Oppression is coming rapidly. When a segment of our culture is living under a gag order, we know we have lost our freedom and our country as we have known it.
The opposite is in place now from just 40 years ago. Those who walked in rebellion were encouraged to keep their dastardly deeds secret in the fear that society would punish them for what they do in the dark and rightly so. Now it is the righteous that are shamed and mocked for what should be the standard of the entire nation and was at one time.
Our children were encouraged to embrace the gender they were born with, while celebrating it, even taught the roles of each to enhance and help the family.
Everyone was valued for standing up for what was right and good, even preachers were revered for "fire and brimstone" preaching.
Everyone seemed to know it was right and good to become mature and responsible, with the exception of the minority of fringe rebels that avoided society as a whole.
And to think, this happened in only one short generation. All it took was a few crazed radicals to ruin it all, but why? My contention is that most people who walked righteously kept their mouths shut in order to be accepted by family members and neighbors. They valued man more than Christ.
I probably couldn't count the number of times I was told not to judge a matter because someone might be going through something difficult. We all go through difficult things, that is not an excuse to sin against God or man.
God will never say when we come before Him at the judgement any of these things:
*That's alright that you acted wickedly since your husband told you to do it.
*You will not be judged for that murder, someone else treated you badly causing you to lose control.
*Rejecting Christ is no big deal, after all you have a mind of your own, you need to be true to yourself.
*It's alright that you neglected others, at least you loved yourself.
*You are forgiven for stealing, you wanted that thing, no repentance needed.
*Don't worry, you manipulated to get something you wanted.
Most everything we are being told today in the modern churches are lies against God. We are told to honor and obey Christ no matter how we are treated or how badly we want something.
We are never told to stop honoring our father and mothers just because we grew up. We are never told to justify any sin that we choose to indulge in, nor are we told that any sin is "not so bad."
Since all sin no matter how small will keep us out of heaven, the good news is that Christ died on the cross to shed His blood on our behalf, since the shedding of someone's blood is necessary, someone had to die for it, since we are not perfect, only a perfect sacrifice was required, that was Jesus Christ.
However, we will not be saved without confession of sin while desiring to be cleansed by Christ. Christ will not forgive an unrepentant heart, nor will His blood cover those who don't want to be cleansed.
HEBREWS 9, THE WHOLE CHAPTER