The Third Jesus

GodThoughtsWired!               Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% The Third Jesus Kyrios:  "He to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord."(found 720 times in the New Testament). A PARABLE Awhile back at a conference that I attended, I overheard Jesus asked a bunch of pastors the question, "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"-Luke 6:46 And here were some of the responses: -"Because, 'we're saved by grace! not works.'" -"Because the whole concept of "Lord" is offensive to modern culture.   I'm trying to grow a church...not kill it!" -"Because anything having to do with "obedience" or "submission" would hurt my books sales.  And if I sell less books, I reach less people.  Comprende?" -"Because the whole 'Jesus as Lord' thing just gets in the way.  I just want to get 'em saved man!  Get 'em in the door!  Jesus is Savior!  That's the message!  The whole 'Lord thing' can come later." At about that point I saw Jesus begin to weep.  And all of the pastors immediately gathered around Him to pray, having no idea why He was crying. END OF PARABLE Biblical Christianity knows nothing of a Jesus who is not "Lord."  Well, actually, technically there is a "Jesus" who is not "Lord," (see Colossians 4:11), however, the "Jesus who is called Justus" is not the Savior. "There are only two Jesus' in the Bible. The first Jesus (the Christ) is both Savior and Lord.  The second Jesus (Justus) is neither Savior nor Lord.  The third Jesus, the one created by the Devil for today's popular, seeker-sensitive, emergent, market-driven 'church'...does not exist." -pastor Brad *For further study click on the video:  The 2nd Most Important Question You Will Ever Ask. For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, clickhere. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, clickhere.

The Good Wine!

GodThoughtsWired!                     Monday, May 16, 2011 An Inspiration for Today...A Resource for a Lifetime!

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% The Good Wine! "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.   This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him."-John 2:10-11, bold mine The beginning of the signs of Jesus Christ happened at the "Wedding in Cana."  Please note the key to the story:  Jesus didn't just turn the water into wine...He turned the water into the "good wine" (see above). Jesus never did anything half-heartedly.  He always gave His best.  Always!  Also note: The glory of God was manifested because it was the "good wine." Can you imagine the story any other way?  Can you imagine Jesus turning the water into some "nasty-tasting" wine that the guests were repulsed by and left the headwaiter unimpressed?  Of course not!  God is glorified when, and only when, we give our best!(see Luke 21:1-4). "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." -1 Corinthians 10:31, bold mine Doing "all to the glory of God" means giving the best to your marriage, your children, your job and your church.  Your best energy, your best effort, your best ability.  Being a Christian doesn't necessarily mean you'll always be the best, but it should mean you'll always give your best. IF IT'S NOT YOUR BEST... GOD IS NOT IMPRESSED. -pastor Brad For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, clickhere. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, clickhere.

PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF THE LIFE, DEATH & RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST 3

GodThoughtsWired!                   Thursday, May 12, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF THE LIFE, DEATH & RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST3 Extra-biblical: "pertaining to information or content outside the Bible." Hostile Witness: "a witness who gives evidence against the party calling him." "For the Christian... Faith and reason are two sides of the same coin." -Pastor Brad EXIBIT #3:  Complete Letters, by Pliny the Younger.  Gaius Pliny to the emperor Trajan - ...in the cases of those brought before me as Christians.  I asked them whether they were Christians.  If they admitted it, I asked them a second and a third time, threatening them with execution...and who moreover cursed Christ (those who are truly Christian cannot, it is said, be forced to do any of these things), I ordered to be acquitted... -X 96, p. 278, bold mine. Trajan to Pliny - You have followed the appropriate procedure, my Secundus, in examining the cases of those brought before you as Christians, for no general rule can be laid down which would establish a definite routine.  Christians are not to be sought out.  If brought before you and found guilty, they must be punished... -X 97, p. 279. *For a more in depth study please go to our LIVE VIDEOS:  PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE, PT. 1 PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE, PT. 2 PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE, PT. 3 For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, clickhere. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, clickhere. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREEMinistry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF THE LIFE, DEATH & RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST 2

GodThoughtsWired!                  Wednesday, May 11, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF THE LIFE, DEATH & RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST  2 Extra-biblical: "pertaining to information or content outside the Bible." Hostile Witness: "a witness who gives evidence against the party calling him." "Far from being a blind faith - Christianity is based on the sufficiency of the evidence." -pastor Brad EXIBIT #2:  The Annals of Imperial Rome, by Publius Tacitus. "Nero fabricated scapegoats - and punished with every refinement the notoriously depraved Christians (as they were popularly called).  Their originator, Christ, had been executedi n Tiberius' reign by the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate.  But in spite of this temporary setback the deadly superstition had broken out afresh..." -p. 365, bold mine As noted by classicist, Michael Grant, standard historical criteria prevent one from rejecting the existence of a historical Jesus (Jesus:  An Historian's Review, pp. 199-200).  In addition, Professor James D.G. Dunn states  that the body of evidence surrounding the life of the historic Jesus is undeniable.  Any attempt to construe the Jesus of the Bible as myth is "a thouroughly dead thesis" (Paul's Understanding of the Death of Jesus, p. 126). Mr. Maher?  Your witness. *For a more in depth study please go to our LIVE VIDEO: PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE, PT. 1 *For a more in depth study please go to our LIVE VIDEO: PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE, PT. 2 For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, clickhere. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, clickhere. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREEMinistry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF THE LIFE, DEATH & RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST 1

