Archives for posts with tag: born-again
This episode of, ‘Frankly Speaking’ was a continuation of the show I did the previous month regarding the topic of, ‘Eternal Salvation – What it Is & What it Ain’t’, with the same guest, Pastor Greg Odiorne of the Merrimack Valley Baptist Church in Merrimack NH. This particular episode was recorded in the Nashua Public TV studio on 1-18-23.
Among the topics included in this show were: the 10 Commandments, and how they pertain to Salvation for those who lived before Jesus Christ; how Jesus ‘moved the proverbial goal posts’ regarding even hating someone the equivalent to murdering them; the presumption that Hell is probably more populated than Heaven; why we are now living in what the Bible refers to, ‘the End Times’; exactly how effective is Ray Comfort’s ‘The Way of the Master’ outreach approach to actually “converting people to Jesus Christ”; what can people expect on Judgement Day according to the Bible; what exactly did Jesus mean when he said that we (His followers) would be doing “greater works” than even himself; why do prayer requests sometimes fail; and lastly, what are the significance of “Crowns” in the Bible?
Perhaps to fully grasp the entire context of Pastor Odiorne’s message on, Eternal Salvation, you may also want to watch and study the initial part of this topic from the ‘Frankly Speaking’ episode we recorded about a month earlier on, 12-28-22.
Incidentally, if you wish to learn more about the Merrimack Valley Baptist Church, or maybe ask Pastor Odiorne a few questions from something mentioned in this episode, please feel free to log onto: http://www.MVBC.org .
Local entertainer Sharon DiFronzo of Screamin Heart Records, sang the intro and outro theme song of this show, “ Comin’ and Goin’ ” .
Pastor Greg Odiorne of Merrimack Valley Baptist Church in Merrimack NH, was my guest for this episode of, ‘Frankly Speaking‘, which was recorded on 12-28-22 in the Nashua Public TV studio.
In this episode we discussed the Biblical meaning of “Eternal Salvation“; a.k.a. “Saved“, “Born Again“, “eternity in Heaven“, etc. We spoke about the simplicity of how easy God made salvation for anyone who realized that they needed to have Jesus Christ as a personal Lord and Savior in their life via a belief in their heart, along with a prayer (often referred to as the, Sinner’s Prayer, or Salvation Prayer), which is outlined in Romans 10:9-10.
We also discussed a few misconceptions of what many people often mistake for Eternal Salvation, such as: Water Baptism, Last Rites, and Miraculous Supernatural Signs.
This is an especially fantastic episode to watch, especially if you’ve never accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior into your life yet and you still have some questions and concerns about this whole subject matter.
If you wish to contact Pastor Odiorne, or anyone else about anything mentioned in this episode, the Merrimack Valley Baptist Church is located on 517 Boston Post Road in Merrimack; and its website is: http://www.MVBC.org . Their regular weekly services include: two Sunday morning services, and a Wednesday evening Bible study.
Local area entertainer Sharon DiFronzo of Screamin Heart records sang the intro and outro theme song to this show, “Comin’ and Goin’.”
Many people often wonder why Evangelical Christians choose to endorse President Donald Trump based on his lifestyle and a lot of his previous quotes and actions. Some question if Trump is even a Christian believer himself. For whatever reason, Trump has championed many of the same issues Christians have fought for in government.
This oddity is nothing new to God Almighty, however, when it comes to having His Will come into fruition despite current leadership not exactly being in His corner.
We know that there are at least two former leaders of Israel mentioned in the Bible whom God used for His Divine purpose yet were not considered staunch followers of the Lord’s.
Several months ago, I did a posting regarding a book authored by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn titled, ‘The Paradigm‘, which Trump shared a number of similarities with Jehu, the former ruler of Northern Israel.
In this video, Senior Pastor Tim Sheets, of the Oasis Church in Middleton, Ohio did a recent sermon titled, ‘King Cyrus & Prophetic Insight‘, drawing a number of comparison between Cyrus and our 45th President. On a positive note, this will give some of you Biblical scholars an opportunity to do a little Old Testament research on both Jehu, and King Cyrus.
Hopefully and prayerfully, somebody like a Christian believer will share with President Trump how to accept Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior for himself before both meet face-to-face on Judgement Day, a.k.a. Salvation, born again, etc. I’d only want to see the absolute best for this man, or anybody else, when it comes to how they spend all eternity.
