"Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely,
burn incense to Ba'al, and walk after other gods
whom you do not know,
and then come and stand before Me in this house which
is called by My name, and say,
'We are delivered to do all these abominations'?
Jeremiah 7:8-10
Jeremiah was warning Judah, telling them they were
'trusting in lying words'. Lying words from the priests
and false prophets, believing that they could do whatever
they wanted, believing they could worship other gods...
that they could murder and steal and break every commandment
the LORD God gave them and God wouldn't care. To the people
of Jeremiah's time all that mattered was that the "Temple of the LORD" stood. They put there trust in the Temple, and essentially
they believed as long as the temple was standing and they could go
and get "Forgiveness of sins" they could intern just simply wash
their hands clean and go and continue doing whatever they wanted, they could even have other gods.
"Do not trust in these lying words, saying, 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.'
Jeremiah 7:4
I've said it before and I'll say it some more, I'm sure a lot of people
are thinking...
"Oh...those stupid...stupid..people of the old Testament"
Really? are a good majority of us "Christians" not exactly
the same today? those who claim Christ has made them new,
and grafted them into the tree, yet remain exactly as they were before? While the jews of Jeremiah's time put their trust
in the temple and thought they could please God and themselves
at the same time, thinking they could go off and do whatever they wanted because
"hey it doesn't matter.. we can just go to the temple and sacrifice an animal and be forgiven, God will protect us, we can live like our heathen neighbors, we can sin all we want, but just make sure we go once a month and sacrifice an animal."
It really hasn't changed today from Jeremiah's time,
in fact it's probably even worse, now it's..
"Hey it doesn't matter, I accepted Jesus in my Heart I'm saved!
He died on the cross for my sins, so I can be oblivious now to
my sins, I can live however I want and you can't judge me or
my life style because I am saved."
I touched on it a little bit a couple blogs ago, about how
a good amount of "christians" don't even know the ten commandments,they don't think they even matter at all.
They think that the Old Testament is a bunch of old
scribbles and mumbo jumbo and it doesn't mean jack...
Really? I guess people completely ignore that Christ
did nothing but QUOTE FROM IT....what do you think
Christ and the disciples studied? what did they revolve their
ministry and teaching around? God didn't change from the
Old Testament to the NEW, He's the same as He ever was, and
He will always be the same. In fact I don't even like the term
"Old Testament" and "New Testament" for you wouldn't have
the New if you didn't have the "old", and just as Paul said he wouldn't of known what sin was if it wasn't for the Law.
Christ Himself said..
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets."
Matthew 5:17
If the "Old Testament" doesn't matter, If the Commandments
don't mean anything, then why did Christ quote
so much from the "old",why did he speak on the commandments/law in his sermon on the mount? why did he tell a man to follow them inMatthew 19:18? and probably most of all If the commandments
and the Old testament don't matter then why did Christ have
to be Sacrificed for us?
Just like the jews in Jeremiah's time, We claim to be for God
and yet refuse to stand by His word.
My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to
return. Day after day, year after year, I taught them right from
Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD's anger.
Zephaniah 2:3
Sometimes when we are seeking to be righteous we fall into
a place of self righteousness, which can lead to a very selfish
"proud" attitude and a judgmental demeanor.
Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by faith.
Habakkuk 2:4
We (as followers of Christ) are called to be humble,
however this also can lead to a problem, As some mistake
the meaning of humble. Or maybe rather then mistake the meaning,
people let humbleness lead them down a path of a "Woe is me"
attitude. By the way just for the record I struggle with the following at times myself, I in NO way mean to elude that I am perfect.
I just see so many of us that hang on to the fact that we are all sinners,
and yes indeed this is true, but so many of us ignore seeking righteousness,
as if the fact that we are forgiven allows us to be oblivious of our sins,
oblivious to the fact that sin ANGERS GOD...Oblivious to what is right and what is wrong. How many have the attitude that "Yup..I'm a sinner, freely admit it, Christ saved me from them" and then therefore do not even seek to allow Christ to work through them and change their behavior, do not repent when they do sin because they do not think they need too, and don't even seek righteousness that can be found in Christ.
