Regeneration

Have you ever encountered this particular scenario? A Christian says to his non-Christian friend, “Christ died for you so you need to accept the gift or it does you no good." In this situation faith is often seen as something a person (a natural person) conjures up from his unregenerated human nature. This is unbiblical. The Scriptures argue that faith is a gift (John 6:63-65). Of course this does not alleviate us of the responsibility to preach the whole counsel of God and the sinners responsibility to believe it, but since he is, by nature, hostile to Christ (Rom 8:7), this will not take place apart from a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to open his blind eyes, unplug his deaf ears and turn his heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Regeneration is produced in you through the preaching of the word as the Holy Spirit 'germinates' the gospel through it ( 1 Thess 1:4, 5).

The Scriptures teach that when you were dead in your sins and transgressions God came to you first by His Spirit and Word to regenerate you unto faith (John 1:13, Eph 2:5, 2 Tim 2:25). J.I. Packer said, The saving power of the cross does not depend on faith being added to it; its saving power is such that faith flows from it" So we affirm with Scripture that the assistance of grace does not depend on the humility and obedience of man because it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble. Those who deny this contradict the Apostle who says, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7), and, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).

The gift, therefore, is not like a piece of candy which we can accept or refuse, but rather, the gift can be likened to the gift of eyes or the reception of new life as a baby. We did not receive either of these things by choosing them, but God granted them to us at our natural birth. Likewise we trust in Christ, not because we came to Jesus apart from the Holy Spirit in our natural state. Rather we trust Jesus because He removed our heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh which loves Christ. A heart without the Spirit is dead to God and needs the Spirit to make it alive so the person may believe. It was not our good will which caused our regeneration but our regeneration which caused our will to desire what is good. We "were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13).

So when we present the gospel we need to herald the news about what Jesus has accomplished in its fullness and the command for all sinners everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. Telling people the command of God is not the same as telling them the unbiblical and impossible supposition that they have the power to believe apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. (See Rom 3:19, 20).

Resources: Canons of Dort, Heads 3 & 4, Articles 14 & 15
Scripture Lesson: Ephesians 2:1-10, John 1:13, 6:63-65

Evidence for the Empty Tomb

 

 

First of all whether Jesus was buried or not does not play a role in resurrection. If a person is dead and you have no idea where they are that is one thing but if you know that someone is dead and you see them alive again…now that is an issue.

 

But let’s examine some of the data that we have about Jesus’ burial…

 

 

 

1.  All 4 Gospel accounts mention that Jesus was buried in the tomb. All the documentation that we have says he was buried in a tomb. Nothing else contrary.

 

2.  There were many of the Jewish leaders who were at the cross and they saw Jesus die. It would crazy to think that they didn’t care about the body and just let it go. They wanted to see the whole thing through to completion. Furthermore, we have a report that is recorded in Matthew and by two extra-biblical early writers, one being Justin Martyr, that Jewish observers admitted that the tomb was empty. That would be a pretty incredible admission if there was no burial. Right?

 

3.  Another piece of evidence that many scholars believe is that behind the gospel of Mark is a source that may be even earlier than Mark. If this is true then the gospel of Mark could be dated extremely early.

 

4.  What about the women who were present at the tomb? They were the first ones there to see the empty tomb on Sunday morning. This is also strong evidence of the burial. Why? The reason this is so significant is that because in the Mediterranean Jewish world, in general, women were not allowed to testify in a court of law. My point in mentioning this is if you are going to make up an account and you don’t think that people are going to accept your testimony you don’t make women the first and chief witnesses because people wouldn’t accept what they had to say in the first place.

 

5.  The fact that the burial happened in Jerusalem is also evidence that Jesus was buried. If I proclaimed that there is a local holy man and he died and he was buried in your town and I tell you, “Hey it’s three days later and the grave is empty go and see for yourself.” If I said that this happened in Africa. You probably wouldn’t go. If I said this happened in Australia, you probably wouldn’t go, but if I told you it happened downtown in the city you lived in you just might want to check this thing out. So Jerusalem was the last place the empty tomb should have been proclaimed unless it truly was empty because any number of people could have taken a Sunday afternoon stroll and been there easy. The fact that this was proclaimed in the city is further evidence because it could have been verified to see if it is true.

Deeper Conference 09

The Deeper Conference is coming back to Woodstock, Ga on September 11th and 12th. I can't wait. I was able to attend the very first one last year and went out with the first 500 group too. What a blast, shout out to Marcus Pittman! I learned so much and met some great friends being there. More than anything I'm really looking forward to hearing Mark Cahill speak this year. I was able to hear him in a church a few months ago and I was able to speak with him shortly after. What a generous man. He gave our evangelism team two cases of his books to pass out and didn't ask us for a penny.

