Salt and Light Blog

Is there anything more frustrating for a Christian than someone you have witnessed to who believes in Christ but will not confess Him because of how it may be received by others? That frustration is not a rare emotion; in fact a couple of days before Christ was crucified, He experienced that same frustration:

“Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Then Jesus cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.’” (John 12:42-45)

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We have many enemies in this world. Our greatest enemy, for those without Christ, is death. Death is the enemy of God. God created life; Satan created death, despair, and disease. Suffering is the antithesis to creation. As you read the creation story in Genesis 1 you see death, despair, and disease were not a part of the original plan. In fact when God finished, the Bible tells us:

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)

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We never just walk away. We are prone to wander. That’s why Jesus called us sheep. Without following the sound of our Shepherd, by not remaining with the flock, we wander off. We walk into all types of danger. That’s why Jesus told the Parable of the Lost Sheep in Matthew 18 of the rejoicing of one found, not one saved, but of one found that has returned. (see Luke 15 for one saved).

“Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 10-14)

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Technorati Tags: backsliding

Why redemption? Why do we need a Redeemer? I think we answered the part of the price of sin and its unquenchable cost. But what of after we are saved? Do I still need a Redeemer if I have salvation in hand? How does Christ the Redeemer help me after I am saved?

We, although saved from it, we are still living in a fallen world. And if the world looked like Hiroshima after a nuclear strike, then no doubt we would not be enamored with it. And yet we live in a lovely world, a lustful world filled with wonders and wants that our flesh greatly desires even after redemption. We still look at the world with loving and longing eyes and we do so for only one reason.

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Technorati Tags: redemption, worldliness

A while back I was clearing out some old paperwork from my desk and I ran across a coupon from Karen and my favorite restaurant on Pensacola Beach, Flounders Chowder House. They had sent me a birthday coupon for a free piece of their famous key lime pie, which is actually three different key lime pies stacked onto one. Oh yes, it is good. But obviously since I still had the coupon I failed to redeem it and missed out on my key lime pie.

Too many people who come to an understanding of their need for Jesus Christ fail to allow His substitutionary work on the cross to redeem them. What is in need of redemption? Paying the ransom for our souls that our sin has brought upon us. It is too steep a price for any of us to pay. So we are shackled to our sins, a prisoner to the cost of our sin debt, unredeemed by failing to receive Christ as Lord and Savior.

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Technorati Tags: redemption

It is Day 3 of the Year 2013 and some of you may have already broken your New Years Resolution; others may be regretting them by now. Some may be like me and have not made any or even narrowed it down to one. Others may be going strong in their resolution. Whatever may be your case, I want to share with you what God put on my heart this morning.

In fact He awakened me at 3 am.

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Technorati Tags: redeemed, redemption

My strongest spiritual gift is the gift of criticism. What’s that? Criticism is not a spiritual gift? You could have fooled me with how naturally it comes to me, especially when I got my Christian on. I cannot only inspect some fruit, I can tell you how it was planted, on my worse days that is.

Being judgmental is so easy, it’s like I have a fault radar that sweeps out to a range of 50 miles finding all the faults of others all the while me being at the main bang (the center of the radar as we air traffic controllers call it) and missing any notice of me.

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Technorati Tags: Judging others

The Prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of Christ in a way that surpasses human understanding:

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

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Beloved,

I will be taking a two-week hiatus from writing devotionals as I work on another project. I’ll give you a hint of what it is; it is a sequel to my book Understanding Evangelicals: A Guide To Jesusland. If you don’t have a copy of the first one, you get one in paperback or Kindle at Amazon.

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Technorati Tags: Devotional

This past Friday I published The Truth Newsletter on the subject of “A Food Stamp Thanksgiving” and how a record number of Americans are on food stamps. Many are because they have fallen on hard times; many are because the government has made it easy to do so. And of course we the church should be doing a better job of not only meeting the physical needs of our neighbors, but also, and more importantly, their spiritual needs. One of those needs is reaping happiness from the fruit of your labors:

“Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.” (Psalm 128:1-2)

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The only belief system that has an “Open Season” sign on it is Christianity. Soon there will be pictures of Christians and Bibles with instructions to “Shoot On Sight.” Of course I am not talking literally but figuratively. The weapons of our foes are designed to maim and destroy our spirits. Remember this familiar verse well:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

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Technorati Tags: spiritual warfare

I received a response from a dear sister-in-Christ to the comments the past two emails I sent out on whether or not we can vote for the lesser of two evils. Understand that this is no simple matter, voting that is. I am glad to see so many Christians thinking through all of this by questioning and searching the scriptures for answers. That is what we are called to do. In fact, I presented some questions to my pastor and interviewed him Monday night to get his perspective. Bro Dennis is the one man I trust most in this world and while I may not always agree with him, I know I will get a straight answer from him. So is the case with so many other men who bless my life. There are a few women who fit that category also. You can hear Part 1 of Bro Dennis interview at my other blog: http://www.aletheiagroup.org/?p=1088

Here are the words of one sister-in-Christ and her thought process in this election season, admittedly by her incomplete words but I believe they warrant sharing:

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I am truly a blessed man. The many great men God has place in my life to sharpen me as iron sharpens iron is one of the great benefits of the blessed life in Christ.

