I was challenged to read the Psalms as an argument supporting depression as not sin. Each of David's lamentations end on a happy note. Now, Psalm 88 has no happy note, yet what I noticed is that David did not stop petitioning the Lord. His prayer was actually more fervent... ...and He never lost hope in the Lord. David is literally casting all his anxieties on the Lord (1 Peter 5:7), not keeping them for himself alone to deal with.

Both times I was in depression was because of me thinking how awesome of a person I was. When God humiliated me...

"The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him." Gen 2:20

I love the Greek word in the LX used for "helper". βοηθός (boethos). It combines "boe" (a cry for help)... ...theo (to run). Properly, "helper" denoting an urgent need being met at the right time. You are getting exactly what you need quickly.

In the context, God in His omniscience knows exactly what Adam needs, and He meets Adam's need (God created Adam's need) right on time...

When Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife he resisted every time. With James 1:13-14 in mind we know that Satan tempts people with specific bait to get them to fall. Each person has different besetting sins so Satan can't tempt all people to the same sins. Someone might... ...be prone to gossip, but have no desire to be sexually immoral, so Satan isn't going to use infidelity, rather he will bait the hook with a juicy morsel of gossip.

With this in mind I believe that Satan tempted Joseph with Potiphar's wife because he probably fought...

When one fully rejects the doctrine of Penal Substitutionary Atonement they are rejecting what Christ did on the cross. Rejection is apostasy.

The Romans crucifying Christ did not atone for our sin, rather He drank the cup of God's wrath as He bore the blame for every sin...

https://twitter.com/RevJacquiLewis/status/1515107603025739780

...committed under the sun. God put that on Christ and Christ willingly accepted that.

You see, God is just, so He must punish sin. He is perfectly righteous, and in order for one to enter heaven the standard is righteous perfection.

Either Christ will take the blame...

Romans 14 and Religious exemptions.

I was going to write a short blog post, but I thought I would do a summary thread of how Romans 14 points to a Christians ability to abstain from the Covid shot.

Christ is the Lord of your conscience so you better make sure what you call... 2/...conscience is actually the Lord causing you to abstain or partake in something and not your sinful heart directing you.

In Romans 14 you have some factions forming based on meat sacrificed to idols. Back then when animals were slaughtered and taken to market...

I want to add something to this. When you read Matthew 25:41-46 and Christ points out that the unbeliever "did not Him something to eat, drink, etc..." The reason they didn't is because they hate Christ, so they hate Christians.

Let's say an unbeliever helped a Christian...

https://twitter.com/ThomasCoutouzis/status/1450068612107079686

...in need. Who is the unbeliever going to give the glory to? They will steal it from God and keep it for themselves. They won't pass the glory to God because their sin nature makes it impossible.

The unbeliever is going to help their own first.

Love is an action rooted in the denial of self, not the indulging of self. It originates from God, therefore, this attribute can only be shown through those He has regenerated.

True love starts with a love for God first and then trickles down to those around us. Because true love starts with God, it celebrates the truth of His word (Scripture) as every word is true. Paul said in 1 Cor 13 that "love rejoices in the truth". If you cannot rejoice in every word of Scripture, then you do not love God.

This is why Christ said in John 14:15

#Exetweet thread

1/ "Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies." 1 Cor 8:1

The context of this passage is in conscience pertaining to Christian liberty, in this case, meat being sacrifices to idols. 2/ Paul shares two points that wound when they are separated regarding conscience and exercising liberty.

"Knowledge makes arrogant"

"but love edifies"

"γνῶσις" (knowledge) in this instance is "experiential knowledge". It is knowledge gained from first hand experience.

"Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are." 1 Cor 3:16-17

The context is about factions. 'I follow Paul... '...or I follow Apollos'. Paul says in chp. 3 that Christians have a foundation laid by Christ and the Lord uses others to build on it.

Paul then gives a stern warning in v11 that no man can lay another foundation other than Christ. He then goes onto say that those...

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 55:20

This is how much God hates sin (evil):

"On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against... ...His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, But His hand is still stretched." Isaiah 5:26

Reading through Romans 7 and 8 this morning. What many miss in context is that Paul in Romans 7:13-25 is that Paul is showing that the Law is spiritual. It is a reflection of God's character. Paul is showing us the war that goes on in every regenerate believer. 1/ 2/ The Law points out his evil nature. There is nothing good in him. There is a battle going on in him because he wants to do good and uphold God's Law, but his flesh doesn't because it is opposed to God.

