Gadafii:
thanks boss, i will deginitely try this

can i also have the boiled too, or it must be in it raw state

You can have your normal meals, whether it consist of boiled eggs or not.

Get healthy eggs from free range hens(local hens) and consume 3 free range raw eggs daily for 30 days to see what difference it makes. It is important you get fresh eggs - just laid from healthy hens. You can start with one free range egg for the first 3 days and see you are consuming three free range raw eggs by the third and fourth week. Original unfiltered honey can be added to improve taste of the free range raw eggs

Location: ILESA, OSUN

DESCRIPTION:
A roofed building nearing completion siting on a plot of land located at prominent part of Ilesa. It is a Fenced building with a standard metal gate and a standard borehole system in place. Building was earlier constructed as a bottled water factory but can be conveniently converted to a 4bedroom flat atleast.

Price: 5 Million
Phone: 07053194909

Location: ILESA, OSUN STATE

Price: 8 Million

The building lying on a plot of land has a Living room plus porch with a Visitors Toilet, 3 bedrooms ensuite with wardrobes, another 4 bedroom plus 2 Toliets, a kitchen and store. Has a deep well, 2 lock-up shops underground fenced with security wires and a metal gate. All windows and doors in good condition.
3-face meter connection
Has a parking space for upto 3cars.
Located in a choice area of Ilesa and accessible tarred road

Location: ILESA,OSUN STATE.

House in Ilaje consists of three flats, one of three bedrooms, the other two flats containing two bedrooms. it is in a suitable area with formidable facilities.

Price: 10Million
Phone: 0705 319 4909

How much is your HP 620 12cell(follow come) battery? How much is the 6cell

When Bribes are still being received

Women could really be irrational when it's all said and done. The other day it was the news of the woman who locked up a child in a dog's cage

hello

Sin.

What do we do with sin?

Are we doomed to continue in sin...even though we call ourselves "saved"...calling ourselves "Christians?"

To hear the Church speak today...it seems that two groups of people live in sin:

1. The UNSAVED
2. The SAVED

So...where and when did the Church begin to preach what I have often called "Sinful Equality?"

Let me make it clear regarding my Biblical position on sin:

Christians are NOT supposed to sin.

If we DO sin...yes..."we have an advocate with the Father"...but notice the CONTEXT in which Scripture NOTES that truth:

1 John 2:1-4 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

We are NEVER allowed to IGNORE the imperative stating "that ye sin not."

The misunderstanding on this issue stems from an incorrect interpretation of 1 John 1:8 which reads:

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

Notice the words being used...translated from the Greek...which say "we HAVE no sin." (emphasis added)

John is not speaking of specific acts of sin in this passage. John is not answering a question which asks, "Will Christians sin daily?"

John is simply reiterating a truth spoken throughout Scripture:

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:23)

Remember the story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19?

When this man approached Jesus, we find him saying that he had kept every commandment since his youth. In context, this rich young ruler could not realize...regardless of his claim of having done all that he needed to do to be "saved"...that he still was a sinner who needed to CONFESS his sins and REPENT.

This is the issue being dealt with in 1 John 1:8.

You see...1 John 1:8 is NOT saying we will continue to sin daily even AFTER we are saved. This passage is telling us that we are ALL (every human being who has lived, is living, or ever WILL live) guilty of SIN and, therefore, in need of a Savior.

Look at the words which follow this passage...as John discusses the TRUTH about sin...addressing the belief that we can simply CONTINUE to sin after we are saved:

1 John 2:1a My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.

John makes it VERY clear about his meaning...doesn't he.

Then...John writes:

1 John 2:1b-2 And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

John says "IF anyone sins" (emphasis added)...not WHEN someone sins.

You see...God has provided a way of forgiveness IF we sin after we have been saved.

John then CONFIRMS this interpretation of his words by saying:

1 John 2:3-6 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

John says we should desire to walk as Jesus walked.

So...how did Jesus walk?

Jesus "knew no sin". (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus lived His life WITHOUT sinning.

So...I know what you are saying:

"How in the world can I live without sinning after I am saved?! I simply do not have the power to do it!"

The question itself begins to answer its own question.

"How in the world..."

Ceasing to sin CANNOT be accomplished in the FLESH...as it must be accomplished through the POWER of the Holy Spirit.

Now...too often pulpits are guilty of what I call "spiritual sounding answers" while not offering PRACTICAL APPLICATION which gives IMMEDIATE help in our "Christian walk."

So...HOW can we live WITHOUT SIN...and is it TRULY possible?

There is an oft overlooked passage of Scripture by which we can KNOW how to CEASE from SIN. Yet...this is a very well-known passage of Scripture:

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Paul DESTROYS the modern claim that we WILL sin DAILY...even as Christians!

Paul starts with our IMPETUS to sin:

Temptation.

We WILL be TEMPTED. That is a DAILY encounter.

But...Paul says that with each TEMPTATION...God has provided "the way of escape."

TEMPTATION seeks to TRAP us...making sin INEVITABLE.

But...God provides us a way...a way to ESCAPE...a way to NOT GIVE IN to the TEMPTATION.

So...YOU tell ME:

If for EVERY temptation God provides for us a way to NOT sin...

Do we HAVE to sin?

No.

At the moment of TEMPTATION...we are given a CHOICE:

We can choose LIFE (choose NOT to sin) or we can choose DEATH (choose TO sin).

How do we CEASE to sin as Christians?

By taking "the way of escape" provided by God Himself each time we face TEMPTATION.

Is it always easy?

No.

But no VICTORY is EVER easy.

We CEASE to sin one victory at a time...one ESCAPE at a time.

Too many Christians look at the big picture:

One week...one month...one year..."down the road"...

...and they cannot see a SINLESS life.

"Impossible!" they cry!

We do not OVERCOME temptation in PERIODS of TIME...we OVERCOME sin in MOMENTS of TEMPTATION.

Think about that...and read it again:

We do not OVERCOME temptation in PERIODS of TIME...we OVERCOME sin in MOMENTS of TEMPTATION.

If we tried to face EVERY sin...every POSSIBLE sin...we may face all at ONCE...we could NEVER withstand temptation.

But...if we simply take that "way of escape" with the PRESENT temptation...the NEXT battle with temptation is EASIER...as we have already PROVEN we CAN be an OVERCOMER.

So...the message for today?

When facing TEMPTATION...look for...and TAKE..."the way of escape" provided by the Savior.

Do not simply ACCEPT sin under the GUISE of GRACE.

https://www.facebook.com/ron.smith.bama.fan/posts/10215378412875953

It’s an accusation that’s been around a long time. Even in ancient times, critics of Christianity noticed some parallels between Christian beliefs and pre-Christian myths. In the late second century, a pagan philosopher named Celsus charged, “The Christians have used the myths of Danae and the Melanippe, of the Auge and Antiope in fabricating this story of virgin birth!” In more recent times, skeptical scholars such as Marvin Meyer and Robert Price have claimed close connections between the resurrection of Jesus and the myths of dying and rising deities that marked many pagan myths.

In the simplest possible terms, here’s what these critics contend: The most marvelous claims in the Gospels—a miraculous birth, for example, as well as the idea of a deity who dies and rises again—are paralleled in pagan religions that predate Christianity; therefore, early Christians must have fabricated these miracles based on their knowledge of pre-Christian religions.

To be sure, there are some surface-level similarities between ancient myths and certain events in the Gospels. Long before the first century AD, the myths of Egyptians deities such as Osiris, Adonis, Attis, and Horus included tales of death and rebirth. The Persians venerated Mithras, a deity who (according to some claims) was born of a virgin and who died and then rose from the dead. Sacramental bread and the fruit of the vine make appearances in a few mystery cults as well.

So why should anyone see Jesus as being distinct from the pagan gods? Could it be that the New Testament stories of Jesus represent the fictive myth of an ancient mystery cult that’s survived for 2,000 years? Or is there something different about the accounts of Jesus’s time on earth?

When these claims are compared carefully with the New Testament Gospels, the distinction between Jesus and the supposed pagan parallels becomes quite distinct, for at least two reasons: first, the pagan parallels aren’t as parallel as the proponents claims; and second, many of the supposed parallels confuse later Christian practices with the actual affirmations in the New Testament Gospels

1. The Parallels Aren’t So Parallel
First, it’s important to be aware that most of these supposed pagan parallels aren’t nearly so parallel as the skeptics suppose. When the actual sources behind the myths are closely examined, the supposed parallels have little in common with New Testament narratives.

