Every Sin Can Be Forgiven

Praying for the soul of the young man who harbored so much hatred in his heart to murder another man who had a family.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,

10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Next verse is an important verse to ponder!!!!

"11 SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU; BUT YOU WERE WASHED, but YOU WERE SANCTIFIED, but YOU WERE JUSTIFIED in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."

What this young man did was horrendous, but it does not disqualify him from repenting and becoming born again.

Matthew 12:31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven."

What a victory over the devil if this young shooter became born again and met his victim one day in heaven?

Lead by the Holy Spirit Alone

It is important to remember that it is the Holy Spirit who has godly expectations of us. No one else should dictate or dominate another believer.

Family pressures, church pressures, or any pressures from any other organization should not deter us from our calling. No human being can know what God wants us to be doing.

 
The Bible and the Holy Spirit direct all our actions and attitudes; people do not. That is not to say that godly people have no input in our lives; they do, but only as they obey the scriptures in their counsel and lifestyle.

 
Others can edify us by the Word of God, but they do not make the decisions about our calling or the personal conclusions for our lives.

 
So often, family, friends, and church attendees judge things that are not sin as a form of control over us. They micro-manage perceptions about us to others with the intent of removing your support system.

 
In our culture, many, if not most, people are deeply controlled by others because the Holy Spirit is not their focus. When Christ is our focus, people cannot control us.

 
Make no mistake, everyone is controlled by something or someone, either by their culture or by the Holy Spirit. It is unsettling to unbelieving family and ritualistic churches when someone does not follow their pattern of life or their decrees.
Since most people need others to do the same thing they are doing, they tend to become upset, if only mildly irritated, when someone chooses to walk a different path from them.

 
Galatians 4:16-18 "…16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18 Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose—at any time, and not only when I am with you.…"

I am convinced that this irritation occurs when someone leaves the cultural path. Those who are all doing the same things are not convinced in their own minds of their own choices. They must have followers to maintain their sense of control.

 
The word "culture" means to till the ground, or in the case of cultural expectations, it denotes tilling the mind to cause compliance with others. A sort of brainwashing in which those who are members of the culture fear not being accepted by others in that system, so they repeat the same mantras and habits while excluding anyone who does not comply with the group or the prominent leader.

These cultures are common and make lots of rules God never made. They are dedicated to their rules more than the Bible and judge others who think differently. And, worse, they are dedicated to the need to appear superior to others; love is absent in these cultural entities.

 
2 Corinthians 11:2-3
"I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ."

May every believer understand what they are dealing with in these last days of apostasy, allowing the oppression of others toward us to roll off like water off a duck's back. When we know it isn't personal and that we did nothing to foster it, we can observe it without absorbing its poison.

 
Keep looking up, our Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon and we will be celebrating the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in all its glory!

Meditate on Christ First

1 Peter 5:7-9 "…7 Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering."

James 4:7 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

Ephesians 6:11-12 "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Enjoying the Hoary-white Head

When someone thinks they are encouraging someone who is old by telling them they are young, I bristle a little! Laughing Out Loud

Pretending someone is young when they are old is not helpful. What is helpful is for our age to be revered because of our years of experience and wisdom.
Being placed on the same level as a youngster with all that life has taught me is more like an insult than a compliment. Those of us with grey hair earned every strand, and it is considered something to be admired in our elder years.

Proverbs 16:31 "31 The hoary (grey) head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness."

Perhaps the mentality that thinks telling someone they are young has more to do with a culture that does not respect and admire old age as something that is a blessing. The worship of youth keeps people stuck in immaturity and play-oriented thinking.

 
Our elder years are something to enjoy as we slow down in life, leaving more time to read God's Word, to ponder what life taught us, and to pass on to the youth all that we learned.

 
Sadly, the youth are not interested in gaining wisdom or learning from the stories of the elderly; they want wealth, status, and entertainment.

 
In my earlier days, I loved hearing the stories of old people; they didn't have the foolishness of faces in an electronic device constantly. When we went to lunch, we looked at one another, were interested in what the other person said, and had no distractions except the waitress taking our order.

 
Electronics brought a great deal of help to many of us, but in a society that has never learned self-control, the devices have become more important than the people right in front of them. And the elderly have become an irritant to most young people.

 
These are the times we live in now, so what is the solution for us? I think the answer is not as easy as it sounds, but perhaps our goal ought to be to resist becoming like the culture. We can keep our hearts focused on Christ and be led by the Holy Spirit and He will guard us from changing into the culture around us.

