How to Know if you are an Actual Christian

What a strange topic for an essay one might say. Agreed, yet after fifty years as a pastor, I find that it is not so easy to tell if one is actually a genuine Christian, or as I like to say, born-again. Certainly there is no greater personal issue than this one. It is literally the difference between heaven and hell.

Here now is a list of changes in a person’s life, which taken together, or at least with several points in place, strongly suggest that the new birth has taken place.

1. An interest in the Bible

Maybe you picked up a Bible a time or two and read a page or two, but like me, I didn’t get it at all. If you are like me at all, I could not even bear to hear the Bible read and I hated all those Christian movies like “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”

Then though, I started reading and reading, and just loved it though it was not easy reading. And to this day, the Bible is special to me and I just love to read it. This is a definite sign of genuine conversion.

2. Want to read about Jesus

I knew the name Jesus and had some kind of idea of what it was all about, but He was just another founder of a religion. Nothing more.

Then after that time when I was twenty-one, after a moment when as far as I knew then or know now, something happened. Jesus became the focus of my attention. The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—read them over and over. Then when I got to be a preacher, the same, and now yet preaching and teaching these wonderful Gospels.

Real clear, only born-again types love to read about Jesus. And why? Simply because we love Jesus. Once we get it that He died for us because He loves us we in turn love Him. And, over the years, the relationship, the love, the attachment only grows.

3. Not afraid of churches

There was Holy Redeemer Catholic Church on Portland Blvd. in N.W. Portland, Oregon we had to pass on our way to Peninsula Park and I would not even look at it. I have no idea why, but in a way it kind of scared me.

Again, this changed after I starting believing in Jesus. No fear of those places, instead, I would walk right in and not even think of it. I felt safe in church buildings, still do.

Not such a big deal as the first two evidences, but still a big one for me at the time.

4. Not afraid of Christians

The kids I knew in high school, Verdugo Hills High in Sunland-Tujunga, part of the Los Angeles School District, I stopped hanging out with them when I found they were Christians. They were not the cool kids, good folk, and I definitely did not want to be associated with them. Not good for one’s rep when you are a want-a-be tough teen ager with a duck tail haircut.

And did that ever change once I was saved. Here is the evidence for this: at midnight chow at the Travis Air Force Base Hospital, I sat with the sinners. We stole stuff out the back door, thieves and rogues we were. On the other side of the dinning hall sat Vern Hogue and Don Ethridge—we all knew they were Christians.

Days after my saving experience, I was no longer welcome with the bunch I always sat with. I don’t know how it worked exactly, but I was expelled and sent over to be with Vern and Don. How that happened, how the old bunch knew I was different I cannot say. But that is how it went.

5. Want to learn about prayer

Prayer has never been my strong suit, but I did start praying. I even had a prayer list, and I still to this day have several of them. On the far left of a half-sheet of paper I would have one column with the date, then another with the request, another with the answer, and the last column was the date of the prayer.

I learned that Christianity was mostly a relationship with God and this is what was happening to me. I was a guy who for sure would never resort, stoop is a better word, to prayer. No way. But there it was. Something dramatic had happened and I never as much as thought through it all until much later on.

6. Desire to talk with other Christians

Across the street from me in Suisun, California where low-class airmen lived mostly, was am airman like me. His name was Charles Davenport and was also a Christian; we even attended the same church, the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, and the pastor was Bob Lewis. He was from Lake Charles, Louisiana and he was a fairly mature Christian. We talked and talked and talked.

In the 2^nd Casualty Staging Flight at the hospital, that I was a part of, there were no other Christians. I worked from 5pm to 8am, and it was a lonely time mostly.

Toward the middle of my enlistment, two nurses came to our unit. They were twins, beautiful young women, and they were real Christians. After all was quiet on the unit, I would wander up the hall, pull up a chair and talk Bible stuff with these 2^nd lieutenants. It worked so that for about a year, I often had the pleasure of talking about Jesus with these nurses. Their maturity as believers was much needed at that time.

