Islamic Bombs, Sundry Assaults for Christians at Easter

As Satan perceives time running out on him with the impending arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev 12:12), being reminded of his irreversible momentous loss that began at the first Easter has, not unexpectedly, gotten him really agitated and desperate.

His fierce but toothless goons were all over the place trying to wreak maximum havoc over the Easter period.  In the cities of Tanta and Alexandria in Egypt, Islamists attacked two Coptic churches with bombs on Palm Sunday (April 9), killing at least FORTY NINE people and wounding another 100.  In mourning the dead, the Coptics in Egypt decided to curtail “festive manifestations” during the Easter prayer services.

It wasn’t only Christians who were killed in the two Palm Sunday attacks. Three officers stationed at the site of one of the attacks were Muslim. The Egyptian government was fully sympathetic and has declared a 3-month emergency rule in the country to enable it squarely address the security threats to Christians.  It also has promised to help rebuild the Churches involved – of course lives lost are irreplaceable!

There were pockets of incidences in several other parts of the world, including assaults in public transport systems.  For instance 20 year old Hanah Bladon, an exchange student from Birmingham studying Hebrew and the Bible in Jerusalem, was stabbed to death in the Light Rail near Jaffa Gate on Good Friday (April 14).  On the other side of the globe in Australia,  Mike, also traveling by train from Campsie to Bankstown in southwestern Sydney, was accosted and thoroughly ruffled up in broad day light by “four young men of Middle Eastern appearance”. Cursing the name of the Lord Jesus and eulogizing Allah, the men violently ripped Mike’s dangling Greek Orthodox cross off his neck and stomped on it. https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/04/australia-muslims-assault-orthodox-christian-while-screaming-f-jesus

Unfortunately, Nigeria still continues to feature in these tragic religious persecution stories.  After a few weeks of respite since the widely denounced Christmas killings, islamist cattle herdsmen came a-visiting again to Southern Kaduna, leaving the corpses of least one dozen local people behind. The attack occurred at the Asso Community in Jemaa local government area on Saturday, April 15, shortly after a “peace and reconciliation” meeting between the natives and the Fulani herdsmen.  As usual, Governor Nasir El-Rufai promptly expressed heartfelt condolences to the victims and assured that “security operations are being ramped to rid the forest areas of the bandits”. The operation by the herdsmen lasted for about 30 minutes without any help from the security agencies deployed to the area. For details, see https://www.naij.com/1099825-12-killed-fresh-southern-kaduna-attack.html   

Thank God, the Church of God is however not deterred by all these rampages of the devil. A video  posted on Facebook following the bombings at the Coptic churches in Egypt shows hundreds of Coptic Christians outside of a church enthusiastically chanting the Nicene Creed in Arabic. A widow of one the slain Christians in Egypt, speaking on behalf of the families of the martyred saints, said she has already forgiven the murderers.  The Rev. Markos Ayoub of the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Mark in New Jersey summarised the general attitude of Copts to terrorism: “We do not accept injustice. In the same breath, we have no animosity towards anybody,” he said. “This is our faith. To love our enemies. No vengefulness. We love everybody, including even the terrorists.”  Possibly nothing can be more frustrating to the devil than hearing such a message! No looking back, Church. The King is at the door!

Pope set to announce Mary as Co-Redemptrix with Jesus at Fatima

Now here is something advocates of Salvation-by-Grace-alone-without-any-further-Responsibility-on-Man’s-part should really be splitting spleen on: the Catholic Church is preparing grounds to announce that Mary is actually required for the redemption of Mankind, and should be recognized as co-Redemptrix.  It is widely believed that the 10-page document titled "The Role of Mary in Redemption” released by the Theological Commission of the International Marian Association (IMA) on January 1, 2017 is a precursor for Pope Francis to "publicly acknowledge and honor  Mary, the Mother of  Jesus, as the ‘Co-redemptrix’ with Jesus the Redeemer" during the 2017 centenary anniversary of the Marian Apparitions at Fatima, Portugal.  http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=74351. The anniversary year of the centenary officially commenced 27^th November 2016 and will end 26^th Nov 2017. The anniversary of the 1^st apparition on May 13 2017 will witness special events. Ways to obtain special “indulgences” are published, for instance, here.

ON ETERNAL SECURITY AND HYPER GRACE OF CHRIST

Introduction

It’s unfortunate that while the Church watched out for the more well-known errors propagated by the likes of Latter Day Saints and Jehovah Witnesses, no less insidious teachings have stealthily crept in into the mainstream Church, mainly directed at the youths, without most people catching a whiff of them. The doctrine of Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS) holds that it is solely God’s responsibility to save a believer and keep him saved. So far so good.  However the doctrine quickly EMPHASISES an adjunct statement: nothing such a believer does or fails to do, including lifestyle choices, can ever affect his status as a candidate for heaven. As a matter of fact, a well-respected Nigerian Bishop insisted that a Christian bothering to confess his sins is only trying to add work to grace; and that no one needs bother to notice or confess sins, as they are continuously automatically cleansed the moment they are committed.  They reason: Why bother to ask for forgiveness of sins when the Bible clearly says your sins are forgiven in 1 Jhn 2:12?  But these deceived souls still believe they could, for instance, pray for healing, even though the Bible also talks about us already being healed by His stripes (1 Pet. 2:24)!