Romans 12:2
"2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Becoming what God intended for His children to be is far more satisfying than surrendering our hearts and character to the world to be accepted by it.

Living in an Irrational World

Have you ever spoken something Biblical and made good sense, only for the hearer to interpret your words as unkind or with wrong motives?

 
We are living in an irrational world right now, in which many people will hear your words but with their own mindset, changing what you said into something erroneous, as though you were rude when you were not. These people will misinterpret our words based on the culture around them and not on our intent.

They do not see our intent; they see their own heart attitude and think it is correct.
Innocent comments are misinterpreted because the hearer had an angry spirit and saw everything you said and did in a negative perspective. When this happens, we know a person with a particular mindset will not be reliable in their interpretations because it is based on their own heart of anger.

 
Jealousy often drives misinterpretations. We see evidence of this when we want to clear things up, but the one who harbors anger refuses to have a discussion about what happened.

 
Those with innocent hearts full of love see things more clearly and with a gracious point of view. These people listen to understand, while the heart of anger listens to find fault.

Those who listen to find fault will see something from afar and "guess" what might be happening with little to no information about what is really going on. In fact, they are so interested in gossiping that they don't care to discover what really happened; they are satisfied with their own version of events based on what they wish to believe, not what actually happened.

Sadly, many "Christians" do this too, as they read the Bible or evaluate others, all based on their feelings and what they choose to believe, not on reality.

 
One might ask, "How did it get this way?" I am inclined to believe it has always been this way to some degree, but on steroids in these end times when the devil is roaming around like a roaring lion, attempting to cause trouble in relationships.
Keep in mind that Cain killed Abel when Abel did nothing wrong. Cain hated Abel because he was closer to God and lived righteously. Cain's jealousy motivated him to believe he had a good reason to hate Abel. Cain wanted to believe Abel was a threat and acted upon that false premise.

 
Then there is the account of Joseph when his brothers were jealous of the attention their father gave their younger brother. They threw him into a well and sold him into slavery because of their envy and resentment.

 
1 Peter 5:8-9: "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith."

Believers will encounter many people who hate God, even some who pretend to love God but are full of anger and jealousy. These people will work to undermine believers merely out of envy of their walk with God, which will not validate the sinful attitudes of those who do not love Him.

Here are some passages that will help in navigating through this mind-mess in these end times. The devil will attempt to cause feelings of guilt over innocent comments or actions. He will turn unsuspecting minds against others without cause over gossip that was not true.

 
James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Ephesians 6:11-12 "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

2 Corinthians 11:14 "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."

The devil is deceiving people into believing lies to cause division. The only way to resist these lies is to know the Bible well and petition the Holy Spirit to give great discernment so that we are not fooled.

1 John 3:8 "The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil."

Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Church Gatherings Places of Edification

Church gatherings ought to be places where believers meet to edify in the Word and equip the saints to speak the truth of Christ outside that gathering.

 
Building one another up is not about praising and flattering; it is about reminding one another of what Christ taught and learning to implement those teachings in our daily lives.

 
1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."

Ephesians 4:29 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."
Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

Romans 14:19 "So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding."

The building up of the saints involves strengthening godly character and developing mature responses in accordance with the Word of God. In other words, "equipping the saints."

Ragingly Insane Times

God said in the last days there would be perilous times, in 2 Timothy 3. That word "perilous" means "ragingly insane" in the original language.

 
This is what we are dealing with right now, all the time. Even those who say they are Christians have warped views of what they think "Bible believing" really is; they think it is just saying without obeying.

 
I often hear scripture being taken out of context to make it say what God never said. I hear ideas added to scripture that were not given by God. I see rules added that God never made, and I see traditions that God never commanded or endorsed ruining the walk of many believers.

 
Most people in the church gatherings have placed their trust in traditions and the acceptance of those they elevate above Christ.

 
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "3 But know this, that in the last days perilous (ragingly insane) 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!"

Mark 7:13 "13 Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

Romans 10:3 "Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness."

2 Timothy 3:8 "Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith."
So the conclusion of the matter is quite simple but disturbing.
Isaiah 29:13 "Therefore, the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men."

We are living in the last days of apostasy, few will listen to the truth while claiming they have it, and they will negate, dismiss, and torment the truth tellers.

 
James 1:2-8 "2 Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."