people into Hell.

Paul said that new believers ought not to be servants within the church. 

There was good reason for that — new believers don’t know enough lead and teach…. they have zeal, but it is not tempered by knowledge. (Romans 10:2)  They are prone to error and as such, prone to leading others astray.  There is good reason why James told us to be quick to listen and slow to speak (James 1:19).  Our words will someday judge us.

Have you ever fully thought about that?  There is a judgment of believers (1 Corinthians 3:11-14).  Judgment STARTS WITH believers (1 Peter 4:17) and then moves onward to non-believers. 

Jesus said that for every idol word that comes out of our mouths  —- we WILL be judged (Matthew 12:36 — the word “WILL” makes that a promise).  I honestly don’t believe that we believe this any more.  I honestly believe that we still buy into the whole “well, I’m really pretty decent and surely God sees my efforts for him and will consider that in my favor” attitude that stinks of trying to buy grace.  I say we don’t believe this because far to many of us presume to be teachers — speaking forth on God’s behalf without taking the time or effort to make sure we’re speaking T-R-U-T-H.  (2 Timothy 2:15)

That was one of the greatest problems in Israel — prophets who spoke for the Lord abounded…. and not one of them was called to be a prophet.  They just wanted the title, prominence, importance, or maybe they just liked having power over people —- esp. the king.  But time and again God would send a true prophet to correct the false ones and you know what — the false prophets never once repented.  They all still presumed  to speak for God, even when faced by the truth.

Bear all of this in mind for the next sentence.

For every 1,000 false teachers, who presume to represent God — there’s only a few, a handful out there, who are really doing the harder work of staying faithful and true to God’s Word and seeking to represent God faithfully, honestly and without creating yet one more “god” idol.   Billions across this planet follow some man’s teaching ABOUT God — from men who do not know God, and only serve to led men to hell…. In God’s name. 

Consider for a moment the next few verses in light of what I am saying

Today, we presume to speak for God…. to teach His word…. to know His mind…. we all want to share what we presume to know about God… without taking the time to honestly get to know God first.  We’ve become like Israel during the time of Ahab… and one of the more common indicators of judgments approach was when everyone assumed the role of prophet and presumed to speak for God.

Judgment comes… are we ready?

1. My Best Life Now (Joel Osteen) — This man does not know the difference between a Mormon and A Christian…. outright stating that “They serve the same Jesus I do”… and yet his books top the list of “Christian” best-sellers?
2. The Shack (William P Young) — this little tome presumes to put words into the mouth of God APART FROM SCRIPTURE.  Makes me wonder who died and made the author the newest Pope.
3. Love Wins (Rob Bell) —  Sure, there is no Hell, and a loving God is just that… a LOVING God.  I guess Jesus got it all wrong, poor Jesus.
4. The Harbinger (Jonathan Cahn) — playing fast and loose with Scripture (i.e. using a prophetic verse of Scripture intended for the nation Israel and making it apply to America today), this book likewise presumes to speak for God BEYOND the pages of Scripture.
5. Fearless (Phillips, Craig & Dean) — This trio of gentlemen, who have consistently topped the Christian Radio Charts over the last 20 years, are Oneness Pentecostals who reject the trinity and simply state that Jesus IS the Father, Jesus IS the Holy Spirit.  There is no God, there is no Holy Spirit, there is only Jesus — in both roles.  This is actually called Modalism and is heresy.  Please tell me what Jesus are they preaching to us on our Christian Radios and Ipods?!?!?
6. The Collection (Jennifer Knapp) — when her record label knew there was a problem, that she had gross sin in her life regarding her Lesbianism, did they pull the product or did they simply release a greatest hits collection to market further off her popularity before everyone eventually did find out? 
   Oh, and as for her calling herself a “Christian Lesbian” — The pharisees thought they had it right too, didn’t they.  You can’t hold on to your sin and Christ also — no man can serve two masters.

My point in all of this is to say just this —- we assume that any one who mentions the name “Jesus” to be a Christian now-a-days, regardless of what other truth(s) they might reject, obscure, or flat out deny.  We’d prefer to bury our heads in the sand and enjoy some light reading and peppy music — than to do the harder work of discernment — because everyone presumes to speak for God.…. and we unquestionably listen.

Postlude #2:

Before anyone comes forward and says “Ya know… what you just wrote… it applies to you as much as anyone else…”  I want to say that I completely understand that — and live in fear of it.  One of my biggest fears is that I might in someway mis-represent God, Christ or the Word of God in some way so as to lead people astray.

Years ago I led a daily bible study with some guys.  In order to do the one hour bible study, I spent SIX HOURS A DAY IN STUDY.  Six hours.  Every day.  Just to teach one.  I stood fearful of misrepresenting God, His Truth, His Word or His Son to those men — and I stand equally as fearful today, some 21 years later…. even though I know quite a bit more than I did back then.

Am I “God’s spokesperson?”   Am I a mouthpiece for God.  Am I some exalted teacher / preacher / pastor / prophet that everyone should pay extra special attention to. No.  I am a servant, pure, plain and simple.  No better than the next guy.

Do I represent the Word of God faithfully?  I do my best…. even when what I say cuts me as well as everyone else. 

I live under no pretense of being perfect… of knowing everything… and there have been many times I have been rebuked by others and have had to remove a post for a time in order to do more study or prayer to make sure what I said was right.  @Ehrinn_l, for instance, has faithfully and patiently sought to keep me on the straight and narrow over the years, and I respect that.  Her rebuke is always “iron sharpening iron…”

Nevertheless, what I said is true… and you can verify it against the Bible… in fact, I strongly recommend it.   Be like the noble Bereans (Acts 17:11) my friends…. Check God’s word for what is and isn’t true…. and do your best to live by what you read there.

I wasn’t planning on posting this for a few more weeks.  There was also supposed to be another post between this one and the last one which was posted on March 5th and can be found linked here:  The Parable of the Soils, P1: What’s Missing?  A few comments at my last post, though, made me realize that the answer to their comments lay within my observations here, which was supposed to be the conclusion to this mini-series of blogs.  Thus I break in the middle of “Judgment Comes” and offer this both as Part 2 for the Parable of the soils and likewise part 3.5 of Judgment comes.

Who lives your Christian life?

1. You do, you live it as best you are able in this fallen world.
2. Christ does, He lives in you, through you and empowers you to do as He wills.

