What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!”  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentence.  Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!”  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.–(Luke 15:4-10)

     Today is both the ninth anniversary of the bombing of the Twin Towers in NYC  by Islamic terrorists, and my birthday.  I got up determined to write a post that somehow entwined the two to show both the mercy and the judgment of God, but when I started to search for applicable scriptures, the Lord brought me instead to Luke 15, most commonly known because it contains the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Reading the parable of the lost sheep brought me such an immense feeling of joy and gratitude to my heavenly Father that I knew this was really what God wants whoever reads this today to see :  That heaven itself rejoices when a sinner enters the kingdom of God!

     Do you realize that we have the ability to make God happy?  I don’t know why I find that such an awesome fact, but I do.  I’ve written before about our ability to grieve the Holy Spirit, which I suspect we do on a regular basis, but to think that when we accept Jesus into our hearts the Father, Jesus the Son and all the heavenly host rejoice with us!  “Joy in heaven” and “Joy in the presence of the angels of God” sounds remarkably like a real celebration; in fact, like a marriage celebration: the most joyous occasions we attend.  Our salvation from sin brings us into the spirit of rejoicing as we are overwhelmed by the sudden consciousness of the immense love that God has poured upon us through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son; that has brought us into communion with Himself and given us a place in His eternal kingdom.  But Jesus tells us something else: all of heaven rejoices with us!  All of heaven is made happy when one more sheep returns to the Father’s fold. 

     It’s pretty easy to be happy for our loved ones when they find the Lord.  Those of us who are believers have probably been praying for a long time that our friends and families will also receive salvation and walk with Him.  Do we pray for the same gift of love and salvation for those whom we dislike?  How about for those in the Middle East who were shown on camera on Sept. 11, 2001 giving out candy in the streets and celebrating the deaths of the 3000 souls who died in the attack on the Twin Towers?  Do we pray for the Holy Spirit to work on the hearts of those who beheaded journalist Daniel Pearl, for the several mothers who made national headlines over the last few years after murdering their children, or for the cranky old lady up the street?  Or is there instead, deep down, a belief that those awful people don’t really deserve to meet the Lord and be saved?  I struggled (and sometimes still do) with this issue, although the Lord showed me long ago that I must pray for and love the unloveable.  For one truth is often an unpalateable one: none of us deserves the grace of God–not one.  Our sins are to us relative:  we deserve salvation because we aren’t as bad as some others we could name!  However, to God, rebellion against His word is rebellion.   Who is to say at what point God will refuse to forgive?  According to the scriptures, God does not want to lose even one of His children, and gives them the option of repentence until the moment of their deaths.  There are, I believe (this is my opinion, NOT doctrine), some people who have so totally given themselves over to evil that they are beyond hearing what the Holy Spirit would tell them.  This is not my call, though.  It is no part of my duty to the Lord to judge someone as being beyond redemption–only He can be Judge of the heart.  My part (and the job of all those who call themselves by His name) is to pray that all will come to a knowledge and love of God and that all will finally accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  When he was very young, 10 or 11 I think, my son asked me if Osama Bin Laden could be saved if he asked Jesus to forgive him.  (In an earlier generation, he might have asked the same question about Adolf Hitler, or Mao Tse Tung or Lenin.)   The difficult-to-swallow answer is “yes, of course.”  Whether or not any of these people who perpetrated so much evil realistically could have come to a point where they desired the salvation of the Lord is not the issue:  what is at issue is that we are called to pray for ALL those who’s eyes are blinded to the truth and goodness of the Lord.  That is not to say that we are to condone even for a moment one bit of the evil that is in the world.  As believers, we must fight evil with every ounce of breath that is within us.  We must pray that evil will be overcome by good; that darkness will be overcome by the Light that is in Lord Jesus.

     Beloved brothers and sisters, have you caused joy to be celebrated by the heavenly host of angels; or  have you, a sheep in the flock of the Almighty, gone astray?  If you have not accepted Christ as your savior, or if you have wandered from His path of righteousness, please go to the Father with a repentent heart today, and experience the life-giving transformation of the heart that comes with loving Jesus and being loved by Him.  Jesus loves you so very much.  It doesn’t matter what you have done or said or thought.  He stands ready to forgive you of all of your sins, and cast them from you “as far as the east is from the west.”  The world may be in chaos, but God is still and always in control.  He is coming for us soon, so take the step now to offer to Him your mind, your heart and your spirit while there is still time; and know that in doing so you will cause much joy in the presence of the Angels!

Maranatha!

Melissa

“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.  When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.  Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”  (Luke 11:23-26)

“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.  For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.”  (2 Peter 3:20-21)

          Over the years I have heard several opinions on what constitutes the unforgivable  blasphemy against the Holy Spirit mentioned by Jesus in Mark 3:18 and Matthew 12:30-35.  Because these verses follow the accusation by the scribes that Jesus cast out demons by the prince of demons, many scholars believe that this sin belonged exclusively to the religious leaders in Jesus’ day and cannot be committed in the present day.  If these words were only directed toward those who accused Him of casting out demons using satanic power then that is a reasonable assumption, but I am not at all convinced that this warning was for them alone.  Jesus’ words recorded in chapter 11 of the Gospel of Luke warn us quite clearly that we need to be vigilant regarding our actions following our salvation.  His parable of the wicked spirit returning to the swept house tells us that merely cleaning our spiritual houses initially by receiving Christ is not enough–if we allow Satan back into our lives and homes after this, we would have been better off never to have stepped foot into God’s kingdom.  This, confirmed again in the third chapter of  Peter’s second epistle, would appear to be the sin against the Holy Spirit:  to have accepted the truth and love of Christ revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, and to prefer the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Light.  Further, Jesus again spoke similar words later in Luke’s Gospel: “And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him: but to him that blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven.”  This does not appear to be addressed only to the leaders, but to all who were listening.

     I don’t mean to turn this post into an argument about whether or not one can lose one’s salvation.  That judgment belongs to God and to God alone.  However, it cannot be denied that Jesus spoke several times of people who call themselves by His name but refuse to do what Scripture says is right.  In Luke chapter 6  He asks, “And why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?”  He also says that not all who call Him Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21-22).    Does that sound too harsh?  Does it sound to you like something that could not possibly have been said by the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world?  Sorry, but it was indeed Jesus speaking.  He is the Lamb of God and the Lion of the tribe of Judah: His  love is great and merciful and His sense of justice is always founded upon righteousness.  He knows our hearts; our innermost thoughts.  He knows the difference between when we truly love Him and when we love only the benefits we think will be bestowed upon us if we pay lip-service to Him. 

