Furthermore, Paul writes to Philippian believers that he is “put [there] for the defense (apologia) of the gospel” (Phil 1:16 [ESV]). In other words, Paul was explicitly placed in Phillipi to make an apology or a defense of the gospel. Apologetics is not a role reserved for some highbrowed theologians or philosophers, but for every believer to be prepared to give a defense for the hope that is in them. According to the author of The 12 Points that Show Christianity is True, Dr. Norman Geisler, “Positively: [Apologetics] builds a positive case for the Christian faith by defending the objective nature of truth, giving reasons for God’s existence, providing a defense of miracles, arguing for the credibility of the Gospel record, providing evidence of the deity of Christ, and reasoning for the Divine authority of the Bible. Negatively: it answers objections against the faith.”

Apologetics paves the way for the gospel and is, therefore, pre-evangelism. There are four reasons to do apologetics 1) the Bible commands it, 2) Culture demands it, 3) the Church needs it, and 4) results confirm it. If God is a God of reason, who created people with reason, He will not bypass the mind on His way to the heart. As C. S. Lewis explains, “To be ignorant and simple now—not to be able to meet the enemies on their ground—would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered” (The Weight of Glory, 50).

We have entered into a post-Christian world. The social, political, and intellectual communities have sided with atheistic ideologies, and the fallout is death and chaos. As Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky once proclaimed, “If God is dead, then everything is permitted.” Today, Americans live their lives as if God is dead, and they believe that they are the measure and arbiter of justice. Truth is no longer objective and knowable but subjective and relative. The colleges and universities have snuffed out any semblance of objective morality and seek to demonize those who proclaim a universal standard of right and wrong. Christians are labeled bigots, racists, and misogynistic for merely trying to squeak out a counterclaim in this echo chamber of wicked ideas. Why are those who champion tolerance the most intolerant to those who do not share their same ideologies? More importantly, where is the courageous Christian who says, “it stops now! And I will not be intimidated!”?

Where are those who love God with all their hearts, all their souls, and all their minds? Is this not the greatest commandment? The problem consists of believers who can not articulate and rationalize what they believe. Their religious experience is emotive and based on fleeting existential experiences. The pulpits in America spout out worldly rhetoric that temporality satiates emotional desires but leaves the hearts as vacuous as it was before they entered the sanctuary. Time has forgotten that the minister was the intellectual and spiritual authority in the community. For instance, the Puritans were highly educated people who founded colleges, taught their children to read and write before the age of six, and studied art, science, philosophy, and other fields as a way of loving God with the mind. Theology was at the heart of liberal arts education; the knowledge of God supplied the objective substance to all the subject matter.

It is time to combat the anti-intellectualism that has plagued the church for over a century. All truth is God’s truth! God first reveals Himself in what He has created (General Revelation) and all that has been created points back to a creator. Natural Theology consists of looking at the effect (creation) and tracing it back to the cause (God). God is all-knowing (omniscient), and the more we know about His creation, the more we learn about His nature. I charge every Christian to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons”

I recently listened to an interview online with a famous scholar from a well-known public university. This famous scholar blatantly denied that Jesus believed in heaven and hell. This scholar seems to have it all together as he has all the worldly accolades that might qualify him to speak on eternal matters. The scholar comes from a background of biblical Christianity but left the faith many years ago. Now he has made it his life goal to attempt to dismantle everything that God has proclaimed in His Word. This is only one example of the apostasy that was promised in the Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:1 about this as he stated that “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…”

