There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
A recent Huffington Post article about homeschool moms left me flabbergasted. I know, it’s HuffPo. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, but this article was truly shocking . . . because of the comments of the homeschool parents.
In the article, a curriculum developer is selling her books at homeschool conventions. She calls her trade a “girl-empowerment business.” Homeschool parents were rightly curious about the political slant of a historical curriculum and asked if this particular series was “woke.” The authors of the curriculum, asked “What do you mean by that?” (hat tip to Greg Koukl).[i] Now here is the troubling part. The homeschool parents didn’t know the answer. They knew they didn’t want woke, but they weren’t sure what they were rejecting or didn’t know how best to explain it. One exchange with the curriculum’s presenter went this way:
“I [the author] explain our product, how we use historical women to teach girls about their worth and potential. The mother says: “But is it woke? I mean, I don’t want to teach my daughter about woke.”
“What do you mean, ‘woke’?” I ask. . . She opens her mouth. Half-words and phrases stumble and tumble around. A few talking points from news sources fall out. Finally, she sighs. “I don’t know. Just tell me again what you write.”
How heartbreaking this article was to read! I totally expected our homeschool crowd to get this right, so when they didn’t, I immediately wanted to equip all Christian parents to be able to answer this question. We should strive to always understand the terms we use—especially if we are going to loudly reject it. By defining our terms, we can better learn how to help our kids navigate these muddy cultural waters.
Don’t just label things “Woke” without being able to explain why.
Woke has become an easy catch-all word to label things that are very liberal or progressive, or even just the things we disagree with ideologically. We find it far easier to label things as “woke” to indicate, “Danger! Toxic! Avoid this!”, rather than to take the time to research it for ourselves. But that hasty labeling risks yeeting the baby with the bathwater. And it doesn’t teach people how to chew through their ideological food, swallowing the meat, and spitting out the gristle (i.e., what doesn’t align with biblical Christianity).[ii] You don’t have to go read Mein Kampf or The God Delusion, but if you need to read complicated material, you’ll need to do so wisely, especially if you want to help your family and friends to do the same. If your don’t know why you avoid woke movies or books, they won’t understand how to navigate these concepts for themselves.
The HuffPo article helped us see that the word “woke,” the grammatical aberration that it is, is not going away. We need to know what it means when others use it and learn better questions to ask or terms to use that offer more clarity.
Where did the word Woke come from?
Are you awake yet? Stay awake. These phrases began to circulate generally in the African-American community and gained traction around the time of George Floyd’s death, suggesting that people needed to be aware of racism or to stay vigilant, so they are not harmed or mistreated by racism.[iii] When people described the process of becoming racially aware, they would say they woke up, and people began to use the term woke to imply that they were awake to what is happening and staying on top of the situation.
But the term evolved as the African American community started using woke to describe people that had been awakened to or were conscious of social, economic and racial inequalities, had ‘done the work’, and were educated about social injustice. However, the work produced by some of these scholars and authors often had a significant political slant, and conservatives began using the term as a negative insult. And busy parents, like myself, just adopted the word as a ‘no-no’ and moved on with our lives. We’re trying to survive sports practices, science fairs, and flu season. We don’t have time to pee in private, much less read every book and article that comes our way. Labeling things ‘mark and avoid’ is a survival skill. But it’s important, when you’re not in survival mode, to take a beat and learn what you mean by terms like woke.
What does Woke mean now?
In popular usage today, “woke” tends to mean something that has a left-leaning, liberal, or progressive slant especially regarding race issues. Additional characteristics of wokeism are extreme political correctness, DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), and cancel culture. Woke resources often view everything through a lens of critical theory which, applied to race, becomes “critical race theory” (CRT).
What is CRT?
Uh oh, another boogeyman buzz word that is hard to define. Critical theory (which includes race theory, queer theory, etc.) basically critiques society by dividing people into oppressor vs. oppressed based on which groups they belong to. People are defined more by their group affiliation rather than seen for who they are as individuals. Humans are seen as naturally good until societal evils warp them. Then the voices of those who have been historically oppressed are given greater authority to speak due to their lived experiences. Experiences are too subjective to use as a foundation for truth, which is why Christians stand on the solid foundation of God’s word, balanced with rational thought, logic, and empirical truths. Considering the experiences of others helps us understand how policies and laws influence lives, which is a critical part of loving our neighbors as ourselves. In practice, however, critical theory creates new oppression as a solution for prior oppression. This dynamic results in less equality and more prejudice.
Leviticus 19:15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” (ESV)
While our current zeitgeist of radical empathy would suggest that truly being fair would mean to favor the oppressed in order to right historical mistreatment, the Bible holds a different standard. All humans are made in the image of God, and we want to avoid lenses that strip people of that dignity while conferring greater dignity to others.
How does woke show up in our daily lives?
In practice, woke often means using revisionist history to paint historical figures with a broad brush. It is often profoundly anti-American, sometimes Marxists, and overly critical of western civilization (think 1619 Project). When discussing books or curriculum, woke can mean something that presents only leftist viewpoint or oversimplifies a complex issue by vilifying people of the past unfairly. Some people in the past were straight-up villains, like our favorite whipping-boy Adolf Hitler. But most historical figures were complex, not all good or all bad. We need to treat them as whole persons as much as we can with the information available to us by studying history fully, considering the facts from primary sources as well as commentaries from historians.
Additionally, wokeness is deeply tied to social justice. Radical gender theory and LGBTQIA+ issues would now fall under the inclusion umbrella. Woke resources for children would include materials that separate gender from biological sex and present various parent structures as normal in children’s books, but also might include graphic sexual materials, even depicting homosexual or pedophilic sexual acts. But it’s important to note that not everyone who considers themselves “woke” agrees in supporting these extreme examples.
A Word of Warning
In discussing wokeness, we’re touching on some tangled and complicated issues. We do well to exercise caution and humility. The book of Hebrews offers an important insight here:
Hebrews 5:14 reminds us, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
Our powers of discernment must be trained through constant practice. So, as we grapple with a shifting sense of “wokeness,” ask good questions, always comparing the world’s messages against God’s truths. Seek to understand. Weigh your words with humility and respect. Find common ground where you can, and balance truth with love. “Woke” is a heavy word, with lots of baggage. And it isn’t going away.
So, stay alert my friends.
References:
[i] Greg Koukl has made famous the “Columbo tactic”, a tool for apologists where they ask probing questions like “What do you mean by that?” to better clarify and assess the situation. See, Greg Koukl, Tactics, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Gameplan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019).
[ii] This concept is called the “Chew and Spit method”, see Hillary Morgan Ferrer, et al., Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2019), 47-62.
[iii]Editor’s Note: Historically, the word “woke” originally meant something like “stay alert.” Black Americans in the early 20th century and Jim Crow era would warn each other saying “stay woke,” meaning be on guard against threats of race-based violence, especially where there was an uptick in racial tensions (ex., recent Klan activity, rape-accusations, lynching, police harassment, etc). In recent years, the term reentered public discourse through Black Lives Matter (BLM), and the George Floyd protests in Ferguson Missouri (2014), where the term was resurrected with a similar meaning of “stay alert [to racial violence/injustice].” Arguably, BLM was already adapting the term at that time by infusing it with politically charged notions of social justice, Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and Queer Theory. Regardless, the term has since been coopted and adapted by political progressives to cover a wider range of left-leaning issues, but instead of referring to alertness and racism specifically it’s now cast as a kind of “enlightenment” where people are finally able to see – as if waking up from a dreamy delusion – how oppressive power dynamics more or less shape the course of human history and modern society, regarding race, gender, sexuality, marriage and family, economics, politics, environment/climate, etc.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
Was Jesus Intolerant? (DVD) and (Mp4 Download) by Dr. Frank Turek
Jennifer DeFrates is a former English and Social Studies teacher turned homeschool mom and Christian blogger at Heavennotharvard.com and theMamapologist.com. Jennifer is a 2x CIA graduate (the Cross-Examined Instructors Academy) and volunteers with Mama Bear Apologetics. She has a passion for discipleship through apologetics. Her action figure would come with coffee and a stack of books. She is also the reluctant ringleader of a small menagerie in rural Alabama.
Pride Month has transformed over the years into so much more than rainbows and weirdos in parades. Unbeknownst to many, there are now special laws to ensure every American citizen respects this holiest of state-enforced holidays!
Here are twelve things that are now crimes in America during Pride Month:
Buckling seatbelts: Absolutely no “male-to-female” connections.
Leaving an empty urinal between two men: Straight to jail.
Going to church: Unless it’s United Methodist.
Driving on the Pride Crosswalk: How dare you put tire tracks on the sacred symbol!
Not driving on the Pride Crosswalk: How dare you not let your tires kiss the sacred symbol!
Changing the channel when a WNBA game comes on: DON’T LOOK AWAY.
Driving any car except for a Subaru: While wearing Birkenstocks, of course.
Having straight sex: Obviously.
Having straight thoughts: Obviously.
Men wearing shorts that go below the knee: Sky’s out, thighs out.
Watching a movie that doesn’t start with the word “Brokeback”: The volleyball scene from Top Gun is also acceptable.
