Isaiah 44:6-8

Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

Isaiah 45:18

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

Isaiah 45:21-22

Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

Isaiah 46:9

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

Isaiah 48:12

Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

No gods prior, none thereafter. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He is the One and Only.

People from different faiths, or from no faith, will at times hold to the idea that Jesus was a nice person, a good moral teacher, or somehow an overall okay being. They don't however, want to declare Him to be God.

Indeed, is Jesus truly God? Sure, the Bible says He is the Son of God, but is He, well, "God"?

This question ties in nicely to that of the Trinity. Is there such a thing in Scripture? How can three be one?

Anyhow, I'll stick with the Jesus Is God question for now. Yes, I do believe the Bible makes it clear that Jesus is God.

His enemies, the Pharisees, certainly understood He was declaring Himself to be God.

John 10:33 "The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."

And the beginning of the Book of John also declares it to be so.

John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

And just a few verses from there we get:

John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

So you see, the Word, which is God, became flesh and dwelt among us. Which pretty much describes Jesus' earthly ministry. God dwelt among us.

A ramshackle cargo ship in the midst of the ocean springs a leak. The ship's engineer informs the captain the ship will sink in a day. They are four days from land, and no rescue is coming for the broken down cargo ship and it's crew of 20 doomed sailors.

Except one.

A luxury cruise liner is 18 hours away, and the captain of the liner orders it to head to the aid of the sinking cargo ship. The captain promises all the men of the dying ship the finest berths on his liner, and all the comforts he can offer.

In due time the liner comes alongside the cargo ship, and it is indeed dying. The cargo ship's stern is already below the water line, and it's bow is up out of the water, looking like a tilted see-saw.

The crew needs merely to get off their dying ship and step onto the deck of the waiting luxury boat used to shuttle wealthy passengers between the liner and exotic ports of call. Little time remains. To make matters worse, a fierce storm is churning the ocean into a cauldron of misery, and the skies are blowing stinging torrents of rain.

Some on the dying cargo ship immediately leap to the deck of the resuce craft. Others, however, dispute the captain's claims.

"How do we know his is the only ship coming?"

"If getting on the ship is for you, brother, that's nice. I'll take my chances."

"What kind of loving captain would require us to choose to to enter his ship? If he really cares about us, he won't let us die."

"I don't need a ship's captain telling me how to live my life."

"Those rich people on that luxury liner are a bunch of phonies anyway."

Even as the cargo ship starts it's final slide into the briny deep, the remaining crew members refuse to leap off and make a swim for the rescue craft. Faces twisted in scowls, they glare at the captain of the luxury craft, hating him in their hearts with everything they've got. Only now do they discover that by refusing to be rescued, they have chosen instead to die.

And so it is today. Jesus calls. Jesus has been calling. John 14:6 says "... I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. " Romans 10:9-10 says "... that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

So that's how you start a new journey on a ship that will never sink. You state out loud that you want Jesus to be the captain of your life, and truly believe that God raised Him from the dead. Truly believe. Let Jesus be the captain of the ship, and go along for the ride.

A good friend of mine asked the question "Does God change?"

I dug up these verses:

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Malachi 3:6

For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

I think those verses do establish the principle that God does not change. Of course, one needs to apply some common sense as to what "do not change" means. After all, when saying "I am the Lord", He had to change between four words, right? Clearly, the idea here is not one of legalistic nitpicking, but rather, a commonsense understanding of what "change" is.

Does God love to see people go to Hell? No. He never did. That's why He allowed His Son to pay the ultimate price for us. So while on the one hand, Jesus' atonement forever changed the way sin was paid for, God's unchanging nature is steadfast; sin must be atoned for in full.

At our weekly Bible study, we have been going through Chuck Missler's Learn the Bible in 24 Hours. One of the questions that have come out of the study is about the Nephilim, the bizarre race started in Genesis 6:2

Genesis 6:2

that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

The offspring of the unholy mating are the Nephilim, described later on as the Anakim.

Deuteronomy 1:28

Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, "The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.

The question arising is, how did the  Nephilim survive the flood?