John Lynn, president of The Living Truth Fellowship, was my guest for this episode of, ‘Frankly Speaking’. This was also the first time we ever recorded a ‘Frankly Speaking’ episode via Skype — Lynn was at his residence in Indianapolis, while I was doing the interview from the usual Access Nashua (New Hampshire) studio. The interview took place on August 5, 2019.
I first met Lynn when an individual from his then-Biblical research organization told me about Jesus Christ and how to attain eternal salvation through the Word of God, a.k.a. the Bible, back in the late 70’s. Lynn has been a Pastor for more than 50 years, and TLTF is now his third Christian organization.
We covered numerous topics during this approximate hour long episode which included but not limited to: the Trinity, Speaking in Tongues, fellow-shipping with other like-minded believers, could the second-coming of Jesus take place now or is he waiting for more people to accept him as Lord and Savior, what is repentance, how does one attain eternal salvation, etc.?
John Lynn has also made three Biblically foundational video teaching series with TLTF: ‘One Day with the Creator’, ‘The End Times’; and, ‘Jesus Christ: The Diameter of the Ages’.
Sharon DiFronzo of Screamin Heart records sang the intro and outro to my show’s theme song for this episode.
For further information about John Lynn and his ministry, please log onto: TLTF.org ; or, if you’re on either YouTube or Twitter, type in keyword: JustTruthIt . Incidentally, I’ve posted a couple of TLTF video teachings by Lynn in the Comment section of this Thread featuring: the Trinity, Speaking in Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues, and Fundamental Basics for Spiritual Growth. In addition to all that, I also posted a popular YouTube video in the Comments section giving the opposing side to Lynn’s argument regarding the Trinity in the Bible.
http://www.evantell.org/blog/clarity-consistency-the-greatest-duo-in-evangelism
By Larry Moyer
March 14, 2018
Like most students, lunch break was my favorite “class” in school. That was especially true in the spring. But it had nothing to do with lunch. It had everything to do with baseball. The goal was to down lunch as quickly as possible and then head to the baseball field.
When I reflect on those days, I remember the dynamic duo—two guys in our class that made an unbeatable team (one even went on to play in the major leagues). Everyone knew that if those two guys were ever on the same team, the opposing team was in BIG trouble. The opposing team had but two choices—head for the locker room or suffer an embarrassing defeat.
Dynamic duos occur in other areas such as the ballpark of evangelism. Four decades of experience has taught me there is an “unbeatable duo” in evangelism—two items that when combined in the same person makes his or her witness something that even Satan has reason to fear. If call that dynamic duo “clarity with the lips and consistency with the life.” Common sense tells you what makes such a combination so powerful.
Clarity with the lips means the believer’s greatest emphasis is not just telling others to come to Christ but telling them how to come to Christ. His clarity is demonstrated three ways.
1) A simple message—He doesn’t attempt to share all 66 books of the Bible, but the 10 words of the gospel: Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead (1 Cor. 15:3–4).
2) A clear definition of saving faith—The gospel of John, the book written to tell us how to receive eternal life (John 20:31), exhorts us 98 times to believe. That means understanding that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again, as well as trusting in Christ alone to save you. A person who is clear on saving faith understands that walking an aisle or saying a prayer is not what makes one right with God. He avoids phrases such as “invite Jesus into your heart,” “accept Christ,” or “give your life to God.” Not only are those phrases not used in the New Testament, but they don’t convey the idea that I must trust in Christ and His finished work on the cross as my only basis of eternal life.
3) An emphasis that salvation is not given on the basis of Christ plus anything but on the basis of Christ period—It is not Christ and a healthy dose of good deeds that saves us. It is Christ alone. When such a person leads others to Christ, the new converts typically understand the plan of salvation so clearly that they find it easy to turn around and explain it to someone else.
Now lay alongside that witness consistency with the life. It’s the kind of consistency Paul refers to when he says “that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15).
Nothing backs up a terrific message better than a terrific life. The comment has been made that when the world is at its worst Christians need to be at their best.
Non-Christians are often looking for a reason to toss our message aside. When they find a person whose holiness of life resembles the holiness of his message, they are rendered “speechless.” The Holy Spirit’s conviction says to him, “You’ve tossed other Christians aside. What are you going to do with that one?”
In baseball terms, clarity and consistency scores a home run.
