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GOOD NEWS! John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Romans 3:10-12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 5:8-9 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: Romans 3:27-28 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Romans 10:8-10 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 4:21-25 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Romans 5:1-2 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 10:10-13 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. God's Gift to us was sending Jesus Christ to die for us on the Cross about 2,000 years ago. He was a Perfect and Holy Sacrifice, and it's His Blood that washes our sins away. He arose from the dead on the third day and is our Living Lord and Saviour forever! Won't you stop putting this most important decision of your life off and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour? Tomorrow might be too late. Many here will be happy to help you. If your heart and mind are right, you can be saved right now. You don't have to wait. You might say a simple prayer and mean it from the bottom of your heart. Something like this: Dear Heavenly Father, I've sinned against you many times, and I know that I'm lost and on my way to hell. I know now that you are the only God and Creator of all. I know that you are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - Yet One Almighty God. I know in my heart that you sent your Son to die on the Cross in payment for my sins. I also know in my heart that you raised your Son from the dead on the third day, and His Holy Name is Jesus Christ. Dear God, I beg forgiveness for my sins, and I ask that you send your Holy Spirit to live in my heart as a guide and comforter. Dear God, I know that Jesus Christ loves me enough to die for me, and I want Him to be the Lord and Head over my life. I want to return His Love, and I ask these things in the Precious Name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour Forever. Amen. The prayer should be in your own words, and you must mean it from the bottom of your heart. If you do, God will hear you and grant your prayer. Your life will be changed forever from that very moment, and you will be able to say that God has Saved you.

Psalms 14 From The Treasury of David By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) Psalms 14:6 "Ye have shame the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge." In the Psalms 53:1-6it is, "Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them." Of course, the allusion is totally different in each; in this Psalm it is the indignant remonstrance of the Psalmist with "the workers of iniquity" for undervaluing and putting God's poor to shame; the other affirms the final shame and confusion of the ungodly, and the contempt in which the Lord holds them. In either case it sweetly illustrates God's care of his poor, not merely the poor in spirit, but literally the poor and lowly ones, the oppressed and the injured. It is this character of God which is so conspicuously delineated in his word. We may look through all the Shasters and Vedas of the Hindoo, the Koran of the Mahometan, the legislation of the Greek, and the code of the Roman, aye, and the Talmud of the Jew, the bitterest of all; and not in one single line or page shall we find a vestige or trace of that tenderness, compassion, or sympathy for the wrongs, and oppressions, and trials, and sorrows of God's poor, which the Christian's Bible evidences in almost every page. - Barton Bouchier. Psalms 14:6 "Ye have shamed." Every fool that saith in his heart there is no God, hath out of the same quiver a bolt to shoot at goodness. Barren Michal hath too many sons, who, like their mother, jeer at holy David. - John Trapp. Psalms 14:6 "Ye have shamed," saith he, "the counsel of the poor." There is nothing that wicked men do so despise as the making God a refuge - nothing which they scorn in their hearts like it. "They shame it," saith he, "It is a thing to be cast out of all consideration. The wise man trusts in his wisdom, the strong man in his strength, the rich man in his riches; but this trusting in God is the foolishest thing in the world." The reasons of it are - 1. They know not God; and it is a foolish thing to trust one knows not whom. 2. They are enemies to God, and God is their enemy; and they account it a foolish thing to trust their enemy. 3. They know not the way of God's assistance and help. And - 4. They seek for such help, such assistance, such supplies as God will not give; to be delivered, to serve their lusts; to be preserved, to execute their rage, filthiness, and folly. They have no other design or end of these things; and God will give none of them. And it is a foolish thing in any man to trust God to be preserved in sin. It is true their folly is their wisdom, considering their state and condition. It is a folly to trust in God to live in sin, and despise the counsel of the poor. - John Owen. Psalms 14:6 "Ye have made a mock of the counsel of the poor:" and why? "because the Lord is his trust." This is the very true cause, whatsoever other pretenses there be. Whence observe this doctrine; that true godliness is that which breeds the quarrel between God's children and the wicked. Ungodly men may say what they list, as, namely, that they hate and dislike them for that they are proud and saucy in meddling with their betters; for that they are so scornful and disdainful towards their neighbours; for that they are malcontent, and turbulent, and I know not what; but the true reason is yielded by the Lord in this place, to wit, because they make him their stay and their confidence, and will not depend upon lying vanities as the men of the world do. - John Dod. Psalms 14:6 "The Lord is his refuge." - Be persuaded actually to hide yourselves with Jesus Christ. To have a hiding-place and not to use it, is as bad as to want one; fly to Christ; run into the holes of this Rock. - Ralph Robinson, 1656. Psalms 14:7 "O that the salvation," etc. Like as when we be in quiet, we do pray either nothing at all, or very coldly unto God; so in adversity and trouble, Our spirit is stirred up and enkindled to prayer, whereof we do find examples everywhere in the Psalms of David: so that affliction is as it were the sauce of prayer, as hunger is unto meat. Truly their prayer is usually unsavoury who are without afflictions, and many of them do not pray truly, but do rather counterfeit a prayer, or pray for custom. - Wolfgang Musculus, 1497-1563. Psalms 14:7 "Out of Zion." Zion the church is no Saviour, neither dare we trust in her ministers or ordinances, and yet salvation comes to men through her. The hungry multitudes are fed by the hands of the disciples, who delight to act as the servitors of the gospel feast. Zion becomes the site of the fountain of healing waters which shall flow east and west till all nations drink thereat. What a reason for maintaining in the utmost purity and energy all the works of the church of the living God! - C. H. S. Psalms 14:7 "When the Lord turneth the captivity of his people: then shall Jacob rejoice and Israel shall be glad." - Notice that by Israel we are to understand those other sheep which the Lord has that are not of this fold, but which he must also bring, that they may hear his voice. For it is Israel, not Judah; Sion, not Jerusalem. "When the Lord turneth the captivity of his people." "Then," as it is in the parallel passage, "were we like unto them that dream." A glorious dream indeed, in which, fancy what we may, the half of the beauty, the half of the splendour, will not be reached by our imagination. "The captivity" of our souls to the law of concupiscence, of our bodies to the law of death; the captivity of our senses to fear; the captivity, the conclusion of which is so beautifully expressed by one of our greatest poets: - namely, Giles Fletcher (1588-1623), in his "Christ's Triumph over Death." "No sorrow now hangs clouding on their brow; No bloodless malady impales their face; No age drops on their hairs his silver snow; No nakedness their bodies doth embrace; No poverty themselves and theirs disgrace; No fear of death the joy of life devours; No unchaste sleep their precious time deflowers; No loss, no grief, no change, wait on their winged hours." John Mason Neale, in loc.

