Today I was pondering something that has become common in the news feed these days, posted by Christians.
Let me inform those who think they are being spiritual by writing the first and last letter of a filthy word with stars in between the two letters absolves them from any judgment about using filthy language.
First, there is no need for any believer to use filthy language to get their point across, none whatsoever.
Secondly just because you leave out a couple of letters doesn't mean you have not used the word.
In my judgment and opinion, anyone who desires to use a word but appear not to use it by leaving out letters is still putting the idea into the mind of the reader. It is merely an excuse to use the word but claim not to, absolving them of any accountability.
Perhaps those who use these filthy words with missing letters think they are protecting them through plausible accountability, but I am not fooled by it and neither should any thinking Christian.
When a believer desires to use a word, even leaving out a couple of letters, they are revealing that they watch too many movies with this filthy language, have become accustomed and desensitized by it, that they no longer feel shame about hearing it or using it.
Jeremiah 6:15 "15 "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, They shall be cast down," says the LORD."
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."
Bottom line: using a filthy word while leaving out a couple of letters is the same as using it. The picture comes to mind in the reader and the damage is done. The more people hear this crude and filthy language, two missing letters or not, they will be influenced to use it.
When I was growing up there were no crude words used by anyone around us. In school most children didn't ever hear these words because it wasn't in the movies nor did anyone around them ever use them. Now we have Christians using vile and filthy language that even non-believers would have spanked their children for using if they even knew them.
Brothers and Sisters, if you have used this language simply to make a point, then please confess the sin and clean up your act. You will be responsible for those you influence.
And, don't come here arguing that it's alright or that you didn't mean anything by it, it won't fly!!!! Just confess it and move on to never do it again.
When a person is mean to someone they are idolizing themselves, I know many Christians who are mean to others. Sin is present every day in the lives of many Christians. Christians walk in unbelief all the time. Our entire culture doesn't believe God about the head covering, it is disobedience for a woman to be uncovered in the gatherings, but most women in churches today refuse to do it.
Sin is sin, it does not matter how big it is, however when someone walks in sin without conscience over it and even defending it, it is quite possible they have never become born again.
Many "Christians" watch wicked things on television, they do not lose their salvation but they are delaying character growth and fostering a spirit of disobedience through the example of these things.
Many Christians refuse to pray when we ask them to pray about a matter, there is great pride in most of the Christians I have met. This is also sin, they are even proud of themselves for not doing certain sins, while walking in rebellion against God in many things they consider to be small.
NO true believer will be "sin free", but they should be growing in holiness, sins should be falling off their entire lives. I see so much arrogance in the church today, many Christians with their thumbs in their suspenders acting superior because of the sin they think they don't do, this is sin in and of itself!
We need to confront sin in the body, even if all we see is pride. Pride alone would be enough to send a person to hell. It's the sin that got the devil thrown out of heaven. But because Christ died, shed His blood and rose again, believers can become born again by trusting Him. NOT my doing good deeds or avoiding bad ones, but by trusting Him. Then He will come to live in them and begin the process of cleansing which lasts throughout our lives until He takes us out of here.
If we are not continually morphing into a better person, new attitudes, new responses and new desires, then perhaps the "born again" experience never occurred.
Think about it!
It's not important the things we have to go through as much as what we learn from the experiences.
The trials are far less crazy making and unhappy than they used to be for me. In fact I feel stronger than I have ever been in my life, because the Lord has trained me through my trials and my confession of sin.
When a weight lifter lifts those weights over and over again he is deliberately breaking down the muscle so when they heal they come back stronger.
Often we have to break down something before we can make it better. We break the walls of an old house to put in better ones. We tear apart the seems in clothing to remake them to fit. There are so many analogies from which we can learn the principle of tearing down to build up.
Perhaps spanking a child who is disobedient is a very good example of breaking the stubborn will of the child to reshape it to be more compliant.
When a society removes all the obstacles and consequences of sin, there are no lessons. People do not change and grow if there are no trials or consequences.
We are such a paranoid culture that we are using "sanitary wipes" everywhere we go to keep from getting illnesses. The studies are showing our children are becoming sicker because they are far too protected from germs than they were 60 years ago.
Our bodies build up resistance when they come in contact with illness because it had to fight them off before, we become stronger than if we had never been sick in our lives.
The church does this with sin, as a whole most people are protecting those who sin from heartache by overlooking it, coddling and neglecting to rebuke when necessary, to help others confess and turn from their sin.
We are a culture that bails people out of their trials preventing their spiritual and emotional growth. We not only bail them out but we encourage laziness in perseverance.