Sin very much so angers God, so much so that Christ suffered
and paid the price for it,as I've quoted before..
DO NOT think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I DID NOT come to destroy but to fulfill.
Matthew 5:17
Christ was the only one who actually followed the Law perfectly,
and He came to be the sacrifice for US because we could
not and can not follow the LAW(without him), this everyone indeed agrees with...BUT Christ's forgiveness doesn't give us FREEDOM to sin..
This I feel really needs to be explained. I'm a horrible person, I'm a sinner,
this I recognize with a remorseful disposition "For the things I wish to do, those things I do not do, but the things I wish not to do, those I do"
I HATE my sins, I seek not Self-righteousness... BUT the righteousness that is found in Christ Jesus, I seek to live by his words as there is nothing else to even remotely live for, "Whom have I in heaven but you? and earth has nothing I desire besides you"
However it is in this seeking of righteousness that I must REMAIN humble as not to think I could ever save myself or to think that which I seek to do makes me better then anyone else.
Forgiven for being the failures that we are....yes indeed,
this however doesn't mean we blind ourselves into thinking
sin is ok, or that we do not warn those about the damaging
life of sin. If I do not seek to be humble in dealing justly with others,
you better believe the holy spirit will convict me of my own doings,
it is in this inward self examination of just how corrupt I am,
that without Christ... without His sacrifice, which led to Gods forgiveness, just how unworthy I'd be of any sort of relationship with Him, other then of course His wrath and anger...
If there be ground for you to trust, as you do, in your own righteousness, then all that Christ did to purchase salvation, and all that God did from the fall of man to prepare the way for it, is in vain.
Consider what greater folly could you have devised to charge upon God than this, that all those things were done so needlessly; when, instead of all this, He might only have called you forth, and committed the business to you, which you think you can do so easily.
-Jonathan Edwards
Does forgiveness mean we shouldn't realize what we are forgiven from?
If we should realize this fact, then why don't more of us know the Ten Commandments? many ignore them saying "We don't have to follow them"
indeed we are saved by Grace not works, but the fact is we have broken the law wether we think we have or not, otherwise Christ wouldn't of had to die for us. Shouldn't we know them, not for salvation purposes but to realize how fallen we are? NOT so we can "feel bad" or walk around saying "Woe is me"
but so we can see how amazing His forgiveness really is, So we can see
just how undeserving of His grace we are.
1."You shall have no other gods before Me.
2.You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3.You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4.Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5.Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
6.You shall not murder.
7.You shall not commit adultery.
8.You shall not steal.
9.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10.You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
Some might say; "gods? Idols? i've never done such a thing"
really? anything can be an idol, and anything can become your god,
for anything you put above God hence becomes your god..
I.E Money,Cars,Yourself,Music,Tv,Movies,Video Games ect...ect..
remember the man who came to Jesus in Matthew 19?
He said he has kept all the commandments since he was young(Liar)
and then jesus said;
"If you want to be perfect, go, give all you have to the poor,
and come follow me."
Did the man do it? who knows, all it says is he was very sorrowful,
because he had great wealth, if He wouldn't follow Jesus because he loved
His money more, he essentially broke the first/second commandment.
Even still some might say; "I've never murdered or committed Adultery!"
Really? Jesus said in Matthew;
You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.
But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
Matthew 5:21-22
Hmm..Ever been angry with someone for no reason? had a bad day
and you chew someone out...just because? or whatever the case may be..
guess what? Christ says then you have broken the 6th Commandment.
You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-28
Who can say they have never lusted after someone before? If you have,
and YOU HAVE...then you also have broken the 7th commandment...
What is my point? my point is we all have sinned and fall short of Grace,
anyone who claims to be without sin is a liar and the truth is not in him.
There is no justification in sinning, there is no work you can do,
there is no mountain you can climb that will ever make you deserving of anything other then the wrath of GOD...
