What is the Social Gospel?

The phrase “social gospel” is usually used to describe a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that came to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Those who adhered to a social gospel sought to apply Christian ethics to social problems such as poverty, slums, poor nutrition and education, alcoholism, crime and war. These things were emphasized while the doctrines of sin, salvation, heaven and hell, and the future kingdom of God were downplayed. Theologically, the Social Gospel leaders were overwhelmingly postmillennialist, asserting that Christ’s Second Coming could not happen until humankind rid itself of social evils by human effort.

For a Christian perspective on the idea of a social gospel, we need to look to Jesus, who lived in one of history's most corrupt societies. Jesus never issued any call for political change, not even by peaceful means. He did not come to earth to be a political or social reformer. The gospel Jesus preached did not have to do with social reform or social justice or political change. Rather than attempt to change governments and institutions, which are made up of people, Jesus came to change people's hearts and point them to God's kingdom. He preached the saving power of the gospel and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, Jesus showed deep compassion for the poor, the sick, the dispossessed and the outcasts of society. He healed them, but before taking care of their physical or emotional needs, he first took care of their spiritual needs. He was most concerned about the state of their souls and preached the gospel of repentance from sin through Him so they understood that their eternal destiny was far more important than their circumstances here on earth. Several of His parables conveyed this truth, including Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). The rich man, who had every possible social advantage, spent eternity in hell while Lazarus, the poorest of the poor with dire social needs, was comforted in heaven.

Social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality. The Bible supports social justice with regard to the plight of the poor and the afflicted, orphans and widows and people unable to support themselves. The nation of Israel was commanded by God to care for the less fortunate in society. Jesus told us to care for those who are hungry and thirsty, who are sick or in prison, the outcasts of society (Matthew 25:34-40).

Jesus reflected God's sense of justice by bringing the gospel message to the lower rungs of society. The wealthy also need to hear the gospel message, but it is noteworthy that the well-to-do, the upstanding and respected members of society are less likely to see their utter spiritual bankruptcy before God and embrace the message of the gospel.

Christians are under a personal obligation to love their neighbours as they love themselves (Matthew 22:39). We have a responsibility to be good stewards of our own wealth because all wealth comes from and belongs to God. Christians should take a God-centered approach to social justice, not a man-centered approach. We see Christ Jesus as our Saviour. When He returns, He will restore justice. In the meantime, Christians are to express God's love and justice by showing kindness in practical ways to those less fortunate.

by Author, Unknown

The Wide Road and The Narrow Road

Matthew 7:13-14 Go in by the narrow door; for wide is the door and open is the way which goes to destruction, and great numbers go in by it. For narrow is the door and hard the road to life, and only a small number make discovery of it. (BBE=Bible in Basic English)

The words we read above are not just the inspired writings of the Holy Spirit through Matthew (and they are such words), but they are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ speaking while on the earth as the God-Man. During a little over one full year, I drove 18-wheeler trucks over the road in this country. I found myself on all types of roads, from interstate highways to state highways and even rural roads. I found the roads that were wide to be the easiest to navigate and also they would always have the most traffic on them. However, the narrow roads were hard and difficult to navigate and I would always find little to no traffic on them. I can vividly remember one trip through Colorado where I encountered a very narrow road in the mountains that was very dangerous and hard to drive. I had to be attentive to every sharp turn and watch my gages constantly. I had to leave all other things as the radio, sightseeing, eating and drinking, etc. in order that I might fully concentrate on the narrow mountain road I was on to avoid disaster.  

Our Lord is telling us that many people will travel the wide spiritual road that appears to lead to eternal life, but it does not, while at the same time few people will find the narrow spiritual road to life in Him because it requires us to forsake all and follow Him. It is not enough for someone to tell you that you are a Christian, but it is more important for you to know it for yourself. Church membership, attendance, baptism, etc. can never give a soul the assurance of their eternal condition. I never met any of the following people below, but I found these quotes from them. I included these in this piece that my Lord Jesus told me to write because many well-meaning people want to see all people saved. I want to see all people saved. Most of all God wants to see all people saved. However, only through Jesus Christ can any person be saved.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (NKJV)

