Marley’s Chains May 29, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, Faith, Faith alone, legalism, Religion, religious customs, religious systems, religious traditions
add a comment
To paraphrase scripture as presented in the Message we see that not only has the Church become Israel many have become spies only pretending to be Christians, who slipped in to find out just how free true Christians are who seek to pervert the freedom from religious legalism Christ gives us. They want to build their own kingdoms and feather their own nests by bringing others into the same religious bondage they drag around like Marley’s chains through a life that reeks of the grave.
Now the paraphrase of Romans 2:17-29:
If you’re brought up Christian, don’t assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you’re an insider to God’s revelation, a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God’s revealed Word inside and out, feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I’m quite serious. While preaching “Don’t steal!” are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? It is the same with adultery. And it is the same with idolatry. You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and his law. The line from Scripture, “It’s because of you Christians that the outsiders are down on God,” shows it’s an old problem that isn’t going to go away.
Baptism, the ritual that marks you as a Christian, is great if you live in accord with God’s law. But if you don’t, it’s worse than not being baptized. The reverse is also true: The unbaptized who keep God’s ways are as good as the baptized —in fact, better. Better to keep God’s law unbaptized than break it baptized. Don’t you see: It’s not the submerging in water that makes a Christian. You become a Christian by who you are. It’s the submerging of your heart in God, not the water on your skin that makes you a Christian. And the recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.
Not only are we warned to avoid the legalism of religion we are specifically warned about false teachers and wolves disguised as Christians who seek to build their own kingdoms and lead others astray.
At the end of the book of Romans Paul warns us; One final word of counsel, friends. Keep a sharp eye out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth. They have no intention of living for our Master Christ. They’re only in this for what they can get out of it, and aren’t above using pious sweet talk to dupe unsuspecting innocents.
And in Philippians 3:17-19 Paul tells us; Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.
I’m not knocking anyone’s beliefs or their traditions. What I am doing is trying to warn those who want to follow Christ. We can’t let anyone, anything, or the peer pressure of any community fool us into elevating a system of man over the freedom of Christ. We should ask ourselves, “How can customs, traditions, holidays, and ceremonies transplanted from paganism to attract or mollify converts as faith in Christ was spread, sometimes by the sword, across barbarian Europe after the fall of Rome save us?” Anything that obscures the fact that it’s by faith alone that we’re saved and by obedience alone we’re changed is something holding us back from becoming what God created us to be.
Once again turning to Paul, the Apostle of the heart set free, we find in Galatians a stunning rebuke of those trying to turn a living faith into a religious structure. In Chapter three he says, “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” After faith comes we’re free. Holding on to the structure of religion may make following easier but making ourselves a slave to it doesn’t set us free. And Christ came to set us free.
Remember whatever is not of faith is sin and no one can snatch us out of the hand of God but we can sure jump.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Show Me Then I’ll Believe May 21, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, filled with the Holy Spirit, help!, Jesus saves, Salvation, the Good News, the Gospel, trials and tribulations
add a comment
I’m in the process of re-writing my autobiography. I initially wrote it back in the early nineties. Until now it never seemed like the right time to publish it, but now I believe the time has arrived.
As I re-read the chapters which chronicle the adventures of a lost young man throwing away everything nature and nurture gave him and self-medicating his way to total despair I can’t help but think of all the missed opportunities and self-inflicted pain. Anything that should’ve meant something was discarded in a blind attempt to escape the pain of not understanding the world around me.
However, time and maturity have finally taught me that if I hadn’t taken every step I’ve taken to be here I wouldn’t be here. Instead I’d be somewhere else. And I know without a shadow of doubt that I’m standing exactly where God wants me, which is the only place I ever want to be.
At an early age I discovered History and my immature mind told me, “If you understand how we got here maybe you could understand here?” So I started reading History on a daily basis, a habit I’ve never lost. However as I gained a vast knowledge base I didn’t seem to gain any wisdom.
I knew what happened but the why always seemed to escape me. I just couldn’t figure out why bad things happened to good people and good things happened to bad people. A fact the study of History proves over and over. The drugs and alcohol I used to ease the pain of confusion didn’t help. I ended up thinking I should do bad things if I wanted good things to happen.
As a child I’d given up on Christianity the first time I heard about turning the other cheek. My young but already street smart mind told me, “If you do that the world is going to slap the taste out of your mouth.”
I thought ideas such as loving those who hate you, returning good for evil, and sacrificing yourself for the good of others was foolishness. Living like this seemed like walking backwards through a burning building. I just couldn’t see the forest for the trees.
At least not until I’d lived my life into a corner and came to the end of my rope believing there was no afterlife and nothing except what I could touch, see, or feel. I figured if this is all there is why go on, why continue living only to die. My life became a parody of the chorus from the song, Is That All There Is; “Is that all there is, is that all there is, if that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing let’s break out the booze and have a ball if that’s all there is.”
Luckily for me that isn’t all there is.
That’s when I ran into Jesus. I gave my burned-out useless life to Him and He gave it back to me all shiny and new. He gave me purpose. He gave me hope. He gave me a loving wife, the love of my life, who’s my other half in a one flesh marriage. He gave me the opportunity to know the joys of being a second-chance father and a stand-in grandfather after having all my own children aborted.
In my former life I did my best to destroy and throw away everything given to me. But, God works with what’s left. He takes the cinders and the ashes and makes them into something beautiful. Tears may come at night but joy comes in the morning.
