Examining my Faith and Denomination

I am getting older and noticing that some of the people I know are passing away. Examining my faith is important because I know I have made alot of MISTAKES in the past. Some of them were big ones and were regrettable. I am seeing new generation being born everyday, including my own. Those who are within my own generation are getting up there. It would be nice not to have any regrets. If I had no regrets, I would never grow. Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes. My mistakes of the past were learned mistakes and I did not let myself overwhelmed over those mistakes. What I did was that I kept going to remember my mistakes in my thoughts, learned from them and do my best not to them again in the future. I am trying and I am thankful of God’s grace. I know that God’s love hopes all things (1 Corinth 13). I understand that God’s Grace with love refuses to take human failure as final. With Christ in me, my human failures are never final. He is not finished with me yet.

God has given us the grace to sanctify us. The sources of “thorns” can be weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions and difficulties. Paul just needed to focus on God rather than the problem. God uses thorns to perfect His “power is perfected in weakness”. Through GRACE, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:4). Grace of heart is a gift from God and this has nothing to do with the thorns because God change our circumstances by changing us internally, by allowing Him to lift us above our present thorn and He will lead us into His will. James says count it all joy when you fall into various trials cause trials have a perfecting work. Peter says after you’ve suffered a while the Lord will make you perfect.

The other day, for the fun of it, I tested myself to see where the doctrines I am in line with today. It has been interesting because the first part of my Christian life, I was Baptist (non-Calvinist) and Anabaptist (somewhat Calvinist) that many of the “minor” doctrines are still within my heart. However, the major doctrines have changed. It took me almost 40 years to change because I was victimized because I grew up in a certain theological system and I become indoctrinated by what I have learned over the years that I have struggled by defending what I have learned and can’t seem to let go of it.

However, one thing I have learned over the years relating to the “doctrine of salvation”. I have to remember that the Bible does not present faith as simply “mental assent to the facts of the gospel” but rather true saving faith involves repentance from my own sin and a complete trust in the work of Christ to save me from sin and make me righteous. Through the doctrine of Soli Deo gloria: All glory is due to God alone, since salvation is accomplished solely through His will and action—not only the gift of the all-sufficient atonement of Jesus on the cross but also the gift of faith in that atonement, created in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit.

The atonement is the work of God from beginning to end. God alone provides the means of salvation through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Christ; through the call of God for all to repent and don’t reject; and through the God-given restoration.

One of the major reasons I moved away from Reformed (Calvinist) is the mystery of God’s salvation for us. No matter how much knowledge we have in the Mystery of God, we will never fully comprehend God until we die. In Isaiah 55:8-9 God says, “My thoughts are completely different from yours, and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. We are to judge through, to see through to the truth, to truly evaluate something what what we are hearing is biblical or not. Knowledge of the mystery is having the reality of an experience of knowing God personally and consciously. I have learned through the years that God don’t need me but I do know He uses my life. My own faith is not self-effort or anything I can do for God but rather from within that my faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit by the conviction to submit into action. The outcome is not based on my faith or my will but rather God’s will for my life as I serve Him on this earth as I serve for Him in heaven. The Spirit is our intercessor, our personal indwelling intercessor interceding according to the will of God. Jesus had said to His disciples, “Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave” (Matthew 20:26‑27). The life of a local church is made up of spiritual attitudes and spiritual motivations, spiritual graces that come from deep within the community. Its a reminder of this verse in Ephesians 4:4, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

(100%) 1: Lutheran
(90%) 2: Presbyterian/Reformed
(87%) 3: Congregational/United Church of Christ
(82%) 4: Church of Christ/Campbellite
(80%) 5: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England
(80%) 6: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene
(77%) 7: Eastern Orthodox
(75%) 8: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic)
(65%) 9: Roman Catholic
(62%) 10: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/Fundamentalist
(57%) 11: Pentecostal/Charismatic/Assemblies of God
(50%) 12: Seventh-Day Adventist
(37%) 13: Anabaptist (Mennonite/Quaker etc.)

http://www.selectsmart.com/plus/select.php?url=denomtradition

I like this quote: “…if ever a monk could get to heaven through monastic discipline, I was that monk….And yet my conscience would not give me certainty, but I always doubted and said, ‘You didn’t do that right. You weren’t contrite enough. You left that out of your confession.’ The more I tried to remedy an uncertain, weak, and troubled conscience with human traditions, the more I daily found it more uncertain, weaker, and more troubled.” Martin Luther