Psalms 14 From The Treasury of David By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) Psalms 14:3 "There is none that doeth good, no not one." Origen maketh a question how it could be said that there was none, neither among the Jews nor Gentiles, that did any good; seeing there were many among them which did clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and did other good things: he hereunto maketh this answer: - That like as one that layeth a foundation, and buildeth upon it a wall or two, yet cannot be said to have built a house till he have finished it; so although those might do some good things, yet they attained not unto perfect goodness, which was only to be found in Christ. But this is not the apostle's meaning only to exclude men from the perfection of justice; for even the faithful and believers were short of that perfection which is required; he therefore showeth what men are by nature, all under sin and in the same state of damnation, without grace and faith in Christ: if any perform any good work, either it is of grace, and so not of themselves, or if they did it by the light of nature, they did it not as they ought, and so it was far from a good work indeed. - Andrew Willet (1562-1621), on Rom_3:10. Psalms 14:4 "Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?" Men's ignorance is the reason why they fear not what they should fear. Why is it that the ungodly fear not sin? Oh, it's because they know it not. "Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?" Sure enough they have none, for "they eat up my people as they eat bread;" such morsels would scald their mouths, they would not dare to be such persecutors and destroyers of the people of God; they would be afraid to touch them if they did but know what they did. - Richard Alleine. Psalms 14:4 "Who eat up my people as they eat bread." - That is, quotidi

Psalms 14 From The Treasury of David By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) Psalms 14:1 "They are corrupt, they have done abominable things: there is none that doeth good." "Men," says Bernard, "because they are corrupt in their minds, become abominable in their doings: corrupt before God, abominable before men. There are three sorts of men of which none doeth good. There are those who neither understand nor seek God, and they are the dead: there are others who understand him, but seek him not, and they are the wicked. There are others that seek him but understand him not, and they are the fools." "O God," cries a writer of the middle ages, "how many are here at this day who, under the name of Christianity, worship idols, and are abominable both to thee and to men! For every man worships that which he most loves. The proud man bows down before the idol of worldly power; the covetous man before the idol of money; the adulterer before the idol of beauty; and so of the rest." And of such, saith the apostle, "They profess that they know God, but in works deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." Tit_1:16. "There is none that doeth good." Notice how Paul avails himself of this testimony of the epistle to the Romans, where he is proving concerning "both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin." Rom_3:9. - John Mason Neale, in loc. Psalms 14:1 The argument of my text is the atheist's divinity, the brief of his belief couched all in one article, and that negative too, clean contrary to the fashion of all creeds, "There is no God." The article but one; but so many absurdities tied to the train of it, and itself so irreligious, so prodigiously profane, that he dares not speak it out, but saith it softly to himself, in secret, "in his heart." So the text yields these three points; Who is he? A "fool." What he saith, "no God." How he speaks it, "in his heart." A fool, his bolt, and his draught. I will speak of them severally.... There is a child in years, and there is a child in manners, aetate et moribus, saith Aristotle. There is a fool in wit, and there is a fool in life; stultus in scientia, et stultus in conscientia, a witless and a graceless fool. The latter is worthy of the title as the first; both void of reason; not of the faculty but of the use. Yea, the latter fool is indeed the more kindly of the twain; for the sot would use his reason if he could; the sinner will not though he may. It is not the natural, but the moral fool that David means, the wicked and ungracious person, for so is the sense of the original term.... It is time we leave the person, and come unto the act. What hath this fool done? Surely nothing; he hath only said. What hath he said? Nay, nothing either; he hath only thought: for to say in heart, is but to think. There are two sorts of saying in the Scripture, one meant indeed so properly, the other but in hope; one by word of mouth, the other by thought of heart. You see the Psalmist means here the second sort. The bolt the fool here shoots is atheism: he makes no noise at the loss of it, as bowmen use; he draws and delivers closely, and stilly, out of sight, and without sound: he saith, "God is not," but "in heart." The heart hath a mouth; intus est os cordis, saith Augustine. God, saith Cyprian, is cordis auditor, he hears the heart; then belike it hath some speech. When God said to Moses, quare clamas? why criest thou? we find no words he uttered: silens auditur, saith Gregory, he is heard through saying nothing. There is a silent speech (Psalms 4:4), "Commune with your own heart." saith David, "and be still, "Speech is not the heart's action, no more than meditation is the mouth's. But sometimes the heart and mouth exchange offices; lingua mea meditabitur, saith David. Psalms 35:28. There is lingua meditans, a musing tongue; here is cor loquens, a speaking heart. And to say the truth, the philosopher saith well, it is the heart doth all things, mens videt, mens audit, mens loquitur. It is the heart that speaks, the tongue is but the instrument to give the sound. It is but the heart's echo to repeat the words after it. Except when the tongue doth run before the wit, the heart doth dictate to the mouth; it suggests what it shall say. The heart is the soul's herald: look what she will have proclaimed, the heart reads it, and the mouth cries it. The tongue saith nought but what the heart saith first. Nay, in very deed, the truest and kindest speech is the heart's. The tongue and lips are Jesuits, they lease, and lie, and use equivocations: flattery, or fear, or other by-respect, other wry respect adulterate their words. But the heart speaks as it means, worth twenty mouths, if it could speak audibly. - Richard Clerke. D.D., 1634 (one of the translators of our English Bible). Psalms 14:1, Psalms 14:4 The Scripture give this as a cause of the notorious courses of wicked men, that "God is not in all their thoughts." Psalms 10:4. They forget there is a God of vengeance and a day of reckoning. "The fool" would needs enforce upon his heart, that "there is no God," and what follows: "Corrupt they are, there is none doeth good: they eat up my people as bread," etc. They make no more bones of devouring men and their estates, than they make conscience of eating a piece of bread. What a wretched condition hath sin brought man unto, that the great God who "filleth heaven and earth" (Jeremiah 23:24) should yet have no place in the heart which he hath especially made for himself! The sun is not so clear as this truth, that God is, for all things in the world are because God is. If he were not, nothing could be. It is from him that wicked men have that strength they have to commit sin, therefore sin proceeds from atheism, especially these plotting sins; for if God were more thought on, he would take off the soul from sinful contrivings, and fix it upon himself. - Richard Sibbes. Psalms 14:2 "To see if there were any that did understand... seek God." None seek him aright, and as he ought to be sought, nor can do while they live in sin; for men in seeking God fail in many things: as, First, men seek him not for himself. Secondly, they seek him not alone, but other things with him. Thirdly, they seek other things before him, as worldlings do. Fourthly, they seek him coldly or carelessly. Fifthly, they seek him inconstantly; example of Judas and Demas. Sixthly, they seek him not in his word, as heretics do. Seventhly, they seek him not in all his word, as hypocrites do. Lastly, they seek him not seasonably and timely, as profane, impenitent sinners do; have no care to depend upon God's word, but follow their own lusts and fashions of this world. - Thomas Wilson, 1653. Psalms 14:2, Psalms 14:3 What was the issue of God's so looking upon men? "They are all gone aside," that is, from him and his ways; "They are altogether become filthy;" their practices are such as make them stink; "There is none that doeth good, no, not one;" of so many millions of men as are upon the earth, there is not one doeth good. There were men of excellent parts then in the world, men of soul, but not one of them did know God, or seek after God: Paul therefore hath laid it down for a universal maxim, that the animal, natural, or intellectual man, receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him, and so are rejected by him. - William Greenhill. Psalms 14:3 The ungodly are "vile" persons (Nah_1:14). "I will make thy grave; for thou art vile." Sin makes men base, it blots their name, it taints their blood: "They are altogether become filthy;" in the Hebrew it is, they are become stinking. Call wicked men ever so bad, you cannot call them out of their name; they are "swine" (Matthew 7:6); "vipers" (Matthew 3:7); "devils" (John 6:70). The wicked are the dross and refuse (Psalms 119:119); and heaven is too pure to have any dross mingle with it. - Thomas Watson. Psalms 14:3 "Altogether become filthy." Thus the Roman satirist describes his own age: "Nothing is left, nothing, for future times To add to the full catalogue of crimes; The baffled sons must feel the same desires, And act the same mad follies as their sires.