First and foremost, I sure hope and pray that the annual Christian music festival in Gunstock NH, commonly known as “Soulfest” — which just celebrated its 20th Anniversary last week — will be able to hold this tremendous event for AT LEAST 20 more years somewhere here in the Granite State.
Just a couple years ago, the Gallop polling organization determined thru a national poll it conducted that New Hampshire was the Second Least Religious State in our country, just behind neighboring Vermont — but you’d never assume something like that by checking out the thousands of people on the Soulfest grounds at any given time during this three-day festival. To those unfamiliar with the annual Soulfest event in New Hampshire, I think it could best be described as the Christian counterpart to Woodstock.
What’s really a blessing is that the crowd predominately appears to be 20-somethings or younger. If that’s accurate, it gives me great hope and faith for New Hampshire’s future. And given the choice, I’d rather see the young people of America put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and the Bible, rather than any political or secular philosophy. That’s just me.
Needless to say, the purpose of the following commentary is NOT to trash Soulfest, and other events around the country similar to it, but rather hopefully improve this event for many more years to come via open dialogue and discussion on this type of open forum. I have no doubt there are probably a fair number of people who attend this event that become “saved” and make it a personal vow to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior in their life — Praise God for something like that. It’s also my understanding that there’s either a pond or lake on the Soulfest grounds specifically set-up for Water Baptisms at this event — Praise God for that, as well. I’m merely trying to throw out some suggestions in an attempt to make the whole Soulfest experience a little more comfortable and enjoyable for all those who attend.
Soulfest 2017 was my fifth consecutive visit to this annual event and I only attended one day for each of these past years. As for my age, I’ll just say I’m now within eight years from receiving my full Social Security pension.
Having said all that, here are my biggest “concerns” regarding Soulfest, which I hope and pray are fully remedied within the next couple years:
1) A tent or device constantly spraying a cool watery mist — I believe there are similar type items like this at the Storyland amusement park (a cool mist tent) in the White Mountains community of Glen, NH; as well as the Annual Folk Festival (an outdoor shower type device) in Lowell MA. It seems like each and every time I’ve gone to Soulfest, it feels like it’s about 110 degrees — especially when you’re either walking or standing up in the hot sun. In the 20 year history of Soulfest, I’m curious if anybody has ever been treated for heat exhaustion, sun stroke, or dehydration. Again, I have absolutely no clue how difficult or expensive this would be to install and set-up — especially for a three-day event every year — but it would just be a tremendous blessing just to cool off a little bit without getting all your clothes, wallet, and cell phone soaked to the bone.
2) More available folding chairs in shaded areas like the Mercy St. Cafe — Another welcomed blessing from standing or walking around in predominately the hot sun (especially for an old geezer such as myself) would be to sit down — preferably in a chair with a back rest — in a nice cool shaded area for about 15-20 minutes. Sitting on either the ground or the floor in the Mercy St. Cafe, doesn’t feel comfortable or relaxing. Would an area business or church be willing to either donate or lend a few hundred folding chairs to Soulfest for solely this three-day event? Perhaps somehow it could be tax deductible?
3) Make cold bottled spring water more available for patrons — I realize that cold bottled water is for sale at most, if not all, the food vendors at Soulfest for about $1.50 per bottle. Why not offer a discount to organizations and colleges who rent the display tables that they’d be given something like a 10-15 percent discount if they maintain an ice-filled cooler behind their table with small half-pint spring water bottles, which they’d give to any patron who request one? I hate to sound like I’m trying to encroach on your food vendors but I think if you’re going to hang around Soulfest for a couple hours, it’s crucial that you keep hydrated.
4) Numeric or Alphabetical Identifiers on Rows in the Parking Lot as is done at Malls, Supermarkets, and Department Stores — It’s truly amazing that the folks that operate the Gunstock ski resort haven’t remedied this situation in its parking lot long before Soulfest started 20 years ago. The reason that this issue concerns me is because I started having an anxiety attack of sorts when I went to the parking lot at night after the main concert a couple years back and sincerely forgot where I had parked my car (a somewhat common condition for old geezers like me). But how difficult would it be for the Soulfest parking lot volunteers to set up a system of rows with either orange pylons, or maybe folding chairs, and tape a piece of cardboard on it stating, 1A, 1B, 1C…etc.? Since that experience on forgetting where I parked my car at Soulfest, I now modify my car a little bit so I’ll especially notice it from a distance. But why can’t the Soulfest organizers remedy this situation so it’ll never happen again to someone else in the future — especially when they charge $10 per day to park?
