Fear God But Don’t Live in Fear (Part 1)

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Fear God, But Don’t Live in Fear
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7
At the end of each daily Freedom Fighter e-votional, there is a section called “Navigation Rules.” The verses listed there are designed for you to memorize either a verse a week or a longer passage.” For most of this year, the verses will be from the book of Proverbs.

The key to Proverbs is gaining an understanding of what it means to fear the Lord. Stormie Omartian in her book, The Power of a Praying Life, says that “having the fear of God means you have such a love and reverence for Him that you are afraid of what life would be without Him.”

The Bible has much to say about the fear of the Lord, and yet we hear very few messages about this topic today in our churches. It doesn’t seem to be a politically correct message, yet we should be reminded of its importance since the Word talks about it often.
Stormie gives us 12 principles to help us understand what happens when you and I have the fear of the Lord in our lives. I will share six today and six tomorrow:
1. God provides a place of refuge that takes away your human fear. “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge.” Proverbs 14:26
2. God gives you the desires of your heart. “He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and save them.” Psalm 145:19
3. God blesses you and your children in every way. “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on the earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.” Psalm 112:1-3
4. God gives you a life of fulfillment and peace. “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil.” Psalm 128:1
5. God helps you live His way. “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.” Psalm 128:1
6. God delivers you from your enemies.” “But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” 2 Kings 17:39

Take some time today to read through the first 6 principles. In fact, why not write them out of a 3×5 card and review them this week. And then ask yourself this question: Do I have such a fear of God that I would be afraid of what life would be without Him? Think about it! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Job 6-9; Proverbs 5; Psalm 5
Compass Pointers: “A glimpse of God’s greatness leads to a grasp of the holiness of God which leads to gratitude for the grace of God which ultimately leads to the disciple’s life giving glory to God.” Dr. Joe Olachea
Navigation Rules: Level 1: Proverbs 1:7; Level 2: Proverbs 1:1-7
Anchored to the Rock: Never tell me of a humble heart where I see a stubborn knee. Thomas Adams

Keep Yourself Pure

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Keep Yourself Pure

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27
When I lived in Pennsylvania my dad used to take my brother and I down to the river to fish. I can remember those days very vividly. It was there I learned to throw my line in way upstream and let the current carry it past me from left to right. The Susquehanna gathers volume as it passes through our little town of Wyoming, and it carries a lot of debris as well. On good days we avoided snagging old tires or bedsprings hidden beneath the surface. As for the fish, whenever we caught one we generally threw it back because we didn’t want strange contaminants infecting us. The fish weren’t glowing or anything, they just weren’t useful as healthy food.  
I think James is referring to something like this when he warns us to “keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” If we allow ourselves to become contaminated we will become useless, much like the fish in the Susquehanna. The fish can’t do much to avoid the contamination of their surroundings, but we have a supernatural agent in the Holy Spirit that works within us (Gal. 5:16) to avoid the filth of the world. But, beware, lest you rest easy and find yourself drifting downstream and sickly. The Christian life is a fight upstream that requires constant effort and vigilance. The best way I know how to overcome the pollution and current is to be frequent with prayers and devotions. Stay close also to friends that can strengthen your resolve and prick your conscience when they see contamination in you.   – Jason Walsh serves as Youth Pastor of Whiting Bible Church, Whiting, NJ. Jason will be a regular contributor to Freedom Fighter in 2011
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Job 1-5; Proverbs 4; Psalm 4

Compass Pointers: For every look at self take ten looks at Christ. –Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Navigation Rules: Level 1: Proverbs 1:7; Level 2: Proverbs 1:1-7
Anchored to the Rock: God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. They outlive the lives of those who uttered them. – E. M. Bounds

A Fresh Spring

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FRESH SPRING
“a fruitful bough by a spring” (Genesis 49:22)

