WHERE OUR FUTURE STANDS UNDER SOCIALISM

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I read an article this evening, which made me think. It told about a man in Italy who was fined 300 euros for kissing his girlfriend outside her apartment and not wearing a mask. This article shows just how the left will use the pandemic to rule our lives. Just look at California, Chicago, and New York State. They either want to cancel “normal” Thanksgiving, the most Christian, and interracial holiday we have in these places.  Or they are going so far as to tell you to have to wear your masks on in your own private house. Bizarre!

 But, folks, if you voted for the Biden/Harris ticket, this is only a picture of things to come. They could use every virus and sickness to shut down, not just businesses, but to shut down the places of worship and dictate what can happen in our private homes. We already know that high-tech is listening into our conversation at home, what keeps the Government from tapping into that resource?  Can anyone say 1984? Maybe the foreshadowing of Anti-Christ?

If you vote socialist (Biden/Harris) without thinking through what you are giving up and forcing the rest of us to give up, you are part of the problems to come. If Biden pulls this out and on January 20th takes the oath to office, I don’t want to hear how wrong Trump was. Or how bad he made it. At that moment, you own it! It’s yours! And it will only get worse under Biden/Harris.

Mark my words, if this vaccine doesn’t make it to the American public before January, Biden will have it halted or shipped to other “less fortunate“ nations while our seniors and infirm suffer. This pandemic will continue, and we will see several long hard winters. The economy will bog down in regulation and political meandering. China and other socialist nations will receive back the factories and businesses that moved back home under Trump. Your jobs will disappear. And blood will continue to be shed in abortion clinics as another generation of people gets whipped out. Many of those unborn are black or Hispanic because the abortionists are the truest racist in the nation.  But, that doesn’t matter as long as the “MeToo” “Cancel Culture” gets what they want.  And to boot, they will tell you how to live your lives, think, and what to believe.

If the Republicans hold the Senate and in two years take the House while showing some Constitutional backbone, we might see some daylight. It will still be challenging, but it has to happen. We survived eight years of one of the worse Presidents in history under Obama, and we can do it with a weak-kneed demigod like Biden and an unsure lying adulterous like Harris.

Be assured that this will not happen all at once.   No, they will attempt to treat us as has been done for the last 100 years.  They will experiment on us like a frog placed in water with the heat slowly turned up until it is boiled alive.  The difference now is the Socialists will turn it up to a greater degree. 

If you want to know how our healthcare system will work under the socialist mentality, look at the VA.  A few years ago, those in this system were not allowed to go outside of it except under the most extreme circumstances.  Today, while still limited, there is more freedom afforded to them.  Yet that system moves like molasses on a cold, snowy day. 

The Socialists are making a questionable election a mandate like they did in 2010 when we got the (“less than”) Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare.  Again, we don’t need weak-kneed, get along to keep along, spineless invertebrates called Republicans.  We don’t need the Mtit Romneys, who merely took the place of the Jeff Flakes of the world.  We need real men and women filled with courage and passion who don’t want to make a deal but want to help the forgotten middle class and provide opportunities for the lower-income through free enterprise.  Trump attempted this by providing “Opportunity Zones” in urban areas.

It will take all of us to do the heavy lifting every day.  We will need to sacrifice, not for the sake of the greater good, because that is the claims of Marxism.  No, our sacrifice will be for the sake of our children and our children’s children.  We will need to do it as an act of worship to the God who allowed this nation to be founded.

We will need to do it to honor those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefields of the past starting in Lexington/Concord and even now are falling in some unknown, God-forsaken village in a battle we may never hear mentioned.  And it will need to be public.  All we ask is that those who represent us stand firm when necessary—affording us the freedom to plant our churches without governmental interference.  Allowing us to build our businesses without being taxed to no end, own our homes without being told where we can live, and have an educational system in place which teaches rather than is concerned about outcomes.

My prayer is this: “God, give us grace. God, send Biblical revival to Your churches. God, raise as leaders, young men, and women, who care for Your word, our Constitution, and the need for Christian Western civilization’s resurrection.  Please allow them to lead with passion mixed with wisdom.