Who is Christ?

1. He is fully 100% human.
2. He is fully 100% God.

Who wrote the Bible?

1. Men wrote it, it was fully their words, their thoughts, their styles and manners and their character.
2. The Holy Spirit wrote it, using men and inspiring them on what to write, but not using them as robots, or dictating machines.

MacArthur likes to point out that within every major doctrine of Christianity, there is a point of tension.  This is why Christianity often splits in to differing Theological groupings — because men love to try to fix the points of tension.  Calvinism – Armenianism,  both opposite examples of theological poles…. a magnetic north and south if you will.   Men love to explain things, and we love to fix issues we see with the powers of our logic.

But God places tension within Scripture in order that He might better display it’s Supernatural origin.  What MacArthur means by that is this:  If men had written the Bible — they would have eliminated the points of tension.   They would have found some way to bring logic forth and downplay one tension in favor of the other.  They would have presented things so that there would be no tension.   Yet the reality is that the writer’s of the scriptures themselves embrace these tensions.

To live is Christ, to die is gain.  (Philippians 1:21)

1. Practical question: Live in Christ in this present darkness or die that I might know Christ fully? 
2. Answer — Both have purpose… accept that God will use both your life and your death to His greater purpose and plan. 
1. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. (1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) 

1. Practical question: Do I live my life or does Christ live it for me? 
   
2. Answer — both, we live our lives, but Christ lives through us.  It is not a joint effort with you taking credit for the bad things and Christ taking credit for the good — your life is lived simply by the power that Christ gives you as you submit yourselves more and more to Him. 
   
1. Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.  (2 Peter 1:20-21) 

1. Practical question:  Who wrote the scriptures, man or God? 
2. Answer — Both.  The scriptures were not preplanned by the authors, but were preplanned by God.  Thus Isaiah did not sit down one day and say “I think I’ll write scripture today.”  But God took what he wrote, inspired him, and thus gave us the book of Isaiah.
1. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.  (2 Timothy 3:16)
2. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. (1 Corinthians 10:11)
   

There is a hidden truth in the parable of the soils that we don’t like to consider.  It isn’t really hiding, it’s in plain sight, but we gloss over it so quickly that it might as well be hiding.  And the truth of this plays right into Harlots, Prostitutes & Adulteresses, my last post.

If you said 4, you’re partially wrong.  The actual answer is there are 6, 3 bad ones (obvious) and 3 good ones (not so obvious).    There’s the path, the rocky, the thorny (3 bad ones) and there’s the soil that produces 30%, the soil that produces 60% and the soil that produces 100% (3 good ones).  All of the latter are simply lumped together as “good soil” because the issue isn’t how much they produce, but simply that they do produce something.

4 soils or 6 soils, either way you look at it, there’s good and there’s bad — two things stand out from this though — both “types” of soil can exist in Church and only time and the production of “fruit” will tell the good from the bad.

So here’s a key point that gets missed: the percentage of folk who are honestly saved  out of all those who are found within the walls of “Church” is actually only about 33% to 50% —- by Jesus own estimation!!!!  That’s right …. 33% to 50%, more or less, of all who claim to believe and follow Christ…. are false in their assertions!

Let’s quickly review:

Thus, in the least, 33% – 50% of a church (Dismissing the Hardened Soil as they probably aren’t in or would never be a part of a Church) could potentially be honest regarding their commitment to Christ.  It could be more, one would hope that it is — but reality is that most folks are simply playing games with God hoping that God will save them because of how “good” they are, how “good” their lives have been, how much “good” they’ve done along the way and any number of other “good” reasonings.  They are in the Church, but they don’t belong…. tares, goats, thorny or rocky soils, unfaithful servants, lazy bridesmaids…..  and it’s to folks just like these that the strongest warnings and most earnest and passionate urgings of Scripture flow out to.  Even here in the parable of the soils!

3 times in the book of Hebrews, the writer breaks from his train of thought to issue a strong warning.   In Hebrews 2:1-3, in Hebrews 6:4-8 and lastly in Hebrews 10:26-31 the writer urges his readers / hearers to come out of their indecision and to make a stand for what has already been proven to be Truth.  The wording is strong and the ultimate condemnation is terrifying. 

This warning isn’t merely something given in Hebrews — you can find echoes of it in every New Testament writer, and even in the words of Jesus.   Those who “CLAIM” to follow Christ are constantly called to make sure that “CLAIM” is true and honest.

Here’s where all this comes together —- all my thoughts and the questions posed in my last post about Judgment —-  Here’s where the question of the Eternal Security of the Believer and yet the Adultery of the Church (and it’s inescapable judgment, re:  Revelation 3:16) find their places.

Two truths — both inescapably absolute and yet seemingly at odds with one another.

When the church is full of weeds — when the soil of men’s hearts who claim to believe in Christ is naught but rocky & thorny ground — when men cry “Lord, Lord” but cry “Foul, foul” when they are questioned regarding their how their lifestyles break from what is pure and true and noble and right — > KEY POINT — >   When those that claim to represent the God of the Universe, the creator of all men, and His beloved Son AND in point of fact do not and lead men into an idolatry in Christ’s own name……  Judgment cannot be far behind.   This is why Paul says the last days will be perilous times where men will have a false form of spirituality, following doctrines of demons and deceiving many.  (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1-5)

This same fact of judgment was just as true of Israel when they played the harlot to every idol and false God……. it will be equally true today when Millions of men take upon their lips the name of Jesus, but in their lives show nothing of a life that displays a servant’s humility, a readiness to follow their Master or a dedication to stand upon the solid rock of Truth found in Scripture despite the ridicule of the world which mocks and scorns those of us who do.  These are the adulteresses for whom a commitment to Christ is meaningless.  And it’s a pretty high percentage.

The percentages of the parable of the soils are telling —- and the warning is for one and all of us to pay extra careful attention NOT TO OTHERS…. but to our own salvation, to be absolute certain we are as we claim — even though once God’s calling comes upon a man or woman, to save that one, the place they gain in the family of Believers is unquestionably  E-T-E-R-N-A-L —- still Judgment does come…. and it begins with those who claim to be Christians….. and we would best spend our time making certain we are not deceiving ourselves.  (1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 1 Peter 4:17) 

Brother, sister — when was the last time you thoroughly searched your life to be certain of your honesty before God?  

