Believing is a Choice

"Believing" is a choice; we either choose the truth or we choose the lie. Those who choose the truth ask God to reveal it rather than hang on to fleshly desires or familiar things.

People want to believe what everyone else believes so they become angry at questions that challenge what they have been trained by the culture to believe, by their own choice.

Those who want to know the truth ask God. They question all things as God commanded.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 "19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil."

Holding onto what is familiar rather than questioning is two things: it is lazy and it is cowardly. Those who refuse to question what they have been taught do not want the hard work of learning something new and they fear losing friends who might mock, dismiss or reject them. And perhaps a third reason is the fear of having to say to someone they might have been wrong about something. The fear of being mocked for changing our mind is daunting for some people.

People will say foolish things like, "I need to ask my pastor", meaning instead of asking the Holy Spirit Who lives in them, they turn to someone familiar who has popular credibility through education, whom they can quote to others as the reason for their stance. When we tell people, "The Holy Spirit told me through God's Word, the Bible", it irritates them most of the time.

Those who reject us because we quote God from His Word don't want truth, they want their preferred beliefs that keep them in good standing with their friends and relatives. If they can quote a seminary-educated, paid pastor, they think it gives them more credibility and less chance of being rejected or mocked.

Those who seek man first for the answers are unlikely to ever seek the Holy Spirit. When we depend on human beings, we can see there is no need to depend on the Holy Spirit Whom we cannot see.

Matthew 6:33 "33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

In our world today and probably since the fall of man, people will tell you what they believe based on their culture and their own desires.

Mankind loves to have allies for themselves who will validate them. People rarely seek friends who will challenge them to greater holiness or wisdom.

When we make God's will, principles, and commands the highest priority we will rarely ask people for wisdom; we will ask God and share with others while gleaning from them when they share from God's Word.

It is good to discuss many things with another believer; the perspective of others can help us think more deeply. However, our first go-to person is the Holy Spirit. God may use another person to help clarify things but even what they say must be measured against the Bible.

In the times in which we live, it is rare to find someone who has not been tainted with worldly wisdom because of the pressure of their community and their families. Only One is Perfect and that is the Holy Spirit.

Then comes the next challenge: when the Holy Spirit imparts His wisdom to us through His Word, we will be rejected for not following the groupthink of others.

Matthew 15:8-9 "8 “‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

Most "Christians" today follow their culture and not the Bible. They violate more of God's Word than they obey and still claim to be "Bible believers."

It is easy to test this in our world, just quote the Bible pertaining to the way they live or the things they accept and what comes out of them will tell you everything.

2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…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. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

1 Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,"

Matthew 24:11 "and many false prophets will arise and deceive many."

Acts 20:29 "I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock."

God said this would happen in the end times and as we see it is increasing each day exponentially as we watch the anger and rebellion.

However, in spite of all this the born-again believers has great hope. We know Christ is coming soon to take His church out and then everything upon the earth will intensify with astounding, unabated wickedness, while we are in heaven enjoying the Marriage Supper of the Lamb for 7 years. After that we will come back with Christ when He destroys the evil on the earth.

In the meantime, while we are in heaven for those 7 years, many people will trust in Christ because of the witnesses in Israel who see the miracles on their behalf and repent. Then the 144,000 will take the gospel to the rest of the world. They will see their need for Christ because of the miracles for Israel and the misery on the entire earth. These will be the tribulation saints.

There is a lot of misery coming for those who reject Christ before the rapture. And yet, there is still hope for those who realize there is nothing left on the earth to cling to when all is destroyed.

American Christianity is deplorable because of the play-and-pleasure mentality that pervades the thinking of everyone in the churches. Most churches have based their gatherings on entertainment and soft words to keep the apostates returning every week to fill their collection plates.

This monstrous worship of freedom-to-have-fun mentality cannot be reversed without disaster. People do not repent when things are easy and fun. The tribulation will allow some in the world to realize how foolish pleasure-seeking is and where it leads.

The only way to think with the mind of Christ is to ask Him to show you everything you believed that was wrong and replace it with His Word. Read the Bible, ask for wisdom and be willing to expunge from your mind anything that is not from God. Ask that all that worldly mindset and fleshly desire be exposed and repented of in order to be cleansed of it.

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."

Because we love people, we speak the truth, some will listen but most will kick against the truth and punish those who speak it. They will not only hate the truth, but they will hate those who speak it.

Hebrews 3:13 "13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."