Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | May 13, 2013

The Impossibility of Trying to Be a Good Christian, by David Bower

Still Trying to Live a Good Christian Life?

You may have heard or said, “Well, I try to be a good Christian,” or “I try to live a good Christian life.” To try is to fail, you can take that to the bank. Ephesians 2:8-9 points out, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” While there is a place for good works as in verse 10 of that chapter, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” A key thought in that verse is we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works; these are the works of Christ through us.

How can that be you may ask? In Galatians 2:20 the realtiy of our spiritual situation is stated when Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Let us modify Ephesians 2:8-9 to apply to the Christian life: “For it is by grace you live the Christian life, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Do you see the parallel, do you see how that which was commenced by faith must be continued by faith? Trying to live the Christian life would be like trying to save yourself!

In The Nick of Time!

A life-changing development had come just in time; depression and frustration had taken hold of Hudson Taylor before he finally discovered the reality of the exchanged life. Chapter 14 of “The Normal Christian Life” is titled, “The Exchanged Life” and relates the joy Hudson Taylor experienced when he realized he wasn’t supposed to do it himself, it was Christ’s work and Christ wanted to do it in Hudson Taylor.

The staggering reality of Galatians 2:20 finally hit home in his life and by God’s grace and the teaching ministry of God, the Holy Spirit, this monumental truth finally became a part of Hudson Taylor’s life. On his return to Yangchow he exclaimed to a friend, “Oh, Mr. Judd, God has made me a new man! God has made me a new man!” (page 110).

It is a curious thing about human nature how we want to do things our way rather than follow the instructions; I believe it entirely likely that Hudson Taylor had read the entire New Testament many times but somehow this fundamental truth had escaped him. Although we know we cannot save ourselves, we somehow think we can live the Christian life in our own strength! In Galatians 3:3 Paul warns, “Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?”

The Mystery Revealed

The world changed forever when on Pentecost of AD 33 the Holy Spirit indwelt believers and each Christian human being became a temple of God. A wondrous mystery that had been hidden from the past ages was now revealed; Paul describes this in Colossians 1:25-27, “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

You will recall the beginning of my last blog where I quoted the opening paragraph from Watchman Nee’s “The Normal Christian Life, “What is the normal Christian life? We do well at the outset to ponder this question. The object of these studies is to show that it is something very different from the life of the aver­age Christian. Indeed a consideration of the written Word of God —of the Sermon on the Mount for example—should lead us to ask whether such a life has ever in fact been lived upon the earth, save only by the Son of God Himself But in that last saving clause lies immediately the answer to our question”

As the book progresses one sees the impact of Hudson Taylor all over the ministry of Watchman Nee; the secret had been successfully passed down to succeeding generations of Christians. May God, the Holy Spirit, illumine our understanding to the point we can exchange our lives for the life of Christ.

The Normal Christian Life is the Exchanged Life!

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | May 6, 2013

The Normal Christian Life, by David Bower

What is the Normal Christian Life?

During my first year at Dallas Theological Seminary I had the privilege of taking a class on spiritual life from Dr. John Walvoord. Our text for that class was a book by Watchman Nee called, “The Normal Christian Life.” The first sentence in Chapter 1 poses the question, “What is the normal Christian life?”

Watchman NeeWatchman Nee

Before I continue please let me tell you how much that book has meant to me; it was a life-changing book that I have read and reread many times and have recommended to countless others. My original volume was loaned out so many times I can’t even remember and somehow managed to get itself lost; I hope it is still out there somewhere doing good for someone!

Right now I have my replacement copy in front of me; a copy of “The Normal Christian Life” is available here: http://www.amazon.com/Normal-Christian-Life-Watchman-Nee/dp/0875089909/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367592902&sr=1-1&keywords=the+normal+christian+life.

The first paragraph concludes with these words, “We do well at the outset to ponder this question. The object of these studies is to show that it is something very different from the life of the aver­age Christian. Indeed a consideration of the written Word of God —of the Sermon on the Mount for example—should lead us to ask whether such a life has ever in fact been lived upon the earth, save only by the Son of God Himself But in that last saving clause lies immediately the answer to our question.”

