ARE THERE TOO MANY AMERICANS?

Genesis 9:7 "As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

The U.S. population surpassed 300,000,000 this week according to government estimates. (click here) This milestone came with the expected calls for reducing population growth as if the world is over crowded.

But is the world overpopulated? Are there too many people on earth to sustain human life? In 1970 at the very first Earth Day, Paul Ehrlich's 1968 bestseller, The Population Bomb, was quoted again and again. In his book, Ehrlich predicted that over population would lead to world famine, the death of the oceans, a reduction in life expectancy to 42 years, and Midwest would be turned into a vast desert by 1985. Opps!

When will the earth be full? They call that carrying capacity. Some say we are already over populated. Others say we are not even close. Let me just share this fact. There are 6 billion people living on planet earth. If they stood side by side they could fit inside the city limits of Jacksonville, Florida, which has an area of 25,000,000,000 square feet! Take 25,000,000,000, divided by 6,000,000,000, you get 4.16 square feet per person! The world is much bigger than Jacksonville, so overcrowding can't be a problem! If one only leaves the big city and travels out through the Western United States you will realize there are million upon million of acres unsettled land in this world.

Environmental wackos who worship the earth and don't value human life use the overpopulation myth to hinder their agenda to stop industrial development and kill human babies. The Bible teaches stewardship of earths resources. The earth is here for man's use but he needs to conserve resources so the are replenished. We are to use it but also take care of it and not abuse it. That is the Bible teaching.

However, radical nature worshipers would kill humans before the harm a tree. They believe the overpopulation myth used to justify murder. They would kill a baby (46 Million of them) in it's mothers womb before they killed a cow to eat. We murder babies based on the lie of the overpopulation myth. At least those who believe the myth are not reproducing.

Learn how the UN predicts an end to population growth by the year 2200. Click here

Some good articles on Shepherds

I have been studying about church leadership for quite a while and about the roles of Biblical Elders who are also called, "Shepherds." Here are some resources for your own study on this topic.

There is an article in this months Christian Standard called Shepherds Don't Do That. We have a few posts on the scripturist on this topic such as When Sheep Follow Sheep , a Job Description for Shepherds of the Church and a review of the book They Smell Like Sheep.

Church leadership is an important topic. How can we fulfill the mission of Christ if we don't understand and implement the pattern he gave us for church leadership?

Marriage No Longer Honored

Today I read an article called For first time, unmarried households reign in US. As we drift away from our Biblical foundations the social structure of our country continues to erode. The article says, "A new survey has shown that traditional marriage has ceased to be the preferred living arrangement in the majority of US households." As a child of divorce that breaks my heart for so many kids.

Another fact I saw recently said that 1/3 of children born in American are born out of wedlock. Marriage is not honored by most Americans. Couples live together. Families made up of unwed couples are more prone to violence. When they do marry they are more likely to divorce.

Fornication abounds. Married couples divorce. Adultery is common. Covenants are not honored. The children of these broken homes are the ones hurt most. Too many innocent kids are paying the price for their parent’s selfishness.

The Bible says, "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." (Hebrews 13:4) God designed family to be the foundation of a civil society. It was designed to be that from the beginning.

When Jesus taught on marriage he appealed to the way marriage was intended to be from the beginning of time. Matthew 19:3-9 says "Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?" "Haven’t you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."

We need to honor marriage by returning to God's standards for marriage and our laws should reflect that. Our society will stand or fall based upon our values, the strength of our families and our faith. If we can't keep our deepest commitments to family how can we be trusted to keep any commitments? And how can a society exist without trust, fidelity and honoring our most basic cherished institution... Family.

Read more Click Here

WHY ALL THIS BAD STUFF?

How Does This Happen? Click on the Pic.

Why is this Ferrari cut in half? Is this Ferrari's fault? You'd think for all that money they'd know how to make a nice car. Oh wait. "It was a nice car", you say. Well then why does it look like this? Oh "it's not Ferrari's fault", you say. "They built a nice car but some crack head got drunk, drove it into a truck and hit a guard rail.? The problem was not that the car was not good, it's just the driver had the "free will" to choose to drive drunk and wrecked the car.

That is kind of like sickness, death, crime or say AIDS. It's not that God created a bad world. Sickness, death and suffering are not a sign of no God. They are evidence that God has given us freewill to choose good or evil and we have to deal with the consequences of those choices. Aids is not God's punishment on sexual sin any more than wrecking your car and dying are God's punishment on Drunk drivers. It's just the natural consequence of evil behavior. The pentalty of thier sin is to recieve the natural consquences. I get it.

If you do drugs it will destroy your health. Smoke and you'll probably get lung cancer. Drink and Drive and you'll probably wreck. Be sexually immoral and you'll get some funky disease. Sin brings death. And because Jesus loves us so much he died in our place to free us from the consequences of our selfish and evil behavior. The pentalty of sin is death. The gift of Jesus is eternal life.