            These words constitute a perceptive tribute that Jacob expressed concerning his son Joseph.  They are words of high praise inasmuch as they were spoken against the background of all the adversity that Joseph experienced at the hands of his brethren as well as at the hands of Potiphar and his wife.  Notwithstanding, Joseph was a fruitful vine by a spring.
            This suggests that there were unseen resources in Joseph’s life that enabled him to be spiritually fruitful notwithstanding the adversity and suffering that he experienced.  The hidden resources were no doubt his confidence and trust in God.  All of this he must have learned from his father.  The scripture indicates that Joseph’s mother as an idolater and could be of no help to him spiritually.  But Jacob must have taught Joseph from his own growing experience in the knowledge of God.  And so Joseph found those hidden resources of strength and fortitude that came from his own trust in God.
            The encouraging truth of the word of God is that we also may share such a tribute.  Despite all of the difficulties and adversities of life, we may also be fruitful vines by a spring.  For example, there are available to us the fresh springs of the word of God.  Psalm 1:3 speaks of the one who meditates in the word of God.  Such a one becomes like a tree planted by the rivers of water that continually brings forth fruit in its season.
            Then the sons of Korah wrote in Psalm 87:7, “all my fresh springs are in You.”  So we have that fresh spring of the indwelling life of Jesus Christ.  As Jesus explained in John 15, as we abide in Him, His life flowing through us will make us fruitful to the glory of God.
            But then there is another transforming spring that makes us fruitful, namely that of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit who ultimately bears fruit in us.  Galatians 5 speaks of the fruit of the Spirit.  So as we walk in the Spirit and live under His control, He will make us a fruitful vine by a spring.
            It was because Joseph was a fruitful bough by a spring that he became such a great blessing to multitudes.  May that be true of us also as we appropriate the hidden springs of the word of God, and lay hold by faith upon the springs of life found in our Lord Jesus Christ and through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  May we also be a blessing to our world for the glory of God. – Dr. Eric Crichton is the Pastor Emeritus of Calvary Church in Lancaster, PA and a Board Member Emeritus of America’s Keswick.
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Genesis 8-11; Proverbs 3; Psalm 3
Compass Pointers: God doesn’t want our success; He wants us. He doesn’t demand our achievements; He demands our obedience. Charles Colson
Navigation Rules: Level 1: Proverbs 1:7; Level 2: Proverbs 1:1-7
Anchored to the Rock: True prayers are like carrier pigeons which find their way so well; they cannot fail to go to heaven, for it is from heaven they came; they are only going home. – C. H. Spurgeon

The Lord’s Day

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The Lord’s Day
From time to time I have shared with you from the book VALLEY OF VISION – Prayer of the Puritans (Banner of Truth), and since this is the first Sunday of the new year, I want to share with you a prayer for the Lord’s Day …
O Lord my Lord,
This is the day, the heavenly ordinance of rest,
The open door of worship, the record of Jesus’ resurrection,
The seal of the Sabbath to come,
The day when saints militant and triumphant unite in endless song.
I bless You for the throne of grace, that here free favor reigns;
That open access to it is through the blood of Jesus;
That the veil is torn aside and I can enter the holiest and find You ready to hear,
Waiting to be gracious, inviting me to pour out my needs,
Encouraging my desires, promising to give more than I ask or think.
But while I bless You, the shame and confusion are mine:
I remember my past misuse of sacred things, my irreverent worship,
My base ingratitude, my cold, dull praise.
Sprinkle all my past Sabbaths with the cleansing blood of Jesus,
And may this day witness deep improvement in me.
Give me in rich abundance the blessings the Lord’s Day was designed to impart;
May my heart be fast bound against worldly thoughts or cares;
Flood my mind with peace beyond understanding;
May my meditations be sweet, my acts of worship life, liberty, joy,
My drink the streams that flow from Your throne,
My food the precious Word, my defense the shield of faith,
And may my heart be more knit to Jesus.
Amen!
Great prayer for this first day of the new year! Did you do your Bible reading today? – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Proverbs 2; Psalm 2; Genesis 4-7
Compass Pointers: I do not advise that we end the year on a somber note. The march, not the dirge, has ever been the music of Christianity. If we are good students in the school of life, there is much that the years have to teach us. But the Christian is more than a student, more than a philosopher. He is a believer, and the object of his faith makes the difference, the mighty difference. Of all persons the Christian should be best prepared for whatever the New Year brings. He has dealt with life at its source. In Christ he has disposed of a thousand enemies that other men must face alone and unprepared. He can face his tomorrow cheerful and unafraid because yesterday he turned his feet into the ways of peace and today he lives in God. The man who has made God his dwelling place will always have a safe habitation. A.W. Tozer