     Are we really with Him?  Are we willing to suffer for Him as well as to prosper through Him?  Are we willing to give up the evil deeds committed in darkness in order to walk with Him in the light?  If we have asked Jesus to dwell in our hearts and then choose to live in the darkness of our sins, trusting that Jesus will be so grateful to us for praying a prayer of salvation that He will overlook a continued walk in the presence of Satan, we are fooling ourselves into an eternity of hell.  An evil spirit and the Holy Spirit cannot be roommates within our hearts.  We can follow only one master.  Who or what will that master be?  Jesus said we are either with Him or against Him.   To tell God that we love Him but to refuse to follow what the Holy Spirit tells us is the path to truth is to offend Him.  Once we have truly met Jesus, which we can only do by revelation from the Holy Spirit,  to turn away in order to follow “the devices and desires of our own hearts” will bring our condition to a worse end than that to which we were headed before we learned the truth.’

     Jesus loves us.  He knows that even those who love Him in return will sometimes “sin and come short of the glory of God,” but He will lift us back up if we come to Him with repentent hearts.  Satan and his minions may try to tempt and attract us, but they are never allowed to overcome those who put their trust in the Lord.  The choice is ours; the victory is His!

Maranatha!

If we say that we have fellowship with  Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”  (I John 1:6-10)

He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him.  But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.  By this we know that we are in Him.  He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.  (1 John 2:4-6)

Whoever abides in Him does not sin.  Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.  Little children, let no one deceive you.  He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.  He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.  For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.  Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:6-9)

     To one who has not yet been born again, this message from the first of John’s three letters must sound so contradictory as to be foolish.  In one breath John tells the church that Jesus has cleansed us from our sins and we are to live righteous lives; in the next he says that if we say we have no sin then we are without truth.  If sin is “of the devil” does that mean that if we sin we have forfeited our right to call ourselves by the name of Christ?  The charge of Christian hypocrisy keeps many people away from the truth of God’s word and has become almost a mantra of those who wish to remove God’s word from the public arena.  John was not fooled: he knew he was a sinner, which is why, in both instances, he used the pronoun “we”.  John was privy to the real truth: that Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin–continually.  It is not a one-step deal: Jesus cleanses us from all sin and we never sin again; but a continuing process of forgiveness for those who try hard to live in the light and love of God and to do His will.

     I wish I could say that I live a sinless life, but I cannot do so with any honesty at all.  I love God with all my heart, mind, soul and spirit, yet I frequently do or say things that directly contradict what God has said in Scripture that He demands of me.  Does that make me a hypocrite?  I don’t think so.  When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit began to work immediately on my sensitivity to my own evil nature.  He never destroyed my capacity to sin, nor did He remove my free will to do so; He did put within me the ability to identify quickly those areas of my life, personality and spirit that needed to change.  He honed my conscience so that I become aware of, and therefore can repent of, sinful behavior when I commit it.  Each day I must offer up my sinful self to the Father and ask for His forgiveness and for His help in correcting my nature.  I have a tendency towards anger (hence all the posts I’ve written on anger, resentment and forgiveness!), and I’ve been known, when in a tantrum, to turn the air around me blue with language that should never come out of a Christian mouth.  Current psychological thought calls this being human and puts it down to childhood traumas, environmental stimulations and the stress of daily life; God calls it sin and says I must have no part of it.  I have a T-shirt which says “Lord, keep Your arm across my shoulder and Your hand over my mouth.”  It should also read “Wash out my brain with soap.”  Though the Lord has been working on me so long that I have more or less learned to keep my temper in check and to grant forgiveness much more freely than I ever would have before, my thoughts still tend at times to follow a path He does not want me to walk.  Remember, what is inside your head and your heart is just as important as what comes out of your mouth.   Jesus condemned adultery, but He also said that he who looks with lust on another has already committed adultery in his heart; those who hate or are angry without cause are committing spiritual murder.  I was told of a bishop who said that he had a member of his church with a beautiful wife, and he idly wondered what it would be like if neither of them were married and could see each other.  The Holy Spirit brought him up short, showing him that he had just “idly” sown the seeds of adultery and murder.   Taken to their logical conclusion,  Jesus’ words show us that theft, blasphemy, the dishonoring of parents, and all the other sins contained in the Ten Commandments can be conditions of the heart as well as sins of commission.

     Is it possible for Christians to be hypocrites?  Absolutely.  Any Christian who condemns sin in others and refuses to acknowledge his own sin is a hypocrite.  Although there are many pastors on television who are good and righteous men, there are others who preach more for the fame and fortune it brings than for the salvation of souls.  Don’t even get me started on churches that preach that God hates sinners.  God loves sinners.  He hates sin, but he loves sinners and sent His only Son to die a horrible death on a cross to pay for the sins of all who will accept His sacrifice and His grace.  He will follow the sinner all the way to the gates of hell in order to try to get him to choose life over death, heaven over hell.  A person who loudly proclaims the word of God in order to convict others of sin and then fails to repent of his own adulteries, abuse of others or pettiness of spirit is a hypocrite.  A person who claims to love God but refuses to try to love those whom He loves is a hypocrite.  (Note that I said “try” to love.  None of us have reached that pinnacle where we can freely love in the same measure as God does.)  He who says he is without sin is a liar and a hypocrite.  John asks the question (1 John 3:17): “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”  The Christian who says he loves God but refuses to help his fellow man is a hypocrite.

     There used to be a popular bumper-sticker: Christians Aren’t Perfect, Just Forgiven.   I don’t really care for Christian slogans as they tend to sound a bit smug, but it actually is true.  Paul said (Romans 3:23) that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Like Paul, I have sinned and could be considered amongst the chief of sinners!  Praise God, for my Savior who continually cleanses me of all sin, and for my Father who promises to remember my sins no more!

     What is the best way to avoid hypocrisy?  As is the case with most questions pertaining to the will of God, the first step is to be knowledgeable about the word of God–in other words, read the Bible often and store up His words in your spirit.  Try daily to “put off the body  the sins of the flesh”,  remembering that you were buried with Christ in baptism and risen with Him through faith in the working of God.  Seek those things which are of God; put on the “new man” and strive to put off all anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language; replace the bad with tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering , forgiveness and love.  (Colossians 2 and 3)  Pray without ceasing.