Help us who have fought these battles in the past show grace, courage, righteousness, strength, and faith to face the Enemy himself who makes claim to this world You created and has replaced You loving will for our lives with a system which carries people off into the bondage of lies and drags them to Hell. God, give us as Christians the desire to make Your gospel known and to disciple our children, grandchildren, and their friends in Your truth so that they may follow You with hearts of fire and conscience which are not seared by sin, but will have minds who are brought into alignment with Your will. Lord, grant us grace, forgive us of the 70+million we have allowed to be murdered through abortion, and bless Your servant a positive answer to this prayer. I pray this in the name of Your mighty resurrected Son, the Lord Jesus Christ-Amen!”

God help us all. To quote Martin Luther, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise.”

Steven Swaim

Please e-mail me if you would like me to come to speak to your group or preach at your church:  stevenswaim@bedevotedministries.com

Make sure to place "Speaking Engagement" in the subject line.

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THANKFULNESS-THE MARK OF BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

EPHESIANS 5:15-21

¹⁵ Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of your time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; ²⁰ always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; ²¹ and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Paul has been talking about a life and church that is filled with the Spirit in this passage.  Verse 18 has been the key verse, the idea of being overtaken by the desires of the Holy Spirit and not those of this world.  In its contex, a person who lives a Spirit-filled life is one who lives life for the sake of redemption while reflecting the character of God (vv. 15-17).  But that is not all that Paul discusses.  He also points out that if the lives of the individual Christians are focused on a Spirit lead life, so will the local church.  That church will be filled with the singing of the psalms from the Old Testament, hymns that teach and communicate our faith in Christ, and spiritual songs that talk about all that God has done for us personally through Christ (v. 19).

Another earmark of a church filled with individuals who are filled with the Holy Spirit is thankfulness.  Paul pointed out in 5:4 that thanksgiving is very important to the Christian in life and the preservation of godliness.  God created us to be people of thanks, giving Him praise.  After all, it is no small thing that Christ has done on the cross.

Now Paul brings this to a deeper level.  Thanksgiving is a part of a Spirit-controlled life.  Being thankful shows a life immensely focused on who God is, what He had done for us in Christ, and how He is working in our lives today.

Yet Paul is not satisfied with this discussion to stop here.  He places the conversation in light of not only the Spirit-filled life but that of the life of the local church as well.  A Holy Spirit led church may not be one who has a huge service, great programs, or the most inventive way of doing things.  Insted, it will be a church filled with graciousness toward her Lord.

The key word here is “always.”  We all have a willingness to be thankful at times.  Yet the Holy Spirit impressed on Paul to use this word.  We are to “always” be thankful!  It is an imperative for the Spirit-controlled life. A person giving constant thanks to God, through the Lord Jesus is going to be one who is filled with the Spirit.  The same is true of the local church!

Therefore, it would be logical to assume that thanksgiving would be a natural form of evangelism.  In a thankless world, thankful people are unique!  So rather than focusing on our next big church campaign maybe we should focus on what Christ has done for us through His cross and His resurrection.  And through thankfulness tell others, making disciples for Him.  In Colossians 3:17 Paul notes “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

Lessons

-Thanksgiving is the results of a Spirit-controlled life.

-Thanksgiving is imperative to the Spirit-focused church.

-Thanksgiving has a high value of evangelizing the world.


Let me know what you think,
Steven Swaim
Founding President, Be Devoted Ministries
Church Planter, Impact Baptist Church Fate/Royse City TX

Please check out my book Walking Faith:  A Journey from Then to Now through James:
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WHAT DO YOU MEDITATE ON?

Let my meditation be pleasing to Him;
As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord.
Let sinners be consumed from the earth
And let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!

Psalms 104:34-35

Introduction

When the word meditation is used what do you think about?  Do you think about a person who sets with their legs crossed and arms spread straight out touching their knees with their middle finger touching their thumb while humming?  Or maybe you think about someone in another position with an instructor repeatedly telling them to empty their minds while focusing on nirvana.  If any of these or a variation of them is what you think about you are not thinking about what the Psalmist meant, or what any other Biblical writer meant by the use of the term “meditation.”  What you are attributing to the Scriptures is Hindu, Yoga, Buddhist and other forms of Asian cultist thoughts.