Who would have ever thought as much, but here it was, I was seeking out Christians to be with when all my previous years I had been diligently avoiding them.

Another sure sign, hanging out with those weird Christians.

7. Able to admit you were really a bad sinner

At some point in our lives we begin to not only realize but reveal that we are not as pure as the wind-driven snow. This after some maturing, too.

Mostly we cannot handle it that we have flaws. Then there is our conscience, which may accuse or excuse us. Shame and guilt can crush us and we spend considerable amounts of energy, emotional, brain energy, to insure ourselves that we are not as bad as others.

Here now the Christian, who due to understanding the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross, the shedding of His blood for us, that blood that covers all our sin, grasps us and we gain an assurance that we are completely forgiven.

Gone! No guilt, no shame, though the old enemy tries to accuse us and tell us how bad we are. But we know better.

Sure, we yet sin, and so we find out from the Scripture that we confess our sin, daily is best, and we know again that weird things of body and mind, are gone. No, this is not a license to sin, but a paradoxical truth. Forgiven, and daily forgiven. Best to study 1 John 1:8-2:2 on this point.

8. Concern and love for others

A shift in focus comes now, little by little. Instead of thinking only of ourselves, we have an interest in the needs of other people. Normally we are caught up in seeing to our own affairs; a subtle change comes now, and a healthy one at that. Now that the only important issue is forever resolved for us, we can actually see to the concerns and cares of others.

This is where evangelism comes in. My experience has been that genuine Christians have a desire to see others come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. This is far and away the greatest need anyone has whether they know it or not.

For me, this was scary. I first got into personal evangelism when my pastor Bob Lewis handed out names of people, with their addresses, to visit and share the Gospel with them. I did it though I was petrified, and a several occasions I was firmly rebuffed and told to go away. In a way I still do not fully grasp, my concern, above all others, is to tell others about Jesus.

9. Not afraid to talk about Jesus with others

Before becoming a Christian, well, we would never, ever, tell others about Jesus. This is a clear fact.

Now then, we find in Scripture that we are called, commanded, encouraged, to tell the world about our Savior. After a time, even timid people like me, start doing it and suddenly find a meaning and purpose for living that nothing can match.

After all these years, after even being punched in the face and slandered and screamed at, I am still at it and loving it more all the time. I say, “Bring it on!”

Okay, I am a preacher, seminary trained and so on, but all Christians get to do this. “Go” Jesus said, and we go. We never retire, never get laid off, never fired, always urged on, by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit—we keep boldly proclaiming Jesus and Him crucified.

How to Know you are not a Born-again Christian

This part is easy; none of the eight points above will apply to you.

Why am I so abrupt and seemingly uncaring by stating this?

Because it is time to face the truth about what is actually going on. This little essay is intended to wake you up. I hope you will see your true condition and not depend upon the big lies, which include the following:

Death is the end.

There is no heaven or hell.

All you have to do is be a good person.

Help others, be kind, and do good deeds.

All paths lead to God.

You will have other life times to become enlightened.

Who cares anyway; you want to be with your friends in hell.

Last word to you: Stop everything and ask that if God is real, He would reveal Himself to you. In a prayer, aloud or in your mind only, ask if Jesus is really the Savior who died for you on the cross.

When you get your answer, and you find out the core reality, get a Bible and start reading. Start with Matthew’s Gospel. Find a Christian. Find a Bible preaching and teaching church. Okay, start here and the rest will unfold.

