John 3:30

He Must Increase, I Must Decrease

Righteous

The Way and Pharisees Together?

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Let me begin by saying that I love Catholics. I love more Catholics than a lot of people may due to my own life of Catholicism. I do not personally condemn any Catholics; that isn’t in my power. All I can do is assume that all men who die apart from Christ will perish and be judged by God, and that by the RCC’s own published teaching, no one who holds to it truly trusts Christ alone as Savior by faith nor is born-again. I take NO JOY in this at all. It scares me and causes me great pain and tears. Please, DISAGREE with me all you want about my interpretation of the bible and RCC teaching, but DO NOT accuse me of hating people, especially Catholics or accuse me of enjoying or taking satisfaction in calling Catholics ‘idolaters’ and warning them they are hell-bound apart from the redemption offered by Christ, (as was I were it not for grace. )

The most loving thing I can do for anyone, including Catholics, is to confess God’s Law and Gospel to them in the hopes they will repent and believe.

One of the primary reasons I left Facebook was that I was tired of ending up in “Christian” fights which inevitably ended badly. The part that bothered me the most was how often my 100-200 characters of text in defense of a position was often understood incorrectly. Not so much that people misunderstood my words, but too often people seemed to read into my intention. There’s nothing quite like sitting at home happily discussing theology with someone with whom you believe you share mutual respect only to be labeled as hateful or angry or even evil after making a few statements of disagreement. With that, please enjoy this “twitter thread.” Note: I know very little about Eric Metaxas other than he seems diligent in defending religious freedom in the political realm and he is an ardent marketer of his own books. šŸ™‚


Ok, so after seeing this, I decided to comment. I read the link he posted with what I read to be a “clear recommendation and endorsement” of the article. I was disappointed to see ECT (Evangelicals and Catholics Together) promoted. I didn’t disagree with the concept that the pope is “important,” but I do disagree with the concept that we share a common faith with Roman Catholics (by their own published doctrine). I don’t want to go into it all. If you want to learn more, read here.


Now this shocked me. Let’s break down what was posted about me. Mind you, as far as I know, Eric knows nothing about me.

Hearing from super-righteous dudes

I guess he could have meant it, but given the context I believe he was being sarcastic and demeaning. I could be wrong.

calling the Pope an “idolator & a blasphemer” makes tweeting SWEET. Thanks for schooling us.

Again, he may have been genuinely thankful for a theology lesson. This was not my impression. Instead my impression was that this highly influential public Christian was immediately resorting to sarcasm and ad hominem attacks against someone he doesn’t know simply for stating my opinion (which is widely understood among ‘evangelicals) that the Pope is, in fact, the head of a false religion, making him BY DEFINITION an idolater and blasphemer.


Apparently, I wasn’t the only person who found Eric’s response to be disappointing. See Dan Phillips’ response.

The irony at this point to me being that Eric seemed to be quickly judging me, while basically judging me for what he deemed to be an unrighteous judgement on my part.


No more responses from Eric from this point on. But now a helpful “baptist” decides to join in.


This is a nice thought. She was trying to help; I can see that. But in the spirit of discussion and seeking Truth, I decided to remind this person that according to the RCC, you cannot call yourself “saved” in this life.

WOW! One of the scariest truths. God DOES know the thoughts and intents of our hearts. But the implication that His Graciousness trumps his justice is the problem here. God is severely gracious, to the point of crushing His Only Son for the sins of believers everywhere. But the implication here is that somehow I WAS NOT BEING GRACIOUS because I believed differently from the published RCC doctrine.

I particularly liked my response. Not to be prideful, but I knew it was a good response because it went straight to the heart of her “poor” argument. For her to insist that I am gracious would be a double standard if not applied to all other parties as well. As expected, this tweet was not answered…

Then she posts a sad article about ecumenism. As the title of this blog alludes to, I cannot imagine Jesus, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul or John joining a club called “Christians and Pharisees together” or “The Way and the Judaizers Together.” The point is that the true gospel that saves is more important than any other secondary issue, even abortion, euthanasia and “gay” marriage.

