Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord

Job 1:16-21, “While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”

The true story of Job in the Old Testament is a very familiar one. Job was a godly man who feared God. Interestingly, it was God and not the Devil who suggested testing Job. That is a remarkable truth. God permitted Satan to destroy Job's life (Job 1:12). With God's permission, the Devil robbed Job of his children, servants, health and wealth. Job's crops were set on fire and his servants murdered by marauders. A deadly tornado caused a building to collapse, killing jobs three daughters and ten sons. Jesus warns everyone in John 10:10 that the thief (Satan) only comes with evil intent “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10b).

That old destroyer, the Serpent (Satan according to Revelation 20:2), came to steal, and to kill, and to destroy Eve's family and their happiness. In the Garden of Eden (in the Old Testament book of Genesis), there was only one sin that Adam and Eve could commit, which was to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. We don't know what type of fruit it was. Tradition claims that it was an apple (hence, a human's “Adam's Apple” lump in our throat). Since Adam sewed fig leaves together, some Bible students think the fruit may have been a fig. However, we read in Genesis 2:9a, “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food;” So there were present in the Garden of Eden “every tree” that was edible.

Please notice that it was God Himself who created the forbidden Tree of Knowledge and its fruit. That is very interesting! The Lord Himself provided the only source of temptation for Adam and Eve, to test them. This teaches us an important Bible truth, that even when we walking in the perfect will of God as a believer, He will still test us. A FAITH MUST BE TESTED!!! Unshakable faith comes from having your faith shaken. Faith is like film it develops in the dark. Amen. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.

After God allowed the Devil to strip away everything Job held near and dear, destroying Job's life and happiness, the Lord then gave Satan permission to take away Job's good health. The Devil afflicted Job with boils from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot. Ouch!!! There are several truths which we can glean from the true account of Job:

1. The faith of every Christian will be tested by God (Hebrews 11:6)
2. God has placed a protective hedge around every saint (Job 1:10)
3. Just because bad things happen to us in life, doesn't mean God doesn't care ()
4. When bad things happen in life, it is often in rapid succession (Job 1:16, 17 and 18 - “While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said...”)
5. Just because bad things or poverty happen to us as God's children, doesn't in any way mean that we are being judged and afflicted by God because of sin (Job 1:1)
6. The Devil cannot hurt a child of God in any way without God's permission (Job 1:12)
7. Satan needs additional permission from God, if he wants to afflict us more (Job 2:6-7)
8. Satan does have the power to cause loss of wealth, loved ones and health (Job 1:13-19)
9. Satan can control the weather with God's permission (Job 1:19)
10. Living for the Lord caused Job's suffering (Job 1:8-9). Don't underestimate God's will.
11. The Devil is a bum who wanders the earth seeking his next victim (1st Peter 5:8)
12. Your spouse may lose faith and discourage you during difficult times (Job 2:9-10)
13. Your friends may discourage and condemn you in difficult times (Job chapters 4-23)
14. God turned Job's captivity when he prayed for his judgmental jerk friends (Job 42:10)
15. When all was said and done, God blessed Job with a double portion (Job 42:12)
16. After all of the hardships of Job, he rightly said: "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Living for the Lord caused Job's suffering. If Job hadn't been such a godly man, this test likely never would have happened. It was because of Job's impeccable walk with God that God challenged the Devil. Go figure! Truth is stranger than fiction! No one can outsmart God, so don't even try dear reader. Our part in life as God's children is to “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13b). If serving God faithfully means that we will suffer for it, do without or even be martyred, then so be it. To lose something in the will of God is to find something better.

Famous martyred missionary to Ecuador, Jim Elliot (1927-1956) once said: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.” What a great truth!!! Jim Elliot is speaking about Christian service, not salvation.

It is because Job lived faithfully for the Lord that everything went bad in his life, and his wife lost her faith and suggested for Job to curse God and die. It was because Job did the right thing, that all his close friends condemned him in their lack of understanding, so that Job said in Job 16:2, “I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.” Read what poor afflicted Job said in Job 19:19, “All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.” This is all befalling Job because HE DID THE RIGHT THING!!! I know how Job felt. I was the only one on Guam, at the Harvest Baptist Church, who did the right thing. I TOLD THE TRUTH, as a true friend does.

I TOLD THE TRUTH to Harvest's rotten Bob Jones University alumni pastors (i.e., Marty Herron, Joe Hansen, Jared Baldwin, Gary Walton), for which they wickedly threw me under the bus in their hatred and resentment, feeding me to the hungry lions as Daniel. Those ungodly pastors at Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, chose the love of money and the acceptance of their ministry peers at BJU (the praise of men versus the praise of God - John 12:42-43); rather than to suffer reproach for THE TRUTH (2nd Timothy 3:12), and be put outside the gate with me and Jesus (Galatians 4:16). The fastest way to get kicked out of a church and be recommended for therapy is to just TELL THE TRUTH!!! John8:40, “But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.”

