needfaith.org

Yes, we are still here, and unfortunately the world has not stopped while we are not updating the site. Yesterday I watched on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News Channel a story being discussed that I had been following on the web. Boulder High School in Boulder, CO, recently had a panel from the Conference on World Affairs speak during a mandatory assembly. The problem is the members of this panel endorsed and encouraged drug use (appropriate, of course–whatever that means), casual sex, and experimenting with same-sex (homosexual) relationships.

Wow!

Just today I read another article; I know–it surprising that I read, but…The Discovery Institute details a professor that has been fully tenured by Iowa State University. That’s rather mundane; what isn’t is his view of the Bible. He basically equates the Bible with Mein Kampf, Hitler’s book. Professor Avalos has already written one book attacking the Word of God, and he is preparing to release another book which is going to encourage educators to show their students the dangerous and irrelevant nature of the Bible.

I will conclude with one verse:

Proverbs 30:12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.

Well, that is a good question. In this era of increasing violence and yet more speech of “peace, peace,” one may wonder what the Acting Speaker of the Palestinian Authority Legislative Council has to say.  Ahmed Bahr asked Allah to kill every last Jew and American. There goes the peaceful Islamic religion.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122302

Happy Easter!!! We are just days away from the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. Incidentally, there were a few articles that caught my attention. First was the report of the newly re-established Sanhedrin–the Jewish High Council–wanting to sacrifice a lamb at the Temple Mount. (This link is now broken, and a search of the site turned up nothing. I have an archived copy of the article saved on my computer that is available upon request.) As the article details, this is not the first attempt to have a sacrifice for the Jewish Passover. What is so exciting to the Bible believer is that the Books of Revelation and Daniel (among others) teach that there will be a “Third Temple” and temple worship during the Tribulation. We may yet be quite a ways from the Rapture, but many events of the hour do seem to indicate that the stage is being set.

Second, there was an article posted on WordNetDaily that was simply outraging. A homosexual Church of England cleric will be addressing the BBC on the reason for Christ’s crucifixion. Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, and anyone taking an honest look at the New Testament (and even the Old Testament) conclude that Christ died vicariously–or simply put, as a substitute. Here is a short, incomplete list of verses that show Christ died for our sins:

Romans 5:6-8, 7-14
John 1:29
I Corinthians 5:7
Revelation 1:5
II Corinthians 5:21
Ephesians 2

This particular minister believes this cardinal doctrine to be “repulsive” and “insane.” He argues that God is one of “love and truth.” He says Christ died to experience the depth of human suffering, not atone for our sins. How crazy he is to believe that God is One of truth, and then deny one of the most basic truths of the Bible. Man is not good according to Romans 1-3 among many other passages. God is holy according to I Peter, Leviticus, and the whole of Scriptures. Sin must be judged. Governments would viewed as reprehensible if they do not punish law breaking. God could not be God if He did not punish sin. He does, however, love us–John 3:16, for example. Then Christ took our place; He was our Substitute just like the lamb of Passover died as a substitute when the children of Israel where in Egypt just prior to the Exodus.

Let us not forget that Christ died for our sins. This grace, or gift, is available only (and thankfully) by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). As we celebrate Easter, remember these central truths of the Gospel.

Psalm 30:5b …weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Endure…just make it through the night, and God says joy will come in the morning if you are one of His children. This podcast encourages us to not give up, because we may miss exactly what we have been waiting for.

For a direct download, click here: Episode 8.

Our God, the one true God of the Bible, is great, because He is eternal.

Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Man in one sense is an eternal being. Now before anyone calls me a heretic, let’s remember that the soul of man will live on either in the presence of God or in the lake of fire. I may some day experience physical death but never spiritual. I will experience a bodily resurrection (Rev. 20:6), and I will spend all of eternity with my Lord Jesus Christ. (I Thess. 4:17) But I did have a beginning–I was born in the middle of 1983.

My God, however, is “eternal in both directions.” I have no end in sight, but the God of the Bible has neither beginning nor end.

Psalm 93:2b Thou art from everlasting.

