Does God Send Disease?

I got this from Pastor Art Kohl web site. You can read the article by clicking the link above.

Dave

Introduction:

Let God be God! People like to reduce God and His character to their own personal opinion of Him. They will not allow Him to do anything out of the boundaries that they have drawn up for Him to obey. They are so ingrained with "God is Love" idea that they will not permit Him to be a Holy God, or Righteous or a God who insists on Justice. God is a God of Judgement, and He is known by the judgements that He makes. He is more than just a "God of Love".
For example, a local paper reported recently that only 24% of Americans believe that AIDS disease is a judgement from God upon sexual perversion. 76% do not believe it is. Where do we develop our opinion of God and how He acts from? It is either from studying the Bible, or it is left up to our personal opinion, thereby we become the god of God, and He is under our control rather than vice versa.
But I say, Let God be God, and let us study what He has said about this subject in the Bible.

1. How Did Jesus Know?

2000 years ago, Jesus answered a question that was posed to Him: "What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? (Matthew 24:3) He answered with many indications that we could watch for, such as cults, wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, hatred, prejudice and PESTILENCES!
Pestilence is defined: "Disease that spreads rapidly, causing many deaths" according to the dictionary.
By the turn of the century, over 50 million will die in Africa from AIDS disease -(that's 1/5 of America's population).
There are between 30-50 million cases in the world of venereal syphilis. 150 million cases of gonorrhea infection. 68,493 teenagers in the free world come down with a venereal disease EVERY DAY!
How did Jesus know? He knows everything! He is God! (John 10:30,14:9, I Timothy 3:16, Acts 20:28, John 20:28,29)
In a day and age where science and medicine have advanced to unparalleled levels, there is still epidemics of PESTILENCE.

2. God Promised.

"If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God: Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover, he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed." Deuteronomy 28:58-61.
Also take time to read Leviticus 26:15 & 16.
The Bible is filled with wonderful promises to those who live right, and dreadful promises to those who reject and neglect God's Word. Definitely promised is disease sent from God as a promised judgement.

3. The "Do-your-own-thing" Disease.

God promised to judge sexual sin. All sex outside of the husband-wife marriage relationship is sin. Hebrews 13:4 says "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but adulterers and whoremongers GOD WILL JUDGE."
In 2 Chronicles 21 there is the story of a man names Jehoram who "caused the habitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication and compelled Judah" also. (Verse 11) The prophet Elijah was commissioned by God to write a letter to Jehoram. It said: "Behold, with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods: And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day." (vs 14,15) Shortly after, it was fulfilled. II Chron, 21:18,19, "And after all this, the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning of his fathers." Who smote Jehoram with an incurable disease in his bowels? God did!
"And likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another: men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves the recompense of their error which was meet." Romans 1:27

4. Why Judgement?

To bring about repentance. It is a chastisement of God to get us to turn back to Him. Study Revelation 16:7-11.
Not all disease is a judgement from God, however. Space does not allow us to study the other side of the coin at this time. Satan can afflict people with physical and mental diseases. Some diseases are the result of violating natural laws such as alcohol or cigarette smoking related diseases. Some are unexplainable. We do not pretend to have all the answers. This one thing we know, however; the Bible teaches clearly that God sends diseases upon the disobedient, especially sexually related diseases.

5. It's Not Too Late.

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways- then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14
There is a penalty for sin, our worst disease and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. It is incurable for all have sinned and "the wages of sin is death". Christ is the antidote for sin, for He paid the penalty in full on the cross for you and I. He died, was buried and rose again and is alive for evermore and can save you from your sins today if you'll ask Him to!
God has our best in mind. He's not a kill joy in Heaven trying to ruin all of our fun. The most fulfilled and happiest people in the world are saved people living by God's standards. They have love, joy, peace and everything else the world is trying to find.
Why don't you be one of theme God does love you. Yes, He's a God of Judgement, but He's a God of mercy to all who turn to Him. "Not by the works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Titus 3:5

Did the Bible Predict The Invention of Television?

I got this from Pastor Art Kohl web site. You can read the article by clicking the link above.

Dave




Introduction:

The Bible is amazing in its prophecies. One must stand in awe of its simple statements made far before their time of fulfillment. For instance in Isaiah 40:22 the prophet, 700 years before Christ says that the earth is round. That's about 2200 years before man agreed with it. Amazing! There are a few instances that prophecies given cannot be fulfilled without the invention of the television. Let's consider them.

1. John "saw" TV in 95 AD?

One of the Lord's 12 disciples was John. He outlived the other 11. He was exiled on the Island of Patmos as a criminal. His crime- preaching the Word of God and the message of Christ. It was during this time that John received a vision from God. We call it the Revelation. It is the last book in the Bible. When you get to the 11th chapter of Revelation, you read the story of two of God's preachers in the future. They preach in Jerusalem for 42 months. Their message is despised. The leaders of the day have them killed. Their bodies lie in the street. Then this amazing statement in verse 9, "And they of the people and kindreds and tongues AND NATIONS shall SEE THEIR DEAD BODIES three days and a half ..." Nowadays, we see world wide events live in seconds after they happen. It's nothing to us. But 1900 years ago when John wrote this how did he know that we'd have satellites, TVs', movie cameras, etc? He didn't, he just wrote what God told him to, and God knows all things, even the future. All nations can see the same event at once these days and this prophecy could be fulfilled soon.