Kent Philpott

December 2018

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 5

John 1:14

The Word Become Flesh

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. “And the Word became flesh”—Word comes from Logos a Greek word with the idea of the ultimate wisdom of God. By way of a miracle eclipsing even the creation of the universe, God becomes human.
8. With the use of the word “flesh” is meant that the Logos is vulnerable to all that humans are including death.
9. “And dwelt among us”—here meaning present with humans not as a spirit or abstract concept but fully here.
10. “We have seen his glory”—John, as well as the apostles and thousands of others, beheld the miracles, heard His words, and were transformed by His grace.
11. “Glory” —for a Jew like John, “glory” would have meant Jesus in their midst is God in their midst.
12. “Only son of the Father”—meaning the utterly unique one of which there is not or ever will be another, this only Son (monogenous in Greek) is deity just as the Father is.
13. “Full of grace and truth”—here the absolutely unimaginable combination of attributes, grace and truth, a concept beyond the imagination of the human mind, the Word is.
14. Grace, the saving love of God; truth, ultimate reality—describes the Word become flesh who is in person, grace and truth.

GOSPEL MEDITATION

What Happened Following Jesus’ Birth

Luke 2:22-35

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. Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the Temple

according to the Law of Moses. (See Ex. 13:2 & Lev.

12:8). They offered 2 pigeons meaning the family was

poor.

8. The obedience of Mary and Joseph indicates also that

they were observant Jews and would be Jesus as he

grew up.

9. Here now they meet Simeon, Holy Spirit inspired     prophet who is awaiting the arrival of the Messiah.
10. The remarkable statement about Jesus being the cause of the “fall and rising of many,” among other things, is a preparation for Mary about what was to become of her baby. The Child would be loved and hated, both at once, and so it has remained to this day.
11. This extreme reaction reveals both God’s holiness and our unholiness, and that Jesus has an enemy.
12. The sword that will pierce Mary, the trauma that only a mother could experience, likely was meant to be comforting to Mary, in taking away any surprise or false expectation.
13. Then Anna, another witness to Mary and Joseph, two witnesses thus meeting Biblical requirements (see Dt. 17:6). Mary and Joseph would be comforted by this.
14. Some 33 years before the cross, God brings two people to the temple to announce that great event that was to come.

Don’t Blame Jesus for the Weird Things Christians Do

Maybe it was that I never thought through things, but I watched high school friends who identified as Christian hoping to find fault. And I found fault. Therefore I concluded Christians were fakes and flakes.

While in the military I became a Christian myself, quite unexpectedly as I think about it now. An accident of sorts maybe, but I wound up attending a Baptist church in Fairfield, California and heard the pastor tell the incredible story of Jesus. Still a puzzle to me, in a twinkling of an eye I was converted, and almost against my will.

Guys I worked with as a medic with 2^nd Casualty Staging Flight at Travis AFB found out about my becoming a Christian and watched me closely, hoping to spot a flaw. Of course, they had no trouble finding out what a hypocrite I was. Guess they thought I would be perfect just like I thought my high school friends had to be perfect. I mean, they did say they were Christians.

What was my problem?

What’s a Christian?

A Christian is a sinner who has been born anew by the Holy Spirit of God. He or she is still a sinner, but a forgiven sinner.

This Christian starts out a newborn, messy diapers, crying, sleeping, just out the chute. Then a rug rat, a toddler, little kid, pre-teen, teen, young adult, adult, mature adult, elder adult—each of us go through all the stages.

In my seventies now, I wonder if I have reached maturity yet. I don’t think so. To be honest I have been rather retarded in my growth. Not the fault of the Parent, but mine all together. I think I have been more rebellious than most, or maybe my hormones stronger than others, something, but my progress as a pilgrim has been really slow. This, however, does not mean I am not a Christian.

I have noticed that one mark of growing up into the fullness of Christ has been my desire not to sin. When I catch myself acting the “old man” I cringe and ask for forgiveness.

It is true, I have found, that it can be painful to grow up spiritually. If I had become aware of all my imperfections back then, I mean all at once, I would have been overwhelmed. Perhaps this is comparable to expecting a toddler to play college level baseball. Not going to happen.

