The Case for Theocracy as over Democracy – I

According to Biblical Theocracy, the three major institutions that exists are the State, the Church, and the Family. The State is given to govern everything concerning law and order while the Church is given to care for and develop every other aspect of society. The responsibility of the Family lies in raising individuals according to the teachings of the Bible so as to strengthen the Church. The Church similarly is given to groom individuals in the righteousness of God so as to be elected into the State. So it turns out in a theocracy that if the State succeeds in its Godly duty, it reflects that the Church has performed its rightful duty unto Christ, which in turn is telling of the family’s spiritual vigour.

Prov 29:2
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

You know Jesus has said that man can serve only one of two masters i.e. money or God (Lk6:13). So it is in a Theocratic Regime that education in schools is as much a ministry as medication is in hospitals because outside a Theocratic Regime, education and medicine turns out to be more as a good lucrative avenue as over serving people from Godly duty. When education is taught with the fear of the Lord being the backbone, the children learn what it is to have a good moral disposition but where does that happen now, which means today even if you go into the best of schools here in Mumbai, you will get the feeling that we’re raising a bunch of goons and not kids for a better tomorrow.

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Besides one of the reason’s hospice and education, should be governed by the Church is because the people ought to see that their wisdom is from God and so too healthcare is a godly provision. These shouldn’t just be seen as casually as some government aid/grant.

Another area I do not agree with in democracy is the institution of marriage because the State/Government has absolutely no right to conduct such a thing as a civil/court marriage because as much as it is God, who has instituted the State and Church, so too He has also instituted the Family. The Bible defines God as being Love (1Jn4:16) and the couple are called to vow and love each other in sickness and in health, such is their Godly duty in love as over being merely emotionally led which is unpredictable. If it is the State as over the Church that declares a couple married, then it also becomes the States responsibility to counsel a marriage in trouble, which is not a role that befits the State. Besides this, moral atrocities like gay marriage and abortion only exists today because of the involvement of State in the critical area of the Family in ways where it has no business.

I understand Christians are a minority in India and for us to see a Biblical Theocracy happen here is far from feasible but if you were to look at events happening here where our Prime Minister says he is our Pradhan Sevak (first servant leader) and every other Minister is a Sevak (servant leader), we notice that it is God at work. For Rom8:28 says that God works all things for the good of those who love Him, whom He has called according to His purpose, while Col1:20 says He is reconciling all things in Christ and Mat20:25 teaches us that we aren’t to be like those who merely exercise their authority without being of any assistance and a yearning for servant leadership is precisely what we see in our Prime Minister… thanks be God.

Mat 22
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and [o]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

The UK may still claim to be a Theocracy because it is a monarchy but that is far from the truth because if it were truly a Theocracy today, it wouldn’t licence abortions and gay marriage. However during the 1500-1600 when it was truly a Theocracy, the nation prospered in trade from all across the globe but when Arminianism creeped in through John Wesley and the reformed faith split and the charismatic heresy was introduced into the Church, which all happened through the 1700s & 1800’s, the UK lost sight of Godly rule and as a result there was an uprising in her colonies. The American Revolutionary War began in 1775 and ended successfully 1783 with an Independent United States of America.

East India Company 1612–1757
Company rule in India 1757–1858
British Raj 1858–1947

In the case of India, the first Indian Rebellion against the British occurred in 1857-1857 from a Sepoy Mutiny. Though this period also saw much social reform like the abolition of Sati in 1829 and also the allowing widows to remarry in 1856, the UK got its dose of anarchy all over the world because in yielding to heresy, the nation had succumbed to lawlessness itself.

Luke 6
38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

If you care to notice, the Saudi flag pictures the Islamic Statement of Faith resting on a sword to mark Islam’s means of religious progress. Also Islam require the non-Muslim to pay Jizya, which is the so called humiliating tax a person pays for not being a Muslim. However though the UK went through her obstinate backsliding from God, she never governed nations to the lawless/sinful extent of subjecting people to the edge of the sword to promote Christendom. The reason I feel strongly to show you this contrast is because Sharia Law is no Theocracy but only an abuse of personal liberty by a bunch of power-craving liars, who have established their sin as their religion. The Biblical code of righteousness on the other hand is a moral code, where the civil law merely serves to hedge the moral law.

The truth about democracy is that according to statistics, a meagre 7%-10% are those who actually determine what the people want and if truly all the people got what they wanted, chaos would erupt in every street with stores being looted, people being murdered unjustly and women being raped only because they were not dressed modestly enough in the public eye. Democracy therefore is merely sugar coated Ochlocracy (mob rule). Ever wondered why the masses love movies like Resident Evil and I am Legend?