Has everything been as smooth as silk and twice as nice since I’ve become a new creation? Not by a long shot. There’ve been trials and tribulations beyond counting and they aren’t over yet. At first I would pray for God to take this cup from me forgetting the second half of the prayer, “but not my will but yours be done.” Then I’d wonder, “Why do I keep going through the same things over and over?”
Somehow in my continuous reading of God’s Word I’d missed this part:
Even when we’re surrounded by troubles we keep right on shouting praises, because we know if we walk through these troubles hand-in-hand with the man who stilled the sea they’ll develop perfect patience in us. And if we learn to practice perfect patience this forges the polished steel of virtue. This virtue keeps living in expectancy ever on the lookout for what God will do next. Living in this kind of breathless expectancy, we’re never left feeling ripped-off or overwhelmed by circumstances. No, it’s just the opposite. If we’ll walk through our problems like this we can’t find enough treasure chests to contain all the blessings God in His mind-blowing generosity pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
Still seeking after wisdom I spend every day pursuing the One who is wisdom, the One who is light and life, the One who is the Savior of my soul, the King of Glory who died and rose again. The ever living Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father, the One who sent the Holy Spirit to live in me.
If life doesn’t seem to make any sense, if we find ourselves going through the same things over and over let’s step out of the meaningless maze of carnival mirrors and find peace in union with God. Give it all up to get it all back. If we lay down our lives Jesus will show us how to live. Let’s stop fighting a war that’s already been won. Victory is found in surrender. It isn’t a matter of “Show me then I’ll believe,” instead it’s a matter of “Believe and it will be revealed.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Dr. Owens’ Newest Book May 16, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
America’s Steel Horse Brigade
In America’s Steel Horse Brigade, the fourth volume of Dr. Owens’ thrilling America’s Trojan War series, the battle between the Bryan/Stando regime and the forces of freedom heats up. Tensions rise and emotions flare as fighting erupts like a volcano of violence melting any semblance of normal life. From the Heartland through the border regions massive armies dance in a duel of death as freedom hangs in the balance.
This title as well as all Dr. Owens’ books are available at Amazon
All We Need To Know May 14, 2019
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Adam’s sin, Dr. Robert Owens, Jesus saves, propitiation, redemption, Salvation, the Gospel
add a comment
The Bible tells us Adam sold us down the river of sin. His first sin, disobedience was followed by death; spiritual death or separation from God and then physical death. The Bible also tells us no one gets a free pass. Every one of us descended from Adam is born in sin and subject to death. Because that first sin of Adam’s broke humanity’s relationship with God in every way.
However, the far reaching extent of this wasn’t apparent till God made it crystal clear to Moses. Here’s what we learned from God’s detailed and explicit law: Sin is a yawning chasm separating us from God that leads to death. We also learned that even those who don’t sin in the same way Adam did, by disobeying a specific command of God, sin in one way or another. Consequently we all experience both the spiritual and the physical end of life which is separation from God not just as an inheritance but as something each of us earns on our own.
But God didn’t leave us hopeless. When God cursed the serpent for tempting Eve to sin which is what dragged Adam into choosing fellowship with his wife over fellowship with his Creator He also made a promise that from woman would come a Savior. From the moment of the fall comes the hope of resurrection pointing ahead to the One chosen before the foundation of the world to get us off this one way conveyor belt to hell.
To maintain God’s absolute justice sin had to be paid for. The penalty of separation and death had to be fulfilled. All humanity could ever do was continue the cycle over and over since everyone sinned and added to the burden of the verdict. Then Jesus Christ, God Himself, came to bear the burden and pay the price becoming a sinless sacrifice, the just for the unjust. His death foreshadowed by every sacrifice ever offered up under the Law.
However, the blood of goats, bulls, sheep, and other animals could never cleanse from sin. The best they could do was cover symptoms of sin through obedience to the commands of God. They couldn’t deal with the root cause, separation from God because no human ever lived a sinless life after offering one sacrifice so another was always needed and death flowed like a river of sewage through the lives of all.
Just as Adam’s sin brought death into the world one person condemning many the sacrifice of Jesus brings life into the world One person making the way open for many. Though one foreshadowed the other and one fulfilled the other the gift of Jesus is not perfectly parallel to the death-dealing sin of Adam. You see if Adam’s sin put all of humanity in the well-deserved black hole of separation from God, imagine what God’s undeserved gift poured out through Jesus Christ’s sinless sacrifice can do. How can we possibly compare Adam’s death-dealing sin and Jesus’ life-giving gift? The righteous verdict on Adam’s sin was the death sentence on everyone born of Adam. The gracious verdict on the sacrifice of Jesus is this life restoring sentence on everyone born of Jesus, the second Adam.
Here it is in a nutshell: Death which is separation from God gained the upper hand through Adam’s sin. Now the astounding recovery of life, real life, life in union with God explodes in our spirit as soon as we’re born-again out of the descending line of Adam and into the ascending line of Jesus. Since the price has been paid and an acceptable sacrifice made the just for the unjust everyone who accepts this absolutely undeserved and free life-gift sees reality flow back into the mold God initially wanted for humanity: Living, loving, and praising in union with Him.
That’s the back story now for all you need to know:
If we confess Jesus as the head of our life and if we believe in our hearts God raised Him from the dead we will be saved.
It just that easy and it’s yours if you want it.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 