Christian apologetics has become so interesting to me. I want to know how to defend my faith, another reason I can't wait for the conference is.....Ravi Zacharius! This man is one of the most brilliant Christian apologists that I have ever heard. Can't wait. I'll post pics and updates after the conference is over.

Did Jesus really die? The Swoon Theory

 

How is it that we know Jesus died on the cross? Could have the disciples pulled him down from the cross before he died? Maybe that would account for the resurrection? This has been addressed as reasonable doubt by some skeptics in the past. Today, no reasonable scholar, Christian or otherwise thinks this theory has any merit. This is known as the “Swoon theory”. Below is what I believe to be some evidences showing why this theory is false.

 

                 A. Evidence that Jesus truly died

 

i. We know a lot about crucifixion and what happens to someone on the cross. A number of medical doctors have asked for volunteers to study what happens on the cross. What they have found out is this. You don’t get down off of the cross alive. When you are hanging and it doesn’t have to be nails, the weight of your body pulls down on the muscles surrounding your lungs (the intercostal pectoralis deltoids). This constricts your lungs when the weight of your body pulls down on them. When the knees are bent and the body is in the “slumped” position you begin to asphyxiate. You begin to die fairly quickly. In an experiment in Cologne, Germany they tied male volunteers to 2x4’s in the crucified position who began to loose consciousness in 12 minutes. When on the cross you must push up with your feet in order to breath. This would be even harder with nails in your feet. You push up with your feet to relieve those muscles but you can’t stay there long. You could possibly stay alive as long as you can continue to push up with your feet but once that stops, your body slumps, and it’s over relativity quickly.

 

ii. For a Centurion guard not to be sure that Jesus died on the cross he would have to be completely unaware of what was going on around him and these guys were trained assassins in the art of crucifixion.

 

iii. It was common of people to take a “death blow” on the cross. There are cases of people being shot with a bow and arrow and taking blows to the head. We learn that in the Gospels the soldiers would break the ankles of the people on the cross. Why? Because you couldn’t push back up to breath. This sped up the process of dying. They did not break Jesus’ ankles but we do know he was stabbed. We have two other extra biblical cases of people being stab and crucified. We are told “blood and water” came out. The major medical explanation is that around the heart there is a sack that is called the pericardium. It holds a thin watery fluid. So many medical doctors believe that he was stabbed in the heart because that is exactly what happens. Medical experts would agree that he was dead before he was stabbed but if not it would have killed him anyway.

 

iv. If Jesus had survived the crucifixion the disciples would have thought he was alive but they would have never believed that he was risen. Not if he was sweating, bleeding, with multiple wounds, and dragging himself all over the place due to his great pain. The disciples would have gotten him a doctor before they would have proclaimed him risen. He could have convinced them that he was alive, but if there is no risen Jesus then there is nothing for the church to get excited about, nothing for church teachings to be based on. If he is not raised then there is no basis for the church. Could you imagine Peter watching Jesus as he stumbles into the room and saying, “Oh boy! I can’t wait to have a resurrected body”. Over 20 times in the New Testament we are told that believers will be raised like Jesus. The point is they couldn’t have believed that if he was alive but not raised.

 

v. For even further information please check out the following article on CARM.org.

Jesus only appeared to have died on the cross - Swoon Theory

He tried?

The Mormon God

In Mormonism, God is an exalted man from another planet who has a goddess wife and he has a body of flesh and bones and produces offspring in Heaven with his goddess wife. Does this mean that the Mormon god from another world, when he was man..Does this mean he was a sinner?

 

This is an excellent question to pose to a Mormon. The text below represents what a conversation might look like.

 

Christian: How many gods are there?

Mormon: I don’t know, but I would say many.

Christian: Ok. Do you believe in Heavenly Father?

Mormon: Yes

Christian: Was Heavenly Father always God?

Mormon: Well…no

Christian: Was Heavenly Father ever a sinner in a past mortal existence?

Mormon: I don’t know

Christian: What do you mean you don’t know? How can you not know whether God was a sinner? Do you believe that God was a sinner?

Mormon: Our church doesn’t really talk about that. We don’t have an official statement on that topic. We don’t deal with it.

Christian: You don’t deal with it? Isn’t that really important? If the God you are serving was once a sinner he can’t save you. Only an eternal holy God can save you. Not a god who was once a sinner and attained exaltation and became a god. That kind of god cannot save you. So I’ll ask you again. Did God the Father ever sin?

Mormon: I don’t know. Maybe.

Christian: Did God the Father ever lie?

Mormon: I don’t know, but he could have.

Christian: Did God the Father ever lust?

Mormon: Maybe. He could have.

Christian: Could God the Father ever have been a homosexual?