Now, here’s where I found it interesting. After what I assumed was a mature discussion (in 140 characters or less) where adults were sharing ideas, I see this.
Proverbs 15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Now, I did not take this as a “random” comment. I took the tweet to mean that Susan was implying that I was angry or wrathful and stirring up strife. At this point, I realized (again) that I was not dealing with someone who

  1. Was committed to searching the scriptures to see what was true about Roman Catholicism.
  2. Was mature enough to discuss actual ideas and thoughts and evaluate them based on their own merit.

Basically, I was on Facebook again. šŸ™

Ahhh. The heart of the matter. I have no problem being 100% opposed to the Manhattan Declaration and the entire concept of the ECT. I am NOT ashamed of the GOSPEL for it is the power of God unto salvation [to all men]. Romans 1:16

I ended with this. Once someone begins the Ad Hominem attacks calling you angry because in 140 characters of text they “know,” then the argument is over. I highly doubt this person would believe me that I was not angry…and sadly, I’m afraid she lacks the maturity to have a real biblical argument.

Then hours later, I saw a couple more posts.

I hope you enjoyed the interchange. I am really grateful for Dan stepping in and supporting the biblical viewpoint. I appreciate anyone who wants to discuss Catholic doctrine and the bible. The fact is that if you can see two contradictory statements/viewpoints, you must be able to be honest that they are different. It isn’t “judgmental” to identify differences. It IS judgmental to say that one of the ideas is wrong. This isn’t a bad thing; so don’t let people tell you it is.

For a good article explaining the importance and usefulness of “judging” and refuting the idea that Christians “shouldn’t judge,” click here.

Some Things Just Don’t Make Sense…

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Here’s something that doesn’t make sense to me.

There are Christians that do not believe in a literal six day creation, as specified in the book of Genesis and Exodus and testified to by Christ Himself in the New Testament. I’m speaking of born-again Christians who hold the Bible to be inerrant, not just anyone labeled Christian.

This wouldn’t be so surprising, except think about this for a second.

A Christian is someone who believes God is angry with them for sin because a book that is thousands of years old says so. In order to atone for these sins, God (who is 3 persons, but 1 God ?huh?) became a man and was subjected to his own creation to the point of crucifixion. Then, miraculously, because of the resurrection of this God-man 3 days later from the dead, all of which happened 2,000 years ago, the Christian of 2012 can have all of his or her sins transferred to this point in time on the cross with Christ, and have the righteousness of God imputed to them; thus, being justified before God forever by His grace.

Couple this with the death of all first-born Egyptian sons after 9 other remarkable plagues, men who perfectly penned Words from God Himself and preserved them as scripture, and a virgin woman giving birth to the King of kings in a manger in the middle east and you’ve got a recipe for some FAITH.

So what I don’t understand is this: How can someone readily believe all these other seriously exceptional events, events which we can only conceive of because of the scripture, yet these same folks deny the special creation of God which is actually evident to all men through general revelation?

Romans 1:19-21 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. <20> For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. <21> For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

This baffles me!

Miami (OH) @ The Ohio State University & Why I’m Rooting for Michigan

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September 1, 2012. The Redhawks of Miami University (not “The U”) are visiting Columbus to face off against Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes. The Tressel era is over. Memories of Appalachian State vs. That Team Up North swirl in my head. Hopefully, we’ll be ready to play.

But I had a different mission today than to watch football. Upon the urging of Bill Adams from Sports Fan Outreach International, and as a representative of Jesus Christ and Berean Baptist Church, I led a team of evangelists to the campus of The Ohio State University. After some back and forth, we finally agreed upon a time. Working around work schedules, we decided we’d arrive around 2:45, about 30 minutes before we’d expect the game to end, and stay until 6 or 7 to preach the gospel, distribute tracts and engage in one on one conversations.

My report below is intended to show you the surpassing power and love of God. His sovereignty, goodness and mercy were made manifest today in ways that are exceedingly and abundantly more than we could’ve hoped. Bear with my details and general wordiness, and try to enjoy the story in spite of my poor ability to transcribe it!

