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
I have reason to love you, O LORD, because you have heard the voice of my pleas for mercy, Psalm 130:2(ESV) and because you have inclined your ear to me; I will therefore call upon you as long as I live. Psalm 116:1-2(ESV)
Out of the depths I have called to you, O LORD, Psalm 130:1(ESV) and you have heard my vows and given me the heritage of those who fear your name. Psalm 61:5(ESV)
Indeed, before I have called, you have answered; and while I have been yet speaking, you have heard, Isaiah 65:24(ESV) and have said, “Here I am,” Isaiah 58:9(ESV) and have been near to me whenever I call upon you. Deuteronomy 4:7(ESV)
Lord, you have heard the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart, and incline your ear to hear. Psalm 10:17(ESV)
Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me; Psalm 66:20(ESV) for I have prayed and gone away, and my face has been no longer sad. 1 Samuel 1:18(ESV)
Whenever we receive troubling or confusing news, it’s normal to feel unsettled, even to fear. But it’s what we do with those feelings that is vitally important. We can either turn to God or away from Him. Thankfully the Bible isn’t silent on these matters. Through both exhortations and examples we learn what it means to turn from fear to faith. One such example is Mary, the mother of Jesus. When she had every reason to fear she instead responded in faith. The angel Gabriel had told Mary, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus” (Luke 1:31). Understandably, Mary asked how this would happen since she was a virgin (v. 34). Not surprisingly, the angel had an answer, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (v. 35). By faith Mary replied, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (v. 38). Not long afterwards Mary visited her relative, Elizabeth, who blessed her, “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (v. 45). Such faith is confirmed in Mary’s song of praise (vv. 46-55), which echoes Hannah’s prayer (1 Sam. 2:1-10). This song, known as the “Magnificat” teaches us at least seven things to do when we’re tempted towards fear instead of faith.
1. Praise God.
In the midst of unsettling circumstances Mary sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47). One of the greatest temptations in the midst of suffering is to focus our eyes on our pain. It’s not wrong to acknowledge our pain before the Lord, but biblical lament teaches us to turn from our pain to praise. Here Mary begins with who God is—the Lord, her Savior. This puts our pain in perspective. When life as we know it is turned upside down we can still rejoice in God our Savior. Whether or not He delivers us from our distress, He is still the author of our salvation.
2. Recognize His grace and mercy.
Mary recognized that the Lord had “looked on the humble estate of his servant” (Luke 1:48). It is tempting to wonder, especially when life feels uncertain, whether the Lord is looking upon us at all. But Mary reminds us of an important truth. God’s favor doesn’t rest upon us because we’re great, but because He’s gracious. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:4-5). And God’s care for us doesn’t end. He continues to look upon us with grace and mercy. This should lead us to recognize “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (v. 10).
3. Understand God works from generation to generation.
Mary knew “from now on all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). God works through the generations of those that He is calling out from the world to be His people in fulfillment of His promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:3). Instead of fearing the outcome of your circumstances, by faith consider how He might use your unsettling situation to accomplish His work in your life and the life of your children and grandchildren.
4. Consider His might and holiness.
By faith Mary understood “he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Luke 1:49). At first glance, in the midst of confusing circumstances, we may not think God has done great things for us. But when we consider His might and holiness we will, by God’s grace, conclude He has indeed done great things in our lives.
5. Believe in Christ alone for your salvation.
Mary knew that God’s “mercy is for those who fear him” (Luke 1:50). Unsettling circumstances oftentimes remind us that our satisfaction, security, and significance is found only in Christ. Turn to Him by faith.
6. Know God’s kingdom is different than the kingdoms of this world.
The Lord “has scattered the proud” and “brought down the mighty” and “exalted those of humble estate” (Luke 1:51-52). Also, “he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty” (v. 53). One of the things that leads us to fear is feeling like worldly dreams are slipping through our fingers. When we realize God’s kingdom is different than this world, we can trust His character and ways, even when troubled and confused.
7. Be comforted by God’s covenant promises.
Mary realized God’s covenant promises were coming to fruition, “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever” (Luke 1:54-55). In the midst of confusion or trouble remember that the Lord is accomplishing big things through your small story.
*****
Dear believer, when you are tempted to fear, put your faith in God. Praise Him, recognize His grace and mercy, understand He works from generation to generation, consider His might and holiness, believe in His Son alone for your salvation, know His kingdom is different than the kingdoms of this world, and be comforted by His covenant promises.
Dr. Gary Frazier is founder and president of Discovery Missions International, an equipping ministry. He is a former pastor, a respected speaker on Bible prophecy and the author of 15 books. He returned to Crosstalk to discuss his book, Hell is for Real: Why It Matters.
Early on Gary mentioned how many people never ponder their own mortality. He gave an example involving George Barna, the highly respected survey expert. He discovered that 76% of Americans surveyed said they believe there is a heaven. 71% believe there is a hell. The problem is that only one half of one percent believe that they will go there; that it’s only for terrible people. So the criteria that is used to determine where someone will spend eternity has been flawed.
Getting the right criteria means dealing with certain questions and answering them biblically. Gary does just that as he deals with the following difficult questions related to this vital subject:
What does it take to get to heaven?
What does it take to get to hell?
Are there some pastors that are giving out wrong information when it comes to hell?
How does the Bible describe hell?
Why would our loving God create such a place?
What does it mean to “perish”?
More Information Book Offer: Hell is for Real – 1 copy for a donation of $17 or two copies going to the same address for a donation of $29. Available at vcy.org or by calling 1-800-729-9829.
Dr. Albert Mohler warned in a response to Kirk Cameron that revising the doctrine of hell equates to “tampering with the gospel.”
Dr. Albert Mohler. Screengrab from YouTube / @AlbertMohlerOfficial
Revising the doctrine of hell equates to “tampering with the gospel,” warned Dr. Albert Mohler, and trying to make the gospel conform to human expectations is “a fatal error.”
Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, responded to controversy sparked by a recent discussion on “The Kirk Cameron Show.” Evangelist Kirk Cameron and his young-adult son James shared their opinions about hell on a Dec. 3 podcast episode. The pair said they lean toward the teachings of annihilationism or conditionalism, which hold that unbelievers and the wicked will cease to exist rather than suffer eternal torment.
That view, said Kirk Cameron, “fits the character of God in my understanding more than the conscious eternal torment position, because it brings in the mercy of God together with the justice of God. It doesn’t leave judgment out. It is to die and it is to perish, not live forever in an eternal barbecue.” Son James concurred, saying he believes more in “eternal destruction rather than eternal torment.”
Since that episode aired, numerous Christian leaders have responded to the Camerons. Some said their views are “dangerously wrong,” while others called the opinions unorthodox but not heretical.
Albert Mohler: Revisions of Hell Don’t Mesh With Scripture
Dr. Albert Mohler said he made a response video about hell because “as Christians, we have the responsibility to get all biblical knowledge right” and to be “fully accountable to the biblical text.” Revisionist teachings on hell are “one of the big, major signal developments in the emergence of liberal theology,” he said.
Conditionalism holds that wicked people don’t receive immortality, Mohler explained, while annihilationism holds that “the subjects of God’s wrath are simply annihilated…as if they had never been.” Neither teaching makes biblical sense, the seminary president argued, because they are “foreign in particular from the New Testament logic.”
Mohler also said Cameron ignores the context and parallelism of Jesus’ teachings on hell, which are more numerous than Jesus’ teachings on heaven. Pointing to Matthew 25:31-45, Mohler said, “Eternal punishment and eternal life are set as dual destinies. Two different destinies. The one for the righteous, and the other for the wicked.”
Because of our sinful condition, Mohler said, humans are saved only through Christ’s righteousness imputed to us. “Just think about the wonder of the gospel here, and you understand why tampering with the doctrine of hell is actually tampering with the gospel…and tampering with the doctrine of God,” he said.
For anyone who says hell isn’t a “theological priority,” Mohler responded, “The gospel hangs as a whole…and when you pull out something like hell and seek to redefine it, you actually end up redefining the entire body. And that’s a huge problem.”