God’s Grace

Law tells me how crooked I am; grace comes along and straightens me out. We have to remember that Grace fulfilled the Law. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” The regenerate Christian often has a more difficult time of it than the unregenerate (unsaved). A Christian feels within a power that tends toward holiness and God, while at the same time still a child of Adam’s flesh. If you didn’t feel the conviction and didn’t have the motivation to change from “within”, then you will know that you are not saved. A Christian can have a truly struggling with his/he sins and God is working in him/her. Repenting is NOT an addition to salvation but PART of salvation along with Grace. This is a CONTINUIOUS sanctification process of repenting throughout your Christian life. We will never be perfect but we can be filled by the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for “dwells” is okv (oike), which means “I inhabit.” Since faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit by the conviction to submit into action, we are focus on our faith based on obedience to holiness, adding to our faith and fruit of the spirit through grace. True saving faith is not dependent on positive circumstances but negative circumstances as well.

One of my favorite verses is this: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9). Reading Hebrews helped me understood that I am to be aware of obstacles and hindrances I would meet during my life, to throw me off balance that hinders doing the Will of God that could entangle my life easily if I do not submit myself to God’s power of grace. God’s grace is more than sufficient in my life that I am to fix my eyes on Jesus who is my author and perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). Faith and Grace together is to “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV). Suffering (discipline) is a Process “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, proven character; and . . .” (Rom. 5:3-4). “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking in nothing” (Jam. 1:3-4).

Examining my faith

Just because men are forgiven sinners, they are NOT perfect and therefore their interpretations of the Scriptures will never be perfect. Close but not perfect. We have to remember that its not the scriptures that are corrupted. Its a man’s heart that is corrupted, even forgiven sinners (Christians). There are so many who will proclaim to be a Christian but only few are really Christians. There are millions of professing Christians who “think” they have been justified, who think their sins are forgiven and that they are on their way to heaven, who show no evidence of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy.

Thinking theologically is a tough thing to do. There are times that I deal with my own “theological bias”. I was victimized because I grew up in a certain theological system and I become indoctrinated by what I have learned over the years that I have struggled by defending what I have learned and can’t seem to let go of it.

Discernment encouraged me to examine my own beliefs. When I was younger, I believed in certain doctrines but now that I am spiritually matured, I have learned the proper doctrines through many sources. When I was researching LCMS’s website about Holy Scriptures, I saw what I like “the necessity and importance of praying for the Holy Spirit’s guidance to properly interpret Scripture as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”.

I am learning every day to be careful how I read and need to look from doctrinal perspective rather than our own educational satisfaction. To be heavenly-minded we must think heavenly thoughts. We ourselves must keep in mind, and those we who are disciples, that truth is greater than our understanding of it.

To this day for almost 40 years, I never met a Christian who agrees with my beliefs 100% and I also have not met a Christian who I agree with their beliefs 100%. Including my own wife, my parents and even my Christian mentor.

I have been a Baptist for the first 15 years of my life and during those years, I went to a Catholic School for 7 years. In my adult life, I attended Anabaptist for many, many years. During those years, I followed Reformed theologies which lead me to Presbyterian Church in America before attending Lutheran (LCMS). One reason (of many) is that I found that I agree with Lutheran’s doctrines than I realized. I have studied various theologians from different backgrounds. Some are Reformed theologians (i.e. Calvinism) and some are not reformed (i.e. Arminianism). No Priests, Pastors, Theologians or anyone with similar titles are NOT perfect. They were all sinners and had their share of mistakes. I can see why there are “divisions” within Christianity. Most Christian denominations and movements share common beliefs in the major aspects of the Christian faith, while differing in many secondary doctrines. Christians believe what the Bible teaches in context which are the basics of what Christians believe and unite on.

Grace provides a belief and a conviction that changes your life, changes the way you are, it affects your character and your will. I will always remember C.S. Lewis’ quote: “You never know how much you really believe anything until truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.” It is important to understand that our hearts are the state of our “flesh”. We can learn from others who believe such doctrines and examine our own. We are to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and convict us the truth. Often flesh’s desires gets in the way of spirit-lead truth.