Purchasing “The Babylon Bee Guide To Gender”: Whatever you do, don’t order it from the Bee website for $22.99 plus shipping!
Stay safe out there, fam!
We asked Trump to narrate 7 more famous historic battles, and the result was tremendous and magnificent. Everyone says so.
Once upon a time, America was a Christian nation. I know that many on the left cringe when they read a statement like that, but it is true. For most of our history, the population of the United States was overwhelmingly Christian, and the values that governed our society were primarily Christian values. But of course everything has changed in recent decades. When Barack Obama boldly declared that “we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation” in 2009, he was speaking the truth. We are no longer a Christian nation and we haven’t been for a very long time. So if we aren’t a Christian nation at this point, what exactly are we?
According to the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of Americans still considered themselves to be “Christians” in 2020…
About 64% of Americans call themselves Christian today. That might sound like a lot, but 50 years ago that number was 90%, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center study. That same survey said the Christian majority in the US may disappear by 2070.
If nearly two-thirds of your people consider themselves to be “Christians”, that would seem to indicate that you are a Christian nation.
But we obviously aren’t.
Just look around.
Many of the signs and symbols and messages that we see all around us are overtly anti-Christian.
So what in the world is going on?
Ultimately, there are lots of Americans that still identify themselves as “Christians” even though they have completely abandoned everything that Christianity represents.
Joe Biden is a perfect example. He says that he is a “Christian” and he attends church regularly.
But then the rest of the time he is working very hard against virtually everything that the Bible teaches.
Of course he is far from alone.
According to George Barna, 6 percent of Americans had a “biblical worldview” in 2020, and by 2023 that figure had dropped to just 4 percent…
The first national study of Americans’ worldview since the COVID-19 lockdowns shows that the incidence of biblical worldview has fallen to a mere 4%—a drop of one third from the 6% recorded just three years earlier.
I wish that I could tell you that his numbers aren’t accurate.
But I can’t.
Barna says that there is a second group that has “a substantial number of beliefs and behaviors consistent with biblical principles”, but unfortunately that group fell from 25 percent of the population in 2020 to just 14 percent in 2023…
The number of adults who don’t possess a biblical worldview, but still hold “a substantial number of beliefs and behaviors consistent with biblical principles,” has also fallen dramatically. Only one of every seven adults (14%) belong to the category of what Barna identifies as an “Emergent Follower.” That number was 25% only three years ago.
When you add the first two groups together, it comes to a grand total of 18 percent of the population.
The bulk of the American adult population—82%—falls into the “World Citizen” category, described as people “who may embrace a few biblical principles but generally believe and behave in ways that are distinct from biblical teaching.” According to the report, this group has grown substantially from the 69% registered in 2020.
I think that the term “world citizen” perfectly describes most people these days.
Sadly, on at least some level the vast majority of the population has embraced the new values that are constantly being pushed on us by the western elite.
And this is clearly showing up in the poll numbers.
Survey after survey has shown that close to two-thirds of the U.S. population disapproves of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Here is just one example…
About two-thirds (65%) oppose the 2022 Supreme Court decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and 34% approve, numbers that have remained effectively unchanged in CNN’s polling across the nearly two years since the ruling. Those who strongly disapprove of the decision continue to outnumber those who strongly approve by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
We live in a country in which nearly two-thirds of the population claims to be Christian, but nearly two-thirds of the population also wants Roe v. Wade back.
That doesn’t make any sense at all.
Surveys on other topics tell a similar story.
According to a Gallup survey that was conducted last year, 71 percent of the population approves of gay marriage, and a Gallup survey that was conducted earlier this year discovered that 22.3 percent of Generation Z adults now identify as LGBTQ+…
Overall, each younger generation is about twice as likely as the generation that preceded it to identify as LGBTQ+. More than one in five Gen Z adults, ranging in age from 18 to 26 in 2023, identify as LGBTQ+, as do nearly one in 10 millennials (aged 27 to 42). The percentage drops to less than 5% of Generation X, 2% of baby boomers and 1% of the Silent Generation.
Bisexuality is the most common LGBTQ+ status among Generation Z, millennials and Generation X. Fifteen percent of all Generation Z adults — representing more than two-thirds of those with an LGBTQ+ identification — are bisexual.
What values are being relentlessly promoted by just about every major institution in our society?
Is it Christ and His values that are being promoted?
Or is it the opposite?
At this point, even the U.S. military is systematically promoting values that are directly opposed to the values that we find in the Bible…
Judicial Watch announced today it received 25 pages of records regarding drag shows, drag story hours and other pride events for military personnel and their dependent minors organized and paid for by the U.S. Air Force.
The documents were obtained through a May 5, 2023, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) by Judicial Watch and CatholicVote Civic Action. The Defense Department issued at least half a dozen “no records” responses to the FOIA request prior to finally releasing these records.
Jesus said that you would know a tree by the fruit that it produces.
Needless to say, the fruit that America is producing is not Christian fruit.
In fact, most of the fruit that America is producing is the kind of fruit that we would expect from an anti-Christ nation.
But even in the midst of all the darkness, God is still at work, and amazing things are happening.
For example, author John Burke has interviewed 70 different people that have actually been to heaven and have come back to tell us about it…
Imagine all the love you’ve experienced in your entire life, from parents, spouses, friends, and family — and then multiply it by a thousand. That’s the kind of love experienced by people who’ve had near-death experiences. They report being in God’s presence. John Burke, the Texas-based bestselling author of “Imagine Heaven” and now the follow-up book, “Imagine the God of Heaven,” writes of the topic vividly. Together with his wife, Kathy, of Gateway Church in Austin, he is also the president of Gateway Leadership Initiative (GLI), a nonprofit organization. He and his family live in Austin.
In an interview, Burke said he spoke with 70 “different people for ‘Imagine the God of Heaven’ — from every continent, every religious background. And yes, they encountered this God of light and love, but many of them also encountered Him as Jesus.”
Uncharted Ministries has interviewed former Muslims who now follow Jesus, and many of them had supernatural encounters with Jesus during Ramadan. These former Muslims are sharing their stories of discovering Jesus as their savior and praying that others will have the same experience.
Husein tells Uncharted Ministries that he was once a devout Muslim and extremely anti-Christian. But one year, during the week of Easter, Husein saw a Christian preacher on TV talking all about Jesus. He could not take his eyes off the broadcast. And then something supernatural happened to him.
“Suddenly, the Holy Ghost fell on me! I looked up and Jesus was there in front of me. I’d been a devout Muslim but as soon as I saw Him it was like seeing an old friend that I knew before. And I knew it was Jesus. And I knew something else. I knew that He was the Son of God!”
The God that created all things is still doing supernatural things in our day and time.
But even though we have so much evidence staring us in the face, our society continues to run away from God as rapidly as it can.
During his “My Take,” Monday, “Varney & Co.” host Stuart Varney discussed the parallels between Hillary Clinton’s Russia collusion hoax and Donald Trump’s conviction over payments for “legal services,” arguing the two politicians committed the same offense, but received glaringly different sentences.
STUART VARNEY:A tale of two cases reveals the depths of political bias in our justice system.
She got off. Hillary is a Democrat. She faced a Democratic prosecutor in New York. How could she lose?
Fast-forward to 2024. A Democratic prosecutor with a Democratic judge in a very Democratic city charged Republican Donald Trump with criminal violations.
The horror. Trump paid Michael Cohen for “legal services.”
The Democrat prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, threw the book at him and won 34 guilty counts.
Trump faces sentencing next month. He could go to jail.
Hillary gets a piddling little fine. The hated Donald Trump may go to jail.
Mark Levin describes the Democrat Marxists’ latest attempt to overthrow the US Constitution.
FOX News host, legal expert, and author Mark Levin opened his Sunday show discussing the Democrat Party’s latest attempt to overthrow the US Constitution.
On Thursday, a Soros-funded DA, a Trump-hating Stalinist judge, and a far-left cherry-picked jury in far-left Manhattan convicted President Trump of committing election crimes in 2016 by a payment in 2017.
The crooked DA charged Trump with 34 felonies that included accounting entries, and the court has yet to define the actual criminal act that took place.
The court also restricted the defendant’s rights to speak out against the lawfare sham or the corrupt judge whose daughter allegedly made millions off of the trial.
Hillary Clinton committed an identical act in 2016 but was not prosecuted by a Marxist Manhattan judge.
THE BUSINESS RECORDS DOUBLE STANDARD
In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was fined $8,000 for violating federal campaign finance laws. Why? Her team falsely reported the funding of the Steele Dossier as “legal services” and “legal and compliance consulting.”
Mark Levin compared this latest unconstitutional Democrat act to their unconstitutional acts prior to the US Civil War.
Mark Levin: This is so much bigger, so much bigger than the rules of evidence and so forth. What am I talking about? The Democrat Party. The Democrat Party is cheering what took place. Their surrogates are cheering what took place. Joe Biden went to a microphone and lied about what took place and then sneered after it. This is part and parcel of their war on the Constitution almost from day one.
This is the party that supported slavery. This is the party that supported ‘separate but equal.’ That is segregation. This is the party that supported Jim Crow. This is the party that supports and embraces American Marxism, which rejects the Constitution and the Founders and the framers. They use the 14th Amendment in order to try and prevent Donald Trump from running for President. And this is what they do. And that’s what happened in New York.
