Peace Is A Game, And I'm Not Playing.

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Jesus Christ; Matthew 10:34).

Churches sometimes try to go out of the way to please people and attract members. Their idea is to make the non-Christian world like them in hopes of peaceful relations in which everyone feels all nice and good. But those who faithfully walk with Jesus Christ are often met with hostility. And it only makes sense that it would be like that. The prophet Isaiah said that the Messiah would be despised and rejected; so it stands to reason that whoever follows Him will be despised and rejected too (Isaiah 53:3). 

Faith in Jesus Christ reconciles sinners to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). And it produces peace among those who trust in Christ and follow His teachings (Ephesians 2). It is not, however, going to produce peace between the redeemed who have faith in Christ, and the unrepentant who do not. In fact, if one places his or her faith in Christ and follows Him, He guarantees that that person will be hated by the world, which is in discordance with God.

Jesus said to His disciples, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John 15:18-19). He said "Woe to you when everyone speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets." (Luke 6: 26). And, conversely, He said, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12). 

He said, "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:22). To be at peace with God is to be at odds with the world which hates God, and vice versa. Just as to be sensitive to the world is to be insensitive to God, and vice versa. As the Scripture says, "...Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4).  

It's not that God, or His people hate the world. Indeed, God's word says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:16-17). The problem is that the world hates God, and therefore hates anyone who is at peace with God. 

Jesus Christ is God the Son. He has existed from eternity past with the Father. The world hated Him because it is in rebellion against God. That is why they crucified Him. That is why the world loves sin, and even tries to distort God's word to justify whatever kind of wickedness in which they are living. That is why Cain murdered his brother, Abel (1 John 3:12). That is why people of the world think it should be o.k. to murder unborn children. And that is why the wicked continue to hate anyone who trusts in Christ and stands faithfully on His word. I think of Meriam Ibrihim and many other Christians down through the ages.

Jesus Christ did not come to bring peace to the world. Well, He did; but He didn't. He came to make reconciliation and peace with God available to all who believe in Him and repent (turn away from sin, and turn to God). And His word says to us, "Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you." (1 John 3:13). Our business is to please God, not people (Galatians 1:10).

If God Let Everyone Into Heaven

If God were to let everyone into Heaven, it would become just like it is here on earth. It wouldn't be Heaven anymore. Heaven would become a broken world, ruined with sin; just like this world we live in today, filled with broken families, divided communities, and warring nations. 

Heaven would become like this world filled with all kinds of malice, corruption, selfishness, hatred toward God, hatred toward the righteous. There would continually be conflict among people, and inside of people. It would be like this world filled with crime, violence, poverty, and excess. It would become like this world filled with all manner of ungodly people, corrupters, liars, thieves, murderers, and abusers of women and children. 

If God let everyone into Heaven, it would not be Heaven anymore. And so God has a standard. He Himself is the Absolute Standard; the Absolute Decider of what is good. And He is perfect. He is holy. Sin can not dwell in His presence. Sin can not be allowed in Heaven (read Psalms 15 and 24). That is why God, in the middle of speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, against the king of Tyre, began describing Lucifer in the following way: 

"You were the seal of perfection,

Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God...

You were the anointed cherub who covers;

I established you;

You were on the holy mountain of God;

You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones

You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,

Till iniquity (wickedness) was found in you...

You became filled with violence within, and you sinned;

Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God;

And I destroyed you, O covering cherub,

From the midst of the fiery stones

Your heart was lifted up (self-exalted, prideful, arrogant) because of your beauty;

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor

I cast you to the ground,

I laid you before kings,

That they might gaze at you.

You defiled your sanctuaries

By the multitude of your iniquities...

Therefore I brought fire from your midst;

It devoured you,

And I turned you to ashes upon the earth

In the sight of all who saw you" (Ezekiel 28:12-18).

The prophet Isaiah used the same poetic devise. He spoke by the Holy Spirit against the king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:3-11). But in verse 12 it becomes evident that the rebellion and fall of Lucifer is being described. So there is a parallel between the wicked kings and Satan. God wrote these poems to the kings of Babylon and Tyre because those kings were committing the same sin that Satan first committed long before them; the sin of pride, attempting to put himself in place of God. And that is what every sinner does who rejects God's standard of what is good and tries to make their own. They are little satans, rebelling against God. 