For the next few days I will be reprinting several old posts.  There is a reason for this, and I do feel it necessary to rehash old material before proceeding with new thoughts.  I have done some minor editing, so this is not entirely a rerun.  New thoughts will be in italics.

In any case, this was originally posted on September 14, 2011 as “Judgment Comes, Pt 3: Harlots, Prostitutes & Adulteresses” and continued an unplanned series of posts which I will soon finish.  Expect Part 4 to be reprinted soon, and then I will finally conclude what was started nearly 2 years ago.

All throughout scripture there is found a reference that we glance over with little attention.  The reference usually is from God, Himself, and it generally precedes judgments approach.  In the Old Testament economy, the terminology was “Harlot” or “Prostitute”…. in New Testament times it’s Adulteress.  The reference is simple enough — you’ve left God in favor of following some idol… you’ve become an Idolator, following an Idol in God’s name.  But I don’t think we pause long enough to reflect on the utter disgust the description pictures.

There’s something interesting here, though.

Let me give you two fascinating verses from the book of  Hebrews to illustrate my point (strengthened by two similar sets of verses found in Galatians and Romans).  The Hebrew verses are both from chapter 10 — and the point they make are diametrically polar opposites even though they say virtually the exact same thing!!!

No longer any sacrifice for sin.
No longer.  Finished.  Done.  Complete.

But wait, there’s another side of this.

If you are still pressed forward to seek “something more“, inclined to believe that Jesus wasn’t sufficient or that His demands on your life are a bit to cramping to your lifestyle — there’s this warning but a mere 8 verses later.

So ponder this with me.

Jesus paid it all.  I don’t have to seek further sacrifice

and there is glorious freedom found in knowing that Jesus delivered us from our sin.  (Here are the Galatians & Romans counterparts:  Galatians 5:1 & Romans 8:1-2 … now see next note below).

No sacrifice remains… it’s done.

But — if we keep to sinning after we’ve embraced Christ… if we separate ourselves from the body of Christ, the Church (Hebrews 10:25 put it in that context) — then no sacrifice for sins remains for us because we’ve effectively abused Grace.  We actually show that we live for OURSELVES and not for our Lord, our Savior, our Master.  (Galatians 5:13, 19-20; Romans 8:6-8)  We do not enter into the Kingdom of God!  (Galatians 5:20)  We actually show ourselves to be the enemies of God, not His children….. even though we are found in Church.

If you come to Christ so that you can have guilt-free sinning —- you’ve missed to point entirely and His sacrifice DOES NOTHING FOR YOU!!!  You are not saved, worse, judgment comes.

You are the adulteress — who cares nothing for her husband, but only for her foolish selfish desires.  You’d rather keep your sins than let them go.  You are an enemy of God by James accounting.  (James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.)

Judgment BEGINS with the family of God.

Our land is full of adultery.  Do you think that God has not noticed how it’s even become a part of His Church?  If Israel was judged for harlotry and prostitution — how much more so will we be for turning our backs on the very one who died to save us?

Judgment comes.  “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.”  (Hebrews 10:31)

Here’s that quote in full

And Judgment begins…. with those who “CLAIM” to represent God… those who take upon themselves His name, but live only for themselves.  With those who falsely represent God in all that they do, living like God doesn’t see their hearts, their sins, their lives.  When the land is full of adultery — with people taking Jesus name on their lips but who’s hearts are from from him…. judgment comes.

But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.  I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.  For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink.  I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, (Matthew 7:22-23) when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’

“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”  (Matthew 25:31-46)

For the next few days I will be reprinting several old posts.  There is a reason for this, and I do feel it necessary to rehash old material before proceeding with new thoughts.  I have done some minor editing, so this is not entirely a rerun.  New thoughts will be in italics.

In any case, this was originally posted on September 7, 2011 as “Judgment comes, Pt 2” and continued an unplanned series of posts which I will soon finish.  Expect Parts  3 & 4 to be reprinted soon, and then I will finally conclude what was started nearly 2 years ago.

There is a strange pattern in scripture that gets little notice.  I’ve been looking at it lately and wondering why.  Do we not see?  Are our hearts hardened?  Or have we just failed to learn the lessons from the past?  I’m not complaining this time… I’m just observing…. and wondering.

The pattern I am referring to is this: Judgment comes when men cry “Peace, Peace”.

In Jeremiah’s day it was the (false) prophets and (false) teachers of the law.  They told the King “Peace, Peace” when Babylon was on the horizon.  Israel had fallen to the Assyrians and Jeremiah was sent to Judah to preach repentance.  Thing was, his message was not received well.  No one wanted to hear it.  To many preachers were filling the children of Israel’s ears with nonsense.  They were telling the King, and from there onwards to the people:  Peace, we will have continued peace.  All shall be well, there will be no famine or war, God has given us peace and will keep us in peace for all our days. (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11; 14:13)

Jeremiah had a condemning message to Judah — You say I will turn to Egypt, surely they will protect me, but I tell you that Egypt, too, shall fall and leave you barren and unprotected.   It’s not what the king and the people wanted to hear.  Better to trust in man, than to turn in repentance to God. 

Even in Jesus day men were crying out for peace.  They wanted a political messiah to bring about the end of the Roman oppression.  Peace, to 1st century Israel, was merely an outward circumstance that had little to do with our standing before a Holy God. 

Today we are hearing “Peace, Peace” again.   We want peace in Egypt.  We want peace in Greece.  We want peace in Russia and in Europe and in Great Britain.  We yearn for peace in the Middle East and Israel.   All over the word we are seeing civil unrest and regimes toppling — only to hear later that the new leaders have made no difference.  People look to men, and spurn God, and then wonder why the problems persist. 

Yet “Peace, Peace” isn’t ONLY men falsely claiming that there will be no war — it’s men claiming you can find peace anywhere but God. 