For example, there are dying and rising gods in some pagan myths—but these deities died and arose each year, certainly not the same pattern as Jesus’s substitutionary once-for-all sacrifice. And the pagan myths of miraculous births are closer to divine impregnation—a mortal woman conceives a child as a result of sexual relations with a god—than to the virgin conception described in Matthew and Luke.

Example: Jesus vs. Mithras
To exemplify how these supposed parallels aren’t nearly as parallel as the critics claim, let’s look at the myth of Mithras, which is often presented as a predecessor to the New Testament.

So what about Mithras’s miraculous birth?

According to some reconstructions of the ancient sources describing the Mithras’s birth, Mithras was born from solid stone, and he got stuck on the way out. Some nearby persons in a field pulled him from the stone, which left a cave behind him. Some skeptics connect this birth to the birth of Jesus in a stable with shepherds arriving soon afterward. A few even refer to Mithras’s birth as a “virgin birth.”

But referring to the rescue of Mithras from stone as a “virgin birth” seems to me a stretch.

I mean, I guess that birth from a rock is sort of a virgin birth. But how can you tell if a rock is a virgin, anyway? And how do rocks lose their virginity? Parallels of this sort are too vague and too dissimilar to support the claim that Christians borrowed their beliefs from pagans of previous generations.

James Tabor, a professor at University of North Carolina, doesn’t believe in the virgin conception of Jesus, and he denies that Jesus rose from the dead. Yet even he is able to see how radically Jesus’s birth in the Gospels differs from any supposed pagan parallels:

When you read the accounts of Mary’s unsuspected pregnancy, what is particularly notable . . . is an underlying tone of realism that runs through the narratives. These seem to be real people, living in real times and places. In contrast the birth stories in Greco-Roman literature have a decidedly legendary flavor to them. For example, in Plutarch’s account of the birth of Alexander the Great, mother Olympias got pregnant from a snake; it was announced by a bolt of lightning that sealed her womb so that her husband Philip could not have sex with her. Granted, both Matthew and Luke include dreams and visions of angels but the core story itself—that of a man who discovers that his bride-to-be is pregnant and knows he is not the father—has a realistic and thoroughly human quality to it. The narrative, despite its miraculous elements, rings true.

Let’s take a quick look at a few of the supposed parallels between Jesus and Mithras:

Supposed parallel: Mithras had 12 followers.

Significant problem: One piece of ancient artwork depicts Mithras surrounded by 12 faces, but there is no evidence these were his “disciples.” In fact, Mithras had only two companions, Aldebaran and Antares.

Supposed parallel: Mithras was identified as a lion and a lamb.

Significant problem: There is no surviving evidence for connecting Mithras to a lamb. Yes, Mithras was identified as a lion. However, that imagery for a royal ruler existed among the Israelites (Gen. 49:9) several centuries prior to the emergence of any Mithraic myth; the New Testament writers were using familiar Jewish imagery when they depicted Jesus as a lion.

Supposed parallel: Mithras initiated a meal in which the terminology of “body and blood” were used.

Significant problem: The earliest evidence of such terminology in the context of Mithraism is from the mid-second century—nearly 100 years after the Gospels were written. In this instance, it is far more likely that Mithraism borrowed from Christian practice.

Supposed parallel: Mithras sacrificed himself for the sake of others.

Significant problem: Mithras is frequently depicted in the act of sacrificing a bull—but Mithras himself never becomes the sacrifice.

Supposed parallel: Mithras rose from the dead on the third day; his followers celebrated his resurrection each year.

Significant problem: There is no surviving evidence from the pre-Christian era for a resurrection of Mithras on the third day. Because of his association with the sun, it’s possible that his followers celebrated a renewal or rebirth each year.

Supposed parallel: The resurrection of Mithras was celebrated on Sunday.

Significant problem: There is no surviving evidence from the pre-Christian era for a celebration of a resurrection on the first day of the week, though the followers of Mithras—and of other sun-related deities—did worship their gods on Sunday. The reason for the emphasis on the first day of the week in the New Testament Gospels was, however, more closely tied to the fact that, in Genesis 1, God’s work of creation began on the first day. The implication was that, through the resurrection of Jesus, God was initiating a new beginning, a re-creation of his world.

2. Claims of Parallels Confuse the NT’s Historical Claims with Later Christian Practices
What’s more, proponents of these parallels consistently conflate later Christian traditions with what’s found in the Gospels. It’s true, for example, that pagan festivals occurred around the time when Christians later celebrated Christmas—but the New Testament documents never suggest a date for Jesus’s birth.

Identifying a date to celebrate Christmas occurred centuries after the time of Jesus; Christians probably arrived at a date near the winter solstice because of an early tradition that Jesus was conceived on the same date that he died, and nine months after Passover landed the birthdate in late December. In any case, since the New Testament makes no claims regarding the date of Jesus’s birth, the celebration of Christmas is irrelevant when it comes to discussing whether the New Testament description of Jesus’s birth is rooted in real historical events.

The same holds true when it comes to connections between pagan fertility festivals and later Easter celebrations. The term “Easter” comes from “Ishtar,” a Sumerian goddess who died, rose, and ascended, and several familiar Easter motifs originated in pagan fertility cults. Yet, except for a King James Version mistranslation in Acts 12:4, no New Testament text even mentions Easter. The pagan roots of later Easter imagery have nothing to do with the historicity of the Gospels.

Likewise, later Christian art incorporated both Egyptian and Mithraic motifs, especially when depicting Jesus and his mother. Yet later depictions of pagan myths in Christian art has nothing to do with whether New Testament events actually occurred. It simply means that Christian artists could be a bit more creative when choosing sources for their inspiration.

What If Pagan Parallels Do Exist?
Let’s suppose for a moment, though, that some patterns present in the life of Jesus could be pinpointed in some previous religion. Would this weaken the historical foundations of the Christian faith?

Not necessarily.

The real question isn’t, Are there similarities between the New Testament’s descriptions of Jesus and some previous pagan myths? Perhaps there are—although I must admit that every ancient parallel I’ve examined has turned out to be vague and weak when seen in its original context.

Every ancient parallel I’ve examined has turned out to be vague and weak when seen in its original context.


The crucial question is, Did the events described in the New Testament actually occur? The answer doesn’t depend on parallels in pagan practices.

Parallels in other ancient religions neither prove nor disprove the authenticity of the New Testament documents. They simply demonstrate the common expectations of people in the first century AD. Even if some clear parallel did exist between the story of Jesus and previous religious expectations, this wouldn’t warrant the belief that the apostle Paul or the Gospel authors “borrowed” the tenets from other faiths.

It would mean that, when God dropped in on the human race, he chose to reveal himself in ways the people in that particular culture could comprehend. If that’s indeed the case, it would merely mean that the myths of dying gods and miraculous births are rooted in longings that run deeper than human imagination; although the pagan religions twisted and distorted these motifs, they’re rooted in a God-given yearning for redemption through sacrifice that makes the world right and new. C. S. Lewis addressed this possibility:

In the New Testament, the thing really happens. The Dying God really appears—as a historical Person, living in a definite place and time. . . . The old myth of the Dying God . . . comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens—at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. We must not be nervous about “parallels” [in other religions] . . . They ought to be there—it would be a stumbling block if they weren’t.

Not a Borrowed Religion
When it comes to parallels between the New Testament story of Jesus and the myths of pagan gods, the supposed connections aren’t sufficiently parallel to claim that Christian faith is borrowed. Even if some parallels were indisputable, that would merely mean God worked out his plan in a manner that matched the context within which “the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us” (John 1:18).

So what should you do the next time someone pulls out a pagan parallel?

1. Locate the primary source.
With the rarest of exceptions, the primary sources—that is to say, the actual ancient texts that describe the pagan practices—don’t include any real parallels to the New Testament.

2. Determine whether the supposed parallel precedes or succeeds the New Testament.
Every text in the New Testament was in circulation no later than the late first century AD. If the pagan parallel is from a text written later than the first century AD, the New Testament writers obviously couldn’t have borrowed from it.

3. Determine whether the supposed parallel connects to the New Testament—or to later Christian traditions.
Connections between pagan practices and later patterns in Christian worship or holiday celebrations may be interesting—but these links have nothing to do with whether New Testament accounts of the life of Jesus are historically accurate.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/gospels-borrow-pagan-myths/

1. A believer believes in Jesus. A Christian follows his commands.

2. A believer goes to church on holidays. A Christian knows that a church community is the paradigm for their faith.

3. A believer reads their Bible when things get tough. A Christian reads their Bible regularly.

4. A believer prays when things get tough. A Christian gives thanks no matter the circumstance.

5. A believer twists the Bible to fit his or her lifestyle. A Christian works to make his or her lifestyle resemble the teachings of the Bible.

