Recently, I've read or come across so many people in our culture that claim to share the message of Christ, yet miss the mark. Whether it's ignorance with misinterpreting scripture, love of self that makes them willing to exult themselves above God, or its blatantly leading other people astray by your own ambitions, none of this is acceptable. Since our world is living in this terrible, horrible place of politically correctness, it's so easy to read something and think, "Wow, that sounds great". The truth is, the majority of people in the mainstream media are wolves in sheep's clothing. Then some are blatantly wolves and do not care to hide their selfishness. Wanting to be on a pedestal. The moment that anything you write, say, or share becomes about making a name for yourself and not honoring God, you allow the devil to work his way into your message.
I think recently, especially the more politically correct people try to be, the more we hear questionable things. I'm sure I will offend people, make people hate me, but this has been on my heart for quite sometime. This post has been written and deleted so many times because I don't want to upset people. However, I can't put it off anymore.
I want to say, I do not stand with hating people. I do not stand with mistreating others. I surely do not stand with ostracizing people because of their sins. Christ died on the cross and conquered death to overcome EVERY sin. Not just sins I think are forgivable, or you deem worthy. The cross took care of everything. All you have to do is ask Jesus to save you, and you can be forgiven. However, at some point, especially recently, this has been altered.
Rob Bell wrote a book called Love Wins which essentially says that God would not send anyone to hell. That a loving God would not go through the process of the cross just to allow people to go to hell. Even the Bible says that every name will confess the power of Christ. That is so far from the truth that it's painful to even read. It makes me sad because I know that numerous people will read this, think is sounds great, and follow that wrong theology. The truth is so much greater than that. Yes we serve a loving God. Only a loving God would take the price of sin upon himself. Only a loving God would make forgiveness and the way to heaven as easy as it is. Only a loving God would die FOR EVERY SIN AND EVERY PERSON.
However God believes in free will. We have the choice to accept the Bible and Christ's forgiveness in its entirety. We also have the choice to live as if he doesn't exist. We can choose to put ourselves above God, worship man and to risk our eternity. We have the ability to choose a life that exults ourselves and to forgo the cross. If we choose the latter, just like every choice there are consequences. The consequence is an eternity separated from Christ. Our God is a jealous God. We will reap what we sow if we live a life that is completely negligent of Christ and all He has done.
We are not bought with a price, just to lay back and allow things to fall as they will. I choose every day to wake up and in my error filled humanity to live my life against the entirety of the Bible. I've slipped up, I've lived in sin. I have had consequences of sin that were visible to the world around me. However I've chosen to use those as ways to point back to Christ.
I think our culture has bought into so many lies. The lie that if it makes you feel good, do it. The lie that church and those experiences are not for God, but to make us happy. The truth is, the Bible calls for a sacrifice of praise. That takes effort and work and if it is a true sacrifice, then there is no place to exult yourself in it. We've bought into the lie of God hates the sin but loves the sinner. We are doing people around us a disservice by not saying that God judges the sinner. We live in a world, where you cannot point out sin without people accusing you of being hateful. This world that we are living in has blatant disregard for what the Bible lines out as sexual sins, immorality, and evil doings. Selfish acts, self worship, and false teachings have become the norm.
I personally have a few people that just seeing their names make me cringe. Refusing to preach on hell or sin makes you a false teacher. I encourage you to be on point. To read and abide by the Bible in its entirety. Be leery of people who have a tendency to pick and choose scriptures. Know the difference between love in Christ and being afraid to step on toes. Encouragement is wonderful, but be careful not to fall prey to motivational type preachers. If your prayer and worship is being done to make you happy, and that is encouraged, please take a step back! It's called sacrifice for a reason. Please do not fall prey to the self centered religious ideas that are all too common these days.
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