I Am Still

God said, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Psalms 46:10 (KJV)

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Don’t be upset. I know what I am doing. I am simply playing with a word. Allow me to play and, perhaps, as you would watching a child at play, enjoy it.

God said, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

I am still.

Because I know Him to be God, I am still.

I am still a believer in Jesus Christ.

The years of worldly wisdom, exposure to disappointments, and even some disillusionments have not soured my faith in Christ. I came to trust Him as my Saviour at the age of 18. Since that day, I surrendered to preach the gospel, got married, raised my children. My wife and I have forty years of marriage. We’ve seen heartache and hurts. But Jesus has not failed us. I am still a believer in Jesus Christ.

I am still the same kind of Baptist I was when I was baptized.

I was baptized into the membership of an independent fundamental, Bible-believing Baptist Church. I am still a member of the same type of church to this very day. I went off to Bible College. I have served in four churches since then. I am still the same kind of Baptist I was when I was baptized.

I still have the same kind of personal separation.

I still listen to the same type of music. I still wear the same type of clothing. I still read and study a King James Version of the Bible.  I still believe in living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. And I still believe those things are defined as I was taught when I began my Christian walk. I still have the same kind of personal separation.

I still hold the same doctrinal Baptist distinctions.

The Lord exposed me to enough types of denominational doctrine that I knew all that was taught in the name of Jesus was not of the Lord. By the time I had found my way into an Independent Fundamental Baptist church, I had been exposed to the Presbyterian church, the Christian Church, the Southern Baptist denomination, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Nazarene Church. I didn’t buy into the Baptist doctrine without some investigation, but when I did buy into it, I bought it lock, stock and barrel. I still hold to the preservation of Jesus’ Church through John the Baptist. I still hold that the only authority to baptize is in a Baptist Church. I still hold that the Lord’s Supper is for the local body alone. I still hold to Biblical authority, autonomy of the local church, priesthood of the believers, two ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper, individual soul liberty, saved, baptized church membership, two offices: pastor and deacon and separation of church and state. I still hold the same doctrinal Baptist distinctions.

God said, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

I am still.

Because I know Him to be God, I am still.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

Am I doing something wrong?

Recently I was asked the question, "Am I doing something wrong?" Generally when I’m asked that question what they’re really asking is, “Is God judging me for something?”

Here’s the truth. God doesn’t judge us like that. Our sins have already been judged in the person of Jesus Christ. When God sees the Christian He only sees Christ and in Christ, only righteousness.

God’s not up in heaven waiting to spank us for every little thing we do wrong. He does: 

• train us 
• chasten us 
• discipline us 

but He does that most often through the natural system He has put into place in this world.

Most often when a person asks the question, “Am I doing something wrong?” they already have the answer. It has something to do with 

• an attitude that they have or with 
• an action they are involved in or with 
• an inaction that they are responsible for 

This world has an established order; things that work and things that don’t work. Wise people learn those things that work. Wise people learn those things that don’t work. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. It’s putting into practice what we know to work successfully.

So The answer to the question, “Am I doing something wrong?” is, “Yes. and No.” If you’re having trouble in business or succeeding in life then, yes you’re not following that natural course that leads to success. 

But if you mean, "Is God judging me?" and that’s why you’re having trouble in your life, the answer is no. The judgment for the Christian is already accomplished. God’s not judging you by 

• making your business fail or by 
• making your marriage fail or by 
• making your children fail 

Those are all consequences of poor choices that we’ve made or lack of knowledge that we have.

The good news is this means we can do something about those problems. We can gain the knowledge that we don’t have. We can change the behavior that we’re doing. We can adjust the attitude of our mind. We can gain the wisdom to apply what we know.

Sometimes what we’re doing is wrong in this world but right in heaven. When that’s the case we just need to suffer the consequences of our time in an unfriendly world. And in that case we know that God has a reward waiting for us in our new home in heaven. 

Hang on to that.

Many Americans Prefer A ‘Higher Power’ To The God Of The Bible

A recent article in Huffington Post is entitled, "Many Americans Prefer A ‘Higher Power’ To The God Of The Bible, Study Finds." 

