Adultery is More than an Action

For those who think there is an innocent party in a marriage where there has been the acting out of adultery!

No one has been perfectly faithful to God. We have all been unfaithful many times in our lives, when we opted to do things our own way rather than seeking God for the answer.

Romans 3:10
"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:"

When we realize that not one of us has been perfectly pure in our hearts, we know that anything that is not of God is sin and anything that is not of God is adultery. To make ourselves the authority in our own lives, even sometimes, pushes God out, making ourselves above Him.

Adultery is loving another, whether it be self or another idol, is unfaithfulness against God.

Matthew 16:4
"A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed."

Those who place their trust in their comfort, their pleasure or their personal gain, anything other than Christ, are adutlerous.

Romans 8:6-11 "Matthew 5:27-28
King James Version (KJV)
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

God sees our heart before we ever do the actions, if we never do the actions, but have adultery in our hearts we have sinned against God and are adulterers. The actions are merely evidence of what has already been in the heart.

Those who will not forgive their adulterous spouses, have unforgiveness in their hearts, are in sin, and those who will not wait on their spouses for their repentance, are harboring self righteousness and bitterness in their hearts.

Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, can we not also be willing to suffer, waiting for our spouses to repent, willing to get on with our lives in the Lord apart from sin to relieve our own discomfort.

A Man Abandons His Wife

This morning my husband and I were having coffee in front of the living room window, enjoying the sun peaking through the fog on this cold winter day.

The discussion was on the marriage vows and the state of the world we live in. We are of the old school, that marriage is for life and that we are to take care of one another no matter what the hardship.

We remembered the foolishness of Pat Robertson when he took a question to answer on his show and advised a man to leave his wife.

The man who wrote the letter was asking Robertson if it was alright to leave his wife who had alzheimers to marry his girlfriend. Robertson answer that the wife was not really there anyway, she was like a dead person, therefore it was alright to divorce his wife, as long as he took care of her hospital needs, and marry his girl friend.

Never at any time did Robertson call what the man was doing "adultery." I was so agitated at his answer that I wanted to go to the back yard and scream out to the trees, the hateful injustice of this answer from a man who is revered by thousands of people all over the world. It was a travesty at best.

I would have asked the man with the inquiry, a number of important questions, the first one being, "what does God say." Then I would have answered with the words "in sickness and in health til death do us part." The answer would include all the scriptures about adultery and other scriptures having to do with self sacrifice.

The incredible wickedness of a man who would abandon his wife during her hardship, is despicable. More questions I would have asked would have been to the other woman, "what makes you think this man would stand by you in hardship when he cannot remain faithful with his first wife." Another question would have been to the man, "what kind of woman would want a man to abandon his ailing wife in favor of his fling in the sheets with her, while his wife is dying.

Can either of these selfish individuals make a good "new" marriage? First we have to understand that when this man divorces his wife, it does not sever the oneness that God created in them at marriage and even though he marries another by the law of the land, he remains in adultery with the other woman.

Robertson gave evil advice based on physical desire rather than on God's Word and His standard and principles.

Robertson removed the necessary guilt that leads one to repentance. He also endorsed fleshly selfishness while taking from the real wife, her need for companionship.

Here is what I would have told the man with the question:

"God made you one in marriage, what you are doing now is called adultery. Rather than stepping up to the plate to do the noble and sacrificial thing, in caring for your wife, you are indulging in fleshly lust. Your attitude toward you wife is hateful and mean." Then I would give him all the scriptures that pertain to self-sacrifice and God's view of marriage.

Robertson was basing his opinion, using no Scripture at all, on personal comfort and fleshly fulfillment.

This is one example of what happens when we are hiding the real us all our lives and one day without realizing it, God allows the real us to come forth in a big way.

Robertson was able to fool a lot of people for many years in his ministry, we could not see what was really inside of him. As he got older, God allowed his real self to emerge, exposing what he had been all his life. We do not all of a sudden change in our old age, all that happens is that God removes our ability to hide and exposes what our heart had been all along.

A clue that Robertson was a liar, was the prayer time when he would look into the audience of thousands of people and declare that someone "out there has cancer and is being healed right now." This was a huge violation of Scripture, divination is forbidden by God. He was using the standard technique of declaring a vague and general proclamation hoping that there would be someone who would match his prophesy, and it is lying.

