Friday, July 1, 2011

Going Too Far

Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
2 Kings 23:26

Is it possible for a nation, state, local church, or some other type of corporate body to go too far into sin so that the judgment of God will fall regardless of serious attempts for revival?  This is a sobering question.  We do know that God was willing to withhold judgment on Sodom for 10 righteous, but we also know that He did not find them.  He was willing to grant Assyria a reprieve as well after the preaching of Jonah at Nineveh, but we know that later they too were destroyed.  Will America receive judgment regardless of efforts to revive the land?  I hope the answer is no!  I love this land, but the sin of the nation is grave.


  


This is not about personal repentance.  We do know that even Manasseh, a man who led Judah into terrible sin, repented and was accepted by God when he humbled himself after being captured by the Assyrian King, Ashurbanipal.  "And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,  And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God."  (2 Chronicles 33:12-13)  What a message of hope!  This man promoted false gods and witchcraft.  He murdered the righteous in the land and had Isaiah sawn in two. He lived in gross rebellion for 50 years yet God heard his cry for forgiveness.  What a merciful Savior!  However, this is personal repentance and the topic is corporate punishment.  According to the text verse above, God still judged the land for the sin of Manasseh although the man responsible for the judgment repented.  Here is an important lesson to learn, God may forgive the sin but he seldom forgives the consequences!






God forgave David, but he lost a child, had a son rape his daughter, had another murder the rapist who later stole his throne and was killed in an ensuing battle.  These were all the consequences of his murderous and adulterous affair with Bathsheba.  God forgave Samson, but He still died with the Philistines.  God even forgave Saul the persecutor of the church, yet as an apostle he suffered beatings often.  God forgave Jacob for deceiving his brother, but Jacob was still deceived by his father-in-law, his wife (whose sin led to her own death due to a curse by her husband), and his sons who sold their brother, Joseph,  into slavery while lying to Jacob about his death.  Galatians 6:7 puts it best.  "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."



Manasseh had killed all of the righteous servants of God.  This created a spiritual vacuum that was hard to overcome.  Manasseh's son, Amon, never did repent and was assassinated.  His grandson, Josiah, did lead a great revival, but it may have only been superficial.  Josiah did hold off the judgment for a short time, but it still fell eventually.  This is the very message of 2 Kings 23.  The text is discussing the overwhelming reforms of Josiah.  It was amazing to see the degree to which this great king humbled himself and led a national revival, but right in the middle of the text is the above verse, verse 26.  The spiritual vacuum created by the wretched acts of Manasseh was too great and there were not enough people left to sincerely repent on behalf of the nation.  Soon Babylon's troops would arrive and the nation would be carried away as punishment for their national sin.  The temple that was defiled with multiple altars to false gods would be razed and left as an empty field.  God, however, was merciful and promised a return.

Outdoor Wicca (witchcraft) altar and service at the US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Co.
What an abomination!

  

What a parallel exists today.  Just last weekend churches in America read from the Koran while  promoting Islam and the Koran from their pulpits.  This act of provoking the Almighty was even committed in our national cathedral.  Shared Faith Service at the National Cathedral | NBC Washington  We know that the nation has been murdering babies in the womb for decades and that there are those who are redefining marriage to their own destruction.  We are the number one distributor of pornography in the world.  Child sex trafficking in the US is on the rise.  The courts and godless organizations are working overtime to try and erase our Christian roots and abolish any references to the God of the Bible in the public arena.  The name of Jesus Christ is mocked and spit upon everywhere.  Just yesterday, I tried to witness to a man who calls himself Gay Jesus.  The list of sins committed by this once Christ fearing nation seems to grow daily.  Where is it leading?


This Fourth of July, pray!  Pray for mercy!  Pray for God to break the hearts of our national leaders and the people of the land.  We cannot survive without a national awakening!  We must turn to Christ!  Time is short.  Have we already crossed the point of no return?  Only God knows, but it doesn't look good!  Pray!

Israel and the Middle East--God's Prophetic Timeclock

Godlessness in America

UN and Global Government

Monday, June 27, 2011

A Message of Hate

"Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness."
Proverbs 30:20


It is very popular today to accuse any who oppose homosexual marriage as a preacher of hate.  So is there a message of hate involved with standing against homosexuality, homosexual "marriage", and the breakdown of the biblical institution of marriage?  Read a few quotes from some of the attached news articles as proof of these accusations of Bible believers being haters.  