It's like what Paul Washer said in the video I posted on Facebook, Many people ask why do bad things happen to good people? When the question should be, Why does any good ever happen at all? For we are not "good people" and any good that we receive is more blessing and love that none of us deserve in the first place, for we are wicked.
Therefore humble yourselves under Gods mighty hand, and realize the price
has been paid for YOU, someone had to suffer for what YOU DID...and you will NEVER deserve that kind of love...
Those that read the following will probably think I'm "angry"
realize my anger means nothing, and I asure you that God is
far more angry then what I appear to be.
WARNING
Something is drastically wrong with the Christian faith in this country,
and no this is not another rant on church's and the prosperity gospel
(although that is a major flaw also)
There is something wrong when the majority of "christians" are timid
and lukewarm, and I'm beyond sick of it. How can you claim to be
a follower of Christ and yet you want to hold on to the things of this world,
how can you claim to be a follower of Christ and yet you refuse to stand
up for his laws and morals?
He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments,
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 John 2:4
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I did not come to destroy but to fulfill."
Matthew 5:17
Let me get this out of the way before people decide to misquote or
take what I'm saying the wrong way. We've all broken the law, we wouldn't
know what sin is/was without the law, Christ came to be the sacrifice for us, because we are all sinners. What Christ didn't do was come to get rid of the law, We are forgiven only through Christ and are called to repent and surrender realizing there is nothing we can do to deserve Gods grace.
I've covered the fact that we are all sinners several times, this is not the issue, the issue is "christians" have become timid and lukewarm! they refuse
to call a spade a spade, more specifically they refuse to call SIN...sin.
Why? probably because this country is so damn politically correct that essentially that's what "christians" themselves are turning into. God forbid
if you "hurt someone's feelings"...or oh my word "offend someone"
It's either that or "christians" are just to scared to speak up for the word of God because they don't want to be "made fun of" or "looked down upon",
either way they refuse to stand up for GOD!
and what happens anytime someone does stand up for Gods morals and laws?
what happens when a Christian actually calls a spade a spade
the word of God gets thrown right back in their face doesn't it?
with the popular verse EVERYONE seems to know...
(Well they think they know)
"Judge not unless ye be judged"
"Judge not unless ye be judged"
Good ol' Matthew 7:1, which I already covered a couple blogs ago.
People seriously need to read into that verse more or oh, I don't know actually read their bibles. If "Judge not unless ye be judged" means
what the majority thinks it means which is:
"Don't speak out, don't call a sin a sin, have no opinion whatsoever"
Then that would mean you could never distinguish between
what is right and what is wrong,
you could form no kind of judgement or opinion.
You really think that is what Christ was saying?
you think he was saying
"Don't stand up for the word of God"
"Don't you dare say something is wrong that i've told you is wrong"
How come nobody never quotes the whole Matthew 7 verse,
and realize Christ is talking about hypocrites? like the Pharisees who were condemning Christ and His disciples. Those who thought they could work
their way to grace, those who thought they have broken no commandments
or laws, those... as Christ said.. were clean on the outside but unclean on the inside.
Once again as i've said before Christ himself said
"Judge with righteous judgment"(John 7:24)
oh snaps! he just told us not to judge now he's telling us too judge? judge with what? RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT! meaning..don't judge appearance, don't judge out of self-righteousness... don't judge out of what YOU think is right and wrong, JUDGE WITH RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT....
and who is righteous? MIGHTY GOD...LORD ALMIGHTY! following me now? don't judge to make yourself look more righteous then another is essentially what Matthew 7:1 is about, NOT.. don't ever judge..
The lukewarm...the timid...whitewashed tombs of abandonment, all
you who refuse to stand up for GOD and His morals are not of GOD at all!
while the Pharisees of Christ's time thought that they could save themselves and condemned those seeking repentance and forgiveness, YOU completely ignore repentance all together, sure you embrace forgiveness but continue holding on to tolerance and worldliness.
YOU hide behind acceptance,because you fear to offend...