Almost as payback, I have had non-Christians chastise me for my ‘little’ imperfections. Worse, I have had Christians do the same; after all I am a pastor of a church, and an author of Christian books. (I will sometimes say that a church can be like a minefield. One can be blown up.)

Judging others

How we love to blame and judge! It is the national pastime. Anything bad that happens, we want to know who to blame.

How do I know this is so? I find it in myself for one thing, and I am about that business constantly. And when I find cause, I stigmatize and sometimes heavily.

A little phrase I use with the high school kids I coach in baseball is, “I am here to criticize heavily.” Of course, after the first week of the season they know I do not mean it, and we all laugh when I say it. After decades of coaching I have learned that criticism, demeaning language, and putting down others, does not produce good results either with the players or members of the congregation.

I ignorantly judged my high school friends. I looked down on Vern and Don, surgery techs at Travis AFB, after I was told they were Christians, without even thinking about what I was doing. After I became a Christian, Vern and Don became fast friends and we loved to eat together at mid-night chow at the hospital as our duty hours were from 5pm to 8am.

What is weird?

Judging the weirdness, or what we consider to be weirdness, of Christians is a defensive mechanism. I was unconscious of what I was doing, and I think it was because I was beginning to feel convicted of my sin. I had to find a way to assure myself that they were wrong, probably crazy, but that I was sound of heart, soul, and mind.

When I talk with others who are not Christians and who know that I am, I will often find the same attitude toward me that I had back in my high school days. At least, when I see it I know not to react or take it personally. It is a case of “there but for the grace of God go I.”

Proof we are not perfect

John the apostle, the longest lived of those who were directly called by Jesus, wrote to a Christian audience:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

This passage is 1 John 1:8-10. Quite clear: being a Christian does not mean we do not sin. Perhaps John saw there was a danger Christians might think they had to be perfect, and if so, such thinking would not be healthy. John uses sharp language to make sure we know we are not perfect.

The Christian then confess sin and the promise is that forgiveness follows.

Here we encounter one of the Bible’s paradoxes, which refer to two truths that run parallel with each other, like railroad tracts, but never intersect. Though all our sin is forgiven since all of it, past, present, and future, has been placed on Jesus as He died on the cross. He shed His blood for us, and His blood washes away our sin. Yet, we are to continue to confess our daily sin, the sin that has already been cleansed from us, in order that we do not have it on our conscience. This is one of the most profound of all the paradoxes in Scripture. (Why, after all, would we imagine that God and His ways are easily grasped by the sinner.)

Then John goes on:

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

This passage is 1 John 2:1, the verse immediately following the earlier verses.

John does not want his readers, those under his pastoral care, to sin, but if they do, and the Greek clause, a third class conditional structure, indicates they will in fact sin, their confession of sin will be heard and they will be forgiven. (This is one of the many reasons biblical Christianity is healthy.)

So then, when sin is discovered, Christians need not hide their sin nor be in fear. We have Jesus who is our righteousness.

Jars of clay

The Apostle Paul spoke of our having the “Light of the Gospel” in us. Yet this “treasure” is in jars of clay. This wonderful truth is found in 2 Corinthians 4:7:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Clay, vessels of all sorts are made out of clay. The containers hold something and in this case it is the Holy Spirit. We speak of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

Sinless perfection is not to be found on the planet. Not only do we deal with our own temptations but also there is an enemy who attempts to undo us like he did Adam and Eve in the garden. And what may be the result: Christians doing weird things. And I have to be the first to raise my hand.

Again, what did John say, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” This is how it is with us. Yes, we are straining to grow up into the fullness of Christ, but it is not yet. I will still do weird and strange things.

Who’s to blame?

 I am to blame. Blame me, not Jesus.

The danger in blaming me is that you will also reject not only my Christianity but my Jesus as well. And this is the real reason for this essay since the price you will pay is beyond imagination. If you had any inkling of this reality, you would be horrified.