Because of this mentality of protecting every one beyond what is reasonable, we have created an entire generation, perhaps two now, that cannot tolerate correction or rebuke on any level without raging.
2 Timothy 4:1-3 "1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom: 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.…"
Hebrews 12:10-12 "…10 Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a peaceful harvest of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.…"
James 1:2-7 "2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, 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 man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
As a culture we also direct people with trials to the "experts" instead of God. Many of the experts don't have it right in terms of trusting and waiting on God.
Egypt has always been synonymous with paganism and sinfulness. We have gone down to Egypt for our help instead of Christ.
Isaiah 31:1-2 "1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD! 2 Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers And against the help of the workers of iniquity.…"
As a nation we have trusted in our cleverness, our leaders, our experts and ourselves to manipulate things in resolving problems. We did all this instead of turning to Christ for our help.
As a result of our own self-righteousness and confidence we have killed our babies instead of caring for them. We allow murderers to spend the rest of their lives in jail on the dimes of those they terrorized, instead of executing them, we have devalued the lives of their victims and caused far more murders to occur in the process.
A book could be written about the trusting in everything and everyone but God. Suffice it to say that our nation is becoming more and more wicked every day and will eventually be taken over by those who want to destroy us.
Guess what? We are coddling too, the very people who will take this nation down and place us under their evil laws.
Think about it!
Born again, means believers have been changed into a new creation by Christ because of our response of confession of sin and desire to be changed by Him. Christ will not change or save anyone who does not want to be changed.
Most people who claim to be Christians today are more interested in feeling safe than they are in obedience to Christ. As long as they feel safe they don't care about what God says in His Word.
They relate their salvation to the parent child relationship, when they are naughty, the parents now days do little to correct them, the children are rebellious and disrespectful, but the parents just keep putting up with it hoping the children will some day grow out of it.
This idea people have of God, is one where they get all they can from their parents but care nothing about giving back.
When the culture courts this view of God, an entitlement mentality toward Christ, then they cannot become born again and they have no respect for Christ and what He did. No matter what they say, they have not been broken over their sinfulness, they have not confessed and they have no desire to seek Him for anything.
When we meet someone who cannot admit to their sin against man, will not be able to do it with a God they cannot see. The pride is too great, this person cannot be saved until they are broken.
Our prayer ought to be that God break their stubborn will so they will see their need for Him. After this happens they will no longer have a list of commands for God to follow, they will begin to ask God His Will for them.
Many pretenders today demand things from God instead of bow in humility to ask Him His will.
God may not choose to restore a marriage because He will never work against a person's heart. If a spouse is hell bent, then God will not change His heart.
God will only change a heart that wants to be changed. Sometimes we have to accept the circumstances and continue with God not having what we would like, but what God has ordained for us.
When we lose a spouse to death, we never get them back again. This is how some broken marriages have to be viewed, that those who have lost a spouse to divorce may never get them back again, but they can continue on for God anyway.
Divorce and remarriage is devastating for those who have to endure it. The divorce is bad enough, but then watching someone we love dearly remove their love and give it to another is devastating.
Those who have accepted second marriages as legit marriages, need to remember the pain those remarried people cause their real spouses. I say real because remarriage after divorce, is adultery, God said so and I believe Him.
It is cold hearted for friends of the divorced couple to continue contact with the one who walked away and with the couple in the remarriages. It is agonizing for the victim of these remarried people who have to watch someone else getting the love from their spouse that belonged to them alone.
Sadly, most of the Christian church has accepted the humanistic concept that man can undo what God did when He made two people one.
Mark 10:8-10 "…8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” 10 When they were back inside the house, the disciples asked Jesus about this matter.…"
In the passage in Mark God is not saying "don't separate the spouses", He is saying "no one can." I know this because of the context that God has made them one. No one can undo what God does.
Just as no one can take away our salvation when HE makes us into a new creation. HE keeps us until He comes for us. In the same way, no piece of paper by the law of the land will undo the "ONE" that God made two people in marriage.
Matthew 19:6 "6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”"
This is the reason removing oneself from a spouse is devastating no matter how angry someone may be at them. There is a spiritual connection to a spouse that is never removed until death.
1 Corinthians 7:39 "39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, as long as he belongs to the Lord."
As long as a spouse is still living that spouse remains one with the other spouse.
Luke 16:18 "18 Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. "
In the Matthew 5 passage that contains the phrase everyone uses as an excuse to divorce for adultery, they completely misunderstand the passage and the Jewish customs.
