Christianity, Current events, doctrine, faith, Theology, Uncategorized

Why the World Mocks God

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:7-10

When one looks around today, we see every evil deed spoke about in the Holy Scriptures. Both old and new testaments show what constitutes evil in God’s eyes, the only definition allowable. And until our society (globally) became woke in to many areas, these positions and thoughts of evil were preached against by the pulpits of our nations.

What comes next in the article will make people mad and bring with it vehement attitudes. Most will be from the non-Christian society in our nation. But what will be worse is that it will also come from those that say they follow Jesus Christ. The mindset of the American Christian Church has become one of including the allowance of sin, even within the confines of the church. This is not to say that certain people or groups are not allowed to come to God. Nor do they have to be perfect. But what does need to occur is this. They have to be told the truth of God. Does God love everyone and want them to turn to him. Of course. Did Jesus deny a person’s coming to Him because of their sin. No. That’s the reason He came, died, and rose from the grave, so that we would have a means by which to make sure our souls are saved from sin.

Never once in Scripture did Jesus say, be saved and continue in your sin. He said Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (John 5:14). She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more (John 8:11).So by allowing sin to reign, these ‘Christians’ defy and deny the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. For a person who claims salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ but continue to sin, there is no more hope.For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:26). This doesn’t mean that if a truly repentant sinner does fall that there is no hope. Mankind isn’t perfect so we do make mistakes. But it is expected to ask for forgiveness and strength. What the verse means is that you sin by choice after being saved, the sacrifice is not enough to cover it.

A gay preacher is loved by God. However, God does not approve of the sin. And since the preacher has claimed to be saved through the blood, he/she must seek forgiveness not continue in the sin. And yes, being any part of the LGTBQ+ community, engaging in the acts, and either not seeking forgiveness or continuing in the sin by choice is a sin. I know lovely people that are within this community, and I love the people, but have no option but to call the sinful act what it is…A SIN. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 9-10). Also included are cross-dressers The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God (Deuteronomy 22:5)

The reason God gave us a moral code in the 10 Commandments was to help us understand that God loves us. The punishment that comes from sin without repentance is seen in how we raise our own children and deal with the criminal element. Why? Because like a parent, God chastises those who choose not to follow moral codes, laws, rules, whatever name you chose to give them. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth (Hebrews 12:6).

  It needs repented for and turned from. I will not turn my back on those that sin, but I will tell them it needs fixed. And for those in the LGTBQ+ community, God doesn’t make mistakes. He made you genetically what you are, male or female. The rest of the gender discussion is one of a sin sickness not a mental health issue or crossed wires in the brain. To say it is either of those things is strictly the devil playing games and stealing souls.

We are to pull ourselves out of the ways of the world. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2).So when preachers are seen and heard saying things like, God looks on the heart, that statement is only right up to a point of understanding and redemption. The only time that the sin is not looked at is when a person is saved through grace and turns from the sinful nature of the world. A person who does not understand because he/she has not been taught will be looked at with that in mind at judgment. But for those that know and still refuse to turn from their sin will be judged according to that choice.

Romans chapters 2-4 tell us we are not to judge whether a person is good or bad. We are to show them the path to Christ and the need for redemption. No man has the ability of say this one will go to heaven or that one will go to judgment of the damned. We are to preach Christ crucified and risen. We are to lead the non-believer (and in today’s society the believer as well) to understand that God has said in the Scriptures what actions will not make it to judgment of the saved. A person can only no what sin is by biblical description. The knowing of the sin brings with it the understanding for the need of Christ’s redemptive power.

How will those that do not believe learn form those that teach error and blasphemy? Those that preach the Gospel message are warned against teaching false doctrines. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive (Romans 16:17-18). Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them (Ephesians 5:11).I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:6-9).

In this woke wilderness, we are searching for ways to make things better. Here’s the best way to do so. Read the bible, repent from sin, and follow Christ. We are told how to make things the way we should, without sending our nation into a tailspin of no return. We are told how to conduct business. We are told how to treat people. We are told how to raise our families. And we are told what it takes to make that trip into a heavenly home at His coming.

If you haven’t made that choice to follow Christ as a believer and follower, OR you have but still live with sin you refuse to give up and turn from, NOW IS THE TIME. Jesus Christ is coming back in all His glory. And it will be soon. When that time comes, it will be too late. Please consider your eternal future. It only takes a moment to make that choice to be covered by the soul cleansing blood of Jesus.

