If A Man Say

“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20).

True love has God and man intermixed. They are inseparable. Love is rooted in God and made manifest in our relationships with our fellow man.

God is not a singular entity. He is multifaceted. To love God is to love all aspects that is God. Man in particular who was made in the image of God is but just one facet of the Creator. To love God is to love all of His creation which is all of His known being.

Too many people think of God as a person. They think of God as a singular entity when in fact God is in everything and is everything.

It is impossible to love God and to hate man. Man is an extension of God. More than likely it is the sin in the imperfect man that causes the disdain. But God loves us unconditionally so we should do the same with our fellow man. We were made in the image of God. We are to be God like. Love is the demonstration of that God attribute.

Bill Hitchcock

Hopefully this isn’t too heavy for a Monday morning.

"God preordained a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation." - John Calvin

"The elect are whosoever will, and the non-elect, whosoever won't." - Henry Ward Beecher

It is God who moves upon the spirit of man that influences him in his decision. Do you really believe in free will? Do you really believe that God would leave anything to chance or in the charge of fallen, carnal man? What utter chaos would result if He did?

Man has free will to the extent that he is free to act as he sees fit. But it is God who moves upon the spirit of man and influences his state of being. It is God’s spirit acting upon our spirit that tunes us in to His will and wishes.

“Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” (Psalm 17:4-5)

Bill Hitchcock

Global Warming To Set Off Ice Apocalypse?

Well this is certainly covering all of your bases.  Global warming is said to set off an ice apocalypse.

“Liberal writer and climate scientist Eric Holthaus claimed manmade global warming would set off the “ice apocalypse” at a pace “too quickly for humanity to adapt.” H/T The Daily Caller

Here is the only climate change phenomenon that will happen “too quickly for humanity to adapt”. It’s going to be global warming alright.

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (2 Peter 3:10)

Bill Hitchcock

Use and Expand

I was thinking of our coast and commercial fishing when I wrote the following, although the application is universal.

“We are to make use of, but never spoil or destroy. Maintaining is playing catch up, staving off an impending demise. We are to enjoy and benefit as we improve and expand.” – Me.

And here is the end result: “For he that leaves as much as another can make use of, does as good as take nothing at all” from John Locke’s, “Two Treatises of Government”, first published December, 1689.

Bill Hitchcock

Constantly Amazed

I am constantly amazed by those who have made their decisions about God, heaven, what is good and bad, sin and righteousness by those who have never read the Bible cover to cover. Is the Bible “required” reading to become a Christian? No, of course not. Besides, requirements are usually a product of man’s religion, not be some Divine edict.

God made it simple with 10 commandments. Jesus stressed the “first commandment”, which was actually a composition of three things. The Apostle Paul made salvation a matter of heart and confession.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say we must read the Bible cover to cover to be saved.

But the Bible, like Jesus and salvation or Satan and sin, is a choice. Your choices define your path. Your path brings you to your destination. God has chosen you and your path. But it isn’t automatic, you must choose.

So, are you going to build your pathway with the righteous gold bricks of God’s word? That’s with all of His word. Or are you going to set your course with the broken branches of bramble that are your thoughts, opinion, and man’s philosophy and sprinkled it with a few golden pebbles of truth here and there?

It’s your choice. Just understand that depending on what you choose will determine where you arrive, heaven or hell.

I am also amazed by those who are angry at the United States and want to change, or rather overthrow our government, who have not read the constitution, declaration of Independence and with virtually, if not literally, zero knowledge of US or world history.

The most belligerent and misguided of our citizens tend to be those that are History and Bible illiterate. Or, they have had somewhat of a deep exposure, just not a very wide one.

Bill Hitchcock

Liberty

Liberty is not a license, but rather an inherent gift of God’s grace. Liberty is mutual amongst all men. You can’t legislate liberty. It ‘is” and “is” naturally. Liberty exists independent of man. Man, the instrument of sin, attempts to control, dictate and parcel it out. You can’t regulate liberty but you can (and must) regulate man. Any attempted infringement upon liberty generates chaos. Liberty is not a license, permission or right. It is every bit the nature and characteristic of God as righteousness or love are.

Bill Hitchcock

For judgment I am come

"And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." (John 9:39)

Jesus’s judgement was not an order of condemnation (See John 3:17 & John 12:44-50), but rather to awaken the saint to sin.