A Fascinating Heritage

Over the years I have been blessed with the opportunity to read many wonderful books on Christianity written by contemporary authors. One of those books was given to me by a fellow student at DTS and is named, “Hudson Taylors’ Spiritual Secret.” This fellow student wrote an inscription on an inside page which reads:

Dear David

May this book be as rich a blessing to your own spiritual life as it has been to mine, and may we both experience even greater joys in our Lord as we walk with Him in faith as did the one about whom this volume was written.

In Christian Love,

That was followed by his signature which I’ll omit but will add that he is, I believe, a retired pastor who lives in Colorado. I don’t know why he gave me that book but I’m grateful he did; perhaps he saw my spiritual life was in need of some refining, I’m sure it must have been as that book has also made an important contribution to my growth as a Christian man.

I mention this particular book because I believe it had a direct bearing on the early 20th Century ministry of Watchman Nee who was 2 years old at the time of Hudson Taylor’s death in 1905. Hudson Taylor was an early missionary to China in the late 19th Century and the first to go into the interior parts of China. That was a revolutionary concept at the time as missionaries ministered in port cities along the coast and maintained something of a detachment from the Chinese themselves. There was another way in which Hudson Taylor was a revolutionary missionary, he dressed in native garb and tried to blend with the population there.

Hudson TaylorHudson Taylor in Chinese Clothing

There was a remarkably significant difference to Hudson Taylor’s missionary effort as he was not supported by any of the major missionary organizations of the time. His was a missionary effort based on faith in the Lord alone and he had no guaranteed support from anyone. As his efforts began to bear fruit others joined him and started looking to him for leadership and direction. He selected an appropriate name for the effort, China Inland Mission, as the major thrust of their efforts was all in inland China.

The Lord blessed his efforts and China Inland Mission grew and along with that his responsibilities as founder and leader of the effort. At a critical point in his life Hudson Taylor began to feel the load he was bearing was too much; he just couldn’t continue with things the way they had become. The Lord had created a growth point for Hudson Taylor that was to change him forever and impact his 51 year ministry to the Chinese as well as Christians all over the world.

A Most Important Discovery

Chapter 13 in “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret,” is named “Days of Darkness” and describes the depths of misery and depression Hudson Taylor felt as the load he was carrying seemed to be crushing him in spite of his very best efforts. The Lord had driven him to a point where he had to give up on himself and start depending on the strength of the Lord to even survive. The chapter closes with this sentence, “You cannot be your own Savior, either in whole or in part.”

How sad it is that all too often we, who believe in salvation by faith alone, attempt to live out the Christian life in our own strength. Sooner or later all must discover the futility of such an effort or face frustration or defeat. Praise God Hudson Taylor made that discovery before it was too late; he finally came to realize that the Bible had been right all the time.

A copy of “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret” is available here: http://www.christianbook.com/hudson-taylors-spiritual-secret/howard-taylor/9780802456588/pd/456588

Next time, “The Exchanged Life.”

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | April 29, 2013

Child Proofing Society, Conclusion, by David Bower

An Unexpected Development

Over the years two things began to happen, both of which surprised me; the first was the rather futile efforts by society to child proof itself, and the second was the death of the grown-up.

What had led to these developments, what had happened to make these even appear in our society? The blame can be laid at the feet of the increasingly popular decision to abandon the time-honored concepts of teaching self-control, self-discipline, and self-restraint and the consequences of that decision was beginning to take its toll on society. As children, raised in what was hoped to be a childproof environment, began to age physically their emotional development and sense of personal responsibility lagged far behind.

The concept of “victimhood” began to blossom and prosper as the adult children looked to blame others for their bad judgment; they were victims of inadequate efforts by society to adequately childproof their lives from their own misbehavior! They became victims of circumstances beyond their control and thereby innocent of any wrongdoing. As I write this our society’s notions of victimhood have become deeply entrenched and are being enhanced and supported by society; nobody is responsible for their actions, everybody is a victim of circumstances.

I am already seeing a few evidences of this in the media with regard to the Boston Marathon Bombers, how did our society fail them to the degree that would cause them to do such a thing or were they victims of their mother’s fanaticism? It will be interesting to see if this absurdity catches on; obviously, according to this theory, they are victims of an inadequately childproofed environment and are certainly not responsible for their own actions.

