Monday, March 2, 2015

Pretenders are not Going to Heaven

Many believers who love the Lord with all their hearts, are being persecuted but don't realize it. They are being told they expressed their stand for righteousness in a way that was offensive, leaving them questioning their own motives and attitude, when God was the one who directed them to stand strong. They don't see this as persecution, but it is by God's definition of persecution.

Matthew 10:32-36
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’"

If you have stood against divorce and remarriage, chances are good that members of your own family have hated you for it, even using subtle manipulation to make you appear wrong in the eyes of those looking on. They covertly reject you while embracing those who commit the sin. Their rejection is constant and subtle, to be able to deny it and to hide it from onlookers.

Divorce and remarriage are the sacred cows, the apostate church will not tolerate language that condemns it, even though God does.

Mark 10:11-12
"11 And He *said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her;
12 and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”

If you have stood against particular accepted sins in the church, chances are good that you have been rejected and maligned for speaking truth against evil.

If you have exposed false teachers, rebuked sin in the lives of people close to you and even refused to join in sin with others, chances are good you have been denied fellowship, even with those who claim to be believers.

If you have obeyed God in your actions to refuse support to those who are living sinfully, chances are good you have been falsely judged and denied love, because you heard from God and obeyed Him.

The mockers of God come in many forms, even those who claim to be believers. They will attempt to make you think you did something wrong when what you did and said, was commanded by God and obeyed.

Remember 2 Timothy 3

2 Timothy 3:1-9
"1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;
9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was."

Notice in verse 5 we are told to turn away from these people. They do not bring honor to God, nor do they encourage or enhance our walk with the Lord. They are a hindrance, continually mocking, maligning and demeaning us, keeping us in emotional turmoil. Get away from them, they do not honor God in their ways and they hate anyone who brings the Scriptures as the standard for living and dying.

Our culture falsely teaches that we should never get away from anyone who claims to be a believer no matter what they are doing. But God teaches the opposite.

Titus 3:10 "10 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition,"

Psalm 119:115 "Depart from me, evildoers, That I may observe the commandments of my God."

Proverbs 25:26 "Like a trampled spring and a polluted well Is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked."

It is good to pray for the unsaved, but we do not have to make them our friends. They will suck us into their bad attitudes and judge us by their own mindset, not by God's standard.

1 Corinthians 15:33 "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners."

Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

Finally, and most importantly, those who desire to walk with Christ, making all they do and say in line with God's Word, will be persecuted, often by those who claim to be believers, but have never been born again.

Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"

At some point in our walk we have to come to the realization, that our walk is not dependent on who likes us, or on blood line, rather, on the shed blood of Christ.

We are in a new family when we become born again, the family of God, all those people whose sins have been covered in the blood of Christ, who are born again blood bought believers, who have no fear in proclaiming Christ and all His principles.

When we encounter a believer who is arrogant, not ashamed of their sinful nature and who is embarrassed at the mention of Christ's name in a gathering, we have probably met a pretender. Someone who fits the Matthew 7 description of those who think they are saved and on their way to heaven, but will be met with the frightening words, at the gates of heaven, expecting to get in, they will hear; "I NEVER KNEW YOU, DEPART FROM ME YOU WHO PRACTICE INIQUITY."

If you fit this description, please take time to ask God if you are born again, if you have been spending your life play acting, doing all the things you thought would impress others, but had no saving power over your life, without the Holy Spirit, without God's blessing on you, then you are in danger of hell. Repent today, ask the Lord to change you into a new creation, let Him save you from your sins, yourself and hell.

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