God be with you all, my dear friends, and may He grant you an ever-deepening knowledge and love of Him.

Maranatha!

Melissa

—Usually these posts begin with a quote from Scripture.  I am departing from this custom today as I have a few thoughts I believe are important and need to be shared while I still can do so.  While I may be able to publish another post or two, it is probable that I will soon be off-line for possibly as long as several months.  In the meantime, I implore all of you who have as yet made no decision to accept Christ into your hearts to do so before it is too late.  Our time is growing short.

     In case I have never made it clear in previous posts, I believe that Jesus is coming to rapture (“catch up”) His church to be with Him soon.  Of course, “soon” is a relative word.  I cannot pretend to be able to tell you if this will happen tomorrow or next week, or in the next five years or in the next five minutes.  Only our heavenly Father knows the exact day and time of His return.  However, we are given plenty of information about the general time frame in which His return will occur; the countdown began with the rebirth of Israel in May of 1948.  Mark 14 tells us that the generation present when that occurred would not pass until the prophecies were fulfilled.  Counting generations as between 40-70 years (depending upon which scholars you ask), it is clear that we are living in the final days of what is commonly known as the “Church Age.”  This does not mean the end of the world–it signifies that we are about to enter the days when Christ will return to earth to  rule and reign for a thousand years (Rev. 20:6); the period we refer to as the “Millennial Kingdom.”  Before this time, however, there is to be a seven year period of tribulation upon the earth–the last, desperate attempt by satan to  steal and ruin what God has designated as His own.  It is also the period that God has set aside to redeem His chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, and bring them back into full communion with Himself. 

     God has declared “the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:10)  The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah and Zechariah all warned of the tribulation hour to come in the last or “latter” days, of the satanically-driven world ruler to come (the antichrist), and the final wars leading up to the defeat of evil.  Jesus, in chapter 24 of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13 of Mark and chapter 21 of Luke, gave us the signs of the “birth pangs” of the end. Each of these signs (wars, fighting amongst ethnic groups, earthquakes, famines, pestilence, natural disasters) has been increasing in intensity for some years now.  2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and chapter 3 of 2nd Timothy both relate how people on the earth will be behaving at the time of the end.  Although the rapture is only hinted at in certain passages of the Old Testament, the “mystery” (which in Scripture means truths that had not earlier been revealed) was clearly shown to the Apostle Paul as he recounts to us in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and  1 Thessalonians 4:15-17.  It is also implicit in the Book of Revelation, the vision John received from God during his imprisonment on the isle of Patmos.  In this vision, John was shown what had been, what was at the present time, and what would be in the latter days.  Like Paul in 2nd Corinthians 12: 2-4, John was “caught up” into heaven at the beginning of chapter 4 in order to witness the time of the end:  it is most significant that there is no reference to a church being on earth from that time forward. 

An aside here:  if some of the imagery described by John seems bizarre in light of our world today, bear in mind that John was trying to describe things of which he had no personal knowledge, and were therefore almost indescribable. Technology was basically non-existent, so the words for some of what he saw would not enter our language for another two thousand years!

     Our history as God’s people basically begins and ends with the Middle East–specifically, Israel.  Over and over again in the Old Testament it is assured that the Hebrew people were the chosen wife of the Father, and it is on the nation of Israel that He has set his name.  Though twice dispersed throughout the nations as punishment for rebellion against God, God promised that He would eventually regather His people in the nation He had given to them through the covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17).  Though the second diaspora (dispersion) of the Jews seemed to be a pretty final one, and the nation of Israel ceased to be, Israel became the first nation to regather and revive under her original name when she was “born in one day” in May of 1948.  During the Six Day War in 1968, Israel succeeded in capturing much of the land now acknowledged to belong to her.  However, Zechariah 12: 2-3 tells us that God “will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.  And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”  Beloved, can anyone doubt the fulfillment of this prophecy taking place in the world today?  The Islamic nations of the Middle East are surrounding Israel with no other intent than to see that Israel is destroyed as a nation and ceases to exist.  The United States, supposedly Israel’s closest ally, has at its head an administration that chooses to undermine the safety and sovereignty of Israel.  Although paying lip-service to Israel’s place as a friend of the US, the current President has behaved in an insulting manner to PM Benyamin Netanyahu, called for a halt to all Jewish building even in the indisputably Jewish sections of Jerusalem, and is insistent on a Palestinian state within the Israeli boundaries.  The recent attitude of the administration in conjunction with the United Nations in condemning Israel’s intervention of the terrorist-backed flotilla attempting to break the Gaza blockade and in signing UN legislation calling for oversight of Israel’s weapon systems without calling for similar oversight of the weapons developed in the surrounding Islamic countries proves that the US can no longer be counted upon to support Israel.  Although I believe a majority of citizens in the US are probably in support of Israel, there is little doubt that President Obama’s sympathies lie with the Muslim nations. This is not surprising: in his earliest published book “Dreams From My Father,” Obama makes the statement that he knew from an early age that if sides needed to be taken he would side with the Muslims.   He would do well to remember the Lord’s words from Genesis 12:3:  “And I will bless them [i.e., those nations] that bless you, and curse him that curse you.”  God will not long tolerate our rebellion against His word regarding that nation.  On the other hand, Scripture also makes it plain from the prophecy from Zechariah that this would indeed happen.  We can soon look to see proof positive that it is truly God Who protects His chosen people and not another nation or state.  “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love you.” (Psalm 122:6)  Of course, when we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we are actually praying for the return of our Lord; for there will never be true peace in the Middle East until Jesus is seated on the throne in Jerusalem!

     So, you ask, what has all this got to do with anything?  As I said at the beginning of this post, I may be off-line for quite some time.  Anything can happen at any moment.  Although there are still prophecies to be fulfilled before the time of the Millennial Reign, all prophecies have been fulfilled that MUST be before the time of the rapture of the believers.  If you are still spiritually sitting on the fence, get off it NOW!  When the time comes for us to be “caught up together in the clouds” a seat on the fence will equal a “no” vote for Christ.  The rapture could come today, tomorrow, next year, or in several year’s time, but it will surely come “as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). without warning.  Though many people will be saved during the seven year tribulation, most of them will pay for their new-found faith with their lives.  Now is the time to turn your lives over to the Lord; pray for forgiveness and be blessed forever by the grace given to us all through the shed blood of Jesus, our Christ.  Please, PLEASE, my dear brothers and sisters–turn to Him now, and experience the new life He will give you and the clean heart He will put within you!