It goes on to say that only 10 percent of Americans do not believe in some sort of spiritual force. It’s just that they don’t want to believe He is the God who is described in the Bible.  

Many of those who reject the God of the Bible have an incorrect understanding of who God is. Some of them have rejected not the God of the Bible but a misunderstanding of the God of the Bible. Some have not rejected the God of the Bible but their own perceived terms of how a person comes to know that God. 

The article claims that this belief in something bigger exists even among atheists agnostics and “nothing in particulars.” (I kid you not. That is the title of this third group. Pew Research has labeled them, “Nones.”) They believe in a higher power but “a new study from the Pew Research Center shows that for a significant number of Americans, “God” is not the God of the Bible.”

Here is the thing. None of them can provide any evidence for what they believe. The God of the Bible, on the other hand, has provided that evidence in the Bible and proven it to be true through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is so much intrinsic and extrinsic evidence that the record of the Bible is true that it requires far more faith to discount it than to believe it. The key to all of this is that faith is something passed to us. We don’t just have it. 

The faith of the born again Christian was given to Him by God

The faith of the atheist, agnostic and “nothing in particular” - he got his faith from - “nothing in particular.”

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5ae214d4e4b055fd7fc9af65

What If the Vast Majority of Christians....Aren't?

2 Timothy 4:10

"Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world"

Like every American I've always wanted to be successful. So when God called me to be a preacher I naturally wanted to be successful in the ministry. I went to college to learn doctrine and pastoring skills. Early on I began subscribing to journals, papers and other periodicals to learn what made for a successful ministry. I attended pastor's meetings, hanging on every word that was spoken, especially by those I perceived to be successful pastors. I read surveys, polls and studies on what made churches grow. I recorded plans in the flyleaf of my Bible so I would be reminded to work the plan every day. I read up on why people go to church, attempting to implement as many compelling tools to bring people in as I could.

As time went on I also read the studies about why people leave churches. If we open the front door to let them in, it makes sense we would want to close the back door to keep them from quitting. I've wanted to keep the seniors who just love the old school way of doing things. I've wanted to keep the young couples who have vision and energy and drive and I've wanted to keep the teens and young adults who are just beginning to try their own wings and tend to question things. What I have noticed now is a trend among members of churches (and not just the pollsters) to establish blame for those who leave churches upon some flaw in the church or church leadership. It's not just the church leaders who are trying to figure out how to keep people in church (and blaming themselves for not succeeding) it's the church members blaming the church and its leaders for the failure. 

To be sure there is plenty of failure and therefore plenty of room for blame. No one does ministry perfectly. No one has, no one ever will. But this blaming mentality, I think, is very much related to the victim mentality that is taking over America. We blame all of our problems on someone else: our parents, our teachers, our peers and our economy; you name it, if we have a problem, it's someone else's fault. 

I notice that when Demas forsook Paul, Paul blamed it on Demas. It wasn't Paul's leadership style. It wasn't a problem of structure in the administration of his evangelistic team. Paul did not even blame the problem on the circumstances of his being in prison and upcoming execution. Paul said Demas forsook him because Demas loved something else.

What if that is to blame for those who leave church? What if the problem is not the failure to pass on our vision, or the failure to communicate to a younger generation, or the failure to adequately anticipate and answer their questions? What if the real problem is not that we failed to plan or failed to work our plan? What if the trouble was not that we did not effectively administer a Sunday school program for all ages? What if it wasn't because we were perceived to lack compassion while they were sick? What if a better discipleship class and follow up ministry isn't the reason they quit coming? What if they quit coming because they loved something else more?

What if they just didn't believe?

I have followed Christ now for over thirty for years. I never began following because I liked the church programs. The church I began in didn't have any. I didn't begin because I thought church would help my marriage. I was single. I didn't start going to church to overcome an addiction or sin problem, though I had them. I began attending church because I believed. 

• I believed I was a sinner
• I believed all sinners would go to hell
• I believed God loved me enough that Christ died to pay for my sins
• I believed that when I called upon Him, He in fact saved me from my sins
• I believed I was, and still am a debtor to Christ for that

I believed when I made my faith public and entered into the covenant with other members in a local church, I was making a life long commitment

I believed.

I still believe. 

