The Invisible Church Blog

Having addressed one ditch, the other ditch of harlotry AKA easy-believeism, antinomianism etc. should be mentioned as well. Lordship lacking the love that comes with husbandship, this group loves them all, or so they think. As a spiritual harlot, they try to take Christ plus anything or sometimes plus everything. They cannot be content with one husband but must have many, as dictated by their love of the world. For these, syncretism becomes the order of the day, a mingling of two or more things that are entirely inconsistent. They think they can have Christ AND whatever comes to the imagination of their heart. They are not a devoted spouse but have multiple lovers (can be self, worldliness, licentiousness, purpose-driven etc) hence the term harlot.

This group does seem to be by far the larger of the two at present, and will make up a very important part of the anything-goes harlot in Rev 17. They simply love not Christ, for they know not what love is. Love ultimately places the object loved at the foremost pre-eminence! The spiritual harlot having devoted themselves to worship after their own imaginations, this love they have reserved for themselves rather than for Christ as husband.

http://www.theinvisiblechurch.ca/edify/What_is_Love.html

For the path to be narrow, there has to be something on the left and the right of it. If you find yourself aware of or guarding against only one of the ditches, most often you are in the other one.

The whole issue can be summed up as “Love your Husband, and He alone.”

Ezek 16:35-38 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

There are always two ditches on the side of the road that the driver ought to be aware of, and likewise there are multiple sets of opposing ditches within professing Christendom. One set of ditches that I would like to address today is the ditch of antinomianism and the opposing ditch of legalism. Today they have popped up with new names, and often go under the headings of ‘easy believism’ and ‘lordship salvation’, each one being an over-correction in an attempt to prevent heading into the opposing ditch. The ditch of choice being most loudly promoted today is that of lordship salvation, so it is that ditch which I will attempt to deal with.

‘Submitting to Christ as Lord’, or’ making Christ Lord of all your life’ are common terms within the lordship group, but what exactly are these terms trying to invoke? I believe the answer lies in this direction. The better part of restraining grace being absent from them, lordship salvation proponents must take it upon themselves to invent one. What they refer to as ’submitting to Christ as Lord’, is their effort of hanging fruit on a dead tree to give the appearance of life. Oh foolish trees…..who prefer slavery to husbandry, who would rather be Hagar’s than Sarah’s, who would rather have duties than desires! They know not that ‘thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name’.

The submission to a Lord is very different than to that of a husband, which is why many will submit to Christ as Lord (Matt 7:21), who have yet to receive Him as husband (Rev 21:9). The former is similar to the submission of Islam or Romanism, the latter is that of the Bride of Christ. In life many people call me by my name, and some will even submit to the tasks I require of them, yet it is only my wife who can claim me as ‘husband’. The former may attempt duties out of obligation, or in hopes of a favour returned, yet they never reach the intimacy of the marriage relationship. This is to show that others may ‘submit to me as lord’, or call me lord, or some other such thing, but ONLY my bride can claim me as her husband. Are our wills perfectly aligned? No! Do we always agree? No! Does she always do my will? No! Does that make her any less my wife? No! The difference is that whether or not the ability to perform the things is there, the desire for that most intimate of communion is there! This desire for the very person of Christ is love, and it covers a multitude of sins. To stop at a Lordship type of salvation, leaves one terribly short of the husbandship of Christ (1 Cor 16:22). Stay on the road!

Hosea 2:16 And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi (my husband); and shalt call me no more Baali (my Lord).

There is a most oft personal question that keeps arising and I thought I will answer it here. “The question is why do you not attend church?”

Answer:

One day I heard Christ knocking on the door of the church (Rev 3:20), so I got up and answered the door. He invited me to join Him outside (Rev 18:4), so I did, and have never looked back (Luke 9:62), lest I be turned to a pillar of salt (Gen 19:26).

On the outside, none dare stand between me and Christ as pope.

On the outside, I am more attentive to sin’s consequences.

On the outside, church can’t cover up the spiritual death.

On the outside, I learned from Christ Himself who He is.

On the outside, I learned to love Christ for who He is.