Contemporary Christian Worship music

My experiences coming into Lutheran from Reformed and other protestant denominations. Personally, I don’t have any problems with contemporary Christian music. We are to take a hard look at where this music comes from. We cannot conclude from its origin that it is wrong, but doing so can clarify for us some of the theology and piety that inspired it. The great issue here is that music is one of the most effective ways in which our souls are moved and in which our minds are informed. We express our feelings and reveal our inner character–by our words, our actions, our attire–and also by our choice of music. Sacred music has always been precious to the people of God. Music played a prominent role in the worship associated with the Old Testament tabernacle.

I have an issue with music that is its emphasis on entertainment and persuasion. Today, worship music began to descend from singing great truths about God, doctrinally sound, lyric-centered music, to music where sound, rhythm and harmony dominate to induce warm and fuzzy feelings. Many times, many were unable to distinguish the elevation of feelings from genuine religious affections. I call that manipulative emotional music. With what are we moving our souls and informing our minds?

In 1 Chronicles 15:16 David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals.

In 1 Chronicles 23:5 Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the LORD with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.”

In 2 Chronicles 5:13 The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.”

In 2 Chronicles 7:6 The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the LORD’s musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the LORD and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, “His love endures forever.”

Early music in the church was shaped by Greek, Syrian, and Hebrew influences. Beginning with psalmody and hymns. In the 1600′s and 1700′s, some of the world’s greatest composers contributed Christian music.

One of my favorites songs is Handel’s Messiah. Across the span of 250+ years, Messiah still holds its extraordinary grip on musician and audience member alike. During the time of Handel, expensive instruments and equipments were used.

In the 1800′s and 1900′s, Liturgies were simplified and often translated into the country’s own language. The Liturgical Movement sought to preserve the history of the traditional music in the church, yet design a style of music that would meet the needs of a more modern parishioner.

In the latter part of the 20th century transformed the music of the church to contemporary Christian music. My other favorite song is “We will Glorify” written and sang by Twila Paris.

We will glorify the King of kings We will glorify the Lamb We will glorify the Lord of lords Who is the great I AM Lord Jehovah reigns in majesty We will bow before His throne We will worship Him in righteousness We will worship Him alone He is Lord of heaven, Lord of earth He is Lord of all who live He is Lord above the universe All praise to Him we give Hallelujah to the King of kings Hallelujah to the Lamb Hallelujah to the Lord of Lords Who is the great I AM

I love many of Twila’s songs since most of them are worship songs and to me, they are doctrinally sound.

In Ephesians 5:19 says “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord”

We are to Glorify God with songs and music. For Paul, Jewish ritual observances were communal, and everyone participated in reciting the prayers, lighting the candles, and reading the Scriptures. This is what liturgy is all about. The word is Greek. It means, “the work of the people.” From its earliest days, the church’s worship was liturgical, with a form and pattern of Word and Sacrament. Liturgy gives worshipers a sense of proper respect for God. Liturgical worship stresses on God’s presence in all of life.

Now, let’s get into the specifics. Psalms and hymns are designed specifically for worship while many of the contemporary music is designed for personal enjoyment.

Let’s look at another perspective. I always had issues with “altar calls” for many years because I am very concerned about the fact that I believe it promotes easy-believism that leads to false salvation (i.e. Billy Graham). In 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, Paul shunned manipulative form of altar calls or fashion. Paul wrote in verse 4, “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom”. This method tends to produce a superficial conviction of sin, if any at all. People often respond because they have the impression that by doing so they will receive certain benefits. That’s what Paul was trying to say. Most important, this raises the whole question of the doctrine of regeneration because this is the most serious thing of all. This work is the work of the Holy Spirit, and His work alone, and no one else can do it. Jesus said in John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

I have left and avoided many churches that do not Worship God the way God expected us to worship. When Jesus said John 4:23-24 “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” The main key is when we are in a community of people when worshipping, its matter of respect of other worshippers and spiritual self-control when we worship in spirit.

Beautiful Easter Song

Handel – Hallelujah: 2009: 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF HANDEL’S DEATH

My Favorite Christian Song

By Twila Paris

Mistakes and Flaws

Before and during my prodigal days, I may know the word “obedience” biblically but I never really knew the word from my heart. Just like King David. David messed up big time but God told us through the Bible that David was truly after God’s heart. We all are sinners and had our share of mistakes.

Backsliding is a slippery slope. However, it is a slope and not a cliff. Some say I was probably never saved which is most likely. Others say, I rebelled and back-sliding to my old nature like a prodigal son. Carnal person is a Christian who still has self on the throne (selfishness). Christ is still in there somewhere, running around, but He is not in charge, and the life is still in chaos. There’s no Lordship. For a Spiritual Christian, Self is off the throne (self-less), Christ is on it, and the life is all in order.

