September 11, 2017 Truth2Freedom Briefing Report (US•World•Christian)

BLOOMBERG

The White House said President Donald Trump cut a short-term debt ceiling and government spending deal with Democrats to clear the deck for a major tax bill. But the agreement could be complicating tax efforts by eroding trust within his own party.

The U.S. has watered down a proposal to punish North Korea for its sixth and most powerful nuclear test, omitting an oil embargo and a freeze of Kim Jong Un’s assets, according to a European diplomat.

Juchitan on Sunday was littered with rubble from Thursday night’s magnitude 8.1 earthquake, which killed at least 90 people across southern Mexico – at least three dozen of them in Juchitan itself.

Poland took a step forward in its push for reparations from Germany, with a parliamentary body saying there’s a legal basis to pursue claims for damages sustained in World War II.

A meeting today of the United Nations Security Council to discuss further sanctions on North Korea will put the differences between the U.S. and China on handling the regime on stark display.

On Tuesday, Apple Inc. will introduce its latest top-of-the-line iPhone, and even the cheapest model is expected to cost about $1,000. A few days later, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 goes on sale for a comparable amount.

North Korea warned of retaliation if the United Nations Security Council approves a U.S. proposal for harsher sanctions after Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

China plans to ban trading of bitcoin and other virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, dealing another blow to the $150 billion cryptocurrency market after the country outlawed initial coin offerings last week. The ban will only apply to trading of cryptocurrencies on exchanges. Authorities don’t have plans to stop over-the-counter transactions.

If your data had been stolen, Equifax offered a free year of credit monitoring known as “TrustedID Premier.” But some fine print may also mean that consumers who agree would be giving up the right to sue over many types of damages related to the massive penetration.

AP Top Stories

The U.S. is marking the 16th anniversary of the terrorist attack that killed nearly 3,000. Four hijacked planes hit the trade center towers and the Pentagon, and crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

Russian police detained people from a crowd of about 200 protesters Sunday in Saint Petersburg who had gathered over the crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Leslie Van Houten, who is now 68, the youngest member of the Manson cult has been approved for parole, 48 years after the notorious group carried out its killing spree.

China is gearing up to ban petrol and diesel cars, a move that would boost electric vehicles and shake up the world’s biggest car market in a country that is plagued by pollution.

U.S.-backed militias and the Syrian army advanced in separate offensives against Islamic State in eastern Syria on Saturday, piling pressure on shrinking territory the group still holds in oil-rich areas near the Iraqi border.

Hillary Clinton on Sunday declared the end of her career as “an active politician,” but she will remain involved in the political fray through other means. “I am done with being a candidate,” she told CBS’ Jane Pauley.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad appears to be winning the war against those who sought his overthrow, but he will preside over a ruined country with an economy in tatters.

At least 18 Egyptian policemen were killed and three injured on Monday in an attack claimed by Islamic State on a security convoy in the Sinai Peninsula, which is gripped by an insurgency.

Canada has deported hundreds of people to countries designated too dangerous for civilians, with more than half of those people being sent back to Iraq, according to government data obtained by Reuters.

BBC

The security operation targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar “seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”, the UN human rights chief said. More than 300,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted there late last month.

The Iraqi authorities are holding more than 1,300 foreign family members of suspected Islamic State militants at a displaced people’s camp south of Mosul, officials and aid workers said. The women and children, from at least 13 countries, mostly fled Tal Afar as troops recaptured the city last month.

The international Cassini probe at Saturn will execute the course correction on Monday that will put it on a path to destruction. The spacecraft is set to fly close to the giant moon Titan – an encounter that will bend its trajectory just enough to send it into the atmosphere of the ringed planet on Friday.

Landholders and ecologists in Australia are warning wild kangaroo levels have become unsustainable, urging Australians to eat more kangaroo meat. Government figures show there were almost 45 million kangaroos in 2016, which is almost double the human population of Australia.

WND

President Donald Trump observed the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks Monday, his first presidential remembrance of the attack that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. The president, joined by the First Lady, called the occasion “extraordinary.”

A Stanford University study showing that artificial intelligence (AI) can accurately guess whether people are gay or straight based on their faces has sparked a swift backlash from LGBT rights activists who fear this kind of technology could be used to harm queer people.

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News – 9/11/2017

Changing a flower’s color with the CRISPR gene-editing tool
It often takes years of careful cross-breeding for horticulturalists to turn flowers certain colors, but scientists can dig right in and change them at a genetic level much faster. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, scientists have changed the flowers of the Japanese morning glory from its usual violet color to a pure white, by disrupting a single gene.

Can AI detect homosexuality from a facial image? And should it?
A study published late last week from two Stanford researchers has caused shockwaves around the world. The duo reportedly developed a neural network that could detect the sexual orientation of a person just by studying a single facial image. The startling degree of accuracy achieved by the algorithm has been questioned by some and accused as dangerous by others.

Report: Syrian army controls entire Damascus-Deir al-Zor highway
Syrian government forces seized a final stretch of highway linking the eastern city of Deir al-Zor to the capital Damascus on Sunday in further advances against Islamic State, a Hezbollah-run media unit reported. The rapid government advances, accompanied by Russian air strikes, are squeezing Islamic State in its last major Syria stronghold, as US-backed forces separately oust the jihadists from areas they hold to the east, on the other side of the Euphrates river.

Did the Saudi Crown Prince make a covert visit to Israel?
Rumors about the momentous visit, which was not confirmed by Israel, started swirling when Israel Radio’s diplomatic correspondent covering Arab affairs, Simon Aran, took to Twitter to announce the visit. Aran tweeted that a senior Arab figure from the Gulf region paid a visit to Tel Aviv last week, stirring immense interest in the Arab media.

Who: Over 500 dead as Congo cholera epidemic spreads
Outbreaks of the water-borne disease occur regularly in Congo, mainly due to poor sanitation and a lack of access to clean drinking water. But this year’s epidemic, which has already hit at least 10 urban areas including the capital Kinshasa, is particularly worrying as it comes as about 1.4 million people have been displaced by violence in the central Kasai region.

MAJOR SOLAR FLARE AND RADIATION STORM
Departing sunspot AR2673 erupted again on Sept.10th (1606 UT), producing a major X8-class solar flare. Protons accelerated toward Earth by the explosion are swarming around our planet now, causing a moderately strong solar radiation storm.

North Korean Defector Claims Kim Jong-Un’s Days Are Numbered
“Kim Jong Un is mistaken that he can control his people and maintain his regime by executing his enemies. There’s fear among high officials that at any time, they can be targets. The general public will continue to lose their trust in him as a leader by witnessing him being willing to kill his own uncle.”

Fatah Official: Abbas to Ask UN General Assembly to Determine Borders of Palestinian State
Fatah chief and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to call on the UN General Assembly to determine Palestinian state borders when it convenes in two weeks, according to Dalal Salama, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee.

Hillary gone wild! Whole world becomes her scapegoat
Twice-failed presidential hopeful trots out long list of people to blame for big failure. And when she lost, someone – anyone – had to be blamed. Anyone but Hillary Clinton, of course.

5.6M without power as Hurricane Irma batters Florida
The number of people left without power in Florida increased to 5.6 million overnight as Hurricane Irma downed trees and flooded streets throughout the entirety of the peninsula, state officials said Monday.

Israel’s south Lebanon flyover ‘a direct threat,’ says Lebanese official
The Israeli Air Force flyover near the city of Sidon was a “direct threat” aimed at Lebanon, speaker of parliament Nabih Berri said on Monday, according to Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar. On Sunday Israeli jets flew low over the city of Saida, near Sidon and the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon, causing sonic booms and damage to buildings.