According to International Suicide Statistics, over one million people die by suicide worldwide each year with the global suicide rate positioned at 16 per every 100,000, which on an average says, one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds somewhere in the world. This combined with Euthanasia, where people hire supporters in thousands to voice out their right-to-die is the nastier side of democracy.

However the main opposition to Theocracy remains the people’s love for sin. I remember when pornography was banned in India a few months ago there was a huge uproar among the people. Thankfully India though being the largest democracy in the world is also a republic and so the people’s right-to-porn was overruled.

Biblical Law is a moral code, which means it is cross-cultural, not requiring people to grow their hair/beards/moustaches or even dress in a particular way, as long as that is modest. The truth remains that if we truly believe that God exists then we ought to admit that God knows better and it is from this perspective that Theocracy is far superior compared to Democracy.

Adoption into the family of God!

Adoption is a topic that is the least debated in Christian circles and a topic on which few books are written, while it remains to every Christian a Biblical fact. However, if one were to consider the finer details of adoption, good solid doctrine then emerges as a critical requisite in understanding Adoption in the Family of God.

John 1
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

One thing is for certain, adoption is not an initiative taken by the adoptee but the initiative is of the family which adopts that child. In this case, the family we are talking about is the Holy Trinity, where the will is of God the Father in Salvation, while God the Son accomplishes Salvation and God the Holy Spirit applies Salvation unto the Elect i.e. whom God has drawn to Himself through their names being recorded from the foundation of the world, for the Son’s knowledge (Jn6:39-44), in the Book of Life. This, so that the Son may prepare to bear unto life, the dead man or woman being drawn unto the Eternal Family of the Father for adoption and the place in the dimension of time, which the Father has determined to draw the individual unto life from death, in His Son Jesus Christ.

John 6 (Jesus’ word)
39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
…
44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

In understanding that God shares His glory with no other, we learn that creation glorifies God. God is familial/relational; He is One in the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. This same structure reflects in a family here, who though consisting of different people, go by the same family name, which is akin to the Three Persons of the Godhead going by the same name as One: YHWH. By this I do not mean that God is Father, Mother and Son because God doesn’t need a woman to have a son and this was emphasised in Jesus’ birth through the Virgin Mary.

Gen2
16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Rom 8
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

In knowing the spiritual death that precipitated from the fall, we understand that Adam was once an obedient “son of God”, not to the same extent as God the Son, because God the Son is God and not a created being like Adam. God the Son exists with God from eternity to eternity, even before creation came to being. If we consider the context of Gal 4:4 we learn that God the Son existed and His coming as Jesus Christ was merely adding to Himself the complete nature of man by being born of a woman (Lk1:35).

Gal 4
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Mat 3:17 & 17:5 are two places among others which site the good pleasure of God the Father in His Son Jesus Christ. This precisely is the duty of a son, a relationship which glorifies God even in creation. To be that chip of the old block, to make your father proud, is such a joy for any son but that is so only because it glorifies the relationship God the Father shares with God the Son from eternity past to eternity beyond. For so it was that before creation existed: God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit existed is perfect fellowship with each other lacking nothing.

Rom 5
17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ

We all fell in Adam but Salvation is by grace through faith, where the moment Our Father and King Jesus Christ opens our eyes, confirming our birth from death into life, from lawlessness into the Law of God as our nature and character as being born from above (Jn3:3), and this in the midst of the rat race this world is caught up in. At this time, we realize we could do nothing to merit or facilitate the work of Salvation, which God the Son has given rise to in our lives. This precisely is the unmerited favour one experiences in adoption.

Heb 2 (Concerning Jesus)
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12 saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”

Imagine how it feels to suddenly be blessed with a living spirit that desires to exercise the righteousness of God, please God and cry out Abba Father. Such is the privilege of God’s Elect because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished, who gave us His Own Spirit of obedience unto His Father, to the extent He is not ashamed to call us His brethren (Heb2:11).

Isaiah 53
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has Turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

The Salvation of God, thereby presents the Elect a double cure, where on one hand, Christ paid restitution in full for our obedience withheld with His perfect obedience, in which we receive a portion in Christ’s spirit replacing our dead spirit of rebellion, as our hearts are sanctified unto increasing obedience unto God (Ezek36:26-27) and then on the other hand, Christ has substituted the Elect in paying God the Father the full restitution concerning the wages of all sin (Is53:4-6).

