Man's Goings

“Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24).

We are foreknown, chosen, predestinated and called, all in accordance with God's will! Who says that? The word of God says that!

- "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." (Romans 8:29-30)

- "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." (Ephesians 1:5)

- "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." (Ephesians 1:11)

Bill Hitchcock

Never Socialist

“Tonight. We renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”

- President Trump, State of the Union Address, 2/5/19

The chamber erupted with both House and Senate members chanting, “USA!”, “USA!”, “USA!”

If any of the above bothers you, then I believe we’ve isolated the problem.

If there is anything you don’t understand or possibly angers you, I’d be happy to discuss it.

This isn’t about being right or wrong. That’s modern day politics.  This is about foundational principles and human rights. It is about liberty, freedom and justice for all.

- Bill Hitchcock

Repentance Doesn't Exist With The Social Justice Warriors

There is something that’s been happening that has me quite disturbed. The Social Justice Warriors (Warriors) are on a witch hunt. In their world of unhappiness and fault finding these folks are diving into the past to find fault with people, places and things. For example, the Virginia Democratic Governor Ralph Northam appeared in a 1984 school yearbook page alongside someone in blackface and another in a KKK white robe and pointy hat. It is being said that the Governor may be one of the guys in either costume.

Here’s the thing that has me disturbed. Even if the Governor was guilty back in the 80’s of the indiscretions he is accused of doing, the Social Justice Warriors never leave room for change and repentance. They have automatically assumed that the man from 1984 is the same man in 2019. These Warriors wrongfully assume that he has not seen the error of his ways and changed.

I am so glad that God doesn’t operate that way. We are all sinners. Everyone is guilty. We would all be convicted and dead if we didn’t have the opportunity to see the error of our ways, repent and change.

Can you imagine how horrible it would be for the Virginia Governor to be washed clean through the blood of Jesus Christ only to have the world resurrect your past sin and put it on display for all to see?

Don’t get me wrong about the Governor. I have no idea where his heart is today, or even where it was back then for that matter. But the Social Justice Warriors, the Racist, the politically and agenda motivated leave no room for repentance or change. They assume and convict without fact or knowledge. That in of itself is a sin.

And no, I am not a Democrat or some Leftist. In fact, politically I make Jesse Helms look like a flaming liberal and theologically I would make John Calvin appear to be a preacher from the Church of what’s happening now. So I have no motivation other than the disturbing fact that these Warriors are reaching far into the past and convicting folks without any knowledge of who that person is today. They have no care or concept for the repentant heart, the humbled soul, and regretful spirit.

The silliness of these Warriors has no bounds. A columnist from the New York Times recently wrote a piece about how Mary Poppins from the 1960’s movie of the same name is a racist because she and some chimney sweeps actually had coal dust on their faces from cleaning the insides of coal burning chimneys.

People do change, some for the better and some for the worst. It is wrong to automatically assume that a person never changes for the good, or for the worst. It is only right to forgive those who are of a truly repentant heart. It’s a sin otherwise.

“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-22).

It is a disturbing thought what these Social Justice Warriors are doing. 1. They are reaching back into history as far as they can. 2. They find a “sin” of which the Warrior determines the nature and severity of that sin. 3. They assume that no change has taken place. Repentance doesn’t exist in the world of the Social Justice Warrior.

Bill Hitchcock

But God Be Thanked

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17).

In the past we were all servants of sin. Without God (and usually unaware of it) our lives were steered by self serving needs and lusts. The doctrine and designs of those without God are rooted in gratification. It is carnality at its most primitive level, curbing appetites only to stay within civil law and some self established moral standard. Striving to be independent and self-sufficient, not realizing we were nothing more than servants of sin.

“but ye have obeyed from the heart”. This is the difference between two people. Both do the same thing. Both go to church, tithe, read the Bible and help other people the best they can. One person does it out of obligation, from a code of justice and principle, some cosmic scale of weights and balances. This person believes that if they do enough good things and enough righteous things then the scales will tip in their favor and will gain entrance into heaven. Their deeds have a purpose and it is to secure their place in the kingdom of God. This is a stressed out person because they will never know exactly how much good is good enough to get into heaven. How much good is required to tip the scales? And human nature being what it is, if there was a certain amount of good to counter balance the bad, then the minimum amount of good would be done to get into heaven. After all, why keep exerting the effort to do good if you don’t have to, right?

The other person is obedient to God from the heart, their very spirit. They do because they want to do for God. Their reward is the expression of love and compassion for his fellow man and in pleasing God the Father.

Obedience is not a matter of will or calculation. It is a natural outflow from our being. This all comes about when the Spirit of God quickens our spirit. We become aware of the Holy Ghost and the love that God has for us. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This love generates our desire to do for God and for His creation. We understand that, “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:11).

The Holy Ghost is the gift from God as a result of Christ and the price he paid on the cross. To be filled with the spirit of Christ is to know that He paid the ultimate price for all of our sins. Christ did it, it is done. We just have to accept him as our Savior.

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

The children of God have the spirit of Christ in them. They responded to the spirit when it quickened them. It is this spirit that, “beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).

To receive the Holy Ghost, the spirit of Jesus Christ, of truth and of comfort is a simple matter of asking. If we believe in Jesus Christ and ask him and his spirit into our heart and mean it with all of our heart, mind, body and soul then he will enter.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

Won’t you ask Christ and His spirit into your heart?