YOU distort the word of God to fit a more worldly image
Selfishness and living for Christ DONT GO TOGETHER! if you are afraid
to stand up for Christ don't expect him to stand up for you, don't
expect Him to even know you... when all is said and done.
"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man
will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory,
and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.
Luke 9:26
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings
for the gospel according to the power of God,
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began
2 Timothy 1:8-9
Standing up for the word of God isn't just about believing in Christ,
isn't just about believing you are saved. It isn't just about defending those facts,
You have to stand up for His laws and morals,
you can't just ignore what is biblical, you can't
pick and choose verses that satisfy your appetite for holiness,
and expect to be pleasing God. Being a "christian" isn't
proven because you believe you are saved, yes you are forgiven...
yes you are saved by grace and not works BUT a change must come,
a change of heart, a change of mind, a total surrender to Christ and his WILL, to stand and live by HIS WORD, ALL OF IT!
I'm sick of seeing the silence amongst those who profess to be Christian
in the issues of abortion and gay marriage, murder and abomination!
Too many hang on to "Oh, were suppose to love! Christ was about love
not judgment!" Yes Christ was about love, but he still called sin a sin!
forgiveness has come through Christ to the homosexual AMEN! but
they still have to accept the forgiveness and repent, they can't
continue to mock God and slap him in the face. What would Christ
do if he was here today? what would he do if he ran into a gay person?
what would he say?
"Right on brother....I love you! and I forgive you, keep it up man!"
ummm no...more like
"I forgive you...I love you! now go and sin no more"
We are called to show love, yes indeed, but called to support and stand for blatant sin? I think not, in fact I KNOW not! as I said before I can love you and disagree with you and your life-style at the same time. IN fact,
love is speaking truth, not lies...if I were to say
"You can keep being gay it doesn't matter, gays can go to heaven too"
that would be a lie, and where is the love in that? oh wait, I just hate gays huh? I mean maybe I shouldn't say anything, just let them continue on their road to hell and keep my mouth shut because thats what Jesus and the disciples would of done, WRONG.
I recently read something about a guy who went to some "gay pride" thing, he says he went there to tell them that Christ loves them, and he hugged them and had signs saying he's "sorry", sorry for christians hating on them.
Sounded great to me, because once again we are not called to hate...
BUT then I read some comments, people started asking him things like..
"love what your doing, but uh...what if the gay person asked you 'Do you think I'm going to hell, doesn't your bible say that?' "
to which he replied..
"Well, I would just like talk to them you know?"
then continued to dance around the question, and like a politician didn't answer the question.
admirable what he did at the gay pride event, I won't argue that. HOWEVER just like all timid and lukewarm Christians he wouldn't make a stand, in his eyes he was there just to show love and he wasn't going to address what the word of God says because he didn't want to "Offend"... which thus means he wasn't showing love at all, he was just telling them what they wanted to hear, which isn't going to help them at all... as far as turning from their sins
and accepting Christ.
Once again...Christ wasn't like that, He didn't hide what was a sin and what wasn't. Christ would go to the sinners, just like we should, but he didn't
go to them and heal them and love on them and then tell them that they
can continue doing their sins.
Lukewarm Christians continue to not only accept such, but they blindly
follow people who preach and teach blasphemy, and it is because they
don't take a stand, it is because they don't read the word of God...
they are blind and do not see the truth. If you seek God first and above all things, and you seek to stand by his word and are not ashamed to stand for it, the Holy spirit will reveal much to you, and you will not be blinded.
Take for example Glenn Beck, oh how I can feel the hate about to come my way. I can hear you now...
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH GLENN BECK?!"
"DONT DISS GLENN BECK! HE STANDS FOR TRUTH!"
...really? stands for mormonism maybe...but truth? no..