“What a conclusion!” must be running through your mind right now. It would be wrong of me, a sin if you will, if I did not present full disclosure.

The How and Why of Jesus the God-Man

Philippians 2:5-11 & 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

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. From Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi we encounter the word “kenosis,” which is usually translated “emptying.” Jesus, in the very form God, therefore completely equal with God, of His own accord, took the form of a servant. Jesus then became human, He who is “the exact imprint of his nature.” (see Hebrews 1:3)
8. Paul is attempting to express in human terms and to human minds the greatest enigma of them all. We are not surprised that we humans can never quite grasp the full meaning of “how” God became human.
9. The “why” comes next then. Why would it be necessary that God become human? Paul speaks of this, in general terms and as an aside, in his second letter to the church at Corinth. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
10. Numbers of other passages in both testaments bear witness to this central and core doctrine.
11. In the Hebrew, to celebrate Passover a lamb without spot or blemish only could be used as the sacrifice, and the blood of the animal warded off sin and judgment. It must be enacted once a year.
12. Jesus, sinless His entire life, becomes the perfect sacrifice for sin. And once for all. At the cross Jesus, our Passover Lamb, takes all our sin upon Himself.
13. Only the sacrifice of the God-Man would suffice.

Paradoxes of the Bible #3

Grace versus Works

(see Ex. 20:1-17, Mt. 5:17-20, Ephesians 2:1-10)

1. Find a quiet place without 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. The Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, is easily broken and broken by everyone.
7. Originally, there was one law, which was quickly broken; it seems we humans are drawn to law breaking. (see Genesis 3)
8. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes it clear that the breaking of the Law is not merely in actions, but also is of the heart and mind. Indeed, all have sinned.
9. Works, good works, we are all called to, but these do not save us. The Law is a reminder that we are all law breakers.
10. Is there nothing to be done? Are we all doomed to an eternity in hell, separated forever from fellowship with our Creator?
11. The whole of the Bible is the account of how we will have all our sin removed, thus opening the way into fellowship with God, both now while on the planet, and also for eternity.
12. The Law is the beginning, the acknowledging that we are law breakers. It is not an accusation, but the initial revelation that we are utterly helpless and unable to cover our own sin. This is where we all start, seeking forgiveness.
13. Then, and only by the working of the Holy Spirit, do we have an interest in Jesus. Suddenly we are drawn to the Son of God, and that of Jesus dying on the cross. That grizzly image, now it means something else to us. We see Jesus taking our sin upon Himself, shedding His blood to cover our sin.
14. Now then comes the new birth, totally and completely the work of the Holy Spirit. Being unable to do a single thing, by the greatest of miracles, our sin is completely removed, all sin, past, present, and future. This is why we sing, Amazing Grace.

Paradoxes of the Bible # 1

Jesus: The God-Man

The Deity of Jesus: part 2

(Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; John 1:1-18; Colossians 1:15-20)

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. The mystery surrounding Jesus will never be understood this side of heaven. We are not arrogant enough to suppose otherwise.
8. Jesus came to us as fully man and also fully God, and both at once. We have nothing to compare this with.
9. The Logos (Word) to the Greek mind was the reason behind all that the universe is. In John 1:1 the Apostle John identifies this reason, this Word, as Jesus.
10. John, writing to the Graeco-Roman culture, makes an absolute and incredible claim that Jesus of Nazareth, born of a human being, is at once God, thus the God-Man.
11. Such a position challenges every spiritual or religious worldview extant, both then and now.
12. Not a re-incarnation, not an avatar, not a highly evolved spirit, but a real human being and God, both at once.
13. This Logos is not less than the Father, no, both are One, as Jesus makes plain in John 10:30, “The Father and I are one.”
14. Indeed, the Apostle Paul states that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” and that “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” (verses 15 & 19 of Colossians 1) What a mammoth leap for Paul, a trained Jewish rabbi, to accept.
15. Jesus then, both God and man at once. This reality cannot be grasped; it must be revealed by the Holy Spirit.