The Death of the Grown-Up

A few years ago I discovered a most remarkable book, “The Death of the Grown-Up” by Diana West. St Martins Press, 2007. The book is subtitled, “How America’s Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization.” In her book, Ms. West describes the situation facing Western Civilization as a generation of young people refuses to grow up and assume the role of adults. We are seeing in our own nation the results of this refusal to assume adult responsibilities. Everywhere one looks we see physical adults acting like children and refusing to accept adult responsibilities.

The book is filled with pages illustrating examples of this failure and if you are interested in learning more I encourage you to get a copy of the book. It is not an easy read but it is a valuable read if you have any interest in the future of the United States of America or, on a more global scale, Western Civilization itself.

I am convinced a major part of this collapse is due to a failure to instill in children the virtues of hard work, self-control, self-restraint, and self-reliance. The historic, “protestant work ethic” has disappeared from the world scene along with classic Christian virtues and the primacy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Child Proofing Society

As a young father I rejected the notion of child proofing the room and believed the proper approach was to train the child. I rather naively believed society would be the turning point in the lives of those children raised in a child proof environment. As they became adults they would have to learn the virtues of self-control, self-reliance, and self-restraint if they were to survive.

It gradually dawned in my thinking over the years that society was not requiring these children to grow up but was, in fact, beginning to try and child proof itself to accommodate them; self-indulgence had replaced self-discipline as the norm. This realization came gradually to me so when I discovered Ms. West’s book I was immediately intrigued by her thoughts and agreed with her conclusions.

It is true that not all young people have refused adult responsibilities; many have assumed their roles as adults and perform admirably in the numerous roles adulthood demands. What is disappointing is the excessively large number of adults who are still acting like children. As permissive parents die off more and more of these adult children will be looking to society to take care of them. After all, they are victims of parents who thoughtlessly died and left them with no means of support either financial or emotional.

Disintegration From Within

It would appear that as a nation we are in a transition stage and may be nearing the end of a historical cycle. Over the last several years much has been written on the “Fall of a Democracy” but the concept as it is popularly circulated today seems to have had its origin in a speech given in 1943 by the President of Armstrong Cork Company according to research done by Mr. Loren Collins.

Mr. Henning Webb Prentis, Jr., President of the Armstrong Cork Company, in a speech entitled “Industrial Management in a Republic,” delivered in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria at New York during the 250th meeting of the National Conference Board on March 18, 1943, had this to say: “Paradoxically enough, the release of initiative and enterprise made possible by popular self-government ultimately generates disintegrating forces from within. Again and again after freedom has brought opportunity and some degree of plenty, the competent become selfish, luxury-loving and complacent, the incompetent and the unfortunate grow envious and covetous, and all three groups turn aside from the hard road of freedom to worship the Golden Calf of economic security.

The historical cycle seems to be: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.

At the stage between apathy and dependency, men always turn in fear to economic and political panaceas. New conditions, it is claimed, require new remedies. Under such circumstances, the competent citizen is certainly not a fool if he insists upon using the compass of history when forced to sail uncharted seas. Usually so-called new remedies are not new at all. Compulsory planned economy, for example, was tried by the Chinese some three millenniums ago, and by the Romans in the early centuries of the Christian era. It was applied in Germany, Italy and Russia long before the present war broke out.

Yet it is being seriously advocated today as a solution of our economic problems in the United States. Its proponents confidently assert that government can successfully plan and control all major business activity in the nation, and still not interfere with our political freedom and our hard-won civil and religious liberties. The lessons of history all point in exactly the reverse direction.” – Henning W. Prentis, Industrial Management in a Republic, p. 22.”

What do you think?

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | April 22, 2013

Child Proofing Society, by David Bower

 The Training of Children

Not too many years ago, when I was growing up and then a few years later when our children were growing up, there was a popular child-raising principle; If a child misbehaved a child got spanked. This was not a revolutionary principle as it had been in use for thousands of years with reasonable success when properly applied. We know this principle extended back to the times of the Old Testament because we find in Proverbs 22:15, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away.”