I am a firm believer that when you set out to serve the Lord you will face spiritual opposition. That is, you will encounter forces of the demonic who will try to thwart the mission. As difficult as this often makes life, I’ve found comfort in the opposition. I actually feel somewhat empowered in a sense, with an innate knowledge that the opposition means I’m clearly on the Lord’s side, the side I want to be on! Nevertheless, the point of the story is not to explain how I or we overcame any spiritual forces, but about how incapable I am against them. It is the power of Christ that overcomes spiritual wickedness; and God put that on display today, if only to humble us.

The story starts August 31st (Friday night). The plans are set. I’ll be picking up Matt at 1:30, meeting at Jerry’s; Jerry will pick up Fred and take us to campus. On my way home from coaching football, I have car trouble. I shut it off at a stoplight to restart it, it makes weird noise, but restarts. My daughter, Bailey, and I arrive home, but not before smelling smoke. We thought the car would explode!

So I wake up Saturday morning and my car won’t start…it won’t even turn over! Bless be the name of the Lord that allowed me to make it to my driveway the night before right before my car basically died. A call to AAA and a tow later, and I’m without a vehicle. I let Matt know he can drive. Sounds ok…except Matt’s life has been flipped upside down by family obligations last minute. Matt juggles it all and tells us he’ll meet us on campus. Jerry agrees to pick everyone else up. Joe, from Mansfield, is still on his way. All will be well, we suppose. I call the pastor to send out a prayer request to our congregation which he does right away. Then I call Tom Wilson, one of our deacons, and he prays for us and commits to continue. I feel like the Lord has already displayed His mighty hand! Even through the misfires, we are on track! Praise God. He has kept us faithful through all this and has enabled us to change our plans.

Now I realize I do not own a stool to stand on for preaching. So I find one I like online and call a friend to pick it up for me (remember, I’m without a car). Instead, Mary offers to simply bring me a stool which I can borrow! Now I have all the equipment I need; a stool, charged amp and speaker, microphone with new batteries, thousands of tracts, 27 bibles with our church information stuffed inside, a cooler of snacks and water, my personal bible and a Cleveland Browns poncho – excellent for covering boxes of bibles and our cordless speaker in the event of rain (and one really good looking combo of brown and orange as well).

The fellowship was sweet, as usual, as we made our way to Lane and Olentangy River Rd. As soon as we got there, Fred, Joe and I started passing out tracts. I immediately got into a great conversation with two young men from Lancaster who were raised Catholic, but understood the message of the gospel of grace. If I remember correctly, their names were Kyle and Ethan (sorry if you are reading this and I just got your name wrong!). If you are a brother or sister in Christ, please take a moment to pray for these two men.

I was sorta waiting for Matt to begin preaching; not sure what was holding him up. I finally stepped on the stool to preach. Very few people stopped to listen, but it was a stoplight scenario, so there were regularly 100 or so people waiting for a green light every 3 minutes for a good half an hour. Fred said he overheard someone say, “those guys were at the Super Bowl, too.” That made me chuckle!

Well, as usual, we met some “Christians.” One self-identified Christian girl gave me the middle finger and yelled F#6% you at me as I preached. I used this as an opportunity to talk about how when a person becomes a Christian, they begin to love righteousness and hate wickedness. I thank God for people like this young lady. She unwittingly drew attention to me and to my message of Christ’s glory, while embarrassing herself in her drunkenness. I remember when Ray Comfort said the best thing that can ever happen to you is a heckler; it makes sense to me now after some time preaching.

We spent a couple hours. The other major highlight was when the guys who drive the bicycles with the carriages on the back took exception to my message. They began to yell things about Satan and generally chuckle and snicker. They eventually got really close to me and cranked up some heavy metal. Again, thanks to God for bringing folks that close in order to draw attention to the message of grace and hope and forgiveness of sins which was being preached. I really enjoyed them, although I called them out a couple times as illustrations. I think they ended up pretty embarrassed by their own foolish behavior. I genuinely told them I wanted them to be forgiven of all their sins, including their attempt to thwart the preaching of God’s Word. May God grant them repentance (that’s the only way anyone exercises it).

