The Long War for Truth

“A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW IN A SECULARIZED WORLD- Part 2”

THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW DETAILED
   A. Explains existence in terms of Creation, Fall and Redemption
   B. Creation
   C. Fall
     1. Man (man and woman) had a moral failure by disobeying
God’s command regarding epistemological discovery(how to know truth)
     2. The disobedience, sin, dramatically altered the world in
which he lived

a. None of the commands he was given to live by was changed.
b. He was cast out of the perfect garden in which lived
c. His work would now become harder as the world in which he lived would be cursed
d. Eventually even the animals would come to fear him

     3. The disobedience, sin, dramatically altered him

a. Every part of the man would be effected by the fall –mind, will and emotion. He would twist every good thing in life given to him
b. Child-bearing would now become a painful and sorrowful affair
c. He and his wife would now be faced with conflict over rulership
d. His offspring would have the same sinful characteristics as he did
e. Eventually the sin of Adam’s offspring would become so offensive and wicked as to require an almost total annihilation of mankind (only 8 were spared)
f. Conflict, struggle, hatred, war, bitterness, vices too numerous to mention would become standard fare for mankind. He was trapped in sin and death as was the creation around him

     4. History is the story of the struggle of fallen man and the
world around him; his battle with God and his battle within himself with both perversion of the truth and the suffering coming from it; his battle with other sinful humans; his use and abuse of his environs; his domination of and servitude to other humans; his good use and his corruption of the image of God in him.
     5. The sin of the first parents has led to all men being sinners,falling short of the glory of God, ever at enmity with God and reaping the wages of sin which is death
   D. Redemption
     1. A loving, gracious, merciful, righteous and just God loves
His creation so much He reveals His plan to redeem the whole of it back to Himself from the ruins of the first parents sinful rebellion through selected individuals, the fathers and the prophets.
     2. The loving, gracious God is incarnated in the second person
of the Trinity, His only begotten Son, and sends Him to earth to personally redeem man through His vicarious death in their place.
     3. In this redemptive plan, not only man would be redeemed
by grace through faith and restored in a personal relationship with God, but…

a. The rebellion in heaven would be reconciled
b. Relationships would be restored as intended in every realm of existence: With God, family, individuals,societies, government etc.
c. The whole earth would be renewed, renovated and restored to it proper fruitful purpose
d. The animal world would be restored to its intended purpose
e. Authority would be restored to its proper place in every realm
f. The kingdom of God is complete and all things done on earth as they are in heaven
g. The terms of peace between God and man, man to man, man to woman, husband to wife, parents to children etc. would be availed and full restoration made.
h. God will be honored, worshipped and adored as He ought to be
i. Conflicts in man will be ended and righteousness and justice will flow down.
j. Proper ecological balance will be reached and maintained.

   E. It answers the questions of existence this way
     1. What is the authority for my life? God, the Creator of all things who has spoken through His Word by the holy prophets and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,His Word, the Holy Scriptures or the Bible, is the mediate authority in my life
     2. Who am I? I am a person created in the image of God, commanded to be fruitful, to multiply, to subdue and maintain my environment and to have dominion over all the animal world; fallen in sin making me dead in sins and trespasses and guilty before God. As a Christian, I am a redeemed person, bought back by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in my place and for my sin; given a new life by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; the recipient of eternal life, a restored personal relationship with God, my Creator, Sustainer, Judge, Redeemer and Lord. I am a divinely-gifted person with creative abilities capable of many good things to bring glory to God
     3. How did I (we) get here? I am a part of the created order of the holy God revealed in the Scriptures. I am in the long line of history of mankind and his interaction with God, the angels, other human beings and his environment.
     4. Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life? The purpose of my life is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever; to find my satisfaction in God alone; to love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength and to love my
neighbor as myself. I am to do justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with God.
     5. What went wrong or why is there evil and suffering? Man rebelled against God shortly after he was created in a desire to be like God instead of the crown of God’s creation; As a result of man’s sin against God the world was cursed; mankind came into perpetual conflict with God and his fellow humans; evil and suffering are a direct result of this rebellion
     6. How can this be changed? Man is corrupted beyond self repair, lacking both the desire and the ability to repair himself or his world. Since God is the only One who could change it, He has determined that all mankind shall be saved from its destruction by trusting His Son the Lord Jesus Christ in His person, the Son of God, and His work, His substitutionary death and resurrection saving those who believe Him. These saved ones are given the authority and power to change the world in which they live through acts of kindness, compassion, mercy, goodness, instruction and love and calling all men to turn from their false views of God to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The image of God has been restored in these and they can properly alter the world for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ; the complete transformation of the planet will not take place until the Lord Jesus’ return to earth to establish the last and most righteous earthly kingdom.
     7. Where am I going? What is the end of it all? All of history will culminate in the return of the righteous king of the earth, the Lord Jesus Christ, to judge the world and bring in the most glorious period of the history of the world in His 1000 year kingdom. Following this period of glorious fruitfulness and righteousness will be an eternal state of existence with God forever with the end of all the sorrows and suffering known to man.
     8. How should I live? Since the culmination of all things is coming about in an uncertain, unspecified time, by the grace of God and the Spirit of God working in me, as a man redeemed by God’s grace, I should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ; being His workmanship, having been redeemed and purified by Him, I will be zealous for the good works which have been created for me to perform repeatedly until He comes.