Albert Mohler: ‘The Gospel Isn’t Going To Conform Itself to You’
As for Kirk Cameron’s argument that annihilationism better reflects God’s just character, Albert Mohler said, “We cannot rescue God’s character from the Bible. That is a fatal error.” He pointed to 19th-century liberal Protestants who wanted to throw out the entire Old Testament. “The gospel isn’t going to conform itself to you,” said Mohler, “and certainly the doctrine of God is not going to conform itself to our expectations.”
Pointing to Matthew 25:46, Mohler noted the parallelism between eternal life and eternal punishment. “This is Jesus himself, the Son, revealing the righteousness and the future decree of the Father,” he noted, “and we are in absolutely no position to question what is revealed in Scripture.”
This clarity is “by God’s grace [due to] what is at stake,” according to Mohler. He said Jesus’ “very clear depictions…of eternal conscious torment in hell” are intended to spark fear, awe, and adoration so that people “turn to confess Christ and seize the gospel.”
The doctrine of hell is “important because it gets right to the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Mohler concluded. Knowing that the newborn Jesus eventually took God’s wrath for sinners upon himself makes Christmas and the gospel “so much sweeter,” he said.
Although Christmas doesn’t seem like an ideal time to talk about hell, Mohler noted, “the moment came to us,” and “it all comes down to the gospel and getting the glorious gospel right.”
And so the sympathetic high priest is Jesus Christ, who in the days of His flesh felt what we feel. And of course, the climax comes when He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. What incident in His life does that speak to you about? Does that remind you of the Garden of Gethsemane? Sure. That was the greatest climax of His suffering for there He began to bear the sins of the world didn’t He? There He began to feel the crush of sin upon Him. He began to feel Satan bruising Him, and it hurt. Do you remember the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before He went to the cross? He went into the Garden to pray and He agonized there and He sweat as it were great drops of blood and He cried to the Father. And His heart was grieving and broken at the prospect and the pain of bearing sin. And He felt the power of sin and He felt temptation. He felt everything Satan could throw at Him, and He got it all even on the cross. He felt everything you’ll ever feel.
THIS is what makes Jesus the perfect High Priest. Fully God and fully man, He knows the pain, sorrow, temptation, and devastation of sin, closely and intimately.
Ligonier: The Intercession of Christ A time would come when Satan would sift Peter, and he would fall under the weight of temptation and deny his Lord. But what did Jesus say about that time? He comforted Peter by assuring him that he would not lose his faith. And the reason his faith wouldn’t fail was that Jesus had prayed for him. Peter would not fall away from the faith because Jesus had interceded for him.
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Introduction/Background
Prophecies:
Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive Day 2: A shoot from Jesse Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time Day 4: Marry her, she will bear a Son
Birth & Early Life-
Day 5: The Babe has arrived! Day 6: The Glory of Jesus Day 7: Magi seek the Child Day 8: The Magi Offer gifts & worship Day 9: The Child Grew Day 10- the Boy Jesus at the Temple Day 11: He was Obedient Day 12: The Son! Day 13: God is pleased with His Son
The Second Person of the Trinity-
Day 14: Propitiation Day 15: The Gift of Eternal Life Day 16: Kingdom of Darkness to Light Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence Day 18: The Highest King Day 19: He emptied Himself Day 20: Jesus as The Teacher Day 21: The Good Shepherd
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, (3:8–9a)
The forceful phrase more than that is an untranslatable string of five Greek particles (lit. “but indeed therefore at least even”). It strongly emphasizes the contrast between the religious credits that do not impress God and the incalculable benefits of knowing Christ. In verse 7, Paul counted the religious credits in verses 5 and 6 as loss; here he expands that conviction and declares all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. The verb translated “I have counted” in verse 7 is in the perfect tense; the same verb translated here I count is in the present tense. That indicates that all the meritorious works that Paul had counted on to earn God’s favor, and any that he might do in the present or future, are but loss. Paul abandoned his past religious achievements in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. The participle huperchon (the surpassing value) refers to something of incomparable worth. The word knowing in the Greek text is not a verb, but a form of the noun gnōsis, from the verb ginōskō, which means to know experimentally or experientially by personal involvement. The surpassing knowledge of Christ that Paul describes here is far more than mere intellectual knowledge of the facts about Him. The New Testament frequently describes Christians as those who know Christ. In John 10:14 Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” In John 17:3 He defined eternal life as knowing Him: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” To the Corinthians Paul wrote, “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6), while in Ephesians 1:17 he prayed “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.” In his first epistle John declared, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). Salvation involves a personal, relational knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the Greeks, gnōsis could describe secret, cultic, mystical communion with a deity. Those who were initiated into the mystery claimed to have ascended beyond the mundane knowledge possessed by the masses. They imagined that they alone enjoyed some personal experience of their deity. The Greeks often sought such an elevated state through drunken revelry. In the second century, the dangerous heresy of Gnosticism attempted to syncretize the Greek concept of gnōsis and Christian truth. Like their pagan counterparts, the Gnostics claimed a higher, truer knowledge of God than the average Christian experienced. But Paul uses gnōsis here to describe the transcendent communion with Christ that all true believers experience. There is also an Old Testament context for gnōsis. The verb form was used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) to translate the Hebrew word yada. Yada often denoted an intimate knowledge, even a union or bond of love. It was sometimes used in Scripture as a euphemism for sexual intercourse (e.g., Gen. 4:1, 17, 25; 19:8; 24:16; Num. 31:17–18, 35; Judg. 21:11–12; 1 Sam. 1:19). It also described God’s intimate love bond with Israel: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2 NKJV). Thus, the word can have the connotation both of a transcendent knowledge and an intimate love bond. Adding personal warmth to the rich theological concept of knowing Christ Jesus, Paul describes Him as my Lord. That threefold description encompasses Christ’s three offices of prophet, priest, and king. Christ views Him as the Messiah, the messenger or prophet of God. Jesus views Him as Savior, emphasizing His role as believers’ great High Priest. Lord views Him as sovereign King over all creation. Salvation comes only through the deep knowledge of and intimate love bond with Jesus Christ that God gives by grace through faith. Commenting on the believer’s knowledge of Christ, F. B. Meyer wrote,
We may know Him personally intimately face to face. Christ does not live back in the centuries, nor amid the clouds of heaven: He is near us, with us, compassing our path in our lying down, and acquainted with all our ways. But we cannot know Him in this mortal life except through the illumination and teaching of the Holy Spirit.… And we must surely know Christ, not as a stranger who turns in to visit for the night, or as the exalted king of men—there must be the inner knowledge as of those whom He counts His own familiar friends, whom He trusts with His secrets, who eat with Him of His own bread. To know Christ in the storm of battle; to know Him in the valley of shadow; to know Him when the solar light irradiates our faces, or when they are darkened with disappointment and sorrow; to know the sweetness of His dealing with bruised reeds and smoking flax; to know the tenderness of His sympathy and the strength of His right hand—all this involves many varieties of experience on our part, but each of them like the facets of a diamond will reflect the prismatic beauty of His glory from a new angle. (The Epistle to the Philippians [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1952], 162–63)
For the inestimable privilege of knowing Jesus Christ, Paul gladly suffered the loss of all things by which he might have sought to earn salvation apart from Christ. The apostle went so far as to count them but rubbish so that he might gain (personally appropriate) Christ. All efforts to obtain salvation through human achievement are as much rubbish as the worst vice. Skubalon (rubbish) is a very strong word that could also be rendered “waste,” “dung,” “manure,” or even “excrement.” Paul expresses in the strongest possible language his utter disdain for all the religious credits with which he had sought to impress man and God. In view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, they are worthless. Paul would have heartily endorsed Isaiah’s declaration that “all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (Isa. 64:6). The phrase in Him expresses the familiar Pauline truth that believers are in Christ, a concept found more than seventy-five times in his epistles. Believers are inextricably intertwined with Christ in an intimate life and love bond. “I have been crucified with Christ,” wrote Paul to the Galatians; “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 gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2001). Philippians (pp. 234–237). Moody Press.