Psalms 14 From The Treasury of David By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) Psalms 14:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." - Who in the world is a verier fool, a more ignorant, wretched person, than he that is an atheist? A man may better believe there is no such man as himself, and that he is not in being, than that there is no God; for himself can cease to be, and once was not, and shall be changed from what he is, and in very many periods of his life knows not that he is; and so it is every night with him when he sleeps; but none of these can happen to God; and if he knows it not, he is a fool. Can anything in this world be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth can come by chance, when all the skill of art is not able to make an oyster? To see rare effects, and no cause; an excellent government and no prince; a motion without an immovable; a circle without a centre; a time without eternity; a second without a first; a thing that begins not from itself, and therefore, not to perceive there is something from whence it does not begin, which must be without beginning; these things are so against philosophy and natural reason, that he must needs be a beast in his understanding that does not assent to them; this is the atheist: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." That is his character; the thing framed, says that nothing framed it; the tongue never made itself to speak, and yet talks against him that did; saying, that which is made, is, and that which made it, is not. But this folly is as infinite as hell, as much without light or bound, as the chaos of the primitive nothing. - Jeremy Taylor, 1613-1667. Psalms 14:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." A wise man, that lives up to the principles of reason and virtue, if one considers him in his solitude as taking in the system of the universe, observing the mutual dependence and harmony by which the whole frame of it hangs together, beating down his passions, or swelling his thoughts with magnificent ideas of providence, makes a nobler figure in the eye of an intelligent being, than the greatest conqueror amidst the pomps and solemnities of a triumph. On the contrary, there is not a more ridiculous animal than an atheist in his retirement. His mind is incapable of rapture or elevation: he can only consider himself as an insignificant figure in a landscape, and wandering up and down in a field or a meadow, under the same terms as the meanest animals about him, and as subject to as total a mortality as they, with this aggravation, that he is the only one amongst them who lies under the apprehension of it. In distresses he must be of all creatures the most helpless and forlorn; he feels the whole pressure of a present calamity, without being relieved by the memory of anything that is past, or the prospect of anything that is to come. Annihilation is the greatest blessing that he proposes to himself, and a halter or a pistol the only refuge he can fly to. But if you would behold one of these gloomy miscreants in his poorest figure, you must consider them under the terrors or at the approach of death. About thirty years ago, I was a shipboard with one of these vermin, when there arose a brisk gale, which could frighten nobody but himself. Upon the rolling of the ship he fell upon his knees, and confessed to the chaplain, that he had been a vile atheist and had denied a Supreme Being ever since he came to his estate. The good man was astonished, and a report immediately ran through the ship, that there was an atheist upon the upper deck. Several of the common seamen, who had never heard the word before, thought it had been some strange fish; but they were more surprised when they saw it was a man, and heard out of his own mouth, "That he never believed till that day that there was a God." As he lay in the agonies of confession, one of the honest tars whispered to the boatswain, "That it would be a good deed to heave him overboard." But we were now within sight of port, when of a sudden the wind fell, and the penitent relapsed, begging all of us that were present, as we were gentlemen, not to say anything of what had passed. He had not been ashore above two days, when one of the company began to rally him upon his devotion on shipboard, which the other denied in so high terms, that it produced the lie on both sides, and ended in a duel. The atheist was run through the body, and after some loss of blood, became as good a Christian as he was at sea, till he found that his wound was not mortal. He is at present one of the free-thinkers of the age, and now writing a pamphlet against several received opinions concerning the existence of fairies. - Joseph Addison (1671-1719), in "The Tattler." Psalms 14:1 "'There is no God,' the fool in secret said. 'There is no God that rules or earth or sky.' Tear off the band that binds the wretch's head, That God may burst upon his faithless eye! Is there no God? - The stars in myriads spread, If he look up, the blasphemy deny; While his own features, in the mirror read, Reflect the image of Divinity. Is there no God? - The stream that silver flows, The air he breathes, the ground he treads the trees, The flowers, the grass, the sands, each wind that blows, All speak of God; throughout, one voice agrees, And, eloquent, his dread existence shows' Blind to thyself, ah, see him, fool, in these!" Giovanni Cotta. Psalms 14:1 '"The owlet, Atheism, Sailing on obscene wings across the noon, Drops his blue-fringed lids, and shuts them close, And, hooting at the glorious sun in heaven, Cries out, 'Where is it?'" Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834. Psalms 14:1 "They are corrupt, they have done abominable works." Sin pleaseth the flesh. Omne simile nutrit simile. Corruption inherent is nourished by the accession of corrupt actions. Judas's covetousness is sweetened with unjust gain. Joab is heartened and hardened with blood. 1 Kings 2:5. Theft is fitted to and fatted in the thievish heart with obvious booties. Pride is fed with the officious compliments of observant grooms. Extortion battens in the usurer's affections by the trolling in of his moneys. Sacrilege thrives in the church-robber by the pleasing distinctions of those sycophant priests, and helped with their not laborious profit. Nature is led, is fed with sense. And when the citadel of the heart is once won, the turret of the understanding will not long hold out. As the suffumigations of the oppressed stomach surge up and cause the headache, or as the thick spumy mists, which vapour up from the dark and foggy earth, do often suffocate the brighter air, and to us more than eclipse the sun, the black and corrupt affections, which ascend out of the nether part of the soul, do no less darken and choke the understanding. Neither can the fire of grace be kept alive at God's altar (man's heart), when the clouds of lust shall rain down such showers of impiety on it. Perit omne judicium, cum res transit ad affectum. Farewell the perspicuity of judgment, when the matter is put to the partiality of affection. - Thomas Adams.