Finally, Fred left to go home, and Joe and I still hadn’t found Matt! It turns out he was still stuck in traffic almost 2.5 hours later! Joe and I ambled to Lane and High, where there would be more foot traffic. By 6ish, Matt finally met us. Admitting he was parked illegally, we brainstormed and found a place where he could move his car. We recommended that he go to a gas station and buy a drink; Matt left. As Joe and I waited for him, I noticed Matt kept patting his pockets from across the street. I ran over to find he’d lost his wallet! He had just bought gas. We stopped and prayed. I prayed that the Lord would return Matt’s wallet to him, even if it was in a miraculous way. After a thorough car search, Matt left to go back to where he had bought gas an hour earlier.

As I made my way back across the street, I noticed my cellphone was missing! This was amazing. I had just finished speaking to Joe about spiritual warfare, and now it seemed like somehow someone was trying to prevent us from evangelizing! I went to where Matt had parked his car to look for his wallet and then look for my phone. I found neither. Eventually, I just went back to Joe and started preaching again. There were some people who had questions, and some people who just wanted to heckle, including a really inquisitive lady named Juliana. While discussing the gospel with a couple of young men, Matt walked up and handed me my phone. Praise God, I had just left it in his car when I searched for his wallet!

Matt had checked the gas station and it wasn’t there. So Matt, not realizing I had already checked, went back to his ‘illegal’ parking spot to check for his wallet. As he walked around hoping to find it, a man approached him covered head to toe in Michigan garb. “Are you Matt?” he asked. Matt instantly knew the guy must have had his wallet. What a miracle! Had Matt not planned to buy a drink, he may not have noticed his wallet was missing, and had I kept my cellphone, I may have let him know not to check the parking lot where he ultimately ran into this guy! Matt said, “We gotta root for Michigan tonight!”

Now, having seen the Lord answer prayer and overcome all these things on our behalf, we continued to evangelize for a bit. We got into a long conversation with Juliana who had much disagreement with the bible. Please pray she will have her eyes opened to God’s truth. She was enjoyable to talk to, but I had the feeling at the time and even more so now, that she was just a stall tactic. She occupied our time for a while…and I’m not sure the conversation was entirely fruitful. It actually ended with her saying “Shame on you,” to us and returning the bible we had given her that she had put in her bag.

One other quick anecdote: One young man told us absolute truth did not exist. I asked him if that was absolutely true. He said, “Yes.” When confronted by the fact that his statement was self-refuting, he just sorta got annoyed and walked away. It bothered him that we confessed to have the only message of truth about God.

All in all, it was an excellent day. I still do not have a car until Tuesday, but Matt’s nightmare ride around campus and lost wallet fiasco are all history. Joe was encouraged and encouraged us; and Fred…well Fred’s always just happy to go out. I trust the Lord did wonderful things in the hearts of men and women today. I hope he allows us to see some of those things in this life.

If you are still reading, you are a dear person. I suspect I’d have stopped by now, citing the unnecessary details and general wordiness of the author!

Thank you!

Be a discouraging Christian, please!

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This post was written in April of 2012.

There is so much in the Bible about being an encourager. In fact, just mouse over Ephesians 6:22, Colossians 4:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:14 and you can quickly surmise that God commands that we encourage others.

So why would I tell you to be a discourager?

Allow me to explain what I mean. About 33 years ago, Brian Thomas Doucher was born. After a series of events, we were brought into each otherā€™s lives. He truly was one of the best friends I’ve ever had, and I would venture to say I was one of his best friends. On Sunday, April 8, 2012, Brian ended his own life. It is almost hard to type, but Brian committed suicide.

The circumstances are irrelevant. I’m not going to try to explain it (I don’t think I could), and I’m not trying to blame anyone. What I want to talk about in this post is how we can “be a discourager.” That is, how can we discourage people from repeating Brian’s mistake.