8 “What is more” introduces a clause stressing that Paul’s experience on the Damascus road had produced a strong and lasting impression. The merits of Christ counted for everything. By using panta (“all things”) rather than tauta (“these things,” v. 7), Paul’s thought broadens from his Jewish advantages just mentioned to include everything that might conceivably be a rival to his total trust in Christ. The “surpassing greatness” can be understood of Christ in an absolute sense, though it likely includes at least a sidelong glance at the list of supposed advantages he had once trusted in. Christ is far superior to them in every respect—so much so that Paul had cast them away as nothing but rubbish. For Paul, the knowledge of Christ Jesus as his Lord meant the intimate communion with Christ that began at his conversion and had been his experience all the years since then. It was not limited to the past (as v. 10 shows), but was a growing relationship in which there was blessed enjoyment in the present and the challenge and excitement of increasing comprehension of Christ in personal fellowship. In the interests of this sublime goal, Paul had willingly suffered the loss of all those things (ta panta) about which he had spoken, and continues to regard them as “rubbish” in order that he might “gain Christ.” Although at regeneration a person receives Christ, this is only the beginning of his discovery of what riches this entails. In Christ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Col 2:3), but to search them out and appropriate them personally requires a lifetime.
Kent, H. A., Jr. (1981). Philippians. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians through Philemon (Vol. 11, pp. 140–141). Zondervan Publishing House.
3:8 Paul now moves to develop the thought of the previous verse, drawing particular attention to this statement. The statement in question is in fact the one long, complex Greek sentence that encompasses verses 8–11! He begins by broadening the statement of the previous verse: I count everything as loss. In contrast to the perfect tense of the verb rendered count (hēgeomai) in verse 7, Paul uses the present tense in this verse. Paul’s settled mindset of counting his ‘gains’ as loss (3:7) is expressed in a continual counting of everything as loss (3:8). He moves from the specific things he has counted as loss (described in 3:5–7) to a much larger claim that everything is placed in the loss column. This shift is very important, because it excludes nothing. Paul insists that even those things that are good and beneficial in and of themselves ultimately must go in the loss column when it comes to one’s standing before God. Even the good works that we do can become a deadly ground for confidence in the flesh rather than an expression of our trust in Christ. The reason for this radical form of spiritual accounting is given in the clause that follows: because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. The Greek word rendered surpassing worth (hyperechō) previously occurred in 2:3, where Paul exhorted the Philippians to ‘count others more significant [hyperechontas] than yourselves.’ As used here in 3:8, hyperechō means ‘to surpass in quality or value.’ It is knowing Christ Jesus my Lord that is of surpassing worth in comparison to all the things that could otherwise be considered gain. As the context makes clear, the kind of knowledge that Paul speaks of here is far from a bare intellectual grasp of information. It is instead the kind of personal knowledge that comes from close contact with a person. An example of this can be found in a first-century decree that refers to a citizen from the town of Olbia who ‘had advanced to personal acquaintance [gnōseōs] with the Augusti [i.e. the emperors Augustus and Tiberius].’ Paul himself will explain what it means to know Christ later in verse 10. We must not rush too quickly past the extraordinary expression Christ Jesus my Lord. Each word is pregnant with significance. Although by this point in a Gentile context the title Christ may have lost some of its punch, it must be remembered that by this title the early Christians expressed their conviction that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Anointed One who was the fulfillment of the OT hope. Within a Greek context the term would have initially lacked such connotations; it would have simply referred to someone who was anointed, perhaps for a specific task. But there is little doubt that, within the preaching of the gospel in a Gentile context such as Philippi, Paul used the title Christ and explained its significance. The name Jesus means ‘Yahweh saves’ (cf. Matt. 1:21); as such it expresses the central message of the new covenant. The name focuses on the fact that Jesus is the Savior of God’s people, the one who rescues them from their sin. The title Lord emphasizes the sovereign reign of Jesus; He is the one to whom universal dominion has been given (cf. Phil. 2:9–11). The Greek noun kyrios (‘Lord’) was also the term used to translate the sacred divine name Yahweh in the LXX. As we saw in 2:9–11, the Father has bestowed this name on Jesus Christ. So when Paul speaks of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord he speaks of knowing the promised anointed one who was the fulfillment of the OT hope, the one who was sent to save His people from their sins, the one who has universal dominion and authority. In others, Paul thinks of Jesus as Messiah, Savior, and King all in one. And with the addition of the personal pronoun my Paul expresses his own personal commitment to this utterly unique person. The same Christ Jesus who has been given the name above every name and before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess (2:9–11) is Paul’s personal Lord. Thus Jesus Christ is not merely Lord in some abstract sense but in a very personal sense. Although most English translations begin a new sentence at this point, as we noted above, 3:8–11 is one sentence in Greek. Paul continues: For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things. This clause continues the thought of the previous one, but extends it. In the previous clause Paul spoke of counting everything as loss, which focuses on the decision of the will to regard everything as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ. In this clause Paul asserts that he has in fact lost all things. In other words, the language here goes beyond the arena of the mind into his actual experience. But Paul is not content to stop there. Beyond losing all things for the sake of Christ, Paul claims I count them as rubbish. By rubbish (skybalon) Paul refers to something that is ‘useless or undesirable material that is subject to disposal.’ As a result the word has a range of meanings, including garbage or even dung. Perhaps the closest English equivalent is ‘crap.’ Which sense Paul has in mind here is difficult to say, and is ultimately beside the point since the thrust of what he says is quite clear. By comparison with the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, everything is rubbish by comparison. By using this particular word Paul brings to a climax the stunning transformation that he has experienced. The very things that at one time were the basis of his identity, significance, and standing before God, Paul now regards as equivalent to that which is flushed away in the sewers. This word choice is all the more ironic in light of his pre-Christian identity as a Pharisee, who as a group placed great emphasis on purity and being ritually clean. In the final clause of the verse Paul states the first of three purposes behind his spiritual calculus of counting all things rubbish: in order that I may gain Christ. The use of financial language continues with the use of the verb gain (kerdainō). The following clause seems to expand on what Paul means here, and as we will note that expression should be seen as having an already/not-yet dynamic. On the one hand, Paul has already ‘gained Christ’ by trusting in Him as the Messiah. Christ has become his. He is now in Christ and Christ is in him. Within his spiritual ledger the loss column reads EVERYTHING, while the gain column has but one entry: CHRIST. Or, as Paul puts it in Galatians 6:14: ‘But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’ At the same time, Paul anticipates an even greater experience of Christ when God consummates all of His promises in a new creation (Rom. 8:19–23). When seen from this already/not-yet dynamic, Paul is in effect restating what he affirmed in 1:21: ‘For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.’ It quite easy to see the necessity of regarding our sin as loss for the sake of Christ, but the shocking claim that Paul makes here goes well beyond that. He claims that even those things that might be classified as credits belong in the loss column. They are no different from that which is flushed down the toilet. Repentance from sin is an obvious necessity; less obvious is the equally necessary repentance from our own spiritual pedigree. In comparison to Christ, everything else is dung. Even things that in and of themselves are good gifts from God must be placed in the loss column in order to gain Christ. The thoughtful reader cannot help but ask, ‘Have I counted all things as loss for the sake of gaining Christ?’ Nothing that is found in this world can compare to Jesus Christ. Just as He laid aside His privilege and personal comfort to take the form of a Servant to redeem His people (2:6–11), so too must His people lay aside all things in view of the surpassing value of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. J. I. Packer brings out this truth memorably:
When Paul says he counts the things he lost rubbish, or dung (KJV), he means not merely that he does not think of them as having any value, but also that he does not live with them constantly in his mind: what normal person spends his time nostalgically dreaming of manure? Yet this, in effect, is what many of us do. It shows how little we have in the way of true knowledge of God.124
This then is another reflection of the topsy-turvy Kingdom of God, in which ‘gain’ of one sort, if clung to, would bring eternal loss; while what we see as ‘loss’ will bring inestimable joy and blessing.
Harmon, M. S. (2015). Philippians: A Mentor Commentary (pp. 333–338). Mentor.
I shall not die, I can, I do, believe in the Lord my God, and this faith will keep me alive. I would be numbered among those who in their lives are just; but even if I were perfect I would not try to live by my righteousness; I would cling to the work of the Lord Jesus and still live by faith in Him and by nothing else. If I were able to give my body to be burned for my Lord Jesus, yet I would not trust in my own courage and constancy, but still would live by faith.