Italy flooding kills six people in Livorno
At least six people have been killed after heavy rainstorms and flooding in the Italian city of Livorno. Four members of a family were killed when their basement apartment flooded. Italian newspaper Il Tirreno reports that two parents and their son died. One girl was rescued by her grandfather, but he died when he returned to attempt for his other family members, the newspaper said.

Iraqi Kurds ‘prepared to draw own borders’, Barzani warns Baghdad
The president of Iraqi Kurdistan has signalled it will draw the borders of a future Kurdish state if Baghdad does not accept a vote for independence in a referendum due later this month. Massoud Barzani told the BBC he wanted to reach an agreement with the central government if Kurds opted to secede. Iraq’s prime minister has rejected the referendum as unconstitutional.

China’s underground churches head for cover as crackdown closes in
The church he attends every week, housed in a flat in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, used to have a door plate bearing its name, a cross on the front wall and rows of chairs in the living room. But in November last year, worshippers decided to remove the door plate and the cross, and replaced the chairs with a couch. “We are trying to look more like a family that are here to chat and drink tea so no one will report us to the police,” Enoch said.

Hurricane Irma pounds Florida; extent of damage not yet clear
Hurricane Irma pounded heavily populated areas of central Florida on Monday as it carved through the state with high winds, storm surges and torrential rains that left millions without power, ripped roofs off homes and flooded city streets. Irma, once ranked as one of the most powerful hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic, came ashore in Florida on Sunday and battered towns as it worked its way up the state.

Israel and China sign $300 million ‘clean-tech’ trade agreement
Israel and China have signed a $300 million trade agreement meant to boost the export of Israeli environmental-friendly energy and agricultural technologies to China, Israel’s Finance Ministry said on Monday. Foreign Minister Moshe Kahlon was in Beijing to sign the “clean-tech” deal which builds on past agreements, the ministry said in a statement.

The Biggest Story In America That No One Is Talking About – Its Devastation Has Been Horrifying Update: It’s being reported that all the fires in Montana have burned a combined 1,000,000 acres.

Yes, This Is A Real CNBC Article On “Economics”
This trash is clearly being sold so that idiots can cite a study that says a universal basic income is a good thing. The chorus grows in the media, training the sheep how to sing their song of ignorance. Baaa if you support a universal basic income!

George Soros And The Politics Of Hope And Hate
“Once again, useful idiots are being manipulated within a much larger global geopolitical/geo-personal context. “

Australians face coldest night in 45 years…
IF you thought winter was over, you might want to think again because spring isn’t quite ready to officially take over just yet. Temperatures across NSW plummeted yesterday with residents in the inland town of Goulburn shivering through the coldest September night in 45 years, with a chilly -5C

BOOM: Passage of Taylor Force Act will cut American aid to the ‘Palestinians’ until they stop paying Muslim terrorists salaries for killing Jews in Israel
Taylor Force Act, which cuts U.S. aid to PA until it stops paying terrorists, attached to the 2018 Foreign Operations budget in the Senate.

WATCH: Lou Dobbs Exposes Obama’s Treason On National Television
…Dobbs has found himself talking more and more about the way Obama and his merry men will do anything to disrupt President Trump. He really brought the point home on his show when he said, “Barack Obama, who many claim will be creating a shadow government to frustrate the policy goals of this administration, we’re looking at something that’s coming very close to, it seems to me, sedition.”

WATCH: CIA Agent Breaks Silence and Blows the Whistle to Reveal Obama’s Real
…Donald Trump’s presidency so far has shone a light on the White House’s war with the deep state. One former member of the intelligence community has spilled the beans about the Obama administration’s cooperation with the deep state.  Former CIA analyst, and retired U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, Tony Shaffer, told Fox News back in February that the Obama administration was behind the public leaks of Lt. General Mike Flynn’s phone calls with Russian officials.

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Apocalyptic September? Here Is A List Of 27 Major Disasters That Have Already Happened So Far This Month

Two major hurricanes, unprecedented earthquake swarms and wildfires roaring out of control all over the northwest United States – what else will go wrong next?  When I originally pointed to the month of September as a critical time, I had no idea that we would see so many catastrophic natural disasters during this time frame as well.  Hurricane Harvey just broke the all-time record for rainfall in the continental United States, Hurricane Irma is so immensely powerful that it has been called “a lawnmower from the sky”, vast stretches of our country out west are literally being consumed by fire, and the magnitude-8.2 earthquake that just hit Mexico was completely unexpected.  As I have stated so many times before, our planet is becoming increasingly unstable, but most people simply do not understand what is happening. (Read More…)

Mid-Day Snapshot Sept. 11, 2017

The Cleveland Browns — Getting It Right? After controversial national anthem shenanigans, the team showed class before yesterday’s game.

DOJ Decides to Let Lerner Off the Hook Sessions sides with former AG Eric Holder in deciding not to hold the former IRS director accountable. Tax Reform Is a Trump Family Affair Ivanka Trump is working with prominent conservatives to push a major increase in the child tax credit.

UC Berkeley ‘Braces’ as Cat 3 Free Speech Nears School beefs up security to prevent violence and offers counseling for “triggered” students. Report From Inside the Cone This columnist is sitting in what amounts to ground zero, 24 hours before Hurricane Irma hits wherever it’s going to hit.

Churches Sue FEMA for Discrimination After Harvey FEMA refused to grant non-profit relief funds to faith-based non-profits. Monday Short Cuts In Blame Game, episode 423, Hillary Clinton turns her ire toward media ally Matt Lauer.

Monday Opinion Monday Top Headlines

The Foundation

“We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it.” —George Washington (1785)

Featured Blogs

• Is The Bible Relevant Today?
• America’s Changing Religious Identity
• New Podcast: “How to Respond to Unfair Criticism”
• Why Is the Penalty of Hell the Same, Even Though People Are So Different?
• Becoming Bilingual (Learning “Teen Talk”)
• Praying the Names of God

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ZeroHedge Frontrunning: September 11

• U.S. Index Futures Rise as Irma Weakens, Korea Tensions Ease (Read More)
• Irma Weakens as It Heads Past Tampa, Cutting Damage Forecast (Read More)
• As Hurricane Irma heads toward Florida, U.S. military launches amphibious relief efforts in the Caribbean (Read More)
• Oil weakens on fears Irma could dent U.S. demand (Read More)
• ‘People are roaming like zombies.’ Virgin Islands stagger after storm passes (Read More)
• Republicans could lose U.S. House in 2018 over immigration fight: Bannon (Read More)
• Inside the Government Program That Pays to Rebuild Neighborhoods After a Storm (Read More)
• Equifax Customer Complaints Keep Piling Up (Read More)
• Hyundai Motor, Kia to temporarily shut down U.S. plants due to Irma (Read More)
• Trump Debt Limit Deal Undermines GOP Trust on Tax Overhaul (Read More)
• China Pulls Back on Measures Aimed at Bolstering Currency (Read More)
• U.S. Waters Down North Korea Sanctions Draft Before Vote (Read More)
• Brazil police raid billionaire’s home amid scandal (Read More)
• Goldman Sees Spent Harvey Hurting Oil Use More Than Raging Irma (Read More)
• The New Corporate Recruitment Pool: Workers in Dead-End Jobs (Read More)
• General Atlantic hires ex-AXA boss Henri de Castries (Read More)
• China court releases video of Taiwanese activist confessing to subversion (Read More)
• Haley’s UN Brinkmanship Comes With Advice by Long-Time Pollster (Read More)
• China’s big money trumps U.S. influence in Cambodia (Read More)
• Your Next Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000 (Read More)
• London Retains Its Crown as World’s Top Financial Center (Read More)
• The Smell of Diesel Will Linger in Frankfurt This Week (Read More)

