Talking about the need for Jesus; re written

I heard Ravi Zacharias say that there are 4 basic questions that everyone must answer for him/herself. It occurred to me that this is how we lead others to Jesus. It is always down one of those four thought paths.
It depends on who I'm talking to and what their present situation and education is. I always pray for opportunities and entry points. In this post I'm only going to deal with the "Why do I or should I need Jesus".
Consider that everyone of is made in the image and likeness of God. Like God has three parts (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) , so we have three parts also (body, soul, and spirit). The Spirit is constantly interjecting, speaking, into our soul, thoughts. It is our thoughts that control our bodies.
Each and everyone of us hears from our spirit on 4 topics and I am thinking of adding a 5th. We all need to settle in our soul (mind) questions of Origin, Purpose, Morality, and Destiny. (The 5Th that I am currently meditating on is Love.) I don't think that we get off this Earth without settling those four and maybe five questions. Some people fight death to the very end because they have not yet made their conclusions. All the busyness and noise we put into your lives, to our own peril, is hiding from God and refusing to deal with these subjects.
Consider Adam after partaking of the forbidden fruit. There he was knowing that God was his origin. Glorifying God by tending the Garden and having dominion over all living creatures (including Eve and the Serpent) was his purpose. Not eating of the fruit was his mandated morality. And eternal life was his destiny, unless he ate of the fruit; then destiny would become death. He allowed the serpent to question God's word placing deadly ego and doubt into Eve' s soul. He allows her to think it, reach out and take it and eat it, then he also eats of it.
Suddenly Adam is faced with conviction and a slightly different set of issues; Origin (God), Purpose(his diminutive responsibility), Morality (the one forbidden sin) and Destiny (his impending death).
As conviction gives way to guilt he hears the footsteps of God walking in the Garden. Instead of confronting his origin, admitting he failed in his purpose, asking for forgiveness for his lapse of morality, and trying to re-establish a destiny of life, he tries to cover his guilt with fig leaves and hides from God. He didn't want to deal with the issues. He ran and hid from the confrontation.
One cannot hide from judgement. No matter what you do to ignore it it will still come. God says, "Where are you" Adam says, "We were afraid and naked before you" And dishes the blame out on Eve. She in turn not wanting to own the guilt passes the buck to the serpent. Nobody wants to own guilt. We all point the finger which only proves our sin.
God shed the blood of an animal to make clothes: a COVERING for their sin. The cost of Sin is death and the animal represented a substitute. God promised to provide a sacrificial substitute which will REMOVE their sins and reestablish them in a destiny of life. That promised sacrifice, for removing sin, was God's Son Jesus.
Now when talking to someone about the need for Jesus, and his payment for our sin, each of the big four issues is an entry point. By talking to someone about these issues forces them to deal with them.
When you talk about Origin of mankind by ready to debunk or cast some doubt on evolution (read a book on it). The simplest way is to take it back to the big bang. "Where did the matter at the beginning of the big bang come from" The evolutionist can only go back to "in the beginning Dirt"! We go to Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the dirt"! Not one human on Earth has looked up at the stars and not wondered where we came from and how we got here. "Fearfully and wonderfully made in our mother's womb", "We were on his mind before Earth's frame was laid". "In the beginning was the word (Jesus) and the word was...and we have seen him...and known him and he is Jesus.
Purpose is general and specific to each of us. Our general purpose is to glorify our creator. Our specific purpose is the use of our special gifts and talents that bring glory to him. We need Jesus and his forgiveness to bring glory to God. And we need Jesus to begin a relationship with God that will eventually lead to learning our special purpose for which we were individually created and called into the body of Christ. It is in this relationship and obedience where happiness is and internal peace is found.
Morality is a special subject to attack. An argument that cannot be countered goes like this. Moral Absolutes exist, and God exists, or no moral absolutes exist, and God does not exist. A Moral Absolute is a truth placed in the conscience of all humans irregardless of upbringing or association that we all know to be true. It follows that if all humans have this inborn law then there must have been a law Giver: God
Example: Grotesque mutilation and murder of a newborn innocent child. What non-evil purpose can be attached to such and act. Can you cause the infant to give up secret information, submit to your authority, serve you, can its torture bring a positive advance to mankind? What good thing can come of it.
Every human being of every place and people on earth knows it is wrong to kill or torture an infant. Anyone who denies that that would be wrong is lying to themselves and you. We all know it because it has been placed in all of us by that unseen force known as "God of Love". We sense that which is detestable to him without ever being told. A child will often do something in secret, hiding some small sin, without ever having been told it was wrong. He knows it inherently
Now since God loves us he has given us his written word which reveals not only his commands but also his character which is the Christian's basis for morality. We must all decide what our basis for morality is and where it comes from. There is one big plus to Christian morality though and that is Jesus. Without Jesus it is impossible to be and live a moral life. We must have his forgiveness. Since "...all have sinned..." we all must deal with that guilt and impending destiny of death. We read into the word "guilt" the words "punishment is death" and the Spirit of the unsaved person testifies guilt and death to their soul. This is met with much uncontrolled emotional energy depression , anger, etc. and we don't want to hear it in our souls. The Spirit is heard the loudest when we are bored. Boredom is actually the edge of meditation. When we are bored our bodies and minds are not being externally stimulated. In this state our Spirit is able to get through. The Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God"! What the unrepentant do is jump up and go look for some excitement to drown out the voice of God. In other words they HIDE. Where do they find this excitement? In more Sin! Sin is exciting. The problem is that more sin leads to more guilt, which testifies death which clashes with their self image as immortal self proclaimed gods. They are forced and compelled to escalate their particular chosen drug/sin to sooth the pain of their conscience. Paul said, " all the members of my body are at war with that which I know I ought not to do" (paraphrased) and "Who will save me from this body of death. Thanks be to Jesus Christ our Lord" You see repentance and acceptance of Christ breaks the cycle of sin, guilt, pride ego (repeat).
Ever one argues that they have to give up this and that to be a Christian. They cannot see how or why they would want to do that. They don't understand that liberty is in Christ. They see it the other way around because they don't see or know how they are in fact the slaves; slaves to destructive sin. Show them their slavery and the way Christ liberates and lifts off the weight of guilt that no one wants to own.
The last issue is Destiny. Everybody wants to know what is on the other side of life. Jesus answered that when he rose from the dead. And offers it to us free of charge. The destiny of the Christian is to pass from life to Life. "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord". Most important only with Christianity is there an absolute promise of eternal life in paradise with him. Every religion in the world is based on earning (working) their way into heaven. With Christ it is a gift. Religion is man trying to make himself good enough for God. Christianity is God making Man good enough for himself. Everyone on Earth is counting on either themselves or Christ for their eternity. Make them see "All their righteousness is like filthy rags". And also Hebrew's says, "It is appointed unto man, Once to die and then the judgement"Once means no reincarnation, we get one chance.