Earlier in that same chapter it is written in verse 6, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” or as translated in the NKJV, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” These concepts focus on the development of self-restraint, or self-control on the part of the child. When childish notions of bad behavior come into the mind of a child they are associated with punishment and are discarded before they are even implemented by the child.

While we didn’t use a rod we did have a flexible 12 inch ruler that would sting and make a loud noise and seemed to be very effective in developing childhood respect. In case a word of caution failed to immediately curb misbehavior, a slight move toward the ruler drawer always resulted in instant obedience.

Three Principles of Child Raising

By the time we were raising our children we had learned three principles which we always applied to their upbringing and which did a great job helping to turn them into the admirable and productive Christian adults they have become. The first principle was a clearly defined boundary. As a young man I had read an article in “Scouting Magazine” which influenced me the rest of my life; the article was about the principle of establishing fences for children. Children needed boundaries and these fences represented standards of behavior and while activities within those boundaries was acceptable moving beyond the fence was unacceptable and would always result in punishment, no negotiation, just absolutely certain punishment.

This brings up the second principle, it was not the severity of punishment that counted, but the unfailing certainty of punishment that counted. If the child went past the fence line, punishment was non-negotiable, arguments and excuses were futile, and the punishment was coming.

The third principle is perhaps the most important and that is the principle of unlimited love; the children’s lives were filled with hugs and kisses and many, many words of loving appreciation. They knew we loved them and that they could always depend on our love being there to support them no matter what!

I’m happy to report this system worked and in very little time eliminated any need for spankings from our lives entirely; the children had learned the value of self-discipline.

A New Theory Begins to Emerge

While our children were growing up we began to notice what was to us a new development among some of our friends. They were embracing a concept which we at once felt to be unworkable and unwise; the concept that one dealt with childish misbehavior by modifying the child’s environment. If, for example, the child wanted to break things one simply moved all breakable things out of the reach of the child which momentarily seemed to solve the problem; one did not tell the child no as that might stunt their emotional development. In other words the adult tried to childproof the environment by removing objects or eliminating situations which would permit or encourage the misbehavior.

It became evident to us very quickly that this approach was faulty and impossible to always implement. What if the child was simply rude or angry and struck out either physically or verbally at others and there was really nothing to remove from their environment that would solve the problem? I can recall telling my wife that children raised in this manner were heading for trouble when they became adults as it would be impossible to childproof society in order to keep them from misbehaving in a childish manner.

Next time, “An Unexpected Development”

 

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | April 15, 2013

Quality of Life, by David Bower

 Are You Content With Your Quality of Life

In the privacy of your own thoughts do you find that your life consistently displays the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Can you say with conviction that the vast majority of the time my life manifests love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? If you can, then you are living a Spirit led life; if you cannot then the opportunity still exists to change that.

I believe we can generally agree had God chosen He could have taken his children home the very moment they were born again into His family; He has obviously chosen not to do that. We, as His children, are given the opportunity to live out our appointed days endowed with a living soul, a living spirit, and a mortal cursed body. I have found it amusing that the only part of us that can be seen is the one part of us that has not been redeemed.

Our mortal bodies will either return to the dust or be transformed as a part of the First Resurrection as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

In the meantime what about quality of life you may well ask and we are given an answer to that in a number of places. In Romans 8:28-30 we are told, “28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

During our mortal lives we are experiencing the process of being conformed to the image of his Son and in addition we have responsibilities as determined for each of us by our Lord. Our quality of life depends on how amenable we are to this process of conformation and how faithful we are to the practical daily implementation of God’s word in our lives. Our lives come with a lot of assembly required and the Bible is the manufacturer’s assembly instructions; we ignore it at our own peril.

Please remember that our eternal security as a part of God’s family is never in question. We can confirm with confidence that we are “Once Saved, Always Saved” and Romans 8:1-2 should be a source of great joy to the Christian, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

A Daily Choice

Each day brings a fresh opportunity to choose our lifestyle and our perspective on life and living; at the most basic level we can choose to live by faith or live by sight. The Bible is filled with advice from our Creator on how to live each day in a manner that will provide the greatest joy and satisfaction; God wants His children to enjoy life and offers the Holy Spirit as a guide and counselor.

