Fellowship with Christ

Some time ago, I was sitting in my favorite chair on a Sunday evening indulging in my only vice, watching a golf game.   The sedating tones of the announcer and quietness of the game usually puts me to sleep.   However, I was awake during the last half.   An intense battle was being waged between a Korean guy and another golfer I happened to like.   I never liked the Korean golfer.   He had a menacing stare that the networks always played up, presenting him as fierce and ruthless.   I reasoned that he must be into some eastern religion and I did not want him to win.   However, he won in a breathtaking finish.   During the interview on the fringe of the 18 th green, with the first words he spoke, he gave the glory to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   I was stunned.   I was also ashamed that I had judged him by how he looked and by what other people had said about him.   Later I discovered that he not only tithed his winnings t...

I think that the majority of evangelicals believe we are living in the final days before the Coming of Christ. But they disagree as to exactly when He is coming.   Some individuals believe that He is coming before the Antichrist appears and the world is plunged into unprecedented tribulation.   That position is called the Pretribulation Rapture.   Other ones simply believe that Christ is coming at the end of the age.   That position is called the Posttribulation Rapture.   The word “rapture” in the New Testament means “catching away.”   The newer of the two positions is the Pretribulation Rapture.   One would be hard pressed to find any major Christian figure prior to the 20 th century that believed in the Pretribulation Rapture.   In fact, the overwhelming majority had never even heard of the doctrine.   It began in England in the mid 1800s and was propagated into American Christianity by the Scofield Bible.   Even though the d...

It’s Friday night and we get to stay up late.   But “up late” and a keyboard to myself do not mix well.   I get on one of those rants that when I wake up the next day and read it I say, “What!”   But I’m just wondering…is it me or does anyone else believe that they are sometimes invisible.   The problem with being invisible is that when you get in a car, it becomes invisible too.   But here’s the problem. I sometimes get stuck in a food store check-out line that is stalled by some technical difficulty at the cash register.   Of course, I have to listen to everyone behind me complain loudly, “Why don’t they open another register.”   Eventually, after about 20 minutes, some distracted manager finally notices the jam and orders another register to open. The lady, or guy, says loudly, “I’ll take the next person in line.”   You would have thought she said “Free hot dogs on register three.”   Everyone behind me rushes to the register before...

One of the most poignant and beautiful sentences in God’s classic statement concerning His gift of salvation is; “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17 NKJV)   Christ goes on to explain in the next four verses exactly what causes condemnation.   The word “condemn” is not an accusation or an insult, but a judicial term.   The Greek word is krino , which means to properly and lawfully adjudicate the sentence of a guilty person.   Jesus Christ is declaring that He did not come for that purpose.   All followers of Jesus Christ should understand this truth and order their attitudes toward sinners accordingly.   The reader might be wondering, “Then who is it that condemns me?”   First, one has to understand that there is no condemnation without a conviction.   An individual goes from innocent to guilty when the verdict by a judge or jury is announced.  ...

North Carolina residents will vote this week on the Marriage Protection Amendment .  A vote for the bill will put into law the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.  The activity of many Christians who support it reminds me of the vote against liquor sales in our city.  Every election season, professing Christians would rally to make certain that there were no alcoholic beverages sold within the city limits.  However, a significant number of those professing Christians consumed alcoholic beverages that they bought just outside of the city limits.  Many of them were guilty of adultery, fornication, flagrant lying, and cheating, among other sins, but they rose up “righteously” indignant that anyone would opposed them.  They would write letters to the editor filled with hatred and even death threats against people on the other side of the issue.  What was even worse is that most of them seldom did anything significant for God wh...