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Headlines – 9/11/2017

Arab League forms committee to foil Israeli bid for UNSC membership

‘Dimona reactor helped ensure Israel would never be destroyed’

‘Anti-Semitic’ robbers target Jewish family near Paris

Netanyahu Flies to Latin America on Historic First Visit by Serving Israeli PM

Russia urges dialogue to solve Gulf crisis

Iraq holding 1,400 foreign wives, children of suspected ISIS fighters

Iraqi Kurds ‘prepared to draw own borders’, Barzani warns Baghdad

Migrant death toll rises after clampdown on east European borders

Tony Blair defends call for EU migration curbs

British trade union conference evacuated over bomb threat

Top IDF brass tells US Israel can’t handle Iran alone

U.S. denies Iran report of confrontation with U.S. vessel

Bannon: Don’t bet on Trump to certify Iran nuke deal in October

North Korea nukes came with help from Iran or Russia

John McCain: Redeploying nuclear weapons in South Korea should be ‘seriously considered’

Merkel reiterates Iran deal should be model for solving North Korea crisis

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un fetes nuclear scientists, holds celebration bash

Trump readies for first Sept. 11 commemoration as president

NFL opening weekend sees more Star-Spangled Banner protests

Mueller’s criminal investigators focus on Trump’s tangled financial ties with Russians

Congress struggles to explain to voters combo vote to spend billions more, raise debt ceiling

Slightly injured pope ends Colombia tour with unity appeal

Post-Brexit customs checks could cost 4 billion pounds a year, study says

China looks at plans to ban petrol and diesel cars

Is the flying car ready for takeoff?

For this company, online surveillance leads to profit in Washington’s suburbs

5.9 magnitude earthquake hits the Reykjanes Ridge

Sabancaya volcano in Peru erupts to 24,000ft

Trump approves emergency federal aid for Florida as Irma weakens

Irma’s powerful eyewall batters Lower Keys as Cat 4 hurricane

Irma inundates Naples area with storm surge after second Florida landfall

How Hurricane Irma Is Sucking Florida’s Beaches Dry

2 huge cranes atop Miami high-rises collapse in Irma’s winds; 3rd crane falls in Fort Lauderdale

Georgia declares state of emergency in all counties ahead of Irma

Twitter Freaks Out At Atlanta’s First Tropical Storm Warning

Violence Erupts on Desperate Caribbean Islands: ‘All the Food Is Gone’

‘People are roaming like zombies.’ Virgin Islands stagger after storm passes.

Houston residents confront officials over decision to flood neighborhoods

Gay people to blame for Hurricane Harvey, says US Pastor

At least six people killed as torrential rain causes flooding in Italy

Australia’s worst flu season on record creates a new problem

Princeton Economist: Nearly Half of U.S. Men Who Dropped Out of Workforce on Opioid Painkillers

GP probed for giving child, 12, gender-change hormones

Australia gay marriage rally draws record crowd ahead of postal vote

Worshippers stabbed after knifeman bursts into Birmingham church

Dalai Lama calls for century of peace during Northern Ireland visit

Gary DeMar – Are These Hurricanes and Earthquakes God’s End Time Judgment?

Kat Kerr Moves Goalposts not Hurricanes

The Passion Translation: The New Apostate Reformation Version

God Speaks Through AC/DC’s Money Talks? – The Pointe Church Fort Wayne, Indiana

Discovery of Ancient Human-Like Footprints Challenges Evolutionary Narrative

China Tightens Regulation of Religion to ‘Block Extremism’

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What is The Gospel?

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Who Do You Think That I Am?

Selected Scriptures

Code: A335

With that brief question Jesus Christ confronted His followers with the most important issue they would ever face. He had spent much time with them and made some bold claims about His identity and authority. Now the time had come for them either to believe or deny His teachings.

Who do you say Jesus is? Your response to Him will determine not only your values and lifestyle, but your eternal destiny as well.

Consider what the Bible says about Him:

JESUS IS GOD

While Jesus was on earth there was much confusion about who He was. Some thought He was a wise man or a great prophet. Others thought He was a madman. Still others couldn’t decide or didn’t care. But Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). That means He claimed to be nothing less than God in human flesh.

Many people today don’t understand that Jesus claimed to be God. They’re content to think of Him as little more than a great moral teacher. But even His enemies understood His claims to deity. That’s why they tried to stone Him to death (John 5:18; 10:33) and eventually had Him crucified (John 19:7).

C.S. Lewis observed, “You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (Mere Christianity [Macmillan, 1952], pp. 40-41).

If the biblical claims of Jesus are true, He is God!

JESUS IS HOLY

God is absolutely and perfectly holy (Isaiah 6:3), therefore He cannot commit or approve of evil (James 1:13).

As God, Jesus embodied every element of God’s character. Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” He was perfectly holy (Hebrews 4:15). Even His enemies couldn’t prove any accusation against Him (John 8:46)

God requires holiness of us as well. First Peter 1:16 says, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

JESUS IS THE SAVIOR

Our failure to obey God—to be holy—places us in danger of eternal punishment (2 Thessalonians 1:9). The truth is, we cannot obey Him because we have neither the desire nor the ability to do so. We are by nature rebellious toward God (Ephesians 2:1-3). The Bible calls our rebellion “sin.” According to Scripture, everyone is guilty of sin: “There is no man who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And we are incapable of changing our sinful condition. Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.”

That doesn’t mean we’re incapable of performing acts of human kindness. We might even be involved in various religious or humanitarian activities. But we’re utterly incapable of understanding, loving, or pleasing God on our own. The Bible says, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:10-12).

God’s holiness and justice demand that all sin be punished by death: “The soul who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). That’s hard for us to understand because we tend to evaluate sin on a relative scale, assuming some sins are less serious than others. However, the Bible teaches that all acts of sin are the result of sinful thinking and evil desires. That’s why simply changing our patterns of behavior can’t solve our sin problem or eliminate its consequences. We need to be changed inwardly so our thinking and desires are holy

Jesus is the only one who can forgive and transform us, thereby delivering us from the power and penalty of sin: “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Even though God’s justice demands death for sin, His love has provided a Savior, who paid the penalty and died for sinners: “Christ … died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Christ’s death satisfied the demands of God’s justice, thereby enabling Him to forgive and save those who place their faith in Him (Romans 3:26). John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” He alone is “our great God and Savior” (Titus 2:13).

JESUS IS THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE OBJECT OF SAVING FAITH

Some people think it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere. But without a valid object your faith is useless

If you take poison—thinking it’s medicine—all the faith in the world won’t restore your life. Similarly, if Jesus is the only source of salvation, and you’re trusting in anyone or anything else for your salvation, your faith is useless.

Many people assume there are many paths to God and that each religion represents an aspect of truth. But Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6). He didn’t claim to be one of many equally legitimate paths to God, or the way to God for His day only. He claimed to be the only way to God—then and forever.

JESUS IS LORD

Contemporary thinking says man is the product of evolution. But the Bible says we were created by a personal God to love, serve, and enjoy endless fellowship with Him

The New Testament reveals it was Jesus Himself who created everything (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16). Therefore He also owns and rules everything (Psalm 103:19). That means He has authority over our lives and we owe Him absolute allegiance, obedience, and worship.

Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Confessing Jesus as Lord means humbly submitting to His authority (Philippians 2:10-11). Believing that God has raised Him from the dead involves trusting in the historical fact of His resurrection—the pinnacle of Christian faith and the way the Father affirmed the deity and authority of the Son (Romans 1:4; Acts 17:30-31).

