The Time Has Come!

“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, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:1-3 NIV)

Careful observation and introspection of current events and a society that willfully turns its back on God and His ways to accommodate sin, lets us know--the time has come–when people will not hear sound doctrine, but prefer to seek and support those who cosign perversion in our daily lives.

How do we know? We’ve given people carte blanche  to use illegal drugs (mind-altering drugs that inhibit rational thinking) under the guise of medical use. And in some places–the medical use facade is not even in question and a church in Illinois has been established where they worship–marijuana. Since that’s all they will be doing is getting high–I wonder what the consequences will be when they’re involved in situations where others are injured or killed.

Standing up for beliefs based upon the bible has become the foundation others use to ridicule and persecute–on all fronts. There are those who obviously do not understand history and the fact that this country was established on the foundation of civil disobedience against what they felt was the tyranny of England. Civil disobedience–a willingness to take a stand against injustice has always been a factor in how this country does business. However, when a county clerk in Kentucky stands firm in her beliefs–the venom spews like the winds blowing dust–covering everything in hatred of followers of Christ.

What continually amazes me is the lack of tolerance for Believers and what they believe by those who claim we are intolerant against their lifestyles that are in opposition to God’s Word. We don’t hate and spew obscenities at those who disagree with us. Most of us (Believers) understand that people may not agree with our view and accept it–without argument or denigration of a person’s stance. Personally, I’m not interested in debating anyone about God’s Word, but I do love a discussion in which all can be enlightened.

Yesterday, because I dared to comment on a news article (and trust me, I knew what would happen), haters came out of cyberspace almost before I finished typing. Now, remember–I commented on the article–not to a person who had already commented, but suddenly, I was the villain because I dared to commend Kim Davis on her stand. I had a number of people who tried to use the Bible to deflect from their hatred–from women speaking in a church being sin, to gay rights supporters using the race card (how dare I support Kim Davis since I had only been allowed to vote for the last 60 years), to assuming what my background is without any knowledge of who I am.

What did I do? I preached The Word, providing scripture references to support what I said and reminded all who hated, that God loved them and so do I. The devil couldn’t stand it when I told people I loved to love them and they eventually stopped commenting.

Instead of engaging on the level of ignorance of God’s Word shown by unbelievers, all we should do is to proclaim and explain God’s Word–no matter how foolish someone else might be. One person–even told me (I have it copied into a document) that MEN wrote the bible, but GOD wrote the ten commandments. When I questioned how they could believe God wrote the ten commandments but could not inspire men to write the bible, I received no reply. I realized that this person was merely referencing what they had seen in a movie–since they did not realize that the ten commandments are located in the bible–the same bible they refuted since “fallible, fickle men” wrote it.

Let’s endeavor to do what God said for us to do–preach The Word, be prepared in all situations to say what God said, and know why He said it so we can explain it to others. The time has come for us–who Believe in the totality of God’s Word and its contextual meaning to stand firm and proclaim it with confidence in Him, strengthened and empowered by Holy Spirit.  

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Why Jesus said, “Blessed Are You When People Insult You!”

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” (Matthew 5:11 NIV)

In this passage of scripture, which is notably called, The Sermon on the Mount, crowds of people had been following Jesus, listening to His proclamation of Good News, and paying attention to His healing the sick. He went upon the mountain side and sat down and when His disciples came to Him, He taught them. Notice all that is said, before He gets to our scripture reference for today.

Matthew 5:3-10–Commonly referred to as the Beatitudes (What our attitude should be):

vs.3 Blessed are the poor IN SPIRIT, for theirs (strength is in Jesus) is the kingdom of heaven.

vs.4 Blessed are those who mourn (grieve over the loss of a loved one) for they WILL BE COMFORTED.

vs.5 Blessed are the meek (those who have no need to bring attention to themselves) for they will INHERIT the earth.

vs.6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS (doing what is right before God), for they will be filled.

vs.7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be SHOWN mercy (new mercies every day).

vs.8 Blessed are the pure in heart (have a heart for God), they WILL SEE GOD.

vs.9 Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS, for they will be called children of God.

vs.10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of RIGHTEOUSNESS, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

I have detailed explanations of these blessings in myBook.to/IAMALLTHAT 

All these Jesus said to those who follow Him and all these are still relevant today for all who follow Him.