Paradoxes of the Bible #1

Jesus: The God-Man

Jesus the Man: part 1

1. Find a quiet place without 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. Nothing is more core to Christianity than the humanness of Jesus. If Jesus is God only, there is no death on the cross, but then merely a trick, a misperception, a lie, and worse, no atonement for sin.
7. From the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, we see the human nature of Messiah as evidenced in Psalm 2 and 22. From Isaiah 7 we see a person born of a virgin, a miracle yet a birth of a human being.
8. Moses instructed the people to kill a lamb without blemish, take the blood and place it on the posts and lintel of the doors so no death would come to that house. Jesus is our Passover Lamb.
9. In the Greek Bible, the New Testament, and in a way we do not understand, God is born, the Word, becomes flesh.
10. We see so much of the real man in Jesus. He is begotten of God (John 3:16), tempted (Matthew 4:1-11), hungry (Matthew 4:2), thirsty (John 19:28), tired (John 4:6), angry (Mark 3:5), sighing deeply (Mark 8:12 & John 11:33), crying (John 8:35), and dying (John 19:28-34).And the list could go on and on.
11. No doctrine has been more attacked than the humanness of Jesus with the lone exception of the deity of Jesus. The reality is, if Jesus were not fully man, His death on the cross is meaningless and of no effect.
12. If Jesus is God and not the God-man, then there is no actual death. It must be that He is both God and man at once.
13. This is beyond reason from the human standpoint; it must be revealed and believed.

BIG BITE OUT OF THE APPLE

In 1985 I learned a few things on an HP computer. DOS was the operating system. For the next twenty plus years it was a personal computer all the way. And it worked just fine.

Then I married Katie ten years ago and she was all Apple. Now, in my office, I have two I MAC’s and a MacBook Pro. To top it off, I have hanging from my belt an IPhone X. A big bite out of the apple, indeed.

At the Apple Store in Corte Madera a couple hours ago I started talking with James who was helping me migrate the data from my Android to the new IPhone.

I called attention to the apple image on his company shirt.[1] I asked him if he knew where the symbol of the apple with a big bite out of it came from. He said no. Oh ha, I said to myself, an opening for a Word.[2]

In the Garden 

There he was, the first being created in the image of God. (Eve would come along a little later.) Everything was simply wonderful; Adam had all that he needed or would ever need, well, except for a woman.

The Great Provider gave him one simple directive: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16).

Stunning isn’t it; knowledge—certainly something to desire, and “surely die”? One thing is clear; the tree had nothing to do with a fountain of youth. It was Just the opposite, a fountain of death. The knowledge of good and evil; what could that possibly mean except that what looked good wasn’t.

Must we take this Genesis account literally or is there another way to get at it, like maybe see it as symbolic? We do not know which and it does not really matter. What we do know is a big bite was taken out of the apple.[3]

Eve is created and apparently Adam tells her about the problem with one particular tree. Eve, also apparently, did not know what she was facing when the serpent began to speak to her.[4] For some incredible and preposterous reason the Creator/Provider/Deity let evil into the garden.

This creature, later identified as Satan, the devil, here the serpent, a master deceiver gets Eve to take a bite. And before she did she quoted the warning that by eating the fruit of the tree death would result. She was completely aware of the command. Her desire for knowledge, however, overwhelmed her.

The prince of demons only wants the woman to know that there was

something to be gained by eating that which she had been warned not to eat.

The tempter, ever wise, intones, “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).

So enticing! Then and now.

No going back?

Adam and Eve had knowledge like God, or so they thought. The first thing they became aware of is that they were naked. So they hid, not from each other necessarily, but from their Creator. And Why? Because they were ashamed. They were guilty. They had broken the commandment. They had sinned.

So it has been ever since; we are hiding.