Just as the Jews killed the prophets that God sent to help them, throwing them under the bus; likewise did the wicked pastors of the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam throw me under the buss. They are arrogant and stiff-necked, thinking they are correct and I am wrong.

If these men of God are right, then so I am:

• Dear reader, if Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) was right ('The Real Battle,' MP3 sermon) that the only inspired Words of God are contained in the King James Bible, than I am right too. All of the modern Bible revisions are corrupt!
• If Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) was right that Lordship Salvation is a perversion of the Gospel, than so am I right. BJU, Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, Pacific Garden Mission's UNSHACKLED radio program, Marty Herron, Faith Baptist Bible College And Theological Seminary (Ankeny, Iowa), and John MacArthur are all guilty of preaching another gospel. God's curse is upon them all (Galatians 1:6-9).
• If Pastor Hank Lindstrom (1940-2008) was right that a believer can live like the Devil, and still be 100% assured of eternal security, than I am right too. 'How Permanent Is Your Salvation' (MP3 sermon).
• If Michael P. Bowen is right that Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, Beth Moore, Charles Stanley, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, John Hagee and Pat Robertson are all damnable false prophets, than I am right too. See, 'I Never Knew You' (free .PDF book).
• If Pilgrim's Progress book author John Bunyan (1628-1688) was right that combining sanctification with justification corrupts the Word of God and places stumbling blocks before the people, then I am right in my preaching against Lordship Salvation.
• If Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold is right in his preaching against infidel John MacArthur, than so also am I right in my faithful Bible preaching.
• Most of all, if the inspired King James Bible is right, than so am I right in my preaching from it's treasure trove of truths (Romans 3:4).

RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

I just heard this great quote from Pastor Yankee Arnold...

“Pastors should not have a different Gospel. It should be the same Gospel. Now, we may present it different ways, but the Gospel should still be the Gospel. And preachers and evangelists and whoever—the message still has to be the same, if it is the Gospel. And if it is by grace, then it has to be FREE, and it must be FOREVER. If it's not free, it's not the Gospel; and if it's not forever, it's not the Gospel; because that's what makes it such a good thing. In other words, we are supposed to speak with words that are easy to be understood.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, “Is God Confused?”

Beware of shallow pastors who compromise on truth.

Job said: BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!!! That should also be our attitude no matter what happens in life. Just settle it in your mind friend, that GOD IS ALWAYS GOOD!!! God is more than amazing! God is so good! I refuse to place my God on trial every time things go wrong in my life. We are so spoiled rotten in America. Check this video out, about a primitive tribe (the Sentinelese), who have never seen the modern world...

What's Hidden on the Forbidden North Sentinel Island?

That is amazing!!! I thank and praise God for His bountiful blessings. Throughout history wicked people have rejected, shunned, ostracized, persecuted and even murdered God's prophets:

Luke 11:50-51, “That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.”

Luke 13:34, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!”

I know how they felt, being hated and shunned for TELLING THE TRUTH. I have been kicked out of multiple churches because I TOLD THE TRUTH. Sadly, Campus Church at Pensacola Christian Church is one of them. I rebuked their pastors for wickedly bidding Godspeed to the corrupt Bob Jones University camp, which includes the apostate Harvest Baptist Church on Guam. Like the Apostle Paul, they have counted me as their enemy for TELLING THE TRUTH (Galatians 4:16).

In today's Laodicean LUKEWARM churches, the Devil has crept his damnable doctrines into them. The Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation has crept into most Baptist churches, turning them into religious cults. No one is saved who thinks that eternal life is not free, that you must turn away from your sinful lifestyle to obtain it from God. No one is saved who thinks that God's free gift of eternal life can be lost, given back or forfeited by sinful behavior.

I attended a revival last year in Pensacola, at a local church. The church had invited a Bluegrass music group from Texas. Their music was beautiful. But on the last day of the revival, the woman who plays the double bass guitar gave her testimony. She said for several years she had thought she was saved, but then came to realize eventually that she had never turned away from her sinning. She said that now she is saved, because she has turned away from her sinful ways. I wanted to stand up and rebuke her in front of over 100 people, then walk out the door and never come back! Sadly, the church pastor never corrected her. The church pastor has blood on his hands for sanctioning damnable heresy!

Dear reader, you absolutely DON'T have to turn away from your sinful behavior to get to Heaven. Of course God wants (and even commands) all of His redeemed children to depart from iniquity; but that doesn't get you to Heaven!!! 2nd Timothy 2:19, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” Kindly said, that woman is not merely confused, she is also still unsaved. Nobody can be saved, until that guilty lost sinner comes to the realization that there is NOTHING he or she can do to get to Heaven, except to CEASE from their own works and wholly REST in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:10-11). Jesus died on a cross to pay for our debt of sin. He was buried. Three days later Christ resurrected from the dead. This is the Gospel (1st Corinthians 15:1-4).

May we all have the excellent spirit of Job, who after losing everything said: “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”