Pen of Iron

Whether you like it or not, every Christian who believes in both the Old and New Testaments is a Dispensationalist. If you were not a dispensationalist, you would still be killing and sacrificing animals just like God's people did in the Old Testament.
Sure, Jesus was the Lamb of God that was slain to bear the sins of the World. Under the New Covenant, Jesus did away with the ordinances of old when he instituted his New Covenant with his blood. Is that a new dispensation, or what?

In the millennium, and David speaks of that in the Psalms, sacrificial worship will be resumed (see Ezekiel's temple). Is that a new dispensation or what?

So there you have it. There was the old way of doing business, we are in the new way of doing business, and there is a future way of doing business (yet to come).

"Rightly dividing" the word of God comes up with dispensations. The Bible clearly speaks of the world that was, the world that is, and the world to come.

Do you see it yet? Every Bible Believing Christian is a dispensationalist, like it or not.

Posted by Consecrated at 12:09 PM | 4 comments    

I am so excited because the men in my church have a desire to start a street preaching ministry in Spring. I can't wait for Spring. In the meantime we continue to pass tracts to the residents of Montreal every Saturday. Praise the Lord. Two young men prayed with me at the Metro today and trusted Jesus as their Saviour. I find that when I pray and spend a lot of time with the Lord in the Word, he always rewards with souls getting saved.
Before leaving home this morning I prayed and asked the Lord to bless us as we hit the Metro for tract passing. In the beginning there were two of us, but 3 men from my church joined us a bit later. There is something encouraging about numbers. It feels good when a large number of us go out in God's service. We were passing tracts left and right to everyone we see. Apparently I had given this fellow a tract, but I hadn't noticed. He was lazing around waiting from some friends. When I approached him again, and again, he pulled out several tracts from his pocket and said to me. Look I have them all. Did you read them, and did you understand what you read, I said. He eagerly replied but it was obvious he had not understood. We started talking. I explained the gospel to him. He said he had been reading the Bible, but he did not know how to get saved. I explained the gospel to him and he agreed that he was a sinner in need of salvation. He also agreed to pray to with me. We moved away from traffic, and together we bowed down our heads. I prayed first, and then he followed. I told him, you ask the Lord in your own words, to forgive you your sin and to give you eternal life. After he did that I strongly admonished him to feed his soul on the word of God. He left me feeling quite happy. Later when his friends arrived, he called out to me "Miss, these are my friends". He sounded happy. I got the impression he wanted me to witness to them as well. But only one of them accepted a tract from me. The other just looked away.

Then just as I was getting ready to leave at around 3pm, I overheard my daughter talking a fellow as they approched. She had been witnessing to the fellow but decided it would be better to bring him over to me. I sent up a silent prayer for wisdom as I tried to find out more about his faith or lack thereof. The Lord opened my mouth. For 30 minutes I spoke the word of God, and expounded the gospel to him. It was obvious the young man was searching. As I reminded him of the prodigal son, I could tell he was convicted of sin. I showed him from scripture (in John) how he can get saved. He would pray at night in his apartment, he said. I asked him, can you guarantee that you'll live till tonight. Why not pray right now with me. He accepted. We moved to a quiet corner, we both bowed down our heads and there Roger gave his life to the Lord. Before he left, I reminded him that there are four types of soil, that Satan would be very quick to steal the word from his heart, or that the worries of the world might choke the word. He promised he was going to feed on his Bible daily, and by God's grace be the good soil that bringeth forth fruit.

Praise God for his goodness. I came home feeling so very happy that God still uses this weak vessel to spread the gospel. Hadn't I prayed that He would send labourers because the fields are white unto harvest but the labourers are few? Didn't Jesus command us to bring forth fruit that the Father may be glorified? Amen Lord. I feel humbled in your presence, yet I rejoice along with the angels over one soul that is saved. How much more two in one day. Praise God.

Posted by Consecrated at 10:30 PM | 4 comments    

John 15:8 - Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

I have been thinking about the above verse lately. Our Lord went about all his earthly life with one driving force: that the Father may be glorified. How can the Father be glorified: if WE bear much fruit. But what fruit (single) is he talking about. I suggest you do a word search if you have a Bible Concordance (Strong or Cruden's).

The verse goes on to say "so shall ye be" not christians, but "my "disciples". What an honor to be called a disciple of Christ. The word christian has been used and abused. But a disciple of Christ! That's something else. A disciple of Christ bears much fruit, and herein is the Father glorfied.