1John3
10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

Having said all of the above, I must add that not all people are the children of God because God’s children are so identified that they yearn to please God and are those who are given the moral disposition to exercise His righteousness, for such a nature is made available to them who are His Elect only in Christ. Besides it would be rather foolish to say “all people are God’s children” only to satisfy their flesh and dead spirit and keep them from experiencing the terror of being at war with the God of the universe as a consequence of their love for sin. These who have nothing to do with the Spirit of Christ but instead wallow in the spirit of antichrist, which hates and opposes the proclamation of the existence of the Father and the Son and the advent of the Son amongst us unto bearing the righteousness of God to pay restitution for our obedience withheld and our sins wilfully committed in its stead.

Mat7
9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?
10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Ps37
4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Rom 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As you can see above Mat7:9-11, Ps37:4 and Rom6:23 beautifully complement each other as does all the scripture from the Bible because when you are an adopted son/daughter, alive by the Spirit of Christ (Jn20:22) or shall I say by the very knowledge of Christ (2Tim3:16), you are blessed even with the privilege to delight in His righteousness as your own. All this, as He freely blesses you in sanctification, restoring you to His very image, which is the Nature and Character of God, which is the very Law of God written by the Son of God upon the hearts of God’s Elect (Lk15:11-32).

Rom10
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

If you have never known this privilege of delighting in God but you feel ever so moved to know God, then say a pray to the Lord Jesus Christ that He may forgive you your sins and bless you with the love of God, which is life in all its brilliance. Our Father and King Jesus Christ may have set that prayer in your heart as the 1st step unto a complete change within, erupting through your thoughts, words, actions and purposes in time, which God alone knows but you will know the change when it comes according to His will. As you will then notice that every immorality you ever found delightful in and sought after in death, comes across as distasteful and rotting in your life by the power of Christ working in you (1Jn4:4). If He does set you free from your slavery to sin, death and rebellion, you will know it, “for if the son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed” – John 8.

My life… the Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde!

Mat 10
19 “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.

When I think of the people of this world, I am filled with some remorse in learning that these are denied the desire and capacity to pour out their hearts to God or even if it is to express themselves truly, and for most part their impotent/reprobate desire and incapacity only frustrates them into a position, which is so uncomfortable that would rather not talk about it. However, for the Godly, who are given to examine themselves truthfully and return to God, we are blessed as the Holy Spirit regenerates us with the capacity to express every feeling and insecurity in coming clean unto God thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lam 3
40 Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

Hebrews 4
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The reason I write today is because I am convicted by God the Holy Spirit concerning the way I go about life. Where though I have the desire to live according to the moral precepts of God and in most cases do but in my backsliding I am nothing short of a monster. In those short spurts/phases of my backsliding I switch from an obedient adopted son to a disobedient wretch like going from the morally sophisticated Dr. Jekyll to an immoral beast Mr. Hyde, and I wake up in the morning feeling nothing but the deepest sorrow for grieving the Holy Spirit (Eph4:30).

Rom 7
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

The above scripture sites my condition and the Doctor who remedies this for me in His time is the Lord Jesus Christ (Mat9:12). As Jesus once said of His sleeping disciples in Mark 14:38, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. For the living spirit which Christ has secured for me in His Salvation (Jn3:3, 16) desires to do the good pleasure of God but the sin inherent in me from Adam, desires and meets out only the most violent and sickening aspects of my lifestyle. Such is the battle the Holy Spirit wages in me against my uncleanliness.

Galatians 5 (flesh, Biblically refers to Sinful Desire… from the fall)
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

Yet in all these things I learn God is Sovereign (reigns over all) because these trials of mine only appear to be blessings in disguise (Rom8:28) and I emerge from these, learning only the profound and more intimate aspects of my Christian faith. I always happen to come out stronger concerning knowing the Lord my God more richly with deeper regards for my neighbour at par with myself (Mat22:37-40). Such is the love, God desires we willing choose and put into practice, which is neither blind nor incoherent like the emotional gibberish the world defines as love but this is love defined by God, who is true love Himself (1John4:16).

John 6
39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
…
45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

To conclude, unlike His Church, the world’s people are denied any clear/honest expression of themselves because they are filled with the guilt of their own sin before God and from their fallen pride are the most disoriented, not knowing our lowly estate as sinners before God in all truth. This knowledge is the believer’s true prostration before God which he/she exercises through a Godly (law-abiding) life. Thanks be to Jesus Christ that my life is one saved through His redemptive merit, in which I am blessed with a living spirit to examine myself truly before the righteous Majesty of the Triune God Almighty and plead for mercy in the name of my Saviour whose Name is above all names, that is my Lord, God the Son Jesus Christ. Praise and thanks be to God Almighty for none can thwart/withhold His mighty arm in Salvation (Ps89:13).