Paul finds himself lamenting that the good he wants to do, he doesn't do.

I just don't understand those who advocate for CRT, maybe because I am regenerated in Christ. Over 700k Greeks were slaughtered by the Ottoman Empire caliphate. They murdered almost everyone on my mom's side, yet I don't hate the Turkish people. I wasn't even alive when... ...the genocide of Greeks and Armenians took place. My dad and most Greeks try to pass the hatred down.

I remember years ago as a bellman helping some Turkish people with their bags. When they found out I was Greek they became uncomfortable, but I told them...

1/ I am going to put my Screwtape hat on for a second regarding using Christian as an adjective to modify a sin (i.e. Christian Nationalism).

If I wanted to disgrace Christ I would use His name to identify a sin. There will be those who are ignorant, but they aren't the one's... 2/...coining the term. It is coming from leaders within Christendom. Why would a leader call things that are clearly sin "Christian"?

They are trying to not only disgrace Christ, but erode the good associated with Him. Wolves are notorious for such things, not sheep or shepherds

#Exetweet thread

1/ "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 2/ This verse has become one of the most maligned verses in Scripture over the last decade, comparable to "Do not judge." (Matthew 7:1).

In Micah 6:6-7, Micah is showing us that the people of the southern kingdom have outwardly worshipped God, but inwardly they were...

1/ Just reading through John 15 this morning. There is so much packed into that passage.

Christ makes a distinction between His children and those who conform to the world who are children of Satan. He makes it clear that He is the true vine and like any vine... 2/...the branches on it cannot bear fruit apart from Him. "Fruit" denoting those who have been saved by His grace and made into a new creation and it is God who bears the fruit through them. The Christian is a vessel that He uses to show His grace & all the credit belongs to Him.

Nietzsche went bonkers trying to deny God existed while grieving over the constant evil happening in the world with no end.

He tried to view the world through a secular lens instead of a Biblical one and as such he went crazy because he knew his worldview could not deal with... ...evil. Evil would continue to thrive forever with his Godless worldview.

In 2020, now enters CRT. A view that attempts to deal with evil by propagating more evil. It is a man-centric approach that views the world as oppressor vs oppressed. The goal of the perceived oppressed

The actual church of those regenerated by Christ will be hated by the world because no matter our melanin count we have been unified in Christ and are family, so we love each other.

The world will gnash its teeth at this unity because it is truth. It is light shining in the... ...darkness which exposes man's folly, so they will seek to eradicate it.

The world seeks to divide people into tribes and they turn against each other as they wrestle for power.

Not so with the Christian, for power is Christ's alone. He is God, we are not.

#Exetweet thread

1/ "For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 2/ The context is apostasy. Paul is referring to a great apostasy that will make way for the Antichrist leading up to verses 11-12.

As you look at verse 6 we see that God is the one restraining Satan and this great apostasy from taking place until the time He appoints.

1/ Jonah is a clear example of ethnocentricity. He hated the murderous Assyrians for how they tormented the northern kingdom. The Assyrians were warmongers who lusted for blood. Yet, when God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh and call them to repentance, he refuses. 2/ He hates the Assyrians, so much so, that he would deny them peace with God because he wants to see his oppressors destroyed, not repent.

Christians can get caught up in this nonsense and I am sure Jonah had the experiences that backed up his contempt.

1/ You can't separate God's love from His wrath. The two are intertwined. The most unloving thing a judge could do is to let a murderer go free. It would be unloving to the victim's family to let the murderer go free.

With this in mind, why is it unloving for God to send people- 2/...to Hell? People who have violated his precepts and transgressed against Him.

It would be unloving of God to let sinful man go free from their transgressions against Him. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Romans 3:23

#Exetweet

1/ When an Jude says that apostates reject authority ἀθετέω κυριότης (atheteo kuriotes) he shows their utter disdain for the authority of Scripture.

"atheteo" combines "a" meaning "without" and "theteo" derives from "thithemi" which means "to put/to place" which... 2/...denotes setting something in place, like a standard or law.

Kuriotis means "dominion" which is where 'Kurios" is derived which means "Lord" when referring to Christ. Together Atheteo kuriotes denotes a rejection of those laws/standards that God has placed over us.