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Christianity, Current events, doctrine, faith, Theology, Uncategorized

When the Holy Spirit says something is not right

It has been awhile since I have written. I have been posting shortened messages on social media and getting the ministry podcast going. But today I went to a different church than I normally go to. I was there last week as well. Both of these Sunday’s I had children give their life to Jesus Christ and make the public profession of faith (baptism).

While last weeks message was a great spirit filled message, this week was a bit different. Who has been somewhere are hearing a message and you get that little feeling that something is off in the message? Something is said that makes you go home, grab scripture and start studying the content of the message given. That was today.

There were two points of the message that I had a hard time accepting at that moment. I’ll explain both in a moment. But there are times that we must trust that tingling in our sense, because it could be the Holy Spirit nudging you. Today, that was what happened.

The first point I want to hit on was taken from Joshua 4:10-14. The content of the message at this point was that, like the priests, we are to stand and rest so others can have the ability to run forward. In the case of this passage, those running forward were running into the land to battle the enemy as God commanded.

That did not set right in my spirit. Isaiah does tell us to wait on God and then to run and God gives us the strength. Paul mentions running in a few Epistles. In his letter to the Philippians he says ‘Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?’ (1 Cor 9:24). He tells the Galatian church ‘Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?’ (Galatians 5:7). And he tells us in Hebrews ‘Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us’ (Hebrews 12:1).

We are to run the race given us not stop nor let others run in our stead. When we get tired, God has already said he will give us the needed strength. The prize we run after is not of gold or silver. It is doing God’s will until Christ comes back or when we fall asleep in Him, awaiting the resurrection to come where we will be eternally with Him.

Another point that got to me was when the the pastor was talking about salt. She made the comment that to be healed, we need to be away from salt (she used the idea of saltwater). Her statement was that we needed to get out of the salt water so our wounds would be healed. First and foremost, Christ already did that. Isaiah prophesied ‘But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed’ (Isaiah 53:5). And it came to pass at the pillar with Pontius Pilate (Mark 15:15, John 18:28-19:11). And culminated at the cross (Matthew 27:33-61, Mark 15:21-47, Luke 23:33-56, John 19:17-42).

Since she used the word salt, I want to make a non scriptural point and then move into what the scriptures say about salt in the view of our faith. Any meat-cutter can tell you, they have a container of curing salt near them in case they get cut. Why? Because even though the salt burns when it is in a wound, it also heals the wound. I learned this through experience. So the idea that one needs to avoid salt for healing, on a purely non-faith level is in error.

Now lets look at how salt is viewed in a few areas of scripture. In Leviticus, the area of scripture that has the different offerings set by God, we are told that salt is to be used as an offering. ‘And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from the meat offering’ (Leviticus 2:13). Here, salt at the offering is a seasoning. This corresponds with the seasoning of the words of the Gospel in the letter to the Colossians. ‘Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that they may know how ye ought to answer every man’ (Colossians 4:6).

There is a former Anglican priest that I watch from time to time that uses salt as his sign off. He incorporates a couple different verses. These are Matthew 5:13 ‘Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cats out, and be trodden under foot of men.’ And Mark 9:50 ‘Salt is good; but if the salt has lost his saltiness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.’

These two small points in a full message may have been a misinterpretation or a fumbling. I would assume that a pastor of the Gospel of Christ would not intentionally go against scripture when scripture plainly contradicts the points in a message.

I bring this to the reader for a few reasons. The first being that pastors can make mistakes, they are not perfect and need our prayers. The second is, that false preachers and teachers will appear as sheep but are actually wolves in disguise to mislead the followers of Christ. Matthew 15:17 says this ‘Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves’.

We are also warned of false messages that will come. ‘But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you that that ye have received, let him be accursed’ (Galatians 1:8-9).

I fully understand that mistakes can happen. A pastor being tired, misreading or misquoting, etc can make a message seem different than it is meant to be. And this article is not to bash the pastor. What it is meant to do is remind us of two things. The first being, pay attention to the Holy Spirit. It will set of a bell in your spirit if something is not quite right. The second is to be like the Bereans and check everything that is said. ‘And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so’ (Acts 17:10-11)

The messages we give, as a pastor, teacher, or evangelist has to be in direct relation and not contradictory to the Scriptures. The Scriptures are God’s letter to mankind. So when a message is given it must be given in full truth. When received, it must be checked against the word of God for truth.

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