Experience: (Jesus is LORD, Messiah)
Husband of a beautiful wife (41-years and counting); Father of three-beautiful children and a handsome grandson
Professional Experience:
---United States Marine Corps 1/1 - 0311 - NCO
---Retired 31-year veteran of the Houston Police Department (Uniformed Patrol/Motorcycle Officer/Commercial Helicopter Police Patrol Pilot
---Education: Master's Degree/University of Houston at Clear Lake
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Theological question on FB:“Do we lose salvation with every sin or only ‘continual/practicing sins?’”
Christian response…
If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and repented of your sin, received the Holy Spirit as the Seal and Guarantor of relationship with God the Father, you are secure forever in that relationship and Jesus Christ has told you this as well (John 10:28-30).
If one is “continually practicing sin,” there is serious doubt concerning the authenticity of their faith and relationship with God the Father (Matthew 7:15-20). No one that is truly born-again by the indwelling Holy Spirit will seek to live in willful sin…this simply cannot happen; therefore, you cannot lose what you’ve never possessed.
When we sin by commission or omission as believers-the redeemed, we immediately ask forgiveness (1 John 1:9) NOT to reestablish our salvation but to reestablish intimacy with our Lord. The most precious gift of the Salvation experience is peace and intimacy with our God (Romans 5:1). Sin disrupts this intimacy; therefore, the faithful confess their sin and apologize in order to maintain intimacy, closeness, with the God we love.
It’s the same with our family, our friends, those we love but might insult or hurt with our selfish behavior…we ask forgiveness in order that the bond of love can be enjoyed…not to reestablish that bond but only to enjoy it fully (Romans 5:1). Unlike the unpredictability of human relationships in the realm of Time, God the Father promises to keep His children secure when they have sincerely entered into a relationship with Him by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and having received the indwelling Holy Spirit of Promise, forever (John 14:16).
Atheists, addicted to the flesh, question the faith of Christians based on what Jesus may have looked like. “In 2001, a new attempt was made to discover what the true race and face of Jesus might have been, and the result is the pic below. If this pic were placed in churches, Christians would run for the exists. They would not worship Jesus, which should tell you that the images of Jesus in churches are pure fiction. They are what Christians want Jesus to look like–not what he actually looked like. Thoughts?”
Response to the atheist…
Mark, Jesus Christ-Yeshua is Jewish from the Patriarchy of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, through the Tribe of Judah as per His humanity and Jesus Christ-Yeshua is God, Creator, Messiah, Judge, of all Creation in His deity.
Mark, I know that those who are addicted to the flesh i.e. the naturalist-atheist-moral relativist place much emphasis on appearance as opposed to substance and sustainability but the Scriptures tell us that Messiah-Jesus was not necessarily attractive that any of us would be drawn to Him physically…but Jesus is God, Mark, and He humbled Himself and made Himself nothing by Worldly standards, taking on the form of a man and a servant He humbly walked to a Roman Crucifixion and suffered and died for you because He loves you and desires that you live with Him eternally (Philippians 2:8).
Question posited on FB: “Anne Frank died a young girl in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. She died Jewish. So what happened to her when she died, Heaven or…??
Christian response…
If Anne had faith in God and believed that He is true, God acted upon that faith just as He did for Enoch, Abraham, Rehab, Elijah, David and many others beginning with the Genesis. From the beginning of Time, righteousness (a right standing) with God the Father has been attainable by grace through faith, alone.
Messiah Yeshua was necessary for the atonement of sin because God the Father is not going to permit destructive, unrepentant sin to enter His Kingdom subsequent to the death of the body in Time (Revelation 21:27); therefore, those who died in faith before the Advent of Messiah, their disembodied spirit was detained in the region Messiah describes as Sheol-Hades/Paradise or Abraham’s Bosom (Luke 16). The Holy Spirit teaches that while Messiah’s body laid in the tomb subsequent to the Crucifixion, His Spirit entered Hades-Sheol and exclaimed freedom to the captives there and they were taken into the presence of the Father in the Kingdom (1 Peter 3; Matthew 27:50; Acts 2:31; Colossians 2:15; Ephesians 4:8-10).
Today, everyone who dies having placed their faith in Messiah-Yeshua as Lord, their sin is atoned-for by that faith and at the moment they exhale their last breath, they are escorted instantaneously into the presence of our Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Predestination? God does not pick winners and losers!
1) I ask you…what purpose does predestination serve?
2) How does the doctrine of predestination glorify God?
If God predestined men and women to Heaven or Hell, where would love be? How can one love without the ability to choose? How can love from-and-with God manifest in purity and authenticity if we’re unable to choose that love? How can a robotic love be fulfilling and whole…did God create robots or did He provide both His angelic and human creation with free will so that love and relationship with Him can manifest in purity and authenticity? Is not relegating one to Hell, even before they’ve breathed the breath of life, to suffer and die in futility not construed as evil?