The fruit of a Spirit led life includes those qualities all of us seek but look for in all the wrong places. In Galatians 5:22-25 the qualities of the Spirit led life are listed, “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

It is most important to realize that the fruit of the Spirit is a blessing generated by the power of the Holy Spirit; it is not a work that we do in our own power. For us to think we can produce this fruit in our own power is pride and you know what the Bible says about pride, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

There are probably few, if any, human beings who would not like to have their lives characterized by love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Why then do they seem to be so rare? How many Christians do you know whose lives are consistently characterized by these qualities? There may be a few but probably not many.

What is the Problem?

Since these qualities are so desirable for enriching one’s life why are they so inconsistently found in the Christian community? There is a simple answer to that question and the answer is sin. Although our eternal position before God has been perfected by the shed blood of Christ our daily battle with sin is an ongoing problem with which we must all live. The Bible tells us in Romans 14:23b, “everything that does not come from faith is sin.” That means it is very easy to sin; whenever we worry, fear, doubt or think or do anything that is not of faith we are sinning against God and quenching the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When the power of the Holy Spirit is quenched in our lives the fruit of the Spirit is gone too!

God knew we would have a problem with sin so He provided an answer for His children which is stated in 1 John 1:8-10, “8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

The key to God’s answer to our sin problem is found in verse 9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” In His grace, God not only forgives us our known sins but also purifies us from all unrighteousness as well. When we confess our sins to God the power of the Holy Spirit can be restored in our lives and we then have the opportunity to live a Spirit led life and manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

In Summary

As Christians we have been eternally justified before the Father by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our position as God’s child in God’s eternal family has been secured by the power of God and is unalterable; we can never lose our salvation! Our daily experience with sin is another matter entirely and while it has nothing to do with our eternal security as a believer it has everything to do with the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and our overall quality of life.

When we live our lives by sight and not by faith, we are sinning and quenching the power of the Holy Spirit. If we recognize our sinful thoughts or deeds and confess them to God He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness and this restores the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and opens the door to a Spirit led life filled with the fruit of the Spirit.

Don’t Miss Out On The Blessings God Wants You To Enjoy!

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | April 9, 2013

Quality of Life Versus OSAS Part 1, by David Bower

A Source of Confusion

As a Global Media Outreach online missionary I have the privilege of working with people from all over the world. While many of those with whom I work are receiving Christ for the first time, many are Christians who are having problems in their lives. These problems cover a wide range of categories but the majority of them seem to focus on quality of life issues such as sin, unemployment, family issues, and feelings of loneliness or rejection.

Questions similar to, “Why has God abandoned me, or where is God now that I need Him” are posed in various configurations and some even question their salvation itself. All too often quality of life issues are confused with eternal security issues. What I would like to do in this article is to clearly distinguish the differences between quality of life and once saved always saved.

The Basic Problem

Is there a problem separating God and man and if there is what kind of a problem exists? There seems to be a lot of confusion on this point so clearing up what is really going on is a great place to start our diagnosis. Yes, there is a fundamental problem of separation that exists between God and man and this resulted from Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.

When Adam disobeyed a direct command from God not only did he die spiritually that very day but the entire human race died too; this is referred to as “The Federal Headship of Adam.”  This principle is explained in Romans 5:12-14, “12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.”

Paul points out the fact that after Adam no one could sin against God’s only command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil yet physical death came to all men even though the law was not yet given. In Adam’s case spiritual death came immediately but physical death was not to follow for several hundred years; all of Adam’s descendents though have been born spiritually dead.

God’s Solution to the Basic Problem

Fortunately Paul does not drop the subject on that sad thought but provides God’s answer to the problem when he writes in verses 15-16, “15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.” Here we see the work of our Kinsman-Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ paying the price of redemption by the shedding of His own blood.

