Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

They Do Not Look to God

 “Be the Gospel”

Acts 4:15-17 ESV

 

“But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, ‘What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.’”

 

I know I just taught on this recently, but the Lord has another message he wants me to share from this, perhaps from a slightly different perspective, but with the same theme in mind. For there are people today in high up positions in the institutional church and in the government who are encouraging Christians not to share their faith and who are encouraging them, instead, to promote politicians and political parties as the solution for delivering our nation from the evils that have overtaken it.

 

Rather than just telling them outright that they shouldn’t talk about Jesus and about the gospel to people, they manipulated and tricked them into not sharing their faith and the gospel with the world around them. I can still recall sitting in a Bible study at a local institutional church in 2012. The leader of the group said that we should not talk with people about the gospel until we befriend them for at least two years, and we were supposed to accept that. It all had to do with not offending the people of the world.

 

And then we heard pastors telling us to “stay in your own lane,” meaning “mind your own business” and “don’t talk to anyone about the gospel because you don’t want to offend them.” So, we were getting this massive indoctrination in being “seeker sensitive” and in not saying anything to anyone that might offend him or her or that might make the person feel uncomfortable or judged in any way. For they were teaching us that in order to “grow our churches” that we needed to not offend people with the truth.

 

Then, my husband and I attended another institutional church the following year, and they were teaching a class on discipleship, so they said. So, we signed up for the class and we were given textbooks to follow and to fill in the blanks. And there they were teaching that we were to “be the gospel,” which if understood correctly is true, but that is not how they were interpreting it. To them, being the gospel means you do not share Christ and his gospel with people verbally but you just do good deeds to them.

 

Now, good deeds are important. We are all supposed to be kind to others and to love them and to do good to them and to feed the hungry and give a drink to the thirsty, etc. But even those professing no faith in Jesus Christ do good deeds to the people of the world. And in fact, sometimes the people of the world do a much better job at ministering to the needs of the people of the world than do those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. So, there is nothing there to distinguish the godly from the ungodly.

 

Anyway, being the gospel to them means that we are supposed to “immerse ourselves in the culture” in order to connect with the people of the world, and being the gospel means we invite our neighbors over to watch a movie (any movie) and eat pizza and pop popcorn and drink sodas (or beer). Or we are to meet up with them at a restaurant or do something good for them. And I am in no way mocking good deeds here, but I hope you are beginning to see the big picture.

 

They want to silence us. And they do it through manipulation and shaming and trickery rather than outright telling us not to share the gospel. And they make it sound like this is a good thing and that it is kinder than talking with people about their sin and telling them that they need to repent of their sin and that they need to follow Jesus in obedience, and then they will have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

 

That is just not friendly to them, and they find it offensive, mainly because it confronts them with their own habitual sins, and that makes them uncomfortable because it makes them feel judged and they don’t want to feel judged for they want to believe they can keep on sinning without guilt.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23]

 

Going to the World for Help

Isaiah 31:1 ESV

 

“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help

    and rely on horses,

who trust in chariots because they are many

    and in horsemen because they are very strong,

but do not look to the Holy One of Israel

    or consult the Lord!”

 

Now, here is yet another aspect or side to this whole issue of not sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world around us. Not only are they shaming professing Christians into not verbally talking about Jesus and into not sharing his gospel, but they are shaming them into promoting humans and human solutions to deliver us from the evils of our world. For they are shaming the church for not taking a strong stance against issues such as abortion and such as the things being taught children in public schools.

 

And so they are appealing to their emotions and they are convincing them that if they just follow a particular politician or a political party that they will be able to conquer, with their help, the evils that are in our society, but while they ignore the evils lurking inside the walls of the institutional church. For the church at large has altered the gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh, and so sin, especially sexual immorality, is running rampant with the gatherings of the church (or in what is falsely called “church”).

 

But I hope you can see what is going on here. This is the work of Satan, and he is working within the institutional church and within our government and within social media and the news media, etc. to convince us that God is not enough, that God can’t solve the issues of our society and so we need the help of the government in order to conquer evil. But this isn’t at all about conquering evil. This is about getting us to reject Jesus as our ONLY SAVIOR AND HOPE and getting us to make the government our savior, instead.

 

They do this, as well, in the area of our physical health, convincing Christians that they have to rely on the government to help them find physical healing or to keep them from getting sick, while the government plays God. And this is what this is all about. The whole scenario is to try to shame and scare the people of this planet, including or most especially geared toward Christians, that we need the government to survive, and in order to be safe, and in order to be healed, etc.

 

So, I hope you can see where all this is coming from. This is obviously from Satan, but it is also coming from those who are serving Satan and his agenda, and this is about trying to convince us to bow to the beast and to reject Jesus Christ. But we have to resist him. We have to continue to make God our only God and our only HOPE and our only SAVIOR. And we need to turn to the Lord in everything and trust him in all things, and we must keep on sharing the gospel verbally (or in writing) with the people of the world.

 

For Our Nation 

 

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

 

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

 

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

 

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

 

Men deceiving: we’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

 

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