Survey Gives Insight Into American's Concept Of Sin

A survey done in 2008 by Ellison Research revealed several things about the way Americans view sin. For example, nearly 87% of the 1000 participants believe in the general concept of sin. Most of those questioned believe in degrees of sin. The general concept held by those surveyed defined sin as "something that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religous or moral perspective." Those who believe in sin identified adultery as sin (81%), 74% named racism, 65% hard drugs, 52% homosexuality and 56% said abortion is a sin.
There is a good bit of accuracy in these views about sin but the main problem is that the findings were not as all encompassing as they should have been. The Bible views sin in a much more sweeping manner, listen to the Bible definition of sin...
I John 3:4

 ⁴Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Here is how it works, anytime you break one of God's laws it is sin. Once you sin you are a law breaker and it is as if you had broken all of God's laws. If you have broken one of the 10 commandments then you might as well have broken them all in God's view of sin.
James 2:10
¹⁰For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Furthermore, I don't need a survey to tell me whether I've sinned or not, the Bible has already done that and I have no argument against God's Word.
Romans 3
¹⁰As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
 ¹¹There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
¹²They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
²³For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
You can express your opinion on sin, that's fine, but the only opinion that counts is God's! We have a big problem, we are sinners who lack the righteousness to get into Heaven and we have a criminal record that will condemn us to Hell. That is what we call a "predicament."
If you have been reading my blog for any time at all you know that the solution to this mess is a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ! Watch the video in the right side bar entitled "How To Be Forgiven in 3 Minutes". Trust Jesus today!

Thanksgiving For Forgiveness

^{In Psalms 116 we read the following:}

¹²What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

 ¹³I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. 

 ¹⁷I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. 

I think that it is fitting to examine thankfulness in light of God's mercy and grace demonstrated in the forgiveness of sin. Today is a national holiday that is a direct result of our Judaic-Christian heritage. We are a people with a history steeped in the Christian faith and historically we have recognized the need to acknowledge God as the giver of all good things, hence, we observe Thanksgiving Day. Sadly, America is becoming more Godless every day and many Christians are failing to thank God as often as they should. Let me ask you a question..."When was the last time you thanked God for your salvation?". The psalmist asked himself the question "what shall I render to the Lord of all His benefits and he answers the question in verse 17 by giving "thanks" to God. We take of the cup of salvation by simply "believing" and all we can do is receive it and say "thank you Lord"! Have you come to the point in your life where you are counting on what Christ did on the cross to be sufficient payment for your sin? If that is the case make sure you thank Him today and every day. If you have not come to faith in Christ please watch the short video in the right side bar. Thanksgiving Day would be a great day to believe and be forgiven!

 

Newt Gingrich Has The Right Stuff!

Newt Gingrich has a storied political and professional career that makes him emminently qualified to be the next president of the United States. But Newt has some baggage that has dogged his political aspirations. Newt has been through three divorces and a controversial affair with a congressional aide who is now his wife. Many people have written Newt off as a serious contender for high office based on his moral failures. However, most people are not aware of the changes that have occurred in his spiritual life. Newt is man who has the right stuff to be president because he has come to two important conclusions.
First, Newt now recognizes the things that he has done as being wrong and sinful. Here is what he told CBN's John Brody...

"And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn't trapped in situational ethics, I was doing things that were wrong and yet I was doing them."

Newt recognizes his past moral failures as sinful and wrong. I like a man who recognizes his sinfulness, I trust that kind of man. The second quality that I like about the new Newt Gingrich is that he now regards himself as "forgiven". In the same interview he went on ..


Gingrich says he has asked for and received God's forgiveness. 
"I do believe in a forgiving God. And I think most people, deep down in their hearts, hope there's a forgiving God,” he said. “Somebody once said that when we are young, we seek justice, but as we get older, we seek mercy. There's something to that, I think."

Newt is dead right on this issue. In John chapter 8 a woman "caught in adultery" was dragged into the presence of Jesus by a group of self righteous men. Jesus did not condemn the woman but simply began writing some things in the sand at their feet. Whatever Jesus wrote was troubling to the men because verse 9 tells us they became convicted and that they began to leave one by one beginning at the "eldest". If we are honest with ourselves we see more and more how depraved we are the older we get. The older we get the more we need mercy not justice. I am glad that Newt has found forgiveness in Jesus. I hope he becomes the next president of the United States! It is not his long political resume or his college professorship but his humility and dependence on a forgiving God that draw me to his candidacy.

I Got Some Great News Today- Another One Forgiven!

The whole point of this blog is to proclaim the absolute free grace of God that can be acquired simply by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have been following this site you know that I have a contact form in the right side bar. Yesterday, I received an email from a young man who let me know that he has placed his trust in Jesus and he wanted me to know and he told me that he had also shared this news with his mom! My heart rejoiced. I know that the angels in Heaven rejoiced at his decision as well. It reminded me of a gospel passage in Luke 10 where Jesus had sent out 70 disciples to preach, heal and cast out devils. When they all came back to Jesus after their time of ministry they were excited by all the miraculous things they had witnessed. But Jesus reminded them of the most important thing to get excited about and that was their names were written down in Heaven. The Bible tells us that when someone believes on Jesus the angels in Heaven rejoice and as the old hymn says..."there's a new name written down in glory and it's mine oh yes it's mine!".

Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.v.20

I'll be praying for this young man to grow in the grace of our Lord and to rejoice because his name is written in Heaven. 

I also want to share with you Dear Reader that this blog has reached people in 10 different countries in the last couple of months. People are searching for an answer to the yearning in their souls in these last days. Do you need God's everlasting forgiveness...trust in Jesus then let me know and I'll pray for you and rejoice with you too!
This video presents Hillsong and I believe a little Russian lyrics too...enjoy.

Fox News This Morning Made Me Glad I'm Forgiven

As my wife and I prepared to go to church this morning we were listening to the Sunday morning version of Fox News. I remarked to my wife that the program resembled more of a prophetic broadcast than a news cast. The reason that I made that statement was three fold. First, they reported that a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit Oklahoma at about 10:30 p.m. CST on Saturday evening. They had a swarm of earthquakes from Texas to Wisconsin. Jesus warned His disciples that this kind of event would be a signal that the time of the end had arrived and it is recorded in Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8 and Luke 21:11. The second story involved the great whale sightings that have been occurring in Santa Cruz, California. The bizarre temperature extremes and the total stoppage of the gulf stream have created all kinds of weird phenomenon ranging from extreme fish and bird die offs to strange migration activities. Last year a large whale was located just off the beaches of Israel and it was the first time in history such an event had ever occurred. See related story http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137514.  Third, Fox reported that Benjamin Netanyahu has spent the better part of last week warning the world that Israel can no longer delay in acting against the nation of Iran because of their pursuit of nuclear weapons. The Bible foretold of a time in the future when Russia, Iran and a group of Islamic nations would come against Israel. This is recorded in the 38th and 39th chapters of Ezekiel. Needless to say, the outcome will not be favorable for the invaders. Here is a story of some of the steps Israel is taking to defend themselves http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Israel_gets_ready_to_unveil_Davids_Sling_999.html. Israel is the prophetic wrist watch of God. Time is growing short. I think most Christians know in their hearts that time is running out for this current age. A new day is coming when Christ will reign but before that day arrives there will be dreadful events on this planet. I'm not really appealing to Christians in this blog I'm appealing to those who have never believed on Christ. Time is running out and I urge you to check out the little 3 minute video in the right hand margin of this site entitled "Learn How To Be Forgiven In 3 Minutes". Jaw dropping events will soon unfold. Come to Jesus!

A Great Testimony On Forgiveness - Pastor James David Manning

Pastor James David Manning is one of my favorite preachers and I catch him on Youtube often. The video above is a short presentation of his personal testimony. Pastor Manning presents a testimony that is based on the "free grace" of the Lord Jesus Christ. By "free grace" I mean that Pastor Manning tells us that you are forgiven and saved by simply believing the testimony of the Scriptures concerning Jesus. We are saved by believing that Jesus lived a sinless life, died on a cross (shedding His blood) and rose from the dead for the payment of our sins. Free grace teaches that if we will trust in what Christ did to be sufficient payment for our sins then we will be forgiven and saved. Free grace does not mean "cheap grace" and it does not mean "easy believism". God's grace is not cheap - it cost the life of His dear Son. Free grace is not easy - it is not easy to trust your eternal destiny to another person. But free grace theology is the gospel. It is the liberating alternative to the haughty, self righteous and judgemental proponents of lordship salvation and all teachers who teach grace + works. The legalists of our day have muddied the waters of the gospel of Christ. It is good to hear of a life that has been changed by the free grace of Jesus and so I have given you Pastor Manning!
Here is a snippet from a statement of faith by one of the great seminaries in our land - Free Grace Seminary. They present a definition of saving faith, free grace salvation. Enjoy and Learn.
We believe salvation is the gift of God brought to mankind by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Faith is a personal response, whereby we are persuaded that the finished work of Jesus Christ has delivered us from condemnation and guaranteed our eternal life. God neither overrules nor implants mankind’s volition in accepting or rejecting His provision of salvation. A human being appropriates salvation by the sole means of faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, whose death and resurrection are the ground of man’s salvation. The means of salvation is to be properly correlated with and distinguished from issues related to discipleship (Acts 16:31 ; 4:12; John 1:12 ; 3:16, 18; 20:31; Ephesians 1:7 ; 2:8–10; 1 Peter 1:18 –19; 2 Peter 3:9 ; 1 John 5:11 –12).


No act of obedience (other than faith in Christ), whether preceding or following faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, such as commitment or willingness to obey, sorrow for sin, turning from sin, baptism, or submission to the Lordship of Christ, may be added to, or considered a part of, faith as a condition for receiving eternal salvation. The saving transaction between God and the sinner consists simply of the giving and receiving of a free gift that is without cost to the believer (John 4:10 ; Romans 4:5 ; Galatians 2:16 ; Ephesians 2:8 –9; Titus 3:5 ; Revelation 22:17 ).