Were I a martyr at the stake
I’d plead my Saviour’s name;
Intreat a pardon for His sake,
And urge no other claim.
To live by faith is a far surer and happier thing than to live by feelings or by works, The branch, by living in the vine, lives a better life than it would live by itself, even if it were possible for it to live at all apart from the stem. To live by clinging to Jesus, by deriving all from Him, is a sweet and sacred thing. If even the most just must live in this fashion, how much more must I who am a poor sinner! Lord, I believe. I must trust Thee wholly. What else can I do? Trusting Thee is my life….
For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. (Ezekiel 34:11)
This He does at the first when His elect are like wandering sheep that know not the Shepherd or the fold. How wonderfully doth the Lord find out His chosen! Jesus is great as a seeking Shepherd as well as a saving Shepherd. Though many of those His Father gave Him have gone as near to hell-gate as they well can, yet the Lord by searching and seeking discovers them and draws nigh to them in grace. He has sought out us: let us have good hope for those who are laid upon our hearts in prayer, for He will find them out also.
The Lord repeats this process when any of His flock stray from the pastures of truth and holiness. They may fall into gross error, sad sin, and grievous hardness; but yet the Lord, who has become a surety for them to His Father, will not suffer one of them to go so far as to perish. He will by providence and grace pursue them into foreign lands, into abodes of poverty, into dens of obscurity, into depths of despair; He will not lose one of all that the Father has given Him. It is a point of honor with Jesus to seek and to save all the flock, without a single exception. What a promise to plead, if at this hour I am compelled to cry, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep!”
J. Warner Wallace discusses the approach he took with the Gospels when he first began to investigate the case for Jesus. How do we know the gospels can be trusted? Do they contain eyewitness records related to the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus? For more information about Meg Meeker and Family Talk, please visit their website.
Recent events have shaken the world. The various murders, and specifically the assassination of Charlie Kirk, have left many Americans with questions of justice, the future, and truth. Our world has never seemed so dark, and the divide in America has never seemed so wide. Yet despite the horror and darkness of the past few weeks, hope is on the horizon. Revival. Never, in recent years, has the Church had such a potential harvest laid at our feet. God is truly turning evil to good with millions of Americans returning to church for the first time (Gen 50:20).
If revival is coming, we must be ready. We need to be prepared for the harvest (Luke 10:2). But how do we prepare? What is our greatest tool? The Gospel. Why is the Gospel so important? “It is the power of God for salvation” (Rom 1:16; ESV)
Hearing and responding to the Gospel in faith is how we enter God’s kingdom, making it the most important message one can hear. If we want to fan the flames of revival, it is vital that we know the Gospel fully so that we can share it with those who need it.
So, what exactly is the Gospel? I argue that, in general, the Gospel has eight essential parts, nine if you include the foundation; that the subject of the Gospel is Jesus and the Kingdom of God. [1]
The Gospel
Jesus: Jesus is the foundation of the Gospel. The entire Gospel revolves around him. The four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are centered around the man who is Jesus of Nazareth.[2]
Is the Christ (Messiah-King) The first fact that must be understood about Jesus is that he is the Christ. Christ is not a last name, but rather a title. The title Christ labels Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, the anointed one, the long-awaited King. In his gospel, John tells his readers that this gospel was written to convince them that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). Each gospel labels Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah.[3]
Jesus being the Christ is essential to the Gospel. Jesus himself proclaimed the Gospel that the kingdom of God is near.[4] If there is a kingdom, there is a king. That king is the Christ, the Messiah, making Jesus the king of the kingdom of God (1 Timothy 1:10). We can also know his title as Christ is important because in every Gospel presentation, he is named as Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus.
Was sent by God the Father Jesus’s close connection to God the Father is found in every gospel and is what gives authority to Jesus’s ministry. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus states,
“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt 11:25).[5]
Jesus makes several statements indicating that he was sent by God for a purpose. John 3:16, “that he gave his only Son,” is a clear example. Jesus mentions the Father sending him again in John 5:24, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.”
Took On Human Flesh How was Jesus sent? What was his arrival like? Jesus came through the virgin birth, taking on the form of a man. John gives one of the clearest statements of God becoming man in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. As John clearly states at the beginning of the chapter, “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Word is later identified as Jesus. One only needs to look at the birth stories found in the other gospels to see a clear image of Christ coming in human flesh.
Looking beyond the four gospels, Paul also confirms that God, the Son, took on humanity. Paul writes in a hymn that Christ took on “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phi 2:6-7). In having Christ take on human form, God has revealed himself to us. Christ is the ultimate image bearer of God.[6] We cannot perfectly bear God’s image as Christ can.
Willingly Died for the Sins of Mankind There are three important parts of Christ’s death. One is that Christ willingly died for mankind. Matthew writes that Jesus, though asking the Father if there was another way, was willing to obey the Father’s will to go to the cross (Matt 26:39).[7] In John’s gospel, Jesus mentions his upcoming death many times. He even states that his soul is troubled, but because he came for this purpose, he will not turn away from it (John 12:27).
The second part is that Christ actually died. Every gospel mentions his death on the cross in clear terms.[8] Every time the Gospel is preached, Christ’s death is mentioned.[9] In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul retells the Gospel, and the first part he mentions is that “Christ died” (1 Cor 15:3). We find this also in Acts during Peter’s first sermon after the ascension of Christ, after Pentecost. Peter tells the crowd that Jesus was crucified and killed as part of the plan of God (Acts 2:23).
The third part pertaining to Christ’s death is that he died for the sins of mankind. His sacrifice for sins is typically mentioned in tandem with his death. Paul writes that “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor 15:3). Though sins are not explicitly mentioned, Jesus says in two of the gospels that he is dying for mankind. Matthew quotes Jesus as saying that he came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28).[10]
Was Buried At first glance, his burial may look like a minor point, but it gives evidence of his physical death. His burial is mentioned in every gospel after the crucifixion narratives.[11] Paul mentions it when he retells the Gospel to the Corinthians, “that he was buried” (1 Cor 15:4). Paul also mentions Christ’s burial in Colossians to show the connection between our baptism with the form of Christ’s life (Col 2:12).
Was Resurrected by God Just as the death of Christ is essential to the Gospel, so also is his resurrection. After all, as Paul wrote, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14). If Christ was not raised from the dead, then our faith is false. Christianity is false. This is a major reason why his resurrection is so important.
All four gospels write about his resurrection, with John’s gospel giving the most information about his post-resurrection appearances.[12] Christ’s resurrection is actually mentioned more than his death, demonstrating the importance of his resurrection to the Gospel.[13]
Ascended Into Heaven at the Right Hand of the Father The ascension, though important, is an often-neglected part of the Gospel. Many often end the Gospel message at the resurrection, but the importance of the ascension cannot be emphasized enough. Two of the gospels mention his ascension at the end of their narrative, often after he gives a commission to his disciples.[14] Luke also describes the ascension of Christ in Acts, just before the event at Pentecost (Acts 1:6-11).
During his earthly ministry, Jesus himself foretells his ascension back into heaven at the Father’s side.[15] Paul also mentions the ascension of Christ. He writes, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Phi 2:9). His ascension back into heaven is his exaltation. God exalted him and gave him the throne (Matt 26:64). His ascension indicates the success of his work on earth, and it inaugurates his kingly reign. When Paul retells the Gospel in Romans 1:3-4, Christ’s ascension, that is, his enthronement and declaration as the Son of God, is the climax.[16]
The apostles emphasize this in their sermons in Acts. Peter mentions several times within the first several chapters.[17] What is also neglected about the ascension is that it is only because Jesus is now king that he can “give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). As king and Lord, Jesus has the ultimate authority to forgive sins.
Will Return as Judge Now that Christ is the reigning king, the final part of the Gospel is his second coming as Judge. Jesus tells of his second coming and the future judgment. Matthew writes,
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left” (Matt 25:31-34).
The end of the book of Revelation speaks of this judgment. John quotes Christ as saying, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done” (Rev 22:12).
Peter also preaches about this. In teaching Cornelius, he tells him that Jesus has been appointed by God to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42). As the reigning king, Jesus has the authority to judge all of mankind. It is this judgment that will result in the final destination of every person. Those who are in Christ will be with him forever, and those who oppose him will be cast into the lake of fire.
