How Can Pain And Suffering Be Understood In Regards To God's Providence?

And God will

wipe away

every tear

from their eyes;

there shall be 

no more death,

nor sorrow, 

nor crying. 

There shall be 

no more pain,

for the former things

have passed away.

Revelation 21:4

     Do you believe that statement made by John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Or, do you just hope that it will happen? If someone, a pastor, or evangelist, or anyone, has talked you into a decision for Jesus Christ, then it is possible that another person could change your decision. Jesus Christ does not ask for our decision. His desire is for conversion! Yes there is a decision in the process, but that decision is not due to someone talking you into a decision, rather that the Holy Spirit has drawn you and enabled you to decide to be converted: period! Many people make decisions for Jesus Christ but few are actually converted. What is conversion? An example, go to Europe with your hairdryer (that is if you can take it on a plane, Ha!), and if you do not have a converter your alternating current hairdryer will not work, you need to have conversion from alternating current to direct current, which is the current used in Europe. If you want to live for Christ and believe in His word, then you must be converted from one type of person to another. The converter is Jesus Christ, but unlike the illustration of the hairdryer which can return to alternating current when you unplug the converter, to be converted by the converter Jesus Christ is a permanent conversion, you are not simple converting temporarily, you are converted for eternity and you are now to operate within that conversion. If you have only made a decision then it is possible that you unplug yourself from the converter, Jesus Christ and live as you were before. Why make these comments? If you are not converted then no answer given will be accepted or lasting and this question as to pain and suffering in this world will not be understood or have an answer. Many often come to Jesus Christ because they desire to have what He gives, that is in this case, life without pain and suffering, but when the rubber meets the road, and pain and suffering come into their lives they return to doubt, and even depression, they forsake what they had decided before to be: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they  would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us" (1John 2:19). There is an old saying: "You want your cake and eat it too"! This is so true of us, even after conversion, as we become sanctified by allowing the word of God to change us, and allow our conversion to change us into the image of Jesus Christ. Allow me to give an illustration from my new book which will be publish in the next couple of weeks, for in it I address this very question: Why does God allow pain and suffering, why does He not just protect His children from the various afflictions that come upon man? 

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor?

Romans 11:33-34 

     Before I begin, this must be understood: God is not the same as we are for He is a completely different sort of Being. We so often want to morph God into a being as we are, this was what the Gnostics did with the Demiurge, but this Platonic teaching will not give us the answer we seek. 
     Can good come from bad? You may quickly say, yes! How do you know, what is your argument in favor of that proposal, that good can come from bad? Take for instance, a man who does not go to Church is playing golf on Sunday morning with his friend while his wife and two little girls are on their way to Church only to be killed by a drunk driver. Why did God allow this to happen? Was she not a Christian, was she not on her way to Church to worship God and fellowship with other believers? What did those two little girls do to have this happen to them? Where was God? At this point of affliction we want God to control everything; we want Him to change things so that we would not have to suffer: but God does not! Who made the man become drunk on a Sunday morning? God, Satan, or himself? Who put the bottle to his mouth and made him drink? Are we not the cause of our actions? Yes! Therefore God did not cause him to drink, and we cannot always say that "Satan made me do it." Yes, there is sin in man, and man who will not choose to follow God's command not to get drunk, it is not God's fault, nor is it Satan's fault, that is, directly from Satan. This man choose to become drunk and drive himself. Luke records an event where eighteen men were standing under a tower in Siloam and were killed, so they perished due to the falling of the tower not because they had sinned and caused the tower to fall: (Luke 13:4). There is a law of second causes, and God will not take away our choices or our decisions, but will in all cases through our circumstances turn the bad into good: "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3). Man can choose everything in this life, the only thing he cannot choose is salvation, for it is a choice that is outside of man, for it is a choice to choose God, whom he does not know, nor can know unless God chooses Him and give to him the free gift of grace. So, man makes a choice and we wonder how can God be so cruel as to allow this accident and killing the mother and two daughters? We find it hard to accept and to understand. Here is a story that may help:
A bear is caught in a trap, and when the man approaches the bear is fearful and puts up a fight, He does not know that the man is coming to free him and when the man has to apply some pain by injecting the bear with an anesthesia drug he is more frightened but due to the drug he falls against the cage door and the man has to tug and pull to remove him for blocking the door, the bear who is drowsy is made to become more afraid, and fights the man, all the while the bear does not understand that the man has come to free him from the bad thing that has trapped him. How can the bear understand? He can't! He is a bear and the man is a man and the two are far apart. This is us and God. Maybe you have done just that, allowed a child to prick their finger while attempting to learn how to sew, and you saw that this was possible for the child did not put on a thimble, but you allowed it just the same knowing that from the experience of pain she would learn not to do that again. You could have stopped it but you didn't, for you wanted her to learn this hard lesson, you loved her and while she may not understand why you did not help in her time of need, she will come to understand with maturity that at times there is a need for pain. Some don't learn even when they are confronted with pain and suffering: "The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit" (Proverbs 14:8). Wisdom comes with maturity and with experience and the more we experience the love of God the more we are willing to allow Him to be God. We say we trust Him, then do so! Remember that God will not take away our humanity for He is loving and kind and will not usurp our poor decisions, but will when we repent take the bad thing and turn it into good, even if that good will have to wait until we are in heaven with Him. You see, have you removed the blinders of doubt, God's children has not been left without hope, for God Who has given to His children life eternal, it is a complete conversion of life, we are new creatures and we are to live as God purposed, a life where there is no pain or suffering and until He returns for His children we trust, and we allow God to be God. Yes, we will have pain, we will suffer, we will cry, we will be sad, we will be human in every sense, but we are not just human we are converted humans, and we know that there is an end to suffering and pain, and that there is joy, unspeakable joy: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:2-3). Peter writes: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1Peter 4: 12-13). 
     It is when we are truly converted to Jesus Christ that we can, even when we do not fully understand, stand up under any affliction knowing that this life will end, it is not a matter of whether it will or not, it is a matter of how and when, but we know that to die is to gain, just as Paul wrote: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). Live life, obey God, this is contentment, not the contentment that the world seeks, not the discontentment that destroys your faith, rather a contentment due to our faith, a sure hope, that to live for God while aid us while we are in the life, a life of pain and suffering: God is with us: "Now godliness with  contentment is great gain. for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content" (1Timothy 6:6-8). What freedom we have, we have our God, our eternal life and nothing can take us out of the hand of God, nothing can remove us from eternity with Him. Enjoy this life, cry when sad, then move forward in great contentment and joy.

