Category: Prophets – Warnings for 21st century ‘christians’

stone carving of the prophet Jeremiah reading Bible - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel are major Prophets of the Old Testament
Jeremiah by Michelangelo

Old Testament Prophets WARNED Israel, Judah, and neighboring nations about what GOD has planned IF they did NOT REPENT (and they usually didn’t).

How does this speak to 21 c. ‘christians’ in these last days? Are you bold enough to WARN your SOCIAL ‘Friends’ of what Jesus Christ warns? Does the message of a Prophet apply even more to them and US, now? SHARE your scriptural warnings from the Prophets and WITNESS for our LORD, WHO IS and returning… soon.

  • The Mirror of Church Hypocrisy

    The Mirror of Church Hypocrisy

    The hypocrisy of Christians becomes most evident in the issues we pursue and the righteousness we do NOT pursue.

    I would like to help the unbeliever understand the motives of christians of the church and the issues we most frequently address in the public arena, while ignoring the log in the eyes of our christian private lives.
    • Look at a mirror;
    • look into a mirror;
    • look through a mirror…

    what do you see? 

    A different image from every perspective.

    1. FALSE IMAGE #1:
      • The Church is NOT the building, whether grand cathedral or quint country landmark with a cross on top.
    2. FALSE IMAGE #2
      • Christians are the ONLY hypocrites. NO, far from it. ALL of us frequently try to put on our best face for others.

    The Church is the people, that is: each witness of a particular church and all Christians.

    Therefore, wherever people gather (in a church building or anywhere) and what ever we call ourselves (catholic, Baptist, orthodox, born again, etc.); sin remains and hypocrisy dwells nearby.

    IF a Christian will admit to you that THEY are the sinner (saved by Christ) who is pleading to you (another sinner), they speak nearer the truth than those who set a standard for unbelievers and will not talk about the fruit of their own lives and family members.

    The two issues most frequently associated with the agendas of Christians may be:

    HOMOSEXUALITY & ABORTION .

    The two SINS most evident in the church are:

    SEX outside of marriage & DIVORCE.

    As brief review of the facts, there is virtually NO DIFFERENCE in the divorce rate of Christians and non-Christians, even though we call our vows “holy” and confirm them as “covenants” with God “… until death do us part.”

    And Christian teens (like their christian parents) seem to act just like the world once they hit puberty. Christian families OFTEN have children who are having SEX with others.

    HYPOCRISY, as I have confessed throughout the previous calls to christians for REPENTANCE and a return to the Christianity of our proclaimed faith.

    HYPOCRISY, THAT A WIFE MAY DIVORCE HER HUSBAND (and call herself a ‘single mom’) and at the same time call herself a ‘christian.’

    HYPOCRISY, divorce by christians AND witness against Christ Jesus.

    HYPOCRISY that two teens, regular members of the youth group ‘at church,’ are known to be “IN A RELATIONSHIP.”

    Where do we think that babies come from? INTERCOURSE; and our TEENS are doing it.

    Where do we think abortions come from?

    The HYPOCRISY of christians (and other parents) trying to HIDE the evidence of their child’s child!

    (OR perhaps they will send the baby quietly away to be adopted by some loving homosexual or other couple.)

    Was this God’s plan for families? Was this God’s intention for the generations? Certainly not!

    Let me be perfectly clear on my position: ABORTION is a sin. Abortion is the murder of a baby created by God in the womb of the mother from the seed of its father.

    A baby is a miracle of life; an abortion is a sentence of death.

    As to SEX outside of marriage, it is sin.

    DIVORCE is sin, just as intercourse before marriage is sin, just as adultery is sin.  (I have confessed my former sin; never-the-less it remains sin, as it is sin by our children IF we, as parents and the church condone it.)

    CHRISTIANS may NOT divorce (but FREQUENTLY do); therefore (as a church), we take on other sexual sin, like homosexuality.

    The sins of homosexuality often include many of the same sins of adultery. Never-the-less, these are sins for either the married or the unmarried.

     To be continued…

  • Godly Children?

    Godly Children?

    And what was the one God seeking?

    Godly offspring.

    From the middle of our discussion on marriage and divorce:

    Malachi 2

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    “… Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?

    And what was the one God seeking?  Godly offspring.

    So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

    Christian marriage is a three-fold relationship: Husband, Wife, Holy Spirit. Christian couples are joined intimately in relationship to each other and the One God.

    God holds our children in a special relationship as well. A mother has her place and her role to play in the shaping of a godly child. A father has his place and his role to play in the shaping of a godly child. God has a place in the relationship of a child to the awe of Heaven and the place of our dependence on Him.

    Godly children will discover the love of our Heavenly Father also though the eyes of their earthly parents.

    Have we christian parents FAILED in raising godly children, in relationships as God intended?

    We have established that christian marriages (and divorces) look just like the world.

    • Do our parent-child…
    • parent-teen…
    • grandparent-adult child… relationships look any different in ‘christian families’?

    (Listen… before time slips away into eternity…)

    Some parents will recognize this…   Was it us?

    to be continued…

  • Covenant and Truth – 3

    Covenant and Truth – 3

    Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement;

    when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us:

    for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

    Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD,

    Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation:

    he that believeth shall not make haste. – Isaiah 28:15-16 KJV

    Two issues & two cases continually used as precedent by God and Jesus (Advocate for believers):

    1. Covenant between God and man, broken by man
    2. Covenant between a man and his wife, broken by a man (who was the only one permitted by the Law to write a bill of divorce to put away his wife).

    Malachi addresses the issue of unfaithfulness of God’s chosen people of Judah and the Priests of the Temple in Jerusalem by comparison of Judah as the chosen wife of God.  Malachi 2:16 in the Revised Standard Version is translated:

    “For I hate divorce, says the LORD the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.” – Malachi 2:16

    As we will address later, Jesus points out that from the beginning it was not so.

    IF God and Christ hate divorce, THEN so should Christians.

    IF God and Christ love truth, THEN so ought the vows of a Christian speak truth.

    Isaiah takes it a step further and points out that the unfaithfulness of God’s wife is a covenant with death and warns us that such unfaithfulness to God not only breaks His covenant with us, but places us as adulterers against God in a counter-covenant: and with hell are we at agreement.

    God instructs the Prophet Hosea to take the illustration of the covenant of marriage and the counter-covenant of the unfaithful woman with hell a step further. Hosea is told to marry a whore!

    We will address the witness and truth of Christian marriage once again, later. We will also address the issue of truth verses hypocrisy.

    Truth and covenant (solemn promise and vow of permanence) stand as witness before God in the Court of our betrothal to Righteousness.

    Again, as books are opened before God our Judge, Isaiah indicts:

    “for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves…”

    Yet before the all-knowing eyes of the Lord our Creator, we stand naked in our sin. Again, in Hosea, God threatens to uncover our nakedness for all to see! God will show our naked sin to all IF we do not repent and return to Him who has married us, against whom we have committed adultery.

     Hosea 13:14 

    Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
    Shall I redeem them from Death?
    O Death, where are your plagues?
    O Sheol, where is your sting?
    Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

    We have broken our covenant with God!

    Will the LORD not also punish the one who would stand before Him without truth?

    • Consider your covenant with God and with our Lord, Christ Jesus.

    Before we reexamine the covenant of our ‘Christian Marriage,’ next we will consider God’s premium He places on truth.

    To be continued…