What about the law and personal sin? The Mosaic Law was given to show us our inability to satisfy the righteousness of our perfect and holy God. In Galatians 3:23-25 we read, “23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”

The One Condition

One can see from the above that our problem is a problem of birth; we have been born into a family that is spiritually dead and at birth we take on the characteristics of our family. That gives more significance to our Lord’s statement to Nicodemus in John 3:3 where he said, “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” When we are born again we are born into God’s family and are given the characteristics of God’s heavenly family which includes spiritual life.

Once born into God’s family there is absolutely no way to become unborn from God’s family; we are a part of God’s family forever and ever. We become at our second birth a child of God and are sustained in that capacity by the power of God. There is nothing we can do or fail to do that will ever change that. This principle is stated clearly in Romans 8:38-39 where we read, “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What then is the one condition required in order to enjoy this second birth? There is a simple answer and that is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

This is why I am convinced that once an individual is saved, they are always saved.

To be continued in Part 2

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | March 31, 2013

The Beginning of the End

The Resurrection of Our Kinsman Redeemer

Today we remember the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ which is observed as a critical turning point in the history of God’s relationship to mankind. Although God’s original plan was for Adam and his progeny to have dominion over the earth; Adam, by disobeying a direct command of God, forfeited his dominion to Satan who has ever since been the “prince of the power of the air.”

In the Book of Ruth we read of Boaz who, as a kinsman redeemer, was enabled to redeem the inheritance of Elimelech and restore to him a line and a heritage for his name. Boaz is seen as a type of Christ in his capacity of kinsman redeemer to the family of Elimelech. As you will recall from the story, the kinsman redeemer had to be a near relative with the resources to redeem the forfeited inheritance for the family to whom it had originally belonged.

At the time of the virgin birth, our Lord Jesus Christ was made blood of our blood, and flesh of our flesh and became qualified by birth to serve as a kinsman redeemer for humanity. Humanities debt was a debt of sin to God but the Lord Jesus Christ, being born of a virgin and free of sin, was free of that debt and by nature of His holy righteousness was in a position to redeem mankind’s lost inheritance by His death on the cross.

By dying on the cross and then three days later being resurrected, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the debt of sin against humanity and began the process of redemption which will be successfully concluded at the Second Advent. At this point we still live in a world controlled by Satan; Satan is still the “prince of the power of the air” but is living on borrowed time and he knows it.

The Beginning of the End

The death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was the beginning of this process of redemption, it was the beginning of the end. The end is yet future and is being delayed for a particular reason and that is the completion of the Church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ.

One might visualize the situation today if one thinks of a prison that contains a very large number of prisoners. It has been decreed that all of the prisoners have been fully forgiven and are now free to return to their homes and families; all they need do is walk out of the prison to freedom. Surprisingly many choose to remain in their cells and ignore the open cell doors preferring the darkness of their cells to the light of freedom.

Mankind today faces that exact situation as Christ’s death has redeened the entire world and all that is required to receive a share of that redemption is to accept Christ’s death on the cross as payment for one’s own sin.

To continue the analogy, the situation is further complicated by the fact that the prison is scheduled for destruction; anyone remaining in the prison will suffer the fate of the prison and be subjected to the same destructive forces. This heaven and earth will be destroyed by fire and all of mankind who reject salvation in Jesus Christ will be given eternal bodies and cast into the Lake of Fire forever and ever, this is the Second Death. There is no neutral ground, one is either for Christ or against Him!

I urge you to choose freedom, choose life, choose Christ!

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | March 4, 2013

Did A Bullet Graze Our Head? by David Bower

What Happened?

Bullets grazing heads sounds like some sort of detective fiction and the reader knows when reading those words someone had a close call. So what does bullets grazing heads have to do with “Life from a Christian Perspective” you may well ask? There is a simple answer to that question, Asteroid 2012 DA14 which on February 15, 2013 passed around 17,000 miles above the surface of our planet essentially grazed our earthly heads. Now 17,000 miles may sound like a great distance but when compared to typical astronomical distances it’s like a bullet grazing the forehead.

What made February 15th an interesting day for astronomers was the fact that just hours earlier a meteor exploded above Russia’s Ural Mountains causing considerable damage and injury. It appears the two events were completely unrelated but the timing was interesting coming as close together time-wise as they did. Neither the meteor nor the 150 foot asteroid was large enough to threaten all life on the planet by either explosive forces or the creation of a world-wide winter.

