Roots of the Nazi Legal System

This article from creation.com covers the full gambit of why it is so important to know what you believe and why you believe it. The contents of this article show clearly the reasons why "Normative" is so passionate about right doctrine, and why we oppose the current raft of nonsense being spouted from the pulpit of a number of local churches. Please read it!!

In the light of the escalation of violence against Jews world wide including the murder of the Fogel family in Israel this understanding is becoming more and more important.

‘The leaders of the [German Christian] movement, Pastors Julius Leutheuser, Joachim Hossenfelder and Siegfried Leffler, strove to convince their fellow clergy that only a completely new interpretation of Christianity … could meet the needs of the new age. They sought to rid the Church of its ‘pre-scientific’ mentality and its archaic liturgies, and to substitute a new revelation as found in Adolf Hitler. The essential was not Christian orthodoxy but Christian activism that would follow the example of the ‘heroic’ Jesus … In the new creation of the Nazi Party, they saw a vehicle for their programme that offered fellowship which they believe to be characteristic of true Christianity. If Hitler could perform what they called Christian deeds, then orthodoxy could be abandoned.’

The full article is here: Darwinian Roots of Nazi Legal System

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Footnotes:

Augusto Zimmermann, Darwinian Roots of Nazi Legal System, downloaded from http://creation.com/darwinian-roots-of-nazi-legal-system 16 March 2011.

I have the right to be poor!!

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How refreshing to find this on a Church website:

The Church must be free to be poor in order to minister among the poor. The Church must trust the Gospel enough to come among the poor with nothing to offer the poor except the Gospel, except the power to discern and the courage to expose the Gospel as it is already mediated in the life of the poor…When the Church has the freedom itself to be poor among the poor, it will know how to use what riches it has. When the Church has that freedom, it will know also how to minister among the rich and powerful. When the Church has that freedom, it will be a missionary people again in all the world. When the Church has the freedom to go out into the world with merely the Gospel to offer the world, then it will know how to use whatever else it has–money and talent and buildings and tapestries and power in politics–as sacraments of its gift of its own life to the world, as tokens of the ministry of Christ.

– William Stringfellow - A Private and Public Faith (1962)¹

No prosperity Gospel or demands upon the purse strings to "honour" a member of a self-appointed clique. How real, how simple. I think I would like this Church. They even proclaim their articles of faith. How bold. How nice that they know what they believe. How sadly unusual. How...right.

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Footnotes:

1. Downloaded from Christ's Sanctuary www.christsanctuary.org.nz, February 21, 2011

Why is the church losing its young people?

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A must read editorial from creation.com. Why is the church losing its young people?

If we cast doubt upon the validity of the Scriptures (Bible), we cast doubt on everything that is "Christian". If we adopt an attitude that makes the Bible no more that a series of myths or legends then we have no grounds upon which to make claim to anything of greater value than Greek or Roman mythology.

Genesis 1:1-11 is foundational to the entire cannon of Scripture. Without it, neither Christianity nor Judaism has any validity. This principle was exemplified by a conversation I had with one of my many ex-brother-in-laws many years ago.

My brother-in-law handed me a book en-titled Women hating writings. Naturally enough, within the pages of this book was a snippet from the Bible, taken out of context. Of course a (convivial) conversation ensued about the "lies" in the Bible. He held the position the Bible was untrue and could not be relied upon and I of course attempted to refute this. My final statement was "I would never give up my life for a fairytale," to which he responded "exactly."

This is the damage done to the reputation of the Christian Faith by those who deny the validity and historical accuracy of the Bible. No less than the salvation of those who do not yet know Messiah (Christ) has been lost because of this wholesale abrogation of the truth by those who profess its belief.

What Messiah (Christ) did for you on the Cross

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content When Yeshua (Jesus) died on the cross at Calvary, it was no accident. This was not a defeat for Messiah (Christ). It was God's ultimate triumph over evil. Yeshua (Jesus) was born to die on that cross. It was the purpose for which he was born. Without Yeshua (Jesus) dying on that cross, mankind would have no way to enter Heaven.

Ariel Ministries discusses this topic in more detail in Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum's papers Why Did Messiah Have to Die? and The Results of the Death of Messiah.

So what happened on the Cross? Messiah (Christ) became "sin" for us. Yeshua (Jesus), who lived a perfect life, who fulfilled ALL the requirements of the Mosaic Law, did not get killed, but offered up Himself as a perfect sacrifice (Eph 5:2, Heb 9:26, Heb 10:12) for the sins of all mankind. The only sacrifice that was able to satisfy God's requirement for justice once and for all.

The sacrifice which Yeshua (Jesus) offered on the cross paid the penalty due to all men. All men have sinned. The penalty required for sin is death. Messiah (Christ) died on the Cross, a life willingly laid down for us (Jon 10:17-18), to pay our penalty.

Because of Yeshua's (Christ's) death on the Cross we can enter into relationship with The Father. Once we believe and have satisfied the requirements of salvation we receive (instantaneously) the deposit of the Holy Spirit as a seal confirming that we now belong to Messiah (Christ). The condition of being saved is irrevocable, that is, it can not be undone. It is a one way ticket. This is the promise made to every one who believes in Messiah (Christ)...

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Understanding the Times

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The churches addressed in Revelations 3 are:

1. Ephesus
2. Smyrna
3. Perganum
4. Thyatira
5. Sardis
6. Philadelphia
7. Laodicea

The Characteristics of the Seven Churches¹

1. All the Churches receive a message from Jesus.
2. They represent the visible church, which includes all professing believers whether they really are or not, not the universal/invisible Church.
3. Jesus has something against five of the Churches and nothing against two
4. Jesus finds good in six of the Churches and nothing good about one
5. Jesus is intimately aware of the state of each Church

Interpretation:

1. The letters are for seven literal churches existing in Johns day, and seven types of churches which will exist during the Church Age.
   
   This statement has broad agreement.
   
   
2. While all seven types of churches always exist, one type dominates a particular era of the church history.
   
   This statement is controversial amongst pre-millennial theologians and is known as the "Historical-prophetic interpretation".

Church History Divisions:

1. Ephesus - AD 30-100 Apostolic Church
2. Smyrna - AD 100-313 Roman Persecution
3. Pergamum - AD 313-600 Age of Constantine
4. Thyatira - AD 600-1517 Dark Ages
5. Sardis - AD 1517-1648 Reformation
6. Philadelphia - AD 1649-1900 Missionary Movement
7. Laodicea - AD 1900 - Present Apostasy

Rev 3:14-22 - The Letter to the Laodicean Church

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

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Footnotes:

1. Dr Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of the Messiah, pp 47 - 90