What About Separation of Church and State?

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Episode 03

Baptists have always held to separation of church and state and Baptists have never accepted the doctrine of any form of universal or catholic church.

Separation of church and state to the Baptists (the people who introduced the doctrine to our country) means first, that no church denomination has ability to use governmental power for coercive purposes. Baptists had, for too long, experienced the weight of governments forcing their tithes to go to the state church rather than the church that preached the doctrines they believed to be biblical and requiring them to attend services in those state established churches.

Separation of church and state, to Baptists also means that government has no right of influence over the local church. Each church must be free to preach the Word of God as they believe the Spirit of God leads them to and practice their faith in a manner consistent with that faith.

Separation of church and state did not mean to either those Baptists that championed it, or to the founders of our nation, who included it in the Bill of Rights (not in the letter of the phrase but in the spirit of the amendment) that Christianity and Christian faith had no place in the hearts of the state’s leaders. The Baptists petitioned, lobbied and sought to influence those leading in our nation and the leaders were, almost to a man, practicing Christians of one denomination or another.

To my listeners

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

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What About Separation of Church and State?

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1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Vain Faith

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (KJV)
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

There are always those who read into the Bible their own ideas, so there are those who read into here that a person can lose salvation once received. This is impossible since Jesus said, “no man is able to pluck them out of my hand.”[1]

So what does this mean?
It is possible that a person believes the historical facts about Jesus but doesn’t possess saving faith in Jesus.
I was of that sort for many of my younger years. I would never have thought to question the historical narrative of the life death and resurrection of Christ. I am confident that I would have argued in support of them. But I was not a Christian and when pressed about it, I knew it.

Some have a profession of faith but it is false.
There is, as far as I can see, only one way for an outsider to know if a person’s profession of faith is false or real, time. Sooner or later the false professor will return to the old wallow. The flesh will not be able to keep up a walk with God forever. There are Christians who backslide but the difference is that God will not allow them to continue in that state. They will get under conviction, be chastened by the Lord and either repent or be taken early to heaven. The false professor can happily roll around in his old wallow the rest of his life.

There is no such thing as losing eternal life or it was never eternal. But there is such a thing as a false professor. For that reason Apostle Paul includes this exception; they were saved, if they keep the gospel. Otherwise they are merely false professors or believers in the facts and not in saving faith.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Vain Faith

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[1] John 10:27-29 (KJV)
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

2 Chronicles 2:6 Come to Church

2 Chronicles 2:6 (KJV)
But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?

The temple Solomon desired to build was meant to represent the greatness of God but not to contain it. It was a representative for the sake of man and not God. God did not need it nor could He truly dwell in it. Man, on the other hand, needs somewhere to make his conscious and purposeful worship toward God. That place should rightfully command the respect we have for God.

It is with fair regularity I meet up with someone who has abandoned (or never embraced in the first place) the practice of regular organized “religion”. They claim they worship God at a lake or in the mountains and that God does not need churches. It is true that God is everywhere and could be worshipped anywhere. But honestly, does anybody really do it? On top of that it was Jesus, not the apostles, who said He would build His church.

God does not need a church building. But He does expect Christians to assemble there.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

2 Chronicles 2:6 Come to Church

1 Chronicles 17:24 (KJV) God is Even…

1 Chronicles 17:24 (KJV)
Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.

The distinction between the Lord of hosts being “the God of Israel” and “a God to Israel” is worthy of consideration.

The God of Israel
This is a fact but wouldn’t have to be much more than a mascot type relationship. Israel identified with the Lord of hosts. He was there God as opposed to, say Ra in Egypt or Molech or another of the gods made in the imaginations of men. Israel’s identification with the Lord of hosts is on target. David said He is more than that.

A God to Israel
This goes beyond identification to action. In the one case we could say that Israel identified with the Lord of hosts. In this case we can say that the Lord of hosts identified with Israel. In the one case we have David’s desire to do something for the Lord of hosts. In this case we have the Lord of hosts designing to do something for the family of David.

It’s one thing to claim Christ. It is quite another to be claimed by Christ.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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1 Chronicles 17:24 (KJV) God is Even…

1 Chronicles 15:13 (KJV) We Have to Do Things Right

1 Chronicles 15:13 (KJV)
For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.

There are three characters at play in this passage:

David
By whose authority the ark was carried “not after due order“.

The priests
Who should have carried the ark, but did not. One can only wonder if they had warned David beforehand of his error?

God
Who made the breach upon Israel by striking Uzza down.

A breach is a hole in the defense of a military force. By working hand in hand and side by side, soldiers create a human wall that the enemy cannot penetrate. When a man goes down a hole is created, a weakness the enemy can exploit. The loss of the man opens a door for much greater loss.