This happened to Billy Graham, as well as Robertson. They were hiding inside who they really were until their old age exposed their real heart intent. They no longer had the ability to mask or hide what was in their heart, and their theology on the inside began to be exposed on the outside.

Both men were focused on fame and wealth, when they became very well known and popular, they began to let down their guard and the real self emerged. Graham spent a lifetime of compromise behind the scenes as did Robertson, until they were convinced they could say and do anything and still keep their following. They "went with the flow" of the culture.

It is best to ask the Lord to keep us in His will no matter the hardship, that our real selves are the same on the inside as they are on the outside. Eventually our old age will give us away, even if we don't know it or want it.

When we become too old and feeble to keep up pretense, then we will be exposed. People do not change as they get older, they merely are too tired to pretend anymore.

What we are in our old age is what we were inside all of our lives.

Do we become sweeter and kinder, or do we become angrier and more selfish when we are too weary to keep up the deceit?

I have given no scripture here because the post is long, but it is easy enough for each person to do their own research on these points. Please do not look at commentaries, read God's Word and pray as you read.

One might want to look up words like; marriage, selflessness, servant, put asunder, love, remain single, divorce, Love your wife as Christ loved the church, lay down life for wife and other scriptures pertaining to the attitude of the end times as written in Timothy.

In my answer to the man who was committing adultery, I would have included this; "instead of going off with that other woman, you should be spending every minute of every day with your wife until she dies, stroking her hair feeding her, dressing her and talking to her. It doesn't matter if she knows you or not, this is your duty and reasonable service to a life long companion."

The Lord's Supper or Christ-mass

Do we neglect what is commanded and do what is not commanded?

When has anyone seen the people of God spend as much time, energy and resources on the Lord's supper, as they do on Christ-mass.

Christ commanded us to remember Him in the Lord's supper every time we come together, but there are no instructions from Him to celebrate His birth.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26
"23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."

If we took away all the gifts, the pomp and the decorations, would believers still want to celebrate His birth? I suspect that most of the goings on around Christ-mass, are based on personal enjoyment, more than on what Christ did on that cross.

The diversion from the important things, has been masterfully cloaked by the devil, to deter many from our salvation through the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.

How many of the people who are attending these Christ-mass day gatherings spend time in prayer and worship? How many have not celebrated the Lord's supper in a very long time?

Shooters!

I am so weary of hearing about all these shootings in our public places, especially schools where there are groups of children.

If every teacher were armed with gun in holster, in plain view, we could save many lives. When a shooter comes into a school with a gun, he automatically loses his right to be safe.

When we commit crimes we do the time and experience the consequences.

Don't want to get shot, then don't commit the crime.

The reason the powers that be do not think this way is because they are steeped in psychology. Psychology says we must be careful to protect the hurting emotionally disturbed shooter and forgets about all the children he will murder in his quest for importance.

Emotional trauma is not an excuse to harm or for killing others. These shooting rampages did not exist when I was growing up, we were taught to control our emotions and think of others first. And, there were serious consequences for crime, especially murder, ones life was required in justice to the hurting families of the victims.

Perhaps the modern day rampage in public places has something to do with the video games the young people are using daily, even in addictive ways. Sin indulged must find more exciting ways of expressing itself, it is never stagnant.

I have no doubt that those who do these crimes are hurting, but if we would stop teaching the children that they come first and that everything they do can be blamed on others, then we would see fewer of these incidences of mass murder.

Notice that we teach children these days that nothing bad they do is their fault but the good they do is to their own credit, we send a lying message of "claim the glory and blame others for the evil we do."

With the shooters, we can blame the drugs they are on, their family lives, their experience with bullying and many other excuses, but in reality, every shooter is thinking only of himself, even when he kills himself, it is all about him. His motivation is to harm others and make them sorry for him when he kills them and then kills himself.

Do we understand that "suicide" is as much a sin as murder? It is refusal to admit that we have no right to decide our own death date or in the case of murder, the death date of anyone else. Both acts are rebellion against and anger toward God.

Yes, our broken families have contributed to this sense of lack of self control. Since the parents refused to control their emotions to keep a family in tact, the child learns he does not have to control his emotions to do the right things.

The drugs, sex and alcohol are, I am convinced, response to the broken families. Anger has risen in young people exponentially with the onset of rampant divorce and remarriage.

If we could only admit that we have failed the children in our selfish pursuit of pleasure and flirting to fulfill our lusts in dissolved marriages and new spouses, then and only then could we begin to rebuild the culture. The children coming up would have a chance at a different life.

