THE POWER OF FAITH, FAITH IS NOW

Many Christians see God as a tyrant who might let them into Heaven if they check all the right boxes. Still others have faith in a loving God, but they think of God accomplishing what they have faith in at some point in the distant future. On the most recent broadcast of "The Word of God" program, John Christopher Sutton explains how powerful faith in God can be and how we can apply our faith to our daily lives. To hear these well-balanced and inspiring messages, click here.

MIKE SMITH-EVERY BELIEVER CAN...PREACH THE GOSPEL

Just finished watching Mike Smith's "Every Believer Can" series at a Bible study I attend at a local church. On the whole, it is an excellent course, laying out a clear, concise and encouraging plan for how believers can evangelize. However, I have a problem with the last session of the series, where Smith teaches believers about inviting people to church.

As someone who is basically out of the institutional church (except for attending that Bible study) I must heartily disagree with the notion believers have to invite new converts or those close to conversion to church in order to seal the deal for the unbeliever or to provide grounding for the new one.

Now, churches may be good for certain new believers who have so little background and familiarity with Christianity they need to be taught basic doctrine, theology and Christian living. Institutional church may also be useful for new believers who have no structure in their daily lives. Even if church is beneficial for a new believer, we should not stop desipeling and fellowshiping with that new convert in person.

We should also encourage the new believer not to be exclusivest. Many churches out there have the idea their denomination's teachings go back to the apostles. They don't. Nobody has the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe all figured out so it is therefore folly to exclude (blatantly or otherwise) all believers who aren't of your denomination.

As far as getting the prospective convert to church or an event of some kind so they can more effectively hear the Gospel, you as an individual believer are perfectly capable of preaching the Gospel yourself. Jesus commanded all of us to fulfill the great commission and He will give us the ability to do so.

Note: Remember, in your preaching of the Gospel, to include Acts 2 38.

ESTHER-BECAUSE MORDECAI USED BEING ONE OF GOD'S PEOPLE TO GET OUT OF SHOWING CIVIL AUTHORITY ITS DUE RESPECT, YOU ALMOST DIDN'T GET SAVED

Esther is not the story of a courageous heroine saving her people you think it is.

First of all, let me say it is so frustrating you can’t seem to find any alternative views of this book of the Bible on the internet.

While I’m not going to spell everything out for you, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I will give you the key points and other things that jump out to me, as I usually do on here.

Chapter 2 10: Mordecai told Esther not to let on that she was a Jew, and she didn’t. Inevitably, there would have been conflicts with regard to food laws and other things living in a pagan king’s palace. Why wasn’t Esther encouraged by her uncle to stand up for God and His law?

V15: Esther obtained favour in the eyes of all who looked upon her, which implies people admired her beauty, not what a godly and virtuous person she was.

V20: This verse clearly shows this is really the Book of Mordecai. Mordecai drives the action in this story; Esther is only used by him.

Chapter 3 v1-6: Mordecai refused to give Haman even the basic respect the Bible clearly says is due civil authorities. We see that Daniel spoke respectfully to Nebuchadnezzar and, in the New Testament, Paul and Peter tell us authorities deserve respect.

Not only did Mordecai refuse to give respect to Haman, he went on to say, when questioned about it, that no Jews showed respect to civil authorities. Now, you can’t have a society with a group of people in it who refuse to respect any civil authority, so Haman orders the Jews all to be killed, including the ones who had returned to Jerusalem by this time, the ones who would be the direct ancestors of Jesus Christ. This, mind you, because of one man’s flippant, arrogant, rash remark.

Chapter 4 v13-14: To paraphrase the true meaning of this famous passage: “Hey, honey, somethihng’ll probably happen to deliver the rest of our people from Haman’s decree, but I’ll definitely hang for not showing respect to Haman, and if I go down, I’ll sure let those who need to know you’re a Jew, too, so you’d better do what I say, if you know what’s good for you, or it’ll be your own neck in the noose.”

V16: Notice there is no mention of prayer in this verse. There is also no mention of repentance for possible sins committed by the Jews or asking God for deliverance.

Compare Esther’s response here with the three Hebrew boys in the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel.

Chapter 5 v9: Man, Mordecai couldn’t even be bothered to scootch his butt out of the way for Haman.

Chapters 6 and 7: Here is where we see God in this book. We must remember that, even though Esther is not a godly story as such and even though there are many ungodly situations in the world, God is always working behind the scenes in human affairs for His glory and for His people, specifically here Jesus’ ancestors, not Esther and Mordecai. If the king had been able to sleep that night or if Ahasuerus hadn’t just happened to walk in  from the garden and see something that caused him to jump to a very bad conclusion, we might not have a Saviour.

Chapter 8 1-13: Persian law couldn’t be revoked, so what then had to be done was for a law to be written that the Jews throughout the empire could fight back against all the people who were scheduled to kill them. This is understandable, but Mordecai went even further and decreed in the name of the king that the Jews could kill women and children and seeze property.

V17: Many of the people in the other Persian provinces became Jews, not because they realized the truth of the Living God, but because they were afraid of being killed by their Jewish neighbours. This way, they figured, the Jews wouldn’t kill their fellow Jews, however suspect those fellow Jews’ conversions may have been.

Is this really the way we want people to become Christians? And don’t give me that “whatever works” bull.

Chapter 9 v3: Notice it says “fear of Mordecai”, not fear of Esther.

V7-15: God’s law says sons shall not be put to death for their father’s crimes, or vice versa.

One lesson we can take from this book of the Bible is that, while many of God’s people had gone back to the promised land to be His people, many others of His people were perfectly happy to stay in Babylon and take full advantage of all that ungodly society had to offer in the way of worldly advancement. Let us not be like this latter group of people but choose the eternal reward of living for Christ instead.

Second, this book shows that, just because someone is genetically of a people group God has called His chosen, that doesn’t mean an individual actually is chosen by God. Read Romans 9-11 for further clarification on this.

Third, spite is a horrible thing. Please do not be led astray by this sin.

RECOMMENDED PODCASTS

Gastropod: From how carrots got to be orange to the history of macaroni and cheese, Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley will tell you things about food you both always wanted to know and didn’t know you wanted to know.

Toronto Mike’d: Mike Boon hosts this most interesting show where he interviews current and past Toronto radio personalities as well as other truly fascinating people.

TVO On Docs: Colin Ellis interviews the filmmakers behind the documentaries Ontario’s public educational TV station airs. Not only does it make you want to watch the documentary under discussion, but the interviews on this podcast are fascinating in their own right.

Death, Sex and Money: From interviews to episodes exploring specific aspects of these three subjects we don’t often talk about, Anna Sale presents a podcast well worth listening to.

The Kitchen Sisters Present: This show features rare, old recordings. If that wasn’t enough, Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva also tell fascinating stories from history, at least some of which you’ve never heard and others you’ll want to hear again.

The Minds of Madness: A true crime podcast that looks at what led up to the criminally –or temporarily insane doing what they did.

Nighttime: A true crime podcast that’s more than that, also delving  into unique happenings and interviewing interesting people.

Also check out these other true crime podcasts:

Crime Junkie

They Walk Among Us

In Sight

True Crime Fan Club

The Trail Went Cold