Repentance and the Gospel!

I see the world as having essentially two types of people, those who attribute their success and their lives to God and those who love to wallow in their own glory, even if it is by the means of crediting their success or their lives to something else besides God, which appeals as eye-candy to the people around.

Mat 5:45b
… for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Imagine people who perform but in their ignorance of God, fail to see their every effort/talent as being cushioned by the hand of God. So when these are asked as to what is the secret of their success they just arrogantly blurt their ignorant feelings available to them in that moment, not realizing to whom that credit is due. Still, God is not insecure like fallen men who desire payback for every emotion they invest in their neighbour.

Psalm 115:1
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.

What is Repentance, it is turning away from that fallen desire of taking all the credit and giving glory to God, who matters more than all creation put together. If you find this hard to accept, it reflects only your miniscule perspective on God. Ironically, you will notice that though you haven’t figured the extent to which creation exists, you have no trouble in meditating on your own fallen desires with little care for those around you, leave aside all creation. That glory rightfully belongs to God (who is good and without sin) in all creation (Ps148), not to you or me or any other person for that matter.

Psalm 113:7
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap,

Mat 5
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

The wearing of sackcloth in the Old Testament was synonymous with coarseness of mourning, where looking to God was the only comfort which would satisfy the soul. This repentance too is from God given to His elect (Act11:18) that they may know the truth about God and themselves and be brought to that spiritual prostration, which is every believer’s privilege in knowing God Almighty.

Mark 2:17 (In the context of John 1:10-13 & Rom 3:23-26)
17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

It has always been so, that those who feel they don’t need Jesus are only those who are completely at home with their sin. For every other religion, the code of religiosity is an outward code but in Christianity the code is purely moral and so a person’s faith is not measured by the colour of his beard or by the length of their trousers or by the food he eats. By this I do not mean a person should dress immodestly but just that Christian principles are based on moral values and not an outward showcasing of religiosity from the individual. So it is that, what Biblical Law focuses on concerning the individual is: morality (Is1:11-17). For people from their fallen nature are prone to remaining in their immoral and godless state even while performing the Ceremonial aspects of the Law, only because such is the love for sin in every man from the fall of Adam.

Isaiah 1
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

In repentance, God grants the individual the overwhelming capacity to put to death their nature to sin, a death to the individual’s sinful-self, unto a new life in God (Jn12:24-26), symbolized by sitting in ashes and dust (Job42:6) and being washed in the waters of baptism (Rom6:4). This realization of a person’s spiritual plight before God, is the beginning of the work of God the Holy Spirit in putting sin/immorality to death in the individual (Phil1:6).

Col 3
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.

Such is the importance of repentance, which is the highlight of Baptism. Without repentance it is impossible to believe in the Gospel because one needs to begin emptying themselves of their love for sin/immorality to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. This capacity is granted the individual in Christ, who presents the believer a living spirit, which right from its infancy (Jn3:3,16), desires and exercises the righteousness of God (2Cor5:17).

Isaiah 58:5
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?

Mk 1:14-15
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

So to conclude, just as Christmas marks the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and Resurrection Sunday marks the redemptive accomplishment of the Lord Jesus Christ for all God’s people. Baptism marks the individual made ready through repentance to believe in the saving Gospel. The Bible puts this across through some beautiful euphemism, where the Church, which is the body of believers, is being prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive her groom: the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev 22
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

For as creation is given to glorify God, we see that just as a man is given to pour out his strength and labour for the woman he loves, who in turn is given to draw forth righteousness from him by her beauty, so too the Salvation of God’s Church is by the absolute merit of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev5:9), who paid Salvation’s ransom for His Church in His blood (1Tim2:6) and sent the Holy Spirit (John15:26) to sanctify and beautify His Church as a bride into the image of God, which was lost in Adam’s fall (Rom5:17). That just as Salvation is by grace through faith, so too is the beauty of Jesus’ Church that her faith is a gift from God to draw forth the righteousness of her beloved groom to save her from her sins (Lk5:20).

Salvation is True Freedom!

Rom7
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

On the occasion of my country’s Republic Day, I feel compelled to write on freedom and what it truly entails because today the only freedom the average Indian knows is freedom from the British Raj, which is something like the Israelites of Jesus’ time seeking Christ only to save Israel from Roman rule. The individual on the other hand is clueless about his/her own nature before God, of how enslaved he/she is to sin.