Psalms 14 From The Treasury of David By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) Psalms 14:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." If you will turn over some few leaves as far as the Psalms 53:1-6, you shall not only find my text, but this whole Psalm, without any alteration, save only in the fifth verse, and that not at all in the sense neither. What shall we say? Took the Holy Spirit of God such especial particular notice of the sayings and deeds of a fool, that one expression of them would not serve the turn? Or, does the babbling and madness of a fool so much concern us, as that we need to have them urged upon us once and again, and a third time in the third of the Romans? Surely not any one of us present here, is this fool! Nay, if any one of us could but tell where to find such a fool as this, that would offer to say, though in his heart, "There is no God," he should not rest in quiet, he should soon perceive we were not of his faction, We that are able to tell David an article or two of faith more than ever he was acquainted with! Nay, more; can we with any imaginable ground of reason be supposed liable to any suspicion of atheism, that are able to read to David a lecture out of his own Psalms, and explain the meaning of his own prophecies much clearer than himself which held the pen to the Holy Spirit of God? Though we cannot deny but that in other things there may be found some spice of folly and imperfection in us, but it cannot be imagined that we, who are almost cloyed with the heavenly manna of God's word, that can instruct our teachers, and are able to maintain opinions and tenets, the scruples whereof not both the universities in this land, nor the whole clergy are able to resolve, that it should be possible for us ever to come to that perfection and excellency of folly and madness, as to entertain thought that there is no God: nay, We are not so uncharitable as to charge a Turk or an infidel with such a horrible imputation as this. Beloved Christians, be not wise in your own conceits: if you will seriously examine the third of Romans (which I mentioned before), you shall find that Paul, out of this Psalm, and the like words of Isaiah, doth conclude the whole posterity of Adam (Christ only excepted), under sin and the curse of God; which inference of his were weak and in concluding, unless every man of his own nature were such a one as the prophet here describes; and the same apostle in another place expresses, "Even altogether without God in the world," i.e., not maintaining it as an opinion which they would undertake by force of argument to confirm, That there is no God: for we read not of above three or four among the heathens that were of any fashion, which went thus far; but such as though in their discourse and serious thoughts they do not question a deity, but would abhor any man that would not liberally allow unto God all his glorious attributes, yet in their hearts and affections they deny him; they live as if there was no God, having no respect at all to him in all their projects and therefore, indeed and in God's esteem, become formally, and in strict propriety of speech very atheists. - William Chillingworth, 1602-1643. Psalms 14:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Why do men resist God's authority, against which they cannot dispute? and disobey his commands, unto which they cannot devise to frame an exception? What but the spirit of enmity, can make them regret "so easy a yoke," reject so "light a burden," shun and fly off from so peaceful and pleasant paths? yea, and take ways that so manifestly "take hold of hell, and lead down to the chambers of death," rather choosing to perish than obey? Is not this the very height of enmity? What further proof would we seek of a disaffected and implacable heart? Yet to all this we may cast in that fearful addition, their saying in their heart, "No God;" as much as to say, "O that there were none!" This is enmity not only to the highest pitch of wickedness, to wish their common parent extinct, the author of their being, but even unto madness itself. For in the forgetful heat of this transport, it is not thought on that they wish the most absolute impossibility; and that, if it were possible, they wish, with his, the extinction of their own and of all being; and that the sense of their hearts, put into words, would amount to no less than a direful and most horrid execration and curse upon God and the whole creation of God at once! As if, by the blasphemy of their poisonous breath, they would wither all nature, blast the whole universe of being, and make it fade, languish, and droop into nothing. This is to set their mouth against heaven and earth, themselves, and all things at once, as if they thought their feeble breath should overpower the omnipotent Word, shake and shiver the adamantine pillars of heaven and earth, and the Almighty fiat be defeated by their nay, striking at the root of all! So fitly is it said "The fool hath in his heart" muttered thus. Nor are there few such fools; but this is plainly given us as the common character of apostate man, the whole revolted race, of whom it is said in very general terms, "They are all gone back, there is none that doeth good." This is their sense, one and all, that is, comparatively; and the true state of the case being laid before them, it is more their temper and sense to say, "No God," than to repent, "and turn to him." What mad enmity is this! Nor can we devise into what else to resolve it. - John Howe. Psalms 14:1 "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." He that shall deny there is a God, sins with a very high hand against the light of nature; for every creature, yea, the least gnat and fly, and the meanest worm that crawls upon the ground will confute and confound that man that disputes whether there be a God or no. The name of God is written in such full, fair and shining characters upon the whole creation, that all men may run and read that there is a God, The notion of a deity is so strongly and deeply impressed upon the tables of all men's hearts, that to deny a God is to quench the very principles of common nature; yea, it is formally deicidium, a killing of God, as much as in the creature lies. There are none of these atheists in hell, for the devils believe and tremble. James 2:19. The Greek word that is here used, signifies properly the roaring of the sea; it implies such an extreme fear, as causeth not only trembling, but also a roaring and screeching out. Mark 6:49; Acts 16:29. The devils believe and acknowledge four articles of our faith. Matthew 8:29. (1.) They acknowledge God; (2.) Christ; (3) The day of judgment; (4.) That they shall be tormented then; so that he that doth not believe that there is a God, is more vile than a devil. To deny there is a God, is a sort of atheism that is not to be found in hell. "On earth are atheists many, In hell there is not any." Augustine, speaking of atheists saith, "That albeit there be some who think, or would persuade themselves, that there is no God, yet the most vile and desperate wretch that ever lived would not say, there was no God." Seneca hath a remarkable speech, Mentiuntur qui dicunt se non sentire Deum esse: nam etsi tibi affirmant interdi