PETER KREEFT (professor of philosophy at Boston College): “We can and should investigate and learn from the wisdom in other religions” (Peter Kreeft Ecumenical Jihad p.79). “Allah is not another God...we worship the same God”(Peter Kreeft Ecumenical Jihad p.30). “The same God! The very same God we worship in Christ is the God the Jews-and the Muslims-worship.” (Ibid. p. 160)

ROBERT SCHULLER (Crystal Cathedral): “We know the things the major faiths can agree on. We try to focus on those without offending those with different viewpoints, or without compromising the integrity of my own Christian commitment” (USA Today, March 23, 1989.) “It's time for Protestants to go to the shepherd [Pope]. Schuller has stated “if he came back in 100 years and found his descendants Muslims, it wouldn't bother him....” (Robert Schuller, comments on the Papal visit, LA, 1987) "The Christ Spirit dwells in every human being, whether the person knows it or not." (Robert Schuller, Possibilities Magazine, Summer 1986, pg.12)

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (KJV)

You know while surfing the web, I came across the story of Carlton D. Pearson. It surprised me and saddened me all at the same time. He of course was at one time a highly respected and loved Pentecostal Preacher who stated that he received an epiphany from God that hell was not a place of eternal torment as he had been taught all of his life growing up in the Church. I could feel the pain and anguish in his words pouring out of his heart as he thought of his grandparents who were once faithful Pentecostal Pastors, but backslide into alcohol and a partying lifestyle and it made him mad with his grandparents and with God to think that they might be in hell. It is extremely difficult to remain here on the earth and not be sure if those you loved for so long and so much might not be with Jesus Christ, but instead confined to hell. I personally understand that grief and anguish of heart for those you loved so dearly. I often find myself wondering if some of my loved ones were truly born-again or not. However, I am confident that if they were born of the Spirit, it does not matter what took place at the end of their lives.

John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. (NKJV)

John 10 27-30 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." (NKJV)

Everyone that the Father draws to Jesus Christ will be with Him forever. However, I believe the first mistake in Mr. Pearson’s belief was that his grandparents lost their salvation because they backslide into sin. I believe one of the most tragic teachings in the Church, any Church, is to teach that a soul redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ can lose that redemption. However, this can and does happen easily when we falsely believe that we play some part in our salvation. If we have our own faith to put in Jesus Christ, then we can take that faith away or lose our faith and be eternally lost. But the Word of God does not teach this and this incorrect teaching is what pushed Mr. Pearson to see God as cruel and insensitive and thus opened him to seducing spirits to speak lies into his heart. Mr. Pearson now believes in Universalism. It is the teaching that everyone will ultimately end up in heaven no matter what they believe or how they live here on the earth. It is true that all religions believe that they will be with God after death, but the God of their observance is not the One True God Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Scripture, Old and New Testament. Universalism sadly is not true and it is not what our Lord Jesus Christ taught. 

2 Corinthians 11:3-4 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted --- you may well put up with it! (NKJV)

The seducing spirits come with another Jesus (a false Jesus) of demonic origin imitating the true Christ (empowered by the spirit of antichrist already in the world) and pervert the gospel by undermining the justice of the true Christ Jesus. The other Jesus wants the love of God to overrule the justice of God. They both are equal and one cannot and will not overrule the other. Therefore, I encourage those brothers and sisters of mine in Christ’s Body to never be ashamed of the true Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I also would like to warn every soul reading this that does not have the assurance in their heart of intimacy with Jesus Christ to seek Him with all your heart and He (Christ) will give you the greatest gift, Himself and you will know that you know. Jesus Christ is infinite love and complete justice and He will never force your will. I pray that every soul reading this on the wide road to come over to the narrow road.

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Temporary vs. Eternal

Mark 13: 1-2 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" And Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (NKJV)

The fact that I went to college and studied Civil Engineering for 4 years has given me an ability to appreciate great building designs. I often watch some of the huge homes show cased on HGTV. It amazes me the time, effort, and money people will put into something that they will have only a limited time to enjoy. We even see this in some of the huge Cathedrals of worship built in various places around the world, some have been around for many years and some just recently constructed.