Mormon: …ummm…ummmm..maybe.

Christian: Friend, if you do not repent of your false god you will burn in hell.

 

Now if you think this approach is tough. You’re right it is tough. Anyone who thinks that God the Father, the great God of the universe was ever unholy, you are not worshipping the true God. When you worship a false god or a god who used to be a sinner or if you don’t know that he was, and is, and is to come, you are worshipping an idol! You will suffer in Hell for that.

 

I don’t speak that way out of arrogance. I speak that to you by the authority of God’s word alone. That is what God says…not me. If you are Mormon reading this there are many Christians who care about you and love you. We do not want to offend you for the sake of being offensive, but we want you awaken you from you false theological understandings. You can come to know the true God who is holy, unchanging, and desires to save you from your sins.

 

Isaiah 43:10 - You are My witnesses," declares the LORD,
         "And My servant whom I have chosen,
         So that you may know and believe Me
         And understand that I am He
         Before Me there was no God formed,
         And there will be none after Me.

The Impossible Mormon Gospel

What the goal of the “Impossible Gospel” is to show Mormons what the Book of Mormon truly teaches about the Gospel. Then to help them draw the logical conclusion regarding whether they are actually measuring up to the standard that is given to them by their own book.

 

I would start by asking the Mormon if I could share something with them about forgives? Then I would ask “Do you have forgiveness?”

 

They might respond with “Yeah, I have forgiveness. I repent and I’ve been baptized. I believe in God and in Jesus.” That type of thing…

 

Then I ask “Ok, may I share with you a few verses from the Book of Mormon that talk about forgiveness?”

 

“Of course you can.” They will hopefully reply with.

 

The first one I go to is Moroni 10:32

 

Moroni 10:32 - Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

 

So what do you have to do to obtain the grace sufficient for you? You have to deny yourself of all ungodliness. You’ve got to love God with all your might, mind, and strength. So, my question to the Mormon is..What does that look like when someone denies himself of all ungodliness?

 

Ask the Mormon that question. You might hear a response like, “Well, I’m trying. I’m trying really hard to repent for the sins that I commit.”

 

Continue by asking “But have you denied yourself of all ungodliness? Do you know of anyone who had done that?”

 

Be sure and repeat the verse a couple of times so they get the point. The point being that only after you have denied yourself of all ungodliness and completely loved God will His grace be sufficient for you. Then move on to the next verse.

 

2^nd Nephi 25:23 - For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

 

My question to the Mormon is “So have you done all that you can do?”

 

The Mormon may respond the same way again, “Well, I’m trying, I’m trying. I’m doing my best. I repent every day.”

 

I understand that, but have you done all that you can do? Because if you have done all that you can do why are you repenting? Why would you be repenting from sin? It would seem that you are still falling short?

 

You may need to park on these two verses for awhile so you can pound into the Mormon what their own books are requiring of them. This is not being saved by grace apart from works. To get the grace of God you must deny yourself of all ungodliness. You must deny yourself to get the grace of god. You can only get His grace after all you can do. God’s grace is not a gift in Mormonism. It is only after all that you can do. Get the point? Next verse…

 

Alma 11:37 - And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.

 

So, you cannot be saved in your sins according to Mormonism. If you are sinning you cannot be saved in them.

 

Next verse…

 

1 Nephi 3:7 - And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

 

Basically this says that God does not give commandments to people that they cannot keep. If He gives you a commandment, you can keep it. If He says that you can deny yourself of all ungodliness then you can do it. If He says that you are saved by grace after all you can do then you can do it…according to Mormonism.

 

So the question again is…Have you denied yourself of all ungodliness? Have you loved God with all your might, mind, and strength? Are you doing that?

 

Take them to another passage…

 

Doctrines and Covenants 1:31-33 - For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance; Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven; And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts.

 

So this passage is saying if you truly repent then you will repent and do the commandments of the Lord to be forgiven. So I ask the question, “How many of the Commandments do you have to do?” because the verse says to do the commandments of the Lord.

 

You’ve got to repent and do the commandments of the Lord because he says the he cannot look upon sin with the lease degree of allowance. The next verse shows the true difficulty in this message.

 

Doctrines and Covenants 58:43 - By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them.

 

If you have truly repented of your sins you are going to confess them and forsake them. Doesn’t something sound wrong with that? You have to forsake your sins in order to have them forgiven?

 

Many times in speaking to Mormons they choose not to believe me but what about one of their own prophets? Surely a Mormon wouldn’t try and refute his own prophet, would he? A Mormon prophet has the right and ability to speak with authority on issues of doctrine.