I shall continue to pray for those of you who are undecided.  Jesus loves you so very, very much; so do I!

Maranatha!

Melissa

  “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.  But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”  (2 Corinthians4:2-4)

“Amazing Grace!  How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now I’m found;

Was blind, but now I see. ”  (John Newton, 1725-1807)

          In my last post,  I commented on the parable of the sower and the seed, and we saw that the seed that fell by the wayside and was trampled down indicates those who hear the word of God; “then the devil comes and takes away the word out their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.”   Very few people nowadays have not had the opportunity to hear the word of God, and the Holy Spirit continues to beckon the unbeliever to God, yet never has there been a time in modern history when so many simply ridicule any idea that they are answerable to the Most High God.  Many spue venomous curses and profanities at those who are called by His Name–and the majority of the scorn they pour out concerns the “blind” acceptance of a superstitious lie.  Jesus’ parable takes on a new emphasis and a new urgency as we realize that, in these last days, the venom is (unbeknownst even to those who exhibit it) not really directed primarily towards those who believe in Christ, but at Christ Jesus Himself.  Satan has come down “having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time.” (Rev. 12:12)   He is stopping eyes from seeing and ears from hearing how we can know for sure that God is God; that God loves us; and that God wants us to come to Him.

     Satan knows that in the end-time battle that will take place soon, he will lose.  His desire is to take as many of the people God loves down with him as possible since he knows that this will hurt God.  He “veils” the gospel to those who are perishing by closing their minds and hearts to the very real, perceptable Voice that so many of us have heard in our hearts.  With some, he “veils” the gospel by so watering it down that they believe that if they have a vague belief in a “higher power” that they will be saved.  He “veils” the gospel by making many believe that a loving God would require nothing of them except that they not be ax murderers or child molesters.  He veils the gospel with a lie.  Satan is a liar and the father of lies.  Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2 that “we are not ignorant of his devices.”  He comes only to steal, and to kill and to destroy (John 10:10).  He veils people’s eyes to the wisdom and power and glory of God and convinces them that to believe is weakness.

     Brothers and Sisters, my heart is so greatly burdened by those who are perishing for want of knowledge.  Although I may sometimes burn with anger when I hear the name of God blasphemed or of  His people being persecuted, I am most often filled with grief that these souls, so beloved by our God, may be lost for all eternity.  I beg of you now–if you are one of these, please, PLEASE repent and open your heart to the love of Jesus.  Time is growing so short.  Can you not feel the battle to come on earth raging now inside of you?  God loves you so much.  He loves you so much that He sent His only Son to take your sins upon Himself, that if you live in and believe in Him, you will never have to pay the ultimate price for your wrongdoing.  If you accept Him now, when you stand before God He will look at your soul and see the sinless purity of Jesus Himself.  I understand the desire for proof–God will manifest Himself to you if you open up your heart and allow Him to do so.  He will convict you of your sins, grant you unlimited forgiveness and love, and you will so feel His presence that you will never again doubt His existance.  Your sins will be washed clean and removed from you “as far as the east is from the west.”   If you haven’t yet taken that leap into eternity with your heavenly Father, do it now, before it is too late and you no longer have the opportunity.  DO IT NOW!  Do not let fear, or embarrassment about what your neighbor or your brother or your girlfriend will say stop you.  Do not let sins that you aren’t sure you want to get rid of control where you spend eternity.  Let go of anger, resentment, self-righteousness, pride and hatred and hand all of it over to Christ for destruction.  It will not destroy you; it will cause you to be renewed and redeemed:  remade in the image of Jesus our Christ!  Accept Him now–please:  you will not lose your personality, your intelligence, your skills, your talents or your free will.  You will lose only your sins and iniquities, and gain life eternal.  “Delight yourself also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

Maranatha!

“Listen!  Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And it happened that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.  Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.  But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.  And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.  But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced….The sower sows the word.  And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown.  When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.  These likewise are the ones sown on a stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time.  Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.  Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.  But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it and bear fruit…”  (Mark 4: 3-8, 14-19)

     I’ve  heard farmlands referred to as being “in good heart”, a term we can all understand immediately, even if it’s the first time we’ve come across the phrase.  I’m not entirely certain who first coined this phrase, but I like to think that its origins lie in the parable of the sower and the seed as found in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8.  Jesus often used stories of everyday life to illustrate eternal spiritual truths.   A parable is a story with multiple layers; one is a literal story, the rest are metaphorical but just as valid.  The parable of the sower and the seed is one of the most well-known and often- preached-upon concepts of the New Testament, but in these last days it is more important than ever to search our spirits and ask ourselves the all-important question, “In what shape is the ground of my heart?”

          “These are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown.  When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.”  Never in modern days has this ground taken up so much of the potential harvest as is does now.  With the growth of political correctness has come a widely disseminated idea that evangelism equates to religious oppression.  Often now those who hear the word of God have been saturated for years in the notion that God is a myth created by weak but fanciful minds, or in the idea that even if there is a God He could hardly care what happens to His created beings.   When the precious name of Jesus is spoken, there is an invisible, automatic switch to the “off” position in their spiritual hearing.  To many of these people, science, technology and “rational” thought has replaced the Almighty.  They honestly are incapable (for the time being) of understanding that our God is a God of order and creativity, or that science is by no means incompatible with the word of God but is a glimpse into the creative mind of God.  According to the referenced Scripture, “Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.”  This condition of the heart is the easiest for Satan to deal with because it involves only the closing of a heart already inclined (as all are until they come to Christ) to rebellion against God.  Throw in the repeated use of the name of Jesus the Savior as a swear word until the little piece of the heart that knows untold of the glory of God is completely desensitized, and Satan’s work is complete.  He doesn’t have to talk people into being rapists or serial killers, just deafen them to the voice of the Creator.  Has the seed that has been directed toward you fallen by the wayside?