There is a problem with my proposition; while faith is passed from one person to the next, I cannot make anyone believe. There are no classes that can teach how to convince someone to believe. There is no conference that can show us how to so order circumstances that those involved with believe. That a person believes is a gift of God. I can present my faith to them. I can pray for them. I can urge them to come to Christ for salvation.  But I can't call them to believe.

And that doesn't sell well in the success game.

The answer as I see it is not an easy one to swallow. We must accept that the vast majority of people attending our churches are, in fact, not genuine believers. They came to church and to their "faith" for all the wrong reasons and have trusted in all the wrong things. They attend church and practice faith because of what they love:

• They love a sense of community
• They love a solid family
• They love the security of a dynamic pastor

But sometimes those things fail them. Sometimes those things are less satisfying that they originally thought they would be. Sometimes their children, their spouse, their most valued friends turn out to love others things more.

We must redefine to our congregations what we mean by faith. We must lead them to Christ and not to the supposed benefits of being saved.

Because when a person believes in Christ, he or she has nowhere else to go. Only Jesus has the words of eternal life.[1]

---

[1] John 6:66-69

Something About Tattoos

The popularity of tattoos, especially among Christians is alarming. Demonstrating a biblical ignorance at the very best and outright rebellion to the Bible at worst, Baptists, fundamentalists are tattooing themselves and even pastors, are making excuses for "tattoomania".

1. It is the graffiti of the big city

But in this case it defaces the property of God

2. It is the tagging of modern gangs

But it is claiming as their territory what God has built

3. It is identifying with Satan

Who hates that man is created in God's image and would love to see it marred

4. It is blatantly unscriptural

Leviticus 19:28 KJV

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

5. It is a precursor to the mark of the beast

Revelation 13:16-17 KJV

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Marvin McKenzie

In the field

Scientific Proof of God’s Omnipresence

Science seeks to prove things as fact through the process of observation, measurement and repetition. In science, a man poses a theory, others conduct experiments to prove or disprove the theory and, when the findings are sufficient to warrant it, an authority such as a scientific journal publishes it.

This process is demonstrated in the Bible concerning God’s Omnipresence.

First

David poses his theory[1]

Psalms 139:7-12 KJV

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

The Psalmist asks the question, “Whither shall I go from [God’s] Spirit?”

• Is there any place where a man might go to hide away from God?
• Is there any place where the Lord does not exist?

After posing the question, he proposes his answer through a series of suggestions:

• Is God in heaven? Yes.
• Is God in hell? Yes
• Is God in the uttermost parts of the sea? Yes
• Is God in the darkness? Yes
• Is God in the night? Yes

He has given his question and proposed His answer.

Jonah tests His theory

Jonah 1:1-2:3 KJV

Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?

And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.

And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.

Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.

So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.

Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,

And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

Jonah attempted to flee from the presence of God into Tarshish. Though the location of the city is uncertain, it is thought to have been in Spain and perhaps associated with the  lost city of Atlantis. It was the opposite of Nineveh, in what is now modern day Iraq and was then the power center of Middle Eastern Gentilism; across the ocean, an entire culture away. Perhaps God did not exist there.

What Jonah learned is that

• God is indeed in the midst of the sea
• God is certainly in the belly of the great fish and 
• God, he implies God is in the midst of our hell

David posed the question and suggested the theory that there was no place where a man could go from the presence of God.

Jonah tested the theory through personal experimentation and demonstrated that there was in fact no place he could flee that God was not already there.

God authenticated the findings

Amos 9:1-4 KJV

I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.

Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:

And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:

And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

In this passage the Lord, speaking through the prophet Amos, confirms what David had proposed and Jonah had proven.

Though science will no doubt deny the science of the Word of God there is, none the less, scientific proof that God is indeed omnipresent.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

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[1] I am speaking as a man. I understand that David wrote under divine inspiration and therefore it is no theory from the supernatural perspective.

Who Is God?

The commonly held idea of the modern world is that the God of Judaism, Islam and Christianity is the same God.

• The idea stems from the fact that all three religions share a history tracing back to the Middle East, if not Jerusalem itself
• The idea is further rooted in the worldly view that God is merely a belief rather than an actual Person.

