PREFACE

As John Ritenbaugh writes below the fear of the Lord is not innate. It is learned. And my fear is the churches have turned from teaching the full, whole truth of Scriptures out of their worldly fear of not placing as many backsides in the pews and padded seats, not filling the collection baskets, and therefore have for the most part become apostate and adopted a world view, a “feel good” philosophy over the teaching of God’s Word.

The fear of the LORD is NOT the same fear as contrived in a Hollywood movie, or some phobia of the human mind. The fear of the LORD, which is truly learned, is in delving into God’s Word, in faith, and coming to know as best a feeble, finite human mind can the power of God. The sovereignty of God. It is awe. Wonder. Shaking at the thought of the power and expansiveness of God our Father, God of all Creation, God of power over all things known and what is unknown to us.

The world is not on autopilot.

The world is not left to its own like some abandoned child who’s parents have left home leaving the child to fend for itself.

God is always present. Always in control. Always LORD over all.

It’s just a matter of how much we know that, understand that, and believe that truth.

Faith comes from hearing — from READING and LEARNING the inerrant whole word of God. I have been criticized for being redundant and in my writing “the inerrant word of God” over and over. I do so because from evidence at hand I do not believe first, many people are actually reading a Bible these days, and secondly, if they are they are only reading select passages and not rightly dividing what they are reading, reading shallow, in part, lacking discernment. And lastly treating the Holy Bible as just any other book. Viewing it more as a “guide book” on how to live rather than the actual God-breathed words given by Supernatural power to select men over a period of about 1,600 years.

Without the fear of the LORD — understanding, belief, faith — there is no life.

Only the walking dead going about in their darkness imagining themselves to illuminated when in truth they are nothing more than the slaves of sin, slaves of the prince of this earth for a season, children of their father, Satan.

There are in fact only two kinds of people on this earth. Anywhere on this earth. In every corner, in every nation, of every tongue — either children of God obeying and fearing God their Father in obedience, or children of Satan obeying him, slaves to his lies and their resultant sin.

No other people on this earth.

Meditate on God’s Word.

Learn and listen, “Hear” God’s Word.

Fear the LORD. Our God is an awesome Almighty God. Creator.

Also know and live accordingly that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and we ought to cease lowering God the Creator, God All-Knowing to our level.

May we all humble ourselves and our discernment increase, our obedience increase, our fear of the LORD be proper and understood in the spiritual manner as intended putting aside all worldliness in our ways and thoughts.

Ken Pullen

ACP

Sunday, September 17th, 2017

Living By Faith and God’s Sovereignty

Psalm 34:11

(11) Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
King James Version

Notice that the fear of God does not come naturally; it must be learned. We are not born with it already existing within. It is a vital quality given through contact with God and someone qualified to teach it, as David surely was.

If we study and meditate on Him, the Scriptures will reveal that God is supreme in everything, including in qualities like love, power, wisdom, forgiveness, mercy, patience, kindness, etc. God is sovereign over all. These virtues alone provide multiple reasons for fearing Him.

In this church, the overwhelming majority of our messages address our responsibilities to the Creator, for this is always a need that must be filled in us. However, what about God? Has He no rights to be a solidly entrenched reality in our minds, always serving as the guide to our lives?

How can we possibly live by a truly vital faith if a strong and true awareness of the reality of His oversight and presence is not our guide in every aspect of life each day? After all, who is regulating affairs on planet earth today—God or the Devil? Intellectually, a person will quickly concede that God reigns supreme in heaven, but that He does so over the world is almost universally denied. How is this denied? Titus 1:15-16 provides the answer:

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

Despite their claims to be Christian, people’s consistent disobedience discloses the falsehood that they are truly Christians and that God is a reality in their lives.

In our time, because of the influence of evolution in education and the weakness of religious teaching in the churches, it is not only commonly denied that God created everything by personal and direct action, but few also believe, as proved by their conduct, that He has any immediate concern about regulating the works of His own hands. Everything is assumed to be ordered according to the impersonal and abstract laws of nature.

The churches contain many members who are either outright Deists or incipient ones. A Deist believes God created the world and then stepped away, taking no interest in its operations. We must not allow ourselves to have this attitude. We have to know and obey what we know—that is our responsibility as a Christian.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

To learn more, see:
Living By Faith and God’s Sovereignty

Related Topics:
Deists
Fear of God as a Learned Response
God’s Involvement
God’s Involvement in His Creation
God’s Sovereignty Over Creation
Laws of Nature
Meditating on God’s Word
Meditation as Contact with God
Meditation on God’s Creation