The truth is, God the Father has given both His angelic and human creation free will to choose relationship with Him or reject that relationship and serve Satan by default. Our omnipotent God and His immutable will and His immutable Plan are not stymied by our free will. God, in His omnipotence, is perfectly capable of working through and around our personal choices to accomplish His immutable will for Time and Eternity. Has God destined certain individuals down through history to perform certain tasks…yes….MANY…but they too had the free will to reject those gifts and talents but, there again, this does not and did not stymie God’s immutable will…He simply moves-on and chooses another. God predestines all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth via the Gospel that was ordained “before the beginning of Time” (2 Timothy 1:10). But not all men will respond in the affirmative to that invitation and Jesus Christ has said that “many” will reject it and only a “few” will find life in His Name (Matthew 7:13-14). The promise of salvation is to “whoever” will believe in Him…John 3:16
Jewish stubbornness and the veil:“Christianity supposes to know the Messiah of Israel better than the Jews do. Israel rejects the God-man of Christianity because their Messiah is not “God the Son”.”
Christian response…
Israel rejects Yeshua because they misinterpreted the Scriptures about Him and believed that Yeshua would become an Earthly King and restore the vibrancy and strength of Israel as a Nation not understanding the Scriptures that affirm Messiah’s first-Advent as a suffering Lamb for the sins of mankind and Messiah’s responsibility to defeat the works of the Devil at the Crucifixion (John 1:29; 1 John 3:8b; Genesis 3:15).
It’s not until Messiah’s Second-Advent that He will restore the Nation of Israel and rule and reign over the Nations of the Earth for 1000-years with His headquarters in Jerusalem, Israel.
Because the Jews, the children of Jacob, have been a stubborn and stiff-necked people (Exodus 32:9; Deuteronomy 9:13) only a remnant of the children of Israel will be saved; this is prophesied because the children of Israel rejected Messiah Yeshua and demanded that His blood be on them and their children (Matthew 27:25); as a result, an overwhelming number of Israel’s offspring will die in sin and die in Hell (John 8:24; John 14:6).
In response to those well-meaning Christians who are bickering and worrying about non-essential doctrines of men relevant to the Scriptures and the completeness of the Canon of Scripture, please listen…
The very same God that took elements from the unseen Spiritual Realm and fashioned those elements into matter that can be apprehended by Time and physics then fashioned said matter into our Universe and complex human genome (Hebrews 11:3; Colossians 1:15-18; John 1; Gen. 1), this same Creator is perfectly capable of providing you with the EXACT words He desires you have so that you can know Him personally, love Him intimately, live with Him eternally; therefore, why not trust in the 66-Books He has provided you in the Canon of Scripture and stop worrying about the decisions of men (Psalm 118:8)?
Atheistic logic:“Does our mind and 5 senses interact with reality? Can’t say, because we don’t know what reality is. What say you?”
Christian response…
1) Naturalism, the demonically-based tenet of Darwinian Evolution, teaches that the Natural World is the only reality that can be known to/by human kind. Naturalism teaches that if it cannot be apprehended by our five-senses, it does not exist.
The Holy Spirit, throughout the Scriptures, proclaims a World that is more “real,” tangible, interactive, permanent-everlasting, than the Realm of Time; Time having been constrained by the laws of physics.
Reality for the Naturalist-Atheist-Darwinist is that which is perceptible by the senses; reality to those who know Yeshua-Jesus as Lord and Savior and having received the indwelling Holy Spirit as their Tutor and Counselor, we are assured of another “superior Realm of the Spiritual World” that is “home” for our spirit and a Realm that is everlasting and will never fade away.
Atheist response:“demonically-based tenet??? Come on Rick Holtsclaw lol.”
Christian response…
2) There is no greater instrument in the history of mankind used by Satan as a progenitor of atheism-unbelief than Darwinian evolution. Satan has effectively destroyed the mind of two-three generations of American youth subsequent to Darwin’s idiocy having been infused into the classroom in 1963. You are a vivid example of this truism, this horrific reality as you fight and clamor for death in Hell in spiritual blindness (2 Corinthians 4:4).
America has lost the Millennial and Gen-Z generations to demonic Naturalism i.e. Darwin’s idiocy and an overwhelming number of these brainwashed nihilistic-atheistic socialists, as well as the subsequent generations that succumb to the same fate, will never come to a knowledge of the truth; tragically, they are destined to die in sin and die the “second death” in Hell and they will be the instrument by which America’s Constitutional Republic is destroyed via socialist-communistic tyranny. This has eschatological purposes as well concerning the United States’ inability to intercede on Israel’s behalf in the soon to come Apocalypse, the Day of our Lord.
