Apologetics

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The many so called Mega pastors of today, the small town pastors and the favorite so called pastors or motivational speakers rarely use their Bibles, rarely use truth in their Biblical references and definitely do not use the cross.

The cross, without which salvation would never have come to us, has brought hope to many and others it brings antagonism and hatred. The Jews found it a stumbling block and the Greeks thought of it as lunacy. Never has the world loved it or been a friend of it; only in cases of last chance or death bed moments and even then its abused or not truly sought at all.

In a very sad and even a humorous way but not the humor that makes one laugh and giggle… we can go to a store of almost any kind that sells jewelry, there you will find a cross. Go to a museum of history, art, civilizations of old and you will find a cross. Below the Mason Dixon line you will find more cross related pictures, statues, plaques and etc., in the homes than anywhere else in the USA. Even in movies out of pathetic Hollywood – you will see a cross and yet, no one seems to know, desire, hold on to or search for its true meaning. It is just a popular item to wear, use or make reference to and etc.

You can go far and wide across the USA and Canada and in most pulpits you will never hear a message on the cross as it relates to the truth of what took place there and how it saved mankind from eternal damnation, at least those who will believe.
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:17-18 KJV)
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4 KJV)
By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10 KJV)
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26 KJV)
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28 KJV)
Looking back at some of my heroes in the Faith such as John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, D.L. Moody, George Whitefield, George Mueller, Charles Spurgeon, Martin Luther, John G. Lake, Victor Plymire, Morris Plotts, and many others all gave heed to and saw thousands saved by the message of the cross and what Jesus there did for humanity. They were not afraid to teach and preach it and were not afraid to live by it or die for it. These were real men and not yes men, popular men, nor were they front cover of charisma magazine men. Jesus was their Savior, the Holy Spirit was their Guide and miracles and soul saving sermons and meetings were with them everywhere they went….because they believed.
The cross now in many places is hated and left out of many sermons. It has been called too bloody for me to speak on during a sermon, it has been called a mistake, it has been called a seat where Satan’s spirit filled Jesus as He was dying… and more shocking details that I will leave out. It has been called this by very “popular” so called preachers of modern day televangelism.
TBN carries the greatest weight because they showcase many of these charlatans and produce these lunacy filled statements, sermons, air times and more. If you want another Jesus and another gospel as Paul spoke of, then they are the place to go. Daystar and the owners and operators of it are peddling the false gospel as well. It is all about money and status, not about truth and salvation.
Years ago my dad was on with Marcus Lamb and dad of course preached about truth and how Jesus wanted our souls, our devotion and our going out into the fields gathering the harvest. He spoke against “money” in terms of it being gathered and collected and then used the wrong way. Poor stewardship is not a good trade for the soul, etc. Well … it angered the little fellow and of course after it was over we were kindly asked to leave… Preaching the truth always causes conflict and anger unless you are truly saved and desiring to hear about Jesus.
The cross is a bridge from death to life if one so chooses to walk it. To do this many times, you may have to leave family, give up certain beliefs, a lack of popularity, and much more. It is not an easy road to travel, it is not a pleasant highway that is full of roses and parades. In the Spirit of course it is the only way to travel, but on the external it causes grief. Your children may not have many friends based on what you believe, depending on where you live.

You can suffer at work and in a smaller community even when you are hailed as “so different”. It is amazing how folk will flock to the halfhearted snake oil peddlers and flee the presence of a cross believing person. See, the cross divides, it separates one world and its beliefs from the right way and its beliefs and teachings. When you are in the cross your mind, your TV habits, your words, your actions, your thoughts, habits and life style must change to coincide with it, else you cannot live an honest and truthful cross filled life.

The cross is on the side of salvation and truth, the side of life and right, of glory and Heaven. Never will cross be on the side of Hollywood, smoking, drinking, parties, lies, stealing, cheating, abuse, Infidelity, foul language, and the list goes on. The cross separates the world from the believer and as believers we should not desire to have that hidden bottle of wine or whisky, we should not desire to have a den and a shelf full of R Rated movies, the wrong kind of magazines, secular records and music. In fact the cross separates us from much of the so called Christian music and preachers of today.