The disciples wanted our Lord to share their fascination and awe of the great engineering designs they (the Jews) had constructed over the years. They even placed an emphasis on the manner or type of stones used in their designs. The buildings must have been absolute engineering marvels. Of course our Lord Jesus was able to see 70 years into the future and tell them of the destruction of those great buildings at the hands of an enemy army. It was not that He knew these buildings would be destroyed in 70 years, but He knows His plans to destroy this entire earth and everything in it upon His second coming.

2 Peter 3:10-13 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (NKJV)

When we look at the great things on this earth and even the many things we deemed to be so wonderful and great through the eyes of our Lord we will gain a true and proper perspective on them. Later on in Mark 13 our Lord said, “Take heed, watch, and pray for you do not know when the time is, in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping.” It is so easy to get caught up in the here and now (I am often guilty) and forget there is an eternity to spend. Let us be equally fervent in putting our time, effort, and money into seeing that those lost will hear the true gospel of Christ Jesus and that many headed for an eternity spent in hell will find the detour to heaven in our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that I am not found sleeping by my Lord. How about you?

Sincerely in Christ, Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

A Raging Storm

Isaiah 43: 1-2 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: " Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. (NKJV)

The year was 1952 and though it was the heat of the civil rights movement, Allison was optimistic about her future in an uncertain world. She was finishing up her junior year at State College and looking forward to graduation the following year. She was very active in school being a part of many social clubs as well as student government. How often she would allow her mind the freedom to dream big things. She would be the first in her family to graduate from College and although she felt that pressure, she did not allow it to cloud her dreams. Despite all of her seemingly outward success, Allison carried a deep secret that she thought she could file away in the recesses of her mind and that would make it go away.

She was so much like many young women during that time period looking forward to meeting the man of her dreams and getting married and raising a family. Her Father (Thurgood) was a very strong willed and proud man and managed to work himself into a position to be in business. He always wanted the best for all of his children, but he realized that Allison had his will and determination to succeed. He taught Allison and her sisters, Cheryl, Sonia, Monica, and Bonnie to be independent and to never solely rely on a man to take care of them financially. Thurgood knew that many black men during that time needed to feel in complete control and authoritative in their homes because on the outside they were always made to feel as submissive boys no matter their age, experience, or education. This reality caused many black men to wilt under that pressure and eventually take it out in a very negative way on their wife and children.

On top of this reality of racism, there also laid dormant a hideous secret being covered up and silenced in many black families and it was child molestation. Black families would rather pretend these horrific things did not go on in their own families so most never spoke about them. In all candors, the black family from the 1619 (when the first Africans were brought to North America as slaves) to 1952 hardly ever had any serious or open dialogues about sex of any kind. To talk about these things to many showed weakness and during the period of slavery up to the segregated south and Jim Crow laws was not the way black folk should show themselves to a white dominated world.

Consequently, evil was allowed to fester for generations giving the enemy open access to the heart and minds of many black children. While many families were waging the war on the enemy (the devil of racism) on the outside of their families (against the racist hatred of whites), they were at the same time allowing the enemy to creep inside their families and destroy them from within.

Africans of all different dialects and from very different parts of the Continent united on those slave ships first to just survive the long trip and the tyranny of their white captures. This was a good thing a beautiful thing and it was strength they received from God. However, somewhere along the way after the emancipation proclamation and black people were freed from slavery to whites we lost our unity the close bond of families went away and was replaced by the very thing we seemed to despise in whites.

The insatiable desire to get things came in and stole that close family bond. Many a white families yielded their children over to the care and upbringing of a black woman known as a nanny. Many white children spent so much time being raised by that black woman they became attached to them as if they were their actual Mothers. Likewise many of those same black Mothers were so worn out physically and emotionally that they had little to give to their own boys and girls. Therefore, many young black boys and girls were left vulnerable and the enemy moved into the gap or absence by using Uncles, Aunts, older brothers, and sister prompting them to molest some of those children. Imagine the 7, 8, or 9 year old when this happens, how they could tell anyone let alone their Mother or Father. So they keep silent.