Since God is, to them, not much more than an idea, they see little significance in the shades of difference in those ideas. But the God of Judaism, Islam and Christianity is not the same God.

The God of Islam is not the same God as Judaism

Their god, though springing from the same stories, departs from the God of the Bible. Islam begins with the Biblical God but then twists Him into a being unlike the God of the Bible. Islam early shows their willingness to depart from the Biblical record concerning God by claiming that it was Ishmael and not Isaac that Abraham was told to sacrifice as an offering to God. This disregard for the Scripture betrays a consistent theme in the religion of Islam to use the authority of the Bible to lend credibility to their religion while all the while turning from it and the God of it.

The God of Judaism is not the same God as that of Christianity

Though Christians and Jews share the same foundation of the God of the Old Testament Judaism comes short of the complete revelation of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. To claim that the God of Christianity and the God of Judaism is the same God is to deny the deity of Jesus who the Bible says is "the fullness of the godhead bodily."[1] Jesus is more than a Saviour, more than the Messiah; Jesus is God incarnate. To deny that is to deny God.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

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[1] Colossians 2:9

Why I Am Opposed to Reformation Theology in a Baptist Church

1. Reformation theology denies the perpetuity of the church as taught by our Lord in Matthew sixteen.

2. Reformation theology assumes that Baptists embraced the doctrines developed by the reformers.

3. Reformation theology leans upon the doctrines of Catholicism.

4, Reformation theology obliterates the evidence of a great cloud of Christian witnesses that never united with the corruptions of Catholicism.

5. Reformation theology leads modern Baptist pastors into a quagmire of false doctrines.

6. Reformation theology is thoroughly universal church.

7. Modern Reformation theologians are reckless socially.

  

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

Are We Asking for the Wrong Thing?

As long as I have been a Christian the churches I have attended have held revival meetings. The evangelists have all prayed for God to send heaven sent revival and the pastors have longed for that type of revival in their churches. I confess to having spent years

• Praying for that sort of revival
• Reading about many of the great revivals of the past and
• Preaching to the church I pastored about revival

I still hear many pastors looking for a revival like those of old days, I think often motivated by the desire to have a large church congregation. (I wonder if the men who pastor large churches feel as compelled for revival as those who pastor struggling churches?)

But as the years have moved on and I have studied the Bible and church history  more, I have noticed:
That those revivals of the past were drastically not Baptist.

The Baptists of that era even opposed them. For the longest time I assumed it was because there was something wrong with those Baptists. But that couldn't have been completely true because, although the Baptist's would not take part in the revival meetings themselves, their own churches grew as a result of those who were genuinely converted searching Scriptures and ending up in Baptist churches because they were the ones preaching the Bible. I am beginning to believe, there was more wrong with the revivalists than the Baptists and perhaps the reason modern Baptist pastors now so quickly side with the revivalists is because we are hungry for the large crowds we envision accompany revival.

That revival is not the norm of the Bible but the exception
God did grant "a little reviving" here and there through Israel's history. But with the exception of the book of Acts the New Testament is devoid of revival type language; and you have to make some assumptions to call Acts a revival era. It is more of a beginning than a reviving.

This all leads me to question whether we are asking God for the wrong thing. Maybe we dream of something that has never been the priority of God. Maybe that statement I have so often heard that “God is more interested in revival than we are” is not, in fact, true. I am coming to believe that the work that brings glory to the Lord is that

• Long term
• Consistent
• Stick by the stuff
• Day in and day out

growth in Christian graces as we look for the blessed hope kind of Christianity. Any other seems to tend toward compromise or the work of the flesh in order to get large groups.

Maybe we should stop asking for revival so that our church can grow bigger and start asking for a Christians to grow in faith and doctrine. Can any seriously deny that the average Christian in America is a hobby Christian at best? What we really need are some pastors who will roll up there sleeves and dig in to the hard work of building believers in the most holy faith instead of building their churches. 

Baptist Heritage May Not Be What You Think

 One of my first experiences in church, once I became an adult was an issue over Baptist heritage. My friend, the man who brought me to a Baptist Church the first time, had loaned me a book by John R. Rice. Rice wasn't a strong Baptist though he was a strong Fundamentalist and thus accepted by the better part of those Fundamental Baptists I was aware of. Rice's book seemed to cast doubt on local church authority which led me to speak to my pastor. After a conversation with him, and reading The Trail of Blood, I became interested in Christian heritage and Baptist heritage in particular.

