If I Were Not A Christian, I Would Most Certainly Be An

IF I WERE NOT A CHRISTIAN

I WOULD MOST CERTAINLY BE AN ATHEIST.

AND HERE’S WHY!

 

Part One:

 

There is no need for a creator. The universe just is. Who could argue, convincingly, otherwise.

 

Religion is crazy, thus religionists are crazy: Avoid religion completely.

 

Who made God? The whole God thing is Preposterous!

 

The enormous difference among the world’s religions show the absurdity of it all.

 

Theists, especially Christians, are just afraid of dying. They are looking for false assurance.

 

The religionists: are they good people? But who’s good? Good deeds only! In our minds we are wicked. Our thoughts are weird, immoral, even evil much of the time. Better to admit it than go on with self-deception.

 

Part Two:

 

So why not just be an atheist and forget about it? Tempting, but here’s why that won’t work for me:

 

—One second I was not a Christian, the next I was.

 

—I did not want to be a Christian; I was dead set against it.

 

—Suddenly I had an interest in Jesus and the Bible.

 

—Suddenly I wanted to go to a church.

 

—Suddenly I loved talking to Christians.

 

—People rejected me because of my faith and I didn’t care.

 

—I left a sure thing, being a psychologist, for the unknown.

 

—The “Call” to the hippies in San Francisco, February of 1967.

 

—The casting out of demons. And I did not believe in demons or Satan or any of that, because I was a college grad in psych and I knew better.

 

—The miracles I directly experienced, which included healings, the multiplication of matter, and a whole lot more. Really staggering for a materialist like I was.

 

—The defeats, personal and real, yet here I still am.

 

—Though I was an idiot a lot of the time, God never let go of me.

 

Part Three:

 

I tried to be an atheist. It seemed logical to me, but it was empty. It didn’t work.

 

Would I be a Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, plus the strong lure of the occult with its promise of power and knowledge, no, nothing there either just more religion. And weird religion at that. Then there are those who are not religious, just spiritual. Look out. Trouble ahead, just religion of a different type.

 

I am not advocating a particular church or branch of Christianity. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Him. No church can save you. Not even if you join, get baptized, and jump through any number of hoops.

 

Find a group of believers in Jesus, there are plenty of Gospel preaching, Bible teaching churches around. Find one. Don’t give up.

 

Avoid a group that says it has the only right teaching or are more special than others. I admit, it can be a minefield out there.

 

Here are some questions to ask of a pastor, minister, elder, deacon, etc.

 

  1. Do you believe in the Trinity? (Biblical Christianity is Trinitarian, and believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.)
  2. What do you believe about the Bible? (Is it the Word of God?)
  3. How is a person saved? (Is it through Jesus alone?)
  4. Do you hold to the Apostle’s Creed? (Goes to the 2nd century)
  5. Are you the only right Christians? (If yes, head for the door.)
  6. Are you evangelical, do you care about reaching out to others who do not know Jesus as Savior? (If it is all about feel good stuff with the big band, head for the door.)

 

These are starter questions. In time you will discover if a church is good for you.

 

Last point: It is no simple or easy road, the following of Jesus. Personally, I have been through hell, and back, yes back; I was never left alone. My Lord was always with me and will be with you no matter what happens.

 

Kent Philpott

December 2018

 

A Startling Comparison of Islam and Mormonism

A Startling Comparison of Islam and Mormonism

 Both Islam and Mormonism were started by a prophet who said he had the last word from God. This was the last word and there would be nothing else. This was finally it. Mohammed said this and so did Joseph Smith.

  1. Both received, as they reported, a revelation from an angel, Gabriel for Mohammed and Moroni for Joseph Smith. (A number of religions and sects have begun with a visitation by an “angel.”)
  2. The purpose behind both visitations was to restore Christianity and true religion. Everything that had been revealed by God before then was wrong or temporary and was now to be put aside.
  3. Both of these encounters with angels resulted in a book, the Koran for Mohammed and the Book of Mormon for Joseph Smith.
  4. Opposition began and both prophets were martyred. Upon their martyrdom, the groups split along family lines, some following one side of the feud, some following another.
  5. Both groups developed a system of prophets or other leaders who proclaimed the authoritative word of God on an ongoing basis.
  6. Then there was rapid growth, both groups employing some rather radical methods of evangelism, some quite militant about it.
  7. Both religious groups are rich and powerful.
  8. Both groups are quite defensive when they perceive that their belief systems are being attacked.
  9. Both groups rely on miracles to substantiate their “truth.”

 

John the Baptist & The Lamb of God

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 3

The Testimony of John the Baptist &

“Behold the Lamb of God”

John 1:19-34

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. John the Baptist suddenly appears and states he is the “voice” crying in the wilderness proclaiming the arrival of the Messiah of Israel, uttering the words of Isaiah 40:3-5.
  8. He is not the Messiah himself, nor the Elijah of Malachi 4:5, and not the prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15, rather he is a forerunner proclaiming the arrival of the Messiah.
  9. John was baptizing those who were looking for the arrival of the “voice” John was announcing. This coming one was of far greater stature than John himself.
  10. When John saw Jesus coming toward him while he was baptizing in the River Jordan near a town named Bethany (not the Bethany of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha) he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
  11. This coming one would be a sacrificial offering intending to put away all that was not intended to be, that is sin. Here is the Messiah, the suffering servant of Israel, that which is described in Isaiah 53.
  12. John then announces that he saw the Spirit descend upon Jesus, as he had been informed he would see and thus making it clear who the servant of God was.
  13. John is the first great evangelist, pointing everyone to the One who baptizes with, or better in, the Holy Spirit.
  14. John’s work is now complete and every Christian follows the example of John, proclaiming Jesus as the Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

