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."

Friday, May 19, 2023

Are You Negative or Positive?

Isaiah 30:8-11 ESV

 

“And now, go, write it before them on a tablet

    and inscribe it in a book,

that it may be for the time to come

    as a witness forever.

For they are a rebellious people,

    lying children,

children unwilling to hear

    the instruction of the Lord;

who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’

    and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us what is right;

speak to us smooth things,

    prophesy illusions,

leave the way, turn aside from the path,

    let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.’”

 

This is exactly what is taking place in America today, and perhaps throughout the world. If you are connected much on the internet at all, you will hear this a lot, not in these exact words, but with the same meaning behind them. And you will hear this in these modern-day market-driven “churches” (businesses). And if you frequent social media on the internet, you will read it in some memes, too. For this is a very popular message these days that the people are largely accepting and passing along.

 

They will cloak it as being positive as opposed to being negative, and how we all need to be giving out positive messages and not negative messages. For they consider that if you are teaching any Scriptures which talk about sin, repentance, obedience, and/or judgment, that you are being negative. But if what you share or what you teach is what makes people feel good, even in their sins, then that is positive. So, it becomes negative to tell people the truth of the gospel, and positive if you feed them lies.

 

And I am certainly not suggesting here that we always have to share Scriptures which talk about sin and repentance and obedience and judgment, but those are the key words in the message of the gospel in addition to salvation, forgiveness, deliverance, and eternal life. The problem remains, though, that many are teaching the latter and they are not including the former, and so that makes it a lie. For without repentance, the forsaking of our sins, and walks of obedience, we do not have eternal life.

 

So, what we are hearing much these days is that we need to be positive and not negative, and again, much of that is in reference to avoiding the subjects of sin, repentance, obedience, and judgment, but while we talk about forgiveness, salvation, deliverance, and eternal life. But this really is a trick from the enemy who does not want people to repent of their sins and to turn away from them and to now follow the Lord in obedience and in surrender to his will in walks of holiness and righteousness.

 

And those who are wanting to continue in their deliberate and habitual sins are loving these modern “gospel” messages which do not demand of them repentance and obedience and holiness and righteousness. They can remain in their sins while claiming Jesus as Lord and Savior, and while claiming heaven as their eternal destiny, and that is okay with them. So they love the messages which tell them that God does it all and that nothing is required of them and that those who teach requirements are not teaching the truth.

 

For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord. And many of them will fight against you if you are teaching the truth of the gospel. And they will try to convince you that you are wrong and that they are right, and so many of them will quote Scriptures out of their context to try to prove their point. And they are indeed telling us to stop telling them what is right, and instead to tell them what makes them feel good even while they continue living in sin.

 

And they have their wish somewhat, for many people today are speaking the messages that they want to hear, for they are speaking to them “smooth things,” which are lies. For half-truths, if they are deliberate, are willful lies. And they have plenty of people today who are prophesying illusions, for to prophesy is to preach. And they have many preachers who have indeed left the right way and who have turned aside from the “narrow way” and who are refusing to confront the people with the Holy One of Israel.

 

So, if we are still holding on to the truth of the gospel, and if that is what we are sharing with the people, and if we are refuting the lies of the enemy and these diluted and altered gospel messages, then we are going to be opposed by those who don’t want to hear the truth and who want us to stop teaching the truth, and who want us to leave the right way and to tell them the lies they want to hear which make them feel good. But avoiding the truth people don’t want to hear, and telling them only half the truth, is still lying.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

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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