TITANIC MEN, WHERE ARE THEY Part 5 – conclusion

We need to move from FEMINIZATION to BIBLICAL RESTORATION OF GODLY MANHOOD. Men of courage, men who will “Act Like Men.” Men who will face the demands, difficulties and trials of life with faithfulness and courage.

In the last post I asked you to think about the “Intention to Protect” that was prevalent back in the day when the Titanic sank.

Unfortunately, I must say to you the “intention to protect” is no longer there with fathers and has gone down with the ship.  Things have happened to our daughters that never, ever, ever should have occurred.  Fathers were and are missing from the watch.  Men, we are opening up every opportunity for our daughters to be brutalized, opening up a system that will break down their world-view, destroy their womanhood and create havoc in the years to come.

Fathers are AWOL!  For those that have no idea what that is, it’s a military term for Absent Without Leave.  Surprisingly and sadly Christian fathers are for the most part no different from the majority in the world.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

In early times, sons at a young age were out in the fields working with their fathers.  They were with men from the very start and doing manly things.  They were learning how to act like men.  They were hunting, protecting, providing and they learned all about physical labor. They watched how their fathers reacted to things and most important how they responded in demanding and dangerous times. They were being trained to be men.  We have lost that today with the exception being the Amish folk.  I have a bunch of Amish neighbors and I watch as the young boys are out with their fathers all the time.  If the boys are not in school, they are with their fathers.  And they all have responsibility placed on them at a very early age.  I hired the father to do some work for me and guess what, I hired the entire male segment of the family.  Wherever dad was the sons were as well.  That is something I truly admire about the Amish.  They have kept the importance of training their sons to be men.  But, we in our social debacle have lost this entirely.

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)

How can we ever re-integrate the training of young men by their fathers or other men?  We know and we see the problem but the solution will likely take enormous effort and creativity. One thing is for sure though, nothing is too great for our God.

We as strong Christian men need to be about training our sons and other young boys to be men.  We need to take back our land and restore training to young males.  Boys need to be with men! Sons need to be with fathers!  Fathers need to remove the distractions and the things that get in the way and be true fathers.  Fathers need to disciple their children. I started typing disciplining by mistake but that needs to happen too. I never looked at how close those two words are.  I think there is a message there.

If we want a manly generation, we need to figure out how to have our sons walking beside their fathers and having them teach what it means to be a man.   We need fathers walking them through life.  The entire chapter 6 of Deuteronomy commands that we do this.  Please read it all yourselves and meditate upon it.  “And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.” (Deuteronomy 6: 20-25)

In John Eldredge’s book, Wild at Heart, he wrote, A man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family. He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death, for this is written into the fabric of his being. That is why God created you–to be his intimate ally, to join him in the Great Battle.”

We need to move from FEMINIZATION to BIBLICAL RESTORATION OF GODLY MANHOOD.  Men of courage, men who will “Act Like Men.” Men who will face the demands, difficulties and trials of life with faithfulness and courage.

The future of the “family” and the future of the “church” and the future of “Christian civilization” depends on the critical role of the “father.”  Fathers passing the faith on to their sons.

This problem needs to be front and center!

Do our sons know how to teach the word of God?

Do they know how to apply it?

Do they know how to protect their homes?

Do they know how to be grave and sober?

Do they understand how serious the battle is?

We are losing our children; they are walking away from the faith. The faith is dissolving before our eyes and we are losing fatherhood.

Do they understand how high the stakes are?

Do they understand there will be people going to hell because fathers neglected to teach the word of God to their children?

God is sovereign and Dad you are the one responsible! Get sober! Get brave, wake up! The battle is raging right now. You can lose your sons and daughters.  Both their physical lives and their souls are at risk.

“Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.” (1 Samuel 4:9)

Men, you must get engaged.  You must involve yourselves in the battle.  You must be a sober man.  Equip yourselves with the word of God in order to be the man that God wants you to be.

Our God has shown us through his word what it means to be a man and what manhood is all about. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5

Can you imagine a world again where men put women and children first?  Can you imagine a world of valiant and courageous men?  Men that say to their wives and children, “I will never leave you or forsake you?”