The importance then is not that Uzza died, although that is important. The real importance is that, because they did not seek God after due order, a breach was created that could have devastated Israel.

When a congregation turns from the faith and begins seeking God some other way and “not after due order” the danger is not that we have lost that church. The greater danger is that it creates a breach and opens the way for the devastation of all that is the Gospel.

Someone must sound the warning to those stepping out of formation. Their fall has the potential for leading a to a greater fall than any of us can imagine.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

1 Chronicles 15:13 (KJV) We Have to Do Things Right

Acts 2:1-2 (KJV) How to Be Filled with the Holy Ghost

Acts 2:1-2 (KJV)
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

I am convinced by Acts 1:8 that the power received at Pentecost was not the ability to speak in tongues but to be witnesses unto the uttermost part of the world. I notice that this promised gift was received while they were:

All in one place
Here is the value of faithful church attendance. Christians ought to be at church when there is church.

All with one accord
No bickering envying or bitterness among them.

All sitting
There was order in their services. I can just hear a Pentecostal right now saying that this was before they were all filled. That, the Pentecostal would believe, gives permission for their wild dancing and loud, hyperactive services as they would imply these are evidences of their being filled with the Spirit.

I suggest the opposite is true. I suggest that, in order to have the blessing of filling and witnessing power from the Holy Spirit that there has to be:

Quiet
Orderly and
Purposeful

worship and understanding of the Bible.

Too much preaching today is nothing but a pep talk in the churches and too little preaching is actual understanding of the Word of God. Therefore too much that is called Christianity is filled with the emotionally charged spirit of man and too little is filled with the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

Acts 2:1-2 (KJV) How to Be Filled with the Holy Ghost

Acts 1:5 (KJV) True Baptism is Water Baptism

Acts 1:5 (KJV)
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

Jesus said, “John truly baptized with water“. The adjective is an affirmation of the act of water baptism. Far from setting aside the water baptism, which began with John the Baptist, Jesus affirmed it to be true baptism.

The baptism with the Spirit, which is obviously a reference to the promise of the Father from verse four, is set as a comparison to true baptism; there is true baptism, which is by water from one with authority, and there is the promise of the Father which, like water baptism but not replacing it, immerses the receiver with the Holy Spirit.

Baptism is with water. The filling with the Spirit is a similar event but

Separate
Unique and
In no way replacing

water baptism.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

Acts 1:5 (KJV) True Baptism is Water Baptism

Luke 5:39 (KJV) Embracing the Old Promises

Luke 5:39 (KJV)
No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

I read three writers who give two opposing interpretations and applications of this passage.
The one says that older wine is sweeter and mellower so it would be ridiculous to ask someone who knows the difference to drink new wine.
This writer claims that the Pharisees represent the new wine and Christ represents the old.

The other two see the Law as the old wine and claim that is representative of the old sinful nature, which is not going to gravitate to new; unproven and bitter flavor of spiritual life with Christ.
It is, according to this interpretation, unreasonable to ask a man who is settled in his ways to trust Christ hastily.

I lean toward the former. Christ came far before the Pharisees. His disciples had not embraced the new but the old promises of God from the beginning.

We aren’t looking for the new. We are looking for the oldest of all, faith in Christ from the foundation of the world.

To my reader:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

Luke 5:39 (KJV) Embracing the Old Promises

Mark 13:21-23 (KJV) Why True Believers Can’t Be Fooled

Mark 13:21-23 (KJV)
And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:
For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

It is not possible to deceive the elect on three counts:
First, they have been warned
The element of surprise has been robbed the devil. Jesus has warned us that Satan will try to deceive.

Secondly; they have a choice in the matter
True believers can never fall victim to the devil’s devices. They have the power of the Holy Spirit and the will to follow the Lord.

Thirdly, they are the elect
That means they belong to God. Satan may desire to sift them but he cannot overcome the prayers of Christ fort them.

To my reader:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

Mark 13:21-23 (KJV) Why True Believers Can’t Be Fooled

1 Kings 13:9-10 (KJV) God Has Not Now Approved Compromise

1 Kings 13:9-10 (KJV)
For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.

The tragic and perhaps not so subtle lesson of this passage is that company with compromised faith is as dangerous as company with overt rebellion.

The prophet was charged with a task and some very specific instructions. He was to go to Bethel, deliver his message to Jeroboam, and return without eating bread or even drinking water in the northern kingdom.

He obeyed that command when tempted by Jeroboam
He did not when tempted by the old prophet

Why he would have thought that God would change his word through this prophet it is impossible to tell but we do know that many give in to this same temptation today:

A preacher with a skilled presentation
A preacher with a successful organization
A preacher with a scholarly credential

And many a young believer has been led to believe that God has somehow now approved compromise.

God changes not.

Find God’s truth and stand firm.

To my reader:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.