5) An Easy to Figure Out Exit Procedure for Patrons Leaving Soulfest — Are there Soulfest parking lot volunteers who work 24/7 or no? I tried leaving a couple hours early last week and it took me about 15-20 minutes of driving around before I located a parking lot volunteer who explained to me how to exit — does it have to be as complicated as trying to figure out a Rubik’s cube to simply exit a parking lot?
6) Was this the best possible event for a ‘Landmark’ 20th Anniversary? — So the main headline performers for this year’s Soulfest were: 8/3/17, Th., For King & Country; 8/4/17, F, Matthew West; and, 8/5/17, Sat., Toby Mac. Now no disrespect to any of these Christian artists, I’m sure they’re all very financially successful and will continue to make a “joyful noise unto the Lord.” But are these the top artists in the Christian music genre? In the past 1-2 years, have any of them appeared as guests on the Daystar TV network, or maybe the Trinity Broadcasting Network? And if not signing a top-notch Christian artist to perform here, why not feature a never before unique item, like a Christian version of an off-Broadway play, to highlight a ‘landmark’ production in an anniversary year of an annual event, i.e. 10th year, 20th year, 25th year, etc.? An outdoor fireworks display might’ve been a little tacky to end each of the three nights of a Christian music festival. But popular Christian artists who have played the Soulfest main stage in the past five years like Chris Tomlin, Kari Jobe, or Michael W. Smith might’ve made this 20th Anniversary event a little more special. Just saying.
Lastly, if some of the aforementioned items were a major question of finances, I definitely get it. I usually bring my own cooler with ice and spring water, which I leave in my car. But still, I don’t think I can stay at Soulfest for more than 5-6 hours in a day out of fear of suffering from some type of heat stroke. But whether or not I continue to attend the annual Soulfest event I sure hope some type of Christian music festival with thousands of participants goes on in New Hampshire for many more years after I’m gone. I sincerely mean that. I anxiously look forward to any comments regarding this posting.
What is it that they say about New Year’s Resolutions — give it a week or two, and then it’s just a faint memory. By the time February rolls around, it’s as if you never attempted it in the first place. But if you try to make it your objective to, lets say, quit smoking or lose about 100 pounds — it takes a tremendous amount of discipline to stick to a goal like that and succeed by year’s end.
In 2016, I wanted to do something I always dreamed of doing but, for whatever reason, never got around to getting done — that would be reading the entire Bible, from cover-to-cover, within a one-year period. In my particular case, I was done by the Veteran’s Day holiday, so it was a little more than 10 months.
Several years ago, I remember watching Jim Bakker, who was the Pastor and Host of the former ‘PTL (Praise the Lord) Club’ TV show and subsequently went to prison on Fraud charges. After serving his sentence, Bakker became a Pastor again in the popular vacation resort community of Branson Missouri and made a rather startling statement on the interview show I saw him on.
Bakker said that until he went to Prison, he had never read the Bible from cover-to-cover. Then when he knew that he’d be in Prison for several years, along with the fact that a Bible is one of the few things they allow an inmate to have, Bakker felt it was a great opportunity for him to finally read the entire Bible, from cover-to-cover.
Call me gullible and naive if you will, but I always assumed that reading the entire Bible, from cover-to-cover was just a basic prerequisite to graduating from any reputable Minister’s college. I mean, if you love God, you should love His Word — right? People who choose to devote their lives to “Preaching the Gospel” ought to take the time to, at least, read and study the Holy Bible forwards, backwards, and sideways so it becomes a part of their every living fiber and their absolute deepest thoughts.
Truth be told, I think there are more ordained Ministers in the world like Jim Bakker — BEFORE he went to Prison — when it comes to having the discipline to read thru the entire Bible, even once, from cover-to-cover. Granted, I think most Ministers are very familiar with the vast majority of the Bible and have ample resources to locate a scripture within seconds, but in all fairness, the Bible does have some very intimidating sections.
For example, when the Bible gets into the bloodline (or the Genealogy) from Adam to Jesus Christ, you’ve got a ton of names there — a lot of whom have no second mentions. Are “good Christians” expected to memorize all these names and people? Although I sort of think I’m in good company on this issue because it seems like every time I watch the popular TV cartoon show, The Simpsons, they have Rev. Lovejoy preaching a sermon on some portion of the genealogy cited in the Bible, and then they turn the cameras and we see both Homer and Bart sound asleep in their seats. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, but I think the topic of genealogy is just a tough thing for most people to fully comprehend and understand.
