Stiff Necked Children

Submit to God

As I was preparing a short devotion for a men’s breakfast about submitting to the will of God I became more interested in the subject and found more information than I needed. That led me to expand my thoughts and to write this post. There is much difficulty in Christians submitting to God. Starting with myself I might add.

I have always been a guy that wants to be in control. Control and submission are like oil and water I regret to say. I know the control issue is an issue of the flesh and the submission issue is something done through the spirit. And so the battle rages on. Why do I have such a problem doing this? I believe most people in the Christian community continue to be hard headed and fail to submit as well, why ?

It’s not a new phenomena as we see in the Old Testament writings. Submission to God has always been avoided by the human race. And this occurs even when we know that the wrath of God will come.

In a discussion with my pastor this morning we agreed that less than one percent of God’s Church today is in submission to God. What a rebellious society we are living in. God’s word says to submit to His will, however most of us are not doing it while claiming to be Christians. What is the answer to this and how can we please the Lord? It’s clear that without submission there is eventually a price to pay. At the very least something negative will occur in our lives that we could have been protected from if we had submitted to God’s will. We know this yet we continue.

The definition of submit from Merriam Webster is to yield oneself to the authority or will of another or to surrender. Definition of surrender is to give oneself up into the power of another or to yield. The definition for yield is to give way to pressure or influence: submit to urging, persuasion, or entreaty.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

God’s word, the Holy Bible, clearly indicates we are to be in submission to God.

“Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.” (2 Chonicles 30:8) This was written by Hezekiah after the Assyrians came and took the northern kingdom. They took the people captive and there was not much of the people left. He is telling them to turn back to God. He is saying if they would turn back to God then God will provide and their families that were taken away will returned. He is practically begging them to turn their hearts to God and worship Him. He told them if they were to turn back to God then surely God would bless them because God is gracious and merciful.

For the people that will not submit to God and reject His grace and mercy, their lives do not go very well and then destruction occurs. God is merciful and compassionate, but He won’t protect us forever if we choose to remain out of His will and fall under the control of Satan. Eventually you will reap what you sow and everything that goes around comes around. When that happens to people they blame God for the judgement that comes on them. But the only thing that can keep you from the judgement is God’s protection.

“Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.” (Job 22:21) In other words, submit to God and you will have peace and some good will come of you.

And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, “Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.” (Exodus 10:3) In other words – how long will you refuse to submit to me???

“Serve the LORD with fear, rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” (Psalm 2:12) The bottom line: Blessed are those who put their trust, or, happy are those who put their trust in Him. Submit to God’s royal son.

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about daily needs and to seek first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness, then all these things will be added to them. So let us have a good look at this, we know that the Kingdom of God is where the Lord reigns. That is where God is. If we have God reigning over our lives then we have the Kingdom of God within us.

So then, if we keep our priorities in order and do what is right we would, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

Moses said to the children of Israel, “Set your hearts unto all the words which I have testified to you this day, and you shall command your children to observe and do all the words of this law. It is not an option for, it is your life.” (Deuteronomy 32:46)

“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30)

In other words- submit to the father…He (Jesus) is declaring that He is in perfect harmony with the Father with all the work He is doing. Then He told Philip, “The works that I do I do not of Myself, but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” And this is the same kind of testimony he gives here, “What I’m doing, I’m only doing because I’ve seen the Father do it. I’m doing the works of the Father in your midst.”

Jesus modeled submission to the Father. We would be wise to take the example.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2) No transformation without submission. Do the will of God.

“Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; and 7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.” (Ephesians 6:6)

Do what you do as unto the Lord, not to please men but to please the Lord, as a good witness for Him. Submit to the Lord.

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7) You will need the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to submit to God. You won’t be successful on your own fighting the battle of the flesh.