Let me put it to you bluntly. South Carolina was the point in which the Constitution came under attack, came to a head, that resulted in the Civil War.
New York is the new South Carolina. That is the Confederacy. What do I mean by that?
I’m not arguing here that there will be a violent Civil War. I don’t know what comes. Nobody does. What I’m arguing here is the Civil War was about slavery and about the attack on the Constitution and the attack on the Union, the nation.
What took place in that courtroom? The jury should never have been impaneled. A Soros prosecutor and a Biden judge in effect decided that they were going to launch a war against our constitutional construct. How so? By nullifying the due process clause of the Constitution and the Fifth Amendment, by nullifying the due process clause that applies to the States through one of the post-civil war amendments, the 14th Amendment.
And if this stands, the consequences will be very dire for the future of this country in the Constitution. Let me put it to you this way. New process goes back to the Magna Carta of 1215. But the phrase itself appears in a statute that was passed in Britain to incorporate the Magna Carta in 1354, and that was during the reign of King Edward III…
…And therein, ladies and gentlemen, is the bottom line. Why do I want this case to get before the Supreme Court so they have the opportunity, whether they take it or not, to give us our due process clause back, to give us our Equal Protection Clause back?
It’s not up to a prosecutor and a judge, a rogue prosecutor and a rogue judge, for that matter, to destroy and nullify the due process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment or the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment.
We have the same Democrat Party that rejected the Constitution, the same Democrat Party that fought the due process clause, that fought the Equal Protection Clause, the same Democrat Party that after the Civil War, despite the Fifth Amendment, despite the Civil War Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, still supported segregation, Still supported eugenics, still supported and back Jim Crow.
And nobody’s a better figure, illustration of that, than Joe Biden. Now they do it for different reasons, and they do it in a different way. But it doesn’t change who they are and what they are. They hate the Constitution as they must, as they adopt an increasingly aggressive Marxist ideology. And this party is an autocratic party. It doesn’t care how it gets power.
What was done to Donald Trump in that courtroom, in addition to everything you heard, is an attempt to nullify the federal Constitution, due process, equal protection. That’s what took place.
The Democrat Party is the new Confederacy. That’s right. It was the old Confederacy, now it’s the new Confederacy. Reverse federalism, where a judge and a prosecutor steal the jurisdictional power of the federal government, and all that implies the Constitution, federal election laws, and these entire processes, that is reverse federalism, that is nullification, that is the new Confederacy. That’s what Joe Biden, the old Confederate, and that’s what his Marxist supporters now support. This needs to be fought. We’ll be right back.
(Marsha West – Christian Research Network) If I were a gloater, I’d be gloating over the news that creator/writer/director of The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins, has parted company with Mormon owned Angel Studios. The Angel Studios (AS) team was involved for 8 years in producing the series. AS never hid the fact that they are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints a.k.aMormons. Since Dallas Jenkins is a professing Christian, he entered into a business venture fully aware that he was going against God. In2 Cor 6:14-15Paul makes it clear that believers are not to partnership with Belial:
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God.
When I first got wind of the unholy business venture, I laid out all my concerns inIs God really the one behind ‘The Chosen’ as the creator of the series declares?The answer to my question is No! Why? Because Dallas Jenkins chose to ignore what God’s Word clearly teaches and when those of us in discernment hoisted the warning flag, he dug in his heels even going so far as to declare that Mormons are saved. Jenkins let the opposition know that he considers Mormons his brothers and sisters and said on a radio broadcast:“I’m going to die on the hill of, we love the same Jesus, and we want the same Jesus known to the world.”
Yep. He actually uttered those words.
The Movie God Made
Jenkins makes the claim that God is the one behind The Chosen. God directly spoke to him while he was mowing the lawn and said, “I want you to make movies for me and for the church.” Jenkins asserts that he felt God speaking to him 3-4 times in his life. He says God laid on his heart that “this will be the definitive portrayal of My people and this is what people are going to think of around the world when they think of My people. And I’m not going to let you screw it up.”
Dallas Jenkins’ claim that God said that He’s not going to let him “screw it up,” was not from God. We know this because Dallas did screw it up royally when he chose to partnership with a pseudo-Christian cult.
In the article linked above, I revealed the following:
According to Mormon Doctrine subtitled “A Compendium of the Gospel” page 163, Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers and we were all born as siblings in heaven to them both. To identify the Lord Jesus Christ and Satan as “spirit brothers” is blasphemy.
One Mormon leader said the following when asked what he believes about Jesus:
In bearing testimony of Jesus Christ, President Hinckley spoke of those outside the Church who say Latter-day Saints ‘do not believe in the traditional Christ.’ ‘No, I don’t. The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak’” (LDS Church News, week ending June 20, 1998, p.7)
Dallas Breaks The Yoke
A statement released by Angel Studios states the following:
Sadly, The Chosen, Inc has terminated its agreement with Angel Studios. We hope that one day the agreement may be restored. The team at Angel Studios is so happy we were able to be instrumental in the founding of The Chosen and thrilled our long hours of hard work over the last 8 years helped it become the worldwide success it is.
Angel Studios has removed all references from The Chosen from their website.
Dallas Jenkins has announced that he and The Chosen have formally cut ties with Angel Studios, the Mormon media conglomerate that helped create, fund, and distribute the hit TV show, after an arbiter found multiple material breaches of contract on behalf of the studio. The ruling allows The Chosen to terminate their contract, part ways for good, and manage and distribute the show as they see fit and in a way that is economically sustainable, but will do little to offset other controversies Dallas and the show have been involved in.
While Angel Studios (then known as Vidcom) helped launch the show in 2017, The Chosen entered into a new license agreement and contract with them in 2022. Shortly thereafter, they accused Angel of monkeying around and breaching their contract, causing the latter to seek a termination.
Disagreements and legal wrangling over the show have impacted its release schedule, resulting in long delays between seasons – three seasons in five years. Rather than sue, however, Dallas and his team entered arbitration, which recently ruled in his favor. Dallas explained in a live stream:
Our contention is that shortly after the agreement (in 2022) Angel studios breached our contract on multiple occasions to the extent that we believed and should be terminated which would dissolve our relationship with Angel.
Angel, of course, disagrees with that assessment, and ultimately the only way to solve the dispute was to exercise the provision in the contract where we engaged a third party arbitrator. We wanted to solve this in a biblical way, which was to not make it a public spectacle. Private arbitration was the only way to do this in a way that didn’t harm the show or the reputation of Jesus and this project.
Notice that the reputation of the Lord Jesus was mentionedaftertheir concerns with harming the show. AS did not give Him top billing, as He deserves. And speaking of reputations, Dallas Jenkins’s reputation will surely take a hit since he made it a point to tell the public that God directly spoke these words to him: “I want you to make movies for me and for the church” and then for reasons known only to him, he chose to partnership with Belial, even though God’s inspired Word says, “What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?”
CRN’s homepage contains a list of professing Christians to keep an eye on. Scroll down toWARNING. The list contains many people you’ll want tomark and avoidas per Rom 16:17-18 such asDallas Jenkins.
Description:As persecution raged in Rome, Mark wrote his gospel to remind suffering Christians of the Messiah who had come into the world to redeem them from destruction. In this sermon, R.C. Sproul begins his exposition of Mark by helping us to see this book through the eyes of its first readers.
The Bible is full of promises that speak to the restoration and hope we find in God, even when our sinfulness has caused the trouble. We see one such promise in Hosea 2:15. After God brings Israel low for their transgressions, he says, “And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.”
What does it mean for the Valley of Achor to be a door of hope? Historically, after wandering in the desert for 40 years, the Israelites first settled in the Valley of Achor when they entered the Promised Land. Some commentators suggest that this passage indicates a return from wilderness to a choice land.
However, it’s essential to remember that Achor means “trouble.” The Israelites experienced defeat at Ai in this valley because of sin in their camp. Achan kept some of the spoils for himself and was stoned to death as a result. It was literally a valley of trouble. The hope Israel experienced in this valley of trouble is that after the sin received its just punishment, the Lord continued to cause his face to shine upon them.
The Lord often brings believers through their own valleys of trouble, especially when we wander from his ways. These times can seem dark and terrifying, making us feel alone and scared. Yet, in these moments, God most tenderly calls us back home. It’s a voice we may not have heard in a long time, revealing that this valley of trouble is a door of hope.
Hosea 6:1 encourages us with, “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.” This passage reassures us that our hardships are not the end. Instead, they are a part of the process God uses to bring us back to Him. The reason the Lord can cause his face to shine on sinners like us, even in discipline, is because our sin has received its just penalty in Jesus on the cross.
Through these experiences, we find ourselves in a much better place than before. Through the hardship, we come to understand the futility of the world and realize that true satisfaction comes from Christ alone.
God promises to restore us spiritually when we fall. This restoration is like receiving choice fruits once again after a long famine. Hence, the reference to giving us back our vineyards (Hosea 2:15). Imagine the sweetness of those grapes, representing the joy and satisfaction that comes from being in communion with God. He promises to give us back those choice grapes and to let the wine of His Spirit fill us with joy when we look to him.