Therefore, inside the heart of that young child nestles anger, hatred, resentment, bitterness, and un-forgiveness. As the child grows, so does his damaged heart that has not be cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb. Such a heart will undoubtedly produce rage and other out of control behavior like sexual promiscuity, alcohol and drug abuse, failed relationships, and even a desire for the now adult to perpetrate the same abuse in children that they experienced.

“Trust in God and you will know

He can vanquish any foe;

Simply trust Him day by day

He will be your strength and stay.”

D. De Haan

The Called, Chosen, and Faithful

Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful. KJV

After Christ rose from the dead and then ascended to the right hand of the Father, His followers were identified by those of “The Way” until someone coined the word Christian, which literally means follower of Christ. You know for a long time I have found it difficult to understand what it really means for a person to be saved. I do know that I did not choose Christ, but He chose me. I read the testimony of one man and he said he was so perplexed by his conversion upon receiving Jesus Christ that he ended up enrolling into Seminary School just so he could possibly get a better understanding of what happened to him.

I have met a lot of people over the years, some during the time I spent living it up in this world and reveling in sinful pleasures with an unbridled abandon. Some of the people indulging in various paths of sinful destruction (as myself) professed to me to be a Christian. As we were controlled by our sins with no desire to stop what we were doing, I pondered in my heart and mind then and even now if it were possible for us to really know Christ while reveling in our sins. I wonder is it possible for a person to willingly indulge sinful appetites and still know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. If the demons believe in Jesus enough to tremble at His name and presence, yet they have reservations for the lake of fire, how different must a human soul’s belief in Jesus be from theirs? If I paint the walls of a particular room with what I think is red paint, but when someone looks at the walls they see something totally different than the color red, then what conclusion must be drawn. How can a follower of Jesus Christ live in direct contradiction to His Word and be His follower?

Well, our subject text of scripture states that those with Jesus Christ are called, chosen, and faithful. There are so many references in the Bible that clearly reveal and teach us what the life of a true Christian must look like. In the first book Genesis, Moses records for us how creation came into being. In Genesis 1:11, the first of several revealing statements is made which is “after his kind” which means the manifestation, image, or likeness. The redeeming power of God through Christ blood produces the manifestation, image, and likeness of God in every soul redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. A fruit tree does not bear or bring forth carrots and in like manner a soul redeemed by God does not continue to bear or bring forth love for sin and enslavement to sin, does it.

John 8:31-32  So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, "If you continue to accept and obey my teaching, you are really my followers. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." ERV

Free from what did our Lord mean here? As much as I can determine from His statements in the next few verses our Lord is speaking of His true disciples being freed from sins enslaving grip in their hearts and lives. Paul wrote that the wages or payment received from sin is death. Sin never produces anything of worth or value it only brings death and destruction everywhere it rules. So our Lord is saying that all who come to Me will not have sins principle ruling and reining in them any longer. The called, chosen, and faithful cannot make themselves such but on the contrary they are made to be such by Jesus Christ Himself. Listen to what Albert Barnes (1798-1870) had to say about Christ words in John 8:31, “In this place Jesus cautions them against too much confidence from their present feelings. They were just converted - converted by a single sermon. They had had no time to test their faith. Jesus assures them that if their faith should abide the test, if it should produce obedience to his commandments and a true life, it would be proof that their faith was genuine, for the tree is known by its fruit. So we may say to all new converts, Do not repress your love or your joy, but do not be too confident. Your faith has not yet been tried, and if it does not produce a holy life it is vain.”

Death is not God’s biggest enemy for He is Eternal. The devil is not God’s biggest enemy for He kicked him out of Heaven and has made reservation for him in the Lake of Fire as it is written here: Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. KJV God the Fathers biggest enemy is the sin of humanity because it has cost Him the lives of many of His human creatures having gone to hell and it cost Him the one and only time in all eternity of separation from His Son Jesus Christ when He paid for humanities sin on the cross. This is why through the gospel, Christ death, burial, and resurrection God the Father calls, chooses, and makes faithful everyone who would truly believe and receive. The wall separating the Father from all human beings is sin and Christ has broken down or blown up that separating wall in His followers.

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of Silent Assassins of the Soul; Finding Freedom from Sexual Impurity, a guide for men in the enemy’s crosshairs; coming in May 2012

Are You Sick or Well?