The Long War for Truth

“A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW IN A SECULARIZED WORLD– Part 1”

I. A WORLDVIEW IS ONE’S COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLANATION OF THE WORLD IN WHICH HE LIVES
  It answers the biggest questions of his existence
   1. What is the authority for my life?
   2. Who am I?
   3. How did I (we) get here?
   4. Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life?
   5. What went wrong or why is there evil and suffering?
   6. How can this be changed?
   7. Where am I going? What is the end of it all?
   8. How should I live?

II. THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW VERSUS THE CURRENT WORLDVIEW
  A. The Christian worldview explains existence in terms of Creation,the Fall and Redemption
  B. The current worldview, scientific materialism, secular materialism or naturalism, denies the first two and therefore sees no need for the last one.
   1. No creation by a personal or impersonal God; just a cosmic, evolutionary “accident”; consequently no creator or judge to answer to; no absolute truth to block the way to do as one pleases. Life happens in a naturalistic and mechanistic way
   2. Since there is no creator or creation there can be no sin or fall. Man is a machine, a complexity of firing or misfiring neurons and his interaction with his environment. Such concepts as freedom, liberty, love, sin, self, consciousness, free will and redemption are “useful fictions” and do not exist factually. Man is neither good nor bad at heart since these terms are only “social constructs” to discriminate against others. There is no truth to be known, only the “truth” you are
currently experiencing.
   3. The arts and humanities suffer greatly under this system since they have no factual value. They are tools of the imagination of those who cannot handle the “truth” of factual materialism. The artists and the lover of the humanities will either make his system be that which is consistent with the machine or he will be out and on his own.
   4. Therefore, those who cannot accept this mechanistic system rebel against it with irrationality, mysticism and fantasy. Those holding another view than the naturalistic view are relegated to the realm of the superstitious and the useless.
   5. Those who have rebelled against the “machine” existence create another competing worldview with that of the Christian. This worldview is inconsistent, often irrational and is willful and quite often mean-spirited.
   6. Those in the realm of liberal theology go one of two ways: they surrender to the mechanistic worldview on the natural level and then jump to the irrational level to explain the rest of existence or they jump into postmodernism
or mysticism.

III. THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW DETAILED
  A. Explains existence in terms of Creation, Fall and Redemption
  B. Creation
   1. God created time, space and matter out of nothing (no preexisting
material - ex nihilo) and immediately (without assistance, without processes)
   2. God is personal, unseen spirit, pure, holy, love, omnipotent, omniscient, transcendent and immanent
   3. All things have their origin from Him
   4. Man is the final created thing in His creative work
   5. Man, male and female, is made in the image of God
   6. He is the Sustainer and Provider for all that is and all things depend upon Him for their lives
   7. In Him, all things live and move and have their being
   8. By extension, all things including man must answer to Him and give an account of themselves to Him
   9. God tasked man with the stewardship responsibility of the planet and all its living things - the common mandate
   10. God made all things to be fruitful and to therefore reproduce
   11. God created all things with the appearance of age or created them in their adult form without the required time for them to reach that maturity
   12. Work (labor) was to be a large part of man’s existence
   13. God created other spiritual beings besides man

For all the Illini out there

To enlarge, just click on the image.

