Zach Uram's Blog

  • Major/Clinical Depression

    I’m in a deep malaise
    I’ve been in bed for days

    I’m like a beached whale
    This is my sad tale

    Weeks turn into years
    I’ve shed many tears

    I take an anti-depressant
    My depression is incessant

    I long to run and play
    Instead, I’m full of dismay

    Will I ever be healed?
    Or is my fate sealed?

    Christ can heal me anytime
    That would be sublime

    I will fight the lethargy
    And try to feel happy

    by Zachary Uram
    (C) 2024

    ,

  • Madness

    I ran in the rain
    And it made me insane
    This is my sad refrain

    I am barking mad
    My tale is quite sad
    Being insane isn’t rad

    I have many a delusion
    My mind is in confusion
    Reality is an illusion

    I have many a hallucination
    It is quite a consternation
    I need sanctification

    I’ll howl at the moon
    And defeat the monsoon
    I am quite a loon

    by Zachary Uram
    (C) 2024

    ,

  • A Winter’s Night

    I stepped outside
    Before me was
    A winter wonderland
    Freshly fallen snow
    Covered everything
    In a canopy of white
    Under the warm glow
    Of the street lights
    The snow gave
    A dazzling display
    Millions of diamonds
    Glittering
    It was
    A silent night
    The only sound
    Was my boots
    Crunching
    In the snow
    I walked back home
    And warmed up
    At the fireplace
    Eventually, I slept
    And dreamed of snow

    by Zachary Uram
    (C) 2024

    ,

  • Paradise Lost?

    Roman Catholicism teaches that there are two types of sin: venial sins which don’t merit the loss of salvation, and mortal sins which merit the loss of salvation. This distinction is not biblical.

    The result of this teaching is that a typical Roman Catholic will vacillate between being saved and damned hundreds, or even thousands of times in their life. According to Roman Catholic theology, if a Roman Catholic dies with unconfessed mortal sin they will go to hell. This teaching is not biblical. Christ’s death was sufficient to pay for every sin we would ever commit – past, present, and future.

    There are two very distinct views on the issue of perseverance of the saints among Christians. The first is the Arminian view that it is possible for true Christians to turn away from God and not persevere. This is consistent with the concept of salvation which has man’s “free will” at the center of it. It is logically consistent that, if man’s “free will” choice is the determining factor of his salvation, then it would also be possible for that man to later choose to reject God and thereby lose his salvation.

    However, the Bible clearly teaches that we are “born again” by the Holy Spirit, which results in our coming to faith in Christ. All who have been “born again” do have eternal security and will persevere. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is founded in the promise that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6) and Jesus’ declaration that “all that the Father gives me will come to me” and “I shall lose none of them that he has given me” (John 6:37, 39).

    https://www.gotquestions.org

    Consider the following Scriptures:

    John 10:27-29
    My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
    Philippians 1:6
    And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
    1 John 2:19
    They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
    Romans 11:29
    For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

    As you can see, one who is truly regenerated can never lose their salvation. One may appear to be saved, and they may do many works, but in the end, they walk away from Christ, because they were never one of us, they were never regenerated.

    I am saved until the end, not because I am so strong in faith, or have such advanced sanctification. I am saved totally and irrevocably because of Christ’s hold on me, because of His power. It is all grace!

    , , , ,

  • My Theology

    My theological doctrinal beliefs:

    • Scripture is God-breathed, absolutely authoritative, inerrant, sufficient, and infallible.
    • Affirm the 5 Solas
    • Calvinist soteriology
    • Cessationist
    • Premillennial eschatology
    • Pretrib rapture of the Church
    • Credobaptist (1689 LBCF)
    • Reformed
    • Leaky dispensationalism
    • Affirm communion as being spiritual food, not the Real Presence of Christ

  • Real Presence: Real or Not

    The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches teach that when the priest says the words of consecration, the bread and wine transform into the physical body and blood of Jesus. This is known as the Real Presence of Christ in the communion gifts.