“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8)

“And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:17)

This passage is from a commentary by Check Smith:

You see, our problem is that we so often lose sight of eternity. As we are in this world we get so involved in the worldly things, that our vision becomes clouded and we lose the sense and the consciousness of the eternal. And when you lose the consciousness of the eternal, then Satan can just really do a trip on your mind. The seventy-third Psalm, Asaph speaks about that trip that Satan did on his mind, when he got his eyes upon the world and the people in the world. He said, “Now I know that God is good, but when I sought to understand a few things I was almost wiped out. Because I began to look at the prosperity of the wicked, I began to see how they got along and they didn’t seem to have any problems,” and this that and the other. And Satan just really started to put a real trip on him. And he said, “When I sought to know these things, I almost slipped.” He said, “It doesn’t pay to try and serve God. It doesn’t pay to try and be good. And when I sought to know these things I almost slipped. Until I went unto the sanctuary of God and then I saw their end.” In the sanctuary of God his vision was corrected and he got sight now of the eternal. “God, what are You doing? God, how can You say You love me? God, if You love me, why is this happening to me?” It’s because I have my eyes on the temporal, material advantage and God is looking at the eternal plan and the eternal advantage. It’s important that we step back and we get the long view and realize that the world is gonna pass away and the lust thereof. He who does the will of God abides forever.[1]

So why are we – men and women alike so hard headed? We must learn to listen and we must obey and submit. We are stiff-necked children. We want it our way and we keep doing it our way. We want to be in control instead of letting God take the wheel.

Let’s try it Gods way.

Pray that we will kindle a deeper relationship with God. Pray that all Christians would be convicted toward turning to God and another great awakening takes place. Praise the Lord, King of Kings. Pray for healing in our land and that our nation would turn back to God. Lord have mercy on us. Please save us from ourselves Lord for we have lost sight of eternity!

God bless you,

The Tubthumper

[1] Smith, C. “C2000 Series on 1 John 2:12 – 3:24 by Chuck Smith.” Blue Letter Bible. Last Modified 1 Jun, 2005. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/c2000_1Jo/1Jo_002.cfm

Are we a bunch of losers?

Are we just a bunch of Losers?

As the “Church” are we failing? Are we just a bunch of losers? This will be a series of several posts on the state of the church and what is happening. As I began writing the content led me to first “What is the Church?” After that I wanted to look at what the Bible teaches “the church” should look like, what happens to us by relating two parables and then it led to an evaluation based on the way Jesus evaluated the church in Revelation chapter 2.

Please strap your seat-belts on and ride with me as we begin with Part 1:

Are we Americans first and Christians second or are we Christians first and Americans second? What do you think of when someone mentions the ‘the Church’. If you think it is some organization in the next county or some building up the street, then think again. The church, my friend, is you and it is Me. The church is a group of people. It is the believing souls that follow Christ.

“‘Church’ might be a denomination, a building, or an organized group of believers, but THE Church consists of followers of Jesus Christ who have been saved by grace through faith in him—the ‘body of Christ’. Instead of pointing fingers and saying the ‘church’ has failed at this or that, we might want to pause and take a hard look at ourselves first. Is the church failing us or are we failing the church?” – G.S. West.

The church is failing because we want to be like the world. To completely believe in the Gospel will destroy our lives as Americans. We have all compromised what we have been taught. We have all forsaken the word of God. We are a bunch of two faced hypocrites! I use that strong language because it is true. We are supposed to be different. The Bible says, “They will know we are Christians by our love”. It also says that we would easily be recognized by our fruit.

What has happened is that we have been watered down so far that we cannot be picked out of the crowd any longer. If we all were in God’s word and in prayer each day as we are commanded something amazing would happen. We would be so profoundly different from everyone else that the world would have to sit up and take notice. What if preachers today expounded God’s word from what was written instead of making up their own? A few still hold to Gospel but most do not. What I see are preachers that only talk about the pleasantries involved and somehow skip the issue of sin and the wrath of God. There are so many false teachers out there now it is frightening. We have all bought into the health and wealth philosophy in some extent if not wholly and it cannot be denied. We have done it without even being completely aware it happened. It has been like the story of how you can boil a frog. If you try to put a frog in hot water to kill him he will just jump out quickly to safety. If you want it done you must put the frog in a pot of cold water and let him swim around and get comfortable. Then turn up the heat slowly and bring the water to a boil while the frog is sleeping. And that’s it, he’s cooked! And yes, we are cooked! We have all been slowly boiled into the world.