     “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time.  Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.”   All seeds need to be cultivated.  Almost any seed will spring up according to its nature, but if it is not watered or fed, the root will quickly shrivel and dry up, and the plant will die.  The word of God is the same.  Sometimes an unbeliever will hear the word spoken by an unusually gifted evangelist and his heart will thrill to the message of eternal life and grace in our Lord Jesus Christ.  He will bow his head and pledge his heart to the Lord and rejoice for a short while and then…nothing.  The first eloquently-sarcastic atheist  laughs at his new-found beliefs or his job is threatened by a superior who dislikes his faith and the word planted in his spirit shrivels and dies.  Things begin to go wrong and he sees them as the fault of an uncaring or mean-spirited God.  I am sometimes skeptical of evangelists who brag that at their last camp meeting in some foreign country  (or even in this one) “1,000 [or 20,000 or 50,000] souls were saved”.  All one can really be certain of is how many hands are raised or how many people come forward during the highly emotionally-charged gathering  to claim a life in Christ.  Some of these professions of faith will be genuine, life-changing acceptances of our Lord.  Some will be an emotional but quickly-over-with impulse.  A dear friend of mine who once volunteered as a counsellor at a Billy Graham crusade was quite disconcerted to find that after she had led so many people to Christ during the crusade, a vast majority of them were annoyed to hear from her when she followed up on them a week later.  Accepting Christ should not be done on an excited whim, but in the knowledge of our need to submit ourselves to God and accept the sacrifice of His Son for our sins.  In no other way will our acceptance of the word be able to take root.  How can we know if our seed falls on stony ground as opposed to good ground?  Often we cannot.  That is why Jesus told us we were not to judge others.  His words were never intended to mean that we were not to condemn what God judged to be evil as evil, but to make us understand that the condition of the heart is between each person and God, and only God is qualified to judge the heart.  But I’m certain you know the condition of your own heart.  Has the root of your faith begun to shivel up under the onslaught of the politically correct condemnation of  placing God at the center of our public lives?  Is your heart stony ground?

     “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”  My heart aches for all who are slipping onto the thorny ground Satan has laid for our destruction!  Beloved brothers and sisters, I know how hard it is in evil times to prosper spiritually and to bear fruit.  As our finances become more and more unstable, as our governments try to push us further and further away from the kingdom of God and nearer to the worship of secular humanism, as our school systems and our media work together to teach us that we are worth as people what we are worth financially (in other words, we are worth what we are worth), as bills come in and the cost of living goes up, as the hellish lies that we can kill babies in the womb and that promiscuous sex is healthy are accepted as truths–all these things combine to crowd out the seeds that have been planted in the heart of the believer.  Blessed is the one who can uproot those thorns before they have a chance to spread and bury the good seed!

     “But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit; some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”  Sometimes the seed is sown on good, fertile ground, and the fruit that comes up quickly will be a bountiful harvest.  But you know what?  POOR GROUND CAN BE CULTIVATED!   Praise God!  Stones can be raked away and thorns can be uprooted and tossed on the rubbish pile to be destroyed!

     The most important thing to remember is the the seed that has been sown in us is VERY good seed!  The seed is the word of God–we receive it both as Scripture and in the person of Christ Jesus, the Messiah.   John said that “In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)  This seed is stronger than life itself.  It will, in the end, destroy all the weeds and thorns and stones that come against it.  God has given us His Word to live in our hearts, to guide our lives and renew and rejuvenate our flagging spirits.  If we accept His word, if we write it on our hearts and our souls, He will never leave or forsake us in this life, and will grant us  an eternity with Him in the next.  He loves His own and wants us to grow in Him, and then to be fruitful and spread more seed to those who have not yet received any. 

     We are running out of time.  The world grows dark in sinfulness,  yet God still holds those who love Him in the palm of His hand.  He will see to our needs according to His riches in glory; He has promised us His grace that will be sufficient strength for us in our weakness, and He promises to be with us always, “even unto the end of the world.”   He has promised us strength to fight the “powers and principalities” of this present darkness.  What kind of ground is your heart?  Please, if you haven’t yet done so, cultivate it until your heart is ready to accept and keep the good seed alive–if you do, the Lord will bless you so that your harvest will be a bountiful one.

Maranatha!

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.  (Jonah 3)

     It is really quite easy to overlook the point of the story of Jonah.  Nearly everyone, believer and unbeliever alike, can tell you that Jonah refused to go to the city of Ninevah and preach against their wickedness; that God caused the ship he was on to flounder in a storm so that Jonah was thrown overboard, that he was swallowed by a big fish in whose belly he lived for three days and nights until he repented of his rebellion; and that God caused him to be vomited out onto dry land.  What is less widely discussed is the story of Jonah as an example of the greatness of God’s mercy to a sinning nation.   

     Nineveh was a city of some hundred and twenty thousand people (Jonah 4:11).  It was the capital of ancient Assyria, built on the eastern bank of the Tigris River,  across  from what is now Mosul, Iraq.  It was, until its destruction by the Babylonians in 612 BC, a city of great influence and prosperity.  It was also, according to Scripture, a city of such great wickedness that God sent the prophet Jonah to declare its coming destruction. 

     However, when Jonah delivered God’s warning to the people of Nineveh, the king declared a time of crying “mightily to God” and fasting; and decreed that all should turn away from evil.  God acknowledged these repentent people by not bringing upon them the disaster that their evil had deserved.  As He had promised in earlier Scripture passages to His people,  God showed mercy to this nation when they repented of sin and returned back to His statutes.  Today we live in a nation that refuses to honor God in public life.  We have an administration that has announced that we are not a Christian nation, we no longer allow the worship of Christ in governmental offices or amongst our public school children, and we have declared many of the laws of God to be so politically incorrect that adhering to them constitutes an offense (sometimes a legally-actionable one) against our newly-proclaimed right to sinful behavior.  Will God show the same kind of mercy to us as a nation that He showed to the city of Nineveh?  The answer is two-fold:  1) He would, were we to show the same level of repentence that Nineveh did, but  2) it would have to be entire cities and states returning to Him.  As I suggested in an earlier post, a remnant of believers is probably no longer enough to keep the country from the judgment that is coming upon it soon.  In the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18 and 19) we learn that wickedness can be so profuse and grievous that it can be easier for God to remove the few righteous than to spare a city or nation for the sake of the few.  God has revealed to many of His people that judgment will soon be coming upon our land.  America (and much of the rest of the world) is, by and large, refusing to heed this warning.  The birth pangs of the end times are upon us; the judgments that have begun already are not yet fully unleashed upon the world.  There is still time.  Can we, as whole nations, cry out mightily to God for mercy?  Can we fast,  pray and repent as an entire people and so turn some of the wrath of God away from our country?  I believe that we can.  Whether or not we will is far more doubtful.  Understand what is happening in America, brothers and sisters in Christ:  there is not just a conservative vs liberal or democratic republic vs socialist financial struggle occuring.  We are in a battle for the spiritual heart and soul of mankind.  We were allowed the inestimable privilege of being formed as a Christian nation designed on Judeo-Christian principles so that we could be a blessing to the world and a glory to God.  The spreading of the Gospel world-wide is more attributable to the United States than to any other nation on earth.  But we are now turning our backs on the One who gave us the commission to live as a Godly people, and so the privilege of world leadership and prosperity is in great danger.  We are truly in a struggle between good and evil. Until and unless this is understood we will plunge further into financial ruin; our country will be at great risk of both terrorism and natural disasters and our destruction will be assured. 