One such man is my dear brother-in-Christ Dr. Rod D. Martin. Rod has been a great encourager of mine for over 5 years and gave me my start here at Salt and Light through he and his precious wife Sherri’s sponsoring of this blog. Rod saw the vision for it long before I did.

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I have the honor of corresponding with Dr. Alan Keyes who has over the past couple of years gave me counsel and encouragement on occasion. I never miss his Friday columns on World Net Daily and visit his blog Loyal to Liberty often.

I struggled with writing yesterday’s devotional because I knew I was missing the mark on what I was trying to explain. Alan responded to my devotional and has wonderfully written of what I was only beginning to figure out. Without understanding it, it was the imperfection of which Alan writes that I was trying to allude. Alan has given me permission to publish his response.

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Technorati Tags: Alan Keyes

Apparently the debate went real well for Mitt Romney from what I’m seeing in my email box and on social media. Many voters are lamenting the fact that we once again are stuck with voting for “the lesser of two evils.” I used to have the same lament but then I wondered if there were any other possibilities. Is there a such thing as a man or a woman who is not evil, biblically speaking that is? Is that “perfect” candidate or “good” candidate available? Can we judge a man by his words only or does his record count? What if he doesn’t have a record of public service? How do we judge him then? Just by his words? I have found in my 55 years on earth that it is far easier to say you will do right then to actually do it when faced with the situation.

So is there such a thing as a man not being evil, because if we are not to vote for the lesser of two evils or to never chose evil, what are our options when it comes to man? Is there even someone we can look at and call righteous?

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Technorati Tags: holiness

That’s the topic of this week’s The Truth Newsletter. It seems that we can not only break God’s 6th Commandment, “You shall not murder,” but we can also disobey God’s 8th Commandment, “You shall not steal.” You can do these things if America’s survival is at stake. At least that is what I am being told by Christians and a Tea Party Leader.

I obviously have a very strong opinion about this that most of you could probably state verbatim. However, my opinion in and of itself means nothing if it is not grounded in Biblical truth. God’s 2nd Commandment is the second longest of the ten and I think it is most overlooked by American Christians. I know for me it is the commandment hardest for me to keep because I allow so many things in this world to become an idol. Here’s what God wrote:

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It is easy to look at world events and shudder for the future of Israel as a nation. The satanic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again came to America, spewed his hatred for Israel at the United Nations and appeared on American television and refused to acknowledge the Jewish Holocaust. The Iranian President once again before the UN General Assembly said that Israel will be eliminated. Looking at the rise of Islamic fundamentalist governments in the nations surrounding Israel, one could easily see Israel’s end could be at hand, if not at least a violent war ahead. Let us look through a Biblical lens when looking at Israel’s future.

“‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,’ let Israel now say—‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul.’ Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124)

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Technorati Tags: Yom Kippur

Yesterday in Sunday School I was teaching on 2 Peter 3 and became significantly inspired by verse 9. Now we know this verse as one I call “refrigerator magnet” verses, to which I’m not opposed, but when you read the verse in its context with the preceding eight verses it surely makes it much more powerful:

“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:1-9)

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Nothing worse than a cocky person. You know him; struts like a rooster thinking he’s all that and so full and sure of himself. I’ve been accused of being cocky; been guilty of it too. Oftentimes we cocky ones respond with, “I’m not cocky; I’m confident.”

Confidence can be a great characteristic to have but it is all dependent upon the reason for one’s confidence. If your only source of confidence is your abilities, then I don’t give you a half-a-hallelujah of having eternal confidence.

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Those were the words of Reverend Pete Belmain during his benediction at our 5th Annual Hope Rides Alone Family Reunion Banquet in honor of my son, Sergeant Eddie Jeffers. It was on a Wednesday, September 19, 2007 that Eddie breathed his last breath on an Iraqi desert floor outside of Ramadi, Iraq. Normally before our banquet my grief returns and I weep for him. That didn’t really happen this year…until this morning. It happened when I read my oldest daughter Tiffany’s Facebook post honoring her brother:

I woke up this morning with a pit in my stomach. It’s the same pit that has shown up every morning on this day for the last 5 years. I can’t believe it’s really been 5 years….I know God had a bigger plan for you, but it’s still hard to think about what happened on this day not so long ago. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten and neither will you my precious brother….I love you and we miss you every day.

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Technorati Tags: death