We can escape the critical judgment of God by doing our own exercising of critical self-judgment. Even Jesus spoke the issues of a person’s heart. One great example is this verse: Matthew 5:28 “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

We are to “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”–Matt. 26:41.

Either way, no matter how you look at it, God woke me up. The best thing I know about my Lord and Savior is that He loves the sinner like me. He has always loved the outcast-and for that I should be glad, for I, too, was once an outcast.

I have made mistakes over the years. should “learn” from the past rather than “holding on to the past”. It would be nice not to have any regrets. If I had no regrets, I would never grow. Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.

First, it is a sign of God’s working in my life
Second, it is a sign that God wants me to do it different next time

My mistakes of the past were learned mistakes and I did not let myself overwhelmed over those mistakes. What I did was that I kept going to remember my mistakes in my thoughts, learned from them and do my best not to them again in the future. Scriptures states that my own interests before God is sin, in God’s point of view. I have to be careful of my own desires that are often contradicts with God’s desires.

Some of my favorite Quotes about “Learning from History”.

“What I am great advocate of looking into the past, I could warn everybody against living in the past. The only justification for looking to the past is that we may learn great lessons from it and apply them” (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

By avoiding the mistakes of the past: “Those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (George Santayana)

By repeating the victories of the past: “Those who fail to remember the past are condemned not to repeat it” (David B. Calhoun)

Reading Ecclesiastes helps alot. Hearing stories from my elders (old relatives and older Christians) reminded me that their experiences speaks the truth. As they say, “History repeats itself in every generation.” Reading Ecclesiastes have reminded me that people have been taking “life” for granted.

My Life

I have got to take the initiative and be active in my life. In a decisive set, confidence is the difference. If I don’t have confidence, I will always find a way not to be successful. Nothing will work unless I do. The difference is between the impossible and the possible lies in my determination. My life is just a series of trying to make up my mind. Every Christian has a past, and every sinner has a future. I have more trouble with myself than I have with anyone else around me. I cannot succeed if I don’t believe in myself. What I think of myself, that is what determines (or indicates) my fate.

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise. I am what I am, so take me as I am. I am aware that I should always change and keep renewing my mind, spiritually and mentally. I need to remember and understand that many discontented individuals are trying to become something that they are not. Change occurs when I become what I am, not when I try to become what I am not. I need to remind myself that I do not need to lose courage when I look at my flaws. Understanding that as a forgiven sinner, I have a real good insight enough to admit my limitations. My own growth begins when I start to accept my own weaknesses. A Christian who is experiencing trials and desire to keep a joyous attitude, an understanding mind, and a submissive will, but still struggling, we probably lack the wisdom and the power to endure it. We need wisdom, the practical insight needed to face the circumstances of life. Divine wisdom is especially important when we are going through a trial and desiring to endure it for the holy purposes of God.

If I do not have the desire to change, then I do not have the right to make excuses about my life. My life’s process is impossible without change, and if I can not change my mind, then I cannot change anything. The most significant change in my life is a change of attitude. At times, I fail to grasp the extent to which God identifies me with Jesus, His beloved Son with whom He is well pleased, I do not know that, in Christ, it is impossible for me to displease or disappoint God. The Law promises life to those who keep the Law. The Gospel promises life to those who have transgressed the Law. The promise of the Gospel is an unconditional promise of pure grace. Faith is necessary have the gifts of the Gospel, but faith is the very opposite of any human achievement since “by faith” is equivalent to “not of works”. If I am a Christian, I am to believe the Gospel. If I would remain a Christian, I am to continue to believe the Gospel over and the Law looking only to Christ for the holy life I long to live. Sanctification is an ongoing lifelong process. Justification cannot be separated from sanctification. We are declared righteous in justification, and then the process of making us righteous begins to function in this sinful world. This is a life long relationship with Christ until we go into heaven. God has given us the grace to sanctify us. In sanctification, God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life side in a way that sanctified means “to be separated from sin”. In Second Corinthians 5:21 states that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Keep in mind that Paul doesn’t at all infer that we will automatically be renewed because we have to actively renew our minds to it. I need to understand that I will not try to put up a daily fight against sin because, there are times, I do not truly understand the nature of sin (or try to). According to Peter, God “has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3).

