Who shall bring a charge against God's elect - 1 John 1:9 revisited!

Since it is impossible to bring a charge against God's elect, what is there to confess? And since it is God who justifies, and we have been justified, what is left to be forgiven? Who is he who condemns, and who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

My friends, if you are in Christ, you are a forgiven person. Do not be led astray by those who seek to condemn and leave you begging at the altar for what you already have. 1 John 1:9 was written for the un-redeemed. To those who had not received Christ, and therefore were not justified nor cleansed from their unrighteousness.

Then He adds, 'There sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more.' Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer and offering for sin.
Heb. 10:17-18

And without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Heb. 9:22

These scriptures clearly define three points. #1 - The sacrificial death of Christ ushered in the New Covenant through which our sins and lawless deeds God remembers no more. #2 - Once this supreme offering was complete by the only One who could complete it, there is no longer an offering for sin. Neither of necessity nor of value. #3 - Without the shedding of blood there has never been the forgiveness of sin. From the time God temporarily covered Adam and Eve with the skins of animals, until the final sacrifice of Christ, there has never been forgiveness without the shedding of blood. Which is to say, that after the sacrificial blood of the Lamb had been spilled, and Christ Himself declared it to be finished, and we have received Him, there is no feasible or valid forgiveness left to be had. And for those that do not believe this, and are bent on asking God for continued forgiveness, I ask simply where is your sacrifice? Where is the blood? Where is your bull or goat?

Authors note:
Who is he who condemns, and who shall try to separate us from the love of Christ, but those teaching another gospel!

Commentary by:
G. L. Miller

Exceptional Imperialism!

'Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it saying, 'If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on all sides, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation. ~ Luke 19:41-44

The details of this parable reflect a divine judgement for covenant unfaithfulness similar to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. or the Romans successful seige of Jerusalem under Titus. The fact that Israel did not know the time of her visitation resulted in covenant unfaithfulness. This divine judgement is still in place today. The fact that Israel is surrounded by walls and guntowers that reflect a maximum security prison should be enough to testify to the fact that something is wrong in the heavenlies. Yet we would rather blame everything and everybody else for Israel's plight. Instead of just saying, Israel's out of covenant! And there will be no peace in Jerusalem until they step back into covenant at Christ's second coming.

The real problem here is a geo-political power struggle that has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. And the truths I have just presented do not favor the British nor the American political landscape. The fact of the matter is, that Israel is in a very strategic place both in terms of geography and trade. In other words, it's a strategic vantage point for monitoring oil and world trade. Of course there are international security issues here, but this commentary is about the kingdom of God, not dominionism.

My point is this: That loving God and being faithful to God has nothing to do with supporting Israel by means of conventional warfare. All war is sin, and therefore a crime against humanity. My friends, do not be taken in by the politically astute that seek to harness the power of your faith for their ungodly agendas. I am not saying that we should not protect Israel, or that war isn't of necessity under certain circumstances; However, what I am saying is that injustice for all should mean in justice for all. If we protect and serve only those that believe they have divine right, we are supporting imperialism! And I can assure you, that the God of this universe is not an imperialist. For He is partial to no man; and all are precious in His sight!

Our government has spent 2 trillion dollars in an endeavor to halt Al-Qeida and kill Osama Bin Laden! We have bombed most of the major infa-structures in key cities of the middle-east. There have been well over 1 million civilian casualties; a third of which have been women and children! And these estimates are low. Many experts claim that there have been at least 500,000 child deaths as a result of sanctions alone; i.e. lack of medication, clean water, and nutrition. Do we honestly believe this will deter terrorism in the future? How many children in the middle-east do you think lay awake at night, shaking there fists at the skies, desiring to be the next to fly a plane into one of our buildings and terrorize us as they have been terrorized?

The problem in America with the average citizen seems to be lack of vision in terms of common sense. For some reason we are unwilling to place ourselves in the shoes of another. Driven by patriotism and the allure of the American dream; we have placed self above the common good of the whole. Failing to realize of course that this focus will ultimately lead to our demise. I hear alot of talk about American exceptionalism, yet the focus is on monetary gain. In whether or not this person or particular candidate is able to make and maintain things. Unfortunately, this brand of exceptionalism is based on temporal possession. And life does not consist in the abundance of the things one possesses. In short, this whole ideology lacks heart! Which of course is the main ingredient for any wholesome man, woman, or nation.

Authors note:

There are only a few nations that have refused accountability before the international court. Those that have site their reasons for non-compliance in this way: 'We do not recognize certain peoples in this compact as nations. Therefore, we do not recognize the authority of this court.' What they really mean by saying this is that 'We are the only valid and established authority on this planet, and we will answer to no one but ourselves!' Of course the United States, Britian, and Israel are among the short list of non-compliance.

'There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way of death.' ~ Proverbs 16:25

Commentary by:

G.L. Miller

That's amazing!

I was meditating on the word redemption this morning, and it was cool because the Lord brought to my mind an aluminum can, or a glass or plastic bottle. There are alot of redemption centers around this valley, and I see people walking down the side of the road because they are doing what is called canning. Then they take their collections to the redemption center and pick up a few bucks to eat or drink or whatever they do with it..just live!

Then I realized why He took me there. Before I met the Lord, I was a sort of can or bottle thrown out on the side of the road. Little did I know how much value I had until the day I met my precious Savior. Since that day, He has shown me how beautiful I am to Him, and what great things He can do with this dusty old bottle. I saw a couple documentaries about recycling, and again Poppa took me to those images.

The cans or glass or plastic have to go through some pretty rough metamorphoses when they first get collected. Shredding, and tumbling; heating and melting. It is a really good thing they don't feel anything cause it looks quite painful. Anyways, at the end of the documentaries, I was completely blown away by the things that came out of all that process. Out of the plastic, a company was making rolls of carpet, and back packs, and clothing if you could believe it. Out of the cans, of course they made new cans, but they used them for medical equipment, planes, and many other things that are made out of aluminum. The glass of course they made beautiful dishes, they used it again for medical devices, and jars for medicine. All I could say was: Wow! That's amazing! It was a very encouraging show that I think would be good for all to watch.

What happened to me through this time of meditation is that I saw myself as one who has been redeemed at the ultimate redemption center. I got picked up off the side of the road by Jesus, and though I have still went through some really rough times, He was right there with me, walking along side the conveyor, or the furnace, or the shredder, waiting for me to come out in such a state of readiness, that I was now ready to watch Him make me into something very beautiful and useful. Am I saying He put me through all those things..by no means. I am very grateful to have gone through everthing I did, as crazy as that may sound! I now see more clearly just how much my Jesus never leaves me nor forsakes me, and that despite everything, He will turn me into whatever beautiful thing He wants! I just get to rest in His arms, confident of His love for dusty old me. Now that's amazing!!!

'He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins - Colossians 1:13-14

Blessings...Lisa