Navigation Rules: Level 1: Proverbs 1:7; Level 2: Proverbs 1:1-7
Anchored to the Rock: Of all the blessings of Christian salvation none is greater than this, that we have access to God in prayer. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

A Soul Hungry for God

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A Soul Hungry For God
O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.  (Psalm 63:1 NKJV)
Some of you have read through the first volume of the America’s Keswick devotional, REAL VICTORY for REAL LIFE. Well I can’t believe it, but have sold out the second edition,  but now are working on Volume 2, that will be released this Spring.
Today’s Freedom Fighter devotional was written by my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Roger Willmore, a frequent Bible teacher at America’s Keswick, and senior Pastor of Deerfoot Baptist Church, Trussville, Alabama.  It is a very timely devotional for this second day of the new year.
I once heard Stuart Briscoe say that God meets man on the level of his desire, man can have as much of God as he wants. 
If this statement is true, and I believe it is, then our level of desire to know God will affect the level of our intimate, personal knowledge of God.  Do you desire to know God with all your heart?  Or would you say that your pursuit of God is lukewarm?
Psalm 63 has been called the soul of the Psalms.  It is packed with expressions of David’s longing to know God, to serve God and to praise God.
The Psalm contains some practical guidelines to assist us in our pursuit of God.
First, we are to seek the Lord…early will I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you…(v.1).The psalmist is describing a seeking heart.  Do you want to know God?  Then seek after Him with your whole heart and soul.
Secondly, we are to remember the Lord…when I remember you…I meditate on you… (v.6).  The psalmist is describing how God occupies his mind.  This is a sign of the psalmist love for the Lord.  Is it not true that those we love are always on our mind?
Thirdly, we are to praise the Lord…my lips will praise you…(v.3).  The psalmist praised the Lord not only for what He had done, but for Who He was.  And my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips (v.5).
Do you long to know the Lord in a deeper more intimate way?
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).
Dr. Roger D. Willmore
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Proverbs 2; Psalm 2; Genesis 4-7
Compass Pointers: When we stand in the middle of a life storm, it seems as if the storm has become our way of life. We cannot see a way out. We are unable to chart a course back to smoother waters. We feel defeated – and broken. Will that brokenness produce a cynicism that will keep us forever in the mire of if only thinking? Or will we yield up that brokenness to the resources of One who calms the winds and the waves, heals the brokenhearted, and forgives the most grievous of sins? The choice is ours. Verdell Davis, in Riches Stored in Secret Places

Navigation Rules: Level 1: Proverbs 1:7; Level 2: Proverbs 1:1-7
Anchored to the Rock: I have resolved to pray more and pray always, to pray in all places where quietness inviteth, in the house, on the highway, and on the street; and to know no street or passage in this city that may not witness that I have not forgotten God. — Sir Thomas Browne

Happy New Year

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Happy New Year
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
Happy New Year, brothers. Many of you have been thinking through goals and resolutions as we welcome in the year, 2011. I took time last week to think and pray through my goals, and this year they are broken down into four areas: spiritual, physical, personal and vocational.
These are obviously my goals, so I don’t need to share them all with you. But one of my spiritual goals is to read through the 2011 Bible Reading plan. If you haven’t called to order yours (732-350-1187) or downloaded it from our website, it’s not to late.

This year’s plan will take you through the Bible chronologically, through Proverbs 12 times, and through the Psalms 2 times. Last week I gave you a list of devotional resources, but NONE should ever take the place of reading God’s Word.

The older I get, the more I realize that I probably do have Attention Deficit Disorder. One of my kids struggled in the early grades of school and with the help of a team of caring teachers, they discovered that our daughter did much better with taking exams by doing them orally rather than written.
This year I am planning to read through the Bible in a different way. I have an Ipad and have downloaded an audible Bible reading plan (Bible.is). I have done this for over a week now, and it has helped me to concentrate as I read the text sitting in front of me. (You can find all sorts of audible  Bibles for free on the internet.)
In many churches, we don’t hear the READING of the Word anymore. Scripture reading and  responsive readings have become a thing of the past. Paul said in Romans 10:17 that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Read through Nehemiah and Ezra, and the you will find that both men had the children of Israel LISTEN to the Word of God as it was read to them.
If you struggle (like me) with concentration (drifting thoughts), this might be a way to help you focus in on God’s Word. Hey, don’t knock it till you try it. Thanks for joining me on the journey. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Proverbs 1; Psalm 1; Genesis 1-3
Compass Pointers: There is nothing new about humanism. It is the yielding to Satan’s first temptation of Adam and Eve: “Ye shall be as gods.” (Gen. 3:5) Billy Graham
Navigation Rules: Level 1: Proverbs 1:7; Level 2: Proverbs 1:1-7
Anchored to the Rock: When God intends great mercy for his people, the first thing He does is set them a-praying. – Matthew Henry