Remove falsehood and lies
     far from me;
give me neither poverty
     nor riches--
feed me with the food 
    allotted to me;
lest I be full land deny You, 
    and say, "Who is the LORD?"
or lest I be  poor and steal, 
    and profane the name 
of my God.
                       Proverbs 30: 8-9


Worship God in Truth


Richard L. Crumb

 

The Providence Of God Explained To Give Us A Sure Hope

---

Bless the LORD,O my soul,and forget notall His benefits:...As a father pities his children,so the LORD pitiesthose who fear Him.For He knows our frame;and He remembers that we are dust.Psalm 103:2,13-14                It is our understanding of the term we use for God, that He is Providential; but we have a difficult time understanding how it is that God is Providential because life is full of events that seem to defy the presence of God. We speak of His benefits, we rely on His word that teaches us that God knows us, and that He blesses us; then the horrible thing occurs and our faith is stressed to the breaking point. Even the words of Jesus Christ seem hollow and not understandable and  echo in our minds that it is impossible, an impossible thing to do, that which He says: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matthew 6:34). Oh! How to explain these words spoken by the Savior? Listen closely, Jesus gave these words to drive away our fears, to keep us from distress and to enable us to rely on the Providence of God. As I write this I do hope that my explanation will lift up your souls, those of you who are distressed, that you may be raised from despondency to rejoicing.
     Ezekiel gives from beginning of His writings a picture that is sometimes hard to understand, at least for those of us who find God sometimes giving us words in visions leaving us to study for the meaning: He gives us the meaning if we will just listen to the Holy Spirit, our guide. Ezekiel gives us the picture of a wheel, that the Providence of God is like a wheel, and the wheel goes round, and round, first one part of the wheel is on the bottom, then it is on the top and the previous top part is on the bottom; and so on. Is this not like life, first we are on top, then we are on the bottom, round and round it goes life. So goes our life, for sometimes we are humbled by poverty and wonder where the next meal may come to us, and feed us and give us comfort, or that our wealth has disappeared and no longer do we drink the best of wines, or eat the best of foods, the comfort of wealth is gone and not necessarily due to any fault of our own. Our experiences are never a stable thing; it is always changing, and like the wheel in Ezekiel's vision, it is always turning round. Today they are praising you, tomorrow they want to crucify you: such is the state of man. 
     Let us take a look at this wheel that is going around and around and notice that there is one part of the wheel that never changes: it is the axle, it is steadfast. This is the Providence of God that never changes, it not moved by the turning of the wheel, the occurrences in our lives. This axle can be compared to the love of God that never changes His everlasting love towards His covenant people. 
     As the wheel turns faster and faster all that we can see is the circumference, the exterior of the circle, you can discern nothing by the circumference. Is this not true of our going through some affliction, that all we can see is the affliction? I wrote on history, that we can look back in history and see how the Providence of God, that God is working in history, and is working in the now, He is working our His everlasting purposes. History will show that there are times that the cause of liberty would be crushed, or that this seems so out of place, this event, that this or that is so out of time, that the very rising of man would be destroyed; but when we do look closely at history then we can see the symmetry that teaches you that God is wise, and that God is just. This we must allow to rise in our lives, this knowledge of God that comforts us in our times of struggle, become as a sturdy oak tree and take a deeper root. If all you do is look at today, the afflictions of today and have no root, root that is grounded deep in history showing the love and justice of God then the winds of even a small storm will uproot you. When we know the past and see the Providence of God at work then our present troubles will be counteracted by the knowledge that give a sure faith that God will be Providential and that we can by His help get through anything that may come our way. Instead of lamenting and mourning, we will rise up and bless God for His mercies toward you. 
     No matter the problem, no matter where we are, God's Providence is universal, it is in every quarter of the earth. An example of God's eye that is one each and every one anywhere and any place may be found in this simple illustration. At times on the wall there is a painting, let say, of a man, and wherever we go in the room where the picture is hanging, the eyes of the man in the picture seem to be looking directly at you. Have you had this happen? Such is the Providence of God, that wherever you are, God's eyes are upon you. This is true of everyone who is in the room where the picture is hanging, each one sees the same thing the man in the picture is looking at them. So is God's Providence, He is not just looking at you but He is looking at everyone. 