6. A believer will sacrifice when it’s convenient. A Christian will sacrifice no matter the potential outcome.

7. A believer tithes(gives) when there is no risk. A Christian will tithe(give) no matter the risk.

8. A believer conforms under the pressure of culture. A Christian holds fast against temptation.

9. A believer will share their faith when it’s comfortable. A Christian will share his or her faith regardless of the scenario.

10. A believer knows about Jesus. A Christian knows Jesus as his or her Lord and Savior.

https://churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/289170-what-is-a-believer-10-differences-believer-christian-jarrid-wilson.html?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com&fbclid=IwAR1IKHSohO9P0EEj5PI6mtWECOMpK-o-8S4tALbifDdeogkKDCwM0egrx7k

How does a church come to terms with revelations of abuse by a leader, especially when the accusations have been established as fact?

In 1 Timothy 5:19, Paul writes, “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.” Referring back to an Old Testament law, the expression “two or three witnesses” is a biblical idiom for careful and independent attestation of the truth of the accusations. This acknowledges that false accusations are sometimes leveled at church leaders.

But how should we respond when the accused is found guilty? Of course, it’s of first importance to comfort, love, and help the victims of abuse. And it’s critical to ask what lessons the particular church or institution can learn from the tragic revelation. Are there unrecognized elements within the church or other ministry that have allowed abuse to take place? What can be done to keep this from happening again?

Such vital questions are beyond the scope of this article, but I want to consider three broader ways we should respond when an influential leader whom many respect is exposed for abusing those in his care.

1. We Must Guard Our Own Hearts
Revelations of abuse arouse in us disbelief, then dismay, shock, and horror. We rightly distance ourselves from abusive behaviors and see how terribly wrong they are. And yet the moment we do this, we are in great danger and must guard ourselves:

Against self-righteousness. There is no place for self-righteousness (Luke 18:9–14). The danger with expressing our horror and revulsion at abusive behaviors is that we slip into a pharisaic smug complacency, thanking God that we are not guilty of serious sin. We must not do this. We have not been guilty of, or complicit in, the abuse that has been uncovered—praise God. But there are many sins of which we’ve been guilty.
Against an unhealthy interest. In the context of a Christian being “caught in transgression,” Paul exhorts his readers: “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Gal. 6:1). We may not be tempted by the ugly features of any particular instance of abuse. But it’s easy to gossip, and there is a danger of indulging a prurient interest and craving to know more. Sinful behavior of any kind sticks to us like dirt; indeed, knowing about ugly actions is a little like pornography—it lurks in our memories and drags us down in our thoughts and emotions. We may need to re-hear the exhortation: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8
Against a twisted gladness. When Judah came under the judgment of God during the Babylonian exile, the prophets had a special word of condemnation for the Edomites, who cheered on the Babylonians and rejoiced at the disaster that befell Judah. “But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin” (Obad. 12; cf. Prov. 24:17–18). This is a danger for us, perhaps especially when a Christian leader falls.


2. We Must Face Our Disillusionment with Trust in Christ Alone
The shock of all abuse revelations is peculiarly acute when the one whom they concern has been a blessing to many. How can something so good be intimately associated with something so evil? It’s deeply disorienting to find that a man we thought we knew—perhaps a man some viewed as a father figure—is not the man we thought he was. It feels like the foundations are being pulled from beneath us. There is a painful sense of loss, akin to bereavement. How are we to make sense of this apparently senseless confluence of good and evil in one person?

We must remind ourselves of the depth and extent of our own depravity. The heroes of Scripture were flawed people. The great King David committed adultery (if not rape) and was complicit in murder (2 Sam. 11). Solomon had great wisdom yet failed terribly. And we remain deeply sinful even as regenerate people (Rom. 7). Any one of us is capable of committing terrible sins. If we think we’re not, we must take heed lest we fall (1 Cor. 10:12).

All this is true, but it still doesn’t entirely explain the particular tragedy of abuse by a church leader. Sin is incredibly deceitful, and we must grapple with that fact.

To do this, we should begin with a wholesome model of pastoral care. A pastor who’s a more mature Christian takes younger believers under his care. He prays for them. He instructs and encourages them. He keeps in touch with them. He meets with them and exhorts them to keep following Jesus faithfully.

But if we’re not careful, even this kind of relationship can go wrong. Perhaps the loving care is so intense that the friendship becomes a little exclusive. The older believer begins to think of this younger believer as “his”—not only his pastoral responsibility, but even his prerogative, so that no one else is really allowed to encourage this younger person.

It’s not difficult to see how wholesome pastoral care might morph into something much darker, and the younger disciple end up being used for the purposes of the older pastor rather than the older pastor sacrificially serving him. Who knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart in this process? The leader is not likely fully aware himself—such is the deceitfulness of the human heart.

In Christ we see the polar opposite of every kind of abuse.


So what are the warning signs of this dark exchange? Exclusivity might be one. Favoritism might be another. When there is any perception that some are “the favored ones” and others are not, danger lurks.

In The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis explains how the human experiences that most closely imitate the character of God sometimes lead us to confuse those experiences with God. Imagine being almost home at the end of a long journey, Lewis says, only to become stuck at the top of a cliff overlooking your home. We are close to home, but we still have a lot of walking to do.

Lewis applies this point to both erotic love and also patriotic love for one’s country, both of which are like God’s love—yet far from it. Similarly, the kind of close, affectionate pastoral care that approximates the care of Jesus may begin to claim the prerogatives of authority and influence that belong to Jesus alone. And so, by a diabolical alchemy, something wholesome and nourishing transforms into something abusive.

But even if we slowly begin to grasp something of how the abuse might have happened—and such a grasp will be tentative, for we cannot see another’s heart—we must face the frightening reality that the blessings we thought we’d experienced through this leader might not be true blessings at all. Might they not be in some way invalidated by these revelations, tainted beyond recovery by the sin with which we now know they were associated? These are truly sobering questions, for these blessings relate to salvation and eternal destiny.

Paul encouraged Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it” (2 Tim. 1:5; 3:14), presumably meaning Timothy’s godly mother and grandmother, and the apostle himself. As Timothy remembered the godliness and integrity of those from whom he learned faith in Christ, he was encouraged to continue on the path of faith. But what if we discover that one from whom we learned the things of Christ didn’t have the integrity and godliness we thought he had? Is that not deeply disturbing? It is.

And yet, we must come back to the fundamental truth that all our blessings come through Christ alone, the Savior in whom there is no sin, in whose life we see pure goodness, sacrificial service of others, and the polar opposite of every kind of abuse.

Scripture repeatedly warn us not to put our trust in people other than God and his Christ. “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes” the king warns in Psalm 118:9. “Put not your trust in princes,” the psalmist warns, for blessing comes only to the one “whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God” (Ps. 146:3–5).

Writing from prison to the church in Philippi, Paul is sad that some “preach Christ from envy and rivalry.” And yet he takes comfort that, whatever their motives, “Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice” (Phil. 1:15–18). The channels through whom we hear the good news of Jesus will never be perfect; sometimes they will prove deeply flawed, whether through bad motives or even through the horror of abuse. But the blessing comes from Jesus Christ, and no flaws in the channel can remove from us the sheer goodness, beauty, and kindness of God given to us in Jesus.

No flaws in the channel can remove the goodness, beauty, and kindness of God given to us in the Source.


Suppose someone came to faith in Christ through the ministry of this now-fallen leader, or someone else looks back to a signal time of growth in grace through his preaching, or another is in ministry because of his encouragement. How are these now to view their conversion, their growth in grace, their being in ministry?

The answer, I think, is this: They may be grateful to God for his overwhelming kindness to them, that he appointed a channel through whom they heard the gospel, through whom they grew in grace, through whom they entered ministry. Nothing about any of those blessings is invalidated by the sad discovery of the leader’s flawed behavior. All these blessings rest on Christ; not one rests on the character of this or any other leader.

For some, there may need to be a period of painful readjustment. We may need to hear afresh the admonition not to put our trust in “princes” (including dynamic Christian leaders). We may need to repent if our trust has become mixed between this leader and the Savior. But in the end, we should take fresh comfort from all we have in Christ.

3. We Must Lament, Repent, and Be Humbled—Together
When the Old Testament people of God came under judgment in the Babylonian exile, those who were true and even blameless were caught up in judgment with those who were arrogant idolaters. We hear the voices of these true believers in a number of places. In Psalm 79, for example, provoked by the destruction of the temple and the sack of Jerusalem, the Spirit-inspired psalmist grieves when the surrounding nations taunt them with the mocking question, “Where is their God?” (v. 10). It’s spoken to the idolaters and to the psalmist.