The Biblical View of Meditation

So what is Biblical meditation? And how can it affect our lives in the year 2017 or at any time in our lives?  The term “meditation” is used twelve times in the book of Psalms.[i]  The word “meditation” used here and in other places in the Psalms is שִׂיחִי (siyach {see'-akh}) which means to contemplate[ii]  or to repeatedly think about.  In other words there is a deep contrast between the idea of emptying yourself of something as Yoga teaches and thinking repeatedly or contemplating something over and over as the Biblical writers are encouraging.

So how important is it to meditate and what are we as Christians to meditate on?  First, since this term is brought up more than once in the Psalms I would say it’s pretty important.  And given the number of writers in the Psalms would make this even more pronounced.  Right from the start the Psalmist notes the need for meditation, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” (1:1-2).  The importance is declare at the very first.  

But this meditation is not just about anything!  Look at the passage, “Let my meditation be pleasing to Him…”  The word used for “pleasing” in the NASB is translated as “sweet” in the KJV.  It “…is usually rendered ‘pledge’ or surety’ and carries the idea of a mortgage.”[iii]  In other words this meditation is a commitment not just something that is randomly done when the moment strikes.

A hard look at this Psalm gives us a very strong indication of what the writer was contemplating.  It also gives us some very good insight that while Eastern meditation habits teaches us to get rid of the negative in our lives, the Bible teaches us not to ignore the negative.  Rather to deal with the crisis by meditating on the Person and work of God in our lives.  Let’s look and see what the Psalmist meditated on:

1. 1He meditated on the majesty of God (vv. 1-4) 
2. He meditated on the creation of the world by God (vv. 5-9) 
3. He meditated on the provision of God to every part of creation (vv. 10-23) 
4. He meditated on the work of God in creation (vv. 24-30)

It was meditation that was pleasing to God, because it was committed to thinking about what God had done in light of properly think about who He is.

This leads us to our final thought:

What Should We Meditate On?

I reiterate that Biblical meditation does not mean to ignore the negative that maybe going on in our lives.  Rather it seeks to find the answer to three key questions while concentrating on the Person and work of God through Jesus Christ in our lives.  Over the last several years, while going through one situation after another, I lost track of my purpose in what I was going through.  I forgot about these questions.  I began to ignore God’s purposes and allowed myself to start to move toward the dark places in my mind and heart.  Through thinking about this Psalm, God opened my heart back up to Him.  Those questions are:

• ·         How is God going to receive the glory in this situation?

• ·         How can God use me in this situation to make a difference for His kingdom?

• ·         Can God’s majesty be seen in my life as I walk through this moment in time?

In the meantime here are some things we may want to put to the forefront of our mind as we are walking through difficult circumstances.  In fact if we are not going through the fires of life, we may be walking through an event with someone.

1.       God has not abandoned us (Isaiah 41:10); 
2. God’s love for us can be seen through the wrath that He poured out on His Son Jesus Christ while He suffered on the cross for our sins (Romans 3:25); 
3. God did not stop by just allowing His Son to die for us, but raised Him from the dead (physically) three days later, giving all who believe eternal life (Romans 10:9-10); 
4. God gives us His Holy Spirit so that we have both a guarantee into eternal life and the power to live for Him in this present life (Ephesians 1:13-14, 5:18);
5. The Lord is constantly praying for us (Romans 8:26; Hebrews 7:25); 
6.  Nothing can separate us from Him (Romans 8:26-38); 
7. God gives us others to help us through His local churches (Hebrews 10:24); 
8. The Lord Jesus will return for us someday (John 14:1-6).

I am certain there are many, many other things that could be added to this list.  The key importance is that as we walk through difficulty we do so by being committed to meditating on Him from the scriptures.  This should be our utmost desire.  With this we will glorify Him, be used for the purpose of building His kingdom, and other’s will see God’s majesty in our lives!