Sin is aggressive by nature and is hazardous to the advancement of my spiritual life. No person is immune to the hardening affect of sin, Hebrews 3:13 which say that people are “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

“The deceitfulness of sin is of a hardening nature to the soul; one sin allowed prepares for another; every act of sin confirms the habit; sinning against conscience is the way to sear the conscience; and therefore it should be the great concern of every one to exhort himself and others to beware of sin.” (Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible)

Ignorance in my human level is never to be excused if there has been opportunity to correct it. My human thinking and pride often combine to drives me away from God. I am just a man with many faults and shortcomings of my own. A person do know the difference between right and wrong and is able to play “Christian” on the surface but not truly a Christian from within. Man can live “morally” right but still a sinner and unable to acknowledge God. Reading Proverbs 20:9 helped me understand better, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” Jesus said in Matthew 5:8 those who are pure in heart “shall see God.” When my heart is purified by Christ, I will see God. And the purer my heart is the more of God I will see.

“God does not guide me; He pushes me forward, He carries me away. I am not master of myself. I desire to live in repose, but I am thrown into the midst of tumults and revolutions.” Martin Luther

God have already reserved my time of death (which I do not know when) because He is my creator and I have on control over my long living life. The Bible and the Holy Spirit clearly taught me that God didn’t merely promise me that temporal good will come out of difficult situations but did promised that whatever I do during my trials that God will be with me. I arrived naked from the womb of my mother; I will leave in the same condition–with nothing. Ecclesiastes 3:2: “a time to be born and a time to die”.

BIRTH
So, I was thinking about my life. I am going to start at my birth. What made God decided that I was born on December 11th?

Psalm 22:9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast.

Psalm 22:10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Isaiah 44:2 This is what the LORD says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

Isaiah 44:24 [ Jerusalem to Be Inhabited] “This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Proverbs 8:23 “I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.”

MY LIFE (DURING between birth and death)
Isaiah 29:16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing”?

Isaiah 45:9 Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?

Isaiah 64:8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Romans 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

John 9:3 but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

Ephesians 1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.

Psalm 94:9 Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?

Psalm 119:73 Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.

Isaiah 44:2 This is what the LORD says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

John 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

1 Corinthians 8:6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Great faiths in the Bible, I saw that circumstances did not control them; it is their reaction to circumstances that determined what kind of people they were and most importantly, how faithful they were. They made decisions they felt it is God’s will however, circumstances made them change directions. Many people forget and often try to do their own ways circumstances happens that they never stop and think. Their human minds often see doors closing when ignoring another door opening. God has given us opportunities to do the Great Commission with our circumstances which means an opportunity that is defined as a providential circumstance which permits us to use to glorify God. God wants us to be busy rejoicing in the gracious prospect of all opportunities of God’s will. Providential of God leads us to what I call “coincidences” in their lives which perhaps God will make sure that His wills will be done at His right time and place.

God governs (controls) the world (Isa. 40:22-24), the nations (Isa. 40:15-17), and us (Proverbs 16:9).

Proverbs 20:24 A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.

Jeremiah 10:23 I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.

Jesus SAID in Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

Acts 17:24-29 (NIV) explains PERFECTLY…….. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. Paul wrote in Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” There are two worlds, set over against each other, dominated by two wills, the will of man (me) and the will of God, respectively.

I am legally deaf since birth (Hard of Hearing) and I have Relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) (Diagnosed in April 2002). (deafness caused by nerve damage, MS caused by nerve scars.) God knows me so well that He will do His providential actions at the very moment of my need according to His will. For the longest time, I thought I have planned and executed my life all by myself but really never aware that my life have always been guided by God. Right now, I am happy where I am because I am having a great relationship with God. This is my quotes I have made in my previous journals: “Okay, I have hearing loss and multiple sclerosis, and those are the ways of life for me. I take silence and pain as come and I have learned master them in my life. My disabilities do not have me. I have the disabilities and I accept them because I know who I am from the inside. Everything has its wonders, even silence and pain, and I learn whatever disabilities and difficulties I may be in, I am happily content.” I like this quote by Canadian Mark Pickup (disabled with multiple sclerosis): “I have been more service to God disabled than during my able-bodied years. This didn’t happen despite my disability but because of my disability.”

