Acknowledging Our Citizenship

[每日靈修] 2/22/2019,  未譯

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/acknowledging-our-citizenship/

My wife and I were traveling in Eastern Europe with another couple several years ago. When we crossed the border from Hungary to Romania, three burly, rough-looking soldiers boarded the train to check our passports and examine our luggage. Their leader indicated that he wanted to see our passports. As we handed them to him, he pointed to our luggage. As I rose to reach for a large suitcase, he suddenly stopped me. In broken English, he said, “Wait! You not American!” Then he looked at the woman who was traveling with us and said, “You not American.”

I must confess I was gripped by a vise of fear. The man pointed to a paper bag our friend had on the seat beside her. “What is that?” he asked, pointing to the edges of a book that protruded out of the top of the bag. She pulled out her Bible. I gulped, thinking to myself, “Now, we are in real trouble.”

The soldier took the Bible and began to leaf through its pages. He opened to the second chapter of Ephesians and pointed to verse 19. He ordered: “Read.” We read aloud, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”

Instantly, the soldier’s face radiated with a benevolent smile as he said: “You not American. I not Romanian. We are citizens of heaven.” Then he turned to his fellow troops and said, “These people okay.” He returned our passports and bade us Godspeed.

Coram Deo

Thank God for your citizenship in heaven.

Passages for Further Study

Psalm 133:1–2

Ephesians 4:4–5

Denying Dualism

[每日靈修] 10/16/2018, 未譯

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/denying-dualism/

The Devil-as-myth view is Satan’s right-hand punch. If that one doesn’t get you, then watch out for his left hook. The left-hand attack moves the disinformation to the opposite extreme. If Satan can’t get you to ignore him by denying his very existence, he will cunningly lead you to attribute power to him far beyond what he actually possesses. He will seek to persuade you that he is virtually equal to God.

Dualism, as a philosophy and a religion, has vied with Christianity from the beginning. Dualism affirms that the universe is the staging area, the combat zone, for two equal and opposite beings who struggle with each other eternally.

Satan is falsely described in terms of omniscience, omnipresence, and the power to do actual, not merely counterfeit, miracles. He is given attributes orthodox Christianity labels as the incommunicable attributes of God and he is assigned power over nature that rivals the Creator’s.

The Bible teaches that Satan is a finite spiritual being. He is temporal and created. In a word, he is a creature. He is more powerful that we, but he is not omnipotent. He is not immutable, as God is. Indeed, Satan’s mutability is profound. His most obvious mutation is his fall. He was created a good angel. He fell from his original righteousness and is now totally malevolent.

Coram Deo

Have you been attributing power to Satan beyond what the Bible indicates he possesses?

Passages for Further Study

Luke 10:19

Acts 26:17-18

1 John 4:4