SUBJECT – BE STILL, THEN YOU CAN HEAR !!!!![FINAL]
In this last installment, I want to finish what I had started addressing
last month, and that is, our concern for how the rest of the world sees us.
Much of our problem is that we have people in government, that have the mistaken belief that if we would only show ourselves friendly to everyone in the world, then there would be no need for animosity, and war, because the world would be one big utopia, with love, for one another, being the order of the day.
The problem is, that irregardless of what many of them may think, there are those that, no matter what you try to do, to appease them, they will not accept anything that you do, to get them to be at peace with you, unless you totally abandon your way of thinking. In short, turn from your Christian beliefs, and accept their religion, talking about Islam.
The biggest problem we have in this world today, is, the idea that all religions, are ok. Thus, putting someone down, or making them feel that their religion, is inferior, is something that Christians need to stop doing, because it brings animosity in to play. This then leads to hatred, and then war.
And while ceasing from doing what Christ commands us to do,
Mark 16:15-16 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned, for the sake of being looked on as showing love to our fellow man, seems to be non consequential, it is setting us up for being cursed by God.
Everything that we do, as far as God is concerned, will result in our being blessed, or cursed by Him.
God has warned us that we, of the Christian faith, would be persecuted, because of our beliefs.
It should be no big deal, when people look at us, talking about Christians, and call us mean spirited, condescending, or whatever. And, because of this, we want to show that we are friendly towards others, outside of our faith, so we tend to go about it the wrong way, and set ourselves up for problems. This is because we weren't following the directions God said for us to follow, and this causes us to lose contact with the 'Voice of God.' And when you lose that, you begin to seek other means to find solutions to them.
The old testament king, Saul, is a good example of what happens when we get in this position.
Without going in to too much detail, he, at one time, had God's support in everything he did. But, he disobeyed God's instruction on how to carry out an assignment that God gave him, and as a result, God stopped talking to him. Later, when he had a problem, because God no longer communicated with him, he sought out a person, that today, we refer to as a psychic. And because of that, God cursed him. You can read about him in
[1Sam. Chapters 13, 15, 28:5-20]
You can see how Saul once had God's support, but continually did things that didn't necessarily seem to be all that bad, but they were enough to raise the wrath of God against him.
The same thing holds true with many of those that claim God doesn't speak to us like He used to, or that He doesn't do the things He used to do, talking about miracles. What they fail to understand, is that He hasn't changed, they have. They have gotten in a place where God, being displeased with them, has shut them off from communication, because of their disobedience.
One of the things that Saul did was spare, the life of a king, and his possessions, to sacrifice to God, when God told him to destroy them all.
In his mind, he thought God would be pleased with the sacrifice, but He wasn't.
1Sm 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Showing love towards others is the second commandment that God gave us. The first was we were to love and worship Him. And the way to do that,, is by being obedient to Him. There is no way around that.
This notion that in order to show the love God, we can disobey His word, and be pleasing in His sight, is tantamount to
'high spiritual treason.'
If you had a job,, and your employer tells you
'This is the way I want it done', and you set about to do it the way you feel is best, guess what?? You won't be on that job too long,
Well, as Christians, we are not only God's Children, we are laborers in His Vineyard ('
the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof ..........[Psa 24:1), and we have a job to do, and God has laid the ground work for how it is to be done.
To do something different, is to say, you know better than Him, on how to get it done.
And I challenge anyone to prove me wrong on this.
God's primary objective, is to get man, back to the position that he was in before Adam fell [disobeyed Him] in the garden of Eden. And since it was disobedience that separated man from God, it must be obedience that brings him back to God. You can't have disobedience bringing you back to Him.
Disobedience, let's call it by its root name, 'sin', will never be a substitute for doing the right thing, no matter how good it may appear.
When we have people today, believing it is ok to steal, gamble, or cheat someone out of their money, if they need to feed their families, if things get rough, is ludicrous.
Here are some other idiotic notions.
It is better to abort a baby, than to bring it in to this world with all the problems we face today.
It is better to call a baby, a fetus, and abort it, than to have a woman feel guilty for killing a person.
It is better to give a person guilty of 1st degree murder, life in prison, than to execute them, like God commanded [Gen. 9:6, Num 35:16-21], because otherwise, we are murderers.
Making it appear like God is biased towards people because of the color of their skin, by Christians supporting affirmative action. This means that Christians, are saying in order to 'level the playing field', God has directed them to support, the idea of special treatment for a certain group of people, whose only qualification, is the color of their skin.
There are many more that I could mention, but I want to close this message, this month, because of other things God wants me to do.
That's right. God has told me some other things to address. So that means, He spoke to me, and I heard Him.
Answer this.
If,, as many believe, compromising with those of other faiths,, will lead them to come to Christ, then how can that be, if they are comfortable in their faith??
If you remember, it was the message of the gospel,, that made you feel uncomfortable living that sinful life, the faith of humanism, that made you come to Christ. Remember these statements by Christ, 'John 5:14 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 8:11 She said, No man,
Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Nowhere in these scriptures, do you see Jesus, compromising with people by not addressing their sins, and warning them of the consequences of continuing in them. Yet, today, that is what many Christians are doing, when they choose to compromise, half step, or ignore the fact that no one, involved in any religion, that is not Christ centered, is living in sin, and are not only paying the price for their disobedience in this life, but a worse fate awaits them, after they die, namely hell.
As I mentioned earlier, there is a right way to address them, as to not offend them, but, the Truth, is the Truth. If you love someone, would you want to see them go to hell?? That is not what Jesus did, knowing what awaits us, if we don't get saved.
Jesus didn't come here, to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved, and He made that message plain. Everything He did, was to show the love of God to everyone.
Of course, there were of those that rejected that message, but He didn't compromise on giving, and demonstrating it.
Let me ask you this.
If you are dying from some incurable disease, and a person comes along, and heals you from it, would you stay with that person for all of your medical diseases?? Would you tell family and friends about them?? Would you even tell your enemies about them??
Well, Jesus has healed you from the curse, and consequences of sin. Shouldn't you, wanting to show the love of God, be wanting to tell others about Jesus Christ??
What is going to draw them to Christ, is the realization that what they are believing in, is woefully deficient, when it comes down to what they will face when they slip in to eternity.
When Christ said to 'preach the gospel [good news] to the whole world', He was saying that there is something that is provided for you that is really good for you. All you have to do, is accept it.
Who wouldn't like hearing some 'good news' in the times we are living in right now??
You are supposed to be the bearer of that good news, and are sent to share it with others. But, if you decide not to do it, because of the possible persecution you might receive, then God will find someone else to do it, and bless them with the blessings He had for you. And one of those blessings, is being able to hear His voice.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be in a place where I can't hear God, because I wouldn't be able to make it. I would be running, and stumbling around, and falling flat on my face, trying to find some relief..
Those that claim God doesn't speak to us like He used to, are in this position, because they have closed their ears to what He had to say, so He has cut them off.
If you want to hear God's voice, be still, and seek His voice, It's right there.
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