However, I don't think this can happen as long as those who are divorced and remarried continue to fight against the admonition to repent and become born again.

Teaching children that life is not all about them and that marriages are sacred and must be protected, would go a long way to removing the loneliness and desperation so many children feel.

I know there are many Scripture that could be quoted here, how about you, my facebook friends, adding them for me.

Let Go and Let God

This article is right on!! Amen, Amen!!

I have felt this for some time now, that too many people are remaining silent about their children's sin to keep them in the family, knowing that they will run away if they speak truth.

So many prodigals never learn anything, feeling comfortable in their sin because they never lose anything in their families.

This article hits the nail on the head.

The Lord has made me happy and comfortable without my children until they repent. For years I agonized over their disobedience and rebellion, trying to reason with them, but getting no where, when God made it clear that I was to let them go and just pray.

How many marriages are harmed because one spouse is putting too much into rebellious children and neglecting their spouse in the process. I say to married couples, let the prodigals go and put everything into your spouse who is on your side.

I think sometimes we fear being alone in our old age so we hang onto rebellious children too long. God can be all we need in our old age and He can be our protector. We must trust Him for our children and for our own protection too.

http://rr-bb.com/showthread.php?172548-How-God-Deals-with-Prodigals-Pastor-Ray-Pritchard

Two Most Neglected Commandments

The Two Greatest Commandments on which all the others hang, are the most neglected today in Christendom.

The absence of this Christ-like love is overwhelming to many believers who do demonstrate these Greatest Commandments of the Lord.

We cannot love our brethren, if we do not first love Christ. How can we love Christ or claim to, when His Word and His principles are not important to us.

Many will claim they Love God and then fight and argue when they are corrected according to the Word. Many claim to love God, but compromise many things in their lives in favor of sin.

A humble and contrite heart will hear a correction or rebuke and feel ashamed rather than defensive. If one is defensive then they are prideful and unteachable.

Matthew 22:37-40, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

hu·mil·i·ty

"1. A modest or low view of one's own importance."

James 4:6

"But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Is it any wonder so many people who attend church have little spiritual maturity. They remain babies because they refuse to be taught, they refuse to obey the Word, that tells them they need to ask the Lord to humble them. God will not teach a prideful person.

1 Peter 5:6

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,"

Colossians 3:12

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,"

Romans 12:3

"For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."

What is Strength?

Those who think that "strength" is maintaining control over others no matter what, are walking in darkness and deception.

Strength is not forcing others to serve us.

Strength is not speaking more than we listen to maintain control.

Strength is not obsessing over who was right to win arguments.

Strength is not hiding who we really are to impress other.

Strength is not lying to get our way.

Strength is not fighting for our rights.

Strength is leadership submitting to others as servants.

Strength is listening more than we speak, and hearing others out before

judging them.

Strength is being willing to lose to honor God.

Strength is truth telling no matter the consequences.

Strength is integrity when it hurts to maintain it.

Strength is being willing to give up our rights for the sake of another.

Christ was the strongest man that ever lived and He is God! He was humble and submissive to His Father and to those on earth. Never did He fight back when there was injustice against Him.

He endured reviling without a word, told the truth no matter what the results, went to a terrible cross, enduing it without answering those who murdered Him, while praying for them.

James 1:12

"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him."

1 Peter 2:23

"Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:"

He whipped the money changers in the temple, defending His Father's house.

He Explained to Nicodemus the way of salvation through being born again.

No Christ was not the gooy, frightened and politically correct "man", our culture would like us to believe. He was and is not our perspective of a man, He was and is God, Who created everything, and controls everything.

When we are tempted to think of Christ the way we think of men in our culture, repent, and see from His Word what He really was and is.

Christ Who loved so much that He was willing to give up all His comfort in heaven, while coming to earth to save us from our sin.

No man could ever do what He did for mankind. However, He is our example of a real man who cared deeply for people, more than His own life.

Mark 10:45

"45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Matthew 21:12

"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves,"

Notice that the only time the Lord became violent was when His Father's house was being blasphemed. His defense was not for Himself, but for His Father.

1 Peter 4:10-11

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

1 Corinthians 6:7

"Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?"

When we are held up to the standard of Christ, we are not very strong as a Christian culture. Perhaps we should pray for humility to become more Christ-like, that He would make us strong.