I said above that I was thinking of adding a 5th big question and I did. I posted it September 20, 2007. I have included it here together with it's inspiration.

Love the Fifth Great Question
In my post "talking to others about Christ" I quoted Ravi Zacharias as listing four great questions of life. He says that, "each person must at some point in life answer for themselves these four great questions". The questions were; origin, morality, purpose, and destiny. I realized that since only the Bible satisfactorily answered each on of those question that each one of them was an entry point for talking to others about Christ. I also mentioned in that post that I was thinking of adding another question to that list of four biggies. My fifth great question is LOVE. What are you going to do with love?

Love in itself must relate to the other four questions and is answered most satisfactorily by the Bible. The Bible is called by Christian and non-Christian alike, "the Book of Love" Remember the song, "Who Wrote the Book of Love?" There you have the ORIGIN question. What passes as "love" or a "loving act" brings up the question of MORALITY. If The Theory Evolution is based on survival of the fittest, then what is the PURPOSE of a love that causes the strongest to sacrifice themselves to protect the weakest? It takes no love whatsoever to make offspring it does however take loving sacrifice to nurture them to adulthood. Finally there is always the question of DESTINY in love. The couple in a relationship ask. "where is this 'love' relationship going? Will it last? Is it real? What happens to this relationship after we die? All responses to the above questions are shaped by the respondent's view of God!

The Bible says, "...God is Love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God"(1John 4:16). If God is Love then it follows that love comes when God gives a part of himself to another as a gift. (If it is not a free gift then its not love.)
The one who receives God's gift of love must now decide what to do with it. Here are the options:
1) Seek it out, dwell in it, enjoy it, and give it back to God (love God). The result here is the love multiplied and sent back from God. Thus a relationship is established with God. There is then also and overflowing: to much love to contain. We must share it, there is no selfishness allowed in love. To succumb to love is to die to self and be made alive in Christ.

2) Give the love to another person. The result here is when the cup is poured out it is refilled by God with the same measure that it was given out in. The new receiver of the love must now also decided what to do with the love that was given to them, because, "Love continueth"(never fails, never stops 1 Corinthians 13.) They might return it to the giver and a relationship is established.

3) Taint the love with selfishness use it to enslave another for selfish purposes. This person perverts love, abuses it, and tries to keep it manageable. It is the same way they think of God. They what a humanized, manufactured, manageable God, one that can take down off the shelf and use when needed. In this case the love grows cold. "In the last days, do to increased wickedness, the love of many will grow cold.

4) Reject the love, deny its author, and call it a genetic weakness, a result of DNA. This person runs from love so as not to give up self on the throne of the heart. Sometimes this person rejects the love because of feelings of guilt and unworthiness The result is death of the spirit, leading to death of the wretched soul, and finally merciful death of the depleted body.