True faith is always accompanied by repentance from sin. Repentance is more than simply being sorry for sin. It is agreeing with God that you are sinful, confessing your sins to Him, and making a conscious choice to turn from sin and pursue holiness (Isaiah 55:7). Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15); and “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31).

It isn’t enough to believe certain facts about Christ. Even Satan and his demons believe in the true God (James 2:19), but they don’t love and obey Him. Their faith is not genuine. True saving faith always responds in obedience (Ephesians 2:10).

Jesus is the sovereign Lord. When you obey Him you are acknowledging His lordship and submitting to His authority. That doesn’t mean your obedience will always be perfect, but that is your goal. There is no area of your life that you withhold from Him.

JESUS IS THE JUDGE

All who reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior will one day face Him as their Judge: “God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).

Second Thessalonians 1:7-9 says, “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

HOW WILL YOU RESPOND?

Who does the Bible say Jesus is? The living God, the Holy One, the Savior, the only valid object of saving faith, the sovereign Lord, and the righteous Judge.

Who do you say Jesus is? That is the inescapable question. He alone can redeem you—free you from the power and penalty of sin. He alone can transform you, restore you to fellowship with God, and give your life eternal purpose. Will you repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

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A billion years or so into eternity, how many toys we accumulated during this life will not seem too terribly important. —D.A. Carson

Women Pastors In the Body of Christ? The Word of God Clearly Says NO

Absolute Truth from the Word of God

Not a week goes by where I do not read about the errant and apostate teachings in the mainline denominations. They are taught to hate Israel. They are taught that the Word of God in not infallible. They are taught that homosexuality is perfectly fine with God, and even appoint gay pastors in their churches.

As my readers know, I am in no way “Politically Correct.”  The statement I am about to make will enrage many women in the mainline churches. I must speak truth, and the truth is this:  The mainline churches are filled with female pastors, and I believe that the Word of God is very clear that this is not God’s will.  Women should not be in positions of authority over men in the church.

From gotquestions.org

Question: “Women pastors / preachers? Can a woman be a pastor or preacher?”

Answer: There is perhaps no more…

View original post 1,556 more words

40 Truths about the Fear of God

After preaching a sermon on the necessity of the fear of God in public worship, a friend reminded me, “If you want a nail driven in, you have to hit it more than once.” With that in mind, I set about a survey of the Bible’s teaching and found forty truths about fearing God to help hammer in the nail. Brief expositions of some of these verses can be found in Pastor Al Martin’s The Forgotten Fear: Where have all the God-Fearers Gone? (RHB) and Arnold Frank’s  The Fear Of God: A Forgotten Doctrine (RHB).

Old Testament

Fearing God is the right reaction to sin, guilt, and shame (Gen. 3:10).

Fearing God will flow from being in the presence of God (Gen. 28:16-17: Ex. 3:6).

Fearing God is an appropriate response to God’s character (Gen. 31:42).

Fearing God is an essential characteristic of Christian leaders (Ex.18:21).

Fearing God is the ultimate purpose of divine revelation (Deut. 4:10).

Fearing God should flow from the administration of justice (Deut. 17:13; 21:19-21).

Fearing God is the mark of an exceptional believer (Neh. 7:2).

Fearing God is approved by God and noted by Satan (Job 1:1, 9).

Fearing God is the right response to the exalted Christ (Ps.2:10-11).

Fearing God is to be mixed with joy (Ps. 2:10-11).

Fearing God will happen where mission is successful (Ps. 67:7).

Fearing God assures us of God’s mercy and love (Ps. 103:11, 13).

Fearing God is the result of forgiveness (Ps. 130:4).

Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7).

Fearing God is the end of wisdom (Eccl. 12:13-14).

Fearing God turns us away from evil (Prov. 3:7).

Fearing God will extend your life (Prov. 10:27) and improve the quality of your life (Prov. 14:27).

Fearing God will make you happier than millions of dollars (Prov. 15:16).

Fearing God neutralizes envy and is to be present throughout our lives (Prov. 23:17).

Fearing God is more important than looks in choosing a wife (Prov. 31:30).

Fearing God is a dominant trait in the Messiah and will always accompany the work of the Holy Spirit (Isa. 11:2-3).

Fearing God is the promised gift of God to new covenant believers (Jer. 32:40).

Fearing God helps them persevere in the faith (Jer. 32:40).

New Testament

Fearing God is commanded by Jesus (Matt. 10:28).

Fearing God is still expected of God’s people in the New Testament (Luke 1:49-50).

Fearing God grows in response to miracles (Luke 5:8).

Fearing God was one of the fruits of Pentecost (Acts 2:43).

Fearing God is a spiritually healthy reaction to his judgments in the church (Acts 5:5,11).

Fearing God is a mark of the New Testament church and is consistent with the comforting work of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31).

Fearing God is deepened by sovereign election (Rom. 11:20-21).

Fearing God is a motive for evangelism (2 Cor. 5:10-11).

Fearing God motivates sanctification (2 Cor. 7:1).

Fearing God is the framework for a biblical marriage (Eph. 5:21).

Fearing God makes us better employees (Col. 3:22).

Fearing God is the context for working out our salvation (Phil. 2:12-13).

Fearing God assists perseverance in faith (Heb. 4:1).

Fearing God is intensified by redemption and continues throughout our whole lives (1 Peter 1:17-19).

Fearing God is an essential part of successful witnessing (1 Peter 3:15).

Fearing God is God’s last sermon to the world (Rev. 14:6-7).

Fearing God continues into eternity (Rev. 15:3-4; 19:4-5).

David Murray is Professor of Old Testament & Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. This article first appeared on his blog and is used with permission.

The post 40 Truths about the Fear of God appeared first on The Aquila Report.

Can Truth Survive in a Postmodern Society?

John 18:38

Code: B170911

Is truth subjective? Does it hinge on our preferences and perspective?

Many today would answer yes to both questions. That’s why most social media platforms today are weighed down with endless debates that boil down to “my truth” versus “your truth.” But that kind of relativism is nothing new. It merely echoes the ancient question that Pontius Pilate asked of Jesus: “What is truth?” (John 18:38).

Where, after all, does the concept of truth come from, and why is it so basic to all human thought? Every idea we have, every relationship we cultivate, every belief we cherish, every fact we know, every argument we make, every conversation we engage in, and every thought we think presupposes that there is such a thing as “truth.” The idea is an essential concept, without which the human mind could not function.

Even if you are one of those trendy thinkers who claims to be skeptical about whether “truth” is really a useful category anymore, to express that opinion you must presume that truth is meaningful on some fundamental level. One of the most basic, universal, and undeniable axioms of all human thought is the absolute necessity of truth. (And we might add that the necessity of absolute truth is its close corollary.)

A Biblical Definition

So what is truth?

Here is a simple definition drawn from Scripture: Truth is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory, and being of God. Even more to the point: Truth is the self-expression of God. And because the definition of truth flows from God, truth is theological.

Truth is also ontological—which is a fancy way of saying it is the way things really are. Reality is what it is because God declared it so and made it so. Therefore God is the author, source, determiner, governor, arbiter, ultimate standard, and final judge of all truth.

The Old Testament refers to the Almighty as the “God of truth” (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 31:5; Isaiah 65:16). When Jesus said of Himself, “I am . . . the truth (John 14:6, emphasis added), He was making a profound claim about His own deity. He was also making it clear that all truth must ultimately be defined in terms of God and His eternal glory. After all, Jesus is “the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3). He is truth incarnate—the perfect expression of God and therefore the absolute embodiment of all that is true.

