TITANIC MEN, WHERE ARE THEY? Part 4

The breaking down of men is the most significant social problem we have today.

Major Archibold Butt, a great example of a Mighty Man.  Learn about the major near the end of this post.

 

 

 

 

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14)

We left off last time with the five imperatives of Christian Manhood.  Let’s continue on this thought.  Manliness is Obedience to God.  It is obedience to the Law of God.

God is the creator of man and we need to submit to God.

When we don’t submit things begin to break down.  Systems always break down when manliness breaks down.  This is a fundamental concern within any civilization.  No matter what civilization we are talking about, when men do not fulfill their roles under the Law of God their systems will come apart at the seams.

I could try to list all the different problems our society is facing right now but I wouldn’t even have room to do it.  Men and women are not even getting married anymore.  Men are not growing.

This is not the time to relax! It is time for the churches to be speaking out on this.  It is time to preach the laws of men and the laws of God.  It is time to address the sacrificial elements and of raising mighty men.  If not, no society of any sort will survive. Freedoms will not be preserved.  We will not have prosperity going forward and that is a certainty, unless we return to raising up mighty men and mighty men of God.

Ever since the Titanic sank the Feminist Movement has been calling for no distinction between men and women. Even among feminists in 1912 they were calling for equality and that women should have given their seats to the men.  The cry of the feminists was there is no difference between men and women. That was the cry of the feminists!  Yes, even back in 1912.

In today’s society we see the movies showing women beating up on men and men beating on women. Is there any wonder why there is much more violence between women and men and so much more violence in the home?

This is far away from the biblical description of how things are to be.  According to the word of God women are the weaker vessel and man is to love her and sacrifice himself for that weaker vessel.  That is what the Bible says.  Feminists don’t like hearing about the weaker vessel issue and would much rather be in a dog eat dog fight the men for control world.  They dream about being kung-fu fighters and beating up on the men.  Men have been culturally feminized in our society.  A very carefully and methodically carried out strategy of the Feminist Movement.

America has come to believe the wrong things about gender, the role of men and women and the role of fathers.

America has come to believe the wrong thing about Gods Law and how it is to be applied.

America has simply come to a hardened heart stage and is completely rejecting and ignoring God entirely.

We will pay for this with dire consequences of which the damages are already very evident.

The reigning paradigm for the last 40 -50 years has been feminism. Feminism has not just been about the rights of women… it is more about the removal of gender distinction.  If feminism wins, they must teach young girls to act like men and teach young boys to act like women.  And it is happening!  I’m sorry but abhor “girlymen.”  I like men to be real men.

Remember it was going on back in 1912.

“Boats for women!”
Was the cry,
When the brave
Were come to die.
When the end
Was drawing nigh—
“Boats for women!”
Was the cry.

We face the problem that fathers are not having a significant role in the lives of their sons.  It is a problem that young men are not with their fathers.  Fathers are absent. Fatherhood no longer exists. Manhood hardly is seen anymore.  Most males are not “grown up” by age 30 anymore.  Males are now the least productive in the history of the world.  That is a sad statement.  Men have just fallen apart at the seams and are only interested in escaping reality.  Don’t get me wrong, here and there we see some small pockets of men acting like men, but for the most part we see all the aspects of our social systems breaking down because of the decline of males acting like men.  The future looks bleak – because men have walked away from the family.  They have walked away from responsibility.

This breaking down of men is the most significant social problem we have today.

If we don’t address this now… if the church does not speak to this issue, we are doomed.  Our society will not survive. History gives us living examples of what “quit ye like men” means.  We have seen courage, valor, steadfastness, fearfulness, failures and a panorama of men acting like men.  The men of the Titanic were a good example. Men going to their death to save the weaker vessels because that was how they were brought up and trained.  Well, not every man I might add.  There were a few men who cowardly snuck onto the life boats.  There were some wealthy men that thought it was their right to be first to survive.  But, the men that led, over 70 percent of them, were a fine example for us.  They illustrate the providence of God, the grace of God, courage, sacrifice and the principle of women and children first.

Major Archibold Butt was a great example.  He personally loaded a majority of the women and children onto the life boats and fought off the cowardly men that wanted to get by him and jump into the life boats. He was one of the most beloved figures aboard the Titanic.  He was a man of strong character.  A man of stiff military protocol.  A true soldier.  Just the kind of man you want around in a crisis.  He was simply returning home from a trip to Rome where he was going to see the Pope and King Victor Emanuel.  He was likely sent there as a personal messenger of the President.  He was on his way back to report to President Taft.  The last moments of his life were spent assisting women and children to safety and he went down with the ship.

Think about the “Intention to Protect” that was prevalent then.  We can address that in the next post.   Come back as we finish this topic.

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God Bless you,

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 4

church-wallpaperWhat about us?