1John 2
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Before I knew the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour from revealed scripture, I was just another sinfully predictive human being, who sought nothing more than self-gratification in life. If we look at 1Jn2:16 we see there are 3 facets of bondage drivers in this world that deter people from finding freedom in God i.e. the lust of the flesh, which is pleasure dealing with indulgence of the senses beyond that which is healthy; then the lust of the eyes, which is power: craving that which is beyond our means. Third being the boastful pride of life, which you see in the faces of people who are full of themselves.

Gen 3
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

These three facets of bondage, show its self as also driving the fallen nature of Adam and Eve, where when Eve saw the tree was good for food, it accounted for her lust of the flesh i.e. it pleased her senses beyond that which was good for life. Whereas when she saw it was a delight to the eyes, that was her lust of the eyes i.e. a craving for power. Finally, her opinion outside the righteousness of God to find the fruit desirable to make her wise (Prov1:7) was what wet her worldly appetite towards the pride of life. Today, yielding to this fallen pride/pleasure/power is what enslaves the actions of all the people in the world, who are as much under the sway of Satan (1Jn5:19) as Adam and Eve were, when they fell to disobedience. Herein is our bondage to sin, our very nature from Adam.

Mat 5
39 “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
40 “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.
41 “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.
42 “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47 “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

If we were to look at the above scripture from the perspective of the world, it comes across as only a good teaching which is not practical. Ironically, the world also recognises much of the success of these teachings as having played a role in India’s non-violent freedom movement driven by Mahatma Gandhi.

Proverbs 16
7 When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

As the Lord Jesus says, an individual can serve only one of two masters, either he/she shall serve God or he/she shall serve money (Lk16:13). As it is with the world, these are given to only serve themselves outside the righteousness of God, for such is the nature they have received from Adam, that they cannot even consider the thought of trusting God with their lives, in being consistently yet cautiously good (Mt10:16). That in obeying Jesus, it is God who preserves them from the wicked (Ps37:40).

Rom 5
17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Life is therefore a pilgrimage for an individual who seeks the Lord in the midst of the moral defilements of this world and just as one would stop to take directions, so also the real question on which the individual must pause to ponder is: How can he/she live a life that is pleasing to God? Its answer is sited in Micah 6:8.

Micah 6
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?

John 15 (Jesus’ words)
4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Like an electronic appliance that cannot function without electricity, so too Micah 6:8 cannot materialize unless the individual goes through a spiritual rebirth, which comes through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn3:3/2Cor5:17). There are three aspects to this saving faith: Knowledge, Intellectual Assent & Trust. These three are all given to the believer in Salvation. Where knowledge is of things which are spiritually appraised (1Cor2:14), while intellectual assent is to dwell on the substance that is our faith and know its fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ (Lk24:32) and finally trust is what distinguishes the sheep from the goats and the angels from demons and that is where, after having the knowledge and intellectual assent the believer is given to exercise his/her faith in waiting on the Lord in faith (Is40:31/Mt25:1-13).

Rom 10
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

There is but one name i.e. Jesus Christ in which there is Salvation and God’s good pleasure, that those who desire the Lord Jesus Christ, are given a circumcision of heart (Rom2:29) that they live not as in serving themselves but in serving God (Col3:23-24).

Rom 7
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

In Salvation therefore is true freedom for every man, woman and child because Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (Jn14:6). Besides our nature to sin, is only nauseating at its height because it marks our unhealthy spiritual estate and sinful bondage before God and so to live life to its fullest is to begin a journey as though it were our life’s pilgrimage to know the Lord Jesus Christ from the Bible.

God bless!

The Lord’s Joy is the strength of the Godly!

Psalms 37
4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Everybody loves to have a good time. We all look forward to that office party or a Christmas or New Year’s party or even a wedding for that matter and there is nothing wrong with that. However, life’s events are like a bunch of things that fly past you and if you want to shoot down your game, you got to align your desires with what pleases God i.e. your will in line with God’s will, which is like the foresight and hindsight of a rifle. Unless these are aligned your life shall always experience those consistent moments of emptiness and lack of substance.

Jeremiah 9
23 Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;
24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

I am so moved to write on the Joy of the Lord, which is something I have found immense strength in. For the Joy of the Lord is the strength of the Godly (Neh8:10) and to know the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil4:13) in this manner is to possess the unyielding perseverance of a living spirit, given us by the Holy Spirit from the merit of Christ who accomplished the salvation of His elect. This is Christian motivation, where at the apex of such joy is gratitude (Col3:15-16); unlike those who live to please themselves with monetary love, fornication, drugs and drunkenness, only to be left feeling squeamish at the height of their foolish pleasure.