And what about all the specific measurements God wanted for the building of Noah’s Ark? Or how about the exact size of a sacrificial altar? Or what are the specifics on how you select and then prepare an animal as a holy burnt offering?
God is very detailed oriented, there’s no doubt about it. I also acknowledge the fact that there are a handful of individuals among us now who could easily memorize the aforementioned Bible scriptures, at least, as well as a lot of folks can memorize baseball or football statistics. I just hope and pray that I’m not held accountable on Judgement Day for not being able to memorize all those particular details. Praise God too that all those hard-to-comprehend details only make up a very small portion of the Bible.
Another thing worth noting here is that I went through an Internet site called, Biblica that offers a Plan it refers to as, The Bible in 365 Days. It not only divided the Bible into 365 parts with approximately 3-4 chapters per day, it also divided the Bible into three different sections: New Testament, Poetry (Psalms and Proverbs), and Old Testament (minus Psalms and Proverbs). Breaking up the Bible that way does make it a little more interesting to read and study, I feel. The listed scriptures for that particular day usually start at a natural starting point, and finishes at a natural ending point. I noticed too that there are a few other websites, and even some books, that offer similar type Bible-in-a-Year plans other than Biblica.
Personally, the only way I think I could’ve read the entire Bible, cover-to-cover, without the aid of the Internet or some type of prescribed Plan would be if I was in Prison like, Pastor Jim Bakker and I had a lot of free time on my hands.
So I guess that just leaves the question as to “why” anybody would want to read the Bible within a year or make it one of their, New Year’s Resolutions — there is a verse of scripture that states, “study to show thyself approved unto God”. So for starters, I’d love to be “approved” by God; I sort of think everybody would. Also, if we Christians accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in our lives, doesn’t it just make sense that we try to learn as much as we possibly can about “the One” who made this all possible?
There’s another verse of scripture — also in the New Testament — which states that it’s God’s Will for our lives to, “be Saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth.” Now becoming “Saved” or “Born Again” is fairly easy — just read Romans 10:9-10 and ask Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior in your life. The real “tough part” for a person actually wanting to be Saved — are they willing to Repent and Give Up their Sins in order to make Jesus Christ as the absolute Role Model and Standard-Bearer of their life? The second part of the aforementioned scripture, “come to the knowledge of the Truth” — well that’s truly a lifetime commitment and something even the best of Christians may never fully attain, at least here on Earth.
Prior to my 2016 New Year’s Resolution, I was fairly content with just memorizing a couple dozen scriptures that were fitting for either a tee shirt or bumper sticker — like, for example, John 3:16 — For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that whom ever believed in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s a beautiful verse of scripture which sort of requires hours, if not years of contemplation to try to fully capture the entire scope of its meaning. On the flip-side of that, for a Christian to just be content memorizing a couple dozen “Biggie” verses of scripture is sort of like saying you’ve got a great understanding of God because you took the time to read thru the Cliff Notes publication on the Bible.
There just has to be a lot more to God and Jesus Christ than a very condensed Cliff Notes publication on the Bible, along with a couple dozen “tremendous” verses of scripture that would look great on a vehicle’s bumper sticker. I want to know specifically, what other “hidden gems” does God have for our learning, understanding, and benefit elsewhere in the Bible? What popular cliches do we use in our everyday language that originally derived from God’s Word? Hence the need and desire for me to read and study the entire Bible, from cover-to-cover.
I don’t view myself as a better human being now that I’ve read the entire Bible, cover-to-cover, but I do think it’s a step in the right direction. Actual application — or the active practical “doing” of the Bible — is probably deemed a higher priority or a little more important in God’s eyes, than simple Bible verse memorization. Maybe 2-3 years from now, I may revisit one of these Internet plans and read over the New Testament or the Old Testament within a couple months just to try to keep myself sharp. On many different levels, I still view myself as, God’s Work in Progress, as opposed to being the person I really want to be or maybe becoming the person God wants me to be.
I guess I’ll just keep praying that I’ll eventually wind up where God really wants me to be.
As the old cliche goes, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you wish to contact Ms. Pawlik, please log onto her website, http://www.TheDarlingPrincess.com . Take heed and may God bless.
One Bad Decision Away From Homelessness 