GOSPEL MEDITATION

Mark 10:32-34

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

(also read Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53)

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. For the third time in Mark’s gospel Jesus tells (maybe warns is a better term) His disciples what will happen to Him. It is not long now before the actual events will take place.
  8. Jesus is aware of this for any number of reasons: one, His dying as a sacrifice had been noted by any number of O.T. prophets; two, His enemies could not allow Him to go on much longer; three, His arch enemy, Satan, had long been working in the background; four, Jesus reasoned the signs of the times properly.
  9. The “chief priests” and “scribes” likely reference to the Council of Israel, the Sanhedrin, who had the power to see to it the Romans would execute Him.
  10. Jesus spelled out exactly what would happen to Him, just as it was stated by King David 1,000 years earlier and by the prophet Isaiah some 770 years earlier: Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 are replete with the events.
  11. The Gentiles was a wider grouping than merely the Romans at the time. Romans 3:23 expresses it more exactly: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The all is absolutely inclusive, both Jews and Gentiles.
  12. We cannot fully grasp why the Son of God should be abandoned (Psalm 22:1) by God the Father, but to say that the Son must receive the righteous judgment for our sin. He literally suffered and died in our place.

 

The Road to Emmaus-A Post Resurrection Encounter

GOSPEL MEDITATION

The Road to Emmaus

Luke 24:13–35

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. 8. On Easter Sunday, two followers of Jesus, one named Cleopas, were walking to Emmaus, a small village of Judea seven miles from Jerusalem.
  8. The two were sad because of the execution of their teacher Jesus. Perhaps they were fearful that there might be an attempt to search out and kill Jesus’ followers.
  9. As they went, Jesus joined them but they did not recognize who the newcomer was. Jesus asks a question and a conversation begins with Jesus pretending not to know what big event had taken place in Jerusalem. He now receives a most interesting account of their now dead master.
  10. Jesus now, still unidentified, upbraids the two and launches into a very succinct account of the mission of the Messiah.
  11. From the Scriptures then Jesus unveiled for His sad followers those things concerning Himself.
  12. It appeared to Cleopas and his friend that the stranger was going further down the road but they wanted more so they invited Jesus to stay with them that night. Apparently they lived in Emmaus.
  13. During the evening meal, Jesus took a piece of bread, blessed and broke it in such a way that they now realized who their guest was. Their eyes “were opened” and suddenly they grasped that the guest was Jesus Himself.
  14. The two disciples headed quickly back to Jerusalem to report to the church what had taken place. They testified to the rising of Jesus from the dead.
  15. Jesus was known to them “in the breaking of the bread.” True then and now.

The Prologue, John 1:1-18, of the Fourth Gospel

MEDITATION ON JOHN’S GOSPEL # 1 & 2

John 1:1–18

The Prologue

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Carefully read the passage of Scripture. Reread it.
  6. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. John the Apostle, brother of James, father Zebedee, mother Salome, who may be the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus, writes about 95 CE a “Gospel” aimed at the Graeco-Roman world. John is an evangelist, pastor, and teacher, all at once. His name John means “the one whom Yahweh loves.”
  8. The prologue begins with a quote from Genesis 1:1 and announces that the Logos (Word), who is God, was at the very beginning (of creation), and is in fellowship with God.
  9. The Word was and is, for that is the intent of the Greek verb of being, “‘nv”, was. Impossible that God could be and then not be.
  10. The Stoics and the Gnostics, both popular philosophical schools at the point in time, employed the term Logos (Word) to refer to an ultimate, hidden, truth, wisdom, and reason. John announces that this Logos is no longer hidden.
  11. Salvation was then, and now is, the only great thing, and this comes to us in the person of the Logos. Indeed, salvation is only by means of the Logos, through believing in the Logos.
  12. The great event is that in Jesus, the Logos has become flesh, even dwelling among people in the real world. The Logos is the only Son of the Father. “Only Son” monogenous in Greek, refers to that which is utterly unique in that there is none other like Him. This Son is full of “grace and truth.”
  13. Tying the Logos to the Hebrew Bible, John the Apostle quotes John the Baptist, thus the weight of this witness who tied the Jewish Scripture to Jesus Himself.
  14. Jesus makes the God who has not been seen known.

 

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, part 2

GOSPEL MEDITATION

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, part 2

Matthew 3:11; 28:19–20; John 20:21; Acts 4:23–31

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. John the Baptist, from day one of Jesus’ public ministry declares that Jesus will baptize “in” the Holy Spirit.
  8. John baptized in water, Jesus will baptize in the Spirit. And most commentators say this means being placed into water and thus into the Holy Spirit. This is an indwelling but also an empowering.
  9. Jesus’ directions for His followers is that we are to “Go” and make disciples per Matthew 28:19–20.
  10. Disciple making involves both evangelism and teaching. The “new born” is to be cared for, taught, that he or she might grow up into the stature of the fullness of Christ—a life long process.
  11. In John 20:21, Jesus states that just as He was sent by the Father, so He sends us out into the world also. In a very real sense then all of us are to be apostolic, sent ones to preach that the kingdom has arrived.
  12. And so that we might be equipped to do this work, and to do it boldly, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
  13. After Peter and John were released by the Temple authorities, though warned to stop preaching about Jesus, they continued nevertheless.
  14. Meeting with that first congregation, Acts 4:23–31, Peter and John reported what they had experienced. After a prayer, the room they were in was shaken and they received a second Pentecost, they were again filled with the Spirit. Spirit#2