Imagine a world like that.  You know that the mightiest of men are men who admit their weakness because of sin and then cast themselves to the mercy of Christ. It’s the men that say, “God save me because I am a sinner, I trust in thee Lord and I will take a stand and raise my family in the word of God.”

Men, some of you need to repent, confess, be accountable and take a stand. “Quit Ye Like Men.”

We have never needed you more than we need you now. We have never needed fathers as we need them now.

 

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit I pray that men would wake up and, “Quit Ye Like Men.”  That men would understand what it means to,

Act Like Men,  Amen.

God bless you all,

The Tubthumper

 

 

Hell Yes It’s Real, Conclusion

ItisuptoyouCONCLUSION

The Whole Counsel of God

The thought that God will punish eternally in Hell the lost sinners that do not repent and turn to Him is certainly not in style these days.  All Christians should be teaching the truth about Hell.  Hell holds a special place in the Biblical worldview and Hell stands for the opposite of what the contemporary secular worldview stands for. Hell is connected directly to the doctrine of God, and Jesus Christ the Son, the atonement for sin. Hell serves to give humanity a gauge of morality and points to the responsibility we have as God’s creatures to live in His image.  Hell is real and Hell is there for the punishment of the sins of mankind. It is understandable that so many people want to avoid the subject of Hell and to soften it.  Hell should be offensive to our moral senses. It should literally scare the “Hell” out of us. We should be sorrowful that someone we know will suffer the horror and our hearts should break.  Our hearts should be breaking because of the awfulness of sin that sends people to Hell. The very thought of sin should repulse us and help to keep us from that awful place.  Christians need to seek and to proclaim the whole counsel of God.  The whole counsel of God includes the doctrine of Hell and this doctrine needs to be proclaimed to all people, godly or worldly and both Christian and non-Christian.  The truth will set you free.[1]

The lost and unbelievers have a lot to fear and tremble about according to the words of Jesus Christ.  They may die now, in this age in great honor and leaving their family with great wealth. What about eternity?  It would be good to ponder what God can see because God looks upon the heart.  There will be the day when God will raise up the wicked, the lost, and the unbelievers to face Him in judgment.  When he completes the judgment and renders the sentence He will banish them out of His presence forever and to a place that Jesus compares to fire and to deep darkness like has never been experienced. Those lost unbelievers will watch as the saved go with God to their eternal reward. Those lost unbelievers will suffer with “weeping and gnashing of teeth” but it is too late then.  It is done.[2] The choice was made and the life that was lived was no trial run. It was the real deal.  And Hell is for real. 

Because death is real we can be sure Hell is real.  The only reason death comes to humans is because of sin. If Adam hadn’t fallen and there were no sin in the world there would not be any death. The testimony of the presence of physical death should be a testimony to all of us that the unseen reality of a “second death” as the Bible calls it in revelation 20:14, is a reality.  This reality is not going to disappear simply because our culture today wants to ignore it.  As Evans states, “Hell is the expression of God’s settled, external, unchanging wrath against sin. (Revelation 21:8; 22; 15)[3]

Thinking of Hell has the reaction of paralyzing some people.  I suppose that is why so many deny, ignore or oppose its existence.  They don’t want to carry on with life being constantly reminded of fire and brimstone and torment.  But, take notice; we really aren’t supposed to carry on as normal and like the rest of the world.  The reality of Hell and the urgency to do something so we won’t end up there is supposed to impassion us for the gospel.  “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences” (2 Corinthians 5:11) Hell could paralyze us or it can energize us and magnify the beautiful cross of Christ. Believe and live![4]

The Great Gulf between Heaven and Hell

There is a point in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus that should not be missed.  It is the vast amount of space (the gulf) between Heaven and Hell. Every person will go to one place or the other and once you are at your destination all the bridges are burned behind you.  There is no way then to go back.  No road or bridge between Heaven and hell.[5]  From the depths of Hell the condemned can see those in heaven and know the separation but not the other way around.  The Bible says in Heb. 9:27, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”  As said before, this life is not a trial run and there will be no second chance. An exhortation is appropriate to not procrastinate. Tomorrow may never come for you.

