God is Alive

In the year that Kind Uzziah died I saw the Lord...-Isaiah 6:1

King Uzziah is dead, but God is alive. If you were living during this time period you would understand the turmoil which existed every time a king would pass on. The nation of Israel was dependent on its king for protection and rule. When a king died the individuals who were living in the country did not know whether another army would come in and attack or if the nation would collapse. Israel did not know if the next king would be a good king who feared God or an evil king who did what he wanted. The death of a king was a very scary time, however, Isaiah records that even though Israel’s king may be dead, God is still on His throne. God was the living God when the universe was created. He was the living God when dinosaurs roamed the earth. He was the living God when the English arrived in America and established the Plymouth colonies and He will be the living God long after all of us have departed from this planet. John Piper says, “God will be the living God ten trillion ages from now when all the puny potshots against his reality will have sunk into oblivion like BB’s at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.”

We are coming up on an election, Republicans are beginning to decide whom the candidate will be who will run against President Obama and regardless of what happens, regardless of who wins the elections, GOD will still be on His throne. God will still be ruling and reigning from Heaven. In a brief 110 years this planet will be populated by a brand new set of people and all seven billion of us alive today will have vanished off the earth like Uzziah. But not God! He never had a beginning and therefore depends on nothing for His existence. He always has been and always will be alive.

My thoughts

Christopher Hitchens died on Thursday night at the age of 62, after a 18-month battle with esophageal cancer.

He was a brilliant and entertaining man. He was enormously gifted, and in his final years he took those gifts and used them to mock God, using his considerable wit and sharp tongue to convince as many people as possible to do the same.

Thursday night, Christopher Hitchens stood before a perfect judge (God) and a perfect jury (10 Commandments) and was judged based on how he kept the law. Each of us will also stand before a perfect judge and jury and judged based on how we kept the law. Let me ask you a few questions:

Did you know that a morally perfect Creator sees our thoughts, and holds us accountable to a standard? Let's look at the standard: You shall not steal. You shall not lie, or covet. You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain. You shall have no other gods before me. How many lies have you told this week? this month? this year? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever wanted something that someone else has? Have you ever looked with lust at someone of the opposite sex or even the same sex? (Did you know God sees that as adultery?) Have you ever hated someone? (Did you know God sees that as murder?) Have you put other "gods" before Him?-things to whom you have given your affection-nature, pleasure, people? 

Be honest with yourself and let your conscience remind you of things you have done, that you knew were morally wrong. Without that knowledge you will never, ever, call upon the mercy of the Judge. It is "knowledge" that causes a dying patient to trust a skillful surgeon who can save him from sure death. Knowledge is power, and in this case, it has the power to lead to your salvation. It can take you to the One who can save you from death, and from what comes after death--a very real and terrible Hell. What is sometimes called "saving knowledge" was mentioned by the prophet Hosea, hundreds of years B.C. God said through him, "My people are destroyed though lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). My problem before I came to know God was a lack of knowledge, and it is probably your problem also.

So, to be saved from death and Hell, you must have "knowledge of sin." Do you have it? Did the Law of God get through to you, or did your pride stop it from doing its incredible work? I trust you have been humbled by the Commandments, so that you can appropriate the further knowledge that the gospel brings, knowledge that can save you from death.

The most wonderful truth you will ever hear is that God is rich in mercy. Guilty though we are, He in His great love provided a Savior--One who is able to save His people from their sins. Without Him, sin will be the death of you. It will justly sweep you into Hell. But God became a Man—-Jesus of Nazareth, and took the punishment for our sins upon Himself. He was bruised from our iniquities. God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We broke God's Law (the Ten Commandments) and Jesus paid our fine in full. That means that God can legally dismiss your case. He can commute your death-sentence and let you live.

After He had purchased our salvation, Jesus rose from the dead, destroying death forever, for all that obey Him—-"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him" (Hebrews 5:8-9).

So, please, repent today. Confess your sins to God, and then forsake them. Then trust alone in Jesus for your eternal salvation and God will forgive you and give you everlasting life.

Christopher Hitchens stood before a holy God on Thursday night. I can only imagine his knees were trembling as they bowed woefully before a God he had spent his whole life denying. One day you will stand before a Heavenly judge and if you do not know Jesus Christ, the verdict will be guilty and you too will spend an eternity in Hell as well, please repent and trust in Jesus while there is still time.