Magna Carta of an Out of Control Disciple

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Have you considered your year-end giving options? If Victory Call has encouraged you, would you please encourage us with a year-end gift for the ministry of addiction recovery. You can donate online (www.americaskeswick.org) or call 800-453-7942. Thanks for your consideration.

Magna Carta of an Out of Control Disciple
As we bring this year of Freedom Fighter e-votionals to a close, I want to share with you two powerful readings that I came across several years ago:
John Wesley wrote in a “Covenant Prayer”–
        I am no longer my own, but Yours.
        Put to me what you will.  Put me to doing.  Put me to suffering.
        Let me be employed for You, or laid aside for You.
        Exhalted for You, or brought low for You.
        Let me be full. Let me be empty. Let me have all things.
        Let me have nothing!
        And now, O Father, You are mine and I am Yours. So be it.
        And the covenant I am making on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
        Amen.
I am part of the Church of the Out-of-Control.  I once was a control junkie, but now am an Out-of-Control Disciple.  I’ve given up my control to God. I trust and obey the Spirit. I’ve jumped off the fence.  I’ve stepped over the line. I’ve pulled out all the stops. There’s no turning back, looking around, slowing down, backing away, letting up, or shutting up. 
Its life against the odds, outside the box, over the wall, the game of life played without goal lines other than “Thy will be done….”  I am not here to please the dominant culture.  I live to please my Lord and Savior.  My spiritual taste-buds have graduated from fizz to froth to fire and ice. 
Sometimes I’m called to sharpen the cutting edge.  Don’t give me that old-time religion.  Don’t give me that new-time religion.  Give me that all-time religion that’s as hard as rock and as soft as snow.  I’ve stopped trying to make life work, and started trying to make life sing.
I am finished with second-hand sensations, third-rate dreams, low-risk high-rise trades and goose-stepping, flag-waving crusades.  I no longer live by and for anything but everything God-breathed, Christ-centered, and Spirit-driven.  I can’t be bought by any personalities or perks, positions or prizes.
I won’t give up, though I may give in…to openness of mind, humbleness of heart, and generosity of spirit.  In the face of adversity no longer will I hang in there.  I will stand in there, I will run in there, I will pray in there, I will sacrifice in there, I will endure in there–in fact, I will do everything in there but hang.
My face is upward, my feet are forward, my eyes are focused, my way is cloudy, my knees are worn, my seat uncreased, my heart burdened, my spirit light, my road narrow, my mission wide.  I won’t be seduced by popularity, traduced by criticism, travestied by hypocrisy, or trivialized by mediocrity.  I am organized religion’s best friend and worst nightmare. 
I won’t back down, slow down, shut down, or let down until I’m preached out, teached out, healed  out, or hauled out of God’s mission in the world entrusted to members of the Church of the Out-of Control…to bind the confined, whether they’re the downtrodden or the upscale, the overlooked or the underrepresented.
My fundamental identity is as a disciple of Jesus who lives in Christ, who doesn’t walk through history simply “in His steps,” but seeks to travel more deeply IN HIS SPIRIT.  Until He comes again or calls me home, you can find me filling not killing time so that one day He will pick me out in the lineup of the ages as one of His own.
And then…it will be worth it all…to hear these words, the most precious words. I can ever hear:  “Well done, thou good and faithful…Out-of-Control Disciple.”
Well brothers, are you an “out of control disciple?” Are you willing to pray the prayer of John Wesley as we welcome in the New Year? Thanks for joining me on the journey in 2010. I look forward to your participation in 2011. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
Digging Deeper:  Congratulations! If you read these scriptures every day, you have read through the Bible in one year! Proverbs 31; Malachi 1-4; Revelation 22
Dig This Quote: What can the world offer you without Jesus? To be without Jesus is hell most grievous, to be with Jesus is to know the sweetness of heaven. If Jesus is with you, no enemy can harm you. Whoever finds Jesus, finds a rich treasure, and a good above every good. He who loses Jesus loses much indeed, and more than the whole world. Poorest of all is he who lives without Jesus, and richest of all is he who stands in favour with Jesus. Thomas a Kempis