Many years ago I prayed to understand these verses because everyone was saying it was alright to divorce for adultery, but it didn't seem to fit with the rest of the Bible on God's promises. He never leaves us no matter what we do because we belong to Him. Yes we hate sin and don't want to sin, but sometimes His children do. He does not throw them away because they sin.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
In the Jewish custom of betrothal, the engagement was nearly as binding but not quite as the actual marriage. When someone was engaged as we say it, the man was called the husband and the woman was called a wife, even though they had not married yet and had not lived together.
Jesus Christ was speaking to Jews in the book of Matthew, when He said "except for fornication", meaning that if one was betrothed, or engaged and one of them was unfaithful with someone else, they could dissolve the betrothal. There was a contract for betrothal, in the Jewish custom, that said one had to have a certificate of divorce from the engagement.
This is what Christ was speaking about to the Jews when He said a couple must remain married in betrothal unless someone during that time were unfaithful to the other. The engagement, not the marriage.
Notice in the other gospels Christ gives no such direction because those books were written to Gentiles who had no such custom of divorce from engagement or betrothal.
Our modern world loves to twist Scripture to fit what they want. Up until about 70 years ago, everyone in the church understood God's mandate to remain married until death. What changed in 2000 years? The culture no longer cared what God thought, they were now looking for excuses to disobey God while twisting His own words to do it.
Now, in this generation we have pastors who are married more than once, we have people in the church gatherings who are shacking up without challenge and we have everyone accepting these second marriages as though it were not sin.
Because so many children have been raised with divorced parents, these parents cannot instruct their children to remain married for life because they didn't. If they did, then they would be seen as hypocrites because they would be telling their children one thing and doing another.
Most people who are divorced and remarried defend their status as though it came from God, but it is the opposite of what God commanded.
John 14:15
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
Acts 5:29
"But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men."
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.’"
When the pastor of a church will not obey God in the area of divorce and remarriage, then he has no business leading others. Pastors who remarried people, or remarried themselves after divorce or who accept without challenge remarried people in their congregations are in rebellion against God.
There is no excuse for disobedience against God except the willful arrogance and rebellion that dwells in the hearts of many if not most people in the churches today.
Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”…"
The devil loves that divorce and remarriage is rampant, because marriage is a picture of Christ and the church, permanent and binding. It is God's picture of salvation and oneness in Christ when we become born again.
If the devil can remove all the pictures of God's promises and His love by destroying marriage, then He will destroy many people this way.
Marriage is more than just "do this, do that", it is a commitment that demonstrates God's commitment to those He has changed into a new creation. God never removed any of His promises, but the devil wants it to look that way by destroying marriages.
2 Peter 3:8-9
"8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."
Just as God has been deeply wronged, He still waits for those who might become born again. Christ died for mankind and waits for every soul that will trust Him.
How callous and mean has our culture become that people will throw away spouses because they sin, as thought they themselves never sin. Who are we to throw away spouses because they are sinful.
Divorcing someone over adultery is nothing more than lack of faith and an excuse to dispose of someone who has been difficult. Yes, adultery hurts, but so do all the other unloving things spouses do to one another. There is no unforgivable sin, not even adultery.
Our culture likes to make adultery worse because of the pride, "look what they did to me", it's all about that pride. There are no excuses for adultery and there are no excuses for divorce and remarriage.
Here's the key to it all! God said don't commit adultery, and He also said remarriage after divorce is adultery. He told us never to leave our spouse for any reason. Do we obey God or do we excuse our sin by changing the rules to fit our desires?
And we want God to save America? Right!!!!!
Think about it.
Is anyone else weary of mean people getting away with their meanness?
They do whatever they want and others remain silent so as not to enrage the mean person, but in the process the victim is without comfort.
In fact the victim is told by the perp and everyone around them that they are unloving if they don't forgive.
So, the power is given to the perp while love is withheld from the victim.
This is not Biblical, perps should experience disapproval and consequences for their hateful actions while the victim is comforted. Forgiveness is for those who are sorry, extending it to those who have been empowered to act in hateful ways by pressure on the victim is sinful.
The perps these days expect to be forgiven even if they enjoyed what they did and are not sorry. This comes from a perverted culture that demeans and mocks those who are harmed while coddling the evil person.
The devil loves this perverse version of love in the church, it lets the evil man off the hook while beating up on the righteous.
Isaiah 26:10-11 " 10Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD. 11O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it. They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.…"
Not only are we preaching a gospel of works in the gatherings, we are preaching a false gospel of forgiveness without repentance, by the foolish thinking that someone will be forgiven by God if they refuse to repent.
Acts 3:19
"19 Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;"
God does not wipe away the sins of the unrepentant and neither should we, it elevates the evil one and devalues the victims.