Francis Chan wrote, “We have become dangerously comfortable- believers ooze with wealth and let their addictions to comfort and security numb the radical urgency of the gospel.  What is encouraging is that there seems to be a growing number of American believers who recognize this and are making changes. I would love for Jesus to grace me with those words: You are worthy.  Wouldn’t you?”[6]

We cannot reject a clear teaching of Hell that Jesus so emphatically repeated in the scriptures. All Christians should be embracing the doctrine of Hell with the place it has in the biblical worldview.  The horror of hell should offend our moral senses. It is a tragedy that sin entered into the world and that we humans are continuously rebelling from God and the lost are rejecting the Savior.[7]

Derek Smith wrote, “As for me, I know for a fact that Hell is real. As if the Bible’s depiction of the existence of Hell weren’t enough to convince me (and it is), I also see incontrovertible proof of Hell’s existence all around me every day.”[8]

There is a place being prepared for the righteous called heaven.  It is real.  God is preparing the place.  There is place already made and reserved for the ungodly.  It is called Hell.  Hell is for real! TheEnd

Follow Christ, Believe and live, Hell is for real… 
 
Click to go to back to  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
Have a Godly day,
“The Tubthumper”

 


[1] Morgan and Peterson, Hell under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment, 239-40.

[2] Edward William Fudge, and Peterson, Two Views of Hell, 80.

[3] Evans, Tony Evans Speaks Out on Heaven and Hell, 16.

[4] Chan and Sprinkle, Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We Made Up, 148.

[5] Sproul, Unseen Realities, 84.

[6] Chan and Sprinkle, Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We Made Up, 124.

[7] Velarde, Is Hell Real?

[8] Smith, Hell Is Not as Hot as You Think: Why Everything You’ve Been Taught about Hell Is Likely Wrong, 538.

Are we a Bunch of Losers? Part 6

Christ Church StellartonPart 6

I mentioned earlier that you should evaluate the church, your church and your life.  Let me draw your attention to the first six books of Revelation.

The first church Jesus addressed is the Church as Ephesus.  He started with giving them a commendation, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.  You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.”  Oh, but all is not good because He then rebukes them, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.  Consider how far you have fallen!”  If you have studied the Bible much at all you should know that love is one of the top three topics if not the one greatest of all.  They had forsaken the LOVE!  And then comes the warning, “Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”(In other words He would leave them in darkness!)    And then He gives them a promise, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” Now there is some fine motivation. Have you forsaken the Love?

The second church in the evaluation is the church at Smyrna.  He starts again with an accolade.  I think this may be where the “sandwich” style of delivering some criticism in the business world might have come from. It is usually the way we get something positive as the first slice of bread and then the filling is the rough stuff before the last slice added is a word of hope and praise.  Jesus tells them, “I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” Ouch!  Next comes the warning, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Lastly he gives the hope, “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.”  Notice the hint to listen to what the Holy Spirit says for the things churches are to do. Be sure you are not a synagogue of Satan.

Church number three is the church of Pergamum.  Right away we see the praise coming, “I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.”  Not long after, however, comes the complaint, “Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”  He is warning them against false teachers and sexual immorality which we have plenty of in these days.  The warning is sharp, “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”  And He finishes with the hope, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.”  Once again He says to listen to the Holy Spirit! Do not worship idols or be committing sexual immorality.

The fourth Church Jesus addresses is the church of Thyatira and He starts by acknowledging they have grown from where they started, “I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.” But then comes the reprimand, “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”  It sounds to me like He is not happy with them, to say the least… So now comes a further warning, Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.” So to those of you that are somehow righteous you better stick with the program until I come get you.  Jesus then tells of the reward for doing as He commands, “To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’ ¬- just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Hear it?  Listen to the Holy Spirit? Do not follow false teachers.

Please join me in the next post (JUST CLICK HERE) for the conclusion as we review the last three churches and bring this series to a close.

God bless your day,

‘The Tubthumper’