• Want peace?  Try modern psychology, surely they have the answers. Just accept yourself — be who you are — and don’t let anyone tell you that you sin, for they don’t know what’s best for you.   Why bother caring what others, let alone God, thinks about me, my lifestyle and how it impacts others around me.  The greatest Biblical command is to love myself just as I might somehow love others…. or something like that.
• Want peace?  Turn to the scientists, they have all the answers.  Observation of the clearly definable always leads to answers…. doesn’t it?  If the earth has been unchanged since the beginning of time, well then Evolution works…. but if there was a global flood… doesn’t that change the entire equation??????  (Seems to me that sediment isn’t laid down gradually as evolutionists assume, but catastrophically — such as when Mount St Helen’s blew and laid down 10+ feet of sediment in a single day.)
• Want peace?  Turn to the politicians, surely they can make a change for “Hope”.  (Yes, that was a take on the Obama 1 term election slogan…)  Surely those who make laws can make it so my life isn’t so full of crap and miserable.  All we need is a new boss…..
  
• Want peace?  Buy the latest fashion and you’ll have peace (till fashions change).  

I’m not saying that Science doesn’t hold some answers.  I’m not saying that psychology is entirely wrong.  But when men turn away from God to any passing fancy in order to find peace  — and when even Christians follow — it begs the question of when Judgment will follow.

Today I’m looking out across the world and curious — in a time when men are crying out for “Peace, Peace” (both to others and inwardly to themselves) and turning to whatever is new, fashionable & shiny — when Lady Gaga and Oprah can tell people “be who you are and don’t let others judge you: Accept yourselves” and be the most popular “preachers” (quote unquote) on the planet — then I really have to wonder when judgment will come.

For the next few days I will be reprinting several old posts.  There is a reason for this, and I do feel it necessary to rehash old material before proceeding with new thoughts.  I have done some minor editing, so this is not entirely a rerun.  New thoughts will be in italics.

In any case, this was originally posted on September 6, 2011 as “Judgment comes” and began an unplanned series of posts which I will soon finish.  Expect Parts 1, 2 & 3 to be reprinted soon, and then I will finally conclude what was started nearly 2 years ago.

Leonard Ravenhill once asked “Where are the Elijahs of God”?  That was nearly 40 years ago, but it led a generation to ask the same thing… who will trust God so completely and thoroughly as to stand up against the prophets of Ba’al of our age.  Keith Green took that message to heart and his incendiary (RE: On fire — Give Christ all or give Him nothing) preaching led thousands of Christians into a deeper relationship with Christ.

Today I am looking across modern Christianity and I am led to wonder “Where are the Jeremiah’s of God?”  Where are the preachers stating plainly “prepare yourselves, for judgment comes”?  Where are those like John the Baptist who would stand toe to toe with a king and tell him face to face “You’re sinning!”?  Where’s the Jonathan Edwards willing to preach “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” to the masses — stressing the fact that we have offended God’s holiness by our complacency and sinful living?  Where are the preachers of righteousness of our day?

Lately my Facebook commentaries have been bold and blunt.  I’m growing tired of the complacency I see around me that tolerates sin and allows blasphemous and foul things to be preached from the pulpit as though God did not see.  I hear preachers saying that black is white, wrong is right and bad is good…. and no one (is) willing to speak up for fear of being shamed.  It is better to be shamed before men, say I, than to be shamed before God.  It is better to speak the truth, though unpopular, than to say nothing and pretend that nothing is wrong.  It is better stand on truth than to be caught by the shifting waves of this world’s faulty philosophies.

I have also seen the trend in Christian circles that disclaims accountability to anything other than the little voice in their ear that pretends to be Christ.  I recently actually had someone say to me “I don’t listen to you, I only follow Jesus” — this after I pointed out several scriptures regarding matters in their lives that needed addressing.  While it’s true, I am no authority, I would hope that as a self-proclaimed “believer” they would at least have the decency to acknowledge the Scriptures place in their sanctification.   If we’ve come to a place where we live as we desire and claim that Jesus “condones our sinful lifestyle” —- Judgment comes.

I’m not through with this topic yet — but for tonight I have said what I needed to say and asked what I needed to ask….

Where are the Jeremiah’s of God proclaiming to one and all “prepare your hearts — Judgment comes”?

This is not finished — I only need to come back and do the color highlights which I don’t have time to do just now.  When I am finished, this first paragraph will be removed, just so you know.

This is part two of a series laying a foundation for another post yet to come.   The first post dealt with the Old Testament and can be found here.  In the comments someone counseled me to pick up Hebrew in order to better understand that concept and I shot back that my aim was not to understand the nature of evil, but rather what specific actions are labeled as evil in scripture which we tend not to view as such.

That man’s comment has merit though, as there are several words in Hebrew which can be translated as “Evil” and sometimes get translated as “Wicked” instead.  The same could likewise be said here in my tackling of the New Testament — there are a few words which could be translated as “evil”, and were my study aimed differently it might do well to pay attention to those words.   For now, suffice it to be that I am using the English translation for a purpose and with an aim towards what’s to come.  

My simple quest, as already stated, is this:   What does the Bible say is Evil?  That is to say, what actions, what part of man, what in specific does the Bible label as “Evil?”   There’s a reason behind all of this — but the groundwork must be laid first.  So here we go into the New Testament to explore every verse that uses the word “Evil” — and how it’s applied.

As stated before, here is the basic structure for my notes:

Verse    —   Who is in Mind? (Or: Who is speaking)   —   What is viewed as Evil?

Key verses or key thoughts are set out in this color.

NOTE:  In reviewing the New Testament one finds that there are many verses which refer simply to “Evil Spirits” or demons.  I will deal most of my thoughts in Mark 1:23, 26-27 and simply label the rest as “Evil Spirits” with no footnote, unless something new is to be gained from the text.

I am working from the NIV — my reasoning on this was explained in the previous post.  Please refer back if you honestly need to know why.

Jesus pronounces blessing on those for whom people speak evil about.

Matthew 5:37  –  (Jesus Speaking) –  Evil One

Jesus says that when we seek to justify ourselves in the eyes of others, we are speaking the words of the Evil One, Satan.

Matthew 5:39  –  (Jesus Speaking) –  Evil Person

Jesus tells us not to resist the whims of an evil person, giving the examples of violence & theft & torture.

Matthew 5:45  –  (Jesus Speaking) –  Evil Men

Jesus says we are to be like God who sends His rain upon both the evil and that good.  We are to show visible, tangible expressions of love to even our enemies, because that’s exactly how God deals with those who are His enemies.  (Colossians 1:21; Romans 5:10)

Matthew 6:13  –  (Jesus Speaking) –  Evil One

The “Our Father” Prayer.  Jesus says that we ought to pray for deliverance from the Evil One, Satan.

