Look Again at Your Bible!
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Important messages
Another
look at Jesus in the Gospels
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| William Booth, founder of Salvation Army predicting 20th and 21st Century Christanity. I think you can translate it. |
For any who
might think that sinners were comfortable with Jesus, let me invite you to take
another look at the Gospels. Remember that before Jesus sat to eat with
publicans and sinners, John the Baptist had been around. Jesus showed that the
same ones who came to him, had been following John, desperately looking for
truth and salvation (Mt.21:32). John called them to repentance and so did
Jesus. The only sinners that were comfortable with Jesus and with whom Jesus
was comfortable were repentant sinners.
Even so, these
sinners had to overcome their aversion to the light of truth in order to get
close to Jesus. See Peter prostrate at Jesus’ feet crying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk.5:8). Hear the
centurion say, “I am not worthy for you
to come under my roof” (Mt.8:8). “If
I had not come and spoken to them,” Jesus said, “they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin”
(Jn.15:22). Do you think it made people comfortable when Jesus reached over and
tore the covers off their soul, baring even the hidden things that no one knew
about? He was a friend of sinners all right (Mt.11:19), the same kind of friend
commended in the book of Proverbs… “Faithful
are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful the kisses of an enemy” (Pr.27:6)
Another
look at the Bible about homosexuality
With this
homosexual thing coming to the forefront again, it’s a good time to tell you
about something else that is bothering me. I am hearing again and again from
some pretty good people, addressing the homosexual and lesbian: “I am a sinner
just like you are. Adultery and fornication are just as bad.” This is just
another misguided attempt to try to make the homosexual comfortable. They are
not giving homosexuality its proper place in the light of Scripture.
Let’s take
another look at the Bible. In so doing, I am not trying to lessen the sin of
adultery and fornication, it is true that the adulterer and the fornicator will
go to the same hell as the homosexual, but I am trying to give the same emphasis to each one that I find in Scripture.
When God sent
angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, the account says nothing about the
adultery and fornication that were surely there. We don’t read of thievery and
murder. This place was worthy of historic notoriety, because of the depths of moral
degradation found in it. “Now the men of
Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord” (Gen.13:13). Then
the Author of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, sends us with the angels into Sodom
to see for ourselves exactly what was happening there and what kind of people
were there.
After reading
that account, no decent human being could blame God for turning that city to
ashes with everyone in it. The sin that illustrates the putrid state of the
populace, young and old from every quarter of the city, was homosexuality: “Where are the men who came to you tonight?
Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them” (Gen. 19:5). In
the Bible, from that point on, a homosexual was called a Sodomite. With that
graphic illustration, there can be no doubt as to the nature of the sin.
Then we turn to
the Apostle Paul in the first chapter of Romans. He is describing the fall of
the human race into rebellion and mutiny against the Creator. They – no let’s
say we, members of the human race – we did not honor him as God, we were
ungrateful, unreasonable, and illogical, with darkened hearts. We ignored Him
and made gods of animals, men, birds and even reptiles, and therefore the wrath
of God burned against fallen men. This is the cause, that is, turning away from
God and following are the consequences.
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| Evangelism in India, "Rich Man & Lazarus" |
The potential consequences
of alienation from God are degrading passions, unnatural lusts and perversion.
When men and women fall this far, according to New Testament truth, they are
abandoned by God and left to the worst state of dishonor or shaming themselves.
They are far from the true God, but as this chapter states, they turn to
idolatry… a god of their own imagination and making. The sin that Paul, under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives to illustrate this state is
homosexuality and lesbianism. God in His wrath has abandoned the homosexual.
Then Paul writes of those who give hearty approval to those who practice those
things. That would be the Supreme Court, the Democratic Party, and the whole
general populace, who votes them into office, after which the judges are
appointed by the president with the approval of Congress.