And those who are willing to defy God's standard of right and wrong in order to have their own way, need not leap far to also defy the sanctity of human life and personal dignity in order to have their own way. That is what abortion does. It defies the sanctity of human life and dignity in order for the unloving to have their own way. It is infanticide. Everyone who participates in an abortion is a murderer. Everyone who defends abortion, defends murder. And all sin defies the sanctity of human life and dignity because God is the original, eternal first cause or source of all life and love and dignity; and sin separates us from God. Those who begin by rejecting God, will end by devaluing every last thing that is right and good in the sight of God. 

God's holiness emanates from His love. God is love. And that is precisely the reason why He is holy. All real, true love is holy because sin corrupts. Sin is corruption. Sin alienates. Sin ruins. Sin kills. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Holiness excludes sin. All real, true love is holy. And therefore, only what is holy can abide in Heaven.

But here's the rub; "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "There is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). And so, by the Absolute Standard, none of us are good.

"As it is written:

There is none righteous, no, not one;

There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one" (Romans 3:10-12).

And so, on a hill called Calvary, aka Golgotha (The Place of the Skull), just outside of Jerusalem, the Son of God showed another expression of His love for us. There, God in mortal human form, laid down His life on the cross, receiving to Himself the wages of our sin. And then He rose victorious over death. He did this so that, having paid for our sin, He could give us the free gift of salvation and eternal life. 

He has made it possible for us to be reconciled with Him (2 Corinthians 5:20-21). Everyone who places their trust in Christ is reconciled to God. His Spirit lives in us now. We are no longer little satans. We are now little christs (the word "Christian" literally means "little christ"). And by His Holy Spirit, we are growing to be more like Him in all righteousness (read 1 John 3:1-10, and also Colossians 3:1-17).We are being made holy so that we can be with our Friend, Savior, and Everlasting Father forever in Heaven.

You will not enter Heaven unless you willingly, consciously trust in Jesus Christ to be your one and only Redeemer, to take away your fallen, sinful nature; to reconcile you to God. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5). And the heavenly Father will give you the Holy Spirit to live in you; teaching you righteousness and making you holy and  from the inside out. Will you trust Him today?

Why History Is Great

According to a recent article in Huffington Post, there are some people who think the United States of America is two thousand and fourteen years old. Actually, 2014 is the current year in the Christian Calendar because it is based on the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And hopefully most people know that. And by the way, just in case anyone is confused on the matter, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judea, Israel; not to be confused with Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. The Christian Calendar, also called the Western Calendar or the Gregorian Calendar, was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. But the Calendar is thought to be off by something like three, four, or six years. So the birth of Jesus Christ was not precisely two thousand and thirteen years ago.

The United States of America, though, did not exist when Jesus was born. The United States of America was officially formed in the year 1776. That makes the nation only two hundred and thirty-eight years old. And the Pilgrims of Mayflower fame landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. That's three hundred and ninety-four years ago. And it was "in 1492" (five hundred and  twenty-two years ago) that "Columbus sailed the ocean blue". That is the year that he is said to have become the discoverer of the New World, though he never actually set foot anywhere on the continent that is now known as North America. He actually landed in the Caribbeans and mistakenly thought that he was in India.

It is important to know about history; real, accurate history. It is important to know the truth about the past in order to know where we came from and where we are going. As the saying goes, "The only way to understand the present is by understanding the past". God's people, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; understood that. That is why they preserved their history in writing. That is why when God gave the Law to Moses, instructing him to write the Pentateuch; he inspired Moses to write down the history of all things. 

Under Divine guidance, Moses wrote history; from the Creation of the universe, to the Fall of Man into a sinful state, to the Flood of Noah. He recounted from the Flood to the calling of Abraham by God, to the immigration of Jacob's family into Egypt when Joseph saved Egypt from a severe famine. Moses then reviewed the subsequent enslavement of the people of Jacob (a.k.a Israel) in Egypt, and his own birth, upbringing, and Divine calling to lead Israel out of Egyptian slavery into the Promised Land.