I suggest an understanding of the Nephilim in which the Nephilim functioned as spirit beings possessing the bodies of men, in order to experience the various carnal pleasures this world had to offer. When the Flood presented a threat to their existence, some of them, out of necessity, possessed the swine that went aboard the ark. After the ark landed and the animals were released, the surviving Nephilim waited until the land was sufficiently repopulated with great men before going and again possessing the strong of the land, to be known as the Anakim.

Take a look at the the story of the gadarene demoniac:

Mark 5:1-13

Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me." For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" Then He asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

From this passage we learn the following:

• When demon possessed, a person may possess superhuman strength
• Demons, when forced to do so, are willing to possess and dwell in pigs
• Jesus did permit the demons to dwell in swine

Looking at Leviticus, we get this:

Leviticus 11:7-8

and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.  Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.

When Noah took the animals aboard the ark, he took all of them. There was no restriction on what animals to bring on board, the swine went aboard as did the other animals.

And the Nephilim:

Genesis 6:2

that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

This verse opens up a Pandora's box of possibilities. If one accepts the commonly held view that the "sons of God" here are the fallen angels of Lucifer's rebellion, then the following would be true by implication:

• The fallen angels had a libido
• They had bodies that could not only act on that libido, they could also breed with humans

While entirely possible, here is another possible scenario. What if, instead of directly breeding with humans, the demons are instead possessing the strongest men of the land and then acting their evil desires out through them? Looking at the gadarene demoniac of Mark 5, clearly the demon possessed man was no longer in control of his mind or body, the demonic hoard known as Legion was fully controling this hapless individual. As Legion, this man was totally uncontrollable, and indeed, was a terror to the entire region.

Imagine if the fallen angels of Lucifer's rebellioln did the same, back in the days of Noah. These demonic hordes possess the strongest, largest men of the land, magninfying their strength far beyond imagination. This demon-infused group becomes recognized as the Nephilim, giants in the land, undefeatable, wicked to no end.

When God's plan to destroy mankind and spare Noah becomes known, doubtless Lucifer also knew of the plan. Looking to preserve his minions, he knew God wasn't going to allow his agents to possess Noah's family. Unclean swine, however, were available, and lacking a human host to inhabit, they would do.

With or without the swine, sin obviously did re-enter the world even though Noah's family were the only humans to remain after the Flood. If God's intent was to eliminate sin at any cost, He would have eliminated everybody and started over, or perhaps started with only Noah. Instead, His magnificent grace was in action, allowing an imperfect small collection of people to continue when by all rights, most of them shoud have drowned with the rest of the humans. Indeed, knowing the utter hopelessness of the human condtion, God had a greater plan, one based on a final perfect sacrifice, his son Jesus.

So that's my theory on the Nephilim and the Flood.

The orange has three parts; the skin, the meat, the seed. All three make up the orange, all three serve a purpose, while at the same time each part is distinct. The skin protects the meat and the seed from the outside world, and gives the orange it's classic orange globe shape. The meat surrounds the seed and nourishes us, and is what most people think of when they think of tasting an orange. The seed, when stuck in the ground, dies and produces an orange tree.

So it is with the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Psalms 34:8

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

As I've discussed the topic of eternal security with various folks, one thing that seldom comes up is the idea that maybe folks who think they are saved aren't saved at all. Typically the discussion of eternal security revolves around examples of sinful living and how could God allow this or that into Heaven. "Will God's grace cover somebody who wants to live in adultery?" Stuff like that.

Let us say for the sake of discussion that yes, God's grace will cover anything your imagination can conjure up, if in fact you are truly saved. If you are saved, yes you could do all those things.

But are you truly saved? This is where I believe the discussion needs to shift to. For a proof text, I offer up Matthew 7:23

Matthew 7:23

And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

If you aren't familiar with the passage, go read the whole thing. It refers to the final judgement where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. The key portion of Matthew 7:23 I wish to point out is where Jesus says "I never knew you." This indicates to me that the individual was never saved. If you read the entire passage, you will see that the person says things like "Lord, Lord, did I not cast out demons in Your name?" and so on. This person, when they were on earth, casting out demons, must certainly have been doing so while in the belief that they were saved and going to heaven. Certainly they believed they were saved.