My goal is to exhort you to discourage others from following in Brian’s path. Let me explain: Brian was a great guy. He was loved by many people, and had a positive impact on many folks.

Read some of the things people have written on his Facebook wall in just the few days since he passed onto eternity:

“Such a great guy, who’s silly jokes i’ll miss dearly!”

“Not a day goes by we will not think about you. Gone to Soon.

“We all hope you knew how much we all love you”

“I don’t like many lawyers, and even fewer law students, but you were a good one buddy. One of the smartest people I’ve ever known.”

“Will really miss you buddy.”

“Thank you for all the great times we had together back in the day.”

“I will truly miss you bro. Through the years we went through the best of times and the worst of times. You had such a big heart and cared for others so much! I was heartbroken when i heard that you had passed!!”

So what’s my point? I guess I can’t say for certain, but I like to believe that Brian didn’t actually know how much so many people loved him. It is my guess that when he finally got to the brink of suicide, he was utterly hopeless. Now I’m not saying it is anyone else’s fault that Brian died, but I do believe we have an impact on people. I believe we can tell people how we feel about them, and ENCOURAGE them and, thus, be a DISCOURAGER for people who would consider taking their own life.

I like to think that if Brian could’ve seen just his Facebook wall in the days after he passed, there is no way he would have done this. Of course, that isn’t truly up for argument. What I am saying is more along the lines of “I can’t imagine that Brian truly knew how loved he was and, frankly, how awesome so many people thought he was.”

Now for the real encouragement for YOU, dear reader: Let’s quickly discuss Brian’s eternal state. Many people would say suicide sends a person straight to hell; others would deny hell’s existence, or even assume all people go to heaven through some sort of universalism.

Let me put it this way, Jesus Christ, Lord of all came to seek and to save sinners (people: like me and you and Brian). All men have sinned against God, through our acts of faithlessness, disobedience to God’s laws and violations of His holiness. (Read The Gospel if you don’t get this or if you disagree, it is worth investigating).

But God, in His kindness and mercy, while we were still enemies of Him demonstrated His love by sending His Son Jesus to die for sinners. God poured out His wrath on His Son on the cross. Jesus was buried as predicted and then resurrected. He was raised so that sinners might be justified before God. This means that God can forgive sinners because justice was served. God commands that men everywhere repent of sin and turn to Christ for forgiveness. He offers this by grace and only by grace. You and I and Brian can and could do nothing to earn God’s favor. This is Good News. You can be reconciled to God if you will humble yourself and allow Christ’s righteousness to be the only righteousness you count on to be accepted by God.

What does this have to do with Brian? Brian confessed these things. Brian believed these things and had fruit in his life which indicated a desire to follow Christ. Was he weak? Yes, like we all are. But suicide does not disqualify someone from God’s grace any more than any other sin which Christ Himself bore on that tree.

You, dear non-Christian, may live with a hope that Brian is in a better place, and you may hope to see him someday or maybe you’ve “asked” him to say hi to your family member. I implore you to consider your own condition! I live with the rational hope that Brian truly did know Christ as Savior, that he committed a horrible and irreversible sin and that He went directly to be with His Lord by God’s grace. I hope you will live eternally praising and glorifying the name of Christ too and turn from idols!

On July 5, 2013. I found this song on YouTube. Grab your tissues.

The relentless pursuit of lent…

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It is that time of year again. I think it begins 40 days before the holiday called Easter.

Here are my thoughts on lent.

Lent, as a Roman Catholic religious observance, is as useless and sinful as all other Roman Catholic or false religious rites. This is based on Roman Catholicism’s open denial of justification by grace through faith alone. If you are Roman Catholic, you are free to celebrate lent or any other religious ritual your religion allows. If you do not like that the Roman Catholic church teaches a different form of justification than through faith alone, then your issue is with the Roman Catholic church and its public confessionsā€”not with me.

As for evangelicalsā€”

The question I have is this: Is lent biblical? That is, is there any biblical mandate for a season called lent which we are to observe? The answer is “No.” You will not find scripture to support Christians observing lent as a biblical mandate.