Conclusion
The Gospel is all about King Jesus and the work he has done and will do. King Jesus has come, by the Father’s will, to die for the sins of mankind. He was raised back to life from God, as vindication of his ministry, ascended back into heaven, and is now reigning on the throne of God as our King and Judge.
There is a revival coming. We need to know the Gospel. Whether you use this summary of the Gospel or read the gospels until you know the story by heart, we need to be able to teach it at a moment’s notice. For it is not only our responsibility to give our allegiance to King Jesus, but to spread his Gospel far and wide, giving all people the chance to give their allegiance.
Thomas Moller writes for FreeThinking Ministries on topics including suffering, theology, and cultural engagement. He brings a thoughtful perspective to difficult questions and helps believers think more deeply about faith and life.
References:
[1] My work here was inspired by Matthew Bates’s work in his book Gospel Allegiance. Though my parts do not conform exactly with his own summation of the Gospel, his structure did influence mine. Matthew W. Bates. Gospel Allegiance (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2019), 86-87.
Thomas Moller writes for FreeThinking Ministries on topics including suffering, theology, and cultural engagement. He brings a thoughtful perspective to difficult questions and helps believers think more deeply about faith and life.
Central to their case for the deity of Christ is the acronym HANDS – an effective and easy-to-remember way to categorize the lines of argument for the deity of Christ found in the New Testament. It can be summarized as follows:
H — HonorsJesus receives divine honors such as worship, prayer (e.g., Maranatha—“O Lord, come,” a prayer used by the earliest Jewish Christians in Aramaic), and glory. He also commands his disciples to love him more than their parents, which, in an honor–shame culture, places him at the level of God.
A — Attributes
Jesus possesses divine attributes, including eternality (he is not a created being) and omniscience (he knows the hearts of people in order to judge them justly). At the same time, he truly possesses human attributes through the Incarnation.
N — Names
Jesus is given divine names such as God (used sparingly but significantly), Lord (in the Old Testament sense of Yahweh/Jehovah), Savior, and the First and the Last. After the resurrection, Thomas addresses Jesus as “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
D — Deeds
Jesus performs deeds that, within Jewish monotheism, belong to God alone. These include creating all things, forgiving sins on his own authority (not merely as a delegate), casting out demons and healing with direct, effortless authority (unlike the apostles, who act in Jesus’ name), and judging humanity at the end of the age.
S — Seat of God’s Throne
Jesus is enthroned at the right hand of God the Father, ruling over all creation from the very throne room of God. His exaltation is presented in Scripture as the crowning point of the case for his deity.The force of this argument lies not in any single point taken in isolation, but in the cumulative weight of all five. Together, they argue that Jesus must be God, since no created being is permitted to receive divine honors, possess divine attributes, bear divine names, perform divine deeds, and sit upon God’s throne. Importantly, these elements are not artificially imposed on the text; they appear coordinated within single passages of Scripture, such as Matthew 28:16–20, John 1:1–18, and Colossians 1:12–20.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (11:1)
In a form the old Hebrew poets often used, the writer expresses his definition of faith in two parallel and almost identical phrases. It is not a full theological definition, but an emphasizing of certain basic characteristics of faith that are important in understanding the message the writer is trying to get across.
THE ASSURANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR
In Old Testament times, men and women had to rest on the promises of God. God had told them of a coming Messiah, a Deliverer who would take away sin. He told them that one day all Israel would be made clean and be ruled by this righteous Messiah. God’s faithful believed God’s promises, as incomplete and vague as many of those promises were. They did not have a great deal of specific light, by New Testament standards, but they knew it was God’s light, and put their full trust and hope in it. That is what faith is. Faith is living in a hope that is so real it gives absolute assurance. The promises given to the Old Testament saints were so real to them, because they believed God, that they based their lives on them. All the Old Testament promises related to the future—for many believers, far into the future. But the faithful among God’s people acted as if they were in the present tense. They simply took God at His word and lived on that basis. They were people of faith, and faith gave present assurance and substance to what was yet future. Faith is not a wistful longing that something may come to pass in an uncertain tomorrow. True faith is an absolute certainty, often of things that the world considers unreal and impossible. Christian hope is belief in God against the world—not belief in the improbable against chance. If we follow a God whose audible voice we have never heard and believe in a Christ whose face we have never seen, we do so because our faith has a reality, a substance, an assurance that is unshakable. In doing so, Jesus said, we are specially blessed (John 20:29). Moses considered “the reproach of Christ [Messiah] greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward” (Heb. 11:26). Moses took a stand on the messianic hope, and forsook all the material things he could touch and see for a Messiah who would not come to earth for more than 1400 years. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were confronted with the choice of obeying Nebuchadnezzar, whom they could see very well, or God, whom they had never seen. Without hesitation, they chose to obey God. Man’s natural response is to trust his physical senses, to put his faith in the things he can see, hear, taste, and feel. But the man of God puts his trust in something more durable and dependable than anything he will ever experience with his senses. Senses may lie; God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). The philosopher Epicurus, who lived several hundred years before Christ, said the chief end of life is pleasure. But he was not a hedonist, as many people think. He was talking of pleasure in the long view—ultimate pleasure, not immediate, temporary gratification. He held that we should pursue that which, in the end, will bring the most satisfaction. Understood in the right way, this should also be the Christian’s objective. Christians are not masochists. Quite to the contrary, we live for ultimate and permanent pleasure. We live in the certainty that whatever discomfort or pain we may have to endure for Christ’s sake on earth, will more than be compensated for by an eternity of unending bliss, of pleasure we cannot now imagine. The Greek word hupostasis, translated here as assurance, appears two other times in Hebrews. In 1:3 it is rendered “exact representation,” speaking of Christ’s likeness to God, and in 3:14 it is rendered “assurance,” as in 11:1. The term refers to the essence, the real content, the reality, as opposed to mere appearance. Faith, then, provides the firm ground on which we stand, waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Far from being nebulous and uncertain, faith is the most solid possible conviction. Faith is the present essence of a future reality. The Old Testament saints “died in faith, without receiving the promises, but … welcomed them from a distance” (Heb. 11:13). They saw the fulfillment of God’s promise with the eye of faith, which, when it is in God, has immeasurably better vision than the best of physical eyes. They held on to the promise as the ultimate reality of their lives, as the most certain thing of their existence.