It was inevitable, some think, that the temptation would be too much for them. The lust for power and knowledge is what we crave, and it is all about power since knowledge is power. We want to be like the strong man, the despot, the dictator, the director. The quest goes on, but forever?

In the very chapter, chapter 3 of Genesis and verse 15, is the oldest prophetic word ever uttered. In it we find the answer to the whole of human history.

To the crafty serpent the Creator said:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;[5]

He shall bruise your head,

And you shall bruise his heel.

There would be war, enmity, between the serpent and the woman’s offspring. (The serpent’s offspring is the demonic hoard and all who would be deceived by the serpent.)

The woman’s offspring would deal a deathblow to the serpent while the serpent is not able to inflict such a blow.

Jumping forward some unknown millennia, we find: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8b). The undoing of the serpent’s work is ongoing. It is a case of “now, but not yet.”

In the final chapters of the Book of Revelation we discover Satan’s final disposition:

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

(Revelation 20:10)

Steve Jobs’ apple

Like Mr. Jobs, and all who preceded him, and the list stretches back to the beginning and presses ever forward to the end of it all, we want knowledge, and of both good and evil. Yes, this is only one aspect of the modern technological age, but it is a key facet of it. Not only do we want all knowledge, we want it now.

I wanted it; I wanted and needed what the machines could do for me. Did I break a command? No, not that I know of. The quest for knowledge is not in itself wrong from a heavenly point of view. After all, I am using Apple technology to do my Gospel work.

The apple with a big bite missing on James’ shirt reminded me of the Genesis account of what theologians have long referred to as the Fall. Innocence lost indeed! We know too much, and this may seem an exaggeration, since we use our knowledge to war with each other, think of the military-industrial complex, and we are not walking and talking with God in the cool of the day any more either.

The whole story of the Scripture is that fellowship with God was lost but there is a way back. Here is how Jesus put it in John 14:6:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

All have had a bite 

In a way we will never quite grasp, when Adam and Eve “fell” we all did. At minimum we are born into a fallen world, tinged, and deeply, with sin. There is a certain sense we have of it, too, which hangs onto us as angst, dread, a knowing that all is not right.

It is not initially our fault, either. Given enough time, we do become aware of our plight. The Apostle Paul put it this way:

“None is righteous, no not one.” Romans 3:10

“No one does good, not even one.” Romans 3:12

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23a

Three chapters later, in Romans 6:23a, Paul sums up our predicament: “For the wages of sin is death” And this death is of a different kind than biological death, it is spiritual death.

Notice above the “fall short of the glory of God”? Paul means that if we die with sin unforgiven, we cannot ever be in the presence of God. (Where God is, is glory.) Like it or not, this is clearly the biblical reality.

Now then, there is a “b” to Romans 6:23: “but the free gift of God is eternal live in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

That little hunk we tore of the apple, that acquiring of the knowledge of good and evil, poisoned the race. And we have been dying. But the Creator God had, and from the beginning, an antidote, the dying of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. There Jesus took all our sin upon Himself. It is the story of life out of death.

And thanks to the Internet we proclaim, and boldly, this Good News.

All forms of media may be used to fulfill the Great Commission

Our small Miller Avenue Baptist Church produces three television programs, which may be seen via YouTube all over the world. We have a publishing house, Earthen Vessel Media, LLC, and publish about three books a year and since the year 2000.[6] And for a congregation that numbers maybe 25 on Sunday morning, we thank God for modern technology.

I am thankful for all those who have contributed to the Internet and the vast array of means to access and use it. Wonderful for sure! Mr. Jobs, thank you very much.

Kent Philpott

August 2018

[1] The Beatles’ record company, Apple Corps Ltd, founded in 1968, used an apple for a logo, but it is far different from the apple with a bite missing used by Steve Jobs’ company.

[2] Turned out James is a Christian and after he played along some he came out with it.

[3] Apple? Right, the text does not say apple. How that all came about is lost in history. A fruit? Apple! probably a good guess since whatever it was, could be eaten.