"I never knew you."

How could this be? Jesus knows the hairs on our head, so he knew of this person at least in a statistical sense, right? Of course. But what does Jesus mean when he says "knew"? Jesus is implying a deeper level of "knew" than one of simple knowledge. The corollary?

Romans 10:9-11

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

Romans 10:9 is a strong proof text for the eternal security viewpoint, and I believe it means what it says. The point worthy of note, though, is the phrase "believe in your heart". What sort of belief? The "believe" here is like Jesus' "knew" of "I never knew you". Both words imply a deeper level than one would assume.


Or as a summary for now, if you want Jesus to know you with better than simple knowledge, you need to believe in Him with better than simple belief.

One of the great questions one is bound come across in Scripture is the "Eternal Security" debate; is the saving work of Jesus revocable or is it irrevokable? Can you lose your salvation? Is there a limit to grace? Throughout history, men of faith can be found to take either position and offer up well thought arguments to support their position.

Rather than go through the arguments again, I will try instead to assemble a collection of verses used to support either view. From there, folks are welcome to read what the verses say and let the Spirit of God speak to their hearts.

New Testament Verse List

"You could lose your salvation"	"You cannot lose your salvation"
Hebrews 10:26-29	Psalms 103:12
Matthew 7:21-23	Romans 3:23-28
Matthew 25:41	Romans 4:4-8
Romans 8:1	Romans 4:15-16
Galatians 5:19-21	Romans 4:23-25
Romans 11:22	Romans 5:1-2
1 Corinthians 3:16-17	Romans 5:8-9
1 Corinthians 6:9-11	Romans 5:19-21
2 Corinthians 10:7	Romans 6:5
2 Corinthians 13:5	Romans 6:15
Galatians 5:1	Romans 6:23
Galatians 5:4	Romans 7:24-25
Galatians 5:19-21	Romans 8:1
Galatians 6:7-8	Romans 8:15-16
Philippians 3:18-19	Romans 8:29-33
Colossians 3:5-7	Romans 8:39
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8	Romans 10:9-11
2 Thessalonians 1:8-11	Romans 11:5-6
2 Thessalonians 2:3	Romans 11:29
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12	1 Corinthians 3:11-15
1 Timothy 1:13	2 Corinthians 5:5-8
1 Timothy 4:16	2 Corinthians 11:3
1 Timothy 6:12	Galatians 1:6
2 Timothy 2:11-13	Galatians 2:16-21
2 Timothy 3:1-9	Galatians 3:3
Titus 1:15-16	Galatians 3:13
Hebrews 2:1-4	Galatians 3:29
Hebrews 3:6-19	Galatians 4:7
Hebrews 4:1-11	Galatians 5:1
Hebrews 6:4-6	Ephesians 1:3-14
Hebrews 10:26-27	Ephesians 2:8
Hebrews 10:39	Ephesians 4:30
Hebrews 12:15-17	Colossians 1:13-15
James 5:19-20	Colossians 2:9-10
2 Peter 1:10	Colossians 3:3
2 Peter 2:20-22 (or the whole chapter)	1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
2 Peter 3:14	1 Thessalonians 5:9-10
2 Peter 3:17	1 Timothy 1:14-16
1 John 2:4	2 Timothy 1:10
1 John 2:15-17	Titus 1:2
1 John 3:4-12	Titus 2:13-14
1 John 3:15	Titus 3:5-7
1 John 5:16	Hebrews 7:25
2 John 1:8-9	Hebrews 9:11-15
Jude 1:5-13	Hebrews 9:27-28
Revelation 2:1-4	Hebrews 10:10-14
Revelation 3:4-5	Hebrews 10:17-18
Revelation 3:14-16	1 Peter 1:3
Revelation 14:9-11	2 Peter 1:10
Revelation 21:8	2 Peter 3:15
Revelation 22:19	1 John 4:9-10
	Revelation 1:6

This is not an exhaustive listing of verses on the topic of eternal security. These verses, however, do speak to the subject, and should serve as a start on a study of this important topic.