Do you know the parable of the “Rich Fool” or the parable of the “Rich Young Ruler”? Both of them serve as good examples of where we have come. And the fix we are in. The parables are great so read them all. The Rich Fool parable can be found in Luke chapter 12 starting at verse 13. Just prior to the parable on the Rich Fool Jesus was cautioning against covetousness. The text shows Jesus teaching about being ready for the redeemer. This parable is the very first of five parables about the second coming of Jesus the Christ. He was preaching to the multitude, probably in Jerusalem because it was in the last month of His ministry. Jesus was addressing the crowd and He was teaching. The crowd heard about the hypocrisy of the Pharisee’s. They also heard about the Fear of God and the need to confess Him before men. They heard of the urgency of the time and that possessions are not as important as Godliness. Jesus was warning against greed and materialism. The Rich Fool was trying to store up his mast harvest to be able to eat, drink and be merry. What Jesus knew that the fool didn’t is that it was the last day of the fool’s life. He would die that night. He drew a parallel between the rich fool that met an untimely death and those that store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God. The point being: Spiritual wealth far exceeds material wealth in value. In verse 20 he was called a fool. This is the only place in the Bible where Jesus directly called anyone a fool. The rich fool was called that because he was totally self-centered. The personal pronouns of “me, mine, and I” are used 12 times in this short parable by the fool. It is a very telling point of reference.

Then we have the “Rich Young Ruler” found in Luke 18:18-30. Let us look in verse 22, “Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” This guy wanted to be in the Kingdom. He wanted to be saved. But he couldn’t unless he sold all the riches he had. When he heard those things he became very sad for he was very rich.

With us it is not that we are all rich even though we are better off than the rest of the world. What our problem is absolutely is the way we have come to live. In order to completely follow Jesus we would need to surrender how we live, how we work, how we love, how we communicate and I could go on and on. Every ounce of our lives would need to be surrendered or “sold” to completely follow Jesus.

We are all unwilling to take that step. Aren’t we?

Click here to jump to Part 2 as we reflect on the hearts of the two rich guys…

Yo, Christian, You’ve got a hit out on you!

I was out at a local eatery with my wife a few days ago when somehow our conversation turned to the Muslim Brotherhood, Muslims and Islam. My wife said, “Why do they come here, they don’t like anything about the US or us? My reply was quick and easy. “They are here because they are on a mission”. This mission they are on is not a secret. From as far back as I remember Muslims have always hated the Christians. It has always been death to the Christians. Turn to Islam or die.

When I hear of all that is going on around us regarding the Muslim Community it gets my guard up. My guard is up because I am a Christian and I know there is a hit out on me. There is also a hit out on you, if you love and worship Christ. (And you, and you, and you… all of us.) It doesn’t stop with us, all other religions are on their target too and most importantly the Jews. The goal for them is to have Islam be the only remaining people. I know it won’t happen. In the end they will get theirs. It’s only the interim I get concerned about.

There are a number of very prominent and well know ministers of the protestant faiths that are promoting an insane idea that you can integrate the Muslims into our worship services treating them with love. While I do subscribe to the bible’s teaching of love your neighbor I know what is dangerous and what isn’t. It is clearly dangerous stupidity to think that Muslims will be converted or will come to our way of thinking. If they accept an invitation in it will be for one reason only. Their goal would be to gain more ammunition and positioning to accomplish their mission. I was born with a lot of common sense too. And it aint rocket science here brother!

That brings me to one of the news items of our day.

Islam: Religion Of Peace Wants To Wipe Christianity From Face Of The Earth!

This very point was made publicly by a leading Muslim cleric recently. This piece of news clearly backs up what I have known all along. I hope all those Pastors and Preachers from the watered down Christianity of today are listening. Heads up boys! It’s war!

There is available a 23 page declaration recently produced by Sheik Farook Al-Mohammedi of the United Muslim Nations International. This booklet very clearly spells out their goal to Islamize western civilization and set up the Islamic Caliphate as the global religion and government. I think I should send one to each of the mega-church pastors I am thinking of now. Here you can see a small sample of what Sheik Farook Al-Mohammedi has published in this little gem of a booklet:

“Christianity should be destroyed and wiped from the face of the earth. It is an evil demonic and Anti-Christ system, all Christians are in complete Ignorance.”