Psalms 14 From The Treasury of David By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) Thirdly, if this be their principle and these their affections, let us look after their actions, to see if they be any better. But consider their actions. They be of two sorts: - 1. How they act in the world, 2. How they act towards the people of God. 1. How do they act in the world? Why, consider that, as to their duties which they omit, and as to the wickednesses which they perform. What good do they do? Nay, saith he, "None of them doeth good." Yea, some of them. "No, not one." Saith he, Psalms 14:1, Psalms 14:3, "There is none that doeth good, no, not one." If there was any one among them that did attend to what was really good and useful in the world, there was some hope. "No," saith he, "their principle is atheism, their affections are corrupt; and for good, there is not one of them doeth any good - they omit all duties." What do they do for evil? Why saith he, "They have done abominable works" - "works." saith he, "not to be named, not to be spoken of - works which God abhors, which all good men abhor." "Abominable works," saith he, "such as the very light of nature would abhor;" and give me leave to use the expression of the Psalmist - "Stinking, filthy works." So he doth describe the state and condition of things under the reign of Saul, when he wrote this Psalm. 2. "If thus it be with them, and if thus it be with their own ways, yet they let the people of God alone; they will not add that to the rest of their sins." Nay, it is quite otherwise, saith he, "They eat up my people as they eat bread." "Those workers of iniquity have no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord." What is the reason why he brings it in that manner? Why could he not say, "They have no knowledge that do such abominable things;" but brings it in thus, "They have no knowledge who eat up my people as they eat bread"? "It is strange, that after all my dealings with them and declaration of my will, they should be so brutish as not to know this would be their ruin. Don't they know this will devour them, destroy them, and be called over again in a particular manner?" In the midst of all the sins, and greatest and highest provocations that are in the world, God lays a special weight upon the eating of his people. They may feed upon their own lusts what they will; but, "Have they no knowledge, that they eat up my people as they eat bread?" There are very many things that might be observed from all this; but I aim to give but a few hints from the Psalm. Well, what is the state of things now? You see what it was with them. How was it with the providence of God in reference unto them? Which is strange, and a man would scarce believe it in such a course as this is, he tells you (Psalms 14:5), notwithstanding all this, they were in great fear. "There were they in great fear," saith he. May be so, for they saw some evil coming upon them. No, there was nothing but the hand of God in it; for in Psalms 53:5, where these words are repeated, it is, "There were they in great fear, where no fear was" - no visible cause of fear; yet they were in great fear. God by his providence seldom gives an absolute, universal security unto men in their height of sin, and oppression, and sensuality, and lusts; but he will secretly put them in fear where no fear is: and though there be nothing seen that should cause them to have any fear, they shall act like men at their wits' end with fear. But whence should this fear arise? Saith he, it ariseth from hence, "For God is in the generation of the righteous." Plainly they see their work doth not go on; their meat doth not digest with them; their bread doth not go well down. "They were eating and devouring my people, and when they came to devour them, they found God was among them (they could not digest their bread); and this put them in fear; quite surprised them." They came, and thought to have found them a sweet morsel: when engaged, God was there filling their mouth and teeth with gravel; and he began to break out the jawbone of the terrible ones when they came to feed upon them. Saith he, "God was there." (Psalms 14:5.) The Holy Ghost gives an account of the state of things that was between those two sorts of people he had described - between the feel and the people of God - them that were devouring, and them that had been utterly devoured, had not God been among them. Both were in fear - they that were to be devoured, and those that did devour. And they took several ways for their relief; and he showeth what those ways were, and what judgment they made upon the ways of one another. Saith he, "Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge." There are the persons spoken of - they are "the poor;" and that is those who are described in the verses foregoing, the people that were ready to be eaten up and devoured. And there is the hope and refuge that these poor had in such a time as this, when all things were in fear; and that was "the Lord." The poor maketh the Lord his refuge. And you may observe here, that as he did describe all the wicked as one man, "the fool," so he describes all his own people as one man, "the poor" - that is, the poor man: "Because the Lord is his refuge." He keeps it in the singular number. Whatsoever the people of God may differ in, they are all as one man in this business. And there is the way whereby these poor make God their refuge. They do it by "counsel," saith he. It is not a thing they do by chance, but they look upon it as their wisdom. They do it upon consideration, upon advice. It is a thing of great wisdom. Well, what thoughts have the others concerning this acting of theirs? The poor make God their refuge; and they do it by counsel. What judgment, now, doth the world make of this counsel of theirs? Why, they "shame it;" that is, they cast shame upon it, contemn it as a very foolish thing, to make the Lord their refuge. "Truly, if they could make this or that great man their refuge, it were something; but to make the Lord their refuge, this is the foolishest thing in the world," say they. To shame men's counsel, to despise their counsel as foolish, is as great contempt as they can lay upon them. Here you see the state of things as they are represented in this Psalm, and spread before the Lord; which being laid down, the Psalmist showeth what our duty is upon such astute of things-what is the duty of the people of God, things being thus stated. Saith he, "Their way is to go to prayer:" Psalms 14:7, "O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad." If things are thus stated, then cry, then pray, "O that the salvation of, Israel were come out of Zion," etc. There shall a revenue of praise come to God out of Zion, to the rejoicing of his people. - John Owen. Psalms 14:1 "The fool." That sapless fellow, that carcase of a man, that walking sepulchre of himself, in whom all religion and right reason is withered and wasted, dried up and decayed. That apostate in whom natural principles are extinct, and from whom God is departed, as when the prince is departed, hangings are taken down. That mere animal that hath no more than a reasonable soul, and for little other purpose than as salt, to keep his body from putrefying. That wicked man hereafter described, that studieth atheism. - John Trapp. Psalms 14:1 "The fool," etc. The world we live in is a world of fools. The far greater part of mankind act a part entirely irrational. So great is their infatuation, that they prefer time to eternity, momentary enjoyments to those that shall never have an end, and listen to the testimony of Satan in preference to that of God. Of all folly, that is the greatest, which relates to eternal objects, because it is the most fatal and when persisted in through life, entirely remediless. A mistake in the management of temporal concerns may be afterwards rectified. At any rate, it is comparatively of little importance. But an error in spiritual and eternal matters, as it is in itself of the greatest moment, if carried through life, can never be remedied; because after death there is no redemption. The greatest folly that any creature is capable of, is that of denying or entertaining unjust apprehensions of the being and perfections of the great Creator. Therefore, in a way of eminence, the appellation of fool is given by the Spirit of God, to him who is chargeable with this guilt. "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." - John Jamieson, M.A., 1789. Psalms 14:1 "The fool," a term in Scripture signifying a wicked man, used also by the heathen philosophers to signify a vicious person, signifying the extinction of life in men, animals, and plants. Isaiah 40:7, "the flower fadeth" (Isaiah 28:1), a plant that hath lost all that juice that made it lovely and useful. So a fool is one that hath lost his wisdom and right notion of God and divine things, which were communicated to man by creation; one dead in sin, yet one not so much void of rational faculties, as of grace in those faculties; not one that wants reason, but abuses his reason. - Stephen Charnock. Psalms 14:1 "The fool hath said," etc. This folly is bound up in every heart. It is bound, but it is not tongue-tied; it speaks blasphemous things against God, it says there is "no God." There is a difference indeed in the language: gross sins speak this louder, there are crying sins; but though less sins speak it not so loud they whisper it. But the Lord can hear the language of the heart, the whisperings of its motions, as plainly as we hear one another in our ordinary discourse. Oh, how heinous is the least sin, which is so injurious to the very being of the great God! - David Clarkson.