Do you remember what Jesus said about being grafted in the true vine in order to bear fruit. Listen to these verses. John 15:1 - I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. John 15:2 - Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you his "disciple"? Jesus said, If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15). John 15:10 - If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

Do you want to bear fruit that the Father may be glorified in his son, then listen to what Jesus said: John 15:4 - Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

I can think of the hymn "Abide in me" right now. I heard an English baritone sing it not long ago, and it was enchanting. Family members and loved ones abide with us in our homes. Don't you love to abide in the house of God.

John 14:13 says: And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Grant it Lord, that the Father may be glorified in this "son" too. Again, John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Posted by Consecrated at 7:30 AM | 2 comments    

Last Sunday I had lunch with a couple of friends at a Greek Restaurant. I stress the word Greek, you'll find out why in a bit. The food was good, the company was good and as I left the diner I approached the reception desk and gave the waiter a tract. What is it? He questioned. The Word of God I replied. At the mention of God, he freaked out. I don't want to hear anything about him, he said. One day you will have to give him an account of yourself, I replied. At this, the guy was furious. I do not want to listen to religion when the priest refused to bury my two-month old baby because he had not been baptized. I had to bury my baby like a dog. My son would have been twenty one years old by now. Please listen to me, I insisted. Your baby is in heaven. All babies go to heaven, sin is not imputed where there is no law, the Bible says. No. The Greek Orthodox priest refused to bury my baby, insisted the man, and I buried my baby like a dog. The man was jumping up and down as though he was in a frying pan. One day, I will sit with Jesus and sip a glass of beer with him, he raved on. This is blasphemy, I said, and if you don't repent of these words, you know where you will end up? In hell, was the reply. That's right, I responded and you will never get to see your two months old baby because he is in heaven and you won't be there. By now I was following him around the desk because he was trying to run away from me, and yet when I'd beg him to calm down, he would stand still for a second and then flare up again. A crowd and other waiters stood watching. Look, I said, I come from Greek Orthodox background, and the Greek Orthodox church (and others) does not teach the truth and the word of God. That is why I converted to a Bible Believing Christian. My baby had a dog's funeral he kept repeating. I repeated that what happened to him was the wrong doing of the Greek Orthodox Church. Are you Greek, he asked? No, I said but my pastor is and he teaches the King James Bible. As soon as the fellow heard me mention the KJV he was up in arms one more time. He started cursing again. At that point, I decided it was better to leave.

As I reflect on the incident I feel broken hearted. Twenty one years later, the man had not forgotten. TWENTY ONE years ago, it still hurt. Seriously, the man was burnt. He was jumping as though he was in a frying pan. The pain was too much to bear. I never got the name of the fellow, but to think that some priest refused to give his baby a semblance of a church funeral is outrageous. Those false shepherds will stand before God one day. How can they explain this kind of behaviour beats the life out of me. It was hard for me to bring him down to sanity when I spoke. I did leave the tract on the front desk and by the time I left it was still there. He did not throw it in the garbage. Pls. pray for that fellow. May be the Lord would soften his heart and use that tract to talk to his heart and assure him of his love and that there is hope in Jesus Christ who loved us and died and rose again to give us eternal life.

Posted by Consecrated at 8:34 PM | 1 comments    

The text below comes from the daily devotional "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers (Day: 19 November for those who have the book). The sentences in bold stood out as I read.

John 16:8 "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,..."

Conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots our every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one -- "Against thee, thee only have I sinned" (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of sin this way, he knows with every bit of his conscience that Gould would not dare to forgive him.
If God did forgive him, then this person would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the breaking of His heart with grief in the death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again.
The love of God means Calvary -- nothing less... .
The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else... .
It is there His conscience is satisfied. ...

P.S. If you should have only one devotional, I would definitely recommend the book above. It is by far the best devotional I have seen or read.

Posted by Consecrated at 8:55 AM | 2 comments    

ZVI is a polish Jew and a survivor of the holocaust, he came to live in Israel many years ago and he met the Lord Jesus Christ and got saved. For about fifty years after his conversion he went about witnessing to thousands of people of his nation from all walks of life.

The interesting thing about him, and I guess about every Christian believer, is that his testimony lives on and is just as effective for God to touch lives. Time: this morning. I am at home praying before I go to work. For some reason I pray like this: Lord you asked us to pray for workers. Lord the fields abound, but the labourers are few. Lord take my children. I’d love to see them both in the mission field. Send me too. Please Lord send workers for the harvest is plentiful.

Later on the train to work. The train stops, and a young elegant woman gets on board and sits in the seat right next to me. I am reading on. She crosses her legs, and from underneath her long winter coat flashes a bare leg almost to the thigh. People are welcome to look. I continue reading, but the voice of God is at work in my heart. Talk to the woman. Don’t be intimidated by her looks. She does not look like gospel material, I thought. Still the voice would not leave me. Talk to her. She may not get another chance at hearing the gospel. Okay Lord. I have learnt a long time ago to obey that still small voice.