     Here is an important thing: the Providence of God is uniform, even if we can't understand His Providence, there is some contradiction: but God does not contradict Himself. God is One, His Providence is One: this may be a hard truth to grasp, but grasp it we must. I gave in the last blog the example of Joseph and all the troubles he endured, and that all the troubles seem to contradict the Providence of God, but in the end we could see that God was working all the time. Yet, you may admit that the Providence of God is so adverse to you, there is no beauty in your life. I just laid some carpet for my daughter and granddaughter and I will use this illustration: If you are looking in the wrong place for beauty you may be looking at the wrong thing. For instance, if you are looking at the back of the carpet you will only see disorder, and lines of jute thread going this way and that way, but turn over the carpet and you will see the beauty of color, and design, that was fully intended by the manufacturer. So it is with us when tribulations come, that Providence is very bad, because we are looking at the wrong side. Yes, it is human to look at the wrong side, and maybe all that you will ever see is the wrong side and while here on earth this is all that we can see, but when we get to heaven then we will see with all clarity the beauty that was being developed by God's Providence. Your faith in times of trouble may be firm and steady, but the things of live do not change, the trouble is still with you, but your assured faith never wavers. What you cannot see, for all you see is the back of the carpet is the development of a beauty on the other side, that there is someone who by your witness to the truth is turned from sin to salvation, that the gift of faith has taken root and is fed nourishment due to your life, your handling of affliction, your steadfast faith in God. You may not find the answers here on earth, but you will in the presence of God, when all knowledge will be yours, and you will see that workings of God, His Providence, His never wavering from His purpose, to bring to Him a people for His name. You will have had a hand in His Providential care. 
     God's Providence is always correct, no matter how the wheel turns, which way it goes, the axle remains constant: such is the Providence of God. Man may may plans, but in the end finds that he cannot complete his plans; this is not so with God for He never lays a foundation and then have to abandon his plan, for what He begins He finishes, His purposes never change, they are never thwarted by the struggles of our life, He works out His plan in the circumstances of our lives. First, and most important, How could God change, for if God wills a thing to occur, it will, and if He wills a thing not to occur, it won't occur. If God is changeable, then He is not perfect, therefore He is not in control of all things, somethings could change from good to bad, and from bad to worse; we would have no comfort, no hope, that God is in control, and that we would just have to accept things as they are and that we be left in our despair. God does not love you today and hate you tomorrow, and He will not allow you to suffer more than you can handle, but we must not rely on ourselves so that we may not suffer more than we can handle, we rely upon God, through His word, and by looking at history and seeing the Providence of God, that His working in history by an unchangeable God, will be with us and work through our struggles as well. This is amazing! God is working all the time; working in our lives, working through all that Satan would destroy, that Satan desires to destroy, not non-Christians for he has them in his hands, rather it those who profess faith in God, God's children and if he could stymy the faith of a Christian, there witness to the Gospel then Satan has accomplished his purpose, but when we rely on God, keep our faith intact in Him, then Satan is defeated and our lives are the witness to the great and wonderful gospel, that Jesus Christ died for the children of God and that the Holy Spirit was sent as a comforter to God's children and until we arrive in heaven we have God on our side, that His Providence will overcome all our afflictions. '
      This is the wisdom of God, that His Providence is full of wisdom. As Christians we do not believe in fate. We do not say: "Whatever is, must be." There is a difference between that thought or saying and the Providence of God for Providence says: "Whatever God ordains must be;" but the wisdom of God never ordains a thing without a purpose. If anything goes wrong, and this is due to sin, and the working of Satan and his demons, then God puts it right. God is not blind, He sees all, and He is in charge of all, whether we can fuller understand the struggles we may be in, we have one thing that we have that no one who is not a child of God has: it is our sure faith in God. Paul writes this and this should give you hope and a blessing: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).
     Why take the time to discuss the Providence of God? It is this: if you cannot believe in the Providence of God then anything that may be said will have no meaning for you. The question as to why God has allowed afflictions in this life, to occur here on earth will never be answered and you will be left in you depression.  But we are not destitute, we have God on our side, and Paul states: "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, not height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39).

Is Ephraim My dear son?
     Is he a pleasant child?
For though I spoke against him,
    I earnestly remember him still;
therefore My heart yearns for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
says the LORD.
                               Jeremiah 31:20 


Place All Your Trust In God


Richard L. Crumb
     



 
 

God Is Omniscient---We Are Not

Surely I am more stupid

than any man,

and do not have

the understanding

of a man.

I neither learned wisdom

nor have knowledge 

of the Holy One.