The references to righteousness is for those in right standing with God, not because of their own righteousness, because we no no righteousness of ourselves. These are the people who know what God has said and endeavor to obey Him in all things. When they miss the mark, they are quick to repent–turning away from the thing(s) they did which did not please God. We who choose to come to God (the disciples came to Him) and listen and obey are blessed no matter what our individual circumstances are.

Knowing how other people–who don’t know Him would treat those who follow Him–the blessings He confers are to encourage us when we are belittled, and ridiculed because of our faith in Him. And then He goes on to say in vs. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” In other words, those who have been speaking God’s Word to nations long before we came on the scene were ridiculed, and killed because they spoke what God spoke to them.

Beloved, there is so much more that Jesus said, and I encourage all who don’t know Him to get to know Him through His Word. For those of us who know, we must simply keep saying what God said–knowing that one plants the seed of righteousness and direction to Jesus, another waters, and we wait to see God’s increase.

The Righteous Delivered!

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).

Throughout the bible we see how those who God chose to be His are treated. They were ridiculed, enslaved, mistreated, mocked, and killed–just because they chose to obey God.

That was then and it is still the unfolding story of those who choose to live a life that is pleasing to God. We are ridiculed, mistreated, mocked, and persecuted and some are still being killed, simply because we choose to obey God.

God has said, “obedience is better than sacrifice” in reference to the sacrifices mandated to atone for sins. If we were living according to The Law and had to make animal sacrifices to seek forgiveness, we would all be in trouble.  Some of us again, wouldn’t be able to afford the elements used for the sacrifice and would be prohibited from being forgiven. Some of us would become so discouraged that we would cave and give into the status quo for living–serving idols, instead of the Living God. Only a remnant would remain strong enough in their faith in God to know that even though the enemy influences persecution, God will deliver us out of them all.

Some things may never change with regards to those choosing to live in disobedience. Unfortunately, some attitudes towards those who do obey may never change. Regardless of all the stuff that may never change, we can count on God to “never change” His mind or intent for how we live and He will deliver us from all the afflictions that we encounter. He will deliver! He has done it in the past, He is doing it now, and He will forever be–our deliverer! Hallelujah!

Deliverance is near–whether that comes in the form of people changing their minds about living for God or whether we see God’s wrath poured out on all the land, deliverance will come.

Be encouraged today! Stay in faith–knowing that God will never forget those who are His and He will deliver us from the fiery furnace! There is nothing too hard for our God! With Him, all things are possible that give Him glory; without Him–whatever we do is a waste of time!

Don’t Be Afraid!

“But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened” (1 Peter 3:14 NIV).

We should never be concerned about what others think when we do what is right “in the eyes of God,” seeking to please Him only.

One of the reasons kids join gangs is because they are “afraid” not to join because of threats from gang members if they don’t join.

Many adults capitulate to threats by co-workers or bosses to do things that are “unethical” and sometimes illegal, in order to keep a position.

I have been challenged on more than one occasion to change report card grades and when I refused, was harassed by the principal and the school superintendent.  I never changed the grades, but I did eventually leave the school. Who is right in this situation?  I was right and I never back down when I know I’m right. If a student is not willing to work for the grade they want; they get the grade they earned.

In our society, those who are wrong–about many things–think they have a right to harass those who are right, even to the point of threats.

Christians are harassed when they stand up and proclaim sin is sin and won’t back down.
Some have even been arrested on bogus “intimidation” charges. The enemy’s camp is afraid that true Believers will influence others so they scream loud and long–about so-called violation of their rights.  But what about the rights of Christians to speak truth about the Word of God? No one is interested in protecting their rights.

In fact, politicians are swayed by those who threaten all manner of stupidity–lost financial contributions, lost votes–they are not even concerned about doing the right thing for all people because they are afraid of losing their status.

We are reminded by Peter that we do not have to be afraid.  Rather, we should know we are blessed when we stand for righteousness, doing the right thing at all times, even in the face of threats from the enemy. Being persecuted by those under the influence of the enemy should not be news to anyone.  Jesus said, through John, that we would be persecuted, but we should not concern ourselves with the enemy and his minions; we only need to concern ourselves with doing what is right. Will we do it?

Don’t be afraid to confront the enemy and to make him ashamed.  Do the right thing!