Psalms 14 From The Treasury of David By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) Psalms 14 - Title - This admirable ode is simply headed, "To the Chief Musician by David." The dedication to the Chief Musician stands at the head of fifty-three of the Psalms, and clearly indicates that such Psalms were intended, not merely for the private use of believers, but to be sung in the great assemblies by the appointed choir at whose head was the overseer, or superintendent, called in our version, "the Chief Musician," and by Ainsworth, "the master of the Music." Several of these Psalms have little or no praise in them, and were not addressed directly to the Most High, and yet were to be sung in public worship; which is a clear indication that the theory of Augustine lately revived by certain hymn-book makers, that nothing but praise should be sung, is far more plausible than Scriptural. Not only did the ancient Church chant hallowed doctrine and offer prayer amid her spiritual songs, but even the wailing notes of complaint were put into her mouth by the sweet singer of Israel who was inspired of God. Some persons grasp at any nicety which has a gloss of apparent correctness upon it, and are pleased with being more fancifully precise than others; nevertheless it will ever be the way of plain men, not only to magnify the Lord in sacred canticles, but also, according to Paul's precept, to teach and admonish one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in their hearts unto the Lord. As no distinguishing title is given to this Psalm, we would suggest as an assistance to the memory, the heading - concerning practical atheism. The many conjectures as to the occasion upon which it was written are so completely without foundation, that it would be a waste of time to mention them at length. The apostle Paul, in Romans 3, has shown incidentally that the drift of the inspired writer is to show that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin; there was, therefore, no reason for fixing upon any particular historical occasion, when all history reeks with terrible evidence of human corruption. With instructive alterations, David has given us in Psalms 53:1-6 a second edition of this humiliating psalm, being moved of the Holy Ghost thus doubly to declare a truth which is ever distasteful to carnal minds. Division - The world's foolish creed (Psalms 14:1); its practical influence in corrupting morals, Psalms 14:1, Psalms 14:2, Psalms 14:3. The persecuting tendencies of sinners, Psalms 14:4; their alarms, Psalms 14:5; their ridicule of the godly, Psalms 14:6; and a prayer for the manifestation of the Lord to his people's joy. Hints to Preachers Psalms 14:1 (first clause) - The folly of atheism. Psalms 14:1 - Atheism of the heart - Jamieson's Sermons on the Heart. Psalms 14:1 (whole verse) - Describe: I. The creed of the fool. II. The fool who holds the creed: or thus, Atheism. I. Its source: "the heart." II. Its creed: "no God." III. Its fruits: "corrupt," etc. Psalms 14:1 - I. The great source of sin - alienation from God. II. Its place of dominion - the heart. III. Its effect upon the intellect - makes man a fool. IV. Its manifestations in the life - acts of commission and omission. Psalms 14:1 (last clause) - The lantern of Diogenes. Hold it up upon all classes, and denounce their sins. Psalms 14:2 - I. Condescending search. II. Favoured subjects. III. Generous intentions. Psalms 14:2 - What God looks for, and what we should look for. Men usually are quick to see things congruous to their own character. Psalms 14:2, Psalms 14:3 - God's search for a naturally good man; the results; lessons to be learned therefrom. Psalms 14:3 - Total depravity of the race. Psalms 14:4 - "Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?" If men rightly knew God, his law, the evil of sin, the torment of hell, and other great truths, would they sin as they do? Or if they know these and yet continue in their iniquities, how guilty and foolish they are! Answer the question both positively and negatively, and it supplies material for a searching discourse. Psalms 14:4 (first clause) - The crying sin of transgressing against light and knowledge. Psalms 14:4 (last clause) - Absence of prayer, a sure mark of a graceless state. Psalms 14:5 - The foolish fears of those who have no fear of God. Psalms 14:5 - The Lord's nearness to the righteous, its consequences to the persecutor, and its encouragement to saints. Psalms 14:6 - The wisdom of making the Lord our refuge - John Owen. Psalms 14:6 - Describe I. The poor man here intended. II. His counsel. III. His reproach. IV. His refuge. Psalms 14:6 - Trust in God, a theme for mockery to fools only. Show its wisdom. Psalms 14:7 - Longings for the Advent. Psalms 14:7 - "Out of Zion." The church, the channel of blessings to men. Psalms 14:7 - Discourse to promote revival. I. Frequent condition of the church, "captivity." II. Means of revival - the Lord's coming in grace. III. Consequences, "rejoice," "be glad." Psalms 14:7 - Captivity of soul. What it is. How provided for. How accomplished. With what results. Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings Whole Psalm There is a peculiar mark upon this Psalm, in that it is twice in the Book of Psalms. The Psalms 14:1-7and the Psalms 53:1-6are the same with the alteration of one or two expressions at most. And there is another mark put upon it, that the apostle transcribes a great part of it. - Rom_3:10-12. It contains a description of a most deplorable state of things in the world - ay, in Israel; a most deplorable state, by reason of the general corruption that was befallen all sorts of men, in their principles, and in their practices, and in their opinions. First, it was a time when there was a mighty prevalent principle of atheism got into the world, got among the great men of the world. Saith he, "That is their principle, they say in their hearts, 'There is no God.'" It is true, they did not absolutely profess it; but it was the principle whereby all their actings were regulated and which they conformed unto. "The fool," saith he, "hath said in his heart, There is no God." Not this or that particular man, but the fool - that is, those foolish men; for in the next word he tells you "They are corrupt;" and Psalms 14:3, "They are all gone aside." "The fool" is taken indefinitely for the great company and society of foolish men, to intimate that whatsoever they were divided about else, they were all agreed in this. "They are all a company of atheists," saith he, "practical atheists." Secondly, their affections were suitable to this principle, as all men's affections and actions are suitable to their principles. What are you to expect from men whose principle is, that there is no God? Why, saith he, for their affections, "They are corrupt;" which he expresseth again (Psalms 14:3), "They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy." "All gone aside." The word in the original is, "They are all grown sour;" as drink, that hath been formerly of some use, but when grown vapid - lost all its spirits and life - it is an insipid thing, good for nothing. And, saith he, "They are altogether become filthy" - "become stinking," as the margin hath it. They have corrupt affections, that have left them no life, no savour; but stinking, corrupt lusts prevail in them universally. They say, "There is no God;" and they are filled with stinking, corrupt lusts.

