ANGELS, GOD'S SPECIAL MESSENGERS

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       Today, as I  passed by a church  Building in a
rural  community in  the mid-state of South Caro-
lina,  there was a message on the sign outside the
church  building  that read;  "Mothers  are God's
Angels  on Earth."  Let's  look into Scripture and
see if this is a responsible  message to be  posted 
to the public in the "Mother's Day" season.

      Persons  outside  our community  of  faith are 
totally ignorant of this subject.  We must take into 
account that  Scripture always refers to angels in
the  masculine  gender.  The only  names  given to
angels are Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer. Another 
issue is the power,  majesty and  awe they demon-
strate at  every reported  sighting from the Scrip-
ture. The message on the board might be cute and
fuzzy, but is hardly appropriate or meaningful.

     The primary objection to this kind of  publicity is
miss-information published this way. Every message 
on a church sign should be  first, Scriptural, second,
meaningful, encouraging  and  with  the goal of rea-
ching lost and dying persons in need of our Lord. 

     Every erroneous  message  is just  another missed 
opportunity to inform correctly, and win souls to our 
Lord, saving them  from a  fate of  indescribable hor-
ror.

donporter,sr      5.19.14  edited 5.19.17


      

THE BELIEVERS STRUGGLE FOR CONFIRMATION

There exists a condition common to many of us
who name Christ as Savior and are making an
effort to  follow  him, that saps one of  the zeal
and  power in his walk and fellowship with our 
Lord or members of his church.  Having strug-
gled with this condition for years following my 
profession of  faith in  Christ, made at age ele-
ven, I can  give  testimony to conflict  in those
years, and how it is being resolved.
   
   There is also this;  the walk of faith in Jesus
Christ is not, in a practical  sense, to  be easy
or free  from trials or tests.  This one element
in life will make us more like Him and bring
maturity into the life.  Without struggle, there
is no healthy growth in any of God's creation.
It follows that struggles in our lives of follow-
ing Christ Jesus is expected and we should be
thankful our Lord allows trials and struggles 
to come into our lives.

      So,  what is the conflict  to which we refer?
It is the principle of the assurance of  ultimate
salvation.  Since our relationship to  our Lord
is faith based, with  no confirmation coming to
the believer through the five senses, can we be 
 positive in our relationship to him? The Short
answer  would be;  Scripture  is plain  concer-
ning the means of salvation.  We are to simply  
believe it; see 1 John 1: 9, 
 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just 
 to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse  us from
 all unrighteousness."  

 We read in 1 John 5:13, "These things have I 
written  unto you that believe on  the name  of 
the Son of God that ye may know that ye have 
eternal life, and  that ye may  believe  (conti-
nue believing) on the name of the Son of God."  
These  two  short  passages give  the basis for 
a relationship with God in Jesus Christ.  

    There are many such  passages in Scripture
such  as John 3:16-18,  John 6: 47,  Romans 5:
8-9, 6:23,  8:31-39,  and  Romans 10: 9-10, 13 
  There are others, but these will serve.  All of
these and others are factual statements giving
details  on beginning  an eternal relationship
with  God  the  Father  through  Jesus  Christ, 
God the Son.

What then is the problem?  In spite of all Scrip-
ture  confirming  Christ to  be the author of our
relationship with the Father and security in him.
We still have a thought in  back of our minds;
"Have I really done enough? Is there something
missing, that might disqualify me?"  Other such
negative  thoughts occur,  specific to individual
experience.  I  experienced a lack of confidence
in my standing, because of failure to live up to a
standard  of  personal  behavior  and  inconsis-
tencies in  my  walk with  Christ as other's have. 
My prayer life was weak.

  There was always a part of me, inside, of  which
I  was ashamed and  for that reason I  hid  it.  My
Bible  study was superficial.  The problem?  I did
not understand that my Lord had led a life of per-
fection  in my stead.  He had already  fulfilled the
righteous requirements of  the law on  my  behalf.
You and I are not expected, nor capable of living
this life on our own,  without  the  power  of  God
in our lives. We are to live lives that do not bring
a reproach on that Holy  name by  which we  live, 
our Lord Jesus Christ.  As we endeavor  to live in
this  way, we  begin to understand  the  principles
from  Scripture  relating to  this.  Until  then,  we 
will continue to struggle. 

Then there is this; No one,  outside of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, ever lived perfectly, without mis-
steps and failures living a righteous life.  Even 
when we are empowered by His Holy Spirit we
still fail, even sin. We will struggle against our
nature until we meet Him face to face.
    
     The first real knowledge for me, of the power of 
the Holy Spirit in the life  of a believer was in 1971, 
twenty years after my  profession of  faith in Christ.  
This opened  to me  the idea  that  many  of  us, who 
claim the name of Jesus Christ, are  trying to live a 
watered down version of the law of Moses. If living 
by  the Law given to  Moses  had  been satisfactory, 
there  would be no reason to bring about the chan-
ges described  in  the  New Testament,  nor  would
Jesus Christ have  had to come to this earth to die
for my sin. 

Click the two links below:  
This understanding has helped me in my walk with 
the Lord, Jesus Christ. 

http://biblicalclarity-don.blogspot.com/2013/12/law-or-grace-cant-have-both.html

http://biblicalclarity-don.blogspot.com/2013/02/holy-spirit-basics-acts-1-2.html 

God bless; donporter,sr   5.12.14  

http://biblicalclarity-don.blogspot.com/2014/03/worse-than-infidel.html

"I SAW THE LORD, HIGH AND LIFTED UP" ISAIAH 6

"In the year  that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and  his train
filled the temple. 
 Above it stood the Seraphim: each one had six wings.
With twain he covered his face, and  with twain he co-
vered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is  full of his glory.
  And  the posts of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

 Then said I, 'woe is me! for I am a man of unclean lips 
and I  dwell in  the midsts  of  a people of  unclean lips;
for  mine  eyes have seen the  King, the Lord of Hosts.' 
 Then flew one of  the seraphim unto me, having a live
coal in his hand, which he had taken from off  the altar; 
  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said,'Lo, this hath
touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken  away, and
thy sin is purged.'

    Also I  heard  the  voice of  the Lord,  saying, 'Whom
shall I send and who will go for us?'  Then said I, 'Here
as I; send me.'   This passage gives  important  insight
into  the person of  Jehovah,  the Lord God.  We know 
from other  Scripture He is, in all respects without peer. 
His power,  his wisdom  and knowledge  are  unlimited.
He is  omnipresent, observing  all events  as they hap-
pen, and  because of unlimited abilities,  He is  able to
process all knowledge with perfect objectivity.  No one
can make accusation that will stand against him and if
it were possible,  to whom would the charge be made? 
Having  established  the fact of  these attributes, there
remains his innate  purity, fairness and  righteousness.
Our  Lord's heart is for His creation, or people and  He
does nothing  without the best for  his creation in mind.
 He  refers  to himself  as "jealous."   He is  jealous  of
the best  for  his people  and will  not share  worship or
praise with another.  He knows it is best for his people;
an element of his  jealousy, seldom  mentioned.
By coming to live as one of us, showing us his care of
us by  dying on a cruel cross at  the hands of the very 
souls for which he came to die. When we to get a true 
vision of  the Lord, "High and Lifted Up,"  our lives will
be  eternally changed.  We will reflect his love and his
care for  those with whom we come into contact every 
day. The terms Man or Mankind  sometimes may refer 
to either gender.     
 

donporter,sr             5.09.14,  ed. 7.19.14, 4.19.17

http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/policy/wess2012.html