From the pages of the New York Times

On the Commentary/Editorial page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of December 31, 2003, a columnist of the New York Times has this publication under the “Title” of Culture, Politics, [America’s Paradox], and Religion. There is also a caption from the column: Political ideologies have grown more rigid, while our religions lean toward flexibility.

Note: The author, David Brooks is a New York Times columnist. From Rush Limbaugh to James Kennedy to Jerry Falwell: all agree that we cannot find a more liberally dedicated news organization than that of the Times or Washington Post or the Post-Dispatch. This column is but one example of the impact and onslaught of this current world-system on both moral values and declared or revealed truth. Remember that revealed truth: “He (Jesus Christ) is the same, yesterday, today and forever”. Also note that the italics and bold face print in the reproduction below are mine. I leave you to make appropriate comments in the columns with exclamation marks.


  President George W. Bush was born into an Episcopal family and raised as Presbyterian, but he is now a Methodist. Howard Dean was baptized Catholic and raised as an Episcopalian. He left the church after it opposed a bike trail he was championing, and now he is a Congregationalist, although his kids consider themselves Jewish.
  Wesley Clark’s father was Jewish. As a boy he was Methodist, then decided to become a Baptist. In adulthood, he converted to Catholicism, but as he recently told Beliefnet. Com, “I’m a Catholic, but I go to a Presbyterian Church.”
What other country on earth would have three national political figures with such peripatetic religious backgrounds? In most of the world faith hopping of this sort is simply unheard of. Yet in the United States, we take it for granted that people will move through different phases in the course of their personal spiritual journeys, and we always have.
  Nearly 200 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville was bewildered by the devout religiosity and the relative absence of denominational strife, at least among Protestants, that he found in the United States. Americans, he observed, don’t seem to care that their neighbors hold to false versions of the faith.
That’s because many Americans have tended to assume that all these differences are temporary. In the final days, the distinctions will fade away, and we will be all united in God’s embrace. This happy assumption has meant that millions feel free to try on different denominations at different points in their lives, and many Americans have had trouble taking religious doctrines altogether seriously. As the historian Henry Steele Commanger once wrote, “During the 19th century and well into the 20th, religion prospered while theology slowly went bankrupt.”

This tendency to emphasize personal growth over a fixed creed has shaped our cultural and political life. First, it has meant that Americans are reasonably tolerant, generally believing that all people of good will are basically on the same side.
Second, American faiths, as many scholars note, have tended to be optimistic and easygoing, experiential rather than intellectual. Churches often compete for congregants by emphasizing the upbeat and playing down the business about God’s wrath. In today’s megachurches, the technology is cutting-edge, the music is modern, the language is therapeutic and the dress is casual. These churches are seeker-sensitive, not authoritarian.
The small-groups movement from which Bush emerges emphasizes intimate companionship and encouragement. Members of these groups study the Bible in search of guidance and help with personal challenges. They do not preach at one another, but partner with each other.
  The third effect of our dominant religious style is that we have trouble sustaining culture wars. For some European intellectuals and even some of our own commentators, the Scopes trial never ended. For them, the forces of enlightened progress are always battling against the rigid, Bible-thumping forces of religion, whether represented by William Jennings Bryan or Jerry Falwell.
But that’s a cartoon version of reality. In fact, real-life belief, especially these days, is mobile, elusive and flexible. Falwell doesn’t represent evangelicals today. The old culture war organizations like the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition are either dead or husks of their former selves.
As the sociologist Alan Wolfe demonstrates in his book, The Transformation of American religion,” evangelical churches are part of mainstream American culture, not dissenters from it.
So, we have this paradox: Political parties are growing more orthodox, while religions are becoming more fluid. In the political sphere, there is conflict and rigid conflict and rigid partisanship. In the religious sphere, there is mobility ecumenical under standing and blurry boundaries.
If George W. Bush and Howard Dean met each other on a political platform, they would fight and feud. If they met in a Bible study group and talked about their eternal souls, they’d probably embrace.....Copyright: The New York Times.