Isaiah 40
31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

John 15 (Jesus says)
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

So for those who are interested in knowing what it takes to delight in God, you must know, it first requires you to desire God, and the Bible says that you will only have that, when God gives it to you, not otherwise (Jn3:3&6:44). If you do not know God, you will only be moved by the current trend of what people generally perceive about God, which is something Jesus is not quite interested in (Mk8:29) because unlike the apostate religions of this world, believing in Jesus means having personal and intimate relationship with God and that does not involve a one size fits all carpet policy (1Cor12:4-20).

John 14 (Jesus says)
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

James 2
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

Some of you may know that love by definition is not merely a feeling but a verb, which is a state of action. Such is saving faith, it goes beyond mushy feelings concerning God to doing what pleases God and absolutely enjoying it because the Joy of the Lord is the strength of the Godly.

Rom 10
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

For those who are drawn to know God, you must realize that to know God is to love God. It is with any relationship that to know a person intimately… their likes/dislikes (am not talking about sexual immorality), is to explore love in all its substance and depth. Like a man and a woman who catch each other’s eye and go about getting to know each other, if they are serious. So too it is with the Godly, who are moved to know more about God from the Bible (Ps34:8), for so they have relished morsels of God’s goodness and begin to hunger for the company of Christ (Mt18:20) through the knowledge of Spirit inspired scripture (2Tim3:16-17).

Psalms 34
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

1Jn 4 (check this up with Jn15:5)
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
…
19 We love, because He first loved us.

Love makes any person feel supercharged and that is how it is to truly put your trust in the Triune God Almighty, who is Love. Just as one is given to do things and please whom they love, so it is with the Christian, who is given to live by Godly conduct, which is according to God’s good pleasure. This love is not merely a puff of vapour that disappears with the wind but a truth/fact that explains our very existence under the grace and mercy of God (Eph2:8-9), displayed absolutely in the redemptive works of the Lord Jesus Christ (1Jn2:2).

Gen 1
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Col 1
19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Adam may have borne the misfortune of the fall but in Christ the stewardship of man is renewed, in being reconciled to God. For where Adam failed, Christ pleased God in being obedient even up to the point of death (Phil2:8). The earth thereby looks forward to these who believe in Jesus (Rom8:19), who are received as sons and daughters by God for Christ sake (Jn1:12). Such is the good pleasure Christ merited for all the elect unto God.

John 14
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

To conclude, you ought to pray, asking Jesus to help you yield to God’s good pleasure and therein relish the course of your life through every trial because the Joy of the Lord is like a gyroscope that helps you in any given situation to maintain an orientation that is healthy and fulfilling in God who is Sovereign over all.

A Precis on Holy Fear

What is Fear? Fear is what defines a person’s outlook to life. There are essentially two types of fear, Holy Fear and Unholy Fear. Unholy fear is what drives those outside Christ, to either live in anxiety or by being instruments of anxiety, who Lord It Over their peers (Mat 20:25-28). These fools look up to the works of the wicked with an awe that almost equals worship and it is from this disposition that these usurp the respect of people fallen in Adam, and in this manner Satan’s minions devour these unbelieving fools (Gen 3:14-19).

Mat 24
28″Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

Holy Fear on the other hand is one given an individual who is born from above (Jn 3:3/Mat 10:28/Heb 10:31). Who believes in his heart of hearts that God exists and so is called to live a life of righteousness as described by God and not of self (Prov 3:5). From the fear of God, this individual musters the strength of Christ (Phil 4:13), to influence his neighbours unto the righteousness of God like a little salt that flavours a whole lot of food. People are not the standard his/her life adheres to but God is. Hence even when no one is looking, he/she is given to love the Lord with all His/Her strength and treat their neighbour (Mk 12:29-31) with the same love and respect as they would expect for themselves in all truth.

Psalms 111
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.

As much as it is Christ who saves, and faith is merely the means by which we trust in Him, so too what we fear, is not the commandment but God. For the commandment merely sets healthy moral boundaries as given by God, which the people who transgress them do not recognize nor respect only because they live their lives as though being indifferent to God. Just as in Gen 3:2, 3, 6; Eve kept God’s commandments knowing the fear of God but when she lost her Reverence for God (Holy Fear) she died spiritually from having believed Satan’s lies that the fruit was good to eat and ate of it in disobedience.

John 14:15 (Jesus says)
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

So to conclude, Holy Fear finds its strength in God to exercise the righteousness which is of Christ in the midst of an unbelieving society and this is what defines a God Fearing person. For e.g. an unbelieving person may yield to piracy and abortion only because everybody is doing it but even if the whole world robs and murders, a robbery is still a robbery and murder is still murder; so the God-Fearing man yields before God in the righteousness God Himself has defined in His Moral Law. Unholy Fear on the other hand is what drives a person to either exercise their fallen authority or be consumed by anxiety, as being deceived or shall I say in being consumed by Satan. Fear therefore is what distinguishes the people who truly worship God (Ps 128:1) from those who are under the sway of Satan (1Jn 5:19).