Proverbs 30:2-3

     Solomon in his song, a book that is seldom quoted from by pastors or teachers, but a book that is rich in meaning and in building our faith, says this by the daughters of Jerusalem: "Where has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with you" (Song of Solomon 6:1)? When tragedy strikes, when troubled times come upon a person, when we look for answer, we find that we cannot find the One we love: He seem to have gone, even when we turn to those who may have an answer. We may cry out in our distress and as the Shulamite cried: "Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices" (Song of Solomon 8:14). We look for Him, we cry out for Him to come, and often we cannot see where He is, or why He seems to have left us in our moment of anguish, or time of grieving. Have you been in that state, has this happened to you? If so, join the great crowd of people called human. We all suffer from time to time and wonder where is God, where is the help we need, and furthermore, why did this happen? Then the worst thing happens to us, we question our question, how could we be so insensitive to our faith, yet, we are struggling with the situation we find ourselves in, and we need answers, but we may then become depressed, not only due to the struggle of the time, but because we are in some way doubting that God can help, that He has left us to our affliction. Has He? No! But how do we answer the question so often asked by those not only in the Church, but by those who are non-Christian, in regards to why God allows pain and suffering? How do we answer this question? We don't! We can't! We are stupid! But....God does give us a brain, He does not leave us destitute (He does give us His word, the Bible), so that we cannot answer this question, or any question, and in finding the answer we can build our faith in Him, that He is Providential, and that He is Omniscient, and that He is there to comfort us in all our troubles: But, He will not necessarily take those troubles from us, even though we wish it were so. Why? Great question, and I will attempt to give some answers that will help. 

     Before I begin I must ask some personal questions: The first one is: Who are you loyal too? You or God? Many of us are loyal to the notion of God, but are you loyal to Him? Another question is: Are you willing to take a step in faith? Remember that our faith is not in faith, it is in Him, the Son of God. That is: are you willing to abandon your notions, and be recklessly abandoned to Him? We may say that this or that should not have happened, but it did so what do you say to that? By even saying the question we are placing our selves as being providential, that we would have done things better, better than God. That God could have done so and so, and by not doing it then we begin to question Him. Some have done so be becoming Deist, that is, God created then left all to chance, He just sits back and waits for things to happen, so nonchalantly He is not concerned about how we feel or how it all turns out, He did His part we must do ours. Is this so? No! God is not just sitting back waiting for things to happen, God is Omniscient and all things occur due to His ordination, by His decree, for if He did not decree a thing to happen then it would not have happen, and if by His ordination, and by His Providential care, He allow and controls all things, thing it is by God decree that what occurs will be made to be good in His overall purpose. God works through the circumstances of life, it is then we come to realize that we need God, but that knowledge does not take away the pain we feel. Is God uncaring? No! But God will not remove from us our humanity. We are the cause of second causes. This will be shown to be true, and even though those causes create a bad situation, God can and will use that situation for good. Will God take a bad situation and use it for Good? Yes! Our best example is that of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ: "and thy will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. and the third day He will rise again" (Matthew 10:34). If Jesus Christ did not die, die as a perfect sinless man, then there would be no salvation for any man or woman, or child, we would be left to whatever occurs in this life: we would live and die: period! Our view of God, or notion of God will determine how we handle adversity. If all we have is a notion of God, things will not work out for our benefit and leave us in a quandary and our dilemma may overtake our senses; we question the goodness of God. If our faith is in Him, not in a notion of Him, then we can find solace and great strength in times of trouble, but we still needs answers for our in our human strength we have none, and we are not able to help or give answers to those in need of an answer. We must be ready to give answers for our faith to anyone who would ask: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in your, with meekness and fear" (1Peter 3:15). So then, how can we be ready? By taking time to examine what we believe in regards to the pain and suffering that occurs in the world. If we do not have any satisfactory answers for ourselves how then can we be ready to give an answer to those who ask? We can't! But we must! We are here on this earth as ambassadors of Jesus Christ: "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though god were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2Corinthians 5:20). Paul was literally in chains as a prisoner in Rome, but we may be chains of despair, struggling with life and with all the bad that seems to occur both in the Church and outside the Church, but we must act as Paul did: "and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak" (Ephesians 6:20). 

     By God not taking away the pain and suffering from His Son, who is God Himself (lest we forget this), and did not bring salvation in any other way, yet, by His Providence, He allowed this seemingly unsightly, and horrible thing to occur to the One He sent to earth, then why should we not think that He will take the bad in our life and turn it for good? I am sure, at least I will surmise, that Joseph did not fully understand why his brothers wanted to kill him, then by not doing so threw him into a pit, only then to sell him to some gypsy travelers. Then being accused of a crime he did not commit and to be thrown into prison some thirteen years and having befriended those who who could help but did not, He may, even with his great faith, wondered why? Then God did the unthinkable, He had Joseph released from prison and to become the second in power in Egypt. But this was not the purpose that God intended, for in His Providential care for His people who were to undergo a great famine and needed food, came to Egypt to live and be saved from death due to that famine, said this to his brothers: "But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, ink order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive" (Genesis 50:20). 

     This is where we shall begin in order to give us answers and the help we need, not only for ourselves, but for those who need answers. I will continue in the next blog with that help.

Hear my prayer, O LORD,

    and let my cry come to You.

Do not hide Your face from me

    in the day of my trouble;

incline your ear to me;

    in he day that I call,

answer me speedily.

                        Psalm 102:1-2

God will not despise your prayer

Richard L. Crumb 

Questions, Questions, Questions---MaybeYou Have Some--I Have

As for man, his days

are like grass;

as a flower of the field,

so he flourishes.

For the wind passes 

over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers

it no more. But the mercy

of the LORD is from

everlasting to everlasting

on those who fear Him,

and His righteousness

to children's children.

to such as keep His covenant,

and to those who

remember His commandments

to do them.