"Apparently, the SDFPC thinks it is okay for Jesus-loving students to badger and belittle gay and lesbian students."  Sioux Falls school district policy against bullying opposed by SD Christian group - Sioux Falls atheism | Examiner.com 

"According to CREDO -a “progressive” San Francisco-based firm that mobilizes liberals to action on a variety of causes – the American Family Association is a bad, bad bunch of people. In fact, CREDO refers to the group as “a Mississippi-based conservative Christian organization that’s so vehemently anti-gay, they’ve been identified as a ‘hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center.""

"Is this another example of anti-gay, zealout pro-creationists trying to eliminate the LGBTIQ community from being able to use public-geared facilities?" 

"It's not about the Baptists, not about the Catholics alone, or the Lutherans, or the Evangelicals, or any other denomination, but rather the head of the denomination, and his name is Jesus, as every president up until 2008 has acknowledged and we pray it in Jesus' name."
***This article said nothing about the man's speech towards gays.  It was more about the Precious name of Jesus with the anti-gay pastor line used as a hook to draw a readers attention.
Anger After Controversial Anti-Gay Pastor Recites Prayer at Minnesota State House - FoxNews.com


"And in his statement, DiMarzio complained that proponents of the bill "have demonized people of faith…and identified them as bigots and prejudiced." Hmm, certitude in the superiority of your beliefs over others': nope, no bigotry there."  
Gay Marriage Continues To Rile New York Religious Leaders: Gothamist





I guess I agree!  There is a message of hate in the Cross.  Jesus' death was all about God and what He hates.  The nails, the beating, the lashing, the being spit upon and mocked; it was all about hate.  Leaving heaven where you are constantly revered and adored as you rightly should be was all about hate.  God humbling Himself as a man and becoming obedient unto death was a great act of hatred.  God so hated sin and its effects on humanity that He had to act.  Jesus proved how much He hated sin with every drop of His precious blood.  God understands how sin destroys mankind and sends those snared by sin and without the only appropriate propitiation for sin to a place of eternal destruction.  So in His hatred of sin and its consequences, He sent His ONLY begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to become a sin offering for us.  The Bible says it best.  "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."  (2 Corinthians 5:21)  The apex of Christ's gospel is that God hates what sin does to His divine order. 


John 3:16 has an opposite message implied.  For God so hated sin that He gave His only begotten son...


So why the text verse above?  It seemingly has nothing to do with this argument, or does it?  It shows the reaction of the guilty.  Those caught in the clutches of sin need to justify their lifestyle in an attempt to assuage the guilt they feel.  Just as an adulteress claims that her actions are not wrong, so does any who accepts sin willfully in clear violation of God's teaching (There seems to be a lot of this going on lately with a variety of sinful actions).  After doing that long enough, they sear their conscience to the point that they can no longer detect the debilitating effects of sin in their life.  Just as those in Lot's day in the town of Sodom who called him judgmental as they tried to beat his door down in order to rape angels (Genesis 19), those who are guilty of sin and wish to remain in it vengefully often label those who share truth as a bigot and a hater.  Whether the sin is gossip, envy, lust of any form (including homosexuality), or any other transgression clearly outlined in scripture, those who wish to remain blind will accuse those who see clearly from God's word and by His Spirit as being intolerant.  


If you are in this sin or caught in any other, as William Cowper so eloquently penned, "There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains."  Jesus Christ did not die to leave you marred and wallowing in the very sin that bound you and is destroying you, but He died for you in love to set you free and cleanse you from all that separated you from God.  Ultimately, the message is one of love and hope.  He just requires you to agree with Him about your sinful condition and to repent and believe.


As far as standing in the streets with a sign saying "God hates fags", that is hate.  It is not the true message of Christianity nor does the God of the Bible sanction it.  God loves you and wants you to turn wholeheartedly to Him for forgiveness and cleansing.  It would take too long to outline where that idea on those placards is coming from, but it has the same source as the notion that God made you to be a sinner caught in homosexuality, drug addiction, pedophilia, or any other wrong.  Turn to Jesus!  He loves you and desires to set you free.  He is also Soon2Come! 




"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
Ephesians 2:13