Would you like to try this once?

Almost 6 weeks ago I injured my leg. Here is a picture at the two week mark. My leg had gotten infected, and this a week after the wound was cleaned out. 

If you have read my first post, you understand I like to ride bicycles.  It has been a long time healing, waiting to be able to get back in action.  Finally in the past 10 days I have started to do some riding, easy at first, but adding more miles each time. 

Well, out west we have the hills, and they make for some challenging riding.

Here is some riding that will test your manliness:



Could you tell which one was me?

Lets start with something elementary

Can there be more than one final authority?
If there is, there isn't a final authority.

Do you hold to one Bible, or do you prefer many versions?

Do you take one Bible as being right in all matters of faith and practice, or do you look through many, trying to find the one that best fits the point you want to make? 

Do you feel the need to "run to the Greek" to better teach a passage?

Who truly is the final authority, you or the scriptures?

Is there a final authority you will be judged by sometime in eternity?

John 12
48   He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

What will that be?

The NIV?
The NASV?
"Good News for Modern Man", "The Letter", the ESV, some Greek manuscript or text?

Better hold to one, or it isn't the final authority, although I have never heard of any holding to any other book than the Authorized Version, commonly known as the King James Bible, as being the final authority.

They all can't be the final authority, for they all don't agree.  That study is for another post down the road.

One is a lonely number

Do you monocog? (See first post)

People like to have options, variety, and the choice to make changes.  How many men want only one tool?  How many women want only one pair of shoes?  Would you go to a store that has only one choice for each item you are interested in purchasing?  In fact you are probably rather suspicious if on the shelf is only one choice, what went wrong here?  I don’t want to be the only one using this product.  When I am riding the Monocog, there is no option to change, no other gear to use when encountering a steeper grade for the next 6 miles of climbing, no higher gear to move faster on the flats.  I have one gear, just one lonely cog in the back.  No choices for the chain to make, should it ride on the bigger cogs, or work its way down to the smaller.  And so I monocog.  It almost becomes a conviction for some.  Some “singlespeeders” are so passionate that they will never ride a bicycle with multiple gears. 

One thinks of the scripure verse that says,
"meddle not with them that are given to change"

Thankfully, the Lord never changes.  Ever faithful, ever kind to his children, ever willing to save sinners.

Let us in the weeks, and months ahead, look at the lonely number one.  For that is what the Monocog blog is all about.

Do you monocog?

Nothing else like it

That can be said of any thing that is a one of a kind.  Maybe that rare custom made item you have. 
The Lord has something coming up that is nothing like anything else.  There has never been a time where numerous people simply disappear off the face of the earth.

The Bible calls this a mystery.  It says it will take place in a moment.  The Bible very clearly says that those who are spiritually alive will be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds, and forever will they be with the Lord. (read I Thess. 4:13-18)

Now what is surprising is the lack of expectancy for this event to happen shortly. Many of God's children seem to be caught up in so many things that have taken their mind off the great event of their Lord's return. We are living in exciting times.  The leaders of the world are calling for a new monetary system, and a world government to oversee this.  China recently called for a world currency.  The French president and EU president are at the forefront leading the charge for all of this.  The book of Revelation is very clear, there will be a one world government, and a one world monetary system.  It will also be a terrible time for the inhabitants of planet earth.

Isaiah 13
11   And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

But before these terrible seven years take place, the Lord Jesus will catch up those that are spiritually alive.  It will only happen once.  There is nothing else like it.  You must be in the kingdom of God to be part of that group going up. 

Jesus said, "Ye must be born again". Are you?  

One does not leave room for any other

The number one shows us a singular entity to the exclusion of any other.

As I stated before, on my bicycle there is only one cog.  Therefore there are not any others, in fact not only are they excluded, they would serve no purpose, as once the chain tension is set up, another cog would throw that off, and would cause the bicycle to be rendered useless to use in that condition.

Now concerning deity, the Bible is clear.

Deut. 6
4   Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Before we show who that one God is, we understand, there is only one to the exclusion of all others that would make the claim of deity.  As you read the Bible, you see that if there could be another God, he would serve no purpose, the God of the Bible is sufficient in all things, and needs no assistance from any other.

Who is the God of the Bible?
Isaiah 45
22   Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Along with Acts 16:31 makes this very clear
31   And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Stick around as our list for the number one will continue to grow.




 

A few years back I saw that my brother in law had a bike with out gears.  No derailleur, no shifter, no cables stretching from front to back.  Just a bike, wheels, chain, pedals and brakes.  I commented to him about his one speed bike.  “Singlespeed” he commented back.  Now it was a fat, knobby tired bicycle, one you take off road in the hills.  I thought, “what a way to torture yourself”.  Go ahead in time.  I now own a Redline Monocog.  I have had that bicycle for over 3 years.  Off road, in the hills, no shifting, just ride it, or sometimes walk it, if the trail is too steep. But there is where we get the name for this blog, and as the title says, it’s all about one.  Do you monocog?  New words are invented for new activities.  What exactly does it mean to ‘monocog’?  Stick around and you may just find out.