For some time now I have been wrestling with the concept of eternal security, or as it is more often stated, "Once Saved, Always Saved". There are folks far wiser than I who have taken either side of the argument, and plenty of scriptures to back up their assertions.

As I have looked into this topic, it seems there is a question regarding the interpretation of various Bible passages regarding the Kingdom of God, referring to the eternal kingdom that will eventually come into power:

Revelation 21:1-3

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John,  saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Amongst mainstream Christians there is little debate over this. Revelation 21:1-3 nicely describes what will be the Kingdom of God.

What, though, about the admonitions mentioning the requirements to either enter or be excluded from the Kingdom? That is where the contention lies. Here are some New Testament verses mentioning the Kingdom of God. 

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Galatians 5:19-21

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Theses passages make it clear that the Kingdom of God will be pure holiness. Looking at the 1 Corinthians 6:11 passage, one could argue that the "And such were some of you. But..." means that when a believer accepts Jesus Christ into their heart, they now enter this blessed state. Indeed, that would be a pretty straightforward understanding of the passage. Can, however, a believer in Jesus Christ fall out of their state of being accepted into the Kingdom of God? That is the big question. Okay, so what does it mean to not be accepted into the Kingdom of God? Looking at the Revelation 21:1-3 declaration of the Kingdom, there is a mention of a new heaven and a new earth. Perhaps those not admitted into the Kingdom simply live on the earth? This seems reasonable until I read what Jesus has to say on this question of being or not being in the Kingdom:

Matthew 25:31-34

31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Matthew 25:41

41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

The answer from Jesus is binary. You either are in the Kingdom or you are in the fire. There is no "Kingdom Lite" or "Lukewarm Kingdom". I don't see any room to declare not being in the Kingdom of God to be anything but being in the Lake of Fire.

So what about 1 Corinthians 11? Does that mean a believer stays washed and sanctified forever, or can they lose that state? Therein lies the key point of the "Once Saved, Always Saved" debate.

 First off, I don't claim to have the answer. Let's just get that out of the way up front.

Now, let's take a look at some scriptures.

1 Kings 12:19-23 19 Then Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. 20 And the Lord said, 'Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?' So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, 'I will persuade him.' 22 The Lord said to him, 'In what way?' So he said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And the Lord said, 'You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.'

Shocking, no? The LORD authorized one of His angels to put a lying spirit in the mouths of the false prophets? He sure did.

Exodus 10:1-2 1 Now the Lord said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him,  2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord."

As a Christian, I've heard plenty of folks state that God didn't force a bad attitude upon Pharaoh, but rather, simply magnified what was already there. I believe that, as there is no evidence that Pharaoh was anything other than a tyrant anyway. Nontheless, God did change Pharaoh's heart, or as it were, his mind.

To many folks, even many Christians, it is unthinkable that God would alter somebody's mind. Some folks state God would never interfere, that He is a "perfect gentleman" and would not interfere in the minds of men. But dear Christian, I call to you and ask, if God would not interfere in the minds of men, then what do you pray for? Do you pray for the salvation of your loved ones? If God will not interfere in their lost minds, then why are you bothering with your prayers? Do you pray for your finances, or maybe the finances of a loved one? How on earth do you think God will improve those finances, without getting a boss somewhere to decide to give somebody a raise? Do you pray for healing, in yourself or a loved one? Presuming that God doesn't directly heal the sickness, and instead uses a doctor, wouldn't you like it if God put the wisdom for the healing into the doctor's mind?

Of course, I could be totally wrong. It is entirely possible that God accomplishes His will without altering with the minds of men. The Holy Spirit serves to touch the hearts of men, so you could consider the Holy Spirit to be an external influence. I do not to pretend that I know the answer; God could do HIs will without directly changing the minds of men, He is capable of doing what He wants by any means He sees fit.

I do not know, but I would dare to say God can indeed change the minds of men. I do hope He can, He is welcome to fiddle with mine all He wants! Please , O God, change it!