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Just a little more perspective on Baptism:

First set of Slides Faith given and measured by the LORD God alone

Slide 1 – You cannot become a Christian, receive salvation or become born again, until you first experience an opening of your eyes and your ears by God, as He moves you toward an opportunity to receive His gift of grace and faith (Luke 10:21-24; 24:30-35; Acts 13:48).

Slide 2 – Not everybody is given this opportunity. Most people in the world are blind and deaf to His things. When God chooses certain people to receive sight and hearing to obtain faith, He is showing great love for them (Matthew 11:13-17; 20:29-34; 1 Corinthians 1:17-31).

Slide 3 – Usually, when faith is given, you experience a curiosity and a driving need to learn more about God and His Things. You are no different than every other Christian that has also received the great gift of faith. Things are very confusing at the start, especially when you are from a non-believing family or a non-believing culture. Quickly, the Holy Spirit will bring you to fellowship with other Christians, and you will learn the words and doctrines of faith with the moving of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:5-21).

Slide 4 – Your soul knows God, and hungers for His touch…that is why you seek answers. Now your mind must understand. God will provide you with exactly the things you need, to become more comfortable with His Things. He will provide you access to Christians that can answer your questions and feed you knowledge, and help you through these scary first moments of belief. His Bible will be made available to you, and will become your map as His Word speaks about all the things you need to know to begin your journey, and understand the things that you are thinking about in the first moments of faith (John 6:33-37).

Slide 5 – Simply put…you are very special to God, and He has chosen you to move closer to Him. The closer you come to Him, the more peace and joy you will have. To get really close to Him, you must be brought to Him by Jesus Christ (John 3:16).

Slide 6 – The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross allowed death to be brought to sin. That means that your sins can also receive death. Because Jesus Christ resurrected from death, you also can receive eternal life (John 6:37-40; 10:27-29). Once you no longer under the control of sin, and are resurrected into the life of a new believer, you can come closer to God (Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57).

Slide 7 – Each step of the way, God is going to open your eyes and ears more and more. Thoughts that seem scary to you now will soon pass, as you receive the Foundation of Jesus Christ. Take a deep breath, be courageous, and walk toward the place that God is leading you (Luke 6:47-49).

Slide 8 – Ask questions and read His Words through the Holy Bible, and know that there are many Christians here today that will be praying that your path is made clear, and your eyes opened fully to receive pure faith in His promises! You are very, very special to be called by God to come closer to Him through His Son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:15)!

Second Set of Slides Faith brings Salvation, Baptism brings Heaven

Slide 9 – The only way be saved from damnation and resurrected to life eternal and inhabit the New Earth requires faith, and only faith, in the atoning blood and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, the baptism of Jesus Christ is required if you desire to go to Heaven for a time for rest until all things of God are in place for the New Earth to be established.

Slide 10 – Salvation comes to a Christian through faith (Hebrews 9:23-28). A Christian must have faith that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed for the redemption of the Christian’s sins. There is nothing a person can do to save himself from sin. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ, and his crucifixion and resurrection, that a person can receive salvation (Romans 3:19-26). When a person receives the promise of salvation, he receives the promise that he will be forgiven of all sin, be judged innocent, and saved from the judgment of eternal damnation.

Slide 11 – Faith is the condition of believing. Christians cannot receive salvation from judgment of eternal damnation until they face Jesus Christ for judgment; those baptized will join Him in Heaven for Judgment, those unbaptized believers will be resurrected from their grave at a certain time and receive His Judgment (Hebrews 9:27-28). This Judgment officiated in Heaven is often called the “Glory Seat” Judgment by Christian scholars (Revelation 20:1-6; 22:12-14), and is different than the Final Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). Christians believe in God’s promise that they will be forgiven of all sin as a result of Christ’s crucifixion. A Christian must have Faith of this promise throughout his life, and even into his physical death. This faith brings the reward of promised salvation and eternal life through the free Grace of the LORD God as a result of the sacrifice given freely by His Son Jesus Christ (John 3:15-18).