Luke 5:31-32 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. KJV

Luke 5:31-32 Jesus answered them, "It is the sick people who need a doctor, not those who are healthy. I have not come to ask good people to change. I have come to ask sinners to change the way they live." ERV

Luke 5:31-32 And Jesus, answering, said to them, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill. I have come, not to get the upright, but sinners, so that they may be turned from their sins. BBE

You know this matter of salvation or the common used expression of being saved has somewhere down the line lost its true meaning or maybe its true meaning has never been quite understood. In order for any of us to ever be saved by the grace that Christ only can supply, we must do only one thing and that is acknowledge to Him that we are sick with the worse disease known to mankind and that is sin. We read magazines and watch news reports on how much money is being spent to find cures for diseases of the physical body such as various types of cancer and marvel at the effort being put forth by well-meaning people to bring relief or healing to the victims of cancer. I see nothing wrong with any of these efforts, matter of fact they are all good and should continue. However, the disease that is eternally fatal is sin and every person has it. Imagine if the same people put forth the same amount of time and money into leading people to the only cure for sin (faith in Jesus Christ which results in a second birth) how different this world would be to live in. Well, I know that is just wishful thinking. Our Lord told us over and over that things in this world would not get better but only worse and worse.

Matthew 24:12 “Because sin will increase”  

Why is it so hard for we human beings to admit or confess that which is ever before us? Our Lord tells us in our subject Scripture above that we are under the false assumption that we are good people. We all think we are good. We never see the evil born in our own hearts, but we can easily see it in others. I tell you all the years that I drank alcohol, did drugs, had sex with many women, watched porn, and engaged in violence, hated people, and many other wicked things continually, I never considered myself to be bad. I thought I was truly a good person. Because the disease of sin is not diagnosable by some medical test like an x-ray or CAT scan we are lulled into ignoring its growing worse and worse within our souls. We are wretched creatures and we cannot be cured until we see ourselves in that reality. What we do does not makes us what we are, but what we are (vile sinners) makes us do what we do. Are you sick or well?

“Sin is the sickness of the soul; sinners are spiritually sick. Original corruptions are the diseases of the soul; actual transgressions are its wounds, or the eruptions of the disease. It is deforming, weakening, disquieting, wasting, killing, but, blessed be God, not incurable. Jesus Christ is the great Physician of souls. His curing of bodily diseases signified this that he arose with healing under his wings. He is a skillful, faithful, compassionate Physician, and it is his office and business to heal the sick. Wise and good men should be as physicians to all about them; Christ was so. Hunc affectum versus omnes habet sapiens, quem versus aegros suos medicus - A wise man cherishes towards all around him the feelings of a physician for his patient. Seneca De Const. Sin-sick souls have need of this Physician, for their disease is dangerous; nature will not help itself; no man can help us; such need have we of Christ, that we are undone, eternally undone, without him. Sensible sinners see their need, and apply themselves to him accordingly. There are multitudes who fancy themselves to be sound and whole, who think they have no need of Christ, but that they can shift for themselves well enough without him, as Laodicea, Rev_3:17. Thus the Pharisees desired not the knowledge of Christ's word and ways, not because they had no need of him, but because they thought they had none. See Joh_9:40, Joh_9:41.” By Matthew Henry

Imagine this scenario, a man diagnosed with pneumonia and in the hospital fighting for his life and yet instead of listening to his doctors he gets up out of his hospital bed goes outside walking in the rain proclaiming himself to be cured. You might say that sounds foolish and you would be right, but it is no more foolish than a person who is a member of any church claiming to be saved when they own and operate a pornography shop and they indulge in the porn themselves regularly. Which scenario are more ridicules? I submit to you both are equally ridicules.

When our Lord spoke these words in Luke 5:31-32, He did not direct them to a prostitute or a murderer. These words were shot directly at people who exercised themselves in much religious activity, temple worship, paying tithes, fasting weekly, making proselytes, praying in public and private, and many other ritualistic practices that constituted Judaism in that day. However, our Lord was being sarcastic with these people implying that they were self-righteous and therefore still sick with sin and in need of His healing as the Great Physician that He is. Wow, all of those things done in the name of God but void of life. Are you sick or well?