And why did Israel become enslaved in Egypt. Because a new Pharaoh came into power, who did not know the history of how Joseph the Hebrew saved Egypt from starvation. So he was ignorant, and without proper gratitude to the Hebrew people. As Jesus Christ the superlative Savior said "Salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). Paul the apostle said that the Gentiles owe material gratitude to the Jews because it was through the Jews that Jesus Christ and His spiritual blessings came into the world (Romans 15:26-27).

But the historically ignorant Pharaoh feared the Hebrews and enslaved them. And he ordered the massacre of all Hebrew first-born son's at birth, much the same way as Herod "the Great" would later do when Jesus Christ was born in Israel. History has a way of being repeated like that. As another saying goes, "Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it". But Moses, like Jesus, was rescued from infanticide. His mother hid him in a basket, coated with pitch and put him on the Nile River. He was then discovered by Pharaoh's daughter, who took him in and raised him as her own. She gave him the Egyptian name, "Moses" which means "drawn from the water". 

Centuries later the Israelites were again in captivity (this time in Babylon/Persia) because of their unfaithfulness to the LORD. But during that time they were saved by history from annihilation. Haman was seeking to turn the king, Xerxes, against all the Jews. But on a sleepless night, Xerxes called his servants to come and read to him from the history of his kingdom. It was through this reading that the king learned, or was reminded of Mordecai's loyalty to the king (Esther 6:1-3). Mordecai was a Jew. And as a result of Mordecai saving the king's life on an earlier occasion, Esther, Mordicai's relative, was able to persuade Xerxes to favor all her people. Haman's evil plan backfired on him with fatal result. 

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul reviewed some events recorded in the Books of Moses. And he said "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Corinthians 10:11). History is recorded for the sake of our generation to learn from the past. There are many examples of how historical ignorance is detrimental, while historical knowledge is indispensable. But the historical sequence of Creation, the Fall, the Flood, Israel and Jesus Christ is the superlative example. 

As I demonstrated in an earlier post, Why Science Is Great; the scientific laws are a testament to the truth of our orderly Creator and sovereign God, and the brokenness of the world due to sin - the need for salvation. Archaeology also testifies to the historical reliability of the Biblical texts. And the events recorded therein are of utmost importance.

Insensitive?

I have heard of the accusation; that devote and faithful Christians are mean and insensitive. And maybe some of us are. Maybe I am. However, that accusation is one that cuts both ways. 

Take for example, Simon Peter. Jesus said to his disciple, who argued with Him about His impending crucifixion, that he was not being mindful of the things of God, but the things of men (Matthew 16:23).

Peter was oh so very sensitive about the well-being of the Messiah. How cruelly did the idea stab his heart; that his Lord should have to "go tho Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed..." (Matthew 16:21). "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" he cried (Matthew 16:22). 

He was sensitive to the wrong things. He was sensitive to his own notion of what should happen to Jesus. But he was not sensitive to the will of God; the need for the Messiah to suffer and die before entering His glory (Isaiah 53, Daniel 9:26, Luke 24:25-27). He was not sensitive to the need for Jesus to give His life as a ransom to save sinners from eternal ruin (Matthew 20:28).

And now what about those who mock and ridicule Jesus and His followers. What about those who reject Christ. Do they call us insensitive because we tell the truth: that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? (Romans 3:23-24). Are we insensitive be cause we tell the truth: that God now commands all people everywhere to repent (turn away from sin) and be saved, by Jesus, from the judgement to come? (Acts 17:30-31).

Do the unrepentant not know that they are the ones who are insensitive to God who is love, and who made humanity in His own image before the Fall? It is irrational for them to think that the universe, operating according to orderly laws, its behavior guided by intelligible information on a cellular and atomic level, came not from an intelligent Creator and sovereign Lawgiver; but from random, mindless, unguided processes. 

And if the physical universe did not operate according to orderly laws, science would be impossible. Our own brains would not operate according to orderly laws, enabling us to think and to make valid observations. Yet, one must also be blind not to see that this is a fallen, corrupted, sinful, broken world we inhabit; in need of a Savior. And it requires a hard, insensitive heart to reject the truth that Jesus is that Savior. 