This departing from the faith or falling away from the faith is so widespread right now as many that grew up in a church or in a Christian home are now coming forward to proclaim that they no longer believe in God or in the Lord Jesus Christ. Apostasy is the widespread and intentional willingness to walk away from the Lord Jesus Christ and His church. Notice that the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul states that some will depart from “the faith.” This indicates that there is only one true faith. This true faith is the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible. Jesus is the Lord of all, meaning that He is the sovereign Ruler and Master of the universe. So in the later time, or in the last days, some will depart from the faith, God’s Word tells us. The period of the last days or the later times is the period between the first and second coming of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are in the last days. Hence, we are seeing so many fall away from Christ and His church. AND, Paul says, they “will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teaching of demons.” Those that willingly depart from THE faith also fill their time with the active embracing of wicked and demonic spirits and teachings. Teachings such as there is no heaven and hell. Wow. Paul would define some of the deceitful spirits and demonic teachings as those “…who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods.” (1 Timothy 4:3a). There are entire religions that teach that we are not allowed to marry, particularly those that are of the clergy, and some teach we are not allowed to eat certain foods. Those are demonic teachings of the devil. We must always be on guard to what we are consuming. The false teachers are abounding on the internet and on tv as they are leading millions of people astray. Be aware. Also, be aware that many today are abandoning the true church for entertainment and other things. This is another sign of the great apostasy. The faith is always directly speaking of the people of God in a local body of believers called the local church. Although some might not be able to attend for health reasons now, a sign of the falling away is to abandon biblical churches for heretical churches, or not churches at all. Be aware of those dangers. The Apostle John tells us in 1 John 2:19 that “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 it might become plain that they all are not of us.” He is speaking of false believers and false teachers who were once in the faith (externally only), but left the church. They did so because they were never truly born again. How do you know someone isn’t truly born again? If they abandon the faith and the church, it is because they never were a part of it.

in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.”

As I wrote this article for Bible Alive Ministries, we are in a time of spiritual and moral decay in America. The signs of a fledgling nation are upon us. What with political corruption, and personal corruption at so many levels of society, it is not wonder we are experiencing such chaos and wretchedness. True believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are trying to stave off this immersion of America into total disrepair. But the problem is not social, economic, or dare I say, racial. These issues are symptoms of the problem which is the darkness of the heart of man. A nation that turns its back on God does so because of the depravity of the human heart. And the nation that forsakes all semblance of worship of the true and living God will turn itself on its own head. God often judges a nation by simply giving them what they desire. In America, we are coming off decades of feminism, fatherlessness, and failure on the part of the large majority of churches to proclaim the reformed Biblical doctrines that were sacrificed for by the Reformers 500-600 years ago. All of this is rebellion against God and His written and revealed Word. So it’s no wonder at all, as to why America as a whole, seems to be on the roadway to Hell. What has America wanted? To disregard Biblical marriage and pervert God’s plan for that relationship. America has fought for its right to murder the unborn and call it choice. Many in positions of leadership are so money driven that they compromise at every turn because they do not want to lose their security. America has loudly said no to the Biblical disciplining of the children, and now we have grown people destroying homes, businesses, and entire cities. Our universities blatantly abandoned objective truth decades ago, and the school system is a training ground for atheists, Marxists, and communists that hate God, authority, and the Word of God. It’s no wonder. And the Psalmist David makes clear that the wicked nations of the world will bring about their own demise. Notice in Psalm 9:15 that David makes clear that the nations have sunk in the pit that they made. This is the clear biblical law that “you reap what you sow.” A nation that dismantles any sign of bowing down to King Jesus will implode and that is what is happening in America. This is nothing new, as so many nations have come and gone for the same reasons as mentioned above. And the lifestyle of the wicked will actually serve as a net to trap the ones that think their wickedness will set them free. What a lesson in irony. The wicked demands their freedom, and they only cause their bondage to increase more and more as they reject the Prince of Peace Himself. May we stay faithful in the times of spiritual and wicked decay. There is no hope for the soul, save for the power of the gospel in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. All true believers are commanded to remain faithful to the Lord, and the wicked are all commanded to repent and believe the gospel.

Thank you for your prayers! We are looking forward to how God is going to move in 2018 as we continue to boldly proclaim His Word so that lives can be changed. We are in the process of working on a new website for Bible Alive Ministries so that we can have greater influence on the world for Christ. We want to move to using digital technology because more and more people are using these new formats in every day life and we want to help people understand God’s Word if you would like to check it out at biblealiveministries.org. Also, we are going to emphasize Biblical manhood and the importance of having a God-centered, Bible-informed family life in our homes. It’s no secret that our families are in deep trouble, and it is not limited only to the homes of unbelievers. It has become the norm for Christian children to grow up in broken homes, in which there is a single parent doing the work of two parents. Quite frankly, even many of the homes in which there is a Christian man are often not led Biblically by him. Our passion is to help men fulfill their God-given role as head of the home as they lead their family in all matters and provide those essential aspects that all Christian homes need. We need your help! We need your prayers and your financial partnership. If you believe in what we are doing and would like to partner with us, please write us or call so that we can guide you in that area. You can become a monthly partner or give one time if you feel led by God to do so. Thank you for your prayers and support as we move forward for the Lord’s Kingdom. Below is a Bible study on the importance of biblical manhood.

