20 Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. 21 “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding. 22 “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him. 23 “To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom and power; Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.” Daniel 2:20-23 (NASB) 

Over time, Daniel became a very important person in the Kingdom of Babylon. However, as we look at Chapter 2 we find Daniel still a young man among the King’s counselors. The events in this chapter take place shortly after the promotion of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from the ranks of the trainees that we looked at in yesterday’s post. In this chapter God uses a pagan King and a faithful servant to give us a prophetic picture of world kingdoms and a glimpse into the coming Kingdom of God. View article →

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god. Daniel 1:1-7 (NASB)  (Read verses 3-7 on the site)

The northern Kingdom of Israel was in one form of apostasy or another during its entire existence. It’s first king, Jeroboam, did not want his people going back to Jerusalem to worship God at the Temple. So, he created golden calves in Bethel and Dan. He rejected the Levites as priests by creating a non-Levitical priesthood serving this false worship. In 722 B.C. the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom. The people who survived were deported and scattered all over the then known world. However, the southern Kingdom of Judah was not much better. …  View article →

5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Romans 2:5 (NASB)

In my research on the Hegelian Dialectic over the years it was amazing how many and how often some very well known “Christian” leaders kept coming up. I watched part of an interview done with Billy Graham several years ago in which he gave the reasons for his moving from “evangelism” as the primary focus of his ministry to that of Social Justice, world hunger, et cetera. He called it “his fourth conversion.” The result of that “conversion” was the creation of the Lausanne Movement. This is not an isolated incident. Rick Warren, one of the leaders in the seeker sensitive movement, held a tour several years ago called 12 Cities / 12 Conversations tour, which was held at Saddleback Valley Baptist Church in California. The focus of these “conversations” was not reaching the world with the Gospel. No, instead of that, it was about what had to happen in order to “contextualize” the gospel to better meet changing demographics and do a better job to bring about social justice across the world. View article →

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10 (NASB) 

There are two extremes that Christians must avoid at all costs. The first is over confidence in one’s own ability, which is pride in its positive form. This causes believers to rely on their own abilities to do “good works.” The other extreme is to become paralyzed into inactivity because of pride working in its negative form. It tries to resemble humility by proclaiming things such as, “I’m not sanctified enough to do that sort of work.” Both are attitudes of pride and are in rebellion against God. View article →

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. John 6:35-37 (NASB) 

Human reason is nothing more than worldly wisdom which is useless for anyone to rely on in order to be saved. On the other hand, our salvation is a work by all three persons in the Holy Trinity. God the Father chose his people before the foundation of the world. He set into motion all of the circumstances that would result in all of them becoming part of the Family of God. The Son, Jesus Christ, became the God-Man. He became flesh and dwelt among us. …  View article →

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 *got up from supper, and *laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.  John 13:1-11 (NASB)  (Read verses 5-11 on the site)

My brethren, the next time we even begin to think we have become mature believers who have passed all the tests and have totally crucified the flesh, et cetera, we need to reread passages like this one. Do we go and ‘wash the feet’ of our enemies? Do we cling to our animosity against those who have wronged us as if it is “our right” or do we humble ourselves, forgive them and serve them as our Lord would? Notice carefully my brethren that even though our Lord did all of this for Judas Iscariot, it changed nothing. He still betrayed our Lord. View article →