In his prayer in Daniel 9:1–19, the godly Daniel laments the “open shame” that has come “to us” (vv. 7­–8 for we have all “become a byword among all who are around us” (v. 16). The godly Nehemiah laments that, because of the people’s ungodliness, “we are slaves” (Neh. 9:36). In other words, all of us fall under the shadow of God’s discipline, whether or not we have personally been guilty of covenant-breaking and idolatry.

Mockers Will Mock
When a church leader’s abuse is exposed, the whole church of Jesus will be reviled by the world. We’ll be taunted as hypocrites. We’ll be laughed at when we speak of biblical virtue and the law of God.

We shouldn’t be surprised.

Some who are lifelong enemies of the gospel will use these sad events as a vehicle to make life miserable for Christians. Others—and this is more tragic—who might have had a genuine interest in the Christian faith will be driven away from a message whose messengers now appear to them as hypocrites or worse.

All this is desperately painful, but we must expect it. As God’s people did after the exile, we too must learn to lament together for the sad state of the church. We grieve for the victims and seek to love and care for them as best we can. We grieve for the honor of Christ.

And yet, even as we lament and repent afresh of our own sins, we cling to the invincible promises of God. For Jesus promised he will build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt.16:18). That promise stands even on our darkest day. So let us encourage one another to hold firmly to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is our only hope.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/3-ways-respond-church-leader-found-guilty-abuse/

The devil at a point also acted in a manner independent of God.

And he remained perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him (verse 15b). What was this iniquity? We read in verse 17, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” Ezekiel 28:15-17

When I say that suffering entered into the world when Adam and Eve acted the like atheists, I'm saying that they acted in a manner that is independent of God, not that they denied God's existence. Atheists, of course, operate in their world without considering God as either existing or as an explanation for knowledge, rationality, morality, or existence, etc. They act in a manner that is self-determining of truth and morality.

Following are some of the ways in which the actions of Adam and Eve were atheistic which then brought sin into the world and with it suffering. Adam and Eve acted like atheists when they behaved independently from God in the following ways.

They abandoned God's revealed word about not eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:1-6)
They decided for themselves what was to be believed or not regarding truth about what God had said.
They decided for themselves what was morally right and wrong.
Eve (and Adam by following) used her own experiences and preferences to judge moral truth (Gen. 3:6)
Atheists regularly complain about how God allows varying degrees of suffering in the world. I often respond by saying, "Don't blame God. Blame Adam and Eve when they acted like atheists. That's when things went bad." Atheists, of course, don't like my response because it puts them on the hook. But it is true nonetheless. Furthermore, most often they miss my point, and I have to explain it to them by listing out the things I provided above.

God let us have our independence and its consequences
Generically speaking, God gave us, Christians and non-Christians alike, what we want: freedom to act independently from Him. Adam and Eve behaved in a manner that was independent of God's revealed truth and righteousness. First, God allowed them to rebel. Second, God allowed them to suffer the consequences of their rebellion: separation from him and sin in the world. These consequences include hard labor, birth pains, plagues, famine, sicknesses, suffering, etc.

Are we children or grown ups?
Furthermore, if God is obligated to stop suffering, according to the atheists' rationality, then I ask them at what point, or what level of suffering ought God to intervene? Do the atheists think that God must stop all physical suffering or all unnecessary physical suffering? If the latter, then who decides what unnecessary suffering is? What about emotional suffering? Should God stop that as well? But why stop there? What about the suffering that people bring upon themselves because of their free will choices and actions? Should God intervene and prevent them from making those free will choices as well? Or, should God let them experience the consequences of their rebellion against him?

From what I've seen Scripture because we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), we have responsibilities consistent with that image. We have obligations given to us by God such as taking care of the earth (Genesis 1:28). In this, God treats us like "grown-ups" in that he lets us be responsible for our own actions. He doesn't treat us like children and stop us from doing every bad thing. So I can't help but wonder if the atheists want God to treat us like children and intervene at every, or almost every instance that might bring suffering.

Conclusion
I think is clear that atheists decide for themselves what is true, false, right, and wrong. They do not humble themselves before God or consider his self-revelation in Scripture and the person of Jesus when they make their decisions. Adam and Eve behaved similarly when they decided for themselves what was true, false, right, and wrong. The effect of their independent rebellion is suffering in the world. So, when atheists complain that the Christian God ought to stop "unnecessary" suffering they have failed to consider that biblically speaking, it was behaving like atheists that caused the suffering in the first place. And, how does an atheist determine what is unnecessary suffering and at what point ought the Christian God intervene and stop it? Should He intervene and stop the free will choices of those who bring suffering upon themselves? I'd like to see atheists try and answer these questions before they complain about the Christian God.

https://carm.org/suffering-entered-the-world-when-adam-and-eve-acted-like-atheists?fbclid=IwAR143tFLab2dlVVahA4ZiojwtwdEzFu8t_f5wt7BmF5vkd0W98JnpgRpkic

alBHAGDADI:


There are no choice of words when preaching the truth, just the truth and its words. People may feel offended by it, but that's because they are evil. All I'm concerned about is reaching out to that soul who seeks the truth.

No time for sugar-coating the gospel. Jesus never did, neither did Paul. Pastors who are doing such today are the reasons churches now have the below kind of people in them.

As a believer you should know that God is interested in all men and he won't want any to perish but saved. Look through the four gospels and epistles and you would realize that the tone of the message given largely depends on the setting. Even if bible verses say we should hate evil does it mean we go up and down wearing the medal of hate, it is these people actions we hate and not necessarily the personality. Yes, we avoid evil people and how about our burden for them in prayers to show we love them. Do you have a burden for the lost like the bible teaches?

Paul wrote,19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. ~! corinthians 9: 19-22

THe OP is correct but his choice of words seem to be the problem for many who disagree. What about rephrashing it like Paul would say it. Paul's doctrine on love is clear through scriptures but that didn't stop him from commanding seperation from unbelievers;

14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
~2 Corinthians 6:14.

The Op talks about Murder being the unlawful taking of life and Killing as the lawful taking of life. Think nothing would be proper than discussions following that line of thought as it is seen that the subject matter here is ignored for personal sentiments

In Exodus 20:13 it says, "Thou shalt not kill," yet God kills people in floods, famines, and has Israel go and kill entire people groups. Why the contradiction?

First of all, there is no contradiction. "Thou shalt not kill" is from the old King James Bible. Modern translations (ESV, NASB, NCV, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV) have it as "You shall not murder." The word in the Hebrew for "kill" here in Exodus 20:13 is תִּרְצָח (ratsach). It is translated into the English many different ways, depending on the context: "slayer 16, murderer 14, kill 5, murder 3, slain 3, manslayer 2, killing 1, slayer + 310 1, slayeth 1, death 1." 1

Murder is the unlawful taking of life. Killing is the lawful taking of life. God has said, "You shall not murder," not "You shall not kill." After all, God says killing in self-defense is justifiable. Exodus 22:2, "If the thief is caught while breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account." If mere killing of any kind was the issue, then why would God saying killing in self-defense is permissible? He wouldn't. This is another reason that modern translations say, "You shall not murder."

Also, consider that the New Testament quotes Exodus 20:13 in Rom. 13:9 as "You shall not murder." The word in Greek for murder here is φονεύω, (phoneuo). Matt. 10:28 says, "“And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." The word of kill here is apoktinumi. Let's compare.

Rom. 13:9, "murder" is φονεύω (phoneuō), commit murder, kill (Mt 5:21; 19:18; 23:31, 35; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20; Ro 13:9; Jas 2:11; 4:2; 5:6) 2
Matt. 10:28, "kill" is ἀποκτίννυμι (apoktinumi), to kill, slay 3
As you can see, different words are used for "murder" and "kill." The Greek is more specific, and since the Greek New Testament quotes the Hebrew Old Testament, we can see that Exodus 20:13 is best translated as "You shall not murder."

One final comment: since all people have sinned against God (Rom. 3:23) all people are under the judgment of God. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23), so when God executes someone it is not murder, it is killing because it is a lawful taking of life. Remember, all people have sinned. Sin is the breaking of God's law. Therefore, God's execution is lawful.

https://carm.org/questions/you-shall-not-kill-yet-god-kills?fbclid=IwAR0tTHEfrO1zb8HXBZ2gb_K_ncH52ZgvWSqGjO81B8orviwFh0qLREG_Fmw

The devil knows the bible than anyone of us and has a penchant for twisting scriptures and taking it out of context like many false teachers of today.

“(The devil said) For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” – Luke‬ ‭4:10-12‬ ‭

"Love your enemies" as commonly used today would come off as a way to be politically correct without submitting to the sound doctrines of scriptures.