The Beauty of Christmas

This is the third part in a three part series. Here is part one (http://tewelch.blogspot.com/2011/11/power-of-christmas.html) and here is part two (http://tewelch.blogspot.com/2011/12/mystery-of-christmas.html)

The Beauty of Christmas:
He was conceived by the union of divine grace and human disgrace. 
He who breathed the breath of life into the first man is now himself a man breathing his first breath. 
The King of Kings sleeping in a cow-pen. 
The Creator of oceans and seas and rivers afloat in the womb of his mother. 
God sucking his thumb. 
The Alpha and Omega learning his multiplication tables. 
He who was once surrounded by the glorious stereophonic praise of adoring angels now hears the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, the stammering of bewildered shepherds 
He who spoke the universe into being now coos and cries. 
Omniscient Deity counting his toes. 
Mary playing "this little piggy went to market" on the toes of God (well, being Jewish, maybe it was “this little pony”). 
From the robes of eternal glory to the rags of swaddling clothes. 
The omnipresent spirit, whose being fills the galaxies, confined to the womb of a peasant girl. 
Infinite power learning to crawl. 
Mary playing "patty-cake" with the Lord of Lords! 

Merry Christmas

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The Mystery of Christmas

This is the second post in a three part series. If you would like to read the first post here is a link...http://tewelch.blogspot.com/2011/11/power-of-christmas.html

The Mystery of Christmas:
Conception: God became a fertilized egg! An embryo. A fetus. God kicked Mary from within her womb!


Birth: God entered the world as a baby, amid the stench of manure and cobwebs and prickly hay in a stable. Mary cradled the Creator in her arms. "I never imagined God would look like that," she says to herself. Envision the newborn Jesus with a misshaped head, wrinkled skin, and a red face. Just think: angels watched as Mary changed God's diapers! Tiny hands that would touch and heal the sick and yet be ripped by nails. Eyes (what color were they?). Tiny feet (where would they take him?) that likewise would be pierced by nails. She tickled his side (which would one day be lanced with a spear).


Infancy: God learned to crawl, stand, and walk. He spilt his milk and fell and hit his head.


Youth: Was he uncoordinated? How well did he perform at sports? Perhaps Jesus knew the pain of always being picked last when the kids chose up sides for a ballgame. God learned his ABC's!


Teenager: Jesus probably had pimples and body odor and bad breath. God went through puberty! His voice changed. He had to shave. Girls probably had a crush on him and boys probably teased him. There were probably some foods he didn't like (no doubt squash among them).


Carpenter: Calloused hands. Dealings with customers who tried to cheat him or complained about his work. How did he react when they shortchanged him?

How Great is our God

Ghana: Gold Coast

Ghana is a West African country on the Gulf of Guinea.  Portuguese explorers landed in what is now Ghana in 1471.  They found so much gold there that they called it the “Gold Coast”.  Later, European merchants came to the Gold Coast to compete for profits in the gold and slave trades.  In the late 1800’s the Gold Coast became a British colony.  It gained its independence in 1957 and took the name “Ghana”, the name of an ancient African kingdom.  In 1960 the people voted to become a republic and elected Kwame Nkrumah president.  His “socialist” experiment was a disaster.  After his overthrow in 1966, there have been five military regimes and three short-lived civilian governments.  The revolutionary military government of Jerry Rawlings eventually opened up the way for multi-party elections in 1992.  He was democratically returned to power and serves as President today.

 Leading exports from Ghana are cocoa, gold and timber.  After an almost total economic collapse in 1982, they are now making a steady recovery with an average GDP growth of 5% per annum.  Average income per person per year is $380.00.

There are about 100 different ethnic groups in Ghana which speak 72 different languages.  Primary, secondary, and technical education is government subsidized and most children can attend school until they are about 12 years old.  53% of the population (in the cities) can read and write, however the percentage in the rural areas is quite low.  There are five universities plus a large number of teacher colleges and technical institutes.

Ghana is an agricultural country.  Although it has important mineral deposits, over half the people live in rural areas and are farmers.  There are grasslands in the north, farmlands and forests in the south and the center is dominated by 312-mile long Lake Volta.  The temperature varies from an average of 80 degrees F (27 degrees C) in Accra, the south, to higher temperatures in the north.  There is a dry season and a rainy season and northern and eastern Ghana have severe dry spells November to March.

Ghana is a secular state with religious freedom.  Although 64% of the people claim to be Christian, only 44.3% are affiliated with any Christian church.  Of the 27.9% who are Protestant, 20.3% are affiliated with a church.  African traditional religions are practiced by 20% of the people and the other 16% of the population is Muslim. In most of the North, where Paganism and Islam are even more prominent, the percentage of Christians is drastically less than the South. 

Baptist work in Ghana began with the first missionary under the International Mission Board (then Foreign Mission Board) in 1947.  The Ghana Baptist Convention is a strong entity with trained leadership – the Convention has approximately  800 churches and has last year celebrated its  37th anniversary. IMB missionaries work very closely with the Convention in its goal of reaching Ghana for Christ.