There may be some possibilities that I have not investigated but, in each case what a person does about Love is what they believe about God, and influences their answering of the other four big questions of life.

George Herbert understood that Love was a drawing card from God to pull humanity closer to himself when he wrote "Love bade me welcome"

Love Bade Me Welcome

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

-- George Herbert
Mark

Quote of Note from August

“You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape?”
C.S.Lewis

Quote of Note from July

“You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape?”
C.S.Lewis

John's Note on the Trinity

There is much richness in the original Hebrew and Greek languages of the Bible. Just as important as the words is the grammar. The following paragraph on the Second person of the trinity is from L.T. Jeyachandran. It was sent out from RZIM in a "Slice of Infinity (slice@sliceofinfinity.org) Thu 8/07/08

"Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John14:8-9). This astounding claim should alert us to several factors of which we are often not quite aware. In John's Gospel, we consistently see the unfolding of the mystery of Incarnation. There is a unity between the Father and the Son that we cannot ignore. In chapter 10, John records Jesus proclaiming his oneness with the Father. He uses the neuter gender in the Greek language, implying oneness of substance or essence, and emphatically not oneness of Person. (If he had wanted to mean oneness of Person, he would have used the masculine gender.) This is fundamentally important but is not often heard. Simply put, Jesus says that he is of one essence with the Father, but is not the same Person. As a result, we see a continuing invitation from Jesus to "come and see" his actual humanity, the uniqueness of Christ, the person of God incarnate.

Quote of Note from June 08

" In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty and in all things charity."
Rupert Muldinious

What in the World is Going On?

Since I launched You've Been Left Behind http://www.youvebeenleftbehind.com/ the secular media attention has been insane. Over 125,000 unique visitors from 160 countries have hit the site, searched a half a million pages, and spent about 4 minutes per visit.
I feel like Elijah in 1 Kings 19:11-12. This site has had the storm, and the Earthquake, I'm waiting for the gentle breeze and the word of the Lord. You've Been Left Behind has been on every Internet site, blog, and newspage. Its been on National public radio (NPR), ABC News, Fox News, hundreds of news.coms, The London Times, The London U.K.Gardian, The front page of the Irish national newspaper, Three Irish rush hour radio stations, but only one Christian Radio Program (1150 am Pittsburgh).
I must say that God has used this site to get up in peoples face again. I've thought much about why all of the secular attention and this is what I've written to my team:
It has been interesting just how much this thing has turned into a ministry. I'm getting emails from all kinds of people. Some with questions (seekers) some just rant and spew, (skeptics) and some Christians. I answer everyone. I try to dialog with them all. Some have genuinely been made to think. One man in London got out his bible for the first time in years. etc, etc.
I've been thinking about what has really been going on here. The way this site has hit the secular media and played out all the way to national T.V. and several publications...
In the last 45 days we have had leading the news stories of rice shortage, a devastating storm in Myanmar, earthquakes in (China, Reno Nv., Japan, Greece) a volcano in Chile, A years worth of acreage burned up in the U.S. before summer, Oil and Gas out of control, a pitiful primary election, the U.S. economy going south fast, and the islamofascists rattling constantly. If this is not a "birth pang" (Matt 24:4-8) then I don't know what is. People in general are full of tension, they can feel it. Everywhere everything is about to explode. YBLB came along and remind them that this is what Jesus said in Matthew chap 24, just when they thought that they had gotten him out of their life. YBLB has reminded them that God is still on the throne. He asked them a question and they didn't respond. Now God is up in their face, with Alec Trabec playing "I'm a little tea pot". He's saying, "time is up, what are you going to do about me"? "Choose you this day whom you will serve"!'
Its time for the "latter rain" revival/awakening!!

Joel 2:22...The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

JOEL 2:23 Be glad, O people of Zion,
rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you
the autumn rains in righteousness.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.

JOEL 2:24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.


ISA 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me,

ISA 45:6 so that from the rising of the sun
to the place of its setting
men may know there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other.

ISA 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'?
ISA 45:7 I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these things.

ISA 45:8 "You heavens above, rain down righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness grow with it;
I, the LORD, have created it.
ISA 45:10 Woe to him who says to his father,
`What have you begotten?'
or to his mother,
`What have you brought to birth?
ISA 45:11 "This is what the LORD says--
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands?

ISA 45:12 It is I who made the earth
and created mankind upon it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;

ISA 55:10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

ISA 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
ISA 55:12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.

ISA 55:13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."
ISA 56:1 This is what the LORD says:
"Maintain justice
and do what is right,
for my salvation is close at hand
and my righteousness will soon be revealed.

ISA 56:2 Blessed is the man who does this,
the man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil."