Jesus also said that the written Word of God is truth. It does not merely contain nuggets of truth; it is pure, unchangeable, and inviolable truth that (according to Jesus) “cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Praying to His heavenly Father on behalf of His disciples, He said this: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Moreover, the Word of God is eternal truth which “endures forever” (1 Peter 1:25).

Of course there cannot be any discord or difference of opinion between the written Word of God (Scripture) and the incarnate Word of God (Jesus). In the first place, truth by definition cannot contradict itself. Second, Scripture is called “the word of Christ” (Colossians 3:16). It is His message, His self-expression. In other words, the truth of Christ and the truth of the Bible are of the very same character. They are in perfect agreement in every respect. Both are equally true. God has revealed Himself to humanity through Scripture and through His Son. Both perfectly embody the essence of what truth is.

Remember, Scripture also says God reveals basic truth about Himself in nature. The heavens declare His glory (Psalm 19:1). His other invisible attributes (such as His wisdom, power, and beauty) are on constant display in what He has created (Romans 1:20). Knowledge of Him is inborn in the human heart (Romans 1:19), and a sense of the moral character and loftiness of His law is implicit in every human conscience (Romans 2:15). Those things are universally self-evident truths. According to Romans 1:20, denial of the spiritual truths we know innately always involves a deliberate and culpable unbelief. And for those who wonder whether basic truths about God and His moral standards really are stamped on the human heart, ample proof can be found in the long history of human law and religion. To suppress this truth is to dishonor God, displace His glory, and incur His wrath (Romans 1:18–20).

Still, the only infallible interpreter of what we see in nature or know innately in our own consciences is the explicit revelation of Scripture. Since Scripture is also the one place where we are given the way of salvation, entrance into the kingdom of God, and an infallible account of Christ, the Bible is the touchstone to which all truth claims should be brought and by which all other truth must finally be measured. As He prayed to the Father, Jesus said, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

That is the ultimate answer to Pilate’s question and the unchanging reality for all of mankind. As we’ll see next time, truth cannot be defined, explained, or understood apart from God and His inerrant Word.

 

 

 

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How to Overcome Evil with Good

These are difficult days in our country. 16 years from the attacks on the Twin Towers, the threat of terrorist violence still hangs over us and over freedom-loving people around the world.

After many years of hoping for progress, anger and violence over issues of race have reached new intensity. Loss of civility and manners in public life is producing a new meanness of spirit that often makes life increasingly unmanageable in the classroom, work place, and all too often in the home.

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Evil didn’t overcome Jesus, and if he is with and in and for you, it will not overcome you. 
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On top of all this, the shared sense of right and wrong that has bound our people together in this country for centuries has in large measure been discarded and swept away. Our nation is deeply divided over issues of life, marriage, gender, and even death. Having lost the sense of living under the authority of God, our culture increasingly feels the liberty to take great issues into our hands and do with them as we please.

All over our country, believing people are asking, “What in the world are we to do?” The answer to that question is found in Romans 12. The following verse describes exactly what God’s people are to do when we find ourselves surrounded by growing evil:

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

Three Ways to Be Overcome by Evil

The fact that God says, “Do not be overcome by evil” indicates the real possibility that this is something that can happen, and that it does happen. God says, “Do not let this happen to you!” What would it look like for a person to be overcome by evil?

1. Gripped by fear

Here is a person who fills her mind and heart with the drip-feed fear-mongering of the news channels. It is always on in her house, and over time she becomes weighed down with the weight of evil in the world. She is gripped with fear, and gradually she loses her peace and her joy. What is that but to be overcome be evil?

2. Pressured by people

Here is a student on a sports team at school. Most of his teammates are pursuing a completely different lifestyle from what he has learned at home, and he feels the pressure to conform. He goes to the parties, tries the drugs, and experiments with sex. What is that but to be overcome by evil?

3. Hardened by culture

Here is a person at work. The culture is brutal. It is a dog-eat-dog world. It is a devour-or-be-devoured environment. Pride fills the air. Cynicism is rife. Understanding and compassion are rarely to be found, and over time a growing cynicism creeps into his heart. What is that but to be overcome by evil?

The Toughest Challenge You Face

What evil have you suffered that might threaten to overcome you? Have you suffered violence? Have you been discriminated against? Have you been abused verbally? Emotionally? Sexually?

If you have suffered a great evil in your life, you know the toughest challenge you face is that it does not overcome you. How easy it would be for you to stoke hatred and be consumed by an inner rage! It is possible to let the wounds of your life define you so you lose your confidence, peace, and joy.

Being overcome by evil can happen to disciples of Jesus. It is not beyond us to say, “Fight fire with fire,” or “Give as good as you get.” James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on the enemies of Jesus. Peter drew his sword when the soldiers came to the Garden of Gethsemane. What is that but to be overcome by evil?

But there is another possibility here in this verse: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21, emphasis mine).

The One Who Overcame Evil with Good

Now think of the evils perpetrated against Jesus. You’ve been thinking about the injustice you’ve endured—what about the injustice he endured? What about the violence he suffered? What about Christ facing all this alone because he was abandoned by his friends?

None of us has endured evil as Jesus did. But Jesus Christ was not overcome by evil! He overcame evil with good:

• He trusted the Father, even when he could not see what the Father was doing. “My God, my God, why…?” Yet he said, “Into your hands I commit my Spirit.”
• For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, and he was able to deal with the shame (Hebrews 12:2).
• On the cross, Jesus prayed for the enemies who persecuted him: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). In that prayer, he created room for them to repent.

There is hope for you in Jesus Christ. Come to God today and say, “I don’t want to be overcome by evil or defined by the evils I have suffered! I don’t want to be shaped by the evils of this world.”

Evil did not overcome him, and if he is with you and for you and in you, it will not overcome you either.

[This article is adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon “Overcoming Evil with Good.” Photo Credit: Lightstock]

RELATED POSTS:

• Four Reasons to be of Good Courage in Suffering
• God Is Good, So Fight the Lies
• Walk by Faith When Things Get Worse

The post How to Overcome Evil with Good appeared first on Unlocking the Bible.

The Briefing 09-11-17

What the unpredictability of a hurricane says about human vulnerability

• Washington Post (Jason Samenow and Greg Porter) — Hurricane Irma to batter Florida Peninsula through the night

Dependence on technology revealed as many are in the dark after Hurricane Irma

New York Times amazed that hurricane strengthens, rather than weakens Christians’ faith

• New York Times (Kevin Sack) — The Prayer Circle: Texans Rebuild After Harvey as a Practice of Faith

In the face of nature’s chaos, New York Times asks, “Why can’t we stop asking ‘Why?’”

• New York Times (Henry Fountain) — Apocalyptic Thoughts Amid Nature’s Chaos? You Could Be Forgiven

The post The Briefing 09-11-17 appeared first on AlbertMohler.com.

September 11, 2017: Verse of the day

71 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame!

²     In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me, and save me!

³     Be to me a rock of refuge,

to which I may continually come;

you have given the command to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴     Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

⁵     For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

⁶     Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;

you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.

My praise is continually of you.

⁷     I have been as a portent to many,

but you are my strong refuge.

⁸     My mouth is filled with your praise,

and with your glory all the day.

⁹     Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

forsake me not when my strength is spent.

¹⁰    For my enemies speak concerning me;

those who watch for my life consult together

¹¹    and say, “God has forsaken him;

pursue and seize him,

for there is none to deliver him.”

¹²    O God, be not far from me;

O my God, make haste to help me!

¹³    May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;

with scorn and disgrace may they be covered

who seek my hurt.

¹⁴    But I will hope continually

and will praise you yet more and more.

¹⁵    My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,

of your deeds of salvation all the day,

for their number is past my knowledge.