 

Spencer Kimball defines what repentance is in “Repentance Brings Forgiveness”

 

1. Sorrow for sin
2. Abandonment of sin
3. Confession of sin
4. Restitution for sin
5. To do the will of the Father

 

Let’s focus on the Abandonment of sin. This is what the prophet of the church says, “The forsaking of sin must be a permanent one. True repentance does not permit making the same mistake again.”

Think about that for a minute. If true repentance does not allow you to make the same mistake again then you have not truly repented. This is the point to bring the Law in. Ask about lying, stealing, lusting, loving God more than anything. If the Mormon says that they are trying to stop those things…well then have they truly repented? Remember the prophet said that you cannot make the same mistake again if you have truly repented?

 

So I might ask, “Do you repent daily?”

 

If the Mormon answers yes then he has not truly repented according to Mormon doctrine because if you continually repent then you must be continually sinning. Remember you can’t make the same mistake again according to their prophet.

 

So what are you going to do if you repent of your sins (lying, lust, coveting) now, yet 10 years from now you commit the same sin. Doesn’t that prove you never repented to begin with?

 

"There is one crucial test of repentance. This is abandonment of the sin. Desire is not sufficient. In other words, it is not real repentance until one has abandoned the error of his ways and started on a new path… the saving power does not extend to him who merely wants to change his life. Trying is not sufficient." (Spencer W. Kimball, Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 163

 

**The Impossible Mormon Gospel is originally presented by Keith Walker from www.evidenceministries.org **

Book of the Dead/ 10 Commandments

This past weekend with a few friends of mine we hit the streets of Chattanooga to share our faith with the people downtown. I had some great conversations and learned quite a bit. During one such conversation someone made the claim the Ten Commandments were copied from an ancient Egyptian text called “The Book of the Dead”. After asking him to verify his resources I thought I would spend some time to research this myself so I could be prepared to give an answer on this topic should it come up again. (1 Peter 3:15)

 

According to Wikipedia:

"Some historians....have argued that the Ten Commandments originated from ancient Egyptian religion, and postulate that the Biblical Jews borrowed the concept after their Exodus from Egypt. Chapter 125 of the [Egyptian] Book of the Dead (a.k.a. the Papyrus of Ani) includes a list of things to which a man must swear in order to enter the afterlife. These sworn statements bear a remarkable resemblance to the Ten Commandments in their nature and their phrasing.....The Book of the Dead has additional requirements, and, of course, doesn't require worship of Yahweh."

 

The writings that I researched were from Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead. I will concede that a few of the concepts are the same, but not anywhere close to how the Ten Commandments are stated.

 

As I read Chapter 125 I could only find some, not all, of the concepts that could be found in the Commandments. Let me say this again..What the Book of the Dead states is not even close to the Ten Commandments when it comes to wording. Nowhere near. The following ones are:

 

6^th Commandment – You shall not murder

7^th Commandment – You shall not commit adultery

8^th Commandment – You shall not steal

9^th Commandment – You shall not lie

 

For us to be intellectually honest we must also take note that they are just as many Commandments not listed:

 

1^st Commandment – You shall have no other Gods before me. (The ancient Egyptians believed in many gods – Polytheism)

2^nd Commandment – You shall not make a graven image (Why? Because ancient Egyptians made all types of idols from the many gods that they worshiped)

3^rd Commandment – You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain

4^th Commandment – Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy (nothing is mentioned about the Sabbath in the Book of the Dead)

5^th Commandment – Honor your father and mother

10^th Commandment – You shall not covet

So we can tell just by reading the list above that there appears to be just as much in common as there is not. This is simply an attempt to discredit the Bible, a weak uninformed attempt I might add.

 

Why would the Book of the Dead have anything in common with the 10 Commandments?

That is an easy question. If anything the Book of the Dead verifies the Bible. The Bible states that God has written His law on the heart of every man. Everyone knows that certain things are wrong. We know it is wrong when we lie, cheat, steal, or commit adultery. You don’t have to have an ancient Egyptian writing to tell you that. Do you?

 

Romans 1:14,15 - For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them

 

If you are ever confronted with this argument I would suggest asking the following questions:

• What evidence do you have for that?
• Where did you get your information from?
• What chapter in the Book of the Dead does this appear in? (If they truly haven’t researched this I doubt they will even know)
• What Commandments are wrote about and which ones are left off?
• The Book of the Dead also states the following:

  I have not held back the water when it should flow.
  I have not diverted the running water in a canal.
  I have not put out a fire when it should burn

  So, tell me…What does that have to do with the 10 Commandments?

This is just a quick way to give an answer to someone who many try to back you up against a wall. When you ask the questions above be prepared to give them the answers if they do not know. Most people who will bring this up to you have seen a video on YouTube or have been told second hand. I doubt they have researched it themselves or have any evidence to back it up.