James Cone and Black Liberation Theology

This note from James White's blog is worth repeating:

A Most Unusual Dividing Line

05/06/2008 - James White

This morning I started reading through James E. Cone's Black Theology & Black Power. I had ordered the book since Jeremiah Wright had insisted that to understand his views, you have to read Cone. So, today, I started reading quotations from Cone's book on the program. Racism breeds heresy, and Cone's racism is absolutely beyond words. It is tremendously sad to read "Christianized racism," whether the purveyor of it is white, tan, brown, or black. It remains horrific all the same. Heresy is heresy, and this perversion of Christianity needs to be identified for what it is, and believers need to be quick to condemn it and all it stands for. A fast moving program, to be sure. Here's the program (free/high quality).

If the link doesn't show up, go to http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/

How does this fit in with Global Warming?

…Taken from internet news of MSNBC: an article and interview with………….
(These conclusions are far removed from this blogger)

"The Life and Death of Planet Earth," in 2003 by Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee, follows up on their earlier book, "Rare Earth."

Scientists foresee the end of the earth

Authors say our planet’s long-term fate is to ‘fry and dry’

May 12 — In 2000, paleontologist Peter D. Ward and astronomer Donald Brownlee argued persuasively in their book “Rare Earth” that life in all its complexity found on Earth is most likely a cosmic aberration, a unique circumstance that — if their theory is true — dashes the hopes of sci-fi fans and extraterrestrial hunters everywhere. This year, the authors returned with an analysis of Earth’s far-flung future that is as bleak as humanity’s chances of meeting E.T.s, intelligent or otherwise.

What do you think humanity's fate on Earth will be?

Humans will settle beyond Earth and survive even if the planet becomes uninhabitable.
Humanity will pass away along with the planet.
The planet will outlast our species.
The world will end in a supernatural, transformational event like the Second Coming.
None of the above.

What do you think humanity's fate on Earth will be?
* 9685 responses:

Humans will settle beyond Earth and survive even if the planet becomes uninhabitable.
28%
Humanity will pass away along with the planet.
8%
The planet will outlast our species.
25%
The world will end in a supernatural, transformational event like the Second Coming.
34%
None of the above.
5%

Survey results tallied every 60 seconds. Live Votes reflect respondents' views and are not scientifically valid surveys.

“THE LIFE and Death of Planet Earth” sees Earth slipping towards another ice age with dwindling natural resources, drastic environmental changes and eventually a suffocating death.
Perfect for summer reading, we say!
Co-author Donald Brownlee took the time to answer a few of Space.com’s questions about his latest book.

Space.com: The bottom line: Will we ultimately freeze, fry or just dry out?
Brownlee: We may “freeze” again in the future as we have in the past. This could be as severe as another “Snowball Earth” episode, or it could just be a continuation of glacial-interglacial cycles. On the long term, the fate is “fry and dry.” The sun continuously gets hotter, and its heat ultimately melts the earth’s surface — and worse.

In the grand scheme, will human activity alter Earth’s ultimate fate?
Humans have great effects on the short term (global warming, species extinction, etc.) but it is not likely that we can play an significant role in the main events that will change Earth on long time scales. These events include the merging of the continents (again), decline of CO2 below levels required to support plant life, the loss of the oceans to space and our planet being swallowed by the sun. Human intervention on these effects would require engineering on a incredible scale. The ultimate fate of Earth is determined by the ever-increasing brightness of the sun — a natural and unstoppable process.
Is there anything we can do to escape Earth’s fate? Maybe move it, or move us?
In the book we discuss ideas for moving Earth outwards as the sun gets brighter. As difficult as it seems, this is perhaps more likely than human migration to other planetary systems. It is the natural cycle of planets with life that they are ultimately are done in by their “life-supporting” star. Habitable planets have to form close to a star to have the right conditions to have surface water. Over time, all stars become brighter and the “habitable zone” moves outward, leaving the planet too hot for surface water.

Yesterday was pretty tough here on Earth. Tomorrow probably won’t be a picnic. Why worry about what’s going to happen in a few billion years?


We should not “worry” about things that happen millions of years beyond our lifetimes, but it is important that we know how nature (and our planet) works. We benefit greatly from knowledge of nature and natural processes. Even simply knowing that the earth is not flat and that we are not at the center of the universe greatly benefits our daily lives (GPS, weather satellites, etc.) in an enormous number of ways. By understanding the full cycle of planets, how they are born, evolve and ultimately die, we can better understand and appreciated our role in the cosmos.