One of those lessons I learned is that Baptists don't agree on Baptist heritage.

• There are those who believe squarely that Baptists had their beginnings with John Smythe in England in the early 1600's and 
• There are those who believe (as did the author of the trail of Blood) that Baptists trace their roots through Anabaptists to John the Baptist

The two camps tend completely deny the veracity of the other's view. In truth there is some veracity to both schools of thought.

• It is undeniable that some Baptist congregations had their beginning with Smythe but 
• It is equally undeniable that others can trace their roots much further back. It is not an either or situation but a both situation

And herein lies one great rub amongst those who claim the broader title of  Baptists. We keep trying to tie our lineages together when in fact we are two separate systems of spiritual faith as diverse as  Methodists would have been to Presbyterians a century ago. These two schools, even if each claims to be fundamentalist, are unique, diverse, and in very many respects, incompatible.

Notice that I did not say un-christian. I am not advocating that we oppose one another but only that we acknowledge that we are not the same. The distinctives between us are, I believe, important enough to demand that we remain separated lest those distinctives be lost altogether.

• There are distinctives in the ordinances
• There are distinctives in heritage
• There are distinctives in doctrine 
• There are distinctives in emphasis

The melding of our respective camps, whether it be out of a desire to present unity in the world or a misunderstanding of our relationship given we claim the same name, has only served to create

• Confusion among the outside world
• Division within the Baptist community and 
• Compromise of important doctrines

I am thankful for those Baptists who, while being charitable, have begun to call Baptists to separate and identify their family of faith within the broader camp called Baptists.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

Influence In Theology

I read a blog recently entitled, How To Lose Your Influence In Theology. (reclaimingthemind.org) The author offered several points that he suggested would discredit the influence of the one practicing them in theology. Some of his suggestions have merit. But some were typical among the ecumenical kind of Christianity. Among his challenges were Insisting upon an inerrancy version of the Bible Holding a particular view of end times And do so with passionate relentlessness. It is not the desire of my heart to lack grace. However I do believe that his article must at least have an answer. First, I have some trouble with the goal of having "influence." I know that influence is an outcome of either preaching or writing about the Word of God. But influence cannot be our end. To make it so is to expose our work to compromise. The goal of influence can override our goal to be true to God's calling upon our lives, the convictions we hold and to the truth of God's Word itself. Our goal must be God; to grow on grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the only appropriate goal because that is the only goal we can pursue without risking compromise. As we pursue that, God will then gives us whatever influence He may please us to have. Secondly, the blog sounds like a rehearsal of the messenger's advice to Micaiah in 1 Kings 22:13, "Here is what all the other prophets have told the king. Tell him the same thing they said and you will have credibility." Micaiah wasn't as worried about having credibility or influence with the prophets or with the king as he was about preaching God's message. This man's blog is designed to dumb down the message of the preacher until every opinion about God is as good as the next. I am aware of the objections raised concerning the inerrancy of any particular version of the Bible (They mean the King James Version - it is attacked with a hatred similar to Jehoshaphat's hatred for Micaiah). I am aware that even the translators of the King James never ascribed to it infallibility. But I remind you that John nor any of the other penmanship (with some exceptions) of the Bible never ascribed that to their books either; it was concluded that they were the very Words of God at a later date. The translators did know that they had been given a rare opportunity. They engaged in their work with reverence and completed their work with confidence that God had permitted them this privilege. It has been since its publication that the obvious blessing of God upon it and the hatred of the word the flesh and the devil against it has demonstrated that it, above all the more modern translations is the very Word of God. Someone needs to say that God can intervene in the Work of man. Someone needs to say that despite all of the protests and objections of the so called learned, God is capable of and indeed has preserved for the world a Bible that is without error. Someone has to say that the devil hasn't left us with enough of the Bible but not a perfect Bible. Someone needs to say that the message of the Word is clear. That we are not left helpless to follow only those men who gather together to tell each other what to say. That because we have a perfect Bible and because the God is still at work today and because the Holy Spirit is still the true teacher of the Word, any man woman or child can pick up a Bible, and with some sanctified study, find what God says. -- Marvin McKenzie In the fields