Slide 12 – A simple way to distinguish the difference between faith, salvation and baptism is expressed fully in Scripture. Believers that have faith in Jesus Christ are children of the LORD God, and will receive the same inheritance as His Chosen people. Believers that receive the baptism of Jesus Christ, put Him on, and become one with Him; this means they are born again and resurrected in eternal life through His Resurrection (Galatians 3:26-27). All those with faith in Jesus Christ, whether baptized or not, receive salvation and are promised eternal life. The only difference between the baptized and unbaptized is the time of their resurrection into eternal life!

Third Set of Slides Faith Statements of Fact

Slide 13 – (1) As a result of sin, a person is separated from the LORD GOD’s presence (Exodus 20:18-21; Psalm 51; John 8:34-36).

Slide 14 – (2) The only thing that can remove sin is death (Romans 6:1-14).

Slide 15 – (3) Jesus Christ died for sin once, and as a result, those accepting him as their Savior, are promised salvation for life eternal (Romans 8:7-9; Galatians 3:19-26).

Slide 16 – (4) This salvation guarantees that when a person faces the Judgment of the LORD God, he will be able to redeem the sacrifice of the blood of Christ for his sin, and allowed to continue on to the New Earth. (1 Peter 1:6-9).

Slide 17 – (5) This promise of this redemption is accepted by faith. This faith in redemption does not make the person free from sin in their life (Ephesians 1:3-23).

Slide 18 – (6) To be free from sin in this life requires a believer to embrace the foundational doctrine of Jesus Christ (2 John 1:8; 1Timothy 6:1-6).

Slide 19 – (7) Two parts of this doctrine of Jesus Christ are the baptism by water and the baptism by the Holy Ghost (Hebrews 6:1-3).

Slide 20 – (8 ) Water baptism is the process in which death is brought to a believer. When a faithful believer goes under the water baptism, he is dying and going to his grave. As a result of his death, sin loses its power, and no longer has the ability to stay with that person, and it is destroyed (Romans 6:3-4).

Slide 21 – (9) As the believer rises from the baptismal waters, he is receiving the same resurrection in faith that was accomplished through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The faithful man is born again. He is no longer the man that died in sin, but a new man resurrected into the Kingdom of God (Romans 6:8-11).

Slide 22 – (10) The baptized faithful will never again experience death. Death occurs one time for the release of sin, and those believers who have died through baptism are cleansed of their original sin, and will never again go to their grave. Those faithful, who do not receive the baptism of Jesus Christ, are not released from sin until physical death comes to them (Hebrews 9:17-28). If they have not been baptized, then they must experience natural death to their grave to be released from sin (Romans 6:3-11).

Slide 23 – (11) The baptism of the Holy Ghost is given to the born again man, to burn up any sin that comes his way, and lead him on the path that the LORD God wills to walk (Matthew 3:11-12; 1 John 2:20-24).

Slide 24 – (12) Those baptized believers are taken to Heaven for rest for a time, until the New Earth and the New Heavens are established in His Time (2 Peter 3:9-13).

Slide 25 – (13) On the New Earth, the baptized believers, and those unbaptized who had faith in their redemption through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (now freed from sin as a result of death, and resurrected through the promised redemption) ( Romans 8:10-11) will be joined together once again.

Slide 26 – You must be cleansed of sin through the death of water baptism and resurrection to life eternal through faith in Jesus Christ before you can receive rest in Heaven for a time (1 Peter 1:3-5; 3:21-22). To receive the promise of eternal life and the ability to walk on the New Earth requires you only to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, believe in his resurrection, and have faith in the redemption of his sacrifice before you die in natural life and go to your grave until resurrection.

Slide 27 – Having faith of salvation through the sacrificed blood of Jesus Christ is all that is necessary to receive the promised salvation from eternal damnation. The process of receiving salvation through this sacrificed blood is called Redemption (1 Peter 1:18-23). At the designated time, all believing Christians who come through Jesus to the presence of the LORD God will have their sins redeemed through his shed blood, and they will be judged innocent as a result of their faith in Him. Until that day, faithful Christians are sealed by the Holy Spirit and await the promised redemption to be paid in full (Ephesians 4:30).