I put my book down and reached inside my purse for a tract. Now Lord, you know I always obey when you ask me to talk to strangers, but I need help with this one. You got to help me here. Where do I begin. What shall I say. On my mind was something about the need to cover herself. I am still wondering how and where to begin the conversation when SHE talks to me first. For a second I am dumbfounded. “My father has that book", she said with ease and simplicity. I was almost speechless. I don’t know what I answered at first. Oh, I said. Yes, she said, I am Israeli (The book has a flag of Israel on the cover). My father read this book, she continued. He loved it. Have you read it too, I queried. We were now talking. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I asked.

Of course, she believed in a power out there but she had lost her faith when God took her sister away. She had died of cancer. I shot a quick and silent prayer for guidance. I assured her that God knows all about her sister, but that she needed to look after herself. You sound like the mother was the familiar reply. Soon I pulled out my personal worker’s New Testament and flipping through the pages I read verses to her from Galatians, Ephesians, Romans, John, etc. Good deeds do not save you. The law damns you. Jesus saves. Fresh on my mind was the verse from Joel where Brian preached last night. Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

We conversed for almost twenty minutes. I noticed that several passengers were listening (it is always the case) and watching as I flipped through the pages of The Book. Of course, some looked on with ridicule. One man sitting behind us leaned backwards and stretched his neck as far as he could in order to get a better hearing. I raised my voice. I had a captive audience. Bless God for the liberty we have in this country. By the time we reached downtown, Nathalie had two tracts in her purse. As she thanked me for the “lecture” and before we parted I pressed her for a decision. Demons believe and tremble (James 2:19). I also encouraged her to read the book in her father’s library. I don’t know if she’ll ever get saved. This was no coincidence. Think of it. What is the probability that a total stranger, an Israelite, should sit right next to me and recognize The Best of Zvi, a book which I started reading that very morning. As for me I know one thing. God answered my prayer about sending a labourer to work. The seed was sown. I wait for the harvest.

Were Svi to hear this story he would be happy in his grave to learn that his testimony lives on and God still uses him (or his memory) to reach his people.

Posted by Consecrated at 4:16 PM | 3 comments    

A certain thought has been bugging me for a couple of days now. It was triggered by the passage in Isaiah 11 where God says that the wolf shall dwell with the lamb. and the leopard shall lie down with the kid etc. (verse 6). My thought has centered around what the original nature of beasts was and HOW did it degenerate. How did the beasts (some of them) become fierce. I don't think there is an open reference to that. In man's case, through reproduction we pass down the sin that is indwelled in us. But in the case of beasts, there is no reference to them disobeying God other than Satan and snake. In the book of Romans we read that all creature has been subjected to bondage awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:18 - 23). Is it possible that because of our sin, the animals lost their ability to speak as well (the snake spoke in the garden and Eve thought nothing much about it). Still I ask myself HOW. It may not seem much to you but it is intriging me.

For visitors: you will realize that because of sin man's nature fell into ruin. We get angry and put the blame on others (look at Adam and Eve), we are afraid (they hid) experience pain and misery (they were kicked out of the state of bliss) we labour (the curse) we age, we die (that's how the book of Genesis ends: a coffin in Egypt).

I want to stop for a second and refer you to Genesis chapter 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeing thing that creepeth upon the earth. (P.S. I put "man" and "them" in bold for a reason. Male and female created he them, the Bible says, but that's another study altogether).

Back to the subject of man's dominion and the wild beasts. What dominion do we have over animals today? Not much I guess. Try taming a lion or a shark for example. No sooner do you leave a wild beast to its nature, it'll devour you in no time. That is no dominion folks. Man's dominion is GONE.

In Isaiah, we read that when the Prince of Righteousness comes back to rule the earth (nothing ethereal here, nothing wishy washy, this is a real description of things yet to come on this earth) animals will have a peaceful nature. There has never been a time, yet, when wild animals fit the description. But it will come. The creation is awaiting the Eternal Son, the Son of God, Son of Man to restore all creation. This is the same Lord Jesus Christ "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things... (Acts 3:21) and when HE is come, Isaiah 11:4 says he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth (for those who don't believe the Word of God: wake up).

Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

Posted by Consecrated at 9:38 AM | 3 comments    

For another shining example of the excellency of the
King James Bible, please refer to the latest post in Bible Studies

Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou? Ecclesiastes 8:4

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 6:33 PM | 3 comments