The Money Idol

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What is the biggest idol of all time? Jesus taught that the biggest distraction to serving God was money. Matthew 6:24 (NIV) No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. If money is your master, then it is your idol, the money idol.

Now, the Bible does not teach that there is anything wrong with money persay. Money becomes an idol when you begin to serve it. Jesus taught that some people try to serve money and God, but it can’t be done. If you serve money at all, money is your master, your idol. Money becomes your idol when you begin to love it. 1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. When you love money, you begin to sacrifice your principles, your relationships and your common sense in order to get more of it. When you love money, you never have enough, you are never content. When you love money, you do stupid things with the money you have, like gambling or playing the lottery in order to try to get more. When you love money, you sacrifice your family relationships in order to get the highest paying job, no matter how many hours you have to work. When you love money, you sacrifice your relationship with God and His church. You cannot serve both God and money.

People who love the money idol store up money and possessions on this earth for themselves. Matthew 6:19 (NIV) Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. People who love God use their money to store up treasure in heaven. Matthew 6:20 (NIV) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. If your treasure is on this earth, money is your idol. If your treasure is in heaven, God is your master.

How do you store treasures in heaven? First of all, realize that all you have including your money, is not yours to do with as you please. Everything that you have, including your money, is a gift from God to be invested for God to achieve a return for God. It’s not your money, it’s God’s. The Bible contains over 2350 verses describing God’s instructions on how to use your money for Him. To lay up treasures in heaven, follow God’s instructions. Secondly, the most important principle in the Bible about money is to be generous with it. Give it back to God and bless other people with it. Give to God first and then trust Him to meet your families’ needs. Luke 16:10-11 (NIV) Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? If God sees that He can trust you with the little money you have now, He will trust you with greater responsibility and resources in the future.

How To Be Influential

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If you’re a believer, God wants you to be an influential person. He doesn’t want you to be influenced by the world, but rather to be a positive influence on people around you. Romans 12:2a (NIV) Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Unfortunately, many believers have not had their minds renewed by God and they think in the thought patterns of the world. You’re not going to be very influential if you’re just like everybody else. In this post, I want to help you renew your mind with what Jesus taught about becoming a person of influence.

Jesus taught two important ways that believers are to be influential in society. The first way is to influence others against evil. Matthew 5:13 (NIV) You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. Salt has the property of being a preservative against decay in foods. Believers are to take a stand against evil and sin in society by speaking out and acting against it. Of course, if you give in to sin yourself, you have absolutely no credibility to influence others against it. However, if you retain your saltiness, then you can warn others against the dangers of sin. If you don’t take a stand against evil, you’re going to get trampled upon, which is where a lot of fearful and ashamed believers are today. Wake up, be salt.

The second way to be influential is to influence others for good. Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV) You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Jesus’ second metaphor of an influential believer is that of light. Jesus came as the light of the world and believers are to be the light of the world. Light illumines, light dispels the darkness and guides to the truth.

The world tries to get believers to hide their lights, saying, “It’s just your private opinion, keep it to yourself.” Jesus says, forget the world, listen to me. Let your light shine by doing good deeds, so that people will praise God. It’s not just a matter of doing good deeds, since then people will praise you. To be influential for God, you must do good deeds and let people know that you are doing them for Jesus. Then your good deeds will serve as light, drawing others out of the darkness into the marvelous light of Jesus Christ.

Are you an influential person? Are you being salt and light to the world around you? Are you consciously influencing others against evil and toward good? If not, ask for God’s help, it’s a prayer He loves to answer. God make us influential believers for you.

Three Tests Of Eternal Life

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The worst possible surprise that anyone could have is to realize on judgment day that they aren’t going to heaven, but to hell. Pollster George Barna tells us that only 0.5% of American adults think they will go to hell, most think they are going to heaven. Most people think they are Christians and have eternal life. Jesus tells us that there are going to be a lot of surprised people on judgment day. Matthew 7:22-23 (NIV) Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Actually the claims of the people around us won’t be nearly as impressive as those Jesus talks about. People today will say, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not attend church on Christmas and Easter, were we not basically good people, weren’t we baptized in church?” and they will get the same answer from Jesus.

How can a person avoid being deceived about whether they have eternal life or not? John wrote the book of 1 John for the following purpose. 1 John 5:13 (NIV) I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. The book of 1 John gives three tests that anyone can use to test themselves to see if they are going to heaven. You must pass all three tests to know whether you have eternal life.

Test one can be summarized with the question, “Do you believe right?” 1 John 4:15 (NIV) If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. To believe right is to believe what the Bible tells us about Jesus and to trust your life to Him. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the divine, perfect Son of God who became human to save humanity. Jesus took our sins upon Himself on the cross to pay the penalty of eternal death so that believers might have eternal life. However, 41% of American adults believe that Jesus sinned when He lived on the earth. They don’t believe right and don’t have eternal life. 1 John 2:22 (NIV) Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist–he denies the Father and the Son.

