Genesis 6:5 "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Matthew 24:37-39
"37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
We are living in these end days right now. Those who are born-again understand the wickedness of the times but I am convinced not as fully as we should.
We have been living with cultural Christianity and its false doctrines for so long they seem as real as our need to eat food to survive. Those who abandon what they have been taught in the culture to follow Jesus Christ are excluded from fellowship in a couple of ways. They are ignored, mocked and left out of the cliques, set aside demonstrating that they are not wanted or appreciated.
The following passage is a description of the end times church gathering in which the people attending want "religion" that comforts them according to their own minds but do not want to submit to Christ.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."
Notice verse 5 in which God said they will have a form of godliness according to their own culture and mindset but deny the Word of God. They twist the Word, hate those who love it, and respond to truth-tellers with angst to silence them. When they cannot be silenced they are brutal in their attacks against their character, turning others within hearing range against those who love the truth.
2 Thessalonians 2:10 "and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved."
We live in a sudo-Christian culture that wants to make up its own rules and force others to adhere to their false doctrines rather than seeking to honor and obey God.
God is very clear about divorce and remarriage but cultural Christianity refuses to believe what God said about these matters. I have been judged as "unloving", "unkind" and other things without specifics because I believe the Bible that is counter to the modern Christian culture.
If you are confused about whether or not you did something wrong one of the clues that manipulated you is the tactic of calling into question your character without any specifics of what you did. Generalizations that do not give details about what you have done or said are common, designed to cause the believer to worry about their own character diverting the attention from the wrong doctrine that is being taught to cause false guilt brought on by these manipulators.
As soon as you bring scripture to bear on the discussion that proves the manipulators wrong they will begin to attack your character as though you did something wrong. Don't fall into this trap of false guilt to silence you. Stand strong and firm allowing the Holy Spirit to convict these pretenders or weak Christians to become guilty before the Lord for their hatred of the Word.
Jeremiah 7:26-28 "…26Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers. 27When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer. 28Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips.…"
When a nation refuses the word of the Lord but pretends to love HIm, God will take off His protection and begin the process of the downward spiral into paganism. He turns them over to their own lust of self-worship and foolish thinking, in which they cannot think righteously any more.
If you doubt my words just believe God and tell the truth about all that people are accepting in the church, standing back and watching the carnage as they resist the truth and turn others against the truth.
When we tell the truth of the Word of God and people become angry, their anger is not our fault, even though they will try to make it about us, it is their choice to become angry against God. We are merely the messengers, their anger comes against us but it is really against God Himself.
Isaiah 65:12
"I will destine you for the sword, and you will all kneel down to be slaughtered because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen; you did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight."
Even worse than refusing to obey God is the mentality of anger at God's principles, resistance to Him and His heart.
1 Corinthians 2:16
“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
Those who wish to follow the culture to be able to sin without guilt will become very angry with those who want to search the scripture to find the heart of God. We do not want to agree with anything that is counter to His Word. We do not want to believe anything that is against the teachings of Christ.
Remember that Christ is the word, the Author of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. While the old testament was not written to us but to the Jews, it was written for our learning and supporting the New Testament principles applicable to the Christian life without all the rituals.
When Christ fulfilled the rituals of the Jews the rituals were done away with but the principles learned from those rituals still remained without the rituals. Because we no longer "follow" the ten commandments, the commandment giver lives in us. We need no commandments because we have the Holy Spirit to guide us into holiness, we love His commandments, they dwell within us and convict others of sin.
Do we need to practice eating when we are hungry? NO, because our body tells us when to eat, we need not follow the practice of eating, it is a natural function of a body designed by God. Just as we need not "practice" the ten commandments they dwell within us as a practice of life without having to think about it.
I do not have to think, "I better not steal", because there is no desire within me to steal, God removed that desire of the old nature when He made us into a new creation. We hate sin and want to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Too many people are relying on their own strength to keep the commandments rather than being transformed by Christ into a new creation. We cannot obey the commandments withou the Holy Spirit. When we fail because of our flesh then God covers our sin with His blood as born-again believers and disciplines us to bring us back into obedience.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
God does not throw away His disobedient children, however He does chastise us, bringing on consequences that redirect us as well as showing brothers and sisters in Christ that there are consequences for disobedience and lost rewards in heaven.
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
"16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
18 Take care that no one deceives himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. For it is written: “He is the one who catches the wise by their craftiness”;
20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are useless.”
21 So then, no one is to be boasting in people. For all things belong to you,
22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come; all things belong to you,
23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God."