Matthew 7:11  — KEY VERSE!!!  (Jesus Speaking) — All Men

Jesus reminds us that we, though we are evil, know how to do good occasionally.  God, who is not evil, knows moreso how to bless us with what we need.  He is not capricious.

Matthew 7:23  — KEY VERSE!!!  (Jesus Speaking) –  All Men

Many will come to me in that day and say “Have we not done good deeds in your name?”  & Jesus says to them “Away from me, you evildoers.”   Men assume that they do good, but God only sees evil, for God looks to the motives and thoughts behind why we acted so.

Matthew 9:4  –  (Jesus Speaking) –  Evil Thoughts

Jesus rebukes the teachers of the law for “Evil thoughts in their hearts.”  At the time, Jesus had just forgiven a paralyzed man by saying “Your sins are forgiven” for which they thought He had blasphemed.

Matthew 10:1  –  (Jesus Speaking) –  Evil Spirits

Jesus gives power & authority to His disciples to drive out Evil Spirits and heal diseases and sicknesses.

Matthew 12:34, 35  –  KEY VERSE!!!  (Jesus Speaking) –  All mankind

This really is a key verse to the understanding of Evil.

(A) Jesus says (to the Pharisees, but likewise to one and all) that men are evil.
(B) Jesus says that evil men produce evil from what is ALREADY inside them.  A tree and it’s fruits are in view here.  A bad tree produces bad fruit.  Evil men produce evil actions, regardless of how “good” they may seem outwardly.

A bad fruit cannot be told by it’s skin, it’s appearance or it’s shape.  One can only know a bad fruit by it’s taste or flavor.

Men might seem good outwardly — being philanthropically inclined or simply doing “good” deeds — just as did the Pharisees that Jesus addressed. 

(C) We store up evil in ourselves.  Our very nature is polluted thoroughly & the very means by which our actions are brought about are evil.  Our heart, our mind, our will, our emotions — everything.

Matthew 12:43  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  Evil Spirits

Jesus says that (A) Evil spirits exist, (B) they can dwell inside men and (C) they can be expelled.

Matthew 13:19  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  Satan (Evil One)

Parable of the soils

The “Evil One” here refers to Satan and in this context he works against the soul of men to obfuscate the gospel from being understood.

Matthew 13:38  —  (Jesus speaking)  — Satan (Evil One)

Parable of the weeds sown in the field.

Jesus states plainly several facts:
(A) Satan is the enemy.  Jesus very words are…. “The enemy who comes along sowing weeds in the field is the devil.”
(B) Satan has “children”.   Jesus says the weeds are the “Sons of the Evil one”.  This cannot refer to Demons, as Satan did not create demons, only corrupted them by his lies.  It must therefore refer to men, and calls seriously to question the common myth that “All men are children of God.”

Matthew 13:41  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  Judgment  — General Reference

A Judgment passage about the end of our age & all who will be excluded from the Kingdom of God, namely anything that causes sin and all who commit evil deeds.   The passage specifically refers to the “Fiery Furnace”

Matthew 15:19  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  Evil Thoughts

One of my favorite passages.   Jesus lists out the things in a man’s “heart” that make him unclean before God.  From careful reading through this passage we come to understand that “Heart” infers the mind of a man and that Jesus is using it in this sense.  No other conclusion can come from “Evil Thoughts” proceeding out from the “heart of a man”…. men do not think with their emotions.

If a man is to be made righteous before God, he needs to entirely change his way of thinking!!!!  It is not simply what we do or not do, but the whole manner by which we think that makes us unclean.

Also listed here are murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony & slander.  One could question if the preceding “Evil Thoughts” actually infers everything else that follows — so thus we are condemned for EVIL THOUGHT ABOUT…. murder, adultery, etc.  This would mean that God doesn’t merely judge us from the basis of our actions, but also for our thinking.

Matthew 22:18  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  Evil intent

Jesus, knowing the Pharisees “Evil intent”…. so their thoughts, actions & even more so their planning or intended course of action — comes down as “Evil” or inclined towards evil.

Mark 1:23,25-26  —  A man healed by Jesus of an Evil Spirit

A man possessed by a demon, here called an “Evil Spirit”

Inferred by reading:
(A) Evil spirits can inhabit a man
(B) Evil spirits can speak through a man
(C) Evil spirits knew who Jesus was

1) They knew his Earthly life (Nazareth)
2) They knew his Eternal life (Holy one of God)

(D) Evil spirits know that a day of Judgment comes
(E) Evil spirits can sit quietly in church!!!  (He sat through Jesus teaching before speaking up!
(F) Jesus has the power to expel evil spirits with merely a command.
(G) While Evil Spirits may resist a man’s authority, they are compelled to obey God.  This could infer that Jesus is God, seeing as they had no power to fight against him.

Mark 3:4  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  To do evil

Jesus asks which is lawful to do on a Sabbath, evil or good.  He then mentions “to kill” as an example.

Mark 3:11  —  Evil Spirits

Evil spirits fell down (in worship?!?!?) before Jesus & call Him the Son of God.

Mark 3:30  —  The People  —  General Reference

The people thought that Jesus had an evil spirit.

Mark 5:2,8,13  —  Man from Gerasenes (Demon possessed man)  — Evil Spirits 

General reference to a man with more than one Evil spirit, that had driven him to isolation, madness & anti-social behavior.

We also learn here that Evil spirits can inhabit animals.

But as always, Jesus stands more powerful than any form of evil.

Mark 6:7  —  Disciples  —  Evil Spirits

Jesus gave the disciples power over evil spirits.

Mark 7:20-23  —   KEY VERSE!!!  (Jesus speaking)  —  What is Evil?

Here is a key verse.  Whereas Matthew 15:19 only mentions “evil thoughts”, here Jesus specifically ends by saying “All these EVILS come from inside….”

So what is Evil?

Evil Thoughts, Greed, Malice, Deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, adultery, murder, theft, sexual immorality & folly.

All these things that men pursue are evil in the sight of God. 

While men today might try vainly to excuse themselves for things like arrogance, adultery, greed, deceit or envy — God smashes our self-justifications & clears away our vain attempts to portray ourselves right in choosing sin over Him.  Evil is all it is.

Mark 7:25  —  General  —  Evil Spirits

Here, a little girl is possessed by an evil spirit.