About Dying:
Since I am made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that Jesus, my Savior took on my flesh and blood in order to rescue me by His death so I can have eternal life. By embracing His death, taking it into Himself, He destroyed the Devil’s hold on my eternal death and freed my fear of death. (See Heb. 2:14-15). “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” I am torn between my temporal life and my eternal life. I desire to depart my temporal body and be with Christ in eternal life which is better by far however it is God’s glory that I remain in my body (tent) (See: Philippians 1:23-24).

My life is determined by God because I know when my mentor passed away when he was in the 40′s in 1999, his life has impacted me and others around him. Before his death while suffering with cancer, he was completely in the hands of God and not in the hands of doctors even though he prayed for healing. Many who saw so many miracles happen in my mentor’s life during the 28 months he battled cancer, only eternity will tell how God has used his life and death to influence many Deaf and hearing people here and around the world. As someone quoted “A man of God, in the will of God, is immortal until his work on earth is done.”

DEATH
Ephesians 6:3 “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” refers to a long life—living out the fullness of the time God has allotted to us.

Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Die in Faith:
Hebrews 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

Hebrews 11:39-40 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

In order for the body to stop functioning, an organ must stop so death can occur. When a human created temporary body dies, it turns to dust.

1 Corinthians 15:47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. My temporary body will go back to dust with no memories.

Ecclesiastes 9:5 “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.”

Ephesians 6:3 “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Psalm 103:14 “for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”

Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. God appointed my time to die before I was born.

Proverbs 8:23 “I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.”

Psalm 79:11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You; According to the greatness of Your power Preserve those who are appointed to die.

Ecclesiastes 7:14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

Hebrews 9:27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.

The Bible repeatedly speaks of two kinds of life—physical and spiritual, as well as two kinds of death—physical and spiritual. Physical death is the separation of the immaterial part of us from our material body. Meaning our spirit will leave the temporary body and move on to eternal life. Spiritual death is the separation of a created being from God, who is the very Source of eternal life. The first two humans immediately died spiritually, where cut off from God, and corruption and decay entered the universe. Years later, they both died physically. My Christian view of life and death ends on a very positive future.

Revelations 21:1-4 says “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them…and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

God has reserved to Himself the right to determine the end of life, because He alone knows the goal to which it is His will to lead it. It is for Him alone to justify a life or to cast it away. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

My learning to understand Lutheranism

Lutherans are a sometimes neglected group of evangelicals. Reformation’s roots in the early 1500′s starting with Martin Luther. Reformed theology emphasizes God rather than being man centered (i.e. Arminian). Lutheran theology differs considerably from Reformed theology in its understanding of divine grace and predestination to eternity after death. Like Martin Luther, confessional Lutherans agree with 3 out of 5 of the “five points of Calvinism” (TULIP), justification or of faith alone is a common Reformation theology, a common Reformation doctrine here, that the Lutheran and Reformed uphold together. Lutheran seems almost unknown in American Christianity. Catholics, Episcopalians, Baptists, Charismatics, and Calvinists are well-represented. Within Protestantism, Calvinists attack Lutherans for “not going far enough in the Reformation,” for keeping papistical practices and idolatrous worship. Arminians attack Lutherans for not believing in the freedom of the will and for leaving the door open to anti-nominianism. Charismatics think Lutherans are “cold.” Fundamentalists say Lutherans are strong on doctrine but weak on morals. Lutherans condemn Arminians for not believing in predestination and Calvinists for believing in double predestination. Catholics and Charismatics are considered alike in believing that the Holy Spirit reveals Himself in human beings, apart from the Word. Fundamentalists are savaged for their legalism.

True Lutherans confess the true faith of the Holy catholic (universal) and apostolic church that has always existed whether it was called Israel or Christian (first at Antioch). Lutheran denominations have retained their orthodoxy more successfully than most. Lutheranism, with its sacramentalism and liturgical worship synthesized with its Biblicism and evangelical proclamation.

In America, conservative denominations such as the Missouri and Wisconsin Synod remain rigorously “confessional,” in the sense of upholding the creeds and formulas of the Book of Concord, though they are presently torn by controversies over worship styles. ELCA is more liberal and not as confessional. Many confessional Lutherans have taken to calling themselves “evangelical catholics.” They are catholic in their historical creeds, their worship, and their sacramentalism, and they are evangelical in their trust in the good news of Christ, that in His Cross he has saved us by sheer grace for a life of Christian freedom. Others are calling themselves “confessing evangelicals,” allying with Reformed Christians to call today’s doctrinally shallow evangelicals to the historic confessions of faith forged by the Reformation.