On the outside, I have sweet communion with Him.

On the outside, none can silence the truth of Christ.

On the outside, He fills my cup ‘til it runneth over.

On the outside, I can only be sustained by Christ.

On the outside, I learned to be led of the Spirit.

On the outside, religious distractions are gone.

On the outside, is no balm but that of Gilead.

On the outside, are others who need Christ.

On the outside, is where Christ was crucified.

On the outside, is where Christ arose again.

On the outside, I have only Christ to hold to.

On the outside, I strengthen that grip.

On the outside, is where Christ is.

That is why I stand outside the church with Christ.

I stumbled across a person who goes by the name of Castingthelight on another blog who has some questions he would like to ask. This thread will be dedicated to the discussion.

Casting, feel free to introduce yourself.

Among other things, the seven churches of Revelation, represent seven different mindsets with regards to their approach of Christ. These mindsets are typified in our modern denominational groupings.

I have summarized the seven churches relatively simply below. Christ has something good to say about all but the last, and a rebuke of some sort for all. Those who are actually Christ’s need to examine which ‘church’ best fits their mentality (not necessarily their place of attendance) and heed the admonishment. I don’t believe that anyone would like to hear Christ rebuke them personally, so it is best for us all to heed our own rebukes and address them now while we still can.

Ephesus- Represented by the Independent Fundamental churches- Can find error well, but have little or lost their love for Christ.

Smyrna- Represented by the church in Communist and other like Countries- Persecuted unto death, need to hold fast the faith unto death

Pergamos-Represented by the Pentecostal/Charismatic churches- Bold, but not discerning and generally relish error

Thyatira-Represented by Episcopal type churches (United, Anglican, Methodist Etc.)-Good human works, but not for Christ

Sardis- Represented by the Reformed churches-Have the truth, but pride in having it keeps it from their hearts leaving most yet dead

Philadelphia- Represented by brethren wherever they may be-Well done, but are to hold fast the faith

Laodicea- Represented by the New Evangelical (EG Purpose Driven et al) type churches-Nothing good to say about it, the lukewarmness is putrid to Christ.

Each of the churches surround Christ, yet none of them have a lock on the Christ in the center. Take heed, some of the bride of Christ can be found in each one, but there will not be many of Christ’s bride in any of them!

Where art thou?

Often times it is heard from those outside of Christ, that those saved by Him are self-righteous. This is one of those cases where their own words are cast into a mirror and reflect upon themselves; for it is only those who are in Christ that are not self-righteous, they are actually Christ-righteous! Having the righteousness of Christ imputed to them by faith they no longer consider any deed as a righteousness of self, but rather attribute all to Him who has washed them in His own blood. These indeed and these alone are so far from being self-righteous, they can only be Christ-righteous!

Self-righteousness belongs to those who are preparing to present God or man some righteousness of their own. Some look to the positive moral codes and conducts of the world, others may look to biblical standards. These hope that their abiding by certain standards all will go well with them. What they are looking for is a righteousness of self that will make them acceptable before God or man, in other words a self-righteousness. What they refuse to admit is that “all their righteousnesses are as filthy rags”, this, those who are fixed upon their self-righteousness cannot and will not hear.

When one is Christ-righteous they understand that “in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” and have looked elsewhere for the righteousness required to stand before a perfect and holy God. How they appear to man matters little to them, their great concern is being brought into right fellowship with a holy God. They understand they have no righteousness of their own that will meet the perfect standards required by a perfect God, so they have gone to Christ by faith for this righteousness and have found that He in turn imputes His own righteousness to them as promised. With the imputation of the righteousness of Christ in the believer comes new desires and actions that heretofore were not even possible. Desires for the glory of God at the expense of our own, desires for communion with God through His Son, and ultimately a love of God for His very person as He Himself has revealed, rather than some god made up by our own imaginations. These desires originate from God Himself and are transferred to us from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. Each of them has a role and none can be left out of the equation, otherwise there is a break in the conduit leaving us short of any fellowship with God.

In short, we take God as He is, He takes us as we are, and supplies all that is needed to make us capable of communion with Him. That is the glory of Christ-righteousness!