Mark 9:25  —  General  —  Evil Spirits

Here another child is possessed by an evil spirit.   Here the disciples were unprepared to deal with the power of this one & Jesus was there to show them that any demon is fully subject to God.

Luke 3:19  —  Herod  —  Evil acts

John the baptist rebukes King Herod for all his evil deeds —- thus proving that you don’t have to have a personal relationship with someone in order to witness to them!

Luke 4:33  —  Evil Spirits

Jesus expels a demon from a man.   At the time men marveled that Jesus had authority over demons, the implication is that no one else before Him ever had.

Other questions to ask from this case are:  “How did this man, possessed by a demon, wind up in the synagogue in the first place?”, What motivation put him there?  did other think of him as “possessed”, or was he normal in his daily routine?  Did his life give some evidence of being demon possessed?

Luke 6:9  —  (Jesus Speaking)  —  What is lawful to do?

Jesus asks a simple question, but the choice of words make it seem as though we’ve only two choices for our actions — Do good or do evil.

Luke 6:18  — General  —  Evil Spirits

Simply stated, those who were bothered by Evil spirits found relief by coming to Jesus.

Luke 6:22  —  (Jesus Speaking)  —  When others reject you as evil

Jesus indicates that a time will come when men will reject us as evil simply because we follow Jesus and preach His message.

Luke 6:45  —  (Jesus Speaking)  —  Evil fruit

Parallel verse to Matthew 7 & 12, but here Jesus defines “bad fruit” as evil. 

“An evil man brings out evil things from the evil that is stored in his heart.”

The implication is that evil first exists in the heart of a man & from this corrupted source springs all manner of evil actions, thoughts and deeds.   In Matthew 12:37 Jesus concludes that by our very words (springing from a corrupted heart) we will all be condemned.

Luke 7:21  —  General  — Evil Spirits

Jesus releases men from evil spirits.

Luke 8:2  —  General  — Evil Spirits

Jesus had healed (past tense) several of the women who supported him of evil spirit possession.

Luke 8:29  —  General  —  Evil Spirits

Jesus heals the man living among the tombs of the evil spirit that had possessed him.

Luke 9:42  —  General  — Evil Spirits

Jesus rebukes the evil spirit in possession of a young boy.

Luke 11:13  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  All men

Parallel passage to Matthew 7:11.   Implication of either verse is that Jesus views all men as “evil”, despite the fact that we know HOW to give good gifts.

Luke 11:24  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  Evil Spirits

Jesus explains the mindset and actions of an evil spirit after leaving a “host”.

Luke 13:27  —  (Jesus speaking)

The Narrow Door   — Men who thought themselves prepared fro the kingdom will instead be called “Evildoers”.  They THOUGHT they were doing good — until the master exposed their motivations.

Luke 18:11  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  Pharisees prayer

The Pharisee in this story saw others as evildoers & not himself.

John 3:19-20  —  KEY VERSE!!! (Jesus Speaking)  —  All men

Jesus pronounces judgment on all men by saying our deeds are evil and we prefer it that way.  Because of this (our evil deeds and our preference for them) we will not come to Christ for salvation.

John 5:29  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  All men

A time of judgment comes wherein all men will find themselves raised from the grave to be condemned for all the evil they have done.

John 7:7  —  (Jesus speaking)  —  All men

Jesus tell His brothers that the world hates Him because He tells them (the world) plainly that their deeds are evil.

John 17:15  —  (Jesus praying)  —  Satan, the Evil one

Jesus prays for us that believe in Him, that we might be protected from the evil one.

Acts 5:16  —  General  —  Evil Spirits

Peter healed all who were “tormented by evil spirits.”

Acts 8:7  —  General  —  Evil Spirits

Philip healed those in Samaria who had evil spirits.

Acts 19:12  —  General  —  Evil Spirits

Paul healed men of their evil spirits.

Acts 19:13-16  —  Sons of Sceva  —  Evil Spirits

The sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, could not drive out Evil spirits and paid a dear price for trying.   Of interest — the Evil spirits knew of Jesus and Paul — They are aware of what is going on in our world.

Acts 19:18  —  Public repentance  —  Evil deeds confessed and books burned

One of the very few times in Scripture that men openly confessed they’d committed “Evil deeds”.

One thing mentioned here is sorcery, with the men of Ephesus openly renouncing their ties to witchcraft & publicly burning their sorcery scrolls.

Acts 23:5  —  (Paul speaking)  —  speaking evil of our leaders

Paul apologizes for speaking “evil” of Israel’s leader, noting Exodus 22:28 as his text.

Here is a lesson we should learn today.

Romans 1:29-30  —  (Paul speaking) All Men  —  God gives men over to a depraved mind.

Evil is mentioned twice in this passage, once generically and the other time corporately.

First time Paul, speaking of men without God, starts his list off this way — They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed & depravity.

It is a generic sweep of categorical headings or base adjectives, for the overall picture of men’s deeds.

Second time is more specific.  In the middle of  a list of specific things men do as an affront to a Holy God, Paul states “they invent ways of doing evil” as if to imply everything that proceeds and follows is simply mankind being evil.

This would include (from this passage):  Envy, gossip, disobedience, murder, slander, hatred of God, strife, deceit, insolence, arrogance, boasting, malice, senselessness, heartlessness, ruthlessness & faithfulness.

This passage goes on to say that even though men know these things deserve punishment, they continue doing these evils and even encourage others to follow.

Romans 2:8-9  —  (Judgment)  —  Anyone who does evil

Those who reject the truth & follow after evil will gain a share in God’s wrath and anger.

Romans 3:8  —  Christians  —  Falsely labeled as “Evil”

People slander Christians by saying we pursue evil that we might have grace.

Romans 6:12  —  Sin  —  Produces evil desires

Key verse to the Christian:

The commandment of Paul is that we no longer allow sin to rule over us by producing in us evil desires for us to follow.

Sin is thus seen as a root & everything that sin produces comes out as evil branches and fruit.

Paul implies as well that as Christians we do have the choice to resist sin & it’s evil desires.

Romans 7:19,21  —  KEY VERSE!!! (Paul Speaking generically of the Christian position)  —  doing evil = sinning

Here is a key verse for the Christian.   We now have a fight on our hands.  Whereas once we had one nature and succumbed only to sin whenever it produced an evil desire within us, now we have two natures constantly at war within us.  This produces strife in our lives as we know what we should do but often find that we do the evil that we don’t wish to do.  When I want to do good, Paul says, I find that evil is right there still with me.