NEXT WEEK:  BEING GLAD IN THE LORD

His Servant with You,

Steven Swaim

President & Founder, Be Devoted Ministries

If you have any speaking engagements in which you would like for me to speak, feel free and contact me at StevenSwaim@BeDevotedMinistries.com.  Please place “Speaking Engagement” in the subject line.  I will need a contact phone number, date of the event, and the place in which I will be speaking.  All other arrangements will be made when contact is initiated by me. 

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[i] Homer Heathers, Jr., The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.  Hendrickson Publishing, Peabody, Massachusetts, 1982, Pg. 393.

[ii] http://qbible.com/hebrew-old-testament/psalms/104.html

[iii] John Phillips, Exploring The Psalms, Volume Two Psalms 89-150.  Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune, New Jersey, 1988, Pg. 137

WORDS AND PHRASES WITH NO REAL MEANINGS—LIKE “MISSIONAL” AND “CAST A VISION”

1^st Timothy 1:3-7

“³ As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, ⁴ nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. ⁵ But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. ⁶ For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, ⁷ wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.”

Introduction

Have you ever come to the point that you’re really tired of hearing terms that are used so frequently that it makes your ears hurt?  Back in the 1970s it was the phrase “sit on it” which became popular because of the television show Happy Days.  In the 1980s words like “rad” and “narly” were used to a disgusting point.  There were so many tiring terms used in the 1990s I don’t even think I can begin to bring any of them up.  As we crossed into the 21^st century things were not any different, especially in the theological and church world.

Faulty Leadership-“Casting A Vision”

In the 1980s, while attending the Criswell College in Dallas, Texas, I came into contact with a term.  It wasn’t used by the professors or any of the guest speakers, from what I recall, but at some point it was brought to my attention.  It was “casting a vision.”  At first it sounded Biblical but as time went on I became more leery of it, and I think for good reason.  I was told that it was the job of the pastor to “cast the vision” for the local church to follow.  It was up to him to give clear guidance as to the direction for that church regarding that year. 

Often Proverbs 29:18 was quoted from the King James Version, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”  There are two problems with using this verse in this manner.  First, they never continue quoting the verse, “…but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”  That means the verse is not fully being explained in context.  Second, the NASB renders it, “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.”  This brings a little deeper meaning to the idea that is being related.  The NIV probably comes even closer to the perception, “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom's instruction.”  But I believe it is the NLT that gets the prize for exacting the meaning from the verse, “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.”  In other words the truest sense of the verse is not given when used as part of the “casting the vision” image.  This verse which is often used as an excuse for this idea does not even come close to what is being noted.

Here is the reason I believe this concept is doctrinally unsound and clearly unbiblical:  Because it exacts the concept of authority over the local church to a fallen individual rather than adhering to the leadership of the Lord Jesus as Head of the church, a proper instructing from the Holy Scriptures, and following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It is my belief, and I believe the Bible will bear this out, that the direction of a local church can and often does come from several different avenues.  The term “casting a vision” is a business model and is another excuse of one person or group of people attempting to overpower another group of people.  The power of Congregationalism runs contrary to this because in it the people, being empowered by the revelation of God (His word, the Bible) and the Holy Spirit can determine together what the will of God is for that local body.

Faulty Terms-Missional, Christ Followers

That brings me to another term that I find both doctrinally unsound and unbiblical, Missional.  I am so tired of hearing about “being a Missional church” or “being a people with a Missional calling.”  I spoke with one of the men several years ago who helped craft the definition of this word.  When he was speaking to the group I was in, he stated that the word was being thrown around in the Emergent circles and didn’t seem to have any real meaning (which is typical of anything Post-modern).  They came up with the definition so it could be used in some form of context and its main purpose was to be used to replace the name Christian.  Why?  What was the reason?  Because, it had become politicized and there were groups (such as Coptic Christians) who had the name but as a community would take up arms to fight alongside Israel.  My response was, “WHAT?????!!!”