Biblical Manhood

There are many aspects in the Scriptures that refer to the God-ordained responsibilities given by God to every man. When one looks at the first man, Adam, we see the first reason that God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden. Now, often we naturally think of paradise as we place of lounging around with no responsibilities or obligations to fulfill. Some even believe that the idea of work did not begin until after the fall of man. This clearly isn’t true for several reasons that I will outline below:

1. We see that God worked.Genesis 2:1-2: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”Here we see the word “work” used twice to describe what God had completed after He created everything in six days. Of course we know that God didn’t rest because He was tired, as He never grows weary, but He gave mankind this pattern to follow, which is to be productive, to work for 6 days, and to rest on the seventh. This is before the law of God was given, so this is still a healthy pattern to follow. But after God worked and created all this, He would place Adam in the Garden of Eden with a purpose.
2. We see Adam’s work.In Genesis 2:15, God’s purpose for placing Adam in the Garden is illustrated. Moses wrote: “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Adam was planted in the Garden to dress it and keep it. To dress it means “to work, or to do labor.” (Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon). To “keep” means to “watch, or to guard. (Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon). Remember that this was before the sinful fall of man. Therefore, this is the responsibility that God entrusted with Adam. Although this was labor, it was enjoyable, fulfilling, and gave Adam purpose. It is the same for us today. With Adam the first human being, we understand that God made mankind to be productive with work. It is important to note that this was given to Adam first, meaning it was the man’s responsibility to work. This is connected to the authority that God gave Adam in taking care of the Garden.

God has given every man the responsibility to work. This gives him purpose as he creates, produces, and provides for himself the necessities of life as well as providing for his wife and children the things they need. The modern ethic is a far cry from what God intended for man. Fewer and fewer men want to work. Many simply want to collect a check. Often, men are unashamed when they aren’t working and are depending either on their wives, their parents, or the government to take care of them. Wives and their children often go without the necessities of life because the man refuses to work. To provide for one’s own family is a monumental task and it might even demand working two or three jobs. If that is the case, then so be it. The man that is not working and providing for his own will (or should anyway) hang his head with low self esteem as he is not fulfilling what God expects of Him. There is dignity in work as a man finds purpose, and he is able to accomplish things and be proud of what he was able to do. There is great dignity in not having to depend on parents or others to take care of his financial situations. A man that works hard and his best in providing for his own will have his head held high, and he can testify of the goodness of God and the blessings He provides as he works hard, all the while trusting the Lord to meet our needs.

It is important to note that the Lord created people with the purpose of being productive and working. When one is working hard, then there is that feeling of dignity and purpose, and the one that refuses to work will experience feelings of guilt and shame.

Solomon, known as the wisest man alive (1 Kings 4:30-31), wrote (under the inspiration of Scripture), of the importance of a strong work ethic and the general blessings that come from hard work:

In Proverbs 6:6-11, Solomon said to “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.”

Solomon holds up the ant as an example to follow for the lazy person. He states that the ant does not have any supervision, but works hard all year long. Isn’t it true that when you see an ant, or many ants, they are busy and focused on their task? They do not stop. He then tells the sluggard that if you continue to sleep and slumber too much, then poverty will come upon the lazy person quickly. The word “travelleth” in verse 11 is halak refers to one that is a robber or an attacker, and the armed man is the one that is a thief and tries to take that which is not his. The idea is that the lazy person will experience poverty pouncing on them as robbers pounce on their targets. Many people are surprised when they find themselves in need after months or years of not working. God makes clear that we are responsible to be diligent and work hard to make sure our needs are met, and it is the responsibility of the man to lead and take care of his family and their financial needs.