Test two is the question, “Do you live right?” The reason the next two tests are important is that a lot of people have fooled themselves into thinking they believe in Jesus. If you truly have believed in Jesus, then you will pass the second and third tests. If you are fooling yourself, you will not pass these tests. 1 John 2:3-4 (NIV) We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. In other words, John is saying that those who have eternal life consistently obey God’s commands and do not continue to live in sin. If someone does not obey God’s commands and continues to sin, they do not have eternal life. Now, John does not say that a believer is perfect and never sins. However, a believer does not engage in habitual sin.

The third test is the question, “Do you love right?” 1 John 3:14 (NIV) We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. In today’s world, a lot of people have dropped out of church. They think they can live a faith-filled life on their own without the so-called hypocrites in the church. John is telling us here that if you don’t love other believers enough to be part of a church family, you aren’t a believer, you’re fooling yourself.

Three tough tests. How did you do? If you failed a test today, you can still do something about it. If you fail on judgment day, it’s all over for eternity for you. If you failed any test, you need to go back to test one and make sure that you truly believe. To believe in a biblical sense is to commit your whole life to Jesus Christ. To believe is to not only trust Jesus to forgive your sins, but to trust Him enough to obey everything He tells you to do. When you believe like that, when you acknowledge Jesus as Lord, then you will pass the second and third test easily.

The Mystery of Unanswered Prayer – Part 1

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One of the mysteries of the Christian life is unanswered prayer. There are many promises in God’s Word regarding God answering prayers. One example is given by Jesus in John 14:12-14 (NIV) I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. On first glance, someone may take these verses to suggest that they should receive answers for anything they ask God for. However, this doesn’t happen for most people and they may become discouraged in prayer. In this post, I want to begin to explore some of the common reasons for the mystery of unanswered prayer.

I am going to assume that the person praying is a believer, that is, they have admitted their sin to God, believed that Jesus died to forgive that sin and have committed their lives to following Jesus as their Lord and Savior. To grow in your prayer life, you must understand what God teaches about answering prayer. Almost all of God’s promises in the Bible are conditional. A conditional promise is one that will only be answered by God if you meet the conditions. Some conditions for promises are found in the promise verses themselves and other conditions are found in other related verses in Scripture. If you meet the conditions of God’s Word for His promises, God always keeps His promises.

James 5:16b (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Prayers that are powerful and effective are certainly prayers that are answered. The implied condition for powerful and effective prayer in this verse is the character of the person praying the prayer. James says that the prayer of a righteous man will be answered. A righteous person is first and foremost a believer, someone who has trusted in Jesus’ righteousness to forgive their sins.

However, the righteousness of a believer must also be a practical righteousness that is lived out. 1 John 3:7 (NIV) Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. A true believer is someone who does what is right, they live with a practical righteousness. What happens when a true believer sins? 1 John 1:9 (NIV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If a believer sins, they must immediately confess their sin and ask for God’s forgiveness to be purified from their unrighteous behavior. The problem is that many people continue to live in known sin without confessing and turning away from it.

Unconfessed sin therefore is a major cause of unanswered prayer. Psalms 66:18 (NIV) If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; To cherish sin in your heart is to hang on to it, to not confess it and turn from it. When someone has unconfessed sin in their hearts, God does not listen to their prayers and the prayers are not answered. Peter shows us a practical example of this by warning that if husbands do not treat their wives properly, it will hinder their prayers from being answered. 1 Peter 3:7 (NIV) Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. Problems in your marriage relationship, caused by not respecting your spouse, will lead to unanswered prayer.

In some churches, there is very little emphasis on righteous living. Many believers have areas of their lives that they have not submitted to Jesus Christ and are indulging in known, often habitual sin. This sin is often excused as being small and inconsequential. However, any unconfessed sin will decimate your prayer life. What makes this such a mystery for many is that you may be praying a prayer that truly is God’s will, but sin in another area of your life will prevent God’s answer from coming. In effect, sin short-circuits God’s answers to your prayers.

A viscous cycle then ensues in which people blame God for not answering their prayers. Their faith grows weak and they often give up on praying at all. The solution is to confess your sin, turn away from it and begin to live righteously through the power of God. This removes one of the most common hindrances to unanswered prayer, the hindrance of unconfessed sin. In The Mystery of Unanswered Prayer – Part 2, I will look at another cause of the mystery of unanswered prayer.

Praying For The Election

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The Bible instructs us to pray for those who are in authority over us in the government, so we must also pray for the election by which those authorities are selected. The instructions of God’s Word for our prayer life are also an instructive guide on how we should vote in the election. Of course, these instructions were written in a time when the believer had no influence in the choice of their government. I am grateful to God that today we still have a choice in American democracy. However, a democracy is only a good form of government when the majority vote according to the principles of God’s Word. If the majority of the people are wrong, we will elect the wrong kind of government.