What are the advantages to being able to predict the earth’s end?
For a person with a terminal disease, diagnosis is the first step to extending life, and improving its quality. The same is true for our planet. Knowing our problems gives us the ability to attempt a cure, or at least to put off the various ends of the earth, and of humanity.

Two variables, above all others, will control the destiny not only of life on Earth, but also, ultimately, of the planet itself. The first is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This greenhouse gas helps regulate our world’s temperature, and our planet is extraordinary in the systems it has to balance that greenhouse gas with incoming radiation.
The second system, and ultimately a far more important variable, is the amount of solar energy hitting our planet. The sun’s output level is changing over time. Mathematical modeling allows us to predict what these levels will be in the far future, and what their effects will be — and it doesn’t look good.

What most upsets you about science or scientists?
I love science and think that it is critical to our well being and future. Perhaps the most upsetting thing is the level of scientific illiteracy in the United States. My son in college is required to do four semesters on philosophy but only one on science. Everyone depends on science and understanding the natural world, but it is not stressed in schools. Only a tiny fraction of high school students take physics — the most fundamental of all of the sciences.

What is the most beautiful aspect to space?
Much of astronomy is beautiful images of planets, moons, asteroids, comets, sections of meteorites and lunar rocks, microscope images of extraterrestrial material and fabulous telescope images of many astronomical objects outside the solar system.

If you controlled a $1 billion foundation, what research effort would you fund?
A sample return mission from a comet.

University of Washington astronomer Donald Brownlee is the principal investigator for NASA's Stardust mission, which aims to bring cometary samples back to Earth. Brownlee holds a model of the Stardust spacecraft.
Why should we spend money on space exploration over research into deadly diseases? We can and should do both. Advances in science and understanding of nature are not always made by planned and directed programs such as the “war on cancer.” History has shown that many great breakthroughs (i.e., X-rays and even the Internet) come come from unexpected directions. Understanding the universe was the historical foundation of modern science, and it is still the leading edge of knowledge of the fundamental workings of nature. The recently announced results from the WMAP spacecraft are some of the most fundamental discoveries of our time.

What is the most vexing question in modern science?
The most vexing question will certainly depend on whom you ask. Personally, I would like to know how Earthlike planets form and what fraction are fully Earthlike in the sense that that could support animal life. My No. 1 near-term question is whether there is or was life in the solar system other than on earth. My guess is yes.

“The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World” by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee. Published by Times Books, January 2003. $25.00 /$36.95 Canadian; 0-8050-6781-7.

The Long War for Truth

II. THINKING THE TRUTH- Part 1
A. The Common Mandate (known by some as the Cultural Mandate) found in Genesis 1:26-28 to subdue the earth
  1. "Common" because it is given to all mankind
  2. Characteristics include:
   a. All men and women are made in the image of God
   b. It covers procreation responsibilities
   c. It covers "migratory" responsibilities
   d. It covers "homesteading" responsibilities
   e. It covers "harnessing" responsibilities
   f. It covers authoritative responsibilities over all the earth
   g. It puts man at the top of the chain of authority over all the animal life of the earth
  3. Though affected by sin, the mandate from God to man has not been relinquished; it has simply been made harder and/or more difficult
  4. The Christian is to make applications of this Common Mandate as he also is under the mandate. Here are some
applications to make:

From 2.a. above: All of both men and women are to be treated with respect as having been fashioned by God.

From 2.b. above: It is the responsibility of all humans to bring other humans into the world, and to protect and to provide for it.

From 2.c. above: All areas of the earth are open and viable for humans to live upon. Perhaps a subtle warning against gathering large accumulations of people is given in Gen 11:1-9

From 2.d. and e. above: Subduing the earth puts us in a stewardship responsibility over it. We are to make homes to dwell in everywhere. It gives us the responsibility of using the natural resources around us for good. It gives us the authority to manage and fashion those resources in a responsible manner. We are responsible to use them in a manner that would not deplete them or ruin the Lord's earth.

From 2.f and g. above: Man is the authority over the animal world, NOT brother to it We are also responsible for their well being.