Determined Digging: Level 1: Acts 16:31; Level 2: John 1:8-14

Determined Praying: If you love God, you cannot be at a loss for something to say to Him, something for your hearts to pour out before Him, which His grace has already put there. – Matthew Henry

The Atheist Arguing Job — Part 4

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Have you considered your year-end giving options? If Victory Call has encouraged you, would you please encourage us with a year-end gift for the ministry of addiction recovery. You can donate online (www.americaskeswick.org) or call 800-453-7942. Thanks for your consideration.

The Atheist Arguing Job.
Part Four
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”  Romans 1:18-20 (ESV)
There is one last thing to cover to from this “Atheist Pocket Debater” that I thought I should speak on. It’s titled “Pascal’s Wager” To give you a background on this; it is an argument that comes from the 17th century French philosopher Blaise Pascal and it goes something like this. If you don’t believe in God and you’re right, when you die nothing happens. BUT, if you don’t believe in God and you are wrong, you will suffer forever in eternal damnation or Hell; why not just believe and play it safe? Plus you will get to go to Heaven. Got it? Do you agree with it? I don’t!! There is no heart in it. Doesn’t say a thing about the condition in which to believe with, does it? So we will get to Heaven…just because? Nonsense!!
As I read on, the comment comes up that if you believe you wager (I don’t like that wording) or risk nothing. If you don’t believe, you risk eternal damnation. Then the debater asks which versions of God and Hell are correct. They bring out the contrasts between Judaism, Christianity and Islam and if you were to throw that into the mixing bowl, like the way the debater does, you will get the kind of disbelief that the debater wants to bring out. You might be inclined to think that Jesus was just a good man with some good teachings and that the Bible is corrupted. But that isn’t truth, is it? That is a potpourri of man’s unwantingness of being held accountable to a triune God. Period!!
The debater brings up the matters of prayer between the three heavy hitters of religion. As a Christian we pray to Jesus to avoid Hell. Muslims pray to Jesus they go to Hell. Jews pray to Jesus they waste their time. Then they ask the questions, ‘What do you do? Which rules are correct?” Once again I will say that if we were to take all of this and put it a “Magic Bullet” blender like we see on T.V., we would get the kind of disbelief that is needed to understand the confusion of who to pray to. But for us, if we have a true sense of the surrendered heart, who to pray to and what to pray for is right down the narrow roadway with His arms stretched wide open. Amen!!
Then here it comes, that cop-out of a statement that the world leans on like a crutch. “How about just being a good person and enjoying your life? If there is a God, it seems to be a fair wager (really not liking that wording) that God is certainly more concerned that you were a decent person in your life, and will spare you Hell.” Hogwash!! I would like to know the definition of a decent person. You can get a different answer for every occasion couldn’t you? Well just turn to page two (which is titled “By believing, we are sacrificing too much) on the debater and they will help you comprise yourself to almost every humanist thought pattern that will keep you in the bondage of sin possible. Every Christian, Jew and Muslim can have their beliefs flush down the drain if any of them were surrender over to what is on that page.
But there is a glimmer of truth at the end of this article…”And if I did just pretend to believe, wouldn’t God know that I was a faker, just going through the motions to avoid Hell?” Yep!!! That has been the most truthful thing I have read in this debater. The one thing I have gotten by looking into this debater is that there are people around us that will spend more energy avoiding God than surrendering over to Him. I appreciate that my pastor challenged our church to take a look at this application for our i-gizmo’s. I might ask you to do the same. After all, we all need to defend the work of Calvary and that requires being armed. So make sure your Sword is sharpened and ready for battle this New Year. – Chris Hughes is a frequent contributor to our Freedom Fighter e-votional and a graduate of the Colony of Mercy
Digging Deeper: Proverbs 30; Zechariah 13-14; Revelation 21