But of course let me get this out of the way before his blind followers
get their panties in a bunch. Yes Glenn Beck politically speaking..
stands for a lot of good things, but yet a few key moral issues
he remains silent. I use to watch Beck all the time, I knew he was a
mormon too, and frankly I didn't care(even though mormonism is a blasphemous cult that doesn't worship the one true God) meh..whateva right? anyways..I started wondering why he never talked about abortion issues and when he talked about gay marriage(which was not very often) I could never tell if he was for it or against it, but again I was like
"meh whateva..."
anywho I just kind of stopped watching, mostly because I was just sick of the news in general. Then last week I check my email(I'm still subscribed to Beck's News-Email because I'm lazy like that) and I see I got one of Beck's daily email thingers and the title says "The only way to watch Glenn Beck tonight is...." and the title had me wondering why Glenn wasn't on at his normal time, so I opened the email...which stated and I quote:
"Witness all faiths coming together for a common purpose"
"All FAITHS will unite to deliver messages reminiscent to those given during the struggles of America's earliest days."
and I was rubbed the wrong way right off the bat..Witness all faiths come together? umm..yeah, no thanks. I mean seriously here I was sick of Beck and the news to begin with, and seriously the last person I want to hear about who God is, is from a mormon. So needless to say I ignored it, that is of course until I see over the weekend everyone going "Gaga" over Beck saying "This country needs to be brought back to God"...
I'm seeing all these Christians getting all excited over what Beck said, and I'm thinking...
"Am I the only one that is questioning what god Beck is talking about?"
surely he can't be talking about the only ONE TRUE GOD,
because he doesn't even stand for his morals. I'm not sorry to say...
you can't say "I stand for faith and God" and then say "nothing wrong with gay marriage, just allow church's to say it's wrong"
that's like saying:
"nothing wrong with murder, just allow me to continue
to think it's wrong"
"Nothing wrong with having sex outside of marriage,
just allow me to say it's wrong"
"Nothing wrong with blaspheming against God,
just allow me to say it's wrong"
are you following me? If you follow Christ then FOLLOW CHRIST,
it's not enough to speak about it, you have to BE ABOUT IT. Which thus
means you don't condone something that is wrong, you don't have an attitude of "What's right for you is right for you, and what's right for me is right for me"
Beck has a lot of Christian followers, maybe because he calls himself a Christian, I'm not sure, I've personally never heard him say he is, but it also wouldn't surprise me if he did, because Mormons call themselves Christians. I've heard Beck quote scripture before, I've heard him speak of Christ, and like most mormons you can hear what they say and go "oh yeah...sounds good, thats what I believe" except for the fact that you have to listen to what they DON'T SAY or sometimes even what they do.
You have to look at the tree and see what kind of fruit it is producing,
and what does Beck say a lot of "Faith, Hope, Charity" or something or other, and in reality what religion can argue against that? just listen to the guy speak, and it's all about, even as he puts it, "General faith"...
guess what? Being a follower of Christ isn't about some kind of "general faith"...
and what did Beck say when on O'Reilly
and also over the weekend at the rally?
Beck-"We need to get back to our churches, our synagogues, our mosques,
(as long as it's not telling us to blow things up)."
he also talked about recently being about "General faith" like the founding fathers, but as Alan keys said regarding that, our founding fathers didn't have some ho hum "General faith" that appealed to all "Faiths" they had FAITH IN THE ONE TRUE GOD period.
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,
so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached,
or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received,
or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
2 Corinthians 11:3-4
"Beck's Rally" scares the crap out of me, I agree the country
needs to get back to GOD, but what scares the crap out of me is people, "christian people" can't see the lies and the bullcrap.
I wonder, when a one world religion comes if these same people will even recognize it as such.
Time to wake the hell up people, Christ will spew the lukewarm from his mouth!
"So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will vomit you out of My mouth."
Revelations 3:16
I urge you to watch the following video from "Beck's Rally" go to about the 5:33 mark, where Beck starts talking about "Gods chosen people"
and if you find nothing blasphemous there, even in the prayer at the end...
then I don't even know what to say, God bless..i guess..oh wait maybe gods bless?
Stand for Christ, stand for what the word of GOD Says, not what I say...READ THE WORD YOURSELF! Either breathe it, soak it in and love it or be prepared for the wrath of GOD...
"For the Unbelievers who repeatedly try to retain their "Faith in Humanity" I promise you