  5. The Common (Cultural) Mandate covers all areas of creativity, beauty and invention
   a. It is the justification of all art and craft forms
   b. It is the justification of all literature and music
   c. It is the foundation for all forms of communication
   d. It is the foundation for all forms of invention
  6. The Common (Cultural) Mandate is about life on this planet, not about going to heaven; it is about transitory life, not about eternal life!
  7. The rewards for faithfulness in keeping the Common Mandate are found in the here and now with little or no effect in life after death with God unless faith in Jesus Christ is present in this person. Faithfulness to the CM cannot prevent death.
  8. The re-statement of the CM with further post-Fall refinements to Noah provide the structure for politics and social interaction for the succeeding generations.
  9. The Law "of Moses" given by God to Israel refines the CM even further and gives the ideal for a just and righteous state on earth.
  10. The wisdom books written by Solomon, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, address issues in the Common Mandate.
  11. The prophets give hints to a dual truth theme and provide insights to a future perfect earth with God and His Messiah at the throne of it all.
  12. Jesus' pre-crucifixion gospel message of the kingdom refined the CM to its limits and introduced the Gospel, the Kingdom or New Creation Mandate
  13. Sin against the CM is any violation against, any twisted version of it, any rebellion against its Author, any neglect of it, any lack of acknowledgment of the Source of all life and gifts in its operation or any redefining of the Creator.
  14. The energy and power of this mandate were to be found in a divinely enlightened instruction and an unhampered use of spirit-empowered human effort; sin altered the ability to receive instruction and put the Spirit in an adversarial position to a humanity bent on its own self-focused rebellion against its creator.
  15. Within this mandate are found all the desirable and honorable character traits of humanity, all the abstract dignities and concepts of relationships, philosophy and politics as well as all the God-denying, human-centered indignities of religion, idolatry and philosophy. This is the twisted world that has turned these concepts into the success of self-help, soft religion and observable truth.

II. THINKING THE TRUTH – Part 2
A. The Common Mandate (Known by some as the Cultural Mandate) is found in Genesis 1:26-28
PURPOSE OF MAN: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever
EXPECTATION: To love God with all his heart, mind and strength, and his neighbor as himself
METHODOLOGY: To use one's calling (vocation) and his God-given gifts and talents to bring honor and glory to God by adorning God's beauty and honor with acts, words or thoughts revealing God's work in them.
POWER AND AUTHORITY: Commissioned by God as the authority over all other created thing on earth; to be divinely instructed in wisdom, knowledge and righteousness and empowered by the Spirit of God to carry out his God-given tasks
TASKS: To multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over all the other creatures; to be fruitful in every endeavor; to govern God's mediated kingdom in God's place as God would do it Himself; to develop and use every one of God's gifts to its maximum in each person; to fill the earth with the glory of God
FAILURE: Sin in man has marred God's image in man, making him twisted away from God to his own way; sin has surrendered the rule over the earth to the deceiving usurper, the devil; sin has broken the communication from God to man, separating man from the life of God and plunging him into death, both physical and spiritual; sin has pitted man against his Creator, forcing him to run from and hide from God, shift the blame for his rebellion to others, ultimately blaming God Himself and create his own gods and righteousness offending God by blasphemy and self-righteousness