I was speaking to a neighbour the other day, and he mentioned that there is so much information around that he doesn’t know what to believe any more. I told him it was all part of a much larger plan to bring men into ‘the darkest of ages’. He was a little confounded at that statement, as you might well be but allow me to explain.

Centuries ago when the religious establishment forbade the common folk an ability to read, it was a spiritually dark time, so dark in fact that it was named “The Dark Ages”. For the knowledge of God as revealed in His word was held captive by devious men, unwilling to loosen their grip on their professed power over the eternities of souls. Then along came the invention of the printing press, which made books available to the common folk, and was the beginning of the end of that madness. The original design of it was not to make just any book available, but to make the Good Book, the very word of God available to the common folk. It was a wonderful invention, the learning to read and to write spread forth quickly, and the word of God became accessible to everyone. With the word of God then loose and available for the public, the bride of Christ grew, as many were saved. These saved people in turn wrote much for the edification of the future church, and the plan of Satan to withhold the light of the word of God from the people was abated for a time.

Moving on to plan B, Satan said to himself, “Since I can’t withhold the word of life from the people I must provide a distraction”. From then on, book after book was written, with story after story, and truth after truth; a little here, a little there, along with a mixing everywhere until it reached the point we are at today. There is so much to read or watch or hear, and so much truth mixed with error and contradiction amongst it all that few even know what to believe any more.

With all this truth mixed with error, and error upon error having been written and put forth into the minds of men, if someone were to come up to you and say “this is the way, walk ye in it” you should rightly answer “and why should I believe you?” Why should you answer this way? Because ‘the darkest of ages’ are upon us, with here a charlatan, there a charlatan, everywhere a charlatan. Not that this surprises the children of God, because the word of God has let us know that “knowledge would be increased” (Dan 12:4) at this time, but this is not so much the knowledge of God as it is the knowledge of anything but God. There will be many false teachers teaching many false things giving many false hopes 2 Tim 4:3-4, 2 Pet 2:1-3, Matt 24:4-5), so much so that to the tuned ear their only common rallying cry will be to go “any way but to Christ Himself”. The world may have you look for salvation in church, in ordinances, in self, in false religion; they may have you deny the need for salvation, and even deny the very existence of God. As those who oppose your soul, these multitudes are teaching from the imagination of evil hearts, to have you look anywhere but Christ Himself.

In ‘the dark ages’ men couldn’t read and had nothing to believe, today men can read anything and know not what to believe. The results are the same. Darkness! In our time it is called ‘the darkest of ages’.

For those who are not content with darkness but must have light, to Christ one must go, for Christ Himself is “that Light which lighteth every man” and “in Him is no darkness”.

“…This is the way, walk ye in it…”

Rom 5:11 …we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

The atonement of Christ is a foundational doctrine of the Bible running from cover to cover, and is to be rightly received and proclaimed by those who take the name of Christian. There are at least four questions that need to be rightly regarded concerning the doctrine, they are as follows:

1) What it is?

2) Why it was necessary?

3) What exactly was accomplished by it?

4) What it means to you?

The answers to these questions are foundational and are to be fully and rightly proclaimed that the souls of men might be saved.

1) The atonement of Christ is the satisfaction of the justice of God, by God, on our behalf, allowing God to then extend mercy to us. It is God Himself doing that which He requires to bring us into communion with Him. No longer being opposed to Him we are made His children and brought into fellowship with Him through the atoning work of Christ, otherwise known as being ‘at one’ with Him. This is why it is sometimes referred to as the At-One-Ment.

2) It was necessary because as one would expect from God, He is ABSOLUTELY holy, and absolute holiness is not found in fallen man. So God in mercy provides the way to impute His ABSOLUTE holiness to those who will receive it. He tells us in Lev 17:11 “it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul”. By His own rule, the blood of Christ, our Passover lamb, is required to make atonement for the soul. The transaction is applied to us by faith in this atoning work, without which, we are nought but enemies of God and have no possibility of fellowship with Him.