THE CONVICTION OF THINGS NOT SEEN
Conviction of things not seen carries the same truth a bit further, because it implies a response, an outward manifestation of the inward assurance. The person of faith lives his belief. His life is committed to what his mind and his spirit are convinced is true. Noah, for example, truly believed God. He could not possibly have embarked on the stupendous, demanding, and humanly ridiculous task God gave him without having had absolute faith. When God predicted rain, Noah had no concept of what rain was, because rain did not exist before the Flood. It is possible that Noah did not even know how to construct a boat, much less a gigantic ark. But Noah believed God and acted on His instructions. He had both assurance and conviction—true faith. His outward building of the ark bore out his inward belief that the rain was coming and that God’s plan was correct for constructing a boat that would float. His faith was based on God’s word, not on what he could see or on what he had experienced. For 120 years he preached in faith, hoped in faith, and built in faith. The natural man cannot comprehend that kind of spiritual faith. We see Him who is invisible (Heb. 11:27), but the unsaved man does not, because he has no means of perception. Because he has no spiritual senses, he does not believe in God or the realities of God’s realm. He is like a blind man who refuses to believe there is such a thing as light because he has never seen light. Yet there is a sense in which all men live by faith. As illustrated in an earlier chapter, society is built on a foundation of faith. We drink water out of a faucet, with perfect confidence it is safe. We eat food in a restaurant, confident that it is not contaminated. We willingly receive our pay in the form of a check or paper money—neither of which has any instrinsic value at all. We accept them because of our faith in the person or the company or the government that issues them. We put our faith in a surgeon, and in medical science in general, though we may not have the least training, competence, or experience in medicine ourselves. We submit to the surgeon’s knife entirely by faith. The capacity for faith is created in us. Spiritual faith operates in the realm of that capacity. It willingly accepts and acts on many things it does not understand. But spiritual faith is radically different from natural faith in one important way. It is not natural, as is our trust in water, money, or the doctor. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Just as natural trust comes by natural birth, so spiritual trust comes from God.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1983). Hebrews (pp. 286–289). Moody Press.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. As we study this verse, let us note the following points:
a. Faith
The word faith in the New Testament has many aspects. For example, when the Judean Christians, whom Paul had sought to destroy, spoke of their belief in Christ, they said, “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy” (Gal. 1:23). Faith, then, is a confession, much the same as we call the Apostles’ Creed the articles of our Christian faith. However, this is not the meaning of faith that the writer of Hebrews conveys. For the evangelists who wrote the Gospels, Jesus Christ is the object of faith. John summarizes this emphasis when he states the purpose of his Gospel, namely, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). Also, the Acts show that in the first century, “a personal faith in Jesus was a hallmark of the early Christians.” Still another aspect of faith is Paul’s emphasis on appropriating, that is, claiming salvation in Jesus Christ. Paul contends that God puts the sinner right with him through faith: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Rom. 3:22). And Paul explains that faith comes from hearing the Word proclaimed (Rom. 10:17). The author of Hebrews recognizes these same aspects of faith featured by other writers of the New Testament. However, his use of the concept faith must be understood primarily in the context of the eleventh chapter of his epistle. The heroes of faith have one thing in common: they put their undivided confidence in God. In spite of all their trials and difficult circumstances, they triumphed because of their trust in God. For the author, faith is adhering to the promises of God, depending on the Word of God, and remaining faithful to the Son of God. When we see chapter 11 in the context of Hebrews, the author’s design to contrast faith with the sin of unbelief (3:12, 19; 4:2; 10:38–39) becomes clear. Over against the sin of falling away from the living God, the writer squarely places the virtue of faith. Those people who shrink from putting their trust in God are destroyed, but those who believe are saved (10:39).
b. Assurance
What is true faith? In 1563 a German theology professor, Zacharias Ursinus, formulated his personal faith:
True faith—
created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel—
is not only a knowledge and conviction
that everything that God reveals in his Word is true,
but also a deep-rooted assurance
that not only others, but I too,
have had my sins forgiven,
have been made forever right with God,
and have been granted salvation.
These are gifts of sheer grace
earned for us by Christ.
The author of Hebrews expresses that same assurance in much more concise wording: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for.” The expression being sure of is given as “substance” in other translations. The difference between these translations arises from understanding the original Greek word hypostasis subjectively or objectively. If I am sure of something, I have certainty in my heart. This is a subjective knowledge because it is within me. Assurance, then, is a subjective quality. By contrast, the word substance is objective because it refers to something that is not part of me. Rather, substance is something on which I can rely. As one translation has it, “Faith is the title-deed of things hoped for.” That, in fact, is objective. To come to a clear-cut choice in the matter is not easy, for the one translation does not rule out the other. The translation confidence or assurance has gained prominence, perhaps because 3:14 also has the same word: “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.” In the case of 11:1, even though the objective sense has validity, the subjective meaning is commended. The author teaches the virtue of hope wherever he is able to introduce the topic (3:6; 6:11, 18; 7:19; 10:23). Hope is not an inactive hidden quality. Hope is active and progressive. It relates to all the things God has promised to believers: “all things of present grace and future glory.”
c. Certainty
Although the brief statement on faith consists of only two phrases, they are perfectly balanced. Note the structure:
Faith is
being sure of certain of what we hope for what we do not see
In short, assurance is balanced by certainty. These two nouns are in this text synonymous. Certainty, then, means “inner conviction.” The believer is convinced that the things he is unable to see are real. Not every conviction, however, is equal to faith. Conviction is the equivalent of faith when certainty prevails, even though the evidence is lacking. The things we do not see are those that pertain to the future, that in time will become the present. Even things of the present, and certainly those of the past, that are beyond our reach belong to the category of “what we do not see.” Comments B. F. Westcott, “Hope includes that which is internal as well as that which is external.”8 Hope centers in the mind and spirit of man; sight relates to one of his senses (Rom. 8:24–25). Faith, therefore, radiates from man’s inner being where hope resides to riches that are beyond his purview. Faith demonstrates itself in confident assurance and convincing certainty.
Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of Hebrews (Vol. 15, pp. 308–311). Baker Book House.
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Is Europe Working Toward Peace or a Wider War? There’s a flurry of activity in Europe — some of it appears to be attempts at peace in Ukraine. But there are also signs suggesting something else is going on. What is really happening?
Gold Warning Issued as New Monetary System Takes Hold This video lays out the data behind a shift few are talking about: central banks are buying gold at record levels, with October 2025 marking the highest month of central bank gold purchases on record. This isn’t portfolio balancing. It’s a signal.
Netanyahu vows Hamas defeat as global antisemitic terror targets Jewish communities Each episode offers a look at the realities of Israel’s heartland, countering media bias with firsthand stories of courage, community and connection to the land. Hasten explores topics ranging from security and sovereignty to faith, culture and innovation, spotlighting those shaping Israel’s future from its biblical core.
Delayed jobs numbers: Jobs figures for November, which were delayed due to continued repercussions from the long Schumer Shutdown, came in higher than the Dow Jones estimate of 45,000, with 64,000 added. The unemployment rate also unexpectedly rose to 4.6%, the highest it’s been since 2021. The healthcare sector was responsible for most of the job growth, with 46,000 added last month. The construction industry also contributed with 28,000 jobs. Meanwhile, transportation and warehousing saw a net job loss of 18,000, with hospitality and leisure also losing 12,000 jobs. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, “The strong jobs report shows how President Trump is fixing the damage caused by Joe Biden and creating a strong, America First economy in record time. Workers’ wages are rising, prices are falling, trillions of dollars in investments are pouring into our country, and the American economy is primed to boom in 2026.”
Wiles interviews with Vanity Fair: It should come as no surprise to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles or anyone else who knows how one-sided the media is that Vanity Fair would not cover her or the White House fairly. “The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history,” Wiles wrote Tuesday in response to an excerpt of the piece published in The New York Times. “Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story.” This begs the question: What did Wiles expect would happen? Vanity Fair’s story is written by Chris Whipple, who claims to have interviewed Wiles “amid each moment of crisis” throughout Trump’s second administration. This “hit piece” certainly won’t slow him down.
Trump designates Venezuela a terrorist org: On Tuesday night, Donald Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that he had designated the Venezuelan regime a “FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.” He also ordered “A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS” entering or exiting the country. Trump’s given reason is the “theft” of American assets in Venezuela, referencing Hugo Chavez’s nationalization of the oil industry in 2007. Trump demanded the return of those assets “IMMEDIATELY.” It is unclear whether Nicolás Maduro could save his own position by complying with such a demand; the U.S. has previously placed a $50 million price on his head as the head of a narco-terrorist organization. Some hope that the pressure on Maduro’s regime will cause some of Venezuela’s own security elite to oust him, sparing the need for direct U.S. intervention.
No probable cause for Trump raid: In August 2022, a former American president had his home raided by law enforcement, who proceeded to execute a search warrant that apparently included searching the former first lady’s wardrobe. It was the first and only time such a thing had been done in 250 years of American history. New evidence made public by Sen. Chuck Grassley reveals that the FBI did not believe it had probable cause for a search warrant. Furthermore, the Washington Field Office thought that the documents in question would be more quickly secured by cooperating with Trump’s lawyers than by “the six weeks spent fixated on probable cause” for a raid. In the end, the Mar-a-Lago raid was a political stunt that ultimately boosted Trump’s 2024 bid for the presidency, but many Americans may rightly ask: Will there be justice for this brazen misuse of authority?
Australia cops botched Bondi Beach response: As two Muslim men perpetrated an anti-Jew terrorist attack against a crowd celebrating Hanukkah in Bondi Beach, Australia, law enforcement responding to the attack behaved more like the Keystone Cops than trained officers. The attack continued for over 20 minutes while officers, several of them female cops, were witnessed cowering and running around in disarray. Indeed, if it weren’t for the actions of brave civilians, particularly two Muslim men who snuck up and disarmed each of the attackers, the bloodshed would have been greater. In fact, a confused cop even shot one of these heroes after he disarmed one of the terrorists. Meanwhile, Australia’s leaders promise more firearms restrictions in response, which is ironic given the feckless response of the police to stop the attack.