 NASA Artist's Concept

2012 DA14 Grazing Earth [NASA/JPL-Cal Tech]

What Would Happen If?

What if that asteriod had hit the earth? I had to do some research to find an answer on that one as I am not an astrophysicist. From my research it appears the impact of an asteroid hitting the earth will depend on its size, density, speed, and its angle of entry into the earth’s atmosphere; the greater the size and density the greater the mass, the steeper the angle of entry the greater the potential for penetration into the earth’s atmosphere. Smaller and less dense asteroids will explode in the atmosphere and the less the angle of entry, say less than 20 degrees, the more likely to explode at a higher altitudes.

 On June 30, 1908 an  asteroid slightly larger than 2012 DA14 exploded over the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia destroying around 80,000,000 trees over an area of around 830 square miles. New York City has a reported land area of around 468 square miles and an estimated population in 2011 of 8,244,910. Whereas the likelihood of an asteroid strike over New York City is remote, the results could be devastating but localized to that area.

In Revelation 8:10-11 we read, “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water–the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.”

Meteorite Over Russia 

                  Meteor Over Russia           

One can see the similarity of a burning meteor or asteroid to a blazing torch flying across the sky.

What Can You Do?

The news today seems to be filled with stories of troubles, fear and disaster. Wars and rumors of wars fill the media with stories of developments that threaten individuals and whole societies with terrible acts of violence and death. This begins to ring bells for the student of Bible prophecy. In several places in Scripture descriptions are given of the end times and those things we are seeing in the news today bear a striking resemblance to what the Bible predicted.

The potential enormity of these events makes any steps we, as individuals, can take seem pathetically small and inadequate. We live in the perfect time to trust in the Lord and walk by faith. It’s only when we think there is something we can do to ameliorate the consequences of those events that we search and struggle to make adequate preparations for survival.

 The Bible warns us these days are coming and tells us that God does not want His church to experience these troubles. Instead of an ark of gopher wood He has prepared a vast removal called the Rapture of the Church to deliver us from this coming time of great judgment. We can know with certainty before things get really bad that we will be given new eternal bodies and removed from the earth. What we do not know is just how bad things are going to get before the removal takes place.

We can know with complete assurance that we are individually and collectively objects of God’s love. We can know that He is working all things together for our good and that He is conforming us to the image of His Son. In light of that reality our only valid option is to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Such an alternative is extremely liberating.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | February 16, 2013

Peter the Roman, The Last Pope? by David Bower

 Saint Malachy and the Papal Succession

As you are probably aware, Pope Benedict XVI has announced his resignation to be effective at the end of February. This is the first time in almost 600 years that a pope has resigned from office; the last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII in 1415.

The reason I bring this up has to do with the prophecies of Saint Malachy, an Irish archbishop who died in 1148. According to the record, these prophecies were largely unnoticed until 1595 when they were discovered and then published by a Benedictine named Arnold de Wyon as a part of his history of the Benedictine order. The prophecies are supposed to list the Popes in order and provide some information on the nature of their leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.

Needless to say they are in no way to be compared to Bible prophecy and have been the subject of much debate over the years. What has impressed many is their appearance of accuracy in describing the Papal reigns of the various Popes. According to the current list of Popes, the next Pope will be the last one, the 112th Pope on the list.

Peter the Roman

Here is an English translation from the Latin concerning the last Pope: “112 Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The end.”

Is any of this conclusive, and the answer to that is no, it is not. There is even debate over the authenticity of the 112th Pope as being part of Saint Malachy’s original list; some say it was a later addition to the list.

I mention it because as a part of the overall scene it provides some additional insight into the times in which we live. Just as the world didn’t come to an end on December 21, 2012, the next Pope may not actually be the last one; time will tell.

This week’s meteor exploding over Russia did bring a verse to mind; in Acts 2:19 Peter is speaking of the end times and says, “I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.”

We live in interesting times, do we not?

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | February 8, 2013

Abby Cat’s New Best Friend, by David Bower

The Arrival of Tomboy

Most of you know the story of Abby Cat and her discovery on the used car lot at the local Honda dealership how after seven years of feline deprivation we had relented and invited a cat to join our family. After that things seemed to go well for a few years but then a boy cat wandered into our lives.

