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I woke up very early this morning, and felt the need to make something clear.
I wrote an essay on July 25th this year, called "Why most of us are going to burn." I believe I explained the statement effectively enough, but for those who didn't read it (most humans on Earth), and for those those who did read it but still didn't quite get the message, this essay today is for you. In Luke chapter eight, verse seventeen we read, "For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad." In Mark chapter four, verse twenty-two we read, "For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad." It has been studied and understood by Bible scholars that part of the authenticity of the four Gospels is ironically based on the sometimes different accounts of the same event. So it becomes worthy of note when the accounts match so closely, as this may suggest that the things Jesus was saying at the time made a more significant impact than usual. Why did I choose those verses to speak about? For those who don't spend any time reading and attempting to understand God's Word, it can be an occasional shock when they discover that the Jesus they were sold by the media and many churches isn't the Jesus who actually walked the Earth two thousand years ago. In this age of virtue signaling, it has become even more prevalent for people to give their gifts in public, so that others may see them as 'good.' However, many don't realize that a gift isn't just alms for the poor. Everything we do either glorifies God or disappoints Him. There is no gray middle area. To illustrate this better, take for example some common behaviors that most think very little about:
The above list could be much longer, but by now you understand what I'm trying to convey: The hypocrisy we hide from others is not really hidden, and we will still be responsible for it even if the rest of the entire world has no clue it is happening. This is because the secrecy we think we have is an illusion, as all things are open to God's observation and knowledge. Remember in Matthew and in Luke how the the Lord's attention to detail is revealed by telling us that the very hairs of our heads are numbered? Take a moment and try to wrap your minds around a reality in which every hair on our heads, and certainly every cell of our bodies is accounted for, measured, catalogued and known. We can't fathom this in our perception of reality, because we lack access to the realm of the Lord and all the wonders that accompany it. What does it mean to be a child of God, to belong to the Lord, to be a sheep and not a goat? It means you have repented of ALL the sins that you used to commit. Not just the ones that anyone can see, such as drug abuse or a bad temper, but also the ones others don't see. Because, as I've quoted before from Galatians six, verses seven and eight: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." If anyone reading this still has confusion about the difference between sowing to the flesh versus sowing to the Spirit, it may be because they have been sold the world's user-friendly gospel of thinking that just believing in Jesus or believing in the Lord is all you have to do to escape the final condemnation. For another example, yes, Jesus forgave the adulterous woman who He saved from being stoned to death by those who judged her correctly as being in violation of Jewish law. But immediately after Jesus forgave her, what did he command her to do? He told her to "Go, and sin no more." The fact that human beings default to sin because of their fleshly, inherited nature is not the issue. We are all born under the curse that Adam and Eve earned for us. The issue is once you have the knowledge of the Lord and how He has forgiven you, you can no longer continue in what you did in the past that you needed forgiveness for, because then you are not only being ungrateful, you are demonstrating that your faith is merely one of public display and private self-delusion. Repentance is an important part of the salvation that the Lord has provided for you. Anything less than sincere repentance is merely lip service you tell others and yourself to help you avoid the truth of your relationship with the Lord. Don't lie to yourself. Repent today. Be honest with the Lord and yourself. Certainly none of us can successfully fool the Lord, as we are reminded in the Galatians passage quoted above. Every sin you continue to allow yourself separates you from God, and every sin you deny yourself brings you closer to God. Don't lie to yourself. There is no third option. |