How exactly would this work out in practice when people’s consciences are deliberately deadened to sin?  Ironically, it is the same Scripture that encourages us to confess our sins and receive guaranteed forgiveness (1 Jhn 1:8) that is turned upside down, with the strange teaching that the admonition applies only to “those who are only saved” but not “born again.”  The supposed distinction being that it was only after the death and resurrection of Jesus that born again saints started to be made.  By this audacious falsehood, all the Apostles, including Peter who affirmed their faith in Jesus and confessed Him as the Son of the Living God, were NOT born again.  By this simple token also, EVERY teaching or commandment of the Lord Jesus is summarily dismissed as irrelevant to “Saints” or “New Creation realities”; as there were supposedly none of these in His days.  Ditto, all the admonitions in the Epistles to be spirit-minded, to not give room for deception, etc are adjudged irrelevant to the one who is in Christ Jesus! With probably millions of mainly young people embracing these dangerous propositions, believing they have come into contact with some superior “present truth” revealed to some select end-time saints, it is clear we are living in perilous times indeed!

Apparently, the need for this destructive carnal doctrine is rooted in people struggling endlessly with besetting sins and addictions.  Instead of counselling such people to restitute their ways (as suggested in Gal. 6:7), they are encouraged to live with it in good conscience.  Here is a standard counsel offered in this respect: “If you have been taught that YOUR ADDICTION OR SINFULNESS has caused you to fall from grace, you have been taught wrong.  That is not what the Bible teaches.  The Bible teaches that you have fallen into grace.  HOLD YOUR HEAD UP, hold your hand out, receive God’s grace.  You have not fallen from grace because of YOUR ADDICTION OR SIN.  You have fallen into grace.”  It’s amazing how people could be goaded into believing such deception from the devil.

It is of course important that Christians be assured of the validity and robustness of their salvation  (1 Jhn 5:13, 1 Pet. 1:18-20).  But in the same breath, we must not lose sight of the responsibility that goes with this grace.  In the words of the Apostle Paul, after being saved freely by God’s mercy and grace, we need to show that we appreciate our new status by walking “worthy” of it.(Eph. 4:1ff, 1 Pet 1:17). The Lord warned that Pearls are not for pigs! (Mat. 7:6)

The nature of spiritual warfare

Clearly, a devil who has no other weapon but deceit must do all he could to hide his identity and thus get people, if possible, to cast off restraints and become especially vulnerable to him. (2 Cor. 11:14, 1 Pet. 5:8, Jhn 10:10)

Man remains volitional, even after salvation.  Free to choose between carnal-mindedness or spirit-mindedness; hence the copious encouragement to choose spirit-mindedness over carnality (Rom. 8:1,4,6; Gal. 5:16,25).  Salvation is available to whosoever would believe in the Son of God, and call on Him for salvation (Jhn 1:12, Rom 10:9-10, 13). It is totally free for the asking, as the Lord Jesus had paid the full price from the foundation of the world (Heb. 4:3, Rev. 13:8). Salvation, as it were, restores to Eden; but even in Eden, before the Fall, Man was volitional (Gen. 2:16-17).  There are consequences to whichever choice we make – even after salvation (Rom 8:6, Acts 1:25).

The appeal to the lusts of the flesh, of the eye, and the pride of life is the devil’s major arsenal.  From the first Adam (Gen. 3:6) to the second Adam (Mat 4:1-10), and definitely till today (I Jhn 2:15-16).  Satan seeks to push people off the limits of legitimate liberty and pleasure, across the thin line into the Lusts.  The Bible encourages us not to make provision (or justification etc) for the flesh and its Lusts (Rom 13:14).  Rather, the devil must be resisted, by faith, after we have fully submitted to God (Jas 4:7, I Pet 5:8-9). At the present time, a true believer is saved from the power of sin, but not yet from the presence of sin (Rom 6:12-14, 1 Pet. 1:17).  That comes only when we see the Lord in glory (1 Jhn 3:2-3).

Of Response, Responsibility, and Works

Obedience, response to a free gift, is NOT works to be boasted of. Filling the water pot to the brim with water as instructed and drawing wine of it does not get a reasonable person boasting of having “earned” the wine (Jhn 2:7-9). Rolling away the stone for Lazarus to come out of the grave does not put us in the same league as the Resurrection and the Life, nor does our “efforts” detract from the value of the miracle (Jhn 11:41-44). Same goes for getting empty vessels from the neighbourhood to receive an endless supply of oil from El Shaddai (2 Kings 4:3).  None of the efforts involved in these acts of simple obedience could constitute Works to be boasted of!  Not obeying ALL that was instructed could truncate miracles though. Indeed, the instruction might be more of God’s way of ‘screening’ out those unworthy of the blessing – as in the case of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-24. The Lord Jesus instructed disciples to find out one who was worthy in any city they went to preach, and stay with such folks (Mat. 10:11-13).

Disobedience or non-responsiveness to a free gift does not detract from the value of the gift - it only shows the intended recipient as unworthy. Grace can be rendered vain or frustrated – either by legalism (Gal 2:21, 5:4) or licentiousness (Jude 1:4; 2 Cor 6:1-18, Titus 2:11-12, Heb 12:14-17).  In 1 Cor. 15:10, Paul said he laboured extensively in appreciation of the grace he had received.  Yet, even that labouring (both the willingness and the doing) was by grace (Phil. 2:13)!