     Now, here’s the Good News, children of God:  Jesus loves you so very, very much, and He is not willing that any should perish.  He has promised to be with those of us who love Him through whatever comes upon us even unto the end of the world.  If you are God’s, join with me in crying out mightily to God–that repentence will come to the earth and that our nation will turn back to the Lord Who has given us life and breath, health and prosperity.  If you are not a part of God’s kingdom, don’t put off your decision to turn away from sin and accept Jesus’ sacrifice for you any longer.  Though more people are better-educated and more technologically advanced than ever before, fewer and fewer are wise or discerning enough to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Pray though we may for the souls of our fellow men and women, time is growing short.  Be part of the family of God.  He is waiting for you to come to Him and is ready to welcome you to His side.  Cry mightily to the Lord, and He will show you mercy.

Maranatha.

          I’ve been told several times lately that there will be no judgment because Jesus died for the sins of the world.  This “Universalist” attitude is becoming more and more prevalent among people who take the existance of God for granted, but refuse to study the Scriptures that He gave us in order that we should know, understand and follow His statutes.  Their reasoning seems to be “I wouldn’t like anyone I know to go to Hell. Jesus is love, and He would send no one to Hell.  Therefore, Hell does not exist.”  However, this position does not take into account God’s other attributes:  God is indeed love, but He is also holy, just and a “jealous God who will not give My glory to another.”  When we accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for  our sins and make Him Lord of our lives, Jesus “steps” into us so that when God looks at us as we approach Him He sees the perfect and holy face of His beloved Son, rather than the unrighteous men and women in bondage to sin that we were before being set free by the precious blood of Christ.  John wrote that “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie”.  Walking with the Lord requires us to walk in the way of righteousness and the light so that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us {continually} from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) 

     Beloved brothers and sisters, several months ago, in an earlier post (see  “The Mark of the Heart and the Year of Reckoning”), I addressed some words of warning I received from God dealing with what we were about to encounter in the world.  Surely we can see the judgment of God now falling upon the nation and the world as we continue on a path of demanding His benefits without acknowledging the Creator and giving Him thanks.  We have sinned in pride; accepting His gifts as our own accomplishments.  We have allowed the sins of pride, blasphemy, abortion, sexual promiscuity,  perversion, and greed to take root in our hearts and our lives throughout the world; we have promoted our self-serving agendas above the holy law of the most high God.  Judgment is beginning to flow down upon us as the Lord is lifting His hand of mercy from us.

     I have been reluctant to ask anyone reading The Watchman the following question because I have hesitated to say what might be considered trite or even a bit heavy-handed, but as we enter these last days in which we encounter the “birthpangs” of the Father’s wrath against our rebellion and unbelief, I can no longer put it off.  Are you saved?  If you were to die tonight, or if Jesus were to return, do you know where you would go next?

     I know (BELIEVE ME, I know) how strong the temptation is for those who have not completely submitted their hearts to the Lord to say, “I’d go to heaven.  I’m a good person.”  Well, Scripture tells us “But we are ALL like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags…”  (Isaiah 64:6, emphasis mine.)   Ecclesiastes 7:20 says “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.”  Do you see the truth, beloved ones?  None are righteous by virtue of their own efforts–not me, not you, not Billy Graham or Mother Teresa.  We have ALL “sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  That is a death sentence.  If you say you are not a sinner, you are either lying or you are in a very spiritually dangerous state of denial.  Hell is a real place, created originally for Satan and his fallen angels, and those who willfully refuse to accept God’s authority and love will go there after death (see “There Will  Be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth”, Oct. 2008). 

     As I wrote once before, the Lord impressed upon me that there was going to be some big disaster coming that would shake the foundations of our nation.  I assumed, when the economic crisis hit, that the disaster had arrived.  Later though, when I was in prayer for the nation, the Lord assured me that although the economic situation around the world was a natural consequence of not giving the glory for our successes to Whom glory was due, the worst was yet to come and was not merely economic in nature.  This week, this word has been confirmed for me by several others to whom the Lord has given words or visions regarding the coming judgments, including Pastor Dave Wilkerson who was given a vision of devastation here in the United States shortly to come.  God is finished gently asking us to return to Him.  Most people’s choice as to in whom or in what they will place their faith has already been made.  If you are reading this, you are most likely already a believer or you have not quite made up your mind.  To those of you who are unsure of your beliefs and your destiny, decide now.    Soon, there will be no option  to sit on the fence.  You must choose to follow God, or you must choose to follow Satan. Yes to God, or no to God.  You cannot just vote “present.”  It is too late for that.  Beloved brothers and sisters, if you are not sure of your ultimate destination; if you are unsure about whether or not you are living in the will of God, choose Christ. 

          Jesus said that “not every one that says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father in heaven.”   A vague acknowledgment that a “divine power” exists somewhere is not enough.  The will of God the Father is made manifest in holy Scriptures:  repent of your sins, submit yourself to Him and to His will, and accept Jesus the Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Jesus paid the penalty of the death we deserve by taking our sins to the cross with Him.  Once we repent and turn to Him, our “old selves” are crucified up on that two-thousand-year-old cross with Him, and the “new selves,” born of the Spirit into eternal life, are all that God will see when He looks upon us!   If you haven’t yet done so, go to God now and ask Him to forgive your sins and make you new. If you’re not quite sure what to say to Him, see my page “You Must Be Born Again” so that you can see how unbelievably simple it is to approach the throne of God for forgiveness.   The desire of my heart is to know that as many people as possible are touched by God in these last days and will spend eternity in heaven, so I will be praying that these words reach the hearts of those who may not have made the decision to love and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.     Maranatha!