Another term that is being way over used, which is closer to a Biblical view, is “Christ followers.”  This is often used for many of the same reasons as Missional but is also used to keep people from identifying them with any one denominational group or another.  Here the idea is that if we use this term rather than Christian, people will identify us as people who are following the Person Jesus rather than a group, idea, or philosophy.

In both the Missional folks and “Christ followers” crowd think that since the name Christian is being used in a disparaging way then we should jettison the name altogether.  There are several problems with this.  First, it ignores Scripture.  In Acts 11:26 it states that “…the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”  When this occurred it was not a positive thing, this word was used unfavorably.  The word “Christian” in the Greek means “little Christ.”  In other words the disciples in Antioch walked so close to the Lord that they could be identified with being His offspring.  After several years we have king Agippa talking to the apostle Paul stating, “… ‘In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.’”  By this time the movement that was originally called “the Way” in Acts 9:2 has now become identified as “Christians.”  As evidence of this in 1^st Peter 4:16 the apostle Peter exhorted his readers by saying, “but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.”  Peter uses this name as distinguishing those who follow Christ in suffering verses those who are persecuting them.  This tells us that no matter how society views our name, we should bare it with distinction not run from it.

The second issue I have with these groups is that it ignores history.  We have mountains of scholarly writings from centuries past that refer to us as Christians.  Luther, Calvin, Arminius, Wesley, Whitfield, Edwards, Tozer, Lewis, Criswell, Spurgeon, Moody, and many, many others.  This is unquestionable a very, very short list.  If we continue down this fast trek to ignore the name Christian we will eventually loose contact with those men and women from the past who wrote calling us Christians.

The third issue I have with these groups is that they are following cultural dictates of heretics like Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt.  All three of these men are leaders of what use to be known as the Emergent Church Movement (and its different variations).  All three espouse using the word Missional, considering the fact that the Emergent Church Movement coined the term.  All three men deny the Trinity of God.  All three men deny the reality of eternal punishment in Hell.  All three deny the atonement through Christ alone.  All three deny the authority of the Bible.  All three believe that there is an evolutionary occurrence emerging out of the churches.  If they oppose us on so many levels then why do we use terms, words, and ideas that they espouse?  Because it’s popular?  Pretty poor excuse!

What Should We Do?

There are several things we need to do in regards to both of these issues and to correct course to a more Biblically based and Spirit lead way of living:

First, as pastors we need to seek God’s face on our faces.  We need to pray that the Holy Spirit will lead our churches by guiding our people to live more Biblically.  We need to pray that our people will seek the face of God for their families and His control over their lives.  We need to pray that any visions that are “casts” only come from the work of the Holy Spirit coming from the people of God as they adhere to the word of Truth.  The beauty of this all is that it encourages congregational participation.  And fits more into the mode of what Paul exhorts in his discussion of spiritual gifts in 1^st Corinthians 12:14-31.  In that passage he points out that we are to live as a body placing importance on our Lord and doing what He created us to do.

Second, let’s embrace who we are…Christians!  There should be nothing embarrassing about being someone who is called by this name.  Sure there will be those who bring embarrassment to the name and to the Cause, but they have always been here (Acts 5).  No matter what we call ourselves someone will always use it for the sake of politics or to make money or to even cause wars.  Regardless, it is something we should take seriously and individually, as well as community wise, in order to live up too.

Finally, pastors need to stick with reading and preaching the Bible.  I advocate doctrinal and verse by verse expository preaching.  Bring the Bible alive by explaining what it means and how that affects our people’s lives.  I believe this also allows us to become more sensitive to the work of the Spirit because He never works contrary to His word.  If we fear unrestraint activity from the congregations regarding ministry then solid preaching of Scripture (both doctrinal and expositional) as well as sound shepherding will help curve any unbiblical activities.  We should not be scared of modernization but need to be cautious just the same of things that appear to be inappropriate.  If our congregation seem unwilling to move forward that means discipleship is needed not just planning activities. 

Let me know what you think,

Steven Swaim

President and Founder, Be Devoted Ministries

Pastor, Lawrence Springs Baptist Church-Grand Saline, TX