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14 KJV)
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (2 Corinthians 6:14-17 KJV)

The Judgment of the world is the cross and Christ and those who choose to walk the cross life will suffer for it somehow and some way. Yet as I am here today writing this, I say to you with all honor and faith and truth: Every step of the way is worth it and Jesus is my Lord, Heaven is my goal, therefore I press on.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. (Romans 6:5-9 KJV)

Our fleshly lusts, lives, words, deeds and thoughts must all be slain by the cross. We must die to self so that we can live for and in Jesus Christ. The cross spares no one, yet the death it offers brings eternal life through Jesus Christ. We have nothing to offer Jesus, yet He has everything to offer us and He did. The price paid on the cross was a statement to the world that you can live free and be assured of Heaven being your conclusion if you will believe in Jesus.

The world is offended by the cross of Christ, for it calls for change, it calls for moving from one plane to another, crossing barriers and going from death to life. Many folk today have traded the cross for the sale of books, for the luxurious life style, for pictures on magazine covers and for seats full of dying parishioners. The sinister ministers as I call them have traded the cross for vitamins and supplements, for bible-less sermons and meetings, the cross has been tossed out so that someone could introduce extra-biblical revelation, so that evolutionary salvation could be introduced, amongst other heresies.

Satan and his minions by hook and crook will stop at nothing to defy the cross, to hide the cross, to make it a subject that is taboo rather than the only life giving source to mankind.
(The cross of the Roman times knew no compromise; it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good.

After Christ was risen from the dead the apostles went out to preach His message, and what they preached was the cross … The radical message of the cross transformed Saul of Tarsus and changed him from a persecutor of Christians to a tender believer and an apostle of the faith. Its power changed bad men into good ones. It shook off the long bondage of paganism and altered completely the whole moral and mental outlook of the Western world. All this it did and continued to do as long as it was permitted to remain what it had been originally, a cross. Its power departed when it was changed from a thing of death to a thing of beauty. When men made of it a symbol, hung it around their necks as an ornament … then it became at best a weak emblem … As such it is revered today by millions who know absolutely nothing about its power …

Christ said: ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.’ (Luke 9:23) So the cross not only brings Christ’s life to an end, it ends also the first life, the old life, of every one of His true followers. It destroys the old pattern … in the believer’s life, and brings it to an end. Then the God who raised Christ from the dead raises the believer and a new life begins. This, and nothing less, is true Christianity …

We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do – flee it or die upon it. And if we should be so foolhardy as to flee we shall by that act put away the faith of our fathers and make of Christianity something other than it is …If we are wise we will do what Jesus did: endure the cross and despise its shame for the joy that is set before us … The cross will cut into our lives where it hurts worst, sparing neither us nor our carefully cultivated reputations. It will defeat us and bring our selfish lives to an end. Only then can we rise in fullness of life to establish a pattern of living wholly new and free and full of good works. The changed attitude toward the cross that we see … proves not that God has changed, nor that Christ has eased up on His demand that we carry the cross; it means rather that current Christianity has moved away from the standards of the New Testament. So far have we moved indeed that it may take nothing short of a new reformation to restore the cross to its right place in the theology and life of the Church. (Tozer)

The Cross Reveals the Wisdom and Power of God.
The Cross deletes works and creates rest
The Cross Can Teach Me How to Love
The Cross Should Teach Me to Hate Sin
The Cross is the Good News I Can Share with Others
The Cross is the Basis for Daily Victory
The Cross Means I am Dead to the World
The Cross Makes Prayer Possible
The Cross Should Motivate the Believer
The Cross Teaches Me to Give
The Cross Humbles Me
The Cross Means That I Should Trust Christ to Take Care of Every Problem
The Cross Can Comfort Me in Every Trial
The Cross Can Teach Me How to React When Wronged by Others
The Cross Means That I Do Not Need to Fear Death
The Cross Means the Devil is defeated
The cross offers all freedom

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