Romans 1:27 "In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

If you take Cyanide and die don't blame God. It's the result of your actions. If mankind sins and brings death in the world, we can't blame God for what we chose to do. It's not like he didn't warn us.

Want to know more? Click here to learn about the riddle of Epicurus.

Project Romans (1:1)

Romans 1:1 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God”

In 21st century America, we end our letters with the name of the individual who wrote it. In 1st century Rome, they would begin their letters with the name of the author of the letter. This letter to the Roman Christians was written by the Apostle Paul.

Apostle means a person sent by another, a messenger, or envoy. Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus. To be an apostle was to be sent by someone. Paul was not sent by men; rather Paul was an apostle of Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2 Corinthians 1:1, and Galatians 1:1) It was Jesus who called Paul and sent him out to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. (see Acts 22:21, Galatians 2:7, 1 Timothy 2:7, 2 Timothy 1:11)

To be an apostle of Jesus Christ you had to have witnessed his life, death and resurrection. (Acts 1:21-22) There were signs that accompanied an apostle to prove that they were from God. (2 Corinthians 12:12) Apostles were a gift given to the church by Christ. (Ephesians 4:11)

Paul's letters are Scripture. (2 Peter 3:15-16) These writings of Paul are directed by the will of the Holy Spirit not the will of Paul. (2 Peter 1:20-21) Therefore, if you have the Holy Spirit you will be in agreement with the teachings of Paul. (1 Corinthians 14:37-38) He taught the same thing everywhere in every church. His doctrine did not change from place to place. (1 Corinthians 4:17) And we are commanded to imitate him as he imitated Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 11:1-2). And we are commanded to follow the doctrine Paul taught (2 Thessalonians 2:15) and hold to the pattern of teaching he proclaimed. (Philippians 3:17, 2 Timothy 1:13)

As we study Romans together, we should remember that what Paul writes is from God. And we should also remember its good news. Gospel means good news. And Paul was sent to preach the gospel. If you would like to know what the good news that God sent Paul to preach was, then click here.

THE SCRIPTURIST.COM IS THE BOMB

BY MY SPIRIT SAYS THE LORD

Zechariah 4:6 says, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”

God was speaking through Zechariah to let Zerubbabel know that it was not human might or power that would make the temple which they were building great. It was the Spirit of God which would glorify the temple he was building. Solomon’s temple was build with opulent decorations with the greatest human skill and an immense budget. Solomon’s temple was larger, grander, and decorated with more gold and silver than the one build in Zechariah and Zerubbabel's day. Their temple seemed small and weak compared to Solomon’s. But God was saying that it was not human might or power that would complete and glorify this temple, it was His spirit.

What do you trust in? What impresses you? What causes you to “believe” in something? Do you trust in large buildings, large offerings, large attendance or lavish surroundings? What draws your faith? Human wisdom? Human manpower? Human success?

Look at what the scriptures teach again and again about where we should place our trust.

Psalms 20:7 “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”

Psalms 33:16 “No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.”

Psalms 44:3 “It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.”

Psalms 44:6-7 “I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame.”

2 Chronicles 14:11 “Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you."

2 Chronicles 32:7-8 "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.”

Hosea 1:7 “Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them— not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God."

The New Testament confirms the same truth. We don’t operate by mans wisdom but by faith in God. We don’t operate based on human power or strength but on God’s power. We don’t fight like the world does. We don’t use their weapons. Our weapons are not money, power, human persuasion or public opinion. We operate on a spiritual level. We are focused in our minds on another dimension. We are empowered with divine power to demolish false arguments and lies which oppose the truth. We take captive thoughts and make disciples of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:5 “So that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”

2 Corinthians 10:4 -5 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

The temple of Zechariah and Zerubbabel’s day was more powerful because this was the temple Jesus came to visit as prophesied. Solomon’s temple was destroyed without ever being visited by the Messiah. However, the temple built by Zechariah and Zerubbabel was the temple Jesus cleansed, taught in, and preached from. It was glorified not by human might or human power but by the Spirit of the Lord.

What makes a temple great? What makes a nation great? What makes a church great? What makes a person great? It’s not human wisdom, might or power. It’s not the size, strength, power, or prestige. It’s not the wealth, outward beauty nor decorations. It’s the presence of the Spirit of God!

Read more click here

Sorry for any inconvenience...

I want to apologize to all the hardcore scripturist readers who have been complaining about the low number of posts over the past several months. What can I say? I have a life. Other things have taken priority. I am hoping to be back to daily posts again soon. Sorry for this inconvenience to your reading pleasure.

For now, let me ask why does billionaire George Soros want to know if and when any Christians visited the White House.... Read more click here. Why is he wanting to know when and how often Christians visit the White House?