Melissa

     First, let me get started by explaining that, although we proclaim constantly that “Jesus is love” and that “God loves everybody”, it is still difficult to comprehend the limitlessness of His love.  He does not love as we love.  There is no reservation in His heart when He loves.  There is no resentment for past slights (or sins) lurking in the recesses of His Spirit.  When we come to Him, confess our sin and ask His forgiveness, He not only forgives but promises that He will “remember their {our} sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)  Do you see?  Once we come to Him, He no longer holds our sin in His remembrance!   When we come to God, ask His forgiveness, and ask Jesus to come and be our Lord and Savior, He is gracious and merciful to forgive–ALWAYS–and will remove our sins “as far as the east is from the west!” (Psa. 103:12)  Why?  Because He loved us enough to send His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for the evil we have committed.  His precious Blood cleanses us from ALL sin!  Every bit of it!  Gone!  Why be afraid to take your sinful self to the Almighty?  He already knows what you’ve done, and His arms are open and beckoning for you to turn to Him!  Nothing you can ever do will make Him unable or unwilling to hear your cry of repentance or refuse to grant you His salvation!  You don’t deserve it?  Guess what?  None of us do!  To God, sin is sin:  we have ALL sinned and come short of His glory.  As I stated before, my sins were big, fat, UGLY sins–yet God forgave me for them, and He will forgive you, too, no matter what your sin entailed!  You can be washed clean in the shed Blood of the Lamb!

“Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?  Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.“ 

(I Corinthians 6:9-11)

     Beloved ones, let go of your guilt and crawl into the lap of the forgiving God Who loves you so much!  There is no crime so heinous that God will stop loving you and refuse to allow you to be part of His family!  All you have to do is repent and ask.  Martin Luther said that remorse before you come to Calvary is of God (i.e., the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin in order that you might repent and be saved), but after Calvary, it is of the devil.  He was so right!  Don’t let the guilt that Satan brings constantly to your mind keep you from accepting this precious gift of salvation!  You can be free of sin, of guilt, of shame. 

     Sanctification is the act of being set apart to God.  When we accept Jesus into our hearts, our sins and our “old selves” are crucified up on that cross with Jesus, and we are made new in Him; set apart as His children!  We are “justified” in the Father’s sight; not because we are in ourselves righteous, but because we receive, as His free gift, the righteousness of Jesus.  In other words, because Jesus died for us and we accept His sacrifice with love, thanksgiving, and obedient hearts, God sees in us not our old sinful selves, but Christ within us!  When He looks at us, He does not see our past sins (be they ever so horrendous) but the exact same righteousness that only Christ possesses!  Satan is the accuser of the brethren: yet every time he accuses one of us to the Father, Jesus says “No!  He/she is in Me; therefore, see My righteousness!”  

     Satan wants you to be his.  He knows that if he can feed the flames of your guilt to the point where you will never feel forgiven, he wins your soul by default.  He never has to work on you again and his job is made easy.  If your guilt drives you to madness or suicide, so much the better.  I’m afraid that the growing rate of depression and suicide in this country is partially the result of a society indulging openly in sinful behavior leading to feelings of hopelessness and guilt and which does not at all understand God’s promise of redemption.  Because you are a sinner does NOT mean that you must be damned to an eternity in hell.  God has made a way where no way existed.  When Christ died for our sins and was raised to sit at the right hand of the Father, He made it possible for us to defeat Satan!  The battle belongs to the Lord:  all we have to do is repent and submit to Him!  

     I once heard that the word “Justified” means “Just as if I’d never sinned.”  While  I hesitate to use this definition because I think many self-proclaimed Christians have used this as a means to excuse away further sinning, I must admit that it is, in some ways, apropos.  Our being justified means that it is now as though we had :

–Never taken the Lord’s Name in vain

–Never stolen anything

–Never slept with someone we we not married to, or indulged in another forbidden sexual act

–Never murdered the unborn child in the womb

–Never said something that hurt another person’s feelings

–Never had a mean thought

–Never lost our tempers unrighteously

–Never lied

–Never felt hatred or resentment

And the list goes on and on. 

     Will we be able to completely forget our “old selves?”  Probably not.  God allows us to retain the memory of what we have done in order that we never forget the depths from which He has brought us.  In that way, we have a constant reminder of His great goodness to us.  It also serves to remind us not to judge too harshly those who have not yet been saved, since we too were once living completely outside of His divine will.  Although we may always experience a certain amount of Godly sorrow that we have lived part of our lives (in some cases, most of our lives) in rebellion towards God’s law, God can and will take away the shame, the depression and the heartache of a life sinfully lived.  I hear frequent complaints that Christians are too “bound”.  I’m so saddened by the knowledge that so many people will never understand or know the true freedom that comes with life in the Lord!  Freedom to live a life of love; freedom from fear of the future or even of present circumstances.   Beloved ones, please don’t let another day go by in which you feel you cannot come to Jesus because because of your sinful nature!  Don’t let Satan fool you any longer than he has already, and don’t be afraid you can no longer be of use to God.  Your testimony to God’s faithfulness may be just what someone else needs to hear!  God will forgive you your sin, and then, as Paul tells us In the third chapter of Romans, you will become servants of righteousness! 

If any of the above speaks to you, please pray with me now:

“Heavenly Father,

I am truly sorry for the horrible sins I have committed, and I ask you to accept my repentent heart!  I love you so much, and I thank you for the love you have given me that has set me free from my sin and cast it away as far as the east is from the west.  Thank you for making me new again; for washing me in the Blood of Your Son, Jesus, for my sanctification, and my justification in Christ.  I pray now, Father, that you will heal the wounds in me caused by the sin which has kept me from You.  Ease my spirit, Lord, and grant that I may serve and please You from this day forward.  Amen. “   

Praise the Name of our Most High God!  God is not mad at you: He loves you and has forgiven you.  Now be free to forgive yourself and serve our Risen Savior!