Religion versus Theology

The issue of same sex marriage is heating up again in Washington state. A group is pushing Washington to become the seventh state in the country to legalize same sex marriages. Proponents claim the this is not a religious issue. They said yesterday, on the Ken Schram radio show, that they freely respect the rights of those who are opposed upon religious grounds to abstain from practicing same sex marriages. The example I heard on the radio show was from Schram's guest who said that he was Roman Catholic and completely understood that his priest would be unwilling to perform his wedding. Speaking of Ken Schram, (himself a professing Catholic) he chided his audience not to send him emails claiming that "God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve," calling that "trite."
So I began to think about the difference between a religious argument against homosexual marriage and a theological one. It is obvious that religious arguments are powerless in our day. Very few people these days care what any church thinks about any thing. Here were two Catholics aggressively opposed to the message of their own religion. They weren't even bothered that their religion comes out on the opposite side of a position they are passionate about. The position of their religion, though still their religion, just does not matter to them. Therefore a religious argument is a hopeless argument. But what about a theological one? What if we argued that God Himself is opposed to homosexuality?
I realize most people would not see the difference. For most people religion has replaced God. They do not know God, they only know their religion and they have come to see their religion as fallible. Their own opions are as good as any opinion of their church. So, in order for my proposal to have any effect, two things would have to happen:
First, religions would have to get out of the way of God. We would need some honest to goodness real believers who meet with the Lord and hear from Him day by day. We would have to find some Christians who worship the Lord when they assemble rather than merely practicing their church form.
Second we would need a message from God so we know His views on issues such as homosexuality and etc..
Oh yea, I have heard about some Christians like that. These were those that refused to join up with Constantine when first he proposed to put religion above God. These have been a hated and persecuted people since the crucifixion of Christ. But they have also been a tenacious people, persisting through flame and flood.
• They have worshiped God in barns and meat-houses.
• They have preached in cathedrals not built by human hands.
• They have met in secret places and heard their preacher in hushed tones.
• They would not enter into the established churches knowing that those places only smothered out the heart for God.
They are the Baptists.
Not those who like to use the Baptist name but are really just Protestants who immerse; I am speaking of those Baptists who have, through the ages, lived and died by this one rule; their faith was in a resurrected Saviour and not a system of religion.
Hey, and that same people did have a message from God. Their Bibles gave us a family of Biblical manuscripts that were untainted by the perversions of Romanism. They saw the Bible as more than an instrument to control the masses for their purposes, but as indeed the very word of God. That message has been faithfully preserved and passed down to in the King James Version of the Bible.
The Baptist people have the message Washington State needs to hear. It is not that our church that opposes homosexual marriages; it is that God Himself is offended when His creation defiles the order He created. He has clearly said so, not in a religious document that has been written and re-written by men, but in the breath of God, recorded and supernaturally preserved.
The state of Washington may very well legalize homosexual marriages. But they will do so in defiance, not of a church, but of the very God of heaven.
And God have mercy if they do.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

Toward a Humble Orthodoxy

A recent blog entitled Updating and Refining the 1689 Baptist Confession: Toward a Humble Orthodoxy struck a chord with me, especially in consideration of my blog posted October 2. In the more recent blog the author, Bob Gonzales, a self professed Reformed Baptist, claims that those of his persuasion, "sometimes give the impression that we view ourselves as closer to historical Christian faith and practice than others in every respect." He goes on to state that, "Revising our Confession is a good opportunity to show our evangelical brothers that we don’t believe the illumination of the Holy Spirit ended with our Particular Baptist forefathers in the 17th century." And that, "…borrowing language or insights from their creeds where appropriate demonstrates a teachable and humble spirit on our part."
For my part I suggest that those who claim the Reformed position just admit that they are evangelicals rather than Baptist at all. To remind you of my previous blog, I quoted a missionary:
“… our English Baptist forefathers left their original position of "local church" proclaimed in their declaration of 1644 to embrace the reformation idea of the universal church to be "politically correct" in the second London Confession of 1689. They felt the need to be accepted as orthodox in their doctrine in order to be included in the Act of Toleration of 1689. From that time on we find Baptists struggling with this issue. On one hand we have the clear Bible teaching of the "ekklesia" and on the other hand the insatiable desire to be accepted by the protestant/evangelical community. May God help us to be faithful to Him and not to men.”
The last thing a Baptist needs to be as deemed "orthodox" by the Protestant powers that be. Just as Amos disavowed identification with the prophets of his day, the Baptist identification is one that is separate and distinct from those accepted orthodoxies of any age. We follow the Lord as He is revealed in the Word of God, not the orthodox standards of whichever age a Baptist may find himself. If a Baptist has a reason to exist it is as salt and light against the culture of our world, including those forms of Christianity that have morphed with the world.
Humility yes; but not before Protestant hierarchies. Our doctrine stands or falls in "the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