¹⁶    With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;

I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷    O God, from my youth you have taught me,

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

¹⁸    So even to old age and gray hairs,

O God, do not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might to another generation,

your power to all those to come.

¹⁹    Your righteousness, O God,

reaches the high heavens.

You who have done great things,

O God, who is like you?

²⁰    You who have made me see many troubles and calamities

will revive me again;

from the depths of the earth

you will bring me up again.

²¹    You will increase my greatness

and comfort me again.

²²    I will also praise you with the harp

for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to you with the lyre,

O Holy One of Israel.

²³    My lips will shout for joy,

when I sing praises to you;

my soul also, which you have redeemed.

²⁴    And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,

for they have been put to shame and disappointed

who sought to do me hurt. ^[1]

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A Psalm for Old Age

Do not cast me away when I am old;

do not forsake me when my strength is gone.

For my enemies speak against me;

those who wait to kill me conspire together.

They say, “God has forsaken him;

pursue him and seize him,

for no one will rescue him.”

Be not far from me, O God;

come quickly, O my God, to help me.

May my accusers perish in shame;

may those who want to harm me

be covered with scorn and disgrace.

But as for me, I will always have hope;

I will praise you more and more.

My mouth will tell of your righteousness,

of your salvation all day long,

though I know not its measure.

I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord;

I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.

Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,

and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

Even when I am old and gray,

do not forsake me, O God,

till I declare your power to the next generation,

your might to all who are to come.

verses 9–18

Almost all the psalms in the second book of the Psalter have title lines. In fact, with the exception of this psalm, the only other psalm that does not is Psalm 43, which seems to belong with Psalm 42. Since Psalm 71 likewise has no title line, some commentators think it might once have belonged with Psalm 70, both therefore being ascribed to King David.

Certainly there are elements in Psalm 71 that pick up on Psalm 70,  and there are even more expressions drawn from other psalms that are ascribed to David: “rock of refuge” and “my rock and my fortress” (v. 3), “my enemies” (v. 10), “Be not far from me, O God” (v. 12), “come quickly, O my God, to help me” (v. 12), and others. The first three verses are taken directly from the opening verses of Psalm 31, which is by David. Moreover, since we are near the ending of book two of the Psalter and since it ends with the words “This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse,” it is appropriate that a psalm of David’s written in and about his old age should appear at this point. It is consistent with this view that the author seems to have been a public person (he says that he has become a “portent,” a well-known example or warning to many, v. 7) and a person of greatness or honor (v. 21). The Septuagint ascribes the psalm to David.

In this study I will be assuming David’s authorship. But on the other hand, the fact that it is or might be by David contributes little. For the psalm is a song of old age and is therefore for all who are old or will be, which is going to be true for most of us sooner or later. Charles Haddon Spurgeon says, “We have here the prayer of the aged believer who in holy confidence of faith, strengthened by a long and remarkable experience, pleads against his enemies and asks further blessings for himself.”

As far as the psalm’s outline goes, there may be six stanzas, as in the New International Version. But the important points overlap, and according to H. C. Leupold, “No two commentators divide the psalm in the same way.” Leupold splits it into two parts (vv. 1–12 and 13–24). Marvin E. Tate divides it into five parts (vv. 1–4, 5–12, 13–18, 19–20, 21–24). Derek Kidner has six sections, like the New International Version, but he does not follow the stanzas of the niv (vv. 1–3, 4–6, 7–11, 12–16, 17–21, 22–24).

It is probably best to think of this psalm in terms of what it says, rather than its outline. It handles four subjects: (1) old age and its problems, (2) how the past looks from the perspective of old age, (3) the future in terms of what is yet to be done, and (4) praise from one who has lived long enough to have observed God’s faithful ways.

Old Age and Its Problems

It is not fun to be old, especially in America. At other times and in other cultures old age had advantages to offset its disadvantages. Elderly persons were honored and respected. Their wisdom was valued. That is no longer true in America or in the West generally. Here we value youth, and the culture is so oriented to youthful interests that many old people even try to dress and act like teenagers. David didn’t have those problems, of course. But the problems he had as a result of his old age were serious and even universal. In fact, they are the most basic problems of all.

1. Weakness, the loss of former strength or abilities. One problem with getting old is that you lose the strength and many of the abilities you had when you were younger. John Wesley, the great Methodist evangelist, lived to be eighty-eight years old (1703–91). He kept a diary throughout most of his life, and for June 28, 1789, there is this entry:

Sunday 28 … This day I enter on my eighty-sixth year. I now find I grow old: 1) My sight is decayed, so that I cannot read a small print, unless in a strong light; 2) My strength is decayed, so that I walk much slower than I did some years since; 3) My memory of names, whether of persons or places, is decayed, till I stop a little to recollect them. What I should be afraid of is, if I took thought for the morrow, that my body should weigh down my mind and create either stubbornness, by the decrease of my understanding, or peevishness, by the increase of bodily infirmities. But thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God.

Many of us find that we can echo that. We can’t hear as well as we used to hear. We can’t read the small print. We get tired faster. We don’t even sleep as well, and we wake up three or four times throughout the night. It is what David is talking about when he tells God, “Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone” (v. 9).

2. A continuation of troubles, particularly enemies. The second problem of old age is that the difficulties we have faced throughout our lives do not go away but instead remain with us. And the trouble they cause is augmented because of our diminishing strength or capacities to deal with them. In David’s case this had to do with his enemies, those he has written about in nearly every other psalm. Here he writes of these dangerous people, “My enemies speak against me; those who wait to kill me conspire together” (v. 10). Marvin E. Tate says, “The speaker might have expected mature age to bring exemption from such attacks, but such is not the case.” The enemies of the king were present as much at the end of his life as at the beginning.

So also with us. The most disturbing, continuing problems I face are having to support the various ministries I am involved in financially. The Bible Study Hour is usually behind in paying its bills, and at times it is so far behind that I think we are going to have to terminate the ministry. City Center Academy always needs funds. Even Tenth Presbyterian Church goes through regular financial crises, when we have to reduce our staff or curtail some aspects of our outreach. It would be nice if those problems would go away, but they do not. In fact, they are more serious now, more serious because of their greater dimensions, than they were when I began my ministry twenty-eight years ago. I wish somebody else would assume responsibility for these problems, but no one else does. In fact, I even get letters saying that we would not have these problems if we were only more careful about being in the will of God.

Other people have family problems, and these do not get better either. I know one woman who has taken care of her cantankerous octogenarian mother for several decades. The mother is now in a Christian nursing home where she is well cared for. Her finances are well managed. But she doesn’t thank her daughter. She is as critical and difficult as ever. In fact, just recently she has brought in a public defender and an unscrupulous lawyer to bring pressure on her daughter to do more. The problem never gets better; that is what is so wearing. The mother doesn’t even die.

E. M. Forster, the British novelist, had a mother like that. She lived to her late nineties and didn’t die until he was sixty-six.

Some people have health problems all their lives. Some struggle with depression. Others labor against class or ethnic prejudice, and the problems do not go away or even grow lighter as they grow older. In fact, they are often more difficult and certainly more oppressive and hard to bear than when these people were young.

3. Being alone, no one to help. The third thing that bothered David is that as he grew older he had fewer people to help him, to solve or help shoulder these burdens. In fact, he describes himself as being utterly alone with none to help but God. His enemies recognized this; they argued that even God had deserted him. “They say, ‘God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for no one will rescue him’ ” (v. 11). Maybe you feel that way too. In your youth you had many friends and coworkers. There were people you could share your burdens with. But now you are old. Those former friends are gone. You have no one.

