Roots by the River

We do not know that God thinks about Islam specifically, other than this. The religion is made up of one fifth of the world’s population, who have all believed the lie that the Koran is literally the word of God in Arabia. Jesus died for these people on the cross. Here is what Islam believes about Jesus: 1. He was born of a virgin. 2. He is a prophet of God. 3. He is going to come again. Here is what they do not believe: 1. He is the Son of God. 2. He died on a cross. 3. He rose from the dead. “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our ins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, an...

I received an anonymous post on my recent blog about idolatry. Here it is: “What does the Bible say about those portraits of Jesus that are so common?” The portraits were made after the Bible was written. What the Bible says has to cover everything that occurs after it was written. “You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman.” (Deuteronomy 4:15-16) Jesus said in John 4:22-24, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” There is a physical description of Jesus in Matth...

God gives much more revelation about people who worship false Gods than He does about atheists. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.” (Psalm 14:1-2) This is repeated in Psalm 53:1: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.” People are born with a tendency to sin: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—or before the law was given, sin was in the world.” (Romans 5:12-13) People are born sinners, but they are not born fools; they have to become fools. “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. A...

In this nation under the Constitution we have freedom of religion and freedom of expression. We are grateful for this freedom. This freedom allows all kinds of false religions and other expressions of evil, and they take advantage of it. Our nation is flooded with evil of all kinds, taught on TV, the internet, the universities, books, magazines, and churches. God, however, does not tolerate them. God is not under the Constitution. We should think as God thinks. Here, from God’s revelation, is what He thinks about this evil. Today I will start with idolatry: “You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. And when you look up to the sky...

Three months after the Exodus from Egypt, two million Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai. Before the Ten Commandments were given, God spoke to Moses (recorded in Exodus 19): “‘Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ The people all responded together, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said.’” After the commands were given (three times), the people had 40 years in the wilderness, several years of conquest, 400 years of judges, 400 hundred years of kings, and 600 years of captivity and occupation until the time of Christ. All of this, except a few years of light, was saturated with sin, gross wickedness. That was about a total of 1480 years. This was the holy nation . There is a similar statement made to another group of chosen people. “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge...

Thank you for your prayers and gifts. We had 4,000 copies of How to Be Free From Bitterness inserted into “The Moscow-Pullman Daily News”. We now have a cartoon gospel tract titled “Are You a Good Person?” ready to be inserted. I would appreciate your comments on the strategy. Communication in print is not a substitute for personal contact. I am still personally involved with needy unbelievers and fouled-up believers almost daily here at my house. At my childrenʼs request, I am working on my autobiography. Heather is typing it into a computer and Doug and Nancy are reading it as I produce a few pages at a time. I have a slight problem: I have never kept a diary, and I am now 85 years old. If any of you knew me and Bessie in the past and remember events, dates, and/or have pictures, please send them to me. Hold down on the flattery. My memory is fairly good, but there are blank places. “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his nam...