The unrepentant, because of their depraved spirits, are irrational, and spiritually blind; having hard, insensitive hearts. They are the ones who are insensitive to the things that matter to the Maker/Owner of the universe. They are the ones who are insensitive to the love of Jesus, who died for their sins. He offers eternal life; restoration taking away the brokenness of sin's curse, eternal peace, joy and love. And they reject it all. 

The unrepentant do not want to be reconciled with their Maker, whose Son died on the cross to save sinners. They want to remain fallen creatures. They think it is enough for them to manage their fallen nature as they see fit. But they are fallen creatures with a corrupted view of what is good. They say that they are "good without a god", but they are not good. They only think that they are good because they are too corrupt to even know what is good. To be without God is, by definition, not good. 

When humanity turns his back on God, and sets up his own fallen, corrupted standard of "right" and "wrong"; it inevitably leads to every kind of evil. It led humanity to crucify the perfect Son of God who is love, and who made humanity in His image before the Fall. And it continues to lead humans to mock and despise Him and His followers to this day. It even has lead to the widespread acceptance of infanticide in the name of "women's rights"; disregard toward human life in the name of "human rights". They think they are good, but they are not good. They are evil. They are the insensitive ones. They are mean. 

They are insensitive to the filthiness of their own rebellion against God who is love. They are insensitive to the stench of their own depravity. They are the insensitive ones who refuse to be reconciled with God through His Son Jesus Christ.

As for me, I too have been insensitive to the heart of God. I have, at times, chosen to be sensitive, instead, to the thoughts and feelings of fallen humanity. And as a result, I have thought and said and done things that are wicked and insensitive to God who is love. For, as Jesus Himself said, "what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). 

I am sorry for the ways in which I have dishonored God. I repent. And I ask Him to forgive me. And I thank Him for His mercy, as He helps me to practice the righteousness of the new nature which is in Christ.

"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12-14). 

The Dehumanizing Power of Sin

In chapters five - seven of his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass wrote about the time he became the slave of Mr. and Mrs. Auld of Baltimore, Md. When he first came to that house, Sophia Auld was a very kind and tenderhearted woman. Douglass wrote that she treated him "as she supposed one human being ought to treat another".

He describes her in chapter five as having a "face beaming with kindly emotion". She began to teach Douglass to read and write. Over time, however, Douglass describes how slave-holding proved to have a dehumanizing effect on her. She became even more cruel than her husband. So Douglass showed how slavery not only dehumanizes those kept as slaves, but also slave-holders.

My reason for bring this up is that it is an illustration not only of the dehumanizing effects of slavery, but the dehumanizing effect of all sin. This is why the villain in C.S. Lewis' Perelandra is referred to as "the un-man". This is also consistent with the words of Jesus: "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin...Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:34-36).

Humanity was originally created by, and in the image of our holy, righteous God who is love. This is why we, as human beings, even have a concept of love. But then humanity fell into sin and became corrupt. All of us are born with a fallen, corrupted, sinful nature; inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. And so sin and death came into the world though one man (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22).

But sin would quickly prove to strip humanity of more than just immortality. Within only one generation, the first son, Cain, murdered his brother, Abel. But it didn't stop there. As the inhabitants of the earth grew in number, they also grew in wickedness. Turning away from the heavenly Father who lovingly created us in His own image, the people of the earth made their own gods in their own fallen image. And so they made idols in the image of created things rather than worship and love and obey God who is love, and who created all the universe (Romans 1:18-24).

For approximately one and a half thousand years, human nature did not change. The earth was filled with idolatry, violence, and every kind of evil. But one man, Noah, along with his family, was saved by grace (Genesis 6:1-8). At that time God justly sent a Flood to cover the whole earth. Many of the geological features that are observed today were formed by that Flood. But He warned Noah to build a 500 ft. long, 75 ft. wide, 45 ft. high Ark to preserve himself and his family, along with two of every "kind" (not species) of animal.