This all started innocently enough when a beautiful black and white cat started hanging around our house. We thought at first it must be a neighbor’s cat and was just looking for more food. We were already providing a second breakfast for some other neighbor cats and so we believed this to just be one more cat out and about looking  for additional food. 

David and Tom Boy 1-11-13

Tomboy with a boyish smudge of grease on his right jaw

As time passed the boy cat, whom my wife decided to call Tomboy, started hanging around even more and we were beginning to experience some cold nights. Being a softy when it comes to animals, I fashioned a little shelter out of some cardboard boxes and some towels and an old shag rug. It turned out Tomboy seemed to appreciate the shelter and started spending the nights in the box. In addition Abby Cat had started noticing this cat that was hanging around the outside of her house more and more.

Abby Cat watches Tomboy - Jan. 2013

Abby Cat Watching Tomboy

That began to raise some serious suspicions that Tomboy was a legitimate stray and might be looking for a forever home. As time passed our convictions grew that this was the case and I started becoming concerned about Tomboy’s well being. Conventional wisdom suggests that male cats may have shorter lifespans because of their natural inclination to roam at night and that ran directly contrary to my growing concern for his well-being.

A Big Transition for All of Us

We definitely had mixed emotions about bringing Tomboy into the house as several considerations immediately surfaced in our thinking. The first was Abby; she had been an only cat every since she was just a few weeks old and we were concerned how she would adjust to Tomboy sharing rulership in her kingdom. After all she had enjoyed the exclusive use of two staff members and absolutely no competition from anyone else.

The other side of that coin was the distinct possibility that this might provide a playmate for Abby and could potentially brighten her life in a way that was beyond the ability of her staff. We knew that if we brought him in he would have to go to the vet for the usual assortment of vet inspections etc but we decided to go ahead and take the plunge. We took him in to the vet on January 24th for the full treatment and picked him up on Saturday morning, the 26th and brought him home.

Their First Encounter

Abby Cat is a very cautious girl and does not tolerate change or visitors very well. Any time the doorbell rings she runs under the bed and won’t come out until all the visitors are gone. We were very curious how she would react to a loud bawling cat (Tomboy did not like the cat carrier). We set the carrier down on the floor and left the door closed initially to see what would happen next.

Abby Cat was totally fascinated by that loud cat in the carrier and she came up and stuck her nose right next to the cat carrier’s door. Tomboy was probably still recovering from surgery and didn’t seem too interested in Abby Cat who was alternately hissing and overcome by curiosity.

First Encounter-Tomboy is home!

Abby Cat Sees Tomboy Up Close

 The next step was to open the door and let Tomboy out; I’ll have to admit to slight feelings of apprehension as we were unsure whether Abby would run under the bed or stand her ground; she stood her ground as the next picture will show.

See Tomboy leaning away from Abby Cat

Notice the Slight Lean Away from Abby Cat

It was to take about three days before Abby Cat finally began to accept Tomboy and now they are developing the playful relationship for which we had hoped. Tomboy has made an admirable adjustment to our household and offers his own unique personality as enrichment to our family.

Tomboy has accepted certain responsibilities around the house and contributes to the household chores as any good boy should.

in front of my monitor

Tomboy Helping Me Write My Blog

Tall and skinny. 1-26-13

Tomboy on Guard Duty

Don’t let me give the impression it’s all work and no play; there’s no telling what is going on in two kitty minds here.

Abby Cat peeking around the corner

Abby Cat Peeks Around the Corner at Tomboy

Tomboy asks why she keeps following him.

Tomboy Must be Asking Himself why is that Cat Following Me?

Playing with the brown ball

This was What we had Hoped For

Tomboy has a personality all his own and brings a lot of sparkle and life to our household. Abby Cat has begun to really enjoy him and they are playing together more and more; all this in a week and a half, thank you Lord.

Tomboy, full face 2-2-13

Tomboy Bower

It’s 4:40 AM Friday morning as I publish this and Tomboy is on the floor behind me purring.

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