What an encouragement to know that the God I serve has seen the whole course of human existence. He knows where I have been, and He alone knows where I am going. When I then am in the darkest portions of my life, I can still put my faith in God, because He can see me through it.

It is our prayer that you know this true God. He has given His Son–who is also eternal, because He is God as well–to die for our sins. We receive this forgiveness not through our works, baptism, church membership, or even good deeds. Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:16, and many other passages teach that it is by faith alone, we receive the grace, or gift, of God. We pray that you accept Christ today.

Katie and I have arrived back in the homeland. While we both loved our honeymoon in historic Savannah, GA, we were both ready to get back home. Now real life has begun. Yesterday, we spent much of the day trying to get Kathryn Narehood to be Kathryn Grasty and a resident of North Carolina. None of these are particularly easy feats. The kicker was our encounter at Bank of America. We have a number of checks made out to Mr. and Mrs. John Grasty. To deposit these, we need to add Katie on to my checking account. We had the following documents to prove Katie’s identity and our marriage: PA driver’s license, Social Security card, certified birth certificate, and the marriage license.

Not enough! at least according to Bank of America. What really frustrated me was reading this. Bank of America has made it possible for people with no credit history and no Social Security number to get a credit card. It was at this moment that I decided to change banks. BB&T needed only Katie’s PA driver’s license, our marriage license, and her Social Security number. Now that makes sense.

While thinking about all of this, I was reminded of our relationship with God.

Psalm 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand…

Because I am born again through faith in Christ, I am one of God’s children. (John 1:12) I am one of His sheep. He knows who I am. Matthew 10:30 tells me that He knows even the number of hairs of my head. And that is without requiring a certified birth certificate.

Knowing that God knows me brings nothing but peace and confidence to my life. We couldn’t do enough to prove to Bank of America who Katie was, but God always knows who we are, what we are, and what we need–even before we ask.

The questions for you today though are these: Do you know Christ? Are you one of God’s children?

There is only one way to be reconciled to God. There is only one way to become one of His children. It is through faith–accepting what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on our behalf of the cross. He died for our sins and was resurrected to give us righteousness. (Romans 4:25) Trust Him today.

I will be able to add more articles and updates very soon. I have not this week as much, because I am getting married today. Consequently, I have been very busy, but very soon we will have another NeedFaith.org podcast and more articles. Thanks for the patience.

II Peter 1:19a We have also a more sure word of prophecy…

Much of the discussion today concerning faith and spirituality is shrouded in generality. We speak of faith being beneficial, yet modern society very rarely distinguishes in whom or what the faith is placed. Faith, which is only trust or dependence, is worthless unless there is an object–something in which to believe.

As Christians, our faith is in God. We know that by trusting what Christ did for us, we are saved. The question arises, however, as to how we know that we should trust God. How do we know to trust Christ alone for the forgiveness of our sins? The answer is simple–the Bible. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:14) The Bible then is our standard. (Continued)

Jude 3 …it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

This is the inaugural post on needfaith.org. Soon we should have the first podcast uploaded and away we go. We plan at working hard to ensure that you are a regular visitor to needfaith.org. It is especially important in this day that we surround ourselves with good, sound influences. So much of what we read, watch, and listen is produced from a perspective other than that of Biblical Christianity. In fact, most is contrary to historic Christianity.

Many of you I am sure have long since seen this video clip of Rosie O’Donnell attacking “radical Christianity.” While this may have occured back in September, I was just recently struck by the roaring applause that met her comment. She is not alone, and there is no doubt that she was referring to fundamentalism. It is critical that Christians not accept this from The View or any other segment of society.

We are not radical or fanatical, because we believe that there is one true God, that His only begotten Son is Jesus Christ, and that Christ who is God in flesh died for us. We are not radical, because we believe that Christ bodily was resurrected and coming again. We are not fanatics, because we believe that God has given us the Bible and in it is absolute truth. We are not radical, because we believe that by grace through faith alone man can find forgiveness of all sins.

We are Christians, because we believe these things.