Looking to the Past: Our Faithful God

You may have no human being with you perhaps, but if you are a Christian, you still have God. And that means that you still have the only one who was really with you and really able to help you all along. It is one advantage of old age to know that experientially.

This leads us to the second important element of this psalm. For the reflections David gives us concerning old age are not so we will wring our hands and complain about how bad it is to grow old, but the contrary. David wants us to see that even old age is given to us by God, is one of his good gifts and should be used for his glory and the blessing and well-being of others. He gets into these points first by pausing to look back over his long life and reflect on what he has learned about God and experienced about him during those former long years. We have spoken about the problems of old age, which are great. But one great advantage is in having a long experience of God’s presence, faithfulness, and blessing. There are two things to notice about what David says concerning the past.

1. David had known God from his youth and even before that. He says, “You have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb” (vv. 5–6). What this seems to mean is that he remembers how he had come to know God and had trusted God from childhood. We would say that such a person became a “Christian” early in life. But he is also saying that he is aware that God was with him even before childhood, from the moment of his birth, though he cannot remember the years before his early childhood himself. We know that this was true of David. He was a man of God even before he was a man. He was godly even when he was watching the sheep as the youngest and least of Jesse’s eight sons (see 1 Sam. 16:1–13).

Have you known the Lord from childhood? If you have, you are fortunate because you can look back over a lifetime of God’s faithful care and provision. Spurgeon wrote, “They are highly favored who can like David, Samuel, Josiah, Timothy, and others say, ‘Thou art my trust from my youth.’ ”

I like the testimony of Polycarp, the aged Bishop of Smyrna, who was martyred on February 22, a.d. 156. As he was being driven to the arena where he would be given the choice of worshiping Caesar or, refusing, being offered to the lions, the city officials tried to persuade him to make the gesture of homage to Caesar. They had respect for him because of his age and reputation and argued, “What harm is there in saying, ‘Caesar is Lord,’ and burning incense … and saving yourself?” But Polycarp answered, “For eighty-six years I have been [Christ’s] slave, and he has done me no wrong; how can I blaspheme my king who saved me?” Despite his age and undoubted physical weakness, Polycarp was not weak. He was strong in faith. In fact, he was never stronger, because he remembered the strength and faithfulness of God to him throughout the many long years of his service as Christ’s slave. So it will be with you if, in your old age, you recall God’s love and faithfulness to you over your lifetime.

2. David had become “a portent” to many. The word portent (v. 7) is hard to define, because it can be taken either in a good or bad sense. In a good sense it would refer to the writer as a marvel of God’s protecting care. People would say, “Look how God has protected and blessed David.” In a bad sense it would refer to the greatness of his sufferings and the magnitude of his calamities. In that case, people would say, “Has anybody ever suffered as much as David?” Since the word occurs here in the context of remembering God’s faithfulness to him in the past, the bad sense should probably be thrown out. But it is possible both might be combined in the sense suggested by J. J. Stewart Perowne, when he says it is best “to understand it as applying to his whole wonderful life of trials and blessings, of perils and deliverances, such as did not ordinarily fall to the lot of man.” David was certainly a portent in this sense, which is why the record of his life is given to us so completely in the Bible.

Looking Ahead: The Next Generation

I suppose there are some people who in their old age only look back to the past and are often quite unhappy as they do. They think of what they have had and lost or what they wish they could have had and never did. The present does not mean much to them except as a basis for complaining about their multiplying aches and pains, and they are afraid to look forward. They are afraid of dying.

David’s approach to old age was not like this. For not only did he look to the past to remember God’s goodness and faithfulness to him over the many long years of his life, he also looked to the future in terms of the work yet remaining to be done. He knew that if God had left him in life and had not yet taken him home to be with him in glory, it was because there was work to do. This work was testifying to the coming generations about God. This led him to say,

Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,

and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

Even when I am old and gray,

do not forsake me, O God,

till I declare your power to the next generation,

your might to all who are to come (vv. 17–18).

Someone has said that the Christian church is always one generation away from extinction, meaning that each generation has the responsibility of passing Christian doctrine to the next. David knew this. It is what he wants to do. But since he is writing about old age, the uniqueness of what he is saying is that older people have a special and peculiar ability to teach the young. This does not mean that they know more than those in middle age. An old deacon or deaconess does not necessarily know more than his pastor about the Bible’s content. But the old person has lived with God longer and has seen more of God’s faithfulness over more years of life than younger people, however much they may know. Therefore, a person like this is especially well equipped to help the young.

Haven’t you noticed that there is a special natural bond between the elderly and children? The secular world has begun to take advantage of this in nursing homes and kindergartens by bringing people from nursing homes to help care for children in day-care centers and other institutions. At Tenth Presbyterian Church we bring older people into the Sunday school to hear the children recite their Bible verses and assist in other ways. The children love these older people and respect them. It is a good arrangement. It is biblical.

The Present: Praising God Now

This brings us to the present, the third way in which David deals with the limitations of old age. He looks to the past to remind himself of God’s faithfulness and power. He looks to the future to remind himself of the work yet to be done. Then, having done both of those things, he turns to the present and begins to do exactly what he has been talking about. He bears witness to God now. What he praises God for chiefly is his righteousness (vv. 19–21) and faithfulness (vv. 22–24).

1. God’s righteousness. The word righteousness is used in different ways in the Bible, most notably of that divine righteousness that is imparted to us in justification. That is not the way the word is used here, nor characteristically in the psalms. Here it refers to God’s right dealings, to the fact that everything he does is just, that no one can fault him. The word appears in this sense throughout the psalms ascribed to David. Again and again he calls God a “righteous God” and speaks of “your righteousness.” (There are not many psalms from which this word or the idea represented by this word is missing.) This is a great testimony, that a person has lived a long time and has found by his or her own experience that God does all things rightly or justly. Therefore, (1) God can be trusted, and (2) it is the part of wisdom to conform one’s life to God’s will and standards. That is a great and important testimony to pass to the next generation.
2. God’s faithfulness. In one sense the entire psalm has been about God’s faithfulness: his faithfulness in the past, and the prayer of the psalmist that God will remain faithful to him in his old age. Here at the end the theme is the same, for it is the last and chief thing David wants to declare to those who are to come. He wants them to know that God is an utterly faithful God and can be trusted to remain so.

“Great is thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with thee;

Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;

As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

“Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!”

Morning by morning new mercies I see:

All I have needed thy hand hath provided—

“Great is thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

If you have known God at all, you have found that he is indeed a God of great faithfulness and know that this must be your testimony.^[2]

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Prayer in Old Age (71:9–13)

Commentary

9–11 Lament shapes the petition. The psalmist prays that the Lord will not abandon him in old age (i.e., “when my strength is gone,” v. 9). “Cast away” and “forsake” signify a state of condemnation and curse (cf. 51:11; Job 19:13–21). The vile enemies (vv. 4, 10) are all too ready to condemn him to death (v. 10; cf. 3:2; 5:9; 56:6–7), to accuse him as a sinner worse than they, and to justify their evil course of action (v. 11; cf. 3:2; 22:7–8). They do not believe in retribution and reward, and they believe that autonomously they hold the power of life and death in their own hands. Possibly they believed they were God’s appointed agents of justice (cf. 56:4).