Brothers and Sisters, There is obvious gross confusion on this subject. I'll be blunt and state that most of the confusion centers around: 1 - not making a distinction between Israel and the Church which is the Body of Christ; 2 - not realizing that the Rapture and The Second Coming of Christ are definitely two separate events; 3 - not realizing that the Tribulation Period was determined against Israel - not the Church which is the Body of Christ. Some people say that they've studied this issue, but they haven't unless they've spent years of dedicated study on multiple books in the Old Testament and the New Testament. One might be able to scratch the surface of the work to be done in in 5 years of dedicated study. There are no quick and easy answers, and many folks want microwave - jiffy-pop Bible Study. It doesn't work that way, and serious errors that bear no resemblance to the Bible are the result. It's almost unbelievable that some Christians don't have a clue about the millennial reign of Christ from the Throne of David in Jerusalem. It's even Greek for some that Jesus Christ is the Anointed King of Israel, and He will definitely take what is His at His Second Coming in great and Holy Wrath. The Rapture of the Church which is the Body of Christ is a pleasant, joyous event. The Second Coming of Christ involves Christ crushing evil and great bloodshed. In other words, the tone of the events are on the opposite end of the spectrum from each other. The first thing to do is go back to the beginning basics of Salvation. Salvation is "Rescue" and "Peace" with God. The Church which is the body of Christ was not formed for wrath. There are definite reasons why the worst part of the Tribulation Period is known as the "time of Jacob's Trouble". Hint: connect this with Israel and don't confuse Israel with the Church which is the body of Christ. It's also sad that some Christians know so little about Bible Prophecy that they spiritualize or otherwise dismiss events and details that will most certainly take place. Even worse, many Christians don't even know about God's Promises to themselves - much less Israel. There is gross confusion because many Christians spend almost no time at all in studying their Bibles. It's "instant" and "fast" everything and bluntly - many Christians have little time for God. There isn't much doubt that we are living in the last days of this Age of Grace, and most Christians still don't have time for God. They have lots time for everything else - but not God. The time is growing short for the Church which is the Body of Christ to reach the lost, and many of those lost people are our family and friends. If there was ever a time to wake up, pay attention, and get busy - this is it right now - before it's too late. We are currently living in the terminal generation of this Age of Grace. What would you want to do if you knew this was your last day on this earth? Live as if this is your last day on earth. Give God His proper place in your life and do a reasonable service for Him solely because you love Him. nChrist

Plain, blunt, and simple: the Rapture is a Bible fact. The only thing in contention is the timing: 1) Pre-Tribulation; 2) Mid-Tribulation; 3) Post-Tribulation. There is nothing new about the teaching of the Rapture. The "caught up" that the Apostle Paul preached is the Rapture. The term "caught up" is the English translation of the ancient languages the Bible was originally written in. "Rapture" is a derivation from the original, so there is nothing new about this either. The "Rapture" is a Promise from God, and God never lies. This last sentence is not an opinion - just a statement of Bible Fact. It's foolish to say that there is heresy in differences of opinion on the timing of the Rapture. Christians should not make this a matter of contention, especially bitter contention and name calling. The only source for the truth is the Holy Bible, and one must refer to the ancient languages to study this issue in detail. The Holy Bible wasn't written in English - most obviously - so what most people study is nothing more than a translation of the ancient languages. The study of Bible Prophecy is very difficult and time consuming, and the general rule IS that there will be differences of opinion among Bible Scholars. I'm not a Bible Scholar, but I do have a firm opinion that the Rapture is Pre-Tribulation. Let me quickly follow this by saying that my opinion means nothing. I've read many books on this subject, but the best ones are opinions based on translations and interpretation of the Holy Bible. In other words, the only real truth is in the Holy Bible. There's nothing unusual about Christians having differences of opinion about complex Bible subjects. The concern should be about how Christians handle and/or discuss those differences. It should be done in love - a manner that everyone has a chance to learn something. Those who think that they have nothing left to learn about the Holy Bible probably need the learning opportunity the most. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (ASV)13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 17 then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 (ASV)50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: 57 but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord. nChrist

LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER National Guard asked to explain 'internment' jobs - 2 of 2 Campaign recruiting for workers at 'civilian resettlement facility' Posted: August 07, 2009 11:45 pm Eastern By Bob Unruh

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106304 "Want a job putting people into camps?" See copy of ad about mid-page. See video beneath the ad. If this doesn't wake you up - I don't know what will! LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER National Guard asked to explain 'internment' jobs - 1 of 2 Campaign recruiting for workers at 'civilian resettlement facility' Posted: August 07, 2009 11:45 pm Eastern By Bob Unruh

I give thanks that a new Christian doesn't have to get involved with or understand all of these deep theological arguments and debates. Salvation is simple enough for a child to understand, and the best way to come to God is in simple, childlike faith. Mature Christians should know there are no contradictions in the Holy Bible - not one. Coming to this realization means learning how to study God's Word - rightly dividing the Word of Truth. This isn't simple, but it isn't required for Salvation. Most of the methods of Bible Study do involve common sense: 1) The writer; 2) The intended audience; 3) The purpose; 4) The content in context. I realize this is a gross simplification, but it's a start. The easiest way to misunderstand something is to take a portion of Scripture out of context and form some sort of doctrine with it. If two portions of Scripture appear to contradict each other, the first thing to know is they don't. Finding out why they don't contradict each other involves Bible Study, lots of effort, and rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Again, I give thanks that the lost don't have to understand all of this. I'm certain that the lost get confused in hearing or seeing the deeper discussions of God's Word. The answers to the complex theological debates aren't nearly as important as how to be Saved, and why one would want to be Saved. That lost person might have a lifetime to try and understand some of the deeper things of God, but they might also be living in their last hours or minutes of this short life. One of the most important things a lost person can learn first is God Loves them, God wants to save them, God never lies, and God always keeps His Promises. For the mature Christian, these basic facts should always be kept in mind, regardless of how mature and knowledgeable they think they might be. There are only two conditions that matter the most, and there are no in betweens: 1) In Christ (Saved); 2) Not In Christ (lost). The following portion of Scripture speaks volumes about the most important issues of this short life: 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 KJV 1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. nChrist

Hitchey, Let's say that you grow up on planet earth completely alone with nobody to talk to and no books. All you have is your senses. Sooner or later, you will grow to know that there must be a Creator of you and all you see. That's just common sense and the nature of man that he was born with. God gave us much more than just common sense, so we are without excuse. In fact, all of man is without excuse. Psalms 19:1-14 KJV The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. What you accept or reject does have consequences in this short life and for Eternity. nChrist

Many get confused with portions of the Holy Bible that aren't refering to Salvation, rather to: 1) quality and quantity of Fellowship with God; 2) Exhortations for Christian living; 3) Instructions for Christian testimony before men; 4) Rewards (Crowns) for good works that are over and above Salvation. A new Christian is saved forever - right then - immediately. This new Christian is already the recipient of God's Promises, including Eternal Life, and God never breaks a promise. This new Christian's heart is sealed with and by the Holy Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence in his or her heart right then. This is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the new birth - Born Again from Above. This is Salvation, and it isn't on the installment plan, so one is either Saved or lost with no in between. The Seal with the Holy Spirit on this new Christian's heart can't be broken by any combination of powers in the universe. The Seal of the Holy Spirit sets this new Christian apart as an Eternal Possession of Jesus Christ. One can lose rewards and quality or quantity of Fellowship with God, but one can't lose Salvation. The only question is: have you been Saved or not? When God makes Promises and gives Eternal Life, He keeps those Promises and doesn't take them back. The only unpardonable sin is rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Romans 10:8-10 KJV But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. John 3:15-18 KJV That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Romans 6:23 KJV For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ephesians 2:4-7 KJV But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. "Quickened" is an interesting word meaning translated - done immediately. As Christians, we are already members of the Body Of Christ, the Eternal Church not made by human hands. We aren't worthy of anything, but Jesus Christ is, so Jesus Christ is our "All In All". nChrist