The next question I have is: Is lent allowable? It seems that there are a few things to be considered to determine this. If we can agree that lent is solely a false religious practice, then I think a case can be made that no Christian should participate in a “Lenten” activity. I can’t go so far as to prove that, but I tend to lean this way concerning lent. But my current view tells me that we cannot be quite so dogmatic too quickly. Like Christmas and everything else in our world, there are pagan roots to many activities with which we enjoy liberty. Let’s look at the heart issue surrounding Lent.

If you are observing lent in order to do any of the following, you are likely in error:

  • Be pleasing to God.
  • Grow closer to God because you are observing Lent.
  • Earn salvation from God for the forgiveness of sins.

My point is that there is nothing inherent in the work or deeds of observing lent (especially the man-made institution of it) which supplies the observer with grace or growth or knowledge of God. Did you get that? I’m saying that lent is not a magic formula for growing closer to God or being changed as a person. What I have noticed is that generally, people do 1 or 2 things to observe Lent. They either eat fish on Friday instead of meat or restrict/change their behavior in some way for the 40 days.

Let’s take a brief portion of scripture and review a little bit of why God has us do things like “fasting.”

Isaiah 58:4-7 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Replacing one type of food for another is really no sacrifice at all. The utter absurdity of this being pleasing to God even to a carnal mind ought to be evident, in my opinion. What about fasting from food entirely and donating money to the poor? I think that could be a good idea…but, if done with the expectation that because you are doing it for lent you are earning some favor with God, I believe you are in error.

As always, it is the heart attitude that matters. If you are doing it out of love for Christ and love for the oppressed and hungry, then it is likely a good thing! And indeed, YOU SHOULD BE DOING THAT YEAR ROUND. We all should be living year round in a way that pleases and honors God, giving Him glory in all things.

As far as the second way people observe lent (giving up something) ā€” there seems to be two scenarios (generally speaking): people either seem to give up a sin for 40 days, or they give up something that isn’t sinful, but they know is potentially a problem or represents a real sacrifice.

Let me start by saying, you should be repenting of and turning from sin daily, and a 40-day commitment to doing so is almost more insulting to your Maker than the idea that you simply continue in the sin. The presumption that somehow your 40-day commitment means anything to God is horribly idolatrous and you probably ought to examine yourself more deeply to see if you are even born-again. Born-again believers do not plan their sin in this presumptive way. If God is allowing you to literally give up sin for 40 days then pick it right back up, then you may consider that the Holy Spirit does not dwell within you.

Onto the more reasonable purpose for observing lent: self-sacrifice of a particular thing for a short period. Again, I will divide this into two categories:

  • Giving up something and focusing on Christ more for the period of days.
  • Giving up something and focusing on the thing you can’t have and making a big deal out of it.

If you truly want to give something up that is “legal (within your Christian liberty)” but you have decided to sacrifice it temporarily in order to spend more time in the Word or prayer or simply to discipline yourself, I think that is a good thing. In fact, you don’t need to wait until 40 days before the US calendar’s celebration of the resurrection of Christ to do that! Starving our flesh and teaching ourselves discipline should be a daily practice.

Things like forgoing seconds or desserts are good methods to train your flesh. I would just ask, “Why pick just the 40 days before Easter to do it?” And I would personally be concerned that it could lead others into other practices of lent that I do not believe are to be followed. Now, if you give up something and make a big deal out of it or focus on it in your heart the entire time, then you are just like the Pharisees who plotted to kill Jesus. You are like a whitewashed tomb, and your heart needs to be changed. If you think that your outward appearance (even if representing real obedience to God’s commands) is more important than your heart attitude you are sorely mistaken. God will not be mocked. Consider Jesus’ words, a warning that our sacrifice for God is actually something that is to be between us and Him only! We are not to post on Facebook the various sacrifices we are making so that we can be seen by men!

