Gordon Lightfoot: "Canadian Railroad Trilogy"

This artist is one of a few I know who proudly sang about Canada. The railroads opened up this land. Those who built them, mostly by hand, contended with everything from bogs to steep mountain sides. While abuses of personnel did happen, the tenacity of those railroad builders is laudable.

Listen to Gordon Lightfoots tribute to these men here:

We followers of Christ owe our inclusion in his family to faithful followers. As Jude 1:3 (Bible in Basic English) says, "My loved ones, while my thoughts were full of a letter which I was going to send you about our common salvation, it was necessary for me to send you one requesting you with all my heart to go on fighting strongly for the faith which has been given to the saints once and for ever."

We read of God's testimony of one faithful man in Numbers 12:6 and 7 (BBE). "And he said, 'Now give ear to my words: if there is a prophet among you I will give him knowledge of myself in a vision and will let my words come to him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so; he is true to me in all my house:'"

When unfaithful priests blackened the name of God with their wickedness, the Lord deposed them and put in a new one. As he said in 1 Samuel 2:35 (BBE), "And I will make a true priest for myself, one who will do what is in my heart and in my mind: and I will make for him a family which will not come to an end; and his place will be before my holy one for ever."

God's truth is incredibly valuable in this world of lies. In Christ's parable of the talents, Matthew 25:21 (BBE) leaves no doubt. "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and true servant: you have been true in a small thing, I will give you control over great things: take your part in the joy of your lord.'"

If that great and wonderful day hasn't happened by Saturday, I'll post about not being stuck in the past.

What Is Our Common Salvation?

In the house church I once attended, the lay minister claimed that Jude 1:3 referred to everybody becoming saved. This Universalist idea is wrong and many scriptures refute the belief that nobody is sent to hell forever.

So what did Jude mean about our common salvation? It's open to every person who surrenders control of their lives to Christ. Peter proclaimed in Acts 2:39 (Bible in Basic English) that, "For the word of God is for you and for your children and for all those who are far off, even all those who may be marked out by the Lord our God."

In one of Christ's parables, he described the end of the age as the end of a day when a farmer hired day labourers to reap his field. We see in Matthew 20:16 (King James Version) that not everybody will be chosen to follow him. "So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen."

Those Universalists should also read Matthew 8:29 (BBE). Even the demons knew better than to think hell didn't last forever. "And they gave a loud cry, saying, 'What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Have you come here to give us punishment before the time?'"

I've written before about Luke Chapter sixteen and how the rich man had a great gulf fixed between him and heaven so nobody could cross it. This one verse alone shows that going to hell is a one way trip.

But for us who are marked out for salvation, we won't ever depart out of Christ's glorious kingdom. As Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 17 (BBE), "Because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a word of authority, with the voice of the chief angel, with the sound of a horn: and the dead in Christ will come to life first; Then we who are still living will be taken up together with them into the clouds to see the Lord in the air: and so will we be for ever with the Lord."

If that doesn't happen by Thursday, I plan on posting about the best sort of peace.

Saturday Song: Klaatu; Sell Out! Sell Out!

In 1980, Canadian rock band Klaatu took a different artistic direction. Instead of space rock, they "sold out" and recorded an album of American-sounding tracks. The band's producer hoped it would help the band sell more LPs in the United States.

The group members weren't happy about this, hence this song. In it, they expressed their opinion of the band's change of stile to hopefully "crank up that "funk machine." Sadly for them, it didn't work.

Listen to the song here:

Many Christian churches have done the same thing. They've accommodated the world's people with a watered-down version of the gospel. As a result, topics like hell, repentance, and surrender to Christ are omitted from their services.

This is not a new problem as the first-century church had the same issues. We see this in Jude 1:3 (BBE). "My loved ones, while my thoughts were full of a letter which I was going to send you about our common salvation, it was necessary for me to send you one requesting you with all my heart to go on fighting strongly for the faith which has been given to the saints once and for ever."

Furthermore, Satan had his infiltrators join congregations and twist the scriptures to match their carnal desires. We read this example in 2 Peter 3:15 and 16 (BBE). "And be certain that the long waiting of the Lord is for salvation; even as our brother Paul has said in his letters to you, from the wisdom which was given to him; And as he said in all his letters, which had to do with these things; in which are some hard sayings, so that, like the rest of the holy Writings, they are twisted by those who are uncertain and without knowledge, to the destruction of their souls."

A friend of Paul's also sold out. We read in 2 Timothy 4:10 (BBE), "For Demas has gone away from me, for love of this present life, and has gone to Thessalonica: Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia."

Why do seemingly strong Christians sell out? We read in 1 John 2:19 (BBE) that, "They went out from us but they were not of us; if they had been of us they would still be with us: but they went out from us so that it might be made clear that they were not of us."

On Monday, provided Christ hasn't returned, I hope to post about how even we are saints.

Why is it More Blessed to Believe Without Seeing?

I mentioned Thomas in a previous post and how Jesus didn't chastise him for his doubts. Our Lord knows our hearts and how we have gaps in our understanding of his providential care of us.

One gap certain believers have is the meaning of faith. They believe it's some sort of spiritual power and we can generate enough of it to trip the solenoid of God's blessing. What errant nonsense!

Faith has two meanings in Scripture. One definition is the truth given to us by God. Jude 1:3 (KJV) explains, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, 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."

The other meaning of faith is our trust in God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 1:21 (KJV) teaches us, "Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God."

Furthermore, John 20:29 (KJV) contains the answer to this question of being more blessed though we haven't seen our Lord face to face. "Jesus saith unto him, 'Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.'"

Our trust in the invisible Trinity is what sets us apart from adherents to other belief systems. And those who doubt God's existence do so because they don't want to acknowledge his claim on their lives. As Jesus explained in John 3:19 (KJV), "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

Implicit trust is what our Lord requires of all who follow him. I'll be writing in detail about it in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Unbelief is what will send many millions to hell, even if those folks call it doubt or rationalism.