It takes a fool to make a fool

1John 5
19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Revelation 20
2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

Luke 9
25 For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?

We live in a world, which loves to believe that only the intelligent, can fool/deceive other people. We see that is movies like Ocean’s Eleven, Fast and Furious, The Italian Job etc. This precisely is the deception, Satan has ensnared upon the world through the fall of Adam (Gen3:1-6). Those who believe this in their heart of hearts, standing in awe of wickedness as a glorious means of survival, are those who wear the mark of the beast on their “forehead and right arm (Rev13:16-17)”, as these “think and act” according to their own lawless nature from Adam (Gen3:5-6), which defines the very fabric of their lifestyle.

Gen3 (Adam & Eve cast out of Eden)
24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Isaiah 6
9 He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’
10 “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

We therefore understand that the reprobate only resists the righteousness of God because God has not initiated His redeeming grace towards them, as He has done with His elect in Christ (Lk7:22/1Jn4:19). These reprobate are those who are spiritual dead to God from Adam, given over to Satan and his minions to devour (Gen3:14,19/Mat24:28/1Pet5:8).

Psalm14
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.

Psalms 111
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.

What then is wisdom? It is the right application of knowledge! If any of you remember, earlier, education was a ministry and children then were better behaved in schools and colleges but today education is just another racket, for people looking to make a name for themselves in the public eye and further their own vested political agenda, while children in schools today are just another bunch of goons in the making, devoid of any fear of God.

Today we have people who finish their engineering degree, only to then go join some terrorist organization. It was once perceived that people who were educated were better behaved and knew how to be courteous without being told to. However, that doesn’t happen today even among the crème de la crème of the educated lot because the fear of the Lord has no bearing in the lives of these godless fools.

Isaiah 14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Looking therefore at Isaiah 14:13 and Psalms 14:1 (above), we notice that Satan is also a fool to think that any person but God could be God.

Let us read some of the ten commandments in Exodus 20 to understand the moral standard God requires believers to exhibit in their lives.

Exo20
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

If we look at the world today, we see murder legalized through abortion, fornication/adultery as defining social behaviour in society, covetousness as being the basis of most friendships and bearing false witness as the means of having your way in life. I have only mentioned six of the ten commandment because if a person were to ponder this with any intellectual honesty, he/she would understand that if this defines their love for their neighbour whom they can see, then they are nothing short of liars, if they claimed to love God, whom they cannot see (1Jn4:20). This is the wisdom of the world, where it takes a fool to make a fool.

1 Corinthians 1
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Rom10
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Where then is wisdom, it is in earnestly seeking the truth about God (Mat7:7-8). Knowing we are nothing but sinners before His Holy Majesty. God is good and to yield our lives to Him is to confess Jesus as Lord over our lives (Rom10:9), acknowledging in our heart of hearts that Salvation belongs to Him in propitiating the sins of His elect (1Jn4:10). For to know Jesus as Lord, is to know who presides over your life and to be acquainted with such truth in the midst of all the world’s lies about God, requires wisdom, which comes from Holy Fear (Ps111:10), knowing unto whom your life is truly accountable.

Mat7
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Remember, God is most formidable (Heb10:31) and the reason people loves lies and hatefully detest truth concerning themselves and God is because we are all by nature sinners, the rotting fruit of Adams disobedience.

Rom3
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

1Cor1:25
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”
…
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

As Col 1:16 says: ALL CREATION GLORIFIES GOD, and yes even every individual, glorifies either God’s mercy in Salvation or God’s justice in damnation. So just as God made the night the darkest before first light to depict the nature of Christ second coming (Rev20:7-10). So too, the nature of the reprobate who destroy themselves from deliberate ignorance, being outside the propitiating power of Christ, their destruction is pictured in the social structure of an animal called the lemming (Mat7:13).

Concerning Mat7:13, kindly note the road to destruction is broad, not because many more travel it but because it is easier to give in to our fallen nature from Adam. However, the narrow path of God’s holiness is tread more often (Rev7:9-10) because the people who traverse that path, their Salvation is made possible by God (Mt19:26).

Mat11:28 (Jesus’ word)
27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

So as a member of Jesus’ Church (Rev22:17), I conclude by saying this to you all, who are of this world: take off the wool that fool Satan and pulled over your eyes, step out of the rat race, this world is so blindly committed to; come over and find your rest in Christ, dear friend.