Psalm 103:15-18

     I have covered the Sovereignty of God, the Incarnation of Christ, some attributes of God, and the dispensation of God according to His economy, the authority of God and the authority He has gave to His children. The necessity of changing from the inside out so that a person is devoted to God and that the faith given to you operates in this life so that you can face anything that comes your way. Good!! But!! You may still have questions that are not only asked by pagans, but by Christians; i.e., why did my mother have to die, or my father, my  cousin, my nephew, my child, and why did my marriage end the way it did, and why, why, why?????

     Don't be ashamed to ask these questions, you are human aren't you? God has not taken away your humanity when He made you a new creature. Quit trying to be so holy! Live life, obey God! But, you say, 'how do I answer the question as to why God has allowed pain, and suffering? Why did my friend die in a car crash? Why, Why, Why???? Have you questioned God over this? It is ok! But, you could use some answers, and this will be the theme and subject of the next blog. 

     This blog is short, as I am going out of town and while I am gone I will be studying so that I may give some good answers, answers from the Bible. Here is the first thing a person needs to do before he can expect to have any answer: Pray, Pray, Pray! Trust God to give you an answer, you may not like it: oh well! Ha! We did cover that God is Sovereign, and Providential, and He did send His Son, to die for our sins, did He not? Ok! Then, it is by faith we live, but not some etheral, out in space kind of faith, rather it faith assured, we have a hope that is assured, so all we need to do is apply that faith and God will answer. 

     Take time to prepare for worship on Sunday, make this day a sabbath, keep the commandment of God, and if you must work due to necessity, it is ok, God will not condemn you for that, only if you can keep the sabbath and do not. Enjoy, your friends, family, and live life to the fullest. We have much to cover and we will, and hopefully you may use the answers to help others who might have questions that need answers, that is why we are here, to preach, teach and make disciples, what a work God has given us, and what help by means of the Holy Spirit He has given us. 

Bless the LORD, you 

    His angels (messengers, my note)

who excel in strength,

     who do His word.

Heeding the voice

    of His word. 

                   Psalm 103:20

May God Bless You

Richard L. Crumb

Culture Or No Culture--God Will Not Forever Put Up With Sin

But the men of Sodom

were exceedingly wicked

and sinful against the LORD...

And they called to Lot and said

to him, 'Where are the men

who came to you tonight?

Bring them out to us

that we may know them carnally...

For we will destroy this place

because the outcry against them

has grown great before the face

of the LORD, and the LORD has

sent us to destroy it!" But to his 

sons-in-law he seemed to be joking...

Then the LORD rained brimstone

and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah,

from the LORD out of the heavens.

Genesis13:!3; 19:5,13,14,24

     God is patient, but do not expect God to be patient forever, there is a time when His patience is over, His patience is not our permission. We can know that history and the culture of today has had and has an influence upon us, but we cannot excuse ourselves that we sin due to that fact. When the elect of God is finally complete, then and only then will Jesus Christ return and take home with Him all of God's children from the grave and those who are still alive. Some expect a rapture of the Church, but there is no Scriptural proof of that, only that Jesus returns on the last day, and that day God's patience has run its course. We do not know who the elect are, we preach the Gospel to all and allow God to draw to Him His elect. Until death or our meeting with the Lord on the last day we have our lives to account for, and when we have received knowledge of those things that have influenced us, the Church, we are obliged to do something about that sin. Period! Over time exponentially man has become worse in their sins, and they have transferred the honor which is due to God to material objects, such as wood, stone, and to man, and further even more than that they have become so pious that they worship emotions, and even evil spirits as god in satisfaction of their lusts. Yes, through impiety, and lawlessness, men have been lead astray, even to worship the stars, as those those inanimate objects had some power as a god. Yet, the word of God is not unknown, it is everywhere if one was to look, they would be led to God even by the trees, the universe; yet, God is not hidden, as they would like Him to be: No! they continue in their ideologies and those ideologies have affected you and me. 

     Feminism has been one such assault against God as they in every way they could have as one of their main contributions towards modern feminism was to try to eliminate heterosexuality and the nuclear family altogether. This was stated by Kate Weigand who is a feminist historian. December 12-18, 1994 a meeting entitled "The contribution by religions ot the Culture of Peace" organised by UNESCO and the Centre UNESCO de Catalunya that took place in Bacelona, Spain declared in 23 tenents:

#4: We understand that culture is a way of seeing the world and living in it. It also means the cultivation of those values and forms of life which reflect the world-views of each culture. Therefore neither the meaning of peace nor of religion can be reduced to a single and rigid concept,just as the range of human experience cannot be conveyed by a single language.

#6: Religions have contributed to the peace of the world, but they have also led to division, hatred, and war. Religious people have too often betrayed the high ideals they themselves have preached. We feel obliged to call for sincere acts of repentance and mutual forgiveness, both personally and collectively, to one another, to humanity in general, and to Earth and all livings beings.

     On the surface those tenants do not sound so bad, right? Can't we just get along? Ha! We can't, people do not want to give up their culture, they have no desire to be tolerant, but that is the program that this group desires to achieve. Inf act under Article 1: Meaning of tolerance 1.3: Tolerance is the responsibility that upholds human rights, pluralism, (including cultural pluralism), democracy and the rule of law. It involves the rejection of dogmatism and absolutism and affirms the standards set out in international human rights instruments.