3) The accomplishment was that the wrath of God on the believer’s sin was ENTIRELY satisfied, and thereby we are brought into communion with the Most High God. Having been washed in the blood of the Lamb and purified for entrance into the holy of holies, our sin no longer provides an impenetrable barrier to fellowship with God. For the believer, sin can separate them from that most intimate of communion with God for a short time, but in mercy that separation is limited both in intensity and duration, its lack simply gives the offender a thirst for more of right fellowship with God.

4) We rejoice not because we are not going to hell, but rather because we have been brought into communion with the Most High God. The motive is not where we are not going, but rather who we are now in fellowship with. Being now in fellowship with God through the atoning work of His own Son, we have a new desire to both give and bring glory to His name at the expense of our own.

Based on God’s own rules of ‘..Thou shalt give life for life..’ etc., IF Christ was a mere man like us, He could not have atoned even for Himself; IF Christ was only a sinless man He could only atone for one other man who required it; but because Christ Himself is the Almighty God as He has stated, He alone has the infinite value required both in quantity and type, to redeem multitudes from generations past, present and future. His condition for exercising restitution on your behalf is that you trust Him.

Having learned the patience of unanswered prayer and taken their rightful place at the foot of the cross, the Christian is then prepared for the fullness of answered prayer in communion with God. Make no mistake about it, God both hears and answers prayer of those whose heart is right towards Him (James 5:16), of those who delight in Him (Psa 37:4). For these people, prayer is not placing an order to God for a wish-list of worldly wants , but rather a place of fellowship with the most high God. These are people who “Pray without ceasing” (1 The 5:17).

Many a child has asked his father for many a thing, but the child with the right heart towards his father asks the father for more of himself. The child has needs and trusts that his loving father will provide for them, what concerns him most is that the father will share more of himself, and this is what a child who loves his father asks for. This a loving father will most readily share! 

The child doesn’t ask someone else’s father to provide more of himself for him simply because that father is not his father and is under no obligation to provide anything for the child. Likewise a child of the devil can hound God with his worldly wish-list until he is blue in the face, but because God is not his Father, He is under no obligation to meet any demand. The problem this person encounters is that he isn’t seeking God Himself; what he is looking for is a servant, expecting God, who is not his Father, to bow to his demands as though He were his Father. These who want nothing of fellowship with the person of God should expect nothing of His benefit.

The provision of the very person of God is reserved for those who are His children, and those alone. These people truly meet God and can say with Isaiah ‘…mine eyes have seen the King…” (Isa 6:5), and this meeting causes drastic change to the heart. It is an alignment of the heart with the will of God which causes us to desire things that God is pleased to provide. The desires of a new heart change prayer from temporal wants to eternal needs. It seeks out how to bring glory to God. It seeks out the most intimate of fellowship with Him. This is the prayer that is answered! And having had the desire for fellowship with the most high God, God as your Father meets other needs as He sees fit.

A person is made a child of God through faith in Lord Jesus Christ. It is trusting Him alone that provides the washing required to bring one into right fellowship with God. For without this washing of the blood of the Lamb applied to us by faith, we belong to a different father and are nought but children of wrath. Yet if a man trust Christ and have his delight in God as his Father, this man shall know the fullness of answered prayer!

Ps 37:4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

The patience to be learned through unanswered prayer is most valuable. Each one of us is born entirely depraved, unable to think of anything but our own personal needs. As we grow older we become more and more able to attend to the concerns of others, yet apart from the work of Christ in our hearts the concerns of others must always take a back seat to our own. When we are born again we don’t entirely lose this old nature but there is a new nature imparted which battles the old one. Learning the patience of unanswered prayer is one of the tools the Lord gives us in this battle.

You see, our old nature must have what it wants, when it wants it. Impatient creatures that we are, waiting on the Lord is not something that comes naturally. We live in a world of fast cars, fast food, fast service, fast communication, fast lifestyles, basically everything is designed to be as fast as possible. Why? Because our carnal nature must be served, it demands it! Along with helping to align our wills with the will of God, denying this service is the role of unanswered prayer.