2. Did Luke See News Broadcasts?

Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke. In the 21st chapter, in verses 5-28, he gives an account of Christ's discourse on the last days. In verse 26, Jesus tells us that in the last days, "men's hearts failing them for fear, and FOR LOOKING after those things which are coming on the earth ...". Maybe it's a strech but to me that sounds like a predicition of news broadcasts which sow so much fear in people today. Even the weather reports make people nervous. "What's this world coming to?" is an expression heard daily. Addicted news watchers are becoming nervous wrecks. Their whole world is failing them for fear. Their hearts are failing them for fear.
Conclusion: It shouldn't surprise us that these prophecies are coming to pass. The Bible is the Word of an omniscient God. Its truths can be trusted. Read it. Start in the New Testament. Let it change your life. Ignorance is no excuse when it comes to the Judgement. Why was the Bible written?
Consider 1John 5:13, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE...."

Aw, Mom, Do I Have To Go To Church?

I got this from Pastor Art Kohl web site. You can read the article by clicking the link above.

Dave

Introduction Less children today are attending Sunday School and church regularly in America than ever in our history as a nation. In respect to population, of course. Many parents don't believe that regular church attendance is necessary for their children anymore. This is tragic! Moms and Dads, do we make our children brush their teeth? Do we make them wash? Do we make them eat? Sleep? Do we make them go to school, etc? WELL, YES, OF COURSE! Why? Because it's important.

Let me ask you this, "Is church important for a child?" Yes or No? Before you say no, may I remind you that 95% of confined criminals in our jails have received no REGULAR religious training during their childhood? Now answer the question.

I. Why Kids Don't Want To Go To Church

Having a church which puts much emphasis on children ministries, as a Pastor, I've observed 3 major reasons why children don't want to attend church. With the reasons, I'll try to present some solutions.

1. Entertainment- The church cannot compete with the entertainment world today. Kids are being brought up today by TV, movies, VCRs, computers, sports, etc. Hollywood has millions of dollars to produce fast-paced entertainment. As a result, being entertained has become life-style. Our children are lacking the character and discipline today to sit still, listen and learn, whether it be in the schoolroom or church. If they are not entertained, they are bored.
The tragic result is this: If a child has the option to quit something he is bored with, he will always quit. Why? He does not have the discipline to stick it out. His character has been trained to only do things that are entertaining. What will happen to that child when he becomes bored with high school? or his job? or marriage, etc? He'll quit!
Parents should teach their children that life isn't all entertainment. TV has brought about the slow death of the mind. It has dulled our senses and robbed us of the ability to think. It's easier to allow someone else to do our thinking for us. Restrain it! Also, parents should make their children go to church. Ah, you say, "I'm not going to force my children to go to church like I was" Did you really turn out so bad? Are your morals, standards and convictions higher than your children? Are your parent's higher than yours? Are our grandparents' morals higher than ours? Do you remember how moral your great-grandparents were? Where were these morals taught? Why did this country receive this heritage? FROM THE CHURCH! FROM THE BIBLE!
If you don't make your children go to church, what will their children be like? MORALS ARE PRESERVED BY PEOPLE PROPERLY TAUGHT!

2. Peer Pressure- "I'll let my children decide for themselves what they believe," declare many parents. Friends, there is no such thing! ALL of us are the product of the influences of people around us. I believe Abe Lincoln once said, "You'll be the same person you are a year from now except for the people you meet and the books you read." Of course today is different because we have more than books influencing us through the eye-gate.
It doesn't take much peer pressure before children bow to it. Nobody wants to be different. Even adults are controlled by peer pressure to some extent. We call it "keeping up with the Joneses" or "being sociable" or "the good old American way." No one wants to be an oddball.
Children are controlled by children. Look at the way they want to dress or the way they eat, or the music they listen to, or the shows they watch. Parents, did you teach them to like these things? No. Who did? THEIR PEERS.
Because most children do not attend church, the pressure is put on children to believe that it is "normal" practice by their peers. No one, not even a child, wants to be abnormal. Children need to be taught that peer pressure is not a good basis to make decisions on. If this is the foundation of their decision making, they will follow the crowd into premarital or illicit sex, drugs, drunkenness, etc. Don't allow what other children do to be the guide for what you allow your children to do! Especially concerning church attendance.

3. Hypocrisy- Nothing has harmed the message or the power of the church as hypocrisy has. I'm talking about people who go to church for 1 hour a week and act "religious" and then live like the devil the rest of the week. CHILDREN CAN SEE RIGHT THROUGH HYPOCRITES, so can everyone else.
There is nothing that has turned children away from the church more than hypocrisy! Friends, it is the power of our example that gives power to what we are trying to teach. "Do as I say, not as I do" NEVER WORKS! Kids hate that! Many parents I've heard say, "well, my children don't want to go to church anymore." And I'll say, "I bet if you started coming, they would keep coming." Usually the only teenagers we can keep coming to our church are the ones whose parents come all the time themselves and are honestly trying to live by God's Word. Parents, let's start being GOOD examples again for our children's sake!

II. Biblical Responsibilities of Parents

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in shine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deuteronomy 6:6-7 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:25. Enough said.

III. So What Is The Church Anyways?

I Timothy 3:16 says that the church is the "pillar and ground of the truth." The truth is the Word of God and what it says. Get yourself AND YOUR CHILDREN into a Bible believing, preaching AND PRACTICING CHURCH, where truth is taught without apology or compromise.


Moms and Dads, you have a knowledge of God. Your children have less. Will the next generation have any?