Mark

The Coming Great Delusion: My Guess U.F.O's

Ever since Chariots of the Gods was written the Cult of the U.F.O. has been growing steadily. Supposed U.F.O. sitings have increased proportionally. Ironically the technology and the origin of such extraterrestrials have risen equally with our own understanding of technology and the universe. A sure indication that the whole thing is made up in the minds of the bored. Now if Satan is behind this U.F.O. Lie, because "he is the father of lies" then my mind has to say Why? Several answers come pretty easy.
Wikipedia says, "Chariots of the Gods?: Unsolved Mysteries of the Past is a book written in 1968 by Erich von Däniken. It is centered on the hypothesis that many ancient civilizations' technologies and religion were given to them by space travelers who were welcomed as gods....The book was adapted for TV as In Search of Ancient Astronauts. It also served as inspiration for the original TV series Battlestar Galactica, the feature film Stargate, its spinoff TV series, the Halo games, in the Alien vs. Predator film, where Predators came to Earth and "taught humans how to build". The Ultimate Edition DVD of Stargate contains an interview with Erich von Däniken entitled, "Is There a Stargate?". The feature film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" also uses the theme of ancient astronauts who landed in South America and interacted with early humans and mentions the Nazca Lines of Peru"
Before Chariots of the Gods there was an esoteric movement known as Ariosophy. I first came across this while studying The religion of William Butler Yeats to get a clue as to what his "gyre" symbol in the poem, "The Second Coming" meant. (for the record, Yeats sees the future AntiChrist as a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and thus, a second coming. His cult group is the origin of the New Age movement.) In the study of Yeats I found a 1940's reference that Hitler had belonged to a similar cult in Germany. It turned out to be Ariosophy.

The Occult Roots of Nazism, By Goodrick-Clark...focuses, as the title indicates, on its [Nazism's] possible occult roots, an esoteric movement of the 1900s to 1930s in Germany and Austria that is generically referred to as Ariosophy.

According to Goodrick-Clarke, the Ariosophists wove occult ideas into the völkisch ideology that existed in Germany and Austria during that time.[4] Ariosophy shared the racial awareness which was already current within völkisch ideology,[5] but in addition to this the Ariosophists drew upon the notion of root races from Theosophy, thus postulating locations such as Atlantis, Thule and Hyperborea as the original homeland of the Aryan race (and its alleged purest branch, the Teutons or Germanic peoples). The ariosophic writings described a time of a glorious ancient Germanic past, in which an elitist priesthood had "expounded occult-racist doctrines and ruled over a superior and racially pure society."[6] The downfall of this imaginary golden age was explained as the result of the interbreeding between the master race and those considered untermenschen (lesser races). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_occultism

These two ideas are easily linked together by a belief in extraterrestials. The Biblically trained mind would realize that Ariosophists were idealizing the Nephilim destroyed in the Genesis chapter 6-8 flood. Thus, the under water city of Atlantis. The modern God rejecting mind would see it all as evidence of life and evolution aided by aliens.

So Satan could easily use these two ideas to explain the dissapearance of millions of Christians at The Rapture (we had to get rid of those non-conforming Christians) and institute his AntiChrist counterfiet as returning to save mankind from itself (we got your message in a radio bottle for help, we're back!).

I remember reading Bob Larson's First Book of Cults. Three things stuck out in all of the cults. The first was that Jesus was not the Son of God Messiah, maybe a prophet but not God. The second was all cults depended on good works for a good after life of some kind. Third was that they all had what I call, 'preparation for the AntiChrist'. They all had some future coming leader who would be the savior of mankind. Christianity says, Jesus is the Son of God Messiah, second person of the Trinity, God! Christianity says, "you can't do any good works that will result in salvation. Jesus did the work, believe in him and be saved" Christianity says, "This SAME Jesus [not another one] will return as you have seen him go".

Now, "The coming of the lawless one (the AntiChrist) will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason GOD SENDS THEM A POWERFUL DELUSION so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.(2Thes 2:9-12) and in the book of Acts he says,"
2:17 " `In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.

AC 2:18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.

AC 2:19 I WILL SHOW WONDERS IN THE HEAVENS ABOVE
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.

AC 2:20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

AC 2:21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

I kinda think that God is going to play along with this whole set up and let them have the desires of their heart, an extraterrestial display, to set the hook, line and sinker deep in their Godless hungry throats.
Finally Satan can use the same delusion to gather them together for the Battle of Armmegeddon. This thought first occured to me watching the movie Independence Day with Will Smith. Earth fights the extaterrestials (God's armies) for final independence and freedom to do whatever with no God. Its the final great 'God, get outta my life' battle. They loose though.. Rev 16:13 Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
Its all just speculation about the Great Delusion, but it works! I'm not going to be here to find out. I hope you aren't either.
Mark