I can’t leave this subject without pointing out the responsibility of the believer.  God uses the believer in many ways to build His church.  For this position I will turn to the 6th chapter of Acts and look in verses 1-7. In verse 1 we see that disciples were multiplied which is our commandment.  We are to go and make disciples.  The number of disciples was multiplied: Multiplied meant to them that souls were added to the kingdom and the church was growing.  I need to mention here that growing pains were felt as the church was growing just like it happens now-days.  There were two sides involved in this church, the Grecian Jews and the Hebrews.  Apparently the Hebrews were being slighted and there was some complaining going on.  We see in verse 2 the Apostles were responsible for the church and they had to carry out both a spiritual ministry and a material ministry of helping the needy.

The church then lived very close. They shared everything and knew what everyone was doing.  They had everything in common and probably had something like a commissary. When the Bible mentions “tables” they are actually stations where money and food was distributed.  Each day the food and other things were given out according to need.  This is where the problem arose regarding some of the widows allegedly getting more than others.  By the way, all widows were completely taken care of by the church.  What a great concept!  Oh, one other thing, we must realize that we are not apostles. Apostleship was unique and not something we can repeat.  We are not apostles.  This is one of the “river of differences” between then and now.

The church was to look among the congregants to appoint seven men that were spirit-filled to act as “deacons”.  The word deacon literally was not present and I use it as descriptive. (They were to look for men of honest report and men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.) This will allow the apostles to continue in the ministry they were appointed to and continue steadfast in prayer and the ministry of the word.   The Apostles wanted to remain devoted to the most important duties.  Notice the priority of prayer first.  Pray steadfastly!  They appointed Stephen, Philip, Prochurus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas.  All seven men have Greek names showing that they came from the Grecian numbers to represent them fairly.

In verse 6 they prayed and laid hands on the men.  Laying on of hands was used in the Old Testament to confer blessing, transfer guilt from sinner to sacrifice and to commission a person for a new responsibility.  I notice they prayed first and then laid hands on them.  Most of the time today we do it in the opposite pattern, we lay on the hands and then pray.

The last verse, verse 7, shows the number of disciples multiplied and a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith.  This meant they were accepting the preaching of the apostles that proclaimed a sacrifice that made the old sacrifices unnecessary. They became obedient to the faith.  Luke pauses throughout his story to summarize the progress of the gospel and the growth of the Christian community. This last verse was one of five summaries he gave.

We can see a theological principle here. God makes his will known to believers in the book of Acts.  God uses a variety of means to guide his people. In this passage he uses other believers.   Theology of work is evident in this passage.  It is service… Serving God, serving society and serving wherever needed.  The spirit filled men that were chosen as “deacons” to take care of the tables did not complain because they couldn’t do what the apostles did.  They served where they were needed. Overseeing the food distribution was just as important as the work of preaching the word of God.  Commitment to service needs to be our foundation.  “The one constant is that God directs our paths in a variety of ways—of this we can be confident!”

So then, how should individual Christians apply this principle today?

We should all be willing servants of the Lord wherever we are needed.  We need to understand that being filled with the spirit and having wisdom equips us to heal any division in our communities or churches. It allows us to assist in the growing pains that will naturally occur from church growth. Every job is reliant on the Spirit to do good work.  Every work we do has the capacity to be a means of participation in God’s plan for the world by the power of the Holy Spirit. Believers’ need to serve where we are needed.  If we are obedient to the Lord and follow His word then He will do the rest.

There is so much more in the Bible about what we are to do as believers and I could do over 100 posts on this subject alone. I probably will before I am done.  If we take the big picture it comes down to one concept once we are part of the Kingdom and it is ‘The Great Commission’.  You can find it in Matthew 26: 16-20. Simply stated, ‘The Great Commission’ is comprised of three parts: 1) Make disciples, 2) Baptize them, 3) Teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you.  That is Divinely Authoritive and The Great Commission is job number one of ‘The Church’ and so it is job number one for us. This is the umbrella under which all of our functions should take place.

Over the years man has distorted what God’s word has brought forth and people go to organized churches today that are miles away from what God intended.  People are getting false teaching and heresy and the only way they can see the difference is to read and listen to the truth.  The truth is God’s word as it was written.  As I mentioned in the first post, the message has been dumbed down, changed by mankind to suit their needs and watered down to draw crowds and not offend anyone.  The truth is needed!  True disciples of the Lord are never offended by the truth!  We seek it, and we want to get to the meat of true spirituality.

We are to be intimately involved with each other and every saint to insure that others are equipped for ministry and then they can go on and minister to others.  We are to equip others to the building up of the body of Christ.  The body of Christ, wow!  That is ‘The Church’ we have talking about.

I am out of space today and need to close by asking you to go to the Word and read these scriptures: Proverbs 3:5; Colossians 2:8-11; Proverbs 1:25-30; Proverbs 8:14-17; Isaiah 5:21; Isaiah 30:1-3; Isaiah 40:13-14, Job 38:2-7; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Romans 3:18; timothy 3:16-17; and last but not least 2 Peter 1:2-4.

Do not rely on the wisdom of men for it will let you down.  “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding”, Proverbs 3:5.  

(Click Here to) –  Join me in the next post as we look at the necessities of being a healthy “New Testament Church”.

May God bless your day today,

“The Tubthumper”