Pre-Tribulation Rapture

Revelation 3:10
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
The Pre-Tribulation rapture: at one time, the mainstay of Fundamentalists; today, men who used to be strong supporters attack this doctrine openly. Why would this doctrine be so difficult to grasp, and why would there be such a stand against it?

The rapture refers to a time when the Lord will return in the clouds and call all Christians to heaven, Although the word is not found in the Bible, the doctrine definitely is.
Paul spoke about this event in,
I Thessalonians 4:13-18
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

There are four basic views that are taught about when the rapture will occur

There is the view that no rapture will occur
There are those that believe that things will continue on as they are forever, and that the only way a person gets to heaven is by death. This seems to be so blatantly contrary to literal Bible interpretation, that only the most liberal religionists believe it.

It does seem to be gaining a foothold even among some who claim to be Bible believers. Events like last week's foolish rapture prediction give credence to those claiming that there is

• no rapture
• no tribulation and
• no literal kingdom of Christ on this earth

The kingdom of God is, they would have us to believe, within you. When you die, if you are a Christian, then you will go to heaven.

There is the view we call the Pre-Tribulation Rapture  

This view holds that the rapture will occur just before the tribulation period that the Bible says will one day try all the earth with sufferings such as this world has never before seen.

The third view might be called the Mid-Tribulation Rapture
This view holds that the rapture of the church does not happen until half way through the Tribulation. The Tribulation, according to the Bible, is seven years long. The first three and one-half years are of comparative peace; the second three and one-half years are the ones with terrible trials. This view places the rapture after the three and one-half years of peace, but before the three and one-half years of trial.

There is the view commonly called the Post-Tribulation Rapture

This is the "bouncing ball" theory. The view teaches that those Christians that have survived the Tribulation alive will be raptured out of this earth at the end of the Tribulation, and then immediately return to the earth as Jesus establishes His kingdom here.

A brief history of the development of these views.
The earliest Christians believed in the pre-tribulation rapture. In I Thessalonians 4:17 Paul said,
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds...

Paul believed that the rapture would happen in his own lifetime. He did not believe that he would die before Jesus would take him to Heaven. In fact, it sounds as if there was a church that believed they were in the Tribulation, and Paul wrote to them to let them know that they would not have to go through that.

The church of Thessalonica was severely persecuted. The lost people of Thessalonica ran Paul out of town in just four weeks, and then followed him to the next town and tried to run him out there too. II Thessalonians was written by Paul to encourage these persecuted believers that they were not going through the great Tribulation. Look at
II Thessalonians 1:6-8
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

II Thessalonians 2:1-8
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

One of the arguments used by those opposed to the Pre-Tribulation rapture view, is that there is no evidence of churches that taught this view prior to the 1800's. This is not necessarily a concrete argument against the view since those persecuting them destroyed much of their writings before the 1700’s. The Protestant views have been essentially restructured Catholic views and would predictably not be reliable.

As the Catholic Church grew and took root, it began to teach that the Bible was not to be taken literally, but spiritually. They ignored the literal teaching of the Bible and replaced it with a spiritual teaching. Catholicism eventually began to teach that there would be no Tribulation, or even a literal kingdom when Christ returned to earth.