We’re talking
about sexual perversion. Perversion is the unnatural thinking and misuse of God’s
creation, twisting things into a function that God never intended. It can
happen in all areas of life, including music and the arts, architecture, styles
and dress, etc., etc. The possibilities of perversion are boundless and simply
express the woeful, anti-God condition of the heart and mind of man.
In these times,
if we are 13-years old (probably a lot younger), we have a pretty good idea of
male and female anatomy. Having that knowledge, it is easy to come to the conclusion
that they were made for each other, physically to be sure, but also
spiritually. We read of God’s intentions right from the beginning of time; that
is, that man is to leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and
they become one flesh. When this happens, if they are both healthy,
reproduction takes place and new life is brought forth.
Bring two men or
two women together and nothing happens… never has, never will It wasn’t meant
to be… Perversion is pretty simple really. Sex among two males or two females just
doesn’t work. Scribbling is not writing. Distorted sound is not music.
Incoherent writing is not poetry. The expending of senseless energy is not
work. Impractical and exaggerated styles, make-up, hair-dos, tattoos, and
jewelry are perversions and the more you give yourself to them, the more you
evidence your distance from your Creator. Perverts have been abandoned by God.
Another
look at biblical evangelism
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| 28-page booklet might help you in evangelism. Ask for it. |
So what can be
done; what can we do? Understand this, God owes them and us absolutely nothing.
He is totally righteous even if He saves no one. Of course, we have family and
relatives, who are perverts, so we are not content that justice takes place
against them. We want mercy and that is a legitimate longing. “God have mercy!”
is a legitimate cry… so cry!
That’s where it
starts, so distance yourself from all false comfort, offered by well-meaning,
but deluded people. Get into your Bible, so that you can see how evangelism
really takes place. Stop justifying and excusing sin and the sinner. Face
truth! Then cry out to God for mercy.
When my dad
found the Lord, he knew that my grandpa was on the road to destruction. Did he
tell him Jesus loved him and try to enter a more comfortable relationship with
him? (The term used today is “showing him love”). It didn’t enter his mind. He
hounded him until Grandpa angrily said, “Stay away from me!” My uncle and Dad
prayed, “God do anything you have to do, but save our dad!” I believe assuredly
that as a result of that prayer, my grandpa lost his leg. Gangrene formed in it
and it had to be amputated, but 29 years later, Grandpa died with a smile on
his face and went to heaven.
“The fear of God
is the beginning of wisdom.” The usual sequence is this: anger, fear, conviction
of sin, humility, repentance, faith and joy. It doesn’t normally happen after a
15-minute “gospel sales pitch”. We try to avoid the ingredient of anger, but in
my experience, it usually takes place when a person’s eyes begin to open and he
is forced to face himself. Anger is not yet a manifestation of wisdom; it is a stupid
reaction, but it usually has to happen, before fear wisely enters. It happened
in the Bible and it happened in the lives of the church’s great evangelists.
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| My one-legged grandfather, now waiting for the resurrection in heaven, when he will have two legs again. |
Light entering a
dark heart is painful. If you are used by the Holy Spirit as an instrument in
opening someone’s eyes, he will probably get angry with you. Don’t be a coward!
Prayerfully and courageously step into whatever situation God would have you be
a part of. Speak the truth in love (that does not mean speak softly and nicely,
but faithfully from your heart). Do whatever you have to do, say what you have
to say, however you have to say it, for that sinner’s eternal good. Love enough
to do that.
Cooperate with
the Holy Spirit as he makes it clear that this unbeliever is a guilty, helpless
sinner, who must come to repentance. Then in the end, hopefully you will have
the same satisfaction that my uncle and dad had, when they heard my grandpa
say, “The devil got my leg, but Jesus got my heart.”
Whether you like
John MacArthur or not, would you please listen to his message on homosexuality.
I did and it moved me, especially the story of the dying young man with AIDS, whom
MacArthur led to salvation in the hospital. I was also thankful for his
definition of hate-speech.
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