GodThoughtsWired!                 Monday, May 9, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF THE LIFE, DEATH & RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST 1 Extra-biblical:  "pertaining to information or content outside the Bible." Hostile Witness:  "a witness who gives evidence against the party calling him." In his documentary entitled RELIGULOUS, comedian Bill Maher makes some outrageous assertions.  In regard to the existence of Jesus Christ he declares, "That hasn't been proven." He continues by asking, "What evidence?  I've never even heard anyone propose that there's evidence."   He further states, "The records we have are all gospels."  When asked if Mr. Maher is declaring the Bible to be "ficticious" he says, "I am." Well, in truth, much evidence for the life and death and even the resurrection, of Jesus Christ exists outside the Bible.  In fact, many such examples are from "hostile witnesses."  In this series, we'll take a look at a few.* EXIBIT #1:  The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon. "The first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem were all circumcised Jews; and the congregation over which they presided united the law of Moses with the doctrine of Christ.  It was natural that the primitive tradition of a church which was founded only forty days after the death of Christ, and was governed almost as many years under the immediate inspection of his apostle,should be received as the standard of orthodoxy." -p.243, bold mine. The above is just one paragraph from the 77 pages of Chapters XV & XVI that Gibbon devoted to all things pertaining to the influence of Christ, Christians and Christianity, upon the Roman Empire.  Mr. Maher?  Your witness. *For a more in depth study please go to our LIVE VIDEO: PROOF!  EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE, PT. 1 For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, clickhere. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, clickhere. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREEMinistry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF THE LIFE, DEATH & RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST 1

GodThoughtsWired!                 Monday, May 9, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% PROOF! EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF THE LIFE, DEATH & RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST 1 Extra-biblical:  "pertaining to information or content outside the Bible." Hostile Witness:  "a witness who gives evidence against the party calling him." In his documentary entitled RELIGULOUS, comedian Bill Maher makes some outrageous assertions.  In regard to the existence of Jesus Christ he declares, "That hasn't been proven." He continues by asking, "What evidence?  I've never even heard anyone propose that there's evidence."   He further states, "The records we have are all gospels."  When asked if Mr. Maher is declaring the Bible to be "ficticious" he says, "I am." Well, in truth, much evidence for the life and death and even the resurrection, of Jesus Christ exists outside the Bible.  In fact, many such examples are from "hostile witnesses."  In this series, we'll take a look at a few.* EXIBIT #1:  The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon. "The first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem were all circumcised Jews; and the congregation over which they presided united the law of Moses with the doctrine of Christ.  It was natural that the primitive tradition of a church which was founded only forty days after the death of Christ, and was governed almost as many years under the immediate inspection of his apostle,should be received as the standard of orthodoxy." -p.243, bold mine. The above is just one paragraph from the 77 pages of Chapters XV & XVI that Gibbon devoted to all things pertaining to the influence of Christ, Christians and Christianity, upon the Roman Empire.  Mr. Maher?  Your witness. *For a more in depth study please go to our LIVE VIDEO: PROOF!  EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE, PT. 1 For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, clickhere. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, clickhere. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREEMinistry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

TRUTH WINS! 5

GodThoughtsWired!                   Friday, May 6, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% TRUTH WINS! 5 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." -2 Timothy 4:3-4 ROB BELL FALSE PREMISE #4.  "When we read 'eternal punishment'...Jesus is not talking about forever as we think of forever" - Rob Bell "So when we read "eternal punishment, " it's important that we don't read categories and concepts into a phrase that aren't there.  Jesus isn't talking about forever as we think of forever." -Love Wins, p. 92 Rob Bell is the first to admit that "first and foremost I'm a pastor."  He is not a theologian, which this book painfully illustrates.  Bell's argument that "eternal punishment" doesn't mean what it says (thereby discrediting the greatest Greek linguists and Bible translaters that the last twenty centuries have ever known), is nonsensical. Bell arues that the Greek word aion (he then unknowingly? refers to Matthew 25 where the term he refers to is actually "aionios"), has a variety of meanings.  Generally translated as "eternal," "forever," "forever more," and "eternity," aion can also mean simply a "period of time."  While Bell is technically accurate, his reasoning is absurd. If the "Bible translation according to Rob Bell" is accurate, consider the following changes that must be made in the most popular and well known Bible verse ever: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but... have life for a period of time." -John 3:16 according to Rob Bell And then, perhaps most non-sensical of all, the Bible actually teaches, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are (aionios) eternal." -2 Corinthians 4:18 But Rob Bell's translation would have to say, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are...temporal." -2 Corinthians 4:18 according to Rob Bell And there are no less than six! other "false premises" that I have found in Rob Bell's book, Love Wins.  Suffice it to say that Jesus warned of these last days, "False Christs and false prophets will arise...so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect."-Matthew 24:24 I have no doubt that Mr. Bell is a sincere pastor who loves people very much, however, it must be said that tragically, the book Love Wins represents a "false Christ" written by a "false prophet." For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, clickhere. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, clickhere. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREEMinistry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).