Since most of today's Christendom traces its roots back to Catholicism, they also take their doctrines from some form of the Catholic teachings. The Reformers tried to justify a literal interpretation of the Bible with their Catholic teachings by coming up with such things as Post-Tribulationalism and the like.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's two men, both Protestants, began to popularize the “Pre-Tribulational Rapture” position. They were C. I. Scofield, and Lewis Sperry Chafer. Scofield wrote the notes in the still popular Scofield Reference Bible. Chafer founded the Dallas Theological

Seminary. Both promoted the Pre-Tribulation rapture very successfully. I should say they did not dream up the doctrine. The Pre-Tribulation rapture had been taught and preached by many throughout the centuries, they were just the ones to make them popular.

Back in the 70's and 80's, when I first began to live for the Lord, there was no question concerning the subject of the Pre-Tribulation rapture among Fundamentalists. The Charismatics however, had written several books on what they called the Mid-Tribulation rapture.

Three reasons why the rapture takes place before the Tribulation

Because our judgment has already been dealt with on the cross.
The Tribulation serves two purposes: First, to bring the Jews to a place where they will trust Christ as Saviour. Second, to judge the Gentiles for their idolatry and rejection of God.
For the Christian, both issues are dealt with. We have already trusted Christ as Saviour, so we would not need this Tribulation. Our sins have been judged in Jesus; He has already taken the judgment for them and God does not remember them any more. There is, therefore, no reason for us to be in the Tribulation.

What purpose is there for the rapture if not to rescue the Christian from Tribulation suffering?
There is none. The rapture's entire purpose is to take the believer out of this world while the world is judged. The idea of the "bouncing ball" is out of character for God! He would not rapture us to heaven only to return moments later with Jesus.

The word “church” is not found anywhere in the book of Revelation after the Tribulation begins.
In Revelation 2-3, there are the letters to the seven churches. In Revelation 4:1, John is told to "...Come up hither..." and be shown the things that will happen in the future (the Tribulation). The church is not found again on earth! That is because the church has been removed, or raptured to heaven.

There would be no hope in the return of the Lord, no real reason for looking forward to His return if you believed that you would have to face suffering and even death at the hands of anti-Christ before Jesus arrived.

The rapture is pre-tribulational. God will remove us from this earth before the hour of trial that is to try this earth. This is the blessed hope of the believer.

Sound Thinking in the Last Days

2 Peter 3:2-10 KJV
That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

If Harold Camping's math is right, this will be my last blog post. Tomorrow I will be raptured to heaven and this world will begin the Great Tribulation. Of course the worldly and the lost have misinterpreted Camping as saying that tomorrow will be the end of the world (in some cases they have said it will be the beginning of the end of the world) they do not understand some of the finer points of dispensational eschatology.

Camping has made the fundamental error he was guilty of many years ago and that so many others have also been guilty of, that of assigning a date for the rapture. The Word of God is so clear that no man will know the day or hour it boggles the mind that there are people who continue to set dates and there are people who continue to believe them.

What concerns me most, however, is that some who style themselves as Bible students, believers in Christ and theologians dismiss the concept of the rapture (at least the pre-tribulational rapture) as a non issue. Some have made it sound as if the doctrine of the literal return of Christ into the clouds to remove his saints is a doctrine Christianity has evolved away from. This makes sense when you realize that Reformation preachers, even reformed Baptists, are in fact Protestants. Their whole view of church history is one of evolving and progressive doctrine. Dispensationalism, they seem to claim, is a doctrinal position whose way has gone the same as witch hunts, or other superstitious beliefs that attached themselves to fanatical believers.

I am here to say that I still believe in the literal and imminent rapture of the children of God prior to the literal seven years of tribulation which will try this earth. I do not know when it will happen. I doubt that that it will be tomorrow.

But to be honest; I am in many ways hopeful it will be.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

Is Science God?

A blog published by Nathan Heflick for Psychology Today[1] speculates that perhaps science is not an enemy of religious belief but that God is science and people have it all "crazy backwards." Heflick goes on to suggest that perhaps science, in pursuit of truth, would be finding God.

Duh!

Early scientists such as Michael Farady, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton all saw science in that light. They believed the Bible when it said,

Proverbs 25:2 KJV

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

Not that science is God, but science may be the pursuit of the glory of God.

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

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[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201104/could-god-be-science