Randy Bell
6 May 2019

Narrow Road Insights

Amazing Grace Episode 2: The Powerful Amazing Grace of Salvation Part 2(audio/video)

The Connection Between the Power of God’s Grace For Eternal Salvation and Personal Weakness

1/ You cannot do something to earn salvation from God!
– surveys prove most people think you must work to earn eternal life
– people think by good works salvation can be earned
– if you were convicted of a murder you could not work to pay your debt!
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 NKJV

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Randy Bell
23 Dec 2018

Narrow Road Insights, StraightTalk Articles

Randy Bell | Yes Virginia, There Really is a Risen Savior (read)

Yes Virginia, there really is a Savior.

“So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”

“For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”

“If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” [James 1:21-27 (New Living Translation)]

Jesus, our Savior, uses supernatural power to save people from sin and change their lives. His death, burial, and resurrection paid the full legal price for everyone’s crimes against God. He saves true Christians from evil and turns them completely around empowering them to do good and right things. Christians do not just talk about justice and goodness but live out pure religion.

But it seems the modern Christian and churches are obsessed with the need to claim Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. I know I have worn t-shirts with this weak argument in the past.  I’m sure this stems from the oppressive anti-God, anti-Christ and anti-Bible sentiment that drives the majority of Americans in this 21st century dark age. But honestly the lost still contend we are a religion, and for good reason.

In the past Americans demanded politicians to be Christian and they were careful to at least put on the mask of being a believer. Not today, recent polls prove the majority will resist and not vote for a Christian. So much for our founding fathers faith and principles they held when establishing this nation.

Today, the networks make sure they deny any connection to a Christian program aired on their network but gleefully broadcast anything with every sin in the book with their full support. Anything the Bible condemns they seem to support.

Why would we want a Christian politician? A senator or representative? A president? A Christian mayor? A Christian news commentator? Christian networks and news channels?

The consensus today seems to be that character does not matter in how a person governs in our nation. Really? You mean to tell me you want a leader to stand up before you on TV and lie through his teeth to get your vote, or to manipulate you and gain further control over you? What do they have to lose?

For instance, if you think that it is no problem for a politician to secretly cheat on their spouse, and hurt the person they claim to love, what do you think they will really do to you?

But wait, everyone has a sinful past, but I am talking about persistent and continuous present lies and wicked behavior. Beware of the stone throwers who destroy first and seek out truth later because of past sinful mistakes like King David in the Bible. God led him to stop his evil and forgave him. This goes for all of our leaders today.

A true believer can’t do it! The Christian is commanded by God to not lie, and scripture explains a true Christian cannot keep on doing evil. The Bible demands truth from a Christian and states the liar, or adulterer is a big fat fake.

“Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.”

“Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning.”

“But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.” [1 John 3:4-10 (NLT)]

The next consensus of many today is that somehow Christians would cram their faith down the nation’s throat and punish people for not going to church or some other stupid fear. Yeah that’s what the Christian presidents did in the past, like George Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. NOT!

Only Christians fought for the rights of all men and demanded that everyone has the right to free speech, including those who disagree with them, and the free pursuit of happiness including owning their own land, creating their own business, and owning their own gun for self protection against criminals.

But, today the anti-Christian, anti-God movement hates that anyone dare disagree with them and they find ways to silence and push Christians out of the mainstream of culture, politics, and education. They carefully have erased history and lie to gain control of the nation. According to them, we must disarm and trust liars without character, rely upon government for everything instead of God, and blindly trust them to train our children in what is right and wrong through the government controlled schools.

Like a false god, they want government  to tell us what is true and false, tell us what is moral and immoral, and give us the rights they think we should have. No wonder all you hear in the media is the drone of the robots trying to erase the Constitution of the United States of America, one small piece at a time.

To them, that old document has the smell of stupidity in it, from old idiots that believed in God the Creator, the Bible as universal truth, and Jesus as the only true religion. Of course they hate the Constitution it reeks with the divine all over it.