Maranatha

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left…Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you curse, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’ and these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  (Matthew 25:31-33, 41, 46)

“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God and books were opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life….And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”  (Revelation 20:12, 15)

      Children of God, hell is real.  It is a real, physical location also known Scripturally as the Lake of Fire.  Its exact location is known only to God, but what He tells us in His Word is clear: it is a place where the fire is not quenched; a place of death and destruction where “their worm does not die,” where the “smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day or night.”  Worse than any torture imaginable is the truth that once in hell, people are eternally separated from God and from the presence of our Lord Jesus.  It is eternal separation from love, beauty, kindness–every good thing which God in His infinate imagination made as gifts for us.  Hell was originally created by God for Satan and the rest of the rebellious angels–it was not created for man.  God does not choose that any person should end up in the fires of hell.  However, God is perfect, righteous and Holy:  He will never allow sin to enter and taint His heavenly home.  Sin is our choice.  If we end up in hell, God did not choose that we go there–we chose our own sinful way over His lovingkindness.  According to John in the book of the Revelation, “there shall by no means enter into it [heaven] anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”   Don’t be deceived by the lies.  If you do not belong to God, then you belong to the devil.  There is no other choice to make.  You don’t have to say the Lord’s Prayer backwards or burn incense to Lucifer to belong to him.  If you live in rebellion against God, then you are Satan’s.   God requires that we make a choice to love, serve and obey Him and to accept Christ Jesus into our hearts to be our Lord and Savior.  Satan claims everybody else and has little to do but stop the ears of those the Holy Spirit would try to touch.  Satan is a liar and the father of all lies, and he uses any means possible to keep mankind from hearing and responding to the love of God.  He uses our desire to be loved and our desire to shine in the eyes of the world; he uses our appetites and lusts for people, things and power; he uses our desire to feel good about ourselves; he even uses our own intelligence and scientific accomplishments against us, convincing us of the old lie he first used in the garden of Eden: that we can be as gods.

Next, let us take a look at what the Word says concerning who will end up in the Lake of Fire.

      Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us there are seven things which are an abomination to the Lord:

1)  A proud look

2)  A lying tonge

3)  Hands that shed innocent blood

4)  A heart that devises wicked plans

5)  Feet that are swift in running to evil

6)  A false witness who speaks lies

7)  One who sows discord among brethren.

     “You shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger:  I am the Lord your God.  You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.  And you shall not swear by My Name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God:  I am the Lord.  You shall not cheat your neighbor…you shall not go about as a talebearer…you shall not hate your brother in your heart…you shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge…”  Leviticus 9:10-18

     I Corinthians 6: 9-10 says: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived.  Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

     Revelation 21: 8:  “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

     Finally, we cannot discuss what is deserving of heaven or hell without mentioning the Ten Commandments:

1)  I am the Lord your God…you shall have no other gods before me

2)  You shall not make for yourself graven images, bow down to them, nor serve them

3)  You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

4)  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy

5)  Honor your father and your mother

6)  You shall not murder

7)  You shall not commit adultery

8)  You shall not steal

9)  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor

10)  You shall not covet ANYTHING that is your neighbor’s.

     Folks, this is a pretty comprehensive list of behaviors that God will not accept.  In none of the above does God tells us that we cannot do these things on a regular basis, or that we’ll be happier if we use these “principles” as a vague guideline to acceptable behavior.  He is specific–we are never, ever to engage in certain behaviors.  They are abhorrent to Him.

     I’ve found that the usual reaction to all of this is “Well, I’m not really too bad.  I haven’t raped or killed anybody.  I try to be nice to everybody.”  Beloved, this is  not high school and God isn’t grading us on the curve.  I remember when the news broadcasts were dominated by the story of a woman who drowned her five children in the bathtub.  I called my son in to watch it with me, so he’d have something to compare me to.  Do you really think this is going to work with an all-holy God?  God hates sin—All sin.  When you break one of the Ten Commandments, you might as well have broken them all.  God is God and does not apply relativity in the same way that we do.  Sure, I’d rather have a liar or fornicator living next door than an axe-murderer or rapist.  To God, all four are sinning.  You might say, “but I DO keep the Commandments.”  Okay–so you’ve never once in your life lied?  You’ve never used the precious Name of God in a way other than in praise of Him? You’ve never slept with someone to whom you were not married?  Never ignored God’s day of rest and worship?  Never passed by a person in need without trying to relieve some of his need?  Have you kept the spirit of the Commandments?  The Sixth Commandment is “You shall not murder.”  Jesus, however, has this to say in the fifth chapter of Matthew:  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever  murders will be in danger of the judgment.’  But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment…whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire….”  You’ve never committed adultery?  Here’s what Jesus had to say: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.“  Are you beginning to get the picture?  Every word we have ever spoken, every act we have taken, every thought we have allowed to enter our minds is subject to the judgment of God.  God sees into our hearts.  He sees the selfish motives we may have had when doing good works, He sees the anger and resentment in our hearts, He sees the pride and lust and the shame.  He sees the ungodly movies we watch, the books we read, the sites we access on the internet.  We have ALL sinned, and ALL fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3: 23).  There is none who does good, no, not one (Psalm 14:3).  We are all worthy of judgment and punishment. 

     All praise be to the loving God of the universe!  Though rebellious man turned away from Him; though sin found an opening in the perfect world He created, God had a plan of redemption ready for us!  He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus (or Yeshua, His Hebrew name) to take our sins upon His sinless body, to bear our punishment, so that all who believe in Him need not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16)!  God became Man to suffer the punishment we deserve and to overcome death so that we may be made righteous in Him!  If we do not accept this wonderful gift and sacrifice, then we continue in rebellion against God and His Word, and our end will be in the Lake of Fire created for the devil and his angels.  If we accept His love and sacrifice and try to follow in the righteous path to which He has called us, we will spend eternity with Him in heaven! Brothers and sisters, can you even contemplate choosing hell over heaven?  In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”   In the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John,  Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”   Jesus wants you in the heavenly places with Him and is preparing a special place for those who love Him. 

     Hell is not a popular subject in many of today’s churches.  Too many pastors, priests and preachers don’t want to offend their congregations or make them feel “badly about themselves.”   In the movie SISTER ACT,  the main character (played by Whoopie Goldberg) points out to a priest that the main idea was to get some “butts in the seats” at church.  NO WAY!   The main idea is the salvation of souls through hearing the unchanging and inerrant Word of the Most High God!  Hell is real; it is forever and it is a place of great and unending torment and regret.  God does not wish one person to die in his or her sin and be condemned to hellfire eternal–but He will not force anyone to choose heaven.  He will follow you to the very gates of hell to call you back to Him–but He will not follow you into hell, nor will He allow hell to invade heaven.  Do you hear Him calling to you now?  Listen, children of God!  Turn to Him, accept His sacrifice for you along with His love, and be saved!

“…Choose you this day who you will serve…..but as for me and my house, we will seve the Lord.”  (Joshua 24:15)

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:  therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.”  (Deuteronomy 30:19)

Maranatha!