Even when it is God who troubles us, he is opening a door of hope. This hope is not based on our worthiness but on God’s unchanging love and faithfulness. So, if you have been wandering from your Lord by seeking your hope in the things of the world, they will lead you to a desert land. Return to the Lord, trusting He will restore you and fill you with His Spirit, turning your valleys of trouble into doors of hope.
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Late modern Americans face a plethora of choices in English-language Bible translations: the King James Version (KJV), the American Standard Version (ASV), the Revised Standard Version (RSV), the New International Version (NIV), the New King James Version (NKJV), the Living Bible (LB), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the English Standard Version (ESV) are just a few. For most of these, there are subsets and revisions of revisions (e.g., the NASB 95). The KJV (also known as the Authorized Version) has undergone multiple revisions since 1611, as have the others.
The question of which translation is before some of us again.
For most Americans through the first half of the 20th century, the KJV was the English translation. The 1901 ASV had made a dent (and before that the Revised Version in the UK), and the 1946 RSV made another dent, particularly as it was adopted by the liberal mainline denominations. Among evangelicals, however, the KJV was probably the dominant translation until the 1970s, when the NASB published their complete translation. The 1970s saw a number of other translations including the LB (1971) and the NIV (1978). For many evangelicals through the 1980s, the NIV became the preferred translation. It was adopted by many churches and by some denominations.
Work on the ESV began in the early 1990s. Many evangelical and Reformed folk appreciated the NIV and the NASB but wanted a translation that was not quite as stiff as the NASB sometimes seemed and not quite as paraphrastic as the NIV too often seemed. Some of us were not comfortable either with the textual basis for the NKJV or with the translation philosophy. The ESV, which began as a revision of the RSV, first appeared in 2001. When the NIV translation committee signaled their intent to produce “inclusive language” versions of the NIV, thereby blurring the lines in Scripture between males and females, many evangelicals turned to the ESV.
“The history of Bible translations, going back about 2300 years ago to the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew (and Aramaic) Old Testament, is that none of them are perfect.”
As in 2001, the question of which translation is before some of us again. Rachel Miller has recently published an essay explaining why she is going back to the NASB—she does not mention the NASB95. I have had some correspondence from others about Bible translations, so it seems like a good time to revisit the question of what to do when Bible translations let us down.
The modern flurry of translations did not begin in the 20th century.
My short answer is: get used to it. The history of Bible translations, going back about 2300 years ago to the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew (and Aramaic) Old Testament, is that none of them are perfect. Later, the Vulgate was the “standard Bible” of the medieval Western church.
In some ways, the KJV fulfilled the same function in the Anglophone world as the Vulgate did in the medieval church. It was the original standard Bible. It was challenged and replaced for the same reasons that the KJV was eventually unseated: dissatisfaction with the dominant translation. It had its problems, but it was not as bad a translation as Reformation polemics sometimes suggested. Nevertheless, the issues were significant enough to warrant a new Latin version for use by Protestant professors, pastors, and students composed of Beza’s Latin New Testament and the Old Testament translation of Junius and Tremellius.
While respecting defenders of the KJV, the modern flurry of translations did not begin in the 20th century. It began in the 16th century, when Protestants produced several including the Geneva Bible, among others. Arguably, one of the principal functions of the KJV was to marginalize the Geneva Bible because of its anti-tyrannical notes.
So, Christians have been seeking to be faithful to the Scriptures in translation since Martin Luther translated the New Testament from Greek into German in 1522 and Tyndale translated the New Testament into English in 1525. The current discussion arises, as Miller explains, from the decision by the publisher of the ESV to introduce controversial changes to the text. Here is a chronological comparison of the translation of Genesis 3:16b. The most straightforward translation is “your desire will be for your husband.” The meaning is cryptic.
All Bible translators interpret.
The challenge we face is not whether translations interpret the text. As one who spends a good deal of time translating and editing translations (see the Classic Reformed Theology series), it is clear to me that there is no translator who does not interpret. The real question is a matter of art or degree. When a text is inherently ambiguous, as Genesis 3:16b is, should the translator try to clean it up for the English reader or leave it ambiguous? I am arguing for the latter choice. If a publisher wants to add footnotes mentioning other options, that is perfectly acceptable. My old friend Warren Embree, who was using the NASB at the time, complained loudly (as he is wont to do) about the publisher’s practice of adding a note to a translation: “lit. x and y.” Quite reasonably, it seems to me, Warren complained that if the text may be rendered literally “x and y” then do so and leave the explanation of the text to the reader and/or preacher.
“There are no perfect translations. What we ought to seek is a good, consistent execution of a sound philosophy of translation.”
In short, sometimes translators create problems by doing too much to make the Bible accessible to the reader. The translator should accept the limitations inherent to the job. Sometimes translators become deeply convinced of the correctness of a theological explanation of the verse and it unduly influences the translation. That may be the case with the ESV’s revision of Genesis 3:16b, and it certainly seems to be the case in the choice to render “only begotten” (μονογενοῦς) in John 1:14 and 1:18 (μονογενὴς) as “one and only” (NIV) or “only” (ESV). There are good linguistic reasons for following Tyndale (1525) and the Geneva Bible (1559) by using “only begotten.” In the years since the NIV’s decision to revise “only begotten” to “one and only,” that choice now seems faddish.
There are no perfect translations. What we ought to seek is a good, consistent execution of a sound philosophy of translation. There is debate, of course, among Bible translators as to what that is, but the ESV was adopted by many Reformed and evangelical folk because it promised to follow an “essentially literal” translation. In the latest revisions, however, it does not seem to be following that philosophy consistently.
The Scriptures in the original languages are the final court of appeal.
What to do? The problems inherent in translating a text from one language to another were among the things motivating confessional Protestants in the Reformation to found schools to educate pastors and to produce a learned clergy. That vision of pastoral ministry has often been a tough sell in the USA, where pragmatism and busyness tend to trump study and learning. In the Westminster Confession 1.8, we see how much the early Reformed valued the original languages:
The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by his singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the church is finally to appeal unto them. But, because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them, therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that, the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner; and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope. (WCF 1.8)
The Scriptures in the original languages are the final court of appeal. Thus, we need ministers who can actually read the original languages. Ignorance of the original languages is a great impediment here. The second part of the answer then is to learn the original languages. It appears that some seminaries are moving away from this high calling just at the time when we need it most, but there are still schools where the languages are carefully taught. At my school, students are not permitted to use their English Bibles in their middler (second year) theology exams. They are only permitted to use their Hebrew and Greek texts. It is a challenge, but it can be done.
Pastors need to take the time to learn the biblical languages.
Pastor, I understand that you are busy and that your congregation may not value time in the study for you. Thus, it must be a priority to convince them that your first calling is to preach God’s Word, and to do that well you need to know (or refresh yourself in) Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Bible software is wonderful, but it is no substitute for knowing the languages. How will you know if the programmer made a mistake? It happens.
“The Scriptures in the original languages are the final court of appeal.”
As I argued in 2002, I am arguing today: the plethora of translations is a good thing. It is an opportunity to learn from others and to be more faithful. There have never been any perfect translations, but we are blessed with many good ones. When a translation disappoints you, do not be surprised. It is a fallen world. Make sure your pastor learns (or refreshes his) Hebrew and Greek. If that is not enough, I know where you can learn the biblical languages from real experts.
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
The word grace brings such joyful freedom to the human heart that it’s no wonder the last verse of the last book of the Bible ends with this benediction.
God’s grace extended to us, initiated our life with Him and is what we need to see us through to our final destination—heaven. When you live under the refreshing flow of grace, you walk in the newness of life that God intends. A sweet freshness will permeate your mind and heart, causing the fruits of mercy and kindness to grow.
God gives grace regardless of our merit or performance; therefore, we must extend grace to others as recipients. But perhaps you’re not giving grace because you are not personally living in its transforming power. Our failure to show grace can result in criticism and condemnation, leading to broken hearts and defeated spirits. Remember, God’s grace set you free, and it’s time to start living in a brand-new way.
Grace is meant to be shared, so put it to work in tangible ways—like your words and actions. Commit to nurturing and encouraging the practice of grace within the church, your home, and the world outside its doors. Be a grace giver today and every day and watch how it provokes others to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”
(2 Peter 3:18) to the glory of God the Father.
Awaiting His Return,
– Pastor Jack
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Christians sometimes find their theology in the strangest places. That’s not meant as an indictment—most of us are not searching for truth outside the confines of Scripture. But the church seems to have a nasty habit of allowing the world’s influence and wisdom to encroach upon territory that rightfully belongs to God alone.
The God who made the world and all things in it (17:24a)
Paul’s bold assertion that God made the world and all things in it was a powerful and upsetting truth for some of the Athenians to hear. It ran contrary to the Epicureans, who believed matter was eternal and therefore had no creator, and to the Stoics, who as pantheists believed everything was part of God—who certainly couldn’t have created Himself. But it was still the basic approach required. Whenever the logic of a creator has been eliminated, people are cut off completely from God.