Evil is growing in our country and our churches because it is no longer dealt with!!! It is no longer dealt with because of the mentality that we should not judge anyone's actions. Clearly this is unBiblical. Many Scriptures speak of having discernment about matters, there can be no discernment without judgment. We are told to expose the false teacher, the sinning brother and any false doctrine that enters the church gatherings. It's all in the word all over the place, just go and read it.
Stop listening to people who spout psychological jargon to control others. Listen only to the Word of God, it won't be easy for people pleasers because it will mean swimming up stream against the tide of public opinion. Truth and resolve in Christ is not for wimps.
Paul the apostle knew all about it!
2 Timothy 3:11-13 "…11 my persecutions, and the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.…"
We are living in a world that knows how to schmooze when it is to their advantage to do so.
In the past few years I have encountered people who claimed to be Christian, said all the right things, even acted wonderful when in their presence, but when they were challenged about doctrine or behavior they would rage as though they could kill if they could get away with it.
I am convinced based on my many encounters with people that there are hordes of people who are pretenders. They have all the right words and actions until there is an attempt to keep them accountable, then these same lovely, friendly and helpful people turn into wolves, growling and snarling at those who are helping them to move past a wrong attitude or sin in their lives.
In the past few years I encountered a woman who seemed to latch onto me to become her new best friend. For months she called every day, as she put it "just to touch bases." She listened to all my "god talk" as though interested but never responded unless it had to do with an action or particular sin. She was against shacking up, she hated abortion etc. but she was not interested in Biblical concepts or principles of God.
As time went on, when she thought I had completely accepted her as a close friend she began to interject into our conversations questions about important things. She called me one day to reveal that she "no longer believed in the trinity." Then in another conversation she didn't believe Christ was God, that he was only the Son of God. Before this she was acting as though she believed everything I was talking about in our conversations but without much response.
The first clue about the Trinity was bad enough but the next clue was the clincher for me. I assessed from those conversations that she was either a JW or she was a witch who was infiltrating churches to cause trouble. She told me in one of our earlier conversations that she was going to different churches to rebuke them and then leave, but she never told me what she rebuked them about. When asked about the rebuke she spoke in vague and nonsensical language, I never did figure out what her rebukes were about.
There is no doubt that the churches in our town need rebuke, but she was using a Christian word to describe chastising a church for their core beliefs of Christianity.
I was reminded of this when I recently read an article describing how witches were infiltrating church gatherings to cause trouble, getting into prominent positions within churches with all the right verbiage, then subverting the teachings of Christ while in those positions.
We are experiencing an infiltration of practicing witches in gatherings to undermine Christ and the Christian. They come as angels of light, often claiming to be new believers to get everyone all excited about them. It is working because most people that warm the pews today lack basic Biblical discernment, that's why they accept foolishness such as "The Purpose Driven Live", "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", prosperity preachers such as "Beth Moore" and many other things that mock and demean God.
The church gatherings as a whole are not discerning, they do not see the clues because they are more focused on the verbiage. When we are content to hear words and believe them, we miss important clues. I listen to words, but I no longer believe them unless there is strong lifestyle evidence to prove them.
The Holy Spirit often warns me about someone, and it always proves to be right. I usually wait for more evidence that I heard Him right, and it always comes. There is no excuse for being deceived when we can ask God about everything all the time.
The thing that trips people up, is their insatiable need to be liked by people. Often they see or hear the warnings but ignore them because they don't want to be seen as mean or negative. Everyone else seeing the same thing does the same thing and the evil grows until a terrible mess is left to clean up, but no one has the courage to clean it up, therefore the carnage within the gathering grows, the masses accept the sin and others are hurt along the way. These people who are obssessed with acceptance from others are in disobedience to the Word that says we are to confront sin and bad doctrine in the body.
Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!”
Proverbs 3:13 “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,”
Philippians 1:9 “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment…”
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
No where in the word of God does He tell us to make sure we don't hurt anyone's feelings with the truth. Nor does he say anyone should like you or something is wrong.
The wrong in the church today is there because godly people were intimidated into silence by superficial people who were more concerned about pleasing people than they were about pleasing God.
The other problem is that we now have more pretenders in gatherings than we have born again believers. The pretenders have overtaken the gatherings leaving the true believer without alleys and without a voice.
Our government has gone this way too, the crazy people have taken over the asylum. There are now more insane legislators than rational ones, just as there are more pretenders in the church than born again believers. It has happened in everything every where. And, there are some who think we can get our country back again? Think again!!!!
SAD BUT TRUE!