Early on in our Christian walk there is still much of the old man residing in us, and much that we pray for is not for the good of our soul. We ought to be more thankful than discouraged that these prayers are not answered, for if they were they would do us more eternal harm than good. Most prayer for the new believer is carnal, addressing physical wants more than spiritual needs, and many a person (especially the lost) will pray when the flesh is seeking out its own service. Why do they pray? Simply to get what they want. They haven’t learned to submit their will to the will of God. Surprising enough, many of these carnal prayers of the lost and the newborn are answered, sometimes the purpose is to teach them that what they had prayed for is not what they needed, other times it is to teach them to seek out the Lord, and still other times it is to allow them to fall deeper into the pit which they are in.

Those who are mature in Christ have had their wills more aligned with the will of God; they have learned to subdue the wants of self and have had their hearts readily prepared to receive the will of God in their life, come what may. They have learned the denial of self the Lord teaches through unanswered prayer, and are ready to move on. Prayer to them is not to some magic genie in a bottle to give them everything they want, prayer to them is sustenance to their soul, it is communion with God, it is the very lifeblood of their being. These people, having learned the patience of unanswered prayer have moved on in Christian growth to the fullness of supply to a thirsty soul in much answered prayer.

Ps 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

In contrast to both “The wine of the world” and “The worry of the world” we have “The wine of heaven”. Unlike the wine of the world, the wine of heaven is not intoxicating but is entirely satisfying and leaves no hangover nor regret the following day. What it does leave is a taste for more! With it being supplied as a simple taste of heaven to those on their way there, this wine when poured out without mixture has none of the defects of a fallen world, and all of the perfectness of a glorious heaven. However because we still live in a fallen world, until we reach heaven there will be but sips for those who will receive it, compared to the spiritual feast when we get there.

The wine of heaven is simply defined as sweet communion with God in and through Christ. This wine is the new wine that floweth from the very side of Christ, it is His supply, and His only to supply. When we look at John 19:34 we see that the blood came first and then the water, and when we look at John 2:7-9 we find it is Christ who turns the water into wine. The redemption of men required the blood of Christ to flow first, followed by the living water of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39) which Christ alone then turns into wine. The Holy Spirit floweth forth as a rush of living water into the soul of regenerate man, but it is Christ who turns this water into wine of the most pleasant kind.

The wine of heaven has all the characteristics of water in that it sustains life and satisfies thirst, yet along with these it has the sweetness of wine that causes those who have tasted it to desire it all the more. I must admit however, that with the senses of the natural man not being accustomed to it, the taste may appear strange at first (Luke 5:39), but to those who have tasted and drunk well from it (John 2:10), the new wine of heaven far surpasses the wine of this world in every respect.  Drinking well of it is not natural to the carnal man, the reason that these have come to drink well of it is that their bottle has been made new in regeneration (Luke 5:37) and is therefore ready to receive it, for the wine of heaven being so glorious in nature it will cause an old bottle to break. When a man has been humbled he will realize this and must go to Christ for a new bottle to carry the new wine (Luke 5:38). This new bottle is a new heart (Eze 36:26), regenerated by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

In being both the bread and the wine of heaven, it is Christ who supplies all that is needed for sustenance of the hungry spirit and soul of man, which sustenance is typified in the Lord’s supper. There isn’t a drop of the wine of this world that ultimately satisfies, nor is there a drop of the wine of heaven that ever disappoints a thirsty soul. Have you tasted of this wine of heaven, this sweet communion with God sent forth in the Son? If not, will you?

In opposition to ‘the wine of the world’ is ‘the worry of the world’. For if one has neither the wine of the world nor the heavenly wine all they are left with is the worry of the world. The state of worry is defined as being without either faith or drunkenness. This may seem too simple a definition, but frail creatures that we are with no power over tomorrow, if we have neither faith nor one of the various forms of drunkenness we simply must worry. Some understand this and attempt to place their faith in other things, like their own abilities or a myriad of other things, only to find out that these things fail them in times of crucial need. As we read in a previous post, “…the God that answereth by fire, let Him be God.” Therefore try as they might, those who trust in things that have not been proven to deliver will be left to worry whether these things will fail, and ultimately wonder what good these things will do for them as they prepare to pass into eternity. The most difficult part is that those in this condition often get by better in the world than the following group but have the most difficulty of ever coming to a saving knowledge of Christ.