Dig This Quote: Even if you are trained in many of God’s ways, as John was, you are still likely to have an opportunity to be offended with Jesus. If you truly love and believe on Him, you will fight to stay free from offense, realizing His ways are always higher than yours. Also, if you are going to obey the Spirit of God, people will be offended by you. Jesus said in John 38, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Some will not understand you as you move with the Spirit. Don’t allow their unpleasant response to deter you from what you know in your heart is true. Don’t abort the flow of the Spirit for the desires of men. The Bait of Satan — John Bevere
Determined Digging: Level 1: Acts 1:8; Level 2: John 1:8-14
Determined Praying: The nature of the divine goodness is not only to open to those who knock, but also to cause them knock and ask. — Augustine

The Atheist Arguing Job — Part 3

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The Atheist Arguing Job.
Part Three
“And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”                                                                                                                2 Peter 3:15-18 (ESV)
Over the past few Freedom Fighters I covered just the tip of the iceberg concerning an i-app for the i-gizmo’s that are out there called “The Atheist Pocket Debater.” In my first moments of looking into this i-book I had issues and I was outraged with what I was reading. Well in this Freedom Fighter I want to cover why the compiler of this i-app went the direction he did. If it wasn’t for a conversation with my pastor I just may have missed this particular reason why Jason Hagen made the decision early in his life to dismiss God totally. So I thank Pastor Paul Ort for taking the time out for presenting the evidence that lite the light bulb for these past Freedom Fighters in the first place.
I found the following quote in the N.Y. Times online archives from earlier this year, “What inspired him, he said, was a lifetime of frustration as the son of a fundamentalist Christian preacher in rural Virginia. “I know what people go through, growing up in the culture I grew up in,” said Mr. Hagen, 39, adding that his father had only recently learned of his true beliefs. “So I tried to give people the tools they need to defend themselves, but at the same time not ridicule anybody. Basically, the people on the other side of the debate are my parents.” When I read this I immediately called Pastor Paul and asked him where I could find the rest of this guy’s bio. “It’s part of the debater titled “The Skeptical Teenager” Pastor replied. So I went there and read some disturbing stuff. 
He was baptized at age 12 “just to please the folks.” By the time he was 14 he began to question the stories in the Bible. “How do we know those stories in the Bible actually happened?” The reply was, “Jason, don’t even go there! We know it’s true. We just know!” And then he asked, “Why don’t all those miracles happen today?” The reply to this question was, “I don’t know why God doesn’t do miracles nowadays. Maybe He wants us to have faith.” That last answer bothers me something fierce. These were the answers provided by a teacher at the Baptist school he was attending…according to him.
Later on in the bio Jason tells a story about being 19, living in Atlanta and running into a street corner preacher. The preacher was the “fire and brimstone” kind of preacher and, in front of his friends; Jason begins a dialogue that went like this. “Those who do not accept the Lord Savior Jesus will perish in the everlasting fire of Hell.” Jason walks up to him and asks, “Sir, if God knows everything and loves us, why would He create Hell? Wouldn’t it be better to not even be born in the first place, if we knew we were going to be sent there? It’s being born into a curse.” And of course this street preacher goes into an incoherent tirade about Satan even though it is not directed towards Jason.
There are two things we can glean from this. One is that we have a rebellious teenager who just feels like being so or we have a younger brother who had doubts and an older brother did not do what should have been done to reinforce the work of the Cross. Even so this man has gone to compile a very popular tool for people to use against us. It is important that the Christian take the time to present the evidence to support their faith. To say, “Just because” may not be enough. Maybe Jason’s story is one-sided but it should still serve as a warning to all of us that the world is grabbing at anything right now and we need to have them and reach out…to Jesus. I got one more thing left to say but that will be for tomorrow. – Chris Hughes contributes frequently to our daily Freedom Fighter e-votional
Digging Deeper: Proverbs 29; Zechariah 9-12; Revelation 20
Dig This Quote;
“The unchurched don’t care much about our credentials. Bible school and seminary degrees aren’t important if we can’t undergird them with our wholehearted response to God’s character requirements. We must live out the reality of our message. And we live it out best in community and relationships when we deeply share our lives, our dreams, our joys, and our sorrows. What people expect of us-their pastors and church leaders- is that we be holy men and women, that we love mercy, that we sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the sheep, including sheep that are lost. They want to know that their pastors aren’t always looking for a fight or motivated by money. They long for leaders who are patient and gentle, kind and generous-pastors who love them.” Reclaiming God’s Original Intent for the Church                                                                                   Wes Roberts and Glenn Marshall
Determined Digging: Level 1: Acts 1:8; John 1:8-14