But the atheists demand we came from sea slim, over billions of years, by accident. Their superior knowledge of evolution, no moral rules, and might makes right proves the Christians are dumb sheep who bleat mindless sounds and brainlessly follow their “charlatan” pastors. But their great wisdom gives them the right to deceive and manipulate the nation and force the idiots into their modern Utopian society of slavery. And so we will see the continued misuse of power in America as they bravely push every Christian down the road to oppression.

The children of the devil believe we will comply to their government controlled health care that makes us give up our faith and conscience and allow babies to be murdered through drugs and abortion. And we will pay for it with our taxes and insurance premiums because freedom of religion does not matter, we are stupid in their eyes.

They think our God is weak and cannot protect us, so they will defeat and control us. Will we quietly gather in our closets and buildings and talk about God among ourselves, because we can’t openly broadcast it on public airwaves or in government schools? They control the media, at least most of it, and they don’t believe in freedom of speech, unless we agree with them.

Will we continue to sacrifice our children to the government machine of propaganda because we won’t offend the teachers, or even stand against false science that is crammed down our kids throats everyday in school?  If we do, our children will rise up and join them, because we are too lazy to dare and give all the real and complete answers to our own children.

If so, indifference, our true sin will have its final way with us, and unlike our forefathers, lies, injustice, and the new un-American way will rule the land. But no one will notice the change because we are so focused on our jobs, families, and having fun on the weekends that we have lost all sense of God’s ways.

Did you know 35-65 million Christians refuse to even vote today, yet each election has been determined by around 2 million votes or less? Our future is dark because so many Christians refuse to even take their responsibility to vote for righteous and just leaders. “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” [Matthew 5:13]

For evil to prevail all it takes is indifference “to be trodden under foot of men.”

But, there will be a remnant, a small band of true believers, who will dare to be different. True believers who will not stop practicing true religion. They will “get rid of all the filth and evil” in their lives and make the Bible their most prized possession. It’s every word will be their guide, they will obey His commands, and will be blessed by the LIVING and ALMIGHTY GOD.

Their hearts divinely influenced by God will bubble inside until they lose their fears and find words of truth to speak to the unbelieving world. With new boldness their tongues controlled by the Holy Spirit they will speak UP and tell the truth to their children, families and neighbors.

In spite of a bankrupt government who will choose to neglect some children, widows and elderly, these saints will practice true religion somehow. They will do what the saints have always done since the atrocities of Rome and its neglect of the poor and needy, they will be Jesus’ hands and continue “caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt” them.

They will not be trodden down, but like the saints in the first century they will overcome the government oppression, cultural hatred, and spiritual darkness. They will not be quiet, but boldly proclaim the truth. They will love their enemies, bless their neighbors, and  practice true religion no matter how many people try to stop them.

Jesus is ALIVE, he rose from the dead!!!!!

How about you Virginia, we have a Savior who is almighty, are you in?

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Randy Bell
10 Aug 2017

Narrow Road Insights

The Power of Truth: You Must Think Like Jesus

George Barna’s book, THINK LIKE JESUS, is a devastating reality book, in a truer sense than the present menu of reality TV shows of the gross and the unusually weird. The facts are hard to deny when they stare you in the face. The truth is 90% of those in America who claim to be born again probably are not, but are deceived hypocrites like Judas Iscariot and will be stunned to find their place in the Lake of Fire.

By careful analysis about seven million people in the entire nation actually take the Bible seriously and read it and obey it.

The best case scenario would be that many are confused and deceived and do not “bear fruit” because they are immature, but the shocking reality is many want a free ticket to heaven without any obligation to change lifestyle or life direction.

So the alarming thing is most church goers have more in common with Judas than with the other disciples.

While the 11 apostles repented of their old sins and followed Christ, Judas followed but never stopped being a thief. [John 12:6 “This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.”]

When the fiery trial of Christ’s arrest and crucifixion came all ran, but Judas before hand went to his enemies and sold him out. [Matthew 26:15 “and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.”]

The differences between the saint and the sinner are clear, Peter cried and confessed his failures, but Judas gave up and quit. [Matthew 27:5 “Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.”]

Do works get you into heaven?