Others have tried the wine of this world and found that it does not deliver what it has promised. These people are led into despair, for worry is an overcoming sin that destroys all in its wake. It leaves a person without hope, and apart from turning to Christ it leaves one with nowhere to turn for real deliverance. Since natural man is born opposed to Christ many will reject trusting Christ at this point and choose one of the more base forms of drunkenness, until sooner or later they are destroyed by it. The sooner this path is made manifest for the evil it intends to the man the better. This is a rather sorrowful bunch for whom the power of the blood of Christ can be made most manifest, which is why many who have later trusted Christ have first come to this condition.

The destructive nature of the worry of the world causes such great anxiety it forces a person to look somewhere for relief. Either the person will look to the wine of this world for contentment in the various forms of drunkenness offered, or they will look to the new wine that cometh from heaven through the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. So many choose the former, so few choose the latter!

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

A line from the old hymn “Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.”

The hymn writer has left us  much to think on in that one little phrase. To begin with we must understand that wine is the representative substance of the luxuries/pleasures/ease of this world; and by using wine as the standard substitute for these things, the writer has done well to remind us of the intoxicating nature of all of them. Like wine, though these things may seem pleasant to the natural senses of man in the beginning, yet if unchecked will proceed to hearts that forget the Lord because they are ‘drunk with the wine of the world’.

Intoxicating wine definitely has a purpose, and according to Prov 31:6-7 its purpose is to dull the senses of those who are ready to perish without hope, or those in misery. The soothing effect of the wine provides the help needed for fallen man to forget their own eternal misery; in this way the pleasures of the world mimic the wine.

Say what you will about them, the pleasures of this world are definitely intoxicating. They cause us to want more/bigger/better ones in hopes of preventing the hangover in between, while at the same time causing a growing addiction to them. Like any intoxicating substance, not only do they cause us to focus on that which is toxic for our satisfaction, they also cause us to neglect more important things. Some people are able to make a near lifelong drunk of the pleasures of the world, with never a thought or care of what comes after this world is over. Few indeed are those that take a break from the drunkenness on the pleasures of the world to see just how fleeting and meaningless they actually are. It is these people who are in the condition required to think about more endurable and eternal things such as a Redeemer.

Could I ask you to take a break today from the pleasures of this world that have your attention, and think on eternal things? Think of how long eternity is, think of heaven, think of hell, think of the redemption that is found in Christ, think of a crucified Saviour who shed His own blood on the cross for His people. Think on these things! One taste of that heavenly wine poured out by the Lord Jesus Christ and you will never go back. If you haven’t, will you seek Him out today?

Jonah 1:5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god…

Every man has a god of some kind that he places his hope in for deliverance in time of trouble. Deny as they might, even those who claim they don’t believe in God or gods have at least one ultimate authority they hope to turn to for deliverance. This would be their god, this will be that to which they cry out to for deliverance in time of trouble.

Powerless creatures that we are, it is normal and natural that every man in time of trouble seek to call upon his god or gods. Sometimes a man’s god goes by the name of science or medicine, other times his god goes by the name of education, or self, or money, or church attendance or outward religion; and still other times this god is some unknown vain and powerless idol made up in the minds of men. The men on the ship were not your average stock of men, they were mariners, who as a group are not terribly prone to the fears of the sea. Even these men knew they were facing death, and all called upon their gods but none were able to deliver, save the God of Jonah.

We find that the lack of response didn’t stop them from calling upon their gods, nor did their crying receive an answer. But as Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “…call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.” In essence, let He who is actually fully able to perform that which He promises be God. When you find yourself on your deathbed, about to cross the river into eternity, other gods like science, medicine, or even years devoted to religion will offer very little comfort. There you will find that there is comfort and assurance only in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who having overcome the grave is fully able to perform and provide that which He has promised.

Today I begin a blog intended for the benefit of the invisible church of the Lord Jesus Christ, wherever you may be. May the Lord make it a blessing to you.