B. The Gospel Mandate (Acts 17:30-31; John 6:29; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor 5:17-21; Col 1:28-29)
  1. Was given because of man's failure under the Common Mandate
  2. Does not negate the Common Mandate but instead clarifies it for this age
  3. Has God sending His own Son as the second Adam to reveal Himself to man, to live His human life as God intended man to live and to give His life as a ransom for the lives of people, redeeming forever those who would receive the message and the Messenger, restoring the redeemed to the place of God's will
  4. Has God's Son dying a sacrificial death in the place of and for the sins of sinful men making full payment of the wages of sin for every man who puts faith in Him
  5. Has God's crucified Son raised from the dead in a new eternal, physical body with some similarities and some great differences to the bodies in which man now lives.
  6. Has God's Son recovering the creation lost to the usurper both to man in his rightful place and to God; He has ascended back to the Father from where He came awaiting the Day when the Father gives Him His inheritance: The new heavens and new earth and the rule of it all
  7. Commands all men everywhere, from every tribe, tongue, nation and people groups to repent from their unbelief and perversion of the image of God (Acts 17:30-31)
  8. Commands all men everywhere to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 6:29)
  9. Grants those who repent of their unbelief in God and who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ a new life, born again of God, created in His image, reconnected to God by the Spirit of God, translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His Son, to be children of God (no longer is children of wrath), to be joint-heirs with His Son
  10. Grants the believing one to be indwelt forever by the Spirit of God imparting to him not only new life but instruction from God, spiritual gifts, the very nature of God and power to be transformed into the image of Christ
  11. Authorizes and empowers His chosen ones to represent Him on earth and bring to man His terms of peace:
   a. The authority comes from His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has all authority in heaven and earth
   b. The power comes from the Spirit of God
   c. Both the authority and power are to be worldwide and international in their scope, commanding His ambassadors to go into all the world, make disciples of every ethnic group, baptizing them in the name of God and then teaching them to observe everything Jesus has taught us.
   d. Makes His chosen ambassadors those who prophetically inform and teach a rebellious and ignorant culture His ways in every area of life as the light of the world and the salt of the earth, calling on men to repent and believe.
  e. Acknowledges that His ambassadors will not be well-received in a rebellious culture even to the point of martyrdom but commands them to bring His message of peace with Him to all men
   f. Acknowledges that He already has sheep in each culture who will respond in faith upon hearing the message even though one cannot tell the difference between them and the sons of disobedience externally or behaviorally when encountering them.
  12. The gospel mandate now grants to the believing ones the energy to live the common mandate that was lost through sin as well as granting a glorious future reigning with Christ eternally with a place in heaven.
   a. It restores to man the authority to use his vocation for God's glory
   b. It makes every believer a priest representing God in any location and with any vocation to which the man is called; we are all ministers of Christ
   c. It restores marital/family roles to God's original purpose
   d. It restores to work, business, politics, humanity, compassion, ethics, health care, human sexuality, culture, economics, ecology, education, art, music, the social sciences and to every walk of life its proper God-given work and design.
   e. It restores to man the dignity of work in his vocation (calling) and elevates every 'job" to ministry if done in the name of, for the glory of and under the power of the Lord Jesus Christ
   f. Under divine instruction from the Holy Spirit and God's Word, the believer/priest/ambassador is to inform and live out before all men God's divine way of living.
   g. This faith, though personal, is to become a public illustration of God's glory, wisdom and power.
   h. When the believer speaks to the culture it may be rejected and not received due to the rebellion of men against God; in this the believer is to rejoice for it is proof of his origin in God and identity with Jesus, the Christ.

The Long War for Truth

“THE STRATEGY AND TACTICS TO WIN THE WAR"

I. DISC0VERING THE TRUTH
  A. Study the Word for all its truth, not just the “spiritual”
  B. Make that Word a part of you - Memorize and meditate on it
  C. Desire to be a learner
1. Never consider yourself to have “arrived"
2. Be a good student of God and His world = a biblical worldview
3. Always ask more-the quality of a good learner
4. Study materials consistent with the Word of God
5. Do not be afraid to read or hear an intelligent seeker or even an opponent to your position; fools are not usually worth hearing!
  D. Observe carefully and respectfully the creation/people around you
1. How does this creation of God work? The confidence and reliability of Creation is found in the Creator.
2. What is its value in the total picture of things here?
3. Think in terms of "cause and effect"
  E. Listen carefully to what is said to you/or what is going on
1. Hear not only what is said but what is not said!
2. Listen for the details
3. Listen in "concentric rings"
  F. Ask questions of anything you do not understand
1. Be respectful and civil when you ask
2. Ask because you want to know
  G. Seek the origin of the item in discussion
1. How did this get here?
2. Who started this?
  H. Think to the "end" of the item in discussion.
1. Where will this go?
2. Where will this end up?
3. What is the long term benefit, value or detriment of this?
  I. Run it through the grid of God 's Word
  J. Be slow to speak your opinion
1. Your biblically unenlightened opinion may not be any better than the one you have just heard!
2. Speak respectfully and civilly
3. As your opinion has been informed by God's Word speak with the authority of the Word of God, not your own
  K. For the Christian Believer the Word of God is Sufficient
1. The Word of God is completely sufficient for faith and practice
2. Christ is sufficient to change, restore life
3. God created! Therefore trust in Creator and in Christ