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A species is a sub-set of the original created "kinds". There is diversity within the created kinds; but, as suggested by the findings of Reginald Punnett, one kind can never give rise to a completely new kind. The feline kind can never give rise to a bird kind, and the canine kind can never give rise to a reptilian kind; and so forth. And as I have already noted in this post, the human kind was created uniquely in the image of God. 

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So Noah did as God commanded him. And the rain fell for forty days, and all the fountains of the deep were broken open. The waters covered the earth for about a year and then receded. Noah and his wife; his three sons and their wives, came off the Ark and started life over again.

In time, (within approximately half a thousand years) humanity increased again in number, and quickly turned away from the one true God to worship man-made idols. And disobeying a simple command to spread out and populate all the earth, they decided to build a great Tower that was supposed to reach into the heavens. So God confounded their language and scattered them (Genesis 11:1-9).

But human nature did not changed. The Sumerians and the Egyptians; the Incas and the Mayans, built their idolatrous, pagan kingdoms. And God spoke to Abraham the Chaldean. He gave Abraham a son, Isaac, through whom the nation of Israel was born by the will of God. Israel, like the rest of fallen humanity repeatedly showed a propensity toward disobeying God. And like the gentile nations, they even committed idolatry, ritualistic prostitution, and human sacrifices.

And approximately two thousand years after the Tower of Babel, the Creator of all things came into the world as a human being, taking on human form, though without sin. He lived a life that demonstrated His perfect love for His creation. But His own creation rejected, persecuted, arrested, and crucified Him (John 1:1-14). This is the natural expression of fallen humanity's vile depravity, because sin is enmity with God (Romans 8:7).

And in the last two thousand years since then, human nature still has not changed. Wars, violence, and theft go on and on and on in every generation. Meanwhile students are taught that the natural universe, which operates according to orderly laws, was not made by an orderly Creator and sovereign Lawgiver, but arose accidentally from random, unguided processes. That is not a rational worldview. That's just the madness of fallen, corrupt, sinful humans.

Divorce, adultery, and promiscuity are prevalent. Families are turbulent and broken. And many people grow up angry, rebellious, without godly council, and full of angst. Truth and virtue become objects of ridicule. Greed, lust, pride, and self indulgence are major motivators of a humanity that is sick and dying of its own wickedness.

And though many people know that these things are wrong, they still do not turn to be reconciled with the one true God who created all things; and who revealed Himself to humanity through His prophets and His Son, Jesus Christ. God's word is widely mocked and ridiculed; and disobeyed by everyone. No one is without sin (Romans 3:23).

Those who desire to live godly in Christ are also despised and mocked; even executed in many parts of the world. And that blood-shed will probably eventually spread to the West as well. Infanticide is widely defended and proudly advocated in the name of "women's rights"! Human life is devalued and discarded in the name of "human rights"!

And marriage is desecrated in the name of "equality"; even though Jesus Himself, when asked a question about marriage, said "But from the beginning of creation, God 'made them male and female'" (Mark 10:6). And even many of those who claim to be in Christ are willing to distort His word to accommodate sin. Yes, even in the Church there are those who, in many ways, outright defy what is good and right in the sight of God.

But through all of this, God's nature has never changed. He remains our holy, just, and righteous God. And He will rightfully pour out His righteous judgment on the unrepentant, who reject the absolute truth of His word and cling to their own filth.

But He also remains God who is love. And there is no limit to the mercy and grace that He will continually display toward those who, in reverent faith, turn to Him for forgiveness. He has made salvation available to all who are willing to be saved by His grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ alone, who died on the cross for our sin (Romans 3:23-24, 5:1-2, & 6:23).

God's purpose was fulfilled despite (even by way of) humanity's obstinacy. As God revealed to the prophet Daniel about five hundred years beforehand: "Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself" (Daniel 9:26). It was for our sin that Jesus died.

And at the time it seemed to everyone that He had accomplished nothing. But He was accomplishing a salvation that nobody else's efforts ever could. He who had no sin, took our sin upon Himself; so that those who trust in Him, having no righteousness of our own, may take His righteousness upon ourselves. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

But for those who reject this salvation, THERE IS. NO. OTHER. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5; also see Hebrews 2:2-4, & 10:26-27).