I suppose and believe that the toughest mission field for our Lord today is not a tribe in the amazon or some remote part of Africa, but instead it lies in a heated, air-conditioned, well lit building that may have a cross on top of it. I sadly believe that there are enormous amounts of people that have a false conversion or assumption that they are Christians without the actual life of Christ residing in their souls.

Rom 8:6-9 If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. Why is this true? Because anyone whose thinking is controlled by their sinful self is against God. They refuse to obey God's law. And really they are not able to obey it. Those who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God. But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. ERV

“Unbroken patterns of sin are characteristic of the unregenerate. No matter what a person claims about being a Christian, if he or she continues in sin, it is only a claim and not reality. When you become a Christian, the pattern of sin was broken and a new pattern came into existence. Holy affections took over. Does that mean that there is no sin in your life? No, because your unredeemed flesh is still there. But the more you pursue those religious affections, the less you will sin. Sin as a life pattern is incompatible with salvation. That’s because to experience salvation is to be save from something, and that something is sin. If a person could continue in sin after being saved from sin, that would mean salvation is ineffective.” John MacArthur, page 9, from “Is it Real?”

It becomes so easy for someone who has been confirmed in their Church or baptized to think that was when they were saved, yet their life pattern indicates an unbroken relationship with sin. I truly believe with all of my heart that the mission field of lost Church members is quite large. Just as our Lord received venomous attacks from the religious Pharisees and Scribes, I believe so too will anyone our Lord calls to enter into this realm of evangelism. We have only to look back 500 plus years at the life of Martin Luther. Luther spent years as an unconverted Catholic Monk and He would later remark, "If anyone could have gained heaven as a monk, then I would indeed have been among them." However, he discovered as all do that salvation is only a free gift that can never be earned by anything we do, but to come to Christ with a broken and contrite spirit. To put it in the words expressed by Dr. John Gill, “Sick with our sin and sick of our sin desiring to be healed. Are you sick or well?

 Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr. (Author of Silent Assassins of the Soul, to be published this May)

Lust, What is It?

James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. KJV

As procreating human beings, we are all too familiar with our English definition of the word conceive. We most often think of it when a man and woman come together in sexual intercourse and a pregnancy is the result of their union, whether intended or unintended. However, the Greek word sullambano used here means something completely different. It is a verb also in the Greek language, but it means to clasp, to seize, to arrest, or to capture. It has the idea of a person being taken captive or prisoner by something or someone very strong. The conception of lust is very strong and it is more corruptive in my opinion than any drug one could put into their body.

However, it gives the appearance that it is not so controlling and thus deceives unsuspecting souls repeatedly. When we look at the statistics of drug use and abuse in this country and the world at large, we are sure in the results we find that those things carry a much greater threat to our way of life. But the breakdown of the family due to sexual misconduct and infidelity is serving as a far greater threat to the destruction of society than any drug. A foreign substance has to be made and then brought from the outside to be introduced into the body. Lust on the other hand lies within the mind and can be awakened at any moment. Therefore, every one of us requires something on the inside of us that can wage war with this enemy lust and overcome it.

Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. KJV

The heart He (my Lord Jesus) refers to here is the soul the mind of every person. Every person has corruption built in but there are external stimuli that work jointly with the built in lust to produce sin.

James 1:13-15 Whenever you feel tempted to do something bad, you should not say, "God is tempting me." Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone. You are tempted by the evil things you want. Your own desire leads you away and traps you. Your desire grows inside you until it results in sin. Then the sin grows bigger and bigger and finally ends in death. ERV

Lust is always an inside job and consequently it has to be the greatest threat to society and to the future of humanity. All of the Historian writers document that the great empires of the past like Greece led by Alexander the Great, and Egypt with its many Pharaohs, and Rome with all its Emperors were destroyed from within and not by any outside strong or mighty army coming against them. An individual person is more likely to destroy himself by the horrible choices they make in life than from any outside enemy. Is it the mind or brain of every person that holds lust in storage? How can we delineate between the two? Aren’t they the same thing?

