It has been a rough five days as I have battled a bug that kept me down. I am thankful that God is faithful to not leave us in our misery forever, but brings us out stronger than before. Still a little weak I can sit at my computer enjoying fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
As I was listening to a prophesy update this morning I was reminded that the time of Christ's return is very close, also reminding me that things are continuing the downward spiral in spite of the glimmer of hope we think we see in the new presidential regime.
Over the past 45 years I am reminded that our Christian culture has bought into the deception that parents are the reason for the response of children in all things.
This thinking comes from psychology which teaches that man is nothing more than an animal responding to stimuli, that all the responses of people are because of their environment.
While we know that we can have influence over others and will be accountable for that influence, we are not ultimately responsible for the choices of others, neither our children or other relationships.
God tells us in His word that in the garden of Eden, the serpent tempted Eve, Eve gave in and followed the words of the serpent, then Eve influenced Adam and he fell under the spell of his wife rather than guiding her and in his mind Eve was to blame for Adam enjoying the forbidden fruit.
The fact is that the serpent (Satan), Eve and Adam were influenced for their choices to disobey God, but their ultimate choice was their own. Each one blamed the other to add sin to sin, the sin of disobedience against God's command to not eat from the forbidden tree and the second sin compounded the first as they refused to admit their own sin, lying to say that it was someone else's fault other than their own.
After the tribulation comes the millennium, in which only true believers in the flesh will enter, along with the saints that were taken in the rapture. God will rule at that time with a rod of iron. Interesting, God will have to rule with a rod of iron, why? The answer is simple, even those who enter the Millennium from the tribulation will be those who trusted Christ, wouldn't their children be wonderful and without sin? The answer is NO, they are not sinless nor are the children who are born to these flesh and bone saints who enter from the tribulation into the Millennium.
The survivors of the tribulation are born again believers, of whom many will give birth to children during the Millennium. Those with glorified bodies who were raptured out before the Tribulation, will be those who rule with Christ over the flesh and bone believers.
The condition of the children of the Millennium is good evidence that man born in the flesh is sinful without Christ. When the devil is loosed at the end of the Millennium, these flesh and bone children of post Trib saints, will rebel against Christ, once again things will become terrible and at the very end the devil, his demons and the fleshly children of the Millennium who rebelled against Christ will be thrown into the lake of fire to burn with eternal consequences.
The evidence I speak of is the rebellion of the children of the Millennium who had born again parents, will rebel against God, not all but many. WHAT HAPPENED?
Children born to born again saints will once again choose their own will over the will of Christ and follow the devil. This evidence that parents are responsible to God to teach and train their children, even in their own imperfection, are not ultimately responsible for the choices of the children.
Imagine, having King Jesus as our leader, the Perfect Ruler over all the earth, ruling in righteousness and perfect justice, administering swift justice, Whom we can all see and know personally, how could anyone rebel against Him?
Because man is sinful, full of wickedness in our very nature, we can only resist evil if Christ lives in us. Even those things which we thought were not so bad, are too wicked for God to gaze upon.
Let's not be so prideful as parents, assigning goodness to ourselves if our children turn out "good" in our human perspective. Let's remember that our idea of goodness usually includes a responsible person who holds down a good job and does not commit crimes. AND yet, this is not enough for our children to escape hell.
Even the slightest sinful thought is enough to keep someone out of hell, because it is our sinful nature that God is observing and He cannot have it in His presence.
Adult children are inwardly corrupted not by their deeds but by that which dwells in their heart. Many corrupted and sinful souls have evil in their heart while doing good deeds and deceiving people on their outer man while their inner man rages with hate and rebellion.
Children who blame their parents for their own evil choices remain in rebellion against their parents and against God. As adults children make their own choices, to obey God or to obey the lust of their own flesh. Nothing from their past will excuse their sinful behavior, no one from their past will excuse their rebellion. They stand alone before God in their sin.
Ezekiel 18:19-21 "19"Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity?' When the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has observed all My statutes and done them, he shall surely live. 20"The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. 21"But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.…"
REMEMBER: When we are in our sinfulness without Christ, our tendency is to blame others, even when there is no one to blame. Nothing big, bad or ugly, happened to us beyond anything that was normal life, we only think these things when we want someone to blame for our own bad attitudes.
Of course there are terrible families, families that brought destruction and pain upon us as we were growing up. These things were tests for us to make a decision, to go the way of the evil people who harmed us, or to seek God for cleansing. When we use family as an excuse or deny our own attitudes, we have given the devil a foothold, allowing him to use us for his evil purposes to do even greater damage to ourselves and to others in our life.
Those who judge good parents for the way their children turned out, walk in arrogance, seeking to elevate themselves as though they were perfect in their parenting.
REMEMBER: Each one of us, parent and adult children is responsible for our own sin no matter what we thought the other party did or meant by what they did.
When we respond to something in hatred and anger, the Lord is showing us the hatred and anger in our own hearts. The only response that pleases God is to confess that and ask to be cleansed, while seeking Him, thought His Word and Prayer to be the person He wants us to be.
REMEMBER: Just attempting to do better next time on our own will not produce anything but more pride. We must seek Him to cleanse us, changing our heart to hate those attitudes and actions that are ruinous. If we are broken over our sin, we will want to mend relationships through confession to those we have harmed.
May the Lord bless each one reading this with the strength to confess anything that stands in the way of their relationship with Christ.
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