What kind of government does God want believers to pray for? In this post, I’m going to look at a passage that Paul wrote to a young pastor named Timothy.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NIV) I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone– for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

The first thing that we should pray for in our government is that “we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” The we referred to here is the church of true believers. Government should work so that Christians may live peaceful and quiet lives. The authorities must protect us from external and internal enemies who would disrupt the peace and quiet of our lives. The justice system and the economic system must be governed to bring about this end as well. The second part of the phrase says that believers must be allowed to live “in all godliness and holiness.” Government must not interfere with the lives of believers who are living according to the principles of God’s Word. Government should not interfere with the internal workings of the church nor restrict the freedom of speech of it’s leaders as it increasingly does in America. Governments and leaders who follow these principles and actively encourage the ministry of the church will be blessed as this pleases God.

The last sentence that Paul writes shows us why this is important. God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” People who are not saved are living in a false delusion. It is only the saved that have the knowledge of the truth. When believers are allowed and encouraged to live peaceful and quiet lives by the government, then the church will grow as more people are saved. Salvation is the result that God is looking for. The expansion of the church is the result that Christians should be praying toward in every election.

Unfortunately, most people simply vote for whoever they think will personally give them the best economic benefit. One side believes that the government should give everyone all kinds of freebies and they think that they will gain more benefit than the taxes they pay. The other side believes that the government should cut taxes to the bone and in so doing, they believe that they will gain more benefit from managing their own money. Both sides are motivated by selfish greed. Christians should not align themselves with viewpoints cobbled together by unbelievers who don’t know the truth. As believers, we must align ourselves with the principles of God’s Word.

Believers need to ask the question, “Which nominee will better allow the church to grow by more people being saved?” Pray that the authorities elected will allow the church to grow unimpeded, that’s why America was founded. Vote for the nominee that will best govern by biblical principles that favor the church. What about the many unbelievers in America? The best hope, the only hope for unbelievers in America, is that the church of Jesus Christ reach them with the message of salvation. Pray that in this election, a President and Congress will be elected that will allow more people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

Is Mormonism Christian? Part 3

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In “Is Mormonism Christian? Part 1“, I described the four fundamental marks of the Christian faith. In ““, I compared Mormon doctrine with these four defining features of Christianity and found it did not meet the test on any of the marks. My analysis is not unique by any means. Most major denominations and theologians classify Mormonism as a theological cult, because although it calls itself Christian, it does not follow Christian teaching. In this final article of the series, I want to address the question of how Christians should respond to Mormons.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV) But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. The Bible teaches that every person has been created by God in the image of God and deserves to be treated with gentleness and respect. As Christians teach others about what the Bible says, we must not be judgemental or prideful. However, when others raise the question about Mormonism or Mormons claim to be Christian, Christians have an obligation to give a truthful answer.

I have come to the conclusion that the Mormon religion is not Christian. If you would like to do further research on the topic, I have found the following books helpful.

Fast Facts on Mormonism – John Ankerberg and John Weldon
Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons – Ron Rhodes and Marian Bodine
Handbook of Today’s Religions – Josh McDowell and Don Stewart
The New Mormon Challenge – Editor Francis Beckwith et al.

However, what about individual Mormons? Does the fact that the doctrine of Mormonism is not Christian, mean that all Mormons are not Christians? The answer is that individual Mormons may indeed be misguided Christians and the reasons are two-fold. First of all, one of the Mormon Scriptures is the Bible. Anyone reading the Bible may come to the knowledge of the truth. Secondly, it is well known that a high percentage of Mormon converts come from Bible-believing churches. Pollster George Barna finds that the percentage of born-again adults, those who believe “they have made a personal commitment to Christ that is important in their life today and also say that when they die they know they will go to Heaven solely because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior,” range from a high of 81% in the Assemblies of God to a low of 25% in the Catholic church. The Mormon church suprisingly has 34% of born-again adults according to Barna.

How should you respond to a Mormon that you know personally? As with any other person, you should seek to determine whether they are truly a Christian, not assuming to know their personal relationship with God based on what church they go to. If they are truly Christians, endeavor to discuss with them the problems with Mormon doctrine compared to biblical teaching. If they are not Christians, seek to get them to read and discuss the Bible and contrast it to Mormonism. Reference books on Mormonism, such as those mentioned above will be important to address the issues. Above all, do not take a claim to be a Christian from anyone, including a Mormon, at face value.

In response to the question, “Are Mormons Christians?”, an article on the official Mormon site gave the following answer.

Why would anyone say such a thing? Isn’t the name of our church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Do we not worship Christ? Is not the Book of Mormon another testament of Jesus Christ? How could anyone seriously doubt that Latter-day Saints are Christians?

None of the reasons given in this response has anything to do with the basic marks of Christianity given in the Bible. 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV) The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. May we pray that God opens the eyes of Mormons to truly see the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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