August 21; Confession Is Good For The Soul—For Both The Speaker’s and Listener’s
MANAGEMENT BY THE BOOK:
365 Daily Bible Verse &
One-Minute Management Lessons For The Busy Faithful

Chapter Eight: Communication; 21 August

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”

and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

Romans 10:9

Personal

L to R, Naomi Judd, Bill Maher, Charmaine Yoest

January 24, 2001, Bill Maher is hosting his long running televised talk show Politically Incorrect; Charmaine is a guest,

Bill Maher:

What is wrong with just saying, “I don’t know? I’m a human being.
How could I possibly know the nature of God? I’ll know when I’m dead.
Or I won’t.
Or I’ll just be taking a dirt nap.”
[Laughter]
Why can’t you just say, “I don’t know”?
I know it’s scary to not know what happens after you die —

Victoria Jackson, comedienne and actress, Saturday Night Live (SNL):

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.
No man cometh unto the father but by me.”

Charmaine Yoest, then Professor of Politics and Family at the University of Virginia:

–it’s the idea that if you believe that there’s an ultimate reality and
that there is a really fundamental difference between taking a dirt nap
and heaven, or ultimate consequences and eternally being with God, then –

Bill:

But it’s your version —
what’s arrogant is your version.
What’s arrogant is you say, “I know — “

Charmaine:

No, don’t make it personal…
There’s other ways of saying, “Hey, I’ve found something that makes a real
difference in my life.
Jesus makes a difference — ” (Maher 2001)

Charmaine is making a personal statement of fact of The Simple Truth. The unbeliever will take this as a personal attack or claim that salvation is too complicated to understand.

Acknowledging The Truth is a simple two-step process. Dr. Yeager, Baptist and Calvinist, writes,

An open confession by word of mouth (or by signs in the case of mutes) to the effect that Jesus, once dead and now alive forever, is one’s Lord, coupled with a steadfast heart faith that this Jesus, Whom one has just acknowledged as Lord, has actually been raised from the dead, is the two-fold condition for salvation.

The conclusion is indicative mood certitude-“you will be saved.” To make the open confession withholding the heart-felt conviction is hypocrisy.

It is also nonsense. Who wants to say that a dead Galilean carpenter is his Lord? (Randolph O. Yeager 1983 vol 12, p 53.)

This is the heart-felt public profession of faith, If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

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