Fourth Set of Slides Salvation is not the ticket to Heaven.

Slide 28 – Salvation is the promise of a verdict of innocence following the redemption of blood, and avoiding the sentence of eternal damnation. It is baptism, the lively expression of hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that allows believers to enter Heaven upon their physical death (1 Peter 1:3-9).

Slide 29 – Many misguided, young, or self-focused Christians think that Heaven is a permanent place that everybody who is good gets to go to at their death. It is not. Heaven is a temporary dwelling place for the LORD God and His Spirits, Jesus Christ, the angels, and the saints who are righteous. Heaven is going to come to an end one day, at the moving of the LORD God (2 Peter 3:9-10; Revelation 21:1-8). All of the saints in Heaven, as well as those resurrected from their grave through their faith in Jesus Christ, and martyrs who died for the cause of Christ (Revelation 6:9-11) will one day populate the New Earth; joining them will be all of the others judged favorably on Judgment Day and who receive the verdict of not-guilty and given the reward of eternal life by the Supreme Judge who is also the Son of God (Revelation 20:11-15).

Slide 30 – To be Righteous means to be free of sin. Faith does not remove sin from a living body! Even though you have faith, original sin still dwells within you. There is only one way a person that is alive and walking the earth can become righteous. The original sin must leave his body (1 Peter 4:16-19).

Slide 31 – There is only one way that sin can leave the body. Physical Death of the body – The moment the body dies, sin has no hold, and dies (Romans 5:7-21). But here’s the problem… If you die with sin still within you, then you go to your grave. Sinful people do not get to rest in Heaven for awhile. In fact, that’s why death exists to start with. Because there is sin, then death must come to man. So the dead in sin stay in their graves until they are resurrected on the Day of Rapture, just before the rapture of living Christians (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

Slide 32 – There is a much better option laid out for Christians. The Baptism of Jesus Christ causes the body to die, and the sins to die in a faithful Christian. If a Christian goes under the baptismal waters to their grave, they die and the original sin’s control is removed from them. When the Christian comes up out of the baptismal waters and in faith experiences the same resurrection that Jesus did, then they come out of the waters sin free and new. This new person, free from original sin, is called Born Again (John 3:1-7).

Slide 33 – The born again Christian is a new being, and sin-hold-released baptized Christians have two options available to them to remain sin free, and increase their righteousness through His Will. The first one is the authority of Jesus Christ to forgive sin on earth (Luke 5:17-25). When a baptized Christian commits sin, he has the opportunity to confess, repent, and return to a righteous state through forgiveness and restoration by Jesus Christ.

Slide 34 – The second option is through the Holy Spirit Baptism, a baptism accomplished through the laying on of hands by an apostle of Jesus Christ. (Acts 19:1-7). When the Holy Spirit is infused into a baptized believer, then that Christian has all of his innocent sins burned away, helping to maintain a righteous state (Matthew 3:11-12).

Slide 35 – When the baptized and faithful Christian experiences a physical death, he is immediately taken to Heaven. This Christian will not feel the sting of death or lay asleep in the grave for even an instant (1 Corinthians 15:51-57). The baptized and faithful Christian is immediately taken to Heaven, where they serve the Lord Jesus Christ for a time in the bosom of the LORD God, until the rest of the LORD God’s plans are completed (Revelation 7:13-17).

Slide 36 – At the establishment of the New Earth and the New Heaven, the Christian will assume a new life on that new earth, along with all of the favorably judged people who stood before the throne of Jesus Christ. This New Earth life will be ruled by King Jesus Christ, and will begin its existence with sin free people who love the LORD God, and humbled forever by the undeserved grace and salvation received as a result of His Son sacrifice (2 Peter 3:11-18; Revelations 21:1-8).