Updates to Trump’s travel bans: More countries came under a full travel ban on Tuesday: Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria. Travelers with documents issued by the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank of Israel, were also banned. Many nations were added to a partial restriction list, including Antigua and Barbuda, Nigeria, and Tonga. In his Tuesday announcement, President Trump stressed the need for the U.S. to “exercise extreme vigilance during the visa-issuance,” a concept that was completely absent during the Biden years. Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville said of Trump’s move, “This is what being America first looks like,” while Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib called it “racist cruelty.”
ICE raids on Somalis, just not Omar’s son: Rep. Ilhan Omar recently told news media that her son was pulled over by ICE and forced to produce his passport to prove he was not an illegal alien. Later, she added an important detail: her son was speeding when he was pulled over. However, as it turns out, ICE has no record of such an incident, especially since it does not typically conduct traffic stops. Well, Ilhan’s lies aside, ICE is ramping up its efforts to catch Somali illegal immigrants with new deployments in Kansas and Ohio. This latest effort comes after 100 agents in Minneapolis arrested more than 400 Somalis who already had deportation orders. Somali criminals in the U.S. continue to be a priority for the administration in the wake of the massive Minnesota fraud scheme that funneled money to the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab.
EU dumps 2035 ban on gas-powered vehicles: There was an intriguing development in Brussels yesterday, where the European Union Commission pulled the reins on its tailpipe emissions rule that would have banned the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Furthermore, the more lenient rule regarding vehicle CO2 emissions does not establish a new date for the requirement of 100% emissions-free vehicles, meaning new combustion-powered vehicles will be allowed to be sold indefinitely. This decision shows that the EU is responding to economic reality on the ground. It also shows that the EU is really concerned about China’s efforts to flood the global market with cheaper EVs, undercutting and threatening Europe’s auto industry.
CDC officially changes vax schedule: CDC Director Jim O’Neill announced Tuesday that the agency would fully accept the recommendation made earlier this month by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to no longer recommend the hepatitis B vaccine for infants born to mothers who are confirmed negative for the disease. Instead, it will promote “individual-based decision-making,” the CDC said in a press release. The CDC is recommending that instead of vaccinating the newborn for an AIDS-related disease in the first hours of life, babies born to mothers with a confirmed negative test don’t have to be immunized until two months of age. This doesn’t appear to be much of a change or a win. It seems pretty common sense that if your lifestyle doesn’t put you at risk for AIDS, then there’s no need for the baby to have to be vaccinated.
DOJ sues U.S. Virgin Islands PD alleging 2A violation: The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department, alleging that the VIPD has continued to enforce firearm regulations that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon explained, “The newly-established Second Amendment Section filed this lawsuit to bring the Virgin Islands Police Department back into legal compliance by ensuring that applicants receive timely decisions without unconstitutional obstruction.” VIPD requires firearms to be licensed and owners to obtain permits. The permitting process requires applicants to allow VIPD to inspect their homes and to have bolt-down gun safes. The DOJ argues the VIPD’s permit regulation violates residents’ Second and Fourth Amendment rights.
Headlines
FBI takes person into custody in Louisiana with ties to terror group behind thwarted bombing plot (WDSU)
House investigates SPLC’s profiting, partisanship in attack on conservative groups (Daily Signal)
Newsom denies creating “shadow CDC” with new hires who clashed with RFK (Washington Examiner)
Two additional Heritage Foundation board members leave amid Carlson-Fuentes fallout (The Hill)
Ukraine hits Russian sub in first underwater drone attack (Newsmax)
Satire: Groundbreaking new study finds Islamophobia may be partially caused by Muslims killing people all the time (Babylon Bee)
Is it too much to ask that when a man and his wife are murdered by their son, the president of the United States refrain from making ugly statements about the deceased? The killing of Rob and Michele Reiner by their son, Nick, over the weekend had nothing whatsoever to do with Donald Trump, but the most powerful man in America made it all about himself by railing about Reiner’s Trump Derangement Syndrome.
I’m beginning to think Trump himself has a strain of TDS — the kind that leads a few supporters to think he can do no wrong.
A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS. He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!
The criticism from the Right, however, was just as strong, and much more credible. Asked about that, Trump did what Trump does — he doubled down:
Well, I wasn’t a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned. He said he liked — he knew it was false. In fact, it’s the exact opposite that I was a friend of Russia, controlled by Russia. You know, the Russia hoax. He was one of the people behind it. I think he hurt himself in — career-wise. He became like a deranged person. Trump derangement syndrome, so I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all in any way, shape, or form. I thought he was very bad for our country.
Reiner got his start on “All in the Family,” playing the liberal foil to Archie Bunker. He was a beloved Hollywood director who made some of the best movies of the last 50 years. “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Misery,” and “A Few Good Men” are just four of his classics. His personal favorite was “Stand by Me.” Beyond his talented work, most folks considered him a decent person, too. This isn’t Harvey Weinstein we’re talking about. He most certainly didn’t deserve a brutal death at the hands of his mentally disturbed son.
However, Reiner was especially vocal about his left-wing views. He spent most of the last decade routinely vilifying Trump. With stunning originality of thought, he often likened Trump to — wait for it — Hitler, fascists, and Nazis. He called Trump “a criminal” who “basically lies every minute of his life,” and he warned of “full-on autocracy” under Trump. He accused him of “treason” on multiple occasions and pushed the phony “Russia collusion” hoax as hard as anyone. Trump wasn’t actually wrong that Reiner had a serious case of TDS.
As a presidential candidate, Trump came within an inch of being assassinated himself — because of overheated rhetoric like Reiner’s. It’s little wonder the president didn’t like the Hollywood icon.
But still. Give it a rest, Mr. President. Yes, Reiner “started it,” but just once, be the bigger man.
I mentioned Kirk’s death above, and the president was among those advocating that people face consequences for publicly celebrating the political assassination of a young husband and father by a deranged leftist. Conservative commentator Erick Erickson posted on X, “All those people who lost their jobs for their disgusting tweets about Charlie Kirk’s assassination are staring at the President of the United States’s social media account in disbelief.”
Notably, for all of his political nonsense, Reiner was gracious and compassionate in his response to Kirk’s murder. “I felt absolute horror,” he said in September. “I unfortunately saw the video of it, and it’s beyond belief what happened to him. That should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are. That’s not acceptable. That’s not a solution.” Of Erika Kirk’s remarkable eulogy, Reiner said, “I’m Jewish, but I believe in the teachings of Jesus, and I believe in doing unto others, and I believe in forgiveness. And what she said, to me, was beautiful. She forgave his assassin, and I think that that is admirable.”
Back to Trump’s comments, Mick Mulvaney, former acting chief of staff and Office of Management and Budget director, said, “I don’t get it. This is sort of like the John McCain thing,” referring to the time Trump criticized the late Arizona senator for his time as a Vietnam prisoner of war. Mulvaney added, “There isn’t one single person in this country who is going to think more favorably of him because he attacked Reiner.”
Likewise, numerous elected Republicans voiced their objections. Perhaps Senator John Kennedy said it best: “A wise man once said nothing. Why? Because he’s a wise man. I think President Trump should have said nothing.”
It’s true that President Trump has more reason than most to be angry with his political opponents, who’ve unceasingly vilified him, impeached him twice, prosecuted him umpteen times, and tried to kill him twice. Yet Trump seems to want to outdo himself with graceless and pugnacious tirades. This wasn’t like his recent “garbage” comments about Somali criminals. This was just sheer spite directed at a citizen who didn’t like him.
The saddest thing is just how far short of presidential character Trump sometimes falls. He can be painfully narcissistic, obnoxiously obtuse, doggedly obsessed with grievances, and shockingly spiteful. And when it comes to this sort of episode, Jim Geraghty is right: “Donald Trump’s entire worldview of whether someone is a good person or a bad person depends entirely on whether that person offers praise or criticism of Trump.”