“Islamic Power has returned upon the face of the earth and the Revived Global Caliphate has set eyes on the West to once and for all rid the world of Christianity and there is nothing you can do about it. I have pledged and made a firm promise to the Caliphate of the United Muslim Nations International organization that I will do my utmost to Islamize all of the West within a short period of time…”

“Firstly we will deal with the matter of the Global Islamic Civilization, its honored status, the unrivaled Universal Brotherhood and Sisterhood of the Muslim Ummah. Islam the only true religion enjoins upon mankind Total Submission to the will of Allah, which means that you are to live a life that is Totally Devoted to the Almighty Allah by serving Him in the manner which He has prescribed for us through the example of the Holy Prophet Mohammed Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam…”

“Today as I breathe the air of our newly found Islamic State of America before my trip this week to Eurabia I leave behind me an Internationalist Islamic Ideology which will be the future of America and Europe Inshallah.”

“None will resist, you will submit! Islam will conquer the hearts of all christiandom, this is a definite reality. Every government has surrendered to the Revived Global Caliphate and those nations who resist will be placed under a police state within their realm.”

The Islamic community tries to paint a picture that it is a religion of peace. This is not true. They are only peaceful among their own. Take a look at the incident recently where a group of Muslims turned violent toward some Christian protestors. Islam is a religion of absolute power and domination. They worship Allah, a false prophet, according to the Holy Bible, which is my guide. I heard the other day that this false prophet was actually a black stone but I need to look more into that one.

The Islamic world once was in a distant land and only a few were around. This is no longer true. In fact, they are multiplying like rabbits. They have infiltrated out capital and our government by way of duping the weak minded and easily led politicians running our country now. The Muslims are right next door, they are your neighbors.

The migration of millions of Muslims into the West and the terrorists that came with them is one of the most serious threats we face today. Wake up Christian America, there is a hit out on you. And we didn’t go looking for trouble, but this trouble has come looking for us as they promised.

Eventually, Islam will be destroyed. The Bible prophesies that God will pour out judgment upon the Arab nations in the end times for their hostility towards the Jews and their attempt to claim the Jewish homeland as their own.

In almost every OT book, there’s End Time prophecy of some nations getting judged. They are always the same ones.. all of them Muslim. Here we have a sort example: Babylon (Iraq/Arabia) Isaiah 13, Assyria and Philistine Isaiah 14, Moab Isaiah 15, Damascus Isaiah 17, Cush (Somalia) Isaiah 18. Egypt Isaiah 19, Egypt and Cust Isaiah 20, Babylon Edom Isaiah 21 Tyre (Lebanon) Isaiah 23; Ezekiel 28-32 Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Turkey, Arabia, Iraq, Iran; Psalms 83: Edom (Jodan/Arabia) Moab (Jordan), Gebal (Lebanon), Tyre (Lebanon), Philistia, Ishmaelites Hagarites (Arabs) Assyria (Iraq, Syria), Amalek (Jordan); Ezekiel 38 Gog Magog (Turkey), Meshech (Turkey), Tubal (Turkey), Gomer (Turkey), Beth Togarmah (Turkey), Persia (Iran), Cush (Sudan/Somalia), Put (Libya).

As I said, “In the end they are doomed”. There is no partiality with God. He chose the Jews not to be a repository of His blessings, but to be a vehicle through which He would bless all the nations of the world, including the Arabs. But, the fundamental requirement to receive God’s blessings for both, Jew and Arab as well as all people is to accept God’s gift of love in Jesus by receiving Him as Messiah.

The Tribulation will settle things folks. But what happens between now and then. How much must we endure? We need to take bakc our land. They will destroy us along their path if we let them. I mentioned in a previous post that it is time we as Christians need to stand up and fight for our Christian faith and come back to “In God We Trust”.

Get out this fall and vote for Christian leaders. Pray and vote your mind. Remember that God is still in control and is not finished. All the leaders placed in office are of His will or they are allowed by Him for His purpose.

“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers”, John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Watch your back!
“The Tubthumper”