The Truth Appeal

My long-awaited new book, THE TRUTH APPEAL: Discovering the Eternal Light for Living in Christian Faith, is on the way. It has been submitted to Xulon Press (self-publishing) and is being edited at this time. It should be completed by October and available at Amazon before Christmas. 

What is the greatest need for our country today? Is it not Christian reformation? What is the greatest need for the Christian church today? Is it not a reformation in the truth of Scripture?

How can America find a reformation in the truth of Scripture? By rediscovering the truth of God that is the objective truth of truth, and verifiable to all mankind. This is the essence of this new book.  

Leadership

Here are some of the leaders that I have been inspired by or have been associated with in my life.

 

“12 O’clock High” – a fictitious General Frank Savage had to turn the leadership of the U.S. Army Airforce 918^th Bombardment Group around.  He became a principled leader to accomplish the mission.  The men eventually were inspired with pride and became part of the successful and elite daytime bombing group.  

 

“The Reagan Revolution” – Ronald Reagan was an old-school Republican who changed parties because he saw the dangers of Socialism in the Democratic party.  He also proclaimed the freedom principles of the American constitutional republic and of a free capitalistic economy.

 

“Federal Express” – Fred Smith was an old-school businessman and developed an entirely new service in overnight delivery.  FedEx has grown to provide worldwide service and is a premier example of building a business with a capitalistic, commitment to excellence, economic model.   

 

“Ligonier Ministries” – R.C. Sproul was a teacher of the Bible, Theology, and Philosophy, and he could Communicate and Lead.  He was a five-star leader in Truth.  Ligonier’s mission statement is “to teach, proclaim and defend the holiness of God, to as many people as possible.”  

 

“The Courage to Be Free” – by Governor Ron DeSantis, who leads with character and dedication for ‘America’s Blueprint for Revival’.  He dismantles ‘woke’ ideology with common sense, and constitutionally sound leadership, to protect the families, businesses, and freedom of all Floridians.   

 

Christian Leadership – A Christian leader must first follow Christ.  I seek an ‘old school, biblical, and Spirit-filled’ leadership to inspire other believers to follow Christ.  

- We have the Bible, which is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, incarnated, and thus, irreplaceable Word from God.  

- We must highlight the Trinity, who is God the Creator, Christ the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit the Sanctifier.  

- We are constantly challenged by the post-Christian culture, which is democratic, secular, woke, and sinful.  The cultural war is part of the greater Spiritual war.  

- We can be Spirit-filled and transformed into the image of Christ when we live out the truth of Scripture and encourage others to do the same.  

Faith Today

Life is busy as always, but I hope to post more soon.  

Please see my other blog post at - FAITH TODAY - www.veritasfaith.blogspot.com.  

Good Theology

There are many good reasons for studying theology, such as discovering who God is, and what He is doing in the world.  It gives us an understanding of the meaning of our lives as we learn the teachings of the Bible.  For instance, in Genesis 1:27 we read, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."  This is good theology.  We begin to learn about humanity's true identity from theology.  And we can also learn of God’s eternal nature and His promises to His people. 

 

Studying theology picks us up out of the darkness, brokenness, and sinfulness of this world.  In Christ, we receive the salvation of our souls and inspiration for living.  Discovering Christ transforms us back to "the image of God" and the image of Christ, and we then long to live for Christ in all aspects of our lives.      

 

My prayer for my family and friends is that they would discover the joy of knowing Christ and being transformed into His likeness.  Our culture is changing at an incredible rate and we cannot be indifferent to the call of living for Christ.  We will drift away from God without inspiration in good theology.   

 

The Holy Spirit speaks through all of Scripture, and in Romans 12:2, He says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  The will of God is to live for Christ, which as we see in 12:1 is described as, “your spiritual worship.”

 

God is calling us out of the world and to Christ and His word.  He is calling us to know Him and be transformed by Him.  This is good theology and it causes us to live for Him.  

Christianity In America

Recently WORLD magazine (www.wng.org), published an interview with Dr. Carl Truman, professor at Grove City College in PA.  He has written a book entitled, "The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self."   Although I haven't read this book yet I've heard from a handful of people that it is excellent and hits the bull's eye in describing the problems of our contemporary culture.  I highly recommend the interview and then the book.  

Also, Dr. Steve Nichols, president of The Reformation Bible College, and Teaching Fellow at Ligonier Ministries, has produced a new twelve-part teaching series entitled, Christianity in America, which is excellent. This also describes where we are and how we got here.  You can see this on the Ligonier App, where it is promoted as “Conviction or Compromise.”  It’s also available through www.ligonier.org, or Ligonier Connect, (https://connect.ligonier.org) where there are over a hundred other teaching series from Ligonier.  

Let’s encourage each other with a Veritas Fellowship as we see our culture disintegrating right before our eyes.  We need the Truth of Scripture, who is Christ, and our children need this same Truth for the years and generations to come.  A people centered, relationally oriented, emotionally focused faith cannot stand against the self-centeredness of contemporary culture.  It cannot strengthen us Spiritually.  We need the Truth of Scripture, with graciousness and mercy to everyone.  But, we need the Truth of Scripture.  

The Nature of Sin

James Montgomery Boice was the pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1968 to 2000.  Just recently I saw a quote of his in our church's weekly bulletin.  It read - 

"This is a paradox, of course, as Augustine, Luther, Edwards, Pascal, and others have pointed out.  When individuals rebel against God, they don't achieve freedom.  They fall into bondage, because rebellion is sin, and sin is a tyrant.  On the other hand, when men and women submit to God, becoming his slaves, they become truly free.  They achieve the ability fully to become the special, unique beings that God created them to be."

I believe this is exactly correct and it agrees with the Bible.  In the sixth chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul also describes slavery and freedom, compared to sin and righteousness.  He says in 6:15-17, 

"What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed."

Paul continues in Chapter 7 to describe his struggle with sin, and in Chapter 8 to describe his victory in the Holy Spirit.  And so, we must seek to be led by the Holy Spirit to become free from sin.  And then we will be free indeed.  God is calling us to live for Him, and be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we would be free to be who He has created us to be.  

What Is Theology?

What is theology?  Is it a four-letter word?  Is it something that only churchmen need?  Is it something that we need sparingly, like a trip to the dentist?  Is it like an insurance policy that we need to cover ourselves for heaven?  

Theology is the study of God, it is the knowledge of God.  It is more than intellectual assent, but it is not less than that.  We need to have a cognitive understanding of who God is, and what He does, to understand our lives.  And then theology is the personal knowledge that can transform our lives to become Christ-like.  

Augustine penned these words in his classic Confessions, that explains his understanding of theology.  

"And even so humanity, which is but a part of your creation, longs to praise you.  You inspire us to take delight in praising you, for you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

It is good theology to know that we have been created by God and for God, and our hearts will ultimately be restless until they find their rest in God.  We can find our purpose in God alone.  

Jesus also taught us that we can begin to experience eternal life in our knowledge of God in this life.  In John 17:3 we see, "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."  In Christ, we can know God, and Jesus describes this as eternal life. 

When we see that theology is the knowledge we need to have a personal relationship with God, we then seek to live for God in all of life.  The Godward life is the best life indeed.