12–13 The prayer calls on Yahweh to vindicate his servant speedily (cf. 35:2; 38:22; 40:13–14) by giving him “help” (v. 12) and by bringing retribution (“scorn and disgrace”) on God’s enemies (v. 13; cf. 35:26; 109:29). His enemies are “evil and cruel” (v. 4) “accusers” (v. 13; cf. “speak against me; … conspire together,” v. 10). Their joy lies in bringing misfortune and disgrace on others. The psalmist cries here for Yahweh’s fidelity to his promises in bringing the sanctions of the covenant, namely, blessing and curse. He does not do evil for evil or curse his enemies, but he awaits the Lord’s judgment (see Reflections, p. 953, Imprecations in the Psalms).^[3]

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71:9–13 / This section focuses attention on my enemies and the theological problem they raise. They say, “God has forsaken him.” Presumably they reason that because the speaker is old and his strength is gone, he now lacks God’s blessing and is thus Godforsaken and vulnerable. What precisely is their intention is left openended. The Hebrew phrase, which is literally, “those who watch my life,” is much more ambiguous than the niv’s those who wait to kill me. As noted in the Introduction, psalms often speak in extremes so as to include any form of situation. Thus, while the opponents say, “… pursue him and seize him” and the psalm describes them as my accusers and as those who want to harm me, this could include anything from harming his reputation, to seizing his property, or to homicide. We should note that the fate invoked upon them focuses on their shame (vv. 13, 24), not their destruction (in v. 13 instead of Hb. yiklû, “let them come to an end,” several mss and the Syriac read yikkāl^emû, “let them be humiliated”).

To counter these presumptions, the lament concerning the foes is surrounded by petitions. The first petitions are negative: Do not cast me away, do not forsake me (using the same verb as the enemies), and be not far from me. The psalm thus allows the speaker to reckon with this fear as a possibility but then quickly asks God to exclude it as a reality. The positive petitions are first on the speaker’s behalf, come quickly, O my God, to help me (reminding him of the “my God” relationship), and then against the foes. These are expressed as a wish (Hb. jussive), may they perish (or “be humiliated”; see BHS) in shame and be covered with scorn and disgrace.^[4]

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The main complaint (71:5–12). These verses set forth, in rather traditional language, the conditions of the suppliant which merit complaint to God. The complaint begins with a succinct statement of confidence in God, which is followed by an affirmation of life-long trust and praise in v 6. The meaning of v 7 is not entirely clear. The word for “mystery” (or “like a mystery,” see note 7.a.) denotes a “wonder” or a “portent,” something extraordinary, which is so out of the routine course of things that it baffles. The reference here can be understood (1) as an unusual case of God’s care (so Weiser: “He is the sign or portent which in a visible way makes manifest ‘to many’ God’s providential rule, his power and his help”), or (2) as an outstanding public example of divine punishment (cf. Deut 28:46)—perhaps, the evidence for life lived under a divine curse. The term מופת is rather frequently used to convey a display of divine power as a sign or warning to make the enemies of God afraid (Exod 7:3; 11:9; Deut 6:22; 1 Kgs 13:3, 5; Isa 20:3)—so neb in 71:7, “To many I seem a solemn warning.” The word appears in a word-pair with אות (“sign”); see, e.g., Exod 7:3; Deut 4:34; 6:22; 7:19; 13:2, 3; 26:8; 28:46; 29:2; 34:11; Isa 8:18. Mopheth is used especially to describe the events of the exodus from Egypt. In these contexts, the “signs and wonders” are demonstrations of divine power and explicit or implicit warnings to all who might dare to oppose the divine will. If the meaning of a “solemn warning” is understood in 7a, then 7b indicates that the speaker ignores the wrong (and for the enemies, gratifying) conclusions about his or her sufferings, while persisting in trust in God—“looking to God to see through to a conclusion the work He began so long ago” (Kidner, I, 251). Perhaps, however, we should not draw the lines of meaning too sharply. The verse may mean that the suppliant continues with unshaken trust in God regardless of how the “many” (v 7a; the people in the community) choose to interpret the situation. Some members of the community would have seen the supplicant as a “sign” of God’s providential care; others would have understood his or her condition as a divine judgement. A “sign” is subject to the interpretation of the viewer.

The condition of the suppliant is the subject of talk and conspiracy on the part of enemies who are described as “soul-watchers” (v 10), those who wait for any opportunity to harm the life of the speaker. The foes assume that the suppliant has been forsaken by God and left at their mercy (v 11). The situation is made worse by the failing strength of advanced age (v 9); it is imperative that the suppliant not be abandoned by God while foes are strong and personal strength declines. V 12 forms the closing petition of this section (note the direct address to God which corresponds to the direct address to Yahweh in v 5). God is asked not to be far away (cf. Ps 22) and to hasten to help one who needs divine presence.^[5]

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71:9     Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

To grow old gracefully calls for more Grace than Nature can provide. Old age is a new world of strange conflicts and secret fears; the fear of being left alone, the fear of being a burden to loved ones, the fear of becoming a helpless invalid, the fear of losing one’s grip, the fear of being imposed upon. These fears are not new. The psalmist is here thinking aloud for the encouragement of all who are in the autumn of life (Daily Notes of the Scripture Union).^[6]

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4–11 Lifelong divine care. Prayer for deliverance is nourished by an experience of God going back beyond the reach of memory, consciously enjoyed throughout youth (5–6) and now, in old age desired all the more as strength, but not opposition, diminishes (9–10). 5 Hope, the One on whom I waited with confident expectation. Confidence, the ‘place’ on which my trust rested. 6 Relied, ‘been upheld’. 7 Portent. The charges levelled against him (see on Pss. 69, 70) make people look on him as a ‘warning example’. But just as in the face of his direct assailants he reacts by recalling God (4–5), so when faced by public loss of reputation he reacts by finding again in God ‘my refuge—and what a strong one!’. Thus what could have resulted in deep depression issues rather in praise (8). 10–11 69:3 reveals a long-standing period of trial in which God has remained silent and even David wondered if his face had been turned away in rejection (69:17). His enemies are quick to capitalize on this,^[7]

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71:1–24 One of the features of the psalms is that they meet the circumstances of life. This psalm to God expresses the concerns of old age. At a time in his life when he thinks he should be exempt from certain kinds of troubles, he once again is personally attacked. Though his enemies conclude that God has abandoned him, the psalmist is confident that God will remain faithful.

1. Confidence in God Stated (71:1–8)
2. Confidence in God Practiced in Prayer (71:9–13)

III. Confidence in God Vindicated (71:14–24)

71:3 continually. Psalm 71:1–3 is almost the same as Ps 31:1–3a. One difference, however, is the word “continually,” which the elderly person writing this psalm wants to emphasize. God has “continually” been faithful (cf. vv. 6, 14).

71:7 a marvel. A reference to his trials. People are amazed at this person’s life, some interpreting his trials as God’s care, and others as God’s punishment.

71:15 the sum of them. The blessings of God’s salvation and righteousness are innumerable.

71:20 from the depths of the earth. Not actual resurrection, but rescue from near-death conditions and renewal of life’s strength and meaning.^[8]

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71:9 Do not cast me away The psalmist has trusted God all his life (Ps 71:5–6); he asks God not to forsake him in his old age.^[9]

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 71:1–24). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[2] Boice, J. M. (2005). Psalms 42–106: An Expositional Commentary (pp. 592–598). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

^[3] VanGemeren, W. A. (2008). Psalms. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms (Revised Edition) (Vol. 5, p. 540). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[4] Hubbard, R. L. J., & Johnston, R. K. (2012). Foreword. In W. W. Gasque, R. L. Hubbard Jr., & R. K. Johnston (Eds.), Psalms (pp. 291–292). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

^[5] Tate, M. E. (1998). Psalms 51–100 (Vol. 20, pp. 213–214). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

^[6] MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (p. 657). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

^[7] Motyer, J. A. (1994). The Psalms. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 530). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.

^[8] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Ps 71:1–20). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

^[9] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ps 71:9). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.