     Pluralism is that each and every one has their own truth and we are not to impose upon that truth. This has led to pluralism being applied in the Christian community. Let us see how that has worked out? Looking back a few years I will use some facts obtained by the Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood's Family Planning Perspectives.

Worldwide (1996) Abortions: 42 Million

Number of abortions per day: 115,000

United States:

Abortions per year: 1.37 Million

Number of abortions per day: 3,700

The yearly number has now grown as of 2010 to over 1.5 million abortions per year. This growth has grown from 1900 where reported abortions was 17 per year. 

Who is having abortions?

• In 2007, 84% of all abortions were performed on unmarried women (CDC).
• Women between the ages of 20-24 obtained 33% of all abortions; women between 25-29 obtained 24% (CDC).
• 50% of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25; women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all U.S. abortions and teenagers obtain 17% (AGI).
• In 2007, adolescents under 15 years obtained .05% of all abortions, but had the highest abortion ratio, 768 abortions for every 1,000 live births (CDC).
• 47% of women who have abortions had at least one previous abortion (AGI).
• Black women are more than 4.8 times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2.7 times as likely (AGI).
• 37% of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 28% identify themselves as Catholic (AGI).
• At current rates, nearly one-third of American women will have an abortion (AGI). 

Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY: The teen pregnancy rate in the USA rose 3% in 2006, the first increase in more than a decade, according to data out today. the data also show higher rates of births and abortions among girls 15-19.
     Divorces by Christians is greater than non-Christians, more than 51%. Homosexuality has increased both for male and females, more children today are running free with no or very little supervision. Yet, we claim that Christianity is growing. It may be in number, but not in devotion to God. So how is all this femininity and demasculation of men working out? Not so good! Men, you and I are at fault! We have allowed the authority given to man to be the authority for the household, to be the leaders in the Church, to women who have not been given this authority. This is not to defame women in any way, in fact, many are smarter, have greater skills, and are capable of holding down jobs that were assigned to men in the past. So what? It is the Bible who claims our allegiance, and it is the Bible that we claim to follow, so follow! We should not look to the world for acceptance, that we are to ignore God's word in favor of the prevailing culture. Men take the responsibility, in love, in God's love, and be the man of the house, and women be the woman of the house. It is not that women can or cannot work, for there is a place for that to occur and the Bible is clear that at times a women such as to be found in Proverbs chapter 31 does work, brings in money, but in all this she finds favor as a wife. We all share as to how culture and history, especially of those who are opposed to Christianity and to God have affected us, we are to blame, but now the blaming is over, we must "hunker" down and do what the Bible declares for us to do. We live life, we enjoy all that God has given us, and we trust Him for everything, so trust Him is this matter, it is from Him. 
     Again, these words are tough, tough to even write and I know some will cavil, object, and turn away, but you are not turning from me, you are objecting to the rule of God, to the Supreme God, to the Providential God, to the God of mercy, to the God who came to save. The writer of Ecclesiastes had this to say: "I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him. that which is has already been, and what is to be has already been; and God requires an account of what is past" (Ecclesiastes 3:14-15). 

When you make a vow to God,
     do not delay to pay it; 
For He has no pleasure in fools.
    Pay what you have vowed--
Better not to vow than to vow
    and not pay.
                                Ecclesiastes 4:4-5

God Will Refresh You

Richard L. Crumb

Christians Are Recreated By Jesus Christ' Death On The Cross

If indeed you have heard Him

and have been taught by Him,

as the truth is in Jesus:

that you put off, concerning

your former conduct,

the old man which grows

corrupt according to

the deceitful lusts,

and be renewed in the 

spirit of your mind,

and that you put on

the new man which was

created according to God,

in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:21-24

     Have you forgotten? Do you live as though you are not your own? Is it the truth you desire? Or, do you just want your ears to be tickled? Do you believe that the Bible is God's word? Or do you only believe that the original manuscripts are inerrant, and not the manuscripts that we have today? In other words, do you believe that God would not allow His word to not be preserved even if man attempts to change it according to their theologies, and/or ideologies? Paul wrote to the Corinthians who had allowed corruption to enter into their worship of God and had forgotten that as Christians we do not live for ourselves for we were: "for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1Corinthians 6:20). Peter adds to this fact: "but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction' (2Peter 2:1). This is why there is a need to speak frankly, to speak clearly, to use the word of God as it is written, so that there is not excuse for not knowing what God has revealed to His children, the ones He paid for by sending His Son to die for them. We are not our own, we then should be living not as the world, rather as Christians. Remember the word Christian is form by adding to Christ the ending "ian" that means "little ones" or similar ones, so that a Christian is a little Christ, and this is true for we do not belong to ourselves but to God. How serious is this that we are learning? Very serious for God will not and cannot go back on His word, and this in regard to death so that we could have eternal life. God could not falsify Himself! What was God to do? Was God to demand repentance from men for their transgressions? You might think that all that is necessary is repentance, as though this would be worthy of God to just accept our repentance. As is taught by some Churches that by the transgression men became subject to corruption, so then by repentance they return to incorruption. But repentance would not protect the consistency of God, for if death does  hold dominion over men, and if God did not account for sin, God then would be untrue. We know this, repentance is no guarantee that we will not sin, our nature is sinful, we did inherit sin, and by sin we are corrupt, so if we repent the best that we can say is that repentance may keep us from sinning, but has not removed our nature that is corrupt, sin. If our sin had only been a trespass only, and it is a trespass but not the only reason that we are sinful, but a trespass because we are corrupt, repentance then from that trespass would be all that is needed, but when transgression had begun in man, man came under the power of corruption which is now proper to their/our nature and no grace belonged to them as creatures made in the image of God. No! Repentance could not meet the need, the case; so what should be done? How then could man have his transgression, his trespasses removed? It was by God sending His very Wisdom to become incarnate in human flesh to die upon the cross, a perfect man who then could be the propiation for sin of man, and this He did and by doing so bought man, and His death was for all that God had determined to be saved and to become His child. You know you are His child if God has become first in your life. This change, this becoming a new creature, a new creation, and now no longer are you yourself as you were as old creature, you then live, desire to live, make the changes to live, as one of His children. This will require a change in our thinking a change in our living, and the world would then and does notice that something is different about you. Look back on the martyrs and the writing by men of old, and you will see that Christian were persecuted because they did not live, worship other gods, and were different because they lived according to the principles as set forth by God, and by His Son, and were lead by the Holy Spirit. 