Determined Praying: When faith sets prayer on work, prayer sets God on work. Thomas Watson

The Atheist Arguing Job — Part 2

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The Atheist Arguing Job.
Part Two
“The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?”                                                                                                                                 Job 1:7-9 (ESV)
 Yesterday I told you about this new application I got for my i-touch that my pastor told our congregation we needed to get and read if we had an i-anything. The i-app is called “The Atheist Pocket Debater” and it contains some of the outrageous arguments against the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that I have ever browsed through. In yesterday’s Freedom Fighter I shared with you a few things that concerned me. One was author Jason Hagen’s insinuation that God would participate with Satan on placing bets on human suffering. The other ones were about his questioning of Job being righteous, that God has an ego and that He is ‘very concerned about His vanity.” Well today I’m still steamed so I will continue with a few more of Jason’s attitude with God through Job.
As this writing goes along Hagen wants his reader to think that God is boasting to the prince of evil by saying, “God asks Satan, “Have you seen my servant Job? There is no one more righteous on the Earth?” Well my friend here’s the part of this Freedom Fighter where I need you to open your Bible and see if this is what the text says. My NKJV does not have this particular wording, however I think the writer wants to change God’s word around to support his own statement that, “God is boasting to Satan.” I will ask you this…Does God need to boast? I for one do not think He needs to boast. His mercies are new every morning that says enough to me. Does it for you?
Something else struck me with unease. As the writer goes along with the opening dialogue that we find in chapter one of the Book of Job he is asking questions and making comments. These are smug comments and his question are those that an unbeliever would ask but he ticks me off with the following statement, “God is being challenged and tested by Satan. Realize, if Satan’s intention is simply and solely to be permitted to punish and hurt Job, and the testing of Job’s loyalty to God is only a ruse, then God is being completely manipulated and outsmarted by Satan. Think about it.” All-RIGHTY THEN!!
Well I have thought about it and whatever thoughts about El Elyon this author wants to plant into the mind of his readers they can’t be good.  He had better get his nose into God’s Word and find out what happens when people question who manipulates who and what happens to them. The text simply states that, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” God even asks the adversary, twice, where he has been and the only answer there has ever been given is, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” I call that wandering around without any real purpose but what do I know, huh?
There is a lot more I could cover and I would need a month of Freedom Fighter space to go on. But there is a good reason why Jason Hagen takes God and the church to task in the fashion that he does. I will cover that tomorrow. So think about how this kind of debating can lead people to fall away from the Church of God if the church does not come alongside those whose faith may be wavering. Remember that Jesus came to straighten out a great big mess that was left in the Garden because Satan was crafty enough to twist the Word of God around and make it look as if the Creation could do fine without Him. – Chris Hughes is a regular Freedom Fighter e-votional contributor and a graduate of the Colony of Mercy
Digging Deeper: Proverbs 28; Zechariah 5-8; Revelation 19
Dig This Quote: “Something has to fill their need. Something has to satiate their hunger and thirst for righteousness. Where truth, doctrine, and Scripture cannot fill, experience enters. The generation of superficial Christians then begins to measure their Christianity, not by what they believe but by how they feel. This is a profound error. Measuring your Christianity by your experience can lead to a myriad of related ailments. Without a true biblical marker and measurement, one is easily deceived into measuring by the amount of tears one cries or the sharpness of the tingle that transverses your spine. This condition is made worse when we realize that our culture measures truth by the same standards. Think about. These days, it is rare to find anyone use the phrase, “I believe.”
 Why Churches Die  Mac Brunson & Ergun Caner
Determined Digging: Level 1: Acts 1:8; Level 2: John 1:8-14
Determined Praying: Large asking and large expectation on our part honor God. – A. L. Stone