The prosperity gospel is popular because we have false converts. One who is genuinely saved and have the fellowship of the spirit through the word of God would be about his father's business and not what this passing world would confer.

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ~Matthew 6:19-21

In the modern West, people often consider ideas that are new, novel, and more recently discovered through the most up to date studies and methodologies to carry the most weight. In the Buddhist East, however, this is not the case. It is common among Asian Buddhists to consider the fact that Siddhartha Gautama (the man known as 'the Buddha') lived and taught around 500 years before Jesus walked the earth to be an argument in favor of the truth and value of Buddhism over Christianity. These cultures generally see wisdom that is more ancient and time-tested to be more venerable and more likely to be true. The truth is that neither novelty nor ancient origin are, in fact, good arguments in and of themselves for the truth of an idea or teaching. Still, it is worthwhile to note for the sake of Buddhist friends that the Christian gospel is actually a more ancient wisdom than Buddhism.

The Prophets and the Ancient Gospel
While it is a plain fact of history that the founder of Buddhism did indeed teach centuries before Jesus' earthly ministry, this is not the full picture. The gospel was preached by the prophets of God even earlier than that. Long before Siddhartha Gautama was born in India, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed that:

The Messiah would be God in the flesh (Isaiah 9:6)
He would be born of a virgin and called "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14).
He would be sinless, but would die for the sins of others and would rise from the dead unto glory, power, and victory (Isaiah 53).
Salvation would be found in repentance and quiet trust (Isaiah 30:15)
The repentant will be redeemed, and those who remain in their sins will be judged (Isaiah 1:27-28).
This is the Christian gospel, preached not only before the coming of Jesus Christ but also before the life of Buddha as well. Jesus did not come to introduce this reality, but to fulfill it.

This is why the apostle Paul writes:

"Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures," (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Note the Paul does not merely report that these things occurred, but that they occurred "according to the Scriptures." The gospel is that which was written about long before and later fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself taught us this in saying:

"'These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things,'" (Luke 24:44-48)

We can look at Balaam's prophecy in the time of Moses of the victorious star that would come forth from Jacob (Numbers 24:15-19). We can go back even further to Jacob's prophecy of Shiloh to come (Genesis 49:10). We can trace the message earlier still, to the time of Abraham and Isaac where it was foretold that, just as God had provided a ram in Isaac's place, God would one day again provide a substitute for his people on the holy mount (Genesis 22:13-14). Indeed, we can look back to the beginning of time at man's very first sin and see the promised seed of the woman would one day crush the serpent (Genesis 3:15). In all ages, it was foretold that the promised one would come. The gospel is as old as sin and suffering itself. There is no wisdom and no hope more ancient than this.

The Commandments
There is a well-known story in the gospels in which Jesus is approached by a wealthy man desiring to inherit eternal life. Jesus questions the man on his keeping of the commandments, to which the man retorts by asking Jesus to which commandments he is referring. Jesus replied:

"You shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall honor your father and mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself," Matthew 19:18-19

If you tell this much of the story to a Buddhist monk, he will likely smile in agreement. While the terminology of "eternal life" is quite the opposite of the Buddhist hope, the commands listed here he would generally find quite familiar and agreeable. Five centuries before Jesus spoke these words to that young man, Buddha laid out the eightfold path to enlightenment and Nirvana. He taught that "right action" was necessary, which specifically included abstaining from killing, stealing, and adultery. He taught that right speech was necessary, which specifically included abstaining from deceit and false witness. The Buddhist would see Jesus as merely affirming what Buddha had already established long before Him. But the Buddhist would be mistaken.

While there are certainly basic ethical teachings in Buddhism that are also found in Christianity, Christianity holds to them based on sources far older than the time of Siddhartha Gautama. Six hundred years before Buddha ever spoke a word, God revealed all of these commandments to Moses. They were written down in the Torah and expounded upon in the prophets and other biblical writings all before Buddha was ever born. If ancient origins give one faith greater claim to these commands than the other, then Christians certainly hold the stronger claim.

The Manuscripts
It is also interesting to note that the earliest fragments of manuscripts reporting the words of Buddha that we still have today are from around the first or second century AD.1 This is roughly the same period from which our earliest fragments of the gospels come. Our earliest approximately complete manuscript of a comprehensive collection of Buddha's teachings is from the middle ages, some 2,000 years after Buddha actually lived.2

By comparison, the first manuscript preserving nearly all of the text of all four gospels is a copy from about 220 AD.3 The reality is that we possess today a far more ancient witness to the words of Jesus than to those of Buddha. Buddha may have lived at an earlier date than Jesus earthly life, but we do not have a present witness to his words that is more ancient than the time of Jesus, or even than the time of the earliest Christian manuscripts.

Conclusion
The mere age of an idea does not make it true or false. While Buddhist cultures do tend to put great weight on what is old and time-tested over what is new and think that this gives Buddhism greater authority than Christianity, this assumption is flawed. First of all, it is flawed on the obvious grounds that older ideas are not always better than newer ones. Buddha himself came offering new ideas his culture had never heard. In doing so, he openly corrected the ancient traditions that were then prevalent around him. If the older idea is always better, Buddhism should never have been taken seriously in the first place.

Second of all, it is flawed because it wrongly assumes that the Christian gospel is less ancient than Buddhism simply because Jesus physically walked the earth at a later date than when Buddha lived. As we have seen, the manuscript witness to the teachings of Jesus are older than those of Buddha The teachings of Jesus are rooted in commands and wisdom revealed long before Buddha lived. The Christian gospel fulfilled in Jesus was promised by God for as long as men have lived and was written down by His prophets centuries before Buddha was ever born. If one does insist on giving special weight to what is ancient and time-tested over what is more recent, the Christian gospel ought certainly to be the more greatly revered of these teachings.

https://carm.org/does-it-matter-that-buddha-came-long-before-jesus?fbclid=IwAR3e_jpyrrdeq2vr-WZNtWHHwAXE9YX_NVIi5Y2xaXLlNvPnoOXtvLsElZc

In what seems like eons ago, under a different political dispensation than the one we’re experiencing now, then-President Barack Obama tweeted the following:

Retweet if you believe everyone should be able to marry the person they love. #LoveIsLove

I’m not writing here about the wisdom or morality of same-sex marriage. Instead, I mention the former president’s tweet as a trampoline to a larger conversation about our definition of love. While perhaps catchy and tweetable, the sentence “Love is love” is both meaningless and weightless, unable to accomplish anything or persuade anyone who doesn’t already agree with the assumptions of the speaker.

Not Play-Doh
Of course, crude definitions like this are of the zeitgeist, where virtues such as authenticity and self-actualization reign. If it’s indeed true that “love is love,” then it’s also true that we’ve become love’s arbiter and our intuitions about it are above reproach, beyond the prying tentacles of laws and institutions and others’ arcane opinions.

But using language like this stretches and re-stretches important concepts into utter subjectivism. The result: love is emptied of its meaning and weight, and subsequently replaced by a lesser good—something ersatz and manmade, something wobbly and even capricious. “Love” is now a universal term for nothing in particular, which makes conversations about it difficult.

Thinking ourselves wise, we made a bad deal. We’ve been snookered, sure that we were upgrading when in truth we were sold a clunker.

But enough with the finger-pointing. Being right about others being wrong is useless unless we’re willing to correct ourselves by turning to God’s Word.

Here are five things the Bible says about love.

1. Love Originates in God
The first and most important thing we must recognize about love is that it’s all about God. Love both originates in and is exhausted by our triune Maker—Father, Son, and Spirit.

Jesus lets us peer into this reality in John 17. Here, in what’s sometimes called the “High Priestly Prayer,” Jesus prays for Christians both present and future. He asks for the Father to grant his people unity and love, and that he would keep us until the end amid the world’s inevitable hatred.

Jesus also prays for himself, specifically about his imminent death: “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” A few verses later, he continues: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”

Press pause for a second. Imagine you didn’t exist. In fact, imagine nothing had ever existed—no people, no places, no things.

Is anything left?

According to Jesus, there is. There’s love. Love between the eternally loving, eternally secure, and eternally complete Godhead.

Without the Father loving the Son and the Spirit; without the Son loving the Father and the Spirit; and without the Spirit loving the Father and the Son—all “before the creation of the world”—we would know nothing of love, because love would have never existed.

So what must we say about love? We must begin where the Bible begins, and the Bible finds the foundation of love in the Trinity.

2. Love Descends to Earth
While God’s love for himself is the white-hot nucleus of love, there’s more to see. God’s love for God “boomerangs” out and affects everything else.

Consider the Bible’s most famous verse: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). How did God show his love for us? By sacrificing his Son for our eternal good.