    The Roman Catholic church dogmatizes this process under the rubric of transubstantiation. It is expressed in terms of outdated Aristotelian metaphysics that utilizes the concepts of accidence and substance. We understand biology and physics much better now than in centuries past when the archaic understanding using Aristotelian concepts.

    The Roman Catholic mass and the Orthodox Divine Liturgy are occasions of sin and idolatry. Christ is not present physically in the gifts of communion. When He says He is the Bread of Life, Christ is speaking of a spiritual reality. The bread and wine remain bread and wine. At no point do they become Christ’s flesh and blood.

    As a result of this idolatry, Roman Catholics and Orthodox worship bread and wine. The Roman Catholics even have adoration of the communion wafer. This is utter blasphemy and idolatry.

    Roman Catholics and Orthodox interpret Jesus’ statements in John 6 in a literal sense. It is clear He is speaking metaphorically. They say they are participating in an unbloody manner in Christ’s once and for all sacrifice at Calvary, but none of this is biblical.

    It is the height of hubris to presume man has the power to call Christ down and have Him reside in bread and wine.

    Christ was crucified once for our sins. Scripture in no way says that we can, 2,000 years later, participate in that sacrifice again. Nor does Scripture say we can call Him down and have Him appear under the guise of bread and wine, at the behest of man (the priest) who says an incantation (the consecration).

    Thus we see that the so-called Real Presence of Christ is a major heresy. And the mass or Divine Service is an abomination and an occasion of blasphemy and idolatry.

    , , , ,

  • My Mind

    My mind is advanced
    Beyond belief
    Doubt is a thief

    Phased mind warps
    I travel faster than light
    My consciousness takes flight

    I was anointed
    By Christ Himself in 2001
    Now it’s time for some fun

    The vast universe
    Is my playground
    My thoughts are not bound

    My mind exists
    In higher dimensional spacetime
    Now ends my rhyme

    by Zachary Uram
    (C) 2024

    ,

  • Life With Depression

    I’m totally depleted
    I feel defeated

    I long to run and play
    Instead, I’m full of dismay

    Days turn into years
    I’m left in tears

    When will I be free
    From this mental misery

    I hope Christ will heal me soon
    My mind is like a raging monsoon

    by Zachary Uram
    (C) 2024

    ,

  • Divorce

    The children
    Are in deep pain
    They are slowly
    Going insane

    Their family
    Was destroyed
    No longer
    Is life enjoyed

    We used
    To be so gay
    Now we are
    Full of dismay

    Forced
    To choose sides
    Sadly this situation
    Abides

    We pray every day that God
    Makes our family whole
    In our hearts
    Is a big hole

    by Zachary Uram
    (C) 2024

    ,
    ,

  • A Case Study in Idolatry: Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism

    In Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, the clerical and laity worship Jesus’ mother Mary. They also worship certain dead people, whom they designate as “Saints”. We know from Scripture that all believers in Christ are saints.

    Their veneration of the saints and hyper-veneration of Mary constitute a clear case of idolatry.

    Christ alone is the sole mediator between God the Father and mankind.

    Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox bow before statues of Mary, weep and kiss icons of her, pray to her (the rosary), and carry dolls of her around in elaborate processions. They also mention Mary in their liturgies.

    The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox denominations do not follow Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone). In Reformed churches, Scripture is our highest authority and the only infallible authority. Contrast this with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches which have tradition on equal footing with Scripture. Further, the Roman Catholic magisterium (teaching authority) is considered to be on the same level as Scripture, and the Roman Catholic church teaches that their magisterium is infallible.

    Some “Saints” in Roman Catholicism, such as Alphonsus Liguori, wrote devotional and worship books about Mary. The authors explicitly assert that salvation is predicated on Mary. They actually say the path to Christ, only comes through Mary. Further, they assert Mary can save sinners from hell. This is Christ’s role, not Mary’s.

    We see that without the principle of Sola Scriptura operating, all types of heresies will gain acceptance.

    Let us pray that the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox will repent and stop their veneration of “Saints” and Mary. They need to accept Reformed theology.

    , , , ,