Paul’s brilliant conclusion here is this:  with my flesh I find that I serve the sinful nature yet still — but in my mind I am a slave to God’s law, seeking to do that which pleases him. (Romans 7:25) It is not the actions or effort that pleases God (For no works of the law makes us good), but the faith that we hold to which allows him to work in and through us during these difficult sin-strife struggles which pleases Him.

Romans 12:9, 17, 21  —  KEY VERSE!!!  (Instructions for Christians)  —  Hate what is evil, do not be overcome by it.

There is a strong implication here that if we really “love” in the Godly sense, we will hate evil and cling to what is good.   If you consider the context of the chapter — Romans 12:1-2 tell us what worship honestly is and admonishes us not to conform any longer to the pattern of this world but rather to be transformed by the renewal of our minds.  Paul then expounds upon grace and the gifts God has given us before moving on to make practical application of what our “Spiritual worship” is in our daily living.

Paul uses the word “Evil” here three times in commandment form.  (A) hate what is evil.  (B) do not repay anyone evil for the evil they do to you. (C) do not be overcome by evil, but rather overcome evil by good.

In the New Testament, Evil is used in the form of a commandment several times.  This is the only time which is used in a negative form (hate was is…). The other times are found in Romans 14:16 & 16:19, 1 Corinthians 14:20, Colossians 3:5, 1 Thessalonians 5:22, 2 Timothy 2:22, .

If God’s eyes are too holy to look upon evil, we as his followers ought to take the same view of it. 

Romans 14:16  — General  —

An interesting command: Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.

Considering the context (those weaker in faith) it would seem that we need  to be wary of being so arrogant as to think ourselves teachers to those who lack the faith to indulge in things which really aren’t good or bad in themselves. (IE. Food, holidays, etc.)   The Jewish believer who came out from under the Jewish law would view the eating of meats offered up to idols as a form of idolatry by association — and would shun them  —  whereby a gentile believer (or a more experienced believer) would see them for what they really were.  An idol is nothing and meat is meat.  Offering meat to a dead idol is meaningless and does not affect the meat in any way.

But if my eating meat causes a weaker brother to stumble — then my “good” becomes evil in that I have done so.

Romans 16:19  —  General  —  Being innocent on evil things

Final commandment regarding evil.  Here we are told to be innocent of evil and wise in good.

1 Corinthians 10:6  —  General  —  desiring evil things

The Old Testament was written so as to encourage us not to set our heart on evil things as the Israelites of old had. 

Specifically mentioned here is idolatry, sexual immorality, drunkeness, pagan partying & grumbling or complaining.   The warning comes with the command to pay attention to ourselves so that we might not become as they were.

1 Corinthians 13:6  —  General  —  Love does not rejoice in evil

it is interesting to note that the most famous passage of the New Testament: Love is patient, love is kind…. actually states up front that Love does not rejoice in evil but rather rejoices in Truth. 

1 Corinthians 14:20  —  General  — 

Paul admonishes the Corinthians to be as infants regarding thinking about evil.  That is to say that we should not ponder it too deeply or profoundly, but rather to be free from it.  A child doesn’t question when a parent says something is bad (at least a small child doesn’t) but rather accepts it as a matter of trust.  We should be the same way in our regard of evil.  God has said… and we should say “yes, Lord.” in return, just as children would.

Galatians 1:4  —  General  —  Evil age

Jesus dies to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the Will of God, our Father.

Ephesians 5:16  —  General  —  Evil days

As Christians we are to make the most of our time because the days we live in are evil.  Examples of how to do so, as found in the context, would include not getting drunk, not being foolish, understanding the Lord’s will, being careful on how we should live, exposing the fruitless deeds of those in darkness, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns & spiritual songs, and always giving thanks to God the Father for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 6:12  —  General  —  Spiritual forces of Evil

In the heart of the passage on the armor of the Christian warfare is three mentions of Evil, all in connection to the aim of our fight.  In verse 12 we are reminded that we struggle not against men, but rather against the spiritual forces of Evil found in the Heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:13  —  General  —  Evil Day

Our armor is to help us stand against the evil that comes daily upon us. 

Ephesians 6:16  —  General  —  Evil One (Satan)

The final mention of Evil in respect to the armor of the Christian is regarding our chief adversary, Satan, the Evil one.   We are reminded that our Faith helps us to overcome all that he throws upon us.

Philippians 3:2  —  General  —  Those who do evil

The passage is in regards to those who seek to supplant our Christian faith with works of the law.  In this respect Paul labels them “Dogs, mutilators of the flesh, men who do evil….” and reminds us that our confidence is not in how we keep the law, but rather in our Faith in Christ.

Colossians 1:21  —  KEY VERSE!!!  — 

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.

I am not sure it could ever be stated more plainly.  Paul sums up the entire human condition in one sentence.   We are not God’s “Children”, we are his enemies.  Why?  Because of our evil behavior.  We’re not talking Adolf Hitler here, we’re not talking John Wayne Gacy, we’re talking you and me.  All of us.  We are all of us evil in respect to our behavior…. because we do not desire to obey God.

Colossians 3:5  —  General  —  Evil desires

The next command in the New Testament regarding evil.  Paul tells us to put to death all those things that belong to our Earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires & greed which is labeled idolatry.  The very next verse lets us know that because of these things the wrath of God is coming.

1 Thessalonians 5:22  —  General  —  Avoid Evil

A simple straightforward command: Avoid every kind of evil.

2 Thessalonians 2:10  —  General  —  General Reference

This is an interesting passage that refers to the coming of the Anti-Christ.  What makes this interesting is this:  Satan will come performing counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders — and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.

Evil deceives us.  The very next part of that verse says this:  They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved.   Men refuse to believe that God’s way is the right way — they despise the truth that they are evil — and thus they are deceived by their very nature itself.

2 Thessalonians 3:2,3  —  General  —  Evil men / Evil one

An interesting prayer request.  Paul asks to be delievered from evil men (specifically stating “not everyone has faith” as a frame of reference), but then reminds one and all that God is faithful and will protect us one and all from THE Evil one.  (Satan) 

1 Timothy 6:4,10  —  General  —  Evil Suspicions & all kinds of evil

Backing up a verse to give a good understanding of this reference —

If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing.  He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, EVIL suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

There you have it — the passage famous for those who feel godliness is a means of financial gain …. says they work by evil suspicions, malicious talk & constant friction.