Matthew 6:16-18 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The contents of your heart will come out in your actions and your words. Examine yourself in light of scripture. I personally want nothing to do with lent, but prefer to hope that by God’s grace I will live every day for His glory, magnifying and exalting the name of Christ, dying to self and training myself to do all that He’s commanded.

Steve Jobsā€™ Final Wish

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I donā€™t know a lot about Steve Jobs. I watched Pirates of Silicon Valley and have bought a few iPods. I had never met the man: so how do I propose to know his last wish?

First we must review Luke 16:27-28.

27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my fatherā€™s houseā€” 28 for I have five brothersā€”so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’

I believe that Steve Jobsā€™ final wish is that Godā€™s law and gospel be proclaimed to those he loved the most in this world. Whether Steve Jobs is currently suffering the condemnation of God or worshiping the Creator now because he is in Christ Jesus ā€“ I trust his hope is that others will know who the One True God is. So where is Steve now?

I donā€™t know for sure. God knows each manā€™s heart; I do not. But what I do know is that if he was never born-again, if he never repented of his sin against God and trusted Jesus Christ as the only provision for the basis of forgiveness of those sins, then he is suffering the just punishment for his life of enmity with God ā€“ and so will you, without Christ. It is also possible that due to the mercy and grace of Christ, that Steve was covered by His sacrifice and is currently enjoying communion with his Savior. Enemies of the gospel of grace will call me callous for even using a recently deceased person as an example; and I am sure some Christians will find my take on the eternity of Jobs too weak, since he never publicly professed Christ and, in fact, professed a false religion (Buddhism, if my research is correct).

I cannot help Steve Jobs anymore. I cannot pray him into Heaven (a false doctrine of Catholicism called purgatory), and I cannot preach to him or plead with him to repent and believe the gospel. Josh Harris sent him the gospel a while back. I suppose Steve died with knowledge of how to be saved and we can all live with the hope that God had mercy on him late in life. What we cannot say is that anything we know about him indicated regeneration. We cannot just arbitrarily assume that Steve was ā€œprobably a Christianā€ because it makes us feel better, or because we lack the courage to allow people to believe that we think Jobsā€™ hellbound life remained uninterrupted by Godā€™s grace. For we know the truth is that EVERY man and woman is hellbound. Every man and woman has fallen short of Godā€™s standard and is accountable to God for their own sin. The question is not ā€œWhere is Steve Jobs?ā€ The question is ā€“ ā€œHave you been born again?ā€ John 3:3-7.

I am sure many will think it is wrong to even refer to Jobs so soon after his death, especially concerning eternal matters. I, of course, would disagree. Assuming this dissension would come from people outside Christiany, the criticism is unwarranted, irrelevant and inarguable. There will be no convincing non-Christians of Christian things with clever arguments or sound logic. These folks simply deny the foundation of Christian beliefs (Godā€™s Word), and, thus, can prove or disprove anything they want, arbitrarily. But letā€™s look at the Christian response: Are you a Christian who thinks there should be some waiting period before we discuss the gospel after someone dies? Or maybe you think the personā€™s name should never be used? Iā€™d ask you this: how many people are you ok with perishing to eternal torment while you wait for the right time to begin discussing spiritual matters? Because you do not know, (as Jobs did not), who will be next, or when? What arrogance you have to believe that your non-believing family and friends and coworkers have even another breath in them.

So please, share the gospel NOW. Be gentle and meek, patient and humble ā€“ yet bold and confident in the power (Romans 1:16). Refer to the gospel not as your message to humanity, but rather the message of the Bible. Make sure your hearers understand that if they disagree with you, they are actually disagreeing with the Bible. And donā€™t take it too personally when they reject you and sling accusations at you, for if you properly share it ā€“ if you accurately express the message of condemnation of sins and hope in Christā€™s righteousness instead of self-righteousness ā€“ your earthly existence ought not be too much better than the life of Jesus and John the Baptist.

Dear brothers and sisters, I beg you and command you in the name of Christ: ā€œGo ye therefore.ā€ You may impact someone for Christ who impacts someone for Christ who Steve Jobs desperately wants saved. You will certainly be showing your gratitude for what Christ did for you.