The truth that God is the creator of the universe and all it contains is just as unpopular in our day. The prevailing explanation by the ungodly for the origin of all things is evolution. It is taught dogmatically by its zealous adherents (including, sadly, many Christians) as a scientific fact as firmly established as the law of gravity. Yet evolution is not even a scientific theory (since it is not observable, repeatable, or testable), let alone an established fact.
The impressive scientific evidence against evolution can be briefly summarized as follows. First, the second law of thermodynamics shows that evolution is theoretically impossible. Second, the evidence of the fossil record shows evolution in fact did not take place. (Among the many helpful books presenting the scientific case against evolution are Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis [Bethesda, Md.: Adler and Adler, 1985]; Duane T. Gish, Evolution: The Fossils Still Say NO! [El Cajon, Calif.: Institute for Creation Research, 1995]; Henry M. Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985]; Henry M. Morris and Gary E. Parker, What Is Creation Science? [San Diego: Master Book Publishers, 1984].)
The second law of thermodynamics, one of the most well-established principles in all of science, states that the natural tendency is for things to go from a more ordered to a less ordered state. Noted atheist Isaac Asimov acknowledged that “as far as we know, all changes are in the direction of increasing entropy, of increasing disorder, of increasing randomness, of running down” (cited in Henry M. Morris, ed., Scientific Creationism [San Diego: Creation-Life, 1976], 39). Yet, incredibly, evolutionists argue that precisely the opposite has happened. According to them, things have gone from a less ordered state to a more ordered one. Attempts to harmonize evolution with the second law of thermodynamics have not been successful, and it remains a powerful witness against evolution (cf. Emmett L. Williams, ed., Thermodynamics and the Development of Order [Norcross, Ga.: Creation Research Society Books, 1987]).
The only way to determine if evolution has happened is to examine the fossil record, which contains the history of life on earth. Although presented in popular literature and textbooks as proof for evolution, the fossil record is actually a major source of embarrassment for evolutionists. The innumerable transitional forms between phylogenetic groups demanded by evolution are simply not found. Although an evolutionist, David B. Kitts of the University of Oklahoma admits,
Despite the bright promise that paleontology provides a means of “seeing” evolution, it has presented some nasty difficulties for evolutionists the most notorious of which is the presence of “gaps” in the fossil record. Evolution requires intermediate forms between species and paleontology does not provide them. (“Paleontology and Evolutionary Theory,” Evolution 28 [September 1974]: 467)
Even Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard University, perhaps the most well-known contemporary defender of evolution, candidly admits,
The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology. The evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data only at the tips and nodes of their branches; the rest is inference, however reasonable, not the evidence of fossils. (“Evolution’s Erratic Pace,” Natural History LXXXVI [May 1977]: 14)
Paul’s affirmation that God made the world and all things in it finds its support in Scripture. The Bible opens with the simple declaration “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). In Psalm 146:5–6 the psalmist writes, “How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God; Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them.” Isaiah asks rhetorically, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable” (Isa. 40:28). In Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah describes God as “the God who formed the earth and made it.” Jeremiah 10:12 says of God, “It is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom; and by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.” Taking comfort in God’s power, Jeremiah exclaims, “Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee” (Jer. 32:17). Zechariah 12:1 refers to God as He “who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.”
The New Testament also teaches that God is the creator. Ephesians 3:9 declares that God “created all things.” Colossians 1:16 says of Jesus Christ, “By Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him.” The great hymn of praise to God in Revelation 4:11 reads, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created.” In Revelation 10:6 an angel “swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it.”
Still, the truth that God is the creator of all things is widely rejected—even by some who profess to believe in His existence. They see Him as a remote first cause, who merely set in motion the evolutionary process and can make no claim on anyone’s life. But the creator God can and does. Sinful men are uncomfortable with the thought that they are accountable to One who created them and hence owns them.
When preaching to Jews, Paul began with the Old Testament Scripture; but with Gentiles, he began with the need to explain the first cause (see the discussion of 14:15 in chapter 7 of this volume).
ruler
since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands (17:24b)
Because God created them, He is Lord of heaven and earth, and their rightful ruler. Genesis 14:19 describes God as “possessor of heaven and earth,” while David says in Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” The psalmist wrote: “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all” (Ps. 103:19). Humbled by God’s devastating judgment on him, the pagan king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, was forced to admit:
[God’s] dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, “What hast Thou done?” (Dan. 4:34–35)
The God who created the universe obviously does not dwell in temples made with hands. In 1 Kings 8:27 Solomon said, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built!” (cf. 2 Chron. 2:6; 6:18). David expressed that same truth in Psalm 139:1–12:
O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, and art intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all. Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, and laid Thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Thy hand will lead me, and Thy right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” even the darkness is not dark to Thee, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee.
The folly of idolatry is most clearly seen in its denial of God’s infinity.
giver
neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things; (17:25)
Paul points out the absurdity of imagining that God, the creator and ruler of the universe, should need to be served by human hands, as though He needed anything. Job 22:2–3 asks, “Can a vigorous man be of use to God.… Is there any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or profit if you make your ways perfect?” God declares to Israel:
I shall take no young bull out of your house, nor male goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all it contains. (Ps. 50:9–12)
Far from needing anything from men, God gives to all life and breath and all things. Psalm 104:14–15 reads:
[God] causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine which makes man’s heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which sustains man’s heart.
To the Romans Paul wrote, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). He commanded Timothy to “instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17). “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above,” notes James, “coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (James 1:17).
Nor does God give only to His children. Jesus said in Matthew 5:45 that God “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” God blesses all men, even the most hardened sinners, with the benefits of common grace.[1]
24–25 The substance of Paul’s Athenian address concerns the nature of God and the responsibility of people to God. Contrary to all pantheistic and polytheistic notions, God is the one, Paul says, who has created the world and everything in it: he is “the Lord of heaven and earth” (v. 24; cf. Ge 14:19, 22). He does not live in temples “built by hands” (en cheiropoiētois); nor is he dependent for his existence on anything he has created. Rather, he is the source of life and breath and everything else that humanity possesses (v. 25). Earlier in the fifth century BC, Euripides asked, “What house built by craftsmen could enclose the form divine within enfolding walls?” (Fragments 968); and in the first century BC, Cicero (Verr. 2.5.187) considered the image of Ceres worshiped in Sicily worthy of honor because it was not made with hands but had fallen from the sky. While Paul’s argument can be paralleled at some points by the higher paganism of the day, its content is decidedly biblical (cf. 1 Ki 8:27; Isa 66:1–2) and its forms of expression are Jewish as well as Greek (cf. Isa 2:18; 19:1; 31:7 [LXX]; Sib. Or. 4.8–12; Ac 7:41, 48; Heb 8:2; 9:24 on the pejorative use of “built with hands” for idols and temples).[2]
24 He then begins to tell them about the true God. He it is who created the universe and everything in it; he is Lord of heaven and earth. Here is the God of biblical revelation; no distinction is pressed between a supreme being and a demiurge who fashioned the material world. The God who is creator of all and universal Lord is introduced in language strongly reminiscent of the Old Testament scriptures. Equally reminiscent of those scriptures is the language in which Paul describes the true God as not inhabiting sanctuaries built by human hands. If even the shrine at Jerusalem, erected for the worship of the true God, could not contain him, how much less the splendid shrines on the Athenian Acropolis, dedicated as they were to divinities that had no real existence! True, even the higher paganism had acknowledged that no material house could accommodate the divine nature,65 but the affinities of the terms here used by Paul are biblical rather than classical.
25 The God who created all could not be envisaged as requiring anything from his creatures. If he is pleased to accept their service, it is not because he lacks something which they can supply. Here again parallels to Paul’s argument can be adduced from Greek literature and philosophy. But the great prophets of Israel also had to refute the false notion that God is somehow dependent on his people’s worship and service, when they saw how many of their fellow Israelites were devoted to it. How can the Lord of heaven and earth need anything that his creatures can give him?
“I will accept no bull from your house,
nor he-goat from your fold.
For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the air,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world and all that is in it is mine.”
Far from their being able to supply any need of his, it is he who supplies every need of theirs: to them all he gives “life, breath, and everything.”[3]
17:24 / Paul’s answer to that question is that God is the creator. He has made the world and everything in it. The proposition comes straight from the Old Testament (e.g., Gen. 1:1; Exod. 20:11; Neh. 9:6; Ps. 74:17; Isa. 42:5; 45:7); the language, however, does not, for there is no corresponding word in Hebrew for “the world.” The Hebrew Bible speaks of “the heaven and the earth” or “the all” (Jer. 10:16). “The world” (Gk. kosmos) is found in Greek-speaking Judaism (Wisd. 9:9; 11:17; 2 Macc. 7:23), but Paul’s choice of it here may have been influenced less by that than by the use made of it by Plato and Aristotle. In any case, his point was that the world was not a thing of chance, but the work of God. A number of things follow from this: First, God is not detached from the creation, as the Epicureans thought, and second, God is greater than the creation. Therefore he cannot be confined to temples built by hands (the Stoics would have heartily agreed, though from a different premise). Again, Paul’s words had an edge to them, and this time it may have been noticed, for “made with hands” was an expression commonly used by Greek philosophers and Jews alike in their attacks on idolatry (see disc. on 7:48). The second half of this verse may be a deliberate echo of the sentiment expressed in Solomon’s prayer (1 Kings 8:27).
