Category: William Oldham

Is God Tolerant?

On By Brother BillIn William Oldham2 Comments

 By William Oldham

The Bible declares: “…As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who does good, not even one…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:10-24 This holds at least two meanings for us all. First, all men, in their natural state, fall into one category: sinners, from the greatest to the least. And second, in this condition, all are under condemnation and cannot enter heaven. How tolerant is God towards men living in sin?

The Bible says: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11  Here a separation of sinners and intolerance toward sin is clearly revealed.

A line was drawn when some turned from their sins and to Christ; their sins were washed away. From that point on they were no longer called sinners but saints. In the Bible saints are sinners who have been joined to Jesus Christ. God gives a new heart that is set on pleasing Him and fighting daily against the temptation to sin instead of living in it. To those who reject Christ and choose to remain as they are, the point is clear: they will not inherit God’s kingdom.

“Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil… The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother…for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 3:7/5:4

Continuing in sin demonstrates the devil working; Trusting and obeying Christ demonstrates Christ is working; God has zero tolerance on the first and all of Heaven supports the second.

Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net

The Word of God

On By Geri UngureanIn Uncategorized, William Oldham5 Comments

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” Genesis 1:1-3    

      The God of all creation is sovereign and Almighty: He brought all things into existence according to His own will and power. Here, on the first day of His work, by a simple command He calls light out of darkness. I had a reader of my column object to the accuracy of the Bible by pointing out that it would be impossible to have light before the sun was created.

 What he didn’t realize was that God didn’t need anything to make light, just a simple command brought it forth: that command was the Word of God. The children of God don’t try to understand the “hows and whys” of what God does, but simply choose to believe what has been written for us.

The Lord is all-powerful, but He is not complicated. In speaking of man’s trying to understand His ways, the Lord says this, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts…and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

“It is by faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews 11:3 And, according to Genesis chapter one, the Lord did it in six, twenty four hour days.

          And from that day forward, God has exercised His sovereign will and power, many times and in many ways, by putting His simple commands in the mouths of His servants. When the time came for the Lord to deliver the Hebrews from Egypt, He put His words in Moses and Aaron’s mouths; when they spoke the plagues came. When the prophets spoke the words God gave them, His words came to pass. The Lord said this,

“…My word that goes forth from My mouth, shall not return to Me void, but accomplish what I please, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” Isaiah 55:11 

         When Christ came into the world, He was identified as God’s Word come in the flesh. The apostle John’s gospel makes clear Who Jesus is, and His part in creation. Here’s what is written:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men…The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-14 

         Christ came into this world in direct obedience to the will of His Father. As a man, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. Everything Jesus said and did was the Father working through Him. He is called the Word of God because He only spoke what God wanted Him to speak. 

         You have an immortal soul; there are only two destinations for that soul: A place in the Father’s house, prepared for you by Jesus Himself; or, being forever separated from God in a lake of fire. Do you care? If you do care, wouldn’t you want to know for certain where you will spend eternity? Well, you can know for sure.

The words of Jesus Christ are the absolute truth from God to man and He said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net

It’s All Good News

On By Brother BillIn William Oldham

By William Oldham

 “…I am not ashamed of the Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” Romans 1:16-17  

        After Adam had sinned and gave Satan access to this world, it was good news when God told the devil that He would bring forth a seed from woman that would crush his head. The apostle Paul encouraged the church with these words: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet…” Romans 16:20 

         God called Abraham to leave the idolatrous land he was living in; Abraham believed God and obeyed Him. The Lord led him to a land he knew nothing about and would be a stranger there. But once there, because of his faith, God had good news for Abraham. The Lord made an unbreakable covenant with Abraham: He promised him the land as an everlasting possession, his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and a Seed through Whom all nations would be blessed—that Seed is Christ Jesus. Genesis 12