Madhouse

Last week I posted about the exorcism at the Gadarenes. And I wrote that post with an awareness a common misconception that modern people tend to have about our ancient fathers. Evolutionary dogma would suggest that in ancient times, our forefathers were simply not intelligent enough to understand natural phenomena such as lightening, rain, or even mental illness. 

And so the idea is that ancient people attributed all mental disorders to evil spirits possessing the mad. And then, with the advent of modern science, it is thought, people moved away from the notion of demonic possession to embrace the more sophisticated knowledge of mental disease. 

But this is not the actual scenario. It didn't happen like that. Even in Old Testament times, our forefathers knew that there was a such thing as insanity, without always attributing it to demonic possession. 

Before David son of Jesse became king over Israel, he was on the run for King Saul, who knew that David was chosen by God to replace him as king. To escape the inordinate wrath of Saul, David fled to a neighboring city-state called Gath. But the servants of Achish king of Gath knew who David was, and thought to have him in trouble with Achish. 

So we are informed that our Old Testament protagonist, David "was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, 'Look, you see this man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?'". So they let David go (1 Samuel 21:12-15).

Another Old Testament hero, the prophet Jeremiah, indicted pagan worshipers of being "insane with their idols" (Jeremiah 50:38). In other words, they were made crazy by their worship of false gods. They worshiped idols which they had made in the image of created things (Romans 1:18-32), as opposed to the true, living God who is love, (1 John 4:8) and who created all the universe and everything in it, (Genesis 1:1, John 1:1-1-3, Hebrews 1:1-2). He created humanity in His own image, (Genesis 1:26-27) before the Fall, for the purpose of love (Matthew 22:27-40).

The prophet Hosea also brought charge against the unfaithful people of Israel, saying that the unfaithful prophets and spiritual people had become insane as a result of their sin and their halfhearted approach to God. They thought they could worship God and idols both. And so their minds were darkened with the madness of their sin (Hosea 9:7).

We were made by, and in the image of God who is love. And His first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and with all our mind (Matthew 22:37, emphasis added). Refusal to do so will prove to be a detriment to the mind that despises God. 

But as the prophet Isaiah spoke by the Holy Spirit, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You" (Isaiah 26:3). And I know from experience that my peace of mind is at its fullest when I am faithful to honor God with my mind.

Today we live among a generation that thinks with its mind that it doesn't need God. This generation thinks that the orderly universe, operating in accordance with orderly laws, did not come from an orderly Creator and Lawgiver, but from random, unguided processes. That's insane! That is not a rational worldview.

And with its mind, this same generation thinks it should be legal to murder unborn children. Just as the ancient pagans sacrificed their children to idols, so this generation is willing to sacrifice its children to the gods of convenience and self-gratification. They also have in mind to redefine marriage, which is not a man-made institution, but comes from God. And as Jesus Himself said when He was asked about marriage, "But from the beginning of creation 'God made them male and female'" (Mark 10:6).

This generation continues in the trend of the previous ones, the rejection of God and His Christ, and the continual devaluing of the things which God values. The sanctity of human life, marriage, and freedom to worship and honor our heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ are devalued and despised more and more as time goes on.

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"Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them" (Matthew 4:24).

We do indeed live in a broken, fallen world. And as it is noted in Matthew 4:24, there are many different kinds of conditions and illnesses; including, but not limited to demonic possession. And though full restoration of all things will not come until the end of this current, broken world, Jesus has the power to heal all ailments.

I have quoted this statement from Philip Yancey before, but I like it. He said: "Some see miracles as improbable suspensions of the laws of the physical universe. As signs, though, they serve just the opposite function. Death, decay, entropy, and destruction are the true suspensions of God's laws; miracles are the early glimpses of restoration".

And not only does Jesus have the power to cast out demons and heal physical, and mental conditions; He also has the power to heal the spiritual condition of sin in a repentant human being. As the Scriptures tell: 

"...When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you...But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins...Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house'. And he arose and departed to his house...Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God...giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 9:1-7, Romans 5:1-2, Colossians 1:12-14).