It’s almost amusing that this kerfuffle coincides with all the hoopla over Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’s Vanity Fair interview, in which she noted that the president has “an alcoholic’s personality.” Trump didn’t deny it but backed her up. “I don’t drink alcohol,” he explained. “So everybody knows that — but I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic. I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality.”
For all of the outstanding policies Donald Trump has implemented in five years as president (along with a few less exciting ones), he far too frequently shoots himself in the foot with his boorish behavior. Don’t get angry with me and others for noticing. Be angry with Trump for doing it in the first place.
Michael Swartz: The Sordid Tale of Ilhan Omar Continues — You can take the Minneapolis representative out of Somalia, but you can’t take the Somalia out of the Minneapolis representative.
Sophie Starkova: The GOP’s ObamaCare Opportunity — The party isn’t responsible for the law’s myriad flaws or exorbitant cost overruns, but it can do a lot to fix the system with market-oriented reform.
Thomas Gallatin: That SBC Abuse Report Was Pretty Flawed, After All — Serious issues and questions have been raised regarding the independence and reliability of the Guidepost report that the SBC commissioned to investigate sexual abuse allegations.
Emmy Griffin: U.S. Surrogacy Exploited by ChiCom Billionaires — Designer Chinese babies put a big spotlight on a major blind spot in the already fraught and loosely regulated surrogacy industry.
Was This Conservative Student Targeted at Brown? — Mark Halperin brings up the possibility that Ella Cook was targeted during the Brown University shooting due to her ideology and/or faith. But would the media admit such a thing?
The Erika Kirk Hate Is Out of Control — Erika is out doing a tour for Charlie’s last book, and as she’s been in the public eye more, she is taking more heat than ever.
‘A Conspiracy Theorist for a Decade’ — At an event in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Vice President JD Vance responded to Susie Wiles’s comments in Vanity Fair.
Capitalism Is About Service, Not Just Self-Interest — The most meaningful interactions in our lives rely on persuasion rather than coercion. Likewise, capitalism works by requiring people to create value before they can receive anything in return.
SHORT CUTS
Fearmongering
“We may not have a fair and free election in this country — I mean that — if we’re not successful in 2026 getting back the House of Representatives.” —California Gov. Gavin Newsom
Clown World
“I, for one, am a firm supporter in any legislation that increases tribal sovereignty for the indigenous population here in Maine. I also am a firm supporter of any legislation on the federal level that begins to give more, frankly, land back to the indigenous peoples that was taken from them.” —Senate candidate Graham Platner (D-ME)
Fact-Check: False
“I don’t want to hear, ‘How do you define assault weapon?’ I d**n sure can assign what it is and describe what it is and tell you what it does.” —Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz
Spin Doctor
“These boats carry not fentanyl. I mean, they carry cocaine … and these routes mostly take drugs to Europe and western Africa. These operations are not making us more safe.” —Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
For the Record
“Underneath Obama, he had 500 strikes. 3,700 individuals were killed. There wasn’t a big show about this. What you guys are all upset about is the hemisphere that it’s working in.” —Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)
“I don’t like the term ‘they can get radicalized.’ It’s as though [radicalization] is outside their religion. … Islam is a codified set of ideas. If I choose to ignore much of it, I will be peaceful. If I choose to take it seriously, I won’t be peaceful. So it’s not radicalization; it’s simply whether I adhere to the tenets of the faith or I don’t.” —professor Gad Saad
Re: Gender Madness
“Bear with me here, but it’s almost as though girls and women who want female-only spaces aren’t scaremongering, hysterical, lying bigots after all.” —author J.K. Rowling in response to a Telegraph article titled, “Sexual predators target girls in mixed changing rooms.”
Upright
“[Charlie] never once said, ‘Go after them because they’re saying X, Y, Z and they deserve to die.’ My husband never once said that. And he never would. What did he say? ‘Come to the front of the line. I’ll put my mic down.’” —TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk
“A wise man once said nothing. Why? Because he’s a wise man. I think President Trump should have said nothing.” —Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) regarding Trump’s tirade against Rob Reiner
And Last…
“Sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true. … A conspiracy theory is just something that was true six months before the media admitted it. ” —Vice President JD Vance
ON THIS DAY in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful flight — for 120 feet and 12 seconds — in a motor-powered aircraft. Their bold and persistent tests in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, launched the flight age.
Syrian and Palestinian Authority passport holders will not be able to enter the U.S. as of the beginning of the year, the latest in a series of bans. President Trump is ramping up the pressure on Venezuela. Police are combing through hundreds of tips in their search for the killer in the Brown University shooting. A famous song describes the Christmas season as “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” However, for many among us, it’s just the opposite. Wounded warriors who gave everything for their country and refused to give up on life: some 50,000 Ukrainians have lost their limbs in battle since 2022. Brunes Charles is already an award-winning artist, and the musician, singer and songwriter is nominated for more awards including a Grammy nomination for “Best Gospel performance/song” for his writing. Arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby is giving away a half a million copies of the book “The Case for Christmas”.
Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to break down the fight over expiring Obamacare subsidies, GOP plans to cut healthcare costs and the growing clash between state and federal A.I. regulation.
Texas is launching a partnership with Turning Point USA to bring chapters of the conservative organization to every high school in the state. It comes as the group is surging in popularity nationwide.
The analysis compared 30 antidepressants, some of which are not available in the United States, from older tricyclics such as amitriptyline to newer selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as sertraline (Zoloft).
Experts said that the side effects listed are not new or surprising.
The study affirmed well-known observations about antidepressant side effects, Dr. Joseph Goldberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who was not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times in an email.
What’s new, Goldberg noted, is the comprehensive review of the literature that reassures us, and helpfully quantifies for us, that many of these common side effects tend to have only modest impacts.
The findings reinforce the need for personalized choices and regular monitoring, especially for long-term users, because side effects can build over time.
Weight Gain, Blood Pressure, and Cholesterol Changes
People on antidepressants experienced a 9-pound difference in weight change across drugs.
The most extreme weight changes occurred in those taking agomelatine (Valdoxan) and maprotiline (Ludiomil), with the former associated with a weight loss of about five pounds and the latter with a weight gain of about four pounds.
Both of these drugs, however, are not approved for use in the United States.
Differences in heart rates exceeded 20 beats per minute, from fluvoxamine (Luvox), which slowed the heart by calming the nervous system, to nortriptyline (Pamelor), a stimulant that increased heart rates.
Blood pressure shifts were also notable, with the upper (systolic) number differing by about 11 points between certain tricyclics such as nortriptyline and doxepin (Silenor). These drugs directly act on the body’s nervous system and blood vessel receptors, which can raise or lower blood pressure.
Kiev can no longer replenish its troops through forced mobilization, Moscow has said
Ukraine has lost almost 500,000 servicemen this year alone, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov has said.
Speaking at a Defense Ministry Board meeting attended by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Belousov said Ukraine’s combat capability had been reduced by about a third over the past year, stripping Kiev of the ability to replenish its forces through forced mobilization of civilians.
“Ukraine’s forces have lost nearly 500,000 servicemen, as a result of which Kiev has lost the ability to replenish its groupings through the compulsory mobilization of civilians,” Belousov said.
According to the minister, Ukraine has lost more than 103,000 weapons and pieces of military equipment this year, including about 5,500 of Western manufacture – almost double the total recorded the previous year.
Ukraine announced general mobilization shortly after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022, barring men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. Last year, it lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 while tightening mobilization rules.
The forced conscription campaign has triggered repeated violent clashes between reluctant recruits and draft officers.
Kiev’s recruitment drive has grown increasingly brutal as Ukrainian forces confront setbacks and manpower shortages. Hundreds of incidents have been documented online in which enlistment officers assaulted potential conscripts, chased them through the streets, and threatened bystanders who tried to intervene.
Even with increasingly harsh measures, Ukrainian officials and frontline commanders have complained that the mobilization campaign is falling short of targets, contributing to the continuous Russian advance.
Caroline Wren reports that students said the Brown University shooter shouter "Allahu Akbar" when firing into the lecture hall and that Reddit had to shut down the Brown board because pro-Gaza students were celebrating Ella Cook's murder. pic.twitter.com/dDe7OgBdhI
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