Our English dictionary defines the word brain as mental ability, that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings; the seat of the faculty of reason, and responsible for someone having exceptional intellectual ability and originality. Well, all of that sounds good but is it factual. One might argue that it must be factual if it is found in the dictionary, hold up let’s not get carried away with Excellency in our humanity. Every dictionary is written and published by man who is from beneath and not from above. Listen to what the Lord Jesus Christ said to some Jews who continued to be antagonistic with Him, John 8:23 But Jesus said to them, "You people are from here below, but I am from above. You belong to this world, but I don't belong to this world. ERV

Guess what? Our English dictionary defines the word mind as that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings; the seat of the faculty of reason. Wait a minute, isn’t that the same definition of the word brain. Are we human beings saying that the brain and the mind are the same thing? How is that possible? We can open up a person’s skull and visibly see their brain. Can we see a person’s mind when the skull is opened up? Of course not. The problem with accepting the difference between the physical visible brain and the non-physical invisible mind is due to our spiritual deadness from birth. A spiritually dead man no matter his human intellect or IQ can never resolve or understand what he cannot see, taste, touch, hear, or smell. Get the picture?

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? KJV

The Hebrew word used in the above scripture for heart is the word leb, which means feelings, will, and even intellect. The English word desperately is from the Hebrew word anash, which means incurable, sick, and in an abnormal state.

People this is our mind from birth. It matters not if you were born into a rich family or poor family, whether you were born as the son or daughter of King or the son or daughter of a slave. At birth we all receive the same corruption in the mind.

I submit to everyone reading this that the Bible tells us the mind is the heart or the inner most part of man and it is the seat of all of our struggles. Did you know that there is not one reference in the entire Bible that references the brain as the center of man? I checked 4 different translations and they were absent the word brain. Our human unregenerate mind is the vilest thing in the entire universe. Lust lives there along with its neighbors, hate, greed, envy, jealousy, pride, etc. How can this type of mind ever produce anything good or acceptable to the One True God?

In my book, entitled “Silent Assassins of the Soul”, I document some of the world’s most well-known and highly respected human Philosophers (example Plato & Aristotle), and discovered that they came up with some of the most bizarre theories and explanations for the mind and its function in man. The Greek philosopher and mathematician Plato (429-347 B.C.) theorized that the mind is a nonphysical thing, which enjoys an existence independent of the body, both before the body’s birth and after its death. The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) taught that the mind was not a thing separate and distinct from the physical body. Rather, it was the “form” of the body, in the most general sense of the term “form” that includes all of the body’s properties and activities. A body with a mind is not two things but just a body of a certain kind: a body with mental properties.

However to a person without the Spirit of God these things don’t sound so bizarre, but gives to them some way of logically differentiating between the mind and the brain. Let’s be clear people, we all know that the mind and brain cannot be the same thing, if so why won’t the brain function after a person dies? Even in our spiritual deadness and separation from God we know that these two are different. The visible brain without the invisible mind is nothing more than a lifeless blob of tissue.

Finally, then what shall I conclude from the Word of God about lust in every man born of the flesh into the earth. The Bible clearly tells us that lust is sin that we are born with in our first birth and has its seat, place, or headquarters in the mind of every person. Therefore, we need a cure for this corruption of our mind. The cure can’t come from within us because our inner man or woman houses the disease. Jesus Christ’s supernatural birth, His sinless life, His sacrificial death on the cross shedding His blood and being buried, then 3 days later He proved He was God by His resurrection from that death and tomb and any person turning from their sin and trusting Him is the only hope and cure for our mind where lust lives.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose MIND is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. KJV

Listen to what Matthew Henry (1662-1714) had to say, “All moral evil is owing to some disorder in the being that is chargeable with it, to a want of wisdom, or of power, or of decorum and purity in the will. But who can impeach the holy God with the want of these, which are His very essence? No exigence of affairs can ever tempt Him to dishonour or deny Himself, and therefore He cannot be tempted with evil. There is nothing in the providential dispensations of God that the blame of any man's sin can be laid upon. Those who lay the blame of their sins either upon their constitution or upon their condition in the world, or who pretend they are under a fatal necessity of sinning, wrong God, as if He were the author of sin. Afflictions, as sent by God, are designed to draw out our graces, but not our corruptions.”