It is written…
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38 Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?” John 18:36-38 (NASB)
Theological question: “Are women considered inferior in the Bible because Eve ate the fruit of the Tree before Adam did? Is that why women aren’t allowed to speak a word in church or to teach a man anything? Is a woman supposed to cover her head/hair out of shame for the sins of Eve?”
Christian response…
Actually, it is Adam who incurred the greater culpability, wrath and curse for disobedience, not Eve. It is through Adam that death entered Time, the World; this is why Jesus entered Time through the womb of a virgin woman “to destroy the works of the Devil” (death-Hell-the grave) via the Gospel ordained “before Time began” (Romans 5:12; Genesis 3:15; Matthew 1:18-23; 1 John 3:8b; 2 Timothy 1:8-10); Jesus circumvented the sin-nature passed through Adam’s genome via the virgin birth (Luke 1:35).
Adam incurred greater culpability than Eve because Adam received the command from Elohim to not compromise with evil DIRECTLY from Elohim while Eve received the edict by hearsay from her husband, Adam. If you’ll remember, when Eve relented to Lucifer and compromised, nothing happened in Eden as it was not until Adam disobeyed Elohim and rejected Elohim’s Covenant of Sustenance that Elohim’s wrath was forthcoming and the Adamic curse placed upon mankind (Romans 5:12).
The exalted woman in Scripture,
The woman is highly exalted in Scripture and the authority of the husband over the wife comes with incredible responsibilities for the husband. The husband is to give himself for his wife as Messiah gave Himself for the Church and died for her; the wife is simply commanded to obey/support her husband out of respect for his responsibilities concerning the family unit (Ephesians 5:22-33).
The family and the Trinity,
There is a delineation of authority in the family with the husband as the head, the wife second and the children third. The husband will be held accountable to Elohim for his care and provision for the family entrusted to him. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit also model this delineation of authority in the Godhead; though they are all ONE-Elohim and coequal concerning all divine attributes, they agree to this delineation of authority for order and righteousness; therefore, the Trinity acts as a model for the Biblical family unit.
The wife is not lesser than the husband as she is an integral, essential, part of the family unit and the husband is responsible for honoring her and protecting her as the weaker vessel. The Biblical family unit is therefore the bedrock for societal survival and Elohim’s eschatological plan concerning the defeat of Satan and restoration of holiness and peace to His Kingdom.
Theological question posited on FB:“I am a Christian. What are your thoughts on healing from abortion or multiple abortions? Do you believe someone who was saved but then had abortions can still go to heaven and be with Christ the Lord?”
Christian response…
The only healing available for abortion, physiologically, psychologically, spiritually, is if one repents of their sin and sincerely believes in their heart, confesses with their mouth, that Jesus Christ is God who died to pay their sin-debt and believes that Jesus was resurrected from the dead for their justification…this is the beginning to healing and forgiveness and life with God the Father, forever (Romans 10:9-10; John 3:16).
If a woman considers herself to be a Christian and participates in the murder of her child in the womb via abortion, I would counsel this mother to assess the authenticity of her faith and relationship with God the Father. It is possible that her faith was not genuine and her relationship with God the Father was never truly established by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord along with the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. I find it irreconcilable that a woman who loves Jesus Christ, possessing the indwelling Holy Spirit, would lie upon a table and permit an abortionist to enter her womb and destroy the precious life within, a life created in the image of God.
My suggestion would be for the mother or father seeking forgiveness for an abortion, sit down quietly, alone, pray to God…pray with fervency…ask God the Holy Spirit to come along side you…open an easy-to-read version of the Scriptures to the “Gospel of John”…there are 21-chapters…perform a careful, diligent, read of those chapters in John’s Gospel…as you read, pray to the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and your mind and your heart to God’s truth; then, pray to God the Father and put your whole trust and faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord for the mediation of your sins.
There is no sin that God the Father will not forgive the one who honestly and desperately seeks Him with a heart that is willing to believe in the Son, Jesus Christ, and obey; the only sin that is not covered by the blood of Jesus Christ is if one dies in “unbelief.” If you die having rejected Jesus Christ as Lord, there is no more grace available, only judgment and death in Hell awaits because God the Father is NOT going to permit unrepentant sin to enter His Kingdom subsequent to the death of the body in Time (John 8:24; Revelation 21:27).
Theological question: “Why are there so many denominations?”
Christian response…
Though this truth will upset many…denominations in the Christian faith are the work of Satan. Satan is a formidable military strategist who relentlessly practices “divide and conquer”…Satan was able to take the pride of men and use same to divide an incredibly strong and unified first-century church and fragment it into warring, bickering, nitpicking, men and women who argue over the color of carpet, baptism, tongues, formality of worship, the Lord’s Supper, music in worship, translations of the Bible…and Satan has been incredibly effective in diminishing the power and strength of the Church to impact the World for Jesus Christ.
