Genesis 19:22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

Maybe you've heard some people say that the little city Zoar represents fellowships. They say this because they think Lot was disobedient to God's command to flee to the mountain, and his insistence to go to Zoar is like those people that meet together in fellowship groups. That's what some have said for years.

It's obvious that they've never worked through the verses in Genesis 19 or worked out exactly what it is their saying about Zoar. And yet, if what they say about Zoar were true (which its not) then that would mean that Zoar/Fellowships were accepted by God and were a place of refuge from the wrath of God. After all, the other 4 cities of the plain were destroyed. Only Zoar survived the fire and brimstone which fell from heaven. In fact, God waited for Lot to cross the city limits of Zoar (or to enter into a fellowship group by their understanding) before raining down the fire and the brimstone upon the other cities of the plain of Jordan.

All those in Zoar were delivered from that awful outpouring of the wrath of God. This means that Zoar was a place of deliverance. A place God spared and had mercy on. Is that what these people who liken Zoar to fellowships intended to say? No, not at all. They likened Zoar to fellowship groups in order to be critical of the idea of fellowships. To find fault with them. And yet, in their zealous desire to negatively critique fellowships--they have unwittingly selected a city that points to God's mercy and deliverance. This leads to them saying many things about fellowships that the Bible does not say.

Enough of this error. Let me point out the truth. Zoar has nothing to do with fellowship groups. People who enter fellowship groups after coming out of the churches were NOT automatically delivered from the wrath of God which fell on the world on May 21, 2011. And anyone I know who goes to a fellowship group would be the first to say that. In fact, God doesn't even address fellowship groups in the Bible. He does not speak against them nor for them.

Obviously, since God accepted Lot's request regarding the little city Zoar, and since Zoar and its inhabitants were spared the destruction all of the other cities of the plain received---its not possible that Zoar spiritually pictured fellowship groups. Instead it must picture that which ties in with God's mercy and salvation. It very much like a city of refuge.

2018.01.02 - "After" is NOT the Proper Time to Seek God for Salvation

https://www.facebook.com/notes/chris-mccann/after-is-not-the-proper-time-to-seek-god-for-salvation/1539680202786298/

Zephaniah 2:1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;

2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon you.

Notice how many times the word ‘before’ is used in verse 2 above. The use of the word before reveals that ‘after’ the day pass (i.e. the time for Judgment Day arrives) and ‘after’ the fierce anger of the LORD comes, and ‘after’ the Day of the LORD’s anger has come upon you---is not the proper time and season in which to seek the Lord’s mercy. Zephaniah 2:2 shows us that seeking the Lord for His mercy must be done in its PROPER TIME AND SEASON. As Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me WHILE it is day”. He went on to say, “ the night cometh, when no man can work.” That is, the night of God’s judgment comes on the world and that is a time in which Christ (the man in view) can no longer perform the work of faith in saving sinners. The time to seek the Lord has expired. It has elapsed. The Day of Salvation is no more.

Luke 13:25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

2017

2017.12.29 - Evolution is Rightly Said to be a Ridiculous Theory

https://www.facebook.com/notes/chris-mccann/evolution-is-rightly-said-to-be-a-ridiculous-theory/1535782696509382/

The evolutionist’s idea of the origin of all things is completely ridiculous. According to their theory there was a “Big Bang” an explosion long, long ago, and then all of a sudden, the entire universe formed. It not only formed but it fell perfectly into place. Anyone that has ever witnessed an explosion understands that when things explode they do not ‘come together’ to form wonderful and harmonious things; no, but instead explosions always bring destruction. They bring disarray. Disharmony to the things involved in the explosion.

Just imagine how incredible a thing it is, that our scientists are telling us that the earth formed in the precise position it did at the proper distance from the sun, as well as the sun itself and all the stars as a result of an explosion. A big bang. An explosion that formed the planets, sun, moon, and stars and positioned them all in the exact position they need to be in for life to exist on earth. If the earth were closer to the sun it would burn up and if it were further away it would be too cold. It is just in the right spot. What an incredibly ‘intelligent’ explosion it was for things to fall exactly as they did.

If anyone believes in evolution, you are really believing in a series of “miracles”. Miracles without a God, but miracles nonetheless in the sense of occurrences that are not based on natural laws. It can only be said to be supernatural when something comes forth from nothing. And supernatural things are miraculous things. None of the scientists know where this substance that was smaller than an electron came from nor do they know how it came to explode. But many are agreed that once it did explode it formed the entire universe in which we live. Everything just “fell into place” precisely in a position that permitted life to exist.

The next “miracle” scientists tell us about is that life developed from non-life. Of course it took a very long time to occur, through a series of chemical processes before life came forth from non life. If you told someone this happened over thousands of years, no one would believe it, but throw in the magic word and say “billions” of years. And suddenly it becomes very credible and scientific. Eons of time tends to make it (the miracle) much more acceptable to our modern scientific community. This is why billions of years are so often thrown into the equation. We all know that non living things cannot become living things, that is, until ‘billions’ of years are added to the formula. What an incredible miracle it is that our schools and colleges are teaching children: there was no life of any kind, but then life came into existence by developing OVER BILLIONS OF YEARS.

So already we see, there have been a few mighty miracles performed in order to get to the point of some form of early “life” such as an amoeba or bacteria. Then from that initial form of life came a “higher form of life,” and so on. Do you see how incredible this all is? If it just happened one time with one life form that developed into one living creature, even if it were a deformed creature of some kind it would be a miracle. But the miracle of evolution grows even greater. Somehow the creature began to develop eyes that were placed in their proper position and ears that appeared in their proper position and the mouth, tongue, nose and the brain and the heart and all the other organs that somehow managed to fall into exactly the right position as though there were a designer. (Of course, the idea of a designer is ridiculous to the evolutionists.) If this happened just one time with just one living creature it would be an astounding miracle, but the miracle of life and proper formation continued again and again with thousands of creatures. Tens of thousands of creatures. We have cats, dogs, elephants, rabbits, foxes, deer, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and an abundance of animals that have their eyes and ears in their proper places and all their parts in their proper place. There is also the insect world and the sea creatures and oh, just an amazing spectrum of creatures. We have a world full of living creatures formed by chance. If there is no God, and no Creator we have a world full of miraculous occurrences. I do not know the total number of creatures that inhabit the earth, not to mention mankind, the chief creature. But it would take many, many miracles for each one of these creatures to develop into the creature it is today? You can see why God’s people say that evolution is absolutely ridiculous. It is the most ridiculous thing that the mind of man has imagined and, yet, it is accepted worldwide by brilliant scholars and numerous scientists. In fact, evolution is so widely accepted that many people of the world think you are a fool if you do not believe it. And yet belief in it is nothing short of believing in an incredible array of miracles. One after the other. While it is true that miracles have happened in times past. Yet it is also true that they have always occurred by the power and action of an intelligent God, the God of the Bible.

The theory of evolution requires a belief in a series of tremendous miracles. And yet these miracles (we’re told) just came to be. There was no God performing them. Any theory that requires a series of miracles and yet denies the One true God that can perform miracles, is rightly called ridiculous. And that which is ridiculous is something beyond belief.

(Also posted as “Evolution: Requires Belief in a Series of Miracles,” December 28, 2015.)

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