The Don't Judge Mantra is Growing Me Weary

Growing Weary of the "don't judge" mantra as a means of shutting down proper and beneficial instruction.

This is now the "go-to" mantra to keep others from correcting what is clearly a wrong focus or attitude.

The "don't judge" mantra, seems to be used in everything now to keep people from instructing others.

I will no longer let anyone get away with the mentality that we are not to judge anything or speak definitively while instructing our brothers and sisters in proper decorum or attitudes.

2 Timothy 4:2-3 " 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction.

3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.…"

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

In the matter of clothing at the worship gathering, I must add a little more to my previous post.

Do you, do we, have different kinds of clothing in our closets? Do we have dress clothes to wear to funerals and weddings? Do we have work clothes we put on to dig in the garden? Do we have casual clothes that are tidy and clean to go to visit a friend?

Why do we all have different clothing for different purposes? We have these different clothing styles because different occasions call for different clothing. We dress differently depending on what event or visit we are attending. So why have so many young people chosen the ratting-looking jeans to wear to worship? I suggest that this clothing is a clue as to the inner heart of the one who wears them. The total lack of respect for God and for others is clearly evident. Especially when we see these same people wearing nice clothing to the office party, the weddings, the funerals and the office parties.

The disrespect for God's Word, for rules, for authority is closely tied to these lazy attitudes about clothing styles.

It is disrespectful to come to a wedding in torn and ratty-looking jeans, doing this would make the wearer stand out, distracting from the special party. In order to show respect in attending a wedding, a funeral or a special occasion we put on something more special in deference to those in attendance.

The same disrespectful attitude that is seen nearly everywhere now is reflected in the clothing. Our inner heart cannot be different from our outer choices.

The excuse that someone might be poor in a country such as ours is simply a red herring, it is not reality. Everyone has something decent and respectful to wear to worship, they just choose not to wear it.

The casual mentality about worship is reflected in the disrespectful tone we see in many gatherings today. The worship is superficial and flippant therefore so is the clothing style, it a sign of these end times of overall disrespect for everyone and everything.

The music, the clothing, the events, and much more are evidence we are living in the end days when everyone does what is right in their own eyes and refuses to listen to wise instruction.

2 Timothy 4:3

"3 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,"

Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Romans 12:1

"I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

The lie that appearances do not matter at all has been around since the 1970's when the hippy generation influenced the thinking of the church.

Nothing can happen on the inside of us without reflecting on the outside. A lazy attitude about appearance and grooming is a dead giveaway of a lazy mentality toward the ways of God.

Don't come to fight to defend lazy dress codes, just pray that the Lord will give you a heart of diligence in all things, that we please Him and not ourselves. Pray that we will not base our dress code on what everyone else is doing but on what God is saying to us.

My challenge is not to think more about clothing, those who defend ratty clothing as a style for church gathering are too focused on clothes and fitting in. To prepare yourselves for worship will lead us to want to be diligent in ALL that we do and wear.

The Parable of the Sower

A Question on the Words; "Trial" or "Tribulation"

A question was posed to me in a comment, that question was "how do I know when I am going through a trial or a tribulation." My answer was the following;

Unbelievers go through trials and tribulations as well as believers.

Matthew 5:45 "so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

Definition of trial: "Examination by a test; experiment; as in chemistry and metallurgy."

Definition of tribulation: "a cause of great trouble or suffering."

Trials are events that test us, with believers a test shows us ourselves so that we will confess to be cleansed causing a spiritual growth spurt. God already knows what we are but in order for us to become aware of our flaws and sinful heart attitudes, we must see our own responses and reactions in the midst of a trial. This is when the real us emerges when we are being tested.

Tribulation is more severe testing to show us our weaknesses and to strengthen us through the experience.

Romans 8:28 "28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

Trials and tribulation are common in life for everyone. Those who are unsaved are allowed to encounter them to learn their need to repent and trust in Christ. For the believer, they are for leading us to confession to be cleansed for growing in holiness.

1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The Great Tribulation is for the purpose of bringing the Jews back to God. God began with the Jews, abandoned them to go on to the Gentiles and will return to the Jews during the Great Tribulation.

Two-thirds of the Jews will be destroyed and the one-third remaining will trust in Christ and take the gospel to the rest of the world toward the end of the tribulation.

The nation of Israel will remain a nation the entire time, God will fight for her in miraculous ways without the help of any other country of the world. The Lord wants the world to see the miracles. Israel will be saved trusting in Christ because of those miraculous protections for the remaining one-third.

Some Jews will be martyred during this time with the promise of great reward in heaven for having died for Christ and His gospel.

The key here is it doesn't really matter what we are going through, when we hang onto Christ He will go through with us if we are believers, but those who are not born again will have no help from Him unless they confess their sinfulness and trust in Christ.

Isaiah 1:15-16 " 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. 16 Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!…"

Matthew 7:21-23

"“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

There are many people in these last days who believe they are good people going to heaven who were not good but only thought they were good. God said no one is good without Him.

Good people are not going to heaven, only forgiven people who trust in Christ by faith will go to heaven.

When we trust in what Christ did for us on that cross, dying to pay the penalty for our sin, He will change us into an entirely different person, we no longer think the same way we did before, we are a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new [a]creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

Ephesians 2:10

"10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

Those who have become born again no longer think the same way they did before, they no longer walk a sinful lifestyle anymore. They are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a guarantee of their inheritance, they are signed, sealed, and delivered.

Ephesians 1:13-15 "…13 And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory. 15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,…"

Ephesians 2:5-6 "…5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, "

1 Peter 4

Keep Fervent in Your Love

4 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human lusts, but for the will of God.

3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of indecent behavior, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries.

4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excesses of debauchery, and they slander you;

5 but they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as people, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God."

Hallelujah!