Slide 37 – Faith in your salvation through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is all that is need to receive eternal life. The absence of Baptism or Works does not remove you from this promise. However, Baptism allows the grasp of sin to be freed from its hold upon you, and permits your entrance into Heaven for a short while. Works brings reward to you through the “Glory-Seat Judgment of Jesus Christ. When all is finished according to God’s Will with this old heaven and earth, it will be those of faith in Him that will occupy the New Heaven and New Earth. It is faith in Jesus Christ that makes us citizens of that new Kingdom of God, as it is revealed and established in His Time! Thanks be to God!

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Question

I agree with a writer that Scripture (1 Timothy 2:12) is clear that women cannot be a Pastor in a church according to Paul’s standards. If a woman assumes authority of a Pastor, she will be wrong. God will NOT give a woman authority to be in charge of men’s souls as a shepherd in Church settings. Thus, a woman Pastor, even if she speaks with the Holy Spirit, or is a wise woman, or a highly educated woman, she will NEVER hold authority over men inside a church. Thus, what she says from the pulpit is a suggestion, not a command of authority, which can lead people wrongly. Agreed?

So here is the million dollar question:

Men and women, do you give your Church Pastor full authority over guiding your soul? If NOT, why NOT?

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Words Worth Reading!

Keyword: Bible Study

Expression:

Many, many Christians focus over and over and over again on material that is already known, and fail to delve deeper into Scripture with a mature mind that fears God but yearns more relationship with Him. Hebrews 6:1-8 speaks about this practice of repeating study, over and over, about the same things without advancing knowledge further.

Hebrews 6:1-8

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.”

That Scripture is full of typological solutions to encourage Christians to move past the study of sin, faith, baptism in Christ, baptism in the Holy Spirit, death, resurrection and eternal judgment once those principles of the doctrine of Christ are known. Hebrews 6:4-5 speaks of the real change made in Christians who have received the Holy Ghost and partaken of the full Bible Study with gifts given to them by God. And it reminds believers not to crucify Christ again and again.

It is my opinion that most Church gatherings do exactly that. They speak the same words every week, according to the Church schedule. Each sermon is predictable and spoken to the lesser in the congregation. Mature Christian development is overlooked constantly. I would think that as mature Christians, we should not only learn the skills of hermeneutics, but recognize that as we grow in faith, depth in His Word demands our studies. This requires development of typological, analytical, and associative skills as well as the need to develop the recognition of patterns in His Word that can intrigue our exploration with His guiding.

Voice: Kathy L. McFarland

Circumstance: Discussion Board 4

Citation: Kathy L. McFarland, 201240 Fall 2012 NBST 652-D01 LUO, November 2012

Read More:
Guided Bible Studies for Hungry Christians: 001 Foundation

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Words Worth Reading!

Keyword: Baptism

Expression:

“Baptism shall be given to all those who have learned repentance and amendment of life, and who believe truly that their sins are taken away by Christ, and to all those who walk in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and wish to be buried with him in death, so that they may be resurrected with him and to all those who with significance request it of us and demand it for themselves. This excludes all infant baptism, the highest and chief abomination of the pope.”

Voice: Anabaptist Swiss Brethren

Circumstance: Statement of belief

Citation: The Schleitheim Confession (1527)

Read More:

Schleitheim Confession

Separation And The Sword In Anabaptist Persuasion: Radical Confessional Rhetoric From Schleitheim To Dordrecht (The C. Henry Smith Series)

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J. Hudson Taylor, Founder of the Interdenominational China Inland Mission

By
Kathy L. McFarland

James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) founded the interdenominational China Inland Mission in 1865.[1] He wrote China’s Spiritual Need and Claims (1865) to recruit workers; his other famous writings include A Retrospect (1894) and Union and Communion (1894).[2] When Taylor arrived in China in 1854, most Protestant missionaries focused their efforts in big cities along the coast of China. Taylor pushed past these places, and went into the vast interior of China, which became a crucial point that stirred Protestant missionaries to places that are less-developed, but hungry for the witness of Gospel.[3] But, he would never have been able to go to the interior if not for Presbyterian missionary William A.P. Martin inserting a clause in the Treaty of Tientsin (Tianjin) (1858) that gave permission for missionaries to go to the interior of China to propagate Christianity.[4]