17:25 / Moreover, third, God does not need anything that we can supply. The verb means “to need in addition,” as though necessary to make God complete. The Roman Epicurean Lucretius (d. 55 b.c.) had borne witness to the notion that God “needs nothing from us” (On the Nature of Things 2.650), and his Greek counterparts must have nodded their approval of Paul at this point. But Paul’s teacher was again the Old Testament. Psalm 50:7–15 makes this very point (cf. also 2 Macc. 14:35; 3 Macc. 2:9; Philo, Special Laws 1.291). It is evident from the fact that God is himself the source of human life. What, then, can we give to God? This thought is expressed emphatically in the Greek, “Not by human hands is he served,” and then underlined by the present participle, “he [God] keeps on giving” life. This description of God is drawn from Isaiah 42:5 (cf. Gen. 2:7; Wisd. 1:7, 14), but Paul may have intended a double meaning, for life (Gk. zōē) was popularly linked with Zeus, and he would have them know that God, not Zeus, was the source of life (see disc. on 14:17). The best commentary on this verse is found in 1 Chronicles 29:14. David prays: Who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give [anything to you, i.e., to God]? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.[4]
24. God, who hath made the world. Paul’s drift is to teach what God is. Furthermore, because he hath to deal with profane men, he draweth proofs from nature itself; for in vain should he have cited testimonies of Scripture. I said that this was the holy man’s purpose, to bring the men of Athens unto the true God. For they were persuaded that there was some divinity; only their preposterous religion was to be reformed. Whence we gather, that the world doth go astray through bending crooks and boughts, yea, that it is in a mere labyrinth, so long as there remaineth a confused opinion concerning the nature of God. For this is the true rule of godliness, distinctly and plainly to know who that God whom we worship is. If any man will intreat generally of religion, this must be the first point, that there is some divine power or godhead which men ought to worship. But because that was out of question, Paul descendeth unto the second point, that the true God must be distinguished from all vain inventions. So that he beginneth with the definition of God, that he may thence prove how he ought to be worshipped; because the one dependeth upon the other. For whence came so many false worshippings, and such rashness to increase the same oftentimes, save only because all men forged to themselves a God at their pleasure? And nothing is more easy than to corrupt the pure worship of God, when men esteem God after their sense and wit.
Wherefore, there is nothing more fit to destroy all corrupt worshippings, than to make this beginning, and to show of what sort the nature of God is. Also our Saviour Christ reasoneth thus, John 4:24, “God is a Spirit.” Therefore he alloweth no other worshippers but such as worship him spiritually. And surely he doth not subtilely dispute of the secret substance [essence] of God; but by his works he declareth which is the profitable knowledge of him. And what doth Paul gather thence, because God is the creator, framer, and Lord of the world? to wit, that he dwelleth not in temples made with hands. For, seeing that it appeareth plainly by the creation of the world, that the righteousness, wisdom, goodness, and power of God doth reach beyond the bounds of heaven and earth; it followeth, that he can be included and shut up within no space of place.
Notwithstanding this demonstration seemeth to have been in vain, because they might readily have said, that images and pictures were placed in temples to testify God’s presence; and that none was so gross but that he knew that God did fulfil [fill] all things. I answer, that that is true which I said a little before, that idolatry is contrary to itself. The unbelievers said, that they worshipped the gods before their images; but unless they had tied the Godhead and power of God to images, and had hoped to be holpen thereby, would they have directed their prayers thither? Hereby it came also to pass, that one temple was more holy than another. They ran to Delphos that they might fet [fetch] the oracles of Apollo thence, Minerva had her seat and mansion at Athens. Now we see that Paul doth touch that false opinion, whereby men have always been deceived; because they feigned to themselves a carnal God.
This is the first entrance into the true knowledge of God, if we go without ourselves, and do not measure him by the capacity of our mind; yea, if we imagine nothing of him according to the understanding of our flesh, but place him above the world, and distinguish him from creatures. From which sobriety the whole world was always far; because this wickedness is in men, naturally to deform God’s glory with their inventions. For as they be carnal and earthy, they will have one that shall be answerable to their nature. Secondly, after their boldness they fashion him so as they may comprehend him. By such inventions is the sincere and plain knowledge of God corrupt; yea, his truth, as saith Paul, is turned into a lie, (Rom. 1:25.) For whosoever doth not ascend high above the world, he apprehendeth vain shadows and ghosts instead of God. Again, unless we be carried up into heaven with the wings of faith, we must needs vanish away in our own cogitations. And no marvel if the Gentiles were so grossly deluded and deceived, to include God in the elements of the world, after that they had pulled him out of his heavenly throne; seeing that the same befel the Jews, to whom notwithstanding the Lord had showed his spiritual glory. For it is not without cause that Isaiah doth chide them for including God within the walls of the temple, (Isaiah 66:1.) And we gather out of Stephen’s sermon, that this vice was common to all ages; which sermon is set down by Luke in the 7th chapter and 49th verse.
If any man asked the Jews, whose grossness the Holy Ghost reproveth, if they thought that God was included in their temple, they would stoutly have denied that they were in any such gross error. But because they did only behold the temple, and did rise no higher in their minds, and trusting to the temple, did boast that God was as it were bound to them, the Spirit doth for good causes reprehend them, for tying him to the temple as if he were a mortal man. For that is true which I said even now, that superstition is contrary to itself, and that it doth vanish away into divers imaginations. Neither have the Papists at this day any defence, saving that wherewith the Gentiles went about in times past to paint or cover their errors after a sort. In some, superstition doth feign that God dwelleth in temples made with hands, not that it will shut him up as it were in a prison; but because it doth dream of a carnal (or fleshly) God, and doth attribute a certain power to idols, and doth translate the glory of God unto external shows.
But if God do not dwell in temples made with hands, (2 Kings 19:15,) why doth he testify in so many places of Scripture, that he sitteth between the cherubims, and that the temple is his eternal rest? (Psalm 80:1; 132:14.) I answer, As he was not tied to any place, so he meant nothing less than to tie his people to earthly signs, but rather he cometh down to them that he might lift them up unto himself. Therefore, those men did wickedly abuse the temple and the ark, who did so behold those things that they stayed still upon earth, and did depart from the spiritual worship of God. Hereby we see that there was great difference between those tokens of God’s presence which men invented to themselves unadvisedly, and those which were ordained by God, because men do always incline downwards, that they may lay hold upon [apprehend] God after a carnal manner; but God by the leading of his word doth lift them upward. Only he useth middle signs and tokens, whereby he doth insinuate himself with slow men, until they may ascend into heaven by degrees (and steps.)
25. Neither is he worshipped with man’s hands. The same question which was answered of late concerning the temple, may now be objected touching ceremonies. For it seemeth that that may be translated unto the worshippings of the law of Moses, which Paul condemneth in the ceremonies of the Gentiles. But we may readily answer, that the faithful did never properly place the worship of God in ceremonies; but they did only count them helps wherewith they might exercise themselves according to their infirmity. When they did slay beasts, offered bread and drink offerings, light torches and other lights, they knew that godliness was not placed in these things, but being holpen by these, they did always look unto the spiritual worship of God, and they made account of it alone. And God himself saith plainly in many places, that he doth not pass for any external or visible thing, that ceremonies are of themselves of no importance, and that he is worshipped no otherwise but by faith, a pure conscience, by prayer and thankfulness. What did the Gentiles then? to wit, when they erected images, they offered incense, they set forth plays, and laid their cushions before their idols, they thought they had fulfilled the offices of godliness excellent well. Not only the philosophers, but also the poets, do sometimes deride the folly of the common people, because they did disorderly place the worship of God in the pomp and gorgeousness of ceremonies. That I may omit infinite testimonies, that of Persius is well known:
“Tell me, ye priests to sacred rites, what profit gold doth bring?
The same which Venus’ puppets fine, certes no other thing.
Why give not we to gods that which the blear-eyed issue could
Of great Messala never give from out their dish of gold?
Right justly deem’d a conscience clear, and heavenly thoughts of mind,
A breast with mildness such adorn’d, as virtue hath assign’d,
Let me in temples offer these,
Then sacrifice the gods shall please.”
And, undoubtedly, the Lord caused profane men to utter such speeches, that they might take away all colour of ignorance. But it doth plainly appear, that those who spake thus did straightway slide back again unto common madness; yea, that they did never thoroughly understand what this meant. For though those who pass the common people in wit be enforced to confess that bare ceremonies are in no estimation, yet it is impossible to pull from them this persuasion, but that they will think that they be a part of the divine worship. Therefore, the more diligently they give themselves to such vanities, they do not doubt but that they do the duties of godliness well. Therefore, because all mortal men, from the highest to the lowest, do think that God is pacified with external things, and they will, with their own works, fulfil their duty towards him, that doth Paul refute. There is also a reason added, because, seeing he is Lord of heaven and earth, he needeth nothing, because, seeing that he giveth breath and life to men, he can receive nothing of them again. For what can they bring of their own, who, being destitute of all good things, have nothing but of his free goodness, yea, who are nothing but by his mere grace, who shall forthwith be brought to nought, if he withdraw the Spirit whereby they live? Whereupon it followeth, that they are not only dull, but too proud, if they thrust in themselves to worship God with the works of their own hands.