     This then begs the question: Are you willing to make the necessary changes when you come to know that what you are under is not of God? While studying for these blogs I came to realize that I was influenced greatly by those men who had secretly infiltrated the school, the Church, and into the very thinking of others. Yes, as a sinner, having the nature of sin then I have no excuse for my sin, I leaned towards sinful things, things that seem to make some sense when I measured what is being taught with the principles of this world. We must become identified with Jesus Christ, and this we can do because He bought us with a price, and has sent to us the Holy Spirit to guide us, and has given to us His preserved word. But we must read it with examining eyes, and be willing to make the necessary changes. If we don't then another question arises: Have you been bought with a price? Are you a Christian? Or, do you just enjoy those good sounding messages that tickle your ears? Men such as Polycarp, Ireneaus , Ignatius, Athanasius, Knox, Calvin, Whitfield, and others were not; just read Foxe's book of martyrs and you will see that people of all ages were not willing to just accept, rather they were willing to put their very lives on the line and not disown God, Jesus Christ. I ask myself, am I willing to die for my faith when confronted by those who in many ways want to destroy the faith, the doctrines that were once given? We must become aware of such men who attempt in every way to bring destruction upon God's children, it is Satan, it is Satanic, and if we are not studying and examining then we will succumb, due to our sinfulness, or very nature not yet fully sanctified to their teachings: "For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While the promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage" (2Peter 2:18-19). 

     Having said all this I wonder, how has history affected me, and what am I willing to do about those things that are not Biblical, or am I just listening to men who are places of authority and I am to take them just at their word? No! We need to have men who are willing to be true leaders, to lead their families, to lead the Church, and to have the true knowledge as given in the Bible, and to use a Bible that is not translated from manuscripts that are corrupt, no matter what others may say, those who publish a Bible for money, and promote them so that they can tickle the ears of those desiring that something more, not willing to use what is and has been the preserved word of God. Do we have true men, who wield the authority given to them by God, in true love, "agape" love, a principled love, knowing that they have been given this authority by God. As a woman are you willing to yield to the words of God, and be under the authority as outlined in the Bible or are you more willing to succumb to the secular definition of what a woman is suppose to be. This succumbing to the ideas of the world affects not only women, but men, and children. Who is your authority? God or man? The world will not understand or approve! Who cares? If God has not called them, given them the faith to believe upon Him, they are the very ones that will be thrown into Gehenna, the Lake of Fire; so why listen to them? 

     These are strong words! Jesus did not hold back when he addressed wrongful ideas, those ideas of what it meant to be a "good" Jew. He called them vipers, snakes, to their faces, He did not hold back, and He taught His disciples to speak the truth, in love, but not to shrink back from the truth. We have the examples, so that as we live our life, we live it according to the Scriptures. It is our lives, living for God that will be a witness to the truth. It is the truth that we must portray, live, and even die by; we as Christian, little Christs, have a hope, a secure and faithful hope, that we will live eternally with Him, in a world prepared for the Children of God; therefore live your life according to that truth. This is said to me as to anyone who might read this blog.

that you 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 Savior...

                        2Peter 3:2

Grow in the Grace and Knowledge Of Our Savior

Richard L. Crumb

The Christian Becomes Indentified With Jesus Christ--Not Merely Imitate Nor Just Follow Him