In Scripture, love is entwined with substitutionary sacrifice. We find this connection’s apex in the death and resurrection of Christ, the perfect one who died and rose again, victorious. The cross is proof of the Son’s sacrifice; the empty tomb is proof of the Father’s acceptance of that sacrifice. Both together display God’s love.

3. Love Extends to Others
The thrust of Scripture is vertical, meaning it primarily deals with the relationship between God and man, Creator and creation. Often, however, God clarifies the vertical via the horizontal, using horizontal imperatives—“Do this”—as a test for the presence of vertical realities.

So it is with love. Just as God’s love for us in Christ was sacrificial, so should our love be for each other: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

The same is true of Paul at the outset of Philippians 2, where he connects the Christian ethic of love to the sacrifice of Christ. “Being of the same mind” and “having the same love” rivets us to the same person: Jesus Christ. He has set the example; he is our trailblazer on the path toward love and humility. The arithmetic is simple: God loved us sacrificially in Christ; therefore, we love others sacrificially.

4. Love Obeys the King
It’s also important to note that “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” is immediately followed by “You are my friends if you do what I command.” Jesus’s clarification introduces an element of authority into the definition of love, a clarification that grates against both our culture at large and our desire for self-rule, even as Christians not-yet-glorified. But this contrast must be stressed because any definition of love with no room for authority is simply sub-biblical.

Having a relationship with God means submitting ourselves to his lordship, under his good authority. We don’t become Christians so we can run up a massive debt on the sin card and expect Daddy to bail us out. It doesn’t work that way.

Instead, our disposition toward sin and holiness changes. We switch teams because we’re no longer committed to our own autonomy; we’re now united to Christ by faith, such that what is his by merit is now ours by grace. This is Paul’s point in Romans 6: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!” Why? Because we’ve died to sin and are now slaves of God.

‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’ is immediately followed by ‘You are my friends if you do what I command.’ . . . Any definition of love with no room for authority is simply sub-biblical.


It’s impossible to “love” Christ while clinging to our own unfettered freedom. To desire this setup is to desire a mirage, a trick of the Devil. All of us are under the authority of some master. It’s merely a question of whether that master is harsh, fickle, and impossible to please (like sin) or gracious, constant, and pleased by trust (like God). Our King loves us by enabling us to live under his rule.

5. Love Looks to Heaven
Finally, love looks toward heaven. It doesn’t just have the “now” in mind. This manifests itself in at least two ways.

First, Christians love by reminding one another of their unchangeable status in Christ and by pointing one another to the cross, the empty tomb, and Jesus’s promised return.

Second, because conversion is real and Christians are “new creations,” when occasion requires, they love by reminding each other of the seriousness of sin and, with God’s help, push each other toward holiness. This is why it’s almost always from a place of love—not judgment or nosiness—when a brother- or sister-in-Christ confronts us regarding our sin, even if the delivery leaves something to be desired. Though it may wound our pride, bristle our self-surety, and tempt an argumentative response, deep down we should know it comes from a place of kindness, intended by God for our good.

These kinds of confrontations can be tricky, especially when they test our relationships with non-Christians or those who claim to be Christians but, by all accounts, appear self-deceived. And yet, even in these situations love looks toward heaven. Christians love non-Christians with “heavenward” love by warning them of their eternal state, commending the gospel, and holding out Jesus as Savior. If non-Christians were to read this article—welcome!—I hope they’d find it as forthright and engaging as it is disconcerting and confrontational.

Similarly, Christians love professing Christians mired in unrepentant sin by calling them to hold fast both to Christ and to the substance of their profession. Based on their response, we either rejoice in their repentance or continue the process laid out for us in Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5. In the regrettable occasions when a professing believer persists in his or her sin, Christians love by excluding him or her from their number “so that their spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.” Even this—church discipline, as it’s often called—is an act of heavenward love.

Puddles and Oceans
The world and former president of the United States are right: love is love. But the God of the Bible—not us—tells us what this self-referential sentence actually means.

He tells us of love’s origin—that love is essentially riveted outside ourselves, to the nature and character of the triune God. Second, he shows us his love in the sacrifice of his Son: a love that is both gracious because it is contra-conditional and authoritative because it changes us, bestowing on us through the Spirit the very things it requires. Finally, the Bible’s definition of love changes the ways we love others—believers, non-believers, and professing believers stuck in sin.

The Bible says a lot about love, but most of all it raises our expectations and subverts our paradigms. It paints an ocean while the world’s busy splashing around in a puddle.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-does-the-bible-teach-about-love/

1. The Cost to Your Soul
I want to begin here: With the cost to your soul. If you are consumed with pornography and unwilling to put this sin to death, you have every reason to be concerned with the state of your soul. God promises that if he has saved us we will gain new passions and new affections. We will have not only the ability but also the desire to replace sin with holiness, to replace immorality with sexual purity. If you have no sorrow for sin, if you have no real desire for victory, if time and again you recklessly choose your sin over your Savior, you need to ask yourself this: Do I love pornography enough to go to hell for it? If this sin continues to dominate your life, it may stand as proof that you do not have a saving, sin-slaying faith. For the sake of your soul, stop looking at pornography.

2. The Cost to Your Neighbor
Even those who know next-to-nothing about the Christian faith know this: Christians are commanded to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Just like Jesus, Christians are to esteem others higher than themselves and to place the concerns of other people ahead of their own. Of all people, Christians should know that pornography exacts a high cost of those who create it—the cost to their bodies, to their souls, to their mental well-being, to their dignity, to their future. A vast amount of the pornography you enjoy is created by people against their wills. The simple fact is, by watching porn, you are watching rape and deriving pleasure from it. You become a willing participant in sexual violence and you allow that actor on the screen to suffer for your pleasure. For the sake of your neighbor, stop looking at pornography.

3. The Cost to Your Church
At a time when the Christian church is crying out for more and better leaders, an entire generation of young men and women are infantilizing themselves by their dedication to pornography. They are in perpetual pornolesence, that period between the conviction of sin and the determination to do anything to stop it. In this time they constantly choose sexual immorality over God and their spiritual growth is stunted. For the sake of your church, stop looking at pornography.

4. The Cost to Your Family
There is scarcely a pastor ministering today who has not seen a family crumble and fall under the weight of pornographic addiction. Men are tearing apart their families for the sake of illicit pleasures; women are shunning the attention of their husbands in order to read or to watch what is forbidden and what seems to promise greater and easier satisfaction. Children are being exposed to pornography through the trails their parents leave behind. Fathers are inviting Satan into the home by their commitment to what God forbids and what Satan loves. For the sake of your family, stop looking at pornography.

5. The Cost to Your Mission
The Lord’s commission is an urgent commission because it is a matter of eternal life and death. Time is short and hell is forever, which makes the Christian’s business an urgent business. And yet so many Christians are distracted by something as evil and as wasteful as pornography. Their attention is arrested, their energy depleted, their usefulness undermined. Don Whitney says it well: “If there are any regrets in Heaven, they will only be that we did not use our earthly time more for the glory of God and for growth in His grace. If this is so, this may be Heaven’s only similarity with hell, which will be filled with agonizing laments over time so foolishly squandered.” For the sake of your mission, stop looking at pornography.

6. The Cost to Your Witness
Christians are called to be different, to stand out from the rest of the world by their desires and by their behavior. Christians are to put sin to death and to display the power of God in removing and destroying all competitors. And yet so many Christians have had their witness shattered when the sordid truth comes out and when others learn that they profess faith in Christ on the one hand, and are consumed with lust on the other. Parents undermine the gospel they have been telling their children, pastors undermine the gospel they have been preaching to their congregations. For the sake of your witness, stop looking at pornography.

7. The Cost to Your Savior
By making light of pornography you are making light of the death of Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, you acknowledge in your profession of faith that the cost of forgiveness was nothing less than the death of God’s beloved Son. Jesus suffered and died for your sin. How can you, as a Christian, then toy with your sin and take it lightly? How can you cling to it? As Spurgeon says with his customary eloquence, “Sin has been pardoned at such a price that we cannot henceforth trifle with it.” For God’s sake, stop looking at pornography.

https://www.challies.com/articles/7-good-reasons-to-stop-looking-at-porn-right-now/?fbclid=IwAR1S9-nt2Y-7soQQuMZyq5SbT3r43QTanALze4Xhm0cH-3ePc2PjHxAk9yI

“I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people.” ~ Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was a moral monster, a sadistic religious fanatic guilty of medical malpractice.

This Sunday, Pope Francis will canonize Mother Teresa as a saint, one of the highest honors in the Roman Catholic Church. Tens of thousands of people are expected to fill St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican to honor a woman who supposedly lived her life dedicated to the poorest of the poor.