It was a tough journey for missionaries to just reach China in the 1800’s. Taylor’s first trip to China took a half a year by ship. But, many Protestants focused their effort upon the 400 million unsaved Chinese, making China the largest Protestant mission field in the world between 1830 and 1949.[5] Once Taylor arrived, he began dressing and living like the people and speaking the Chinese language to those he was evangelizing; many severely criticized the assumption of likeness in the midst of heathens though this became one of the reasons for his successful ministry.[6]Eventually, it became popular for missionaries to follow Taylor’s example and live in the midst of those receiving the Gospel message.

The Chinese mission fields led by Taylor provided education for Chinese girls which was unheard of at the time.[7]He supported the idea of single women in the missionary field without the supervision of a male head; this support was also rare.[8] The participation of women in China missions soon spread throughout the mission field; by 1898, evangelical missions were being filled by women, and The Women’s Missionary Movement prospered.[9] His China Inland Mission also differed from most because he refused to solicit funds from donors and instead trusted God alone to supply its needs.[10] Though the China Inland Mission has been renamed to the Overseas Missionary Fellowship [International] in modern-day, the policy to trust God for sole support has not changed.[11]

Statistics of Protestant Missionaries success rates amongst the 400 million Chinese that includes Taylor’s efforts and all other missions conflict Taylor’s fame.In the years of 1865-1898, about 500 Protestant missionaries baptized about 100,000 Chinese of about 400 million population.[12]But, those initial baptized grew in numbers; by 1911, there were 207,747 baptized Protestants; by 1996, there were over 36 million baptized Protestants.[13]This made the total amount of Protestants & Catholic baptized Christians to be about 4.3 percent, or 1 in 23.[14] Though some scholars argue that the actual baptisms did not make significant difference in showing successful missionary conversions in Taylor’s time, the accumulated total seems to represent his effort well.

As a side note, Hudson Taylor suffered a deep and crippling depression that led him close to taking his own life during his ministry times.He battled despair or was lifted to higher and higher euphoric faith expressions.[15]The mania in his mind never cancelled out his determination he had since his youth to become a missionary and go to China.His calling and his faith were strong and sure, and he changed the Christian missionary world through his practice of adapting local dress and language to participate in spreading the Gospel to inland China. And, even with statistics that seem light in actual baptisms, when the final numbers are looked upon, it is apparent that Taylor’s missionary work started a flame that began lighting the path of thousands of Chinese that promises to spread Christ as Savior to others today, that first began with him.

Bibliography

Chao, Samuel. “Hudson Taylor & Missions to China.” Christian History, no. 52. http://www.christianhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/wS8wVsy62N/chm52-IX_tC.pdf.

Cross, F.L. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd ed. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christian Missions in China; Tony Lambert, Omf (International); Statistics of the People’s Republic of China, 1929.

Rusten, Sharon. The Complete Book of When & Where in the Bible and Throughout History. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2005.

Footnotes:

[1] F.L. Cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 1591.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Samuel Chao, “Hudson Taylor & Missions to China,” Christian History, no. 52. http://www.christianhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/wS8wVsy62N/chm52-IX_tC.pdf.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Sharon Rusten, The Complete Book of When & Where in the Bible and Throughout History (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2005), 369.

[7] Chao.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christian Missions in China; Tony Lambert, Omf (International); Statistics of the People’s Republic of China (1929).

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Chao.

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Becker Professional Theology Academy and Becker Bible Ministries, Inc.

Becker Bible Ministries, Inc. is an American NON-PROFIT 501(c) (3) legally formed, in good standing Institution. Becker Professional Theology Academy is our present school which we use to train up and ordain those qualified students to represent our ministries.

There has been a terrible law change. Though we are in very good standing with all governments that we operate within, our state government for which we are registered has decided to charge us $5000.00 per student to offer them a diploma. We believe it is to give them government control over what we teach, how we teach it, and who we teach it to. Further, we suspect that the State likes to have money coming in for all kinds of licensing’s, and they have found a new way to make money.