For whereas he saith, that alms and the duties of love are sweet-smelling sacrifices, that must be distinguished from the matter which we have now in hand, where Paul doth only intreat of the ceremonies which the unbelievers put in place of the spiritual worship of God. By life and breath is meant the life which men live so long as the soul and body are joined together. Touching the end of the sentence, though some Greek books agree in this reading, κατα παντα, “through all things;” yet that seemeth to me more agreeable which the old interpreter hath, και τα πανια, “and all things,” because it is both plainer, and doth also contain a more perfect and full doctrine. For thence we do better gather that men have nothing of their own; and also certain Greek copies agree thereto.[5]
24. Paul’s proclamation is concerned with the God who made the universe and all that it contains, and who is therefore Lord of heaven and earth. His language is based on the Old Testament description of God (e.g. Isa. 42:5; Exod. 20:11), but what he said would also have been accepted by the Greek philosopher Plato. The Old Testament does not employ the word world (Gk. kosmos), since there is no corresponding term in Hebrew; rather it speaks of ‘the heaven and the earth’ or ‘the all’ (Jer. 10:16). But the word was used in Greek-speaking Judaism (Wisdom 9:9; 11:17; 2 Macc. 7:23), and it is not surprising to find it here (cf. Rom. 1:20); Paul employs the language that we would expect a Greek-speaking Jew to use, especially when addressing pagans. A God who is Creator and Lord clearly does not live in a temple made by human hands (cf. 7:48; Mark 14:58; the phrase was used of man-made idols in contrast with the living God, Lev. 26:1; Isa. 46:6). There is perhaps an echo of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple when he recognized its inadequacy as a house for God (1 Kgs 8:27). Again, this was a sentiment that would be accepted by Stoic philosophy.
25. Such a God has no need of men to supply him with anything; on the contrary it is he who is the source of life. The folly of caring for the gods was pointed out in the Old Testament (Isa. 46:1; Jer. 10:5) and by the Jews in their polemic against pagan idolatry (Letter of Jeremiah 25), but again the insight was shared by educated pagans, and numerous examples of the sentiment can be quoted (Dibelius, pp. 42–44). The description of God as the source of breath is drawn from Isaiah 42:5 (cf. Gen. 2:7) but Paul has utilized the triad of life and breath and everything from current terminology. Since the word for ‘life’ (zoē) was popularly associated with ‘Zeus’, the name of the supreme Greek god, it is possible that Paul was indirectly saying, ‘Not Zeus but Yahweh is the source of life’. Dibelius (pp. 42–46) and Haenchen (p. 522) have urged strongly that here the thought is thoroughly Hellenistic and not based on the Old Testament. But the thought was certainly present in Greek-speaking Judaism (2 Macc. 14:35; 3 Macc. 2:9), and it has its roots in Psalm 50:7–15; if the language and thought represent a development from the Old Testament and a use of Greek terminology, it is hard to see why this makes the statement foreign to the spirit of the Old Testament.[6]
24. “The God who made the world and all things in it, because he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in manmade temples. 25. And he is not served by human hands as if he needs anything; rather, he gives to everyone life, breath, and all things.”
The message Paul proclaims is thoroughly scriptural. Although the people in his audience are unaware of the references, Paul teaches that God, who is the creator of the heavens and the earth, gives life to all people. He does this by freely quoting the words of Isaiah:
This is what God the Lord says—
he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it. [42:5, NIV]
Paul puts the teaching concerning God and his revelation in the place of the Stoic philosophy that sees deities in every aspect of the world but has no doctrine of creation. Paul teaches monotheism over against Stoic pantheism. He introduces God, who made the world and everything in it. The Greek word kosmos signifies the world arranged in orderly fashion “as the sum total of everything here and now.” When Paul adds to the term kosmos the phrase and all things in it, he stresses the orderliness of creation that finds its origin in one personal God. He says that this God is Lord of heaven and earth. Paul intimates that as Lord, God governs and cares for all that he has made, including this Athenian audience.
Incidentally, Paul’s reference to creation has an echo in the speech he delivered in Lystra (14:15–17; compare Gen. 14:19, 22; Exod. 20:11). There he stressed that God provides the people with plenty of food and fills their hearts with joy. Now he asserts that God rules over everything in heaven and on earth.
“[God] does not dwell in manmade temples.” Again Paul proclaims the teachings of the Old Testament when he points out that God does not live in temples made by human hands (see 7:48; 1 Kings 8:27). Simple reasoning should convince the Athenians that God who has created heaven and earth cannot be restricted to the confines of a temple.
“And he is not served by human hands as if he needs anything.” God is immeasurably greater than the human mind can ever fathom. Therefore, in the psalms God says that because everything in this world belongs to him, he has no need for bulls and goats as sacrificial animals (Ps. 50:8–13). To the point, God is not dependent on sacrifices that man brings to him. With this teaching, Paul finds a listening ear among the Athenian philosophers. “Here may be discerned approximations to the Epicurean doctrine that God needs nothing from human beings and to the Stoic belief that he is the source of all life.…”
“Rather, he gives to everyone life, breath, and all things.” God is a personal God who not only creates but also sustains everything he has made. This self-sufficient God daily cares for man and for his great creation in the minutest details. God is the source of life, for he gives breath to all living creatures. Note the striking contrast Paul makes in this verse (v. 25). He says that God, who does not “need anything,” provides “all things” for everyone. In the Greek, the expression all things connotes that God in his support of man excludes absolutely nothing from the totality of creation. God gives man everything he needs and thus upholds him by his power.[7]
[1] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1994). Acts (Vol. 2, pp. 135–140). Moody Press.
[2] Longenecker, R. N. (2007). Acts. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Luke–Acts (Revised Edition) (Vol. 10, p. 983). Zondervan.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” Isaiah 55:6
“…those who seek me diligently find me.” Proverbs 8:17
“…seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” Matthew 6:33
Seek isn’t a word that slips easily into our English vocabulary. We don’t seek a bargain; we shop for one. Rarely do we seek for misplaced keys; we look for them. But this fascinating word is used, in one form or another, over 240 times in the Bible and it has a meaning we should seriously consider. Dr. Skip Moen defines the word as deliberately striving for and desiring something as an act of the will, putting your whole life at the disposal of God’s rule and will so that nothing takes greater priority.
Do I desperately seek after God or do my attempts wither when He seems distant, not answering my prayers, when I don’t feel His presence? What would it look like to stay in my quiet corner seeking after God with the same determination as the persistent widow in the story Jesus told? And then there is Jacob wrestling with the angel of God: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Both the woman and Jacob put their whole lives at the disposal of God so that nothing took greater priority.
I want these words from ‘A Guide to Prayer’ to be mine each morning:
“Lord, you have promised to meet those who seek your face. Come now and reveal your presence to me as I make myself present to you.”
Father, it’s much easier to just skim through a few Bible verses each morning, content with doing what seems part of the “formula” for following you. Don’t let me be so easily satisfied; help me pant after you as a deer pants for water.
For many, Christianity is simply the religion into which they were born.
For others, although Jesus is truly their Savior, their relationship with Him is hardly more than a history lesson, a study of what He did in the past. For those who truly love Him, however, Christ is Savior and more: He is their very life (Colossians 3:4).
When Jesus is your life you cannot go on without Him.
There is a story of a man who, in search of God, came to study at the feet of an old sage. The master brought this young man to a lake and led him out into the shoulder-deep water. Putting his hands upon his pupil’s head, he promptly pushed him under the water and continued to hold him there until the disciple, feeling he would surely drown, frantically repelled the old man’s resistance. In shock and confusion the young man resurfaced. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. His teacher looked him in the eyes and said, “When you desire God as you desired air, you shall find Him.”
Was this not the attitude of the psalmist when he wrote, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God“(Psalm 42:1)? You see, there is a place in seeking God where our heart goes beyond the limits of desire, where the actual issue becomes one of survival. I need Christ as a drowning man needs air and as a parched deer needs water. It is here, where we feel we cannot exist without seeking and finding the reality of God, that our deepest passion is fulfilled.
I will exalt You, my God and King; I will bless Your name for ever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome works, And I will proclaim Your great deeds. I will express the memory of Your abundant goodness And joyfully sing of Your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works. (Psalm 145:1–9)
O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens! (Psalm 8:1)
Lord Jesus, You are the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star. (Revelation 22:16)
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone does wonderful things. And blessed be His glorious name forever; May the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. (Psalm 72:18–19)
Pause to express your thoughts of praise and worship.
Confession
You were pierced for our transgressions, You were crushed for our iniquities; The punishment that brought us peace was upon You, And by Your wounds we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way, And the Lord has laid on You the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5–6)
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, With fasting and weeping and mourning. So rend your heart and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness, And He relents from sending calamity. (Joel 2:12–13)
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)
Lord, I have heard of Your fame, and I stand in awe of Your deeds. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In our time make them known; In wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2)
Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.