[4] The serpent was not Satan, but Satan possessed the serpent and spoke through it.

[5] Offspring means spiritual offspring, those who belong to the serpent, and those who belong to the woman.

[6] Go to evpbooks.com or Amazon.com (type in my name, Kent Philpott) and you will see some of what we do.

The Weakness of Islam

In nearly every edition of major American newspapers are stories of Muslims somewhere, east or west, engaged in acts of violence—in the name of Allah. Suicide bombing, kidnapping and killing Christians, Jews, Hindus, burning churches and temples, unruly protesting of free expressions of religion and the press—such terrorist reports are routine. Is this indicative of weakness in the very fabric of Islam? I say it is.

By weakness, I mean Islam is not able to compete in the spiritual marketplace of ideas. It must instead resort to repression, intimidation, and violence. Perhaps there is a sense of inferiority, essentially that Islam is not able to stand alongside Christianity to gain influence and converts without dependence on questionable, cultic methods.

I am reminded of Paul who, prior to his conversion, vigorously persecuted the church. Many Bible scholars think that he was motivated by a fear that his religious beliefs were inadequate, or even erroneous. Paul was a terrorist while he was still known as Saul, according to the biblical account in Acts. Yet after Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, Paul no longer threw men, women, and children in prison merely because they believed in Jesus. Rather, he became a simple preacher of the gospel armed only with the message of a crucified and risen Savior.

Paul learned from Jesus, who taught His disciples to turn the other cheek, to pray for their enemies, and to do good to those who treated them shamefully. Jesus taught that His followers were to love their neighbors as themselves and to do to others as they would have done to them. Jesus said nothing of killing infidels or repressing religious teachings. He did warn of false prophets whose aim would be to deceive and corrupt. Clearly, however, He did not advocate imprisoning or killing them. In one instance, Jesus taught His disciples to simply go on to the next town when opposition arose. Paul practiced this throughout his missionary journeys.

Consider a society like Saudi Arabia where even the simple recounting of the Christian message to a Muslim is a capital offense. That is weakness in the extreme.

Islamic ‘evangelistic’ strategy, if it could be called that, on the other hand, is so very often fueled by intimidation and violence. “Convert or die” has too often been the Muslim message. Am I exaggerating here? I don’t think so, since sufficient historical data supports my claim, both ancient and modern. In fact, I think that Islamic means of spreading the faith are held in check only by fear of reprisal.

Biblical Christianity has entirely different weapons of warfare. Paul wrote, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). Such is the power of the message of Jesus.

Evangelical Christians proclaim the message of the Cross of Jesus and His resurrection. The Holy Spirit of God then convicts individuals of their rebellion against God and draws them then to the Savior, Jesus Christ, who has completely provided their salvation. No one can be forced to become a Christian; no one can even join Christianity or apply for membership. It is a work of God and not of man. And one of the great weaknesses of Islam is that it arose and continues to exist as the work of man. Few choose to join Islam, especially in recent years now that the religion was been partially unmasked. It is usually by birth that one becomes a Muslim, and especially in Muslim dominated countries, it is nearly impossible to leave it. This again is a great weakness. There is no religious freedom for Muslims to come and go, to be faithful or not; there is only fear and peer pressure. To be an apostate Muslim, that is one who has declared faith in Jesus rather than Mohammed, is to be classed worse than an infidel. The result is often death.  

Paul trusted in the work of the Holy Spirit and did not revert to his old ways of violence and imprisonment—fleshly warfare. In Ephesians, Chapter 6, he describes the “armor of God”—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, for the feet the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (see Ephesians 6: 10-20)

This is strength. This is confidence. This is peace. This is actual dependence on and submission to God.  

Islam, in stark contrast, is weak, fearful, and violent, a religion holding millions in bondage to the teachings of their prophet through intimidation and lies. Can such a religion really be of God?

Kent Philpott

October 2018