The judgment was the righteousness of Jesus alongside the sin of man and man’s resulting awareness of the difference between the two. Jesus was the light of day that shone on the darkness of sin. Man needed Jesus to be able to see. Once sight was restored to man, sin and salvation became a choice. 

The saints chose salvation. The reprobate chose sin.

Bill Hitchcock

How To Defeat Fascism

Dear Antifa-Do you know what the best way to defeat fascism is? Be an American. Believe in God and His word. Support and defend the constitution. 

Understand and live the Declaration of Independence. Focus particularly on the second paragraph. You know, the one that says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

Support and participate in capitalism and the free enterprise system. Vote! Engage in debate, not as a precursor for physical violence. But discuss, exchange ideas, understand. Think! Lead with your intellect, not with your anger.

Don’t think only in bits and pieces and the here and now. Pay attention. Look 360 degrees. Know history.

Understand that government is a function of God. Government is a divine grace when God is the authority. It is Hell on earth when man thinks he is the ultimate sovereign.

Principles and morals are not relative. They do not bend and cannot be exchanged or changed at will or convenience. Principles and morals are guideposts of truth, not stepping stones to personal gain and profit.

Finally, love. It is God’s greatest command. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. This last one is the toughest. We live in a selfie society where it is all about me. In God’s order of things, me is number three, not number one.

Do these things and fascism will never be a threat.

Bill Hitchcock

Why Do The Heathen Rage

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” (Psalm 2:1)

Why is the nation in a tumult? Why are the people conspiring and contemplating some fruitless thing? This was the reaction of the unbelieving Jewish people over the arrival of Jesus Christ. It was an entire nation, a peoples, a religion in complete upheaval, not joy, over the arrival of the Messiah.

The heathen still rages today. Except now, the heathen is not identified by any particular religion, nation or people. The heathen knows no specific culture or locale. The heathen is defined by a more contemporary standard of being without the trinity, without the one true God, His Son and Holy Ghost. The heathen is not only without, but in denial and often revolt over the truth.

“Never were the notions of any sect of philosophers, though ever so absurd, nor the powers of any prince or state, though ever so tyrannical, opposed with so much violence as the doctrine and government of Christ--a sign that it was from heaven, for the opposition was plainly from hell originally.” – Matthew Henry

But the question still begs to be answered. Why are the people imagining a vain thing?

“The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” (Psalm 2:2-3).

We know that the “gates of hell shall not prevail against” (Matthew 16:18) Jesus Christ, His spirit and His church. So why does the heathen continue to rage and the people, 2,000 years later, continue to imagine a vain thing?

“When the ungodly have mustered their forces, and when, depending on their vast numbers, their riches, and their means of defense, they not only pour forth their proud blasphemies, but furiously assault heaven itself, we may safely laugh them to scorn, relying on this one consideration, that he whom they are assailing is the God who is in heaven. When we see Christ well nigh overwhelmed with the number and strength of his enemies, let us remember that they are making war against God over whom they shall not prevail, and therefore their attempts, whatever they may be, and however increasing, will come to naught, and be utterly ineffectual.” – John Calvin

Humility

“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:5-6)

The further away someone is from God, the more difficult this passage becomes. It deals with humility and submission, two things carnal man so ardently resists and is his main “dysfunction” with the one infinitely Supreme God.

“submit yourselves unto the elder”. This is a voluntary act of yielding will and authority.

“Submit” and “subject” are derived from the same Greek word, “hypotasso”. It means to subordinate to another.

“…be clothed with humility”. The word “clothed” means to knot or tie two things together. Slaves would tie a white scarf to their belt to designate themself as a bondmen. Likewise, humility is the Christian scarf of subornation to their fellow Christian.

“for God resisteth the proud”. “Resisteth” really does not convey the strength or magnitude of the message. The word comes from the Greek, “antitasso” and means to battle against. In other words, God battles against the proud. It is not a position poised for victory in any sense.

“and giveth grace to the humble.” Grace, that unmerited favor of unlimited Godliness.

“…under the mighty hand of God”. All things are by the help or agency of God. A humble person will know and understand this and will accredit himself of naught.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

“…that he may exalt you in due time.” Due time, is God’s perfect time and timing.

There is an interesting and somewhat confusing verse in the Book of Acts. “And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done” (Acts 21:14).

Why would anyone cease to say the Lord’s will be done? Simple. A truly humble spirit knows that under all situations and circumstances that God’s will is and shall be done. Neither we nor any other power, force, principality, creation, or entity can alter, stop, or affect God’s will.

Bill Hitchcock