Thank You, Lord, that You have said: For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you. In a flood of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But I will have compassion on you with everlasting kindness. (Isaiah 54:7–8)
Renewal
Lord, renew me by Your Spirit as I offer these prayers to You:
May I keep the commandments of the Lord my God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. May I follow the Lord my God and fear Him; may I keep Your commandments, hear Your voice, serve You, and hold fast to You. (Deuteronomy 8:6; 13:4)
May I know God and serve Him with a whole heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every motive behind the thoughts. (1 Chronicles 28:9)
May I love the Lord my God and serve Him with all my heart and with all my soul. (Deuteronomy 11:13)
May I love my enemies, do good to those who hate me, bless those who curse me, and pray for those who mistreat me. Just as I want others to do to me, may I do to them in the same way. (Luke 6:27–28, 31)
Pause to add your own prayers for personal renewal.
Petition
Father, using Your word as a guide, I offer You my prayers concerning the things of the world.
May these beatitudes be a reality in my life: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3–10)
May I seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, and all these things will be added to me. (Matthew 6:33)
When I have found one pearl of great value, may I go away and sell all that I have and buy it. (Matthew 13:46)
Incline my heart to Your testimonies And not to selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things, And revive me in Your way. (Psalm 119:36–37)
May I keep my life free from the love of money and be content with what I have, for You have said, “I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
May I not be like those among the thorns on whom seed was sown, who hear the word, but the worries of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and pleasures, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it immature and unfruitful. Instead, may I be like the good soil on whom seed was sown, who with a noble and good heart hear the word, understand and accept it, and with perseverance, bear fruit, yielding thirty, sixty, or a hundred times what was sown. (Matthew 13:22–23; Mark 4:18–20; Luke 8:14–15)
As a servant of Christ and a steward of His possessions, it is required that I be found faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:1–2)
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. I cannot serve God and wealth. (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13)
By Your grace, I want to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Matthew 25:21)
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)
Lord, make me to know my end And what is the measure of my days; Let me know how fleeting is my life. (Psalm 39:4)
Teach me to number my days, That I may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us— Yes, confirm the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17)
Pause here to express any additional requests, especially concerning growth in wisdom:Developing an eternal perspective Renewing my mind with truth Greater skill in each area of life
My activities for this day Special concerns
Intercession
Lord, I now prepare my heart for intercessory prayer for my family.
May the Lord make me increase and abound in my love for believers and for unbelievers. May He establish my heart as blameless and holy before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:12–13)
May Your commandments be upon my heart, so that I may teach them diligently to my children and talk about them when I sit in my house and when I walk along the way and when I lie down and when I rise up. (Deuteronomy 6:6–7)
In the spirit of these passages, I pray for:My immediate family My relatives Spiritual concerns Emotional and physical concerns Other concerns
Affirmation
Feed my mind and heart, O Lord, as I affirm these truths from Your word concerning the benefits of salvation:
Having been justified by faith, I have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom I have gained access by faith into this grace in which I stand; and I rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1–2)
Lord, You have said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)
You are the light of the world. He who follows You will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life. (John 8:12)
You are the bread of life. He who comes to You will never hunger, and he who believes in You will never thirst. (John 6:35)
Everyone who drinks ordinary water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water You give will never thirst. Indeed, the water You give becomes in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:13–14)
Pause to reflect upon these biblical affirmations.
Thanksgiving
For who You are and for what You have done, accept my thanks, O Lord:
Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits; Who forgives all your iniquities And heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit And crowns you with love and compassion; Who satisfies your desires with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:1–5)
I will give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. (1 Chronicles 16:34)
For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? God is my strong fortress, And He sets the blameless free in His way. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to stand on the heights. (2 Samuel 22:32–34)
I will give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His lovingkindness endures forever. I will give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love And His wonderful acts to the children of men. (Psalm 107:1, 8)
Pause to offer your own expressions of thanksgiving.
Closing Prayer
This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are with us. (2 Corinthians 13:14)
Now to Him who is able to establish us by the gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and through the Scriptures of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, has been made known to all nations for obedience to the faith—to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen. (Romans 16:25–27)
Boa, K. (1993). Handbook to prayer: praying scripture back to God. Atlanta: Trinity House.
MATTHEW HENRY’S “METHOD FOR PRAYER”
Rely on Jesus Alone for Acceptance with God
Adoration 1.20 | ESV
We must profess our entire reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for acceptance with God and come in his name.
I do not present my plea before you because of my righteousness, Daniel 9:18(ESV) for I am before you in my guilt, Ezra 9:15(ESV) and cannot stand before you because of it; Psalm 130:3(ESV) but I make mention of Christ’s righteousness, even of his only, who is the LORD our righteousness, Jeremiah 23:6(ESV) and therefore the LORD my righteousness.
I know that even spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God only through Christ Jesus, 1 Peter 2:5(ESV) nor can I hope to receive anything but what I ask of you in his name; John 16:23(ESV) and therefore, bless me in the Beloved, Ephesians 1:6(ESV) that other angel who put much incense to the prayers of the saints and offers them up on the golden altar before the throne. Revelation 8:3(ESV)
I come in the name of the great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, who is able to sympathize with my weaknesses, Hebrews 4:14-15(ESV) and is therefore able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25(ESV)
Behold, O God, my shield, and look on the face of your Anointed, Psalm 84:9(ESV) in whom you have by a voice from heaven declared yourself to be well pleased; Lord, be well pleased with me in him. Matthew 3:17(ESV)
•Because of all You have done for me, I present my body to You as a living sacrifice for this day. I want to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, affirming that Your will for me is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)
ADORATION AND THANKSGIVING
•Offer a brief word of praise to God for one or more of His attributes (e.g., love and compassion, grace, mercy, holiness, goodness, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, truthfulness, unchanging character, eternality) and/or works (e.g., creation, care, redemption, loving purposes, second coming). •Thank Him for the good things in your life.
EXAMINATION
•Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness. (Psalm 139:23–24)
MY IDENTITY IN CHRIST
•“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
*I have forgiveness from the penalty of sin because Christ died for me. (Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3) *I have freedom from the power of sin because I died with Christ. (Colossians 2:11; 1 Peter 2:24) *I have fulfillment for this day because Christ lives in me. (Philippians 1:20–21) *By faith, I will allow Christ to manifest His life through me. (2 Corinthians 2:14)
FILLING OF THE SPIRIT
•Ask the Spirit to control and fill you for this day. •I want to be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18) When I walk by the Spirit, I will not carry out the desire of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16) If I live by the Spirit, I will also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
•Pray on the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22–23) •“Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–7)
PURPOSE OF MY LIFE
•I want to love the Lord my God with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and I want to love my neighbor as myself. (Matthew 22:37, 39) My purpose is to love God completely, love self correctly, and love others compassionately. •I will seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness. (Matthew 6:33) •I have been called to follow Christ and to be a fisher of men. (Matthew 4:19) •I will be a witness to those who do not know Him and participate in the Great Commission to go and make disciples. (Matthew 28:19–20; Acts 1:8) •I want to glorify the Father by bearing much fruit, and so prove to be Christ’s disciple. (John 15:8)
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DAY
•I will trust in the Lord with all my heart, and not lean on my own understanding. In all my ways I will acknowledge Him, and He will make my paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5–6) •“God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28; also see 8:29) I acknowledge that You are in control of all things in my life, and that You have my best interests at heart. Because of this I will trust and obey You today. •Review and commit the events of this day into the hands of God.
PROTECTION IN THE WARFARE
Against the World: Renew
•I will set my mind on the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5) •Since I have been raised up with Christ, I will keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. I will set my mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1–2; also see 3:3–4 and Hebrews 12:1–2) •I will be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving I will let my requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, I will let my mind dwell on these things. (Philippians 4:6–8; also see 4:9)
Against the Flesh: Reckon
•I know that my old self was crucified with Christ, so that I am no longer a slave to sin, for he who has died is freed from sin. I will reckon myself as dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. I will not present the members of my body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but I will present myself to God as one alive from the dead, and my members as instruments of righteousness to God. (Romans 6:6–7, 11, 13)
Against the Devil: Resist
•As I submit myself to God and resist the devil, he will flee from me. (James 4:7) •I will be of sober spirit and on the alert. My adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But I will resist him, firm in my faith. (1 Peter 5:8–9) •I will take up the full armor of God, that I may be able to resist and stand firm. I put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness; I put on my feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; and I take up the shield of faith with which I will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. I take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition I will pray at all times in the Spirit and be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:13–18)
THE COMING OF CHRIST AND MY FUTURE WITH HIM
•Your kingdom come, Your will be done. (Matthew 6:10) •You have said, “I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20) •I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to me. (Romans 8:18) •I will not lose heart, but though my outer man is decaying, yet my inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for me an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while I look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18) •My citizenship is in heaven, from which also I eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20)
(Also consider 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 11:1, 6; 2 Peter 3:11–12; 1 John 2:28; 3:2–3.)
Boa, K. (1993). Handbook to prayer: praying scripture back to God. Atlanta: Trinity House.
(Marsha West – Christian Research Network) If I were a gloater, I’d be gloating over the news that creator/writer/director of The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins, has parted company with Mormon owned Angel Studios. The Angel Studios (AS) team was involved for 8 years in producing the series. AS never hid the fact that they are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints a.k.a
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