NO! You cannot buy or trade your way past the Righteous Judge. But, your works prove what you have, eternal life or eternal death, because lost people cannot obey God, and only those filled with God’s grace do. Romans 8:4 explains, “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

You might be able to interpret this statement to make excuses for the vast majority of so-called Christians by saying, “Christ made me righteous in God’s eyes, therefore we do not have to change because no one is perfect.” And if it was an isolated verse, maybe you could, but wait there’s more, Paul explains.

Romans 8:6-9

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. [7] Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. [8] So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [9] But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Therefore, thinking like Jesus is not optional, it is mandatory and proof of life.

Thinking like everyone else in this world proves death is still the present and future reality of all disciples of Judas, even though they believe they follow Christ, not Judas. Remember Judas did not make it to heaven! Thinking like Jesus means understanding God’s way, and the evidence of this changed mindset proves you have new life. Not only that, it bears fruit, a real change of life, which is the fruit of God’s holy presence inside a real follower of Jesus.

Our Lord explained it using a story of farming:

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. [20] But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; [21] yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. [22] Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. [23] But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” [Matthew 13:19-23]

Summation: Therefore here are three clear signs of carnal mindedness that lead to eternal punishment and death:

1/ continued disobedience to the Lord’s clear commands in at least one area

Like Judas, you may be around Christ and claim to yourself that you are a Christian, or used to go to church and pride yourself in the hope that you are as good as those people and are going to heaven. BUT HEAR THIS, continued bondage to a sin only proves your hopes are false. You are still thinking and acting like Judas. You see, a person who receives the grace of God can say like John, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burden-some.” [1 John 5:3] No you are like Judas, if you do not stop disobeying God in that one sin you hold to, even though it seems insignificant to you.

2/ when trials or persecutions come the carnal person will sell out Christ or his followers and side with or even help the enemies of Christ

Like Judas, even if you are or were a faithful “church attender” for years, when the day comes and you get a chance to give up because of hard times and circumstances [tribulation], or people or family pressure you [persecution] and you quit serving Christ, you finally prove your real heart and carnal mindedness. The true child that is pushed around and gets hurt runs to their parents for help, the orphan has nowhere to run and gives up like Judas.

3/ when the carnally minded fail Christ they do not confess, repent and return – instead they quit the Lord and his church

All the disciples failed Jesus, but only Judas quit. Proverbs 24:16 declares, “For a righteous man may fall seven times, And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.” New babies learning to walk fall many times at first, but keep getting up and starting over. But within a short period of time they master the art of walking and rarely fall after the baby stage. “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” [1 John 3:9]

All the disciples failed Christ one time, but search diligently you won’t find they thought like or lived like Judas. All eleven died for their Master, without exception. Only Judas, who never changed his carnal mind, sold out and quit the Lord.

Application: How about you?

Are you sitting home on Sunday instead of obeying the commands of God and serving Him inside His local church founded and created by Him? Even if your local church is small in number, where two or three are gathered in His name, He promises to be with you because you are obedient.

Hebrews 10:22-27 commands: “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [23] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. [24] And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, [25] not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. [26] For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, [27] but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”

Stop making your excuses and get up and faithfully join the saints every week. Stop judging them and help them. Or stop lying to yourself, that what you are buying with the extra money you get for working on Sunday is necessary, it is not enough to make up for your obedience to Christ. Instead THINK LIKE JESUS!

Or stop telling yourself it is your only day off. Well, if you were working obviously you would not be able to join together with the church. Instead THINK LIKE JESUS! Or stop excusing yourself that you cannot find a church that meets your list of demands, you hypocrite, God tells you to love your brothers. Acts 2:42 is your instructions from the Lord, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

INSTEAD THINK LIKE JESUS! Prove you think like Jesus and love those He loves by committing to them, by faithfully studying God’s Word with them, joining them in friendship and fellowship, taking communion with them, and praying with them. Remember this warning from 1 John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

Now where will you be this weekend? If you are already faithfully attending church meetings, why not make the complete step and be a narrow road follower of Jesus everyday. Be the church, do not just go to a meeting. Where will your thoughts and actions be today? The greatest fear I have is not those who quit the church already, it is for those who quietly follow Judas Iscariot and do not THINK LIKE JESUS!

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