Your Thought-Guide on Making a Holistic… New Year’s Resolution!

Think of the contrast that exist between the people of God and people of the world. The people’s standard Vs God’s Standard.

Deut 6 (God’s Standard)
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Ezek 36 (Empowered by the Redemptive work of Christ Rom5:17)
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. 30 I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices.

Rev13 (The people’s standard, there’s no two ways about it… Satanic deception)
16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

When you think of piracy, pornography, fornication and abortion, why is this all ok today with the people? I shall tell you why, that is because… “everybody is doing it”. What a nice way to licence sin with the famous excuse… Oh, why catch me when everybody is doing it? This also shows where democracy has its limitations in people governance because the individual excuses his/her sin in living according to the peoples’ standard.

Psalm 14:1
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

1John 5
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

But guess what, what “everybody is doing” is going to change because this world is not overwhelmed/overruled by evil, as you have been deceived to believe (1Cor1:25). God who is Almighty, exists and is Sovereign over all creation, even over Satan, to the extent, that Satan is merely a chastening rod, sanctifying God’s people. This world, God is reconciling to Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ (Col1:19-20) and whether you and I, choose to be a part of this beautiful plan, matters only as far as our own eternal destiny is concerned.

Col 1
16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

So won’t you turn to God, repent in spiritual submission unto the Lord Jesus Christ (John12:24-26), that you may yield unto the transformation God is bringing in this world, for God delights in those who glorify His mercy unto Salvation (Ps147:11/Ezek18:23) as over those who glorify his good justice unto eternal damnation!

Rom9
22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

So dear friend, won’t you please make that New Year’s resolution to turn from the lust of all things ungodly (1Jn2:16), unto unmitigated love of God in Jesus Christ.

A Little on, what is Christmas about!

Let us read some scripture to get a glimpse of what Jesus birth signifies:

Isaiah 7
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Mat1
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Phil2
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Talk about a One Man Show! Jesus is the only man in History to every be born of a virgin. He is the Son of God (Ps2:7), who added to Himself the complete nature of man to be that spotless sacrifice that would appease the wrath God (Phil2:7-8), poured out on Him in full measure as a substitutionary sacrifice, for all of God’s people for all time (Is53:7-12). The virgin birth also answers apostate Islam, which asks where is there a wife for God to have a Son, as though God needed to have sex to have a son, when He Himself is the wellspring of all life. The Virgin Birth is also telling of Jesus being free from Original Sin, which was passed from Adam to all his posterity.

Rom5
17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

To learn the significance of Jesus and His redemptive work in our lives, one must understand what is sin, which is prevalent among people to an extent that it is considered natural to sin and natural to want to sin. From Gen3:1-6 we learn what Adam received in His disobedience, a standard of righteousness that was separate from God. Today we see that in people who lay their own emphasis on what is right and wrong, which is drastically different from what God morally requires of people, in the Bible. This by itself reflects not merely peoples broken communion with God but also Satan’s deception that was passed from fallen Adam to all men.

Rom3
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

In this world therefore what prevailed from Adam was death, which fed off the lies of Satan concerning the nature a man requires to survive in this world (Rev12:9/Rev13:16-18). The antichrist, is a spirit that rules in these fallen sons of Adam, however among those who are God’s elect, with these Jesus has taken off the blindfolds, restoring their communion with God. Thus leaving Satan to consume only those whom he has deceived, enacting God’s good justice on his (Satan’s) own bastardised kin.

Lk17
37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”

1Pet5
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

1Jn5
18We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Celebrating Christmas therefore is celebrating the birth of a living spirit in a person from the Holy Spirit who gives life (Jn6:63/Heb4:12/2Tim3:16-20), making that individual a new creation in Christ. This new birth gives the individual or the household (if the individual is the head of the house) a desire to live righteously unto the glory of God.

Jn3
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

2Cor5
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

This act of King Jesus Christ propitiating us sinners unto the righteousness of God (1Jn2:2), is the undoing counterfeit law which Adam received in his disobedience, which Christ remedies for all of God’s people.

Deut6
5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
…
8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

I don’t how many of you have seen the movie BenHur starring Charlton Heston. If you have noticed his house, it has the Law by the doorframe, which He kisses every time He enters or leaves his house. This is equivalent today of a house, which says at its door, Jesus is the Lord of this house!

John14
15 “If you love me, keep my commands.

As I share this Song with you that befits Christmas, I would like to conclude saying, Christmas celebrates God bringing us back to life in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we are given stewardship over this world (Gen1:28), picking up from where Adam failed to glorify God with his life.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2016!