It goes onward to say that they run by the love of money, and that this precipitates all manner of other evil.

2 Timothy 2:22  —  General  —  General Reference

The next command regarding evil in the New Testament: Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness.

2 Timothy 3:6, 13  —  Last days  —  Evil desires

Talking about the state of things in the last days, Paul talks about men who have a form of godliness but deny it’s power.  We’re then warned to stay away from such people.  Thereafter these men worm their ways into women’s homes — women who are swayed by evil desires.

Still continuing the theme of life in the last days, Paul tells us in verse 13 that evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse.

2 Timothy 4:18  —  (Paul speaking)  —  General Reference

Paul, looking forward to the end of his life, says that he is confident that the Lord will rescue him from every evil attack and will deliver him safely in heaven.

Titus 1:12  —  General  —  General Reference

A humorous reference to evil.  Paul notes that Cretans own poetry states upfront that “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes & lazy gluttons.”  Not sure that we can glean much from this reference.

Hebrews 5:14  —  General  —  discerning Evil

Maturity in Christ is portrayed as being able to properly discern good from evil.  It is likewise implied that this only comes with constant use of our knowledge and with much training.

James 1:13  —  About God  —  Cannot be tempted by evil

Pretty straightforward:  let no man say that God is tempting them for God cannot be tempted by evil.

James 1:14  —  KEY VERSE!!!  —  General Reference

Each man is led into temptation by their own evil desires.

James 1:21  —  General  —  General Reference

The next command in the New Testament —  James tells us to get rid of all moral filth and the evil which is so prevalent around us.  The admonishment is that we ought to humbly accept God’s Word as a means to do so.

James 2:4  —  General  —  General Reference

By showing preferential treatment to the rich we show ourselves to have become judges over the poor with evil thoughts.

James 3:6  —  The tongue of man  —  General Reference

The tongue is listed here as a world of evil among the parts of the body which  can set the whole of a mans life on fire and is fueled by hell itself.

James 3:8  —  The tongue of man  —  General Reference

The tongue again is listed as restless evil full of deadly poison.

James 3:16  —  General  — Evil practices

For where you have envy & selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Evil flows out of evil.  Where men carry these sins within them, they always find their way out.

James 4:16  —  General  —  Boasting

Simple enough — all boasting and bragging is evil.

1 Peter 1:14  —  General  —  Evil desires

I love the consistency of Scripture.  We’re called here to not conform to the evil desires we had when we lived in ignorance of God.  James said pretty much the same thing, and so has Paul in Romans 6:12.  It is our evil desires that lead us astray into sin.  We do so because we are powerless against the sin which leads us along — until we surrender to Christ and receive from him the power to do so.   This would be the new nature Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

1 Peter 2:16  —  General  —  General Reference

Another command — Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a coverup to do evil.

1 Peter 3:9-12  —  General  —  General Reference

In all of scripture, this one passage mentions evil the most.  5 times in 4 verses.  Here’s what we can learn from it.

Do not repay evil for evil.   Where someone spites you, do not return the spite.  Where someone hates you, love them in return. 

After this, Peter quotes Psalm 34:12-16 —-  Whoever wants to see good days must keep his tongue from evil.  He must turn from evil and do good.  All of this ends with the fact that God does not hear the prayers of those who pursue evil.

While evil is not defined, we do learn that God will not attend to even the prayers of those who pursue evil.

1 Peter 3:17  — General  — General Reference

Just a reminder that it is better for us to suffer for having done good rather than evil, so long as it is within God’s will.

1 Peter 4:2  — General  — Evil desires

A reminder that those who have suffered in the body just as Christ had suffered in his body, do away with sin.  Thus we do not live for evil desires, but rather for God.

2 Peter 1:4  —  General  —  Evil desires

God has given us great and precious promises, so that we might participate in God’s own nature and escape the corruption in the world that is caused by evil desires.

Turn it around.   Our evil desires keep us in the world and prevent us from partaking in God’s own nature which would take us all into heaven.  It is only by faith that we are able to take a hold of these precious promises that God will indeed save us.

2 Peter 3:3  —  Last Days  —  Evil desires

Men of the last days will scoff and follow their evil desires with abandon.  They will all scoff at Christ’s promise to return and claim that the world has always been and will always be as it is.  This — intriguingly — shows up lately in evolutionary thinking.   These folks forget, as Peter reminds us, that God has already destroyed the Earth once before, and shown Judgment likewise elsewhere.  Evil does not abide in the presence of God.

1 John 2:13,14  —  (John speaking)  —  Evil one

John wonderfully reminds us that through Christ we have overcome the Evil One, Satan.  Verse 14 will add to this that we do so by having the Word of God (Scripture) abide in us.

1 John 3:12  —  Cain  —  Evil One / Evil Actions

An admonishment that we should not be like Cain who’s actions were evil because he belonged to the Evil One.  Cain’s hatred of Abel is seen as a despising of Abel’s righteousness. 

1 John 5:18-19  —  General  —  Evil One

One of the more beautiful promises of Scripture.  Those of the world who are born into God’s family through faith are kept safe from the Evil One.   I specifically add here that this is only to those who are born into God’s family through faith because of verse 19 which says that the whole world lies under the control of the Evil One.

3 John 11  —  General  —  General Reference

The last command of the New Testament regarding evil.  In this John reminds us at the last not to imitate evil, but rather what is good, for anyone who pursues what is good is of God. 

Revelation 16:13  —  General  —  Evil Spirits

Referring to the Anti-Christ / Beast, John mentions seeing 3 evil spirits looking like frogs coming out of the mouth of the Beast.  These demons perform counterfeit miracles and deceive the nations of the world in order to fight against God.

Revelation 18:2  —  General  —  Evil Spirits

The fall of Babylon the great, which is labeled as the haunt of many evil spirits and demons.

(A) An overwhelming presence of Evil spirits / demons inhabiting men, women & children and having and influence on the world.  The only time we see “Evil Spirits” in the Old Testament was the one that troubled King Saul in 1 Samuel 18 and following.
(B) commands concerning evil by which we are to live.