This is not acceptable to Becker Bible Ministries. We have taken the following steps:

1. I have moved my business and declared a new state as residency.

2. I have dissolved the Non-Profit part of our organization, which removes most government control off of us.

3. I stay committed to offering Bible Studies to Christian leaders and others that are brought to me by the LORD God.

4. If you are one of the thousands that have enrolled in some of our classes, your transcripts are preserved.

5. My prayers to the Lord have been reassuring. However, I am not certain what form these teachings will take, and maybe not even where they will be. Wherever we go, it will have to be FREE of CONTROL and allow me to teach the Word of God FREE of CHARGE.

6. Though this transition will be difficult, I recommend you follow me here on Facebook. The things I put on here, are some of the things you should learn anyway.

7. And please give me your spiritual support as much as you can. 2023 was a terrible year!

I recommend you participate as fully as you can in discussions on Facebook and stay present in these postings. Let me see you adding significant discussion and supporting the ideas of Becker Bible Ministries.

We all know the things that are indicative of these approaching Last Days. This dissolution of our Non-Profit is just one of many attacks that will be coming towards Christians and trying to disrupt the teaching of the Word of God. While we have Facebook, we will use it, and look to God to help us establish a FREE place that is not in the hands of Government Control.

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Words Worth Reading!

Keyword: Scripture

Expression:

“Unless I am convicted of error … by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s Word, I cannot and will not recant of anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us. Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me! Amen.”

Voice: Martin Luther

Circumstance: Spoken by Martin Luther to defend his stance at the Diet of Worms in 1521 according to unconfirmed traditional account

Citation: James P. Eckman, “Exploring Church History” (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2002), 48-49.

Read More:

“Exploring Church History”

“Here I Stand – A Life Of Martin Luther”

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Stay in your lane if God is in it!

Recently, I’ve been trying to get various Christian leaders on Facebook to realize how invaluable their ministry is going! Many of them are starting to get known on Facebook and are being asked to expand their ministry on Facebook and move to preaching and teaching in a virtual or real brick and mortar.

Facebook ministries that I am seeing in these Last Days are reaching more people with the Word of God, Encouragement, Testimony, Warnings, Praise, Guidance, and Love, with much more hidden contact than we will ever know. Though it seems safer to move on up to the brick and mortar churches, and certainly more profitable and popular reputation builder, it seems counterintuitive to the things God is moving in these times.

Staying in our lane that God has placed us in our ministry using Facebook seems like the wisest and easiest choice to reach everyone God chooses us to reach. In-country missionaries of the past should be applauded and upheld for their tremendous works done for the Lord in scary and destitute places. But now, God’s ministry is speeding up to reach everyone that can be reached by His choice.

I believe that Facebook, at this moment, is developing into becoming one of the furthest reaching vehicles we have. Christian Leaders! Stay in your lane, and don’t leave us alone. Every ministry that is based on the Word of God fully is needed in these tough times!

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Words Worth Reading! (Studying the Word of God)

Expression:

“And why this strange contradiction? It is because of the difficulties which studying the Bible presents. We must agree that on beginning it, there are many difficulties and obscurities; and, as much labour is required to clear them up, and the mind of man is naturally idle and lazy, we lose courage little by little and limit ourselves to reading the same scriptures over and over again. This unvaried sort of study hardly penetrates beneath the surface, nor does it learn new things; but always going over the same things repeatedly, inspires in us a kind of weariness, as if the Word of God was not interesting-as if it was not as inexhaustible as God Himself! Beware of thinking, however, that these difficulties are insuperable. No, my friends; but we must be prepared to take trouble; and there, as in prayer and in all parts of the Christian life, God wants man to be co-worker with Him. Knowledge of the Bible, taste for the Bible is the fruit and reward of this humble, sincere and persevering labour…If anyone, using by faith the resources which God puts at his disposal, and relying on God to guide him, follows out these thoughts of mine, which I can at this moment do little more than sketch, he will discover in the Word of God treasures which he never even suspected were there. Then it will become for him as firm a support as it was for Jesus, when He was tempted in the wilderness. And it will become for him what it was for the saints, in both the New Testament and in the Old Testament; what it was for David, and for Daniel, for Paul and all the saints of God.”