          King David, as the ruler of Israel, decided to build a house for God. But the Lord told him no. Instead, God had good news for David—He was going to build a house for David. It would be a dynasty of kings. The Lord told David that He would raise up a Seed to rule over this kingdom; that He would secure His throne forever, “…that He would confirm Him as King over My house and my kingdom for all time, and His throne will be secure forever.” That Seed is Christ Jesus 1 Chronicles 17:10-14 

         When Jesus Christ was born, the gospels of Matthew and Luke give the genealogies of Jesus: one from Joseph and one from Mary. This was vital to the identification of the promised Seed. He had to come from the house of David, the tribe of Judah, and from Abraham’s son of promise, Isaac. Both Joseph and Mary’s lineage meet these points. Joseph was not Jesus’ father—God Is! But it was into his house Jesus was born. Mary was His mother in fulfillment of the prophecy that unto a virgin, Immanuel would be born.  

         The birth of Jesus Christ was Good News; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Lord of King David, was giving His only begotten Son to a world of lost sinners, to save them: to reconcile them back to Himself; God had declared that both Jews and the Gentiles were sinners and must have a Savior. On the day Jesus was born, God had come in the flesh to save sinners from their sins, and give them everlasting life.  

        The Good News from heaven is that God loves you; that Jesus loves you. “Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood.” Romans 3:23-25 

          This is the Good News from God to sinners; it has to be told. All of the religious ceremonies and rituals, and all of the church programs and activities cannot save a single soul. The simple message of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and resurrected from the dead is God’s word. When it is told and heard, God’s word has the power to penetrate a dead sinner’s heart and raise him to life with Christ and make him a justified, sanctified, glorified child of God. 

         God’s good news is wrapped up in Jesus Christ and it’s all good!

Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net

TESTED BY FIRE by William Oldham

On By Geri UngureanIn Uncategorized, William Oldham4 Comments

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5    

      What a wonderful declaration of the state of the Christian’s position with God, which God Himself has purposed. Through His abundant mercy, we who believe have been born again. And we have been born into a living hope of an unspeakable inheritance; and it is reserved in heaven for us; and we are being kept by the power of God. These truths alone ought to be enough to encourage a child of God to rejoice always.         

 These words were expressly written for that very purpose; to encourage Christians who were experiencing bitter persecution. And so the apostle Peter continues with these words: 

“In this you greatly rejoice, be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” 1 Peter 1:6-7     

     I am confident that Peter had a particular Bible event in mind when he speaks of fiery trials and gold.          

There was a day, roughly 2500 years ago when these very things came into view. It was the day when three young Hebrew men, being held captive in a foreign land, were confronted by an angry king. The king had made a gold statue 90 feet tall and nine feet wide. The king had commanded all the people to assemble before the statue, and bow down to it when the musicians sounded their instruments. The citizens of that country were heathen idolaters, but the Hebrews were worshippers of the Lord God Almighty.        

  When the musicians sounded, the idolaters immediately bowed down to the golden image. But the Hebrews didn’t because if they did, they would be breaking the first commandment of God’s law given to Moses. When the king saw they weren’t bowing, he warned them that if they refused to bow down, he would have them thrown into a fiery furnace. Right here, they’re faith in God was tested by the threat of fire. They’re in a foreign country, if they choose to bow down, who could blame them, who would know? 

         To them, it wasn’t a question of circumstances or who would know; it was honoring the Lord God whom they served from their hearts, regardless. Their answer to the angry king reveals their hearts:“We do not need to defend ourselves in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from your hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image.”         

  The three young men were tied up and thrown into the furnace. But, instead of burning, the Lord showed up with them, and the flames didn’t touch them; they exited the furnace without even the smell of smoke on them. Daniel 3:1-30.        

 If you’re a believer in Jesus, God has given you a measure of faith. One way or another, your faith is going to be tested by trials and tribulations. Here’s what a man said who experienced more trials and temptations than we ever will:“…

What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory God will reveal to us later.” Romans 8:18 Tested by fire for a moment; glory forever!Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net