However, Mother Teresa was no saint, she was instead a moral monster, a sadistic religious fanatic who took pleasure in the suffering of others, and denied appropriate medical care to the sick and dying.

Yet the Catholic propaganda machine, eager for good publicity and the opportunity to hustle the gullible, continues to promote the soon to be saint while ignoring evidence of her moral incompetence.

Teresa was anything but a saint. The nun may have been generous with her prayers, but she was miserly with her foundation’s millions when it came to alleviating the suffering of the sick and the poor.

The celebrated nun had 517 missions in 100 countries at the time of her death. Yet despite plenty of funds, the majority of patients were not cared for properly, many being left to suffer and die without appropriate medical care or pain medication.

Indeed, conditions in the the Missionaries of Charity’s hospices were deplorable. In fact, Teresa refused to introduce the most basic methods of hygiene, even going so far as to reuse needles without sterilization.

According to one study, doctors observed a significant lack of hygiene, even unfit conditions and a shortage of actual care, food and painkillers. They say that the problem was not a lack of funds because the Order of the Missionaries of Charity successfully raised hundreds of millions of dollars.

Perhaps worse that the medical malpractice, was Teresa’s perverse and sadistic ability to take pleasure in the suffering of others. The fact is, Teresa believed that suffering – even when caused by poverty, medical problems, or starvation – was a gift from God.

Yet despite serious questions about Teresa’s character, motivation, and methods, the Vatican, enabled by a gullible and willing mainstream media, has engaged in a well orchestrated public relations campaign to manufacture a Catholic hero.

The late, great Christopher Hitchens was one of the first to raise questions about the authenticity of claims made by the Roman Catholic Church promoting Mother Teresa. The following is an excerpt from Hitchens’ excellent critique, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice:

Mother Teresa was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction.

…
Many more people are poor and sick because of the life of Mother Teresa: Even more will be poor and sick if her example is followed. She was a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud, and a church that officially protects those who violate the innocent has given us another clear sign of where it truly stands on moral and ethical questions.

Hitchens was correct to call out the “profane marriage between tawdry media hype and medieval superstition” that is the myth of Mother Teresa, a media superstar who was in the end a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud.

Since Hitchen’s ground breaking work on the myth of Mother Teresa, other researchers have confirmed Hitchens’ findings, including Dr. Aroup Chatterjee, a London-based physician, and author of “Mother Teresa: The Untold Story,” which gives extensive evidence that the Missionaries of Charity ran inadequate facilities and often offered little comfort to those it was trying to help.

Dr. Chatterjee said he found a “cult of suffering” in homes run by Mother Teresa’s organization, with children tied to beds and little to comfort dying patients but aspirin.

In addition, Dr. Chatterjee confirms Teresa allowed practices like the reuse of hypodermic needles and tolerating primitive facilities that required patients to defecate in front of one another.

Yet when it came to her own death, Teresa refused to be treated in one of her own unsanitary facilities that glorified and promoted the suffering and pain of others. Researchers said that when it came to her own treatment, “she received it in a modern American hospital.” Apparently for Teresa suffering was beautiful only if it was someone else doing the suffering.

However, despite the facts, despite the hypocrisy, despite the cruelty, and despite the sadism, Mother Teresa will be made a saint, demonstrating once again that the Roman Catholic Church is a morally bankrupt institution bereft of both intellectual and ethical authority.

Bottom line: Mother Teresa was no saint, instead she was a moral monster, and a sadistic religious fanatic.

(For more see Hitchens’ expose – The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice)

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/09/sadistic-religious-fanatic-mother-teresa-was-no-saint/?utm_content=bufferf7d82&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=FBCP-PATH&fbclid=IwAR2_ieV0XfDflDy7s84DhWlIriThTT0expfFyoZN6pebwTJwO4dDqqyb6tI

…20 Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ asked the LORD. 21And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’ 22 So you see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours, and the LORD has pronounced disaster against you.”…

~2 Chronicles 18:20-22

We are under a delusion when we don't love the truth. Romans 1:28, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10
We are under a delusion when we equate "manifestation of the spirit" with the fruit of the spirit. 1 Corinthians 13:8-9, Galatians 5:19-22
We are under a delusion when alll we seek of the lord is Signs and Wonders, Miracles without seeing the weighter need of our souls. Matthew 11:21, Matthew 16:4

You believe I speak a false word? You believe I am MISTAKEN?

Scripture PROVES I speak the TRUTH:

2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Note: DECEPTION "is according to the working of Satan."

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Note: DELUSION is from God. ("....God will SEND them strong DELUSION...

You see:

The most GRIEVING form of God's JUDGMENT is DELUSION.

So...what can we LEARN...what can we DISCERN...as we acknowledge this TRUTH?

God will not ALWAYS strive with man...and the time WILL come when He will turn us over to our chosen DECEPTIONS.

Sadly...MOST churches now walk in DECEPTION...while MANY of THOSE churches are under "strong delusion."

How do we guard against DELUSION?

We must hold FAST the STANDARD of SCRIPTURE...measuring EVERY teaching by the ESTABLISHED Word of God.

https://www.facebook.com/ron.smith.bama.fan/posts/10214806515898886

The question is this:

What is so wrong with the gospel of Joel Osteen...Steven Furtick...Joseph Prince...and SO many OTHERS?

The short answer is this:

The gospel of Osteen...and so many others...fails to establish a standard from Scripture regarding HOLINESS.

Today...the "Modern gospel" blurs the lines between "saint" and "sinner"...and the mantra "No one is perfect!" resonates through the corridors of once hallowed halls.

You see...if we steadily promote a "We all sin!" gospel...what exactly is the distinguishing characteristic of a Christian?

Read that again:

If we steadily promote a "We all sin!" gospel...what exactly is the distinguishing characteristic of a Christian?

Oh...I am more than sure some are dying to ask:

"Are you saying you are PERFECT, Ron?"

And...in that question lies the very FLAW of the gospel that those like Osteen promote.

Why?

Because the STANDARD being SUPPOSED in the minds of those who follow that way of thinking is one of SINFULNESS...what I have often deemed as "Sinful Equality"...and NOT a STANDARD of HOLINESS.

God never calls us to be "better" than other SINNERS...He calls us to be HOLY.

1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.

There is so much more in that passage than most church-goers want to hear...and it presents to us a STANDARD by which we must seek to live.

Whether those reading here admit it or not...we find ourselves not only LOWERING the STANDARD of HOLINESS...but we are seldom even willing to SET a standard of ANY kind...and we now find people who walk and live in VARYING states of SINFULNESS as they confidently claim "I am a Christian!"

Thus...we have create a new sect of "Christianity" that basks in the stated standards of "Sinful Equality."

The truth is...when we fail to deal with issues of SIN...when we fail to even ADMIT that God Himself has set STANDARDS by which we must live...then we DENY the TRUTH of Scripture...

...and...

...we ACTUALLY deny the POWER of the GOSPEL!

What does the Bible say about this "new gospel" which will come into play in the last days...and what will be its distinguishing characteristic?

I think you will be surprised to learn that Scripture DOES answer that question!

2 Timothy 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Notice this:

This "form of godliness" will actually "deny" the TRUE power of godliness...the TRUE power of the Gospel.

What IS the POWER of the Gospel?

It is the POWER to TRANSFORM a life...a heart...a soul...a spirit!

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

The amazing LIE of the gospel of those like Osteen is to make a presentation to a large group of people...people whose lives vary from deeply SINFUL to somewhat HOLY...that God is PLEASED with BOTH extremes...and that...no matter your variance within those parameters...God simply deems each one present...those within earshot of such a "sermon"...as one who is "favored and blessed"...and that ANY feeling of "condemnation" regarding SINFULNESS is simply "the enemy trying to destroy your mind."

The truth is...such a FALSE gospel as spoken by Osteen is ACTUALLY the enemy trying to destroy your SOUL through FLATTERY and DECEPTION.

So:

What are the consequences of the gospel of Osteen?

They are clear and simple:

"Christians" no longer strive for MORE...to be BETTER...to be DIFFERENT...to be SET APART...to be SANCTIFIED...to be like CHRIST:

To be HOLY.

No standard is set...and people no longer set a GOAL...no one STRIVES to ATTAIN a life of HOLINESS...a life that ABSTAINS from SIN by taking God's offered "way of escape."

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

In truth...the gospel of Osteen...and those LIKE him...keeps followers from even SEEKING that "way of escape!"

I mean...WHO needs a "way of escape" when "We all sin daily!"