The only area I am not used to is that Lutherans are Liturgical. They follow an orderly and ancient pattern in our worship. The liturgy is not meant to be stiff and stuffy, but it is formal. It speaks of the mystery and the majesty of God. In this area, they most resemble the Roman Catholic, Anglican-Episcopal, and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Lutherans are very sacramental and very evangelical. I will be learning this slowly.

Learning to understand my Christian Faith through Lutheran Doctrines

Often when some Christians try to reassign God’s authority to themselves; they seek to be ultimately self-governing and self-defining. There are those who believe and teaches “joining with Christ though a mixing of our supposed divinity with His” by placing their minds into their faith that whatever they desire will be received. Their theology sees the Holy Spirit as a power to be put to use for whatever the believer wills, we have to understand it is clear such teaches opposite do not mean that. Many typically favor their own kingdom over the true God for maintaining authority, or lordship, over their lives that they seek success, happiness, honor, and self-approval. They exchange God’s supreme reality for a false substitute. An emphasis on subjective feelings or experience rather than objective truth; a tendency toward self-centered rather than God-centered worship; a lack of appreciation for church history and the ancient creeds; an emphasis on pragmatism as the basis for church work; an anti-intellectual attitude and even an openness to mysticism. Non-God-Centered doctrines (i.e. covetousness) are supremely serious, which may be why the commandments against it are first two on 10. The worst form of idolatry is to make a god in our own image, and then worship it.

Self-centered desires affects our minds through deception and that we begin to justify and rationalize our right to possess what we desire. Our society (sinful world) is characterized by lies, it is characterized by deception which lead by Satan’s agenda. This sinful earth is characterized by what is temporal as people can “see” that fulfills their desires, but what is for time only, what is physical, what is passing, what ultimately will be destroyed.

Don’t let those who teaches you the flesh’s doctrines (man-centered) of faith. Man’s faith has no inherent value without the Holy Spirit. Man’s faith is not based on merit. Man’s faith can only be provided by the Holy Spirit’s power and it is not from man’s good work. Faith don’t deserve rewards but rather by God’s grace (gift). True Faith is when you cannot answer a skeptic but be content to wait for more light while at the same time never forsake a great principle of God’s Character. The great enemy of faith is a complacent spirit, an attitude of self-satisfaction with the status quo.

The will of humankind is in bondage to the sinful nature. Regarding spiritual matters, there is no free will. If a person is to be saved, salvation must come from something outside of the person. People are purely passive in their salvation. Spiritual salvation is a spiritual resurrection. The spiritually dead person is no better positioned to save himself than a physically dead person is positioned to restore life to his body. Salvation comes by grace. Grace, by definition, is a gift. This grace comes not from anything man does or can do.

Arminianism believes that man after the Fall can cooperate with God’s grace in conversion.

Calvinism and Lutheranism agrees that man after the Fall has no ability to cooperate with God’s grace in conversion. That is my belief as well. Man can live “morally” right but still a sinner and unable to acknowledge God. All of us are born spiritual ignorant (DEAD), not stupid. Through Adam, we are born spiritually dead. The nineteenth-century Scottish commentator John Eadie described it as a case of “death walking”. Spiritually dead people are like zombies–they don’t know they’re dead and they’re still going through the motions of living. Sin is where an unregenerate person runs away from God, meaning that a person called a “fugitive” that as a sinner, it is a person’s inclination is to flee from God. Death is universal spiritually and also by nature. Physically we are born alive however spiritually dead.

Through Adam, we are born spiritually dead. Through Jesus Christ, we are born-again spiritually. Romans 5:12 [ Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ ] Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.

God is the one who gives everyone the same faith as Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:1, “Simon Peter, a bondservant and Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Our spiritual capacity is our charisma which is a gift of God’s grace. We all didn’t deserve grace but we have it in us now. We all are equal.

One of the main reasons I like Lutheranism is that they focus on God-centered on faith as OUR SOURCE of faith is from God alone. Reading Romans 8:14 says, “Those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God.” Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” (See also: Ecclesiastes 9:10; Romans 12:11; I Corinthians 15:5-8; Ephesians 6:7,8.) If we lack wisdom, we are commanded to ask God for it. “It will be given to him“, the wisdom we seek will be ours (cf. Matt. 7:7-11). James says: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God” (James 1:5). Scripture reminds us that we must be sound in the faith through the Holy Spirit and Word of God (1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 4:2-3; Tit. 1:9; 2:1).