Voice: Adolphe Monod

Circumstance: Teaching

Citation: Monod, Adolphe. “A Dying Man’s Regrets 2”. The Study of the Word of God. 20 January 1856, 67.

Read More:
Living in the Hope of Glory: A New Translation of a Spiritual Classic

Adolphe Monod’s Farewell To His Friends And To The Church

Life And Letters Of Adolphe Monod, By One Of His Daughters (s.m.).

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Sexual scandal with Christian leadership

I’m not taking a stance yet about the popular gossip going on against one of the popular Christian leaders. The Lord hasn’t given me understanding or words yet, and I will await His direction. However, I do have my personal thoughts concerning the dangerous position of Christian Leadership with regards to the devil’s lust that is constantly thrown upon them.

Please let me be blunt. Christian leadership in modern history has tried all sorts of techniques to avoid exposure to the tempting lusts of this world, especially when it comes to sexual lusts and perversities. It is a real problem, that is destroying many churches of all denominations, and ruining many victims lives and destroying faith opportunities and works.

Becker Bible Ministries, Inc. loves that their employees, contractors, and representatives take their spouses with them to do our works for the Lord. We believe that an important ministry needs all sorts of support, and a spouse is that best support to help ground the ministries and help raise the arms of leadership. However, as a guard against drifting toward lust, we are not convinced that anything will hinder it, should the Christian leader choose to be tempted.

We believe submitting to temptation is a choice, not a slip-up, of Godly men and women. Recent news in America showed an advanced Christian College leader, who refused to be alone with any female in the most arrogant and attention-seeking ways but used his wife for his sexual perversities to have sex with others as he watched.

Leadership can be as publicly careful as they can and give all kinds of signals that they are following the “Billy Graham” way and refusing to be in the company of the opposite sex alone. But, when you examine it closely, you find that there are many straying leaderships out there of both sexes, tempted by the devil to lust in their heart, and complete the sexual acts soon after.

Quite frankly, I have been at the other side of the “Billy Graham” approach, where religious leaders and political leaders fail to meet with me because of my “female” status, and their wives being unavailable. It is insulting and humiliating; the jobs I do for the Lord Jesus Christ are timely and very important. I have no interest in their sexual proclivities, and one look at me, with consideration of my professional attitude, will shout that out. To not meet with females’ leaders because the wifey is not available is ridiculous!

On the other hand, spouses, if your Christian leader has strayed in the past, don’t let him or her out of your sight as they do the works of the Lord. The ministry can come crashing down quicker than a tornado hitting an old shack should the leader stray toward the lusts when he or she is tempted.

Sadly, with the ways of the world, it is the most difficult sin that leadership confronts. We need to watch each other’s backs, counsel quickly if we see temptation or straying, involve spouses when
apparent harlotry is present or sensual dress, dances, and actions are in your face. But most importantly…

Christian Leadership! Walk the standards of Christ! Quit looking and considering each of the temptations that come your way. You are a Holy Vessel of the LORD God who dwells within your heart. Please do not share that heart with pornography, perversions, and lust. Avoid the world! We have a strong task given us by the Lord Jesus Christ to go out and teach and preach to those that He chooses to bring our way. Your heart cannot be big enough to share both the ministry and the “feel goods” of improper sexual release.

If you are unable to control sexual lusts for the same sex, opposite sex, or God forbid, children, or animals, please let the Lord know now and get it fixed before His works are destroyed. Your status as a sinning lustful Christian leader is not viable. One slip-up can destroy every good work you have done in His name.

Please, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, commit to a heart of God that is free from the lusts of this world.

In Jesus Christ’s Name I Pray! Amen.