Instead of setting a STANDARD of HOLINESS...the "Modern gospel" sets a STANDARD of SINFULNESS...a standard easily met by one and all.

No shame...no guilt...no "judgment"...no "condemnation"...no worries...

...and...

...no TRUTH.

Those who FOLLOW such a gospel will TRULY be SURPRISED when the door to ETERNITY is opened...and before them lies a lake of fire.

Revelation 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

The truth of it all?

What Osteen and those like him OFFER is not truly ENCOURAGEMENT...it is ENTRAPMENT...

...and...

SINNERS remain SINNERS...all the while wearing MEDALS for achieving "Sinful Equality."

https://www.facebook.com/ron.smith.bama.fan/posts/10213954255432907

Let's then propose a test , something like the contest between the prophets of Baal and the Jewish God.

It has been proven time and time again:

Once you BELIEVE something...it becomes increasingly more difficult to CHANGE those beliefs.

Therein lies the danger...as it is POSSIBLE a WOLF may "reach" the SHEEP before the SHEPHERD can even ARRIVE on the SCENE.

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

Consider:

Those raised in the religion of Islam were raised to BELIEVE Islam...and it was the FIRST gospel they every heard.

While many can readily admit the statement above is TRUE...many cannot understand that this principle plays out in OTHER ways.

I am OFTEN asked WHY I focus on the DANGERS of FALSE TEACHING...and it is because of this "first gospel" principle.

The Church OFTEN fails to comprehend the TRUTH regarding the DANGERS of FALSE TEACHING when it fails to CONSIDER the REALITY of the example stated above...as what people are FIRST taught to BELIEVE greatly influences what they are then WILLING to ACCEPT.

So...as we begin to realize that the MAJORITY of CHURCHES are now being led astray by PULPITS of DECEPTION...what HOPE can be offered to those who FIRST heard a FALSE gospel...and...sadly...they BELIEVED it?

For those of us RAISED to believe TRUTH...spotting ERROR is a much easier task.

But...

---What about the child being raised to believe the "Prosperity gospel"...the teachings claiming God PROMISES that all Christians CAN be and SHOULD be FINANCIALLY WEALTHY...is true?

---What about the child being raised to believe the god of Islam is the same God who has a Son named Jesus who died on a cross and was raised from the dead...as He now sits at the right hand of the Father...soon to return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

---What about the child being raised to believe his sin does not truly matter because he now lives under GRACE...leading him to believe he can SIN without CONSEQUENCES...and that REPENTANCE is UNNECESSARY?

---What about the child being raised to believe WORSHIP is about MUSIC and ENTERTAINMENT and LIGHT SHOWS and all that is PLEASING to the LISTENER?

---What about the child being raised to believe preaching on SIN, CONFESSION of SIN, REPENTANCE, and ABSTAINING from SIN is "judgmental" and "negative?"

---What about the child being raised to seek SIGNS and WONDERS...raised to believe that "gold dust" and "angel feather" manifestations are TRUE revelations of God?

---What about the child being raised to believe Joel Osteen and Beth Moore and Kenneth Copeland and Joyce Meyer and T.D. Jakes and Christine Caine and Steven Furtick are "deep theologians?"

---What about the child being raised to believe you can lay on the graves of dead "heroes of the faith" and receive "impartations?"

---What about the child being raised to believe a "Bible Study" consists of studying BOOKS written by famous TV "ministers?"

---What about the child being raised to believe DISCERNMENT is "judging?"

---What about the child being raised to believe LIES are "truth"...and TRUTH is "unloving?"

---What about the child being raised to believe being a Christian is all about SELF SATISFACTION...what we can GAIN from God...and all that God will do to MAKE and KEEP us HAPPY?

---What about the child being raised to believe being GAY is NORMAL...that people are "born gay" and...therefore...it CANNOT be a SIN?

---What about the child being raised to believe ABORTION is an ACCEPTABLE form of "birth control"...that it is a "woman's right to choose?"

---What about the child being raised to believe the Bible contains ERRORS...and we CANNOT be SURE of its TEACHINGS?

The DANGER of it all?

Once a person BELIEVES...it is hard to DISBELIEVE.

Thus...MOST who are being TAUGHT to believe LIES will CONTINUE to believe lies.

You see...we are a PRODUCT of the TEACHING of those who came BEFORE us...and...if their teaching is in ERROR...our BELIEF in that teaching remains likely...and...we then view the teachings "handed down to us" as "truth."

So...if we ONLY evaluate FALSE TEACHING as if it is some SUBSEQUENT addition PARTNERED with TRUTH...we have GREATLY overlooked the DANGER of the "first gospel" principle.

Thus...the Biblical COMMAND to REFUTE and REBUKE false teaching becomes more CLEAR and more URGENT!

Often...WHOEVER reaches the sheep FIRST...whether the SHEPHERD or the WOLF...is the one who gains the EAR and TRUST of the SHEEP.

And then...many SHEEP merrily walk into the SLAUGHTER HOUSE of FALSE TEACHING...never even SUSPECTING that their "shepherd" is a WOLF.

2 Corinthians 11:12-15 But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

Our primary concern should be simple when dealing with this issue:

We must "cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity" to be seen as SHEPHERDS when they are actually WOLVES.

You see:

Lives are a stake.

https://www.facebook.com/ron.smith.bama.fan/posts/10214912020936446

Somewhere...sometime soon...someone's "new season" is "about to arrive."

Yes...MANY pulpits declare the most amazing "Duh!" moments of all time.

Who would have EVER thought that something GOOD is about to happen to SOMEONE...and that SOMEONE'S life will change in major ways soon!

It seems the gods of a LACK of COMMON SENSE and HYPERBOLE walk in "holy communion."

Of course...what about those whose "new season" is not SUMMER...usually noted as days of SUNSHINE and SMILES?

The rule is:

NEVER admit to ANYONE that their "new season" may be WINTER...with COLD, DARK days that must be ENDURED by FAITH.

No...NEVER state the OBVIOUS...the TRUE reality of life:

Life OFTEN "turns on a dime."

---No one EVER expects the CANCER diagnosis.

---No one EVER expects the DIVORCE papers.

---No one EVER expects the call saying there has been a car wreck...and their spouse or child is dead.

---No one EVER expects to hear "It is Alzheimers."

---No one EVER expects "You have 2 months to live."

What if your "new season" is HURRICANE season?

Will you be able to ENDURE the TESTING?

Stop listening to the "daily affirmations" of the Biblically challenged who speak WORTHLESS generalities...never TRULY hearing a "word from God" about your "new season."

Face it...even a BROKEN clock is RIGHT twice a day.

Many never NOTICE...or simply IGNORE...the fact that the incessantly promised "new season" is "prophesied" DAILY in "prophetic circles"...so ONE DAY the "prophecy" actually comes true...yet...more often than not...it is just a DAILY dose of "Duh!"

Get wise!

We ALL experience a "new season"...at LEAST 4 times a year.

Church...consider this:

It is NOT about a "new season"...it is about a NEW HEART.

We walk by FAITH...and not by SIGHT...and it is how we ADAPT to the CHANGING seasons that TRULY measures our STRENGTH and our WISDOM.

"Wisdom?" you say?

Yes...WISDOM.

You see...only a FOOL dresses for SUMMER in the FROZEN air of WINTER.

And...WINTER serves a PURPOSE...allowing things to DIE so that the NEW may one day LIVE.

Maybe the words of the "Wizard of Oz" say it best...as his DECEPTION is REVEALED:

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

Yes...WISDOM cries:

"Pay no attention to declarations promising a NEW SEASON! They are nothing more than 'Duh!' moments!"

Jeremiah 23:16-22 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They make you worthless;
They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 They continually say to those who despise Me,
‘The Lord has said, “You shall have peace”’;
And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say,
‘No evil shall come upon you.’”

18 For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord,
And has perceived and heard His word?
Who has marked His word and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury—
A violent whirlwind!
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back
Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart.
In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.

21 “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in My counsel,
And had caused My people to hear My words,
Then they would have turned them from their evil way
And from the evil of their doings.

Now...about that coming "shifting in the atmosphere".............!!!

https://www.facebook.com/ron.smith.bama.fan/posts/10214947211896198

Truth:

Jesus never "evangelized" by simply INVITING someone to attend "services" at the Temple.

Here's an idea:

Tell someone about JESUS...NOT about your CHURCH.

I hope that not only STEPS on your toes...I hope it STOMPS on your toes!

"Churchianity" is HERESY and IDOLATRY.

Be sure, Pastor:

Your CHURCH will NEVER die for people's SINS...nor will it bestow GRACE on those seeking SALVATION.

Lead people to JESUS...not a BUILDING!

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