I only read the beginning, but I skipped around a lot. It just seems like God is more punishing than loving, so far. When I was in my mid-teens I turned to the Bible to find God. I wasn't finding him in the world anywhere that I looked and thought that if he was anywhere at all it would be there. I started in the Old Testament and though I don't recall how far I got I do recall that I found the same thing as you. God did not seem a God of love. There was far more violence done in the name of God than I would ever have thought possible and far more violence commanded by God himself. It was not an image that I could accept and I stopped believing. You should have kept reading because you missed some incredibly beautiful portions of Scripture. There is much more to God than just punishment for evil and disobedience. Read the entire Bible and spend some extra time in Psalms, Ephesians, Romans, and Philippians. I just mentioned a few of my favorites, so there are many more beautiful portions of Scripture that describe God's Love. At least try to get a more complete picture of our completely Just and Righteous God. His Love is beyond human comprehension. He is our Creator, and He has every right to command obedience. His intentions for us are beautiful, but our part is to yield to Him. Most of all, know that this short life is not all there is. God designed humans for Eternity, so physical death is not the end. God gave us the freedom and intellect to choose. Rejecting Him is the only unpardonable sin, and this is a choice we all have to make. John 1:1-4 KJV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. There are answers to many of man's most perplexing questions in the Holy Bible. Man can choose to accept or reject those answers, but that doesn't change the absolute Truth of God's Answers. The vanity of man makes man search for other answers, but the truth leads right back to God's Word. John 3:16-20 KJV For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. God is patient with man and doesn't wish any man to die in their sins and condemnation. However, God's patience does come to an end and there is a final judgment for all of mankind. God has provided a means of Salvation - a rescue from the curse of sin and death. Again, man can accept or reject God's Love and provisions. 2 Peter 3:9-10 KJV The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Faith does come by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. This is the most important decision of a person's life. nChrist

Hello nChrist, tis nice to make your acquaintance. Your comment raises a question in my mind. If we go back 2000 years we arrive before the Christian era. How many years must we go back in time till there is no Old Testament either? I don't have the details off the top of my head, but I think most of the Hebrew Bible derives from about 600 BC. Apparently major editing took place about that time. There may be some here who have a better handle on the historicity of it than what I do. The majority of scholars no longer believe the Pentateuch was written by Moses, but came at a later date; however, even assuming that it was from Moses puts the work at no later than about 1800 BC. None of the known religious texts that predate this time make any reference to God. So, though you say "the Word of God will endue forever", there was a very long stretch, spanning thousands of years, during which the Word seemed nonexistent. Other gods are mentioned but not the god of the Hebrews. For a long time there were no Hebrews known to history, and the god they worshipped also was absent. I have never understood that. It always seemed to me that the closer we got to the Creation the more vibrant should be the knowledge of God. Yet He was unknown by any other peoples on Earth. Why? We know the approximate times that God inspired the writing of the Holy Bible, and that is God's Word that He gave to us. Obviously, this does not hint that the Holy Bible represents the first time God spoke. We don't know the first time God spoke or to who, and it's beyond our means to find out many things about God. God gave us what He wants us to know, and that's what is relevant to us. There are Bible accounts of God speaking to angels, fallen and otherwise, and this also applies to Bible Prophecy that hasn't been fulfilled yet. Romans 11:33-36 KJV O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. If God wants us to know more, He'll tell us at His Appointed Time. Until then, the Holy Bible is more than sufficient, and we can also come to Him in prayer. The time will come when all men will believe, the living and the dead, but it will be too late for those who rejected Jesus Christ. God has already made Himself Known in countless ways, and God the Son died on the Cross - taking our punishment in His Own Holy Body. His Sacrifice was Perfect, and there remains no further Sacrifice for evil men. God's Work for the Salvation of evil men is completed perfectly, and His Promises have already been given to those who reject Him. John 3:18-20 KJV He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. nChrist

None, I'm just relaying God's advice and instructions to avoid horrendous problems that are mentioned numerous times in this area of the forum. I thought this would be apparent, but maybe not. nChrist

Ephesians 5:22-33 (ASV)22 Wives, [be in subjection] unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, [being] himself the saviour of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so [let] the wives also [be] to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; 26 that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the church to himself a glorious [church] , not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 Even so ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his own wife loveth himself: 29 for no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the church; 30 because we are members of his body. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church. 33 Nevertheless do ye also severally love each one his own wife even as himself; and [let] the wife [see] that she fear her husband. The term "Marriage" is cheap today and mocked by much of the world. Sadly, many Christians either don't know or have forgotten that Marriage is Holy and Under God. Ephesians 5 contains God's instructions for Marriage, and you will see quickly that Marriage is serious and should never be taken lightly. Read Ephesians 5 carefully and you will see the priorities for a Godly, Christian Marriage. First, and most obviously, God must be the Head of the Home. Let the portion of Scripture speak for itself in the beautiful description of real Love. The couple wanting to get married must first know what Marriage and Real Love are before setting a date. So, it's good to receive counseling from their pastor as the relationship starts to get serious. A happy Marriage is a Godly Marriage according to the instructions of the Holy Bible. Sadly, many marriages end in divorce in this day and time, so it's obvious that little or no attention was paid to God and His instructions. Bad endings result in tremendous misery, especially when children are involved. The solution is at the beginning: the couple first yields themselves to God - and then to each other with God as the Head of the Home. nChrist

NOPE! AMEN! I'd like to share a beautiful portion of Scripture that blesses me every time I read it: Colossians 1:3-29 (ASV)3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have toward all the saints, 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as [it doth] in you also, since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7 even as ye learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. 9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it] , do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; 13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; 14 in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: 15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; 17 and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it was the good pleasure [of the Father] that in him should all the fulness dwell; 20 and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, [i say] , whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens. 21 And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, 22 yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: 23 if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister. 24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body

It's quite relevant because you're here talking about it. It's extremely important, and that's just one reason why you're talking about this issue. You aren't at peace with this issue - rightfully so. Romans 8:1-8 (ASV)1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: 7 because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: 8 and they that are in the flesh cannot please God. nChrist

This is an interesting discussion thread. I also know the meaning of "Apologetics", and I have thought that the use of this word in sharing the Good News is strange. The Word of God stands by itself and will endure forever. As an individual Christian, I give thanks that I belong to Jesus Christ, and He is the central core and focus of my life. I think that we can be sure that the world misunderstands the term "Apologetics" and does take it in the negative ways discussed in this thread. Regardless, this is a good opportunity to share a favorite portion of Scripture. 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 ASV 1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not: 2 but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish: 4 in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves; 8 we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; 9 pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; 10 always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak; 14 knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God. 16 Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.