I have been crucified

with Christ;

it is no longer I who live,

but Christ lives in me,

and the life which

I now live in the flesh,

I live by faith 

in the Son of God,

who loved me and

gave Himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

     Many of those claiming to be Christian, even "feeling" Christian are only desiring what God will give to them. They want the promised eternal life, they want God to give to them things in this life, they want God to give to them health, happiness, in this life, they want, want, and want. As has been said, hold out both your empty hands, wish in one and want in the other and see which one gets full the quickest! So many attend Church to get the "feeling" a "feeling" that they are serving God, and worshiping God, and they "feel" inside that they are doing just that, a warm, fuzzy, sort of feeling, a swaying of the body, a shouting in some gibberish form of speech, and then its over, and they go about their life as usual, oh! they may do good things, but even pagans do than, oh! they may attend Bible studies, even non-Christians attend at times, oh! they are doing so much for Jesus! Ha! This is not Christianity, this is far from what makes a Christian. A Christian is one who is so identified with Jesus Christ that nothing else in the world is satisfying. We are as Christians to turn over to Jesus Christ, to God all disposition to sin, all emotional expressions and intellectual beliefs into a simple moral verdict against sin. When we have become identified with Jesus Christ, that is to be identified with His death on the cross is the heart and crux of a Christian. When it comes to making a moral decision and we have become identified with Jesus Christ we will act upon it as being one with Jesus Christ. It is this free committal of yourself to God that God will send to you the Holy Spirit who will impart to you the holiness of Jesus Christ. We are still individual persons, with all of our talents, and gifts, but our disposition is altered and the right to ourselves is destroyed. Christians do not put their faith in faith, but faith in Jesus Christ and this faith then as Paul said: "That the life he lives in the flesh" not the life I hope to live in the future, but now, the life that men can see, this is the life a Christian lives. The Galatians had begun to be mislead by others and this has and is happening in many Churches today: "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified"(Galatians 3:1)? How has the Christian been bewitched? One important manner was the leveling of the sexes so that they are not different but have some form of equality with each other, so that the roles are the same and this has occurred by the emasculation of men and the masculinizing of women. This is the fact as was pointed out in the last blog by the Humanist Manifesto I, II. 
     Make no mistake about what I am saying, we are not speaking of equality among the sexes, yet that is what is being destroyed, rather we are speaking of authority as outlined by the Scriptures, and as Christians we are not our own, it is not our decision to make as to how the Church is governed, it is God's and He has revealed it to us. But, there are forces as was mentioned in the last blog that have another agenda, and today I will mention another force that has had its impact upon the Church, the family. It is the force of Communism. I have lived through what was the cold war with America and Russia, against Democracy and Communism. It seems as with the fall of the Berlin wall that Communism was defeated at least in some manner: it has not, they are willing to "boil the frog." 
     On Thursday, January 10, 1963Fritz Springmeier, author and lecturer from Oregon, spoke to the House of Representatives for Mrs. Patricia Nordmand of De Land, Florida, who who was set forth to expose the dangers of Communism, and addressing Mr. Herlong, the speaker of the House and which was recorded under unanimous consent the "Current Communist Goals," which were 45 items, I will only quote those that pertain to our subjects:
#24: Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
#25: Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and T.V. (My note: Notice the shows on T.V. alone, such as the newest show called "Scandal," it is a scandal, nothing but sex and pornography, but this is shown to children not only in the home, but in advertisement, movie theaters, etc.)
#26: Present homosexuality,degeneracy and promiscuity as :norman, natural, healthy."
#27: Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. discredit the Bible and emphasise the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
#28: eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
#36: Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
#37: Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
#38: Transfer some of the powers of the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioural problems as psychiatric disorders which no-one but psychiatrists can understand or treat. (My note: Notice the use of Prosaic in the schools, and the sudden increase of those children diagnozed with ADH, etc.)
#40: Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
#41: Emphasise the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. 
#42: Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interests groups should rise up and use united force to sove economic, political or social problems.(My note: notice what is and has been happening with those groups called "Occupied Movement.")
     If that is not enough Rules for Communist Revolution were captured at Dusseldof in May 1919 by Allied Forces.
#1. Corrupt the young; get them away from religin. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial; destroy their ruggedness.
#2. By specious argument cause the breakdown of moral virtues, honesty, sobriety, continence, faith in the pledged word, ruggedness. ( My note: We can see this has and is happening with such things with college students and "Spring Break", heavy drinking, and the breakdown of marriages and the forsaking of marriage vows)
#8: Cause the registration of all firearms o some pretext, with a view to confiscation and leaving the population helpless.
     There are eight tenets and I just gave those that are germane to our discussion. Yet, with these few tenets you can see that this is a frontal attack upon the family, moral values, etc. This attack is not just targeting the nation, it is targeting Christians, for it is Christians who apply moral values to their lives, those values that were ordained and revealed to man in His word. We cannot be naive and say that the Church has not been affected by such men who are anti-Christian. John wrote this warning: "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour"..."Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son" (1John 2:18,22). In John's second letter he wrote: "for many deceiver have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (2John 2). John advises the Church: "Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone come to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds" (2John 8-11).
     We are to guard the Church and this we do be examination. We examine what is being taught and by whom, and then if we find that they are not teaching the Doctrines of the Bible, rather they are teaching "good" sounding words, philosophical jargon that makes for "good" feelings, we are to remove ourselves from that Church or out from under that teacher or pastor. We are to be identified with Christ. We do not have a notion of who Christ is, we know that He is God, God incarnate, come to die for the sins of all those God would give to Him. Is this important? Yes! We cannot sit back and tacitly accept what is and has happened to the Church, to the people, the call-out ones, Christians. 

Grace, mercy, and peace
     will be with you from 
God the Father and from
     the Lord Jesus Christ, 
the Son of the Father,
    in truth and love.
                  2John 1:3


God Has Given Us Understanding--The Truth


Richard L. Crumb