Bill Hitchcock
013115

When Does Life Begin? The Biblical Answer

There really is no adequate way to describe how fantastic what you’re about to read truly is. Tucked away in Psalm 139 are two verses that are just inconceivably written. If not for God, there is no explanation of how anyone could know the inner workings and mechanics of an embryo and a baby in the mother’s womb. But this Psalm demonstrates that God does. When does life begin and what part does God have in it all? You’re about to find out.

Psalm 139: 15) “My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.”

My substance was not hid from thee. My bones to which my strength is built upon are evident to you Lord as you fashioned me within the mother’s womb.

“Curiously wrought” or the Hebrew, “raqam“, literally means embroidered or needlework. It brings to mind imagery of God weaving and stitching our bones and body together into an intricate fabric as perfect and beautiful as it is particular and unique.

To highlight the great significance of the phrase “Curiously wrought” or “raqam“, as it is being used to describe God making a baby, the only other time raqam is ever used in the Bible is when the Lord is speaking to Moses on how to make the Tabernacle of the Congregation (God’s portable residence), The Holy of Holies (The tabernacles inner sanctum) or the Holy clothes to be worn by the High Priest Aaron. The one exception is here, when the Psalmist is describing God creating a child in the mother’s womb.

“The lower parts of the earth” is Hebraism, a poetic way of saying within the mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:16) “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect.” God saw us and knew us when we were nothing more than an embryo. Not shaped or formed and as of yet, unknown to the world. But God already knew us.

“My substance, yet being unperfect” comes from the single word, “golem”. It literally means unformed matter that is rolled up into a ball, or by definition, an embryo.

The term used of God creating a child is a term that is reserved solely for God’s most Holy of holiest creations. The Bible describes God seeing and knowing us when we are just an embryo and then writing our names in the Book of Life.

“Seeing that thou didst know me before I was composed of either flesh or bone, much more now must thou know me when thou hast fashioned me,” commentary from the 1599 Geneva Bible.

God knew us before we were even conceived of matter.

Dear abortionists. You are killing what God has created and already claimed as His. You may be destroying God’s precious needlework, but the name of the child has already been written in the Book of Life and its soul will live on forever.

Bill Hitchcock

Your Voice Comes From Your Spirit

You know, it doesn’t really matter what you say or how you intellectualize it. Your voice is coming from your spirit, not your head. Oh, your brain justifies what is coming out of your mouth. But the source is your spirit.

Jesus said, “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34).
The heart (Spirit) is where your convictions originate. The mouth is the final destination. But the path of your convictions passes through the brain along the way.

Your principles, precepts and beliefs come from your spirit. The brain simply justifies that spirit.

With that being said, beware of two things.
1) Be in tune to the spirit of the person you are with. The spirit is the rudder that will guide the ship. Watch where they go.
2) Now here’s a biggy. A spiritually deficient person may be an intellectual superior. Do not engage.
“Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall” (Proverbs 4:14-16).

And finally, although the spirit goes from the heart, through the brain to the mouth. The opposite happens too. What is said can reach down to our very spirit.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8)

As Christians, we are to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14)

God’s word quickens the spirit and invigorates the soul. The mind justifies through the word of God and not by the philosophy of man or his “vain jangling”.

The power of God’s word is in our faith in that word. That faith comes from our awakened spirit. The spiritually deficient or dead have no such quickening or faith, only intellect.

One final thought about intellect
“Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24).

The word “seek” from the passage above comes from the Greek word “zeteo”. It means to think or to reason.

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
Those void of the spirit of God but full of intellect and philosophy will not be able to enter the strait gate.

Bill Hitchcock

Overtaken In A Fault

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:1-2)

“Discernment is God's call to intercession, never to faultfinding.” - Corrie Ten Boom

Discernment is the ability to perceive, recognize, and distinguish God’s word and way in contrast with that of the worlds. This God given ability of discernment is intended for us to use with others when we see them burdened and weighted with unrighteousness.

Not everyone can or should intercede with others. The Apostle Paul clarifies and defines that discernment and intercession belong to, “ye which are spiritual”. There are a couple of things to keep in mind as to who the “spiritual” is. Paul isn’t talking about those who claim to be “spiritual” and “one with the universe”.

When Paul speaks of “spiritual” he is referring to those who are in the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of Christ is in them. Anything that is truly of this spirit is true, righteous, and eternal. The temporal is temporary and of this earth and will surely perish.

Paul and Corrie Ten Boom are both telling the Christian of their responsibility and obligation to discern righteousness from unrighteousness and to help “restore”, or bring the righteous back to righteousness after a fall. Corrie addresses the carnal side of the Christian by saying do not use this ability to find fault in the fallen (See Matthew 7:1-5). Paul warns that we need to be careful not to fall for the same sins our Christian brother or sister did.

There is a difference between discernment and judgment. Discernment is as we defined it earlier, a recognizing and detecting righteousness from unrighteousness. Judgement does this as well but adds the element of administering condemnation and punishment. The latter is strictly in God’s domain.

Discernment is a Christian responsibility. It is up to us to recognize “if a man be overtaken in a fault”. 

We are to make aware of the sin of a brother in love and, “never to faultfinding”. The Christian in a right relationship with Christ should respond positively to this. After-all, this is an act of love. The reason why anyone would want to restore another is to save them from death and destruction. You don’t want them hurt or to dead.  

Bill Hitchcock